The Moon The King was Missing

The smoke was strange; it wasn't the smoke from a chimney, a hearth, a celebration. It was a smoke that tried to resemble something else. Behind the rancid, irony note, there was something else that stung the eyes: oil, black resin, and something sweet.

"This border," Mikel said, already moving.

Eidan and Ares spread out as if they had been born in the forest. Kael looked at me; that was enough.

"I'm staying with you," he said, without questioning it.

"I don't want to be a burden."

"I know, that's why you're staying with me."

We moved forward without following any path, guided by instinct and reading the roots. The smoke drew closer. With each step, the old iron became more present.

"Silver," Eidan murmured from above, on the branch. "I smell worked silver."

My wolf bared his teeth. The forest fell silent: the insects stopped, the wind died down, and even the moon grew paler.

"Watch out for the ground," Mikel warned. "Claw traps."

He didn't explain. There was no need. Two steps later, Kael's light revealed the first claw: a buried claw, curved teeth, taut springs, and in the center, a central tooth that gleamed differently.

"Silver on the rivet," Kael pointed out, bending down without touching it.

"That's human," Ares spat, annoyed and scared at the same time.

"Or wolves who learned to buy like humans," Mikel corrected.

I knelt carefully, my splinted arm pressed close to my body. There was disturbed earth around the trap, as if it had been set hastily. To one side, a mark in the mud: three vertical lines and a crescent moon crossed by a nail.

My throat made a noise.

"That's it, I saw it."

Kael looked at me, waiting for me to finish explaining.

"Where?"

"In the kitchen. In the drawer where they kept the meat hooks. The night my parents were killed, there was one of those drawings in soot on the pantry wall."

We were silent.

"Black Iron," Kael murmured. "They're not a pack. They're buyers. They do the dirty work for whoever pays them."

"Argon?" Ares asked, almost wishing for it; a known enemy was better.

Kael shook his head.

"Argon risked his pride on the stone tonight," he said. "And even if he were capable of going that far, he wouldn't set traps with silver here. He knows what that means."

"So," Eidan clenched his jaw, "someone wants it to look like Argon. Or for us to think it's just anyone." And while they distract us, they attack from behind.

The smoke was coming from a small clearing. A low shadow. It wasn't a blazing fire, but embers meant to ward them off. A pile of damp leaves, green logs, and on top of them, pieces of leather and a hemp rope that smelled of tar.

"Masked fire," Mikel said.

"To break the trail," Kael added.

My wolf was alert, not so much to the fire, but to the strange silence to my left. I turned without thinking. My body led me before my head.

"There," I said.

There was a second, smaller trap, hidden under the leaves. And a meter away, a shape. It wasn't human. It wasn't a wolf. It was a large, domestic dog, with a thick leather collar and a blank tag. The trap was biting its paw. It was trembling silently.

My chest tightened.

"Stay still," I whispered. I lowered my good hand. The dog sniffed me and didn't growl. His eyes locked onto mine as if he were trying to tell me something.

"Don't touch it," Mikel said. "If that tip has silver on it, it'll burn you."

"The silver didn't touch me. It touched him."

Kael was already beside me, crouching down. He took a thick cloth from his boot and folded it four times. He placed the cloth on the clamp and, using his body weight, opened it just enough. Mikel placed a wooden stake on the hinge so it wouldn't slam shut. Eidan held the dog's ankle with two fingers and pulled him out. It was all clean and quick. The dog whined only once. Then he licked his paw.

"This isn't hunting," Kael said, looking at the collar. "It's a message."

"What message?" I asked.

"That they can come in. That they can make noise and still take us a while to find them." They want us to stop sleeping.

"They already succeeded."

The dog licked my wrist. Ares grinned toothlessly.

"We'll take care of him. I'll handle it."

"Take him to Irene," Kael ordered. "And have them store the trap, but unloaded. I want them to see it at the Council at dawn."

Ares left with the animal in his arms, clutching it to his chest.

"There's more," Eidan said, pointing to metal in the mud.

"Should I take them out?" Mikel offered.

"No," Kael said. "We'll mark them and post guards. If they come looking for them, I want to see their faces."

The sweet ember in the smoke stung my nose again. I looked at the smoldering pile of leaves.

"There's something underneath. Something they don't want us to see."

Kael dug his boot in and kicked the pile aside. The smoke rose and stung my eyes. Mikel coughed. Eidan cursed. When the smoke cleared, I saw it. A metal box, with holes in the lid and runes engraved on the sides. Silver rivets. A red thread around the edge.

"What is it?" I asked.

Mikel didn't answer. Neither did Kael. They looked at me. The answer was within me, not them. And I knew it...

"It's a scent mask," I said, remembering something I'd heard. "They want to distort a trail or plant one by force."

Kael carefully lifted it, using the cloth. He brought it to his nose without inhaling.

"Ivy, ash, resin, wisps of... wolf fur..." he lowered his voice.

My breath caught in my throat for a second.

"Do they want to erase our clues... or erase their own scent?" Eidan asked.

"Both," Kael replied. "And they want us to know that they know."

The box had a seal in the shape of three lines and a crescent moon through it. The same as the clay. The same as the drawer of hooks.

My wolf was restless and angry.

"And why now?" I asked. "Why tonight?"

"Because I introduced you to me today," Kael said bluntly. Because when a name is spoken aloud, the people who make their living by tying it up get nervous.

I didn't know whether to be grateful or curse. The smoke dissipated. The breeze returned. The forest, little by little, was returning to normal.

"We're going back to this," Kael decided. "And we're posting guards in the trees. No one sets foot in the clearing until further notice."