“I know enough.” She bluffed, knowing deep down what Lady Zae was saying was true. She had spent her entire life traveling the plains of Lanoria, first with her father, then on her own. She knew the location of every path, stream, and village of this country like the back of her hand and could flash there in the blink of an eye. But because Lanoria, the Elemental homeland, was the only country that permitted outsiders, like Night Stalkers, with no country of their own, to live on their land, she had never ventured beyond the safety of their borders.
“Then please enlighten me.” Lady Zae challenged. “Tell me why Duncan just reacted the way he did when he saw the bruise.” Cocking her eye brow, she overlapped her hands in front of her and waited as if she had all the time in the world.
“Ummm… because we are friends and he cares for me?”
Upon hearing her response, Lady Zae smiled. “While I have no doubt that played a major role in it, the main reason is a little more complicated.” Hesitating a moment, she stared up at Duncan. Taking her cue, he picked up where she left off.
“It is Shifter belief, especially amongst “older” Shifters, as the pair of you like to regularly point out I am, that a male should never lay his hands on a female in anger. They believe…” Catching his slip, Duncan hesitated. Senka thought she saw a flash of emotion crease his forehead, but before she could ascertain what it was, it was gone. “We believe… since the males of our people are so much larger and stronger than the females, any fight between the two would be entirely one-sided and unfair. That is why in Zerdanda, the injury of a female by a male can be a crime punishable by death.”
Jolted by the information, Senka gaped. “So are you telling me you could be executed for bruising my arm on accident? That seems a little extreme doesn’t it?”
Duncan shrugged, “Maybe not killed, but most definitely beaten.”
“Shit Duncan. I-I didn’t know it was such a serious matter, if I had I would have never brought it up.” She stammered. “Thank the stars we aren’t in Zerdanda.”
“Yes… thank the stars indeed.” Lady Zae joined back in. “But that still brings us back to the issue at hand. Senka, we can’t help but feel you are rushing into this blindly. Between your lack of even the most basic understanding of Shifter culture and your total unfamiliarity of the land, I fear your chances of success are minimal at best.”
“I’ll take minimal.” Shrugging off Lady Zae’s doubt, Senka grabbed her satchel off the floor and pushed her way past the pair. “I’ve succeeded before with worse odds.”
“Please, just hear us out child.”
A few steps from the door, Senka froze. Glancing back over her shoulder she glared at Duncan. “I’m not a child.” She ground out, stomping back his direction. “I have lived on my own, taking care of me and my sister since I was eighteen. I hunted, provided, and protected her all by myself. And now she is out there, scared, alone, and in need of my help. So excuse me if my ignorance of “Shifter etiquette” isn’t enough to deter me.” Emphasizing the words with air quotes, she pinned the two of them with her glare. “Tell me, either of you, what if it was your loved one that had been taken? Is there anything me or anyone else could say or do that would deter you from trying to get them back?”
Their downcast expressions were all the answer she needed. “I didn’t think so.” She huffed.
Done arguing with them about this matter and needing a moment to think, Senka stomped outside in search of fresh air and collided into someone trying to come in. “Excuse me,” she breathed without looking up. “I was just heading out. But feel free to talk to the ‘adults’ inside.” Straightening her satchel and her bow, she was about to continue on her way when a hand encircled her already bruised upper arm. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, Senka turned around ready to give someone a piece of her mind. However, when she came face to face with Ulysses, Brit’s father, all ability to articulate a cohesive thought escaped her.
His eyes ringed in dark circles and reddened from crying, the father stood before her, his face void of expression. “Are you going to look for her?” he asked with a strained voice.
Tension radiated off him in waves, thickening the air around them, and making Senka anxious. Not daring to speak for fear her nervousness would reveal itself, Senka merely nodded.
An unreadable expression twisted Ulysses’ features. “I’ll pay you whatever you want. Just name your price.” Releasing her arm, he reached into a bag she hadn’t noticed until this moment and produced a handful of jewelry and coins. “If this isn’t enough, I’ll find more. I’ll…”
Stunned and unsettled by his behavior, Senka slowly stepped away from the desperate father as he continued to produce more offerings from his satchel.
Ulysses however, was not going to be so easily deterred. Closing the gap she just created, he continued his pleading. “Just name your price. Need me to work for you, run errands for you, I will. I’ll give you anything, do anything, if you will find my daughter and bring her back to me.” Rushing forward, he thrust the items into her arms. “And should the opportunity present itself, I’ll pay you more if you manage to kill that son of a bitch that took her.”
“Ulysses!” Lady Zae chastised as she and Duncan stepped through the flap.
“We all know she is capable of it.” Ulysses retorted, “and it’s not like the asshole doesn’t deserve it.”
“Regardless, Wanderers are not now, nor will we ever be hired assassins.”
Hearing Lady Zae’s words, Senka dropped her gaze and bit her lip. Memories of a time long past, a darker time, when she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her and her sister alive, rushed to the front of her mind. It was a past she had hoped would stay buried, but it seemed no matter how far she ran, or how much she tried to change, the past would always find her. Consumed by the haunting memories, Senka could barely hear Lady Zae and Duncan defending Wanderer morals to Ulysses, who was not having any of it.
Like her employers of the past, Ulysses had one thought consuming his mind… revenge. And he was willing to do whatever it took to get it. And she couldn’t say she blamed him. After all, the asshole had taken her sister too. Baring that thought in mind, Senka inhaled a deep breath.
“I’ll find Brit.” She spoke, her emotionless tone halting the arguing of the others. Meeting Ulysses’ gaze, she reached over her shoulder and pulled her umbrella from her harness. “And if the stars are willing, and I find this man named Linus in the process, fear not. For I will make certain he never harms another girl ever again.” And with that said, she hit the button to release the canopy and flashed from camp.
He knew she was going to flash, probably before she did. From the first moment she came, quite literally, crashing into his life, Duncan had found himself strangely attracted to her vibrant, yet very impulsive personality. The girl burned with a fire and zest for life unlike anyone he had come across in his over one hundred years of existence. And while he usually found the trait to be an alluring quality, in this particular instance he feared it was going to lead her to her demise.
Before they arrived at her tent, Duncan already knew they were wasting their time. Senka’s mind was made and there was nothing they could say or do that was going to dissuade her from her plans. In short, Senka was going to do what Senka wanted to do. And truthfully, he didn’t blame her. Like she had so brazenly pointed out, if it had been either of them in her shoes, they would have reacted in much the same way. Even so, that didn’t change the fact that what she was planning was nothing short of a suicide mission.
Unlike him, Senka had no idea the kind of dangers that awaited her on the other side of the Zerdandan border. Add to that the fact that she would be forced to travel mainly by foot, since she had no prior knowledge of the land or any preset anchors for her flashes, and you had the recipe for a perfect disaster. Once she crossed the border, he estimated it would take the wolves that patrolled the forest less than a day to track her down. And once they had, they would have no diffic
ulty capturing her.
For as skilled a warrior as Duncan knew Senka to be, she stood little chance against a well-trained pack of Shifters working in unison. From the time they were young, even before they could shift, Shifter children were trained to move, hunt, and kill as pack. So engrained are they with the belief that the pack is more important than the individual, that anyone of them would gladly sacrifice their life so that another could get the opening they needed to take her down. And once they had, her troubles would truly begin.
Like in most other countries within the Council’s rule, in Zerdanda, trespassing was one of the worst crimes to be caught committing. Viewed as a spy, Senka would be questioned relentlessly for information and if they didn’t like the answers she gave, then she would be made to suffer. Luckily, because she is a female, she would not be beaten or tortured like she would be if she was a male, but Patrols had others means of extracting information from women, starvation being one of the most commonly used tactics. However even that small mercy would change if somehow they managed to figure out what race she was, for if they did, Senka would surely be dead.
For unbeknownst to Senka, her people and Shifters had a long bloody history of hating and killing each other. There had even been a time in the past when his people were hired by certain members of the Council to hunt down and kill any Night Stalkers living within their borders. Viewed as a threat because of their unique and powerful gifts, and lacking representation on the Council to speak on their behalf, it didn’t take long before every Shifter bounty hunter in the region was on the hunt for Night Stalkers. In just under ten years, his people nearly managed to wipe the entire race out of existence. He actually thought they had until Senka showed up a few years back claiming at first to be a Jumper. But one look into those striking amber eyes of hers, and Duncan knew right away exactly what she was.
And the same would be true with any other elder Shifter she might run across in Zerdanda; which was exactly why he refused to let her go traipsing over the border unprotected. Unfortunately, there was no way anyone was going to be able to convince Senka that she needed a bodyguard. The girl was just too stubborn and too proud. Which meant Duncan was going to have to figure out some other way of intruding into her plans. And the second he exited the tent to find Ulysses had halted her escape, Duncan knew exactly what he was going to do.
Taking advantage of her distracted state, he carefully inched his way closer, while making certain to remain within the shadow of the canopy covering the entrance. Even from this angle he could see the wheels in her head spinning with each word Ulysses spoke, but it was when he brought up her killing Linus, that Duncan knew hope was lost. Disheartened he watched as an all too familiar darkness stole the light from her eyes, leaving in its wake a mere shell of the girl he had come to care for.
It was a look he had the distinct displeasure of triggering himself once while on a hunting trip. Wanting to find out more about her and her life before the camp, he mistakenly asked her about her and Chloe’s father. Then, just like now, she became distant and lost, seemingly trapped in whatever deeply buried memories the question had triggered. And to his dismay, she remained that way for hours, only to finally come around and act as if nothing had happened.
But as much as the incident bothered him, Duncan knew better than to push the subject. After all, it was the Wanderer way to leave your past in the past. No one who took the oath to join with the Wanderers was ever forced to divulge any information they did not want to. It was this opportunity to start over with a clean slate that attracted so many vagrants like himself and Senka to the Wanderer lifestyle to begin with. Heavens knew he had things in his past he didn’t want her, or anyone else, finding out about.
Pulling himself free of his thoughts, Duncan listened as Lady Zae continued to argue with Ulysses over the morality of his proposal. But, much like Senka, there would be no dissuading the angry father from his decision. Choosing not to waste his time on what he deemed a pointless task, Duncan focused his attention on Senka, and silently watched as she pulled free of her haunted past with a frightening look of determination.
Without pause, she immediately went for her umbrella, a move he had been expecting her to make. The moment the canopy released, mere seconds before she flashed, Duncan reached out, and grabbed ahold of her shoulder, forcing her to pull him into the flash along with her. Remembering what she had taught him in the past, he inhaled deeply and relaxed his body as the icy tentacles of her shadow wrapped itself around him. A task that was easier said than done when it felt as if your body had just been dropped into a pit full of slithering snakes.
Fortunately for him, her flashes never lasted long and moments later he felt a rush of relief as she brought them out on the other side. Much to his dismay however his reprieve was short lived as it was immediately followed by a wave of dizziness so intense it nearly knocked him off his feet. Still blind from the flash, he threw out his hands in a desperate attempt to keep from falling and was relieved when one of them landed on something hard. Latching on the rough surface, he steadied himself while bracing his other hand on his knee.
It took several seconds before he once again felt somewhat confident in his ability to stand, only then did he dare to open his eyes and take in his surroundings. Looking up, he recognized the massive oak tree he was leaning against as the one that marked the half-way point between their camp and the Zerdandan border.
“Damn it Duncan!” Senka yelled from somewhere behind him. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Daring a quick glance over his shoulder, Duncan groaned as another wave of dizziness came crashing down upon him. But not before he spotted Senka several feet behind him, crouched on the ground, and looking every bit as miserable as he was feeling.
“Are you alright?” Concerned, he moved to go check on her but instead fell crashing backwards into the trunk of the tree. Fighting back the urge to vomit, he leaned his body against the sturdy structure and braced his head in his hands.
“Of course I’m not alright!” she snapped, before groaning and tightening her grasp on her skull. “I feel like I’ve been drained dry by a Full-blood.”
“Full-bloods don’t drain people dry,” he huffed. Managing to find balance on his own two feet once again, he slowly made his way over to Senka and extended a hand. Peeking through her fingers, she hesitated a moment before placing her hand into his.
“And you know this how?” She quipped, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
“One of my best friends used to be a Vanterian Full-blood. The man was larger than me, but only fed once a month and just enough to survive.” Closing his eyes as another wave of dizziness hit him, Duncan paused. “Why am I so dizzy this time?”
He had flashed with Senka at least a dozen times before this and knew it wasn’t unusual to experience some slight vertigo, but he had never felt anything even remotely this bad before.
“Because I wasn’t expecting a passenger so I flashed a longer distance than I normally would have had I known I was going to have a rider, especially one as large as you are.” Glaring up at him she crossed her arms. “Speaking of… What exactly are you doing here Duncan? I don’t recall inviting you to tag along.”
“I don’t recall asking your permission.”
Mouth gaping, Senka turned several shades of red as she stared up at him. “Listen here Duncan…” she began after the shock of his callousness had worn off. “if you are here to try to convince me to go back to camp, then you just wasted both my time and my energy for nothing. There is no way…”
“I am not here to take you back. I’m going with you.”
Senka’s brow furrowed as she took a second to consider what he said. “But didn’t Kral say none of the Shifters could cross the border without risking being captured and killed.”
“Kral doesn’t know everyone’s reasons for leaving Zerdanda.”
“So it’s not true?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You
’re not saying much of anything. And to be honest it’s getting really annoying.” Hands on her hips, Senka stared him down. “So let me try this one more time. If you cross the border and the patrols find you, will you or will you not be arrested?”
“Possibly…”
“Then why are you here?” she groaned, cutting him off. “I don’t have time to be worrying about your safety too Duncan! I can handle this own my own! Actually I prefer it that way! Besides, all you are going to do is slow me down.”
“I am here to make sure you don’t get your fool-self killed!” he shouted with more venom than he intended. Breathing through his anger, Duncan glared down at the petite young woman. “Senka I don’t doubt your skill. I have seen you in action and know full well what you are capable of. But trust me when I say you are in way over your head.” Senka, looking angry, opened her mouth to protest only to have him cut her off. “There is no point arguing about this Senka. Whether you like it or not, you are going to need my help. I know the land, I know the customs, and I have connections inside that can hopefully lead us to your sister. You however…” Sighing, Duncan shook his head. “You won’t last more than a day in there alone… and I would never be able to live with myself if I allowed something to happen to you, especially after I already failed to protect your sister.”
“I don’t blame you for Chloe, Duncan.”
“You should. It was my job to keep her and the camp safe.” Sighing, Duncan ran his hand through his shaggy greying hair. “All I ask is that you allow me this opportunity to try and make things right again.”
Silently she stared at him with her piercing amber eyes, as she considered his words. A few minutes later he watched the tension fade from her body as she came to the decision he had hoped she would.
Stalking Fate Page 4