Part Two

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"You. Who are you?" Her voice was low and hard, accent utterly foreign. And Castian knew a lot of accents. The wind jerked at her long, black braid. Her loose, mottled clothing flapped about her. Her skin was a shade darker gold than the grass, and looked... Fuzzy? Yes, short fur covered it. And there, what he'd taken for tattoos on her forearms at first glance were intricate patterns made up of darker brown fur. Her eyes, sharply tilted and a green brighter than newly opened leaves were fixed upon him. Long ears twitched, the tips sticking over her hair. She held a long spear in one hand.

"What the hell are you?"

Maybe it wasn't the best thing to demand, under any circumstance, but definitely not when she was the one with the weapon. And he was the intruder. Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "I ask the questions here, World Killer." She leveled the spear at his face, tip flashing purposefully in the light. "You answer. Who, are you?"

World Killer. Castian bristled, despite of, or maybe do to the fact there was a spear in his face. Yeah, no, the spear wasn't helping his mood any. "Look girl, I have killed a lot of things, but the world it's one of them, so if you could just," he reached up and grabbed the spear shaft, right above the head, "get this the hell out of my face, that'd be totally great."

She hissed at him. Legitimately hissed. Then she yanked the spear back, slicing his hand in the process. Castian swore violently.

"Who. Are. You." She gave the spear a shake on each word, his blood spattering off it onto the grass. "Who."

"Castian Cortane, Prince of the Werefolk and seven demon kingdoms," he snapped, sarcasm almost dripping from the words. He rolled his eyes. Was she serious? Was this serious?

"You," she stuck the spear farther into his face, forcing him back as he tried to sit, "aren't a Were, and there are six demon nations, all subjugated." What... He... Fine, apparently she liked screwing with him back.

"Fine, I'm not. And we both know neither of those things are real. What the hell are you?"

She clicked her tongue in a sound of annoyance. No, disgust. "Ignorant World killing savage," she hissed, her sharp teeth showing for a moment.

"Me savage?" He laughed, putting a fingertip to her spearpoint. Damn, it was sharper than he'd expected. Castian put a shit grin on through the pain. "Honey, I'm not the savage here."

The spear pressed harder against his finger, breaking the skin. His grin stuck like a plaster, teeth bared. Then she pulled it back. Her face was in his before he could blink. Castian recoiled, head bouncing on the dirt. She grabbed his shirt front. "We don't keep your kind," she growl, jerking him up with her. God, she was strong. And taller than him by several inches, just enough that if she held her arm out he'd have to stand on his tiptoes. Castian knew this because it was the first thing she did. Then she shook him, hard. He clutched at her wrist with his good hand, snarling in the back of his throat. This alien piece of...

She stopped abruptly, pulling his face to hers. So close, he could see her fur ripple in the wind. Totally cool as hell, if she hadn't been strangling him with his T-shirt.

"What was that?"

"What?" he wheezed, flashing his teeth. She showed hers in return, and his definitely weren't impressive compared to their razor edges.

"You were thinking about me. What was it?" Her fingers tightened, despite the even tone of her voice. Another person who got deadly calm when they were mad. Just his luck. Just his stupid, pitching luck.

"Thinking," he pushed the word out past the knot of shirt and fist constricting his breathing. "I don't know what you... mean. How would you... know what I... was think."

Her hold loosened slightly, and he sucked in a tight breath, trying not to pant. Panting was undignified. Why did he keep ending up in such undignified positions? He had to stop doing this, it was taking unacceptable chunks out of his pride.

The girl brought their faces nose to nose with a sharp jerk, her warm breath wafting over his face as she breathed. Her face was small and humanoid, but not quite right. "Your aura changed to my color, so I know you were thinking about me, and..." Her nose wrinkled in disgust. Suddenly, he was on his back in the grass, staring up at a cloudless sky.

Castian struggled to get his breath back, gasping like a fish thrown not only out of the water, but into the damn fire pit. His wrist throbbed sharply. So much for healing. So much for dignity.

Sitting with a string of muttered curses, he looked at the girl. Gone. Just like that, she was gone. Crazy alien, no good, piece of--

Off to his right a growl rippled through the grass. He swiveled to face the sound.

She crouched a distance up the hill, fluttering clothing blending with the surroundings. Her teeth were bared, and her eyes were sharp slits of hatred.

"Leave." Her command carried over the distance, losing none of its edge. "Now. Or I will get the others, and we will drive you away."

Castian came to his feet. His head pounded from the repeated drops. Another thing that needed to stop. Dear God, talk about annoying and humiliating. He pointed at her with his good hand, blood leaked from the cuts on his palm. "You, are not making a particularly good impression for your race alien girl." Her fur rippled, and she shook her self.

"Begone, underworldling, return to whatever hell borne you." Seriously, who talked like this?

"Underworldling? I mean, points for originality, I guess."

She snarled, lip peeling back from her teeth. Okay, that was more intimidating than he'd ever admit. Castian felt his heart speed up with the primal instinct to flee. Humans might have lost a lot of animal instinct and intuition, but dammit if big cats weren't scary.

He took an involuntary step back. "Okay, Jesus, calm down." She stopped growling, but it was probably only because she had ran out of breath. Her eyes remained fixed on him, boring under his skin like knives. Castian backed away, refusing to let her out of his sight. You didn't turn your back to a viper, and he was pretty sure big freaking cat people evasion followed that same rules.

Stumbling over clods or dirt and holes in the ground, he made his way back from her. She'd leave right? Probably to go get the others she'd been talking about, then he could return to the spot his Warp hole was and get the hell out this place. She was almost out of sight when he saw the flash of movement and the girl vanished back up the hill. Castian knelt, waiting low in the grass for a count of one hundred and twenty, then he stood.

Nothing moved on the hillside. Cautiously he made his way back to where the Warp had thrown him. He would have been completely lost if it wasn't for the homing compass in his watched, linked to the opening, and the Field beyond. The Link clock said he'd been gone two and a half hours. How long had he lain unconscious? God, if she'd found him that way the damn girl would have probably slit his throat. Wonder if she heard that thought, he snorted, kneeling. The light on his watch had gone green; close enough for it to attach to the Warp hole. Or however it was exactly the thing worked. Something like that.

Castian moved to press his thumb to the spike under the clock face and froze. Something glinted dully in the grass at his feet. He crouched, picking it up. "Huh, kitty lost her jewelry."

The string of brightly colored beads clicked softly against each other making a sound that just felt like it belonged against the gently shushing of the grass and distant birdsong. It was like some far off song, in a language he didn't know. Castian looked at them for a moment more. There were six, each bead was a different and striking color, everyone had a unique size. Most were round, though there were too ovals seemingly thrown in at random. What made him shove it into his pocket might have only been spite. He told himself it was. She couldn't find something that had been plucked out of the time stream! Petty as hell, yeah, but he didn't care. That's what he told himself.

Castian pressed his thumb down on the spike, listening to the motor under it purr to life.

The last thing he thought before the world went every shade of green and faded away was, What the hell is an underworldling?

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And so concludes chapter four! I hope you liked it. Most of this part was dialogue, but I think it turned out alright. We met our first alien, who seems to be able to tell when you're thinking about her. What color do you think her aura is? I have a few ideas, but haven't decided. Castian probably taints it XD.

Consider a vote if you enjoyed, every one is special and helps others find my story. (It's also just an amazing feeling when you see So-And-So, a perfect stranger, voted on your chapter) And of course, feel free to comment! I like engaging, and almost always reply unless I lose the notification in a wall of others.

Chapter six part one will either be up tomorrow, or Monday unless something comes up.