Storming out of the house, Senka snatched up her bow and arrow propped by the door and headed across the yard toward the target she had spotted earlier when exploring with Gidgit. Taking position about fifty yards away, she lined up her arrow and released. The arrow flew straight and true, piercing the target dead in the center.
“Mind if I join you?”
She had heard Andria following her out of the house, but had hoped she would stay on the porch and leave her in peace. Apparently Andria had other plans. With her own bow in hand, the matronly lady took up position next to her. “May I?”
Not really desiring company, but also not wanting to be rude to the woman who had been nothing but kind to her, Senka shrugged. She then watched as Andria raised her bow and loosed an arrow, which landed only millimeters away from her own. Seeming satisfied with her hit, Andria smiled and lowered her bow. “Would you like to talk about it?”
Keeping her eye on the target, Senka knocked another arrow. “About what?”
“About what happened between you and my brother upstairs.”
Her words caught Senka completely off guard causing her to miss the center circle by several inches. “I-I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Really? So do you often go around calling people’s brothers idiots for no reason?” Releasing her own arrow, Andria once again hit the bullseye. “Not that I disagree mind you. I was just curious as to why you thought he was one.”
“I never called Duncan an idiot. Why would you think…” Slapping her hand to her forehead, Senka groaned. “Damn Shifter hearing.”
Seeing Andria’s brows arch, Senka slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh shit, Andria. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just, these last few days have been so trying, between the constant worry about my sister and Duncan’s strange behavior. Not to mention him kissing me…” Gasping, Senka’s eyes stretched wide, “Oh shit… please tell me you didn’t hear that too?”
Based upon the matronly lady’s expression, Senka had to assume she had. Flushing, she watched as Andria scrunched her mouth. She studied her closely for several moments before releasing a frustrated sigh. “How old are you Senka?”
“Twenty-six.” She answered, biting her lip nervously.
“By the stars. You’re just a child.” Running a hand down her face, Andria shook her head. “Listen Senka, your personal business is your own, as is my brothers. So I don’t want you to take what I am about to say personally. But I think once you have your sister back, you should get as far away from my brother as you can.”
“Excuse me?” her voice clipped, Senka turned to face Andria head on.
Raising her hands in a defensive gesture, Andria attempted to explain herself. “Like I said, I’m not trying to offend you. I actually like you, and if things were different this might work. It’s just…”
Lowering her gaze, Andria hesitated, seeming to search for the right words to explain herself. “Well, you don’t know my brother as well as you think you do and I worry he may be pursuing you for the wrong reasons.”
“Like what kind of reasons?”
“That is my brother’s place to tell you, not mine.” Andria sighed. “It’s just… you’re such a sweet girl, and I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Unsure of what to make of this conversation, Senka turned back to the target and raised her bow. “It doesn’t matter. We’re just friends, nothing more.” Without waiting for her response, Senka knocked and loosed multiple arrows in rapid succession. Beside her Andria watched silently. A couple of times it looked as if she wanted to say something, but after about the fifth arrow, she turned and headed back to the house.
Frustrated and upset, Senka continued to fire relentlessly as her mind churned with the culmination of the day’s events. From anxiously watching Duncan negotiate with a snarling pack of wolves, to the horror of seeing him being shot with an arrow, and finally the confusing aftermath of them having sex together, Senka was both mentally and physically exhausted.
Firing her last arrow, Senka exhaled and threw the bow over her shoulder. She was so close to getting her sister back, all she had to do was travel with Duncan to the Horde’s hideout, kick this Vincent’s ass, and take her sister home. Problem was, her and Duncan’s friendship had been put to the test since this whole journey began and with what just happened driving a deeper wedge between them, she honestly had no idea where they stood. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, she now had his sister warning her to stay away from him because she ‘didn’t know him as well as she thought she did.’
What the hell did that even mean?
Kicking a nearby tree, Senka grunted in frustration. It hurt but surprisingly the pain provided a much needed distraction from all the other issues she was being forced to deal with. A punch followed the kick, followed by another, followed by another, and before she knew it, she was manically whaling on the defenseless pine with everything she had. She continued punching and kicking the rough bark until her hands bled and her legs hurt, only then, when she had nothing left in her to give, and her body had gone numb to the pain, did she collapse to the ground and cry again.
* * *
After sitting under a tree crying for over a half an hour, Senka finally rose to her feet and dusted off her pants. Having no desire to face Duncan or anyone else in the house for that matter, she searched around outside for something to use to clean up with and eventually found a water pump near the back of the property.
Though the frigid water hurt like hell, she managed to get the majority of the dirt and debris out of her knuckles before wrapping them in a piece of cloth she ripped from her tattered shirt. Sort of ashamed at having thrown what she would consider a childish tantrum, and not in the mood to hear one of Duncan’s lectures, she pulled on a pair of gloves from out of her bag.
“I need you to put this on.”
Peaking over her shoulder, she spotted Duncan standing behind her dressed in form hugging black dress pants and a black shirt which he only had buttoned up half way. Hating the way her body immediately responded to his presence she groaned internally. This was going to be more difficult than she thought.
“What’s that for?” she asked, finally noticing the smaller black button up shirt in his hand.
“To mask your scent.” Handing her the shirt, he moved around her and faced the city. “It belongs to Peter. It was either that or one of Andria’s dresses, and we both know how you feel about those.”
Choosing to ignore his jab, she stripped off her equipment and put on the shirt over her tank. Surprised at how well it fit, she then slid all her equipment back in place, and joined Duncan at his side as he stared across the field at the thousands of multicolor lights shining in the distance.
“You ready?”
“Whenever you are.”
With nothing else to be said, the pair of them made their way toward the city.
“Where do they get all that power,” she asked, unable to curb her curiosity any longer. “I have traveled all over and seen many cities, but never one with as many lights and in so many colors as this one.”
Without so much a glance in her general direction, Duncan continued his silent stroll beside her, showing no intentions of answering or even acknowledging the fact she asked a question. After a several more minutes of being ignored, Senka had just about given up hope of an answer when Duncan finally spoke.
“It’s powered by a mixture of solar power, like we have in the camp, water power, and a little magic.”
“Magic? Like the Caster kind?”
“Yes, along with a bit of Elemental magic.” Gesturing to a massive tower on the furthest edge of town Duncan continued. “Since Zerdanda is blessed with an abundance of fresh water rivers, lakes, and water falls, our queen, Lady Kirsten who happens to be close friends with both the leader of the Casters and the Elemental king, enlisted their aid to create multiple waterfall towers, like that one. They are stationed throughout the country to power all of the major cities like Rio and most of the smaller towns and communities as well.”
“Waterfall towers.” Senka said lowly, staring up at the massive complex. “My dad told me about these. Using magic, they continuously cycle water inside, which turn the turbines, and generate electricity.”
Duncan looked down at her with an arched brow, looking somewhat impressed.
“What, my dad did more than teach me to hunt and kill.” She huffed. “Of course it was because he believed a hunter should always be smarter than their prey… so maybe not the most nurturing reason, but still at least he tried.”
“Your dad sounds like a smart man.”
Now only less than a mile away from the city, Duncan stopped and turned to her. “Before we go any further I need to ask you a very important question and I need you to answer me truthfully.”
“Ummm-ok.”
“Can you make yourself invisible?”
Stunned by his knowledge of one of her people’s most tightly guarded secrets, she frowned. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because I have met a few others of your kind with that unique ability, and to be honest, it would come in real handy right now.”
Biting her lip, she thought long and hard about how she wanted to answer that question. Torn between her loyalty to her family and people, and her desire to get her sister back, Senka remained silent as she went through a mental list of pros and cons of betraying her people’s trust. Finally coming to her decision, she turned to Duncan and nodded. “I can, but there has to be enough darkness to wrap myself in. Which means just popping open my umbrella won’t do the job.”
“Then this just might work.” Duncan mumbled more to himself than to her. “So here is what we are going to do. I’ll walk the streets, making my presence known. Eventually one of Vincent’s thugs is going to show up and I’ll get them to take me back to the Lobos. Make yourself invisible and follow me inside. I’m going to try and convince Vincent I’m here to buy the girls and ask that he show them to me. Once he does, you break them out and flash them back to the outpost and wait for me there. Do you understand?”
“Ok, but is it dark enough inside the bar for me to hold a veil?”
“A what?”
“A veil… you know, become invisible.”
“Oh. Yeah it should be, the main floor where you go in is the night club. So it is always dark down there. However if we have to travel to any of the upper floors, it could go either way.” Pausing, Duncan adjusted the cuffs of his shirt and slicked back his hair. “You sure you want to do this?” he asked, turning his attention back down to her.
“Never been more sure in my life.” She answered confidently.
“Then let’s go get your sister back.”