The Wolves of Gryning: Chapter 22
Chapter 22: The Red Warrior in the Southern Kingdoms
They sailed a day. Finally the Conqueror passed between the channel where they would make their first stop. The cliffs of the Fractured Isle formed a distant wall to their right, the coast of the Southern Kingdoms sloping to their left. There they beheld the port of Himmska. The small port had been tucked into the curve of a cove, but expansion over years had seen it grow onto floating planks and docks jutting outward. Himmska was a busy place, for all trade into or out of the North came through them. Traveling bats from Sonder came down in parties, wheeling barrels of their wine down the main road. There were mice, short and quick, and squirrels, travelers from the Forest of Ancients. There were deer, all the way from Brand, and even some desert-dwelling beasts, with their scant clothing and tattooed bodies. Valdigt could see all of these beasts as they sailed by, running to and fro on the port's floating fringes. They lead boats into tiny opening, cramming trading vessels next to small skiffs meant for fishing; between the docks Valdigt saw floating storefronts drifting by, and rafts full of idle beasts smoking and drinking beer. It was a rowdy scene, full of strength and life. What most surprised her to see were the wolves; they held a presence here, even this far South, because of the monastery on the Fractured Isle. It only took a quick ferry ride to get across the channel and to Himmel, where the wolves of the Order lived. Some of those wolves made their way around Himmska, trading and gathering supplies to take back to their island. There were even wolves that had renounced their acolyte's robes and taken up permanent residence in the South.
But Valdigt could think only of one thing when she saw Himmska. Nashil, the one she loved, had been born here. Somewhere here, she thought. Before you moved to Inthil. How long did you dwell amongst these beasts? How many of your ways are theirs?
Thinking about Nashil made her think about Thess. She didn't want to think about her either, but she couldn't help it. Nashil was quickly becoming something more and more like a memory. And Thess confessing feelings for her, any kind of feelings at all, suddenly put her world into flux. She still didn't know if she could trust the girl, but she felt that she owed her a debt. Trust be damned, Valdigt would pay her back for saving her life. She could no more ignore her sense of debt and loyalty than she could ignore her need to breathe.
"I'll pick up some medicine," she told Thess. "Some real medicine. We'll get the hand examined too."
Thess had been hesitant about leaving the ship, but the day they'd spent sailing from the Middle Isle down to Himmska had done her wound no favors. She felt desperately weak and finally agreed to accompany Valdigt down into the port. They made anchor at the end of a long pier dotted with ships, and Valdigt began to seek out a healer. If there were any valents traveling down from the monastery she'd be able to acquire aid.
"Surely there must be one in the town somewhere," she muttered to herself, and sure enough she didn't have to search long.
"Nasty lookin' accident," said a fisher, the rat leaning against an oar in a rickety boat. "You lookin' fer medicine?"
"Yes," Valdigt replied. "Where can we find help?"
"Right over thataway," the rat jerked over his shoulder, and Valdigt followed the line of his thumb. "Follow the docks, past them fishmongers. There's an orange hut, crazy fire all over it. That'll be it."
"Many thanks," Valdigt said, and nudged Thess to get her moving again. They followed the fisher's directions and found themselves before the hut he'd described. True to his word, the orange fabric was decorated in embroidered flames, the tongues licking up every side.
"This is it. Come on in now."
In helping Thess, Valdigt felt even greater stirrings of emotion. It bothered her, and she insisted that what she felt was nothing more than a wolf's sense of obligation. "Loyalty keeps wolves strong," Jethel used to say. She tried not to think about him now. What would he say if he knew his daughter felt like this? She couldn't deny that she had some sort of feeling, but tried to chalk it up to stress and heightened emotion. The girl had nearly gotten her killed, after all! She couldn't possibly take her feelings seriously. All the same, they were there.
Inside the medicine hut, an elderly valent named Fhii taught her how to clean the wound to prevent infection.
"The flesh has been sealed," Fhii said, holding Thess' arm in her gloved hands. "But the burn wound can infect too. You have to make sure it stays clean."
The valent cleaned and wrapped Thess' arm with a thick, foul smelling poultice.
"It helps with the pain and swelling," Fhii said. "Does that feel better?"
"Y-Yeah," Thess said. Relief finally swelled across her face.
"Good. Ask your friend for help if you need to clean the wound again."
"Wait," Valdigt said. Her shoulder ached where she'd been wounded during the escape. She hadn't wanted to look at it, ignoring the pain she felt. The blood had clotted and her shirt had clung tightly to the area when it dried. The flesh around it had felt tender whenever she touched it, and enlarged. Lying on her back had been too painful, so se'd spent the last night sleeping on her stomach.
"Can you take a look at this?" she grabbed her ragged shirt from the bottom and pulled up, peeling the blood-soaked thing off.
"By ashes," Fhii said, walking around to her back and inspecting the wound. "This one's almost worse -- where have you two been?"
The valent touched her wound and Valdigt winced. Pain overtook her and she realized for the first time since their escape just how sapped the wound had left her. Even the night's sleep hadn't helped. Her vision grew foggy and she fainted.
When she woke again, she learned she'd only been out for a few minutes.
"But I was mighty worried for a minute," Thess offered weakly.
"How long have you been ignoring that?" the valent questioned her, wagging a gloved finger seriously.
She had washed it with soap and cleaned the worst of it off, before applying a compress of ice and crushed herbs. By the time Valdigt was conscious the wound had been taken care of. She showed Valdigt how to apply a fresh poultice to her shoulder. Then she taught her how to wrap bandages, and gave her a small iron clip to keep the bandages tied. Valdigt paid her with silver from the ship's treasury, and the valent sent them both off with a packet of fresh bandages and a few glass vials of the poultice.
"Try not to move that shoulder too much," Fhii said. "At least for a few days. And try to stay out of trouble too. I don't even want to know where you two were or what you were up to. But you could have died."
"We'll be careful," Valdigt said.
"Good. Walk carefully, and within the protection of the Flame."
The Conqueror spent the night at anchor. Thess' crew used the opportunity to refresh their supplies and stock up on luxury items. They restocked their stores of tobacco, beer, and lanesh. The varieties of lanesh grown in the South were different from those grown on the Middle Isle; the former had a less physical effect than the latter, and relaxed the mind rather than the body. It was commonly brewed with the coffee pods harvested elsewhere in the South. The resulting brew was used as a stimulant that both relaxed and awoke those who partook. The crewbeasts brought two hefty bags full of the herb onto the ship; but as coffee was not to their tastes, they brewed it with tea, or ground it up and smoked it with their tobacco. The beasts lazed around smoking and talking on the deck or in the town, but the cabins onboard the Conqueror were mostly empty. Valdigt spent the night in the captain's quarters, close at hand to help Thess clean and bandage her wound. She kept the otter company throughout the lonely, painful night.
The next morning, Valdigt awoke next to Thess in her bunk. She quickly let go of the otter's hand, slipping out from under the thin sheet. The sun was not yet up, but the sky was beginning to pale. Almost dawn, she thought. Time to raise anchor.
"Come on," she said, touching Thess' lightly on the arm. It didn't wake her, but she stirred and tried to move away. Valdigt touched her again, a little more, so she'd wake.
"I'm tired," Thess moaned. "Have Shah give the order."
"I will--" Valdigt said, but stopped.
"Go tell him and come back to bed."
"--I will. I will."
"Hurry, Val."
Her heart caught in her throat. Hearing her name shortened like that sent a thrill through her. As if the clipping of a word had some terrific significance. She liked to think it did. Valdigt tried not to think about Nashil or what she would say, either. I'm sorry, she thought. But I'm lonely, and I don't have anyone else out here. She wasn't sure Nashil would understand, if she could even know what she was thinking. She liked to think she would.
The Hatskav just off the coast of Gryning was fierce--too fierce for trade by sea. Business with the wolves was typically conducted via foot traffic and caravan trade. So the sight of a busy port had been quite impressive to young Valdigt. But even though the place had impressed her, she was unprepared for the splendor of Brand. It took them two more days of sailing to arrive, during which time both beasts had sloppily changed each other's bandages many times over. In the short span of time they'd both deepened their affections for each other, something that both thrilled and upset Valdigt. As they sailed out of Himmska and into the harbors of Brand, she couldn't help feeling that she'd sailed out of the arms of one girl and into another. But when they reached Brand, she couldn't think much about anything else.
The sheer scope of the city stunned her. The city's walls were tall and painted silver; and unlike Gryning, whose many buildings were built above and next to each other in a big but compacted space, Brand was spread over a huge swath of land. The wall encompassed sweeping fields of produce and big stone quarries, a main road leading into the distant Forest of Ancients and chartings its course through the center of the city all the way through to the docks. Brand was the city of deer, and their wise queen was Silva. The doe had come into power following a shady set of circumstances involving the untimely and accidental fall of her mother from the top of the palace. The palace towered over everything. A viewing deck on the top of the tallest parapet let her survey the land; she could see any caravan heading down the main road, and any traders who may have been shipping in from sea. It was from this viewing deck that the previous queen had fallen. And though no one had seen the fall, plenty had seen the body broken, impaled, sideways, and bleeding on the pointed garden fences at the bottom. The tower was not the only vantage point the deer had built. Towers were erected all along the city's walls at every joint of the walls. Twin lighthouses stuck like spears from the rocks of the beach.
Valdigt tried to imagine Silva at the top of her tower now, a slender golden telescope in her hands, surveying the ship that sailed in now. A fleet of Brand's finest sailors were anchored just off the harbor, screening every ship that came through. The Conqueror normally flew a flag of its own, a purple banner with a sharp white fang. The flag was sure to draw attention and have the ship steered off course for searching. But Thess' ship had been built in Brand, and she had been a trader here for years. The crew had unfurled the old banner the day before, beating the dust off the stiff fabric, letting fly the gold and silver flag of the deer.
They were not stopped. After another hour of finessing the ship against the dock, they had finally dropped anchor in the harbor.
The docks here were bigger than those in Himmska. Rather than floating planks and the discord of a hundred boats bumping into each other, the ships here were moored to giant piers jutting outward. Their foundations had been firmly attached to the rock shelf under the sea. Rafts and floating storefronts were not the norm here, but there were still a few. The piers formed a sort of surf break that made the shallows calm, and it was in these shallow waters that a few lazy rafters spent their days, along with the beasts who came to swim offshore. The air outside and the waters they sailed were notably warmer than they'd been in Gryning. Valdigt thought the constant sunshine might give her a headache.
She had read about deer before, had even seen one, once, who'd visited Gryning many years prior. But she'd only ever seen a doe before, and was caught off guard by the sight of antlers. What kind of beast grows branches from its head? she thought. Stranger still was the sight and sound of their hooves clicking on the ground, rather unlike the soft padded feet of the wolves. They were tall, too--taller than most of the wolves, even. She thought them a strange group of beasts and felt a strange discomfort at being surrounded by beasts bigger than her. But when she saw the guards dressed in armor, hefting heavy spears, she thought they didn't look so different from the armies at Gryning.
All the same, Northern beasts were uncommon here. She saw very few wolves, bats, or foxes. The population was mostly deer, the remaining beasts comprised of rats, skunks, and mice. It wasn't lost on Valdigt either that she saw otters, and many other kinds of beasts she didn't even know the names for--beasts from across the Wide Sea, traders like Thess' parents, from the faraway kingdoms in the West. She knew very little about those lands, and caught herself wondering in amazement at the clashing of cultures to which she bore witness.
She nearly forgot that she'd come all this way with a task. "She should be warned," Besegrare had said, "Should we fail to apprehend our foe." But Valdigt didn't know whether or not they'd managed to apprehend the beast. All she had was a warning. She hoped it wouldn't even be necessary for the deer to prepare. But she couldn't leave until she'd spoken to Silva.
"That may be a problem," Thess said, as they made their way down the main road towards the palace. "Ya don't exactly look like a king's messenger."
That was true. When the pirates had lifted her, they'd robbed her of her armor, her sword, even her clothes. All the had were the clothes she'd pilfered from the prison. With just that, she had no way to prove she'd been sent from Gryning.
"We'll see," was all Valdigt said. But what if Thess was right, and they were turned away at the door?
The two girls were surprised to find the palace guards surprisingly accommodating. Visitors, it seemed, were allowed on the palace grounds, as long as they kept to the public areas. They'd have to request an audience with the guards inside the palace if they hoped to make it into the throne room. There were two guards outside that door, a black buck and a white doe, wearing slim outfits and carrying spears tipped with foot-long blades. The buck's antlers were like velvet, and painted gold. He wore a gold ring in his nose; she wore silver in hers.
"Silva is busy," the buck grumbled.
"This concerns the whole kingdom," Valdigt pressed, but pressing was no good.
"Silva is busy," he repeated. "She has no time for peasants."
"Peasants?" Thess piped up, but Valdigt threw her arm out and pushed the girl back. The wolf stepped forward and drew herself up to her full height, matching the buck at his eye level.
"I am no peasant. My name is Valdigt, Royal Guard of the Wolves of Gryning. I come bearing a message from King Besegrare, ruler of the fortress on the cliffs. Busy or not, I come bearing a message of great importance, concerning the well being of your kind, and of all beasts dwelling within the city of Brand."
He seemed unconvinced, but he raised his brow in surprise at the confidence with which she spoke. He squinted, then shook his head, sighing.
"Wait," he said, and left the two girls with the doe. She stood silently above them, never moving, her spear like a silver sword on a long pole. They both tried to avoid eye contact with her. The buck was gone a long time. Too long, it felt.
"What's takin' so long?" Thess said, stepping forward, but the doe planted a hoofed foot and levelled her spear at the two of them.
"Halt, beasts of Gryning. Keep still."
"Ashes, point taken!" Thess raised her hands and withdrew. "But I ain't from Gryning."
The doe said nothing, her nostrils flaring, but when Thess stepped back she fell back into position and raised her weapon. Finally the door opened and the buck stepped out again. He held the door open, his silent grimace hardly a friendly welcome in.
"Just the wolf," he growled.
"It's very sweet of him to worry," Silva said. She laughed, a little fluttering sound like flowers on a river. Her fur was the color of chestnuts, her body slender as an elm. Like the others her clothes were scant, the little swatches of fabric draped loose around her body, and the fur had been tattooed on her brow and arms with white and gold. She had a puff of fur like down emerging from the curve of her chest. Her carefully cultivated appearance gave her an air of divinity, and she smelled sweet like the earth, heavy with forest magic.
"Very, very sweet of him. But I don't think we'll have much trouble."
She was leaning back in her throne with her legs crossed. Valdigt stood at the bottom of a series of stairs, upon a lush carpet. She felt a little awestruck by the queen, who rose and descended the steps as Valdigt spoke.
"I come bearing a warning," Valdigt said. "Nothing more than that."
"Nothing more? A warning is quite enough, wolf," Silva reached the bottom of the stairs and glided in a circle around Valdigt, eyes picking her apart. Then she reached out to touch her visitor on the arm, and a shiver coursed through the wolf.
"Isn't that cute--You're nervous, aren't you? Surely you've had your fill of royalty, wolf. Then again, I'm sure Gryning is nothing compared to this. It must take getting used to. I'm always forgetting that other beasts don't always experience such luxury."
Silva finished her circle around her visitor and nodded, then floated back up the stairs without breaking stride. She lounged back in the throne and crossed her legs again.
"I find this warning... Demeaning. Wouldn't you? Tell me something, wolf. Do we look like an ill defended city?"
"Inthil was well defended," Valdigt said, feeling an edge of anger creeping into her voice. "As was Hollow."
"What does Brand share in common with them? Inthil is a poor port along the Strait and the Hatskav. Their only business comes from pirates and travelers blown off course. And Hollow? Don't make me laugh, wolf. The foxes aren't exactly known for their armies."
"All the same, they were caught unawares."
"I'm sorry," Silva raised a hand, cutting off all further communication. "But this has been a monumental waste of time. I mean no disrespect, of course. But does your king think we don't hear about the rest of the world? We've known about these attacks for some time now, and are well prepared. Next time, tell your king not to bother unless he has real news. Just remember that the concerns of wolves are no concerns of mine."
And that was it. Before she could protest, the buck had arrived to escort her out.
"Find her a room," Silva said. "Along with her friend. I'll not have the wolves calling us inhospitable."
They were lead into the palace's guest wing where a fully furnished room stood waiting.
"Just for the night," they were told. "And then you're out of here. You'll find better luck lodging in the city, if you're dead set on staying."
Not that the deer had done anything to encourage their stay. Thess and Valdigt finally had the chance to settle in, and used the rest of the day to restock the ship and figure out their next course of action. But things weren't so easy for Valdigt. She no longer knew what she could do, and felt she couldn't face a return to Gryning. She had failed to get through to the queen, and Silva had made an embarrassment of her and of all wolves. She had nothing left for her in the place she thought of as home. Her king saw her as a threat to his love. Her father would see her as a failure for the way she'd let Silva treat her. Nashil--well, Nashil had Besegrare now; somehow she knew that would be the case. And Valdigt had Thess. So it didn't really matter, did it? There wasn't anything left in Gryning.
"I'm sorry," she said, to no one in particular, and closed the door of the room.