Kyrah’s thin smile at the memory broke the somber mood she’d been in, and the thought lingered with her for a brief moment before she went on again.
“The urge to feed first came upon me in my teenage years.” The note of resignation in Kyrah’s voice was tinged with a hint of sadness. “My mother anticipated that day well in advance, and she provided me with the nourishment I needed, keeping me alive while preventing me from having to… prey on anyone else.”
Kyrah’s eyes welled up with emotion at the painful recollection. “When she died, I didn’t know how I would survive, but in my time of grief, the friends I’d made over the years came to my aid. They not only continued to hide me from those who might wish to cause me harm, but several also volunteered to let me take what I needed from them. Some only out of curiosity, but most simply had a sincere desire to help.”
“That village was like a Godsend to me, Ashíel, and I came to think of the people there not just as my neighbors, but as my family.” Kyrah hung her head in despair again as she spoke. “Now, they’re all going to suffer for the kindness they showed me.”
“The Nér-vrogan you killed was Lady Vistaal, Lord Tarvul’s bonded.” I wasn’t sure what a ‘bonded’ was, but the way Kyrah said the word made me understand its profound significance. “I’ve heard rumors over the years that she was hunting an escaped prisoner or something, but I never realized that it was me she was after. My mother told me she’d always been jealous of Lord Tarvul’s dalliances. I guess the idea of some offspring of his roaming about freely was too much for her to tolerate.”
Well, fuck. I’d certainly managed to make some powerful enemies in my short time here. Even so, I didn’t regret my actions at all. Given the choice, I’d do it all over again—allowing Lady Vistaal to sink her filthy claws into Kyrah just wasn’t an option.
“I’m sorry, Kyrah.” Despite the danger I was in, I couldn’t help but feel for her. I might have been tricked by Noxyl, but ultimately, I’d chosen to upend my life. The abrupt upheaval Kyrah was experiencing had been forced on her by the vindictive Nér-vrogan noblewoman.
“I’ll get you somewhere safe, I promise,” I soothed, trying to reassure her. “There have to be more out-of-the-way villages like Greenly, where you can hide.”
Kyrah nodded almost numbly in response as she took another small bite of the dried meat. Watching her chew on the tiny morsel reminded me of something she’d said, an important consideration now that we were traveling through the wilderness together.
“When did you last feed?” I tried to pry the information from her as gently as I could. “And when will you need to again?”
Kyrah stared straight ahead for a moment before turning towards me. When she did, her narrowed eyes and tightly clenched jaw barely concealed her resentment as she answered.
“As long as I have enough red meat, I can hold out for a while,” her bitter tone took me by surprise. “You don’t have to concern yourself over being soiled with my mongrel needs.”
She’d obviously mistaken my inquiry for something else entirely, and for a moment, I could only stare back at her in shock. A sneer creased her lips when I failed to respond, one I might have mistaken for derision, but I knew it only served to hide her pain. Recognizing my mistake, I tried my best to make amends.
“Look at me, Kyrah.” I brushed aside my hair, exposing the rounded tips of my ears. “I understand why you may be suspicious, but we have more in common than you realize. All I’m trying to find out is how I can help you.”
Kyrah’s expression softened, and the tension flooded out of her shoulders at the subtle reminder of my own mixed heritage. She nodded back at me, accepting my explanation before replying.
“It’s not easy for me to believe that there are people willing to help someone like me,” she spoke softly, hardly daring to utter the words. “Aside from Greenly, nowhere was ever safe.”
“I don’t need to feed as often as a full-blood Nér-vrogan.” Kyrah finally met my gaze again when she answered my query. “If I have the right food, I can go several weeks, even months in-between.”
“That should cover our time on the road.” I tried to move our conversation past the awkward subject but only managed to bring up another issue. “What happens after that?”
“I’ll never find another place like Greenly.” A single tear rolled down Kyrah’s cheek as she spoke. “I can’t even let anyone know what I am for fear they’ll reject me. I’m going to have to become something I hate, one of the half-breeds who preys upon others in secret, hiding my true self in the shadows to take advantage of the unwary.”
I couldn’t help but feel responsible for Kyrah’s plight. Although she would have been in worse shape had Lady Vistaal gotten hold of her, it was my intervention that had cast her adrift in the world. Her own situation wasn’t much different from my own, in fact. We were both mongrel offspring cursed by the legacy of our misbegotten heritage. I might not have been willing to share the full story of my own checkered background, but knowing how closely our tales mirrored each other’s, I couldn’t let Kyrah suffer the fate she envisioned for herself.
“That’s not going to happen to you.” I took hold of her hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “I won’t allow it. I’ll find you a new home, Kyrah, somewhere you’ll be safe. Until then, you’re staying with me. You may have lost your friends in Greenly, but I’m not going anywhere.”
I’d never had many friends, none who I would have made such a powerful commitment to, anyway, but I already knew that Kyrah was… unique. We were kindred spirits, bound together by the pain we shared, and I couldn’t even consider abandoning her.
“Thank you,” Kyrah choked out the words before pulling away from me and swaddling herself up in her own blankets.
We didn’t speak again that night, and even though she tried to hide it from me, I heard Kyrah’s muffled sobbing until she finally drifted off to sleep. Keeping my promise to her wouldn’t be easy; she had no skills that would help her survive in the wilds. I knew that I might not be able to protect her from the dangers we were likely to encounter, so training her to defend herself would have to be a top priority.
Thoughts of just how I would accomplish that filled my mind as I lay down for the night. Casting Detect Life, I put aside my concerns for a while, knowing that I needed a decent night’s rest to face the challenges ahead of me in the morning.
8
Kyrah was awake well before me, and she roused me with a gentle nudge only after she’d already packed up almost our entire camp—not that there was all that much to it. Still, I appreciated her allowing me to sleep that much longer, and I got ready quickly, choosing to eat my breakfast as we traveled rather than delay any further.
No matter what else happened, I realized that putting as much distance between us and Greenly would be the key to our survival. The search would begin there, and being long gone before it even began would definitely shift the odds in our favor.
Kyrah seemed to understand this as well, and she wordlessly followed behind me as we set off. My original destination had been the Free Lands, and with nothing else to guide me, I continued heading north again. I soon realized that I had a local guide of sorts, however, so when we stopped for a lunch break, I consulted with Kyrah.
“I have no idea what’s around here,” I gestured at the surrounding trees as I confessed my ignorance to her. “All I know is that the Free Lands are to the north, so that’s where I’m heading.”
“Can you bring me there?” Kyrah’s face lit up at the mere mention of the supposedly safe haven. “Please take me with you.”
Shit. The distance we would have to travel to get there was vast. The Free Lands were in the distant north, and we were somewhere very near the center of the large continent of Runía. While I didn’t know precisely how far away we were, it would be at least weeks before we got there—yet I might have no other choice. It was unlikely I’d find any safe shelter for Kyrah along the way, and I resigned myself to h
aving to escort her halfway across Runía.
“On one condition,” I replied, letting her know this was not a negotiation.
She leaned forward, answering almost before I had the words out of my mouth. “Anything.”
“You will do whatever I tell you, no matter what,” my tone allowed for no mistaking my intentions. “That includes learning how to protect yourself, Kyrah. The road we travel will be a perilous one, and I can’t save you from all its dangers.”
She hesitated briefly before answering me this time, obviously trying to convince herself as well. “I… can do that.”
“Good, then we start right now.” I removed one of my daggers and handed it to her, keeping the two behind my back in place—those weren’t going anywhere.
Kyrah stared at the blade in her hands for a minute and seemed about to protest before letting out a resigned breath and securing it to her belt. I still felt that putting distance between us and our pursuers was most important, so training would have to wait until we stopped for the night, but at least she was armed for now. With both our course and circumstances somewhat decided, we resumed marching north in silence.
After traveling for most of the remainder of the day, I brought us to a halt when we stumbled across a decent clearing to spend the night. It was a bit earlier than I’d liked to have stopped, but I also had another item on my agenda, one I revealed to Kyrah as soon as our preparations were made.
“Now that everything is set up for the night, it’s time you learned how to use that.” I gestured towards the blade strapped to her waist.
Kyrah’s eyes lit up with near terror at the prospect, and she backed away a step before reining in her fears. Despite her revulsion at the task, she recognized the need to be prepared for the dangers we’d face, and Kyrah drew the weapon as she waited for my instruction.
“Not like that.” I tossed her a stick I’d picked up along the way and carved into a crude dagger-like shape, drawing another for myself as I did.
It was far too dangerous to practice with real blades, even against a novice. The relief on her face was noticeable as she grasped the wooden branch awkwardly, and I immediately corrected her grip before beginning. With a proper grasp on the ‘weapon,’ I started by demonstrating a few basic attacks, urging her to copy me as I coaxed her through the motions.
Although she was clearly uncomfortable, Kyrah took to the lessons well, picking up on my instructions almost instantly. Even though I knew better than to mention it, as we trained together, I saw traces of the same lightning-fast speed Lady Vistaal had displayed when she’d attacked me. Recalling not only that fight but also what had preceded it brought up a rather odd question in my mind, one I simply couldn’t keep to myself.
“Before Vistaal interrupted our discussion, you were about to tell me who you really were,” I began when our sparring was over, refusing to name the vicious woman a ‘Lady.’ “That would have risked everything for you. Why would you do that?”
“I was, and I don’t know,” Kyrah answered both my inquiries in a single breath. “You’re… different. Something told me right away that I could trust you; actually, it was more than that—I had to trust you. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound too fucking familiar…
“You know something about that?” Kyrah read the disgusted expression on my face quite easily.
“I… It’s not something I want to talk about.” After Kyrah had told me so much about herself, I hated to keep secrets from her, but the whole reason I was here was to escape from the Goddess and her legacy, not to be constantly reminded of it.
“You’re not the only one trying to escape from their past,” I confessed. “I have a rather questionable background I’m trying to overcome. What you sensed was probably the vestiges of that lineage.”
“You can make people feel things?” She pulled away, her words sounding far more like an accusation than a mere question.
“No!” I protested—correctly, I hoped. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t something I did or was even aware of at the time. I didn’t even realize it was possible until now.”
Manipulating people into doing whatever you desired was something only the Goddess did, and I wanted no part of it. Yet somehow, I’d pushed Kyrah into revealing herself to me, and I simply refused to accept that I would do anything like that—intentionally, at least.
A long moment of silence stretched out between us as I stared off into the distance, unwilling to meet Kyrah’s gaze. I’d maneuvered her into doing something that would have placed her life in jeopardy for some stupid purpose of my own, even though I had no idea what it was. Unwilling or not, I knew what I’d done to her, and I was ashamed to discover just how closely I was following in the footsteps of the Goddess.
“Whatever you did, however it happened, you saved my life.”
I’d been expecting some sort of angry rebuke and was shocked to hear the genuine notes of sympathy in her voice.
“If Lady Vistaal had taken me, I would be dead right now, or worse. You barely knew me, Ashíel, yet you risked your life to save mine. I can only believe that there’s some greater purpose behind that.”
She’d made a decent point. When Kyrah needed rescuing, I was there to save her. In return, she was a vital source of knowledge for me, filling me in on all the information I required to survive in these strange lands. I may have unknowingly swayed her towards me, but our relationship was far from the one-sided sort of affairs the Goddess engaged in.
“Thank you, Kyrah.” I let out a deep breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in. “I have no control over this, but I don’t want to ever push you into doing anything against your will.”
She smiled back at me, offering her reassurance. “I’m not sure that you could. I’ll admit to not understanding this any better than you seem to, but it feels more like I’m being coaxed into doing what I should rather than maneuvered into anything wrong.”
That felt… right to me somehow. What the Goddess did to people disgusted me, and I wasn’t sure that I could live with myself if I discovered I was doing the same sort of thing. Knowing that the influence I exerted was more for mutual benefit rather than some predatory reason made the uncomfortable discovery somewhat more bearable.
On top of the disquieting revelation, I was tired from the long day’s travel, so after setting some traps around us, I ate a small meal and prepared for bed. I was under no delusions that sleep would come easy for me, but I knew I needed the rest. There were many days of hard travel ahead of us, and if I wanted to keep Kyrah alive, I would need to be at my very best.
9
Nothing penetrated the ring of protection that Detect Life erected around us as we slept, and we resumed traveling slowly north again the next morning. Kyrah told me there was a path nearby, but we stayed within the shelter of the forest, preferring to keep hidden rather than face the perils of the open road.
After several hours, we finally came upon a small village, almost a mirror-image of Greenly. Although I knew it was far too close to offer any long-term respite, I hoped we might at least stop for a decent meal. Unfortunately, peering into town from our vantage point among the trees told me that would not be possible.
It seemed like the village’s entire population was gathered around five heavily armed soldiers—obviously Sentinels. As we watched, the people came to stand in front of them to be interrogated one by one. I was shocked to see the display in front of me, understanding immediately that the Nér-vrogan had responded to my act of defiance much more rapidly than we’d anticipated.
“We need to get away from here.” Kyrah’s shocked expression when I turned and whispered to her betrayed my own feelings quite accurately.
“How—” She couldn’t even finish her own thought as I pulled her deeper within the cover of the forest.
While we resumed our trek, that same incomplete notion consumed my mind as well. The only thing I could come up with was that Vistaal ha
dn’t been quite as alone as we’d thought. She’d clearly brought more than just the single pair of Sentinels with her, stationing the others in nearby villages as backup in case Kyrah managed to escape from her in Greenly. That had been unlikely, to be sure, but Vistaal had obviously hedged her bet, not wanting to be denied after pursuing her quarry for so long. Now her precautions were proving quite wise, although she hadn’t survived long enough to see her carefully spun web snare its prey.
Kyrah managed to keep up with me easily enough, even though I led the way at a pace that was perhaps a bit faster than it was wise, but before it grew too dark, we were able to put a fair amount of distance between us and the village. My plan had been to use the small hamlets as rest stops along the way, but with the Sentinels’ presence revealed, I had to revisit that concept. Unless we were absolutely certain there weren’t any Nér-vrogan nearby, even the small villages far away from their fortifications were no longer safe for us.
That was going to make our journey very difficult. I wasn’t looking forward to traveling through the wilderness for weeks on end without any respite, but the lack of decent food and a comfortable place to sleep were the least of my concerns. Protecting not only myself but Kyrah as well from the dangers of this world would not be an easy task.
Lightening that load began with training Kyrah to use the dagger I’d given her. If I had anything else to arm her with, I would have done so, but it was my only spare, and I needed all the weapons I had at my disposal to fight at my best. Still, the keen edges of its long blade were nothing to trifle with; the dagger was more than capable of delivering a mortal wound.
Considering our difficult path, I didn’t let our discovery of the Sentinels put off Kyrah’s training. Once our camp was put together, we squared off against each other, wooden blades in hand. A smile crossed my face when she willingly accepted the blade, and I watched her grip the handle of the ‘dagger’ properly, letting me know she hadn’t forgotten the lessons I’d taught her the day before. I kept our session going much longer that night, not letting Kyrah give in until I was certain she was completely exhausted. I sure as hell didn’t want to stare at the stars for hours pondering what lay ahead of us, and I wasn’t going to let Kyrah’s mind dwell on that miserable shit either. As I’d hoped, it took only moments for the sound of her soft breathing to lapse into the gentle rhythm of sleep. While I lay still on the forest floor, I entertained the faint hope that if we were careful enough, our travels might be safe—albeit uncomfortable—before following soon after.
Second Skin: Wayward: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 7) Page 7