The Adventures of Iron Wolves: Book 1 - Alpha

Anima stood watching the faded outlines of Rue and Miyako. With Veritas stayed perched on her shoulder, she knew Stykes also watched what was before her. They walked calmly towards Mariel, who was practicing her archery.

Tilde, Aruna and Foxwing, a Hunter that served Anima personally, stood on Anima’s right. Dusk; his arm outstretched with Anima’s hands resting on it; Relo, and Kuros stood on her left.

Rue clapped his hands on one of Mariel’s arm and Miyako grabbed a hold of the other. Between them, they restrained and bound her tightly.

“What is the meaning of this?” Mariel screamed angrily. She turned her head to look around for held, her eyes resting on Anima and her group. “What have you accused me of this time?”

“You’re under arrest for the paralysis and violation of Stykes,” Kuros said formally. The elves could all sense fear emanating from Mariel and anger from Anima and Veritas. “Your trial will be tonight. You will be brought before your accusers and be judged under the laws of Lunarias where you originated from.” Fear grew stronger. Kuros let his words sink into the silence of the Archery Range before commanding, “Take her away.” They dragged her away from the Archery Range.

Mariel looked at Anima, who didn’t look at her, then at the dove on her shoulder. Her eyes widened and fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes. “I want to be judged now. I don’t want to wait. Please.” Anima raised her arm and the dove jumped down from her shoulder to perch on her wrist. Dusk led her forward towards Mariel. Anima knelt down bringing Veritas to eye level with Mariel. She looked up shakily to look at her former Mistress and the dove.

“Please. Under Lunarian law, I will be killed for my crime. I don’t want to wait. Please come and judge me now.”

A flutter of wings announced Stykes’ arrival. He wore his jacket with grey, light weight pants and a katana strapped to his waist. He landed lightly behind Anima, his eyes narrowed and stern.

“If you give me the information I want, I will judge you now and you will be put out of your misery.”

Mariel shivered. Stykes’ eyes were as cold as the heart of a frozen lake. His brown eyes pierced through her being so viciously she thought they could tear her apart. More tears fell from her eyes.

“Anything. I will answer all your questions.”

“First,” Stykes placed a hand on Anima’s outstretched forearm, allowing Veritas jump to his wrist. “How did you leave the Elven Dimension? You did not come with me when I left with those who were loyal to me. I also destroyed the gate atop Wolf Mountain so there was no way you could of come through there.”

“Shiro studied the Dimension Katana while it was in his possession.” Mariel said, her voice weak. “He created a mirror that could open a portal between our world and this one, much like the Katana can. He brought through those of us who were loyal to him. Those that remained wish they came with you and refused to leave our world as penance for their foolish actions.”

Stykes opened his mouth to say something when Anima leaned forward and placed a hand on Mariel’s chest. He watched her curiously for a while and when it became clear Anima wasn’t going to move away, he gave a sigh and continued.

“What is Shiro’s goal in attacking the walls of the Iron Wolves territory?”

“He wants to destroy you,” Mariel replied not looking at Stykes. Anima’s expression soured at this statement, her hand feeling like it had been dipped into hot water. Mariel looked at her, feeling an emotion that was like a confusing message.

“Tell the truth,” Anima whispered low enough for only Mariel to hear. “Or I will tell him that you lied just now.”

Mariel’s eyes widened, her throat locking up on her in fear. She finally understood why Anima always use to touch her just after she spoke. Her skin crawled and she shrank under Anima’s gaze, despite knowing Anima couldn’t truly see her.

In a louder voice, Anima said in a level tone “You know that I will.”

“I can’t,” Mariel whimpered, she shook. “I can’t. I’m spelled to die if I say it.” Anima felt an unusual tingling in her fingers at this statement.

“What’s better,” Anima asked knowing, without needing elven blood, that Stykes was confused. “You die as a sinner and you will be punished in the afterlife by the Bull Demon of Hell? Or tell the truth to Stykes and be forgiven by the One Winged Goddess?”

“Anima…” Stykes asked leaning close to her ear. “How did you know she was lying? I didn’t feel any sneaky emotion from her.” Anima smiled at him and he realized she would give that piece of information later when they were alone. “What did she lie about?”

“Shiro wanting to destroy you,” Anima replied and motioned to Aruna. “There’s no way to break the death spell that’s on her?”

Aruna knelt and searched Mariel’s soul for signs of death magic. “She isn’t spelled to die.” Aruna said softly taking her hands away. “She has a spell that keeps her alive.”

Anima understood the tingling. “Half truth,” She thought carefully. “Were you in a battle or something else before you came into my service where you thought you died but didn’t?” Mariel nodded wondering where Anima was going with this. “And did the healer, mage or Shiro tell you if you spilled their secrets that you’d die?”

“Shiro did,” Mariel replied, her confusion growing. Stykes’ eyes widened, his mind ticking like clockwork towards the answer Anima had already reached on what had happened to Mariel.

Anima sighed. “In that battle, Shiro must have thought that instead of letting you die, you would live for his sake. His ‘warning’ that you would die if you reveal secrets is that the spell that has been keeping you alive will breakdown. In turn slowly, most likely also painfully, kill you. Outcomes are the same but we can keep you comfortable until you pass on. But in return, you must answer all of Stykes’ questions truthfully. We will let you die painfully as Shiro intended if you refuse to answer.” Aruna blended her power into an anchor to hold Mariel’s soul in her body.

Mariel took a deep breath. “Shiro wants to use a red collar to force Stykes into his service. He wants the wings that mark the true king. He doesn’t know that an exiled member of the royal family cannot reclaim the wings unless there is extenuating circumstances.” Stykes nodded knowing all this already. “He wants to take back both katana and scroll so that he can proclaim himself king again.”

Anima moved and sat beside Mariel, untying the ropes that bound her, and laid her down onto her back. Aruna positioned her hands over Mariel’s body, casting life and relief magic. Anima placed her hand back onto Mariel’s chest.

Stykes waited until they were ready before he continued, his voice coming closer to its usual gentle tones.

“Why did he kill Siel?” Anima’s head snapped up at this causing Stykes to feel guilty for asking.

“He doesn’t want you to recreate the royal family,” Mariel replied closing her eyes. “Once you have an heir, he can no longer fight you for the scroll and katana because they won’t accept his touch. When you married Siel, he feared that you were getting to close to having an heir so he sent assassins to murder her.” Mariel glanced at Anima before looking back to Stykes. “He knows you are getting close to Anima. He sent me to keep an eye on both of you.” “Last question and you can go to the peaceful realms for your eternal rest,” Stykes said fighting to keep his voice calm. All elves present could feel anger and sadness dominating his emotions. “Why did you do what you did to me?”

“Because Shiro told me,” Mariel replied quietly. “He said that if you shifted your focus from Anima to me, I could keep you from gaining an heir. Therefore, he would have more time to capture you. But after doing it, I couldn’t go through with the spell he told me would control you and ran.” Stykes nodded to Aruna who released the life spell. Mariel smiled and looked at Stykes. “I’m sorry, and thank you.”

Anima lifted her hand off Mariel’s chest and felt hands pick her up and pull her backwards into a tight hug.

“He’s not going to take you from me.” Stykes whispered in her ear. “I’m not going to let what happened to Siel happen to you.”

Anima’s heart jumped at this then plummeted. “What’s wrong?” he asked her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

I forgot. He can sense my emotions. Anima realized she was tensing and relaxed. “You’re not worried? Marrying me would be a death sentence for both of us.” Stykes’ arms loosened a little and she turned to face him. “You’re not worried?”

“I am,” he replied giving her a kiss. “But I’m not going to be beaten into a corner like a submissive dog either. I will finish the last task, I will come back and marry you, and I will make sure that Shiro’s assassins don’t get close enough to you to even touch you.”

A faint sound of cracking glass reached their ears. Even though Anima couldn’t see, she lifted her arm until her wrist was chest high. Stykes noticed one of the gems on her bracelet had broken and disappeared.

“Mariel’s gone now.” Anima said simply, running fingers over the bracelet. “She was released from the contract the moment she took her last breath.”

Stykes watched, over Anima’s head, Aruna place a sheet over Mariel’s body. “Burn her body and possessions to scatter it to the winds,” Stykes said calmly feeling Anima tense again in his arms. “Leave nothing for Shiro to find that will allow him to enslave her soul.”

Anima sat on her bed watching the outlines blacksmiths and whitesmiths of the Iron Wolves knock down the dividing wall between her room and Stykes’ room. It had been just over a day since Stykes had left for Naekuro and Anima felt it was a good time as any to change their rooms.

“Um... Ochre?” Anima asked uncertain of the person near her.

“Bingo,” Ochre replied turning to face her. “What’s up?”

“What’s the difference between a blacksmith and a whitesmith?” Anima felt silly for changing what she wanted to ask at the last second. “I never really got to learn about commerce before Father died.”

“Blacksmiths, or Weapon smiths as they are also called, are metal workers. They refine metal ores like iron and create weapons, shields and bars for Masons to build with.” Ochre replied sitting next to Anima so she didn’t hurt herself or anyone else while she was distracted. “We whitesmiths, on the other hand, are artisans that refine ores of silver, gold and sometimes copper into ornamental objects.” Ochre touched Anima’s bracelet then the lightweight crown on her head. “Whitesmiths would have made these for your family. Then mages would have imbued them with the spells they contain.”

She touched her head then thought for a second before asking. “Are you an elf?”

She knew that a lot of people around her were elves, but without being able to see their pointed ears, she couldn’t tell who was who.

“I am,” Ochre replied with a smile. Her ears twitched and was surprised to feel determination coming from Anima. “What’s wrong?”

Anima took off her crown and placed it on her lap. “When the time comes, I want to blend Lunarias into the Iron Wolves Territory. That will make me your Queen but Stykes will be also King of Lunarias. I’ve been turning it over in my head a lot. I can’t always be there but within the territory of the Iron Wolves, the people of Lunarias can feel a bit more secure.”

“You should talk to Stykes about this when he returns,” Ochre replied uncertainly. “Or if you need to get your thoughts out, try Miyako and Rue who lived in Lunarias with you. I don’t think I’m the right person to talk to about that.”

“What I want to know from you,” Anima replied patiently. “Is if I was to do that, would it seem weird to the elves here? There will be more humans than elves if Lunarias merges with the Iron Wolves.”

“I won’t lie to you, there will be some elves here that will be uneasy about that.” Ochre said mentally sighing in relief that Anima wasn’t asking her political advice. “But we all know that we’re going to have to accept humans more sooner or later. Even Stykes said to us when we first came to this world that our race will eventually be bred out into the human bloodlines. He told us he was living proof of that. We were afraid when he said this but slowly it made sense as humans joined our ranks and some of us even marrying humans and having half elf children.”

“Hana…” Anima said wondrously. “Hawkeye and Gabrielle’s daughter.” She could sense Ochre nodding. She blinked and her eyes widened. “If Stykes and I…” She blushed and fell backwards into her bed.

Ochre looked at her and poked her in the side teasingly. “If you and Stykes have a child, it’ll have 1/4 elf blood.” She noticed Anima’s expression change and she felt a secretive emotion tickling the edges of her consciousness.

“It would be more than 1/4,” Anima stared up at the ceiling. “The Lunarian Royal Family were blessed many, many generations ago by an Elf that must have come to our world from yours. She married into our bloodline and her descendants, including me, have had one of two abilities. Females became able to see the truth in people’s words by touching them. As they get older, the ability strengthens to the point where a touch isn’t needed anymore. Males were born with the more passive power of being born with the knowledge of every battle in history. This caused them to be brilliant tacticians and if, like my Father, they learn swordsmanship they become a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.”