Girl of Myth and Legend (42 page)

‘I saw it, too,’ says Korren, searching with narrowed eyes.

‘Probably nothing,’ I say, shrugging my shoulders. ‘Want to go back to the optius?’

His eyes still probe our surroundings, but after a moment, he says. ‘Yes, let’s go.’

I stand up and walk beside him. ‘Hey, Korren?’

‘Yes?’

‘Have you noticed that our soul-binding isn’t as strong now?’

‘It’ll always be strong,’ he says.

‘No, I mean, the longing attached to it. It’s fading, isn’t it?’ So much has been going on that the soul-binding hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind. When I look at Korren now, though, I can barely feel his emotions like I could before, just slivers of them. It’s supposed to be like this, I understand. Like a wound healing, so does the bond, and like a scar, the bond remains.

He stares at me for a moment, searching my eyes almost forlornly. ‘I suppose it is, little lion.’

‘That’s a good thing,’ I remind him, not understanding why he looks so despondent.

Another flicker of movement and this time a noise, almost like a hooting.

‘It’s just an owl,’ I say.

From the gaps of the trees come several beasts. Their skin is blue and scarred with bright red lines, their eyes are black, and their snouts are long and misshapen with short but sharp teeth bared. They’re larger than any wolf I’ve seen.

‘Or not an owl at all,’ I gasp.

‘I don’t understand,’ Korren says in a low voice, barring his teeth and bending forward in a pouncing stance, his arm extended in front of me.

‘K-Korren?’ I say, receding as the beasts stalk towards us.

‘These are… these are wild creatures from the Silver Forest.’

‘And how is that significant right now?’ I say desperately.

‘We’re nowhere near there. We’re lost.’

Then, as if materialising from the air itself, a voice behind us says, ‘Don’t worry, I’m here to set you straight.’

I am pulled back into darkness.

KORREN

THE PULSAR’S WOLF

My head smashes against the floor and the beasts are on top of me, ripping at my already injured leg. I don’t attempt to push them away; instead I transform. My arms grow too wide for the creature to keep its hold; my face grows long and gruesome, turning into a snout and a sharp set of teeth; my shadows flare to life, blazing with deadly intent. The creatures recede, hesitating, trying to decide whether or not to attack again. I don’t give them a chance to: I take one into my mouth and crush it, blood exploding from it as easily as a popped balloon. I throw it to the ground and face the others, but their retreating images begin to flicker like a hologram, until they completely disappear. I look to the beast I killed, and though its blood still stains the carpet of green, its body has gone, leaving a faint imprint of its carcass.
They were distracting me.

I hear my keeper struggling, shouting, cursing. I turn and see a purple-haired girl with tanned skin holding her down, but before I can leap on her, she gives me an air kiss and then, too, vanishes from sight. I growl. So, she can teleport.

‘Are you all right?’ I ask my keeper quickly.

She stands up and looks around. ‘Who was—?’

‘Let’s move.’

‘But—’

‘Move!’

We begin to run through the trees, jumping over logs and ducking our heads under low branches. We come out into the flatland and head towards the optius. I have to slow myself so she can keep pace.

‘That girl, she’s not from the Imperium, right?’ my keeper asks.

‘I hardly think one from the Imperium would attack you,’ I growl.

‘So she’s a—?’

‘Yes, and she won’t be alone.’

The optius is no safe haven from her, but if that girl really is what I think she is, there will be more with her. We need some sort of protection.

Just as the optius comes into sight, I’m launched backwards by an invisible force and smash into the side of the mountain. It seems to creak against my weight, and a few rocks fall from above and scrape against my body. I quickly regain what is left of my senses and haul myself up, leaping in front of my keeper, who has stopped and is glancing around. I hear the hooting noises again, meaning the creatures I faced before are nearby.

‘What do we do?’ my keeper shouts, her body tensed.

There’s no possibility of escape for us. We don’t even know where we are, and no matter where we go these Chosen will follow us. There is no possibility of escape for us… no, for
her
.

If I want to survive, I have only one choice: to allow them to take my keeper, giving me a chance to escape. They want her, not me. If I ran, they wouldn’t waste time chasing me. Our bond will still be active, but I’ll be able to survive away from her now. Yes.
Yes
, I can survive this. I can escape from this. I can… I… I…

‘And y’know, Korren? I think that’s something you can believe in.’

I look at her, her copper hair cascading out behind her, her green eyes intent.

‘I don’t want to be the one to keep you chained.’

You…

‘I pictured an ally, a
friend
…’

What are you? Who are you? I have never met a Chosen like you in my entire existence. You are everything that is free. You
are
freedom. And I… I’m the bird trapped in the cage, watching you fly away. But then, you look back at me, you always look back, and you reach through the bars and offer your hand to me. Though I am nothing, though I am just a heartless creature, you still offer me your hand. But I won’t take it. I won’t, because… what will happen to us if I do?

It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Because you were kind to me, you made me laugh—that isn’t something I will forget easily, and I
will
repay you.

I growl. Damn it. Damn it all. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

But it is.

‘Go, little lion.’

She looks at me. ‘What?’

‘Go! I’ll make sure you’re safe.’

‘I-I can’t just leave you!’

‘This is my duty. Go.’

‘No!’

‘I’ll come back,’ I say to her. Where else have I got to go?

‘You won’t know where I am!’

I look at her. ‘I will always know where you are.’

She doesn’t move. Leaving me, I grasp, is significant to her.

‘I’ll protect you,’ I say, ‘that’s my purpose. Go. I’ll make sure you’re safe.’

‘Korren—’

‘Go now.
Go
!’

She hesitates another moment before running up the pathway on the mountain.

A few seconds after she’s gone, I’m faced by the purple-haired girl, who wears brown, buckled boots with black leggings, a black leather bandolier, laced arm cuffs, a beige corset and a leather coat reaching to her chest; a boy wearing brown trousers and a russet-brown long coat strapped from the collar down to the waist by buckles fringed with a gold colour, the hood of which skims the top of his head so I can see his sandy-coloured hair; and a black-haired boy with lip piercings who wears a white shirt with a black vest over it, and grey trousers with boots with laces undone. Several Duwyn beasts stand at his side, bearing their teeth at me. There is only one kytaen among them, of the element earth; that tells me that at least one of these Chosen is a Throne.

‘Where’s the Pulsar, Heleus?’ demands the black-haired boy.

‘Not far,’ says the sandy-haired boy, Heleus. ‘Her kytaen’s obviously buying her time.’

‘Do we go after her?’ the girl says.

I let out a deep roar fearsome enough to make them take a step back.

‘Almost blew my ears from my head,’ says the girl, and she puts her hands out in a peaceful gesture. ‘We’re not your enemy, kytaen. You can come with us. We won’t harm you.’

I growl. I would have attacked them by now, but hopefully this talk is giving my keeper enough time to escape.

‘Don’t bother, Suki,’ the black-haired boy says. ‘It hasn’t got a mind of its own. Just kill it.’

‘Jupiter wouldn’t want that, Kai,’ says Heleus.

The girl, Suki, vanishes so suddenly that my talons dig into the ground.

‘Sorry about this.’ I hear her voice, but I don’t see—

Pain sears across me like a boiling blanket is covering my head, but after a moment the pain fades. Instead I feel so… tired. My world spins black. I’m losing… losing con—

As soon as my eyes close, they open again. There is a heavy ache across my body as if my muscles are exhausted and worn, though I don’t know why. I’m in my human form with a raggedy shirt and trousers on, and my hands are tied behind a post. I can hear a crowd around me, shouting, jeering. My eyes adjust, and then they widen.

I’m surrounded by hundreds of Chosen, some looking terrified, others glaring, ready to tear me apart. So I was right: these are the rebels that attacked the Temples, the enemies of the Imperium, and therefore the Pulsar, the most important puppet of theirs… and
I
am her kytaen.

_________________

After being subjected to the taunts and objects that are thrown at me, I’m blindfolded and led somewhere. I don’t transform, knowing that, while I may be able to kill a few rebels, I’ll ultimately be overpowered. Whoever is orchestrat-ing my arrest knows what they’re doing. I can only assume they tied me up and displayed me to the rebels not because they wanted me to be jeered at, but because they wanted me to know how many Chosen there are here, that I stood no chance of escaping. Perhaps the rebels outside didn’t know that—the Chosen who is pulling the strings certainly does.

I’m thrown onto a hard floor, and my blindfold, removed. A man stands over me, glaring, then moves away. I’m in a cell with only a swinging light for illumination. The cell has no bars, but I notice from how there is a gleam as the light hits it that there is a barrier, invisible almost. I kick it, just to be sure, and not only does the barrier pulsate with electricity, but I too receive a shock. As I recover, lolling my head back and forth, I also discern the walls surrounding me are made of steel. Facing me are other cells, none of them with bars but with three steel walls surrounding them.

‘
Hehehehe.
She’s caught another insect in her web, that wretched demon.’ It is a woman’s voice, harsh and gritty, like gravel crunching together.

The man turns to the cell opposite, which is concealed in darkness. ‘Shut it, you nutter.’

‘Death. Decay. Destruction. That will be my retribution! He will not abandon me! He will smite you for your crimes!’

‘I said shut it, witch!’

‘Now, now, Cardvall, I told you to ignore her.’ Another woman, though with a sane voice, steps into the light. She has long, curling blonde hair, and her eyes are a shade of brown. She wears a leather under-bust harness atop a dark-brown vest, a dark, open trench coat, and tight brown trousers with buckled boots that go to her knees. Judging from her overall appearance, she’s at least in her thirties.

The man steps away from the cell. ‘Yeah, sorry. She just, I mean, I just—’

I hear the jostle of chains, and from the darkness of the cell a pale face snaps out. The first thing I notice is that she’s wearing a muzzle, but my gaze is soon drawn to her eyes, which are black and wild and fervent, with shadows circling under them. Her hair is dark, thin and long, so long it spider webs across the cell and against the walls. Her hands are bound together by a thick casing of metal, and two chains connected to the wall attach onto a collar around her neck.

She screeches and laughs. ‘Despair, for here she is, the woman of wiles! The dead
scream
for her coming. They scream and scream and scream and scream!’

‘They’ll have to scream a little while longer, I’m afraid,’ the other woman says, and then turns to me. ‘Go right ahead and ignore our… permanent guest. She’s enthusiastic, for lack of a better word.’ She bends her back slightly as she observes me. I hold her gaze, trying to figure out what kind of person she is. ‘Well, you’re not the Pulsar, but you may be of some use.’

‘Who are you?’ I growl.

‘My name is Jupiter, and you are at Starfall’s outpost.’

‘Starfall?’

‘A place out of the Imperium’s reach.’

‘You’re rebels.’

She smiles. ‘And you are the Pulsar’s little wolf, come to tear at us.’

‘Pulsar! Pulsar!’ the inmate shouts. ‘Ah, at last! Liberation is near. Freedom from this dismal dungeon. Your time is near near near, master, for a Pulsar is born again!’

Cardvall looks over to her, but with Jupiter watching, only stands glaring.

‘You attacked my keeper,’ I continue to Jupiter, ‘I was ordered to defend her.’ Not necessarily true, but it’s imperative that I make myself out to be a simple kytaen who obeys his keeper; that way they might harbour some pity for me and not kill me, at least not right away.

‘How did you do it?’ I say.

‘Be less ambiguous,’ she says.

‘The maiden. Your rebels said they were controlling it.’

‘
My
rebels, eh? I did think them as my own.’

‘But you’re with them, aren’t you?’

‘Is that what you think?’ She smiles a sort of amused smile. ‘I didn’t come here to answer your questions, kytaen. You’re here to answer mine.’

I stare at her. I don’t want to answer her questions; I want to be like my keeper, defiant and rude, but I’m in no place to offend Jupiter. I won’t die for the sake of pride.