Soul Taker's Redemption

by A. S. Hamilton

  I turned to see that Jay had come to the door, the gun I gave her held hesitantly up, ready to be aimed and fired. For a moment, all I could hear was our breathing; me a little more rapidly than Jay. I backed up, nudging Jay back into the house. I shut the sliding door and locked it.

  'Do you think there was only one?' Her eyes said she dearly hoped that was the case, but doubted it.

  'Not likely. There were three when we were attacked on the hiking trail.'

  The shriek of sirens rose and fell in the distance. Someone had called the police.

  I calmly took out my phone and dialled. 'Tien? There'll be reports of shots being fired. I can hear them coming. It's us. We're okay. Just a bit of panic. Can you call them off?'

  Tien paused for a long moment, but ultimately she trusted me. 'Stuart will want a report...'

  'That's fine, but do you think it can wait till morning? I promise, we're fine and I'll explain it all.'

  'First thing.'

  'I'll bring coffee,' I promised. After I hung up, I turned to Jay. 'Get that painting off the wall in your room for me, hun.'

  She didn't question the strange request and while she was gone, I dashed into the laundry to grab some tools. I checked that the drill still had charge and sorted through a box of screws for some long enough to do the job I wanted. Then I used a dustpan broom to sweep the glass from the bench to the floor.

  When Jay returned, I hopped up on to the bench. 'Help me position it.'

  Jay figured out my plan, which was to use the painting to cover up the hole left by the shattered window. After helping me position it, she handed me the drill and screws before getting the larger broom to clear up the floor.

  'It's not a great option, but better than going out to the garden shed for some plywood.'

  The painting was of horses grazing in a green pasture backed by woodland. Jay had been horse crazy as a kid and we bought the painting for her room as a twelfth birthday gift. I drilled through the frame rather than damaging the actual painting as I could replace the frame easily enough. When I finished, we both stood back and considered the peaceful scene for a few silent minutes.

  'I really need to learn how to use a gun,' Jay said quietly.

  Therion

  [You Want a Battle? (Here's a War) – Bullet For My Valentine]

  The chill from the stone floor seeped through to my bones. Every joint felt stiff and my muscles were aching terribly. I tentatively pushed my wings out a little. Like the rest of me, the joints ached, but would function. Dragging my knees under me, I stifled a groan and used the wall to pull myself half-way up, still on my knees, but upright. I slowly turned to put the wall at my back and used it to support me. It was an awkward position, but I would wait for the fogginess to pass before I tried getting to my feet. The drug cocktail Ulyn used to knock me out caused the horrible aching. Unfortunately for me, it was not an unfamiliar experience. Ulyn called the drug Inertia. She had created it specifically to incapacitate therilgalen. Once administered, its effect was almost instant. The 'syringe' Ulyn used was a cylinder full of tiny needles; you barely felt it, which was essential when you wanted to incapacitate a soul taker without them realising. Considering that, at its peak, the fury can almost obliterate our ability to reason, it is an essential tool when handling soul takers of any kind.

  'I thought you would know better.' Qu-te-se looked faintly amused. He was leaning on the end of one of the benches filled with monitors. From what I could see, I was in one of the two smaller holding cells at the end of the eastern wall; closest to Ulyn's quarters.

  'I gather word of my capture is widely spread,' I retorted drily.

  'Actually,' he said as he crossed over to the cell, 'Ulyn has kept it pretty quiet. I was called to watch you while she saw to Jasilen. It turns out, you shattered both her wings, such was the force you used to throw her against the wall.'

  I grunted at this news, dropping my head and closing my eyes wearily, wishing the cursed drug would wear off. 'I'd hoped to break her deceitful, little neck,' I muttered, looking back up.

  Qu-te-se leaned against the stone wall framing my cell and looked down at me, still on my knees. He shook his head but gave me a smile. Despite being branded a traitor, you are still legendary among the therilgalen. This,' he gestured to the cell with his chin, 'may dent your reputation a little.'

  I looked up and somehow found it in me to give him a genuine smile. 'How will I ever cope?' I drawled. 'I am only 'legendary', as you say, because I am the first,' I demurred.

  Qu-te-se nodded slowly. 'That is a part of it. Yet, you are fierce in everything you do. I watch Ulyn bow and cower before our god, but you always stand, confident and unafraid, and you never flinch from his gaze. Not all will rejoice in your capture. If, that is, you remained captured long enough.'

  His remark made me pause to fully consider my dilemma. I had to get out, not just to save myself, but to return to Jayden. Even though I'd left Bastien a message, there was no guarantee he would get to her before another attack.

  I looked about the cell, there was the usual rectangular hole in the bottom to slip in food for those beings who needed it. There was another, smaller one, about halfway up, this was to give access to a stun-rod or to administer drugs through a syringe on a pole, usually to induce unconsciousness in order to move the subject. I knew from past experiences that the panes were quite breakable, given a creature with enough motivation and strength. A harpy had once escaped using her talons to attack the pane, all the while screeching at such a frequency she slowed those who were trying to stop her— it is hard to charge an attacker when your ears are bleeding and your head feels like it might implode. I'd seen a centaur use her hooves... I did not have hooves, but I had sufficient strength, given the right leverage. I looked at the hole near the floor and then the one in the middle of the pane again; these were weaknesses I could exploit. Except I would have to wait for Qu-te-se to leave, else he would be obligated to oppose me. Unless I, too, used my version of a screech.

  'I was always amazed…' Qu-te-se remarked. I had dropped my head again and now I looked up to see that he, too, was gazing at the gap in the pane near the floor. '…that Ulyn never made some sound-proof cells.' He looked up to meet my gaze. 'Especially if you take into account that our race can use a shriek pitched at the right tone to paralyse others.' He was now pointedly staring at me. I wondered if he was also remembering that harpy.

  Finally, I pushed myself to my feet, groaning inwardly as my body objected. I moved to a corner of the cell where I could just see most of the way to the other end of the room. 'She might accept that I overpowered you…'

  'And yet, you will not do it. You will not take the chance that Ulyn might punish me.' He shook his head, 'Even when we fought, you never severely harmed me. Others, you killed, me…' He sighed. 'You know you will become her new favourite toy. She'll call it scientific interest, but it will just be an excuse to sate her sadistic appetite.'

  I huffed in agreement. The things Ulyn did in the name of 'scientific interest' well over-stepped the term; her cruelty was boundless. I remember her last 'brainwave' before I defected. Without anaesthetic, she cut into my upper arms and shoulders splicing in the armoured scales from a pherelmiir that suddenly found itself on the table next to me. I remember how the poor creature looked, its six legs splayed to each side, paws scrabbling in the air, all seven 'tails', including the two on each shoulder, trying to batter away its assailants. The fine-boned head had thrashed violently as Ulyn cut into it. All four eyes had expressed great agony and the high-pitched mewls of the minor dragon reminded me of a whale's distress call. If Ulyn was not convinced that Qu-te-se had earnestly tried to prevent my escape, he would end up strapped to a table with a scalpel poised above him.

  'Is that why you just left last time? When you were protecting the assassin,' I asked.

  A smile flickered and faded. 'She gave me so much grief over that.' He was silent for a long moment. 'I think I always understood why you left, but it
was easier to pretend I hated you than to accept your absence.' Then, 'I can handle myself, Therion.' His tone was firm. He levelled his gaze at me. 'Do not make me watch her torture you.'

  Shadows flickered in the stairwell. Moving away from the wall, I dropped to my hands and knees, as if just regaining consciousness. Qu-te-se became tense and moved back to the bench he'd been leaning on. Ulyn entered just as he settled himself. She ducked behind the moveable dividers and re-emerged at the other end of them.

  When she was close enough Qu-te-se said in a disinterested tone, 'He is just waking, Master.'

  'He has recovered already?' There was surprise in her tone, and pride.

  I glared at her through my hair.

  Ulyn, a una-sterath, is part dragon, part human, but more the former than the latter. She looks like a dragon that has evolved to walk upright, retaining strong rear legs. Her tail allows her to jump several feet high, and, together with the talons on her feet, enables her to balance on a sliver of ledge. She chased after me often enough for me to know well just how swift and agile she can be. Like all her kind, she has golden scales, but her spikes and the armoured scales about them have a pearlescent quality. Two ram-like horns arc back from behind pointed ears and extend along either side of her throat. A fan-shaped bony crest starts at the bridge of her nose and wraps over her horns. Two more horns jut from each forearm and several smaller ones along the back of her neck, they diminish into armoured scales but start up again near her long, whip-like tail. Her shoulders are heavily armoured, the scales ending in horn-like spikes. The scales covering her back are slightly wider and thicker around the horns along her neck and spine. It reminded me of the change I observed in the latest generation of therilgalen and I wondered whether she had been interspersing her own DNA with the therilgalen. Her eyes, widely set, are gold, with no pupil or iris. Like female therilgalen, she wore an armoured halter, as well as a kilt that accommodates her tail.

  'Jasilen is fine,' Ulyn informed me, sounding a little smug, like she knew I would not be at all aggrieved to hear otherwise.

  'I will be more thorough next time,' I retorted.

  This earned me a pensive look and then a smile. 'You are still worth keeping, I think.' Then after a thoughtful moment, she added, 'Even if you have allowed yourself to be led astray. My therilgalen! Everything a hunter could be.' Her tone dropped to a scornful drawl. 'Reduced to protecting humans.'

  'You must want that human quite badly to sacrifice three therilgalen to her capture. I am right, am I not? You did not want to kill Jayden Emerline Thaneton. Oh, they made a good show of pretending to try to kill her— the shadre venom was a risk— but somehow all their attempts were off the mark. The more I think about it, the more obvious it was that you wanted the guardian to believe she was dead without actually killing her.'

  She gave me a sly smile. 'I am always amazed at your combination of brute strength and intelligence. We planned to heal her if the venom proved too much.'

  'The human interested me more than your precious Jasilen,' I said with a sneer in my tone.

  The barb struck home, Ulyn bared her teeth. How easy it was to provoke her. Then she frowned and moved closer to my cell. 'Really? You are attracted to the human?'

  I ground my teeth. 'I did not say that, just that I found the human a more appealing alternative.'

  'What of her scent?' Ulyn said as if Jasilen was an object, not a sentient being. 'Surely it tempted you?'

  'To rip out her throat,' I replied mildly.

  Ulyn frowned again, this time more deeply. 'Really?' she repeated slowly. 'Outside of increasing its potency, I did not alter its chemical composition,' she added introspectively. She thought for a few minutes and then asked, 'Do you think it was something they did to you?'

  They would be Aurealis.

  'Aurealis only provided me with a broader range of energy sources. The mistake is entirely yours.'

  Her tail started lashing side to side.

  'Aurealis speaks a truth that may provide insight. She is, after all, a god of nature and evolution. She says, too much of a good thing can be as detrimental as not enough.'

  If a look could have a physical effect, the rage in Ulyn's eyes would have incinerated me.

  'Speaking of the light-dweller, I am not the only one who wants the human, else you would not be her protector,' Ulyn replied archly.

  'I do not think Aurealis intends to abduct her, disconnect spirit from vessel, turn her into something well beyond the human form she has known this lifetime, and then enslave her.'

  Ulyn tisked softly. 'Oh, Therion. I will do no more than nudge her spirit through a natural change, much like I did for you.'

  I surged to my feet. 'Much like Ceri-talen did. You...' I found myself speechless for a moment at the unmistakeable audacity of her claim. 'You merely undertook my supervision.' She took an involuntary step back at the intensity of my rage. 'You belittle the significance of what was done to me,' I continued. 'I know now what awaited me once I reached the end of my natural life... And you took that from me. You. Stole. My. Freedom.'

  Ulyn rallied, anger reigniting in her eyes. 'Far from it. I gave you freedom!' She drew her head back to regard me imperiously. 'The lies you believe. Your spirit was stunted, crushed into an inadequate vessel, diminished, never able to achieve its potential. Ceri-talen freed your spirit, an accelerated evolution, you could call it. You may not credit my involvement as essential, but Ceri-talen needed my knowledge to fine-tune your transformation. I nurtured you, brought out those things that make you such a powerful spirit. Do you think you could tolerate a spear through the chest and keep fighting were it not for the hours of pain I taught you to endure? I broke you and strengthened you so you could overcome greater obstacles, greater opponents.'

  I huffed, yes, that's what she told herself. I had witnessed more mutilations and experiments than I could keep track of, there was nothing natural or freeing about it. I snarled. 'Nurtured?' I shook my head, there would be no changing her distorted view. 'If it is so natural,' I countered, 'Jayden Emerline Thaneton can definitely do without your interference.'

  Still standing off to the side, Qu-te-se was looking anxious. He'd expected a confrontation, but nothing as intense as this.

  Ulyn showed her fangs again at my sharp comment, seeing it for the condemnation it was. Then a mischievous glitter sparked in her eyes. 'Aurealis will have to see to the human's protection without you, now, because you were foolish enough to venture here...' Ulyn gave me another of her smug looks. 'No doubt you had some plan to sabotage my efforts, but I have thwarted you and gained a boon unexpected.'

  I let a growl rumble through my throat and turned my head away, better to hide my intentions. I made sure I could just see Ulyn in my peripheral though; one did not leave themselves blind to such an opponent.

  'Not that you should let that distress you overly much,' Ulyn added nonchalantly. 'For you will have company soon enough, because, even now, my sister Uea is readying to retrieve your human.'

  I still had my head turned away, and at this revelation I made myself remain very still. Even if Bastien heeded my message, even if Aurealis sent another guardian, their chances of holding off Uea were doubtful. I had stalled enough, with Ulyn present Qu-te-se could not be blamed.

  It was time to leave.

  My silence amused Ulyn and she chuckled softly. 'My lost little therilgalen, Aurealis's influence has not benefitted you. Risking so much for naught but a human. At least there will be plenty of time to re-train you.' She pressed her lips together. 'In the meantime, I will need some blood. You have changed quite a bit since you absconded and I need to determine what those changes are and whether any of them can be reversed.'

  She made it sound like I was a truant child, and, as she moved closer to my cell, I saw that in the hand partially hidden behind her back was a rod with a syringe on it.

  I turned to face her fully. 'Oh, if blood is all you need, all this,' I indicated the cell around me, 'is not necessary.' I
raised my chin, locking my gaze with hers. 'I will quite willingly give you blood,' I told her, my voice low and full of threat.

  Hitting the right note when using our paralysing shriek is more difficult than it seems. When I first discovered I could do it, I had been just as surprised as my opponent at the time. Many hours of practicing later I could almost always get it right, but not with any consistency. Now, I know exactly which pitch to choose and how long to do it to achieve the results I want. And so I let out a long, high shriek, using the movement to also push my fangs fully forward, triggering my venom.

  She was not expecting it. Ulyn had trained us through excruciating punishments never to shriek in her presence. She must have assumed I still feared her too deeply to dare shrieking; it was the only reason I could think of to explain why she had not done anything to silence me. Qu-te-se was expecting it, and he still shuddered as his nervous system jerked in response and then froze. I gripped the pane at the gap near the floor and the hole further up and wrenched it towards me; I would not have long. My muscles screamed as I lunged forward and jerked back again. The pane creaked in its frame. Gathering my will, I drew in the energies around me and pushed them at the pane. At the same time, I rammed my shoulder into it. A loud crack and then snap threw me off balance. I pushed myself up, backed up to the wall and rushed forward to throw my weight against the cracked pane. Desperately, I repeated the move, jumping slightly so that I slammed all my weight against it. I fell through as it gave. Because Qu-te-se and Ulyn were standing so close, the large segments of broken panes rammed into them as I came through, knocking them to the ground. Granoult were already pouring into the room, their ears shut tight against another shriek.

  I did shriek again, to keep Qu-te-se and Ulyn immobile. Then, I tossed the segment of pane off Ulyn. She was on her side, giving easy access to her neck. I applied a pinch hold that I knew would send her into unconsciousness. It took longer, but because of the bony crest one cannot hit a una-sterath in the temple and hope to reliably achieve the same effect. I could have killed her, but I was worried about the consequences it might have for Qu-te-se if he was held responsible. Killing her might also draw Ceri-talen's attention; he would feel the loss of such a significant spirit. For now, immobilising her would suffice.