The sound of a rock skidding, scraping, and ricocheting downward echoed all around him. His heartbeat quickened. He squeezed his eyes shut.
It's nothing. Just one rock. Probably a snake or a bat dislodged it.
But another rock fell and another, and an unholy shriek rattled Aiden's bones.
Imps…
Technically, they were scorpiones papio demoniums. Journals kept and archived in the Chronicles from the time of the first settlers were full of encounters with the devilish creatures, but that was the closest Aiden had ever come to one. They had been successfully banished beyond the Boundary long ago.
They haven't bothered a Defender expedition in generations.
Aiden's chest tightened, every breath wavering more than the last as another shriek bounced off the rock walls. Then a thought hit him, making his stomach sink.
Expeditions come in groups. Always in groups.
He was alone. He was an easy target. And he was glowing like a beacon, inviting the imps to tear him limb from limb and feed his flesh to their young.
He deactivated his suit's glow and plunged himself into total darkness. His escape was straight above him. All he had to do was accelerate upward at full speed. The imps wouldn't be able to follow him into the labyrinth that led back to the underground city. The entrance to the halls was equipped with an electric shock shield, easily activated with a code everyone knew, just in case they found themselves in a dangerous situation near the Boundary.
But if he returned, stolen suit and glider in hand, without a hellcat, he would be punished severely. After his family was shamed and fined, he would face time locked away in prison before being banished to work the archives forever. He'd be alive, sure, but he'd come here with some part of him willing to die in the Fusion. And the life he'd been living…was that living?
My only chance is the Fusion. They might imprison me, still, for a short while, but not long. They need every Defender they can get. And they especially need Hellcat Defenders.
A shriek filled the air too close, and Aiden felt a slight tickle on his back as something flew past him. The sound of something slamming into the wall, claws digging into rock, caused a shiver to go up his spine. He couldn't allow the imps to tear open his suit. He wouldn't survive long without it.
He also wouldn't survive long in the dark. If he descended too quickly, he'd break his legs on the cavern floor. So, he reactivated the blue glow, intending to get to the cavern floor as quickly as possible.
A scraping and a grunt sounded to his left. He shot backward as an imp flew into the light, sharp claws at the end of sinewy arms reaching for his face, the longest nail dragging across his face shield, leaving behind a long, horizontal scratch. It’s bright yellow eyes connected with Aiden's wide-eyed stare, and he wondered if it could sense his fear. He was so occupied by its rows of teeth that he almost didn't see its tail lash out, stinger like a spear aimed for his shoulder. He rolled his body out of the way by mere centimeters before launching himself into the dark below, urging the suit to go faster and faster.
Eyes darting from side to side, ears on alert, heart racing, mouth dry, Aiden raced toward the cavern floor. He didn't know how far he had left to go, didn't know if the creatures still chased him. Every nerve in his body was on edge, preparing to stop the suit at the first sight of the cavern floor.
And then, in the blue glow of his suit, Aiden caught the slightest change in color underneath him as pure darkness gave way to dark rock. He shouted, shifted his body forward, willed the suit to stop. And it did—less than half a meter from the ground, his body parallel to the rock. Once again, his head whipped forward, and this time, the face shield slammed against the ground. Ears ringing, all Aiden could think of was getting on his own two feet. The glider wings stopped their soft hissing and folded back into their pack, and his body plopped onto the hard cavern floor.
Aiden groaned. Sick to his stomach, he rolled onto his back and focused on keeping his breakfast down. An imp's shriek pierced through the incessant pounding inside his head, and Aiden used a spike of adrenaline to aid him in getting to his feet. He stumbled forward, trying to remember where to go.
An imp hit the ground somewhere behind him. More soft thuds of paws on rock spurred Aiden to go faster.
If I'm going to die, at least let it be during the Fusion. Not like this. Not like this.
The erratic rhythm of the creatures' strides came closer as Aiden entered the tunnels that were supposed to lead toward the hellcat den. In a panic, he thought to fly and the glider reactivated. But when he lifted off, he hit the tunnel ceiling and fell back to the ground. He'd read not to use the glider in the tunnels; it was too dangerous, the tunnels not uniform enough to allow free flight. Aiden cursed as he got back to his feet just as an imp rounded him by jumping off the tunnel wall, landing in front of him.
It snarled, the sound including a strange clicking of the tongue, and Aiden realized it was looking past him. He turned his head to find more imps surrounding him, snarling and clicking and eyeing him as if wondering if they could manage to snag an arm all to themselves.
"Whoa, whoa," Aiden croaked, his hands held out in front of him. "Just…wait a minute."
The one directly in front of him shrieked again, the sound amplified by the tunnel.
"Right," Aiden said. "Of course. Should've known you'd say that."
It launched at him, but went high, for his head. Aiden rolled under the imp, his reflexes quick. All half-dozen imps shrieked now, and the sound made Aiden want to curl up into a ball. Instead, he fled. He ran as fast as he could.
"Help!" he screamed, thinking how stupid it was for him to scream for help. No one else was down here.
He turned a corner to find a dead end, slid to a stop, and turned to change directions. It was too late. The imps had him cornered. He was going to die. Aiden backed up against the wall so that the imps couldn't get behind him. His chances were slim to none, but he'd go down fighting.
Every muscle in his body tensed. He hadn't brought any weapons. Stealing a suit and a glider had seemed risky enough, and hellcats never attacked humans. They had a sort of understanding between them. It had been so long since anyone had perished from a predatory creature, he hadn't thought…
I didn't think. That's the problem. Generations since an imp killed a human. Generations since solitary exploration was banned. I'm an idiot. I'm going to die an idiot nobody.
The imps prowled toward him, teeth bared, claws at the ready.
But then there was a flash of orange light behind the creatures. Aiden threw up his arm at the sudden burst, but then shouted for joy as the imps turned their attention away from him and toward the light.
"I've never been so happy to see another person in all my life!" Aiden said as his eyes adjusted, but as they did, he realized the light wasn't coming from another person at all.
A guttural roar drowned out the snarling, clicking imps. Aiden flattened himself against the rock at his back as blue, fiery eyes became distinct from the orange fire engulfing the blackest of black creatures. Muscular and thick yet graceful and mesmerizing, the hellcat crouched. Nervous chatter erupted among the imps as they attempted to flee, but one by one, in a flurry of orange fire and glistening teeth, the hellcat tore the creatures apart.
Blood splattered the rock walls and the ceiling, puddling on the floor. Aiden watched in horror. He'd only ever seen the hellcats with their humans after the Fusion, after they'd been bonded for life. They were docile as they roamed the city; he'd even seen them gently playing with children. He knew they were particularly used in war, but he'd considered them more like mounts that could set things on fire if they chose to do so. Now he understood. Now he wished he'd just turned around when he'd first had doubts.
To become fused with a hellcat, the creature had to find a human worthy.
How could he presume to be worthy to fight alongside a creature like that?
No…the records say it's about more than a man's fighting
skill. That hellcats can see the core of a man, can sense loyalty and bravery and kindness. Those things are supposed to be just as important as the physical tests.
The hellcat finished its work and batted the broken body of a dead imp out of its way. It stepped with poise over the blood-soaked ground, its movements beautiful and exact as it neared Aiden. The fire had burned away the blood from the hellcat's coat. He'd touched a hellcat once or twice before, amazed at the thick, hair-like, steely fibers.
He wasn't sure why, but he held out his hand now, unafraid of the flames; his suit protected him from the heat. His hand centimeters from the hellcat's brow, eyes taking in the beauty of the fire dancing off the hellcat, he said, "I've never seen a hellcat with orange flames. They're always blue. How…odd."
The creature huffed, its eyes narrowed, and it sat back on its haunches, making it clear that it was not keen on being touched.
"I didn't mean odd, as in bad. I think orange is a very nice color," Aiden said, hand still outstretched.
The hellcat hissed and licked its paw, letting the flames die out.
"All right," Aiden said, pulling back his hand. While hellcats could decipher most human language even before the Fusion, humans could not understand hellcats until after. There were rituals in place to compensate, ways to communicate. And besides, not all hellcats could understand human language, though this one seemed to.
Aiden had practiced this. He had practiced it for months. The motions came to him, and he hoped with all his heart that he got them right. A flourish of his hands to create a circle that culminated over his head into a diamond shape with forefingers and thumbs. He brought the diamond to his heart and bowed at the waist. This was how one asked to be considered for the Fusion.
Something like a nettled sigh came from the hellcat. It turned and began to walk away. Aiden stared after it, brow furrowed, until it stopped, looked over its shoulder, and seemed to nod for Aiden to follow. And he did. He followed the creature down tunnel after tunnel for what seemed like hours.
Finally, a light shone in the distance, and the hellcat led him out of the tunnel, past a large, golden gong, and onto a landing overlooking a large cavern full of hellcats, several of them alight with blue fire. Aiden looked for more like the one who had rescued him, more with orange flames instead of blue, but he could see none.
A molten river, black and red and steaming, flowed through the cavern from a lethargic firefall at one end, splitting at a plateau in the center and rejoining to continue its flow out of the cavern on the other side. On top of the plateau stood a structure of stone around which a few small kittens frolicked. Hellcats roamed to and from the structure on rock bridges that extended to natural walkways on either side of the cavern. These seemed to be the only way to get to the structure.
Far below, older hellcats lounged and younger ones played. A familiar course made of rock and metal was situated in a corner of the cavern, far from the river. It mirrored the practice course Aiden had sneaked onto countless times over the past months as he'd prepared for his physical tests.
The hellcat beside him took a moment to look over the scene and turned back toward the tunnel.
"Where are you going?" he asked, unsure why he asked it. He knew the creature couldn't answer in a way he'd understand.
"Amara is going back where she belongs," a deep, rumbling voice said. "Who are you?"
Aiden's heart leapt into his throat as a hellcat twice as big as the one who'd led him there sauntered up an incline onto the landing.
"I-I'm Aiden. But, how can I understand you? And why doesn't she belong here?" He looked over his shoulder at Amara, his rescuer.
"You are not a Defender, or you would know who I am," the hellcat said.
"I want to be a Defender. That's why I'm here."
The large hellcat seemed to study Aiden for a moment before speaking. "Making it this far on your own does you merit. You may call me Demetrius. I was once fused to one of your kind, and when the bond was broken, I came back here."
"I thought hellcats could only communicate with one human?"
"Once we understand the telepathic structure of one human through the Fusion, we can understand most others. However, when we are fused, our loyalties lie with just the one. There is no need to speak to the others."
"But you're speaking to me now," Aiden said.
"Yes, and I may regret that very soon." Demetrius circled Aiden and stopped in front of Amara. He snarled at her, the hairs on his back standing on end.
Apparently, Demetrius didn't seem to think Aiden needed to hear what was said next. Amara's posture was subservient, her already small form seeming to shrink even smaller. Finally, she left, head down.
"So," Demetrius said, turning around. "You nearly got yourself killed by the imps. You're lucky Amara stepped in. You're lucky there weren't more of them."
"I am lucky," Aiden said. "And I'm grateful to her. Why did she have to leave?"
"Defenders worthy of Fusion do not rely on luck."
"I am humble enough to admit that I should have brought a weapon, but I was not trained. I learned all I could before coming here, and I know I have a lot to learn. But I think it says something that I made it alive, alone and without the education of a Defender."
Demetrius nodded. "It does. And humility…I like that, I think. Not very common among your people."
"Why did Amara have to leave?" Aiden asked again, sad to see her disappearing down the tunnel.
"She never found her fire," Demetrius said.
"But, I saw her fire." Aiden jumped to Amara's defense. Perhaps Demetrius had just never seen it. "It was orange and beautiful and terrifying."
Demetrius's blue flames flared. "That is not the hellcat's fire. She is not like us."
"Because her flame isn't as hot?"
"These things do not concern you," Demetrius said, his tone fierce enough to make Aiden decide against taking the matter further. "If you can complete the testing, those of us who wish to undergo the Fusion will present themselves to you, and you may choose one. But, if you survive the testing, the Fusion may kill you. Do you understand?"
"I do," Aiden said.
"Very well. Come with me. Your people have a place among us where you can rest and eat and drink in clothing more comfortable to you." Demetrius began walking, and Aiden followed. "They have also stored some of their weaponry in their little dome. You may wish to take some with you when you leave. The imps have become…bold as of late."
"I noticed," Aiden said. "Wait, there's a dome down here? Like the ones on the planet’s surface?"
Demetrius laughed, a strange and slow coughing of sorts that only barely suggested mirth. "You know very little, even of your own people."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We are here." Demetrius stopped outside a curved, bubble-like door. "I was told the code to enter is the same as the code to shield the halls near the Boundary."
Aiden nodded, annoyed that the hellcat hadn't answered his question, and entered the code. The door slid upward. He stepped into a space he assumed was for decontamination and adjusting pressure within the dome.
"When you hear the gong, come out, and we will begin the testing." Demetrius didn't allow Aiden another word before walking away.
With a sigh, Aiden entered the code on the keypad inside the doorway, and it whooshed shut. Vents came to life and rumbled for a minute or two before another door opened. When Aiden crossed that threshold, the inner door shut and the suit pinged, a light on his wrist going green.
"Interesting," Aiden said as he peeled away the hood and suit and glider pack and unstrapped the face shield.
He stood in a large, empty bunkhouse of sorts. Trunks were at the end of each bed, and at the back of the room, there were a variety of guns hung on the wall.
"Those will come in handy," he said. He took a deep breath of oxygen-rich air and coughed from the staleness. He rolled his shoulders, exhaustion creeping in as he looked at the bunks. He ploppe
d down on one and rested his head on a thin pillow.
No sooner than he'd closed his eyes, the gong rang out.
Aiden toppled out of his bunk and scrambled to his feet. He suited up and ran out of the dome as soon as the outer door opened. And he ran into chaos.
At the entrance to the cavern, Amara—orange flames licking her body—used her hind leg to pound the gong as she roared. Whatever she was communicating had the rest of the hellcats in a frenzy.
"Demetrius?" Aiden yelled, looking around frantically for the only one who might be able to explain to him what was going on.
"Amara must have brought the imps down upon us with her carelessness," Demetrius roared from behind Aiden.
"What do you mean? She's warning you all, isn't she?" He looked between the orange-flamed hellcat and the blue, only slightly uncertain.
"It doesn't matter," Demetrius said, nudging him back toward the dome. "Get inside. We can't be responsible for your death."
"But—"
"I don't have time!" Demetrius nudged him harder. "We have to protect our young. When the imps attack, they always go for our young."
“I can help,” Aiden said.
“Inside!” Demetrius snarled.
"All right,” Aiden said. “Do what you have to do. I'll go back inside."
Demetrius grunted and bounded away.
It was then that imps began to pour into the cavern, swarming Amara. She began ripping them apart, all alone on the landing. Other hellcats were rushing about; a lot of them seemed focused on the center plateau, guarding the bridges and the base of it. The imps that made it past Amara headed straight for it.
Toward the kittens, the most vulnerable.
He understood why the hellcats would concentrate there, but no one was going to help Amara.
She's not one of them…not acceptable to them…they're going to let her die.
Something inside Aiden snapped. That hellcat had saved his life. He rushed back into the dome and headed straight for the weaponry. There were all kinds of contraptions, but he really only knew how to work the guns. So he strapped on a utility belt with room for several guns, checked the energy levels on each weapon, and holstered four smaller guns. Then he took the biggest gun he could carry and still aim and ran out of the cave, hoping to see Amara still alive.
Hellcats: Anthology Page 114
