14, Monkshood

Two of the riders carried bows and when Sinhera pointed out the situation, they quickly fired arrows towards two of the wolves. The first arrows didn’t kill them, but slowed them down and had the wolves focus on trying to find the source of the arrows. Ayya used her magic and raised the ground in front of the wolves, creating a barrier between them and the herd. This confused the wolves further and before they could regain their composure, the two riders had killed a wolf each and teamed up to kill the third one. Ayya looked over to the rest of the wolf pack and saw them fleeing into the woods. She let out a long breath and forced her hands to become steady. The herd in the field was panicking. The fire, the predators and the stress of the humans had them almost in a frenzy. Ayya saw the fire that was burning in the ditch. The threat was gone, but for how long? Could she, in good conscience, put the fire out, or would they need it? On the other hand, if the herd panicked and started stampeding, both animals and humans could come to harm. She lifted her hand and smothered the fire. The night became darker in an instant.

“Can you do something about the smell of smoke? It is causing the animals to panic,” Kahane asked.

“Even I have my limitations. To make it rain or to move that amount of air around isn’t impossible, but it would take preparation and probably an artefact or two,” Ayya told him. He nodded and gave an order to the surrounding men to go down and help to calm the animals. As they all stood on the palisade and watched as the people calmed the animals, the chief came walking towards them. He had been standing a little further to the north during the attack. 

“Thank you, lady Ayya, and thank you riders,” he said as he came up to them.

“It’s what we are here for, after all, to help you,” Ayya told him with a smile.

“Still, your actions saved our animals and possibly even some of my people. It’s not the first time you do us the honour of saving the lives of our fellow villagers. Be sure to know this won’t be forgotten, we will forever be in your debt,” he said, bowing his head. 

“It’s my honour to get the chance to come here and help you.” They watched as the last animals were rounded up and calmed down. Ayya felt the drain from using magic. She hadn’t exhausted herself by any means, but she still longed for the bed back at the Inn. But when everything had been handled, it was almost dawn, and it didn’t seem worthwhile to go back to bed. The other village chiefs would start arriving as soon as the sun was up. They headed back to the inn to get dressed and to have breakfast.

“Are you up for this? You look a little tired, “Sinhera asked Ayya.

“I’ll be fine, some tea and food and I will be back to normal. I wish they had coffee. That would be even better,” Ayya said with a wishful sigh. Ayya had to settle for some strong tea with an extra dollop of honey. When breakfast was over, they walked over to the town hall. At the corner, Milli stood watching them.

“You should talk to the chief about her,” Sinhera said once again. 

“She isn’t hurting anyone and I don’t see her as a threat, do you?” Ayya asked.

“No, and if she tried, she would be easy enough to neutralise,” Sinhera huffed. “But I still think the chief would like to know that one of the villagers doesn’t treat you with the respect he ascribes to you.”

“Thank you, but we will ignore her for now. The chief has more important things to worry about than a lovesick woman. If she is still at it when we have solved the wolf issue, I will talk to him.” They arrived at the village hall where the chief, his son and his advisors were already standing on the steps, waiting for their guests to arrive. The morning was spent greeting the five chiefs from the neighbouring villages. They all greeted Ayya with respect and were eager to discuss how they could work together to solve the issue they all experienced. Ayya hadn’t expected the level of cooperation between the villages. She had been afraid that there would be rivalry between them. But if there were, it had been put to the side. 

“We can all dig ditches and man them to make sure we can light them is needed. But that is a short time solution. We can’t keep the animals in one place. The feed for the animals will run out and we will have to put them down or see them starve,” one chief said. The others nodded. 

“You are right. We need to find a more permanent solution,” Ayya agreed. 

“At least there are three less today than there was yesterday,” a council member said. 

“The best solution would be to get the wolves back to where they originated from. But from what I saw yesterday, this is no ordinary pack. It is significantly larger than any other pack I have heard of. It also seems to have at least two different subtypes of wolves. I have never heard of that being the case before,” Ayya told them.

“What does that mean?” Kahane asked.

“It think that this pack comprises several different packs that for some reason have merged into one. The only time I have heard of something like this happening is when one pack has been decimated and then absorbed by a larger pack,” Ayya explained. 

“Can this pack have been created by one pack absorbing several smaller ones?” one chief asked.

“It’s possible. But I can’t think of a situation where so many packs in one area would be decimated in a way to allow that to happen,” Ayya said. The chiefs around the table looked at each other and then at their host. He nodded and turned to Ayya.

“You know we are relatively close to the border towards Domne.” Ayya nodded. “We have heard rumours for some time. We don’t know if they were true. But in the light of what you are saying, there is a good chance that they are. The rumour says that the sickness has spread again. The amount of animals in their forests is low after the last time the sickness ravaged them. After the last wave, there was a food shortage, and they hunted in order to provide the capital with meat.” the chief said. Ayya knew that at least part of that was true from her letters with Anna. “When the sickness started up again, they wanted to prevent the food shortage, and an order was sent out to provide the capital with as much meat and produce as possible. Hunters are being paid top price for game. That has led to some hunters targeting predators, as they see them as competition for the sought after pray,” he finished. 

“That would explain it. Surviving wolves of a targeted pack would migrate away from the danger, moving and meeting up with other stray survivors. All of them forming one pack that moved away from the hunters and towards the safety of Salmisara,” Ayya said. 

“So, do we try to push them back?” someone asked.

“No, we can’t do that. They have now created this super-pack. If we make them go back, we will doom our neighbours. If they already have an issue finding game and feeding their people, this pack will devastate the region. No, we inherited the problem, but we need to deal with it,” Ayya concluded. There was some hesitation around the table. It was tempting to pawn the issue over to someone else. Finally, all the chiefs nodded in agreement. “There is a more direct way we can try. I haven’t suggested it before, because to consequences of it will probably impact more than just the wolves and I was hoping for a more subtle way to solve the situation.” Ayya then said reluctantly. She really had been hoping not to have to use this solution. 

“What are you suggesting?” Kahane asked. Ayya sighed.

“There is an herb that is poisonous to most living things, but it seems to have an alluring smell to wolves and other canines. It’s called Monkshood, also known as Wolve’s Bane. I brought with me a supply of it. We could use it to brew a distillation and add it to raw meat that we place in the woods where we know the wolves roam. If they eat the meat, it will kill them,” Ayya explained. There was an appreciative murmur. “But there is no guarantee that the wolves will eat it and any animal that eats it will die. We risk poisoning a large part of the predatory part of the ecosystem. If we knock out the predators, the pray will no longer have someone to keep the population down and you will see an alarming increase in them. They may not be a direct threat like the wolves, but enough of them can mean a shortage of grass in the highlands, a decrease in fruits, berries and other flora that you gather from the forest,” she added. It was a tricky thing to meddle with nature. 

“We have seen a decrease in pray animals since the wolves got here and other predators have decreased as well. I think the wolves are forcing them out. This may be a way to give nature a chance to recuperate,” their host said. 

“It may be the case. I would still suggest that we do it in steps. Let’s start small with one piece of meat and see if the wolves eat it. If we get the results we hope for, we can add some more,” Ayya said. 

“That would add to the risk of the men. It’s dangerous to go that close to their den.” Kahane voiced his concerns. 

“I understand that. I will go with you. Hopefully that will add a layer of protection for the men. If you feel you don’t want to put your men in danger, we accept that. In that case, I will take the riders and we will make the delivery,” Ayya said. She saw that Sinhera was about to object and sent her a stern look. The local men had put their lives in danger time and time again, despite not being trained warriors. 

“We will not allow you to take all the risk, my lady. We will ask our men if some of them are willing to join you. No one will be forced, but I’m convinced there won’t be a shortage of volunteers,” the chief of the village said. When that had been decided, the conversation moved on to what the villages would do once the threat was eliminated. The end of summer was quickly approaching and if they were to save the herds, they needed to work together.