Chapter 26 Elara

Chapter 26 Elara
Zemirah

Elara came back three days later with a contract.

She sat across from me in the study, same as before, but this time she had papers. Pages of them, single-spaced, front and back, covered in the kind of legal language that made my eyes glaze over.

"Read it," she said.

"I will, when I'm less busy."

"No! I know you won't, you'll skim it and ask me what it says, that's pretty much what everyone has been doing."

I looked at the first page, there was something about trade routes, tarrifs and dispute resolution, the words blurred together in my eyes.

"Fine," I said. "What does it say?"

Elara smiled. The scar through her eyebrow pulled tight. "It says we must help each other without getting in each other's way, with that being said your merchants can cross my land and mine can cross yours, if someone attacks either of us, the other provides support, like troops, supplies, whatever's needed."

"What if someone attacks both of us?"

"Easy! we fight together or die separately, the choice is theirs to make ."

I set the papers down. "Why do you need this? Your pack has survived without me for years."

"Because things are changing. Detlef's pack is unstable while Xavier is still out there, the packs in the north are getting bold, I know I can handle one enemy at a time but I can't handle three."

"So you want me to be your backup."

"I want you to be my ally. There's a difference."

I thought about it.

"If I sign this, my pack also becomes a target."

"Your pack is already a target. You just don't know it yet."

I picked up a pen.

"I'm going to add something," I said. "A clause. If your pack breaks this agreement, you owe me territory, not much, just the strip along the eastern river, that's already enough to make it hurt if you betray me."

Elara's smile disappeared. "You've been learning."

"I've been paying attention."

She took the contract, read through it, crossed out a line, wrote something in the margin and handed it back.

"The eastern river is mine. But I'll give you the forest on the other side, besides no one lives there anyway."

I read her addition, the handwriting was small, sharp, each letter precise.

"Fine."

We both signed.

We shook hands, her grip was hard, her palm calloused.

"Welcome to the neighborhood," she said.

\---

After Elara left, Julian came into the study. He picked up the contract, flipped through it, and read the parts Elara had changed.

"The forest on the other side of the river," he said. "That's not worth anything, it has roads, towns or resources."

"It's worth something to me."

"What?"

"It's land between her pack and mine. If she ever breaks this agreement, I'll have a place to put my soldiers where she can't see them."

Julian looked at me. "You're planning for her to betray you."

"I'm planning for everyone to betray me. That way I'm not surprised when it happens."

He put the contract down. "Your father never thought like that."

"Your father is dead."

The words came out sharper than I meant. Julian didn't flinch. He'd been around me long enough to know when I was being cruel on purpose.

"I'll file this with the council records," he said. "Keep it somewhere safe."

He left.

I sat behind the desk and stared at the wall. My shoulder was hurting again. The wound had healed, but the scar pulled when I moved certain ways. Hattie said that would fade with time.

My phone buzzed.

Fernandez: How did it go?

Me: I signed.

Fernandez: Good move or bad move?

Me: Ask me in a year.

He sent back a thumbs up. He was giving me space. I hated it and I loved it at the same time.

\---

The next morning, I woke up to shouting.

I pulled on my clothes and ran to the courtyard. Julian was there, yelling at a group of guards. Their faces were flushed, their hands on their weapons.

"What happened?"

Julian turned to me. "The patrols found tracks of wolves, about twenty of them. They crossed the border last night, and they were headed north."

"North? That's just forest, there's nothing up there."

"They weren't going to the forest. They were going around it, toward the river."

It clicked, The river! the eastern river, that's where Elara's territory started.

"Get the patrol back out there. I want to know whose tracks those are and where they came from and also send a message to Elara,"Tell her we might have company."

Julian nodded. He started giving orders.

I went back inside to find my boots.

\---

The tracks led to the river and stopped.

I stood on the bank with Julian and two guards, looking at the mud, the footprints, the places where the wolves had crossed. The water was high, fast from recent rain. On the other side, Elara's territory stretched out, dark with trees.

"They crossed here," Julian said. "Maybe an hour before dawn."

"Can you tell whose pack?"

"There are no markings or scents we could track, so they knew what they were doing."

I looked at the water and the trees on the other side.

"Go back to the castle," I said. "Double the guards. I'm going across."

"Alone? Zemirah—"

"I'm not taking anyone into her territory without her permission. That's how wars start."

Julian wanted to argue. I could see it in his face. But he'd learned not to push me when I'd made up my mind.

"Be careful."

I waded into the river.

The water was cold, up to my waist, pulling at my legs. I kept my balance, felt the rocks shift under my boots, pushed through to the other side.

The tracks were clearer here. More of them. Twenty wolves, like Julian said. Maybe more. They'd spread out after crossing, fanning into the trees like they were looking for something.

I followed the main trail.

The forest was quiet, no birds, no small animals rustling in the underbrush. The wolves had scared everything off.

I walked for about twenty minutes before I found the first body.

A man, mid-thirties, dark hair, dressed in leather and wool. His throat was cut. His eyes were open. He was still warm.

I knelt beside him, he had no pack markings, nor means of identification.

I heard movement behind me.

I stood and turned.

A woman stepped out from behind a tree. Tall, red hair, a scar on her cheek that looked fresh. She had a knife in her hand, blood on her sleeve.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said.

"Neither are you."

She smiled. It wasn't friendly. "I'm here because my Alpha sent me. Same as you."

"Who's your Alpha?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

She lunged.

I stepped back. The knife missed my chest by an inch. I grabbed her wrist, twisted, pulled. She stumbled, lost her balance, and fell against a tree. The knife dropped.

I picked it up.

"Last chance," I said. "Who sent you?"

She spat at my feet.

I hit her.

"Who sent you?"

"You're going to kill me anyway."

"No. I'm going to take you back to my pack, put you in a cell, and ask you every day until you answer. Killing you would be a gift. I don't give gifts."

She looked at me, like she was trying to figure out if I meant it.

"Xavier," she said. "Xavier sent us."

Xavier? I really thought he was dead.

"Where is he?"

"Don't know. He gives orders through messengers. We haven't seen him in months."

"How many of you are there?"

"We are many."

I picked up the knife and wiped it on her sleeve.

"Get up."

She stood. I walked her back to the river, through the water, across to my side. Julian was waiting. His face went dark when he saw her.

"Found one," I said. "Put her in the holding cell. And get word to Elara. Xavier's people are moving through her territory."

\---

Fernandez called that night.

"Xavier?"

"That's what she said, he gives orders through messengers and no one's seen him in months."

"He's building an army of networks with people who owe him favors."

"Or he's hiding. Sending other people to do his work while he stays in the shadows."

"You believe her? The woman you caught?"

"I believe she's scared, people tell the truth if you ask the right questions."

Fernandez was quiet for a moment. "I'm coming back."

"You don't have to."

"I know."

He hung up.

I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at the wall.

\---

Elara showed up at noon the next day.

"You have Xavier's people in my territory," she said.

"I have one of them in my holding cell, The rest are yours."

"They killed two of my wolves on my own land."

"I know."

She walked to the window, looked out at the courtyard.

"I'm going to find them," she said. "Every single one. And when I do, I'm going to ask them where Xavier is. And then I'm going to kill them."

"That's your right."

She turned to face me. "You don't care? About what happens to them?"

"I care about finding Xavier. What you do after that is your business."

Elara stared at me for a long moment. Then she nodded.

"Your father wouldn't have said that."

"My father is dead."

"So you keep saying."

She left. I watched her ride through the gate, her horse moving fast, her back straight.

\---

The woman in the holding cell was named Rina.

I visited her every day, i sat in the chair across from her and repeatedly asked the same questions.

Where is Xavier?
How many men does he have?
What is he planning?

She gave me nothing, she just stared at the wall, her arms crossed, her mouth shut.

On the third day, I brought her food. Bread, cheese, a cup of water. She looked at it like she expected me to poison it.

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already."

She picked up the bread and took a bite.

"He's in the mountains," she said. "North of here. Past the old pass."

"How many men?"

"Forty. Maybe fifty. He's been recruiting, Rogues. Exiles, Wolves who lost their packs."

"What's he planning?"

She chewed and Swallowed.

"He's planning to take what Detlef took from him. The pack."

"Detlef is still alive."

"For now."

I stood up and walked to the door.

"Wait."

I turned.

"You're not like the others," she said. "The other Alphas. You don't talk or move like them."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's not." She set the bread down. "It means you don't know what you're doing. And that's going to get people killed."

I walked out.

\---

Fernandez arrived the next morning.

I met him at the gate. He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, his hair longer than usual. He was carrying a bag.

"You came back."

"I said I would."

I wanted to hug him but I didn't.

"The woman in the cell talked," I said. "Xavier is in the mountains, the North of the old pass, with about forty or fifty men."

"That's not enough to take a pack."

"But It's enough to cause damage and make people scared."

We walked to the study, I showed him the map, the routes Xavier's people had taken, the places where they'd crossed.

"He's not trying to win," Fernandez said. "Not yet. He's gathering information and Finding weak points."

"Then we need to find him before he does."

"You're going after him."

"I'm going to find him and Whatever happens after that depends on him."

Fernandez looked at the map.

"I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to."

"I know."

\---

We left at dawn.

Me, Fernandez, Julian, and ten guards. Enough to fight if we needed to, we didn't want to draw attention so we traveled light, no horses, just boots and weapons and the clothes on our backs.

The mountains were three days north. Three days of walking, sleeping on the ground, eating cold food from cans, Fernandez and Julian never left my side.

On the second night, Julian pulled me aside.

"I don't trust him," he said.

"Fernandez?"

"He's an Alpha from another territory. He has his own pack, his own problems, his own agenda, you don't know what he wants from you."

"I know exactly what he wants."

"Do you?"

I looked at Fernandez he was sitting by the fire, talking to one of the guards, his face relaxed.

"He wants me to be okay, that's all, he's not asking for anything else."

"And when he does?"

"Then I'll decide."

Julian shook his head. "You're going to get hurt."

"Probably."

I walked back to the fire.

\---

The pass was empty.

We reached it on the third day, as the sun was setting. The mountains rose on either side, dark with trees, gray with rock. The pass itself was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

"No one's been here in months," Julian said. "Maybe years."

"Rina said Xavier was here."

"Rina is a prisoner and it is no hidden secret that prisoners lie a lot."

I walked through the pass, the ground was hard, covered in dead leaves,there were no footprints, no signs of anyone.

At the other side, the valley opened up, empty, quiet.

"He's not here," Fernandez said.

"No."

"Then where can he be?"

I looked at the map.

"I think he was never here," I said. "Rina lied."

"Or Xavier lied to her."

"Same thing."

We camped in the valley that night, without fire or light.
Just the dark and the cold and the sound of the wind.

I sat apart from the others, my back against a tree, my eyes on the stars.

Fernandez sat beside me.

"You're thinking about going back," he said.

"I'm thinking about how many lies I've been told. By my father, Sloane, Tasha and Rina. Why does everyone keep lying."

"Not everyone."

"Everyone who wants something from me."

He was quiet for a moment. Then: "I want something from you."

"What?"

"I want you to trust me, not because I've earned it. Because you need someone you can trust and honestly I'm here."

I looked at him.

"I don't know how to trust anyone."

"Start small."

I leaned my head against his shoulder, he put his arm around me.

We stayed like that until the sun came up.

\---

The walk back took two days.

No one spoke much, the guards were really tired and exhausted, Julian was quiet, while Fernandez stayed close.

When we reached the castle, Elara was waiting.

"You didn't find him," she said.

"No."

"He's not in the mountains. He was never in the mountains, that woman lied to you."

"I know."

Elara stepped closer. "Then why did you go?"

"Because I needed to know for sure."

"And now?"

"I would find out where he really is."

Elara looked at me for a long moment. Then she nodded.

"I'll send word if I hear anything. You do the same."

She left.

I walked to the holding cell.

Rina was sitting on the bench, her arms crossed, her face blank.

"Xavier isn't in the mountains," I said.

"I know."

"So you intentionally lied to me."

"I told you what he told me, if he lied to me, then that's honestly not my problem."

"It is now."

I opened the cell door, and walked inside.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm giving you a choice, now tell me where Xavier really is, or I hand you over to Elara. She lost two wolves to his people. She's not going to ask nicely."

Rina's face went pale. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, of course I would."

She stared at me. Her hands were shaking.

"There's a town," she said. "South of here. Near the coast. He has a house there but it's under a different name."

"What town?"

"Portis. On the main road, the house is white with blue shutters."

"And the name?"

"Reynolds. He goes by Reynolds."

I walked out of the cell, locked the door behind me.

"Julian."

He appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Get a car ready. We're going to Portis."

"Now?"

"Now."

I walked up the stairs, through the castle, to the courtyard, Fernandez was waiting by the fountain.

"Portis," he said. "That's not far, it's a half a day's drive."

"You're not coming with me?"

"I'm not?"

"This is my fight, you know that xavier killed my father's wolves and sent bad people into my territory. He's been hiding while other people died for him."

"And?"

"And I need to do this alone."

Fernandez looked at me for a long time, then he nodded.

"Will you come back."

"Of course I will"

We both goth into the car, and Julian got in the driver's seat.

We drove south.