Ryzen gasped in pain as she struggled to keep Wolf-boy above the flames, his head and legs flailing about with each flap of her wings. He certainly is heavy for such a skinny guy, she thought as she fought to keep them both above the flames burning the glade down below. Pushing her wings harder, she slowly gained enough altitude to fly over the trees and out of range from the fire and smoke.
Idiotic…stupid…she thought with each downward pump of her wings. But she wasn’t about to let him die, whether it was his fault or not he had saved her by distracting the Enforcers long enough that she scared them off. She snorted, releasing a small puff of flames. What am I doing? I should be in Darithane speaking to Dave and getting the book he said he had for us. She couldn’t get sidetracked by all this, she had to hurry and get this kid to safety. But where?
Looking down at the boy she held between her claws, she growled at his unconscious form.
She was soo close…so close to getting into Darithane, she was sure Dave, their informant who was also a sympathizer of the Revolt, would not be happy that she hadn’t made it to their rendezvous…again. By the true god, she should be worried about Sranic more than their informant. This was the third time in a month that something had happened to keep her from getting into the city. He’s going to be soo pissed with me. Especially when I show up with this guy.
Glancing down again she watched as the boy continued to dangle lifelessly in her grip. Please don’t be dead, she thought. I really need you to be alive otherwise I’m going to feel really stupid that I saved a corpse. Letting herself glide for a moment she tried to feel for any other signs of life. For a few seconds there was nothing, and then he sucked in a deep breath and relaxed a bit as she felt the continued rise and fall of his chest. If it not for that she for sure would have thought he was dead, which, if she honestly thought about it, wasn’t too far from the truth. His bones protruded through his clothes against her scaled hands and from what she had seen in the moon’s light he had looked so malnourished that it was a wonder he could still shift at all.
Rising over another mountain top, she barely crested its peak as she spotted the field she was looking for down below along the side of the base of the mountain. Gently tilting towards it, she let herself glide as she gazed around at the mountains around her.
A small hut came into view through the darkness, standing at the end of the clearing. When she reached the glade, she placed Wolf-boy down by the hut and shifted back to her human form. Checking his pulse, she made sure he was still alive before running. The door and windows to the hut were long gone, with the wood deteriorated to the point that it looked like it could fall at any moment. Which was exactly how they wanted it to look. Not that it matters, she thought grimly. Once that forest fire reaches this far nothing will be here to cover up our hideout. Once inside the little cabin, she glanced around the shabby room before bending down, pulling away a rug to reveal the trap door in the floor.
She pounded it three times, paused, then again two more times before she opened the trap door, light from below shone up at her from electric bulbs hanging from wires. “Hey, Pig,” Ryzen called to the guard below. “Get up here and help me with this.”
“Back already, Princess?” Fig called back fondly. “I thought you were going to be out all night on a mission? And quit calling me that.”
“Yeah, well I was, until I wasn’t anymore,” she sniffed, smirking. “I was sidetracked by Wolf-boy over here and I need you to help me bring him in. He’s hurt pretty badly and needs a healer, and if you don’t want to be called Pig anymore then change your stupid name to something else besides Fig.”
“Wolf-boy?” Fig answered, poking his handsome Mehlri head through the trapdoor. “I don’t see any wolf-boy.” Her father had been hesitant on letting someone from the Territory join the Revolt, but after he had proved his usefulness with Sranic with translations and his knowledge of ancient history, he had let Fig stay.
Ryzen rolled her eyes at Fig. “That’s because he’s down the hill aways, stupid. Do you really expect me to carry someone all the way here? Now get out here and help me get him in there. I’m too big when I shift.”
“Alright, alright,” Fig said, waving a dismissive hand at her. “And I’m not changing my name; my mother was very fond of figs and—”
“Just shut up and help me lift him,” Ryzen said, cutting him off.
Together the two of them were able to lift the boy up and then gently bring him down the ladder with Fig at the bottom to grab him before dropping him in. Once they had Wolf-boy settled on Fig’s shoulder, Ryzen shut the trap door and followed Fig down the dimly lit hall. She watched as the boy’s long dark hair fell over his face as another thought came to her mind.
“You may want to walk a little faster,” she said, nudging Fig in the back.
“Why, and don’t poke me,” he said moving a little faster.
“I may have set the forest on fire,” she said, sheepishly.
“What?” Fig said, spinning around so fast that Wolf-boy’s head bumped against the wall. “You did what to the forest?”
“Just keep moving,” she urged, pushing him down the hall. “And don’t swing so fast, you’re gonna give the kid a concussion if he doesn’t have one already. The faster we get to my dad the faster you’ll get to hear me explain everything.”
Frowning at her reluctantly, Fig set his jaw and began a light jog down the hall while Wolf-boy's head flopped up and down on his back.
“I didn’t mean like that,” she grumbled. With an exasperated sigh she picked up her feet and ran after him.
Within minutes they were running back into the Planning Room. It was a small rectangular room made of cement, with electric lights hanging all around, two tables placed on both ends and two doors that were across from each other. The table to her left was filled with papers, food, a jug of water with cups, and two people who Ryzen had never met pouring over scattered notes.
The table to her right had her father, Sranic, looking over a map with Merda, and Belnoosh. Hearing them enter he glanced up to see them barge in. Sranic’s near seven-foot frame dwarfed the short Merda and Belnoosh as he turned to face his daughter, a frown, almost hidden beneath a thick beard, stretched across his face as he gazed down at Ryzen. Despite his height he usually wasn’t very intimidating. Suspenders stretched over his white shirt and pot belly that she loved to see bounce when he would laugh. He used to almost always have a smile on his face.
Normally that was the case. Normally. Back before Mother’s death and before being made the leader of the Revolt. He used to have a smile that could brighten anyone’s day.
“By the One True God, what do you think you’re doing back here,” Sranic roared at Ryzen, and then after glancing at the Wolf- boy's prone form on Fig’s shoulders, he added, “and who the blazes is that?”
“I don’t know who he is, but he saved my life,” she said, rubbing a stitch in her side and wincing when she pressed the spot where the Enforcer’s had punched her. “I was attacked by Enforcers from Darithane. I think they were chasing him since I wasn’t anywhere near the city when I ran into them. They beat us both badly and he needs a healer.” Worry creased Sranic’s brow, but it never touched his eyes as his gaze moved from her to Wolf-boy. “The kid’s a shifter with Drahl and Rathi blood,” she continued, knowing he would want as much information as she could give and hoping to mend the situation as best she could. “I know because he shifted to distract them long enough to allow me a chance to shift and scare them away.”
“Where did they find you, and how, exactly, did you scare them?” her father asked, his black eyes stern as he motioned for Belnoosh to get a healer. The man saluted and then went out the door opposite to the one Ryzen had come in through.
“Just over the mountain. I was a little over a mile away from Darithane when they ran into me in a clearing not far from the creek. While they were distracted with him, I shifted…” she paused for a second before finishing with, “aaannnd I blew fire at them,” she said, shrinking beneath his scrutiny.
Sranic pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You started a forest fire again, didn’t you?”
“Maaaaybe,” Ryzen said slowly, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
“By my ancestor’s beard, Ryz, if you can’t control yourself, I’m going to have to stop sending you on missions.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” she said in a firm voice, standing straighter. “If those Enforcers hadn’t been there then I would have—”
“I don’t care about the Enforcers!” Sranic boomed. “I needed you to get into Darithane so we could get that book. Without it all our plans are shot. How am I supposed to have the slightest clue on where to look for the World Gems if I don’t even know where to look?”
There was a cough, and a voice wheezed, “World Gems?”
Everyone froze as the form on Fig’s shoulder began to move.
“Could you put me down? It’s kind of uncomfortable on your shoulder,” Wolf-boy asked weakly with a rasp.
“I’m not exactly comfortable with you up there either,” Fig said, lowering him down gently.
The now awakened Wolf-boy wasn’t strong enough to stand on his own, so Fig steadied him with an arm. The kid looked around, a hand to his head as he took in his surroundings. “Where—” He stopped as a fit of coughing hit him. “Where am I? Did I—wait,” he said, his eyes growing wide as he pointed a finger at Ryzen in surprise. “You’re the girl the Enforcers were going to take.”
“I’d like to thank you for your bravery in saving my daughter,” Sranic said, his voice calm again as he faced the boy, holding out a hand. “My name is Sranic.”
Tentatively, Wolf-boy shook it. “You’re welcome,” he said slowly. Belnoosh came in then with a young healer who looked to Sranic for direction. People were always doing that, even those who should know what they were doing looked to him as if for approval. Ryzen’s father nodded to Wolf-boy who was continuing to look around in wide-eyed wonder of the small room. “Could you tell me where I’m at, and how I got here?” he asked.
“Give me one moment, son. I’ll answer your questions but I need to do a couple of things first, and the healer needs to look you over.” Turning around, Sranic issued a series of commands, and everyone went about packing everything up. No use staying when the place was about to go up in flames. This is it, Ryzen realized. If I can leave without him noticing, maybe he’ll forget he how angry he was.
Fig began moving and she slowly began to follow him and out of Sranic’s view when her father called out, “Not you, Ryzen. I need you right here.”
Frowning at her father, she folded her arms and walked over to join him. Stupid kid, thought angrily. It would’ve been just fine if Wolf-boy hadn’t showed up and ruined it. She turned and glared at Wolf-boy.
Soon the only ones in the room were her, Sranic, the healer and the Wolf-boy as the healer inspected him and his injuries. While not a doctor, a healer was one of the few professions in the world who could still practice magic. Healers had to have one of two blood lines from either the Rathi, or the Mehlri bloodlines to be able to access the healing magic, and even then the most Ryzen had ever seen them do was heal her father’s arm when she was six. It had been bad. His arm had been broken in three different places after a fight had broken out when the Dynasty had heard news of the Revolution in the Drahl Empire. Thinking back to that day she remembered it had taken at least three healers just to be able to do heal her father.
“Alright, son,” Sranic said, as the healer stopped with his inspections and began to prepare his healing arts. “Let’s start with your name.”
“Wha—what’s he doing?” Wolf-boy asked nervously as the healers hands began to glow. “Is that magic?”
“It is and I promise I don’t bite,” the healer said with a chuckle. “If you’ll hold still, I’ll patch you up. You got a few nasty cuts and bruises.”
“Have you not seen a healer before?” Sranic said with a surprising amount of patience.
Wolf-boy shook his head. “The only kind of magic I’ve seen is where they use sleight of hand to amuse children, but I was always told this kind of magic was gone from the world.”
The healer touched a few spots on the kid’s head and chest before pulling away, his face pale. “I’ve healed the most worrisome wounds. It’s amazing he didn’t have a concussion or worse from everything that happened. When I’m done here, I will make sure to send him some food.”
“Food? You guys have got food here?” Wolf-boy said his face lighting up with excitement. Ryzen could imagine him in his wolf-drake form, wagging his tail in like a dog excited for a treat.
“We do, and we’ll get you some soon, son,” Sranic said as the healer moved to Ryzen next. “But I’ve still got a few questions for you while we wait for that.”
Ryzen held still as the healer poked and prodded her sides where she indicated she had been hurt, and gasped when he pressed against her ribs.
“Sorry, but I have to know how much damage has been done,” he said softly.
“It’s alright,” she said through gritted teeth. Looking to Sranic she nodded that she was alright. Despite his sternness with her earlier, she knew he wouldn’t have moved on unless he knew she was okay.
“Let’s start over again, son,” Sranic said, turning back to wolf-boy. “Who are you?”
“I’m Arclin Venglath, son of Arth —” his voice caught in his throat, and he had to clear it before he continued. “Son of Arthenor Venglath.”
“You’re of House Venglath? I thought your whole family were dead?” Sranic said, his eyebrows raising in surprise. “I had very good intel from one of my spies that your house had fallen and that Arcanum Manor was destroyed.”
Ryzen watched as wolf-boy's face darkened. “Where am I?” he asked again. “And how do you know so much about me and my family?”
“I’ll be asking the questions here, Arclin,” her father said. “But I will allow you this one. You are in a hidden base for the Revolt.”
Arclin’s eyes grew wide as he looked around again, although for what he was looking for Ryzen had no idea as this place was as dull as a painting. Not that it’ll matter much, she thought as the healer’s hands glowed over her chest. This place is about to burn if the fire reaches this far. And obviously you know about us. The real question is what do you really think of us?
“I thought the Revolt were up in the Silvi Dynasty, what are you guys doing so far south in the Republic?” Arclin asked.
“What are you doing here?” Ryzen countered, cutting off her father as he was about to reply. “Arcanum Manor is over in Drannogal, so how did you get way out here if you’re the son of Arthenor?”
“Can someone get him something to eat,” the healer said, interrupting both Sranic and Arclin before either could reply. “Ryzen is healed, or as close as I could get her without overextending myself since we need to leave, and I can’t leave to get my things together until he has had something to eat.”
With a start, Ryzen realized that she did in fact feel better. Poking herself this time she only felt mild discomfort rather than the sharp pain that she had felt before. It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely better than just moments ago.
Sranic walked over and grabbed a bowl of bread from the other table and threw a loaf to Arclin. Wolf-boy barely managed to catch it.
Arclin dug into the bread as fast as he could, acting like he hadn’t eaten in days. Which was probably true. The boy was way too skinny to have had a healthy diet.
Once Arclin had a few bites in him, Sranic took over the conversation again, asking Ryzen’s question again. “How did you get here, Arclin? How did you get away from the massacre at the Manor?”
He stopped eating for a moment as his eyes turned away. “My father couldn’t stand the thought of losing us. He knew that the mob only wanted him and my mother. They didn’t care about his children so long as they were dead and in the ground. He dressed up some of the servant children in our places, told them that they were going to be his new sons and daughters while we went… away.”
“Ah, the pieces are coming together now,” Sranic said, stroking his beard in thought. “My spy had said that the descriptions I had given them didn’t exactly match how Arthenor’s children looked. So where did the four of you go if you didn’t have your parents with you?”
“We were taken by one of the servants out of town. He only lasted a few days before he abandoned us. Between me and my sisters we had hoped we could find work with a farmer, or someone who didn’t care about the revolution. But then the Enforcers started popping up, and we had to keep our heads down, moving from place to place if they got too nosy about who we were.” Arclin looked around as a group of people ran in and then out of the room with boxes filled with supplies. “I’m sorry, but what is everyone doing? And why do you care so much about me? My family are gone, and unless you have any other reason for keeping me here I think I have the right to just go now.”
Glaring at Wolf-boy, Ryzen grinded her teeth and wished she could throw a punch to his jaw line. Fortunately Sranic was the one who spoke first.
“When you saved my daughter from those Enforcers, she got carried away, and started a forest fire,” Sranic said. “Because you had saved her from them, she felt compelled to save you which is why you’re here. Since we’re not far from the flames, and if we intend to stay ahead of them, I suggest we should get moving.” He walked up to Arclin and pointed a large finger at him. “I’m not done with you yet. I still have more questions about you and your family but our time is short. For now, I’ll have Fig and Ryzen collect you. We’ll finish this questionnaire when we’re in a safer place.”
He pointed a finger to Ryzen. “I need to have a word with you before I go.”
Nodding, Ryzen walked over with him to a corner of the room with her father. “Yes,” she said flatly.
His eyebrows shot up as he glared at her.
“Yes, sir,” she said through clenched teeth. “I don’t see why we have to do that when you’re —”
“Because it shows good discipline, and because you’re my daughter,” he said. “Make sure neither of you share any details with him for what we are searching for.”
She dropped her jaw in disgust. “You think I would tell him about our mission?”
“I think that my daughter has a big mouth and that when she gets blabby she tells strangers too much.”
She looked down at the floor as her cheeks flushed.
“I’m not trying to punish you,” he said, more gently. “But I need to trust you with the information that we have. If Arclin can be trusted, then I will share all we know with him. I just need your promise that you won’t tell him what our goal is.”
Still looking down, she nodded.
“Good.” Her father sighed, a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world. “I still don’t trust the boy. There’s parts of his tale that still aren’t adding up.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, finally looking up at him.
“I had good reports that all of the children of Arthenor were killed in that massacre. If they escaped then they did a good job of covering it up, enough to fool your mother.”
“She was there when it happened?” Ryzen said, shocked that her parents had kept this information from her. “I thought she was off in the Rathi Isles?”
“She was heading there, but when she heard about the mob she stayed and joined it. The point is your mother had Silvi blood, which means that there couldn’t have been any illusion magic to hide their faces otherwise she would have felt it.”
“And that’s why you don’t trust him,” Ryzen said in understanding. “So did the kids match what you told her?”
“Yes, and no,” Sranic said hesitantly. “I never gave her the descriptions since I didn’t know she was going that way, but when she recalled them it seemed to somewhat fit. She also said that she saw no one leaving the Manor as the mob approached. Whether he is or isn’t one of the Venglath children is neither here nor there at the moment. For now, I want you to keep an eye on him and to get him on the aircraft for me.”
“I can do that.”
“And make sure you stick with him until I come around.”
“What?” she said, gapping at her father. How could he resign her to guard duty?
“Consider this the consequence for failing the mission,” her father said sternly. “If you can do this, then we will discuss further mission assignments. Understood?” Sranic folded his arms as he waited for an answer.
Ryzen rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Fine, I'll stick with him.”