Chapter 7 Jay: Watch Out for Owls

There were a few times in my life where I could say I was truly happy. The closest I could get was when I was alone, like the night I laid under the dancing stars of the Sølvefalske night sky. I liked this place a lot better than home: here, things were alive and vivid. The air was clean and the water clear. After three years, I’ve almost forgotten what the Sutherlands looked like, but I remembered enough to dread the return.

The sound of wings hit my ears, low and dull, too large to be a bird so they must be pegasi. My heart sank knowing who they brought with them.

The horses flew over my head and came to a rumbling stop in the camp behind me. The Warriors climbed off their backs and greeted their comrades proudly. I heard their voices clear as day:

“Easiest mission I’ve ever been on.”

“Help me get her.”

“Tie her to that tree until the King arrives.”

I wished there was a way to turn off my ears, but my sensitive wolf hearing forced me to hear the cruel laughter of my father’s warriors.

The girl was quiet at first, probably still under the effects of the sleeping powder, but just as they pulled her off the back of the pegasus, she awake and immediately put everything she had in her little body to try and pull herself free.

“LET ME GO!” she growled out in frustration.

One of the girls from the camp walked towards me, and my immediate instinct was to hide, but I had nowhere to go.

“Pitiful, isn’t it?” my cousin, Surtra, said as she watched the girl. “Although I must admit, it’s entertaining to watch them struggle.”

Hot anger crept up my spine. I wanted to snap at her, but there was no winning with this psychopath.

“Oh, come on Jay!” she said, punching me in the shoulder. “You wanna save a bunch of baby birds that fell from a nest, fine, but these are our enemies we’re talking about!”

“They’re still people.”

Her black eyes turned stoney. “They lost that privilege when they burnt our villages to dust.”

Before I could throw a punch that would definitely have gotten me killed, a Crow landed in the branches above Sutra’s head.

“Your aid is requested to secure the perimeter,” the bird said.

Sutra rolled her eyes before leaving, allowing me to let out the breath I’d been holding. The bird shifted into a boy before joining me by the lakeshore.

“Thanks, Galen,” I said.

He shivered. “That girl scares me worse than your father.”

“Right now, I could do without either of them.”

Galen glanced at the camp. “At least they don’t plan on hurting her.”

I huffed. “Sure, but it won’t end well. She’s not going to agree.”

“You know what desperate people do in some situations.”

Some people caved to the will of their opponents, but some people fought harder against them, even if it was a losing battle. One of the lessons I’ve learned is to never underestimate someone, but a common fault among the Crows was to let their pride cloud their judgment.

“Well, your father will be here soon,” Galen said, going back to camp.

“If you need me, I’ll be over here,” I said, “hiding.”

The girl was now sitting on the ground, hands tied behind her around a tree. I didn’t want to watch this, knowing her fate, but wolves were just as guilty of being curious as cats were, if not more.

I walked closer to the camp, careful to stick to the shadows. The girl was quiet, hanging her head so her golden hair blocked her face. I could read her emotions like a book: discomfort, fear, and enough anger to deter a full-grown grizzly.

A couple of Crows from the trees announced that the King had arrived. The camp went silent as he stepped towards the girl. The orange glow of the fire reflected on his black armor as if the metal itself was ablaze. His hollow eyes were hard and cold, a look he wore whenever facing an opponent.

Surprisingly, the girl met his malicious expression with her own, not letting her fear leak through.

My father squatted on his heels in front of her. “Pleasure to finally meet you, princess.”

The girl paused, raising an eyebrow before a cheeky grin crept across her face. “I hate to tell you this, but you have the wrong girl. I’m not Miria.”

My father returned a smile. “Oh no, I mean you. Princess Ylvana Mikkelson. Daughter of Princes Aaron McNeil and Lady Gwen Mikkelson.”

Ylvana’s smile dropped into a frightened grimace. “What do you want with me then?”

“To offer you the chance of a lifetime.”

“How exciting.” Ylvana strained against her binds.

Movement from the grazing pegasus caught my attention. The flap of one of the saddlebags started moving before a quick flash of red jumped out and ran behind the tree, avoiding my father’s detection. I realized it was a red fox gnawing on the binds around the girl’s wrists, helping her.

I thought about saying something or scarring the fox away myself. That would be the Crow thing to do, but even if the fox broke the ropes, the girl would have to get past my father and a whole camp of his Warriors. I figured I might as well just see where this goes.

“You see, Princess, we know what you are,” my father said, voice low and gentle. “We know the powers you possess, and how they’ve been wasted all these years.”

“I don’t have any powers,” Ylvana shot back. “Do you think your warriors could’ve caught me so easily if I did?”

Fenrir sighed, pulling out a small dagger. “I truly mean you no harm, but there is no easy way to cleave a stubborn head.”

He sliced the blade into Ylvana’s arm, making her whimper and flinch, but right away she caught onto what he was trying to do, so she sealed her eyes shut.

“C’mon, child,” he said, dragging the knife along her cheek. “Let us see your eyes.”

When he started digging the knife into her cheek, she could no longer fight the pain, letting loose an inhuman growl from the back of her throat that the whole camp heard. Since her secret was blown, she opened her eyes, which, moments ago had been a stormy gray, were now a neon blue aimed dangerously at my father.

“There are those shining wolf eyes,” he smirked. Spending years facing Wolves in battle, he knew how to make them tick.

“So what?” Ylvana growled, maintaining her terrifying eye contact. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of shifters around here.”

“Yes,” my father said. “But you are the most powerful of all. A god has blessed you with the wolf blood in your veins.”

Ylvana’s eyebrows furrowed. “My shifting power was given to me by my father. He snuck the potion to me when I was a baby before he died.”

My father smirked. “Is that what they told you, Wolf Princess?”

“I’m not the Wolf Princess! Those are nothing but stupid rumors! The stories say Skoll’s hero is a powerful warrior with extraordinary skills on the battlefield. Does that really sound like me?”

“Not yet. We can help you, train you, teach you your powers.”

“And you’ll just do this out of the kindness of your cold, dead heart?”

Her words managed to crack a smile out of me.

My father bowed his head and sighed. “There is a price. It may seem inconceivable at first, but hopefully, in time, you’ll understand that it’s necessary.”

I slumped against a tree, knowing what was coming and predicting the following explosion.

“Sølvefalske has had the upper hand in this war for hundreds of years,” Fenrir said. “All they’ve proved is that they’re thieving tyrants who kick their enemies when they are down. Our world deserves a better future than what this kingdom can give.”

“You want me to switch alliances,” Ylvana said, catching on. “Fight for the Sutherlands.”

“It’s the best choice for everyone. Sølvefalske has neglected their power.”

“Such as?”

My father gave a pained smile. “The fact that you don’t even know what your kingdom has done to ours is proof enough.”

“Despite what they’ve done, you think I’ll just whirl around and trust you?”

“That’s the good thing about having shifting powers, isn’t it? You can always sniff out a lie.”

All color drained from Ylvana’s face. She indeed could tell that my father was truthful about all he said. Sometimes, it’s the truths that are the biggest punches to the gut.

“I can tell you’re starting to understand,” my father said, taking her silence as defeat.

Ylvana raised her head. “No. I’d rather die than betray my country.”

“Don’t speak so boldly. We will kill you if we have to.”

“But not today.”

What happened next was a frenzy of motion and feathers. Out of the trees came a barn owl, talons extended as it swooped into my father’s face, knocking him backward. At the same time, the fox chewed through the ropes, and Ylvana sprain free. I quickly lost sight of her as she shifted into wolf form and darted into the bushes. Half of my father’s warriors shifted into crows and went after her, while the others shewed away the barn owl.

Every cell in my body was jumping up and down as I tried to comprehend what just happened. YLVANA ACTUALLY FRIGGIN ESCAPED! This was great and terrible at the same time. It was a solid middle finger at my father’s face, which he undoubtedly deserved, but this victory wasn’t going to last long. When the Crows catch her again, they won’t be as nice.

“Galen!” my father bellowed, holding a hand over her bloodied face. “Call the others back.”

Confusion drew me out of my hiding spot. My father didn’t plan on letting Ylvana go, so why was he recalling his warriors instead of pursuing her?

He gave me a weak smile upon seeing me. “Quite a show, wasn’t it?”

“She had more fight than you thought,” I said, quietly hiding my awe.

“It was all just luck. Luck and loyal companions.” He wiped the blood off his cheek and grumbled: “Brought down by a damn owl.”

“Shouldn’t you be going after her?”

The corners of his eyes crinkled in a sly smile that made my gut twist. “Not me. You.”

Oh no.

“Should I start packing?” I ask in a quiet voice.

“Only bring what you can carry on your person. It’s time to put those four legs of yours to good use.”

My knees grew weaker by the second. It was bad enough knowing the poor girl’s fate, but even worse knowing I had to be the one to bring her to it.

“Why can’t I use wings?” I said, referring to the pegasi grazing in the field by the lake.

“That would give you away as one of my Warriors. She’s stubborn, but there’s still a slight chance you can get her to walk back here on her own.”

I let some air out of my lungs. “We’re not killing her?”

“Only as a last resort. If you can’t influence her, you need to stop her before she returns to the castle.”

My shoulders slumped back down. “How am I supposed to do that? She doesn’t even believe she’s the Wolf Princess?”

My father huffed, running low on patience with me. “I don’t care how! But once she takes up a sword, our mission becomes a hundred times more difficult.”

Over the hundreds of years the Sutherlands have been trying to reclaim the Runestones, we’ve only managed to find two. If Skoll’s hero decides to use her power to defend the remaining stones, the Sutherlands won’t stand a chance. As much as I disapproved of my father and his followers, I wanted my kingdom to regain its rightful power.

I rocked on my heels. “This mission requires a lot of responsibility. Perhaps it’s better to send a more experienced-”

My father shot me a glare that sent my tongue to the back of my throat.

“You will do this. You will bring that girl back here. Listen to me, boy: you have no other choice. You fail, and I will no longer be able to protect you.”

“Yes sir,” I said in a hoarse voice.

“Now get out of here. Try to be quick about it.”

I didn’t need to gather anything: I had a sword at my belt and knew how to get food and water. So I turned towards the woods and shifted into a black wolf just as a light drizzle started pouring.