Free Portal (Nina Decker) by Vivi Anna Page B

there were areas of Nightfall that were under werewolf control for centuries. It looked like the werewolves were going to completely overrun the land.  That’s when-“
    Dani stopped and looked to make sure she wasn’t being overheard. Despite her bravado this next bit must’ve been really explosive. She leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “That’s when he took the throne.”
    She leaned back and tilted her head in the direction of Lord Wolfstriker. I glanced quickly at my grandfather. He was eating his flower strewn salad and didn’t appear concerned with us. Next to him his Chancellor Dashrael was eating a whole raw fish on a bed of seaweed. Despite this my gaze lingered on him. I felt a twinge of embarrassment and shame. Severin was still locked in the tower and I was checking out another man. But it wasn’t just Dashrael’s ravishing appearance that held my attention. I still felt a deep recognition. I had met him somewhere before.
    But I focused on Lord Wolfstriker and what Dani had just implied.  I leaned back close to her and whispered, “When you say took, you mean…”
    In a hushed voice she answered, “The war was going really badly for the fae. The king at the time was stuck in the old ways. He’d had his warriors ride up and issue formal challenges. But the werewolves didn’t fight by the rules. They ambushed, they struck suddenly and used surprise.  New leadership was needed. That’s why no one really complained when what happened, happened.”
    I thought to myself, Great, so I’m descended from a line of usurpers to boot.
    Dani continued, “Once your grandfather was on the throne things turned around. He fought the war on their terms.”
    I said nothing but let her finish the story. It was curious to me why none of this was in any of the old books I’d read on the fae.
    “The werewolves were driven out of Nightfall and a number of their leaders were taken prisoner and made slaves. Including Severin.”
    I winced when she told me. So Severin had been a slave here. Was that his crime? Escaping? If it was then his imprisonment here is an injustice. I kept calm. This wasn’t the time to jump to conclusions. I needed to hear the full story.
    “So how did he get free?” I asked.
    Dani poked at a lone pea on her plate as she spoke, “So we come to the Act Three, The Third Lycan War, the subtitle for this one should be A Bloody Mess because that’s what it was. Of all the wars this one was the deadliest and the most inconclusive. In the end it was mostly a total waste.”
    “What was it about? What started it?”
    “At first it was about freeing the remaining werewolf slaves and prisoners but it just degenerated from there. There were attacks and counter attacks were made by both sides. Severin was freed during a raid. Part of the reason the war was so costly was because the Trolls got involved.”
    “Trolls?”
    Dani nodded towards a couple at one of the other tables. I hadn’t noticed them before amid the panorama of strange costumes. But now they were hard to miss.
    There were two of them a man and a woman and there was an empty chair next to the woman. Both the man and the woman were big and thickly muscled. Both looked like they could be power lifting champions. And their skin was greyish green and their hair bright orange.  The fae gave wide berth and it was easy to see why. Their jewelry, rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and nose rings, they were all made of iron. I could sense it from across the room. The fae seated right next to them must have been in agony.
    “The Greatstones, king and queen of the trolls,” Dani explained. “They got into the act during the third war. It’s impossible to bring iron into Nightfall through a fae portal, but the Troll Tunnels are a different story.”
    “They sided with the werewolves?” I asked.
    Dani nodded. “For a while. Things got really hairy there. The trolls gave them swords, axes, even firearms.”
    “So what