Chapter 27

  Snow’s bad mood on that morning in Bellane was not improved by three straight nights of hard travel and sleeping rough. He and Lia had been spending their days in dark woods and abandoned barns, traveling only by starlight, and keeping a sharp watch around them for saviors, highwaymen, or simple busybodies who might alert the closest town to their presence. Everyone was a threat, and the stress was starting to gnaw at Snow’s composure.

  Thankfully, Lia was little trouble. She had no problems hunting in the woods for her meal and even brought something back if she thought it would make a decent meal for her new friend. With each night, her scars faded a little more until they looked like nothing more than pale shadows across her skin. That fact allowed them to pass through a village on the third night and employ their little con game again – gently enthralling one of the locals to give them free supplies.

  They were a mile from that village on a quiet promontory when they stopped to have a meal. Lia could hear cows lowing in a nearby field below and the thought of well-kept livestock instead of a tick-ridden stag was too tempting for her. Before Snow could properly agree to the idea, she had slipped off into the night. Snow silently hoped she would have the sense to hide the carcass before returning.

  For an hour, he sat alone to eat something under a burning maple that had roots big enough to make a low bench. All the while, he thought about the dream he had had nights ago. The imagery had not left him, but it wasn’t only the sight that haunted him, it was the feeling as well. That strange, bleak atmosphere held a familiar chill. The pale light he saw on the distant horizon felt like something he had seen before somehow.

  Snow cursed dreams and all such strange premonitions. It seemed the law of the universe that messages and warnings should always come in distorted forms full of hidden meanings. Why couldn’t anything just come out with a straight explanation?

  While he sat debating the annoying facts of the world, a snap came from behind. Snow stopped breathing a moment, hoping he’d hear Lia announce herself, but she did not. Silence continued for a few more beats, but Snow knew he was not alone.

  A heralding low growl brought him to his feet and spinning back towards the woods that sat behind him. A human might have taken the noise as a threat, but Snow knew a polite, albeit unhappy, greeting when he heard one. If it was a true threat, he wouldn’t have heard anything before the attack came.

  “What are you doing here, magician? Why do you bring a vampire with you?” a disembodied voice asked with a noticeable animal-like snarl.

  “We’re passing through. We will be gone shortly. You have nothing to fear from us,” Snow replied before adding. “Since when do these lands hold a pack?”

  “We are passing through also. Do you travel east?” the voice asked, now more curious.

  “No.” Snow replied as he began to see this as a chance to catch up on news. “Why do you move east?”

  “Kin have come to us with news of a new union of the children of Cernac,”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  It had been ages since Snow had heard the old forest god’s name mentioned. Cernac was the god of the woods and all wild things. He was credited with the creation of all shifting creatures as well as the curse upon the vampires. While Snow had learned about such gods and their stories, he had never met a creature alive today that still mentioned the Wild One, let alone would move their pack across dangerous country to serve in some circle.

  “That is news indeed. Come into the open and tell me of this union, if you please?” Snow asked as he stepped to one side of the small clearing and offer the other to his hidden visitor – providing a safe distance for both to react should intentions suddenly change.

  It took a moment for Snow to see silver, moon-lit branches part and allow a four-legged creature to cautiously step forward. It had the head of a steel gray wolf, but its body was far bigger than the common variety. Its paws were the size of men’s hands and its shoulder blades were hulking under its thick fur. When it came into the clearing, Snow knew he was dealing with the alpha of a pack. He was the size of a pony with fangs the size of daggers. Snow briefly turned his head from side to side to listen for any other signs that the rest were about while keeping his eyes on the beast before him.

  The alpha could have shifted for him; present himself as a man albeit naked without that fur. The fact that he did not, told Snow the lycanthrope was still wary of him, that he still didn’t know if he was friend or foe.

  “What is your name?” the wolf asked. Its mouth moving with muscles it shouldn’t have.

  “They all me Snow. I am a resurrectionist. You have nothing to fear from me unless you mean to ambush me here,” Snow said as he casually laid a hand on his sword.

  “We have no quarrel with you… or the vampire,” the wolf replied.

  “Then I hope you leave her be. She is only hungry and looking to the local cattle for her dinner,” Snow said before turning the subject back to the old god. “Tell me your name and of this union. I understood packs do not travel lightly.”

  “I am Gerik, and we travel to join this union against the flood of humans that have scattered and hunted us. We are no longer safe in our lands. The union offers us safety and strength in numbers,” Gerik said without sitting on his haunches but pacing at a slow pace with his golden eyes fixed on Snow.

  “Is it a union of packs like yourselves?” Snow asked.

  “All are welcome who are not human,” Gerik replied.

  “Do local vampire lords know of this union? Has word come to them?”

  Gerik scoffed. It sounded like something between a snarl and a bark. “Vampires have no allegiance except to themselves.”

  Snow had to agree. Most vampires he had met in the past would look on such religious stirrings as the desperate actions of weaker creatures huddling under one banner to have something vampires had already long established with their network of lords and territories. Rarely did vampires war with one another and, until now, the saviors had never been able to properly take a seat of power like Bal Lorn’s. Packs like Gerik’s, however, were isolated and only tolerated distant kin when it came to seeking mates outside the pack’s circle. Which made this union even more curious.

  “You trust the one who brought you this news? You trust the packs in the mountains will receive you and yours?” Snow asked.

  Gerik growled low in his throat. “The envoy called it a new age, said Cernac’s hand had blessed it, and warned that if we did not come – we would not be spared.”

  “Spared?” Snow’s brow lifted as he repeated the word.

  Gerik ceased his pacing and stared into him. “A war is coming.”