The Wolf’s Daughter

Phaedra stared out over the lands beneath as the Transportation Pride flew slowly through the air. She’d been a bit anxious about this voyage at first, but now she was mostly just bored. Last time she’d come this far north had been when her father had summoned her, but she’d been so worried and panicked then she hadn’t had time to be bored. Or maybe she had been and she just couldn’t remember it in retrospect. Probably that.

Now? She was remembering just how long trips could take. Then again, she supposed she still had to be grateful. The fact she had an airship was a privilege that most people on this world would literally kill for. Her family truly was one of the most powerful of all the demons and it was the little things like this which truly showed it.

Her airship was very high, higher than most creatures who could fly would even think to travel. The best way to dissuade any of those on the battlefields below from launching attacks at them. Still, it gave her an excellent view of the battlefield below.

One larger speck was currently embroiled in battle with a bunch of much smaller specks, for reasons that were anyone’s guess. Possibly they were testing each other’s strength, possibly it was over the release of prisoners, possibly it was for territory or maybe it wasn’t related to the war at all. The wars in this world could be vicious, bloody, horrific things. When she’d been Medon she’d seen that.

But at other times they seemed almost casual. She’d remembered hearing tales of the wars back home, terrible lines drawn where they would shoot and snipe at each other at all times. Where even sticking a hand out from between the lines could result in you losing it.

The battlefields in this world were something else entirely. Unless there was something that needed to be taken as quickly as possible, say one side of the war had summoned some powerful hero from another world, the warfront might never move for centuries. Even the war that her father now fought in, as Fenrir, had been waged for millennia before he was born. It almost felt like they treated it more as a sport than actual battle.

Then again, sometimes entire races went extinct in these wars, so sport was probably a poor way to look at it. If it could stay like this, a more gentle, casual thing, with only the occasional fight, that would be great.

“Lady Phaedra?” Emma’s voice made her pause and glance back.

“Hmmm?” Phaedra asked. She had to resist the urge to pick up the tiny little mouse demon and give her a hug. On the edge of the ship like this and peering over the railing she imagined it would be terrifying for the poor thing to be picked up now. Just because she could survive falling from this height thanks to her wool didn’t mean the mouse could be so lucky. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, my lady,” Emma said quickly. “I… ummm…”

Phaedra blinked a few times before she gave a small grin and then knelt down to look the little mouse in the eyes. “What is it?” She could see the surprise in the mouse’s eyes, not that she blamed her. Serving under Carth as long as she had, she doubted the mouse was used to having people looking at her level. Then again, considering how often she’d picked up and just squeezed the mouse in hugs, she doubted she seemed the sort to do as such.

“Uhhhhh…” Emma said softly before motioning to the sword strapped on her back. “I ummm… I was curious, err, why?”

“Why what?” Phaedra asked.

“Why give me this sword? Wasn’t it used by the elves to try and assassinate you?” Emma asked, her voice nervous.

“Yes,” Phaedra said before, gently, reaching out to take one of Emma’s hands. “But mouse demons don’t have the most powerful claws, do they? That and the sword is magic. It’ll be useful if you’re in danger. Lu Bu should hopefully be able to keep you safe, but if something happens I don’t want you getting hurt just because you didn’t have a weapon. How are your lessons going?”

“Good,” Emma said softly. “He’s… a strict teacher. But… umm… good.”

“Yeah,” Phaedra said. “Lots of demons don’t use weapons at all. It was really fortunate that I got someone like him following me. Then again, I guess his name makes it a lot easier, doesn’t it? Being able to pass down your families expertise with your name is a nifty little shortcut. Has he been giving you any trouble?”

“Not… much,” Emma said softly. “I don’t think he likes teaching me, but he says it’s better than just sitting here and waiting.”

Phaedra nodded and then got back to her feet and peered over the edge of the ship. “I imagine he’s not used to traveling like this. Most demons go their entire lives without riding in an airship, you know. Can you believe my cousins, destroying one like that? I wonder if my uncle will make her another one. Probably. He and daddy do love to spoil their kids. No random encounters when you fly over everything, are there?”

“What?” Emma asked.

“Err, nothing,” Phaedra said, shaking her head. “Just a silly term.”

“Not to, uhhhh… question her ladyship,” Emma said softly. “But… how… are you not… ummmm…”

“Yes?” Phaedra asked.

“Cold?” Emma asked. “Isn’t the amulet you wear shielding you even more from the heat?”

“Huh?” Phaedra asked before glancing down at the magical amulet around her neck. “Well… yes, it does. I’ve never been good with the heat. The cold, though? I’m VERY good with the cold. It comes from both my parents. Dad is Fenrir, he can turn the world to ice if he desires, or so the legends say. Mom was a sheep, wool is very good at keeping you warm. I am absolutely useless the hotter it gets, but the cold? I love the cold. You’re not wrong, though. I probably should change the amulet later. I’ve been overheating for so long I’d honestly forgotten I was constantly wearing it.” She then glanced around at the deck. Only she, Emma and a few of the crew were on deck. “Is that why everyone is below deck?”

“That and I imagine the thin air,” Emma said softly.

“Mmmm, I suppose the air is thinner up here,” Phaedra said before lightly frowning. “Would you believe I barely noticed?”

“Another gift from your father?” Emma asked.

“Honestly? No idea,” Phaedra said with a shrug. “I’ve just never had trouble with it. There is so much magic in this world, though, that there’s no telling where each little thing comes from. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If you’d like to go join everyone else, I don’t mind. I… just want to look a little bit more.”

“Can you see everything going on down there?” Emma asked.

“Not really,” Phaedra said. “I can make out a few things, here or there. Mostly? I just think it’s beautiful. You can see the mountains in the distance, the camps, the fields of green. Tell me, Emma, what do you think of this war?”

“Think of it?” Emma asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Do you like it? Dislike it?” Phaedra asked. “Do you think demons should strive for peace?”

“There has always been war,” Emma said softly. “How would demons like you grow stronger without hearts? And if not for the demons, then there would be others who do. The titans, the undead, the angels. The wars have been waged since long before the mouse demons even existed.”

“I wonder if it’s inevitable when everything lives for millennia and devours the hearts of others to grow stronger,” Phaedra said wistfully.

“I wouldn’t know,” Emma said softly. “Mouse demons like me rarely fight.”

“Mmmm,” Phaedra mumbled gently. “I suppose that’s true. In some ways, you’re more the prize than the tool used to fight the war. Then again, I suppose sheep are normally the same way. Do you ever wonder if our world is strange?”

“It is the only world we have ever known,” Emma said softly.

“Right, right,” Phaedra said before waving a hand away. “You’re dismissed. Feel free to go as you like. I’ll be down shortly.”

“Of course, Lady Phaedra,” Emma said before practically vanishing.

Phaedra stared below and gave a small shrug. She supposed she didn’t have any room to judge. Her world was filled with just as much war, often for no better reasons than this world’s. Even back home she had held a different kind of privilege in that she’d never been forced to participate in those wars, but it didn’t mean she didn’t know they happened.

The biggest difference, she supposed, was that now she both had no choice but to be a part of them and she had the tools she needed to participate. She wondered if the person she had once been would have approved or thought her a monster for participating at all.

But in the end, that was the unique advantage she had over every other creature in this world. She had experiences so dramatically different from anything these people could ever imagine, in some ways she understood what it felt to truly be weak and powerless in ways few who held the advantages she had could ever begin to understand. She wondered if it would be to her benefit, or destruction, in the end.

------

“I hear that a group of gnomes once tried to burn the whole forest to the ground,” Lu Bu said. “Not a single one of them survived.”

Phaedra peered down below at the thick trees and bushes that hid the ground below. Their ship had lowered considerably now that they were past the warfront, though she couldn’t help but feel that it was almost like the ground was reaching up towards them. She’d walked through that canyon and knew the trees themselves reached hundreds of feet into the air, the mountains on either side of them the only visual measure they could use to determine how close they were to the ground. “Doesn’t sound very smart,” Phaedra said. “Those trees have grown on magic, not sunlight. They’re a lot more durable and resistant to the heat than a normal tree. Not to mention all of the wildlife there. A decent amount of it probably likes fire.”

“I’m not scared of it,” Lu Bu said quickly. “I’d burn it down in a second.”

Phaedra rolled her eyes and glanced towards the horse demon. “Why?”

“So the dryads couldn’t use it against us,” Lu Bu said firmly.

“You’d destroy the very thing that makes this valley valuable,” Phaedra said. “The plant life. Not to mention the dryads who do live there. Not just the ones we fight, but the civilians. The ones working the land. You’d take a canyon filled with life and resources and turn it into an empty, barren hole.”

“All the dryads plant their trees in there?” Lu Bu asked.

“Many do,” Phaedra said. On the upside, he did at least sound less thrilled about burning it down now. “They’re beautiful, or so I’ve heard. But there’s a lot of things in that forest that would like the fire. You wouldn’t be the first to try.”

“Have you studied them?” Lu Bu asked.

“Something like that,” Phaedra said. “It was a long, long time ago, though. Some of my information is likely a bit out of date. But burning them down would cause a lot of trouble in the long run and not do you much good in the short run. There’s a reason forests like that make such good defenses, they’re not worth destroying for all the trouble you’d be in.”

“Having an airship makes it easier,” Medea said before she walked up behind her. “I certainly wouldn’t want to have to go through those woods on foot.”

“That, at least, I agree with,” Phaedra said. “Easier than—”

“ROCKS!” a voice yelled out.

Phaedra looked up, but didn’t see anything. There weren’t any--

An explosion echoed through the canyon and the airship jerked so badly that all three of them fell to the deck, scrambling to grab something when the ship wobbled left and right. She gripped the railing and pulled herself to her hooves, holding onto it tightly and looking around.

Rocks, not rocs. Of course. She could only just make out more rocks flying through the air moments before they collided with the ship. It took her a few more moments to locate the source, thin crevices in the walls of the cliffs surrounding the canyon. That was frustrating, she couldn’t even see who their attackers were.

“Lift us higher!” Xenaris yelled out and, slowly, the ship began to gain altitude.

Good, hopefully that would--

A glint of light caught her eye and glanced ahead, before feeling her stomach lurch.

It was a trap. Driving them higher was the intent. She didn’t even have time to warn them what was coming before massive bolts of metal were sent flying at them, attached to thick ropes.

The ship jerked when two hit the hull and the fourth hit the balloon.

Phaedra’s focus was on the third.

She lunged forward, shoving Lu Bu as hard as she could, out of the path of the bolt. Unfortunately, it put her right in its way. She tried to duck under it, but the tip pierced her arm and continued on. She let out a pained scream when the force sent her barreling backwards, into and then through the railing of the ship.

There was nothing but air under her now as she plummeted towards the ground. On the positive side, the bolt had pierced her arm fully through, so all she could focus on was the terrible pain.

Then the rope on the bolt went taut and jerked on the bolt, tearing it out of her arm. She let out an agonized howl, clutching her bloody arm.

The pain was so sever she took a few seconds to realize she was in freefall. Her left hand reached up to grip her right arm and hold it close before her wool began to expand around her, enveloping her in a sphere of protective wool.

Then she hit the trees.

Within the sphere she tumbled and spun wildly, getting caught and jerking against branches and anything else that got in her way before, gradually, she began to slow down.

Finally, she came to a stop, upside down and in so much pain she couldn’t even move. But, she was alive. That was a pro, she supposed. But it didn’t feel like much of one at the moment.

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