Chapter 3: Kiara

Chapter 3: Kiara

I was given only minutes to myself before another poacher arrived to kidnap me, enslave me, or butcher me for my horn. It was infuriating that nowhere I went could I ever be safe, not even long enough to wash the blood out of my fur. The wolf broke free of the shadows, as dark as night itself, and plunged into the river to hunt me. I’d barely fended him off before fleeing; lucky I had healed myself enough to run.

But trekking into enemy territory, I should have expected that every turn would reveal another hostility. It was just tiring that I could barely even catch my breath before having to run again. Nobody in this world wielded kindness toward me, only the blades of their teeth.

After everything I’d been through that night, that wolf, the last living thing I’d seen, became the sole target of my anger. Not even a shifter with whom I shared half my race could let me live in peace. So for that, I would remember that wolf’s face, his piney smell, the colour of his eyes—blue like the abyss of an ocean. If I saw him again, I would drive my horn into his throat as I had done to the dragon. I wouldn’t care that his blood poisoned me. Whoever he was, his identity was forever imprinted on me, his lack of mercy deserving of the highest punishment. I was so angry at that moment; while I fled through the forest, I wanted nothing more than to turn back around and slay him.

If only because doing so would further risk my capture, I kept moving forward.

For the rest of the night, I went straight north. Fortunately, I had found the creek again and traveled through the water, hoping that it would dilute my scent so nobody could track me. I slogged on until sunrise when pain throbbing through my feet urged me to finally rest. In the golden light of a new day, I found a tuft of long grasses between a copse of trees and there lowered to the ground, folding my legs underneath myself. It would have been better if I had another hole to hide in, but I was too tired to keep moving. The area around me was open enough that I would have ample time to flee if someone tried to attack. As long as I slept with one eye open and only for a couple of hours, I would be okay.

But I had underestimated my exhaustion. As soon as I laid my head down and closed my eyes, sleep whisked me away.

A moonless coniferous forest sprawled around me. Silver mist coiled around my feet, smelling sweetly of roses as insect trilling filled the dusk. Large grey boulders painted in vibrant moss marked the path ahead. I recognized this place.

Sleep fell away from me as delicately as the mist, like a curtain toppling off my back as I rose to my feet. I walked between the boulders, remembering their earthy scent. Dark marks were scratched into their surfaces, ancient runes spelling the name of the former owners of this territory, the Brightcloud Herd. They could not make their mark in scent, so they left it behind in primordial etchings made by dexterous necks. If one should look closely enough, one’d see the microscopic grains of opalescent keratin abraded against the rock. A unicorn’s horn was many things: a beacon, a reservoir, a writing implement, a weapon. My mother told me that her ancestors would leave their signatures engraved on the boulders, and only other unicorns versed in the language of Welkin, the Sky Goddess, or those who had studied our race would be able to interpret them. To anyone else, they looked like nothing more than glacial scrapings, thousand-year-old erosion.

I recognized this place. My mother and I were the last of our herd to inhabit our genealogical territory. We were forced to leave it behind months ago, but in the perpetual twilight of my dream, I didn’t question why I was back here again. The place where I belonged should warrant no questioning. I felt peace walking in the footprints of my ancestors.

As I walked, the insect sounds blended and blurred with the symphony of the forest into a strange hum. A million voices wove between the trees like a gossamer ribbon. Strange, I’d never heard this sound in the forest before. I followed the trodden path until the trees began to thin, and the gloaming sky opened up around me. A palette of pink and violet, gradients of late spring hues in rich resplendence were the backdrop to twinkling stars cradled by cotton indigo clouds. These skies were fresh from my memory. These open plains I had once raced through alongside my mother, our home an infinite expanse of freedom. It was magical, my childhood. This home meant so much to my lineage. My mother and I were the only ones left to protect it. I ached to return to it.

Fireflies stirred between my striding legs. Their tiny yellow lights blinked and twirled around me, playful, mystical, like stars dancing in my midst. They charmed me, striking me with awe as I watched until one firefly before my very eyes vanished in the encroaching night. And gradually, all of the fireflies vanished. Darting shadows gobbled them up. Long glass wings vibrated the air. Dragonflies suddenly flooded the plains, elevating the gentle hum into a deafening, droning thunder surrounding me so thickly I couldn’t see.

The peace I once felt in my home was threatened.

I ran to escape the cloud, turning back to the forest. The pines loomed taller than I remembered, casting ominous shadows that clawed at me as I passed by. I sought the familiarity of the boulders, my family’s runes imparting protection, but the moss was shorn from their surface. The old markings of the unicorns were ravaged by deep slashes. Like some monster had come and carved their name over ours. The sweet scent of rose had wilted into that of decay, a horrible stench clogging my throat.

My home was desecrated. It was the only safe place I had left, and now, in this dream which had become a nightmare, not even the safety of home could relieve me of my terrors. Something had gone terribly wrong.

The swarm of dragonflies chased me through the trees, enveloping me until I could no longer see. They flew into my ears, clinging to my nose, biting at my eyes. When I opened my mouth, they crawled into my throat until I could no longer breathe. Thrashing, I fell to the ground, feeling myself eaten from the inside out. They were taking over, boring into my skull…

I jerked awake with a yelp.

Heart racing, I frantically looked around me, only to find the forest still and silent. The sun was directly overhead now, beating down on my pale fur and warning me that I had already slept for too long. My head pounded. My body still felt heavy when I stood. I clearly still needed rest, but with alarm bells ringing in my mind and my body tense with wariness, I didn’t think I could afford to stay here any longer. Without thinking, I pushed off into another run, not knowing where I was going, just that I had to move.

The dream haunted me. It made my heart clench with pain for my home that I had left behind. All I wanted was to go back to the old territory of the Brightcloud Herd, where my mother and I had always been safe, back to the cottage in the woods where I had grown up. After I rescued my mother, that’s where we would go. Life would go back to normal, and we would be happy again.

Perhaps my fright from the dream made me sloppy. I wasn’t paying attention to the direction I was walking, only knowing that I had continued east, and I wasn’t checking the scents in the air, just playing back my memories of home. Once again, an idle step became my downfall.

As soon as my paw lifted, the snare I had stepped into tightened around my wrist, and I stumbled, not expecting to have become so suddenly snagged. Glancing down at the wire around my leg, I growled and pulled but couldn’t get myself free. I leaned back on my haunches and tried to gnaw through it, but it was too thick, and even my horn wouldn’t be any help.

Fuck. Again! This was not the place for me to be distracted, yet here I was, not watching where I was walking. And this time, I couldn’t tumble my way out of danger’s path.

Within minutes, as though somehow notified that something had fallen into their trap, human bodies materialized between the trees. I bristled, circling around and flashing my teeth. But they didn’t smell like dragons, nor did they smell like wolves. These were humans—and not just any humans who would marvel at a horned wolf. I recognized their scent.

Mythguard.

Five humans armed with black rifles surrounded me. A tall man with thinning hair and critical eyes, grizzled on his cheeks, stepped forward. “Relax,” he said, but nothing about the command was relaxing. “We aren’t going to hurt you. Kiara Vale, right?”

With humans on all sides, I crouched and pinned my ears back, evoking a look of ferocity. They had me cornered, but I wasn’t going down easily.

“I promise we’re not going to hurt you,” said the man. “We’re the Mythguard. We’ve been trying to recover your mother, Muriel Vale. Please, trust us.”

I didn’t trust anyone. But the moment he spoke my mother’s name, I hid my teeth and narrowed my eyes. I was right—my mother was here. Most likely in the clutches of the dragons. And they were trying to save her, which meant… they could be my allies. But… did I need anyone’s help? I had come this far on my own.

“Why don’t you turn human so we can talk?” asked the man.

And lose any form of defense I had? I stared him in the eye and raised my ensnared paw, tugging it.

“I’ll set you loose. Sorry about that. It wasn’t meant for you,” he said.

I remained rigid as he inched closer, flashing my teeth again when he got close enough to loosen the snare. The moment my paw was free, I leaped away, bolting between two of the humans. They shouted in surprise, the man imploring me to stop, to stay, and I briefly considered ignoring him to keep running. But if he knew where my mother was, maybe I could use him.

Instead, I turned so that my back was to the freedom of the forest once more. Facing them, I stood my ground, then began my transformation.

It must have been months since I’d been in human form. The transformation hurt more than I expected.

After my bones had snapped, cracked, and shifted into place, after my muscles stretched and thinned and rebuilt themselves, and my skin had shed its fur and turned soft, I staggered naked in the grass before the Mythguard. Long white hair fell around my face as I peered up at them. Anger burned in my eyes. “Where is she?” I said hoarsely.

They all stared at me in awe, like they’d never seen a naked girl before.

I knew what it truly was they’d never seen before, though. I was a rare hybrid. It wasn’t that I was a naked girl, but that I was finally human and speaking to them, an impossible creature, my existence suddenly tangible.

“We’ll tell you everything as long as you trust us,” said the man in charge, gesturing at one of his companions to find me some clothes. “Come with us into town. I’ll introduce you to some other wolf shifters. We’ll keep you safe.”

“Trust you?” I scoffed. “You’re the reason my mother and I were attacked in the first place.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“Who are you?” I demanded.

The man took in a breath and stood straighter. “My name is Sebastian Hicks. I’m going to help you, Kiara.”

I wanted nothing to do with the Mythguard. But if this man was telling the truth about knowing where my mother was, then I had no choice but to trust him.