Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux (14 page)

This could be a really bad idea... eh, that's never stopped me
before. He teleported to the crowd and began fighting in the way that
he had most recently trained; striking one after another teleporting
through the ranks of the enemy. Appear, a knife in the gut to one and
gone... Appear, a knife in the chest to another and gone, and so on.
Myles did this to six of them before he realized that the kingly man had
already been pushed into the light by a member of the crowd.

The King cried out as the others backed away. Myles teleported
over to him. Nothing had happened, but the King had look of terror on
his face. "Relax King, it didn’t hurt you," Myles said in a distorted voice
that sounded deep and mysterious.

The King shook all over looking nervously from side to side. He
pointed a trembling finger at his captors. "The Broken will pay for this!
You will all suffer the same fate as me!"

Myles noticed that the ones he had stabbed, the ones that
should have been dead were now standing and looking on as if nothing
had happened to them. One of them started to laugh but stopped
abruptly as a yellow sulfur-smelling mist started to rise from the ground.
Black ink-like creatures oozed from the ground and took humanoid form
letting out high pitched screeches. They clawed and tugged at the king
pulling him towards a forming hole in the ground. Myles' ears were
assaulted by the moans and groans of what seemed like millions of
people, and the king's terror no longer seemed so unwarranted.

The King cried out with renewed horror and Myles reached for
him. The woman screamed again, but he heard her speak in his mind.
"Save him stranger! Save my father!"
He glanced her way as she
touched his mind and her eyes and mouth opened wide as if she had
found something she had not expected.

He didn't have time to think about it, though, as he focused on
saving the king and tried every trick up his sleeve. He tried tricking the
inky creatures into thinking the King was Myles and he was the King, but
illusion did not confuse them. He tried making the light go away, but the
dark did not phase them. He tried pulling at the King as hard as he dared
without ripping him apart, but even with all the mental strength of the
power of imagination, the king was sucked down into the ground. Myles
still had a hold of one of his arms when the king looked at him in
resignation and took off his crown. “You are a strong man, I can see it."
He put the crown on Myles' head with a tear in his eye. "
Take care of my
daughter
." The creatures pulled him further every second wrenching
him from Myles' grasp. He started screaming and wailing already in
torment and then, as quickly as the screams came and the ground had
opened, it closed and there was silence.

Myles spared only a few seconds to regret his failure,
remembering the dozen murderers that still surrounded him.
Calculating that the next move of these so called “Broken” was to push
the young woman in, Myles moved quickly to preempt. He focused on
her and zoomed in right to where she was pausing for only a moment.
She smelled strongly of Wisteria and his vision took her in. The irises of
her eyes were a swirl of rainbow: drops of oil on water. They shimmered
and changed as the light hit them. She was medium height and wore all
black but the clothing was form fitting and well embroidered. Her hair
was braided around her head and her full lips came to perfect angular
points at the tips.

Only a second went by and Myles snapped out of it. He moved
behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hold on tight,” he
whispered. The others turned ready to fight, but Myles only looked up
to the clouds and they were in the air being carried by the wind. The
woman did not scream, instead she managed to turn herself around in
his grip so that they were facing each other. There was a tear in her eye
likely for her father. Despite the tear she said, “Thank you."

The princess cried for some time as they flew. Myles held her
tight not only because they were in flight but because he felt for her in
her loss. After some time in flight she stopped crying and looked up to
him and gave him a soft smile.

Myles lost concentration while admiring her and abruptly they
began plunging toward the ground which
did
make her scream. Myles
regained concentration on the wind and they were flying again just
before they hit the tree line.

As they swiftly moved north the air became cold and the sky got
darker. Myles landed with her in his arms, and she stared at him biting
her lip. It made him uncomfortable, “What?”

She spoke in his mind,
“I just haven’t met anyone like you. You would
gladly take all of my gold without batting an eyelash, yet you would also
save my life if I were in danger. It really makes no sense.”

Myles smirked, “You don’t believe it?”

 

She shrugged,
“I will spend some time with you and figure it
out.”

 

He winked at her, “You mind not probing my brain while you're
at it?”

She smiled, “Why, are you afraid of what I might find?" She
spoke aloud in English and Myles lifted a questioning eyebrow at her
before figuring she had probably learned it from his mind. "Like about
earth?” she continued with a playful smile.

Myles sighed, “Great, the most widely known secret.”

She laughed melodically drawing Myles in, “What marvels me
more is how your mind works. You are two separate people, Myles
Callaghan. You are the hero and a villain. I’ve never met someone like
that. “

Myles lifted his hat and scratched his head, “People where you
come from must be awfully boring.”

 

Her eyes widened, “Ha! I think I will have you taking that one
back in no time.”

Myles put his head in his hand, “Ok, well since you have all of
the answers to your questions – without permission I might add – you
mind giving me a chance to play catch up?”

She shrugged. “You need only ask.”

“Rapid fire… What is your name? What are you? You aren’t
human or Adam as some might say. How can you read my mind? And
why did the kingly man give me his crown?” Myles crossed his arms
smugly. “That will do for a start.”

She playfully elbowed him in the arm, “Well then, are you
writing a book?”

 

“No, but I’m sure you know much more about me. Spill it,” he
said with a sideways grin.

 

She leaned against a tree and Myles took out his pipe, lit it, and
began puffing away as he listened.

“I am Princess Catalina Salazar, and I am a vampire,” she said
with a straight face. She paused as Myles choked on some tobacco that
he had sucked through his pipe.
Vampire?
“That was your father then?” He asked.

She nodded. “He was my father and my King, but now you are
my King… and my betrothed.”

Myles coughed again hacking this time as more tobacco had
made it through the small hole in his pipe. After he stopped choking he
looked up at her. She was very beautiful but at the moment she looked
angry.

“Now that was uncalled for. Do you find me to be comely? Or
are you just a fool? When my father placed the crown on your head he
did two things. He named you King and betrothed me to you. It was his
last living act and I think he chose you for your heroic side, not the
coward you are being right now,” she said with a flat tone to her voice.

I’m no King. How come everyone wants to give me some kind of
title? On earth people were lining up to take me down and on Soterion
they line up to hand me titles.

“That is because you are of more influence on this world. Take it
as a compliment not an insult,” she said.

 

Ah, get out of my head
! “Well you know what? I don’t have
anything to explain. You can obviously read my mind.”

Myles thought of Kasey and the dream he'd had, the prophecy
that Nekar had spoken and future Seux’s words. He held nothing back
letting his true mixed feeling for Kasey come through in his thoughts,
too. He showed her his betrayal and he showed her his dedication to
finding Misaki.

She looked at him as if looking through him for a moment. “You
show me these things? You: the liar, the cheat, the womanizer and the
scoundrel? You see what I mean? You are not who you are but you do
enough wrong to maintain those titles, why?”

He thought it before he realized what he was doing.
Because I
hate responsibility. If everyone thinks of me as the wild card and the
unreliable one, then I will never get pinned down.
Images of his father as
the county Sherriff in a small town came to mind along with images of
life on the farm growing up. He really did hate responsibility.

“Ha!’ She laughed.

 

Myles slapped his palm to his head, “I’m not going to get
anything past you, am I?”

She shook her head, “No. Responsibility is like a hound. The
more you run from it, the harder it follows you until eventually it
catches up to you not as responsibility but as consequence. You failed to
save my father; now you must accept your responsibility to take his
place.”

“What of Kasey?” Myles asked.

She smiled, “I know more of prophecy than you do. Prophecy
always comes to fruition, but in its own time and its own way. There is
nothing you can do that will thwart it including marring me.”

Myles shook his head. “But I just met you.”

 

“And?”

“Aren't you supposed to love someone before you marry them?
I mean, you are beautiful, but I know so little about you… other than
you drink the blood of others to live,” he ventured.

She made a face as if tasting something bitter, “Drink blood?
No, that is disgusting; I would never drink blood. Only the maddest of
vampires has ever done such a thing. I do not need blood or food to
survive.”

“Then how are you a vampire?”

She smiled, “I am more of what the ancient cultures of your
world would call a muse. I feed, but off of the emotions, passions, and
inspirations of others.”

Oh, that’s not half as bad as I thought it was.

 

“No, it isn’t,” she said with a smile.

Myles and Catalina spoke as they walked through the wooded
area. Catalina explained that her castle was to the north and if they kept
walking this way they would eventually reach it. As night fell the air got
even colder until there was a bite to it and then it started to snow. They
found a hollow in the side of a hill to sleep in for the night. They lay
close together keeping each other warm with her cloak and his jacket
over them as blankets.

In the morning when they woke Myles had Catalina wait at the
hollow while he went to hunt some rabbit. He could hear someone
walking through the woods again; this time he called out. “Who is it?”
but there was no response. He asked again and was rewarded with a
familiar sound. A bark answered him and he knew it was Gannan before
the Kuon showed itself. Myles put his arm around the giant winged dog
and patted him on the back. He nudged Myles to three rabbits that he
had caught. “Ha ha! Good boy, Gannan. Who taught you how to hunt?"

He walked up to Myles nuzzling him and almost lifting him off of
the ground.

Myles brought the rabbit back with Gannan, introducing him to
Catalina. While he roasted the rabbits over the fire, Myles commented
on his appearance, “There is a bond that is created between a Kuon and
his owner. Gannan can find me at any time. I told him to go during the
battle and he obeys well, but I’m sure he has not been far. I've been
imprisoned, in battles, and on a pirate ship. It seems now that things are
safe he sees that I approve of his convenient return.”

Gannan carried them both and flew them north for another full
day’s ride until they reached the Castle. Catalina then led them through
a secret entrance taking Myles to the servant’s quarters where she
explained to him the situation.

“You are now the rightful king of Pathos, however; my brothers
will not see it that way. You are a stranger here and not even one of us.
All of the royal lineage can read the minds of others, but I have put a
block on your mind. They will not be able to read you which will bother
them even more. You must pretend to be one of us, because if it is
found that you are not one of us they will turn you. “
“Turn me?" he gave her a questioning glance.

“How do you do that if you don’t drink blood?” he asked. “I’m
used to the good ol ‘Bleh, bleh. I 'vant to suck your blood!’ vampires,
but you guys are way too complicated."

She giggled at his impression and the image in his mind of an
old black and white Dracula movie. She shook her head, "No silly,
nothing at all like that. Only the royal line can turn others into a
vampire. It takes a large pool of emotion. If I were to turn you it would
have to be at a major event like a war, a funeral, a royal wedding... It
would have to be a time where there were large amount of people
gathered. I would take all of their emotions into myself and then pour
them into you. This would stop your heart, you technically die. Your
body would be preserved but you would no longer need to sleep, eat, or
breath."

Myles rubbed his chin, "Nah, me and death don't see eye to
eye. I’ve been able to out run him this long, no sense in letting him win
at this point. Besides, why not just let your brothers take the throne?”

She shook her head, “Because it is rightfully yours. My father
chose you and he did so for a reason. You could withstand the light,
which is strength against the ‘Broken’ using light to kill the royal line.”

Myles sat on a servant’s bed, “And who are the ‘Broken’?”

“Vampires who drank too deep of a human’s emotions and
drained their very life essence from them. When a vampire does this
repeatedly they go mad. They are broken in mind and are a blight on
the Kingdom of Pathos. “She took off Myles’ hat and coat. A servant
brought more renaissance style clothing which he reluctantly changed
into behind a screen. She smiled and nodded when he came out, but
truthfully he felt like an idiot.