~3476, Sokoly, Enderwice~

 

Atop a dappled grey mare, the young woman rode bareback, a bundle of blankets in her left arm. Though the night air was warm, little shivers ran down her spine. The country she was meant to cross was going to be dangerous; there was no chance she could endure it in her current state. The journey would be treacherous enough without the responsibility she held in her arms.

On every side, trees thick with leaves and overgrown underbrush hid her from view. Marielle was used to danger. She had crossed many lines in her years and garnered a reputation for that very trait. She feared no one and no thing anymore; nothing could spring her by surprise. She was just too good at what she did.

             The mare halted at the stream and twitched her ears, head held high. Marielle’s eyes, the same blue as the water before them, darted about nervously. No, she was not afraid…for herself. Her daughter’s life, however, was much more precious than her own. She had to be sure her daughter stayed safe. The sound of the water trickling over rocks soothed both horse and rider.

             Murmuring words of encouragement to the horse, Marielle rode on at a steady walk across the water, after having made sure she was alone. Strands of her golden hair had come loose around her face, but she was too engrossed in her own thoughts to notice or care. The baby resting in the crook of her arm was silent, yet clearly awake. Marielle had noticed early on that she hardly ever cried; strange for an infant so young.

             “Marielle!”

             The mare halted and Marielle looked to her left, toward where the voice had originated from. Tall, green trees stretched as far as the eye could see, even with the moon shining so brightly in the dark summer sky. Shadows and mist danced around her, but she was not afraid. The night was her ally; it hid her from the Slayers and other beings – even shifters – that hunted her. Never had she killed an innocent, yet she was spoken of as a murderer.

             “Marielle!” the voice hissed again. Marielle jumped from the mare’s back, clutching the bundle tightly to her chest.

             “I am here,” she whispered.

             A tall man emerged from the bracken, a black hood hiding his eyes in shadow. Marielle had never been so pleased to see him; her only remaining friend. His dark hair contrasted with his fair skin and beside him walked a red bay thoroughbred, fully tacked, with saddlebags hanging from his saddle. This man had stuck by her from the beginning of her training days. She could not trust anybody else; they all wanted her dead too much.

             “I was beginning to think you would never make it here alive,” the man said in a low voice. “You and the infant.”

             Marielle said nothing. Her eyes stayed on the long grass growing at her feet. She hated having to leave her daughter, but she knew it would not be wise to even attempt the journey with a baby on her back.

             “Are you sure you have to go?” he asked her gently.

             Marielle nodded. “Yes. I intend to return to Igrendem. If I do not return in six months, do not expect me back at all. Keep her safe, Maks.”

             Maks took the bundle from her and gently pulled the blankets from the child’s face. The baby sneezed and then yawned, her eyes larger than normal, taking in everything as if she understood it all. Fair hair, the same shade as Marielle’s, was beginning to grow on the top of her head. “Where’s her father?” he asked.

             “Long gone,” Marielle replied, her tone blunt.

             “…Dead?”

             She glared up at him and shook her head. “He is safe. He went where I told him to go, before I even knew I was expecting her. He does not know that he has a daughter.”

             Maks looked back down at the child. “She looks just like you,” he commented. “Less like her father, though she has his expression: masked.” Maks looked up at his friend and embraced her, the child between them. Marielle had a good heart; though she often got carried away with her abilities, which was the reason behind the hatred that followed her.

             Pulling himself onto his stallion with the infant still in one hand, he began to turn his horse away. He intended to get away from here with the child as quickly as possible. If anyone knew Marielle had a daughter, both of them would be in greater danger.

             “Maks,” Marielle called softly, hurrying after him and grasping his arm before he could disappear with her only child. “Look after her. Her name is Alexia.”

             Maks nodded as Marielle kissed her daughter’s forehead one last time. She ran back and leapt onto her mare, kicking her into a gallop without looking back. Maks watched her a moment before turning his own horse in the opposite direction; knowing it was unlikely she would return.

             Tears streamed Marielle’s face as she raced back through the forest. She knew a miracle would have to occur to be reunited with her daughter, but she wished in her heart of hearts that this was not the last time they would meet.

2: Chapter 1

 ~Year 3494, Cassandle, Igrendem~

  

  

  

Trudging noisily along the path worn into the grass, two men cast their eyes lazily through the shadows for what they sought. They were too used to this task; everyday they were sent to look for one thing that persisted to go missing. The wood was still dark and shadowed though most of the leaves on the trees had browned and fallen for the coming winter.

             “She disappears every day; we shan’t find her if she doesn’t wish to be found,” the younger of the two said with a sigh, his voice matching exactly how tedious the task was. His hair was mousey and curled tightly on his head, longer than what was considered presentable. His eyes and nose were small in proportion to his face and neck, his voice considerably high in pitch.

             “Indeed, she persists to be so boy-like,” the other said in a deeper tone, more serious yet still lazy. His hair was dark but greying in places, his eyes larger and hawk-like. “God help whoever’s wife she will be. She’s just as reckless as the youngsters.”

             “Sometimes I wonder if she is actually one of us…” the younger mused thoughtfully. “She shows so many signs of being at one with nature; why is she always in the woods, for example?”

             The older man turned on his companion. “Nothing of the sort could pass through our guard,” he snapped harshly. “Her parents have been proven human, how can she not be?”

             The younger man shrunk into his shadow slightly but did not take back the words he had spoken. The older man continued to stare for a moment or two longer before he huffed out a breath. “Let’s return to the village; like you said, she shan’t appear if she does not want to. She will return eventually, like always.”

             “Won’t we be punished for returning without her?”

             “When have we ever returned with her?”

             The younger companion acknowledged this and, casting a last glance around the darkening forest, walked beside his friend out of the trees, chatting merrily about a subject far less dour.

             As soon as they were out of earshot, Lexi peeked out from behind the cluster of deadened leaves and jumped from her branch, landing in a soft and almost silent crouch. Their figures had shrunk to mere black dots at the entrance of the forest.

             Straightening up, she grinned slyly to herself and hurried off the path, into the overgrown depths of Thistle Wood where nobody dared venture. Wolves and bears and other predators usually lurked in the undergrowth, yet never had crossed paths with her. She stopped for a moment to pick blackberries and packed them in the satchel at her side. She blew a few stray strands of fair hair out of her eyes before pausing to retie them back into the leather strap at the nape of her neck.

             She smirked as she continued her journey back to the place where the school stood, remembering the snippet of conversation she had overheard from the two men. Adolescents were encouraged to marry at a young age; most couples became engaged at around eighteen or nineteen years of age. Girls were trained to be housewives during school, as that is all they were expected to be. Lexi was eighteen, but had no desire to marry, nor be turned into a housewife. And even if she had, no one desired her. That was the reason she was out in the forest at this time when she should have been enclosed inside a grey-walled classroom. When no one was looking, Lexi would escape the grounds and disappear into her woods for the majority of the day.

Even if she was a burden to her parents, they could count on her to find berries and other herbs in the depths of the woods where no one else could. On occasion she would be given a knife and told to bring back a rabbit or two, if she could find them. Food was expensive; if she could hunt it, then it made life easier for all three of them. Hunting was technically illegal; though her being here – in Igrendem – was not permitted either. Legality was not something she tended to worry about.

             Glancing up through the branches, Lexi saw grey clouds begin to block out the sunlight. Drops of rain spattered down, light at first and then heavier. Pulling her hood over her head, she started to jog in the direction she knew the school was, scrambling over the taller ferns and casually leaping over tree-roots. She was one of the few people in the village of Hargate that could read, write, or even count above twenty accurately and found no interest in classes.

Lexi diverted her course to the square, needing to collect a new hide for her mother. If she could, she would take back some strawberries as well. The rain persisted as she jogged down side streets and dodged out of the way of men that strode home from work in the mills and women that had darted in groups to buy a long-lasting supply of meat in case of a flood. The women were the worst for gossiping; not even waiting until she was out of sight before chatting away;

“She is too much like a boy.”

“Have you seen what she wears?”

“I doubt I will see her married in my lifetime.”

In the opinion of the village’s women, Lexi was not feminine enough to be a wife, not caring enough to be a housewife, and spent too much time in the forest. In the eyes of the men, however, Lexi was respected for being stealthy and secretive; though the younger men that should have been taking an interest in marrying thought she was too masculine for such a proposal.

After exchanging the berries she had gathered for the deer hide, she drifted to stand on the porch of the crafting hall where her father worked and waited for the rain to lighten before she returned home. She had a clear view of the forest through an alley and settled for daydreaming while she waited.

“Lexi!”

Her head snapped round at the sound of her name being called and met the icy blue gaze that seemed to pierce her mask and see right into her head, read the thoughts that she had to keep secret from everyone. Cedonia was Lexi’s only friend, a faery also stuck in this human settlement. Her features were sharp: a straight-edged nose and dark-brown hair that was often tied back and fell to the centre of her spine, giving her a typical Igrendem appearance. Two braids hung on either side of her face. She exceeded Lexi's height by an inch or so, but she was more slender with less of a figure. She, like Lexi, wore trousers instead of skirts.

             “Yes?” Lexi asked as she scampered up.

             “Can I very possibly borrow your knife? I need to make a new set of shoe-laces, these ones have snapped.” Cedonia showed Lexi her left boot, made of deer hide, and the leather laces that were dragging on the floor, having snapped in several places.

Lexi pulled the pocketknife from her satchel and handed it to her, handle first, making sure no one else saw. Weapons of any sort were not to be handled by women and Lexi could find herself being carted off to the prison if she was caught with a knife.

“Return it tomorrow,” she said as Cedonia pocketed it and nodded.

“Does your mind ever stop working?” she asked as Lexi’s gaze floated back to the forest on the far side of the village.

“Hm?” Lexi asked, feigning ignorance.

She gave her a look and said, “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t much rather be running about in those woods than living in a village full of humans. I know what you’re thinking.” Cedonia’s accent was much more carefree than that of most, as was common in faeries. Lexi’s native language, Findasian, was spoken in much the same way, and Inglish was much more proper.

             Lexi sighed. “When am I ever thinking about anything else?”

             One hundred years ago, shape shifters were widely respected across the globe; the same amount of vampyres, lycans, witches, faeries, elves, and any other Neäkan as humans. Then a group of humans banded together and called themselves Slayers, killing off any supernatural being they could lay their hands on. Unfortunately, most of the human population decided that they agreed with this guild and also started killing them off.

             “Have you ever thought about finding any others?” Cedonia asked her, lowering her voice so much Lexi could barely hear.

“No,” she muttered back. “How could I? I’m not allowed to leave Cassandle.” There was a strict travel code among the six islands, and an even stricter code between countries.

“Your parents managed it…” she mused.

Lexi shot her a dark look. “They have friends in the travelling industry,” she said in a low but snappish tone. “And they are human.”

             It seemed silly, the fact that humans were at the bottom of the food chain where Neäkan were concerned, yet they had managed to crush them to the point of extinction.

             Instinct told her that she was not the only shifter left, but she knew there were not many. Lexi would not know if she ever met one either, no shifter trusts anyone. The shifter ability was genetic; to have a shifter child at least one of the parents had to be a shifter themselves. Both of her parents were human, so it was clear that she was not of their blood.

              She and Cedonia exchanged a quick good-bye and Lexi turned her back on her and looked towards the fields beside Thistle Wood that were her quickest way home. Unfortunately, that meant passing Tom and his crowd of young men who stood sheltering under a balcony.

             “I am certain she lives in that wood, there aren’t any houses down the hillside,” he said loud enough for Lexi to hear over the rain as she passed them.

             She gritted her teeth and replied with, “I think you will find there are.”

             “Of course there are,” he said with a slight smirk, his tone mocking. “I’d bet you go into that wood and sleep there, because you have no parents.”

“I do have parents, actually.” Lexi stopped and turned toward him, glaring up at him from underneath her hood and through the strands of hair that had fallen free again.

             “Has anyone ever seen them?” Tom asked, addressing his group. They laughed and shook their heads, playing along. Lexi swallowed the growl that was building up in her throat. No one saw her adoptive parents because her mother was always at home and her father did not speak much Inglish. No one could cross borders of the islands unless they had a special Traveller’s licence, or a Traveller gave permission for them to pass, and Lexi’s parents had managed to cross from the mainland, Findasia. It would not be good to be found speaking Findasian here. Beyond the mainland country was the deserts of Kryos, and beyond lay the mountainous land of Enderwice, where she was descended by blood. To the west were the Unknown Lands, where no one knew what lay. Adventurers never returned to retell their journeys.

             “It’s odd that I have not seen your parents either, it does not mean you don’t have them,” she said, trying her utmost to sound casual and uncaring. Tom saw straight through her pretence and knew she was becoming increasingly annoyed.

             “Do you have to make your own clothes?” he asked, taking a few steps closer to her and pretending to examine what she was wearing. Unless one could afford to buy clothes from the tailor, they made their own; Tom’s parents owned the harbour on the coast a few miles north. They could afford anything they wanted. “They smell like you took them from a dead person.”

             Lexi nodded, meeting his gaze. “I expect so.”

             “Actually, you smell more like a wet dog.”

             This last remark sparked something in her chest and her eyes flashed with anger. A growl ripped from her teeth and she lunged at him, her hands clawing into his shoulders and knocking him backwards so that she landed on top of him, her teeth sinking into his neck while her feet supported her on either side of him.

             She felt his scream beneath her as blood leaked into her mouth. He struggled and kicked and tried to push her away, but she bit harder into his skin, possessed by the creature that forever haunted her dreams. The breath was knocked out of her and pain flared up her side as one of his friends tried kicking her off of him. Lexi growled and used her grip on Tom to steady herself.

             She heard shouts, though she barely understood what they said, before two pairs of strong arms yanked her away from the boy beneath her. Lexi struggled against their hold and continued to growl at Tom as he scrambled to his feet, using his sleeve to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. “Shifter!” He shouted the insult at her over his shoulder, his expression one of terror as he darted through the alleys and out of sight. She snarled after him; to be called a shifter was to be called an animal among humans. She sometimes wondered how the humans had not figured out that she was not one of them; everything about her screamed ‘Neäkan’; the way she dressed, her eating habits, her evasiveness and the likelihood to find her skipping off into the forest at every chance she could get.

The desire to cause pain wore off as quickly as it had come and she was left feeling bewildered in the arms of two men with fresh, warm blood coating her lips. She was released by one of the men, but held in place by the other. “What has gotten into you?” the butcher snapped, but at the same time he seemed unable to express what he was truly thinking. Lexi said nothing, unable to express herself in words even if she had wanted to.

She could not turn, locked in place by the arms of the butcher, but she could hear the steps of someone approaching, quickly followed by the crack of the whip. She swallowed and shuddered; she was no stranger to the whip. Her cloak was thrown over one shoulder, revealing the back of her cloth shirt.

Pain ripped across her back as it was brought down twice across her flesh in quick succession, tearing through the fabric of her shirt. She sucked in a breath and bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming. The lashes had not been hard, as they never were when women were to be punished, and she did not bleed.

The butcher shoved her away and she stumbled, catching herself on the post of a balcony. He and the miller exchanged a disgusted look.

“If you don’t watch yourself, you will be chased away from this village!” the miller spat at her.

If only, she thought, narrowing her watering eyes at the man.

             She leant against the post for a short while, waiting for the smarting pain in her back to subside before she disappeared off home. She was aware of the crowd gathering about the street, the disgusted looks and the murmurings and rumours flitting through the villagers. Lexi pushed herself upright off the post and was immediately grasped by the collar.

             Lexi snarled and snapped and fought the strong hand that imprisoned her and the tailor looked down in disgust, holding her at arm’s length as if he were afraid she would attack him next, given the chance.

             “You cannot just let her go!” he snapped at the butcher, and the crowd of villagers murmured in agreement. “She attacked one of us as if she were an animal!”

             “She’s a vampyre!” someone called out.

             “A lycan!” someone else shouted.

             “A shape shifter!”

             The beast locked within Lexi’s chest growled at the accusations and Lexi did her utmost to stay in control; if she shifted now, she would be undoubtedly slaughtered. Her growling ceased and she took a steadying breath.

             “Let me go!” she snapped, trying to wriggle free of her captor.

             “So you can attack someone else?” the tailor snarled. “A woman or a child next time? Tie her up!”

             The tailor shoved her away from him and she stumbled and fell, sprawled across the stone-paved street. Running would do her no favours, though the impulse was almost impossible to resist. The butcher lifted her to her feet and tied her hands behind the post of the balcony. The hard wood chafed against Lexi’s sore back and she hissed in pain, trying to pull her hands free of the ropes.

             The mayor stepped forward and stood in front of her, frowning. He was a short man and had to gaze up at Lexi, and when he spoke he sounded almost intrigued rather than frightened or angry.

             “Show me your teeth,” he commanded after a moment.            

             Lexi frowned at him, confused by his request, and said nothing, keeping her lips firmly together.

             One of the men – whether the tailor, the butcher or the miller, Lexi did not know – grasped her lower jaw and pried her lips apart. Lexi growled threateningly and tried to shake her head free.

             “Her teeth are just like yours or mine, Faron, it is quite clear that she is not a vampyre,” the mayor said as if this solved the problem. Lexi refrained from rolling her eyes; they had not needed to see her teeth to prove that. Vampyres had red eyes; Lexi’s were ocean-blue.

             “Then explained why she bit Tom and drank his blood,” the tailor demanded from somewhere Lexi could not see.

             “Can you be certain she drank his blood, Faron?”

             “Well, no, but-”

             “Hey!” Lexi glanced up at the sound of her father’s voice as he charged out of the crafting hall and pushed his way through the crowd to reach her. The tailor attempted to block his path, but Lexi’s father pushed him aside easily.

             “Eihr tou ikna?” he demanded when he reached her, speaking softly so that no one could hear.

             Lexi shook her head, replying in the same language. “Tal nator.”

             Her father took out his pocket knife and cut through the ropes that bound her. Lexi rubbed her sore wrists as her father turned to the mayor. “She my daughter. I say she human. Anyone hurt her, I kill.”

             “She will be executed if she attacks again,” the mayor threatened him. “Alexia, go home. I must talk with your father.”

 As if in a dream, Lexi turned and hurried towards the fields, ignoring the distrustful stares of the villagers as they parted to create a path for her. No one wanted to be near the Girl that Bit.

             As she passed the forest, Lexi paused to stare at it. Part of her longed for the solitude and freedom of the trees, but another part of her feared it. She continued to stare, the rain cascading down like a waterfall.

             Then the forest stared back.

             Lexi jumped as she realised she was staring at a pair of amber eyes that glowed faintly in the trees. Looking closer, she could vaguely make out the silhouette of a person; male by his stance and figure.

             He turned and disappeared into the shadows soon after she had registered his presence. Acting on impulse, she followed him into the trees, straining her eyes to keep track of his retreating shadow.

             “Hey!” she called softly, feeling the need to not startle him. She watched him twist and look over his shoulder for a second before breaking into a run. She dropped her satchel and chased after him, leaping over roots and logs and undergrowth as best she could, but his legs were longer and far more used to this kind of terrain.

             “Hey!” she called again, louder. She could not decipher why, but she had the feeling that she must catch up with him. He darted between trees and leapt across ditches as if he were a horse. Lexi had to work her legs hard to keep up with him.

             She was a stubborn being and had to drag oxygen into her lungs, her breath coming in loud gasps the more she ran, but she was determined to catch him up. Listening for any rustle of leaves or snapping of twigs, she kept up the chase.

             She heard a frustrated sigh and saw the boy slow to a halt in front of her and turn around. Lexi skidded to a stop and had to catch herself on a tree.

             “Did you wish to speak to me?” the boy asked pleasantly, hardly out of breath. Looking up at him, Lexi suddenly lost her voice. He was dressed completely in black and was incredibly good-looking. His skin was fair and his nose was straight-edged, but his features were soft. The lines of his eyes were slight and softly-curved, his lashes dark to match his hair that was long enough to hide his ears and creep down the back of his neck and tousled and plastered to his forehead, half-obscuring his amber eyes that mocked her just slightly. He had a strange way of standing: his weight on one leg and his thumbs in his front pockets. It was a very casual stance and not one Lexi had ever seen used by the men in Hargate.

             “Why were you watching me?” she asked, finding that she was not as out of breath as she had thought.

             The boy shrugged casually. “Why shouldn’t I?”

             Lexi narrowed her eyes at him, anger boiling in her chest again. His sincere grin shocked her; she was so used to people either giving her strange or dark looks; usually out of disapproval or fear. “What amuses you so?” she snapped.

             “You have a very short temper,” he said in answer. “It indicates you have something you want to hide.” Her mind went temporarily blank. How could he know that? His smile got bigger when he realised he had figured something. “Am I right?”

             “You are a shape shifter,” she stated coldly.

 “So are you,” he replied lightly. “We are not all that rare anymore.” Part of Lexi so desperately wanted to believe, but she could not find it in herself. She turned to leave but he followed her.

             “You followed me, what were you expecting me to offer you?”

             “It would be nice to know why you were watching me,” she said without turning around. “And why you are in a forest during weather such as this.”

             “I could ask you the same things,” he replied, still following.

             “I asked you first,” she protested indignantly, stopping and looking back at him. He was taller than her by half a foot.

             “I fancied a walk,” he said lightly. “Is that allowed, my lady?”

             “Don’t call me that,” she said sharply.

             He raised his palms to his chest. “Sorry. Rather touchy, aren’t we?”

             “That’s none of your business.”

             “You owe me your answers,” he said, and even though she was walking again she could hear the smile in his voice. “You have blood on your mouth.”

             “I’m going home,” she said shortly, wiping the blood away irritably. “Is that allowed?”

             He hesitated before saying, “Of course, who doesn’t have blood on their mouth just before they return home?”

             “Is there a reason you are following me?” Lexi asked, ignoring his comment.

             “Was there a reason you followed me?”

             So he was sarcastic as well as secretive. Lexi was very similar in her efforts to hide who she really was, but she began to realise exactly how irritating the act was. Most humans would have given up by now, but this stranger was beating her at her own game.

             She listened to his soft steps on the wet forest floor behind her and sensed his tension and anxiety, even though he looked so calm whenever she glanced back at him. He was very good-looking, she could not help herself thinking.

             It took Lexi about ten minutes to find the edge of the forest again, and as soon as she was there, she did not want to leave. There was something about this boy that equated to her; he was not normal and boring and full of rubbish that almost every other man seemed to be.

             “Who are you?” she asked, looking back at him and dropping her barrier of anger and defensiveness.

             His eyes flashed up to hers. “Who wants to know?”

             “Me.”

             “Why?”

             “I would like to know your name.”

             He tilted his head to the side for a few moments, continuing to stare at her while he thought over his answer. “I’m known as Hunter to most.”

             “Define most. Shape shifters?”

             One corner of his mouth tilted upwards. “You will see soon enough.”

             Before she could question him more, he turned on his heel and stalked back into the shadowed wood. Lexi was left standing staring after him, wishing he would not leave.

  

It was dark by the time she returned home; a small house down the hillside away from the beaten track surrounded by woodland and made from oak, as most of the houses in the village were. Lexi’s father had built the two-storey home in less than a week after they had migrated here from Findasia. Lexi could hear her mother muttering to her father as she stepped into the entranceway. Her mother’s voice was clipped and short, the way it always sounded when she was angry. Lexi’s heart sank and she tried as hard as she could manage to sneak up the stairs to the upper storey without her mother hearing.

             “Alexia?”

             Lexi took a shaky breath and turned back to face her mother, who was glaring up at her from the bottom of the stairs, a paper in her hand. Ever since the age of thirteen, her mother had started acting like she needed less parenting and more bullying. Or at least that’s how it felt to Lexi; never could she make a mistake in life without a verbal beating. Lexi was mostly numb to the words nowadays, though it was not something she looked forward to.

             Lexi’s adoptive mother was almost the exact opposite to her. Her hair was black, where Lexi’s was fair, and her skin was tanned brown. Her eyes were dark, but Lexi had never discovered whether they were black or just a dark shade of grey. She was a short woman and Lexi exceeded her height by several inches.

             “Do you want to explain what happened after school today?” she asked in her cold voice. Lexi must have spent longer with the boy than she had thought if her father and the letter had beaten her home.

             “You know what happened; I expect that letter gave you an account of everything.” Lexi’s voice sounded a lot more confident than she felt.

             “Don’t be smart with me, Alexia, you were seen biting into the throat of some poor boy.”

             “He was asking for it,” Lexi told her, her lip threatening to curl up into a snarl.

             “Why were you biting him?” she asked with more emphasis.

             “I don’t know why, vamar, in all honesty. Maybe it has something to do with-”

             “Hush!” she hissed.

             Lexi shut her mouth and glared at her. “It’s not my fault I am like this, vamar,” she said quietly. “You knew I was like this when you adopted me.”

“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t,” she hissed. Then she saw her daughter’s expression and added slowly, “That’s why you are going away.”

Panic rose in Lexi’s chest. “What? Away to where?”

“To a place where other people like you stay.” Lexi hesitated, wondering and hoping she could have heard her right but did not like jumping to conclusions. Her mother continued when she did not answer.          “There are other people that can change into something else, there’s an Academy up north.”

“You mean shape shifters?” Lexi corrected impatiently. Something about the words, for some reason or other, made her cringe.

Lexi was not entirely sure what to make of it. She stared off into space for a few seconds before continuing up the stairs and shutting herself in her room, dropping her satchel and sitting heavily on the straw mattress and thin linen blankets, hugging her knees. She had known she was not the only shifter in the world, but she had never met another. Not until Hunter. Now she was going to an entire Academy full of them? All these thoughts whirled around her head mixed with emotions of terror, joy, confusion and anger. The creature growled threateningly inside her and she clawed her fingers into her hair.

             If she went away, Lexi would leave everything behind: her room, her house and she would miss Cedonia. She did not know how far away she was going, where it was, what it was like, or anything of the sort.

             There was a knock on her door and her father entered, smiling at her in a fatherly way. He sat down beside Lexi without saying anything for a few minutes. He looked very similar to her mother, but he was taller. He had the same black hair that was greying in places and dark eyes, but his were a softer brown. His skin was tanned and he had a smile that Lexi had not seen mirrored by any other man.

             “How are you?” he asked eventually. She smiled at his attempt at Inglish.

             “I am fine, teiirhra,” she replied, slipping into Findasian to address her father. “At least as fine as I can be.”

             He filled Lexi in on the information her mother had missed: where it was and why she was leaving. It was on Rosavale, the only island on the east side of Miern Valley. A Traveller was coming to take her in a few days. Lexi packed her things as he talked. Excitement replaced every other feeling in her body as she thought about being surrounded by other people that could do what she could do, maybe even learn how to control it.

             The image of the boy in the woods appeared in her mind the more she thought of it. He was a shifter, as he had admitted outright. Lexi hoped he would be there, though she did not see how he could have crossed both the Selert and the Cairn bridges alone.

             When her father finished, Lexi smiled. “Your Inglish is improving.”

             “Do not tell your vamar, but I have been visiting the village a little more to practise.” It was a good thing the village was small, but even so, her mother did not like the risk.

             He left when the sun had completely dipped below the horizon and Lexi clambered under the sheets.

3: Chapter 2

Early the following morning, Lexi dressed and left the house before her parents awoke. With her satchel at her hip, she hurried up the path that led past the forest towards the village on top of the hill. She scurried along beside the trees for a short time, peering into the darkened depths of the wood, but he was nowhere in sight.

             Lexi frowned into the forest before racing into the undergrowth, determined to find him. She paused once to tie back her fair, almost white hair to stop it catching on the low branches. Every animal she passed – sparrows, foxes, hedgehogs, wild dogs, owls – all gazed at her curiously, and she locked eyes with each of them, wondering if they could be the boy in his animal form. None, however, acted abnormally.

             She stopped where the trees ended and the village began, disappointed. With a defeated sigh, she carried on up the hill to the square. Lexi looked up as an eagle flew overhead, squawking in the early dawn. One corner of her mouth lifted in a half smile, wondering if the eagle could be him. She stood and watched the bird circle the village once before it flew back north, across the bay to the Valley.

             The streets were relatively empty, and those she happened to pass in the alleys kept a great deal of distance from her. This suited Lexi just fine, for they were not gossiping about her or spreading rumours when they were too afraid to meet her eyes. 

             Lexi sat at one of the tables in the porch in front of the tavern, watching the shadows on the ground grow steadily smaller as the sun rose higher. The square grew gradually busier, each of the villagers giving Lexi a wide berth whilst they whispered to their companions. She ignored the looks and the whispers and focused all her attention on memorising the scene in front of her.

             When she was still young, she got on well with the other children of the village, because her race was not noticed. All children run and play; what caused the rockiness was Lexi’s continuous tomboyish attitude.

             Lexi lowered her eyes as a group of women began to gather nearby in front of the tavern’s door. She listened to their gossip, which grew continuously more blunt as they were unaware she could hear.

             “I heard she was born a witch,” one of them said, whose voice Lexi recognised as the tailor’s wife. “And she was bitten by a vampyre three years ago.”

             “Both of her parents are human, Berta,” another replied. “They had to prove themselves before they were allowed to settle here. How could she be a witch?”

             “And her eyes are blue,” said the third. “Vampyres have red eyes. And they have fangs; the mayor demanded to see her teeth yesterday and her teeth are just like ours.”

             “Look at her,” the tailor’s wife snapped. “Anyone can see she is not the daughter of the blacksmith and his wife. She looks nothing like either of them, unless Veran became a little too friendly with a Traveller.”

             “That does not explain how she could be a vampyre,” the second said doubtfully.

             “Helen, witches can deceive whoever they want. What the mayor and the crowd saw was an illusion; if she was proved a vampyre, she would be staked without a chance to talk herself out of it.” Lexi sensed the four women turn to look towards her. She was not afraid for the moment; their guesses were wrong and they could never prove her to be something she was not.

             “Illusions take energy, Berta,” said the fourth woman in a timid voice. “I have never seen her with red eyes, and as young as she is, such witchcraft would slip every now and again.”

             “Since when did you become an expert on Neäkan, Dafney?” Berta asked coolly.

             Dafney muttered an unintelligible reply.

             “I was there yesterday,” Helen said softly. “She looked half possessed, like an animal was trying to take over. Even your husband likened her to a predator, Berta. I don’t think she’s a vampyre or a witch.”

             Lexi swallowed nervously, but kept her gaze straight and unwavering.

             “What, a shape shifter?” Berta asked. “Don’t be ridiculous. Shape shifters are barely human at all; bloodthirsty beasts, they are. We would know if she was one of them.” She lowered her voice to almost a whisper, and Lexi strained to hear. “Look at her there. If she were a shape shifter, she would have heard us, and she would not be able to control her anger. Worry not, Helen.”

             “I’m not so sure,” Helen argued.

             “You appear lost in thought.” Lexi jumped as Cedonia dropped into the seat across the table. “Or are you just listening to the latest rumours? Some of the villagers think you’re a witch, you know.”

             “I have heard,” Lexi replied.

             They were speaking loud enough for the four women to hear them, and the group shuffled away, looking sheepish. Cedonia watched them until they had rounded a corner, as did Lexi.

             “What happened yesterday?” the faery asked. Her brown hair had been left loose this morning, her straight locks intermingling with narrow plaited braids down to the middle of her back.

             “I attacked Tom,” Lexi replied bluntly. “I was whipped and tied up, and accused of being every Neäkan under the sun before my father rescued me.”

             Cedonia said, “You would think a Neäkan in the village would be chased away with pitchforks. After all, humans aren’t stupid, are they?” Her bright eyes glimmered with silent sarcasm and Lexi fought an amused grin. The pair of them were still being watched by the lingering people in the square.

             Lexi leant forwards and spoke in a voice so low not even an eagle would hear. “How long do you think I would have had before they realised what I actually am?”

             Cedonia raised an eyebrow. “Would have?”

             “I’m leaving,” Lexi told her coolly. “My mother is sending me to Rosavale, to an outpost where shape shifters reside. In relative safety, I assume.”

             “I can’t imagine Veran sending you to a place more dangerous than here,” Cedonia pointed out. “When are you leaving? And more importantly, how are you getting there?”

             Lexi shrugged. “I don’t know.”

             Cedonia tapped the tip of her nose thoughtfully. “Unless I’m mistaken, you don’t know much about your race. How do you know other shape shifters are in any way like you? They may actually be the bloodthirsty creatures all humans think they are. You have been surrounded by humans all your life, so it makes sense you are like them in some ways.”

             “I’m not an exception to my race,” Lexi told her. Cedonia raised her brows. Lexi leant further forwards and lowered her voice further. “I met another like me yesterday evening.”

             “How do you mean?” Cedonia asked, leaning forwards also so that their noses were almost touching. “Like you as in you have similar personalities, like you as in you looked the same, or like you as in…?”

             “As in, my race,” Lexi corrected her. “And he was very much like me in personality also. At least, what I saw was similar to how I am.”

             “A ‘he’ was it?” Cedonia said with a smirk. “What was he like?”

             “Like me,” Lexi said with a frown. “I just said-”

             “No, no,” Cedonia interrupted impatiently. “What did he look like? Did he have white hair and pale skin like you?”

             Lexi rolled her eyes. “Not all shifters come from Enderwice, Cedonia.”

             “Then tell me.”

             “His hair was black, and he had a long fringe,” Lexi explained, trying to remember every detail. “His eyes were yellow. He had a complexion like yours and he was…lean, but built strongly.”

             “Was he armed?” Cedonia asked. “Did he threaten you?”

             “I did not see,” Lexi told her. “He ran from me. He was dressed in black and I did not see any weapon, not even a knife.”

             “He ran?” Cedonia repeated with a laugh. “That doesn’t sound so bloodthirsty to me.”

             “We aren’t beasts,” Lexi told her coldly. “I don’t know why we have been depicted as such, but it is not true.”

             “Okay.” Cedonia held up her palms in submission. “Did you learn his name?”

             “He told me a name, but I believe it is an alias.”

             “Why do you think so?”

             Lexi thought for a moment. “The way he said it. He said that most call him Hunter.”

             “Most,” Cedonia repeated thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose that is true for everyone. If you were to come across a stranger, they would not address you as Alexia. So, not everyone can ever call you so.”

             “I don’t think he was being pedantic, Cedonia,” Lexi said tiredly.

             The faery smirked and leant back in her seat, slouching a little. Lexi looked up at the sound of someone approaching and greeted the tavern keeper with a nod. “Good morning, Ruthos.”

             “Good day, ladies,” he replied politely. “Could I get either of you a drink?”

             “I have no coin with me this morning, I’m afraid,” Lexi said apologetically. “But if you would let us shelter under your porch, I would appreciate it.”

             Ruthos looked about himself for a short moment before stepping closer. “If you don’t mind me being so blunt,” he murmured, “I heard you were leaving this village shortly.”

             Lexi grimaced. “Word travels fast.”

             “It certainly does,” Cedonia agreed. She glanced up at the tavern keeper and smiled. “I would not mind that drink.” Ruthos smiled and hurried back into his tavern. Cedonia looked back to Lexi. “Unless you would like to be bombarded with questions you cannot answer, I suggest you leave.”

             Lexi nodded grimly and stood. “If I don’t see you before I leave…I hope you live long and well.”

             Cedonia smirked. “Of course I will. It’s you that needs to watch your back.”

             Lexi nodded and hurried back to the forest where she would not be disturbed by humans. Also, a small part of her hoped she would find the boy, even though she had not spotted him that morning.

 

4: Chapter 3

Five days after meeting Hunter, Lexi stood in her bedroom listening to the voices floating up through the thin wooden floor. Veran’s voice was most prominent, though it was accompanied by a young, male, Inglish voice that was certainly not her father’s. The words would have been indistinct to a human, but the instructions her mother gave to the visitor rang clear in Lexi’s ears. The young man was a Traveller, here to escort Lexi across the islands to Rosavale, and her mother was asking for as many details as possible. Norkt remained quiet, his accent too thick to use around strangers. The villagers were now used to him and had no problems with his living here; their main focus was Lexi and her strange behaviour.

            The morning was still early, and the sun was only just beginning to make an appearance through the branches of the trees. The eerie golden mist that floated through the forest reminded Lexi of the dream she often had, of a young man. It was the same boy she had seen in her dreams for as long as she could remember, for he had aged as she had. Brown hair flopped over his forehead and curled around his neck, his irises a perfect shade of turquoise flecked with yellow, his eyes ringed with thick, black lines. His expression set in a sullen frown, he appeared to take everything seriously. As a child, Lexi played with him in her dreams; he was a friend for her when she had none. More recently, the boy had grown into a young man and began to turn his back on Lexi each time she dreamt of him, beckoning, urging her to follow. She tried each time, but never caught up.

            Her name was called and Lexi left the sanctuary of her room. With the exception of her satchel, which now hung by her hip, all of her possessions had fit into two large rucksacks that were already on the ground floor. Walking with light steps so that none of the kitchen’s occupants heard her, Lexi cautiously entered the room and scrutinised the young man that stood leaning against the counter, his arms folded. He could not have been too much older than Lexi, for his fair face betrayed his youth. He heard Lexi approach before either of her parents, and though he appeared human in almost every way, there was a foreign glint in his hazel eyes that aroused suspicion in Lexi’s mind.

            “Alexia, this is Dante,” Veran introduced. Lexi nodded in acknowledgement, but her eyes remained trained on the young man that appeared barely older than a boy and thought he could not have had the licence at such a young age.

            “Will I be going alone?” she asked without emotion.

            “Of course, what else did you expect?” her mother snapped. “It is a five day journey to Rosavale and I cannot be away from home for ten days, Alexia.”

            “Will the house combust if you are not here to clean it?” Lexi countered dully. She ignored her mother’s lethal glare and continued quickly before she earned herself a verbal beating. “Is my father housebound also?”

            “We need money to live, Alexia, and to earn money, we must work,” Veran replied coolly.

            “If it is amenable, I would like to leave before the sun rises too high,” Dante announced with a self-conscious cough. Both Veran and Lexi nodded in agreement and Norkt rose from his chair.

            “I walk you there,” he said, shouldering one of Lexi’s rucksacks whilst Dante picked up the other. Lexi lingered in the kitchen while the men left, heading through the trees down towards the roadside where the trap and pony stood.

            With her gaze still directed after the pair of them, Lexi asked her mother in a quiet voice, “What is it you are worried about?”

            “Worried?” Veran repeated, busying herself with menial tasks that did not require attention. She picked up a cup of water and moved it over to the other side of the kitchen, only to bring it back again with a saucer holding a little pile of sugar. “I don’t know what you mean.”

            “You have never considered sending me away before,” Lexi pointed out, turning to face the woman who would not meet her eyes.

            “You have never attacked anybody before,” Veran snapped, pouring all of the sugar into the water and stirring rapidly with a wooden spoon. Lexi remained silent for a short while, watching her mother’s movements.

            “I have always been considered odd by the villagers. This would have been forgotten eventually. They know I am not your child.”

            “It is not hard to notice, Alexia,” Veran pointed out coolly. “We are as different as different gets.” When Lexi neglected to reply, her mother continued. “Why do you even want to stay? There are none of your kind around here and you are considered an outcast. There is nothing for you here anymore.”

            “You never explained why,” Lexi said, ignoring the question.

            “Why what?” Veran asked impatiently.

            “Why you took me in and pretended I was your own. I am from a different country, and I am of a completely different race.” Lexi’s eyes narrowed. “You must have known that shape shifters aren’t what the myths say, else you would not have taken me.”

            Veran flinched and refused to answer for a short while. Under Lexi’s heavy gaze, she spoke. “Your father and I could not have any children of our own. The man with you in his care seemed desperate for someone to take you, and he assured us that he was not your father. He told us only of where you had come from, but not of either of your birth parents. I know nothing more, Alexia.”

            But Lexi was not satisfied. “Why do you not tell others that it is only a myth? I am not dangerous, and nor is anyone else of my race.”

            “After the performance you have given of late, I don’t think you can say you are not dangerous,” Veran muttered. “How would you expect me to convince anyone without admitting what you are? How else would a human woman like me know anything of the world outside of this village?”

            Lexi shrugged moodily and said nothing, looking away.

            “Is everything all right?” Dante asked as he appeared around the doorway. Veran straightened up and nodded briskly.

            “Goodbye, Alexia, I...hope everything goes okay for you.”

            Lexi hesitated before following Dante. “Goodbye, Mother.”

            She and the Traveller made their way down to the roadside, following the narrow, overgrown path through the wood. Lexi was aware of his eyes on her, but she kept her gaze on the ground in front of her. She became aware of another’s eyes on them and she looked sharply to her left. Cedonia crouched in the undergrowth a little way away, one hand resting on a spindly maple. The faery smiled when Lexi’s eyes locked with hers and waved. Lexi offered a small smile in return and continued to follow Dante.

            Norkt was waiting for them by the trap, scratching the palomino pony between the eyes. Lexi looked upon him fondly, wanting to remember the man that had raised her, no matter whether she possessed his blood or not. Her father smiled warmly down at her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

            “You not mine,” he said, his accent thick, “but you always my daughter. Be strong. Be brave. You are worth much to this world.”

            Lexi’s eyes watered and she embraced her father tightly. His strong arms gave her a feeling of security, as they always had done when she was a child; safety in a place where danger of discovery was always lurking around the corner.

            They released each other and Lexi clambered into the trap beside Dante, blinking rapidly to stem the tears.

            “Faithar, vemai,” Norkt said, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze.

            Dante clicked his tongue and the pony picked up a bouncy trot. “Faithar, teiirhra,” Lexi replied before the trap carried her away.

            At the foot of Hargate Hill, the pony picked up a steady canter as they joined the main road. The trap rocked slightly on the uneven ground, but Lexi barely noticed the movement. She remained in a sullen silence, her eyes trained forwards, despite the fact that Dante continued to shoot her curious glances. She suspected he was not human, but she could not begin to guess his race.

            They reached the Cairn Bridge at midday, named so because of the circular arrangement of stones marking the beginning of the channel. The watchman appeared in his doorway, greeted Dante with a smile and waved them straight across. Across the bay, Lexi gazed at the beaches that lay at the feet of the cliffs marking the southern edge of Miern Valley.

            The pony slowed to a walk across the bridge and the clicking if its hooves on the stone echoed around them. Lexi could smell salt on the air and hear waves crash against the Valley cliffs and race up the beaches of Cassandle. It was here that Dante first spoke.

            “Were you close to your family, Alexia?” he asked lightly, making conversation.

            Lexi hesitated to answer, suspicious of the Traveller, but replied with the truth. “I was close to my father. My mother and I had many differences, but we were close in our own way.”

            “It is a great transition you are making,” Dante commented. He lowered his voice and leant a little closer. “Life at Rosavale Academy will be very different to the one you have become accustomed to.”

            Lexi considered his words. “Perhaps ‘different’ is not such a bad thing.” She lifted her eyes from the beaches across the sea and looked up at Dante. He was facing forwards, but his pale cheeks flushed under her gaze. “What are you, Dante?” she asked quietly. He must have known of her, if he was taking her to the Academy, which led to a great chance that he was not human.

            “That,” Dante replied carefully, “is a very personal, and insensitive, question.”

            “I apologise if it offends you,” Lexi said, but her question remained asked.

            “It does not offend me,” Dante answered with a shake of his head, “but it may offend others. It wouldn’t be wise to ask it of everyone you should meet.”

            “Noted,” Lexi muttered, her voice becoming laced with impatience.

            Dante glanced sideways at her. “My race is something that you should perhaps learn after you have settled into the Academy. It can be a lengthy process and your attention will be on other things.”

            “What things?” Lexi asked suspiciously.

            “Too many things to list,” Dante replied. “It will all be explained to you when you arrive, I assure you.”

            “Are you not a shape shifter?”

            Dante shook his head.

            At the far end of the bridge, the road split three ways. Dante turned the pony down the path to the right that followed the foot of the Gorgon mountain range and they picked up a canter. Lexi gazed up at the mountains as they passed, their peaks rising high above them, casting shadows across the Valley as the sun sank lower in the sky. She had heard the myths of the monsters that lived in the caverns of these mountains, hence their name. Mist lingered around the peaks, casting the rock in a semi-opaque sheen.

            “We will have to stop at the next village,” Dante informed her as dusk began to draw in. “I don’t trust these roads at night.”

            “Why?” Lexi asked with a frown. Dante’s eyes flickered up the side of the mountains and he did not answer. Lexi followed his gaze and noticed the shadows of movement among the ledges and crevices. “Are the legends true?”

            “The danger does not come from terrible beasts that the myths foretell, but monsters in the form of outlaws exist in those mountains: thieves, murderers and other law-breakers. They would not hesitate in ransacking a small trap like this when night falls.”

            Dante pulled in at the tavern in a village named Theorox, a small hamlet that covered just three acres of land. The streets were paved with stone and each of the cottages were built with wooden supports and thatched roofs, much like the cottages that stood atop Hargate Hill. The plaza at the centre of the village held market stalls, now emptied for the night. Lexi was loath to explore, and so sat beside Dante in the tavern as he and the innkeeper discussed news of recent travels.

            Lexi had to share a room with the Traveller, as the inn held only seven rooms and the others were all taken. She spent the night in a restless half-sleep and awoke groggy and more tired than she had been the previous evening.

 

Each night she spent on the road was spent as restless as the first, and by the time the pony crossed the Selert Bridge leading to Rosavale Lexi was falling asleep in her seat. Dante had long given up trying to make conversation and the pair travelled in silence with only the sound of the pony’s hooves clicking on the stone bridge.

            “Look over there,” Dante said, his voice breaking the quiet and startling Lexi out of her half-asleep trance. She followed his eyes and spotted the high roof of orange tiles disappearing behind a hillside.

            “Is that the Academy?” she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

            “Yes.” Dante turned the pony to follow the north coast of the island for a short way before it turned down a path passing through two green fields, left fallow for the winter. “It houses roughly two hundred young shape shifters, I think. They are brought here to train in safety, away from humans.”

            “How are they trained?” Lexi asked.

            “Each Alpha likes to run the Academy differently. Currently, there are no set training regimes, because the Alpha likes to see self-motivation in you. There are a few fledged shape shifters, known as mentors that are there to give guidance, should you need it.”

            “When does a shape shifter become fledged?”

            “When they choose to leave,” Dante explained, “the Alpha must assess them. If he feels they aren’t prepared for a placement in an outpost, then he will request you stay a little longer. Otherwise, the choice is yours.”

            The path led out of the fields and wound deep into a thick wood, trees of all kinds hanging their bare branches over the road. Lexi caught glimpses of moving shadows hidden in the thicket. The final length of the journey was spent in relative silence, the only sounds coming from the pony’s hooves, the creak of the trap’s wheels, and the rustle of movement in the trees.

            The road led out onto a gravel entranceway in front of a building larger than any Lexi had seen before, nestled between two hills. The old manor house made from brown bricks stood several storeys tall and curved around and behind the hills, its complicated orange-tiled roof casting sharp shadows over the entranceway. A large archway led into a grassy courtyard, reeds poking up from the depths of a large pond, and a willow stood in one corner. Two towers stood taller than the roof by another few hundred feet towards the back of the building. Windows the length of the walls revealed darkened rooms and corridors, shadows of movement darting behind them.

            Dante climbed down from the trap and tethered the pony to a post beside the archway. Lexi sat and admired the great building for several seconds longer before dropping lightly onto the ground, the gravel crunching beneath her boots.

            “Ready?” the Traveller asked with a wry smile, lifting both of Lexi’s packs onto his shoulder with relative ease. “I will show you to the Alpha.”

            With the satchel at her hip, Lexi followed Dante through the great oak doors and into a high-ceilinged corridor with wood-panelled walls and a stone-paved floor. Torches stood in brackets on the walls, flameless in the evening daylight that shone through the floor-to-ceiling arch windows on the wall to the right, presenting the lush, green courtyard. The corridor was devoid of life save for Lexi and the Traveller. She was led past a wide stone staircase that curved up and out of sight and as Dante turned down a hallway to the left, a strong hand caught Lexi’s elbow in a vice-like grip.

            Startled, Lexi automatically recoiled from the sudden contact, but she was held firmly in place. She peered up into the cool grey eyes of a straight-backed man dressed in an outfit of black clothes. He scrutinised her with a neutral gaze. He appeared to be a middle-aged human, but Lexi knew that shape shifters lived longer lives than humans, and could not be sure of his age.

            “Thank you, Dante,” he said, glancing up at the Traveller over Lexi’s head for less than a second. “Please take her packs up to her dormitory, and inform Kian of Miss Alexia’s arrival.”

            Dante nodded, bowing his head, and crossed his arm over his chest, his hand in a fist over his heart. The man holding onto Lexi’s elbow nodded in return and the Traveller hurried back down the corridor towards the staircase. Lexi was pulled along by the arm before she could say goodbye to Dante, down the remainder of the corridor and to the left through a narrower hallway. Lexi attempted to subtly pry herself out of the grasp of the man that held her, but his grip was strong and he seemed oblivious to her discomfort.

            From the other end of the hall, a girl of a similar age to Lexi approached. She did not see them at first, for she was examining the hilt of a knife sheathed in her belt. She was dressed in a black tunic and black leather leggings, and a long-bladed sword hung at her hip. She flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder so that it fell down to her lower back and glanced up. She paused upon seeing them and Lexi’s leader halted in front of her.

            “What were you doing in the tower, Nerezza?” he demanded quietly.

            “I may not have been in the tower,” the girl replied coolly, her narrowed eyes lingering on Lexi’s.

            “This hallway leads nowhere else,” he pointed out frostily. “And lose the attitude, please.”

            “Yes, sir,” she said, suddenly sweet. “Who is this?”

            For the first time, Lexi wondered whether this man may be the Alpha Dante had mentioned. His eyes narrowed down at Nerezza, clearly suspecting something behind her sudden politeness.

            “This is Alexia, our newest addition.”

            “Alexia…” Nerezza repeated, her eyes sliding back to Lexi. “May I speak with her?”

            The Alpha ignored her question. “Why do you have your sword out of your dormitory?”

            “I was sparring with Cassius,” Nerezza replied, just as sweetly as before.

            “In the Astrology tower?” he asked with a raised brow.

            “No, sir.” Nerezza shook her head. “May I speak with Alexia? It will only take a moment. I promise.”

            The Alpha seemed to think for a moment before he released Lexi’s elbow. He took a step forwards and leant closer to Nerezza, speaking in a whisper though Lexi still heard his words. “Do not try anything with her, girl.” His voice was soft, yet laced with an icy threat. Nerezza merely smiled sweetly at him and the Alpha continued along the corridor, disappearing through one of the dark wood doors. Lexi memorised the door he had entered in order to catch up with him when the girl was finished with her.

            Nerezza also watched the Alpha disappear over her shoulder, waited a total of five seconds before drawing her knife. Lexi jumped back in surprise and found herself trapped between the wall and the black-haired girl brandishing a double-edged dagger far too close to her neck.

            “Now, with him out of the way, we can see how much of a shape shifter you really are,” Nerezza said, her voice too soft and her smile too wide.

            “You want to fight me?” Lexi asked, sounding much less afraid than she felt.

            Nerezza raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. “You are a shape shifter, aren’t you? You’re here at the Academy, aren’t you? You’re a fighter now, Alexia.”

            “I am at a severe disadvantage, as I was raised by humans,” Lexi replied, her eyes flickering between the shining blade of the knife and Nerezza’s dark eyes. The girl blinked once, a slight frown creasing her brow. She licked her lips and lifted the knife to rest against Lexi’s collar.

            “Always the chance to learn,” she said, her smile returning.

            With their attentions pinned on each other, neither of the girls heard the approaching figure. Suddenly, Lexi’s view of Nerezza was blocked by a set of broad shoulders shrouded in a pale-grey tunic. He stood half a foot above Lexi and his mess of black hair was unmistakable as he gently pushed Nerezza and her knife away.

            “You ought to be careful where you flaunt that dagger of yours, Nerezza,” Hunter said coolly.

            Lexi peered around Hunter’s arm to watch Nerezza half smile in greeting and sheath her knife back into her belt. A hilt identical to that of the dagger Nerezza possessed was visible in Hunter’s belt.

            “Hello, Hunter,” Nerezza said sweetly, resting her hands on her hips. “It’s been a while since we spoke last.”

            “Has it?” Hunter responded dryly. “I am sure you have been told to stop challenging the newcomers. She was unarmed and untrained; hardly fair.”

            “I was going to give her my knife,” Nerezza argued, her smile not once faltering.

            “I see. A knife against a sword. Very fair.” He glanced over his shoulder at Lexi and then back at Nerezza. “Where is the Alpha?”

            “In his office,” she told him, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “He allowed me to speak with her alone.”

            “Did he?” Hunter asked. His tone and expression showed evident boredom and he took Lexi’s elbow in much the same fashion the Alpha had done and began to steer her in the direction of the Alpha’s office. Before they could move away, Nerezza drew her knife a second time, but Hunter was too fast for her, unsheathing his own dagger and knocking away her hand. “Stop trying to pick fights you cannot win,” he warned her, his voice taking on a steely edge.

            Nerezza’s grin widened. “You would not let me get hurt, Hunter.”

            Hunter’s grip on Lexi’s elbow tightened and he led her roughly down the corridor, away from the black haired girl. Nerezza gave one last smirk in Lexi’s direction before striding away in the opposite direction.

            Disgruntled at being manhandled, and being far less wary of Hunter than the Alpha, Lexi shook out of his grasp and narrowed her eyes up at him. Hunter matched her stony expression as he met her gaze. “You must see the Alpha.”

            “I can walk there, you need not escort me,” Lexi replied coolly.

            Hunter did not reply, but merely shrugged and continued down the corridor, leaving Lexi to keep up on her own. She matched his pace, but kept a little distance behind him, her eyes pinned on his back. He did not once look back to check she was following and led her straight to the door through which the Alpha had taken not five minutes before. Hunter knocked twice on the wood of the door and waited for the command to enter. He pushed open the door and held it for Lexi to go through first.

            “Nice of you to catch up with me, Alexia,” the Alpha said from where he sat behind an intricate oak wood desk. The office was otherwise empty, save for a simple couch that stood beside the door. “Hello, Kian.”

            “Sir.” Hunter nodded and crossed his arm over his chest in the same gesture Dante had given.

            The Alpha nodded back at him. “Take a seat, both of you.”

            Lexi and Hunter sat just as rigidly as each other on the couch in front of the Alpha’s desk. He brought out a scroll of parchment and unrolled the latter half of the document. His grey eyes gazed over the words that Lexi could not see.

            “It appears Alexia will be our fourth newcomer this term, after Bryanne’s arrival.” Hunter snorted softly, but he was ignored. “Alexia, can you tell me your full name?”

            “Alexia Veran,” Lexi replied. She sensed Hunter’s eyes on her, but pretended to not see his stare. The Alpha also hesitated before scribbling on the paper.

            “What age are you?”

            “I am eighteen.”

            “At what age did you first shape shift, and how many times since?”

            Lexi cast her mind back to the few times she had completely lost control of the animal within her chest and allowed it to take over her physical form. “Three or four times since the age of five,” she told him. “If my assumptions are correct, I have not been in any danger to cause regular shifts.”

            The Alpha nodded, continuing to write on the parchment. “Just one more question, Alexia: What animal do you take the form of?”

            Lexi replied with, “A wolf.”

            He finished writing and rolled up the scroll, replacing it back in a draw. “As supper will soon be available, I will only tell you what is essential for the moment: you have one month to train to the same standard as the rest of the fledglings at the Academy. At the end of that time, a trial will be held. It is made up of three challenges designed to separate the four newcomers, including you. Two of you will be accepted into the Academy to train for as long as you wish, and the remaining two will be turned human and returned to their homes.”

            This last statement sent every other thought to the back of Lexi’s mind and fear gripped her heart. “Home?” she repeated, as though the word was foreign to her.

            The Alpha made a steeple with his fingers and gazed straight at Lexi. “No matter how few in number shape shifters are, there is no point in raising youngsters that are not natural fighters. The world is much too dangerous to allow young shape shifters to roam freely; therefore their shifter ability is removed before they go home.”

            A shiver ran down Lexi’s spine. Beside her, Hunter lifted a hand as if to comfort her, but dropped it back to his knee.

            “As you take the form of a wolf, you will join Kian’s pack.”

            “You are a wolf too?” Lexi asked, glancing up at Hunter. He nodded once in response and she turned back to the Alpha with narrowed eyes. “You called him before I told you what animal I take the form of.”

            The Alpha smiled tightly in response. “Just procedure.” Before Lexi could question further, he continued. “Kian will take you to your common room now. Supper will be ready for you before long.” Hunter stood and opened the door for Lexi to leave. She paused in the doorway, her eyes lingering on the Alpha, before her gaze slid to meet Hunter’s. He held her stare for several seconds before they left together. 

5: Chapter 4

Hunter strode back along the hallway with quick, purposeful steps. Lexi trailed behind him, keeping pace, but otherwise happy to be led to her dormitory. The corridors had come alive in the time they had spent in the Alpha’s office and young shape shifters of various ages dressed in tunics of varying colours paused to make way for Hunter as he passed before their eyes found Lexi as she scurried after him. Each of them stared, their brows creased into frowns as she bowed her head and hurried on. Some of the shape shifters they passed greeted Hunter with a smile or salute, and those that did not scampered out of his path as soon as they set eyes on him.

            Upon reaching the base of the staircase, Hunter paused and glanced down at Lexi. “Ignore the stares. They will grow used to you soon enough.”

            “Do they show every newcomer such interest?” Lexi asked lowly as a boy of about seventeen with fair hair stopped speaking with his brown-haired friend to gaze at her, a ghost of an awestruck smile on his mouth.

            “Only the interesting ones.” One corner of Hunter’s mouth tilted up in a half-smile before he scampered up the stairs, taking two at a time. Lexi followed, a frown etched on her face. She wanted to ask why she was particularly interesting, but Hunter refused to slow down enough to give her the chance.

            The staircase curved around a stone pillar and led out onto a balcony overlooking the courtyard. From this height, Lexi could see the sparkling clear water of the pond below, but she had not much time to admire the view as Hunter continued along the balcony, past the set of stairs leading up to the next floor and around a corner. Doors almost identical to each other lined the wall on the right, each sporting a unique symbol made from silver metal. The symbols were foreign to Lexi and she did not know what each of them meant.

            Hunter stopped at a door in the corner. Its symbol consisted of an incomplete circle, like a horseshoe, with a line across the middle. Lexi meant to ask its meaning, but Hunter opened the door for her and said, “After you.” Lexi held his gaze with narrowed eyes for a second before she entered.

            The common room was fairly large and spacious. A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace on the wall to the right, surrounded by three couches and two armchairs, opposite a wide window with a deep sill, casting the hazy evening light across the room. The floor was wooden, but a thick, red wool rug covered most of it. Two doors stood in the far wall beside two desks covered in half burned down candles.

            “This will be your home, should you pass the trial,” Hunter said softly as she examined the room.

            Anxiety churned Lexi’s stomach and she decided to ignore the subject of the trial. “How many are your pack?” she asked instead, noting the number of seats available around the fireplace.

            “There are three of us. You will make our fourth.” Noticing Lexi’s puzzlement at the seating arrangement, he added, “We tend to have many visitors.”

            Lexi nodded slowly. “The other two, are they wolves also?”

            “Yes, hence why we are a pack. Shifters of the same animal are homed together here, as we tend to have more of an understanding of one another. That does not mean we cannot cooperate with others; a pack is like a family away from home. My closest friend happens to take the form of a leopard.”

            “Where are they?” Lexi asked.

            Hunter smiled wryly. “Knowing Seth, they will be waiting for us in the dining hall. Dante brought up your things, which we left in your dormitory. I hope you don’t mind sharing a bedroom with Ebony.” He gestured the door on the right-hand side of the far wall. “Come, I suppose you’re hungry.”

            Although Lexi’s stomach was virtually empty, she was not in much of a mood to eat. Nevertheless, she nodded in agreement and Hunter led her from the common room, back out onto the balcony. He walked beside her back down to the ground floor and led her round to the dining hall, which was on the far side of the Academy. With most of the shifters already eating, the corridors had quietened down.

            “Have you any previous fighting experience?” Hunter asked her as they made their way across the courtyard, rounding the pond and back into the corridor on the other side.

            “I have some skill with a hunting knife,” Lexi offered lamely.

            Hunter grimaced, almost imperceptibly, but Lexi saw. “We have four weeks to train you, so previous experience is not an issue as such…” Lexi did not for a moment believe his words, but did not say so.

            At the end of the corridor was a set of large double doors, glass windows following the shape of the arch they created. Hunter pushed one of them open and held it for Lexi to pass through. She was hit by a wave of noise; laughter mingling with the chatter of at least a hundred adolescents gathered in the dining hall. Hunter laughed at Lexi’s obvious surprise and gently pushed her through the doorway.

            The hall itself was just large enough to hold the exact number of shape shifters gathered. The people sitting nearest the doors looked up as they entered and stopped talking to stare. Lexi flushed under their gazes, but Hunter seemed not to notice as he led her through the maze of tables and benches. More faces glanced up at their passing and each held Lexi’s gaze. Some were friendly, others not so, but each of them stared. Most tables were surrounded by no more than three or four shape shifters, but Lexi spotted one group that had pushed two tables together to seat all seven of them.

            Hunter spotted Lexi looking over at the larger group and said, “We eat in our packs. That group are all hyenas.”

            The table Hunter was headed for happened to be in the corner furthest from the door. On the bench on one side of the table sat two people, one male and the other female. The boy ate sandwiches from his plate in a constant chain, speaking to the girl with a full mouth. Hunter indicated for Lexi to take a seat and the pair stopped talking immediately.

            “This is Lexi,” Hunter introduced as he sat beside her on the bench. “She will be joining us for the next four weeks and longer if she proves herself in the trial. Lexi, this is Seth and Ebony.”

            Seth placed his sandwich back down on the plate and sanded his hands together before saluting formerly. Ebony rolled her eyes at him and smiled politely at Lexi. Lexi nodded in reply and tried a small smile. Seth grinned in reply and returned to his sandwich. His face was young, appearing more innocent than many of the fledglings of the Academy. He gazed at Lexi through deep brown eyes, like those of a young pup, peering out from underneath his mop of hazel-coloured hair that fell over his eyes, neither fair nor brown, but struck a balance right in the middle.

            The dark-haired girl said, “Welcome to the Academy, Lexi.” Her black hair was tied back and fell down the back of her neck in loose spirals. Her cheekbones were high and her pale skin accented the pale blue of her kind eyes.

            “Thank you,” Lexi replied, unable to think of anything else to say.

            “Seth, did you leave any food for anybody else?” Hunter asked, eyeing the four large plates on the table, covered in different variations of sandwiches, meats, salads, and slices of bread.

            Seth shrugged. “There was plenty.”

            Hunter picked up the plate holding all the different meats and handed it to him. “Put it back.”

            Seth scowled, but stood and took the plate from Hunter’s hands. Lexi watched him make his way through the tables towards a long platform laden with many plates of food, some hot and others cold. Seth was an unusually lanky boy, standing at least half a foot above Hunter, but he was a great deal skinnier. His tunic, the colour of oak leaves in the summer, hung loosely from his shoulders, accenting his lack of muscle.

            “He is still young,” Hunter murmured, picking at a leaf of lettuce.

            “He matches you with a sword, Hunter,” Ebony replied coolly.

            “I am an archer, not a swordsman,” he said indignantly.

            Ebony shrugged as if that was no excuse and turned her friendly eyes on Lexi. “Do you have any questions you would like answering?”

            Lexi had many questions, so much so that she was not sure which to voice first. She glanced round at the many shape shifters sat in the hall, talking and laughing between themselves and leaning back to talk with shifters of another pack. Seth had discarded the plate and stopped at a table of three to talk with a lean, brown-haired boy that appeared only a little older than Seth and wore a tunic of the same colour.

            “Do the tunics signify anything?” she asked.

            “The tunics themselves are a sign of a shifter,” Hunter told her. “The colours represent our class; our purpose, if you will.” 

            “Archers wear grey, like Hunter,” Ebony continued. “Astrologers wear off-white, like me, and huntsmen, like Seth, wear green. The swordsmen wear black, the horsemen wear charcoal, and the scouts wear blue. In battles our colours help to identify each other easily, therefore the Alpha proposed we wear them all the time.”

            “Grey, archers…white, astrologers…” Lexi murmured under her breath, gazing round at the hall at large and pinpointing each of the colours Ebony had listed. “Blue…scouts…” In the entire hall, she could only see one person dressed in blue; an older girl with a slim physique and rich brown hair.

            “There are only four scouts, currently,” Hunter told her, noticing her gaze.

            “Why?” she asked.

            He shrugged and Ebony replied, “The Alpha chooses our class once we pass the trial. Seeing as we don’t have to fight many battles, I believe that he does not see a need for many scouts. Swordsmen, horsemen and archers are the most valuable to the Academy.”

            “So why is there a large amount of astrologers and huntsmen?” Hunter pointed out, taking a bite out of a piece of bread.

            “Astrologers can use the stars to predict a battle before it commences, therefore useful. And huntsmen supply the kitchen with the vast amounts of meat, which saves money. Hence, the Alpha considers them valuable,” Ebony told him simply.

            Hunter shrugged again and Seth dropped back into his seat opposite Lexi. “Have these two explained the trial yet, Lexi?” he asked, picking up his half-eaten sandwich.

            “She has only just arrived, Seth,” Hunter admonished.

            “And she has just four weeks to train,” Seth reminded him.

            Lexi’s stomach churned and she put down her sandwich. Four weeks was barely any time at all, and she had to hone her skill to the standard of those surrounding her in little over a month. Suddenly, she did not feel quite so hungry.

            “Don’t worry, Lexi,” Hunter said with a small smirk, nudging her shoulder with his reassuringly. “We will have you trained in that time.”

            Ebony raised one brow at Hunter before speaking. “There are four of you currently in training,” she explained. “Which means two of you will pass, and two of you will not. Those that do not will have their shape-shifting ability removed and sent back to their parents. I assume the Alpha has told you this much already?”

            Lexi nodded.

“The first task is an endurance test, a race across a variety of obstacles that has been set up in the basement. Ledges, ditches, and pits you have to find a way to cross, vines to climb and webs to slip through. Nought but the fastest of shifters can cross the obstacles efficiently, but the wisest find the most effective paths. The shifter having shown the greatest of abilities will receive four points, the second being given three, the third two and the shifter with the least impressive performance is given one.

            “The second task is a rivalry between the shifter in trial and one chosen from the Academy. This is used to show one’s worth of having a place here, and most can pass this with ease, for archers do not practise with swords, and horsemen rarely practise with a bow, to name a few examples. Four points are given to those who can defeat their opponent, and none to those who fail.

            “The final task is unknown to all but the Alpha, who devises it several weeks in advance. Because of this, there is no way to train you specifically for it and therefore we have to train you in any way we can that could possibly help you. In this way we can teach you many things.”

            Lexi nodded slowly, trying to memorise everything Ebony was saying. She was aware of Hunter’s eyes watching her closely, and opposite her Seth chomped happily on his food, unaware of her tension.

            “Are you not hungry?” Hunter asked.

            Lexi shook her head. Ebony stood and said, “I will help you unpack, if you like.” She smiled kindly and Lexi got to her feet.

            “Are you sure? You can’t have eaten much all day.”

            “I’m fine.” She tried a small, reassuring smile up at Hunter and followed Ebony back through the hall to the doors. The eyes of the young shape shifters followed her as she passed. She was used to stares; the people of Hargate often openly displayed their scorn, but the eyes that followed her here portrayed something different, like interest and puzzlement.

            Ebony held one of the doors open for Lexi to pass through and the noise ceased as it swung shut behind them. The dark-haired girl stood several inches shy of Lexi’s height, but although her eyes were kind, they were also sharp and seemed to pierce her mask in the same way as Cedonia’s.

            “Is there anything else you would like to ask?” she asked as they made their way back across the courtyard to the opposite side of the Academy.

            “Will you tell me about the different classes?” Lexi asked, intrigued.

            “Of course.” Ebony smiled warmly. “The archers, swordsmen and horsemen are simple enough; warriors, the main men of battle, so to speak. They are considered the most valuable additions to the Academy, and to any shape shifter pack. Fighting is what we are born to do, and so and shape shifter that cannot wield a sword, shoot an arrow or throw a spear would be isolated without a second thought. The astrologers, like me, spend their time looking to the sky. Sometimes the stars can predict a battle before it begins, therefore having many pairs of eyes on the sky is important. Huntsmen, such as Seth, are important in battle as well, for they often wield a good hand with a bow or spear, but their main purpose is to catch game to eat.”

            She paused upon reaching the staircase and greeted a pair of females in the same coloured tunics as she with a slight nod. They smiled in return and eyed Lexi curiously as she and Ebony took to the steps.

            “Scouts are a little different, in the sense that they have many purposes. They can be messengers, they can ride ahead of battle to check the grounds, or sometimes they just aid others in the fight. They are sometimes commissioned as assassins.”

            “Why is everyone staring at me?” Lexi asked lowly as another, older woman swept past, her gaze lingering on them.

            “You are new blood, Lexi,” Ebony said breezily. “Time moves slowly here. Every six months or so the trial is held and three or four new shape shifters arrive at the Academy; at least two leave afterwards, never to be heard of again, and the lucky ones that stay merge right into life and the cycle begins again.”

            “So the staring is normal?”

            “I will admit, you are earning yourself more stares than usual, but I expect that will be due to your complexion and hair colour. Excuse me if this is rude, but am I right in assuming you aren’t from Igrendem?”

            “I was raised in Findasia, but my bloodline comes from Enderwice,” Lexi replied briefly. She had no desire to go into the details of her past just yet, and Ebony pushed no further.

            The common room was darker now, but everything was as it had been earlier. Ebony led Lexi to the two doors at the end of the room, holding open the one on the right for Lexi to enter. This room was darker still, and it was not until Ebony struck a match and lit the candles on either side of the door that Lexi realised it was a dormitory with two beds, both with identical red sheets. They held feather pillows and soft mattresses made from a material Lexi had never seen before, much softer than the straw she was used to. At the end of the dormitory nearest the window, there appeared to be room for two more beds, however the space was currently taken up by a telescope and several outspread charts of the skies. 

            “This will be your bed,” Ebony said, indicating to the one on the right, her packs perching neatly side-by-side.

            While Ebony transferred Lexi’s clothes into the chest at the foot of the bed, Lexi decorated the overhead shelf with the four books she owned and a selection of rocks and crystals.

When finished, Ebony stood and wiped the dust from her knees. “The boys will be back soon.”

Lexi’s eyes were drawn to the window, revealing the darkened entranceway and the depths of the dense forest beyond. Above, the night was clear and a waning moon shone over the trees, casting the almost bare canopies in silver light.

She turned to Ebony. “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like a little time alone.”

Ebony nodded kindly in understanding and turned, leaving Lexi alone in the spacious room.

In the silence, Lexi sat cross-legged on her bed and thought of home.

No, she thought. This is home now. 

6: Chapter 5

Lexi was gently shaken awake by Hunter when the sun was halfway risen the following morning. He was already washed and dressed before Lexi had managed to pull herself out of bed.

            Hunter stood in the common room by the door to the balcony when Lexi emerged from her dormitory. His head was bowed, his fringe covering his eyes, with his arms folded over his chest. Ebony had left with Seth at least half an hour before for breakfast after Lexi had insisted that she was not hungry. Lexi shivered slightly at the sight of him, though it was not cold.

            He looked up and met her blue gaze steadily. “Good morning. How did you sleep?”

            “Surprisingly well,” she replied. “I tend to have trouble sleeping when away from home. The beds here are softer than any I have seen before.”

            Hunter smiled and nodded in agreement. A pale wood bow and leather quiver filled with black and white feathered arrows hung across his back. “Before the previous Alpha left the Academy, a fledgling’s day was much busier than what it is now. Classes used to be taught in order to teach us our required skills. We began before dawn and finished long after dusk, which left us with very few hours in which to sleep. Therefore our beds were made softer to allow us to sleep deeply.”

            “Are classes no longer taught?” Lexi asked as she accompanied him out onto the balcony.

            “No. Our current Alpha thought it best for us to focus on our personal skills rather than all aspects of combat. It was also thought better that we train independently. We have mentors, of course, but it is not wise to allow ourselves to be completely guided.”

            “Why is that?”

            “We cannot be guided in battle,” Hunter answered simply. “I never knew the Alpha’s predecessor, but from what I hear, the way of the Academy now makes more sense. In my opinion, anyway.”

            “Others may prefer the more structured system,” Lexi replied.

            “They may,” Hunter agreed, glancing sideways down at her. “How very thoughtful of you.”

            “Having no experience myself, I would have preferred classes.”

            “Understandable.” He half-smiled. “Your classes will be taught by myself and my pack up until your trial.”

            The combat hall was less impressive than the dining hall, with narrower columns and less intricate patterns on the walls. The windows were far smaller and stood high in the walls, close to the ceiling, from which narrow beams hung on ropes with fledglings bounding across them as though flying. Tiered wooden benches stood against the wall opposite the windows, and Hunter informed her that the second task of every trial was held in this hall, therefore the other students could watch. Soft mats coated the floor, supporting pairs of shape shifters fighting with various weapons. Clangs of colliding metal swords mingled with bashes of wooden staffs and shouts of the fledglings. Bows snapped at one end of the hall, a line of archers aiming at painted targets. In the corner, Lexi spotted Seth fighting with a brown-haired boy also dressed in green, both wielding staffs. The sparring looked brutal to Lexi’s untrained eyes and the edges of the staffs flew inches from their faces with every attack. Both boys appeared almost feral as they snarled and snapped at each other. However, when Lexi spotted the skill of a swordsman dressed in dark grey standing not ten feet from the sparring pair, their fight seemed amateur. He was tall, dark haired and almost as handsome as Hunter, wielding a long-bladed one-handed sword. He had no partner, but his practise movements were amazing enough to make Lexi’s jaw drop. She paused and stared as he continued, awestruck.

            Hunter noticed her hesitation almost immediately and returned to her, following her gaze. She looked up at him when he gave a little sigh and gently pressed a hand to her upper back to urge her forwards.

            “There will be plenty of time to admire the beauty of our sword-wielders later,” he assured her, the smallest hint of irritation in his voice.

            “I was admiring his skill, not his looks,” Lexi replied shortly, her face colouring.

            Hunter stopped abruptly, pulled the bow from his back and shot an arrow towards the targets with barely a second to aim. Lexi looked after it, and spotted the unique black and white feathers trembling from the very centre of the leftmost target. Lexi’s eyes widened. The archer aiming at the particular target turned and scowled at Hunter.

            “Now you can stare at me while I teach you,” he said lightly as he slung the bow over his shoulder.

Lexi narrowed her eyes at him and glanced back briefly at the grey swordsman. He was leaning on the hilt of his sword, gazing straight at her with glistening leaf-green eyes. She looked away quickly and trailed after Hunter.

            Ahead of them, Ebony could be seen speaking with a mousey girl dressed in an off-white tunic. Her cheeks coloured as Hunter approached with Lexi at his shoulder and hurried away after mumbling a farewell to Ebony. Hunter watched after her, amused. “Is Eliza still afraid of me?”

            “You intimidate her,” Ebony replied curtly. “If you did not stare at people in the eyes so much, perhaps they would not be quite so afraid of you.”

            “Where would you prefer me to look, Ebony, at their feet?”

            “No, that would be rude. But there is no reason to look at people as though you are reading their thoughts.” She gazed at him hard for several seconds, but Hunter did not yield as she seemed to expect. “I shall fetch Seth for you.”

            As soon as she was out of hearing range, Hunter spoke. “Ebony is the only person to ever learn how to scold me. My mother was never much use at it and I was never very good at listening. You will never meet someone quite as sweet and selfless and Ebony, but you will soon learn that she does not tolerate foolishness. She would keep the entire Academy in check if she could.”

            Across the hall, Ebony stepped boldly between Seth and his partner to break the fight. She said something inaudible to the two boys, to which Seth responded by throwing his staff to his partner and scampering straight over to where Hunter and Lexi stood waiting. He almost bowled Lexi right over as he bounded to a halt right in front of the pair of them.

            “Watch your step, Seth, Lexi is not yet used to your energy,” Hunter said, noticing Lexi’s flinch.

            “She looks tough, Hunter, I’m sure I couldn’t scare her,” Seth replied breezily.

            “You certainly aren’t terrifying, but it not considered polite to jump on people,” Hunter responded dryly. “Exert your energy on collecting me two practise swords, if you would.”

            Seth nodded and raced away, straight through the path of the archers and avoiding arrows by a hairsbreadth, over to a rack holding many practise swords with wooden blades. Hunter rubbed his eyes tiredly at the boy’s recklessness. Ebony returned to their side and said, “When he gets grazed by an arrow, perhaps he will start to become more spatially aware.”

            “One can only hope,” Hunter muttered.

            “I pray he does not get hit by an arrow,” Lexi said, folding her arms in indignation.

            “A graze is not a hit, Lexi, there is a great difference,” Hunter assured her.

            “As a matter of interest, who is it that you pray to?” Ebony asked, turning her curious blue eyes on her.

            “None,” Lexi replied simply. “I was told by my mother on many occasions that Hasuz will not accept me as I am not human, and the teachings of the other gods are rare to come by in a human settlement.”

            “Fineara will accept you as her own,” Hunter said kindly.

            “Despite having neglected her these past years?” Lexi asked dubiously.

            “It was not your fault,” Hunter assured her, and Ebony nodded in agreement. Seth skipped back to them at that point, two wooden swords in his left hand hanging by his side as he presented Hunter’s arrow in the palm of his right.

            “I believe you were missing something?” he said proudly.

            Hunter thanked him and replaced the arrow in his quiver. He then pulled it and his bow from his shoulder and leant them against the bottom of the stands. Seth twirled one of the practise swords around his wrist before throwing it hilt-first to Hunter. The archer caught the weapon with ease. He and Seth adopted fighting stances, the expressions of them both losing the familiarity and becoming almost hostile. Ebony took Lexi’s elbow and encouraged her to take a few steps backward, away from the pair. They took seats in the bottom row of the stands, a safe distance away. Lexi watched with bunched up muscles, waiting for the fight to begin.

            Seth let out a short, sharp battle cry and swung his sword at Hunter’s neck. Lexi flinched and restrained herself from covering her eyes. Hunter simply leant back to avoid the point of the blade and returned the attack while Seth had yet to regain his balance. He struck the boy on the hip. Seth hissed and batted the blade away with his own, beginning a series of attacks and parries, the blades making such awful noises      as they collided. Lexi sat on the edge of her seat, every muscle in her body tensed as she watched the fight. Neither side could gain an advantage, though both snarled and bared teeth at one another.

            “They sound like animals,” Lexi murmured.

            “We are half animal, Lexi,” Ebony reminded her. “Besides, it’s only designed to scare the opponent.”

            A sneeze on the other side of the room caught Seth’s attention for no more than half a second, but it was all Hunter needed to twist the sword out of his opponent’s grip. He marked his victory by holding the blade of his sword to Seth’s neck. Seth crossed his arms and scowled.

            “That is the standard you need to be for the trial,” Hunter said, turning his eyes on Lexi.

            She blanched. “I have four weeks.”

            “It’s perfectly possible,” he assured her. “I had very little experience when I first arrived.”

            “That’s different,” Lexi mumbled.

            “Not at all.” Hunter’s tone contained finality and Lexi decided not to argue further. “Seth, please hand your sword to Lexi.”

            The boy swept up the blade and offered it out to Lexi without once moving his feet. She sighed and took to her feet, accepting the weapon. It was heavier than she had expected and felt unbalanced in her grip. The blade itself was unremarkable, but if swung hard enough could do some serious damage. Seth replaced her on the stands beside Ebony.

            “You said that you have some skill with a hunting knife,” Hunter said while she was examining the sword. She nodded. “Consider a sword as a heavier knife with a longer blade. They work in a similar way, but a sword is a great deal stronger and more effective.”

            “You need not patronise me,” Lexi replied coolly.

            “I’m not trying to patronise you,” he assured her. “Considering your weapon as something you are familiar with may help you to use it.” He raised his sword, aiming as though intending to attack her right side. She reacted instinctively by lifting her own blade to protect herself. Hunter smiled and attacked again from the other side. Although Lexi never gained an advantage, the spar with Hunter turned into something of a slower version of the same fight he and Seth had demonstrated just moments before. Hunter’s attacks became gradually quicker and Lexi began to tire. After several minutes of sparring, Lexi noticed a change in Hunter’s demeanour: his eyes glinted mischievously and his movements became blurs. Fear gripped at her heart as he attacked her more ferociously, but she surprised herself by parrying two of his swipes before the sword was knocked flying out of her grip and halfway across the hall.

            Hunter gripped her upper arm and held the point of his blade to the base of her throat. She strained against him, afraid he may actually harm her. The mischievous glint in his eyes vanished as he blinked and was replaced with concern as he lowered his sword. “I wouldn’t hurt you, Lexi.”

            Lexi nodded and mentally shook herself, feeling foolish for being afraid of him. Ebony appeared at her side and asked kindly, “What would you like to try next?” Lexi glanced around the hall, discarding the idea of archery and spear throwing immediately, for her hands trembled with the remnants of fear. Her eye was drawn to the south wall, where notches had been carved into the stone to create the likeness of a cliff face.

            “I can climb fairly well,” she said.

            Ebony took her elbow and marched her over to the wall without a second thought. Behind them, Hunter handed the practise swords to Seth and the boy scurried back over to the racks, sliding to a halt just before the archers’ targets as Hunter barked an order. He then went around the range, out of the path of any arrows.

            Closer to the climbing wall, Lexi realised exactly how high it stretched. No tree she had ever climbed stretched so far and she began to doubt her own strength. However the irrational fear disappeared as soon as she stepped onto the wall and she scaled the entire height before Seth had scampered to Ebony’s side. Her fingers seemed to have a natural ability to find hidden holds in the stone that allowed her to climb quickly and efficiently to the peak of the wall, which stopped just short of the ceiling and allowed Lexi to sit down a moment and survey the combat hall.

            The green-eyed sword wielder had stopped practising completely, his sword resting on its point at his side while he spoke to another young man dressed in a charcoal tunic. Seth’s sparring partner had picked up another three shape shifters dressed in green and they had begun fighting in pairs. A particularly athletic female bounded across the beams as though she were flying, and Lexi’s attention strayed to her because she was one of the very few fledglings dressed in blue. On the very last beam, she took an extraordinary leap and landed on the ledge atop the climbing wall beside Lexi in a crouch. Auburn hair fell around her eyes as she righted herself and saluted Lexi with a friendly grin before swinging round onto the wall and climbing down so fast it seemed she was falling. As Lexi watched, Hunter caught her eye and gestured for her to return to the ground.

            Although Lexi was an able climber, her descent was far less immaculate than the scout’s. When she dropped to the floor, Seth grinned goofily while Ebony praised her ability. Hunter merely stared at her for the duration of Ebony’s speech before simply stating, “You will be a scout.”

            “I am not so sure, my skill is not as refined as a scout’s,” she mumbled in reply.

            “Jessica has been here almost as long as I have, you will not be expected to have that level of athleticism for the trial.”

            “If you are so sure, Hunter, you should take her to the stables,” Ebony commented.

            “He guesses everyone’s placement before the trial, and he is never wrong,” Seth added cheerfully. “He knows who will stay and who will not, and he always knows what class they will be put into.”

            “You think I will stay?” Lexi asked, the full extent of his compliment dawning on her.

            “I do,” he agreed with a slight smile. “Come with me.”

            He and Lexi left Seth and Ebony in the combat hall. Hunter led her through a corridor towards a door that led out into the valley between hills. His bow and quiver remained on his shoulder.

            “Horses are our responsibility,” he informed her. “Most of us are paired with a horse after passing the trial, but if you are to be a scout, as I suspect, then it would put you in a good light to be seen riding. Scouts must have a good relationship with horses, more so than the horsemen. Can you ride?”

            “Yes, I used to round up the cattle on horseback,” Lexi replied.

            Hunter narrowed his eyes. “I thought you lived in a human settlement?”

            “I was hardly considered a woman,” she said stiffly. “And there were very few men that the ponies could support.”

            “Have you only ridden ponies?” Concern appeared in his amber eyes as she nodded. “Very few ponies are kept here. Our horses need to have incredible speed and stamina in order to be of any use to us in battle.”

            “Racers?” Lexi asked nervously.

            “Some,” he agreed. “Others are battle horses, and some are jumpers. We have a few cart horses that have the advantage of strength, but there are very few ponies that could match the speed of a racer.”

            “Speed is necessary,” Lexi guessed. Hunter nodded, even though it had not been a question.

            They climbed a little rise in the land and fields stretched out before them, horses of all different colours dotted on the grassland. Many were lean but strong, muscles visible through the skin on their legs and chest. Stallions were kept separate from the mares, but were oddly all kept in the same field. When Lexi voiced her confusion, Hunter replied, “Stallions rarely fight if there are more than two together. They feel threatened, you see, because they cannot watch their back against any other enemy.”

            “How very clever,” Lexi said.

            Hunter whistled loudly as they neared the fence of the mares’ field. Almost every horse looked up from their grazing, but only one moved. A bay mare with one white sock and a dished face broke into a gallop, headed straight for them. Lexi took a hasty step backwards as the horse skidded to a halt right in front of them and butted her head into Hunter’s chest. He smiled and gently stroked the side of her face.

            “Meet Zosia,” he said to Lexi.

            “Your mare?” she guessed, returning to his side. “Why is she so fond of you?”

            “Horses will work for anyone that takes good care of them, but they are particularly fond of shape shifters as we have similar natural instincts, and they find it easier to communicate with us,” he explained. “Here, we allow the horse to choose its rider. This way a partnership is made, which, in battle, could help save your life.”

            “Must every fledgling be in partnership with a horse?” Lexi asked, rubbing the mare’s neck.

            “It is not essential for the astrologers, archers or swordsmen, as they can just as easily fight from the ground. Many have a mount anyway, but a scout that cannot ride is more or less useless.”

            “Why are you so certain I will be a scout?” she demanded.

            “I am not certain, I merely suspect it,” he answered calmly. “You have a decent hand at defence with a sword, but you are not a warrior. I will not deny that your climbing ability impressed me, and I daresay some others that watched. If you pass the trial and placed into the scouting class as I expect, you must find a horse that will risk its life for you.”

            Lexi glanced nervously up at him. “Is it likely my life will be in danger?”

            Hunter did not reply for a long while and he appeared to be thinking carefully about his answer. When he spoke his voice had turned a little too bright. “It is very unlikely while you’re here. Besides, you have myself and my pack to look after you.”

            “Why must I need protecting?” Lexi asked suspiciously.

            “As I said, it is very unlikely you will need protecting during your time at the Academy. It is the safest place for shape shifters in Igrendem.”

            “Is it impossible to be threatened here?” Lexi challenged.

            Hunter hesitated. “No. Nothing is impossible.” They were silent for a few moments before Hunter stepped back from the fence and headed north, behind the hills. “Come, you should meet the horses without riders. Perhaps one of them will choose you.”

            Lexi followed him along the foot of the hills towards a small barn, its doors thrown open wide to let in the sunlight. Horses could be seen behind stable doors, munching hay or watching the outside world with interest.

            Hunter stepped inside and turned to her. “Don’t rush, find the one that you are drawn to and is drawn to you,” Hunter said quietly. Lexi nodded, her eyes narrowed, and examined the horses. A few turned back to munching on hay after gazing at her for a few seconds whilst others took more of an interest. A bay warm-blood nudged Lexi’s elbow roughly with her nose a few times, demanding her attention, but once Lexi held her palm over the mare’s muzzle, she turned away.

            At the very end of the barn, a dun stallion kept his eyes on her from the moment she stepped inside. Hunter watched him with a slight frown, but said nothing as Lexi gently touched the stallion between the eyes. A plaque on his door read Salvador.

            Salvador nudged her face with his nose and gazed at her with deep brown eyes. Although the connection Lexi had with the horse was nothing physical, she could not see herself working with any other. He was the most magnificent animal she had ever laid eyes on, much more athletic than any of the ponies she was used to.

            “Salvador was a huntsman’s horse,” Hunter told her. “He has not been used since Dale left the Academy.”

            “Why?” Lexi asked.

            “We let the horse choose its rider, and Salvador has not chosen anyone since. You must be something special to catch his attention.”

            “I will take that as a compliment.”

            Hunter smirked. “We can go riding tomorrow. I am sure you will enjoy getting to know your horse.” He began to walk back down the barn and Lexi called after him.

            “He will only be mine if I pass the trial.”

            “Well noticed.”

            He said nothing else and Lexi frowned at his back. She rubbed Salvador on the neck once more and hurried after him.

7: Chapter 6

The remainder of Lexi’s day was spent in the combat hall, observing the various forms of combat with anxiety churning her stomach, though she did her best to hide it. She was introduced to Reyes by Seth, the combat instructor, and tested in the art of hand combat. Hunter watched as she sparred with Ebony and as with a sword, Lexi was capable of defending herself but had difficulty gaining the advantage. Although Ebony was short and slight in stature, she was surprisingly agile and strong. During a moment in which she was allowed to rest, the other three new arrivals were pointed out to her from afar. Two girls, one red-haired and the other brown-haired, were locked in what appeared to be a very unfair fight. Seth commentated the spar as they watched, informing Lexi of each of their names and what had been observed in the past weeks. Apart from Lexi, the brown-haired girl, Bryanne, was the newest to the Academy and showed very little skill in fight. The red-haired girl, Eleanor, knocked her to the floor several times before Reyes stepped between them and pointed to the stands, ordering Bryanne to sit down and watch. The third newcomer, a young man no older then Lexi, stepped up to Eleanor and a new battle began. Eleanor had clear skill, but it was nothing in comparison to that of the boy, Rai.

            “I have to better at least two of them if I want to stay,” Lexi murmured as she watched Eleanor get thrown onto the mats, landing heavily on her back.

            “You are already more skilled than Bryanne,” Seth assured her. “Some shape shifters don’t have the instincts of a fighter, in which case it is probably better for them to leave our path of life.”

            “But what of those that are just unlucky on the day of the trial?” Lexi asked.

            Seth shrugged. “Fledglings have been known to run away before the Alpha has their soul split. Ultimately, he is trying to do the best by them, and so if they feel that strongly against becoming human then he will not chase them down.”

            Lexi felt no better, as she had no place to run to if luck turned against her on the day of the trial.

 

Lexi ate with the company of her pack in the dining hall during breakfast the following day. Ebony spoke of the movement of a star named Orius and its relation to a neighbouring planet of Arkridge, but it meant nothing to Lexi. Seth ignored her completely while he munched happily on his bread and though Hunter listened politely to Ebony’s description of solar flares, it was evident that he was rushing his breakfast.

            “Are you worried about the links, Ebony?” he asked, swallowing the last bite of his bread and butter.

            “It’s most likely that the movement is coincidental, but several times in the past this exact relation has foreshadowed the line-up of planets-”

            “Perhaps you should examine the sky more closely over the next few days to see where it leads,” Hunter advised vaguely. “Are you finished?” he asked Lexi. Lexi took another bite out of her bread and replaced it on her plate. Ebony scowled at them both and rested her chin on her hand in disgruntlement.

            “Are we riding today?” Lexi asked, standing.

            Hunter nodded and led her from the table. Seth waved after them. “It was evident yesterday that Salvador chose you to be his next master, but I would still like to see how you work together as horse and rider. You said you have ridden before?”

            “Yes,” Lexi agreed, “but only ponies.”

            “Salvador will be a very different ride,” he warned her.

            Hunter directed her to the barn while he collected Zosia from the fields. The stallion whinnied in greeting when she entered and kicked at his stable door. She smiled at the sight of him and stroked his nose, feeling the softness of his muzzle beneath her fingers. He gazed at her through deep brown eyes as she strapped a collar over his head and led him out of the stable. His head towered above her, but she was not at all afraid of him. He was truly a beautiful animal.

            Hunter returned with Zosia prancing at his side. His bow and quiver were slung across his back. He tied the mare outside Salvador’s stable and prompted Lexi to tether the stallion beside her.

            “Do you know how to take care of a horse?” he asked in the least patronising tone possible.

            “If it’s the same as looking after a herding pony, then yes.”

            “It’s the same, just… You need to be more careful. Especially with stallions; they can be terribly unpredictable.” Lexi slowly stroked Salvador’s shoulder, feeling the power of his muscles beneath the skin but still unable to believe in a horse’s desire to harm. Hunter seemed to read her thoughts. “Salvador adored Dale. He would do anything for him, but there was more than one occasion where Dale ended up limping for a few days.”

             He left to gather two brushes from the storeroom as well as tack for the horses. Lexi watched him to find where the storeroom was located. Salvador gently nudged her shoulder and nibbled the ends of her hair.

            “From what I can remember, Salvador is easy to groom,” Hunter informed her, placing the saddles on racks close by. “He tends to get tense when you touch his hind legs, but he doesn’t kick.” He passed her a brush. “Let him know where you are at all times.”

            The pair of them spent the best part of an hour grooming the horses, Hunter because Zosia had spent several days in the field and her coat was splattered with mud, and Lexi because she wanted to see Salvador’s coat shine. She was gentle with his legs, but even so she saw his ears lay back when she cleared his hooves.

            “Did you ride the herding ponies bareback?” Hunter asked as they worked.

            “Usually,” Lexi replied as she combed a knot out of Salvador’s tail. “I have used a saddle once or twice before, but not for a long time.”

            “They aren’t necessary,” Hunter explained, “but I would recommend that you use one for now, just until you get used to Salvador.”

            He helped her fasten the straps on the saddle and complicated leather bridle. He explained the positioning of the saddle on the horse’s back and where it was most comfortable, and how to fasten it tight enough to prevent it slipping without harming the horse.

            “He has been exercised on a regular basis, but it has been a while since he had a rider in his saddle,” Hunter said as they led the horses outside. “Don’t be frightened if he seems a bit excitable. Tension is the worst thing for horses.”

            Lexi nodded. “I know.”

            He released Zosia’s reins and she stood completely still at his command. “Can I help you mount?”  

            Lexi eyed Salvador’s height. “I can get on from the ground…”

            “I would prefer to help you. I don’t like to cause the horse any unnecessary strain, and mounting from the ground can twist their spine, if you are unused to the height.”

            Although her pride strongly protested against it, Lexi agreed to let him help her up. His strength surprised her, as he was relatively lean, and she barely had to take any of her own weight. Salvador started forwards as soon as she landed in the saddle, but halted as soon as she put the slightest pressure on the reins. Hunter climbed onto Zosia’s back with ease and gestured for her to follow him.

            Lexi only had to consider nudging the stallion forwards and Salvador walked on, taking large but graceful strides. He felt very different to the ponies she had ridden before and the saddle absorbed most of his movement. Zosia, although a similar size to Salvador, had a quicker stride. Hunter watched her as they rode side by side, examining her position and contact with the horse. She caught him staring and thought he might say something, but instead he just grinned mischievously and pushed the mare into a full gallop. Salvador’s ears pricked up and he called after her, ignoring Lexi’s protesting aids and broke into a gallop.

            The speed of the horses was faster than Lexi had ever experienced before. The pressure of the wind made her eyes water, blurring her vision. She had grasped a handful of mane to keep her balance, but Salvador’s stride was smooth and, despite the speed, was a comfortable ride. He followed Zosia, leaping over ditches without unbalancing Lexi and they managed to cross most of the moorland in no time at all.

            At the outskirts of the forest, Hunter pulled Zosia back to a halt. Salvador overshot and pranced on the spot as Lexi demanded that he stop and tossed his head irritably. Hunter watched with a slight, amused smile on his face.

            “Why did you do that?” Lexi snapped coolly. “I haven’t ridden a stallion before.”

            “You handled him well; you have nothing to worry about,” he assured her kindly. “I just wanted to see. Most horses will bolt if they sense danger, and it’s important that you don’t panic if that happens.”

            “I did panic,” Lexi stated bluntly. “I have never been so terrified in my life.”

            Hunter shook his head dismissively. “That was just adrenaline. You will get used to it.” He glanced into the depths of the browning forest. “Let me show you the wood on horseback. You never know, it may be useful to you.”

            Lexi agreed, if a little grouchily, and they rode no faster than a trot through the trees, although that felt faster than the fastest gait the herding ponies could manage. There seemed to be very few paths trodden into the forest and they weaved between trunks thick and thin while Hunter pointed out and named landmarks. The Great Redwood and Mirror Lake were two of the most prominent and most beautiful parts of the forest; Lexi could scarcely believe that this kind of forest existed on Igrendem.

            “The Hollow is just up ahead, which is a sort of crater that leads into-”

            Before Hunter could finish his sentence, a horn sounded in the distance. Salvador squealed excitedly and tossed his head, fighting against the bit. Hunter glanced over his shoulder for a moment before kicking his mare into a gallop, racing away from the source of the horn.

            Salvador leapt after the mare without any aid from Lexi, but Hunter’s sudden departure left Lexi with a cold tinge of fear in her chest and she willed the stallion onward. The speed of the horse combined with the fear of the pursuit meant for an incredible rush of adrenaline through her veins. She wondered what chased them; Slayers, maybe. The horn sounded again, this time much closer, and Lexi could hear the pounding of several sets of hooves on their tail.

            Ahead, she watched as Hunter tied the mare’s reins into a knot and released them completely, remaining seated through incredible balance. He used his stirrups to jump upwards, catching a thick branch and hauling himself onto it. Zosia snorted and came to a sudden halt now that her master had left the saddle. Lexi had trouble bringing Salvador to a halt and she had almost lost sight of them by the time he finally came to a slow prance. She watched Hunter through a myriad of brown leaves, perched on his branch, an arrow nocked in his bow but undrawn. There was something almost predatory about him as he stared into the trees behind them and waited for their pursuers to come into sight.

            Five horses appeared through the shadow and Hunter’s bow was drawn instantly. Lexi crouched low against Salvador’s neck remain out of sight, but she feared the volume of her heartbeat would give her away.

            “There’s Zosia!”

            “Where’s Hunter?”

            “He won’t be far. Zosia would have followed him if he wandered off on his own.”

            “Lexi was supposed to be with him.”

            “Who is Lexi?”

            “The new fledgling, I already spoke about her.”

            Through the leaves, Lexi could see Hunter’s smirk, but she had no view of the pursuers. They did not sound hostile whatsoever, but Lexi was still wary of them. Hunter was happy to leave them wondering, as they had not yet looked into his tree. He soundlessly replaced the arrow in his quiver and slung the bow back over his shoulder before jumping down and landing in a neat crouch on the ground. Only the slight rustle of dried leaves alerted the group to his appearance.

            “Why did you run?” one asked, which Lexi now recognised as Seth’s voice.

            “You can never be too careful,” Hunter replied. He was out of sight behind the leaves now, but she heard him clamber back into Zosia’s saddle. “Friends, Lexi!” he called and she tentatively pushed Salvador back towards them.

            Seth smiled at her when she appeared, but he was the only one to do so. He belonged to a group of four other shape shifters dressed in green tunics, all of them tall and lean, like Seth, and all of them with their eyes trained on Salvador.

            “That is Dale’s horse,” one said coolly, his eyes narrowed. He had a mop of shaggy brown hair that fell into his eyes, similar to the way Seth’s did, but his face did not hold the same friendly warmth. There was something odd about his expression. The other three of the group were wary of her, but he had an almost sinister look about him, yet his expression was not exactly hostile. Hunter busied himself with examining his fingernails.

            “Salvador has not allowed anyone in his saddle since Dale left,” the girl added. She, too, was brown-haired and distant, but much less cold than the boy, who Lexi took to be the leader of the hunting group.

            “Who is Dale?” Lexi asked carefully, almost timidly. Each of the huntsmen held a weapon, too readily for her liking. Three, including Seth and the leader, held long spears each uniquely decorated with patterns close to the sharpened head. The girl had a crossbow and the other, a short sword.

            Hunter looked like he was going to answer her, but the leader spoke first. “Dale was the leader of our hunting group for many years. He almost matched Hunter with his skill as a shape shifter. I took over as leader when he left.” He walked his horse towards Lexi and saluted politely. “I am Ash.”

            “Lexi,” she responded, returning the salute. His mount was a lean, young, black carthorse with feathered feat and prominently muscled legs. Lexi felt uncomfortable under the gaze of Ash, and Hunter somehow sensed it.

            “I’m sure you would like to continue your hunt,” he remarked subtly. “Don’t let us prevent you from catching hares.”

            Ash smirked crookedly at him. “Seth, take lead.”

            Seth rode a heavyset black and white carthorse that looked as though it would have much preferred to be lazing in her field than be ridden on a hunt through the forest. He grinned at Lexi as he passed and led the rest of the huntsmen on into the trees. Ash paused to give Lexi another critical look before following.

            She and Hunter rode side by side at a lazy walk through the trees back towards the Academy.

            “Don’t mind Ash much attention,” he advised her. “He is trying to maintain Dale’s scale of command. He is no spectacular shape shifter and his pride and vanity often gets the better of him.”

            “I’m no spectacular shape shifter either,” she replied quietly.

            She caught Hunter shoot a quizzical look towards her even though she was facing forwards. “You have the potential of being skilled,” he said carefully. “You have the disadvantage of being brought up by humans for so long, but that by no means will lead to failure in the trial. You have my word that I will do everything in my power to train you.”

            Lexi was truly touched by the promise and struggled to find words genuine enough to thank him. He seemed to understand her silence and smiled at her. He led her in a canter the rest of the way to the stables.

8: Chapter 7

Hunter kept to his word and he and Lexi spent most of their waking hours together in the training hall. He trained her in archery, swordplay and hand-to-hand combat, as well as sending her up the climbing wall several times each day to see how she improved. They also went riding every day to allow her to become used to Salvador, and sometimes Seth would join them.

            She had never laid hands on a longbow before and she understood that Hunter was reluctant to hand over his weapon. He instead offered her a training bow with simple hunting arrows. Lexi stood before the row of targets, the stubborn, unyielding bow in her grasp. She drew her weapon and stared critically at the target. Her arms shook with the effort to keep the wood bent and the arrow positioned towards the yellow centre.

            Hunter took a step forward, standing close to her with only the bow between them to readjust her position. He lifted her elbow up so that it was level with her ear and straightened her leading arm so that her face was almost pressed against the shaft of the arrow. Despite his authoritative air of a trainer, his touch was gentle. Lexi snuck a look up at him. The hair creeping into his eyes cast shadows over his face, enhancing the sharp, handsome features. She looked away quickly when he caught her staring and scolded herself for her lapse in attention.

            Lexi’s skill with a bow left a lot to be desired. Very few of her arrows hit and once the limbs of her bow cracked loudly, Hunter called it a day. She noticed him tighten his bow into a protective embrace despite his encouragement to practise every day. She had potential with a sword, but Hunter’s attacks came quicker and quicker with every fight. He did not fight safe with her, and she soon gained an impressive collection of bruises. Hunter informed her that she must train her body to react instinctively to attacks, rather than have her mind tell her limbs what to do.

            Hand-to-hand combat took a while for Lexi to grow used to. Even though it was designed to be hostile, she could not help but find some of the positions she found herself in a little too intimate. More times than not, Hunter knelt over her with a hand pinning her to the floor. She was reluctant to fight back, as it required a great deal of touching and uncomfortable closeness. Hunter said nothing of her embarrassment, but it was clear he knew it bothered her, and so spent as little time as possible practising it. Despite this, she secretly looked forward to it. After a week of training purely between Hunter and Lexi, he approached the trainer of Eleanor and organised a spar between the two newcomers. Surprisingly, Lexi had no issue sparring with Eleanor and both girls openly enjoyed the fight. Both also walked away newly bruised.

            Lexi spent her evenings with Ebony pouring over books and charts while Seth sang merrily and distractingly and Hunter leant over Lexi’s shoulder to point out particularly interesting passages. Although everything she was taught was fascinating, Lexi became restless and itching to get back into physical training.

            “The trial may not be based purely on your physical ability,” Ebony told her patiently. “Shape shifters need to be just as clever as they are physically skilled.” Lexi accepted this, but it made her no less impatient with her lessons.

            Two weeks into her training and Lexi could not remember how it felt to not ache all over. She had been left alone in the common room that evening: Seth was outside with his hunting group, Ebony had retreated to the Astronomy tower to examine the position of the stars further, and Hunter had not said where he was headed. Ebony had left a small, leather-bound handbook with Lexi titled The shape-shifter’s guide to Rosavale Academy and advised that she read it. It was now beginning to grow dark outside and Lexi read by candlelight at the desk in the corner of the room.

    

Since the uprising between Humans and the rest of Neäkan on Arkridge, it has been tradition at the Rosavale Academy for young shape shifters to earn their place through a trial. Despite the now dwindling numbers of shape shifters, the leaders of each Outpost came to an agreement that no shape shifter not born to fight should retain their ability to shape-shift. Since the discovery of the method to remove the piece of soul, shape shifters all over Igrendem have been afraid of what the humans could do with these soul shards, and to remove them and store them before humans have a chance to obtain them. It is common knowledge that witches, the founders of the soul-splitting method, have no allegiance to shape-shifters…

 

            Lexi closed the book and rubbed at her eyes. She felt as though she had been reading for hours and she had barely gotten through a quarter of the handbook. Reading of having her inner wolf taken away from her made her nauseous with anxiety, made worse by her tiredness.

            The door opened and Hunter appeared, his bow in hand with the quiver across his back. “You look exhausted,” he commented as she looked up. “Come and sit down. Rest.”

            “Hello to you too,” Lexi replied, getting up from the desk. The fatigue in her voice was audible even to her own ears. She sat on the couch opposite the armchair in which Hunter sat with his bow across his knee and the quiver at his feet. “Where did you go?”

            “Demitri asked me to scout the forest with him after he heard talk of a Slayer attack,” he answered. He continued when Lexi frowned at the mention of the unfamiliar name. “Demitri is the horseman with talent for a sword that happened to catch your attention the first time I took you training.”

            “You are friendly with him?” Lexi asked, quickly taking the direction of the conversation away from her attraction to the horseman’s skill.

            “He happens to be my closest friend,” Hunter answered, but the flicker of a smile on his face showed that he had not been fooled by her attempt to diverge the conversation. “I was brought to the Academy when I was fifteen, and he was seventeen at the time. I became something like his protégé when I showed him I was not afraid to express my opinions.”

            “What did you do?” Lexi asked, noticing the underlying hint of pride in his tone.

            One corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk. “I disagreed with his treatment towards female fledglings, so I hit him in the face.”

            Lexi raised her brow. “You hit him in the face and now he is your closest friend?”

            “Strange how friendship can begin, isn’t it?” He took a rag from his quiver and began rubbing the limbs of his bow, shining the pale wood. “I am very sorry that you were brought here without any real explanation. Myself and my pack will be your closest friends until you find your feet.” He spoke without looking at her.

            “Three friends is more than I have ever had before,” Lexi replied lightly.

            Hunter looked up through his fringe of black hair. “I’m sorry. I forget you were brought up by humans.”

            “Can I ask you something?” Lexi requested, pulling her feet up onto the couch to half lie down. Hunter consented by raising one eyebrow enquiringly, his hands still working on his unstrung bow. “The Alpha called you Kian, but everyone else calls you Hunter.”

            He smiled, but it seemed to be forced. “That was not a question.” He paused, but Lexi continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer. “My real name is Kian Hunter. I took the name of my father when I was brought here, in an attempt to apologise to him for the way I treated my mother after he left.”

            “Why did he leave?” Lexi asked cautiously. Hunter seemed uncomfortable, his knuckles turning white around his bow. When he did not reply immediately, Lexi said, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t snoop. You don’t have to tell me.”

            He shook his head. “He fell in love and married a human woman without telling her he was a shape shifter. As far as I can tell, my existence was a complete accident. I showed no signs of a shape shifter until I was twelve, and after my first shift he had no choice but to tell her.” The light seemed to fade from his amber eyes as he spoke. “She threatened to tell the rest of the village what he was if he did not leave immediately.”

            Lexi sat up, feeling terribly guilty for asking. “I…” She struggled for words, but one corner of Hunter’s mouth quirked up, letting her know he was okay. “I never knew either of my real parents, but saying goodbye to my adoptive ones was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do.”

            Instead of reassuring him, like she had intended, her words only seemed to bother him further. “I treated my mother awfully after my father left,” he admitted. “As I grew older, I grew stronger and my shifts became more frequent. I didn’t care who saw me, or what they thought of me.” His sigh trembled slightly. “I never admitted this to myself until very recently, but I was pining for my father. I had gone from being a human to something alien overnight and my only source of guidance had been banished.” His quiet tone became harsh and bitter, but he quickly caught himself. “Needless to say, I have regretted those three years ever since I arrived here.”

            Lexi bowed her head slightly. “I don’t know what to say to you.”

            His quirked smile reappeared suddenly and he placed his bow on the ground to move to sit next to her on the couch. “Don’t say anything. Too many people have tried already.” Up close, she could see that his smile did not quite reach his eyes, but she was reassured slightly by his words. She took his hand in hers by way of comfort, in place of words. He squeezed it gratefully.

            “There is something I must take care of before I go to bed,” he said suddenly and stood up. “I have to speak to someone about something.”

            “Don’t give it all away,” Lexi answered, trying to hide her disappointment.

            His smile was brief. “Go to bed if you’re tired. I am… I may be a while. Tomorrow I will let you rest. You have worked hard.”

            Lexi could not help herself. “Where are you going?” she asked, trying to sound light.

            “Nowhere important,” he answered with a strained smile over his shoulder, already on his way to the door. “I will introduce you to Demitri tomorrow.”

            The door shut between them. Lexi stared at it for a short while, feeling suddenly lonely. She suspected the someone he had to speak to was Demitri, but the suddenness of his departure puzzled her. Although she was exhausted from endless training, she wanted to wait for him. She wanted to keep talking.

            Lexi lay down on the couch, using her arm as a cushion, and tried to fend off sleep as it crept up on her. Hours slid by and her feud rendered her in a half-awake half-asleep state, where shapes of colour moved behind her eyelids but she was aware that someone had returned before long. The door to the balcony opened and closed with soft clicks and hushed voices began in the common room. One was unmistakably Hunter’s; the other she did not recognise.

            “You did not need to follow me back,” Hunter mumbled.

            “I’ve never seen you this wound up, Hunter,” said the second voice, deep and strong. He sounded as though he were amused, but trying to cover it. Lexi felt, if this was not a dream, she should wake up. It was rude to eavesdrop, but her mind would not let her body wake. “Does this one not have a bed?”

            Hunter murmured something too low to hear and dashed into his dormitory. Lexi willed herself to wake, but she could not. The voice was silent while Hunter was gone, but she could somehow sense his eyes upon her. She heard Hunter return shortly and felt him drape a blanket over her. She was touched by the gesture. He remained by her side for a moment longer and gently brushed a long strand of hair away from her face.

            “Hunter. Focus.”

            He moved away towards the window. “I have no words to explain what I’m feeling right now,” he said after a few moments of silence. “I cannot decide if I am joyous or terrified. I want to tell her, but I won’t. I can’t catch my breath. I have not used my bow properly in weeks and… I find I don’t want to. I have no words, Demitri. How can I possibly explain this to you if I cannot even explain it to myself?”

            “Stop pacing, it’s making me dizzy.”

            Hunter stopped walking. “Have you ever felt this way?” he demanded suddenly.

            “I have but two years on you, Hunter, it is not exactly like I am full of life experience,” Demitri answered. “But no, I have not. Have you ever bedded a woman?”

            There was a brief moment of silence, before Hunter said, “How is that at all relevant?”

            “It will be. Just answer.”

            “No. No- never.”

            A pause. Lexi was unsure why she was surprised by his answer. Demitri asked, “Really?”

            “Yes, really.” Hunter answered exasperatedly. “Have you?”

            “Do not ask questions if you don’t really want to know the answer,” Demitri replied vaguely, but his arrogance was evident.

            “How could you possibly-? No, you are right, I don’t want to know,” Hunter answered quickly. “But… who did-? No, don’t answer, I don’t want to know that either.” His pacing began again. “Did you bring this up just to gloat?”

            “Not at all, but I wouldn’t pass up the chance.” Lexi heard the smile in his voice. “Have you ever thought about it? Do you think about it regularly?”

            “No.” Hunter sounded disgusted by the questions, but his answer was too quick. “Why are you asking me this?”

            “Who can you talk to if not your closest friend?” Demitri asked, the barest hint of mocking in his tone. “I ask because, as I understand it, lust and love are very different emotions, but very easy to confuse. Do you look at her and wish she would go to bed with you-?”

            “Demitri.”

            “You asked for my advice, and I am giving it.”

            “I don’t need my deepest thoughts to be psychologically analysed,” Hunter snapped, louder than they had been talking. They paused, but Lexi’s body still refused to respond, though their conversation was causing her heart to race. “You understand love better than I do,” he continued almost in a whisper. “Help me understand this.”

            “Again, you mistake lust with love.” Demitri was beginning to sound almost bored by the conversation now that Hunter was not playing. “I don’t believe you never think about it.”

            “Believe what you will, nothing I say will change that,” Hunter muttered coolly.

            “You’re blushing.”

            “I am not.”

            Demitri chuckled lowly. “Okay. I can see my work is done here. You can figure this out on your own.” He emerged from his seat, which Lexi could tell from his position was Hunter’s armchair. “Good night, Kian.”

            “Don’t call me Kian,” Hunter snapped, partially from irritation, but also from slight confusion. “You haven’t called me Kian for years.”

            “I don’t know what Alexia calls you. I wouldn’t want to influence her to address you any other way, if she happens to be listening.” There was a pause and Lexi suspected Hunter was eyeing her while guilt churned her stomach. She still could not wake herself up, nor did she want to at this point.

            “Lexi calls me Hunter,” he answered after a moment. His voice was quieter now. “What does my opinion of bedding women have to do with my- what I asked you about?”

            “Before you rudely took offence at my questioning, I was aiming to ask you whether you felt drawn to her in that way. If you feel the same as I do around fair girls, I would tell you not to worry and that the lust will pass with time.”

            “You don’t think I feel lust,” Hunter noted.

            “No. I have never seen you fumble your words quite so much as this. I have never felt as lost as you seem to be from the mere company of a girl before, not even my first lover.” Demitri sighed theatrically. “I have to admit, I never thought you would beat me to it, Hunter.”

            “When have I ever expressed a desire to abstain from love?” Hunter asked, a hint of playfulness creeping into his voice. It faded almost instantly. “She may not feel the same.”

            “You will never know if you hide your feelings behind your leadership,” Demitri commented lightly.

            “I’m hardly an introvert,” Hunter replied coolly.

            “Neither are you an open book.” Demitri’s footsteps headed towards the door to the balcony. “Don’t take my word for it. If you open up to her, you might be surprised what she will give you in return.”

            Hunter did not respond and the door clicked closed behind Demitri.

            The following stretch of silence almost led Lexi into complete unconsciousness, but Hunter moved before her mind retired, his footsteps soft on the floor. She sensed him approach, almost cautiously, and kneel at her side. She wanted to wake up; she wanted to see him, speak to him. But she could not. He gently took a strand of her hair from beside her ear and let it slip between his fingers. Lexi thought he would touch her face, but he was on his feet and gone in an instant.

            Alone in the silence, Lexi’s mind finally succumbed to sleep. She dreamed of voices, and of confusion. Coloured shapes formed to make eyes, amber and green. 

9: Chapter 8

 

Lexi awoke early the next morning in time to see the sun rise above the tops of the trees to the east. She sat up, the blanket shrouding her shoulders, and watched the red sky turn pale blue.

            Memories of the previous night floated around her mind, but she had not the concentration to find a reason behind Hunter’s actions or Seth’s words. Alone in the common room, she returned to her book. One word had been repeated several times among the pages, a word she did not understand; Elemental. It was always accompanied with words such as fire or water or lightning.

            She narrowed her eyes at the word when it next appeared, hoping that it would begin to make sense if she stared at it long enough. She looked up as the door opened and Seth skipped out of his dormitory with his spear strapped to his back. He gave a merry wave and darted out of the common room before Lexi had a chance to even say good morning.

Hunter appeared a few moments later with his bow in one hand, his arrows over his shoulder in a quiver. He smiled at Lexi in greeting and twirled the bow around his wrist as he headed for the door.

“Hunter,” Lexi said before he had the chance to disappear. Hunter paused in the doorway and turned back to her, a questioning look in his eyes. “What is an elemental?”

He appeared surprised by the question and returned to the common room, leaning over the back of his chair to reply. “Rare creatures: beings that can manifest the elements. There are only ten of them in the world at any one time, chosen by Kavaris.”

Kavaris was the god of gods, the ruler of the others. As far as Lexi’s limited knowledge allowed, each race had its own patron god or goddess. She did not know the name of them all, her schooling limiting her learning to the one god Hasuz, the god the humans worshipped.

“Each of them can create and control one of the elements,” Hunter continued. “The power is limited, of course, and the ability does not affect any other attributes such as strength or speed. An element created by nature cannot be destroyed by an elemental, but it can be controlled, to a certain extent. Elements created by an elemental can be controlled to any extent and destroyed at will.”

“They sound powerful,” Lexi commented.

Hunter nodded. “That is why there are so few of them, or so I believe. The power takes a lot of energy to control.” He turned for the door again.

“You seem to know a lot,” Lexi said before he could leave. Hunter paused again and peered over his shoulder at her, one corner of his mouth quirking up in a mischievous smile. He held out his free hand, palm up, and watched it for a length of time. Lexi watched too, curious. After a minute or so, an orange glow emanated from the centre of his hand, followed by small flames that licked at his fingers.

Lexi stared with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. His hand closed into a fist and the fire was gone in an instant. The skin of his palm was untouched when he showed it to her, no burns or scars of any kind.

Beirma, she thought. Fire.

Hunter grinned at her expression. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m joining the huntsmen for the morning; an archer can come in useful. Especially when they are trying to catch game instead of chase everyone else out of the woods.” He twirled the bow around his wrist once more and disappeared onto the balcony outside. Lexi returned to her book.

Although Lexi had not heard her return the night before, Ebony appeared from their dormitory and lay back on the other couch, her hands behind her head. “Morning,” she sighed.

Lexi replaced her book. “How was the sky?”

“Hm? Oh, I couldn’t see anything. Too smoky,” Ebony replied. “The fire was a magnificent sight, though.”

“What happened to the Slayers?”

“Either the horsemen slew them or they took flight, I expect.” Ebony yawned and sat up. “It’s what usually happens. The attacks are becoming more and more frequent…I expect a battle will be required before long to chase them off.”

“Are battles frequent?” Lexi asked warily.

Ebony shook her head. “Sometimes they need a reminder that we are stronger, no matter what they think. The only thing they have against us is numbers. It would be easier if soulmates did exist…” This last statement seemed to have been said to herself, but sparked Lexi’s interest nonetheless.

“Soulmates?” she repeated with a frown.

Ebony shook her head again. “They are just a myth, but there have been claims that people have found their ‘other half’ so to speak.” At Lexi’s confused expression, Ebony continued. “The myth says that before time began, beings were both male and female, possessing eight limbs instead of four and had two heads. But they believed to be powerful and were forgetting their gods. So, as punishment, Kavaris struck them all and split them in half, scattering them across Arkridge; doomed to search their lives in vain for their other half.”

“But you say some have claimed it to be true?” Lexi asked.

“Yes. Apparently, meeting one’s soulmate is the most powerful force in existence, a love so strong you would do anything and everything for that one person. You would die if they asked you to.”

Lexi thought for a moment. “Do you believe it to be true?”

“No,” Ebony replied bluntly. “It makes sense, but there’s no proof. I did not believe in the soul before the witches introduced a method to split it. The Alpha decided that it was more humane to take away the shifting part of the soul of those that don’t pass the trial, that way the humans won’t slaughter them, given the chance.” She paused to think for a few moments. “His reasoning is valid, but I still think it is unnecessary.”

“What defines the animal of a shifter?” Lexi asked.

“Didn’t you know?” Ebony’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Lexi shook her head. “The soul of every human or near-human being takes the shape of an animal. Shape shifters have the ability to change their skin to follow the shape of their soul.”

“But why do I take the form of a wolf, and Demitri a leopard?”

“Your attributes,” Ebony told her simply. “Although every being is individual, animals tend to have traits that stay constant. One’s personality defines the shape of their soul.”

“Then why does no one take the form of a prey animal?”

“Oh, they sometimes do. It’s very rare; shifters aren’t often timid beings. They make excellent scouts, though; no one expects a rabbit or a deer to be spying on them. But most take the form of a predator, typical ferocious and fighting animals. They make more of an impact, you see, and battle comes naturally.”

Silence ensued and Lexi felt restless. She had less than two weeks before the trial and she felt that sitting around reading was not the best of things to do. Abandoning her book, she stood and left the common room with a brief farewell to Ebony. Out on the balcony, the air was crisp and fresh, the pond coated in a thin sheet of ice.

Lexi headed down to the combat hall alone; perhaps she would find Demitri or she could spar with Rai or Eleanor. Bryanne was a bit of a lost cause.

The hall was relatively empty, save for Reyes and a few others. A lone archer stood at one end of the hall in front of the targets and three huntsmen were sparring two on one. Demitri was nowhere in sight, and Rai and Eleanor were already engaged in combat. Lexi picked up one of the wooden practise swords and examined it with interest. The blade had been carved to a sharp edge and polished so it shined. The wood itself was dark, almost black.

Lexi twirled the hilt around her hand so the blade spun, whooshing as it sliced at the air. She practised moves and attacks that she had learnt over the previous two weeks, adding a few elaborate tricks of her own now that she was under no threat of an opponent. She enjoyed the exercise, stretching her muscles and pushing herself further than she had believed possible in the space of two weeks.

As she fought with no one, she began to sense eyes upon her. The three huntsmen she did not know the names of had stopped to watch her, their expressions neutral, but Lexi felt a smug smile tug at the corners of her mouth. She continued the art; watching some of the moves Eleanor and Rai were practising and imitating them. One included a particularly complicated wrist-movement which Lexi could not quite grasp and ended up either hurting her wrist or dropping the sword entirely. She repeated the movement time and again, pursuing the ability, but it would not come to her.

When she began to tire, she paused for breath and examined the sword again. The hilt was uncomfortable on her palm and the cross-guard was simply made. The blade could cause injury, but it was not strong enough to dismember an opponent or run straight through chainmail. It was also very plain and fairly unremarkable. Despite this, it made Lexi yearn for a sword she could call her own, one with a metal blade; sharp, impressive, lethal.

 She froze suddenly, a shiver creeping up her spine. Turning, she locked her eyes with a pair of turquoise ones, frighteningly familiar.

It hit her then that she had not dreamt of her imaginary friend since arriving at the academy; and there he stood. His brown hair was askew and his turquoise eyes were ringed with a strange blackness that made him appear wolf-like. He was tall, matching Hunter’s height with ease.

He stared back at her unblinkingly, his expression blank from some form of shock. His face and hands were covered in little shallow cuts and scrapes just beginning to heal and his eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep.

Shock. Joy. Fear. Of these, Lexi did not know what she felt, what she ought to feel. Maybe she felt all three at once. He merely watched her, offering no help in the matter. His head tilted to one side, his eyes narrowed, as if a new angle would help him determine her position in his mind. Her heart picked up its pace, her breath shallow. He was real.

Lexi longed to speak with him, the boy that had accompanied her in her dreams from a young age, but she could neither find her voice nor make use of her legs. She was frozen in place.

And then she appeared, the black haired girl. Nerezza.

She shouldered past Lexi’s friend and sauntered over to her, a smug smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Before she said anything, Lexi had an idea of what she was going to propose.

“Two weeks of training ought to have toughened you up,” Nerezza remarked, halting about two feet from Lexi. “And Hunter isn’t around to protect you now.”

In answer, Lexi tightened her grip on the sword and raised it, the tip pointing at Nerezza’s heart. Nerezza smirked and pulled her own shining silver blade from her belt, thrusting it at Lexi’s friend, saying, “Hold this, Cassius.”

Cassius.

Nerezza picked up one of the practise sword identical to the one in Lexi’s hand. “I don’t want to kill you. The Alpha would have me strung up.”

Lexi said nothing.

Nerezza swung the blade in a figure of eight a few times, watching it carefully, as if becoming accustomed to the unfamiliar sword. Without warning, she leapt forwards and brought it down on her opponent. Lexi had barely enough time to raise her own sword to block the attack.

Nerezza held her position for a short time, raising her eyebrows at Lexi, as if vaguely impressed. Then she pulled away and swiped from a difficult angle. Again, Lexi parried; blocking the blade just before it hit her hip bone. Nerezza allowed herself a brief gesture of congratulations before jumping again, attacking from above a second time. When Lexi blocked, she did not pause but continued to throw attacks at every angle possible, leaving Lexi with nothing to do but deflect the hits; she was not quick enough to even attempt an attack on Nerezza and she was quickly losing breath.

The fight continued for more than ten minutes, despite Lexi already being out of breath from her earlier exertions. As time dragged on, Nerezza’s expression turned to an irritated scowl as she failed to slip past Lexi’s defences.

Finally, with a twist of her sword, Nerezza disarmed Lexi in much the same way Lexi had Seth two weeks prior. Her weapon landed with a clatter, leaving Lexi defenceless. She could do nothing other than brace herself for the hit as Nerezza flaunted the sword elegantly in the air before bringing to down on Lexi’s shoulder.

The blade never hit; a clash sounded and Lexi fell backwards onto the floor, surprised. Her friend, Cassius, had blocked the sword with his own blade, chipping the wood and leaving a large dent in the blade. Nerezza narrowed her eyes at him, not quite scowling, but watching with what could have been confusion. She dropped the sword, which split in two as it hit the floor, and gazed down at Lexi with contempt.

She barged past Cassius’ shoulder as he sheathed the sword and stormed away, strands of her long hair whipping out behind her. Cassius watched her for a moment before looking back at Lexi, who was still sat on the floor in bewilderment.

After a beat of silence, he offered her a hand. In a daze, she took it and he pulled her to her feet. He took a breath as if to say something, but thought better of it and turned away, following Nerezza. Exactly five strides away, he paused, looked back over his shoulder and unsheathed his sword. He then twisted it, flipping it, recreating the exact move Lexi had tried to accomplish before Nerezza had appeared. He executed it perfectly.

One corner of his mouth quirked up in a slight, smug smile as her eyes narrowed in annoyance and he exited the hall.

Lexi retrieved her sword and replaced it on the rack, stunned into silence. She did not know what to do with the shards of Nerezza’s discarded weapon and so left them on the floor and hurried from the hall.

 

On the day before the trial, Lexi could not find the concentration to focus on any one thing. She was too jumpy to ride, too distracted to spar, too shaky to climb and much too impatient to read. She found solace in the stables with Salvador, dragging a brush over his coat until he was gleaming. The monotony of the task set her mind at ease, stopped the whirl of thought, each idea flying by too quickly to grasp. Her mind was blank, her expression neutral; at peace.

            Lexi had declined the company of both Hunter and Ebony when they offered to join her, but Demitri had soon turned up. The chestnut mare, Alma, in the stable adjacent to Salvador turned out to belong to him, and he had been grooming her whilst whistling a little tune to himself.

            “You will worry yourself into oblivion if you aren’t careful,” he commented nonchalantly when he was done with his horse. Lexi sat on the straw-covered floor by the stallion’s feet, brushing the same patch of hair on one foreleg over and over again. She looked up.

            “What makes you say so?” she asked.

            “You are underestimating your talent,” he chastised pleasantly. “With the exception of Rai, I have never seen a student train so hard. I have often found myself wondering at your determination. What drives you, pray tell?”

            “What would drive any shifter threatened with the prospect of being forced into the human race?” was Lexi’s reply.

Demitri raised his brow. “I suppose you speak the truth.” He leant over Salvador’s stable door and Lexi clambered to her feet, swapping her brush for a comb and began teasing the knots out of the horse’s mane. “But even so,” he continued, “many a student has passed through here with as much talent as Miss Bryanne. They seem incapable of grasping the life of imminent battle and war.”

“If I was to be honest, I would tell you that inevitable battle and slaughter does not appeal to me,” Lexi replied. She turned to face Demitri. “What drives me is the fight to retain the wolf within.”

Demitri nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Many possess the same drive.”

“Tell me this,” Lexi said, tilting her head to one side. “Why do shape shifters find glory in death and pain, dealing it out like a game of cards?”

He appeared taken aback, though Lexi had not spoken harshly. “Many don’t,” he argued. “It is our job, our role. We are soldiers. We protect the land we inhabit, for who else will? Lycans have no control, the vampyres think only for themselves. Humans are far too busy slaying the rest of us to notice when their land is overruled.”

“The land holds more than vampyres, lycans and humans, Demitri,” Lexi reminded him. “Elves, witches, faeries. More I cannot name.”

Demitri snorted. “Faeries are nothing more than humans that hold the trust of Neäkan,” he said scathingly. “Half of the witches of this land have lost their minds, and the other half can’t be found. As for the elves; they are known for slaughtering their own young when they turn out to be half-breeds.” At Lexi’s shocked expression, he added hastily, “It doesn’t happen often, of course.”

“If humans are as repulsive to them as you say, how are half-breeds born?”

“As a race, they are repulsive. As individuals, human men can be charming; they can seduce elven women without hardship. It seems to be a skill developed in the human race. The elves are fascinated by their rounded ears, their rounded brows. Their soft features, bright eyes. What is unusual to them is intriguing, fascinating…mysterious.”

“Our ears are rounded, our eyes bright,” Lexi pointed out. “We are humans with another power, another reason.”

            “Ah.” Demitri smirked. “We shifters know our place. We know that any offspring we have with a she-elf won’t survive. That is where we differ.”

            Lexi paused to tug a particularly tangled knot from Salvador’s mane before responding. After three hours of grooming, the stallion was positively glowing. His black mane was shining and his tail was as soft as silk. “What do elves have against the rest of us?” Lexi asked.

            “Nothing,” Demitri answered with a shrug. “But they offer us no favour. The elves are coping well; very few, if any, humans know the placement of elven clans. Once they start offering alliances with other races, they will be putting themselves in more danger.”

            “The humans are the danger, not us,” Lexi mumbled. “If we could cut their numbers, we would not have to be so discreet.”

            Demitri smiled grimly. “And then what would distinguish us from the humans?”

            Lexi fell silent.

            Dusk was drawing in and Demitri looked towards the entrance of the barn, seemingly judging the time by the amount of daylight remaining. Lexi tugged playfully on Salvador’s ears and the horse nudged her playfully in return.

            “It will be dinner soon,” Demitri commented. “And Hunter will be worrying about you.”

            Lexi grimaced and left the stable, unwilling to leave Salvador. With a charming, friendly smile, Demitri escorted her back to the Academy as the sun sunk below the tops of the trees of the forest to the west.

10: Chapter 9

Lexi felt about ready to throw up the following morning; Ebony and Seth bustled around her, throwing clothes at her before arguing about them and taking them off her again. They were not at all helping her nerves, but she had not the heart to tell them so.

            At mid-morning, Ebony pushed her into the bathroom where she had filled the bathtub with warm water and commanded Lexi to bathe while she and Seth continued to argue about the choice of clothing. The warmth relaxed her tense muscles and soothed her nerves as she chanted a little mantra to herself.

            Keep calm, Lexi, it’s just some things they need to test you on, she reassured herself. You have been training for a month, Hunter’s the best teacher here.

            She spoke the same words at the wall several times over to try and calm her racing mind, but it did not help. None of the tasks were especially life-threatening, but she had convinced herself that returning to Hargate in one piece would be a worse fate than death.

            The shouting ceased on the other side of the door and Lexi stood, drying herself off with the towel Ebony had left for her. She redressed in her night clothes, having been given nothing else, and returned to the bedroom.

            “You took your time!” Ebony snapped, dragging her back into the room, shooing Seth out at the same time so Lexi could dress.

            “I’m nervous!” Lexi retorted, losing patience with her hastiness.

            Ebony ignored her and attacked her hair with a brush as she attempted to pull on the clothes Ebony had chosen and left laid out on the bed: brown combat trousers and a white long-sleeved linen shirt. They were the kind of clothes outlaws were seen in, and Lexi wondered vaguely why Ebony had chosen them.

            “Come here,” Ebony said, dragging Lexi to sit on the bed as Seth returned for a brief moment. He examined her from different angles and then disappeared again. Ebony produced a vial filled with a thick dark purple liquid and poured a drop onto her palm and then rubbed her hands together.

            “What is that?” Lexi asked, eyeing it suspiciously.

“A draft created by witches used to make hair lie straight for a short period of time. It’s a very popular concoction and many people use it.”

            “Why do you need to straighten my hair?” she asked indignantly. Lexi was proud of the way her hair settled in gentle waves and was not keen on the idea of changing it.

            “Looks play a small part in the trial,” Ebony explained briefly. “The shifters like to draw bets among themselves when a trial takes place. It’s another part of the acceptance ceremony, though it’s not official. If you win a task, the shifters that bet on you will accept you willingly; if you look the part, you are more likely to gain bets. The more bets you have, the more people accept you.”

            Lexi was silent for a moment as she tried to decide whether this was a good thing or not when Seth returned and offered Lexi a waterskin.

            “Where’s Hunter?” she asked, taking a sip.

            “He’s playing the role of Knight this time round,” he said dismissively. “The two shifters that pass the trial go through a sort of ceremony at the end where they are rewarded with their uniform and their first weapon. The Alpha decides what role they will take.”

            “Why does Hunter have to do it?”

            “The shifters the Alpha considers the best alternate the role in the trial. This time happens to be Hunter’s turn.”

            “And Hunter’s considered one of the best?”

            “One of the top five, at least,” Ebony replied. “He left for about half a year and returned with the Wreath of Kavaris.”

            “What’s that?” Lexi asked, the name vaguely familiar.

            “Kavaris’ wreath,” Seth repeated. “An item blessed by the God Kavaris to possess some sort of power intentioned to aid elementals in times of need. I’m certain he still has it somewhere, but he would not take kindly for me to go snooping for it.”

            “There!” Ebony said as she completed combing in the strange witch draft. She picked up the mirror from the shelf and handed it to Lexi. She stared at her reflection, barely recognising herself. Not only was her hair now straight, it seemed finer and her ears showed through it, giving her a slight elven appearance, if not for her rounded ears.

            “The task will start shortly,” Seth warned as he gazed out of the window. “People are returning now.”

            Both he and Ebony appeared to be exceptionally excitable at the prospect, while Lexi felt ill. Ebony took her hand and led her out into the common room.

            Seth draped his arm around Lexi’s shoulders as he led the two girls down to the basement with the flow of shifters. The instructors shepherded Seth and Lexi through to a small room to the side of the underground corridor while Ebony continued to the arena with the rest of the Academy. The room Lexi stood in was small and empty, save for six other students and Instructor Reyes. Three of the six students wore tunics; the other three were the untrialed students. Rai stood with his arms folded facing a young man that appeared to be a little older than Hunter. His tunic was black and a long, broad-bladed sword hung at his left hip. The two were conversing in low voices, oblivious to everyone else.

            “Do you have a plan?” Seth asked Lexi.

            “Not in the slightest,” she responded.

            He grimaced. “You know the first two tasks, use your initiative and your strengths. If you can pass the first two without difficulty, the third should come easily.”

            “You sound like Hunter.”

            He smiled crookedly. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m meant to guide you through the tasks, so I should be very close in all of them. If you’re lost, look for me and I’ll try and help you. Teamwork is just as important to shifters as individual skill.”

            Lexi nodded and Reyes cleared his throat to gain our attention. “Students, through this door is your first task. It’s an obstacle course of sorts, but there are several routes for you to take. You will be judged on how quickly you can make decisions and how wise those decisions are.”

            “And what about pace?” Rai asked.

            “How quickly you can get through will depend on wisdom and quick thinking. You will soon see.”

            “Who’s judging?” Seth asked.

            “The Alpha, as always, Professor Xenia and myself.” He peeked through the door. “It will soon be time for you to enter. You four, take your positions.” Reyes gestured to the shifters in uniform.

            Seth gave Lexi a reassuring pat on the shoulder before disappearing through the door.

            “Nervous?” Eleanor asked Lexi as the four of them lined up at the door, waiting to go through.

            Lexi nodded. “A little. I don’t want to leave.”

            She shook her head with a grimace. “Me neither. What does your mentor think you will be if you pass?”

            “A scout.”

            “Mine thinks I will be an astrologer. But he believes that of everyone, so it’s not saying much.”

            “Time to go through!” Reyes called and the two stopped talking. Out of the three, Lexi wished for Eleanor to stay. She had been friendly and the pair of them had sometimes trained together. However, Lexi also feared Eleanor’s ability; Rai was still the strongest of the four and Bryanne was the weakest, which left Eleanor and Lexi to fight for the right to stay.

            The untrialed shifters were led out into the basement, which turned out to be a very large hall of sorts. The ceiling was a great distance away and the room was dark due to the lack of windows. Lexi could hear the chatter of the other shifters that seemed to be a slight distance apart from them, but they were hidden from her sight.

            The four of them were placed side by side fifty feet in front of a tall stone wall coated in vines. Each side of the path was laden with rocks, marking it out for them. The only direction was forwards, straight into the vines. Seth stood on a raised ledge to the left with the other three mentors.

            A loud horn that sounded like that of the huntsmen signalled loudly and Lexi launched forwards and Eleanor matched her stride. Rai overtook within moments and panic immediately gripped Lexi’s chest as she noted his exceptional speed, but his weight handicapped him on the vines. Bryanne’s reaction was slow and she started late.

            As she reached the wall, Lexi leapt a considerable way up the vines, overtaking Rai as he struggled to climb them and beating Eleanor by a half second to the platform at the top. She then ran another fifty metres and if it had not been for the slight reflection, she would have run straight into the glass wall blocking off the path. She backed up a little and examined the wall, walking up and down it, looking for a way through. Eleanor and Rai stopped alongside her, watching her as she thought.

            “Lexi!” Seth called and she looked up to him. He pointed to the far side of the pathway and she followed his gesture. A gap in the glass presented itself on the very edge, just large enough for a person to slip through. Lexi dived for it before Rai could reach it.

            She soon realised that she had run straight into a maze made of glass. It was near impossible to tell which way was clear without having one’s arms spread out in order to feel one’s way through the maze.

            Rai and Eleanor separated from Lexi within the maze, but were still visible through the glass. Bryanne followed Lexi, though she was a fair distance behind. Seth ran alongside on the ledge that followed the path of the course, trying to help Lexi find a way through the glass maze.

            Lexi was the first to escape after several minutes of wrong turns and back-steps, Bryanne close behind. She was now faced with a sheer drop of about thirty feet or more, presenting a pit of fifty feet in width. Hanging from the ceiling was a thick rope that led all the way down to the bottom of the ditch. Bryanne stood by Lexi’s side, staring, waiting for her to move.

            Lexi stood for a few moments contemplating the distance between the edge of the platform and the rope. As she was about to leap for it, a strong hand grabbed her elbow and dragged her backwards. She stumbled over the many rocks and fell on her back.

            Seth yelled abuse at Rai from the ledge as Lexi leant up on her elbows, scowling. Rai clung to the rope, throwing his weight backwards and forwards to gain enough momentum to reach the platform on the other side of the pit. Bryanne stared at Lexi as if asking what to do next.

            Ignoring her gaze, Lexi scurried over to the edge of the pit and ducked to avoid an arrow as it flew in her direction. Archers were stood along the balcony, aiming to distract the students. Hunter was not among them and Seth had to weave his way through them in order to keep up with Lexi.

            Making sure she was not being aimed at, Lexi pulled her sleeves over her hands, jumped and grabbed the rope as Rai swung it back in her direction. She scaled down to the floor, resisting the urge to tug it in the completely wrong direction and slow him down. She sprinted across the bottom of the pit to a second set of vines leading up to the platform.

            Lexi managed to haul herself onto the platform merely a moment before Rai landed beside her and danced out of the way of his hands as he tried to drag her back again. It was a sprint race around the corner and into a tunnel filled with string, creating a web.

            Bryanne had followed Lexi down to the bottom of the pit and was a fair way behind, Eleanor now catching up with Lexi and Rai after taking the rope. Rai was not so nimble through the web and Eleanor and Lexi made a lead by a considerable distance. 

            The shifters in the stands started to shout as the two girls emerged from the tunnel and raced along the stretch of ground before them, leading to the finish. Lexi was faster than Eleanor by a fraction, but Rai had longer and stronger legs and overtook them both within moments. Lexi ran her hardest though she knew she could not catch him up.

            As she passed the line of chalk marked on the ground, she doubled over and leant on her knees, panting. Rai was also out of breath, but looking pleased with himself as his mentor stood beside him, praising him. Seth bounded into view and pulled Lexi upright.

            “That was brilliant!” he babbled excitedly. “You saw the rope within a half second, and you didn’t even pause when the tiger boy threw you back!”

            “Seth, calm down, I came in second,” Lexi said loudly over the shouts of the shifters.

            He shook his head. “Not necessarily, they have to take the overall performance into account, it’s not about who finishes first.” 

            “Attention, please!” Reyes called out and the shifters fell into silence. “The judges have made their decisions, please be silent whilst they give their verdict.”

            Professor Xenia, the Astrology professor, stood up and sauntered over to a large blackboard across from the judges table, with the numbers one-to-four written vertically. Next to the number four, she wrote Bryanne’s name; next to the number three, Eleanor’s name. Lexi clutched Seth’s wrist, cutting off the circulation to his hand as the professor blocked her view to write the third name.

            A hysterical laugh burst from Lexi mouth as she saw Alexia written in elegant script next to the number one. Seth hugged her tightly and swung her round as Ebony ran over, also grinning.

            “Hunter wishes to congratulate you, but he’s not allowed to come and see you,” she said quickly, hugging her in congratulations.

            “Rai looks like he wants to hit you,” Seth noted, smiling smugly over his shoulder at Lexi’s competitor. “Don’t worry, we won’t let him.”

            “Seth, don’t provoke him,” Ebony scolded. “Come, you are allowed a drink and a break, now.” She took Lexi’s hand and pulled her towards the crowd of shape shifters, many of them smiling broadly and congratulating her, saluting respectfully or bowing in greeting. 

            In the dining hall, Lexi managed to drink three full cups of water to moisten her dry mouth but could not bring herself to eat anything. She pondered what the other two tasks would entail while Seth and Ebony chatted idly among themselves.

            “She’s going to stay, I know she will,” Seth said optimistically, taking a bite of his biscuit.

            “Don’t say that and jinx it,” Lexi moaned. “I’ll probably fail the next one now.”

            “No you won’t,” he argued, his mouth full. “Next test is simple; one-on-one competition with another shifter. It mainly depends on chance; say you happen to be up against a swordsmen doing archery, you are most likely going to win.”

            “Why?”

            “Because swordsmen don’t practise archery at all,” Ebony explained. “And you have been practising everything, so you will have the advantage.”

            “And if I get an archer doing archery?”

            “You have no chance,” Seth said bluntly.

            “Oh, great, thanks, Seth, that’s really boosted my confidence,” Lexi muttered sarcastically.

            He shrugged. “Just telling it like it is.”

            “But it’s unlikely that will happen,” Ebony said quickly, scowling at Seth. “There are several fields you could be competing in, and the shifter is chosen on the spot; a name taken out of a hat.”

            Lexi tried to smile but was not very reassured.

            “Oh, by the way,” Seth said, putting down the biscuit he had been about to bite into. “You will need Salvador for the third task.”

            Lexi frowned. “Why?”

            “I don’t know, Reyes told me to tell you, but he didn’t say anything else.”

            “Horses respond better to the shifter they choose,” Ebony added. “You’ll be lucky.”

            “Alexia, come with me,” Reyes snapped sharply in Lexi’s ear, making her jump and almost spill water down her front. “Seth, you too. Ebony, you need to get into the combat hall with the others.” 

            Nervously devouring her bottom lip, Lexi listened to Reyes as he talked her and the other three through the test as they stood outside the combat hall.

            “You will be sword fighting with one member of the Academy. The name of the shifter will be picked at random, so you had best hope that luck is on your side and a swordsman is not chosen, as they may well be. Alexia, you won the last task, so you will be going first. As you enter, take the sword standing beside the door and stand before the judges, who will present the name of the shifter you will be fighting. The same goes for everybody. Four points to whoever manages to beat their opponent, none to those who fail. Seth and Alexia, enter now and good luck.”

            Lexi swallowed the last of her nerves and entered the hall with Seth at her side. He looked perfectly at ease and his stride was confident. The hall was more or less silent as the Academy peered down at them both.

            She retrieved the sword; metal and a heavier design than the practise swords she was used to, the blade thinner and sharper on one side but balanced. Lexi moved to stand in front of the judges table. On it sat a large glass bowl filled with scraps of paper.

            “Alexia,” the Alpha announced, “will be up against…” He plunged his hand into the bowl of paper and withdrew a piece at random. “Demitri Bloodworth.”

11: Chapter 10

To begin with, Lexi was glad to hear a familiar name and could not quite understand why Seth’s smile faltered and the room went deathly silent. As she watched Demitri slowly saunter down from the stands, she remembered that he was, along with Hunter, one of the best fighters of the Academy.

            “Don’t try to attack him,” Seth murmured in Lexi’s ear. “Just defend yourself and don’t let him disarm you.”

            “If I don’t attack him, how can I win?” she hissed back, the sound of scraping metal making her shiver as Demitri unsheathed his sword and twirled it around his hand.

            “The longer you last the more credit you’ll be given,” Seth assured her.

Lexi tried to swallow her nerves and stepped forwards, attempting to look more confident than she felt. With an arrogant grin, Demitri raised his shiny blade. Lexi’s sword felt heavy in her hands.

            “You look better with your hair natural,” he whispered to her.

            “I prefer it that way.” The shake in her voice gave away her nerves.

            He shrugged and leapt forward.

            Not expecting the sudden attack, Lexi only just lifted her sword in time to block the hit. The clash of metal made rang in her ears and the blades vibrated violently. She did not have time to get over the shock; Demitri pulled away and swiped again, causing her to duck almost flat against the floor to dodge the blade.

            Hunter’s refusal to let her spar against him became clear within a few minutes of fight; he was not afraid to hurt her.

            Lexi had to follow Seth’s advice whether she wanted to or not; Demitri’s attacks were too quick for her to gain any advantage. Seth flinched every time their blades collided and Lexi’s performance was not helped by the hundreds of eyes pinned on the fight.

            By the time she was exhausted enough to collapse, Demitri was still showing no signs of fatigue. Lexi wanted to throw down her sword and wave a little white flag in surrender, but did not give in.

            Eventually Demitri trapped Lexi’s sword and she lost her grip on the hilt. Her heart sank as she watched it clatter to the floor.

            “My apologies, my lady,” Demitri said lowly and gave a small bow, his smile grim.

Lexi stared back at him and hissed the word, “Szabhas.” She was angry with herself. She gained no points in this test.

Seth hurried over to her, nonsense rambling off his tongue as he tried to reassure her that Lexi had not yet failed.

            The pair sat beside Ebony on the stands and she mumbled the same kind of nonsense as Seth, but her tone made it sound more abrupt and matter-of-fact. Rai entered and retrieved the discarded sword. Zane Hanson was chosen against him, an archer that had not picked up a sword in the last two years. Within the first three minutes, Rai had disarmed his opponent. Lexi felt sick.

            “Most of it relies on the final task,” Seth murmured to sound, trying to sound reassuring.

            “Mm-hm,” she said disbelievingly.

            Eleanor gained four points for her performance and Bryanne lost within the first ten seconds of the spar. With a quick calculation, Lexi realised that Rai was leading with seven points, Eleanor second with six and Lexi was third with four.

            The results were again chalked onto a blackboard and Lexi put her head in her hands.

            “Come on,” Seth said kindly, draping an arm over her shoulders and leading her from the combat hall. She slouched in her seat in the dining hall, her arms folded, eyes glazed over as she stared into space. Seth and Ebony quietly discussed the trial between themselves.

            “What’s wrong?” Ebony asked, noticing Lexi’s sullen expression.

            “Seth said I would stay. I told you I’d fail the next task.”

            “Come on, Lexi, you don’t think that is the reason, do you?” Ebony said scathingly, though Seth flushed. Lexi said nothing and shrugged moodily.

            “Listen, Lexi,” Seth said, sitting up straighter and leaning his elbows on the table. “It was pure bad luck that you ended up against Demitri for that task. The next one will be testing your intelligence and logic; as well as your ability to ride. No luck involved.”

            “I need to beat Eleanor,” Lexi said thoughtfully. “How is this one scored?”

            “There’s one winner,” Ebony replied. “The others receive nothing.”

            “So I need to win,” Lexi said defiantly, sitting up a little straighter.     They nodded.

            “Come on,” Seth said brightly, taking another big bite out of his sandwich before sanding his hands together and standing up. “Let’s go and get Salvador ready.”

It seemed as though the stallion knew what was happening. He was pacing rapidly in his stable when Seth and Lexi approached with his tack and he squealed loudly. Lexi’s hands trembled while she fastened his bridle straps. As soon as he was ready, Salvador lunged forwards, almost trampling Seth.

            “Whoa!” Seth exclaimed, sidestepping, tripping and falling on the straw.      

“Are you alright?” Lexi asked hurriedly, grasping the horse’s reins and jerking them sharply. Salvador snorted indignantly but stopped dancing for the time being.

            “Just about,” Seth replied with a small laugh, scrambling up and brushing straw off his tunic.

            Lexi heard Rai and Eleanor talking to their mentors as they chose horses. She kept quiet as she soothed Salvador’s neck, feeling the moisture on his coat as he worked himself up. Seth pulled a comb through his long mane while Lexi talked gentle Findasian words to the stallion, trying to ease his excitement.

            After a few moments, Salvador’s eyes drooped and he leant his head against her chest. Lexi listened to the clatter of hooves as horses were brought out of their stables in time for the final task. She swallowed nervously.

            As soon as Seth pulled back the bolt on Salvador’s stall, the horse jerked his head up and squealed excitedly, barging the door and prancing against Lexi’s hold on his reins. It took both she and Seth to keep him going no faster than a trot as they struggled down to the front of the Academy where the others were lining up, readying their horses.

            Rai sat on a chestnut stallion, looking uncomfortable and continued to shift in the saddle. The horse held his head high proudly and his muscles were bunched up, ready to bolt at the first indication. Bryanne’s carthorse looked half asleep, and she looked terrified. Eleanor appeared at ease atop a lean mare, sitting straight as she conversed with her mentor.

            Salvador would not let Lexi mount, refusing to stay still long enough, spinning in circles around Seth who was trying desperately to keep him still whilst dancing out of the way of his hooves.

            Reyes strode over and hissed, “Calm your horse. The trial will start soon.” He strode off again before either Seth or Lexi could reply and Salvador whinnied loudly, yanking his head away from Seth’s grasp.

            A third pair of hands grasped the stallion’s bridle, bringing him to a standstill. Lexi glanced up into the turquoise eyes of Cassius and felt her heart skip a beat. He merely blinked down at her and jerked his head at the saddle. Lexi dropped her gaze and pulled herself onto Salvador’s back.

            Seth and Cassius held onto each side of the horse’s head, preventing him from bolting straight into the trees. He pranced on the spot, his hooves churning up the grass as he fought against the boys’ hold. From his back, Lexi saw that, while Cassius’ gaze was lowered, Seth watched him with narrowed, unblinking eyes, clear disliking evident on his face. The sight unnerved Lexi, but the loud, clear voice of Reyes obtained her attention.

            “Throughout the woods clues have been hidden to help you find the object you seek,” the Instructor announced. “The first to capture the object will win this test. You must not dismount your horses at any time, and if you feel danger, call and a shifter will find you.”

            Trying to calm an agitated horse and listening to instructions were no easy tasks. Without warning, the stallion snorted and kicked out, unseating Lexi and knocking Seth to the ground. Cassius tugged on Salvador’s reins, commanding him to halt without any use of words. Lexi sat upright and clung onto a handful of mane to stop herself being unseated again.

            “What’s wrong with him?” she hissed at Seth as he clambered back to his feet.

            “How the hell should I know?” he snapped, scowling.

            A horn sounded and Reyes signalled for Rai to enter the forest. His stallion galloped into the shadows and he was swallowed by the darkness.

            A few seconds later, the horn sounded again and Eleanor cantered after him. Seth released Salvador’s reins and the horse barged forwards, kept still only by Lexi’s firm hold on his mouth and Cassius clinging to his bridle. As the third horn sounded, Cassius released the stallion and Lexi dug her heels sharply into his sides. The horse leapt into a gallop, bolting into the forest.

            Salvador slowed to a canter once in the trees and weaved through the underbrush, jumping small logs and picking his feet up over roots. 

            Now Lexi did not know what clues to look for; words? Symbols? Pictures? How could she find them? This forest covered most of the island; she could ride in a straight line and find herself at the coast. There had to be something to lead her in the right direction.

            “Ce eih urlikae?” she asked quietly, addressing the trees.

            As if responding to her question, Salvador wandered forwards, slowing to a trot and carried her over to a redwood where the bark had been disturbed. On closer inspection, she saw that words had been carved into the trunk:

           

                Once stone, now mobile, and will be stone again,

                Let the Dryads lead you, follow their reign.

           

Riddles.

Dryads were tree-nymphs; women that were at one with nature. Lexi had never seen one, never spoken to one and did not know what they looked like.

            Lexi could only assume that dryads would live a lot deeper in the forest, doubting that they could be found somewhere people could wander in on them on a regular basis. Though generally friendly creatures, Lexi knew that they did not like to be disturbed.

            Salvador cantered through the trees with ease, his hooves barely making any sound at all on the leaf litter. He was a lot calmer now; content. He responded to every command, every twitch of Lexi’s wrist or nudge of her heel. The sounds of the others had long since faded and the forest appeared empty, save for the appearance of a squirrel in the branches above them.

            It seemed an age in which Lexi and Salvador cantered together, but soon they found themselves leaving the deadened, frost-coated forest and appeared in a lush, spring-green wood. The bark on the trees was a rich brown, the leaves bright and young-looking. The floor was blanketed in long grass, greener than the leaves. Salvador’s ears pricked as he examined the new surroundings. A butterfly fluttered past and landed on the petals of a sunflower while a dragonfly zipped about on the surface of a pond, the water bluer than the sky. The air had lost its icy touch; a warm breeze ruffling Lexi’s hair and the stallion’s mane.

            The trial vanished to the very back of Lexi’s mind as she approached the pool. Salvador lowered his head for a drink and she longed to join him; wondering what the water could possibly taste like. It was then that she noticed the eyes glinting up at her from the depths of the pool, eyes belonging to the face of a young woman.

            She smiled and waved up at Lexi. Lexi waved back, amazed. Water nymphs were not what Lexi needed, though the tree-nymphs could not be far from here.

            In response to her thoughts, Lexi noticed the trunk of an apple tree move to her left. The green eyes of a girl blinked at her before the nymph emerged. Her skin was the shade of bark, patterned with natural wooded lines and hair blonde with a hint of green where the light hit it. Her movements could only be described as dancing as she glided her twig-like fingers across Salvador’s coat, whispering words in a language Lexi could not understand. The horse watched her with his ears pricked forwards, flinching slightly as her wood-like skin grazed his fur.

            “Welcome, shape shifter,” the nymph said in a breathy sing-song voice. “What do you seek from me?”

            Lexi was silenced by her beauty, yet the dryad looked so much like a walking, talking plant that she had to blink several times to make sure she was not hallucinating.

            Finding her voice, Lexi said, “I believe you have answers for me.”

            The nymph smiled. “Of course. You are not uniformed; you must be in training. Whatever you seek, I would be honoured to assist you with.” She saluted and hopped to the other side of Salvador, gazing up at Lexi. “How can I be of help?”

            Lexi repeated the riddle and the dryad’s smile widened. “You are the first to have found that riddle. If you answer mine, I will point you in the direction you require.”

            “Okay.”

            She lowered her head and started up at Lexi through her long black lashes, her greenish hair falling in front of her face. “Dead and gone, yet standing tall and proud. A shell, a shadow of a former life. What am I?

            Lexi thought for a moment. Trees stayed standing once beyond living, but she was surrounded by trees. The rest of the forest was full of trees that appeared dead for the winter. Tree could not be the answer. Trees became hollow when they died, if they did not fall straight away. What am I?

            A tree that is hollow. I am hollow.

            “Hollow,” Lexi said after a few moments of thought.

            “I can only accept your first answer,” the nymph warned. “Is that it?”

            Lexi was becoming increasingly aware of time and nodded. The nymph tilted her head to the side and just watched her. After a tense few seconds, she smiled sweetly and pointed down a pathway marked by ferns.

            “Through there, follow the path without straying and you will reach what is known as The Hollow,” she said. “I wish you luck, shape shifter.”

            Lexi gave a small smile in thanks and the dryad danced for a few seconds before blending right back into the trunk of the apple tree. Lexi shook her head to clear it and turned Salvador to face the path she had indicated and nudged him into a canter.

            The crunch of dead leaves under-hoof marked the place where the dryads’ home faded away and they re-entered the deadened winter forest. The path was harder to see here, but Salvador kept in a relatively straight line. Mist gathered a little way ahead.

Salvador skidded to a halt with a surprised snort at the edge of the steep bank of what looked like a small crater. It was hard to see anything through the increasing fog and Lexi lifted her feet out of the stirrups, wanting to take a closer look.

“You mustn’t dismount, my lady!”

Demitri trotted into sight through the trees and fog on his chestnut mare, smiling in greeting. Lexi scowled back at him and replaced her feet in the stirrups. “Don’t ‘my lady’ me, I’m third on the table because of you.”

“Do not be touchy with me because you got unlucky,” he said, his smile fading. “Had I let you win, you would have been disqualified and sent home immediately and I would have been whipped for my trouble. In any case, you cannot dismount during this task, remember?”

“So what do you suggest I do?” Lexi asked shortly.

He shrugged. “You will have to coax your horse down there. Salvador’s an agile stallion, you shouldn’t have much trouble.”

Lexi peered down the bank, the mist hiding the bottom from view. She could not tell how deep the crater was, nor what she would find within it. She looked back to Demitri. “Can you not help me?”

He grimaced. “I’m really not meant to.”

“Well then, can you leave? I’m sure Bryanne will need more help than I do,” she snapped, fed up and angry.

“She has found no path to follow,” he said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t give her much hope. Rai’s still looking for the dryads and Eleanor’s looking for another clue. There’s more than one trail that will lead you to the object you need, my lady.”

“Do you know what it is?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The leader and Hunter are the only ones that know.”

“Have you seen Hunter?” Lexi asked, sounding more eager than she should. Demitri raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, he prays you do well,” he told her. “And he also hopes to see you at the end of the task. If you will excuse me, I have students to rescue.” He winked at her before disappearing into the shadow. Lexi faced The Hollow again, trying to see past the mist.

“Come on,” she murmured to the gelding, ignoring the chill that made her skin crawl. Salvador shook his mane and edged closer to the bank with every nudge she gave.

Taking a deep breath, she gave the horse a very sharp kick and, with a squeal, he leapt off the bank and they plummeted downwards. Lexi flung her hands round his neck and he landed with a heavy thud.

Lexi could barely see the horse’s ears in front of her down in the crater, the mist was so thick. She shivered, feeling colder than she had done all day. The earth that made up the banks was frozen solid, but she could see no easy way of getting back up.

Putting both reins into one hand, Lexi dragged her fingertips across the soil of the bank, nudging the stallion into a walk, following the circumference of the crater until she reached stone. She looked up, making out the outline of an archway leading into a tunnel that went beneath the Earth. An arrow was carved into the stone, pointing downward and her fingers traced it.

Swallowing, she nudged Salvador to enter the tunnel, listening to his hooves echoing off the stone. Lexi ducked to avoid hitting her head on the soil above. Salvador snorted and tossed his head, his steps short and tense.

Flaming torches lined the walls, lighting up carvings of various insects that looked like beetles. This place was a labyrinth. The tunnel opened up into a circular chamber with a single column of stone in the centre.

There were more carvings of beetles here; more intricate drawings surrounded by strange symbols. Some looked like stars and others like lettering from another language, one unknown to Lexi.

Salvador balked and tried to race backwards.

“Stehra, namai,” she eased, her voice shaking with fear.

The horse snorted, seeing straight through her false calm but settled slightly. There was nothing here that Lexi could see to be of any use other than the carvings. Nothing happened when she traced her fingers over the images many times. At the slightest command, Salvador pranced out of the chamber and back down the tunnel, into the fog.

The stallion lunged into a gallop and leapt onto the bank before sliding down, unable to pull himself up. Before Lexi had a chance to panic, Salvador lunged at the bank a second time and Lexi grasped a handful of his mane as he pulled himself up.

Having no riddle to solve and no further path to follow, Lexi ran a hand through her hair in puzzlement as Salvador weaved between the trees of his own accord. Unless the labyrinth was not what the nymph had meant, Lexi was meant to be able to decipher something from the carvings. She was a long way from the Academy; had no idea which way was north and she was beginning to lose all hope of winning.

At the point of giving up, she saw the glint of light out of the corner of her eye. The same grey as stone with wings that looked like they were made of glass buzzing irritably as they fluttered with the twinkle of the clear crystals for its eyes. The beetle gave off a little glow as it darted about in front of Lexi.

            Delight swelled in her chest as she reached a hand out for it before it danced out of reach and fluttered away. Impatient to catch it, Lexi nudged Salvador sharply into a trot, following it. Every time she reached out, the insect darted out of grasp, increasing speed with time. Lexi was certain that this was what she needed.

            “Oh, meisz rahn!” she snapped angrily as it avoided her for the fifth time. Her head snapped round at the sound of a twig snapping and spotted Eleanor, sitting astride her mare as she watched her. Her eyes slowly slid towards the beetle and her eyes lit up with realisation.

            Simultaneously, she and Lexi kicked their horses into a flat-out gallop after the insect and cries sounded from the various horsemen hidden in the undergrowth.

            The beetle led them through the wood in a zigzag path, causing the pair to knock into one another as they attempted to pull the horses up in the sharpest turns possible. The horses snorted and squealed in protest, biting at each other’s necks in an attempt to be rid of the other.

            Side-by-side, Salvador and the mare leapt over the trunk of a fallen tree and Lexi was momentarily blinded by the sunlight as she and Eleanor emerged from the forest and galloped onto the grassland surrounding the Academy. Rows of shape shifters looked up and pointed, shouting to each other to look. Lexi paid little attention to them, focusing her eyes on the beetle in front of her.

            A brown brick wall of about seven feet high loomed into view and the two automatically slowed the horses to a canter. Lexi had not seen this wall before and did not know what lay behind it, but there the beetle flew and hovered a few feet above it, out of reach.

            Friendships forgotten, Lexi and Eleanor glanced sideways at each other for a brief second before digging their heels into the sides of their horses and racing for the wall.

            Lexi’s hands slipped on the reins, her palms sweating with fear as the wall grew closer. The beetle did not move and she leant forward in the saddle, close to Salvador’s neck. His breathing was laboured, his sides and neck slick with sweat. His stride was tense and Lexi could feel his hesitation, but still she nudged him on. If he could not jump the wall, they were both going to be hurt.

            Eleanor’s mare was drawing back, fearing the wall and guessing her intentions.

            Lexi did not look back, urging the stallion on with her voice as well as her heels as the wall loomed before them.

Four strides…

Three strides…

Two strides…

            Gritting her teeth together, Lexi threw her weight forwards as Salvador propelled himself upward, arching his back to fly over the wall without hitting it. Lexi stretched out a hand for the beetle as they flew, her heart beating thrice the speed it should.

            As they began to plummet, her fingers closed round the cold stone of the beetle; its wings becoming immediately still. Salvador landed heavily and Lexi was almost thrown over his shoulder. The beetle lay in her palm, perfectly stationary. It had lost its glow, appearing now more than an intricate carving.

            Laughing in disbelief, she and Salvador cantered back through the archway beneath the wall and back to the front of the Academy, holding the beetle high so that it could be seen. The huntsmen’s horn sounded, bringing an end to the trial.

            Seth broke free of the crowd and raced up to Lexi as she brought Salvador to a halt, followed by Ebony. Lexi swung off Salvador’s back and hugged the horse’s neck. Seth approached and embraced her tightly, swinging her in circles. Lexi giggled girlishly as he set her down. Ebony grinned broadly.

            Lexi looked up when she became engulfed in the Alpha’s shadow.

            “Well done, young one,” he said quietly. “I’m glad to be able to offer you a place in our ranks.”

            She smiled up at him like an excitable three-year-old before her eyes were drawn to Hunter, who was stood a little way behind the Alpha. He was smiling gently as he watched her. The Alpha disappeared to speak to Rai.

            “I should have had more faith in you,” Hunter said lowly so only Lexi could hear. “That was a damn good performance.”

            Unable to help herself, she threw her arms round his neck and whispered, “Thank you.” She felt him chuckle as he returned the embrace. He was ridiculously warm, and the cold winter air was licking at her skin. She held onto him for longer than necessary, but his warmth was just too inviting.

            “Alexia.”

            Lexi jumped away from him and wondered why her skin turned pink as the Alpha gestured for her to follow him. Rai was following with his mentor. Hunter and Seth accompanied Lexi, leaving Ebony to tend to Salvador.

            The Alpha led Rai and Lexi with Hunter, Seth and Rai’s mentor back down to the basement and along the corridor that led to the arena where the first test had been held. Lexi just glimpsed the platforms when Seth grasped her sleeve and pulled her through an archway to the right. The arch sealed itself behind them.

The six of them stood in a small circular room, empty save for a round table, its edge bordered with lit white candles. It held a small bowl full of black liquid in the centre, a large leather-bound book beside it and a small needle resting on top of the cover. Behind the bowl sat two packages, though Lexi could not tell what they contained.

            The Alpha stood in one corner of the room with his arms folded, observing the scene before him. Hunter strode to the table. Rai and Lexi stood beside their mentors in a line before him, paying close attention. Picking up one of the two packages on the table, Hunter called Rai to him. The boy stepped forward and received the parcel, listening to the instructions Hunter gave him, though Lexi could not hear what he was saying. Next to her, Seth rocked backwards and forwards on his heels, appearing bored. Rai smiled and took his parcel through to a side room. Lexi watched, confused.

            “Alexia.” Lexi found it odd to be addressed by Hunter with her full name. She stood before him and looked up, meeting his amber gaze. He smiled slightly and held out what was clearly a folded blue tunic with a belt and a knife laid on top of it. “You are a scout, Lexi,” he said in a low voice. “The Academy holds only five. Wear this uniform proudly; you are one of us now.”

            Lexi nodded, stifling a small smile. Rai reappeared wearing a black tunic and a smug smile. Lexi entered the side room and examined the contents of her parcel. She laid out her blue tunic and brown hide trousers, admiring her new uniform with pride. The knife she had been given was an exact replica as the ones every other shifter sported; a thin silver blade with a stone hilt. As her fingers soon found out, it was lethally sharp.

Adorning the uniform and sheathing the knife in a holster attached to the belt, she returned to the circular room. She no longer felt inferior to Seth and Hunter, the tunic giving her an equal status. Rai stood wincing as he rubbed the skin just behind his left ear.

            “Come here,” Hunter said when he noticed Lexi’s return. She stood before him and he half-smiled down at her, almost bashful. “I need you to kneel.”

            She hesitated. “You want me to kneel in front of you?”

            “Yes.”

Lexi’s eyes narrowed and her chin rose defiantly. “I don’t kneel to anyone.”

            He rolled his eyes and then pulled his hair back from his ear and showed her the five-point star that was marked in the small patch of skin. Next to it was the outline of a flame. “I need to mark you.”

            After a few moments of staring, Lexi nodded nervously and kneeled at his feet. “I thought the tunic was the mark of a shifter?”

            “Anyone can replicate that,” he said, kneeling beside her and bringing the bowl of what was left of the black liquid to the floor beside him. “This is ink, different to what humans use. It smells different, so nobody can replicate it.”

            He pulled her hair back and Lexi flinched as he started carving the outline of the shape into her skin. “Why do we need it?”

            “So we know who is telling the truth and who isn’t,” he murmured, concentrating. “Please keep still.”

            Lexi stayed still and silent as he worked. His hands were soft and gentle though the needle was sharp. She felt the skin becoming inflamed as he finished and replaced the bowl and needle. He helped her to her feet and Seth brought her back in line beside him.

            Rai was presented with a sword sheathed in a leather holster that could be attached to his belt on the opposite side to his knife, the way Demitri’s was. He unsheathed the long, broad blade, made of a shiny metal that looked incredibly strong and sharp. He grinned smugly and sheathed it, looking pleased with himself as he attached it to his belt.

            Hunter then held out a shorter sword with a thinner blade with a bronze hilt. The holster was attached to a sash that was to be worn across the back. The blade was patterned with engravings of vines at the hilt end, giving it an ornamental appearance. Lexi adored it.

            The Alpha took Hunter’s place and stood in the centre of the room. He began to explain speak; about religion, Fineara – the patron goddess of shape shifters – and about the world of Neäkan in general. Most of the information was new to Lexi, humans being unwilling to shed any light on the workings of a world separate to theirs. Shifters, like most Neäkan, were genetically born; vampyres and lycans were created through being bitten or other means, but elementals were gifted with their power by the god Kavaris. He used Hunter as an example and asked him to create a flame that he held in his palm.

            “When a shifter’s abilities are taken away from them,” the Alpha continued, “we are to keep that part of their souls. Sometimes Fineara will choose a human that she believes will possess the powers of a shifter well. Although we need shifters to make a comeback – as we already are beginning to – only a few will survive the life of a shifter; it is dangerous, now that humans have grown in numbers.”

            Lexi’s stomach churned.

            At the end of the speech, Seth draped an arm over Lexi’s shoulders and they wandered from the room. 

12: Chapter 11

Lexi awoke relatively early the following morning and sat up in bed, staring at her folded tunic lying on top of the chest at the foot of her bed. Beside it, the sword leant against the wall. Dawn was just beginning to approach and the sky outside was still dark. Unwilling to wait for Ebony to wake, Lexi stood and dressed, admiring the tunic in the mirror. She adorned the belt and sheathed the knife before retrieving her sword and balancing the blade on one finger.

            The sword was balanced and lightweight, unlike the wooden swords she had been practising with prior to the trial. The blade was equally sharp on both edges, the point as narrow as a needle. Holding the hilt firmly in her grasp, she twisted her wrist in an attempt to recreate the move Cassius could perfect.

            It clattered to the floor and she sighed. Ebony stirred as Lexi sheathed the sword and leant it back against the wall in its place, knowing she would not have need of it this day.

            “Good morning,” Ebony said, her voice slurred. She sat up and tilted her head to the side. “I do believe I can hear Seth singing. This must be a good day.”

            “Does he sing on a good day?” Lexi asked, pausing in front of the door before leaving the room. Ebony nodded and swung her legs off the bed, standing and retrieving her tunic from the chest. “What gives cause for a good day?”

            “I can only assume it is because you are staying,” Ebony said with a smile. “He joined us last; this will be exciting for him.”

            Lexi returned the smile and went through to the common room.

            Seth sang along to the tune of his lute, the song Lexi did not recognise. His voice was fair and Lexi enjoyed listening. Hunter sat in his chair near the fire, his nose in a book. He looked up when she entered and smiled crookedly.

            Lexi sat on the floor beside the fire, scratching Hunter’s shepherd behind the ears. The dog nosed at her hand and rested his head on her lap. 

Without knocking, Ash entered loudly. He perched on the arm of Hunter’s chair and addressed Seth, who stopped singing. Hunter looked up at him and scowled, closing his book and shoving him away. Ash narrowed his eyes back at him and settled for standing. “We are going for a hunt,” he said to Seth. “Are you joining us?”

“Who else is going?” Seth asked.

“Me, Iris and Tobias,” Ash answered. “Jack managed to fracture his collarbone last night when we were scouting the forest for Slayers. It was dark, his horse stumbled, and he landed on a root.”

Seth sighed. “It doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice.”

Ash smirked and his gaze flickered towards Lexi. “The Alpha made you a scout, then? Nice.”

            “Thanks,” Lexi replied.

            Seth disappeared into his dormitory to retrieve his sash and spear and Ash sat in his place on the couch. Ebony appeared and sat beside him, a leather-bound book in hand. Ash peered at the pages over her shoulder. “What’s happening with the sky?”

            “Three planets are coming into line with one another,” she replied absently. “It’s a rare happening and usually indicates the beginning of war or battle.”

            “War and battle occur every three years on average, that isn’t anything new,” Hunter commented, looking up from his book. “I do not see how three planets in line can mean anything of the sort, if you say it’s rare.”

            “It’s rare because this isn’t a common war,” she snapped back. “I mean a war between realms, not races. Three planets have lined up a total of three times in history and each time Arkridge has been under threat from another realm. In the past, this has meant parallel realms; meaning it is a larger war than what we are accustomed to, but no more challenging.”

            “Then why are you panicking?” Ash asked with a slight smirk.

            “Because this time the three are joined by a fourth.”

            Hunter frowned. “A fourth?” Lexi sat up straighter, intrigued by the news. “What do four lined planets indicate?”

            Ebony hesitated. “I don’t know. That is why I’m looking; but four have never lined up before. The three common planets are adjacent, including Arkridge, but the fourth is three or four times the distance away. I cannot tell what this means.”

            “What do you suspect it means?” Hunter asked.

            She looked down at the pages of her book for a short time, her eyes darting over the images and passages of text. Eventually, she answered. “I believe it means this realm we will one day fight will be different. More dangerous. Beings we cannot even begin to imagine.”

            A shiver ran up Lexi’s spine and Tao whined.

            Seth skipped back into the room and froze when he spotted the harrowed expressions of his pack mates and friend. Ebony noticed and closed the book, plastering a smile onto her face and Ash bounded up. “You should come with us one time,” he said to Lexi. “A scout can be very handy on a hunt. You could point out anyone we could chase.”

            Lexi nodded and smiled in reply. As soon as the door closed behind them, Hunter sighed. Ebony rubbed her eyes and returned to the book.

            “Is there a reason we are keeping this from Seth?” Lexi asked lowly.

            “In his mind he is still a boy,” Ebony replied quietly. “The last thing we need is to give him cause to worry himself silly. I may have gotten this prediction wrong; every astrologer in the building is trying to predict the meaning of four lined planets.”

            “Even if you are correct, the chance of a war between realms beginning in our lifetime is highly unlikely. To even pass from one realm to another takes careful preparation,” Hunter reasoned.

            Lexi looked up at the sound of hooves and the creaking of cart wheels and scrambled to her feet. She peered out of the window down to the gravelled entranceway where a black stagecoach began to pull away from the Academy.

            “Who’s that?” Lexi asked as Hunter joined her at the window.

            “Eleanor and Bryanne are being taken home,” he replied grimly. “Back to their parents. It will be safer for them that way.”

            Guilt churned Lexi’s stomach and she bit her lip. “They aren’t shifters anymore.”

            “No,” he agreed. He glanced at her, noticing her expression and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Someone has to leave. Bringing up young shape shifters to be warriors is no easy task and can only be made harder by the likes of Bryanne. She is better away from our world.”

            “Maybe so, but Eleanor was just as skilled as I. There was no reason for her to leave.”

            “You trained up well in those four weeks,” Hunter reasoned. “Your determination to reach the stone before she did separates you.”

            Before Lexi could form a reply, the door banged open and Demitri marched in, coming face to face with a surprised Hunter. “Ask me who kicked me off my table in the dining hall.”

            “Who kicked you off your table, Demitri?” Hunter asked, his tone humouring.

            “Guess.”

            “Nerezza, by any chance?” Lexi guessed.

            Demitri seemed to notice her for the first time and saluted quickly. “Apologies for my tone, my lady.” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Yes, Nerezza and her pet kicked me off. On her own, I could have bettered her, but that pet boy of hers is just as strong as me, and I did not wish to find myself strung up on the ceiling again. Lycans aren’t exactly short on strength.”

             Lexi found it hard to believe that anyone could string Demitri to the ceiling, but did not comment. The black rings on Cassius’ eyes made sense to her now; all lycans sported the mark.

            “I wish Cassius would get a grip of his own mind,” Demitri continued, glaring out of the window. “You can see it in his face that he does not like what she does. Never does he say a word against her, ever.”

            Lexi looked quickly away, down at the trees. The boy she had seen in her mind for years was a real boy, yet turned out to be someone she had not expected. Demitri did not notice her unease, but Hunter did and frowned at her. She would not meet his gaze, becoming incredibly interested in a spider web in the corner of the window.

            “I need to tend to Salvador,” she murmured to the room at large. Demitri bowed in farewell and Hunter and Ebony nodded in acknowledgement.  

 

Lexi spent the majority of the day with her stallion, tending to his legs where they had been strained from the exertion of the previous day. She groomed him until he gleamed and sat with him, speaking in soothing tones. He nuzzled her shoulder and looked straight into her blue eyes as if he understood what she was saying. Now that she had passed the trial, they were a partnership and he could be moved to the fields. She watched him gallop with the other horses, springing in the air with happiness at his freedom. The sight made Lexi smile.

She wandered away from the stables as the sun began to sink below the horizon. The grounds were empty and she paused at the edge of the forest. Armed with her knife, she did not fear the forest. The huntsmen had scouted it the previous evening and the Slayers were absent.

Hunter would not be happy; but then he did not have to know.

The air was cold but she barely felt it through her little bubble of happiness. Squirrels scampered across branches, foxes scurried through the browned undergrowth and Lexi grinned at every one of them. The light breeze picked up various strands of her hair, which was wavy again.

            She felt alive, knowing she would stay. What happened now did not seem to matter; she would fight for her race and be proud of it. Filled with an energy she could not dispel, she broke into a run. Trees blurred past; cedars, ashes, rowans, maples, the odd holly bush and pine tree with pines and leaves turned silver by the frost. I spotted the soft red bark of a redwood and the blackened bark of deadwood. She did not stop until she was gasping for breath, and by then she neither knew nor cared where she was.

            Lexi sat heavily down on a fallen tree trunk; still smiling. She fished the beetle out of her pocket and held it flat in her palm. Its glow had faded, but its crystal eyes still twinkled slightly. Her eyelids flickered closed as she relived the moment Salvador lunged into the air.

            Thank you, she thought, smiling at the beetle. It lay stationary in her palm, nothing more than a shiny stone. Sliding off the log, she sat on the ground and leant against it. The bare branches patterned the darkening sky above her, protecting her from any impending war Ebony may have predicted.

 

Lexi had not realised she had fallen asleep until her eyes snapped open. The night was black and made her feel claustrophobic, almost like she had been blindfolded. A blanket of clouds coated the sky, extinguishing any light the moon and stars offered. The silhouettes of low branches were visible in the darkness, but Lexi’s sight was impaired greatly. She no longer felt protected by the forest, but trapped. She could barely tell which way was up.

            She clambered to her feet, remaining low to the ground for fear of being seen by something invisible to her. The chill of the breeze pulled at her hair, caressing her face and arms. She shivered, trying to shake the feeling of hands pulling her into an unseen void. It was not just the cold that was making her uneasy; something with very big feet was making its way almost silently through the undergrowth towards her. If the ground had not been layered with dead, frozen leaves, Lexi would not have heard it at all.

            A growl followed the footsteps, a low rumble that echoed off the trees and vibrated the ground before silence engulfed the entire forest. The beast was silent, still, invisible in the darkness. Lexi felt its eyes on her, watching her shaking form. The sound of her own breathing rang in her ears as her eyes darted around the blackness, trying to spot the animal.

            The growl sounded again, louder this time, and a twig snapped. Lexi whirled round and her breath caught. Less than a hundred feet away, a pair of large yellow eyes watched her, though she could not see what they belonged to.

            A shining set of glistening, white teeth appeared beneath the eyes and Lexi whimpered, terrified. It snapped, a rough bark almost deafening her, and bounded forwards, covering at least twenty feet in a single leap. Lexi bolted, finding her feet and racing blindly into the darkness.

            Branches and thorns scratched at her face and arms, pulling at her tunic and tugging at her hair. She ran with her arms outstretched to prevent from running into anything, though she often tripped over roots or shrubs that she could neither see nor feel. Behind her, the shapeless beast bounded with large leaps.

            It caught up with her in moments. She felt its hot breath on the back of her neck and she lunged sideways, catching her balance on a nearby pine. The beast skidded, attempting to follow, which allowed Lexi to gain a little more distance.

            Gasping for air, she continued to run in a straight line until she reached a bank, too steep to climb. She slid to a halt on the frost. She stumbled and fell into the trench, hidden by darkness. The frozen ground was unforgiving on her back as she landed, knocking the breath from her lungs.

            It was even darker in the ditch and the beast appeared above her, snarling down the narrow opening which Lexi had fallen through. The gap was much too small for the creature to squeeze through, and Lexi breathed a sigh of relief once she had regained her breath. She was safe here as long as the creature could not slip through. She flattened her back against the back dirt wall of the trench as what was evidently a paw stretched down into the ditch, shining, lethally sharp claws inches from her chest as it swiped at her, desperately trying to reach.

            The creature growled and retracted its paw, instead shoving its snout into the ditch, sniffing. Lexi held her breath, watching the wet nose of what appeared to be a wolf’s head twitch.

            Teeth bared, the beast growled again and Lexi shied away, creeping along the trench on her toes, trying not to be heard. A paw swiped again, but Lexi was at least ten feet from it. She continued to sneak along the trench, wondering how far it would go and what it would lead to.

            The creature dropped to the opening and sniffed again, for longer this time. Lexi paused, listening as her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. The creature barked in annoyance and bounded along the trench, large paws thundering past as it tried to sniff her out. Lexi dropped to a crouch, pressed as far back in the ditch as she could as the dog-like animal sniffed again, swiping at air as it tried to reach her.

            Her skin prickled. Her joints ached. Her muscles throbbed.

            Lexi stared down at her hands in horror, the all too familiar sensations of an impending shift crawling throughout her body. The creature locked within her chest growled threateningly, warning her.

            She dropped to the ground, writhing in agony as her muscles tore away from bone, allowing her entire frame to reform. She clawed at her tunic, pulling it over her head so that it would not rip. Lexi devoured her bottom lip, whimpering as she tried to stop from crying out or screaming. She was no longer aware of the beast that stalked her; the entire memory was driven out of her mind by the searing pain that engulfed her body.

            On four paws, everything seemed brighter. She could see the beast clearly; it appeared to be an overgrown wolf. It stood watching her with bright yellow eyes, ears pricked. It no longer bared its teeth or snarled at her, but she still feared it.

            A wolf’s fear is very different to a human’s fear; a wolf is not overloaded with thoughts of impending doom, neither does it have a muddled mind. Shifting was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to Lexi, for her mind was now clear and she was able to leap out of the trench and bolt away into the trees. Four legs also made her faster.

            The wolf-creature snapped at her heels as it leapt after her, growling in frustration as she bounded into undergrowth and out of sight for a short time.

            Though Lexi was fast as a wolf, the beast chasing her was faster still. She could only keep ahead by weaving through trees with a nimble agility the creature could not match because of its size. She stumbled down into a hollow not unlike the one she had come across during the trial and crouched in a clump of bracken.

            The beast slid to a halt a little way away, revealing itself to Lexi now that she had clearer vision. It was neither wolf nor man, but struck a balance right in between; it had a wolf’s snout and eyes, overlarge paws with cat-like claws. Its limbs were elongated, appearing more human than wolf. Its jaws appeared strong enough to snap a horse in half, containing teeth like knives and white as ivory. The lycan’s body was coated in long, thick, coarse black fur that helped it to blend in with the night, though when the moon peeked through the blanket of clouds it appeared bluer.

            The werewolf rumbled in frustration, peering round and sniffing the air. Lexi crouched low in the brush, praying she would not be seen.

            Throwing back its head, the werewolf howled a long, low note. Lexi flinched and pressed herself against the ground; the sound was harrowing, mournful. As the note faded, the beast tilted its head to the side, as if listening, and huffed out a breath and took a few more careful steps forward.

            It sniffed up a tree and stood on its hind legs, leaning a paw on the trunk of the large oak. It nosed at the branches, searching for something that Lexi could not see from her hiding place. She stayed perfectly still, watching carefully. The lycan easily reached ten feet in height when stood upright, and she had guessed who it was.

            To the east, the sky began to lighten and red streaks coated the clouds. The lycan’s ears pricked as it watched the sun rise. It appeared no different from an overgrown wolf here, standing on four legs, teeth hidden. As the first rays of sunlight sparkled over the frost of the forest, the air surrounding the lycan began to shimmer and it bounded away into the undergrowth, out of sight. Lexi stayed stock still, allowing her breath to catch up with her and waiting for the beat of her heart to slow.

            When calm, she was engulfed in pain for the second time. The fur retracted, her ears shrank, and her skull reshaped. She lay panting on the frozen ground for what felt like hours, the frost freezing her bare skin with every passing minute.

It started to snow.

Lexi shivered violently every time a flake hit her skin, yet she refused to move. Her legs would not obey her; instead she sat embracing her knees tightly, watching her skin steadily turn a faint shade of blue as the snow piled around her.

The rustling seemed so far away and Lexi was barely aware of it; even when it grew louder and fell beside her. However, when his blazing fingers made contact with her frozen shoulder, she jumped and shied away, shaking violently.

Hunter was speaking quickly and Lexi watched his panicked eyes, unable to make sense of the words. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her, ignoring her nakedness and picked her up in his arms.

Heat radiated through his tunic and scorched her frozen skin. Her fingers clawed into his shoulders; burying her face into his shirt as he murmured noises she could not hear. The Academy was empty, as it was still early morning and barely anyone was awake. The astrologers tended to be awake early, but always headed for the Tower. Though she was too cold to care at the time, Lexi was later grateful for the quiet.

Ebony was not in the dormitory when Hunter barged straight in, placed her gently on her bed and disappeared into the bathroom whilst she coaxed her joints to thaw out enough to climb underneath the sheets. He returned with a wet cloth and wrapped it around her left wrist. Hot water scalded her skin and she flinched away from the heat, but Hunter held her still. Within a couple of minutes, her skin had lost its blue tinge and Lexi was able to make sense of what Hunter was murmuring to himself.

“What happened?” he said in a tone, sounding like it was the tenth time he had asked.

“W-w-werewolf…” she managed to say through chattering teeth.

Understanding dawned on his face and he moved the cloth to the other wrist. A large red stripe blazed on the skin where it had been and Lexi stared at it for a moment or two.

“Why were you in the forest?” he asked softly, but demanding.

“N-needed some s-space,” she said, impatient with shivering. “N-no one t-told me there would be a b-bloody werewolf out there.”

“You shifted.”

Lexi nodded in answer even though it had not been a question. He watched her for a moment before sitting onto the bed beside her. His heat was inviting and she leant into him, enjoying his unnatural warmth.

“Do you know where you shifted?” he asked.

“In a trench, I don’t know where.”

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. He wrapped his arms round her. Lexi’s teeth stopped chattering but she continued to tremble with cold.

            “I’ll get Seth to find your tunic,” Hunter said, releasing her and jumping off the bed. “You need to bathe.”

            He left and Lexi scrambled out of bed, letting herself into the bathroom. She dropped Hunter’s jacket on the floor and stepped into the bathtub, already full of hot water. It seeped straight through her skin and heated her down to the bones.

            Every time she closed her eyes, the images of the wolfen man with teeth as sharp as daggers and eyes glowing against the darkness leapt at her and she jumped back into reality. The memory made her shiver, though she was no longer cold.

            She redressed in a warm shirt and trousers, missing her tunic. She flinched in fright as someone knocked on the door.

            “Are you decent?” Hunter called from the other side.

            “Yes,” she called back shortly, picking up her sword from where it stood against the wall and sat on the bed, examining it in its leather holster. Hunter entered and leant against the door, his arms folded. He said nothing for a moment, merely watching her as she ran her fingers over the sheath.

            “Seth’s taken Estrella into the forest,” he told her. “But since you don’t know where you were, I cannot guarantee that he will find anything.”

            Lexi nodded. “Will he be okay?”

            “A lycan attacked you. Lycans are only in beast form during the night of the full moon. Surely you knew that?”

            Lexi did not answer.

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” Hunter probed gently.

            “I wasn’t hurt,” she said. “I will be fine.”

            A short time later, Lexi left with her sword over her back to find Seth. She had no desire to return to the forest, but she wanted to help look for the tunic she had lost so soon. If anyone could retrace her steps, it would be her.

            Glancing about the corridor, she froze, spotting him. He had been on his way to the dining hall but his eyes had found her first. They hovered there, staring at each other for a long while before he turned slowly towards her and took a cautious step in her direction. Lexi was more afraid than the day of her trial. She kept her gaze pinned on his turquoise eyes as he approached and tried to not look hostile. She wanted to speak with him.

            As he neared, she took note of his rough appearance; shallow cuts covered his face and forearms, shadows hung under his eyes, like he had been awake all night. He took a deep breath and said, “Hey.”

            Cassius’ voice was deep. Lexi nodded stiffly in greeting and replied with, “Hello.”

            His eyes flickered away from her for a short second before returning. He sighed heavily and said in a rush, “Look, I’m not good with words, so I’m just going to ask if you see me the same as I see you.” She could not quite place his foreign accent, for he was certainly not from Igrendem. Neither did he sound Findasian; his words were too rough. Though he was not fair-haired, he was from Enderwice.

            Lexi half smiled. “If you mean what I think you do, then yes.”

            He nodded and half turned away, as if to leave, before his eyes slid back to her. “I’m guessing you know what I am?”

            She briefly examined the dark rings round his eyes. “It’s been mentioned.”

            “Then I hope you will forgive me when I say I’m sorry for my behaviour last night. I’m not usually in such a bad mood,” he said with a small laugh.

            Lexi dropped her gaze to the floor. She had been correct in her assumption. “It would have been nice to have been warned. I have been aware of you for as long as I can remember, and I was not expecting you to exist, much less try to eat me on our first encounter.”

            He cringed. “Like I said, you happened to cross me on a bad day. Or night, rather. If I were you, I would stay in your own bed tonight; the full moon lasts three days.”

            He made to wander away but Lexi caught his arm. “If that’s your nature, then I would not be within my right to hold it against you for attacking me. After all, you never actually hurt me.”

            “No, but I could have done,” he said seriously. “You do understand that I am aware of what I do in that form?”

            She let go of his arm, fear washing over her. “You attacked me intentionally?”

            “No, no-no,” he said hurriedly. “Well, yes, but…” he growled at himself, sounding scarily like he did in wolf-form. “Yes, but I was not myself. In that form I have the instincts of a killer, more so than I do in this form. I did not mean you harm. Please forgive me.”

            Lexi nodded slowly, trying to make sense of his words. He turned to leave for the third time and strode away. Lexi jogged after him, skipping ahead to block his path. “If you are aware of what happens, you will have memories of it.”

            “That I do,” he said, sounding tired. “Why?”

            “Because I’m guessing you know that forest better than I do. Did you see where I shifted?”

            “Not exactly, but I know that trench,” he told her, his eyes sliding up the wall as he thought. “I’ll be guessing you want that new tunic of yours back, am I right?”

            Lexi nodded. She took the opportunity to examine him more closely; he was a swordsman, for his tunic was black, and he sported two blades, each about the length of Lexi’s sword, one on either hip. He had a proud stance, his arms folded and his chin held high. The tips of his fringe fell into his eyes, but he did not seem to notice.

Cassius shook his head. “I don’t trust those woods at the best of times. I’ll get it for you tonight just before I phase. I’ll leave it on the very outskirts, but don’t come and fetch it until the morning. It’s not safe.”

            “I would not dream of going back in there for a long time,” Lexi told him stiffly, memories of the animal fresh in her mind. He grimaced at her tone.

            “I apologise, again.”

            Lexi shrugged and hiked her sash further up her shoulder as he turned to leave. Lexi turned on her heel, walking towards the doors. Now that Salvador lived out in the fields with the other horses, he did not need tending to quite so often, but she like to see him anyway. She turned a corner in the corridor and stopped, her eyes wide, her breath catching on the smoke.

            The walls were coated in flames.

13: Chapter 12

Lexi crouched low to the ground, her hands over her nose and mouth in an attempt to filter out the tendrils of smoke that tried to creep into her lungs. The wooden panelling of the walls was blackened, the stone floor littered with ash and soot.

            Running low to the ground, she hurried in the only direction she could think of and raced for the Alpha’s office. The smoke was beginning to creep along the ceiling, capturing the attention of various shifters; they frowned and pointed it out to friends as Lexi weaved between them. She had not been to the office since arriving and only knew vaguely in which direction it was in.

            This corridor was lined with doors on both sides, none marked and Lexi could not remember which door led to the Alpha. She was certain it was one of the five lining the left-hand wall, but she was otherwise clueless.

            Standing in the middle of the corridor, her eyes darted from one door to the next, trying to remember which the Alpha’s was. Guessing, she knocked twice on the door in the middle and hastily entered. A middle-aged man was leaning back in a wooden chair, his feet resting on the desk in front of him. His hair was dark but greying at the sides and he was reading a long scroll of paper covered in tiny script. Lexi could not make out the words from the door and did not much care for what they read.

            “Fire!” she said hurriedly, despite the fact that this was not the Alpha.

            The man looked up from his paper and frowned. “Excuse me?”

            “The east corridor is in flames,” she told him impatiently. “Can you tell me where the Alpha is?”

            “In flames?” the man repeated, frowning in confusion. “His office is just next door,” He jerked his head to the wall on the right. “But I cannot guarantee he will be there.” He threw the scroll onto the desk and stood. He was a tall man; stocky and square-shouldered. “I will see to the corridor, inform the Alpha immediately.”

            Lexi nodded and skipped out of the room, darting left and knocking on the next door along. A deep, authoritative and familiar voice called for her to enter and she fell into the room, almost into the Alpha himself.

            “Miss Alexia,” he said, sounding surprised as she righted herself.

            “The east corridor is aflame,” she replied hurriedly as she hovered in the doorway, ready to dash away again.

            The Alpha frowned and repeated, “Aflame?” Lexi bit down on her impatience and merely nodded. “This Outpost is surrounded by over a hundred shape shifters; adolescents, yes, but shape shifters nonetheless. I do not see how a Slayer or human of any kind could have started a fire within our walls.”

            “Unless it was a shape shifter who began it,” Lexi offered, thinking of Nerezza.

            The Alpha shook his head. “This can be discussed later. Inform Kian Hunter of the fire and perhaps he can prevent it from spreading while we gather water.”

            Lexi nodded and then paused. He knew?

            She then darted away, thinking that it was fairly obvious that he would know of Hunter’s ability. After all, he had known her name before she had introduced herself.

            Outside, the roar of the fire was audible all the way from the east corridor. She returned to the south hallway, dancing between the flames to avoid singeing her feet. Many of the people she passed were exclaiming the words ‘water’ and ‘ice’ at one another, as if this would be enough to extinguish the fire.

            In the corridor itself, the tall man with greying hair was surrounded by a team of five young shifters, all stamping on the smaller flames and pounding out what they could of the fire on the walls. They babbled excitedly at each other, as did the stream of students that barged past Lexi’s shoulder to join them.

            Dashing past the lot of them, Lexi raced up the stairs, taking two at a time, and almost ran straight into Hunter.

            “Where are you going in such a hurry?” he asked, addressing her, but his eyes were pinned on the fire.

            “I was sent to find you,” she replied. “The Alpha wants you to prevent-”

            He silenced her with a hard look. “No one is meant to know.”

            She nodded. “What should I do?”

            “Break the ice on the pond, if you can,” he told her after a moment of thought. “Then we can extinguish the flames. If I keep the fire in one place long enough, it will run out of fuel and go out by itself, but that will take more energy than I have.”

            Lexi nodded again and darted away, landing in the middle of the increasing group of shape shifters attempting to extinguish the flames. The tall man swept an arm across her path to stop her and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

            “To break the ice on the pond,” she replied, gazing blankly up at his dark eyes. He nodded and let her continue.

            Before reaching the door leading out to the courtyard, she noticed that three of the team had followed her. They watched her with expecting eyes, waiting for her leadership. The gesture took her by surprise.

            The four of them stopped on the snowy bank of the pond.

            “How deep is it?” Lexi asked.

            “As long as you can swim, the depth shouldn’t matter much,” a young boy with fair hair and a sarcastic mouth said. Lexi ignored the jibe.

            “Probably double your height,” a red-headed girl answered. She reminded Lexi of Eleanor. Lexi thought for a moment, watching the ice, before drawing her sword and tapping the point on the solid water. The clang echoed around the courtyard, but the ice did not crack or move with the water beneath. Cautiously, she stepped onto it. It held her weight, but she could hear the cracking beneath her, muffled by the thickness of the ice.

            “Can you swim?” she asked the three at large and they all murmured, ‘yes’. She then gestured for them to join her, and, carefully, they stepped onto the frozen pond beside her. Miraculously, the ice held.

            “It will be thinner in the middle,” the red-headed girl told her, and Lexi noticed that she was wearing the same colour tunic as Ebony. She motioned for the others to wait at the edge while she crept towards the centre of the pond, slipping on the ice as she went. The cracks grew louder, but still the ice held.

            “One at a time, come and join me,” she said to the others. The young blonde boy strode forwards first and slipped, falling heavily on his back. Lexi stifled a smirk. The ice cracked beneath him, leaving a web of white fissures on the surface. Steadily, the boy got to his feet and slipped again, caught this time by the brown-haired boy that had accompanied him. Lexi recognised him; he had been Bryanne’s mentor, and Ebony had said his name was Darthen.

            “It will be weak here, now,” the red-headed girl said, crouching on the ice to examine the fissures.

            Lexi slid back to the web, hoping the combined weight of the four of them would be enough to break through, yet it still did not give way. Darthen jumped, stamping down in the centre of the web with both feet, and the four listened to the cracking of the ice beneath.

            Lexi said, “On three.”

            Darthen counted and, on three, the four of them leapt upwards and stamped down on the ice.

            Under the force, the ice gave way and Lexi scrambled backwards, slipping and landing on her back. The red-headed girl jumped back onto the bank along with Darthen, but the young boy was not fast enough and he fell through the ice. He let out a shriek of shock and pain as the icy water pierced his skin, his tunic and trousers providing no protection against the cold. He tried to cling to the edge of the ice, but pieces broke away. He was left thrashing in the small hole of water.

            Lexi pushed herself carefully to her feet and tip-toed back to the bank as the boy and girl leant down and hauled the boy out of the water. He stood on the bank, shivering, and Lexi ushered him back inside and told him to stand by the flames to dry off and warm up. At least he could not catch fire while drenched as he was.

            The red-headed girl, who presented herself as Amelia, Darthen and Lexi remained on the bank, discussing the fire and how the water could be transported. A glint of light glimmered in the corner of Lexi’s eye and she turned towards it.

            “Who is that?” she asked abruptly. A spindly youth with orange hair was visible through the windows at the far end of the courtyard, carrying a torch in one hand and a lantern in the other. He wore no tunic and he was holding the flames of the torch against one of the wooden doors.

            “Someone that does not belong here,” Amelia growled.

            Looking back, Lexi noticed that the both of them only had their knives in their belts. They were both in off-white, both astrologers with no other weapon. At least, Ebony’s only weapons were her knife and knowledge. Knowledge, Lexi thought, would not help here.

            “Follow him,” Darthen said to her. “Amelia and I will start moving the water. He is on his own and he is young; you will be fine.”

            Amelia added in an undertone. “Many humans overestimate our capabilities.”

Hitching the strap of her sash higher up her shoulder, Lexi stepped around the bank and back through the door into the corridor, watching the progress of the intruder with the fire through the windows. Nearly all of the shifters had grouped to the fire and the corridors were empty. Lexi realised that the attack had been planned out almost perfectly, but the fire was merely a distraction. But what were they being distracted from?

            As she crept onto the corridor where the youth was lighting the walls and doors, she unsheathed her sword, intending to be silent, but the ring of the metal blade on the sheath alerted the intruder to her presence.

            The pair of them watched each other; Lexi’s guarded eyes peering into the wide, frightened gaze of the boy. The bronze hilt felt cold in her grasp.

            He was approximately thirty feet away, the flame of the torch becoming feeble. Tightening her grip on her sword, Lexi lunged forward and sprinted down the corridor. The boy froze in panic at her advance and she was just ten feet from him, her sword raised, when he threw the lantern and ran. Lexi raised an arm to her face as the lantern flew towards her. The hot glass scolded the skin of her forearm and she sucked in a pained breath, but she kept up the chase as the lantern smashed on the floor as it landed.

            The youth was evidently human. His stride was not fast despite his long legs and Lexi caught him up before he reached the back entrance. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pinned him against the wall, her teeth bared.

            “Drop the torch,” she snarled, holding the point of her blade against the base of his throat. He released it and it clattered to the floor. The flames still flickered but could not spread on the stone. “Who are you?” The youth attempted to mask his frightened expression, but he trembled under her fierce stare. When he did not answer, Lexi pressed the blade closer to his neck and he flinched.

            “My name is Peter,” he said as her lip curled back to reveal her teeth in a primal threat. She ceased the snarl to reward him for answering, but she was not yet satisfied.

            “Who do you work for?” she demanded. She winced as the burn on her arm throbbed painfully, but she refused to show any display of pain. She did not believe this cowardly youth was acting of his own accord. The boy pressed his lips together, refusing to speak, his fearful eyes watching her.

            Lexi narrowed her eyes and brought the sword back, pressing the sword against his abdomen. “You have to the count of three before I run you through,” she warned him. “One. Two…”

            “The Breeders, I work for the Breeders!” he babbled.

            Lexi withdrew her sword, but her eyes narrowed, questioning. “Who are the Breeders?”

            “I don’t know!” he whimpered, eyeing the sword as it rested against her side. “I was hired to cause a distraction whilst they tried to capture some of you-” Lexi brought the sword back up and pressed it against his collarbone. Peter whimpered and his eyes watered in fear.

            “Capture who, exactly?” she asked quickly, her voice losing the hard edge.

            “I don’t know, they didn’t tell me,” he moaned.

            Lexi was now faced with a dilemma; stay safe and kill him there and then, let him free with a threat to not return, or take him to the Alpha. He was not threatening her, and so killing him would not be justified. She did not trust her strength to keep him restrained all the way to the Alpha’s office. She had only seconds to decide and her merciful side won out. She tightened her grip on his collar and she dragged him away from the wall, leading him towards the back entrance that would lead straight to the forest. She led him down two corridors with the blade of her sword resting against his chest. His steps were clumsy and he often stumbled.

            At the door, Lexi shoved him back against the wall and he whimpered in fright. “I will let you go, but you must tell your employers to abandon the attack and you will leave with them immediately. If I catch you within these walls again, I will run you through. Understand?”

            Peter nodded and she pushed him out the door. He tripped and fell down the steps, landing heavily on his back, but he was on his feet in a half second. Lexi watched him race away into the trees.

            She let out a breath and leant against the wall, sheathing her sword. She allowed herself only thirty seconds of rest before she shrugged away from the wall and followed the corridors back round to the south hallway at a jog. The courtyard was now empty, and she could see that more of the ice on the pond had been broken off.

            Hunter stood against the post of the staircase, now blackened with soot and charred wood. His eyes were closed and he held the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. His breathing was deep and unsteady, as if he had run several miles in the space of a few minutes. The shifters around him were still patting small flames on the walls out with their hands and sweeping ash up off the floor. The wooden panelling was ruined beyond repair.

            Lexi approached quietly, wishing she did not have to disturb him, but she had no one else to tell. “Hunter?” she asked cautiously.

            He looked up wearily and he offered a small smirk of a smile. His eyes then snapped to the wound on her arm and the smile disappeared. “You are hurt.”

            Lexi looked at the burn and grimaced at the swollen flesh. “It isn’t lethal.”

            “Let me bandage it,” Hunter insisted and he made to move off the post. She stopped him by placing a hand on his arm.

            “Later, maybe, but first I must tell you something.” She recounted the events with Peter and Hunter listened attentively. When she finished, he remained in a thoughtful silence for a few moments.

            Eventually, he said, “Wait for me by the stables. I will inform the Alpha of your findings, and then we will search the forest for Seth.”

            Lexi nodded and they departed in opposite directions. As she passed, she peeked down the east corridor, where much of the walls were in ruins and the stone floor was coated in ash and soot. The air was still warm, almost stiflingly so.

            Outside, the breeze was icy and Lexi felt as if she had walked straight into a wall of snow. The cold soothed the burned skin of her forearm, but the rest of her was shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way across the powder snow towards the barn. She took shelter from the wind in the stables, sitting on an upturned bucket while she waited.

            Hunter appeared before long and Lexi stood. He shook his head and pointed back at the bucket. “Sit. I’m going to bandage you.” He held in his hand a pot of white ointment and a roll of gauze.

            Lexi frowned. “Seth is missing; my arm can wait!” she argued, crossing her arms in defiance.

            “Seth is not stupid enough to find himself caught by a team of humans,” Hunter said dismissively. “But it would not be wise for him to linger in the forest for too long; we do not know where the Breeders have gone or if they have left at all.” He pointed again at the bucket and Lexi sat with an irritated huff.

            Hunter crouched beside her and positioned her arm. He balanced the pot on his knee and dipped his fingers into the ointment. His touch stung as he added the cream, but his fingertips were soft and effective. He held her wrist in place with his left hand and gently rubbed the ointment into her skin, soothing her wound. He still appeared exhausted, but the work retained his attention and he seemed to forget his fatigue.

            He then placed the pot on the ground and replaced the cap, turning to the gauze and unravelled it a little. “This will sting a little,” he warned her before wrapping the sheet of fabric around her arm several times, wrapping up the burn.

            “Finished?” Lexi asked as he rolled up what gauze he had not used and left it by the ointment. Hunter nodded and stood, offering a hand to her.

            “We would be best to travel on foot,” Hunter said. “The horses cannot tread lightly in the woods and if there are remaining Breeders, we don’t want to alert them to our presence. Seth, however, should be easy to find.”

            Despite Hunter’s affirmations, Seth was nowhere to be found within the forest. Progress was slow on foot, but by late afternoon, Lexi found herself beside the Hollow in which she had jumped down in the third task of her trial. It did not appear quite so spooky and mysterious without the thick coating of fog.

            “Can you not remember where you shifted?” Hunter asked as the sun began to sink dangerously low in the sky.

            “I was in a trench, but that is all I know,” she told him irritably. “I was a little preoccupied with the great werewolf that so desperately wanted to sink its teeth into me.” Hunter did not reply and glanced around the trees.

            “If we aren’t careful, we will find ourselves at the mercy of the lycan,” he noted after another half hour of aimless wandering.

            “Again,” Lexi added with a grimace.

            The pair of them approached a small crater that Lexi found familiar. Hunter gazed down at it. “This is where I found you,” he said. “Do you remember anything from here?”

            “I know I ran in a straight line,” she replied after a moment of thought. She examined the patch of bracken blanketing the hollow, how it was positioned and she noted that there was a small spot within that marked where she had sat frozen, waiting for rescue. “I think I came from that way.” She pointed to the right and Hunter followed her indication.

            The sun was beginning to cast redness across the sky as it dipped below the horizon and Hunter’s tension was mounting, as was Lexi’s. She had no desire to find herself in the same predicament as the previous night, and Cassius had told her to stay away until dawn.

            “We ought to leave,” Hunter murmured as dusk drew in, his breath misting in the cold night air.

            “We cannot leave Seth here,” Lexi argued, though a shiver ran up her spine, and not from the chill.

            “Seth may have already returned,” he snapped.

            “And if he hasn’t?”

            “Then he’s a fool.”

            A distant rustling caught Lexi’s attention and Hunter tilted his head to one side, listening. Twigs snapped and branches creaked, the steps light but clumsy on the leaf-littered forest ground. Lexi’s heart jumped and Hunter took a hold of her unwounded arm, pulling her behind him as if to shield her.

            The rustling grew louder until a tall and lanky figure broke free of the brush and Seth came into view. His expression was panicked and he stumbled over his feet as he ran, leaping over roots and slipping on the frosty leaves.

            Hunter relaxed noticeably. “Seth, you fool!” he snapped in a hushed voice as the hazel-haired boy lunged at him, grasping his shoulders and babbling in a voice too high to understand. Seth stood a half a foot higher than Hunter but it did not stop him from clinging onto his pack mate’s arms like a frightened boy.

            “Seth!” Hunter barked in an attempt to quiet him.

            “There’re humans!” Seth whispered. He jumped and hid behind Hunter’s shoulder as the thwack of a bowstring sounded. He and Lexi stood side by side behind him, though Hunter kept a hold of a Lexi’s wrist in an attempt to comfort her. Seth clawed his fingers into Hunter’s sleeve.

            “Where’s Estrella?” Lexi asked in a low voice, her eyes glued over Hunter’s shoulder.

            “I didn’t bring her; I thought it would be faster to find your tunic on foot. I would not have spent so much time here if I hadn’t gotten lost,” he replied, his voice high with fear. Lexi saw that his hands were shaking.

            Hunter made a sound like a scoff, but said nothing.

            Silence descended and the three of them stood listening. Lexi listened to the faint rustling movements that sounded nothing more than the nocturnal wildlife, but something was not right; each step was even and rhythmic and much too heavy for the light steps of a fox or rabbit.

            Seth whimpered audibly and Hunter shushed him.

            A glint caught Lexi’s eye and she looked to the left, catching the shine of a sword blade before it was swallowed by the dark. Similar metallic lights glinted in every direction, flashing up before disappearing in the space of a blink. Lexi grasped Hunter’s wrist as she realised that they were surrounded and he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. Seth tightened his grip on his sleeve.

            “Stand your ground.” Hunter barely breathed the words, but Lexi heard. She did not feel she could stand upright alone, let alone fight a band of humans in the dark.

            In a flurry of noise and movement, Lexi was wrenched away from the two boys by two pairs of strong arms. Seth squealed from somewhere she could not see and Hunter let out a growl that sounded more wolf-like than human.

            She grabbed blindly at her shoulder for the hilt of her sword and yanked it free from the sheath, the ring of metal echoing about the forest. She could barely see through the darkness, the faint light from the moon allowing her only to see the blades of swords as they swung towards her. She managed to dance out of the grasps of the humans and duck to avoid the blades, parrying them where she could.

            Lexi could not see either Seth or Hunter, but she could hear; Hunter continued to growl, clashes of metal emanating from her left, though she knew he did not own a sword. There was no sound from Seth, but she could not let herself linger on the thought for too long.

            She was distracted by a yelp and she turned, her heart hammering in fear at the thought of either Seth or Hunter injured. In her momentary lapse in attention, a dirty cloth was tied around her mouth, silencing her as she fought against it. She clawed at the gag, trying to yank it free from her mouth as her sword was jerked out of her grasp. Two men wrestled to get her arms behind her back and bound together, effectively immobilising her.

            Hunter snarled once more before a clink of metal was heard and the noise of his fight ceased.

            Five torches were lit and the small area was illuminated. Seth was also bound in the clutches of two burly human men, gagged with a sword pressed against his throat. His eyes were wide in fright as he tried to lean away from the blade. Hunter fought against the three men that tried to restrain him, ungagged, lip curled back in a primal snarl. Between them, five men with long swords stood in three lines to create a triangle, with Lexi, Seth and Hunter marking the points.

            “What now?” one of the younger men asked, an orange-haired youth with a freckled face and teeth that were too big for his mouth. He stood between Lexi and Hunter, looking bored.

            “We take them to the base, idiot,” another youth snapped and barked a condescending laugh.

            “How, exactly?” the first man replied. “Do you suggest we drag them all the way there? The cart has gone with the other three and that one looks particularly strong.” He indicated Hunter as he fought the three men, squirming with all his might while growls ripped from his teeth.

            “We have names,” Hunter snarled. “We request that you address us as such.”

            “Quiet, beast,” the brown-haired youth spat.

            Hunter glowered at him. “Release the girl. Keep Seth and I, if you want, but she will not be of any use to you.” Seth blanched at these words and whimpered behind his gag. Hunter silenced him with a hard look.

            “Oh?” One of the older men spoke. “How will she not be of use?”

            Hunter turned to address him and stood up straighter, no longer fighting his captors. “Female souls are attached to their being. They can be extracted just as yours or mine, but they cannot be given to another.”

            “You are lying,” the man said, but doubt flickered in his eyes.

            Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Try me.”

            Lexi did not have the faintest idea of whether Hunter was telling the truth or not, but she was not going to question him or give away a secret by attempting to communicate with her eyes. She would ask him later, when they were free from this capture, for she did not doubt that Hunter would find a way to wriggle his way out.

            “Bind them with the rope; we can take turns in holding them,” the man announced, keeping his eyes locked on Hunter’s. Four of the men, including the two youths, disappeared from view. Hunter bared his teeth at the captor clinging to his right arm in warning and the man backed away.

            Lexi’s hands were wrenched painfully behind her back and she felt the roughness of rope against her skin. They were not gentle with her arms and she winced as a hand gripped her forearm exactly where her burn was situated beneath the bandage. Her heart picked up speed and she was finding it hard to breath around the gag. Hunter began to fight again and Seth’s whimpering started.

            “I said, let the girl go!” Hunter snapped at the older, authoritative man.

            “I cannot do that, for my employer would sooner boil his own liver than have a captured shape shifter released.”

            Lexi thought this was a very strange phrase, but did not let her mind linger on it. She struggled against the rope, squirming just enough to avoid the rope binding her wrists and her hair was pulled in punishment. She yelped as pain shot across her scalp.

            A howl sounded; a long and low, almost mournful note that caused the scene before her to freeze. A beam of hope swelled in her chest as she recognised Cassius’ wolfen voice, but it was quickly replaced by dread as she remembered that Cassius as a werewolf was not the same man as Cassius in his human form. Unless they could run and hide, they were all going to be ripped to pieces.

            “What was that?” the orange-haired youth asked, his voice laced with fear.

            “Nothing we want to cross paths with,” the other replied.

            “What do we do?” three men asked simultaneously, each directing their question at the authoritative man who had addressed Hunter.

            He seemed to take a moment to decide. He then sheathed his sword in his belt and strode away into the trees without a backward glance. The remaining men looked at each other in confusion before sheathing their own weapons and following. Lexi’s two captors were replaced by the orange-haired youth and Seth was held by the other. Hunter was freed.

            “You ought to leave,” he said in a low, menacing voice to the youth holding Lexi in place.

            “Quiet, beast!” he spat. Hunter narrowed his eyes.

            “This beast that stalks the woods cannot be controlled by any of us. If you wish to keep your life, I suggest you start running.”

            The brown-haired boy took heed of the advice and abandoned Seth, racing after his accomplices. Seth pulled away his gag and ran to stand beside Hunter. Lexi began to shake off the youth, but he refused to leave. He was white in the face, but his hands were steady and he seemed to believe he could take on three shape shifters alone.

            The howl erupted once more, a considerable amount closer this time and Seth blanched. “I’m not sure this is much better than being caught,” he murmured.

            “Quiet, Seth,” Hunter commanded softly. “If you do not leave, I will personally feed you to the dogs,” he said to the youth.

            Lexi listened to the bounding strides of the werewolf as it grew closer and felt her legs begin to tremble with the urge to run. Hunter heard them too and grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt, pulling him round and throwing him with all his power in the direction of the approaching creature. The half-wolf-half-man bounded into the circle of light, his dagger-like teeth bared. The youth let out a piercing scream and Seth covered his ears as he hid behind Hunter.

            In the light of the torches, the wolf’s fur appeared more blue than black, and Lexi saw for the first time the great scale of the animal. Even on four legs he exceeded Seth’s height and his tail appeared to be the thickness of a cedar trunk. Cassius gazed down at the boy and circled him like a vulture to a carcass.

            Hunter took Lexi’s hand and pulled her to him, holding her against his chest in a tight embrace. “Don’t look,” he murmured and Lexi closed her eyes tightly. With a growl, Cassius bore down on his prey.

            Although she could not see, she could hear the ripping of flesh and snapping of bones, the crunching of what must have been the boy’s skull and the screaming ceased. When the noises stopped, Lexi peeked up from Hunter’s chest and was met with the steely gaze of the werewolf, his muzzle now painted red. His finger-like claws dug into the earth as if preparing himself to leap, but instead he turned on his paw and bounded back into the trees where the night engulfed him. 

14: Chapter 13

Lexi lay awake for most of what remained of the night, fearing sleep and the dreams it would bring with it. Behind her closed eyelids, she could see glowing yellow eyes peering over a bloodied muzzle, standing over the broken carcass of the youth.

            The following morning, Lexi was the last to leave the common room. Her vision was blurred from fatigue and her steps were weak. However, this was nothing compared to the sight of Cassius down in the south hallway as they passed on the way to the dining hall for breakfast. Shadows lingered under his eyes and fresh cuts had appeared on his arms and face. Despite all this, the turquoise of his eyes appeared brighter and his step seemed lighter.

            One corner of his mouth tilted up when he spotted Lexi and he held out the blue tunic. Lexi beamed and took it from him, along with the trousers and belt, with the knife still sheathed.

            “Thank you,” she said, and he saluted her in reply. She thought for a moment and added, “And thank you for saving us last night.”

            He smirked and shrugged. “Anytime. I did tell you to not venture into those woods again. It would appear you either have a death wish or a very short memory.”

            Lexi scowled at him. “We were looking for Seth.”

            “That much I could figure,” Cassius said. He folded his arms and leant against the wall, but quickly stood upright again as the charred wood began to crumble beneath his weight. “Seems like that boy had what was coming to him,” he muttered.

            A shiver ran down Lexi’s spine. “Perhaps.”

            Cassius saluted once more in farewell and Lexi hurried on into the Dining Hall. Of the three sitting at their usual table, Ebony was the only one that seemed half awake. Hunter leant on his hand and yawned into his mug. Seth lay his entire head on the table and had a half-eaten slice of bread in his hand.

            “Seth?” Lexi asked as she sat beside him. When he did not respond, she clapped loudly next to his ear and he jumped up onto his feet, almost knocking his chair over. Hunter stifled a grin.

            Ebony, however, was not smiling. “Three shape shifters have been taken by the Breeders,” she said solemnly.

            Lexi’s amused smirk faded. “Who?”

            “We don’t know,” Ebony said in reply. Hunter yawned again and sat up straighter in his seat, placing his mug back on the table. He looked like he was going to say something, but Ebony continued when he stayed silent. “We aren’t sure what the Breeders plan to do with them either.”

            “Breed them, by the sound of it,” Lexi commented humourlessly.

            “We aren’t animals, though; I don’t see how they could force it on them,” Ebony said thoughtfully.

            “For all they know, we are no different from animals,” Hunter muttered. “And if they cannot force them to mate, I can imagine it’s likely that they will take chances and breed them human-shifter.”

            Lexi’s stomach churned in disgust at the prospect. “What are the chances when that happens?”

            “Half and half,” Ebony told her. “Hunter’s mother was human.”

            Hunter narrowed his eyes at her and she looked down at the table, her cheeks flushing red. Lexi shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and noticed that Seth was dozing off again. She flicked him on the ear and he jerked awake.

            “I don’t understand why they want to breed us,” she said after a moment. “The last I heard, humans wanted us all dead.”

            “I had the same thought,” Hunter replied, “and I think they might be considering the removal of their shifter abilities. They can collect the shard and sell it.”

            “But why?”

            He tapped his fingers on the table top for a few seconds as he thought. “Defence, I would think. Humans only want us wiped out because they know that we are stronger than they are. If they can match our strength, then it is either easier to destroy our race entirely or at least defend against us should they need to. Personally, I believe the former is more likely.”

            “Then why sell the soul shards?” Lexi asked. “Why not take the offspring of said forced breeding and brainwash them? Or better yet, why not just capture shape shifters and force them to do as the Council demands?”

            “The offspring will still have the shifter gene and humans won’t trust them,” Seth mumbled, speaking for the first time. “Likewise with captured shape shifters, we, as a race, are too strong willed. Most of the Legion had to be kept prisoner for many months before they promised allegiance to the King, and even then that was purely because they had been promised that they would not be forced against their own race.”

            Lexi had heard rumours of the Legion before, but she knew little of the group. Before she could ask further, Hunter stood and strode away. Ebony followed and Lexi shoved Seth out of his seat in order to accompany them.

            “You found your tunic, then?” Seth murmured as they walked beside each other.

            “Cassius brought it to me this morning,” she replied. A cloud seemed to pass over Seth’s expression and he narrowed his eyes down at the floor. Lexi felt uneasy and did not speak again until they reached the common room, where she disappeared into her dormitory to change back into her tunic.

            Hunter frowned at her from his seat by the fire. “Where did you find that?” he asked, indicating her clothing.

            “Cassius found it,” she replied, mentally bracing herself for a similar reaction to Seth’s. As she expected, his face darkened and his eyes grew steely. Like Seth, he did not comment and hid behind the pages of a book. Ebony avoided her eyes also and became very interested in the fireplace, currently devoid of flames.

            The door banged open and the four of them jumped. Ash charged in, strode past Lexi and stood in the centre of the room, facing Seth and Hunter. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide with panic.

            “What’s wrong?” Seth asked as Hunter looked up from his book.

            “Jack’s gone,” he panted.

            Seth went rigid and his face went white. The name rang a distant bell in Lexi’s mind but she could not think who Jack was. She assumed it was one of the hunting group by Seth’s expression.

            Hunter frowned. “Are you sure?”

            “Three shape shifters have been taken, have they not?” Ash snapped impatiently. “I haven’t seen Jack since yesterday, and I cannot find him anywhere. I’ve searched the forest beyond the limits of the grounds, the fields, the stables, he isn’t anywhere in the Academy and no one has seen him.”

            “We don’t know who has been taken,” Ebony reminded him.

            “Well, one of them is evidently Jack,” Ash spat. Lexi thought she could see his upper lip twitching, as if restraining the urge to snarl at Ebony.

            Hunter sighed. “What do you want us to do about it, Ash?”

            “Get him back!” Ash exclaimed.

            “Even if it was somehow within our capabilities,” Ebony stated, “we don’t know where he and the other two have been taken, nor do we know the numbers of the Breeders. He could be half way across the Valley by now.”

            “We can’t just leave him,” Seth murmured in a quiet, timid voice.

            Hunter leant forward in his seat. “Why did you come to me, Ash? I’m far from the most competent shifter in this place.”

            “You are the best archer,” Ash countered.

            “So you expect me to free him with arrows?” Hunter asked, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

            Lexi perched on the windowsill, continuing to listen to the discussion. Hunter did not sound displeased at the prospect of rescuing Jack; on the contrary, he appeared eager for the mission. But he was also interested in the details to Ash’s reasoning. Ebony seemed less than pleased at the idea, but did not say as much.

            “Who would you have preferred me to go to?” Ash asked, his eyes narrow.

            Hunter shrugged. “I don’t know. Demitri is a better swordsman than I, more useful in close combat, which is inevitable. Or Cassius, who is just as apt with two blades and more nimble than Demitri.” The words appeared to pain him to say, though he worked to keep his expression one of matter of fact.

            “I would sooner ask Seth than Cassius,” Ash snarled. Seth appeared offended at the implication, but Hunter spoke before he could respond.

            “Pride and selfishness is not wise when the life of your friend is in danger,” Hunter reasoned. Ash’s jaw stiffened, but he otherwise did not respond. Seth’s gaze flickered between the two of them, waiting for one of them to speak.

            “If we can find where the Breeders are based, there is no reason why Demitri cannot accompany us,” Lexi said lightly. She wondered if Cassius could be convinced to join them, and thought it best to not bring it up with the others until later. If Cassius was as good with a sword as Hunter had claimed, he would be a valuable addition.

            “We will need numbers if we are really contemplating this quest,” Hunter agreed. “The number of humans at the base will not be small.”

            Ash spent a moment looking around them all before saying, “That makes six of us including Demitri. We will need more.”

            “Count me out,” Ebony said coolly. “I am no fighter.”

            “Five, then,” Ash amended stiffly.

            “Why not ask Cassius?” Lexi asked casually, as if the response would not bother her in the slightest. “If he’s competent with a weapon, I don’t see why he cannot be included in our party.”

            A dark cloud seemed to cover the room.

            To save the others from responding, Demitri walked through the door at that moment and frowned as he came face to face with a room full of people with dark expressions. He then spotted Lexi by the window, who gave a little wave in greeting.

            He saluted in response and then said, “Did someone die?”

            “Jack has been taken by the Breeders,” Ash snarled in reply.

            Demitri’s face lit up with understanding and he walked over to the fire, where he stood and leant on the back of Hunter’s chair. “I expect we will be preparing a rescue mission, then, correct?” Ash nodded once in reply and Hunter leant back in the chair, opening his book and hiding behind it. “We will need numbers.”

            “So we had noticed, Demitri,” Hunter said mildly. “Four will certainly be too few.”

            Lexi frowned and recounted the number in the room, discounting Ebony. “Five,” she corrected.

            “Four,” he repeated, peering at her over the brim of his book. “You are staying here.”

            Lexi opened her mouth to argue, but Demitri beat her to it. “Hunter, I would not have expected to see the day where you begin protecting a female.” His voice was mocking and dripping with humour. “Why, I remember the exact words you spoke to me a little over two months ago. What were they? Oh yes; the only female I would protect would be­-”

            “Yes, Demitri, you have made your point clear,” Hunter snapped. “Lexi is only just trialled.”

            “What is your point?” Demitri asked. “You said yourself that you have never seen a girl with human roots that showed so much talent.” Lexi flushed at the comment and looked down at her knees. “Normally I would agree with you, but seeing you eat your words is just so satisfying.”

            Hunter stood suddenly, dropping his book to the floor and Demitri nearly toppled backwards. “You have said enough.” Hunter’s voice was hard and cold, and sent a shiver across Lexi’s skin.

            Demitri looked like he wanted to continue, but he raised both palms to his chest in submission and stayed silent. Hunter continued to glare at him for a short time before he muttered, “I’m going to the village to ask about the base.” He then turned and headed to his dormitory to change into human clothes.

            “I will get the horses ready,” Ash added and he darted out of the common room. Lexi glanced out of the window. A light drizzle of rain was just beginning to fall, washing the remainder of the snow away. She stood. They needed numbers, and Cassius was valuable when it came to combat. Whether the others liked it or not, she would ask him to accompany them.

            “Where are you going?” Demitri asked lightly.

            “Nowhere important,” she replied in an equally conversational tone and left before he could question her further.

            She paused on the balcony, suddenly aware that she neither knew where Cassius would be, nor where his common room was. She hesitated for a moment before deciding to head for the combat hall.

            Lexi did not even reach the hall, for she ran into him on the stairs, accompanied by Nerezza.

            Cassius’ dark expression seemed to brighten at the sight of her and he saluted in greeting. Lexi attempted a smile in response, but her attention was pinned to the girl at his side. Nerezza flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and smiled condescendingly at her. Lexi allowed herself a return smirk and otherwise ignored her. “Can I speak with you?” she said to Cassius.

            His eyes darted sideways at Nerezza before he nodded and she led him back down the steps. Nerezza watched them until they reached the corridor and turned on her heel, marching up the remaining steps.

            “Jack was one of the shape shifters taken by the Breeders yesterday,” Lexi said to Cassius when she was sure they were alone.

            Cassius leant on the post of the stairs with his arms folded. “Jack?”

            “He’s a huntsman, once of Seth’s group,” she explained briefly. “Seth and Ash – another of the hunting group – are worried about him. Hunter is going to the village today to see if he can find out anything about a base we heard them talking about last night.”

            “In short, you are preparing a rescue mission,” Cassius said. Lexi nodded. “And where do I fit into this?”

            Lexi exhaled. “I wondered if you would come with us.”

            His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Me? Why?”

            “Hunter speaks very highly of you.” She did not add that he had spoken painfully as well as highly.

            Cassius snorted. “That I cannot believe.”

            “We need numbers,” Lexi continued hastily. “Ebony will not join us and Hunter has already forbidden me to go. He said that you and Demitri are the most skilled swordsmen in the Academy and you are more nimble than Demitri with two blades-”

            “Now you are outright lying,” Cassius interrupted. “Hunter is not a liar, I will give him that, but to place me higher than Demitri on his scale of respect is a very unlikely thing for him to do. He does not lie, but he does not speak truths he doesn’t like.”

            “It is what he said,” Lexi said firmly.

            Cassius narrowed his eyes down at her, scrutinising her expression for any signs of her lying. She held his gaze. Finally, he gave in. “Will this mission include ripping more humans to shreds?”

            “Not literally,” she muttered, shivering.

            “Damn.” Lexi could not tell whether he was joking or not. “I will join you all the same; that is, if your party will not try to run me through with a sword first.”

            “They seem to grow angry every time I mention your name,” she mumbled.

            He grimaced. “As do many.”

            “Can you tell me why?”

            “I would prefer not to,” he said lightly, lowering his eyes to the floor. Lexi did not push further, though she had many questions for him. They could wait until the rescue mission was over and she and he had a little more time to talk alone. The corridor was not the most private of places and the pair were almost talking in whispers.

            “Why are you friendly with Nerezza?” Lexi asked after a moment, lowering her voice further.

            “Because we are of the same animal,” he said, almost grimly. “She was the only person to accept me upon my arrival. People fear me because of what I am, and developing my skill only made them dislike me further.”

            “Was it this lack of respect that brought you to string Demitri to the ceiling?”

            Cassius’s eyes clouded over and one corner of his mouth tilted up in a nostalgic smile. “I remember that.”

            Lexi narrowed her eyes. “What did he do?”

            “He bettered Nerezza with a sword, and she did not take kindly to the humiliation. She asked me to get revenge for it, and I did.” He continued as Lexi’s eyes narrowed further into slits. “It was a fair fight; neither of us had our weapons.”

            Cassius glanced up suddenly and Lexi followed his eyes up the steps. Hunter had paused halfway up and was staring down at them with cold eyes. He would not meet Lexi’s gaze, boring his stare into Cassius’s turquoise gaze. Cassius stared back equally, unblinkingly, not at all bothered by the daggers that seemed to fly from Hunter’s dark mood.

            “Morning,” Cassius said politely, touching the brim of an imaginary hat. Hunter’s scowl only deepened as he descended the remainder of the steps and strode past them without paying any heed to Lexi’s presence.

            “Charming fellow, is he not?” Cassius mumbled once he was out of earshot. Lexi frowned in confusion at the sudden change in his speech. After a moment, she realised he was mocking Hunter’s way of speaking. She scowled and turned her back to him, heading down the corridor without having any destination. She heard Cassius’s laugh – surprisingly high in pitch – and lengthened her stride.

            “Don’t storm off on me, Sister,” Cassius chided playfully, dancing in front of her path to stop her. “Good old White Belly will have forgotten the jibe before he hits the trees.”

            Lexi folded her arms across her chest. “White Belly?”

            “Haven’t you seen Hunter in his wolf form yet?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “I will have you remember that I have been here little over four weeks,” she muttered coolly.

            He shrugged. “Anyhow, his underside is white. Hence, White Belly.”

            Lexi nodded curtly. “Come to our common room at dusk,” she said before sidestepping around him and continuing along the corridor. This time, he did not follow.

15: Chapter 14

Hunter returned late in the afternoon, his fringe plastered to his forehead and water dripping from his clothes. He wiped the rainwater from his face as he entered the common room and scraped the hair away from his eyes. Tao padded at his heels, pausing to shake the water out of his fur.

            “Nice of you to join us,” Demitri said pleasantly. Hunter held up a finger and darted into his dormitory to change back into his dry tunic. The rain had grown heavier over the course of the day with no sign of letting up. Hunter appeared half-drowned.

            Lexi sat beside Ebony on one of the couches, entertaining herself by looking through one of the books on astrology. She was particularly interested in a column that held a myth about dragons:

 

There were four different types of the creature commonly known as the dragon. The Earth dragons were solidly built, their scales matching the hardness of the strongest of metals. They may have grown to the size of mountains. The Air dragons were leaner-built with hollow bones, sporting wings that could reach a span of twenty feet. They could carry heavy loads over a great distance. Fire dragons and Water dragons were more suited to their fiery caverns or the ocean depths. Unfortunately, these creatures have not been seen on Arkridge for many thousands of years, and it is likely the race has long been extinct. For more on dragons, turn to chapter 87.

 

Before Lexi could turn to the right page, Hunter returned and Demitri leant forwards in his seat. Hunter sat cross legged on the floor beside the fire, the dog leaning his head on his lap. Hunter ruffled his ears.

            “Do we have a lead?” Demitri asked impatiently.

            Hunter looked up. “Yes. I was given directions south-east towards the part of the island that has no roads.”

            “Who was so kind as to give you these directions?” Ebony asked.

            “The wife of the village chief,” Hunter told her.

            She laughed. “Why does that not surprise me?” At his confused expression, she continued. “Females, human females especially, take one look at you and practically melt. All you have to do is flash them a smile and look straight at them with those irresistible amber eyes of yours, and they will tell you anything.”

            Hunter frowned at the comment and his cheeks flushed pink as Seth sniggered. Lexi blushed at how terribly accurate Ebony was.

             “So where did these directions lead you?” Demitri asked.

            “She took me to the end of the road and told me to continue straight on,” Hunter replied hastily before Seth could make a snide comment. “I did as she said and arrived on a hill overlooking the base.”

            “And…?” Demitri encouraged.

            “And I believe Fineara will have to be on our side if we want a chance of getting past the door.”

            Demitri seemed to sag in his seat and Seth sniffed.

            Ash entered and Lexi jumped. Dusk was nearing, and she feared the reactions of the others when Cassius made an appearance. “The horses are in the barn and ready to go,” Ash said as he collapsed onto the couch beside Seth.

            “It will take more than four of us to penetrate those walls,” Hunter said grimly.

            “Five,” Lexi corrected firmly.

            Hunter turned to her, his glare steady. “I have already said that you aren’t coming. You will stay here with Ebony.” Demitri made a sound of amusement and smirked at his knees.

            “You do not command me,” Lexi said icily. “If you do not let me join you, I will follow anyway.”

            Hunter’s eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to argue further, but Cassius entered before he could get any words out. Demitri leapt to his feet, his expression wavering between outright fury and confusion. Seth blanched and tried to hide his face while Ash glared up at the doorway where Cassius hovered. Hunter’s expression was cold, but he was not quite as surprised as the others – Lexi was not sure how much he had heard that morning – and Ebony sat quietly, flipping through the pages of her book, though it was clear she was not reading.

            Lexi met Cassius’ gaze and gave a little wave of greeting. Cassius inclined his head and said, “My lady.”

            Hunter’s eyes hardened and he stared at the floor.

            “Why are you here?” Demitri demanded through gritted teeth without looking away from the boy lingering in the doorway. Cassius leant on the doorframe and met Demitri’s eyes, smirking slightly.

            “Lexi invited me,” he replied simply.

            All eyes turned to her.

            Lexi swallowed and gathered her thoughts. “All of you were saying that five was too small a number to take on the Breeders, and seeing as no one was willing to ask for Cassius’ help, I took it upon myself to request his aid.”

            Hunter lifted his eyes from the floor and locked his gaze on Cassius. “Why her?”

            “Excuse me?” Cassius asked, his tone polite, yet Hunter’s expression remained dark, as if he had just been insulted.

            “You have never responded to anyone other than Nerezza. So why now have you transferred your loyalty to Lexi?”

            Cassius’ grin widened and he took a step into the room, kicking the door closed with his heel. He approached the couch that Seth and Ash were occupying and Seth scooted as far away from him as he could. Demitri held up a hand to stop him and Cassius froze mid-step. “Stand over there,” Demitri commanded.

            Cassius chuckled and pointed to his belt. “I have not my blades with me on this fine evening; you are perfectly safe.”

            “Stand over there,” Demitri snarled and Cassius held up his palms in surrender. He backed away and perched on the window sill. Lexi caught his eye and he winked at her, and she realised that he was humouring the lot of them.

            “Answer me,” Hunter demanded quietly.

            Cassius smiled and sighed. “She and I are soul-siblings.”

            A shocked silence descended and even Ebony looked up from the pages in her lap. Demitri’s anger evaporated. Lexi did not know what the term meant, but she assumed it had something to do with her childhood image of him. She did not speak and became very interested in the pattern of the curtains.

            “You are lying.” Ash was the first to speak.

            “Oh?” Cassius asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Ask her. She has seen me in her mind since a very young age, just as I have her.”

            Hunter turned to Lexi. “Is this true?” Lexi nodded and she thought he appeared almost relieved, but she could not be certain. Demitri, however, did not and looked almost on the verge of self-combustion.

            “You aren’t joining us,” he snapped.

            “Who died and made you the leader of this quest?” Cassius countered with a slight grin. “I believe Ash came to White Belly here for help, not you.”

Hunter glared at him. “Treat me with such disrespect and I shall certainly not let you accompany us.”

Cassius scoffed. “What do you care whether I treat you with respect or not?”

“Since you became tied to Lexi in such a way that it appears I shall have to learn to tolerate your company. Respect me, and I will respect you.” Cassius was taken aback by the comment and did not reply immediately.

“Hunter, he did save your life last night,” Lexi reasoned quietly. Cassius smiled smugly.

“It would appear that the Slayers were under the false belief that lycans had been wiped out,” Ebony commented lightly.

“Pity they have not,” Demitri spat.

Cassius’ eyes turned hard and steely. “You had best not venture too far into the forest next month,” he hissed.

“Is that a threat?” Demitri demanded.

“Enough!” Hunter commanded and both boys fell silent. “It won’t be long before darkness sets in and we do not want to be too late in arriving. The rain is heavy, which ought to keep our cover, but neither can we afford to leave the horses out too long. Cassius’ blades are valuable in this rescue, no matter how much you want to deny it, Demitri.”

Demitri’s lip twitched as he resisted a snarl before he turned his back on Cassius.       

 “We will travel on horseback,” Hunter continued in an attempt to clear the air. “It is a fair journey to the base and we do not want to spend a lot of time in this rain.”

“You might be interested to know that the Alpha has forbidden anyone to leave the building, save to tend to the horses,” said Cassius, examining his fingernails. Lexi frowned in puzzlement.

“How would you know that?” Ash demanded coolly.

Cassius shrugged. “You hear a lot with ears like mine. He also has the adults patrolling the corridors downstairs,” he added to Hunter.

“Well, we can’t use the door, then,” Seth muttered.

“If you aren’t afraid of heights, I have a rope and grapple hook in my dormitory,” Cassius offered. Hunter nodded in agreement, but it did not escape Lexi’s notice that his movements were stiff and his face had lost its colour. Cassius stood and darted out of the room to retrieve the rope and Ash turned on Lexi.

“What were you thinking, bringing him here?” he hissed.

Lexi’s eyes narrowed. “Do you want to rescue Jack or not?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then stop this petty grudge and let him help!” Lexi snapped. “His blades may very well make the difference between success and failure.”

“If we fail,” Seth asked quickly before Ash could respond, “will we be captured too?”

“It’s a possibility,” Hunter said. Seth blanched and said nothing else and Ash leant back against the couch, his jaw clenched, but he said nothing more to Lexi. Ebony sighed and closed her book, setting it on her lap.

“I agree with Lexi,” she announced. “This is too important to deny his help.”

Demitri, who had been sitting relatively quietly with a stony expression, barked a laugh. “He strung me to the ceiling because Nerezza could not admit that I am better than her with a sword. He cannot control his bloodlust; must I remind you of the boy he killed in the forest three years ago? He ripped a man to shreds last night. The night before, he almost killed Lexi, despite the fact that she is his sister!” He turned his hard eyes on Hunter. “Does that bother you?”

Hunter returned the gaze calmly. “You cannot begin to understand how frightened I was,” he murmured, so low Lexi barely heard him. His words caused her to blush.

Ash frowned. “What, you mean-?”

“Hush,” Hunter demanded out loud.

Cassius returned and he returned to his place by the window sill, ignoring the hateful stare of Demitri. A coiled rope hung off his shoulder and he carried the metal three-pronged grapple hook in his hands. His two identical blades were now strapped to his belt at either hip.

“When are we leaving?” Ash asked stiffly.

“As soon as possible,” Hunter replied. His eyes met Lexi’s. “Will you not stay here?” He sighed in defeat when she shook her head defiantly. “Then collect your sword. You will need it.”

Lexi sprung to her feet and jogged into her dormitory just as the others dispersed to retrieve their weapons. Ebony followed her and sat on her bed as Lexi swung the sash across her back. “You would set Hunter’s mind at ease if you stayed with me,” she said lightly.

“No matter how inexperienced I am, my blade may make a difference,” Lexi replied firmly.

Ebony shrugged. “I won’t force you to stay.”

They returned to the common room where Seth and Hunter sat in a tense silence on the couches opposite each other while Cassius remained by the window, examining the hook and humming quietly to himself.

Hunter had his quiver over his back filled with arrows adorned with swallow feathers and his yew bow in his lap. His fingertips drummed on the wood as he waited. Seth laid his spear across his knees and was examining the metal spearhead. He grimaced as he tapped the point with his index finger.

“Use a whetstone when we return,” Hunter told him lowly. Seth nodded.

Lexi sat beside Hunter on the couch, as Seth’s spear took up the entire seat opposite. Ebony collected her book and perched in Hunter’s usual armchair by the flameless fireplace.

Hunter noticed the absence of a fire and asked Ebony, “It will be a cold night. Would you like a fire?”

She shook her head. “I will be heading up to the astrology tower when you have gone. With any luck, the clouds will clear before long. I wish to examine the four planets again to make more accurate predictions.”

Hunter nodded and Ash returned, striding past Cassius to stand beside Seth with his spear, similar to Seth’s but slightly less elaborate in design, standing on end at his side. Demitri was close behind, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword as he passed Cassius. “Shall we leave?” he asked coolly.

Seth, Hunter and Lexi stood and moved to the window, where Cassius uncoiled the rope and Demitri yanked the window open. A blast of cold air swept through the room and sent a shiver through everyone save Cassius, who barely battered an eyelid. He fixed the hook in the corner of the window, throwing the remainder of the rope outside.

“It should hold, as long as we don’t climb down more than one at a time,” he said. He then stepped back and swept an arm towards the window whilst pinning his eyes on Hunter. “You first, leader.”

Hunter nodded rigidly and stepped towards the window. He sat on the sill, took a deep breath, and ducked out, very clearly avoiding looking down. Lexi frowned; no one else seemed to notice.

He’s afraid of heights, she thought.

He took a firm hold of the rope and lowered himself out of sight. Demitri peered down and watched him a while before saying, “He’s on the ground.”

Cassius looked to Lexi and gestured to the window. “Sister.”  Lexi followed Hunter’s steps and dropped below the window. The rope burned her hands as she stepped down the outer wall of the Academy, but the cool air and the icy rain soothed the flaming sensation. Lexi released the rope and jumped four feet from the ground to escape the rope.

Hunter offered a grimace of a smile from where he leant against the wall. It was hard to tell in the dwindling light, but his skin appeared a faint shade of green. He spoke before she could comment. “The horses are in the barn. Can you bring them to us?”

Lexi nodded slowly, noticing that he would not let her comment on his evident fear. Keeping to the shadows and watching the windows for any prying onlookers, she made her way around the front of the Academy towards the barn. More than once she had to flatten herself against the wall to avoid being spotted. She ran the length of the distance to the barn and hid in the shadows for a short time.

When she was certain that no one had seen her, Lexi crept round to the doors and slowly opened them, one at a time. The horses snorted in surprise and Salvador nickered in greeting.

The stallion, Zosia, Alma and Estrella were the easiest to spot, as Lexi had met them before. A dark mare with a long mane and feathered feet was also saddled, which Lexi took to belong to Ash. She then realised that she did not know which horse belonged to Cassius, or if he even owned a horse. It would take too long to collect one from the fields. She led each of the horses from their stables and out into the rain. She struggled to manoeuvre them all as she attempted to close the doors to the barn behind her. Salvador tugged on his rein and Zosia pranced on the spot, excited at the prospect of a late-night ride.

Of course, horses were significantly harder to keep hidden from spying eyes and Lexi’s nerves were on edge as she led them back to where Hunter now stood with Seth and Ash. The two huntsmen retrieved their horses from Lexi’s grasp and mounted up, resting the ends of their spears on the ground. Hunter remained by the window as Demitri scaled down the rope. At the window, Cassius leant out with his elbows on the sill.

“Shadows!” Hunter hissed suddenly and Cassius disappeared. Lexi hurried the horses towards the wall where the shadows would hide them.

“What did you see?” Lexi asked quietly.

“Someone moving in the window above,” he whispered back. “I do not want to take risks.”

Lexi counted fifty breaths before Hunter stepped from the safety of the shadows and peered up at the window. “We are safe,” he murmured and hissed up to Demitri, who slid the rest of the way down the rope and landed heavily, stumbling on the wet ground and falling on his back. Though muffled, Cassius’s snigger was audible from the high window.

Hunter jumped out of the way as the hook fell from the window frame, landing on the grass with a heavy thud. Hunter coiled the rope around his arm and picked up the hook as Cassius dropped down from the window, landing in a crouch.

He caught Lexi’s open-mouthed expression and bowed theatrically. Demitri kicked him behind the knee.

“Don’t quarrel,” Hunter snapped as Cassius rounded on Demitri.

“He does not even have a horse, how is he meant to keep up?” Demitri demanded.

“We will have to travel through the village and we do not want to draw attention to ourselves,” Hunter said firmly. “We shan’t be travelling much faster than a trot, and he is perfectly agile enough to climb the hills.”

He, Demitri and Lexi climbed up onto their mounts and Cassius stood by Salvador’s shoulder, patting the stallion’s neck as he waited for Hunter’s order.

“Keep to a walk until we have passed through the village, then we will pick up a trot across the country roads. Understand?”

Cassius looked up at Lexi. “It appears he has this all planned out.”

“He is good at that,” she agreed. 

16: Chapter 15

No one stopped the six young shape shifters as they left the grounds, keeping to the far side of the road where the shadow of the trees bordering the forest hid them from view. Hunter led the party with Demitri by his side. Ash and Seth followed close after while Lexi lingered behind with Cassius marching beside Salvador.

            “Why do you not ride?” Lexi asked him.

            “The need never presented itself,” Cassius replied with a slight shrug. “I am a swordsman, not a horseman, and I lived in the city as a young boy. I have never needed to ride.”

            “Perhaps you should learn,” she said casually.

            “Perhaps,” he agreed lightly.

            They both looked up suddenly as shouts sounded from up ahead. Cassius bolted to the aid of the others and Lexi pushed Salvador into a hasty trot. The five stood in an arc surrounding a patch of underbrush, Ash and Seth pointing their spears towards the thicket, Hunter aimed his loaded bow in the same direction and both Demitri and Cassius had their swords drawn.

            “What did you see?” Lexi demanded, unsheathing her own blade from the holster on her back.

            “Show yourself,” Demitri commanded, his eyes glued to the bush.

            The remaining leaves on the bush rustled a little despite the lack of wind and a young woman stepped out. Cassius lifted one of his blades to the base of her throat and the huntsmen tightened their hold on the spears.

            It was hard to make out in the rain, for her hair was plastered to her face and her braids had come loose. She was paler than Lexi remembered and she seemed worn out. However, the familiar oddity of her bright icy eyes was recognisable as she gazed around the six of them, not at all appearing afraid. When she met Lexi’s stare, she smiled broadly and greeted her enthusiastically.

            “Good evening, my friend,” she said happily.

            Demitri’s sharp eyes flashed to Lexi. “You know her?”

            “Yes, she comes from Hargate,” she told him, sheathing her sword and jumping from her stallion’s back to greet her friend. Despite the obvious acquaintance, none of the others lowered their weapons, save Seth.

            “What is she?” Hunter asked lowly, not unpleasantly.

            “A faery,” Lexi told him. She tried to reassure him of her innocence with her eyes, and though he returned the arrow to its quiver, the uncertainty in his eyes remained. Cedonia examined Lexi head to toe, taking in the tunic and trousers, holstered knife and sheathed sword.

            “You don’t look like you used to,” she commented.

            “Probably for the better, as I could not wield a sword when I last saw you,” Lexi countered, attempting to hide her irritation at her friend’s openness.

            Cedonia shrugged casually and smiled again. “It is good to see you. Where are you all headed…with blades?” The remainder of them sheathed their weapons rather hurriedly and it was Seth who answered.

            “To rescue some friends,” he told her.

            “From where?” Cedonia asked with a frown.

            “Humans,” Lexi said grimly. “They set our Academy alight yesterday and abducted three of the shifters.”

            Cedonia nodded thoughtfully and tilted her head to the side. “You assume six of you can battle an entire brigade of humans and make it out alive with three of their hostages?” Lexi sensed Cassius bristle beside her at the comment, and she noticed that Hunter’s eyes had narrowed.

            “It may not be ideal, but we are more than capable,” Demitri said stiffly.

            “Considering the fact that all of you are still in training,” Cedonia continued, as if he had not spoken.

            “As Demitri said, we are more than capable,” Lexi insisted.

            “Maybe, but I think you may benefit from my knife,” she said breezily. “One more blade cannot hurt, can it?”

            All eyes turned to Hunter. His eyes remained narrow and he seemed almost fearful. His bow remained in his grasp and his shoulders were rigid. Something was bothering him, but he appeared to be uncertain as to his next actions. After a few moments of thought, he finally spoke. “She rides with Demitri, and she stays close throughout the battle. Understood?”

            “I am perfectly capable of walking,” was Cedonia’s reply, but Hunter ignored her.

            “Lexi, I wish to speak with you,” he said calmly, though his body remained tense and uneasy. “I would like Cassius to walk beside Demitri’s horse.”

            To Lexi’s surprise, Cassius did as he was asked without complaint. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding between them and Demitri, who offered a hand down to the faery to pull her up onto the back of Alma. Hunter indicated for Demitri to take the lead and lingered behind to wait for Lexi. Ash and Seth exchanged puzzled looks as they followed the chestnut mare and Hunter nudged Zosia into step beside Salvador.

            “What troubles you?” Lexi asked, though she had her suspicions.

            “Your friend troubles me,” Hunter answered, his voice low and tense. “She is not all she seems. At the very least, faeries cannot be trusted at the best of times. She may have allied you in Hargate, but you cannot trust her now.”

            “Why not?” Lexi demanded coolly.

            “You were both outsiders in a humans’ village. You belong here now, in the shape shifter world and she will not consider you an equal anymore.”

            Lexi could see the logic to his words, but she did not like to hear them. “Why do you fear her?”

            Hunter looked at her for a long minute. “I fear her because she cannot be trusted. Faeries do not live for anyone but themselves and each other, and those they consider allies. Please believe me when I say you are not her ally any longer.”

            “What can she possibly do that we aren’t prepared for?” Lexi asked. “Faeries are barely any stronger than humans-”

            “Their strength is their intelligence,” Hunter interrupted her. “She will be cleverer than any human, possibly more so than you or I. Do not trust her, whatever she may say. Promise me.”

            Befuddled by Hunter’s evident unease, Lexi agreed and turned her attention to the back of her friend’s head, her dark hair pulled straight by the heavy rain. She understood, then, why Hunter had commanded the two sword-wielders to keep close to her: to watch her. His belief in Cedonia’s inevitable betrayal was clearly strong.

            As they reached the village of Gerrisford, Hunter cantered into the lead and halted the party as he examined the streets with caution. “You must keep quiet,” he said to the group at large. “Keep to the shadows where you can, and try not to walk the horses too close to the houses. We must head due west until we come to the trails, and then we can move into a canter.”

            Though no one spoke, an air of agreement was apparent. Hunter walked his mare on the grass beside the dusty road, the sodden and soft ground masking her steps. The rest of them followed his lead, except Cassius, whose steps were light enough to not be heard over the rain, even on the road.

            Gerrisford reminded Lexi of Hargate, though it was a larger than her home village and the buildings had shingled roofs instead of thatched. Most of the land on Rosavale was flat, though the north-eastern coast held rolling green hills that hid the East Sea from view. The moorland coated the south-east quarter of the island, the land often too wet to build on and laced with little brooks and streams that kept the grass lush and green, even in the winter. It was well into the night when the grassland came into view and the horses began to canter along a worn-in trail. Cassius kept pace alongside them, leaping over the tall grass with long strides.

            As she rode, Lexi began to become suspicious of Cedonia’s sudden appearance. Not even a faery would be able to fool the watchmen of the bridges, and she had arrived more or less on her doorstep. Why? She did not know. No raven had been sent, no messenger from Dante’s home beside the Selert Bridge. How?

            Cedonia had always seemed harmless; vicious when insulted, but she had never hurt anyone as long as Lexi had known her. But Hunter’s unease had unsettled her, and she began to distrust her friend’s intentions.

            The horses slowed to a trot as the land began to rise. Estrella’s hooves slipped on the wet grass and Ash tapped her flank with the end of his spear, urging her forwards. Cassius fell behind the horses and Lexi offered him a hand to help him over a particularly slippery patch of mud. His trousers were already caked to the knees, and his palms had turned brown from the many times he had fallen.

            The hill was flat-topped and covered in shrubs. The bushes came to the top of the horses’ legs and tugged at the shifters’ boots. Hunter jumped down from his mare. “Tether your horses, but use a slipknot. We may need to get away quickly.”

            “Be wary of your friend, Sister,” Cassius whispered as Lexi tied Salvador’s reins to a branch of one of the bushes.

            “Hunter has already warned me,” she replied lowly.

            Cassius nodded once and stepped away as Cedonia sidled up beside Lexi. “Do you still trust my blade?” she asked cheerily. “Because none of your pack mates seem to.”

            “They don’t know you,” Lexi answered lightly with a brief smile.

            Cedonia shrugged.

            “Is that it?” Demitri asked. He crouched on the ground on the edge of the hilltop, overlooking what appeared to be a small fortress. Great stone walls at least twelve feet tall surrounded a large brick building with three tall towers. The walls were thick and had a walkway on top, though they were devoid of guards for the time being. Two large doors marked the entrance to the fort, and there was no sign of another gateway. The building within was undefinable from this distance through the rain.

            “Do you have any idea where Jack and the other two are being kept?” Ash asked, crouching beside Demitri as he addressed Hunter.

            “I could only manage the briefest of inspections earlier. My first guess would be in one of the towers.”

            “Do you have a plan?” Cassius asked.

            “The aim is to distract them. You see the hay stock over in the far corner?” Hunter pointed and Cassius nodded. “I can set that alight. The fire, added to the mere sight of us within the fort they believe is secure would be enough for one of us to sneak into the building there. I don’t wish to kill if we can help it; only kill if you have no other option. Understood?”

            The rest of the party nodded, save Cedonia who was examining the fortress with her head tilted to one side. Lexi averted her attention from the faery, though her suspicions lingered.

            “What do we do?” she asked Hunter.

            Hunter did not answer for a moment, gazing with narrowed eyes down at the fort while he thought. “You and your friend will skirt the wall to the south side where it is not quite as tall. The darkness will hide you and the rain will muffle your movements. Climb up and keep watch on the walkway, and on the grounds. When we have the doors open, we will send a signal, and then you can climb down; you are less likely to be spotted from there.” He looked down at her, his eyes gleaming. “Keep your blade handy.”

            Lexi nodded and she gestured for Cedonia to follow her down the hillside. The faery scrambled after her, the two of them sliding down the slippery, grassy slope to the ground at the foot of the great walls.

            Following Lexi’s lead, Cedonia crouched in the shadow. The weeks Lexi had spent in the company of shape shifters had taught her many things, including stealth and caution.

The fort seemed much larger from the ground, and it took the girls at least fifteen minutes to reach the south side wall. Hunter had been right; the wall was at least three feet shorter here and the stones building it had not been placed so carefully. Many jutted out at angles, their edges creating perfect foot-ledges and handholds for climbing.

Cedonia waited patiently for Lexi to examine the wall. When satisfied, Lexi hiked the sash further up her shoulder and pulled herself onto the wall. At the top of the wall, she peeked over the stone and glanced about the walkway. She saw no light of a torch in either direction, or anywhere along the wall. Lexi hauled herself up, remaining in a crouch as she listened for any sign that she had been spotted.

When the silence continued, she turned to offer a hand to Cedonia as her companion followed. Lexi surprised herself as she pulled the faery straight up and over the side of the walkway, her improved strength having gone unnoticed.

 The pair of them crouched down beside each other on the wall, peering into the confines of the fort. The night hid any sneaking figures on the ground below, but Lexi was sure any patrolling guards would hold a torch, despite the rain. She and Cedonia waited in silence for a short while, both keeping their eyes pinned to the grounds of the fort. The longer they waited, the more nervous Lexi became.

“Won’t the hay be too sodden to ignite?” Cedonia asked lowly, distracting Lexi from her thoughts.

“It is under cover. Look, see?” Lexi pointed to a block of outdoor stables, the roof extending over a large pile of hay bales. Cedonia looked, but did not appear convinced.

“The fire will not be able to spread.”

“No,” Lexi agreed irritably. “But it will distract them, which is all we need.”

Cedonia scraped a strand of wet hair from her face and remained silent for a few moments, allowing Lexi to turn her attention to the north facing wall and the hill beyond. What were they doing?

“Tell me what happened to your Academy yesterday,” Cedonia asked.

In a whisper, Lexi briefly recounted the events of the previous day, including the youth with the torch and showed her bandaged arm. She then went on to tell about their capture and Cassius’ heroic appearance in his wolfen form. She left out the fact that he had more or less devoured one of the inexperienced Breeders. Cedonia listened without interruption.

“It’s very well thought out,” she commented when Lexi ended her tale.

Lexi shot her a dark look. “A guild of humans wishes to gather as many of us as they can and breed us, stealing the souls of the offspring to give it to their own. And the only thing you can mention is their strategy?”

Cedonia gazed back at her steadily. “I never said it was right. I merely said it was a very well thought out plan.”

Still angered, Lexi did not respond and scowled into the dark. Cedonia stayed quiet also and lightly tapped her fingers on the edge of the wall. In the silence, Lexi’s mind whirled with curses, insults, reasoning and logic. After a while, her scowl faded. What she felt was fear for herself; it was her race that was endangered, not Cedonia’s. Why should she care?

“Why are you here?” Lexi asked quietly, breaking the silence.

Cedonia blinked back at her. “Why, Lexi, some may think you aren’t pleased to see me.” Her voice was light and playful, but her expression remained blank.

“I am pleased,” Lexi said truthfully. “But I don’t see why you came. You did not send a raven or a messenger my way; I do not even know how you managed to pass the watchmen. It must have been difficult, so why go through that just to visit me?”

She shrugged carelessly. “You are a friend, and I could not afford a messenger.”

Lexi could not help but think there was more to her story, but her next question was interrupted by a whistle. Her head snapped round in time to watch an arrow soar over the wall to the north, its tail feathers alight with small, flickering flames. It reached the peak of its arc and started descending downward, hurtling towards the alcove where the hay was kept. The dry hay flared up immediately.

The orange light illuminated Cedonia’s face, water dripping from the end of her nose. She watched the fire with a strange expression; awe, Lexi thought, but no, something more. Hunger. Lust.

Lexi tugged on Cedonia’s sleeve, partly to erase the disconcerting expression but mainly because it was time for them to creep to the floor. The rocks on this side of the wall were smoother and harder to grasp, causing them to slip and fall; the hem of Lexi’s tunic caught on a rock just as her foot slipped off a ledge and the sharp corner of the stone tore into her stomach. She winced and sucked in a breath, pulling her tunic free and jumping to the floor.

Men were pouring from the doors of the building, racing to the burning hay with buckets of water under their arms. Lexi and Cedonia hid behind one of the towers.

Cedonia said, “Tsk. If they let the roof burn away, the rain will put it out. Silly humans.”

Lexi agreed with her, but did not say as much. The great doors were beginning to open and some of the humans were noticing. Whoever was opening them would undoubtedly need help.

She pulled her sword from its sheath and scurried along the edge of the outer wall where the shadow was darkest, Cedonia at her heels. On the east side, Lexi spotted Demitri and Cassius each working a heavy wooden contraption connected to a series of ropes that opened the doors. As the humans neared, brandishing broadswords and shouting warning threats at the two of them, they had to abandon the pulleys in order to protect themselves. Lexi sped up, her fast pace leaving Cedonia behind.

Less than a hundred metres from the doors, she was yanked to a stop as a strong hand grasped the collar of her tunic. Lexi staggered for balance and twisted to glare into the face of a tall, burly man with arms that resembled tree branches. He caught her wrist as she tried to swipe her sword towards him and he smiled cruelly, revealing a set of yellowed teeth.

Lexi kicked at his tree trunk legs and snarled at him, but still he refused to let her go.

“Untamed beast, aren’t you?” he murmured, mostly to himself.

“I am no beast,” Lexi spat, trying to wriggle free of his grip. The hand on the back of her neck moved to her throat, restricting her airway and she began to panic, thrashing in his grasp.

Cedonia appeared at his shoulder, her knife at his throat. “Release her,” she hissed and the hand around Lexi’s throat loosened. Lexi coughed and stumbled backwards as she rubbed her neck. The great broadsword dropped to the floor and the man held his palms up. Cedonia addressed Lexi. “The boy in the grey tunic said to not kill them?” Lexi nodded. Cedonia moved the blade from his neck up to his head and bashed his temple with the pommel of the hilt.

Cedonia sheathed the knife and Lexi only paused for a brief period to check the man was still breathing. The pair of them continued towards the doors. The gap between them was just large enough for Seth to slip through, and Hunter’s silhouette was perched on the wall to the side.

As they came closer, Lexi noticed that Cassius was using only one of his swords and was using it sparingly. Likewise, Demitri was using the flat of his blade push enemies away from him. A young human crept up behind Cassius, but his sharp ears heard and he elbowed the youth in the face, throwing him into the wall behind. Lexi was sure she heard a crack, and the youth fell to the floor, motionless.

“It would be easier to knock them out without killing them if we had blunter weapons,” Cassius called to her during a brief respite. Lexi agreed, but did not have time to speak for a group of three Breeders tried to grab her. She bashed one on the temple with the pommel of her sword, knocking him out, and the other two grasped her arms.

A snap of a bow took their attention and the man on her left fell away, an arrow protruding from his shoulder. He groaned in pain, clutching his arm, and Lexi shook the remaining man off of her. She darted out of reach of another captor and scratched at a man holding Seth by the shoulders, distracting him long enough to allow Seth to wriggle free.

Lexi, Seth and Cedonia were enough of a distraction for Cassius and Demitri to return to the pulleys, which were too heavy for the others to work. Inch by painful inch, the doors continued to open. Ash slipped through and Hunter dropped down from the wall above, but still the boys continued to open the doors.

“Lexi!” Hunter called, and Lexi turned to him. He beckoned to her and she hurried to him, checking over her shoulder to be sure she was not followed. Hunter leant close and murmured in her ear, “Take Cedonia and get into the building. Check the towers as thoroughly as you can, but for the love of the gods, do not get yourself caught. Please promise me?”

She nodded and scurried back towards the outer wall, grasping Cedonia by the forearm and dragging her with her. Two of the men tried to follow, but Hunter caught one around the neck with his bow and Seth knocked the other on the back of the head.

“Where are we going?” Cedonia asked, pulling free of Lexi’s hold.

“To release the shifters we came here for,” Lexi replied briefly, hurrying to the shadow of the main building where they would be out of sight. “They will most likely be in one of the towers, and it is also likely those towers will be guarded.”

Cedonia scoffed. “We can slip past a few humans, knock them out if need be. Are you sure we cannot kill them?”

Lexi shot her a dark look. “Yes. Killing them would not make us any different from the humans. If we do not need to kill, why should we?”

“It would just make our job easier,” Cedonia said with a shrug. “Lead the way.”

The two of them rounded the corner and came to a window, flickering light appearing around the edges of the shutters. Lexi listened carefully for movement inside, and slowly opened one of the shutters. Cedonia peered across the sill.

“It’s a hallway,” she whispered. “It’s empty.”

“After you,” Lexi said, gesturing the window. Cedonia climbed inside. 

17: Chapter 16

The corridor was made completely of bare brick, the floor of stone and the ceiling of wooden beams. The walls were well lit with torches that stood in brackets along the walls, highlighting the bareness of the hallway; there were no paintings or artwork of any kind that usually marked a fort. It was as if it had been built in a hurry, which, Lexi thought, it may well have been.

            “We need to get out of the light,” Cedonia remarked, eyeing the torches with disgust. Lexi agreed and the two of them headed along the corridor to the left, walking quickly as the illuminating torches continued.

            Proceeding with caution and hurrying as fast as they dared with light steps, the two only found that every corridor was lined with many flaming torches, shadows virtually non-existent throughout the building. Lexi’s muscles remained tense and rigid as she dreaded the appearance of a human. There was no place to hide, as there were no doors along the hallways. Cedonia’s unease was also evident and the girls’ steps began to slow as they approached the south tower.

            A small iron door appeared at the end of the corridor and Lexi stopped. She was relieved that they had not encountered any humans on their path thus far, but she was also suspicious of their luck. She doubted the tower had been left unguarded. To her left, she spotted Cedonia’s knife in the faery’s belt and she held a large sword in her hand, the point resting on the ground.

            “Do we chance it alone?” Cedonia asked lowly.

            “I doubt we have a choice,” was Lexi’s reply. The others were needed outside; otherwise they would be followed into the fort and the job would only be made harder. “Ready your blade.”

            Cedonia gripped the hilt of her newfound sword tighter and raised it across her shoulder. Lexi tightened her grasp on the bronze hilt of her own blade and the two proceeded slowly towards the iron door, placing their feet with the utmost care on the stone. Neither spoke again.

            Lexi’s expression set into a scowl as they neared; why was there no one here? It seemed too easy. She began to wonder if this was the wrong tower. The lack of guard was too obvious, though, and she persisted. The south tower had to be ruled out before they searched the others.

            Cedonia crouched by the hinges while Lexi pressed her ear to the gap between the door and the wall.

            “I hear nothing,” Lexi whispered.

            “Are you sure?” probed Cedonia, her voice equally quiet. “They could be waiting on the other side. Your ears are better than mine. Listen harder.”

            Lexi continued to listen, but she could hear nothing, no matter how hard she strained her ears. There was no whisper of breath, no rustle of movement. She shook her head at Cedonia and knelt, attempting to peer through the tiny keyhole. She could see nothing but darkness. When she pushed at the metal, the door opened with a light squeak, to Lexi’s surprise, and revealed a darkened staircase that curved around a stone pillar.

            The girls shared a cautious glance before Lexi licked her lips and stepped onto the stairs. Cedonia matched Lexi’s movements exactly, so much so that if anyone was listening, it would only appear to be a lone wanderer. After each step, Lexi paused and listened, but heard nothing.

            Lexi counted the steps as they climbed, reaching out with her hands to guide her around the spiralling staircase. She counted to seventy-two with still no sign of a guard.

            On step number one-hundred-and-three, she became aware of a solid object barring the path before her. It did not move, and neither did it breathe. With a tentative touch, she reached out for the object and traced her fingertips over the metallic surface. After a few seconds, she realised it was a second door; they had reached the top of the tower.

            Cedonia bounded up onto the step beside Lexi and the pair listened at the door.

            “It is silent,” Cedonia commented. “I do not think they are here.”

            “They may be gagged,” Lexi pointed out and Cedonia did not argue. The faery pushed on the door and it swung open slowly, revealing a darkened room. Silhouettes were visible against the black background, but Lexi could not be sure if any of them were shifters.

            They stood and Lexi examined the room as best she could. There were no sounds of muffled groans of attempted speech, no scraping of movement on the stone floor, and nothing within the room moved. She scanned the circular room at least three times, touching each of the silhouettes to be sure what they were. Not one was a living being.

            “They aren’t here,” she said. “We must- Cedonia!”

            A flickering glow enhanced the faery’s form in the doorway, a torch carried by a tall man with greying hair. He raised his sword high, holding it with clear intention to slice the young girl in half, from shoulder to hip. At Lexi’s cry, Cedonia whirled around with her sword in hand, swiping at her enemy, the blade meeting the man’s neck.

            His head fell from his shoulders and bounced away down the stairs.

            Time stopped for the briefest of moments as the body stayed upright, and then it fell forwards into the room. The sword clattered loudly on the stone floor, the noise reverberating off the bare walls and rattled Lexi’s bones.

            Blood pooled on the floor at their feet from the stump of his neck.

            Cedonia turned slowly to Lexi, her eyes wide. “I did not intend for that to happen…” she murmured. Her blade was coated scarlet, the thick liquid dripping from the end.

Lexi did not respond. She feared that she would not be able to keep the contents of her stomach down if she opened her mouth. Although the image would haunt her dreams for nights to come, she could not look away from the headless body, the pooling of blood on the stone. She shivered.

“I pity whoever must clear this up…” Cedonia remarked, her eyes darting from the body at her feet to Lexi’s white face.

Lexi spoke then. “You pity-? You just lopped a man’s head off!”

“Keep your voice down!” Cedonia hissed, glancing at the darkened doorway. “He might not have been alone.”

“I think our attempts to be discreet have been lost now that a man’s head has been disconnected from his body,” Lexi snapped, lowering her voice.

“And if we don’t leave this room now, we may very well find ourselves trapped here,” Cedonia muttered in reply, stepping over the legs of the body in front of the doorway. Lexi paused for a moment before following, kicking the man’s feet into the room so that she could close the door behind her.

“How considerate,” Cedonia said. “He left us a torch.”

The strange glowing light had emanated from a flame that had been moved from the corridor below and placed in an empty bracket on the stone pillar. Cedonia picked it up.

“We cannot carry that,” Lexi snapped.

“Would you rather fall down these stairs?” Cedonia asked innocently. Lexi scowled at the floor and did not reply, following the faery down the staircase in silence. She sheathed her sword, freeing both her hands to rest on the walls to keep her balance on the narrow steps. The iron door had been left open to reveal an empty corridor.

“He must have followed us,” Lexi commented, noting the peculiar quiet. “I doubt any more than one of them could have slipped away unnoticed from the others.”

“Whatever you say, shape shifter,” Cedonia replied, replacing the torch on an empty bracket beside the door. With a sickening jolt, Lexi noticed the lone head resting beside the steps and quickly looked away, unable to stand the sight. “Lead the way,” Cedonia continued, not noticing Lexi’s discomfort.

Not liking to linger in one place, Lexi turned down the right hand corridor towards the north-east tower. Still, the hallway remained empty and Lexi’s pace increased, becoming careless with her steps, for there was no one to hear them.

At the corner, Lexi stopped suddenly and grasped Cedonia’s wrist.

“What is it?” the faery hissed at her.

“I heard a cough,” Lexi told her, barely breathing the words. “This way is being guarded.”

“This is where they are being kept,” Cedonia finished in a whisper. “How do we get rid of the guards?”

Lexi thought for a moment, crouching beside the wall, drawing her sword as slowly and as carefully as she could, so to not make a sound. “I am faster than you are,” she said finally. “I can lead them away. Then you head up to the tower when the way is clear and I will find my way back to you. If there are any guards further up, knock them out. Do not chop off any more heads.”

Cedonia smirked. Lexi straightened up and purposely scuffed her boot on the floor, attempting to attract the guards’ attention. Silence followed and she could not be sure if the sound had been heard. She adjusted her hold on the hilt of her sword and bashed the pommel against the brick wall, the sound of which could easily have been mistaken for a careless knock. Evident shushing could be heard around the corner, and footsteps echoed off the stone floor.

With a steadying breath, Lexi tightened her grip on her blade and readied herself to run. As the steps grew louder, she stepped around the corner, allowing the guards to see her, before she darted left and raced along the corridor.

“Get her!”

“Don’t let her get away!”

“Run, man, chase her down!”

She dared not look back, but by the sounds of their steps and shouts, she guessed there were four of them. Lexi struggled to run fast and effectively with the weight of the short blade in her hand, but she could not try and sheath it without slowing dangerously, and neither could she drop it. It was easy to outrun the humans, but she struggled to lose them within the fort; all the corridors were too well lit and there was nowhere to hide, no doors to hide behind or rooms to cower in while they passed.

Lexi only hesitated for a moment when she reached a fork in the corridor, but it was the moment one of the guards needed to catch her up. A strong hand grabbed her upper arm and Lexi swiped at her captor, smacking the man on the temple with the pommel of her sword. His head bounced off the wall and he slumped to the floor.

The others hesitated and Lexi raced down the corridor to the right, leading them away from the tower. In the briefest of moments she had had to examine the three remaining guards, she had noted that one of them was very young, and appeared very afraid. His older companion dragged him along by the elbow.

Most of the fort was on the ground floor, the only steps leading to the towers. Lexi found that the corridor she had taken led straight back to the tower to the south, where the head remained resting on the stone beside the small door. Swallowing her disgust, she pulled open the door and bounded up the darkened staircase, trusting her sixth sense and using her hands to grope for the walls. She listened to the men hesitate at the door, and the youngest yelped when he spotted the head lying by itself. Lexi shivered and pushed open the door at the top of the tower, leaping over the body and thankful she could not see it in the dark. However, now she was trapped, and unless she could find a way to sidestep the guards when they reached her, she was trapped for good.

She could hear the men ascending the steps and thought quickly. Stepping towards the far wall, she felt the familiar wooden ridges of window shutters. They swung open, revealing a large gap in the wall from floor to ceiling.

The door banged open, ricocheting off the wall and a yell alerted Lexi to the presence of the men as one tripped over the body, landing sprawled across the floor in the pool of blood. Lexi’s heartbeat slowed as an idea came to mind. The man escorting the youth with the terrified expression started forward, stepping over the lifeless limbs and intending to corner her.

Lexi smirked to herself, sheathed her blade and ran at the open window. The man broke into a run after her. She grasped the wall and swung outside into the rain, clinging to the ledge that joined the tower wall to the shingled roof spire. The man was too slow, not realising that the window met the floor and he stumbled, falling from the high tower. She watched him fall, his silhouette disappearing into the dark.

Lexi scrabbled at the slate, her feet trying to find footholds in the brick in order to reach the window. A hand grabbed her ankle and pulled, almost breaking her grip on the stone ledge. She yelped and kicked out at the figure by the window, her pulse picking up again. Her palms ripped on the stone, pain flaring down her arms as she held on, trying to wriggle free of the man’s grasp.

She heard the whistle of the arrow, saw only a flash of black and white feathers and the hold on her leg slackened. The man fell from the window to join the crumpled form of his companion at the foot of the tower.

The rain roared in Lexi’s ears as she swung back to the window, ignoring the flaring pain in her hands and fingertips. Her palms were bloodied and she spent a moment crouched just inside the room to gain her breath back. She allowed the beat of her heart to slow before she stood upright, and spotted the youth pressed against the wall beside the door. She had forgotten him.

“Drop your weapon,” she commanded in a soft voice. He threw the sword across the room and raised his hands above his head. Lexi stepped towards him and he flinched away, pressing himself further into the wall. She stopped in front of him, examining his white face with narrowed eyes. He could only have been Lexi’s age or younger. “Are they in the tower?”

“You can talk?” he gasped, his voice breaking.

Lexi frowned. “Of course.” She tilted her head to one side. “What myths have you been told of my race?” She did not wait for a reply. “Are they in the tower you were guarding?”

He swallowed nervously and said weakly. “Please, don’t hurt me. I did not wish to be brought into this.”

“I will not hurt you if you do not give me a reason to,” Lexi told him. “Now answer me. Are they in the tower?”

“Who?”

Lexi’s eyes narrowed. “You know very well who. Are they, or aren’t they?”

The youth did not reply until she reached for the hilt of her sword at her shoulder. “Y-yes, they are in that tower!” he babbled. One corner of Lexi’s mouth tilted up and she brought her hand back to her side. She turned to leave him cowering in the tower. “You aren’t going to kill me, like you did the others?” he called after her.

She turned back to him. “I killed no one. The man in the corridor is still breathing. The one that followed me out the window killed himself. And the other was shot by a companion of mine, not I. Nor will I kill you.” She brushed her hand over the knife at her belt, intending to remind him that she could, if she so wished, slaughter him.

The young man’s expression altered from utter terror to confusion. “You are so human. They said you were barely more than animals…”

Lexi smirked at him, but said nothing and left.

It took her a fair time to retrace her steps back to the north-east tower, and when she did there was no sign of Cedonia. The iron door had been left open, the stairway lit by a torch that could not be seen. Though she could hear no threat, Lexi unsheathed her knife and held it loosely by her side.

Lexi counted a-hundred-and-sixty-one steps to the top of this tower, higher than the one to the south. The door was also ajar and she heard voices from the other side; sharp, cold, arguing tones.

The room was small, bleak and empty save for the four figures stood within, three of which were on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. Cedonia stood before them, one hand resting on her hip. She turned as Lexi entered and said, “They don’t believe I am a friend of yours.”

“Understandable,” Lexi said shortly. “You aren’t a shape shifter, after all.”

The tall, thin and bony boy with fair hair spoke, and Lexi recognised him as Jack. “She is working with you?”

“She offered her aid, and we needed it,” Lexi told him, kneeling behind him and cutting through his binds. “She is a faery, and a friend of mine; we both lived in Hargate. She turns out to be handy with a sword.” She gave Cedonia a hard look and moved to liberate girl with dark hair she did not know the name of.

“Who is with you?” Jack demanded as he jumped to his feet, rubbing his wrists where the rope had chafed his skin.

“There are seven of us,” she replied briefly. “The others are outside.”

“When did she turn up?” he asked, jerking his chin at Cedonia, who pretended to examine her fingernails.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Lexi muttered, cutting through the last of the ropes binding a boy with short black hair and a black eye, his face covered in deep scratches. She learned his name was Damien.

“Have you killed the guards?” Damien asked. Cedonia raised her eyebrows at Lexi, eager to learn the answer.

“There were four of them,” she said. “I knocked one out in the corridor, and another ran himself out of the window of the south tower. One was killed by Hunter’s arrow and I let the other live. He is no threat, anyhow.”

“How can you be sure?” the dark-haired girl asked.

“Believe me, I’m sure,” Lexi told her, handing her knife to Jack. “I am sure the humans outside are being kept busy; when we get out, you need to head straight for the entrance and get up the hill, you will find the horses there. Cedonia and I will signal for the others to leave.”

Jack wished to stay and fight with her, but Lexi declined. His eyes were lined with shadows and his legs were trembling.

The corridors were devoid of guards and the five of them found the entrance without hassle, and Damien kicked through the lock with ease. As the doors swung open, Lexi unsheathed her blade and Cedonia raised her sword.

The scene outside was bleak; the humans had separated the shifters and were coming dangerously close to killing or capturing them. Seth was back against a wall, keeping away the crowd of humans purely by the length of his spear. None could reach him without impaling themselves. Cassius and Demitri had been forced to fight back to back, having abandoned the pulleys now that the doors were wide open. Ash and Hunter were nowhere in sight, and it was these two Lexi worried about the most.

“Distract the humans as best you can and head for the doors,” Lexi told Cedonia. “You three follow her. If they can, the shifters will follow and reach the horses.”

“And if we are pursued?” Cedonia asked dryly.

“Run,” Lexi said simply. She tightened her grip on the sword and turned right, searching through the night with her eyes, seeking Ash and Hunter. The dark was blinding, and Lexi would not have spotted either of them without the shouts of the humans that surrounded them.

She broke into a sprint when she noticed that Hunter had been stripped of all his weapons, leaving him with just one arrow in his hand. His bow and quiver were nowhere in sight. As she neared, Ash broke free of the crowd, spear in hand, and raced towards the entrance. Lexi stopped for little more than a second, shocked that he would abandon Hunter. She glared at his retreating figure as he and Seth darted out of the gates.

Anger clouded her judgement and she bashed the nearest human on the head with the pommel of her sword. He crumpled on the ground and many looked round, including Hunter. He looked at her in horror.

“Go!” he commanded as he pushed away reaching hands.

“And you!” Lexi retorted, knocking out another of the humans as they tried to make a grab for her. “We can outrun them!”

He did not reply immediately. He knocked another man into the wall behind him, his head thudding on the brick sickeningly loudly. Lexi slashed at another’s legs, crippling him temporarily.

“Then run!” Hunter snapped, grasping her wrist as they both broke free of the crowd and raced for the entrance. It was hard to see against the dark, but Lexi was sure she could make out the movement of a portcullis lowering from the top, and she could definitely here the grinding of metal chains. Hunter heard it too and increased his pace, pushing Lexi in front of him.

            Seth was waiting at the entrance, a large branch in his hands as the portcullis lowered close to the ground. It caught on the branch, leaving a gap just large enough for a person to crawl under. Hunter pushed her roughly to the ground and she scrambled under on her elbows. The wood creaked and Seth gasped as he tried to keep the metal from touching the ground, but he was not strong enough. The branch was yanked out of his grasp and caught beneath the portcullis. Hunter was trapped on the other side.

            Lexi knelt up and clutched the bars. Hunter grasped her hand and forced her to look at him. “Promise me you will stay home.”

            Her breath caught and she shook her head weakly. “We will come back, we will find a way to rescue you,” she promised.

            “Listen to me,” he demanded. “I will be fine. You must not come after me. Promise me.

            “I cannot,” Lexi said quietly. “Wherever they take you, I will follow. You won’t be prisoner for long.” Hunter shook his head and reached through to her, resting his hand on the side of her face.

            “You mustn’t” he whispered.

            “I will,” she promised.

            Defeated, and with the humans closing in on him, Hunter looked to Seth for help. “Promise me she will not leave the Academy. Promise me!” His voice was harsher, the commanding tone of an Alpha.

            Seth took a moment to answer. “She will be safe,” he answered lowly after a minute. “Come back to us, Hunter.”

            Hunter nodded, but his eyes lacked the promise. He looked back to Lexi. “Now go.”

            The humans grasped his shoulders, stole the arrow from his weak grasp and yanked him away from the grate. Lexi stayed kneeling on the ground, watching them escort him away. Seth knelt beside her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Lexi leant against him and allowed a few tears to escape. Her promise remained standing; she would find and rescue him. 

18: Chapter 17

The humans that had attempted to chase the shape shifters and Cedonia back to the Academy abandoned the pursuit as they neared the grounds of the Academy. They, at least, were wise enough to know they were no match for the hundred shifters within. Seth and Lexi returned on foot with their horses by their sides, walking in silence. The village remained silent and devoid of life and the journey up the lane back to the Academy seemed to take an age. Salvador walked docilely at Lexi’s shoulder and she barely noticed his presence.

            At the entrance to the Academy, Seth gently pried Salvador’s reins from Lexi’s grip and offered to care for him in her stead. She could not bring herself to speak her thanks. Instead, she turned and entered the darkened corridors as if in a trance.

            Halfway up the staircase, tears began to fall again and she broke into a run and raced to her room, unable to stand being out in the corridor in the dark alone. She fell to her knees in the centre of the common room and held her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling with the effort to keep her cry from being heard.

            Hunter was gone. If he was not freed, he would be forced to breed, impregnate females with offspring he did not want. As stubborn as he was, he would be threatened, blackmailed, tortured into obeying their will. If he still did not do as they pleased, he would undoubtedly be killed. The thought was too much for Lexi to bear, and a small squeak escaped her lips as she fought to hold back the sobs that threatened to overtake her.

            She did not hear the door, but before long Seth appeared at her side and he gently squeezed her shoulder. She was grateful for his comfort, but the lump in her throat would not let her speak. He seemed to understand.

            The night progressed and soon pale light began to creep through the window. Seth spoke, his voice quiet and hoarse. “You need to rest.” Lexi shook her head but Seth had already hauled her to her feet and was steering her towards the dormitory. Ebony was not in her bed.

            “Rest,” Seth said again, this time more firmly. “You will need your strength.”

            Lexi nodded and he left her, but she had no intention of sleeping. She sat on her mattress and embraced her knees tightly. The tears had stopped falling and emptiness engulfed her. She could feel nothing, and though she was staring down at a chart of stars spread across the floor near the window, she was not seeing it. Sounds began to echo in her ears as the Academy awoke, but she could not hear them.

            On the very edge of her consciousness, Lexi became aware of Ebony’s presence. She sat on the bed opposite Lexi, but remained silent. Lexi did not look to her, though she could feel Ebony’s gaze on her.

            “Lexi,” she said softly after an amount of time Lexi could not measure.

            Lexi’s ears twitched, the only signal she gave that she was listening. She continued to stare at the chart without seeing it.

            “Lexi,” Ebony said again. “I have not told you of my past.” Lexi did not respond, but she listened. “I was born in Veardrop, a city on the west coast of Miern Valley. It travels halfway up the mountain. My father was a shape shifter. He worked as a guardsman of the citadel, only because the Lord knew what he was. Many of the guardsmen there are shifters; they are more adept at fighting than humans and have sharper eyes and ears. My mother was human. She and my father had three children, including myself. I was the only shape shifter. My two sisters were human. We did not know of my father’s true race until the night I shifted. After that, he had to tell the truth.” She sighed softly. “My mother forgave him, of course; until the citadel was attacked by Slayers and those that could had to shift to protect their families.

            “The people of Veardrop were saved, thanks to the shape shifters. Despite this, they chased them from the streets. I have not seen my father since.” Lexi swallowed, but retained her silence. The story was sorrowful, yet she could not see how it was relevant. Ebony continued, “My mother sent me here soon afterward, unable to keep me safe from the humans that believed me to be like my father. I was not like my sisters, you see. I was strong, and I often managed to haul weights the men could not.

            “I tell you this tale because you must understand that no shape shifter has faced an easy life. Hunter’s past was just as hard. The more hardships we face the stronger we become.” She turned to face Lexi again. “Hunter will return.”

            Raised voices emanating from the common room awoke Lexi from her trance and she jumped to her feet, Ebony getting to her feet beside her. The pair of them returned to the room silently. Demitri, Cassius and Cedonia had entered, all looking shocked at the horrible news Seth had given. Demitri was on his feet, towering over Seth who sat on the couch with his knees folded against his chest. Tao howled at the door, adding to the noise, longing for the master that would not come back.

            “How can he be gone?” Demitri roared, his featured contorted with rage. “How could you leave him?!”

            Cassius grasped Demitri’s arm and yanked him away from the terrified figure of Seth, snapping, “Leave him be, it is not a fault of his! Hunter knew the dangers better than any of us, it was always a possibility!”

            “Get off me!” Demitri spat, pushing Cassius away. He stumbled and caught himself on the wall. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at Demitri. “He was there, at the gate, why could he not have saved him?” He glared back at the cowering figure of Seth. “Lexi was with him. How is it that you were able to save her, and not he?”

            “I could not hold the branch…” Seth stammered weakly.

            Demitri snorted. “Of course you could not. You have no strength. What use does a twig like you have as a shifter?”

            “Demitri!” Ebony scolded angrily, and the inhabitants of the room looked up. Demitri appeared sheepish and he looked away quickly. Seth’s cheeks were stained with tears and he rested his chin on his knees.

            Lexi stared into the room, saying nothing. The arguments continued without meaning. They did not matter to her. What mattered was Hunter’s life.

            “It was because Lexi tried to save him,” Demitri concluded after a moment. “Had he been alone, he would not have had to save her first.”

            “Don’t you dare try and blame this on Lexi!” Cassius growled, grabbing Demitri by the shoulders and shoving him across the room.

            “Get your filthy paws off me, beast!” Demitri snapped back. “I speak truth, is all. Her life is more important to him than his own, now. If she had run with the rest of us, he would have only had to worry for his own life, and he would be safe.”

            “It was brave of Seth to stay,” Cassius snarled. “If he had run with the rest of us, both of them would have been caught. Where were you when Seth was trying to save them? Running, like a coward.”

            “I am no coward!” Demitri roared. He threw Cassius onto the nearest couch and the lycan grasped his arm, digging his nails into the skin and drawing blood.

            “How is it, then, that Seth managed to stay and you did not?”

            “I had more than enough Slayers on my tail. I could not have lingered by the gates without being seen.”

            As the pair of them fought, Cedonia sat watching them in silence from the couch closest to the fireplace. She appeared thoughtful, but what thoughts she was thinking exactly were unclear. She was not as troubled by the news as the shifters, as was understandable, but still she remained apprehensive.

            “Hush!” Cassius demanded, interrupting Demitri’s next string of insults. The dog had stopped howling. He stared at the door with his head tilted to one side, his ears pricked, listening.

            “Someone is coming,” Demitri murmured.

            “Hide,” Cassius hissed at Cedonia. She jumped to her feet and Lexi stepped aside to allow her to enter the dormitory and close the door behind her. Lexi watched the door. Tao began digging at the threshold.

            The door opened suddenly, bashing off the wall behind and the dog bounded forward, expecting Hunter. The Alpha pushed the dog aside irritably with his leg and stormed into the room. He dragged Jack along by the collar of his tunic and tugged Ash through the door by the ear. Ash winced, gripping the Alpha’s wrist. A nervous twinge upset Lexi’s stomach; if Demitri’s anger was frightening, it was nothing in comparison to the fury upon the Alpha’s face.

            He threw the huntsmen into the room and gazed at each of the shifters in turn. “Please tell me what I hear is untrue.” His voice was soft, cool, dangerous. Terrifying.

            No one spoke.

            “So it is true,” he concluded in a whisper. “One of the most powerful shape shifters I have ever come to know, and he has been captured. Why? To rescue three others.”

            “Would you not rather save three lives at the cost of one?” Ebony asked softly, bravely.

            The Alpha pinned her with his eyes. “One shifter is not equal to another. His life was more valuable to me than any.”

            Lexi spoke. “He isn’t dead.”

            His eyes moved to find hers. “Indeed. He will spend the rest of his days fathering offspring that will give their souls to humans, and the Slayers will become more dangerous than ever. When he has run out of use, they will take his ability before killing him. He is as good as dead already.”

            “So you would rather have Jack and Damien in his stead?” she challenged, surprised at how calm and level she sounded.

            “The shifters they would produce would not be as powerful as Hunter’s children.”

            Lexi raised one eyebrow, remaining silent. The Alpha continued to stare at her, but Lexi held his gaze easily. She noticed that Cassius had drawn his knife and held it loosely by his side, ready to defend her if the Alpha chose to attack.

            After an age of silence, the Alpha spoke. “What is done is done. I do not wish to hear of any more disappearances. Do you understand me?”

            Demitri dipped his head slightly and the Alpha turned, slamming the door behind him as he left. Tao whined and rested his head on his paws. The room came to life at once, and Cedonia peeked around the door of the dormitory at the noise. Lexi remained standing, staring at the door, unspeaking. Cassius and Demitri continued their feud while Ebony and Seth conversed between themselves, having to speak loudly over the shouting. Jack sat with Cedonia and Ash remained by the window, rubbing his ear. Tao began howling again.

            During the commotion, the emptiness within Lexi subsided and she was filled with an overwhelming feeling of determination. She could rescue Hunter, and she would. The Alpha could not stop her.

            She returned to the dormitory only to retrieve her sword. She swung it over her shoulder and left hurriedly. Before she reached the door leading out to the balcony, Cassius spotted her. “Sister.”

            Lexi stopped but did not turn. “He will be free.”

            “You cannot be thinking of returning to the fort alone?” The words hushed the conversations of the others and the room quietened, save for Tao’s whining.

            “You will not stop me, Brother,” she said softly and moved toward the door. She would cut down any human that got between her and Hunter. She would impale them, decapitate them, and saw off their limbs. They did not deserve the mercy Hunter had demanded. Her heart hardened with anger.

            “Returning alone would be suicide,” Ash said.

            Lexi turned and drew her knife, her lip curling back in a snarl. She lunged at him, grasping him by the collar of his tunic and pinning him to the wall, the knife pressing into his throat. “It is your fault,” she hissed.

            Ash did not reply, overcome with shock at her attack.

            “You abandoned him. You ran. You did not save him. It is your fault he is captured, not mine.”

            “I had to save myself,” he snapped. “Else we would both be shackled to the wall for the night.”

            “It should have been you,” she growled, pressing the blade into his neck. A bead of blood dribbled its way down his collar. Demitri mumbled something Lexi did not hear, and her arms were pried away from Ash. Cassius held her firmly.

            “Lexi, you cannot return alone,” Demitri reasoned. “You will be captured for certain.”

            “You cannot stop me,” she snarled.

            Demitri’s eyes hardened. “I can and I will. I said you will not be going alone.” Lexi’s snarl softened as she understood his meaning.

            “You cannot all leave again,” Ebony said grimly. “The Alpha would notice too quickly. Neither should Lexi go, for she is blinded by grief, but I see she cannot be dissuaded. Three, at most, should leave.”

            Cassius released Lexi and said, “I should accompany her. I can protect her better than anyone else.”

            “Seth said I would not leave, he cannot break his promise,” Lexi said quietly.

            Seth shook his head. “I said you would be safe. I did not say you would be safe here. I doubted anything could stop you leaving again if you wished.” Lexi managed a small smile at him.

            “Cassius, you cannot go,” Ebony said. “You are too unpredictable in your wolfen form, and we cannot risk you wandering too far. We know not how long this journey will last us.” Demitri sneered at him as Cassius sheathed his knife in his belt, scowling at the truth of Ebony’s words.

            “You and Seth should go with Lexi,” Demitri said to Ebony. “Hunter is your leader, you know him best.” His eyes turned to Seth. “Forgive me for my anger, Seth.” Seth nodded and smiled.

            Ash snorted. “If all the wolves leave, it will be just as obvious.” Cassius grasped Lexi’s wrist to stop her attacking again, but she had gotten a hold on her anger. She had no intention of wasting time attacking Ash, but her burning hatred had not lessened. “I still believe Lexi should stay. If Jack and I follow him, the Alpha may not notice until we return.”

            “You would turn tail and run at the first sign of danger,” Lexi murmured icily.

            “You have shifted just once, Ash, you aren’t strong enough for such a quest,” Demitri said dismissively.

            Ash bristled. “Shifting-”

            “The amount of times one may shift displays strength, you know that,” Ebony interrupted. “Lexi has shifted more times than you. Lexi should go. If nothing else, her determination will offer her strength where experience lacks.”

            “I have wings,” Ash said smugly. “I can follow him to the ends of Igrendem faster than the rest of you.”

            “What use are wings when you cannot use them at will?” Cassius asked coolly. “Besides, falcons are rare birds. You would be shot down before you made it across the bridge.”

            “And how is a panther supposed to pass by inconspicuously? Or a leopard? Those animals are not native to this country,” Ash countered.

            “I had no intentions of travelling in my animal form,” Cassius replied. “For a start, I cannot shift at will, as very few can at this age. Nerezza, I think, was taught when she was very young.”

            “So how would you have travelled, when you cannot ride either?” Demitri asked casually.

            Cassius gritted his teeth and did not reply.

            “Jack is weak and shaken from his ordeal,” Demitri continued. “The last thing he needs is another quest to endure.”

            “I am perfectly well,” Jack replied coolly, but Demitri ignored him. Lexi shifted her weight impatiently. The discussion was leading them nowhere, and meanwhile Hunter was trapped, tied up somewhere with a shadowed future hanging over him. The sun was just appearing over the top of the forest canopy. She did not know how much time she had before he was either trapped forever, or killed. She swallowed back bile.

            Cedonia spoke up loudly, hushing the debate. “While you decide who will accompany Lexi to Hunter’s aid, someone could be packing supplies for this inevitable journey. Although, it may only take another night to retrieve him.”

            “They will not waste time in moving him,” Ebony argued grimly. “They know we will return for him.”

            “Then why are we waiting?” Lexi asked irritably through clenched teeth.

            “Because you need to rest,” Ebony said firmly. “You all do. I will pack what is necessary while you sleep.”

            “She needs to return home,” Demitri said, nodded towards Cedonia. “The Alpha must not find her here.”

            “Dante can take her back to Hargate,” Jack offered. “I will take her as far as the bridge.”

            “I have no intention of returning to Cassandle,” Cedonia said breezily. In answer to Lexi’s confused frown, she continued, “A faery loves wherever she chooses. I had other reason to stay in Hargate other than to keep you company. No, I think I will stay here for a while.”

            “You can’t,” Demitri repeated. “You aren’t a shifter.”

            “Not here,” she told him impatiently. “I will find a nice little place near the village. So, if you all must sleep, I will bid you farewell, and I wish whichever ones of you who will rescue your leader good luck.”

Lexi was not unsatisfied by the discussion and she lay awake for several hours before she finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were clouded with torches and lone heads and pools of blood, and pounding rain echoed in her head.

19: Chapter 18

After waking from a less than restful sleep, Lexi returned to the common room late in the evening. Ebony knelt in the middle of the room surrounded by several coils of rope, the grapple hook, three sets of blankets, paper-wrapped cold meat, three books – a heavy wooden-backed tome, a small leather-bound handbook and the encyclopaedia Lexi had flicked through the day before – and four large saddlebags. 

            Behind Ebony, Seth lay on the couch snoring softly, covered in a blanket that was not long enough, and his feet poked out the end. It felt empty without Hunter there, like a place in Lexi’s chest that niggled at her, that had her itching to chase after him and murder whoever got in her way.

            “Lexi, can you fetch your satchel for me?” Ebony asked, breaking Lexi’s cloud of malicious thought. She did not reply and retrieved the bag from where it sat atop the chest at the end of her bed in the dormitory. She handed it wordlessly to Ebony and perched on the couch beside her, leaning forward on her knees as she thought. Seth shifted slightly under his blanket, but he did not wake.

            “Has Cedonia left?” Lexi asked lowly after a few moments.

            “Yes,” Ebony replied, placing the many packages of meat into one of the saddlebags. “Jack accompanied her down to Gerrisford. He returned not long before you woke.”

            “And where are the others?”

            “Demitri and Ash returned to their common rooms to rest, I could not tell you where Cassius has got to. He may be sleeping, or at least resting, but I doubt in his dormitory. Nerezza would not allow him to rest.”

            Lexi’s mood darkened further at the mention of Nerezza’s name and her fists clenched. “He must be tired. Can she not see that?”

            Ebony grimaced. “She must; she is not daft. However, I doubt personal comforts are high on her list of priorities. Not one person besides her has befriended Cassius before, and now she learns he has a sister. She will want to grill him for details of the quest, to say the least.”

            “She has no right,” Lexi snapped.

            “Perhaps not, but it is none of our concern,” Ebony said firmly as she added a small meat package into Lexi’s satchel. “Our only priority is rescuing Hunter, now. The mission may take days or months, and we must be strong and well-rested. Nerezza is the least of our worries. Cassius can look after himself.”

            Lexi remained silent and Ebony packed some more of the items into the saddlebags, pausing only to consult the encyclopaedia.

            The rain had stopped and the sky was clear, the waning moon casting a silvery glow over the wet grass outside. Seth suddenly jerked awake and sat upright on the couch, gripping the blanket in both hands. He stared with wide, frightened eyes at the empty fireplace for several seconds before he calmed himself and lay back against the armrest.

            “Should I be waking now?” he murmured quietly.

            “Aye,” Ebony said gently. “If we do not leave soon, the Alpha will begin to watch the corridors again, I expect.”

            The door swung open and bashed off the wall, making the three shifters jump violently. Demitri appeared in the doorway, his face white and sickly. His eyes were wide and he appeared out of breath.

            “Someone has been killed,” he whispered, barely able to get the words out.

            Seth’s jaw dropped. “Who?”

            Demitri just shook his head. “Come.”

            Panicked, and thinking the poor being could be Hunter – for she was certain Demitri was not affected so much by death as his reaction portrayed – Lexi flew after him, Seth hot on her heels. Ebony jogged after them.

            The balcony was alive with shape shifters, all running for the staircase. Lexi shoved her way through the jostling crowd after Demitri. She ran faster than the others, desperate to get outside. She passed many people she recognised by face if not by name. Some saluted respectfully in sympathy as she passed, but she had not the patience to return the gesture. Demitri disappeared down the stairs and Lexi lunged after him.

            She stumbled at the foot of the staircase and a pair of strong arms stopped her from falling. Cassius placed her back on her feet before she could say her thanks and took her by the wrist, striding through the crowd with ease. Lexi almost had to run to keep up with his stride.

            “Do you know who it is?” she asked quietly.

            He shook his head shortly and said nothing.

            Outside, a crowd had already gathered at the edge of the forest, circling what Lexi could guess was the body of the being that had lost their life. She almost felt sick.

            Don’t let it be Hunter, she prayed to her goddess. Please, don’t let it be him.

            The surrounding shape shifters parted as Cassius strode through them, dragging Lexi with him. Seth clung to the back of her tunic to keep them from being separated. At the front of the circle, Lexi almost breathed a sigh of relief for the body was not that of Hunter. It was female, pale faced and red-haired. Her clothing was human, her white shirt mostly stained red from a hole in her chest. Eleanor.

            “She was human…” Lexi whispered, unable to understand why the girl she had raced against for the beetle just days before had been murdered.

            The Alpha stood at the head of the circle, his hands folded over an arrow on his abdomen. He peered down at the corpse with his head tilted to one side, appearing saddened by the sight before him. Lexi gazed at the arrow, for the black and white feathers were familiar. Blood dripped from the arrowhead, and Lexi made the connection.

            “That’s Hunter’s arrow,” Seth muttered beside her. He was not the only one to notice; the chatter among the shifters was almost too loud for Lexi to hear herself think. Demitri stared at the arrow, as did Cassius. Ebony’s eyes frowned down at Eleanor and Seth tried to look anywhere but. Lexi knew that Hunter had been stripped of his bow and quiver just before he was captured, which led her to believe one of the Breeders had shot Eleanor using his arrow, if not his bow as well. Why?

            The Alpha raised his hand to gain attention and the chatter ceased immediately. “Here lies the body of one of our students, Miss Eleanor, who was sent home a few days ago after failing to pass the trial. I am sure many of you will recognise her.” He looked down at the arrow and lifted it, balancing the shaft on his palm. “I doubt this particular arrow is familiar to most of you, but those closest to him will recognise Kian Hunter’s arrow.”

            Lexi narrowed her eyes. She had guessed where the Alpha was going with his speech, but she could not quite believe it. He continued, “Yesterday evening, Kian was captured by a guild of humans that call themselves Breeders. I am sure many of you will have heard this already. I expected Kian to escape their clutches, but I never believed him to kill, even if he was frightened.”

            Seth’s eyes snapped down to the Alpha’s a glared with such a ferocity Lexi would never have expected from him. Ebony made no reaction, but Lexi knew she had heard, and Cassius and Demitri glowered at the ground in an attempt to keep their anger under control.

            “Not one of you is to leave these grounds until Kian has been caught. Do I make myself clear? You may be warriors, but none can match him, especially when fear has gripped his heart as I fear it has.”

            “With all due respect, sir,” Demitri said loudly, and all eyes turned to him, “why would Hunter feel the need to kill an unarmed human girl?”

            “Some respect would not go amiss, Demitri,” the Alpha said coolly. He dropped the arrow on the ground beside Eleanor’s body.

            “He showed no disrespect, sir, he merely asked a question,” Ebony pointed out lightly. The Alpha turned his steely gaze on her, though she appeared not to notice as she was examining her fingernails.

            “Hunter is not one to feel the cold of fear at the hands of humans,” Cassius added with a slight shrug. Lexi almost smiled; their words and tones were innocent enough, but she could sense what they were doing. “After all, Lexi saw that his bow and quiver were taken from him before he was caught. How could he have possibly killed this girl?”

            “Then please explain what you see before you, Cassius,” the Alpha demanded with forced patience.

            Cassius tilted his head to one side as if in thought. Then he said, “One could believe that the Breeders did this on purpose, using his arrow to frame him so to discourage us from tracking him. Shifters are, of course, a noble race and we would not save the life of a traitor.”

            “Why would they try to turn us against him?” the Alpha asked coolly.

            Cassius shrugged and Demitri said, “To convince you to do as you have done.”

            “And what have I done?” the Alpha asked him.

            “You have made it quite clear that we aren’t to retrieve him from their clutches. Hunter is a skilled shape shifter, but there is not a chance he could have escaped and found his bow and arrows. I believe he is being framed to stop you sending us to rescue him. In numbers, we would win without a doubt.”

            The Alpha seemed to think for a moment and the eyes of the surrounding shifters flickered between him and Demitri. After a short while of silence, he commanded, “Return to your dormitories. Immediately.”

            A minute passed and nobody moved, but then the fringes of the crowd started to disperse. As Demitri turned to leave, the Alpha grasped his forearm and dragged him apart from the others. Lexi retrieved the discarded arrow and cleaned the excess blood off on the grass. Cassius drew his knife and looked towards where the Alpha spoke with Demitri.

            “I have a dilemma, Sister,” he murmured. “Who should I aid?”

            “How do you mean, Brother?” Lexi replied, only half paying attention.

            “Should I aid my leader like a loyal warrior should, despite the slight issue that he is trying to frame an impossible crime on a fellow shape shifter; or do I aid my peer though he hates me as much as I hate him?”

            “Now is not the time for games, Brother,” Lexi said coldly.

            “I am being perfectly serious, Sister.”

            “Where’s Ebony?” Seth asked sharply, turning in a full circle in search of her. Lexi looked up, having not noticed Ebony’s disappearance. The Alpha dismissed Demitri and the horseman strode back towards the group, his face set in a scowl.

            “I was just contemplating helping you,” Cassius said cheerily when he came in hearing range.

            “I did not need your aid,” Demitri snapped without looking at him. Cassius rolled his eyes but did not retaliate. “You two and Ebony need to collect your belongings and wait for me before you leave.” Demitri addressed Lexi and Seth.

            “Are you joining us?” Lexi asked.

            “No, but you will need to know when exactly you will have a chance of getting away. Cassius and I will wait here until the cart arrives to take away the girl’s body and he will inform you when you are able to leave without being seen.”

            Cassius saluted formerly, which Demitri ignored, and Lexi and Seth hurried back to the Academy with the remainder of the shifters. Just inside the entranceway, three young men barred their way and saluted the pair of them, their faces solemn. “We are sorry for your loss,” one said, standing between the other two. His hair was dark and his face pale, his features soft. Lexi was sure he was one that betted on her to win the trial. She and Seth returned the salute.

            “My thanks,” she said, “but he’s not lost.”

            He nodded, but did not appear convinced. Seth and Lexi continued up the staircase and along the balcony to their common room, nodding at those who saluted them on their way.

            Ebony was already in the common room when they entered. She threw Lexi’s satchel towards her along with the sheathed sword. Lexi promptly strapped it to her back and shouldered the satchel. Seth picked up his spear and three of the saddlebags before sitting himself on the arm of the couch.

            “We’re waiting for Cassius to tell us when the Alpha is distracted enough for us to slip by,” he told her.

            “Very wise,” said Ebony distractedly as she consulted a scribbled list. “Do you think we have everything? I’ve packed three weeks’ worth of meat and vegetables, three books I think we may need to consult, a map, and-”

            “We can be as prepared as you like, Ebony, it won’t make our quest any easier,” Lexi pointed out.

            “It will be a hindsight harder without it,” she said coolly.

            Lexi did not argue. Seth tapped his fingers on his knee as he waited and hummed a little tune. Ebony continued to stare at her list and searched through the saddlebags now and again. Lexi listened to the noises outside, waiting for the sounds of Cassius’ steps. Some passed, but they moved too quickly or too loudly to be him.

            Cassius appeared before long and knocked on the wood of the door. Ebony jumped to her feet and stuffed the list into one of the bags, hefting one of them onto her shoulder as Seth took the other three. He almost staggered under their weight and Cassius took two of them from him.

            “Can your mare support this weight, Seth?” he asked uncertainly.

            “She was a carthorse once, I’m sure she’ll handle it,” Seth told him. “It’s her speed, or lack of, that will hinder us.”

            “As long as she carries you a fair distance, her speed does not matter,” he replied with a shrug. “As it is, I hope you won’t have to travel too far.”

            “I hope so, too,” Ebony murmured.

            The balcony was devoid of people when they exited the common room, as was the courtyard below. Nevertheless, Cassius insisted on walking slowly and silently to be sure no one would hear. The longer it took for the Alpha to notice their absence, the more chance they would have of getting away.

            The four of them paused at the great entrance doors and Cassius said, “I left Spots here.”

            “Where is he?” Ebony asked, and he shrugged.

            “Wait here,” Seth said, offloading his saddlebag and spear onto Cassius’ arms. He then scampered off back along the corridor and out of sight. Ebony and Lexi shared a puzzled look and Cassius shifted the bags onto his shoulder.

            “Should I follow him?” Lexi asked after a long while of silence and Seth still had not returned. Ebony opened her mouth the reply and the one of the doors opened a crack. Seth poked his head through and indicated for them to follow.

            “Where did you come from?” Ebony hissed.

            “Out the window,” he said simply. “The Alpha is speaking with the humans from Gerrisford, I doubt he will notice us, so long as we’re quiet.”

            He opened the door wider so that the other three could slip through with their packs. Cassius threw the spear back at Seth, who caught it with both hands, but kept the three packs on his shoulder. They made for the stables, keeping low in the shadow of the Academy’s great walls.

            Demitri stood in the barn with the reins of Salvador and Estrella in each hand. The stallion nickered in greeting as Lexi approached and nudged her shoulder affectionately. Lexi rubbed his nose and tugged playfully at his ears. Cassius aided Seth in strapping the bags to Estrella’s saddle while she stood with her eyes half closed. Salvador was not saddled, but instead wore the blanket that Lexi preferred to ride with.

            “I will keep guard,” Cassius said as Demitri helped Seth strap the spear to his back. “I will call if he approaches.”

            “Thank you,” Ebony said to him with a smile. Cassius paused before saluting and dipping into a slight bow and leaving. Demitri rolled his eyes and snorted softly, tightening the last strap on the spear.

            Lexi tilted her head to one side. “It isn’t balanced,” she said. Seth leant slightly to the left.

            “You can sort out balance when you are away from here,” Demitri said. “For now, just focus on reaching the fort without being spotted.”

            Seth jumped onto his mare’s back and collected up his reins. Demitri helped Lexi onto Salvador’s back, who then offered an arm down to help Ebony up behind her. Lexi set her satchel in her lap and gathered the stallion’s reins. Salvador tossed his head in anticipation.

            “Ride well, my lady,” Demitri said with a slight grin.

            “Try not to let the Alpha give the others too hard a time,” Ebony said to him. “Especially Cassius; you know how he is with him.”

            Demitri’s expression did not noticeably change, but his voice became considerably cooler. “He is no concern of mine. As for the others, I will try not to let them lose spirit. Bring our friend back.”

            “We certainly will,” Lexi said with audible confidence.

            A low whistle sounded from outside and Demitri slapped both horses on the flank. Estrella awoke with a snort and jerked into a fast trot whilst Salvador tossed his head and broke into a gallop. Ebony wrapped her arms around Lexi’s waist and Seth nudged his mare into a faster gait beside them.

            The two horses galloped along the path between fields that Lexi and Hunter had ridden along once before. As the lights of the Academy faded into the distance, Lexi called to Seth, “Can we still find the moorland from this direction?”

            “It will be quicker this way,” Seth shouted back over the rush of wind in their ears. “The hills aren’t so steep and we will avoid all the villages altogether.”

            “Then why did Hunter not take this path?” Ebony asked.

            “Did you see the rain that night?” Seth countered. “We would have been lucky to make it there and back without being sucked into a marsh.”

            The grass still squelched beneath the horses’ hooves, but the mud was not quite so deep or slippery. The ride across the fields was more or less silent, save for the odd comment about the night or the hills that slowly approached. The mare began to slow and Lexi pulled up the stallion beside her, not wanting to separate in the dark.

20: Chapter 19

Lexi, Seth and Ebony crouched in the high shrubbery that coated the top of the hill overlooking the fort, clinging to the reins of their horses. The first lights of dawn were beginning to appear across the horizon, giving them just over an hour to get into the fortress and out again.

            “What’s the plan?” Seth asked in a whisper.

            “One of us needs to stay here with the horses,” Ebony said immediately. “We can’t afford to tie them up; it’s likely we may need to make a quick getaway, and taking time to untie knots is not ideal.”

            “I assume you will be the one staying?” Lexi guessed.

            “Yes,” Ebony replied with a nod. “I may have the charisma you two do not, but this may be a situation where strength is slightly more important.”

            “What do you suggest Seth and I do within the fort?”

            Ebony thought for a moment, her eyes narrowed. “You don’t have the time to search for Hunter yourselves,” she said. “The building is too large and he may have already been moved. Make your way in and try to isolate one or two of them. Don’t kill, just question; under pressure they are likely to tell you the truth.”

            “Or lie,” Seth pointed out.

            “You will be able to see through a lie,” Ebony said confidently. “You are both stronger than humans, all shifters are. Even a dragon could be overcome when outnumbered.”

            A loud screech caused the three to duck beneath the bushes, though the horses were much too tall to hide. Through the spindly branches of the shrubs, Lexi watched the great doors of the fort begin to open. The portcullis was up, leaving the entranceway completely open and defenceless.

            “If you want to get in unnoticed, you must go now,” Ebony hissed. Seth took a deep breath and crept towards the edge of the hill, Lexi at his side. The long grass was wet and dampened their clothes as they slid down the slope as gently as they could manage. They crouched in a tuft of bracken and watched as the doors continued to open as wide as they could, coming to rest against the outer walls. Seth and Lexi shared a puzzled look, for the fort within appeared to be completely empty.

            Seth began to stand, but the sound of hooves on cobble and the creak of cart wheels alerted Lexi, and she tugged him back down into the bracken. A large black carthorse came into view through the open gateway, pulling a small trap with a driver dressed all in black, a whip in one hand and the reins in the other. On the path, he tickled the horse’s flank with the whip and their speed increased.

            “Will they be moving their captives?” Lexi asked in a whisper.

            “Not in a cart that small,” Seth breathed back. “They need to keep them healthy, not cramped. Come on, before they close the doors.”

            The pair of them crept towards the outer walls of the fort and edges along to the doors. The one pulley system in view was without a handler and neither Seth nor Lexi could hear any sign of another.

            “Why would they leave the doors open and unguarded?” Seth asked quietly.

Lexi shrugged in response, unwilling to speak.

Taking an awful risk, Seth darted through the arch and crouched beside the pulley, hidden mostly in shadow. Lexi released her breath and cursed him silently before following his lead. As she fell into a crouch at his side, a shout caused them both to freeze in fright.

“Have they left those doors open unattended again?”

“It appears so, sir. Shall I order them to be closed at once?”

“You’d better.”

Seth and Lexi breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously. They had not been seen. They began creeping along the edge of the high west wall, leading towards the stables. Seth grabbed Lexi’s wrist suddenly to stop her and she looked up questioningly. He stared left at the pulleys, where two young, strong men were now heaving the handles round. The doors began to close.

“Come, the noise will mask our steps,” Lexi urged, tugging on Seth’s hand.

“We will be trapped here!” he hissed back, the waver in his voice betraying his panic. Lexi pulled on his arm again and he hurried with her towards the barn. The door to the stables had been left ajar, just enough for them both to slip through undetected. The horses snorted in surprise at the sudden intrusion and looked over their stable doors with interest, their ears pricked.

Seth huffed out a breath and pulled himself onto a bale of hay, his head in his hands. Lexi patted the muzzle of a nearby mare absentmindedly.

“How will we get out?” Seth asked quietly.

“We can think of that later,” Lexi replied. “Right now we need to focus on finding a way into the castle without being detected.”

“Does it qualify as a castle? It doesn’t seem big enough. It has turrets, I suppose, but the actual building itself is fairly standard. It could be a large house with a few towers stuck on the corners.”

“Is that not what a castle is?” Lexi inquired with a raised brow. “Besides, my choice of words is not exactly relevant.”

“I guess not,” Seth agreed.

“Once the gates are closed, I expect the grounds will clear,” Lexi said. She leant back against the stable door, folded her arms and let out a sigh. “Do you think the humans believe what they are doing is right?”

Seth merely shrugged. “Does it matter? Whether they believe it’s right or wrong, shifters are still being abducted, forced to mate and their offspring are robbed of their race. I don’t see how anyone of any race can believe that’s right.” He scratched his nose and shook his fringe out of his eyes. “If they are doing it for the benefit of the human race, it is right to them, I suppose.”

Lexi gazed at him. “You aren’t given enough credit for your skill in philosophy, Seth.”

He smirked and did a little bow from where he sat.

“Do you-? Who’s there?”

The two of them bounded to their feet, landing in crouches. Seth held his knife tightly whilst Lexi drew her sword. The far end of the barn appeared empty, save for the heads of the horses peering over their doors. Seth flashed Lexi a sideways look.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a hiss. “What did you hear?”

“Movement. Rustling. Footsteps,” Lexi replied shortly. “I’m sure of it.”

Neither of them moved, their eyes pinned on the darkness shrouding the end of the barn. Because she could not see or hear anything, Lexi watched the horses closest to the source of the sound. If they could hear something she could not, they would show it. Four bays looked round, their ears pricked at the sound of something inaudible to the shape shifters. Seth noticed too and they tightened their grip on their weapons.

They shared a look and a brief nod. Completely synchronised, they took one step forwards, then another. Their steps rustled frustratingly loudly on the straw lining the ground and Lexi could not believe that the intruder had not yet run.

Seth and Lexi paused after exactly seven steps. Lexi squinted into darkness, trying to see through the haze, while she held the blade of her sword across her body in preparation to block an attack.

Then he ran.

It was nothing more than a shadow and crash of footsteps, and Seth was the first to react. He lunged at the shadow and wrapped his arms and legs around the invisible form, bringing them both to the floor. The two fought on the ground, both now nothing more than shadows to Lexi’s eyes.

Seth’s blade was flying, light glinting off it through a gap in the door this end of the barn. Knowing she could do nothing to help, Lexi skirted round the fighting pair, avoiding the sharpness of the knife, and pushed open the door a fraction more so that the moonlight fell onto them. Seth being the stronger of the two, he soon subdued the flailing limbs of the intruder. In the new moonlight, Lexi recognised his terrified face.

“Hello, old friend,” she said cheerily, half smiling down at the Breeder she had spared the life of. “Fancy bumping into you again so soon.”

Seth frowned up at her, confused, as he held the knife close to the youth’s throat.

“You should not come back,” the youth said quietly. “They will capture you for certain…” Seth growled and held the blade tighter against his neck to silence him.

“He makes a fair point, Seth,” Lexi said reasonably, but even Seth could sense the danger lurking beneath her overly-friendly tone. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she smirked.

“What do you suggest?” he asked carefully.

Lexi crouched so she could speak quieter to the young man. “You are going to get us into the building undetected. Can you manage that?” She tilted her head to one side and smiled. “I really hope you can, because otherwise you will get the blame as to why we are in here in the first place.”

The young man blanched and he shook his head violently.

“Your colleagues would not take the life of one of their own, surely?” Seth added sweetly. “Humans are such kind beings…”

“After all, I spared your life,” Lexi mused. “You owe me.”

“Or you will kill me to pay the debt?” the man snapped. Lexi was surprised and vaguely impressed by his anger, despite the evident fear drawn all over his face. “I am not a smart man. I have no plan to get you into the fort; there are guards everywhere.”

“A little distraction would do,” Seth coaxed. “Just to get us in unnoticed.”

The youth hesitated in answering, glaring first at Seth and then Lexi.

“Are humans really as dishonest as they say?” Lexi asked softly, losing all trace of false friendliness and good humour. “A debt is a debt…”

“Fine!” the youth spat.

“We also need to get out of the place alive,” Seth reminded Lexi grimly. She thought for a moment before turning back to the youth.

“Let him up,” she told Seth. “But keep a close eye on him.” Seth narrowed his eyes distrustfully but did as she asked. He kept one hand on the man’s shoulder as a warning, keeping him in a sitting position, and held his knife loosely in the other hand. “What is your name?” Lexi asked the youth.

“Alec,” he mumbled.

Lexi smiled at him, a genuine smile this time. “I’m Lexi. And this is Seth.” Alec turned to glance briefly at Seth before returning his gaze to his knees. “Alec, I would like to know your views on the work of the Breeders.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “If I give the wrong answer..?”

“There is no wrong answer,” she said truthfully. “I’m just curious.”

Alec looked back at Seth, who tried to give a reassuring smile but his face was set in a distrustful gaze. The human scratched his thumbnails for a long while before he took a breath to answer. “We aren’t taught anything at school of your race,” he murmured, almost apologetically. Lexi knew this already, having gone to human school herself. “Every time shape shifters were mentioned, it was with distaste and fear. I assumed…I don’t know what I assumed, but when I was offered the chance to join this guild in order to gather the…resources…to protect ourselves. I was told that shape shifters were just animals in human bodies, but worse. Shape shifters are bloodthirsty, they said. They won’t think twice about ripping out your throat.” He braved a glance up at Lexi, who kept her expression passive, though she was fuming inside. “But when you appeared to save your…friends…and barely killed any of us, I started to have my doubts. I was guarding the tower, but I could hear the shouts. I heard one of them say several times to not kill us…And then you spared my life and spoke to me almost as an equal. I did not even think you could speak…”

Seth snorted. Lexi breathed deeply to calm herself. “You have not answered my question,” she reminded him coolly.

He regarded her carefully. “I want out,” he admitted. “But it’s impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible,” Lexi said with a shrug. “If you want out, get out, and don’t look back.”

He shook his head sadly. “I have been branded,” he said miserably. “Every Breeder in the country will recognise me as a deserter and string me up in a noose quicker than you can say hello.” At Lexi and Seth’s confused expressions, he pulled down the collar of his shirt. “Look.”

Just below his left shoulder, branded into his skin, were the male and female symbols linked together. Seth sat back first, scathing. “So just keep yourself dressed. No one will see.”

Alec shook his head and said, “Besides, I will be spotted if I try to leave.”

“If you can help us get out of here without drawing too much attention…” Lexi said slowly, thoughtfully. “We will help you get out. Seth?” Seth lifted his eyes to Lexi’s. “Can those brands be removed?”

“If it’s the same ink used on us, no,” he said bluntly. “At least…not humanely.”

Lexi narrowed her eyes. “Explain?”

Seth licked his lips and said, “If the skin is burned, the ink will slide away from the skin. But it has to be done at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. Ebony will know more about it.”

Alec looked hopefully up at Lexi. “I can get you in and out before anyone notices if you can promise me that,” he said eagerly. “Please.”

Lexi raised her brow. “You have a plan?”

He shook his head but nothing could shake the elated feeling of hope plainly displayed on his face. “I can distract them. There are spy windows all around the fort that we use to keep guard without giving it away to potential enemies. I can claim to see a…a shape shifter.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed at his hesitation but he said nothing. Lexi said, “Will they buy it?”

“They were expecting you,” Alec said, nodding vigorously. “They will believe me.”

Steadily, Lexi stood with Seth following. Alec scrambled to his feet and beamed at them both. Lexi smiled politely in return; Seth did not. Alec poked his head around the door of the barn, and as his back was turned, Seth looked down at Lexi, doubt written all over his face. She tried to convey her reasoning to him telepathically, but he did not seem to understand.

“There is an open window on the west side of the fort,” Alec whispered, glancing over his shoulder at them. “When the grounds are empty, make for it and climb through. I will wait out here for you. When you have finished what you need to, return here and I can get you out of the walls.”

Lexi nodded once to show she understood. Seth made no gesture at all for the moment, but instead grasped Alec by the collar and pinning him against the wall. The wood structure creaked, making Lexi wince, and a few of the horses snorted.

“Listen, human,” Seth murmured dangerously, “if you betray us, it will be the last thing you ever do. Do you understand me?” The tip of his dagger made contact with Alec’s stomach, accenting his threat perfectly. Alec swallowed nervously, all trace of his smile gone, and nodded. Seth released him and Alec ran for the door, disappearing into the shadowed grounds.

Although she was not surprised at Seth’s wariness, his hostility was unfamiliar to Lexi and made her feel uncomfortable. No shifter could afford to be as carefree as Seth usually was, she knew that. It was always Hunter or Demitri that made plans, that thought through every possible outcome, that made the threats, not Seth. But his leader was gone. It was every wolf for himself now.

Seth holstered his knife and leant against the nearest stall door, staring after Alec. Lexi watched him. After a moment or two of silent stillness, his hard expression relaxed back into the easy-going Seth she recognised.

“Do you think he was telling the truth?” he asked her lightly, scratching his nose.

Lexi shrugged. “It takes a hell of an actor to manage that.”

Seth rubbed his face with both hands. “All humans are actors, Lexi. Not one of them can get through the day without at least telling one lie.”

“Have you spent any amount of time with humans, Seth?” Lexi asked coolly, her voice clipped. Seth immediately dropped his gaze and even in the dark she could see his cheeks flush pink. Lexi looked away, hiding her guilt in a scowl. Her question had prevented her from answering; for her parents had lied to her every day of her life, even her father, who she had loved and trusted most dearly.

They told her they did not know who her birth mother had been. But they did know. She knew they knew. Seth was right; humans did lie.

A shout brought them both out of their reverie of thought and they stood upright, hands on the hilts of their weapons. The words of the shout were inaudible from the barn, but the return calls and the hurrying of feet told them all they needed to know. Seth and Lexi shared a brief look before he peered around the door, Lexi trying to look as well.

“I don’t believe it,” Seth said incredulously. “They’ve emptied the grounds.”

“Then let’s go before they come back,” Lexi hissed impatiently.

Seth looked down at her just as she looked up at him. “Be on your guard,” they said at exactly the same moment. It made them smile, but only briefly as they left the safety of the barn and hurried across the bare grounds towards the castle, folded over in an attempt to keep from being seen. The pair of them sat with their backs pressed against the west wall. Seth made a face, for the grass was still fairly wet.

Without speaking, they watched the humans race towards the gates as they began to slowly creak open again. Some coated the outer walls, peering through narrow windows despite the dark. A few more hurried out of the castle, brandishing flaming torches that lit up the fort.

Seth turned his head and put his lips very close to Lexi’s ear. “Look for the window. I’ll keep watch.”

Lexi nodded and peered up and down the west wall. In the dark, it was hard to see any light that could have been emitted from the windows because most of them had their shutters closed.

Keeping her back pressed against the wall to reduce chance of being seen, Lexi pushed herself slowly to her feet. The wall behind her was nothing more than a silhouette, offering no light and no direction. Frowning, she looked for the moon in the clear night’s sky, just to be sure that this was the west wall. It was.

A chill of fear swept down her spine. Alec could easily have lied; she and Seth were vulnerable out here, with nothing to hide in but shadow. Always, maybe not often, but eventually, shadow became a traitor.

“I don’t see…” She trailed off, the feeble glimmer on the wet grass catching her attention.

“What did you say?” Seth asked, his eyes still glued to the figures of the humans lingering around the gates. Lexi did not answer him, only vaguely aware that he had spoken. She stepped tentatively towards the glimmer, her eyes examining the wall above it. A set of shutters stood ajar by only a fraction, which was what allowed the glimmer. Crouching and straining her eyes and neck, Lexi gazed through the gap and into the blindingly bright corridor within.

Lexi pursed her lips in thought. She had found the window all right, but now they had to get in. The moment she opened the shutters, light would pour out and give them away quick as anything.

“Seth!” she hissed.

Slowly, Seth clambered to his feet and stepped his way towards her, walking backwards to keep his eyes on the Breeders. When he reached her, and only then, did he take his gaze off them. “What?” he asked.

Lexi indicated the shutters beside her and then the glimmer of light on the floor. He looked between the two for a few moments before he understood.

“The light,” he whispered.

Lexi nodded.

“I have an idea,” Seth said after what seemed like ages of silence. “It’s risky, but I can’t see any other way around it, if the human boy is right and this is the only open window.”

“I’m listening,” said Lexi.

“We will have to wait until their heads are turned; all of them. Then we can open the shutters. Provided that we do not waste time getting in, there’s no reason why the humans will think the window has just been opened. If one returns, we won’t be here to point the finger back. And better yet, if they don’t notice, we have an easier route out of the place.” Lexi only thought for a moment before nodding her agreement. “You first,” Seth added, glancing back at the crowd of Breeders and gripping the bottom of the left-hand shutter with his fingertips, for there was no handle on the outside.

As he pulled open the shutter, light shone across Lexi’s face and the ground at her feet. She glanced through the window into the corridor before leaping inside, landing neatly on her feet on the all too familiar stone floor. As before, the hallway was deserted.

Seth hopped in behind her and took a quick glance left and right, up and down the corridor. “They aren’t much into interior decoration, are they?” he commented dryly in barely more than a whisper.

Lexi did not feel the need to reply, and so did not speak. They had to get away from the window before one of the humans outside noticed that it had opened. With any luck, they would think it had blown open in the wind. Lexi’s spine tingled as she strained her ears for any patrolling Breeders, every instinct roaring at her to take flight for safety. She ignored the urges; this she had to do. 

21: Chapter 20

Her fingertips buzzing with the promise of danger, Lexi drew her knife and held it tightly in her grasp; so tight, in fact, that her knuckles turned white and her palm chafed painfully against the hilt. Beside her, Seth held his dagger loosely at his side. Neither of them said anything for a while, both merely listening to the eerie silence of the hallway. It was paramount that they moved from the window, but neither could seem to make their limbs move.

            Lexi glanced up at Seth and he looked down at her. They silently agreed to move on, taking one step at a time away from the window. Lexi felt just as conspicuous in the well-lit corridor as the first time she had walked its path. There was nowhere she could hide, and nowhere she could run except further down the halls.

            Each step they took was painfully slow, and no matter how careful they were when it came to placing their feet, the sound still seemed to echo off the brick walls and ring in Lexi’s ears. More than once she doubted her aptness of being a shape shifter at all, her thoughts wandering dangerously close to the night of Hunter’s capture before she fiercely pushed away those memories and focused solely on the task at hand.

            After three left turns, a corridor to the right and double backing, Lexi and Seth spun round at the unmistakable sound of an anguished cry emanating from somewhere to the right, further down the corridor. Lexi’s heart seemed to beat right out of her chest, and she was almost certain she could hear Seth’s too. There was no one in sight, and no one entered the corridor no matter how long they stood as still as statues.

            Seth was the first to lower his knife. He chose wisely not to speak, but rather asked Lexi with his eyes whether they should investigate. Lexi chewed on her lower lip for a few seconds before nodding stiffly.

            They crept down the corridor towards the source of the cry. There was only one door in the hallway, and Lexi pinned it with her eyes, waiting for it to open suddenly and catch her and Seth creeping about the halls. The door never opened, and a single voice could be heard behind it, growing louder and more prominent the closer they got. Lexi was not able to make out what the voice was saying until she was right next to the hinges, and even then she had to press her ear to the crack between the door and the wall to listen. Seth crept by her and leant his head against the other side of the door.

            “If we manage to capture just one of them, what’re we meant to do with it?” asked the voice. It belonged to a man, pacing up and down the room. He paused just outside the door and turned, walking exactly seven paces to the right before pausing again and returning. “The cart left at noon with the two we had. Which brings me to my next point…”

            “I can hardly wait,” answered a second male voice. Up until then, Lexi had been half convinced that the man had been talking to himself.

            “What was the idea of sending just two of them up north, eh?” the pacing man demanded. “What use was two?”

            “Macallista sent word for us to deliver any that we had managed to capture. We couldn’t deny the request, and he would have cancelled the entire operation if he believed we were doing no good. This is Rosavale, home of most if not all of the fledgling shape shifters. What hope did we have if we couldn’t catch the young ones?” Lexi’s heart dropped to her stomach. Hunter was not here. Across from her, Seth appeared just as troubled. Still, they had to know where he was going. “And besides, the archer made up for the three we lost.”

            “Oh, yes?” the pacing man asked sceptically. “What made that one so special?”

            “Could you not see the power in his eyes? He radiated strength and leadership. Whatever you say about shape shifters, some of them are truly remarkable creatures. He seemed so noble as well…”

            “Stop talking this nonsense,” the first man snapped. “You’re talking about him as if he was one of us. He is little more than an animal. You are a blind man to think that shifters are in any way like humans; they reek of blood and the wilderness. Since when have they ever fought on our side?”

            “When have we ever fought on theirs?” the second replied quietly. He was distinctly older than the first and Lexi almost held a small amount of respect for him. Almost.

            The pacing man scoffed. “What use are we to them if they are so much stronger and wiser?”

            “Numbers,” the older man said simply. “Besides, I am rather surprised that they have not stormed this place yet, all of them. We are taking their people, and I have no doubts that they know exactly what we intend to do with them.”

            “Some loyalty they have,” the younger man sniffed.

            As the two men continued their debate, Lexi held two fingers up to Seth, her face set in a slight, questioning frown. Seth nodded; he could not hear any evidence of a third party member either. His face was set in a scowl, as was Lexi’s; they had heard enough. Seth tightened his grip on his knife and raised it, Lexi mirroring him.

            On three, Seth mouthed to her, holding up three fingers.

            After three beats, Seth slowly gripped the handle of the door and pulled it down. Lexi readied her stance and Seth exchanged a quick, confirming look with her. She nodded defiantly and he shoved the door open with his shoulder.

            There was a moment where the men stood completely still within the room, eyes wide and frightened. Seth pounced at the younger man, who was no longer pacing, and twisted his arm around his back while pressing his blade to his neck. Even Lexi would have cringed at the snarl on Seth’s face once upon a time. The older man was sitting in a chair, his back to an oak wood desk. Lexi stood over him, the tip of her knife pointing between his eyes.

            Nobody spoke for a whole minute. Something seemed to click in Lexi’s mind and her fear seemed to drain. Neither of the men were armed; she and Seth had the advantage.

            “Close the door,” she said softly to the man in the chair. “Don’t try to run or call for help; not only is this place empty, I am a lot faster than you.” The man stood slowly, his eyes flickering between the blade in her hand and her eyes. He did exactly as she asked, and as he turned back to her, Lexi nodded her head back to the chair. She liked to be higher up.

            “Good evening, gentlemen,” Seth said brightly once the older man was back in his chair. Lexi chanced a quick glance in Seth’s direction; his snarl was gone and he appeared almost friendly. The younger man was still in his grasp with the knife against his neck.

            “Where’s the rest of the cavalry?” he sneered, and Seth pulled his arm tighter so he winced.

            “That is no way to treat guests,” Lexi admonished pleasantly. She turned to the man in the seat. “Your men ought to be taught a few manners. And perhaps they should be educated when it comes to shape shifters; does he know that my friend could break his arm without thinking twice about it?”

            Seth pulled his arm round harder for good measure and the man cried out.

            The older man watched quite calmly. “Then why doesn’t he?”

            “Because that is not what we are here for,” Lexi replied simply, hiding her surprise at his question. “We aren’t intending to cause trouble and pain where none is needed.” Both men looked at her with surprised frowns. She ignored them and continued. “All we want is to know where our friend has been taken.”

            “Which friend would this be?” the older man asked politely, though his eyes betrayed his distrust.

            “The archer that was caught quite recently,” Lexi said coolly. She had had enough of pleasantries and now just wanted the information they came for.

            The man leant back in his chair and regarded her thoughtfully, his hands folded over his portly stomach. She watched him as he watched her. He was not old as such, but old enough by human standards to have outlived his use as a fighter. She did not have to guess that he was a commander. His hair was black but greying in places and his face was lined with years of work.

            “He isn’t here,” he told her eventually.

            Lexi’s eyes narrowed. She already knew that much. “Then where is he?” she asked through gritted teeth. “And where is his bow?”

            “His weapons have been transported with him.”

            “Transported where?” Seth demanded, growing impatient. He was only so much stronger than the man in his grasp and he was not sure how much longer he could keep him like this.

            “That is not mine to tell,” the older man said breezily.

            Lexi watched him for a moment, her mind a whirl of thought. They needed to know if they were going to have any chance of tracking Hunter. Her gaze flickered down to the man’s hands resting on his stomach and an idea came to her. A barbaric idea, but perhaps the humans needed their own language spoken to them.

            “Perhaps I can persuade you to part with the information we need,” she said carefully. Before the man could react, she grasped his right wrist and twisted it behind him so that his palm lay face up on the desk directly behind him. The man called out, more in surprise than pain. She whispered so that only he could hear, “I need to know this.”

            “Lexi?” Seth asked uncertainly. She ignored him.

            “I have five questions for you,” she said quietly, but so the other two in the room could hear her as well. “You have five fingers, just like me. If you don’t answer my questions, you are depriving me of what I need. So, for every question you refuse to answer, I will deprive you of one of your fingers. Do you understand?”

            The man swallowed nervously, but nodded all the same. Lexi had half expected Seth to protest, but her companion remained silent.

            “One.” Lexi touched the tip of her knife to the man’s thumb. “How long ago did the cart leave with the archer and the one other we heard you speak of?”

            The man answered immediately. “They departed from the fort at noon.”

            Satisfied, Lexi moved on to his index finger. “Two. How many horses of which type were pulling the cart at what pace?”

            “That’s three questions!” the man in Seth’s grasp spat. Seth pressed his knife into his neck to silence him.

            “That is for me to decide,” Lexi told him silkily. “Answer.”

            “Two carthorses, the fastest we had,” the man told her stiffly. “I don’t know anything of the pace the driver was intending to set off at, nor if he will speed up or slow down later on.”

            Lexi thought for a moment, but decided this was, again, the truth. She moved to tip of her knife to touch his middle finger. “Three. In which direction is that cart heading?”

            “North,” he told her simply.

            She was not satisfied with the one word answer, but decided it had answered her question, and so moved on to his ring finger. “Four. Which island are they taking him to? Where will he stay until he has outlived his use?”

            The man did not answer immediately, reluctant to answer this particular question. Lexi moved her knife down to where his finger joined his palm and rested the blade pointedly. Still he did not answer. She started adding weight to the knife and blood spouted either side before he spoke. “The central base is on The Peek,” he growled unwillingly. “He will wind up there…eventually. Until then, there are a number of bases that they may keep him at.”

            Lexi allowed herself a small smile and released the pressure on his finger. She had one last question and she knew what she wanted to ask, but she did not want to push her luck. She tried a different path. “Five. What do they intend to do with him when they have him where they want him?”

            “He will be matched with compatible females and they will be forced to mate. The offspring will be taken from the mothers and their abilities will be removed in order to give them to humans.” She could hear the malice in his voice and it made her blood curdle. She was tempted to cut off his little finger anyway for being so vicious, but thought better of it. She released his arm, but did not lower her knife.

            “You will not speak of our appearance,” she told him icily. “You will forget we were ever here.

            Seth shoved his captive against the wall and followed Lexi out the door, closing it softly behind him. Without saying a word to one another, they broke into a jog which quickly became a sprint down the corridors in desperation to find the window. Lexi’s stomach was churning sickeningly and she was not sure if she would be able to keep the contents down. She had to get outside; just being in the building made her feel filthy and contaminated in some way.

            Seth spotted the open shutters first and dragged Lexi by the elbow towards it. They no longer cared about being seen; all they wanted was to get out. They leapt through the window and raced straight across to the barn without checking they could not be seen.

            Inside, Lexi collapsed against one of the stable doors and Seth leant on his knees. They were not exactly tired as such, more disgusted at the Breeders’ work than anything.

            “I was starting to wonder if you would ever make it back in one piece.”

            Lexi pushed herself upright and glared at Alec. She wanted nothing to do with anyone that had had anything to do with the Breeders’ operation. It was sickening, even by the humans’ standards. She wanted to stab herself in the foot for agreeing to work with him, even if it had meant accessing the knowledge she now possessed.

            Seth grabbed the young human by the collar and shoved him up against a tall pile of hay bales. “Whether you knew what we were or not, this place is disgusting!” he snapped, his face red with anger. Alec opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. “You can stay here and rot for all I care, it’s all you’re good for!”

            “Seth, lower your voice,” Lexi said softly, but no less angrily. “He did what we asked, so now we must hold our side of the deal.”

            He turned and looked at her as if she had grown wings. “Are you mad?” he asked sharply. “He will kill us in our sleep, given half the chance!”

            “He’s a Breeder, not a Slayer,” she reminded him, more harshly than she had intended. “Killing us would do him no favours. So long as the others have their backs turned, we will take him out of the gate and away from here. After that, he’s on his own.”

            Seth turned his glare back on Alec before slowly releasing him. “Lead us out,” he commanded coolly.

            It would not have mattered if Seth had asked him to take down the rest of the Breeders singlehandedly, Alec was in no place to argue. The human boy nodded shakily and sidestepped out of Seth’s way. Under the watchful glare of the shifters, Alec scurried to the other end of the barn and peeked through the gap in the doors. Seth and Lexi followed at a slower pace.

            “I don’t trust him,” Seth said darkly.

            “You would be a fool if you did,” Lexi replied lowly.

            “They have left the gate unguarded,” Alec whispered when they approached. “I hope you can run fast…” Behind his back, Lexi and Seth shared a knowing look; they both knew that they were faster than him without having to see him run. They did not say as much and let him chatter to himself as he formed a very flawed plan.

            “Keep to the shadows, stay hidden but keep running,” Seth said once Alec had finished. As they crept outside and crouched beside the outside wall, Lexi turned to the human at her side, her tone serious.

            “Keep up,” she said coolly.

            She and Seth began running, Alec stumbling after them. The pulleys had been abandoned, but the gates remained open. Seth paused beside them and cast his gaze warily around the grounds of the fort, looking for any lingering humans. Lexi looked with him, finding it odd to leave the entire castle unguarded.

            “This had better not be a trap…” Seth mumbled.

            “Aren’t we leaving?” Alec asked in a hushed voice.

            “You would do well to learn caution while you can,” Lexi hissed at him. “You can never be too cautious.”

            Alec had the sense to remain silent as they crept closer to the gates, peering out into the darkened moorland. A little way away stood the foot of the hill they needed to climb. The outside appeared just as deserted as the fort, but the distant shouts gave away the Breeders’ presence, no matter how far they had wandered.

            “Count to twenty once I have gone before following. Make straight for the hill unless I shout, okay?” Seth asked in a whisper.

            Lexi did not much like his plan, but did not want to argue in front of Alec. She nodded, if a little stiffly. Seth crouched lower and crept closer to the gate, following one of the great doors around and out. Once he was out of sight, Lexi continued to stare into the dark, waiting for a sound, but no shout came.

            “Did he get out?” Alec asked eagerly. “Is he alright?”

            Lexi held up one finger to silence him as she waited, counting in her head.

            “Come,” she demanded quietly and hurried out of the gates without checking he was following. Outside, dots of light were visible to the left and right of the fort, but not one of the Breeders had thought to climb the hill.

            Lexi and her trailing companion scrambled up the hill, grasping weeds and handfuls of grass – and thistles, in Alec’s case – to pull themselves up. Seth hauled Lexi up the rest of the way as she neared the top, but Alec was left struggle on his own.

            “Who is this?” Ebony asked, her voice guarded, as he appeared, panting and leaning on his knees. His palms were red sore and he appeared more than a little uncomfortable under the three pairs of eyes that watched him reproachfully.

            “The latter end of a deal,” Seth told her coolly. “He helped us out, so Lexi offered to help him get free of the Breeders.” Lexi’s eyes narrowed at having the blame pinned on her, but she said nothing. “He wanted out of the guild.”

            Ebony’s gaze returned to Alec. “I can see the problems that would cause. Shall I remove your marking?” Alec appeared nervous, but he nodded. “Let’s get away from here and camp down for a short while, and then we can set about removing it. But I warn you now, it will be painful.”

            Alec swallowed.

            Lexi petted Salvador in greeting and took hold of his reins. Riding at any fast pace would attract attention, and both she and Seth were tired.

            All three of the shifters shot continuous glances over their shoulders at the human in tow, distrustful and wary of him. Young Alec pretended to not notice the looks he received, nor did he show just how great his fear was.

22: Chapter 21

Alec’s screams pierced the early morning like a knife through soft cheese. Seth sat with his knees pressed against his chest and his hands over his ears, his eyes pinned to the leaf litter. Lexi flinched every time the human took a wracking breath, ready to scream some more, as she tried to calm Salvador and Estrella. They squealed loudly, competing with the boy’s voice, and their eyes rolled back in their skulls. Ebony knelt over Alec, holding the white-hot blade of her knife against his collar. Upon first applying the heat, all three of the shifters had shuddered at the sound of melting flesh. Alec almost deafened them all with his screams.

            When the cries descended into sobs, Seth tentatively removed his hands and took a shaky breath. Lexi’s ears rang with the echoes of Alec’s voice and she had to ask Ebony to repeat herself three times before she heard.

            “Can you get one of the water skins from Estrella’s pack?” Ebony asked, holding her knife at arm’s length. Lexi nodded and retrieved the skin, trickling the cool water onto the glowing blade. The metal hissed and smoked in protest, but the glow faded and Ebony placed it on the floor to cool further while Lexi replaced the water skin.

            While Alec continued to hold his legs tightly, crying into his knees, Seth approached Lexi and the horses. “Maybe the rest of them will think we’re torturing him…” he murmured shakily.

            Lexi nodded grimly in agreement, watching the boy. “It may, at least, prevent them from following our tracks.”

            “Ebony thinks we can sleep until noon before we must proceed,” Seth told her after a few moments of silence. “What do you want to do with the boy? We’ve completed our end of the deal now.”

            “I know,” Lexi replied, “but we cannot exactly send him away, not in the state he’s in. In that much pain, he won’t be any threat, I’m sure. You and Ebony need to sleep; I’ll keep the first watch.”

            Seth looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it. “Okay. Wake me up if you start to get tired.” His eyes flickered over Alec’s trembling form distrustfully.

            Ebony made up two beds out of the blankets in their possession and she and Seth were soon fast asleep by the dying fire. Lexi sat leaning against a silver birch with a narrow trunk that pressed uncomfortably into her back. She sat quite still for a long, immeasurable amount of time, pulling apart dead leaves and allowing the pieces to fall between her fingers before picking up another. The monotonous actions soothed her tense muscles and racing mind. But no matter how relaxed she got, she could not bring herself to think of what the commander had told her.

            The sun’s first few rays were beginning to stretch across the landscape when Lexi glanced up at Alec. His expression was almost apologetic. “May I sit with you?” he asked carefully and quietly.

            Lexi’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded. Alec sat cross-legged four feet to her left and stared down at his hands. Neither said anything for a long while, Lexi ignoring him while Alec’s eyes flickered up to her every few minutes.

            His intake of breath startled Lexi and her head snapped round to face him. His eyes were squeezed shut and he held a hand over the patch of skin where he had previously been branded. She watched his silent pain for a few seconds before shuffling over to him. He flinched at her nearness, and Lexi unsheathed her knife to be sure he would not try anything. She had a grudging respect for his wanting to leave the Breeders’ guild, but she still did not trust him.

            “May I?” she asked in a whisper. He nodded and she gently pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing the red, blistering skin below his shoulder. Lines of black coated the damaged tissue, ink that had not yet disappeared. The wound looked incredibly painful, and Alec’s hands continued to tremble by his sides.

            “If I can make a new life for myself, it will be worth it,” Alec whispered, his voice strained.

            Lexi leaned away. “It will scar. The tissue will repair itself to be invisible at a first glance, but you will never be completely free of it. I strongly suggest you keep yourself covered for the next few months.”

            Alec nodded in agreement and they fell into silence.

            After a while, Lexi said, “You should rest. You won’t have chance to when we start moving again.”

            He shook his head. “You must be more tired than I. Besides, I cannot sleep in this pain. I can keep watch if you like; it was often my job in the guild.” He offered a small, hesitant smile, which Lexi returned somewhat reluctantly.

            “You can accompany us across the bridge,” she told him, choosing her words carefully. “But afterwards, you are on your own. We will be travelling much too fast for you to keep up with, and neither of our horses will carry you.”

            Alec grimaced in understanding. “I insist you rest. Please.”

            She had to admit that she was tired, but she knew she would not sleep. However, she was aware that she was becoming dangerously friendly with him and did not wish to spend much longer alone in his company.

            Instead of leaving the human to keep watch alone, Lexi gently shook Seth awake and they swapped places. She did not believe Alec would give away their position to the Breeders or kill them in their sleep, but was not about to trust him on instinct alone. When she voiced this to Seth in a whisper too quiet for Alec to hear, he agreed with her.

            Lexi was not a huge fan of sleeping outdoors. Every island was full of predators that could kill them in their sleep; stampedes of buffalo, a hungry mountain lion or even the odd wolf pack would attack shifters if they were hungry enough. Throughout the rest of the morning, even with Seth on watch, she managed to get about a total of two hours sleep.

            The sun was shining in the centre of the sky by the time the four of them emerged from the trees and approached the village of Hatherton. The village was even smaller than Hargate; it covered about an acre of land in total and the houses had been made clumsily, as if rushed.

            “Once we get across, I think we should head along the foot of the mountains,” Ebony was saying, holding onto the back of Lexi’s belt with one hand and gripping a map in the other. “Then we’ll be hidden by the forests.”

            “It also means it’ll take twice as long,” Seth argued. “If you think how big even half of the Valley is, we would be better sort of zigzagging our way north; then we are covering all of it.”

            “He could easily be hidden in the mountains,” Ebony replied.

            “We’ll be able to see if they have taken him up there,” he said as they joined the road at a walk, heading for the village. “There’s no route up there for a trap or cart, or even a horse for that matter, so they would have to drag him up themselves. Tracks are inevitable.”

            Alec walked at a steady pace beside the horses, listening to the shifters argue without paying much attention. Lexi kept a close eye on him, distrusting his motives but intrigued by his thoughts, which she could not begin to guess. He seemed to be very interested in the moorland that surrounded the road leading to the village, but she could not decide whether this was to cover up his eavesdropping.

            “How do you know so much when we are not allowed to traverse between islands?” Lexi asked, frowning. Salvador tossed his head impatiently as they continued at the frustratingly slow pace.

            “I’m from the Valley,” Seth explained briefly. “I explored the mountains when I was a child; had nothing else to do.”

            “Is it safe to enter the village?” Lexi asked hesitantly.

            “I doubt any of them would know a shifter if they saw one,” said Ebony, but her voice wavered. “Villages this small rarely hear anything of the Neäkan.”

            “Even so, probably best to be cautious,” Seth warned. “Ebony, you had best get on behind me.”

            “Why?” Lexi asked as Ebony slipped off Salvador’s back.

            “Because human men don’t think much of human women; you should know that. It would be better if I had Salvador on a lead rein as well.”

            Lexi had forgotten how little women were worth in the human world. She glanced down at Alec. “Should I ride behind him?” It was obvious Seth disliked the idea, but he admitted it was a good one. “Can you ride?” she asked Alec. He nodded cautiously and Lexi dismounted. Alec pulled himself onto the stallion and Salvador laid his ears back at the intruder. Lexi stroked his flank to calm him before climbing up behind the boy.

            “He’s lively,” Alec said with a nervous laugh as Salvador stamped a hoof and snapped at the bit.

            “Don’t hurt him,” Lexi warned dangerously. She placed her hands gingerly on the human’s shoulders and the four of them proceeded towards the village. Alec said nothing, although all three of them eyed him warily. 

            “I need to ask you to stop there, sir,” a man dressed in brown declared, holding a staff out to block Estrella’s path when they approached the outermost houses. Salvador snorted impatiently and shook his mane. The man had brown hair that was cropped short and arranged neatly along with a short beard that almost hid his mouth completely.

            “Good day, sir,” Seth greeted, his accent suddenly changing to one of a much higher class. The man eyed Seth with narrowed eyes, paying particular attention to his mop of hair that was longer than what most human men considered appropriate.

“What is your business here?” he asked eventually.

            “We are just passing through,” Seth assured him. “I am taking my wife and her sister with her fiancé to visit their parents. We hear there is a Traveller who lives close by and could possibly get us across the Selert?” Lexi had to fight a smile at the thought of Seth and Ebony being married.

            “You hear correct,” the man said, his eyes scanning Lexi and then Ebony, checking to see if they looked similar enough to be related. “Why can they not travel alone?”

            Seth laughed, a sound that sounded nothing like his real laugh. “You know women; hopeless with directions. You tell them to go south and they end up travelling west. I am sure you understand.”

            Lexi bit back the smart remark she had ready, having to remind herself that he was just acting to get them through. She forced her expression into a helpless sort of smile as she peered over Alec’s shoulder. The man examined the four of them for a moment more.

            “Where are you heading?” he asked.

            “North of Miern Valley,” Seth told him. “Although I don’t quite see how that is relevant.”

            “What is your name, sir?”

            “Again, I don’t see how that’s relevant,” Seth repeated, his tone darkening slightly. “We do not intend to stay in your village; we are merely passing through it.”

            “Okay, okay, sir, you have made your point. You might want to find him a steadier animal,” he commented as Salvador stamped his hoof and tossed his mane again. “He seems unable to cope. And especially riding with a lady…”

            “He is more than capable, sir,” Seth assured him, clicking his tongue. Both horses walked past the watchman and into the street. The four were given a few cautious glances by the villagers but none looked as if they recognised them as shape shifters.

            “Women and directions,” Lexi scoffed when out of earshot. “We are probably more capable than you are, Seth.” 

            “I don’t really think that,” he argued in a low voice, his nose wrinkling in disgust. “Humans treat their women horribly.”

            “Hear, hear,” Ebony murmured lowly. Alec cleared his throat self-consciously, but he was ignored. “Do you know where Dante lives?”

            “Yes, his house his half a mile out of the village,” Seth told us. “Almost right next to the bridge; he has to watch for people that cross and make sure they have the rights to pass.”

            “But what can he do if they don’t? He can’t force them back across the bridge.”

            “Humans don’t like breaking rules; they’re ridiculously tight when it comes to laws and such like. Shifters need a little bit more of a firm hand; tell a human he can’t do it and he won’t. A shifter will usually try it out first,” Ebony said with a small giggle.

            “Tefinim,” Lexi said with a smirk, not wishing to insult Alec. Neither Seth nor Ebony knew what she had said, but her tone gave away the insult.

            On the road leading out of the village square, one boy that looked about the same age as the shifters gazed up at the three through narrowed eyes as they passed. His expression was not one of puzzlement or curiosity; he appeared to be trying to place them in his mind. He realised Lexi was watching and one corner of his mouth tilted up in a knowing smile. He mouthed two words; ‘shape shifters.’

            Lexi averted her gaze, unnerved by him and took a breath, tightening her grip on Alec’s shoulders, trying to keep a casual look about her while hissing at Seth, “He knows.”

            “Sorry, what?” Seth asked, his expression blank.

            “Are you happy, now?” she asked angrily. “That boy knows what we are. If he talks, we’re in trouble.”

            “He won’t,” Ebony said firmly. “I doubt anyone would believe him, for a start.”

            “Don’t sound so worried, Lexi, you will attract more attention,” Alec advised her calmly.

            They left the village and headed directly west, a small house visible beside the beginnings of the bridge. Lexi allowed Alec to ride with her across the way, mainly because she believed they had nothing to worry about. Even Salvador was beginning to get used to the human guiding him instead of Lexi.

            As they neared the house of pinewood, Ebony jumped down from Estrella and scurried ahead, knocking on the front door. In comparison to the others in the village, Dante’s home was fairly well-made with a balcony overlooking the bridge and a roof that tilted slightly to drain away the rain.

            The door swung open and Dante first looked at Ebony and then over her head at Lexi and Seth as they led their horses towards the house. His expression was grim, but he smiled and nodded in greeting. They hitched the horses to a fence post on the side of the house.

            “Alec should stay out here,” Seth murmured to Lexi. “Dante won’t part any information lightly with a human.” Lexi nodded in agreement. “I will wait with him; I know he’s been no trouble, but I don’t trust him with the horses and all our supplies.” Lexi agreed and followed Ebony into the house, leaving Seth and Alec with the horses.

            “Grelma, vemai, hend eihr tou?” Dante asked, his accent lacking but his words correct. Lexi appreciated his attempt at her native language, but found the effort unnecessary.

            “I’ve been better, thank you, and you?” she replied.

            Dante grimaced. “Troubled,” he admitted. “Sit down.”

            He, Lexi and Ebony sat around a table made of the same pinewood as the house; it wobbled slightly every time someone leant on it. His kitchen was small and everything was, again, made of wood; darker than the wood of the house.

“Do you want to fill me in?” Dante asked.

“Hunter’s been taken off the island by the Breeders,” Ebony told him. “The Breeders are-”

“Yes, I know, I’ve heard of them,” Dante interrupted impatiently, dismissing the explanation with a wave of his hand. “And Jack sent me a letter not too long ago, filling me in on the basic details. But you definitely know he’s not on Rosavale anymore?”

“Wouldn’t you know?” Ebony asked. “How many carts have crossed the bridge in the last few days?”

“No more than normal, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Dante told her. He pulled down two large rolls of paper and set them on the table before them and opened the first. It covered the entire table and they had to lean their elbows on the edges to stop it rolling up. It was a larger version of the small scroll map Ebony had packed, and a lot more accurate. “I trust you didn’t have any trouble passing through Hatherton?”

“Only an overly-curious watchman,” Lexi said with shrug as her eyes scanned the map.

“I thought they would have been more suspicious of our tunics,” Ebony admitted, leaning forwards to read the name of several small villages in the north.

“Clothing means very little these days,” Dante said. “I can get you across the Selert no problem, but I can’t go much further than that.”

“We know he’s been taken north,” Ebony told him. “So if we cross Miern Valley in a zigzag, we will cover the most ground in the least time. Then we can cross to The Peek when we reach the bridge.”

While Ebony and Dante discuss further plans for travel, Lexi’s eyes wandered to the window. Lace draped over more than half of the gap in the wall, a beautiful piece of artwork with a pattern that required a skilled hand.

“Try to avoid Matsworth,” Dante was saying. “That’s the village on the other side of the bridge. They’re incredibly strict about whom they let in and out and they would not overlook your clothing.”

“So we want to head directly west for a few days?” Ebony confirmed.

“Until you reach the coast, ideally,” Dante corrected. “Or the foot of the mountains, whichever comes first. Then progress north-east, but don’t race there; remember you don’t know exactly where you’re going.”

“What are we looking for?” Lexi asked. “Another outpost?”

“I’m not sure,” Dante admitted. “Perhaps not if they want to keep discreet; my guess would be someplace secluded where humans don’t often wander.”

“Dante, dear, you didn’t tell me we had guests!”

Standing in the doorway leading into the kitchen from the hallway was a young woman of about Dante’s age, her mousy hair tied up neatly and she wore a homemade dress made of pretty white fabric.

“They’re not staying long,” Dante assured her, his expression turning from serious to gentle in the space of a second when he looked at her.

“Don’t be ridiculous, they can stay as long as they like!” the woman bustled past the table and started throwing ingredients together whilst they continued their chatter, quieter and more warily now they had company. Lexi watched her in silence for a moment longer before turning her attention back to the window. Seth and Alec were talking, but she could not hear what they were saying.

“What strange clothing,” the woman commented as she placed cups of steaming liquid in front of the three at the table. “I’m guessing they aren’t human, Dante?”

“They’re shape shifters, Annie,” Dante told her, and Ebony and Lexi relaxed noticeably. The casual way he said it comforted them in the fact she wasn’t going to go running to the guards. Annie gave Lexi a friendly smile before she wandered back through to the hall. The dark liquid smelt a little funny but warmed Lexi’s insides right through. Her muscles relaxed and she felt soothed and comforted as she sipped it.

Leaning back in her chair, still staring out the window, Lexi listened idly to the discussion between Ebony and Dante. West here, north there, and then north-east upon reaching Fereman; she did not understand a lot of it.

“Do you think the Alpha will come looking for us when he learns we’re missing?” Lexi asked casually during a silent interval.

Dante choked on his drink. “He doesn’t know you’re here?” he asked between coughs.

“Of course not, one of the shifters that got turned human was found dead by one of Hunter’s arrows the other night. We know it wasn’t Hunter, because Lexi saw he was stripped of his bow the night he was captured, but the Alpha pinned it on him all the same,” Ebony explained, disgustedly.

“How about some lunch?” Dante’s wife reappeared and started flitting about the kitchen, gathering foods from various cupboards and throwing them together on plates. Lexi became aware of her growling stomach. Ebony scraped her chair back from the table and jumped up to help her.

Dante looked thoughtful. “It will certainly make it more important to stay hidden as much as you can,” he said eventually. “I don’t know how desperate he’ll be to get you back, but your leader can be rather influential when he wants to be.”

“What do you mean?” Lexi asked, setting her cup on the table and focusing her attention on him.

“I mean he isn’t any ordinary shifter,” Dante said grimly. “You have to be incredibly capable and powerful to be in charge of so many young shape shifters. As you know, power varies from shifter to shifter.”

“What’s that got to do with being influential?” Lexi asked impatiently.

“The more power you have, the more of an effect your words have with the country,” Dante explained patiently. “Even humans won’t try it against such power. At least they haven’t done for centuries.”

“You mean there’s a chance they’ll start?” Ebony asked timidly.

Dante shrugged. “There’s a chance in anything. There’s also a chance we’ll be welcomed back into the community with open arms, but that’s unlikely.”

“Enough talk, now,” Annie said bossily, handing each of them a plate of bread and cheese. “Have something to eat to get your strength up, first. I will take some to the two outside as well.”

Lexi and Ebony ate through their meal like they had not eaten for days. Annie had given them large portions and they all felt very full by the time they finished. Outside, Seth greeted the woman with a beaming smile and accepted his food graciously. Alec was more hesitant, but Annie insisted. He smiled gratefully and she returned to the house. 

“What are you, Dante?” Lexi asked as she fought to keep her food down.

“Hm?” he asked, though she knew that he had heard.

“You keep talking about ‘us’ like you’re a shifter as well, but you told me you weren’t. So what are you?”

He smiled slightly. “I also told you I wasn’t human.” Lexi bit down on her tongue, impatient words on the tip of it. “I’m a witch,” he said eventually.

“A witch?” she repeated.

“Mm-hm. So is Annie,” he added, nodding towards his wife as she reappeared.

“They were in the same circle,” Ebony said in response to her blank look. “Witches are more common than humans think, and it’s almost impossible to distinguish one.”

“Deir sait…” Lexi murmured to herself, directing her voice at the window.

“I have a question,” Ebony said, looking towards Lexi. “What is the word for ‘witch’ in your language?”

“Mareinna,” she told her. “Why?”

She shrugged. “I’m just interested. It could be a good way of communicating if we don’t want anyone to overhear what we’re saying.”

“It could also get you captured if anyone heard you,” Dante warned them seriously. “Even humans from Findasia aren’t permitted here; you would find yourself in more trouble than you can handle if anyone recognised the language.”

Ebony flushed. “It was just an idea. No one questions Lexi when she speaks Findasian”

“I don’t speak it all that often,” Lexi reminded her. “And usually I speak to either Salvador or myself.”

“Yes, but we’ve heard you,” she argued.

“Shifters are coming and going all the time,” Dante said. “They’re a lot less strict about crossing borders than humans are, so no one really cares. I can name at least three people I know that can speak Findasian, even though they’re not from there.”

“Have they been to the mainland?” Lexi asked, interested.

“The shifters certainly have, as for the others, I’m not sure.”

“It would be nice to be able to speak it again…” she mused to herself. She was proud of her language and her homeland, even though she knew that her family line did not come from there.

“How long will it take to cross the bridge?” Ebony asked Dante.

“No more than half an hour,” Dante told her. “Assuming we don’t get questioned too much by the watchman at the other end.”

“Why don’t you stay the night?” Annie offered. “We have more than enough room…”

“Thank you, but we really must be on our way,” Ebony replied with a sweet smile. “Thank you for the lunch.” Lexi drained the rest of the mysterious liquid and hurried out the door after Dante, Ebony close behind.

Seth placed his plate on the porch and he and Lexi jumped onto their horses whilst Dante went to fetch his pony and trap. Ebony stroked Salvador’s muzzle idly as they waited, and Lexi’s muscles tensed up again with impatience. Dante’s little palomino pony pranced into view from the back of the house and Ebony jumped up beside Dante in the trap, cautiously followed by Alec. Dante greeted him with a hello, but Lexi noticed his clipped tone.

Although the bridges were made of stone, the horses were prohibited to go any faster than a walk. Lexi focused on the rhythmic sound of hooves against stone and let her mind wander a little.

If all went well, the three of them had managed to leave the island of Rosavale. In context, it did not seem like much progress, but it was a start. Once on the Valley, their path was clear to search the island without any obstacles… if the several villages marked on the map and many smaller hamlets that weren’t marked were ignored. Lexi grimaced to herself at the thought of the task ahead.

“Hend tou eihr?” Seth asked, noticing her blank expression as they rode side by side behind the trap.

“That makes no sense, Seth,” she told him. “Your word order’s wrong.”

He shrugged. “It’s a start.”

“We can’t talk in my language, Seth; we will get ourselves into more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I never said I wanted to use it,” Seth retorted casually. “I would still like to learn it.”

“I’ll teach you when we have less important things to do,” Lexi promised him. “My mind’s rather preoccupied right now.” He nodded in acknowledgement and they continued to ride in silence. Even Salvador walked quietly.

A little while later, when the sound of waves crashing against the shore became more prominent, Dante looked over his shoulder and told Seth to take a hold of Salvador with a cord to look more human; women did not often ride. The small stone cottage beside the bridge was very unremarkable compared to Dante’s home. An old man with grey hair and a staff hobbled into view at the very end of the bridge, squinting at them through narrowed eyes.

“It’s an odd time of day to be travelling, Dante,” the man croaked at the driver.

“I had a late job to take up,” Dante replied briskly. “I suppose you trust me to have faith in these people?”

The man looked past him to stare at the horses; Lexi held onto a large tuft of Salvador’s mane to present herself as a novice rider, but his eyes still lingered on her choice of attire. “I suppose so,” he said gruffly after a moment. “But I don’t like the look of them.”

“The world would be a very still place if we refused access to everyone we didn’t like the look of,” Dante told him before clicking his tongue at the pony and continued onto the road leading off the bridge.

Seth returned the cord and Lexi sat up straight as Dante halted the pony and turned to them. “I can’t go any further. I don’t know how dangerous this quest of yours is going to be, and I have a wife to look after-”

“You don’t have to explain, Dante,” Ebony interrupted kindly as she followed Alec out of the trap. “We will be fine from here.”

Dante did not look convinced but nodded all the same. “Ride directly west and you will come to a forest; it’ll be safe enough in there for you to sleep unnoticed for the night, but I don’t recommend you stay in the area for very long.”

“We’re planning to progress as quickly as possible, you can be sure that we won’t linger,” Lexi assured him.

Dante smiled and bowed to them all. “I wish you luck and I hope to receive your letter to pass back across the Selert before too long.”

“You can be sure to receive it sometime in the near future,” Seth said with a smirk as Lexi helped Ebony clamber onto Salvador. Seth returned the bow and Dante directed his pony back across the bridge. Three pairs of shifter eyes turned on Alec.

“I don’t plan to follow you,” he told them before any of them could speak. “I plan to find transport in the village; you may not be human, but I am. I’ll find work where I can and start living honestly.” He looked up at Lexi, and the next words he spoke were for her alone. “I will tell anyone that will listen that shape shifters aren’t cold-blooded killers. You have been more honest than any human I have met.”

Lexi regarded him with a small, sincere smile. “I wish you luck and good health, Alec.”

She saluted him with her fist over her heart, and soon Ebony and Seth copied her. Alec smiled at the three of them before they took off at a canter, heading west into the sun, towards a green forest that loomed towards them.

23: Chapter 22

Despite the winter, the forest was still thick and green. The undergrowth was almost impassable and the horses obtained several scrapes on their legs. The three of them had managed to cover more ground than expected in the late afternoon and the foot of the mountains were visible in the distance. There were no settlements as far as they could see in any direction.

“You will wear yourself out,” Ebony warned Lexi as she persisted to pace up and down beside the blazing fire Seth had managed to produce. It was dark and eerily quiet in the clearing they had made camp in, just big enough for them and the horses. The fact that the leaves were still green during this season unnerved Lexi and the nature was far too silent. The only noise was the sound of the crackling flames, her pacing feet and the horses snorting.

“It’s too quiet,” Lexi hissed into the night, voicing her thoughts.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere, what are we meant to be hearing?” Seth asked, his knees tucked close to his chest with his chin resting on them as he warmed his hands.

“Nature,” she told him impatiently. “No insects, no foxes, no badgers, no nothing. I haven’t even heard an owl.”

“It’s winter, Lexi,” said Ebony reasonably.

“There should still be more movement than this.” Lexi continued pacing, her eyes darting between the trees and underbrush. Seth and Ebony watched her cautiously as her steps increased in length and speed. Salvador nickered as she passed and Lexi paused long enough to glance in his direction. He stared at her with his deep brown eyes from where he and Estrella stood hitched to the branch.

Lexi exhaled heavily and sat down clumsily in front of the fire opposite Seth and Ebony.

“You’re just impatient,” Ebony told her gently. “We will progress, but we aren’t going to find him overnight.”

“It’s been three days since we left the Academy,” Lexi replied lowly.

“It’s better to progress slowly and thoroughly than too fast and end up passing him on the way,” she said wisely.

“Unless they kill him in the time it takes,” Seth muttered and Ebony shot a filthy look in his direction. He grimaced in reply and returned to hugging his knees. Lexi remained still for a few minutes before jumping back to her feet and continuing to pace.

Ebony huffed loudly and retrieved the rolled-up map from Seth’s saddlebag, stretching it out on the ground. “There’s a hamlet on the other side of the mountains,” she said suddenly after a few minutes.

“How far?” Lexi asked.

“If we continue directly west, we will reach a gap between the mountains that we can travel through. Then we follow the coast north and we will reach it.”

“That’s great,” Seth said cautiously, “but why do we need to visit?”

“If they’re hiding him off the beaten track, it’s a good place to start,” Lexi admitted. “But we don’t know if the villagers will accept shape shifters.”

“I brought spare clothes in case we needed to question some people,” Ebony said dismissively. “I am an astrologer for a reason, you know.”

Lexi was thoughtful as she regarded Ebony with a newfound respect. She was not much of a fighter, that much was obvious, but she had more knowledge than Lexi and Seth put together. The map in Ebony’s grip was covered in villages and cities, so much so that the paper was laced with small writing. To visit them all would be impractical, and Ebony had the intelligence to provide a plan.

“It’s called Malinsford,” Ebony continued, holding the map an inch or so from her nose to read the tiny script.

“Does it matter what it’s called?” Seth asked, yawning.

“Where do we go after that?” Lexi interrupted, ignoring Seth as she crouched beside Ebony.

“It depends what we learn while we’re there,” Ebony told her. “Planning our next move without learning anything from Malinsford would not be practical. For example, there isn’t a point in planning to head for Dukender when the people of the hamlet may point us north.”

“I hope they point us north,” Seth put in. “If they point us south, we aren’t going to know which way is right.”

“That’s true, but I will be grateful if they know anything at all that could help us,” Ebony admitted. “Even if it is in the direction we hope it’s not.”

“What’s the plan?” Lexi asked.

Ebony sat back on her heels and stared down at the map on the ground for a long while, appearing lost in thought. Finally, she rolled up the map and replaced it in one of Estrella’s packs.

Sitting down back beside the fire, she began to explain her ideas. “If the map is accurate, it should take us little more than half a day to reach the hamlet. I want us to change into the clothes I brought with us, which should deter unwanted questions, but we will have to be careful what we say. Even our way of speaking can give us away. Lexi, you stand too proudly; try and stoop a little.”

“Why?” Seth asked.

“Because human women rely on their men, they don’t stand on their own two feet, metaphorically speaking, and it shows in their stance. Anyone with a trained eye will spot a shape shifter by the way they stand.”

“Who in an isolate hamlet will be expecting shape shifters?” Seth asked. He lay back on his elbows and yawned.

“We don’t know,” Ebony pointed out. “Which is why we have to be careful. We should use different names as well, but that can wait till morning.”

“What about the fire?” Lexi asked.

“It can die out of its own accord,” Ebony said as she retrieved the blankets from Estrella. “These woods are dense and I doubt anyone would wander here. Without a fire, we shan’t be seen; we don’t need to keep watch. We all need to catch up on rest and we will have to travel fast tomorrow.” She tossed two blankets and a cloak across to Lexi, who promptly made herself a bed, rolling up the cloak to use as a pillow. Ebony stopped beside Seth and frowned down at him; he was not quite asleep, but he was not moving and his eyes were closed. Ebony threw the blankets onto him so that he was mostly covered before setting up a bed for herself.

Lexi sniggered and rolled onto her side, pulling the blanket over her shoulder. Peering into the darkened depths of the forest surrounding her, she let her thoughts wander towards Hunter; was he okay? Had they hurt him? The one thing she wanted to know the most was where he was. She could handle the rest later, as long as she had a direction to head in.

Seth was the first to start snoring, followed by Ebony. Lexi had a harder time finding sleep and continued to stare blankly into the shadows long after the fire had burned itself out. The chilly air was beginning to settle around her and she shivered.

 

She was not sure when she fell asleep, nor how long she slept for until Ebony shook her awake the following morning just before dawn, while the sky was still dark. Seth grumbled loudly at being woken early and dragged himself upright like a Neanderthal, much to the girls’ amusement.

            Ebony insisted that they change out of their tunics before they set off in order to attract less attention to themselves. Lexi refused the set of loose trousers and kept her leggings, swapping her tunic for a sapphire-colour shirt with sleeves down to her wrists. She fastened the belt around her hips, allowing her to still reach her knife if need be. Seth kicked the remains of the fire across the clearing and Ebony packed their tunics into one of the packs as Lexi pulled the cloak around her shoulders.

            “What happens when we get there?” Seth asked as he jumped onto his mare’s back among the saddlebags.

            “We ask questions,” Ebony replied as Lexi pulled her onto Salvador behind her. “If suspicion is aroused, and only then, we say we are Slayers. We are more likely to gain their respect that way.”

            Seth looked none too happy with the arrangement. “I trust you know what’s best,” he grumbled. Lexi did not much like the idea either, but what Ebony said made sense.

            The dense forest was hard to navigate on horseback and before long, after bashing his head on another low branch, Seth jumped down and led his mare on foot. It took just over an hour to emerge from the fringes of the wood. The foot of the western mountain range of Miern Valley was now just two hours away.

            Because of Estrella’s slow pace, they proceeded across the grasslands at a steady canter and reached a pass in the mountains shortly after dawn. The rock walls rose high on either side, leaving the three shifters and the horses in shadow. The sudden and strange darkness caused Salvador to balk and run backwards.

            Ebony dismounted and walked a few paces ahead, showing the stallion that it was safe. Lexi nudged him forwards and he took a few tentative steps into the pass. Estrella followed lazily behind, undeterred by the height of the surrounding rock and shadow. Seth strained his neck to gaze up at the mountain peaks, awed by the magnificence of the structures. Lexi had had more than her fair share of the mountains during her journey from Hargate to Rosavale and was not quite so impressed.

The crashing of waves and scent of salt water hit Lexi as they neared the coast and the darkness fell away. The sun was now fairly high as midmorning approached. To the northwest, the faded outline of the land of Ashville was just visible. The beach was roughly ten yards in width and stretched for miles up and down the coast. Salvador put his head down and nosed at the sand, pawing at it with his hoof.

Lexi had only ever seen sand in passing. The beaches that spread across the coast of Cassandle were visible from Hargate Hill, but she had no memory of visiting them. Intrigued by the strange ground, she jumped from Salvador’s back and almost stumbled as the grains gave slightly beneath her. She crouched and picked up a handful of the sand, expecting it to feel like soil. Instead, it was soft and dry and leaked through her fingers like water.

How strange, she thought.

“How far is the village?” Seth called over the roar of the waves, staring into the distance from Estrella’s back. Lexi dropped the sand and followed his gaze to where the outlines of small stone cottages could be made out against the mountainside.

“If you can persuade your horse to pick up a faster pace, we should reach it by midday,” Ebony replied. Lexi remounted and pulled Ebony up behind her.

“Then let’s travel fast,” he replied. “I don’t much like the ocean.”

Salvador picked his feet up higher than usual, unused to the ground giving way beneath him. His canter was slower than usual and his stride shorter, a pace that Estrella could match easily.

Beside them, waves of four or five feet high crashed down on the sand and raced up the beach to tickle the horses’ hooves. As it receded, Lexi noticed that the sand turned a darker colour. She longed to pause and investigate the change in the ground, but her desire to reach Malinsford was stronger.

Ebony tapped Lexi’s shoulder, indicating for her to slow down. Salvador and Estrella slowed to a walk and Ebony had to raise he voice to be heard over the roar of the waves. “We can’t appear to be in too much of a hurry.”

“Why?” Seth asked, puzzled.

“It would raise suspicion. There might be a place we can stay the night here, and we can leave at dawn,” Ebony explained. “Let’s continue at a trot.”

Lexi and Seth shared a look that conveyed their lack of understanding to her logic, but did as Ebony asked and pushed the horses into a rhythmic trot, approaching the village at a seemingly leisurely pace.

As they approached the last length of the beach to the village at a walk, Seth turned to Ebony.  “Run me by your plans once more?”

Ebony sighed impatiently. “I want us to merely ask questions of the Breeders’ travel, that’s all. If it comes to it, we are Slayers looking to stop their project; breeding shape shifters is probably the one thing the Slayers don’t want. We can make up the rest as we go along, and if we get separated we should act as casual as possible. Humans are comfortable in human company. Oh, and don’t use your real names.”

“Okay…” Seth replied uncertainly. “I am not that good an actor.”

“If you look worried, that can be understandable. I’m sure most of the Slayers are terrified of shifters, else they would not be slaying them,” Lexi mused.

Seth grimaced in acknowledgement. “What happens if they haven’t seen anything? We were told Hunter had been taken north, to The Peek. I don’t see why they would have come this side of the mountains.”

“The coast can be followed right round to the Icahn Bridge,” Ebony informed him. “No one but the villagers of Malinsford would see them.”

Seth gestured to the sand beneath them. “No tracks.”

“The tide will have covered them,” she snapped back impatiently.

The three of them fell into silence as they approached the village, the sun directly above them by this time. The hamlet was surrounded by a low stone wall that provided little defence, however it was high enough to keep the sea from flooding the streets when the tide drew in. The one-floor cottages were crammed close together in the streets, leaving little space between them. They filled the small expanse of rock that provided the stable ground and some continue up the foot of the mountain where the stone was not quite so steep.

Stood just outside the entrance to the village was a hooded figure, shrouded in a black cloak. He was unmoving and appeared to be watching them, though his eyes were hidden by the low hood.

“Dismount,” Ebony whispered to the others and they hopped off their horses. “Good day, sir,” she added in a louder tone to the figure.

At first, Lexi thought it was a watchman, but she soon realised there was something inhuman about him. The other two had noticed also and Seth kept his eyes on him all the while he hitched Estrella’s reins to the post outside the wall. The streets were far too narrow to manoeuvre a horse through.

“Why do you come here?” the man asked. His voice was low and smooth as silk, and as Lexi stepped closer, she spotted the red gleam that seemed to glow beneath the shadow of his hood.

“We don’t intend to stay long,” Ebony assured him brightly, though Lexi thought she could detect a slight quiver in her voice. Seth hovered behind Ebony’s shoulder, looking anywhere but at the figure before them. It dawned on Lexi then that neither of them had seen the outside of the Academy in a few years, and it was very likely neither had come into contact with a vampyre before.

“Why are you here?” he repeated, his gaze fixed on Lexi.

“Our business is our own,” she replied in a tone that matched his. Her left hand rested on the hilt of her knife.

“On the contrary,” he said, “you are not proceeding until you tell me your reasons for arriving in a small, secluded village such as this. I do not believe you ended up here by chance.”

“And why not?” Ebony asked.

The brim of the figure’s hood turned slightly in her direction before returning to Lexi. “There is only one way through these mountains, and unless you know exactly where the pass is, you would not find it. The sea is dangerous, so why do you come here?”

Lexi was reluctant to answer and Seth had edged back to the horses, away from the hooded figure. Apart from the sharp lines of his white jaw and nose, and the red gleam of his eyes, his face was hidden in shadow.

Ebony took a breath and spoke confidently. “Have you heard of the Breeders?” she asked him in a low voice, glancing over his shoulder to be sure no one else was listening.

The man’s head lifted up suddenly, as if in interest, and the light reflected off the red of his irises. “No. But I know someone who might.”

Ebony’s curiosity seemed to spark. “Take us to them.”

The faceless figure did not move for a short while, watching Lexi. Unnerved by his interest in her, she drew her knife and held it loosely in her hand. Her sheath was hidden by the cloak and she did not want to reveal it just yet. He glanced over his shoulder at the empty streets and gestured for the shifters to follow him. Ebony strode after him, but Lexi lingered with Seth for a moment more.

“Perhaps I should stay here?” he offered weakly. Lexi merely shook her head and trailed after Ebony. Seth hesitated, but then lunged after her.

The streets were narrow and hard to navigate, and Lexi was forced to catch up with Ebony in order to keep her in sight. Seth stuck to them both and the cloaked figure was no more than five paces ahead. The houses were very small; no more than two rooms each. The wooden frames were rotting and none had glass windows; a luxury only the very well-off could afford.

The figure paused and turned to them. “If anyone here knows anything of the Breeders, it will be she who lives here.” He tilted his head towards the cottage on the left with a big yellow-painted door. “Ask her anything, and if she knows it, she will tell. I promise you.”

“Thank you,” Ebony said with a slight nod of her head.

“I also must speak with Miss…” His eyes turned on Lexi and his mouth tilted up a fraction in a slight smirk. “Her.”

“Speak, then, sir, if you must,” Lexi replied coolly.

“This information is private. If you would follow me…” He turned and continued up the street. Lexi did not trust him, but he had intrigued her. She stepped forward to follow him and Seth grasped her wrist, holding tightly. When she looked back at him, he shook his head, his expression fearful. She tried to reassure him with a small smile and pulled out of his grip. Ebony also appeared reluctant to let her go alone, but she did not attempt to stop her.

Lexi’s knife remained in her tight grasp as she followed the billowing cloak of the mysterious figure. He swept through the streets with ease, causing Lexi to have to jog to keep up with him, until they reached the path that wound up the mountainside, leading to the homes that stood higher up. She followed without question, keeping a watchful gaze on his back from a safe distance. Not once did he look back to check that she was following.

Eventually, he led her off the path and onto a narrow trail that led even higher up the mountain. She clambered over large rocks and leapt up to the high ledges that he bounded onto with ease.

He disappeared through a tall crevice in the rock face that led into a small cave. Lexi hovered, unsure whether to follow. Curiosity won out and she dipped through the fissure, though she remained by the entrance to the cave. The dark room was lit by a single lantern that hung from the ceiling, casting a hazy light over the rock. The figure stood on the other side of the small cave, his back to Lexi as he pushed his hood off his head. Long black curls hung around his shoulders. He turned.

Lexi’s breath caught. The scarlet orbs of his eyes seemed to pierce her body and gaze straight into her soul. His face was eerily beautiful, as white as clouds in stark contrast to his eyes and dark hair. Each feature was sharply defined, young, handsome. Yet some aspect of youth was missing; his eyes had seen more years than his face portrayed.

One corner of his mouth tilted up in a wry smile and Lexi held her knife tighter, her knuckled turning as white as his skin. “You are afraid,” he murmured silkily.

Lexi did not answer; she was so very afraid and vulnerable now she was alone with him. The dagger trembled as she did.

“I will not hurt you,” he assured her lowly, looking up at her through his dark lashes.

Lexi swallowed, all too aware of the sharp points of the fangs visible when he spoke. “Does my blood smell repulsive to you?” she asked, surprised that her voice was steady. “Is shifter blood not quite as enticing as human blood?”

He did not seem surprised by the question. “It makes little difference to me. Besides, I have both questions and answers for you; I have no desire to attack you.” His eyes darted from Lexi’s face to her knife and back again. “Metal is no use against me, Miss; you would be better sheathing your knife.”

Lexi shoved the dagger back into her belt and crossed her arms tightly. “What is it you needed to speak to me about?”

“What is your name?” he asked politely.

A list of female names ran through Lexi’s mind, thinking of the girls she had gone to school with, searching for one that was a contrast to Alexia, but not obviously so. After a moment or two of thought, she said, “Rosie.”

He snorted softly, almost inaudibly. “And your real name? The name your parents gave you.”

It was Lexi’s turn to snort. “My parents did not name me. A woman I don’t know and don’t remember named me; or perhaps it was my father. I have never really paused to think of who it might have been.”

This answer seemed to please the vampyre somewhat. “My name is Malachai,” he said, dipping into a low bow. Lexi saluted him respectfully, but never took her eyes off him. “As I understand it, you are seeking the Breeders,” he continued. “I cannot imagine what has given you the motive to track them, for they are a dangerous guild. More so than the Slayers, I would think. Pray tell, why is that you hunt them?”

Lexi looked away. “They have taken a friend of ours. Our leader,” she said softly.

Malachai nodded thoughtfully. “Travellers tell of a base they have a league or so from the walls of Haston. I suggest you start there, for it may lead you in the right direction if nothing else.”

“They are heading north, to The Peek,” Lexi told him. “That is all we know.”

“Then perhaps this outpost may tell you more,” he offered with a slight grin. Lexi nodded shortly. After a beat of silence, Malachai continued, “The Slayers are a wretched guild, but their motive is understandable and their work honest. What the Breeders are attempting is nothing short of evil.”

“They plan to create human shape shifters,” Lexi noted. “Will that not just increase our numbers?”

Malachai made a steeple with his elegant fingers and sighed sadly. “What you must understand, fledgling, is that shape shifters are born with their ability. It is foreign in a human body and can often do more harm than good; for their body is not adapted to the change as a shifter’s is. Do you understand?”

Lexi nodded grimly. “Will they be stronger?”

“Only in the sense that they will be unpredictable,” Malachai said carefully. “Physically, they will most likely match your ability. There is a possibility they will be weakened, but I cannot know for certain.”

“Why are you interested?” Lexi asked softly. “It is not your kind they are threatening.”

Malachai gazed at her steadily. “It will be soon enough. Though it does not seem it, the Breeders and the Slayers have the same motive. They both wish to fight the Neäkan to extinction; but the Breeders have found a different way of going about it.”

Lexi sighed.

“Do not trust a faery,” the vampyre said abruptly. “They are known to side with whoever offers them the most; as far as humans know, faeries are little more than them. It would be wise to avoid any contact with that race whatsoever.”

“You cannot generalise a race,” Lexi argued coolly.

Malachai’s eyes narrowed. “Now is not the time for morality. You must not trust anyone, shifter or otherwise, whilst on your journey.”

“Then why should I trust you?” Lexi countered.

“By all means, do not…Rosie. But to not trust me on this would be to trust everyone you pass, and I am sure you are wise enough to not allow yourself to fall into that trap.” He smiled again and continued. “I have one more piece of advice, and then I shall allow you to return to your companions: Keep to the roads.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Your prints will be easy to track in the forests,” Malachai explained briefly. “On the roads, they will mix with everyone else’s.”

Lexi contemplated his advice. “On the roads we are more likely to be seen.”

“Of course. Each of your options carries a risk.”

“Why are you helping me?” she demanded suddenly, distrustfully.

He tilted his head to one side and looked thoughtful. “Because I want the entire lot of them dead just as much as you do. Now is the time for the Neäkan to band together; alone we cannot face the humans. Their numbers are too great.”

What he said made sense.

“Why did you wish to speak to me alone?” she asked curiously. “There is nothing you have said to me that they could not have heard.”

Malachai smiled slowly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I thought it may panic them if I let them know as well as you that I know your name is Alexia. I also know that you were taken from your birth mother at the age of seven months, given to a close friend of hers until you were left with a human couple.”

Lexi was stunned into silence. Even she had not known the exact age she had been when taken from her mother. Unable to speak, she saluted him in farewell and ducked out of the cave before he could return the gesture.

She scrambled down the mountainside alone, accumulating several scrapes on the rocks in her hastiness to reach the ground. She paused in the narrow alley between two houses to collect herself. He knew a lot about her; too much, things she had not even known.

How?

24: Chapter 23

The minute Lexi stepped over the threshold of the cottage with the big yellow door a woman nearing fifty unclipped her cloak and hung it on the coat rack standing by the shuttered window. Ebony and Seth breathed a noticeable sigh of relief at the sight of Lexi and Seth offered a cheerful grin in greeting. Lexi managed a small smile in return as she pulled off her sheath and rested it underneath her cloak beside Seth’s spear.

            The human woman gave Lexi a rough push towards the table and pushed her down on a rickety wooden chair between her companions.

            “He didn’t eat you, then?” Seth asked breezily as he tore off a large chunk of bread with his teeth.

            “Seth!” Ebony admonished him.

            Lexi paid no attention to either of them. The woman poured a ladle-full of porridge from a pot hanging over the fire into a wooden bowl and placed it in front of Lexi, along with a spoon that was pocked with tooth-marks. She ate without complaint, for she had not yet eaten that day.

            “Welcome to Malinsford,” the woman finally greeted, smiling warmly and sitting with them. Lexi, her mouth full, merely nodded in return. “I understand you are travelling, yes?”

            Lexi nodded again, spooning more porridge into her mouth.

            “This is-”

            “Rosie,” Lexi said through her food, interrupting Ebony. If she was to keep up an alias, she had best keep to the same one. “My name’s Rosie.”

            “Rosie,” the woman repeated with a warm smile. “I’m Beatrice. I hope you will stay here the night; you cannot be thinking of continuing in the dark. The waters are full of nasty little creatures, and they always strike at night.”

            Seth fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat beside Lexi at the mention of striking creatures in the night. Ebony did not seem to notice, staring into space with narrowed eyes. Seth and Lexi waited for her to speak. Without planning it, Ebony had become their leader when it came to contact with humans. Despite growing up around them, Lexi now felt a little insecure in their company, and Seth had never spent any great deal of time with humans before, as his family were purely shape shifters.

            After a while, Ebony spoke. “But what of your family, Beatrice? Your home is small, and we don’t wish to             intrude.”

            “Nonsense,” the woman replied dismissively. “My boys won’t mind making room. We can clear this space for you and you can sleep here; it won’t be very comfortable, but at least you will be out of the cold.” She snatched up Lexi’s empty bowl and refilled it, handing it to Seth. “You need to get some meat on you, lad,” she told him maternally. Seth smiled in thanks and began eating.

            “Where are your sons?” Ebony asked her. “And your husband, where is he?”

            Beatrice’s smile faded and she bowed her head. “My husband drowned. Five years ago.”

            Lexi dropped her gaze. She pitied the woman, but did not know what do or say. What did humans do to comfort each other? She had never lingered by anyone in Hargate in need of comfort, and even if she had, she knew she would have been the last person any of the villagers wanted near them. Beside her, Seth kept his gaze on the porridge and chewed slowly. Ebony placed a hand on the woman’s arm for a moment or two.

            “Are you certain your sons won’t mind our stay?” she asked gently.

            Beatrice nodded with a small smile. “Of course. They will be back soon.”

            Seth pushed his empty bowl away and Beatrice cleared it up. As she sat back down, Ebony took a breath and began to question her. “Have you heard of a guild that calls itself the Breeders?” she asked cautiously.

            Beatrice thought for a moment. “Yes. Francesca came by a couple of days ago and told me of their movements up north. Why do you ask?”

            Ebony lifted one shoulder expertly in polite curiosity. “We hear tell of them, and we aren’t certain of their motives. Has your friend said anything about them?”

            “She seemed to know a lot, more than I can comprehend, but then Francesca can often drag information out of anyone. I sometimes wonder of the dangers she puts herself in to find out such…dire things… But never mind about that, what is it you wanted to know?” She looked between the three of them expectantly.

            “We are interested in what they plan to do with the shape shifters they have managed to capture,” Ebony said slowly, choosing her words carefully. “After all, their name gives away a lot, but we don’t quite understand it. Do we, Luke?”

            Seth shook his head obediently.

            “Francesca said that the Breeders were capturing shifters so to breed them, I think,” Beatrice said. “She also said that their base is on The Peek, down in one of the abandoned mines built in the ancient times. Personally, I don’t think it would be especially safe down there; they have not been visited for at least a century. Honestly, the antics men get up to these days…”

            Lexi listened impatiently for the information they required while the woman rattled off some anecdote.

            “Do you know which mines she meant, Beatrice?” Ebony asked, interrupting politely as she sensed Lexi bristle with impatience.

            “Oh, I can’t remember,” she said breezily. “It began with N. The oldest one, I think. You know the one that travels all the way up that big mountain…”

            “Dun Caebran?” Ebony supplied helpfully.

            “I think that’s what she said. I have barely passed onto the other side of the mountains. I only know what I have seen on maps. Francesca is the traveller around here; she knows the names of every village and each of the mountain ranges. You seem to be a lot more aware of our little country than I am,” she said with a warm smile directed at Ebony.

            Ebony smiled, grateful for the compliment, but pressed on. “Do you not know anything about why they are abducting shape shifters?”

            Beatrice tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I believe Francesca thinks they plan to use them against their own kind. It is common knowledge, after all, that shape shifters are a lot stronger than us, and we may stand more of a chance of defending ourselves if we can equal the sides. That’s what Francesca thinks, anyway.”

            “What do you think?” Lexi asked before Ebony could respond. Seth cringed at her words and Ebony scowled at her.

            Beatrice turned to her, oblivious to the tension between the three shifters. “I think the entire operation is a little unnecessary. I cannot remember any attack from shape shifters so long as I have lived, and my mother always said to me that shape shifters only ever attacked in order to defend themselves. I happen to agree.” Lexi gave a small smile at the woman’s opinion, but then she ruined the noticeable relax by continuing. “But I would not want to have much to do with one personally. They don’t attack for power, but they are still wild animals, effectively.”

            Lexi’s eyes narrowed a fraction and Seth put a warning hand on her knee beneath the table.

            “I agree,” Ebony said lightly, shocking the other two.

            Beatrice smiled. “Thank you, Katherine. It gets a little tiresome when shifters are all anybody wants to talk about, and always in a negative light.” Ebony smiled in response. “I will tell you what I don’t understand: Why does this guild feel the need to breed the shape shifters?”

            “The young are easier to brainwash into believing that what the Breeders are doing is right,” Seth pointed out grimly. “Some great threats will have to be made in order to make any abducted shifter do what they wish.”

            “My, my, you are a smart trio!” Beatrice said with a broad grin. “I would never have thought of that.”

            Lexi and Seth flushed under Ebony’s pointed look.

            Before any of them could speak again, the door creaked open and Beatrice smiled warmly over the top of the shifters’ heads. Each of them glanced over their shoulders at the entranceway, where two young men now stood, one a little behind the other. The one in front was tall and stocky, well-built with the lines of his muscles visible beneath his shirt. He had a cocky smirk and dark eyes and hair. His brother was evidently younger, his hair fairer and his eyes lighter. He gave the shifters a more suspicious look and did not smile.

            “Here are my boys!” Beatrice said enthusiastically, leaping up from her seat and embracing each of them in turn. Lexi thought they were a little old to be called ‘boys.’ The older of the two accepted his mother’s welcome graciously, while the younger seemed to cringe away from her.

            “Boys, these three young people are Travellers!” she said enthusiastically. “I said they could rest the night here. We don’t mind making room, do we?” Before either of them could say anything, she continued, “This is Katherine, Luke and Rosie.”

            The eldest stepped forwards and held out a hand to Seth, who shook it tentatively and a little stiffly. “Jayden. Luke, isn’t it?” Seth nodded jerkily and said nothing. Jayden turned to Lexi and Ebony. “Young ladies like yourselves ought not to be venturing too far from home,” he said with a warm smile. Ebony returned the gesture with a bright smile and slight flush, but Lexi remained still and unresponsive.

            “Daniel, help me move the table outside to make room for our guests. Did you bring blankets with you? I imagine you must have. You cannot go travelling without blankets…” Beatrice continued rattling off instructions to her two sons and Lexi’s skin prickled uncomfortably at the proximity of so many people in the small room.

            “I must see to our horses,” she muttered and slipped away as quickly as she could.

            “Bring our blankets back with you!” Ebony called after her.

            Lexi had hoped to escape the claustrophobic feeling of being inside, but the streets of the village were just as confining. Each of the roofs brushed that of its neighbours, creating a darkened canopy over the narrow alleys between the houses. Though the sky was mostly obscured by this canopy, it was clear that the sun was sinking into mid-afternoon. She wasn’t sure what she planned to do while they waited for the sun to set, but she was certain that she wanted to leave as early as possible the following morning. She had no desire to stay in the company of Beatrice’s family; Beatrice was friendly, if a little misinformed. Jayden did not seem exactly dangerous, but she was unnerved by his brother.

            As she escaped the streets and found herself by the outer wall, Lexi whistled a greeting to the horses. Salvador’s head snapped up, his ears forward. Estrella’s head remained down, hidden by the wall.

            Something was wrong.

            The trough beneath the hitching post that had been empty when they had arrived, but was now full to the brim of clear, sparkling water. The horses had also been left with a large bale of hay, too large to be carried by any human man- or shifter, for that matter. Lexi frowned at the new arrangement as Estrella continued to munch on the hay.

            The first thing she did was check the water; seawater would do the horses no good at all, but as she cupped her hands and brought the liquid up to her lips, she noted the absence of salt.

            She then made the connection and became aware of eyes on her back. Lexi looked up at the mountainside and spotted the shrouded figure crouched on a ledge not far from his cave. He was too far away to make out his expression, but she assumed he could see her quite clearly. She saluted him as a sign of thanks and he turned, disappearing back into the crevice in the rock.

            Lexi unstrapped the rolled-up blankets tethered to Estrella’s saddle and draped them over the wall while she dug out the map from one of the saddlebags. When she looked back up, she spotted the shadow of Jayden on the ground.

            “Mother told me to come and lend a hand,” he said cheerily.

            “That’s kind,” Lexi replied pleasantly, “but I’m fine. I was just about to return.”

            Jayden whistled lowly at the sight of Salvador. “What a stallion that is. Does he belong to Luke?”

            “No, he’s mine,” Lexi replied quickly, a little sharply.

            He eyed her slight frame doubtfully. “He looks a little strong for you. No offence intended, Rosie.”

            Lexi gritted her teeth together and forced her expression to be passive. “That’s quite alright. He’s as gentle as a lamb for people he likes, and barely any trouble at all to ride across country.”

            Jayden nodded thoughtfully. “Are you missing one? There were three of you, the last I counted.”

            It took a moment for Lexi to remember Ebony’s alias. “Katherine cannot ride, so she shares Salvador with me. The mare belongs to Luke.” She glanced up at the young man and spotted his narrowed gaze, almost disguised by his easy smile. “Is something bothering you?” she asked innocently.

            “It’s a strange choice of clothing, you have.”

            Lexi raised a dismissive shoulder. “Dresses are an irrational choice when we are travelling a great deal.”

            He acknowledged her logic and his eyes wandered to the blankets draped over the wall at his side. “Can I carry these for you?” Jayden asked, shouldering the blankets before she could answer. Lexi narrowed her eyes and said nothing, picking the map out of the saddlebags and following him back through the streets to his home.

            “Are you married, Rosie?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Lexi.

            She snorted softly at the idea. “No.”

            “What about Katherine? Is she?”

            “Why don’t you ask her?” Lexi offered nonchalantly, becoming uncomfortable with the questions. If she gave one wrong answer, it would give them away immediately. Jayden looked at her with his narrowed gaze and slight smirk.

            “You aren’t much of a talker, are you?”

            “My business has nothing to do with other people,” Lexi explained with a shrug.

            “Not even the two people you are travelling with?” One of Jayden’s eyebrows rose questioningly.

            “Their business is not mine,” Lexi said coolly, holding his gaze.

            Jayden shrugged and returned his attention to where he was going and Lexi breathed a silent sigh of relief. He did not ask her anything more as she trailed him all the way back to the yellow-wood door and handed the scroll over to Ebony. As Lexi sat back beside her companions, her ears twitches as she heard her alias muttered by Jayden as he spoke to his brother.

            “It seems Miss Rosie is not so rosy after all,” he muttered, leaning over the back of his brother’s chair as Daniel sat examining some papers at the desk in the corner. Lexi kept her head down so that they would not notice she was listening. “She is an odd one, that girl. She doesn’t act like other women.”

            “If you had looked past her initial beauty, you have noticed that her hair is white and skin paler than any we have seen before,” Daniel replied snappishly. “It doesn’t matter how good her speech is, she is not from Igrendem.”

            Jayden clucked his tongue and ruffled his brother’s hair. “You think too much, Dan.”

            Daniel slapped his brother’s hand away. “Fine, don’t believe me. If Mother has her way, it will be you that marries her, not me.”

            “She isn’t sore on the eye, dear brother, but I don’t think she would be a tame housewife.”

            “Can you see nothing beyond her appearance?”

            “Of course I can,” Jayden snapped back. “I said she wouldn’t be easy to tame, didn’t I?”

            “We will leave early in the morning,” Ebony whispered, diverting Lexi’s attention away from the two young men. Her eyes remained on the map she held in front of her nose, but it was clear she was addressing her companions. Seth expertly pretended to be examining the pockmarks in one of the spoons and Lexi stared at the map over Ebony’s shoulder. “The older one seems relatively harmless, but the younger suspects us. Especially you, Rosie.”

            Lexi smiled grimly in agreement. “Before any of them wake up?”

            “I think that would be best.”

            “I would rather leave now,” Seth mumbled beside them, his eyes still on the spoon. “I don’t like it here. She keeps giving me food and those two won’t stop looking at us.” His eyes flickered over to the two brothers just as they glanced over at the three shape shifters and Jayden’s eyes narrowed. Lexi dropped her eyes to the table and Ebony pretended not to notice, but Seth refused to look away.

            Jayden straightened up and sauntered over to the table, matching Seth’s gaze the entire way. “Is there a problem, Luke?” he asked pleasantly, but Lexi detected the poorly-hidden threat, and so did Seth.

            “None at all,” he replied in the same tone.

            “Luke,” Ebony said warningly.

            “You need not restrain him, my lady,” Jayden said, shooting a sweet smile in Ebony’s direction. “I believe I can match him without too much difficulty.”

            You really don’t know what you are getting into, Lexi thought. Her heart was beating too loudly, but she was almost smug in knowing that Seth, though lanky as he was, could have Jayden on the floor in minutes, and Seth knew that.

            It seemed Daniel did as well. “Jayden, don’t.”

            Jayden frowned over his shoulder at his brother. “This must be the first time you have stopped me, Dan.”

            “He isn’t one of the village boys,” Daniel said wisely. “You don’t know what he is capable of.” One corner of Lexi’s mouth twitched as she attempted to hide a smirk, though it was a little worrying that Daniel could sense some underlying strength in Seth. Or at least, he suspected it.

            “Look at him, Dan.” Jayden swept an arm at Seth and Lexi placed a hand on Seth’s wrist to prevent him from attacking. “Do you really think he can outmatch me?”

            Daniel wavered, uncertain. “Just don’t be stupid.”

            “Luke, don’t be rash,” Ebony hissed.

Seth glared at her. “If he wants to fight me, I will give him a fight, Katherine,” he snapped. Ebony narrowed her eyes back at him and returned her attention to the map. Jayden smirked and shouldered past Seth to the door and out into the street. Seth kicked his chair back and followed him, his expression murderous.

“Since when did Luke get so violent?” Lexi murmured to Ebony.

“Since people started underestimating him,” Ebony replied coolly.

Lexi fidgeted uncomfortably. Daniel had his eyes on her, and she feared that Seth would give them away. After a few moments, she stood and followed them out the door, ready to put a stop to the fight if Seth took it too far.

“Where are you going?” Ebony asked sharply.

“To keep an eye on him,” Lexi murmured in return. “Is that agreeable to you?”

Ebony said nothing and merely shrugged, turning back to the map.

The boys were not in the street outside the house, but their shouts led Lexi down two alleys and into a paddock that kept a number of goats. By the fence were the boys, positioned opposite each other. Seth was crouched in a typical shifter stance and Lexi cringed, thankful that Daniel was not here to see. She stuck close to the side of the nearest house to keep from being seen by the boys, though they were too engrossed in their fight to notice her approach. Jayden’s eye was bruised and his cheek had been cut. Seth had a split lip and his chin was coated in blood.

Jayden lunged at him, but faltered when Seth did not immediately react. He waited a beat before darting to the side so that Jayden ran past him before bringing his elbow down sharply between the human’s shoulder blades. The air was knocked out of Jayden and he fell to the ground on his front, unmoving. Seth wiped the blood from his face and waited for Jayden to recover, as they had been taught to do back at the Academy.

Lexi could see that, against a shifter, Seth would not have been much of an opponent, for shape shifters had quicker reactions and sharper eyesight. It was clear, however, that Jayden was struggling.

“We need to stop him before his brother sees them fight,” Ebony hissed in Lexi’s ear and Lexi jumped, not having heard her approach. “Go!”

Lexi vaulted the fence into the paddock, scaring a pair of goats that bolted away with a frightened bleat, and coming to stand in front of Seth. He stared down at her with nothing more than irritation at being stopped and stepped down without her having to say anything. Behind her, Lexi could hear Jayden getting to his feet.

“You don’t need to stop him, Rosie,” he said breezily, though his voice was strained. “I have plenty of fight left in me.”

“It isn’t for your benefit that I am stopping him,” she snapped back without looking at him.

“I don’t think we should stay here for the night,” Seth mouthed at her. Lexi nodded jerkily in agreement, but she had the feeling the Ebony had other ideas as she came sauntering up the two of them. Behind her was Daniel, going to stand beside his brother.

“If we leave now, it will look suspicious,” Ebony muttered, “so unless they kick us out, we are staying here until the morning, but we leave before dawn.”

“If all it takes is a couple of girls to stop him fighting, I don’t think I need to continue,” Jayden commented loudly in response to something Daniel had said. Both girls put a hand on Seth’s chest as he lunged towards the human. The combined strength of Ebony and Lexi stopped him, but only just.

“Behave yourself, Seth,” Ebony hissed, no longer playing with the alias.

“I want to leave,” he replied coldly through gritted teeth. “I would rather sleep in the mountains with that vampyre lurking around than with them.”

“Stop it,” Lexi scolded. “We will stay, but leave early, okay? Stop being so petty.”

Seth turned his steely gaze on Lexi but before he could pick a fight with her, Beatrice appeared at the fence, red in the face with both anger and exhaustion from running. “Jayden, what did I tell you about picking fights with everyone you come across? What were you thinking? I always said you would one day end up against someone that could better you and maybe then you would learn to keep your nose clean!”

 

Despite Ebony’s plans, Seth ‘kindly’ offered to leave if it would cause a rift between her sons, which Beatrice absolutely refused. When they returned to the little house, she had her sons move all the furniture in the front room to make space for the shifters’ blankets while Lexi, Ebony and Seth just stood by and watched, as Beatrice would not let them help. Seeing the human boys’ disgruntled expressions seemed to lighten Seth’s mood and he was soon smiling again.

            By the time dusk was just beginning to fall, Beatrice ordered all of them to bed. This suited Ebony just fine, as it would mean they had a better chance of waking early and leaving before the humans realised. It also meant that they would get a considerable amount of sleep, which Seth was grateful for.

            Despite the early night, Lexi stayed awake well into the night, gazing out of one of the windows where the shutters had been left open. She sat up amongst her blankets, staring at the waning moon while she listened to the crash of the waves against the wall that surrounded the village. The horses had been left high up on the beach just outside the entrance, but she was still concerned that the tide may reach them.

            But the horses were only on her mind in the vaguest sense; the main part of her mind remained on Hunter. Lexi longed to know where he was. She wanted to know if he was okay, if he was injured, or healthy; whether he had managed to escape on his own or not. Regrettably, her main thought was:

            Is he thinking about me?

            Beside her, Seth stirred beneath his blankets. “Lexi?” he whispered. “Are you going to sleep?”

            “I’m thinking,” she replied at the same volume.

            “Penny for your thoughts?”

            Lexi could tell that he was looking at her, and she could not bring herself to tell the truth behind her thoughts. “We might be being followed,” she murmured.

            “We knew that from the beginning,” Seth reasoned. “Listen, if we leave as early as Ebony wants to, and we keep a good pace, we should make it to Haston before nightfall. If luck and Fineara are on our side, Hunter may be at the outpost beside the city.”

            “And if he isn’t?” Lexi asked quietly, lowering her gaze to her knees.

            “We continue,” Seth said simply. “We know where they are heading, we just need to track them.” He stretched out so far that his feet poked out the end of his blankets. “What is it that the vampyre wanted?”

            “He told me to follow the roads rather than stay undercover. That way our tracks will merge with that of others and make it harder to follow.”

            “He makes sense,” Seth said slowly. “But I want to know why he is aiding us.”

            Lexi shrugged. “I thought the same. The vampyre seemed adamant that the Breeders are attacking all Neäkan, not just shape shifters.”

            “But vampyres cannot be robbed of their abilities in the same way shifters can…”

            “I know…” Lexi murmured. “I think he was talking more long-term.”

            “In what sense?”

            Lexi sighed. “Let’s go to sleep, Seth. It will be safer to talk about this in the morning, when we are away from the humans.” She settled down into her blankets and lay on her side, though her eyes remained open. Before long, Seth was snoring softly again and Lexi finally succumbed to sleep.

25: Chapter 24

The three shifters managed to slip away from the cottage with the large yellow door without alerting Beatrice or either of her two sons. It was difficult to navigate the streets in the dark, for they left well before dawn in order to avoid any of the villagers. Every window was shuttered and nothing stirred in the alleys; save for the shifters themselves. But still, Ebony was not satisfied.

            She sent Lexi to the entrance of the village to check for watchmen. Lexi crouched in the shadow of the outermost cottage where she had a good view of the gap in the wall. The silhouettes of the horses were dozing beside the water trough, but there was no sign of any watchman.

            As she turned to report back to her companions, who were waiting a few streets back, her heart jumped in terror and she gasped, covering her mouth to muffle the sound. Her heartbeat slowed when she recognised the glowing scarlet eyes of Malachai, but picked up again when she realised it was dark, she was alone and imagined all sorts of intentions the vampyre might have.

            It was too dark to see his face, but Lexi could hear the amusement in his voice when Malachai spoke. “I had not the taste for your blood yesterday, Alexia; I promise you my tastes have not changed.” He had a strangely alluring voice; Lexi had forgotten just how fascinating he was. She could not find her voice in order to reply, and Malachai did not wait for her to speak. “I only wished to see you leave safely. Also, I wanted to offer one more piece of advice, if I may: Do not be afraid to enter the larger cities when you are in need of food. Many of the citizens of the likes of Haston are Neäkan and will offer you aid where you need it.”

            “Thank you,” Lexi murmured, unwilling to speak any louder and alert her friends. He surprised her by saluting in the traditional way of respect. She returned the gesture, blinked, and he was gone.

            The horses had not been pleased at being woken before the sun had risen and it was hard work for Seth to convince Estrella to pick up a gait much faster than a trot. Even Salvador was moody; his ears laid back and fighting the bit against Lexi’s hold, causing her to have to be much firmer with his mouth than usual. The tide had ridden up the beach, leaving only a little strip of sand for the horses to canter along back towards the pass between the mountains.

 

In the dwindling light of dusk and still a league or so out of Haston, the horses were dozing again and the shifters sat around a flickering camp fire in the centre of a clearing in the forest that bordered the road leading directly north to the city.

            Lexi’s satchel sat by her side, the flap open and revealing its contents: a wrap of meat, a tinderbox, the smallest of Ebony’s books and an almost full waterskin. Hunter’s arrow was in her hands, twirling slowly between her fingers as she gazed down at its intricacy with awe and longing. The three feathers had been positioned perfectly equal distances from each other around the end of the shaft, leaving about an inch from the notch which Lexi knew allowed Hunter to grasp and nock his arrows without crumpling the feathers. The shaft itself was straight and decorated beautifully with the natural lines of the wood. The arrow was roughly two and a half feet in length. The head was made from a metal Lexi could not identify; it curved towards the point at a narrow angle. Lexi remembered Hunter telling her that arrows with narrow heads were the most effective, because there was less resistance when entering a body. Ebony watched her carefully with narrowed eyes, for she had not seen Lexi bring it with her, but Lexi refused to acknowledge the stare.

            Seth lay back on his blankets with his hands behind his head as he stared up at the gap in the tree canopy above them, humming to himself. Ebony picked up the heavy tome and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. Lexi replaced the arrow in the satchel, no longer wanting to look at it.

            “What happens when the Alpha realises we are missing?” she asked, her voice sounding too loud in the quiet of the wood.

            Ebony glanced up from her book. “I expect he will have noticed by now,” she said casually, as though the thought did not bother her. “If we are valuable, he will have us tracked by a scout- a fledged scout. If we aren’t, then he will just wait and see if we return, and deal with us then.”

            “Hunter is valuable,” Lexi pointed out. “Why did he not have him tracked?”

            Ebony sighed. “I cannot say. Something is afoot at our Academy, and we are yet to find out what.”

            Her words made Lexi feel uneasy.

            Dusk darkened into night and soon the fire was the only source of light in the clearing. Suddenly, Ebony closed the tome and the thud made Lexi jump and Seth awoke from his doze.

            “Our food supplies are running low,” she said grimly. “If we do not find Hunter within the next two or so days, we will have to return to the Academy to gather more. I expect Demitri will have to join us in order to carry more meat.”

            “No,” Lexi said firmly, frowning at Ebony.

            Ebony looked at her. “What else do you suppose we do, Lexi?” she demanded softly, but no less menacingly. “We will be of no use to Hunter half-starved and weak. I had hoped our journey would not take much longer than a few days, and any more meat would have rendered the horses useless.”

            “If we turn back now, the Alpha will make sure we cannot leave again,” Lexi said through gritted teeth.

            Ebony’s eyes narrowed. “If you have any other ideas, please tell me.”

            “We are little more than an hour out of the city,” Lexi pointed out coolly. “If not one seller has meat, I will eat my horse.”

            “Oh, you brought coins, did you?” Ebony asked with raised eyebrows. Lexi flushed and looked away. She had not thought about the complexities of trade since arriving at the Academy; all of their food was brought to them by the huntsmen.

            “I’m a huntsman,” said Seth, sitting up on his hands. “I could catch us something when we need it.”

            “You can catch game, yes,” Ebony said tiredly, “but you cannot prepare meat to the extent to be edible.” Seth grimaced and fell back onto his elbows, looking gloomy.

            The three shape shifters fell into an uneasy silence and the fire began to dwindle. Seth sighed and stood himself up, brushing down the seat of his trousers and headed off into the trees.

            “We can let the fire die, Seth,” Ebony called after him.

            “We will freeze, Ebony,” he replied pointedly before continuing into the shadow. Lexi watched his silhouette disappear before sighing and embracing her knees tightly. Ebony offered her a waterskin, which Lexi refused, but otherwise the girls did not converse while Seth was gone. He returned with an armful of dry wood and dropped it beside the fire, sitting back on his blankets.

            “I don’t think it would be safe to sleep this close to the road without a watch,” he said, adding a few more twigs to the fire.

            “I agree,” Ebony said as she stood and went to replace the tome in the saddlebags. Estrella snorted indignantly at being disturbed. “Lexi, I apologise for making assumptions, but you seem to have a lot to think about and you look the most awake out of all of us. Would you mind taking the first watch?”

            Lexi agreed quietly and stayed sitting upright, shrouding herself in her blankets to keep warm while Ebony and Seth drifted off to sleep. She picked up the arrow again and spent the next four hours memorizing every detail of it. She knew that Hunter made his own arrows, and so guessed she could learn about him from them. At midnight, Seth woke up of his own accord and forced Lexi to sleep by threatening to snap the arrow in two.

 

It was clear that Ebony was on edge as they approached the outer walls of the city the following day just after dawn. They had changed back into their tunics, as Ebony felt that it would be more suspicious to be spotted by other shape shifters whilst wearing human clothes.

            As they turned onto the side road that led to the city entrance, Lexi noticed that the great gates were wide open and two guards dressed in red with pikes by their hips stood on either side of the archway. Ebony was just beginning to whisper a story to the other two when the guard on the right side of the gate waved them straight through. As they passed, he winked inconspicuously up at Lexi, and she knew that he was one of them. She nodded fractionally with a small smile in return, just in case his colleague was unaware.

            In stark contrast to Malinsford, the buildings within the city were placed sparsely, most of the houses at least two storeys high; as they grew closer to the centre, the storeys increased and the wood became finer, more elaborate and so intricately designed to create some of the most elegant of homes Lexi had ever seen. People on horses passed them on the paved street without paying the shifters a second glance and they began to relax the further they travelled.

            Closer to the centre square of the city, the wooden homes turned into brick shops with glass windows. Here the streets grew busier; children ran between the alleys and in front of the horses, oblivious to their being there and careless as to everyone else. Women grumbled as they raced past, baskets in the crooks of their elbows filled with various fruits and vegetables.

            The square itself was large and bordered by rows upon rows of flowerbeds, though most had now died in the cold of winter. A large tavern stood on one side and an enormous building with five spires stood opposite. Lexi could not place exactly what it was, but it appeared to be some sort of temple.

            “What’s the plan this time, Ebony?” Seth asked as he hopped off Estrella and tethered her to the post in the centre of the square beside a water trough with two other horses.

            “This place is bigger than I thought,” she mumbled as she slid from Salvador’s back and glanced around. “The only thing we can do to cover as much of the city as possible is to split up and ask as many people as possible. Our main objective is to find the Breeders’ outpost, but try and find out as much as you can.”

            “What about names?” Lexi asked as she shouldered her satchel. “Do we keep the aliases?”

            Ebony thought for a moment, gazing up at the spired building. “Yes,” she decided eventually. “If we are being tracked, it would work in our favour to not be known by our true names. But try not to use it if possible; stay as anonymous as you can.”

            Lexi gave Salvador a final pat before heading away past the tavern and along the road that led north. She was incredibly aware of the blue tunic and the sword on her back, especially now that she was alone. She relaxed a little as she passed countless humans on the streets without one giving her a strange or suspicious look, and the only acknowledgement she received was from a young man that subtly saluted her with his fist over his chest and offered a small smile.

            The road led to a maze of narrow streets lined with small shops, one for everything one could possibly have need of. Lexi passed butchers, bakers, grocers, florists, bookstores, and then as she delved further into the bazaar, herbalists, crystal sellers, alchemists, even a little old run down cottage selling cats. Lexi was so entranced by the extent of the market she completely forgot her mission and peered into windows to see the merchandise for her own eyes.

            Her attention was only regained when a wet muzzle nosed at her palm and a large grey wolfhound stared up at her with big brown eyes. Lexi petted the dog’s head before realising there was something not quite right about the way it gazed up at her; its eyes were much too aware to be any ordinary stray. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Lexi saluted the animal, and the dog bowed its head in return before trotting away.

            Down an alley so narrow the few men that travelled down it had to walk sideways was a doorway with a sign above it reading Neäkan: The Truth. Curious, Lexi pushed open the creaking door and stepped in. The bookstore was tiny, but two of the walls were lined completely with books of all sizes and types. At one end stood an abandoned countertop and Lexi wondered vaguely whether she was the first visitor to enter the shop in a long time, although the bell overhead tinkled as the door swung closed behind her.

            The room was lit by candles, for the window was too grimy for any light to pass through and the feeble light gave the shop an eerie feel. Looking around, Lexi found that each of the shelves was labelled, but the signs were much too dusty to be read. Lexi grasped the hem of her cloak and wiped away the dust of the nearest sign, revealing the word Vampyre: Blood. Lexi frowned and moved across to the shelf beside it, wiping away the dust of this sign and reading Vampyre: Psychic. Lexi had not known that there were two types of vampyre on Arkridge and lifted a little handbook off the shelf, opening to the first page:

 

   Psychic vampyres do not rely on the blood of others in order to survive. They are so named because of their reliance on the positive life force of surrounding beings; they are said to suck the energy from nearby humans and Neäkan as they cannot supply their own. In doing so, they are expert readers of emotion and can sense the beings around them without having to see or hear them. However, it is vital that the energy they take is of positive emotion, for negative life force can cause a psychic vampyre to feel incredibly ill. If a psychic cannot take the energy required, they will resort to taking blood, which contains the similar contents as positive emotion. They have no physical attributes to give themselves away other than their very slight fangs on the top row of teeth used to bite victims if necessary. Psychics are not generally hostile, however they can defend themselves in a way that…

 

            Lexi replaced the book and moved to another sign at random, wiping away the thick layer of dust to reveal the label Shape Shifters. Intrigued to find the author’s view on her race, Lexi picked out a tome from the shelf and flipped through the pages. The passages of writing were accompanied by many illustrations involving the process of shifting into one’s animal form, and the descriptions the author gave were incredibly accurate. Not once did they mention that shifters were a bloodthirsty race that was not much more intelligent than animals, and Lexi began to wonder whether the writer was a shifter themselves. There was no name on the cover, or anywhere within the pages. At the end of the tome was a drawing of a handsome young man, presumably a shape shifter that looked no different to a human. He stood straight-backed and his expression was passive, neutral, and not at all hostile.

            “Can I help you?”

            The voice frightened Lexi and she spun round, the tome falling from her grasp. A boy that appeared no older than Seth peered at her with guarded smoky-grey eyes. He was no taller than Lexi and had dark hair cropped short that barely brushed his ears.

            “I was just looking…” Lexi mumbled, assuming that this was the owner of the store that had crept into view whilst she had been engrossed in the books. The boy continued to gaze at her, his eyes layered with disbelief.

            “I was not meaning with books,” he replied, his voice not at all friendly.

            Lexi narrowed her eyes at him, guessing his meaning. “Maybe you can,” she said eventually, picking up the tome and replacing it on the shelf. “You startled me. I did not hear you come in…”

            The boy ignored her. “I have not seen you in Haston before, and I have a good memory for faces.” He glanced down at her tunic. “I doubt there is anything in that book that you do not already know.” Lexi’s guard came up at his words and she stared at him, trying to place him. She doubted he was human, though he sported no characteristic to suggest otherwise.

            She turned to leave, but the boy caught her arm in a vice-like grip. “I am tracking Breeders,” she said coldly, shaking out of his grasp.

            “Why?” he demanded.

            “I have no reason to tell you,” she snapped. “I owe you nothing. I do not even know who you are, so let me leave.”

            “Believe me, Miss Alexia, you may not know me, but I know exactly who you are,” the boy said in a cool, collected voice, though his tone was mocking. Lexi froze at being addressed by her real name, though she tried her utmost to hide it.

            “My name is Rosie, not Alexia,” she mumbled a second too late.

            The boy laughed a cold, cruel laugh with no trace of humour and Lexi glowered at him, her hand closing around the knife in her belt and grasping him by the collar of his shirt. She pinned him against the shelves, holding the blade to his neck. “What are you?” she demanded, no longer caring that she had given herself away by displaying her strength. “You aren’t a shape shifter, nor a vampyre of either kind. You aren’t an elf and certainly not a harpy.”

            He was no longer laughing, but a smirk remained playing around his lips. “My business is my own, Miss Alexia.” He tensed as she bared her teeth and pressed the blade harder into his throat. “My knowledge of you has nothing to do with what I am.”

            “I am not interested in me,” Lexi growled. “I am asking about you.”

            The boy narrowed his eyes into a cold stare. “I am a faery. My name is Darius.”

            Satisfied, at least for the moment, Lexi lessened the pressure on the faery’s neck. She held onto his gaze for a few moments more before continuing her interrogation, the blade still resting against his throat. “There is an outpost very near to this city,” she said. “I need to know where it is.”

            Darius raised one eyebrow. “How am I meant to know where the humans reside whilst they are herding your kind up north?”

            “So you know where they are heading?” Lexi asked, latching onto his words.

            “Certainly,” he replied breezily.

            “Where is the outpost?”

            Darius did not reply for a short moment, enjoying her desperation for information, no matter how hard she tried to mask the urgency of her situation. She vaguely supposed that pinning him to a series of shelves with a knife to his neck was not helping her case, but she pushed away the thought.

            “Leave the city gates and follow the outer walls until you are heading directly east. The outpost is three miles out,” Darius explained eventually.

            Lexi smiled, satisfied. She sheathed the knife back in her belt and turned to leave. The faery grasped her arm and she hissed; the burn beneath the gauze had mostly healed, but still stung on contact.

            “I told you what you wanted to know, so tell me this: How did you end up here?” Darius demanded.

            Lexi frowned, more so out of confusion from his question than annoyance. He was not being overly specific; why was she here? In the city? In the country? To avoid questioning him for the details, Lexi yanked her arm out of his grip and swept out of the old shop. The cloak was doing a good job of hiding her sword, and she was reassured to have access to it. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she let out a breath to see that the faery was not following her.

            She broke into a jog and scurried back to the square, back to where it was open and more people were around. Salvador glanced up as she approached and nickered a greeting and she stroked his muzzle. There was no sign of either Ebony or Seth and dusk was several hours away. She was itching to get moving with the possibility of Hunter being only three miles away, and after missing him by a matter of hours at the base on Rosavale she was more on edge than ever.

            Deciding she had only gathered the bare minimum of information, Lexi set out again to find someone or something that could help them, or maybe speed up the mission. She took the road to the south this time, back towards the gates and explored the shops surrounding the street.

            Now that she considered her initial mission completed, Lexi was more interested in the diversity of goods sold in the city. She peered into windows and gazed at the merchandise, but only entered one shop; a crooked dark-bricked cottage covered in ivy. The sign above the door was too corroded to read, but the many plants and greenery in the windows gave away the shop as a herbalist’s.

            The moment Lexi crossed the threshold she was hit by an overpowering scent of lavender. . The room was devoid of life, but plants of all kinds in pots lined the many shelves on one side, with a few books on another shelf in the corner. Dust and cobwebs covered everything and Lexi considered stepping back outside. The plants were still alive and healthy, and the books may have been able to give advice on which were edible.

Her feet making clear prints on the dusty floor, she stood in the centre of the room and glanced around. It appeared she was quite alone, again, and she could not believe anyone would let a place get so filthy. Even the bookstore had not been this bad.

Lexi crept to the bookshelf, pulling down various books and flicking through their pages. The plants on the shelves were not labelled. Lexi used the delicately drawn diagrams in the books to help identify them. She convinced herself that they may as well not go to waste as she cut leaves and roots from the plants that were safe to eat.

The satchel filled to the brim of leaves and petals and roots, Lexi stared down at the book in her hands; without it, she was never going to be able to identify them again. Tucking the book under her arm, she made to make a hasty exit, though her secrecy was short-lived.

The book fell to the floor with a loud thud! and Lexi’s sword was drawn in half a second, her heart pounding. Sitting hugging her knees in the corner of the room behind another shelf that contained many crystals was a girl. She looked a little younger than Lexi, volumes of brown curls framing her white face and matching brown eyes that were staring intently up at her.

Though she calmed a little at the sight of the vulnerable, unarmed girl, Lexi did not sheath her sword. The girl was clearly no threat, but Lexi felt herself flush at being caught thieving. The strange girl had unnerving eyes, staring unblinking as she gently rocked backwards and forwards.

“I am sorry, I was not aware that anyone was here-” Lexi started to say.

“They sent you, didn’t they?” the girl whispered.

“They?” Lexi repeated, puzzled. “Who’s ‘they’?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know,” she hissed, her voice sounding close to breaking. “I won’t go, I got away, I won’t go again!”

“Go where?” Lexi asked, getting more and more confused by the second. “Got away from where?”

“Don’t lie!” she shrieked quietly, her voice breaking and her hands flew up to the sides of her head. She started rocking backwards and forwards with more ferocity, making a noise that sounded a little like a bell chime.

Puzzled and slightly scared, Lexi inched forwards towards the girl and crouched down a little way in front of her. She replaced the sword in its sheath and tried to meet her gaze. The girl refused, hiding in her own mind where bells chimed. Lexi inched closer, intrigued by the strange girl that seemed so paranoid and childlike.

The two were almost nose to nose when the girl suddenly leapt upwards, knocking Lexi onto her back as she stood over her, eyes ablaze with fury.

“I’m not going back there! You can’t make me!”

“I’m not trying to make you go anywhere!” Lexi retorted, frantically trying to scramble onto her feet.

“You can’t lie to me!”

Lexi scurried backwards and drew her knife, pressing herself against the desk in the corner of the room. “I’m not lying!”

“Tell me who you are!”

“Rosie!” Lexi said quickly, stumbling over her words in her rush to get them out. “My name is Rosie.” The girl stopped shouting, but her breathing remained heavy and frantic. In an effort to calm her, Lexi asked, “Will you tell me yours?”

“Eveluna,” she said eventually, her voice back to a whisper. Eveluna was dressed in a black dress that hugged her figure and stopped just below her knees. Lexi leant up from the desk, her heart rate slowing a little and some colour began to return to her face after the initial fright.

“Can you tell me where you are referring to, Eveluna?” she asked gently.

Eveluna’s gaze snapped back up and Lexi shrank back against the table. For a reason she could not discern, Lexi found that she feared this uncontrollable girl more than the Slayers or the Breeders.

“Them,” was all Eveluna said.

“Who’s ‘them’?” Lexi asked again.

“Them!” she repeated ferociously. “They took me! But I escaped…”

Lexi was starting to lose patience with this girl who was clearly not in her right mind but she dared not snap or show her impatience. Those who were mad were more dangerous than those who were sane, for they had no understanding of honesty or morals. She decided to take another route.

“Where did they take you?”

Eveluna’s eyes slid slowly towards the window that was almost opaque with filth and murmured darkly. “The outpost.”

Lexi stood up straighter, her interest peaking. “Why did they take you there?”

“Why else?!” Eveluna snapped, her voice rising to a shout again. “Humans feel nothing towards witches! My kind is in danger from the Breeders, because our skill is unreachable from a mind so closed!”

“Yes, I know,” Lexi said quickly. “My race is in danger also, none of us are safe.”

The witch looked back at her, her head tilted. “What are you?”

Lexi decided to tell the truth. “I’m a shape shifter.”

Her eyes widened as if in sudden realisation or confirmation. “It’s you!” Eveluna yelled, shrinking back into the shadow of her corner, cowering against the wall. “You! They said you existed but no one believed! I knew you existed, but no one believed!”

“What?” Lexi asked, completely bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh Goddess Nariek, I never thought…I believed without believing…I cannot begin to explain…”

“Eveluna, who do you think I am?” Lexi asked firmly.

“You’re her! Her daughter! I don’t think, I know!” She started twirling the brown spirals of her hair round her fingers until her hand got completely tangled.

“I’m whose daughter?” Lexi enquired calmly, gently helping her free her hand and ignoring her flinching.

“You are in danger,” Eveluna barely whispered, never meeting her eyes.

“We are all in danger,” Lexi agreed grimly.

“No, no!” she shook her head impatiently, her spirals bouncing. “You are in danger! But she can’t be…Marielle would have known…she’s not as stupid to… But she looks the same! How can it not be…?” she trailed off and sank to the floor, beginning to rock backwards and forwards again with the bell-chime sounds.

Although she persisted, Lexi could not encourage her to say any more. Sitting heavily on the ground beside her, Lexi leant her elbows on her knees and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the witch to calm down enough to continue talking.

“I mustn’t speak again,” she whispered after half an hour of sitting in silence. “The more you know the more danger you will be in…”

“You must tell me,” Lexi urged, reaching out to touch her arm, but Eveluna shied away.

“I must not,” she insisted, meeting her eyes once more. “Beware their home; beware the outpost.”

“That is where I’m heading,” Lexi told her gently.

“No!” She lurched forward and grasped the collar of Lexi’s tunic in her hands, this time ignoring Lexi’s touch as she tried desperately to pry her hands off her collar. “You mustn’t go there! It would be playing into their hands. You mustn’t go within three leagues of the place!”

“I have to,” Lexi said firmly. “My friend’s been taken; I need to know if he’s there.”

Eveluna’s eyes pleaded with her for a few moments more before she recoiled back into the corner and started rocking again. Lexi sighed and stood up, brushing dust off her clothes and wandering towards the door, picking up the book along the way; she doubted the witch would miss it.  

26: Chapter 25

Lexi scowled at the spires of the church as she returned to the square; she was not in the mood to be intimidated by stone. Seth was leaning his back against Estrella’s side, examining his fingernails and looking incredibly bored. He looked up as Lexi approached and grinned.

“Find anything?” he asked, and then carried on before she could reply. “We just need to head east; the outpost is about three miles off. I’m a little worried about the mist, though. It’s settling heavily on the ground.”

“Yes, I know,” Lexi replied dismissively.

He frowned at her, noticing her dull tone. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She shook her head. “Worse: a mad witch.”

“A mad witch?” Seth repeated incredulously, before throwing his head back and laughing. “What made her insane?”

“If you had seen her, you would agree with me,” Lexi assured him. “I don’t know how else to describe her; she was just…”

“Off her head?” Seth offered.

“Basically,” she agreed with a small laugh.

Seth was silent for a few moments, but Lexi could sense him watching her as she absently stroked the stallion’s muzzle. “Something’s bothering you,” he noted eventually. It was not a question but required an answer. Lexi debated with herself whether to answer it truthfully or not.

“Just some things she said,” she told him after a while.

“What things?”

“Does it matter? She was not in a sane mind, what does it mean to have words spoken from a mind like that?”

“Wise words, but I’m not falling for it,” Seth argued.

Lexi paused in her rhythmic stroking. “Seth?”

“Yes?”

“What do you know of the Legion?”

He did not seem as surprised by the question as she had expected. Seth leant back on the hitching post beside Estrella’s head, his hands folded on his abdomen as he thought. When he began speaking, his voice was lower, as if he was reciting a passage from a book. “As you know, some years ago now, when the King ruled Igrendem, Neäkan did not have to be quite so discreet. The King feared the differences we possessed, but believed he could use them to his advantage. He sent out his guards across the country in search for shape shifters that would make up a powerful group of warriors. He intended for nine males, for humans do not see women as being of equal status.

            “The mission did not quite go as planned, for shape shifters had already experienced the humans’ disliking to them, many having been killed by Slayers. Many of his guard were killed in the attempt to find willing shifters. The guard returned with one, the leader of the group he named the Legion. This shifter went by the name of Samlyr, a natural born leader and warrior. No one knows for sure, but it is believed that he joined the King in an attempt to bring peace for the remainder of our race.

            “The other eight males joined for less heroic reasons. Kellyn was caught stealing an apple from a market stall and was brought before the King; he was offered the chance to join Samlyr in the Legion or he would be imprisoned and later executed. Of course, he chose the former. Jahlak arrived through similar methods, but he certainly put up a fight and refused to do as the King commanded for a long while. More than once his guard attempted to slaughter him for betrayal, but the King would not allow it. He had only two shape shifters for his guard and did not know when he would get more, so he was patient and treated Jahlak well. After a while, the shifter grew bored of rebelling and became just as loyal as the other two.

            “Naten was found one evening as he tried to assassinate the King with a poisoned blade. He failed in the attempt and was already in the gallows by dawn. The King, again, fascinated with the shifter’s bravery and strength offered him the chance to live and work for him. Shape shifters may be noble, Lex, but they aren’t stupid; he took the job and the Legion became four. Gregork and Christian were brought together, found lurking outside the palace gates. They were both threatened with death by beheading for loitering – they both found the sentence ridiculous, as any shifter would – but found themselves without choice but to join him. Many historians believe that the fact there were already four shifters under the King’s command influenced them and the others. Not much is known for Xavier, Parrnal or Dornayt, but each one was caught for a various act of crime or other, most likely petty theft or threatening humans. The King was pleased with himself by this time; he had nine shape shifters in his army.

            “The tenth member of the Legion arrived during the summer of the following year. The King also ruled the southern half of Enderwice at the time, and every year, for the Solstice, he would visit the country in an attempt to keep their loyalty. He treated the people of the country well and he was in no danger of losing it. This particular summer, however, the King fell ill, but sent a great number of his guard to Enderwice along with his crown in an attempt to show the country’s people that he was still loyal to them.

            “Nobody knew how she did it, but an orphan girl managed to steal the crown. It was kept in a locked glass box, carried by four soldiers at all times. The glass was not broken at any time, nor had the lock been forced. As you can imagine, the crown going missing caused mass hysteria in the city. The girl, a street rat, would have made it away with the crown if it had not been so big or heavy, but she was found and caught and brought back to Igrendem. She was locked up until the King regained his health and then she was brought for trial. Not one of his guard assumed he would wish to keep her with the Legion, for she was a female. The King had not considered the prospect either, but it was Kellyn who proposed the idea. She was sixteen at the time, barely a woman, but her stealth was rare. She was as apt with a sword as any of the other nine and her skills with the bow weren’t lacking. Her best asset, though, was her ability to wield a knife and kill without causing the slightest bit of pain. She, as you know, was named Marielle.

            “This girl, among the nine other male shifters, became the most famous because not one other woman worked under the King’s command. The humans found the idea ludicrous, that a woman should be on his guard. Not only was she one of his most prized warriors, she was his best assassin. Among Neäkan, she was famous for being a traitor. She worked for a human King, protecting him whilst killing others she had no reason to kill. She even killed some of her own race when the King considered them a threat. The nine men fought honestly in battle, which gained respect, but Marielle was not the battling type.

 “The Legion was a great success for the empire, cutting off attacks before they even began. The King died five years after they were formed of natural causes. His Queen thrived to keep the Legion alive, but it was Marielle that kept them going for as long as they did; many of the men were killed in battle during the war for independence between Igrendem and Enderwice. Two men survived along with the woman; she would have made it out alive anyway, but she refused to fight against her home country. After that, it was easy to pick off the remaining two men, but Marielle was too clever to be killed as easily.

“She wasn’t strong enough on her own, of course, and the Council took over Igrendem. The Legion’s secret was revealed, though she was the only one of them left. Naitem, the head of the council, managed to turn every being in the country against her, offering a large reward for anyone that could capture her, dead or alive.

“She disappeared completely for a short while, supposedly returning to Enderwice, though no one really knows why. When she returned, she was chased to the very north of The Peek, up to the cliffs where she was cornered. They offered to spare her life if she came quietly – despite the Council’s orders – but she was too proud a woman for that. She ended her own life by jumping into the ocean.”

The end of his story sent chills up Lexi’s spine. “What I don’t understand,” she said once she had gathered her thoughts, “is why she returned when she knew she was going to die?”

Seth shrugged. “She was proud; I doubt she was going to be chased away without a fight.”

“Why did she go back to Enderwice, then? I thought you could not cross borders that easily?”

“No one knows for sure,” Seth told her. “But people say that she had a child in the time she was away. A daughter.” Seth gave her a hard look. “Lexi, what did the witch tell you?”

She chewed her lip. “She said, ‘You’re her, her daughter.’ And then, ‘But she can’t be, Marielle would have known.’”

Seth’s face went blank. He seemed to be bickering with himself before he finally decided, “Words spoken by a mad woman. It can’t mean anything.” But he did not look as confident as he sounded.

Ebony reappeared at that moment, paying no attention to the awkward atmosphere and thrust a scroll of paper at Seth’s chest. He caught it and glanced down at it, his eyes staring blankly at the words without reading them.

“What’s that?” Lexi asked.

“Details of every outpost in the country, Slayers and Breeders,” Ebony informed them as she placed a box of matches in the saddlebag attached to Estrella’s saddle.

Seth looked up at her. “Why have you given me this?”

“I thought you would find it useful,” Ebony said, folding her arms across her chest. She sounded hurt at Seth’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Yes, and I’m sure it is,” Seth said irritably, “but I can’t read.”

Ebony’s eyebrows shot up. “You can’t?” Seth shook his head and she snatched the scroll out of his hands, rolling it up and pressing it into the already overfilled saddlebag. “If the outpost here is not the one we are looking for, at least this will give us another lead.”

            Lexi pointed out, “It can only be just after midday; we cannot do anything until dusk.”

“There’s a tavern over there.” Seth nodded towards the whitewashed building. “We may as well be comfortable while we wait.”

 

The moon was a shining silver half-circle in the indigo sky by the time the three shifters decided to leave the safety of the tavern and make for the outpost. Seth hiccupped his way behind the girls, just sober enough to keep a level head. The horses, still tethered to the post in the centre of the square, were dozing peacefully and Ebony pointed out that proceeding on foot would be quieter.

The entrance gates on the south wall were left open through the night, allowing the shifters easy access out of the city and around the wall. Ebony calculated by the position of the moon at which point they were facing east, and what little light it offered allowed them to make out the silhouette of the outpost, roughly three miles away.

“Long walk…” Seth slurred as he stared at the path ahead.

“It will not take long if we don’t dawdle,” Ebony said briskly, striding off down the path with Lexi close on her heels. Seth stumbled after them, kicking rocks and snapping twigs with his heavy steps.

            The journey to the outer walls of the outpost was not long, but the mist around their ankles was thickening.  “I thought it was meant to be heavily guarded?” Seth asked, straining his neck up and almost tipping backwards. The walls were completely free of watchmen. The lack of guard made Lexi’s heart sink.

            The three shape shifters stayed in a hopeless, gloomy silence for a long moment before Ebony spoke. “They could be protecting whatever’s inside,” she offered optimistically. “But first we need to find a way in.”

            Ebony skirted around the left while Seth and Lexi took the path to the right. He stumbled over his own feet on countless occasions in his tipsy state, and Lexi shot him irritated looks. It appeared that Seth managed to snaffle himself a pouch of coins from somewhere Lexi would rather not know, and though he had only had three drinks, he was now in a much happier place than she. He hummed merrily beside her as she kept her eyes pinned on the walls above her, searching for any hidden scouts or archers. Although the humming was annoying, she panicked when it stopped.

            “Do you think we could fit through that window?” Seth asked brightly, looking up at the wall above Lexi’s head. She followed his gaze and spotted the dark square window, annoyed at herself for not having seen it. The square was just large enough for a person of narrow structure to slip through, which the three of them were.

“Fetch Ebony,” she told him in a hushed voice, making her way silently so that she was standing directly below the window. Seth made no move other than bringing his fingers to his mouth and whistling loudly. The sharp sound pierced Lexi’s ears and she shushed him angrily.

He gave her a lob-sided grin and stared back down the wall until Ebony sprinted into view. She was breathing heavily and clutching her side. “What?” she hissed.

Seth said nothing but pointed up to the window just above Lexi’s head.

“You will have to help us up,” she said, examining the height of the window from the ground and Lexi stood on her toes, trying to peer in.

It was dark inside, an unlit stone corridor, cold and damp. Lexi shed her cloak and left it beneath the window, knowing the excess fabric would just hinder her. Seth knit his hands together to create a platform and she stepped onto it, letting him push her upwards as she slipped through the window. Lexi lay on her stomach, half in and half out, and took a look around, but it seemed just as empty and unguarded as the walls. She reached back to gesture to the other two before pulling herself further in. The window was much too narrow for her to get her legs beneath her and so let herself slide to the floor, landing in a sort of handstand before her feet found the ground.

After helping Ebony through the window, Lexi silently drew her sword and took a few experimental steps to the right. As far as she could see, it was deserted, but it did not have the atmosphere of abandonment.

A loud shriek followed by a clatter had Lexi wheeling round brandishing her sword while Ebony drew her knife. Seth lay rigidly on his back, gazing up at us through darting eyes. Lexi kept her sword raised as she strained her ears for any sign that they might have been heard.

Seth got cautiously to his feet, sobered by the fall. “Where do we start?” he whispered.

“Should we split up?” Lexi offered.

“No, if we are attacked alone we stand no chance,” Ebony argued. “We’re sticking together.”

Seth nodded in agreement and Lexi just shrugged. The three proceeded down the corridor, having to feel their way along the walls when the light from the window faded. Torches stood in brackets along the wall but were unlit, offering no light, and the outer walls held no more windows.

After a while, Ebony broke the silence by whispering, “Come here!”

Seth ran into Lexi as she halted abruptly and turned back to face the direction in which Ebony’s voice came from. A faint brim of silver light was cast over the stone from the crack in a door that stood slightly ajar. The same light reflected off Ebony’s shocked expression as she peered into the room behind the door and the other two scurried over.

“What is it?” Lexi asked impatiently.

She said nothing but stood aside for them to look. The room was small but it radiated bluish-silver light, all stemming from various jars dotted about the room on shelves.

“What-?” Seth asked, startled by the sudden and alien light.

Without a word, Lexi slipped into the room to take a closer look. “What are they?” she asked in a breathless whisper.

“Shards of shape shifter souls,” Ebony said dully.

Lexi’s heart stopped beating for a second as she stared into one of the blue-white lights, trying to imagine it being extracted from the body of some poor being. Her palms began to sweat as she looked round at them all. There were only about twenty of them in total, but it was bad enough. She realised with a painful jolt that any one of these could be Hunter’s.

“I don’t think his is here,” Ebony murmured, somehow reading her thoughts. “If this place is as deserted as it seems, I doubt they would leave a soul such as his here unguarded.”

“Why would they leave any of them here unguarded?” Seth asked. His face showed nothing but shock and disgust and he was slowly edging away from the door. “Can we leave? I really don’t like this.” Lexi made no movement to leave, although she had no desire to stay either.

“What would happen if they weren’t contained?” she asked.

“They would disintegrate into pure energy,” Ebony told her.

Lexi’s face set into a scowl as she picked up the nearest jar and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered and the tiny little shed of light zipped through the air in loops and zigzags, the light fading until it became nothingness.

Thrilled by the energy that even she could feel, Lexi threw each of the remaining jars against the walls, the floor, anything that would shatter them, freeing them all and being surrounded in a haze of blue mist, filled with an energy that made her feel like she could run for miles and learn to fly all at once.

“Wait!” Ebony called just as Lexi reached for the final jar. “We could use that one as a light source.”

Lexi made no secret of her disliking to the idea of using someone’s soul as a light, but she understood that it had no other use. She picked up the tiny jar and left the room. It had darkened considerably since the souls disintegrated. The remaining jar gave off just enough light to see a few metres in front of each step as they continued.

“So this is the right place…” Seth said cautiously. “But why is it so quiet and empty?”

“Unless it’s a trap, I haven’t any idea,” Ebony replied worriedly. “But if other shifters are here, the least we can do is try and find them and Hunter, if he’s here.”

Lexi caught sight of a flickering orange light that was coming from somewhere around the corner and she dropped to a crouch, using her free hand to shield the light from the soul. Ebony and Seth crouched close by without fully realising why Lexi had felt the need to hide. She pointed out the light of a flame up ahead in response to their questioning looks.

The three of them stayed as still as statues in silence, waiting for someone to come looking, for their talking had not exactly been quiet. When no one appeared, Seth approached at a steady pace.

“Seth!” Lexi hissed.

“Shush!” he commanded quickly, continuing along the wall in a half-crouch. The girls shared a worried glance before following at a slower pace, drawing their knives and keeping a close eye on Seth. There was no sound of anything, and when Seth peered round the corner and did not shriek or run away, Ebony and Lexi straightened up.

“What’s there?” Lexi asked, keeping her voice low. Seth did not answer. “Seth?”

Lexi’s breath froze as she took a look for herself. They were looking into a great hall, larger than an acre and higher than the Academy. Within it, cages were lined in rows that crossed the length of the room, made of shining silver bars and looked big enough to hold any human-sized being.

“Crikey…” Ebony’s sentence trailed off as she took in the scene before her, dimly lit by torches on the walls that were nearing the end of their burning.

“It’s empty,” Seth said eventually. “But it hasn’t been for long.”

The torches that were still alight proved as much, though it made little sense to Lexi.

“Why would they just abandon a place like this?” she asked, voicing her confusion. "Leaving twenty shifter souls that cannot be easy to obtain and somewhere that’s so hidden and well-equipped for what they are intending to do?”

The other two just shrugged helplessly.

Without spoken consent, the three of them stepped into the hall and carefully paced down adjacent rows of cages. Most of them appeared to have never been used before but some had a thin layer of straw in the bottom along with remnants of meats and other foods. These cages had signs strung to them with notes inked on: names, ages and the animal they shifted into along with a red-ink cross in the bottom corner. Lexi shivered.

Lexi read the names of the lost shifters, murmuring each one aloud. Shape shifters were not stupid enough to give away their real names, so how the Breeders were obtaining them, Lexi knew not.

She stopped at one cage in particular having read the name and felt her bones go cold. The words Kian Hunter were scrawled at the top of the sign, as well as his age, 20, and his animal form, Wolf, but there was no cross at the bottom, and yet the cage was empty. Other than the thin bedding of straw, his cage was clean and the door was ajar. A spot of colour amongst the lining caught Lexi’s eye and she reached through the bars, picking out the black and white feather that had evidently fallen from one of his arrows. The straw she picked it from was still warm, as if he had been sitting there less than an hour before. The realisation brought tears to her eyes and she held the feather tightly in her hand.

A piercing scream had her jumping into a crouch and reaching her sword, looking for any sign of danger. When none appeared and the screaming subsided – though it continued to echo off the walls – Lexi stood and glanced towards Ebony in the row to the left. She had her hands covering her mouth and she was staring at something Lexi could not see. Seth was already making his way towards her.

Seth and Lexi reached Ebony from opposite sides at almost the exact same time.

“Ebony, what’s-? Ugh!” Seth covered his mouth and nose and cringed away from the cage at which Ebony was staring. Lexi took one sniff and a look before whirling round and retching.

The body had not been there for long, but time enough to start the first stages of decomposition. Seth clutched his stomach and shielded his face from the smell; Ebony continued to stare wide-eyed at the body of the man who slouched against the side of the crate.

“What the-?” Lexi started to ask before retching a second time.

“Come on,” Ebony said stiffly, taking the wrists of her companions and dragging them away from the body of the shifter that had been left here to rot.

“What do we do now?” Seth asked, his eyes watering. “I wasn’t aware I was going to be witnessing dead shifters when I signed up for this!”

“None of us were,” Ebony coughed.

Lexi leant on her knees and breathed deeply, trying to dispel the images of the dead man that flashed behind her eyelids every time she blinked. “Hunter’s not here,” she managed to say eventually.

“How do you know?” Ebony asked.

Lexi gestured towards the row of cages she had been examining and she scurried off in the direction she gave. Ebony found Hunter’s crate and stared at it for a long while, reading the notes over and over again.

“He’s not been gone long,” she confirmed when she returned to the others. “It appears to me like they left in a hurry.”

“But why?” Seth asked. “There has to be a reason for it.”

            Disappointment, grief and anger overwhelmed Lexi to breaking point. Instead of crying, she yanked her sword from its sheath on her back and swung it at a stone gargoyle that leered at her in a way she greatly disliked. The blade ricocheted off the stone, jarring her arm and chipping the statue, but not enough to Lexi satisfaction.

“Lexi, hitting statues is not going to help!” Ebony snapped, calling from where she and Seth remained standing.

Lexi did not answer and threw her strength at the neck of the gargoyle, catching the hilt in both hands before it could fly across the room.

“Lexi!” Ebony shouted again, like a mother scolding her child.

She ignored her and, bored with the gargoyle, moved along the wall, hitting various statues and carvings with the blade as hard as she could. Ebony and Seth fell into silence and let Lexi’s anger slowly dispel. More and more of it slipped away with every hit until she was exhausted.

She threw down the sword and collapsed against a pillar, clawing her fingers through her hair and stared down at her knees. Through the sound of her deep breathing, she heard Seth and Ebony conversing in low voices from where they stood, though she could not hear what they were saying. She was amazed that her blade had withstood the beating she had given it; the metal was barely scratched.

The sound of claws on stone entered her ears a few seconds before it actually penetrated her consciousness and Lexi looked up to the left. Her expression fell blank and fear gripped at her chest as she met the inky black gaze peering at her through the shadows. She attempted to reach for her sword, but it had fallen too far away, out of her reach. The beast squawked as she instead drew the knife and scrambled clumsily to her feet.

The creature with the front end of an eagle and back end of a lion lunged at Lexi, wings stretched out. She bit back a scream and ran, swooping to gather the sword as she raced back towards her friends

Seth, having heard the screech, appeared suddenly in front of her and the pair collided, knocking them both to the floor. Lexi clambered up and yanked Seth to his feet. “I think I figured out why they left!” she snapped as she dragged him down the aisle of cages. The gryphon was not alone; Seth took one look at the flight of at least six and started running. 

27: Chapter 26

Ebony saw the gryphons as they flew high above the cages, their eyes set on the three of them as they stumbled their way back to the entrance of the hall. These creatures were the smaller variation of the breed, about reaching a human’s waist if they were to stand side by side. The other type was metres taller, sometimes reaching the height of the tallest pines.

One of the bigger gryphons managed to catch them up and cut off the only entrance, sending the three scattering in opposite directions. The girls lunged left whilst Seth swerved to the right, separating them. Ebony cursed lowly. “This is exactly what they want!”

A gryphon swooped low and Ebony dragged Lexi to the floor; the enormous talons barely scraped the loose strands of their hair before it ascended again.

“What do we do?” Lexi asked in a panic as they turned and attempted to run in the other direction.

“We need to get back to Seth,” Ebony said matter-of-factly before Lexi pulled her to the right to avoid another dive. “They are trying to separate us so it’s easier to pick us off,” she continued. “I have never seen a flight pick on shifters before, though.”

“Do they pick on humans?” Lexi asked breathlessly.

“Rarely, though it’s a more likely occurrence than attacking shifters,” she replied with a grimace. “Although now we know why the Breeders left in such a hurry.”

“Szabhas!” Lexi hissed as another gryphon sent out a call and dived, talons outstretched. Lexi grasped her knife and slashed at its underside, leaving a shallow cut on its belly. The gryphon screeched and pulled away suddenly.

“Seth!” Ebony called. Lexi raised her knife again, watching the bird-lion creatures as they circled the pair of them. Ebony grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the east wall where five of the gryphons were lingered, some lunging at one of the cages and the others circling in the air above. Ducking, dodging and diving attacks, Ebony and Lexi made their way towards them.

Using its beak as leverage, one of the gryphons was attempting to pull apart the cage that Seth had locked himself in. Without thinking or even aiming, Lexi threw the knife at the creature. It hit penetrated the beast’s neck, though did not kill it. It shrieked, pulled the blade out of its flesh and took flight, blood trickling across its feathers.

The other gryphons screeched as Ebony and Lexi approached and Lexi drew her sword, wielding it at the creatures and they flew off in a mass of feathers and talons. Seth kicked his way out of the mangled cage and stumbled towards the pair of them, gripping Ebony’s sleeve like a frightened child.

“Get back to the entrance,” Lexi commanded, taking charge as she retrieved the knife from the ground and sheathed it, keeping the sword raised. “Hurry!”

Doing their best to keep together, the three raced back along the row of cages dragging each other out of the way of various beaks and talons and forcing themselves to keep running despite the danger the gryphons posed. Their path was cut off yet again by one of the larger animals, but Ebony grasped the other two by the wrist before they could separate again in a blind panic. The gryphons seemed less inclined to attack now that the three of them were together.

A small crevice in the corner presented itself as the three neared and Ebony pulled them through. The crevice widened out into a small cave, though the entrance was narrow and it was fortunate that the three of them were relatively thin. The gryphons, however, were broad-shouldered and could not fit any more than their beaks into the fissure.

“We cannot stay here forever,” Ebony muttered impatiently after a few moments in which they caught their breath.

Lexi straightened up, flipped the sword and used the pommel to batter gryphon on the beak as it tried to claw its way in. It squawked angrily and retreated.

“Uh oh…” Seth murmured, his voice trembling. Lexi’s head whipped round to see him staring at his shaking hands, watching the pale fur start to grow and thicken.

Ebony and Lexi both cursed as he dropped to the floor, writhing in pain as his muscles ripped and tore apart to accommodate the new bone structure. They both averted their eyes as he slipped out of his clothes.

The gangly-legged wolf with grey fur so pale it was almost white and yellow eyes scrambled to his feet and leapt out of the way of a vicious peck from one of the gryphons. The wolf growled and lunged out of the alcove, jaws snapping at the throat of the gryphon.

Lexi gathered Seth’s clothes and tied them to the strap of her satchel before she and Ebony slipped out of the cave whilst the gryphons were distracted. The wolf-Seth did not appear to be anything like the human-Seth, and Ebony caught Lexi staring over her shoulder as they ran.

“He’s more wolf than human right now,” she said through her breaths. “If you can’t run from danger, you attack it.”

Sure enough, the pale wolf took one more bite out of a nearby gryphon before bolting after the girls, his legs almost a blur, his tail streaming out behind him like a rudder.

He did not slow as he neared; instead he raced right past and darted out of the entranceway before the gryphons could cut him off. Ebony and Lexi were left to fend off the beasts that continued to circle them and dive with their outstretched talons, ready to tear them apart. As fear squeezed at her heart, Lexi fought her body in order to stay human, feeling the tremors beginning to take control of her body.

“I fear I may shift!” she called to Ebony. Ebony stared at her companion in panic and did not foresee the attack the gryphon attempted. Lexi grasped her arm and tried to drag her out of harm’s way, but the knife-edge talon cut deep into the flesh of Ebony’s arm.

She screamed and clutched the gash with her left hand.

The sight of the bloody mess of her arm gave Lexi enough anger and willpower to hang onto her humanity. As the gryphon dived again, she leapt up high, using the point of the sword to slash its throat.

The pair was showered with thick blood, a darker red than that of a human, and Lexi pushed Ebony out of the path of the lifeless creature as it fell to the ground.

The remainder of the gryphons screeched in fright as Lexi flourished the blood-stained blade at them, beating their feathery wings and hovering in the air for a moment before all five of them swooped down on the pair of them at once.

Squeaking and shrieking with fright, they bolted for the entrance and followed the path Seth had taken. The smaller corridor forced the gryphons to fly lower to the ground. Ebony whimpered as she held onto the gash in her arm, the sleeve of her tunic ripped open, the white fabric slowly turning a bright red.

“Haicze meik!” Lexi snapped as one flew close enough to snap at their heels and she swung her sword towards it as a warning. The gryphon screeched and drew away, but another dived forwards. Lexi stopped and her blade made contact with its beak, disorientating it for a short second.

Ebony dragged Lexi back into a run and pulled her down a narrow corridor which was too small for the gryphons to follow. They screeched angrily and clawed at the walls in frustration, but to no avail.

Lexi sheathed her sword for a short second, untied Seth’s clothes from the satchel and shoved them at Ebony. “Find Seth.”

Ebony nodded and hurried away, leaving Lexi to hold off the attacking gryphons as the brick began to crumble against their talons, their shoulders acting as battering rams. Lexi feared that they may bring down the entire building.

Although gryphons were intelligent creatures, they must have been desperate to be rid of the three of them; the smallest of the beasts managed to squeeze itself into the corridor and leapt at Lexi, talons outstretches, beak wide and screeching. Lexi thrust her sword into the chest of the beast, using both hands to avoid being flattened.

As the dead gryphon fell to the floor, Lexi had to brace her foot against its chest in order to yank free her blade. The coating of blood had an overpowering scent of rust and rot.

The remaining gryphons appeared less inclined to attack now that she had killed two of their kin. The pulled away from the narrow entrance to the corridor and stared with their great yellow eyes, examining Lexi as she wiped the excess blood from her blade. As she turned her back on the gryphons, convinced that they could not and would not attack, Lexi ran into Seth for the second time. He was now human and fully clothed.

“Do we have to kill them all?” he asked tiredly.

“No, just get out,” Ebony snapped impatiently, dragging her companions away from the beasts and down the corridor, lit only by the jar Lexi had retrieved from her satchel. The three joined the wider corridor that surrounded the inner walls on the far side where the window glowed with silver moonlight.

Seth picked up Ebony as if she weighed nothing more than a dried leaf and shoved her through the opening before promptly making a platform with his hands for Lexi to climb out. She paused on the ledge, listening to the angered screeching call of the gryphons as they flew after them. Lexi jumped down to the ground outside then pulled Seth through. He landed at an awkward angle and stumbled backwards, landing on his back for the second time, though outside he had the cloaks to soften the fall.

The window was too small for any of the gryphons to squeeze through. The shifters merely watched them claw at the walls and peck at the air with outraged cries.

After regaining his breath, Seth said, “Well, that was fun.”

 

Returning to the city without their friend set the shifters in a dull mood. The mist had thickened into fog and the city was now hidden from view, dampening their moods further. Lexi had scanned her sword for any damage she may have caused it, but came away empty. The blade had not even been blunted, as her fingers soon found out.

            “It’s not going to shake us off,” Ebony said firmly. “We will return to the city and linger until dawn, and then we will continue. I don’t see any point in heading off in the dark; we will just draw attention to ourselves.” Lexi scowled, but she faced away from her friends. Ebony spoke sense, but they had missed Hunter by a whisker twice now. She was reluctant to waste any more time.

“How long do think they have been gone?” Lexi asked.

Ebony shrugged. “Little over an hour, if that.”

“Then we need to travel through the night if we are to catch them up,” Lexi said firmly. “We should leave as soon as we return.”

“Did you not hear me? The last thing we need is to draw more attention to ourselves,” Ebony told her calmly.

The streets of the city were more or less deserted as the three returned, one man with a cloak and a staff and a limp the only sign of life. He barely noticed their passing and kept his gaze down on the path, his shoulders hunched.

As they reached the square, Lexi ignored the patronizing, ominous appearance of the temple and sat down heavily on the steps that led up to its great oak doors, leaning on her knees. Seth sat on the step below, gently rubbing his shoulders and wincing. Ebony pulled a strip of cloth from one of Estrella’s packs and set about bandaging the gash on her upper arm.

The three sat in silence for a long while, lost in their thoughts and nursing pains. The moon was covered by a sheet of cloud and cast the square in complete blackness. Lexi’s ears pricked at the sound of soft scratching and she drew her knife, leaping into a crouch and whirling to face the source of the sound. Seth and Ebony jumped at her sudden movement.

The silhouette sat rigidly still, and if not for the volumes of hair, Lexi would not have recognised her. Eveluna stared from Lexi’s eyes to the knife and back again for a short second before beginning to rock backwards and forwards in a slow and constant pattern.

“Who is that?” Seth asked in a whisper.

Lexi said nothing but raised the jar in her hand higher so that its light illuminated Eveluna’s face. The witch started and began to scramble to her feet.

“It’s me,” Lexi murmured hurriedly. Eveluna paused and sat back down, staring with large eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Who are they?” she asked in a timid voice, her eyes darting from Lexi to Seth and back to Lexi to Ebony before back again. “Did they send them for me as well?”

“No, no one sent us,” Lexi assured her.

“Uh, is this the crazy lady-witch you were talking about?” Seth asked warily.

“Shush!” Lexi hissed at him. “Eveluna, why are you out here?”

“It gets so lonely in that little shop…”

“Yes, I can imagine it does,” she said quickly. “You said you escaped the outpost to the east of here?” She nodded jerkily. “Do you know where the humans there would have gone?”

“Why?” Eveluna asked in a voice so sharp it made Seth flinch.

“Because they aren’t there anymore,” Lexi told her.

The witch’s eyes widened and she gasped loudly before exploding into a firework of shrieks and shouts and sobs. “You went there?! I told you, you mustn’t!” She bounded to her feet and stood over Lexi. Seth jumped and scurried away from her, clinging to the sleeve of Ebony’s uninjured arm.

“I told you I had to,” Lexi replied calmly. “The humans have gone, the place is empty.”

“Do not lie!” Eveluna hissed. “I sent the gryphons! I sent them there to chase away the humans that took me!”

“They nearly tore us to shreds,” Lexi growled back at her, angry.

“I told you not to go there!” she snapped back. “The daughter of one of the Legion should never put herself in so much danger!”

“Whoa, what?” Seth interrupted, his fear vanishing.

“Do not pretend, shifter!” Eveluna snapped at him. “No Neäkan can look at her and not be reminded of Marielle! It is an insult to pretend otherwise!”

Frowning, Lexi turned slowly to face Seth, who now looked sheepish. “Seth,” she asked. “What did Marielle look like?”

When he refused to answer, Ebony said, “A lot like you.”

            Lexi battled with herself for a few moments before turning back to Eveluna. “That is not proof enough to make me her daughter.”

Eveluna glared at her, breathing heavily and loudly. Lexi met her gaze as equally as she could; pretending that the prospect of being a direct descendant of one of the Legion was nothing to bother about.

“SHIFTERS!” Eveluna suddenly screamed. Seth squeaked and covered his ears with his hands. Lights glowed from the windows of nearby houses and people started poking heads out of doors, staring up at the temple where the silvery blue light of the soul in Lexi’s hand illuminated the four of them.

“Oh Goddess Fineara…” Ebony murmured.

Eveluna pointed a narrow finger between Lexi’s eyes. “SHIFTERS IN THE CITY!”

            Men appeared in on porches with longbows and other leant out of windows with crossbows, each one aiming an arrow at their heads.

            “What do we do?” Seth squeaked, panicking.

“If we run, they will know for certain she’s telling the truth,” Ebony said hurriedly, forcing a calm tone.

“There isn’t a chance that they will believe our word over hers,” Lexi argued quickly. “Look at how we are dressed! We need to run, now!”

Leaping off the steps, the shifters charged at their horses, cutting the ropes tethering them. Lexi vaulted onto Salvador’s back as the horse snorted in surprise and jerked up onto his hind legs for a short second. Seth jumped onto Estrella and hauled Ebony up behind him as an arrow whistled past his head. The horses squealed in fright, taking off at a gallop down the southern road.

More arrows flew past, missing them by inches and Salvador snorted in fright, jumping into a stride faster than Lexi had ever ridden before. She could not have slowed him even if she had wanted to at this point. She leant low over his neck, the tips of his mane brushing her face as he flew through the darkened city. All that Lexi knew was that Estrella had fallen far behind, but she could not tell how far, nor did she dare to check.

People that had taken to the streets in their nightclothes to witness the commotion for themselves had to dive out of the way of the unstoppable stallion. Arrows seemed to fly from every house and each time a whistle sounded, Lexi flinched in expectation of pain.

When hooves joined the commotion of sound, Lexi twisted to look over her shoulder. The mare was a good distance behind, but the horsemen that pursued her were further back still. However, as the streets blurred past, she spotted men on black steeds racing towards her. Without delay, a band of five men on horses raced just a few strides behind her. She could not afford to slow and aid Seth now.

Her heart leapt with hope as the city gates came into view. The guard on the left almost had his side closed, but the man on the right was purposely lingering, allowing time for her, and hopefully Seth, to slip through. She did not have time to thank or even salute the guard as she raced past, though she really wished she could.

The fog was too thick to see any further than three strides ahead on the road, the cold moisture stinging Lexi’s face and freezing her hands. She was deafened by the rushing sound of wind as the stallion kept up his fast pace and could not see Seth over her shoulder. It was an impossible task to slow the stallion as he joined the main road heading north.

Following the road was a poor idea when being chased, but Lexi did not trust her sense of direction in the fog to take to the forest. She did not know where Seth and Ebony had got to or if they had been captured. The stallion raced until his breathing was laboured and the pursuing horsemen had long since fallen behind in the thick fog. Lexi risked slowing her horse and as the rush of the wind died down, listened for the chasers. Their voices were distant, and did not seem to be getting any nearer. If anything, they were turning away. Lexi fought the stallion to a halt and twisted round, facing the way they had come. Salvador coughed as her eyes desperately tried to see through the opaque mist.

“Seth!” she called out, hoping there was a small chance he and Ebony could have slipped past the horsemen. “Ebony!”

No one answered her and fear gripped her heart with icy fingers. She called again, and again, louder each time until she was screaming their names. Silence was the only reply she was given, until male voices that were certainly not Seth’s began to break through the quiet and hooves thundered along the road towards her.

She dug her heals into the stallion’s sides and he took off again at a full gallop. It was clear that Salvador was faster than the horses chasing them, and they had soon lost track of her, even though she was keeping to the roads. Lexi slowed the horse to a moderate pace so to keep ahead of the humans, if they were still on her trail, but not to wear him out to the point of exhaustion.

As dawn broke, the mist was burned away and Lexi took the opportunity to take to the trees. There was no sign of anyone on the road in either direction, and Salvador needed to rest before she considered heading back to Haston in order to look for her companions.

She found a little clearing in the forest that was close enough to the roads for her to listen out for her friends, but far enough in to remain hidden from sight. She tied Salvador’s reins to the branches of a shrub and slipped the blanket from his back. He was coated in sweat and his legs trembled. Digging through the leaf litter, she pulled up clumps of dry grass and used it to soak up most of the moisture.

Not trusting herself with a fire, Lexi sat beside her horse and wrapped her cloak tightly around her as she contemplated her options. She found returning to Haston a pointless venture, as Seth and Ebony would not hang around if they had escaped capture, and if they were in the hands of the humans Lexi would be not good to them on her own, and would most likely just get herself caught as well. She could always follow the path they came and see if she could track them that way, but she could not see that they would go backwards. After Ebony’s announcement over the lack of food, Lexi saw it would be likely they would return to the Academy, assuming she had been caught. This option Lexi thought was most likely, but she could not bring herself to travel all the way back to the Academy and waste more time.

She had one wrap of meat in her satchel, along with the many herbs she had stolen from Eveluna. Now that she was on her own, the food could possibly last her three or four days, after which she would either have to hunt or steal.

With a sigh, Lexi rested her chin on her knees and embraced her legs, resigning herself to having to continue her journey alone.

28: Chapter 27

Lexi dozed against the trunk of a cedar tree that stood beside her stallion. Her eyes flickered open when the sun reached a high enough point to shine right down through the break in the leaf canopy above her. Groggy with only a few hours of sleep behind her, Lexi rubbed her eyes and pushed herself on her feet, leaving Salvador to finish snoozing while she went through the undergrowth back to the road.

            She paused behind the trunk of a twisted willow while she listened for the sounds of passers-by, but there were none. Stepping out into the sunlight, Lexi crouched at the edge of the road and examined the surface. The only recent tracks were from a carthorse with abnormally large hooves, much too big to be Estrella’s, heading back towards the city.

            Torn between continuing her journey onward and turning back in search of her companions, Lexi stayed crouched beside the road in thought for several minutes. As desperate as she was to reach Hunter, she doubted she could manage the task alone; especially if he was guarded by several armed humans. However she had covered a lot of ground through the night and Salvador would not be able to pick up the same pace back. She guessed it would be dark before she came anywhere near Haston again. But she knew she was no good to Hunter on her own, and so returned to the clearing to wake up her stallion, frustrated with the delay.

            It was clear the horse was still exhausted from the chase and Lexi resigned to draping the blanket over his back but did not mount. Instead she took his reins in hand and walked by his side, allowing him a further rest. By returning to the city, Lexi knew she was wasting at least two days’ worth of travel, but saw her second option as a delusional idea. She was a scout, after all, not a warrior of any kind.

            The roads were completely empty, making Lexi feel isolated from the rest of the world. No settlements were in sight, and Haston was much too far away to see. Even the moorland was devoid of cattle and horses.

            After an hour of travelling on foot, the satchel was beginning to feel incredibly heavy on Lexi’s shoulder. She was beginning to regret bringing a saddle; although she preferred to ride without, she had to admit that a saddle made long journeys much easier, and she could attach the satchel.

            All the while they travelled, Lexi kept her eyes on the road in front of her for signs of Estrella’s tracks. The wind was cold and the breeze whipped at her cloak, surrounding her in a vortex of icy air. Lexi shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around her arms.

            It was not until the sun was beginning to dip low in the sky that Lexi spotted a tangle of hoof prints on the road, at least five sets of tracks leading to it. She assumed this would be where her pursuers had given up the chase and turned around. She continued past them for several paces before she noticed something was wrong with the tracks leading up the mess where they supposedly turned around.

            She stopped and frowned down at the prints. Each one was faced in the direction of the tangle, but not one was pointed the other way. Much to Salvador’s confusion, Lexi released his reins and hurried back to the point in the road where the tracks stopped completely; not one of them continued on. Which meant, she assumed, they had all taken either to the grassland to the east or the forest to the west.

            Before she had a chance to guess their motives for not following the road back to the city, Salvador squealed loudly and she jumped in fright as five men on horses erupted from the bordering trees little more than six feet away and surrounded her before she had a chance to move. Two threw ropes around Salvador’s neck. The stallion kicked his back legs out, throwing the blanket to the ground and almost hitting one of the men’s horses on the shoulder. The remaining three men had crossbows directed straight at Lexi’s chest.

            “Put your palms up,” called out one man, his dark hair greying in places, atop a large, broad-shouldered stallion. He sat with the most confidence, and the eyes of the other four men kept flickering towards him. Lexi did not move, her fingers itching to just grasp hold of her knife. “Palms up, or we will do it for you!” he called again, more firmly this time. Still Lexi did not move, frozen in place by fear. The arrowheads all looked very sharp. They were unlike the arrows shape shifters used; they had none of the intricacy but all of the effect. Lexi’s gaze met that of the group’s leader, unable to decide what to do. She had known returning would be risky, especially in the light of day straight after being chased away from Haston. The walls of the city were now visible in the distance, she noticed. Another hour or so and she could have been in search of her friends.

            She heard the thud of feet hitting the ground and she turned to face a man that seemed to still be in his youth, although his face was lined with an inexplicable stress. He strode towards her and slapped her face, hard. Lexi stumbled to the ground, her cheek stinging. She could have stopped him or dodged the hit if she wished, but it would have likely earned her an arrow in the heart. Death was something she could not afford.

            She promptly scrambled back to her feet only to be knocked down again by a blow to the chest. The air was knocked from her lungs and she stayed curled up on the floor while she attempted to regain her breath. The toe of the human’s boot came into contact with her spine and she yelped. Lexi pushed herself onto her feet and steadied herself, facing the man that seemed to be enjoying her pain so much. The other four had withdrawn their crossbows and watched with amused grins playing on their faces.

            “Unwilling to speak, are you?” the man asked, lunging for her a second time. Instinct kicked in and Lexi dodged the hit, much to his annoyance. He struck again, this time hitting the side of her face. She stumbled backwards but remained on her feet, blood filling her mouth. She spat out the excess liquid, but all her teeth remained intact.

            “You moron, she can’t speak!” one of his colleagues called out to him.

            “You don’t believe that myth, do you? Of course she can. She’s just as stubborn as a mule, like the rest of them.”

            He struck her shoulder, causing her to stumble and he wrenched the sheath from her back and the knife from her belt. He threw them out of the circle and out of her reach, leaving her completely defenceless. Lexi brushed herself off and snarled at her enemy, no longer fearing the crossbows that lay dormant by their handlers’ sides.

            Moving swiftly so he would not expect it, she struck the human’s stomach, and as he doubled over, and then his face. He flew backwards and blood spurted from his nose. He groaned loudly, clutching his face in one hand and his abdomen with the other. His companions no longer laughed as Lexi scowled round at each of them in turn. Had she heard the feet of a second man climbing down from his mount, she could have avoided the strike that split the skin on her cheek. She turned to strike back and saw that all but the men with Salvador’s ropes in their grip were on their feet.

            She was no match for three of them, and she knew it.

            Although she tried to defend the worst of the blows, it did not take long to knock her to the ground and Lexi was beaten with fists and boots alike, whether it be to her back, front, legs, arms or face, the humans did not care.

            After what felt like hours of endless pain, it all came to a sudden stop. The men froze in place as one of their kin fell to the ground with a grey swift-feather arrow protruding from his neck. Lexi remained on the ground and watched through the one eye that was not swollen closed.

            “What was that?” one of the younger men asked.

            Lexi heard a thud and one of the men restraining Salvador fell to a heap on the floor. Three of the horses squealed and galloped for their lives, leaving their riders stranded.

            Two arrows were released at once and killed the remaining men on their feet instantly. Lexi listened to the one human remaining on his horse throw down Salvador’s rope and galloped away, running the animal as fast as it could. She remained still, her body bruised and sore all over, surrounded by four corpses and silence ensued. She could not have moved even if she had wanted to. Salvador wandered closer and stood over her, like a guard.

            Lexi did not become aware of the footsteps until they were right beside her head, where they paused and a figure crouched in front of her. The silhouette ignored Lexi’s one eye that gazed up at it and extended a hand towards her face, hovering a few inches from her nose. Inexplicably, energy returned to Lexi’s limbs and she stirred. The figure withdrew its hand and stood back while Lexi climbed cautiously to her feet, leaning on Salvador when her balance failed.

            “It’s foolish to be travelling at this time of the year.”

            Lexi turned to the magic saviour and took in her appearance through her one good eye. She was taller than Lexi by a few inches and was dressed very much like Malachai, with a dark cloak and a hood that fell low over the eyes, but beneath she wore a deep green tunic with an uneven torn hem, one sleeve covering her wrist and the other torn above the elbow. Her legs were coated in black leather leggings and she wore black boots laced up to her knees. Under Lexi’s gaze, the figure drew back her hood just enough so that her face was visible.

            She had the frame of an elf, but her face was not sharp enough. Her expression remained unreadable, though she had deep sapphire eyes that seemed to delve straight into Lexi’s inner thoughts. Her skin was pale, almost as white as Lexi’s, but her cheeks had a healthy tint of pink in them. There was a wild kind of beauty about her that shone through her rough exterior.

            “What do you mean?” Lexi asked, finding her voice. Though the stranger had somehow healed her, she was still very tired and her voice betrayed the fatigue.

            “It is the night of the Snow Winds,” the stranger said simply. “If we do not find shelter, we will surely freeze. If you want to survive, and I strongly suggest you do, then I recommend you follow me. I know a place that will protect us from the ice, but we will have to ride fast if we are to reach it in time.”

            Lexi hesitated. There was nothing human about the young woman, and so far all of Lexi’s experiences with Neäkan had been positive. As the girl started to walk back towards the forest, Lexi stooped to pick up her knife and sword and followed. The temperature had dropped considerably over the course of the day and instinct told Lexi that the stranger was right about the Snow Winds. She had nowhere else to stay, and it appeared that she and the girl were the only beings for miles.

            After taking a few strides, the girl stopped suddenly and turned back. She pulled the arrows from the bodies of the four human men and grasped the reins of a colt that had not run with the others, a glossy bay horse with long, lean legs. As she returned to Lexi, she said bluntly, “He will die if we leave him here.”

            Lexi nodded wordlessly and followed the girl into the forest. It was not until the road was completely out of sight that the girl stopped and pulled the colt’s reins over his head. She then called into the trees, using words that startled Lexi.

            “Ale meisz tema.” They were Findasian words, calling for someone or something that remained invisible to Lexi. When nothing happened for a long period of time, the girl said more quietly, “Ale.”

            Silence followed for a while, but then a remarkable beast stepped into sight from the underbrush. She looked like any other white mare, except that her coat seemed to give off an eerie glow so that it shone against the dull colours of the forest. Her head was dainty and beautiful, and from her forehead protruded a long, spiralled horn. Her mane was long and silky and unlike that of any horse Lexi had ever seen. The unicorn’s hooves were split like that of a doe, surrounded in glossy silver feathers. Her tail flicked from side to side in a feline-like fashion, and it appeared more like that of a lion than a horse.

            “We will be riding for some time,” the girl said, her eyes glued to the unicorn as she stepped closer. The animal laid her ears back as she looked at Lexi with deep, brown eyes and stepped closer to the hooded girl. “Are you well enough?”

            “I don’t think I have much of a choice,” Lexi murmured. “If the Snow is coming as you believe, I will freeze if I don’t follow you.”

            The strange girl nodded and jumped up onto the unicorn’s bare back, the colt’s reins in her left hand. Lexi followed suit and climbed back onto Salvador. The girl glanced over at her to check she was settled before the unicorn picked up a canter without any noticeable aid from her rider, the colt stumbling after them. Lexi nudged Salvador into pace beside them, wincing as the sudden movement pulled at her sore skin.

            As they rode, the girl did not look back at Lexi to check she was there. It was as if she trusted she would follow without difficulty.

 

A particularly large bruise on Lexi’s side began to aggravate her after several more hours of riding. The girls had not spoken a word to each other, but they had managed to cover a lot of ground this way. Dusk started to fall and the girl looked up for the first time, her eyes darting about the sky.

            “We do not have much time,” she called over to Lexi and the unicorn picked up a faster gait. Lexi nudged Salvador after them, her breath hissing through her teeth as her side flared.

            A few flakes of snow started to fall and the unicorn slowed to a hasty trot, as they rounded a small rise in the land. A small barn came into view, and Lexi thought it a bit of an odd placement for a barn. The forest appeared to be otherwise empty of any buildings and there were no fields for animals.

            The girl vaulted from her mount as they neared the strange barn. When Lexi remained on Salvador’s back, she turned back and said, “The horses cannot follow us any further.” At Lexi’s puzzled and unwilling expression, she continued. “Our shelter lies further ahead. The horses will have to stay here.”

            “Why can we not stay here?” Lexi asked.

            “Here has food for horses, not the likes of us,” the girl responded, her mouth tilted up in an amused smirk before she turned to the doors and slid them open.

            “I have food,” Lexi pointed out.

            “Raw meat?” she guessed without turning. “How do you suggest we make a fire in a bed of straw? Besides, I doubt you have enough to last us through the Snow Winds.”

            “How long will they last?” Lexi asked, never having experienced the Winds before, as Cassandle lay too far south.

            “Three days at least. If we are unlucky, we may be stationary for three weeks.”

            “Three weeks?” Lexi repeated, horrified. “I cannot stay that long.”

            Just before leading the colt into the dark barn, the girl turned and shot Lexi a look that said she may not have the choice. The unicorn followed the young horse into the barn and Lexi reluctantly dismounted, tugging Salvador to follow them.

            The entire barn was covered in a foot-deep bed of straw with a mountain of hay piled in one corner. Though there was no fire, the small shack was considerably warmer than the air outside and Lexi did not feel quite so fearful of leaving Salvador here for the length of the Snow Winds. The stranger had removed the colt’s tack and was rummaging through the saddlebags, picking up various packages that looked like food and tucking them under her arm. Lexi slipped the blanket off Salvador’s back and relieved him of the bridle, draping both over the low wall that lined the outer walls of the barn.

            “Come,” the girl commanded, hovering in the doorway. “Czes will care for your horse. We have another league to travel on foot, and maybe an hour before the blizzard begins.”

            Lexi merely nodded, her eyes on Salvador as he nibbled at the hay. Although the urgency of their travel was apparent, the girl waited patiently for Lexi to leave the barn of her own accord. The hooded stranger slid the doors closed behind them, enclosing the two horses and the unicorn in the warmth of the shack. With the colt’s saddlebags over her shoulder, she led Lexi west, beyond the barn and towards a hillock.

            With Lexi as sore all over as she was, her eye swollen closed, a limp in her right leg, and her cloak wrapped around her in an attempt to ward off the cold, the strange girl marched ahead and the distance between them lengthened.

As the snow thickened and she had to pick her feet up over the drifts, Lexi began to doubt her actions. This girl was a stranger; Lexi did not even know her name. Her intentions and motives were unclear, and she seemed intent on aiding Lexi, for she had saved her life and healed her, was now leading her to safety from the Snow Winds that Lexi had heard all about but never witnessed. How was it that by sheer chance an elf-like girl had just been passing on this day when Lexi had been cornered by humans? She had said herself it was foolish to be travelling today.

The girl scurried back to her. “Are you in too much pain?” she asked.

Lexi shook her head. “I cannot move any faster. I’m sorry.”

Maybe it was the sincerity of her eyes or the expression of concern she wore, but Lexi’s doubts vanished whenever the girl came near and she happily followed.

It was almost dark by the time the silhouette of a small stone cottage came into view. The girl slowed and fell into pace beside Lexi as they neared. “It is small and abandoned, but it will keep us alive.”

Lexi could not reply for shivering. Her arms were turning blue and frost was sticking to her hair.

The cottage was composed of just one large room. As soon as the rickety door closed behind them, the biting chill of the wind ceased and Lexi’s trembling lessened. The girl dropped her satchel and saddlebags, moving around the edge of the room to check that each of them was bordered up properly.

Lexi pulled at the string at her neck with numb fingers, wanting to be rid of the cloak. The whirling snow had crept beneath the fabric and was chilling her further. She pulled off the hood and the cloak fell to her feet, leaving the not-so-cold air to rid her of the chill.

Without either of them speaking, Lexi somehow sensed that the girl wanted to light a fire. She rummaged through the herbs she had taken from the witch in Haston and pulled out a tinderbox, throwing it to the girl, who caught it with ease, as if she had been expecting the throw. She turned towards something Lexi could not see in the dark and meddled with the tinder. Suddenly, the room filled with a glorious orange light and a wave of heat spread through the air.

The stranger turned and returned to Lexi’s side, passing her the tinderbox as she did so, leaving a blazing fire in the stone fireplace in the west wall. She continued to the door and yanked it open. The icy draft caused Lexi to hug her torso tightly as she asked, “Where are you going?”

Without turning, the girl replied, “We need to wash.”

The door swung closed behind her, leaving Lexi alone in the cottage that was slowly filling with a stifling heat.

Sitting by the fire, Lexi listened to the howling winds outside, the rattling of the shutters on the windows and the creaking of overhead branches. Her sword stood against the wall at her side, and her belt lay next to it. The cloak remained sprawled on the floor by the door, for Lexi could not bring herself to leave the fireside for even a moment to pick it up.

She ached all over. Her eye remained closed and throbbed painfully, and she was sure her face and body were covered in an assortment of bloodied cuts and bruises, and not all of them dealt out by the humans. Now that she had several days ahead of her for rest and recuperation, she had time to reflect back on her journey thus far. She had certainly taken several knocks from various people and places, and the endless hours of riding had taken a toll on her muscles.

The longer she waited, the more Lexi began to doubt the girl. She could have easily taken off with Salvador and abandoned Lexi here for however long it took her to work it out, trapped in a blizzard. On the other hand, even if the girl had pure intentions, the cold could easily bleed the life out of her; only vampyres were immune to temperature, and Lexi had seen quite clearly that this Neäkan had blue eyes, the darkest and deepest of blues. Besides, how were they meant to wash in this weather? They had no water, and the cold would chill their bones instantly. Or had the girl meant something different altogether?

The moment the door opened again, all of Lexi’s doubts were erased. The graceful hooded figure of the strange girl staggered slightly under the weight she carried, her hands clutching the handles of two metal buckets filled with icy water. She knelt beside Lexi and hung them from a hook over the fire to heat up.

“Do you have an issue with privacy?” she asked brusquely, her eyes on the water.

Lexi thought over the question, and tried to voice her answer as politely as she could. “Around strangers, yes.”

The girl nodded, as if in agreement. “I can wash outside if you wish.”

“But you will freeze!” Lexi said. The girl raised one shoulder, as if it was nothing of concern. “I don’t mind you washing inside. But I will ask you to turn your back.”

“Of course.”

She stood and crossed over to Lexi’s cloak, swooping down to pick it up and hung it from a hook by the door, accompanying it with her own. From her hip hung a long, narrow sheath which she unclipped from her belt and rested it against the wall, along with a tall recurve bow made of a dark, indefinable wood and a leather quiver filled with grey-feather arrows.

Without her hood, Lexi now had a clear view of the young woman, who did not look any older than twenty-three in human years, although her eyes were shadowed and held an inexplicable wisdom. She had a mane of dark blonde waves that fell to her shoulder blades, hiding her ears and the back of her neck.

The girl turned back to face the fire. “The water will be warm enough now.”

Lexi looked and saw that both of the buckets were steaming very slightly. She hesitated, however, as she knew that the handles would be too hot for her to touch. Her companion promptly lifted both buckets away from the fire, nothing other than a rag torn in two protecting her hands from the heat. She placed one of the buckets in one corner by the fire, and the other at the opposite end of the room close to the door.

Without spoken consent, both girls turned their backs on each other and undressed. Lexi’s suspicions were confirmed as she looked down on her battered body. She was bruised almost all over and cuts patterned her skin, blood, old and new, smeared over the whiteness of her legs and belly.

Despite the discomfort of washing so close to a stranger and the chilly draft that crept through the shutters, Lexi was grateful for the bath. The warm water she spread over her skin with a rag soothed the flaming sensation of every cut, eased the ache of each bruise and she, of course, felt a lot cleaner. She scrubbed sand out from between her toes and washed mud from her back, as well as the excess blood. When clean, the wounds did not look quite so bad.

As she stood to dry off in the heat of the fire, Lexi’s eyes were attracted to the sword standing beside the door. It was narrow, like Lexi’s, but at least a foot longer. The silver hilt glistened with tiny gemstones of various kinds, scattering the light in different colours across the surrounding wall. The sheath itself was made of a thick, protective hide, but had been embroidered with green vines and one word written in silver script, a word foreign on Lexi’s tongue.

Pavarni

“Pavarni,” she murmured aloud, testing the sound of it. “Is that your name?” she asked.

“It may be,” the girl replied mysteriously after a brief hesitation.

Lexi remained quietly, accepting the answer as close to a ‘yes’ as she was going to get, and thought of another question, though she was not sure how to ask it. “What are you, Pavarni?”

Again, the girl paused before replying. “I am a psychic.”

Several unasked questions were suddenly answered and Lexi twisted to frown at Pavarni over her shoulder. “That is why I trusted you so easily.” It was not a question, and the psychic gave no answer as she pulled her torn and worn tunic back over her body. “Why did you deceive me?”

Lexi pulled on her clothes as fast as she could, though her skin was still damp, suddenly distrustful of the stranger.

Pavarni remained impassive, despite Lexi’s obvious panic. “I had not the time to earn your trust through more honest ways; otherwise I would have let you decide whether to trust me of your own accord.”

Lexi believed she was being sincere, but was now certain her opinions and feelings were not her own. “Please do not influence me further.”

“I am doing nothing to influence you now,” Pavarni said. “You are warm and safe, which is all I needed. We have until the Snow Winds cease, and then you can decide for yourself whether I am worthy of your trust or not.”

Lexi remained unconvinced, and the psychic did nothing more to try and win her over. Instead, she crouched by the saddlebags and pulled out two large sheets, which Lexi soon found out were to be used as hammocks during their stay. Pavarni hung them from the beams on the ceiling on either side of the fire, testing their weights before sitting back in one of them and looking expectantly towards Lexi.

With her eyes pinned on the psychic, Lexi sat tentatively in her hammock. The pair stared at each other in a lasting silence, Lexi sitting rigidly with her arms folded while Pavarni gazed easily back at her, expecting the many unasked questions Lexi held in her mind.

Eventually, Lexi spoke. “Why did you save me?”

Pavarni raised one slanted brow. “Would you have preferred I left you to whichever painful torture and imminent death they had planned for you?”

“Not at all,” Lexi replied coolly. “And that did not answer my question.”

Pavarni lay back in her hammock with her arms behind her head, her eyes closed. She let out a long breath. “I made a promise to do whatever I could to find you and keep you safe, should you need it.”

“A promise to whom?” Lexi demanded with narrowed eyes.

“Some things are better left unsaid,” Pavarni replied coldly, her eyes snapping open.

Lexi remained quiet, knowing she had overstepped the line. The psychic relaxed again and turned her attention to the ceiling. When Lexi picked up her feet and lay back in the hammock, Pavarni spoke again. “You may ask other questions.”

“What is it that psychics can do?” Lexi asked, deciding to change the subject altogether.

“I can do many things. One of lesser strength can do barely more than sense another’s emotion, and one of greater strength can manipulate an entire army to do their bidding. Is there anything in particular you would like to know?”

“You healed me,” Lexi said.

Pavarni nodded, her eyes still on the ceiling. “That is not a question.”

“How can you heal?”

“Your energy was low, and so I provided you with some of mine, and that lingering of the humans’. I gave you more than you needed, and so some of your greater wounds could heal.” She turned her gaze on Lexi. “You may have survived without my aid, but not quickly enough to get out of the cold.”

“Why don’t you influence me to be comfortable with you?” Lexi asked, becoming puzzled.

“Your opinions are your own, not mine to manipulate. I influence when I see no other alternative, and we had only a short amount of time to get out of the cold.”

Lexi hesitated before asking her next question. “How can I be sure you aren’t controlling me now?”

“You would have no reservations if I was.”

“How can you speak Findasian?”

Pavarni raised her brows at the sudden change of subject, but answered nonetheless. “Czes responds only to that language; it is one of the most powerful. Unicorns can be rather temperamental, and they are incredibly proud creatures. How did you recognise the tongue?” she asked.

“Maik ka atrenaet du maih ucrena.”

Pavarni hesitated. “I see.”

Although Lexi had many more questions, she stopped speaking for the moment. She and the psychic were stuck together in the small cottage while the snow whirled around them, threatening to blow through the shutters and break off the branches that hung precariously above them. Lexi had no idea how long they would have to remain still, and the thought of Hunter being caught out in this kind of weather frightened her. Would the humans know about the Snow Winds? Also, Seth and Ebony would have no idea of this kind of weather.

“Can you tell how long the winds will last?” Lexi asked, attempting to remain impassive.

“Judging by the rate of fall, I would estimate three or four days at least. But then we will be in over our head, and the longest part of the wait is for the snow to thaw enough for us to continue safely.”

“What parts of Igrendem do the Winds reach?”

Pavarni shot Lexi a look that told her she was suspicious of the questions. “Roughly from Haston and north of Miern Valley, all of The Peek, and the eastern parts of Ashville, but it varies from year to year. Why do you ask?”

“My companions and I separated around Haston,” Lexi mumbled, looking away.

“I see. In which direction would they travel?”

“South, I believe.”

“If they had a day’s ride ahead of the snow, the Winds will not touch them. If they were heading for Rosavale, they will be fine.”

“You know of the Academy?” Lexi asked, surprised.

“Of course.” Pavarni shrugged. “It is one of the safest places in Igrendem. The current Alpha made a deal with the Council to keep the lot of you together in exchange for the shifters’ safety, though the message has yet to reach the Slayers, it seems.”

“But the Council was formed eighteen years ago.”

“It was. Humans are not overly concerned with the safety of shape shifters, or any Neäkan, but we have been given the freedom to defend ourselves if we are attacked by humans.”

“You know a lot about it,” Lexi noted.

“I have been around a while.”

Lexi was sure that the girl could not have been much older than her, but decided not to ask.

With the prospect of several days of rest ahead of her, Lexi turned on her side, her back to Pavarni and the fire. She shivered beneath her blankets, the biting wind slipping through the cracks around the window shutters and threatening to extinguish the fire. Her eye throbbed and her muscles ached with a mix of strain and fatigue. Her skin was battered and bruised, her lungs fit to burst from the exertion she had endured.

Though she wanted nothing more than to continue, Lexi could not help but be grateful for the Winds to give an excuse to rest and recover. Wherever Hunter was, he would not be moving through this kind of weather. She just prayed he was safe and warm.

Then there was Pavarni to consider. The psychic had proven herself with a bow, easily matching Hunter’s skill, and Lexi suspected that she was just as handy with the sword as Demitri or Cassius. Her ability to influence anybody to do anything she wanted made her incredibly dangerous, more so than anyone Lexi had before encountered, but if she could use said danger to her advantage… Lexi felt she had an invaluable ally lying still just four feet away from her. With Ebony and Seth gone, undoubtedly to return to the Academy after Ebony’s announcement of the lack of food, Lexi could not deny she was vulnerable on her own.

Pavarni had mentioned a promise, an oath she had sworn to keep her safe if she needed the protection. She certainly needed it now. Lexi could not help wondering who would ask for such a promise.

With her bones aching and her skin prickling with the cold, Lexi pulled the blankets tighter around herself and closed her eyes.

 

Pavarni remained awake for the entire night, adding dry wood to the fire when it began to dwindle and keeping an eye on Lexi’s dreams to determine any distress the shifter may experience. Although the psychic refused to delve any deeper, she knew that a great worry was on the girl’s mind, and she needed help in her journey.

 

 

-End of Part One-

29: Chapter 28

Six days into the Snow Winds and the small, one-roomed, stone cottage was snowed in up to its shingled roof. Lexi’s wounds had all healed and her muscles had stopped aching. She had regained full use of her injured eye, though the surrounding tissue remained red and tender. Having been stuck in one place for such a length of time had caused energy to build up in Lexi and she could not stop pacing. She was impatient to continue her journey, and Pavarni had not let her step outside for any length of time.

            The door squeaked open and Pavarni stepped inside, three pheasants thrown over her shoulder. Lexi paused just long enough to glance at her before continuing to pace up and down the length of the room.

            “When can we leave?” she demanded as she spun on her heel and strode down to the other end of the cottage. “Not one flake of snow has fallen all day.”

            “There is plenty of time yet,” Pavarni murmured in response.

            “I don’t have time,” Lexi snapped. “I have to get moving as soon as I can. I cannot afford to linger any more than I have to.” Although Pavarni’s expression barely changed, it was clear to Lexi that she was becoming tired of her continuous demand for updates. But if the Breeders had any sense, Lexi was sure that they would be moving again, and she had to follow. “Please,” she added in an attempt to win the psychic round.

            Pavarni said nothing as she pulled off her cloak and set about preparing the birds. The pair of them had gotten through Lexi’s small wrap of meat in two and a half days, leading Pavarni to leave the safety of the cottage and hunt out any wandering animals. Needless to say, game was few and far between.

            “Pavarni, you can sense how much I need to get moving,” Lexi continued.

            “And yet you neglect to tell me why,” Pavarni pointed out, her attention still on the meat.

            “Is the reason important?” Lexi muttered, scowling at the floor.

            “Not at all,” Pavarni said. “I will accompany you whether you decide to tell me your motives or not, but I cannot get a real sense of your urgency if you decide not to tell me what it is you are searching for.” The psychic put down the bird in her hands and looked towards Lexi. “You aren’t being chased, I can tell that much. Whatever it is that requires your attention is important, I grant you. I am up to my knees in snow outside. How do you expect the horses to travel with any sort of efficiency?”

            Lexi looked away, knowing that Pavarni was right but could not bring herself to admit it. “If it does not snow for the rest of today, can we leave tomorrow?”

            “It is not the snow that is the issue, Alexia. It’s the time it takes to thaw.”

            Pavarni knelt beside the birds and continued plucking their feathers while Lexi returned to pacing.

            The two girls remained in silence for a long while, Lexi’s boots scuffing against the wooden floor the only sound. Her strides lengthened and she quickened her step, becoming too restless to control her speed.

            “Can you not put me to sleep until the snow has thawed if we cannot begin soon?” Lexi asked irritably.

            “I could, but it would not be very polite.”

            Lexi snorted softly and Pavarni bounded to her feet, surprising her. The psychic strode past Lexi and grabbed her sword from where it stood beside the door, pulling it free of its sheath with a ring of metal. A flicker of panic swept through Lexi’s mind as the young elfish woman pointed the sword at her throat. The edges of the blade gleamed a brighter silver than the swords of both Demitri and Cassius, but the fuller was tinted a faint green. Pavarni sensed Lexi’s wariness.

            “We may as well put our time and energy to good use,” she pointed out pleasantly. “Draw your sword.”

            Lexi hesitated. Pavarni raised one challenging eyebrow and the corners of her mouth tilted up in a smile that revealed the two, small, pointed canines. They were not nearly as impressive as those of Malachai, but intimidating nonetheless.

            She reached for her sheath and pulled her sword slowly free.

            The pair stood several feet opposite each other, sword points aiming at each other’s chests. They stayed this way for many long, silent seconds; Pavarni’s eyes bore deep into those of Lexi while the shifter tried to watch out for any giveaway signs of attack.

            Pavarni lunged. Lexi brought her sword up to block the attack with less than half a second to spare. Without pausing, Pavarni lunged again, swiping her sword at Lexi’s left side, and then her right. On the fourth attack, the force of the colliding blades sent Lexi’s sword through the air, clattering against the stone wall and falling heavily to the floor.

            Pavarni rested her blade against Lexi’s shoulder and smirked just slightly. “Pick it up,” she commanded.

            Lexi did as she was asked and the two began again. Lexi was reminded of the one, brief fight she endured with Nerezza, but Pavarni’s skill was far greater than Nerezza’s. Even her trial fight with Demitri had not been this quick. Though Lexi began to predict her attacks, it never took longer than half a minute for her sword to be twisted out of her grip.

The fights continued and Lexi began to tire. Pavarni started to frown.

After the twelfth time Lexi’s sword clashed to the ground, Pavarni lowered her sword and was clearly not interested in continuing. However, Lexi was full to the brim with fury at her own weakness. She grasped her hilt and swung at Pavarni. The psychic, of course, predicted the attack and swept the sword easily out of the air and raised the point of her blade to Lexi’s throat before she could follow it.

“Pick your enemies carefully,” she warned in a low voice.

“What use are enemies when I cannot best them?” Lexi spat.

Pavarni ignored the hostility and lowered her sword. “Retrieve your blade. I will teach you how I was taught.”

“I have been taught how to wield a sword,” Lexi replied irritably.

“Clearly not very well,” Pavarni replied coolly. “Retrieve your blade.”

Lexi was in half a mind to defy the psychic, but thought better of it. If she refused, Pavarni would just influence her to do it anyway. Her arms aching, Lexi snatched the sword from the floor and faced Pavarni once again.

“Ready?” Pavarni asked with a raised brow. Lexi nodded impatiently. “Left.” Pavarni swung to the left and, due to her forewarning, Lexi blocked the hit with relative ease. “Right.” She flipped her sword round to the other side and the blades collided, the sound echoing off the stone walls.

Pavarni continued to speak the direction for Lexi to block, and though her speed had not lessened, the fight lasted for several long minutes. Already exhausted by the previous fights, Lexi soon lost speed and strength. When at last Pavarni knocked the short sword to the floor, she sheathed her own blade and replaced it by the door before returning to the birds. Lexi was still for a few minutes, catching her breath, before she picked up her sword and sheathed it.

She turned to her hammock and collapsed down into it. Pavarni knelt in silence while she prepared the bird meat and Lexi regained some energy.

After a minute, Lexi sat up. “I appreciate your help, and I don’t feel quite so bad about myself now, but an enemy will not give me forewarning during a spar.”

Pavarni gave an amused smirk. “Most potential enemies will not be quite so skilled with a sword.” Lexi’s raised brow caused her smile to widen, revealing two, small, pointed fangs. “As you practise, you will start to see the signs of which direction an enemy will choose. But for now, I will do all the fighting, should we need it.”

Lexi scowled. “Are you saying I’m incapable?”

Pavarni shrugged and said nothing. She pulled a knife from her right boot and began carving the meat into slices off the carcass of the birds. Lexi lay back in her hammock and stared up at the wooden beams supporting the roof while she waited for the meat to cook over the fire. A few moments later, she sat up again. “Have you seen to the horses?”

“They are fine,” Pavarni assured her. “The colt is gaining a little weight, but your stallion seems to be more careful with his eating.”

Lexi nodded in acceptance. Pavarni halved the meat and placed one set onto a clean but ragged cloth, handing it over to Lexi, while she began nibbling on her own. Lexi ate hungrily; they had not managed to eat enough while cooped up in the middle of the forest, snowed up to the roof.

Even after eating the meagre meal, Lexi still felt hungry. Though she did not complain, Pavarni noticed her discomfort and offered the remainder of her share.

“Do you not want it?” Lexi asked, feeling she should refuse but unable to deny the food.

“I can survive without it,” Pavarni assured her. The psychic stood and returned the knife to her boot. She shouldered her quiver and picked up her dark recurve bow, pausing by the door to clip the sheath of her sword to her belt and pull her cloak over her shoulders.

“Where are you going?” Lexi asked, her tongue burning from swallowing too fast.

“To see what else I can find,” Pavarni replied vaguely, pulling her hood over her head. She pulled open the door and a blast of icy wind swept through the cottage. Lexi shivered and Pavarni disappeared, leaving her alone.

 

Pavarni did not return until late in the evening, and she returned empty handed. The sweep of cold air awoke Lexi from her slumber and she sat bolt upright in shock, rocking the hammock to an extent she almost tipped out onto the floor.

            “Be calm,” Pavarni said, speaking lowly against the darkness, for the fire had almost dwindled out of existence.

            Lexi settled back into her hammock and pulled the blankets up to her chin. “What news?”

            “Game is few. I found nothing other than a few wood mice, and they are barely a mouthful. What took most of my attention were the humans blundering through the woods, so it is hardly surprising that the animals have retreated to their homes.”

            Lexi sat up again, panicked. “Humans?”

            “I did not have the displeasure of asking them personally, but no other Neäkan would disturb the woodland in such a way.” Pavarni pulled off her cloak and left it in a heap in the corner, beside her sword, bow and quiver. 

            “What are humans doing in the forest?” Lexi demanded.

            “It was hard to tell, for there were many, and they were distant,” Pavarni explained. She seemed at ease, so much so that Lexi quickly became infuriated. She paused, lying back in her hammock and closing her eyes. “I expect, however, that word has reached them of a certain white-haired, pale-skinned young woman with a rather prickly heritage.”

            Lexi frowned over at the psychic, who lay seemingly oblivious to her tension. “Could you tell where they were from?”

            “Haston, no doubt, for you were there not one week ago. With the knowledge of your name and past, you have become much more valuable.”

            The two remained quiet for a little while and Lexi relaxed enough to lie back in her hammock. “If they are in search of me, if they believe I am the daughter of Marielle, then they will not stop until they have found me. Why are you so…untroubled?”

            “Untroubled?” Pavarni asked. “Is that how you see me?”

            “Well, you certainly don’t seem worried.”

            “I am not worried. But I am not untroubled. The humans will not find us this night, or the next or, indeed, the one after, for their progress is slow. However, we will not be able to linger as long as I would have liked.” She paused for a long while and Lexi began to believe she had dozed off when she spoke again. “We will be back on the road by tomorrow evening.”

            Pavarni turned over in her hammock, ending the conversation.

            Lexi tucked the ends of the blankets all around her to dispel as much of the cold as she could before closing her eyes. She had little less than a day before her journey continued. Her wounds had healed, her eye was of use again, but she could not help wishing that she had a few days longer.

30: Chapter 29

Pavarni’s boots scuffing lightly on the floor awoke Lexi early in the morning while the sky was still dark. Her eyes flickered open and spotted the psychic’s silhouette against a window with one of the shutters open. Her expression was visible in the light of a candle, which she held in her right hand. The psychic turned towards Lexi and put a finger to her lips before she could speak. Puzzled, Lexi listened hard against the whistle of the wind that rocked branches and rattled the cottage. The shouting of men could be heard faintly on the gale.

            “The humans are headed our way,” Pavarni murmured in response to Lexi’s expression.

            Lexi swallowed. “How far?”

            “A mile, maybe.” Pavarni shrugged. “There are a few hours before dawn, and it will take us at least that to return to the barn, and then the road.”

            “Will the snow not slow us?”

            “It certainly will, but it will be thinner on the roads. Take down your hammock.”

            Lexi swung her legs out of the hammock and pulled on her boots before she turned to the rope. She pulled at the knots with numb fingers, shivering as she tried to hurry. Pavarni’s had already been rolled up and strapped to one of the colt’s saddlebags. When she finally pried the knots apart, she rolled up the fabric of the hammock into a tight bundle and Pavarni took it from her to strap next to the other.

            “Hurry,” the psychic said lowly, tossing over Lexi’s sash and sheathed sword, which Lexi slung across her back, as she strapped her sword to her belt and shouldered her quiver filled with grey-feather arrows before both girls donned their cloaks and pulled up their hoods.

            “Stick to my side and do not wander,” Pavarni warned, picking up her bow. “The forest looks all the same when coated in winter’s blanket.” Lexi nodded in agreement. As Pavarni pushed open the door, the shouts of the men on the wind were amplified and sounded so much closer. Pavarni stopped and listened for a moment. “A league north-west,” she said. “We will have to move quickly, but we mustn’t be heard.”

            Lexi nodded again and the pair of them crept out of the cottage. The biting wind chilled Lexi right to the bone and she was in half a mind to remain inside beside the still-warm fireplace.

            “How can we be sure we cannot be heard?” Lexi asked through chattering teeth.

            “They are too far to hear anything at this moment, but it will not take them long to reach us. For now, we must run.”

            The psychic propelled herself away from the cottage with such speed and prowess that Lexi missed the movement altogether. She scrambled after her companion, kicking up snow in all directions. Ahead, Pavarni’s figure was shrinking into the dark wood, minimal snow and sound coming from her feet.

            Though she ran as fast as she could in the snow, hidden roots and snow-coated ferns grasped at her feet and tripped her, slowing her, and behind the calls seemed to get louder. Pavarni completely disappeared into the gloom and the only thing that led Lexi were the tracks left in the deep snow. She was becoming increasingly aware of her own prints and attempted to pick up speed, but the drifts made her feet heavy.

            “Hurry!” Pavarni’s voice floated back through the trees and Lexi leapt off a ledge, running beside it where the snow was thinner. She had lost Pavarni’s prints, but her figure had reappeared several feet in front of her, heaving open the heavy doors of the barn.

            Both girls darted inside. The horses snorted in surprise at the sudden cold and Salvador nickered in greeting. Lexi ruffled his ears before strapping the bridle on his head and throwing the blanket over his back. Beside her, Pavarni strapped the colt’s saddle and bridle back in place and attached the saddlebags and blankets. They mounted and Pavarni froze, her brow creased in concentration.

            “They are headed for the road,” she said irritably, turning to the unicorn. “Vacz orc arenare, ale.”

            Czes bowed her head and trotted out of the wide barn doors, into the snow. Pavarni nudged the colt to follow the unicorn and as she passed, Lexi asked, “How far away?”

            “Half a mile,” Pavarni replied stiffly.

            Instead of heading east to the road, Czes turned and continued north through the forest, picking up a fast-paced canter. Salvador and the bay colt rode side-by-side behind the unicorn, but struggled to pick their feet up over the deep snow, whereas the unicorn appeared to barely notice the inconvenience. Despite the struggle, the horses carried them faster than they could manage on foot.

            They rode in silence for at least an hour, the shouts of the men still loud on the wind, before the trees fell away and they rode out onto snow-blanketed moorland, racing beside a shallow, frozen-over stream.

            “Are they still on our tail?” Lexi asked, calling over the rush of wind in her ears.

            “They are closer than you think,” Pavarni replied grimly. Lexi glanced over her shoulder and a surge of panic welled up in her chest. Little over a hundred feet behind, a large group of horses and riders thundered after them.

            “Vacz orc du rijre!” Pavarni called to Czes and the unicorn picked up speed, leading the horses to lengthen their strides.

            “What ridge is this?” Lexi asked, flattening herself against Salvador’s neck.

            “The one that rises up in the mountains,” Pavarni called back. “The path is narrow and dangerous; we may be able to shake them off there.”

            “When you say dangerous…”

            “I mean if you fall, you will find yourself in the sea with no way out.”

            Lexi shuddered. “Is it worth it?”

            “What other alternative do we have?” Pavarni snapped. “They will run us down until our horses are exhausted and then they will kill me and take you away, and I believe that will hinder your journey greatly.”

            They raced back into the forest on the other side of the moor, the hooves of the horses breaking the ice of the stream where it curved and crossed their path. Icy water sprayed up and around them, chilling Lexi’s legs and arms. They were close to the mountain range on the west coast of the Valley, the rock faces rising high up above them on the left-hand side. Behind, the group was beginning to scatter among the trees, but at least three were managing to keep up the chase.

            “There!” Pavarni snapped, pointing straight ahead to a gap in the rock where a steep-sloped path led straight up among the mountains. She cursed as they grew closer and vaulted from the colt’s back, snapping at Czes in rapid Findasian that Lexi could not keep up with. “Dismount!” Pavarni commanded. Lexi did as she was told without question and Salvador continued to run alongside the colt after the unicorn.

            “Where are they going?” Lexi asked, panicked.

            “Czes will take them to the other side of the ridge, and we will meet them there,” Pavarni said impatiently. “They are interested in us, not our horses; your stallion will be safe enough. Now come.”

            Lexi hurried after the psychic, clambering up the sloped path and using the rocks on the sides of the mountain to aid her when the path became too steep to scurry up alone. Ahead of her, Pavarni’s cloak billowed out like the wings of a bat as she seemed to float up the mountainside with barely any help from the surrounding rock walls. Lexi paused just long enough to see the three remaining pursuers pull their horses to a halt at the foot of the mountain, and then continued with panicked haste.

            “Pavarni!” she called.

            “I’m aware how close they are!” the psychic snapped back, continuing without looking back. “Hurry up!”

            Lexi picked up speed and almost slipped all the way back down to the base of the mountain. Two of the men were already on the path, leaving their horses with the third. Lexi kicked out in an attempt to catch up with Pavarni, causing a few loose stones to roll their way down and unbalancing the pursuing men.

            A fair way up the mountain, the path levelled out and the girls picked up speed. Lexi paused and her breath caught in her throat upon glancing down over the side of the ridge. Waves roared beneath her, more than two-hundred feet down, crashing against the rock face before retreating only to charge again.

            “Alexia!” Pavarni called hastily, snapping Lexi’s attention away from the untamed ocean.

            They raced around the edge of the mountain, Lexi trailing several feet behind Pavarni, and they almost collided as they rounded a corner. Pavarni danced out of Lexi’s path before they could touch, revealing the tower of rock rubble that barred their way. The pair stared up at the rock for no more than a second before the psychic drew her long, narrow-bladed sword. “Try and get round to the other side, but for the love of the gods, do not fall,” she snapped.

            The two humans rounded the corner after them, both of them out of breath, and were met with Pavarni, sword in hand.

            Lexi watched only for half a moment before she turned and clambered up the rock wall in an attempt to escape the conflict. Loose rocks from the rubble crumbled beneath her feet and fell to the savage ocean below. Using the side of the mountain to support her, Lexi managed to climb to the top of the rubble pile and paused, glancing back at the psychic, who seemed to be having little trouble defending herself against the humans, but she could not gain an advantage.

            Wanting to offer something in the way of aid, Lexi kicked at the rubble beneath her, trying to clear a pathway, no matter how narrow, for Pavarni to escape through should she need it.

            With a swing of her sword, Pavarni ran the blade straight through the abdomen of one of the humans. He dropped his sword and the psychic yanked free her weapon, now covered in a thick of coating of blood. As the dead man’s companion charged at her, Pavarni predicted his actions and knocked him back into the rubble pile. The rocks at the base of the pile slid off the ridge, unseating Lexi and leading her to leap sideways, almost colliding with Pavarni for a second time. Both girls attempted to dodge each other, Pavarni flattening herself against the mountain wall while Lexi stepped too close to the edge of the pathway. The psychic grasped the hem of her cloak and yanked her back onto the ridge. Lexi fell into the rock wall, her heart beating thrice the pace it should have as she sat rigidly against the rock.

            Pavarni wasted no time in turning to defend against the next attack from the remaining human. The swords collided with a clash of metal and Pavarni, being the stronger of the two, knocked him back against the mountain.

            “If you drop your sword, I won’t kill you,” the psychic said coolly, her bloody sword pointed at the base of his throat.

            The human spat out a mouthful of blood. “Does it matter whether I drop my sword or not?”

            “Of course,” Pavarni replied simply. “If you release it, I will let you return home with no further injury. If not, I will have to kill you to be sure you cannot lead your accomplices to us at a later date.”

            “The choice is truly mine?” he asked after a brief hesitation.

            “It is. If you choose to leave, I ask that you leave your guild, but seeing as I cannot be sure you will do this, it is merely a request.”

            “Why would I do a thing like that?” the man asked with a sneer.

            “Because no Neäkan will harm you if you do not threaten them,” Lexi replied, getting to her feet and brushing herself down.

            For a moment, Lexi believed that the human would drop his sword and leave them, and she was certain that he considered the offer. Pavarni sensed his decision before he lifted his blade and cut him off before he was able to carry out his attack. The defensive blow knocked the man off balance: he slipped off the edge of the ridge, his sword falling to the frothing sea below. His fingers scrabbled at the ledge, but the force of his weight was too much for him to fight against. He followed the same path as his sword, disappearing beneath the white-fringed waves.

            Pavarni gazed down at the dark, bobbing figure of the man. “We have a decision to make, Alexia,” she said. “Do we leave him to drown, or do I rid him of an indeterminable amount of time swimming in vain by killing him now and increasing the number of lives I have taken?”

            Lexi grimaced. “That would depend on your view of right and wrong, Pavarni.”

            “It would, but this is an incredibly grey area of decision.” The psychic pushed her hood back and lifted her bow from her shoulder. “Despite what my employers think, sometimes death can be a blessing, especially when one is trapped in water with no way out.” She nocked an arrow and raised the bow, aiming towards the figure of the man, still fighting against the waves.

            “What employers do you speak of?” Lexi asked.

            Pavarni released the arrow and it shot into the sea. A second later, the man dipped beneath the water and did not resurface. “You will find out for yourself, soon enough,” she said vaguely. “Come.”

            They continued around the edge of the mountain at a gentle jog after climbing around the narrow strip of path Lexi had cleared of rubble. With Pavarni leading, the psychic swung out an arm as they reached a corner, halting Lexi in her tracks.

            “It appears as though the rest of the hunting party have caught us up,” she said lightly, although the irritation was clearly audible in her tone.

            “How many?” Lexi asked, her voice wavering even in her own ears.

            “Four. Eight if you include their horses, but they are not carrying bows. Four arrows are pointed in our direction, but they have not yet heard us.”

            Lexi thought quickly. “Can we outrun them? Where are our horses?”

            “Hidden,” she replied shortly, nocking another arrow. “And no, we cannot outrun them. You must stay back behind the rock, do you understand? Let me handle the humans.” Lexi nodded in agreement, although the psychic was not looking her way.

            Pavarni swung around the corner, aimed her bow at something Lexi could not see, fired and scurried back beside her as a stream of arrows flew past. The psychic sensed Lexi’s alarm and simply said, “One down, three to go.” She waited for another set of arrows to zip past them before she nocked two arrows at once and fired them around the corner without aiming.

            Lexi waited a moment before asking, “And now?”

            “Just one, and he is fleeing. The last always flees before I get a chance to kill him.”

            “Would you prefer to kill him?” Lexi asked warily.

            Pavarni shouldered her bow. “Morality tells me not to. But I have had more than enough experiences of survivors returning to haunt my dreams than to spare lives that retain bad intentions for me. Our horses are waiting.”

            Around the corner where this mountain met the next, the ridge sloped downwards back to the ground. With the frost still lying thick on the rock, Pavarni remained still and allowed herself to slide gracefully down to the snow. Lexi followed at a clumsier pace, trying to take steps as her feet slid out from underneath her. Halfway down, she slipped backwards and landed on her back, sliding all the way to the ground beside Pavarni’s feet. The psychic glanced down at her with what could have been an expression of brief distaste.

            While Lexi hauled herself to her feet and brushed snow from her cloak, Pavarni pulled her three arrows from the corpses of the humans, replacing them in her quiver. Lexi slid an arrow from a discarded quiver, owned by the humans.

            “Why do you not take these arrows?” she asked.

            Pavarni glanced back at the black-feathered arrow for no more than a moment before looking away, uninterested. “An arrow marks the archer. I shoot only my arrows, unless I am in dire need of them.”

            Lexi let the arrow fall onto the snow. “Surely that easily identifies the murderer.”

            “It does. But the idea of a bow and arrow is to kill from a distance, which means anyone with intelligence will have left by the time the arrow is identified.” She turned to meet Lexi’s gaze. “Someone with experience of killing will retrieve the arrows before anyone alive arrives.”

            A small shiver ran down Lexi’s spine. “And if they are seen?”

            Pavarni shrugged. “With a history of taking lives, one or two more is nothing.”

            A rustle of deadened leaves and the crunching of steps on the fresh snow caught Lexi’s attention, though Pavarni did not seem to be surprised by the sudden arrival of the unicorn, flanked by the two horses. Salvador trotted straight over to Lexi, his ears forward, and nuzzled her cheek affectionately. The bay colt stayed obediently still beside Czes, waiting for command.

            “In which direction are we travelling now?” Lexi asked as she pulled herself onto the back of her stallion.

            “The sun is almost raised,” the psychic noted. “We will travel more efficiently on the roads.”

            “And where are they?” Lexi asked dubiously.

            “East,” Pavarni replied simply. “Rema ein du lorkren.” Lexi at first thought she was speaking to her, but then Czes bowed her head and cantered elegantly into the trees to the north while the psychic mounted the bay colt.

            Little more than an hour of silent riding later, the pair joined the road and cantered due north, towards the Icahn bridge that remained hidden behind the horizon. The world appeared so very different to Lexi’s eyes when turned white. The horizon remained undisturbed by trees to the north and she could not distinguish between the snowy land and the white sky. Pavarni offered no conversation and she appeared so deep in thought that Lexi was loathe to interrupt her. The day was spent without words as the horses cantered delicately along the road, right until the sun began to sink below the world on the other side.

31: Chapter 30

Dusk drew in fast that evening, and the shivering Lexi struck steel against flint over and over again in an attempt to create a spark. She had cleared away a patch of snow in the centre of a small clearing and surrounded the pile of dead sticks and dry leaves with a circle of large stones. She paused to pull her cloak tighter around herself and grimaced at the sight of her blue-tinted hands. She struck the flint with more ferocity and sparks flew from her hands and the sticks ignited.

            As she warmed her frozen fingers, Pavarni jumped down from a nearby tree, landing softly on the fresh snow. Lexi glanced round and asked, “How far are we from the bridge?”

            “A league and a half,” Pavarni replied. “Roughly. I can see it from the canopy of the tree.”

            “Do you think we will manage to cross tomorrow?”

            “With ease.” The psychic pulled her cloak back around her shoulders and tied the string with apt fingers. She then sat beside the fire, opposite Lexi, and pulled her hood up over her head. “Providing we do not run into any more trouble.”

            Lexi embraced her knees loosely and quietly watched Pavarni pull her sword into her lap and wipe off what remained of the blood with a rag. Some of the thick, drying liquid rubbed off onto her fingers and Pavarni paused to examine it, her expression neutral. She grasped a handful of snow from the ground beside her and let the white powder fall back down, taking the blood with it.

            “I thought psychics liked blood,” Lexi commented lightly.

            “We do, when we need it. And when we don’t. It’s a luxury we don’t often allow ourselves, unless we are in dire need of it.”

            “Then why not taste it, when the blood has already been taken?”

            “Human blood is often tainted with fear and hate, which makes it less than satisfying. It is rare even blood vampyres prey on humans nowadays because negative emotion alters the taste.” Pavarni lifted the now clean blade, the silver and green metal glinting in the light of the flames.

            There was something odd about the blade that made Lexi look closer. The metal seemed to shine brighter than ordinary swords, and as far as she could see, there were no marks upon it. It appeared as though it were brand new; an ornament designed to look lethally beautiful, but never to be used. This, Lexi knew, was not the case. The few times she had seen the psychic use the sword should have left at least a scratch, but there were none. Even Lexi’s blade, however newly crafted it may be, was marked.

            Pavarni sensed her curiosity and lifted her gaze to Lexi’s. “It is an elven blade,” she said simply.

            This confused Lexi. “But you aren’t an elf.”

            “No,” she agreed with a slight smile.

            Lexi’s frown deepened as she tried to make sense of what Pavarni was telling her. The psychic, meanwhile, had gotten to her feet to replace the sword in its sheath beside the tree the horses were tethered to. “But then…” She was quietened by the warning look Pavarni gave her. The look was not at all hostile; more like the look a mother gave her child when it was asking too many questions.

            “Are you hungry?” Pavarni asked as she strapped the sheath of her sword to the colt’s saddle.

            “Not particularly,” Lexi said truthfully. “Could you not tell that for yourself?”

            “Hunger, thirst, fatigue, they are all types of discomfort. I can sense your discomfort, but not exactly what is causing it. So, please tell me.”

            “I am a little tired,” Lexi replied.

            Pavarni nodded to herself. “That is to be expected.” She redrew her long, thin, elegant blade and twirled it around her wrist in a way Cassius would be proud of, slicing the air with whooshing sounds. The colt shied away from the sounds. “Pick up your blade, Alexia.”

            Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Now?” The psychic made no reply, but continued to gaze at her expectantly. “I have just told you I am tired.”

            “Precisely.”

            Lexi could not see the link, but retrieved her sword from where it stood against a tree. She pulled the blade from its sheath and returned to where Pavarni stood, the bronze hilt cold in her grasp. Both untied their cloaks and threw them to the side, out of their way. The air was bitterly cold, but the fire warmed them a little. Pavarni lifted her sword to point at Lexi’s chest, and Lexi mirrored her.

            “Left.” Pavarni swung to the left and Lexi responded by blocking her left-hand side. “Right.”

            Lexi, now beginning to become accustomed to this style of fighting, was managing to keep up with Pavarni more easily. She was not staggering desperately after her attacks now, but rather meeting the attacks, not quite equally, but less pathetically. The fight lasted longer than the last, but eventually Lexi grew tired and her sword was knocked out of her hands. Before she could retrieve it, Pavarni rested her sword close to her neck, close enough for Lexi to feel the chill of the metal on her skin. Pavarni smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes.

            The sparring continued for several hours, each fight shorter than the last as Lexi grew more and more exhausted. The girls continued to fight until the moon was shining high in the clear sky, the light reflecting off the snow around them. Pavarni knocked the sword out of Lexi’s grip for the sixth or seventh time with such ferocity that Lexi was knocked to the floor as well, or maybe Lexi had become just too weak to withstand the blow.

            Above her, Pavarni gazed down at her with a slight crease between her brows, displaying an expression somewhere between irritation and concern. It was replaced by her usual neutral mask within a second. “Stand up,” she commanded softly.

            Lexi, her limbs heavy, stayed on the snow. “I cannot,” she said weakly, ashamed of herself.

            “Yes, you can.” Pavarni swooped to pick up Lexi sword and returned to her side. “Stand up.”

            “Why will you not let me rest?” Lexi demanded pathetically, pushing herself onto her elbows

            “Because you may not be well rested when you are attacked,” Pavarni replied irritably. “Stand up.” When Lexi made no reply, she threw the sword down with such force that Lexi flinched. Pavarni stalked away and sheathed her blade. “Marielle had more talent than this.”

            Anger flared in Lexi’s chest and she sprung onto her feet. “I am not Marielle’s daughter!” she roared across the clearing. Pavarni whirled round, surprised by Lexi’s reaction. “I am a scout, not a warrior; I cannot fight like this for hours without rest. I was brought up by humans, and I am weak. Weaker than most shape shifters I know.”

            “You think so?” Pavarni asked lowly. “You don’t appear so weak anymore.”

            Lexi glanced down at herself and flushed angrily, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “You did that on purpose.”

            Pavarni did not reply, but pulled one of the hammocks from the colt’s saddle and held it out to Lexi. “Sleep, if you are so tired.” Irritated, more with herself than the psychic, Lexi snatched the blankets from Pavarni’s hands and found a spot between two strong-looking saplings and tied each end of the hammock to them. She sat cross-legged in the blanket, her arms stubbornly folded.

            “I don’t wish to sleep,” she announced angrily.

            Pavarni froze in retying her cloak around her shoulders, a look of utter disbelief in her features. “Excuse me?”

            “You heard,” Lexi spat.

            The psychic shook her head, finished tying the string at the collar of her cloak and pulled her hood up. She took several steps towards Lexi, but halted a fair distance away, resting her hands on her hips. “So you will deprive yourself of sleep because you are annoyed with yourself?” she asked. “Oh yes. That will really teach me a lesson for teaching you hard truths.”

            Lexi scowled at her. “What truths? That I have more strength than I thought?”

            Pavarni shrugged delicately. “Sleep. You were the one that demanded I let you rest. So rest.”

            “No,” Lexi replied stubbornly.

            A dangerous look passed over Pavarni’s face and she held out her palm towards Lexi’s face, her fingers poised like tense claws. “You wanted sleep,” the psychic hissed. Lexi felt the energy drain from her even as Pavarni stared at her, her eyes narrowed in concentration, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. “Sleep.”

            She was overcome by a warm, comforting darkness and she gladly gave in to unconsciousness.

 

The sky was still dark when Lexi awoke. A blanket had been thrown over her and though the fire had burnt itself out, she was pleasantly warm. Although still tired, she sat up in the hammock and, as the moonlight reflecting off the snow offered enough light to see across the clearing, she spotted Pavarni’s hammock. It took her a moment to realise that something was wrong as the remnants of sleep wore away. Although the hammock was still in place, Pavarni was not in it. Neither was she anywhere in the clearing. Ignoring the cold as it bit at her bare forearms, Lexi leapt out of the hammock and stared across at where the horses were tethered. Czes, who had been standing with them the previous evening, was also gone.

            Lexi was now beginning to panic and she raced across the clearing in less than seven strides. The elven sword was gone from the colt’s saddle, as were the bow and quiver. The colt turned to stare at her curiously as she stood frozen in place, staring around at the surrounding trees in a hopeless search for either the girl or the unicorn.

            As her teeth began to chatter, Lexi pulled on her cloak from where it lay over Salvador’s back, assuming Pavarni had placed it there before she left. The action awoke the stallion and he snorted indignantly.

            Through her panic, Lexi was aware that standing still, looking and hoping for the psychic to reappear would do her no good. She began to pace the length of the clearing to calm herself, turning when she met the trees and carefully stepping in the prints she had left, so that it appeared she had only made one journey. The monotonous action helped her head to clear and after the seventh walk across the clearing, Lexi noticed something else: although the hammock was empty, there was only one set of prints leading to it from the patch of scuffed snow from their sparring the previous evening. Lexi traced Pavarni’s path with narrowed eyes, leading from a point close to her hammock where she had put her to sleep, leading to the place Lexi’s cloak had lain to Salvador, and then straight to the other hammock. There were no prints to signify her leaving. The closer she looked, Lexi noticed that there were no more prints left from the unicorn; she had a light step, but she could not hover.

            Movement on the fringe of her vision caused Lexi’s attention to snap round to the trees to the left, but there was no one there. She became aware of the closeness of a figure behind her and a hand closed firmly on her shoulder. She took a sharp breath to scream in fright, but another hand clapped over her mouth, muffling the sound to almost silence.

            The arm on her shoulder enclosed her entire chest, stilling her, and though she tried to struggle, she could not pry the hands away. She kicked out at the snow, sending powder flying in all directions as the figure attempted to drag her backwards, towards the trees. The being was strong and evidently inhuman, for a single human man would not be able to overpower a shape shifter, but he struggled to subdue her enough to carry her any distance.

            “Do not scream,” a male voice hissed, the hand on her mouth disappearing for the briefest of seconds only to return, holding the sharp blade of a knife to her throat. The voice was familiar, but Lexi could not place it. She clamped her teeth together to stop herself making any more sound. “Good girl. I want you to come with me without causing any more of this fuss. Understand?”

            “Where?” Lexi asked, barely breathing the word. Her hands were still clamped around the arm around her chest, though she was no longer attempting to pull herself free.

            She felt him shrug. “I could take you anywhere. The Council will want your co-operation, that is for sure, but also the Breeders. You must have at least some of your mother’s talent. The Slayers want your head on a plate, which would be a crying shame, but they would certainly pay a pretty price for it.”

            “I am not Marielle’s daughter,” Lexi said through gritted teeth.

            He chuckled. “If you say so, Rosie.”

            A jolt of recognition sparked through Lexi. “Darius.”

            “Ah, so you do recognise me.” The youth in his voice was evident now, and though she did not know the faery at any great length, she could not help but feel a stab of betrayal. “I’m afraid, Alexia, that you look just too much like your mother to pull off an alias. Now, please help me, because I have a dilemma. Where would you rather go? The Council, the same men that caused the death of your mother and may or may not be the cause of yours? The Breeders, who will keep you alive but will force you to mate and bear children? Or the Slayers, who will undoubtedly take your life?”

            Lexi was not really listening. She was cast back to the time Cedonia appeared just outside of the Academy’s grounds. Hunter’s words of warning echoed in her mind: “Faeries do not live for anyone but themselves and each other.” Hearing Darius’ words, she was beginning to understand his warning.

            Darius shook her roughly when she did not reply. “I need an answer, Alexia.”

            “I have no intention of going anywhere with you,” she snarled.

            She rewarded with the blade of the knife pressed closer to her neck. She winced as the edge broke the skin and a single drop of blood ran down her collar. “That was not an option,” he growled.

            A snap pierced the air, closely followed by the sound of an arrow penetrating the trunk of a tree. Lexi’s gaze snapped up and met the eyes of Pavarni, standing beside the unicorn close to the horses. Her bow in hand, she had already nocked another arrow, aiming steadily with narrowed eyes.

            Darius cursed under his breath and pushed Lexi roughly away from him. She stumbled and landed on the snow. She scrambled away from the faery, clambering to her feet only when she was a fair distance from him. Pavarni remained unmoving, poised with an arrow pointing between the faery’s eyes. Her cloak was tied around her shoulders, but pushed back like a cape. Her hood remained down and strands of her hair lifted in the slight breeze. Lexi glanced back at where the colt stood dozing and spotted the elven sword, strapped to the saddle.

            After a long while of tense silence, Darius threw up his hands and said, “Shoot me if you’re going to.”

            “I would rather wait and watch you squirm your way out of it,” Pavarni replied lowly.

            Lexi watched, her wide eyes glancing between the psychic and the faery. Upon looking again at Pavarni, the psychic’s eyes narrowed in irritation. Lexi followed her gaze to the faery, but Darius had disappeared.

            “Where did he go?” she demanded, panic-stricken as her eyes darted around the surrounding darkened forest.

            “He went nowhere,” Pavarni muttered. “He is in that tree.” Lexi followed the direction Pavarni’s arrow was now pointing, but she could spot no figure in the branches. “Faeries can enchant all things living to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste anything they wish them to sense.”

            A sliver of fear sliced through Lexi. “Then how can you tell where he is?” she asked, her voice wavering as she nervously watched the seemingly empty branches of the cedar tree.

            “Because,” Pavarni said, a hint of amusement in her voice, “the alteration does not go as far as the sixth sense psychics have. I have my suspicions that this faery has only just come to learn this.”

            “What are you waiting for? Shoot him!”

            Pavarni frowned. “How accurate do you think my sense is? I cannot see exactly where he is perched.”

            “I will not leave without you.”

            Lexi started at the voice, echoing all around her from everywhere and nowhere at once. “Did you hear that?”

            “No. What was it?” Pavarni asked impatiently.

            “He spoke. He said he won’t leave without me...”

            The fear in Lexi’s voice must have been evident, for Pavarni snapped something in Findasian too fast for Lexi to hear or make sense of. The unicorn lurched forwards with an agitated snort. She galloped towards the cedar tree and knocked the trunk heavily with her shoulder. The tree shook dangerously and the faery flashed into sight for the briefest of seconds as he was knocked off balance. Pavarni loosed her arrow, but Darius had vanished again and the arrow penetrated the tree instead.

            Pavarni hissed in annoyance and nocked a third arrow. “Kai tire.” Fell the tree.

            Czes dug her hooves into the snow and pushed her weight and strength against the tree. Lexi heard the roots ripping up from the ground beneath her and, though she could never be sure, thought she saw Pavarni wince.

            As the tree leant at a dangerous angle to the ground, an idea formed in Lexi’s mind. Darius reappeared in her sight as he slipped from the branch, his legs kicking out at the air, his arms wrapped rightly around the tree. She lunged forwards as Czes heaved once more and the tree began to fall. The faery lost his grip and fell to floor, still in the path of the falling tree. Despite Pavarni’s protests, Lexi grasped hold of Darius’ shoulders and hauled him out of death’s path. Fortunately, the faery was slight and not too heavy.

            The tree fell with ground-shaking force. Darius stared wide-eyed at the place he had been just moments before, and although he gripped one of Lexi’s hands in his own, it was clear he was aware that her actions had not been purely due to morality.

            “I believe this means you owe me a favour,” she said lightly.

            Darius muttered under his breath and released Lexi’s hand. He stood and brushed himself down roughly. “I will leave you this once. But if our paths cross again, the ‘favour’ will no longer be valid.”

            “Leave,” Pavarni commanded. The bow and arrow remained in her grasp, undrawn, the arrow pointed towards the ground, “Before I shoot you.”

            Darius appeared to be in half a mind to defy her purely for the sake of annoying her, but he turned on his heel and stalked back into the shadows. Though Lexi relaxed once he was out of sight, Pavarni remained tense and silent for many more minutes, staring after him into the trees.

            “You should not be so eager to save a life next time,” she said eventually, replacing the arrow in her quiver and shouldering the bow. “Not everyone will honour a debt.”

            “Faith is not a bad thing to hold onto, Pavarni,” Lexi replied.

            “Indeed, it can be a live-saving thing to hold onto,” she agreed. “But it can also be the death of you, if you put faith into the wrong people.”

            “Has that happened to you?” Lexi asked, attempting to keep her voice light.

            She cast a strange look at Lexi over her shoulder as she went to retrieve her shot arrows out of the trees. “Well it clearly hasn’t been the death of me, or we would not be having this conversation.”

            “That’s not quite what I meant,” Lexi said, trying to keep the impatience out of her tone.

            “Then, pray tell, what did you mean?”

            She had not been expecting the question to be asked so bluntly, and she stood silently for several seconds while she thought how to word her answer. Pavarni yanked the arrow from the fallen tree and replaced it in her quiver before returning to the centre of the clearing, standing before Lexi with folded arms and an expectant expression.

            “I was asking whether you had been hurt in the past, by someone you may have put a little too much faith in…” Lexi trailed off, embarrassed by her prying question.

            Although Pavarni’s expression never changed, Lexi could feel that she had pried a little too far. “I am hurt every time my companions feel emotional pain. I have no time for any pain of my own.”

            “Pavarni, I wasn’t implying-” Lexi made the mistake of reaching out for the psychic’s arm as she passed, heading for the horses. Pavarni leapt out of reach as though she had been electrically shocked and glared at Lexi, her lip twitching as though she were resisting the urge to snarl.

            “Never touch me,” she said softly, dangerously.

            Lexi was too shocked to form a reply.

            Pavarni strapped her bow and quiver to the colt’s saddle and returned to her hammock. Another thought struck Lexi once she recovered from her surprise and she foolishly spoke without thinking. “You abandoned me.”

            The psychic paused beside her hammock and closed her eyes, as though praying for patience. “I did not. The faery made you think I abandoned you, so that you would feel more vulnerable and less prepared for an attack.”

            “You stole my energy,” Lexi said as if Pavarni had not spoken. “You spoke of morality, but stole my energy so that I would sleep and stop irritating you.”

            “Technically, I only took back what I gave you out on the road. As it was mine to begin with, I do not think that counts as stealing.” The psychic’s voice was almost conversational, but her tone was clipped with annoyance. As Lexi took a breath to reply with a snide comment, Pavarni turned and glared at her. “Must I explain every little detail of my being to you? I cannot control the emotion I feel, because I can only sense what you are feeling. Therefore, if you behave like a petulant child, so will I.” She took a breath and felt Lexi’s hurt. “I’m sorry. I forget you were raised by humans.”

            “Who were you raised by?” Lexi mumbled grumpily.

            “My grandfather.” Pavarni surprised her by replying, but she neglected to say what race her grandfather was.

            Lexi released her anger and sighed. “I apologise for prying.”

            “I forgive you.”