The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 51 - The Castle on the Hill

Enjoy the chapter before I disappear off to the Norwegian wildnerness. I'll be back next weekend to deliver another juicy update :)

The woods were changing. We'd spent another hour walking, and now we were seeing signs of life everywhere. Stumps of trees. Hides hanging out to dry in the branches. Animal bones strewn on the forest floor. I was starting to notice footprints — some from wolf paws, some from boots — and I wasn't the only one.

"Well, someone is nearby. Several someones, by the look of these," Jace said warily. I knew what he meant, because some of those footprints were small enough to belong to children. They must have been recent because it had snowed overnight.

"Yeah, Jaz and her crew," Rhys replied. "We're close now. Can't you smell them?"

"I can't smell anything except smoke," Tyler muttered.

Jaden made a face. "Me neither."

I was willing to bet it was the same for everyone. The smell was clinging to my clothes, my hair, my skin. Everything. And every breath I took, it filled my nose. So we were walking into this with one of our senses effectively blinded, and I knew I was being paranoid, but the rogue was the one who had suggested the fire ... so maybe this had been his intention.

"Hang back, Tyler," Jace said. "If something goes wrong, you call Bradley and have him bring the cavalry. Emma ... it might be safer if you stayed with him."

Tyler nodded his assent. I didn't.

"I'd rather stick with you," I said quietly. Tyler was lovely, but he was no substitute for my guards. I thought I would be safer in the company of three Alphas, but more than that — I had a feeling they would need me. None of them were very good at making friends with rogues.

Jace was silent for a long moment, and the way he was looking at me made it clear he was torn. He didn't know how to protect me on this strange adventure of ours, and it showed. Maybe he was finally realising that he never should have brought me in the first place.

"Fine," he said.

The others were slowing down in front of me because the forest ended abruptly at the foot of a hill. Instead of trees, there was a meadow which was dusted in snow. One side was bordered by the river we had been following. And yet, beautiful as it was, it wasn't the meadow I was staring at. My eyes had landed on the hilltop.

"Goddess, is that a castle?" Jaden demanded.

It certainly looked like one. It loomed over the forest — a fortress of mossy stone which was crumbling in places. And of course, living in Pembrokeshire, I had seen more than my fair share of castles, but never one like this. It had been thoroughly abandoned to the elements. There was no National Trust sign, no car park, and no tourists. I wondered if the government even knew of its existence.

"I've heard about this place," Zach said, scratching the back of his head. "It's been overrun with rogues for a few decades now. Before that, people said it was cursed."

"And how do you know all that?" Jaden asked, his eyes narrowing.

"His mother was a rogue," Jace reminded him, ever the peacemaker. To the rogue, he said, "Are they camped inside the castle?"

He nodded jovially. "Mm-hmm. It's sheltered in there. Let's go get this over with."

We started to climb the hill. There were more footprints in the snow here, and even with the smoke clogging up my nose, I was starting to catch a whiff of rogue scent. As we got closer to the walls, I saw a tent made out of tarpaulins pitched against it. There were water barrels. Piles of charcoal from old fires.