by T Ariyanna
“Shh, Kaitlyn. Shh. You have to be quiet, or the monster might come back. Don't worry, we're going home.” It was her father, Mayor Benjamin. He didn't loosen his grip. She stopped fighting in utter shock, her body going limp. A wave of fear washed over her, and a few tears spilled from her eyes.
Her father released her slowly when she relaxed. He walked around the chair to stand in front of her, pulling out a kerchief to clean his hand. She watched him closely, studying him.
He looked terrible. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his once plump face had begun to hollow. Stubble had grown over his chin, and it showed his age. He ran his fingers through his hair, now completely gray. It had been going while she had been there, but there was no color left in it after only a few days. He shook tremendously with every move.
He was a short man that had always carried a lot of weight, but now his clothes hung off of his body. He shifted on his feet and his pants slid down his waist. He hurried to pull them up, but they refused to stay.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Kaitlyn asked after a moment. Her fear cracked her voice, and she cleared her throat. She looked away from her father guiltily, staring at the hidden basement door. A faint light shined from the cracks, but it wasn’t readily obvious.
Her father took a deep breath and said in a rush, “I was so worried about you. When the men came back with Kraven's body, I thought the worst. But they said you were still alive, and a monster was keeping you hostage! There was no one brave enough to go back for you. No matter what I told or promised them, they wouldn't go. But I knew you were smart. I knew you'd get away. I figured you'd come here for hiding, so I've been watching, but that damned monster found you. But I'm here. I'll get you home safe, sweetie.”
He paused for a moment, and when Kaitlyn didn't speak, he continued, “They told me that the boy is dead. I know he was your friend, and for that, I'm sorry. But it really is for the best, Kaitlyn. You can come home, and everything will go back to normal.”
Benjamin reached for her and grabbed her hand. He pulled her to her feet, her brain still trying to process everything. He pulled her toward the door, and she yanked her hand out of his grasp.
“No. I'm not going anywhere.”
“Honey, I know you're afraid of that monster, but he can't get you in the village. It'll have to go through everyone else, and most importantly, me. I won't let it get you, I promise. But we have to leave now, before it comes back!”
“No,” Kaitlyn said again, more forcefully. “Daddy, you don't understand. Please, just let me explain!”
“There's no explaining necessary. Whatever threat he's told you, he won't be able to follow up on it once we're back in the village!”
He lunged for her arm again, pleading in his eyes. She jumped out of his reach and spun away. He stepped in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. Tears pricked in her eyes, and she tried to hide them.
“Oh, honey. The boy is dead. There's no helping him now. You don't have to put yourself in danger any longer. This is nonsense, now let's leave!”
“You're wrong! He's not gone, not for good. He can't be!”
Her father stepped away from her, but still held her shoulders. He took a breath, and his face darkened. “This is ridiculous. Kaitlyn Rosemary, you are coming home now! That's an order, as your mayor and your father! That boy deserved what he got! I don't care how you felt about him. He was nothing more than a monster, hunted by everyone he ever met. He killed Kraven, your fiancé, and you're still going to stand beside his cold, decaying body?”.
Kaitlyn's breath hitched, but her tears halted. She stared her father down as she whispered, “Arion didn't kill Kraven. I did. Kraven stabbed Arion in the heart, then came after me. I was the one that ran him through with the spear. How else did you think it could've happened?”
Her father's face paled, and he struggled to find the right words. She watched his eyes dart around the room. He let go of her and stumbled back.
“There isn't a monster after me. He’s my friend, Arion's friend. I'm choosing to stay with him, to help him bring Arion back. You aren't taking me anywhere, even if you are my father.”
He stumbled back into the armchair, pressing a hand to his head.
“I knew this would happen. That damned boy ruined my precious daughter. I tried to protect you from him, to help you live a normal life. I knew better than to let you roam free, knew that that boy would change you. I did everything I could to protect you, mostly from yourself, and where has it gotten me? No daughter, no respect from the village, and no life left in me. It's too late. There's nothing I can do. No way to return things to normal.” He rambled on and on, staring at the floor as he talked. Silent tears trailed down his cheeks and onto his lap.
Kaitlyn watched her father's breakdown with guilt. I'm ruining everyone's lives, she told herself. Tears leaked from her own eyes, and she scrubbed them away. Unable to stand looking at her father any longer, she turned her head. Her jaw dropped and her heart skipped a beat out of fear as she saw the basement door was ajar.
“What's so great about normal, anyway? Eh, pops?” Cyllorian asked. He crept from the shadows, murderous intent clear on his face.
“Cyllorian,” Kaitlyn whispered, but he wouldn't look at her. His eyes were trained on her father.
He jumped up from the chair, his legs shaking. He backed against a wall. Sweat beaded his brow, and his eyes were wild.
“M…monster!” he stuttered. His head whirled from side to side as he searched for a way out. His gaze landed on Kaitlyn, desperation clear within them. He was begging for his life.
Cyllorian descended upon the man, his fingers curled, ready to strike. Kaitlyn grabbed his arm, and he stopped. He didn't turn to look at her, and his body moved like a machine underneath her. The magic within him hummed erratically, shooting out of the cracks to singe her hand. He wasn’t breathing, and the whirring of his innards working drowned out all other sounds. She could no longer read him, and feared her father had been right about him.
“Don't, Cy. He's been through enough already,” she said, tugging on Cy's arm. He took a step back, but he didn't relax.
“Kaitlyn,” her father breathed. He looked between her and Cyllorian, understanding dawning on his face. “Is this really what you choose? We still have time to fix this. Please, Kaitlyn, just come home.”
“She already told you no! Not like you even care about her, just about your precious village. You'd show more emotion if I went and burned the damn thing to the ground than you would if she died. And you call me the monster! You actually kept her locked up and forced her to marry someone who would've sooner killed her!”
Cy lunged for him, but Kaitlyn stepped in his way. He looked at her for the first time, and it was all she could do not to flinch at the hate in his eyes. She stared him down defiantly until he gave in, looking away from her and stepping back.
Kaitlyn let out her breath, unaware she’d even been holding it. She glanced over her shoulder at her father, who looked like he had nearly fainted. “I think you should leave now. We have to be going soon, and we need to finish getting ready.”
He looked at her with a deep sorrow. He swallowed audibly before bolting out of the door. Benjamin spared one last glance for his lost daughter, and Kaitlyn felt a twinge of pain. Was that a look of relief?
“He didn't always act like that. He used to be the best dad in the world, but he's always been protective. Always worried Arion would hurt me, even though Kraven was more likely to. But he didn't have a choice, you know. He had made a deal with Kraven's father before I was born. There wasn't any sign that my father would have an heir to the village, so he’d agreed that the title of mayor would go to the runner up's son when he resigned. He swore that Kraven would become mayor eventually, so when I came along, my father was threatened into arranging our marriage, even when we were babies. He told me this a few years ago, but there was nothing that could be done, not unless I left. Father wouldn't let me, and I had no
where to go, so I stayed. I thought I could weasel my way out eventually, make Kraven hate me or something.”
Cyllorian paused a moment, then walked away. He paced to the wall and punched it, and Kaitlyn flinched. It left a large hole in the wall, and he stared at it.
“He's right. You should've gone home. Kraven's not there to make it a living hell. There's not even a guarantee we can bring the kid back, and that might have been your only chance to go back on good terms. You could've had a normal life, like he said. You don't belong in this mess.”
Kaitlyn gave him a small shove. “What's so great about normal, right?”
She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He whipped his head away after a minute, clenching his jaw.
She pretended to punch his arm, but it had no effect.
“I never fit in there, anyway. I'd rather be where the excitement is, like in my books.” She gave him a shove again, but he didn't budge.
“You're not chickening out on me, are you?” she taunted. He whirled on her with a glare, and she stifled a laugh.
“Just who do you think you're talking to? I'm a demon, not some bird!”
“Good. Then let's get ready to go. We've got a mountain to get to, right?”
It took them just under an hour to finish getting around. They met the setting sun outside. Kaitlyn raised her hand to shield her eyes from the light, but the glare off of Cy's body was just as bad as the sun itself. She looked at the house instead, surprised by all it had been a part of. Arion's childhood, the death of his father. No matter what, Arion had always kept this house right here. Because the idea of it, of home, couldn’t be destroyed. It remained still and strong through all of that, ready to take on what was next.
“This thing better show us the way, or else I don't know how we're getting anywhere,” Cy muttered, catching Kaitlyn's attention. She whirled on him, jaw dropped in incredulity.
“What do you mean? You said you knew how to get there!” Kaitlyn shrieked.
Cy cringed at her high pitch, nearly dropping the crystal ball. “I do, but this damn ball isn't giving us directions! It just shows the mountain over and over.”
“You said there was a map! Why don't we just use that one?”
“It's a bit outdated. The Kindling Woods might have grown since then, and I don't want to take any chances of going in there! If this stupid ball would just show us the way. . .”
He shook the ball for what seemed the millionth time. The white smoke gathered in the center, then parted to show the base of Mount Draken.
With a sigh, Kaitlyn said, “We should just get walking. If the path you saw is closed up by the woods, we'll figure it out from there. We can't waste all of our time here.”
She started walking away, expecting Cy to follow her. When she didn't hear his footsteps, she turned, ready to call to him. He was clawing at his head with one hand, cutting open the metal as it healed itself over and over. The other was shaking the crystal ball so violently she thought it might break simply from the pressure.
“Cyllorian!” she yelled, desperately trying to break through his agitation. He looked at her and she met him glare for glare. She pointed to the hand that was still penetrating his scalp. He looked up, and pried it out. He dropped his hand to his side slowly, focusing all of his energy on shaking the ball.
Kaitlyn went to him, putting her hand lightly on his shoulder. He rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand, letting the crystal ball settle. Kaitlyn watched the ball numbly, but still let out a sigh at the sight of Mount Draken.
“If this damn thing doesn't want to show us how to get to where we have to go, then what do we still need it for anyway?” With that, he threw the ball to the ground. It shattered into nothing more than dust, the white smoke that had been inside freed. It swelled around them and engulfed the two. It plunged into Kaitlyn's lungs, and she coughed. It was no use. The smoke was inescapable. It assaulted her throat over and over, and she slowly learned to breathe through it. It swam in front of her eyes, making it impossible to see even Cyllorian. If it wasn't for her hand clutching his shoulder, she wouldn't have thought he was still beside her.
“Kaitlyn, are you okay?” he said frantically. His hand clamped down over hers, and she jumped.
“I…I'm fine, just scared. What's going on? What was in that ball?” With every word, smoke was huffed out of her mouth. It swirled in front of her, getting lost in the storm that surrounded them. She spun her head, searching for any gap in the clouds.
Kaitlyn dropped her head, swatting the clouds out of her eyes. Below her feet, she watched the ground race at incredible speeds. Her stomach lurched, and she shot her head up to look away.
Cy's face appeared an inch from her own, blurred by the smoke. His eyes studied her, and she held back a cough. He backed away after a moment, but his hand still gripped hers.
“I knew I shouldn't have trusted Theresa with that damn ball! They've been nothing but tricks before! Why would now be any different?”
“Why would Theresa want to trick us? We're on the same side!” Kaitlyn cried. The smoke was getting thicker, plugging up her ears. There was a loud buzzing in her head, and her limbs felt hollow.
“She expected you to go home. She probably just wanted to put me back in my cell.”
“Your cell? What do you…hey, what's that?” Kaitlyn swung her arm out in front of her through a small hole in the smoke. It swirled around her arm, dispersing. Letting go of Cy, she waved her arms madly. Cy followed her lead, swiping away large chunks of the smoke.
Kaitlyn fell forward into the clean air, coughing out large plumes of the white smoke. She cleared her lungs and pressed her forehead to the cold ground. Her skin was heated, and the ground was refreshing. Winter had already begun to creep up on them, freezing the ground beneath them.
Kaitlyn could hear Cy's voice, but it sounded far off through the haze in her head. She shook herself to clear what smoke had seeped into her head, and the weariness began retreating from her body.
When Cy's voice stopped, she worried. She wanted to get up to look for him, but her limbs wouldn't listen to her pleas for movement. Her hands pressed against the ground as she tried to force herself to move.
“Kaitlyn, you might want to see this,” Cy muttered beside her. His hand came down on her shoulder and around her arm, and he helped her to her feet. She leaned against him while her strength returned, and the breath rushed out of her yet again.
The house was nowhere to be seen, left far behind. Before them stood a great slope, nearly jutting straight into the air. They were completely surrounded by giant spikes of rocks hiding in the shadow of Mount Draken, trapping them.
“A teleporting spell was encased in the glass. That sneaky bitch. She could've just told me it was there. Would've made everything a hell of a lot easier on us. But no, she's gotta be difficult.”
“This is Mount Draken?” Kaitlyn asked in awe. She tilted her head back as she took all of it in. the peaks were lost beyond the clouds long before the mountain ended. “How are we supposed to climb this?”
“One ledge at a time. How else?” Cy paced the small area around them. There was nothing to be seen, save for the rocks protruding from the ground. They were surrounded, with no way in or out of the circle. No way other than the mountain.
Cy investigated the spaces between the rocks, at the seams where they overlapped tightly. Miraculously, he found a crack big enough for them to fit through. Cy climbed over first, then held his hand out for Kaitlyn. She stepped between the spikes, grabbing Cy's hand to balance herself. She jumped down from the rocks and promptly released Cy's hand. She leaned against the boulder, glaring at the closest thing to a path up the mountain. There was a thin strip of the mountain less steep than the rest, littered with holes.
“There's our way up. The mountain's said to have hundreds of caves throughout, but the further up you go, the less you’ll find. Plenty of places to rest along the way, I'm sure. We’ll be climbing for at least a week, though, unfort
unately.”
Kaitlyn was holding onto the rock for dear life from just the thought of climbing up the mountain. She stared at it in horror, but glanced down when she felt Cy watching her. She forced her hands to release the rock and stepped away from it. Wrapping her arms around herself, she looked in the direction she suspected to be home.
Home? Do I have one now? Theresa obviously doesn't want me at the castle, and I'm not going back to the village. Where do I belong?
Her train of thought was broken as Cy wrapped a thick rope around her waist and secured it tightly. He handed her the remaining length of it, and took she it slowly.
“Tie it from your waist, under your legs. Make a harness, then I'll tie it to myself. You can go up first, so I can catch you if you fall. I’ll throw an anchor up to catch us if anything goes wrong. I can use my claws to climb. I won't slip, and I’ll be able to pull you back up. I won't let you fall off. I promise.”
Kaitly’s heart jumped in her chest. After their fight yesterday, she didn’t expect any sort of kindness from him. As her cheeks heated, she busied herself with making the harness.
He’s so unpredictable, it’s making me nervous. Half of what he does is just what I’d expect a demon to be, but the other half. . . is just like Arion. The Arion that I knew, at least. What if this is what he was like when I wasn’t around? I don’t know what to think or feel around him. It’s all so confusing.
She handed the rope to Cy, avoiding touching him just to be safe. She watched as he tied the rope so tightly around his waist that it was biting into the metal. She was shocked that his body didn’t snap the rope. He waved his hand over it, strengthening the rope with Arion's magic. The magic raced along the rope to reach her, and her stomach did flips, but she wrote it off as her nervousness.
At the flash of Arion’s magic, her memories of the night he died fluttered into her head. She thought of the tortured look on his face, the tears that streamed from enraged eyes. She had been most terrified when he lashed out violently with magic.
