Page 88 of Graevale

The words, that grisly tone… Everything about Alex was on edge as she realised the voice was coming fromunderneaththe bridge. She didn’t know what was happening, but something within her was screaming that she had to intervene—andnow.

Leaning as far as she could over the stone railing, Alex saw that there was a canoe-like vessel docked beneath the bridge, and in it sat a hooded Shadow Walker. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but the sense of urgency she felt didn’t allow her to waste time watching more. Instead, she leapt right off the bridge, using one arm to swing herself down and onto the vessel.

Startled, the Shadow Walker stood, the canoe teetering precariously from both his abrupt movement and Alex’s arrival.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the male demanded as he found his balance. Then his eyes widened and he said in the common tongue, “You are human!”

“What’s in the bag?” Alex asked, pointing to a canvas sack at his feet—a sack that wasmoving.

“None of your business,” the Shadow Walker spat. He was old—though not quite as ancient as the elders—and he had a hunched back and mean, squinty eyes.

“I’m making it my business,” Alex said, fairly confident that if it came down to a scuffle, she could overcome the frail-looking man despite her injury and his shadowing ability.

He sneered at her. “I’ve got a job to do and the likes of you won’t stop me.”

It was then that the whimpering came again—high-pitched and scared, right from the moving sack.

“What’s in the bag?” Alex demanded again, more forcefully this time.

The Shadow Walker kicked viciously at the canvas, and a yelp of pain was all it took for Alex to act. She lunged forward and grabbed him by his collar, launching him overboard and into the grimy canal.

Whether from shock or simply due to the speed of her attack, he didn’t have time to shadow himself away, so he came up spluttering and cursing her in his native tongue. But Alex didn’t care about his insults; she was already kneeling in the rocking boat and carefully opening the sack.

A ball of black fluff, that’s all she thought it was at first. But then it wriggled and uncurled from its terrified position and she caught a small flash of white amongst all the dark as she realised what it was—a puppy. Stunning amber eyes locked onto hers as she took in the beautiful creature, eyes that indicated a level of intelligence beyond what the young animal should possess. Beyond whatanyanimal should possess.

“Hey, beautiful,” Alex cooed, reaching her uninjured arm out to the trembling pup.

Given its terrified state, she thought it would back away in fear. But her proximity seemed to calm it, and it leaned forward and sniffed her fingers, before licking once.

A startled giggle left Alex at the tickling sensation and she slowly moved her hand to pet the creature. Instantly it—or rather,she, Alex realised—nuzzled into her palm, soaking up her affection, before waddling closer.

Other than her impossibly bright eyes, the puppy was as black as the night, all except for one front paw that was splashed with white. But more than that, there was something else strange about her. Like the Shadow Walkers themselves, the creature had swirls of darkness clouding around her three black legs, while her white paw was giving off a faint glow like that of the Dayriders, along with small flashes of light.

Another lick, this time on Alex’s wrist as the puppy wobbled right up to her, and Alex scooped her into the crook of her uninjured arm as she stood to her feet. Immediate trust, that was what the puppy offered as she stretched her neck upwards and licked Alex’s jaw, prompting another giggle from her.

“Release the accursed creature at once!” the Shadow Walker demanded, still in the canal. Alex wondered why he didn’t transport himself out of there, but then she realised his shadowing ability must only work on dry land where he could actively step through the darkness.

“You said you had a job to do,” Alex said, nodding down at the puppy squirming happily in her arms and trying to lick more of her face. “What were you planning on doing to her?”

“That mutt is touched by the light,” the Shadow Walker hissed, indicating the puppy’s white paw. “Shadow and light, she’ll never fit in to either world. I was doing her a favour and saving her from a slow, neglectful death.”

Alex’s face scrunched with disgust. “You were going to drown her, weren’t you?”

“I was showing pity, you human fool. No one would take that mongrel in.”

Shaking her head with revulsion, Alex said, “Wrong. I would.” Not caring about the repercussions, she finished, “And I am.”

A bark of laughter. “You? A human with a Shadow Wolf?” He laughed again, a coarse, hacking sound that rippled the water around him.

Shadow Wolf? The first stirrings of uncertainty hit Alex at the ‘wolf’ part. But then the puppy gave a cute little snuffle sound and lolled her tongue out the side of her mouth, like a big doggie smile. When she looked up with all the trust in the world, Alex’s resolve hardened into surety.

“If the options are either you drown her or I take her, then I’m taking her,” she said firmly.

“Just as long as she’s out of my hair, you can do what you want,” came the Shadow Walker’s surprisingly quick reply, but he was still too amused for Alex’s liking. “My job will be considered complete once the taint of her dark-forsaken light is gone from our city.”

The man was all kinds of awful. And it only became worse when he finished, “I strongly advise you to drown her yourself. Once an outcast, always an outcast.”

Alex didn’t deign to respond since technically she, too, was an outcast—in so many ways. Instead, she just held the puppy tighter, the fluffy softness snuggling into her neck as she manoeuvred the vessel towards the side of the canal and hoisted herself back up into the alley.

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