Girl of Myth and Legend (4 page)

I put my hands on my head.

Ah, damn these thoughts screaming in my head. It had been silent there not long ago. I never imagined that this place was an
arena
, and that I’d have to face my own kind as adversaries. I clench my fists. Damn it all! Why is this happening? Why are they doing this? Are we really just cattle to the Chosen to do with what they please?

‘Seven…’

It’s sudden, but a flicker of life sparks inside me. Though it’s been years since I’ve felt it, it’s not unfamiliar to me. I had been content in my world of darkness. No, not even content—I’d been nothing, and nothing is what I needed to be. But once again the Chosen have taken away the one thing I owned, that one fragment of peace I had left to me, and now they are making me face my own kind as opponents. And, even though I am just a kytaen, even though I had wanted to die…

‘One…’

I want to make the Chosen
suffer
—I want to live to fulfil this wish.

‘The test has commenced.’

I look at the other kytaen. If none of us fight, then no doubt the Chosen will find a way to make us. But that doesn’t happen. As the cage doors open, panic takes over and kytaen bound towards the nearest enemy—because that is what we are to each other now, not brethren, not equals, but enemies to be killed. We
are
beings designed to kill, and I have. Oh, I have! But I don’t want to kill like this. I don’t want that.
I don’t want that.

I don’t have a choice. A kytaen comes at me, all teeth and claws, and instinct takes over. The magic that has been dormant for so long explodes out of me, and I become the beast I truly am. And with fire and fury and the will to survive, I pounce.

LEONIE

COATED IN STARS

Dad opens the door.

Standing outside are two men, and just by looking at them I can tell they’re not from my world. They both wear crimson-coloured cloaks—I mean, who wears
cloaks
?—with small golden pins attached, and both of the men have a foreign look to them. The taller one has dark skin, with black hair and a beard. He looks about in his thirties. The younger one looks only a few years older than me. His skin is tanned, and he has brown hair. I had been expecting something a little
different
, something along the lines of strange shaped heads and big black eyes.

‘Good morning,’ the older man says, in perfect English and with a wide grin. ‘My name is Harriad, and this is O’Sah. We’ve come a long way to talk to you.’

He says this to
me
, but I’m looking at O’Sah, whose eyes are wide as he stares at me. My cheeks warm. Why is he looking at me like that, as if I’m some glimmering lost relic?

‘You’re from the Imperium,’ Dad says, and I know it’s not a question.

‘We are,’ Harriad replies.

‘Have you… have you come to take her?’

I hold my breath.

Harriad glances at me, and then back at Dad. ‘For now, we have much to discuss. You’re Orin Woodville, I presume.’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘May we come in?’

Despite being total strangers, the sort of strangers that Dad would never give any attention to, let alone allow into his home, he moves aside and Harriad and O’Sah come in.

As they make themselves comfortable on the sofa, O’Sah looking around with obvious distaste in his expression, I turn to Dad.

‘Um, OK, so what the hell is happening right now?’ I say in a harsh whisper. ‘What is
this
?’

‘I told you about the Imperium,’ says Dad.

‘Uh, yeah.’

‘They come from there.’

‘I got that. But
why
? Why are they
here
?’

Dad glances past me to see if the others are listening, and then leans into me. ‘You’re
Chosen
, Leonie. That’s why they’re here.’

‘That doesn’t explain anything!’

‘Is everything all right?’ Harriad asks, and I turn to the living room.

‘Everything is pretty much a continent away from “all right”,’ I say.

He smiles. ‘It’s always a little daunting after you’ve awoken as a Chosen. The shock will fade as it does with everyone else.’

I take it
he
never exploded in a blaze of light.

‘So you… you have magic, too?’ I ask.

‘Certainly! And O’Sah.’

O’Sah, who is looking at Dad’s meerkat ornament with a look of repulsion, quickly straightens himself.

‘What can you do?’ I ask.

‘All in good time,’ says Harriad, grinning. ‘We have a few things to discuss beforehand. Ah, but before I forget, may I have your hand?’

‘My hand?’

‘Yes, if you please.’

‘Why?’

From his cloak, he takes out an object that looks like a stamp. ‘Just a standard precaution.’

‘Uh…’

‘Leonie, do as he says,’ Dad says.

I glance at him; he’s standing stiff.

‘What does it do?’ I ask Harriad.

‘It’s just to scan your vitals, to make sure your body is functioning correctly after your awakening.’

I take slow steps towards him, holding my hand out. He holds the stamp-like object over my hand and a red light flashes. My skin prickles and then he takes the scanner away, smiling.

‘All done. Would you sit, my Lady?’ he asks.
My Lady!
Pah! Even my damn dog knows the untruth of that title.

I flex my hand. ‘No, I’m fine.’ I’m not fine, which is exactly why I’m not sitting down. Anyway, why is he asking
me
to sit? This is
my
house.
My
sofa.
My
mundane reality that he’s intent on destroying.

‘Is she your daughter, Orin?’ Harriad asks Dad.

‘Yes, an only child.’

‘I see.’ He takes out a small silver disk, and after tapping a button, a holographic image appears of a sort of notepad. My jaw drops. He uses the holographic keyboard to type information in, information about me probably.

‘What is that?’ I say.

‘This?’ He smiles, holding it up so I can see it. ‘It’s just a standard communication device.’

I’m pretty sure a device that can show holographic images is not standard.

Pegasus nudges my hand with his nose, and I look down at him. He’s looking at Harriad and O’Sah, keeping his distance from them. We don’t get many visitors, but when we do, usually Pegasus doesn’t leave them alone.

‘I have a few questions for you,’ Harriad says to me. ‘Do you mind if I ask them?’

‘Um, all right. But I have a few questions for you, too.’

He smiles. ‘I expect you do. May I ask your full name?’

‘…Leonie Woodville.’

He types this in using the holographic keyboard. ‘Lovely name. I think its meaning is
lion
in… French?’

‘I think so?’

‘
Ah bon
. Where were you born? France possibly?’ he adds with a smile.

I purse my lips. I didn’t know the questions would be so personal.

‘Belmont,’ Dad answers for me. ‘She was born in Belmont.’

‘Belmont?’ Harriad says.

‘In Australia.’

‘Very good. And how old are you?’ he asks me.

‘…Seventeen,’ I reply.

‘I see. Quite a late awakening you had, then. You must have been worried your magic was never going to appear.’ He says it in an almost joking way, but I’ve missed the punch line. ‘Have you ever had any signs of your awakening as a Chosen besides today?’

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘Well, these are the standard questions we—’

‘Yeah, but
why
do you want to know?’

‘Leonie,’ Dad says, ‘just… just answer.’

I shoot him a glare. Why is he being so compliant with these strangers? Are they like the police force in their world or something?

I fold my arms. ‘No, I haven’t had any signs.’

Harriad is smiling as if he’s amused by my small rebellion, but O’Sah looks irritated.

‘And have you got your things packed?’ asks Harriad. ‘That’s not to say we won’t have clothes for you at the Temples, but you might be more comfortable in your own for a while.’

‘Why would I pack my things?’ I ask. ‘What temple?’

‘The Temples of Elswyr, in Duwyn.’

‘What?’

‘Leonie,’ Dad says, ‘I was going to explain in more detail…’

‘Explain what?’

‘I’m sure your father explained everything to you when you were younger,’ says Harriad. ‘All Chosen that awaken in the human realm must come to Duwyn.’

‘I… wait, I have to leave here?’

He raises an eyebrow. ‘Well, of course.’

I shake my head. ‘Um, can we just, I don’t know,
stop
for a second? I’m just… this is all hard to accept right now. I mean, I didn’t even know Duwyn existed a minute ago, and now we’re talking about leaving to travel there, and I haven’t processed all of this, and my head is starting to spin right now…’

Harriad sits forward. ‘You didn’t know about Duwyn?’

‘Well, no, I…’

‘You mean to say your father never told you?’

I glance at Dad, not wanting to get him into trouble or anything. ‘I mean, he
did
… today.’

‘Today?’ He looks at Dad. ‘Surely you told her about your origins, about the Imperium, about
magic
.’

‘I didn’t want to confuse her,’ Dad replies, his face losing all its colour, ‘just in case she was powerless.’

‘Your name hasn’t been forgotten by the Imperium, Orin, nor the nature of your magic. You were once an esteemed oracle; surely you knew she would be Chosen.’

‘I don’t see everything.’

I tense. Dad had told me he knew what I would become. So why is he lying to Harriad?

Harriad is silent for a moment. ‘I have to admit, when our systems located the energy your daughter emitted and we found you near to her, I thought it strange. You haven’t even got your tracing device anymore. It’s all rather odd. But you haven’t even told her about us?’ He types something on his keyboard. ‘I’d like to ask you a few questions, Orin.’

Dad nods, and I notice how pale he is.

‘You were granted removal from Duwyn more than seventeen years ago.’

‘Yes.’

‘Who is, or was, Leonie’s mother?’

‘A powerless one, a normal human.’

‘And you’re quite sure?’

‘Yes.’

‘You do realise that even if she was born to a powerless mother, it is still expected of you to inform the Imperium of any children you might have?’

Dad pulls an expression I’m not accustomed to, one I’ve seen twice today: fear.

‘
Yes,’ he says.

‘And yet,’ says Harriad, ‘you did not inform us.’

Dad says nothing.

‘You have a communication pad, I assume?’ Harriad continues. ‘The one they give you when they grant removal.’

‘I lost it.’

‘…I see. Then, why did you not travel to Agerath Island and use the portal there? You could have used it to come back to Duwyn and inform us that way.’

‘She was born in Australia, as I said.’

‘Very well. Why did you not use the portal at…’ he raises the electronic tablet he’s holding, types in a few words, and a holographic image appears of some barren place, ‘…Mulligan Creek?’

‘It was too difficult to find.’

Harriad stares. I don’t know if he believes him. If he’s telling the truth, then fine. But if he’s lying, well, why? Why did he never tell the Imperium I was born?

‘You do realise withholding the information of her exist-ence puts you in an unsatisfactory position?’ Harriad says.

I step forward. ‘Unsatisfactory? What d’you mean?’

‘It’s fine, Leonie,’ Dad says and turns to Harriad. ‘I understand. What will happen?’

‘I can’t say for sure,’ Harriad replies. ‘It will be the collective decision of the Council rather than just my own.’

Dad nods, but I don’t like that ambiguous answer, and I don’t like that Dad is in trouble with some government I had never even heard of until today.

There’s a beeping noise from the silver disk Harriad is holding, and he half turns away, reading whatever information he was just sent. He then leans towards O’Sah and speaks in a low voice. I can’t make out all the words. ‘… kytaen… victor determined… KY… test complete…’

‘
That
kytaen won?’ I don’t think O’Sah meant to say it so loud, because he glances over at Dad and me. I look away, pretending to be interested in the slightly fading wallpaper. He and Harriad then go outside, and I take the opportunity to talk to Dad, like,
really
talk to him, when he shakes his head at me. What I want to ask Dad is private, like why he lied to Harriad and O’Sah, and why he never told the Imperium about me, but the look he’s giving me now makes me sure that nothing important should be discussed while Harriad and O’Sah are here. I don’t want to get him into any more trouble.

After a few minutes, O’Sah and Harriad come back into the cottage. They sit on the sofa, and it only just hits me how funny it is seeing them sat here, all crimson cloaks and otherworldliness, on
my
sofa.

‘What was that about?’ I ask and then add, ‘If, y’know, you want to share.’

‘We’ll talk about that in length later,’ says Harriad. ‘For now, we should really start to discuss your voyage to Duwyn.’

‘Oh. Right.
That
. Um. You’re going to have to give me a human minute,’ I say. ‘I’m feeling a little… a little overwhelmed right now.’