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I glared at Lanas, a look of horror upon my face as I forced him to keep going. He trembled and whimpered at the sight of blood. Perhaps he wasn’t as strong as he seemed, but I commanded him to continue, and he obeyed his Lioness. Eventually the spoon dropped and my screams rang out, burning my throat as they did so, but I was swallowed by darkness, my body unable to take the pain.
Chapter Four
Lanas
With one final wrench I pulled the bracelet free, which had the added effect of dragging Ava to the ground. She slumped down, her eyes closed, her deafening screams now silent. I held the bracelet in my hand. The barbaric thing had been so beautiful, but as I turned it around, I could see the tiny hooks that protruded from the inside, that had laced under her flesh and clung there. Bits of her skin stuck to these hooks, and they were all stained with blood. The air was thick with the scent, and her arm was a mess. A pool of blood formed a scarlet puddle as it flowed out of the wound I had opened, the flesh cut apart. I quickly gathered the robes I had shrugged away and tore off a piece, wrapping it around her arm to create a makeshift bandage. The fabric quickly became a darker shade of scarlet.
Then I had to face what I had done. At first I was afraid that I had just killed the Lioness. I had never witnessed pain so intense before. The screams echoed in my mind. Had it been more than she could bear?
I leaned close to her and put my hand to her lips. She was still breathing. At least that was something, but that may not have lasted. There was so much blood… could anyone endure such a loss?
What if I became the man who killed the Lioness? Without an heir the pride would be in utter chaos and there would be no hope for the future at all. Color drained from my face as I began to panic. My throat grew tight and nausea swam in the pit of my stomach. Everything she had told me… could it have been true? I suppose it must have been given the nature of the bracelet. It seemed savage though, to give this to a child, to give her so much pain. It now became clear to me why Ava bore such disdain for her father, and why the carving she had made of him was a display of so much savagery.
I tried to pull her into a more comfortable position, but when I moved her even the slightest inch more blood came pouring out. I had to let her be and hope for the best. I sat there and prayed to the gods that she would wake soon enough, and that I would not be in trouble.
But not long after this I heard footsteps outside the door. Fists hammered upon it.
“What’s going on in there?” Elder Darrow cried out.
“The Lioness requires privacy,” I called out, although my voice trembled and I assumed he would easily see through the lie, which he did. The door quickly burst open and he was standing there, face like thunder.
“What is this?” he gasped, his long legs striding across the room as he looked at the Lioness lying prostrate on the ground. I looked up to see the venomous glare in his eyes and saw utter hatred, and perhaps guilt as well as he was the one who had chosen me after all. He saw the blood and he was about to berate me, but then he saw the bracelet that was still in my arms. Before I could do anything he whipped it out of my hands.
“What are you doing with this?” he asked.
“I… she asked me to do it. She commanded me. I had to obey my Lioness.”
“You fool. You damned fool. You have no idea what you’ve done! I did wonder why she was so eager to have a mate. No… this can’t happen. I will not let her fall prey to the curse too. Listen to me Lanas,” he gripped my chin and jerked my head around to stare at him. “I can’t let this happen. We can’t. This is going to be more trouble than its worth. There are so many warning stories around this power. If she wakes up without this bracelet then we don’t know what might happen.”
“But she doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem. She just wants to help the pride.”
“She doesn’t know what she wants! She’s a child, as are you. Neither of you know the stories. Neither of you know what horrors this can bring.”
“But she seems quite confident of handling herself.”
“Do you really think so?” he let go of my head, pushing it away sharply. My neck jerked again. Pain flared within me. He paced around, clutching the bracelet in two hands now. “What do you think is going to happen when she walks between worlds? Do you think all of them are going to be barren and welcoming? No, some of them are going to be inhabited by threats and enemies and vile creatures that are out for blood, and if they start to realize that there’s a pride here maybe they’ll follow her back. Maybe there are some things out there that can’t be defeated and that will wipe us out. She can never know exactly what is waiting for her. That is the danger and that is why it must be prevented. We are safer here. This is our home. This is the only place in the world that matters,” he said, although I knew as I listened to him that he was wrong.
Ava was right. We’re dying here. This place lost its beauty and its splendor a long time ago, and we’ve been aching to get it back, but no matter how hard we try nothing is changing. When there’s nothing we can do to change the world we live in, the only thing left is to change another. Darrow is just holding onto the past and I could not make the same mistake as him. I had to follow the lead given by my Lioness.
“Help me get this back on her. Get that bandage off and hold up her arm. If we can get this on her before she wakes up then we won’t have anything to worry about, and you will never do something like this again,” he stood poised to put the blood soaked bracelet back on Ava’s scarred arm. I stared at him and shook my head.
“This isn’t what she wanted. You’re going directly against the will of the Lioness,” I said, and rose to my feet, standing between her and the elder.
His face twisted with disgust. “I don’t know who you think you are, boy, but you’re making a deadly mistake. I will go through you to get to her, and I won’t regret it,” he bared his teeth as he spoke, hissing the words at me.
“I need to obey my Lioness.”
“Then you do not understand what the world requires of you. I should have picked someone else to be her mate. You have one last chance to get out of my way, because you do not understand what you have done here with this,” he snarled.
I stood my ground though, knowing that my duty was to my Lioness before anyone else. He could do whatever he wanted to me, but I had to prove myself to her.
Before he could do anything, however, I heard movement behind me. She stirred and rose, pushing herself to her feet.
“I know exactly what he’s done. He’s just given this pride a fighting chance to live. We might actually be able to find a future instead of dying like this entire world. There’s nothing noble in giving up Darrow, and I’m not about to let this pride fade into the ether. I know you think I should be more like my father, but he’s the reason why we’re in this mess. When I come back, I’ll have good news. We can leave this place behind, and find a future for us elsewhere. I’m going to figure out why Orestes forgot us.”
“Don’t you dare go anywhere! You don’t know what could be waiting for you!”
“Bye Darrow,” she said. I saw the look of horror on his face and I felt the air crackling around me. I had never felt this kind of sensation before. It was cold and howling, and it felt as though I was plummeting down an abyss. The only thing I could feel was a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back, towards her, away from the world I knew and into this other, ethereal world. A shadow passed across the world and engulfed the Elder’s face, and my stomach lurched as I was dragged into another world entirely.
