CHAPTER 13

“Hello once again,” Sir Thomas said. He was alone, the rest of the squad he’d been with at the city’s entrance wasn’t with him. He had either just gotten off duty, was heading toward his post, or perhaps just curious. Lola didn’t like that he was coming toward them and Russel liked the fact even less. This man made him nervous and he didn’t like things that made him nervous. His father would have killed the man. Hell, even his brothers would have killed him. In his kingdom, that’s how threats were dealt with. Russel, however, had never been that kind of person. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill if the need arose but preferred to find more civil ways to avoid that. Sir Thomas, however, was quickly making the civil option less and less likely. How was it that he came to be there at the park, at the same time he and Lola were? That didn’t feel like a coincidence. Something else might be at play and the fact that he was stuck in the middle of a human city in human territory kept him on edge. He tried his best to play that off when he was with Lola but the longer they stayed in Wrexon, the more uneasy he became. “Can we help you?” Russel asked. “I just happened to be around,” he answered. “I noticed you two from the street doing a little bit of sparring. It piqued my interest.” “Did it now? In what way?” Lola asked, her voice guarded. Wary. He gestured around the park. “Do you see a lot of people up this early in the morning practicing fighting?” he asked with what he probably thought was a charming smile. To Lola, it was more obnoxious than anything else. “I thought it would be prudent to teach my wife some hand-to-hand moves,” Russel explained. “With all the whispers and rumors of potential war, it’s what is best.” He reached out and pulled Lola into him in a side embrace. “I’m not sure why my urge to protect her in whatever fashion I find suitable would be questionable.” “With all due respect, Mr…” He paused, waiting for Russel. “I do apologize. I seem to either have forgotten your names or you never gave them.” Russel and Lola did not, in fact, give him their names. He never asked and they didn’t feel it necessary to give that information out freely. Now that he was asking, there didn’t seem a way around it. “Tara and Wesley Brownan,” Russel supplied easily. “I believe when we last met, there was a bit of a line. We didn’t want to hold things up.” “It is not usually quite so busy at the entrance to Wrexon. I’m sure you both have heard rumors of werewolves moving throughout Alcroft.” His suspicious eyes darted to Russel for a split second before looking to Lola. “People are getting scared out in the lowlands. They’ve been coming here in droves.” “Understandably,” Russel said. Then he paused, waiting to see if Sir Thomas said anything else but he didn’t. “Well, if that will be all, we’d best be going. We’ve got a big day ahead.” “I see,” he replied. “I apologize then for detaining you both here. Please forgive my rudeness. You are free to go.” Russel didn’t like the way he used words like “detain” and "free to go,” as if the knight had arrested and released them instead of having a simple conversation. The implication was quite clear and Russel didn’t miss it. Neither did Lola. “Thank you,” Lola said, her voice abrupt. “We appreciate you letting us go free, sir.” She kept her tone carefully devoid of any irritation or annoyance. She even tried to sound pleasant so he wouldn’t have an excuse to keep bothering them. “Well, good day to you both,” he said. Then he turned and walked away, leaving the two of them alone. Once he was gone, Russel let the fake smile drop off his face. He grabbed Lola’s hand and hurried her back to the inn where they were staying. She didn’t try to fight him. The same sense of urgency to get the hell out of Wrexon was hitting her too. As they walked back, she overheard so many conversations. Almost every last one of them said the same terrifying thing. King Harrison planned to go to war. It was hard to piece everything together, though. As they hurried back to the inn, she only got bits and pieces. What she did manage to gather kept pointing to the king marshaling his forces and preparing. The treaty between Oclan and Harvenk had been broken. Humans had been killed. A village wiped out. If the king let that kind of thing stand, those lives lost would never get the justice they deserved. Not to mention, all of his political rivals would decry him as weak and his position would be threatened. That couldn’t happen either. Lola heard all this and became very aware that the situation could potentially devolve into a devastating, worldwide problem. All-out war with the two werewolf kingdoms would mean death on a scale that hadn’t been seen since the first Werewolf Wars. She wanted Drake and all of Harvenk to pay but she couldn't allow the entire world to go to war to satiate her need for vengeance. She decided to do something. As the sole surviving citizen of Gloucester, she could provide a witness statement that might help at least point King Harrison in the right direction. It might stop an all-out war and with any luck, maybe it would leave Oclan completely out of the fight. It might be a fool’s dream but she couldn’t sit back and do nothing. She had to at least try. The worst thing that could happen is that the letter would be ignored and the coming war was as bad as she feared. “You okay?” Russel asked when he noticed that she hadn’t said anything in a while. “Did the knight scare you?” There was a bitter tone to his voice when he asked that. “No,” she replied as they weaved in out of the growing number of people on the streets. There were a lot more than there had been just yesterday. “Just thinking about…things.” She didn’t tell him about wanting to write down her statement. Even though she didn’t come out and ask, she was positive he would tell her no. That writing down everything she saw and had been through would be a terrible idea. And it might be. She was aware of that. At the same time, she knew she would still go through with it. Better to not say anything at all and hope her decision didn’t haunt her sometime in the future. “All right,” he said, concerned. Something was definitely bugging her but there wasn’t much he could do to help if she wasn’t willing to let him in. “We’re here. Let’s head up to the room and start packing up all the supplies we got. On the way out, we can get some provisions of food and water. Then we’ll put Wrexon behind us.” “Ok. That sounds good to me,” she said. “Why don’t you settle things with the owner while I head up and get started? That way will be more efficient and we can leave sooner.” “Yes. Great idea,” he said. “Go on ahead on up.” He looked around but didn’t spot the inn’s owner. “This might take me a minute. I don’t see the owner around.” “Okay,” she leaned in and gave him a kiss on his bearded cheek. “Don’t be too long.” Internally, she actually hoped for the opposite. She needed a bit of time and didn’t want to gain it by drawing attention to her true motives. The owner not being in sight had been a minor godsend. She left Russel and then headed up the central staircase. She took them up to their private suite and unlocked the door. She went inside and immediately went to the fresh notepad left on a desk as a complimentary addition to the room. There was an irritating few seconds when she couldn’t find anything to write with and then relief flooded her when she found an inkwell and quill. She dipped its pointed end into the ink and then started writing as quickly as she could. She addressed the letter directly to King Harrison by way of Sir Thomas. She figured the knight would be the best person to relay the information. In the letter, she detailed everything that had happened at Gloucester, the fact that she was the sole survivor and that her life had been saved by a werewolf from the Oclan kingdom. She finished it up by making sure to tell him who had really killed everyone in her village. Drake Wittam. A royal of the Harvenk Kingdom. She signed her name to it, not bothering to read what she wrote. She didn’t have time. Russel would be coming up soon and she needed to at least have some things packed away so she didn’t draw his suspicion. There was some wax and a seal bearing the inn’s logo. She folded up the letter, put it in an envelope the inn also provided, and sealed it. On the front, she made sure to address the letter to King Harrison by way of Sir Thomas again. I hope this works, she thought to herself, not confident that it would but hoping anyway. She hid the letter in the cloak she planned to wear and then rushed around the room to pack things up as best she could. When everything was said and done, she had almost everything finished. A few minutes later, Russel came back in. He looked at her, saw how empty their room was, and nodded with approval. “Ready?” he asked. She stuffed the last balled-up pair of socks into her pack, closed and latched it, and threw it on. Then she picked up his and threw it clumsily at him. It was much heavier than her own. He caught it with ease, despite the weight, and slung it over his shoulders. “Yes,” she answered. “Oclan, here we come.” She started walking toward him, the letter hidden away in one of the interior pockets of her cloak.