Wolves of War

No Bloodshed

“It is my goal to take the city without bloodshed quickly and quietly. We have to remove Vole as a foothold for the Ursa, but I don’t want the citizens suffering anymore than they need to. We have two objectives now that we have successfully infiltrated Vole. The first objective is to take over Vole with little to no lives lost. The second objective is to locate the Wishing Well and destroy it.”

Asai stood at the front of the room, he spoke calmly and confidently about his goals and plans.

“Destroy the Wishing Well?” I asked, shocked.

Asai nods his head, “a magical item powerful enough to break a taboo and grant any wish is too dangerous to exist in this world. If in the wrong hands, it can destroy nations overnight.”

“Why would The Kodiac leave Vole? I doubt he would allow any one near the shrine…what if the shrine was destroyed during the take over?” Keylan speculated.

“The Wishing Well is here” I confirmed. “I can feel the influence of its magic the moment we stepped on Vole Lands. It’s absorbing a lot of energy, and from what I can tell, the source is nearing the end of the recharge period.”

“Can you track it down?” Asai asked me.

“I could in theory just follow the flow of energy,” I said,

Asai nods his head. “Let’s first take the city from under the Kodiac, then we can look for wishing Well.”

“In order to take the city without bloodshed, we must first get both the city and deployment plans. We need the city plans to get a better idea of our surroundings and we need the deployment plans so that we know where the soldiers in the city are stationed. With these things in hand, we can work on a plan to bring the city under Prince Asai's command,” Keylyn said.

“Where would these plans be?” I asked.

“The Kings study will probably have the deployment plan. But the city's plans may be at city hall” Keylyn answered.

“We are going to have to split up” Asai said, “Keylyn, you can go to city hall. Seeing you there won’t be cause for suspicion.”

Keylyn nods his head in agreement.

“I’ll get the deployment plans” Asai said.

“No” Keylyn interjected.

Asai looked over at Keylyn curiously.

“It’s best to leave that part to Talia and her aid,” Keylyn said nervously.

“What about me?” Sanna asked.

“Stay in the room with the prince” Keylyn said.

Asai looked at Keylyn puzzled.

“It’s best if you stay here in the rooms with Sanna and…” Keylyn looked over his shoulders at me cautiously.

I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. My hip rested its weight on the right side of my body and my arms folded over my chest. I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for Keylyn to finish his sentence. The heaviness in my heart is an indicator that I will not like the words that are about to come out of Keylyn's mouth.

“Do what princes do with their consorts” Keylyn hurriedly finished.

“And what exactly is that!” I snapped at Keylyn.

“Oh don’t be daft” Sanna said. She threw herself at Asai and began rubbing her chest on him.

Asai opened his mouth to say something but Sanna took that opportunity to pull him down and plant a wet kiss on his lips. The kiss lasted a lot longer than I would have liked. It shouldn’t have happened at all. I turned around and began speed walking towards the door.

“Wait!” Asai reached me before I could exit the room. He grabbed me and spun me around to face him.

“Let go! Don’t touch me!” I yelled at him, snatching my hand back.

Asai looked hurt and shocked at my outburst, but I didn't care. It felt like I was about to suffocate if I stayed in the room any longer. Besides, what did Asai expect me to do? Sit in the same room as Sanna? Abhor is not a strong enough word to describe how much Sanna and I dislike each other. We would be at each others throats so fast it would make Asai's head spin.

“Galga! Thea! let’s go.” I said, increasing my pace.

Asai called out to me again but I ignored him. From the corner of my eye I could see the two-faced she wolf smile triumphantly. Asai's eyes darkened as he watched me walk away. In his eyes I could see that he wanted to chase after me, to hunt me and take me back to the room. Fortunately for me, Asai wouldn't be able to do that. It will cause too big of a scene.

I swung the doors to our rooms open violently and stomped down the hall muttering profanities. Sanna is useless anyway, she wouldn't be able to take part in the plan even if we gave her the easiest job. It would be best if Sanna just stayed in the room with Asai as her body guard. Sanna has a very high sense of entitlement. She'll sabotage the plan just to get her way. But even though I know it, it still hurts.

“My lady! Watch where you are going!”

I raised my angry gaze from off the floor, stopping just short of running into the Mustella King.

“What’s wrong?” The king asked “what has distressed you?”

I pinched my lips shut, angry at myself for being careless. Everything is just pretend! Why am I so angry? No, it is not pretend. Sanna is Asai’s consort. She will be with him in the end, and I most likely will not.

“This look of sadness and worry should never be on the face of a beautiful woman like yourself” the King said.

“What is troubling you? I thought that after a long and tiring journey you would want to rest in the rooms. Are they not to your liking?”

“The rooms are wonderful. Thank you for your hospitality” I said.

“It’s just being the consort of a wolf prince has its downfalls” I admitted.

“I see.” The king's expression softened. “Rodent kind take only one partner for life. It’s our belief that to grow old, to learn, unlearn, relearn, everything there is about your life partner is the greatest journey of our lives.”

I smiled, sounded nice. But Asai would never only belong to me. He has a duty to his kingdom as the prince, taking in many consorts to help foster good relationships with other kingdoms and with the nobles of the empire.

Vole is a small nation because of their belief in only having one partner. They survived this long because of the mysterious power that resides in their shrine. If it wasn’t for that fact, Vole probably would have been absorbed by a larger, more powerful country a long time ago.