Wolf Winter

[the_lioness]

The hunt -- exhausted and subdued, if successful -- winds its way through the Royal Forest toward home. Alanna, seated uncomfortably on the hard-mouthed chestnut she'd borrowed from Stefan after Moonlight threw a shoe, keeps her eyes forward, on Duke Roger's straight back.

"What were you thinking?" Jon hisses at her for what feels like the tenth time this hour.

"Jon,' she starts, exasperated, before shaking her head and gripping her emberstone in her fist again. "I told you. The wolf attacked me."

"Demon Grey."

"Yes," she snaps. "Demon Grey. The huntsman confirmed it. We all heard him."

"You killed Demon Grey. Do you understand how fast that news will get around?"

"Does it matter? Should I have let him kill me instead?"

Jon falls back into a sulky silence, letting Raoul move beside them without saying a word. Gary comes up to flank Alanna on the other side, at least until the path narrows again and he is forced back.

"Oh for the love of the Goddess," Alanna finally grinds out. "I'm fine. Will you three stop it?"

Gary clears his throat and has the grace to look sheepish, while Raoul leans forward to give her a meaningful look. Jon simply scowls and turns to Raoul with talk of the party scheduled for their return. Alanna snorts, amused at the trapped look on her big friend's face. He hates parties as much as she does.

Now that their attention is diverted, however, Alanna almost misses her annoyance; she's left alone with her thoughts, her memories of wolf snarls and sharp teeth, and she feels herself shudder under the weight of her suspicions.

The facts are simple: she came across Duke Roger crouched in a clearing, grinning at her over the body of the wolf he'd just killed, and when she'd dismounted to assist him, another wolf had charged out of the shadows. Charged straight at her. The next few minutes are a blur. She fought both deep drifts and the angry wolf, losing her sword and eventually rolling over and over across the ground with Demon Grey, desperately trying to stab him enough with her dagger. He howled, he twitched, he fell heavy against her and crushed her into the thick crust of snow as his heart's blood dripped all around.

Jonathan had pulled her out from under the corpse of the wolf that had spent most of the winter terrorizing the villages surrounding the capital. Stunned, she'd realized the rest of the hunt had tracked the noises of her battle with Demon Grey and now circled the clearing, staring. Never one to love such attention, Alanna had reflexively reached up for the comfort of her emberstone.

Everything hazy and confusing about that moment had sharpened into startlingly clear details.

Her ears picked up the King's conversation with his huntsman when previously it had been muffled background noise. The vague impression of people all around shifted into a stark awareness of each and every one -- even now, she could name them all. But most importantly, most frightening, muted colors had brightened, colors she wasn't even sure had been there before.

Like orange.

An orange glow covered not only Duke Roger, but the bodies of both wolves. It gleamed from their dead eyes, coated their dense fur, and slowly, so slowly, began sinking into the now dirty snow.

She'd managed not to gasp at the time, but can not keep her sharp intake of breath silent now as she once again considers the implications. Roger's Gift is orange, that she knows well, but what about the emberstone allowed her to see it that way, if, in fact, that was what she saw?

Her head hurts.

Up ahead, the horn sounds their final approach to the palace gates. Soon they will be home. Perhaps this evening she'll plead a few battle wounds and sneak away from the party. She has a few tests she'd like to run before deciding once and for all that Roger had tried to kill her today.

"You're insane, you know," Jon grumbles at her again, looking at the dark crimson stains on her cloak.

"I know," Alanna replies, narrowing her eyes as Duke Roger throws his head back and laughs at something King Roald is saying. "It does run in the family."