The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  She broke into tears, putting her hands over her face again. Tarrin knelt in front of her and put his huge paws on her shoulders in a very delicate, gentle touch. She looked at him, her face absolutely adoring, all fear of him gone from her eyes and her scent. "Why?" she managed to ask, and he understood what she was asking. Why her? Why get into a fight with a Sha'Kar over her?

  "Because to me, you're more than just a human," he told her with gentle eyes. She reminded him so much of Jula. So confused and afraid, so desperately needing guidance and love. Tarrin couldn't give her love any more than he could have given Jula love, but he could give her guidance and support. Dolanna would be best suited for fanning the embers that had once been the fire of her independence, a fire the Sha'Kar had thoroughly squelched with their magical control and their horrific torture. She had done a wondeful job keeping a terrifed turned Were-cat from going insane, teaching him how to cope with his new life. He felt she'd be just as good at taking a terrified former slave and teaching her to be her own woman.

  She cried a little longer, and Tarrin even collected her in his arms and let her cry it all out on his shoulder. He could have shown Jula this kind of support, but he hadn't. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Then again, he had hated Jula, where he had no reason to hate this young, tormented girl.

  She sniffled a little, and Tarrin pushed her back out to his arm's length. "Feel better now?" he asked with a gentle smile.

  "Yes, Ma--uh, Tarrin," she managed to say with a meek smile, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand.

  "I'm sorry if I frightened you, but my kind are very high strung, and when we get angry, it can take us hours to calm down," he apologized.

  "It's alright, Master," she said. He could tell that that master was an automatic thing for her, so he didn't berate her for it. She probably didn't even realize she said it. She had to consciously stop herself from saying it, and even then, she couldn't stop herself entirely.

  "The first thing we need to do is get you some clothes," he said, looking down at her. "Then I'll take you to Dolanna. You'll be best off with her. Like I said, I may be too intense for you right now. I know this all must be traumatic. Like your whole life was just turned on its ear."

  She nodded with a sniffle.

  "Well, living with me wouldn't make that go away," he admitted. "I'd be very bad for your state of mind right now. Especially right now, given how angry I still am over all this. I think you'll be good for Dolanna too," Tarrin said with a grim smile. "She's been getting very strange lately. A project like you will get her focused again."

  "Why would you be angry, honored one?" she asked.

  "Because what that Sha'Kar did to you is against everything he claims he believes in," he said with a snort, his ears flicking in irritation. "He outraged me so completely with that act that it was all I could do not to kill him. I'm still thinking of going back over there and tearing his head off," he admitted with a flat look that made the girl flinch. "Sorcerers are never supposed to use their magic against the innocent. Only in self defense," he told her with a rising voice.

  "It was his right," she said, speaking like a slave. "He is the Master."

  "He had no right to do that to you!" Tarrin hissed in sudden fury, laying his ears back as his eyes exploded from within into the unholy greenish aura that marked his anger. The girl flinched away from him again, looking to want to fall backwards off the divan and crawl across the floor, but something kept her absolutely rooted to the spot. He gave her a chagrined look and quickly calmed down, his eyes returning to normal as he put a paw on her trembling shoulder. "I didn't mean to frighten you," he said ruefully. "Now maybe you see why it's best you stay with Dolanna. My temper is going to get the best of me for at least a few days, until I completely calm down and get all this out of my head. I don't want to terrorize you, even by accident."

  Standing up with the girl looking up at him with a mixture of fear, surprise, and the first hints of elation at having been taken from that horrible place, Tarrin closed his paw into a fist and debated the wisdom of going out of the room. He was still broiling inside, and the scents of the Sha'Kar all over the hallways and chambers were going to make it worse. But he needed to get the girl some clothes, and he needed to go find Dolanna. It would be best for her to get her into Dolanna's care as quickly as possible. He was obviously making her afraid, and he didn't want to continue tormenting her like that.

  The door opened again, and Tarrin's reaction was swift and immediate. Kimmie found herself staring at an incensed Were-cat, eyes glowing, ears back, fangs bared, feet wide, back coiled, and claws ready to rend her apart. "Tarrin!" she said in surprise, stopping in the doorframe. "What's gotten into you!?"

  Tarrin realized it was his mate, then blew out his breath and calmed down, standing fully erect again. Kimmie looked at him in surprise, then noticed the human with his vest over her sitting on the divan. And the other divan knocked over. "Uh oh," she breathed as she closed the door and entered the room. "What happened?"

  In a tightly controlled voice, Tarrin told her what had transpired. About meeting her on the street and scenting the way they used her, and then delicately going around revealing she was a Druid. He only told her that he sensed potential in her. Then about the confrontation with her master. His voice became filled with rage when he told her about how the Sha'Kar had tortured her with magic.

  "You didn't kill him, did you?" Kimmie asked fearfully.

  "I almost did," he seethed. "I don't know how I managed to stop myself. I put the fear of the Goddess into him, though. He won't set a foot out his house until a month after we're gone."

  "He deserves it," Kimmie said vindictively. She sat down beside the girl, who started trembling again. She flinched a bit when Kimmie put a paw on her shoulder, keeping her eyes closed. "It's alright, little girl," she said in a soothing tone. "I'm not going to hurt you. Such a pretty little thing," Kimmie said, picking up the wealth of the girl's dark hair. "Could you fit one of my dresses for her? She needs something other than that towel and your vest."

  "It wouldn't be too hard."

  Kimmie stood up and offered her paw to the girl. She looked at her worriedly, and put her hand into Kimmie's large paw, but wouldn't get up. "What's the matter?" she asked her.

  "The master told me to sit," she said in a small voice.

  Tarrin snorted. "I told you not to call me that," he told her. "If you want to get up, you can get up. You can do anything you want to do, as long as you don't wander too far from me or one of the others."

  "There, see?" Kimmie said with a gentle grin, pulling on her hand until she was getting up despite wanting to sit down. "Now let's get you into a nice dress. I think brown would be a good color for you, with your skin and hair. And I just happen to have a nice brown dress that won't take much shrinking to fit you." She blinked. "Oh, no! I forgot, I left it on the ship!" she moaned.

  Without blinking, Tarrin touched the Weave and wove the complicated spell to summon an Elemental. He charged it with enough energy for it to last several hours, and set it into a form that was small enough to fit through doors. He also set it so it could be visible as a misty gray man-shaped cloud if it so chose. "I need to ask a favor of you," he said as it appeared. "I know it's a menial task, but it's very important to me."

  The Elemental told him that no task is menial so long as it was a successful one.

  "I'm glad you think that, because this is nothing more than fetching something for me," he said with a rueful look. "I can't go myself. Don't worry, you only have to go a few longspans. It should only take you a minute to get there." Tarrin looked around. "Can I borrow a piece of paper and a quill?" he asked Kimmie.

  "Sure, let me get it out of my pack," she said, letting go of the girl's hand. She stood there looking confused, for as far as she could see, her huge savior was standing there talking to nothing.

  "I need you to bring back a chest for me," he told the Elemental. "I'm going to give you a note to give to the people
watching the chest for me, telling them exactly what I want them to put in the chest. When they're done, you need to bring it back here. Is that alright with you?"

  The Elemental assured him that it was quite willing to do as he asked.

  Kimmie brought him a quill, ink pot, and a piece of rumpled parchment. Tarrin sat down on the divan and scribbled out his note, in Wikuni. To Jalis, captain of the ship. If you're reading this, you're standing in front of a cloud that just handed you this letter, he wrote. The cloud is an Elemental, and it was sent by Tarrin. It's doing me a favor. Go to the cabin I share with Kimmie and pick up the smallest chest by the bed. Open it, remove the books from inside, and replace them with Kimmie's clothes that you'll find in the larger chest beside it. Make sure to put the brown dress in the smaller chest, but as for the rest of the clothes, use your best judgement. When you finish, put the books you took out of the small chest into the large one and bring the small chest back to the cloud. It will take it and bring it back to me. Oh, and to let you know, Queen Keritanima is doing just fine, he added. He figured that Jalis would want to know that. He signed it with his name and handed it over to the Elemental. "Make sure you become visible when you hand them that," he warned it. "I need you to go to a ship. It's anchored in a shallow cove on the south tip of this island. It's about ten or so longspans south. When you get there, become visible and present this letter to anyone you can find. They'll make sure it gets to the person it's intended for, and he'll take care of everything for you. He'll bring you back a chest. When he gives it to you, bring it back here to me. I'd really appreciate it."

  The Elemental assured him that it could handle the task with little difficulty.

  "Can you find your way out of this house?"

  The Elemental assured him it could.

  "Alright. We'll be waiting for you."

  The Elemental told him it would return quickly, then zipped away, pausing only to open the door.

  If the girl hadn't understood what just happened, she didn't show it. Then again, she was probably used to magical things happening around her. "The Elemental will bring us back some of your clothes, Kimmie," he told his mate. "I told Jalis to put more than just that one dress in the chest. I figured you'd want a dress too."

  "You're right," she said, patting her hip, getting his attention on her breeches. "These things need to be cleaned, and besides, I hate pants. I much prefer a dress." She got a serious look. "What are we going to do now?"

  "Well, as soon as we get the clothes, we'll give the girl here something proper to wear. Then, if you don't mind, could you take her to Dolanna? I think she won't be very comfortable with me until she gets used to freedom, and Dolanna can help her in ways I can't."

  "That's a good idea," she nodded. "What's your name, sweetie?" Kimmie asked the girl.

  "Zarina, Mistress," she replied.

  "Don't call me mistress, it makes me sound like I run a brothel," she grinned. That put the girl back a little, but then she giggled in spite of herself. "My name is Kimmie. If you didn't notice, me and Tarrin are kind of a couple." She jerked a thumb at him. "Don't let him scare you, girl. He may look big and mean, but he's actually a pussycat when you get to know him. All that blustering is just for show," she winked.

  "He's very good at it, Mistress," she offered in a meek tone.

  "He's had alot of practice," she said with a wink at Tarrin.

  Kimmie fussed with Zarina's hair after that, taking the girl in paw and trying to make her relax. Kimmie was a chatty soul, but she had a keen mind and understanding of both humans and Were-cats, and knew how to defuse people. She'd been doing it to Mist, and then Tarrin, for years, so she had plenty of practice at it. She managed to calm the girl down as she played with her hair, debating hairstyles with her that would make her look pretty. Zarina fell under Kimime's spell quickly, and even almost laughed once when Kimmie made a light joke. She didn't completely relax, her conditioning as a slave made that impossible for her so soon, but she did calm down quite a bit, and her body language softened as Kimmie won over her trust.

  The girl felt completely comfortable with the fussy Were-cat by the time the Elemental returned with the chest. It carried a letter as well, and as Kimmie opened it and found the brown dress she wanted right on top, Tarrin unfolded it and read it. Good to hear you're doing alright, Jalis wrote back. This is the third one of these letters I've gotten since yesterday morning, but I don't think you know that. You had the same idea her Majesty did in having these magical servants deliver them. You should have been a little more specific about which dress you needed, because there were four brown ones in there. To save myself the trouble of trying to fathom the mind of a woman, I just put them all in there and I'll let Mistress Kimmie sort things out. Tarrin had to chuckle at that, and continued reading. Things here are going a little strangely. The steam engine did break down last night, for real, while Donovan was bringing it up to test an adjustment they were trying. Donovan says it'll take about five days to fix. The part that broke is in the middle, and they have to take the whole thing apart to replace it, then put it all back together, but they can't do that until they manufacture a replacement part. At least Donovan said he can make a replacement part without your help, but it'll take a couple of days. I don't understand all that technical mumbo-jumbo they throw at each other, but I did get the impression that this replacement part has to be very carefully made. I'd rather not lose another five days to shoddy workmanship, so I told Donovan to be damn sure he makes it right the first time. Anyway, I need to keep this short. Hope you got what you wanted. Jalis.

  Tarrin folded the letter and nodded his thanks to the Elemental. "Do you want to go back, or would you rather fly around on your own and explore or something until the spell ends?" he asked it.

  It seemed very pleased he would ask that, telling him that dismissing it now was what it preferred.

  "Alright. Thank you for the help. I appreciate it. You can go now."

  Tarrin Dismissed the Elemental, and a short gust of wind heralded its departure.

  "Now this dress will look smashing on you," Kimmie said, holding it up to her as she still clutched his vest around her. "But first things first. No girl can get into a new dress without taking a bath," she announced. "Let's get you cleaned up and dressed, and then we'll do something with your hair," she said lightly as she pulled the girl towards the bathing room. "Then I'll introduce you to Dolanna. You'll like her. She's a gentle woman, and she'll take good care of you."

  Tarrin let Kimmie work with the girl as he began to ponder what was going on. He still just could not believe what he had seen today. It was the last thing he would have ever believed would happen. What had happened to the Sha'Kar to make them change so drastically? It almost seemed unreal. They acted like they were still katzh-dashi, abiding their return to the outside world, but if the two towers saw them do what he'd seen today, they'd throw them all out. If the Goddess didn't strike them dead on the spot first. She'd be even more outraged than he was, and may very well chastise her wayward children personally, in a most severe manner.

  As Tarrin calmed down, slowly uncoiled from around his fury, he began to understand that finding out what had caused this radical change in the Sha'Kar wasn't as important as finding out from them where the Firestaff was. But seeing this made him see that if they would do that to a servant, then he was going to have to be very careful. If they opposed his seeking the Firestaff, they very well may come after him, and they would not be gentle. They wouldn't just defeat Tarrin and his friends, they very well may try to kill them. Tarrin could defend himself against Sha'Kar in small numbers, but if they built a big enough Circle manned with strong enough da'shar, he would be overwhelmed by them. Given how powerful these Sha'Kar seemed to be, he figured it wouldn't take much more than five or six of their strongest, five or six on the Elder Council. It would take several more of the lesser powerful Sha'Kar to overwhelm him without their help.

  Things were going to get very tricky, he could
see that. Sapphire wasn't with Kimmie, so Tarrin figured that Kimmie had set her loose out in the town and told her to see what she could find out. Keritanima, Dolanna, and Allia...were they going to be any help at all? They seemed completely taken with these Sha'Kar. Keritanima and Dolanna were spending more time getting drunk and partying than working, and Allia--what was he going to do about her? She was acting like a Sha'Kar! When he told her about this, she might turn on Allyn, or may even turn on him! She boasted that she had Allyn well in hand, but it looked to him that Allyn was the one holding her in hand. Allia was going to be a very touchy subject.

  He couldn't believe what he was doing. He was doubting his sisters and friends. He actually wasn't sure if they were going to do what needed to be done. Allia only had eyes for Allyn, and Keritanima and Dolanna too seemed entangled in the Sha'Kar's honey coated net. In that moment, he doubted the wisdom of handing the girl over to Dolanna. Dolanna would be best suited to help her, but would she? Or would she ignore the girl to go to the parties and get drunk?

  Dar. He seemed not as taken with the Sha'Kar as the others. He could depend on Dar. He could also depend on the others. Camara Tal and Phandebrass, Azakar and Miranda, Binter and Sisska. Miranda was in the best situation to help him find out where Keritamina's mind was, since she slept in the same bed with her.

  Tarrin berated himself for going so far with his conjecture. They'd only gotten drunk one time, at one party. And before that, it was the drug that nobody knew was in the wine. That wasn't their fault, and he could forgive them for one night of partying. Everyone needed a break like that from things from time to time, even Dolanna. But Allia...that was another matter. He loved her, but could he trust her now? Had she been pumping Allyn for information, or was it Allyn learning all their secrets from Allia? If they were even thinking like that. Every time Allia looked at him when they came to his room last night, she was looking right through his clothes, undressing him with her eyes. Maybe she did love him, and maybe he did love her, and they were too busy dampening bedsheets to worry about anything else.