The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  "It's rebellion," she replied with a smile. "Being the girl of a bad boy is a way to fling rules in the faces of her parents. Besides, human girls are just as interested in boys as boys are in girls. They just play hard to get. It's instinctual."

  "It sounds like you speak from experience," he teased.

  "A little, but I never let a boy get much more than a hand up my skirt," she told him.

  "Tease."

  "I was saving all my special charms for you, Tarrin," she said with a wink. "What were you doing out that day you caught Walten and Cilia?"

  "The same thing I always did, Kimmie. Wander around where I wasn't supposed to be." He chuckled. "Walten wanted to make sure nobody disturbed them, so he took Cilia down a path most of the village children didn't know, one that didn't have a boundary marker on it. A path I made that ran from my house to that small meadow with the brook, and I made another that ran from the brook to the south end of the village, so I wouldn't have to go out of my way to get from the brook to the village. Walten took her into the Frontier using that path, the one place he thought he'd never be found. He forgot that I wandered around out there all the time, and the noise they made drew me right to them."

  "What did you do?" she asked, sitting on the bed beside him, caught up in the story.

  "Well, I really didn't do anything. I snuck up on them to see if they'd notice me, but when I got there I saw that neither of them were paying much attention to anything. I realized that they were doing something pretty stupid, coming out into the Frontier that way, so I pulled back to where I wouldn't get noticed and made sure nothing came along and killed them while they were busy."

  "If it was so dangerous, why were you there?" she asked with a playful smile.

  "I guess I was more stupid than Walten and Cilia," he chuckled. "They never knew I was there, even to this day. They better be glad. I found Centaur tracks a few hours later, and they were fresh. I think me being there may have scared the Centaurs away."

  "The Centaurs wouldn't have hurt them," Kimmie told him. "They would have attacked an armed band of men, but not two human teens mating in the bushes. They probably would have found that to be quite funny. Knowing Centaurs, they would have barged in on them and tried to scare them, hoping they'd run naked back into the village. Centaurs are like that."

  "I've never really gotten to know any Centaurs."

  "But you probably were the reason why they didn't. All the Woodkin around Aldreth knew you, and they all knew you weren't to be taken lightly. They'd seen you track game and shoot your bow, and they knew that you were more than capable of killing a Woodkin if you thought they were being a threat. The Centaurs probably realized that if they barged in on your friends, you would have shot at them with your bow in retaliation. If they were locals, they respected your aim, and the fact that you could have gotten into a firing position before Walten jumped up with his pants around his ankles."

  Tarrin chuckled. "Someday I need to find out just how much the Woodkin knew about me."

  "Almost everything, Tarrin," she grinned. "You forget, every time you went into the Frontier, someone was watching you. Usually it was Were-kin in animal form, but sometimes it was a mother with cubs to show them a human, sometimes it was a Centaur or a Faerie or a Pixie, sometimes a Dryad or a Sylph or a Nymph, and sometimes it was even a Druid. You were an enigma to them. A human barely more than a boy wandering fearlessly around the Heartwood, not seeming to have a care for the danger. At first they wanted to kill you, but they watched you and saw that you respected the woods, that that Ranger father of yours had taught you very well, so they decided to leave you alone. They got to know your habits, and when your wanderings showed patterns, they'd line up youngsters and cubs along that path and show you to them as you went by. The youngsters would practice stalking you, because if they could sneak up on you, they were proficient enough in woodcraft to sneak up on almost anyone."

  Tarrin laughed. "You know, that answers probably the biggest mystery I had when I was out there," he said. "Every once in a while, I could tell someone was following me. But when I backtracked, not only was there nobody there, but there was no sign anyone ever was there. That would always scare me, and I'd run back home and stick close the farm for a ride or so, until I forgot about it and went back out into the Frontier."

  "I know, and boy, did the cub that messed up ever get it from his mother when you were out of earshot," she laughed. "They liked using you as a practice target because you were very good at woodcraft, and you were very alert. Since you were so good, it meant that any cub that could sneak up on you was good enough to make it on his own."

  "I must not have been very good if I was leading a parade around the Frontier," he grunted sourly.

  Kimmie laughed. "You were a human, and a very young one, Tarrin, but remember who you were dealing with. Actually, that you noticed anything at all is a testament to how good you were. Any other human except your father would never have noticed anything." She laughed. "Boy, were they all terrified of your father, she admitted. "They knew he was a Ranger, and he was alot better than you. He almost caught Woodkin on several occasions, and he knew we were there. I'll bet he knew that we followed you around, but he must have realized that we wouldn't hurt you."

  "Father never said anything to me."

  "If he had, you probably would have stopped going into the Frontier, and then we'd have missed you," she winked.

  "I thought you never went to Aldreth when I was alive."

  "I didn't. I asked Triana about it. I was curious."

  "Oh."

  "Triana told me that there was this one Dryad that had a crush on you," Kimmie laughed. "She kept trying to sneak around the Druid and get close to you, so she could seduce you, but Sathon was too smart for her. The game between them is almost legendary in that part of the Heartwood."

  "I forgot that Sathon was the Druid up there," Tarrin admitted. "I hope everything's going alright for them, now that the villagers know about the Woodkin."

  "They always did," she reminded him. "But I think things will get back to normal. I think the Woodkin won't be as reluctant to visit the village now, but that may be a good thing. We need more contact with the humans, and the villagers of Aldreth have proved that they can accept our visits without being too nosy." She yawned. "What time is it?"

  "I don't know, there aren't any windows in here."

  "I saw them setting up tables across town, on that estate on the small hill in the center of the place. I guess they'll be coming to get us soon."

  There was a knock at the door, and Arlan stepped into the room and bowed to him. "Honored one, the feast will be taking place soon, and it's customary for us to come in our finest clothes," he said. "I don't think you came with any other clothes, so would it offend you if we find you something appropriate?"

  "Not really," he answered. "Kimmie agreed to wear one of your niece's dresses. I guess I can borrow one of those robes your people wear and we can adjust the fit a little with Sorcery."

  "I was thinking the same thing, honored one," he nodded. He motioned behind him, and two of the serving girls rushed into the room. One was holding a shimmering dress made of a strange silver cloth, and the other was carrying a pair of slippers.

  "The dress already looks lovely, Arlan, but I'm afraid I don't need shoes," she said, holding a foot up for him to inspect. "We Were-cats have our own soles, you see. Shoes are very uncomfortable--" she extended the claws on her foot for his benefit--"and as you can see, if we do wear shoes, they don't last very long."

  Arlan smiled slightly, then nodded. "You have a good point there, my Lady. Five of them, in fact."

  Kimmie giggled and flashed him a brilliant smile.

  "I'll leave my servants to help you get dressed. If it pleases you, would you join us in the sitting room when you're ready? We'll be leaving for the feast as soon as you feel ready, honored one."

  "That's fine, Arlan," Tarrin nodded. "But we don't need help dressing, if that's alright
with you. May I go through your clothes to find something?"

  "My house is yours, honored one. Take anything you wish, but you'll find my finest clothing in that closet over there," he said, pointing to a door near the archway to the pool. "I'm sure something in there will meet with your tastes." He clapped his hands sharply, and the girl carrying the shoes turned around and scurried out. The other one, the redhead that Tarrin meant to talk to, handed the shimmering dress to Kimmie with a curtsy, then she too rushed out of the room at Arlan's bidding. "I'll be waiting for you whenever your pleasure brings you to us," he told them with a bow, then shut the door behind him as he left.

  Kimmie held up the dress and admired it. "Wow," she said in appreciation. "This dress is amazing. It's soft as silk, light as linen, but it shimmers like it was made of silver thread."

  Tarrin looked at the dress, and he had to admit that it was rather nice. It was too small for Kimmie, but he could fix that. It had a low neckline and flared sleeves, and came with a sash already tied around its waist. Tarrin would have to poke a hole in the back to make room for her tail, but he could mend it when Kimmie was done with it. All in all, he had to agree. It was a very beautiful dress. Kimmie would look smashing in it.

  "Well, let's go indulge ourselves in that bathing pool, and then get ready," Kimmie said, getting up and setting the dress on the bed carefully, then starting on the buttons of her vest. "I've been dying to take a bath ever since I saw that pool," she said with undisguised longing.

  "What do you think we'll find at that feast?" Tarrin asked as he got up and pulled off his vest.

  "I'm not sure, but I hope that you and Zak don't lose your heads," she said as she shrugged off her vest, then started unlacing her breeches. "Remember what Dolanna said. We don't want to get on their bad side just yet." She stepped out of her breeches and folded them, and then set them on the bed. She started towards the pool as Tarrin removed his own breeches. She paused and looked back at him, waggling her tail at him in invitation. "Well, come on, Tarrin," she said with a smile. "Baths are no fun if you're alone."

  Tarrin glanced at her tail, but his eyes were more interested in the lovely, heart-shaped bottom underneath that tail. He watched that bottom swagger seductively as she walked through the arch, realizing that Kimmie was playing for him. She usually didn't saunter quite like that. Jesmind was more beautiful than Kimmie in some ways, but when it came to bottoms, Kimmie won that contest paws down. Tarrin thanked Triana one more time before hurrying after her, thanking her for giving him the chance to know Kimmie as a mate, and the child that was coming.

  He knew that the feast was going to be a chore for him, probably an assault on his sensibilities, but at least at the moment, his mind was oh so pleasantly distracted.

  Chapter 13

  The feast took place on the grounds of the largest estate on the island, the one sitting on the gentle rise almost in the exact center of the borders of the town. Seeing that estate made Tarrin understand why Iselde thought her mansion was small, for the estate of the Grand and the meeting place of the Council had to be three times larger than Iselde's home. It was monstrous, four stories high and easily taking up a couple of square longspans of land all by itself. It didn't have a stained glass window as Iselde's house did, instead it had permanent Illusions decorating its outside, Illusions of Sha'Kar in robes lining the walls, all of them looking down at the visitors with faces of gentle benediction. Tarrin could sense those Illusions even from that distance, over the background magical energy, but it was apparent even to someone without Sorcery that the decorations were magical in nature...mainly because they moved. That gave Tarrin the creeps the first time he noticed it, seeing one of the Illusory Sha'Kar males scratch his chin. The huge home of the Grand wasn't the only building on the estate. There were ten other buildings on the estate, all of which were about the size of Iselde's manor house, but they were all sitting behind the main building as one approached from the gate, so as not to get in the way of the view of the main structure. They lacked any decoration at all, only their white paint, and it made Tarrin curious as to why.

  But there were too many things to look at for him to concentrate very long on just one. The grassy field between the fence and that main building was filled with many long tables, each with individual padded chairs resting around them, and those chairs were filled with Sha'Kar. Tarrin estimated that there were about five hundred of them in all, ranging from mere children to those who had that stately appearance that told him that they had to be thousands of years old. They sat and talked with one another energetically, not touching the huge amounts of food that had been placed on the tables in front of them, foods prepared in ways that baffled Tarrin. They were made as if they too were works of art, the cooks carefully arranging the food on the platters in specific patterns and styles. The result was that not much food could be put on one platter, cluttering up the table space with five plates whose food would have easily fit on just one.

  The food wasn't the only decoration. All the Sha'Kar were wearing their finest clothes, and to Tarrin's surprise, their taste in clothing was elegantly underdecorated. The Sha'Kar seemed to prefer not wearing jewelry or making their garments gaudy with goring or decorations. The cloth itself was the decoration, that same shimmering kind of cloth of which Kimmie's dress was made, and the only large jewelry any of them wore were their katzh-dashi amulets. Some of them were wearing rings and earrings, he saw, but they were all small and elegant, diamond studs in the ears and rings with designs etched into the metal or with small gemstones, not the huge, gaudy pieces that humans and Wikuni seemed to prefer. Some of the dresses the women wore were opaque, and one girl that looked to be Iselde's age had on a shimmering blue dress on that was so opaque that her figure was clearly visible beneath it. The fact that the platinum blond of her pubic hair, which was the same color as the hair on her head, was contrasted beneath the dress against her brown skin and was clearly visible told him just how see-through the dress really was. But this obvious bit of nudity didn't seem to bother the Sha'Kar very much. Some of them looked at the girl with slightly stern and disapproving looks, but nobody told her to go home and change. The girl, to her credit, strutted around in her see-through gown like she owned the whole island, and took delight in hanging on the younger males and revelling in their appreciative stares. Without really knowing how, Tarrin knew that that one was Iselde's adventurous friend, Auli.

  The finery wasn't limited to the Sha'Kar and the human Sorcerers. Kimmie was wearing one of Iselde's gowns, but so were Dolanna, Keritanima, and Allia. Dolanna wore a golden shimmering gown that went well with her dark hair, not seeming to be too conscious about the fact that it was opaque enough to give a slight hint at what laid beneath it. Keritanima wore a cream-colored one that contrasted her fur nicely, and Allia wore a daringly low-cut dress that was a snowy white, just like her hair. Hair that had been carefully combed and arranged in tumbling curls, looking both wild and carefully arranged to look that way at the same time. Tarrin knew that her hair looked like that all the time, but it was hard to tell with how carefully it had been combed out and arranged. Tarrin had never seen Allia wearing something so feminine before, and it absolutely blew him away how stunningly beautiful his sister was. Tarrin had gotten used to that beauty over the years, knowing she was lovely yet the impact of it losing its force after he'd seen her day after day after day. Tarrin saw that he wasn't the only one that noticed this. Quite a few Sha'Kar males couldn't stop looking at her as she crossed the lawn and seated herself on Tarrin's left, and he couldn't help stare at her either. She smiled at him and patted him on the leg quietly. Camara Tal and Azakar had shed their armor, Camara Tal wearing her haltar and tripa, and Azakar was wearing a robe that had been magically stretched quite a bit to fit him. Azakar didn't have any other clothes with him, and he looked quite uncomfortable in the robe. Phandebrass had magically refurbished his frayed robe, making it look new, but he still insisted on wearing that ridiculous conical hat. Miranda was a
lso wearing one of Iselde's dresses, but it was a subdued brown color and didn't seem as grand or fine as the others. It didn't shimmer like Iselde's other dresses, making Tarrin think that she'd been giving something very plain so she wouldn't be quite so noticable. Binter and Sisska didn't change anything, even still carrying around their huge weapons in defense of the queen.

  There were humans Sorcerers at the feast as well, but their role was clearly defined. All the human Sorcerers sat by themselves at the far side of the tables, as far away as one could get from the table that held Tarrin's friends and the table beside them that held Grand Syllis, the Council, and Arlan's family. Tarrin noticed that immediately, but the humans didn't seem to think that it was a bad thing. They talked amongst themselves quite happily, and they too had the artistically arranged food set before them, just like the Sha'Kar. The other humans, the servants, were there as well, and they were serving. A virtual army of them, each attending specific tables, pouring wine, fetching things, and those not busy stood exactly one pace behind and between the spaced chairs, hands folded in front of them, waiting for a call to duty. Tarrin found that to be hard to allow, for the Sha'Kar seemed to think of their servants as furniture, or hand tools. To use when needed, then to just forget once the task was complete. When he balled up a fist at the sight of it, Kimmie put a gentle paw over his, making him look at her and her slightly stern look. No scenes, Dolanna said. She was right, this wasn't the time or the place to address the issue.

  Clearly, they were all waiting for something before beginning, but what it was, Tarrin had no idea. They all simply sat in their chairs and talked, sending gazes towards the Were-cat's table. It made him feel distinctly uncomfortable, but then again, they may be looking at the drakes. Sapphire was sitting on the table between Tarrin and Kimmie, and Chopstick and Turnkey flanked Phandebrass, both with their snouts eye-deep in silver bowls. Sapphire had a bowl of rabbit meat sitting before her, but she hadn't started on it yet. She was smarter than the other two drakes, and seemed to comprehend that since nobody else was eating, it must not be the proper time to do so. Tarrin and Arlan had a very short, one-sided argument about the drakes. Arlan said that nobody was allowed to bring pets to the feast, but Tarrin rolled his argument under by stating that if Sapphire didn't go, he didn't go. Leaving Arlan without a leg to stand on ended the disagreement faster than it started.