The Wolf, the Butterfly, and the Kraken

Chapter 18

I knew I was upsetting him, but some had to be pushed to their limit before they would back down. My uncle had taught me that. It was a lesson that had come in handy when bargaining before, but this was different. This time I wasn't getting the best price for my gerg crop. This time I was getting the best for my family. I disliked telling him what may have befallen his wife. It would wound me deeply to have any of that happen to Joann. It was just necessary.
I turned to Lord Eureces, "Will we be allowed to go to her father before we start working?"
"Actually, one moment." He stuck his head out of the tent and called a man in. He was younger, and awed by my presence. "Omri, I want you to collect a list of all the metal workers in my land. See if her father is on that list."
Omri saluted and asked Joann, "What is your father's name?"
"Kane Ristora."
Omri and Lord Eureces both blinked at the same time. They shared a look and Lord Eureces nodded.
"Is he here?" Joann asked. "Is he okay? Has he been hurt?"
Lord Eureces sent the man out. He watched me steadily before saying, "Kane Ristora joined up after his daughter was taken. He is one of our fiercest fighters."
"I would expect no less of my wife's sire." I recalled the day she took my sire down.
"He has killed many Lycants. He keeps a trophy from each one on a string. He has to be held back when raiders come. Sometimes he sneaks out to hunt them. He never returns without a new token. I imagine he will have gotten word of the raiders you arrived with. If his troops were sent out then he should be back by now. If not, well he will return at nightfall. That is when he generally sneaks back in."
"He sneaks out?" Joann asked. "But what if he were to get hurt?"
Women. "Love of mine. He believes he has nothing to lose. He can't lose in battle."
"My father is not a young man. Why was he allowed into the Host?" she asked.
"He was actively recruited. He was hunting raiders down before then. He is quite well known."
Omri came back in. "Lord Eureces he is making himself presentable and will be here shortly."
An unusual, not well known feeling, crept into me. It started in my belly. Then it went up my spine and stiffened my shoulders. Fear. Not only had I been the raider who took his daughter and turned him into a savage warrior who hated my kind, but I had also married her and had a litter without his blessing. He had every right to kill me.
I could smell him before he entered the tent. Blood. Some fresh, some old and rotten. Some leathery flesh. I wondered what these tokens he kept were. Oshie's nose was sniffing the air curiously. Immediately I knew I did not want my son to see whatever gruesome thing his grandfather wore.
I snatched up Oshie and handed him to Lord Eureces. "Do not let my son see his grandfather this way. He will not forget. The smell is bad enough."
Lord Eureces did not question how I knew, but turned so the baby could not see. I heard footsteps stop outside the tent and sank to my knees.
"Vam, what are you doing?" Joann asked as the tent flap opened.
"He is going to kill me. He has every right to. He probably only dreams of it."
The smell of rotted flesh filled the tent. It was horrifying. Oshie cried.
"Joann?" the man whispered.
She went to the grisled, scarred, and beaten man. He wore a leather string of ears from shoulder to hip. Some of the ears were rotten and had the fur rubbed off of them. There were two that were fresh, and they were from seperate Lycants. She started to cry, "Father so much has happened..." she shook her head, took a deep breath, and hugged him, rotten ears and all.
He was shocked and hugged her back. He touched her bald head, "Your hair- they hurt you." He was tracing the scars that had kept her from selling at auction.
Then he saw me. "You will die!"
Joann held him back briefly yelling, "No! No, he is my husband!"
"Joann, he has the right," I said calmly. "I only ask that it not be in front of Oshie."
That was when he noticed Lord Eureces holding our crying son. He held a blade in one hand and asked, "Is that a baby Lycant?"
Joann said, "He is our son, Oceanus. You are scaring him. He is a watercaster."
"And you stink of death and decay," I said.
"You speak Veneran?" he was shocked.
"My wife has taught me some."
"Wife. Wife?" He turned to Joann, "What?"
"Sit down." She glanced at Lord Eureces, holding our son. "Maybe one of the guards could take him on a walk?"
He nodded and left the tent, keeping Oshie's face away from his grandfather. They had the same eyes. Oshie calmed down in the cool morning breeze. I could not say the same.
"I am a grandpa? To that?"
"Oshie is your grandson! You will not speak of him that way!" Joann was not crying tears of joy anymore. She was angry.
"You married a Lycant and had a child with him! I thought you were dead." He was angry and hurt.
"It's not like this has been an easy time for me, father. My joy has been laced with pain too. I never thought I would see you or Venera again. I made a life for myself, a good life. Vam is my husband, we have a small farm, and our son. I would not be here without him. Now put your blade away."
"I made a vow to kill every raider I ever saw."
"He is a farmer."
"Did you come on the boat with the raiders?" he asked me.
"Yes, it was our only route to Venera since I am not a warrior."
"Did you come to raid?"
"No. We came so Oshie could learn about casting. Also to see you." I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of that.
"What did you hope to do here, on Veneran soil? During a war with your kind? How are you planning to support my daughter and- and the child?"
"I had originally hoped to work as a farmer. I am quite good with plants and the livestock I know. We had wanted to go to Joann's plantation and raise Oshie while he learned to watercast."
He put his face directly in mine, "And now?"
Every instinct in me told me to rip his head off, but he was family. "Now it seems Oshie will need to go to school in Centris to learn to control Oarhu. I will serve Venera in a capacity to honor our family name in exchange for Oshie's education."
"And how do you plan to feed them? Put a roof over their heads?" He was not afraid of me, or to tell me how it truly was.
"Father, we will find a way. Why do you ask him these questions?" Joann was mad.
I looked at my mate, "Because he is your Sire. I expect no less of the sire of the woman who bested my sire in battle and who persevered in a new land. He has every right to test me. If he finds me wanting he has the right to kill me."
Her sire was like a wild bear, hunting me like prey. "Wanting. So I can kill you, right now, and you would do nothing?"
"Yes. I have behaved dishonorably towards you. It started with my selfish desire to appease my parents and be more than a simple farmer. I was a raider. I took your daughter from Venera. I was the worst raider anyone had ever seen. She nearly escaped three times. The last time, one of the ships crew marred her skin. She did not sell at auction and I had to take her home. I got very drunk. I dishonored her and myself."
"You raped my daughter." He slammed his blade into my shoulder.
I looked at it. "Yes. I did." I had caused this man much more pain than this. "Despite that we became friends. She forgave me. I was terrified I would have to kill the only child I may ever have. We fell in love. We said vows. I know that our son is not normal, but he is special, and he is loved. I would do anything for him and your daughter. I would sell everything I own and put us on a raiders ship headed for a land at war with my people. I would do this knowing I could be killed, that even my young son might be killed, but that at least my wife would be happy and safe with her father. Was I at least right in that, mighty warrior? Will my wife be safe, here, with you?" I glanced at the string of ears, "Or my infant son?" Blood dripped down my arm and onto the floor. I pulled the blade out and it gushed. I handed the blade back to him. "Will they?"
His hand shook and his eyes narrowed. Then he looked at Joann. So did I. She was crying, but staying away from us. I could tell it was taking everything in her to say and do nothing. Her eyes fell, horrified, onto the blood I was losing. He clutched the blade tighter and I waited for the killing stroke. His eyes closed and he took one deep breath, then another. "I will be back. I need to get some air."
I told him, "If you wish to meet your grandson you will not do it wearing that, and smelling of the dead."
He took another deep breath and left the tent. Joann did not need to tell me. I got into the tub and she started to heal me. I vaguely recalled later a guard coming in and cleaning up my blood. Another brought in a sleepy, but happy baby Oshie. We were both exhausted after a few hours of healing, but I was not bleeding out, and was able to rest. It was time for Oshie's nap and I lay down on the floor with him. Joann cuddled under my arm, and for a bit the world was not crazy.