LAVANTSA

#4 - Perdix

Perdix arrived at the edge of the Western Forest in good time: with as few breaks as possible, the journey had taken three days. She dismounted her steed, a sturdy black horse, famed among the knights for his strength, who seemed to have shared her drive during the ride, upon one occasion pawing restlessly at the ground while she collected water from a stream. It would be a shame not to have his company while she was in the forest, but it was a well-known fact that horses misliked the Forest, or more accurately, its supernatural visitors.

Perdix trod stealthily between the trees, imagining her ears to stretch as she listened hard for the slightest sound which would alert her to impending danger.

It turned out that straining her ears was unnecessary when the fast-paced rhythmic crunching of twigs, leaves and the general undergrowth gave her more than the two seconds which she required to draw a dagger from her belt. A great grey and white furred beast ran into view and she had a moment to recognise it as an over-sized wolf before it closed the gap between itself and her, and pounced. She crouched and sprang to strike at its heart, driving her dagger through its underbelly, pulling from it an ear-splitting howl. She rolled away to let it fall to the ground...

... and stared in horror as a disgusting transformation took place: the wolf's fur receding as bones shifted and the body crumpled like a decaying fruit, rising once more but this time in the form of a man - the pale stiff corpse of a man - as the wolf's true nature was revealed.

A wolf-man. But why had a wolf-man attacked Perdix without apparent provocation?

There was little time to dwell upon this disturbing fact, as a series of howls alerted Perdix to the acknowledgement of other wolves of their fellow's distress. One wolf she could fight. Several, it was unlikely. She darted away like a deer, taking flight of a predator which it had perceived.

Deeper in the woods, she found a fine cabin, built of wood, neat and pleasant to regard. She knocked on the door, hoping for this to be the 'surprising residence' which Prince Falkin had mentioned when assigning her this task.

The door was opened by a man who looked to have seen around thirty summers, with greying fair hair and pale blue eyes.

"A knight of Meridia?" he said, seeing the cloth around Perdix's forearm bearing the crest of King Briar. His tone was understandably surprised. Perdix could not remember the last mission which had involved the wolf-men.

"I seek Geoffroi of the wolf-men," she told him. "Are you he?"

The man nodded.

"On what business are you here?" he asked warily.

"I have come to request an audience with the white fox."

Geoffroi's eyebrow jumped.

"You come to ask a favour, in other words."

"That is right."

"And what favours has your king done my people?"

Perdix was taken aback.

"For years has there been a friendship between Meridia and the wolves of the Western Forest."

"A friendship implies the exchange of at least goodwill. The old kind, after building the alliance, lent us arms and men during the height of our clashes with the folk of local villages, and we shared with your people our knowledge of medicine; the old king would write letters to us, invite us to ceremonies in Meridia: I remember those days fondly, for I was a child, then, and I thought 'How wonderful this king is, to treat us as his guests of honour'. But those kindnesses, that friendship, ceased after the new king ascended the throne: we were not even invited to the funeral of the old king."