Vuko POV
When I approach, no guardians come out. I walk beneath the high road and the vibrations of the hundreds--maybe even more--of machines on it rumble through the viaducts below. The passages are dark and dank. I sense shapes moving within them and the smell is foul. But human. There is nothing for me to fear here.
Still no one stops me. It appears that anyone may pass into the city as long as they can pass the Barren. It's lazy, I think. What kind of leadership leaves its defences to chance.
Once I'm through the viaducts, I know I am in the city itself. I know this because it's like an assault on all my senses. Lights flicker in the darkness and I'm distracted by them because I can't tell what is a threat and what is not. Cars rattle and screech past overhead, there are shouts and cries, the babble of voices, and discordant music emanating from around corners and inside edifices. A thumping bass accompanies a missing melody. A trumpet s
Silvia POV I spoke to an entire roomful (pack?) of Rogues! Me! I stood up there and words came out and then I asked a really simple question--could we work together as a pack?--and the next thing everyone was talking at once. Not arguing. Talking! Every one of them thought it was a fantastic idea to work together as a pack! I'm still shaking. I don't even know where all that came from. The salmagundi has run out so Esme re-enchants Cook to do something more useful and he starts frying up some chips. He's still looking the happiest I've ever seen him. His chips are super greasy but if you add enough salt and vinegar they're pretty good. Then I think that there's a lot of talking but maybe it's too many at once. So I suggest that everyone introduces themselves. That turns out to be another fantastic idea. It's my night. It's like I can't do anything wrong. There's Graydon Airwolf of course. He's the oldest. There are many others from the Wildlands and a few, like the Aurorawolves, M
Vuko POV Silvia stands and so does the big ginger guy whose face I want to smash in immediately. I'm tired, I'm desperately thirsty and my stomach is spasming from the disappointment of that empty pot of stew. Could things be worse? Probably. But it's hard to see how just at the moment. Vi is making snarling, menacing noises but he's too weak for more than that. So that's why the first words I say to Silva after four years of separation and heartache are: "I need water. Food." Romantic? You better believe it. Silvia still stands staring at me like a hostile stranger, but the Witch moves fast. She leads me to an empty table and brings me a jug of water. I try to drink it slowly but the water sloshes everywhere as I gulp it down. I want to swim in it, splash it all around me, live in it. I can't remember when anything tasted this good. I've embarrassed myself enough already so I don't even care that every
Silvia POV I can't bear how Vuko is looking at me. It's like he's ripping the sutures from wounds that I didn't even know I still had. Him walking in when he did, looking like he'd come straight through hell, with that crazy look in his eyes, the scent of him nearly knocking me flat, I had been about to run straight to him. It was Fer who stopped me. You've never seen his wolf, she said. Was that true? Vuko has that silky blue-black hair, brooding obsidian eyes. The wolf in the alley had been big and blue-black. Vuko was always tall, but four years ago he still had the gangly look all the teen boys had. He was clumsy and would knock things over as if he still thought he was pup-size. Now, though. Now he has filled out. Even though he looks half-starved from wherever he has been, his shoulders are broader, his legs longer, his jaw more square. He looks like a hunter. But the wolf in the alley had said he had a message fo
Vuko POV I see the change in Silvia's eyes first, then her whole body seems to unwind from a tight coil. She sees me again! She knows me! In that moment I remember when we used to sneak out on the sweltering summer nights to swim in the lake, how the fresh, cold water would shock us into silence, then send us shivering to each other for warmth. Silvia in my arms looking at me exactly as she looks at me now. Or when she had been fighting with her teachers and you could practically see the sparks rising flying from her feet as she stormed off. I would find her and I would coax the fight out of her. I could make her laugh. I would listen. I'm the same and not the same. She's the same too, and not the same. She has her wolf now, of course. And our wolves have never met. And then there are the scenes she just conjured out of the air as she told her story ... But no, I think, she's still mine. Still my Silvia. I move toward her, ready to ta
Vuko POVWhen I wake, something warm and furry vibrates on my chest. It's strange but not unpleasant so I lie there for a while. Then the warm, furry, vibrating thing sticks sharp needles into my chest and I sit up with a cry, pushing it away from me.I sit there blinking for a bit with Silvia biting her lips to stop herself from laughing and the ugliest cat I've ever seen, arching its back and hissing at me."You upset Wiley," says Silvia."You named it?" I say, "It's yours?"I shake my head. Nothing makes sense here. Then, Silvia sits down next to me and hands me a cup of coffee and actually it does make sense. Not a lot. But enough.She asks me how I'm feeling and I yawn and stretch and tell her that I'm better but my stomach growls and the new problem is that I'm so hungry that if Wiley doesn't get out of the way soon, she'll be breakfast. Or lunch."What time is it?" I ask Silvia."It's eleven am," she say
Vuko POV I guess I should have expected that she would turn on me first. And if I had expected it, would I have been better at dealing with it? But it happens so fast. The one moment she's standing there and my heart is breaking watching hers break. I'm looking at her thinking how Didi had been her little shadow since he was old enough to be able to follow her around. Once, she had forgotten about him and climbed the aerie, her fingers strong and experienced in finding the hand- and foot-holds. About five meters from the ground she heard him cry out below her, his fingers not yet strong enough to hold onto the crevices in the smooth rock face. He slipped and fell to the ground below and Silvia had almost fallen down the side of the cliff herself she descended so quicky. The front side of her body had been scraped raw. I found them first. Silvia holding Didi in her arms, weeping as if she would never be able to stop. I carried him to the nearest packh
Silvia POV After Seersha Airwolf's statement, there is a short silence followed by many wolves talking at once. I notice Vuko frowning at her. "That's Seersha Aurorawolf," I say to him quietly. "Her pack was wiped out by what she calls 'Wildlands Wolves'. They were led by Alpha Ludo." Vuko looks at me sharply, then away. He sighs. "I'm beginning to think my father made up his own version of history," he says. I wait for him to say more, but he doesn't. "She seems too young to be on her own," he says, "How old do you think she is?" I look at her again. She's wearing quite a lot of make up so it's hard to tell, but the closer i look, the younger she seems. At first I had thought she was about my age. But I think she' probably closer to Didi's. The way she behaves also gives the impression of maturity. In spite of the barrage of questions, she is calm, answering each without any sign of being flustered or intimidate
Silvia POV We leave the diner with Cook back to his human dimensions. Aluna kisses his sweaty forehead and tells him 'leave it to me.' He grins at her like a hopelessly in love puppy. As we leave I ask her in a whisper, "What did you mean, 'leave it to me'?" She smiles, "He's lonely," she says, "And I happen to know of a troll grotto just outside the Wildlands." "There are trolls outside the Wildlands?" I say. I can hardly believe it. Is that even safe? "I follow the rivers, it's my nature. I explored much more widely than wisely," she looks sad. "Anahita knows." I can tell from her expression that I should leave her alone. I want to ask her more about what happened to her and her family. But I also know what it's like to have a wound too raw to touch. I let her walk ahead of me as I hang back. Fulvio and Vuko are talking like old friends which is not something I could have predicted. I'm grateful for the few m