Meta Gods War 2

by B N Miles

  Cam walked at the head of the group with Elder Frew, Elder Dagan, Miuri, Key, and Felin. Theus lingered just behind their group, speaking with Elder Frew’s men. Cam had given him the task of getting to know Frew’s warriors and trying to figure out how they would fight together.

  But mostly to understand how loyal they were to Frew, and if any of them harbored any obvious discontent.

  “Fresh air,” Felin said as they walked across the plateau, between the two large entry columns, and down the switchbacks.

  “It is nice,” Cam said.

  Felin seemed like a weight had been lifted from her and she smiled as they walked along. Dagan spoke with Frew in soft tones a few feet away from everyone else, and Cam could tell that neither of them was very happy. He didn’t know for sure what the Elder’s reasons were for going to Lord Remorn, but he had his guesses, and none of them were good.

  He needed Frew to be on his side, especially now that they were out in the wilderness, and he couldn’t have Frew spying or sabotaging their efforts. He would leave it to Elder Dagan to handle though, since Dagan was much more politically minded than Cam could ever be.

  “Strange morning,” Miuri said as she slipped up next to Cam. She moved so quietly he almost didn’t notice her there.

  “Not the one I expected,” he said.

  “But we’re out and we’re moving.” She smiled at him. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  He nodded and looked around. The switchbacks descended along the side of the mountain over gravelly, rough terrain. Getting their supply carts up those tracks had been a real undertaking, and although that was only a little more than a week ago, it felt like years had passed. Down below them in the valley, small, twisted pine trees grew up from the mountainside, and as the switchbacks moved lower and eventually flattened into a path, the forest proper sprouted up dense and lush.

  “I just hope Fel knows where we’re going,” he said.

  “Oh, I doubt she does,” Miuri said.

  He gave her a look. “Seriously?”

  “Sure,” Miuri said and laughed. “We only have that one scout report to find these people. They could be anywhere in the valley or beyond.”

  He cocked his head. “So why do you seem so cavalier?”

  “Because I’m not concerned,” she said. “The wolves will find us sooner or later, and we can just ask one of them where the prisoners are being held.”

  He kicked at a stone, sending it spinning down the path. “So that’s your plan, then,” he said.

  “It’s a good plan,” she said.

  “We walk around like bait until we get attacked, and then we capture one of them and hope he’ll talk?” He shook his head and squinted his eyes toward the late morning sun. “It’s a terrible plan, Miuri.”

  “You’ll see,” she said, still smiling. “The way Fel talks about people, I don’t think wolves much care about them. I think the wolves see Humans the same way the Humans see them. They’re just animals to you, aren’t they? Not really people, not in any meaningful way.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not true. I don’t see Felin that way.”

  “No, maybe not her. But you talk about Weres like they’re just beasts.”

  “They’re ravaging our lands,” Cam said. “They’re killing my people. They killed my father. I don’t see them as people because they don’t act like people.”

  “True enough,” Miuri said. “And I think they have similar feelings about Humans. Which is why I don’t think they’ll much care if they give up the location of some worthless animals.”

  Cam clenched his jaw and shaded his eyes, scanning the forest below. “I almost hope you’re right,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, I always am. And if I’m not, then we’ll try and follow that scouting report.”

  Cam shook his head as Miuri laughed and leaned up against him for a moment.

  The group made good time coming down the mountain. Cam thought they might have to camp just at the bottom of the switchbacks, but by the time the midday sun hung just above their heads, the small twisted pines were turning into large groupings of beautiful aspens, their trunks straight and true, their needles dropping like leaves in a windstorm. Cam breathed their spicy smell and found Felin chewing on a clump of them, grinning like mad as she ran her fingers over the bark.

  He wondered if Miuri was right, if Felin saw the others Humans like they were nothing more than animals. That would explain a lot, not necessarily about Felin herself, but about the way the wolves have been treating Humans.

  As far as Cam could knew, there was no provocation that started the war, no incident or insult or sleight. From his perspective, the wolves were happy with their lands in the Balkan region, settled and growing their population, when one day their goddess whipped theme into a frenzy, marched them overland and across the Carpathian Mountains, and began to slaughter every Human they could find.

  They’d have to think of Humans like animals if they could take them as slaves and kill them indiscriminately. So many Mansions, so many lives were lost to the wolves as they slowly rolled across the continent, heading through the Pole region and into Germania like a flood.

  Cam called a stop once they reached the end of the switchbacks. They took their midday meal in small groups. Lord Remorn had given them more supplies, and each warrior had his own small tent and bedding stuffed into a small leather backpack, along with enough dried meat, hard baked bread, and root vegetables to last them at least a week.

  “No fires,” Cam said. “Eat rough. We’re leaving in an hour.”

  Dagan barked orders, getting the Medlar men into some semblance of order and setting up a watch while Elder Frew sat on a rock and drank from a water skin. His men spread out at random and none seemed interested in joining the sentries. Cam could already see that discipline was going to be a problem.

  Cam saw Key sitting with Theus off to the side, and Miuri was scouting their immediate surroundings. Cam had to march off into the pines before he caught sight of Felin crouched down in a clearing, her fingers in the dirt. He lingered for a second, watching the wolf girl as she tilted her chin up into the air and began to take big, deep, sniffing breaths.

  “I know you’re there,” she said after a moment. “I can smell you.”

  “What do I smell like?” Cam asked.

  She slowly rose up to her feet. “Like you,” she said. “I don’t know how to describe it. Sort of musky, like an old fireplace. But a clean one.” She turned to him and tilted her head, her expression flat and lifeless. He remembered that look from when he first met her out in the woods just like this.

  “What are you doing out here?” he asked.

  “Thinking,” she said. “Smelling. Trying to figure out where to go.”

  “Miuri thinks she has a plan for that,” Cam said. “She wants to take one of your people prisoner and ask him for directions.”

  Felin snorted. “That might work.”

  “Really?” Cam asked.

  “Sure, what do they care? Lycanica takes all the spoils anyway.”

  Cam frowned and stepped toward her. Fel hadn’t mentioned the Were goddess at all since they’d come to the Mansion, but he remembered her eyes and her face when she first begged him to take her in.

  “Why are you so afraid of her?” Cam asked. “Back in the forest a week ago, you seemed terrified of her.”

  “She’s our goddess,” Felin said, looking away.

  “There’s more to it,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me, but I think it might be important.”

  Fel stared at the ground and chewed her cheek for a moment. She spit onto the dirt and turned to him, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “I haven’t shifted in over a week,” she said abruptly.

  “I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry for that.”

  “Do you know what it’s like to ignore a part of you?” she asked. “That wolf is inside of me still, and the more I keep ignoring it, the more it wants to br
eak free.”

  Cam took a breath and touched the tree nearest him, his fingers trailing the rough trunk. “You know we need to be careful, Fel. If the others find out what you are…” He trailed off.

  “I know,” she said, turning away. She walked a few feet away and kicked a branch. “It’s still frustrating. It’s like bugs crawling under my skin all the time. The need to change gnaws at my skull.”

  Cam tilted his head. “That sounds a lot like my Need,” he said.

  She looked back at him. “The thing you get after you use magic?”

  “Right,” he said. “I think I know what you’re going through. I promise Fel, we’ll find a good time for you to change. Maybe tonight, after everyone’s asleep, we’ll take first watch and you can change.”

  “I would love that,” she said. She took a few more steps toward him, her face bright and excited. “You really mean it?”

  “I mean it,” he said. “I promise.”

  “Oh, Cam!” She ran over and jumped on him. He laughed as she slammed him back against a tree, hugging him tight. She kissed him, her lips salty and her tongue soft. He bit her lower lip and she let out an animal growl.

  “Easy girl,” he said.

  “Easy yourself.” She reached down and placed a hand between his legs. “You can’t hide your desire from me, shaman.”

  He eased her hand away. “We have to start moving soon,” he said. “No time for that, little wolf.”

  She grinned at him. “Your loss.”

  He laughed and disentangled himself. She was always so forward with what she wanted, and sometimes he appreciated it, but sometimes he wished she would hold back just a little bit.

  But in bed, with her clothes stripped off… she was all wolf, and he loved it. Growl, bites, fingernails scratching, purring as he fucked her. She submitted to him, gave him every inch of her taut body, and it drove him wild.

  He had to force the thought away as he took her hand. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back.”

  He tugged her but she didn’t move. She frowned at him and bit her lip for a second, her head cocked.

  “You asked about Lycanica,” she said.

  “Fel,” he said. “You don’t have to.”

  “You need to understand. She’s the ultimate Alpha. And what the Alpha says… we have to obey. It’s like your Need, like my desire to change into the wolf, but so much more. Even if we wanted to ignore her commands, it just isn’t possible.”

  Cam let the implication of her words sink into him for a moment as he breathed the spicy pine scent of the trees deep into his lungs.

  “And that’s why you had to run,” he said. “That’s why you wanted to get away. She can… control you.”

  “Yes,” Felin said, looking away. “It’s why we keep throwing ourselves over the mountains and why we keep attacking Humans. She told us to do it, and now we can’t stop.”

  “But you stopped yourself,” Cam said.

  She tilted her head like she scented something on the wind.

  “That’s true,” she said.

  “Then there’s hope for your people. If you can find a way to stop the compulsions, then…” He trailed off, making a hopeful gesture.

  “Maybe.” She shifted her foot and stomped down on a pinecone. “But I don’t think so. I’m sorry, Cam. Even if there was some way to break her hold on all my people, she’s our goddess. Even if she weren’t the Alpha, my people would still obey her every command.”

  Cam nodded and let out a breath. “You’re right.”

  “But maybe we can still do something.” She walked across the forest bed, her feet crunching over the dry needles. “I can tell you this about Lycanica, I don’t know what exactly pushed her into invading, but she said it’s for revenge.”

  “Revenge?” Cam asked. “Really? What could she possibly be avenging?”

  “Really,” Felin said. “I don’t know against who or what happened, and I don’t think Lycanica is telling us. But when she first sent us from our homes, she said it was for the good of all our people, and for revenge for our goddess.”

  “Interesting,” Cam said. “But I’m afraid the motivations of a goddess might be a little bit above me.”

  He moved closer to Felin and put an arm across her shoulders. He pulled her against him and leaned down to kiss her hair and to breathe her smell deep into him. He got a hint of lemon and honey from the soap they’d used the day before, but mostly she smelled like herself, like grass after the rain, like old wood left in the sun.

  She looked up into his eyes and he could see the worry etched into the lines around her mouth. He leaned down and kissed her, and wanted to do more, but he knew he couldn’t. Fel was her own creature, her own little pack, and she’d do as she wished no matter what Cam said. He’d figured that out the hard way over the last week, and he suspected he’d keep learning that lesson as long as she stayed with him.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” She grinned at him. “We have some wolves to catch.”

  Cam let out a little breath but tugged her along, and together they returned to the group.

  8

  They made camp that night at the base of the mountain trail, just inside the main forest. There were fewer pines and more leafy trees, their branches spread wide and casting long shadows across their path.

  The sun began to sink, sending pink and purple across the few scattered clouds, and Cam helped Key make a fire. Miuri put some water and rice in a pot and set it to cooking. Theus joined them, then Dagan, and the group talked until the rice was finished. They added strips of dried elk, boiled root vegetables from another group’s fire, and a bit of Miuri’s Elven sauce. They ate and laughed as Dagan nearly gagged on the spicy food, and for a moment they forgot what their purpose was and just enjoyed the evening.

  “You have late watch tonight,” Dagan said, nudging Cam with his boot.

  Cam groaned. “Already?”

  “I’ll be on it too,” he said.

  “Dagan, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to be on that watch as well,” Miuri said.

  Dagan arched an eyebrow at the Elf Princess. “Of course, you can do as you wish, but you realize you can’t distract the shaman here when he’s supposed to be keeping us all safe, right?”

  Miuri laughed. “I should be insulted, Dagan. As if that’s the only thing I think about.”

  He grumbled a bit and picked up a long twig. He poked at the fire for a moment.

  “Begging your pardon, Princess,” he said. “What do you want with the late shift, then?”

  “I have a little plan,” Miuri said. “And I think tonight might be the perfect night for it.”

  Cam gave Miuri a look and she smiled at him. He considered asking her what she was up to but decided to let it go. She’d tell him when she was ready, and it didn’t much matter to him either way. Besides, he had a pretty good guess already.

  They ate their dinner as darkness descended. Dagan convinced more of Frew’s men to join the watch, which was a good thing, and suggested to Cam that they might not be such a lost cause after all. Theus went on early watch with Key, so Cam, Felin, and Miuri curled up beside the dying fire under their bedrolls. Some of the men pitched tents, but most slept rough under the stars in the comfortable but cool mountain air.

  Felin was snoring in seconds, but Cam was restless. He stared up at the stars, at their incredible swirl and multitude, and wondered how the gods could have created such a thing. He knew men stared at the sky their whole lives and wondered what was beyond their little world, but normally Cam didn’t wonder about such a thing.

  He had plenty and didn’t need much more, even if more was coming all the time. He didn’t need a world beyond their own, he only needed his girls and his sword.

  “You’re not sleeping.” Miuri’s voice cut into his thoughts. She was lying a foot to his right and was staying up at the sky along with him.

  “A lot on my mind,” he said
.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  He glanced at Felin and her snores continued, her chest rising and falling, her arms splayed up above her head.

  “Fel told me a little about Lycanica,” he said. “She thinks the goddess is out for revenge.”

  “Revenge?” Miuri asked. “Huh. That’s strange. I don’t see why she would kill Humans then.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. What could Humans have done to insult her so badly that she’d want to slaughter all of us?”

  “It couldn’t have been your god, either,” Miuri said. “The Urspirit doesn’t dwell on earth and hasn’t for thousands of years.” She hesitated a moment and pursed her lips. “Or at least, it couldn’t have been him lately.”

  “Wait,” Cam said, his eyes going wide. “The Urspirit used to live on earth, like the other gods?”

  Miuri nodded without looking at him. “That’s the story, at least. It’s an Elven tale, if you want to hear it.”

  “Tell me,” he said.

  She stared up at the stars for a moment, her fingers curling along the edge of her blanket.

  “It’s better in my language,” she said. “But the story goes like this:

  “The god of the Humans once walked the earth with his brethren gods, thousands of years ago, before Humans and the other Godlings existed. The world was in harmony then, the seasons came and went, the animals and plants were thriving, and life teemed all over the globe.

  “But the gods were restless. There was so much more that could be done, and after hundreds of thousands of years of speaking with each other and tending to their gardens, they began to want more.

  “The first god to try was Danua. She created a pile of leaves, twigs, and earth, and from that she formed the first Elf. But that Elf was lonely, so she created another, and gave them the ability to have children. That was the first Elf family, and from there the Elves began to spread across the world.

  “But the other gods and goddesses saw what Danua had done, and so they began to make their own races. Shifters, Weres, Trolls, Goblins, each of them was built from something different, and given life. And at first, there was only life, and no death.