Arcene: The Island (33 page)

Woof, woof, woof.

Arcene wrapped her arms tight around Leel's neck and took in the familiar scent of her friend. "Thanks, Leel, I needed that. That was just the kind of reassurance I needed. Of course I will find a way. We will do it together, as a team, and we will save future generations from thinking chasing people for entertainment is a good thing. We must stop this, somehow, and show them how wrong it all is. Maybe that way they'll stop. It's too late for Vorce though, and maybe even the others with him. It would be a shame to hurt Talia though, but, well..."

With the, albeit rather one-sided, conversation with Leel giving her confidence and reassurance she would find a way to deal with the problem she faced, Arcene felt her stomach relax and the tight grip on her insides lessen. She felt lighter, like the hill she had to climb was no longer insurmountable.

Ha, me, getting nervous. All I have to do is stop people wanting to kill me, eliminate those that won't stop, convince an entire community that The Hunt is wrong, and show them there is a better life. Hmm, well, different anyway. I wonder what they will make of it here if they come?

Arcene whistled as she trudged through the streets.

She headed right back into the heart of the city, where it all began.

Strange Alliances

"You're a coward," screamed Cashae. "You too, Erato. What's wrong with you?" Cashae was always the quiet one, the one to hold back, never put herself under scrutiny, so her outburst came as a total shock judging by the look on her so-called friend's faces. But this was too much, they had gone too far. Or, more precisely, not far enough.

Why weren't they doing something? Helping? Were they going to allow this to happen when all along they'd said they didn't agree with it and wanted a better life? Away from The Island somewhere they could do anything and be anything.

"I love her," said Erato. He turned to Talia. "I love you."

"Oh! Um, I love you too. I didn't think... Well, you know."

"Oh, that's just great! Why don't you start making babies right now then, rather than do what needs to be done and stop this insanity from carrying on? Jeez." Cashae stormed off, unable to deal with them for one moment longer.

No. Why should I let them behave like this? They need to learn.

Cashae turned. "If you think I'm happy for you then I'm not. And it's not because I'm jealous, it's because you are cowards and you have gone back on your word. What, you just going to let her die? Is that it? You think you can do what you want all of a sudden? After a hundred years of doing as you were told you think everything will somehow be great if we allow Vorce to do this?"

"Calm down, Cashae. What's got into you?" Talia moved forward but Cashae was having none of it.

"Don't you touch me, don't you dare!" Cashae warned. "You lied, and you'll regret it. I'm going, to help, even if you think that somehow Vorce will forgive you for this and leave you alone. You made your decision and now you have to actually do something. Cowards." Cashae left. If that's how they wanted to play it then fine, there was no way she would back out of this now. No way in hell.

They were meant to be the smart ones. The brave ones. The ones that had convinced her to consider what they were doing and see how wrong it was, weren't they? Sure, they'd all discussed it, told of their misgivings, but it was Talia that had gone to see Arcene then tried to help her get away. But was that as far as it went? Was she still willing to hunt if it came to it? Just to keep Vorce happy?

How could she be so weak? Cashae trembled with fear, but she knew her own mind, and knew the reality of The Hunt made it clear how terrible a game it was. And that's exactly what it was: a game.

Were Erato and Talia more concerned with themselves than the entire future of their people? Seemed that way. Well, she would go, and help, and die trying to stop Vorce if need be. She had made a promise. She intended to keep it.

They had picked up Arcene's trail easily that morning. Wisps of smoke from a fire in the distance a beacon impossible to ignore. It was as if Arcene had given up on hiding and was taunting Vorce, taunting them all. Challenging them to come get her.

Cashae had seen the anger on Vorce and Elder Janean's faces as they broke camp and changed direction, seemingly heading right back where they had come from. Cashae could see something else too, a concern, maybe even fear on Elder Janean's usually blank countenance.

Were they afraid? Good, they deserved it. This wasn't right and she hoped they got what they deserved. How many people had they killed over the years? If not directly, then the blood was still on their hands. Vorce and the Elder were the ones directing The Hunt, making it bigger and bigger, more a part of their lives with each passing year.

After Talia's tale of her conversation with Arcene, the three friends had huddled close through the night and spoken in whispers once they knew Vorce was asleep. Elder Janean was dead to the world, exhausted from the day's tracking.

They had agreed they would have nothing to do with it, and when given the opportunity they would leave Vorce and Janean, find Arcene and somehow convince her to go home, leave the madness behind. Then, they would return to The Island and do all they could to convince others it was wrong. Then, and only then would they come back to the beautiful land they never even knew they longed for.

They'd agreed!

None of them felt capable of stopping Vorce. He was, after all, very scary. But they figured that if they helped Arcene, if they could persuade her to just run away and evade capture, then Vorce would have no choice but to allow them all to return home. He wouldn't chase about the country forever.

It was a good plan, a solid plan, and within just a few hours they had their opportunity.

Tracking Arcene was easy. She was no longer hiding. Vorce was getting angrier by the minute, but Elder Janean seemed to need more rest. Hunts never usually went on this long, and it was obvious she wasn't as strong and fit as she once had been. When Vorce ordered rest, the three friends suggested they go off together to look for food. Vorce took little convincing. After all, they were all hungry, and he certainly wouldn't expect them to leave and go after the girl alone. Let alone try to help her.

They ran, putting distance between themselves and Vorce. As they approached the city, knowing there was now no turning back, her friends shocked her.

They had stopped to catch their breath, and both said they thought they should just run away, or at least consider it. Run, like they were Prey! Cashae couldn't believe it. She was supposed to be the scared, timid one. They were always both better at sports and much better with weapons, but now they were saying they should leave.

Talia had explained again about Arcene, how she thought she would cope on her own, be able to defeat Vorce, and they should escape while they had the chance. Cashae couldn't do that, not after they had decided.

She ran, ran away from her friends, knowing they wouldn't be able to keep up. She may not have been so great at much of the training and regimes all children and adults maintained back home, but one thing she excelled at was running. She could run all day, just keep on going and going, sucking in energy from The Noise that allowed her to keep moving effortlessly.

When she was younger she really scared herself. She had gone deep into The Flow, and done circuit after circuit of The Island, feeling amazing, unstoppable — like the wind or a fish swimming through the water, never tiring. A natural force.

Talia put an end to it. Grabbed and shook her, stared into her eyes with love and concern, telling her she had to stop.

Cashae had been confused. Why would she want to stop? Why was Talia making her?

Turns out, she'd run all day, then through the night — although how she did that she never knew — and had just kept on running the entire next day too.

It took a week to recover. She couldn't eat enough to refuel, and from then on had kept her running to a much more normal level — just a few hours at a time no more than twice a week.

Anyway, that was the past. All that mattered now was getting away from friends that had turned into liars and would allow Arcene to die, and their people to remain as they were, all so they could... What, run off together, stay on the mainland and live happily ever after? Have babies and raise a family? Who did they think they were kidding? As if that could ever happen.

Vorce would never allow it.

Cashae ran through alien streets that scared her, but she didn't stop. She would get to Arcene, convince her to go home, and then Cashae would try to deal with the consequences. She was terrified, but if it meant her life then so be it.

They had agreed!

She may be meek, but Cashae had never gone back on her word in her life.

She wasn't about to start now.

Broken Friendships

"We can't just leave her," argued Talia. "We have to go get her."

"I know," said Erato with a sigh. "You don't have to say it like I'm arguing with you."

"Yeah, well..."

"Well, what?"

"Oh, I don't know. It's all gone so wrong." Talia wouldn't cry, not a chance. How had it gone so bad so quickly though? They had agreed to go see Arcene again, as Talia was sure she could convince her to leave. If all three of them were there she was hopeful they could convince her that Vorce would have to return to The Island soon — he wouldn't leave everyone alone for more than a few days.

But something had changed, she felt it as they ran away from Vorce. Their plan was flawed. Even if they convinced Arcene to return to her son and friends, Vorce would never believe they weren't to blame. He would kill them all, even if he couldn't kill Arcene. Now they had run away there was no going back.

They could never go back.

When she'd aired her concerns to Cashae and Erato, she wasn't surprised Erato agreed. He was an intelligent man, less emotional than her or Cashae, and she wondered if he'd known from the start that their plan had a serious hole in it. What were they thinking? Once they left that was it — no going back. What had surprised her was him saying he loved her, and not in a friendship way. Her heart fluttered and she wanted to grab him and kiss him right there and then, but it was hardly the time.

And now damn Cashae had run off alone and was determined to ruin it all. Okay, maybe it was their fault, they shouldn't have gone back on their word, but it was just a conversation, not set in stone. They could have talked about it. Maybe they would have decided to try to convince Arcene after all. No, that was a lie. She ached to leave, be done with the whole thing. What did that say about her?

"Talia! Hey, what the hell?"

"Sorry, I was thinking about what to do. We shouldn't have said that, Erato. We should have stuck to the plan and gone to help Arcene."

"And risk Vorce catching us all. Look, I thought it was a good idea, getting her away, us going back home and changing things, but it was stupid. We made our choice by leaving. We could never cheat Vorce, he would see right through us."

"But we can still help, can't we? We have to."

"I know. Look, we'll go get Cashae, see if we can get Arcene away. Then we will have to run, you know that, right? We can go away, be together, and..."

"You meant it, then? That you love me? Want to be with me?"

"Of course! I always have."

Talia clutched at Erato as though she would fall without his embrace. How she wanted to bury her head in his hair and never come up for air. But now wasn't the time, and she wondered if there ever would be one. It had all gone so horribly wrong. They should have stuck together, never mentioned running away. What were they thinking?

They couldn't leave their people. What would Vorce tell them when he returned? That they were killed by the Prey? Then on it would go, year after year, the same damn thing.

"I love you too, Erato. Let's just hope we have the chance to..." Talia blushed. Her life was in the balance, and that of her friends, and she was blushing thinking of the chance to get intimate. She was a grown woman, what was wrong with her?

"Come on, let's go. We'll find Cashae, convince Arcene, and—"

"And what? What about Vorce? Elder Janean?"

"We'll figure something out."

"I hope so."

To Stalk...

Arcene was hot. Too hot. Her face felt flushed, her clothes uncomfortable, and her damn pigtails, which she'd finally got under control, were banging about first in front and then behind as she ran. It was driving her crazy.

She slowed to a walk and focused on cooling herself down. She pictured her whole body in an icy pool like the one in the cave, and let The Noise envelop her, or she enveloped The Noise — it was all the same. Her body sizzled and sweat turned to ice crystals.

Oops, a little too much.
She concentrated, eyesight dimming, surroundings dissipating like early morning mist, and did things properly. She set her temperature, then raised it until her clothes were dry, then cool again. Perfect.