‘Here Jack, see if these fit,’ Natalya said proffering some folded clothing at him but placing them on the arm of a chair inside the house near the door. She glanced at Freddie reprovingly and stepped outside onto the veranda. ‘Go on in, unless you’d prefer to change out here?’
‘Not particularly,’ Jack agreed and went inside. He glanced round the cottage’s living area curiously but Freddie was doing something in the adjoining kitchen so he stayed where he was and changed.
‘Do they fit?’ Natalya asked.
Jack stepped out onto the veranda for answer. The trousers were a little snug but they buttoned properly and were long enough. He couldn’t believe how much more human he felt with his dignity restored. He shook out the shirt and pulled it on quickly aware Natalya was looking him over and that Freddie had noticed. He headed down the steps, knowing he was wise to leave the wolves’ home promptly.
‘Thank you for the loan. I hope I’m not depriving you?’ he asked Freddie.
‘Not at all,’ Freddie assured. Natalya had asked him to find his loosest clothing to loan to Jack. They were the same height but Jack was far broader. Freddie noticed Jack attempt to button the shirt, then give up. Even with his ribs prominently showing, the edges of the shirt barely met. Even unfastened he would still be warmer with it on than no shirt at all. It would just have to do for now. Freddie led them back to Drako.
‘Report Freddie,’ Drako ordered.
‘Yes sir. Natalya and I were at our usual supply farm when we heard soldiers with a wagon pass by. Natalya detected an animus presence so we investigated. He was caged by a small squad of guards, all ordinaries and was obviously being ill treated. Natalya could tell the cage had been magically locked by a wizard. Clearly he’d put up sufficient of a fight for a wizard inquisitor to have to seal him in. He was being starved not only of food, but also water. Fortunately it’s been raining nearly every day for the last week so he didn’t die of thirst. Deprived of food he couldn’t maintain his leopard. He was left naked without any shelter from the weather, even at night. Yet he was still fighting and his spirit didn’t seem to be broken. We got food to him secretly yesterday lunch time and approached under cover of darkness last night to talk to him. Natalya thought he had the strength, with her guidance, to alter his form sufficiently to slip through the bars. We helped him escape without triggering any alarms. His name is Jack. He was captured whilst on the run with his pregnant wife and three small children. He overheard where they might have been taken.’
‘Thank you Freddie,’ Drako said smoothly, his gaze on the stranger. ‘Do you know where you are Jack? Or who we are?’
‘You are of Clan Green Bear, but I don’t know who. I’m guessing this is your secret refuge? I also understand he is called Jim, but I don’t know who he is,’ Jack added glancing at the silent blond man. His intent gaze hadn’t wavered and was rather unnerving.
‘May I introduce Commander Drako of Clan Green Bear and headman of White Haven village,’ Freddie said formally, having received the nod of permission.
‘You are Commander Drako?’ Jack repeated in awe. Who hadn’t heard of the legendary battle commander? Jack couldn’t believe he was meeting the man in person.
‘Yes,’ Drako replied easily. ‘This is my wife Cassaria. She is a wizard.’
‘Welcome Jack,’ Cassy said simply.
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Jack responded nervously. The woman was attractive, with an open sunny smile of welcome. A wizard had married an animus outlaw? He was certain there was some intriguing story to that.
‘And this is the headmaster of the White Haven school for magic; wizard Jim,’ Freddie said gesturing at the big house back up the road and completing the introductions.
‘What is troubling you Jack?’ Drako asked.
‘That you are being so open with me. I now know your names, faces and the location of your clan’s hideaway. I am a stranger to you.’
‘You think you do not deserve our trust? You expect to betray us then?’ Drako asked.
‘No. It’s not that. You are a famous outlaw with many enemies. I simply wonder if you are being free with such important secrets because you plan to kill me,’ Jack explained, meeting Drako’s gaze.
‘No. We’re not so callous or dismissive of life, especially that of an animus warrior. Despite the instinctively independent nature of your leopard, you chose to trust Natalya to aid your escape, even knowing she was a wizard. You then accepted their advice, trusting them while you were vulnerable, to lead you to a safe place. That tells me much about your state of mind, how open you are to working with others and of accepting change. You are a courageous survivor Jack and are willing to do whatever that takes. We need more people like you. Today more than ever, animus needs to stick together,’ Drako added.
‘You chose well Natalya,’ Jim interjected. ‘You must know you took more of a risk than you should have though,’ Jim chided her. She’d gone into an enemy garrison for goodness’ sake and sprung a prisoner. ‘Are you certain inquisitors can’t track you here?’
‘We climbed out of a tiny window and leaped a moat to hide our exit point and break any scent trail,’ Freddie defended. ‘She wiped the tracks we made on landing and we didn’t use a road or any direct trail to get back. We took every precaution and there’s no link from that town to our passage through the forest.’
‘Physically yes, but to a wizard she shines like a beacon. Freddie you should know better than to let her take such a risk of being spotted.’
‘Jim, you can’t find me when I’m shielded,’ Natalya retorted. ‘Unless they had a super strong wizard there, which I would have sensed, they wouldn’t have been able to detect me through my shield. There would have been greater risk without my skills and you know it.’
‘I want to know next time you decide to go off on a little expedition. You are not invincible you know. Most wizards in the inquisitor squads are evil and have some truly nasty tricks to pull. You cannot go up against them alone.’
‘I wasn’t planning to. You accept Jack is trustworthy then?’ Natalya pressed.
‘Yes. But if he proves me wrong I can wipe his memory later,’ Jim said in a casual but definite warning to Jack and rose to his feet. ‘Thank you for the tea Cassy. Drako,’ he said by way of farewell and walked down the steps. At the foot of the steps he knelt and changed into his lion. A moment later his clothes folded themselves and condensed, becoming a neat pouch and collar about his neck. The lion didn’t look back but was well aware everyone was watching him, including the powerful leopard. His point made he walked calmly down the lane into the village and out of their sight.
Jack watched in shock as the lion walked away. Few animus people had the character to successfully mirror a lion’s complex nature sufficiently to truly take lion form. Yet he had no doubt that the magic had chosen that form for Jim rather than he try to choose it for himself. Jim had settled into the form easily and the body itself was neither weak nor poorly realised as usually happened when the magic was forced. So, this place had two strong leaders, each with their own territory but able to work together. He wondered how that worked in practice. Jack’s leopard respected the strong and a lion was unquestionably a larger, stronger, cat. Whilst he didn’t yet know what Commander Drako’s form was, he doubted a man who had such respect from everyone was undeserving of it. Unconsciously he relaxed, content for someone else, someone competent, to be in charge. When the lion reappeared on the main driveway on the far side of the village, it started to run. The gallop suddenly turned into a blur of unnatural speed.
‘Jim, my brother in law,’ Natalya commented drily. ‘As you’ve realised, he’s not just a wizard.’
‘What did he just do?’ Jack asked.
‘Show off. His lion knows we’d be able to see him,’ Natalya said, sniffing in derision. ‘Trotting for home like any normal person is dull I suppose when he can super speed.’
Jack smiled at her irreverence. He wasn’t surprised an alpha wolf would chaf
e under a lion’s dominant attitude. He understood now why they had volunteered sensitive information. They were waiting to see how he’d react to it, knowing the lion could always wipe his memory later. That was a very scary thought. The wizard was also bound to have been reading his mind, although he’d not felt any intrusion. Jack was just grateful that the wizard had seemed satisfied with whatever he’d found.
‘Sit down Jack,’ Cassy offered and poured drinks for him, Natalya and Freddie now seated on her veranda. They sipped their drinks listening as Freddie shared more details of their escape, giving Jack a few minutes to sit quietly with his hot drink. What he really needed was a proper meal and sleep, but Drako was hoping for some answers first.
‘Can you tell us what you heard regarding where your family was being taken,’ Drako asked once Jack looked more alert.
Unfortunately, before he could reply, one of the gate guards suddenly appeared, jogging up Drako’s lane. Drako held up his hand to Jack and they all turned to watch the man’s approach.
‘Is there a problem?’ Drako asked.
‘My lord, a man, two women and an infant have just arrived. They’ve stopped the other side of the bridge to the main gate. He’s acting animus.’
Drako immediately rose and hurried down the steps, the wolves, Jack and Cassy curiously following. They jogged through the village and over to the main gate. From the watch tower’s vantage point they could see the stranger was now on foot, his gaze sweeping the ground and then he lifted his head obviously scenting. He gestured to the ladies to wait with the horses and walked across the bridge, his gaze scanning the towers.
‘So much for your undetectable trail, Freddie,’ Drako said, although Freddie hadn’t actually entered by this gate. ‘Open the gate,’ Drako quietly instructed one of the other men and observed the stranger halt as the gate mechanism creaked.
3. More Surprises
‘Good morning,’ Freddie said pleasantly, stepping through the gate. ‘Are you looking for someone?’
‘Good morning. My name’s Daniel. Is this White Haven school?’
‘Yes. You’re a little early for visiting though,’ Freddie commented.
‘Is wizard Jim here?’
Freddie frowned wondering what he should volunteer. Natalya joined him and Daniel turned to look at her. Freddie could tell the man was scenting them both, although he wasn’t being offensively obvious about it.
‘Jim knows a wolf called Daniel. He’s on his way back down,’ Natalya said having contacted him. ‘You and your party should come inside,’ she added glancing out to the woods nearby. She noticed both Freddie and Daniel scanned the trees. Daniel gestured and the women crossed the bridge, the one unencumbered by a baby, led Daniel’s horse.
Daniel felt rather nervous as he stepped through the gateway and found five other men waiting for him. He suspected all were animus.
‘Here he comes,’ Natalya said as the two women dismounted and gathered behind Daniel. The wolves glanced round and parted.
‘So, it is you Daniel,’ Jim said striding through the small crowd. ‘You’re a long way from home. I trust you’re not on official business from Lord Dirk?’
‘No. I heard you were staying in a school, but I wasn’t sure I’d found the right one. You did tell me you were heading to Edmoston so I’ve been looking around. I detected the scent of three animus passing our camp last night.’ He glanced at Freddie, the blond woman and then found the other man using his nose. ‘Yet more animus joined them later, which is highly unusual. I thought they might know where you were but without leaving the ladies behind I couldn’t catch up. I managed to follow them to these walls and then caught a hint of your scent.’
‘Why were you looking for me?’ Jim asked. He noticed Daniel glance around at the gathering. ‘You can speak freely.’
‘Prince Casper learned Lord Dirk was employing animus people but he didn’t yet have actual proof. Lord Dirk released me from his service, gave me a horse and told me to run.’
‘He would not of course have left without me,’ the woman hidden behind Daniel said, coming forward.
‘Drew!’ Jim exclaimed.
‘Don’t Drew,’ Daniel said quietly and his sister stopped moving towards Jim. He could see Jim’s attention was already on the child in her arms. ‘We’re not here for that. We talked about this, remember,’ he chided quietly and she dropped her head.
‘This is Ailsa,’ Daniel announced briskly, turning to his other side and filling the awkward pause. ‘I took your advice Jim and managed to find her. Just in the nick of time, too.’
‘This is your eagle?’ Jim asked and Daniel nodded. ‘I’m so happy to hear that. Welcome Ailsa,’ Jim said and took the opportunity to shake her hand and skim her thoughts. Ailsa was a tall, slender but strong looking woman. Her cascades of warm brown curly hair shone in the early sunshine, but he could tell she’d been through something traumatic recently. She was exhausted mentally as well as physically. Jim turned from her quickly however to meet Drew’s eyes. ‘May I see your baby?’ he asked. He noticed she glanced once at Daniel almost smugly. ‘What’s her name?’
‘Holly,’ Drew responded watching him examine her child with a great deal of interest. He was also holding her gently and knowledgeably. Holly had been wriggling fractiously but calmed in his hands and reached out to his face. Drew decided he looked better without the beard he’d worn before. She didn’t remember him being so tall before, but he must have been. He’d certainly filled out.
‘So if it wasn’t for Drew, why were you looking for me in particular?’ Jim asked Daniel, whilst still holding little Holly. ‘Why drag your sister so far with such a young child?’
‘She is family. She might not be able to shift, but it’s known I can. Her child might have magic. I couldn’t take the risk they would come for her. I couldn’t leave her defenceless.’
Jim nodded, hearing the wolves echo Daniel’s view. ‘So what’s your plan? You know I’m a foreigner here.’
‘Sir, please don’t be annoyed with Daniel,’ Drew said placing her hand daringly on Jim’s arm. ‘As Daniel said, we heard you’d come to a school in Edmoston and stayed. We hoped you would help us find a refuge. I don’t know why, but the inquisitors have almost caught us twice. You know how good Daniel is and we’ve kept moving and been so careful. Daniel’s almost run himself into the ground trying to keep us safe.’
‘Holly has magic,’ Jim told her. ‘That’s why the inquisitors have been seeking you so closely. Wizards can sense it like a beacon.’
‘What kind does she have? Wizard magic, or animus?’ Daniel asked.
‘It’s too early to tell, but it’s strong. Until she can be taught to stop projecting she’ll draw attention.’
‘What’s she projecting?’ Drew asked in confusion.
‘She’s trying to communicate her needs, essentially, since she can’t yet speak fully. She’s shouting, in magical terms, because you haven’t heard her. Talking of which,’ Jim said, hastily unwrapping Holly’s lower half and stepping away onto the grass. ‘That’s better isn’t it,’ Jim crooned to her softly. ‘You didn’t want to mess yourself and have to sit in it.’ He was aware they were all amused by his attitude but he couldn’t help it. He was certain Holly was his daughter and he already felt protective of her.
‘Well Daniel, you aren’t the only wolf here. If you decide to stay you’ll no longer be alone. Freddie is the alpha, I’ll leave him to introduce you to his pack later,’ he said, gesturing at the men standing with them. ‘I am headmaster of the school,’ he added pointing to the huge house up the road. ‘This is Commander Drako of Clan Green Bear and now headman of White Haven village. Almost everyone down here is animus, so you can run as a wolf freely. Ah, before I forget, don’t touch the perimeter wall for any reason; it has a defensive spell on it that’ll knock you out. I’ll leave you in Drako’s capable hands and see you later once you’ve had a chance for a rest.’
‘Is there a problem? Drako asked.
; ‘Problem?’
‘Why you’re suddenly rushing off?’ Drako clarified.
‘Daisy’s calling me. I think Holly’s woken her and she knows I’m not by her side,’ Jim told him simply and handed Holly back to her mother.
‘Go and see to my niece,’ Natalya said. ‘Quickly, before she wakes all the students. Look, even Holly can hear her.’
‘Damn, Holly’s copying her,’ Jim winced. ‘I don’t know why you’re laughing Freddie, you’ve certainly got all this to come.’
‘I have no intention of ever leaving my child alone,’ Freddie told him and wrapped his arms about Natalya.
‘You think I want to? Besides, Daisy isn’t actually alone,’ Jim growled, turned on his heel and left them.
‘Who is Daisy?’ Daniel asked, watching Jim hurry off.
‘His daughter,’ Drako told them and led them all into the village. They paused at the clan’s stables long enough to hand over their horses to a groom and unload their bags. Drako briefly pointed out the various industries now getting established, as they walked, suspecting Jack wouldn’t have heard any of this either. But with all their guests dragging with weariness he didn’t make any detours, but led them directly into the village and his lane.
‘Is Amelie his child’s mother?’ Daniel asked.
‘Yes. You know my sister then?’ Natalya responded.
‘She is your sister?’ Daniel asked looking at her again. ‘I didn’t know she had a sister. I suppose there is quite a resemblance.’
‘Let’s get these ladies settled,’ Cassy intervened. ‘They look like they could use some sleep. We can talk later. This way,’ she added veering towards the cottage at the foot of Drako’s lane that had once been the dog alpha’s home. ‘This cottage is empty at the moment. It’s got two bedrooms. The wolves also live on this lane so you won’t be completely alone.’
Forging Alliances: Wizards of White Haven Page 5