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I spread my hands along the shrine and, as I did so, I realized something that I had not realized before; the shrine was not fully connected to the wall. I could feel air seeping out of it, as though the wind blew from behind. I was unsure why this would be the case, and it made me angry that I had not spent more time down here. There was no reason why there should have been secrets kept from me.
I growled and grunted as I pulled the shrine away. It was heavier than I expected. Volkan came to help me. It scraped along the ground, an unholy noise that howled in my mind like a dying wolf, but eventually it opened, revealing a dark shadow behind. From this shadow I could hear a whimpering, shuddering voice. It sounded weak. It sounded pitiful, and I wondered how such a creature had made it into our shrine, a shrine that was devoted to the most powerful pride of lions that had ever existed.
Chapter Three
Volkan
I stood beside Axanar as we pulled the shrine apart. My eyes were wide with shock at the sight of this, having never anticipated that the shrine was capable of such a thing. I peered into the shadows and heard the pitiful whimpers of whatever was in there.
“What is this?” I gasped.
“We shall find out,” Axanar replied. He strode in without hesitation. There was never a challenge that Axanar would not meet. I followed him, while Marrin remained in the shrine room. The recess reached back for ten steps or so, and at the base of it there was a shimmering light, and this gave us pause.
“Could the legends be real?” I asked.
“The legends are just stories,” Axanar said, but I thought I heard doubt in his voice. Our eyes adjusted to the dim light. The air was cold. The hair on my body stood on end, and a chill ran down my spine. This was completely beyond the realm of expectation. I had begun this day believing that it would be like every other, when instead I was faced with this impossibility. Before us there was a girl, cowering and weak, with her knees drawn into her chest. Her dark hair was like a veil shrouding her face, her skin as pale as the moon.
“Who are you and how did you get here?” Axanar asked, his voice booming. She looked up at us and gasped, pressing herself against the wall. Her eyes were wide crystals that sparkled even in this dim light, and in them I saw sheer terror.
“Speak,” Axanar demanded, his hand falling to the hilt of his sword. “You trespass on sacred ground. Who are you?”
“K-Kara,” she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth. Axanar sneered at her. I was intrigued. He reached down and grabbed her arm, picking her up as though she was nothing. She screamed and lashed out at him. I don’t think she realized what she was doing when she hit the Alpha. He merely chuckled and threw her against the wall. She shuddered at the impact, and folded her arms around her naked body, eager to cover her immodesty. Axanar stared at the shimmering light. He walked up to it and reached out. I almost yelled out for him to stop. I did not think it was the best idea to touch this strange thing when we did not know for certain what it was, although the legends gave us some idea.
“Could this be it?” I asked.
Axanar pressed his hand against the light, but it met resistance. “If so, then we have been wrong all these years my friend, perhaps there is more truth to the legends than we thought. We must investigate this matter further though. This could change our lives. It could change the very world. Take her somewhere safe. I must think on this,” Axanar said. He walked past me, barely paying the girl any attention. I took hold of her shoulder and escorted her out of the shrine. When we emerged, Marrin stared at us open mouthed.
“Speak nothing of this until I allow it,” Axanar said. Marrin nodded his head sharply, although he was dumbfounded by the sight of this woman who had appeared from seemingly nowhere.
Axanar pushed the shrine back to its original position and then we returned to the tower. The girl seemed subdued. She kept her head bowed and made small shuffling motions as she walked. I noticed there were marks and blemishes on her skin, as well as smudges of dirt. It seemed impossible that she could have gotten into the shrine from ordinary means, which meant that something fantastical had happened. But after all this time, could it be said that the legends were true? How we had mocked them for being superstitions, how we had ridiculed anyone who believed the old ways. But still… there was much to be decided. This girl, whoever she was, had the answers we sought.
*
I took the girl to the highest level of the tower, keeping her hidden from the others. While Axanar returned to the throne room, I escorted her to what would be her cell. As I opened the door though, she suddenly showed a burst of speed and twisted out of my grasp. It was my own fault for being distracted. I turned as quickly as she did and chased after her. She sprinted towards the elevator. I could not allow her to enter it or escape, because Axanar would have had my hide. I gritted my teeth and lunged for her, managing to wrap a hand around her wrist. I stopped her momentum completely and dragged her back. She screamed as she was wrenched back and slammed against the floor. I quickly took her back in her cell and pushed her to the rear of the room. I stood in the doorway, blocking it with my mighty frame.
“If you know what’s best for you then you won’t try that again,” I snarled. “Who are you? Where did you come from?” I hoped that she might give me some answers so that I could return to Axanar with new knowledge, but she remained tight lipped. She glared at me from the other end of the room, and if she had not already uttered her name, I would have believed her to be feral.
“So be it, but just know that you will talk, and just so that there is no misconception here, you must understand that you are not our guest, you are our prisoner.” I closed the door and fastened the lock, making sure that she could not escape. I then took a moment to consider the matter. Hopefully, after she had some time to think about things, she would volunteer the information we sought, and perhaps we could learn where she had come from. In the meantime, I returned to speak with Axanar.
*
I found him sitting on his throne, deep in thought. His head rested on his hand and his lips were pursed, while his brow was in a deep furrow. He was so still that he might have been a statue himself.
“She said nothing, Axanar, although she did show the spirit to try and escape,” I said as I approached him. He looked up at me and unfolded his body, leaning back in his throne.
“Then perhaps she is not as pitiful as I first believed.”
“Do you think she really is one of them?”
“How can she be? They are just stories.”
“It is said that, in every story, there is some truth. She could be one of the great hunters who embarked through the shining door.”
“Her, a great hunter?” he scoffed at the notion, but then his face became set in a grim countenance again. “Still… what we saw cannot be dismissed. There are too many questions here for my liking, Volkan. I want you to return to the shrine and examine it to ensure that there is no other way she could have entered. I must think on this matter, and then go to visit with her and make her speak. We must know where she is from. This could be the precursor to an invasion. Perhaps there is a war brewing,” he said. His words were grim, but in his eyes, I could see that there was a glint of a thrill. If there was going to be an invasion, then it was strange to send a single girl through first. Perhaps she was a sacrifice.
I nodded, but before I returned to the shrine there were still other things on my mind. “Axanar, if she is the stuff of legends then what are we going to do with her? What does this mean for the rest of the pride?”
“First of all, she will have to prove herself. I am not ready to grant her the status of respect before she has earned it. We will see what she is made of first, or whether her presence in the shrine was merely an aberration.”
