Chapter 7: Journey Preparations

Chapter 7: Journey Preparations

Patch POV

Patch wondered if he’d just made the biggest mistake in recent memory. Not the decision to accompany Anneliese. No, no.

His mistake was telling everyone about it!

Nearly an hour later, over a meal in the dining room with the family, which now included Barrett, Patch was stuffing his face with Sarina’s bread and much, much more, and concentrating on his food instead of the barrage of advice, questions, and nagging that he couldn’t possibly digest. Not without first polishing off an entire pan of Sarina’s famous noodles with beef stew and soaking up the bits of meat in sauce with her bread.

At one point he slammed down his fork, sending beef stew flying everywhere. “Dane, now I know why you never told us you were going to Wildefell to find Lilia the first time!”

Dane twirled a forkful of noodles with so much concentration you would think it was the most critical bite of food ever. “Jiro, I can understand why you and Garnet have become so partial to these ribbons of dough. They don’t look like much but I can’t get enough of them.”

“The whole house feels the same way,” Garnet offered, staring at her own just-emptied plate.

“You know these noodles are a human invention,” Lilia said innocently.

Patch tasted the “little ribbons of dough” and loved the way they slid down his throat. He could slurp them, and he did with noisy gusto. 

Anneliese eyed him. “Humans slurp their noodles like that, even the nobility. You’ll fit right in.”

Garnet’s eyes widened. “Is it true that the nobles and wealthy humans have servants to wipe their faces after they make messes? That their servants do everything for them, even hand feed them?”

Lilia and Anneliese shouted, “NO!”

After a moment, Anneliese added, “Maybe some of them are that helpless, according to rumor. But not in Wildefell. We don’t think we’re that important.”

Patch leaned forward, pausing in his quest to eat all the noodles on his plate. “But it’s a major city in the kingdom–”

“The kingdom is Lugdunum, in case anyone’s interested,” Jiro added. 

Patch shook his head. He knew the name, he could read a map after all. But unlike the names of the major orc and the dwarf and the elf kingdoms, he never really bothered to learn the names of the other human kingdoms until he became Intelligence Chief. Was he that afraid of humans? Everyone was afraid of something. 

“It’s a major city in Lugdunum,” he said. “A big gateway to what humans think of as unexplored territory. We’ve gotten good over the years at convincing them our shifter lands are wilderness full of monsters and dangers. Helped by the witches, of course. That reminds me, where do I say I’m from if I meet humans?”

Anneliese waved her hand. “You’re from a small duchy called New Moon that borders Lugdunum. Believe it or not, humans don’t even know the names of all their kingdoms either.”

Patch grinned. “So I’m a duke?”

Lilia coughed. “We’ve got every confidence in both of you, but you know what a risk being in human territory is, even with all the resources of the witch circle behind you. The whole idea is not to draw attention to yourself ...”

Azandra gestured with her fork. “Wouldn’t being a noble give him some sort of armor? Humans probably just see the title and that would give Patch protection. They’d be dazzled by his noble blood. You’re fairly well-known in Wildefell as part owner of the Bloodstone. You can’t be seen with some day laborer or ruffian, can you?”

Anneliese choked on her wine. “Azandra Hemming Cresta, you are a sly one.”

Kyon rolled his eyes. “Don’t I know it!”

Jiro wiped a smidgen of stew off his chin. “She makes sense. Patch is a nobleman among our Evenhide people.”

Dane just gave him a withering look. “I deliberately won’t take offense at you implying that Evenhide is a small duchy.”

“Good, because I never suggested any such thing,” Jiro shot back. 

Dane poured himself more wine. “I may just live to regret pushing you to say yes to being Crimsontail Alpha. It’s gone to your head.”

To Patch, this was marvelously entertaining. “So, I’m from a small duchy called New Moon and I’m a duke. Am I also a wizard?”

“NO,” the three witches and Jiro all chorused. 

Patch felt drowsy from all the good food and they hadn’t even gotten to dessert. “Fair enough. And what are we to each other?” 

Azandra coughed into her napkin. “An excellent question.”

Various suggestions flew around the dinner table like darts. Patch could be a customer of the Bloodstone. Or perhaps a supplier. He could be an old friend. He could simply be visiting Wildefell and have met Anneliese by chance. 

“Or he could be a suitor, maybe,” Kyon suggested innocently. “Someone who came for the crystals and found something he liked better.”

“A very persistent suitor,” Jiro added, equally guileless. “He’s made three trips–”

“Oh no.” Lilia leaned back, enjoying the conspiracy. “I think at least four.”

The clatter of ice cream bowls announced dessert, and Sarina served everyone, dishing out suggestions along with the yummy dwarf treat. “It’s not a serious courtship unless he keeps coming back. I’d say at least half a dozen visits.”

What a wicked sense of humor she had. A woman after his own heart. But he didn’t want to take on Aardwolf, and besides, he already had his princess. But as Anneliese sat there, all charm and cool beauty and digging into her ice cream, he wondered if she was even aware that he was interested. 

“And our Annie turned me down every time,” he said, pretending to cry into his ice cream. “Or would a duke call you ‘Annie’?”

“Unfortunately for you, no.”

“Would he call you ‘sweetheart’?”

She blushed, lowering her head. “He could. And even more flowery names.”

Patch grinned. “Flowery, hmmm? We’ll have to come up with some flowery names. You can help me with that. And Kyon can.”

Even with the seriousness of their task, this trip might just be fun. 

* * * * *

Jiro POV

Honestly, his little brother and Anneliese should just open their eyes already and see what was written all over them. But as Patch had said with his biting wit, Jiro himself was hardly one to talk. He’d pretended that he could be content with wasting years exchanging letters with his beloved Garnet until she seized their moment. 

No one in their right mind could ever consider Anneliese Chalice a shy and delicate flower terrified to speak from her heart. Yet she either refused to grab the happiness that Patch offered. He’d never asked Lilia about Anneliese’s romantic past … certain things should remain private.

However, the family couldn’t ignore the powerful energy whenever Patch and Anneliese were together, so Jiro had done a bit of investigating through his intelligence network. His eyes and ears uncovered a rather unpleasant piece of Anneliese’s history. 

One year ago, the Wildefell Witch Circle banned a promising young wizard named Xidorn Reynard from its headquarters and from even being associated with them for six months because of “conduct unbecoming.” Edna Chalice hadn’t made the decision and her fingerprints weren’t on it, but rumors suggested that Anneliese and Xidorn had talked about marriage weeks before the ban. The Crimsontail Intelligence Chief Brigid Sinsworth, a.k.a. Nana Brigid, reported that Anneliese and the flashy Xidorn were never formally engaged, but everyone knew they spent almost all their time together. On the surface, Xidorn seemed like Patch, but from what Jiro’s sources said, he had none of Patch’s courage, loyalty, and heart, or his sense of duty.

While concentrating on his ice cream, Jiro studied his brother, who had ice cream all over his face and a dreamy smile. Only Patch could kick a demoness in the teeth, with Anneliese kicking her in the tail, and happily settle down to dinner and ice cream afterward. Even despite the wrinkles on Dane’s and Kyon’s serious foreheads, Jiro could see the satisfaction and pride in their eyes. It relieved his mind as a Cresta and now as an Alpha.

He would never tell Garnet, but he had constantly questioned his decision to let Cyran be healed in their home, surrounded by people who had every right to hate him. 

But as Jiro looked at Cyran one night while sitting by his bed, one persistent thought buzzed around in his brain, and he too had talked to Cyran like Patch had. Dane wasn’t around, so Jiro could talk to Cyran man to man, honestly and openly.

With the incense overwhelming him and making his nose run so he blew it every five minutes, he talked to the frozen Cyran. “You have a big brain. I know that about you. Your sister has told me stories. Well, people always said I was the smart one among the Cresta boys. Not that the others are idiots, as much as I might call them that. Dane certainly has a gift for leadership and he knows what’s best for our pack, and he’s very well read. Kyon has artistic talent I envy. Patch can make everyone laugh and like him. He’s so clever and quick, and you would not believe all the unusual facts and lore he’s collected. Dirge is so bright for a teenager and he always wants to keep learning. We’re all smart in our own way.”

He’d breathed deeply and sniffled even more, feeling his nose running. He borrowed a spare soft warm washcloth and wiped his nose. “You called me cold. Well, I can be. I’ve always valued facts and knowledge and reason. And there is a good reason to help you other than keeping my mate happy. Any man who’s truly a man wants his mate to be fulfilled. But I also need to know what you know about Hades because he isn’t going away. Nor is this Dark Goddess. Beyond that, though, it makes no sense in some people’s minds to spend all this time helping you. But I think I could be you. 

“You thought that magic and the gifts and knowledge that Hades gave you were all you needed to be an Alpha and to stop the pain. But the witches say that magic doesn’t take away pain. And the minute Hades said it did, you should have run. In the future, I hope you’ll do that. Or you could just talk to Patch again.” Jiro smiled ruefully. “If you grow up with him, you lose your ego and your sense of importance pretty quickly. And he’s full of love for his pack, and for people, and for life. He’s actually the perfect one to reach you. He and Anneliese could reach you.”

Cyran blinked, and his fingers twitched. Jiro reached out and clasped his hand. Was it his imagination, or did Tulaska smile at them in her knowing old-soul way?

“I’ve said my piece,” he finished. “I think you can hear me.”

“...hear me?”

Jiro jolted out of the memory he’d slipped into. Lilia gazed at him. “Jiro, are you alright?”

Everyone else stared at him oddly, although most were used to him mentally wandering off into unexpected territory. Garnet squeezed his arm with a loving smile. 

“Just thinking about the mission,” he said truthfully. 

“Well, as I was saying, with my mother back in Wildefell, Patch and Anneliese have another home to go to as well as the Chalice villa.” Lilia’s eyes sparkled. “Mother is being all mysterious, but she says that she has something unique to help our intrepid duo in their quest. Something exotic.”

Jiro’s eyes widened. He loved it when an unusual idea hit him. “Patch, if you’re going to be a duke, I have something that will help you look the part. Something exotic. Meet me upstairs after dinner.”