To the Stars End- Original Soul

by Demetri Grim

  “No. Primals are native to Cross. Yes they are both Beastkin races to a degree. He is Kathani. From Septa. ” Red started back towards the door. “The gold bars are in the box.” He pointed to the forge. “I will be down the hall. Do you need anything to begin? I have duties to attend.” He glanced over his shoulder, first to her and then the creature kneeling in the chamber beyond. His inhuman eyes flickering again with inner firelight.

  The chained monster shifted and she jerked around to look at it. It's long bovine ears twitched and flicked as it listened. How much did this thing understand? Was it intelligent? Primals were not known for being very smart. What what about these, Kathani? “Seem like some sort of Cow, I have never heard of a Primal who was cow-like.” She dropped her voice lower as she mumbled to herself, watching the monster’s ears flick her way. “Cows are not exactly known to be intelligent so I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, scrunching her nose. “At least it does not smell like a cow.”

  “Respond. I have duties.” Red said again, a low pitch rumble resonating in the chamber and bringing her attention back to him

  “ Sorry. No, no I don't think I’ll need anything more. I have my tools and the forge looks set up. I can get to work right away.” She offered him a slight smile that did not feel as confident as she had hoped but he nodded anyway.

  “Good. Door must be kept closed. Security reasons. Guards are at the end of hall. I am not very far away. I will be in the office. Call out if you need something. I have very good hearing.” He turned, nodded to her once as he passed through the door and pulled it closed. The sound of metal sliding into place echoed in the room as he dropped the security bar.

  “Good...great. Now im locked in a room, with a monster. Twice my size. A monster dangerous enough to apparently warrant massive chains and a special holding cell.” Beka swallowed hard and turned to face the muzzled and bound creature. “I bet it bites...”

  Chapter 15: Finding Courage

  “Hello there big fella.” Beka's voice cracked as she hesitated in the middle of the chamber. She swallowed again and tried to calm her nerves. What was it about everyone and everything in this damn place wanting to set off her anxiety. "I didn't even know I had anxiety issues," she grumbled at herself, feeling ashamed and irritated at her own reactions. "So much for being a brave adventurer, I can't even handle being around domesticated and chained monsters." She snickered as her mind drifted to an image of Red sitting by the desk begging for treats. She wondered what he would think about being called domesticated. "I still don't even know what he is."

  Turning her attention to the monster she took a step forward, adopting her most soothing voice. The same type one might use on a stray dog. It seemed the safest bet and she wanted to not appear threatening. "Not that I’m a threat to you. You mister. Cow are twice my size." She scrunched her nose at that thought. “I'm going to be doing a little work on ya. Hope you don't mind.” Beka cast about the room, her eyes falling upon the forge setup and the small folding stool that sat leaning against the anvil. A larger bench rested against the wall behind it. “Perfect, I can use the bench as a table.” Her voice echoed into the chamber, sounding louder than she would have liked in the tense silence that hung in the air. She glanced back around to the creature. Its ears twitched idly as the long fluffed tail brushed at the floor. “At least you’re not jumpy.” She chuckled at herself, mumbling : “Unlike others present.” She retrieved the stool and bench, tucking both under an arm. She moved to approach the creature slowly.

  Stopping well away from the horned monster, Beka set down the bench. The scrape of the wood on stone near the blindfolded creature made its head jerk against the chain restraints of its nose ring. She froze in place. The monster’s massive nose huffed in rapid snuffles, smelling the air. She took a moment to let it get a good sense of her before stepping forward again and placing the stool down several feet away from the creatures head. Beka’s mind drifted back to the time as a child when Lizzy had befriended a stray dog. It was wandering the poor quarter opposite the back wall of the smithy. The area where Lizzy had lived before her family took her in. It was a shaggy, dirty, half-starved mutt. Almost wild. Her friend had fallen for the pup instantly, birds of a feather. The two of them had won over the dog with slow and steady gestures and letting it come to them. Eventually they added treats. Before long the scamp was running wild right alongside them on their market pranks. It was all she knew to do around animals. Feed them, pet them, don't make sudden movements. She was definitely no master animal handler. She had never even been around a horse for longer than a few minutes. Usually only to load up a customer's wagon. Much less time with a cow. Beka only had a basic idea of what monsters were like from the stories she pried from the adventurers who visited the shop. She was sure caution would keep her alive, just like Red had predicted.

  “Hey there. Yea, that's me. Get a good sniff. I'm not going to hurt you.” She managed to keep her voice steady and calm. Trusting that the chained, muzzled, and blinded, monster could not hurt her. It lifted its head a little, pulling the chain on its nose before dropping it back to the stone, the wet nose of the beast still huffing in her direction. It reminded her of a horse in a way. Deciding she should try to ease the monster in the same fashion she had once learned from a local knight. She opened her palm and reached forward, very aware that she was now kneeling perilously close to the deadly sharp horns. Pressing her hand close to the muzzle she felt the hot humid breaths of the creature on her palm a second before it shifted again and pressed its wet nose right into her palm. The nose was warm and leathery, its glinting red gold ring a stark contrasting cold.

  Beka froze instantly, her heart pounding the second the ring made contact in what she now knew was an Ether Seizure. Her mind raced with an onslaught of fears. What if the monster jerked its head right now. She would be impaled instantly. What if she touched the ring on accident when working on a horn itself! How was she going to avoid the ring! She couldn't just sit next to the monster, it was chained for a reason! Her world devolved into a flood of what-ifs that seemed to go on forever. In truth it lasted only a moment as the beast dropped its head once again back to the stone, severing the connection. Beka fell back in a heap, gasping for breath. The monster shifted and grunted as well, its ears pulled back tightly along its skull. The tail swishing wildly behind it. Had her reaction startled it? She tried to calm her heart rate and staggered to her feet.

  “Damn. That ring, it really is etherium. Or worse.” She took in a deep breath as her heart calmed. “Okay not going to do that again.” She pulled the stool forward and tried to ignore what must have been a sign this was not going to end well for her. “Let's start over. I'm going to need you to be very still.” Beka swallowed and carefully took hold of the monster’s horn. Hoping it would not jerk away or gouge her arm. She doubted anyone in Kindredstar’s employ would be very quick to get help. "More likely, I’ll be fed to the monsters. And Uncle will be told I ran away." The monster snorted and huffed at her. Beka cocked an eyebrow at its timing and grasped the beast’s horn more firmly.

  To her surprise, the bovine monster did not move. It didn't even seem to notice she was holding onto its horn. The thick muscle and bone of the beast’s skull and neck kept the horns held solid. Testing the horn and the monster’s reaction she jerked hard on the horn. It did not move. She yanked, pulled and shook without any effect but tiring out her own arms with the effort. "I might as well be yanking on a steel bar set into six feet of stone rather than an overgrown fur ball." The only movement she managed to get from the beast was when it lifted its head to turn more in her direction and snort. The sudden motion, the blast of hot damp air, and the fact she was lifted from the ground as she pressed down on the horn made her squeak in surprise and skip away.

  “Well you’re strong.” Beka said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her nerves relaxing as the beast set its head back down. If the thing was going to attack it w
ould have by now, especially with her yanking on it the last few minutes. "Okay big guy one more test." She pulled from her tool belt a long thin chisel. It was almost an ice pick but with a V-shaped end for carving out a thin groove. Usually she would brace the handle or horn of a weapon on her work bench with a clamp and then hammer the pattern onto the surface. The monster however seemed strong enough to not need a clamp. In this case she just hoped the beast did not feel her chipping away at its horn. “Now, I don't know if you’re going to understand this, but I’m going to have to chip at your horn a little. I need you to stay completely still. This is not going to hurt one bit.” At least she hoped it would not.

  Careful to line herself up to where the horn might not reach her if it jerked its head, she set the chisel along the ivory length. With a small wood mallet in hand she took in a breath and struck the end of the chisel, gouging out a single straight chunk of ivory from the monster’s horn. She held her breath and took a step back in case it tried to attack her for taking a chunk out of it. Once again it did nothing. The tail swished idly behind the beast as it snorted at her in what almost seemed like a sigh. "You must not be very comfortable chained down this way," she mused to herself. “Perhaps I just need to quit worrying.” Red and Lord Kindredstar both said this beast was safe to work on. "You’re very docile, and very strong. The chains must just be a way to keep you from wandering away." She nodded to herself, finally convinced that she was just being paranoid.

  “You took that like a champ by the way.” She tried to put a smile into her voice, the same way she would with the stray years ago. “You’re a very good boy.” Feeling her bravery rise she patted the monsters thick flat skull, right over the burlap blinder it wore. It was like patting a pile of bricks and she was not even sure it felt it. “Well it's the thought that counts right?” Beka mumbled and patted his head again a little harder.

  Scooting the stool up directly in front of the beast’s head she placed the bench next to her and sat down with hammer and chisel in hand. Her eyes already tracing unseen lines along the horn. Beka traced a finger along a faint curving pattern that grew naturally on the beast’s ivory horn. Picturing the final pattern in her mind. It would not be too hard to mirror it on the other side. She began to tap and chisel at the resilient ivory. The pattern unfolding before her eyes as she lost herself to the tap-tap-tap of the mallet. Pausing from time to time to blow a bit of horn dust free of the monster she slowly worked her way around and over the length of horn. Shaping intricate loops and spirals into the natural curve of the horn. She was completely wrapped up in her work. The fact she was chisling patterns into a living monster momentarily forgotten. Even the beast’s soft chewing on its cheek did not distract her. In fact she found the soft up-and-down of the beast’s head worked in her favor as she timed her strikes along the bottom of the horn to the rise and fall of the beast’s massive head.

  The pattern was neatly chiseled into half of the first horn when a deep baritone voice broke her out of her concentration. “You have name?” She blinked and turned to look behind her. The voice was rough, oddly accented with hard vowels and sharp consonants but with a smooth almost melodic rhythm to the three simple words. Yet when she turned to see who had asked the question the room was empty. The door on the far side still closed.

  “Hello?” Beka called into the room, eyes peering about for anything moving. A hot wet blast of air hit her in the back of her neck as the beast grunted and rumbled. The first sound other than a snort she could have sworn the beast had made. It was then something wet and sticky landed in her lap. With a start she turned and dropped her hands to her skirt. Her fingers wrapping around a slimy snake-like object that she held up to the dim candle light. Her heart once again hammering in her chest. It was a length of rope, a damp sticky, half chewed length of rope. Her eyes dropped to the monster’s muzzle and widened in shock. It had chewed through the rope binding its mouth shut!

  “Heh, rude.” The monster said in that same deep baritone as before. The massive jaw of the creature opening slightly to speak perfect but accented common.

  “Ahh!” She screamed and fell backwards out of her stool a second before the monster shifted. Its thick head coming forward as it leaned against its chains. The chain binding its nose to the floor yanking hard on the monster’s face as it clearly tried to stand. Beka screamed again as she pushed and kicked to crawl away from the monster as it tried to free itself.

  “Rooooar!” The monster bellowed what almost sounded like the actual word for that very sound it was making. The muscled beast trying to stand once more. The link of chain and rope keeping its belly secured to the floor breaking free with a clang of broken metal. The monster’s massive right arm flexed, showing muscles the size of her body. It yanked hard against the restraints holding it crucified. Beka had only just managed to scramble to her feet when the crash and clang of something breaking in the darkness echoed throughout the chamber. A cascade of broken iron links as big as Beka’s hand bounced and clattered along the ground behind her as the beast ripped its right arm free.

  “Help! Red! Help! It's getting loose!” She screamed as she got to her feet, rushing to the exit. Yanking hard on the handle even though she knew it had been locked. Jumping onto her tiptoes she screamed out the small window. "Ahh! Red help! Please!" Another roar echoed through the chamber. A crash signaling another broken set of chains. “Guards! Someone help me! The monster is loose!” Tears were starting to stream down her cheeks as panic threatened to overwhelm her. She was just about to look back over her shoulder to the sounds of chains dragging along the floor. In her mind a pair of ivory horns were already rushing at her when a shadow passed in front of a torch in the hall beyond. Her hope exploded as she clung to the bars of the cell door. “Oh thank the gods! Let me out of here!” Beka shook the door, trying to coax whoever was out there to hurry up. Sparing a glance back into the room she screamed again as the beast now stood, both arms free and it was yanking savagely at the chains binding it's face to the ground. She could see the bolts of steel that held the brace to the stone slowly inching out as the creature’s massive arms and thick, hoofed legs flexed and strained in its attempt to rip itself free. The burlap sack on its head torn away, and discarded onto the floor. The monster’s eyes glinting as they caught the faint light of the room.

  Turning back to the door she felt someone bump against it. She might actually get out!

  Her hope vanished in a startled squawk and a complete loss of words. Standing in the window on the outside of the door was... herself. The same red hair tangled into a messy ponytail. The pale cheeks and smattering of light freckles. Her full mouth twisted in a matching fearful grimace. The same light grey tear-streaked eyes that matched her own. Full of fear and shock as her mirror image shook violently at the door.

  “Open the door! Oh gods please! This one is loose!” Her image screamed in her own melodic voice. The sound of another chain breaking behind her made her turn despite herself. The world spinning more than it should as the beast beyond flexed its arms.

  “Roar!” It bellowed again, this time obviously the actual word. It growled as it easily broke the shackles binding its hooves. Beka screamed and backed up. Her body pressing hard into the door behind her a second before her own hand snaked around her face from above. Her mirror image reaching through the window was grabbing desperately at her.

  “Oh gods this is a nightmare!” She screamed once more, pulling free of her double.

  “Oh gods this is your nightmare!” Her image screamed back at her matching her fearful tone if not exactly matching what she had said.

  The monster behind her roared again as the last of his chains were broken. Heavy clopping hooves shook the stones under her feet as she screamed, curling in on herself. Her image screamed. The monster started laughing. The world darkened around her as she fainted.

  Chapter 16: Many Shades of Grey

  The floating, dark place Beka found herself in flickered and spun around her. A dull glo
w of a tiny candle far away wavered in a slight wind. Half a dozen voices clamored in the darkness around her as consciousness returned. She was not dead! And voices! The guards must have come and pulled her from the monster. She blinked and groaned, trying to open her eyes and focus on the distant candle. She was someplace cold, dark, and hard? Hard stones pressed into her back. Her legs sat crumpled painfully underneath her. Had the guards dropped her into a cell? There was no way she was still…

  Someone punched her in the stomach. The air was knocked from her and she gasped. Coughing, Beka tried to not vomit from the pain of the blow that smashed into her guts. All she could do was curl up on herself, writhing in pain and hugging her arms to her midsection as she struggled for breath. Her vision, having only just returned, was fading to black once more from the sudden assault.

  “This one doesn't think you should have done that.” An old man commented from above her. The voices she thought she heard were actually there! Why were they attacking her! “Your going to break her!” A small girl cried, distress clear in her tiny voice.

  Wait... A small girl? Why was a small girl in the Menagerie? The out-of-place voice and the slowly subsiding pain in her stomach snapped her back to reality. Blinking her eyes open Beka wiped at her tear streaked face and took in her surroundings once more. It was the same tall ceiling and distant flickering candlelight glittering high above. The cold stones under her the same rough granite as the monster’s cell. Fear crept into her core as a pair of thick black hooves shifted right next to her head. The massive furred body of the beast stooping over her. The long ivory horn inches away from her as the monster turned its thick head to look at her. Beka blinked in surprise as she peered up at the creature. She froze and took in a halted breath. A cry of fear dying in her throat as she locked eyes with the monster. She blinked again, cocking her head to the side to get some distance from the creature. She raised an eyebrow. The large amber eyes of the monster looked down on her with what was no doubt a soft, intelligent look of... concern?