by Kalyn Crowe
“Listen here, little Nardovino,” Gunnar said.
I cut him off. “Kat is more than capable of making sure we don’t run into or cause any issues.”
He scowled but considered my words.
Conrad pinched the bridge of his nose.
Kat cleared her throat and said, “Nancy is to help with the investigation. Even with her unofficial, we need to do a sweep of the Chimeras.”
Gunnar frowned and scratched along his stubbly jaw. "Fine."
Rhys wiggled his weight from foot to foot and didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. The horse's reins twisted in his hands.
“Is Rhys going to stay with us?” I said.
Kat appeared a bit surprised. “No, he's going with Gunnar and Conrad.”
“That’s too bad. I'm sure Rhys would like to help us clear the Chimeras of any suspicion.” I tried to wink like Nancy would, slyly.
Leyla silent giggled as we brushed past him.
Rhys touched his chin, near his lips, and lowered his hand.
I recognized 'thank you,' but didn't know the sign for 'you're welcome,' so I dipped my head.
I heard Conrad from behind. “What can I say? The rebel blood is thick in this family.”
“Kat?" said Gunnar.
She had followed us but stopped. “Yes?”
“If anything happens, we’ll be in the alleyways near the old HQ.” Gunnar stomped away and down the street.
Conrad followed, but Rhys paused with the horse.
I shot him a little wave like he had when I first saw him.
He nodded and followed Conrad.
Kat walked close to Leyla and I and said, “They're both too worried. Something is wrong.”
18 - Storms
Kat scanned the field. "Yesterday, the templars received several reports of those ill people."
"Maybe the Order will start to care," I said.
"High Lord Travere is trying to decrease the perceived iron fist of the Order. They aren't suspicious beyond looking sick. For once, the Order doesn't see a crime."
Leyla played with her collar.
I said, "They can care without arresting them. A Formist needs to see these people."
She hummed agreement. "Gunnar hopes Conrad will leverage the destruction of the Hunter HQ to press for further action. As if he should have to."
"Gunnar needs to be careful."
"You aren't wrong. There's something more to these ill people." She adjusted one of her pendants. "The man at your school, Abyss sick with Apex traces, too far gone for my help." Her eyes seemed distant for the first time, no longer the hawk.
"He looked lost before he died," I said.
Leyla watched and listened.
"He did." Kat blew out a heavy breath.
"It's not your fault he died."
She sighed and shook her head. "Anyway. The other Abyss attacker's corpses have had the same trace of Apex if they had a disk. It adds up that the disk imbues too much power and kills them."
We met eyes, and I said, "But?"
"It's just, in the last revolt, it wasn't like that."
I squinted and said, "Is that why people don't believe Sybil that these are the same disks?"
She shrugged and shook her head. "People sometimes choose to believe whatever is easiest to stomach."
I didn't know what to say.
Leyla nudged me and pointed at the hedge.
"Kat?" I said.
"Yes?"
"Is that were the Chimeras are?" I pointed with Leyla.
She rotated the ring on her finger. "In their coop, yes, but they normally don't sing this time of day."
I looked from the hedge to the barn and back. "We should see Odion first."
Kepi cooed high pitched from inside the bag.
"He's in there," said Kat.
We crossed the rest of the open field and approached the huge barn.
Kat leaned in as we entered. "There are no prying eyes in here. Only animals. I swept through the area myself." She patted Leyla on the shoulder.
She signed, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," said Kat.
The scent and shreds of fresh hay wafted around the barn interior. Specs of dust danced in the glow of channels of the sun from rows of skylights.
Kepi poked her head out.
Lanes of oxen chewed steady and slow. They looked impeccable with shiny clean coats and horns capped with brass. "What does the Order do with this many oxen? There is no export from the city, I thought?"
"There isn't. These are for war. The previous generation pulled trebuchets and ballistae into Abyss."
"I haven't seen any war-machines. Did those stay behind?"
"Some, others are in the warehouses a few blocks eastward, right on the edge of the city. Gunnar trains the staff and oxen by sending them to aid large construction projects."
We walked the curve of the half-moon-shaped intersection of wings.
Leyla looked eager to run down each, but Kat continued.
The rightmost wing held goats. Next, came the sheep. Pales and sheers filled a house-sized between the two. The current Order took the autonomy of Pinnacle seriously. This wing could produce enough meats and cheeses, let alone clothing, for the city for some time.
We passed the middle oxen wing. Donkeys stayed farther down. Yolks rested on thick pegs along one of the walls along with other appropriate tack and barding. Everything clean and brilliant. Inset metal Rays of Zirore glittered on each piece.
This utility area continued over to the final two left wings, filled with horses.
Leyla pulled me toward them.
As she did, Kepi sniffed the air and jumped from the bag. She bounded down the left horse wing.
"Hey, where are you going?" I said.
Leyla whirled around and followed her.
I took off after.
Kat caught up and then passed us. "She's going to see her friend."
Leyla's face lit up. She held her hand over her chest where she kept her scroll as she ran.
We ran past hay lined stalls with statuesque horses and even a contingent of camels. In another minute, we made it about halfway through the wing.
Kepi appeared as a golden speck in the distance. She waited in front of a stall next to the great door at the end of the wing.
Kat opened the stall door and waved for us.
I slowed to a walk.
Part of me worried whoever waited in the stall wouldn't recognize me. It made no sense, and that only made me worry more. I swallowed and stepped forward.
Only a hill of hay filled the stall.
I said, "Where."
A golden beak, the size of my head, poked out.
Kat clicked her tongue. "Odion, that's right; it's safe." She clicked some more and looked over. "I've never seen him come out so quick."
Leyla pushed me closer and gestured toward the hay. She pulled out her scroll and said, "Call him. Is it a 'him'?"
"We think so. The extraplanar creatures aren't easy to tell like a horse is." Kat watched the hay. "Maybe we've offended Odion all these years."
Kepi climbed to a handrail and cooed in an arched note.
More hay fell away, and a big black eye peeked out. A deep bellow answered.
I walked into the stable. Maybe it was my monster blood that made me bold again, but I said, "I think Odion is more lonely than offended."
Kat said, "It isn't that we haven't' tried to give him company. He does let Rhys feed him carrots."
He blinked, and as he cocked his head, the rest of his hideaway fell off. Long pointed ears flicked up and wiggled any remains off.
"Odion, I'm Meredith." I stepped to the side and lifted my hand. "And this is Leyla. You know Kepi and Kat already."
He lifted equine-shaped head and neck out first. Then he unburied a muscled feline body with slender, long legs. A crest of black plumes from head to tail drew a long line through his white fur. Smaller, golden feathers covered his neck and front legs.
"Can I
pet him?" Leyla clasped her hands under her chin and bit her lip.
"I don't see why not," said Kat.
Leyla took a few measured steps forward and slowly lifted her hand.
He bumped it with his beak.
She wiggled her hands and rubbed his forehead.
I reached up and touched his shoulder.
"Philomena rode him," Kat said. "We think because she let him in. Odion doesn't let anyone ride him these days."
I kept my hand on him.
He watched me.
"Did my mother use a saddle?"
Kepi dropped down from the rail and hopped up to my shoulder.
"No." Kat crossed her arms and looked sidelong at me. "She never did train him."
He snorted.
Leyla said, "I wish I could ride."
"Why can't you?" I said and instantly felt a bit stupid. They trained the warded orphans to ride, not the silenced due to the spoken commands. The Order let her work as a vicar, unlike we warded, but the cost was so high.
She smiled and knew she didn't have to explain.
"Verbal commands are easy and more widespread, sure," Kat said. "But the war trained horses, the big ones down the way there, obey heel commands." She leaned on the rail. "I'll teach you someday if you want."
Her scroll and face both lit up. "I'd love that, but you aren't allowed. Those horses are for the templars."
Kat gave her a raised eyebrow and a half-grin.
Leyla silent giggled and then looked up at Odion. She said, "You know, you are Philomena's daughter."
I swallowed and returned my attention to Odion.
He touched his forehead to mine and laid down.
Kat blinked.
I smiled, loosed the bottom buttons on my jacket, and tied up my hair. "Thank you." I drifted a leg over.
He rose underneath me without a word.
As my feet left the floor, I hugged his neck.
Kepi clung to my shoulder.
Odion let out a low, melodic call and pawed the floor almost in a dance.
Leyla's scroll floated over, and she grinned up. "This is amazing." She jumped a little. "Take him out!"
His large eye glinted with her words. Golden claws extended from each toe and dug into the earthen floor.
As an arrow flew from a bow, so too did Odion from his stable. He streaked through the wing and covered the distance in seconds.
I caught myself in a death grip on his thick feathers. "I hope I'm not hurting you."
He ruffled his head side to side and ran out the front door. Each paw hit the ground in a soft beat. The grass blurred as each worry, burden, and secret bled away in the air behind us.
I breathed in the cold, dry air.
Odion then slowed. He brought us to the Chimera's hedge.
He trotted around the perimeter.
The leaves disguised tall, thick metal bars with an inward arc at the top.
Odion stopped at a slight break in the hedge. Leaves framed a double gate. Both the outer and inner doors wore three padlocks and reinforced hinges. Between them, a closet of sorts and enough room to re-lock one before opening the other.
A fence fit for prison.
Beyond a steel-plated over-sized chicken coop stood. Metal grates ventilated the sides under the overhang of the stone roof tiles.
He sniffed the locks and wuffled.
"Why did you bring me here?" I said.
A steady horse stride came close.
Kat rode a sleek black horse and carried a white-knuckled Leyla in front of her.
Her nervous grin made it hard not to laugh. She was always brave.
"Good thing that my horse was ready." Kat took a deep breath, reined in, and told her horse, "Steady then." She slipped off and helped Leyla down. "You might be faster than Philomena on Odion." She eyed the coop gate.
I patted and smoothed his feathers.
Odion lowered, and I slipped off. He padded over and nudged Leyla, then sniffed at the horse's pretty barding.
Kat's brows knitted together as she stared at the bars.
I said, "You don't love the idea of going in here, do you?"
She pursed her lips and took a few short breaths. "Rhys loves to, but no, not me." She pulled the keys from her belt. "In the door, there is a closet, we dress before going in, got it?"
"Dress?" I looked over at Leyla.
She adjusted one of her scarves around Odion's neck.
He preened at it and hooted.
She patted his head and came over.
Kat unlocked the first lock and worked on the second. "With Odion's reaction." She jiggled the key. "This damn lock." She tried another key. "I wonder if the Chimeras will also take to you. Never heard them call at visitors. Only at dusk."
I hesitated but said, "Maybe we smell familiar?"
She finished the first gate's locks. "Could be. You both are the children of their creators." She opened the closet between the gates and handed Leyla and I each a thick boiled leather apron. She put hers and my hat away.
Kepi hopped down.
I pushed my bag behind my back and threw the apron over my head. It tied around the waist. Three parallel scratches, a finger's width apart, marred the apron over my thigh. "Are these claw marks?"
Kat fastened her apron. "You see why we wear them. Here." She gave us matched gloves. "Wear them over your jacket. Leyla, tuck in your shawl if you can."
The gloves ran up past the elbow and barely let my arm bend. "What's next? A full helm?"
Kat chuckled and checked my garb and then Leyla's. "All right. Snuggle in here, and I'll lock the door behind us."
We did as asked. Leyla's expression shifted back and forth between fear and excitement.
Kepi sat atop Odion's head outside the gate. He sat and wrapped his tail around his legs while he watched as intently as she.
Kat opened the second gate and stepped aside.
I waded into the tall grass around the coop. Patches looked chopped with a machete. "Do they graze?"
"Sometimes, but not outside of the fence." Kat tried to single out a key from the ring with the heavy gloves on. "The hands bring them a butchered sheep once a week as well."
Leyla gulped.
I took one of her leather-clad hands in mine. The gloves scrunched together before I let go.
She raised her hand as she did to sign 'thank you,' but smelled the glove and wrinkled up her nose.
I smiled and waited for Kat to open the steel coop's door locks. "So, how often do they lay?"
"Once a day, most of the eggs go through grates in the nests. They travel in chutes into a funneling system." She tilted her head off to the side. "They come out on that side of the coop. This way, people come in as little as possible."
The door opened in a metallic squeal. I stepped in and saw only the faintest indications of large nests behind still more bars. What light trickled in through the vents revealed little else. The air smelled of the sea but didn't overpower the area.
A bright gold light twinkled. Leyla said, "Where are they?"
Kat leaned down. "They'll favor the dark. That's why it's pitch black."
"I can see the nests, but not them."
Leyla raised her eyebrow. "I can't see anything unless I speak."
I squinted, but a glint from the far corner cage caught my eye. It disappeared as Leyla's words faded.
"Say something."
"Something."
I snorted, and the glint came back. "There, is that one?"
The skitter of feet came closer.
Kat pulled us back. "They aren't supposed to be loose."
The scratch of claws clicked closer and out jumped the strangest creature. An elongated chicken, about knee height, blinked and warbled. A tuft of gold feathers formed an arch over each bulbous eye.
She opened her short, serrated beak and let out a cluck.
Kat stopped her attempt to back us up. "Tilly? Why are you out?"
She flapped her stubby scaled wings.
> A step to the side allowed the sun to stream through the doorway and across her two blue-green eyes.
"Tilly," Kat said, "Go back to your cage."
She cocked her head and tapped her long talons on the metal floor. One of which was a hook nearly a finger long.
Kat sighed. "She's kept separate from her twin because they are so different in temperament."
Other more Abyssal shaped heads poked out from the cages. They wore no feathers, but instead, crests of scales flared like little crowns on their heads. Each dark face rose about waist high and was practically identical to the next. Those same huge eyes all fixed on mine.
I looked back at Tilly.
She blinked and warbled again. Her movements came in twitches and bobs, like a regular chicken. Not the calculated prowl of the other eleven.
I knelt. "Tilly, I'm Meredith." Your little sister.
She cocked her head, and her golden crests wobbled. Then she licked her beak like a dog would its nose and peered over my shoulder.
Kepi cooed from beyond the fence.
Tilly's pupils shot wide.
After a wiggle, she bolted out the door.
Kat yelled.
Leyla scrambled to stow her scroll and ran out after Tilly.
I slowly stood up, dumbfounded.
Kepi still sat on Odion and watched everything with no other reaction.
Kat tried to tackle Tilly, but the smaller, more agile creature slipped away and dove past me back into the coop.
"Close the door," Kat shouted.
Tilly slipped into her nest and disappeared.
The egg chute.
I smiled. Tilly was smaller than the others.
Her head popped back up, and she screeched.
My gut echoed the call.
She wanted something.
I stepped one foot out the door and looked back.
She squawked again and disappeared through the nest.
I shut the coop doors and darted around the side of the building.
Kat said, "Meredith, where under Apex above are you going?"
Leyla followed to the egg collection area.
A hundred or more blue eggs all waited in a water bath. The layer to my right stirred and out popped Tilly.
She jumped from the trough, shook off the water, and squawked at the sky beyond the tall hedge.
The low rumble of Odion answered, and he leaped over the fence and hedge with Kepi still on his head.
