Wolf's Cross by S. A. Swann

Author:S. A. Swann
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780345521729
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-08-27T04:00:00+00:00

Telek stood and quietly listened to the German, and gradually he realized that, for whatever reason, this Josef was genuine. At first he’d thought this man was some feint by Heinrich, to get some weapons out of the stores; or perhaps Heinrich suspected Telek’s visit to his quarters and wanted to confirm it.

But this man went beyond anything Telek had expected. Not only did he confirm the nature of the beast the Order hunted, but he conveyed an urgency that Heinrich’s tome could not. Telek listened to the man and asked the questions he would have if he had not known much of this beforehand.

One thing he noted: there were gaps in Josef’s knowledge. He couldn’t answer some questions Telek asked that would be apparent to anyone who had read Heinrich’s tome. He never mentioned the name Semyon, and he didn’t know how long these creatures had been hunted by the Order. To Josef, these things were demonic and always had been.

He gave Telek a few new elements, though. A description of the beast: the golden fur, the ruthlessness. It was quite a different sense hearing about such a thing from a man who had seen it than reading a sterile description on the page. Hearing about how this beast had savaged a heavily armed and mounted contingent of the Order, armed precisely against such a creature …

Telek began to fear for his uncle and the men with him, armed only with the silver sword that Bolesław had taken from this room. We should have armed them all, Telek thought, cursing the impulse that had made his uncle keep their knowledge from the Duke and the Duke’s men.

When Josef had finished his confession, Telek set the dagger down and said, “Take what you need.”

Josef picked up a cleaning rag and wrapped one of the silver daggers inside it, so that he had a nondescript bundle that could have been anything. Telek was relieved that the man had chosen something he could carry away without raising questions.

A wounded man is not going to go on a solo hunt for this thing with only a silver dagger.

“Tell me, Josef: Why is it that you need that now? Do you not think that your captain will convince the Duke to allow you to resume pursuit of this thing?”

“I—I need to protect myself,” he said. It was the only obvious lie he had spoken, but Telek decided that it was worth more to retain an ally in the Order than it was to ferret out that bit of information.

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