“I thought you were leaving, Wolf Boy,” Red replied to Wolfgang and then took yet another step closer to Valorie. She reached up and used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat from her brow. Her blood was boiling hotter by the second.
“No need to soil your hands like that, Huntress.” Valerie stood up from the throne and slowly pulled off his shirt, revealing his rippling abs. “May I?”
Red was uncertain what he was getting at, but she was too busy gawking at the sight of his bare chest to care. “You can do whatever you want.”
“Arghhhhhhh!” Wolfgang grumbled.
Valerie strutted over to face Red. He then used his silk shirt to gently wipe the beads of sweat from her brow. “That’s better.”
“So much better,” Red muttered. “What happens now?”
“What do you want to happen?” Valerie asked with a scent of seduction. He slowly leaned in close to Red so they were looking deep into one another’s eyes. “Speak your desire and it will be yours, Alpha Huntress?”
Red gazed deep into his hypnotic eyes, “I—I—"
“Do not burden yourself with words. I already know what it is that you desire,” Valerie said, this time with a hiss in his tone.
In a flash, Valerie transformed into a werewolf with black fur, pointy ears, and razor-sharp vampire fangs. He leaned in close to Red’s neck, his fangs hovering just above her shoulder. Red stood trembling, petrified, unable to think, her thoughts coupled with fear and wanting desire. She knew that Valerie was a beast of unnatural seduction that wanted only to drain her life’s blood, though in that moment she couldn’t think of a reason not to let him have his way; at least not until she felt the tips of his fangs touch her flesh.
In a heartbeat, Red’s blood heated to a raging boil, her hand balled into a fist, and with a mighty upward thrust, she pummeled him in the jaw. Valerie didn’t know what hit him. He simply fell backwards and crashed onto the floor with a thud.
“BAMMMMM!” Wolfgang cheered. He raced down the stone steps and then leapt up onto the stage. “I knew you were faking that giddy-girl routine.”
“Who said anything about faking?” Red whipped her head from side to side, trying to shake off the trance. “He might be a life-sucking menace, but he’s still a hot cup of man chowder.”
Valerie arose to his feet, as if lifted by unworldly forces. “You disappoint me, Alpha Huntress. I would have made you immortal. We could have had love eternal.”
“Not gonna lie. You kinda had my attention at immortal, but fully lost me at love eternal,” Red said.
“It really does sound super boring!” Wolfgang agreed as she stepped up next to Red.
“Does it really?” Red asked, giving him a sideways glare. “So how long before you get super bored of me?”
“That’s just argument bait and I’m not biting,” Wolfgang said, shaking his head in outright refusal. “At least not until after we put a stake in mister man chowder.”
Valerie giggled diabolically. “You cannot believe a crude shard of wood could be enough to lay end to my immortal existence?”
“Guess I never really thought of it that way,” Wolfgang said with a shrug, then reach over his shoulder and pulled out his sword. “Maybe an old fashion beheading will get the job done.”
Wolfgang made a lightening quick slash of the sword, directly at Valerie‘s throat. An instant before the blade connected, Valerie leaned back, just enough to evade the deadly strike.
Valerie laughed diabolically. “That might have actually worked, had you not announced your intentions. Next time you’d be wise to simply attack without—”
SLASH! Red unleashed a mighty swing of the Alpha sword. Valerie’s body flopped to the ground and his head went sailing across the stage, where it crashed down right on the throne. “Thanks for the advice!”
“Showoff,” Wolfgang said.
“You wore him down for me,” Red replied with an impish grin.
“Alpha Huntress.” Valerie’s voice spoke from the direction of the throne. “You never asked me what became of the Kupa Empire?”
Red and Wolfgang snapped a look over to the throne. Valorie’s head was laying on its side. The eyes were open and glaring right at them with a blank expression.
Red took a nervous gulp. “Did that thing just talk?”
Valerie’s head began to speak. “The Kupa Kingdom was invaded by a gang of greedy giants who saw the Kupa’s immense wealth as a thing to be owned by the few and not shared by the many. Though the Kupa army was great, they were ultimately conquered, and their corpses consumed.”
“How the freak is he still alive?” Wolfgang asked.
“What part of immortal are you failing to understand?” Valerie’s asked.
Valerie’s headless body snapped upright and slowly ambled to its feet. Before Red and Wolfgang could think to react, the headless body reached out and locked a hand around Wolfgang’s throat. Sharp talons ripped through its fingertips, piercing deep into Wolfgang’s flesh. The headless body then pummeled a fist into Wolfgang’s face, knocking him half out of his senses.
“Hey, hands off my man,” Red shouted.
Valerie’s free hand swung wide, bashing Red in the face, hard enough to knock her backwards. Valerie’s body then flung Wolfgang headfirst at Red like a rag doll. The impact sent them both crashing down onto the stone stage.
The Alpha sword fell from Red’s grip and hit the floor with a clang.
Valerie’s body began stammering towards the throne.
Wolfgang clutched a hand to his wounded throat. “Bet you don’t think he’s such a hot cup of man chowder now.”
“More like half a cup, but he’s still pretty steamy,” Red admitted. She nudged Wolfgang aside and hopped to her feet, just in time to see Valerie’s body stepping up to the throne and picking up its head. “You gotta be kidding me,” she muttered.
“It’s not too late for us, Alpha,” Valerie said as he reattached his head. “Immortal love can still be ours.”
“Pass.” Red scrambled over and scooped up the Alpha sword.
Valerie cracked his head from one side to the other and began walking towards Red. “Alpha, you must understand by now that your mortal weapon can do me no lasting harm.”
With the Alpha sword held at her side, she timidly trembled as Valerie slowly approached. It took every bit of her will to save herself from again falling under his hypnotic prowess, but that will was fading fast.
“Stop resisting me. Submit to my will. Accept my gift of immortality,” Valerie said, gazing into Red’s eyes. “We both know you want that.”
Red reluctantly shrugged. “Not gonna lie. There is a part of me that wants that.” She then glanced back at Wolfgang, who was on his knees and still clutching a hand to his wound. “But for whatever reason, there’s a part of me that cares more about that mangy mutt than spending an eternity looking at your pretty face.”
“Then you leave me no other choice. I shall rip the life from you and drink every last drop of your blood,” Valerie said and slashed his talons at Red’s throat, but she stepped back and swung the Alpha sword, hacking his hand off at the wrist.
“That might have actually worked, had you not announced your intentions,” Red said. She then unleashed a rapid series of hacks and slashes, first chopping off his arms at the shoulders, and next his legs at the knees. The body parts flopped to the ground one at a time, followed by his limbless torso.
“Holy chop suey,” Wolfgang cheered as he stammered up next to Red. The disembodied limbs were flopping around trying to make their way back to the body. “On a scale of one to ten, this has a creeper factor of about eleven.”
“More like ninety-nine,” Red said. “The big question now is, what are we going to do with him?”
Valerie burst into a manic fit of laughter. “Foolish Alpha, what part of immortal are you still not getting? I am invincible. I am—”
“Knocked out cold.” Wolfgang said and kicked Valerie in the head, hard enough to knock him
senseless, but far from deceased.
“Thank you, but he’s not going to stay out forever,” Red said, clutching a hand to her head, trying to make sense of the situation. “I guess we could try burning him, but that just seems so gruesome.”
“Nothing could get more gruesome than this,” Wolfgang said and glanced up toward the upper rim of the amphitheater. “Or could it?”
Red snapped a look up and saw what Wolfgang was looking at. A flock of flesh-eating razor-rats, thousands in numbers were stalking down the stone steps. “Wolf Boy, I think we better get out of here.”
“Agreed,” Wolfgang said and slowly backed away. “I think pretty boy Valerie is about to become a whole new flavor of hot man chowder.”
BIO
Neo Edmund (WGA-W / SFWA) began his Hollywood career appearing on numerous television shows, most notably as on 100+ episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! Optioning to pursue his passion for writing, he transitioned into the creative side of the film & TV industry, and currently writes teen and YA books, most notable his Red Riding Alpha Huntress Trilogy and numerous Power Rangers books!
LINKS
Author Website: http://www.neoedmund.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Neo-Edmund/e/B007KDDVAQ%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Twitter: https://twitter.com/neoedmundx
Threshold
Todd Fahnestock
The human lay dying in the grass because it was the law, and Mother stood at a distance, waiting. Stars shone brightly between the trees, but there was no moon. A warm breeze blew, carrying the scent of fallen leaves.
Six other syvihrk clustered around Mother, blending with the long shadows. As Syvihrk vik Kalik, the leader of her people, Mother had been notified the instant the human had been found lying within the borders of Sylikkayrn. Now it was Mother’s duty to watch him die or ensure he passed through Sylikkayrn without knowing who lived here.
Stavark hid in the trees, far enough away that even Mother could not hear him. He wondered if he would cross his threshold tonight, from syvihrk-lan to syvihrk. Stavark didn’t know when the threshold would come or what it might look like. He only knew that once he crossed it, he would no longer be a child.
Surely this must be it. No human had passed the borders of Sylikkayrn in Stavark’s lifetime. He waited a moment to see if he felt different.
Would he know when he became an adult? Would there be a transformation? They said the threshold was a decision that must be made by the syvihrk-lan alone. Adults made their own decisions. Children did not. Had he already become an adult by making the decision to sneak out of his home tree and follow Mother to this place?
But he didn’t feel different, just…scared that he might get caught and vaguely ill at watching an impending death…
He clenched his fist and told himself to focus.
Mother could not see the human, of course. For as long as Stavark could remember, she had been blind, her eyes dark like tarnished silver. But she had other ways of seeing the world. She could smell the blood scent that lay over the wet and earthy aroma of autumn. She could hear the human’s shallow breathing; she could even feel his life dwindling. She had taught Stavark how to do that, how to sense the living without seeing them. The life of a creature created an aura around them. The more vital the creature, the greater the aura. If a syvihrk was sensitive enough and well-trained, he could feel that aura like heat radiating from a sun-baked rock.
Most importantly, Mother had taught Stavark how to listen to his heart, how to sense rightness and feel when nature was out of balance. Stavark was her syvihrk-lan; she’d taught him everything important.
She had also taught him that humans were destroyers. Contact with them was forbidden. Humans stole the maehka from the lands long ago and caused the great dying. They were vanvakihrk, creatures of violence and self-serving hunger, and they could never be allowed to know about Sylikkayrn. That was the law.
But as Stavark strained to hear the wisdom in his heart, he couldn’t feel the rightness in the law. He did not see how letting the human die helped the balance of nature. His stomach turned, and he wanted to vomit.
Is this my threshold, then? To know and understand the wisdom of the law?
The aura of the human’s life grew colder with each rattling breath. It would be soon.
Hope and duty twisted inside him. He reminded himself that the syvihrk weren’t killing the man… Some other creature, perhaps even a volverka, had caused that bleeding wound in his leg. The syvihrk were merely following the law, letting nature take its course. Balance would be restored naturally…
But if the law was right, shouldn’t Stavark feel that rightness in his heart? He didn’t understand the pulsing conflict inside him.
“Pick him up,” Mother said suddenly. “Take him to the Life Tree.”
One of the syvihrk gasped. Stavark’s leg twitched. His foot shifted and made a scuffing noise that almost gave him away.
But Mother’s shocking statement felt right. His heart became lighter. The rightness was near, almost within reach.
“Syvihrk vik Kalik,” one of her entourage, a syvihrk named Gessek, said. “Do you mean, after he is dead?”
“Take him now. We will heal him. Take him to the bole of the Life Tree,” Mother said as though it was an everyday command.
Nobody moved.
Mother pressed her lips into a line, stepped from concealment, and crossed the distance with gliding, certain footsteps. She felt nature with her entire body, not just her eyes. She didn’t need to see to find her way. She knelt next to the human, then turned her face toward her reluctant attendants. After a tense second, Teyva and Mallock also left the trees. They approached cautiously, as if the human might leap up and sting them like a giant tree scorpion. After another breathless moment, two more syvihrk followed.
Gessek and Sayla remained behind, standing in open-mouthed shock.
The four who had obeyed Mother lifted the human, and he groaned. They carried him up the main path into Sylikkayrn.
Stavark desperately wanted to follow, but he held back, waiting until Gessek and Sayla raced in another direction. There was no turning back for Mother now. The deed was done, the law broken. Gessek and Sayla would hit the city like a stone hits a quiet pond, sending ripples to every syvihrk in Sylikkayrn.
Stavark felt fear, excitement and a fierce pride. The ill feeling in his belly eased because Mother had followed her heart, followed the rightness. He was proud to be her syvihrk-lan. And he was also proud of himself. He, too, had sensed the rightness. His heart had spoken, and he had heard it, even if the other syvihrk had not.
Was that his threshold? To know the difference between fear and wisdom? Was he a true syvihrk now? He wasn’t sure.
When everyone was far up the path, backs to him and barely able to be seen, Stavark stood up from his hiding place and used his new ability. He stepped into the silverland.
The main path, the tall trees, the green grasses, even the night sky and the stars above…all suddenly became glistening silver, gleaming and completely still. He jogged lightly to the east first, far away from the frozen forms of Mother, the other syvihrk, and the human they carried. When a syvihrk moved through the silverland, it caused a silver flash that others could see. But so long as Stavark stayed far enough away, they would never suspect he had been here at all.
Last week, Stavark became the first of his people to enter the silverland. No other syvihrk had done it in centuries, not since the humans stole the maehka from the lands. When Stavark opened the silverland for the first time, he thought he’d crossed his threshold and become a true syvihrk, but Mother said he hadn’t. She also said he needed to keep his ability a secret until they understood why only Stavark could do it.
Stavark raced home, left the silverland, climbed up the outside of his home tree and threw himself into his hammock, breathing hard. There were no scents at all in the silverland and the air was thin. He waited, eyes open, staring at the
interwoven branches of his ceiling until his breathing calmed. He heard Father moving about in the family room below, waiting up for Mother. Stavark heard when Mother returned, heard Father’s quiet voice greeting her. They talked for a time, then Mother left again.
Stavark held perfectly still. This wasn’t the end of it. She was going to talk with the council of elders about the human. He twitched, looking toward his window.
I should stay here. I’ve done quite enough for tonight…
But what if this was his threshold? Tonight. Now. What if he passed up his chance while sleeping?
No. He couldn’t simply wait here. That was ridiculous.
When he was certain Father had gone back to bed, Stavark crept out of the home tree once more and padded through the streets to the center of Sylikkayrn.
The Life Tree loomed over a circular clearing. Thirty syvihrk holding hands couldn’t reach all the way around the trunk. The Life Tree speared high into the night sky, higher than any other tree in the forest. Its soft, silver leaves glinted like small crescent moons in the starlight. Two guards stood sentry at each of the four archways in the trunk; no one could enter or leave without being challenged, and there were no windows to slip through.
Not on the first floor, at least.
Stavark glanced at the oval windows on the second floor. The lowest was more than twenty feet off the ground, and there were no branches between here and there. But then, Stavark didn’t need branches to climb a tree anymore…
He stepped into the silverland and ran toward the trunk. Everything slowed in the silverland, even the pull of the ground. Stavark could not fly, but he could run up a vertical surface much further than he could when he wasn’t in the silverland. The bark felt like flat ground to him, but slick like he was running across a frozen lake.
He sped up the tree to the nearest window, made of silver-bound, colored pieces of glass that had been cleverly crafted into a raven with spread wings. He opened the window slowly and carefully. Too fast, and it would shatter. The silverland made Stavark’s strength enormous on still objects. He darted through, landed lightly inside the room and eased the window closed.
Parallel Worlds- the Heroes Within Page 34