IGMS Issue 44 Read Online Free Page A

adventures of Natta and Vitulus in the May issue of
IGMS
.



 
Look After Your Brother
     
    by Holliann R. Kim
     
    Artwork by Dean Spencer
----
    At the base of jagged blue mountains rising out of the morning mist, Three inspected the new prisoners, who were learning to work in the fields.
    Four patrolled the main prison gate, her paws making prints in the dust.
    Five sat near the gingko trees on the eastern border, eyes half-lidded, nostrils flaring at the scent of pine blowing down from the mountaintops.
    Watching through their eyes, I leaned back in my rickety wooden chair and took a sip of tea.
    One of the newcomers in the fields, a woman just out of girlhood, turned in the corner of Three's vision. Something about her chin, the flash of her eyes . . .
    My hand jerked violently. Tea splashed across my lap. I set the sloshing teacup on the table and wiped my palms against the rough cloth of my shirt before instructing Three to move closer.
    When I was first imprisoned here in the camp, I mistook strangers for relatives or friends nearly every week, but that yearning for the past had faded long ago. This too was probably nothing, just another memory surfacing like a bubble from the bottom of a lake, but I had to make sure.
    Three stalked closer until he was only a few feet away. The girl pretended not to notice the wolf, but the muscles on her back tightened as she pulled a bunch of carrots from the ground and shook the dirt loose.
    I concentrated on her face until the teacup in front of me faded away, replaced entirely by Three's vision.
    The resemblance to my younger brother's wife was unmistakable.
    My chest tightened, suddenly finding it hard to inhale. Could this girl be Ah-ni's younger sister? No, she would be too old by now. Maybe a niece, or a cousin?
    I instructed Three to keep watch on the girl, and Four and Five to continue their own surveillance. Then I concentrated on the teacup again until my wolves were only dim nudges in my mind and I was back in my tiny, windowless room in the guardhouse, with its single flickering
supai
stone
lamp.
    To still my shaking hands, I tried smoothing back my hair and realized it had become matted. My chin was scratchy and unshaven, and my skin had grown furrowed with wrinkles and scars like the hills near the capital where I had once lived. If the girl was anything like Ah-ni, she could forgive my rough appearance. But would she forgive me for becoming a Sneak Lord?
    The door creaked open. "Cha-be, check."
    "Check," I replied automatically, and the door clicked shut. The guards didn't even bother coming inside my room anymore. I never gave them trouble in all these years.
    I let my mind drift back into Three, watching the girl. So strong was my desire to contact her that it bled over into Four and Five, and soon she was encircled by all three wolves. Other prisoners pointed and whispered, but she didn't seem to notice until Five tentatively licked the back of her arm. She sprang back, yelling, and I pulled my wolves away, still keeping her within eyesight.
    I needed to talk with her. The yearning was so strong, it felt as if my ribcage would pull me toward her by itself. It had been so long since I'd seen a friendly face.
    But what if instead of a smile, I got a sneer? My hopes had been dashed against the rocks so many times, I didn't know if I could take it again.
    I inhaled deeply to draw in strength, then coughed, choking on the spicy tang of
supai
stone
dust from the nearby mines. I needed to face this like a man. Or at least the man I had once been, rather than what I had become.
    Knocking twice to let the guards know I was coming out, I opened the door, planning on giving a line about needing to use the toilets.
    As I stepped into the hallway, the words died on my lips.
    I blinked, and all three wolves blinked with me. First the girl outside had looked like Ah-ni, and now the man talking with the guards strongly resembled my younger brother, Giup-yo.
    Often