52. Kaiya
”Prepare for an attack!” shouted a young woman with pale braids to my left.
The older woman at her side shook her head. ”Japhire”s a wolf, Selly. Misguided, perhaps, but not stupid.”
The young woman shook her head, chin lifted stubbornly. ”That was an obvious declaration of war! He wants this stronghold. What do you think he”d do to get it?”
”Calm down,” hollered a man as people ran past him, almost knocking over the tray of trash he was returning to the waste bin.
People were terrified, though, and I couldn”t blame them. Whatever Japhire was up to, it wasn”t good.
”Jaiel, Tye — let”s see if we can help,” I said. ”If Japhire is planning something …”
Jaiel”s brow cocked. ”I thought we weren”t getting involved.”
”I”m pretty sure we have no choice,” I said, motioning to the locked doors.
”Well then, Princess,” he said. ”What do you think?”
I surveyed the chaos of the room. All the doors were locked. Alpha Blackwood was surrounded by people looking for orders. And most people had left the food, games, and dance areas to find their friends or families.
”We should start where Korym was standing. Over there by the food tables,” I said. ”He was acting strange, and the way Japhire looked at him — it just seems suspicious.”
But the path between our current location and there was full of people, too panicked to hear.
I turned to Tye. ”Care to lead the way, big guy?”
Growling softly, he muttered something about being more than muscles, and gestured for us to follow him.
He worked like a charm, and everyone quickly made way for the mountain of a man to pass.
When we reached the food stands, other mages had already started searching, obviously having the same thought.
Several stood around a table strangely absent of food, sniffing at the air.
”May I?” I stepped forward.
A tall woman wearing an apron looked at me and shrugged. ”More help is always welcome.”
”There”s a strange smell on this table,” added a man to her left.
I stepped up to the cart and ran my hands over the top, feeling and looking for anything suspicious.
Nothing.
I reached down to remove the long tablecloth and froze. Why would the table have solid sides?
It wasn”t even so much a table as it was a box disguised as a table, fake legs and all.
I dropped to my knees and searched the sides for a way to open the box.
Near one edge, I spied a small hatch with a simple latch and hinges. The little door was made to blend in well with the planks, making it hard to spot. But once you knew what you were looking for, it was clearly visible.
Concern biting at me, I flipped open the latch, then sat back as a small door sprang open.
Forsaken hells! I pulled off my ring for a moment and felt for anything inside.
There weren”t any korras …
Slipping my ring back on, I leaned closer and peered inside, still half-expecting something to leap out at me. It was dark inside, save for a small grouping of shadows at the back.
”A light?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder. ”Does anyone have a lamp or something?”
A lamp appeared beside my head.
”Just what are we looking for, Princess?”
I motioned towards the opening and Jaiel moved the light closer. It glinted on small metal scraps interwoven through the small pile of yellow straw coating the bottom.
How strange —
Reaching my hand inside, I grabbed one of the metal pieces and immediately dropped it, recoiling at the strange feeling.
That wasn”t metal at all! It was soft and light — almost like a feather.
A chill ran down my spine, and my stomach flipped as I picked it up again and sat back on my heels, holding the item up to the light.
Metallic feathers … like fluffy silver. I”d only ever seen silver feathers in one other place.
Stumbling to my feet, I looked up, frantically searching the rafters for that horribly familiar shape.
Perhaps if I could find it in time, we could stop it before —
But the ceiling was too high, and there were far too many places for it to hide up there.
Fuck!!
Closing my eyes, I slipped off my ring again and reached out into the Korra Realm. But there were too many korras around — too many bonds to see anything clearly.
I turned back to the cart, heart beating frantically. Maybe that gods-forsaken mage was messing with me — like some sort of horrible joke.
caaAAAAAWwww
It was barely audible over the noise of the room, but the sound was unmistakable.
No, no, no!I pressed my shaking hands to my stomach.
Fuck. I might throw up.
This wasn”t real. It had to just be a new version of the nightmare.
The relic couldn”t be here! It wasn”t possible. Frexin had promised she”d disposed of it after Karemi …
My stomach attempted to heave, and I slammed my eyes shut, trying to center myself.
Even my lungs refused to work properly, only letting in brief spurts of air.
Maybe this would be different. Everyone seemed fine so far.
Then someone cried out in pain from across the room, and my heart lurched.
Gods no! Please! I — there are so many people and no time … no escape …
”Kaiya, what”s going on?” Jaiel asked, his voice soft. I opened my eyes to look at him, those blue eyes wide with concern.
He seemed fine for the moment, at least.
Tye, on the other hand, stood just behind him, jaw clenched and arms already pulsing with the need to shift.
”Cover your ears,” I demanded. ”Maybe if you cover your ears, it won”t …”
CaaaaAAAwwww
”What the hells is she saying?” Tye spat as he glared around the room, fingernails already elongating. ”Fuck!” He looked down, then back up at me. ”Why isn”t the potion working anymore?”
I shook my head. It was happening so fast. I needed time to think.
Jaiel shook his head at Tye and turned back to me, brows lifted in question.
Fuck! If this was real, we were going to die.
Jaiel. Tye. Alpha, Faera. Everyone. At least Finn had gotten out —
Gods. I wasn”t even able to save myself in Karemi. He had found me, bloody and half-dead. I only lived because he”d stopped the creature … and carried me to help. But no one was coming this time.
I slammed my eyes shut again.
How was this even happening? Lady Frexin promised —
CaaaaAAAwwww
A few growls sounded from the crowd of people around us.
”Shut up. Shut UP! SHUT UP!” came one masculine, angry voice.
”Papa. What”s wrong?” A child responded, voice thready with worry.
But the only response was unsteady grunting and then the low growl of a wolf.
No! Gods no — not again! Another town slaughtered …
Sweltering desert air brushed against my skin as I took in the surrounding carnage. Bodies everywhere. Dried blood darkening the streets. What magic had driven the villagers to do this?
”Kaiya — come back to us!”
I shook my head, focusing on the stiff body of a young girl in my arms, dark hair caked in blood, brown eyes staring sightlessly above.
I reached for the single silver feather held tight in her grip.
CAAaaaAAAwwwwW
What was that sound, and WHY wouldn”t it STOP?
My vision blurred more, and everything around me faded away.
For what felt like an eternity, I screamed — searching and raging until finally everything went dark. Blessedly dark.
”Please, Kaiya. We don”t understand what”s happening.”
I woke, too weak to move, lips dried and cracked, body stiff and weak.
Where was I?
Another stab. Searing pain radiated from my side. I tried to scream, but my voice didn”t work. I forced my eyes open, squinting against the blinding sun. And there it was — its korra twisted and dark. It perched on my stomach, sharp beak digging into a bright red wound in my side.
They”d been wrong.
There was no twisted mage in this region. No violent uprising.
The carnage had been caused by this horrific, untamed relic.
Its silver feathers bristled, and the beast”s milk-white eyes rose to meet mine, tilting its blood-stained head as its talons gripped into my stomach through my clothes. Then it opened its beak and —
”Kaiya — Kaiya. Can you hear me?”
Silk. Heat. Tea — the scents of Jaiel flooded my mind, and a familiar fire tugged in my chest, somehow cocooning me from the desert air and permeating scents of death.
”Kaiya, it”s okay. You”re okay. I need you to wake up. We need you.” Jaiel”s voice whispered in my mind as a familiar warmth spread through my chest, and the images of Karemi faded away, replaced again with Jaiel”s concerned blue eyes.
He lifted his palms from my face. But that comforting heat remained, drowning out the fear, the anger, and everything else.
I drank in that look of confidence and trust in his eyes.
Through the snarls and growls and crashing of battle, a woman”s scream sent chills through me.
I looked to my left as the woman in the apron from earlier fell to the ground, her lifeless eyes staring at me. A wolf with blood dripping from its teeth leaped from her side and onto another wolf. In the distance, I could hear more screams.
Stumbling to my feet, I took in the surrounding scene.
Hundreds of shifters, both in wolf and human forms, fought, biting and tearing at each other, oblivious to the corpses of their friends and families at their feet.
It was Karemi all over again.
The same relic was driving these shifters mad, and they would kill each other until no one was left. My gaze lifted to the rafters, and I clenched my fist as my eyes met the milky white eyes from my nightmares.
The Karemi Relic stared down at me, feathers glinting in the light — too far to reach as it relished in the chaos it caused.
My side ached with a phantom pain.
CAAaaaAAAwwwwW!
I clenched my fists and waited for the blinding rage to return, but my mind remained clear.
”Princess! I could use your help over here! I”d prefer not to be your mate”s next meal!”
I spun to see Jaiel fighting off Tye”s wolf with a single sturdy pole, and my stomach lurched.
”How”d you wake me?” I asked, dodging several fighting wolves as I ran to his side.
”For once, it seems my charisma might be of some use,” he said, slamming a long wooden stick into Wolf-Tye”s side. ”You had some already and it just kind of reached out for mine. Then you were back — awake and normal.”
His gaze met mine as I reached his side, blue eyes running over me intently, as though needing to confirm I was alright.
It had worked. The unstoppable relic was not quite so unstoppable ...
Hope filled me as I focused on the group of wolves turning their attention to us.
”Can you do it again?” I broke off a pole from one of the displays, and shot one more glance up at the relic.
It let out a furious cAAAaaaaWWwwWw, and I gritted my teeth.
”I can try,” Jaiel grunted as he slammed Tye with the stick again. ”I”m not sure how far it”ll go, but helping you didn”t seem to take much.”
I spun to be at his back and nodded. ”Excellent. I was too late and too powerless to save anyone in Karemi. But gods be damned if I”ll let it happen again here.”