The Wolf Queen
Chapter 2: The Girl in the Orchard

CHANNIN BRUSHES HER hand over the smooth fabric of the dress. The sun catches the shimmer and sends white spots to the ceiling. She watches them for a moment when her mother clears her throat and Channin snaps back to attention. The Ozera family sits in the fourth row from the back of the Cathedral. Queen Ioanna always told the girls that the front was the place for the lost souls and, as royalty, they needed to always welcome the weary and broken.

The Princess scans the room quickly, not sure what she’s looking for. Stain glass windows run vertically every twenty feet around the room. The whole room is dark stained oak. It shrinks around the occupants, swallowing them in righteous shadows. Behind the Father is a massive window that used to overlook the ocean, but now stares at the gray wall surrounding the city.

She finds what she didn’t know she was looking for, leaned against the wall. The last time she saw William Starker was at the Harvest Moon festival. He’s cleaned up since then, brushed his hair and dressed up a little. She watches him carefully for a moment longer. Why is he here? Shouldn’t he be off, smashing in a door and taking things in the name of the King?

A Lady in a dress passes in front of her, William disappears from her view and it takes her a moment to realize everyone is standing. Someone pulls her up by her elbow and she whirls around, ready to fight.

Bowen Blatz takes a step back, “Woah, your Highness.” He holds up his hands, “I didn’t mean to startle you.

She glances back to where William had been standing. The General is gone. She catches the disappointment in her breath.

“Your Highness?”

She startles again, staring blankly at Bowen. He looks around her to the empty space that has her attention.

“Is everything okay?”

She nods, “Just a little tired I suppose.” That’s it. She must be tired, or crazy.

Channin waits with her family for a minute longer, while the sanctuary empties. She follows Svetozar and Isaac. Bowen keeps pace with her.

“How about a hunt this afternoon?” Svetozar rolls his shoulders around, “It’s been a while.”

“At your age?” Isaac laughs, “You’re likely to keel over before we make it all the way to the stable.”

“I’ll have you know,” The King stops in his tracks, “I can out hunt the best of them. Ahh- General Starker.”

The young general freezes. He was trying to sneak off before anyone found him. He couldn’t avoid Channin’s instinct before and had almost made it to the door before her father stopped him. “Yes, Your Majesty.” Channin can hear the disappointment in himself. It’s in his tone.

“Do you hunt?”

He tilts his head, “Hunt, sir?”

Channin laughs, “Yes, hunt. As in chase an already frightened creature down and slaughter it. Are you-“ Bowen claps a hand over her mouth, cutting off her remark before she make it to her insult.

“Yes.” He says, not taking his gray eyes from hers, “Yes, I hunt.”

Bowen removes his hand and Channin takes her opportunity, to call him out on the rude behavior.

“You can’t just insult everyone anytime you don’t agree with them.” Bowen sighs, “Not everyone is wrong and you aren’t always right.”

William stifles a laugh, prompting a glare from the Princess.

“You’ll be joining us then?” Svetozar asks.

The General seems apprehensive, “Will the Princess be joining us?”

Isaac looks to Channin, studying her. “If she so chooses.”

Svetozar flashes a concerned look, “Is she ready for that?”

Her teacher nods, “Channin has excelled at everything she has done. Sword fighting, archery, and she’s cunning to boot.”

The King trusts his advisors opinion and heads for the castle.

“And if she fails, it’ll knock a little off her confidence.” Bowen grins. He turns to William, “Second General Bowen Blatz.”

Will accepts his handshake, “William Starker.”

“I’ve heard great things.”

“Your father was a great teacher, unfortunately, he seems to have built my reputation for me.” Will watches Isaac leave with the King.

“Not from him.”

Color rushes to Channin’s face. “I need to get out of this monstrous dress.” She curtsies without being told. ‘Way to go Channin.’ She scolds herself. She should have known Bowen couldn’t resist sharing what she had told him.

She changes into a tunic and pulls her hair down from the elaborate style. All of Amaryllis’s hard work, gone in a second. She twists it into a simple braid that, on second glance, is slanted to the left. Channin shrugs and bounds out the door. She can’t be bothered to fix it, she has been invited on a hunt. A chance to prove to her father what she can really do. She is prancing by the time she makes it to the stables.

William is already out front with his horse. She will give him credit, he has good taste in horses. Kaiser is a tall, muscular horse, dark bay with a white stripe starting halfway down his nose. He’s got three white stockings, both hind legs and his front right. He pricks his ears up when she leads Alloumera past them.

Her own horse is small, but quick. A small amount of gray on his nose and the rest of him is snow white. She looks around at the other Noblemen’s horses. Bowen’s little paint gelding matches his father’s, the other ten horses are a blend of colors, nothing too flashy, as to not over power Svetozar’s black Warlander.

She saddles Allou quickly, trying not to draw attention to herself. She can hear two Noblemen, an advisor and a Viscount. They are talking in hushed tones, but she can still pick out the words.

“I’m not sure I like the idea of hunting with the Princess.” The viscount says, “It certainly takes some of the nobility out of it.”

“It’ll certainly put her back in her place when she fails to keep up.” The Advisor mounts his horse, turning it in a small circle, “And gods know that child needs a lesson in respect.”

Channin digs her nails into her palms. She tries taking a deep breath.

“Well when your father is the king and you’re the favorite of the King’s favorite, it’s hard to have any respect for anything.”

It’s enough. Channin whirls arounds, ready to drag them from their horses and knock them both out. She turns straight into William Starker.

“Leave them be.” He says, keeping his voice low, “Fools always sing. Never dance.”

She turns back to Alloumera and pulls herself up. She checks her quiver, buckled to her saddle at her right knee. He is still watching her.

“Is there something you require of me, General or do you just have a fixation with my horse?” She can’t help but snap at him.

He smirks and moves around to Kaiser’s left and swings onto the horse, “You are fierce. Like a cornered fox.”

“I am a wolf,” She corrects him.

He tilts his head, strands of brown hair falling into his eyes, “You don’t have to defend yourself to me. I’m not attacking you, just observing.”

Wood splinters on the far side of the garden. A massive boar, black as the night, charges into the crowd of horses. Some horses bolt, one pitches his rider and gallops to the fence and then along it. Another boar, this own a muddy brown color charges after the other. The rest of the horses scatter. Alloumera reaches the gate and slides to a stop, Channin struggles to not fall over as the black boar slams into the gate, ripping it from its hinges.

Allou rears up, dodging the boar’s tusks but almost throwing Channin in the process. The third boar in the pen rushes out of the hole created by the others and targets the downed Nobleman.

Kaiser is between them in a flash. The boar crashes into the bay, sending horse and rider to the ground. The boar squeals as an arrow strikes it’s ribs, stopping it just a few feet from Will. He follows the direction of the arrow back to Channin, who has already loaded another. The boar shakes his massive head, his tusks glinting in the sunlight. Alloumera breaks into a run, leaving the garden behind him. The boar gives chase. Other horses follow his example, scattering into the forest.

Channin stops him at a small creek. The horse is sweating and breathing heavy. He cautiously lowers his nose to the water and takes a short drink. Branches snap behind her and she readies an arrow.

“Channin?” It’s Will.

“If you would so kindly stop shouting. You’ll tell the whole forest and all its creatures where we are.” She hisses as the bay horse comes into view.

Kaiser is bleeding from his knee. Nothing too serious considering the blow. Her arrow had made it just in time.

“Thank you. You really saved us back there.”

“Yeah, well you could have left that man there. He should learn to control his horse. “

“Fear is a powerful force.”

She turns to look at him. He’s keeping one hand against his horse’s neck. “That’s your excuse? The horse was scared?”

“it’s not an excuse.” He states, “A horse should trust you more than it fears anything.”

She looks back to Alloumera. Would her little white stallion jump in front of a boar? If it had been her on the ground perhaps. But he had bolted for the gate like the other horses. Kaiser, on the other hand, had charged right in. He had almost been hurt. Bad. What would he have done if someone threatened William? She shudders at the thought.

“You ready?”

“For?”

“Going after that beast.” Will pulls Kaiser around.

“What happened to not proving myself?” She puts her hands on her hips.

“You let it out.” He raises an eyebrow, “It’s not about proving yourself. It’s about honor.”

She moves Alloumera along the creek. William follows her with his eyes.

“If these are feral, like most royal zoos, they’ll find a source of water first.”

“I know how swine behave. I grew up with the high bred.” Channin grumbles.

“As did I.”

Channin ignores him, riding into the creek.

“Would it kill you to act a little more hospitable?” Will sighs.

“Perhaps.”

Kaiser splashes through the water, stopping in front of Channin, clearly urged by his rider. “What happened to you? You went from happy and lively to cold and a bit rude in a matter of days?”

“What happened to you?” She snaps back, “I saw you in the cathedral today. That’s not the way a decorated general behaves.”

“Then you’ve met the wrong ones.” He allows her to pass.

They follow the stream north to the edge of the innermost wall. They silently agree to follow it West, away from Dragonspire. It’s almost an hour of quiet between them before Channin’s mind starts screaming. ‘Talk to him.’ She scoffs aloud at the thought of apologizing first.

Finally, her brain wins. As she opens her mouth to speak, a faint sound of something rooting through the dirt stops her. She never thought she would be thankful to see the old black boar. She pulls her bow, Will mimics her. She notices the muscles in his right arm shift. He isn’t comfortable with the bow. His first arrow strikes the pigs heart. It squeals and struggles towards them. He has time to put another arrow in its left eye before Kaiser’s trust runs out.

The horse balks, pitching William to the ground. The boar is on him quickly.

Channin half jump half falls from Alloumera. She grabs her sword as the horse gallops away. Will shoves the boar towards her. He topples Over in the mud. Sliding to a stop in front of her. The princess brings the sword down against the hog. She doesn’t realize how many times until William pry’s it from her grasp.

Exhausted, she slides to the blend of blood and mud around her. Will gives her a minute and pulls her to her feet, “Well done.” He wipes blood off her face.

Bowen and Isaac arrive first. Bowen has caught Kaiser. They tie the hog to Isaacs horse and drag it back to the castle. Channin rides behind Bowen, but is more focused on her father’s newest pet. There is certainly something special about him. Something she can’t quite place

They arrive back in the garden and Channin gets her first good look at it. The gate has been torn off and rests in the grass a few yards away. The hunting hold has been shattered, two horses aside from Kaiser, have been injured. One, severely. Svetozar steps down from his horse when Isaac stops in front of him.

“Well done, Blatz.”

“The way I understand it, your majesty,” Isaac considers his words carefully, “Princess Channin killed it.”

The noblemen gather around and begin their hushed whispers.

“She did.” Will dismounts and starts to look over Kaiser’s legs.

The viscount from earlier laughs aloud. “You are now aiding her behavior?”

Will ignores him at first.

The advisor whispers to the viscount, “It’s probably all a plot. You’ve heard about the Harvest festival. I’d say they are having a festival all their own.”

Channin barely hears the comment, William responds before her. “I would recommend that you get your own bed in order before questioning mine.”

The advisor looks shocked. “What? I am an advisor to the king. You dare-“

“The whole court knows you lie with the Queens handmaiden. And I’d say at least two other women in the court. However, you wear a wedding band. But are not a widower. Does your wife know you have an illegitimate son?”

The Advisor backs up a few steps. He’s clearly afraid at what else William could find out.

“Maybe you should take into account that Shapeshifters have the heightened senses of their Soul animal.” He leads Kaiser past the advisor and the viscount. “If you’ll whisper it, you might as well shout it. Maybe you’d find the princess more agreeable.”

Channin and Bowen both stifle a laugh, prompting a glare from the viscount. Bowen stops. He knows his place. Channin only grins brighter. General Starker might be of some value after all.

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