Bloodmark (5 page)

As I entered the main halls of the castle, I could hear yelling. It echoed off the walls with a thunderous roar, but the stone echo made it impossible to make out what was being said. I heard my father’s voice, the heavy alpha weighed down my mind. He was still angry. I wondered if he had discovered me missing. Mund was probably trying to cover my tracks. The only time he ever disobeyed Father was for me. I had to know what was going on. With all the yelling, they would never hear me enter.

I knew I had to hurry to get to Mother and Mund, but I had to get dressed first. I giggled, turning into a side room through a small stone archway. I saw the red coals of the fire in the hearth still burned from supper the night before. Our great Boru family painting hung above the eight-foot-wide mantel, proclaiming our family’s domain over the kingdom. I was only about three years old, but I remembered it. They couldn’t convince me to shift into human form, I loved my four legs. So there in the family painting of perfection: my beautiful mother in all her glory; my powerful and proud father; my four strong brothers all dressed in their finest clothes, jewels, weapons, and adornments; and one tiny red wolf pup in the foreground, ruining the tranquility of the portrait.

I looked like the family pet. I shook my head at the memory.

At the end of the long, thin room was our travel chests. Centuries old, the chests were decorated with jewels of every variety from all over the world. Oddly, their beauty was nothing compared to what was inside each of them. Quickly I opened mine, revealing many family heirlooms and jewels.

My things, gifts from my family over my sixteen years. All priceless pieces of history. A rose-gold, leaf-shaped wrap-ring covered in tiny glimmering diamonds stood out among the large gems and jewels. Mund had given it to me for my sixteenth birthday. He had been so proud; he knew I would love it. It sat next to Brychan’s ring that signified his claim to me—the symbol of my doom, in one gaudy ring, waiting to smother the life and breath from my body and soul.

I lifted off the top shelf of jewels and carelessly set it to the side to access the clothes below. There in the bottom of the chest were all the appropriate choices of gowns—beautiful greens, ruby reds, and cream silks—all gowns of importance, all picked out by Mother. The appropriate attire for a lady of royalty, but I had hidden several leather outfits below all the stuffy gowns. I put on similar handmade leather boots and a simple short leather wrap skirt with rough-cut edges and metal peg closures on my left hip. I tied a piece of soft leather around my chest, creating a strapless top from the supple fabric. And as a final adornment, I wrapped my right wrist with extra leather laces in shades of brown and black, creating a cuff. Now all I had to do was sneak into the throne room and find out what Father’s new strategy for punishing me would be.

4

Animal Kingdom

“Redmund!”
I heard my father bellow, his thunderous voice vibrating in my ears and cutting through all the clutter in my mind. I needed to get to Mund and Mother. I wasn’t a child anymore, and this time I would protect them. I slammed the trunk closed and broke into an easy sprint, winding through the halls, into the labyrinth.

The long, twisted passages would get the best tracker lost. Certainly no enemy would ever get to the center—alive, that is. The darkness was welcoming; the candlelight barely kept me on the path. But even though I had never been to the center, I knew the way. It was in my blood, I was born to find it. As I grew near, I could hear the collective breathing of the council as the argument continued.

I came to a halt and walked slowly to the giant doors created by our ancestors from the wood of the ships they sailed during the ninth century, hand-carved with grotesque wolves to scare the strongest of opponents. Honestly, they even intimidated me. I barely noticed the guards on each side of the door; they were like pieces of furniture—always there, always silent, barely moving, and they didn’t even look at me.

I had never seen the throne room or met all the packs. I barely even knew my own father. I nervously gnawed on the inside of my cheek. Part of me wanted to just turn around, run away, and take my chances with Adomnan.

I paused, calming my breathing. Still staring straight ahead, I nodded once to the guards, and the doors opened with a creaking welcome to the throne room. The most elegant and oldest room in the kingdom, I had heard of its splendor, but seeing it for the first time took my breath away. Every stone was hand-cut and engraved with the runes of our people. They told the tales of Old Mother’s protectors. The engraved stones went stories and stories up, all the way to the high ceiling and yet far beneath the earth’s surface.

Calista’s sarcophagus was at the center of this underground tomb, surrounded by silk drapes hung from the high ceilings. The smell of frankincense filled the air. Every thought and detail of an ancient culture was still alive and pulsing down here, unlike the tourist-filled streets above.

The council filled the room, but with all the yelling, no one heard me enter. I’d never met any of them before, but I knew the tales Mund had told me. The Swiss Kingerys were easy to spot with their golden spun hair. The Spanish Costas had dark hair and bronze skin. The Welsh Kahedins, Tegan and Brychan’s family, had a dark hair and olive skin. Like warriors, the Canadian Four-Claws had long dreadlocks with feathers woven in their hair. Mother’s family, the Vanirs, were the most beautiful of all; most had the golden skin of the Greek, but Mother was porcelain. The African Syllas were taller than most everyone in the room, and their clothing was closer to mine than that of the royal Kahedins.

I slowly walked the endless length of the room with my head held high. I wasn’t going to cower from Father anymore. Father stood in front of the Boru throne. Carved from wood, the armrests were two ferocious life-size wolves. The vein in Father’s large forehead looked as though it might burst. He looked old today, much older than he had seemed before.

“You have no right to voice your opinion here! You must serve the king’s rule,” my eldest brother, Flin, screamed in Mund’s face.

“Flin, you’re a bloody fool,” Mund said.

The room was filled with hushed whispers from the council.

“If it weren’t for you intervening, we would all be safe,” Flin said.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Silence!” Father said. He turned away from them and sat in the mighty throne. “I will decide.”

As I walked past the Four-Claws, the feathered woman turned and watched me, but I didn’t dare look at her. I was nervous, but I couldn’t let any of them know it. One by one, I could feel their stares burning into my skin.

“You don’t know anything about her or what’s best for her,” Mund said.

My pulse pounded and my mouth was as dry as the desert. As strong as I wanted to appear, I was suddenly terrified.

“You still have to learn your place, Redmund,” Father said.

“I know my place,” Mund said.

Quinn was quiet, but he stood proudly next to Mund. His light-blue eyes stared at the floor, and his furrowed brow clearly gave away his disgust in the conversation. The council was eerily quiet, but I could feel their stares. I studied Mund; his dark brown eyes were solid masses of anger, and his jaw was tight and set at an inhuman angle. He had never pushed Father this far. He usually just took his place as the second son. Mund’s thin, muscular frame shook with his emotions.

My brothers’ wives and young sat in stone silence. Gwyn sat next to Tegan, unflinching to the chaos only feet away. There was almost no resemblance between them, even though they were sisters. I met Gwyn once when she visited with Quinn. I loved her spiky blonde hair; I imagined it was her rebelling. Flin’s and Felan’s wives were quietly reciting Latin poetry. It was unreal how they could tune out everything around them.

Father lunged out of his seat and struck Mund in the face, the sound thundering through the room. My nervousness twisted into horror as Mund spat blood on the floor.

“Stop, please!” Mother said, defiantly standing between Mund and Father. Father just grabbed her like a doll and threw her out of his way, knocking her to the floor. She wept at his feet, holding her already-swelling cheek.

Rage pulsed through every cell in my body, and I forced my feet to move forward once again. Mund and Quinn stood in front of Mother. “You will not touch her again,” Mund threatened.

A deep growl came from Father as he narrowed his eyes at Mund. I dragged in a ragged breath, burning my deprived lungs with the fresh air.

A new scent swirled through my thoughts, briefly distracting me, and my instincts turned my head to see glowing black eyes in the shadows. Definitely wolf. I didn’t know his scent, and I couldn’t see his face, but he watched me.

My mother let out a cry when she saw me, and I rushed into her arms. I felt her pain as if it were my own pain to bear, and it filled my soul with the deepest sadness. I almost looked away, afraid to see her so vulnerable, but her mournful eyes held mine. The burning ache in my throat stopped me from speaking.

She wrapped her arms around me, holding me so close, I felt as though I were becoming a part of her. I closed my eyes as I breathed in her beautiful scent—fresh rain and lavender. I always loved the way she smelled and the warmth of her arms. I wanted to avenge her, but she didn’t release me.

“She endangers us all,” Flin said, pointing down at me. It felt like a death sentence.

“It can’t be the only way,” Mund said.

“She must leave,” Flin replied.

“Do you want to sacrifice her to a fate worse than death? They know she lives,” Father said. “She can’t stay here.”

My mind was whirling around in all the confusion. Death. Sacrifice. I was grasping to understand, but I didn’t understand at all. Was this because of Adomnan? Was I being punished for being outside the walls?

“She endangers everything we’ve spent centuries building,” Felan said.

“We have to protect her from herself,” Flin said.

“She’s just a child,” Quinn replied.

“If they capture her, we will all die,” Father said.

My mind was thick and heavy. I demanded to know what was happening, but no words came out. My mother’s arms wrapped around me tighter, as though she had heard my cry.

“You can’t send her away,” Mother said.

“She goes,” he said, looking at me for the first time, “to save us all.”

Looking into my eyes, Mother said, “
Tha gaol agam ort
.”

“I love you too,” I whispered.

Mother slid a ring on my finger, but I couldn’t concentrate on it. I was too distracted by the chaos around me. Everything was happening so fast. Father ripped Mother away from me.

“Get your hands off her,” I said forcefully. My voice was icy.

He looked surprised by me, but I didn’t care and I didn’t have time to think. He was tearing my family apart. I started advancing on him as one of his guards grabbed me around the waist, knocking the air from my lungs. He dragged me farther away from Mother. I tore at his flesh, kicking and fighting as hard as I could to break free. My anger twisted into adrenaline, and I broke free from his grasp as I lunged back to my mother. Before I could even take a step, a second guard grabbed my throat, nearly choking me. Tears stung my eyes. I saw my mother slipping away from me. I felt as though I couldn’t win, but I kept trying.

Out of nowhere, the black-eyed man from the shadows seized me and dragged me onto a motorcycle, holding me tightly in front of him. I screamed as loud as I could for Mund, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. Everyone’s eyes were on me as they watched my life being torn apart, but they didn’t try to help me, they only watched. I tried to free myself, but I was held firmly in place. His motorcycle roared to life.

“You have betrayed me,” Mother screamed at my father.

Her words broke Father’s hardened face as he looked at me. I felt as though he was seeing me for the first time, seeing my tear-stained face and wild hair.

“It is done,” he said. My heart sank with his words. I was nothing to him.

Mund ran to my side and placed something in my hands, but I was too numb to care. “I
will
come for you, I promise.”

“You know where to find me,” the man said to Mund.

Suddenly we were driving through a doorway I hadn’t seen before, winding through catacombs in a sea of darkness, driving so fast that I couldn’t comprehend what direction we were traveling. The light from the bike only cast a few feet ahead of us, making the tunnel seemed endless.

I welcomed the stillness of the dark as I would welcome death. We broke into the moonlight on a dirt road far from the city limits, followed only by a cloud of dust.

I cried to the moon, but the stranger said nothing. I sobbed so hard, he had to hold me on the bike. I shivered in the cold wind that whipped me with my wet hair, stinging my face. The rain began to fall. My tears danced with the raindrops in a grave melody.

The bike slowed to a stop. There was nothing around and no scents of life. This was where I would die. His boot hit the ground with a thud, grinding the dirt and rock to nothing. He was off the bike before I even realized he had moved. A silver blade hung at his hip. His gloved hand protected him from the poison as he wrapped his fingers around the handle, staring down at me. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping my death would be quick and merciful. When the blow didn’t come, I peeked at his hard, black eyes; they were filled with uncertainty.

I waited a long time, but he didn’t hurt me. Instead, he handed me his leather jacket without a word. I slipped on his warm coat, and my body stopped convulsing from the cold. My tiny frame nearly drowned in his coat, but I didn’t mind. I couldn’t help but breathe in his scent of musky earth, wood, and gasoline.

“I’m not going to hurt you, child,” he said.

He was much older than I, closer to Father’s age, but much taller and thinner. As frightening as I thought Father was, this stranger was even more so. His long black-and-silver hair was soaking wet to his shoulders, and his black T-shirt was getting drenched, but he didn’t seem to notice the cold. He slid me to the back of the seat, and we sped off.