The Wolf of the Wilds

The Ferry

Cheval nudged her, expelling a large huff of air against her arm.

Helena looked to him and shook her head. "They're taking forever, aren't they?"

Both individuals looked up to watch the group of wolves ahead of them slowly stow their belongings on the ferry. There was a lot of swearing and incompetent commands floating about. With each two steps forwards they took one back and it did nothing for Helena's delicate ire.

"I wish I'd brought a book to read," she murmured, rolling her eyes as a barrel fell into the harbour, followed by several wolves jumping in to retrieve it. Cheval seemed to bob his head in agreement.

When the Montis' turn came around, they managed to load onto the ship in a fraction of the time. Helena helped, stacking boxes in the hold, before returning to the top deck. It was only there that she noticed a smell that sent all her blood draining away from her face.

"Oh fuck," she said.

The Angor had booked the same ship as her.

She looked all around for them, but she couldn't see either Angor or Montis wolves; just unfamiliar faces wandered the deck. Her choices were limited. She couldn't get off the boat. It was already pulling away from shore. She couldn't alert the Montis; that would just lead the Angor to them. And she couldn't go to the Angor; that was just a horrible idea.

Instinctively, she pulled her cloak closer to her body, covering her blade. Being careful to not look afraid, she slipped back below deck to the hold where the Montis had their things stored. Helena took off the blade and peeled back the fabric covering of Hermine's traveling box. Taking a scarf, she wrapped it around the exposed silver and slid the weapon inside. Once she was satisfied that it couldn't be seen, she quickly escaped the lamplit darkness and out into the sunlight.

The original plan had been to join the Montis and eat lunch with them, but Helena's appetite had suddenly disappeared, and she didn't want the Angor to associate the Montis with her. And if they found Adrian...

"No. Stop it," she hissed herself, causing a nearby wolf to jump out of her skins. Helena glanced up and sent her an apologetic grimace, quickly taking her leave.

She found refuge in a out of the way part of the deck. It was near the bow of the ship, looking out to sea while concealed by tall coils of ropes and boxes. Helena sat up against a post, watching the rolling ocean. Unlike the sea she'd grown up seeing, the Imber waters were grey and chaotic. Swirling and churning on unseen rocks. There was a beauty to it.

From her bag she pulled out her notebook, a shortened quill and her new pot of ink. It took a while for her to flip through the pages, her eyes glancing over the diagrams, quotes and samples pressed into the worn pages. Her writing was cramped and near incomprehensible, filling up every speck of clean page. Helena's hand paused as she turned one such page, but it wasn't the words that caught her attention, it was a drawing. A sigh passed her lips as her eyes followed the jagged lines and she quickly moved on.

She turned to a fresh page and looked to the note that Riya had delivered to her the night before.

'Dear Helena of Angor,

A wonderful job on exposing the Angor the other night! It gave us criminal overlords quite a horrible shock and it wasn't until Siduri told me of your evening in the rings that I realised it was your work. You'll be glad to hear that the murder has been framed on a wolf named Ciro, and it seems he is hesitant to deny it for whatever reason. I don't know what you did or what blackmail you have on him, but I'm impressed.