Sympathy for a monster was an unexpected feeling. But we never tortured the things. They had to be killed, for the safety of Drannith and all humanity, but even against monsters there was such a thing as mercy.
“Mzed!” she said. “Get this over with. I don’t want to have to tell the General you were dallying.”
Mzed looked back, her visible eye narrowed in irritation. But she unsheathed her greatsword, a long, notched thing with a carved monster-horn for a hilt, and gestured Toothcracker aside. The dinosaur, lying on its side, was breathing like a bellows, unable to do more than weakly paw the ground. Mzed took position at the thing’s throat, brought her weapon up in a two-handed grip, then swung it in the swift, heavy arc of an executioner’s axe. The dinosaur gave a final, plaintive shriek, then stilled.
“Harvest the horns, leave the rest,” Mzed said to the others. Toothcracker and Nightshade looked sullenly back at Jirina, irritated to be deprived of their fun. “We wouldn’t want to keep the General waiting.”
***
“It’s close,” Vivien said. “I can feel it. But we should camp and make our final approach in the morning.”
Lukka shook his head, stubbornly. “The longer we wait, the bigger the chance it takes off again. If it takes it into its head to fly away, we might never catch up to it. We’ll take it now.”
“I mislike the look of those woods.” Vivien stared at the hill ahead of them, crowned with dense, interlocking trees and a single crystal formation breaking through the branches at the peak. The last of the sun was quickly fading over her shoulder. “Something unpleasant dwells there.”
“I thought monsters were just living things to be appreciated?” Lukka said.
“Some of them ought to be appreciated from a safe distance,” Vivien said. “In spite of what you may believe, I am not a fool.”
“Well, I am going in. You’re welcome to stay out here if you’re frightened.”
He started forward. After a few paces, Vivien fell in behind him. Somehow, he doubted it was the cheap dig at her courage that motivated her. She wants to be there when I find this thing. Why that might be, he had no idea.
Fortunately, the dense canopy overhead kept the underbrush to a minimum, and they were able to push through the forest without much trouble. Lukka grinned in satisfaction when he saw a green spark bloom in the depths of his shoulder crystal, warning of a monster nearby. Vivien closed her eyes for a moment, then frowned.
“It is on the move,” she said. “Getting father away, though not quickly.”
“It can’t be that far if the crystals are warning me,” Lukka said. “Come on.”
They walked, side by side, toward the summit. Vivien cleared her throat.
“I thought you said the crystals did not warn you of this particular monster.”
That’s true. No one knew why some monsters were immune to crystal tracking, but it did seem to be an intrinsic ability. In which case–
Red eyes lit up the darkness. Four pairs of them, stacked on top of one another, the characteristic alien shape of a nightmare.
there’s something else in here with us. Lukka ripped his sword from his scabbard. “Look out!”
The thing lunged out of the trees at head height. It was smaller than Lukka had expected, only the size of cart, with a round body sprouting dozens of multi-jointed limbs on all sides. Eight eyes stared out from above a jaw thick with mismatched fangs, while a thick tail curled from the other end, trailing something gray and fibrous.
Lukka dove one way, and Vivien went the other. The creature leapt from tree to tree, multiple legs reaching out in every direction to keep it from ever touching the ground. It shifted to follow Lukka, who gave ground, unable to reach it with his sword and wishing profoundly that Nik was here with her crossbow.
An arrow flashed up, sticking in the nightmare’s oval body. The shaft was no more than a toothpick, doing little damage, but green light exploded out from it into the form of an ape-like creature with an extra set of arms where its legs ought to be. The ape-thing clung to the nightmare and tore at it with four sets of long, translucent green claws.
Lukka took the chance to get closer. Several of the thing’s long, spindly limbs were within his reach, and he hacked at one, smashing it apart at the joint. The nightmare shifted, hissing in irritation, and spiraled up farther into the trees, temporarily out of sight in the canopy. Lukka tried to keep track of it by the flashes of green from Vivien’s ape-thing.
“Now what?” he said.
“I admit I am uncertain.” Vivien turned in a circle, bow drawn and nocked but without a target. “Perhaps a retreat is in order?”
“Where–”
He was cut off by the ape-thing, which fell screaming from the trees, a great hole torn in its midsection. It hit the ground and burst apart into a spray of green motes. At the same time, the nightmare descended, lowering itself on a dozen limbs, its tail curving underneath it. Vivien turned to shoot it, but the monster was faster, tail whipping forward.
Vivien dodged, but the nightmare’s tail left a trail of floating gray fibers behind it. She managed to avoid the blow, but the trail snagged her, gray threads suddenly pulling tight on contact like a hunter’s snare. They coiled round her, trapping one arm against her body, and the nightmare brought its tail back around. The second pass left Vivien completely enmeshed in the gray stuff, struggling hard against innumerable sticky fibers.
Gods above. Lukka gripped his sword tight enough that his knuckles stood out white, and the nightmare, apparently satisfied with its cocoon, turned in his direction. It spread its jaw wide in a soundless scream, then dropped toward him, legs flickering from tree to tree too fast to follow. Wait until it gets close—strike, then dodge.
He almost made it. Years of fighting monsters had honed Lukka’s reflexes to a razor’s edge, and he timed his thrust perfectly, letting the nightmare’s own momentum do most of the work of impaling it on his blade. The sword stuck fast, buried in the thing’s flesh just beside its head, and Lukka let it go, throwing himself to one side to avoid the snapping jaws. He escaped the fangs, but one of the thing’s cursedly fast legs slammed into him, taking him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. He hit the ground, gasping for breath, as the nightmare turned toward him and Vivien struggled helplessly.
Maybe it’s for the best. Lukka stared up into the wide, slavering jaws and tried to face his death stoically, like a proper Coppercoat. I got my squad killed. What right do I have to survive that?
Now Jirina won’t have to endanger herself protecting me from the General. I’ll just…disappear, out here, and no one will ever know…
…why…
Something uncoiled in his mind, a set of sensations that were not his own. His wings, tucked back against his sides as he dove, the wind whipping through his fur–
The canopy exploded in a storm of flying leaves and branches. The winged cat, the monster that had torn Lukka’s squad to pieces, broke through, bits of wood snagged in its brown-and-white fur. It slammed into the nightmare with both forepaws, claws leaving long rents in its black skin. The multi-legged monster twisted and flailed, tail trailing long silky strands, but it couldn’t get a hold before the winged cat bit down on its neck, large sabre-teeth tearing free a huge chunk of meat. The nightmare twitched, writhing like a dying spider, and the cat straightened up, letting the rancid flesh fall.
You. Lukka wanted to laugh and sob at the same time. It was right there, the thing that had ruined his life, and he was helpless. Vivien was still trapped, and his sword was buried under the corpse of the nightmare. He struggled to his feet, the cat watching him with huge, calm eyes, making no move to attack.
“What’s the matter?” he said, spreading his arms. “Why not kill me too?”
It didn’t answer, not in words. But he felt a surge of something. Feelings, images, and sense of connection and belong
ing. He saw himself, tiny and white-hot with energy, waving his arms and making incomprehensible noises.
“You are bonded.” Vivien had rolled onto her back and somehow gotten her hands on a knife. She was patiently cutting herself free, strand by sticky strand. “Lukka, listen to me. This is the energy I felt. It connects you to this creature. You each feel what the other feels.”
“Why?” Lukka spat. “I never asked for this. I never wanted it. This thing killed a whole farmstead full of people, killed my squad. And now it wants to be friends?” He turned back to face the cat. “Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?”
More images flooded into his mind, at a strength and intensity that left him reeling. He felt power, an alien, unimaginable power, rolling out through the familiar waves of crystalline energy that flowed and shifted around the world. Through the cat’s eyes, he saw a field of crystal, glowing with a strange orange light. And when he came close, a voice, seizing his mind and speaking with a compulsion that brooked no argument–
Destroy the humans. Destroy their city. Destroy their so-called civilization. Destroy, destroy, destroy.
The compulsion settled over his mind—over the cat’s mind—like a net, forcing it south, far from its usual haunts, to search for the two-legs and their strange hive. It fought them, taking injuries, going hungry, their flesh too full of bone and gristle to be nourishing. Until, finally, one of them had reached out and, with a burst of power, had blown the orange net into tattered fragments–
“Lukka.” Vivien’s voice was calm. “Lukka, can you hear me?”
He opened his eyes and blinked. He was lying on his back on the floor of the clearing. Vivien, still cleaning the last of the clinging threads from her armor, sat beside him. A little ways off, the winged cat sat on its haunches, licking idly at one forepaw.
“I…” Lukka tried to sit up and found his head spinning. He hastily lay back down. “I can hear you. Why do I feel like someone bashed me on the head?”
“A great deal of shamanic energy was released when the two of you came together. The effects will pass.” Vivien bent closer. “What did you see?”
“Crystals. Orange crystals.” Lukka’s eyes narrowed. “They were…forcing the monsters toward Drannith, I think. Causing them to attack the city.”
Vivien frowned, as though she’d expected as much. “What crystals?”
“There was a field of them, a pattern around a central structure.” Lukka tried sitting up and found he could manage it this time. “I know that place. It’s called the Ozolith. It’s north of here, far north. One of the biggest crystal formations on the plains, outside of Drannith itself.”
“Is it known for affecting the behavior of monsters?” Vivien said.
“Not that I’ve ever heard of,” Lukka said. He eyed the winged cat. “You think it’s true, what that thing showed me?”
“I do not think it is capable of lying, not to the one who holds its bond.”
“Gods above,” Lukka swore. “If that’s true, we have to warn someone. I heard a voice. Someone spoke through the Ozolith, and they want Drannith destroyed. If they can make the monsters listen, the city needs to be ready.”
“From what you’ve told me, I don’t think they will listen to you.” Vivien removed the last piece of thread from her armor and got to her feet. “My course, at least, is clear.”
“What course is that?”
“I must find this Ozolith and discover what is happening there.”
“Why?” Lukka glared at her. “What’s your stake in all this? I thought you were just here out of curiosity. Why should you care if someone is making monsters attack Drannith?”
“I–” Vivien hesitated, then grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow. “Who’s there? Show yourselves!”
“Lukka?” Jirina’s voice, absolutely the last thing Lukka had expected to here. “It’s me. Please, don’t run.”
***
For a moment, everything was frozen silence.
A line of figures emerged from the darkened woods. One of them wore a Coppercoat uniform—Jirina, her lovely face creased with worry. The others were monstrous silhouettes, spiked and barbed, masked in steel so they barely looked human. One carried an enormous maul on one shoulder, while another leaned on a wicked-looking greatsword.
Hunters. The mercenaries loved to decorate themselves with pieces of their kills, trying to look as intimidating as possible. What in the name of the gods is Jirina doing here with a pack of hunters?
“Lukka?” Vivien said, her bow still knocked. “Do you know these people?”
“Jirina is my fiancée,” Lukka said. “The others are mercenaries, professional monster hunters.”
“And why are they here?”
“We’ve come to bring you back, Lukka,” Jirina said. “Just put down your weapon and come with us.” She turned her attention to Vivien. “I don’t know who you are, but don’t interfere and you won’t be harmed.”
“Yeah,” said one of the hunters. “We’ll take care of Lukka and his big nasty cat. You just run along.”
“A pair,” another said, in a dreamy voice. “Two in one. A union of souls.”
The winged cat growled, a deep, resonant sounds Lukka could feel in his gut.
“What’s going to happen to me if I go back?” Lukka said.
“We’ll work it out,” Jirina said. “Father was angry when we left, but by the time we get back he’ll have had time to think things over. I’ll bring him around, I promise.”
Lukka swallowed. He ached to believe her. But–
Something came at him from the right, fast, tearing through the air with a rapid whipping sound. Two weights connected by a long chain caught him around the legs and cinched themselves tight, sending him crashing to the ground. He shouted, and everything went to hells.
“Stop!” Jirina was shouting at someone. He heard Vivien’s arrow hit something with a thunk, followed by a deep, ursine growl. More shouts, and a crackle of magic. The cat growled deep, then pounced, and there was a scream.
“No!” Vivien’s voice, closer. “If you want to keep him safe, we must escape!”
Lukka rolled over. He saw Jirina, crouched against a tree, looking back at him as the hunters fought a glowing green bear. Their eyes met, and she mouthed his name.
Then the cat was standing above him, filling his vision. Vivien was there, too, clinging to the fur on one side of the huge monster. It bent toward him, jaw open, and once again Lukka thought he was staring death in the face.
Instead the winged cat, with infinite care, hooked its long saber-teeth through the tough leather of his uniform belt. Lifting him in its jaws, as though he were a kitten, it flared its wings and leapt. There was a moment of wild confusion, crashing through the canopy of the forest, and then they were away, winging off into the night.
Chapter Four
The cat had taken him. It had carried him.
Jirina paced back and forth on the bald hilltop, replaying the scene in her mind. The stranger with the bow had grabbed hold of the monster, and then it had picked Lukka up before taking to the air. As though…
She shook her head. It doesn’t make sense. Monsters didn’t carry humans around like beasts of burden. They certainly didn’t help them or listen to their commands.
Maybe father’s right. Whatever had happened to Lukka, this connection he’d formed to the winged cat, clearly went deeper than just one moment on a deserted farmstead. And if so, what then?
“Will you sit down?” Mzed said. “It’s making me tired just watching you.”
Jirina turned and stared at the hunter. Mzed had stripped off most of her rattlebone armor, rewrapping the bandages around the deep gashes she’d taken in her side in the brief fight against the strange, spectral bear. It had to hurt, but she seemed relaxed, and her companions were equally at ease. Toothcracker was stretched out
and snoring loudly, Dogsbreath was mending an intricate snare, and Nightshade was playing checkers with Sedra and cheating outrageously.
Behind them was a bonfire, which let off a long plume of bright blue smoke. Mzed had built it just after they’d set up camp, and Sedra had tossed in some kind of powder that gave the smoke its color. It reached high into the late morning sky now, the plume mixing with the lowest clouds.
“I would be calmer if you’d explain to me what we’re doing here,” Jirina said. “Because of your man’s mistake, we lost Lukka. Last we saw, he was headed that way”—she pointed north—“and yet we’ve gone half a day out of our way to sit around for hours on a deserted hilltop. If you’re giving up on this contract, please tell me now, so I can return to the General and give him a report on your conduct.”
Mzed cinched her last bandage tight and got to her feet. The hunter, still in her steel mask, was several inches taller than Jirina, who had to force herself not to take a step back. With Mzed’s armor off, she could see the hunter’s dark brown skin was crisscrossed with scars, long raised cuts and patches of paler, scabby flesh from old burns.
“First of all,” Mzed said. “Let’s be clear on the matter of responsibility. I ordered Dogsbreath to disable Lukka as soon as he had the chance. I thought there was a strong possibility he’d run for it, and I didn’t fancy a chase in the dark. If you have a problem with that call, you have a problem with me. Understand?”
Jirina gave a reluctant nod.
“Second,” Mzed went on, “we are not giving up on the contract. The General is just going to have to pay some expenses, because we need transport. I don’t know if you can catch up to a flying monster on foot, but I sure as hells can’t.”
“They have to go to ground sometime,” Jirina said.
“Maybe. But I don’t know if that’s tomorrow or a thousand miles from here, and I’m not willing to wait to find out.”
“That still doesn’t explain what we’re doing waiting here,” Jirina said, trying to rally a little authority.
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