Portal (Nina Decker)

by Anna, Vivi

  But I focused on Lord Wolfstriker and what Dani had just implied. I leaned back close to her and whispered, “When you say took, you mean…”

  In a hushed voice she answered, “The war was going really badly for the fae. The king at the time was stuck in the old ways. He’d had his warriors ride up and issue formal challenges. But the werewolves didn’t fight by the rules. They ambushed, they struck suddenly and used surprise. New leadership was needed. That’s why no one really complained when what happened, happened.”

  I thought to myself, Great, so I’m descended from a line of usurpers to boot.

  Dani continued, “Once your grandfather was on the throne things turned around. He fought the war on their terms.”

  I said nothing but let her finish the story. It was curious to me why none of this was in any of the old books I’d read on the fae.

  “The werewolves were driven out of Nightfall and a number of their leaders were taken prisoner and made slaves. Including Severin.”

  I winced when she told me. So Severin had been a slave here. Was that his crime? Escaping? If it was then his imprisonment here is an injustice. I kept calm. This wasn’t the time to jump to conclusions. I needed to hear the full story.

  “So how did he get free?” I asked.

  Dani poked at a lone pea on her plate as she spoke, “So we come to the Act Three, The Third Lycan War, the subtitle for this one should be A Bloody Mess because that’s what it was. Of all the wars this one was the deadliest and the most inconclusive. In the end it was mostly a total waste.”

  “What was it about? What started it?”

  “At first it was about freeing the remaining werewolf slaves and prisoners but it just degenerated from there. There were attacks and counter attacks were made by both sides. Severin was freed during a raid. Part of the reason the war was so costly was because the Trolls got involved.”

  “Trolls?”

  Dani nodded towards a couple at one of the other tables. I hadn’t noticed them before amid the panorama of strange costumes. But now they were hard to miss.

  There were two of them a man and a woman and there was an empty chair next to the woman. Both the man and the woman were big and thickly muscled. Both looked like they could be power lifting champions. And their skin was greyish green and their hair bright orange. The fae gave wide berth and it was easy to see why. Their jewelry, rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and nose rings, they were all made of iron. I could sense it from across the room. The fae seated right next to them must have been in agony.

  “The Greatstones, king and queen of the trolls,” Dani explained. “They got into the act during the third war. It’s impossible to bring iron into Nightfall through a fae portal, but the Troll Tunnels are a different story.”

  “They sided with the werewolves?” I asked.

  Dani nodded. “For a while. Things got really hairy there. The trolls gave them swords, axes, even firearms.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Lord Wolfstriker bought them off. They say he cleaned out the palace coffers to get King Greatstone to switch sides.”

  The name “Greatstone” stuck in my mind. I’d heard it before. But where? Then I saw a young man walk towards the couple. He was a troll too, green skin and orange hair, but he was wearing jeans and a leather bomber jacket.

  “That’s their son, Eric Greatstone,” said Dani.

  Then I saw the blue and red patch of a pirate flag on the back of Eric’s jacket and that’s when it hit me. I’d seen him before.

  Of course when I saw him he wasn’t green skinned and with orange hair. On TV he looked tan and had dishwater blonde hair. Eric Greatstone was president of a motorcycle club based near Seattle, the Emerald City Marauders. There were plenty of motorcycle clubs across North America. Most were legitimate. Some skirted the line between law abiding and outlaw. The Marauders came firmly down on the outlaw camp. They were suspected of gun running and murder for hire. Curiously, unlike most outlaw clubs they had full female members.

  I knew about them because they had been in the Vancouver news a lot. I’d even stitched up one of their members. Apparently they had opened a chapter near the outskirts of the town. There had been a few fights but no major crime had been committed, yet. I knew the local cops were very nervous about the Marauders.

  I suddenly had a disturbing thought. Were they in Vancouver because of me? It was too much of a coincidence. But why was I important? There had to be more to the story.

  “So when the trolls switched sides that was the end of it?” I asked.

  “It should have been the end,” Dani said.

  “What does that mean?”

  Dani didn’t answer. Her sudden silence was disturbing.

  “You’re shy all of a sudden?” I prodded. “You promised to tell me everything.”

  “It’s kind of the point in the story where you come in,” Dani answered.

  I took a deep breath. This was the part I’d been waiting for. “Go on.”

  Dani hemmed and hawed for a moment. “Well it has to do with-”

  A commotion at the front of the hall interrupted her. I couldn’t believe my eyes as a cowboy walked into the great hall.

  “Speak of the devil,” said Dani. “And that’s not a metaphor.”

  The man looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. He was grizzled and rugged but handsome. He wore jeans, a flannel shirt, sheepskin coat, a Stetson hat and a two-day stubble. He was also a werewolf like Severin. He had the same shagginess and clawed fingers.

  “Linus Coldiron,” Dani said. “The greatest werewolf leader of them all.”

  “He’s a cowboy?” I asked.

  “Rancher,” Dani answered. “They say his spread is in Montana or Wyoming or Saskatchewan or Alberta. Maybe it covers all three.”

  “That’s not even geographically possible,” I scoffed.

  Dani replied, “It depends on whose geography you use.”

  The crowd parted for Coldiron. Everyone except Eric Greatstone who stood in the center pretending not to notice. Coldiron reached him and stopped. The two eyed each other as Dani continued her story.

  “During the war no wolf was more feared than Coldiron. That’s why it was so momentous when he and Wolfstriker agreed to a treaty. The peace was supposed to be cemented in blood.”

  My eyes were riveted on the standoff between troll and werewolf. But my ears were fixed on Dani’s story. She swallowed a few times before she told me the next part.

  “Your mother, A’Lona, was supposed to marry Tristan Coldiron, Linus’ son.”

  King Greatstone made a low growl. That got his son to back away. Coldiron continued on the path towards the dais.

  “But that didn’t happen because my mother married my father instead.”

  I was beginning to get the picture finally. All these powerful people and my birth must have thrown them all into a panic. No wonder they all looked at me with such hostility. I remembered Lady Wolfstriker and how she had acted towards me. So far she’d treated me not as a returned granddaughter but as some kind of diseased animal. The only one who didn’t have reason to hate me was Dani because she would just as soon be sunning herself on a beach in Santa Monica. She was comfortable in the human realm, maybe even wanted to be one.

  “What happened after that?” I asked.

  “In retaliation Severin Saint Morgan and Tristan Coldiron led an attack on Nightfall. It didn’t result in a new war but Tristan Coldiron was killed. Along with Severin Saint Morgan’s wife.”

  I felt ice inside me. One simple sentence had torn the heart out of me. Severin’s wife had been killed? He was married once? Was he here for me or for her? Had everything he told me been a lie? A lie to get back at House Wolfstriker? Revenge was a cold hard mistress. I knew all about that considering for years I vowed to get it against my mother.

  Linus Coldiron strode towards the dais and halted. Lord Wolfstriker rose. There were whispers throughout the room. R’Agan and N’Tasha retur
ned to their seats to get a better view. I saw J’Tara subtly motion to her guards and a few of them crept closer to the king. My grandfather stood flanked by his queen who looked at Coldiron with even more hatred than she had shown me. Beside them were the wizard Simeon and Dashrael. Their faces were tense. But Lord Wolfstriker’s was the same as always. He might have been furious or indifferent beneath his ice cold exterior. Part of me even felt that he was glad to see his old enemy. The werewolf leader stopped before the king’s table and glanced up with laconic eyes.

  “I hear you have the Saint Morgan boy,” said Coldiron in a voice like gravel.

  “He is in our custody. He has violated the terms of the treaty and must face our justice,” Lord Wolfstriker replied.

  Coldiron nodded and said, “Good.”

  Next to me I heard N’tasha scoff, “Severin Saint Morgan, even the other wolves want him dead.”

  Oh and for a long moment, so did I.

  Chapter 11

  I had to get up and get away from these people. Standing, I clutched my stomach. I thought I’d fake being sick. I moaned loudly and fake stumbled away from the king’s table but I didn’t watch where I was going and I ran right into the muscular form of Dashrael.

  “Are you ill?” asked the chancellor.

  Before I could answer, Dani leapt to my side and said, “No she’s fine. She just has to use the royal facilities.”

  She steered me away from Dashrael and back towards my chambers. She leaned in close and whispered, “Pretend you have to go to the bathroom.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “You don’t want to be sick, there’s a court magician right there,” she explained. “There’s no illness he can’t cure with a spell.”

  I straightened up. “Nature calls.” So much for my elegant entrance.

  Dani and I started back towards the cross hall. Simeon the wizard called out. “Perhaps I could- “

  “What?” I asked.

  Simeon said, “There’s no real need to disturb yourself. A simple teleportation spell and-“

  I tried not to gag at the thought of it.

  “The princess would prefer a little privacy in this matter,” Dani answered.

  We quickly left the great hall and entered my wing of the palace.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded. I kept my voice low because there were guards everywhere.

  “Helping you,” she said in an equally low tone. “You want to slip out unnoticed right? And perhaps get inside a certain stone tower where they keep prisoners.”

  “Why should you care?”

  “I like you. I’m a romantic at heart. I think the whole war between fae and werewolves is silly. If you want a real good reason, I have an opportunity to pitch a rom com to an a-lister coming up in a week or so and I’m out of ideas. I’m hoping your antics will inspire me.”

  We entered my room at the end of the hall. Dani shut the door then checked the windows. “Sometimes there’s a patrol near the grounds. Just wait a few and make sure it’s clear.”

  I began to calm down some. I thought about the banquet. All those people and powerful forces, and my birth sent them all into a panic.

  “I guess I’m a little infamous,” I said to Dani. “Me and my mother.”

  Dani nodded, “A bit but the real figure of mystery is your father.”

  “My father?” I asked.

  Dani answered, “You now know what was at stake. The whole kingdom had been asking, why did Princess A’Lona break off her engagement to Tristan Coldiron and run off with a human? What power did he have over her?”

  I laughed bitterly. What was she telling me? That my father had planned to lose his mind just so he could bed a faerie princess?

  “Power over her? My father’s been fae struck his entire life. She’s the one who ensnared him,” I said.

  “Why would she do that?”

  “For her own selfish reasons,” I fumed. That was what I had told myself every night since my mother abandoned us; A’Lona Wolfstriker never loved my father, she never loved us. She tricked my father and ensnared him. It was because she was a fae and they loved playing with human hearts and human minds. That was how I’d always thought of her.

  Dani calmly said, “Honey, I don’t want to argue but just take a look around. You saw all the fae lords of the kingdom in all their power. And Princess A’Lona defied the lot of them. Why? Out of a whim? There has to be more to it than that. Does your version of events really add up?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I balled up my fists. I didn’t want to admit it but Dani had a point. All my life I’d only ever been with my dad. I’d seen the terrible cost to him. For the past ten years I’d watched him slip slowly away. The brilliant, funny, strong man who had raised me had become frail, helpless with a child’s mind. And that was my mother’s fault.

  I still believed that. I had to. But standing there in Nightfall it was impossible to ignore the other side of the story. I’d just seen with my own eyes what my mother had given up. In my mind I couldn’t deny it. But my heart wasn’t ready. There was still a lifetime of anger and resentment inside me and I felt it all well up. If I didn’t get away soon I’d start throwing things.

  She shrugged. “Maybe not.”

  “Is it clear?” I asked.

  Dani popped the window open and looked around. “You’re golden.”

  She helped lower me down to the ground on the other side. I’d calmed down a little bit. “Dani, I’m sorry I snapped at you-“

  “No worries. I understand you’ve had it rough.”

  The tower was easy to spot. There were no guards about. But then again there was still the wall crowned with silver and iron. Even if I had free run of the palace I was still largely a prisoner here.

  “Do you know how you’re getting past the guard at the tower?” Dani asked.

  I had to admit that I didn’t. Even if there were no guards on patrol there had to be one watching over Severin.

  “Do you have any advice?”

  “Just the LA standard, fake it until you make it.”

  I hiked up my flowing skirts and headed towards the tower. Every step my heart beat faster. What would I say to Severin? What would he say to me?

  I saw many brownie servants running this way and that across the palace. None of them stopped me or even questioned me as I reached the tower. That’s when I met one lone guard at the tower door. He was in half armor. He had a breast and back plate on and leg guards but her wore no helmet or arm defences.

  “I demand to see the prisoner,” I said trying to sound as regal as possible.

  The guard sputtered for a little. Dani’s advice was working. This fellow was used to being the authority figure. I turned it up a notch.

  “Don’t make me fetch my grandfather, open the door,” I said between clenched teeth.

  That jolted him into action.

  Inside a spiral staircase wound up the center of the tower. I followed the guard up several floors until he brought me to the cells. Severin was the only prisoner. He sat chained to the stone wall with silver. He was naked.

  I briefly thought about releasing him. I had the guard shaking. He might open the cell. But then I remembered the wall of iron and silver that ringed the palace and the town. I might have bluffed this one, but there were hundreds more who weren’t as gullible. If I let Severin out he’d have nowhere to run. He’d be trapped in here with a bunch of people who had reason to hate him. And I’d be trapped right along with him.

  “Leave us,” I told the guard. My voice was quaking. My resolve slackened. I really didn’t want to hear anymore. But I had to.

  The guard left us alone despite my wavering confidence. After the door shut behind me I approached the cell.

  Severin glanced up.

  “Look at you, a faery princess,” he said while standing up. My eyes drank in his form. I wanted him next to me more than ever.

  “I see they’ve been treating you well,” Severin said.
His smile was wide. Ordinarily that smile lit up my soul. But now it just made my heart ache.

  “Is it true? About your mate?” I asked him.

  The smile dropped. His face became very serious.

  “Shana,” he said softly. “So they told you.”

  “I heard their story. Now I want to hear your side,” I said.

  “What do you want to hear? I loved her and she died. That’s all the story I care about,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer at once. “You wouldn’t have let me get so close to you had you known,” he said. “You wouldn’t have let me come along. I needed you to trust me.”

  “Why are you saying this to me?” I demanded.

  “Nina you can’t be this naïve. Our kind has been at war with each other for centuries and I just happen to fall in love with Wolfstriker’s granddaughter? I only got close to you so I could get revenge on the man who killed my mate.”

  Tears welled in my eyes. I tried to stop them but there was no point. I had suspected this betrayal but it still cut deep.

  “I don’t want to believe it.”

  “Well, do. I’m Severin the betrayer, Severin the scoundrel, Severin the villain. I did it all just to get back at the man who killed my mate!”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Look in my eyes and tell me if you see any lie.”

  I didn’t look. Instead I ran out of there. I flew past the guard and fled back to my chambers as fast as I could like a coward. I tried to pull myself together as I walked back towards my room but it was no use. I was falling to pieces. I reached the open window. A hand reached down for me and I took it. I wiped the tears from my face as I climbed back into my chambers. But the person who pulled me back into my room wasn’t Dani.

  It was my mother.

  Chapter 12

  I pulled away from her grasp. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to see you,” she said.

  “Where’s Dani?”

  “She outside distracting the guards,” my mother answered.

  I heard voices out in the hall. There was a lot of laughing.