Greywolf - Attila's decision

"Your father's one scary person," Attila said as we rode side by side in the Grey.

Papa didn't want to wait for Kula to return with a larger company of warriors, but didn't want me torn apart, either. So the moment Attila and Hypam got the Black Dragons assembled, he put me beside him next to the dead tree, with Asena and Titan on either side and a dozen archers with a clear field of fire. Then he opened another huge gate into the Shadowlands.

The Night Hag decided following me was a really bad idea and fled. Papa then arranged everyone for the journey, with him and Hypam taking the lead, Titan and Asena walking on either side of Wysper, who was riding double with her brother Alar on his horse, and me watching our back trail.

I'd ridden double with Attila until we'd spotted Rocky on the road heading north, and I'd made a gate just long enough to jump on his back and rejoin the group. Then listened to him make a fuss over being left behind as Attila laughed.

Now, I glanced over at him. "Why do you call papa scary? I mean, he's the most powerful Shadow-walker in the world, as far as I know, but Asena or Titan could pound him into the dirt."

Attila shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Ghostdog couldn't see any of you, yet he watched that Shadow Raptor pass us overhead and timed opening the gate so the creature would see Wysper's abductor and attack him, letting her escape."

I gave him a sour look. "Yeah, straight into the path of a hundred charging Warghorses. Asena always accuses papa of not thinking through his great ideas, and leaving the rest of us to make them work. Though she's a fine one to talk." Then I brightened as a thought crossed my mind. "Hey, forget about papa for now. I want to know how you got the Black Dragon tribe to accept you as their leader."

"Khan Huldin's dead," he replied. My eyes went wide as he grimaced. "There's a pack of Daemo monsters being led by something intelligent, that are attacking the northern Horde tribes whenever they're weak. Anyway, the Lords of Khor had been afraid that Timur was planning to attack them before winter began to really bite, and hired the Black Dragon warriors as mercenaries to guard them."

"But Timur's never said a word about heading north."

Attila nodded. "Once Khor figured that out, they cut the mercenaries loose. But in the meantime, the Daemo pack attacked the camp and killed the remaining warriors, including Khan Huldin, then rounded up everyone else and carried them off. Me and Hypam showed up just after the warriors returned."

"Did anyone escape the attack?"

Attila nods again. "Old Bone woman was in her cave with her apprentices, and was able to hide them until the Daemo had left. When we rode in, she told the warriors I'd be able to get their people back, but only if they made me khan first." A grim smile spread across his face. "I didn't know how I was going to do that, since their tracks led to the dead, grey tree several leagues away, and stopped, meaning they used the Shadowlands to escape. But your father said he can track them through the Grey."

I shrugged. "So can I, if he's got to leave again."

"He told me he's planning to stick around for a while, so you won't have to." I perked up at that while Attila went on. "Titan agreed to help, and he told me Asena would jump at the chance to kill Daemo. He also told me he's going to persuade her that my adopting Wysper as my daughter's a good idea-"

I reared back in my seat. "Wait, what? Daughter?"

"Think about it," Attila said in a calm voice. "Making her family means you and Asena are family as well. Among the Horde tribes, Bloodguards are usually other family members, which is why adopting a stranger into your clan's an accepted way of bringing in new blood, or getting a ferocious guardian. But it also means that Wysper's fight becomes our fight."

I slowly nodded. "Because she's family."

"Exactly. I need Asena to teach me and the rest of the Black Dragons everything she knows about fighting, and Alar told me he wants her to do the same for the Brittani. Wysper's people need us, Greywolf. Warghorses can't match real horses on the open plain, but in forests or hills, or even on broken ground, my warriors can outmatch anything the Gauls can bring to the field."

"Not to mention real horses are afraid of them."

"Unless they've grown up with Warghorses, and even then they're nervous." Attila motioned towards the middle where Titan and Asena seemed to be arguing. "Alar said their people will be nervous as well, but the Picts will take to us like long lost brothers."

Whatever Titan was telling Asena seemed to be working, because she was losing that familiar mulish expression of hers and actually seemed to be listening. "Are you going to make Titan part of the Black Dragons as well? I mean, he's a ferocious fighter, at least according to the tales I've heard."

Attila shook his head. "Titan's already told me he's going to become Wysper's adviser, whether the Brittani people like it or not."

I snorted. "Like anyone's going to argue with an eight foot tall Ogri."

"Except he's not a true Ogri."

"What difference does it make if he's a true Ogri or not? I mean, Titan's got the wildness under control, right?"

Attila gazed at me for a few moments with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You're not one of us. You've never heard the stories the old ones told around the fires at night, about the days long ago when the Celestials and the Daemo fought each other."

"I'd never even heard about the Prince's war until Titan showed up, and began sharing war stories with Asena."

He touched his hand to his chest. "Our people have never forgotten. According to our legends, in those days we were not nomads but a civilized folk, with fortresses and cities guarding the north from Daemo attacks. We had served the Celestials for centuries, fighting in their war."

"Until the war ended."

Attila nodded. "The first our people heard about the war ending was when the wild ogres came rampaging out of the north. They attacked without warning, swarming over the walls of our cities and fortresses, until we were overwhelmed and had to flee for our lives." He sighed. "The stories tell us that our ancestors sent messengers to the northern strongholds of the Celestials, but the strongholds were deserted."

"Because they'd already left for their own world." I sucked in my breath as the pieces came together like blocks in a Xian puzzle box. "After Timur exposed Titan's secret, I asked Asena about the war while she was drinking, and she told me a good bit. She said there were actually two places where the ogres were kept; the Roof of the World, where the Ogri city of Haven is now, and another place far to the north.

“When the war ended, Asena said the Celestials in charge of the Roof, as they'd nicknamed it, made sure all the ogres were changed into Ogri before most of them departed. But the stronghold to the north just unlocked the ogre's cages while the creatures were sleeping, and then left. She told me a lot of the Celestials were so sick of fighting that they didn't care a half-copper what happened here after they were gone."

"They didn't care," Attila said in a soft, dangerous voice. "Centuries of service, all the warriors who died in their cause, and they didn't... even... care." Shadows spread over his face that hadn't been there before. "None of our ancestors ever considered the ending of the war had anything to do with the wild ogres, except to suggest the Celestials had been keeping the ogres away from them."

"And now you know the truth." I gave Attila a sharp look. "What happened isn't Titan's fault. If anything, he's as much a victim of the Celestial's actions as your ancestors were." Attila gave me a sharp look of his own, opening his mouth to argue.

But then he closed it as his expression turned thoughtful. "You're right, it's not his fault, and Timur was trying to put a wedge between us. Yet I still can't keep him with me."

"But-"

"But nothing," Attila said, interrupting me. "When the Black Dragons find out he's actually a wild ogre, which Hypam will let slip sooner or later, at best they'll demand he leave at once." I started to interrupt him, but he cut me off. "Greywolf, I'm having a hard time with this, and I know Titan. Besides," his expression turning sly, "you know Wysper needs him if she's going to become queen of the Brittani."

"Ugh, don't remind me." I shook my head, thinking about everything Wysper had gone through. "If I see this Celestial Pan, I'm going to let him know exactly what I think of him and the whole, 'sacrificial victim', Warg shite."

"Alar told me the attack on their temple, and the theft of both the priestesses and the two dragon scales, was a real blow to Pan. He told me the Brittani now see Pan as an old, tired god whose day has come and gone."

"Maybe it's about time."

"I agree," Attila said, "though Alar won't if you ask him. He thinks Pan's the reason his people held together as a confederation of tribes."

"It still doesn't make what he did to Wysper right."

"No, it doesn't," Attila replied, "and if my people take on this fight, we'll do it for her and not for any Celestial." My ears picked up the sound of flapping wings behind us, far off, and my attention fixed on a small Shadow Raptor at least a league away from us. It rapidly closed the gap, but then veered off as it gained altitude and headed west. As I watched it leave, Attila said, "Are we safe now?"

"Until something else approaches. Papa told me to never let my guard down in the Shadowlands, and he's right."

"I wish my ancestors had done the same." Attila looked at me with eyes like twin pits of darkness. "Celestials use us, and use us, until we're no better than husks, then throw us onto the midden heap. Well, I say no more. Greywolf, I am going to become the storm Yasataar foresaw."

I waved my arm outward towards the hundreds of Warghorse riders ahead of us. "You're going to need a lot more warriors than this to make it happen."

"Then I will find a way to unite all the tribal horde clans into one Khanate... and no, I don't know how I'm going to do it," he added as I opened my mouth to question him. "I only know that I'll find a way." He raised his chin in defiance. "What about you and Asena? If I assemble this Khanate, will the two of you fight with me or against me?"

"With Asena, it depends on which Celestials you want to destroy. She hates Balor One-eye and Camulos of the Gauls, and pretty much despises all the Celestials in the Etruscan empire."

"What about the Empire of the East?"

I scratched my head as I considered the question. "I think she's okay with them. Jupiter and the rest are stepping back and letting the humans run things, which Asena's told me is why the empire's more stable than any other, including Aegyptus. Oh, they still plot and scheme, but from what she's said, they don't throw their weight around like Celestials do everywhere else."

Attila's defiant look turned thoughtful. "Perhaps they've realized their day is done."

"Who knows?" I said with a shrug. "I don't want to see Osiris hurt, considering what he's done for me and Wysper, and I'd spare Pan for Wysper's sake, if she wants. But the rest of them?" I shook my head. "They're running out of mana, and it's making them desperate to find new sources. I'm not going to be that source for them, and I'm sure as shite not going to let Wysper be one either."

"You're fighting for your survival," Attila said, "and for your freedom."

I blinked, for his words rang true. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"I've always been smart," he replied, a touch of indignation in his voice. "Yasataar taught me to conceal what I was thinking so Timur couldn't use it against me... well, unless he made me angry. Which he's good at."

"Tell me about it." I turned my head, scanning our back trail as Attila's words echoed in my mind. He was watching me without speaking as I realized something I hadn't considered before. "I'm never going to be free as long as there's Celestials out there scheming to make me their slave. I mean, I want to help Wysper be queen, which means working with the Brittani's Pan, but he's likely to treat us the same way Ishtar and Muzen tried to."

"Not if you're with me." I turned my head to look at Attila, who gave me a firm nod. "Once Wysper's my daughter, you're family, and there's not a warrior here that won't fight for family."

Glancing forward at the Warghorse riders, I shook my head. "I'm not sure they'll accept me."

"Help me get my people back, and you're a member of the Grey Wargs, plain and simple. The Horde clans put people in two boxes: us, and those against us. I want you in the first box."

"And I don't want to be put in a box at all," I blurted out. "However," holding up my hand to keep Attila from arguing, "I know if I want my freedom, I need to fight for it." I took a deep breath. "If you become the storm that sweeps the Celestials away, then I'll ride alongside you until your enemies are dead. Wysper's first in my heart, but once she's safe and doesn't need me anymore, I'll join you. Because she won't be safe until the Celestial's power over the kingdoms of men is broken."

"That's all I ask," he replied as he held out his arm. Rocky moved close enough for me to grasp it, forearm to forearm, and as I did, he added, "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"They kill us."

As we let go, Attila snorted. "Timur's already tried that, and it didn't work. I swear to you that someday, we're going to ride down out of the north and destroy him, or die trying."

I gave Attila a fierce smile. "And I swear to you that, on that day, I'll be there."