by Leela Ash
“For dinner, of course,” she said with a composed smile. She gave a respectful nod to Krista before continuing down one of the dark tunnels. She thought he might object to walking through the dark tunnels, unable to see, but he followed her through with ease.
“Would you like some light?” she asked him, turning a corner and walking in the direction of the dining hall.
“I’ve always been able to see in the dark,” he said dismissively. She smiled to herself, wondering if he knew anything else about his unique abilities.
“Here we are,” she said, proudly waving her hand to present him with the dining hall. His eyes widened as the festive décor gleamed with the same colors of her dress. The Shifter and Loni people bustled about, getting their meals and laughing loudly. The room fell silent when people began to realize that Cain had entered.
“Is that…?”
“It looks just like…”
“Everybody, this is Cain. He will be joining us for dinner tonight,” Kyna announced.
The room was silent for a moment as everybody took the man in. Some of the older dragon born were staring at him as if they had seen a ghost, while other younger members of the clan eyed him with suspicion. Cain remained oblivious and sat down heavily at the nearest table.
“What are we having?” he asked.
Kyna smiled to herself. She liked this man. Somehow, he managed to make her smile without trying. He was certainly able to hold his own, no matter what anybody thought of him. And he wasn’t bad to look at either…
Kyna shook the thought away. She was an oracle. Her job was to help this man get in the right place at the right time to help his shifter brethren. There was nothing else to it than that. She had long ago accepted the fact that she would never be able to focus on love. Her tendency toward reveling in her own mind and powers was too consuming.
It was odd for a full-blooded Loni to exist, and she was one of the few women who had been in the group. There had been four Loni men and two women. They were about as pure bred as any of the survivors from Kaldernon, but only Kyna had the ability to divine the future. The others were gifted in other ways, which had allowed them to find mates among the Kersh clan, but most men, particularly the diluted bloodlines of shifter who were just as human as they were dragon, were put off by Kyna, just as she was put off by them. So why wasn’t she put off by Cain? Was it because she knew that he was fated to save them all?
She sat down at the table across from him. The other men had shirked away as he tried to make small talk. The official thing to do was to stay mum to newcomers about shifter blood until an official announcement by Clayton showed it was all right to go on living as normal. The men were tense, waiting for just such an announcement.
“We’re having a specialty from our native land,” Kyna said, fixing her eyes upon Cain. He gazed at her for a moment, staring into her eyes as if trying to decide what to make of her. This in itself was impressive. Most men were uncomfortable when they looked into her eyes and saw their truest selves reflected back at them. Cain was perfectly comfortable with who he was. An honest man, she decided.
“Native land? Are you foreigners? Where are you from?” Cain asked, leaning back in his chair. A woman graciously placed a plate of food in front of him and his eyes lit up. “Thank you.”
The woman bowed and moved on to continue serving the food to the others.
“That is a topic best left for after dinner,” she said. He was almost visibly longing to dig into the food and he gave her a short nod before bringing the first tantalizing bite to his lips. He closed his eyes, relishing in the mixture of flavors. Nothing like what could be found normally on Earth. It was food that had been animated and blessed with Loni magic.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever had,” he said once his plate was empty.
“Good,” she said. “Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”
“All right,” he said with a shrug. He looked sadly at the empty plate and she tried to hide her grin. He was cute.
“What?” he asked, catching her immediately.
“Oh, you just look so disappointed,” she said, surprised that he had been able to read her so quickly. He must have been on high alert, paying attention to this strange place and the strange people who had made their home underground.
“I wouldn’t mind seconds,” he admitted. “But honestly, I couldn’t eat another bite.”
“Nothing is more satisfying than Loni cooking.”
“Loni?”
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she led him through the tunnels once again, until they arrived at her bedroom. He ducked through the doorway and looked around. He seemed surprised by how beautiful the room was without any natural light or windows.
“Take a seat,” she said.
“On your bed?” he asked, his voice tight. She laughed quietly.
“I’ll stand.”
“Um…”
“It’s all right,” she reassured him.
He sat reluctantly, running his broad hand through his hair.
“What do you know about your heritage?” she asked him softly.
“Practically nothing,” he said with a short laugh. “I was adopted. Parents found me in the woods. About two years old, scared out of my mind. My real family must have left me there to die.”
“That’s awful,” Kyna said, furrowing her eyebrows. So he probably didn’t know anything about who he was. But judging by the way he looked and the powerful way he moved and presented himself to the world, his bloodline wasn’t very diluted. He looked almost pure shifter, but that was rare and unlikely.
“It is what it is,” he said with a shrug, though his eyes reflected his pain to her. He didn’t try to hide it, but he seemed eager to change the subject.
“What if I told you I had an idea about where you came from?” she asked, trying to select her words carefully. She could already tell that Cain was a stubborn man, and if she said anything wrong, it might make him think she was crazy.
“What could you possibly know about me?” he laughed. “To be honest, I’d think you were full of shit. We barely even knew each other’s names.”
“Does any of this feel, I don’t know, familiar to you?” she asked.
“Familiar? No, can’t say that it does,” Cain said. “In fact, I think this is about the most out of place I’ve ever felt anywhere in my life.”
“I see,” she said, disappointed. Apparently she would have to reject that route. “Well, I have something to tell you and it might be strange to hear.”
“Stranger than all of this?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow at her.
“Probably much,” she admitted. He smiled and she gazed at him from across the room. He was so approachable and kind. Would it be cruel to introduce him to his true identity when he felt so sure of everything about himself?
“Can I be honest with you?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied.
“I’m not sure I even want to know. I’ve spent all my life trying not to think about where I came from. I’m happy with things the way they are. What difference is it going to make what I know or don’t know about my family?” he asked. “They’re as good as dead to me.”
“It could make all the difference,” Kyna said, her eyes suddenly serious. Cain looked like he wanted to say something, but he decided against it. “In fact, you’re far more special than you could ever believe.”
“I don’t know about – “
“You belong here, with us,” she said, suddenly walking toward him. She could feel her self-control slipping as the urgency of the situation consumed her. He was the only way out of this underground prison. Her people – his people – could find liberation if only he could come to terms with his identity. Their fate was in his hands, and the truth suddenly bubbled forcefully from her lips.
“You’re a dragon shifter!” she said, unable to keep the train wreck of words from coming out of her mouth. “You can help us get back home.”
Cain stared at her incredulously for a moment and then lowered his head. She couldn’t see his face as his shoulders began to quake. She worried that perhaps she had unleashed a flood of painful memories, but when he finally looked up, a cackle pierced the room. His eyes were certainly watering, but it was from the effort of holding back his laughter.
“I don’t usually want to make fun of pretty girls like you,” he said, standing up. “But that’s about the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know what a dragon shifter is, and I’ve certainly got nothing to do with them.”
He stood up from her bed and pushed past her, into the dark tunnels.
“Thank you, though, for dinner. It really hit the spot.”
“But – “
Kyna started toward him but Cain raised his hands defensively in front of his body and backed up toward the doorway. “I can see my way out.”
Her face fell in disappointment as she watched Cain’s back disappear in the dark tunnels. What was she going to do now?
Chapter Four
Cain moved as quickly as he could through the dark tunnels without running. He didn’t want anybody to realize how freaked out he was. All of those people had seemed strange, and looked at him as if he might be some kind of a monster. What was their deal? And why in the hell were they living underground so near to the city?
He emerged into the fresh air and looked back at the entrance in disbelief. He never would have known this place was there if that woman hadn’t shown up and taken him in. What had her plan been? What was the point in trying to feed him such a ridiculous crock of shit?
He shook his head, glancing up at the sky one last time before he left. The lights were still there, shimmering and as beautiful as ever. What did all of this mean?
Cain sighed. Whatever it meant, it was crazy. It was time for him to head back to civilization, where people didn’t live in caves and lure strangers in to eat odd meals and tell them ludicrous lies. He wasn’t living in Hansel and Gretel for fuck’s sake.
But something about the woman’s eyes had troubled him. She didn’t seem capable of lying. Maybe she had deluded herself. People could believe their own lies. It happened all the time. It was a shame that someone so beautiful had turned out to be such a character. Still, it was unsettling.
Cain set off through the woods. His legs felt leaden and unsteady. Should he tell someone about the group of loons living in the forest? That would account for the lack of game in this region, that was for sure.
He walked for about an hour when he suddenly heard voices in the distance. Male voices. Masculine and capable. They sounded comforting; like-minded. He wondered if he should warn them about the crazy people living underground. He was still debating it when three tall men emerged from the brush. One stared at him, his chiseled but kind face examining him closely.
“Kalden? We thought you were – “
“That isn’t Kalden, Clayton,” the man beside him said, touching Clayton’s arm gently.
“No, an imposter. A look-alike.”
“That’s impossible,” Clayton said, approaching Cain.
“Uh, you don’t happen to live in a freaky underground tunnel, do you?” Cain asked, backing away from Clayton’s outstretched fingers. Clayton withdrew his hand as if he had been burnt.
“You’re right,” he said. He looked profoundly disappointed. “That’s not Kalden.”
“Even if it was, he’d have aged by now,” the man to Clayton’s left said gently.
“How do you know about the tunnels?” the man on the right said gruffly. He was instantly on the alert.
“I was just there. Some woman brought me in and fed me. She was crazy man; I swear to – “
Suddenly, a blade was pressed hard into Cain’s neck and the man on the right was in his face. He had frizzy red hair and intense dark eyes.
“You tell anybody about us and we will make you live to regret it; do you understand me?”
Cain raised his hands in the air.
“Whoa man, I just think you guys need to get that girl some kind of mental help. Why the hell are you living underground anyway?”
“Just keep our secret,” Clayton said, coming forward and pushing the blade away from Cain’s neck. He put his hand firmly on Cain’s shoulder. They locked eyes, and for some reason, he wasn’t sure whether it was the grief or the kindness in the other man’s eyes, maybe it was both, but Cain felt nothing but warmth for the man.
“All right,” Cain said. Clayton held his gaze a few moments longer before turning to the men behind him.
“Let’s move.”
The men lingered, glancing nervously at each other.
“But don’t you think he’ll…”
“He is no enemy of ours,” Clayton said.
His word was steel, and the men followed him into the trees.
Cain watched them go, his head spinning. Could anything happen to make his night any weirder?
He quickly decided not to stick around to find out, and hurried through the forest, more anxious than he had ever been to return to the hustle and bustle of the city where he had been raised.
***
Kyna lay on her bed, disgruntled and angry at herself for the way she had handled the situation with Cain. How could she have been so reckless? She had always known, through both experience and wisdom, that people rejected hard truths, especially those that were unfamiliar. Why had she practically bashed him over the head with it?
“Are you all right, Kyna?” Krista asked, poking her head into the room. “You weren’t there to greet the men when they came back from the hunt.”
“I’m all right,” Kyna said glumly.
Krista was quiet for a moment.
“The men met Cain,” she said finally.
“How?” Kyna asked, sitting up quickly.
“They ran into each other in the forest as he was leaving.”
“I see…”
“Kyna…” Krista seemed to have something on her mind but was reluctant to say it.
“Yes, Krista?”
“Are you absolutely sure he won’t give us away?”
“I promise,” Kyna said, her amber colored eyes flashing with conviction. Krista seemed reassured.
“That’s what Clayton said too. You two I trust more than anyone in the world, but the rest of the clan is nervous. I hope that everything you say will come to pass, but until it does, I think it’s best we keep your revelation quiet for the time being.”
“I understand.”
Krista smiled. “I’m just worried that with the way things have been, getting their hopes up only to… It could just end up being cruel.”
“I know,” Kyna said. “I don’t plan on saying anything. Apparently, what I said to Cain was the wrong thing anyway. I just hope I can get through to him somehow.”
“If it’s fate, you will,” Krista assured her with a kind smile.
She left Kyna alone. The conversation picked her spirits up some, so she decided to dress and go out to look at the comforting lights of Kaldernon. She didn’t want to doubt her vision. Her heart had locked on Cain, and she had the familiar feeling of prophecy as he approached.
She returned to the spot where she had first seen him and lay in the grass, staring at the sky.
“Kaldernon,” she said softly. “What do I do now?”
She didn’t really expect an answer, and was soon tugged into a peaceful slumber.
Chapter Five
In her dream, Cain was standing in front of a bright blue building. The windows reached to the sky. He looked more handsome than she had ever seen anyone look before. He was looking into the distance, at a peak in the forest not too far from where the Kersh clan’s settlement was. He turned his stormy blue-green eyes onto her and smiled radiantly, a gesture that electrified every inch of her.
When she woke up, the lights of Kaldernon were shimmering oddly. Kyna peered up at them, confused. Why did they look so different? The hue was more orange than usual, and the lights
seemed to be pulsing.
Suddenly, she knew, it was a message. The world above seemed to be organizing, working together to convey a message through the gap between worlds.
“What are you trying to say?” Kyna demanded, scrambling to her feet. She didn’t want to miss the chance to understand what the people of Kaldernon were trying to convey, but it didn’t make sense. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the lights were flashing. She squinted, concentrating hard on decoding the message.
“Kyna!”
A heavy hand on her shoulder broke her concentration and she gasped out loud, whipping around to see who had distracted her.
“Archer, what are you doing?”
Archer, son of the leader of the Kersh clan, was behind her. He was about ten years old, and had the same brooding dark looks as his father Clayton. But his eyes favored those of his Loni mother’s.
“What are you doing out here?” Archer asked, looking up at the sky skeptically. His eyes widened when he saw the pulsing lights of Kaldernon. “What’s going on?”
He seemed suddenly scared, and his round eyes looked to Kyna for guidance. She was already well-known around the clan for her insight and prophetic dreams, and if anybody could give Archer his answers, he seemed to know it was Kyna.
“I think that the people of Kaldernon are trying to send us a message.”
“Really? Cool!” Archer bounced beside her, barely able to contain his excitement. “What are they saying, Kyna?”
She looked back to the sky and sighed.
“I’m not sure, buddy.”
“Whatever it is, I bet it’s super important!” Archer said. “I’d better go tell my dad right away!”
“Yeah, you do that,” Kyna said as Archer turned on his heel and headed back to the settlement. “I’ll just wait here…”
Within a matter of minutes, Kyna became surrounded by the most important members of the Kersh clan’s council. Clayton had apparently kept the situation quiet and must have instructed Archer to do the same.