The King's Remorse

I Can't Kill Him on an Empty Stomach

"Did you find Wolf?"

"Sort of. We never found her in person. But we were able to track down the cave where the new Midnight Wolves spawn and The King's Remorse poem in its entirety. Ky was able to piece together that there are thirteen constellations that give the Midnight Wolves different powers. He mentioned that Arcane was more powerful than most because he had three of the thirteen constellations, as opposed to one. When we got to the... altar, I guess, all thirteen constellations were glowing, including the thirteenth, Lupus, the wolf. The new Midnight Wolf has incredible power."

Dove pauses for a moment before continuing. "The new Midnight Wolf is Wolf. She didn't disappear onto the other timeline of Ragdon when Arcane shed the Midnight Tear and created a fork in the road of Ragdon's time. She was transported to the cave where the Midnight Wolves spawn. I don't know where she is, but I'm certain she's the new Midnight Wolf."

I don't say anything for a little bit.

"So Wolf's the new Midnight Wolf, has all thirteen of the constellations, has the power of all thirteen, and is somewhere no one knows?"

Dove nods. Didn't see that one coming. I hope Wolf is still the Wolf she was before...

"How are things in the White Tent Sea?"

"Not great. King Garonda XIV has started rebuilding the Sea, and people are beginning to turn to his side. We get treated like his guests. There's this ridiculous buffet for every meal, kids get free toys and treats, the rebuilt tents are so elaborate it's almost sickening. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think he was doing it out of the good of his heart.

"And then there's Luke. I was told by a lead Guard that he was intended to be the ultimate Soldier. He's called the Dust Devil. He seems to be able to control dust and soil, though I don't know what he can do with it. He also seems to hate what he's doing, so I'm not sure what's going on there. King Garonda XIV seems to be getting far more confusing and hard to follow."

"Yeah, definitely," Dove says. "So what exactly happened when you for that wound?" He jerks his head towards my side.

"So the Guard and Soldiers were blocking off various parts of the White Tent Sea and having them gather. And this is what happened when they had Clap and I gather. A Soldier came onto a makeshift stage and told us that it wasn't going to take very long. Then he asked Luke to come onto stage and do his performance. The most striking thing was that Luke didn't seem to want to go onto the stage and looked pretty guilty, as if he already knew what was going to happen and was dreading it. But as soon as purple began to glow beneath the hood of his cloak and dust and soil began to rise from the ground, I pushed Clap into motion and ran. The Guard and Soldiers who followed us asked us to return to see Luke's performance, but I couldn't. There was no way; I'd promised Freedom I was going to keep Clap safe no matter what. Over my dead body would they even lay a finger on her. But even then I'd find a way to hunt them down since I'd've failed Freedom and had to do everything I could to make things right.

"I impaled one, and then Clap killed another. Soon it was just two Soldiers left. I killed the one who gave me this wound. Seneca had to kill the last one since I'd failed to keep Clap safe."

"You didn't fail," Dove says after a few moments. I don't reply.

"You didn't," Dove repeats. "You got Clap away from whatever Luke was doing."

"Hi, Brook!" I turn my head and see Ky pushing his way into the tent.

"Come back, Ky," Phoenix growls. "We agreed Dove would be the one to tell Brook what happened when we tried to find the new Midnight Wolf. As in not us. Get back here."