Wolf's-own: Weregild

by Carole Cummings

  Malick parried a set of long, black talons with a sweeping drive, then lunged in right up close with a brutal swipe at a scaly thigh. The satisfying sensation of flesh and meat parting beneath his blade wound up through steel and into his palm. Grinning at the creature, Malick waggled his eyebrows, said, “I've always wanted to be a dragon slayer,” then flipped the sword up into his palm and drove it down, just so. It sank in just below where a clavicle would have been. Malick kept the plunge shallow, remembering only at the last second that to actually kill any of these creatures would mean his soul. Even as he pulled back, thrashing talons swiped out across his midsection, slicing easily through cloak and shirt, but only striking dull sparks from the mail underneath.

  This was why maijin shouldn't play with glamours. They got too caught up in what they were projecting to remember they weren't actually as invincible as the things they pretended to be. Malick's sword sank again through the scales just as easily as it did through flesh. And maijin bled just as red.

  A feral, hissing shriek turned to an angry scream as Malick took advantage of the creature's distraction and stripped its glamour away. He found himself staring down into eyes gone from cat-slitted yellow to just plain hazel. “Aw, shit,” he muttered. “Leu, what the hell were you thinking?"

  One of Wolf's, as he'd suspected, but he hadn't suspected her. He'd always thought Leu was smarter than this. Shouts and hisses and low, rolling screeches were going on all around him, and all he could do was look at Leu as her mouth moved, blood dribbling out over her chin as she hung in his grip, gaping at him, long, shiny haft-less spikes dropping from her hands and falling to the mud, useless. Malick slid the sword loose from where he'd lodged it in her between her ribs, only watched as she stumbled back, gasping, trying to draw in breath and choking on blood. He must've hit a lung. It would hurt like hell for a while and make it hard to breathe, but she'd live. Good thing too, or he might've just fucked himself without even thinking.

  Enough. He was going to end up accidentally killing one of them and burning for it, or one of his people was going to end up hurt. Malick dragged his eyes away from Leu and narrowed them over at Fen. Fighting side by side with Samin, but none of them were going after Samin. Instead, they were focusing their attacks on Fen, lunging in to swipe and snap, but....

  It wasn't right. Yori had dropped back, bow nocked and cocked, but the creatures were positioning themselves so that she couldn't shoot without the risk of hitting Fen. They wound themselves in front of Samin so he couldn't get through them to aid. And yet, they weren't driving in for the finish—harassing Fen, swiping to wound but not to kill, mauling him, too obviously damaging him, and accepting their subsequent slashes from his knives with angry roars and hisses. They could have had him twice just since Malick had been watching, and they'd foregone both opportunities.

  They weren't all Wolf's—couldn't be. They didn't quite dare kill Wolf's Catalyst, but it seemed they were willing to risk damaging him. Things could get out of hand very quickly if they got carried away with their glamours.

  Malick set his jaw, turned back to Leu, catching her as she tried to make her slow way into the trees and go to shadow. He yanked her around and leveled a swift rabbit punch to the bleeding wound he'd given her, ignoring how she wheezed a thin curse as she went to her knees.

  "Call them off, Leu.” Through his teeth, and to make sure she knew he meant it, he drew his fist back again. “Don't fuck with me—I'm not in the mood."

  "Kamen, I only—"

  "I know why you're here, and you've already lost the earth-bound.” He took her by her collar, snapped another blow between her eyes, all knuckles, and waited for a moment while she gasped and tried to writhe away. Malick only reeled her in closer, drew back his fist yet again, and jerked his chin back toward Fen. “Maybe I can't kill you, but I can hold you down while he does. Call them off."

  She believed him. Without a word, she slumped, head bowed, and shut her eyes. Only a few seconds later, the creatures surrounding Fen widened their circle, fur morphing back to flesh as they withdrew, until Fen, the cart, and Samin were surrounded by eight men and women of varying sizes and ages. All of them held double handfuls of spiked weapons, some obviously limping or clutching at various limbs in suppressed pain. One of them had a white-fletched arrow jutting from her bicep.

  "Yori, Shig, stand down,” Malick called, even as Yori snapped her bow up to take aim at now-clear targets. Yori didn't gripe out loud, but Malick could tell she was doing it silently.

  He dragged Leu to her feet. “Just because Asai has claimed Wolf,” he told her, low and even, “does not mean that Wolf has accepted him to the Cycle. You might do well to give that some thought the next time he sends you out after me and mine.” He shook her a little then shoved her away, completely indifferent to her gasp of pain and the way she had to stumble to keep her feet. “Go back and tell Asai that his message has been received. And bring him back one from me.” Malick took a step toward Leu, satisfied when she backed up a pace, though she was clearly trying not to. “Tell him that Kamen sends him greetings from Skel. Tell him if he wants the earth-bound, or the Catalyst, he'll need to come through me. They're mine.” He stepped back, dropped the veil from Joori and the others, then yanked Joori to his feet, ignoring Caidi's little yip of fear and surprise, and locked his furious gaze to Leu's. “Wanna try and take him from me?"

  "No!” Fen snarled behind him then cursed and spat, “Let me the fuck go!” likely at Samin, since he was the only one among them who could've held Fen back when he was in a fury. Malick didn't take his eyes off Leu to find out.

  Leu held Malick's gaze for several long seconds then flicked it behind him, narrowed it. She nodded as her eyes went to Joori and then finally settled back on Malick. “We weren't to kill them,” she said then spat blood and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her chin jerked to the other maijin, still in a loose circle around them but retreating slowly and steadily, moving a little more quickly now at Leu's signal, melting into the shadows and scattering.

  "No,” Malick snapped at her, “you were only meant to take the earth-bound, if you could, retreat if you couldn't. Want to know why?"

  Leu shook her head, but Malick shot his arm out, took hold of her again and dragged her in.

  "I didn't know it was you, Kamen,” she protested, but otherwise she didn't resist, keeping her hands out and open at her sides. “I didn't even know....” She paused, caught her breath. “I heard you'd gone to spirit."

  "You heard wrong."

  "I didn't know. I would not challenge Wolf's Temshiel."

  "But you would challenge Temshiel in general?"

  "No.” Leu's teeth clenched. She was too obviously having trouble getting a good breath, and a fine mist of blood every now and then sprayed from her mouth. “I didn't know until you veiled the earth-bound.” Her gaze turned sullen, almost accusing. “I thought you were just another mortal. You were concealing."

  "And apparently with good reason,” Malick snapped. “What the hell are you doing here, Leu?"

  She shrugged and looked away. “We were to take the earth-bound and allow the Catalyst to follow. Asai needed one of Wolf's... needed me to....” Her eyes shot quickly over Malick's shoulder again before turning to the ground, a hand climbing up to cover the gash. “He needed me to control the Catalyst."

  "Yeah, well, from what I saw, the rest of them didn't have a problem helping you out with that.” Malick was afraid to even look to see how torn up Fen was. Umeia was going to kill him when he got them all home. Malick had already been waiting for Fen to collapse, though he miraculously kept not doing it.

  "They'll be punished,” Leu wheezed, like that was supposed to make Malick feel better. “They weren't meant to attack him. They belong to Owl.” As though offering an excuse. Leu caught Malick's glower, leaned to the side to spit again, then turned back. “We were sent to watch for the Catalyst, and take the earth-bound while he watched. Asai said the Catalyst would fight us and that he
would follow—I was to let him. That's all I know. I don't want to know anything else. I don't want anything to do with this. Nothing he offered could be worth.... Just let me walk away."

  Teeth clenched, Malick growled then shoved her back. “Yeah, walk away, Leu. And if you've got a brain in your head, you'll keep bloody walking. You don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of me in this."

  Leu backed away, gaze wary, hazel eyes never leaving Malick as she drifted backward toward the trees. “No,” she said, “I don't,” and then she was gone, a lazy whirl of shadows covering her as she vanished into mist and rain.

  Silence fell for a brief moment, the transitory brilliance of distant lightning marking the still figures of Malick's little band like bright-lit sentinels. The rain was steady but light now, its constant patter a soft contradiction to the sporadic blat of thunder rolling overhead. Then, low but nearly vicious: “Who the fuck was that?"

  Malick turned to Fen, still held tight against Samin's chest, a wide burst of sheet lightning making his eyes glint and glitter as they bored into Malick's. “That,” Malick sighed as he wiped the rain from his face then raked his hand through his hair as he turned to survey the surrounding trees, “was apparently Asai's first sally.” And he'd gone right for the jugular, first thing.

  "I thought he wanted you."

  "Yeah, well—"

  "You said he wanted you. You said they'd be safe. You said Umeia was protecting them."

  It was, quite possibly, the most words he'd ever heard Fen put together all at once.

  "I did, they are, and she is.” Malick turned around again to see that Samin hadn't released his hold on Fen yet, though Fen had gone still—stiff, really. The rage and suspicion were almost tangible things. “Look, what d'you want from me? I'm not a bloody seer."

  "Why not?"

  "Why...?” Malick sheathed his sword to stall. “Because—” He ground his teeth.

  He knew what Fen was thinking—the distrust and hostility were all over his face—and he was probably at least half-right in his dubious assumptions. Because yes, Malick had certainly calculated the value of using the annoying, possessive twin as bait, and hadn't yet discarded the notion. Not that he'd let Fen in on that one; not if he didn't want a knife to the ribs. Right now, Malick should probably be trying to soothe and placate.

  He wasn't in the mood. All his careful caution to keep who he was, and exactly where he was, from Asai had just been blown to shit. And now he'd put Umeia right in the middle of it, too, along with Samin, Shig, Yori, and everyone he knew named “Fen.” Not to mention everyone at the Girou, because now that Asai knew who Malick was, he'd know how to look for him. It was only a matter of time.

  The next time Malick saw Husao, he was going to fucking kill him. Slowly and with a smile.

  "Joori,” Fen said, “get Caidi back in the cart. We're going. Samin, let me the fuck go. Now."

  Malick shot a quick glance over, relieved when he saw that Fen's knives were in their sheaths. Still, he would have felt even better if Samin had managed to disarm Fen entirely.

  "Mal?” Samin said, waiting for an order from Malick before he did as Fen demanded.

  "Where you gonna go, Fen?” Shig asked, her voice quiet beneath the drum of the rain, honeyed in that singsong way she had when she was going all spirit-bound on them.

  Terrific. Just what Malick needed.

  "Not now, Shig,” Fen warned.

  "Back to the little hut in the wilderness?"

  "Samin, let me go!"

  "Not ‘til Mal says so,” Samin answered calmly.

  Shig snorted. “If he lets you go, you'll fall over."

  "Fuck off, Shig,” Fen snapped.

  A slippery little giggle warbled up from Shig's throat. “Think you're going to go after Asai now?” She tsked. “Angry ghosts with raging infections don't make for good assassins."

  "Infection?” Joori took a step toward Fen, but Shig snagged hold of him and kept him back.

  Morin turned a narrow look up at Malick, head atilt as he held his weeping little sister by the hand. “Infection?” he asked, low and quiet.

  "Looks like.” Malick laid a hand on Morin's shoulder to keep him where he was. “Leg. Long story."

  "Think you could do it this time?” Shig wanted to know. “Or will you just bare your throat and beg him for what you can't have?"

  "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about,” Fen grated, but his eyes were going a bit rabid and almost afraid. “Your voices make just as much sense as mine do."

  Shig ignored him, voice dipping low, close to outraged. “You don't want to know, but you'll go anyway, won't you? You hate him as you hate yourself, so much hate you could raze the world, because no one else can hurt you like he can."

  "Shig, don't fuck with me, I'm warning you."

  "The pain's the only thing you understand, so you'll go to him to make sense of it all. You'll walk right into your own murder just to spite the man who would make himself your master."

  "Samin, if you don't let me go, I'll—"

  "That's a pretty suicide, innit?” Shig crooned. “Can't hate what you love and can't love what you hate."

  "Why won't you just shut the fuck up?"

  "Can't scream, so you'll let your knives do it for you, or let his make all your pain go away."

  "Suicide.” Joori was staring at Shig, brow drawn down in a frown that turned him to the mirror image of his brother. He turned wary eyes on Fen. “Jacin—"

  "Your blood's not yours to spill, isn't that how it goes, angry Ghost?” Shig hugged Joori's arm tighter as he tried to push away from her. “Can't keep the Blood of the ones you love in their veins, and can't sweat enough of your own to save them."

  Fen actually snapped his teeth, eyes nearly crazed and wild, startling Joori into stillness. “Shut up, Shig.” Low and threatening; a clear warning.

  "Mal?” Samin asked quietly.

  Malick cut him a glance, shook his head. Shig didn't do something like this unless it was important, and it was, after all, why she was so valuable. “Let her go."

  Shig ignored it all. “Can't spill your own blood, so you'll corner the man who won't love you into sticking a knife in you instead of sticking his cock—"

  "Shut up, shut the fuck up!” So feral it was almost unrecognizable, buried inside a guttural growl as Fen thrashed against Samin's hold, surging against the tight grip and trying to lunge at Shig. Samin now had Fen's wrists locked in both his hands, arms crisscrossed over Fen's chest. Immobilized. Unable to reach for the knives he had everywhere, but it didn't stop Fen from trying to break loose. “You don't know a fucking thing about me, just shut—"

  "Can't take care of them the way you think you should, so you'll leave them all to the Temshiel who's handed you his promise, and if he burns for it—"

  "Leave him alone!” Caidi shouted, breaking herself loose from Morin's grip on her hand and skirting in to stand in front of her brother, all childish impudence and Fen-like audacity. “He's not a ghost, Joori said so. I thought you were a nice lady, but you're not, you're mean, and, and... and your hair looks funny."

  Malick shut his eyes, pinched at the bridge of his nose, burying a tense and highly inappropriate snort inside a light cough.

  Shig had no such qualms: she threw her head back and laughed. “Such a fucked-up family.” She turned a grin on Yori. “And you thought we had it bad.” She leaned down toward Caidi, amiable, almost conspiratory. “Never, ever leave him alone, pretty little forfeit. Alone is the one thing that'll truly break him."

  Forfeit. That... didn't sound good. Come to think of it, none of this sounded good, and Shig was on a very rare roll. Despite the edge over which he could see Fen lurching, Malick had no choice but to let Shig keep going.

  Yori took a cautious step in. “Shig, I think maybe—"

  "Get away from her, Caidi,” Fen growled, jerking again in Samin's grip. Caidi didn't move, but Fen didn't even seem to notice, wild eyes blazing at Shig, gaze nearly empty of
sense altogether, but overflowing with malice and rage. “Stay away from her,” he snarled at Shig. “Stay away from all of them, and stay away from me!"

  "Poor Fen,” Shig sighed. “Standing here in the rain and watching yourself fail them all.” She took a step forward, shaking herself loose from Joori and shoving him backward. “Except no one sees living as a failure but you, Ghost. You think I don't know why you stare so at the Gates?” She shook her head. “Dying is the failure, Fen."

  "Someone....” Fen's voice was mangled, rough, like it had to get through physical obstacles to claw its way up his throat. “Get her the fuck away from me!"

  "Mal,” Samin said, low and warning, “I swear by the suns and every moon in the sky, I can hear the fucking cracks."

  Malick could almost see them.

  "Sorry, can't,” Shig told Fen. “You're all part of the pack now. And our alpha bitch won't stand for a forfeit of the weak and small."

  Malick's eyebrows rose, despite the steady erosion of the entire situation. “Alpha bitch"—he'd have to tell Umeia that one.

  "What are you going to do about your mother, Fen?” Shig went on, relentless.

  "My mother is none of your damned—"

  "You limp off to your self-destruction now, she'll spend eternity bound to the earth—"

  "Fucking bitch, I swear—"

  "—vying with the crows for seeds to sate her hungry soul, until her spirit's madder than your Voices."

  "Stop it.” Thin and wound tight. “Don't."

  Shig leaned in, right in Fen's face. “Shall we just pack up your brother now, and send him off to join her? At least she'll have company."