Lien of the One Hundred Wolves

      Yeva’s head was pounding and her lungs felt as if they were full of rocks. She followed the winding trail, spurred on by Lien’s distant and gravelly laughter, until finally the trees receded at the edge of a rocky cliff. It was where Lien had first taken them after they had met. The she-wolf was perched over the edge flanked by her companions, looking back over her shoulder.
      As Yeva appeared, she tossed back her head and set loose a howl. The valley below, from the forest to beyond the mountains, exploded in howling. Lien had claimed her victory.
      “Woundbearer,” the Old One snarl. “Chase after your tiger. Blind his eyes or cut out his tongue or whatever it is you want to do. And when you do, come find me. You will find that every tree and rock and blade of grass that you could travel to by hoof will be mine. And every wolf will bow their head to me. And then we shall ask the crows whose story is more impressive. Don’t make it disappointing, or I’ll have to kill this tiger for myself.”
      “She-wolf,” said Yeva, taken aback. “You are by far the strangest creature I have ever met. And I have met many strange creatures.
      She recounted to herself the river spirit in the shape of a dead fawn, and the old she-bear whom she shared a conversation with. Semyon the warrior boar who thought to rid the land of hunters, and of course Dimitri himself was quite the oddity. Her mind flashed, too, to the stripeless white tiger and silver tongued buck who had propelled her on her journey like a dislodged pebble from a mountain path.
      “Coming from you and your fat spirit,” Lien replied, “I will take that as a compliment. Now, get on out of here. Your life is short, and you’ll grow old standing here. I know you are not as fast as I, so make use of your time, Woundbearer.”
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Lien, one of the Old Ones in Woundbearer. She is modeled after a Tibetan Wolf, which is why she's described as having shorter legs but a thick mane of fur around her neck. On the scale of Old Ones, she's is one of the younger (around a hundred years). And while she becomes an ally of Yeva, Lien is still ambitious. Her pack of some hundred wolves is taking over every land they can lay their hands on. Luckily for Yeva, Lien instructs her pack not to try and eat her.


MS Paint (drawn) + Photoshop (shading) by Mouse.


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