Codex Lupatrus

A story by the Festiv Shade.

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When did this happen? We were at war, but it was in a quieter time. The Cinerans assailed Monlon, but it had been that way for long and long. They were driven out of Blackvine, again, but that poor village had not begun to rebuild. The Traevenant Militia had not yet formed. Feysal lay entombed living in the rock, portal swirling in his middle.
In short, a long time ago.
In those days, I spent more time out of the city, rather than in. I longed under the trees watching Vladmir make torches, or danced with the occasional bandit. Looking back, I say it was a fairly peaceful time.
We met a man in the grasslands, Lupatrus his name. He moved oddly, spoke oddly, and there was a dire wolf at his side. Who am I to comment on peoples pets? I did not think much of it, except to know that I would consider him a good man. And yes, the dire wolf at his side was all it took for me to consider him good. We became friends, after a fashion.
He seemed a perfect sort of person to me. He was a man, and yet he lived with wolves as a wolf. He was of the pack. Many of us admire wolves. Even as we hunt them for their hides, or protect ourselves from their attacks, we carve their images on our staves, weave them into our clothing, blazon them on our shields. Our admiration does not usually serve them well, but humans are predators, so are wolves. There is bound to be strain.


He was a happy man, in his quiet way. His world was a good one. His pack was healthy, and eight cubs had been born. I like babies, so I was thrilled by the news. Vlad humors me.
Vlad and I promised to help him hunt meat for the cubs. Many many leech snakes died, we left the meat in sacks near the ford. Why? He had become our friend, and we help our friends.
A thing happens, ten weeks later another thing, and you might not be there for one, but for another, and it is hard to see the pattern when you live it.
One day, a hunter came to Vetallun, wolf hunting he said, Hed pay good money for pelts. Some of us raced for the woods to give the warning, but we were late. Some sped to Vetallun excited by money and hunting. Rindak was one… he and I were at odds ever since, may his soul wander lost.
The hunter had been busy, two cubs were dead. Lupatrus was grieved, enraged. I swore it would stop, and told him to gather the pack and hide. This was not a fight for him to fight, we would solve it.
We found many gathered at the Perry. The hunter was holding court…He was drinking rather heavily, boasting of the two pelts he already had. He got too excited while kissing me, and… passed out. Vlad and a couple others helped him upstairs to sleep it off. He was found wandering the streets of Vetallun, stark naked and reeking of cheap ale. He swore I had tried to kill him. He even tried to press charges.


I ask, how? I was in the middle of a room, surrounded by people, even soldiers. Not one single soul present saw me do more than kiss the man, there was not a mark on him.
Aulus, at the fort, sent him away as a hopeless drunkard, and indeed he still reeked. There were no charges as you can imagine, and worse, it was found he had no coin to pay those he promised for pelts, so, the fever to hunt vanished as quick as it came. Hardly the first attempted swindler we had seen.
Lupatrus was glad to know the danger was ended, and took the pack further out. I saw him once after, a small matter of bandits and my silver anklet with bells. The pack had loved chasing them, and I was glad to have the trinket back. After that, he was not often in the woods and fields, too many people, but we still left meat.
The next was trouble with the Soldiers of Ereal. Wolves were plaguing them, not small wolves, dire wolves. The attacks were uncanny, almost human in their execution. The Soldiers, mighty fighters, with only a few Glastien-like exceptions, were sore beset.
Another oddity, there was a note. This note demanded that the Soldiers stop slaughtering dire wolves, unconditionally. This note had been marked with a red paw-print and signed by Diegon.
This was worrying. Wolves, no matter how smart, cannot write.


At the same time, a temple artifact had gone missing. The then Captain of the Soldiers of Ereal had been murdered in the Harbor Shrine, and the artifact broken into three pieces. Many of us had searched, with scant success. We had a shard, two, but the third eluded us, and now, suddenly the Soldiers were attacked by wolves.
Wolves that fought as men, a missing artifact, these, to me at least, spelled either brilliantly trained circus beasts, or magic. Diegon… I cannot tell you how that name bothered me. I knew no Diegon, but I did know a Gideon. He was a vicious servant of Ravan. And he was a victory for Payne.
Gideon had kidnapped Licinius Dendrius, an entire troop of greenies out on training. He had slaughtered those poor men and almost Licinius as well in an attempt to raise his god. Only three of us had gone to look: Pompeii, Locanda and me. We fought our way to an altar outside the city, they did, Locanda and Pompeii. I lured Gideon into the light, and the sunlight falling on him reduced him to a pile of stinking ash.
We had not been fast enough to save the men, they burned alive.
Diegon, with the letters rearranged, spelled Gideon. I do not much like coincidence. I was not the only one. Accordingly we trooped out to Blackvine to see for ourselves. Indeed, there were dire wolves, and a tall, hooded man commanded them. I could not get a good look at him. We had to fight, but I noticed one thing, the wolves did me no harm. I made excuses, I was the only female, and I wore only leather and silk, no metal, but I wondered.


The new commander, Sinethren, was not someone I liked much. He was too arrogant by half, and was by no means a man as good as Fidecus had been. Be that as it may, he was what we had to deal with. He looked harried when we arrived. His people were ill, struck down by a sickness that defied understanding. They could not defend themselves against attack. Also, there was a conspicuous absence of wolf pelts, considering the charge that they had been killing the beasts.
We pitched in to help with the sick. His men adored him that much was plain. There was much to do, most of them had been felled by the illness. There was tea to administer to the helpless, men to help to the latrines, bedding to clean… I worked along with everyone else, but my mind raced. Chiefest of my thoughts was Lupatrus, who was not Diegon.
The more I thought, the less it seemed possible that there could be two dire wolf packs so close. So, out to the wild again. We found Lupatrus, or rather, he came when I called. More accurately, he found us, and he was not in a good temper. Hunters again, he said, but the pale man had come to warn him. He lent his wolves to harry the Soldiers of Ereal.
We were puzzled, we knew no pale man. Well, I did. Gideon. He was pale as bone, pale skinned, pale haired, pale eyed, with flesh like an overfed maggot. I did not much like Gideon. I explained what I suspected, not easy when one speaks to a man whose horizon is bounded by the concerns of a wolf pack.


Lupatrus answered willingly enough, yes the pale man wanted the shard. And yes the Pale Man had come all help and concern. The descriptions matched. It was Gideon. I begged for time, begged him to call the pack off. Lupatrus remembers a right as well as he remembers a wrong, and he remembered the endless sacks of meat Vlad and I left his cubs. He remembered the hunter in Vetallun.
He said he would hold his pack.
How Gideon had been reborn I could not imagine. He had new name, new plan, same master, Ravan. How that ended is in a song, Wetting the Ashes. I will not repeat the tale here. But, when it was done, I had learned to respect Sinethren, if not like him, he kept his word.
We did not see Lupatrus often, but he was there, I heard the pack some nights, and others saw him, but the bandits were many now, and stronger, trained by Brith. I did not find the woods as safe as I once had, and though the Traevenant Militia would gladly escort me wherever I wished, they had better things to do than humor me as I wandered for no reason.
Others came to know Lupatrus, Kered, Kaylarae, Shalidear, others. They knew him, liked him. He helped in small ways now and again, amused when the pack could play, as he called it.
But then, then came Nyx. A Bandit Queen she called herself. Caravans she killed. Men and women died. And the pack, they died too. Nyx wanted every dire wolf to die so that her bed could be made of their hides. This she told an archer she met.


Lupatrus was warned, but he had known there was new danger. Still, when one of his young took ill, he went for medicine. Grendol met him then, I believe, and others. There was no medicine to be had, but Gallinus promised, a week, not longer.
But Gallinus set a truly staggering price. Lupatrus is a wolf, they do not have money, they have no need. Luckily, Grendol said he would pay.I went when the time was appointed for the medicine to be ready. I had missed Lupatrus, and was eager to see him again. I was concerned to hear a cub was ill.
Many of us were there, Indea, Saben, Kered, and others. We sat in the orchard in the rain; the Perry was uncomfortable with a sick cub. I held the baby, poor darling, chewing bits of meat and tucking them into its mouth.
A woman arrived, beautiful, gorgeously dressed. Far too much finery for Vetallun, unless she had been an entertainer, but looking at her, I knew she was not. I did not know what she was, but whatever she was, I did not like it.
Lupatrus told her, You smell of silk and smoke.
I thought it odd. I knew a silk caravan had been destroyed. It had been overrun by more than one hundred bandits. The caravan guards had been burned, the master kidnapped, only a terrified servant lived.


I could smell nothing, but I did not question what he said; he lives by his nose.
She spoke sweetly, kindly, saying they should take the cub out of the rain, lest the wet ruin the medicine. She said many things, all sweet, but none rang true. She wanted to take him with her, him and the cub. She wanted him to gather all the pack.
But Lupatrus did not like it either, and her story changed every moment. And then, bandits filled the meadow. We fought, many of us fell, and I fled with the cub. Lupatrus was taken. His pack trailed them in vain. I ran for Iridine.
The TM scoured the woods. Legio held exercises searching step by step. No one found any trace.
I had a dire wolf cub, and my patron made me keep it under lock and key. I fed it myself, day and night. I hunted fire- lizards when I was not locked in the domus. I cooked the meat and bit off bits, chewing them enough so the cub could eat. I had the medicine, Iskara had made it, but none of us could figure out how it was to be given.
We waited. We searched. A complaint was lodged about the cub. I left the city so there would be no issue. Several of us haunted Vetallun, and I am grateful Vazkor could travel with me. Irelius came too, and Kered was always about.


Lupatrus had been taken from the meadow, it was there I was most often. I knew the pack would be anxious about the cub. I was there with Irelius, Kered, and Vazkor when the wolf came. It whined, it was careful, it nosed the cub I held. Then it made it clear I was to follow. We armed, and we did as we were bid.
Kaylarae joined us, and bless her she asked no question about why we obeyed a wolf instead of hunting it. There were wolves all around us as we went. We could see them as they followed, herding us. Our wolf led unerringly. Nyxs camp. Lupatrus was there, bound, and Nyx was torturing him.
I sent the wolves away. They are used to Lupatrus, they understood after a fashion, but they knew this was not a fight the pack could win. We swept into the camp and attacked. Lupatrus was bound hand and foot, his hair had been braided and he had been pegged to the ground by it as well.
I dont remember in the madness, how we cut him free, but we did, and took him away. I was burdened with the cub, there was little I could do, except keep the cub safe. Kaylarae took Lupatrus away with her. I caught up to Kaylarae and Lupatrus. He was dazed and sorely hurt. I laid the cub in his lap to comfort him. He had been burnt and cut and bitten.. There was no place on him that had not been abused.
It made me ill to see, it broke my heart, it made me wish to murder Nyx slowly. I washed him, getting the bandit stench off him. I did what I could for his wounds. I combed his hair and freed it of all the knots and braids. He trembled, and he barely knew us. He let me touch him, but I think because he was too hurt to do for himself.


I finally had the sense to summon his pack; not that they had been far. I gave him the medicine for the cub and he knew how to tend it. I bade his pack clean his wounds, I knew they would anyway.
Lupatrus looked better but there was madness in his eyes as he gathered the cub to him and his pack, and fled from us. Back at the camp, the bandits were dead. Kered had Nyx unconscious and bound. We waited as Indea came, and Kered gave her over for trial, in the name of Senator Traevanant.
If Indea had not come, I think I would have slain her out of hand. As it was, I wanted her to hurt and bleed for every mark on him.
The trial took forever to arrange. No one would defend her. No one wanted to lose, and there was no power on earth that would let her escape. I offered, but I know nothing of law, I merely wanted to ensure the trial happened. But as it was, the trial date was set.
She spoke for herself, and looked unwell, but smug. She said she was the daughter of Argonus, a Cineran General, and that lost among us, she had only done what was right by her lights.
Her only defense, she said was her belly. She was with child. The pretty little wolf boy. she said when asked to name the father.
She was found guilty, of course. Sentenced to die by being torn into quarters. I offered to take the child, but I was not heard. And now, I had to think. Lupatrus was my friend, and if he was that childs father, he had the right to know. However, he had been raped.


And for anyone who might laugh, trust this, it is not so hard to do, and all the more terrible because while a woman knows this is her risk, a man never thinks it and it destroys him when it is done to him.
Finally, I discussed the matter with a man I knew, one I trust above all others, one who would understand, for he had been a captive and badly used though spared…that. He said I was bound to tell Lupatrus, and so I went out to the woods.
I went by day, I went by night. I called and I called, and I knew I was heard, but they did not answer, they did not come. I went again after the great festivity in the amphitheatre, a triumph for my patron, and admittedly for me. But still I had to go. I took guards this time, for matters were different, and I no longer walk alone as I wish. But they did not answer.
Then, one came from Nyxs father. He offered recompense to retrieve her. He was soft spoken, mannerly, decent. Some witless man saw fit to tell him she carried a child, and whose child it was. I was beside myself with rage, for Lupatrus did not even know he had a child and the matter was being bandied with strangers who wished her well. I could barely speak for rage.
I went out and called again, searching harder this time. Still they did not come. I went back to Vetallun, to see what would be done with the messenger and found it was a matter for Legio and governors and senators and other such beings.


But then, I heard the howl. I left straightaway. Tuatha, Grendol and Irelius at my heels.. I called from the meadow, but they did not answer. I checked the bridge to be sure the emmisary was well away. Dumond joined us, and we went back towards the city. I howled as I went, calling for the pack.
The pack answered and we went to meet them. Irelius remembered enough to caution the others to keep their weapons sheathed.
You will not understand, he used to be so free, so untouched by hurt, and he now was afraid of our lights and our armor and our humanness. He could not bear to be touched, not even by me. When he spoke his voice was hoarse, as if he had nearly forgotten how to speak to humans. His pack was uneasy, we never saw more than their shadows and their eyes. They would have slain us if we had hurt him.
It took us a long time to explain. He could not understand us. He was in too much pain, and too hurt. I bowed myself to the ground, submissive as one wolf to the pack leader, and I wept for him, for Lupatrus never learned to weep, wolves dont.
What would he do with a child he wanted to know. What would it eat, how would he care for it?
We could answer. Irelius told him how having a child was amazing and wondrous. Tuatha said the same. Dumond spoke of the danger and the joy. Grendol could not speak. I could only say I would help, that I knew how to care for a infant.


He crumbled then, and crept to me as a cub might crawl to its mother. He whimpered like a hurt pup. I held him and rocked him and tried to wrap myself around him to protect him from all the horror and hurt, to take away the pain. I rocked and I sang and I hid us both in my hair while the night crept into daylight.
What must I do? he asked. The cub must not be hurt.
The assistant consul must be spoken to, that much we knew. But I knew another who might be able to move quickly. With the emissary here, and political bargains to be made, there was little time to waste. His eyes were his own, but there are scars are in his soul.
I called you, I told him. I called and called.
I was hiding, he told me. I was hurt. I wanted to hide.
I understood. Night knows I understood. And all of us with him that dawn had been hurt to our souls one way or another. We all knew.
He told me, I will not hide from you again.
"I will always come when you call, I promised. Always. If the pack sings, I will come.


He left us then, with the sun touching the world to light. First to seek the one to help him claim his unborn child, and then to sleep, for wolves are sensible and sleep in the light.
But the last thing he said, the very last, What to name a cub
And so, here we are. The reparations were not accepted, she is to die, soon now. I expect trouble, of course. I do not know if the child was born. I suspect the Cinerans will come and try to save her. I expect the wolves will come too. I wrote the Assistant Consul, begging for the child to be born and given to its father.
But that is all the tale today, and none of us can see tomorrow.

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