Chapter Three: Like the Slipping Sands of the Hourglass
"A…Aignéis?" Kitty repeated shakily, not taking her eyes off of the big man but definitely backing up a few feet. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, my name's Kitty, not Aignéis. That's the star I was born under, not my name." Behind her, Kitty heard her mother let out a small, sobbing cry. She turned around to look at her. "Mom…?"
Tears shimmered in her mother's eyes as she clutched and tissue to her face. "Oh, Kitty…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…we were going to tell you, but we had no idea that the Rising would be happening so soon…" Her sentence was choked off as the tears spilled down her cheeks. Her husband patted her on the shoulder. He was looking around as sorrowful as his wife did. Even Kitty's brothers and sisters looked as if they knew something that she did not know. Her grandfather had his back turned towards the lot of them, leaning against the doorframe and shaking his head slowly. Kitty began to feel panic seep its way into her mind, making her shiver.
"Can someone please explain to me what is going on?" Her mother only cried harder. "First of all, who are you, why are you here, and what do you have to tell me?" She demanded of the big man, swallowing her fear of him.
The man rose to his feet and Kitty realized how big he really was; all of her anxiety came back in a rush. He was almost head and shoulders taller than her father and at least twice as wide. Even through his thick traveler's cloak she could see the thickly roped muscles of his arms and legs. "I have not come here to tell you that." He said coldly. "I have come here to take you to Queen Mystique. She has requested your presence."
"Qu-Queen Mystique?" Kitty stammered, terrified. "What does she want with me? I…I won't go!" All the stories that Kitty's mother had told her children when they were young came flooding back in a rush. Although the land that Kitty's family had lived this land for years for generations, there had never really been any true ruler; no king, no queen, no definite monarch of any sort. And then, one day out of the blue when her parents had been children, Queen Mystique showed up and occupied the abandoned castle that had been built hundreds of years ago in the heart of the Deadcliff Mountains. No one knew for certain if she was a Queen before she arrived, that she merely bestowed the title upon herself, but no one questioned her decision. Almost immediately she formed a small army whose troops would patrol the lands, looking for anyone who stirred up any sort of suspicious trouble to drag them back to the palace by the roots of their hair. It was fabled that anyone who disappeared into the massive stone edifice were never seen again.
"You do not have a choice, Aignéis. I have been sent by the Queen herself to retrieve you. Now come along and there won't be any trouble." The man took a step forward. Kitty stepped two back. She bared her teeth defiantly.
"Who says I don't have a choice?" She hissed. Even though her mask of unyielding anger held strong, she could not deny that she was still backing away, now grabbing onto the back of a chair for support. "What if I don't want to go?"
"You have no choice." The big man said again, continuing his advance on her. Kitty was now pressed up against the kitchen wall, temporarily forgetting about her newfound powers. Her courage was failing her, and fast. Her mind slowly began to reel with fear; not from the man, but in fear of being brought before the Queen.
"Kitty, please…" Her mother begged. Tears streaked her pale face. It was then that Kitty realized that not one of them had made a move to defend her. "Just go with the man. Don't make this any more difficult than it already is…"
Kitty whirled to face her mother, not believing her ears. "Mother! How could you! You mean that you're just going to…"
"We're wasting time. Come, Aignéis. We must go now." It was not until he was within reaching distance of her that Kitty realized how close the man was. Her mind snapped back to a state of reality and screamed at her to run, and without a second's hesitation, she obeyed. Before the man had a chance to respond, Kitty dashed out of his range and bolted across the kitchen, heading for the back door. Despite the fear that was racing in her mind, the memory of her newfound powers was sparked again in her mind. She reached through the cloud of panic and sought for the feeling of nothingness, the feeling she had when she passed through the walls of the barn. The cold, refreshing feeling washed over her just in time as she vanished through the wall of the farmhouse.
"You won't escape me that easily, Aignéis." The man growled. He clenched his calloused hand into a fist and with the sound of medal sliding against medal, the metallic claws came unsheathed of his knuckles. Not even the screaming pleads of Kitty's mother nor the desperate attempts of her brothers trying to rush him could stop him from running out the back kitchen door in persuit of the terrified girl.
The rain and wind hit Kitty in the face like a cold slap as she passed through the wall of her home as easily as if it was not there, out into the farmyard beyond. The sudden appearance of her scared Audie from where she was sleeping in near the door. Once Kitty's feet were planted firmly on the ground, slick and cold with mud, she ran. She did not know where to, did not care; all she knew was that she had to get away. Her feet slapped against the ground, soaking the hems of her pants and the cold rain plastered her hair to her head, the cold air making her throat and lungs burned, but she did not care. She had to get away, away from the house, from her family, from the man. If she stayed, then she would have found herself eventually face-to-face with Queen Mystique. Gods, the Queen!
Over my dead body. Kitty thought fiercely as she continued to run. She soon found herself heading to the one place that stood in her path; the barn. A part of her told her that that was a foolish move. It would be the first place that man would look for her, but Kitty knew of hiding places that even her own brothers could not find. It was worth a shot. She was not going to go down without a fight. Not even bothering to stop to catch her breath, Kitty ran straight towards the barn, embraced the nothingness, and passed through the rough wall to the inside of the old edifice.
The barn was still dark, still smelt of stale straw. All of these features seemed to become more prominent in Kitty's exhaustion, but she wasted little time in catching her breath. She looked about quickly, thinking of the best possible place to hide so the man could not find her. If he could not see her outside, then the barn would be the first place that he would look. She had to think, fast. A thought flashed through her mind; there was a space in the wall between the shelves that they used to place the saddles and saddle blankets for the horses, near one of the very furthest walls and corners of the barn. The space was so small that Kitty knew that she was the only one who knew about it since she was probably the only one who could ever had fit into it. With all the shadows that surrounded the rack, even on a sunny day, it was sometimes hard to spot the crawlspace. Kitty forgot how she found it, herself, but that did not matter.
She dashed across the length of the barn, startling the cows and horses, running over to the saddle rack. Was she too big to fit into the space? It was looking awfully small. She had not been back here for years; she may have been too big to fit. But this was no time to dwell on it; time was running out. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her back against the wall and eased herself into the space between the shelf and the wall. For a moment it looked like she was not going to fit, but when she exhaled her body fell through the tight space and into sanctuary. She drew her legs in after her. Now she was completely in the day. It was terribly cramped inside there and very hard to breathe, but maybe that was a good thing, as it would ensure her silence. She held her breath, only breathing when she dared to, and closed her eyes, remaining silent and waiting.
For what seemed like hours, there was nothing to be heard. Nothing moved in the dark, empty space of the barn except for the snorts and pawing of the horses and the cows rattling their large brass bells. Kitty wondered with a spark of hope that maybe he had given up, but she knew that that would not happen. She had never seen a man like him before, but she knew that he was the type that would not give up easily. The only other sound that broke the silence was the sound of the rain pounding on the roof of the barn and fat drops of water leaking in through the holes of the wooden roof that was in bad need of repair. Then…
The heavy wooden doors of the barn opened with a forceful bang. The horses whinnied and the cows mooed in shocked surprise, the pidgins that resided in the rafters took wing with sharp clapping noises and Kitty's blood ran cold. Cold air swept into the barn, but she did not notice. She only curled herself up into a tighter ball, shivering, waiting, and praying that he would not find her.
Heavy bootsteps crunched on the ground as the big man made his way into the barn, searching. She could tell by the slow and steady pace of his footfalls. The shivering became stronger and what little power Kitty had to try to subdue it failed. It felt as if even blinking would give her away. The footsteps became louder as the man got closer. Closer, and closer still. It felt as if he was almost right on top of her. Kitty squeezed her eyes together until they hurt. Then they halted. Kitty waited. Had he given up? He had to be at her end of the barn by now. Silence once again reined supreme. Then Kitty heard a sniffing sound, as if he was smelling the air for something.
The shelves that had her pressed against the wall was wrenched away violently, exposing Kitty's hiding spot. Somehow the man had found her, but it did not matter how now. The only thing that mattered was that he had found her, that her one attempt at trying to save herself had failed. Kitty jumped to her feet with a scream, shielding herself from the foot-long medal claws that were protruding from the man's hands at the knuckles. Her powers and all bits of courage were forgotten. She had made the man angry by denying him. Now he was going to kill her because of it.
"Please don't kill me!" Kitty pleaded, still trying to push herself back into the wall. She rarely let herself cry in front of strangers, but now tears had weald up in her eyes and were spilling down her face. "I…I'm sorry! Just don't kill me! Or take me to the Queen! She'll want to kill me too, I just know it!"
A sudden anguish grabbed hold of Wolverine's heart. He did not ever plan on killing the girl – it would have been his own head if he had – but the unsheathing of his claws reminded him of how close he was if he made the wrong move. When he had first seen the image of Aignéis in Mystique's spell, he did not like the idea of having to go after a little girl. It was only now that he realized how much he really despised it. He had no idea what the Queen wanted with these children, but he knew that it was nothing good. When she had in mind when the Full Circle was completed involved the black magic, he knew that much, and when innocent people were brought into issues with the vile stuff…he had seen results of it, and it was never anything good. He could not allow her to do that to these children. Sighing, he drew his claws back into his flesh.
"I'm not going to hurt you, kid." He said. Kitty looked at him through the crack in her arms, wondering if she should believe him. "Believe me, it's not my choice to bring you to the Queen, I was just ordered to."
Kitty sniffed, but slowly lowered her arms away from her face. "Wh-what does the Queen want with me?" She asked shakily.
"It might be better if you don't know. Believe me." He added harshly when he thought she would inquire further. "Well, this is a problem. Even if I don't bring you back to the castle, she will send someone else to, and this other guy won't be as lenient as I am."
Fear seeped back into Kitty's already deathly pale face. "Then…what should I do?"
Wolverine did not answer right he, but he thought quickly. No matter where he took her in this land, Mystique would find them regardless. There had to be somewhere that they would be safe from her claws, somewhere that she would not even dare to look…
The thought hit him like a lightning strike.
Xavier.
"Come on, kid." He said gruffly, motioning for her to follow. "I know where you can hide."
"Where?"
"In the realm of a sorcerer named Xavier."
Then he heard it, just as he knew he would. The low, baleful howling of the Deadcliff Wolves. "Come on kid, move. There isn't much time." This time he did grab Kitty's wrist and began to pull her out of the barn, back to her house.
"What? Why so soon?"
"The Queen won't wait for your return, nor my betrayal. We have to leave. Now. Go back into the house and pack only what you need. I'll get your horse saddled. Which one is it?"
"Th-the palomino." She answered shakily. It seemed hard to think, hard to respond since everything seemed to be reeling around her so badly. "Why? What's happening?"
"Don't you hear them?" Wolverine asked in a low voice. Kitty tried to control her heavy breathing and listened. Naturally, she did not heard anything, Wolverine knew this. They were too far away, but his keen senses knew exactly where the wretched creatures were, and that they were getting closer. If they stayed here, they would be at their throats within the hour. They had to move. "The Queen knows where I'm going to take you, and she's going to use all her power to try to stop us before we can get there. So I suggest you get moving before she has a chance to do that, Aignéis." Kitty did not say another word. She instead took off running for the house.
Forgetting about her powers again, Kitty threw herself at the kitchen door and opened it, letting it slam against the wall with a bang, startling her entire family that were still sitting in the kitchen. They all seemed surprised to see her again and all started talking at once, but Kitty did not waste any time. She did not know who these "they" the man spoke about, all she knew was that they were coming. And coming from the Queen, they certainly could not have been anything pleasant. She ran up the stairs at break-neck speed and into her room where she immediately grabbed a worn old leather traveling bag that was under her bed. Tearing open the drawers of her dresser, she began to throw in everything necessary that she needed for the journey, where ever it was, that is. Being so late in the year, it would be cold, so she at least stopped long enough to make sure that she wad taking one of her warmer cloaks. It was actually her grandmother's that fell into Kitty's possession when she passed away; it was made of tightly knitted wool that was waterproof and had a mink-fur trimming around the edges. Kitty had always loved it, and so it was given to her because Sarah felt as if it was too "underclass" for her standards. Nothing less than velvet would do for her thanks.
Kitty must have moved faster than she had thought, because by the time she was completely done packing her brothers had just run up the stairs and were at the door of the room that she shared with her sister. "Kitty!" Christopher gasped, obviously out of breath. "What are you doing? You had us all scared to…"
"Sorry Chris, no time to explain." She said hurriedly as she passed her way past them and headed back down the stairs, passing her father and grandfather and was about to bypass her mother if she had not grabbed onto her arm, making her stop and turned her so she was looking at her daughter face-to-face.
"Kitty! What is wrong?" Her mother demanded, tears still fresh in her eyes. "Please dear, I'm sorry! You don't have to go with him! We'll do everything we can!"
"There is nothing to worry about, ma'am." Said a deep voice from behind them. "No one will hurt her."
"How do we know?" Her mother snapped. "Please, you can't take her to the Queen! I know, I know we knew this was coming and had agreed to it, but you can't take her! I refuse to let her take her to that witch!"
"I'm not taking her to Mystique." Kitty could tell that the man's patience was wearing thin while he was trying to talk to the hysterical woman. "I am taking her to Xavier. He will keep her safe until the Full Circle is complete."
"And how do we know we can trust you?" Kitty's father asked, coming up behind his wife and daughter and encircling them with his strong arms as if trying to protect them from anything unexpected this man might try to do to them.
"By merely speaking Xavier's name, I have betrayed the Queen. Now she sees me as nothing but an enemy, as well as one of Xavier's men. Because of that, Aignéis is in even more danger than she was before. I must take her away from here before they come. She will be safe with him, and anyone who knows of Xavier's name must know of his reputation, correct?" Time was running out. The howls and screams of the Deadcliff Hounds were growing closer but the moments. They would be here in less than an hour. There was no more time to waste. As soon as he saw the briefest of nods from her parents he said gruffly, "Then we should go. Aignéis, come. We are running out of time." And he swept out of the room and out of the kitchen door, out into the driving rain.
As soon as he was out of sight both of Kitty's parents pulled her into a bone-crunching hug, taking all the wind from her lungs. "Forgive us, Kitty." Her mother whispered in a teary voice. "Never forget that we love you very much. You have always made us very proud."
"You will always be our little girl." Her father said, sounding as equally sorrowful as her mother.
Once her parents pulled away her brothers were not too far behind, and then finally her sister and her grandfather both said their farewells. Each goodbye became increasingly harder on Kitty. Her sudden departure was so unexpected that she did not yet feel the painful grip of sadness that one usually felt when they were leaving not even when she did not realize that she did not know how long she would be gone for. Would she ever see her family again? For as much as they drove her crazy sometimes, would she ever see them again? The sorrow began to creep into her heart but as soon as she saw the man's shadow over the doorway she remembered that they were on a tight schedule and pulled reluctantly away from her family. Throwing her cloak over her shoulders and trying hard not to look back, she headed out the back door.
By the time Kitty was outside, the man was already mounted on top of a huge black war horse, gripping the reins of Kitty's Palomino in one hand. Her saddlebag and a bedroll had already been strapped onto Tabby's saddle and the horse pawed at the ground irritably, apparently not happy that she had to stand out in the cold, driving rain. When the man's eyes fell on her she mounted quickly, gathering the reins in one hand and pulling the hood of her cloak tightly around her face with the other.
Wolverine frowned as the howls of the Wolves rose and fell again. Time was slipping away like the sands of an hourglass. He spurred his war horse into a trot and took off towards the forest, mud and water splashing up around its hooves as it ran. "Aignéis!" He called over his shoulder. "Are you coming or will you just stand there like easy prey?"
Kitty looked back sadly at her house one more time before kicking Tabby in the flanks, making her catch up to the big man's horse with little difficulty. "You know, if we're going to be traveling together, then you might as well call me by my real name. It's Kitty, not Aignéis."
"Very well." The man grunted, easing his horse into an easy trot with Kitty not too far behind.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"
The man sighed, looking as if she had just asked him something that he would rather not answer. For a moment she thought he was going to do just that, until… "Wolverine."
Kitty blinked. "That's your name? It sounds more like a codename to me. I mean, that's not the name you were born with, was it?"
Wolverine's face turned even more sour then before, looking as if he had just eaten something bad and it was taking a few minutes for it to register. "My name's Logan." He said finally.
"There." Kitty said with a smile. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
Wolverine looked down at the girl. For being as scared as she was just a short while ago, she certainly was in good humor. A small, awkward smile tugged at the corners of his lips, but if soon faded as he urged his horse faster at the howls of the Deadcliff Wolves drew ever nearer.
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To be continued…
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Sorry that took so long, guys. It will get better soon, I promise!
