“That’s what I told the gatekeepers,” Roman said. “If anyone’s following us, they’ll be headed in a wrong direction. Which is also why we left at night.”
“But why lie to them? Why us?” I asked.
Roman stared at me again with the same cold eyes. “Because we are hidden now. On a forbidden quest to a forbidden city, who knows what evil already lurks awaiting us?”
I reached out for Dion but he was too far away. I longed for him. I longed to be able to feel him once more. More than that, I longed for him to be back so that I knew he was safe.
But Agatha’s face however was the complete opposite. Her distrust was now being proven, and even Roman’s change had made me uneasy. What was going on?
Chapter 10
DION
I rode through the night non-stop to get to Doraj. As the sun rose I entered the valley where the village was located. It was hard country, rough grounds and boulders. Nothing grew and the only life other than the town was the gray wolves that roamed the ridge line.
Realwolves were often standoffish with shifters. Some of them even looked at us as unnatural hybrids too, but it depended on which alpha you met. I’d spoken with Skerrig many times before and he was more forthcoming with me than he may have been with outsiders of his lands.
Having been the leader of his pack for twenty seasons now, Skerrig was old and battered but a wise wolf. He wasn’t as skeptical of shifters or humans as some of his counterparts were. Especially with the rise of feral shifters beginning to rise in the Warlands. But he didn’t tell me good news either. Doraj had changed drastically since Roman and I had last come.
For a long time Doraj had been neutral. But with the recent feral werewolf attacks, they’d been relying more and more on Lady Skol’s guards for help. Skerrig didn’t like it one bit, and we both knew that Lady Skol’s Inspectors only needed a sliver of a chance to weasel their way into a village. He emphasized for me to be careful when I left him, the guards were coming more often than normal and he didn’t know why.I will watch over you.
I sat uneasy on my horse now. That had been up in the mountains, hours later I was crossing the large plain before the village. There was no hiding here. I’d never felt watched coming here, but now it was different. Iknewthere were eyes on me.
The fresh mounds outside the city informed me of how many deaths had occurred in the recent attack. The men at the gate were reluctant to acknowledge me. They stared ahead, like some child’s imitation of a guard. It was good that they still kept their open door policy throughout the day though; there hadn’t been too much of a drastic change, yet.
I dismounted my horse and left it tied at the undertaker’s. It was quiet even for the afternoon. There should’ve been shops open, people walking about, but there was no one. It was a town in hiding. I finally understood what Skerrig meant when he said that the town washaunted.
I came to the jail. It was closed and Tom wasn’t even in. That in of itself was odd. He’d been the sheriff as long as I could remember and he didn’t sleep late. I scratched my beard and looked back up and down the street. There was at least one good thing here, no posters in sight on the noticeboard.
Nothing to incriminate Feyra. But I still didn’t know enough about them to understand if they were as innocent as they made themselves out to be. I would need to ask them both questions.
A loud whistle pierced the air and I grabbed my head quickly. It was shrill and painful. I backed off the verandah, falling down the side. I began an anti-melody in my mind, blocking out the noise so that I could hear clearly.
Built on a curve, the main street was curved with the jail at the apex. I watched both entrances of the village. Coming through the rear entrance of the village was a legion of Lady Skol’s guards. Fifty of them. Men on horses with lances. A man at the front was blowing a dog whistle.
Shit.I scurried around the back and hid on the opposite side of the building. I turned and ducked back down the rear side of the buildings, running the distance of the main street back to the undertaker. I came around the side and watched them arrive.
There were fifty exactly. Armor shining, horses proud, but not all of them were guards. At the front was Tom the sheriff, Jem the Mayor, and a host of other locals. They were leading the battalion of men. An Inspector of the Guard was talking with them. At this distance I couldn’t hear them, but I knew enough from other villages that had converted after a prolonged period of resistance.
The guards were taking over.
I swore again, looked back at the entrance and my eyes bulged.
Feyra was leading Roman and Agatha through the gates. She spotted me hiding by the wooden barn and directed them towards me. I’d spent too long with the wolves this morning.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, riding up to me.
“Shhh,” I hissed. “Get down. Off the horses.”
“I will not–”
I pulled her from the horse, then moved onto Agatha. Time was of the essence, I ignored the girls protests and dragged them along with the horses behind the building, hoping that no one had seen us.
“There’s guards here,” I said. “We’re in danger–”
I looked in horror as the gates began closing.It was a trap!
“Would you mind telling us what’s going on?” Feyra demanded. “First you disappear in the night–”
