The Royal Wolf and Hades' Daughter

Chapter 7 - Restless Domains

King Tristan of Swordsmith surveyed the grounds. Hands on his hips, he awaited his men to come and bring what he asked them to find. Shifters. He did not want his kingdom to suffer the same losses as Dubich, Cathrona, Leiderman, and, recently, Queenspell. The young king firmly believed that werewolves devoured princess Carolina.

It was a shame, he thought. He was planning on offering himself up as a suitor. Not only was the princess beautiful and rich, but she was also less dangerous than the older sister. Tristan had no plans on being burnt to the crisp. That was also a shame because Princess Luella was stunning.

The twenty-eight-year-old Tristan was only a second-generation prince of Swordsmith. When King Jurgen was executed and his children taken as hostages to Queenspell, the kingdom remained without a ruler for a year. Queen Soraya had thought it her duty to find Jurgen’s closest relative, someone who would be willing to set differences aside and rule in harmony with her. It was Tristan’s father, Ludwig, Jurgen’s cousin, who took on the helm.

Prince Arthur, King Jurgen’s younger son, had died the year before. He went very ill with Diptheria. He was only in his thirties. His sister, Felina, had decided to enter a convent. She could no longer take all the bad luck their family had incurred for the past few decades, all because their mother, father, and eldest brother had become too ambitious.

So, Tristan had nothing to worry about when it came to keeping his kingdom. Until lately.

The wolves sounded like they were snarling too close for comfort. He doubted that the people of Nowhere had anything to do with the recent spate of abductions. The Nowhere shifters were far too afraid to mess up their uneasy alliances with the kingdoms. The deal was that they could go to the villages, take what they needed, but stay in the forests.

“Your Majesty, here he is! We caught him creeping on the grounds!” cried one of his guards, Egbert.

“And pray tell, how did you catch a man so close to the castle when you were supposed to be scouring the forests? How did you not find any shifter from there?”

The guard faltered, lowered his eyes, and then looked back at his king. The other man was dragging a naked man. He was tall, slim but had muscular limbs.

“Well, we were walking around the perimeter and did not see anything. When we were about to go back, we saw this man. He was growling.”

“How do you know this is not just a lunatic? Cover him up, would you?” the king ordered. His men scrambled to find a cloth to wrap around the man’s loins.

“We used a silver-tipped dagger on him. He started transforming partially,” Egbert explained. He took his dagger and prodded the captive on his side. The man screamed. Any other man would have just whimpered, but the silver had a strong effect on him. He growled, and his face started turning.

Edgar pulled the dagger back, and the man started to return to normal. He was panting, sweat beading his forehead even though it was a crisp evening.

“A shifter, huh? Where are your people?” demanded King Tristan.

“I – I don’t know,” the man said, trembling all over. His body was smudged with dirt and grass stains.

“You see, shifter, I don’t believe you. Have you been abducting innocent young women?” sneered the king.

“No. I swear that we do no such thing! We don’t! The wolves that have been taking o-over the f-forest, they are not our kin!”

The king regarded the shifter and muttered, “Interesting.”

Then to his men, he said, “Take him to the dungeons.”

The man was screaming and kicking as the burly guards took him away. Tristan was unsure about what to think. The shifter seemed too lean and hungry to be devouring young ladies, but what did he know? Still, he did not believe that their captive had anything to do with the abductions – and yet, he wanted to play it safe.

***

In Cathrona, King Elfred was also starting to get unsettled by the recent migration of wolves. They seemed to be everywhere. His kingdom already had so much to be anxious about, with demons infesting his land.

When he first came to rule the abandoned kingdom, it was a wasteland. He had to rebuild so much of it. It had become his pride and joy. His biggest pride and joy, however, was his daughter, Tamara.

Tamara was twenty-three, on the way to becoming a spinster, despite being beautiful. Her hair was long, almost white, just like the air witches dominating the kingdom. She was part-witch but did not have any powers. Elfred’s dead wife was the one with the powers, which she tried to hide all her life in fear of being executed. They were not bound together, married with no special rituals made. Elfred loved Elizabeth. It was unfortunate that she died not long after the Witch Revolution swept the land. She saw a little bit of it, the welcoming of witches, their accepted rule, and the peace that followed.

At least, for a few years, Elfred saw her smile. A genuine smile without anxiety. No wonder Tamara was born a beautiful child, conceived in joy and peace.

They were not ambitious, but they were still holding out for Prince Samuel. Elfred wanted someone who could protect his daughter when he was gone. The future Shadow King seemed to be the obvious choice.

“Father, what is going on in this land? Demons have been taking infants, and wolves have been abducting little girls and young women.”

“Don’t be afraid. We will find a way.”

“You mean being allied with Queenspell and Shadowcreek? Do you think Prince Samuel will like me? I hear that he has so many women.”

“Have you seen yourself in the mirror, my dear daughter? Of course, he will fall in love with you. We need their magic. You could do so much worse. They say he is easy on the eyes.”

“Indeed. I have heard that he is very handsome. But would he be kind?”

“He is. I have met his mother and father, and I have seen him as a child. He couldn’t be that different. The women? He has not met you yet. I do not think he is betrothed to anyone.”

Tamara could only smile at her father’s confidence in her. She felt the pressure of attracting a prince who had openly said no to many possible marriage prospects. But with the howling and moaning in the winds of Cathrona, she knew that they needed help. She wished that her mothers had somehow passed a little of her magic to her. She had tried but was only able to blow a few sheaves of paper. Nothing more.

The princess heard that Samuel did not have any powers, but his title and protection could help. His mother was still the most established fire witch in the continent of Mogochislenia, and his sister seemed to be growing even stronger.

“I will try, father. However, do not be surprised if he rejects me. He does not seem easy to please.”

***

“Mother, what is it with the werewolves? Why are there so many of them in the continent?”

“Some of them are Proteans, shifters by will. The others are the People of Nowhere, my creations. The third group?” Erishkigal sighed heavily.

“The third group?”

“Could be the deadliest of them all. Demons.”

“Demons?”

“Yes, my love. They are hellhounds, taking any form they want whenever they want, but not for the sake of magic. They do it because they want to, they could, and they are hungry.”

“Mmm. Are we in danger, then, Mother? I have been running with some Proteans and the People of Nowhere.”

“You are a witch and a shifter, by will and might. You don’t have to worry about the hounds.”

“Should we do something about them?”

“Don’t you like how it is bothering them - the royals? The wolves have been rattling the domains.”

Melinoe looked at the ancient witch curiously. She had been brought up to hate royalty, but something about the whole affair bothered her. Her forest mother saw her discomfort.

“Melinoe, let the hounds do their job. They will make kings and queens kneel in fear, begging for their lives.”

“Are they your hounds?”

“No, they are not.”

The young witch watched the ancient witch with suspicion, but she also remembered the promise that Erishkigal gave her. Power and dominion. Nevertheless, she also had to do her part. She should help bring the Albrecht-Becketts down on their knees, as Erishkigal liked to put it.

How would do they do that exactly? They should destroy their peace. It was starting now, through the hellhounds that Erishkigal claimed were not hers. Then, they would make Samuel feel terrible about his existence, not a powerful warlock and not a willful Protean. They would make sure he knew that he was nothing. Break him down.

Then, they would move on to the distraught Queen Soraya and King Adrian. They would destroy even the royal firebird, Luella.

However, Melinoe’s most immediate mission was getting clearer as the days went by - to break Prince Samuel’s heart and eventually kill him. He would be offered up to the tree where they lived as a powerful sacrifice.