The Wolf On The Run (The Wolf of Corwick Castle Book 3)

by Terry Cloutier

  “Maybe Malo brought a good lead for us this time,” Jebido said, cutting into my thoughts. He shrugged. “The Mother knows you deserve it, Hadrack. Maybe that’s why he summoned us here.”

  I nodded, not believing it. I could feel the familiar anger rising in my chest and I fought to squash it. Everything had been going so well last year—a year that seemed so long ago now. The woman I loved had just taken control of Calban Castle, and I’d managed to kill two more of the nine, Hape and Quant Ranes, leaving only five of the bastards left alive. I’d fully expected to get them all after that and finally get justice for Corwick, but less than a week after Lord Demay’s death, King Jorquin had died and the war had erupted, changing everything.

  Prince Tyden, who I now served as the rightful heir to the kingdom, had barely survived an assassination attempt by his brother the moment their father died. He’d escaped Gandertown more by luck than anything else and had retreated south with his forces to Halhaven. He’d also brought all the priestesses he could find with him, including the First Daughter as they fled ahead of the armies of the North. Within a matter of days, Daughter Gernet’s vast information network collapsed as Prince Tyrale rooted out most of her supporters and executed them without the benefit of a trial. I’d tried to find the rest of the nine using the dated information we already had, but other than Hervi Desh—who somehow had risen to become one of Prince Tyrale’s closest advisors—the others had simply vanished like spirits in the night. Whether they were even now fighting in the armies of the North, or lay dead somewhere on a battlefield, I had no way of knowing.

  “When has that bastard House Agent ever brought us anything but misery?” Baine grumbled from behind me.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Jebido said. He walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Just have faith, Hadrack. Maybe it’s not going to be today, but sooner or later, The Mother is going to give you one of them. I guarantee it.”

  “Give me one?”

  “Of course,” Jebido said. “Think about it.” He counted off on his fingers. “Calen, Searl Merk, and Quant Ranes all came to you. Not the other way around. I don’t believe that was a coincidence.”

  “You think Mother Above sent them to Hadrack?” Baine asked, looking intrigued.

  “Of course,” Jebido said. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “What about Hape?” I pointed out. “I found him, remember?”

  “True,” Jebido said thoughtfully. He wiggled a dirty finger in his ear, then looked at whatever he’d fished out before flicking it away. “But tell me this. Who was it that told you where he was?”

  “Daughter Gernet,” I replied.

  “Who is an agent of?”

  “Mother Above,” Baine answered for me.

  “Exactly,” Jebido said, looking pleased with himself. He patted me on the shoulder. “So, my advice is to wait. The bastards will show up when She is ready, Hadrack. You’ll see.”

  Jebido’s words made sense. I could see the logic of what he was saying, but that didn’t make me feel much better about it. I was twenty years old now, and it seemed to me as though all I’d been doing since I was a boy was waiting. First, while a prisoner in Father’s Arse, then, as Einhard’s sworn man, now oathbound to an unpredictable Daughter and moody House Agent. I bit my tongue, stopping myself from saying something sarcastic to Jebido. I knew my friend meant well in what he’d said. We were all tired and sick of this place, and taking my anger out on him would do nothing to improve our situation.

  I saw Tyris approaching through the trees with some bread in his hands and I gestured toward him, glad to have something else to focus my attention. “Looks like our friend found something after all.”

  “About time, too,” Baine grunted. “I could eat a boar, fur and all, right about now.”

  “No boar, I’m afraid,” Tyris said as he held up a small, moldy loaf of bread. “This is all there was.” He tore the bread into four pieces, handing them out.

  “Where are the others?” I asked, pausing to pick a struggling weevil from my bread.

  “Niko and Sim are sleeping,” Tyris replied. “Putt is playing dice.” I frowned at that. “Don’t worry, my lord,” the blond archer hurried to say. “I warned him about using crooked dice. He said he’d behave.”

  “He had better,” I grumbled. Putt tended to cheat, and it had only been a month ago that he’d barely made it out of Laskerly alive after trying to swindle several of the locals there.

  “Rumor has it that more supplies and reinforcements will be here the day after tomorrow, my lord,” Tyris said.

  “Two days!” Baine snorted as he chewed. He rolled his eyes. “The stupid bastards might as well just turn back now. The way things are going, we’ll probably be dead long before they get here.”

  Tyris shrugged and sat down on the ground beside me with his long legs splayed out in front of him. “I’m just relaying what I overheard, lad. Don’t blame me if you don’t like the news.”

  I glanced at Baine, seeing anger flare up in his dark eyes. I shook my head at him in warning. My ordinarily cheerful friend had been unusually moody and on edge for weeks now. I’d seriously considered leaving him behind when we’d set out from Witbridge Manor a week ago, but Baine insisted that he be allowed to accompany us. I’d relented in the end, despite his obvious concern for his new wife, Flora, who was due to give birth soon and was having a rough pregnancy. I knew Baine’s anxiety about Flora’s health, as well as the realization that he would soon be a father, had a great deal to do with his unpredictable moodiness, so I tried to make allowances for it as much as possible. Besides, I couldn’t imagine leaving Baine behind and not have both he and Jebido together by my side when there was fighting to be done.

  I thought of Flora and the coming child. The one-time whore had been seriously injured last year during the attack on Calban, but she was young and had managed to pull through. Most of the credit for that was due to Haverty the apothecary’s skill as a healer—that and Baine’s undivided devotion to her. Thinking of Calban turned my thoughts to Shana. Both of us had reluctantly agreed that it would be safer to keep our distance from one another until the war was over. Calban was a strategic castle along the western coast, with access to land routes and sea lanes, making it ideal for launching offensives. But, it was also located in Northern Ganderland, far from our forces, which made it vulnerable to attack, should Prince Tyrale believe Shana’s allegiance fell with the South. I shuddered at the thought of what the prince might do if he found out the truth.

  Tyris tapped his boot against mine in warning, cutting off my thoughts as Malo approached, wearing a grim look on his face.

  “Well, I guess we are about to find out what this is all about,” I said as I stood and waited for him.

  “You look well,” Malo grunted, stopping in front of me. We locked arms briefly, then stepped back. I saw him glance at the blood crusting on my temple, where a well-thrown stone had partially careened off my helmet that morning. “I didn’t expect you to join in the fighting, Hadrack.”

  I glanced at Odiman, who stood in the trees, glaring at us with his usual sour expression. “That bastard over there didn’t give us much choice.”

  Malo scratched his shaggy beard. “My apologies for that. I’m afraid Odiman can be overzealous at times. Just the same, I want to thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure if Gris would be able to find you and give you my message.”

  “It was a near thing,” I said. “Finol told him where we’d be.”

  Malo nodded distractedly. He looked past me through the trees toward Springlight. “Formidable,” he said almost to himself. “My information was that the town was weakly defended and would fall easily.”

  I turned and glanced behind me before focusing back on the House Agent. “Your informant is either woefully stupid or playing you for a fool.”

  “So it would seem,” the House Agent muttered.

  “So, what’s this all about, Malo?” I asked. “Why do you nee
d to capture this town so badly?”

  Malo crossed his arms over his chest. “We don’t need the town,” he said. “We need what is inside of it.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly might that be?”

  Malo flicked his gaze over to my men, who were listening intently. “More of a who, actually,” he said. The House Agent moved past me to the treeline and leaned against a towering oak where he could get a better view of the fortified town. “His name is Rorian.” Malo glanced at me as I came to stand beside him. “He claims to be a scholar, but after what he did in Halhaven, it’s safe to say that my doubts have been raised about that.”

  “What did he do?” Jebido asked.

  The House Agent turned to look back, his expression angry. “He murdered several Agents and the Master Librarian of the Grand Holy House.”

  “Is he working for the North?” I asked.

  “We believe so,” Malo said with a weary nod. “He arrived in Halhaven a month ago, requesting to do research in the library there. His name was registered on the scholar scrolls, so the Master Librarian had no reason to suspect anything amiss.” Malo ran his fingers through his thick hair as he talked. “Rorian spent almost every waking hour in the library up until two weeks ago, when, for some reason, he killed the Master Librarian along with several Agents who tried to stop him.”

  “Why would he do that?” I asked.

  “We think the Master Librarian had grown suspicious of him,” Malo said. “From what we’ve been able to piece together, Rorian was looking for something specific. We think he found it, and when the Master Librarian realized what it was, Rorian killed him.”

  “What was it?” Baine asked, clearly intrigued by the story.

  Malo didn’t answer him and remained focused on me instead. “Rorian managed to escape Halhaven, wounding two more Agents before getting away on horseback with some others waiting outside the walls for him. He’s quite resourceful, this scholar, but luckily for us, Odiman’s forces were close by at the time. We were able to cordon off the routes to the north, forcing him south.” Malo pointed to Springlight. “Odiman chased the bastard here. I need to know what Rorian was doing in that library and what he found there.”

  I’d privately wondered why Odiman had divided his men up to surround the town, even going so far as to have watches patrolling all day and night. I knew we couldn’t spare the men for it, but the House Agent had been insistent that no one get out under any circumstances. I’d assumed he was concerned that they would go for help, which had seemed unlikely to me. We were too far south for any substantial force of the North to be nearby. Now I knew he’d gone to those lengths to make sure that Rorian and his companions stayed where they were until either the town fell or Malo arrived.

  “I can see why you would want this man after what he did,” I said. “But that doesn’t explain why we are here.”

  “I know we don’t always agree on things, Hadrack,” Malo replied after a moment. “But one thing that I do know about you and your men, especially after Calban, is that you can be trusted implicitly.”

  “Trusted to do what?” I asked in surprise.

  “To say nothing about what we might find here,” Malo said. “Both Daughter Gernet and I have our suspicions about what Rorian was after in the library, and if we are correct, then I’ll need men by my side that I know I can depend on. The North has spies everywhere these days. We don’t know who may be watching and listening.”

  “What about your fellow Agents?” I asked.

  Malo made a face. “Telling them would be too risky. I’ve known Odiman most of my life and I trust him, but I can’t be sure our order hasn’t been infiltrated by now. Whatever we find in Springlight must stay a secret. That’s why I asked for your help.”

  I thought about that, intrigued despite myself. “We’ll help you in any way we can,” I finally said. “But the only way you are going to find out what that man found is by getting over those walls over there, which isn’t going to be an easy task.”

  “I agree,” Malo said as he pursed his lips. “But either way, it has to be done. The sooner, the better.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not that simple, Malo,” I warned. “The town is too strong, and we are too weak. We’re going to have to wait for more reinforcements before we can try again.”

  “And siege engines,” Jebido added.

  “And siege engines,” I agreed. “If that doesn’t work, then our only choice will be to starve them out.”

  “That could take months,” Malo said in frustration.

  “Yes, at the very least,” I said.

  Malo looked up at the branches over our heads and took a deep breath. “I can’t wait that long, Hadrack,” he finally said. “This is too important.”

  “Then I guess we better start digging a tunnel right now,” Baine said sarcastically. “Because there is no way we are getting over those walls without those engines.”

  I nodded in agreement as I studied Springlight for any signs of weakness, knowing that it was pointless. I’d looked at the town from every angle possible over the last few days, but had seen nothing indicating an easy way inside. I’d even climbed the ridge to get a better vantage point before the archers on the walls had seen me and forced me to retreat to safety.

  I paused as I thought of what Baine had said a moment ago, while he and Malo continued to bicker back and forth. My friend was being sarcastic about the tunnel, of course, but I thought back to Calban and the secret passageway that Lord Demay had constructed leading out onto the bay. Could it be? I wondered, knowing that it was unlikely, but feeling excitement rise in my chest anyway. I stooped and picked up my father’s axe, then grabbed my shield.

  “What is it?” Jebido asked me. “I know that look in your eye.”

  “Maybe nothing,” I said with a grin. “Maybe everything.” I glanced at Tyris. “Go get the others. The rest of you follow me.”

  I headed northwest through the forest, avoiding the open land around the town as I aimed for the ridge base while Malo, Jebido, and Baine followed behind me. The ground beneath the trees here was thick with blackberry vines covered in wicked barbs half an inch in length that could rip open a man’s flesh in a heartbeat. Odiman’s patrols had hacked their way through the wall of vines on the first day of the siege, creating a four-foot-wide trail, which I was careful to follow.

  Six of Odiman’s soldiers appeared walking toward me along the path as we drew nearer to the ridge. Most of the men were limping and were swathed in heavy bandages as they trudged wearily along, heading back toward where I knew a station for treating the wounded had been set up. Every experienced battlefield soldier had a basic knowledge of treating wounds, but we were lucky enough to have a barber surgeon along with us that was surprisingly competent. I knew the surgeon was doing a brisk business today, removing arrowheads, amputating limbs, and cauterizing wounds with hot oil, so the six wounded men would have a long wait ahead of them if they wished to see him.

  The closest man to me was tall and wide, wearing a thick woolen cloak with the lower half of his face covered by a bloody bandage that he held pressed tightly to his wound. The other half of the man’s face was marred by three long white scars across his left cheek. He greeted me and I nodded back as we passed each other.

  Malo didn’t even glance at the wounded men as he fell into step beside me. “Care to let me in on what we are doing out here?” he asked.

  “All in due time,” I said as a red squirrel scolded us from a perch high up in the branches.

  “I’ll say one thing about you, Hadrack,” Malo muttered with a sigh. “Life is never boring around you.”

  I chuckled as we finally reached the ridge as Niko, Sim, Tyris, and Putt hurried to catch up. I studied the cracked and jagged rock formation that began as a single flat stone jutting out of the forest floor. The ridge quickly rose above me like a great beast bursting from the ground, then punched outward through the treeline toward the hill. The head lay in deep shado
w from the intertwined network of branches above, while dark green moss grew in places along the stone, with thorny weeds and bushes bunched all around the base. Stunted trees stood here and there among the bushes, struggling to get roots down deep enough to find water that their bigger cousins might have missed.

  “Do you remember that secret passageway in Calban?” I asked my companions once we were all together. Heads began to nod around me. “That castle is built on solid rock just like this here,” I said, slapping the head of the ridge. “Yet they managed to chisel their way through it to the bay.”

  Malo looked at the formidable length of rock skeptically. “You think there is a tunnel leading to the town somewhere in all of that?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a possibility,” I said. “What do we have to lose by checking?”

  My companions all shifted their feet, glancing at each other with little enthusiasm on their faces. I felt momentary doubt take over me at their expressions.

  Jebido ran his hand experimentally over the stone, pausing as several thin slivers broke from the surface with a wet-sounding crunch before sliding to the ground. “This thing isn’t as solid as it looks,” Jebido said thoughtfully as he ran his eyes over the ridge. “At least on top. Maybe you’re on to something.”

  “And maybe we’re just wasting our time,” Baine said as he rolled his eyes.

  “What else do we have to do right now?” I asked. “Everyone spread out. Look around the base for an entrance.”