Viper's Creed (The Cat's Eye Chronicles) (2 page)

Lorianne collected samples of mucus from the back of his throat. “Strange,” she murmured, holding a vial up to the light of the window. “It's clear. No color.”

“What does that mean?” Sora asked.

Her mother glanced at her and spoke softly. “It means that he's healthy. His body isn't fighting an infection.”

The farmer's wife stood in the background, silently wringing her hands. She had the tough, weathered look of a woman who could work the fields. Her hair was tied up in a kerchief, her arms tight and sinewy.

Lorianne passed the farm wife a rag to hold up to her mouth. “This disease looks contagious,” she said gravely. “Be careful not to breathe in his air. Have you shared any meals with him? Laid in his bed? It's probably unsafe for you to be here. Can you step out of the room?”

The woman paled and nodded, and quickly left, closing the door tightly behind her. Sora glimpsed a small boy standing in the hallway, staring at them with wide eyes.

“Mom,” she said, turning back to Lorianne. “You said there's no infection. So how can it be contagious?”

“It's not,” she said, lowering the rag from her own mouth. “Something else is happening here.” She looked at Sora sharply. “This isn't a normal sickness, and I have my suspicions.... We need to use your Cat's Eye.”

“My... my Cat's Eye?” Sora paused. She touched the stone under her shirt. It hung from her neck on a silver chain. “But why...?”

“Because I think this is a curse.”

“A curse?”

“Yes. Here, touch his body. See if you sense anything.”

Sora hadn't used her
Cat's-Eye necklace
since arriving at her mother's house. She had always thought it was an old family heirloom, but a year ago, discovered it was far more than that—an ancient weapon from the War of the Races.

Truth be told, she didn't know a lot about magic, and neither did most people; it was all but myth now. But she had learned a lot since discovering the Cat's Eye. She raised her eyebrows slightly, wondering what her mother was getting at. She knew magic existed—had seen enough on her adventures to be sure of it—but a curse?

When Crash kidnapped her so long ago, he and his companions had taken her through the Catlin swamp, which was under a spell to keep out trespassers. Her necklace made it possible for them to cross the swamp and escape from Volcrian, the Wolfy mage who had hunted them. The Cat's Eye was not just a simple pendant—it was an old, old artifact, back from the time of the races, when the world had been at war. The necklaces protected the bearers from magic; ate it up like parasites, feeding off the supernatural energy.

“I'll try,” she said, and with only slight hesitation, reached out to touch the man's wrist.

Shhhhnnnnt!

Sora's hand snapped back. The immediate energy shocked her fingers and she heard the dim whisper of bells in the back of her mind, like a distant passing wagon. She shook her head slowly, trying to clear it. It had been so long since she had experienced magic, since she had felt the Cat's Eye awaken and move....

“Sora!” her mother exclaimed.

She looked up. Her eyes widened. The body of the farmer had gone rigid. As she watched, the man's eyes rolled back into his head, his mouth opened, and he suddenly sat bolt upright. His blind face turned toward Lorianne.

Then something dark gushed from the man's mouth. It looked like a dense river of black, slimy worms. The worms spewed outward, flinging through the air, projecting straight at her.

Her mother gasped, stumbling backwards. The worms landed all over her arms and chest, squirming left and right, climbing up her skin. They were looking for an opening, a path into the body.

Sora reacted instantly. She reached up, touching her Cat's Eye, summoning its presence in the back of her mind. Her ears began to ring in response, the urgent jangle of bells. The necklace rushed to life.

Then she lunged at her mother and wrapped her tightly against her body.
Please,
she thought fiercely,
protect us!
With a vicious crackle, the energy of the necklace enveloped both of them. The worms screamed—screamed! Small, buzzing cries, like mewling kittens. With another fizzle, they dispersed, vanishing into small puffs of smoke. Their energy was absorbed into the necklace.

Silence. The two women sank to the ground.

“What... what was that?” her mother asked, panting, obviously shaken.

They both turned to stare at the bed, where the old farmer was lying down, snoozing peacefully.

“I-I don't know,” Sora frowned. “But... the worms weren't real, they were magic. The Cat's Eye dealt with them. Could they... could they be part of the curse?”

Her mother nodded, slowly recovering. She finally dropped Sora's hands and climbed to her feet. Her eyes never left the bed. “Maybe... I've never seen anything like it.” She prodded Sora's shoulder. “You should touch him again, to see if the curse is gone.”

Sora glanced up at her mother. Gross! “Really?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “Why don't
you
touch him? That was disgusting!”

“I'm the one who got covered in worms!”

“Yeah, well, I don't want to be next....” Sora sighed. She knew she had to do it since her mother didn't have a Cat's Eye. So she stood up and crossed the room carefully, wiping her sweaty hands on her pants, wary of the sleeping farmer. Finally, she reached out a shaky finger and touched the man's wrist. It felt warm, dry... normal. She closed her eyes and sank deep into her mind, where the bond with the necklace resided. Mentally, she nudged it.
What is happening here...?

Wwwhuumph!
Instantly, darkness flooded her vision. Sora felt a jolt, but this time she resisted the urge to remove her hand. She let the Cat's Eye take her where it wanted to go.

It was as though she had been sucked into the man's body. She could suddenly feel his laboring breath, the stab of pain with each inhale, the heaviness of the quilt and an overwhelming nausea.
Hot, so hot....
Her eyes filled with images: a swarming darkness, like legions of insects, and a nasty, crawling sensation in her gut. Then the sound of a voice, low and lethal, murmuring against her ears.
Hushhh.

And then—something burst in her chest like a red hot boil. She took a sharp breath.
Hatred.
So much hate....

Fear stabbed her. The impressions were intense, close to overwhelming. She summoned the Cat's Eye and the light sound of bells met her ears—like a clinking in the wind.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a green light surrounding her hand. Like cool water, the power of the Cat's Eye flowed from her fingers, stretching across the man's fevered skin. Then she felt the necklace draw the heat into itself... slowly suck inward... until it pulled the fever inside, like water into a duct.

With a small burst of light and a final tinkle of bells, the Cat's Eye went silent.

Sora looked up at her mother. She felt winded... but strangely exhilarated. When was the last time she had dealt with magic? A year ago, to be sure, before Crash and Burn had left. She could feel the necklace more firmly now in her mind. She had almost forgotten the sensation, as though another person sat just behind her eyes. She hadn't realized it had grown so quiet. The lack of magic over the past year had made it dormant, sleepy.

“Well?” her mother asked.

“His fever broke,” Sora said. She knew this for a fact, though she had removed her hand from the farmer's skin. “It was... strange. As though he had been possessed by hatred. I don't understand it.”

Her mother nodded slowly, her brow furrowed. “I've been watching for something like this,” she said quietly.

Sora looked at her, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Now is not a good time to discuss it,” she said, glancing at the door, and Sora was certain that the farmer's wife stood just beyond, listening with an acute ear. “But I have noticed many animals acting strangely. Those chickens from three weeks ago were not just sick. They were attacking each other. Last week I saw the same thing with a herd of cattle. Only last night I saw four hawks collide in a battle over our house. There is something dangerous afoot here. I need to return to my library.”

Sora nodded, thinking of her mother's library back at the cabin, filled with thousands of books. She had only read a handful of them in the past year. The woman had spent her entire life collecting them; everything from children's stories to tales of the Wanderer, historical accounts of the War of the Races, alleged spellbooks, maps and geography.

“Let's go,” her mother said, packing up her supplies.

Sora nodded numbly, her hand traveling to the necklace under her shirt. The small, circular stone felt warm to the touch, as though she had dropped it in fire.

* * *

By the time they got back to their house, Sora felt like she had dropped her head in fire, too. The sun was high in the sky and harsh to her eyes; even blinking was a pain.

She staggered off her horse and walked to the house, eager to get away from the sun. Once inside, however, the headache only grew until her temples throbbed. She paused next to the doorway, one hand on her head.

“Are you all right?” Lorianne asked, worried.

“Fine,” Sora said. “A headache... I think I need to take a nap.” Perhaps using the necklace had affected her more than she had thought.

Her mother frowned and nodded. Then Sora dragged herself upstairs to her bedroom. It seemed like each footstep was twice as heavy as the last. For a moment, she thought she would collapse straight onto the floor, but she didn't want her mother fussing over her, so she forced herself up the narrow wooden stairs, down the long hallway and into her bedroom. She barely managed to close the door behind her, then slumped into a large, overstuffed armchair, too tired to make it to the bed.

What's wrong with me?
she wondered, pushing her head back against the soft chair and tightly shutting her eyes. Had she somehow caught the farmer's sickness? It couldn't be possible. Her Cat's Eye protected her from magic. It had been a curse, after all; not a disease. Certainly not contagious.

But she continued to feel more and more sick until she finally gave up, allowing her thoughts to fade into swimmy darkness. Maybe she needed a nap. That was it. Just a nap and she would be fine....

Chapter 2

She was standing in the field, looking down at Dorian’s cold, lifeless body. His eyes were glassy, empty, gazing up at her. She had buried her good friend a year ago, but she could still conjure up every curve of his face, the slope of his nose, his pointed chin and silver hair.

A peculiar shudder ran through her. She forced herself to look away, biting her lip until the pain made her concentrate on her surroundings.

The field was dead. The earth torn up, like great hands had dragged across it. A dense haze covered the dream, as though the very ground was rotten beneath her. The air stunk with the residue of diseased bodies. Chickens pecked across the surface of the earth, clucking and bickering with each other, their eyes like gummy red beads, their beaks black with infection.

She focused past that. In the distance she could see a figure moving, his form vague against the background of the swamp. She frowned, and as in the nature of dreams, lifted from the ground to glide smoothly over the fields, drifting steadily toward the strange figure.

She had to hover quite close to get a good look at the traveler, floating just above his head, and then she grew confused. Was it Dorian again, this time creeping through the trees? No, she had just left his dead body. Then who...?

A gust of wind swirled around the figure’s cloak, and a face turned in her direction. Sora’s eyes widened in fascination. His features were delicate, with the effeminate touch of a Wolfy mage. No, it wasn't Dorian, though the man was of the same race. His eyes were smaller, narrowed with malice and alight with cunning. His lips weren’t lush like Dorian’s, but thin and pale, set in a narrow line. His nose, though pointed, was obviously masculine, and his overall frame was broader and taller—still rather lean compared to most men. Sora felt an odd knotting in her gut at the sight of him, and some inherent dislike bloomed in her chest.

Everywhere he stepped, the grass turned brown, and his shadow spread around him like a pool of darkness.

He raised a delicate nose to the air and sniffed, his long ears twitching, then his head snapped around and his eyes looked right at her.

"Who watches?" he called. He stared at her—pierced her.

Then she was off flying again; the field disappeared in seconds. Acres of farmland swept by below her, the crops bent and withered, dying... then a small forest, then more dead fields until finally she crested a hill. Then she found herself overlooking a port city. She could hear the sound of people coughing, the moans of women and the cries of children. It seemed like a dark cloud hung over everything, as though the world had been thrown into a permanent dusk.

Sora got a good view of the houses and shops before she was soaring again, down through the streets, twisting and turning past flower stalls and brick walls, dirty cobblestones, the sun glinting off windows...then she arrived at the docks.