Author: @lestericalphan
Artist: @galaxyhowells (ART HERE)
Beta: @transdimensional-void
Word count: 30k
Rating: R
Warnings: Extreme violence, language, death, child abuse, torture, and transphobia mentions
Summary:
Miloria is changing: Louise is now finding herself in charge of a kingdom, Dan has been having strange dreams about a boy who later shows up on his doorstep along with the King of the East Crest, and Jack is now having to look after both Darcy and her Mother.
But magic is stirring again after centuries asleep and the Gods seem to be contently watching as power shifts from head to head.
This phanfic set in an alternative Game of Thrones style universe featuring Louise, Jack, Dodie and more is (hopefully) going to have you on the edge of your seat as the Wolves of the World series begins.
Authors Note: Welcome this year's passion project for me! It’s been a lot of writing and stress but thankfully Sara, my wonderful beta, kept me afloat through the whole thing.
“I think you’re overreacting a bit, Lou…” Jack reasoned as Louise sat on her bed, tears streaming down her face and Darcy clinging to her mother’s waist.
“No, Darcy must get out of the North now. It’s no longer safe,” Louise responded, grasping Darcy closer to her chest. Her face was red from crying. Jack had come running as soon as he heard the news Louise’s husband’s head had turned up in a box. He wasn’t surprised to find her locked in her room with Darcy.
“Mummy, I don’t want to go,” Darcy whimpered, probably scared out of her mind. Louise wouldn’t have told Darcy what she had seen, not in a million years.
“Trust me, dear, you will be much safer away from here,” Louise cooed, sitting Darcy on her lap and playing gently with her hair. “Jack, I want you to organise a coach right now.”
“Louise, where? Where would I take her?” Jack asked, exasperated, as he stared at Louise. She had finally lost it, he decided.
“Not to the Mark,” Louise whispered into Darcy’s hair, rocking her back and forth. The tears had begun to ease up now, but the occasional one still graced her cheek.
“That’s obvious, but nowhere in the immediate South is safe! The Sallows’ army stretches along the entire border, and even if I did somehow get past them, nowhere would take her in, not with Hazel potentially hunting her down,” Jack explained, running his hands through his hair.
“THEY KILLED MY HUSBAND! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?” Louise screamed at Jack, her eyes wild and scary. The whole world seemed to freeze at those words, even the tears on Louise’s cheeks froze in place.
“M-m-mummy, I’m cold…” Darcy whimpered, trying to crawl out of her Mother’s arms.
“Darcy, come here a second,” Jack called her over softly as she climbed out of Louise’s arms. After Darcy had come to stand next to Jack, he only had to open the door to find about ten maids standing around listening, “This nice lady is going to take you to your room. I’ll be there shortly, okay?”
“Okay, Jacky…” Darcy sniveled as the tears started also coming down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry. You're a big, grown-up princess, aren’t you?” Jack consoled as he kneeled down to cuddle Darcy.
“I won’t cry anymore, Jacky,” Darcy said quietly, straightening up as Jack stood again.
“Go along now,” Jack mumbled as Darcy clumsily curtsied before following the maid out.
Louise was still sat there, her arms closing around nothing and her eyes full of concern. “There will be guards outside her window and door. Don’t fret,” Jack comforted Louise as he sat down next to her, offering her a hug instead. “Come here, Lou.”
Louise burst into fresh tears, trembling in Jack’s arms as she blubbered, “She’s so young. Too young.” All Jack could say though was, “I know.” What else was there to say? After a while, Louise stopped crying, and they broke apart to sit in silence. The window was thrown open, letting the cool air sweep in but also filling the room with a gentle blue light. Thread had risen, making every tree it touched glisten and sparkle in the pale blue light.
“But what do I do?” Louise finally spoke softly, breaking the silence. “The people of my kingdom want justice for my dead husband, but I can’t declare war. Not with Darcy here and not without a strong army. Oswald Sallow’s army outnumbers ours ten to one.” Louise sighed, fiddling with her dress, blue and crisp like the day.
“Remember, though, we have some protection,” Jack said, encouraged, placing his own hand on her restless one.
“The Snofrid Mountains won’t protect us from an army,” Louise exhaled, following Jack’s gaze. The Three tall mountains named after the greatest of the early Snow Kings, Usidore, Elendore and Brandon, could be seen from almost anywhere in Izabalia. They were so important to the Snofrid family that they were the main feature on their banners.
“But Usidore the Mountain has the only direct route to the capital,” Jack observed, standing up and walking towards the window to get a better view of them, the snow on the top of them seeming to glitter in response.
“So?” Louise asked, slowly joining Jack at the window.
“Block it off and you block off the army. It will take them at least a month to go up the Nackati Path, and they could be stopped by the East Crest. They are surely acting without command from their ‘Needle’,” Jack speculated, excitedly turning to look at Louise.
“But that could cut off the path many traders take,” Louise disagreed, crossing her arms to try and keep herself warm, “We could lose out on food, supplies, armour and swords and wood. Plus it endangers every man, woman and child along the Nackati Path as they won’t have anyone to protect them.”
“What do you propose we do then?” Jack replied carefully, putting a hand on Louise’s shoulder.
“We lure them to the Usidore Pass and tempt them through where our army will be,” Louise stated, turning away from the window in search of some warmer clothes.
“You better get a good army then.” Jack smiled, watching her fumble around in her chest of drawers.
“About Darcy…” Louise said, slowly standing up to wrap herself in a polor bear shawl, “I am serious. I don’t want her in a Capital about to be attacked.”
“I understand. I just don’t know where we would take her,” Jack remarked as he closed the balcony windows.
“Cestila’s Crossing. There is an island in between the North and South,” Louise suggested, slumping in an armchair near the low-burning fire.
“No, the king has an army outpost there with soldiers from all of the Southern Kingdoms. The Sallows will have friends there all too happy to kill a little girl for money. Even if she is just passing through, the Sallows will hear of it and send an assassin after her.” Jack sighed, joining her. The room had grown cold so quickly at Louise’s outburst.
“We get her to Pavo Woods then. She is technically a future heir,” Louise remembered, turning to look at Jack for some sign of approval.
“Even if we could get her there, I hate to tell you but we’ve already intercepted two messages to the Ottidites claiming you caused your husband’s death. They may even kill her themselves to save the trouble of giving her to Hazel. Heir or not, she is your daughter too,” Jack cautioned as Louise, losing hope, hunched her shoulders.
“The Second Kingdom?” Louise desperately voice aloud, already knowing the answer.
“Too far away. She would have to stop at both Cestila’s Island and in the Riverlands. Plus there are army posts there too. Birds are good at sending messages even to far away places,” Jack finished, giving up, content to let silence fall about them. Not even the small fire seemed to crackle then.
“Nackati…” Louise whispered, almost in the instant she thought it.
“What?” Jack questioned, looking at her.
“I lived there for a bit with the Nuns to learn valuable skills,” Louise explained, trying to put her thoughts and hope into words.
“But will that protect her from the Sallows?” Jack inquired, his brow furrowing and becoming almost a storm, too hard to read.
“Once she has stepped foot on the Island, it would be blasphemous to even draw a sword on her,” Louise noted, relief spreading over her own face until it softened again.
“But are there even guards or protection on the Island?” Jack quizzed her, not as convinced as Louise was of the safety of this little Northern island.
“No, but the Nuns will protect her.” Louise softly smiled, brushing the hair off her face so it could feel the fire’s warm glow.
“That won’t stop an assassin stealing her from her bed at night-” Jack urged, trying to make Louise see some kind of common sense.
“-The Nuns will protect her. Trust me…” Louise interjected firmly, cold once again, almost implying there was something deeper that she couldn’t tell Jack.
“So how do we get her there?” Jack was resigned. He trusted Louise, so whatever it was she wasn’t telling, it was none of his business. If he needed to know, she would tell him, he believed.
“Any ship leaving from any port, but the ones in the East Crest will be spotted and boarded by the Sallows’ fleet, small though it may be. We don’t have any ships to spare if we are doing all our trading by Cestila’s Crossing,” Louise confessed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her shoes were already long abandoned beside her bed.
“So she has to travel down the Nackati Path…” Jack pondered sadly. The path would certainly be dangerous, and as soon as word of Darcy’s departure reached the ears of the Sallows, the path would be crawling with people searching for her for a reward.
“The closest town on the Border on the East Crest side has a small guard. Any large party will draw attention, but one or two riders with a good back story could get her onto a small boat and to the island with no one noticing. Traders pass through there all the time,” Louise explained, her eyes not drifting from the fire, almost sensing what Jack was about to say.
“I’ll go,” Jack volunteered instantly.
“I thought you would say that.” She sighed sadly, turning her head to look at him, a stray blonde hair falling delicately in front of her face. “Do you have to?”
“No one knows her as well as me, and she trusts me. I can handle myself and a small girl. We can pretend to be traders,” Jack coaxed Louise, shuffling closer to her.
“You have to come back. You have to get her there safely.” Louise desperately trembled, tears threatening to shatter down her cheeks.
“I will. I swear to Needle and Thread and to any other Gods that may exist,” Jack proclaimed, getting up to kneel down in front of her, if only to wipe the upcoming tears.
Suddenly, though, after Louise had taken a second to compose herself, all trace of sadness was gone, only to be replaced by a coldness Jack had never seen. “You may be my closest friend, but if she dies, I don’t care if you live or die. I will kill you.”
“Lou, I won’t fail you,” Jack promised, reaching out to touch her hand, but she quickly pulled it away, walking away from Jack back towards the balcony windows.
“You’d better get packing then.”
AN: For fans of ‘Hello, from the Magic Tavern’ yes I named a freaking mountain after Usidore the Blue.
“What do you mean he is still technically the King?” Louise shouted across the table at Iada Javok, her Head Councilor.
“I mean, my Queen, that we don’t know what has happened to him, so we have to enact Order 67 of the High Rule Act that both you and your King signed on your wedding day,”
Iada explained, shuffling in her large, wooden chair and flicking her grey hair out of her face.
“So what happens while he is missing? He can’t rule a kingdom while he has no contact with us,” Louise, who had only been in the meeting for five minutes, seethed.
“It means you will temporarily be in charge until we receive proof or evidence that states he has broken the High Rule Act or decided to leave you,” she assured Louise, carefully polishing her spectacles to read the finer print of the document in front of her.
The cosy council room was both big enough to fit the long table and small enough that it only required one smaller fireplace to heat the whole room. After all, it was always winter here in Izabalia, which was so far north that the seasons never really changed. Even still, Louise was hot under the collar of the dress she had selected this morning.
“But it could be days or even years before we hear from him. How am I meant to put long-term measures in place if war breaks out and he is still ‘technically’ King?” Louise argued, pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace.
“Order 67 does have some leniency, my Lady, when our country is placed in threat or if he has disappeared without trace for over a year,” Jack interrupted from his seat next to Iada, indicating a line in the document.
“This is ridiculous.” Louise sighed, rubbing her forehead as her second headache started to form, the first having come after hours of crying.
“It is the law you signed,” Iada stated, staring her Queen dead in the eye.
“Because I was forced into marriage,” Louise coldly replied, finally stopping her pacing.
“My Lady-”
“Don’t ‘my Lady’ me. In truth I never wanted to marry that Pavo Woods man. He was ten years older than me and a pig,” Louise fumed.
“I am sure we can find a better match next time round,” Thomas interjected, breaking the staring contest that had started between Louise and Iada.
“There will be no next time round,” Louise concluded, finally sitting down in her ornate wooden chair and turning her attention to Thomas.
It was with a heavy sigh that Thomas realised it was his turn to be argued with, and the sound annoyed Louise. All these people seemed to believe her to be a child, ignorant to the way of ruling, but what they needed to understand was that if she was going to rule, she would do it her way. “But, your majesty-”
“I was a peace offering to keep us from war,” Louise cut in.
“I understand-”
“I am no peace offering and don’t intend to be again,” Louise shouted, the whole world suddenly still. “If I marry again, then it will be for love, not peace.”
“It is your duty to the people of this kingdom,” Iada snapped, finally losing her own temper, her old grey eyes almost glowing with disdain.
Louise was still as she almost hissed her response, cold pure anger flowing through her veins and her headache worsening by the minute. “I will not have them ruled again by another southern pig. If you have something more productive to say, Iada, say it.”
“I am sure I can go over the finer points of Order 67 at another point,” Iada answered, all anger dispersed by Louise’s tone. The head of the council was finally done dealing with what she clearly viewed Louise as: an immature young girl.
“And you, Zarithian?” Louise asked her trade adviser, who helped her maintain her successful and flourishing business transactions with the south.
“I am a merchant. Trade is my specialty, not love. The trade is good with the south, so I am good. However, I would advise against any course that might...displease our trading partners,” Opal Zarithian purred, still casually leaning back in her chair and inspecting a fat, ruby ring round her slender, black hand. She was always uninterested in any topic unless she could see how it might affect trade. However, Thomas Snofrid, Louise’s cousin and best adviser, was not as relaxed.
Thomas was not too tall or small but had a strong build and was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Even with his dirty blonde hair, you could still mistake him as being Louise’s brother, so alike were their mannerisms and looks. Both of them possessed the Snofrid curls and ice cold eyes, Thomas’ more grey and Louise’s more blue. With such similar features, it was a wonder more people didn’t mistake them for twins even; they were so close in age and friendship, they easily could have been.
“Thomas, you wish to speak?” Louise observed as Thomas stopped fidgeting with the cuffs of his sleeves and looked Louise dead in the eye. Ice grey and ice blue eyes locked in place.
“I would like to say one thing, Lou, while we are on the subject of the south. As much as you don’t wish to marry, the southern countries will not stay peaceful forever when they hear of the King's disappearance. When this gets out, there will be many foul rumours about whether you caused it, and no doubt they will want a peace offering or war. The balance between our kingdoms is very unstable.
“We need plans for if this does happen, as this could affect both trade and peace. I do not want to have to send people to war without a reason. Whether it be gold or Darcy’s future hand-”
“Thomas, enough. I will not sell my daughter for peace either,” Louise almost snarled, dismissing him.
Thomas was not finished, though, as he continued, “I am simply being logical. It’s only a matter of time before we hear from Hazel-”
“We do not use the Butcher’s real name. Not now, not ever,” Jack interrupted before Louise could, his face plastered with shock.
After a moment, Louise finally thundered, “You keep your traitor sister out of this. You keep my daughter out of this. We are done for today,” and with that, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door purposefully loud behind her.
NEW ORIGINAL SONG! It’s called Semi-functioning Human Being and it’s about... well you can pretty much guess it from the title. Hope you enjoy it and I love to see comments, likes and reblogs!
Holy Moly! It has been ages since I updated this but it’s time to continue reviewing what I’ve read this year in a MEGA update! So grab some tea or hot chocolate and settle in to watch my Book Challenge from March through to July!
