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“That is not what I meant by that question,” Isu half snorts, as if he is almost amused, but not quite. “Aspel, you cannot kill people just because they ask you to. He had an owner. He belonged to somebody.”
I stare at him mutely. I will not argue for what I have done. I know it was the right thing. I know that the struggles of the soul at my feet are at an end—and I also know that mine are only truly beginning.
“You must forfeit her to me!” the female is insisting.
“I will take her to the elders. Only they can rule on matters of justice.”
I let myself be taken from the feeding place to wherever it is Isu’s will desires. There is no fight in me. There is no regret either.
Chapter Four
Isu
It is rare for any one of us to stand before the elders. I have now done so three times in a single lifespan. Twice, they have been merciful. I do not think I can count on their mercy a third time. The darkness of their enclave is greater than ever, but I feel the weight of their presence—and their judgement.
“Why do you come to us again, Isu?”
“She killed someone. Another human.”
“She killed someone.” The elder repeats my sentence back to me. I do not like how it sounds in his voice. I like the silence that follows even less. The elders do not need to speak to converse with one another. I can only imagine what they are thinking to one another. I prepare myself for the worst. We may be cast out of the burrow completely. Or I may be ordered to destroy Aspel in turn. There would be justice in that, an eye for an eye.
Aspel does not seem to be afraid. She stands beside me, quietly compliant. I do not think she would fight for her life if that was their decision.
“We warned you, Isu. She brings death with her. She has slain a man on her first day with us.”
“Second, technically,” I say, knowing the technicality makes no difference. My human is wild. She may have been raised in a farm, but her instincts are simple and primal. She had no fear of consequences when she killed the man. She wanted to put him out of his misery, and so she did. There is no filter inside her mind linking action to consequence. She does not fear punishment, because her life has always been directed toward one end, death. It is not the same for her as it is for the rest of us who have grown with the notion that we must save ourselves at all cost. Aspel knows that her time is finite, and she does as she pleases.
I admire her. She is braver than most of our warriors. And she is also far more dangerous.
“You have failed us once before, Isu,” the elders intone with one voice.
I flinch at the memory. I know what it is to be disgraced. At one time, these same elders considered evicting me from the burrow and leaving me to survive on the surface alone.
“I did,” I say. “But this is Aspel’s behavior, not mine.”
“You took a human you barely know into our feeding chamber. You allowed her access to a weapon.”
They have a point.
“I underestimated her. I did not expect her to kill someone. Humans hardly ever kill each other, as far as we know.”
“No. You did not heed our warning. You are arrogant, Isu. Be glad that the stones have foretold your necessity at the time of awakening, for this is not the first time you have brought death to the burrow.”
Nothing is forgotten. Nothing is forgiven. Not in the memories of the elders. I hoped there was some way to redeem myself in their eyes, but the mistakes I made when I was but a youth will follow me unto the end of days.
“What are they talking about?” Aspel whispers the question.
“Silence,” I growl.
“Tell her,” the elders intone. “She should know the character of the warrior she belongs to. It seems you share a soul.”
* * *
Many years ago…
It is the fifteenth solar cycle since my birth, and I am on the precipice of becoming a warrior like my brother, and my brother before. They have both fallen in hunts since that time. I am the last of my line, and I intend to make my fallen brothers, my father, and all those gone before me proud.
This is the first time I have set foot above ground. The vastness of the world is even more intimidating than I expected. They told me it was much larger than even our largest cavern. That is true. It is many, many times larger. Impossibly larger. When I look up, there is no ceiling. There is just an endless blue.
