Chapter 10 — Questions

Time inched up the cracked rimy walls, seeping into the abandoned building in frigid silvery wisps.

She didn’t know how long she had been standing there for. Shards of glass lay scattered around her. Familiar lines of steel beams that used to crisscross the ceiling were now lodged in the snow, illuminated by flickering bars of neon lights that had flooded the room in a harsh white. A stubborn listlessness clung to her limbs, dragging them down with uncertainty and doubt whenever she tried to take a step.

Her last visitor had soured her to the world beyond the wreckage of her home. Before the explosion, a man with a nice smile and fuzzy white hair used to visit her. His startling pale blue eyes reminded her of the ice that now attempted to creep into the laboratory. “How are you going, my dear?”

My dear. That was what people called the ones they were feeling affectionate towards. People. Another concept she didn’t quite understand. The man told her stories of how only a few decades ago, people covered every inch of the planet’s surface. Human beings that lived, breathed and thrived under wide open skies and a warm orb of light that was so bright it was impossible to look at directly.

She stared at the encroaching icicles as they fanned around floor steel panels, forming a perfect circle around her. A biting breeze whistled through the decimated corridors of the bunker, rustling the thin cotton of her gown.

A clatter in the distance broke her reverie. In the stillness of the bunker, the resounding tread of footsteps echoed down the hallway. On occasion, the footfalls would pause and give way to a low mumble of voices. The sounds meandered in and out of range, punctuated by a flurry of hoofbeats and inhuman screeches.

She frowned. Perhaps this was a sign that she should leave? But where would she even go?

As she wavered with indecision, the footsteps approached closer and closer until a pair of sturdy boots walked into her vision. The boy—no, young man—was bundled up in thick layers of clothing with a furred hood pulled over his head. He pushed back his hood when he caught sight of her, revealing scraggly brown hair that curled just below his ears.

“Hello,” he greeted with wide eyes.

The word set off a cascade of memories shifting in her mind: of the old man entering the lab and greeting her with a booming ‘Hello!’, of an old woman who used to accompany him and would sit on the other side of the glass and speak to her in a low, gentle voice.

She tilted her head to the side and decided to humour the latest intruder. “Hello.”

“Wh—how long have you been here?” He hovered by what used to be the entrance to the laboratory but was now a twisted mass of metal and broken pipes.

“I don’t know.” She watched in curiosity as he grimaced and gently set down the load he’d been carrying on his back. It was a bulging backpack haphazardly held together by frayed ropes. Several thinner strands secured an assortment of random objects dangling down, including a beaten-up tin version of what looked like the containers her caretakers used to drink steaming liquids out of. “What’s that?”

“This?” He looked down at his bag and rubbed the back of his head with a gloved hand. “It’s just knick-knacks really, helps me stay alive out there. I’m always losing things so I figured I might as well tie them all to one thing. Say… you must be hungry,” he stated, patting his belly.

She blinked and gazed down in wonder, recalling the long-lost word for the hollow ache in her stomach. “Yes. Hungry,” she repeated slowly.

His chapped lips curled up into a boyish grin. “I can cook you something. What’s your favourite food? I’ve got all sorts of soup mixes, jerky and even…” he leaned forward and continued in a whisper. “Tinned fruit.”

Gazing at the excited sparkle in his eyes, the world suddenly seemed a little less scary.

“Do you trust me?” He held out a hand, gazing at her with guileless cerulean eyes—eyes that reminded her of the old man’s kindness.

She hesitated for a breath before reaching out with a hand. Stepping over the rim of the shattered glass, she barely spared a glance at the fallen metal plate at her feet that read: Experiment AF-001.

“Let’s go,” he said, giving her a wide smile. “I can’t wait to show you the rest of the world! But first… what should I call you?”

“I—I don’t know.” Her eyes focused on their clasped hands and the warmth that bloomed between them.

“What about…” Eric hummed as he led her further out of the ruins of the bunker. “Af?”

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Crumbling pillars lined the elongated courtyard, strangled by thick vines of crawling ivy. Rasiel looked up at the majestic magis mahogany, admiring its stalwart trunk and glorious cape of leaves. Their territory had boasted few of these iconic trees and was instead populated by the fairer goldenglow trees, their ancestors having preferred the more subtle silvery glow of its leaves.

A sigh escaped as the now routine strains of grief and sorrow swelled up. Echoes of familiar voices called for her from every corner despite her best attempts to escape them. Help… help us, they whispered in her velvet ears. She twitched them instinctively as she took in the isolated courtyard she had stumbled across at an abandoned corner of the sprawling castle.

The main building was a hubbub of activity with fauns and chemyci hurriedly transforming empty halls into medical wards and reinforcing the castle’s defences. To Rasiel’s relief, the Queen had taken her warnings to heart and begun preparations for an invasion.

Rasiel smoothed the fur down her arms as she held in another sigh. She just knew that her fellow hybrids would have thrown themselves at the chance to help; being a peaceful race didn’t mean they couldn’t tie a bandage. In fact, their skills as the weavers and tailors of Maraciel would have made them perfect for the job. But they weren’t even given a chance.

There was a stir in the air near one of the stone walls that had caved in. Her quick eyes darted around before spotting a stretch of pixy bines that had fallen limp.

She frowned. “Who’s there? Chulsa? Is that you?” The words left a lingering taste of unease. There was no way Chulsa would have been so careless as to show his presence. Rasiel placed a paw on the dagger that now permanently sat on a belt slung low across her waist. “Come out! I know you’re there.”

Nothing moved. She narrowed her eyes. Just as her paw tightened around the cold hilt, an overgrown fern to her left twitched and out stepped a familiar furry face. Her heart skipped a beat and for an agonizing second, she thought it was Soter’s warm gaze that met hers.

“It’s—it’s you!” she exclaimed, trying to bury the rush of disappointment that surged up her throat and pricked at her eyes. “You’re… Kobal, right?”

His oversized moustache twitched at his name. Rasiel ran her eyes over his limp tufted ears, the scruffy dull fur down his gaunt body and the flaking scales on his tail.

“What happened to you?” she asked, failing to keep the dismayed tone out of her voice. “You’re so much… smaller since I last saw you.”

“Ah.” He coughed and attempted to subtly flatten his fur with a paw. “I’ve just… been on a diet.”

“A diet?” Rasiel repeated incredulously before stiffening and grabbing his arms. “Where have you been? Do you know… do you know about…?” The words caught in her throat.

Kobal seemed to sense her struggle as he took a step back, gently shaking her paws off him. “Yeah, I heard. Sorry,” he offered quickly, his eyes meeting hers for a mere second before turning to the side. “It must have been hard watching that.”

“Yeah,” Rasiel said in a shaky voice. “It was. I’d never heard it so quiet after…” She blinked. “The important thing is that you’re alive too. I’m not alone,” she said with a tremulous smile.

He grunted, never quite meeting her eyes as his paws clenched and unclenched by his sides. A gust of wind whistled through the courtyard, bringing a stinging chill with it.

Rasiel cleared her throat after several seconds of silence. “What are you doing here anyway? How did you find me?”

Kobal seemed startled at her question, his gaze darting to hers before a nervous paw reached up to smooth his moustache. “I—I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Why did you come to the castle then?”

The moustache stroking became almost frantic. “Seemed like a safe place to hide.”

“Hide? From the demon? Did you see it? Do you know where it is?”

“Shhh!” He hushed with a panicked look around the square.

“Sorry,” Rasiel apologised before continuing at a lower volume. “This is important, Kobal. If you know where it is…”

“I don’t, I promise. I know nothing.”

She pursed her lips at him.

He shuffled from foot to foot. “Look, you—ahem—you called for him earlier,” Kobal said with a nervous cough. “Chulsa,” he elaborated at her puzzled look. “Are you close?”

“Close? I suppose he is one of the closest people to me now. Oh, I’ll have to introduce you to him, I don’t know how you made it this far—” she paused at the sight of the twitching whiskers of his moustache. “What’s wrong? Do you… know him already?”

“I don’t think he’d be too happy to see me, to tell the truth.”

“Of course he would, Chulsa is nothing but considerate,” she said lightly but frowned when he didn’t respond. “Did you do something wrong? I’m sure whatever it was, the Queen would forgive you—”

“No!” His tail lashed from side to side.

Rasiel took a step back, feeling a stir of apprehension. “Kobal… what did you do?”

“N—nothing! Nothing yet at least. I mean…” His ears drooped. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, you know.”

A haze of unease flooded her mind. “What do you mean… this? What did you…” The words died on her tongue. “Tell me you had nothing to do with the village, Kobal. Tell me!”

“I had no choice!” He spat, flashing his canines.

Rasiel drew back in alarm.

His shoulders drooped at her response. “I... I wasn’t exactly welcome in the village, was I?”

“But… you could have told us what you were going through, you know that right? If you told us how you felt, Soter and I would’ve—” Her throat closed up.

“What? Throw me out? You already did that,” he snapped. “Don’t lie about what could’ve been because I know.” He turned away with a bitter look. “No one cared about me.”

Rasiel took a deep breath, followed by another as the reality of what he was saying began to sink in. The breaths came quicker until they felt almost out of control as her lungs greedily sucked for air. “Oh my stars. Oh my…. The—the whole village, Kobal?”

“They never cared for me, why should I for them? Why should I sacrifice my life for the people who threw me away?” He gazed at her with a beseeching look. “Please Rasiel, you of all people should understand. You know how much they hurt me, you and Soter were there when they ganged up on me. You’re the one who chased them away!”

She wrenched her gaze away, a surge of bile rising at his words. “What about those who were innocent? What about those who had nothing to do with any of this? …. Things could’ve changed. But you just took any chance of that happening away. My Soter would’ve—”

He snorted.

Rasiel’s paws clenched on instinct. “What’s wrong with Soter?”

“It’s nothing,” Kobal said, flaring his nostrils.

“Soter cared for you, he would have never hurt you.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t.”

“What are you trying to say?” Rasiel fought to keep her tone even.

“Nothing, I’m sure he was a lovely denmate.”

“Spit it out,” Rasiel growled, baring her canines at him.

“He took you away from me, alright?”

Her jaw dropped open. “Took me… since when did I belong to you?!”

“You were mine!” He hissed, stepping closer until she could see her reflection in his pupils.

All her previous turmoil washed away in a sea of rage as she glared at him. “I—belong—to—nobody,” she spat, leaning forward and jabbing a claw into the centre of his chest with each word. Her fur stood at its end as her tail lashed from side to side, unsettling large swathes of pixy bines.

He began to shuffle back, holding his paws out in a calming motion as his ears pressed flat against his skull. “Rasiel, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—"

“You bastard, I defended you damn it!” Rasiel shook her head. “I’m sorry but… you deserve this. CHULSA!”

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He coughed. The back of his throat was beginning to clog as each breath drew in more loose sand. Soranth was not alone—he could hear soldiers all around him gagging under the onslaught.

“Clear the air! Clear the air!” Nathanael’s voice rang out, echoing oddly in the red haze.

“Move back!” Soranth ordered. They were now at a disadvantage – the beast could attack anywhere at any time. “Retreat!” After all, what was the use of distracting the beast when they could no longer see it? Not to mention that if we can’t see it, Valda can’t either.

The calls of his soldiers began to ring out. “Retreat! Retreat!” He had barely moved a step backwards when he felt it. A low shuddering in the ground. A faint tremor that could barely be felt through the thick soles of his boots. Ever since their armies clashed, the monster hadn’t taken a single step forward or back. It hadn’t needed to.

Now, however, at their own volition, they had changed the battlefield. The very fact that they couldn’t see in the cloud also meant that it couldn’t see out. And that meant it had to move. Well, Soranth thought faintly, at least it’s moving. He had been hoping for a withdrawal rather than advancement but any progress was good.

Thus, the monster that closely resembled Earth’s extinct species of bears began to walk. They couldn’t see it, but the collective army of Maraciel couldn’t mistake the steady thump of heavy paws. Just like before with Haraldr, his heart began to pound in his ears and all Soranth could feel was the rise and fall of his chest as dread began to tug the edges of his mind.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

Soranth angled his head to catch any idea of what direction it was heading for. Not a single voice raised in fear or horror. It was an adrenaline-fuelled, heavy silence, a frozen moment when fear paralyzed even the most experienced generals. Soranth suddenly realised that his right hand was shaking within the tight confines of its metal gauntlet. It scratched against his armour in a short staccato of screeching metal, steel against steel.

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He forced nerveless fingers to tighten into a fist. His heartbeat had finally receded enough that he no longer had to stretch his hearing to know that the beast was moving away from him. For a second, the Commander wavered between fear and relief. Fear for his people—the monster’s would-be victims—and relief that he was not one of them. Then a wave of self-incriminating disgust broke through and Soranth clenched his fists. There was no way he was letting his soldiers face this alone.

“Move.” Soranth spotted the questioning glances his Generals shot at him from the corner of his eyes. “Move out soldiers!” The Commander raised his voice till it boomed sharply across the battlefield. “I said I wanted a 20-foot circle—let’s make that happen sometime today! Soldiers, move out!” Armour clanked as feet began to shuffle, movement eddying down the lines like stiff ripples in a frosted lake.

He dropped his voice back down to a talking level. “We keep our distance until this settles,” he murmured to the Generals, eyeing the vaporous plume of red dust.

Unfortunately, almost as if the beast had heard his words, the footsteps came to a halt before they started up again. With each stamp, the steps grew louder and louder until it was all they could hear.

Boom. Boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Soranth felt the icy touch of fear creep up the base of his spine. The beast was running. And fast.

“Pu—” the word caught in his throat. “Pull back! Pull back now!”

Amid the slowly settling cloud of dust, a bulging shadow appeared to their left. It loomed close at an alarming rate, shooting out of the haze straight into the front line. A claw, swathed in an inky black, crumpled the previously immovable shield line, easily buckling the metal shields like leaves and sending the chemyci behind them flying into the air. Screams rent the air as soldiers scattered, their rigid lines instantly broken.

Craning its muscular neck forward, the demonic beast unhinged its jaw so it fell open, wide enough to swallow a chemyci whole. The tendons running along its neck strained with might, eyes bulging as its lips pulled tight in a frozen snarl. Despite the ferocity of its movements, not a sound escaped its maw, except for a hot stinging wind that sent the soldiers before it running.

“It’s just air,” Sablo exclaimed from just behind Soranth. “Look, it’s not making any noise at all!”

Biting back a sting of irritation at his General’s apparent distraction, Soranth sucked in a tense breath and focused on the monster’s movements.

“None of them speak!” Sablo continued, pointing at the formless shadows on the other side of the bridge. “What are they thinking?”

“They’re just mindless creatures, who cares what they think!” Nathanael growled. He pulled aside one of his soldiers, spitting out a string of orders before sending him back into the fray with a pat and a harsh “Go!”.

“But why? Why now? Why us?” Sablo argued, a wild desperate tone entering his voice.

The words lingered in Soranth’s mind as he watched the creature lunge forward and snap at a warrior chemycus who was protecting his fallen comrade, carving through his upper body as if it was an overripe starmelon. Blood and gore splattered across the wide-eyed faun on the ground before he too was snatched up and flung aside.

Decimation. The beast was too strong, each swing of its paw sent fauns and chemyci alike into the air. It was the predator; they were the prey. It was the sly cat, assured of the power of its limbs and the strength of its jaw. They, on the other hand, were caged mice, trapped under the vestiges of duty and service to Maraciel.

Soranth watched it all unfold before him in a haze as his Generals swung into action on either side. Why why why… why now? Why here? Why so determined?

The beast continued to barrel forward, heedless of the units of soldiers that closed in from either side in a pincer movement. Soranth pinched his brows. It was almost as if it had a purpose. He cast an eye across the battlefield, searching for whatever had caught its attention. And out of the corner of his gaze, he spotted it. A pinprick of light as the tip Valda’s notched arrow followed the creature’s every move.

“No,” the word passed his lips without him realising at first. “No! VALDA!”

Valda gave a start at the sound of his voice and lowered her bow but it was too late. The creature was almost at the foot of the cliff, its burly arms hurling away the last remains of the southern end of the army.

There was no time, Soranth knew he needed to act now. Bending his elbow, he hefted his sword waist-high and swung with all his might, using the momentum of his twisted upper body to help his heavy sword travel the distance. It barely cleared the heads of the soldiers before him, curving upwards and narrowly missing the beast before lodging into the solid rock of the cliff.

Soranth—half expecting to hear Haraldr’s voice heckling his aim from the crowd—almost called over one of the fauns to requisition a new sword when he noticed the beast had paused in its rampage.

Its snout twitched in the direction of the sword before slowly turning towards their direction. Even in the distance, Soranth knew in his bones that the demon’s glittering eyes were trained directly on him. As Valda nimbly scaled back down the cliff face, he braved a quick look back towards the bridge and cursed under his breath.

They were now trapped.

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“Well done, Chulsa.” Although the Queen’s tone bore an icy indifference, the fire in her eyes said otherwise. “Throw him in the dungeons. And make it a different one this time.”

Kobal allowed himself to be prodded along by one of Chulsa’s needle-like forearms, the whiskers of his moustache hanging limp as they walked past a glaring Rasiel. She had managed to trap him along one of the many corridors of Maraciel Castle, hindering him long enough for Chulsa to rush to her aid.

“Are you alright, my dear?” Queen Af reached out to Rasiel, her forest green eyes wide with concern.

“I’m fine, my Queen.”

“I think you should rest,” the Queen said, looking around for an aide. “You must be overwhelmed—”

“No! I… I want to help with the interrogation.”

The Queen hesitated. “My dear… I don’t think that’s wise—”

Rasiel jerked up to meet the Queen’s gaze, her eyes almost wild with determination. “I have to—I need to know. Why he did it, why he would…” She grabbed the Queen’s hands and clasped them between her paws. “Please, I must know!”

The Queen’s poised demeanour didn’t waver and for a second, Rasiel thought she had lost the battle. But then her stiff shoulders melted and the Queen flipped their hands around so it was her warm hands circling Rasiel’s. “Then we will go together.”

Rasiel gave a sigh of relief and fell in behind the Queen as she swooped down an endless maze of corridors with steps that led both up and down. They eventually crossed over the remains of a recently demolished wall strewn with chalky dust and rubble.

“My son’s work,” the Queen said with a sad smile twisting on her lips. “Or should I say, his friends. One of them comes with a rather… excitable pet.”

Rasiel tried to give a weak smile in response.

The Queen seemed to notice her frazzled state. “Fear not,” she said in a gentle but knowing tone, “once your little one comes, everything will change.”

Her ears perked up in surprise, a paw automatically reaching up to rest on her still flat belly. “How did you know?”

“A mother always knows.”

They continued in silence for a short while, Rasiel nibbling on her bottom lip. “How did you… forget? About the King I mean.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, milady, I shouldn’t have—”

“Oh, you never forget,” Queen Af chuckled. “But you have someone who depends on you. Someone who needs your protection, unconditional love, support and strength. And it’s going to take you everything you have to keep it together until one day you realise that you’re the one depending on them instead.”

The already faint starlight that filtered in through the windows faded away until only pixy lanterns lit their path along the dank corridor. In the distance, they could hear Chulsa’s low measured tones, interspersed with silence. The arthropod looked up at their approach, bowing to the Queen and stepping aside, revealing a wooden door that once led to an airless unused storage room.

Through the narrow slit that Chulsa had hastily carved for them to observe through, Rasiel watched as Kobal shifted uncomfortably in his makeshift cell, his paws secured by a strong cord.

“Milady,” Chulsa reported in hushed tones, “he has refused to answer any questions. I believe any further interrogation will require… incentive.”

Before the Queen could respond, Rasiel spoke up, her eyes boring into Kobal’s lowered head. “Let me.” There was a moment of quiet before the Queen gave a nod, taking a step back into the shadows.

She took a deep breath, her thoughts racing. So many questions that she wanted to ask… but first, she needed to take care of the immediate situation. “Why did you come here? Why return when you were so close to getting away?”

Kobal stared at the floor of his cell in a stubborn reticence.

Her whiskers twitched. “How did you get in? How did you get through all the guards?” His unresponsiveness incensed her. “You wouldn’t have come back to gloat, you’re too cowardly for that. It must have been for a reason. Did you come here to warn us? To harm us? Which is it? The least you can do is talk to me after everything you’ve done!”

He looked up, a twisted expression on his face. Rasiel, having expected words of anger or spite, nearly balked at the maelstrom of guilt and pain that she saw. Instead, she pressed on. “You… you still have time to fix this. Tell us everything you know—how it began and why. And just maybe…”

Kobal’s eyes drifted away again, coming to rest on the far wall. Rasiel sighed, thinking that they had lost him again but to her surprise, he began to talk.

“When I left, I didn’t think I’d last more than a day in the wild. Cahethal was… a misery for me in so many ways but it was also home. There’s no way I could stay away, right?” He gave a bitter laugh. “Too bad someone had different ideas. He took me when I was asleep, though I doubt I could have stopped him even while I was awake. He told me his plans to… bring down Maraciel.”

Rasiel drew in a sharp breath.

“I tried to fight him, I really did but… he knew all my weaknesses. Torture I could deal with, starvation… not so much. So I made do!” Kobal ploughed on, refusing to meet their eyes. “I made my peace with it—or tried to. He was too powerful, too strong, what could someone like me do to fight him? I… I thought that maybe it could be a fresh start. A chance for me to finally make something of myself, prove that… I can be good at something too. And I knew things, things that were actually helpful!” He seemed to forget himself briefly in his excitement, only to gulp at the dark look on Rasiel’s face.

“What did he ask you to do?” The Queen asked in an icy tone.

He hung his head once again. “I… I was asked to describe the layout of Cahethal in detail and scout the castle. But I didn’t mean to surprise you in the front courtyard, I was just trying to get in and—"

“Is that why you returned the second time?” Chulsa suddenly spoke up.

Kobal seemed surprised the advisor was still there. “Yes but… he also asked me to leave something behind.”

“What was it?”

“I—I don’t know. I just do what I’m told. I placed it in my cell at the top of the tower but—"

“Then why did you return this time?” Chulsa pressed.

“I… I heard there was a survivor.” His eyes flicked up briefly to meet Rasiel’s. “N—now, I know how it all sounds but you must know that I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Kobal implored, “I had no choice! You know this, right Rasiel? Rasiel?”

She didn’t respond. As he spoke, the sick feeling in her belly grew and grew. What Kobal was describing wasn’t as simple as a territorial dispute… it was genocide. And he had played a vital part in it. She made eye contact with the Queen. Her expression must have said something because the Queen stepped forward, the hem of her gown sweeping past Rasiel’s leg in an almost comforting brush.

“I think you’ve said enough.” Queen Af turned her head slightly in Chulsa’s direction, who nodded and unlocked the door leading into the cell with a twist of his pincers.

Kobal shrunk back before Chulsa, shuffling back until he was pressed up against the stone wall. “Listen, wha—what else do you want to know, I can tell you anything! Just tell me, I’ll do anything you want I promise!”

“I think we’ve heard all we need to, my dear,” the Queen said, resting a hand on Rasiel’s arm. “Should we take our leave?”

Rasiel gazed at his hunched figure with unseeing eyes, her mind adrift in a numb haze. All she could hear was the throbbing of her heartbeat; a steady drum that thundered through her veins to her ears and down her fingertips. Almost as if it came from a long way away, she heard herself say, “You go ahead, milady. I’ll be right behind you.”

Queen Af, after a moment’s hesitation, acquiesced, her hand leaving a lingering warmth on Rasiel’s furry arm.

“Wa—wait! I have more, I can tell you more! Just wait!” Kobal pleaded.

“Are you sure you wish to watch this, Miss Amblecrown? It might be… a tad unsightly,” Chulsa said over Kobal’s whimpering, the advisor’s head cocked to the side as he raised a twig-like appendage that looked delicate yet dangerous. The tapered end narrowed to a tip so sharp it was almost invisible, alongside tiny barbs that curled inwards along his forearm to catch and strip the flesh off anyone unlucky enough to cross him. Combined with Chulsa’s unbreakable chitinous armour, his forearms were the most formidable weapons known to Maraciel, despite the prideful chemyci blacksmiths’ best efforts.

“I… think I should at least watch this,” Rasiel replied, still in a fog of swirling emotions. She took a tentative step closer to them, one after another until she was standing right at the entrance. The stiff air made it difficult to breathe. She felt overly warm as if the walls of the closet were closing in. The world reduced to the glinting tip of Chulsa’s deadly arm.

“As you wish,” he nodded before turning to Kobal who cowered before the two of them. “It will be over quickly.”

Kobal quailed, his fraying moustache trembling so hard that it was almost a blur. “J—just wait! I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry!”

A flash of anger. “Your apologies are too late,” Rasiel spat. “They mean nothing!” She gestured at Chulsa. “Do it.”

He lifted his arm, the tip of it nearly brushing the ceiling. Kobal tensed and squeezed his eyes shut.

Rasiel thought she would feel glorious vindication. Instead, for a flicker of a second, the image of her beloved Soter mouthing the words ‘I love you’ flashed through her mind. And in that heart-wrenching moment of clarity, she knew exactly what she had to do.

“Wait!” she yelled, throwing herself in Kobal’s path.

Chulsa froze, his razor-sharp forearm a hair’s breadth away from Rasiel’s throat.

She resisted the urge to gulp and slowly backed away from the deadly appendage. “Actually I… I don’t think we should do it like this. He deserves worse.”

“Of course,” Chulsa said, inclining his head at Rasiel as he retracted his limb. “What would you suggest?”

Rasiel hesitated, darting a look at Kobal’s terrified expression. “I… have to think about it. Let’s give it a night.”

“Understood. After you then, Miss Amblecrown.”

“I… will be right behind you. I just have some final words to say.”

Chulsa inspected her for a few seconds, the millions of facets of his pale ochre eyes picking up on every minuscule detail, before giving her a slow nod. The last two weasel-lizard hybrids waited in painstaking silence as the advisor withdrew from the cell and disappeared down the corridor.

Kobal opened his mouth. “Rasiel, I—”

“Don’t.” She held up a paw. “Nothing you can say now will change my mind.”

His ears pressed flat against his skull. “I—I’m sorry, truly, I—I didn’t know how to stop him and I thought the only way I’d survive was to do what he said. And I didn’t mean what I said about Soter—”

“I said shut up!” A fierce streak of resentment ripped through her as she snatched the dagger by her side out of its sheath. “You bastard. You took everything away from me! You have no right, none whatsoever to speak Soter’s name!”

Kobal winced. “You’re right. I—I have no excuse. I betrayed you, our people, everyone. I deserve to die.” He gave a resolute nod and pressed his eyes shut.

Rasiel stared at the throat being offered to her as Kobal leaned forward, tipping his head back. She flared her nostrils and, before she could think twice about it, swiped down with one quick move.

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Sharp rocks jutted from the wrinkled scorched plateau. From behind, above and all around, writhing masses of shadows converged towards the edge of the cliff facing them. Closer to the pale grey bridge, looming shapes rose to tower above the rest, their limbs slowly splitting into four distinct arms. More giants.

Soranth grimaced. “Change of plans,” he said to the panting Valda—still pale from her near miss with the beast—and the nearby Generals. “We have to draw him back towards the bridge.”

“Draw him back?” Valda repeated in an incredulous tone. “In the middle of all of that?”

“Look!” Soranth pointed towards their oncoming adversaries with an air of impatience. “Look at how many there are! And look at us. Our soldiers will tire long before the enemies run out and you know it.” He tightened his lips. “We have no choice.”

Valda’s eyes widened at the look on his face when he spoke those final words. “No,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “No! You are not going out there!”

“What?” The Generals cried in unison.

“My Lord, you can’t—” Sable began.

“If it is a distraction you need, I would be happy to serve,” Nathanael said with a deep bow.

Soranth let his eyes rove over the three of them and gave a sad smile. “What kind of leader would I be if I asked someone else to do this? His attention is on me now so it has to be me.”

In the distance towards the bottom of the cliff, the demonic bear had begun to slowly get back on its hind feet, rising to its full height which would have placed it at eye level to where Valda had been just a few breaths ago. Soldiers gave it as wide a berth as possible, their ranks a mess as they pressed up against each other, caught between the precipice of the cliff and the tyrannical beast.

“Time is running out,” Soranth said, keeping the creature in the corner of his vision. He turned to face Valda but she spoke before he could say another word.

“I’m coming with you.”

He stared deep into her defiant charcoal eyes, weak in the face of her resolute determination. “Valda, I—”

“You need someone to distract the other creatures, don’t you? I’ll clear your path. But I’m not leaving you.”

“Alright, alright,” Soranth said with a short laugh, an unknown tension draining from his shoulders. “Just don’t get in my way.”

She scoffed. “When have I ever.”

Giving her a knowing smile, Soranth closed his eyes and gently pressed his forehead against hers, breathing in her familiar earthy scent. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see a thin sheen of dampness before she blinked and scowled at him once again.

“What are you waiting for then?” she asked in a brusque tone. “Get moving.”

With a resounding boom, the humongous beast fell back on all fours, sending those who had been caught unawares sprawling. Another large cloud of dust filled the air, obscuring it from sight.

“Generals,” Soranth said, giving the other two a tense nod. They returned it, bowing far lower than necessary. He felt the brush of Valda’s ponytail as she merged into the crowd, an inconspicuous assassin in a faceless expanse of soldiers.

Soranth turned towards the bridge, looking out across the masses of fauns and chemyci as they jostled each other for room on the now confined battlefield. They had come so far only to find themselves trapped between two deadly forces. As he broke into a jog, his feet pounding against the hard ground as he passed a blur of soldiers, Soranth wondered how it was that it all began in the first place.

Silence fell across the battlefield as the first few thuds echoed from the sinking dust by the foot of the cliff.

Boom. Boom.

Good. Come after me. Soranth slowed his pace a little, trying to give the soldiers as much time as possible to reform their ranks. Behind him, he could hear the Generals beginning to send out their orders.

“Tighten up left flank!” Nathanael roared. “Close ranks on the left and right, I don’t want a soul in the centre!”

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

Slowly, the orders rippled downwards and the soldiers began shuffling out of his way, leaving Soranth and the stalking bear a clear path to the bridge. A line of golden shields greeted him on either side, embossed with the familiar stalwart trunk of the magis mahogany.

Home… why are they attacking our home? Why are they targeting us? Why draw us all the way to Mt. Zarphan?

And at that thought, an intense disquiet spread through his mind like a choking edimbine, cutting off all rational thought and nearly sending him stumbling.

It’s a trap.