Novels2Search
The Wolf's Daughter
Book 1 Chapter 01

Book 1 Chapter 01

“So, uhhhh,” Phaedra said sheepishly, as if she could be anything else. “I’m Medon. Or… I was Medon. Now I’m Phaedra. I think.”

“You think,” Yroth said, her voice dripping with annoyance and small wisp of flame flickering from between her teeth.

“Please don’t incinerate my room,” Phaedra said, hugging her pillow a little closer. “Daddy will get mad and he--”

“You think I care if the Wolf is angry, vile spawn of Fenrir?!” Yroth asked, her wings and tail twitching behind her.

“No!” Phaedra said. “But I don’t want him to hurt you! It was so hard to get him to let me take you already, he only let me because I begged him! Even then it was only because you were, well…” Her eyes wandered towards the broken chains on the ground. She knew she probably should have left them on her, but she couldn’t bear to see Yroth bound again. Seeing the closest friend she’d had since coming to this world trapped and bound had hurt more than she ever would have imagined. “Can you please just hear me out?”

Yroth gave a low, rumbling growl and rose to her full height, towering over her and spreading her wings out until they touched both sides of the room. She then glanced around before turning back towards her. “Speak quickly, demon. How did you know my name?”

“I told you already,” Phaedra said. “You told me, Yroth. When I was--”

“Do not mock me, demon,” Yroth said, cutting her off. “Medon is… gone. I saw his remains myself. You are not him. This is just another one of the Wolf’s tricks.” A few more flickers of flame spilled out from the corners of her mouth. “I will not fall for it. Tell me the truth, how did you know my name?”

Phaedra looked up at her once-friend before sighing and resting her head on the pillow. “I don’t… know. I don’t know why I’m like this. I’m not sure why I’m his daughter now. It’s probably because of that stupid spell they called me to this place with.”

“Spell?” Yroth asked. “Who?”

“You know who! High Mage Rendel,” Phaedra said. “The stupid mages who summoned me to this world and told me ‘Here, be our champion and take care of all our problems for us!’ I told them, I told ALL of you that I wasn’t who you wanted. Slayer of vermin? VERMIN? I was an exterminator-in-training! An apprentice! Not some great warrior! But did anyone listen to me? Noooo,” Phaedra said through gritted teeth, squeezing her pillow so tightly the fabric tore. “I told you I didn’t know how to do this! I tried to get all of you to send me back, to get someone else, but noooooo! It HAD to be me, apparently! Only I could do it, only I could match the great ‘Wolf’ everyone was so scared of! Well, guess what! I COULDN’T! Instead I fought him and you know what happened? He tore me APART!” Phaedra yelled now, the pillow tearing in half in her arms. “I can still remember it, you know? He didn’t just kill me. He TOYED with me! It was like a dog with a chew toy and you don’t even know what that means because this stupid world doesn’t even HAVE dogs, you just have wolves and then the demon wolves and I’m not sure which is WORSE most days!”

Yroth stared at her, turning her head from side to side. “Do you expect me to truly believe this… story?”

“Yes! No! I don’t know!” Phaedra yelled. “I just… I just want one friendly face, I guess. I just--” The door to her room started to open and she let out a yelp before flicking her hand towards it. A moment later it slammed shut again before glowing purple.

“Lady Phaedra? Lady Phaedra, are you well? I heard yelling!” one of the guards yelled from outside the room. She could hear them trying to get in. Across the room she could see Yroth tensing up, readying for a fight.

“Please, just calm down and talk with me,” Phaedra said before getting to her hooves. “You don’t have to trust me. But please at least let me keep you safe from my father.” She made her way to the door and waved a hand, ending the sealing spell before gripping the door and shoving it open just enough she could slide out, before quickly closing it behind herself. She then turned her focus towards her guard, one of the lizard demons. Stix. He, at least, had the good sense to look surprised and slightly worried by her sudden appearance.

“My lady, I heard yelling,” he said quickly.

“Because I was yelling,” Phaedra said in a slow, calm tone. “Yelling. Not screaming. Not calling for help. Yelling at my new… acquisition. Is that a problem?” she asked, keeping her tone as calm and cold as she could and hoping the nervousness she felt was hidden.

“Of course not, but your father--”

“Asked you to keep me safe,” Phaedra said. “Which you can do only if I am in danger. Do I appear to be in danger?”

“Err, well, no, but--”

“Then perhaps,” Phaedra said. “You should learn to knock before barging into my private chambers. Stix, was it?”

He stood a little more at attention, though his eyes were now flicking around a little wildly. Good, she hoped. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I am my father’s daughter,” Phaedra said. “For all that entails. Unless I scream for help, I do not require aid.”

“B-but my lady, the dragon,” Stix said. “She is dangerous, she--”

“Was defeated and chained by my uncle,” Phaedra said. “And she IS chained, is she not? Helpless. What I do with my property is my business. I trust you will, next time, knock and announce yourself? Or do you believe that you should be granted unrestrained access to my chambers?”

“O-of course not, my lady,” Stix said quickly.

Phaedra nodded before reaching out to shove him away from the doorway. “Then I trust I won’t need to repeat myself.” Before he could object she opened the door and slid back inside, slamming it shut behind herself before all but collapsing against it. She didn’t have the mental energy for this. Not to mention now she was certain her father would hear about her yelling at Yroth. She just--

Phaedra let out a startled bleating shriek when she looked up. Yroth’s head was only a few feet from her, glaring down at her with a fierce rage only an annoyed dragon could wield.

“My lady?” Stix asked.

“Still not a scream! I stubbed my toe!” Phaedra yelled. She then glared right back at Yroth. “Do you mind? You made me… you almost scared me.”

“You bleat like any other sheep,” Yroth said in a low, ominous tone.

“Your head is as big as me,” Phaedra said, in as hushed a volume as she could manage. “Can you please make yourself at least manageable until we’ve talked this out? If you really want to bite me or whatever, you can get all big after that. Until then, you--” She cringed when she glanced over at her bed. One of the dragon’s claws had been shoved into it and now the headboard was cracked and one of the legs were broken. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Who are you?” Yroth asked.

“I told you,” Phaedra said. “I told you who I am. What do you want? Do you want me to tell you about the times we shared? About the frozen molten berries, one of the few foods that actually translate correctly by the way, that I said looked like strawberries and then you asked what strawberries were before I nearly choked on one? Or how about those fancy statues that I said looked like they were overcompensating and you said that was treasonous, if accurate? Or how about on the night before I was literally torn apart how you flew me up to touch the clouds themselves and I almost threw up on you--”

“That wasn’t what happened,” Yroth said, though for the moment she did seem unsure. At least, as unsure as a dragon’s scaled face could look.

“Fine, I threw up a tiny bit,” Phaedra said. “But it was kind of scary and unexpected. I just… don’t know. I was brought to your world. Then I died, trying to fight your war. I guess this just means I’m stuck here. I don’t know why, I don’t know how. What do you want me to say? What do you want me to do? Is there anything that will make you believe me?”

Yroth stared down at her for a few moments before, mercifully, she began to shrink down to a far, far more manageable size. She still towered over her, however. “No, there is not,” Yroth said. “I know not how you have this information, but this? It’s just what I would expect of the Wolf. I am no fool and I will not be made one by the likes of you, sheep.”

“Not a fool but stubborn as hell,” Phaedra said before walking forward again to collapse onto her bed. It gave an ominous groan before a second leg on it snapped and the whole thing dropped a little closer to the ground. She then glanced up around her room at the destruction wrought by the oversized lizard. Her dresser had partially shattered, only supported by the wall. The shelves of stuffed animals she’d been granted had been smashed against the wall, scattering them across the floor and the shelves themselves were only hanging on by a few nails. She supposed it was fortunate that anything dangerous she kept in the closet. “Fine. Don’t believe me. Can you at least accept that I want to keep you safe?”

Yroth gave a light snort.

“You’re not chained, are you?” Phaedra asked.

“I… suppose,” Yroth said. “But I--”

“I’ll let you go,” Phaedra said before looking up at her. “Free. Away from here.”

“Why?” Yroth said.

“Besides the obvious? The thing I keep telling you that you refuse to believe?” Phaedra asked. “Just… I just want you safe. You were always kind to me. So go away. Take your kobolds, gather who you want, and withdraw. Don’t fight anymore. I can probably convince daddy that--”

“Never,” Yroth said with a low growl. “After what the Wolf did, I will never stand by and let him take this world.”

“He already has this world,” Phaedra said. “I failed. He killed me. He tore me apart, limb by limb. Yet now I’m here again. Back for round two, isn’t that fun?”

“I could kill you if you fear him so,” Yroth said.

“Then he’d kill you,” Phaedra said. “Or worse. Because trust me, he can do worse. He--” She saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and barely rolled over in time to see the dragon’s head lunging out towards her. She held out her right arm and cast a quick spell, the wool around it puffing up in preparation for the bite.

But Yroth stopped, mere inches from her, glaring intently. “Do you truly believe you are Medon?”

“I never believed I was Medon,” Phaedra said bitterly before the wool retracted. “Medon was just the stupid name you all told me I had to bear because it was the name of a hero. Just like everything else you people did to me when I got here. Told me to do this, do that. Pick up this sword, find this crystal, drink this potion, tell people what we tell you to tell them. Before I came here the closest I had ever come to a sword was swinging a stupid stick around. Yet suddenly it’s all ‘fight our war for us’ and ‘you have to keep everyone safe’ and ‘kill all the demons’. I mean, sure. Some of it was pretty cool. Being able to jump twenty feet in the air? That was awesome. And the whole throwing magic around. We didn’t have that back home. Ohhhh, and the magic gear. Oh my gosh, trying to find all of the little magic amulets and thingies? That was soooo much fun! I actually almost have a complete collection now, I think. At least of the ones I found. Do you wanna see? I have the anti-poison one and the anti-sleeping one and the one that lets you see the moon all the time and the one that changes color with your mood and… errrr… s-sorry.”

Yroth, however, just stared at her. Then, very slowly, she began to shrink down even further and rise up on two legs. Eventually, she stood over her in a bipedal form, her body covered in thin, red scales. Her eyes glowed with a golden light, the most obvious indicator that she was more than just a large kobold. Aside from the wings, of course. “Medon?”

Phaedra blinked a few times before her cheeks turned red. “You’re… you’re kidding, right? Is that it? Me geeking out over getting a bunch of collectible necklaces? That’s what makes you believe me? I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

“I… no. No,” Yroth said before shaking her head. “What you say is impossible. How would you be here, anyway? If you were reborn as… this? Why would you remember anything?”

“I don’t know,” Phaedra said. “It’s your world, not mine. Ask the people who cast this spell. Or well, if any of them were still alive. As far as I know, most of them died when my final stand was more of a final collapse.”

Yroth slowly reached out a hand towards her before pulling it back. “No. I am not falling for one of your tricks. I do not understand what game you’re playing at, but I won’t fall for it.”

Phaedra gave a soft sigh and wondered if it was a dragon thing, an Ascended Dragon thing or just natural that Yroth was always so stubborn. “Fine, it’s all a trick.”

“I knew it!” Yroth said.

“So will you play along with it long enough for me to at least get you out of here?” Phaedra asked. “Before daddy does to you what he did to me?”

“What? Did to you?” Yroth asked, confusion on her face now.

“To Medon,” Phaedra said. “I just don’t want to see you hurt! Why do you have to make all of this so difficult? You know, if someone had offered me a big escape when he was about to tear out my--”

A loud booming filled the room when something pounded on the door. There was only one person she knew who could knock like that. Her father. She looked to Yroth, then down at the chains on the ground.

“Phaedra!” the Wolf’s voice echoed from outside the room. “Open this door!”

“One moment!” Phaedra yelled before looking to Yroth. “Please, please. Just trust me. Just for a little bit. Before you get both of us killed.”

“Both of us?” Yroth asked.

“What do you think he will do to me if he realizes I’m the person summoned here to stop him?” Phaedra asked.

“Phaedra! Open up immediately!” the Wolf yelled, pounding on the door again.

“You’re his daughter,” Yroth said. “He wouldn’t--”

“I’ve been torn apart by him once,” Phaedra said, cutting her off. “I don’t want it to happen again. Please, just… fine. I’m sorry. Please, just sit quietly for a little bit. I’m sorry about this.”

“Wha—”

Before Yroth could object, Phaedra jumped to her hooves and grabbed the blankets. She yanked them off before tossing them on the somewhat manageably sized dragon, then shoved her back to where the chains had been. She cringed at the thump made when they hit the ground, but any concern was quickly washed away when the dragon began to growl.

“Get off me so I can tear you apart!” Yroth snapped, thrashing under the blankets.

Phaedra stayed on top of her, trying to think of what magic she knew that could keep a dragon quiet and still for a little bit. “Just please calm down for a second before--”

The door exploded and all of the air seemed to leave the room in an instance. An icy cold chill filled the room and dust hung in the air. Phaedra trembled, mercifully grateful that Yroth had, at least, stopped struggling. Small miracle it was, she’d happily take it.

The Wolf stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed on her and making her heart nearly stop. Try as she might, she couldn’t even breathe. All she could do was look up at him and quiver while he looked around the room.

“H-h-h-hi d-d-d-daddy,” Phaedra said, unable to keep the tremble out of her voice.