We returned to Winterfang, battered and defeated.
As our party passed through the massive city gates, we were met not with celebratory horns, but with a dead silence. On both sides of the road, the people of the pack had gathered, their faces etched with worry and questions.
Liam was the first to push through the crowd. His eyes darted over each of us, and the tense lines on his face relaxed slightly only when he saw that Kaelen and I were still alive.
Kaelen didn't stop. He dismounted, and despite his exhaustion and injuries, he led us straight through the crowd towards the main keep's council hall.
More people were already waiting there.
The entire council of elders, led by his uncle Barton and the High Priestess Morgana, stood grimly at the entrance to the council hall. Behind them stood the families of the fallen warriors, who had come upon hearing the news.
The atmosphere was suffocating.
Kaelen slowly sat down on the main throne. He slammed his longsword, stained with black blood, into the ground beside him with a dull, metallic clang. Then he glanced at his second-in-command, Drake, and gave a slight nod.
Drake stepped forward and, facing everyone, began his report in his steady, hoarse voice.
"We reached the Wailing Canyon."
"There, we were ambushed by an army of 'Ghoul-Wolf Knights.' Our… losses were heavy."
"Captain Ethan of the Grey Wolf tribe… sacrificed himself heroically to cover our retreat."
A few suppressed sobs came from the crowd. Gavin swayed, nearly collapsing.
Drake paused, as if the next words were even harder to say.
"Those 'Ghoul-Wolf Knights'…" he took a deep breath. "They… they were our missing kinsmen."
The sentence struck everyone present like a physical blow.
"What?!"
"Converted?"
"By the Moon Goddess… how is that possible?!"
The front of the hall instantly erupted in a chaotic mix of grief and horror. The expressions on people's faces shifted from initial anger to a deep panic and shock.
The enemy was no longer just the enemy; they were their former family, friends, and brothers.
The hall descended into a maelstrom of grief and panic following Drake's report.
At that moment, the white-bearded Greymane elder suddenly stepped forward. He didn't go to comfort the families of the fallen first, but instead walked to the center of the hall, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
"Everyone," his voice was like a clap of thunder, instantly silencing the din. "We have lost fine warriors, our ancestors have been desecrated, and our home is facing an unprecedented threat. But has it not occurred to any of you to ask one question?"
All eyes were drawn to him.
"Why?" he asked, enunciating each word. "Why have the dead, who have slumbered for hundreds of years, awoken at this particular time?"
He paused, his gaze turning to us.
"General Drake," he began, looking at Drake, "I ask you, before you were ambushed, at the entrance to the canyon, did anything unusual happen?"
Drake frowned, as if trying to recall. "Unusual? No… we were just looking at the map."
"And then Lady Luna… she recognized the runes on the stone tablet," Rosalind added.
"Recognized the runes?" the elder's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's as it shot towards me. "How could a half-blood, who grew up in the South and cannot even shift, recognize our northern ancient 'Sealing Runes'?!"
"I…"
"I couldn't believe it either," Rosalind immediately interrupted me. "But Aila did read the words on the tablet, and then… the monsters appeared. Captain Ethan… he died protecting us…"
"Rosalind! What are you implying?!" Ulf was the first to lose his temper. He stepped forward and retorted loudly, "Lady Luna just thought the symbols were familiar! And it was she who killed the monster leader with the silver dagger and found their weakness! She saved all of us!"
"She also led us into danger in the first place!" Rosalind shot back, not backing down.
"Don't you forget who healed your wounds in that cave!" Ulf said indignantly.
"Is that so?" the Greymane elder sneered, his gaze once again falling on me.
"Tell me, Miss Aila. How could a half-blood who can't even shift kill a monster that even our elite warriors couldn't handle, with just an ordinary dagger?"
"I…"
"And," he pressed on, his voice becoming sharp, "why did you wait until after that monster had seriously injured Lord Alpha to kill it? And then, conveniently, heal our Alpha with a power we have never seen before?"
"That's because Lady Luna was terrified!" Ulf could no longer hold back and defended me loudly. "The situation was chaotic, and she's just a girl who can't shift! To be able to fight back under those circumstances was a miracle! As for healing the Alpha, it's because she cares for him!"
"Foolish!" the elder roared. "That was not 'Moonlight Healing'! It was the evil magic of a 'soul-binder' used to control puppets! She 'healed' the Alpha to better control him! Just as she controls those undead!"
All eyes were now focused on me.
I looked at the Greymane elder and finally understood his intention.
With a few seemingly unrelated but "coincidentally" linked questions, he had, step by step, firmly placed all the blame on me.
"Now do you all understand?!" the elder's voice rose an octave. "It was her! A southern 'soul-binder' who can awaken the dead with incantations we don't understand, and who 'healed' our Alpha with ulterior motives! It was she who brought this disaster upon us!"
"All of this tragedy is because of her!"
"She didn't come here for a peace treaty! From the very beginning, she had only one goal—to control our king!"
His words were a poisoned blade that expertly shattered everyone's last line of defense.
Even Drake fell silent.
Only Ulf, like an angry young lion, let out a futile growl.
At that moment, the Grey Wolf commander, Gavin, who had been silent all along, suddenly stepped forward.
He turned directly to Kaelen on the main throne and knelt on one knee.
"Lord Alpha!" his voice was hoarse and powerful. "What Elder Greymane has said is true! My captain, Ethan, cannot have died in vain!"
He looked up, his eyes, red with anger, fixed on Kaelen.
"For the sake of your loyal allies, for the sake of our fallen warriors, I implore you to execute this southern 'soul-binder' immediately! Give the Grey Wolf tribe an explanation!"
"We implore you," the Greymane elder immediately seized the opportunity, kneeling before Kaelen on the main throne, "to execute this sorceress in public immediately, to appease the spirits of Ethan and our fallen warriors!"
"We implore the Lord Alpha to order the execution of the sorceress!"
Behind them, all the elders and the families of the fallen knelt in unison. The entire hall echoed with their unified plea.
All eyes finally came to rest on the man on the main throne who had been silent all along—Kaelen.
I looked at him, my heart turning to ice. I knew my fate rested on his next words.
He slowly stood.
Step by step, he descended the dais, walked through the crowd, and finally, stopped in front of me.
The entire hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ulf instinctively tried to step in front of me but was pulled back by Drake. Liam's face was deathly pale, his fists clenched tightly. Rosalind's eyes glittered with a malicious, expectant light.
Kaelen did not look at me.
He just slowly turned to face all the kneeling werewolves, to face the angry and grief-stricken faces.
"Elder," his voice was terrifyingly calm. "What you have said is not without reason."
At his words, both Ulf and Drake wore expressions of disbelief. Liam swayed on his feet. And I, I felt my heart sink into a cold, bottomless abyss.
"Aila's identity is indeed suspicious," he continued, each word a stone weighing on my heart. "She can recognize ancient runes, and she possesses a power we do not understand. All of this requires an explanation."
A victorious smile appeared on the Greymane elder's face.
"However," Kaelen's tone shifted, his lightless eyes sweeping over everyone present, "a living 'suspect' is far more valuable than a corpse."
"Until we have found out how she recognizes the runes, until we understand her connection to those 'Ghoul-Wolf Knights,' until we have wrung every last secret and use from her…"
He said, enunciating each word, "She must live."
"To prevent her from 'colluding' with outside forces again," he finally gave his order, his voice devoid of any emotion, "from this day on, she will be moved from the Moon Shadow Courtyard and be placed under house arrest in the side chamber of my personal quarters, where I will personally guard her."
A dead silence fell over the front of the council hall.
Barton stood in the shadows of the crowd, a satisfied smile flickering in his eyes as he watched the scene unfold.
I looked at Kaelen, my heart a swirl of unspeakable, complex emotions.
He had saved me.
But his reason was that I was still useful.
I didn't know whether I should thank him, or… hate him more.
Under Rosalind's jealous, fiery gaze, I was escorted by Drake and, for the first time, as an "important suspect," I walked into the cold, personal quarters of the Alpha.