by K. V. Wilson
“Do not call me that!” I had snarled. “I am not some legendary being, or whatever you seem to think I am. I’m a child.”
But as the words left my mouth, I could tell that they weren’t true. A sudden bout of emotion hit me like a rogue wave, and I grimaced, gripping the mattress with unnatural strength. When I closed my eyes I saw the wildfire again, the one I had seen the night I had called upon the rain to put out the flames.
The force of the memory – as vivid as it was that night – hit me hard and I gasped. My eyes flew open, and when I glanced up at Father I almost missed the ghost of a smile that had touched his lips before his face was stone-serious again.
“You are a child, Sejka, and I’m sorry. It is not my place to force you into anything. Just promise me this.”
“Yes?” I spoke the word so softly that I doubted he had heard me.
“Keep your mind open,” he had told me, his voice equally soft. But even from across the room I could hear every nuance of his sentence as if he spoke directly into my ear.
Keep my mind open. I could do that.
“Wake up!”
The familiar voice penetrates my consciousness and I roll over with a groan. I’d only just been able to fall asleep again after returning from my late-night flight to the abandoned Yeva’si settlement miles away.
“Thirteen,” I mutter groggily, “go away.”
“It’s like midday, Red. What’s gotten into you? That leader of the bear tribe can’t have offended you that much—”
“Don’t remind me of Xáan!” I growl. “That disrespectful…” I allow my voice to fade as I press my forehead into the fur pillow the shapeshifters had lent me.
I’d been worrying about what the leader of the bear tribe had said to me the evening before. He’d refused to give the Ru-Yeva the honour of a gift or a blessing, and had stated that the nature spirit had caused the death of his father, Sehwen. I’d seen Sehwen in a dream, and I know Sejka had been bullied by the late chieftain, but I remember nothing yet of his demise. If Sejka had killed him…
“Too late,” Conall cuts in. “Maybe if I do, you’ll get up. Come and smack me, Red. I deserve it.”
“You jerk,” I grumble, throwing the pillow at him. He catches it and places it in his lap.
Conall stares at me with curiosity as I rub the sleep from my eyes and snatch my pillow back. “Was it a nightmare?”
“No,” I reply quietly. “At least, not recently. I’ve been dreaming about Sejka’s life, her memories. When she was a kid, she had trouble accepting her role as the Guardian of Nature. I woke up a few hours ago after I dreamt about the time she set her house on fire—”
“Ha! Really? She did that?” Conall laughs and it’s all I can do not to smack him.
I make a face at him instead. “Yeah, and she almost died. But, using that memory, I located the house.”
“What house?”
I sigh, lifting my aching body up from the tent floor and pushing back a lock of hair that’s fallen into my face.
“When Sejka was little, the Yeva’si lived somewhere else. I went back and found it last night, so I could potentially find her brother there. I thought maybe he’d have returned.”
“Why would he do that? A feral bear return to a human settlement?”
I shrug, zipping back the canvas of the tent and stepping out. “Maybe he’s still got some human in him.”
“Well, yeah, but that would be weird. Like, spooky weird.”
“I don’t know, Conall! It was worth a try!” I yell over my shoulder, standing abruptly and blinking to adjust to the daylight.
As soon as I focus, however, I sense spirits around me – lots of them. My breath catches as I whip my head around, suddenly staring into the dark, kind eyes of Xunnu.
“Good morning, Ru-Skye.” The shapeshifter bows his head, ignoring my rumpled clothing and messy hair. I madly scramble to comb my fingers through it.
About fifteen to twenty other Yeva’si stand behind Xunnu. I recognize Litu, head of the Naatya, the eagle tribe. I don’t recognize anyone else, so I assume they must be her entourage. They all wear similar patterns on their cloaks; it’s a beautiful arrangement of blue stones and shells, and as the sunlight glances off the surfaces, it creates a mesmerizing show that I struggle not to get caught up in.
“Good morning, Xunnu. Good morning, Litu. And…all of you,” I greet them uncertainly in Yeva’si.
I have a lot to improve on if I want them to take me seriously, starting with my appearance. I’ll have to find Xera to help with that.
“The sun is upon us.” Litu states the obvious, making me feel small for having only just woken up. I feel a hand in the small of my back and hide a smile as I feel Conall’s presence beside me. “And we are heading out for a flight – the Yáahl and Naatya tribes, that is. We were wondering if the Ru-Yeva would honour us with her presence.”
“She would be – um, I would be – honoured.” I stumble over my words, breaking into a smile and a small bow.
“What are they saying?” Conall whispers and I shake my head, indicating that I’ll tell him after the conversation is over with.
Xunnu and Litu ask me to meet them at the main fire pit when I’m ready, and we’ll all take off together. Then they depart, leaving the two of us alone again.
I grab Sejka’s old cloak from our tent. “They invited me to fly with them,” I tell the Lycan.
“What about me?” he inquires, looking hurt.
“Not unless you have wings.”
“You can give me wings,” Conall teases, brushing a stray lock behind my ear.
I stare into his sea-blue irises. “I would if I could, but that was long ago. I’m not sure if I’ll ever remember how to give someone such an ability.”
“You could try,” he says nonchalantly. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
I wince, remembering Sejka’s first encounter with fire. “Conall, when I was playing with lightning during the battle, I still had a connection to Sejka’s mind. I could remember how she’d channeled the electricity and stuff. Last night, when I tried to bless the tribe leaders like Xunnu had shown me, I nearly knocked Litu over with wind, and I scared the children sitting next to the fire pit.”
“You were stressed out last night. There were too many people watching. Here it’s just me,” he says, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Honestly, Conall, it could do a lot of damage,” I told him. “Something tells me the Ru-Yeva hasn’t done anything of the sort for centuries. She didn’t have the need to, since everyone she was close with could already Shift. It may be a forgotten talent.”
But then again, Sejka had intended to try it during the Battle of the Ritual. When the commander ordered her to undo Mac Tíre’s original ceremony, she’d hoped to instead bestow shapeshifting powers upon the soldiers. Or at least to bestow some kind of awareness upon them so they could see the world the way we do.
But it didn’t work; they didn’t believe in the power of nature, and so they could not ever understand the world the way she did.
Conall sighs, defeated. “Fine. Have fun out there, then.”
He places a hand on either side of my face and forces a smile. My heart flutters as he presses his lips to mine, softly at first and then more vigorously until I break away, laughing.
“I wasn’t finished with you yet,” he whines.
“I’m going to be late. They said they’d be waiting.”
Conall rolls his eyes and I reach up to push the messy curls away from his ocean eyes. He stares into my green ones, perhaps searching for the visions of the universe that so often grace the eyes of the Spiritborne.
“Don’t stay too long. There’s literally nothing to do here.”
“Go find Damian and Jen,” I suggest. It occurs to me that I haven’t seen the other Lycans since the Ru-Yeva ceremony.
Conall shrugs, shaking his head. “They’re off searching for recruits. So are your uncle and aunt; they told me to tell
you goodbye for them. I think Damian and Jen were looking forward to being alone for a while. It’s the first time they can do what they want without Damian’s dad getting in the way.”
“I’m so glad Duncan didn’t come along,” I sigh with relief.
The ex-beta had been a terrible influence on his twins and Conall. He’d driven them to unreasonable levels of violence and hatred. He had likely spurred the Covenant towards sending out more soldiers to kill us Lycans. All because he’d sent Conall on an unauthorized mission to bomb our enemy’s headquarters.
It may be Duncan’s fault that Conall’s mom, Lauren – once the alpha of the Sheep River Clan that had taken me in – had died during the Battle of the Ritual.
Conall’s human father, Richard Harvey, had stayed in London along with my dad. He was still getting used to the fact that his wife and son had been alive all these years. I tear up at the thought of Richard finding his soul mate once again only to see her murdered right before his eyes by the very people he’d worked for all his life: the Covenant.
“Ugh. There are so many people I hate in this world,” Conall comments angrily. “The price we pay for freedom.”
I give him a gentle shove. “I’ll be back soon, and then we can do whatever we want,” I reassure him sincerely and he gives me a mischievous smile.
“Good.”
9
MAYDAY!
Skye
I scramble to keep pace with the Naatya and Yáahl as they weave through the wind currents like kites on a blustery day. The breeze buffets my feathers and face and I dip my left wingtip to angle myself.
Xunnu’s raven flies point. His tribe members – the ones who’d wanted to join us – arrange themselves into a beautiful V shape.
Litu heads the second formation, comprised of eagles from her Naatya tribe. They fly above us, and I glance up to admire their beauty and elegance. All of these shapeshifters can use the forms interchangeably, but it looks to me like the tribes stick to their namesakes. They are each skilled in the art of a certain animal form.
Sejka had been part of the raven tribe, as had Xunnu, Xáan, and their father Sehwen. Which leaves the question: why is Xáan now chieftain of the Ulawey, the bear tribe? Maybe he had married into it, or taken it over by force. Xunnu is the eldest of the two brothers, so he had inherited leadership of the Yáahl. I shudder as I remember how its previous leader had come to pass away.
Had Sejka really killed Sehwen? Was it an accident or was it purposeful? Had he threatened her or her family to the breaking point?
Had she lost control?
These thoughts race around in my head as I struggle to keep my place in the second-to-last position in Xunnu’s formation.
A sharp gust suddenly strikes my left wingtip, sending me off balance. My heartbeat quickens as I realize I’ve been tossed upside down, and I madly scramble to right myself.
Mayday! Mayday!
It’s all I can think about as my mind is thrown into a panic. Something hard slaps me in the stomach, knocking the breath out of me, and I fall faster and faster, hurtling towards the ground at a dizzying speed.
A harsh caw reaches my ears and I am suddenly aware of a warm body pressed against mine, slowing my fall. The scream of wind upon my ears is replaced with the familiar sound of wing beats.
I attempt to slow my heart rate as the body beneath me begins to descend. The spirits of the tribe members are converging upon me.
I open my eyes as I’m gingerly lowered to the ground. The ravens who’d helped me depart, transforming into their human selves.
Xunnu Shifts and stands towering above me, a slight smile on his lips. “Are you alright, Ru-Skye?”
I groan, Shifting to human form as I become aware that the entirety of the two tribes now stands around me, peering down at my pitiful self.
“I’m okay. Sorry,” I add, glancing around at the others. They begin to laugh, and I cross my arms to cover my naked body. None of them seems to mind, but nudity just adds to the embarrassment of a bird who’d nearly fallen from the sky.
Damn it. Why do I always have to mess things up?
“It was a rogue crosswind, Skye,” Xunnu says, sitting on the ground beside me and motioning for the other Yeva’si to go about their business. “Nothing to worry about.”
I give him a withering look. “I almost died.”
“You would have righted yourself. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t fall too far.”
“I felt like a doomed aircraft.”
Xunnu chuckles and I wince as the others stare at us. We’re sitting at the top of a small mountain, overlooking one of the most glorious views in all of Canada. I sigh at the beauty of it all, but unfortunately, I can’t get rid of the pesky knot in my stomach at nearly crashing into the ground during my first flight with other shapeshifters.
I’d realized the object that had hit me in the stomach – effectively knocking out all my breath – had been one of the other ravens, the one who’d been flying in the V behind me. I don’t know which one it was, and I wonder if I should just apologize to all of them to make sure they know how embarrassed and sorry I am.
“On my first flight, I ran into a tree during my takeoff. I couldn’t lift off fast enough and went a little too far,” Xunnu admits, reminiscing.
“I can’t imagine that.”
“It’s true. Ask Litu.” He smiles at the chieftain of the Naatya.
“Very true,” she confirms. “He had the upper body strength of a shrew.”
“Hey!” Xunnu calls out playfully. He pulls his greying hair into an orderly ponytail, but without a tie to keep it in place, it falls back around his face. A sudden gust soon tosses my own red waves into my eyes, and I sniff, pushing them behind my ears again.
“Xunnu, I’ve been meaning to ask something,” I begin.
“Yes?”
I grab a piece of my hair, now fully loose from its former braids and probably looking very much like a rat’s nest. “I flew out last night and—”
“Ah, always the explorer,” he interjects. “I remember when Sejka and I would sneak out late at night and…” He stops, glancing at me. “Sorry. Go on.”
“Well, I found the old abandoned settlement.”
Xunnu’s mouth draws up into a tight ‘o’ and he regards me with a new interest. “Most of us have forgotten about that site. The old home of the Yáahl. We had to leave it eventually.”
“Why was that?”
“Covenant.”
My eyes widen. “Covenant? Out here?”
“Yes.” He doesn’t elaborate, so I press him for more.
“What did they do? Was anyone hurt?”
Xunnu sighs, glancing at a distant mountain and its delicate dusting of snow. “Yes. It is a long story, and one for another time.”
“You took the roof skins and your possessions too, when you left.”
“We came back for those, yes. But we had to leave. It was not safe anymore. So we moved farther out into the wilds in the hope that we would not be disturbed again.”
I gulp. “When I was there, I saw Sejka’s house. It was still burnt and—”
Xunnu starts to laugh and I bite my lip to conceal my amusement at the look on his face. Everyone seems to think it was funny how Sejka had set her house on fire.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Ah. Sorry, Ru-Skye. That situation was a humorous one for Sejka and me. No real damage was done, so it deserves a bit of a laugh, no?”
“I suppose so,” I chuckle weakly, “but what I saw inside the house was what bothered me. I saw the toys Sejka’s brother had played with: a rabbit and a wolf—”
“Really?” Litu comes up beside me, lowering herself to the ground as gently as she can. She smiles brightly, the wrinkles on her face accentuated by sunlight. “Ah, I remember watching my mother carve those. So many years ago… how long has it been now, Xunnu? Fifty years?”
“Your mother carved those? Wow! They’re incredible,” I tell her, and she c
huckles at the awe on my face. “Sejka really appreciated those.”
“I am glad I could hear that from the Guardian herself. If my mother were still on Earth, I’d relay the information.”
“I’m…sorry.”
“Such is life.” Litu waves her hand dismissively. “So, what happened while you were in the house?” she inquires, resting her face on her hands and staring intently at me.
“Well,” I begin uncertainly, “I saw a third carving. It was smaller and less intricate, and it was in the shape of a bear.”
I raise my eyes just in time to catch Xunnu and Litu glancing at each other, worry clouding their faces. They smile back at me.
“My mother only carved the two,” she says. “A rabbit and a wolf. Not a bear. Maybe I remember incorrectly,” she frowns, rubbing her chin. The wrinkles on her jaw grow more pronounced.
“The bear carving wasn’t old,” I inform them. “It didn’t smell musty and it wasn’t worn. It can’t be fifty years old, is what I’m trying to say.”
“Xunnu,” Litu asks, “what form did Sejka say her brother had taken just before he left the Yáahl?”
Something tells me she already knows the answer.
“Koyah…took the form of the bear.”
I breathe deeply. “What if Koyah came looking for Sejka? What if he was trying to send a message to her?”
“That’s…not impossible,” Xunnu says slowly, “but he has been away for fifty years. Why would he not have returned earlier?”
“Maybe,” I begin, peering into Xunnu’s hazel eyes, “he tried, but his tribe had already abandoned the encampment. He’s lost out there, Xunnu. And I might be the only one who can find him.”
10
FLIGHT SCHOOL
Skye
“Again, Skye.” Litu claps her hands together with glee. “You’ve almost got it!”
Alright. I can do this. Gracefully. Big push with my talons…flap hard with my arms. Uh, wings…
I take off from my perch on the stump, madly flapping to gain altitude. I approach the cedar and begin to spiral around it, higher and higher until I reach the top.
