***
“I’m an assassin! I can get out of here,” the puny shadow elf said from inside of Valhara’s dungeon.
Alric shrugged. “Try it.”
“I don’t have to prove myself to you.” With that, the shadow elf tripped over a chair and fell onto the bare bed in the cell.
Alric frowned when he felt the evil presence leave the dimension, yet the assassin remained.
“Sir?” Trox asked, looking over at him.
“The evil is gone.”
Trox studied the shadow elf. “How can it be?”
“That means this thing wasn’t the evil.”
“Then who was?”
“I don’t know, but I bet Kyrin realized it and went after it.”
“Do you think she killed whoever it was?”
“I don’t know.”
“There is no one else here,” the assassin said, smiling. “Daemionis knows my true power.”
They both ignored him, and Alric turned toward the door when one of the priests came in. “Sir.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Sithias brought the girl to us.”
“What happened?” he asked, tensing.
“She was punished by her god. We cannot intervene.”
“Perfect,” he sighed, and then left to follow the priest. When he arrived at the temple, they all seemed nervous and Saith showed the king into the back room where Kyrin was laid out on the bed, covered in blood.
“Sithias can’t help her when she’s punished by a god,” Saith explained.
“What did he do?” Alric asked, sitting on the side of the bed. He’d never seen anyone so completely covered in blood with no obvious injuries.
“We aren’t sure. She seems to be sweating blood.”
“What caused it?”
“Sithias won’t say. He said it is between her and her god.”
“Kyrin?” Alric asked, and touched her face softly.
“Sithias made her sleep.”
“Was she in pain?”
“I believe so.”
“Why would he do this? She’s so loyal to him, and all I’ve seen him do is cause pain and suffering,” Alric said, mostly to himself.
“She may not know how to leave him, sir.”
“Only once have I seen her badly injured that wasn’t the doing of her so-called god.”
When Kyrin sighed softly, they both looked over at her and Alric took her hand. “Kyrin?”
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. “Where is he?”
“Who?”
“The assassin.”
“He’s in our dungeon.”
She sat up slowly, aided by Alric. “Not that one. The real one.”
“I don’t know then. I don’t feel any evil in the dimension though.”
“But how accurate is that?” Kyrin stood slowly, testing her legs.
“Should you be standing?”
Saith shook his head. “No, she should not be.”
“I’m fine. Daemionis doesn’t leave lasting injuries,” Kyrin explained.
“Why did he do this?” Alric asked her.
She sighed. “I’d rather not say.”
“But you must have agreed. He stopped.”
“No, Sithias intervened, and I’m sure I’ll pay for that later.”
“Sithias stopped him?” Alric asked, following her out when she left.
“Yes, now I need to go to the lake, and then I need that bumbling assassin.”
“You can bathe in the castle. It’s safer.”
She smiled. “Daemionis won’t be back just yet.”
“I don’t trust that.”
“I do. I’ll be okay.” She didn’t wait for him to respond but immediately headed toward the lake north of Valhara.
Alric watched her go and then turned to Saith. “I hate this.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How can I get her to see that she would be better off here following Sithias?”
“She’s an evil. Sithias may not want her.”
“I have a feeling that he does.”
Saith bowed slightly and then walked back inside. Alric stopped to talk to some of the townspeople, and just as he was arriving at the castle, Kyrin was walking out with the assassin in a tight grip. She was no longer covered in blood and didn’t seem injured at all.
“Where are you going?” he asked, unsure he wanted her to leave with the assassin, no matter how inept he might be.
“I’ll be back. I need to take care of something.”
As she walked past, he took her arm. “Are you going to kill him?”
“No, I’m going to boot his ass out of Paragoy.”
“Okay,” he said, and then let her go. He had a strong feeling that she was about to murder him though.
Kyrin walked slowly to keep pace with the assassin beside her. She knew immediately why Creteloc would want him dead and was just glad she’d thought ahead to send him to Kyrin for a sacrifice. She hoped Daemionis would forget about the marriage order in lieu of getting a shadow elf sacrifice.
“You can kick me out of this dimension, but Daemionis will bring me back,” he said, starting to panic.
“I’m not taking you to a portal.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“You’re a sacrifice,” she said as they walked up to the large rock she often used to sacrifice animals.
The assassin turned on her and drew his dagger. “I won’t let you.”
She readied her flail and shrugged. “You are to be a sacrifice. Fight if you want.”
He lunged at her with the dagger held incorrectly, and she was easily able to slam her flail into the back of his neck, breaking it instantly. He fell to the ground, unmoving, but by now, she was mad. Kyrin pummeled him with her flail, turning him into a mass of flesh and blood. When she was done, she was covered in his blood, and he was no longer breathing.
She took the ceremonial dagger from her bag and immediately removed his heart. She tossed it to the side for local predators to eat, and then dragged him to the rock. The hardest part was getting his blood-slicked body up onto the rock, but when she managed, she dropped to her knees.
When she didn’t get the feeling that Daemionis was appeased by just the sacrifice, her throat threatened to close off. “Please, Daemionis, no. I’ll do anything else you ask.”
Nothing happened, no booming voice, no pain, nothing. She looked up, and although the body was gone, there was no sign that he accepted the body in place of his request.
“Daemionis, I can’t do it,” she whispered, but the world seemed unnaturally silent as she looked around the trees. The sun was setting behind the majestic mountains, and the shadows seemed darker than usual.
“Why won’t you answer me?” She felt alone and afraid that Daemionis wasn’t going to change his mind. It wasn’t unheard of for his followers to be thrust into an eternity of pain for angering him badly, but she would take that over the thought of marriage.
After hours of praying and not hearing back, she decided that she would have to leave this dimension if she was going to avoid the humiliation of marriage. When she walked into the castle, everyone watched her, unsure why she was covered in blood and why she looked terrified.
She went into her room and began packing her enchanted backpack. She took nothing from Paragoy, and everything she brought with her easily fit into the pack.
“Leaving?” Alric said from behind her.
She nodded and continued to pack. He’d rarely been in the back rooms of her antechamber before, but she didn’t care that he broke what was proper to come and see her.
Alric looked around at how her room had been transformed. The soft bed was on its side up against the window, blocking it, and a single blanket was laid out by the fireplace. There were pitchers of water throughout the room, all with varying levels of water in them. What few clothes she had were hanging above the fireplace to dry. He found that amusing
. He had people to do the laundry, and from the looks of it, she was hand-washing her own.
He turned back to her and frowned. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you leaving Paragoy?”
“Yes”
“When will you be back?” Alric debated stopping her but knew that it wasn’t his right to do.
“I won’t be back,” she told him as she slipped on the black leather vest.
“Stop, please,” he said, taking her hand. She looked down at their intertwined hands and then finally looked up at him.
“I just have to go.”
“Why? Is it because of Daemionis?”
“I can’t tell you why.”
“He punished you already. What more does he want?”
“He wants me, and I have to go.”
“Wait! You’re running from him?” Alric asked angrily.
She looked nervously around the room. “I have to shift as soon as possible.”
“I can protect you.”
“Not from him. No one can, so I have to run.”
His anger grew. No one should have to run from their god, unless they broke a sacred rule, and no one should be that afraid of a being that was supposed to have their best interest in mind.
Kyrin checked around the room and then started for the door.
“You can’t just leave. You’re covered in blood and terrified.”
“It’s not my blood,” she said, walking down the stairs.
“I know whose it is.”
Once outside, she began moving quickly toward the trees, followed by Alric. He knew he couldn’t stop her from shifting out of Paragoy, but he had to try.
“I don’t want you to leave here.”
“I know, but I don’t have a choice.”
“Did he send you on a mission that you refused?” He was genuinely trying to understand.
“No”
“Did he ask you to do something you don’t want to?”
When she didn’t answer, he knew he had it right.
“What was it he asked you to do?”
She stopped and looked around carefully, then started in another direction.
“Kyrin, stop!”
She turned to look at him briefly before setting out again.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“I can’t. I just have to get out of Paragoy.”
“You’re running, and you can’t run from the Shadowmere and from Daemionis! You’re going to fall into the hands of one of them.”
“I have to try.”
“What did he ask you to do?” he asked, stopping her.
She turned to him. “I can’t tell you.”
Alric felt like at any moment she was going to disappear, and he’d never see her again. In a last-ditch effort to get her to stay, he quickly took her face gently in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. In his haste to make her stay, he didn’t restrain her hands to keep her from casting, which is why she did just that.
When the word popped into her head, she brought her hands together and pulled away from him. In the split second it took him to realize what was happening, he was frozen in place.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and then turned and disappeared into the trees.
He couldn’t see where she went. He was aware and could see directly in front of him but couldn’t move or make a noise. He strained but couldn’t move a muscle.
What seemed like hours later, he felt a warming sensation. He could first move a finger, and then his hand, and soon was able to stand up and look around. By this time, it was dark, and he wasn’t even sure which direction Kyrin had gone.
“Where did you go?” he whispered, looking around the dark forest. “Sithias, is she gone?”
The answer rang through his mind. “No.”
“Where is she then?”
“I have blocked the portals,” Sithias whispered.
Deciding to go back and find a ranger qualified to track her, Alric headed for the castle.
“Sir!” Trox said, running up to him. “We’ve been trying to find you for hours.”
He just shook his head. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, sir. We were just worried about you.”
“Has anyone seen Kyrin?”
“Not since you left with her.”
“I want Fenre here, now.”
“Yes, sir,” Trox said, and then turned to go get the best ranger in Valhara.
When they returned, Trox was surprised to see Alric in full battle gear. “Are we under attack?”
“I don’t know yet. Fenre, I need to find Kyrin. If I take you to where I last saw her, can you track in the dark?”
“Yes, sir,” he said, a little leery.
“I’ll get the knights ready,” Trox told the king.
“No, it’ll just be Fenre and I.”
Trox hesitated and then nodded and watched them leave.
Fenre knew better than to question the king, but he was on guard and tense as they walked through the dark trees nearing midnight.
When they got to the clearing, Alric turned to the ranger. “I last saw her here.”
Fenre moved forward and began a close sweep of the area. After only a few minutes, he started into the woods, followed by Alric, who now had his sword drawn.
Several times Fenre lost her trail, and he was starting to get irritated when he held up his hand, and Alric stopped. Both were silent as Fenre pointed to a bunch of thick brush off to their right.
Alric nodded and quietly moved forward. He crouched down and watched Kyrin through the dense foliage. She was seated on the side of a grassy hill and was watching around her.
It was obvious she was in a hurry and irritated, because her foot was tapping impatiently on the ground, and she fiddled with the spiked balls on her flail while she waited.
Alric returned to Fenre and whispered, “Stay here. If she casts on me, then follow her.”
Fenre frowned and started to argue.
“Do as I say,” Alric whispered sternly.
When Fenre nodded, Alric started around the bushes. “And that’s why I hold your hands apart.”
Kyrin looked over at him but didn’t speak.
Alric sat down beside her and put the sword on the hill at his right. “I’m not mad. I just wish you would tell me why you’re in such a hurry to get out of here.”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because you might agree.”
He thought about that and then frowned. “You think I would agree with the reasons behind Daemionis’ punishment?”
“Yes”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“I killed him.”
Alric knew she was talking about the foolish assassin. “I figured.”
“I offered him up as a sacrifice. I thought Creteloc sent him, so I could sacrifice him to keep Daemionis from demanding what he did.”
“I take it that didn’t work?”
“No, it didn’t. He took the sacrifice and then didn’t retract his demand.”
“What are you waiting for out here?” he asked, looking into the dark forest.
“A portal.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t found one.” He wasn’t too surprised. Sithias mentioned he was blocking portals out of Paragoy.
“Sometimes it takes a while.”
“So you plan on waiting out here until you find it?”
“Yes”
“Couldn’t that take days?”
“I’ve seen it take months.”
He sighed, frustrated. “Just tell me, please.”
“No, I’m not going to do it. He can kill me.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Yes”
“How can it be?!” His irritation came through in his voice. “How can it be that bad when you think I’d agree with it?”
A ball of light appeared before them and
Kyrin stood with her flail ready, but Alric put his hand out. The light grew until it became Sithias.
Kyrin’s eyes narrowed as she watched him walk over to Alric.
“It’s so good to see you unfrozen,” Sithias said, highly amused.
Alric grinned sheepishly. “I forgot to hold her wrists.”
“You,” Sithias said, turning to Kyrin, “seem to be in quite a hurry to leave my dimension.”
“You could say that.”
“Do you not think Alric has a right to know what Daemionis asked of you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Interesting”
“Do you think I should know?” Alric asked his god.
“Yes, I do.”
“Then tell me, please.”
“We could solve the problem here, right now,” Sithias said to her.
“NO!”
“How?” Alric asked.
Sithias didn’t answer him. “It would be a secret, Kyrin. No one has to know but those of us here, and Daemionis.”
“I said no!”
“What are your fears?”
Her eyes shot to Alric, and then back to Sithias. “Try it, and I’ll kill myself.”
“Without these?” he asked. Sithias held out his almost glowing hand, and in it, he held eight tiny vials.
She gasped. “You took them?!”
“Yes, I did. I don’t wish for you to kill yourself over something as harmless as this.”
“Harmless? It’s not harmless.”
“It is.”
Alric was getting irritated with his lack of being included in the conversation but knew Sithias wouldn’t appreciate being interrupted.
“What you’ve heard is not necessarily true in this dimension.” Sithias was being very kind and tolerant with her, and Alric was even surprised at how patient he was.
“I said, no,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I realize you don’t need the poison to kill yourself, so we resolve this tonight, or I will have to take matters into my own hands.”
“Do what?!”
“I can take you to my home and keep you there, safe, until an agreement is made.”
Alric was dumbstruck. He’d never heard of anyone being allowed into Sithias’ sanctuary other than Holy Knights and High Priests.
“Daemionis won’t stand for that.”
Sithias smiled. “Oddly, he and I agree on this matter, and I don’t think he would interfere.”
She shook her head and walked backwards a few steps. “This is not going to happen.”
“It is my will, and the will of Daemionis.”
“I don’t care whose will it is! It’s my life, and I did nothing to get punished this way.”
“It is not a punishment.”
“You can’t tell me that. I’ve seen it. I’ll not fall into that trap, and I don’t need you or Daemionis to decide how to live my life. It’s a punishment, period.”
Sithias smiled softly. “I have no reason to punish you.”
“You know I sacrificed a shadow elf.”
“Yes”
“I’m sure that’s worth a punishment.”
“Not one I wish to pursue.”
Alric finally broke in. “Do I get to know what this is all about?”
Sithias turned to him. “It is time for you to do as I asked.”
He frowned. “Wait, this is all because you want me to marry her?”
“Yes”
“No! It’s not going to happen,” Kyrin screamed.
“I can’t force her!” Alric said. “She’s not ready.”
“She is ready. She is just afraid of the unknown. Afraid of things she’s seen and things she has been told that do not apply here.”
“It’s against everything sacred to force her into marriage.”
“It is my will.”
Alric looked over at Kyrin as she slipped her flail back into her belt. He knew that only meant one thing, and he started forward to protect Sithias, when Sithias smiled.
“Are you going to cast on me?”
Branches reached down from the trees behind Kyrin and wrapped themselves around her wrists. She was pulled back against the tree with her hands held straight out at her sides.
“No!” she screamed, fighting to get loose.
“This is my dimension,” Sithias reminded her. “Things here will do my bidding, and I do not wish to fight you with your magic.”
Alric wasn’t sure what to do. He loved Kyrin and wanted desperately to marry her, but not if she was terrified of it and being forced into it. However, it was Sithias’ will, and he didn’t want to see her punished because it was Daemionis’ will also.
He turned and looked at her, and saw blood appearing from her wrists where the tree branches cut into her as she struggled. He wondered how strong her fear was and how deeply embedded it was for her to have such an intense reaction. His heart went out to her, but it wasn’t his decision to make.
Sithias moved closer to Kyrin. “Now listen to me and try to understand that I don’t want to hurt you. If you cast on me, I am forced to restrain you. Do you understand?”
“Just kill me and get it over with,” Kyrin snapped at him.
“I don’t wish you dead. If I did, I would let you shift out of Paragoy and wash my hands of you.”
“If you don’t want me dead, then don’t make me do this.”
“Talk to her,” Sithias said to Alric.
He sighed and walked forward. “I don’t think this is right either, but I’m not threatening to kill myself. Just calm down and let’s talk about this.”
“Of course you aren’t going to! You’re the man. Marriage is all for the men.”
“You don’t even know for certain what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t have to, to know that death is better.”
“Yes, you do! You can’t make an informed decision based on fear of things you think might be true.”
Sithias sighed. “The decision is made.”
Alric turned to him. “I need time. Forcing her into this isn’t going to work. I need to be able to work through this.”
Sithias considered it and finally nodded. “You have two weeks.”
“Thank you. I just have to wipe the misconceptions out of her head. If we force her, she’ll either kill herself or shift.”
“Two weeks,” Sithias said, and then disappeared.
The branches holding Kyrin slowly let go, and she grabbed her flail and looked around. “Come back, Sithias!”
“Let’s not provoke him, okay?” Alric said calmly.
“I’m not going to marry you.”
“Our gods want it, so I suggest we talk through everything you’re afraid of. I want to marry you. I love you, and it would bring us together.”
“Sure! Bring us together so you can do repulsive things to me.”
“Like what?” he asked, standing back to watch her.
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know they are repulsive and not extremely pleasant?”
“Because I know.”
“You don’t. Now let’s go back before we get attacked out here.”
Knowing that Sithias had the portals blocked, Kyrin finally agreed to return to the castle to make a decision. She wasn’t going to get married. She swore to herself at the age of five that she would never marry, and no strange dimension was going to change that.
When they got to the castle, Alric stopped at the floor with the Lady’s chamber and shook his head. “No, you have to stay in my room.”
“What’s wrong with mine?” she asked, ignoring how the Castle Protectors looked at her oddly. She had forgotten she was still covered in the blood of her sacrifice.
“Nothing, but I want to know you aren’t running off or killing yourself.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t trust you. Up the stairs,” he said, pointing.
She huffed and then
walked up the stairs, followed by Alric, who was relieved. He wasn’t sure she would agree to move into his room, so he could watch her. He had to remind himself that she had no reason to fear the bedroom. Her fears of marital rituals were so unknown that she hadn’t associated bedrooms with any of them.
Once in the bedroom, she sat down on the floor in front of the fire and looked over at him, outwardly furious.
Alric sat down on the bed. “Still can’t get you in a bed?”
“No”
“How do you sleep on the cold, hard floor?”
She didn’t answer but slid onto her side away from him and shut her eyes.