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My gaze was diverted from the mouth of the cave by a flicker of movement. At first, I thought it was some animal that had been foolish enough to stumble close to Gargann’s home, but it wasn’t an animal at all. It was as though the air was folding in around itself, as though a hole was being formed in the world. It looked like what happened when Divad walked between worlds, but this was darker and choppier, more frantic somehow, rather than the fluid portal that Divad could make.
Then I watched with horror on my face as two people emerged. They were standing right in front of Gargann’s cave.
There was a mighty roar. Gargann was awake. I guess I had my lure.
Chapter Six
Ava
Pain still burned in my mind as my eyes flickered open, but I was free again. I felt what had been missing from me for all these years, the aspect of me that I had only ever indulged briefly. It felt as though I had been holding my breath for all my childhood, and I was finally allowed to breathe again. I felt it crackling through me, this nascent energy that wanted to explode and erupt out of me. My arm shook with pain. The blood still dripped out of the wounds, my flesh having been tattered and torn by the bracelet being ripped off.
Well done, Lanas, well done for being brave enough to hurt your Lioness.
I knew that Darrow would put that shackle on me again if he was given the opportunity. But I was free, and I had to make sure I took advantage of the moment. I placed my hand on Lanas’ shoulder and then opened my soul to the world. I pictured Orestes, that famed place that housed the original lions, the ones who had first sent the explorers out into all the realms of the world.
Why had they forsaken us? Why had they never come to find us again?
I would make sure that they never forgot us again.
I grit my teeth as the world opened around us and we fell through the hole I had conjured. I felt the panic in Lanas. He screamed, and the howl echoed like a cacophony, making it sound as though there were a hundred people screaming in terror. He was the only one screaming though. I found it exhilarating. We were inside something that was like a tunnel, careening through so quickly that I could not take much notice of what was happening around me. There were flickers of different colors, each one a different world that was open to me, like the glowing face of a jewel. I felt a craving to explore them all. My resentment to my father only grew as I thought of all the things he had deprived me from doing and seeing, all the worlds that had been closed to me.
But first I needed to see Orestes. I was eager to see what lions awaited us.
We emerged in a dark world, a thicket of trees with two mountains around us. What I could see of the sky was pale and light. The air was sweet, and I was immediately taken by the surroundings. The plants were lush and colorful, the soil soft. I cradled my arm, but immediately fell to the ground and put my face to the dirt, smelling the mud. It was such a relief to experience a world that was still fertile, a world that was not as dry as a bone and dusty.
“What is this place?” Lanas said, looking around in wonder.
“This is Orestes,” I said, smiling proudly as I returned to my feet. “This is where we first came from. In a way we’re home.”
I sniffed the air and peered into the distance, hoping to see a sign of the lions, but I could see nothing but shadows. I wondered if I had been wrong and that the lions of Orestes had already left this place. If so then that made things even easier for us, as it meant this entire world would be open for us to inhabit, although then I would be left with the question of what happened to the lions?
“Come on, let’s get going. We need to find where the lions live. I’m hoping that I’ve managed to bring us close, but obviously, I haven’t exactly had much practice at this,” I said, walking away from the mountains in the direction of the open forest. I didn’t have much chance to be thrilled at this new and open world though, for I sensed movement in the air. There was a great roar and a rumble as I saw a huge behemoth emerging from an opening in a cave. It was bigger than anything I had seen before, a huge bear that looked as though it would block out the sky if it stood at its full height. It opened its mouth and bellowed out a roar, hot breath blasting the air.
I was not shy of fighting, but this was something else entirely.
“What is that?” Lanas asked, his voice trembling.
“That is something to run from,” I said. Then I heard a shout from above. A figure emerged waving a bow and arrow.
“Get out of there!” he cried.
The bear lumbered forward, his paws thundering against the ground, sending tremors rippling through the earth. We stumbled and I could feel the lion clawing inside me, waiting to emerge. It was going to be time soon enough, time for me to turn into a lion and try and fight this bear. I hadn’t come all this way just to be killed.
Chapter Seven
Mika
They were fools, utter fools. What were they doing emerging from the portal right here? Did they not know about Gargann?
I could have left them, or waited for Gargann to come and attack them and use them as bait. That would have been opportunistic of me, but I couldn’t forfeit their lives for this. What if they didn’t know anything about Gargann? Was it possible that they were from another world?
While I was trying to decide how to handle the situation, for I still wanted to try and maintain my stealth while I could, Gargann made himself known. He lumbered out, roaring and bellowing with all the fury of a beast that was awoken. I felt the vibrations in the ground as he emerged from his cave, looking as though he was ready to devour the world. Before the world though, there were these two people. There were a man and a woman; the man did not look like anything special, but the woman, oh, she was magnificent. There was something about her flaming hair and the way she carried herself that immediately drew me towards her. I got the sense that she was unlike anyone I had ever seen before, and if I had not been preoccupied by the impending threat of Gargann I might have been stupefied. However, there was some instinct inside me that overrode any desire I might have. If I wanted to get to know her then I was going to have to save her from Gargann first.
I couldn’t help but notice her arm was wounded. This was only going to draw Gargann’s attention even if she ran, but running was the only thing that might give them a chance to escape their fate.
“Get out of there!” I shouted as I waved to them, revealing my position. I didn’t think Gargann was too bothered about me when he had two other people right by him. It would only take him a matter of moments to reach them. After I had shouted out my warning, I nocked an arrow and fired one after the other, directly at Gargann’s face. They peppered the area around him and found their target. He roared and leaned back, slashing his paws around his face as he tried to swipe away the arrows. The metal tips crashed into his tough skin and failed to penetrate the vulnerable areas. Any of them that dug into his hide were quickly swept away, as though they were nothing but annoying specks of dust. At least it held him off for a few moments though, halting his approach to give them a chance to leave.
“He’s going to smell your blood!” I cried out in between firing arrows off.
