by Lee Savino
I slumped, unable to stand proud any longer. Fatigue rolled over me, a great weight. I bowed my head and closed my eyes.
The warriors shouted around me, calling for my death. “She is guilty. She tried to kill her own friend, one of our treasured spaewives. We found her with the weapon, standing over the unconscious woman.”
“Why did she leave the mountain?” One of the Alpha’s asked. He didn’t raise his voice, but it carried over the roar of the rabble.
“She will not explain why she and Rosalind left the home of unmated spaewives, and escaped the mountain,” Samuel said. “She will not speak to answer the Alpha’s questions. So, we must draw our own conclusions.”
“She did it,” someone muttered at my side. Perhaps one of my guards. “She is guilty.”
A low growl accompanied the accusation. It cut off suddenly.
“The Corpse King is growing stronger. Every day he batters our defenses. How is it two young women slipped through our fingers, and his?”
“Is it not clear? She was headed for the Corpse King to betray us.”
“Treason,” one muttered.
“She is in league with the Corpse King,” another said, and spat in my direction.
I kept my mouth shut. I still felt the weight of the stone in my hand, small but deadly. I still heard the whir of the sling as I aimed and saw the bright red blood blossoming from Rosalind’s head before she fell. It played over and over in my head, always ending with my friend on the ground, blood leaking from her skull.
My fault.
“Enough,” Samuel finally called, and the warriors fell silent.
“Sorrel of the Berserkers, you’ve been found guilty of betraying the pack, conspiring with the enemy, and harming your own friend. Do you have anything to say?”
I didn’t bother to raise my eyes or shake my head. Anything I had to say, I’d already said. The Berserkers who found me standing over Rosalind did not believe my fantastical tale. Why should I repeat it?
The Alpha let the silence stretch one, two more moments before continuing. “Very well. The Alphas will confer to decide your fate. Take her away.”
A warrior yanked me from my perch and dragged me past jeering warriors and snarling wolves. We walked up the path a little ways from the standing stones into an alcove in the forest. The great fire reached through the trees to stripe us with its light.
“Here,” he pointed to the ground and my heart stopped.
“No please,” I whimpered as he dragged me toward a gaping pit. I hadn’t begged or pleaded before, but this broke me. “Anywhere but there.” I kicked but lost my balance and foothold. The warrior guard would put me in the deep hole and bury me. I’d scream and my mouth would fill with dirt and nothing would save me, nothing—
A roar gusted the leaves around us. The warrior released me and drew his weapon.
“Who’s there?”
Something slunk between the trees, shaking the undergrowth.
“Show yourself,” my guard whirled to follow, pointing his long knife towards the threat. It roared again, the sound echoing all around and making the guard turn this way and that in panic. Whatever great beast lurked in the gloom, it was hunting, taunting the guard. Now was my chance to run.
I backed to the edge of the clearing, only to slam into a large, hard body.
“Be still,” someone growled in my ear. A strong hand coiled loosely about my throat. Shock hit my system, turned my bones to stone.
“Show yourself,” the guard cried, unaware that another held me. “Unless you’re a coward—” he barely got the word out before a huge silver wolf leapt from the forest and slammed into him.
On instinct, I fought the warrior holding me, thrashing and kicking my feet. He hauled me off the ground, holding me clear by the throat. I flailed harder, my need for escape eclipsed by the need for air.
He dropped me to the ground beside a great pine, and I scrabbled backwards until my back pressed into the bark.
“What—” my words died when I recognized Thorsteinn, saw the rage written on his face.
“Be still,” Thorsteinn ordered. He didn’t draw a weapon to threaten me. He didn’t have to. His human features were transformed into that of a monster. Everything in his hulking body and bright, feral eyes told me he was close to losing control.
I swallowed carefully, my hand at my bruised throat. The monster cocked his head to the side as if waiting for me to panic or run. After a moment he grunted and gave me his back. His giant body blocked me from the raging scuffle between guard and wolf.
When my cruel guard broke away, the wolf let him go, slinking behind Thorsteinn with hackles raised and snarling teeth.
Thorsteinn drew his axe and pointed it toward the sprawled warrior. “Keep your hands off her.” His voice was a guttural growl.
The guard rose with hands outstretched. “I meant no disrespect. I did not know she belonged to you.”
“Now you do,” Thorsteinn hefted his axe and smacked the head against his palm. “You touched what doesn’t belong to you. You’re lucky I don’t take your hands.”
The wolf’s snarls echoed around the clearing.
“The Alphas ordered—”
“Damn the Alphas,” Thorsteinn snapped and roared loud enough to shake the trees. “Go.”
The warrior scrambled backwards until he almost fell in the brush before turning and making his escape.
I stood trembling behind Thorsteinn and the wolf. Both glanced back at me, their eyes bonfire bright. There was a sudden wind and the wolf’s back arched, his shoulders growing broad as the shaggy form rose from the ground on two legs. The warrior, Vik, stretched into his man form, grimacing and angling his head to crack his neck. When the Change was complete, he wore a silver wolf pelt on his shoulders, and nothing else.
They both turned to me. I shrank against the tree. I’d never been afraid of these warriors, but they were no longer mere men. Their bodies were Changed into something betwixt man-shape and monster. They stood a head taller than me, their eyes bright with the beast, their fingers tipped with massive claws.
“Sorrel,” Thorsteinn rasped. He pointed a claw at the ground in front of him. I pushed myself to standing but couldn’t make myself move.
“You’ve returned,” I whispered. “You came back for me.”
Vik tilted his head, angling his face to sniff the air. “Did you think we would not?”
After they abandoned me? “No.”
“Sorrel,” Thorsteinn repeated with less patience. “Come here.”
Out of habit my back stiffened. “No.”
“You will not obey?” Thorsteinn’s eyes flashed.
I glared back.
Vik’s laugh broke the tense silence. I jumped at the sound and he came at me, his features calm and eyes less bright. “That is the Sorrel I know.” He pulled me from my hardened stance, propelling me easily to the center of the clearing. There he proceeded to inspect me from head to boot, running large hands over my head and shoulders, gripping my arms and coasting over my hips and legs. He raised my bound hands but didn’t free me.
“Unharmed?” Thorsteinn growled.
Vik grunted.
You could’ve just asked me. I glared at Thorsteinn, but he didn’t respond. He stood tense beside us, his clawed hands fisted as if holding tight to the last of his control.
Vik examined my fingers, testing each one as making sure they still had feeling. He checked my skull for bumps and even my ears.
Satisfied I was whole, he stepped away and nodded to Thorsteinn.
I licked my lips. “Happy now?”
Now Thorsteinn did meet my eyes. “No.” In a flash, he closed in. Clamping a hand around my neck, he backed me into a tree truck. I stared at him, my feet scrabbling on the ground, unable to find a foothold. He held me aloft with an iron arm, his palm covered my windpipe, firm but not crushing. My breath came in spurts as he touched his brow to mine and growled in a voice more wolf than human, “Why did you leave the m
ountain?”
“I had to—”
He snarled. “Did we mean so little to you, that you would run?”
Run from them? They left me first. “You were gone,” I sneered. “I did not think of you at all.” That was not true, and he would know it. But I would deny otherwise to the last.
“Lies.” Thorsteinn’s hold tightened. His eyes were a blinding yellow, fur starting to ripple down his arm. He was close to a Change.
“Thorsteinn,” Vik called a warning, and the enraged warrior let me down. My legs crumpled and I would’ve fallen if he didn’t support me.
“Steady,” he murmured, his voice clearer. I gulped and dropped my gaze. The beast was close.
I couldn’t stop myself from baiting it. “Why do you care?”
Thorsteinn snarled and started for me again, and Vik stopped him with a hand. “Choking her will not show her you care,” he said in his usual half mocking, half amused tone. Vik waited for Thorsteinn’s agreeing grunt to turn to me. “Do not toy with us, Sorrel. You know very well we care.”
“I know you left me at the home of the unmated spaewives.” I crossed my arms and stared at the ground. “I don’t know why you returned.”
Vik and Thorsteinn exchanged glances. “We were on patrol near the Corpse King’s lair when the word came of what you had done.,” Vik said. “We ran day and night to reach you before the trial.”
“We could not believe,” Thorsteinn started in a choked, guttural voice, then stopped. After a few heaving breaths he continued in a more normal voice. “We could not believe the reports we were hearing. Two spaewives left the lodge where they were protected by countless guards and magic and ventured beyond the borders of the mountain. Slipped past the guard and patrols and ran straight into enemy territory.”
“Seems we trained you too well to move with stealth,” Vik murmured.
“What possessed you to run?” Thorsteinn asked in a growl.
Biting my lip, I stared at the ground. He shook me by the scruff of my neck, as a dog shakes a misbehaving puppy.
“Sorrel?” Vik squatted close. “Answer us.”
“No,” I whispered, barely a sound escaping between my lips.
“You will tell us,” Thorsteinn growled with another shake. “We will make you tell us.”
They could. They could make me. After blurting the story to the uncaring Berserkers who found me standing over Rosalind, it would be a relief to be heard. Not the whole story—I couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t do that to Rosalind. I may have killed her, I couldn’t slander her name. Tell all she betrayed the pack. Even if it was true.
“I left because Rosalind did,” I blurted and paused to see how they’d react.
“Rosalind left first?” Vik cocked his head. Both warriors’ faces were blank.
“She did. She left in the middle of the night and I followed.”
“She left,” Vik repeated. He and Thorsteinn exchanged glances. I could see the doubt in their eyes.
Rage flashed through me. “Why should I tell you anything,” I hissed, “if you’re not going to believe any of it?”
“Rosalind was in the lodge with her sister Aspen. Reports say she and Aspen were close. Why did she leave her sister on a fool’s errand?”
“I don’t know.” I wilted a little. “I didn’t ask her.” I had been too busy trying to keep us alive.
“Whereas you spoke openly of leaving, of heading into the wilderness to make a living as a hunter. That was your plan even when you were back at the abbey.” Thorsteinn prodded me. “Is it not so?”
“It’s true,” I whispered. Everything about me spoke against what actually happened. No wonder everyone thought I was lying.
I had hoped Thorsteinn and Vik would at least try to believe me. But perhaps it was easier if they did not. I could protect Rosalind and keep the secret of what she’d done.
“You followed her off the mountain for three days. Why did you finally strike her?” Thorsteinn shook me when I remained silent. “Answer me!”
“Thorsteinn,” Vik cautioned, and the enraged warrior released me. I slumped forward, right into Vik’s arms.
“Sorrel—” he started.
A twig snapped at the entrance to the clearing and Thorsteinn whirled with a roar.
Ragnar appeared between the tall pines, his hands upraised to prove he brought no weapons. “The Alphas will see you now. They’re ready to pass sentence.”
Thorsteinn snarled. Vik rose, a steadying hand on my back. “We’re coming. Tell the Alphas we will bring her.”
Ragnar nodded and melted into the shadows.
Thorsteinn dropped to his knees before me. He drew up my chin with one claw-tipped finger.
“You will say nothing, do nothing. Look at no one. Do you understand?” When I only stared at him, his features rippled with the power of the Change. “You will submit to us. Say it. Promise you will submit.”
“Sorrel,” Vik said more patiently. “This is a matter of life or death. The pack is calling for your blood. You must do as we say, nothing more, nothing less. If you do not,” he shot an amused look at his seething warrior brother. “Thorsteinn will Change into a beast and challenge all of the Alphas. All will be lost.”
“Promise,” Thorsteinn barked.
I looked from warrior to warrior. Faces so familiar but now so distant.
“I promise.”
A small smile touched Vik’s lips. “Good girl.” His eyes flashed with his usual humor.
Thorsteinn still regarded me like the enemy. With a grunt, he rose to his feet and strode ahead. Vik planted himself behind me, propelling me forward with his hands on my shoulders. I went willingly until we reached the edge of the fire and angry warriors.
“Look at no one but Thorsteinn or me,” Vik reminded me. I fixed my eyes on Thorsteinn’s boots. It had been a long time since I had to pretend to be docile. I was never any good at it.
“Murderer,” a warrior hissed, and I flinched. Vik snarled at him.
When we reached the Alphas, I started to walk towards the sentencing stone, but Vik stopped me with his hands securely on my shoulders. Thorsteinn stood before and Vik behind, blocking me from the pack’s gaze.
“Thorsteinn, Vik,” the head Alpha greeted them. “You’ve returned.”
“Just in time,” the tattooed Alpha muttered.
“Where have you been?” another Alpha asked.
“We traveled far on patrol, almost to the cave of the Corpse King. We spent days eluding the clutches of the enemy while spying,” Vik answered.
“Why would you accept such a dangerous patrol and leave behind the one you claimed?” Samuel’s eyes were bright.
Thorsteinn shrugged. “We are experienced scouts, too valuable to keep home. That is why we both went.”
“And the accused spaewife is your mate?”
Vik’s hands squeezed on my shoulders. I did not understand his reassurance until Thorsteinn said, “No.”
A loud murmur went up from the waiting crowd. Warriors muttering, protesting, calling for my blood.
“Silence,” one of the Alphas roared again and again. “Silence!”
I stood frozen under the weight of Vik’s hands. Thorsteinn stared ahead, his face stern and unyielding as the rock of the mountain. I wished he would look at me.
Vik squeezed my tight shoulders again.
“Explain,” the Alpha called Samuel ordered. “You claimed this spaewife in front of the pack and promised to keep her from all harm. Why do you say she is not your mate?
“Because it’s true. We claimed her and hoped the bond would form. But it did not. And so, we left her at the lodge of unmated spaewives and went on patrol. It was clear she had not bonded. And now we know for sure. Sorrel was plotting all along to escape us. She pretended to be close to us so we would trust her. But as soon as she could, she ran. We believe she convinced Rosalind to go along with her, but they quarreled at the last. Perhaps Rosalind wanted to return, and Sorrel disagreed. The fight escalated
and grew violent. Maybe they knew the Berserkers were tracking them, and Sorrel grew desperate and struck Rosalind down.”
Thorstein’s story hit me like a blow. They didn’t listen to a single word I said. They didn’t believe me. I swayed and would’ve fallen if Vik hadn’t tightened his hold on me. The warriors around me rumbled and beat their shields, crying for my punishment and death. Thorsteinn never looked my way.
Why are you saying this? I wanted to scream. Of all the Berserkers, I would’ve thought Thorsteinn and Vik would not think the worst of me. If they would not believe me, who would?
“We knew something was wrong, but we did not suspect this level of planning,” Vik added.
“Sorrel never bonded with us. We did all we could, but she never was truly ours. That is why we sent her to the home of unmated spaewives before we left for patrol.” Thorsteinn turned his head, and in an awful finality met my gaze. “Sorrel was never our mate.”
I don’t know what happened after that. The warriors shouted, the Alpha’s couldn’t keep order. The smoke rose up and choked me until I coughed, unsteady on my feet. My eyes stung and the world turned grey. I could no longer see the tall form of Thorsteinn, his broad arms crossed over his tattooed chest. Or Vik, rubbing his beard, no sign of his usual good humor.
Never our mate. Never our mate. The echo rose up with the hellish flames, drowning everything else out, stabbing me in the chest. I gasped against the pain.
“Take her away. Hold her until sentencing,” one of the Alphas ordered. Someone grasped the rope tying my arms and pulled me off the stone. The angry voices faded as I was tugged out of the clearing. I staggered and a hand came to my side.
“Easy,” a deep voice murmured. Vik. I jerked backwards, away from him. My body and soul were alive with pain, shredded by what they’d said. All the time in our home together. All the sweet moments I’d had with them. All the trust I’d given, pieces of my heart I’d sacrificed. In the span of one short speech, everything we’d given each other was destroyed.