Iron Oracle

by Merry Ravenell

  “If I asked you to do something,” I ventured to the spectres. “Would you?”

  Both tails wagged slowly to affirm they would, in fact, entertain requests.

  “Will one of you go down to the dungeon and check on Hix?” I asked.

  The one on the left hopped down off the bed and disappeared through the door.

  As much as I wanted to stay in bed, and moving sent a pulse through my fingers, and my head was a sloppy mess, I needed to go find that toy and that note. The note had said tomorrow, and that implied “pretty damn soon,” so I needed to arrive before the note.

  Getting dressed with my hands bandaged into mittens was difficult. Shoes were impossible. A bra was impossible.

  Goon A greeted me outside the door.

  “Rough night,” I told him, holding up my bandaged hands. “Don’t judge.”

  I knew I wasn’t allowed to prowl around within the fence, but I was going to break the rules. I wasn’t prowling, really. I was looking for something. Goon A followed close behind. It was easy enough to find the first house with the toy, it wasn’t far from the main house, and my vision had been flawless.

  “You aren’t supposed to be out here,” he reminded me.

  “I had a vision,” I snapped. “This won’t take long.”

  I peered up at the trees around the house, and right where the vision had said, I spied a little sock doll in the branches of an evergreen.

  “What’s going on?” a female voice asked as a screen door creaked open.

  “The toy.” I pointed at the tree. “The toy the little girl was looking for. It’s up there.”

  She gave me a totally bewildered look.

  “The sock doll toy. It’s up there on the branch. She’s been looking for it, hasn’t she?” I kept pointing at the tree.

  Well, if Magnes thought I was merrily, harmlessly insane, he might be less quick to kill me... maybe that was the Moon’s ploy. To make me look a wee bit crazy. But then Magnes could just put me down, so that sounded bad too…

  But the woman walked over and peered at where I was pointing. Then she looked at me, eyes widening. “How did you know?”

  “Just what the Moon offered,” I answered, as confused as her as to why the Moon would offer such a trivial vision. The woman went and retrieved a broom and used it to shake the tree branches until the doll fell to the ground.

  Next to the other house.

  “How did you know, really?” Goon A asked.

  “I was scrying last night,” I told him waspishly. “I told you. I’ll prove my innocence!”

  The next house was easy to find as well. I immediately circled around to the back door. No note. But my antics quickly drew the interest of the mated pair that lived there.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Has your brother been by today?”

  “No.”

  “He’ll bring you half the money he owes you, the rest when he can. I don’t know if I’d believe that second part, but that’s what he’ll tell you. So you were both right. He’s half good for it, which is an improvement, I guess.”

  They looked at me like I was absolutely off my rocker. Were they not used to Oracles telling them things?

  Goon A asked, as we went back to the house before anyone got their panties in a bunch about me being within the fenceline, “How did you really know?”

  I stopped walking and turned around to face him. “Lulu thought whatever she thought, but she had it all wrong. Gabel might have believed her over me, and that’s his business but—” I choked up throwing Gabel under the bus. Playing along with that hurt, and the Bond writhed against its lashings. I held my belly, aching, for a long moment before I recovered. “But he’ll regret that too!”

  Goon A’s expression made me sneer around my pain. Did these stupid SableFur really think I had done wrong? With everything laid before them?!

  “So you really thought I had violated my vows? Bullshit. And I’m halfway to proving I didn’t. So anytime you want to stop acting like I’m beneath your contempt, you do that. The only reason I’m here is because of Magnes’ little pet spy Lulu. Alpha Marcus was a traitor to IronMoon, and he admitted it. Maybe he knew all about Lulu. I’m only here because of her, and who she answers to, so maybe you should think about how and why that happened!”

  Once I was back in my room, and the shaking and pain had stopped, and the RedWater wolves sat across from me, ghostly eyes boring into me that I realized I had made a terrible mistake.

  Death Phase

  What had I done?

  I buried my face in my bandaged hands and whimpered.

  Hix had been the one to accuse Magnes of having a spy, and implying that he had been in league with Alpha Marcus, and that he’d manipulated his Oracles, or let his Oracles manipulate him. That was one thing.

  Me saying those things? Letting on that I knew—or believed—that Magnes, not Anita, was the reason I was here?

  And I had stood there out in the cold open like a raving moron shouting for everyone to hear.

  The RedWater wolves sat at the foot of my bed, watching me, patient.

  “Hix,” I said to the one on the left. “Did you see him?”

  The ghost stood, padded over to me, his legs passing through my flesh. He was a spectre. He wasn’t there. Just like a cold breeze going through my skin, which made me shiver, and he pushed his face right up to mine.

  It was so cold. Not cold like winter or cold water or even the Moon’s silvery light.

  He was cold like death.

  Part of me phased out into the dead wolf’s soul, or part of him phased into me. I couldn’t tell, but instinct told me everything, even if I didn’t understand it.

  His eyes phased over mine, merged with mine, and I saw what he had seen.

  The dungeon smelled of old death. Generations of death and pain and blood and everything dungeons were meant for. Bleach and scrubbing couldn’t erase the generations of purpose.

  Hix still curled in the center of the center cage, on a pile of straw and under the blanket. His back was to me, but the collar’s buckle laid against his neck, and the chains linked to his ankles and wrists still hung from their rings. The top of his shoulders and neck were exposed, haloed in stripe-like bruises.

  Silver toxicity destroying his blood vessels and causing bruising as they leaked.

  He smelled of pain. Deep, intense pain. Fresh pain and new pain. And a sort of resolved not-caring. Acceptance. Acceptance that this was his lot, that the pain would only be temporary, that the pain was the price.

  I wanted to race down there, open the cage, wash his wounds, help him, do something, but if I dared... I had already flashed my cards at Magnes, I might have already ruined everything, but if I went down there it was more damning.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I sobbed. I was horrible. I was a horrible, horrible, horrible packmate, a horrible Luna, leaving my First Beta to rot just a few stories below me.

  I had to get control of myself, and see this through.

  “Can you both do that?” I lowered my voice to a whisper.

  The wolves wagged their tails in unison.

  “How far can you go?” I asked. Did they have a range? Could I send them anywhere?

  One wolf jumped off the bed and walked halfway to the door. He wagged his tail, walked the rest of the way to the door, and fell over, feigning death.

  How ironic.

  “So...” I struggled. “Not far from me.”

  More wags.

  “Can you go outside the house? To the fenceline?”

  They seemed to confer between themselves and gave me a doubtful affirmative. Maybe that far.

  But I had spies. Spies. What did I want to know? What could I use them for? They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t touch or move anything, they could only be my eyes and maybe my ears. They were like little portable scrying bowls! That’s how I’d use them. I’d think of them like bowls.

  “Go out to the houses,” I to
ld the wolf on the left. “Just watch and listen. Prowl around.”

  The wolf hopped off the bed and disappeared through the door.

  The other wolf sat up, waiting for his assignment. I licked my lips. Who did I want to watch? Magnes? Kiery? The First Beta? Luna Adrianna? Or just have him prowl around the house listening for anything useful? Strategy wasn’t my strong suit. Who would Donovan spy on if he didn’t know what he was looking for? Or Lulu... Lulu had been in MarchMoon longer than I had been in IronMoon, just waiting for... what? Exactly. She had just been waiting and watching.

  That’s what I had to do. Observe and look for a hole. But to dismantle Magnes, I’d have to prove to SableFur what he really was. So I needed to know what the SableFur believed, not what Magnes knew or when he knew it.

  All must believe.

  What better key than the First Beta? If somehow I could get Lucas to start questioning Magnes, he could be a useful crowbar. It was like a vision: the actual answer was best understood by the person asking the question.

  “The First Beta,” I told my spectral companion. “Observe. Listen.”

  Magnes knew I was up to something—and that I did not like him. Like a constrictor snake, he’d start to squeeze me soon.

  There was no time to waste.

  Bandaged hands or not, back to the mirror.

  The Moon showed me nothing but trivial visions much like the previous set. Perhaps anything further on the Tides was too dangerous with the mirror.

  I stared at the mirror, a little nauseated from the roiling Tides, trying to figure out what the point was. There had to be a point, but I was too exhausted and hurting too much to figure it out. My hands hurt so badly, and my skin was flushed but clammy, like when I had first emerged from the agony of the Bond’s being bound off.

  I took a handful of visions to their respective owners. There were three this time. Nothing important or special, two lost items and a prediction that the phonecall someone was expecting would come by dusk the next day. Goon B accompanied me, but didn’t interfere or even glare.

  As I plodded towards the house, Lucas came down the lane towards me, face angry. Goon B jerked to attention.

  “You were told,” Lucas growled at me, “not to wander around. I put up with it once, Gianna, but you’re making a habit of pestering the SableFur.”

  “Pestering!” I sputtered. “I’m not pestering!”

  “You were told not to wander around.” Lucas raised his voice. “You are not a guest! You are being humored.”

  “I am not being humored! I am an Oracle, and it is my right to clear my name and vindicate myself. The Moon gave me visions to give to the people I’m seeing, so I’m just doing what She told me to do! Unless,” I growled, “you want to obstruct that, First Beta.”

  Shit. I really need to get my temper under control.

  The smart part of my mind hollered at me from across a hot wall of anger.

  Was I going insane? Was the tied-off Bond making me feverish and crazy? I didn’t feel insane, but that might mean I was the craziest wolf in the area.

  “That is not part of vindication.” Lucas didn’t budge. He was so tall. He towered over me, and he probably could have broken off each of my legs and used them as toothpicks. “You haven’t reported these visions to Oracle Kiery, so they’re not part of the Secrets Test.”

  Spouting off about Hix having already passed that test for me stayed behind my teeth. Lucas was right. I hadn’t reported any of this to Kiery, so I technically hadn’t passed. Did I dare report Lulu to Kiery as the secret?

  The Bond spasmed in pain.

  And none of what I was doing here were secrets. They were just lost items or things people fretted over. Could I say they were the Moon’s indulgence? That was the hardest test to pass. The test that required the Oracle to prove she had the Moon’s favor.

  Tears sprang up, and I screamed at myself for showing even a little gleam of weakness.

  I was a mess. A hot mess, crumbling, and falling down like some burned out building.

  Had I already screwed up and all was lost, and the Moon was just punishing me by letting me scramble around?

  “I am doing what the Moon has asked of me,” I stated, stubborn. “And it’s not the Secret Test, it’s the Favor Test, and stay out of it. I’ll report it when I’m damn good and ready, but some of the things I’ve said here won’t come to pass for a bit. Nosy Beta, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to prevent me from passing!”

  “Why the hell would I do that?” Lucas asked, reminding me of Hix in his dry sarcasm.

  “I can think of a couple of reasons,” I flung back at him.

  What are you doing? You’re being an idiot!

  Lucas stunned me by laughing. “If you think I care about protecting that old bat Anita’s ego, you’re wrong. You being here was her call, not mine, and I told Alpha Magnes not to humor the old bag. I don’t care how this turns out. I just want it done with.”

  He thought this was about Anita! I flung up my hands and moaned in despair. This wasn’t about Anita! It had never been about Anita! Oh this Beta... oh, by the Moon! There was a First Beta in the dungeon who knew what this was about, and this oaf stood there blind and dumb? Did Magnes have everyone in his thrall?

  “I have to say one thing about Gabel,” I told Lucas, crazy with despair and my insides twisted violently on his name. “I never had to explain everything to him in miserable tiny detail.”

  I pushed past him before I said anything else stupid, and oh man, I was going to go off on some feverish, crazed rant. My bandaged hands were like two crab claws for all the good they did opening the front door (thanks, Goon B) and dangling off my wrists. I stumbled into the foyer, drew in a sobbing breath, and—

  a scent yanked my spine tight.

  I froze, yes, I smelled it! I smelled—

  I went down the hallway to the right towards the dining room. Goon B didn’t try to stop me. He was watching to see what crazy thing I did next. Two male voices from the dining room, and the scent of lunch. I stepped into the room.

  Magnes glared at me with the eyes he had given Gabel.

  The other male turned around.

  “Aaron,” I gasped.

  Courtship Masquerade

  “Gianna,” Aaron greeted me, ignoring Magnes’ cold stare.

  Big surprise. Aaron in league with the SableFur. “So you’ll never call any Alpha your King, but you’re here with your lips planted on Magnes’ ass.”

  Aaron smiled. “It has more to do with your ex burning the countryside to the ground. I told you, Gianna, Gabel had no idea what he had, and even less idea how to hold onto it. You being here should be proof of that.”

  “I never betrayed my Oracle vows,” I snapped. “Gabel never made me do anything I didn’t want to do.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Aaron asked. “He Marked you without your consent. Everything that’s happened from here is the direct result of him making you do something you didn’t want to do.”

  “That’s none of your business. You have no idea what was said between us!”

  “Exactly. And you’re here as a result,” Aaron said.

  No. I was here because the Moon sent me here. Not because Gabel had manipulated me into saying anything. And if I had betrayed anything, it was only because mates couldn’t keep secrets. He could have read my reactions, made his guesses, already had his suspicions. “MarchMoon was in your pocket, Aaron, and they did a lousy job of hiding it. If there’s any reason I’m here, it’s because you chose stupid allies. I’ll prove I’m not guilty, and I’ll make Gabel regret not believing me, and I’ll make you regret setting me up.”

  I managed to not say make Magnes regret moving against me. But only just barely.

  “I didn’t set you up, Gianna,” Aaron said. “I asked Marcus to send a wolf to IronMoon as a test of Gabel. It really had nothing to do with you, and it didn’t have anything to do with SableFur either.”

  “It doesn’t matte
r now, does it?” I growled, even though I couldn’t believe Aaron was Magnes’ toady.

  Aaron said, “If it’s any consolation to you, Gianna, I believe you’ll vindicate yourself. When you’re done here, perhaps you will come to IceMaw and we can discuss this revenge you want on Gabel.”

  I gasped. “You opportunistic—”

  “Predator? You’re done with Gabel. He gave you up on the word of what... some half-formed evidence from the mouth of... who was the wolf anyway? I don’t even know.” Aaron gestured in a dismissive fashion. “Anita bought it, and Gabel let it happen. What did you do to anger Anita so badly?”

  “I don’t like your implication, IceMaw,” Magnes growled at Aaron.

  “Oh come on, Magnes.” Aaron gestured with his hands open. “I’m the one that sent that wolf to IronMoon to rattle Gabel’s cage. Gabel smelled the rat because it was right there in front of him. Now how did you find out about it? Your own little spy. But why would you even care? Your Elder Oracle has it in for Gianna, you’re just supporting her as Alphas are supposed to, am I right? Nothing more?”

  Aaron’s tone made it clear he didn’t believe anything of what he’d just said.

  I glanced warily at Magnes, then back at Aaron.

  “So, Gianna, what did you do to piss off Anita?” Aaron asked.

  “You’re on thin ice, IceMaw,” Magnes growled.

  I couldn’t say the Comet and Balance and all that. But there was another option that was a neat half-truth, and would muddy the water, and hopefully confuse Magnes about what I knew, believed, and suspected. “Anita didn’t approve of me being a Luna. She brought me to SableFur a month before the final vows to tell me to leave Gabel.”

  “And when you didn’t she trumped up some bullshit to prove her point and make you obey.” Aaron rolled his eyes and looked at Magnes.

  “You have made it very clear you want her for yourself, Aaron,” Magnes said in a tone like rocks grinding against each other. “Obviously you will try to hold her as high above stain as possible.”