by R. E. Carr
Jenn pulled Kei to the side. “You quit if it gets too dangerous, OK? Do you think that you can—?”
Kei snarled. “I will do it if you want me to.”
“Kei . . . ,” Jenn whispered.
“How long’s it been?” Jenn asked Winowa as she paced. A hot bath had transformed Jenn’s outside appearance, but her internal struggle remained as she picked at her supper.
“It is not yet sundown. It is only the registration lines they have to deal with, so stop worrying,” Winowa snapped.
“I hate waiting.”
“I noticed. You should go back to talking to the voice in your head. Maybe it has answers.”
“She’s already sick of me. So, Winowa, why didn’t you ever tell me how you felt about Kei?” Jenn asked. She cringed the second the words left her mouth.
“He is my friend and nothing more.”
“He has it bad for you. If I had any right, I would be jealous.”
Winowa looked back from the window. “That sounds strange coming from you, Serif-fan.”
“What do—?”
She was cut off by the door opening. Julian held out an official-looking document with a gold seal. Eon grinned widely.
“All he has to do is make it to the round of sixteen and we have passage on a patrol skiff,” Eon said. “Of course, Julian gets most of the winnings to cover his courtly expenses, but, all in all, it is a small price to pay. Ladies, take care of Kei; make sure he’s comfortable and rested tonight. His first match is in the dock district against a low-ranked thug from Julian’s hometown. He needs to be fighting fit at sundown, so be careful.”
“Where are you two going?” Winowa asked.
“To get a beer downstairs,” Julian said. “Please come with us, beautiful.”
Winowa looked pointedly at Jenn. “I would love to come.”
Jenn watched, dumbfounded, as Winowa left with the laughing pair. She pulled her headband off and flopped onto the bed. “I would have thought you two would want to talk or something. I’ve never seen her—”
“She thinks that she is in our way,” Kei said as he started pulling off his gloves, cloak, and vest. “No matter how I try explaining—”
“It’s just weird.” Jenn finished.
“You like using that word,” Kei said as he began fishing around for the jerky in his bag. “I wonder if it means the same thing in your world as it does here.”
“So, what is going to happen tomorrow?”
“Julian spoke the truth. You fight until your opponent submits, is knocked unconscious, or dies. I must win three fights to get the Baroness’s attention. The first one is just after sunset. The rest depend on how everything goes. Unfortunately, the fights are one weapon only. My claws count, so . . .”
“You’re going to fight guys using swords with your bare hands? Are you crazy?”
“If I win, it will shave days from our journey.” He took a few swipes into thin air. “I am remembering things that I never knew I could do. I may only have a slim chance, but it is not impossible.”
“I’m starting to have second thoughts,” Jenn said. As she slouched on the bed, she felt Kei’s arm wrap over her shoulders. “Um, Kei? Are you feeling all right?”
“I am about to throw myself in an arena so that a Phantom and a stranger can profit. I must be out of my mind.”
“Actually, I was more weirded out by the arm thing.”
“Oh . . .”
“Relax, Kei,” Jenn said as she snuggled into the crook of his elbow. As the fur rubbed her face, she felt his four-fingered hand running lightly down her neck. “But you are getting—”
“Weird?” he sighed. “I am tired, Ji-ann. I need time to not be a freak, or a Sora-khar, or whatever you want to call me.”
“I can dig that,” Jenn said as she curled up beside him. “It’s funny. You even smell like a cat.”
Kei relaxed on the bed, pulling Jenn close. “Do I? You smell different than most women, but I have gotten used to your scent. You could be anywhere in Gracow, and eventually I would find you.”
“And I thought dogs were the ones that usually hunt people down.”
“Heh. I beat some of the dogs in tracking contests. It is so . . . weird. Ever since the seal, I have not been able to stop thinking about you.”
“Who knows what all those wires did to your brain, cat-boy? Just remember, I’m still the same annoying Serif-fan who ruined your life.”
“Indeed,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and drifted off into a nap. His tail draped over her knees, sending the Serif-fan into a ticklish fit. She ended up twisting into his chest, her body pressed right against his. She almost complained, but held her tongue. She kissed him lightly on the cheek before snoozing herself.
She woke up to a gray finger tapping the jewel on her forehead. “Ji-ann? I have to go now. Do you want to watch or sleep?”
“Hmm?” She rubbed her eyes. “Is it sundown already?”
“Nearly. Are you coming?”
She struggled up and stumbled around for her headband and cloak. “I’ll go. Is Eon here?”
“No, they said they would meet us at the arena,” Kei said as he stretched. “Your hair is sticking up all funny.”
“Now I know everything is back to normal. You must have just been possessed for a bit. Let me just get on this sandal and we’re outta here.”
“It was nice,” Kei said softly as he pulled up his hood.
“Really?” Jenn asked, trying to get a good look at his expression.
“Sometimes, when you are quiet, you are not so bad to be around.”
“The same could be said for you, Kei.”
The two of them made their way to the street. The tavern was remarkably empty. Kei handed his papers to the closest guard to get directions.
“Take the left fork in the road up there and keep going until you hit the water. Your arena is by the Gilded Lily. You can’t miss it,” the guard said.
The crowds—and the city smell—grew substantially thicker as Jenn and Kei approached the docks. Most of the people seemed like normal humans, but Jenn thought she caught sight of one or two gray-skinned people skulking around near the water’s edge. Kei grabbed her hand.
“Stay close. I do not want to have to find you later,” he said as they pushed their way toward a particularly wide dock.
A group of soldiers stopped their progress. Kei raised his papers and shoved past. She could barely hear him snarl something as they reached the final barrier before the dock.
A gauntlet held Jenn back. “Contestants only,” he said.
“OK.” She darted around the soldiers until she got to a fairly good vantage point. Across the crowd, she saw Winowa’s blonde ringlets. A chalk circle had been painted on the boards. As the last rays of the sun set behind the buildings, the guards began letting the spectators get closer to the arena. On one side, Kei shifted and stretched frantically. He kept his cloak tightly pulled around his freakish body. Opposite him, a very large man swung an axe a few times around, for effect. The crowd cheered as they appraised his mountains of hairy muscle.
“Oh God,” Jenn said. “What have we gotten into?”
A foppish man in a red doublet and hose forced his way into the arena. He cleared his throat a few times, and the crowd grew quiet.
“Opening fight on the docks!” the fop cried. “We have a special treat, a Beast from the lands of Gracow: Kei! Facing him is the winner of last year’s Kai City Tourney: Tan Drury!”
Jenn watched in horror at just how easily the challenger swung his axe. She kept looking for Eon in the crowd.
“Fight begins on the count of three,” the fop cried as he stepped to the edge of the arena, right by Jenn. “One . . .”
Kei grabbed the clasp around his neck. Jenn found herself clasping her pounding chest..
“Two . . .”
The big guy with the axe laughed at Kei.
“Thre
e!”
Kei flipped his cloak off and rolled on the ground under the swing of Tan’s axe. Jenn screamed as she watched the huge blade nearly take off one of his ears. The crowd gasped when they saw Kei’s gray skin. They didn’t have any more time to gawk, however. In one leap, Kei latched on to the big man’s back and snapped out his claws. He positioned them right on his opponent’s jugular.
“Do you want to die, Commoner?” Kei hissed in his least human voice.
Tan dropped his axe and raised his hands. “I surrender!” he cried as he felt the needle-sharp nails pricking his neck.
“Match goes to Kei the Beast! He faces the winner of the second round here,” the announcer yelled over the cheers of the crowd.
Jenn ran out and grabbed him. “You scared me!” she cried as she pressed her head against his frantically beating heart. He patted her on the shoulders.
“I did my best. Come on, the next round could start at any time.”
She watched the evening’s matches in a daze. Kei’s second opponent fell to a well-timed trip, and the third missed his initial sword strike and never recovered. Well before the first light of dawn, Kei had earned his pass to enter the center arena.
Jenn helped him to their room. Along the way, Eon, Winowa, and Julian caught up. “That was amazing work!” Julian cried. “You’ll have a day to recover, and then it’s to the arena.”
Eon pulled his Knight friend aside. “He’s exhausted. Let’s leave him be and go collect our sizable winnings. Winowa, make sure he’s all right.”
Both women ended up helping the wearied Kei upstairs at the inn. Winowa brought him water while Jenn struggled to untie the knots in his sandals. “I am so glad the night is over,” Jenn sighed. “You just have to show up in the arena, and we are set.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. “Did you see it, Winowa?”
Winowa gave him a drink of water. “You rest now. The night has taken a lot out of you. I will stay in Eon’s room, and you may have my bed.”
Kei snapped awake. “Eon’s . . . ?”
Winowa smiled sweetly and pushed him back into her pillows. “I will be sleeping in a bed by myself, you silly fool. Get some rest. I’ll make sure you have a big breakfast waiting.”
Jenn marveled at how he melted under Winowa’s commands. The Commoner bowed curtly to Jenn and left the room. Jenn finally pulled off Kei’s sandals and folded the blanket over him.
“Is there anything I can get you?” she asked.
“Do not go,” he said, reaching limply for her arm.
“Kei?” she asked, giving him a funny look.
“Stay here with me tonight. I do not want anything except to have you beside me. It is not—”
She pressed a finger to his lips and kicked off her shoes. She then let down her hair and folded back the covers. “I’ll be here. It’s the least I can do.”
“It was hard—fighting in the arena. I could see Saikain,” Kei said softly.
“You can’t keep thinking about the past. Saikain . . . He wouldn’t want that.”
“I cannot help what I see. You are there, and he is there, and the cycle starts again,” Kei said.
Jenn rolled over to face him. “Shh! You fought a big lumberjack from Kai, a weasel from God knows where, and a guy that kind of looked like my ex from high school. We’ll rest tomorrow, and then it will be over. We’ll get the second seal—”
“And the third? The fourth?” Kei’s eyes dimmed a bit. “I am starting to feel doubt.”
Jenn watched with quivering lips as she saw her once-resolute defender crumbling before her very eyes. The strain of the fight had washed out his chalky skin and left him nervously picking at the scabs on his hand.
“Let’s just concentrate on the tournament for now,” Jenn offered. An ever-so-slight, sly smile crept across her lips. “But hey, if that’s too far off, why don’t we just concentrate on tonight?”
“Tonight?” he asked, his eyes wide.
Jenn studied his kittenish baby blues for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t want to think about death or fighting or seals or . . . or anything else terrible that’s happened so far. You’ve done so much, suffered so much for me. It’s not that I feel sorry for you or anything, but God—” Jenn pounced and kissed him full on the lips. For a second he just laid there, stunned.
“What are you doing?” he gasped.
“Sometimes I don’t even know myself, but come on! Why ruin a good moment?” She said before sliding her tongue deftly between his fangs and into his mouth. He tried to pull away, but exhaustion and loneliness took control.
Jenn woke up and stared in horror at the red scratch marks running along her back, stomach, and arms. She gawked at her naked body. Beside her, Kei still slept, his hair tousled and scratch marks of his own crossing his shoulders.
“Oh God, I didn’t . . .”
“I am confused, Jenn. I do believe that you and Kei—”
“I felt bad for him, CALA. It’s not like I really wanted it.”
“The why did you initiate intercourse with him three additional times?”
“I was caught up in the heat of the moment. All things considered, he wasn’t too bad.”
“You seemed to have a different reaction last night—”
“CALA, just don’t. I don’t need the computer in my head telling me about my love life. Kei and I had our sympathy sex, and now it is out of our system.”
“So you do not feel an emotional attachment to him?”
“I am not talking about this now. Stress relief and true love are completely different things. Now, I need to be getting back.”
“More stress relief?”
“You are turning sarcastic, CALA. No, I just need to go to the bathroom, thanks.”
“Before you return to consciousness, I need to warn you about something.”
“What now, CALA?”
“I have reason to believe that Kei’s memories and emotional patterns have been altered.”
“Altered? You mean his current erratic behavior is different from his previous erratic behavior?”
“Affirmative. I suspect that Yeiwa attempted to make Kei more subservient and loyal to you. When she upgraded Kei’s combat ability, she may have altered other areas as well.”
“So Kei’s been brainwashed? Is that what you are trying to say? Well, if Yeiwa was trying to make him more subservient and easy to deal with, she failed. Kei is as cranky as ever.”
“The changes are subtle. That is why they are working. Yeiwa’s technology was far superior to my current programming. I fear that Kei’s mind is changing by degrees, brought on by external stimulus. I fear that any emotional attachment displayed by you may accelerate his change.”
“Oh God . . . I slept with him.”
“I tried to come online and warn you, but you were ‘caught up in the moment,’ as you say.”
“We have to stop it!”
“The only way to stop the implanted changes is to tamper with his mind further.”
“No, that can’t be the answer. Can’t he fight it?”
“The reprogramming is insidious. I have some of the specifications in my memory banks, but it will take time to decipher them. Yeiwa’s coding is arcane at best.”
“Well, start on it. We can save Kei before it’s too late. I’ll just stay away from him. No affection, right?”
“That sounds like a wise course of action. I would also suggest alerting Winowa. Her recent distant behavior will only drive him to you.”
“Do I have to? Just kidding. Let me go now. I’m gonna run to the privy, get Winowa, and we’ll have a normal day.”
Jenn threw on her clothes, ran to the outhouse, and made it back just as Kei was waking up. He flopped his paw toward her and purred. “Come here,” he said with a cheerful smile.
“Kei? What’s wrong? You’re smiling.”
“Maybe I have something to smile about,” he purred, snagging th
e edge of her skirt and jerking her back onto the bed. She found herself giggling as he swept her off her feet.
“You aren’t acting like yourself. Shouldn’t you be all cranky and depressed and stuff?”
“Weird, huh?” he said imitating her Boston accent even though he was speaking the Beast Tribe’s language.
“Stop making fun of me, and—hey! Watch where that hand is going! It’s past dawn; there is no telling who might come in!” Jenn cried.
“That is part of the fun,” he said, licking her behind the ear. She caught her breath. As he slid his tongue down her neck, she began to shiver.
She rolled her head back. “Kei, seriously. Could you stop distracting me—no, scratch that, keep the tongue thing going—but I need you to listen. I think something . . . may . . . have happened. OK, no more tongue, I can’t think.”
“Jenn, you are not sticking to your original plan—”
“CALA, shut up!”
“Jenn! You are not thinking.”
Reluctantly, she pushed Kei away. “Kei, I think things are moving too quickly. I know we’ve been married for a while, and we’ve had some great sex, but are you really ready to start a relationship? Doesn’t this seem a little odd to you?”
“You think I am odd now?” Kei snarled. “Perfect! I somehow managed to ruin a perfectly wonderful feeling.”
“Kei?”
He sat up and began tugging at his hair. She could see him staring at the red lock plaited into his self-braid. “What do I have to do to make you happy, Ji-ann?” he asked. “Ever since I first saw you, you have been like an illness, infecting me.”
“Lovely analogy. I think I’m going to go find Eon and Winowa now—”
“Wait! Hear me out for once,” Kei growled. His feline eyes, however, seemed more pained than angry. “I have tried to ignore you, tried to avoid you, but it does not work. I even tried hating you, but that failed. I am giving up.”
“You really have a way with words, cat-boy.”
