So he was still inside.
No matter. I rolled the crossbow off my shoulder and ascended the hill quickly, then lay back down to peer through the hole. The black wolf paced back and forth on all fours in front of Claudette. I could take a shot, but if he moved suddenly or I missed by an inch, I might hit her. I kept the crossbow trained on him for another few moments, hoping he would pace farther away to give me a clear shot. He didn’t. He kept watching the cave entrance, as if expecting something.
I decided not to disappoint him.
I secured my grappling hook to a tree root and let out some rope. Firming up my grip, I jumped into the hole, barely managing to hold onto the crossbow as I descended fast.
The black wolf looked up at me, his eyes popping as I scrambled down the rope in my plain tunic. I gave up on the last ten feet and dropped, landing hard on my feet. I stood upright and raised the crossbow to take aim.
The black wolf smiled. In the blink of an eye, he whirled and scooped up Claudette to stand her in front of him as he crouched. I couldn’t tell if the terror in her eyes was from the wolf or from my crossbow aimed at them.
“Helena Basque,” the black wolf rasped with glee. “The ‘Red Rider’.”
“And the protector of the girl you’re hiding behind,” I warned, squinting, searching for a clear shot. “Let her go, and I might spare you.”
The wolf cackled. “I can’t tell you how delighted I am to meet you, Helena. I’ve been looking forward to this, ever since I heard of your exploits. Perhaps you have heard of me as well.” He rose a little higher. Not enough for a clear opening, but enough for me to see his blue eyes shining over Claudette’s shoulder. “Let me introduce myself. I am the leader of the Lycanthru,” he said. “I am the Prime.”
25.
I tensed my body to keep the black wolf from seeing me shiver at his name: the Prime. I could blame the damp night air of the cave, but I doubted he would believe that. I heard his title referenced a few months ago in a secret Lycanthru meeting. He was their supreme leader, standing just a few feet away from me. With the innocent young Claudette shielding him from my crossbow. “Please to meet you, ‘Prime’,” I said. “I’m your executioner.”
He chuckled darkly. “Not while I hold this precious child close to my chest.” His voice was confident, smooth as oil. “Wouldn’t you feel horrible if you drove a silver bolt into her frail little body, while trying to kill me?”
I held still, curling my lip, my hand ready on the trigger. “What have you done with the Serrones?” I studied his shining eyes for any indication that the Serrones were alive.
I couldn’t confirm a thing. “ You should be more concerned about what I plan to do with you, Mademoiselle.”
I tightened my lips. I had grown tired of the Lycanthru’s threats. “What do you want?”
“I want you, Helena,” he rasped, his blue eyes glinting behind Claudette’s shoulder. “I want to bury you, in a deep, dark hole where no one will ever find you. Somewhere no one will even bother to look. And once I’ve buried you there and you’re forgotten by all – then I want to make you suffer, in every possible way. For the rest of your natural life.”
I clenched my teeth to keep my lip from quivering. “I have something much shorter in mind for you,” I said, circling around the pool’s rim for a better angle.
He circled away, keeping himself shielded. “Dear impetuous Mademoiselle. You can’t shoot while I have the child with me.”
I steadied my nerves. It was all a game, seeing who would back down first and give up their position. I couldn’t allow any fear to show. “Perhaps not,” I said. “Unfortunately for you, you’re just as powerless. So why don’t you let her go and we’ll walk out of here. We can get better acquainted another time.”
He grinned. “Sorry, Helena. I’m just not that patient.”
Something shuffled behind me at the rear of the cave. I turned toward it to aim, as something sharp snapped at my wrist. My arm stung like fire. I cried out, hearing my crossbow clatter to the dirt and rocks. Then I felt my arm being tugged. I tried to pull free, but saw something like a thin ribbon coiled around my glove. I saw a pair of eyes gleaming in the darkness, then the vicious teeth of a shorter brown wolf emerging from the cave’s recesses, his paw gripping the other end of a whip.
I prepared to run at him, to give the whip some slack and twist out of it. But a rope looped around me from behind and pulled taut, pinning my arms to my sides. It cinched my stomach so suddenly I gasped and doubled over. The next instant, I was yanked sideways to land hard on my shoulder. I scrambled to my feet, using my legs alone to rise quickly as two grinning wolves emerged from the shadows. Flanking me, they moved closer, the second wolf wrapping another lariat around my arms and pulling it tight. They both yanked hard, squeezing my arms and stomach so tightly with the ropes that air rushed from my lungs in a strangled wheeze.
“Perfect, Garroche,” the Prime said. “Now grab her.”
I still had my glove-blades.
I twisted to one side, ready to flick my wrist. One wolf seized it, as his companion gripped my other wrist. I couldn’t move to produce the knives.
The Prime stepped onto the pool’s rim. “Bind her tightly.”
The wolves looped more rope around my arms, securing my hands behind my back. I struggled to activate the blades, but it was impossible.
The Prime threw back his head and howled at the moon, a shrill cry so loud I winced and wished I could cover my ears. He regarded me with wild delight. “The others will return in a moment to meet our honored guest.”
I heard them within seconds, pounding the ground and howling back to the cave. Over a dozen rushed in at first, grinning as they saw me captive, then spreading out to separate corners of the cave. I thought they meant to intimidate me by surrounding me.
But they were only making room. The rest of the pack came flooding in all at once, filling the mouth of the cave, then every corner of it. Their body heat warmed the air and stifled my lungs as they pressed in around me with guttural laughs and snapping jaws.
The Prime hopped down from his perch. Claudette flinched as he put his paws on her shoulders. “Unlike you, dear Helena, I always plan ahead. And I have so many plans for you.” He regarded me for another moment, reveling in my capture as I tried to twist out of the wolves’ grip. He nodded toward the pack. “Everyone. It’s time for Helena’s lessons to start.” He leaned forward, grinning like the devil. “Let’s teach her the true meaning of pain.”
26.
The wolves closed in and seized me, hoisting me high over their heads, where the cave air felt cool and damp. Their claws gripped my arms and legs and neck, as they looped more rope around me, tying me so tightly I gasped.
“Tighter,” the Prime growled beneath me. “See to it she cannot move. At all.”
They secured my ankles and knees, my torso, and even bound my elbows and wrists so tightly I could no longer flick my wrists. Not that I could use my glove-blades now, with over twenty wolves surrounding me. Even if I cut myself free quickly, I couldn’t stab more than a few of them. Not while they held me aloft in their claws.
“Here,” the Prime said. “Ensure that she pays attention.”
I couldn’t see what he was doing. I could only turn my head from side to side, to see the moon peeking through the hole overhead, illuminating sections of the cave ceiling. A cloth flashed above my eyes and fell onto my mouth. It was pulled tight, forced past my lips to gag me. I struggled again, but a cluster of paws held my head in place.
“Much better. Now she can start to learn.”
They set me down on my feet. Though my ankles were fastened so close together I couldn’t have stood without the crowd holding me upright, their furry chests and paws still pressed against all sides of me. I gave one tug against the ropes, more to relieve some discomfort than to try to escape. It didn’t help. I stood before the Prime, a helpless mummy.
So this was how I would die. Surrounded by the Lycan
thru, unable to fight or even move while they gloated. While I wondered how they would plan to eat me. Or, like Claudette, – keep me alive for sport.
“And here it ends, little Helena,” the Prime said, lifting my chin with his claw. “How you surely knew it would. Or did you imagine you could challenge us all and survive? Even defeat us?”
The wolves grunted with laughter, surrounding me like a gathering of demons. I struggled again in spite of myself, knowing I could barely move. Knowing they had won.
“You see, foolish child, this was all planned over a month ago. To capture you and ‘rid’ ourselves of you.”
More laughter. It was the same thing I told the last Lycanthru leader, warning him I would rid our province of them.
“You will now live out the rest of your days in suffering and torment. Until we tire of you. Though I cannot imagine that happening any day soon.”
I twisted again in vain.
He stepped to one side, giving orders to tie up Claudette as well. Another wolf stood on hind legs and stepped past him. It was Madame Strineau, the auburn wolf, grinning as she approached. She pursed her lips. “Oh, poor Helena. That new LieutenantGeneral and your faithful friends didn’t believe your story, did they? And they left you all alone.”
More laughter as she seized the hair at my temples. I winced as she yanked me toward her. “I’m going to enjoy playing with you, my sweet little toy.” She grinned like a cat holding a bird in its paw.
“You will have plenty of opportunity, Liana,” the Prime interrupted, stepping in front of her. “But first, we must put our intruder back where she belongs. Leave the child here.”
A horse whinnied in protest at the mouth of the cave. I instantly recognized Crimson’s cry and renewed my struggles.
Crimson reared back as a handful of wolves tugged on his reins. He bucked and threatened them with his hooves, but they had looped ropes all around him. One on either side of his neck, one on each of his front legs and one on a hind leg. They could easily topple him over if he got out of hand. Instead, they kept circling and tugging him to lead him forward, snapping their jaws at him and disorienting him along the way. I jerked at my ropes again, chewing on the gag.
“I see you wish to be reunited with your friend,” the Prime said. “Tie her to the saddle.”
They hoisted me high again and passed me over their heads toward the cave entrance. A few of them threw me over Crimson’s back and he settled down as they placed me on top of him. I lay sideways, my legs tied together and drooping over one flank, my head hanging over the other. The wolves looped more rope around each of my shoulders and knees. I wondered what the point of it was, until I tried to raise my head. I could hardly move. A thick paw shoved my back against Crimson’s side and the ropes tugged harder at my shoulders. They were tying me to the stirrups!
“Now,” the Prime said. “Let’s take Helena for a ride.”
Crimson started as I felt something thrown onto his back, pressing against my hip. I felt hard bone and fur against my legs and the back of my head. “Hyaah!” the Prime called from above me. He was riding Crimson! I thrashed about, achieving tiny movements as I struggled to spot Claudette. I could see nothing but the ground.
The other wolves closed in to charge alongside us as we rushed from the cave into the night air. We thundered down the path, the Prime’s paw pressing on the small of my back to hold me in place. I still flopped back and forth, my legs and chest banging into Crimson’s sides as he galloped. The wolves chuckled and howled alongside us as we ran.
“Comfortable, Helena?” the Prime shouted, drawing more wild laughter from the pack.
I heard Madame Strineau padding nearby, jeering. “We should tie her tighter, my Lord. We wouldn’t want her to fall.”
“She’s secure enough for tonight,” the Prime replied. “She won’t give us any trouble. Will you, Helena?”
His thigh knocked hard into the back of my head. I saw stars for a moment. They continued to swirl before me as we bounced along.
We charged through the black woods on a well-traveled path. They were heading southwest toward La Rue Sauvage. What were they planning?
I bounced less on the broad road, but my gut and lower back ached from the pounding rhythm. After an endless ride that must have lasted about three hours, we stopped a few yards inside the province border. I felt the Prime climb off poor Crimson, who panted beneath me.
Then a few of the surrounding wolves drew close and I saw one claw flash near my eyes. I flinched as it struck toward me, then felt the pressure release from my neck and ankles. They had cut me free of the stirrups.
They tossed me off Crimson to plummet to the ground. I grunted.
“Here’s where we leave you, Helena,” the Prime said, standing over me on his hind legs. I squinted at him, trying to understand what he meant, as Crimson struggled to fight them off me with his remaining strength. One wolf stood upright and smacked Crimson’s jaw, knocking him over. I screamed through my gag as he fell and lay still.
A wolf seized my shoulders and forced me into a seated position. It was Madame Strineau. “You should be more concerned for yourself, my pet.”
The Prime stood behind her, looking on like a proud father. He hunched toward me. “Yes, forget about your horse, and that child. We’ll take good care of her from now on.” He hunched toward me. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. Is there, Helena?”
I shook, imagining Claudette in that damp cave, tied up against a cold wall, waiting for their return. Night after night.
The Prime laughed. “I’ve been looking forward to this for some time. I’m going to bury you deep in a hole, where no one will bother to dig for you, or even remember you’re buried there. Soon the ‘Red Rider’ will be nothing but a memory. A legend. A rumor that no one will believe.”
Madame Strineau tugged me closer, her wolfish eyes glinting. “Now get some sleep, sweet thing. It’s time for your punishment to begin.”
She backhanded me with her paw and the world went black.
The sun peeked in from the horizon as I lay on the grass, my face and head stinging. I wanted to leap up but I knew better. Even if I wasn’t still tied from head to toe, the wolves would be ready to knock me down the second I stood.
But there was no sound of them.
And I was no longer tied.
I sat up with a jerk, blood rushing painfully to my head. I
looked around the darkened grass. The wolves were gone. I had been cut free and the ropes had all been taken. My crossbow lay on the ground. They had left it for me, oddly enough.
Crimson lay on his side nearby. I crawled to him quickly, wincing as my temples throbbed again with the sudden move. I laid my hand on his side, feeling him breathe. Then I patted his flank.
He kicked his legs and rose with a start, his eyes wide. I scrambled away from him, giving him time to re-orient himself and recognize me. He fidgeted and turned in a circle, looking around. Probably wondering the same thing I was. Where were the Lycanthru?
I crawled to the crossbow, aching all over. But I would heal. I had no broken bones, no torn flesh. I knelt to examine the crossbow. It was equally intact. And still fully loaded.
I looked all around for any sign of them. We were alone.
I aimed at the dirt and pulled back on the lever, to make sure the crossbow still fired. The bolt jammed deep into the ground. I stared at it for several seconds before tugging it out to clean it off. I slid back the catch and loaded it in the top slot, then closed it. It functioned beautifully, like always.
I stood – more slowly this time – and scanned the area. The path, the woods beside it leading back to DeSarte, the grassy hills leading into La Rue Sauvage. No trace of the wolves anywhere.
What on earth just happened?
27.
We limped into town, as I walked alongside Crimson for a while. I didn’t want to ride him again until he had gathered some strength back. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting a wolf to atta
ck at any moment, or at least to follow us.
There was no one there.
After we had walked about a mile, Crimson started to stand taller and build to a canter, I stopped him and climbed onto the saddle. I led him at an easy trot all the way to Father Vestille’s hovel, continuing to check over my shoulder every few minutes. Assuming they didn’t follow me – which appeared to be the case
– it would be safer to retreat to the secret longhouse than to my parent’s home. I could get some rest and tell Father Vestille what happened later, to see if he had any ideas what the Lycanthru were up to. After all his searching for information about them the last few years, he might know something I don’t.
Such as the fact that some Lycanthru capture children to use for sport.
We finally reached the hovel as morning light started to creep across the hills. I opened the secret door quietly, to avoid any chance of waking him, and led Crimson slowly down the steps to the underground longhouse.
I settled him in quickly, giving him some of the oats Father Vestille had left out for him, for whenever we returned. Crimson ate and soon laid himself down.
I trudged to the bed, took a fierce bite of the bread Father Vestille set out for me. Then I dropped the rest on the plate and collapsed headfirst onto the bed.
“Helena? Are you down there?” My whole body groaned awake. I wondered how long Father Vestille had been knocking on the overhead door. “I’m here,” I moaned. “You can come down.”
I shut my eyes as the door opened and he descended the ladder. I tensed my body, squeezing out the soreness and exhaustion as best I could, then rolled off my stomach and sat up.
“Helena? Are you … all right? What happened?” I realized I was still wearing my Red Rider outfit. I hadn’t even removed my boots or my hood. I stared into my lap, too tired to lift my head. “I fought the wolves last night,” I muttered. “Or I should say, they fought me. And won.”
Red Rider Revolution Page 17