Dark continued to idly play in the snow with one hand. Finally she sighed,
“
Yes you are right, but at the moment I don’t feel love for him. I have a deep seated resentment when I think of him and it all revolves around the fact that he took me away from everything that gave me bliss.”
Raz looked directly at her,
“
Then you must give it time and also remind yourself of this. What he took away is only taken away temporarily. One day you will be there again and you just might get to share it with him the next time round too, if you truly love him.”
Dark sat up. She was feeling more positive all of a sudden.
“
Yes that’s right too, why didn’t I think of that?” She sat there thinking a bit, “I can’t say I will run back into his arms right now. I don’t feel that, but I will give it time and I will do as you say.” Leaning to Raz Dark gave him a warm kiss on the lips, “Thank you Raz, you are a good friend.”
He blushed a little and in the cold winter night’s air that was some achievement.
Dark got up and started dressing. The time in the snow had done its job. Raz turned away again as she dressed and Dark smiled to herself. Raz really was a gentleman.
“
Raz, would it be alright if I took up residence in one of the guests quarters of the hall for awhile? I do think I need some time to sort things out.” He nodded,
“
Yes of course, that will be fine.”
Dark slipped her arm through Raz’s,
“
Would you be so kind as to escort a lady back to her quarters?”
He smiled and nodded again.
The following afternoon Wollfen awoke to find Night lying next to him watching. He stretched and yawned then looked back at her.
“
Good morning or whatever it is.”
Night smiled.
“
Actually I think it is afternoon but don’t quote me.”
Wollfen smiled at the response. Night reached out and stroked his cheek then held it while she continued to glide her thumb over it.
“
You have a big impact on so many people Wollfen. Do you know that for the entire six months you were gone hardly a day went by without us thinking of you or talking about you, even plotting the downfall of nations to get you back.”
She smirked at him and Wollfen chuckled.
“
You people are crazy.”
Night didn’t like the dismissive tone he took and looked at him seriously.
“
Listen to me Wollfen, I’m trying to tell you something; all of us love you. I love you. Next to Loranda you are the most important person in the world to me. Think about that wolf boy, you are a man and I’m saying that about you.”
Wollfen sat up a little realizing she was being earnest. After a little hesitation he spoke up,
“
I hear you Night, and I love you too. You are the best friend I have got.”
Night leaned up to his face and kissed him full on the lips. Then leaning back and licking her own lips her face screwed up.
“
Nup you still taste yucky to me, it must be because you are a man. Anyway I’m off to see Loranda, I’ll see you later okay?”
Wollfen nodded a little nonplussed, she swung herself out of bed and was gone within a minute. He lay back thinking about what she said and was only now realizing how all of them must have missed him, not just Dark.
Wollfen pulled himself out of bed slowly, he felt like he had a hangover. He got up and went over to a stand with a bowl of water and splashed his face, it was refreshing and helped quite a bit. He decided to go find Dark and see how she was, right now he had no one to talk to and hadn’t caught up on anything about the place.
Walking outside, he was confronted by a winter scene that came as a bit of a shock. Not twenty-four hours before he had been in a hot climate with a blazing sun. As Wollfen looked around he took in the sight of many buildings covered in a blanket of white for as far as the eye could see. It certainly was a huge contrast to what he was used to. Turning around, a man came up to him and bowed then addressed him,
“
Good afternoon my lord, I have been keeping station outside your door at Lord Raz’s request that I may inform you once you awoke that he would like the pleasure of your attendance.”
Wollfen thought that to be a good idea. He had no bearings at all in this new place, he wasn’t even sure where he was anyway.
“
I accept the Lord’s kind offer, please lead the way.”
The man bowed again then turned and begun walking west, Wollfen followed.
After about five minutes of walking they came up to a large hall near the center of town. It had wide verandahs stretching all the way round its girth. Wollfen stepped up onto it and the man went through the main door. There was a set of secondary doors that were closed about twenty feet in and once inside it was quite warm and inviting. They stripped off their overcoats and hung them on the wall. Moving further inside the man approached a person at another set of doors and after a little discussion the new man turned to Wollfen as the first left.
“
If you will wait here please my lord I will announce your presence to Lord Raz.”
Wollfen nodded and waited. Within moments the fellow came back out and ushered him in. Inside he saw Raz sitting at a large desk working through some papers and he looked up and stood as Wollfen approached, sticking his hand out to him they shook.
“
Good afternoon Wollfen, it is very good to see you, won’t you come sit by the fire with me?”
They both moved to a pair of large leather bound chairs angled towards the fire and sat down. Raz motioned to an attendant who came forward with two glasses and a jug of rum. After pouring them each a cupful the attendant retreated into the shadows.
“
So we have much to discuss you and I.”
Wollfen’s response was short and to the point.
“
Yes there is much that I would like to catch up on, but right now I would like to find Dark and see how she is.”
Raz moved in his chair a little contemplating the best way to address the situation. He decided that with this man, being blunt would probably be best.
“
I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but I shall just say it. Dark is not interested in seeing you at the moment. She has gone on a journey for a couple of days into the wilds with Vaughn. I do believe she has had some fundamental changes to how she sees the world and well to put it frankly I think she is taking stock of her life right now and thinking about what she really wants.”
Wollfen sat there silently listening, considering what Raz was saying as he went on.
“
It is also obvious to me having known her for the last six months that last night did have a big impact. I could tell immediately after that she has changed in some ways and I don’t know whether that is for the better or not,” Raz looked on gauging his reaction and continued, “I think it would be prudent on your part to give her some space for now and let her approach you when she is ready. I know you will do what you think is best and as such this is advice only.”
They sat there for a minute in silence after Raz had finished. Finally Wollfen spoke,
“
Thank you Lord Raz for saying what you felt needed to be said. You are right in your conclusions with regards to Dark. She is a nightclan woman and if I tried to force the situation I am sure I would drive her away. I will do as you suggest and leave her to her own devices. My main concern right now is that she is safe and on that note, who is this Vaughn?”
“
He arrived from Port Cholandra with her. They met there you see. He has been a close companion since. As for his capacity to protect her, he is an adept and skilled person not only with the sword but also the crossbow too. You need have no fear when it comes to her protection.”
Wollfen wondered how close this Vaughn was? Had she taken a bed partner while he was gone? Normally he wouldn’t have believed it to be so, but Nightclan society had a fundamentally different and open attitude when it came to dealing with sex.
The Nightclans lived on the edge of the orc hordes where clashes were common. Because of this there was a high attrition rate amongst the males and as such the women far outnumbered men. It was necessary for the males of their tribes to take multiple partners just to be able to sire enough children for the next generation. Ultimately it proved to be to no avail. The tribes were wiped out under a concentrated effort on the part of the orcs after they had organized together. That too was something out of the ordinary. Orcs just didn’t get along with each other too much.
Anyway, he realized that with her open attitude towards sexual encounters he may be put out by the idea of her doing so but he couldn’t really talk, hadn’t he been with Madeira? Wollfen might be able to argue the circumstances but no, he had to accept whatever Dark did. He needed to focus on the future and whatever that may bring.
“
So Lord Raz tell me of this place. It doesn’t look familiar to me. Also how goes the war? I have been away since it started, you will have to fill me in on a lot.”
Raz waved his hand for some more rum, this was going to take awhile.
He talked of the early days like the evacuation of Port Valderus and their journey to Port Volarus where they had established this new deep-water port. He also talked of Admiral Alard showing up and the close cooperation that was taking place between Oceania and Volarus. Now that winter had set in up the entire coast, most shipping was frozen in up north until the end of winter so what campaigns had been waged on the sea were in hiatus. He was still getting word from Captain Koberg stationed around the south western islands, even they were getting lean pickings. The convoys had dried up to a trickle. Raz explained that while things were slowed up dramatically they were still focusing on reinforcing the defenses of the Port through the winter months.
Then Raz began talking about the land campaign the Isogorreans were fighting.
“
On land the Isogorreans are having much more success than at sea. The Kingdom ships are quite superior to the Isogorrean ones but on land our soldiers initially were quite inexperienced and lacked good leadership. This led to many losses early on in the campaign and I can relate the first two major clashes. Just north of Port Cholandra, a Kingdom army of eight thousand men came upon a fort that was built specifically for trapping and killing enemy forces. Even after the initial heavy losses Lord Urroz who was in charge kept going in until he lost every single man. Then another force of five thousand horsemen was sent down the coast road from Kassandrea and it too was lost against an enemy of superior numbers. It was only two weeks later we heard that Kassandrea was placed under siege and now the Isogorreans control the country immediately around the city, it is effectively cut off from everyone.”
Wollfen brooded on all this information, the Kingdom was in dire straights.
“
Tell me Lord Raz, other than this port and Oceania are there any other major kingdom forces still in play?”
“
Yes, obviously you have a number of militias still in existence out where the Isogorrean army has not traveled. Also there is the outposts of the north coast wilds under the control of Lord Cazzara of Gevalia city and also the northern inland wilds under the control of Prince Fitzgerald.”
Wollfen knew of Cazzara, he was quite competent and just.
“
Can you think of any other armies?”
Raz hesitated, he couldn’t think of anything else, but there was something.
“
I don’t know if an army exists there but there is a rumor that an Isogorrean army group had been sent to the east to travel along the high wilds there to approach Kassandrea from the eastern approaches. That army no longer exists and we haven’t been able to find out anything of what happened to them at all. So there are only two possibilities, either we have a huge Kingdom army there that no one knows about that keeps to itself or the orcs are finally getting well organized. I know which one is more likely and I don’t like the sound of it one bit.”
Wollfen mulled some more. This last bit of information was disturbing. The possibility of orcs roaming through the east was a very good possibility. Justin had come from the southern area of the east where his family had been killed by orcs and no one until that happened would have ever thought orcs would come that far. Then there was the elimination of the Nightclans years before too. They had been further north than that which meant the orcs were extending over a very large area. It wasn’t adding up well at all. Wollfen could only conclude that the orcs were becoming a major threat to the Kingdom and with them on one side and Isogorr on the other, things were looking precarious for the country.
“
We need to go take a look.”
Raz nodded in agreement,
“
My thoughts exactly, but who can I send? I don’t have anyone here who is adept in bush craft and combat training that could handle such a task. Anybody who went there would have to be very good at stealth and would need to be very quick of wit to deal with whatever was thrown at them.”