Chapter 3: The Ambush Swapped
The signed treaty felt like a weight against my side, hidden under my leather armor. Lucius had signed it. I knew he was furious when he did it. He thought he was clever. I was not fooled. I could still see the anger in his eyes when he stamped his seal into the wax.
He thought that if I was dead I couldn't claim my land.. I was not going to die. Not this time.
"Commander, " Vance said quietly, breaking into my thoughts. His voice was barely louder than the wind blowing through the rocks. He stood beside me looking anxious as he peered over the edge of the cliff. "The men are in position in the passes of the canyon.. They are confused. They want to know why we left the road so soon after the King signed the treaty. The paths through these rocks are dangerous for the horses."
"A broken leg for a horse is better than a slit throat for a soldier, Vance," I said without looking at him. keeping my eyes locked on the empty dirt highway winding through the valley below us.
"Do you really think Lady Brenda would attack us tonight?" Vance asked with his hand on his sword. "We have a treaty now. If she breaks it, it means war with the court."
I let out a breath that misted in the cold air. Allies. What a joke.
"Lucius only signed the treaty because I forced him to, " I told Vance, turning to look at him. "He wanted my army to let their guard down.. He never planned to keep his promise. Brenda is just doing what Lucius told her to do."
I remembered what happened in my past life. I had marched down that road thinking Lucius really wanted me.. Brenda and her wolves had ambushed us, killing my men while they slept. I had barely escaped with my life.
"Brenda is there, " I said, pointing to the road. "She is waiting for us."
". How do you know that?" Vance asked, frowning. "Our scouts checked the road. Found nothing."
"The wolves don't hide where we look, " I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "They hide in the shadows, where we can't see them. They are waiting for us."
Vance swallowed hard looking at the road then back at me. "If you are right we left our decoy wagons there with nothing but straw inside. If they attack they will know it's a trick."
"That's what I want, " I said quietly. "I want Brenda to know that I am not a fool."
then a low thud echoed from the upper ridges. It was our signal.
"They're moving, " I whispered.
I pulled my cloak tighter. Crawled closer to the edge of the cliff looking down. Vance dropped down beside me, his breath catching.
For a minute everything was still. The road was empty and quiet. Then our decoy wagons moved slowly down the track pulled by mules and driven by my most experienced riders. To anyone watching it looked like a convoy.
"I don't see anything, " Vance whispered after a while. "Maybe the scouts were right. Maybe Brenda is not coming."
"Watch the trees, " I said, pointing to a patch of pines. "The wind is blowing one way. The branches are moving the other way."
Vance squinted into the dark. Then his body went rigid.
A massive shadow detached itself from the trees. Then another.. Another. They were wolves moving silently and fast. They didn't howl. They moved like ghosts across the grass converging on the road.
"By the gods " Vance breathed, his hand gripping my arm tightly. "There are dozens of them. That's Brenda's pack. The Iron Fang vanguard."
"Seventy wolves, " I said, with a cold voice . "They brought seventy killers to wipe out my guard. Lucius wanted to make sure I didn't survive the night."
"We would have been killed, " Vance stammered, with a pale face "If we had stayed on that road Commander... We would all be dead."
"I know " I said softly remembering the horror of my life.. I pushed the memory away.
Below us the ambush erupted into chaos.
A giant grey wolf sprang from the rocks onto the wagon. It was Brenda. She slammed into the driver's seat, her jaws snapping.. The driver was not there. He had jumped clear just like I planned.
The other wolves swarmed the wagons tearing through the canvas tops and straw bundles. They expected to find sleeping soldiers. There was only straw.
The attack lasted less than a minute. Then the wolves realized something was wrong. There was no blood, no screams. Only the sound of ripping fabric and scattering grass.
The giant grey wolf leaped down from the wagon landing heavily in the road. Brenda began to shift her body changing from wolf to human. She stood in the middle of the wreckage, naked and furious.
She kicked a bundle of straw away, her chest heaving as she screamed into the night.
"Where is she?!" Brenda's voice echoed up the canyon walls. "Where is the rebel witch?"
Her soldiers shifted back, into form looking panicked and searching the woods.. They found nothing.
I stood up, stepping to the edge of the cliff. The wind caught my cloak making it snap like a flag. I knew Brenda couldn't see me clearly. I wanted her to feel my presence.
Vance stood up beside me drawing his sword with a ring.
"Should we tell the archers to get ready Commander?" Vance asked. He really wanted to fight back. We have the ground here. We can shoot arrows down at them now. We can finish Brenda tonight.
"No," a mean smile spread across my face as I looked down at the trap Brenda set for me that did not work. "Let her go back to Lucius and tell him she did not get me. I want to see the look on my fiancés face when he finds out I am still alive."
Down on the road Brenda stopped screaming all of a sudden. She felt something so she slowly looked up her yellow eyes looking up at the cliffs of the canyon.
Our eyes met across the vast, dark emptiness.
Brenda froze. The color completely drained from her face as she spotted our silhouettes standing tall against the moonlit sky, completely out of her reach. She realized instantly that she hadn't just missed her target, she had been completely outplayed. Her arrogant, vicious smirk completely vanished, replaced by a sudden, sickening look of pure terror.
