Page 8 of Polar Fates
“He’s not dead,” Ràn suddenly says and we all stare at him in surprise. “At least, notcompletely.”
“Is he like Alis? Aspirit?”
I’m not a spirit, she protests but I ignoreher.
“The book isn’t exactly detailed on that, but I believe he could be similar.” Ràn flips through some of the pages. “It’s very flowery language, talking about a ‘memory being called back to Earth’. To me it sounds as if someone – they don’t mention his name – called on the ‘Small Bear’ when he was in trouble and the ‘bear came from theheavens’.”
What happened?Alis almost screams in myhead.
Patience, he’s going to tell us in a moment, I’msure.
“Turns out, the man wasn’t actually in trouble but just wanted the power of the bear. He became violent and tyrannical, wanting to dominate humans and make them his slaves. He had to play a slow game though as one bear shifter wasn’t enough. He started impregnating as many human women as he could, trying to create enough shifters to set his plans into motion. Somehow, he was stopped – the book doesn’t say how – and they use it as a warning to never think to use our superior strength to rule others. It’s like the moral at the end of afable.”
“That all sounds like a load of humbug,” Húnn mutters. “Zeus creating stars? Someone becoming a bear shifter by asking a long-dead bear to come to him? Sorry but I think that’s just a fairy tale, nothingmore.”
“I would have thought so too until I saw the note in the back.” Ràn show us the last page in the book which is covered in tiny handwriting. It’s written in biro, so it must be fairly recent. “It’s got yesterday’s date onit.”
“What?” Arnold asks in astonishment. “How is thatpossible?”
Bertie motions for Ràn to hand him the book. “One of the people on the trading ship must have written it. But that wouldmean…”
“One of them is a shifter. Exactly. Or at least someone who knows a lot about us,” Ràn confirms. “And they know that we are bears, too. Otherwise they wouldn’t have risked writingthis.”
“What does it say?” Torben asks Bertie who is now studying thepage.
He clears his throat and begins to read. “He cut his thread. The Ladies couldn’t touch him, so they had to stop him from passing on his seed. They couldn’t differentiate between bears. No more offspring. Now they need someone to reattach the thread. Meet at the beach atsunset.”
“Even more bollocks. This is getting too silly for me. Could we return to real life, please?” Húnn crosses his arms in front of his chest. I’d like to agree with him, but after talking to Alis and seeing her memories, I’ve come to believe that anything can be true. I mean, I can shift into a bear. I’m hardly the right person to judge whether something could be real ornot.
“There’s a lot of beach on this island. Couldn’t they have specified it a little more?” Torbencomplains.
“I assume it’s where we met the traders this morning,” Arnold replies. “So you think we should go there? Sunset is in less than anhour.”
Torben shrugs. “If nobody turns up, we won’t be off any better or worse than we are now. And if they mean us harm – well, there’s seven of us. I’d say the odds are in ourfavour.”
Húnn shakes his head in frustration. “You’re not seriously believing all of this? We should be focussing on the real world, not some mythical bear spirit and theFates.”
Alis growls and I’m on my feet before I evennotice.
“Isla, your claws,” Finn warns and I look down at my hands. Damn it, I thought I had my claws under control bynow.
Alis is furious within my head and I’m having trouble reining herin.
Tell him to apologise, sheseethes.
“She wants you to apologise,” I explain. “She feels that you insulted herson.”
Húnn holds up his hands in deference. “No insult intended. Until a moment ago, she believed him to be dead. And if the story is true, then she should probably be grateful for that. I don’t think being called back from the dead to serve some evil guy is a nicething.”
Alis goes quiet. Then despair, bottomless despair seeps through our bond and I feel tears pooling in my eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such sadness. I sink to the ground, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. The border between Alis and me is getting blurred, her emotions becomemine.
Her son. Our son.Suffering.
I want to comfort her, but her pain is my pain. I don’t have any comfort to give. I’m so sad. Breathing is becoming harder. Living is hard. Existence is pain. I’ve lived for so long and it’s been nothing butsadness.
“Isla, you need to shut herout.”
A voice close to my ear. Torben. He puts a hand on my shoulder and through the haze and sobs, I can feel the bond between us. It’s like a light in the darkness, beckoning to me. I use it as a rope to drag myself out of Alis’s despair and back into my own mind. As soon as I feel the distance between Alis and me, I slam up my barriers, shutting her out as much as Ican.
