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THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 19
Does it seem plausible... or am I just trying to assuage the guilt I feel?The Sisters talk for at least another hour until the first of them shows signs of tiredness. Little by little, one by one, they retire to the shared beds.Arina sleeps next to me.I can see your restless face in the candlelight.I stroke her hair until I feel her small body relax, and then I get up. Her hand is tucked into her tunic pocket, tightly gripping the wolfsbane seeds that I take from her and throw anywhere.My heart rumbles in my chest.I will not allow Arina to die. I will not allow any of my Sisters to die.They are heavily asleep.Nothing will make them wake up for at least the next hour.I pick up my knife and the quiver with the bow and arrow. I get ready as if I'm going out hunting, even though it's still dawn, so I leave our room.I hesitate at the door. I look back at my Sisters who sleep, anxious and worried, in their shared beds.My bare feet make no noise as I step across the stone floor of
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 20
That's when I see the first foreigner. He is five steps away from me and holds a metal pipe in his hands.The air has an ocher, dry smell that stings the nose.I slowly approach him from behind.I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him like he killed my mothers...I move forward silently, as I did when hunting rabbits without traps, and I jump, but I am caught in the air and pulled back.It's the wounded foreigner. He smells like the chamomile I used to cover his wounds, so I recognize him without having to turn around.The man holds me tightly. Too strong.I am breathless. I feel crushed.He drags me behind a rock, away from the foreigners.I struggle with my arms and legs, but I'm small and I don't know how to fight, and he's big and much stronger than me, and he's no longer sick, just tired and hungry. I'm not a challenge. He crushes me in his huge arms.I see dark figures approaching.Screams in a language I don't know.And darkness swallows me as my thoughts are flooded with
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 21
Mr. Tastaren swallows hard.He's sweating, nervous and worried, but he translates, but his tone makes me think he didn't translate my words with the intensity I wanted.The foreigner narrows his good eye.I don't think I'll have an answer either, but after all he says a couple of dry words.— He says there's nothing on the island, girl — Mr. Tastaren weighs each word carefully, making a strange noise in his throat as he tries to clarify his voice. — The Prince says... there is nothing. All the... all the women... they're... — he shakes his face, speechless.— Did they kill them? — I demand, trembling. — Did those damn foreigners kill them all?Without thinking I squeeze my hand in my tunic pocket, holding the aconite seeds tightly.Mr. Tastaren asks, but the foreigner doesn't answer, he just looks at me silently. A horrible silence that I know I will never forget until the end of my life.“The grace of the Goddess must be buried with us lest it be used again for the infamous purpose o
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I choke and vomit a load of salty water that tears up my throat.All around me is a jumble of harsh voices shouting at each other.Huge arms hold me back, and I struggle to push them away.— Don't touch me... Don't touch me... I'm sacred... I'm-...Someone holds me while I vomit some more, and I don't have enough strength to push him away.Before I can think I'm lifted into the air.There's a red eye staring at me when I open my eyes.— You... are the worst of all... — I spit, and my conscience wavers.Salty water shoots out of my throat, and I feel like vomiting it over the injured stranger, but he won't let go of me, the unfortunate one. He holds me tighter.No, you can't touch me... Mom, forgive me...**This isn't the room I've been trapped in for the last few days, I think as I open my eyes. It's bigger, and it's freezing cold, even though my body is covered in thick sheets of fur.My body is tired, so I roll over in the sheets and rub my face.I'm still wet. My hair is wet.I he
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Clear.The door opens before I get to it and a wolf is standing there, holding a wooden box.The injured stranger opens it, then turns to me.At first I don't know what that pile of metal is, but it doesn't look threatening, so I just watch as the Prince kneels and passes two rings around my ankles. He barely closes them and then I understand: they are to arrest me. He's holding me like a real prisoner!Reflexively I slap him hard across the face as he starts to stand, then move forward and try to hit him harder.The wolf in black at the door drops the wooden box and tries to hold me back, but the stranger growls a harsh sentence at him, making him back away. He himself holds me by the arms. When he speaks he's very, very close to me, and I see that his teeth are huge fangs, all of them, like a real wolf, and it's hard to admit, but it really scares me for a moment.I scream and so does he, even though neither knows what the other is saying.For a second I think the foreigner is going
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 24
Pontis Maari is what Mr. Tastaren said.Even in the distance I can see the high dark stone walls that seem to touch the sky. A moment of curiosity strikes me and I wonder who built it and why.I can smell the sea from here, and if I pay close attention I can hear it too, but I can't see it.We are close to the sea.The road to the capital was almost empty. A few equally closed carts, and others open, passed us. I could hear the man leading the horses greeting the others with a short sort of whistle.I don't know how long it took from the port to here. I don't even know what time of day it is. But there is still sun. A weak, squalid sun that doesn't offer much resistance to the cold wind or metal-colored clouds.I stick my hands into the thin fabric of my dress to warm them.My feet aren't so lucky, and I grumble at myself for ripping off all that hem fabric that could very well have warmed them.The trees become scarcer as we get closer to the walls until they become squares of stone
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A moment later my captor holds my chains, so I am forced to follow him and I notice that the wolves that welcomed us look at the chains with curiosity and a little annoyance.The hallways are made of stone, and there are doors and conversations everywhere.I have the impression that many people live here in the fortress.Wolves, I remember. I'm among wolves. Not people.A man appears to be leading our group, gesturing from side to side, showing things to my captor that he observes with interest. We see rooms and courtyards decorated with carved stone and flowers I don't know in vases as big as me, covered in paintings. There are hot water pools where young girls and boys of various ages dip their feet while chatting. There's also an entire wing where the smell of food simmers in the air.The guide points to the ceiling and says a bunch more things, explaining what's above us, I imagine.I would like to pay attention. I'm curious. But most of all I'm tired.I rub my eyes and hide a yaw
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I quickly sit down on the bed.The room is huge, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't that empty when I walked in, I don't know how long ago.There's just the rug on the floor and the bed.In a corner there is a lit candle next to a type of furniture that I don't recognize. It looks like a bed, as it is upholstered, but it is small and I don't think anyone can sleep there other than a child. Does it have a back support and extends to one side, perhaps to support your arm, but only one of them?All other furniture is gone. Chairs, tables, shelves, books. Everything is gone.Is this my cell now? I think furiously, feeling my breath coming out like fire through my nose.I look at my hands and feet and curse.The chains are here.I didn't used to curse back on the island, but now it seems like everything deserves a good curse.I see that the door I entered through and the windows are closed, and I would bet on them being locked too. I hug my knees and find some peace by praying a little that the
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