Son of hell: Blood of wolves

by Michaela Burdová

  "I'll find a way to get rid of the soul of the Thirteenth. In return, you’ll bring me her companion, the werewolf."

  The demon chuckled."As you wish, but find the way fast!"

  When he had disappeared, Aragen felt more confident that her plan would work. However, she had to proceed with caution, since the Twelfth apparently cared for Liadel a lot.

  * * *

  The morning was cold. Liadel and Neran were still asleep, but the early morning sunshine slowly woke Neran up. Its golden rays were pleasantly warm and tickled his eyelids. In his drowsiness he heard the sounds of singing birds and buzzing insects. Then something cold and pointed touched his throat.

  He immediately opened his eyes.

  A tall elf stood above him, forcing the sword to his throat. He had a patronizing smirk on his lips. Neran frowned and pressed his lips together. The elf grinned, raised his head, and pulled away his sword.

  "Good morning, Key'Rejn," he said cheerfully as Neran sat up. Liadel was already awake. Neran immediately smelled her blood. The bandage on her shoulder was only leaking a little and the elven did not look as pale as she did the night before.

  He looked around to see that their campsite was surrounded by at least ten elves with bows stretched. All of them were tall and slender and were dressed as warriors. They had golden tunics, brown kilts and pants, and even wore shoes. Their hair was white and mostly long. Only a few of them had shorter hair like the elf who had addressed Neran. His hair was slightly dishevelled and beneath it was a narrow handsome face with sparkling green eyes, bursting with confidence.

  All were elegant and graceful and moved in complete silence. They did not look like their northern, blue-haired relatives, at all.

  "What do you want here?" Neran asked bluntly. The elf raised his eyebrows in amusement.

  "I should be asking you that, Key'Rejn."

  "This is a special Royal Combat Patrol," Liadel stated, cautiously getting to her feet. The commanding elf immediately pointed his sword at her throat.

  "Take it easy, ma'am. I wouldn´t like to hurt you."

  "Stop that," Neran muttered grumpily and stood up. Unlike Liadel, he was not trying to be cautious. The elf shot him a wary glance.

  "You know very well that we are not enemies," Neran said. "On top of that, none of your weapons are silver-coated. I could turn you into mincemeat just like that."

  The elf grinned and put away his sword, but his fighters did not lower their bows. "You're right. I just wanted to tease you a little. You know how much I like to."

  Liadel grinned. "It's fun, isn’t it?"

  The elf smiled. "Enormous."

  "Sure," Neran growled. "Thank you for the nice chat. Now explain to me what you're doing here."

  "As I said, that´s my question."

  Neran looked at the elves who surrounded them. "What if you first ordered your skinny fellows to put down their weapons?"

  The elf chuckled again. He looked mischievous with his constant smile, like someone who took great pleasure from picking on somebody. "I don’t want to."

  Neran raised his eyebrows. "You don´t have silver arrows. Do I have to repeat it in Elvish, so that you understand? The only one here you could kill is Liadel."

  The commander waved his arm ever so slightly and the elves lowered their weapons. "Well, Key'Rejn, what are you looking for in our forest?"

  "Aren’t you glad to see me again?" Neran grinned wryly. The elf burst into laughter.

  "I’m almost crying with happiness. Will you hug me?"

  "Then you´ll kill me."

  "Don’t tell me that twice," the elf grinned.

  "I'm sorry," he said turning towards Liadel. "I’m so used to Key'Rejn’s rudeness that I didn’t notice my own. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elniäd and I am the Commander of the Royal Combat Patrol of Queen Ïmerrila."

  "My name is Liadel," the elven replied. "It´s my pleasure."

  The elf looked at her for a moment before saying: "The pleasure is all mine, ma'am." He kissed the back of Liadel’s hand, "Do I know you from somewhere? Do you come from Ollewan?"

  Neran answered for her: "She was…"

  "My home is in Neiwlur," she interrupted him with a kind smile. Neran frowned. He was not surprised. Liadel apparently did not want Elniäd to know her true identity.

  "We've just come back from the village of Geiwö," Elniäd said stabbing Neran with his penetrating gaze. "Every last soul was murdered, but of course you know that. I smelled werewolf in that place."

  "We were there," Neran replied coldly. "We fought with whoever did it."

  "Did you fight with yourself?"

  Neran gritted his teeth. "You know very well that I knew the elves. I had no reason to kill them."

  "Maybe you just felt like it or you were hungry," Elniäd said, shrugging his shoulders, a cold wry smile stretching across his face. "I’m just teasing you again, Key'Rejn. We know who did it."

  "Don’t call me that," Neran said irritably. "Or at least finally tell me what it means!"

  "Key'Rejn means hollow head," Liadel replied. Neran turned red and stabbed the elf with a murderous glare. Elniäd just shrugged innocently.

  "We know that the Twelfth Demon ransacked the village," the elf continued.

  "Do you know that he is killing your people?" Liadel asked.

  "Yes, we do," Elniäd nodded grimly. "We have been chasing through the countryside following his every step. We have tried to second guess his next target and to protect his future victims, but we are failing to do so. He is smarter, faster, and very sneaky."

  "Do you know what he wants?" Neran wanted to know.

  "We think that the demon is searching for the place where the Thirteenth is locked up."

  Neran raised his eyebrows. "The place where they are locked up?"

  "Why are you so surprised?"

  "Don’t you know that the Thirteenth is no longer locked up?"

  The elf froze. "How do you know?"

  "He doesn´t know," Liadel intervened. "We only believe that that is the case."

  Elniäd frowned. He looked at Neran with suspicion. "We think that the Twelfth wants to set the Thirteenth free. It is only with their help that he can awake the remaining demons. He first killed the elven priests of our temples. Those priests helped during their bondage. He was trying to get them to reveal the hiding place of the Thirteenth, but did not succeed. Now, he is gathering his strength.As we all know, elven hearts and entrails serve as a good source of energy for him."

  "If the priests didn´t reveal anything to him, he´ll directly attack your towns, won’t he?" Neran wondered out loud. "The Council of Nobles and the Queen know everything don´t they? After all, they are in contact with the Spirits of the Land and with your Gods."

  "Only the priests could speak to the Gods. As far as we know, only a few of them survived and they are now in hiding. We are trying to find them and protect them. The Queen speaks with the Spirits of the Land and I think that something is troubling her. Apparently, she has another problem to deal with, but she would not tell me about it." Elniäd paused for a moment to think.

  "The demon cannot face our forces and the army because he is not powerful enough. He needs the other demons."

  Neran thought that the Twelfth no longer needed to look for the Thirteenth because he had found out that they were back, but with a soul. Neran did not want to betray Liadel. Who knew what would happen to her? Knowing Elniäd, he would want to drag her to Yldiel for a fair trial, where everyone would debate about what to do with her. After all, she should have been locked up in the castle in Breetia as her punishment. Neran needed her and was not prepared to let the boaster take her away. This was bound to end in bloodshed.

  "I see that you quickly got rid of the Queen's gift," Elniäd noted with narrowed eyes. "I advised her to not waste gifts on a werewolf."

  Neran knew that he meant his sword. Liadel's eyes widened. "Your sword was a gift from Queen Ïmerrila herself?"

  Neran gri
nned. "She loves me," he said, flashing Elniäd and amused gaze.

  "That´s a big mistake," the elf replied haughtily. Neran despised him from the very first moment they had met. He wanted to cross swords with him and slash him into pieces.

  "They stole it from me in battle," he snapped. "I haven’t had time to get it back."

  "Now he wears a sword from the Chief of the Northern Elves," Liadel added proudly. Elniäd crossed his arms.

  "How come you are constantly receiving gifts from the rulers of the Elven people?"

  Neran grinned again. "Everybody takes a liking to me."

  "You are always so witty Key'Rejn."

  "How do you say pompous jerk in Elvish?"

  "You still haven´t answered my question. What are you looking for in our forest?" Elniäd asked again.

  "We're just passing through."

  "Where to?"

  "Far away."

  "Actually, it's not that far anymore," Liadel said. Neran rolled his eyes. Elniäd had not needed to know that.

  "The closest place to here is the Kingdom of Yviel. Is that your destination?"

  "Almost," Neran smiled vaguely and stretched his back. "We really are in a hurry. Good luck with your hunt for the demon."

  The elf put on a disdainful smile. He looked at Liadel. "You, my lady, do not fit into this company at all. You can accompany me to the Royal Palace."

  Liadel smiled. Neran saw how Elniäd devoured her with his eyes. "That's very kind of you. Unfortunately, my journey continues alongside this ... man."

  "Then I wish you good luck, strength, and patience."

  "Give my greetings to Ïmerrila," Neran sneered at the elf, relishing the exasperation written all over his face. They parted ways and continued their journey through the forest.

  Chapter 15

  Forest and Flower

  In beauty she shed tears

  They sit in blossoms like rare dew

  Their taste is what heals

  Evil’s got new power too.

  In this world no sister she has

  In the sunlight she stands speechless

  Forest fairies

  Her companions are

  Her guardian’s the Evening Star

  The sun shone on their backs and lit the landscape like golden reflections. Neran walked just behind Liadel and mulled over the killer of the darkwolf. To kill a darkwolf was almost impossible. The only chance they had was against their own kind. All werewolves were able to sense each other’s birthmarks when they were in close contact with each other. Hit the place with a mortal blow, and that was it. However, this darkwolf spy had been taken down by a monster who possessed a dangerous power.

  The spy. That was another thing that haunted Neran. Aragen just wouldn´t leave him alone. She was prepared to do anything to preserve her pack. Neran knew he was the key to her plan. When Gerrat wakes up, they’d jointly devise a plot for how to get rid of her. His brother was smart.He could always figure out something.

  Liadel suddenly came to a halt. Neran noticed just in time that her knees were buckling. He caught her before she fell to the ground. He held her in his arms and suddenly realized how fragile and vulnerable she was. She could not be a demon.No, it was not her who tortured him twenty-three years ago. He couldn´t bring himself to hate her, she was so...

  Her forehead glistened again with sweat. The sour smell of her blood tickled his tongue as it leaked through the blood-stained bandage on her shoulder. "Your herbs didn´t work too well," Neran noted bitterly. "The infection came back."

  "I know," Liadel sighed. "I can handle it. A simple scratch won´t break me."

  Proud as always Neran thought, whilst worrying about the fact that if she got blood poisoning the "simple scratch" would become a real problem.

  "I’ll either get you to a healer, or the flower will heal you," he stated. Liadel looked him in the eyes."Would it not be easier to force me to accomplish the task, and then just let me die? You wanted to kill me from the very beginning anyway."

  Neran felt a strange tightness in his chest. His heart was pounding, as if screaming in protest. Neran looked admiringly at the graceful curve of her neck, her porcelain skin, soft, rounded lips, high cheekbones, her clear, penetrating eyes ... He was oblivious to anything other than her. He could not kill her, not for anything in the world. Something had changed, something had broken the protective wall he had built around himself. Something had broken into his heart and tried to induce false hope. He could not allow himself to believe it. When Gerrat wakes up, everything will be as it was before andNeran would put this weakness out of his mind.

  When he did not answer,Liadel looked away. He realized then that his silence had given her the truth. Perhaps it would be better to leave it at that and not arouse any hopes.

  "I guess I’ve changed my mind," he replied belatedly.

  She looked deep into his eyes, grabbed him by his arms in order to stand up and remained close to him. As her hands rested on his chest, excitement swept through Neran like lightning. He thought that he was going crazy! He had never felt like this in his life. His reasoning began to wane and his blood began to boil. He wanted to take Liadel, right there, right now, oblivious to everything other than the merging of their bodies!

  "What did you change your mind about?"

  Neran swallowed. Heat ran through his veins. "About killing you."

  Liadel suddenly smiled. "You like me."

  Neran’s face was on fire. No, I want you.I want you to be mine, I want to kiss you, I want to hold you, I want you to give yourself to me, and I want ... Damn! He cleared his throat. "Maybe there are some sympathies ... But don’t trust yourself too much, all right?"

  Liadel continued to grin. "I think we could ultimately be friends."

  Friends. Hearing that word, Neran wanted to growl.That's enough!

  "Now you are exaggerating,” he said, feigning indifference and stepping away from her. It was an extremely difficult task in self-control. Liadel continued to tease him. "You like me."

  "No way," he bristled. "You're annoying and arrogant and you have no sense of humour."

  "You like me," she smiled victoriously. Neran was angry. To hell with women!

  "You seem to be full of life," he growled grumpily. "So let’s go! You said that we were close, right?"

  They had crossed the border of the Yviel Kingdom a few hours before. Now they were walking on a path between yellow and orange fields. The magic of the Ariellan Forest had disappeared into the distance and had been replaced by the monotony of the human realm which unfolded before them.

  Liadel took a deep breath. "The Teardrop Forest should be up there on that hill," she pointed ahead. The crest of a green hill peeped above an island of trees that lay in the distance. There was no forest to be seen, it was after all invisible. Neran started to get nervous. His goal was within reach. Finally, he could get his old life back.

  They soon found themselves walking through a blossoming meadow. Neran was distracted from his thoughts by insects that pestered him all the time. He fought them off and returned to his thoughts of the Teardrop Forest. When he got the nectar he would go straight to the dwarves. He knew that Etwik would have taken good care of his brother. He imagined the splendid tables of the Dwarf Lords. He remembered Etwik and their first encounter. It had been twenty-three years.

  At that time, Neran had been in a pretty destitute state. He had just escaped the captivity of the Thirteenth ... Liadel. He had undergone two months of hellish torture. She had fried him with silver, stretched him on the rack, broken his bones, skinned him, stung him ... knowing that he would recover again so that she could repeat the process.

  She had tried to break him so that he would eventually want to free himself of all the suffering and submit himself to her, to allow her to kill him, so that he would give her his heart.

  Those memories did not cause Neran to feel any resentment. He felt strangely calm and resigned. He looked at Liadel and realized that she and the demon who
had tormented him years ago were now not one and the same person. It was not Liadel. It was her alter ego devoid of a soul. Neran knew that state. He often used to lose self-control. When he turned into a wolf, all his humanity vanished as if by the flick of a magic wand. It was so easy to succumb to it.

  All the suffering that he had undergone had made him into a dangerous, wild, and bloodthirsty beast. He had been like a madman, unable to control himself and completely resigned tothe beast inside his heart. It was in that state that he had arrived in Kiantell where he nearly killed a dwarf woman.

  Another dwarf had come to the woman´s rescue and he had been captured. At the point of being captured a mighty wave of sleep had overwhelmed him as he was hit by poisoned darts in the neck. After he woke up, he found himself in a cell with Etwik, the dwarf with whom he had fought earlier. Had he not been handcuffed with silver, Neran would have torn the scoundrel to pieces.

  Dwarf Etwik had been imprisoned for stealing a gold statue of the great Dwarf God Órin. He was a godless rogue, hoarder, and a thief without any manners, but he had gone on to save his life. The poison in his blood from the dwarves´ darts had softened the animal inside him, and Etwik´s words had cured him. Etwik talked to him for days and days, over and over again, until one day Neran woke up. His dark thoughts had drifted away and he was himself again.

  They had got out of prison with the help of the dwarf woman whom Etwik had rescued from Neran´s grasp. She had been in love with Etwik for a long time. She came from a high ranking family in the village. At her request, even Neran was eventually pardoned and was placed into her custody.

  He broke away from his memories. He noticed that Liadel was watching him curiously. "What are you thinking about?"

  "About what elves look like when they are relieving themselves."

  Liadel rolled her eyes. "Here we go again."

  "What?"

  "You just cannot be serious for a while."

  "I'm always serious."

  Liadel shook her head and sighed in resignation. "There´s one problem, Neran. It´s possible that Dryad Oteyla still lives in the forest."

  "So what?"

  "Remember that I told you that I had betrayed her?"