Before Cadmus fucked them all over, Astera had spent most of the day's ride in a burlap sack under heaps of potatoes. There were a few times when she wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep due to boredom or mild suffocation as the potatoes crushed her lungs. But as she clutched the dead weight of the wolf carcass to her chest and weathered the bewildered stares of the other men, she found herself wishing she could just crawl back in.

"Must you bring that thing along?" The Sun spat, shrinking away as the tiniest fleck of blood landed on the edge of his silken sleeve.

"Yes." She said into the beast's furry back. The wolf had a lot of good meat on its bones and thick, warm fur. No point in letting Cadmus's deadly mistake go to waste.

The Sun rolled his black eyes, the whites gleaming like polished ivory. His voice poured out again, thick as a river of honey. "But why must you bring that thing along?"

Astera groaned, burying her face farther into the clean, animal smell of the fur to escape the skinny one's stink. "If her brothers and sisters don't find a body, they might waste time searching for her before they start chasing us down."

Boras snorted. "Wolves don't hunt people! That's something out of my gran's stories."

"Maybe they don't where you come from. Maybe Astuvian wolves play fetch and retrieve sandals. But here in Convallis it's known that if you hurt a wolf, the entire pack will track you for miles." Astera suspected it was the only reason the town left her to her own devices for so long. That nasty rumor about the feral girl raised by wolves might've served her well after all.

"You really think a couple feral dogs are going to take us all down?" Heracleum grunted though he continued to push his horse up the steep road at a punishing pace.

"We come from a long line of hunters and fur trappers." Astera started telling a story she knew by heart. A story of something that happened when she was just barely too young to realize what was going on around her. But her father told it often, gently hammering in the details over and over until her tongue fell easily into the shape of it

"Just before I was born, my uncle came up with a brilliant new kind of trap. One that broke the beast's legs on contact, sometimes killing it before the trapper had the chance." She never knew that ingenious uncle, but her father would always speak of the mad grin that would spread across his face when one of his endless projects actually came to fruition. She imagined that he'd be funny and generous but an awkward hugger.

The mountain rose up around them, trees clinging to the sharp inclines. Shapes skulked at the edges of her vision. The scatter of pebbles somewhere above them put her teeth on edge.

"For a while, it made our family rich. Then wolves started stumbling into them. My uncles and aunts and cousins sold the pelts and kept at it. They thought they were being careful. Thought the wolves wouldn't realize they were the ones responsible."

"Now, me and Eli are the only ones left." Helianthus shot her a small, sad smile from atop the black warhorse.

Cadmus cleared his throat, leaving a dramatic pause before saying what was on his mind. "Your father. Didn't he die while hunting... are we being pursued by the beasts that killed your father?"

"No, he was killed by deer." Helianthus rolled his eyes at his friend's need for theatrics. Astera doubted he noticed the rustle somewhere beyond the tree line. They were being stalked.

"I've got an idea." Boras chimed in, shouting loud enough to reach the warhorses keeping pace a few yards ahead of them as well as the wolves who had already caught their scent. He aimed a bitter glare at the Sun over Astera's shoulder as he spoke. "If this one's such a friend to the animals, why don't he have a little chat with them?"

Helianthus hummed, considering the proposition as though it were serious. "The horses have been a lot more cooperative..."

"Absolutely not," the Sun shook his head emphatically, his fine features pulled into the stern disapproval of a wronged lord. "Wolves are creatures of The Night. They won't negotiate with me."

Sweat gathered on Boras's forehead like a cheese gone bad. "Well, isn't that convenient."

The Sun cocked his head. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that."

That infuriated the skinny pale man, his face twitching strangely. "I think you know exactly what you mean, your majesty."

The man who called himself The Sun shared a glance with Astera. For a brief moment, it seemed they were of the same mind. She would rather eat her hair than admit the man next to her was actually Lord of the Skies let alone defend him. But Boras looked like he was about to boil over. They couldn't afford to have a brawl in a moving cart. Not with wolves on their tail.

Astera shoved the dead animal off to the side and attempted to stand. Maybe she could knock some sense into Boras before he made some awful mistake, but a bump in the road sent her back on her ass.

As she stumbled back onto her knees, her eyes met the dark, heavy gaze of a massive grey wolf, watching from just beyond the trees. She waited breathlessly as the beast watched them pass, it's silver eyes calm as a lake.

"Eli! Do you see them watching us?" She called out, just to verify that she hadn't struck her head too hard on the way down. A few minutes later, there was another one. An old bitch with scars on her gray muzzle. Again, she just sat on the edge of the road and watched them pass.

The horses could never be fast enough to outrun them, not on the steep mountain roads. Even now, they were straining under the punishing pace. The cart rocked as the road took a turn.

"They're waiting for us to get too tired to fight back," Helianthus answered. "Everyone, stay close and keep the pace steady. We won't be sleeping tonight."

Astera picked up the crossbows from where they'd been thrown earlier.

"If you're such a mighty god, why don't you prove it, eh?" Boras spat. He surged to his feet, but Astera shoved a weapon into his arms before he could do something stupid with them.

"Now's not the time!" She shoved The Sun to the side and braced the crossbow against the side of the cart. The wolves were all gathering at the edge of the road ahead of them. There were at least four of them, but more surely hid in the shadows. She wasn't sure what would happen once she started shooting, but it had to be better than what she knew would happen if she did nothing.

They would watch from the shadows for hours, letting their presence drive the horses mad with panic. If any of them lagged behind, they'd go for the horse's neck and tear the rider out of the saddle. But if no one did, they could keep going like this until sundown. Then, their little band would have to travel by torchlight.

The horses would be easier to startle. More likely to stumble and break a leg in the dark. Even if they did make it all the way through the night, exhaustion would surely get to them eventually.

She couldn't distract the pack with a side of lamb thrown in the opposite direction. They weren't driven by the desperation of hunger and food wouldn't satisfy them. Once they took down their first horse and rider, they'd leave the bodies for scavengers in pursuit of the rest.

So, she took a shot at a cluster just ahead of the party. The bolt sailed far to the right of the intended target. She cursed herself for miscalculating the speed of the cart.

"Astera, no!" Helianthus called, "wait until they start closing in. We don't have bolts to waste. And shoot behind!"

She could've kicked herself. They couldn't afford a bolt striking the wrong target. On these roads, there'd be more stray shots than true. She repositioned herself towards the back of the cart, again shoving The Sun out of the way.

Boras strung his bow beside her, the reek of his fear-induced sweat making her eyes water.

"Are you-... Are you in position?" Her brother asked in the halting manner of someone about to do something royally stupid.

Astera considered not answering. But his stupid, split-second decisions had kept them alive for the past weeks.

"Yes!" She called out once she and Boras had their bows raised and ready to fire. She didn't hear a response, just one set of hooves falling out of sync with the rest. "Eli, what are you doing?"

She caught a glance of Helianthus's black horse at the corner of her eye. "Eli, no. There's at least four of them!"

Helianthus came into full view, his horse falling behind the cart as it fell into a slow, plodding walk. Astera's heart started hammering in her chest, but there wasn't a trace of fear in her brother's calm smile. The wolves began to gather, emerging from the trees. First the four or five she'd suspected, then a dozen more. How were so many of them out of their dens at midday?

"Just shout before you shoot, alright?"

Astera couldn't breathe, couldn't think. She barely had the awareness to scream as a great tawny thing sunk its claws into the horse's rump, faster than she'd expected. The sleek, black war beast shrieked, kicking it off. Another took its place, nipping at delicate, bony ankles.

There was a yelp as one fell to a crossbow bolt, then another. As the other horses caught on to the danger, the cart sped up. Aiming became impossible as the rough road rattled their bones. Astera just couldn't risk her brother ending up on the other end of a recklessly fired bolt. His plan to lure them in and race back to safety had already failed. Why did she have to freeze?

The warhorse managed to kick its way out of the frenzy of teeth and claws. It galloped as fast as it could manage up the steep path toward them but Astera knew there was no outrunning the wolves. Not after they'd already taken a chunk out of it.

Looking at her brother's wide eyes, it seemed the reality of his mistake had dawned on him. He urged the horse to gallop harder though he must've known the poor animal was already running for its life. The road began to slowly curve to the left, hugging a cliff face as the other side opened up to a mile-long drop.

"Eli! You have to run for it!" Astera called out. If the wolves took him down while mounted, there was a good chance he'd be pinned if not thrown off the mountain. The horse was lost long before Helianthus jumped from its back. But it's death throes distracted the pack as Helianthus ran. "Stop the cart! Stop now!"

"I can't, miss!" Heracleum yelled, tugging uselessly at the reins. Oxalis and the other legion men caught on that something had gone wrong, but their finely bred warhorses also refused to cooperate. All their training and conditioning and still, they were no better than skittish carriage horses against the vengeful beasts.

A warm hand landed heavily on Astera's shoulder. She whipped her head to face The Sun, ready to tell him off for uselessly standing by while her brother fed himself to wolves. Ready to scream and cry and bury her fists into his pretty face. But the decisive calm in his dark eyes gave her pause.

"Get behind me?" He asked, nudging her gently aside as he rose unsteadily to his feet. Astera did something rare and unfamiliar to her. She did as she was told, shuffling backward on her knees until her back hit a box.

Astera curled her knees to her chest as she watched her brother shrink into the distance. He raised his sword, thin as a toothpick, against the advances of the old, scarred she-wolf.

There was a flash of light. Bright enough to make her eyes burn and water. Hot enough to singe her hair, the smell acrid in her nose. For a moment, all the world was alight like tinder. Then it was gone. The thick, green forest below had gone brown and dry. So many ancient trees turned to twigs, dark as cracks in the bright turquoise sky.

"Fuck!" Boras screamed, shoving the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. Astera might've done the same, but she was too eager to find some sign whatever remained of her brother in whatever remained of the road. She tried to see beyond the black and red spots in her sight, hands fumbling against the smooth wood of the cart as it carried them further and further away.

Somewhere above her, The Sun clicked his tongue. "I am sorry. I've never tried that before. I'll surely give you some warning next time."

There was no longer any doubt in Astera's mind that the man beside her was indeed The Sun in mortal form. Now the only question in her mind was whether or not to wrap her hands around his neck and squeeze until he fell limp in her hands. "What have you done? Mother of mountains what have you done!?"