“What is that?” Eoghan asked.
“A music player,” I replied. “You download music onto it and then you can put these in your ears and it plays music.”
“I thought there was no magic where you came from?” he asked.
“It’s not magic.” I laughed softly. “It’s science.”
“Sounds like magic.”
After plugging the ear buds in, I slipped them in my ears, and then turned on the device and put it in my pocket. The player was on shuffle all songs and I had quite a variation of music genres so it wasn’t surprising when the first thing to play was classical and then the next pop, but it seemed to surprise Eoghan who stumbled to a stop when the pop came on.
“What is that?”
“It’s pop music.”
“I liked the other music better,” he commented.
“I have a lot of different kinds. I’m sure you’ll find others you like as well.”
“Still seems like magic,” he muttered.
I giggled at him, but didn’t reply.
The corn field gave way to a meadow with grass up to my hips, and then we entered what seemed to be a desert with red dirt, rocks, and sagebrush. The scenery changed too quickly here. It wasn’t natural. Or maybe it was. Maybe humans had altered everything so much with building roads and housing tracks that we changed it too much in our dimension.
“How much farther do we have to go?” I asked after stepping on a large stone that hurt the bottom of my foot.
“We should be there in two days.”
“Two days!” I was going to need a hot bath to soak my body in after two more days of this. I had never thought that leaving the orphanage would turn into a journey like those we had read in the books we’d found at the library. If I ever made it back to my dimension, the others would never believe my story.
“What is that!” Eoghan demanded when Irish pipes began playing.
I smirked and said, “I’ll spare your delicate ears from listening to the pipes even though I enjoy them.” I hit next and a rock song came on. “Better?”
“Yes.”
The sun set and I shivered in the cold night air. There were no shelters and Eoghan didn’t seem ready to stop anytime soon anyway. I was tired since we’d been walking since late last night or very early that morning, but I didn’t complain. Knowing there was a safe place where I wouldn’t have to hide or run anymore was an incentive worth losing some sleep over. I ate some jerky and fed some to Eoghan as we walked. With the music playing I felt more comfortable. Having a piece of my dimension with me made me relax enough to just walk in the dark with my hand on the top of Eoghan’s shoulders.
What would life here be like? I wasn’t a picky eater so the food wasn’t a worry, though I would miss cupcakes. Toilet paper would be really nice right about now.
“What’s toilet paper?” Eoghan asked.
“It is soft paper that you wipe yourself with after going to the bathroom to keep you clean,” I explained. It was strange to explain things that even children knew in my dimension to an adult, or… “How old are you?”
“I’ve been alive for twenty harvests,” he replied.
Harvests? He must have meant fall. So, twenty years?
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Almost eighteen,” I replied and stumbled over a rock.
He moved closer to me to help me regain my balance and we continued on. “How is toilet paper made?”
I shrugged. “No idea. There are a lot of things that we take for granted in my dimension because they are always available and we don’t have to take part in making them. We just buy them.”
“Others build them and you buy them without knowledge of how they work?”
“Pretty much. I have absolutely no way to explain how the electronic components in this player work. So, it is sort of like magic.”
“Your dimension sounds very strange.”
“It is.”
“Tell me more about it?”
I turned off the music player and put it back into my backpack before replying. “Well, I don’t know too much. I grew up in an orphanage—”
“What’s that?”
“An orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a place where kids without parents go.”
“You must have parents. You’re alive.”
“They’re either dead or they gave me up—”
“They give children away!” he practically yelled in my head.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“That’s unacceptable.”
“It is how it is. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes people aren’t ready to be parents.”
“Did yours abandon you?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “They won’t tell the orphans because they don’t want us trying to locate our families later if they are alive.”
“That’s awful. Everyone should know their family.”
“Not everyone is worthy of being in your life. Just because they have the same bloodlines as you, doesn’t mean that they are good to be around or deserve to be with you.”
He seemed shocked by my answer, but after a moment said, “I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it quite in that way before, but it is similar to things I’ve done with my own family. Tell me more about this orphanage that you grew up in.”
“Well, it’s in a really bad city.”
“Bad?”
“Dangerous. Lots of criminals who kill, steal, and every other bad thing.”
“And that’s where the orphanage is?”
“Yes. We grow up surrounded by it and most of the kids at the orphanage end up joining gangs—”
“What are gangs?”
“Groups of criminals. Like a clan of criminals. They are like families, but no blood relation, and they work together to fight against other gangs and do robberies and things.”
“Did you join a gang?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I actually ran away from the orphanage and went to the city across the bridge that’s nice and the gangs don’t usually go.”
“You ran away?”
“Yes, I didn’t want to get stuck there and end up forced into a gang or something.”
“It was dangerous to live in that city where the orphanage was?”
“Yes, very dangerous.”
“How did you survive?”
I smirked. “I’m an okay fighter and my friends all had my back so I didn’t have to fight often.”
“You got into fights?”
“Sometimes.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“No.”
“Do you think poorly of me for killing that vampire?”
I detected a hint of worry in that question. “I’ve seen a lot of killing in my short life. That vampire would have hurt you and threatened me. I don’t really like people being killed to protect me, but it was the only way. No, I don’t think poorly of you. I feel useless since I can’t protect myself here.”
“Once you learn to use your magic, you will be able to protect yourself. And you’re not useless.”
“I’m not?”
He purred and said, “You’ve gotten me to talk more in the past two days than I have in years.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m useful,” I muttered, but it did make me feel better to know that he enjoyed talking to me.
“Just by being my friend, you’re doing enough.”
“Tell me about yourself. I don’t know anything about you,” I begged.
“I’m the last surviving member of my family. There was an attack while I was away and they were all killed.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“That happened when I was twelve. It took me five years to find the culprits and bring them to justice. Grief took over my life and until the Transfer brought you here, I hadn’t felt anything for anyone else.”
“What did you feel?” I asked.
He glanced at me and then a
way. “The intense urge and need to protect you. It’s something Treyce calls the Alpha Urge, a need to protect those dear to you. I hadn’t experienced it before, but I am certain that’s what I felt.”
Oh. So, he felt the need to protect me because I was weak. I’d read about it in a fantasy story once where a werewolf fell in love with a human. I was weaker than them, but it made me feel useless again.
I stumbled and Eoghan caught me as I fell over him. “We should rest,” he suggested.
“There’s no shelter,” I reminded him.
“I’ll keep watch while you rest.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
He shook his head.
“I’ll keep going and…”
“You can hardly walk. We’ll take a few hours to rest and then we can continue on.”
I nodded my head in agreement, thoroughly tired now, and sat on the ground right where we had stopped walking. He lay down so that I could use him as a pillow and licked my hair, which was no doubt a disaster after everything.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I rubbed my face on his soft fur.
“You don’t need to thank me, Alyssa.”
“I do. You’re risking yourself for me when you don’t even know me. I owe you.”
“Go to sleep.”
“Yes, sir.”
He huffed a laugh and soon I fell asleep.
FOUR
I WOKE up sweating from the heat of the sun above us. I looked up and gasped. “You let me sleep too long.” It was near noon already!
“You needed it,” he said in reply.
After brushing as much dirt as I could get off my clothes, I started walking the way we had been headed the night before. How much time had been wasted by him letting me sleep? Had he been awake the whole time?
“You’re going the wrong way,” he informed me.
I stopped and spun to see him heading towards the right. “Oh.”
We jogged for a little bit, then I fed him some jerky. I ate a weird paste that Eoghan had assured me was food from the old wizard. It didn’t taste like anything, but after eating only a few spoonfuls I felt full and satisfied.
“I need to learn how to make that,” I told him.
“I can teach you.”
“Really? You know how to make it?”
He nodded. “He taught me how to make it a couple of years ago.”
“Do you think he’s alright? Do you think the vampires hurt him?” I asked him softly. I had been worried about that since we left.
“They couldn’t hurt him. He would obliterate them before they took a step if he wanted to,” he assured me.
“Good.”
“Alyssa, will you tell me more about yourself?” he asked me.
“What do you want to know?” I asked back.
“Did you ever court anyone?”
“No. There were boys at the orphanage that were attractive, but most were already joining gangs and that’s not what I wanted for my life. I had decided at fourteen that I would wait to find a boyfriend or husband until after I got out of the city and away from the orphanage. Do you have a mate?”
“No. I hardly noticed others while I was on a warpath to get revenge.”
“That doesn’t seem healthy,” I commented.
He laughed in our heads. “No, I suppose it wasn’t.”
“Will you search for a mate now?”
He didn’t reply for so long that I thought he just didn’t want to talk anymore. When he did reply it was very soft. “I think I will.”
An hour later we paused to drink water. It was significantly hotter in this area during the day than it had been in the forest. I ran my fingers through Eoghan’s fur as he lapped up some water from a collapsible bowl I had brought with me.
“You must be hot with all of this fur,” I commented.
“It’s not too bad,” he responded and then leaned into my hand as I scratched the middle of his back. “Oh, that’s the spot that itches the most!”
I scratched harder and he groaned happily and leaned harder into my hand. I stopped and he fell onto his side on the ground.
“That was perfect,” he said appreciatively.
I giggled at him and he let his tongue loll out the side of his mouth like a dog would when happy. “I like your smile,” he told me. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a woman smile.”
“Well, now that your Alpha Urge to protect me has gotten you out of your funk, you can go off and find a female lynx friend to make happy.”
“About that,” Eoghan began and stood up. “I should tell you—”
“Stop!” Treyce yelled behind us.
I obeyed and turned to look at him as he jogged towards us.
“Run,” Eoghan told me and growled.
“What?” I asked and looked at him and then back at Treyce.
“You see the stone wall in the direction we were headed?”
I looked where he was talking about and could just make out a waist high stone wall in the distance.
“Yes?”
“Run straight towards it and jump over it. The other side of the wall belongs to me and you will be safe there.”
“You said we had two days until we arrived,” I reminded him.
“Alyssa! This is not the time,” he growled and pushed my legs with his head. “Run as fast as you can and I’ll stall him.”
“What about you? Will he hurt you?”
“Girl, what are you doing with him? Come with me so that we can get this sorted out with the Queen,” Treyce called.
I stepped backwards two steps and looked from Eoghan to Treyce and back again. “I…”
“Alyssa, run!” Eoghan yelled and hissed as a black shape fell out of the sky towards him.
“Eoghan!” I screamed and fell back, stumbling several steps away as he and whatever it was battled.
Treyce looked from me to Eoghan and then leapt forward, his body changed in one blink from a man to a wolf, and started helping Eoghan fight whatever the black thing was.
I turned and ran as fast as I could towards the wall. Eoghan was fighting to protect me so if I was safe, he could retreat.
“Alyssa!” Eoghan bellowed.
“Girl!” Treyce yelled.
I turned as I ran and gasped as the thing that had been attacking Eoghan came after me. It was a raven the size of a pony and its talons were inches from my face. I threw myself to the ground, rolled sideways and resumed running towards the fence. The raven’s talons bit into the ground where I would have been and it took flight again after me.
Another pair of flapping wings joined and then Eoghan leapt over my head and crashed into a winged man, a vampire, whom I had never seen before. They rolled around on the ground as they fought and I dodged around them, narrowly avoiding the raven’s talons again, and continued running.
“Girl, come with me,” Treyce ordered and grabbed my arm.
“Let her go!” Eoghan bellowed with a growl.
“There are too many enemies!” I yelled at Eoghan.
“Keep running!” he ordered me.
I smelled the metallic scent of blood and watched it drip down Eoghan’s front leg. “You’re hurt,” I gasped as he stood on his hind legs and tried to bite into the raven’s leg.
“Go!”
The vampire shook himself and leapt at Treyce who had to let me go to protect himself. More wings overhead made me look up and all sense of possibility of winning was lost. Seven vampires and a witch circled overhead. The witch was riding a raven and smiled evilly as she watched Eoghan battle the raven on the ground.
I sprinted towards the wall and had to fall on my hands and knees to avoid the witch and her raven when they dove towards me. She cackled manically and the raven swooped down for another attempt. My wrist hurt as I pushed myself up and ran again and tears slipped down my face.
This was wrong. All of these people were fighting each other over me. I wasn’t anyone. I wasn’t important. I was just a stupid orphan girl from the
trenches of Platham.
The witch jumped off the raven and grabbed my ponytail, jerked me back, and wrapped her hands around my face. Lightning sizzled along and inside of my face from her hands and I screamed in pain and tried to push her away to no avail.
“Mages will never return to this land,” she hissed at me. “I’ll end your life now and save us the trouble. Then I’ll kill that stupid king and take over his land for my clan. Perhaps I should let you watch me skin his lynx hide.”
Eoghan. She was talking about killing Eoghan.
Warmth filled my stomach and I whispered through a mouth that felt like it was filled with cotton, “You won’t touch him.”
Blue light exploded out of my body and the witch disappeared, nothing left of her except the raven she’d flown in on who flew away as soon as it realized that I had defeated his master. Eoghan stood over a vampire, his jaws inches from the vampire’s throat and the vampire had his fingers buried in Eoghan’s stomach which dripped a pool of blood on the ground. Treyce fought with the other three vampires that were still alive, but he was injured as well.
I envisioned all of the vampires disappearing and tried to push that warm blue light out again, but it only took out one of the vampires that Treyce fought with.
“Run,” Eoghan whispered. “You’re almost there.”
“You’re injured,” I replied and walked towards him.
“Cross the wall or all of this will be for nothing,” he ordered me.
“Come with me and all of this ends,” a vampire said. She had separated from the other one that was still fighting Treyce. “Come with us willingly and we will leave these two alive.”
“Why do you want me?” I asked her.
“That doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “Just come.”
Treyce pushed the male vampire he was fighting backwards towards the woman who had spoken to me, engaging her in the fight again. He was injured as well, red blood slicked his back and stomach and his movements were slower than when he had arrived.
“I…” I started, but I realized what a fool I was being. I turned and ran the last few feet to the wall and hopped over it. “I’m across,” I told Eoghan.
He finally killed the vampire he was fighting and exhaled when he saw me on the other side of the wall. The dirt around Eoghan trembled and he met my eyes with his own wide ones. “Boundary seal!” he yelled.
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