“Who is it?” Rekk called out.
Megan made her voice higher than it usually was and simply said. “I’ve brought coffee.” Even though neither of the men had ordered any coffee, she figured it was a good enough excuse to get them open the door. They wouldn’t assume she was any sort of threat given the kind knock and the girlish voice, and they would likely want to at least open the door and tell her whether or not they will take the surprise coffee.
She heard footsteps and stepped back, bringing the large, metal coffee pot up and in front of her face. The door opened and Rekk said, “We didn’t order any––” Megan pushed the door open wider and walked right inside. “Hey,” Rekk tried to stop her but she pushed the coffee pot into his chest, otherwise occupying his hands. “You can’t come in here!”
“Rokkan, I need to talk to you.”
The prince looked up from where he was seated, at a large, dark wood table in the center of the room. Multiple maps were sprawled out in front of them and there were little pieces different colored plastic placed strategically about the different regions.
“Megan, what are you doing here?”
“I had some information I thought you might want to hear,” she said, coming around the
table to where he was now standing. “And since you’ve been doing everything in your power to avoid me, I had to resort to barging in when you least expected. I tried it first this morning, but found Esma in your bed instead of you.” The last part came out sounding more bitter than Megan intended.
The prince’s eyebrows crept down his face and he let out a deep, frustrated sight. “Fine,” he said. “You’ve got my attention. Tell me what it is that’s so important.”
“The wolves are planning an uprising,” said Megan. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen exactly, but it will happen.”
Rokkan stared at her expectantly. “Yes, and?”
“And what?” Megan looked to Rekk, seeing if he might, unlike Rokkan, grasp the severity of this situation. He too looked unfazed. She turned back to the prince. “You already knew.”
“Of course I knew,” he said. “There has been talk of an uprising since the day I took control of this god forsaken district.”
“And you’re not worried?”
“We’ve got almost all of the District One wolves in custody,” said Rokkan. “There’s not enough free wolves to start any real rebellion.”
Megan almost smiled, but caught herself just in time. Here Rokkan was, acting all smug and in the know, when actually, he had no idea what was coming. If the truth of what she wasn’t about to say next wasn’t so terrifying, Megan would have savored the moment. “No, you don’t understand. The rebellion isn’t coming from just the District One wolves –– wolves from at least two other districts are gathering and preparing for a fight.”
“They would break UD regulations?” said Rekk, finally understanding the danger they were all in. “Who did you hear this from?” He walked to the table and put the coffee pot down.
“Let’s just say I have a source,” said Megan. “A very reliable source. She’s in another district and she said the wolves there are starting something.”
“That’s impossible,” said Rokkan. “They wouldn’t. There’s too much at stake for them, going against the United Districts would be insane.”
“More insane than demanding to be a part of the UD and promptly conquering multiple districts for your own empire?” Megan asked.
The prince looked at her in shock, but didn’t ask how she knew the political history of his people. Instead, he looked to Rekk and said, “Can you give us a minute please?”
Rekk opened his mouth as if to argue, then stopped himself and nodded. “Yes sir.” He left.
“Thank you,” Rokkan said after the door closed behind Rekk. “I owe you for bringing this to my attention.”
Megan half-smiled. “Sure. I’m just glad I was able to find you in time.” She looked down at the map. The one in front of her was of her district. She ran a finger across the border lines. “What are these for?”
“My father wants me to start planning for the conquer of District Two.” The prince pointed to a spot on the map, left of District One, where there was just forests. “He thinks we can use this dense forest to our advantage. Sneak up on them.”
“District Two is controlled by the elementalists,” said Megan. “That’s a suicide mission.”
“That’s exactly what I told him, but he won’t listen.” The prince sat back down in the seat and put his head into his hands. “And now, I’m going to have to explain this. He’s not just going to take my word of you it. Or, I guess, it’s your word he’d have to take.”
“Technically, it’s my friend’s word.”
“Great, that’s just great. What am I supposed to say, ‘Hey dad, I heard from this woman I know, who heard from her friend who she won’t tell me the name of, that wolves all across the ten districts are planning an uprising and I’m their first target.’ I’m sure he’ll send the troops in immediately. No questions asked.” Rokkan swiped his hand across the map, sweeping away most of the carefully positioned pieces of plastic.
Megan wasn’t sure what to say exactly, or whether or not it was even a good idea to try and console the prince. Maybe he needed to feel this way, maybe the fire was a good thing –– it would force him to wake up and get ready for what was about to come. Instead, she focused her attention on the map. The beginnings of an idea were tugging at the edges of her brain, but she needed more time for it to become fully fledged.
“Do you still need this?” She put her finger on the map and looked at Rokkan.
He shrugged. “I guess not. Not right now anyway. I have to focus on this new problem.”
“Can I borrow it? Just for the night?” She was already pushing the rest of the plastic pieces off and rolling the map up.
“I don’t see why not,” said the prince. He wasn’t paying her much mind, he seemed lost in his own world.
Once the map was rolled up and there didn’t seem to be anything else to say, Megan excused herself and headed for the door.
“I’m sorry,” Rokkan said before she got there.
“For what?” She turned back.
“For everything. For going out of my way to make you uncomfortable, for treating you like my own, personal playtoy.” He was getting very upset. “But what I’m the most sorry over, is the fact that I ignored you. After we spent that amazing night together, I got scared and I ran away and I’m sorry.”
“What were you so scared of?” Megan stayed where she was, worrying that if she got any closer to Rokkan, the tension between them would become too intense.
He looked at her with serious, emotional eyes. “I’ve never felt this way before.” He stood up and walked across the room. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Megan. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, and definitely not to you, so I figured the best thing was to just avoid seeing you. Hell, I even thought about firing you.”
“You what?”
“Only for a second,” he said. “But none of it would have worked, I know that now. Staying away from you only made me think of you more, which only drove me closer and closer to the edge.” He had almost completely closed the gap between them. Now that I know what’s coming, I realizing just how short life can be, and I don’t want to ignore these feelings anymore. Megan, I––”
Realizing that he might be about to say something he could never take back, Megan quickly interrupted. “What time is it?” She grabbed his wrist and checked his watch. “Oh shoot, I’m late. I’m sorry, I have to go. If I don’t make it back before my lunch break is over, then they’ll get suspicious.”
“It’s fine,” said Rokkan. “I can bring you back myself––”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t need the rest of the staff thinking I’m getting special treatment or something.” She walked over and grabbed the coffee pot. “Don’t want to forget this.”
Luckily, the prince seemed
too confused about the sudden shift in mood to stop Megan in time. She was able to slip past him, out the door, and into the hallway without so much as a goodbye or a see you later.
As she turned the corner and started up the stairs to the main level, she thought she heard Rokkan call after her, but she didn’t go back to check for sure. It hurt, leaving him like that, snubbing him just as he was opening up. But it needed to be done. He was in too emotional a state and Megan didn’t want him to say something he’d later regret. Besides, she hadn’t figured out she felt about Rokkan and she didn’t feel like having that conversation just yet. Maybe at all.
Everything seemed too up in the air, and with the impending attack from the wolves looming over them, Megan thought it best that she didn’t allow herself to get too attached to Rokkan. If they make it through what was to come, they could explore their relationship then, but for now, it was better to keep things casual.
Chapter Eleven
Fresh Eyes
“Hey, take a look at this.” Megan was sitting on the desk in her and Amara’s room, hunched over the map she’d borrowed from Rokkan. Amara came to her side and looked where Megan was pointing. “You see this wall here? Behind the Hotel?”
“Yeah,” said Amara. “What about it?”
“This map shows it as being fifteen feet high, there’s no way that’s right.”
Amara frowned and leaned in closer, squinting at the print at the bottom of the map. “This map wasn’t updated in between wolf regimes. Predna, the first wolf leader of District One, had the walls built tall, but when Renduk took over he made them half the size.”
“Right, I remember that,” said Megan. “I was maybe four or five, Ollie was still a baby, and he would get woken up early every morning by the sounds of the demolition. He’d scream for hours and hours over all the noise.”
“Renduk wanted to have a better view of the area behind the Hotel, thinking that’s where a lot of people were escaping to when they ran. That’s also when he built the watchtower that no one uses anymore.”
Megan nodded. “The wolves will know that. They’ll know they can get over this wall and up into the watchtower. I’ll betchu five bucks that’s exactly where they will head to first. They could set up snipers in the tower and ambush the Hotel.”
“Which will force Rokkan to make a choice,” said Amara. “He can either send troops to help the civilians, or he can keep them to guard the castle and himself.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” Megan bit the inside of her cheek.
“I’m sure he has,” said Amara. She looked at Megan with what seemed almost an apologetic expression. “You’ll have to show him this.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Megan. Damnit. So much for keeping my distance. “I’ll go right now and check if he’s in his room. The sooner he sees this, the better.”
Rokkan was in his room, wearing only a pair of pajama pants and lounging by the fire. The flames illuminated his green skin, making it look warmer, more like the leaves of a tropical plant as opposed to it’s normal bright, grassy shade.
Megan let herself in, after knocking and hearing him invite her. She was holding the map, unfolded, out in front of her. She placed it on the table to the left of Rokkan’s chair. “I found something on this map that you need to know about.”
Rokkan glanced at her, then back at the fire. “Can we talk about it later? I’ve had a long day and I was hoping to forget about all this for a while. Would you like a drink?” He held up his own, whisky filled tumbler and gave it a shake. “It’s good stuff.”
“No thank you,” said Megan. “I just came to show you this and then I’m heading to bed.”
Rokken put his glass down and stood up, taking his time and exhaling an exhausted breath. “Alright then, let’s see it.”
“This map is old, I’m not sure where you got it from but you should really find yourself an updated one,” said Megan.
“Rekk found it for me in some closet in the castle.” His voice became slightly less groggy and Megan detected a hint of defensiveness. “Has much changed since this map was made?”
“Not much, but one important thing.” She pointed to the wall behind the Hotel. “This wall is shorter than it says. Have you ever been back there to look at it?”
“No, I don’t spend much time in that area.”
“I thought not,” she said. “Well, it says here it’s fifteen feet, but it can’t be higher than eight. Also, this map doesn’t have the watchtower which is located right here.” She dragged her finger to the far right corner of the wall. “I’m thinking, if the wolves come from the West, this is where they’ll hit first, considering they can easily jump the walls and––”
“And set up snipers in the watchtower,” Rokkan said.
“Exactly.”
He nodded. “Good. Okay. Now I know, I can prepare. We’ll send some men down to hold the wall and block off the watchtower. What do you think, will twenty men be enough?”
Megan shrugged and tried to hide her surprise. She didn’t think he’d be so quick to give up so much of his protection and give it to the civilians. “I don’t know. There’s no way to know until it’s established how many of them are coming. How many fighters do you have total?”
Rokkan pursed his lips to one side. “Hmm, maybe one hundred?”
“Okay,” said Megan. “So if you sent twenty here, that leaves eighty at the castle?’
“No.” Rokkan shook his head and pointed to the two other buildings in the district where civilians lived. “We’d need to station men at each of these buildings too, right?”
“I, uh.” She could no longer completely hide her bafflement. “I mean, yeah. If you are prioritizing the civilians.”
Rokkan didn’t seem to hear what Megan said or notice the shock in her voice. He continued to dance his fingers across the surface of the map and strategize. “We’ll have ten at each of these buildings, so that’s forty men in town. Actually, better make it fifty. We’ll have another ten men inside the mess hall, where people can seek refuge if need be. Then we’ll have twenty walking around the outside of the castle walls, ten immediately inside the walls, and the rest inside the castle. What do you think about that?”
“What do I think?” Megan’s forehead creased as she tried to remember how many the prince had just theoretically placed where. “Well, the wolves ultimately want you, correct?” He nodded. “And they’ll assume you are in the castle because that’s by far the safest place for you to hide out.”
“I’m not going to be hiding,” Rokkan said. “I’m going to be fighting.”
“Either way, they will expect you to be in the castle, behind massive cement walls and dozens of men. So what if we put you somewhere else instead?” She pointed to the Hotel. “They’ll go to this wall first, where we'll head them off. We’ll have our own snipers at the ready in the tower and basically we’ll make trying to get over this wall not worth the effort, using the twenty men you already allotted to this area. Knowing the Hotel is just full of civilians and broken toilets, they will abandon this route quickly and go straight for the wall behind the castle.”
“Where did you learn all this?” asked the prince, looking impressed.
“My brother and I used to be play war all the time.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, war stories is all anyone tells around here. If I’m being honest, I’m stealing these tactics from a woman named Aggie –– she’s the one who’s actually seen all this stuff in action and done even more research since. You should hire her as your strategist.”
“Maybe next time, but for now, you’re all I’ve got. So, where am I going to be? In the Hotel?”
“No, I want to put you in the watchtower. Look.” She pointed to the tower. “It’s on the other side of the wall, which means once they are out of eyeline, you can scale down the tower on the outside of the district wall.”
“And do what exactly?”
“Lead your men around the outside of the wall, literally
following right behind the wolves. You put twenty five of your men inside the hotel, where nobody would expect them to be stationed. You lead them plus the twenty defending this wall around the back.” Megan traced her finger all the way around the map. “The wolves will be scaling the back castle wall, where the other twenty five of your men will be waiting. While the wolves are busy fighting those men, you and your group scale the wall and have them completely surrounded.”
Rokkan was quiet, his eyes staring down at the map with so much intensity, Megan thought for a moment he might burn two holes right in the middle of it. “That,” he finally broke the silence. “Could work.”
Megan beamed, proud of her knack for battle strategizing, a skill she never knew she had. “I think so too.” Rokkan was watching her with happy eyes and a toothy smile, which made the back of Megan’s neck suddenly feel hot. “It wasn’t anything really. Sometimes it just takes a fresh set of eyes to see something new.”
“You’re selling yourself short,” said Rokkan. “If we could pull this off…” He trailed off and looked at the grown, frowning. “The only problem is,” he said, returning to the present moment from wherever it was he’d just taken a mental journey. “In order to implement this, we would need to know ahead of time the wolves were on their way. Like, really ahead of time. I tried to reach out to all my contacts in other districts to see if they heard anything, but nobody seems to have any reliable information. Everyone’s story contradicts the last account I heard, which is then contradicted by the next account I hear.”
“I could try to reach my friend, although our modes of communication are not exactly reliable either, or fast.” She sighed, her shoulders sinking down slightly. “But I’ll see what I can do. Er, rather, what she can do.”
Rokkan reached out and put a hand on the small of Megan’s back. “Thank you.” At his touch, each of Megan’s nerves seemed to stand on end. She nearly retreated, but something inside her was keeping her feet planted to the ground. He leaned in, going straight for her mouth. Her head screamed “run” but her body did not obey. Before she knew it, he was kissing her and she was kissing him back.
Lord Rokkan’s Private Toy Page 10