"Uncle is taking me to a pack meeting today," Jonathan said.
"You will come too," Edward said. Walter had hoped to spend his first day back with his children but he supposed that Edward wanted to warn the other pack members about the marceffynol and since Walter was the one who had seen it he would be the most valuable in answering any questions the other pack members might have.
"I will see to your bride," Margaret promised.
"I will see to my new mother," Naomi said.
"Mama," Bess said with a huge grin. Walter knew Tamsin would be in good hands.
"Is it only for the males of the pack?" Tamsin asked.
"This time," Edward said. Walter was glad he had answered Tamsin kindly. As a woman who was not a she-wolf the goings on of the pack had little to do with her. It was a good sign that Edward would make an effort to accept his new wife.
The meal was eaten mostly in silence. Walter wondered what his older children thought of him bringing home a strange woman to replace the mother they had loved and lost.
Once they were through Walter followed Edward and Jonathan to the center of Crake land where the church stood. It was the easiest place for pack meetings as it was a central location as well as one of the few indoor areas that were large enough to accommodate the members of the pack in relative comfort.
Fifteen werewolf families including the alpha family lived on the Crake estate. The werewolf tenants lived nearest to the Crake's home and the non-werewolf tenants lived further away. Mostly, this was necessity. Werewolves planted crops or did other work to pay their way. Many of the other tenants were shepherds and as sheep hated werewolves it was imperative to keep the two very different tenants apart though care was made to be sure that all were charged fairly for their rents and all were treated fairly though, due to necessity, not always equally.
The non-werewolf tenants had no idea that they were living amongst werewolves with the exception of two families which served in the Crake household. They had been given the knowledge in confidence generations ago and so far they had kept those confidences and were well rewarded for it.
Near the church was a large field where crops for the Crake household use were grown. Each tenant, as part of his rents, worked in the field one day per month. Any overages that were harvested were given to the priest who was responsible for giving the extra food to families who had most need of it. No tenant ever starved on Crake land though the Crake's had no tolerance for sloth and tenants who did not fulfill their obligations were sent away. That had never been a problem during Walter's life.
When they arrived at the chapel thirty wolves were waiting for them including the priest.
"Walter, when did you return? I thought your father gave you an alpha order to protect the king and bring Christendom back to England," Adney asked. He was the oldest of the wolves. He was older even than Walter's father had been.
"I called him back. He had information of a new threat to the kingdom. It is why I assembled you," Edward said. Walter was glad his brother had chosen not to shame him by telling the other pack members the full truth.
"What threat?" Caldwell asked. He was the physician on the Crake land and he was married to Esther.
"Is it some plague?" Kolby, Caldwell's son, asked.
"There have been rumors of a marceffynol in England," Edward said.
"There are always rumors of monsters," Adney said.
"My brother has seen the marceffynol with his eyes," Edward said.
"Have you really?" Kolby asked not even trying to hide his awe. He was only a few years older than Jonathan though he was apprenticing with his father to become the Crake physician when his father was too old for the work.
"It could not be anything else," Walter confirmed.
"We must discover why it was on our land. Since Blacwin the Madder turned one hundred centaurs into marceffynol in an attempt to prevent King John from taking Llywelyn the Great's territory there has been no new marceffynol made that I have heard of," Adney said.
"That was over three hundred years ago. Surely, all those marceffynol are dead now," Kolby said.
"I do not know much about marceffynol in truth. They are already dead so it seems logical that unless they are destroyed they cannot die again," Edwards said.
"Would they not decay over time as corpses do?" Caldwell asked.
"I cannot say. If they do decay over time then the one that my brother saw must be new. We must see if someone has read the stories of Blacwin the Madder and decided to attempt to make his own marceffynol army," Edward said.
"The centaurs have been in decline these last hundred years," Adney said.
"This is what worries me most. Could some monster be breeding centaurs and turning them into marceffynol once they reach adulthood?" Edward asked.
"It would not be an easy task. Centaurs grow at a rate slower than a horse but faster than a human. A centaur that is now an adult would have been born perhaps seven years ago," Adney said.
"So either we have someone who has been planning this for a very long time or we are looking at someone who is capturing centaurs. If he is doing that then it could destroy what is left of the centaur population," Edward said.
"Adney, have you any contacts who would be able to get us in touch with a centaur representative?" Edward asked.
"I can try," Adney said. He was the senior pack liaison. He had contacts in the local witches covens and in several groups of other were-creatures and fantastical beast though generally the Crake's had little to do with them. Adney had primarily maintained the pack's relationship with the monarchy before his son Owen had taken over the position
"I need three wolves to take this news to court and to guard King Henry. It is possible that the marceffynol my brother saw was a scout. Assure the king that we do not yet know how much of a threat there is and we are just being sure to protect his royal person," Edward said. Three young men volunteered. Walter admired the young men's desire to be heroes though he had never been ambitious. He had been content to be a married man with children. He would be glad when this unpleasant business was through and he could go back to being only a husband and father.
"Another pack of wolves came to my rescue when the marceffynol attacked me. If we could find them they may have information," Walter said.
"It is unusual for a marceffynol to attack a werewolf. I have never heard of it happening," Adney said.
"He attacked my wife," Walter said.
"My brother has chosen to unite our pack with the Wolstenholme pack through marriage," Edward said.
"I thought Wolstenholme only had one daughter and she was said to be a bastard," Adney said.
"She is no bastard," Walter said. He felt the hair on his neck prickle and his blood ran hot. Walter stepped forward but his brother laid a hand on his chest to warn him to remain calm.
"She is a Wolstenholme but she is not a werewolf," Edward admitted.
"How can you have let your brother marry a non-were?" Adney shouted.
"He met Thomasina Wolstenholme at Hampton Court Palace. She had been sent by her father to guard the interests of her pack. My brother has given this pack seven children. I do believe that is more than any of you have contributed. His breeding days are over. If he wishes to have a wife who is from an influential werewolf family even if she is no werewolf who am I to deny him?" Edward said.
Walter swallowed the lump in his throat. His father would have exiled him if he was still the alpha of the pack. He certainly never would have defended Walter the way Edward was.
"Who can be spared to find the werewolves who rescued my new mother?" Jonathan asked. Walter smiled at his son. He was growing into a fine man. Walter knew he would make a good alpha one day.
***
"Have you any idea what the pack meeting is about?" Tamsin asked Margaret. Bess had clung to her until it was time for her nap. Tamsin loathed handing the little girl over to her nurse but Bess's yawn was all the convincing she needed. The nurse stayed with B
ess while Tamsin and Margaret joined the older children on the lawn. It had taken some work to convince Naomi to play with her siblings but when she realized that her new mother and her aunt planned to do very grown up and very boring things she eventually gave up and left to play with the rag dolls Miriam was mothering. Margaret was doing embroidery while Tamsin wrote a letter to her mother. She wanted to complete it before the end of the pack meeting so that she could include it with Edward's more formal letter to her father. She hadn't been sure what the meeting was about and so she could not guess how long the men would be away. She did not know if Edward shared such things with his wife. Her father had not always kept her mother well informed of pack goings on that did not concern the she-wolves.
"Edward did not say. I suppose it is about the marceffynol you encountered," Margaret said.
"My mother made sure I was well educated but I do not believe I was ever taught about marceffynol," Tamsin said. It was something that had been bothering her. She was raised to be a member of the alpha family of a werewolf pack. She knew much more of history and particularly magical history than the other girls her age. Margaret likely had been given a similar education. Tamsin wondered if there was something her new sister-in-law might have been taught that she had either never learned or had forgotten.
"You have not heard of them because they were of little importance to any wolves so far from Wales. I am sure there are creatures that are native to Scotland who you know of but I have never heard of. Well, marceffynol have only ever been in Wales as far as I know," Margaret said. Tamsin's father had been sure she and her brother were well schooled in Scottish monsters as well as English ones. She knew all about the Bodach and the Dunnie.
"What is a marceffynol?"
"Could you not tell by the sight of it?" Margaret asked.
"It was dark and I do not have vision as good as yours in the dark," Tamsin confessed. Margaret chuckled.
"I am sorry. It will take some time to get used to my sister-in-law not being a werewolf. Marceffynol are made when a centaur is murdered with madder," Margaret said.
"Murdered with madder?" Tamsin asked. She had no idea what that meant and try as she might there was no way to puzzle it out in her mind.
"Madder is a poison to centaurs. They avoid it at all cost. They will even shy away from anything dyed red. I believe madder must be ingested to be poisonous. I do not think coming into contact with wool dyed with madder could hurt them. Still, they avoid it," Margaret said. Tamsin nodded. She had heard of a plant called madder being used to make red dye for clothing but she had never heard of any other uses for it. Particularly, not such horrific uses. She had never met a centaur before but she had been taught of them. They were proud creatures who sometimes were arrogant but they were more interested in wisdom than war. They kept to themselves when they could and they had very limited dealings with any other fantastic creatures.
"If a centaur dies by poisoning from madder they become a marceffynol?" Tamsin asked. She wanted to make sure she understood.
"That is what I was taught. One can never be sure such things are true. It has been hundreds of years since the last time my ancestors wrote about marceffynol. I thought all the ones created had been destroyed. There are few people in the world who know how to make a marceffynol. There are even fewer who know how to catch a centaur and contain him long enough to murder him with madder," Margaret said. Tamsin was sure that was true.
"I would think not," Tamsin agreed.
"They also are not very useful creatures to build an army with as they only are animated under the three days of the full moon," Margaret said. So, marceffynol were only marceffynol at the same times that werewolves were werewolves. Tamsin turned that thought over in her brain along with everything else Margaret had told her.
"It stands to reason then that it must be someone who has studied ancient magic," Tamsin said. Her first thought was that it must be a witch but all the witches she knew were allied with werewolf packs. It had been generations since there was discord among wolf and witch. If some rift had been created she should have heard about it even as far away as Hampton Court. It was not the sort of thing that could be kept quiet.
"Or it could be someone who has somehow stumbled across documents containing the information. They must exist somewhere," Margaret said.
"What did the marceffynol want with me?" Tamsin asked. Knowing what one was didn't explain why the creature had abducted her.
"Marceffynol are primitive creatures. They want to breed, fight, and eat flesh. I cannot assume which he intended for you though I doubt he found a human woman a worthy opponent to battle," Margaret said. Tamsin shivered. Neither would have been a pleasant fate.
Chapter 20
Walter was tired after the pack meeting but glad to be home. He kissed Naomi and Bess who were again at Tamsin's side.
He was glad the youngest children at least had taken to her.
Jonathan had declared Tamsin his mother before the pack but Walter believed the boy still held reservations. Of all the children, he had the most memories of his mother. Rachel was only a bit younger than Jonathan and had been very close to her mother. Aaron, Miriam, and Joseph were clumped closely together in age with Aaron and Miriam being less than a full year apart and Joseph less than two years younger than Miriam. The children were closer to each other than to their other siblings or to either of their parents. They missed their mother but none had enjoyed much alone time with her because Mary had been busy with so many children so close in age. Naomi had come almost five years after Joseph. By then, the clustered children had become more independent and so Naomi had been given much of her mother's attention especially since it was assumed she would be the last child.
Bess had never had a mother at all except for Margaret.
"How did you find Margaret?" he asked Tamsin softly once Naomi had been sent to fetch the other children.
"She was very kind to me. I learned much about the creature that accosted us from her," Tamsin said.
"I wish you never would have needed to ask of it. They are monstrous creatures and their appearance is of great to concern not just to our pack but to many other groups as well," Walter said.
"Is your brother handling it well?" Tamsin asked.
"It amazes me how well he has adapted to his role of pack leader. Our father's death was so recent that he has barely had time to learn to be an alpha," Walter said.
"Have you taken the time to visit his grave and give him a proper mourning?" Tamsin asked.
"There was no time yesterday and I only just returned from the pack meeting," Walter said though he knew she was right. He and his father had their differences but that did not mean he would not be mourned.
"Shall I go there with you this evening?" Tamsin asked.
"If you wish to," Walter said. He hadn't thought to take her as she had never known him but it was a kind gesture she was offering.
"Shall we take the children as well?" Tamsin asked.
"Yes, I think we should," Walter agreed. He was sure the children had been in attendance at the funeral but his father's was not the only grave in the graveyard.
"Will you ask your brother to send this letter to my mother along with his to my father?" Tamsin asked handing him a sealed letter. He wondered what it contained but he didn't ask. She would tell him if she wanted him to know.
"Of course. I am sure she will want to be assured that you are well and were in no way coerced into this union," Walter said. He did not know much about mothers and daughters but he did know that the women's world was very different from the men's.
"You have clearly never met my mother. She will be more worried that you were the one the marriage was thrust upon," Tamsin said.
"It can be hoped that she comes for our ceremony before the pack so that she can see we both are willing," he said leaning in to kiss her. He had just pulled back from her when Naomi returned with Aaron, Miriam, and Joseph.
"Rachel is helping Aunt Margare
t," Naomi said oblivious to the interruption. The older children gave him somewhat harsher looks. They had never seen him kiss any woman but their own mother and even that was a rare occasion as Mary was not the type to show affection to her husband. She reserved all of her warm love for her children.
"Will you children pick some wildflowers for me? I wish to visit my father's grave and pay my respects," Walter said. Picking flowers was something Aaron might balk at but the others would be happy to comply though Joseph might end up with more rocks and frogs than he did flowers.
"Should we pick some extra for mama?' Miriam asked looking up at Walter.
"Of course you should," Tamsin said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I am sure your grandfather would understand if you saved the very prettiest ones for her."
Miriam seemed to think about that for a moment then she nodded. She turned around and led the children, excepting Bess, off in search of flowers.
Tamsin snuggled Bess tenderly on her hip which seemed to please Bess.
"I will give my brother your letter and alert him of our plans," Walter said.
***
After supper Edward and Margaret retired leaving Tamsin, Walter, and the children to take the short walk to the Crake family cemetery.
Tamsin looked around in awe as she thought of the differences between the Wolstenholme burials and the Crake ones. The Wolstenholme's had a manor church and underneath the slabs of the church was where her brother was laid.
Here, there was no church though there did seem to be an area off to the far right where a church may have once stood. It was little more than rubble now.
It was as if the family had buried their dead under the church but once the church was destroyed they had been loath to either rebuild the church or separate the dead from their ancestors which did make sense, she supposed, in a werewolf family.
Lineage and ancestors were much more important to werewolves than they were to the common man which was something she had realized at an early age.
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