Chapter 6

That night, she would sleep just outside the poorest district. The city’s name was irrelevant. By the morning, there would be no one.. Her leg, at first thought to be repaired by then, protested further travel. Besides, most creatures weren’t nocturnal. The stars provided a perfect time to sleep. The inky blackness provided little. Those shadows look like they should be a box there and a wall over there. It’s so hard to see with these yon-taken eyes. Why can’t I see in the dark like a muzoval or a fairy? They’d be able to see me.

So she pulled the blanket over her head. Her bright scales wouldn’t see the light of day or night for days to come. It has to be mere days, maybe a season. I just need to sleep to hunt, that’s all. There was no room to allow for the full warmth of unconsciousness. One eye open sleeping reminded her of that place, of how even when she was someplace ‘safe’ like with Natirai, she still needed one eye open.

It was after she lived with Natrai that she became nomadic. The first few years were the hardest. She fled from town to wilderness to city to city. No where welcomed her. No one remotely accepted her. Filth became her living companion, the further cruelty of the world a constant neighbor. Natrai hadn’t accepted her fully either, but she had a kind of domestic life with her. Regular contracts, regular sleeping, if frequently disturbed by a drunkard of Natrai’s band. After that, she’s not sure how she survived.

Not even reaching an age of maturity, whenever that was, she was forced into vagrancy. Fear wasn’t the emotion then, it had been beaten out of her years before. The experience drove her more stone-like still. Days consisted of travel, foraging or hunting, and observation. The travel was the best part. Hot summers were a joy on her skin and scales; the summer cast the world in obscuring viridity. Food was plentiful, either from a farm, from the wild beasts being brazen for breeding, or on the off chance that a dumpster became filled with overstocked food. And, it was the time most people were active and the time where cover was most plentiful. When not traveling or procuring food, she would stow away in a brush and watch people go about their daily business. Shadows watched their habits, learned about them. Even with the thousands of eccentricities of an individual, they were fairly predictable in a group. Predictability could be exploited.

The winters were cold and miserable. There was one winter, the first which she spent huddled in one city. Travel was not an option, not by land and not by sky. The snow weighed on her winds and her bare feet lost a toe to gang green. Finding food proved difficult too. Beasts were hidden in the snow or hibernating somewhere. The city’s food was stockpiled and kept inside homes, where she was prohibited entry. That winter was spent in painful hunger.

To add insult, she discovered why Natrai kept her away in a locked room. It wasn’t to keep her in, but to keep everyone else out. Another had followed her home. Only twelve years let her live, she’d not even learned control of her flame sac’s breath. And she, in defense, let forth a torrent that melted the metal jewelry of the intruder, burning them beyond recognition. She’d even burned herself, leaving scars that to this dead remained; it was the most painful thing she’d ever experienced and that pain stayed with her like a ghost. The ghost that reminded her of how she would burn away any good that came into her life.

She remembered scratching at the scales on her shoulder. Their bright colors against the colorless skin was an eye sore at best. More so when the entire world is covered in a downed quilt of white. It came clearly in her mind, the hunger that drove her to peek through a lone building's glowing window. The smell that dragged her over evaded her memory, so too did the sound of her feet against snow. What did surface was being chased away. Death nipped close at her heels in the form of the denizens of the home. No bushes were around to hide in, the forests were bare. She’s not sure how she got away, or how she made it through that first winter.

From that winter, she learned that she could not just hide in the shadows. Hiding in plane sight was the only option, to walk the streets for warmth and food. Each time they chased her out her disguises improved. Simple was better, yet so many aspects could give her away. The wandering continued long after she stopped growing. That was, until she didn’t have to any more.

The ring slipped from smoke into her hands. Though it drifted in front of her eyes, she could see nothing in the utter darkness of the rank blanket. It was there, that it was the same across it all. If that kak of a humi had done anything to it, he would be sure to burn. The best way to track him back home would be to shadow him over the next few days. I need to see his habits, to plan. Then, when he’s asleep, all comfortable in his home, that’s when I’ll take him. I’ll tie his- nothing could happen to her ring.

She cursed lightly, gripping her wrist tightly. Her stupidity was immeasurable. What if something had happened to her ring? It was beyond her how she could have let him even touch her ring. She would be indebted to Yon in her afterlife for her actions. Anything could have happened to it outside her grasp. Even if he had done nothing intentional, he could have dropped it and dented it. Someone could have walked in on them and, under the confusion, stolen away with her ring. So much could have happened to her ring, her only way of finding Ellis.

No. Those thoughts were pointless. A life of what ifs served no purpose. I need to act, to make sure my future includes Ellis.

She ran her ring through her fingers. Though she could not see it, she knew its form better than her own. Though that was not too difficult. The ring reminded her of the Saykzuyg, the torus around the planet that provided illumination for both day and night. The one side, most like her ring and by extension Ellis, was whole and bright. The other side, how the ring could have ended up, what represented her, broken and dim.

Materialistic ideals were pointless as well. What would happen if the farseer did take her ring? She did not need it, it held no use to her. All one needed in life was food and shelter. Food was fleeting and shelter could be either found or made anywhere. And as for others, Ellis, they were an animate object, life. The ring was inanimate, despite what the farseer proclaimed about lingering souls. The ring could not feel, it could not hurt nor could be hurt. It was a piece of metal, simple and inert. Yet it held such sway over her, to the point of obsession. Resolution reared its ugly head as a returning of the ring when she found him, to remove the unneeded feelings and weight of it.

She clutched it. Those yon-bound tears would stay in her closed eyes. They would not leave her as everyone else did. Not her tears, not like Natrai had. Sleep, that’s what she neeed

She would sleep unsound and be woken late into the darkness. Though she’d slept fickle, somehow both eyes were closed. The pulling at her non-stunted horn dragged her back to cognizance. With a swift move, she grabbed the throat. The world felt so far away until that warmth trickled through her fingers. It was too dark to see` she grabbed, but felt three presences, all stunned then angry.

After crushing any vocalizations the person could make. She threw her assailant to the ground with a loud thud. The creature was heavy and dense, likely a solumkerd. The other two definitely could see her, she could hear it in the way they shuffled to surround her. That and their shouts of aggression, promising to gut her.

She ran towards the one more afraid. THe flames sprouted from the tattoos in her hands, a further intimidation factor in addition to providing light. If they did not move out of her way, she would overpower them. Despite the flames being turned dim, the exposed skin still felt the sudden intense heat.

The humi, face shouting in absolute horror, dove into a heap of rubbish. Their palpable anguish sickened as she tore past them. Anyone awake within a block would feel that. I need to leave. The crunching sound of something she tripped on would not stop her. The pain in her leg did not stop her. The hands refused to be ignored, so many tiny hands grabbing at her tail, back, and wings. Their ethereal limbs were too many. Her ethereal hand was too weak, it could only wrap around a bushel of those hands, failing to yank them off. But she was weak, always so weak. “Kak”.

Her flames illuminated the alley before her, she did not have time to turn around. Her running felt like it was through honey, becoming slower and slower as more hands dragged at her, the more her leg yelled at her for ignoring it. It couldn’t have been the beings themselves, the things grabbing her, but more likely to be some sort of trick the third assailant conjured. They held her. It wasn’t the right leg. The feeling of the hands grabbing at her horns, their aura overlap hers, that terrible feeling of someone piercing her mind, they were trying to read her thoughts.

“Murderer! Hybrid!” came their voice, swallowing the dank hallway. The typical responses of those who witness her.

Yaro lashed at her back, feeling the stinging of her own flames against raw skin. Her aura may not be strong enough, but her flames were. Where the flames scorched, her scales did not transfer any burning. The white pain only lasted an instance. Her back was mostly calloused from the years. What she noted was that the weight seemed to leave wherever she hit, but came back with more force and numbers. Her flames could only touch ethereal limbs but in part.

Breaking out to the street, she spread her wings wide with a clap. The hands lost their grip at the sudden gust, she heard them whiz through the air and land in splashes all around. The assailants had already found her, no use in trying to hide.

She took to the air, but not to the sky. They’d find her easily up there. The thermals were out of reach, not enough time, not enough energy to climb.

She did not have the time or energy to climb into the thermals. The low flight would require the use of her reserve in her flame sac. If she were up high, close to the sea of fire that bubbled the world, she would not worry about expending her flames. She’d hoped to save what remained in her flame sac for a more dire situation. A long rest would be required. Now, she had to go below, into the caves. Leaving seemed the only option.

Entrances to the city below were everywhere, ease of access for the public. She dove for the nearest one not even a block down the street. The cushion of air on the stairs kept her aloft before she broke into the cave system proper. Cave dwellers saw no distinction between day and night, they slept on personal schedules.

Her booming entry brought all eyes to her, and those expressions soon gave to the expected: shouts, panic, chaos. Being run out of town was an art. One would expect chasing, torches raised and spears thrown. The first few minutes were left in anarchy, mobs took time to form.

Yaro, if she played her posts on point, would escape before either mob or protectors could catch her. If she didn't, detainment and beatings would ensue. No one had yet been brave, brazen, or broken enough to kill her. Yet.

Prisons could be escaped, snares cut, and people tricked. But all needed effort. And time. Patience refused both. And murder, well, she was just an animal. An animal hadn’t the cognizance to do anything but defend themselves. And she hadn’t murdered, this time.

She flew faster and faster, her wings strained and her flame sac rioted for freedom. Flying may have come easy to one born to fly, or one acclimated, or one trained. She was none, yet it was too useful a tool to not utilize. The flame sac gave her lift and as it dwindled, expanded to continue to provide as well as it could; without it, her wings would not be enough for flight.

She flew over the ducked heads of solumkerd, humi, and drake who hadn’t run at the sight of her. The turmoil she left with each flap of her wing created ripples behind her. It wouldn’t be long before they grew wise and came after her.

Into the tunnels she fled, past homes, down carved streets, deep into the webbed mess that was the underground. Things, barely from the lights the underground purpose, came into view. Anyone here would be used to the darkness, or only need enough light to not stub their toe.

The pain in her leg made itself known and the weight of hands on her back had both vanished. The tunnel raced past and turned left. They must have been tricks of the mind, by the third figure. Take the tunnel ramping up. Her leg required fixing, it was only swollen now, no fractures could have remained. Take the tunnel descending down. Some time must be spent, during her walk to the next city, restrengthening her mental gate.

Just like the city topside, the caves followed the logic of reclaimed ruination. All of Sornata held them; all of the great city waited ages for prey. If she kept going in one general direction, she would soon exit civilization. She only needed to get past the echoes of shouts and the flaring of fear. Further into the web of ancients. Further into the caves. Further from hate.

The screams of those who witnessed her form, in time, died with the light. But, she could not stop. Further, past the boundaries of intermediaries, that was safety. They could track her, they would take time away from her.

To her constant ire, she wasn't able to see in darkness. Without the light of others, she had to create her own. Her flames still were in her hand, but too dim to be of use. She had to brighten them, to risk burning her hands as she had done since she received the tattoos. She had to create her own light. The small flames wrapped her hands like bandages, just enough to see what was ahead of her, but not enough to see the turns too far ahead.

Even with the added light, the turns, splits, curves, and offshoots caught her off guard. As many turns as possible, that was the way; weaving her way further down, up, and any way that would confuse her potential pursuers. The clean pristine walls became more unkempt. Vegetation became the new law; moss, vines, and other subterranean plants lined the walls. The air stung her eyes, spores from mushrooms and floating plants pelted her. 

Teal plants danced to her flames and completely overwrote the exposed stone walls. Yaro hurtled through plants, burning the ones that tried to bite at her. A small absent prayer went to Tukk that they did not catch alight, as that would be an easy way to track her. A cave fire was unlikely, considering how moist the air hung. Still, she couldn’t let them consume her, not that they were the norm down here. Most plants left her alone, though she could not tell the difference between grove hunters and tenders. Carnivorous plants were the least of her worry.

With the shouts gone, she hazarded glances back every now and then. Every clear view of the network behind slowed her flight, she would need to stop eventually. I need to sense the auras around, though it may be pointless. The city’s around this part of the world were too close together. If there were a dangerous creature, they would know to be afraid of something coming from civilization. If they were intelligent enough. The unintelligent ones, most were afraid of fire. Fire’s bright. Fire burns.

With the realization that she was breathing, she paced her breaths. Too much air in her lungs meant too much flame sifted. Too much flame sifted could spell disaster for her internals. She slowed further, to a casual flap of the wings every few seconds. It remained mostly to her flame sac to keep her aloft, to be spent doing so. Her wings would keep her moving through the plant-lined intestine of a cave.

The sounds that permeated the cave whistled and muffled. Creatures scuttled, she could feel obvious auras in the earth all around. It was slightly overwhelming. It had been too long since she’d gone underground. Her hands ached from cramps, her wings strained with each lurch, her flame sac created too much pressure. She wanted to stop, to take a break to recuperate. I could stop, she thought, I must be far enough away now. Hmm…. Not yet, I need to keep moving. I will never be captured again. And that means leaving, being as far from those people as possible. Never again.

Yaro hadn’t flown like that in a long time. A few days and her wings and chest would stop aching. The trip to the next civilized area would have to be conducted by foot. For the time being, she slumped against a cold, moss-covered wall. The source of light died, its creator abandoning it’s continuation and allowing allowing the cold darkness to envelop her. I hate how my body needs to rest so kak often.

A few minutes passed and the world around came back into a hazy view. Bioluminescence was common both underground as it was deep under water, from what she’d heard. The openness of the sky is so much better. Sure, I rely on the light, but I can also move around, unlike down in this sickening place. It would be worse underwater, I’d be so slow. I should be grateful I’m just in a cave, and not an underwater cave… Praise to Tukk that that’s not where Ellis is. She shivered.