Dragon Frost

by S. J. Wist

  "Putting that aside for now, we want to help train you to use Thread," Xirel said. "But a great deal of your mind is sealed off by someone more than a beginner with it. At first, we thought it might be another psi, possibly even Nafury, but we're not so sure anymore."

  "I don't understand," Ubi said, playing innocent.

  Loki looked for a moment at Xirel, before looking back at her. "We want to do everything we can to have your trust. You are important to us because you are a Fay and you're Sybl's daughter."

  "That and I also care for you beyond those reasons alone," Xirel added. "I am certain that I never stopped caring about you since we first met on Earth in our other lifetime."

  Ubi blushed, and she unconsciously squeezed her True phelan till it squeaked.

  "It's not like age is a problem," Loki said, lightening the air around them. "Technically, you're older than all of us combined." He finished with a wide smile.

  "I guess you're right," Ubi said, while trying to rub the blush out of her cheeks.

  "You don't have to say anything in return," Xirel said. "I won't sit here and pretend to understand all of what you've been through. Nor will I ever force you to reveal your feelings about me. I just thought that it was important to be made known." He leaned forward and pulled himself to his feet then, and walked over to the exit.

  Loki took the True from Ubi, and she got up and went over to Xirel.

  "Your uncle sure is taking his time. What is he doing?" Xirel asked, feeling that a change of subject was in order. "At the very least he could respond to my psi."

  "He saw his helmet and thinks a chimera returned it. It sounded important to him," Ubi said.

  "His helmet? The one that Feryl took?" Xirel said with a serious tone. Immediately he looked at the True that Loki was holding. "Kenshe."

  Kenshe returned a smile of all teeth, before Loki stood up and threw the pup against a wall. The phelan scrambled back to his feet and shook the hit off, before shifting into his human appearance in a rush of brown and grey mist. "You really are getting old, Xirel."

  Xirel answered by unsheathing his blade as Loki did the same with his daggers. "What do you want?"

  "He wants to die," Ubi said, furious from being duped by the phelan shifter. She looked for Kenshe's shift, and forced her will on it to attack him. Only the phelan spirit didn't respond to her power. "Why isn't...my power working?"

  Kenshe's smile grew wider when the effects of having tasting her blood proved to have bonuses. "I just stopped by to say hi, but if you want a fight," he said, unsheathing his own blade. Then he grabbed several Threads leading to Loki and Xirel. "Mind you, the full body bath was really nice."

  Ubi's fury with him rose another level.

  "You have spilled enough blood in my home. There is the door," Xirel said, walking away from it, as he pulled Ubi behind him.

  They all stopped in their tracks when the mountain shook all around them.

  "What was that?" Loki asked, as he tried to get a reading from the Threads, as Xirel kept hold of Kenshe's lifelines.

  The shrilling cry from a dragon echoed through the halls of the mountain.

  "I swear if he's gone berserk again...!" Xirel said.

  Kenshe knew he was high up on the dragon's hit list and would die if he remained cornered. It was then that he noticed the wall move from behind Xirel. "Xirel, LOOK OUT!"

  Xirel spun around on sensing what he saw too late. He pulled Ubi out of harms way as a scythe-like arm cut through the air and hit his sword arm instead of landing on her. His blade dropped to the floor, and he stumbled backwards. The Sentry gave him no time to change the Threads he was holding.

  The Sentry lifted its arm to attack again, and Loki disabled its Threads. The monster cried out in pain and lifted its other arm to strike.

  Kenshe was now in his larger shifted form, and launched himself at it, landing his teeth in the Sentry's neck.

  The Sentry thrashed around violently, screaming as it tried to throw Kenshe from it. Its own blood was betraying its invisibility. Finally, it suffocated, and Kenshe dropped it, where it shortly after turned into stardust. He backed away to catch his breath.

  Ubi looked at Loki as he went over to Xirel and started to heal his arm.

  "We have to get out of the mountain. There's no room to fight in here," Loki said, trying to remain calm.

  They pulled Xirel to his feet just as another cry from the White Death went out. They ran for the exit to the cavern, but just before they could reach it, it collapsed as the mountain shook again. They were now sealed inside.

  "Dammit," Loki said and looked for another way out. There were no other exits or any windows to the room. Then he looked at Kenshe as his hand was bleeding. The phelan shifter touched the stone floor, forming a Rift to the Keol. "How can you do that? There has to be thousand tons of stone between us and the bottom of this mountain."

  "It only works one way," Kenshe replied. "You coming?"

  Loki gulped and looked at Xirel. "The Keol will kill us instantly."

  "Yeah, I figured that. Best of luck then," Kenshe said with an insincere tone. He looked up as several stone slabs dislodged from the ceiling. He stepped out of the way to avoid being crushed, and they broke into hundreds of pieces on hitting the ground.

  "You have to go with him," Xirel said, and pulled away from Ubi. "The Keol won't effect you like it does us with your estus energy to protect you."

  "I'm not leaving you," she pleaded, and held tightly onto his arm.

  "Loki and I can get out of here, but outside are the Sentry. You will be safe in the Keol. Please, Ubi. They are after you. They may even call off the attack entirely with you absent."

  "Let's go, brat," Kenshe said and grabbed Ubi's arm like she were a doll and dragged her to the Rift.

  Ubi kicked and screamed as she tried to break free of his grip, but it was no use. The phelan shifter was as strong as she was.

  "Kenshe, if you harm her--!" Xirel warned.

  "Relax, she's no longer a threat to me and I have no taste for killing females." He threw her into the dark puddle of the Rift, which she fell through and into the Keol. "If you live, you can come and pick her up at the Atrum. She's likely to try my patience rather fast, so don't take too long." At that, Kenshe entered the Rift after her.

  Kenshe emerged in the Keol to find Ubi pacing about as her feet burned from the hot, solid lava under her. He leaned down and touched the ground with his estus energy, cooling it down. After a few moments she stopped pacing.

  "Let me out of here! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Ubi shouted at him.

  "Good, cause I had no intention to take you back to the Atrum. Despite the fact that you almost killed me, I honestly wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to believe that you were Sybl's daughter and that you had a reason to be alive and on Aster for that matter. I even doubted my best friend. I thought that maybe for the first time in all of Kas' incarnations that he actually made a mistake. I mean, banish his own daughter? Who does that? Heck, 'monster' is an overused term on Aster if anything. But now I get it. I understand why I had to watch Kas slowly die inside every single day. He withered away, unable to touch his own soultwin without being crippled inside. All the reasons to why he had to suffer lead back to you."

  "Stop it!" Ubi screamed at him. "You don't know anything!"

  "No, no, I don't think so. You see, where you cross my line of no return is your feelings for your mother. I watched her suffer through so much pain and like you, a lifetime of being unwanted. Despite that she still gave the last of herself to keep us all here and alive today. You are a selfish bitch to think that you are the only one in the whole universe who has suffered!" Kenshe shouted at her.

  Ubi fell to her knees, sobbing. "Stop...it!"

  "Well, you've sealed your own Fate. I hate Nafury, but at the same time I feel sorry for him for when he does find out what you've been hiding. If there is any mercy left in Aragmoth, he will die here and today."

  "He can'
t find out!" Ubi pleaded. "Please, stop this! What do you want? I... I can go with you. Surely a Fay is still of use to you?"

  "I don't want you. You quite frankly disgust me. No, I'm going to leave you right here in this hellish desert where you belong. Aragmoth can deal with you if he wants. But do yourself a favour and don't call for Nafury's help when he wakes up from his berserked state. Let him think you're dead--I know you're much better with psi Thread than you've been letting on. Because I've seen what Nafury turns into when furious, both as Damek and with Cirrus. I seriously doubt that your mother would intervene when Nafury tears your heart out. She was never a fool." Kenshe shifted into his phelan form at that and turned to leave.

  "No, wait!" Ubi screamed and ran towards him. Only it was too late as he took off without hesitation, leaving a flurry of black ashes behind him.

  Ubi let her cries vibrate through all Aragmoth's Threads around her as she called for help. She didn't want to die forgotten in such a hell. Something answered her, and she looked ahead as a phelan appeared. At first she thought it was Kenshe, until she could see that its fur was a deep black and not a grizzled brown.

  It walked closer to her and she stood at the ready, not knowing what it would do. It said nothing as it crouched down before her, offering her a lift.

  Ubi calculated her options, then took the phelan shifter's offer and climbed onto his back. It turned and then started at a quick run.

  Kenshe returned to where he had left Ubi, but found no trace of her. Whatever had found her didn't leave a Thread of scent behind that he could follow. He reached out his psi to her, but a surge of pain struck him back. Fear began to swell up in him of just what had caused her to vanish into thin air.

  NINETEEN

  They were waiting for something, and she had no idea what. Ubi watched the phelan shifters around her carefully, as they did the same with her. No one said anything, as they continued to talk to only each other by psi. Her phelan shifter rescuer had brought her here, to a cave under a large cliff. They were some ways from the Atrum as only its dark Aur could be seen hitting the atmosphere in the distance. She looked at her rescuer as he brought a bowl of soup from the pot at the center of their camp to her. With every inch of her starved, she took it and thanked him. "Where have you brought me?"

  "This is our camp," were the first words she heard from him. "Right now you're about twenty miles from Atrum City." He sat down a comfortable distance in front of her, all the while keeping his eyes locked with hers. He was a young shifter, as his red eyes still glowed bright with energy and he had no scars. His long, black hair fell to his waist, and looked like it hadn't been brushed for a while. "What's your name?"

  "Ubi," she replied, between spoonfuls of her soup.

  "I'm Terren," he replied. "You seem rather lost. Do you belong to anyone?"

  Ubi set the empty bowl down on the ground after a few minutes and shook her head. She looked to the cave some meters away as an old woman appeared from within it. Her hair draped her in silver, and her red eyes were cloudy. Her clothes, drapes of dark fabric, were long due for repairs. The ayame looked older than everyone she had ever met, combined.

  "This one is special, Terren," the old ayame said, walking closer to them. "You must not speak to her as if she were a mere commoner."

  Terren looked at the ayame and nodded, before looking back at Ubi. "Her energy is unlike anything I've ever seen. Who is she, Mother?"

  "She is the dark Fay--daughter of Erebus and Asil," the old ayame said. Any and all whispers, aloud and by psi stopped within the Pack as all eyes focused on Ubi. "I do not understand why such a precious one as your self would have been left alone in the Keol."

  "The Sentry attacked the Efereal Mountains. Kenshe helped me get out, but then left me behind," Ubi explained.

  "Kenshe?" the Mother Weaver said. "He would defy the caels directly by abandoning you in the Keol?"

  "Well, that may prove a problem if he changes his mind," Terren added.

  "I'm not going anywhere with him. He left my friends to die in the Efereal Mountains," Ubi said bitterly.

  "Who are your friends, if I may ask my lady?" Terren said.

  "Xirel and Loki."

  The whispers started up again all around her, until Mother Weaver silenced them.

  "If Kenshe comes for her, can we defeat him?" Terren asked.

  Mother Weaver pulled a pouch from her belt and then reached in it to pull out several grey stones. She threw them on the ground before her, then kneeled and touched one after the other with her index finger. Two from the Pack helped back to her feet when she lacked the strength to stand up straight again. "The Atrum Lord has lost favour with the Caelestis from his countless atrocities. But our actions must coincide with this Fay's will as well. Tell me Ubi, would you stay with us?"

  Ubi didn't know what she wanted to do at this point. All she knew is that she couldn't go back to Kenshe, and that her heart wouldn't let her face Nafury. She had broken her promise to him to be honest. She had been too much of a coward to tell him everything, and now he might be dead because of her. All she could do was stay out of the way of everyone so that no one else got hurt because of her.

  Terren stood up and closed the distance between them.

  Ubi looked around the Pack, and then for what had been bothering her since she arrived. The Pack's shifts were completely fearless of her. It was as if they had no fear of her harming their hosts... Because their hosts were already dead. "You're Awls?"

  Terren smiled and nodded.

  "Wait, but you called her 'Mother,'" Ubi pointed out, and looked at the old ayame. Her shift rested near the entrance to the cave.

  "That's because I gave birth to each and every one of them, child," Mother Weaver explained. "I have served in three different Packs in my lifetime. While I am still alive, my children have taken different paths towards their Fates."

  Ubi was stunned now, as there were at least two dozen of the phelan Awls, all males from what she could tell. She couldn't imagine losing so many children to death. "I'm sorry," she said solemnly.

  "Why ever are you sorry, child? I sense that you cannot hear the Great Dragon yet. His voice is always on the wind. His will is a constant vibration beneath our feet and in the Animus Threads. When Sentry fall to Aster to become Awls, they only succeed if they accept that Aragmoth is this world. My children were spared by the Great Dragon and given near-immortality. I do not mourn for them, for they are still very much with me."

  "That and we are the one and only Ghost Pack," another phelan Awl said. "If Kenshe wants a fight, I hope he's ready to lose."

  "Do not boast, Hiro," Mother Weaver scorned him. "Kenshe is the son of one of the Four Generals, one of the very first Awls. The blood of Solar in his veins will give him the fire to fight well past any normal phelan. He will be your greatest challenge yet."

  "Of course, Mother," Hiro said apologetically. "But if we win, may we keep the prize?"

  Ubi's face went red from how the phelan Awl was looking at her now.

  "If she knows with Loki, then he will likely come looking for her soon," Terren said. Hiro sulked and walked away at that. "But it would be an honour to protect you until then. The dragon Awl is a powerful ally to make." He reached out his hand to her then. "If you want to stay with us, we can protect you."

  Ubi calculated her options, then took his hand. She only wanted to see Loki and Xirel again, even if she had no right to.

  Ubi had forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by so many friendly people. The Weaver's Pack had loosened up around her, and now they were all laughing about random things from Earth around the fire.

  "I want to drive one of those car things one day," Hiro said, as he looked at Ubi. "If I ever go to Earth, it's the first thing I'm going for. Have you ever driven one?"

  "No, you have to be a certain age to get a license for it. And you have to have money to afford a car. I've been moved around in them, though," Ubi replied.

  "How fast do they go? Are t
hey faster than us?" Hiro asked.

  "Not a chance," Terren said, certain.

  Ubi laughed as the others did the same. Then their laughter was suddenly interrupted by a low hum of a Call, and they looked to Mother Weaver.

  "Kenshe's here. Let's give him our best show," Terren said, and took on the form of his phelan spirit.

  The others of the Pack did the same, and Ubi was left alone with the old ayame. "Will they be okay?"

  'The Great Dragon favours us today, do not worry yourself. My children, as they are now, have never been defeated in battle.'

  Ubi got up and fixed Mother Weaver's blanket on her shoulders. Then she stood up straight and looked in the direction that she could hear Kenshe calling for her. A thick, white mist filled the air. It blinded the sight of anyone who looked for something past the distance of their own feet. She thought that if the Great Dragon did serve any kind of justice, this might be it. Maybe today Kenshe would pay for the lives he took at Xirel's home.

  She sat next to Mother Weaver and closed her eyes. She searched for Terren's psi and found it. He returned comforting thoughts to her, before his psi focused back on the battle at hand.

  Kenshe knew he was in for a fight when the mist began to rise around him. The Ghost Pack had been a myth; a ghost story to scare the youngsters with, only it seemed very real now. The entire area of Threads had been weaved against him, and any one that he touched could spring an attack on him. "Ubi!" he called out, knowing that he had to get her to reach out to him if he was going to get anywhere. "Ubi, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. And you know I hate Nafury and Xirel, so what business would I have telling them anything?"

  "GO AWAY!" she yelled back.

  Kenshe pinpointed the direction of her voice. But before he could make a move, a Thread to his legs snapped, and it sent him tumbling forward to the ground. He kept his calm as the teeth from the phelan Awl came down on him next. It passed through him, as it was still bound to the Laws of Aragmoth. At least there was someone on his side. As long as he didn't make himself a threat, he wouldn't be eaten. Only that wouldn't stop the Awls from snapping every life Thread in him. The black phelan vanished back into the mist like a shadow, and Kenshe slowly got back to his feet.