A Path Through Destiny, Wolfheart [crime books to read .TXT] 📗

made sure you have everything you asked for.” She kept her face stone-passive. But the anxiety was clear in her eyes.
“Thanks. Lead the way, My Lady.” Aki understood when the time was to be formal. She wasn’t stupid.
Kasumi nodded. The cheetah demi shouted over her shoulder to the troops as we left. “Keep her at port and hunt when needed! Keep a guard posted and send the new cabin boy with a message if you need me.”
“Yes Captain!” They shouted in uniform.
Aki shivered.
“Are you ill?” Kasumi demanded. “Do you need more coats?”
“N-no. The air is tense.” She was almost frightened by the emotion in her eyes that her voice lacked.
“Tell me if you need anything. We’re still a few hours from the camp.”
“O-of course.”
And her lover and war leader led the way from the ship to stand beside the troops. They were getting on sleds with large white and black dogs.
“I hate dogs.” Aki heard her leader-lover mutter.
I agree fully.
But she hailed down a man and had a team brought to them. After glaring at the alpha until he looked away, Kasumi helped the priestess into the sled. “Stay on the sled.” She ordered. “And hold on tight.” Then she got on and gave a shout. The men and their dog team rushed into the failing light.

It was around midnight when Aki picked up the scent of lion’s blood. The dogs stopped abruptly and refused to go on, snarling even at the masters they were loyal to. Kasumi growled in exasperation and directed the human soldiers to follow her. They all obeyed easily, all too accustomed to submission.
She pulled Aki down and kept her close as they drew nearer to the camp. Aki could feel a wave of sorrow; confusion and grief engulf her as they spotted the tents.
The humans who greeted them around the boarders were large and dark skinned. They were mostly male, as the Leon worked.
The women will be here hunting. I wonder how they’re fairing, without their natural forms…
“Commandant Kasumi!” One of the guards sounded amazed – and pleased. “We didn’t expect you for a few more days!”
“I’ve brought relief.” Kasumi said formally. She waved to the troops falling in line. “And my Priestess, Akira, is here for the injured and dead. She will lead a ceremony first.”
“Thank Gaia!” A new voice sounded across the ice from the camp. A tall, broad shouldered man appeared. His eyes were full of fear and he reeked of it. “She blesses us with her light!”
Kasumi stepped up to him. “You are the second in command here, I assume?”
“Indeed I am. Regneric at your service; it is an honor to be in your presence.” He bowed to Aki formally when she stepped forward.
“While we discuss incorporating the human troops and saving this mess, she must see to your wounded. Tonight, we’ll hold a Ceremony of Last Rights. Gaia will welcome her children home…”
“Of course.” Sadness touched his bronze gaze. “The Commandant is the worst. See to him first, Priestess Akira.”
A woman appeared. She was lean and agile, her body lithe and scarred. Aki took one last look at Kasumi before following her. She could hear the Ambassador work her magic already.
“You’ve done a fine job thus far keeping the camp guarded. Perhaps these Jap mages can add some magic to your defenses…”
She will undeniably make a leader out of that man. And from what I’m seeing, he’s not far from it…
When she reached the tent with the injured and was shown to a large black Lion, Aki felt a shiver run down her spine. She immediately began to work. He was too thin, and there were gashes bound so they didn’t stop the blood. Infection was set in, and she could smell illness. Not only did she re-bandage the wounds with a mixture of comfrey and marigold, she also covered the Lion up and fed him a mediated meat broth, adding sage and borage. Next, she told him to drink feverfew and catmint tea in hopes of reducing fever and ridding him of the on-coming repertory illness.
I may have to do more…I may have to heal with magic. But…what if Kasumi is injured…? I must stay fit and strong!
As he drifted off to sleep, Aki said a prayer over him and moved on to the next worst case. He was young, and his wounds weren’t as terrible. But they, too, needed treatment. As the Priestess waded through a sea of injured Lion Demis, she wondered how her fearless leader was handling the second in command.

******

Kasumi watched again as the mages demonstrated their power. Walls of fire raged with amazing winds long enough for waves of once-snow water quelled them. The rivers were directed with moving boulders, which were sealed back in place quickly.
“They’re excellent.” The general told her with a smile. “Great for guarding the camp – and if they can handle guns, then perhaps they may be able to help the women hunt!”
“They’re soldiers, not hunters.” Daichi told him. Kasumi flicked her ear in irritation.
To the Demi people, there wasn’t much difference.
“I see.” Regneric sounded edgy and confused. “I thought I saw women…”
“Women are excellent mages, with more open minds. They do know how to handle a gun though…”
Kasumi nodded and signaled for the soldiers to pull out their weapons. They were armed in a second, but didn’t move.
This is going to become irritating.
“They have to be told to fire?” She asked irritably.
“Yes. Don’t your troops?” Daichi sounded a little surprised. Though he was tense and anxious, even the human was calmer than the second in command to their left.
“No. They are smart enough to know what an enemy is.” She retorted; her voice was laced with honey.
Daichi ignored it and gave the command to fire through a walkie-talkie.
Humans are still obsessed with those things?
Like robots, the soldiers pointed at targets and fired. Their aim was well and true, though not as impressive as their magic.
“They’ll do, right?” The Lion Demi asked anxiously, looking over at Kasumi.
This can’t do.
“Daichi…get them food and rest. Set camp around the boarders of the Leon camp.”
“Why?”
“You’ll have to guard the camps alone tonight.”
“What?” He actually sounded angry.
Kasumi sighed. “We’re sending the dead to Gaia tonight. We won’t fight until dawn. That’s the end of it.”
The mage saluted with a look of distaste on his face and began to order the troops. Why he had come along still eluded her. Soldiers weren’t loyal to anybody in particular.
They aren’t real warriors, after all.
“What’s wrong, Regneric?” Kasumi demanded, bringing her mind away from the humans. “Why are you looking to me for the decision of your own people?”
“I’ve never been in battle before, and know nothing of the Japanese. I worry for the Lions around me. Most of all, I worry for our leader. He’s a man of great honor and skill in battle…”
“And your father, correct?”
The Lion bowed his head. “Indeed, Kasumi, Leon is my father.”
“Then what do you have to worry of? Aki is caring for him. She will pray for your dead, and tomorrow will be a blood bath the Russian Empire will never forget.” The Ambassador put a delicate hand on his shoulder. “But in order for that to happen, Regneric, you must prove that you are your father’s son and lead your people into battle. It is in your blood. Prove to us all that you deserve the position you were born to hold.”
His fear slowly eased as she spoke, though it didn’t completely go away. The terror in his gaze slowly became determination, however, and Kasumi knew she’d gotten through.
Though there will always be fear in his heart, he will work hard to keep them alive. Leon will be proud. As long as Aki can keep the old Lion alive long enough to see his son’s eyes gleam with pride and hear his people roar in victory one more time, that is.

“Blessed be the Breath of the Goddess.” Aki’s voice wrapped around the silent camp; it seized the attention of those around her. Kasumi watched as she walked around in flowing green robes. “The Light of Her gaze is upon us. The Eye of the Sea opens full to welcome the souls of the Lost.”
Candles that puffed out sweet-smelling smoke surrounded the outskirts of the camp. Standing just inside them were Lions in their half-forms. Their heads were raised to the full moon.
“She who gave us Life…”
Bodies lay in every form, eyes closed and laid so they appeared as if they were asleep. The scent of lavender and sage emitted from them. Beside each head was a single candle that burned off the scent of oak leaves.
“And She who takes it…”
As Aki walked the camp in her robe of ceremony, she bent down and touched each body. Kasumi heard her pray to each one, then blow out the candle flame. As her hand moved away from each and the flames flickered out, a small glow followed it. Soon, many white wisps danced around her like lost dogs.
“Blessed be those who walk Her path…blessed be those who Die at Her feet…”
Feeling hallow, Kasumi lifted her violin and began to play. It was a song, slow song. Anger and sorrow gripped her very soul as the Ambassador watched Aki begin the Dance of Death. The souls followed her every movement, which matched the violin’s rhythm exactly. Flutes and African drums beat with her instrument, adding an eerie tone to the music and tears to Kasumi’s eyes. The memory of those drums...it was the memory of the death of her parents…
Something made Mother scream. She threw me into a reed-choked stream. I heard snarling and laughing. Swords clashed. I brushed past the weeds and froze to see my mother fall into a pool of blood. A huge scaled half-human winged beast stood over her bloodied body. I froze. It sniffed the air and tensed.
The souls slowly disappeared, as if swallowed by the very shadows. There were less and less, until the dawn’s rays began to creep above the horizon and there were none. The drums died down, and the memory slipped away.
The Demis stood and came to stand one by one before Aki, taking her hand and bowing their heads. They made a gesture that showed reverence, gratitude and grief. It showed she was their Priestess, that she was the road to Gaia.
Only Kasumi, however, saw past her gentle words and smile. Only her lover saw Aki’s tears, held back in glistening amber eyes. And only the Priestess of the Cheetah Demis saw the tears that ran down the powerful war leader’s pink, human cheeks.

Chapter Seven
A Meaningless Victory

The smell of smoke and sound of crumbling earth split Kasumi’s ears, even from several miles away. The Commandant paced, furious that she’d been forced to stay behind. Daichi was at the table, sipping hot tea that Aki had brought him. He was calm and attentive.
“Stop pacing. It’s not like they’re your troops.”
“So? I was to lead them, no? Why aren’t I with them?”
He sighed. “You’re a leader, not a warrior.”
“Where I’m from, that’s the same damn thing!” She snapped. “What warrior would trust their lives to a man or woman who can’t lift her own blade and die