Chenga

Shadows

Gamesh woke with a start and looked at the pale sunlight filtering into the room.  It had to have been a dream... an omen... something, but it hadn't been real.

He looked to the window and the faint light stung his eyes.  He stood and moved closer.  A small beam of light came through the heavy curtains and the ice-frosted glass.  He raised his hand towards the curtains and the light fell across the back of his hand.  He cried out, as his skin began to burn.  He jerked his hand away, as if it had been from a fire.  Cautiously, he placed the tip of his finger in the light.  The skin began to char and pain shot down his hand.  Gamesh jerked his finger away from the window... then watched, in horror, as the finger became whole again.

Gamesh sank to his knees and looked at his hands.  He was going mad.  He smelt his hands.  They had his scent... and yet... he smelt again.  The smell of a woman was there.  It wasn't Eylana.  It wasn't human or Peytahn, but the scent was strong... and it was female.

Three knocks thudded on the door.

'Wait.'  Gamesh rose and threw on his trousers, shirt, boots and jacket, then grabbed his cloak.  He reached for a pair of heavy gloves and pulled them over his hands.  Finally, he drew back the curtains, but kept out of the faint light that barely lit the room.

'Enter.'  The door swung open and the black silk figure of the Kula-Mar entered.

'It is morning... where are the runners?'  The Kula-Mar emissary smiled at Gamesh.  He was alone, and two of Gamesh's men, Grildek and Garkh, stood behind him.  Yet Gamesh could smell no fear on the man.  Gamesh sniffed the air.  What could he smell on the human?  All he saw with his eyes was the smile.  He smelt arrogance in the man's scent... he was sure of himself... and behind the smile was the flicker and smell of contempt for the Peytahns.

Gamesh said nothing, but moved closer to the human.  Just what was happening to him was beyond his understanding, but his hatred for the Kula Mar was clear.  He held on to that: held on to what he knew.

Gamesh bared his teeth and leapt toward the human, but the human was quick.  The emissary's black cloak swirled and Gamesh snapped at the blackness before him.  Grildek and Garkh were with him, joined in the hunt, joined by blood.  But the human was gone.  Confusion and rage tore through the Peytahns.

Gamesh spun around and Grildek and Garkh stood back.  The human sat on the edge of Gamesh's table, his legs crossed and that annoying smile still on his face.

'Now... is that anyway to treat a guest.  I think we need to make a few things clear.'

In his hand the Kula Mar emissary held a small silver tube, with blue lights that glowed at each end.  The human snapped his fingers and looked to the left.  The shadows of the room deepened.  In the shadows appeared a black shape that could barely be seen.  A deep chill fell on the room.  The room darkened further.  The Kula-Mar then looked to his right and another dark form appeared.

'Now... you may not like it, but we are your masters.  We decide if you live, if you die... we allow you to live.'

The Kula-Mar signalled with his hand.  In an instant, a dark shadow shot at Grildek, and became a black, clawed fist around his throat.   Grildek struggled, like a rag doll, and then was thrown to the floor.  Gamesh snarled in rage and made ready to attack the human.

'I wouldn't move if I were you.  One twitch from me, and you, and all your clan will be no more.  Your man there is not dead... not yet, but we can soon change that.  Now... do I have your attention?'

The shadow moved back from the fallen Peytahn.  Garkh moved quickly and checked Grildek for signs of life.  He nodded to Gamesh.  'He is still breathing, Gamesh... just.'

Gamesh fought to control his rage.  Silently, he vowed to kill the human and any Kula-Mar he could lay his hands on.

'So... back to business.  Where are the runners?'  The human still smiled, but the two shadow creatures hung at his side, cold... and Gamesh could sense they were hungry for death.  The shadows smelt of pure fear.

'We do not have them.  Our trackers haven't picked them up, but they are still in the area.  They will not escape.'

'You have two more days.  I'll return then.  If you do not have them... you, and your clan, will pay the price.'  For the first time the smile fell from the human's face.  The shadows by his side darkened still more and Gamesh could see dark eyes, talons and teeth... all black, within a swirling black cloud that surrounded the man.  The human touched a small button on the silver object that he held.  He banged it on the table and pure darkness enfolded him.  A crack and a burst of blue light blinded the Peytahns and left burn marks on Gamesh's face.  When the Peytahns' eyes adjusted, the human had disappeared.

'Garkh... fetch Guriarl to take care of Grildek... then bring me my wives and daughter.'

Garkh nodded and sped out through the open door.

Gamesh was alone with the still form of Grildek.  As he stood there, a strange notion came to him.  He removed a glove and placed his hand near the mouth of the unconscious Peytahn.

'My blood to your blood.'  Gamesh pressed his thumb down upon the sharp canine tooth of his fallen kinsman.  The skin broke and a drop of Gamesh's blood trickled into Grildek's mouth.  The Peytahn choked and coughed and opened his eyes.

'Gamesh... that shade... what happened?'

Gamesh shook his head.  'I know not... but rest assured we will see them sent back to the hell from where they came.'

Grildek staggered to his feet, then sniffed the air.

'That scent...?'  Grildek touched his hand to the blood in his mouth.  The blood seeped into the skin of his hands and then was gone.  'That scent, it's upon you, too, Gamesh.  Who is she... what is she?'

'She came to me in a dream.  She gave me a gift.  I am beginning to understand what it meant.  It was a gift... a gift of life... and a gift of death... and maybe a curse.'  Gamesh reached his hand out and flexed his fingers.  The nails that were short and worn grew before his eyes, to become talons, then shrank back, as he closed his fingers into a fist.

Grildek snarled.  'We are blood, but what have you done?'  He looked down at his own hand, as if it would change before his very eyes.  'What witchery is this?'

'Grildek... we are hunters.  The humans are the prey.  They will die that we may live.  That is what we have forgotten.  And this human, who summons demons from the air, and could snuff out your fire with the click of a finger... he is the enemy.  We will snare him, use his arrogance and powers against him, and find out why those two runners are so important.  The gods are with us.  Kamora and Kuras flow through the blood of our veins.  We will not fail.'  Gamesh reached out his hand again and the hand elongated.  The fingers fused and the hand became a saw-toothed blade.

Grildek's eyes opened wide.  He knelt down before Gamesh.

'Gamesh.  If this is not the work of the gods, then we will die before harm comes to our blood.  Are you blood of my blood?'

'We are blood.  We are one!'  Gamesh lowered the hand, which flowed back into its former shape.  He reached it out to Grildek.  Grildek was not sure whether to clasp that hand or cut it from his kinsman.  Yet he knew that Gamesh was no enemy.  He clasped the hand and stood.

The two Peytahns stared long into each other's eyes.  As one, the two men's mouths opened.

'Let the hunt begin.'