“Battles can turn in an instant,” reminded Kat with ominous intensity, obviously displeased by our display of emotion. “Never celebrate until the hunt is concluded.”
The chasm we were in was really only wide enough for one person. Walker was behind me, nearest the door which must have been less than ten feet away. Suddenly, it opened and a figure stepped through, katar blades flashing as it wove a wicked predatory dance toward us. We turned as one to face this new threat. I tried to step up but Walker was in front, blocking my way. The figure strode forward into the light, her blade singing its song of death.
“Lisa?” Walker stood in shocked wonder as the blades slashed across her chest and then again across the side of her head. Golden sparks shimmered in the air as the beads on Walker's vest went bright red before visibly greying out! I heard an audible “Unggggg!” as Lisa thrust past Walker's guard.
“Walker, get down!” I screamed, bringing my katar up like a spear and throwing it javelin like into the Red One Hunter. My aim was good and Lisa flew backwards with the shaft vibrating out of her chest. She gave one feeble kick against the door where she stood impaled by the force of my throw and then went still. I breathed a sigh of relief only to have Walker collapse into my arms.
“What?”
I caught her around the waist, feeling a slick wetness warm my hand. I tried to scoop her up, then realized Lisa's katar was still embedded in her side. It had morphed back to its original shape but was still inside her and the sides of the passageway were too narrow for us to move easily forward because of it. I fumbled for Walker's hands, felt a feeble response, pushed them up against the wound. “Push hard!” I commanded. “Stay with me! You’ll be fine. SHIP won’t allow you a serious injury.” I was babbling. Walker was dying in my arms. “Kat, we need SHIP's medical help now!”
I waited expectant but something was wrong. Inside my head I felt a coldness. Then I heard Kat's voice, “No.”
I shook my head, confused. “What do you mean "no"? She's hurt! Walker's hurt! She needs serious medical help!”
If anything the coldness intensified. I felt the force of her decision. Kat had decided something and there was no going back.
“Until you complete the exercise I‘ll do nothing for her. Take her through the door.”
Abruptly Walker spoke up, her voice weak and dazed. “I don't understand. I killed her Nick. I saw her die.” I felt Walker's body shudder. “I didn't want to kill her but I did. She’s dead. Was dead. How?” She shuddered again. She put a blood soaked hand over mine and turned her head so she could see me better. I saw pain, sadness, bitter disappointment all there in her face.
“This thing inside me was so happy when I killed her Nick. It fed, and I couldn’t stop it... oh… I don't ...” Suddenly she lapsed into silence, her head lolling. I gripped her closer, feeling her body spasm and her breathing slow.
“Shit Kat, this isn’t the time for bullshit vendettas!” I shouted, “You need to fix this NOW! If you let her die...”
“The door before you is her one chance,” came Kat’s implacable reply. “Get her through. After that the choice to live or die will be hers. I offer no more than that. I've grown tired of weakness. Time for her to make peace with her Beast or die.”
After that Kat shut down and all of my shouting did nothing to bring her back. Walker was dying. Her life was ebbing away with each bloody pulse yet I was afraid to move her. There was so much blood. Any further move could only accelerate her blood loss. But Kat had given me no choice. None.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I shouted.
The katar impaling her was lodged so that any movement would cause it to scrape the sides of the narrow cleft, probably opening the wound further. And if I pulled it out? I didn’t have a choice! I screamed silent obscenities at Kat then, holding Walker steady with one hand, I pulled the katar free doing as little damage as I could. Instantly the blood flow became a bubbling torrent. An icy coldness gripped me and I promised myself Kat would bleed if Walker died this way. I promised it with all the conviction I could muster until I knew she heard me inside. With little choice, I picked Walker up and took her through the door. It opened into the middle of an alley. Ahead was a busy street with thousands of people walking by completely oblivious to us. We'd appeared out of nowhere but no one had noticed us. The alley was dark but it was bright day just ahead.
“What the hell Kat? What game is this? What do you want me to do?”
I lay Walker down on the dirty earth, then dove deep into my own mind to find her. I didn't have to travel far. She was there, waiting, sitting on her skull throne, holding a katar fully weaponized in her right hand. Her black eyes stared out at me from a thin, bleak face that had lost all trace of humanity. She looked like some Goddess from Hell itself.
“Walker doesn't deserve this,” I began, then stopped as I felt the edge of Kat's katar sink into the soft tissue of my neck. She was standing in front of me, her face inches from mine and I hadn't seen her move. I knew she could kill me, root me out from my own body. Was that what she was thinking of doing? Killing me would put an end to many of her problems. She could return to her old life. It was her best chance for survival. She knew it and I knew it, but until now the possibility she’d make that choice hadn’t occurred to me. Feeling the touch of her blade made that choice much more real.
“You don't want this,” I whispered, afraid even a raised voice would push her over the edge.
“Why not?” she hissed. “All the years I've done this. Moving from hunt to hunt. Surviving.” She twitched and the bottom blade became the one pressed against my throat. “I began to wonder if there could be more. Even for me? Then I found you. Watched you sacrifice yourself for the girl. I thought at first it was this thing called ‘love’, but when I explored your mind you thought of her only as a friend. So perplexing. Why would you risk yourself for so little? Suddenly I realized I didn't understand why humans did the things they did! I’d never had friendship. Was this the cause of my emptiness? Was this what I was missing? You had the Beast inside you. It slept but I knew I could wake it. Maybe I didn’t need to be alone? Maybe I could find this ‘friendship’ you valued so highly. Try it for myself. Fill my emptiness with something sweeter.” She edged closer so I could see the black swirling in her eyes. There was anger there, but hurt as well.
“Then you brought Walker into our world. Another strange human with strange ideas I couldn’t understand and didn’t like! Just being near her made me want to rip out her throat and feed! The first time I felt her thoughts, I knew she wasn’t good for us. Her thinking’s dangerous. Flawed! The kind of thinking that will get us killed! I thought, given time, you’d see this. But you haven’t! Instead the two of you have grown closer!” She made angry stabbing motions with the katar. “Now the emptiness inside me has grown to the point I wonder if I shouldn’t just surrender to my Beast and end this suffering? I‘d be an animal but I‘d be at peace! I’ve never had such thoughts before! I wonder if you‘re the problem. If I kill you might I not go back to the old ways? Back to survival at all costs? My heart tells me this no longer an option. Going back is not enough for me now. For the first time in my life I’m confused. All these feeling are like a madness in me!”
Kat pulled back her katar and stared into my eyes for long moments as if waiting for me to speak but I held my tongue. Her black almond shaped eyes grew larger as they bore into mine and I could tell she was sifting through my memories but I stayed still and quiet. Somehow I knew now was not the time to interrupt her. She needed to talk and I understood from long experience that she wasn't a talker. She was a Hunter, far more used to attack that to introspection. As if to mirror my thoughts she began moving her katar in a complicated dance of death as she spoke.
“I‘m the Keeper's slave. I wasn't born to parents. Love was not the motive for my birth but fear. I was created to frighten our people into obedience. When they watch me they see a monster and are rightly afraid. I have no life, no respect, no future. The only life I hav
e is what I’m given. And now I hunt a Master. One that created me and gave me this life of blood and death. I don’t think it wrong that I wish to kill him! Try not to move Nicholas.” She turned and in two steps brought the katar so close I felt the blade carve away day old whiskers. I wanted to drop and roll but the blade was consistently so close that any move at all would have been disastrous. Abruptly, she spun and kicked out with her leg, sending me crashing to my back. Then she was there, standing over me, the katar once more pointed at my heart.
“Why aren’t you fighting?” she purred. “That would at least be an honorable death.”
“Why would I fight you Kat?” I replied quietly. “You're my friend.”
Again she stepped back but the katar never stopped moving. Right, left, it moved so fast she could have written letters in the air, spelled out entire sentences with it.
“I've never lied to you. I've only tried to help, and so has Walker.”
“Liar!”
And now I have to move because death is in her eyes. She strides forward, the katar a blur. I roll under her attack, somehow missing impalement by a hair. Her anger takes her past me so I come up behind and kick her hard in the back. She rolls with the kick and spins to face me. I've kicked her hard but she's moved so quickly all the force from the kick has been lost. Once again the blade is under my chin but she's had a moment to regain control and the katar remains in check. She’s nicked my neck though. I can feel the blood dribbling down it. I don’t move; my eyes are locked on hers. I feel like I‘m holding her back from killing me by will alone.
“That isn't blood you know,” she says with something more in her eyes. I see her Beast rising, attracted by it. “That's your life. I can smell it! SHE can smell it! I hear her in my mind telling me to take it! Foolish to waste don't you think?” Again I never see her move. With the katar she retrieves a single drop, brings it close, smells it. Her black eyes roll, shining with a luminescence I've never seen before.
“My Beast,” she explains with difficulty, correctly reading my sudden intake of breath. “She's not too polite.” With obvious reluctance she slams her blade into the ground burying it and takes a step back.
“What to do? What to do?” She walks a quick circuit around me. “You want Walker so it seems all I have left is Kailex. Killing him would be something. SHE’s always wanted to kill a Master. And you? SHE’s wants you as well.” Kat laughs. “For a snack. A pick me up to strengthen HER before the HUNT. I’ve stood between the two of you. Protected you. Now I’m not so sure anymore. It’s easier to do what they want. What he wants. The Keeper. I can still have my old life, but do I want it? I’m not even sure of that anymore.”
I‘m floored and scared at the same time. Kat‘s never showed emotions like this before. She despises them. They‘re the ultimate sign of weakness. Yet here she is, eyes wild, confused. Like this, she might do anything. Make a bad decision and kill me. I have to do something to calm her. She‘s a practical girl with a problem. I need to get her thinking about solutions that don’t involve killing me.
“We can solve this together.” I keep my voice neutral, like I’m talking about the weather. “Killing me won’t help you. You must know that or I’d be dead already.” When she does nothing but look at me, eyes cold and calculating, I continue. “Kailex’s a Master. He knows things you don't. And he has Fusto. You know how dangerous Fusto is. That’s why you're hesitating. You've weighed your chances without Walker and deep down you understand you need her. Kill me and you lose her. I‘m the only reason she’ll help you. Time to choose Kat. Back to the way things were or kill me and let her die. Then it’s just you all alone once again. Kill me and you’re choosing to be alone. You can blame the Keeper, the Masters but it will have been your choice this time. You need us!”
“I need you?” She laughed and sat back down on her skull throne, katar extended in her right hand, one leg placed casually over the other at the ankles. I watched her consider what I’d said. Chew each word over like it was a steak dinner. Suddenly she turned her head to the side in a gesture of disgust.
“Go!”
I backed away. “What about Walker?”
Kat smiled but there‘s nothing human in her smile. “You thought those dumb beasts you fought was the test, but it was never so. Walker was the test! For both of you. You believe in her but I wonder. Is she as strong as you think? Can she do what needs to be done? And what about you? You vacillate! Consult! So much that, like her, I doubt your ability to survive. And yet, you have. You've even managed to drag me into your foolishness, caused me to think too much about things that require only action and resolve. Still, I saw something in you that first night. Something I thought I needed...” She paused then did a little flip and thrust move that was so fast my eyes only registered it when she was done. She‘s behind me, her blade brushing the curve of my head. I can feel her breath, warm against my neck. Then she’s in front of me again. Fearfully fast. Close, her black eyes consider me.
“I chose you and you chose Walker. That makes two mistakes. Mistakes like that can kill as surely as any enemy. If you‘re wrong about her, I‘ll kill you both then go after Kailex myself. It‘ll take more time. I’ll have to kill Fusto first but that won’t be as difficult as you seem to think.” She spit out the words. “Then it will be Kailex’s turn. That I promise!”
Suddenly she kicked out, sending me flying once again. Leaping high in the air she came down hard, slamming her katar into the dirt at my feet. “I’ve been too patient with you but that ends here! I grant you this last chance to prove her worth. What she decides next will determine your life as well as hers. If she’s to survive she has to feed. A fed Beast is kind to its host. If healing is possible and her Beast is strong enough, she’ll heal. SHIP has placed us next to thousands of sheep, so food is plentiful. So there it is, your chance, her choice. If she feeds, you live. Otherwise...” Kat shrugged tiredly. “A weak ally is worse than none at all. Convince her to feed. And Nicholas, she's dying. You’ll have to hurry. Time is different inside. It’s barely been a second in the real, but minutes are all she has left. She’ll need to drink deep! She may kill. Let's see where her precious morality takes her then!” Kat laughed. “If she survives we may see a new Walker; one I'm curious to meet. Perhaps one I might even be able to respect.”
Kat's eyes suddenly grew and I felt myself falling into them. A hard slap from her brought me back to my senses. Staring into her eyes was like staring into a midnight sun. “The blood of a Hunter is the tastiest of all. It calls to me. You smell delicious. You should go now.” She started to reach for me, then noticeably checked herself. “Go!” Her voice was like her eyes, black and smoking, full of a deep, barely restrained hunger.
I retreated quickly, working hard to pull myself back to reality. It seemed to take a long time to come back to the real. Walker? She lay where I'd left her, only inches from me, breathing shallowly. I could hear her heart stuttering in her chest. She’d lost so much blood I wondered what she could have left. Was it even possible for her to come back from this? Kat's treachery burned in my heart but now was not the time for thinking about that. There was time only for Walker and getting her healed.
We were in an alley full of the usual city detritus. Old newspapers lay in ragged heaps across the pavement. I scooped some up and formed a solid patch, placing it over the wound, then put Walker's hands on top.
“Pressure Walker. Don't let go!”
Somehow she must have heard me because her hands stayed where I'd put them and there was pressure there, if only lightly. I ran to the front of the alleyway thinking to call for help but stopped. There were hundreds of people walking by but so what? Even if one was a doctor, what could he do to save her? In the minutes we had left she was beyond the best this world had to offer. No. There was only one solution. I ran back to find her hands had fallen away from the wound. She was unconscious. I mouthed obscenities.
Suddenly the air pressure around me thickened, popping my ears. It b
ecame noticeably colder. Kat woke.
“Someone’s coming.”
Kat had stayed in the background, just watching to see what would happen but now she moved up, taking control, straining our senses for more information. She activated her Beast. Mine responded, rising quickly to join with hers but was rebuffed. For a moment it seemed disoriented, even hurt, then it settled back to pace warily in the background.
“Not this time.” A whisper from her.
My katar whirled in the air before me and since I wasn't driving it, I knew Kat had relegated me to the B Squad. I was going to have to watch this one play out. I fumed but that’s all I could do without making the both of us vulnerable.
A gate formed, silver in the dull darkness of the alley. A figure stepped out, then two others. The gate winked out behind them. They stood framed by the city light, shadows I couldn't quite make out. Then the tall one stepped forward.
“Greetings honored mentor. I see you're still playing with your food.”
Laughing softly Brenal-Tik buried his katar blade into the soft pavement in front of him. “Worry not, I come to exchange words not blows... Well, for now anyways. Will you agree to talk?”
Something in his voice made me think he wanted her to refuse. My own katar sunk into the pavement beside me.
“Speak, I agree to listen and not kill you. For now.” She put some bite into the last two words. “But be warned young one, my patience for foolishness is very low right now. Have you completed your hunt? Is Fusto dead?”
Bren smiled. Why was it that none of their smiles ever looked genuine? Suddenly his eyes sparkled and he stepped forward. “You smell good Katal-Tik. Are you alone here? Because as you know, that would be unwise.” A smaller figure stepped forward next to him. Lisa? And then another shuffled forward, crawling up the side of the alleyway until I saw that it was Bragg, his animal familiar.
I felt Kat stiffen and the katar was suddenly back in her hands at the ready. Then she did something I couldn't follow that made me feel queasy and disoriented. It felt like she'd put out some kind of call.
The God Hunters Page 30
