12. War Queen’s Ascent
I watched impassively as the final seals on the border fell into place. Vegetation began to rise and flow up into sinuous, eerie hedge fences, growing to top over 20 feet tall. Thorns, thick, sharp and sword-like, glistening with venomous sap, sprouted, facing outward toward the lands held by the Human High Council.
Anyone with obvious ill intent that touched the fence would die within minutes. Humans who just wanted refuge and asylum would fall sick, but would not die. They would be paralyzed in place, long enough for our agents to assess. The poison contained in the sap on the hedges acted as the final judge of character. Some would be allowed to cross. Others would not. We would not have any “immigrants” who harbored leanings toward the teachings of the Human High Council.
Already, there were outcries of discrimination and bias due to our current screening methods. The decision to close the borders completely hadn’t come lightly or easily. It was only after a group sympathetic to the Human High Council’s stance on magic regulation had attempted to assassinate my eldest daughter that the joint species council had made this terrible ruling.
Angelique’s response to the assassination attempt had been disquieting, to say the least. It had been made at a time when myself and Devin had been out. We’d felt safe going out for a cup of coffee for a quiet moment together. The first in the year since the twins had been born.
The assassins had expected an untrained 14 year old. They’d been met with a nearly fully trained battle mage.
Angelique’s first thought had been the twins. She’d taken two serious wounds when she’d spelled their playpen into a gate to Dragon’s Keep and literally turned her back on her attackers in order to toss the babies into it. Tremayne and Quineld had nearly had heart-attacks when the twins had literally landed in their laps.
Alexandria had been screeching in rage and desperately trying to break Esme’s binding. Dougal hadn’t even cried, but had projected his last sight of Angelique so strongly into Quineld’s mind, she’d been unable to move for a full minute.
With the twins out of the way, my eldest cub had transformed into the battle mage that Larl had warned me she might. I hadn’t taught her the more advanced offensive magics, but she had seemed to almost instinctively know. With her own blood, she’d sent out a call to arms so compelling, even rock wolves had answered. And Rock wolves were supposed to be dark beings.
By the time Ian, Talon, Larl, and I had gotten back to my home, it had been over. Angelique had been literally bathed in blood, her clothing in alarming shreds, holding a flaming sword in one hand, a shield of black ice in the other, the Rock Wolves fanned out behind and in front of her, and the 20 ripped apart bodies of the assassins strewn all over the place. Larl had remarked that her eyes were blood red flames and her face so ferally insane, she’d feared Angelique was permanently mad.
My own familiars were going from body to body, followed by a large male wolf that occasionally paused to sink his teeth through the back of the neck of a body here and there. I had belatedly realized they were killing any survivors.
Angelique had merely ignored them for a moment, snarling out a series of yipping growls. Four of the Rock wolves had melted away at a fast lope. The remaining nine rock wolves had immediately closed in around her, seeming to support her. The largest one, a female, had gently closed her teeth around Angelique’s sword arm. Angelique had seemed to visibly come back to herself then. The sword and shield had seemed to melt back into her, eyes returned to normal and she’d taken deep shuddering breaths.
I had taken a step forward, only to be met with the sudden snarls of the Rock Wolf Pack. I’d halted, not quite ready to hurt them. Instead, I’d gone to one knee and held out my hand the way I would have to a strange dog.
“I am her mother.” I said gently. “Come, my scent is her scent.”
A yipping growl from the large female and one of the smaller wolves from the rear of the pack slunk forward. I made no move as he sniffed and then licked my hand. A low whine and a tail wag and he retreated. The large female seemed to measure me in her mind, then ducked her head. I rose and stepped forward carefully.
“Angel?” I had made my voice as gentle and soothing as possible.
“Mommy?” She had focused on my face, eyes a bit wild. “Mommy!”
She’d thrown herself into my arms so hard, we’d both tumbled to the ground. I held her, trying to understand the flow of babble between her sobs. The Rock Wolves had closed around us, the large female licking Angel’s cheek, then mine. The sound of purring, so loud and resonant, my teeth had rattled, had begun to ring in my ears. I had vaguely ‘heard’ snatches of a harsh, rumbling voice echoing *Cub*, *Ours*, *Protect* and *Never again*.
I was vaguely aware of a gate activating nearby, the angry trumpeting of dragons, unicorns and the march of armored feet through my garden. I had merely leaned against the female and the other wolves that seemed to suddenly be at my back, and held my daughter as she wept while trying to gauge the seriousness of the wounds I had found on her back and legs. Rough tongues had hampered me, and when I had started to object, that same harsh, rumbling voice had echoed with assurances that their ministrations would staunch any bleeding and speed healing.
It had been some time before I could get her up to her feet and into the bath tub to get her cleaned up and make a true assessment of her injuries. The rock wolves had gone where we went, and once in the bath room, the large female had been the only one that fit. I didn’t object when she literally climbed into the shower with us. She had braced herself against Angel’s opposite side while I stood us under the water and cleaned her. I’d pulled two silver bullets out of my daughter’s body, feeling my rage growing, echoed by the rock wolves.
Once she was clean and her wounds tended to, I’d dosed her with a powerful pain killer and sedative and tucked her into bed. It had been disconcerting to see several wolves arrange themselves around her. It had been even more disconcerting to see Bear and Nia greet the large female Rock Wolf with respectful enthusiasm and affection as she followed me into the kitchen. The big male wolf was already there, a long suffering expression on his face as Precious and Silky groomed his fur.
My husband had wordlessly handed me a glass and I had downed the fiery alcohol in one gulp.
“There are four more in the nursery with the twins.” He’d remarked calmly, his eyes flicking to the wolves. “I think they are the pack leaders.”
“You think?” Tremayne had snorted.
A high pitched, yipping laugh had erupted from the large female. I’d heard that rumbling voice echo with *like that one*. I’d immediately gone down to one knee again and focused my gaze on her.
“I can sort of hear you.” I said. “I need to be able to communicate with you. How do we do this?”
The female gazed at me for a long moment, her feral yellow eyes seeming to glow. Without warning, she lunged, her teeth at my throat. I heard shouts of alarm and the scrabble of claws as I was shaken like a rag doll. I brought my hands up and grabbed her ears, yanking hard. She yelped in pain and let me go for only a moment. Then her full weight pinned me again.
*Submit!* Reverberated in my head. *Can only talk to pack!*
With sudden understanding, I went limp. She gave me another hard shake, then I felt her
tongue rasp against the skin of my throat.
*Good. Pack, but not pack. Can hear now.*
I sat up carefully as she backed off. I saw that the large male and my familiars had the humans in the room at bay. Strangely, Larl was the only one who seemed calm.
“Well, that was fun.” I remarked.
“I’m getting too old for these sort of surprises.” Tremayne snarked at me as he eyed Nia and Bear warily.
“Rock Wolves are dark!” Quineld all but spat, trying to yank her wrists out of her husband’s grip.
I snorted as I gingerly ran my fingers over the teeth marks on my neck.
“No more than I am.” I stated and shrugged. “No more than the Faye are.”
*Smart mother of new Queen. Isis not evil. Merith not evil. Cub call. We answer. Cub protect pack siblings. Cub great warrior. We bond.*
I had snickered then. Braced by the Rock Wolf Queen, I had clambered to my feet and begun ransacking the cabinet, looking for the bottle. Devin had taken pity on me then and produced it. I had taken a deep gulp off it, then burst out into hysterical giggles. Both Rock Wolves had eyed me with faint disgust and then rolled their eyes.
*Going to protect cub and pack siblings. Inform when Graine returns with heads.*
I waved my hand and giggled harder. It took me a few minutes before I could safely speak. Larl was the only one who wasn’t surprised my daughter had bonded to a full, healthy Rock Wolf pack during the heat of battle. She was even less surprised at the innuendo that Angel was now their acknowledged Queen. Quineld was understandably unhappy with the whole situation. Tremayne was pensive. I knew he was thinking back on his own decision to teach me dark magics.
“She gated the twins.” Devin had suddenly remarked, causing the entire room to be silent.
“Yep.” I’d nodded. “She did at that.”
“No one taught her how to build a gate.”
“Necessity is an excellent teacher.”
“She used her own blood.”
“Yep.”
“Is there a point to this?” Tremayne broke in drily. “Or are you two being deliberately obtuse in order to set my teeth on edge?”
“She,” Devin began, pointing to me. “Used her own blood to build a gate that deposited her on Sidhe lands.”
“Yes, and that went well, didn’t it?” I smiled tightly at him.
“Not precisely.”
“We step up her training, then. Right after I kill whoever sent those twits after her.” Larl shrugged and took a sip out of my bottle.
“I think that’s where the four wolves that took off went to do.” I snatched my bottle back. “Isis said we’re to let her know when Graine comes back with the heads.”
“Isis?”
“Big female. Merith is the male. The biting thing was to make me pack, but not pack, so I could hear them.”
“That’s handy.”
“Yep.”
“You’re insane!” Quineld nearly wailed. “Rock wolves!”
“Not dark, Quineld.” I sighed. “More like…gray. Like Angelique.”
“What!?”
“Think about it. She survived an attack by 20 trained assassins. After creating a gate. After taking those wounds. No normal healer would be able to do that.”
“Battle mage.” Larl nodded. “I did warn you.”
“Yep.” I nodded and gave her a turn at the bottle. “Battle, no, war mage. Very strong war mage. Strong enough to bond to a full pack of rock wolves. Strong enough to become their unquestioned queen without even a hint of a challenge.”
“Shouldn’t we be hyperventilating now?” Devin asked quietly as he sank into a chair. He watched Larl pass the bottle to Quineld, who took several long gulps and passed it back to me. “Or is there something else you’re not saying?”
“Boy, the last war mage was a man by the name of Dante.” Tremayne sighed heavily and produced a bottle of Jagermeister from somewhere. “He supposedly created the Seven Levels of Hell to stop the advance of the Faye after the fall of Manhattan.”
“Dante was a very twisted, sick individual. The Morgan of that time sacrificed herself to seal him deep within the earth’s core.” Larl nodded. “He was slaughtering humans as well as non-humans indiscriminately. He never bonded with any familiars.”
“I have a theory about that.” I’d mused, peeling the label off the bottle in my hands. “The more power, the more it needs to be grounded. Familiars keep us grounded. Without them, the power would turn on us and drive us insane. The more familiars, the stronger the mage. Ever notice how Angel just seems to collect alliances the way some people collect familiars?”
“You’re learning.” Tremayne snorted sarcastically, then paused, a bottle of his own half way to his lips. He stared at me, his eyes going wide. With trembling hands, he carefully set the bottle down on the table. “I hate you.”
“Yep. Right back atcha, Bro.” I nodded complacently.
The four Rock Wolves had returned several hours later, each carrying a head. The one called Graine had dropped hers at my feet. I wasn’t surprised to see it was the head of Dickerson Channers. I stared at it for a moment, then gazed at Graine.
“Are any of you hurt?” I asked softly. “We have warm water and salves ready.”
Graine blinked at me in surprise, then ducked her head.
*Prince Farad cut. Rest just tired and hungry.* She sent, then turned her head and growled at one of the males following her. He limped over to me and submitted to my careful inspection of his wound.
Once it was cleaned and salve spread on it, Devin put down bowls of fresh water and meat for them. We’d procured enough fresh meat for the entire pack, courtesy of the dragons.
The planning session afterward had led us to our current point.
My gaze flicked to my daughter. She looked older than 14. She was absently stroking Isis while the rest of the wolves paced or lolled about. Dar, the small, submissive male I’d first been scented by, lay between Alex and Dougal, alternately nosing each one, keeping their attention on their game with a small, bright ball. He’d taken on the role of their nanny, it seemed, and he never let them out of his sight.
“Do you think it will stop them?” I asked as I walked up to Angel’s side.
“Not really.” She shrugged. Her eyes were hard and terrible as she returned my gaze. The fingers of her left hand curled over the Amber of her walking staff. She walked with a limp now, courtesy of her wound. “But I’ve leveled the playing field.”
“Oh?”
“They meant to use the same type of weapons on us that they used on the Southern Faye. I’ve made sure they won’t be able to.”
A chill went down my spine.
“Angel, Baby, what did you do?” I asked gently.
She smiled a soft, terrible smile and closed her eyes. A faint, almost imperceptible tremor vibrated under my feet. The wolves all came to their feet. Three joined Dar and surrounded the twins. Isis and Merith began that high, cackling laughter that skittered across my nerves. Angel’s eyes opened, twin flames of red. I followed her gaze.
In the distant horizon, there was a faint flash, followed by several more. At the first mushroom cloud, I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Angelique?” I intoned softly.
“Yes?”
“Was that necessary?”
“Unfortunately, yes. The fall-out won’t touch us and I altered the weapons so it won’t cause the same damage to the lands. The borders are sealed against it.”
“And the human lands?”
“Necessary collateral damage. None of our magics can combat their nuclear weapons.”
“They’ll build more.”
“I took the knowledge of how away.”
I tried not to let my shock show. Tried and failed. She smiled ruefully at me and blinked, her eyes returning to normal.
“It had to be done, Mommy.” Her voice sounded so lost. I sighed heavily and pulled her into my embrace.
“You did great, Baby.” I said and meant it. “I am so proud of you.”
A muffled sob was my only reply. I held her while she cried. Isis and Merith leaned against us, and we were surrounded by the rest of the pack.
*Queen does what Queen must to protect pack and pack lands. Queen cannot afford weakness in War. We keep balanced. Keep sane. Others will come to help Queen, too.* I knew the rumbling voice was for me alone.
*I’ll hold you to that promise, Isis.* I sent back to her.
*Mothers do what mothers must to protect Queen. Make us Sisters, we two. We guard Our Queen together.*
I smiled at that. It wasn’t a nice smile.
