“I have had enough of your bullshit,” I growled up at her, my entire body trembling with anger. “You might be powerful, but you have absolutely no manners or sense of honor. You terrorize everyone with your power like some overgrown spoiled brat. It’s no wonder Iannis never talks about you—he must be ashamed that he has to call you arelative.”
Ta’sradala’s eyes blazed. “A miserable mortal like you has no right to insult your betters,” she hissed. “You’re nothing but a mongrel, and now athief!”
“Thief!” I spat. “A thief because I helped myself to some food? Technically I’m a guest here, which means that your familyowesme some form of nourishment. You must actually be afraid of me,” I taunted her, “if you’re resorting to starving me. Maybe you’re worried I might actually win this twisted game ofyours.”
“Pah! We’ll see about that,” Ta’sradala scoffed. “I’ve clearly been too easy onyou.”
She waved her hand, and the air around me began to stir. Before I could react, I was caught up in an icy whirlwind. My surroundings blurred, and I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut as dust began to sting them. Clenching my fists, I braced myself for the next challenge and hoped that Iannis knew how much I loved him. If not for that, I’d sincerely be reconsidering tying myself to him, knowing that such a hideous monster clung to his familytree.
11
By the timethe whirlwind died down, I was excruciatingly nauseous. Doubling over, I braced my hands on my knees and took deep, slow breaths to keep myself from throwing up. The last thing I needed was to lose my lunch after going so long without real food. Since Ta’sradala had likely thrown me into an even worse predicament than the last, I needed to keep my strengthup.
When the dizziness and nausea had finally subsided, I slowly rose so I could get an idea of my surroundings. I blinked as I looked around—I seemed to be in some kind of forest, but there was something very odd about it. The tree trunks were purple, the leaves cinnamon-colored, and the air smelled very different from any forest I’d ever seen in my life. Looking up, I gasped at the sight of the sky—it was jade green in color, and the sun hanging above was bluish with purpleovertones.
This must be the Tua realm,I thought as a butterfly floated past my nose. Iannis had been here as a child—no wonder he had been frightened. It was too strange and different. The forest shimmered in a thousand different colors all at once, and I had to look away as my eyes started to ache. Panic filled me as what little information I had on this place began to pop into my head. Most of it was of dubious value, based on ancient legends and scary tales. Yet there were common themes, like time passing differently. If I ever managed to get out, would centuries have passed? Would all my friends be dead and gone, including Iannis? Tears stung my eyes at the thought, and I angrily blinked themaway.
There’s no point in worrying about what ifs,I told myself firmly. For all I knew, I would only lose a week, not an entire century. It seemed increasingly unlikely that I would make it back from this ordeal in time for the wedding, but the important thing was to focus on actuallymaking it out.I would deal with whatever came, when itcame.
Fighting back the dread that seemed to have permanently settled in my guts, I cautiously made my way across the strange landscape. Spiders the size of my head wandered about the branches above, but to my relief, paid me no attention. Several times, I bumped into things that I couldn’t see, and from the snorts and shuffles that I heard, I gathered some of the invisible obstacles were animals. There was also an ominous buzzing sound, likely from some huge insect, that I retreated from quickly, though I never caught a glimpse of the source. I wondered if most of the local animals were making themselves invisible to hide from a predator. In that case, invisibility would be just as useful for the hunters among them. What if I accidentally ran head-long into something that could eat or trample me? Then again, perhaps these creatures might be perfectly visible to Tua eyes, and the deficiency was in my own senses. Neither alternative boded well forme.
That thought made me slow down even further. Using a walking stick, I tested the ground in front of me and sniffed constantly. Between my nose and my hearing, I was able to discern when a creature was in front of me, and I started bumping into them less and less. Thankfully noteverythingwas invisible—I caught glimpses of strange rodents scampering through the brush and birds of strange shapes and colors flitting from tree to tree. Part of me wondered if it was worth hunting any of the animals, but I hesitated to try. For all I knew they would be poisonous to my system, and besides, I still hadsomeprovisions.
As the hours dragged on, I began to wonder if there was any end to this forest. The sun was hanging low in the sky, well on its way to dipping below the horizon, and painting the sky in brilliant shades of indigo and red. Coming upon a small clearing, I sat down beneath a tree and pulled out a bit of dried beef from my magical sleeve. Perhaps I’d camp here tonight and continue on in themorning.
But continue on to what?I wondered gloomily as the forest gradually began to darken around me. Soon, the only light would come from the pinkish moon and stars that were starting to appear in the sky. It wasn’t as if Ta’sradala had actually told me what I was supposed to do. I assumed the challenge was to get back to the human realm in one piece, but how the hell was I supposed to do that? Even if I had a working gulaya on me, I had no idea if it could actually transport me between worlds. And I had no way to charge it, so I couldn’t test the theory even if I wanted to. Neither Iannis’s lessons nor Fenris’s vast magical repertoire gave me the slightest clue how to move between different worlds. Unless I was merely expected to survive for a certain period before being yanked back again, I was screwed. And after my recent confrontation with Ta’sradala, she wasn’t likely to take pity onme.
I was just beginning to doze off when I heard something massive trampling through the trees. A low growl had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, and I slowly got to my feet, pulling a chakram from my sleeve. For a moment, I was afraid this was another one of those invisible creatures, but as it came closer, I caught a glimpse of a large animal with shaggy, neon-green fur and glowing orange eyes. It was about the size of a horse, but lower-slung and far moremuscular.
“Whoa there,” I said, holding up my hands as it came closer. I caught a glimpse of sharp tusks, and drool dripped from a maw of razor-sharp teeth. “You can back off. I’m not here to hurtyou.”
The animal let out a roar loud enough to wake the dead and charged. The ground shook beneath the pounding of its hooves, and I threw myself to the side an instant before it could slam into me. Cursing, I threw a chakram at it, but the beast was fast despite its size, and it ducked. I threw another chakram as the first one slammed into a tree, and this one sheared off a bit of its shaggy coat as it charged toward meagain.
“For fuck’s sake,” I snarled, magic sizzling at my hands. I was tempted to light the great beast on fire, but I didn’t want to accidentally set the whole forest ablaze. Instead, I leapt high into the air as the beast charged again, and landed on its back. I held on for dear life as the animal bellowed, attempting to buck me off, and it took a supreme effort for me to draw one of my crescent knives. But I finally managed it, and I drove the long end straight through the base of itsskull.
The creature let out a death scream that curdled my blood, then collapsed to the ground. As its lifeblood seeped out beneath me, I remained perfectly still, straining my ears to see if the ruckus had drawn the attention of any other predators. But the forest was deathly quiet, and I could feel a hum of fear in theair.
Not my fear, buttheirfear. Satisfied, I dismounted the carcass. Good. If the other animals saw me as a predator, they would stay out of myway.
With nothing better to do, I sliced through the beast’s shaggy hide, then cut away a steak-sized piece of meat. Using my magic, I made a fire, then roasted the meat. It gave off a strange smell, and had an even stranger taste, but one of Fenris’s useful magical tests established that it wasn’t poisonous, and soon I was settling back against the tree with a full stomach and heavy-liddedeyes.
With my magic replenished, I was able to set a ward around the clearing that would alert me if anyone tried to cross it. Under better circumstances I would have kept trekking on, but I hadn’t properly slept in days, and my mind was fogged with exhaustion. Shifting into panther form, I climbed up into a tree and laid my head down on one of the thick branches. I fell asleep instantly, my worries disappearing as I reveled in the simple pleasure of a moment’speace.
The next morning,I breakfasted on a bit of cheese and bread as I watched a purplish-blue sunrise that took my breath away. Whatever the outcome of this adventure, at least I had seen sights few if any people from Recca had ever witnessed—I only needed to survive so I could tell thetale.
The local creatures were beginning to stir, birds twittering their alien songs, animals both visible and invisible scampering through the brush. To my relief, I found no signs that anyone had attempted to breach my wards last night. This place might be strange, but I was beginning to acclimate to the odd smells and colors, and after a night of sound sleep I felt better than I had in a longtime.
Carefully, I continued my trek through the forest, slowly but steadily making my way along the paths. I noticed that while some of them were animal trails, others seemed to have been blazed by larger beings—some trails were as wide as highways. A flash of memory had me stopping cold in the middle of one of those paths. That dream where I was surrounded by giants…had it been merely a fantasy conjured by my mind? Or a premonition? Some of the details, like the different-colored sky, had been quite similar to this place. Were there giants in the Tuarealm?
And why not?I thought as I forced myself to continue along the path. I’d already seen plenty of odd things—giants were hardly out of the realm of possibility. Still, the idea of encountering one sent shivers through me. I avoided the largest trails and urged myself to move a littlefaster.
The local sun seemed to take a little longer to rise to its zenith than it did on Recca, but without a watch, I could not be sure that my sense of time was on target. As noon approached, I spied a huge, tower-like structure in the distance, jutting high above the trees. My heart began to beat a little faster—was this tower someone’s residence, or some kind of military outpost? Did I dare approach? If the inhabitants were hostile, it might be a mistake to draw their attention. The last thing I needed was to find myself in the clutches of another Ta’sradala. Given that she was the only full-blooded Tua I had ever met, it seemed likely that the other Tua were just like her: cold and aloof, viewing mortals as nothing more than playthings. I imagined they’d feel no more guilt about killing us than a human did about stepping on anant.
And yet, as the tower drew closer, I rejected the temptation to pass it by. After all, how the hell was I going to get out of here if I just blundered about the forest? I had no idea where I was going, no inkling as to how to get out of here. Yes, maybe I would get lucky and stumble across some portal, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be thateasy.
If I wanted to get out of here, I needed some help. I had to take the risk. Maybe I’d lose my life, but that might very well happen anyway, if I didn’t figure out how to leave this world and find my home. The beast that had nearly killed me the previous night was probably small potatoes compared to other monsters lurking here that I hadn’t run acrossyet.
Slowing my steps, I approached the tower structure as silently as I could, one of my chakrams in hand. I might not have a choice, but that didn’t mean I had to be an idiot. I’d scout out the area first, see what sort of creatures livedhere.
