An Eternal Wintre

Chapter 9

Cold water drips on Anai's cheek as she opens her eyes to find herself lying on a bed in a warm room filled with rugs, torches, books, and maps. A mass of swords and weapons are piled in the corner of the room, some still bloody. 

Anai sits up slowly, her head aching painfully. "Glad to see you awake," a voice says from across the room. She snaps her head around to find Cain scribbling on a map on his desk, a tower of books next to him.

"Cain." Her voice seems to bring him back to who she is and he turns around to look at her.

The little boy she grew up with is gone and in his place is a grown man, leading the infamous Flesh Eaters of Lutenia. A murderer and a shape shifter. "You never told me," she blames.

"You never asked." She clicks her teeth together and kicks the blanket off and stops, looking down at herself. Someone changed her into a silk nightgown. Red creeps up her neck to her ears and cheeks. Cain laughs. "The only other color I see on your skin is red. Red's a nice color on you though." His voice sounds nostalgic and playful.

"You're as irritating as ever, but worse." Sliding off the side of the bed, she walks over to him and leans her hip against the desk. Her hair's messy and sticking up in places.

He looks up and down her body, taking in the body of a woman. She kicks his shin. With a growl he springs up and lunges at her, pinning her against the wall. His canines are showing and his pupils change. "I'm not the same boy as before Anai. Best be careful where and who you're kicking while you're in my domain," he warns, letting her go.

Anai rubs her wrists where he grabbed her and looks at her bare feet. Cain looks at the way her eyes grow hollow. He wouldn't apologize, not to anyone. "Get dressed. Your bag's next to the bed. Jinny washed your dirty clothes and checked you for wounds, finding none. You're good to go when you get dressed and come out so we can decide what we'll do with you." He slams the door behind him as he leaves, his boots crumbling small pebbles.

Sliding off the nightgown already feels free to Anai. She's always hated fancy materials such as silk, made her skin slimy feeling. Dressed in her familiar wool clothes, she slips a knife on her bodice. "Idiots didn't confiscate it," she mutters. "Though I guess it doesn't much matter with them all deadlier than a measly knife."

Following Cain minutes after he's left, Anai finds her way back to the larger main room where she first entered the settlement. Little kids run around and play tag with one another, laughing as if they weren't part of an evil group of shape shifters. Or maybe they did know and they killed as well. The adults looked more menacing, some still shifted, others sitting around naked or clothed and all going silent at her arrival.

Cain comes in from a separate hall, a sword strapped to his hip. It looked odd on his large body but she kept her eyes on his. He snaps at the kids, his teeth sharp. They stop all at once and sit down with the adults. Now everyone looks at Anai with sinister eyes and curious ones from the children. "Bring her to the middle," Cain orders.

Two very large, burly men grab onto Anai's arms and force her into the middle of the room like a display for the shape shifters to gawk and throw food at. They roughly slam her to the ground, her knees aching at the impact. She snarls as they tie her wrists together behind her back. "Looks like this one is feisty. Should we rough 'er up a bit?" one asks, licking his lips. Cain snaps at him.

"Back away from her before I bite your hands off," he warns, eyes glowing fiercely. They listen and Anai finds herself alone, surrounded by shape shifters of all sorts.

Cain caresses the hilt of his sword and smiles a feral smile. "This girl here is the one that helped me escape from the castle dungeons," he starts, receiving murmurings. He puts up a hand to silence them. "But, she is not a shape shifter so she doesn't belong." Water crashes from the waterfall. Something crackles. Anai breathes out, a puff of air forming in front of her face. Many others shiver as Cain continues. "She does not smell like a shifter but she does not smell like a human. What are you then Anai?" he wonders aloud. "What should we do with a nonshifter? What do we do with anyone who isn't us?"