Chapter 6

He awoke… warm.

He was tired and felt like he'd run a thousand minars in half a day, but he felt very warm. Almost like he was under a soft blanket.

It wasn't a blanket, though. It was fur.

He was laying on top of something… furry. He fluttered his eyes open and found himself laying on the open deck, and was laying huddled with several female Arcans. A cougar Arcan was the one under him, which was the warmth he felt, and a longhaired cat Arcan was partially on his legs.

What was this about? He pulled himself up and found that it was sunrise, and many of the Arcans laying on the deck, sleeping, while the rest sat or stood around the deck, talking with each other or looking out over the sea. He felt the ravenous hunger that came with wearing himself out with magic, but there was nothing that he could do about it now. He had sworn to them he would not eat, and he wouldn't break his word to them, or he'd lose his command over them. He sat up and put his hand down on a tail, which made him flinch and feel around to find a safe place to put his hand. He was still naked, but then again, so were all of them. He struggled weakly to his feet, starving to death, then went off to get of his clothes.

He saw that they had obeyed him. There were no bloodstains on the deck, no bodies of dead Arcans, no females with ugly wounds on them. There had been no fighting. They had obeyed him and stayed calm, resting through the night and simply waiting.

He came back down the passageway after getting his clothes, considering the problems. They had to eat. He had to eat. He'd made a promise, but he didn't count on being in this condition when he woke up. He needed to eat something, or he'd be weak and virtually helpless.

Well, there was plenty of meat on the boat, he realized. It was just human and Arcan. He wasn't about to butcher an Arcan for food, so the only alternative was the humans.

He shuddered at that thought. He didn't think he could bring himself to cannibalism… but he could use the bodies of the men in other ways, and still eat.

Arcans were not quite so picky.

He came out onto deck, and almost all the females looked at him. They all obeyed him, and for a moment, he mused that he had his own little private army. A starving army that might turn on itself and kill each other at any moment, but an army. "You Arcans," he pointed, indicating a group of ten females by the sterncastle rail. "Go get the bodies of the humans down below, in the hammocks. Bring them up to the deck. You two, go get the three bodies back in the cabin. Do not play with anything they're carrying. Just drag them out here and lay them on the deck. I need a climber!" he shouted. Three or four cats and a gray fox Arcan scurried up to him quickly. "Two of you climb up to the top of that mast, up to that little stand there," he said, pointing to the crow's nest. "There's a dead human up there. Bring the body back down to the deck, lay it with the others they're bringing out."

"What are we doing?" the gray fox asked.

"We're going to eat," he said simply. "I think between what the ship's carrying in normal food and the meat on the humans, there's enough for all of us to at least have a few bites."

That sent an excited twitter through all the Arcans. The females quickly moved to obey, even dragging the other bodies Kyven didn't mention out onto the grill as he sat on the steep steps up to the sterncastle's steering deck, trying to rest. "You females," he called to a group of about ten that was hovering near him. "Find the galley. It should be one of the rooms back there," he said, pointing to the sterncastle. "Bring anything that even remotely looks like food out onto the deck and lay it out so we can see exactly how much food we have. Look for small casks and barrels or bags."

They hurried off to do his bidding, and while Kyven rested, they did very well. All the humans were laid out on the deck, a few of them still frozen in sleeping poses, as the others dragged salted barrels of meat, beans, sacks of flour, even a small barrel of apples out. And what was the grand prize, two sides of beef that hadn't gone bad yet, that were strangely cold to the touch. Kept cold using alchemy, maybe? Whatever the reason, that meat significantly increased the food available, and Kyven had hope that he wouldn't die of lack of food or get killed by the Arcans for breaking his promise to them.

The frozen men were going to be a problem. They were inedible in their current state, which caused Kyven to consider the problem. They couldn't be eaten until they thawed out, and that meant that they'd all either have to wait or eat less and have two meals.

Two meals. He couldn't wait.

"Alright, listen," he said as loudly as he could. "The frozen ones can't be eaten, and that's most of the food, so we divide the food up into two meals There are many mouths and only a little food, so everyone gets just a little, including me. We'll have a bigger meal when they thaw out."

"How did they get frozen?" the big bear asked him.

"An alchemical weapon," he replied. "Each of us gets a piece no bigger than this," he said, holding his thumb and finger out about half a span apart. "That should leave enough left over for a second meal after the others thaw. All I ask is save me some of the beef for my second meal. I'd really rather not eat human. You, cutting the food is your job," he said, pointing at the wolf who still wore the bandage he put on her after cutting her arm. "Remember, everyone gets just a little piece."

She nodded and pulled a knife from one of the corpses of the sailors, then knelt by one of the unfrozen bodies. "Do you want to keep what they carry?" she asked.

"Just pile it somewhere, we'll go through it after we get the ship moving," he answered. "I need climbers to eat first," he shouted. "I need them to get up into the rigging and get the sails down. So climbers eat first, and they'll get the sails down while everyone else eats!"

It actually worked. Quite a few cats, martens, ferrets, minks, chinchillas, and the two gray foxes were given what amounted to a small mouthful of meat first, and after they ate, they gathered near the sterncastle. When enough of them were there, Kyven pointed to the rigging and explained what had to be done, describing to them what he saw the sailors doing the day before. Once they understood what they had to do, Kyven sent them up into the rigging and then ordered the largest of the Arcan females to reel in the sea anchor. Sails started unfurling in the rigging above one by one, as the climbers adeptly reached the tied sails and untied them, causing them to unfurl as the other Arcans he'd talked to used ropes to lower the booms holding their bottom, just as he'd seen the sailors do it. He went up to the wheel and took hold of it, and when females shouted that the anchors were raised, he spun the wheel to the right. He watched the sails flap in the breeze, then shouted down that they needed to turn the sails until the wind pushed at them from behind. He called up several more Arcans, and described to them how he'd seen the sailors control the sails, then set them to work to figure it out.

It was awkward. It took them three hours to puzzle out how to do it, because Kyven wasn't entirely sure either. But it showed that at least a few of the Arcans were smart, for they figured it out. Once the system was discovered, mast by mast, they turned the sails until the wind caught them, and then the ship began to move. It also began to turn, and Kyven was impressed when one female realized it and shouted "keep turning the sails back the other way! The other way! The ship's turning, the sails have to turn to stay in line with the wind!"

A very smart Arcan there, Kyven hadn't taken that into account himself. The Arcans controlling the booms that rotated the sails obeyed, pulling the sails to keep them attuned to the wind, which kept the ship moving steadily to the west, back towards land. Kyven straightened them out using shadows to tell him when he was going west, with the shadows straight in front of him, then looked at the compass by the steering wheel and took note of what number it showed.

The wolf Arcan he'd delegated to feed the others came up to the steering deck with a piece of cold meat. "You eat too," she told him, holding it up. "Humans don't like raw food, but—"

He snatched it out of her hand and tore into it with his teeth, which actually made her laugh. "How much is left?" he asked between bites.

"The thawed meat is all gone," she answered. "A few didn't get to eat it, so I gave them beans instead and promised them a larger slice from the other meat when it thaws. How long until we reach the shore?"

"Good thinking, and I have no idea. Go find out how much more water we have and report back to me."

He stayed at the wheel as he waited for his scant meal to replenish him. It did, if only a tiny bit, making him feel tired rather than totally exhausted. The wolf returned quickly. "Two barrels are full, and half a barrel more. Not much," she frowned. "We drank too much after you freed us. We will pay for that celebration now."

"I'll guarantee this ship has rum or grog aboard. Find it, but don't distribute it. I'm not sure I'm ready to try to command three hundred drunken Arcan sailors."

She actually laughed, then hurried off to do his bidding.

He called a raccoon Arcan to the wheel and made her take hold of it. "See this compass?" he said, pointing to it. "Keep us just the way you see it there, so just hold it steady. If you do have to adjust the ship, remember this. Turn the wheel right to make the ship go left, and turn the wheel left to make the ship go right. Understand?"

"Yes, if I want to go left, turn the wheel right, and the other way around."

"Right. I'm going to go through the ship. Keep us heading for shore," he told her, patting her on the shoulder.

"Yes, captain," she said, giving him a sly little smile.

Damn raccoons.

Kyven was escorted by the big bear Arcan and wolf Arcan he'd set to watching the passageway the night before as they went through the ship. Kyven's goal was to find their valuables and weapons, and also to find every alchemical device and take the crystals out of the ones he didn't intend to use. They started in the captain's cabin, and Kyven saw a flaw in his plan quickly when the wolf Arcan picked up a shockrod one of the human he'd killed in here had had and clearly held it as if she meant to keep it. The bear too picked up a shockrod and a pistol. "You put us in command when you aren't there to give orders," the bear told him calmly. "How else can we exert authority?"

"So I did," he said simply.

It took a little doing to find their strongbox. It was hidden in the captain's cabin, in a false floor under the bunk. It was heavily laden with chits and uncut crystals, which was how he'd found it. He had the two Arcans help him clear the barricade, emptying out the cabin of everything but the bed, then they went about the business of bringing all the valuable items and alchemical devices into the captain's quarters. They also put all the gunpowder and firearms in there, taken from a small armory that also held a large number of alchemical devices, including those thin, whiplike red rods that the Arcans simply called pain sticks. He could imagine their function, given a name like that. He pulled the crystals from most of the devices so they couldn't be used, and also found his own throwing daggers and fake shockrod in the armory, which he reclaimed.

They had quite an arsenal when they were done. Muskets, pistols, swords, daggers, and quite a few shockrods and a few firetubes, probably meant for use against enemy ships trying to grapple. They also got an item that Kyven had heard of but never seen, the mana whip. It produced a long whip-like cord made of pure magic, but the line was very hot, so but it would burn anything it hit. They were rare because they were exceedingly deadly, both to one's enemies and also to one's self. That searing line did not discriminate, so one false move, and the whip would sear its own user. Just the lightest touch of the line would set fire to paper or clothing and blacken flesh. On a ship, something like that would be very dangerous to use.

That, Kyven put into his belt. He was very nimble, had enough agility and dexterity to use the whip without killing himself, and a rare weapon like that could be very useful to him.

The device in the box, well, he had no idea what it did. It was a cylindrical device made out of some kind of copper alloy, but whatever it was, Kyven felt that it couldn't be good. So he pulled the crystal out of it, and gasped when he saw it.

It used a black crystal. And a bloody big one.

How on earth did they get a black crystal? How much did they have to bribe some miner, cutter, or some Loremaster to get it? It was already cut, which reduced some of its value, but it was worth a good two thousand chits easy. But then again, he'd have an almost impossible time selling it, because the Loremasters would pretty damn well want to know just where he got a cut black crystal from.

He looked at that device and shuddered. If it used a black crystal, then—well, him targeting that device probably saved the lives of all the Arcans. There was little doubt in his mind that it would have killed them all.

It frightened him enough to have the Arcans throw the device overboard. He didn't want that thing on the ship, even with the crystal removed from it.

Despite having no idea what they were doing, they managed to flounder along over the day. Changes in the wind often caused the ship to stall as the Arcans tried to figure out how to turn the sails to catch the wind, but when they did, the ship began to move again. The raccoon kept them faithfully on course, and a couple of hours after noontime, the cat in the crow's nest above shouted gleefully that she could see land.

It wasn't the only thing she saw. Not five minutes after calling that land was on the horizon, she called down that she saw another ship to the north of them. Kyven went up to the steering deck and used a viewing glass that had been in the captain's cabin to see, and saw that she was right. It was far from them, a galleon from the looks of it, and though it was moving in their general direction, it wasn't coming directly at them. It looked as if it would pass by them far to the stern.

"It looks like it's just going about its business!" Kyven shouted up to the cat. "Keep an eye on it!"

"I will, captain!" she shouted back down, continuing the little tradition the raccoon started, calling him captain.

The food issue was solved not long after that, thanks to the ingenuity of the bear Arcan. In a lull where the ship wasn't moving because the females were trying to reset the sails, she saw a school of huge fish at the bow, and blasted them with the shockrod. The lightning spread out when it hit the water, electrocuting quite a few of them. Then she just had the others snag them with hooks and lines and pull them up to the deck. They had to weigh a hundred pounds each, and they pulled up ten of them. "Now we can eat," the bear told him simply. Kyven nodded to the bandaged wolf, and she immediately bent to carving them up.

The bear set a mouse at the bow with a shockrod and a pair of nimble cats at the stern with hooked lines. The mouse would blast any fish she saw, and the cats would try to reel them in as the ship passed by. Kyven thought it wouldn't work very well, but he was surprised to find that it did. Those huge fish seemed attracted to the boat for some reason, and they would die for that curiosity. The cats, who were very agile, quickly got the hang of snaring the dead fish and hauling them up onto the boat, which ensured that everyone was going to eat more than just a few bites. The mouse completely exhausted three shockrods after an hour, but she and the cats had pulled up enough of those wide-finned blue-scaled fish to feed them all quite well. Kyven found the meat of the fish to be red and very tasty, and he ate enough to flush strength back into his body and remove the gnawing, debilitating hunger in his belly.

Land loomed nearer and nearer, and with it also came other boats. The cat pointed out small fishing boats to the north, and Kyven had the raccoon steer them to the south to avoid them. They got closer and closer to land, which made the Arcans excited and anxious, until the white sand of a beach came into view about an hour before sunset.

Perfect timing, as far as he was concerned. It would give them all a night in the darkness to get away from the ship. He went back up to the steering deck and pointed to a flat expanse of beach just to the right of their current heading. "Let's try right there," he told her. "Just run us right up until we hit ground."

"You got it, captain," the raccoon smiled, turning the wheel to the left, which would turn the ship right. Kyven went to the rail and shouted down to the others. "Listen up! I want people at the anchor chains and climbers standing ready at the masts. As soon as we hit the ground, drop the anchors so we don't slide back into the water, and then raise the sails so the wind doesn't bang us around!" he commanded. "As soon as we're aground, all of you are free to do whatever you want!" he boomed to them. "You can make a run for it, you can wait here for the humans to come, you can do whatever you want! All of you except for you," he said, pointing at his gray cat, who was sitting with several other females near the mast closest to the sterncastle. "You, come up here. Yes you, the gray cat. I want to talk to you."

Kyven waited for the slender gray cat to come to him. She was very young, still a teenager by human reckoning, probably no more than fifteen. She had small breasts and narrow hips, almost looking boyish, very thin and a little bony from lack of food. Her amber eyes were wary when she came up and stood meekly before him. "You're coming with me," he told her. "You're who I was sent to rescue, cat. Do you have a name?"

"I was never given a name," she answered meekly.

"Then give yourself one," he told her.

"I… I don't know. What is a good name?"

"Whatever sounds nice to you," he shrugged. "Watch that rock right there," he told the raccoon.

"I see it, captain," she assured him.

"I always thought bitch was a pretty word, until I learned what it meant," she said honestly. "I don't know what word makes a good name."

"Well, your fur's the color of slate, so we could call you that," the raccoon noted.

"That's not really a girl's name," Kyven chuckled.

"My mistress always just called me Whisper, because I don't talk loud."

"Then Whisper it is," Kyven told her. "At least until you find something better. Mistress? Where were you?"

"I was born on a tobacco farm. My owners sold me when I became an adult," she said quietly. "They had enough workers, and they didn't want me."

"Well, I know some people who will want you, very much," he told her. "People who will treat you with respect."

"Why? Why me?"

He looked right at her. "They told me you're a Shaman," he told her. "I was sent to recover you. Now that I have you, I'll take you to someone who can teach you whatever it is Shaman do."

"A Shaman? Me? I, I can't believe it!" she gasped.

"A Shaman! You're a Shaman!" the raccoon said with a squeal of delight, letting go of the wheel and running to the rail overlooking the deck, forcing Kyven to grab the wheel before it spun them off course. "Listen everyone! We have a Shaman among us!" she screamed, grabbing the young cat and dragging her to the rail. "The human said she's a Shaman! She's why he's here, he was sent to rescue her!"

He heard the Arcans all screaming in delight and clapping. Even they knew who the Shaman were, and obviously, they seemed to respect them. It became totally apparent when the wolf he put in charge of the food brought up a large stack of slices of meat from the fishes and offered it to the cat, telling her that a Shaman should never go hungry. The cat looked a bit overwhelmed, both at what she learned and how they were all treating her, and decided to just stay near Kyven as he steered them towards shore, then handed the wheel back over to the raccoon after berating her for abandoning her post.

"Sorry, I got excited," she told him with a guilty smile.

"Well, stop that," he chided. "You're doing something important."

"It's why I got sold," she shrugged. "Couldn't keep my mind on what I was doing. They figured all I was cut out for was being a breeder," she said with a little shudder. "Not much attention required to be fucked by willing males until they make you pregnant."

"Sounds like an ugly business," Kyven said with a frown.

"A male I knew worked at a small breeder ranch outside of Riyan. The girls were kept in little rooms. Males were sent in to fuck them every day, until they were pregnant. Then they have the baby, raise it until it's weaned, then the humans would take it away and start the cycle again. They'd sell the babies off as soon as they were weaned."

There was a melancholy in her voice Kyven couldn't deny. It was a ghastly business, treating Arcans like animals. Forcing them to breed like that, then taking the babies away from their mothers as if the mothers had no care for their own children. That would have been the fate of all these females. Sent to the famed breeding ranches on Alamar, where they'd be raped daily until they were pregnant, and then their babies would be taken from them as soon as they were weaned. The children would then either be sold or thrown in large communal pens, where they had to compete with each other for food even as they were beaten and trained by the handlers to be submissive and compliant to human commands. The weak and sick died, leaving only the strong and healthy… and the dead were butchered to be fed to the female breeders. It would chill Kyven's soul to think that he might be eating one of his own dead children, yet that was the horrid reality a breeder female faced every time they put food in front of her. Arcan children weren't worth as much as adults on the market, but they were easier to train, so it was also a common practice to buy children and train them if one had the time to invest in it, to have adults that were very loyal to their owners, rather than taking an unknown adult Arcan and not knowing how compliant they were. Many house servant Arcans for the rich had been bought as children and trained for the duty.

"Take the little victories," Kyven told them, and himself. "When you can't change the world, just take the little victories."

"Wise words, human," the raccoon told him. "I'm just glad to see that there are humans who care about us. You're the first I've ever met."

"Thanks," he said, looking at the white beach. It was coming awfully fast.

Too fast.

They were going too fast!

"We're going too fast!" he shouted in sudden alarm. "Pull up the sails on the mast by the wheel! Pull them up!" He looked back to the raccoon. "Turn us!" he shouted. "If we hit going this fast, we'll all get thrown over the bow!"

They moved with surprising grace. The raccoon turned the ship to port as cats scrambled up into the rigging as Arcan females on the deck moved to furl the sails. The change in angle to the wind took some of the starch out of the sails, which in turn let them slow. The combination of the different angle and the turn slowed the ship, and not a moment too soon.

Everyone stumbled forward when the keel of the ship drove into the sand about twenty rods from shore, but it wasn't so bad that everyone was pitched off their feet. The cats in the rigging came through it very well, with only one slipping off a spar, but her claws saved her from a nasty fall.

"Drop the anchors!" the bear shouted. "Drop the anchors!"

Kyven heard the rattling of chain as anchors both fore and aft were dropped into the water, and the ship started sliding backwards. It then caught fast, and rocked when a wave washed over its hull. But it held fast.

"We're here," Kyven said simply. "Nice job, raccoon."

"Daisy," she told him with a smile.

"Alright, we're beached!" Kyven boomed from the steering deck. "It's every Arcan for herself from here. Good luck to all of you, and I hope you find what you're looking for out there." He motioned at the cat Arcan. "Follow me," he told her.

He went back to the captain's quarters and got to work. He wasn't the only one that thought to run in here, but none of them gainsaid him as he filled the bottom of his pack with chits, and kept the crystals he'd taken from the alchemical devices. After that, he simply motioned them grandly past him, and let them ransack the place for whatever they could find and use. There was surprisingly little fighting as the females ransacked the ship, but Kyven let them. He did what he promised, and from here, they were on their own. He herded his charge over the rail and down a rope ladder one of them had dropped, then he led her as they waded to shore, where a white sand beach separated the sea from a stretch of thick sawgrass and the edge of a pine forest.

He grabbed the cat by the hand and pulled her with him. "We have to be as far from here as possible by dawn," he told her. "It won't be long before those men on those boats we saw come to see why a ship like that has beached itself. So we can't be here when the people realize that a ship full of Arcans is on the loose in the area. Every hunter and slaver in the region will swarm down on us."

"What about the others?"

"They're on their own," he answered, looking back as they reached the treeline. Most of the Arcans were already swarming off the ship, understanding the same thing he did, but some of the cats were still in the rigging, and the raccoon was still on the steering deck. The bear and wolf were at the bow, and they waved to him when they saw him looking back.

He laughed. Now that was just damn clever!

"It looks like not all of them are getting off," he noted with a smile. "I think the ones that got a taste of sailing are going to take the ship. Look," he said, pointing them out.

"I think you're right!" she said with a laugh.

"I just unleashed an Arcan pirate ship on the Angry Sea," he said with a chuckle. "I hope they're ready for it."

"I hope the humans are," the cat giggled.

"Let's go. We have a long way to go."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know," he answered. "I'll know we're there when they show up for you."

"I don't understand."

"They'll find us," he answered as he pulled her into the forest. "They always do. But right now, we have to get as far from this place as possible."


This girl had a long way to go.

She wasn't used to such physical activity, and her Arcan endurance only lasted her for so long before it failed her, leaving her stumbling and panting behind him as he ran through the forest. She staggered and fell, then came back up retching, he knew she had nothing left, but they were still way too close to the landing site for him to feel comfortable stopping. He put his pack on her, then he put her on his back and carried her, still managing to run swiftly and strongly through the night despite carrying all the extra weight. Given that outstanding physical conditioning was absolutely mandatory for a Shaman, this girl was going to be in for a very rough road when they began training her. Kyven had been in better shape than she was before he even started his training with the wolf.

Nature did give them some help. It began to rain just after midnight, a nice soaking rain that would hide their passage from any tracking hounds, and, he mused, would refill the water barrels on the ship that the females probably had already put back out to sea.

Whatever happened to them, he wished them well.

He ran with her on his back half the night, as she stayed tensely silent, holding onto him and keeping her head down to avoid stray branches. Kyven navigated using spirit sight, with his eyes covered by his blindfold. She would find out about him eventually, but it wasn't wise to tell her right now. If they came across anyone, once they were far enough away, they were just a traveler and his Arcan slave. If she knew about him, she might let something slip, so it was best to not risk that by not telling her. He had to feel this girl out, get to know her before he started trusting her with things like that. He had no idea how long she'd be with him, but he was sure it would be for a few days at least. His intent was to head straight for the Smoke Mountains, where he felt he'd have the best chance of encountering a Shaman that could take her off his hands, and since that was his intent, he was sure that his totem would make arrangements.

"How do you do it?" she finally asked as they ran along an old game trail, and then, to his surprise, broke out into a wide, well-traveled road, quickly turning to mud in the soaking rain. A rumble of thunder rolled softly in the far distance.

"Do what?"

"See where you're going? I mean, on the farm, none of the humans could move around on a night like this without lamps or conelights."

"Let's just say that I have lots of little tricks, and leave it at that," he told her.

"Oh. Okay."

He ran on for a while longer. "What's your name?" she asked. "You gave me a name, but I don't know yours."

"Kyven, and I told you my name when you first saw me," he reminded her.

"I was too afraid to pay much attention," she answered honestly. "I'd never been in a ship before, and it was very scary and confusing. Then, when I get thrown in a cage with people I don't know, you were there. You were very scary."

"I was trying to be."

"Then you did good," she said with a little giggle. "What's it like to be free?" she asked. "I've never been free before. I don't know what it's like."

"You won't be as free as you think you will be," he told her. "You're a Shaman, girl. The spirits will want you to be trained, so you'll be placed with another Shaman who will teach you what you need to know. After that, and after your Walk, well, I guess you'd be free then."

"What is a walk?"

"A journey where you learn what the spirits want to teach you," he answered her. "You learn both knowledge and wisdom, and the lessons aren't very nice."

"How do you know that?"

"Let's say I've had personal experience," he said dryly. He had no idea which way to go on the road, for he had no idea where he was. He turned left, for he needed supplies and information, and that meant that he needed to find a town or village. "Listen. Soon we're going to go into a human village or town. It's absolutely imperative that you be silent. Just pretend you can't speak, alright?"

"Alright."

"Good. I don't want you to have to think fast and try to keep up with me when I lie. Lying is not a tag team sport."

She giggled. "You don't lie."

"Whisper, you have no idea who I am. I've already lied to you about twenty times in the last two hours. It's not that I'm being mean to you, it's just so you don't know something that could get me killed if you say something by accident."

She was quiet a moment. "Oh. That's okay, I guess. You're just protecting yourself. You must be very important to the Masked."

"Not really. You can say I was just in the right place at the right time," he told her. "That put me in the best position to help you."

"Unless you're lying to me," she giggled.

"You'll never know," he replied with a light tone.

"Kyven?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for rescuing me."

"Any time, dove. And that's no lie."

The sun was starting to rise when they came over a small hill and saw a village in a shallow valley below. It was a very small place, about twenty buildings surrounded by farmland on the far side. Kyven set her down on shaky legs and took his pack from her, then looked her in the eye after he took off his blindfold, throwing the two long tails over his shoulders. "Remember, say nothing. Pretend to be my Arcan, and don't get five rods from me at any time. You don't have a collar, and they're going to notice it."

She nodded nervously, and then followed right behind him, literally holding onto the tails of his headband as he started down into the village at a slow walk.

It was a very small farming village, with only one inn, no alchemist, and no cutters. It had a single general store, which was right beside the inn, both of which were closed when they arrived. They sat on the porch of the inn under a roof, staying out of the rain, and waited in silence for nearly an hour before the bolt of the door was finally thrown, once it was fully light, and the doors were opened. The old woman who opened the door gave out a gasp and jumped back when she stepped out onto their porch and saw the two of them, then laughed. "You should have knocked, dearie!" she told him. "Come in, come in! You look a fright!"

"Rain can do that to you," he said calmly as he beckoned to Whisper, who stepped into the inn in front of him.

"Have the Arcan wait at the door, she's wet," the old woman chided.

"So am I, so we'll both just wait right here," he said smoothly, stopping at the doorway.

"You won't drip on the floor, dearie, she will."

"I can understand that, ma'am, but I don't let this one out of my sight," he answered calmly.

"Wild?"

"No, quite the opposite. But I've had several people try to steal her, so I keep her close."

"Understandable, especially since she doesn't have a collar," she noted calmly. "So, what can I do for you?"

"A warm breakfast and some information," he answered.

"Five chits'll buy you both of those," she said simply. "I've got some porridge on, and I could make you some bacon, and I think we have a little leftover mutton from last night."

"I'll take all three, and some extra mutton for my Arcan," he nodded.

"Ten chits then, dearie."

"Done. Since we're wet, would you mind terribly if we ate on the porch?"

She laughed. "Go sit by the fire, dearie. Just keep the Arcan off the furniture."

Kyven led Whisper over to the fireplace, where a fire was burning merrily with a large kettle hanging over it. This inn was small, and it seemed that it had no separate kitchen. The old woman was cooking her porridge over the same fire that burned in her common room. Kyven decided to sit on the edge of the stone hearth rather than at the nearby table, taking off his backpack, fishing a ten chit coin out of it, then handing it to Whisper to hold. She put it at her feet and looped the strap around her foot so it couldn't be stolen from her. He leaned back and let the fire dry off his back and his hair, both of which were still damp despite an hour waiting on the porch. Whisper's short gray fur was matted from the rain, and she looked quite like a drowned rat. The old woman came back with a large platter. On the platter was a plate, a bowl, and a pewter tankard. She handed the plate and tankard to Kyven, then set the bowl down on the hearth near the Arcan. She then sat down at the nearest table. "Now then, what kind of information do you need, dearie?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm lost," he said. "We've been prospecting streams and rivers the last few weeks, but I've lost track of where I am."

She cackled. "Well, you're in Mist Valley, a little speck on the map between Cheston and Austa. Cheston is about fifty minars down the south road, and Austa is about a hundred minars up the west road."

"Wow. We came a lot further than I thought," he frowned. "We're way, way out from the mountains. That's what I get for keeping moving downstream as I prospect," he sighed.

"What were you doing out in the rain, dearie?"

"Well, it wasn't raining when we camped," he answered her. "And we don't have a tent. So when it started raining, we started looking for some shelter, and well, here we are."

"Ah. Well, eat up, dearie, and mind to let me stir the porridge."

She did so, then went back into the back. As soon as she was out of sight, Kyven sensed her. He turned and saw her sitting between him and the cat on the hearth, literally within fingers of him. Kyven didn't react to her, simply started eating the mutton and bacon on his plate with his fingers. She swished her tail against his back, and in that contact there was communication. Someone is coming for her, down the Austa road. Rest here until you recover your strength, then go in that direction to meet them. When the cat is delivered to her caretaker, you will go to Cheston.

He raised an eyebrow. Cheston? Why was she sending him there? Then again, she wouldn't tell him even if he asked. He nodded simply, and he felt her tail pull away from his back.

When he glanced back towards her, she was gone.

The cat had never noticed her. She really did have much to learn. Her Shamanic powers had not yet even awakened. She ate from the bowl ravenously, finished it off, and licked her lips as she looked around. He handed her the tankard of water the innkeeper gave him, and she drank half of it before handing it back to him.

"Innkeeper!" he called. She came out a moment later, carrying a large basket and an iron pot. The basket was filled with potatoes. "Could I get a couple glasses of water, and talk to you about a room? We walked most of the night looking for shelter, and that kind of walk is very messy and tiring. I'd like to get some sleep in a warm, dry bed before heading back out."

She nodded simply. "Five chits, dearie, and you can stay until tomorrow morning."

"Doubt it'll be that long. I just want to catch up on the sleep we lost last night."

"Five chits, dearie, and you have a warm bed."

He paid her, and she put down her potatoes and showed him up a narrow staircase and to a room. The room was small, but it was clean, with only a bed and small table holding a washstand. "I supposed the Arcan has enough room to sleep on the floor," she noted. "Unless you want to keep her in the kitchen."

"She'll stay with me," he said calmly, taking the key from her. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Well, get some sleep, dearie. I keep food ready all the time for the farmers that sneak in for a bite between chores."

"Always good to know, ma'am. Thank you for your kindness."

"No problem, dearie. Sleep well."

She left them, and Kyven waited until he heard her go downstairs. He then chuckled when he looked at Whisper, who looked quite dreadful. "You really do look like a drowned rat," he told her, reaching out and scrubbing her fur on her arms with his fingers, clearing out the matting.

She looked a little uncertain how to respond to that. She just stood there while he ruffled her fur, then smoothed it back out to make it look normal.

"Well, there's one bed," he said quietly. "I guess we can share it, as long as you don't snore, and don't care if I take my wet clothes off so they can dry."

She gave him a strange look, then nodded silently. He pulled his clothes off as she sat on the edge of the bed, combing her damp fur with her clawed fingers to clear the mats, then he got into bed and got over onto the far side of it to give her room. "I'll sleep under the sheet, you sleep under the blanket," he said wearily, as the lack of food and the hardships of the day overwhelmed him much faster than he expected. He fell asleep almost immediately.


He wasn't sure if having this kind of dream was entirely proper, given that a part of his brain realized where he was.

He was having a very detailed and erotic dream about that blond Loreguard officer, the cute one with the really nice breasts. It was the kind of erotic dream men loved, detailed, very detailed, and almost feeling real. He saw every strand in her hair, he could smell her skin, feel how soft she was. She was sexy and seductive, appealingly naked, and she was warm and responsive when he laid down with her, making love to her languidly, enjoying the feel of her body as he stroked into her with slow, gentle thrusts, enjoying every sensation. Part of his brain seemed to tell him that this wasn't a proper dream, not with the little cat in bed with him, but that part of his mind was squelched by the animal in him that was enjoying this wonderful dream, so much so that he felt himself about to climax.

Then a slight shiver of pain disrupted his wonderful dream and caused him to come awake… and he found out it was no dream.

The cat was on top of him, and she was straddling him. He felt it with dreadful, exquisite clarity; his penis had penetrated her, was inside her, and he was in the very act of climax when he was startled awake by the punch of her claws into his upper arms.

She had had sex with him in his sleep!

He felt… violated. Arcans didn't excite him in any way, and yet he'd just—he'd just—he was appalled. But there was no stopping it now. He felt his orgasm, though there was very little real pleasure in it for him, and the cat made a strange growl in her throat, her eyes closed and her head arched back as she took him fully inside her and seemed to climax herself, for she did something to his penis he'd never felt any woman ever do with her vagina in his life. That indescribable sensation would have been intensely erotic and pleasurable if he was in any way aroused by the idea of sex with an Arcan female.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed with shock and mortification, rising up and pushing at her with his hands, trying to push her off him. "By the fucking Trinity, Whisper!" he said in a low, angry voice.

She looked shocked. Shocked and totally bewildered. "But—" she whispered as he physically pushed her off of him, rolling over on her side. "But you were—I thought it's what you wanted!" she protested in a terrified voice. "You were squeezing my boobs and you stuck your hand between my legs and fingered me. You started it!"

"You're an Arcan!" he hissed. "I'm not the kind that gets off on Arcans!"

"I thought it was what you wanted, and, and, and I didn't mind. I was feeling… lonely," she said in a low tone, looking away from him.

"I was dreaming," he growled at her as he sat up, putting a hand to his forehead. Holy Trinity, what the hell did he do now? He felt, well, he didn't know how the fuck he was supposed to feel about this. It clearly wasn't his fault, he was dreaming, and it seemed she was just doing what she thought he wanted. "Listen, I'm sorry if you thought I wanted it," he said with a sigh, "but I was dreaming. I didn't intend—well, shit," he sighed. "I don't know if I should feel embarrassed, angry, mortified, or stupid. It's just been a long time since I had a woman, and there's this one woman that I've been thinking about. I'm sorry if you thought that's what I wanted of you."

"No, no, it's not your fault," she told him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I spent a lot of time in bed with the farmer's youngest son, he… liked me. So I'm kinda, well, used to doing it with human men. That's why I was sold. The farmer found out his son had taken a fancy to me, and he was furious, so he sold me away. And I've been so scared and lonely since they sold me, and you're so nice to me. When you started playing with my boobs and I realized you were hard—I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to feel wanted, feel good, feel like I was giving you something for all you've done for me, and I always felt that way when I was with the farmer's son. I'm sorry," she said, looking away from him again.

He put a hand over his eyes. Fucking Trinity. This had to be the most awkward and uncomfortable thing that had ever happened to him. He'd just had sex with an Arcan, and he couldn't really work up enough ire to feel angry about it. She was responding the way she'd been conditioned, no more, no less. "Alright, we forget this ever happened," he told her simply. "It wasn't your fault, it wasn't my fault, it was just a dumb accident."

"It wasn't an accident to me," she said with quiet conviction.

"Be that as it may, it's never going to happen again," he told her with low adamance. "If there's ever a next time I get grabby with you when I'm asleep, just slap me and wake me up."

"Alright."

"Let's get going. We have a long way to go."

They got up, and he dressed in silence. She still had no clothes, and he had nothing that would really fit her without her having to hold them up. She did clean herself up, for though he'd been willing only because he was asleep, what he saw of her showed that she'd been quite willing during their encounter, to the point where she had to wash the wetness and smell out of the fur on her thighs and crotch.

The idea of it just made him shudder. He'd just had his dick in her! In an Arcan! Trinity, it would take him weeks to get over it. He wanted to go take a long bath.

After turning in his key, the first thing he did was take her to the general store and buy clothes for her. It took quite a bit of talking to get the young man to sell him a pair of ill-fitting trousers for her, made of a very durable cotton cloth called denim. The clothes were either too large or too small, and he had to settle on a pair that fit her in the hips, but he cut off at her knees because they were too long in the legs. A piece of rope both kept the waist snug for her and cinched up the tear in the back to accommodate her tail, and a simple leather vest covered her breasts. The proprietor seemed shocked he wanted to dress an Arcan, but he also took very keen interest in the fact that she had no collar, and that she always hovered so close to him that she could reach out and touch him at any time.

Kyven could almost hear the little gears turning in his head. So much so that when Kyven paid him for the clothes, he patted the shockrod on his belt and said "I hope there's no trouble on the road up. It'd be a shame for the village to have to bury someone they find laying dead on the road."

The store clerk glared at him slightly, but said nothing.

After buying some travel food, a bedroll for Whisper, and three new waterskins and filling them, he started them out. He made her run with him—may as well get her started on her training—going slow enough for her to keep up, but fast enough to outpace anyone running on foot or a walking horse. She ran in complete silence as they moved into an area of low hills and forests of pine mixed with hardwoods, as they ran past merchant trains moving in both directions, and more than a couple of mounted caravan guards seemed to want to chase after them for some reason. Kyven ran her the entire afternoon, and she was able to keep up all the way until sunset as her Arcan endurance showed itself, but he still ran her into the ground, and was forced to carry her when she was unable to go on. He wanted as much distance between them and Mist Valley as he could get to discourage anyone looking for a free Arcan. The fact that she wore no collar meant that she was technically fair game for any hunter, since the collar was the proof of ownership. If someone could snap a collar on her, they could make a very strong argument that she was theirs no matter what Kyven had to say about it… because her collar was theirs.

As they ran, Kyven thought about what happened. It wasn't his fault, and really wasn't hers. He'd never told her that he wasn't interested, and after thinking about it, he realized he was a little, well… touchy with her right before he went to sleep. He must have given her the wrong signal, and when he got amorous in his sleep, she just acted on the signals she mistook from before. It did say something about her personality, though. She'd been quite willing to have sex with him because it was what she thought he wanted. She had a lot of slave mentality that whoever trained her was going to have to wear down in her.

But, she did enjoy it, he remembered. That had to be her orgasm there at the end, when—he shivered. Trinity, if only human women could do that. Had he not been so shocked, he would have found it intensely pleasurable.

Still, it was an accident, and he pushed it out of his mind.

Well after dark, Kyven carried her out into the forest and found a small clearing, then set her down and gave her his backpack. "I'm going to go hunt. Keep silent and don't use any light," he told her as he tied his blindfold over his eyes. "If any humans appear other than me, scream, but do not run. Just stall them here until I get back, and I'll take care of them."

She nodded, clutching his backpack.

He stalked out into the night, spirit sight guiding him as he started looking for the signs the wolf had taught him. It took him about ten minutes to locate signs of passage, and he tracked it back to a small herd of wild boards. Thunder echoed through the forest when Kyven unleashed lightning against one of the smaller adults, and he carried his prize back to the clearing to find the cat up in an oak tree.

Good place for her to be, he reasoned.

"Dinner," he said, dumping the boar down onto the ground.

"That was you?" she said, finally speaking for the first time since they left their room.

He nodded. "I cheat when I hunt," he admitted, patting his fake shockrod, then kneeling down with a dagger and driving it into the belly of the wild pig. "Well, come eat."

"You eat it raw?"

"Probably one of the few humans who do," he said simply as he stripped the hide off the belly. "I'll split the liver with you," he offered.

"Only if I get the heart."

He gave her a light smile. "Oho, driving a hard bargain, are we?" he asked, which made her giggle. "It's a deal."

She seemed curious about him as they ate, and she saw that he truly had no qualms about eating raw meat… just like an Arcan. Arcans almost never got to eat cooked meat, and when they did it was scraps and leftovers. Because they never ate cooked meat, they got used to it, to the point where Arcans didn't cook meat even when they had the option. They would if it had to last a while, since cooked meat kept longer than raw meat, but they preferred it raw… and now Kyven did too.

The two of them managed to pretty thoroughly denude the skeleton of the boar, leaving little but bloody bones, on one of which the cat chewed absently as Kyven led them to a new campsite. Camping near the bloody bones was just asking for an unwanted visit in the night, he figured, so he abandoned what was left of the pig to whatever wanted it and found them a little clearing by a small stream, which had a large log laying through the middle of it. Kyven made camp there, which was basically clearing out some underbrush and laying out their bedrolls. The cat seemed uncertain and nervous as Kyven sat down on his bedroll, then she deliberately dragged her bedroll right beside his and sat down on it. "I, I don't like to sleep alone," she told him nervously. "Would you mind? I just want to be near you."

"That's alright," he told her simply. "You'd better get some sleep, we'll be on the move well before sunrise. We're literally only resting for you. It's tiring carrying you."

She gave a little giggle. "I'm sorry. You're amazing, Kyven. I've never seen a human that could run one of us into the ground."

"Not all of you. You're just soft," he accused.

"I guess I am, a little," she admitted. "I worked in the master's house almost as much as I did out in the fields. They taught me how to cook and clean, and I had to wear this stuffy dress with a big white apron. My master was a very prudish man," she told him. "That's why he was so angry when he found out his son liked me. He sold me the very next day."

"Did you like it there?"

"It was all I ever knew. Compared to being sold, yes, I liked it there. The humans didn't beat us like Howler said humans did when he came to the farm from outside, after Steady was killed by a deathrattle. The humans were fair to us, and then I got sold." She shuddered. "I was beat up by the handlers when I spoke to them. Then the other females beat me up in the pen and they had to separate me, so they put me in a pen with children and made me take care of them. They were going to sell me on the block, but then I was marched down to that town by the water and sold to the man who put me on the boat."

"Why would the other females beat you up?"

"Because I had clothes, I had something they didn't and they were bigger and stronger than me. They beat me up and took them, and the handlers thought they would kill me, so they took me out. These are the first clothes I've had since I was sold. Thank you for them," she said, reaching out and putting her hand on his arm, then she quickly pulled herself against him. "I promise I'll be good, just let me stay like this," she said in a pleading, small voice. "I don't like being alone."

There wasn't much he could say to that. He just put an arm over her and laid his head down, and said nothing more. It was disconcerting to get a small window into the life of an Arcan like that, for it had been the first time one had ever really talked to him about life as a slave. It sounded harsh and unfair, but then again, they were slaves. It would naturally be harsh and unfair. If it made her feel better to sleep up against him, he'd give her that much, as long as she didn't try anything else.

Life may be cruel, but he didn't have to be. Not right now.

She fell asleep almost immediately, and he closed his eyes, feeling her soft fur of her waist under his fingers, an evil stray thought roaming across his mind, wondering if all Arcan females were like her during sex. Not that he ever wanted to find out ever again, and not that he actually had much real experience given she'd taken advantage of him when he was asleep, but it was an honest, clinical curiosity.

If all Arcan females did that when they climaxed, no wonder human men seemed to have a taste for them.

But, then again, most men wouldn't ever experience that. Human men didn't normally make love to or have sex with Arcans, they raped them. And though Kyven had no real experience with the idea of it, he'd think that a woman who was being raped wouldn't be inclined to enjoy it very much. Kyven had the rare experience of having sex with a willing female… or more to the point, it was a case where an Arcan female initiated sex with him. Kyven had had very little experience or insight with Arcans, but he'd think that that wouldn't be a very common thing for Arcan females to initiate sex with human men.

There was a lesson to be learned here, he knew it. But the lesson was escaping him. He drifted off to sleep considering it… but perhaps this was wisdom that was something he had to be wiser in order to grasp.


She was here.

He came awake quickly at the sensation of a spirit near him, of her near him, and he opened his eyes to the spirits even as he opened his eyes.

It was still dark, but dawn was about to stain the horizon. The clearing was quiet and warm in the summer morning, and the cat was nestled against him as he lay on his side, her back against him and his arm draped protectively over her, her tail draped over his legs. But she wasn't what concerned him. Two Arcans stood at the far end of the clearing, and one of them, the slender female red fox, was a Shaman. Both of them were dressed in rugged leathers, the fox and a large canine with black fur and irregular white patches. The canine's eyes were wide and unbelieving, and the fox looked rather amused.

"I'm glad I saw it with my own eyes," the fox chuckled as she hunkered down on all fours, sitting on her haunches. "A human. What are the spirits thinking?"

"I keep hearing that," Kyven growled as the cat woke up in surprise, and he had to put his hand on her furry stomach to still her. "It's alright, Whisper," he told her.

"I am Dancer," the fox said by way of introduction. "This imposing male who's being quiet is Night. We are here for you, Whisper, was it?"

"Here for me?" she asked in confusion.

"Didn't he tell you that he was bringing you to a Shaman?"

She nodded.

"Well, that's me," she said with a disarmingly charming smile. "I am Shaman, small one. We're here to take you to a safe place where you can learn in peace and comfort, far from the humans."

"Really?"

She nodded. "It will take us weeks to get there, but you'll see the Haven for yourself, small one. The city of Arcans, where there are no humans."

"You're not going?" she asked, turning to look at him, then she gasped and almost squirmed out from under his arm. "Your eyes are glowing!" she gasped.

"Little one, the human is Shaman, just like me," the fox told her. "He's the only one of his kind, and still something of a shock to us."

She gasped, then she laughed. "That's the secret you were keeping from me!"

He nodded. "But, since you're safe now, it's alright to tell you," he told her. "This Shaman is much more learned than me, and she'll protect you all the way to where you're going. I can't go, I have other things I have to do."

"He is on his Walk, child, still in training," the fox told her. "He has more that the spirits want to teach him before he's ready to take his place in council. Should that happen," she chuckled. "There is quite a ferocious debate about you, human. Many Shaman find your very existence to be a grave insult. Others are quite amenable to the idea of human Shaman, hoping it will bring humans and Arcans closer together."

"What do you think?" Kyven asked as he let go of Whisper, stood, and helped her stand up. She didn't let go of him; in fact, she sidled up against him as if his presence was comforting to her.

"I think that if the Shaman must debate the issue, then we lack the wisdom to see the true path," she said simply. "And that the spirits must guide us."

"I think that's a good opinion. I've already received both ends of it since I started this. My teacher hated me, but a Shaman I met on my walk was rather enthusiastic about the idea of me."

"Who was your teacher?"

"Stalker."

"Ah, him. Yes, he would very much hate you," she said with a simple nod. She stood up when the shadow fox padded in from the woods, then nodded to her. "I have come," she told the fox. "I will take her to Haven, as you have commanded."

The fox nodded, then padded up to Kyven and the cat and touched her muzzle against his leg. Give the Shaman the mana whip. There is no alchemical device you cannot copy with Shaman magic, and she might need it to get the cat to safety, she commanded, then she immediately walked in a circle around the two of them and padded back into the forest, lost among the shadows.

"It's time for you to start a new life, Whisper," Kyven told her, pushing her away gently. "This Shaman will treat you well."

"Will I see you again?"

"I'd like to hope so," he told her, walking her over to the pair. He urged her over to them with a gentle hand on the small of her back, and the two of them gave her gentle pats on her shoulder in welcome. He took the mana whip from his belt and offered it to the Shaman. "This is for you," he told her.

"A mana whip!" she gasped. "Where did you get it?" she asked as she accepted it from him.

"Long story. Whisper can tell some of it to you. My totem said you may need it to get Whisper back safely."

The fox nodded, and immediately handed it to the tall panther. "With a weapon like this, my silent friend can be devastating should we have to fight," she told him. The panther nodded to Kyven with a gentle smile, and he tucked the weapon into the waist of his trousers. Closer to him and looking up, he could see a hairless scar on his neck, right across his throat. He was silent because he had no voice.

"Tell you? He killed an entire ship's crew!" Whisper said animatedly, gripping Dancer's black-mittened hand. "He freed a whole ship of Arcans bound for the breeding pens of Alamar!"

"Well, that was very brave of him," the fox said with a smile, giving him a wink.

"Some of them kept the ship, too, after we figured out how to make it go!" she said excitedly. "There's a ship out on the seas crewed by Arcans!"

"I'm sure it's a very exciting story, love, but it can wait 'til we're on the move," she said gently, reaching her hand out towards Kyven. He took it firmly and shook it. "May the spirits guide your path, brother Shaman," she said with a strange cadence.

"May the spirits guide your path, sister Shaman," he returned, unsure of what to say other than to mirror her words.

"Now cover those eyes," she winked. "A human could get away with it where we can't. Loreguard go after any Arcan with his eyes covered to hide spirit sight, which is why the Masked all wear masks over their eyes, to conceal the Shaman."

"Oh, he does! He has this—that!" Whisper laughed as Kyven took the tails of his headband and wrapped them around his eyes.

Well, that explained why they were called the Masked, at any rate. The panther nodded to him as he rolled up his bedroll and tied it to his pack and shouldered it. "Don't forget your bedroll, Whisper," he reminded her. "Oh, go slow with her, sister, she's in terrible shape. She was a house servant."

The fox laughed. "I'll get her in shape. She won't be an embarrassment by the time I get her home."

He nodded as he turned, gave them a final wave, and then ran back towards Mist Valley and the road to Cheston, which was where the fox told him he had to go.


The night surrendered to the day, but Kyven was far from where he left the cat before the first rays of the sun touched him.

Unburdened from having to escort the cat and feeling a need to work himself, Kyven raced back down the road at a pace that stunned the merchants who had also decided to get an early start, or who had camped in small fields by the road in this uninhabited stretch of land between Mist Valley and Austa. He ran by at a speed that would have made a horse trot to keep up with him, trying to pace it out so he exhausted himself right about the time he returned to Mist Valley. He lost himself in the efforts of his exercise, but his mind did meander back over the last few days. He still felt little remorse for killing the crew of the ship, and he was actually a little amused and delighted to see some of the female commandeer the ship and take it back out. Odds were they'd probably die out there, but they'd do it on their own terms, controlling their own fate… and sometimes that was better than living a long life in the control of another.

But who knew. If they could get the hang of sailing the ship before they got sunk by some battleship, they could probably make a go of it. There had to be some islands out there, maybe they'd find a nice uninhabited one and take it over, some place that had everything they needed to survive.

Most likely not, but it wasn't bad to hope. Life could be cruel, but dreams didn't have to be.

He reached Mist Valley two hours before dawn, but did not stop. He turned down the road leading to Cheston, which was south. The general store clerk happened to be walking to the inn when Kyven ran by, and grinned maliciously since his Arcan was no longer with him.

Kyven allowed him to think whatever he wanted. Kyven knew the truth, and that was all he cared about.

He ran on, starting to feel winded, but knowing that he had to exhaust himself, build himself back even stronger. The fox said that he couldn't manage maintained spells until he was stronger, capable of handling the demands of the magical power it placed on him. The only way to do that was to exercise, wear himself down, and build himself back up stronger. He was at a disadvantage compared to the Arcans because he was human, he didn't have their physical strength or endurance, so it just meant that he had to work twice as hard. He wouldn't embarrass his totem, he would prove to her and all the other Shaman that a human could complete the Walk, could stand among them. He may never have their power because of his human limitations, but in a way, perhaps that was why the shadow fox chose to be his totem. What he would lack in raw power he would gain with guile and deceit, magic of misdirection and trickery that would cover his basic weakness in a mask of obfuscation. He may not have their power, but they'd never know it. And in its own way, the power of illusion and trickery could be ten times stronger than raw strength, when applied wisely and appropriately to the situation at hand.

Perhaps that was what the shadow fox would teach him, after she got this strange need to show him the worst in the world out of the way.

He paid for not paying attention. He came over a rise and literally into a swarm of men on horseback, men wearing dirty, ragged clothes and carrying old, rusted pistols and muskets, crossbows and swords, being led by a big man on a black stallion who had a silvery rod in his hand. Kyven had never seen anything like it before, so it had to be a weapon, and it had to be unusual. He all but had to skid to a halt as the throng of ten men all raised their muskets and weapons and pointed them at him. He raised his hands and got his mind on what he was doing immediately, preparing the flash of light spell in his mind just in case.

"Well, it looks like we reeled in a small one," the man with the silver rod snickered. "Almost not worth our time. What say, men, should we throw him back?" There was a rumble of laughter as Kyven carefully gauged the men. They were too far apart to kill in one shot with the cone of cold, and if he attacked them with it, the survivors would shoot him. His first impulse to consider the flash of light looked to be the correct one. It had no range outside of them having to look in his direction when it went off.

"We should send him back naked, Brawg!" one man said, which made the others laugh.

"Oi, that's the one that came through Mist Valley with an uncollared Arcan!" someone else called. "I guess she acted just like his last girlfriend and left him!"

"By the Father's grace, fellah, you can't even keep an Arcan!" someone said raucously. "Your dick must be so small it can draw blood if you don't aim right!"

Kyven felt a little offended, so he just gave them a cold look. "I ate her," he said in an unfriendly tone. "It's much easier when your food walks along with you until you're hungry."

That made a few of the men chuckle. "Well, he thinks fast on his feet, I'll give him that," one said.

"Well, if you want to keep thinkin', buster, hand over your pack and that shockrod there, real slow and gentle," the leader said, pointing that silver tube at him.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll give you half my chits and walk out of here with my gear, and we all profit," he countered.

That made them all laugh. "I don't think you're in no position to bargain, little man," the leader grinned ominously, leveling that rod at him.

"Oh, I'm very much in a position to bargain," he replied easily, "given I could kill the lot of you before you can fire a single shot."

He needed them all to pay very close attention to him. He couldn't risk any of them looking away when he attacked, or he was a dead duck. By bragging a little, making them think about it a little bit, he'd get all of them to watch him like a hawk… which would bait them into what he wanted them to do.

They laughed at his audacity. "And just how are you gonna manage that, Mister Super Warrior?" the leader sniggered.

"Oh, I wouldn't know one side of a gun from the other," he said pleasantly. "I do magic. Not alchemy things stuck up my sleeves either, real magic. Ever seen real magic before?"

"Oh, you're one of those fellas that pulls scarves out of people's ears and saws ladies in half in little boxes? I've seen your kind at the fair," one man called.

"That's real magic," Kyven said with a nod. "All sleight of hand, and prestidigitation!" he said ostentatiously. "Like this little trick. And now, gentlemen, I'll bet you ten chits that I'll disappear before your very eyes!"

They all laughed. "Yeah, I wanna see this trick!" one called. "If you can pull it off, I won't even chase you!"

"Alright then, it's a bet," Kyven told them, closing his eyes. "First, gentlemen, I blindfold myself to attune myself to the mighty magic I am about to unleash upon the world!" he called ostentatiously, slowly reaching behind his head and pulling out his leather straps to his headband, then wrapping them over his eyes and tying it. "Am I now blindfolded, gentlemen?" he asked, which made a couple of them laugh and affirm that he was. "Very good. Now watch very carefully, gentlemen," he said as he slowly raised his hands out before him, palms out, as he opened his eyes to the spirits. "I assure you, you'll be amazed."

He channeled the spell. The light of a thousand suns lashed out at the men's eyes even as Kyven tightly closed his own and flinched away, erupting from his hands and generating a blinding flash so intense that it could be seen for minars in every direction. The men cried out, the horses brayed in shock and surprise, and Kyven dove forward and to the ground even as they started shooting in panic. The shots went over Kyven's head harmlessly. Kyven got up and ran wide of them as the blinded men covered their eyes with their hands, their horses whinnying and stomping and a few rearing as they too panicked from the flash of light that blinded them and the gunshots on top of it. "Can't see me now, can you?" Kyven shouted tauntingly as he took off in the direction he was going, then shouted over his shoulder "you owe me ten chits!"

He kept running despite his growing exhaustion, for he had to get as much distance between him and the bandits as he could before the sun set, and then he had the advantage in the night. He kept glancing behind him looking for them as the sun touched the horizon to his right, sliding behind a series of high hills he glanced when he came out into clear areas of the forest. He kept going, running at a speed that would take a running horse to catch up to him quickly… and he was sure they were running their horses. They were probably blinded for about five minutes, and then they had to figure out which direction he went, and then get organized and give chase. He figured they were fairly pissed and weren't about to honor their word—he certainly wouldn't—so he had to outrun them until it got too dark for them to run their horses, and when that happened, he could easily lose them.

His idea certainly had merit… until he came around a bend in the road and found himself staring at a river.

It was about thirty rods across, and though it was slow moving, it certainly looked deep… and Kyven did not know how to swim. There wasn't a body of water in Atan deep enough to drown a man, let alone let him swim in it. It had to be deep, there was a ferry raft… which unfortunately was on the other side. It had a pair of ropes strung across the river which went through an eye on the raft, which let people on the raft pull themselves across to the other side.

He found himself with only one option, but one that would be very, very slow. If he climbed up onto the rope and tried to shimmy across, he'd be a sitting duck if the bandits caught him while he was in the middle of it.

There was another way.

Kyven thrust his hands out at the riverbank. He channeled the cold spell, beseeching the fox for the most power she could possibly give him, aiming the cone so that it would not freeze the rope, yet would hit the water all the way across the river. The fox responded, sending a torrent of power into him, barely half of which he could channel safely. A pale cone of magical cold erupted from his hands, washing over the river's surface and freezing it instantly, with every ripple and trough intact, even freezing the fish that had been near the surface into the ice, freezing the water nearly a rod deep and though barely more than a couple of fingers wide at the near side, it was nearly twenty rods wide on the far side, including a thick crust of ice and frost on the ferry raft itself.

He moved quickly. He hand-walked out on the rope until his feet were on the wider part of the ice, then he used the rope only as a steadying platform as he half-walked, half-slid across the ice and across the river. He reached the icebound raft and climbed over the rail, then turned and formed the other spell in his mind, the one he'd never used before, the fire spell. He imagined a cone of blistering, raging fire that would come from his hands and hit the ice, melting it, weakening it, robbing the men behind him of an easy means to get across. He beseeched the fox for the power to use the spell, then felt her respond. He thrust his hands out, and a savage cone of twisting fire blasted from his palms. It ripped into the ice, creating an instant blast of steam and mist as it flash-boiled the water, and Kyven felt the searing heat wash over him, threatening to singe his hair and bake his skin as the air was heated by the magic of his fire. But it did its job, melting a huge hole in the ice near the ferry. The large sheet of ice shuddered in the slow current of the river, then with a dull thrakuchock, the ice broke at the hole he melted and was pulled downstream.

He didn't wait around to celebrate. He ran across the raft, then right past a stunned group of merchants and guards who were camping in the clearing by the ferry landing.

"Bandits behind me! I wouldn't let them pull the ferry over if I were you!" he called in warning as he ran past the startled group, then he charged off into the twilight, straight down the road.

He kept going until it was solidly night, and the moonless darkness swallowed the land and made it dangerous for day-sighted humans and horses to move about. But Kyven had no problems at all, continuing down the road at a brisk run, deciding to completely exhaust himself as he was taught.

He played out his endurance about an hour before midnight. He had the good luck of stumbling across a deer that was literally right in the road, and he blasted it with lightning before it reacted to him and turned to flee. He dragged his meal into the forest, finding a concealed spot behind a very small rise, a little rocky face, then slept against that little rocky knob until morning. He then completely drained himself almost to the point of collapse using magic, rested, ate, and repeated the cycle until nearly noon, when he took a restful nap, packed the meat that he didn't eat and continued on his way, though he was much more careful for fear of finding those bandits around the next bend in the road.

He was lucky, though. He ran into no problems as he ran through the day and into the early night, following the road down out of the gentle hills and onto a more flat plain with very gentle ridges, as pines took over from the hardwoods, and the faint smell of salt began to touch his nose. He was nearing the sea, so he was getting close to Cheston. The road didn't empty out as he ran towards Cheston, telling him that he was very close, until he came to the top of a gentle ridge and slowed to a stop, and saw a stark break in the trees in the distance, which had to be the ocean. He closed his eyes to the spirits and took off his blindfold, and saw the lights of Cheston about ten minute's run ahead of him, sitting at the end of a bay that stretched out before his eyes in the moonlight, to the horizon.

He was here. He wondered what the fox wanted him to do here, what lessons she had to teach.

She was there. He quickly covered his eyes and opened his eyes to the spirits, and saw her near the trees by the road. She turned and padded into the woods, then looked back to him expectantly. She wanted him to follow her. He hurried behind her as she led him deeper into the woods, a strip of forest just before the farms around Cheston began. She led him to a small meadow that had a large flat rock in the center of it, and she jumped up onto the rock and turned to face him.

He came up to her and stopped a few paces away. "What do you need me to do here?" he asked her.

She didn't reply. She just stared at him with those glowing eyes.

And she did not sit down.

Kyven was feeling… uneasy. What was wrong? Did he fail a task? Had he not done things to her satisfaction? She certainly didn't seem that way when she visited him at the inn. Did she think he mishandled his encounter with the Shaman, or the bandits?

"Shadow fox? What's wrong?"

He heard her clearly, it was an audible voice, emanating from all around him. "Now, Shaman, I will take my price," her voice touched him, a voice that rippled with power. "And now you will learn the danger of making a bad bargain with the spirits."

In an instant, she bared her fangs, her hackles raising, her eyes narrowing.

She was going to attack him!

He didn't know what to do. He was afraid, terrified, but he had made this bargain. He had allowed her to name her price, trusting in her, not believing she would do anything exceedingly bad to him. But that trust evaporated in the face of her bared teeth. He was frightened and unsure of himself, but that fear became raw terror and reflex when she lunged off the rock. He tried to turn and run, but her fangs drove into his shoulder and her claws struck his chest and side and held fast, and it was real. He screamed in pain and was knocked to the ground as the shadow fox sawed her teeth back and forth in his shoulder and neck savagely, trying to rip his arm off as her claws tore into his torso, rending him. He was assaulted by white-hot pain, pain that tore through him, blinded him, shattered his entire existence as the power within those fangs savaged his soul even as the fangs themselves savaged his flesh.

In seconds, he was too disoriented and crippled by pain to fight back. The shadow fox let go of his shoulder and drove her teeth into his neck, causing his entire body to shudder violently and crushing all resistance out of him. His body sagged limply to the grass of the meadow, surrounded by his own blood, unconscious and helpless.

And dying.


The fox released her jaws, standing over him with her eyes glowing with dark mystery. She could see the light in him about to waver and fade.

She opened her jaws once more, just as the light of his life wavered, baring teeth glowing with her power. She sank them into his neck, a killing blow, but instead of darkening his light, they instead caused it to blaze forth with renewed vigor. Life flushed through him, but it was life that burned into his flesh, infusing him with the fox's own life energies.

And it changed him.

The power swept through him like a firestorm, changing him, altering him. Even unconscious, he shrieked in mindless agony as the power assaulted him, changed him. His skin vanished in a dark shadow as fur sprouted from his skin. His nose distended, flattened as his skull and jaw deformed, elongated. His fingernails twisted, gathered, formed into claws. His feet tore through his boots as they elongated, widened at the ball, twisted and formed pads. A tail tore through his bloody trousers, quickly growing out and sprouting long, thick, bushy fur.

The fox twisted his limp body until he was on his side and released her jaws, pulling away not from a human, but from a black-furred fox Arcan. She sat down beside him, wrapping her tail around her legs sedately, watching him with inscrutable eyes as he lay in the bloody grass, breathing labored from the ordeal, with white-tipped ears, a white ruff around and under his chin that spread down his chest, and a white-tipped tail.

He was unique. Before, he was the only human Shaman. Now, he was the only shadow fox Arcan.

"Now, my foolish Shaman, you will learn the folly of your bargain," her voice echoed through the trees, burning into Kyven's mind even in his unconscious state. "You granted me whatever price I wished of you. And so I take your humanity as my price.

"This is the price I exact from you, my new Arcan," her voice thundered silently across the meadow, and thundered through his soul. "You show a lack of wisdom towards the Arcans, viewing them through the blind eye of privilege and power. You do not understand them. And because you do not understand them, they will never accept you. You will always be a human to them, just as they will always be only Arcans to you. This must be changed. You must know life as they know it. Only when you see through the eyes of those you do not understand can you truly know them. Now you will see life through their eyes. Now you will know their pain, and now you will know their strength.

"In these first lessons, I will deny you my blessing. Only your spirit sight may guide you along this path. Your magic comes from me, my Shaman, and I will not grant it to you until I am satisfied you are deserving of it. You will live as the Arcans live, and know life from their point of view."

She looked up, looked towards the city, and then she looked back to him. "Your lessons begins soon, my Shaman. Learn them well, and you will regain what I have taken from you. Learn the lessons I teach, and your humanity will be restored. But never let it be said that I would take all from you, for you would gain little wisdom in death. As I have taken, so have I given in return. Use my gift wisely."

The shadows of the night seemed to darken around her, until only her eyes were visible.

"And never bargain so foolishly with me again. Know that what I do to you is a pale shadow of what you would have received from one who did not have an interest in you. Learn from your mistake."

And then they were gone, leaving behind only an echo of her final words.

"Now, my Shaman, for your first lesson, you will learn the wisdom of humility."

Chapter 7