Her parents saw us long before we saw them and had sent one of her brothers out to meet us. Mounted on a sylph the color of pine needles, it was the most exquisite animal I had ever seen. Delicate with long legs, a crested neck and fine split-tipped ears, I could tell that it was bred for racing and not the sturdier version seen underneath the soldiers.
Her brother was tall, darker haired than she but with the same silvery eyes, only his were more like mine–the pupil dark and rounded. He was just as beautiful as she was and I knew that if Blackfin ever saw him or one of his kind, the wizard would never be satisfied with one of us.
“Arianell,” he kissed her and his voice was like honey. I understood him as he spoke in Erhesh taught no doubt to him by his grandmother. “The Imperials and the Rangers are on their way here. They said you are a traitor and are to be held for Judgment. And any with you.” His eyes studied me. “Is this the Tifnéræn?”
“Yes, Siobhan. We need supplies, fresh mounts and a meal before we go on. Is there time?”
“Father said to take you to the mountain camp. No one but the family knows the way there. Are you up for it?”
“We have to be,” she said grimly and we followed the giant pair into the convoluted canyons and ravines that twisted much like the Badlands of our western reaches. The ground was pebbly underfoot and nothing but tough bunch-grass grew. It was dry and dusty and my hunger became almost intolerable. I needed to eat and soon.
“Arian,” I said and both of them stopped dead in their tracks to stare at me with glassy eyes. I had used my glamour on them and even as I waited, both of them tilted their heads offering me their necks.
My throat ached, my mouth throbbed in anticipation. I beckoned and he came closer, a willing lamb offering himself to me. “I will give you such joy,” I whispered and he closed his eyes in surrender. “Just submit to me. Let me give you the kiss of life.” My hand touched his shoulder and drew him near. I could smell his blood and feel the slow, seductive throb of his heart.
When I wrenched myself away, he nearly fell off the sylph and I kneed mine viciously in the ribs making it bolt. Within minutes, I had left them behind and was following the faintest spoor of animal blood. I made Laoch run until her legs trembled beneath her. Angry at myself with what I had nearly done to either Elassa and my mare, I dismounted at the entrance to a small valley between two deep mountain ridges and turned her loose as I jogged into the trees.
In a short while, I was lost in heavy forest that was wild and not the manicured park lands of the city of the Elassan or the young woods of the Newlands. These were the primeval forests where trees grew, lived thousands of years and died when it was their time.
I ran lightly and easily, tracking the scent of something large and full of life. I found my body leaping trees and gullies as gracefully as a deer, more agile than any human being. My lungs did not bother me and the only thing that did was the increasing hunger in my belly. If I did not fill it soon, I was going to weaken enough so that all I could take would be easy prey. Human prey.
In a small thicket near the edge of the meadow, I saw a giant bull elk with horns that would go 12 feet wide and weigh nearly 200 pounds. To support such a rack, the beast had a neck as wide around as a wine barrel. I didn’t wonder how I was going to catch and kill it, I merely ran after it, reached alongside its neck and grabbed hold with both hands dragging the immense beast to its knees. Before it was finished falling, my teeth found its jugular. It didn’t fight me as the rich blood pumped into my mouth. It seemed resigned as I drained it, his eye dulling from that vibrant black to a blank bluish-gray. Its last breath plumed in my face and I sat back on my haunches, my stomach quiet and my need satisfied.
I hadn’t torn it to pieces, I hadn’t mutilated its body and caused it any pain. I had simply drained it of its blood in as clean a manner as I could. I still felt like a monster. If I hadn’t taken the elk, I knew I would’ve circled back and killed both Arianell and her brother.
I decided it was safer for both of us if I left the two of them together and traveled by myself. I hated to leave the elk there to rot but I hoped that somehow, either something would eat it or Arianell’s brother would find the carcass and take it home to be used.
I traveled well into the night. My fatigue had vanished with the feeding and my eyes saw as sharply as a night owl. I ran lightly for leagues reveling in my newfound strength and actually made it through the entire valley in one night.
In the morning, I stood on the rim of a vast mountain range, one peak after another with narrow valleys between. To my right, I saw the hanging face of the glacier and the sun reflecting off it made my eyes burn. I tried to fashion a hood out of my vest but it was a pitiful effort and when I dug through the pack that I had taken from Arianell, I found all sorts of odds and ends that a Ranger used along with Sinise’s cup and the belt wand. No spare clothing and no cape so I used the pack itself to cover my face.
As the sun climbed overhead, it began to burn me. My skin blistered and popped causing pain like the worst sunburn. Even my clothing didn’t help. I sought refuge under the thickest pine trees and climbed high enough on the slopes so that I could find snow. The cold didn’t bother me at all, but the snow on my burns soothed the heat. I burrowed into a snow bank near a rock ledge covered with pine trees and waited patiently for nightfall.
I dozed. Dreamed of the last time Arianell and I had loved. The memories were bittersweet, I knew I would never dare to hold her in my arms again. I would not have the strength to refrain from biting her when we made love. For me now, the act itself was no longer the main focus of my pleasure. That was the actual sensation of my teeth finding the jugular and draining her sweet blood from her submissive body. Better I never see her again than let her fall prey to that death. I knew she had promised to kill me should I try to harm her but I also knew that she could not resist me when I used the Dracule’s glamour on her.
I traveled mostly at night or when the sky was overcast with storm clouds. Once in a blizzard where the snow came down like pellets of ice and battered my skin. Yet I was never cold and did not worry about frostbite or freezing to death. I did not need a fire so made no beacon to any who might be tracking me.
I followed the high game trails and saw many creatures. Giant elk and bear. Bison the color of winter wheat. Reindeer. Wild sylphs and horses that roamed the valleys. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Ibex and chamois that seemed puzzled at my presence in their domain. Some even followed me and I used my glamour on them to provide me with my next meal.
The more I used my enhanced senses and new strength, the more often I needed to feed. If I ran straight through the night and into the daylight in the dusk of the forest, I had to eat every two days. If I stayed asleep during the daylight hours I could stretch it to four days.
I grew thinner but more muscled. My clothes began to hang on me and show the wear I was subjecting them to. Soon, I would be naked unless I found somewhere to purchase new ones. Wasn’t even sure if I had any coin to do so or would have to resort to stealing.
Once again, I went to Arian’s pack and found a small wallet. In it were coins I recognized from my own side of the Wall. Pence, silvers and quarte-gold that I suspected came from the sale of my weapons. I made a face. I would have liked to keep my father’s Dragoon pistol, it was almost a family heirloom.
I had been on the trail for nearly a month when I judged it would be safe to come down the mountains. Finding a river, I followed it down the slopes where it changed from a rushing streamlet to a raging torrent with white water rapids and finally, a slow-moving wide river.
Here, I found my first signs of life–there were barges poling slowly downstream manned by shorter versions of the Elassa and with lighter hair. The barges were loaded with barrels some heavier, some lighter by the draft of the ships.
I watched from the banks hidden in the rocks and would not emerge until dusk. Their voices carried across the placid water, the sound of waves slapping against their hull. I could not understand them, they spoke neither Erhesh nor Arianell’s language but a strange, almost harsh one that vaguely resembled Freidsch.
They stood at the rear of their barges, pushing them lazily with a long pole. None of them seemed alarmed or searching as if for a lost prisoner. All of them greeted one another as they passed by, offloading downstream towards the flats.
I had no idea how I was going to approach them. If I was going to approach them or what I would do. All I knew was that I had eaten and the sunlight hurt so I huddled in the dark until I could safely come out.
In the quiet of the night, their voices carried all the louder over the water. I stood on the shoreline and watched downriver for as far as I could see. Just before the curve that interrupted my scrutiny, there seemed to be a spot where the barges stopped and came ashore. I made my way lithely and effortlessly over rocks and uneven ground to the place I had decided was a ford or wharf. They were aware of me only when I was nearly upon them and I saw the glow of their belt wands as they called out.
A handful of barges and flat-bottomed scows were pulled up at a long dock that jutted halfway out into the river. From the other side, the same thing leaving a wide passage between where an agile Elassa could leap across. Or a human like me.
They spoke and I didn’t understand the words but the meaning was clear. Stop. Who are you? We’re armed so don’t try anything.
Once I stepped out into the light, they relaxed as if the sight of a Cross-the-Border human was no threat. I wanted to slaughter them all but knew that leaving such a carnage would be a red beacon calling all Averon’s forces to the area. Instead I spoke in Erhesh, the language all had spoken before the Cataclysm.
“I’m lost. I fell through a hole and came out in the mountains. I’ve been looking for people, food and water since. Can you help me?”
The poler further back straightened. He was almost as short as a human with blondish hair and pale blue eyes, the pupil silver but rounded. It was obvious he was another crossbred. He spoke in halting Erhesh as if he had used it rarely and many years ago. Like as a child. His tenses and pronouns were those used as a babe.
“Who are you? From whence do you come?” He asked holding his wand like a torch.
“My name is…Lynn. I came through a…rent near the Wall. Where am I?”
“It did not kill you, the Mist?”
“I saw no Mist. Just huge trees. Snow-covered mountains. Wild and untamed land. Will you take me to your town?”
“We are headed to Lystris to bring our wares. Furs. Wine. Cedar oil.” He stared at me curiously. “You do not hate us?”
“Why? Have you hurt me in some way? I don’t know you,” I returned. “All my kind do not hate yours just because you are Elassa.”
His eyes narrowed and I realized my mistake. I had called him by name only a resident of Cape Fear would know or a human who had dealings with the city itself. His wand exploded in my face and I was blown backwards to land on the dock planks stunned.