Page 21 of Rhaz's Redemption
More people came out to stare as I walked the path home. I didn’t look at them, or turn my head. I kept my eyes forward toward my dreaded goal. The dirt path barely made a sound as I trudged onward. It didn’t take long before I found myself standing at the door. It was large like the house and dark like my sire. Turning the knob, I stepped inside.
The lit fireplace illuminated the room. I’d expected it to look different from when I was a child, but my sire had kept itthe same. The same wooden table that had a moon etched in the center sat to the right side of the fire place and multiple chairs and cushions sat to the left. The floor was covered in furs from the rarest of animals in the valley, a testament to Dameron’s ego.
My sire was sitting in a chair facing the fire when he heard me come in and turned to me with a smile on his face. Everything about this place had been exactly as I’d left it, familiar in an almost creepy way. But the manner in which my sire smiled at me wasn’t familiar at all. It stopped me in my tracks and made me want to run. Never once, had he been happy to see me. Even as a sietling, he’d greet me with a scowl. Something was off.
“It’s about time.” His smile widened with pleasure as if I’d been a gift delivered to his doorstep.
“Time for what?” I questioned.
Dameron got up from his seat and slowly stalked toward me with his unnerving smile still on his face. “You know I’d always thought you were the most powerful one,” he began again.
“Most powerful what?” Had he gone mad? Was his mind truly gone?
“Shifter, of course.” His answer was unbothered as if we spoke about the shifting ability of my dekes everyday.
I shook my head. It was a well-know fact, even among the dekes here in the valley, that Brexl was the fiercest of us all. No one could take him down in his shifter form.
“Look, I’m here to talk to you about the upcoming offering,” I cut in before Dameron could spew any more of his nonsense.
“I’ve already got plans for the offering,” my sire smiled. “And I’m afraid they can’t be changed.”
Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong. I’d always feared my father. I’d seen first-hand what he was capable of frombeating my mother to cutting out the tongue of young Jax. But as a shifter I’d always known that he could hurt me, but never kill me. No one could.
I shifted into my badger form as my sire continued to approach me with that strange grin on his face, as if he’d already won a battle that hadn’t even been fought yet.
“It turns out there is another as fierce as Brexl and nearly as unkillable as you,” he continued. “Did they ever figure it out? What your true gift is? The fact that you can’t be killed?”
I took a step back. He’d seen me die before. He knew the truth, but he’d never spoken of it.
“I think we should put that ability to the test.”
The door swung open behind him and all of Dameron’s minions poured in. Scaron was in the front of the line and ready to do his Savrix’s bidding.
“Tie him up and take him to the northern edge of the valley,” my sire commanded.
They did as he asked and tied my wrists behind me and bound my ankles in tight ropes. I could have fought against them, but despite the sickening feeling in my gut, I wanted to see what Dameron was up to.
Scaron and two others carried me to the forested edge of the village and kept walking until we were surrounded by nothing but a thick layer of trees. A strong wind blew through the trees and with it came a new scent. There was a large male nearby, one I’d never smelled before. He wasn’t fully sirret. There was something animalistic about him. Something that set my instincts on edge.
“That’s far enough,” Dameron stopped ahead of us. “Tie the ropes around this stake to ensure he doesn’t go anywhere.” He handed them a large wooden stake and they made quick work of following his command.
When he was satisfied he gave them a nod of approval. “Leave us.”
“But what if he breaks free?” Scaron asked.
“He won’t,” Dameron’s sly smile came back and it made my stomach turn. He had something planned, something sinister.
Scaron didn’t move and my sire’s smile faltered. “I said leave!”
Everyone flinched and took a step back. “My apologies,” Scaron bowed. “We’ll leave now.”
The hunters followed Scaron out of the forest and back into the valley. I tested the strength of the ropes that I’d been bound with and found them to be strong. Too strong for me to break out of even in my shifted form.
“Why did you bring me out here? What is the meaning of all this?” I asked as I struggled against the ropes again. “Is your goal to see me starve? Do you wish to watch me die over and over again?”
“You know son, not everything is about you.” Dameron purred as he stepped behind me out of view.
“You are a tool,” he began again. “One that I plan to use and discard.”
