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Lord of the Wolves

Chapter Four

A/N: For the foreseeable future I will be updating Haventon and Whisper fortnightly on alternate Wednesdays. So Whisper will return next Wednesday.

A/N2: Cover Reveal for Haventon Book One

 

David stared into the mirror Tyler had set in front of him. If anything his eyes looked even more silver than they had last night.

“Can you really help me hide these?”? he asked.

“I should be able to,”? Tyler said. “Though I wish Liam hadn’t dropped this on me. I’m a warrior not a teacher.”?

“You’ll be fine, dad,”? Brenna said. “You taught me after all.”?

“I did,”? he said. “But only because no one who could handle our kind’s particular needs was available.”? He looked back at David. “Using glamour is the simplest of our powers “? even some humans learn to do it “? but it does require practice to master.”?

“I see. So what do I do?”? David asked.

“Imagine you eyes the way they used to look,”? Tyler said. “And then concentrate on making them look that way again.”?

“Okay,”? David frowned dubiously. That seemed a little too easy, all the same he did as Tyler said. After a moment he closed his eyes to visualise better. At first nothing seemed to happen but then he felt as if something cool slid between his eyelids and eyeballs and settled over the iris. He opened them again then sighed because the irises still looked like pools of liquid silver. Brenna, however, clapped her hands excitedly.

“Nearly!”? she said. “Though still a touch mirrored! You’re very quick.”?

“Really?”? David said. “They look just the same to me.”?

Brenna and Tyler looked at each other then Tyler thumped his forehead with the heel of his hand.

“Damn it! I didn’t think of that,”? he said. “You have sidhe eyes “? you see through illusions naturally, even most ones formed from glamour.”? He tutted to himself.”?This complicates things. It’s going to be harder for you to work with glamour outside the mists because you won’t be able to see it unless you force yourself to “? which isn’t sustainable.”? His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “I wonder…. Hold out your hand please.”?

“What?”? David said.

“I want to try something,”? Tyler said.

David tilted his head curiously but no further explanation was forthcoming so he just did as he was asked.

Intense concentration crossed Tyler’s face and he seemed to be shaping something invisible with his hands. Then he made as if he was dropping whatever it was into David’s outstretched hand. Something cold and heavy thumped into his hand.

“Woah!”?

“Ah! So you can feel it!”? Tyler said. “I thought you should be able to. It’s just seeing glamour that’s a problem. And once we introduce you to the mists you should be able to see it as well.”? He must have caught David’s puzzlement because he grinned. “Glamour works differently in the mists.”?

“What are the mists?”? David asked. “People keep talking about them but I don’t know what they are.”?

“No you wouldn’t,”? Tyler said. “How to explain this… the mists are like… well they’re like an extra layer of reality that our kind can interact with and step into. When you’re in the mists you can see and hear everything outside them but people outside the mists can’t see people inside them unless the ones inside choose to interact with them. Some people can even transcend physical barriers in the mists. It’ll be more clear once I teach you to access them.”?

“But first we need to teach you to not slip into them accidentally.”?

“And not wander off and get eaten by a mist critter like you nearly did earlier,”? Penny said. She was standing in the doorway holding her phone. “Or get murdered by that bitch Gwen.”?

“Who?”? David said.

“The Summer Champion,”? Tyler said. “Be cautious of her “? she’s old and powerful. Powerful enough to stand regent to the Empty Throne. Even the Winter King defers to her and he supposedly outranks her.”?

“Oh great!”? David said. “And she wants me dead?”?

“Apparently so,”? Tyler said. “Goodness knows why. Your aura has a definite winter cast, which is why I took you to the lore keepers. I’m not very au fait with seasonal types.

“And they wouldn’t help,”? David said. “Do you think that means I’m something bad?”?

“I think they wouldn’t help because Gwen wouldn’t let them,”? Tyler replied. “And Gwen not liking you hardly says anything bad about you.”? He scowled irritably at Penny. “Was there something or did you just come along to interrupt the lesson?”?

Penny didn’t return his scowl. “Actually I was coming to tell you that the aforementioned bitch just called me. I didn’t even know that she knew how to use a phone and I’d like to throttle whoever gave her my number.”?

“What!”? Tyler’s demeanour shifted from irritated to concerned in a moment.

“Yes, she seemed to think that the fact we don’t get on would make me willing to betray the court. I haven’t disabused her of the notion because I thought the situation had potential.”?

“That would be dangerous,”? he said.

“Well obviously but so will turning her down,”? she replied.

“That’s true,”? he said.”?We’ll talk to Liam when he gets back.”?

“Good idea,”? she said. “I’ll leave you to the lesson then.”?

Tyler hesitated, a conflicted expression crossing his face. “Wait,”? he said. “You’re better with the Mists than me.. Will you help with this bit.”?

Penny had already started to walk away but stopped and looked back when he said that. “Sure. You just want to teach him to not slip for now?”?

“Yes,”? Tyler said. “It’s far more important than accessing them for now.”?

Penny nodded and sat in one of the other chairs. “To do that we first need to teach you to feel the Mists so you sense when you start to slip. Once you’ve done that stopping will be easy.”?

“How do you teach me to sense them?”? David asked.

“I’ll take you across a couple of times,”? she said the looked at Tyler. “You and Brenna best come over well. I don’t want to be attacked.”?

“Of course,”? Tyler said.

“You need to concentrate on how it feels when crossing,”? she explained. “The Mists have quite a distinct feel so you should learn to recognise them quite quickly. It’s especially important you learn to feel when you’re slipping because with those eyes you’ll be able to see things in the Mists even when you aren’t so you won’t be able to take what you’re seeing as a guide.”?

David looked around. Nothing seemed out of place to how it had looked before his eyes changed. Penny obviously realised what he was thinking because she chuckled.

“Even in Haventon most places look much the same in the Mists,”? she said. “The biggest differences are that ghosts are visible there even when not manifested unless they are deliberately hiding themselves. You’ll be able to see them too. Might be wise not to let on about that. Some of them can be a bit touchy about being seen when they aren’t manifested.”?

“I can do that,”? Anna said. She was standing just inside the doorway with her brother, and Daniel and Sarah.

“What?!”? Daniel stared at her. “Since when.”?

“I had a conversation with Ragnar’s late wife while he was holding me prisoner. She was surprised I could see her. Called me a Seer.”?

“That’s the correct word for the ability.”? He frowned. “That’s worrying.”?

Anna tilted her head at him curiously. “Why?”?

He sighed. “Seers are even rarer than healers, but they have an alarming tendency of joining the renegades, not all and we think not willingly.”? His expression tightened. “The Lord of the Wolves is not above holding hostages over people’s heads if he wants their talents. Not just Seers either. It just makes it more imperative to protect you and Jason.”?

David eyed Daniel thoughtfully. There was something personal there to cause that expression. He opened his mouth to ask but closed it when Sarah shook her head at him and mouthed “later”? at him. Anna must have seen it too because she didn’t ask either. Instead she turned to David.

“How’s your lesson going?”? she asked. “It sounded like we interrupted.”?

“Penny is teaching me how not to slip into the Mists accidentally,”? David said.

“I’m about to take him across so he can learn to recognise the moment of transition,”? Penny said. “I’ll be interested to know if you can still see us.”? She held out her hand to David. “Come on.”?

David took it hesitantly and a moment later he felt something cold scratch across his skin for a second though nothing else seemed to change. He gathered it had however because Jason had gone pale.

“Where did they go?”?

“As I understand it they’re still there,”? Sarah said. “Just out of phase.”?

“I can still see them,”? Anna said. “Though it’s like looking through water.”? She paused before giggling. “Penny is sticking her tongue out at us.”?

David looked over at Penny and saw that she was indeed sticking her tongue out. She grinned at him.

“Just checking,”? she said.

“I can hear you too,”? Anna said.

“Now that is interesting,”? Penny said. “She’s one up on you then. Your eyes only let you see into the Mists not hear them.”?

“That’s useful,”? Tyler said. “No one expects a werewolf to be able to see and hear into the mists. If you’re willing we can use you as a guard as long as you can learn not to react to what you’re seeing and hearing.”?

“I’m willing,”? Anna said. “But I’ll need to learn to distinguish before I can learn not to react.”?

“What are you willing to do?”? Jason asked.

“Use my unexpected ability to see into the mists to spy on our enemies,”? she said.

“No way!”? he said. “That’s dangerous.”?

“My life is already dangerous if you hadn’t noticed,”? Anna said.

“It is but I don”t think that’s reason to make it worse. You’re the only family I have left. I want you safe.”?

Anna grinned at him. “You’re very sweet but it’s my choice and I promise I’ll be careful, but David is my friend and he put himself on the line for me and now he has enemies I can help spy on how can I not help?”?

“Take us back over, please,”? David said.

“Of course.”? Penny said.

David felt that brief scratching again and Jason jumped, telling him that they were visible again. He rushed over to Anna.

“Don’t worry about me,”? he said. “You’ve got enough to contend with if this Lord of the Wolves is likely to come after you, especially since we don’t know for sure that Ragnar is hibernating.”?

Anna’s eyes glazed over in a very odd way and she became very still for a moment before saying something in a language David didn’t know.

“What?”? David said.

Anna shook her head and her eyes cleared. “Sorry did you say something? I think I phased out for a moment.”?

“No, but you did.”? David frowned. “Though I have no idea what.”? He looked around at Daniel and Sarah. “Was that part of being a seer as well?”?

“Yes,”? Daniel said. “Once she’s trained she start using English when she does that.”? He frowned. “I hope we can find a teacher for her.”?

“Do you know what she said?”? David asked.

Daniel shook his head, “Linguistics isn’t my thing. I’ll have to pull the memory from the pack memory and show it to a friend who is. The habit seers have of using a language that seems to be late Celtic or really early Old Brythonic when they see something is one of of those mysteries no one has ever solved. I mean why that particular obsolete language? Why not Latin or Cornish or any of myriad other dead languages they could use? There has to be some reason.”?

“Do you have any idea what you said?”? Sarah asked Anna.

Anna shook her head. “I don’t remember saying anything but I was thinking about Ragnar at the time and as I did I saw his hand bursting out of frozen snow covered ground in a wood. The snow was deeper than I’ve ever seen as well.”?

“Hmm… I doubt it was just that he is hibernating. Seers rarely talk about something so prosaic but at least that indicates we have a few months at worst before we have to worry about him again. And since Michael and Leisa are investigating if he has hibernated we’ll know if it’s accurate soon.”?

“How will they know?”? Anna asked.

“They’re going to where we last know he was,”? Sarah said. “They probably won’t be able to track him but they should be able to learn his intent when he left. He was in a lot of pain so he won’t have been able to avoid it sinking into the soil and stones. There are ways of reading that–“? Her phone rang and pulled it out and frowned at it before answering it. “Hello, Merry?”? Her frown deepened as she listened. “Okay I’ll ask him.”? She shut the phone off and sighed. “Dave, Merry wants to know if you’ll do some psychometry for her this evening. She’s hoping to find out who killed Paul. She knows it’s a hell of a thing to ask with all you’re going through especially since it won’t be pleasant but she says to think about it and tell her when she and Tanya get back.”?

—

A/N: For the foreseeable future I will be updating Haventon and Whisper fortnightly on alternate Wednesdays. So Whisper will return next Wednesday.

A/N2: Cover Reveal for Haventon Book One

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