A Shadow's Tale (5 page)

She taught me to walk in a matter of minutes, running not long after that, working by copying her movements. When we were tired out from chasing each other around the clearing, we drank from the stream before lying down comfortably in the shade of the branches of an overhanging willow. I set about trying to change back. Exploring the recesses of my mind, I searched for the trigger. It took me a while, but I managed to find it. This time, the pain of the transformation wasn't as great, although it still left me breathless, shaking and disorientated. My senses of smell and hearing seemed to be extra sensitive. I could smell everything from the grass to an antlered rabbit half way further down the mountain to us and hear the beating of Merlas's heart as if it were a drum. Merlas nuzzled my hair, drawing me closer to her side and tucking me under a wing.

For three days, Merlas taught me everything about surviving on
my own: hunting, gathering, finding shelter. I could have stayed forever on that mountain with Merlas, just living, surviving, with no worries about my cursed half-blood status. No Senators, no Arias, nothing to prevent me from doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I could practise with my magic unsupervised without fear of being found and punished. True freedom after years of forced restraint. It felt glorious. Until we were found.

We were hiding under the dense branches of the willow tree. I had been practising changing myself from Synari to wolf. It was getting easier and easier with each transformation, less painful, less tiring. It had become just like flexing a muscle. It was still a little strange feeling at times, often taking me a few seconds to remember exactly how many legs I had and whether or not I had a tail. I rested against Merlas's warm belly, my eyes half shut as I dozed contentedly. Her head shot up, ears pricked. She had heard something. Even thought my demonic side gave me a more acute sense of hearing than the Synari, Merlas's was more sensitive than mine. I strained my ears to listen. I could hear something. I struggled to distinguish it. A voice. No, two voices, a little further down the mountain and getting closer.

‘Why are we hunting this half-blood? I thought that the Senate would have been pleased to be rid of it.'

‘The High Priestess fears it turning rogue. By keeping it in the Senate Towers, they could control what it learned. She fears what Senator Armen has already taught her.'

‘Is it really that dangerous?'

‘Imagine two beings combined into one with more power than the High Priestess.'

‘Ah. And the doe?'

‘The High Priestess is less bothered about her. Merlas does not pose the threat of being able to destroy the city if she is angered.'

I glanced at Merlas. If Arias was angry with me, I didn't want to go back. It didn't bode well at all. In fact going back while she
was angry was the last thing I wanted to do. Especially since she would know I had been using magic.

We waited until Merlas could no longer hear their voices before trying to sneak out in the other direction. Merlas walked quickly but quietly with me perched on her back. For the few days we had been living together, she had helped me gain confidence in riding her without a saddle so that I could now balance, kneeling on her back without a problem. I wound my hands into her mane, still acutely aware of just how high up I was.

‘There it is!'

I barely had time to register the cry before Merlas pitched forwards, going from a walk to a full gallop. I hung on grimly, trying to block out the sound of hooves chasing us as Merlas dodged through the trees. As we reached another clearing, she took off with a sudden absence of movement I don't think I will ever get used to. Her wings began beating with a determined tempo, desperate to put some distance between us and the City Guard. I dared glance back. They were too close for comfort. One launched a bolt of magic, then several. Merlas managed to dodge most of them, but it slowed her down. They pulled up alongside us. I screamed as one grabbed hold of me, pulling me from Merlas's back. I kicked and struggled, trying to bite my captor. Merlas brayed in alarm and fury. She rammed the pegasus. A loop of rope landed around her neck, the end held by the other guard. His pegasus dived, losing height rapidly, dragging Merlas down. She shrieked in fury. I cried out to her, reaching for her even as she fell. The guard holding me snapped at me to be silent as his mount's wings swept through the air, carrying us back towards the city.

To say that Arias was furious would be one of the worst understatements of my short life. To begin with, she would not even speak to me. When she eventually started talking, a torrent of anger poured forth. I felt so small and insignificant in the
gigantic chamber from where Arias ruled, a tiny black speck in the bright light, where the figures carved into the pillars of white stone glared down me, as if I was a mote of dust in an obsessively tidy person's home.

‘We let you live, Shadow, gave you everything you needed, healed your wounds and kept you safe. You repaid us by disobeying the rules put in place to keep you safe and then you ran away!'

‘I was scared!' I protested weakly. ‘I was alone and didn't know what to do!'

‘That does not justify your actions. You have been trained to control your emotions. But that matters no longer. I wash my hands of you.' Dread mounted in my heart, freezing my breath. I waited to hear what she was going to do to me. She glared at me, her nails clicking against the arm of her throne as she thought of a suitable punishment.

‘You will go to Aspheri, to the realm of your father. He may do with you as he pleases.'

A curious sensation engulfed me, not unlike that of jumping into a cold river. My surroundings disintegrated in a heartbeat before I had time to say anything.

* * *

It was hot, far hotter than Synairn. Demons of various sizes and shapes surrounded me. They spoke in a harsh, guttural language that was so different to the soft, lyrical Synari that it took me a moment to realise that I could understand them. And they were mainly discussing how best to kill me. I summoned magic into my hands, hoping to be able to fight my way out of the ring of demons that surrounded me. They parted like a knife parts soft butter, but not because of me or my magic. Two silver haired boys stood there. Identical in every way, they looked to be a couple of years older than me. One raised a hand, beckoning to me. I
nervously followed. Now that the immediate danger was gone, I took in my surroundings. A scarlet sun stained the sky with crimson light. The ground had been baked and burned until it was black and cracking. Crude stone dwellings turned the dirt into haphazard streets. On a slight incline was the only vaguely civilized looking building. A palace made of some sort of black stone. The twins leading me were odd in their own right, with long shaggy silver hair and silver eyes with skin pale enough to rival mine. I observed them with curiosity, wondering who they were and why everyone was scared of them. They didn't look all that scary to me. Arias and Karthragan were more terrifying in my mind.

There was a rising feeling of dread the closer I got to the temple. Something in my blood recognised it. My magic hummed happily through my body, revelling in the heat. Inside the temple, the corridors were made with the same black stone as the outside, although torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows, and gleaming red on the twins' silver hair. We passed several more demons, although they all shrank away at the sight of the two boys. I wondered who they were to be so feared. I kept close to the twins, afraid of this strange place, of the demons looking at me as if I was the next thing on the menu.

The further we went into the temple, the more I felt as if I was in a maze. The twins navigated easily, knowing exactly where they were going. I followed like a foal follows its mother, unable to do anything else. I was lost in this place. All the corridors looked the same! We eventually reached our final destination. The chamber was huge, as big as the Senate Chambers back home. Here, the black walls glittered in the torchlight and there, sitting on a throne carved of black wood, was Karthragan.

He looked nothing like the wolf in the demon book. He looked almost Synari, almost normal. Pale skin with black hair that fell over his brow, obscuring one pair of his eyes, the tips of horns protruding from the mass. Not how I imagined a demon to
look. But I knew him. I could sense him. A dark presence the exact copy of the one in the back of my mind. He looked down at me, a girl in black lost against the black floor. In the blink of an eye, I found myself pinned to the wall, his hand around my throat, up more close and personal than I ever wanted him to be ever again. His four red eyes gleamed under black hair, narrowed as he sniffed at me.

‘Wolf,' he growled. I struggled against his grasp. I couldn't focus enough to use magic and he was so much stronger than I was! He raised a finger, a finger tipped with a fearsome claw. With one quick swipe, he carved a deep gash around my right eye, from my eyebrow to my cheekbone. I screamed. The pain gave me the focus I needed. In a single blast, I managed to send him flying half way across the room. I fell to the ground but scrambled back up to my feet. Clamping a corner of my cloak to the wound, I glanced around, looking for a place to run and hide. From somewhere outside the chamber, chaos erupted, voices yelling about the prince being bested by a girl, about the girl being marked as his, about a winged horse. Merlas! They had to be talking about Merlas! Demons didn't breed pegusi and she would be the only one who would come and find me!

A furious bundle of fur, feathers and teeth burst into the room, her ears back, her long canine teeth stained black with demon blood. Merlas roared in fury, rearing up onto her hind legs, pawing at the air with her sharp hooves. Karthragan ducked, escaping her attack. Merlas's teeth snagged the back of my cloak, tossing my easily onto her back. Through the haze of blood in my eyes, I saw Karthragan jump forwards with a sword. Merlas bellowed a warning as she leapt into the air, delivering a strong kick to his chest as she took off. Once more, I felt the sensation of jumping into cold water as Merlas crossed dimensions in mid flight.

Merlas landed in the courtyard outside the war pegusi block,
barely pausing before she trotted towards her stable. I clung to her mane with one hand, the other holding the edge of my cloak over the wound, tears and blood streaming down my face, my magic sparking in the air around me. Merlas folded her limbs beneath her, lying on the feathery ground of her stable. I slipped off her back, sobbing still, to rest against her side. She nickered gently, folding a wing around me as she nosed my hand away from the cut. Dust started to settle on the exposed flesh, irritating the wound. I scratched at it desperately, ignoring the pain as my claws tore into my skin. Pushing my hands away, Merlas set about licking the deep gash clean, taking care to be as comforting as possible. I relaxed into her touch. The touch of a mother to her child. Each gentle rasp of her tongue helped me to calm myself, to stop shaking. The sound of feet running down the aisle jolted us both from the moment of tenderness. Merlas quickly covered me with a wing, hiding me from sight. Armen appeared, breathless and wild-eyed

‘Did you find her?' he asked Merlas. The doe cautiously lifted the wing. He breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching out a hand, he helped me to my feet, supporting me in his arms. I hugged him tightly, unwilling to let go. Armen held me, murmuring reassuring words to me. ‘Come, Shadow, we'll keep you out of sight with your mother until we can send you to another dimension to hide.'

Armen took me through the outskirts of the city to a small house where a lamp burned with a silver flame. He knocked three times on the door. It opened immediately to show a pale-looking Arellan. She wrapped me in a bear hug so fierce I thought my bones would crack under the pressure. Ushering Armen and me into the house, she quickly shut and barred the door. Only then did I realise that there were tears streaking down my face once more and that my limbs were still quivering in shock. Arellan knelt down in front of me, rubbing my arms in reassurance.

‘It is okay, Alexai, it is okay. It is over now. He cannot hurt you. You are safe.'

She took my hand, leading me up the stairs to a bathing room. She directed me to sit on the raised side of the bathing pool as she began running water into it. Taking out a small chest from one of the many storage holes in the walls, she knelt in front of me, gently taking my face in her hands and turning it so as to be able to see the wound better. I flinched as she touched it, instinctively pulling away. She softly shushed me, murmuring reassurances as she took a small jar from the chest, using a finger to gently use the cream to clean out the wound as I tried not to squirm.

After bathing and eating, Arellan took me to a small room close to hers. I nestled under the blankets, clean, warm and fed. She gently dropped a kiss on my forehead, smoothing my hair and checking the dressing she had put over my wound before straightening up, moving towards the door. I squeaked in fear, suddenly afraid of being left on my own again, jumping out of bed and racing to her side.

‘Please don't leave me,' I begged, knotting my fists in her robes.

‘It is okay, Alexai,' she said quietly, leading me back and tucking me under the blankets again. Instead of leaving, she sat on the edge of the bed, stroking my hair. ‘I will not leave you.' I felt my eyelids droop as she began to hum softly, then to sing in a quiet voice. ‘Sleep well, my little one.'

I stayed with my mother for almost a month. I had been away in Aspheri for nearly a week, according to Arellan. Time passed differently between the dimensions. Now that Arias knew I was no longer in Aspheri, regular patrols of the City Guard searched the streets and houses. Armen thought it better that I didn't go to see Merlas as he didn't know who he could trust in the stables. I missed her terribly. He and Arellan had found a dimension I could go to, and Armen taught me several languages I may have
to speak to be understood. When the patrols came round to search Arellan's house, he took me to the Great Library. He said that it was in another dimension, the one I was going to be moving to, but I wasn't allowed to leave the Library to see what it was like outside. Armen was terrified of losing sight of me. I settled down into some semblance of a normal routine, learning with Arellan and Armen. She taught me about different cultures and helped me learn how to behave with other people, reversing my somewhat stinted education in that area. Armen taught me how to defend myself. I never wanted that time to end. But all good things must.