“What is this place?” Bliss asked.
“It’s where I was supposed to meet Marrok, when we first escaped from the underworld,” Lawson said. “I thought he would come out at the same place we did, and it turned out I was waiting at the wrong place. It looks like they’ve been here for a while.”
On the platform, a meal had been prepared. “I hope you don’t mind an early dinner,” Marrok said. “Since we gained our freedom, we’ve tried to keep some of the old Roman traditions alive, so our main meal is the cena, the late-afternoon meal.”
“I’d eat anything at this point,” Lawson said.
They sat cross-legged in front of a basket of bread and a plate of roasted meat. For a while, no one spoke as they focused their attention on eating.
Lawson finally pushed his plate away. “I gave up on you,” he said. “I thought there was no hope.”
“I’m sorry we were a bit delayed. We had some trouble,” Marrok murmured.
“Ahramin.”
“We were not privy to the details of your escape, we did not know that Ahramin had been captured. The hounds sent her to our den. We trusted her. But she was already one of them. Luckily one of us noticed the crimson around her pupils and we told her nothing. When they realized she was useless as a spy, they sent her aboveground. We only managed to escape after she’d gone. We tried to find you when we got here, but kept missing your scent. I’m glad you found us.”
“I thought we were alone,” Lawson said. “I thought we were the only ones who made it out. But then we found Ahramin, and she said there were other free wolves. I didn’t know what to believe; I thought it might be a trick, I wasn’t sure what I would find when we got here.”
“Ahramin…” Marrok shrugged. “She is a traitor. We have been looking for her since Romulus unleashed her on us.”
“She says Romulus broke her collar, that she is no longer a servant of the beast,” Lawson said. “She led us to you. I would never have come here otherwise.”
“She might be playing a more complicated game with you. With us.”
Lawson reached for a piece of bread and tore it with his fingers, crushing part of it into a yeasty ball. “If you release her to Edon, I can promise that he’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Edon, who loves her so desperately he won’t leave her side? I think not.”
“She’s part of my pack,” Lawson said.
“Ulf, you are my friend, but I’m sorry,” Marrok said, “there’s nothing she can do that will make up for how she betrayed us.”
Lawson sighed. “You have the chronolog?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Marrok said as he broke off a piece of bread and nibbled on it.
“Fenrir raise his ugly head?” Lawson asked. “Is that how you got it?”
The light-haired boy shook his head and smiled. “I’m telling you, that’s a myth.”
“Who’s Fenrir?” asked Bliss.
Lawson explained that there was a legend among the wolves that one day the great wolf Fenrir would return and free them from slavery. It was something wolf cubs told each other, especially during those last desperate days before they would be turned into hounds…that one day they would return to their former glory…that one day, someone would come…someone would be sent…to help them…to free them. “Just another old wolves’ tale,” he said, smiling. “Obviously we didn’t need anyone to free us from the underworld. We freed ourselves. How many more wolves managed to escape?” he asked Marrok.
“Not as many as we’d like, much less than we’d hoped,” Marrok said. “A centuria at most.”
“Where are they?”
“Scattered. The hounds hunt us day and night; many of us have been captured and sent back.”
“How many are here?”
Marrok shrugged. “Fifty, sixty at most. You saw the entrance to the passages, I assume? The serpent mound?”
“Yes.” Lawson nodded.
“The dark roads have returned to us,” Marrok said. “The power of the wolves is growing.”