The Wolves of Gryning: Prologue - A Fox's Tale
Prologue: A Fox's Tale
The feeling of being watched began at the door. Inside, walls echoed with the quiet clamor of evening, and smoke wound its hazy way between rafters. It was a cozy inn, that much was undeniable; Gryning's denizens always were much more capable of comfort than its ruling family ever had been. Even still, Luna felt watched.
A leak sprung in the thatch and dripped, rain pooling on the main support beam. The rain began to run over the beam and into the drinks of patrons, which slopped over onto decks of cards and tabletops. All attention turned to the group of beasts hastily clearing the area. Luna cast her eyes around the room, looking for the source of the gaze she still felt. Once, twice, thrice they wandered, her discerning glances picking apart the details.
There.
It was no wonder she'd almost missed it. Those eyes stared from a table beneath the stairs, in the corner and just far enough back to be unnoticeable. Luna thought the lit candle was a nice touch, diverting attention by calling it. This was no amateur she was dealing with. The fox at the table wore a hood and a mask, and leaned back in her chair so that half her body was in darkness. It was impossible to tell her age, or height. Indeed, most of her body was obscured. Luna shouldered her pack and walked past the inn's crowded center, seating herself at the fox's table.
"You have no drink," the fox said. The cloth of her mask, drawn tightly across her muzzle, muffled her voice when she spoke. Her eyes twinkled above the fabric, their starry surfaces the color of emeralds; they had been focused on Luna from the moment she'd entered, and they didn't look away now.
"Neither do you," Luna said. This seemed to break whatever hold the fox still had on her. Beneath her hood her eyes drifted down, towards her hands. She flicked a knife along the ebony edges of her nails, trimmed to sharp claw points. The fox continued her rough manicure while she talked.
"What do you want, outlander?" she said.
"My name is Luna. I've traveled a long time to get here."
"Clearly. I'll ask you once more, and then we're done here. What do you want?"
Luna leaned closer.
"The histories."
The fox snorted, leaning forward and snapping her knife into the tabletop.
"Histories? Fire and flame, whatever do you need me for? There's a library in the main keep. Take it up with the royal family, or try the chapel. They've got histories there, too."
"Not those histories," Luna said, drawing her chair in close. "I'm looking for a firsthand account."
"Why should I be able to help?" "They say you were there," Luna spoke in a low whisper now, tone conspiratorial. "They say that you traveled with King Besegrare. That you helped him restore peace."
But to this the fox made no reply. Still not discouraged, Luna tried again.
"Is it true?"
"No."
The fox now sat completely straight, her eyes narrowed. And then she coughed, a great hacking cough that wracked her body, abdomen tensing. When the fit had passed, she looked tired. Exhausted, actually. Luna was surprised, but then thought again. If this was really the beast she was looking for, she would be quite old.
"I don't believe you," Luna said.
"Listen, outlander. There was a fox who traveled with the King, once, in a past lifetime. And that fox saw and did many things. But none of those things restored peace. None of it brought the fox closer to anything. That fox fled from Gryning and vanished, never to be seen again. All of this was many many years ago, and no trace of those beasts remains in the world of the living."
"No trace at all?"
"None," the fox's voice went flat and low. She withdrew her knife from the table and began picking at her nails again.
"I've believed plenty," Luna said. "But I'm not prepared to believe that."
"Then you are a fool."
Her words dripped with venom, and her look was full of fire.
"Don't you understand? That part of my life is over. I have no wish to dwell on the past."
"Then I'm not wrong. You're the one they call Tanda."
"Wrong again. The one called Tanda has been dead many years, and I have no wish to hear his name again. Those who know me call me Jula, if they call me anything. Most of the time I am called nothing at all."
"Then it appears I was mistaken. Well met, Jula. I'll be on my way."
Luna started to get up, then stopped halfway off the seat.
"I'd be upset if I didn't ask for help, at least. Do you know anyone else I can talk to?"
"Sit down, outlander." The fox motioned with her knife. Luna did as instructed.
"Good," Jula said. "Yes, I can help you. But I have to ask something first, too. Why do you want this?"
"I'm a historian," Luna said.
"A historian?"
"It's not so odd a profession, is it?"
"Good heavens, girl. Are you joking? My time is not to be wasted lightly!"
"I mean, I'm trying to be a historian. I'm not quite there yet, but I've been working at building up a portfolio. I was going to petition the Queen for the job. But there's a vital chapter missing. The accounts of Besegrare's life have yet to be written down in any traditional capacity."
"Fire and flame," Jula laughed. "For your sake, outlander, I hope you're lying. You'll have to do better than that."
"I-It's true! I'm not making it up."
The fox steepled her fingers and steeled her gaze.
"Then I have nothing left to say. Leave me."
"You really won't help me?"
The fox had gone quiet. She snuffed the candle, drew her hood closer to her face, and leaned further back into darkness. Luna stood angrily, fur bristling. She got up so quickly that her chair screeched, nearly falling. The commotion in the inn had quieted and all faces looked her way. She didn't say anything, but turned and stormed out into the rain.
She sat perched in the branches of a tree. Had felt foolish, in fact, climbing it -- felt like a child -- but she needed a good vantage point. Like most bats in the North, Luna hailed from Sonder. The mountain city was as strong a fortress as Gryning, but its underground chambers meant that her kind dwelt primarily in the dark. That was a non-issue for Luna and her kin, who could see just fine at night, and whose sharp hearing aided them.
But here, under the cover of night, hiding in the trees, Luna thought perhaps she'd missed the fox on her way out of the inn. Was it possible that she'd left earlier?
Maybe she left while you were climbing that tree, she thought, then chided herself. No time to dwell on that.
And then it happened. Jula!
The fox left in a hurry, very quietly, and slipped from the tiled road into an alley between buildings. She went so quickly Luna almost missed her, and she said a silent prayer of thanks that she'd been watching so carefully. With an effortless hop, Luna hit the ground and set out after Jula.
She had some trouble tailing the fox. This was her first time in Gryning and she was unused to its labyrinthine interior. Every building she came across was new to her, and the crowds were big, even at night. Countless beasts lived behind these walls; most of them were wolves, but she saw other beasts as well, traders and travelers from afar. Luna saw no other bats, and realized she probably stuck out in the crowds she passed. She got smiles and nods from some, bows from many wolves, but she passed by them too quickly to return anything politely. She tried to look in a hurry.
As she followed Jula into more populous parts of the city, she was surprised to see that the walls shone like day, lit by a thousand small fires and torches. They kept the city always alight -- she'd heard that once, hadn't she? They never let the fires go out completely.
In the distance, looming over the tops of the buildings, she saw the massive dome that topped the throne room in the main keep. The marble walls glowed like moonlight on sand. A tall tower rose behind even that. The Royal Chambers. The Queen of Wolves would be in there this very minute. Sleeping, most likely, but who knew with royalty? Luna was awestruck to realize that she was really here, that she was really in the city of the royals. The city of wolves. The tales she'd heard her whole life were given shape, given form.
Luna followed the fox past more buildings and streets than she could count, under rooftops and lattices and skylights. They came finally to the arena, where duels and training exercises would be run during the day. One after the other, they stalked the night, past the arena and then past the Cathedral of Flame, its mighty turrets adorned with reliefs of the sun. They moved further into a distant group of buildings, and went through increasingly narrow alleys until they came to a wide set of stairs set between two buildings. They bored down into a massive cave opening in the ground, into the underbelly of Gryning. Massive torches lit the entrance, and swinging lamps on chains hung from the stony roof. The fox entered, and Luna followed.
Clustered in the mouth of the opening were a hundred little huts and tents, a community that extended deep into the underground. Thick rugs hung from walls as insulation and lined the floor for warmth. The community down here ignored her, keeping mostly to themselves and hiding in the relative comfort of their tents.
A cold wind blew through the tunnel, and as they made their way deeper, Luna thought two things. First, she thought that Jula's destination was very far, and began to wonder where she was heading. Second, she thought what a good stroke of fortune that Jula had not noticed her this whole way down.
A new light emerged, pale, from an opening in the wall. The floor-to-ceiling opening was, she saw, one of many in the face of the cliffs. Here the walls opened up into a new network of nooks exposed to the open air. Luna could taste the salt spray, whipped up from below by the bitter winds. And although the sea was many hundreds of feet beneath her, she could see the breakers crashing ferociously up against the bases of the cliffs, reaching for the heavens. She stuck her face out of the opening and looked upon the open sea.
Luna gasped aloud. Her journeys had taken her from Sonder, in the Rim of the World, all the way through the Foxwoods and the Kvalsdimm. She'd seen mountains, and she'd seen forests, but never had she seen anything like this. Even as she neared Gryning she'd kept to roads away from the coasts and cliffs. The open sea shocked her to her core. They called this sea the Hatskav, and it stretched all the way down to the Southern Kingdoms. The old word, part of the Ancient Tongue of the Wolves, meant "bitterness" and "pain." They said monsters prowled the deeps, and that hungry things lived just beneath the surface of those waves. Standing where she was now, she didn't care. She felt very free and alive while the wild winds whipped through her. Luna stretched her wings out to their full length and let herself be buffeted, let her mind empty.
Then she felt the tip of a knife pressed against her.
"Why did you follow me?"
Jula, Luna thought. I thought I'd been more careful.
"You know why I want to talk to you," she said.
"And I told you that wasn't going to happen. Now look where it's landed you. What am I supposed to do with you?"
"You could let me go?"
"I'm not going to kill you," Jula removed the knife. "But I should. And I nearly did, you stupid girl. Sneaking around like that. Why do you think I led you down here?"
"Led me?"
"Come with me. I have something to show you."
"I'm sorry I followed you."
"You should be. Now come, before I change my mind."
Through another series of tunnels they walked. The number of other beasts they passed dwindled until it was just the two of them together. Jula moved slower this time, letting Luna stick close behind without getting lost.
And then, while they walked, Jula sighed.
"How long did you follow me?" she asked.
"From the inn," Luna sensed discomfort and tried to offset it. "But I've never done anything like that before. I don't know what came over me. I thought for sure I'd be found out."
"Either you're very good, or I'm getting old."
"You really didn't notice me?"
"I didn't at first. Around the arena is when I got suspicious. I couldn't think of anyone who might want to follow me except with the intention to cause harm. That's why I led you down to the cliffs. Instead of an assassin, I found you."
"At home they say I'm very dedicated."
"I'm sure. I'm sure they don't say you're intelligent, either. You haven't spent much time in the world, have you?"
"I've been around," Luna protested.
"Here we are," Jula said. "Come on inside. You've much to learn."
The place they'd come to, at the end of the tunnel, was a round tent. Luna thought she'd seen similar tents in the foothills near Sonder. Yurts, she thought they were called. The nomads liked to use them for the ease with which they could be set up and taken down. Inside, Jula struck a match and used it to light the tent's myriad candles. Some were snug inside holders and sat in neat rows. Others had melted together into huge masses of dripping wax. Their warm glow cast a light around the whole interior. Luna saw and smelled the bundles of sage and incense, along with heaps of tobacco and an assortment of other shredded, ground herbs. There were a hundred deep scents, earthy and low, from the smoke of her furnace to the musky bookish scent lingering around her scattered papers.
Jula gestured at a floor cushion.
"Sit," she said. "Would you like some tea? It's quite strong, I have to warn you. Most outlanders are unfamiliar with the fireroot tea we drink up here."
The fox handed her a cup, and she sipped gratefully. The taste was bright and bitter and spicy.
"An acquired taste," Jula admitted, "But these days I won't drink anything else. Of course, the wolves prefer a much stronger version. I grow my own fireroot in the gardens and blend it with other flowers."
"I'm sorry, what gardens? I didn't see any gardens."
"Oh, not down here. Up in the city proper. The Royal Gardens. My history runs deep here; I've known the royal family for a long time."
"It's good," Luna said, sipping again. "The tea. Very warm."
"A good answer," Jula laughed. "The Queen said something similar when she tried mine. But of course, she didn't grow up with fireroot tea."
"The Queen?"
Luna tried to imagine the Queen ducking through dark tunnels in the cliffs, entering the round tent and sitting amidst the candles like she was now. All to sample this fox's strange tea. She pictured the Queen sitting on the very same cushion on which she rested now, and felt a little uncomfortable.
"Yes, the Queen. We are something of friends, and she visits me from time to time. You look surprised! I've already told you my history here runs deep."
"I didn't know it was so... So personal."
"Yes, hence my knowledge of the royal histories. Isn't that why you came to me?"
"I'd been hoping for a firsthand account."
"And I told you there are none left. I'm the closest you'll get."
The fox sat down across from her on another cushion. She set down a cup of the tea for herself, and finally removed the hood and mask she'd worn the whole time. Her facial features were strong, her muzzle sharp like a knife. Streaks of black and brown ran in her bright red fur, and all around her chin and nose were bright streaks of white. Luna saw now that the fox really was quite old.
"I thought about what you said. After you left the inn, that is. You were right, of course. The histories have received no proper documentation since Besegrare's time. Many tales have been written about his life, but nothing proper. And it is a history that deserves to be written."
Jula leaned back and sipped her tea.
"But it won't be written by me. I don't have enough objectivity. I can tell you everything that happened, as it happened, but I cannot be the one to shape it into words on the page. I'd add too much of my own color. That's where you come in."
"So you'll tell me?"
"Oh yes, I'll tell you everything you want to know. And a good deal you don't want to know about, I'm sure. But there is a condition."
"But of course."
"When you finish writing, you must bring the manuscript to me. I will be the first to read it, and I must determine whether or not it is fit to be shown."
"And if you don't like it?"
"Then it will be destroyed, and you can start again."
"I... I suppose I can do that."
"Good."
"Is that it?"
"That's it."
"All right then. It's a deal."
Luna almost couldn't believe it. All this work, all this travel, and now it was happening! She'd finally get what she'd been looking for for so long. She drank down the rest of the tea, ignoring the bitter taste, and smiled. Jula finished her tea as well, then stood and tied the mask around her face again.
"I cannot tell my story right now. I must go out and collect my thoughts. There are many loose threads in this story and I need to get them straight. It was, after all, many years ago."
She gestured at a heap of pillows in the corner, a blanket draped across them.
"Feel free to rest. You must be quite tired. When I return, we can begin."
Before she had a chance to respond, Luna saw the fox disappear into the dark. A hundred thoughts raced through her mind. What am I going to write with? And what if I'm not tired? She paced the tent and considered following Jula out into the tunnels. What if I get lost? Could she ever find her way back through these twisting halls of stone? Maybe, but maybe not. Best she stay put. Luna approached the makeshift bed and felt the pillows. They were soft, warm, and a surge of exhaustion swept over her.
"Maybe just a nap," she mumbled, settling in. She barely managed to cover herself before she was off, lost in the realm of dreams.
In the morning, Luna awoke to the peppery smell of Jula's fireroot tea. A steaming pot sat on the ground, surrounded by an array of fruits and sweetcakes dripping with honey. A sheaf of papers had been stacked nearby, with ink and quills and a glossy lap-desk. Jula sat on one of the cushions, pouring tea and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette.
"I stole them from the library," she said, gesturing towards the writing implements. "The food was a charitable donation from the Queen."
"Really?"
"Don't worry, I'll tell her later. The kitchens make more food than they know what to do with. They won't miss this."
Jula refused the food, opting for tea and cigarettes; Luna, taken by a ravenous hunger, ate greedily. She savored each sweet bite, and when she was full she arranged herself on the cushion with the desk and the papers.
It was time.
"Remember what I said," Jula began. "I am to be the first reader. To write this is a big responsibility and I will not be held culpable for the result if you butcher it. So remember, and write well."
"I will," Luna said.
"Good. I trust you can take accurate notes?"
"Of course," she uncapped an inkwell and dipped her quill, flexed her fingers.
"Then we'll put this off no longer," Jula said. "We will begin whenever you are ready."
"I think I am."
"All right then. Let's begin."