The Realms of Animar

by Owen Black

  “You’re sure?” she whispered without turning to face Papio.

  He paused. She already knew his answer.

  “I’m sorry,” Papio replied softly.

  Felia sighed, closed her eyes and then took a deep breath before she opened the door. In the dimly lit room Avryn was lying on a bed surrounded by a number of his friends. They watched in silence as she entered, anxious for news on his condition.

  She looked over at Thane who was seated in the far corner staring at the floor. She knew that he was exhausted and needed sleep but despite her pleadings he would not leave his father.

  It had taken all of her efforts just to convince him to concede a quick bath and change of clothes so that he might once again look like her son. The blood was washed away and the strange glow had faded from his eyes. But as she studied him she wondered if he would ever look the same to her again. In the blink of an eye her boy had turned into a man and had become the instrument of death that had so incredibly defended their village. She had not told him that she had been hiding, watching from a nearby shop while he had so savagely cut down their enemies. It was a horrific site that she would never forget.

  Bandaged from battle, Guderian was standing beside the bed holding Avryn’s hand. Beside him was Joli, who clung to her husband in a warm embrace. A brief smile formed on Felia’s lips as she looked at the couple. Not all had been lost.

  Felia closed the door behind her and approached the bed. She gently placed the palm of her hand on Avryn’s forehead and his eyes slowly opened. They were as beautiful as the day they had met.

  “Rest my love,” she said softly.

  Avryn’s gaze met hers for a moment and then he slowly looked around the room. “Thane?” he asked weakly.

  “I’m here father,” Thane said as he jumped to his feet.

  Avryn smiled. “Good. I didn’t see you.”

  “Mordigal?” the king asked. “Trussil?”

  “They were here but left with Airulli a few hours ago,” Guderian said. “They wanted to stay but they were running out of time. They had sworn to help the Avians.”

  “It’s ok,” Avryn said. “I know what they have to do. What about you? I believe you also had a debt to repay?”

  “I’m leaving with the Aquans in a few days,” Guderian replied.

  “We,” Joli corrected.

  The king smiled weakly then concern formed on his face. “And what of Arodon? Did he make it?”

  “He survived but had some nasty wounds,” Guderian replied. “He and the other Aquans that survived are recovering in the river.”

  Avryn took a pained breath and looked at the faces that surrounded him. “Everyone is so sad,” he whispered. “Please, please don’t let a wounded goat ruin our victory. We have so much to celebrate.” He then turned to Felia, “Organize a festival. The people will need it.”

  She smiled and wiped a bead of sweat from his head. “Of course my sweet. I know how you love festivals.”

  “Be happy,” Avryn said in a whisper before he shifted his gaze to Thane. “There is so much to look forward to.”

  Then, with a faint gasp, he closed his eyes forever.

  Chapter 40

  Fiery embers climbed into the dusky sunset, cast forth from the ritual bonfire that marked the passage of life from the land. With so many having been buried over the days since the war had ended such ceremonies had sadly become commonplace. Unlike the others however, this particular event was witnessed by every surviving member of Avryndale – faithful followers who had adorned their very best attire to give final respects to their beloved king.

  Although their love for him was deep, his pyre was no different than the others. There were no special ornaments or lengthy speeches. Avryn had simply wanted to leave the world as he had lived, as one of his people. To them however, he was more than a king. He had been a provider of dreams and a light in their darkness. Even in his passing he had left his people with hope.

  Thane was awash in a warm embrace as he stood between his mother and Alia and stared into the surging orange flame, through his father’s shrouded body and into the hollows of his heart. Although he could hear the crackle of the branches and the words of comfort muttered by those nearby, all he could do was watch as the blaze slowly consumed the greatest person he had ever known.

  Joining his sorrow, adding mercilessly to his pain, was a smothering burden that he could not shake. He could feel it in the countless eyes that watched his every move. He had fought off the carnivore army and with his father now gone he feared they would look to him for more.

  Most his age would long for the power that came with being a king - the respect, the freedom. It was all within his grasp. Thane, however, wanted no part of it. His focus was elsewhere and it confused him.

  He wondered why he was special, why his animalkind had changed into a mythical creature and he had been bestowed magical gifts that defied his wildest dreams. Had it been random chance? A bolt of lightning that had struck his mother’s womb?

  No, there was something more and Thane knew it the moment he looked into the very eyes that had brought them so much pain. The monster who had slain his father, the madman who had brought destruction upon their peaceful village and shattered so many lives, that vile beast was a connection to him somehow. Although from far different parts of the world they shared in the one aspect that separated them from the others – they were different.

  Desperate to free himself of this unwanted bond his mind pondered the possibility of others like them. There has to be others, those with a unique animalkind, strangers somehow connected by a thread of unimaginable power. It seemed too unlikely that he had crossed paths with the only other like him. No. There had to be more and he needed to find them.

  Thane’s stare was shaken from the blaze when a figure stepped from the crowd and approached. It was Guderian.

  The blacksmith gave Felia a brief hug then stood next to her and silently looked into the churning pyre. “How are you holding up?” he asked.

  As if embarrassed she wiped her eyes, sniffled and then replied softly, “I’m fine. We’ll be fine.”

  Guderian nodded and looked up at the stars. “You know what he would say.”

  “I know, I know,” Felia replied quickly. She turned and glared at the blacksmith and continued, “He would say we should celebrate, he died for what he loved. I know what he would say and frankly I don’t care. I just want him back.”

  Guderian lowered his head and returned his focus to the glowing cinders as they danced into the air. “The council will meet in a few days to nominate a new leader.” He glanced at Thane then added, “Temporary of course until he is ready.”

  When the words struck his ears relief washed over Thane like a soaring waterfall. He glanced at Alia who stood silently next to him and when their eyes met he smiled and squeezed her hand. She had been there for him when he needed her most. He would have been lost without her.

  “I know this is a sad time Felia but you know that we owe Avryn everything,” Guderian said. “His memory will last forever.”

  Felia wiped her eyes then turned to the blacksmith. “I don’t want—,” she began before cutting herself off and issuing a surprising laugh. “Look at me. I’m a real mess, aren’t I?”

  Guderian smiled. “It’s quite understandable.”

  “So I heard you and Joli are heading back with the Aquans tomorrow,” Felia said, changing the subject skillfully.

  Thane’s ears perked up.

  “I hate to leave so soon,” Guderian replied. “They need our help but we could wait.”

  Felia shook her head. “No, no go ahead. I’m sure they are anxious to get home. We’ll be fine. Just be careful.”

  “So what is it they need help with?” Thane asked, finally breaking his silence.

  Guderian glanced nervously at Felia before answering. “Nothing you should be worried about,” he said. “You have enough on your plate.”

  “Come on, tell me,” Thane begg
ed.

  “Young man!” Felia scolded.

  “I’m sorry,” Thane said. “But they just seem…connected to me somehow.”

  An awkward silence fell upon them as glances were exchanged between Felia and Guderian. Finally the blacksmith turned to Thane and spoke, “Apparently there was a special girl among them, like you I suppose in that she had, well, unique abilities of some sort.”

  Thane felt the rush of excitement as it sped through his veins. He couldn’t believe what he had heard, although one particular word disturbed him. “You said was?”

  Guderian nodded. “Well, according to Arodon, a group of Aquans referred to as dolphins kidnapped this girl and are studying her on an island somewhere in the Great Sea. Arodon wants to rescue her but since they don’t move very well on land they need our help.”

  “Did he say why these creatures kidnapped her?” Thane asked.

  “No. I don’t think he knows for sure. The dolphins are the scholars of their kind but are evidently quite reclusive and devious, and likely quite dangerous. He thinks they are trying to figure out the source of her power.”

  This was it! A clue to his destiny! Thane had to know more. “So they might know why this happened to me!”

  Felia scowled. “What do you mean why this happened to you?”

  “I suppose they might know something,” Guderian said. “I will tell you what we find when we return.”

  “I have to come with you!” Thane blurted.

  Felia grabbed her son by the shoulder and spun him to face her. “You will do no such thing!” she ordered. “I need you here with me. I can’t believe you would want to leave so soon after…”

  “You don’t understand what it is like to be different,” Thane replied angrily. “Did you hear what I did to those men? Did you hear how I killed them? Why did I turn into this…this monster? Why did this have to happen to me?”

  He took a breath and paused to fight the tears that had formed in his eyes. “If these Aquans know why this happened to me, how I changed, don’t you see why I have go? If nothing else you know I can help if there is a fight.”

  Felia stared at her son for a moment then looked into the fire.

  Thane could see the anguish on her face and it tore at his heart to place such a demand on her. Surely she would understand.

  “If anything happened to you I don’t know what I would do,” Felia said softly. “I can’t lose you too.”

  “If you had seen what I did to them…what I am capable of…you wouldn’t be worried,” Thane said boldly.

  Felia looked into his eyes. “Oh I’ve seen what you can do Thane. That’s why I am worried.”

  She then straightened up and looked at Guderian. “How many are going with you?”

  “Six others including Joli,” he replied. “I don’t know how long we will be gone though. I really have no idea where Arodon is taking us.”

  “And if the carnivores come back?” she asked.

  “I’m sure we have seen the last of them for a while,” Guderian replied. “With their leader dead they will be busy fighting amongst themselves to decide who takes control of his throne.”

  Felia peered into the fire as if searching for answers. Thane watched her face carefully, looking for a hint as to what she might say. Inside he begged her to let him go but instead she just stood in silence while agonizing moments slipped by.

  Thane followed her eyes to the flame and he was instantly gripped by shame. How could he be so cold? At his father’s funeral he was mired in his own desire for answers. Desperate to make amends he squinted as he searched the pyre for his father’s wrap. It was no use. His body was gone.

  “Just look after him,” Felia said at last. “He is all I have left.”

  Although Thane would later regret it, a relief instantly pushed aside the sadness and guilt. This feeling that he could not deny, this thing that was so wrong, was excitement. She was letting him go.

  After countless nights wondering about the change to his animalkind and the magic that now rushed through his veins, Thane was going to wonder no more. The Aquans had answers. He just knew it. He felt the connection the moment Arodon and his men had arrived at Avryndale. An incredible world awaited beneath the waves, a world that held the key to his destiny. His next adventure was about to begin.

  Epilogue

  Far to the west, far from the village that had miraculously endured, far from the land of peace and hope, a scream erupted from the depths of a cavernous chamber. It was a scream of utter agony, one made from the fires of despair and a pain so deep that it would crumble the strongest of men to their knees weeping like children for a reprieve. For the source, there was no peace, no freedom from the torture of her burden, no light in her suffering gloom.

  Felidae gripped the sides of the table with all of her strength, her knuckles turned white and her arms ached. Two women stood between her gaping legs and another stood beside her head, wiping sweat from her brow and whispering unwanted words of encouragement. Felidae wanted to rip the mid-wife’s tongue out each time she spoke. Her support was as desired as the creature that was ripping its way through her body. Sadly, she lacked the energy to strike out at the attendant, at least for now. Birth was upon her. She hoped death took her soon.

  Cast forth by a handful of torches mounted along the wall, shadows leapt around the room as if specters of the afterworld had come to witness the miraculous event. Of the living, hundreds knew of the impending birth yet only a few were present to bear witness. The others waited elsewhere, curious as to what spawn, what powerful animalkind, their fallen Alpha Lord had left behind.

  Felidae grimaced and pushed yet again. A fiery pain shot through her abdomen once more and again she screamed, her cries echoing through the cavern and into the land nearby. A dark embrace nearly took her, a brief pull at her will offering an escape from the agony. Despite its allure, she fought back as the innate instinct of survival forced its hand upon her. The pain was lower now, a pulsing stinging pain that descended down her pelvis and turned her limbs numb.

  “Come on dear, almost there!” one of the hags yelled from between her legs.

  “Push!” the other added, her words uttered from a face as equally hideous as the first. “Push! It’s almost over!”

  For a brief moment, a momentary pause in her torture, Felidae grinned. Surrounded by such ugly women, it was no wonder she had such power over the men of her kind. For months she had carried the spawn of Fatalis and yet, during that time, the wanting glances of the carnivore men had never ceased. Perhaps she should pity the mid-wives, but pity was not once of her strengths. Instead she would use her advantage - if she survived the ordeal of course - to join with the newest Alpha Lord, whoever he might be, just as she had done with Fatalis so long ago. He had been a bastard, she had always known that, and most likely his successor would be as well. But she was a survivor, a stunning creature in a world of ugliness. She was not the sweaty, bloated mess that currently lied upon the table adorned in a tattered gown with ratty hair and tears that dripped endlessly from her cheeks. No, this was not her true self. Her beauty would be restored just as soon as she separated herself from the life-sucking leech that had drained her life for nearly a year. Anxious for her freedom, she pushed harder.

  “I see something!” one of the wenches yelled with delight, as eager to end the day-long ordeal as the person they served.

  The mid-wife standing to the right of Felidae pulled one of her hands from the table and grasped it in her own, an offer of support welcome by most. Felidae, however, reacted harshly, glaring at the woman with hate-filled eyes as she squeezed with an incredible adrenaline-fed force. The sound of cracking fingers was silenced by a painful yell that sent the woman fleeing from the cave holding her wounded limb. The others were unfazed and stuck to their task. The time was upon them. Soon it would end.

  Sensing her freedom, Felidae pushed with all of her might and called forth whatever strength remained within her. A crippling pain erupted
from her bowels and her muscles flexed.

  “It’s coming!” an attendant yelled. “Push!”

  “Come on dear, so close now,” added the other ignorant beast. “Doing good…keep trying.”

  Felidae yelled once more, this time a prolonged deafening scream that forced the mid-wives to wince as their ears threatened to burst. And then, at last, after countless hours of suffering, after months of toting the extra weight of her fatherless burden, after submitting her body to the rigors of pregnancy, at long last, she felt movement between her legs. The parasite was free.

  Numb from the ordeal, yet somehow maintaining her wits, Felidae lifted up on her elbows, hoping to glimpse the creature that had spawned from her innards. Her eyes at first fell upon the attendants that held the newborn child beneath her line of sight. Their eyes were fixed on the infant, faces likely frozen by the beauty that had been passed from its mother. Although for months she had waited for this moment, waited for the time to free herself from the life inside her, now, at the climax of her torment, a pang of compassion if not love - surely not love - tugged at her heart. There was no question that her child would be beautiful, despite the rage-filled hulk of a man that had fathered it. In that moment, as the women stared speechless with eyes transfixed on her offspring, she knew that indeed it was a marvelous creature possessing such beauty that it could quiet their once relentless chatter.

  The awkward silence was broken by an odd cry, not quite what she had expected but, then again, she had never before been present at a birth apart from her own.

  “Show me!” Felidae demanded. “Bring it here! Is it a boy or a girl?”

  In an unexpected show of defiance, one of the attendants turned and fled the room, taking with her a shadowy accomplice that followed along the wall close behind. At first angered, Felidae quickly decided that the woman had left to tell the others of the beauty she had seen, of the child whose features had captivated her eyes and subsequently silenced her nagging tongue.