Dragon Frost (13 page)

"Kenshe?" the Mother Weaver said. "He would defy the caels directly by abandoning you in the Keol?"

"Well, that may prove a problem if he changes his mind," Terren added.

"I'm not going anywhere with him. He left my friends to die in the Efereal Mountains," Ubi said bitterly.

"Who are your friends, if I may ask my lady?" Terren said.

"Xirel and Loki."

The whispers started up again all around her, until Mother Weaver silenced them.

"If Kenshe comes for her, can we defeat him?" Terren asked.

Mother Weaver pulled a pouch from her belt and then reached in it to pull out several grey stones. She threw them on the ground before her, then kneeled and touched one after the other with her index finger. Two from the Pack helped back to her feet when she lacked the strength to stand up straight again. "The Atrum Lord has lost favour with the Caelestis from his countless atrocities. But our actions must coincide with this Fay's will as well. Tell me Ubi, would you stay with us?"

Ubi didn't know what she wanted to do at this point. All she knew is that she couldn't go back to Kenshe, and that her heart wouldn't let her face Nafury. She had broken her promise to him to be honest. She had been too much of a coward to tell him everything, and now he might be dead because of her. All she could do was stay out of the way of everyone so that no one else got hurt because of her.

Terren stood up and closed the distance between them.

Ubi looked around the Pack, and then for what had been bothering her since she arrived. The Pack's shifts were completely fearless of her. It was as if they had no fear of her harming their hosts... Because their hosts were already dead. "You're Awls?"

Terren smiled and nodded. 

"Wait, but you called her 'Mother,'" Ubi pointed out, and looked at the old ayame. Her shift rested near the entrance to the cave.

"That's because I gave birth to each and every one of them, child," Mother Weaver explained. "I have served in three different Packs in my lifetime. While I am still alive, my children have taken different paths towards their Fates."

Ubi was stunned now, as there were at least two dozen of the phelan Awls, all males from what she could tell. She couldn't imagine losing so many children to death. "I'm sorry," she said solemnly.

"Why ever are you sorry, child? I sense that you cannot hear the Great Dragon yet. His voice is always on the wind. His will is a constant vibration beneath our feet and in the Animus Threads. When Sentry fall to Aster to become Awls, they only succeed if they accept that Aragmoth is this world. My children were spared by the Great Dragon and given near-immortality. I do not mourn for them, for they are still very much with me."

"That and we are the one and only Ghost Pack," another phelan Awl said. "If Kenshe wants a fight, I hope he's ready to lose."

"Do not boast, Hiro," Mother Weaver scorned him. "Kenshe is the son of one of the Four Generals, one of the very first Awls. The blood of Solar in his veins will give him the fire to fight well past any normal phelan. He will be your greatest challenge yet."

"Of course, Mother," Hiro said apologetically. "But if we win, may we keep the prize?"

Ubi's face went red from how the phelan Awl was looking at her now.

"If she knows with Loki, then he will likely come looking for her soon," Terren said. Hiro sulked and walked away at that. "But it would be an honour to protect you until then. The dragon Awl is a powerful ally to make." He reached out his hand to her then. "If you want to stay with us, we can protect you."

Ubi calculated her options, then took his hand. She only wanted to see Loki and Xirel again, even if she had no right to.

Ubi had forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by so many friendly people. The Weaver's Pack had loosened up around her, and now they were all laughing about random things from Earth around the fire.

"I want to drive one of those car things one day," Hiro said, as he looked at Ubi. "If I ever go to Earth, it's the first thing I'm going for. Have you ever driven one?"

"No, you have to be a certain age to get a license for it. And you have to have money to afford a car. I've been moved around in them, though," Ubi replied.

"How fast do they go? Are they faster than us?" Hiro asked.

"Not a chance," Terren said, certain.

Ubi laughed as the others did the same. Then their laughter was suddenly interrupted by a low hum of a Call, and they looked to Mother Weaver.

"Kenshe's here. Let's give him our best show," Terren said, and took on the form of his phelan spirit.

The others of the Pack did the same, and Ubi was left alone with the old ayame. "Will they be okay?"

'The Great Dragon favours us today, do not worry yourself. My children, as they are now, have never been defeated in battle.'

Ubi got up and fixed Mother Weaver's blanket on her shoulders. Then she stood up straight and looked in the direction that she could hear Kenshe calling for her. A thick, white mist filled the air. It blinded the sight of anyone who looked for something past the distance of their own feet. She thought that if the Great Dragon did serve any kind of justice, this might be it. Maybe today Kenshe would pay for the lives he took at Xirel's home.

She sat next to Mother Weaver and closed her eyes. She searched for Terren's psi and found it. He returned comforting thoughts to her, before his psi focused back on the battle at hand.

Kenshe knew he was in for a fight when the mist began to rise around him. The Ghost Pack had been a myth; a ghost story to scare the youngsters with, only it seemed very real now. The entire area of Threads had been weaved against him, and any one that he touched could spring an attack on him. "Ubi!" he called out, knowing that he had to get her to reach out to him if he was going to get anywhere. "Ubi, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. And you know I hate Nafury and Xirel, so what business would I have telling them anything?"

"GO AWAY!" she yelled back.

Kenshe pinpointed the direction of her voice. But before he could make a move, a Thread to his legs snapped, and it sent him tumbling forward to the ground. He kept his calm as the teeth from the phelan Awl came down on him next. It passed through him, as it was still bound to the Laws of Aragmoth. At least there was someone on his side. As long as he didn't make himself a threat, he wouldn't be eaten. Only that wouldn't stop the Awls from snapping every life Thread in him. The black phelan vanished back into the mist like a shadow, and Kenshe slowly got back to his feet.

"You heard the lady," a voice said from a different direction in the mist. "She does not want to go with you anywhere."

"I don't recall asking you permission. Now get out of my way!" Kenshe shouted back.

"Not going to happen," another voice replied.

Kenshe felt another Thread snap in him, and he wiped his nose as blood started to drip from it. "You have some never to attack me! I am the Atrum Lord and protected by the Caelestis!"

"The Goddess has forsaken you as you have long forgotten her," the first voice said. Kenshe's legs were made numb, and he was forced to the ground again. His hands caught him and he stayed still, trying to calculate which Thread they would go for next.

"Her daughter has been given to us," the second voice said.

"I don't think so," Kenshe spat back and caught the Threads to the voice as they appeared for a split second. He cut them with his nails, before realizing his stupid mistake.

The red-haired Awl unshifted and rushed at him, delivering a kick to his face that threw him backwards.

"I think he is trying to
kill
us, brother," his attacker mocked. Moments later, the mist engulfed the phelan Awl again.

"Somehow he has survived this long despite being intolerably stupid," the first voice said. "You cannot kill what is already dead you fool. Leave before we kill you for wasting our time."

Another foot hit Kenshe in the back, and he buckled over as blood gushed from his mouth to the ground. He couldn't take much more of this. A rush of estus energy surged past Kenshe then. The hatred and sadness of it threatened to drag him into the ground and to his grave. "Ubi I would never hurt you! Sybl and Kas were everything to me! Please stop this!"

"Yet you were weak and did not protect them," another phelan said.

The Threads were lifted under Kenshe, and he was thrown into the air. He fell a meter before colliding with the ground on his back. Kenshe could feel his life draining from him fast now as he hurt too much to roll over. There were just too many of the Awl phelan to defend himself against.

"That is not true," a female voice spoke.

Kenshe looked to the side as the mist lifted all at once, and dispersed into clear air. He could see all twenty-four of the Pack he was up against now. Cursing himself for being such an idiot to tackle such odds alone, he lay flat on his back. He heard footsteps, and looked up to the only face he wanted to see. Sybl's glowing blue eyes looked back down at him. "I'm sorry. Sybl... Please...forgive me."

"You're an idiot, Kenshe!" the voice spat back, but it was different now. The image of Sybl that he had imagined vanished and left Prisca looking down at him. Her red eyes were furious. "What in the seven Hells do you think you're doing?"

"Dying," was all Kenshe could reply and closed his eyes.

"Sister, what are you doing here?" Terren asked, walking closer to them.

"What does it look like?" Prisca replied with a bitter tone. "Mother," she called, and the old woman began to slowly make her way over with Ubi. "What is going on here?"

"Kenshe wishes to take the Fay against her will. I was not going to let that happen."

"By killing him? Are you insane, old woman? If the Caelestis can see us now, she would never forgive you! Kenshe was given to her and he answers only to Sybl!"

"Do not attempt to tell me what to do!" Mother Weaver snapped back. "We are not of your corrupted Order!'

"That Fay," Prisca said, looking at Ubi, "is the Atrum's responsibility. It was her father who ruled over it before Kenshe. She is coming with us." Prisca kneeled down then, and started to heal Kenshe's wounds.

"She can't see yet...what we know," Kenshe said through painful breaths as Prisca patched his inner wounds back together with her limited aeri.

Prisca understood what he was talking about, and walked over to Ubi.

Ubi stepped back to avoid being grabbed, but Prisca was faster and caught her tunic. Then the Caller pressed her hand against her forehead. Ubi tried to struggle free, then realized that she wasn't standing in the same place anymore. Ubi looked at Prisca before her, then looked to where she did, as the ayame's memory melded into her own. She saw her father.

The gardens at the back of the Sanctus were vibrant and beautiful. If you stood back and looked at the rows of them, you could see a line separating them. The side of light were alive and healthy, while those in darkness were dreary. The line between consisted of roses like what could be found on Earth.

Kas walked the line for a few moments, before setting down a small pail of blue paint. Eyes watched him from all sides, and it didn't seem to bother him.

Three ayame had taken up playfully laughing at him when he picked up the paintbrush. They seemed desperate to get his attention. The laughter stopped a few minutes later, and Kas looked for what could have sent the ayame away so suddenly. It was Sybl.

"Are you painting flowers?" she asked as she walked over.

"Just the roses," he corrected. He glanced only momentarily at her and away from his chosen rose bush.

"Phelan can't see red, can they?"

"We can see it enough to know that it is connected to something important." He snapped the one free that he had finished painting blue, and offered it to her.

"But all your eyes are red--how do you see the eyes of other phelan?" She took the rose from him.

"We see each other's intentions instead of red, as the eyes are a reflection of the soul."

"Like blood." Sybl smelled the rose. But it wasn't doing much for her. "Am I like the only creature on this whole planet who has blue eyes?"

"You are one of the few who have the colour of pure destiny in their eyes. You should be more than content with that."

"You mean there's someone else other than me?"

Kas didn't answer and started painting another rose. He dipped his fingers in the blue paint, and touched her nose before she could dodge it.

"Hey!" Sybl tried to wipe the paint off of her nose, only to smear it worse in the process.

"Perhaps I should try more unconventional methods to help you remember your past life."

"You're so mean," Sybl said, as she took the spare brush from the pail. "Just for that, I'm painting your entire room a bright red while you sleep."

"I have nothing to fear then, as I have not slept since I was a newborn."

Sybl looked at the rose bush for where to start practicing.

"Which one is the most red to you?"

"Um... They're all like the same color of red," Sybl replied.