The Wolf’s Daughter

“Ah, so you’ve heard of me?” Don Quixote asked.

“A-a little,” Phaedra said, unable to stop herself. “Just a little bit. It’s a… very special name.” Oh, how desperately she wished she could talk to Yroth about this now. “I was not aware you were here, though. I’d heard of a powerful and unique goblin, with an amazing name. But I had no idea that… uhhhhh…”

She was being glared at, once again, by Zenodotus.

“What?”

“How did YOU hear about the boss?” Zenodotus asked.

“Obviously, my reputation precedes me,” Don said proudly.

“Err, the rumor I heard was that the goblin here had a, uhhh, cursed name,” Phaedra said.

“A cursed name? Bah, there is no such thing,” Don said with a harumph before shaking his head, a hand moving under his chin. “No, princess, you will find that I am no curse, I am… a legend.”

“Can names be cursed?” Zenodotus asked, once again her face disappearing into her book.

“No!” Don said firmly.

“Why do you keep calling her princess, anyway?” Zenodotus asked.

“What? Because that’s what she is!” Don said, standing up a little straighter. “How can you not see? She shines even more brilliantly than you do.”

“She does what?” Zenodotus asked, her eyes focusing on Phaedra with such intensity they could almost burn.

“Uhhhhh… I’m shining?” Phaedra asked before looking down at her wool. Frankly, it was a mess, covered in so much dirt and filth she almost felt ashamed looking at it. For him to say she was ‘shining’ in any meaning of the word made her suspect that there was more than a bit of madness to his name. But the way Zenodotus was now staring at her made even more worried that she might have missed something important.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Melas said quickly. “The boss just… sees things. It’s not always important. You can never know if what he sees means something or not.”

“I can say I’m not a princess… though… huh…” Phaedra mumbled, glancing away. Well, she wasn’t. Fenrir wasn’t a king. But he kind of could be, in a weird way? And she had a dragon who she lived with, now. That was princess-like, wasn’t it? Well. At least in her world. In this world, she supposed it wasn’t.

“What do you mean ‘huh’?” Zenodotus asked, glaring at her even more intensely.

“I was just thinking in what ways I could qualify as a princess,” Phaedra said sheepishly, her wool starting to expand around her defensively. Unfortunately, this brought a hiss of pain when it forced her arm to move. She quickly retracted it again. “S-sorry, instinct.”

“Worry not, princess,” Don said, bowing his head politely. “I give you my word, I will not allow those harpies to lay so much as a single feather on you. This town is under my protection, and it—”

The rest of his words were cut off by a distant clanging.

“Melas, stay out of sight!” Zenodotus yelled before she flew off, disappearing further up the stairs and into the town proper.

Don frowned before glancing to Melas. “Squire, take the princess somewhere safe. Make sure she stays well hidden.”

“O-of course, boss,” Melas said.

The goblin then turned and ran up the stairs, leaving the pair of them behind. The dryads who were at the table with him when they arrived followed after a few moments later, after picking up some of the maps from the table.

“Is that the alarm bell?” Phaedra asked. “The harpies are attacking?”

“Probably,” Melas said before walking over to sit at the table the goblin had been standing by before their arrival. Maps were strewn all over it, but there weren’t any markings on them. She imagined the dryads had taken the ones they’d been working on with them. “They might just be taunting us at this point, though. It doesn’t change anything. The moment they start coming out, everyone who’s not a fighter needs to stay out of sight. Everyone else has to go help with the barrier.”

Phaedra gave a small nod and walked over to sit by him. “Have they been attacking for long?”

“Eh, long enough,” Melas said with a shrug. “Zenodotus, the boss and I only arrived a while ago, though. We came by land. The boss was hired to help protect the elves fleeing, but...”

“You managed to get here, only to find out the place was being sieged?” Phaedra asked.

“Exactly,” Melas said. “Even I can move a few people through those woods, but there’s no way for me to get all of them through it safely. As long as we’re under siege, we can’t afford to be away for long, either.”

“About that,” Phaedra said, trying to adopt as relaxed a tone as she could. “Aren’t… you a little young to be out on your own? I mean, you seem… capable enough. But you’re still just a child.”

“I’m not on my own,” Melas said, just a hint of annoyance in his voice. “I’m with Zenodotus and the boss.”

“Well, yes,” Phaedra said quickly. “But, err, I mean… do you work for him? That sounds dangerous. He doesn’t strike me as the sort to… uhhhhh…”

“He took Zenodotus and me in when we didn’t have anyone else, especially since Zenodotus… well…” Melas trailed off, eyeing her for a moment.

“What?” Phaedra asked.

“I actually shouldn’t talk about it,” Melas said quickly. “Err, no offense. Ummmm…”

“But I’m a demon,” Phaedra said. “And even if I wasn’t, I’m not one of the refuges or the people who live here. I could be anything, even a threat.”

“Are you?” Melas asked.

“Ehhhh,” Phaedra said before glancing towards the stairs. “I was, possibly, once. I’m not now. Your ‘boss’ is actually probably the person we were looking for. But we’re not, now!” she said quickly when Melas started to get up. “His name wasn’t known. If we knew it was Don Quixote, we wouldn’t have bothered. But I can’t exactly tell them that now. We’re not after the elves, though. When we go somewhere we want a glory and exciting battle. Not to chase down and terrorize people who are running and hiding.”

“So you just want to fight?” Melas asked.

“Sort of,” Phaedra said with a shrug. “Sometimes. If it was up to me I’d stay home, snuggle up to someone warm, maybe try and become a better cook, try and figure out how sustainable my territory is. Get my friends safe, figure out what I want to do with my life. But before I can even try and do something like that, I’m going to have to fight. Probably a lot.”

“You have territory?” Melas asked.

“I shouldn’t have said that, should I?” Phaedra asked before shaking her head. “Please, don’t worry. You saved my life, one way or another. I’m indebted to all of you and I have no intention of causing you any trouble. But I’m not ‘just a sheep’. Though if you could pretend I am? That’d be great. It makes people underestimate me a lot and that is usually helpful. Though, honestly? I’m really starting to wonder why everyone looks down on sheep so much. The stories I hear about my mother are pretty amazing.”

Melas was just staring at her now and, frankly, she’d seen that look far too often, both as Medon and as Phaedra. Concern.

She took a slow, deep breath, before giving a small smile. “Err, so ummmm… why are the harpies attacking you? I thought Roothome got along well with them?” At least, last time she’d been here with Atlas there had been plenty of them. Now that she thought about it, the only people she’d seen since coming here were elves and dryads. Don and Zenodotus had been the sole exception.

“I think they did,” Melas said. “But that was before Arthur.”

“Come again?” Phaedra asked. “Before who?”

“Arthur,” Melas said. “Why are you grinning like that?”

“S-sorry,” Phaedra said before she tried, desperately, to stifle the grin and desire to squeal. “So, Arthur, who is Arthur?”

“He took over some territory to the west, the along the main pass coming here,” Melas said. “Apparently ever since he has been attacking this town. Aid has been slow in coming and many people ended up fleeing. Worse, Arthur’s second-in-command is a mage named—”

“Merlin?!” Phaedra asked, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“No?” Melas said. “Houdini. A mage named Houdini. He’s incredibly dangerous. While I haven’t seen it myself, they say he can teleport anyone he sees directly to his side. When they first attacked, he’d grab lone defenders from the wall and then they’d be surrounded and either killed, or restrained, before they had a chance to fight back.”

“Wait… really?” Phaedra asked. “That’s… oh… Wait, will the defenders be okay?”

“Yes,” Melas said. “They have outcroppings in the wall they can hide behind to ensure that nobody gets seen. But now whenever that bell gets rung, everyone needs to make sure they’re out of sight. They have to keep enough people near the wall at all times to ensure they can keep the barrier up, otherwise the harpies can just fly over the wall.”

Phaedra nodded, though despite herself she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “So… this Arthur. Does he have a sword?”

“What?” Melas asked.

“Does he have a magic sword?” Phaedra asked.

“He does, actually,” Melas said before inching away from her. “Are you okay?” he asked before glancing towards the stairs. “I should… go ensure that everyone down below is doing okay…”

“What? Oh! Sorry, sorry,” Phaedra said, waving her good hand dismissively. “I’m just thinking. This… Arthur? I don’t think he and I are going to get along at all. But it’s not every day that something this perfect just falls into your lap, you know? Ohhhh, it’s actually kind of exciting!” She couldn’t help it, she gave a bit of a cackle, her good hand going up to her mouth.

“Of… of course,” Melas said, before quickly getting to his feet and rapidly walking towards the stairs, giving her a bewildered and worried look.

Phaedra felt just a tiny bit bad, but she couldn’t linger on it. She felt too excited!

Arthur. With a MAGIC SWORD! It couldn’t be more clear if there was a giant neon sign pointing towards him. This was the perfect target, the world was practically TELLING her who he was.

If her name was supposed to be Morgana, then she was the foe of Arthur. And if she was the foe of Arthur, that meant THESE harpies were her enemies. And if these harpies were her enemies… well…

If Arthur was her enemy and was attacking these people, then she could save them. It also made her feel a lot more relaxed about Lancelot being a part of her group. Maybe it was because he was destined to fight Arthur with her. A shame that she didn’t have a Mordred, that would have been another person she could use.

She desperately wished that Yroth was here, she wanted so badly to be able to talk with someone about this. She couldn’t wait for this attack to be over, the sooner she could talk with Don, the better.

------

“You want to fight Arthur, yourself?” Zenodotus asked.

“Yes,” Phaedra said. “He and his people are the ones causing you problems, aren’t they?”

“Indeed they are,” Don Quixote said. “However, I cannot allow this.”

“Why, because I’m a sheep?” Phaedra asked.

“Because you are wounded,” Don said, shaking his head. “You being a positively radiating princess, however, is another consideration. I could never allow you to attack his outpost alone and we do not have the forces to spare at this time.”

“If we don’t get help soon, we’re never going to have forces again,” Zenodotus said bitterly. “Maintaining that barrier gets harder every day.”

“We have no choice,” Don said. “Not after last time.”

“What happened last time?” Phaedra asked.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Don said.

“That Houdini is a coward,” Zenodotus said, her voice filled with vitriol. “He made a deal. If we fought his ‘champion’ and won? He’d leave us be. We thought it was a good idea at the time…”

“What happened?” Phaedra asked.

“I won, naturally,” Don said, the goblin standing a little taller.

“And as he was about to land the finishing blow, Houdini ended up grabbing some of the watchers from the wall,” Zenodotus said. “It was just another trick. They almost got the boss and would have, if I hadn’t managed to cover him. He then said because the battle wasn’t ‘finished’, it won’t count. We’ll need to beat his champion again. But even if we do win, he won’t keep his word. He’s either going to launch some trap while everyone is hiding, or grab whoever he can from the watchers.”

“But if this Houdini was stopped, what would happen then?” Phaedra asked.

“They’d still have all the people they took,” Zenodotus said. “But at least then we COULD fight back. We can barely even launch a spell at them, just in case Houdini catches a glimpse of us.”

“If I can stop Houdini, can you help me get to Arthur?” Phaedra asked.

The pair were silent then, instead staring at her.

“What?” Phaedra asked.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Zenodotus asked. “You’re in no state to be fighting anything.”

“I’m a demon,” Phaedra said. “We heal better in battle. Besides, you’ve been feeding me, so I already feel far stronger than I was. On top of that, nobody here really wants me around, do they? You saved my life, so I owe you. This guy is probably the one who hurt me and has the rest of the demons who came with me. I have every reason to fight him, you have nothing to lose. Us working together here is, well… frankly? It’s the best of all options. It gets me—”

“It gets you killed,” Zenodotus said. “I’m not exactly the type to extol the virtues of demonkind, but I don’t want you throwing your life away just because… why even ARE you planning to throw it away? Because you owe us a debt? If you—”

“I’m not throwing it away,” Phaedra said. “I… wait. Where is Don Quixote?”

“Oh damn it,” Zenodotus said when she realized he wasn’t there. “Stay HERE, sheep! And don’t do anything stupid!” she yelled before flying up the stairway to the outside.

Phaedra blinked a few times before shrugging and following after her. Her injury wasn’t…

…

Okay, it was incredibly bad, but the more she ate, the more she’d heal. Demons were durable like that. Even if she was ‘just a sheep’, so long as she got food, her body would repair all of the damage, bit by bit. Besides, Yroth got her arm hurt and was just walking it off, she could do it too.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!