“Ah, but then you all have so very many tomorrows.”
He turned to look at me directly, and I felt the impact of his ash-gray eyes. “None of us—Rider, Solitary, Natural, or human—is promised any tomorrow. Any of us can be killed.”
“And who kills us, unless it is we, ourselves?”
Suddenly the breath was knocked out of me, and Wolf was pushing me to stand between him and Alejandro. We hadn’t Moved, but Wolf had covered the ground at top Rider speed, bringing me along with him. I staggered, but managed to keep my feet, then turned around and looked back at where we’d just been.
There, sitting right on the chunk of cement I’d been using, was Fox.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t know if you came early?” He shook his head, upper lip ever so slightly lifted. “Did you think coming now would give you some kind of advantage?”
Alejandro, just on my right, hissed in his breath. It was only the second time, I realized, that he’d seen one of the Hunt looking like a Rider—and the first time he knew what he was looking at. Even now that he was wearing ordinary clothes—jeans, and a black T-shirt that said Red Dwarf—there was no mistaking the height, the perfect symmetry of the features, and the clarity of Fox’s coloring. He was a Moonward Rider, of course, like Wolf, and had almost exactly Wolf’s shade of color, the almond skin, the ash-gray eyes. Fox’s hair was, if anything, darker, the kind of sable black that seems almost blue in certain lights.
“I wish I knew where you fit in.” Fox focused his attention on me, and I remembered just in time that I’d been warned not to look into a Hound’s eyes. I assumed that held true even if he looked like a regular Rider. “Are you the piece that wins the game? Or are you already off the board?”
He dismissed me again, looking between the Riders, as if weighing up which one was leader. “So. Do you have an answer for me?” he said finally, looking at Alejandro. “I’m assuming you’re the one empowered to tell me, since it can’t be my brother.” Fox laughed, but I was glad to see that Wolf didn’t react to the jibe, except to grip his sword more tightly.
Alejandro didn’t step back, exactly, but his stance subtly shifted, as if he’d been at attention and was now at ease. Somehow, something about what was happening was making him more relaxed.
“And if I said I was not the one?” Alejandro’s lips twitched as if he was about to smile. “As you say, we are early. We await the arrival of the High Prince’s herald, with her instructions. You have given us until sunset.”
Fox’s eyes narrowed. “I got a feeling you’re not taking this very seriously. Maybe my brother gave you the idea I’m a nice guy.” He smiled, and he was so beautiful I could feel the sting of tears in my eyes. “That’s too bad. The sun’ll set soon, but I’m in the mood to end this right now.” He lifted his hand and waved his fingers in a “come forward” gesture.
With everyone’s attention elsewhere, I started to get the Horn out of the front of my shirt, reaching in from the bottom with my left hand. I was going to need it soon, and I didn’t want to be fumbling for it. Fox’s words froze me momentarily
“You have given us until sunset,” Wolf reminded his brother. “It was you who set the time, Foxblood. Will you break your word already? Why, then, should we treat with you at all?”
I had managed to get my fingers into the folds of cloth until I had the end of the Horn between my thumb and index finger. Once again I had the image of the person who was going to blow it, but since I’d had that already, I also saw beyond it, to Wolf, and to Ice Tor, and even to the Water Natural who had supplied the liquid in Wolf’s flask.
“Hey, I don’t care if we don’t speed things up. It’s just that Walks Under the Moon makes such a tasty mouthful. It’s hard for my people to resist her. Even when they want to preserve what human dra’aj gives us.” He swept his hand down, indicating his own form. “Did you know we can Move now, brother?”
“That and more would be possible with Healing,” Wolf said. “Can you not see how your own words condemn your choice? Even with what you see as the benefit of human dra’aj, the Pack is still drawn to feed on People. You have no control.”
“Hey, it’s you, you’re causing the trouble.” Fox’s voice, his whole face, sharpened. “Go. Away. Close the Portals. We can control ourselves just fine without you around. Leave controlling the Pack to me.” His eyes shifted momentarily to me. “Take your pets with you. We can spare them.”
Both Wolf and Alejandro shifted their eyes to look at me. At first I thought they’d noticed me getting out the Horn, but then I realized they were reacting to Fox’s suggestion. Both of them had the same oddly wistful look on their faces, and I suddenly knew that either one of them might have considered Fox’s plan, if I’d actually been able to go. But I wouldn’t live very long in the Lands. I wondered if I would have been brave enough to tell them to go. I was glad I would never have to know. Even if I had been willing to sacrifice myself to save everyone else (oh, how I hoped I would have been), it wouldn’t have mattered. If we didn’t stop Fox and the Hunt, no one would be safe.
“You can even take the ones up there. Hey, just because I can’t smell them doesn’t mean I can’t hear them.” Fox pointed up and to the left, for all the world like a tour guide pointing out the CN Tower.
I held my breath as every one of us looked up in the direction Fox was indicating, but it was only Nik who came out of the shadows at the top of the open flight of concrete stairs. He was shrugging, but his jaw was clenched. I think we all waited, holding our breaths, for Fox to say something more—and stifled our relief when he didn’t. Maybe he bought it, maybe he thought it was only Nik he’d heard.
With eyes off me once again, I drew the Horn all the way out of its wrappings, gripping it tightly in my left hand. That hand still didn’t feel any different, and there still wasn’t any pain. That’s when another piece of the puzzle fell into place. It was almost as if the Horn itself was compelling me to speak.
[I saw Ice Tor, and the Portals; the dra’aj it took to make them work, to keep them stable in space and time; the amount of dra’aj and the kind of dra’aj.] What was it I’d been told? The Portal in Australia had collapsed during the Exile. Now the one in Toronto wasn’t working. What did this mean?
“Take your pets and go,” Fox said again. “And I’ll give you Moon back into the bargain.”
“You can’t.” Now they all turned to look at me. Alejandro and Wolf had almost identical looks of concern on their faces. Fox only narrowed his gray eyes.
“You can close the Portals, I don’t mean that. But if you,” I made it clear I was addressing Fox. “If you take the dra’aj from this world you’ll destroy it. And this world anchors the Lands. Yin and Yang,” I said. Nik, Alejandro, and Wolf all nodded, while Fox just frowned. “Dra’aj doesn’t naturally exist here, like it does in the Lands. It had to be brought here.” A flicker of images cascade through my brain. Something about how the transport was done—but then it was gone. “And the place itself won’t support dra’aj, only the people can.” And some other living things, I suddenly knew, but I wasn’t going to say that aloud. “How long will it take you to eat all the dra’aj here? A thousand years? Two? Not very long for Riders.” I edged forward until I was standing just in front of Wolf. “And the supply of humans won’t last that long. You think you can organize yourselves? Figure out some kind of rationing system? You’re addicts, no matter what you say, you can’t control yourselves.”
Fox stood up and took a few steps closer to us. “I can control them. I am Pack Leader.”
“Until they turn upon you, and make you prey,” Wolf said.
“You can’t even control yourself,” I added. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have taken Nighthawk’s dra’aj—you could have passed along this proposition to him. A Warden of the Exile? Are you kidding me? The perfect person to approach. But you couldn’t stop yourself.” I took a deep breath. “By the time you figure out you’ll have to breed more humans, it’ll be too late. Humans don’t breed fa
st enough, and humans without dra’aj don’t breed at all.”
Now I turned to Alejandro and Wolf. “And don’t think you can let this happen. Because when they’ve used up all the dra’aj here, they’ll be coming to you for help, except you won’t be there anymore. Without the anchor of the Shadowlands, the Lands will break up and disappear.”
“How do you know this?” Fox did his best to sound skeptical, but I could hear the belief underneath.
I held up the Horn. Fox hissed, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. They all needed to see where my knowledge came from. “Ice Tor knows about the forging of the bond between our worlds. The Dwarves built the Portals. The knowledge is part of them, passed down through the Cycles.” I held up the Horn again. “This is part of him. It knows what he knows.” I tucked the Horn into my shirt again, but this time just into the neckline, where it would be easy to reach.
Fox laughed. I saw Wolf flinch out of the corner of my eye. I wondered if his brother had laughed the same way when they’d been boys together. I hoped not. “You listening to this prey? ’Course she’s not gonna want us to come to terms.”
“She is a Truthreader,” Wolf said, and the slightest flicker of concern passed over Fox’s face.
“We will trust her, before we trust you,” Alejandro added. I was a little shocked to hear an undercurrent of laughter in his voice. Was he enjoying himself?
“So that’s it, then?” Fox looked from Wolf to Alejandro and back again. “Basically what you’re saying is we’ve got no agreement? So I don’t need a hostage, do I? We’re through here.” He began to back away, for some reason not Moving this time. I wondered. Was it maybe not as easy for them as it was for real Riders?
“No,” Wolf spoke up. “Fox, think. Listen to me. If you choose to be Healed, it would resolve everything. Think, Fox. You are Pack Leader, and where you lead, they will be sure to follow.”
It was flattery of the worst kind, and just for a second Fox did look undecided, and I could see that Wolf was beginning to relax by the way his shoulders lowered. Even though he knew the truth of what I’d told him, he couldn’t help hoping I was wrong. But I knew what would happen. Fox waited until the hope was clear on Wolf’s face, and then he laughed, with that little “gotcha” gleam in his eye.
“Still whining like a little puppy? Brother, you listen to me. I will never accept this so-called cure. I will never become the lackey of Riders, of prey. How does it feel? Do you enjoy it? Is this your new Pack? Two of you and a couple of humans and you’re not even the leader?” His laugh was almost a bark. “You think I’ll go back to that? Never! And you are right. Where I lead, others will follow, and I’ll forbid any other to accept.”
“Then I challenge you for the leadership of the Hunt.”
“No way. You can’t—you’re the one who says you’re not a Hound anymore.”
“Wolf! What are you playing at?” Nik went to grab Wolf by the sleeve, but Alejandro pulled him back, still with the same sparkle in his eyes that he’d had during the whole exchange.
Wolf spoke directly to me, as if I’d been the one to speak. “You were right. He will not change his mind and rejoin us, but if I beat him, he will have to submit to me, or the Pack itself will turn on him. If I win, the Pack will do as I say.”
“And if you lose?” This was Nik, saying the words my tight throat stopped me from saying.
“We are no worse off than we are at this moment, and I will buy time.” Buy time for what, he couldn’t say aloud.
“Hey.” Fox raised his hands and waved them at us. I could swear he was laughing. “I still say I have no reason to agree.”
“Well, gee, I guess I could always use this.” I pulled the Horn free again. “I think this little trinket makes me the one in charge of the Hunt, doesn’t it?” Wolf started to say something, but then fell silent again. He’d just remembered that Fox didn’t know the Horn could only be used once.
You wouldn’t think someone so pale, someone so black and white, could show so much heat, but Fox was suddenly blazing with rage. Eventually, a calculating look came into his eye. “Okay.” He gave a short nod. “Okay, then. I’ll accept the challenge.” He smiled again, this time showing too many teeth. “But I want conditions.” He pointed at me. “First, that human will not blow the Horn.” I nodded, tucking the Horn back into my shirt. “Second, you, brother, since you say you don’t want to kill me, won’t use your gra’if blade. And last, if I win, you come with me. You rejoin the Pack.”
Both Nik and Alejandro were shaking their heads, but anyone could see that Wolf was going to agree.
“If you do not bear your gra’if, he will kill you,” Alejandro said.
This time Fox laughed out loud. “Kill my own brother? No more than he’d kill me. Have your Truthreader test me; see if I lie.”
“I won’t touch you myself,” I said, before either Alejandro or Nik could object. “But I will touch Wolf while he touches you.” That was acceptable. Wolf, his gra’if blade in his hand since we hadn’t yet agreed to the conditions, took my hand and led me across the rubble-strewn floor to where Fox stood. He sheathed the blade and took hold of his brother’s hand.
“He’s telling the truth,” I said. There was something else, something still just out of my reach. With Wolf between us, I reached out with my free hand—my left hand—and brushed the back of Fox’s wrist with my fingertips. His skin was hot.
There. I had it, clear. Maybe because Fox still had all the dra’aj he’d ever collected, when Wolf didn’t, but now I saw the why, where touching Ice Tor had only shown me the how.
“He’s telling the truth,” I said again. “He will abide by the agreement—in fact, he’s got to.”
I shifted around, beginning to straighten up, more relaxed now that was sorted, and even Wolf was breathing more easily, when Fox struck. So fast that I couldn’t see his hand move, he reached into the gaping neck of my T-shirt and snatched out the Horn. Before Wolf could react, Fox had the Horn at his lips, and blew.
At once we were struck with a blast of cold air, bringing with it a sound so low it shook my bones. Where there had only been the clean smell of concrete and dust, I smelled old blood and rot. Suddenly there were new forms and shadows around us, but before Wolf could even draw his sword—CRACK!!
In the dim light filtering through the green glass doors, I saw enough high-backed, padded chairs and long, low tables to recognize the Panorama Lounge at Union Station.
We’d been Moved.
The sound, horrible and jarring, seemed to pass right through Moon, making her bones shiver and her blood hurt. She’d become used to the old meat smell of the Hounds around her, but now it seemed fresher—if that was not a contradiction in terms. The sound died away, or at least became obscured by the howling and the baying that now arose around her, all the more horrible because only a few of the Hounds had changed into dog shapes; more retained Rider form. As she watched, the Hounds began disappearing, popping out of existence one by one.
Moon braced herself, trying to be ready for whatever might come. The light changed suddenly, and she found herself in a cavernous building, dimly lit and filled, apparently, with ruins. Her wrist and one of her ankles were suddenly freed as two of her captors abruptly became dogs and lost their grips. She swung her fist at the third, striking it repeatedly about the head with her gra’if armguard. As soon as she was free, other hands, different hands, grabbed her and, despite her struggles to resist, dragged her away.
“Rider, we’re on the same side.” It was a voice she hadn’t heard before. The people around her, she realized, were humans.
“Let me up,” she said. “They cannot feed from me, let me up. Give me a weapon.”
A warm piece of metal was shoved into her hand, its handle feeling strangely comfortable to her grip.
“Point this end,” one of them said. “Pull this part.”
The thing went off with a most satisfying noise, and Moon had the joy of seeing a Hound go down with
part of his head missing.
The sound, the horrible teeth-shaking sound pushed Nik to his knees, but before he could even think about his danger, Alejandro yanked him to his feet, and thrust something cold and metallic into his hands. About to protest that he hadn’t used a sword or dagger for years, Nik was relieved to find he was holding a handgun.
The first thing he did was laugh out loud. “You know it’s illegal to have one of these?” he said, but all the Rider did was smile wider. Nik had never shot this type of handgun before, but like everyone who owned a TV, he’d seen it done thousands of times. He braced his right wrist with his left hand, took aim and fired. Luckily—or unluckily—some of the Hunt were presenting fairly large targets. Even those not in Rider shape were more-or-less Rider—that is to say human—sized. Easier to get a bead on than a dog.
“It’s working,” Nik called over his shoulder as a lucky shot spun a Hound right around, crashing him into another and knocking them both down.
“Does not kill them,” Alejandro yelled back.
Right. Nik remembered now. Torso shots might knock them down, but they wouldn’t stay down.
Alejandro seemed to be everywhere at once, and yet somehow never in Nik’s line of fire. The gra’if blade, blindingly bright, flashed like a bolt of lightning.
Something grabbed him by the ankle and while Nik tried to twist to get the gun aimed at it, he was pulled down before he could safely take a shot. Only the fact that the thing wasted time getting close enough to bite him saved him from having his dra’aj drained on the spot. Nik was still trying to get the gun positioned so he wouldn’t shoot his own foot off when a chunk of concrete the size of a soccer ball glanced off the Hound’s head, knocking it off balance and loosening its grip. Now that he was aware of it, Nik heard other guns firing, and the blasts of shotguns, and grinned again as more concrete missiles banged down into the group of Hounds around them.
All at once, a flash of bright silver sliced through the limb that was still wrapped around Nik’s ankle. The thing howled, blood fountaining from its cut wrist. Not a light saber, Nik thought, trying not to giggle as he turned to fire point-blank at something else that was getting too close.
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