Chapter 30

Lillian

“You have been asking around about something you shouldn’t be, little lady. I am afraid you are going to have to come with us, or you might get hurt.”

I looked around, hoping to find something that I would be able to use, but there was nothing. I closed my eyes, focusing on the training I did with Janet and the others on the way here and everything that I learned. I opened my eyes to see the ringleader stepping towards me, reaching his arm out to grab me.

One of the things they stressed for Liza and me to learn was how to quickly immobilize an attacker - hitting an elbow hard enough to reverse the bend, or how to strike a knee to render them unable to stand on it. As he got near, I quickly side stepped, grabbing his wrist with my right hand. I then struck his outstretched arm right on the elbow joint, as hard as I could. I was rewarded with a sickening pop and a girlish scream from the man as his arm was forced into an odd angle from the blow. While he was distracted, I slammed my knee into the side of his, forcing the leg to bend and causing him to kneel. As he dropped, I brought my left hand over to my right shoulder and when his throat was at the perfect height, struck it as hard as I could with the side of my hand. I felt his throat crunch and crumble under my attack, causing his eyes to widen in fear as he became unable to breathe.

This all happened in seconds, while his compatriots looked on in shock as their leader was rendered helpless. I stepped back as he continued to struggle for air, slowly suffocating as we watched, though my eyes were glued to the other three men. I made sure that I had a wall behind me, so none of them would be able to sneak up on me, waiting to see their response to my attack.

As their leader took his last breath, they looked at one another as though an unspoken conversation passed between them. I hoped that they would decide to walk away, but I was prepared to take them all on if I had to. My answer was given to me when they all nodded and began to slowly approach me, so I had to act fast. I ran towards the lead attacker as fast as I could and, just before I was within reach, I dropped into a slide. I slid between his legs and for added measure, punched him in his testicles as hard as I could. He cried out in pain, placing his hands on his groin to protect it, as he fell to his knees. I ended my slide and jumped up, turning towards my attackers’ backs and launched my next attack. I wrapped one arm around the man’s throat and grabbed his head with the other, twisting it as hard as I could. Again, I was rewarded with a large cracking sound and the man’s body went limp. I released him and, as he fell, noticed a knife attached to the back of his belt.

I reached down quickly to take it, my eyes never leaving my last two opponents and readied myself for their attack. I held the knife in a grip which would allow me to deflect a knife attack from them, as well as allow me to cut an arm if done correctly. I never expected that I would have needed to use the lessons so soon, but I was glad that Davik had pushed us to do learn. I felt anger rise in me and I knew that I needed to keep one of them alive, the other would have this dagger in his heart. I could tell that they were unsure about continuing, as I had not been as helpless and weak as they had assumed.

“You started with four,” I stated menacingly, “now you are down to two. Do you wish to continue this and die, or would you prefer to walk away? But, if you choose to walk away, you must tell me who sent you after me!”

“Listen, lady, we were told by our boss to capture anyone who orders Wolf’s Bane. He answers to some guy named Blackheart. That’s all we know. Can we go now?”

I nodded and watched, as they carefully walked backwards out into the intersection and darted north. Once I was sure they were gone, I grabbed the scabbard for the knife I had taken and attached it to my own belt. Once that was done, I made my way to the intersection and noticed a soldier nearby. I went over and explained what had occurred and that two of the men were dead in the alley, while the other two had run off north. He looked skeptical that they were dead, no doubt assuming that a woman could not be able to overpower a man, until he saw their bodies.

“Murder is a crime in Revtan, miss,” the guard blustered. “I am going to have to arrest you. You will wait in a cell until you are able to get before the Patron and town magistrate.”

“Well, seeing as I killed them because they were trying to kidnap me, it is not murder. You are more than aware of the criminal elements that are now getting a foothold in your town, which they are a part of. More importantly, I am here with the envoy of Cartha and have been given permission by the Patron and Sebastian, to defend myself when necessary.”

I pulled out the pass I had been given, hoping that it would be enough to dissuade him from his poor attempt at asserting his marginal authority. He reminded me a lot of Jethro, which worried me, as Jethro had been manipulated by Brenson.

“You will have to come with me until I can verify your claims, once that is done, you can go on your way.”

Warning bells went off in my head, “No, I do not. I took on four men, killed two who were trying to force me to go with them and they were a lot bigger than you. You can confirm my statement, but I will be returning to the inn. Feel free to try and stop me, but you will find that will not be an easy task.”

He reached for my arm, but I slapped it away before he could grab hold. I kicked the inside of his left leg, right at the knee, as hard as I could. He screamed in pain as the shift in weight forced his knee to tear, as the weight of his body and armor pushed him downward. I walked away and made my way to the inn as fast as I could, hoping that the others would have returned from the funeral pyre by now.

I did not want to waste any time, so I dashed into the stables and showed the guards my tag for the wagons. I pulled out the key I had for the lock boxes and began quickly searching for my supply of Wolf’s Bane. After a few minutes I found what I was looking for and it was more than enough to make my potion. I locked up the wagon and made my way into the inn, finding everyone sitting in the dining hall for a late morning meal.

“Lillian, is everything okay?” Liza asked, “You look upset and a bit flustered. Did something happen while we were gone?”

“I went to the market to try and find some Wolf’s Bane, forgetting that I had some in the wagon. None of the stalls and shops sold any, save for one, but they had sold their last stock to Fractured Irons. Apparently, some unsavory elements overheard my inquiries and had been told to capture and interrogate anyone who asked for it. I tried to speed up my return to the inn by taking a smaller and less used road, but it gave them the opportunity to try and take me.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Faye exclaimed, anger apparent on her face. “What happened?”

“One tried to grab me, so I popped his elbow just like you showed me. Then I pushed my knee into the back of his leg and chopped his throat as hard as I could with my hand. That put him out of commission, and I hoped they would get the hint, but I figure they felt safe with three against one. So I charged the single man out, slid between his legs and hit him in the testicles as hard as I could. Once he was on his knees, I wasted no time breaking his neck, while the other two watched. I grabbed a knife he had on the back of his belt - which is now mine - and readied myself for their attack. I gave them the option to leave or die, but they first had to tell me who wanted to take me. Apparently, Blackheart told their boss to capture anyone who looked for Wolf’s Bane and I was just an unfortunate person who did.”

Irenia sighed and said, “Well, it is good that you were able to get out of that fight unscathed, even if you were forced to take two lives to do so.”

“Unfortunately, I am not done,” I continued. “In an attempt to do the right thing, I notified a nearby soldier of the incident. He did not believe I fought off four men. When he saw the bodies, he tried to arrest me, even when I showed the pass, claiming he had to do it. It set off warning bells in my head, as it sounded a lot like Jethro did when he was forced to do things for Brenson. When he tried to grab me, I slapped his hand away and kicked the inside of his knee as hard as I could. Once he fell to the ground, I made my way here. I told him that he could check my claim and find me at the inn when it was done.”

“You should not have had to defend your position,” Revar said, anger creeping into his voice. “Nor should you have needed to attack a guard like that. I talked to Sebastian about that; your pass allows you the freedom to access most of the city and permission to use weapons in the city. The pass should have gotten him to back off, but the captain of the guard will no doubt show up. I will deal with him myself when he gets there. You head upstairs and do whatever you need to.”

I nodded and gestured for Faye to follow me. She finished the last of her food quickly and fell into step behind me as I headed upstairs. We stopped by Davik’s room to find Kayla still sitting, watching her commanding officer sleep.

“Kayla, everyone is back, “I said softly. “Faye can take over, so go get some food. Once you have eaten, come to my room, as I am going to need your help.”

Kayla nodded and got up from her chair, “Okay, but what do you need my help to do, Lillian?”

“We have to make a potion and a salve. The potion is for Janet and should help her to wake up. The salve will be applied to all our weapons, carrying a dose of the cure on it.”

“The cure,” she muttered, a look of confusion evident on her face. “A cure for what?”

“A cure for the Voguel curse. As we mentioned before we left Cartha, Ruben and Davik’s father, Stevan, were cured by my elder mother. I had attempted to cure myself after my first change, but I erred and succeeded only in curing my need for a blood moon. I tried again after Davik had been bitten, but it was never able to get rid of it completely. Celka and I had figured out what I had missed the night Ruben attempted to kill Davik, but he was changed before we could give it to him.”

Kayla still had a confused look on her face, “So, why are we coating our weapons in this cure? I do not understand that part.”

“During our trip, we figured out a way to increase the potency of the cure without making it toxic. Now, a single cut from a coated blade is enough to get enough of the cure into their system and prevent them from turning into a Voguel.”

She nodded, hopefully she understood what it meant, though I was not sure that she would understand the potion I was making. If my guess was correct, the potion would possibly bring Janet out of her sleep, but there was no telling what would happen. I went into my room and began getting the items and equipment I needed ready, for when Kayla returned, I just hoped that it would work. If we wanted any chance of freeing Davik, we were going to need Janet - and so would I.

Davik

I slowly regained consciousness, as dull throbbing emanated from the various strike points left from his last round of blows. I had gone into a meditative trance during his last attempt to get me to talk and it seemed to only further aggravate him. Most of the damage had healed, save for the worst blows, but they would heal in the next few hours. I just hoped that everyone was able to get out okay. The last I saw was Lillian and Violet fighting, as I attempted to draw Brenson away from trying to capture Lillian.

My thoughts drifted to Violet and what she had done, the lengths she had gone to hurt those who cared for her. The fact was, despite all our history together and the love that we had shared, she had crossed a line. Nothing she had done was forced on her, - it had been her choice. She had decided to refuse to talk about the issues that were upsetting her, instead coming up with outlandish fantasies to fit her assumptions. She had drugged her family, nearly killing her brother, all so she could run away without interference. While I am not sure she went looking specifically for Brenson, she chose to not only listen to his lies and allow herself to be turned by him.

Visions of what Brenson said had occurred between them, of his wolf having sex with her, filled my mind and I fought not to throw up. I knew that he could have lied about that just to upset me further, but I could not really know for sure. All I did know was that any love I had left for her died when I watched her slit Celka’s throat.

I had loved her since we were small, first as friends, then as more on that fateful day we shared our first kiss. Everything I did was to get back to Cartha and to her and if there had not been Voguel attacking, I would have lived a contented life.

Before then, I had assumed that my father’s killer was gone and out of my reach. Even then, everything that I had done was to protect everyone I cared about, Violet especially.

I used to be filled with both love - and admittedly arousal - at the mere thought of her. Now it was feelings of loss, disgust and disappointment. But I was not the only one here that she hurt and tried to kill; Lillian had suffered nearly as much. I found myself hoping she was okay and had gotten out of the fight unscathed, worried that she could have been captured or even killed after I left. My thoughts then drifted to Janet, because, if the dose of curare was high enough, she could have stopped breathing.

It was then that I noticed a fluttering in my stomach when I thought of them and not having them in my life anymore. Realization hit me, that during the trip, I had developed feelings for Janet. I had also developed the same feelings for Lillian, but I suspected that they had begun during our time together when I was in the cave near Fardun.

The problem was, I had no idea what to do about it, as I could not seem to choose one or the other. Both were incredibly strong and passionate women, with a fierce sense of loyalty and duty. Both had shown dedication to stopping this scourge at any cost and funny enough, both started our relationship by hating me.

Both had also shown interest in me, given the unique clothing they had worn to bed when they joined me after I had fallen asleep. I needed to sit down with both and find out what they wanted of me, because I did not want to unintentionally hurt one or the other, nor did I want jealousy to ruin their growing friendship.

First, I would need to find a way out of these chains, but I had tried after Brenson had left and no matter how much strength I used, I could not break them. As I tried once again to break the chains, or tear them from the ceiling, the door behind me opened. I mentally prepared myself for another round of abuse at Brenson’s hands, but I was shocked when a young woman appeared before me, a bowl of broth in her hands.

“Here, the master wants you to eat something,” she said, holding the bowl in front of my face. “He needs you to keep your strength up, until you give him the answers he seeks.”