Immortal

by Nicole Conway

  For extra money, Kiran tutored some of the younger warriors, too. He taught them to fight and to shoot a bow, throw a dagger, or wield a scimitar with deadly accuracy. And all I got to do now was watch him leave from the clinic doorway.

  Before the incident, he’d at least let me be a sparring partner. I was his best student with a blade. Being left at the clinic was beyond boring, not to mention totally unfair. But without a bow, I was going to have to wait until he decided I was trustworthy enough to be trained again.

  Never, basically.

  “Everyone else my age has already gone on their first hunt or done a patrol. They’ve brought down graulers, battled tigrex, and I’m just sitting here,” I moaned.

  Kiran was ignoring me, crouched at our fire pit stoking the coals so he could cook our dinner of roasted fish and potatoes.

  “It’s embarrassing. They’re making fun of me, you know. All those warriors you’re training call me names sometimes.”

  “I’ll ask them to stop,” he answered calmly.

  “Right. Because getting my father to tell them off is really going to make them not treat me like a little kid,” I scoffed.

  Then I realized what I’d done.

  Kiran pointed a heated, punishing stare in my direction. “I am not your father,” he growled.

  I cringed and bowed my head slightly. “I know.”

  He went on working quietly, almost as though he were trying to ignore me. At last, he got up to shove a few small silver coins into my hand. “Go and buy bread. No wandering. Come straight back.”

  I managed to keep it together until I got outside.

  As soon as I was a safe distance from the door, I kicked the crap out of the first small tree I came across. I wailed at it hard, breaking the trunk and stomping it into the ground over and over until I was out of breath.

  When I stopped, my face was flushed and my heart was racing. I raked some of my long, dark red hair out of my eyes and sat down on the front step to cool off. I squeezed the coins in my fist and thought about all the things I could have done with them instead of buying bread.

  Maybe I could pay a seer to tell me who I really was. As enticing as that seemed, I was pretty terrified of what a mystic might see if they looked at me too closely. Nothing good, that’s for sure. Good people didn’t have bad spirits following them around.

  Kiran didn’t have to say it. I already knew why he didn’t want me calling him “father.” If I started doing that, it meant he had to claim me as his own. And I was the kid no one wanted. My own parents had left me to die—probably because someone had tipped them off about the monster I was destined to become.

  “A spider is only a monster to a fly.” A familiar, whispering voice echoed through my mind.

  Coldness sent shivers over my skin.

  “Go away, Noh,” I muttered. “Leave me alone.”

  I saw his red, glowing eyes smoldering in the shadows nearby. He materialized from the gloom and began to approach me, the edges of his pitch-black body wavering like licking black flames. He always took that form, appearing like a wolf with tall pointed ears and a long bushy tail, but I knew he wasn’t. Noh wasn’t an animal at all. He was something else entirely.

  “I cannot leave.” He padded over to lurk cautiously nearby.

  “Why not?”

  “Because we are one, you and I.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  His toothy maw curled into a menacing smile. He vanished into a puff of black mist without answering.

  “Reigh?”

  I looked up and saw Enyo climbing the steps toward me. She had a confused frown on her face.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  I shook my head and grumbled, “Myself.”

  Her expression became sympathetic. “You had another fight with Kiran?” she guessed.

  I nodded.

  Enyo stood over me, tapping my foot with hers. “Come on. I want to show you something.” There was an excited edge to her voice.

  I couldn’t resist. I got to my feet, cramming Kiran’s coins into my pocket, and followed Enyo into the city. The sun was setting as we ran along the narrow passes between buildings, scaling garden walls, darting over bridges, and climbing terraces to get to the rooftops. Enyo was light on her feet, springing the gaps from one roof to another like a cat. It was fun, and I couldn’t keep from grinning as I landed and kicked into a roll, leaping immediately to my feet to keep running.

  The moonlight broke the canopy, hitting the mist in the air and sparkling like a swirling shower of diamonds. The farther we ran, the brighter the air seemed. Skidding to a halt at the edge of the last residential rooftop, the palace loomed before us with its slender spires bathed in silver light. Behind it, the waterfalls made a constant roaring sound.

  Enyo sat down and began taking off her sandals.

  “What are you doing?” I squatted down next to her.

  “Shh! We have to be quiet. Now hurry and take yours off, too,” she whispered.

  ***

  I left my shoes next to hers and followed as she started climbing down the side of the building. There was a high, white stone wall separating the palace from the rest of the city. It only had one gate, and I didn’t think we were going to just go waltzing through it.

  But Enyo had found her own way inside.

  Between two young trees was a place where the roots had cracked the stone, breaking it just enough for a small person to slip through. Enyo had obviously been here before, because she’d taken the time to dig out the ground around the hole so I might be able to squeeze through.

  “You first,” she whispered. The moonlight shimmered brightly in her multicolored eyes. She was grinning from one pointed ear to the other.

  I had a bad feeling about this.

  As I wriggled and squirmed my way through the hole, I prayed to whatever god might be listening that I wouldn’t get stuck. Then I felt my body come to a screeching halt.

  Yep. Definitely stuck. The gods hated me.

  I tried to turn and flail, but it wasn’t any good. My shoulders were wedged in tight. Behind me, I could feel Enyo trying to help. She was pushing on my rear as hard as she could. This was a new low. I could imagine the look on Kiran’s face as he dragged me out of that hole by the ankles. I’d never hold another bow as long as I lived.

  Suddenly, with one great push from behind, my shoulders popped free and I launched out of the hole and onto the soft grass. I landed right on my face.

  I sat up sputtering and brushing my hair out of my eyes. Then I got a good look around. I was sitting in some kind of garden. Before me was a small pond surrounded by willow trees. Through the wavering fronds I could see stone archways and open hallways leading away into the palace. There were statues everywhere carved into the shapes of different animals, and beautiful flowering water plants grew in the still water.

  Voices echoed from across the pond. I saw fluttering of white fabric. And then Enyo grabbed me from behind, dragging me into a hiding place behind one of the statues. She pressed a finger to my mouth as a warning. We had to stay quiet.

  “She is so fragile, Jace. We must do something. She won’t survive on her own,” an old woman’s voice pleaded. “If we take her to the temple, perhaps he will hear our prayers. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

  “Araxie … I’m just as worried about her as you are,” a man’s deep voice answered. “But it’s been so long. Nothing has changed. I think we need to look to our own medicines and methods—the things your people have relied on all these years.”

  “You don’t believe, then?” The woman stepped into view. I could see her clearly through the trees, her long white gown billowing around her. She was wearing a golden crown nestled into her snowy white hair.

  The man moved in closer and took her hand. He was taller, wearing dark green and silver robes with a circlet of silver on his head.

  I sucked in a sharp breath.
I knew who they were.

  I’d never seen the king and queen this close before. They were much older than I expected. The queen’s face was creased with age and her hair so long it nearly dragged the ground.

  The king was a human, like me—the only other one in the city. He was tall and stern looking. Age hadn’t bent him or made him frail, probably because he’d been a dragonrider before leaving the human kingdom of Maldobar. At least, that was what everyone said whenever they told the old stories.

  With a square-cut white beard and long hair that was salt-and-pepper colored, he definitely walked like a warrior as he moved to put his arms around the queen. The way his eyes sagged at the corners made him look exhausted, though.

  “I can’t lose another one. She is my only grandchild, Jace. The last of our bloodline. I can’t bear it,” the queen’s voice weakened. She started to cry and the king held her close at his side, slowly walking with her back into the palace.

  Once they were gone, Enyo and I exchanged a glance.

  “Is that what this was all about? Eavesdropping on the royal family?” I whispered.

  Enyo scowled. “Of course not. I want to show you something.” She grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of our hiding place.

  Across the garden, on the other side of the pond, stood a large, flat stone tablet made of bone white marble. It had been polished until it was completely smooth and engraved with an intricate picture. It was a scene, like a glimpse from a nearly forgotten past, depicting a young man in strange armor holding a round object in the air over his head. I’d never seen him before, but I immediately knew who that man was.

  I’d heard the stories, after all. Everyone had. With his human stature and pointed ears, wearing a carved pendant around his neck and the cloak of a dragonrider—it could only be one person.

  The rest of the scene carved into the stone was just as detailed. There was an elven maiden on one side of him, and a human king on the other. Both were kneeling in great respect while their armies placed their weapons on the ground.

  “It’s from the end of the Gray War. When the lapiloque took up the god stone and destroyed it so it could never fall into evil hands again.” Enyo was smiling again, her expression filled with wonder. “You see? He was real.”

  “Just because someone carved it on a piece of rock doesn’t make it true.”

  “And just because you don’t believe in him doesn’t mean it’s not,” she countered.

  I stuck my tongue out at her. “What is it with girls and falling for these hero types, anyway?”

  Enyo’s cheeks turned as red as ripe apples. “I never said I’d fallen for him!”

  “You didn’t have to,” I teased. “Just look at those rippling arms he’s got, eh? I bet you dream about him.”

  “I do not!” She started after me with her fists tight.

  I backed up and laughed, darting out of the way as she took a swing at my face. “I bet you can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to get whisked away on the back of his dragon.”

  Enyo dove at me again, rearing back and trying to land a punch wherever she could. Then suddenly, she stopped short. I saw her face go pale and her eyes grew wide, focusing on something—or someone—else.

  I felt the chill a second too late. My breath turned to white fog in the air. Slowly, I began to turn around.

  Noh was standing right behind me, his red eyes smoldering like coals against the night. Only, this time he didn’t look like a wolf. He looked like a human teenager with long, unruly hair. He had a squared jaw, a thin frowning mouth, and … the same long scar across the bridge of his nose that I now had.

  He looked just like me.

  Only, instead of dark, muddy red hair his was black. His skin was deathly pale, and his eyes had no center—just bottomless pools of vivid red light.

  For an instant, I was captivated. I stood there marveling at the sight of him until I saw his attention shift. He was looking at Enyo appraisingly, and I could sense the change in his mood. He licked his lips hungrily.

  “No.” I shouted and stumbled away from him. “You can’t have her. Leave now!”

  Noh tilted his head to the side slightly. He studied Enyo for a second longer and then looked back to me. The corners of his mouth slowly curled into a menacing smile.

  “I mean it! Leave!” I shouted louder, throwing my arms out as I planted myself between him and Enyo. “I won’t let you touch her. You don’t get to hurt anyone unless I say so!”

  “As you wish, my master.” He started to chuckle and grinned so wide I could see his pointed canine teeth. With a flourish of his hands, he bowed at the waist and swiftly began to dissolve, vanishing into fine black mist.

  The sound of his laugh was still hanging in the air even after he was gone. I tried forcing myself to calm down, but I was angry and panicked. I couldn’t think straight. Enyo had seen him. No one else had ever been able to see him before, not even Kiran.

  The situation was changing from my private problem with one random bad spirit to … something I didn’t even have a name for.

  “R-Reigh?” Enyo’s voice trembled.

  “It’s fine. It’s nothing,” I said quickly.

  “Nothing? Are you insane?”

  I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.

  “Reigh, you have to talk to me! Who was that?” she grabbed onto my arm so I would look at her. “What’s going on?”

  I jerked away and started for the hole in the garden wall. “Nothing! You didn’t see anything! Just forget it ever happened!”

  Enyo stepped in front of me, planting her hands on my shoulders and forcing me to stop. “Tell me what’s going on!”

  I wanted to. I really did. But as often as we argued, there was one thing Kiran and I both agreed on: no one could ever know about the things I could do. I was dangerous. And while he called me master, Noh was becoming more and more difficult to control. He had an appetite for murder, a hunger for death that couldn’t be sated. If he stopped listening to me, if I lost control of him altogether, then no one would be able to stop him from feeding.

  I couldn’t risk it—I couldn’t let him hurt Enyo.

  “No,” I growled at her fiercely. “Get away from me. Never come near me again.”

  Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Slowly, she took her hands off me. “You don’t mean that. I know you, Reigh. You’re my best friend. Please, just talk to me—”

  I shoved her out of my way. I pushed her hard enough she fell back onto the grass. “You’re wrong. You don’t know anything about me. I’m not your friend. I can’t even stand the sight of you. Stay away from me, Enyo. I mean it.”

  When she didn’t answer, I started running.

  I dove for the hole in the wall and crammed myself back through it as fast as I could. I staggered to my feet on the other side and began sprinting through the city streets, past the empty market squares with gurgling fountains and down dark alleys crowded with wooden crates. I didn’t bother going back for my shoes.

  I ran for home.

  FOUR

  He knew.

  As soon as I burst through the door, barefooted and without any bread, Kiran knew something bad had happened. In an instant he was on his feet and racing down the steps to shut and lock the front door of the clinic. He doused the lamps downstairs and came back up to do the same in our living quarters. I watched him blur around me, his expression grim as he shut all the windows and closed the drapes.

  Our home became as dark as a tomb with only the fire from the hearth casting a warm glow around the living room. Long shadows climbed the walls, making me anxious. I was too afraid to look at them closely—terrified that they might begin to move or take the shape of Noh again.

  “Tell me what happened,” Kiran commanded in a quiet, eerily calm voice. He was standing in front of me, holding onto my shoulders so I couldn’t turn away.

  I tried. But when I opened my mouth, no
thing would come out. Questions whirled through my brain. Was I losing control? What if I couldn’t get Noh to leave? What if he hurt someone? Would Kiran abandon me, too? Where would I go? What would I do? Would I ever find a home again?

  My throat felt tight. I squeezed my eyes shut and bowed my head, trying to silence the whispering doubts.

  Suddenly, Kiran pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me tightly, holding me like I was a small child again.

  “It’s all right, Reigh,” he said. “Whatever happened, I’ll fix it. You’re going to be okay.”

  I buried my face against his shoulder. Regardless of what he said, he couldn’t fix it—not this time. And when I told him what had happened, I think he began to realize that, too.

  Whatever I was becoming, I wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer. Noh was getting stronger, and for better or worse, he and I were bound somehow. I didn’t know how or why, but he was here because of me. I couldn’t get rid of him. I couldn’t even hide him anymore.

  Kiran sat across the fire pit from me, quiet despair creeping into his features as he stared at the flames. For a few minutes, he didn’t say a word. We sat in silence, watching the flames hiss and dance in the darkness. Dinner was finished and while it smelled good, but neither of us had touched it.

  Then a sound echoed through the house.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  It was coming from the clinic downstairs. Someone was at the door. Kiran jumped up and snatched his scimitar off the hook by the door. I started to get up, too, but he snapped his fingers and gestured for me to stay put. I did—at least, until I heard him open the front door. Then I crept to the edge of the stairwell to listen. It was a long way down to the first floor, but sound bounced off the stone walls of our home like a cave. You could hear a whisper from four stories up.

  “We apologize for the late hour, master. We bring word, an urgent request from the Queen,” a young man’s voice stammered with nervousness as he addressed Kiran.