114

--TheirWorld--

Guin wasn’t sure what to make of the flicker of emotion in the woman’s eyes that seemed to betray her cold front.

“You’ll do what now?” the scarred woman went, her voice altering between the vehement, commanding tone she’d been using and a vulnerable one. “You’ll do no such thing! Adrian! Shut that stupid Crow’s mouth, now!”

Turning to Crow, Adrian said, “Don’t. He’s my brother — I’ll handle it.”

“I still owe you a life debt,” Crow told him, lifting his eyes. “You helped save my family. I will help you save yours.”

“You are part of that family I mean to save, idiot,” the once-prince told him, poking at his chest. “You owe me nothing.”

Ignoring him, Crow looked to the Shaman Grandmaster who was eyeing them with a coy smile. “I will go with him.”

The Druid Grandmaster laughed nervously. “Ridiculous. We are not trusting this — this outsider with one of our own, let alone two.”

“Perhaps, Lady Guin, if you could share with us some… insight, about your capabilities yourself? Something that you could share with us here. Now,” the childish face of the Shaman Grandmaster was calm as she spoke. “After all, you do have power — even a familiar. Your power may not be your own, but whose is, among us?”

Everyone turned to her, and Guin faltered under their gaze. “W-Well that’s…”

“May we meet it?” The eyes of the Shaman Grandmaster bored into her with surprising intensity. “That which haunts you?”

Guin looked to Adrian, who nodded, then sighed. As soon as the Liorax’s name left her lips, the weight of the fox plopped onto her head with a vibrating purr.

“My, my,” he said, his tails curling around her face. “We have quite the audience today, don’t we!”

Scoffing, the Druid Grandmaster went, “It’s just a fox.”

“Oh?” Liorax went. “Would you prefer I become something else? I make a very nice cat, you see…”

“A two tailed fox,” The Shaman Grandmaster observed. “Who are you then, fox? You possess powers, do you not?”

“Me? You wish to know of me?” the fox crooned. “Curious indeed. I am Liorax, Harbinger of Death in White Fox Forest. Ward of Amikavi. Child of the Darklands — and you have an intriguing aura, if I might say so.”

“Oh!” went the Shaman Grandmaster, a pale pink blush appearing on her otherwise marble-like face. “You are quite the flirt, aren’t you? Pray tell, Harbinger — can you describe it? My aura?”

The fox chuckled, then said, “Of course! Death follows you like a lover, fair lady.”

“Indeed,” she nodded, then frowned, ever so slightly. “I know of Amikavi…”

“You do,” Liorax mused. “You helped bind her to the catacombs when that foul Che prince brought her to these lands. I can smell it; her scent. Though I cannot approve of My Lady’s Justice being thwarted, I suppose I cannot fault you for it. By taking action against her, you saved the city and the forest. Temporarily, at least. But she did not belong here; down in those dungeons. You should have returned her.”

“I assure you that I shall do everything in my power to see her pelt returned.”

Dissolving into laughter, Liorax went, “No. You very much will not. You’ve been robbed of that particular redemption; that job lays in the hands of myself and my half-Che, now!”

“Your… half-Che?” The Ranger Grandmaster went, wrinkling her nose in Guin’s direction. “You would come before this counsel in a false form? Did you think you would be safe so long as we did not know this truth?” She turned to The Shaman Grandmaster and asked, “Zuxnera, did you know of this? This… deceit?”

“I did,” The white grandmaster went. “I did not think it was important — neither do I now. I should think this counsel has grown… beyond such things, no?”

The Druid Grandmaster gripped the arms of her throne tight. “It is not her heritage so much as her lie,” she said, then she stood, pointed at Guin, and said, “Coming here in the name of friendship, seeking aid, yet lying to us from the start? Show yourself, beast! Reveal to use your true form.”

“Saira!” Crow shouted, pushing passed Adrian. Adrian grabbed him by the arm to stop him from fully entering the grandmasters’ domain.

Leveling a glare at her, Guin told her: “I am not a ‘beast’.”

“All liars are beasts,” The Druid Grandmaster said.

“I am not a liar,” Guin growled, teeth clenched. “You never asked. Had you done so, I would have told you.”

“You are nothing,” the Druid Grandmaster hissed. “And you will not take them.”

“This one is testy,” Liorax noted. “I much prefer our Undying friend. At least that one can recognize friend from foe.”

Guin couldn’t disagree — and she had a growing desire to rip out this woman’s liver and eat it whole. “Is this how the Circle treats those who come to them for aid?” Be careful, Guin, she told herself. If you push too hard, you’ll lose what little good faith you have. Her anger toward the bitter woman could one day come back to bite her, she knew — but should she have to suffer this woman’s accusations and assumptions? This must be how Ibraxis and Bahena feel when they talk to me. How frustrating.

“You can have your ‘aid’,” said the Druid Grandmaster. “Take all the ‘aid’ you want. Take enough to drown the corruption, burn Octarius at the stake, crucify all his men — or not, whatever you like. But you will not take that which is mine away from me on some… some fools errand that’s like to get you all killed!”

Narrowing her eyes, Guin looked to Adrian and Crow — the former, disgruntled. The latter, positively fuming. Is she… protecting them? In some twisted, almost abusive way, was she trying to care for them while insulting them at the same time? Guin squinted up at her, wondering exactly what her game was.

“Why are you saying this to Guin as if it was her choice?” Adrian asked. “This is my choice, Saira. You cannot keep me here, no matter how you wish it.”

“Us,” Crow corrected, shaking out his clothes. “Especially not after that tantrum.”

The Druid Grandmaster’s expression faltered again. “Crow…” she started with a small voice. “You —”

“Saira,” The Shaman Grandmaster went softly. “If you keep things too close, you will smother them. Cage them, and they shall grow spiteful of you. Tighten your grip on them, and they, or you, shall die. You need not look any further than your own past to know this.” The scarred woman slipped back into her chair and visibly quivered. “I apologize, Guin Grey. Saira is young to hold such a position; she is still childish, despite her front.”

The Ranger Grandmaster clicked her tongue. “Young she may be; cruel, perhaps — with her words. But I, too, wish to know just what we are dealing with if we continue to do our business with you. Though I do not agree with her choice of words or her motivation for them, the fact remains that even I, who does not have the Sight, understand that there are spirits more inclined to evil than to good. It is your nature, that makes us wary, not your current disposition or appearance.”

Nose twitching, Guin wondered if that instinct she had to go after livers would fall into the ‘evil’ classification. Surrendering, however, Guin slipped off the hood of her cloak, revealing the ears that she normally kept hidden. When that didn’t elcity much of a response — because she had forgotten that not only would Liorax’s on her head take away from the effect, but also because Othren’s liver hadn’t quite worn off — she entered her [Coat of the Moon] from.

Bells jangling, and tails waving, she gave a short bow. “I am Guin Grey of White Fox Forest. Gumiho, descended from Gomi. Tatterskin, granted by Amikavi. Does this pedigree speak for my ‘nature’?”

“You forgot: ‘Candidate of the Dawn’, my half-Che,” Liorax added, his tails tickling her cheeks. “One day, I shall rise this one to be the Grand Heart, and then we shall step on all you silly little creatures who dare to offend!”

All Guin wanted to do at that moment was eat their livers.