Valleron (Book 2)

by Jennifer Redmile

  Raff cleared his throat. “Okay… so… I’m actually sure nobody saw me come through the village, because I was invisible. I’m also not alone. Garth, these are my friends.”

  Garth was looking at him as if he’d lost his mind, when the shield surrounding his friends evaporated, to reveal them standing together just inside the door. A smiling Lyricus immediately stepped forward, and held out his hand towards the quivering mess behind the desk that was Garth.

  * * *

  Garth had recovered from the shock of having three strangers appear in his office out of nowhere quicker than Raff had anticipated. Having seen the events with his own eyes, he’d accepted that what he had previously considered impossible was, in fact, possible, and moved on.

  He’d been fascinated by Lyricus and Belle’s elven ears, and Raff had decided not to reveal any more of their secrets until they knew more about what had been happening in Naissance.

  Raff scratched his head. “Garth, on our way here we noticed a couple of the villages have been abandoned. What’s with that?”

  Garth sighed. “They’re not the only ones closed. We’ve heard there are only five villages still operating. We rarely get new babies any more. Of course, no one tells us what’s going on, but it’s not hard to work out something’s really wrong. Even with the drop in the number of new babies arriving, there’s no way they could house all of the kids from the closed villages in the few that remain open.”

  Lyricus leaned forward. “So villages eleven and twelve are definitely closed then?” Garth nodded. “How do we find out where the kids from there have been sent? I grew up in eleven, and Belle in twelve.”

  Garth shrugged. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have no idea. A woman arrived in the village this morning, with a letter from the Naissance Supreme Council, or some such nonsense, stating she’d been appointed the new Health Inspector of Naissance. None of the Guardians have ever even heard of a Supreme Council in Naissance.”

  Raff had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. “So why is this woman here? I mean, how does she determine the state of health of the kids?”

  “Apparently, every child in the village has an appointment to come to her ‘office’, which has been temporarily set up in a vacant house on the northern edge of the village. I’ve no idea what she’ll be doing, but no child is exempt.”

  What the hell was this Supreme Council up to? Raff fought down the sense of foreboding threatening to rise to the surface at Garth’s words, and tried to plaster a reassuring smile on his face. “Well, I wouldn’t stress too much about it. Probably just some routine thing.” He saw the puzzled looks on the faces of his friends at his words, and hurried on before any of them could say anything. “Well Garth, it’s been great seeing you again, but we really have to get moving. We’re on a pretty tight schedule. Thanks for your help, and hopefully we’ll catch up again one day soon.”

  Garth stood up from behind his desk, and walked to where Raff stood. “Not so fast, mister. I know something funny is going on, and you and your friends are obviously in it up to your eyeballs… but you just take care of yourself, right? And the next time I see you, I’ll have a lot of questions I want answered. Deal?” He stuck his hand out towards Raff, a serious expression on his face.

  Raff grabbed his hand and shook. “Deal!” He walked to the door and opened it, beckoning his friends to stand with him. He felt the shield go up again, and chuckled at the look on Garth’s face as they vanished before the poor man’s eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  -Griz-

  Belle turned on Raff as soon as they left the room. “Whadya mean ‘it’s just routine’? You know as well as I do that Griz is involved in this somehow, and that is plenty to stress about. The fact that she’s been doing the rounds of the villages, as some ridiculous Health Inspector, and that children just happen to be disappearing, is no coincidence.”

  Raff sighed. “Calm down Belle… I agree with you. I just didn’t want Garth worrying until we knew more about what’s going on. It’s not like he can do anything about it anyway.”

  Belle felt the heat rising in her face. She knew she needed to stop over-reacting, but seeing Griz here, and then learning that children were disappearing, had made her blood boil. “Sorry Raff. I didn’t mean to blow up at you. It’s just the shock of seeing G-griz… and the ch-children missing…” she bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from coming.

  Lyricus wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Belle… it’s okay… we get it. Of course you went off the deep end after seeing Griz. I wanted to go and rip the woman’s arms off, until Raff convinced me it wasn’t a good idea.” He chuckled, as he looked at Raff and nodded his thanks.

  Raff reached out and rubbed her arm. “Hey… we’re gonna find out what’s going on, and do everything we can to stop it, okay? But we need to be careful. It sounds like the Kitsune Council have a hand in what’s going on, and we don’t want to draw their attention if we can avoid it.”

  Belle nodded, trying to plaster a smile on her face through the tears. “So what do we do now?”

  Leah had been standing quietly in the background, looking as though she were deep in thought. “Hmmm… I have an idea about what might be going on. If the Kitsune Council are involved, you can bet it has something to do with a portal. Remember the portal we stepped through at the barracks? It bound our Gifts, like the birth portal. What if they’re using age portals in all the villages, the ones that tell them who has mixed-blood?”

  Raff slapped his forehead. “They’re using the portals to sort out the Gifted and non-Gifted kids. We know their plan is to eradicate magic… so they’ve obviously decided to “dispose” of all the Gifted children before they can leave Naissance.”

  Belle sucked in a breath. “Which means Griz must have a portal at the house she’s staying in. That’s why the children all have to go there! But who could be erecting the portals? That would mean she’d either need to have a kitsune travelling with her, or she’d have to be…”

  The answer hit Belle like a door slamming in her face. Griz was a kitsune! Suddenly everything made sense. No wonder she’d never been the ‘motherly’ type, like the other Guardians in her village. Belle knew first-hand what kitsunes thought of the other races.

  In a way, the revelation was a relief. Although she’d known it was stupid, she’d always felt that it was somehow her fault Griz didn’t love her. That maybe she was just unlovable. Being hated by a kitsune was much easier to live with than being hated by her Guardian!

  She could feel the eyes of her friends watching her, probably wondering how she was going to react to this new knowledge. She grinned, suddenly feeling lighter than she’d ever felt before, as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

  “Griz is a kitsune,” she said in a voice filled with wonder. “It was never my fault she didn’t love me. She just hated everyone!”

  Her friends were all looking at her as if she’d lost the plot. And then, they all spoke at once.

  “How could you think that…”

  “Of course it wasn’t your fault…”

  “She deserves to be…”

  This last was from Lyricus, and after a quiet pause, they all burst out laughing.

  Belle threw her arms around a blushing Lyricus and hugged him. “You’re right, she does. But why don’t we leave it up to the amulet to decide what she deserves?”

  Lyricus smiled. “Your wish is my command, beautiful girl.”

  Belle giggled and turned back to Leah and Raff. “So, what’s the plan?”

  Leah surprised them all by speaking first. “Okay, I reckon we need to find this house she’s staying in and check it out. If there’s a portal there, we should be able to see it.”

  Raff grinned, and slipped his arm around her waist. “I think this new, confident Leah is going to take some getting used to…” He winked, and then his face grew serious as he turned to Belle and Lyricus. “So what are we waiting for? You heard the girl… time to find t
he portal!”

  * * *

  It wasn’t hard to locate the house where Griz was staying; it was the only house that looked sad and abandoned, and it was right at the end of the village. Making sure there was no sign of anyone at the house, they snuck around the back to try and look in through the windows.

  Unfortunately, the windows were so covered in grime they couldn’t see a thing. They were about to give up, and wait for Griz to arrive home, when Belle discovered that one of the windows in the kitchen was slightly open.

  “Hey guys,” she called, excited to have finally caught a break. “This window is open. How about we go in and organise a surprise party for the new Health Inspector?”

  Lyricus moved up beside her and pushed the window all the way up. He peered inside, and then grinned at Belle. “I think Belle’s got the right idea. If we’re inside the house before she gets home, we should be able to see what she’s up to, right?”

  Leah and Raff had joined them, and they all agreed it was a good plan. They climbed through the window one by one, laughing as they pushed, pulled and shoved each other through. But all signs of frivolity vanished once they were inside the depressingly sombre house.

  It was late afternoon, and the house had a musty, neglected smell about it. Belle wandered into the lounge room, and found a desk covered in papers. She picked up a page, reading it in the dim light, and her heart constricted. It was the first page of a list of every child in village seven, and it had columns for appointment time, age, Guardian’s name, and whether the cild was Gifted or un-Gifted. The first appointment was scheduled for 9:00am tomorrow morning.

  Anger surged through her body. It wasn’t enough that this… creature, had tried to ruin her life, now she was involved in murdering innocent children just because they were Gifted!

  “Well there’s definitely no portal here yet, but…” Leah’s voice trailed off as she saw the look on Belle’s face. “Belle? What’s wrong? What’ve you found?”

  Belle handed her the page without saying a word. She watched the blood drain from Leah’s face as she read it.

  “Lyricus, Raff… we were right. These monsters are killing off the children of Naissance!” Leah ground out between clenched teeth.

  Lyricus rushed in from the kitchen. “How do you know…” he froze in the doorway, the piece of paper in Leah’s hand, and the looks on the girl’s faces, answering his question. The growling sound was coming from his throat again.

  Belle managed to pull herself together, her mind racing. “Right, this needs to end… tonight! Have you guys found somewhere we can wait and watch what she does when she gets here? I’ve been thinking. Remember when we were listening to Serena’s story from the little book? She said the Elder Guardian transformed into his kitsune persona as soon as he was alone. We may not even need a wolf to deal with this particular monster!”

  Raff had taken the list from Leah and instantly turned white, the hand holding the piece of paper beginning to shake.

  “Raff? What is it?” she asked.

  He threw the list back on the table and began pacing back and forth. “The first name on that list is my foster-brother Jeb! I’ve no idea whether he’s Gifted or not, but either way, he will not be walking through that portal tomorrow morning!”

  He stopped pacing and took a deep breath, as if trying to rope in his emotions. “Right. We need to be somewhere we can see what’s happening, but out of the way. I’m thinking we stay in this room.” He quickly scanned the room and pointed to a darkened corner behind the lounge. “There looks good. Okay, let’s get comfortable. It looks like we might be here for a while.”

  * * *

  Belle stiffened, her heart in her mouth, as she heard the key being inserted into the front door. She knew it was stupid, but the little girl buried inside her was still terrified of the woman about to walk in that door. She shuddered as the memories came flooding back. This woman had made her life a living hell, every single day, for the first fourteen years of her life!

  And then she felt Lyricus’ arms tighten around her, and the frightened little girl melted away. Instead, the strong, loved, and confident person she’d become over the last six months sucked in a huge breath and smiled up at Lyricus, grateful he was there.

  Griz stood in the lounge room, muttering and cursing to herself about 'the idiots she had to deal with'. She lit the candles scattered around the room, and closed the curtains at every window. Obviously satisfied that she was away from prying eyes, and thinking herself alone, she began to transform.

  Even though they’d seen transformations before, seeing a woman transform was a whole new experience. They watched open-mouthed as the grim, hard-faced woman melted away, to be replaced by a majestic looking, silver-haired, nine-tailed fox. How could something that looked so beautiful be so evil?

  The creature’s face split into an evil smile as she shook herself. Still stunned from the transformation, Belle almost vomited when Griz began to lick her paws and groom herself. Unable to watch the sickening display, she buried her face against Lyricus chest. How could she have lived with this… thing… all those years and not known?

  Lyricus squeezed her arm, and when she looked up he smiled and nodded towards Griz. Relieved to find the creature had finished her ‘grooming session’, she watched as Griz reached down in front of her, and a paw disappeared inside what appeared to be some sort of pouch. When the paw re-emerged, it was clutching what Belle could only assume was a star ball.

  She watched, stunned, as Griz placed the ball on the table and it began to spin. When it was spinning faster than the eye could follow, a red light erupted from within, and hovered above the spinning ball. The faint outline of a kitsune’s face appeared in the light.

  “Ah Grizzarda, what have you to report?”

  “Good evening, Excellency. Things are progressing as planned. By this time tomorrow, another village will have been cleansed of those with Gifts. The gullible fools have no idea, as usual.” She snickered, the sound coming out more like an evil hiss.

  “Excellent work Grizzarda. I told the Supreme Council you were the perfect choice for the job, and I’m pleased you are proving me right. When your job is finished, you will be welcomed home with the rewards you so richly deserve. I assume you are ready for the new portal? Just point the ball towards where you want it, and I’ll send through the power.”

  “Thank you Excellency. I am forever your grateful servant.” Griz bowed in front of the ball, then lifted and pointed it towards the front door of the house. A small dot of light appeared, just like the one Belle had seen back in The Circle on her fourteenth birthday. And just like it had that first time, the light expanded until it was the size of a door. The glowing light faded as the portal settled into place around the existing doorframe, until it could only be seen by someone actually looking for it.

  Slowly the ball stopped spinning, and the light evaporated. Grinning with satisfaction, Griz slipped the seemingly harmless ball back into her pouch. Belle released the breath she’d been holding, and looked at her friends in horror. They had to do something! Any child entering the house tomorrow would be forced to walk through the portal, unaware that it could be signing their death warrant.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  -The Star Ball-

  Leah sat in the corner of the lounge room with her friends, totally gobsmacked by what she’d just seen. Watching the kitsunes interact, and witnessing the power they possessed, had made her blood run cold. How were they ever going to defeat these powerful beings? Sure, they could take out one at a time with the amulet, but this was way bigger than anyone had realised. Stopping these monsters was going to take way more than three kids wielding an amulet!

  Suddenly, she just wanted to be like any other normal fourteen-and-a-half-year-old, having fun and hanging out with her friends, totally oblivious to the horrors threatening their world. She sighed, knowing she could wish until she was blue in the face. She wasn’t just a normal kid, and people were depending on
her to step up and do her job.

  She saw the look on Belle’s face, and her heart went out to her friend. This might be horrifying for all of them, but she couldn’t even imagine how Belle must be feeling. No wonder her life had been a living hell! Just the thought of having to live in the same house with a kitsune for fourteen years was enough to make her skin crawl.

  As if sensing what Leah was thinking, Belle turned to look at them, her eyes blazing. “Let’s do this! It’s time to let the amulet deal with this monster!”

  The group nodded and stood up, the shield evaporating from around them as they stepped out of the shadows.

  The kitsune’s face broke into a snarl, her teeth bared. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the elusive mixed-bloods I’ve heard so much about. My week just keeps getting better and better. When I tell the Supreme Council I disposed of you lot, my reward will be greater than my wildest dreams!”

  Belle stepped forward in front of the others, smiling at the startled recognition in Griz’s eyes. “Really? You recognise me? I would’ve thought I was way too insignificant to be remembered by someone as busy as you. It’s funny really. I can remember a time when I’d have rather died than ever set eyes on you again. But, as it turns out, the cursed, black-skinned girl you tormented all those years has come back to haunt you. I thought I’d have a lot to say to you tonight, but I’ve decided you’re not even worth the breath it would take.”

  The kitsune's eyes flicked toward the chair behind the desk just for an instant, and then it was flying through the air towards Belle. Leah grinned as Belle vanished, the chair bouncing harmlessly off the shield surrounding her. The kitsune’s eyes widened as Belle reappeared next to her friends.