Chapter 3

It was late and Rani, hands shoved deep into the pockets of her overcoat, hurried along the mostly deserted back-streets. She shivered, teeth chattering involuntarily. Damn it was cold tonight, the chill breeze seemed to slice straight through her! In hindsight it would've been more comfortable to accept her brother's offer of a lift but, much as she loved her family, after a few hours immersed in their colourful bustle Rani found she needed the half-hour or so of solitude as she made her way home. The small woman grinned to herself, being with 'tink had shown her the value of quiet, and stillness.
      Rani swung into another street, the one that ran along the edge of the old cemetery, to inexplicably falter to a stop. She shivered again with a prickle of dread then frowned, squaring her shoulders. This was ridiculous, it wasn't like she hadn't walked past the cemetery hundreds of times before, on darker nights than this. There never was, never would be, anything to fear here. Rani grimaced, except perhaps for the loonies who hung around in cemeteries waiting for spooky stuff to happen - but those tossers had never given her cause to be this... uneasy. She glanced back the way she'd come; it was possible to get home another way but it would add another ten minutes to the journey. Telling herself not to be ridiculous – it was too cold out tonight to muck around anyway - Rani decided to keep going. She couldn't convince herself though, to completely disregard her irrational fear and walk along next to the fence so she compromised, crossing to the other side of the road where the heavily graffitied brick walls of the disused factory presented a blank, windowless face to the graveyard.
       Rani refused outright to run but there was a certain amount of haste to her steps until something anomalous caught her attention. Slowing again, she peered into the deep-shadows between two street lights. There was something wrong with the fence... Scalp crawling, the small Hindustani woman realised what she was looking at. There was a hole in the cemetery fence – a big hole – but the way the chain mesh was twisted... It looked like something had blasted out of the graveyard.
      Eyes wide, thoroughly spooked, Rani turned preparing to drop all dignity and run when a shape appeared to flow out of the darkness to materialise in front of her. Licking her lips nervously, Rani looked up and up, into the carbuncled face of something that couldn't exist. Leathery lips cracked open into a leer as a massive, clawed paw reached for her.
      "Pretty."
       Rani gaped – had the thing just spoken? The grinding rumble issuing from its mouth almost sounded intelligible. She gasped, shocked and outraged, her wayward attention snapping back to what laughingly passed for reality at the moment when the... thing hooked a finger into the neck of her coat. Buttons flew in all directions as the garment was casually sliced open. Rani stumbled backwards into the wall, clutching the edges of the material around her, realising on a very deep, instinctive level there was nothing she could do. Terrified, whimpering, Rani squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to look at the creature that was pawing roughly between her legs...
      Another voice, equally coarse, sounded close by and there was a sudden shock of cold air against Rani's groin as the creature whipped its hand away. Still trembling, the young woman opened her eyes a slit to see a tall, willowy figure, a blaze of bright silver hair floating around its face. Still wary, Rani squinted, trying to get a good look at the second figure. It could possibly be human-shaped, though it was hard to tell, the dark clothes billowing around it seemed to blend into the shadows, blurring its outline. But there was no mistaking the gleaming sword held competently in its left hand, nor the annoyance the newcomer's appearance had engendered in her attacker.
      The monster growled something, and was answered, the silver-haired interloper's incomprehensible reply tinged with contempt. The monster roared, making the pavement shake, and spread its rubbery, battered looking wings wide. Rani gawped, disbelieving – it had wings? With a massive down-beat of air the creature leapt into the air, claws extended towards the second figure – who suddenly appeared in front of the bemused woman.
      "Run, you idiot!"
       Rani stared into blistering silver eyes, then bolted, coat flapping about her legs as she pounded along the roadway towards home. At the corner she paused, unable to resist a quick glimpse backwards. It was like a snapshot, a moment frozen in time: the second figure leaping in to the air, blade arcing towards the nightmare.
       Rani kept running.

Sobbing, the young woman fumbled for her keys, shock and reaction making her clumsy. Rani got the door open and stumbled in to the illusionary security of the flat. It was dark, and empty – Katinka wasn't there. Rani stood trembling in the middle of their tiny space, unnaturally indecisive. Eventually she forced herself to move, to switch on the lights.
       Where the hell was 'tink? Rani gnawed a fingernail, a sudden surge of fear making her whimper. Was her lover out there, with that… thing… roaming around?
      There was a noise. Rani squeaked, spinning towards the opening door of the flat, big brown eyes wild above her hands pressed over her mouth.
       "Oh good, you're back," Katinka smiled at her. "How was your evening?" The artist was carrying a half-full calico shopping bag. "What's the matter?" Katinka let the bag fall as she dived towards her small lover, enveloping the shaking woman in a tight hug.
       "I can't – I can't say." Rani whispered hoarsely, her face pressed into Katinka's breasts. Now she was safely at home, with 'tinka, the past half-hour felt unreal. A horrible delusion.
       "What is it, Rani? Tell me!" Katinka pulled back, grey-blue eyes widening at the state of the woman's coat. "What happened? Did someone hurt you?"
       "I – can't explain." Rani's teeth were chattering. To try and explain would be to give the nightmare form and - it couldn't possibly have happened.
       "Tell me," Katinka insisted gently, "I'll believe you, whatever it is."
       Rani barked out a harsh laugh.
       "I don't want you to believe it – I don't want to believe it!"
       "Wait here," the artist locked and bolted the door, then returned to ease Rani's coat from her shivering form. She took the small woman by the hand and led her over to the couch. "Sit," Katinka pulled her lover down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, holding one of Rani's cold hands in the other. "And tell me what happened."
       Rani gnawed on her bottom lip, still undecided, then she took a deep breath.
       "This is going to sound insane – "
       Katinka nodded encouragingly but said nothing, waiting. Rani took another breath and slowly, haltingly, described the events outside the cemetery...

"So you see?" Rani's laugh was tremulous, "it couldn't possibly have happened. It was all a figment of my imagination, probably brought on by a surfeit of curried potatoes."
      Katinka gave her a small smile, and stroked long fingers over a plump, cinnamon cheek.
      "I think you rely too much on your 'rationality'."
      "What?" Rani pushed the fingers away and glared at her lover. "Are you insane? What I've just told you couldn't have happened. Monsters – demons, they don't exist! There has to be a logical explanation for what I saw."
      "Why?" Katinka tipped her head to one side.
      "Why?!" Rani exploded off the couch. "Because – because - just because!" Because if that monster was really real then she'd be too scared to ever set foot outside of the flat again. Fuming, Rani glared down at the artist. "If there isn't a rational explanation, then what happened actually happened and as a sane, reasonable civilised person I refuse to accept that."
      Katinka's fine, pale eyebrows came together in a slight frown.
      "But you used to believe in demons, and gods – "
      "When I was child! Folklore, fables, morality tales designed to promote unthinking obedience in an illiterate underclass!"
      The artist grinned.
      "That's your textbooks talking."
      "And they're right!" Rani growled. "Anything that can't be scientifically – rationally – explained is the product of an unbalanced psyche."
      Katinka sighed, appearing to Rani for a moment, a little sad.
      "Perhaps it was a psychotic episode brought on by your mother's cooking," her lips lifted in a small smile, "but, well, whether it happened or not it's in the past." The artist's smile broadened, reaching her eyes this time. "Get into bed and I'll make you a cup of cocoa."
      Rani nodded, sighing herself and rubbing a hand over her eyes.
      "Yeah, thanks, 'tink. I'm very tired." She smiled hopefully at her lover, "Will you come to bed straight away too?"
      "Sure," Katinka smirked gently; Rani didn't want to say she wouldn't sleep unless the artist wasn't there, but the fear was easily read in her eyes. "And if you like I'm sure I can even think of a way to exhaust you..."
      Rani laughed, a step closer to her old self, and bent down to kiss her lover.
      "Thanks."
      She frowned, pointing to a small blob of dark goo high up on Katinka's cheek. "What's this?"
      "Eh?" the artist wiped her finger across the spot, then stared at the unwholesome grey-green stain on her finger. "This?" She shrugged, absently wiping her hands on her jeans. "I was mixing some paints earlier."
      "Okay." Rani's nose wrinkled, she had cause to be intimately familiar with most of Katinka's materials and this didn't look like any paint she'd seen before.
      "Get into bed, woman," the artist laughed, her light touch across Rani's breast instantly distracting her, "I'll be along shortly..."

Early the next morning, and cursing herself for a fool with every step, Rani made her way back to the cemetery. This side-trip meant she was going to be late for her first class but dammit she had to confirm – or deny – what happened to her on the way home from her parents.
      Katinka had been wonderful last night, wrapping her so securely in warmth and loving affection Rani'd slept remarkably well. No dreams to speak of and the small woman had woken up feeling refreshed, relaxed and calm. It was in that positive frame of mind she'd made the decision to retrace her steps, so, brushing the lightest of kisses over the still-sleeping Katinka's cheek Rani had quietly let herself out of the flat, turning right instead of left at the building's entrance.

Rani paused at the street edging the cemetery, unable to bring herself to peer around the corner formed by the brick wall.
      This was ridiculous!
      She scowled at herself, squared her shoulders and turned the corner.
      At first glance there was nothing to indicate anything out of the ordinary, except...
      Almost tiptoeing, Rani crept down the street to where the wire fence seemed to bulge out a little. She frowned – it certainly didn't have the exploded look of last night, but something had come through there at some point. There was a long, vertical slit in the mesh that had been roughly 'sewn' together with another piece of wire. Too curious to do otherwise, Rani walked right up to the fence, running her fingers over the join. The wire at the perimeter of the bulge had a strange kink in it, as if – Rani shivered – the mesh had been forced out of shape, then someone had tried to bend it back.
      Covering up the extent of the damage?
      She stumbled backwards in alarm as the breath froze in her throat, almost falling when the heels of her boots slipped off the curb she'd unthinkingly been backing towards.
      Holy shit.
      Breathing rapidly, Rani tore her eyes away from the fence, casting about for something, anything, some scrap of evidence she hadn't imagined it all.
      A tiny, sullen gleam from amongst the leaf litter at the opposite curb had her on hands and knees, scrabbling through the debris until her fingers closed around a square, rather garish gold-coloured plastic button – one of the buttons that had been torn off her coat.
      Stunned, Rani fell backwards to land on her bottom on the cold asphalt, a dim, lonely rational part of her brain yelling at her to get off the road before a car came.
      "Run, you idiot..."
      The student's head jerked up at the remembered voice sounding roughly in her memory. There was something about the second figure here in the street last night, Rani belatedly realised, something about their face, or posture...
      Her rescuer had been a woman - a silver-haired woman who spoke the monster's language and wielded a sword left-handed.
      Was she a monster too, even though she looked human?
      How many monsters were there?
      Rani scrambled up off the road, absently shoving the recovered button into the pocket of the denim jacket she'd borrowed from Katinka's rack of clothes and set off determinedly back the way she'd come. Stuff classes, she was heading straight for the library, the psychology department had an extensive collection of mythology and legends – it was as good a place as any to start the research...

© 2004 January 25^th Lutra


On to Chapter 4

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© 2004 WordWrights