The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf

by Martin Millar

  “We’ve worked our way round that so far,” retorted Thrix. “We found the house.”

  “And now you want to send werewolves to get gunned down by silver bullets,” said Baron MacGregor. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  From the expressions around the table, the Baron wasn’t the only werewolf there who thought it might not be a good idea. Dominil realized that she and Thrix had miscalculated. They hadn’t anticipated the level of opposition. They knew that Thane Markus supported the attack, and they’d assumed that his opinion would sway the council. Perhaps that wasn’t the case. Dominil mentally reappraised the situation. There were twelve council members in the room. None of the three barons seemed enthusiastic. Nor did her father, Tupan. Kurian was old and conservative and usually against anything that threatened clan tradition. His son Kertal would probably support him.

  So there are six werewolves here quite likely to vote against attacking the Guild, she realized. As for Lucia, who knows? She might be against it too if she thinks her son Decembrius will be in danger.

  “I thought this was already decided?” Decembrius sounded impatient. “Didn’t you agree you were going to attack?”

  “We agreed to investigate it further,” said Baron MacAllister.

  “But we did agree that something needed to be done,” said Markus. The Thane looked round at every werewolf there. “The Guild has been getting stronger and more daring. Are you all forgetting that they attacked us in Edinburgh? And then came even further north to kill Minerva? Now we have the chance to strike back.”

  The Thane’s word carried a lot of weight but Baron MacGregor seemed determined in his opposition.

  “We still haven’t heard a credible plan for attacking this place. Baron MacPhee just told us how difficult it will be to get in. We’re going to look foolish if we send a group of werewolves down to London and they’re stuck outside in the street when the moon comes up.”

  “And we’ll look even worse if they finally do force their way in and get shot down by hunters who’ve had plenty of time to prepare,” said Baron MacPhee. “The old Thane would never have agreed to it.”

  “The Old Thane isn’t here,” said Markus. “I’m Thane now and I’m supporting this.” He turned toward Thrix. “Have you worked out a plan of entry?”

  “Not yet,” admitted Thrix. “I plan to visit Queen Dithean tomorrow.”

  At this Baron MacGregor actually snorted in derision, causing Thrix’s eyes to flash with anger.

  “So you’re asking Dithean NicRinnalch for help again? Since when do the MacRinnalchs depend on the fairies to help them fight?”

  “We’re not asking for help fighting! We just need help to overcome the defensive power of the stone dwarves’ construction.”

  “I don’t know how likely that is,” said the Mistress of the Werewolves. “I tend to support the idea of attacking the Guild, but I’m surprised Queen Dithean’s helped you even as much as she has. She doesn’t like to let her magic out of Colburn Woods. She probably won’t agree to do it again.”

  “I’m not convinced by any of this,” said Tupan. “Whether the Fairy Queen helps or not seems irrelevant. If we can’t come up with a solid plan of our own then we shouldn’t do it.”

  Dominil turned to her father. It wasn’t the first time they’d found themselves on opposite sides in the council chamber.

  “We should not prejudge. Let Thrix approach Queen Dithean. Even if she won’t help, I haven’t abandoned hopes of finding a more conventional way into the headquarters.”

  “Maybe if you’d just all move back to Scotland instead of living in London we wouldn’t have to be thinking about this,” said Baron MacGregor.

  “Don’t start that again!” roared Thrix. “I’ll live wherever I want.”

  “Even if it means putting the whole clan in danger? No wonder we’ve attracted so much attention with young werewolves running wild around the city.”

  “I don’t think we really need to—” began the Mistress of the Werewolves, but the Baron carried on angrily.

  “We all saw what Butix and Delix looked like when they visited the castle! Pink and blue hair! And there’s Thrix in fashion magazines, Kalix roaming round like a maniac, and as for Dominil, could anyone be more conspicuous?”

  Thrix rose to her feet and smashed her fist on the table. “Don’t you criticize me! I’ve the same right to live my life as anyone else. If you want to spend your time stuck in your drafty old keep in the Highlands that’s your affair.”

  “What do you mean, ‘drafty old keep’?” cried the Baron, rising in turn. “Better living in the ancestral home than running off to London like a badly behaved puppy!”

  Being referred to as a puppy was guaranteed to antagonize any werewolf. Thrix took a step around the table. It would not have been the first time a council meeting had come to blows, but Markus prevented it by grabbing Thrix and pushing her back toward her chair.

  “Stop this! The council meeting will not descend into chaos while I’m Thane.”

  Markus spoke to his sister. “Thrix, I suggest you continue with your plan of consulting Queen Dithean. Secretary Rainal, please bring this meeting to an end, and announce that we will reconvene tomorrow night, to continue our discussion.”

  CHAPTER 130

  Kalix was frustrated that the wolf nights had arrived, confining her inside during the hours of darkness. She didn’t want to stay in her room doing nothing; she knew she’d become depressed about Manny. She wished she could go running again. The young werewolf ached from her earlier exertions, but she was pleased she’d made the effort. She planned to make herself so healthy that she would crash into the Guild’s headquarters like a missile.

  The moon rose and Kalix changed. It felt good for a moment, but again she wondered what to do with herself, and became anxious. The door burst open. Vex and Daniel marched into the room. For some unfathomable reason, Vex was wearing a paper party hat. Daniel was carrying a bundle of discs.

  “Welcome to the first wolf-night party!” announced Daniel.

  “What?”

  “We’re here to entertain you,” said Vex. “Because we know you get stressed when you can’t go out. Especially now when you’ve messed everything up with your boyfriend.”

  “Thanks,” said Kalix. “I’m feeling better already.”

  “We’ve got all your favorites,” said Daniel, brandishing discs.

  “So you won’t have to go mad and start biting people,” added Vex.

  “I hardly ever bite people!” protested Kalix.

  “And you don’t have to hide in a warehouse and try to eat your flatmates!”

  “I only did that one time,” said Kalix, and started to sulk.

  Vex leaped on the bed and sat right beside Kalix. She leaned her head on her shoulder. “Mmm, furry werewolf. You’re really comfy when you’re a werewolf, you know that?”

  “Don’t use me as a pillow!”

  Daniel was setting up a large screen at the foot of the bed. The cat, hearing activity and not wanting to be left out, raced into the room and jumped straight onto Kalix’s lap.

  “I know,” said Vex to the cat, “she’s really comfy. All warm and furry.”

  “OK,” said Daniel. “I’ve set up the screen. Let’s see what we have here.” Daniel sat on the other side of Kalix, opened his laptop and showed Kalix his collection of discs. “We’ve got all your favorites. Like uh . . . Tokyo Top Pop Boom Boom Girl? How did this get here?”

  “I put in a few of my favorites too,” said Vex. She dragged her bag onto her lap. “I’ve got some beer. I’ve got a cake too. And crisps. And eight raw lamb chops.”

  Kalix became more enthusiastic at the sight of the lamb chops. As a werewolf, she had a powerful appetite for raw meat. On the wolf nights, all her inhibitions about eating would disappear.

  “And here’s your party hat,” said Vex. “Look, I made some holes for your ears.”

  “Thanks. That’s really considerate.”

/>   “Here we are,” said Daniel. “The complete Runaways concert in Japan. And then another bootleg of them playing in Detroit. And then the not-so-popular last series of Sabrina the Teenage Witch when Sabrina goes to college.”

  “I still liked it!” said Kalix, her mouth full of meat.

  “And then we’ve got uh . . . Shakugan no Shana. What’s this?”

  “Flame-haired flaming-eyed swordswoman,” said Vex. “It’s really great.”

  Since being given her laptop, Vex had used it almost exclusively for watching Japanese anime online, and had become something of an authority.

  Moonglow appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

  “First wolf-night party,” explained Daniel.

  “So as Kalix won’t have to go out and bite people,” added Vex.

  “Stop saying that!” said Kalix.

  Vex laughed, and put her head on Kalix’s shoulder.

  “Can I come?” said Moonglow.

  “Well . . .” said Daniel.

  “Hmm . . .” said Vex.

  Moonglow immediately felt cross. “What do you mean ‘well’ and ‘hmm’? Since when am I not invited to a party in my own house?”

  “We wanted to keep it entertaining,” said Daniel. “You know, favorite music and cartoons. And I’ve got a whole folder of funny cat pictures. We didn’t want anything too serious.”

  “I’m not too serious!” cried Moonglow. “Kalix, do you think I’m too serious?”

  “Mmm, lamb chop,” said Kalix with her mouth full.

  “I don’t go around being serious all the time!”

  “What’s that book you’re carrying?” asked Daniel.

  “A Catalogue of Ancient Mesopotamian Temples.”

  Daniel and Vex laughed.

  “I wasn’t about to make you read it,” said Moonglow. “Shove over and make room.”

  Moonglow clambered onto the bed and sat beside Daniel, so that the four flatmates were all perched against the headboard.

  “Vex,” said Kalix. “Why did you just prod me and then prod the cat?”

  “I was seeing which one was most soft and fluffy. It’s about equal.”

  Vex produced two more party hats, which she passed along to Daniel and Moonglow.

  “I can’t believe you were going to ignore me,” said Moonglow, and elbowed Daniel in the ribs. “I’m as much fun as anyone else.”

  As the moon rose high in the night sky, the first Kalix wolf-night party got underway, with the first half of the Runaways’ Live in Japan, followed by two episodes of Shakugan no Shana. The cat went to sleep on Kalix’s lap, Vex leaned on her comfortable furry shoulder, and Kalix herself, once full of raw meat, began to enjoy the unexpected event.

  CHAPTER 131

  The Mistress of the Werewolves’ chambers were by far the lightest and airiest in the castle. She’d had them renovated since the old Thane died, enlarging the windows, brightening the decor and bringing in modern furnishings of which her late husband would never have approved. She stood with her son by the main window, gazing in the direction of Colburn Woods, though the wood was too far away for even the sharp-eyed werewolves to make out from the castle.

  “I think you’re going to have to suspend your disapproval of Dominil, Mother.”

  Verasa made a face. “I don’t want to.”

  “You used to regard her very highly. She hasn’t changed, you know.”

  “She’s changed in my eyes, Markus. She let us down.”

  “You’re being too hard on her. So she takes laudanum. That’s bad, but she’s still doing a lot for the clan.”

  “It’s more than bad. It’s a disgrace. You can’t just pretend it’s not.”

  Markus looked at his mother. “Kalix is worse. You haven’t started disliking her.”

  “Kalix is my daughter. And she’s troubled. Fighting, running, living with all her fears and worries. I can understand how it happened. None of that applies to Dominil.”

  “Who knows what goes on in Dominil’s mind? Maybe she had her reasons too. Anyway, the clan needs her. We wouldn’t have found the Avenaris Guild without her. I doubt we can mount an attack without her either.”

  “We don’t know that yet,” said the Mistress of the Werewolves. “Thrix might bring us everything we need.”

  Thrix had left the castle to visit Queen Dithean, her second visit in the space of a few days.

  “I wouldn’t put that much faith in Thrix,” said Markus. “Haven’t you noticed how unstable she is these days?”

  “Not really.”

  Markus shook his head. “Only because you don’t like to admit that anything’s ever wrong with your children. Take it from me, Thrix is about to go off the deep end.”

  The Mistress of the Werewolves couldn’t deny that Thrix had displayed an unusually sharp temper at the council meeting, but argued there were reasons for it.

  “Baron MacGregor was being more obstructive than ever. I blame Marwanis.”

  Marwanis MacRinnalch, niece of the old Thane and strong supporter of Sarapen, had refused to make peace after the feud. She’d left the castle, moving to the lands of Baron MacGregor.

  “She has a lot of influence with the MacGregors.”

  The Baron’s son Wallace, and his chief adviser Lachlan, were both known to be in love with Marwanis. It seemed to be casting a baleful influence over the whole clan, judging by the Baron’s opposition last night.

  “Can’t you at least ask Dominil to come and talk?” asked Markus.

  “Wait till we’ve heard from Thrix.”

  Thrix returned to the castle earlier than expected. She arrived in her mother’s chambers looking cold and downcast.

  “Queen Dithean can’t help. Or won’t help. It comes to the same thing.”

  “Did she have anything to say about the stone dwarves’ ‘House That Can’t Be Found’?”

  “I’m sick of hearing that,” said Thrix. “You’d think they could have given it a shorter name. Queen Dithean says she can’t help us enter it.” She shivered. It was much colder in the Highlands than it had been in London. “She was quite abrupt about it. I don’t think she appreciated me asking for a second favor so quickly.” Thrix shivered again. “So we have nothing to tell the council tonight.”

  “We just need a plan of attack,” said Markus. “It’s a building with doors and windows. We must be able to invade it somehow.”

  The Mistress of the Werewolves didn’t share Markus’s optimism. “MacAllister made a fair point when he said we couldn’t have a troop of werewolves outside in the street. Our need for secrecy is greater than our need to attack the Guild.”

  “Why would we have werewolves outside? We can all go in as human and transform inside.”

  Markus’s mother shook her head. “I’m sure you’d all be shot before you got through the front door. And I don’t see why you’re including yourself, Markus. I still don’t think you should lead the attack.”

  “We’ve been over this. If there’s an attack, I have to lead it.”

  “Well, whoever leads the attack, we need some sort of plan,” said Thrix. “And we need it before tonight. Why isn’t Dominil here?”

  “Mother doesn’t like inviting her to her chambers any more.”

  “Really, Mother?” Thrix was exasperated.

  “There’s no need to look at me like that, Thrix. You’re the one who’s been blaming her for Minerva’s death.”

  “We still need her help.”

  “Very well, let’s visit her.”

  Still avoiding the need to invite Dominil to her chambers, the Mistress of the Werewolves accompanied her son and daughter through the long stone corridors of the castle to the room Dominil had lived in since she was a child. It had never been refurbished and was as plain now as it had always been. They found Dominil sitting with her laptop open on her desk and an old book in her hand, glancing from one to the other.

  “Queen Dithean won’t help us,” Thrix told her.

  “I’d like t
o talk to her,” said Dominil.

  “It’s no use, she can’t help.”

  “Nonetheless, I intend to talk to her.”

  Thrix was exasperated again. “Why would that help? Have you ever even met her?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I have, often, and I’ve already asked.”

  “Do I have to keep repeating myself?” asked Dominil. “I intend to speak to the Fairy Queen.” She closed her laptop, put on her coat, and left her room.

  “What good is this going to do?” said Verasa.

  “None,” said Thrix. “Apart from frightening the young fairies when they get a look at Dominil.”

  CHAPTER 132

  Dominil took the main footpath into Colburn Woods. She had been here often in her youth, though she’d never met Queen Dithean. She noted the slight rise in temperature in the shelter of the trees. Colburn Woods was known for maintaining a climate milder than that outside. The harsh winters of the Scottish Highlands were not quite so harsh here.

  Dominil walked along the main path till she reached the burn that flowed through the woods. She crossed the water, briefly consulted a map she’d placed on her iPad, then took a turning to the left, a path so faint as to be almost invisible. The trees became denser and the light dimmer. When she reached a silver birch tree next to a rowan tree, she left the trail and made her way through thick undergrowth, walking carefully round several huge thistles. After a difficult journey, she finally emerged into a small clearing, where the land rose into a mound, covered in grass of a particularly vibrant shade of green. Dominil walked confidently to the top of the mound.

  “Queen Dithean NicRinnalch,” she announced. “I am Dominil MacRinnalch. I’ve come to visit you.”

  Nothing happened. Dominil thought she could hear some faint giggling in the trees around her.

  “I will be very honored if the Queen of the Fairies would grant me an audience,” said Dominil loudly.

  A tall, slender woman stepped out from the trees. Dominil was surprised at the bright blondness of her hair, though not by her diaphanous silver gown, which seemed appropriate for a fairy queen.