Page 12 of Unleashed

Kelsharn laughed. The sound was disorienting; it seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere in the chamber, and consisted of several, dissonant tones simultaneously like it was produced by several people rather than just one. It sparked a fire in Aduun’s blood.

Balir settled a hand on Aduun’s shoulder again. “It is a spirit, Aduun. He is not here.”

Flaring his nostrils, Aduun scented the air. He would remember Kelsharn’s smell no matter how many years passed, and it was no longer present in this chamber. There was only the fetid odor of rotting bones, the beast-stink of Aduun and his companions, and the fresh, alluring aroma of the female and her blood.

“My pets have finally freed themselves,” Kelsharn said in his native tongue, his layered voice reverberating off the walls. Aduun wished he couldn’t understand the words, wished they hadn’t been burned into his mind against his will. “Your punishment is nearing its end. Have you learned your place? Do you understand that you are animals —myanimals — to be chained, caged, and slaughtered at my whim?”

“I will find you, Kelsharn, and I will—” Aduun said, but the spirit continued without offering acknowledgment of the words.

“Of course you haven’t learned. Not yet. You were my first creations. My mistakes. But your imperfections taught me much, and I am a benevolent Creator. I believe in rehabilitation and redemption.” Kelsharn lifted a hand, splaying out his fingers. The walls rumbled.

Aduun looked toward the source of the noise. The roughhewn rock beside the female was receding with a heavy, stone-on-stone scrape. She shoved herself away from the wall and turned to face it as she backed away from the growing opening.

The ghostly image of Kelsharn glided to stand before the dark mouth of the newly revealed tunnel. “Beyond this chamber, you will find your people — what few of them remain. Reaching them will not be easy, and you will be in constant mortal danger despite the generous gifts I have bestowed upon you. Rescue them, and you are all free to leave, knowing that it is because I willed it. That it is because I made you into more than you were. Into better than you were.”

Kelsharn seemed to grow impossibly tall, and the light in the chamber flickered and dimmed.

“Know, Aduun, that your suffering has not yet reached its end. The pain to come will remind you of what you are. Of who you belong to. Even should you succeed, you and your people will exist for eternity knowing that you are whatImade you. My work willneverbe undone.”

Aduun gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, digging his claws into his palms.

The spirit drifted closer and loomed over him. “Through obedience, your people would have known long, fulfilling lives. But you failed them, chieftain’s son. Do not forget that their suffering is your doing.” Kelsharn’s grin stretched wider, displaying far too many pointed teeth, and the spirit dissipated like smoke on the wind.

The light stones reverted to their prior luminescence, bathing the chamber in their soft, mocking glow. For several moments, Aduun’s attention lingered on the place Kelsharn had stood, and then his eyes flicked to the dark opening beyond. The female stood staring at the tunnel, shoulders heaving.

“Our people, Aduun,” Vortok said, stepping forward.

Aduun turned his head to glance at the huge valo. The chamber’s illumination reflected in Vortok’s dark eyes, granting them a hopeful gleam like they hadn’t possessed since before Kelsharn changed their clan. “Why would Kelsharn speak truth? He has deceived us from the moment he arrived among our people.” Aduun snarled. “I will not be tricked again.”

Chapter Three

Nina’s head throbbed. The volatile emotions from the valos were an unrelenting assault on her psychic shields, having reached a feverish peak when Kelsharn’s image had appeared. She hadn’t believed her eyes at first. She recognized Kelsharn from bits of memory she’d picked up from her father, and seeing the Creator — even if it was only a projected image — had woken the same hatred and fear in Nina that Orishok had felt all those years ago. That these valos feltnow.

Kelsharn had caused so much suffering.

She needed to tell her father. Needed to…

Nina glanced around the chamber, finally settling her gaze on the dark opening before her. How would she get to Orishok? There were no other visible exits. She was as trapped as these valos were.

Aduun and Vortok’s voices filled the air, the former a raised, tense snarl, the latter a low, gravelly rumble. Nina turned her head toward them.

“How can we abandon them?” Vortok demanded, jabbing a thick finger at the tunnel. “If they are in there, it is our duty to find them. They are ourclan, Aduun! Our people!”

Aduun wasn’t small — she guessed he was nearly as tall as Orishok — but Vortok towered over him all the same. Despite the size difference between them, Aduun stepped toward the larger valo, quills raised. “What reason would he have to keep them alive? The three of us are here because keeping us alive was the cruelest fate he could imagine. Would it not be to his pleasure to have us battle through more trials only to find that our people have been dead and gone all along?”

Anger blasted through Vortok, lashing out with white-hot projections to strike Nina. She braced herself against the wave; it was explosive, primal, irrational, produced from somewhere beneath his conscious thought. She knew the source was his beast.

Vortok took a step closer to Aduun, stomping his hoof-like foot on the floor. “After all this, now is the moment you choose to betray our people? Now that we are free?”

Aduun threw a hand out. “Does this look like freedom?”

Something touched Nina’s shoulder. She flinched and turned her head to see long, clawed fingers settled there. Gasping, she pulled away and spun to face the valo behind her. She’d forgotten about him, forgotten there’d beenthreevalos in the chamber. The other two stopped speaking.

His name swept through her mind like a gentle breeze.

Balir.

He moved closer. This time, Nina didn’t back away. He didn’t project violence or rage in that moment, only curiosity.

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