Chapter 398: The Road to War - Part 2
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LERRIN
Lerrin made no sound, only faced down the older, but slightly smaller Craye, who shifted his weight under the sudden compulsion from Lerrin to submit. He wasn't an overly strong or fit wolf. The Spymaster's formidable weapon was his mind. Lerrin did not underestimate that.
"You challenge me, Craye?" he asked, so quietly, he wondered if those nearby—who had all frozen when he shouted—would hear it.
"No, Sire, I simply need you to understand: Not all the bears are sleeping yet. They are very late, but there are still eyes in that valley."
"And I'm telling you, I don't care. Pull the wolves out. I am not committing genocide on the bears for any reason."
"You said—"
"I said I would consider it. I said I left them there as a last resort. I no longer need nor want them in place. Return them here before I come back from this mission, or I will lay your belly open and string you up by your guts."
"You cannot simply abandon that ground! It is crucial to—"
"I can do whatever I wish because I am Alpha—or do you call challenge for my power, Craye?" Lerrin snarled, his chin down and eyes aflame, beckoning at the man to come for him, to give him the chance to take his throat.
Craye's upper lip curled away from his teeth.
Lerrin was suddenly aware of another male—young, but heavyset—at his shoulder. He couldn't turn away from Craye's challenge to check the male, but given the way the younger man growled and leaned towards Craye, Lerrin didn't think he needed to.
He gave the smile he'd give for prey. "Not that I need the back up, but your own males are telling you to stand down, Craye," he taunted the spy master. "Or do you order them to pretend loyalty to me so that you can use them behind my back?"
Craye opened his mouth, but the young male beat him to it. "No, Sire, we work at your pleasure and call," the male at Lerrin's shoulder stated. "I step alongside only to be of service."
"Stand down, young one," Lerrin growled. "I can handle this."
The young wolf, showing more discipline than half of Lerrin's security council, stepped back immediately, with a barked, "Yes, Sire!" While Lerrin only raised an eyebrow at Craye.
When the spymaster didn't submit, Lerrin snorted the air from his nose. "You have a final chance: My order to you is to remove the assassins from the western valley and leave the bears to their hibernation, or do you require me to bite out your throat and do it myself?"
Craye shuddered, but he dropped his head and rolled his shoulders forward. "No, Sire. I do not," he spat."
"Good. Then you will leave now to give the order, and if I learn when I return, that even one bear has been harmed by our wolves, I will string you up. There is no loophole, no strategy to employ. This is simple and complete retreat, am I understood?"
"Yes, Sire," Craye ground out.
"Then leave. Now—Alone!" he added, when Craye looked like calling for the male who'd stood at Lerrin's shoulder.
Craye growled, but did as he was told, stalking back across the clearing alone.
When he was out of sight, the soldiers went back to their preparations and Lerrin turned to find the male who'd stood behind him, speaking with one of the birds.
"You are one of Craye's?"
"Yes, Sire," the male said quickly and standing to attention.
Lerrin smiled. "I appreciate your discipline, Son. What is your role today?"
"I'm on foot, Sire, to bring up the rear and ensure the supplies make it to the fists."
"Not anymore you're not," Lerrin said, on a whim. Turning to the fist of wolves clustered nearby that he'd chosen to accompany him, he tipped his head to the male that had been assigned as his partner and bodyguard for this operation, beckoning him over.
"What's your name?" he asked the young wolf while the other approached.
"Nhox," the young male said, looking back and forth between Lerrin and the approaching soldier.
"Nhox, I appreciate your discipline, and your initiative."
The soldier reached them then, and Lerrin turned to him. "Tell your Fist Leader I have chosen a new bodyguard for this trip. He will take the flight with me instead. You can be assigned to a different role."
The male—tall and strong, almost as dark as Lerrin himself, blinked and opened his mouth as if he might argue. But when Lerrin's jaw tightened, he only saluted and said, "Yes, Sire!" then bowed and retreated back to the others and to fill in his Fist Leader.
There was some discussion with the Fist Leader, who didn't look pleased. But then, Lerrin wouldn't appreciate having a soldier reassigned at this late date, either.
Lerrin examined his instincts. Was he being reckless? Or perhaps endangering himself? But no, the quiet solidness was there. This young male was intentionally loyal to himself, not Craye—or anyone that Craye might have influence over. Which meant there was a good chance he wasn't part of the faction, or part of the bloodthirsty lack of discipline that apparently plagued the wolves now. He was exactly the kind of wolf Lerrin wished to have on his team.
And if he was honest, having someone young and perhaps untried, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if Reth took him up on his offer. The male would, possibly, not understand what was happening until it was too late.
No, Lerrin decided, he would not change his mind again. And as the Flight Commander called for the birds to shift in preparation, he took Nhox to the birds they would be flying with and introduced them.
A few minutes later, he and Nhox both lay flat on the canvas hammocks that would curl around them when the birds lifted off but that, for now, were little more than sheets on the ground with handles on two ends.
Lerrin had flown in training, but this was the first time he'd be in the air for hours. He was suddenly glad that Nhox would be his companion. It would be a chance to get to know the wolf better, since the birds couldn't speak when they were in beast form.
As the two birds—both over six feet tall and with wingspans twice that—took the handles in their talons and began pumping their wings for the slow take off, Lerrin felt his weight shifting, then swinging as the hammock harnesses left the ground.
There was always a moment of terror when the birds first began to climb that they wouldn't have the strength and they would all plummet to the ground. But for the first time, Lerrin found himself praying and confident that he was exactly where he should be, and aiming for the right target.
He prayed all the good males and females around him would escape injury when the Cat turned their attack on its head.
But thinking back on Craye's savage desire to eradicate the bears—and shock that Lerrin didn't want to—he did not regret the decision.
He did not regret it at all.
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