Wolf's Bane by Nancey Cummings

Author:Nancey Cummings [Cummings, Nancey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Menura Press

Chapter 14

Aleksandar

Founding

* * *

Three days to Founding.

An eternity to return to Solenne.

Alek hated Founding. The crowded city perpetually stank of stagnant water and smoke. No matter how often he scrubbed his skin, the odor never seemed to disperse. At least he wanted to believe the malaise that hung in the air was stagnant water and not something fouler.

The original settlers planned the city in a grid pattern, and they had constructed the earliest buildings from the very ships that brought the settlers to the new land. Over the next two centuries since humans spilled out of their ships, those buildings rusted in only a handful of years and were eventually covered over in brick.

The city outgrew the original grid, newer sections a free-for-all and the older quarters carved into smaller and smaller parcels. The result was a twisty maze of streets that never went where a person intended, and there were people everywhere. Too many people. Alek could not breathe for the foul air and the people in his territory.

With only the hastily drawn map Chambers gave him, Alek made his way through the city. The horse, more used to the crowded streets than Alek, seemed unperturbed by the noise and commotion. He, however, growled and snapped when the crowds drifted too close.

It took too long to find Dr. Sheldon, and then the sister, a Mrs. Parkell. He tried to wait patiently for the sister to cease weeping. Her capacity for this, he learned, was endless. Despite his urging to leave now and have someone send her a trunk, she insisted on packing herself. As a result, Alek spent an entire day in Founding.

By the time their party left in the early hours of the following morning, he wanted to claw off his skin, convinced he’d never be free of the filthy smog of the city.

The carriage made good time on the paved roads, but as they traveled farther from Founding, the roads transitioned into uneven stone, then crushed gravel, and finally dirt. Progress ground to a halt each time as the carriage got stuck on the muddy, treacherous roads. Mrs. Parkell’s wailing that each delay kept her from her precious baby made everything worse. He did his best to ignore her while he helped the coachman free the carriage. He was thankful to have his own horse to ride and not have to share the carriage with the noisome woman.

“Do you intend to weep the entire journey?” Alek retrieved his coat from the nearby shrubbery, where he hung it to avoid sweat and mud.

“Oh, sir, how can you be so cruel? Why would my good brother send such a man?” Her hands fluttered, waving a heavily perfumed handkerchief.

“I believe he aimed to punish us both,” Alek muttered.

“Back in the carriage. We can make Fallkirk by evening,” the coachman said.

Fallkirk. Alek recognized the name. He had been attacked by two beasts near there, but he had only defeated one. The other still prowled the territory.

When they arrived at the tavern on Fallkirk, the sun had slipped behind the trees.

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