Hybrid

Chapter One

Chapter One

Semmendhold

Winter, 2110

The wind scattered her hair and the hard stones bit her feet as she ran. Snow danced in the air and the cold had her shivering despite her heavy winter coat. Katyia should never have allowed her friend to entice her away from the castle today, especially with the big party going on tonight. Her father would be displeased if she were late and God help her explain to Olivia why she wasn't on time. Her step-mother would enjoy punishing her.

She glanced sideways and saw some of the guard heading her way. She ducked behind the trees, her fingers grazing the magical ward that made up the wall separating their region from the infested outlands. Not a single spark travelled up her arm and she paused. Laying her hand flat against the barrier, she waited to feel the magic course through her. Nothing. Something was not right. There should be a heat signature, a magical fingerprint of sorts that told her the ward was still active. A faint pulse fluttered against her palm. Katyia knew what this meant. The magic in the barrier was dying.

Did her father know? He must, though. His magic was tied to the wall. Surely he felt it weakening. He had been clustered in his council room for the past month with his advisors. Recently, strangers had been seen going in and out of the castle. If he knew of the problem, it would reason he'd be actively working to find a solution.

The castle loomed just ahead, but she paused, torn. She needed to get inside before anyone discovered she was gone, but the barrier called to her to test it. If her father didn't know, then she should at least gather more information so she could bring her concerns to him. It was her duty as a daughter of Sector Three to protect its people. Even if the only ones who knew she could wield magic were her father and her oldest brother, Viktor.

Mind made up, Katyia started walking again. Keeping her hand flat against the wall, she felt for the magic. It was like a baby bird's wings beating beneath her hand, faint, but struggling to survive. Katyia moved away from the castle and just as she feared, the pulse became so hard to detect, she feared that if a Ravager wanted in, there would be no stopping one of the creatures. Perhaps that was why there were added guards on the walls closer to the castle and the main village?

She passed the bakery and then the market on the outskirts of the village. Calling it a town would be more apt, but Katyia always thought of her home as a village. The people and the structures were very quaint. She'd grown up playing in the town square, running through the markets, and causing her brother all sorts of headaches while they tried to keep her out of trouble. She loved her home and its people.

She stopped at the gate leading to the outside. The guards were changing shifts and it would be easy to sneak through and she needed to understand the breadth of the problem. Once she saw the guard walk down, she slipped out and hurried along the wall to the tree line. The beating pulse of the magic grew weaker and weaker. Glancing back once, she pressed her hand firmly against the invisible ward and began to walk, measuring the heartbeats of the magic.

Once she was out of view of the village gate, even the faint pulses stopped. For all intents and purposes, there was no barrier in this area. Alarm spread through her at this realization. Her eyes swept the countryside, the snowy mountains as unforgiving as ever. She shouldn't have come this far out of town. It wasn't safe, especially if the barrier wasn't working anymore.

Katyia slipped her dagger out. Not that it would do much good against a Raveger, one of the creatures that had overrun the planet and turned it into wastelands. Only the sectors guarded behind the barriers promised safety from the monstrous beasts. If the magic was failing, no one was safe anymore.