“Again!” Forrest yelled, and I cursed. “I said again. Defend yourself!”
“I can’t,” I snapped, slumping to my knees. “This is not what I had in mind when you said embrace my destiny.”
Craig smirked from the log he sat on nearby, and I glared at him.
“You must learn to fight if we are to survive this world. Pick up the sword and defend yourself!” He charged me as he spoke.
I pushed myself up, digging deep to find whatever strength I had left. He wasn’t fighting with a sword, and it should’ve been an easy fight, but he managed to dodge every swing of the blade and smacked me on the back with that damned stick of his again.
I screamed in annoyance and pain and dropped the sword, launching myself at him, fists flying as I had the first time I attacked him.
Craig burst out laughing as Forrest took several hits to the face before he managed to kick me off and I went sailing across the tiny clearing we found not far from the cave.
I landed with a painful thud and spat dirt and grass from my mouth.
“This is not a tavern brawl,” Forrest snapped. “You will not be able to take your opponents down with your fists all the time.”
“Works for you,” I muttered and climbed to my feet. “I need a break.”
“You can break when you successfully defend yourself.” He picked up the sword and offered it to me, hilt first. “Take it.”
I rolled my eyes, but took the sword, growing heavier by the second. I settled back into the defensive stance Forrest showed me and worked at steadying my breathing.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment to try and clear my head, but there were too many chaotic thoughts rushing around.
Forrest took a step forward, I sensed it more than saw it, and spun out of the way of his attack as I opened my eyes.
I was angry, so angry at what happened. Seeing Mama Lucy attacked like that, and the kids scared half to death.
Forrest lunged again, and I ducked under the stick, spinning out of his reach the opposite way.
I was mad at being thrown through a portal, and into a world, I had no idea how to navigate.
I hated Forrest and Craig because I felt a strange connection to them for what they were. For what I supposedly was.
Forrest moved again, and I closed my eyes, finding it easier to listen to his breathing.
I moved as if the air around me pushed me, guided me and for the weirdest moment, I heard a voice I hadn’t heard in nearly ten years speaking to me…
Use your feet, feel the path to take.
My dad. It was my dad’s voice rushing through my mind.
The world around you is a part of you. Let the air give your movements strength, tell you where your enemy lies. Feel it, Katherine, feel it deep in your bones. Your senses are strong, do not lose focus… just breathe…
Two strong hands covered my own on the hilt as I moved swiftly, gracefully, in my attacks against Forrest. I moved faster and faster, hearing him stumble in the dirt.
I heard Craig’s quiet curse as he rose from the log and just when I was ready to destroy my enemy, my arms came to a sudden stop.
I opened my eyes to see Forrest on his back on the ground, the sword tip at his neck.
I blinked a few times then backed off, dropping the sword. “Oh my God, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”
I expected him to be mad, but he grinned as I pulled him to his feet. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t… I don’t know,” I said, not ready to tell them I heard the voice of my dead father in my head, felt him guiding my movements. “I need some water.”
Forrest nodded, and he and Craig watched me jog back to the cave. Once inside, I rushed back to the spring and splashed water on my face, hand shaking violently.
What was happening to me? The images I saw in my head, they were real. Sometime long ago, my dad taught me how to fight. Why would he do that?
We will never be safe… they do not understand who we are… enemy, they only see us as the enemy…
“Dad?” I whispered to the cave. He wasn’t here, I knew he couldn’t be, but his voice was all around me. Whispering. I covered my ears, but the voice continued until I shoved my head under the water, desperate to make it stop.
The rush of cold drowned out all other noise until all I heard was the muffled rushing of the stream pouring into the pool. When I lifted my head back, I shoved my wet hair from my face washed the dirt and grime from my arms and neck.
Everything was fine. I wasn’t turning into a monster, and I wasn’t going crazy. We were going to find a way out of this world, get back to Mama Lucy, and I could go back to my normal everyday life.
You’re an idiot. You can never go back, and you know it.
I begged my inner nagging voice to shut up and returned to the cave to find Forrest and Craig returning, something furry hanging from their hands. “What are those?”
“Think of them as rabbits,” Craig said brightly. “If we’re moving out in the morning, we need food.” He sat down by the cold fire pit and started to remove the fur as Forrest leaned the sword against the wall.
“Right, and we’re sure this is our best option?” I asked.
We’d talked about it at length last night and this morning, about how to get back home.
Craig was the only one of us who knew this world. According to what he read, there was a temple at the top of the tallest mountain rumored to have access to a portal in it. He said it made sense since the plague had to have a way to spread from one realm to another. All it needed was a power boost to get us back home. Between the three of us, he didn’t think it would be a problem, but I knew what this plan would require of me.
The bracelet might have to come off. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, but if it got us home, then I’d do whatever it took.
“We can’t keep waiting around for more plague to find us, or worse,” Craig said.
“Or worse? What could be worse?” I asked alarmed.
His knife paused in its carving up of the beast, and the only sound was Forrest building the fire back up and lighting it with a puff of fiery breath. “Worse would be coming face to face with the thing that started the plague in the first place.”
“Wait, it’s here?” I suddenly felt like our cave was no longer safe. “Why didn’t you say that?”
“I was trying not to freak you out anymore. Look, it hasn’t come for us yet, so it might not even know we’re here.”
“And where do you think this shadow being is?” Forrest asked tightly.
Craig kept his gaze focused on his task as he replied, “The temple.”
“What?” Forrest yelled the same time I did.
“And we’re just going to waltz in there and use the portal?” I asked in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re going to die, we’re all going to die. This is great.”
“That’s no way to think,” Craig commented, spitting the rabbit-like animals and setting them against the fire. “It might not be there, and if it is, chances are it’s sleeping.”
“The shadow sleeps?”
Craig nodded and sat back, watching the flames lick at the meat. “According to the archives, the shadow spreads and feeds for a time, but then it hibernates. It’s why it’s taken it so long to move to the demon world and why it’s spreading slow. The shadow is still weak, but soon, it’ll have its strength back, and the demon world will be exactly like this one. Dying with no way to stop it.”
The headache I thought was gone rushed back full throttle. This was too much for any one person to deal with. I couldn’t do it, but what else was I going to do? I wanted to get back to Mama Lucy, needed answers, and that temple was the only way to get to her.
We sat in silence as the food cooked, and once it was ready, Craig passed one to me and the other to Forrest, letting us take some before he ate.
For a guy who claimed he was a bastard, he was keen on keeping us alive. I tried not to read too much into it. He needed us as much as we needed him. None of us would be getting anywhere close to home on our own.
The meat had a weird salty taste to it, but I ate my share and went to wash it down with some water. Knowing how horrible tomorrow could be, I found a soft spot on the cave floor, close to the fire, and tried to get some rest.
I wished for restful sleep, but the moment I closed my eyes, all I saw was that night again. Hearing the people breaking into our house as Dad told me to run and not come back. Hearing the strange language that the people coming for us spoke, me sprinting through the trees as I prayed I’d survive, that my dad would survive. The bright flash filled my vision, and I jerked awake.
“Kate?” Craig asked worriedly. “You alright?”
“Yeah, yeah just a bad dream,” I whispered and shut my eyes even harder.
This time when I relived the nightmare of that night, I picked up on something I never noticed before: the roars I heard at the exact time of the blinding white light sounded familiar. As in, something I’d heard recently.
They sounded exactly as Forrest’s roars had when he shifted earlier.
The men that came for us that night, they weren’t demons of some unknown origin.
They were dragons.