Saiai Webnovels

They were all by the riverside.

Elef had “borrowed” a small boat and had invited the others to get on it and try traversing the river to the other bank. It was going to be an adventure. The others had enthusiastically accepted. The only one who had some reservations was Ark, but in the end Mak had convinced him to join them.

Agatha followed the others on board, and then they cast off.

Kal was ecstatic as he watched the shore get farther and farther away, and he discussed excitedly with Fyra. Agatha, who was being completely ignored, felt jealousy grip her heart. Kal was her brother.

Fyra pointed at something under the water, close to the boat. And suddenly Agatha decided to do something a little bit mean. She jumped up and pushed the older girl. Fyra lost her balance and fell off the boat.

Agatha had meant it to be a harmless joke, just to make her understand she had to keep off her brother. But looking at the reactions of everyone else on the boat, she realized she had done something really bad.

Fyra flailed in the water, screaming. She managed to grab the boat and hang onto it, making it tilt dangerously to one side in the process. Kal tried to lend her a hand and help her back on, but Ark grabbed him and threw him on the other side of the boat, taking his place. Agatha had never seen Ark so angry: his disapproving gaze made her feel horrible.

Still, come on, they were close to the other shore by now, weren’t they? What was the problem? Fyra knew how to swim, like all of them.

At that point Agatha realized the other shore was actually still a long way away. It almost seemed farther now than when they had departed.

And turning back, she saw something that made her blood run cold: on the shore from which they had cast off their moors, soldiers were aiming their weapons at them. One of the soldiers pointed at them and let out a horrifying scream, an inhuman sound similar to the howl of a siren.

«Curse you! You’re the one who called them, aren’t you?» Elef growled, as he suddenly stood up and looked at Ark, who was still trying to help Fyra back on board.

Ark shouted «Stop! No! HELP!» as Elef lunged at him. He let Fyra go, and the boat became instantly level again, before immediately tilting to the other side.

Agatha fell overboard, together with Kal and Mak. The water was freezing cold. After a moment of disorientation, she tried to get back to the boat, though the river current was very strong.

She managed to grab it like Fyra had done, but when she attempted to lift herself back on it she was presented with Ark’s face turned into a bloodied mess. And still Elef kept punching him. But it wasn’t Elef, it was a man in a black coat. The moment he saw her, he took out a mikra and aimed it at her, saying: «I will count to three.»

Agatha screamed and lost her grip.

Drifting once again through the stream, she felt a thought make its way through her confused mind: this is how you’ll die. Here, now, in this freezing water.

She shrieked, she flailed, she cried for help.

Then another hand grabbed hers.

Her brother had come to save her, he was guiding her to the opposite shore.

Agatha was so relieved she started weeping.

But immediately afterward she heard someone call her name, behind her.

Looking back, she saw that the soldiers were gone, and in their place… was Kal.

He was shouting something at her, and though the sound was weirdly muffled she managed to hear: «Agatha! Don’t go! Come back!»

She looked again at the person who was holding her hand.

And she saw it wasn’t her brother.

It had Kal’s clothes and hair, but it was as pale as a corpse, with pointy ears and yellowish eyes.

It smiled, showing a row of sharp teeth.

Then, Agatha woke up with a jolt.

She arched her back, but she felt something resist that movement.

«Sssstoppp.» Hearing that strange voice, Agatha squirmed in fear, but whatever force was keeping her arms behind her back did not yield. She didn’t know where she was, she felt the cold breath of wind on her face, and vague shapes she could not recognize rolled in front of her eyes.

«Yyyou’llll f-f-f-fallll.» the strange voice spoke again.

And the events of the last day bubbled up from her memory all at once.

She and the Exarch had exchanged clothes. She had remained in her tent. The camp had been attacked. Two hooded men had entered the tent. And then… and then she had seen the face of one of them.

They weren’t men.

Agatha realized she was looking at moving terrain. She was lying down on her belly, sideways onto some moving vehicle. It wasn’t a dicycle, it was too irregular: it seemed to jump forward, rather than roll.

«Th-Theeeere, s-s-sttttay lllike th-thisss.» Those words were followed by something that sounded like a laugh, and then other slurred sounds that Agatha did not understand.

Another voice answered with more sounds: these were not slurred, but short and harsh. The first voice had come from her left, the second from her right.

Despite the situation, Agatha forced herself to not panic again.

She tried raising her head, cautiously. No one stopped her. In front of her eyes was an endless plain, its monotonousness broken here and there by low hills, like those she had seen during the journey to Istak. There were a few small villages, but they were all far away, on the horizon. Looking to her right, in the direction they were going, the mountains seemed much closer than the last time she had looked at them. Looking to the left, there was no trace of Istak.

For the second time in her life, Agatha was far away from anything she knew. But unlike the first time, now she was alone. Ark wasn’t with her, Elef wasn’t with her, Fyra wasn’t with her, most importantly Kal wasn’t with her. She felt part of her wanted to cry, but she knew it would change nothing.

On the contrary, in times like these it was more necessary than ever to keep calm. She took a deep breath and then tried to move her hands. Finally realizing they were tied.

«Ittt’sss allll ussselllessss.» the first voice she had heard responded to her. «D-D-Donnn’ttt tttry ittt.»

The second voice exclaimed something, and the vehicle all three of them were on started slowing down.

On the right of her field of view, Agatha saw a tall structure appear, rapidly getting closer even at that reduced speed. At its base she glimpsed human figures and a large gray shape.

Seeing that, if nothing else, these creatures spoke her language, even if from her position she couldn’t even see them she tried having them give her some information.

«Who… who are you?» she asked.

«Yyyou rrrealllly d-d-donnn’ttt knnnow?» the first voice laughed again. It was a rough, unpleasant sound.

The vehicle stopped.

Two people clad in black cloaks, presumably the owners of the two voices, got down; and Agatha could finally see them. She lifted her gaze to see their faces. Both had removed their hoods. The face on her left, the first voice, was broad, boxy, with small amber eyes under a messy head of hay-colored hair. Over his left eye, the temple was marred by a deep scar. The one on her right, the second voice, was instead a narrow oval surmounted by slick bluish hair, of the color Agatha had seen some sklerygron tools take. But more than his hair Agatha was struck by his eyes: they were of two different colors, the right one brown, the left one blue. Naturally, both faces had pointed ears and that chalk-white skin.

«Who are you?» she asked again, but an unnerving thought made its way into her mind.

She already knew the answer. She just didn’t want to believe it. Her parents and grandparents had told her many stories about them, but Agatha had never seen one. No one in her generation had ever seen one. Thankfully.

The two in any case didn’t answer. The one with the broad face, the bigger of the two, took her in his arms and got her down from the vehicle.

And then Agatha saw the paws. And looking up, she saw the wolf’s head, turned to the side, looking at her back with a single yellow eye.

She yelped and fell backward. The beast gave out a low growl, baring its teeth, but a pale hand touched its muzzle, and the wolf lost all interest in her.

A third person in black had started to gently stroke the animal, saying words whose meaning Agatha didn’t understand, but that sounded calm and reassuring.

«Easy.» this third person told her as they scratched the beast’s neck, and they spoke without any slurring. «He won’t eat you if we don’t order him to. Unless you stupidly provoke him.»

Their shoulder-long hair were a dark green, like tree leaves in cloudy weather. Their eyes, stern as they looked at her, were of the same color.

Behind them, Agatha saw that the structure she had glimpsed earlier was a tall dilapidated tower. At its base, a second wolf was nestling among the stones, apparently asleep. Nearby, a narrow bridge extended between the two banks of a gurgling river. She had the time to see a second bridge cutting through a second river, then she noticed more people were approaching.

All three wore the same black cloaks: the first one had white hair, but she had the impression they weren’t old. Keeping their eyes on her, they said something to the one with mismatched eyes: Agatha could not understand their strange language, but it had sounded like a question. The other one answered with a short sound and a brief nod.

That seemed to satisfy the white-haired person, who clapped their hands and moved closer to her.

«I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Helena Dorina. You will be our guest for some time.» they told her as they kept smiling at her. There was nothing monstrous in their voice, on the contrary it had an almost musical timbre: if she hadn’t seen their face Agatha might have thought a normal human had spoken. However there was something in that jolly expression that revolted her. It was like their smile was a mask haphazardly worn over their real face.

Also…

«Helena?» she asked. «No, I…»

She was interrupted by another apparent question.

Another one of the persons who had approached, who had short fire-red hair, repeated the word, or words, again in a tone that to Agatha’s ears sounded like he was asking something.

Then the third person spoke. They were leaner than the others, with long purplish hair, like some flowers that sometimes grew in Elis. Their voice was different from those of the others who had spoken until now, less deep.

Closer to mine, Agatha thought, and she wondered if perhaps that person was a woman, while the others were men.

Anyway, the woman said a short sentence, then she repeated the same question from before, looking at the two men behind Agatha. Agatha turned her head: the bigger one was looking down and shaking his head, a gesture that surprised her in its… humanness; The other one answered with one single syllable.

The others’ reaction was immediate: the purple-haired woman clicked her tongue and shook her closed fist, for a moment reminding Agatha of Fyra; the green-haired man frowned and looked up to the sky; the white-haired one covered his mouth with one hand.

But the one most stricken was the man who first had asked the question. He shook his head multiple times, then he put his hand in his hair and whimpered. And then, suddenly, he lowered his arms, gave a kick to a stone that was at his feet and screamed. A scream that was as angry as it was pained, to the point Agatha wondered if he had hurt himself with that kick. Aftet that, he fell on his knees, and she realized he was crying.

He wasn’t a human, his face was scary, he and his comrades had kidnapped her. And yet, in that moment, even if she had no idea of the reason behind that extreme reaction of his, Agatha found herself pitying that creature.

The green-haired man put a compassionate hand on his shoulder.

What happened next was so fast that Agatha struggled to follow it.

The red-haired man, his cheeks still streaked with tears, stood up in a flash, drew a dagger and with a beast-like roar lunged at her.

The white-haired man put himself between him and her, but the green haired man acted faster, grabbing the red-haired one from behind and holding in in place.

Even as he struggled to break free, the red-haired man kept screaming, his eyes fixed on her.

His screams were clearly dripping with hatred.

But Agatha could not understand them.

---

«He was my BROTHER! And he’s dead because of her! Dronnur, let me go!» Ragi growled, trying to free himself.

«If I did, you’d regret it.» Dronnur replied to him, without loosening his grip. To an outsider it might have seemed Ragi had a chance at shaking the other man off, but Vrell knew that Dronnur was stronger than he looked: Ragi wouldn’t make a single step forward until he allowed him to. Nearby, Vhenh the wolf observed the two with worried eyes.

«He’s right, Ragi.» said Kaiver, who had immediately put himself in front of the human. «Furthermore, we can’t be completely sure Fura’d is dead. Isn’t that right, Bila’th?»

«If I had an inkling he was still alive I’d have brought him with us. He’s dead.» repeated in an annoyed tone the man who had been questioned. «He was shot right in the back.»

«Bila’th, you’re not helping…»

«You were supposed to PROTECT HIM!» Ragi cried, looking at the two who had come back with the human girl but without his brother.

«I’mm ssorrry.» said Shar, still looking down, his arms limp on his sides. «I hhadd sseenn t-the h-hummann, b-but I hhaddn’tt th-thoughtt hhe…»

«Fura’d knew the risks.» Bila’th interrupted him. «Our purpose was to get the human, and we succeeded. Fura’d did his part and fell in battle.» He brought a hand to his chest. «Glory to him.»

Vrell sighed. Bila’th wasn’t wrong, and despite what it seemed he was mourning Fura’d; but right now what they needed were words of comfort, words that he simply did not know. It was always like this with him.

«Glory? My brother is dead!» Ragi replied, just as she had predicted. «We were born the same day. We had always been together. I’ve lost my other half! Who is going to give it back to me? Glory?! Let me kill her, let the humans know what they’ve done to me!»

Kaiver became alarmed. «No, Ragi. Those men told us they want Helena Dorina alive. We can’t allow you to kill her.»

«Well, we can let him cut off one of her ears, can’t we?» Bila’th said, coldly. «Just one, so that Ragi gets some satisfaction.»

«Bila’th,» Kaiver said, with the tone he used when he wanted to sound patient «those men want her alive and in one piece. Am I clear?»

«I don’t give a damn about what some dullskins want.» Bila’th hissed as he made a threatening step forward. «One of our men is dead. He died while executing your plan, born from your deal with humans. And if you never struck that deal, now that man would still be alive.»

«Do not use that tone with me.» Kaiver instantly abandoned his fake conciliatory attitude. «You said it yourself, Fura’d knew the risks. Thanks to his sacrifice, if we fulfill this task more will come.»

«From humans?»

«From people with money. The money everybody here needs.»

«You think money will bring back my brother, Kaiver?» Ragi called everyone’s attention back to himself. But by now his angered cries were reduced to feeble whines.

«Hurting that human won’t bring him back either.» Vrell told him, thinking that now he was calm enough to listen. «You know that too.»

His response was a sniffle.

«That’s enough, Ragi.» Dronnur said, behind him. «You’re not the only one here who lost a relative. You’re not even the only one who lost a brother.»

That sentence ended the discussion.

Ragi let go of the dagger, and immediately Dronnur let go of him.

After taking a deep breath, Ragi said «Do whatever you wish with the human. Just keep her far away from me.» then he left, heading for the tower.

«Yes, that’s a good idea.» said Kaiver, stroking his white hair in relief. «And while we’re at it we’ll also keep her away from you, Bila’th.»

Bila’th shrugged and went after Ragi.

«Shar,» Kaiver turned toward him «haul her on the Basket: we’re sending her up top. Dronnur, Vrell, you two will take shifts guarding her. And please don’t mess everything up. This is our chance. I’m talking especially to you, Vrell. Understood?»

Vrell nodded together with the other two.

«I’ll take the first shift.» she then said to Dronnur.

«Fine. Come, Vhenh.» he responded, before leaving together with his wolf.

Shar grabbed the human, who had been sitting on the grass for the entire discussion, looking speechlessly at each of them in turn.

«Where are you taking me?» she asked, once Shar took her in his arms. «What are you going to do to me?»

She looked so young, so small and frail. Vrell almost pitied her.

«We’re not going to do anything to you, Helena Dorina. You have my word.»Kaiver answered her. «What is going to be done to you by those we will hand you over to, however… that, I cannot know.»