The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  More than that. Tarrin looked at Rallix, and looked at him harder. There was something about him, something unusual. Something that made Tarrin look right at him as soon as he came into the room, something that made him stand out to such a degree that it was blatant. It didn't seem to be something that anyone else noticed, because the others didn't seem to be taking notice of Rallix, although Dolanna's gaze did linger on him for a moment before moving on. Tarrin puzzled over it, for it wasn't a bad sense, it wasn't a feeling of danger, and he hadn't even caught the man's scent yet. There was just something about him that seemed....different. Tarrin glanced away from him as he considered it, and his eyes locked on Miranda's luxuriantly furred tail as she walked in front of him. Then he glanced at Kimmie--

  Kimmie. Of course! Kimmie and Phandebrass both had that same sense of presence about them that Rallix did!

  Rallix was a Wizard!

  Did Keritanima know? Was Rallix a serious student, or was he simply a dabbler, as Kimmie had been before tutoring with Phandebrass? If he was as smart as Keritanima boasted, he certainly could be a good Wizard. When did he find time to study, since he was so busy running that trading company that Keritanima had told him about?

  Tarrin put his thoughts aside as Keritanima stopped in front of him. Rallix bowed gracefully to her, sweeping an arm before him, then rose up and kissed her hand. "I was quite flattered to receive your invitation, your Majesty," he said in a soft voice, but Tarrin could sense the power within it. "It took me completely by surprise, I must admit. I also must apologize for being so late, but there was a very big emergency at the trading company I run."

  "Oh? What happened?" Keritanima asked, the fur on her cheeks trying to rise up as Rallix's hand remained on hers. Tarrin could see that Keritanima was smitten. He decided that that was a good thing, and he'd see to it that Rallix was equally smitten with her. Even if he had to smite Rallix himself.

  "We had a ship fire, your Majesty," he answered. "There was very little damage, but you know the kind of chaos such a thing can cause. I simply could not leave until things were settled down. I do hope you'll forgive me."

  "Oh, that's alright, Master Rallix," she said demurely. "I know all about that kind of thing. You're here now, and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

  That seemed to take Rallix by surprise. He gave Keritanima a very speculative, searching look, then seemed to realize that he was still holding onto her hand. He let go of her with a surprising amount of grace about the whole thing. "Yes, well, I'm happy to be here, your Majesty," he said quickly. "My duties don't give me much time for dancing."

  "I'll have to have a long talk with your employer about that," Keritanima said with a very faint grin. "Where is she now?"

  "Still at her country estate, I'm afraid," he said carefully, in a very low voice. Tarrin realized that Keritanima was asking about something more than what her words said. Keritanima was actually Rallix's boss, so it had to be about someone else. "From what I hear, she's been very quiet and reserved lately."

  "I'm glad to hear that. I heard that she'd sailed to Sennadar, though."

  "Something she decided it would be best people believed, your Majesty. She did intend to take the journey, but didn't feel well enough to undertake it not long after setting sail, so she was returned home. Her sabatical to her country estate has done wonders for her health. She sends her best regards to you." He leaned in close. "Why did you send me that invitation, your Majesty?" he asked.

  "Do I need a reason to send you an invitation, Rallix?" she asked with a surprisingly disarming smile.

  "Given that we don't know one another, I'd say yes," he answered truthfully. "I had no idea your Majesty even knew I existed."

  Keritanima seemed to ignore that. "It's common custom for the sitting monarch to begin the first dance. I needed a good dance partner, so of course I thought of you right away. So," she said, holding out her arm expectantly.

  "Of course, your Majesty," he said after a brief delay.

  Tarrin watched as Keritanima and Rallix stepped out onto the empty floor, even as some of the guests filed into the ballroom. That seemed to be a cue for the musicians, who took up their instruments and began a lively song. He watched Keritanima and Rallix dance, a stately dance despite the energy of the song, one that involved a great deal of spinning about. Rallix, Tarrin saw, was an excellent dancer, leading Keritanima in graceful spin after spin as they stepped across the floor. He also saw that they weren't talking. If Keritanima called up Rallix to both fish for him and catch up on her trading company, talking while dancing would be a good way to do it, but not with every eye fixed on them. They'd wait until the others joined them.

  After the song ended, couples stepped out onto the floor and joined the Queen and her partner as another began. Kimmie elbowed him in the ribs and offered her paw to him, and seeing no reason not to do it, he took it and led her out onto the floor as Sapphire left his shoulder to fly around near the ceiling to explore the vast room. Both of them had only seen Keritanima and Rallix perform that particular dance, which was being danced again, but their Were-cat grace and agility allowed them to copy it with perfection, and shame everyone on the floor with their grace and poise.

  "That has to be Rallix," Kimmie noted, looking over at them. "I didn't understand a word they were saying but I do think I heard her use that name. She didn't even introduce us."

  "She's a little distracted," Tarrin replied, glancing around and speaking in low tones. "Rallix is her business partner, but--"

  "The scent she's laying down right says he's alot more than that," Kimmie finished.

  "About that. Just don't repeat that."

  "You just said it out loud."

  "On a crowded dance floor among people who speak Sulasian as a second language, if they speak it at all," he told her.

  "You need to teach me Wikuni," Kimmie chuckled.

  "I need to teach you Sha'Kar," he told her.

  "Phandebrass is working on that," she replied. "He's trying to adapt that spell you used to learn Wikuni and make a Wizard spell that does the same thing. If he succeeds, I can learn it in a matter of days."

  "Is he making any progress?"

  "Some," she sighed. "He accidentally scrambled his memory a few times. He taught me a counterspell specifically to restore lost memory, and I've had to use it on him a few times."

  "He didn't hurt himself, did he?"

  "Not permanently," she chuckled. "There was a period there for a few days when he couldn't remember his own name, but he's recovered."

  "I think I remember that," Tarrin said. "That was right after he shrunk you two."

  "Don't bring that up," she said in a pained voice.

  "It could be worse. He could be experimenting on you."

  "After the shrinking incident, he knows better than to experiment on me," Kimmie grunted. "I may seem like a sweet little girl, but I can just as nasty as Jesmind when I'm annoyed."

  "I doubt anyone could be as nasty as Jesmind when she's annoyed," Tarrin chuckled. "Except maybe her mother."

  "Well, maybe not that bad," Kimmie agreed with a laugh.

  The song completed, Tarrin escorted Kimmie off the floor just as a slower song began, one that was almost stately. It was a different kind of dance they were doing now, some kind of group-oriented dance where a long line of males faced a long line of females. They bowed or curtsied, and as one, the lines moved forward. Grasping hands, each pair made slow, cautious steps, turning a circle in one direction, and then the other way.

  "I just noticed something," Kimmie said.

  "What?"

  "Not all Wikuni have tails," she observed. "Look at that cat Wikuni over there. She has a tail. But that one over there doesn't," she finished, pointing to another Wikuni, a male.

  Tarrin looked closely at the Wikuni female, wearing a black dress that matched her black fur, and he realized that he knew that Wikuni. It was that female pirate, the one whose ship they had destroyed. Sheba. Keritanima had mentioned in p
assing that Sheba wasn't a pirate anymore, that she was back in her noble house. Tarrin didn't really care about Sheba one way or the other, but his human morals were a little outraged that Sheba had never been punished for all the damage she had done to the kingdoms of the West. she had terrorized the shipping lanes in the Sea of Storms for six years, sinking several dozen ships and killing a great many people. And yet there she stood, smiling and dancing in the court of the Queen of Wikuna.

  Dar was right. The Wikuni were completely hypocritical. Decrying piracy, but doing nothing about it as long as it didn't affect them. If a human raider had ever attacked a Wikuni tradesman, he had no doubt that the Wikuni fleet would hunt down and destroy the interloper without mercy. And yet they had allowed Sheba to run wild over the Sea of Storms for six years, because she didn't attack Wikuni ships, and her father happened to be a noble.

  Tarrin looked away from her. He was getting a little worked up, and he didn't want to embarass Keritanima.

  "What's got your hackles up, Tarrin?" Kimmie asked.

  "An old score," Tarrin told her shortly. "I'm going to go step outside a moment. I need some fresh air."

  "Alright. I'll take Sapphire over to the punch bowl and see how many Wikuni we can mortify," she grinned, reaching up and taking Sapphire off his shoulder. "Come on, let's go get something to drink," she told the drake. Sapphire liked Kimmie, so she didn't object in the slightest to being picked up and carried away.

  Stepping through one of the open windows as he had seen several Wikuni do, Tarrin stepped out onto the balcony outside the ballroom. It was a very wide balcony with slate squares making up its floor, and an elegant carved marble handrail protecting people from falling over the edge. He put his paws on that rail and looked down on the city of Wikuna, at the many lights winking from below, then looked up at the sky. It was a brilliant, cloudless night, with only one of the four moons out, the Red Moon Vala. The White Moon was new, and the Twin Moons had yet to rise. The Skybands in Wikuna were very wide, much wider than he was used to seeing, taking up about a third of the sky. Wikuna was pretty far north, Keritanima had told him, and was subject to some pretty fierce winters.

  Something on the ground below caught his eye. Tarrin leaned over the rail, looking down to see two uniformed Wikuni guards marching on patrol along the outside edge of the building. They wore those red-coated uniforms with the gold buttons and the white bandoliers that held their gunpowder and musket balls, their white trousers, and they carried their muskets, with long knife-like attachments at the ends of the barrels that turned the weapons into pretty formidable hand-held weapons. They marched along smartly, but they weren't stiff or uncaring about their duty, looking this way and that and keeping an eye on things. Keritanima had good guards. Tarrin leaned over a little more, sending his tail out behind him to counter-balance himself as he watched the two Wikuni, both canines of some sort, march under where Tarrin was and then continue on.

  Something struck his tail on its top and then slammed it into the ground. Tarrin felt the pain, but it wasn't enough to make him yelp or jump, even when whatever had struck it down landed on top of it. It was a boot, and the boot ground into his tail as it tried to apply full pressure, tried to break bone. Tarrin turned his head to look, and saw a rather tall, portly rodent-like Wikuni, looking vaguely like a badger but much heavier in build, with solid brown fur. He was decked out in tremendous splendor, a brocade doublet of a midnight blue color and hose that looked like they were made of silk, with gold and jewels hanging from any available area. He had a Wikuni female on each arm, a canine Wikuni on his left and a strange honey-furred mammalian Wikuni whose type was unknown to him on his right. She had a boxed snout with a black dog-like nose, small round ears, and large brown eyes. He looked right at Tarrin as he removed his boot from Tarrin's tail, his expression amused. "Excuse, please," he said in broken Sulasian. "Saw did not."

  He flowed past Tarrin grandly. "I don't see what her Majesty sees in that creature," he said to his lady-friends in Wikuni. "If it had proper fur, it wouldn't be quite so repulsive as those bald humans she's surrounded herself with. And that one with white hair! She may be pretty, but she looks like a wild animal! Did you see the way she stared at me?"

  Tarrin chanted inwardly that he did not want to embarass Keritanima. He did not want to embarass Keritanima.

  "It's probably as stupid as it is ugly," the male added to the other lady.

  That did it. The badger-like Wikuni squealed in shock when Tarrin's claws hooked into his finery from behind, getting a paw full of doublet and gold chains, then hauled him off his feet literally by the scruff of his neck. Tarrin turned as the two Wikuni females screamed in fear, whipping the male over the rail so fast he swayed in Tarrin's grip and letting his feet dangle over the fifteen or so span gulf between the balcony and the grass-covered lawn with its slate walkway running along the wall of the Palace.

  "The next time you insult someone," Tarrin hissed at the male, in perfect Wikuni, "make sure it doesn't speak the language."

  Then Tarrin let the Wikuni go. He screamed delightfully as he dropped to the ground, a cry that was cut short when he hit the walkway below. Tarrin brushed his paws together as if cleaning dirt off of them as he looked down at the male, who lay on the walkway with one leg sticking out at an unnatural angle. The two females ran to the rail and peered over it, beginning to cry and make hysterical sounds.

  "Do either of you want to step on my tail?" Tarrin challenged, bringing his tail around and presenting it to them garishly.

  The females gaped at him in terror, then turned and fled back into the ballroom.

  Snorting, Tarrin turned back around and looked down, watching the male try to get to a sitting position. The two guards that had passed by a moment before trotted back over and saw the man laying there, then set their muskets down and helped him sit up. The male blubbered something and pointed up at the balcony, and his eyes went wide when he saw Tarrin standing there looking down at them, his expression very ominous.

  Then he realized it was pointless to stand there. He'd already educated the Wikuni, and they wouldn't get the male to where they could set his leg so long as he stood there watching them. He turned, then paused when he saw quite a few Wikuni lining the windows, staring out at him.

  It happened almost at the same time. Tarrin felt something hot go under his chin at an angle, up through the side of his mouth and out his cheek, so fast he didn't even have time to register the pain, even as a loud thunderclap cracked across the balcony. Tarrin staggered slightly as his tongue registered the fact that there was a hole in his cheek, and several of his teeth were missing. The flash of pain struck him just a moment later, but it was not a pain that would incapacitate him. He had felt much worse. The pain dulled almost as fast as it struck him, as his body repaired the damage done to his face and mouth with efficient speed. Whatever had wounded him was neither magical nor silver, so it did not do him a true injury. Tarrin's mouth itched as new teeth replaced the ones lost, and he spent that time turning back around and looking from where the thunderclap had come.

  It was down on the walkway. The badger-like Wikuni he'd tossed was still sitting on the path, but he had a smoking musket in his hands. The two guards looked shocked and amazed that the Wikuni would dare to shoot at someone right where everyone could see him do it, and were so stunned that they didn't stop the Wikuni as he tossed the musket aside with burning eyes and reached for the other one.

  That was going too far. The man had shot him. There were no rules now. Feeling a fury rise up in him, a fury he hadn't felt in months, he grabbed the marble rail with both paws. Tarrin's muscles flexed, and the sound of tearing stone heralded the sight of the Were-cat breaking away a sizable chunk of the masonry, a good two spans of polished rail and two support columns still attached to it. The badger-like Wikuni raised the musket from his seated position and took aim at Tarrin, who raised the heavy stone over his head and prepared to hurl it down at the Wikuni. The two guards gave out cri
es of alarm and dove aside wisely as Tarrin flung the rail at the Wikuni, even as the Wikuni fired the second musket.

  The musket ball struck Tarrin in the lower abdomen, on the far right, penetrating flesh and flying upward. It passed between his lowest ribs and exited his back. It was a glancing blow, something even a human could have survived. The piece of stone was much better aimed, hitting the Wikuni squarely in the chest, crushing the musket and his upraised arms in the process. A fountain of blood exploded from his mouth as he was smashed to the walkway by a quarter ton of heavy marble, and when the marble settled on top of him, he didn't move.

  He was very dead.

  Tarrin had to actively resist the urge to go down there and take the Wikuni's head off to make sure of him. He hadn't felt an explosion of rage like that in a very long time, and it was almost frightening. He clenched his paws into fists, fists that shook with a need to dish out more punishment, and Tarrin had to forcibly take hold of himself and try to relax. The man was dead, the reason for getting angry was gone. He'd started it by insulting him and stomping on his tail, and he sealed his own fate when he took the musket from the guard and shot him. Closing his eyes, he centered himself, thinking about the people he loved. Jesmind, Jasana, his sisters, Janette, his parents, his friends. He recalled peaceful times, happy times, and that helped calm him down quickly.

  When he opened his eyes, Keritanima was hurrying out onto the balcony with Binter and Sisska attending her. "Can't you keep out of trouble for one night?" she demanded hotly. "What did you do?" She looked over the rail, then growled loudly. "Tarrin! What did you do that for?"