42

X E N O S

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I didn't know these passages, had never penetrated so far into the cave passages. But the voice called me and I had to follow it.

“Come to me. “

I kept walking through the tunnels. My boots splashed in the puddles with every step. I turned without asking where they were taking me. They led me to her and that was enough.

The dark shadows that erupted from my chest, now running through my entire limbs and corroding all my bones. At least that's how it felt. And this black ember that snaked through me like acid put the loud roar of my wolf in the background. All my thoughts were wiped out, locked behind a thick glass wall, impossible to get to. All that mattered was the voice in my head telling me what to do.

I opened the iron-framed door and stepped into the room.

"There you are. I've been expecting you.” Her scales gleamed in the gleam of the moon that slid in through the great cavernous opening at the far end of the room. She pointed to a spot next to the great stone altar. "Close the door and stand there."

I did as I was told.

“You've caused me more trouble than I thought. But she didn't believe in you or “you” in the end, did she?” Her shirtless torso, two small mounds of which were covered by her black, almost floor-length hair, flowed seamlessly into a reptilian tail, on which she held herself upright. She looked at me thoughtfully, almost interested. As if it were a scientific project. "Do you still feel them at all?"

A crack in the thick glass wall. A dismayed face. Then a shrill scream.

“ XENOS!”

A voice calling out to me. She had called for “me”.

“They want to lock me up! Tell them there's a mistake here!”

My heart stopped. No. No. No. NO!

I shook my head, clutching my head, feeling my claws dig through my skull, but I didn't care. I couldn't lose her, couldn't let go of this scrap of thought. Not again.

Caramel skin, dark hair, and those brown eyes with green speckles. I gasped. “Arya”.

Instantly the shadows were back, spitting around, shooting into my head, eating into my brain and ripping apart every thought I had. The darkness clawed at the top of my skull from the inside, locked me in, didn't let me form any more thoughts and everything I had seen in front of my eyes before was gone. This feeling of warmth, of longing and fear. It was gone.

'Anyway. That bond still holds despite everything.” She snapped her fingers. “That has to change.” Then she slithered toward me from the mouth of the cave. Her green-blue reptile eyes fixed my every move. "If she's still holding on to you - “for whatever reason” - then you'll have to steal back your soul that you so foolishly gave away." She lifted her hand, which was covered with green scales, and traced my features. She then tilted her head and her elongated pupils enlarged. "I thought I programmed you enough, but apparently you just learn the hard way."

She pulled her hand from my face, then snapped, "Lie down."

My body started moving without me being able to control it. And before I knew it, I found myself lying on the stone altar, staring at the cave ceiling.

Claws tearing my skin open from the inside. A loud roar, but the dark liquid coursing through my veins prevented me from getting through to my wolf. He was behind the thick glass wall - so far away from me.

Her hand rested on my chest and she closed her eyes for a moment. “It's just a little flickering thread, nothing more. Nothing I can't get out of the way.” She opened her eyes and withdrew her hand again. "I would suggest we get to work." She was smiling now, her sharp pointed teeth flashing. "Put the tape away, you'll get a new one now."

With that, she threw her head back, her long black hair touching the floor as her chest burst open with a loud crack. Black tentacles sprouted out, growing longer and biting into my limbs.

"Say her name!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her black tentacles biting my skin harder. A violent electric shock erupted from the black arms and electrified my entire body. Everything shook and I cried out.

'Say her name! Arya!"

Another electric shock.

"Say it! Say her name!'

Another electric shock, harder and harder than any before.

I roared and an image came to my mind. A blade at her throat. "ARYA!"

Another electric shock.

"Your name!"

blood on her throat. "ARYA!"

electric shock.

"Your name!"

Her face contorted with pain. "ARYA!"

"Your name!"

electric shock.

I no longer knew who I was, where I was, or whose name I was even screaming. There was only unspeakable agony. Torment that never seemed to end.

"ARYA!" I screamed and screamed and screamed while my body jerked uncontrollably. The agony of hell clouded my vision as I was electrocuted and unable to think a single thought.

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A R Y A

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Georgie and I ran all the way through the Fyrsald Forest to the Skihlafels Faces and I was amazed at how well she kept up with me.

Breathing heavily, I touched the small knife on my hip when we reached the tree line and looked at the large rock faces. Georgie had brought me some leather belts from the armory, which were equipped with dozens of daggers, as well as a bow that I had wrapped around my back. Now I felt a lot more comfortable in this soft, bordeaux-red dress than I had a few hours before.

I touched the hard honed wood of the bow and wished for the more elegant, finely honed patterned bow Rowtag had given me. “Rowtag”.

“I'll get you out of here, I promise”. The oath burned deep in my heart.

"What's the plan?" Georgie whispered, also panting, leaning on a tree trunk next to me.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't have a plan. All I knew was that I had to go in there, find that snake, and put my arrow in it. I could already see her black blood in front of me. How it seeped onto the damp stone floor and mixed with the puddles. Oh yes, I would take revenge and anyone who stood in my way, I would destroy as well. She was “mine”.

"“Seyi bhan fonesa, Arya.”"

The familiar greeting rang in my ears, threatening to banish the red veil from my eyes. I turned around.

"I would have thought you were already inside the caves, like all the other werewolves." Chatima stood in front of me. With spear in hand and shirtless, he looked much the same as ever. But only almost.

I clasped my hands behind my back. "Chatima. What are you doing here?"

"We," he paused at length, and behind him so many warriors crouched behind the trees it made my head spin, "are here to free our fellow tribesmen."

I clasped my hands together, barely stifling an incredulous gasp. "You... believed me?"

““Aee”. “Chief te Retani” started the first mistake by inviting Nzuak into our tribe after “First Arrow” was gone. His second mistake was appointing him “successor te Retani”.” Chatima and all the gis behind him looked grim. “Nzuak will never be our chief! We have summoned “Saruzikt”.”

"You have “what?”" I was stunned. “Saruzikt” meant that they wanted to choose their next chief themselves, without listening to the chief's words. It hadn't been invoked in twenty-five generations. My brows drew together. "Why?"

"We already chose our chief before Nzuak arrived." Chatima nodded harshly. "We chose you."

All the other warriors agreed loudly: ““AEE!”“

So that was the reason why they no longer wore white paint on their skin. I blinked back my tears. "I've stepped out of the tribe, haven't I?"

Now Chatima smiled gently at me. "“Aee”." Then he set his spear on its side and knelt. He lowered his head and laid his forehead on the forest floor. All the other Gis followed his gesture and joined in the call: ““Ehsi bhaei nees Chief. Nees Chief te spirus, nees Chief te ahna ast nees Chief te viner.””

Georgie nudged me. "What does he say?"

My eyes still on my old tribesmen, I said harshly, "You're our chief. Our chief of the spirit, our chief of the soul and our chief of the heart.” With difficulty I pulled the red veil, which was the only thing that still held me together, and commanded harshly: “ “Feyen, kazan! “Please stand up! As much as you flatter me, you should go back to your tribe. I can't be your chief."

Chatima stood up, took his spear in his hand and drove it hard into the ground. "We have chosen. And we stand by our choice.”

Georgie, who had been looking at me questioningly throughout the conversation, not understanding a word, sniffed the air. Then her eyes widened and she spun in the opposite direction from Chatima. "Zaira!"

I followed Georgie's gaze and truly spotted a flash of beautiful ivory hair”. By Gaia's will, who else was here in the woods?”

At Georgie's call, Zaira came toward us, a group of healer werewolves in tow. She was easy to recognize, I had often met her on Xeno's estate and recognized her immediately. They hung out together frequently, and their pale skin and scrawny limbs, acquired from years of imprisonment, made them stand out among the stocky and strong Moonwater werewolves.

Zaira's face was drawn into an iron grimace and her delicate hands were balled into small fists. She marched toward us with quick, firm steps.

'How did you guys get here so soon?' Georgie might have become more athletic and had made considerable progress in her stamina, but she also exercised daily. I'd never caught those other healer werewolves on the training field, though.

Zaira's lilac dress shimmered beautifully in the night starlight that would soon be replaced by the rising sun, but her scowl, almost angry, distracted from that.

"“I” can portal travel, unlike you." She arched an brow suggestively, but then the hand she'd been holding to her heart suddenly curled into a fist, her eyes burning with pain as she whispered, "Aramis has it showed me."

Only now did I realize what her facial features really reflected. Sheer fear, hidden behind a strict mask maintained only with sheer will. I took a step towards her. "What happened?"

Her face twisted in pain and she looked at me with desperate purple eyes as she whispered, "Someone hurt him. Seriously injured. He would be dead if it weren't for our bond, keeping him alive.” Her eyes watered. "But he threatens to leave at any time."

She had been there for me more than once, now it was my turn. I pushed aside the raw urge for blood and justice, and grabbed her hand. "The bond keeps him alive and “your” “powers”," I said roughly. I was bad at consoling and liquorice. I was good at honest, blunt answers. And maybe it was just what she needed at that moment. "You. will Him. Not. Lose."

Suddenly a wild expression came over her face. "No, I won't." Her knuckles were white from clenching her fists so tightly. "So what are we waiting for here?"

I stepped back and let go of her hand. "Where do you have to go?"

"To the cells."

"Good. Chatima, you accompany Zaira and the others.” I stared through the trees at the Skihlaf rock walls and smiled coolly. "I'll pay Echinda a visit in the meantime."

"You can't go to her alone." He contradicted me in the language of the werewolves and I heard him ram his spear into the ground again. "That's murdering yourself."

"Revenge is mine," I snapped, spinning on him.

"We don't have time for this!" Zaira yelled, and it was one of the few times I'd seen her freak out. But the little mouse had cried like a lioness and “Gaia” “forbid” whoever wasn't listening to the lioness. “Arya, don't be stupid and accept Chatima's help. After all, all of our lives are at stake.” She lifted her chin in a warlike manner and now took Chatima under her keen gaze. "And you will give us the other half of your tribe so that we can get safely to the cells." Now she was out of breath and she took a deep breath. "How do we even get into the cells?"

I smiled and savored the clear, calculated reason as I said, "I have a plan."

After less than five minutes, during which we'd discussed the silliest or most brilliant thing we could possibly do and had it all settled on how to unbind Echinda, Zaira nodded resolutely. "Well then go."

We ran across the deserted field to the cliffs without sighting a single guard.

'On three!' I shouted as we reached the skihlas and knelt in the dry grass. "One, two, ... THREE!" With that, all the Gis pressed their hands into the ground and with a jerk, thick, stout plant stems sprout from the earth, stretching all the way up the rock faces.

I got up and looked for the white-haired shock. "From here we part ways," I said when I found Zaira and joined her. I took her small hand again and squeezed it. "Save him."

““Aee”. I will.” She met my eyes sharply, and I saw in them the same thirst for blood I felt in me. "Show her no mercy."

“"Zeris atek Zeris."“I promised.

She nodded curtly. "“Zeris atek Zeris."“ Then she turned and joined the other healer werewolves, who each grabbed a giwarrior and clung to him. The warriors reached out for the plants, then ordered them to wrap themselves around themselves so that they could be easily pulled up.

I just saw Zaira attach herself to a warrior and be pulled into the air with him by the plants until she disappeared from view. Once at the top, she would easily be able to get to the cells through the opening in the ceiling. And from there the skills of the healer werewolves were in demand. And a bit of luck.

"Come on, let's go." Georgie pulled my arm and I followed her.

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