Chapter 31
The key was long, with uneven, jagged edges. To Miika, it more closely resembled a throwing dagger than any key he had ever seen. It also appeared to not work at as a key, given that after 10 full minutes of trying desperately, Miika could not get the key to even properly fit his cell’s lock, let alone turn once it fit. He sat in the dust, tired and defeated, staring at its tarnished silver surface that sat dull in the low light of the dungeons. He had no way of knowing how long it had been since the last person had passed by his cell - Rasmus. The dungeon had no windows, save anything magical created by its inhabitants. The only light was the low, cold red and yellow flickering of undying torches that burned silently, quiet sentinels in a wasteland of torture.
Miika was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of footsteps on the staircase. Palming the key in his right hand, he let his sleeve drop over it, so if he had to hide it quickly, he could. Two guards walked into the hallway and stopped in front of Miika’s cell. Both had weapons, but neither had them drawn. One of the guards - the one with a dagger - held a set of keys. The second guard was carrying a sword, and kept one hand on it, apparently to let Miika know it was there. Sitting in the dust in the corner, Miika stared at them blankly, while trying to calculate what was about to happen.
“It’s time for you to move, traitor.”
“Where to?”
“You’ll see.” The guard with the keys smiled as he unlocked the cell door. His friend with the sword still hadn’t said a word, and still stood stone-faced behind the man in the forefront. What a pleasant fellow, Miika thought. The guard with the keys stepped into the cell, leaving the door open, walked over to Miika, and grabbed his left arm. Just as he began to pull, Miika leapt upward, swinging his right hand as he did so.
A light snow had fallen, dusting the forest with a thin sheet of white. Tuukka raced onward, his fellow wolves following in single file. Dashing through the woods, they didn’t even pause to catch their breath, as their feet fell on the snow and propelled them onwards. They were moving so quickly and lightly that when the snow crunched, the sound was barely audible, disturbing only the nearby mice and insects. The light filtering through the trees served only to make their silvery appearance seem fluid, melting the pack into one long serpentine creature. Finally, the pack slowed to a halt, with Tuukka running a few yards ahead of them and dropping to the ground. Sitting carefully under the bushes, he had full view of the house, while remaining hidden in the shadows. At the site of his ears perking up, the pack layed down quietly, using bushes, trees, and rocks as shelter.
“What is it, Sofia?” Anja looked at the panther when the animal’s head snapped up. For what felt like an eternity, Sofia sat perfectly still, staring towards the front of the house. Finally, she slowly stood up, and very deliberately walked toward the doors, ears still perked. When she reached the front doors, she looked back at Anja.
“Alright, I’ll open them, but I want to know what’s going on.” Anja stepped toward the doors and grasped the handle, watching as Sofia’s body tensed slightly at the sight of the doorknob turning. “Let me go out there with you.” Sofia looked up at Anja, and stared directly into her with the piercing yellow-green eyes. “Fine, do what you need to. I’ll leave the door ajar.” Anja stepped back, and before the door was open a foot, Sofia was already outside, slowly stepping towards the woods. “Henrik!”
“What?” Henrik walked out of the study and over to Anja, whose knuckle was turning white on the doorknob.
“It’s Sofia…she’s acting strangely. See?” Anja opened the door a little more, and Henrik stuck his head out. The panther was edging towards the forest, never making much progress, but making her presence obvious.
“Oh, that’s nothing. She’s just stalking.” As Henrik watched her ears drop back, and then her legs begin to bend, his eyes began to widen. “Kiri!” The owl appeared on the ground at Henrik’s feet. The man crouched down to it. “What’s going on out here?” He held his arm out, and Kiri flew up onto it, and locked eyes with Henrik. They stood like that for only a few seconds before Henrik’s face went pale.
“Alright,” he said to Kiri, “listen closely. Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid out there. We will be outside in a minute, I just need to round up Santeri and Peikko. Now go!” Kiri took flight, and landed next to Sofia, who stopped moving, although she never turned from the direction she was facing. As Anja watched, she could almost make out what appeared to be a silvery mirage moving in the shadows of the trees. She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
“Henrik, what’s going on?”
“Do you have your things ready to go, like I asked?”
“Yeah, why…?”
“Just grab them and meet me back here. That note that Miika got to you was a little late. It looks like our fight will be starting even sooner than expected. How well do you know the path between here and town?”
“Like the back of my hand, of course. But Henrik, I -“
“Good. We’ll need that knowledge.” Before Anja could finish her thought, Henrik was gone up the stairs, headed toward Santeri’s room. Walking back to the kitchen, Anja saw the note that Henrik was obsessing over. She walked over to it, and, looking around her for signs of either of the two men in the house, opened the note. Scratched in ink was one simple sentence: The dogs of war have been unleashed.