“There wasn’t anything to get away with. I was only trying to help, Axanar. You want to get to the truth as much as I. I thought this was a good way of accelerating the process. I thought I could trust her.”
“You cannot trust a caged animal. She is not one of us. You would do well to remember that.”
“She is though,” Tania looked up at me. “She is, Axanar. You may not believe it, but she is. Yes, she has never met this pride before, but she is born of the same blood as us, she has just grown in a different world. We must be kind with her She should not be treated as a prisoner because she is not the enemy. This is her home, and we should be kind to her.”
“I will be kind to her when she has earned it,” I spat. “I am tired of this. I do not expect this to happen again. For now, I want you to go down to the kitchens and make yourself available to them. Perhaps gutting the spoils of hunts and scrubbing our bowls will give you time enough to appreciate your position in this pride, and prevent you from doing anything to jeopardize it in the future,” I said. Tania bowed her head and scurried away. I exhaled deeply and turned to the horizon. I was beginning to wonder if Kara was more trouble than she was worth. Perhaps I should do what I needed to do with her and then send her away, but in order to do that I needed to find out more about her power. It was a conundrum indeed. And then there was the fact that she had excelled in the hunt. Furthermore, when I thought about the situation, I suppose I could not blame her for trying to escape. I might well have done the same in her position.
It was soon coming time for her and myself to have a frank discussion about matters, because I was not willing to have this rogue element in my pride any longer than was needed.
Chapter Thirteen
Volkan
Kara did not offer any resistance as I pulled her away from the doorway and led her back up to her prison. Marrin accompanied me. Kara’s head hung down and she did not say a word. Marrin did though.
“Do you think Axanar is going to punish me? I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. It’s just that the wisdom made me think that it was a good idea and that, by not listening to her, I would have made Axanar angry. Oh, I wish I had done better. I don’t want to disappoint Axanar. I don’t merely want to be a hunter all my life. I want to be a warrior, just like him. Do you think I can ever earn his respect again?” he asked, the words rushing out of him in one nervous breath.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about as long as you can keep your wits about you. Remember that the dominance of this pride is built on structure and order. There is no room for chaos. When you are given an order, you must follow it, and if there is any doubt then wait for the Alpha, especially when it comes to a matter as sensitive as this. I think after this, you should go and think about what happened today. A man must know his own mind and should not be swayed by others,” I said. Marrin nodded and had a thoughtful look on his face. He escorted me to the door and then he turned and walked back. I led Kara by the arm into her room and placed her on the bed.
“He’ll be back soon with a meal. I’m sure you must still be hungry from the hunt,” I said, hoping that she might reply. She did not, however. She just stared into space, her hair falling across her like a veil. I sank to the floor, not intending to leave her as I got the sense that she was fragile in this moment. I wanted to make her know that she was not alone. I could not deny that there was something about her that intrigued me, something that went beyond the fact that she was a world walker. Axanar could not see it yet, and he may well have mocked me for being a romantic, but I could not turn away from Kara’s beauty. She was unlike any of the women I had seen before.
We sat in silence for a good while. I wanted to offer her company more than anything else. It was her who spoke next.
“Did you mean what you said to him? About not being swayed by others?” her voice was small and trembling.
“I did. I don’t know how it works in your pride, but we are strong here because we have always trusted our own strength.”
“Then how can you sit there and follow Axanar’s orders blindly? Why can’t you let me go?”
I sighed. “It is not that simple. Axanar is the Alpha. Without structure there is nothing. If he ever gave me an order that did not make sense, then I would challenge it. We are not holding you here against your will Kara. Today was not just a test of your hunting skills, but also of your mind. You had the freedom of the world. You could have run away.”
“Run away to where? This world is strange to me. It’s not my home. There’s only one place I want to run to, and I can’t even make it there. You keep telling me that I’m a world walker, but I’m not. It was just a mistake. I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why it happened, and clearly, I’m not going to be able to do it again. That path to my world has been closed to me. There’s no point in you keeping me around.”
I stroked my jaw as I thought about her words. “When I was a cub and being taught how to hunt, I held a bow in my hands. The thing was almost as big as me, and it was a wonder that I did not teeter back and lose my balance when I aimed it. I remember the first shot I took. I listened to everything my father told me. I breathed slowly, held my arms tightly, and took note of the wind. I then loosed the arrow. It went straight for the target. I killed the animal with one strike, but after that, despite doing the same things over and over again, I was unable to make the same shot. It was not merely fortune, for I had the skill within me, but I had to forge it. Sometimes, these things manifest themselves before we even know how to master it. It's some kind of instinct. I think the same thing happened to you, so all you need to do is train yourself.”
“But how? At least with a bow and arrow you have weapons you can feel in your hands. I have nothing.”
“I cannot answer this, but I just know that it is a tool like any other, and you can find a way.”
“And what then? I’m just going to waltz back to my world and leave this all behind? You’re never going to let me go,” she said.
I held my tongue for a moment, not wishing to tell her about Axanar’s plan to mate with her. “That is something for the Alpha to share with you.”
She let out a dry, humorless laugh and ran her hands through her hair, pushing the dark strands back. Kara revealed her face and I saw her eyes glisten with tears.
“This just seems like some kind of sick joke. I’m here in a world that says I’m special, but treats me like a prisoner. I’m sent out to hunt and apparently that’s a test, but what did you think was going to happen? There’s only one place I want to go, and that’s home. Tell me something Volkan, do you have parents?”
“I did,” I said. Her eyes met mine, and for a sharp moment I found myself losing my breath.
“And did you love them?”
“I did.”
“And would have you have done anything for them?”
“I wanted to fight time itself when they grew old and reached the point where their strength left them. I knew it was always the way of things, but I hated understanding that they were no longer going to be in the same world as me.”
“I don’t know where my parents are. The last time I saw them they were fighting off the Night Fangs, and all I want is to get back there and find them again. If they survived, then they must be wondering where I am. There’s nothing for me in this world. Can’t you all take pity on me and see that I’m just a lost girl who wants to get home?”