Werewolf Knight 5, page 13
“Thank you so much, Doctor,” I said. “I knew that you could handle this.”
“The Goddess is weakened,” he said in a grave voice, and he met my eye. “I don’t know how much longer these medicines will work. Their power is derived from the Goddess.”
All I could do was nod. It was bad enough that the army had to fight when the Goddess was so weak, but the doctor knew that he’d have a lot more to deal with in the coming days, and his own salves and balms wouldn’t be as powerful.
“We’ll find our way,” I said as the last ligaments reattached themselves to the tendons. “We have to.”
“Yes, of course,” he said. “Everyone will do their duty.”
There was a knock on the door, and it swung open before the doctor could respond. Sebastian stood there with a torch, and he cleared his throat and then looked at me.
“I guess the King’s ready,” I said.
I nodded to the doctor again, and then I followed the little squire through the winding halls to the King’s private office. I was convinced that Sebastian was leading me through yet another secret squire tunnel, but the short man in front of me wouldn’t answer my questions.
He finally stopped in front of a door and knocked, and a moment later, another squire opened the door. The two men seemed to hold a silent meeting, and then the second squire motioned me to follow him.
We walked along a narrow hallway with hard stone floors. It was cold enough that I could feel the frosty stone through my boots, and the squire’s breath looked like little smoke clouds as he huffed along.
The hallway ended at a winding staircase, and the squire bounced up the steps. Our footsteps echoed against the stairwell, so it sounded like a hundred men were climbing the steps.
I wondered if the heraldry mark I’d seen was one the squires would recognize. They certainly seemed to know everything about the castle and its inhabitants, and if the vampires had stolen the symbol from one of the families, they’d probably be able to identify who the mark belonged to.
But the King needed to be told before anyone else, so I held my tongue until we reached the top of the staircase, where I was confronted with another small squire in front of another door.
“Sir Henry, for the King,” my guide announced. “He is expected.”
The new squire nodded and pulled the door open with all of his might. It groaned like it hadn’t been used in decades, and a slight coating of dust drifted down from the doorframe.
I sneezed just as a flash of light washed over me, and as I tried to bat away some of the dust, I could see the King was still in his hybrid form even though he was sitting at his desk. Despite the noise from the door, the King didn’t look up from the manuscript he was studying, so I bounded inside and ran straight to the desk.
“Sire,” I panted as I came to a stop mere inches from the massive piece of furniture.
The King looked up at me and shut the manuscript immediately.
“Sir Henry,” he said as he stood up. “I wasn’t expecting you to return so soon.”
The King looked at the squire who was about to close the door, and the little man went pale just as he slammed the door shut. The King harrumphed and brushed down the gray hairs in his wolf beard before he turned back to me.
“Do you have news?” the King asked.
“I do,” I exhaled, and I held up my right arm. “The vampires tried their hardest to take me down, but they couldn’t. Your highness, I don’t know where to begin. I’ve seen things that I think only you can explain.”
The King met my eyes, and for a moment I only saw a man. Not a Royal, nor a werewolf, but simply a man who was afraid for his friends and his Kingdom.
And then he lifted his chin and took a deep breath. He might be afraid, but he was also ready to fight.
“Show me,” he ordered.
I pulled the chain out of my sack and set the beads on the desk. I pointed to the shield with the heraldic mark, and then waited for the King to speak.
“Sir Henry,” he murmured. “I don’t know what you’re getting at with this.”
I felt a cold rush run up my spine to the top of my ears. I thought that surely I’d cracked something, but this just seemed like old hat to the King.
“This coat of arms was imprinted everywhere around the vampire hideout,” I replied. “It was branded on their foreheads. There were shrines devoted to this very image, Sire, and I don’t recognize it.”
“That’s impossible,” he murmured, and he shook his head.
This time, it didn’t look as if he was denying anything. Instead, it looked like he was genuinely confused, and I looked around the room and tried to gather myself so that I could ask in the most respectful way what the hell was going on.
“Sire,” I murmured. “If it’s impossible, surely it’s of more interest.”
“But this is ludicrous,” he suddenly shouted, and he slammed his paw on the desk. “The house of Gregoriat went extinct three hundred years ago, at the last ablation!”
I was so shocked by his outburst that I went still. I heard the King growl, but then he collected himself. I waited as he brushed off his robes and ran a hand through his beard again, and then he looked up at me.
“But your Highness,” I said. “There is another ablation due. Don’t you think the two could be connected?”
“Anything is possible in these dark times,” he sighed.
“Tell me about this House,” I said. “I don’t recognize the name.”
“You wouldn’t,” he said. “As I mentioned, their line was killed off during the last recorded ablation.”
“How?” I asked.
“The House of Gregoriat was one of the most powerful houses of the Kingdom,” he said as he leaned on the desk. “They were unmatched in battle, and they were also quite wealthy. The family claimed they had been one of the first families chosen by the Moon Goddess.”
“Was that true?” I asked.
“Many historians believe so,” the King replied. “They were certainly powerful enough to rival my own family.”
“So how did one event wipe them out?” I asked.
“It wasn’t a single event,” he sighed. “It had been building for some time. Heirs died, family members passed away. By the time of the last ablation, there was only one son left. He was sent on a mission and was never heard from again. There were no more male heirs after that, and the few women who were still alive soon joined their line with other families.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “His last quest was in the forest of Thoth.”
“It was,” the King agreed as he picked up the wood beads. “But he wasn’t a vampire. He was one of us. A blue-blooded wolf, through and through. There’s no reason that he would’ve been involved with the vampires. The only way the vampires could have this is if they killed him.”
“But this symbol was everywhere,” I countered. “It wasn’t just some random item the vampires stole off a victim.”
“A wolf cannot be turned,” the King insisted. “It’s never happened.”
“That you know of,” I murmured.
The King looked up and gave me a hard stare. He had every reason to berate me for challenging him, but his first concern would always be the Kingdom. He looked down at the shield again and then let it fall to the desk. He understood now that there was some deeper connection between the vampires and werewolves, whether the aristocracy liked it or not.
“Tell me about this place you found,” the King sighed.
“It looked like a temple, and this mark was on everything, like it was a symbol of whoever or whatever they were worshiping,” I said. “There were two vampires there, and they kept referring to the Master, just like Wenderoth did. I think that the Master must be connected to this house, Sire, or maybe he’s simply claimed it as his own. But either way, this Master probably knows what happened to the last Gregoriat heir.”
“And you think that understanding that will help us now?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “We know that the vampires have been studying blue blood, and maybe Gregoriat was their first attempt to convert a werewolf. If that’s true, they’ve had three hundred years to figure out what to do, and we have a lot of catching up to do.”
The King was lost in thought for a moment, but he finally nodded and then pounded on his desk two times.
Suddenly, a squire emerged from a set of drawers on the right hand wall. He crawled out of the bottom drawer and tried to make it look painless, though I caught a grimace as he stepped over the edge of the drawer. The little man brushed himself off and then stood at attention.
“Sire,” he said in an unnaturally high-pitched voice. “What can I provide for you?”
“Send for the mathematician immediately,” the King replied without even looking at the squire.
The squire nodded before crawling back into the drawer. Somehow, the drawer closed again, and there was a brief scuffling sound as I assumed the squire went off to deliver the message.
“Did he just come out of a drawer?” I asked because I still wasn’t sure that was what I’d actually seen.
“What?” the King asked absentmindedly. “Oh, probably. The squires have entrances hidden everywhere.”
I shook my head and then turned back to the King. I could tell he was lost in some distant memory, and I wondered if he’d known the last Gregoriat knight.
“Sire,” I said and took a deep breath. “Is there any chance that the knight who went missing could’ve been… turned into a vampire? I mean, why else would they be worshiping the house of Gregoriat?”
I waited for the angry words to spill forth again, but there was nothing but silence. I heaved a sigh of relief that my suggestion hadn’t gotten me tossed out of the castle for good, but it also meant that as much as the King hated the idea, he had probably already wondered the same thing himself.
“It’s terrible to think,” he said. “But it’s the only thing that makes sense. There’s no other reason that the vampires would be worshiping a blue-blooded household. It’s simply unheard of. In all of recorded history when a vampire attempted to turn a wolf, the wolf died in the process.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door behind me.
“Come in,” the King boomed, and a small man wearing a bright blue tunic, blue suede leggings, and large, round glasses entered.
“Sire,” the bespectacled man said and bowed. “I was summoned to your offices.”
“When is the next ablation?” the King demanded.
The man stepped back and started to count on his fingers, like a kid in second grade math. He seemed to realize what he was doing, and he quickly tucked his hands behind his back.
“S-s-sire,” he stuttered. “This is not an exact science. If I attended to my readings, all that I could say was that it’s now due any day.”
Great. If I were back in Jersey this wouldn’t be a problem. There, NASA had the phases of the moon and the solar system down to an exact science that had been in place for years.
But the phases of the solar system in Lupercalia and in New Jersey weren’t always aligned, and I hadn’t paid enough attention to notice the differences. All I knew for sure was that sometimes there would be a full moon in Lupercalia when I left, but there would be a new moon when I arrived in New Jersey, and vice versa.
“Great,” I muttered and huffed.
“Do you have any better predictions, Sir Henry?” the mathematician sniffed. “Perhaps this is yet another great skill you have learned?”
That snarky response earned the mathematician a glare from the King, but the hybrid then looked at me as he was waiting for an answer.
“Sire,” I said, and I gave the mathematician a hard side-eye. “Where have the troops been deployed so far?”
“Moon Knights were already sent to the Western Temple of the Goddess,” the King replied. “And others have been sent to important sites across the land.”
“But there hasn’t been a direct attack yet?” I asked.
“No,” he confirmed. “There hasn’t been word of any attacks yet. But the vampires always target the temples of the Goddess first, so we’ve made sure those were protected. We have received word that a large vampire force that included other beasts was mobilizing for a battle.”
“That’s not good,” I said. “Did one of the scouts discover their army? Which direction were they heading?”
“It was from the vampires themselves,” the King replied. “They sent a note, written in blood.”
“Oh, that’s just…” I huffed and then stopped. “Wait, what do you mean other beasts?’
“Beasts that they’ve turned,” he said. “Slaves, in their image, if you will. The Moon Knights are already on their way to meet this army. It was agreed that the best chance we have of destroying these abominations is to fight them before the ablation.”
“Uh…” I said and then studied the King. “Sire…”
“Yes, it is a trap,” the King said. “We all recognize that.”
“Then why did you send the knights?”
“The vampires aren’t the only ones who can set a trap,” he replied. “You may have noticed that there were still knights gathered below.”
“I did,” I said.
“They were held back until you returned,” he said. “We agreed that the Moon Goddess was strong with you, and though she may be weakened at the moment, she would find a way to see you back to the palace in time to take command.”
“T-take command,” I stammered. “Sire, I’ve never--”
“Then that’s it,” the King said, and he slammed his hand on the table twice. “Summon the troops.”
The royal mathematician looked between both of us for a second and just shrugged.
“Sire, I only deal in numbers and--” the mathematician started to protest.
But the bottom drawer opened again, and another squired popped out.
“Your Highness,” the squire squeaked. “At your service.”
“Send a fast scout to tell the troops that have already left to halt and wait for word from Sir Henry,” he ordered the squire.
The tiny man’s eyes widened, but he nodded and crawled back into the drawer before pulling it shut behind him and scurrying away.
I gulped and tried to think of something to say. I knew that the King believed in me, but I’d never done anything like lead an entire army before.
“Sire,” I said. “I don’t know if I can…”
“Nonsense,” he said as he waved his hand. “You’ll have the likes of Grayback and Blueclaw to assist you with strategy. Now, as you said, time is of the essence. Consult the knights and be on your way. And that’s an order.”
“Of course, Sire,” I said and bowed.
I brushed past the mathematician and opened the door I’d entered through. I wasn’t sure I could find my way back on my own, but a squire appeared out of nowhere to lead me back to the courtyard.
“This is crazy,” I muttered as we walked down the stairs.
“Yes, Sir Henry,” the squire replied.
After that, I was silent until I was back in the gray daylight. As I stepped through the arch, I saw old Blueclaw, who was deep in conversation with several other knights. The King made it sound like at least some of the other knights were expecting me to lead the army, but I wasn’t sure I believed that. I had a feeling the decision was more spontaneous than the King was willing to admit, and I wasn’t at all sure how my announcement would be met.
“Hello!” I called out as I waved my arms to get everyone’s attention.
“Sir Henry,” Blueclaw murmured. He was dressed in his battle finery from head to toe, which included his bejeweled armor and a blue feather on his helmet.
“I have word from the King,” I said. “Ummm…”
The men all looked at each other as I tried to gather the courage to announce that I had been selected to lead them into battle, but I was saved by Sebastian, who raced up with Casanova in hand.
“Sir Henry,” he squeaked. “Your direwolf.”
“Thank you,” I said, and I took the leather reins in my hand.
“Hank,” Charles eventually said. “We met with the King before your return. We know he wants you to lead the army.”
My trusted mentor was wearing a full set of armor, like the rest of the knights, though his suit bore the flag of Stock, which was red and white checkered with a large silhouette of a black pig in the middle. He looked fearsome in the armor, and on any other day of the year, he would have been able to destroy the vampire clan on his own.
“The plan has been changed,” I said. “The King and I agree that this is a trap. The vampires are trying to lure us into a battle during the eclipse… I mean, ablation. They also know where our knights will be dispatched first and what roads the army will take once we leave the castle. I’m sure they’ll have traps along the way that are meant to drain us before we even reach the battlefield.”
“You’re probably right,” Blueclaw said and nodded. “Vampires have always fought dirty.”
“And it’s nearly sunset,” Grayback noted. “That would normally be to our advantage, but if the Moon Goddess cannot help us tonight…”
“Then we’d be committing suicide,” I murmured.
“But the King summoned us,” a younger knight protested.
“And we will fight,” I replied. “But we will do so when we’re ready to fight, not when the vampires want to fight.”
“Hear, hear!” Blueclaw cheered.
“We need to take control of this,” I added. “The vampires have been planning this for centuries, but that doesn’t mean we have to let them run the show.”
There were murmurs from the gathered knights, and some of the younger knights looked angry at the decision. But the older knights who had survived hard-fought battles before nodded in agreement.
“Then we will ride at dawn,” Blueclaw decided. “It’s the only safe way. If we go in the dark without the power of the Moon Goddess, we will lose this war before we ever set foot on the battlefield.”
