SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Forty-Five
“General Morosini’s wolf burst free, his massive limbs covered in a wiry black fur, to howl a scream of war to his army waiting near the foot of the hill.
“I pushed Father back down upon the courtyard pavement, the sword still in my hand. I thought I saw his wolf trying to push through, the mighty demon materializing in brief flashes of transformation. But each flash reverted, silenced by the sword’s field.
“From the castle, the others came running. Ambrosius, my former Beta, advanced at point, flanked by Domenico, Zacharia, and Maximo, each racing at me in wolf form. I released Father, leaving him to struggle with il Vuto deep in his chest, and rose to my feet. Stepping forward just enough to leave the void, my wolf met them in a violent transformation, the explosion stopping my younger siblings only a few feet away.
“‘Stand down!’ I roared.
“I feared none of them. Even Ambrosius, a formidable warrior, was no match, being only half my age. Still, I loved each of them, my brothers, my pack, and I wanted none of them harmed. I knew the odds were stacked, but I would do anything to convince them not to seek vengeance and find their resulting deaths.
“‘Traitor!’ Ambrosius spat at me, staring at Father writhing on the ground behind me.
“I could feel the army closing in, the rumble of their feet and minds arriving on the wind.
“‘It’s over!’ I returned with another roar. ’There’s nothing you can do to stop it now. Stand down and save yourselves. I would not have them harm you. Kneel, and you will live. In the morning, we will mourn Father as a family, as brothers once more.
“For a moment, I saw the hesitation in Ambrosius’ eyes.
“‘He’s still alive,’ Maximo called to his brothers. And with that statement, Ambrosius’ hesitation vanished into pure rage.
“With one fine blow, he flew into my chest, knocking me back over Father’s body until we landed far behind, tumbling along the entry pavement and clawing at each other for dominance. The others leaped to follow, but Morosini intercepted them, knocking them to the side with merciless slashes at their fur to disband their attack.
“Ambrosius pulled away from me to rise to his feet and gain leverage, his back now to the grounds. Almost simultaneously, Sforza’s legion arrived, enveloping the estate and taking Ambrosius down in a giant wave. The hoard clawed at him and took savage bites of his flesh, overwhelming him until I saw the horror of his dismembered body scattered in a bloody frenzy.
“Looking back to find the others, I raced to them and stopped just short to turn and stop the impending hoard.
“‘Enough!’ I screamed, inflating my body to bid them go no further.
“The army paused its advance. Several looked to Morosini for confirmation. But Domenico and Zacharia leaped at my exposed back in a rage, and Sforza’s wolves set upon them as they had Ambrosius.
“‘Stop them!’ I cried to Morosini when the hoard reached Maximo.
“‘Hold!’ he answered, and the wolves stopped in place and stood by his command. ‘Take that one prisoner.’
“The wolves advanced on Maximo and slashed at his fur until he fell to his knees, but then stopped, two wolves securing his arms behind his back in a stronghold.
“I looked back to Father to see Dionisio was on the ground attempting to aid him.
“‘Leave him, Son,’ I commanded. ‘Return to the castle and wait for me.’
“Ignoring my words, Dionisio rose from Sempronio and advanced on me. His frame shook as he approached me, both from anger and fear.
“‘What have you done, Father?’ he trembled, anger in his eyes. ‘You’ve brought them to slaughter us?’
“‘I said go back into the castle!’ I returned, the rage of the moment still coursing through me.
“One of Sforza’s wolves growled a threat at Dionisio, and I turned to give him a warning of my own. I felt a knife pierce my lower back, and I returned to see the malice in my son’s eyes. As I reached to pull the knife from my back, the other wolf slashed at Dionisio’s chest and sent him to the ground.
“Enraged, I slashed at the soldier with such fury that he fell, blood falling from his neck in angry spasms upon the pavement.
“‘Hold!’ Morosini commanded his army again at their cry of anger.
“Ignoring them all, I fell to my knees beside Dionisio to aid him. The wolf had sliced through his arm and chest, his tunic now soaked in blood. The pain in his mind was overwhelming, and I cradled his head as he struggled to breathe. I didn’t know what to do, certain he would die from the injury without immediate attention, though I knew it was impossible now.
“I wondered if his wolf could save him. Could he survive long enough for me to release his vovkulaka to mend his damaged body? Would the telekinetic energy be too much for his physical body to endure? He had but moments, and I decided I must try. He might hate me forever, but I would not see my son leave the world like this.
“‘Murderer,’ he whispered at me. The word gurgled out through the blood in his lungs and throat, but the venom of his disgust left his mind as clear as a bell.
“I watched the anger in his tear-stained eyes relax while his remaining life was extinguished from his mind. I shook him and called his name, trying to bring back his anger, desperate for him to return to condemn me, but my son was dead.
My limbs trembled, and I lost time holding my boy, a man of some fifty-nine years. I smoothed back his hair, the textured brown curls streaked by the distinguished smoke of his age, a color I wouldn’t see in my hair for perhaps a millennium. I thought the boy he’d been when I found him, broken and abused. I thought of all that time we might’ve been together if only I’d found him sooner, found some way to stop those depraved men from wounding his soul and condemning him to a single mortal lifetime. And now my child lay dead in my hands, his last breath a summary accusation of all the ways I’d failed him and failed us all.
“‘Secure the castle,’ General Morosini commanded his wolves. ‘You two keep the old man from recovering.’
“The hoard moved at once to take Palatino through the entrance like a tidal wave of destruction. The screams of the human servants hiding within drew me from my paralyzed daze.
“I looked up to see a lycan holding Father down, his wrists over his head, to stop him from pulling at the cutlass in his chest, while another punched his face to quiet his wailing. Both lycan had reverted in the sword’s field, their bodies smooth and naked as they kept Father on the edge of death.
“I smelled smoke coming from the castle. The hoard had set fire. I couldn’t tell if it was on purpose.
“Father’s library, a terrified voice called to my mind. I scanned around to see it was Maximo, held down to the pavement by the two wolves who guarded him, bracing his arms painfully behind his back. He’d seen what Dionisio’s death had done to me and called to me, desperate to pull me from my trance. They are burning it. Don’t you see the fire through their eyes? They destroy it by his command.
“I rose to my feet and moved to General Morosini in a panic. ‘Your soldiers have set fire to my house!’
“He appraised me and nodded his wolfen head in acknowledgment.
“‘The Devil’s works,’ he said with disgust. ‘My master ordered them destroyed. But you may save the rest of the castle if you can.’
“‘But they’ve slaughtered the people who might’ve done that, the innocents.’
“Without raising his voice, Morosini scowled, ‘We do not infest our homes with vermin.’
“The statement came from him as cooly as if he were commenting on the weather. I was at a loss to answer. Sforza had assured me of my autonomy, that his people would never disrespect Palatino’s sovereignty and ways. No humans would ever be slaughtered.
“Or had he said that only in the beginning? In the end, he hadn’t promised those points, merely that he would give me the castle, that it would fall under his extended rule.
“Until that moment, I hadn’t felt uncertainty. I knew what I was doing; my mission was crystal clear. But now my son was dead, and I realized I’d allowed Father’s works to be destroyed.
“‘Finish what you’ve come here to do,’ Morosini said with a sneer. ‘Our master awaits his prize.’
“The General nodded to Sempronio, who they’d raised to his knees, immobilized with his hands raised behind him like Maximo’s, held cruelly by the two lycan who’d pummeled his face.
“I walked to Father in a daze. I knew I must be quick about this, but my limbs moved with only sluggish obedience.
“Entering the void, my wolf’s body receded, and I placed my lycan hand on Father’s shoulder to pull the sword from his chest. His body spasmed, and he struggled for air once it was free, and blood further soaked his crimson tunic. I must finish this, I thought, but I no longer had the stomach for it. I waited moments, hoping he would expire on his own, that the blood loss would cause unconsciousness, at least.
“Father raised his weary eyes at me, the left one almost closed from their beatings. His face bore no condemnation or disgusted anger, as Dionisio had. Instead, I saw in his eyes only loving despair. The sight of them filled me with shame, and I remembered the lifetime of his patience and unfailing support, all coming with the simplest conditions. And even when I’d betrayed him, he’d forgiven me immediately until I’d betrayed him twice that same night.
“My left hand trembled as the right gripped the hilt of the sword. I’d betrayed him again this night, assisted in the slaughter of three of his sons, enabled the destruction of fifteen centuries of his work, and watched his grandson’s death, the boy he’d tasked me to raise, all that I might come to understand the meaning of selfless love.
“I had only seconds to stop it. My feet stumbled, but I retreated five steps to release Father from the void’s field. Come forth, I thought, though I knew he couldn’t hear my mind while I carried il Vuto. Rise to your feet and slaughter them all. Destroy me first, that I may be free of this nightmare.
“Protests rose from the lycan who held him, calling me a fool to have stepped back. Their wolves emerged and howled to summon the pack back from the castle. A second passed, then another, and I waited to see the release of his ancient wolf undo me and all I’d done this evening.
“Fly away, his mind screamed at me. The volume of his mental voice almost paralyzed me, and I realized he called not to me but to his other children, near or far. Flee to the west and never return.
“It was the final blow—it had gone on too long. Father had surrendered. I didn’t know why, but he stared up at me through beaten eyes as if he would never stand again.
“‘Fool!’ Morosini screamed at me. Enraged, he approached Father and reached to take his head, but I stepped forward to let the void envelop him and watched his wolf melt away before his talons to finish the act.
“‘Stand back,’ I commanded Morosini, raising the sword to threaten him.
“Lycan once more, and naked as his guards were, Morosini stared at me with certain loathing in his eyes. No—not lycan—the four of us stood over Father as humans again, and I saw how nothing could humiliate the General more than to be reduced to the ‘vermin’ he considered them.
“‘No one touches him but me,’ I warned them all.
“‘It’s obvious you don’t have the nerve,’ Morosini sneered. ‘But I won’t my fail master as you have. Step aside, boy.’
“I didn’t know how old he was, but his inference angered me more than the disappointment of Father’s call to the others to flee. I raised il Vuto, bringing its iron point to Morosini’s neck. He stumbled back onto his rear, his fall the humiliating result of my domination and seen clearly by his gathering army, most of who had returned from the castle.
“‘Sempronius of Mons Palatinus,’ I cried over the growling din, my eyes again upon Father, ‘the Devil of Milan, heretic rogue, and last of the ancient Pagan wolves. I, Lord Sforza, the anointed Marquis of Palatino, sentence you to die.’
“Now, son, he said.
“I realized I could hear his thoughts in the void. They came as a mere whisper, but it was his voice. Now, son.
“With what resolve I had left, I stepped forward around him and took Father by the chin, raising his head to my chest and slicing through his neck with a merciless pull until I reached the bone. With a final jerk, I snapped his neck, the force pulling apart the last of the tender sinew.
“An explosion of white light blinded me, and I fell back to the ground as Father’s severed head fell from my arm.