Maybe because you creeps keep letting all the direwolves die in training. Thought about that?
Aldrich takes a deep breath and wipes a hand over his face. “If there’s one thing you should take away from this lesson, it’s that the Bonded line is to be respected. You simplycannotthink of your wolves as mere mounts to ride into battle and abandon in the stables when the day’s won. They are ancient, intelligent beings with their own culture and traditions. We shape our training around and seek to emulate their way of being. We learn from them. We try to see the world through their eyes. That is how you must move forward, if you want to survive.”
Henrey and I leave the lesson with those words still resonating in the musty, papery air. We step into the hallway and start towards the Rawbond quarters, walking in silence for a while before I can’t take it any longer.
“I’m glad you made it through the Ascent,” I tell him. “I know how much becoming Bonded meant to you.”
The halls are empty. I think everyone else is still in class. He stops walking in front of one of the towering windows in the long hall that joins the academic wing with the common room. Beyond it, afternoon sun glints on the snow-covered lawns.
Henrey looks at me warily, then leans against the wall. “What about you? I thought you didn’t want this life.”
A sharp sting of grief pierces my chest. The cold, heavy weight of it rolls over me like a boulder.
“I don’t,” I say, before correcting to, “I didn’t. Anassa chose me anyway, and I thought I could get out of this, but I’ve realized that you can’t… quit being Bonded. So I have to survive the Trials. My little sister was taken by Nabbers. That’s why I enlisted, to try to find her.”
Henrey stares at me blankly.
“What?” I ask.
“What’s a Nabber?”
My blood goes cold. Dread settles over me like a thick layer of snow. “You don’t… have Nabbers in Blumenfall?” Maybe it’sa terminology difference, maybe they call them something else. “Siphons who are stealing the children? Kids get kidnapped out of their beds at night.”
His brow pinches, and he shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of?—”
The deafening horn calling us to our next class sounds through the halls. I wince, clenching my jaw as the sound worsens my headache. I follow after Henrey quickly, slightly dizzy.
No Nabbers in Blumenfall. I don’t understand.
Blumenfall ismuchcloser to the front than Sturmfrost. Why would the Siphons bypass closer, easier targets to snatch children from here?
Henrey heads off to whatever class the Phylax pack has, and I go out to the training grounds for combat training.
My own personal torture sessions.
Stark is already striding around the grounds with Cratos. As I join the others, I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He circles us like a predator looking for the weak link in the herd.
Stark’s head turns, and his wolf’s swivels, too. Cratos moves, and Stark’s body follows. His own sturdy form shifts fluidly atop Cratos’s back as the wolf’s shoulder blades shift beneath him.
I hate seeing it. I’ll never be there, never know that total sense of understanding and connection. Rider and wolf moving as one deadly unit, muscle and fur and leather and steel in perfect harmony.
I avert my eyes from him, staring at the messy spot of blood in the sand. Much more likely I end up likethat.
Yesterday, a Kryptos recruit named Alix lost control during a basic defensive maneuver.
People were talking about it in the common room this morning. It apparently happened fast. Her wolf turned on hersuddenly, ripping out her throat before anyone could intervene. She died right there in the sand.
All I can do is fight.
“Focus today, hey?” Tomison says, smacking my arm.
I scowl, annoyed because he’s implying I’ve been lacking in focus until now. “Tell Anassa that,” I say, scowling at her as she and the rest of the direwolves enter the training grounds.
He snorts. “I choose life,” he says, heading toward his wolf.
“Today we’re starting on swords,” Stark bellows from astride Cratos. “Get your weapon and get on your wolves. Now!”
This should go great for me, considering I’ve never touched a sword before.
