The Wolf’s Daughter

The ringing of the bell filled the air and Phaedra pressed herself up against the wall. She could see more of the dryads running through the streets towards the wall, though she didn’t see any sign of Zenodotus. Darn it, she really would have liked a chance to speak with her and there was no telling how long they were going to be here now. She gave a sigh and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes and beginning to wait.

To her surprise, there wasn’t long before she heard a voice call out. “People of Roothome! Once again, I ask you to see reason!” they yelled. “Arthur is not a cruel lord. Those of you who surrendered were not harmed, they live in relative safety and prosperity. Open up your walls, lower your weapons and surrender the elves who have no place within your borders and this entire ordeal shall be done.”

There was nothing but the sound of the ringing bell in response.

“Very well, then, once again, I offer the alternative. Defeat our newest champion in combat and we shall leave in peace, abandoning our siege.”

Once again they were greeted by silence.

Phaedra blinked a few times before looking up and down the wall. Was… that it? Was that what happened every time they attacked? She glanced up at the barrier, a magical golden field of magic that swept up from the wall, all the way to the roof of the cavern, covering the entire village and obscuring it from view. The amount of magic it was using had to be incredible, and they were doing it every time the harpies came near.

Yet all they had to do was beat their champion? Phaedra sighed and started towards the steps, her hand trailing along the wall, her magic flowing into it still. She licked her lips and started walking up the steps, trying to ignore her growing hunger before she pulled her hand away. The barrier flickered, but she ignored it. She could deal with this in a second, it’d be easy. Then she wouldn’t be hungry anymore. Then--

“What are you doing?!” Zenodotus asked, her hands tugging on Phaedra’s wool from behind and nearly yanking her back down the stairs. “Are you trying to get killed?”

“All I have to do is beat their champion and then they go, right?” Phaedra asked. “That’s easy. I can do that,” Phaedra said, wiping a little drool from her mouth. She could feel that gnawing void of hunger in her stomach only growing more demanding by the second.

“First of all, you’re wounded,” Zenodotus said. “Second of all, even if you could, they won’t keep their word. They never do. We tried that and it almost got Don and me killed,” she snapped. “They fight dirty.”

“What?” Phaedra asked, finally stopping.

Zenodotus let out a sigh of relief before letting the wool go. “We tried that. Don accepted their duel, we thought it would be good. But then Houdini ended up grabbing me and everyone on the walls he saw who was watching the fight. Two of the dryads they caught never got away, the rest of us only barely did. It was a dirty trick. That’s the kind of people they are. The moment it looks like they’re going to lose the duel, they’ll use any trick to win. And if none of us are watching they’ll probably swarm you with their people until you die anyway. So it’d just be meani—”

And then Zenodotus was gone, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Huh?” Phaedra asked. “Where are—”

And then the world twisted around her and she was standing on the edge of a dirt circle, besides Zenodotus. The sound of flapping wings filled the air and when she looked up she could see the harpies flying around them, many of them holding spears in their talons. All except for one, who was holding a silver staff in his and was flying the highest up.

The circle was close to the wall and he was flying high enough he could peer over it, allowing him to have seen the two of them.

Houdini.

…

Honestly? Phaedra really thought he’d look more impressive. She wondered if it was just the human memories of hers, though, that made her feel that way. Harpies just never seemed that intimidating to her. They were reminded her of giant chickens, with their hands attached to the end of their wings and often holding weapons in their talons. He didn’t look particularly scary, either. He wasn’t bigger or more intimidating looking than any of the other harpies, either.

Then again, he wasn’t their champion.

“Come forth, our champion!” he yelled, lifting his staff up.

Phaedra turned around and it was then she realized that the harpies had brought something else with them. An airship. Well. At least, calling it and airship was likely being generous. It was akin to an air balloon, albeit with a much larger basket on the bottom and no means to control it. Something designed to carry loads that the harpies could direct, she imagined.

Slowly, a figure stepped walked off of it, a halberd resting over his shoulder. Phaedra stared, her mouth falling open. Lu Bu.

Had he already betrayed her? He started to walk down the platform towards her, however he froze halfway down when his eyes fell on her, his mouth falling open when he saw her.

“Lu Bu!” Houdini yelled. “Now come, champions, face him or surrender!”

Phaedra didn’t move. Admittedly, neither did Lu Bu. The only ones moving were the harpies, flying overhead.

“Well?” Houdini asked. “Lu Bu!”

“Huh?” Lu Bu asked, his eyes going up towards the harpy.

“Zenodotus?” Phaedra whispered to the pixie, leaning over towards her.

“What?” Zenodotus asked.

“Can you get me into the air, or knock the harpies out of it?” Phaedra asked.

“What?” Zenodotus asked.

“Can you?” Phaedra asked.

“Why?” Zenodotus asked.

“If you can, their champion? Is my friend. And he’s a powerful one… this is our chance,” Phaedra said.

“You can’t be serious,” Zenodotus said. “I said no to fighting.”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” Phaedra asked. “So help me or pout.”

“Fine,” Zenodotus said. “I can toss you up, but it’ll be one shot,” She pulled out her book and fluttered up, onto her shoulder. “Now?”

“Yes,” Phaedra said softly. “What do you—”

“Get ready, you’re going to have quite the platform for a moment,” Zenodotus said softly before opening her book. “Oh Tomb of this Twisted World, hear me. Bring forth your champions, bidden by my call. Grant me their might and protection, so I might strike down my foes. Heed the call of the true student of the sun, wrongfully banished. I call forth the reverberation of the champion, Leviathan!”

“Leviathan?” Phaedra asked. “Banished?”

“What?!” Zenodotus asked. “You understood that?!” However, before she could ask more, the ground beneath them shook. Then Phaedra could feel something beneath her taking form. She shrieked and nearly fell over, barely maintaining standing as a great leathery blue form seemed to materialize beneath her, lifting her higher and higher into the air.

It was Leviathan.

Phaedra couldn’t move. She almost felt like her heart was going to stop. It was actually Leviathan. His actual true demonic form, rising beneath her. The great leathery, reptilian form lifting her into the air as--

The harpies stared in bewilderment, just as shocked as she was.

She didn’t have time to be stunned, she had a LOT of questions to ask but she didn’t have ANY time to ask them if she wanted to win this. She lunged at Houdini the moment she was within range. Her one good hand turned into a claw, aimed at his throat, intending to separate it from his head and--

He barely managed to react in time, managing to pull himself out of his stupor. He yanked back and kicked out, catching her with his staff in the thigh. Her claw missed his neck, instead lodging into his shoulder. He let out a pained shriek, but she ignored it and pulled him down and lunged in, biting down hard on his left wing. He screamed and thrashed, his other wing batting at her face, but she didn’t let go, only biting harder and harder as she felt the bone snap.

Phaedra felt Zenodotus flying off her shoulder, moments before the ground disappeared beneath her. Both Houdini and she tumbled through the air, but she didn’t let him go, managing to position so she landed on top of him and drove him into the ground.

All Phaedra could taste and smell and feel was blood and it was all she could do to suppress the urge to go entirely feral. Soon, she would feed. His heart would fix it all. All of the pain would leave her. He batted at her with his wing, but she ignored it, her claw yanking free from his shoulder as her legs straddled him, before she drove her claw down a second time, gouging into his body.

She lifted her claw one last time before bringing it down once more. She felt a shift beneath her and he jerked, the blood in her mouth tasting oddly different, but like this she didn’t care. Her claw tore into his chest, the magic enveloping the claw as she ripped through muscle and bone, gripping his heart and tearing it from his body. She was only barely aware of a shadow passing over her, but in her frenzied state she couldn’t fully focus on it, all she could think was finally, her prey would be dead.

Phaedra pulled her head back and stopped for a moment, blood dripping from her mouth.

The heart in her claw was a harpy’s, but it wasn’t Houdini’s. It was one of the other harpy’s. None the less, she devoured it, taking its owner’s magic into her body and feeling the rush as her body began to heal. Her wounded arm twitched and itched as the wound began to close once more, strength returning to it.

As the frenzy faded and she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized how much danger she had been. Three spears lay on the ground besides her. Two harpies lay dead. She didn’t see Zenodotus anywhere. Lu Bu was standing over her, his halberd out, bloody. Houdini was on the ground, clutching his crippled wing, panting and staring at her as the other harpies hovered above.

“You… you traitor!” Houdini yelled. “The mouse, when Arthur hears of this, he’ll kill her! H-how dare you! Over a… a… a…”

Phaedra slowly got to her hooves and stretched her arms out, over her head. “Ohhhhhh that feels so goooooood… you have noooooo idea how much that suuuuuucked. You really had me worried for a moment there, Lu Bu, I thought you might have betrayed me.”

“I thought you were dead,” Lu Bu said, glaring at her. “Why did you push me out of the way?”

“Instinct,” Phaedra said with a shrug. “I didn’t want you to get hurt and you were in its path. I really wish I’d done it better, though. I almost lost the arm and that hurt like you would NOT believe.”

“You… you know this… this sheep?!” Houdini asked.

“Oh, come on,” Phaedra said before licking her lips. “Those marks on your wings should tell you that I am so very much NOT just a sheep. You really are a master of tricks, aren’t you? Though, I guess even you can’t fly with a broken wing… the rest of you harpies might want to stay out of his sight, though. He’s already shown a willingness to sacrifice you lot to save his own hide.” While they didn’t fly out of sight, she couldn’t help but notice they were staying higher in the air than they had before. “Now then… Right… Ahhh… Lu Bu, would you surrender to me? As their champion?”

“I do not surrender!” Lu Bu said firmly.

Phaedra blinked and glanced back at him. “What?”

“I do not surrender,” Lu Bu said again.

Phaedra blinked before giving a soft sigh. “Well… fine. Will you defect, then? Or… leave their side?”

“I never left your services to begin with,” Lu Bu said.

“See? There you have it,” Phaedra said. “Close enough. So, Houdini. Originally, I came here for this town. Now, it didn’t have what I wanted, so it was kind of a waste of time. But, thanks to you and your boss, now I OWE them. Do you have ANY idea how shameful that is? I would have died and it was only thanks to their mercy I survived. But, in this case there is an obvious solution. If I deal with this ‘Arthur’ problem, then that should solve the debt of my life. Well. At least it should make me feel less bad about leaving without devoting myself to protecting them. And now? There’s a name right here for the taking. Tell me, is Houdini a harpy specific name? No… no, it wouldn’t be, would it?”

Houdini’s eyes went wider and he feebly tried to lift his crippled wing. “W-wait, I—”

“Wait?” Phaedra asked, her eyes narrowing. “How many people have you taken, plucked from those walls? How many helpless? How many wounded? How many children?” she asked, taking a step forward. “I had one arm, yet you had no objection to taking me, now did you? But now… you’re the one with only one arm. Huh. Or would it be one wing? It does have a hand, but it has feathers. I’m honestly not quite sure which you’d count it as. Not that it really matters, though.”

Houdini looked around wildly, his head turning in all directions. She lunged at him, claws out.

Zenodotus suddenly appeared in front of her.

Phaedra leaped over her with ease, landing behind her and Houdini, her claw plunging forward and thrusting through Houdini’s back. He let out a startled gasp. “H-how…”

“You have one trick,” Phaedra said softly. “I’ve seen it too many times at this point. I’ll take it… and your name.” She pulled his her claw back, tearing his heart from his body. She stared at it for a moment.

Now that she was no longer in the demonic frenzy, she could feel trepidation starting to sink in and she quickly devoured it before she could allow the human side of herself to overthink it. Already there were so many strange things about the hearts of this world. Like why did so many things in this world have black hearts? Many creatures had red blood, or green blood, a few even had purple blood, but they all had black hearts. Was it a part of the magic, or was it something else? What other organs did most magical species of this world share? Would her heart have turned black by the time she’d died, had she lived long enough when she was human?

Phaedra took a long, slow breath before looking down at the body of Houdini. Once-Houdini. That was always the most confusing part of names like this. She wondered what his name had been BEFORE he had been Houdini.

It--

Oh.

Phaedra stumbled backwards and fell to one knee as she felt the rush of magic swirling through her, not from the heart this time, but from the name. Houdini. The master of escape. Of movement. Of teleportation.

Huh. She supposed she really had been lucky she’d caught him by surprise. He’d have been near impossible to get her hands on, otherwise.

“He mentioned a mouse, right?” Phaedra asked. “Emma?”

“Yes,” Lu Bu said. “They took her hostage. As much as disgraceful as it is to admit… after you sacrificed yourself to save me… I felt the only way to offer any redemption was to do the last task you had given me, to the best of my ability. I couldn’t guarantee her protection without becoming his champion, but…”

“And… everyone else?” Phaedra asked.

“Captured,” Lu Bu said. “Your ship was crippled, but—”

“As long as everyone is alive, that’s fine,” Phaedra said before she glanced at the flying harpies. No, she supposed she still had a lot to do, didn’t she? That… and Zenodotus.

It seemed things were just getting started.

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