by Angie West
"Uncle Mike!" Ashley ran to his side and glanced from him to me and back again in question.
Claire pushed past the group and strode to where Mike lay and I stood and the children gawked. "Everybody go back to the kitchen."
Predictably, nobody moved. Mark looked mildly amused, Bob looked confused and Marta seemed almost...proud. With the exception of Claire, Mike's family was slightly less amused. His parents and Megan all wore expressions that varied from open speculation to dread to tight-lipped irritation. There was no way I was mistaking Mrs. Roberts' disapproval now. The warmth spread from my forehead and cheeks, down to my neck.
"Mike," Claire demanded. "what did you do?"
“I grabbed her.” he grimaced and climbed to his feet without taking his eyes off me.
“Oh, Mike–” she groaned.
“In my defense she was insisting on walking home in the dark while we've got those damn...things...running amok.”
“They're called Coatyl and Aries can handle herself. You shouldn't have grabbed her.”
“I'm sorry.” I interrupted Claire's defense of what I'd done, not that I didn't appreciate her coming to my rescue. Clearly, the majority of the suddenly crowded room didn't share that sentiment. “Maybe I shouldn't have flipped you like that, but I did ask you–nicely, I might add–to let go of me.”
“That you did.” Mike's lips twitched and he stretched where he stood. “That was a neat trick, by the way. I didn't even see it coming.”
“It's not a trick.” Claire frowned at her brother before I could form a reply. “Aries is a soldier, she's been trained to fight.”
“I apologize for trying to restrain you.” Mike finally told me.
“Apology accepted.” I nodded and forced myself to look away from his penetrating scrutiny.
“Would you all mind giving us a moment?” Claire asked the family members-turned-curious-onlookers behind us.
“It's fine, Claire. I don't need any privacy.” Mike shrugged and turned to his family. “In case you're all wondering, yes, I am involved with this woman.” he declared, gesturing toward where I stood gaping in disbelief.
Was there no limit to how low he would stoop to try and force my hand? To make me acknowledge him in some way?
“We are not involved.” I told his family.
“We used to be.” Mike explained before turning to me. “We should be again.”
“No, we shouldn't.” I steadfastly refused to look at anyone else in the room right then except Claire and it was to her that I addressed my next statement. “Thank you for your offer of dinner, but I have several things to get done this evening.”
“I understand.” Claire's eyes radiated sympathy. Even Ashley and Sienna were now quietly accepting of my decision to leave right away, which probably meant I didn't just feel ready to crack, but looked it, too. Great. “Goodnight.”
“I'll be over in the morning to help you clean up your house.” Claire leaned forward and enveloped me in a quick, brief hug before stepping away and herding the children in the direction of the kitchen.
“Goodnight, aunt Aries.” they mumbled on their way out of the room.
“Goodnight.” I murmured back. “It was, uh, nice to meet you all.” I told his parents and Megan with as much dignity as I could muster.
Mike followed me to the door, looking like he was about to raise hell at any moment. Mark fell into step on the other side and opened the door for me. The sky beyond the front door and white-washed porch was jet black, but the moon was a huge bright orb high above and large stars peppered the world beyond the house. It was the stars that I chose to focus on as I crossed the threshold and planted my boots on the porch.
“Damn it.” Mike swore. “Don't make me carry your ass back into that house. And don't think you're going to flip me again because I'll be ready for it this time.”
“Goodnight, Mike.”
“Aries,” Mark stepped around Mike's tense form and subtly put himself between us. “You're on patrol tomorrow?”
It took a few seconds for my scrambled brain to process this abrupt shift in the conversation. “Yes,” I took a deep breath. “Lerna. The east border.”
“Good. Can we beef up the patrol in the area?”
“Sure. You're expecting trouble?”
“No, nothing specific, but that zone's been too quiet lately. I don't like it.”
“How many extra soldiers do you want?”
“At least two more on each post.”
“Okay.” I squinted through the porch light to meet his eyes and nodded. “Consider it done. Do you want me to run out that way tonight and station some extra men?”
“Not necessary.” Mark smiled and turned to go back into the house. “It's already been taken care of tonight. Claire told you we leave for the coast in two days?”
“Yes. I'll be ready.”
“How in the hell can you let her do shit like this?” Mike protested angrily, taking a step toward me. “She's going to get herself killed. What if another one of those Coatyl catch her alone?” he demanded. “Huh? What then?”
I snorted and turned to go, but not before Mark paused, fixed Mike with an amused look and said–
“Who did you think killed the first one?”
Before Mike could form the retort I knew was sure to be instantaneous and blistering, one of Mark's men broke through the tree line and made his way up the driveway. Mark quickly excused himself and went down the porch steps to meet the young man half way.
Turning my back on Mike, I focused my complete attention on Mark and his murmured conversation with the blue and tan garbed soldier. Something was wrong. Despite the newly hushed, somber atmosphere, I had to step closer in order to hear the exchange between the two men.
"We're getting some intelligence about a possible threat, sir."
"I'm already aware of the Coatyl organizing."
"No, sir." The man–boy, really–shook his head and took another step closer. "Not the Coatyl. We've had reports of an underground facility, where things are...tested." the soldier frowned.
"Tested?" Mark stilled and threw a glance at me. I moved to stand fully beside him.
"What sort of testing? Weapons?" I asked, hesitant to voice the suggestion. As if we didn't have enough problems on our hands right now with mutant Coatyl. Oh, no...
My eyes flew to Mark's and it was clear the chilling theory hit us as at about the same moment. "The facility where the Coatyl are being mutated?"
"Supposedly." The young man's head wobbled on his thin neck. "Some of Aranu's men captured a pair of guards outside of Belleview. Northern border, sir. The two spoke of an underground lab where Kahn organized genetic tests on, well, creatures." he wavered, clearly disturbed by the message he'd been sent to deliver.
"A labful of Coatyl. Hell." Mark swore and I became aware of Mike inching closer to stand at Mark's other side.
"Yes, but the guards said there aren't Coatyl there anymore. Those were all released during the last full moon. Something else was brought in to take their place."
At this, Mark, Mike, and myself exchanged uneasy glances. "Did they say what that 'something else' is?"
"They called them Life Breathers. A band of creatures Kahn collected and altered in the facility."
"Creatures from Coztal?" Mark's brow furrowed.
I wracked my brain for a few moments but couldn't recall ever having heard of, or come across, a creature called a Life Breather.
"No, sir. Northern creatures."
"Did the guards say anything else?"
"Only that the Life Breathers are worse than the Coatyl."
Mike's eye's widened. I gasped. There was something worse than what Kahn and his men had done to the Coatyl?
"What did they do to the creatures?" Mark asked, stone faced now.
"They didn't say. But seven days past, Kahn ordered the creatures released and the facility shut down."
"What about the scientists who worked in the lab? Where are they?"
/> "Dead, sir."
"I see." Mark snapped his palm against his thigh and turned toward the car, motioning for me to follow. "Take us to Aranu. I want to speak with the two guards."
The boy paused, swallowed audibly. "I can't do that, sir."
Mark paused and raised one eyebrow.
"Both guards are dead, sir."
"I see." Mark responded after a long, terse silence.
My own lips tightened into a grim line and privately I cursed Aranu's brash move even if it didn't really shock me. Hadn't he realized we would need to interview the pair? If they had that much inside information–info we badly needed–hell. I shook my head. We could have forced them to reveal the lab's location. But now...well, there was no sense dwelling on what might have been, I sighed and turned to catch Mike watching me.
"I have to go." I muttered, shouldering my way past Mark and hurrying down the driveway.
"If you see Aranu," Mark called after me, "tell him I want to talk to him."
"Will do." I turned and nodded before spinning around and continuing on across the yard and into the forest, knowing I wouldn't say anything to Aranu about what he'd done. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good.
Chapter Eight
Lahuel
I halfway expected Mike to run after me. He didn't, and for this I was grateful. I don't know what I would have said to him if he had been foolish enough to follow me. As I walked through the dark forest on my way to the cabin, I remembered the look on his face when Mark told him I'd been the one to kill the Coatyl. It had almost made it worth having to deal with him tonight, and right now I didn't particularly care if that sounded petty or small minded.
A fine mist began to creep along the edge of the forest, close to the ground. Great, just what I needed, fog moving in for the walk home. Icy tendrils of fear played at the back of my neck, and it was no wonder. The soldier's news continued to weave a trail of discomfort through me. What in the hell was a Life Breather? Well, given that whatever else the things were, they were also running loose, I had the feeling I'd discover the answer to that question soon enough.
The forest was dark, more so than most nights, the tree canopy blocked out the moon here. The short walk to the cabin was safe enough, even at night. It wasn't anything I haven't done a hundred times before.
But usually when I decided to take a stroll in the evening there weren’t mutant Coatyl–and worse–running around and lurking in places that I didn't even want to think about. If I thought about it I might be tempted to do something really stupid, like rush back to Claire's house. Sure, it might have been the sensible thing to do, but if I was ever going to have any chance at all of having Mike and people like him take me seriously, it wouldn't do to turn tail and run back to safety. Or, I should say perceived safety.
Because as much as I or anyone else wanted to believe differently, truth was, Claire's house wasn't much safer than my own. Really, the only difference between the two was the fence and we all knew that could go at any moment. Not that I wasn’t grateful to have the protective barrier but, in recent weeks, more than one person had remarked upon the oddity of Grandview's fence still being intact while the rest of the world pretty much 'went to hell in a hand-basket' as Claire would say.
I will admit it was strange and a little bit disconcerting, almost as if we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the ax to fall, as it were. It was probably safe to say Kahn was responsible for the zone failures around Terlain, although nobody seemed to know for certain.
Still, even without knowing this to be fact, it made sense. To say Kahn was capable of concocting such a scheme would have been the understatement of the century, and I had to admit it was a good strategy–if that's what he was going for. What better way to wreak complete havoc and destruction than to herd everyone into one place and then move in for the final kill.
It was just the sort of blunt force planning the wizard was known for and was probably closer to the truth than anyone knew. And yet there was no getting around the fact that the Matrons had allowed this, all of this, to happen. The group of eight elder counsel-women who had cast the original protective enchantment years ago were still incredibly powerful, but no one seemed to know why they had remained, thus far at least, absent and silent in the face of such devastation. Once, a long time ago, Mike had told me that everything happens for reason...
"You told the men not to teach me to fight." The accusation in my voice was mild, more perplexed than irate.
"Yes, I did." he said, shrugging as if to say, 'so what'.
"Why?"
"Because I forbid my men to help you do something foolish."
"Me learning how to defend myself is foolish?" I frowned.
"You fighting is foolish."
"Why?" When he didn't answer, I tried again. "I want you to train me."
"You want me to train you." he repeated my words slowly and carefully, dark eyes resting on me but completely unreadable.
I clasped my hands, knotting my fingers together and squeezing tight. I sucked in a deep breath through lungs that felt constricted and was momentarily light headed when all I could manage were shallow sips of the cool evening air. "Yes." I finally nodded, eyes locking with his.
His mouth turned down in blatant disapproval and I rushed on without giving him the chance to refuse. "It wouldn't take up very much of your time. And I can learn. I'm feeling much better now and–"
"No." The word was clipped, authoritative. Final. He turned away from me, facing the crackling fire and bending to toss another fragrant piece of dry timber on the dancing orange flames. The wood sparked and hissed before erupting in a quick flare and then, a minute later settled down to a steady, toasty blaze in the pit Aranu had dug.
He'd said no. I closed my eyes, opened them to find myself still staring at his broad, tan back. He couldn't refuse. He just couldn't. "But–" I opened my mouth to protest his obvious, and rude, dismissal.
"Ari, the answer is no." he said without turning around.
"You have to. You owe it to me, to help me."
He did turn and face me, then. I almost wished he hadn't. "I owe you? Saving your life wasn't enough?" His voice was quiet, dangerous.
My tongue flicked out to wet my lips. "No. No, that didn't come out right." My bare feet shifted in the dirt and I tried again. "I meant that men–warriors–have a duty to their people, don't they?"
"Yes." he shrugged, relaxing a little now.
"So, warriors have a duty to make sure that people can protect themselves."
"Makes sense." he nodded after a moment.
"So, you'll train me, then?" My eyes flew up to his.
"No."
"But, you don't understand." The words felt like they were torn from me. He wasn't going to help. Panic began to claw at me, and on the heels of that, a tiny spark of anger was beginning to simmer and burn.
"I understand." he fired back. "You want me to show you how to swing a blade, or shoot a bow so you can go do something stupid and probably get yourself killed for the effort. The answer is no." His eyes narrowed.
"I have to be able to defend myself!"
"You want vengeance!"
"Wouldn't you?" I demanded hoarsely, abruptly realizing that my hands were now clenched into fists at my sides. "Answer that, Aranu. Tell me the truth. How would you feel?" My words bounced off the valley around us and echoed.
His expression softened a fraction. "Ari, listen to me. This isn't a good idea. If you'd stop for a second and think about what you're asking me to do, you would see that."
"I am not going to rush out and start massacring guards. Please." I forced back the anger, knowing that right now it wouldn't help my cause. "I need to know how to fight." I argued.
"If you stayed in the protected zones, you wouldn't have any need to fight!"
I recoiled, feeling like he'd slapped me. "Is that what you think, then?" I choked the words out and the bottom of my stomach seemed to drop as I looked up into his harsh face.
"That it was my own fault?" I took a breath, turned my back on him. My arms tightened around my midsection and I stalked to the edge of the small clearing, closer to the cave's entrance. I wanted to crawl inside and never come out, a small part of me wanted to sleep and never wake up. I wanted to hit something. I wanted to...scream. Memories undulated through the darkest recesses of my mind. They played on a continuous, sickening loop, never really going away, just at times more noticeable than others. Being grabbed. Claire being kicked. The fear on the faces of the others. Would this go away? Ever? When?
Behind me, Aranu exhaled and swore. I spun around in time to see him coming toward me. He halted a few feet away and moved to reach for me and I held my breath as he stopped at the last minute, letting his arms drop to his sides. I stared back, but then let my eyes slide away from his intense scrutiny, afraid he could somehow see the pain and turmoil that raged inside my head.
Aranu swore again, softly this time. "Is that what you thought I meant? That what those...things...did to you, was your fault?"
"Things?" I asked idly, still unable to look him in the eye.
"I refuse to call them 'men'." he returned flatly. "Answer me. You think I'd actually tell you what happened was your own fault? That you deserved to be raped because you were in an unprotected zone of the woods?"
I flinched away from the word, not ready to hear someone say it. Not yet.
"I would never say that, Ari. I would never think that."
"Fine." I finally shrugged. "It doesn't matter, anyway. I'll leave in the morning." I said, moving past him and walking back toward the fire. The flames leapt and crackled merrily above my outstretched hands. I felt Aranu's eyes on me the whole time, but I wasn't bluffing, I realized with something akin to shock. The thought of a trek through unprotected zones of the Lerna's Crossing forest...well, it made my blood run cold.
But he wasn't leaving me any other choice. I had to be able to defend myself and if he was refusing to teach me, and intended to make good on his threat to forbid his men from training me, too...then I was left with only one viable option. The Sprites. The band of warrior women who made their home in the heart of Lerna's Crossing were the closest option I had, at this point. I knew the women would help me and best of all, they wouldn't require Aranu's blessing to do so.