Five Hundred Years Ago
For the next few days, the war between the tribe and the werewolves raged. Every man that could be spared took up arms and went into the mountains. There were a lot of deaths on both sides.
Ruby did not go back to the mountains after coming back with Maeve’s body. The look on Maeve’s mother’s face had torn her to pieces. The woman had lost two children to the werewolves in one day, and Ruby was the reason behind one of those deaths.
How could she dare to say they were not monsters?
She should be out there, hunting them down with fellow warriors. She should be the one to sink a dagger into his heart. Make him pay for taking Maeve’s life.
But her father had left her in charge while he led the warriors in the mountains. It was her duty to keep the community safe in his absence.
Deep inside, she knew nobody ever had to die. They could have banished the clan from the tribe. Maybe they would have accepted it and left peacefully. But now, there was no chance for that. The lines had been drawn and it was too late to go back.
At night, when she lay awake in bed unable to sleep, Eric’s face haunted her. How he looked when he was trapped in the market, how he looked when he told her he had killed Maeve because he couldn’t help it.
He had said Maeve had attacked him. It had sounded like a lie, but when she found out about Maeve’s brother and that Maeve did have a silver knife, she knew it could be true.
But whatever had happened, he had killed her. He was stronger, he could have ran, but he killed her.
He had blamed the poison. He wasn’t capable of harming Maeve unless he couldn’t help it.
The thoughts swirled around her head, tormenting her into the wee hours. Was she wrong to blame him for her friend’s death, to wish him dead? Had she wronged him by calling him a monster? Was he really one?
She was stuck in the middle.
Was it any use tormenting herself? What was done was done. There was no future for him or his people in the tribe. By accident or not, lives had been lost, trust broken. It was better to forget about him.
Two weeks after the hunt began, most of the warriors had returned from the mountains. A few remained as a precaution in case some werewolves still remained. The chief gathered the community and announced that the enemy had been dealt with.
Was he dead? Had he gotten away?
The tribe held a cleansing ceremony soon after. They had lived with evil for centuries. They vowed to never let that happen again.
It was after the ceremony that Ruby saw Alexander for the second time. He was talking with her father and one of the generals. She hurried towards them, curious what it was about, but her father and the general departed before she got to them.
Alexander smiled when he saw her. His eyes were even paler in the daylight. “Princess,” he greeted.
She gave him a faint smile. “You know my father?”
“We’ve worked together a lot for the past couple of weeks,” he told her. “I’m a werewolf hunter.”
Her brow arched. “What?”
“I recently moved to the area. There were rumours within our circles that werewolves were rife within these parts. When I first got here, I thought it was just hearsay. I almost moved to other parts after finding nothing. But then, one of them reacted to one of my drugs. Who would have thought there was an entire clan hiding in plain sight?”
One of my drugs.
So then, was he the one who drugged Eric? Was he the reason Eric shifted into a wolf in the market?
The reason Eric murdered Maeve?
“I’m sorry about your friend,” he said. Like he could read her mind. “I wish I had gotten there sooner. I would have saved her.”
She wished she had never sent Maeve into the mountains. It was her fault. Not Eric’s. Not Alexander’s.
“How long have you been hunting them?” It was all new to her. Werewolves. Werewolf hunters. What else was out there? Fae? Vampires?
“For as long as I can remember. It’s what my family does. We are werewolf hunters. They are hard to find because they can live among humans without giving away their true nature.”
Ruby’s next question came naturally to her, despite what had already happened. “Do you hunt them even when they are not a danger to humans?”
His eyes narrowed. As if he was trying to get to her hidden thoughts. “You don’t think it was right to kill them?”
“We have been living side by side for years. They kept us safe. They were our friends.”
“He killed your friend.”
“Because you poisoned him.”
She was getting worked up. She was getting angry at him. If he had never shown up, their lives would still be the same. Nobody would have died.
“They would have turned against you at some point. They are beasts. We have seen it happen in many communities. Maybe it’s been happening without your knowledge. Are there many animal attacks around these parts?”
“We live near the mountains. That comes with it.”
“Maybe so. But that’s also why they settle in communities in such parts. It’s easier to hide their tracks. Your people are lucky that it had not turned into a catastrophe yet. In some cases, werewolf packs fight among themselves because some don’t want to stay in hiding. Some start attacking humans. Entire tribes have been wiped out as a result.”
She had never heard of such incidents.
“They are able to hide their tracks because to outsiders,” he explained, “they are the surviving members of the tribe. In that way, they take over territories and live by themselves, not having to hide anymore. As hunters, our duty is to ensure they don’t get that much power. That they don’t take over more communities.”
The thought was terrifying. Was that what the warrior clan would have done at some point? But they had been part of the tribe for hundreds of years. If that was their intention, shouldn’t they have made their move a long time ago?
When she got back to the house later, she heard raised voices coming from the drawing room. One was her father’s.
She approached the closed door.
Her uncle’s voice was loud enough that she heard his words clearly. “With the warrior clan gone, it’s the only way to keep the tribe safe.”
“No!” Her father’s voice was firm. “Ruby is the next chief of this tribe. If anyone will be arranging a marriage, it’ll be another tribe bringing their son to us. Even if I was to marry her off, it would not be now. That would be admitting to our neighbours that we are weak and desperate.”
Ruby was surprised to hear her father say that she would be the next chief. He had trained her as a successor should be, but with everything standing against her, there had always been a chance that it wouldn’t be his final decision.
Hearing him say it to his younger brother was the only confirmation she needed that he intended to leave the throne to her and nobody else.
“Whether we admit it or not,” her uncle said, his voice trembling with anger, “we are weak. Anybody can see that. And if we don’t make a powerful ally right away, we’ll be at war soon.”
“The warrior clan was not our only defence,” her father said. “We are not defenceless. We don’t need anyone’s support. I’ll build up our forces within no time.”
“You are wrong, and you know it. Will you risk the entire tribe because of your daughter?” her uncle demanded.
“I am the chief,” her father replied. “Let me worry about how to protect my people.”
Ruby slipped away then. Her heart thudded as she took the stairs to her room. Was her uncle right?
Before, they hadn’t needed a political marriage for the sake of the tribe. But now… Things had changed.
She could stay and fight for the tribe. Or she could leave and make sure they didn’t have to fight. But would that really solve anything?
They could avoid war, but it would be the start of exploitation from their neighbours. Some tribes survived by sending tributes and their children as slaves and soldiers to their stronger rivals.
She didn’t want her people to end up like that.
She would fight. Sure, they were plenty much defenceless at the moment. But they could rebuild.
They had to.
The next day, she woke up to the sound of commotion outside. She rushed down the stairs. There was a group of people gathered in the compound. Two bodies lay on the ground.
Had there been another attack? Were the werewolves not gone yet?
But as she looked at the bodies, there were no injuries that suggest a wolf attack.
They were drained of blood, the doctor said.
Despite the lack of signs of an animal attack, the general consensus was that remnants of the warrior clan were lurking around, seeking revenge.
The chief called an impromptu meeting. He sent more warriors to the mountains to thoroughly search for remnants. They wouldn’t rest until they had flushed out all remaining werewolves.
At the end of the meeting, he asked Ruby to remain. Alexander has also been part of the meeting. He asked him to remain too.
“This is your new private guard,” her father told her, indicating Alexander. “He is a werewolf hunter. Until there’s no doubt all the werewolves are gone, he’ll protect you.”