Chapter 29 The Chained King

I pulled the rope hard and Valerius fell into the dry dirt. The silver chains on his wrists made a loud, cold noise as they hit the ground. Two days had passed since the rider brought the head to my gate. Now, I was at the Western Border. The sun was hot and the air smelled like dust and old fire.

"Get up," I said.

I sat on a big black horse. Silas was next to me. He had his sword out and his eyes were on the trees. Behind us stood fifty of my best Rogue warriors. They were quiet. They were ready to kill.

Valerius pushed himself up. His feet were bare and they were bleeding from the long walk. He did not have his gold crown or his silk clothes. He wore the same gray rags from the training yard. He looked at me with his blue eyes, but he did not say a word.

"We are here," Silas whispered. He pointed his hand toward the river.

I looked across the water. The woods over there were full of gray wolves. I saw their eyes in the dark parts of the trees. There were so many of them. The paper said five thousand, and I believed it now. They were the Iron-Tooth Pack. They were big, mean, and they looked very hungry.

A massive man stepped out of the bushes on the other side of the river. He was huge. He was much bigger than Valerius. His chest was wide and his arms were thick like tree trunks. He had many deep scars on his face and one of his ears was missing. He wore a heavy coat made of dark fur.

This was Alpha Torian.

Torian walked into the shallow water of the river. He did not look scared. He looked like he wanted to fight. He stopped in the middle of the water and looked up at me on my horse.

"So this is the girl," Torian yelled. His voice was deep and it made the ground shake a little. "This is the one who thinks she can be a King."

"I am the Regent Queen," I shouted back. I made my voice as hard as stone. "You are on my land, Torian. Why did you kill my spy? Why did you cross the river?"

Torian did not answer me. He looked at Valerius. He saw the silver chains. He saw the blood on Valerius's feet and the bruises on his face. Torian started to laugh. It was a loud, mean sound that made my horse jump.

"Look at the great Alpha King!" Torian mocked. He pointed a big finger at Valerius. "The man who used to rule the North is now a dog on a leash. You let a woman put you in chains, Valerius? You are a disgrace to every wolf who breathes."

Valerius did not look up. He kept his head down. I pulled the rope again to make the chains rattle.

"The treaty is still good, Torian," I said. "Valerius is alive. He is still the True King. Our packs have a deal to stay at peace. You must go back across the river now."

Torian walked the rest of the way through the water. He stopped on the dirt on my side of the border. Silas moved his horse in front of mine, but I pushed him back. I had to show Torian I was not afraid.

"The treaty was with a man, not a girl," Torian spat. He looked at my iron crown and showed his yellow teeth. "And that man is broken. I do not make deals with broken things. I take what I want."

"I have a thousand Rogues in the palace," I told him. "And five thousand more in the Dead Lands. If you move one more step, my army will rip your pack apart."

Torian walked closer. He was so big he could have pulled me off my horse with one hand. He sniffed the air and his nose wrinkled.

"I smell the boy," Torian said. He looked toward the palace in the distance. "I smell the gold-eyed abomination. The half-breed. The one they say will rule us all."

"Do not speak of my son," I hissed. I felt the White Wolf starting to growl in my chest.

"I want the boy, Elena," Torian said. He stepped right up to my horse's head. "Give me Leo. He will come to my pack as a ward. He will live in my house. I will teach him how to be a real wolf, not a pet for a Rogue girl."

"Never," I said. "I will die before you touch him."

Torian laughed again. He looked back at his army in the trees. "You think you are protecting him? You think you are saving this kingdom? Look at the sky, little Queen. Look at the woods behind you."

I looked up. The sky to the North was not blue or gray. It was a dark, scary red. It looked like the clouds were bleeding. I looked at the trees near the border. They were turning into ash. The leaves were falling off and they were black.

"What is that?" I asked. My heart felt cold.

"It is the Red Blight," Torian said. He was not laughing now. His face looked very serious. "It started in the deep North. It eats the grass. It kills the deer. It turns the water into poison. It is moving fast, and it is eating my home."

I stared at the red sky. I thought the Blight was only in my kingdom. I thought it was because the land was mad at Valerius.

"I am not here for a crown, Elena," Torian whispered. He leaned in close. He smelled like burnt wood. "I am fleeing for my life. My pack is starving. The Red Blight is consuming the forests. There is nothing left for us in the North."

"So you want to steal my land?" I asked.

"I intend to take your kingdom as our new home," Torian said. He pointed his hand at the palace. "This land is still green. This land still has life. I will take the boy to make sure your people do not fight me. If you give him to me, I might let some of your Rogues live."

"I will kill every one of your wolves first," I said.

Torian grabbed the bridle of my horse. The horse whinnied and reared up on its back legs. I held on tight. Silas jumped off his horse and put his sword at Torian's neck. The Iron-Tooth wolves in the trees all let out a huge howl. They started to run toward the river.

"Stop!" I yelled to my men.

Torian did not move, even with Silas's sword touching his skin. He looked at me with his mean, scarred face.

"The Blight is coming, Elena," Torian said. "You can give me the boy and have a fast death. Or you can fight me and watch the red smoke eat your son's lungs while he screams. I am not going back to the North. There is only ash there now."

He let go of my horse and backed away into the water. He looked at Valerius one last time.

"You should have killed her when you had the chance, Valerius," Torian yelled. "Now you get to watch her lose everything."

Torian ran back across the river. He disappeared into the trees with his five thousand wolves. The air felt heavy and hot. I looked at the red sky in the distance and felt a big knot of fear in my throat.

"We have to go back," Silas said. He got back on his horse. He looked scared. "We have to get the army ready. If they come across the river tonight, we are dead."