A Shadow's Tale

by Jennifer Hanlon

  I squeezed my eyes shut. With the sensation of jumping into a fire, I teleported to the other side of the clearing, in the shelter of the trees. Desperate, I glanced around, trying to find something, anything I could use against the demon to give myself an edge. I clapped eyes on a surprised looking Kraferr. I narrowed my eyes, making shooing motions with my hands. He nodded reluctantly, running in the direction of the house. I took a deep breath, moving out from the shelter offered by the trees, pulling down the barriers around my magic. Time to take this battle to another level. I summoned my magic into a fire-like aura around me. Karthragan mirrored my actions with his deep crimson magic. Before long, the clearing was splattered with black blood as we threw razor sharp blades of magic at each other. Karthragan was starting to lag. That was giving me a tiny spark of hope, but I had to face the fact that I was faring far worse than he was. My limbs were trembling with exhaustion. My broken leg couldn’t support even a fraction of my weight. My head felt light from the blood loss. My other leg was about to give way beneath me. Behind me, I heard something rip and a feral roar. I whipped around to see a manticore standing on the edge of the trees. Hadn’t anyone listened to me? The creature lashed her tail, sending the spikes flying towards us. Karthragan used the distraction, blasting me several metres away. Blood poured from a new, deep gash across my stomach and chest. I scrambled back to my feet as fast as possible, turning to face my father. His chest and side were peppered with the spikes, but he wasn’t hindered by them. He was walking towards me, pulling them out. I backed away a few paces. Another volley of spikes passed me. Karthragan grabbed one from out of the air. I swallowed hard, fear gripping my heart. I turned to run, but Karthragan lunged. I collapsed to the ground under his weight. The spike speared my arm, poison beginning to pump into my system. I gasped, trying to pull out the deeply embedded dart. Karthragan pulled his sword out. I froze. He barked out a laugh. The sword plunged downwards, through my primary heart, then my secondary. Strangely, I couldn’t feel the pain. There was no pain. Lifting my limbs seemed almost out of my capability. Karthragan started to walk away. I gritted my teeth, anger sweeping through me. He had done this to me. He had killed me, and now he was walking away from it. No. I wasn’t going to let him walk away from this. I reached under my cloak. Gratitude towards Shaeman flooded through me as I pulled out the handgun he had insisted I carried through my vulnerable period, in case Karthragan decided to turn up early. The weapon felt dirty in my hand. A human weapon for mass killing without the sport and honour of combat. It disgusted me, but it was all I had. Using all my strength, I lifted my arm, sighting down the barrel. I squeezed off three shots, one through each heart, one through his head. The gun grew heavy in my hand. I let it drop to the ground, watching as Karthragan keeled over. I let my eyes close. I was so tired. I couldn’t hear anything past the rushing of blood in my ears. The beating rush started to slow. My eyes drifted beneath my eyelids. I felt someone pressing on my hearts, trying to keep them going. Something on my arm burned. I flinched violently, but something held me down. Then the pressure was lifted. Someone gently kissed my forehead.

  ‘Kraferric way of saying goodbye,’ murmured Bart’s voice. There was a darkness in the back of my mind, comforting, beckoning. It felt so welcoming. My body started to feel cold. The darkness felt warm. I let it engulf me, blotting out my pain.

  PART 4

  EARTH – NEW EYES

  It was cold. I shivered slightly. My limbs felt stiff as I tried to stretch them out. What had happened to make my muscles feel so sore? I sat up, looking around. I was in a clearing that looked vaguely familiar, like an unnerving sense of déjà vu. A group of people sat not far off, linked by a silver thread of magic. I wondered what they were gathered around and why the air felt heavy with sadness. A cold nose nuzzled my hand. I smiled slightly as I saw a black she-wolf curled around me. I ruffled her ears gently. Movement from the group of people turned my attention back to them. They had disbanded a little; two silver-haired men walked a little way off and started to dig a hole. I saw what they were all gathered around. A dead girl. Disgust welled up inside me. Had they murdered her? No. That didn’t make sense when you considered the sadness in the air. A strange cross between a human and a purple monkey stood up, taking the girl into his arms. I watched with a child-like curiosity as he walked over to the hole and carefully laid the body inside it. A girl with short, purple hair reached into the hole. With the sound of metal rasping against metal, she pulled out a sword, thrusting it into the earth at the head of the grave.

  A girl in ragged clothes detached herself from the group, heading towards me. I tilted my head to one side as she crouched in front of me. There was something about her that I knew, that I recognised. It took her a few attempts as she tried to choke her words through her grief, but she eventually said, ‘I’m Alba.’

  ‘I know.’ The words escaped from my mouth before I could stop them. Yes, I did know her, but I couldn’t remember how, or why. Then again, I couldn’t even remember my own name, who was I to judge?

  ‘Shadow?’ Alba asked quietly. ‘Is that still you?’

  Once more the name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. ‘I…I…I don’t know…’ Tears welled up in Alba’s eyes, spilling down her cheeks. I felt terrible. We glanced up as the purple monkey boy joined the little group.

  ‘Do you remember anything?’

  ‘It seems like a dream…’

  ‘A dream…You mean your memories are vague to you?’ He seemed to think for a moment. He pulled a necklace, an amulet, from his pocket, showing it to me. I frowned slightly. There was something about it that I recognised. ‘Do you remember this?’ I did, I remembered pain and blood. The hurt of betrayal. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember through the haze of emotion.

  ‘It seems so far away…I remember blood, and betrayal, but that’s all…’

  ‘But who are you?’ Alba blurted out. I looked at her. Her bright green eyes searched mine, attempting to see something. I rubbed my temples, desperately trying to remember. My fingers brushed over a thick scar around my eye. Frowning, I tried to remember how I got it. I shook my head.

  ‘Everything is so mixed up, so blurred,’ I murmured, hugging my knees to my chest. The rest of the group gathered around me, fixing hard, distrustful gazes on me. I fixed my eyes on my knees, unwilling to look up to see their faces, faces of people I distantly recognised but couldn’t place. All I knew was that I felt deep affection and love for them. Why did they hate me? Why were they asking me so many questions?

  ‘You can’t even remember Vrael? Vrael Mercian?’ Bart asked quietly, pointing out one of the men in the group. I tried to swallow my rising panic as I glanced up and saw the barely concealed anger on the man’s face.

  ‘No! I can’t remember anything!’ Bart gently laid a hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention back to him. I calmed down a little, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the silver-haired man’s. I slowly got to my feet, keeping a wary eye on everyone. I backed away a couple of paces before turning tail and running as fast as I could. I had to get away from them. I didn’t even know who these people were! I found myself crashing to the ground. The other silver-haired man had me pinned to the ground, snarling. The rest of the mistrustful group gathered in a circle around me, surrounding me so that I couldn’t escape.

  ‘Shaeman!’ Bart said, arriving alongside us. ‘She’s scared, that’s all! Just let me and Alba talk to her. We might be able to get something out of her.’

  ‘We can’t trust her,’ Shaeman spat.

  ‘We don’t know if she’s Shadow. She doesn’t know if she’s Shadow. We don’t know anything about her. The only way we can is if we get her to think calmly.’ Shaeman shifted, releasing his hold on me. I sat up slowly, rolling my shoulders. The wolf slunk alongside me, curling around me and licking my cheek. I buried my hand in the thick fur around her neck. Bart put a hand on my shoulder again, looking into my eyes.

  ‘Think carefully,’ he bega
n. ‘Try to remember your name. Search deep into your memories, or else I’ll have to use magic and search the deepest of your thoughts.’ I could feel his unease as he spoke, as if he really didn’t want to. I swallowed hard, trying to get a grip on my emotions long enough to form a coherent thought.

  ‘I remember lots of names…’ I murmured. ‘Wolf…Roth…’

  ‘Well, uh, I guess we could call you Roth for now…’

  ‘No,’ Shaeman interrupted. ‘She bears no relation to our clan, and therefore has no right to bear the name. Call her wolf, if she is so attached to the creature beside her.’

  Bart shot a glare at Shaeman before turning his gaze back to me, encouraging me to keep going.

  ‘I remember a library with lots of books…I can remember a kind, black haired woman singing to me…I remember,’ I paused, opening my eyes wide, ‘I remember killing people…standing on a battlefield and killing people…’ Bart clamped a hand over my mouth. I pulled away, burying my face in the wolf’s fur. I tried to bite back my sobs as memories assailed my mind. So many memories of blood. I tried to think through them. I saw a man with four red eyes standing over me with a sword. Of Bart’s voice as he kissed my forehead.

  ‘I…I remember…I remember that my name is Shadow.’

  ‘That’s what we were supposing before…’ he said, but he seemed to be more interested now. ‘Do you remember anything else that might be good for our ears to hear?’

  ‘I can remember everything…’ I murmured, looking down at my hands. ‘But I can’t believe that I’m still here…’ Alba was watching me with a confused and curious look on her face. I shifted uncomfortably. ‘Alba, can you stop looking at me like that? I know I just died, but still…’

  ‘Sorry,’ she murmured, looking away. I glanced up at the ring of demons still surrounding me. My family. My clan. The distrustful look on their faces made my heart ache. Amarath looked down at me. She looked at me with a look of such furious disbelief that it shattered my heart. My sister…My twin…Surely she should recognise me? Her glare broke the fragile assumptions I was desperately clinging onto. She didn’t know me. The sister she knew was dead. Dead and not coming back. For them, there was nothing left to do. They had buried their sister and that was the end of the matter. Amarath glared down at me, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword, threatening to draw the weapon.

  ‘Run, Wolf, run as fast as you can and never look back.’

  What else could I do? I ran.

  For two weeks, I sat in a cave, keeping a low profile. The wolf that had appeared during my reincarnation curled herself around me. I had decided to name her Wraith. I don’t know why. It just seemed to suit the black wolf. She started up her strange, canine version of a purr as I rubbed the diamond patch of white fur between her eyes. I had managed to pinch a few pieces of clothing from washing lines in the city. A hooded sweatshirt and jeans several sizes too big for me, but they were good enough. My eyes were rimmed red from crying. I had lost everything. Everything I had held close. All because of that stupid prophecy. It made me want to scream, but my throat was already raw from screaming in rage. I tugged on my hair, remembering the reflection I had seen in a window in the city. I hadn’t even recognised myself. My eyes were still purple, but more angular, my ears more pointed. My hair was still waist-length, but black, with two white streaks on one side. I looked as if I was fifteen. No wonder the clan had chased me away. No wonder they hadn’t recognised me. I rested my head against the stone wall, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had never thought about what I would do with my life. I had never had reason to think that I was going to live very long. Now I had the whole of eternity stretching out before me as long as I kept away from fatal diseases and people who generally wanted to kill me. I sighed heavily. My mind wandered back to my family as it had done so often since my death. What was Amarath doing? Were Archangel and Onyx okay? I knew that the clan would look after them, but that didn’t stop me worrying. A small part of me wondered if this was what Arellan had felt after Amarath and I had been taken away, a deep-seated ache somewhere in my heart. I rested my head back against the stone wall, closing my eyes as I let despair wash over me once more.

  ‘Shadow?’ called a voice. I cracked open one eye. Wraith’s plumy tail beat out a rapid rhythm as she wagged it. Bart Kraferr stood at the mouth of the cave, looking a little sheepish, his tail wrapped around his leg. He stepped a little warily into the cave before gathering up his courage and sitting next to me. ‘How’re you holding up?’

  ‘Bart, I killed my dad, got killed myself, reincarnated and then got rejected by my own family. How do you think I’m holding up?’ I replied bitterly. Bart grimaced, the tip of his tail flicking as if it just couldn’t keep still.

  ‘Well…uh…I…’ Bart trailed off, looking towards the mouth of the cave. I followed his line of sight. At the mouth of the cave stood the other Kraferr One, Dominique. She hovered there, unsure, before stepping forwards to stand close to Bart. They glanced at each other. I didn’t need empathy to see what was happening between them. Fate and the death of the Kraferrs may have thrown them together, but they had chosen to stay that way. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered what Kraferric children were like. If they were anything like demonic children, I didn’t want to know. But above all, I silently wished them every happiness possible. Sighing quietly, I looked out past them, to the forest the cave looked out onto. The tops of the trees were waving in a peculiar pattern, almost circular.

  ‘Bart…’ I said quietly, warningly. Wraith barked in warning, jumping to her paws.

  A helicopter swung into view. I charged at Bart, knocking him and Dominique into the shadows at the back of the cave, Wraith following close behind. They had to stay hidden! They wouldn’t be taken! I wouldn’t allow it! The Milita. swarmed into the cave, weapons at the ready. I drew a knife I had managed to steal, preparing myself to fight once more. I glared at them, trying to seem as menacing as possible, to keep their attention on me and not on searching the rest of the cave. From out of nowhere, a rifle butt collided with my temple. In a shower of stars, I went down.

  The thing with the Milita. is that they learn from their mistakes. Although they didn’t know that I had actually had help to escape from the cell the last time, they had taken extra care in shackling one arm to the wall and fixing bands of silver around my wrists and ankles. I sat rigid in the cell, trying not to move so as not to aggravate the burns and sores opening beneath the silver. I had already gouged deep scratches in my skin around the metal in an attempt to get them off, the effort and pain proving futile. A pair of guards arrived to take me to what I guessed was going to be a round of torture disguised as experimentation. Whoopee! I couldn’t wait.

  Instead of being taken to the lab, however, the guards escorted me down a different corridor of the underground base to a concrete bunker-type room. This was odd. I hadn’t seen this part of their base during my previous visit. Two scientists were already standing there, waiting. I watched them with what I hoped was a look of bored annoyance on my face. They didn’t react to it, instead looking down at their clipboards.

  ‘Despite a different look, this is specimen 004-666. The mark is still on its shoulder and the blood tests came up exactly the same. Do we assume that they can actually change their physical appearance?’

  ‘We can’t be sure for now. In any case, let us test that device before the demon gets any funny ideas.’ The soldiers gripped my arms firmly as the scientists took a loop of metal out of a box. As they came closer, I noticed various wires and circuit boards in the metal, giving the whole thing an appearance of a computer gone wrong. Whatever this thing was, I was pretty sure I didn’t want it anywhere near me. Everything about it seemed wrong. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much of a choice. The strange thing was fixed around my neck. As soon as the two ends joined, the little switch in my head that controlled my transformations flipped.

  Normally, my transition between humanoid and wolf is smooth, the j
oints, muscles and fur acting as if a well greased machine. This transformation was all wrong. Every inch of my skin burned as fur pushed its way to the surface. My bones snapped to fuse themselves in different positions. Pain ripped through my spine as the extra vertebrae of my tail formed. My hands and feet folded up on themselves to make paws. My screams of agony turned to howl of pain as my face elongated and vocal chords rearranged themselves. My entire body ached as I lay, panting hard, on my side on the cold floor. The scientists chattered excitedly to each other. I twitched my ears feebly to try and catch their words, but my muscles were too exhausted to move anything else. Anger started to blossom in my chest. They had put me through all that agony and all they could think to do was to stand there and make stupid notes on their goddamned clipboards! A growl rose from deep within my belly. Gathering every possible scrap of courage to withstand the chorus of aches in my body, I launched myself at them, teeth bared in a snarl. Grim satisfaction flooded through me as I felt my mouth lock around soft flesh. Blood spurted into my mouth. Muscle tore beneath my claws as I gouged at the scientist screaming beneath me. The rich feeling of vindication surged through me. Even as blows rained down on me from the other scientist, I didn’t care. The guards pulled me off by the scruff of my neck, clamping my jaws shut. The scientist I hadn’t attacked jumped forwards to take the collar off my neck. I collapsed to the floor as the transformation once more wreaked havoc through my body until I lay, once more, as a humanoid. I couldn’t help it as a bubble of laughter floated up from my aching chest. I had attacked one of them. I had attacked one of them! It felt so good, like I had finally done something I had needed to do for a long time. They deserved it. They deserved everything I dished out to them for everything they had done to me! I was still laughing when a needle slid into my skin, releasing a sedative into my system.