Return to Canifis

air.

Toward the cages, he realised. Fear gripped him. Albertus, what have you done?

He stood as his friends gathered around him.

“Albertus left first. Gideon followed sometime after, for his scent is stronger, as if he stood here for a moment before deciding which way to go. This way…” He pointed toward the cage, and Theodore groaned.

“But is this safe?” Castimir asked. “Are the terms of our embassy forfeit now?”

“Castimir makes a good point,” Despaard said. “We don’t know what is happening. We should go back to the inn, gather our supplies, and make ready to flee Canifis at once.”

He is right, Gar’rth reflected. If the werewolves believe these fires to be of our making, then Albertus and Gideon will be dead already.

“Then you go back,” Kara told the nobleman. “I will go to Pia and Jack. If our embassy is forfeit, then I have nothing to risk in freeing them.”

“I’ll come with you, Kara,” Theodore said. He looked to the wizard. “We could use your magic, Castimir.”

The mage nodded, and the three stood separate from the group.

“I’ll come, too,” Doric said.

“I will not,” Arisha told them. “Despaard speaks wisely. I will go with him to the inn to gather our supplies.”

“Two minutes, Kara,” Despaard said. “Don’t risk your lives if you can’t get to them. Come back to the inn and we’ll find a place to hide until we can better understand what has happened today.” He peered at her intently. “Good luck.”

Kara nodded.

“Two minutes is enough,” she said. “Come on!”

Gar’rth led them quickly and stealthily, from shadow to shadow, west to east. The smoke from the fires caused his eyes to water and burned his lungs.

“Gar’rth,” Kara hissed in warning. “We are seen!”

A cloaked figure rushed out of a doorway nearby. In its right hand was a bucket of water. It stopped when it saw them and gave an angry shout, its red eyes narrowing in hatred.

A woman. She was young and beautiful. She leapt forward, discarding her burden in her haste to be upon them. He shouted out in their werewolf tongue for her to stop, and he was aware of Kara, in between them, readying her sword.

No! There is no need for this!

“Kara!” Gar’rth shouted. “Wait!”

He watched Kara step forward as the werewolf leapt upon her. Kara dropped to one knee, ducking her attacker’s wildly flailing arms. And then her sword darted upward in a single deadly thrust.

“No, Kara-no!”

The werewolf female gave a surprised gasp as she rolled free from Kara’s blade. She came to rest at Gar’rth’s feet, her eyes staring into his as she changed back to her human form. She reached out to him and he took her hand.

Her black blood flowed from a wound near her heart. She would be dead very soon.

“I’m sorry,” Gar’rth said in their language. “I’m so sorry.”

She pulled herself up with the last of her strength. Her once beautiful face now pale and grey. And then she spoke a single word.

“Traitor,” she said, spitting into his face. Her eyes closed and she fell limply back to the earth stained in her black blood.

“Well done, Kara,” Theodore said with obvious relief. “She would have killed us.”

“Well done?” Gar’rth repeated, his voice breaking. “Well done? You killed a woman, Kara. You killed a woman who had a bucket of water in her hand.”

Something inside Gar’rth snapped. He leaped up and pushed Theodore back, the force of his blow sending the knight flying.

“She had done nothing!” he cried. “Nothing!”

“She attacked us, Gar’rth,” Kara responded, her words betraying uncertainty.

She knows she is wrong, he thought. And yet she won’t admit it.

“She’s right, lad,” Doric growled. “She came at us first. Kara had no way of knowing what she would do.”

Theodore stood, his face a mix of surprise and anger. His hand dropped to the dagger at his belt, the wolfbane blade. He drew it quickly.

Gar’rth stepped back.

“So this is it?” Gar’rth said warily. “It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it, Theodore.”

I can feel its power from here. Even now, in late afternoon, the world is a darker place already, no smell, fewer sounds, my limbs heavy.

“Don’t make me use it, Gar’rth,” Theodore said. “But I need to know I can tru-”

The dagger shot from Theodore’s hand and flew through the air.

It landed in Castimir’s waiting palm.

“Enough,” the wizard said firmly. “Now. Both of you.” His eyes were different, a steely glare that Gar’rth had never seen on him before. In his other hand he held a set of runes.

“We can discuss this later,” Castimir continued. “We have no time left now. Lord Despaard will be leaving very soon-if he hasn’t already. A woman has been killed today, but bickering about it won’t help her, and it certainly won’t help us.

“Even if it wasn’t before, we can now presume our embassy is most definitely forfeit,” he continued. “Our lives are in danger every second we delay. So let us make the most of what we have left. Let us at least try and save Pia and Jack. Gar’rth, you lead on. I will come behind you. Theodore, you watch our backs.”

Gar’rth paused for a moment, then nodded and moved to comply. The wizard gave the knight an angry glare and followed.

Kara followed behind Castimir. The woman’s blood had dripped onto her hands, and for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to wipe it off.

She attacked me. I acted in self defense. Still, she did not feel better in any way.

Ahead of her, Gar’rth raised his hand again.

“I can see the cage,” he said flatly, “but it is empty.”

Kara ran to his side to see for herself. The clearing around the cage was deserted. The door was open, the padlock hanging loose in the latch. To the north, a house was burning uncontrollably and in the distance, at the farthest extent of visibility through the fog and the smoke, Kara could see black shapes running to and fro, trying to combat the fires.

Reassured, she turned to look at the cage once more.

“There are no remains,” she said, hope flaring inside her. “Is that usual?”

Gar’rth shook his head.

“No. Come on.”

They ran forward, Gar’rth close to the ground, sniffing the grass. Kara jumped into the cage itself, staring through the bars at all points of the compass before examining the ground.

“They were here, but they went this way…” Gar’rth pointed to the northeast.

“Here,” Doric said, holding the padlock up. “There are faint scratches on the surface. It might be that Pia picked it.”

“Pia, or perhaps Vanstrom,” Gar’rth replied. “He seemed to be unafraid when we spoke to him. Maybe he knew that this attack was going to occur. Perhaps it is a diversion to get him out.”

“Gar’rth!” Theodore said urgently. “Look.” The knight pointed to a small figure, a boy, who stood over the woman’s dead body. As soon as Kara saw him, he began to scream.