Part One : Synairn

Look around you.  Are you alone?  Sitting in a room with no one else?  Is there anyone around you?  Are you sitting on the bus?  Sitting with your family?  Look at them, and ask yourself this: Are they human?  That girl sitting there, looking out the window.  Her name, my name, is Shadow Roth.  And this is my story.

 

I wasn't always called Shadow.  I was born as Alexai Roth, Angel Blood, in the language of my home.  And my home is Synairn, another dimension to this one.  I remember everything from a few hours after my birth to the present day.

 

Part 1 : Synairn

 

Synari children are born with the knowledge of speech and a few other scraps of information.  My mother, Arellan was her name, cuddled me close as she stood next to the picture windows in her rooms that looked out over the city, only a few hours after my birth.  The city-dimension of Synairn.

"My Alexai," she murmured to me.  I cuddled closer to her, chewing on the end of her plait.  She smiled gently at me, pulling her hair from my grasp.  She stepped closer to the window, close enough for me to see the child reflected back at me.  A shock of black hair contrasted with a pale face as bright blue eyes stared back at me.  A single streak of white mixed with the black hair.  I reached out a hand to touch this strange child.  My fingers touched cool glass.  Slightly disappointed, I looked at the city for the first time.  Towers made of pale stone, seamless and elegant, seemed to go on forever before giving away to plains of silvery grass, then mountains that ringed the edge of the city-dimension.  The Deas Mountains, I remembered.  Beyond these mountains, there was nothing.  The dimension ended there.

"Look!" Arellan breathed, pointing to a black speck against the pale violet sky.  It grew larger and larger before sweeping past the window, all wings, legs and equine majesty.

"It's called a pegasus," Arellan told me, "the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen."

"Arellan!"

 

Someone burst into the room.  A sword glinted in the light as he held it before him.  Arellan held her ground, cradling me in one arm.  The other was held aloft, silvery-white magic surrounding her in an angelic aura.  The man sighed heavily.

"I can't fight you.  You know that, Arellan, don't you?  Instead, I implore you.  Give up that creature before it becomes too powerful."

"We can control her, Armen!  The Scriptures prove that!  Half bloods are capable of being in control!

"Arellan, please.  The Senate is already up in arms about her being allowed to live this long." He sighed heavily.  The look on Arellan's face meant that she wasn't going to back down from her decision.  "You will be called to stand before the Senate.  Be aware of that.  Be prepared."  He saluted formally to my mother, the three middle fingers of his right hand pressed between his eyebrows before he turned and left the room, his white robes billowing out behind him.

 

We stood before the Senate too weeks later.  I knew that Synari children grew quickly before slowing down around the age of twelve.  I was growing too fast, even by their standards.  I knew that.  I was able to walk after only a few days. I could read the simple version of the Synari runite language not long after that.  Only two weeks old, I looked closer to two years.  It worried Arellan.  I could sense it.

 

The Synari, as a magical race, needs stability.  The most powerful among them wield a form of pure, physical magic that can be manipulated so as to be used as telekinesis, transport or even as a weapon.  For this reason, the Synari has the Senate: one hundred Synari and one hundred of the winged humanoid race known as the Careen that cohabited the dimension with us.  The Senate was headed by the High Priestess.  High Priestess Arias.  They enforced the notion of pacifism in the dimension and encouraged the pursuit of knowledge.  The closest thing they had to an army was the pegusi-mounted City Guard, who are the basic equivalent of the police.   The Senate worked and lived in the extensive and elaborate towers connected by walkways.  The Senate Towers.  That was where I had been living for the last two weeks and where I now stood, staring up at the great doors that led into the Senate Chambers, the room where they all met, where all the biggest decisions were taken.  Arellan was fussing over me, smoothing my unruly hair and straightening my cloak.  A foot guard stood in front of the door, waiting for a signal that only he would understand.  He turned, opening the doors, gesturing to us to go through.  As I passed him, I heard him murmur a few words.

"May Arias have mercy on you."

The doors closed with a final thud.  Trapped.

 

Sat in the stands around us, two hundred and two sets of eyes stared at me.  I shrank closer to Arellan, trying to hide from their unkind, unsympathetic gazes, wrapping myself in Arellan's white cloak.  She tried to hide her smile as she bent down, untangling me from my hiding place.  Only then did she formally salute to an old woman in silver robes who stood out against the sea of white.

"High Priestess," she said respectfully.  My mother's voice echoed eerily in the silent, circular chamber. 

"Senator Arellan," replied the High Priestess.  I glanced up at my mother.  Senator Arellan?  I desperately wanted to ask her about it, but then remembered that Arellan had warned me not to say a word unless asked a question in the Senate Chambers.

"Senator Arellan, it is not normal for us to be confronted with one of our own number, but nor is this a normal case.  We are here to discuss the fate of the creature you brought into this world.  A dangerous half blood.  What would you have us do, Arellan Roth?"

"I would have you let her live," Arellan replied clearly.  A collective gasp ran through the assembled Senators. 

"Can you explain this, Arellan?"Asked one Senator.

"We all know that the half bloods died out long ago, enforced by themselves so that none of their children would have to bear the curse.  But they were in control.  They were lucid.  Why is Alexai any different?  We need only use the half blood scriptures to educate her.

"Is it not true that some half bloods did lose control?" Asked another Senator.

"The half bloods policed their own," Arellan replied, "those who lost control were rehabilitated or, failing which, executed."  Arellan's voice threatened to break on the last word.  I reached up a hand to take hers.  She smiled slightly in reassurance as she looked down at me.  Arias sat back, watching my mother and I carefully.

"If the decision of the Senate was to let her live, what would you do to facilitate her life and keep our city safe?"

"I would ask for access to the Part Demon Scriptures so as to educate myself before being capable of educate Alexai."

"And if the decision of the Senate was to destroy her?"

"I would fight you every step of the way."

"We shall cast a vote; all in favour of the destruction of the half blood should show their colours now."

 

With every spark of magic that touched the air, I felt Arellan's heart sink.  I swallowed hard.  At that age, everything that had been said had passed over my head.  I was too young to understand that it was my life that was at stake.  It wouldn't be until a year or so later that I would fully understand everything that had happened.

 

The vote had been cast.  The secretary for the Senate was interpreting the results of the show of magic, turning it into the result that would determine whether I lived or died.  I sensed Arellan's dreading anticipation as a piece of paper was handed to Arias.

"The vote lies at 100 to 100.  In this event, we must refer to the law, which states that the child may live."

I heard Arellan sigh with relief

"However, Arellan," Arias continued, "I must insist that you hand the half blood over to the care of the Senate."  Arellan opened her mouth to argue back, but the High Priestess continued.  "I say this in the child's best interest, Arellan; you know that the streets will never be safe for her to walk."

 

The foot guard took me away as the Senate had things to discuss with Arellan that were not for me to hear.  He escorted me with a rapid stride that I had to run to keep up with, moving swiftly through the corridors of the residential tower.  He stopped in front of one door, pushing it open before turning and leaving.  Confused by his behavior, I let my curiosity take over and began to explore the room.  It was a room on the edge of the tower.  Two of the walls were in fact a single arc and lined with the same Picture windows as were in Arellan's room, allowing the light to infuse the room.  Bookshelves stood against another wall, a few books already at home there.  The only other pieces of furniture in the room were a bed, a desk and a washstand.  I stood in the centre, not knowing what to think about it.  My eyelids began to droop.  The events of the day were beginning to take their toll on me.  With a wide yawn, I crawled under the bed, curled up and went to sleep.

 

I awoke to see Arellan's face peering under the bed with a slightly concerned expression.  She smiled as soon as she realized that I was awake.  Yawning again, I crawled back out, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, little one," She said, warmly, "I brought you some lia."

I took the sweet, chewable stick.  It was by far one of my favourites.  The closest equivalent I have been able to find on Earth is a very solid stick of caramel.  I scrambled up onto the bed to snuggle up to Arellan, happily gnawing on the sugary piece.

"Why did everyone call me a half blood?" I asked.  She sighed, reaching under her robes.  She pulled out a heavy looking tome, bound in ancient dark leather.  She opened the book to a place marked by a ribbon.  I looked at the picture.  I wanted to scream, to run, to rip out the page and tear it up.  But I sat quietly.  Transfixed.  From out of the flames of the picture stared four red eyes.  They were set in the face on a gigantic black wolf.  Its claws looked more like talons, silver against the inferno.  Its teeth were more akin to a sabertooth tiger than a wolf.  Just below the picture, I struggled to decipher the writing: "Karthragan, thee greate Principe of thee Darkeness".

"Arellan," I murmured, still unable to tear my eyes from the picture. "What is that?"

Her fingertips gently touched the picture.  "That is your father, Alexai."

In a flash of shock and anger, I flung the book across the room.  "No!  That is not my father!"  Arellan said nothing, standing up and retrieving the book, brushing it off and stowing it back in her robes.  The evil book.  The one that lies.

"I'm sorry, Alexai, but that is your father.  I swear it by the goddess." She had to pause to compose herself as she sat down on the bed again.  "There was a prophecy, that the Messenger Angel would bear children to the Prince of Darkness.  All of the oracles interpreted the prophecy with the Messenger Angel being a part demon and therefore dead along with the rest of her race.  The followers of Karthragan, the Demon Hunters, tricked me into the ritual."  Her pale blue eyes searched mine, seeking some element of forgiveness or belief.  I sat emotionless.

"That's why they called me half blood.  That's why I'm dangerous."

Arellan said nothing, reaching her arms around me to hug me close.  "I don't care; I will never let you go."

 

As the days passed by, Arellan spent less and less time with me.  Senate duties kept piling up, forcing her to stay away.  I never thought much of it.  The High Priestess has assigned a few Senators to educate me as it was deemed too dangerous for me to attend school with the other children. Armen was my favourite teacher.  He treated me like a normal child, without the fear disguised as hatred of the other Senators.  I wasn't allowed to leave the Senate Towers, so the Senate Towers became my playground.  Armen taught me how to play like a normal child, playing hide and seek with me through the many corridors.  But there was always one.  One who hated every fibre of my being.  Who resented my life with all his soul.  Meran.  For many years, I didn't understand his hatred.  It wasn't the same fear-hatred I sensed from everyone else that I began to understand as time passed by.  This was a deep-rooted hatred.  I was three years old when the first incident came to pass, when his hatred of me finally came to light.

 

It was early in the evening, the pale violet sky outside turning to deeper shades of purple.  His was my last lesson of the day, teaching me to make an antidote to the poison that certain elements would become for me.  I added an ingredient, concentrating hard on not doing anything wrong.  I heard the subtle shift in his stature as he prepared to strike.  I must have made a mistake.  Scrambling to my feet, I darted for the door.  Too late.  Sharp pain slashed through my back.  I fell forwards, black blood staining the floor.  Somehow, I managed to stand up.  I wasn't in control of my body.  My vision was tinted red, and I saw more than before, in more detail.  My head bowed, looking at my hand as if I had never seen it before.  Heat flooded my muscles, and I remember no more.

 

Waking up was difficult, as if sleep was a warm, heavy blanket you didn't want to crawl out from under.  But there was something else there.  A presence.  I forced my eyes to open.  For a moment, the bright light seared my eyes.  My back blossomed in pain as I struggled to sit up.  A hand touched my shoulder, gently pushing me back down.  I stifled a squeal.  Sitting next to me was High Priestess Arias!  I quickly made a formal salute, but she waved it away.

"We are not standing on ceremony here," she said.  "The healers have informed me that they have done the best they can to aid your recovery, although they tell me that wounds inflicted by magic are more difficult to heal than others."  She sat back for a moment, observing me with a critical silver eye.  "When were you going to tell us about Meran?  The healers have also told me that they found numerous other scars of a similar type on you."

I refused to look at Arias.  I hadn't planned on ever telling anyone.  Instead of answering the question, I asked one of my own.  "What happened to me?"

"You underwent a Demonic possession.  The other half of your blood manifested itself.  It was to be expected.  You are of the average age for this to happen.  You will begin magical training as soon as I find a senator willing to take on the task."  Arias stood up, marking the conversation as over, but she paused, one hand on the door frame.   "In light of this occurrence, the Senate found it fit to rename you.  You will now be known as 'Shadow'.  Rest well, little one."

 

For the next few days, no one dared come near my room apart from the elderly Careen who brought me food, but she always left as quickly as she could.  Instead, I read.  I devoured books with my eyes.  Spell books, storybooks, even extracts from the part demon scriptures.  There was one book, however, that I refused to touch.  That sat on my bookshelves and gathered dust.  Demons.  The book that held the picture of the creature that was my father.  The silver glass in the corner of my room had been shattered.  I had broken it in a fit of rage.  I had caught my reflection one day, a changing girl.  My skin had turned a pale grey, my hair a mess of black and purple.  My eyes were a mottled bruise of violet and blue, my teeth and nails lengthening.  My senses became more sensitive, I became stronger.  With each passing day, I looked less and less like Arellan, and therefore more and more like my father.  It was that thought that had made me smash the silver glass so that I couldn't see the monster I was becoming.

 

Five days after the incident, Armen came to see me.  He let out a quiet 'oof' as I jumped on him, hugging the Senator tightly.  He smiled down at me."

"Come on, Shadow, I have a little treat for you."

 

He took me out into the city for the first time in my life.  He had instructed me to keep the hood on my cloak over my head to hide my identity, but I didn't care.  I jumped from one cobblestone to another, avoiding stepping on the cracks.  We reached the main street, pushing our way to the front of the crowd.  Barriers stopped anyone from going into the main street, leaving a wide, clear passage.  I tried to ask Armen what was happening, but he smiled and shushed me.

 

There was a commotion further down the line.  I craned my neck to see further.  Then I saw them.  They always featured in my favourite books.  The pegusi!  Elegant equine bodies with their noble heads and slender legs completed by their giant feathered wings.  A whole herd of them were charging down the cleared lane, heads tossing, muscles rippling beneath their gleaming velvet coats.  These were war pegusi, the mounts of the city guard.  Smarter, stronger and faster than their regular counterparts, they chose a single rider and would only take orders from them.  They even shared a simple mental connection, able to feel what the other was feeling.  I watched as one faltered in its stride, ears swivelling and sniffing the air.  Its eye surveyed the children leaning on the makeshift fence.  It took one hesitant step forwards.  Then another.  And another.  It calmly clopped towards a delighted looking boy on the other side of the aisle.  I felt a pang of jealousy and longing as he stroked the pegasus' nose.

"This is the Choosing," Armen explained, "they hold one every so often to recruit new people to the city guard.  Whoever is chosen by a Pegasus is drafted.  Uh oh!"  He pulled me back a little as a lone black Pegasus, a giant even amongst the tallest of its kind, charged along the passage, zigzagging in the form of a creature gone mad.  It crashed into the barrier not far from where I stood.  A spark of lucidity cleared its rolling eyes.

"Is it possible?"  I heard Armen murmur distantly.  The black Pegasus walked along the passage, sniffing at the people.  A child reached out to stroke it, but the aristocratic creature snapped at it, sending the boy stumbling back.  I squashed the tiny spark of hope.  There was no chance that a being so beautiful would choose a filthy blooded half demon.

"Take me away from here, please," I pleaded to Armen.  The Senator must have sensed my distress.  He took my hand and led me away.  A loud braying neigh shattered the air.  I dared sneak a look back over my shoulder.  The black giant was watching me.  Me!  With a movement of personified grace, the pegasus unfurled its giant wings and soared over the barrier.  It trotted towards me and nuzzled my hands.  I smiled, limiting my emotion so as not to spark off any magic as it was controlled by how much emotion I felt, reaching up to stroke her nose.  On the collar around the top of its neck was inscribed its name.  Merlas.  I snuck a look between her hind legs.  A doe, a female pegasus.  Armen put a hand on my shoulder.

"Congratulations," he said quietly.  He lifted me up to perch on her broad back.  I suddenly felt a long way from the ground.  After all, as tall as a seven year old, I only reached the bottom of her shoulder.  Armen laid a hand on her neck and walked with me back to the building on the outskirts of the city where the pegusi lived.

 

I sat leaning against Merlas' reclining form in her stable.  The war pegusi lived in a different section to the others, where the main door lead out into a field and none of the spacious stalls were closed.  I wound my hand into her abundant mane as I listened to Armen arguing with a Carer, a Synari who chose to work with and serve the pegusi.

"Senator Armen, you have to understand that we cannot accept a half blood amongst us.  There is no way.  It is too dangerous.  The doe could give us so much more if we could get her to choose a different rider."

"How long have you been waiting for her to choose a rider?"

"Ten years."

"How many Choosings?"

"Forty and three."

"If we separate her from Shadow, she will go back to her uncontrollable state.  Do you really wish to return to that?"

I could sense the defeat coming from the carer.

"No."

"I do not mean to say that she should join the City Guard.  Arias would not allow it, but do not separate them.  Merlas will calm down and Shadow will have a reason to try to keep herself under control now that our beloved High Priestess has forbidden her mother to see the child."

"But sir..."

"Yane," Armen's voice held a hint of warning. "Merlas belongs to me.  I agreed to let my own doe be used for that experiment, and it failed.  Now, the two half bloods have found solace in each other and you will not separate them."

"Yes, sir."

 

That evening, Armen came back to my room as he had been doing every night for the last three years to make sure that I was going to bed at a reasonable time.  Nestled under the blankets, I looked up at the Senator.

"How is Merlas a half blood?" I asked, a lock of coarse hair taken from the doe's mane clutched tightly in my hands.

Armen sat on the end of the bed. "I should have known you were listening.  Merlas was, as I said, an experiment.  A crossing between the two main types of pegusi-"

"The carnivore and the herbivore."

"Yes.  Merlas was born of a herbivore doe and a carnivore stag.  In a sense, the experiment was a success.  She eats both meat and herbage.  But she was strong.  Stronger and bigger than the other pegusi.  She quickly became uncontrollable.  It took three carers to do anything with her.  The rest of the flock rejected her because she was a half blood."

"Like me."

"Like you."

 

Armen left, leaving me alone in the dark.  I waited a few seconds to make sure that he was out of earshot before scrambling out of bed.  I didn't have very long.  Not if I wanted to escape.  If I had enough time, I could escape.  I fumbled with the catch on the window.  I heard the door slide open.  I whipped around.  Meran.  Just because he wasn't one of my teachers any more wasn't reason enough for him to leave me alone.  It had never been reason enough for him not to haunt my mind and dreams.  It was too late to hide now.  His eyes gleamed red in the light of the tiny orb of magic Armen had cast for me as a night light.  The thought of my father scared me, but not as much as Meran did now.  Meran was here and now.  And he was dangerous.  I backed up against the window, trying to plan a strategy in my mind.  I heard him utter a spell, locking the door.  There was no way out now.

 

He walked towards le lazily, as if savouring the terror that was starting to take a hold of my soul.  I had to calm down.  I couldn't afford to have an outburst now.  I waited a few more seconds, waiting until he was nearly within an arm's reach of me.  I ducked.  I scrambled away from him.  He growled in anger.

"You can't escape me, demon," he snarled, "I have waited too long for this."

 

I waited for him to approach me again.  If I managed to keep this up long enough, he would run out of time and be forced to leave.  Unfortunately, he wasn't going to wait that long.  A net of dark blue magic ensnared my ankle, trapping me.  I pulled against his hold.  My magic started to spark in the air, uncontrollable.  I didn't have the experience to harness its potential.  He grabbed my arm, snapping a cuff of grey metal onto my wrist.  It burned as if I had stuck my arm into the very heart of a fire.  The magic I couldn't control vanished.  I had nothing to fight with.

 

Meran sneered to himself as I worked it out.  My efforts to break free from his magic doubled, but I felt so much weaker with the strange metal.  Tears were starting to gather in my eyes.  He grabbed a fistful of my hair before pulling a slender vial from his belt.  He pulled out the stopped with his teeth.  I tried to twist out of his grasp as the smell hit me.  It was acidic, sickly sweet.  It promised pain.  Every fibre of my being screamed at me to get away from it.  Meran sniffed the clear liquid with an air of appreciation.

"Holy water, straight from the temple of the goddess. Perfectly harmless to most races, but deadly to creatures of the underworld.  I am finished playing with you, daughter of scum.  It is time this world was cleansed from this darkness." He pulled sharply on my hair.  I gasped in pain.  He upended the vial into my open mouth before clamping it shut and pinching my nose closed.  Desperation rose in my soul.  Swallow or breathe?  I had to breathe.  The poison burned like the acid it smelt like.  It pooled in the pit of my stomach before spreading out through my muscles.  My legs gave out beneath me.  I curled up into the tightest ball I could manage.  I wanted to scream, to alert someone that there was something wrong, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing the ultimatum of the pain I felt.  The burning shot up my spine, igniting a flame in the base of my skull.  I couldn't hold it back any more.  I opened my mouth to scream only to find my voice muffled by a bundle of cloth.  Tears streamed down my face.  I glanced at the door, praying for someone to come through it to save me.  Meran's cruel laugh echoed through my mind.

"No one is coming for you, half blood.  No one cares.  No one ever cared for a demon."

 

Through the darkness of despair, pain and anguish, a wave of calm descended.  A motherly warmth.  My eyelids drooped, half closed.  New sensations overruled the agony.  The heat of the sun on my back.  The rush of wind on my face.  The sound of rain on the roof as I lay snug and warm indoors.  Feather light caresses.  I sighed softly, letting myself fall into the touch.

 

Something started hammering on the door, breaking me out of my reverie.  Pain slammed back into my body with the force of a flock of enraged pegusi.  Meran smirked, murmuring into my ear that no one could get past his spell.  I could taste blood in my mouth.  My stomach was twisting itself into knots.  I could barely breathe.  Blood was dripping from my nose, and even my eyes.  I was crying blood.

 

Silver light flooded the room.  Meran scrambled away.  Someone shouted my name.  I screamed, the cloth muffling the sound once more.  I began to cough.  More blood trickled from the corner of my mouth as the cloth was taken away.  Panicked voices erupted around me.  I screamed.  Something pinned my shoulders to the ground.  Cool glass touched my lips.  I tried to spit out this new liquid but to no avail.  It froze its passage down my throat to pool in my stomach.  Darkness descended like a thick blanket.

 

My gasp of pain echoed strangely as I awoke.  My muscles pulsed, aching and burning with magic desperate to escape.  I had to let it go.  It tore away from me, great talons ripping through me.  I don't know how long it lasted.  The black energy poured from my body like a river bursts through the dam.  Eventually it slowed to a trickle.  Then it stopped.  My throat was raw from screaming, my mind burning and my body a song of aches.  Someone laid a cloak over me, blanketing me in its warmth.  My tired eyes closed and I was soon fast asleep.

 

I awoke again slowly, trying to piece together what had happened.  It remained elusive.  Every muscle and joint ached.  My head felt as if someone was using it as an anvil.  Even my hair seemed to hurt.  I tried to remember what had happened, why I wasn't in my room anymore.  Why I was lying on the earthen floor of a great cavern whose walls were blackened and burned.  A solid looking door marked the only way out.  I got to my feet, draping the cloak around my shoulders.

"Hello?" I called out.  "Is there anyone there?"

 

The door opened to reveal Armen.  He gathered me up in his arms, hugging me close.  I bit back tears again as I clung to him, unwilling to let go.

"We thought we were going to lose you, between Meran's attack and the power surge.  Merlas was restless so I thought I had better check on you," he explained.  I looked up at him.

"Can I go see her?"

 

The first thing Merlas did was pin me down with one wing.   Running a scrutinising eye over me, she started licking my face and arms.  Armen leant against the wall of the stable, smiling at the sight.  Only once Merlas deemed me to be clean enough did she let me up.  I stayed lying down for a moment, enjoying the comfort of the feathers Merlas had moulted and that served as bedding.  She lowered her head, letting me hang on around her neck as she helped me to my feet.

"You scared the feathers off me," she snorted in a very grumpy manner.  I stared at her.  Behind me, Armen chuckled.

"I forgot to tell you that the stories are true.  War pegusi do talk."  I turned back to Merlas, stroking her nose.

"Thank you for helping me," I murmured to her.  Merlas nickered gently in reply.

 

A young carer stopped outside the stable, a terrified look on his face and his arms full of the cushion like saddle.  He trembled as he bowed to Armen, unable to free his hands to perform a formal salute.  Armen thanked him, taking the saddle from him.  He couldn't have left quicker as he tripped over his own feet in his haste to get away.

"Today, I will introduce you to flying.  This will become a reward for you, for good behaviour or work.  This afternoon we will begin working with magic."  He lifted the saddle up onto Merlas' back, showing me where all the different straps went: one around her belly, one across her chest and one around her hindquarters.  A last, loose loop of leather around the base of her neck served to guide her.  He led the pegasus out into the field adjoining the stable where a carer stood with a pretty, dainty looking brown doe.  Armen lifted me up onto Merlas, tying the final straps around my calves and thighs, explaining that they would help me to stay on her back while flying.  Swinging himself up onto his own mount, he imparted one last bit of advice.

"Let her take off.  Do not worry about it.  She knows what she is doing."

 

He walked the pegasus to a long, fairly narrow strip of silvery grass.  Merlas followed, prancing a little and tossing her head.  She jumped forwards, barging Armen's doe out of the way, leaping into a gallop.  I dropped the loop, terrified, grabbing onto the mane with both hands, the doe's gait pitching me back and forth.  Then nothing.  Her great wings stretched out on either side of me, beating gently as the ground dropped away beneath us.  I snuck a peek down past her feathers.  Everything seemed to be so small.  I took hold of the loop again, but simply held it.  I let her steer.  She flew out towards the city, the warmth of daylight on our backs.  Armen caught up with me, smiling.  His mouth moved, saying something, but I couldn't hear what he said.  The wind was whistling over my face, stealing all other sound from my ears.

 

The flight ended too soon in my opinion.  Landing was even more uncomfortable than taking off, the sudden transition from smooth flight to rugged gallop.  If it were not for the straps holding me to the saddle, I would surely have fallen off.  I loosened the knots, but was then stuck.  I couldn't get down.  The ground was a long way off.   Merlas suddenly pitched forwards.  I slid down her neck to land in a tangled heap on the grass.  A hand pulled me to my feet, supporting me until my legs realised that they were supposed to hold my weight again.

"Did you enjoy your flight?" Armen asked.

I couldn't find the words to explain it, so I just nodded.

 

I stayed in my room without protest the next day, thoughts of Merlas and the flight still fresh in my mind as I lay back on my bed and daydreamed.  Night was falling rapidly outside, my room gradually dimming.  A strange tingling sensation shot through my body, not unlike a shiver or the feeling of someone stepping on your grave.  I ignored it, rolling over onto my side.  My rebellious hair fell over my face.  Huffing, I raised a hand to push it out of the way.  I froze.  Nails, not claws, tipped my fingers.  Scrambling off my bed, I darted for the silver glass.  My shattered, distorted image looked back at me through blue eyes.  Black hair, blue eyes, fingernails... I let out a yelp of surprise.  What had happened to me?! 

 

Armen burst into the room, his concern apparent in his expression.  He found me curled in a corner, shaking uncontrollably and tugging on my hair.  I couldn't summon my magic.  I couldn't even feel my magic, just ice where its warmth usually ran through my blood.

"Shadow?" He asked, crouching next to me.  "What happened?"

"I don't know, it just happened!" I wailed, "I can't even feel my magic!"

Armen barely suppressed a chuckle as he pulled me in for a quick bear hug, ruffling my hair.  "It is nothing to worry about, Shadow, it is natural for part demons such as yourself to experience a 'vulnerable period' once a moon.  You regain the form of your non demonic side for a period of three days and three nights.  This means that you will be unable to use magic for the same period of time.  You will be, as the name states, more vulnerable than normal.  Wounds will heal at a much slower rate, you will find yourself weaker than you are accustomed to.  But in light of all that, worry not.  We will keep you safe."

 

As promised, three days later, a tremor passed over my skin as I sat at my desk with yet another scroll from the Part Demon Scriptures.  A glance at my hand confirmed my thoughts.  Thicker, harder, sharper claw had replaced the delicate fingernail.  Heat suffused my muscles as magic coursed through my blood.  I willed it into shape.  An orb of my black magic, glittering in the light of dusk, shimmered above my palm.  A half-smile twisted one corner of my mouth.  I released the magic, stretching my arms over my head.  As much as I loathed being a half breed, being forced into a form where I was unable to defend myself was truly frightening.  I wandered over to my window where, if I tried hard, I could catch a glimpse of the pegusi stables.  I could feel Merlas' presence and her emotions, but I couldn't talk to her.  It was hard when we were so far apart.  I peered around the towers, trying to see the red tile roof of the stable, but something else caught my eye.  Out on the plains surrounding the city.  Flickering red light.  In the streets below me, people began to throng, shouting to each other.  The Senate Towers burst alive with activity.  The door slammed open.  Armen stood there, his expression serious and afraid.

"Synairn is under attack.  Arias has commanded that you fight with us."

 

I didn't understand what was going on.  I didn't even know what was going on.  Armen swept me down to the lowest levels of the Senate Towers, protecting me from being jostled or trodden on as what seemed to be the entire population of Synairn was headed in the same direction.  We emerged into a cavern that rang with the sound of metal on metal.  I found myself face to face with a Senator who looked none too kindly at me.

"Demoness or not, I find it difficult to believe that out benevolent ruler has decided to send a child into battle.  It seems wrong to lay such scars on a young mind."

"We have our orders, Rai.  Equip her as best you can.  I will return for her soon."  Before I could utter so much as a word, Armen left me in the care of the scar-handed Synari.  I swallowed hard as I looked up at him, wishing Armen hadn't left.  Rai held my gaze for a moment before he shook his head, muttering under his breath as he searched through piles of metal plates.  I stirred not one foot.  More Synari swarmed around me, but I dared not move, not even as they glared at me with open hatred.  I simply bowed my head and wished the ordeal, whatever it was, to be over.  Rai returned moments later, metal piles high in his hands. 

"I have nothing that will fit a soldier as small as you, but what I have will have to do.  Time is of the essence."  He started to put together various pieces of mismatched metals.  A plain helm sat upon my head, although it seemed to fall easily over my eyes.  A shirt of leather fell to my knees, smelling of sweat, terror and blood.  My soft indoor shoes were replaced with heavy boots of a material I couldn't identify.  Plates of mismatched, dented metal were then strapped over my forearms, shoulders, torso and legs.  I felt so heavy that if a person should touch me on the shoulder, I would fall over and not be able to stand up again.  Armen reappeared at my side, resplendent in his pieces of metal plate that fitted him like a glove. 

"Armen, what of arms?  Surely the High Priestess cannot expect her only to fight with magic?"

"Find her a long knife or a short sword.  She had practiced with neither, but they remain among the simplest weapons to wield with any degree of accuracy." 

Rai wrapped a belt twice around my waist, on which was a scarred leather sheath.  I pulled out the blade it housed, a single edged knife common among the Synari who hunted the abundance of wildlife that teemed in the forests around the city.    At Armen's command, I hurried after him, trying to keep up as he strode out of the hall and out into the city.

 

The sight that met me as we stood on the brink onto the plains was not one I was prepared for, let along the wall of sound, smell and emotion that assaulted me until my head reeled from it.  The fear and pain and anguish.  The clanging of metal and cries and howls.  The blood and sweat and cloying smell of death.  Dry sobs caught in the back of my throat.  I started to back away, wanting to flee, run, just get away from this place.  Armen's hand on my shoulder stopped me.  I glanced up at him.  With infinite sadness in his eyes, he drew a sword that was almost as long as I was tall.

"I'm sorry, Shadow, but today, you must fight, for the good of our dimension." 

I had no choice but to follow him as he and countless others rushed into the fray with metal in their hands.  Jostled by their movements, I fell onto the battlefield, into the heart of the fray.  I screamed aloud.  A man with nothing but rage in his heart raised his sword.  My fear took control.  A blast of magic threw him far away.  I pulled out the knife I had been given as I tried to make sense of the goings on.  Not far above my head, metal clashed.  Another creature tried to separate my head from my shoulders.  I squeaked, slashing at him with my knife before running as fast as I could.  I tripped on a corpse, falling to the ground with a bone-jarring thud.  I tried to scramble to my feet, but the metal plates were so heavy.  A short sword stabbed through my calf as if it were no more than a piece of wet paper, impaling it to the ground.  I screamed in pain.

"Now ah've gotcha, ya little b***h!"

Panic gripped my heart in its ice cold talons.  Fear numbed my mind.  Then the burning started.  The power surge.  Oh goddess, the power surge.  My hands dug into the blood-drenched ground.  My heart beat so fast.  The fire built within every fibre of me until it spiked in my head.  A wave of black magic erupted from deep within me, knocking back my attacker and everyone around me.  Darkness overtook my mind and I fell back onto the gore splattered ground.

 

The first thing I noticed was the smell.  The smell of blood and death and burnt flesh.  It almost choked my in its intensity.  I could barely breathe.  I opened my eyes.  I saw the empty, glazed eyes of a dead man in front of me.  With a shriek, I sat up.  Pain lanced through my leg, still staked to the ground by the sword.  Somewhere not far off, I heard the moans of a wounded soldier trying to get to his feet.  Tears began to drip down my face as I stared at the violet sky.  What had I done?  I slumped back to the ground.  My muscles protested, but I ignored them.  How many had I killed?  With one wave of magic, how many had I killed?  Maybe I was just like my father.  A ruthless and coldblooded killer.  Somewhere far above my head, something screeched.  I took no notice.  Something thudded to the ground.  I did not turn to look. 

Little one, crooned a soft voice in my head.  Still, I did not acknowledge the presence of anyone else.  Merlas lay next to me, harrumphing softly.  Oh, my little one...  She murmured in deepest sorrow before shielding me from the world under her black wings.

 

I don't know how long I lay on the battlefield before I heard a flurry of robes.  Light flooded my eyes as Merlas lifted her wings to allow Armen to crouch next to me, his arm in a strip of cloth that bound the limb to the opposite shoulder.  I took no notice of his arrival, all but dead to the world as he softly called my name.  His fingers touched my neck, seeking the pulse point.  I pulled back my lip to snarl, a growl grating in my throat.  Merlas nickered a warning.  He quickly pulled back his hand.

"Shadow?"  He asked in concern.  I said nothing still, nor did I move.  "By the goddess, Shadow, please answer me!"

"What do you wish me to say?" I asked dully.

"Oh, thank the merciful goddess.  I feared I had lost you." He moved to examine the sword keeping me pinned to the ground like a piece of paper to a desk.  "This will hurt, Shadow, brace yourself."

I did not moan or gasp as he wrenched the sword from the earth and my flesh.  My claws dug deep furrows into the ground instead.  I got to my feet, only betraying my pain through my narrowed eyes.  Hauling herself to her hooves, Merlas took one long look at me.  I stood, hunched over, swaying slightly under the weight of the metal plates.  She snorted slightly, grabbing the back of the leather shirt I wore.  Lifting her head as high as possible, she deposited me onto her back.  Out of habit, I wound my hands into her mane.  Slowly, we began the long walk back to the Senate Towers.

 

Another year passed slowly.  Equally slowly, I came out of the stupor the battle had caused, coaxed softly by both Armen and Merlas.  Arias had said nothing about it, although Armen had been excused from the greater part of his Senator duties in order to become my sole tutor.  He taught me to control my magic directly from the scriptures left the by previously extinct part demons.  For every day that I worked with determination, Armen took me to fly with Merlas.  Sometimes to study, he took me to a great hall filled with books called a 'library', and left me to browse on my own, to choose my own reading.  I even started to learn more languages, recommended by Armen for reasons he refused to tell me.  I was, however, forbidden to use magic without Armen's presence. 

 

I ended up spending most of my time reading as I was confined to my room.  It was at one such time that I heard the voice in my head.  The scriptures had warned me about such things, about the voice of the demonic parents trying to trigger a switch of control from the 'normal' side to the demonic.  Part demons were, effectively, two people in one.  As such, I simply ignored the voice.  I focused my eyes on the book I was reading, allowing its words to blot out the demon's.  Something somewhere in my mind flipped.  Pain shot through my limbs.  I fell from my chair, desperately trying to work out what had happened.  It was thankfully over quickly.  I lay panting on the ground.  Something crashed into the window.  Merlas!  Never before had I been so glad of leaving a window open a window open at all times.  She stretched her head out towards me.  I yelped as she grabbed the back of my neck in her teeth before pushing off again. 

 

Merlas flew up to the mountains, to a clearing with a small stream.  Standing close to the edge of the water, she dropped her head a little to look at her reflection.  Hanging from the doe's mouth, barely visible against her black coat was a black wolf cub.  I looked down at my hand only to see a paw.  I yelped out loud.  I was a wolf!  How did that happen?!

 

Merlas dropped me onto the grass of the clearing, looking at me expectantly.  Realising I wasn't changing back, she huffed, rustling her wings and wandering off.  I tried to follow her, but realised that four legs were more complicated to operate than two.  I ended up in a heap of legs and paws with another yelp.  Merlas turned back to look at me.  Sighing heavily, she wandered back over.  Lifting me up to stand on my four paws again.  She placed herself next to me and lifted a front hoof.  When I didn't react, she pawed at the air.  I lifted the same paw.  We put our legs down a little way in front.  Merlas lifted a hind leg.  I copied her.

 

She taught me to walk in a matter of minutes, working by copying her movements.    Tired out from running around the clearing, we drank from the stream before lying down comfortably in the shade of the branches of an overhanging willow.  I set about trying to change back.  Exploring the recesses of my mind, I searched for the trigger.  It took me a while, but I managed to find it.  This time, the pain of the transformation wasn't as great, although it still left me breathless, shaking and disorientated.  My senses of smell and hearing seemed to be extra sensitive.  I could smell everything from the grass to an antlered rabbit half way further down the mountain to us and hear the beating of Merlas' heart as if it were a drum.  Merlas nuzzled my hair, drawing me closer to her side and tucking me under a wing.

 

For three days, Merlas taught me everything about surviving on my own: hunting, gathering, finding shelter.  I could have stayed forever on that mountain with Merlas, just living.

 

We were hiding under the dense branches of the willow tree.  I had been practising changing myself from Synari to wolf.  It was getting easier and easier with each transformation, less painful, less tiring.  It had become just like flexing a muscle.  Merlas' head shot up, ears pricked.  She had heard something.  Even with more sensitive hearing, she still heard better than I did.  I strained my ears to listen.  There were two voices talking a little further down the mountain.

"Why are we hunting this half blood?  I thought that the Senate would have been pleased to be rid of it."

"The High Priestess fears it turning rogue.  By keeping it in the Senate Towers, they controlled what it learned.  She fears what Senator Armen has already taught her."

"Is it really that dangerous?"

"Imagine two beings combined into one with more power than the High Priestess."

"Ah.  And the doe?"

"Equally dangerous, although the High Priestess is less bothered about her.  Merlas does not pose the threat of being able to level the city if she is angered."

 

I glanced at Merlas.  If Arias was angry with me, I didn't want to go back.  It didn't bode well at all.  In fact going back while she was angry was the last thing I wanted to do.  Especially since she would know I had been using magic.

 

We waited until Merlas couldn't hear their voices anymore before trying to sneak out in the other direction.  Merlas walked quickly but quietly with me perched on her back.  For the few das we had been living together, she had helped me gain confidence in riding her without a saddle so that I now balanced on her back without a problem.  I wound my hands into her mane, still acutely aware of just how high up I was.

"There it is!"

I barely had time to register the cry before Merlas pitched forwards, going from a walk to a full gallop.  I hung on grimly, trying to block out the sound of hooves chasing us as Merlas dodged through the trees.  As we reached another clearing, she took off with a sudden absence of movement I don't think I will ever get used to.  Her wings began beating with a determined tempo, desperate to put some distance between us and the City Guard.  I dared glance back.  They were too close for comfort.  One launched a bolt of magic, then several.  Merlas managed to dodge most of them, but it slowed her down.  They pulled up alongside us.  I screamed as one grabbed hold of me, pulling me from Merlas' back.  I kicked and struggled, trying to bite my captor.  Merlas brayed in alarm and fury.  She rammed the pegasus.  A loop of rope landed around her neck, the end held by the other guard.  His pegasus dove, losing height rapidly, dragging Merlas down.

        

To say that Arias was furious would be one of the worst understatements of my short life.  To begin with, she didn't speak to me.  When she eventually started talking, a torrent of anger poured forth.  I felt so small and insignificant in the gigantic chamber where Arias ruled from, a tiny black speck on the white stone.

"We let you live, Shadow, gave you everything you needed, healed your wounds and kept you safe.  You repaid us by disobeying the rules put in place to keep you safe and then run away!"

"I was scared!" I protested.  "I was alone and didn't know what to do!"

"That does not justify your actions.  You have been trained to control your emotions.  But that matters no longer.  I wash my hands of you."

I waited to hear what she was going to do to me.

"You will go to Aspheri, to the realm of your father.  He will do with you as he pleases."

I didn't have time to say anything before my surroundings vanished.

 

It was hot, hotter than Synairn.  Demons of various sizes and shapes surrounded me.  They spoke in a harsh, guttural language that was so different to the soft, musical Synari that it took me a moment to realise that I could understand them.  And they were mainly discussing how best to eat me.  I summoned magic into my hands, hoping to be able to fight my way out of the ring of demons that surrounded me.  They parted like a knife parts soft butter, but not because of me or my magic.  Two silver haired boys stood there.  Identical in every way, they looked to be a couple of years older than me.  One raised a hand, beckoning to me.  I nervously followed.  Now that the immediate danger was gone, I took in my surroundings.  A scarlet sun stained the sky with crimson light.  The ground had been baked and burned until it was black and cracking.  Crude stone dwellings turned the dirt into haphazard streets.  On a slight incline was the only vaguely civilized looking building.  A temple made of some sort of black stone.  The twins leading me were odd in their own right, with long shaggy silver hair and silver eyes with skin pale enough to rival mine.

 

There was a rising feeling of dread the closer I got to the temple.  Something in my blood recognised it.  My magic hummed happily through my body, revelling in the heat.  Inside the temple, the corridors were made with the same black stone as the outside, although torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows and gleaming red on the twins' silver hair.  We passed several more demons, although they all shrank away at the sight of the two boys.  I wondered who they were to be so feared.

 

The further we went into the temple, the more I felt as if I was in a maze.  The twins navigated easily, knowing exactly where they were going.  I followed like a foal follows its mother.  We eventually reached our final destination.  The chamber was huge, as big as the Senate Chambers back home.  Here, the black walls glittered in the torchlight and, sitting on a throne carved of black wood, was Karthragan.

 

He looked nothing like the wolf in the demon book.  He looked almost human.  But I knew him.  I could sense him.  A dark presence the exact copy of the one in the back of my mind.  He looked down at me, a girl in black lost against the black floor.  In the blink of an eye, I found myself pinned to the wall, his hand around my throat, up more close and personal than I ever wanted him to be ever again.  His four red eyes gleamed under black hair, narrowed as he sniffed at me.

"Wolf," he growled.  I struggled against his grasp.  I couldn't focus enough to use magic and he was so much stronger than I was.  He raised a finger, a finger tipped with a fearsome claw.  With one quick swipe, he carved a deep gash around my right eye.  I screamed.  The pain gave me the focus I needed.  In a single blast, I managed to send him flying half way across the room.  I fell to the ground but scrambled back up to my feet.  Clamping a corner of my cloak to the wound, I glanced around, looking for a place to run and hide.  From somewhere outside the chamber, chaos erupted.  About the prince being bested by a girl, about the girl being marked as his, about a winged horse.  Merlas!  They had to be talking about Merlas.  Demons didn't breed pegusi and she would be the only one who would come and find me.

 

A furious bundle of fur, feathers and teeth burst into the room.  I dashed forwards, using my magic to lift myself up onto her back.  Without any hesitation, she leapt into the air, giving Karthragan a kick to the chest as he attempted to grab hold of her.  As soon as her hooves left the ground, the chamber vanished.

 

We arrived in the stables, back in Synairn.  Without even pausing, Merlas carried me to her stall where I slid off her back, my cloak still clamped to the wound.  Merlas folded her limbs beneath her, lying on the feathery ground and dragging me down to lean against her side.  Nosing my hand away, she set about licking the deep gash clean.  I relaxed into her touch.  The touch of a mother to her child.  Running feet sounded in the aisle.  Merlas quickly covered me with a wing, hiding me from sight.  Armen appeared, breathless, wild. 

"Did you find her?" He asked Merlas.  The doe lifted the wing.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  Reaching out a hand, he helped me to my feet.  "Come, Shadow, we can keep you out of sight with your mother until we can send you to another dimension to hide in."

 

Armen took me through the outskirts of the city to a small house where a lamp burned with a silver flame.  He knocked three times on the door.  It opened immediately to show a pale-looking Arellan.  She wrapped me in a bear hug so fierce I thought my bones would crack under the pressure.  Ushering Armen and I into the house, she quickly shut and barred the door.

"Come, Shadow, let's take care of that cut," she said gently.

 

I stayed with my mother for nearly a month.  I had been away in Aspheri for nearly a week, according to Arellan.  Time passed differently between the dimensions.  Arias now knew that I was no longer in Aspheri and regular patrols of the City Guard searched the streets and houses.  Armen thought it better that I didn't go to see Merlas as he didn't know who he could trust in the stables.  I missed her terribly.  He and Arellan had found a dimension I could go to, and Armen was teaching me several languages I may have to speak to be understood.  When the patrols came round to search Arellan's house, he took me to the Great Library.  He said that it was in another dimension, the one I was going to be moving to.  I wasn't allowed to leave the Library to see what it was like outside though.  Armen didn't want me to leave his sight.  I settled down into some semblance of a normal routine, learning with Arellan and Armen.  She taught me how to meditate so as to keep my emotions under control and culture.  Armen taught me languages and how to fight.  I never wanted that time to end.  But all good things must come to an end.

 

He came late one night.  Arellan was just tucking me into my bed when he knocked on the door.  She ruffled my hair, saying that it was probably just Armen coming back without his keys.  I giggled quietly, snuggling down under the blankets with the cuddly wolf toy Arellan had made for me.  I listened to her start to walk down the stairs.  It felt as if an icy hand had touched the base of my spine.  Something was wrong.  Armen never left without his keys.  If he did, he simply teleported into the house.  There was something seriously wrong.  I slipped out of bed, following Arellan.  I paused at the top of the stairs, watching Arellan cross the floor towards the door.  I watched her open it.  Her scream pierced the air.  She slammed the door shut again. 

"Arellan!" I yelled, running down the stairs to her.

"Shadow, you have to run.   You have to get away.  Far away from here, okay?"

"What is happening, Arellan?  Who was that?"

Only one word, one name escaped her lips: "Karthragan."

 

The door exploded in a single burst of black flame.  The creature of my nightmares stood there.  Arellan screamed at me to run.  She turned to face Karthragan.  I have never seen a sight so beautiful yet terrifyingly deadly at the same time as Arellan preparing herself for battle.  Her white magic created a wind that circled only around her.  Her black hair floated around her head in an angel's halo, her robes billowing against her body.  A fierce angel.  The Messenger Angel.  But even her white magic was no match for Karthragan's determination.  I couldn't leave her to fight alone.

 

I raced back towards her, calling up my own black magic.  I threw bolt after bolt at him.  Nothing made any difference.  Arellan begged me to flee.  I couldn't.  I couldn't leave her to face him alone.  Not when I knew what he had done to her.  What he had done so that he could continue the prophecy.  I ducked a bolt of his magic, retaliating with one of my own.  He turned his attention fully to me, ignoring Arellan completely.  I dodged another bolt.  But I hadn't realised he had shot two.  The second was so close.  I couldn't move.  My eyes were fixed with terror on a flash of light that could end my life.  A blur of white masked my vision.

"Arellan, no!" I screamed.  Too late.  She fell to the ground with a thud.  A black scorch marred the front of her robes.  I knelt beside her, shaking her shoulder.  "Arellan?  Arellan, please get up!"  The room blurred as tears clouded my eyes.  Why wouldn't she respond?  Her blue eyes were staring at the ceiling, unseeing, uncaring.  From somewhere far above me, Karthragan's cruel laughter echoed.  Arellan's robes turned red.  Anger boiled up within me, surging through the dam that held my emotions back.  I didn't care.  I didn't care about anything.  I didn't care about keeping my magic under control or not being noticed by the Senate.  I cared for vengeance.  Vengeance for my mother's death.  Arellan, who had done nothing wrong.  I straightened up.  A growl scraped the back of my throat.  Karthragan raised a hand to strike.

"You are no match for me, Wolf.  Tonight, the prophecy ends." 

Unleashing a feral snarl, I leapt at him.  A shimmering black portal opened behind him as I barrelled him backwards.  The portal closed, sealing him on the other side.  I blinked until my vision returned to normal, kneeling beside Arellan.

"Arellan?  Please, Arellan, wake up!" I begged, shaking her shoulder.  Her head rolled limply to the side.  With my vision blurring again, I crawled under her arm, snuggling up to her body.  Beneath my cheek, her robes grew wet as her ice cold hand cradled me to her.

 

Sometime later, Armen burst into the house.  He scooped me up into his arms, running back out into the streets.  I screamed, clawing at him to let me go back to Arellan's side.  The shoulder of his robes tore beneath my claw-like nails, but it didn't deter him.  He strode into the stables, not stopping until we reached Merlas' stable.  The doe shot to her hooves, nuzzling my hair.

"What has happened, little one?" She asked in deep concern.  I said nothing, clinging onto her mane as I tried to breathe through my sobs.  Armen threw the saddle over Merlas' back, quickly doing up the straps.  Disentangling my hand from her mane, he hoisted me up onto the doe, grabbing the guidance strap and running out into the field. 

"Shadow, it's time for you to leave.  To go to that other dimension.  Now that Arellan is gone, you will have no protection from the Senate.  You will be blamed for her death.  So run.  Run as fast as you can.  Stay close to Merlas and she will protect you."  He handed me a satchel, reaching up to hug me one last time.  Pulling back, he slapped Merlas on the rump, sending her forward in a full gallop before the jarring transition to flight.  In a single flash of light, she flew through a different night's sky.

 

We hid in a cave for several days, the walls soon turning a charred black as I released wave after wave of magic in my grief.  Merlas attempted to get me to eat during these times, bringing me her fresh kill and fruit she had found.  I rejected each notion forcefully, often throwing the food back at her.  Often, she threatened to leave and not come back, but she never did.  She would fly off in a huff before returning and tucking me under a wing while I cried myself to sleep.

 

A week passed before I opened the bag Armen had given me.  I found a book of magic he had put together for me and some sort of small booklet with a picture of me and details I didn't understand.  A note in Armen's handwriting called it a 'passport'.  It would allow me to start my life here.  It was time to start living again.  Merlas agreed.  Using a spell from the book, I cloaked Merlas' wings so that she could pass as one of the wingless 'horses' of this dimension.  She dropped down onto her knees so that I could scramble up onto her back.  Standing up again, she shook herself violently.  I grabbed onto her mane.

"Please don't do that," I gasped.  Merlas snickered quietly to herself, walking forwards at my command. 

 

We found ourselves in a town not far away from where we had been hiding.  People stopped to stare as we walked through the streets.  I touched the pendant that had been in Armen's bag, a nugget of silver enveloped in bronze.  It kept my magic in control without causing me pain while also casting an illusion to make me appear human, turning my purple hair black and my eyes blue.  Hopefully, it would be enough to fool the humans.  Strange metal things that I had read to be 'cars' rushed past.  Merlas shied away from them, starting to prance, rearing slightly.  I gripped the guidance loop tightly, trying to stay calm for her sake.  I tugged on her mane twice, signalling to her to put our plan into action.  There was no way I could just go up to the City Guard and present myself.  Armen had suggested in a letter that we stage an accident.  The City Guard would be more accommodating of any questions I couldn't answer after an accident.

 

Merlas acted perfectly.  A car roared past her at some speed.  She squealed , rearing and pawing at the air.  I screamed, clutching at her mane.  People began to fuss around us, a couple of humans trying to grab hold of Merlas, but she danced out of her grasp.  Her front hooves touched the ground only long enough for her to charge forwards, bucking madly.  I screamed again, letting myself slide from her back.

 

The ground seemed infinitely softer from atop Merlas than landing on it.  The black coating on it was as hard as a rock.  I whimpered from my heap under my cloak where I had landed.  Humans swarmed around me, asking if I was ok.  Someone managed to catch Merlas, or rather she allowed someone to catch her.  A man in a blue uniform crouched over me.

"Hey there, are you ok?"

"What happened?" I murmured.

"You fell off your horse.  Don't worry, we've got her.  Come on, let's get you checked out at the hospital."  A team of people with a stretcher moved all of the humans out of the way before helping me onto the stretcher.  I had to admit that I hurt all over.  My back was killing me. 

 

The healer shone a bright light into my eyes.  I flinched away, trying not to growl at him.  Someone had taken away my cloak and clothes, replacing them with a flimsy gown sort of thing that was open at the back.  I lay on a bed with railings around the edge, being examined by these people for injuries.  I heard some muffled swearing as one of the healers ran a hand over the scars on my back, remnants of Meran's actions.  The healer withdrew from the small, curtained cubicle I was lying in to talk to someone else.  I strained my ears to listen to their hushed conversation.

"She seems to be ok, although we will have to turn her over to the police.  We have no record of an 'Alexiai Roth' anywhere in Britain.  The police have checked all the files." 

"What do you think caused those scars on her back?"

"We can only guess.  The child isn't very forthcoming with information.  Hardly surprising, she's still in shock.  My guess is that she has been abused somehow.  It would also explain how she came to be on a horse in the middle of Forfar."

"Fear would certainly give a child enough confidence to get on a horse far too big for her in order to flee."

"What do we do now?"

"I guess we hand her over to a children's home.  Not much we can do for her."

Author's Note

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