Page 3908

Unless there was more to it. Perhaps Graves had not been powerful enough when he was younger. Perhaps older memories were more difficult to influence. Zeff recalled Hector mentioning something about that, and the boy seemed rather knowledgeable about such things now that he was friends with the Gaolanets.

Whatever the case, Zeff expected Graves to know quite a bit about the fragments. Which could greatly affect this entire conversation, depending on what information Graves decided to volunteer to Jun here.

Agh.

The silence in the chamber drew out as Zeff deliberated on how he should respond. He was a bit surprised to find Graves waiting for him, instead of trying to take the reigns and negotiate terms on behalf of the Rainlords--or some such thing.

Why was this man so difficult to understand?

Before Zeff could finish formulating his answer, however, a completely different interruption arrived. One he could not have possibly been prepared for.

There was a wolf in the room.

A giant one.

It appeared there in an instant. A shaded blink. So sudden that Zeff required a few moments to even register what his eyes were telling him.

“No one move,” said Jun, her voice calm and soft, yet still with an underlying sense of urgency. A slight wavering in the tone.

Zeff could feel the pressure in the room skyrocket. The presence of domineering power. Pushing against his mind and his chest.

But the wolf, for its part, looked quite nonchalant. It was already sitting, even. And looking around slowly, turning its nose up in the air and sniffing audibly.

Zeff wanted to ask a question, but he wasn’t sure what. The circumstance was too abrupt and strange. Where had this creature come from? What did it want? Was it some kind of--

Then he recalled. He’d seen this wolf before, albeit only briefly. It was twenty years ago, during a great battle in Lyste.

This was the Silver Devil of Dante. The Man-eater of Melmoore.

It was a powerful agent of Abolish, though it had hardly seemed like it at the time. In that particular battle, Zeff remembered what a curious sight the wolf had been on the battlefield, mainly just sitting there among all those psychopaths, not doing very much until someone attacked it.

Then it had become a tornado of death, tearing warriors apart in a flurry of carnage.