Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1)

by Stephan Morse

  Maybe I was delirious. Dreaming. I shook my head trying to jumble things together. To calm down and make sure this whole situation wasn’t a fabrication. The hand shuffling around my belongings wasn’t an illusion. I could feel calloused hands violating each item. Like those unwelcome fingers were grasping my own skin. It was too much. Disturbing. Unwelcome.

  “Mine.”

  I pushed off from the tree being used as a shield. Waded across the landscape with a strange haze overshadowing my thoughts. Images blinked in and out of the moment as my hands grabbed at fur, legs, swung at snapping jaws. Each brush of motion stirred my senses. Each footprint a ripple across water. My senses drummed forward as I spun around lunges, ducked wild leaps, and shouldered weakened flanks. Each moment a still shot of action as my body moved on auto pilot. Then a series of angry growls accompanied the sudden sensation of something wrapped tightly around my neck.

  Someone had snuck up on me.

  My mind snapped out of the haze with a frightening speed. That was a tightness I knew. My own garrote was pressed tightly into tendons on my neck. The tightening sensation served as a focus for a new situation. Not only had my belongings been trespassed upon, now my life was in danger. Escape? Flexing hard enough with a yank might snap the cord, or I might get cut enough to bleed out.

  Sloppy. Missing rhythm. Too slow. Too buried. Should be stronger. Fuzzy things capture me? Pathetic. Disgusted.

  Breath came in short ragged gasps as my other thoughts flashed by. The self-loathing mentality put everything in a strange light. My head pounded and wrist itched. I didn’t dare move to scratch it.

  Where were the wolves? A quick count showed two down, one was very angry, the others were circling. None of those included the person with a frighteningly dangerous piece of woven metals drawn tightly. A hand brushed against the duffle bag. I choked myself trying to escape before the pain became too uncomfortable.

  A voice shouted. I closed my eyes and I frantically tried not to be offensive. Tried to retract my senses. My lips sealed tightly to cover teeth. Slow deep breaths to soothe myself. Anything that prevented me from straining against the wire.

  “Stay still.” The voice behind me didn’t give warnings. Didn’t utter threats. Only commanded. I kept my eyes closed and nodded slowly.

  The world was slowly calming. The wild sensation and defensiveness of my abilities retracted slowly. Words became clearer.

  Other voices had joined in a loud conversation. Each one accusing me of unwarranted violence. Not only that, they were calling me racist and an assassin. Hell. Wolves. Not just one, an entire pack. I had assaulted one by nearly strangling him against a tree. Another wouldn’t be able to pee straight for days until his healing finished. More pack members had minor bruises, one cradled an arm that bent at funny angles.

  My own damage was minor. A few cuts felt slightly aggravating. The promise of growing pain paled compared to the threat around my neck.

  “You should throttle him now.” One of the other males, angry, human, and probably naked. It wasn’t likely he remained human all the way out here during whatever hunt they were on. He was breathing as deeply as I had been.

  “No, we woke him up. He was within rights to be upset.” It was a male voice, older.

  “Woke him, like fuck that’s an excuse. He tried to strangle Leroy, almost neutered Stan, and would have kept going if you hadn’t collared him.” There were other protests from the rest of the pack, most in the form of growls.

  “Don’t. This is more dangerous than you know. We all must remain calm.” The man behind me was very measured. Clipped words. Almost military. Each sentence he spoke was preceded by a deep breath.

  “Get Leroy and Stan to a hospital.”

  “I’ve got the newbies on the fourbys. You got him? We pressing charges?” The noose around my neck tightened in preparation for my outburst. There was no way in hell I would let them call this a racial offense.

  “Settle.” Pain tore across my body. The world grew faint and I almost slipped sideways while gasping.

  “Get out of here.” The older man behind me was struggling to remain calm. I had given up entirely. He was in control, for now. “Don’t touch the bag and take the pack across our territory.” One hand was on my shoulder, for some reason the motion was familiar. Almost fatherly.

  I relaxed slightly as the other members moved to obey. Wolves took orders at face value and didn’t put more than a pause into following them. If the man behind me wasn’t an Alpha, he was damned close. The woods grew quiet as the rest of the pack raced the wounded to care.

  My belongings were safe. Only the wire around my neck remained outside of them. Tension had loosened quite a bit as I regained composure.

  “You got ahold of yourself?” Their leader asked.

  I slowly nodded.

  The wire came undone and I froze for a moment trying to feel how bad my damage was. Using both palms, I rubbed my neck checking for cuts. No blood showed on my hands. Tomorrow would greet me with bruising in a ring pattern. Compared to the rest of the wolves I was on the better end of the deal.

  “They okay?” Apologies could come later.

  “They’ll heal. It’s one of the perks.”

  I found my feet and turned to face the other man. He was older with graying hair on his temples. His face barely showed the drag of old age. And he was completely comfortable being naked in front of me, a fact I couldn’t quite return that favor on. He didn’t have much to be ashamed of, most wolves shared a defined physique. In fact, it almost took a conscious effort for one to grow fat and lazy.

  At least I was taller, if barely. There was something about the way the man held himself that gave the impression he didn’t care a bit about my height. He was used to giving orders and having them listened to. His face looked vaguely familiar. My past jobs required a head for faces, but his escaped me.

  “Thanks.” Alphas were one of the few groups that I tried to sound civil with.

  “You’re lucky I was here. Leroy took the wrong approach, sorry about the rude awakening.” The older man said.

  “Not sure what happened there.” I responded. All those events had flashed by rapidly. My mind was still trying to get an understanding the situation.

  “We spooked you, you reacted. The boys touched your stuff.” He said.

  “Never tried to strangle someone in my sleep.” Never had anyone wake me up out of the blue like that either. Not without some sort of buffer, like a door.

  “He’ll heal, and it’s a lesson learned. The boys will want a good story behind why you’re out here, though.”

  “Looking for someone.” I said and tried to remain calm while avoiding eye contact.

  “No other scents here but you.”

  I raised an eyebrow for a moment and looked at him. It was hard to say how far I should go with this. Should I tell him I was looking for an elf? He was unlikely to help, but if he was out here with a pack he probably thought of these woods as his own.

  “Tracking an elf.” I said.

  “Tracking? Forgive me if I doubt your skills, but trackers are pretty rare.” His voice didn’t waver as he talked.

  “It is what it is.” Pretty rare is an underestimate.

  “Elf huh?” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Sorry about the boys. These woods go on for a while, though, we checked to see if you were lost. Then someone found your duffle bag and tools, and took offense.”

  “Don’t blame them, it’s a bad scene.” This must look terrible. A human, sleeping in the woods of a local pack, with silver lined items that could be used to kill a wolf.

  “I assume you can get out on your own,” He stated.

  “I can.” I hoped, I hadn’t really thought about anything except finding the elf in a day or two, my wood lore wasn’t exactly up to snuff.

  “Take your things then, you’re ok to travel here for now. Just behave. We’ll steer clear.” He said.

  “Thanks.” I kept the eye contact a little longer
than I should have, but the man felt extremely controlled compared to the others. Hopefully, he understood the thanks was for more than packing my stuff.

  “Don’t be surprised if someone checks in on you while you’re out here.” The pack leader stated.

  “I’d expect nothing less,” I shrugged.

  “Good, and next time?”

  I nodded for him to continue, figuring that the next part was a verbal backhand.

  “Warn the pack ahead of time, Mister Fields.” He threw out the comment in an offhanded manner. Worry crawled across my mind as he slipped away. Their Alpha had known my name.

  Shit.

  I stood there trying to puzzle it out. There were only a few people that knew my last name. Fewer still were aware I could track. As I walked away from the slowly rising sun I tried to puzzle out how exactly he knew me. The woods were far enough north that the pack was probably different than the ones back home.

  Was it Daniel sending someone to keep tabs on me? Perhaps. He was the only person I knew locally. So much for thinking I had been sneaky in my escape. Daniel might have set out feelers to every contact he had in the area to track down the elf. An elf I still didn’t know the name of.

  My shirt was exchanged for something fresher. Scratches on either leg were carefully washed out then bound with torn strips from the old clothing. I had expected worse. Nothing here would leave a scar.

  While walking it occurred to me how pointless this entire trip had been. Me, trying to track an elf into the forest. Not only could he outrun me, he would out-survive me. Clever, if his goal was to escape, then a forest was the perfect place.

  Wolves’ inability to smell elves was typical. They had hyper senses, but elves moved through nature without many traces. Entire packs had been decimated due to forest ambushes during the civil war. My advantage was tracking. The distance between the elf and I had lessened yesterday.

  Tracking could lead me home too. My apartment was an unerring and nearly ceaseless pull. The four years away had been tough. I had been sitting in a studio that I rented by the week when my memories of home flooded in out of nowhere. I was on the continental bus home before my brain had fully registered what was happening. As for this current situation. Another day or two wouldn’t hurt. This elf was mine to hunt.

  Autumn’s onset created a colorful landscape to travel through. Hours later there was a deliberate crunch in the fallen leaves. I carefully looked towards the source of the noise. A furry face stared back. There was a patch of darker fur over his right eye. It didn’t look familiar so I grunted and kept moving. My tail had arrived and was likely reporting back on my position through whatever pack mind wolves possessed. That tidbit wasn’t exactly common knowledge, but I had friends and enemies in the right places. Julianne had given me that advice after one of my earliest jobs put me up against a small pack instead of a lone wolf. My asking around had given him a heads up.

  Got my ass handed to me. Things evened out in the end. Pack finds out you’ve gotten them involved in bad debts and some of their more civic minded members solve the issue.

  My tail, correction, the wolf and his tail were never very far from sight. His eyes stared unblinking at me nearly every moment of the journey. I found a stream to drink from. The drink barely reduced growing hunger pains. Two days without water would have been detrimental. Two days without food was bearable. Starvation wasn’t new. There had been hungry days while I traveled.

  “Did the boss give me a time limit?” I asked.

  No yip, no bark or howl. The wolf did manage to tilt his head and glare. His fur didn’t look familiar to anyone I remembered. Similar markings ran in a family. Patches here, patterns, colors, shades. Dog breeders could spot literal family members in a pack with unerring accuracy. Pack members hated dog breeders as a general rule.

  “No?”

  The wolf sniffed and wandered off, vanishing behind a tree.

  My large dumb self hadn’t thought to bring any food before I started this little venture. I assumed, in error, once I got into the woods the elf would come running up and answer all my questions. Had he been lying to me? An attempt at separating me from the law enforcement so he could off me? It could be a trap. One that I was dragging someone’s family into.

  The wolf reappeared behind some trees, padding a path parallel to mine. I shouldn’t bother being suspicious, I wasn’t clever enough or observant enough to be any good at it. My choice at this point was to stop, turn around, and say screw it. Or chase an answer and an undefined cut of a quarter million.

  Tomorrow might see me close enough. Maybe the elf would have food. Maybe I could catch a rabbit. There was a small dose of lighter fluid and matches in the bag. Not that it was specifically for a meal, I occasionally had other uses.

  I woke up to talking and a painful reminder of how hungry I was. It was from near by, more like someone was having an external monolog and didn’t really expect me to wake up. It was an unremarkable voice, one that I could never pick out in a line-up.

  “Why are you out here?” Someone new was speaking. My lips started to respond, but the voice went on without waiting for an answer.

  “You seem familiar, but I don’t know you. Pops knew you. Something in his eyes when he stood there.” He didn't wait for me to speak or respond.

  “Then being in our woods. That’s a lie isn’t it?” The voice paused again, and time seemed to slip by. “Because you’re out here in our woods, with two items of silver. You don’t look for an elf with silver.”

  Another blink of time.

  “Why are you really out here?” The last bit was hostile and almost joking. “You gonna to sleep forever, Princess?”

  I jerked awake with a start, worried about how much time had passed. Quickly I scrambled for my focus, trying to figure out how far away the target had gotten. Yesterday it had been within easy distance to the west as if the elf had been walking slowly to let me catch up.

  Only now it was far, far to the north and more than a few days away. Two days had vanished during my last time warp. Had it happened again? Already? The wounds under my makeshift bandages had healed. I bundled up the torn fabrics and put them into a pocket of my duffle.

  The elf was too far way to get a proper fix. Trying for another weird spirit conversation was out as well. If the wolf was anywhere around and still watching then I might be able to ask him.

  My choices boiled down to heading north after the elf. Heading west where I’d felt the elf a few days ago. Or going east and heading home, which meant starving unless I walked through the night.

  “Hell.” I muttered and hefted my bag over a shoulder. Half a day’s walk was closer than all the other options. I might find some sort of clue. Maybe even a freeway. Perhaps the elf had hitched a ride north. That must be it, there was a freeway or road close. Maybe he had found a bike and peddled.

  Wilderness was never completely quiet, but there was a sort of stillness in my immediate area. Like everything hushed for a moment as I passed through. Nature’s collective breath released as soon as my feet moved far enough away.

  A few hours later I found the road. Too bad it was barely that. The path couldn’t have been wide enough to fit two cars at the same time. One direction wove through trees and faded into the distance. That was the direction I turned for.

  Near high noon, I started getting too hungry to concentrate. Early hunger pains and dizzy spells were tolerable. Now it was getting near impossible. Things blurred, the world tilted uncontrollably. Stupid, stupid me. Food had always been an issue.

  I stopped, set my bag down and dug through for anything that might be useful. A knife, sure, I could skin an animal. There was fluid for starting a small fire to cook. Nothing in here would serve as a snare. Trapping was a skill I had never learned. Daniel would know. He was a Scout.

  Could I use my other senses to find something? Not a deer, though my hunger would probably see me through a good portion, but something smaller. A rabbit, hopefully a fully plump one ge
tting ready for winter. The idea of meat set my mouth watering. I sat down and was trying to flip that mental switch.

  This area was mine. I owned it.

  No.

  Not mine. I couldn’t picture myself as a forest creature. I wasn’t a wolf, wasn’t an elf, just human. Granted an odd one, but nothing special enough to fit in out here. I felt amazingly out my depth. The only thing that had helped me focus was a simple mission of ‘Hunt the elf’. My head rattled side to side. Negative thoughts, disbelief, those things were useless. I had to reset my thinking and start over. There was something closer I could focus on instead. An entire bag of belongings.

  The pack was dumped out in shaky desperation. Leftover scraps from my shirt were strewn about quickly. Miscellaneous contents gained new homes under bushes and next to tree trunks. What little wood lore I possessed told me the smell would probably scare wildlife off. In my mind, there was a faint memory being roused. A hint on how to get food. Perhaps providence would be with me.

  My things, my stuff in this area. It was my area now by virtue of a smattering of belongings. A home. A temporary stay. Two nights passed out on these woods. Slowly things clicked.

  World is dim. Unfocused. Vibrations weak. Mind tries to unwind. Feel tangle of brush, leaves curl against each other. Diffuse trees, tops dim. Too far. Packed dirt of the logging trail. Low branches weighed down by discarded armor. Wires wrapped around trunks.

  This was extremely tenuous. Nearby a low growl shattered everything. The growl switched to a male voice shouting.

  “What the hell are you doing?” His words were hard to understand past the hunger. It was probably the same person as earlier.

  “Hunting?” I said.

  “No, you weren’t. You were doing something.” My head hurt too much to argue with some cocky wolf.

  “Either find me dinner or shut it.”

  “Excuse me?” The former fuzzball asked.

  “I’m very hungry, help or shut up.” I tried to emphasize the very. Getting close to violent and hungry.

  “I’m not paid to help you, princess.”

  It took the last bit of my sanity to shove my response deep down where it wouldn’t get me in trouble. If I wasn’t so hungry. If I hadn’t been so deep into pack lands. If I didn’t have other shit to do.