Just top up the basin, will you? My corns are really bad today.” He nodded to a kettle steaming gently on a woodstove, and Thirrin dutifully crossed the room, picked it up, and poured the hot water into the basin.
“Put some cold in first!” Redrought bellowed, snatching his feet from the water and sloshing much of it across the floor.
“Sorry,” Thirrin said meekly, and mixed hot and cold water in a large pitcher before pouring it into the foot basin.
“Ah, that’s better!” Redrought boomed again. In fact, the King only ever seemed to bellow, boom, or shout, no matter what his mood. But nobody seemed to mind too much; at least he never had to repeat himself.
As he settled back into his cushions, Thirrin noticed that his huge red beard — which spread across his chest like a fire in a mountain forest — had started to swing and swirl, and she watched in fascination as a small tabby head appeared and blinked at her.
“Ah, Primplepuss, there you are!” the King cried, seizing the kitten in his huge war-callused hands. “I knew I’d seen you earlier. I must remember to comb out my beard before I go to bed. I don’t want to squash you, do I?”
Primplepuss gave a tiny mew in reply, and Redrought watched her fondly as she proceeded to wash a paw.
“Father, I have some important news,” Thirrin said when she thought she could drag his attention away from the kitten.
“Well, it must be important, Grimswald,” King Redrought said to the old man. “She only ever calls me ‘Father’ when she’s done something wrong or a disaster’s at hand.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong, Father.”
“Then what’s happened?”
“I fought a werewolf in the forest this morning.”
“A werewolf, eh? You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked, grabbing her arms and looking her over closely. She shook her head and, after a few more minutes of careful scrutiny, he nodded his head and went on. “Well, we can’t have the Wolffolk making themselves at home, now can we? Exactly where did you see it? And did you kill it?”
“Just beyond Peninsula Point, near the Black Peak, and no, I didn’t kill it. It was only wounded in its left shoulder and upper arm, and it was pretty kicked around by the horses.”
“Nothing to a werewolf. I’ll have to send out a patrol.”
“Yes!” Thirrin agreed, looking up, her eyes alight. “But first I want to ask you something, Dad.” She paused as she gathered her thoughts. “Can … can werewolves feel and think? I mean like people do. And can they … understand that we have … oh, I don’t know, thoughts and feelings and lives to live?”
Redrought fell silent as he thought this through. He’d spent most of his life fighting the Wolffolk and other creatures from beyond his northern borders. He’d had neither the time nor the inclination to wonder if they thought about anything. But he was a good king, and shrewd enough to know that something important lay behind his daughter’s questions. “Why do you ask? What’s happened?”
Thirrin took a deep breath. “The werewolf could have killed me today, but it didn’t. It disarmed me and could have ripped out my throat. But when I punched it in the nose and told it to make it quick, it stopped and let me go. It even stuck my sword in the ground and left it for me to collect. And I don’t understand why. If Wolffolk can’t feel and think, why did it let me live?”
Redrought didn’t know, and at that moment he didn’t care. He just felt an enormous sense of relief sweep over him. Suddenly he gathered his daughter in a bearlike hug that made her gasp for breath almost as much as the wolfman had when it sat on her. “You will not take such risks again! Do you hear me?” he roared, his anger fueled by the terrible realization that his daughter could so easily have been killed.
“But, Dad, I didn’t take any risks. Werewolves don’t usually come into the forest. How could I have known it was going to be there?”
Redrought knew this was true, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He released her from the hug and sat down again heavily. “I’ll send out a full patrol immediately.”
“And I want to lead it.”
“Oh no, young Madam. My daughter and heir will stay safely here in the castle. Let some other hotheads earn their spurs,” Redrought said decisively.