Nadia's Children

by Steven E Wedel

  “Have a lot of our kind come?” he asked, looking around and not seeing many people or wolves in the clearing around the natural rock table he had seen in the vision.

  “Some,” she answered. “It will take time. Many must come from a greater distance than Kansas City.”

  “True,” Ben agreed. He stretched and yawned. Holle noted the strong lines of his body and the muscles of his arms and legs. And the size of his manhood. “I’m tired,” he said. “I traveled all night to get here.”

  “I was awake most of the night, too,” she said, then reached forward and took his organ in her hand. He flinched in surprise, then grinned at her. “Perhaps you could sleep for a time with a wolf older, almost, than time itself.”

  Shara

  Shara sat in the penthouse suite, looking at a map of North America. She had circled what she felt was the two most likely possibilities for places Morrigan might be. Northern Minnesota, or Maine. But which?

  In the bathroom next to her Thomas was vomiting. She had only recently thrown up. They all had. They had gone the wrong direction, Cerdwyn said. The Alpha was calling them northeast and they had gone west. Refusing the call had made them sick. Skandar had been first to feel it and had spent much of the flight in the airplane’s toilet. Though they had all felt queasy, she had written Skandar’s vomiting off as air sickness; he had told them flying scared him and that Fenris had drugged him the last time he was on an airplane. Soon after landing, though, Kelley had been stricken and remained in the airport bathroom for almost half an hour. One by one, they had all become sick.

  As the day wore on and they moved no further from the Alpha, the sickness eased. Thomas was the last to recover, as he had been the last to succumb.

  Shara listened to him retching and spitting. It was an odd illness. There was no fever, but there was an ache in the bones that accompanied the vomiting. She was glad only the five of them had come west.

  “It will give Fenris an advantage, if he chooses not to honor his word.” Cerdwyn had come to stand in the doorway of the bedroom Shara and Thomas shared.

  “What’s that?” Shara asked. She still wasn’t sure what to think about this calm, beautiful woman who knew so much and had chosen to become the companion of her former husband.

  “Fenris and his group will be moving toward the Alpha. They won’t feel the sickness we’re feeling,” Cerdwyn said.

  Shara nodded. “That isn’t good.”

  “You don’t trust him.” Cerdwyn came into the room and pulled a chair up to sit across from Shara. She looked down at the map for a moment, then pointed to Superior National Forest in northwest Minnesota. “This is where they are.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Cerdwyn sighed and put a hand over Shara’s hand. “Ulrik taught you so much, but there was so much he left out. You are the Mother, Shara. You are blessed by the goddess. I can teach you to listen to her. In time, you will be more in tune with her than I could ever be.”

  “Ulrik said God doesn’t exist. No goddess, either, I suppose. He said there is only now and us,” Shara said. “He told me that as a boy he was worshipped as a god.”

  “Yes. It is harder for men to hear the goddess. It was harder for him because of the circumstances of his youth with the eastern woodland natives,” she said, smiling at Shara. “It was unfortunate. I can only wonder how he believed in a prophecy without believing in a divine source for any prophecy.”

  Shara thought about it, but didn’t have an answer, so she remained quiet, looking at the circle she had drawn over Minnesota.

  “I know what Fenris has done to you and your family, Shara,” Cerdwyn said. “I understand why you didn’t want to call for his help.”

  Under Cerdwyn’s gentle hand, Shara balled her own into a fist. Her words were as tight as her clenched fingers. “Even if I overlooked him trying to kidnap Joey, even if I forgave him for telling me Chris was dead, I can’t forgive him for what he did to my parents,” she said. “It was cold blooded murder. I can only imagine the horror they felt tied to those chairs, seeing me on the computer, hearing me beg for their lives, and then … To die like that.” She shook her head, trying to free herself from the memory of her mother and father being eaten. “What does your goddess tell you about that.”

  Cerdwyn’s hand closed around Shara’s fist. Her grip was cool and dry but firm. “We all have flaws, Shara. Those flaws can be our downfall if we let them rule us.”

  “Flaws? You’re saying what he did was a flaw? No!” She pulled her hand away and slammed it down on the table. “No. Drinking too much is a flaw. Not having manners is a flaw. Murder is not a flaw. I won’t let him off so easy. They were my parents.”

  “I wasn’t talking about Fenris,” Cerdwyn said quietly. “You are the Mother and I probably couldn’t have prevented it, but I think you shouldn’t have come here.” She stood up gracefully and walked out of the room without looking back.

  Thomas stood in the bathroom doorway, his face pale, a damp towel held under his dripping goatee. Shara saw him standing there and turned her face back to the map.

  “You agree with her,” she accused.

  “Aye,” he admitted. She looked up at him sharply, then back at the map. “For the very reason you said. I could have spoken for you here, Shara. I worry that the past will cloud your vision of the future.”

  “If we don’t consider where we’ve been, can we plot a course forward?” she asked. “We can’t trust him. It’s that simple. He killed my mother and father and he’ll kill our daughter if he can. He’s said as much, and yet here we are.”

  “Shara, I agree we have to be careful. We shouldn’t – ”

  Kelley poked her head into the room and announced, “They’re here. Fenris doesn’t trust us to meet in our room. He’s reserved a conference room downstairs.”

  “He doesn’t trust us,” Shara scoffed.

  “Please, Shara. We need him,” Kelley urged. “I’m running a huge risk here, you know. Fenris has found a way to skin a werewolf so that he gets the man-size wolf hide. He would do that to me without blinking an eye for the way I turned on him. I don’t trust him any more than you do, but I don’t see another option here.”

  “Let’s go, love.” Thomas was beside her, his hand extended. Shara took it and followed her four companions out of the room.

  “He’ll meet us in the lobby,” Kelley said as they waited for the elevator.

  In the lobby they found the white-haired man wearing black slacks and a black shirt and jacket. He was standing near the desk, chatting with a hotel security guard. Standing near him were three other men, two of them with beards, all of them obviously werewolves. Shara could smell them from twenty feet away. How did the regular people not notice the musky animal scent the shapeshifters always put out? Then she smelled another scent, a familiar scent, and she froze. Her eyes picked out Kiona Brokentooth standing a few feet away from the others, her back turned as she looked at the hotel door.

  Shara’s hand clenched on Thomas’s hard enough that it stopped him. He looked back and she hissed at him, “Kiona.”

  The woman heard her name and turned to face them. Her smile was smug and cruel and built a new fire in Shara’s heart. She stepped toward them, sauntered, really, her eyes moving from Shara to Thomas and back.

  “It’s been a long time,” she said. “I think you were crying the last time I saw you. And I was driving away with your husband and son.”

  “Be calm, Shara,” Thomas warned. “Come on. Let’s join the others.” He tugged at her hand. “Come on.”

  Reluctantly, Shara allowed him to pull her away. Behind her, Kiona laughed quietly. The others waited, watching them. Shara and Thomas stood next to Skandar. Kiona went around the other werewolves to stand next to Fenris, putting her hand on his arm and staring at Shara. Fenris shook her off without a glance.

  “Shara,” the white-haired man said. “It’s good to see you again.”

  She didn’t answer.

  Fen
ris motioned to the burly hotel security guard who was wearing black pants and a black sweatshirt, and black sunglasses. He held an electronic wand in his right hand. “This is Geoffrey. He works for the hotel. For the mental comfort of all, I have arranged for him to check each of us before we enter the conference room. A room, I might add, that I and my associates have not yet seen.”

  “That was thoughtful,” Kelley said flatly.

  “I try to model my efficiency on the memory of your service, Kelley,” he said. “If you’re ready, Geoffrey will lead the way.”

  They followed the man away from the lobby, down a long corridor, past a fitness center, to a corner of the hotel, where he opened a door onto a small but sufficient conference room with a single long table in the center, surrounded by cushy swivel chairs. Fenris lifted his arms at the shoulder and the man ran the wand over him. It was silent. On the next man, one of Fenris’s, the wand went off, signaling the man had something metal hidden. He fished out a set of keys from his hip pocket and held them up before tossing them to Fenris.

  “The rental car key,” Fenris said, pocketing the key.

  They all paused at the door for a search before entering. No one was hiding any weapons. They all entered and took a place at the table. Shara couldn’t help but notice that Fenris placed himself at the head of the table. As if she were the hostess, Kiona sat at the other end, and their three companions ranged themselves around the table in such a way that both parties were split up when they sat down. Shara sat between one of Fenris’s male companions and Skandar, who was next to Kiona.

  “So, quite a collection of friends and acquaintances we have here,” Fenris said. “Skandar, I wondered if I would ever see you again. Walking away from me like you did was no way to show your gratitude for me bringing you to the New World.”

  Cerdwyn spoke up before Skandar could answer. “Many of us have history with others here. Most of that history isn’t so good. This is a chance for us to start over. To put the past behind us and focus on the future.”

  “The priestess,” Fenris said, nodding at her. “I suspect I may have been wrong to never really check you out. You seem to suddenly have a lot of pull in current events. I thought it would come down to me and Ulrik. But, I guess not.”

  “No,” Cerdwyn said. “Then you know of his death. And you undoubtedly feel the call to move northeast from here. You saw the vision the rest of us did?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  Across the table from her, Shara saw Thomas’s face whiten. He put a fist over his mouth and looked frantically around the room. There was no bathroom. He jumped out of his chair and ran for a tall trashcan near the door, where he heaved and retched with little result.

  “He ate something disagreeable,” Kelley explained.

  Fenris only grunted. “So, what is your proposal?”

  Quickly, Kelley outlined the plan to distract Holle and her followers with a battle led by Fenris and those loyal to him while a small group tried to kill Holle and rescue Morrigan.

  “Once we have the girl, then what?” Fenris asked as Thomas came back to his seat.

  “She comes back to her mother and father,” Thomas said. “Where she belongs.”

  “The nuclear family?” Fenris mocked. “And when she grows up? You think killing this Old One, Holle, will eliminate the prophecy? You think it will change the child’s destiny?”

  “She will be brought up to know the ways of the goddess,” Cerdwyn interjected. “She will be our high priestess in service to the goddess, as was intended, I’m sure.”

  Fenris laughed softly, and so did his companions. Kiona, however, barked out a loud guffaw.

  “Your kind died out in the 1960s,” she laughed. “Will you put flowers in her hair and teach her to love Simon and Garfunkel, too?”

  “Kiona,” Fenris warned, though he was smiling.

  Shara couldn’t stop glaring at the Indian woman. She had barely followed the predictable conversation as she tried to incinerate the other woman with her stare. Kiona had mostly sat and picked at her nails, but now she glowered at Shara.

  “This sounds like something that may cost the lives of many of my followers,” Fenris said. “I’m not sure I see an equal sacrifice on your side.”

  “You outnumber us,” Cerdwyn said. “We simply don’t have the numbers to launch a convincing attack on our own.”

  “Really? You don’t have any more Kelley Stones secretly working for other people, ready to run back at your command?” Fenris asked. “Tell me, did you have a spy in Ulrik’s camp, too?”

  “Of course,” Cerdwyn answered.

  “And he didn’t know?”

  She shook her head. “As far as I know, he never suspected.”

  “Then I most definitely made a mistake in underestimating you and your influence and ability,” he said. “Do you know where they are?”

  “Yes,” she answered.

  “Will you share that?”

  “Minnesota,” Cerdwyn said. “I suspect the Superior National Forest. Exactly where, I can’t say yet. I don’t know.”

  Fenris nodded. “I will agree that we have to get the girl away from the Old One. I can agree with helping on that front. However, I want to be with the party that goes in to get her.”

  “No.” Shara slapped her hand down on the table and pulled her gaze from Kiona to face the man who had killed her parents. “No. You won’t go near my daughter.”

  “Still upset over Mom and Dad,” Fenris mused. “I thought we were putting the past behind us.”

  “Tell us why you want to do that?” Cerdwyn cut in.

  “Do you think you’re the only one with an interest in the Alpha? Do you think I haven’t waited on him or her for centuries?” he asked. “I won’t come so close only to allow you to slip away with her.”

  “But you’ve waited only so you can kill her,” Thomas said.

  Fenris shrugged. “This is true. Now your priestess here tells me she will teach the girl to love, to speak to her goddess. Does this mean the girl won’t grow up to claim her power? Don’t you feel the pull in your gut? That’s power. She has the power to control us from thousands of miles away. I will not spend the rest of my life submitting to that.”

  “The girl is nearly eight years old,” Cerdwyn said. “The mere fact of her existence was unknown to you until recently. Her existence did not trigger this feeling. Only when she put out the call did we all feel it. I can teach her when it is appropriate to call the Pack together, when to show herself in visions. What we feel now is the result of an evil, vengeful influence the girl simply doesn’t know is wrong.”

  “So you say,” Fenris argued. “But what if you fail? What if the child does grow up and chooses to use this power to control all of us? Will she create a werewolf police force to hunt us down if we don’t obey her? You can’t answer that. No one can. We are safer if she is eliminated.” He paused and took a deep breath, his tanned face relaxing a bit. “However, there is time to decide that. Her call will be bringing our kind from all over the continent. All over the world, I suspect. The longer we do nothing, the stronger she’ll become and the harder this little mission will be. Agree to let me go in with you and I will send my people in a distracting assault.”

  “Do you have anyone who can lead your followers in your absence?” Cerdwyn asked.

  Fenris nodded. “I do.”

  “Do you give us your word the child will not come to harm by your hand, or the hand of anyone allied with you?”

  “For the time being, yes,” Fenris agreed. “We can meet like this again later, those of us who survive this, and decide the fate of the Alpha.”

  Cerdwyn looked around the room. Shara looked away from her and caught Kiona’s glare again. The Indian woman sneered at her.

  “Thomas,” Cerdwyn asked, “Are you in agreement with this?”

  “Shara?” Thomas asked. “It is you who has to decide. Fenris kept his word here. He even went so far as to provide the room and a security check. Wi
ll you trust him on this?”

  “I will never trust him,” Shara answered. “Never.”

  “Shara, please,” Cerdwyn pleaded. “Put aside your personal hate and think about the future. You agree we must get Morrigan away from Holle.”

  “Yes.”

  “You haven’t offered an alternate plan.”

  “No.”

  “Will you agree to this?” Cerdwyn asked.

  Shara stared at the man for many moments before answering. “One of us must always be with him. We have to agree to kill him immediately if he is a threat to Morrigan.”

  “For the time being, I can accept that,” Fenris agreed.

  “So be it,” Cerdwyn said, smiling. A collective sigh seemed to escape the room. “How soon can you get your people there? And how many?”

  “I can get them moving right now,” Fenris said. “I can’t swear I haven’t had defectors since the Alpha’s call went out, but I feel sure I can put at least one hundred of us on the ground within two days.”

  “Good,” Cerdwyn said. “We can work out logistics on the way. You’ll travel with us now, I assume.”

  “Yes, if the Mother will allow it,” Fenris said. Shara ignored him.

  “Have your people fly into the Twin Cities, then go north toward Babbitt. It’s a small town,” Kelley explained. “They’ll be used to tourists, but keep a low profile. Especially with the guns.”

  “I know the drill,” Fenris said. “Babbitt it is. I’ll make the arrangements as soon as we’re finished here.”

  Kelley looked around the table. “I think we’re done,” she said.

  Just then, Thomas jumped up and ran back to the trashcan. This time his retching brought results. The smell was enough to assure the meeting was over. Around her, people stood up. Shara started to rise, but a whisper stopped her.

  “Chris wasn’t very good in bed,” Kiona said.

  Shara remained seated, her chair pushed back, her eyes fixed on the other woman.