A Clan of Novaks
Page 39
Aside from the claustrophobia, there was another reason why I was keen to step out of that burrow once the Bonereavers started gathering to leave. Dane. I wanted to avoid him as much as I could. And I wanted Victoria to avoid him, too.
The Northstones emerged from the burrow and moved toward us, Lavonna and Rona near the front. Sergius and Brucella followed after them, followed by the Bonereavers. Victoria and I backed up beneath the shade of a tree as I surveyed the crowd piling out. And then I caught sight of him. The one-eyed man, Dane.
I looked away before he had a chance to spot me and make eye contact. He didn’t look much different from the last time I’d seen him. He had an extra scar on his cheek, a more pronounced jawline and protruding Adam’s apple, but otherwise he was the same man—the same old Dane I despised.
“Where are we headed next?” Victoria asked. Her human ears would not have picked up on Sergius and Brucella’s conversation with the Bonereaver leaders amid the hubbub of the chamber.
“To visit a tribe known as the Kaelins,” I replied.
Her eyes bulged. “The Kaelins?” she gasped.
I frowned. “Yes. Why?”
“I know a Kaelin. That’s if he’s from the same tribe. Micah Kaelin is his name. He lives with us in The Shade, but before that he had left The Woodlands due to a disagreement with the head of his pack. He became a wanderer.”
“That’s interesting,” I remarked. “I’m sure there is only one Kaelin tribe in The Woodlands.”
“Are we ready to leave?” Sergius’ voice boomed through our conversation. There must have been at least three hundred wolves milling about the small clearing now. There were many nods and murmurs of agreement. “Then let us go,” Sergius said.
I could not swing through the trees like I had done when traveling to the Bonereavers, because I did not know the way to the Kaelins. It turned out to be a journey that lasted several hours. By the time we arrived, it was dark, all of my fellow travelers now turned into wolves, while I remained human for Victoria’s sake. I knew it was more comfortable for her to cling to my back while I was a man than while I was a wolf.
Like the Bonereavers, the Kaelins had also made their lair underground, in a burrow. I didn’t bother entering this one, and neither did the Northstones. This was a job for Weldon and Annik.
Waiting for them couldn’t have been more awkward, being surrounded by Bonereavers. What I’d done to Dane all those years ago had of course made me an enemy to all of them. I was glad that—at least so far—nobody had come up to me, though I did catch Dane glancing my way. Disconcertingly, he had been eyeing Victoria when I looked up. On realizing I’d noticed, he immediately cast his eye away.
I pulled Victoria closer to me—so close it was probably uncomfortable for her, but I couldn’t help it. She looked up at me, frowning a little and wondering why. She hadn’t noticed Dane ogling her.
If he even tries to lay a finger on her, the world will become a very dark place for him.
“So once we have gathered everyone,” Victoria said, changing the subject. “Like, where exactly would we go to have the big meeting? It had better be somewhere safe and away from the hunters.”
I had already considered this matter. The obvious place would be Rock Hall, an enormous auditorium within the bowels of a cavernous mountain, which also held a network of small chambers that could serve as bedrooms and resting places. Rock Hall was at the very eastern tip of The Woodlands. If the hunters had not reached our current location yet, I highly doubted that they would’ve made it that far. That seemed to be the logical and most safe place to go, as well as the most appropriate. After all, Rock Hall used to be the meeting place of our great ancestors, many, many centuries ago.
Although I had been born into a divided land, The Woodlands had not always been like this. In my distant ancestors’ time, although werewolves lived separately, they had not lived in discord. In Rock Hall they would hold a meeting every so often as a gesture of partnership and goodwill.
I explained all this to Victoria and she listened with rapt attention. She seemed very interested in the history of my country.
“However,” I went on, “we will have to see whether the other packs are in agreement.”
“Mmm…” Victoria murmured, her light blue eyes scanning the crowd. “And do you think any of these wolves might know of a nearby gate?”
The question caused a twinge in my chest, the same twinge I got every time I thought about her leaving.
It was possible that some of the Bonereavers knew, but I was not the one to ask them. And I didn’t want Victoria approaching them either. I was surprised when a voice spoke to our right: “I can ask for you if you like.”
Victoria and I turned to see Rona standing nearby, leaning against a tree. I narrowed my eyes on her slightly, half suspicious of the offer. For a moment I wondered whether she had been told by her mother that I was betrothed to her, and she had taken up her mother’s desire to have Victoria separated from me. But from the look on her face, I didn’t sense any truth in this theory. Rona seemed to genuinely want to be helpful, or perhaps she was just bored and happened to be close enough to overhear our conversation.
I smiled at her appreciatively. “Yes, please do that,” I told her.
She moved up to the nearest Bonereavers to us, three men I recognized as Dane’s brothers. He had so many of them—I believed there were close to twenty in total—that I didn’t even know all their names.
The Northstones emerged from the burrow and moved toward us, Lavonna and Rona near the front. Sergius and Brucella followed after them, followed by the Bonereavers. Victoria and I backed up beneath the shade of a tree as I surveyed the crowd piling out. And then I caught sight of him. The one-eyed man, Dane.
I looked away before he had a chance to spot me and make eye contact. He didn’t look much different from the last time I’d seen him. He had an extra scar on his cheek, a more pronounced jawline and protruding Adam’s apple, but otherwise he was the same man—the same old Dane I despised.
“Where are we headed next?” Victoria asked. Her human ears would not have picked up on Sergius and Brucella’s conversation with the Bonereaver leaders amid the hubbub of the chamber.
“To visit a tribe known as the Kaelins,” I replied.
Her eyes bulged. “The Kaelins?” she gasped.
I frowned. “Yes. Why?”
“I know a Kaelin. That’s if he’s from the same tribe. Micah Kaelin is his name. He lives with us in The Shade, but before that he had left The Woodlands due to a disagreement with the head of his pack. He became a wanderer.”
“That’s interesting,” I remarked. “I’m sure there is only one Kaelin tribe in The Woodlands.”
“Are we ready to leave?” Sergius’ voice boomed through our conversation. There must have been at least three hundred wolves milling about the small clearing now. There were many nods and murmurs of agreement. “Then let us go,” Sergius said.
I could not swing through the trees like I had done when traveling to the Bonereavers, because I did not know the way to the Kaelins. It turned out to be a journey that lasted several hours. By the time we arrived, it was dark, all of my fellow travelers now turned into wolves, while I remained human for Victoria’s sake. I knew it was more comfortable for her to cling to my back while I was a man than while I was a wolf.
Like the Bonereavers, the Kaelins had also made their lair underground, in a burrow. I didn’t bother entering this one, and neither did the Northstones. This was a job for Weldon and Annik.
Waiting for them couldn’t have been more awkward, being surrounded by Bonereavers. What I’d done to Dane all those years ago had of course made me an enemy to all of them. I was glad that—at least so far—nobody had come up to me, though I did catch Dane glancing my way. Disconcertingly, he had been eyeing Victoria when I looked up. On realizing I’d noticed, he immediately cast his eye away.
I pulled Victoria closer to me—so close it was probably uncomfortable for her, but I couldn’t help it. She looked up at me, frowning a little and wondering why. She hadn’t noticed Dane ogling her.
If he even tries to lay a finger on her, the world will become a very dark place for him.
“So once we have gathered everyone,” Victoria said, changing the subject. “Like, where exactly would we go to have the big meeting? It had better be somewhere safe and away from the hunters.”
I had already considered this matter. The obvious place would be Rock Hall, an enormous auditorium within the bowels of a cavernous mountain, which also held a network of small chambers that could serve as bedrooms and resting places. Rock Hall was at the very eastern tip of The Woodlands. If the hunters had not reached our current location yet, I highly doubted that they would’ve made it that far. That seemed to be the logical and most safe place to go, as well as the most appropriate. After all, Rock Hall used to be the meeting place of our great ancestors, many, many centuries ago.
Although I had been born into a divided land, The Woodlands had not always been like this. In my distant ancestors’ time, although werewolves lived separately, they had not lived in discord. In Rock Hall they would hold a meeting every so often as a gesture of partnership and goodwill.
I explained all this to Victoria and she listened with rapt attention. She seemed very interested in the history of my country.
“However,” I went on, “we will have to see whether the other packs are in agreement.”
“Mmm…” Victoria murmured, her light blue eyes scanning the crowd. “And do you think any of these wolves might know of a nearby gate?”
The question caused a twinge in my chest, the same twinge I got every time I thought about her leaving.
It was possible that some of the Bonereavers knew, but I was not the one to ask them. And I didn’t want Victoria approaching them either. I was surprised when a voice spoke to our right: “I can ask for you if you like.”
Victoria and I turned to see Rona standing nearby, leaning against a tree. I narrowed my eyes on her slightly, half suspicious of the offer. For a moment I wondered whether she had been told by her mother that I was betrothed to her, and she had taken up her mother’s desire to have Victoria separated from me. But from the look on her face, I didn’t sense any truth in this theory. Rona seemed to genuinely want to be helpful, or perhaps she was just bored and happened to be close enough to overhear our conversation.
I smiled at her appreciatively. “Yes, please do that,” I told her.
She moved up to the nearest Bonereavers to us, three men I recognized as Dane’s brothers. He had so many of them—I believed there were close to twenty in total—that I didn’t even know all their names.
