Shifters - The King of Wolves - Book 1

CHAPTER 33 - A TRIAL OF COURAGE

Tomorrow is the day Silas will die.

The mere thought churned my stomach. While I understand he needs to face justice, is taking his life really the only option?

I tried to make sense of Silas's motives. After all, I did nothing to provoke him. My memories had returned in full, though they felt more like fragments of a haunting dream than real experiences. I knew I endured immense pain, yet I couldn't shake this feeling of guilt. Was it my fault that he was facing death? Was Egon only doing this out of protective instincts towards me?

"You're no longer focused on your reading," Pepin noted, interrupting my thoughts.

Startled, I looked up to see Pepin peering at me over his glasses with an accusatory gaze.

"Sorry," I mumbled hastily, attempting to refocus on the complex writing before me. Pepin has been helping me with reading for days now, taking over the task from Runelda ever since she left.

When Runelda learned I had delivered the letter to Gaspard, she had hugged me with relief and hurriedly announced she had to leave. She told me she had instructed Gaspard to relocate the people from the camp to a secure place, she was sure he had succeeded. I hoped she was right.

Pepin closed his book with a firm thud. "Let's set aside reading for now. I'd rather hear where your thoughts have wandered these past few days. Today, you seem even more distracted than usual."

I sighed, mimicking Pepin's action by closing my own book. Picking up the warm cup of tea beside me, my gaze dropped to the swirling patterns within. "I can't stop thinking about tomorrow," I confessed in a hushed tone.

"I assume you're referring to the fact that your mate is going to fight Silas Thobe before the eyes of thousands of shifters?"

I nodded, remembering the explanation Pepin gave me about this place and the challenge Egon issued under the Rieka law.

Mano Vala is built in the secluded valley of the Mauna mountains. The building is designed as an arena that serves a singular purpose: to challenge criminals in a fight for freedom or death. Those who took up the challenge are known as challengers and they decide the nature of the fight.

There are hundreds of different methods, from swift and quick deaths to battles that last for days. It's an ancient practice in the shifter world, and it still draws enough curious visitors today, all eager to witness the spectacle.

But news of Egon, the Alpha King, attending as a challenger in Mano Vala had spread like wildfire across the entire continent. Shifters from all corners had rushed to secure a spot in the arena. When it became clear that he had declared the Rieka law as a sentence, it brought a commotion unlike any other.

Mano Vala was packed, and every day, arena guards turned away people who had travelled for days.

Pepin had explained that the Rieka law hadn't been invoked for over 500 years. It was viewed as an act of madness for the challenger and a mark of dishonour for the criminal.

While the challenged criminal could transform into their animal form, the challenger was restricted to only fight in their human form. The sentence was seen as a mockery of the criminal's strength as a shifter. Death in a Rieka meant rejection by the Moon Goddess, deemed unworthy of entering Mondtor, the heaven for wolves.

Most shifters had never attended a Rieka and people were paying substantial sums to convince others to sell them their tickets to the arena. I couldn't fathom their eagerness to witness such spectacles, it was a clear reminder that our worlds were vastly different. But then again, similar rituals existed in the human world too. Perhaps the divide was just within me.