by Jen Ponce
“The Wolf Clan was attacked by a group of hunters. One of their people is dead and one of ours. Tam is gone. They think she led the hunters to their campsite.”
Oh god. I wondered what Leon had promised her to get her to betray them. Probably a cure. “I’m sorry.” I thought of the pretty fox and wondered if she’d been one of the dead.
“I warned them. Didn’t think she would turn traitor so soon. Perhaps she worried they would take her too far into the Wilds for anyone to find her.” He had his arm around me when it felt like I should have my arm around him.
“I don’t think I’m good for your people’s health,” I said, sick to my stomach.
“It isn’t you, it’s the world we live in. And people aren’t going to change their ways unless we do something to challenge their views. I’m sorry we’ve lost people but I’m not sorry that you came to our village. We can’t sit here in solitude and hope that the world forgets about us. It’s time we fought for our freedom and peace.”
I slid my fingers through his chest hair, liking the silky feel of it, almost fur-like. “Galleia doesn’t have to be your fight. Last time through you lost more people. I have the advantage this time.” Sort of. Amara knew I was up to something but I hoped she didn’t know much. Or where. I sighed. Too much to hope for.
He squeezed me gently. “Think of it as the start of our revolution. I will make sure the Meat Clan is known in Galleia and that we will no longer tolerate the Theleoni or the slave trade.” Hyena or not, his smile was wolfish.
I wanted to convince him that he should start small, that there might be other things he wasn’t up to fighting (Skriven, for instance), that his people could resent him for getting them involved. I didn’t want the guilt that I knew I’d feel if more of his people died. Caught between guilt and selfishness.
“You will see. Talk to my people and you will see. We are not ignorant of the world, we’ve just turned a blind eye. I think we have all been waiting for our call to action.”
Later that morning, when the sun was finally up, he took me down to the arena where most everyone met for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He stood up on a table to address them all.
“We have seen what happens to our people when the witch-folk take us. They don’t understand the wild magic and their willful ignorance puts us all in danger. Today, we have the opportunity to send them a message that we are not to be ignored or bought and sold like objects. They do not get to decide what happens to us as if we are little children. Today there will be danger and fighting. Today we can rescue a poor soul like our Jasper who has been enslaved by a group called the Theleoni for many years. The witch-folk don’t understand that it’s their unwillingness to bend that has led to the Theleoni, who steal humans to give themselves power when denied by their own folk. This has to stop. And we are responsible for stopping them. Do any of you oppose action that may start a war but may also create a better life for our people?”
Well, when phrased that way, Krosh. I watched as they stood up, one by one to voice their concerns. He answered their questions without any prevarication. Yes, it would be dangerous. Yes, some of them may die. Yes, it could bring the witch-folk down on them or more witch-folk could encroach on their territory. He didn’t sugar coat anything. And damned if a great majority of them declared that today would be a fine day to stand up for the Meat Clan.
I’d fomented a revolution. I wondered what Arsinua would think about it all, considering she was one of the witch-folk who had a stake in keeping things in line with the status quo. Well, she’d had a stake, anyway. Now that she was a criminal and jail escapee she might not be welcome in her own society. Like Tam. Hell, like the Theleoni. Shit.
Jasper joined me as we listened to Kroshtuka, now off the table and walking amongst his people, answer questions and make shorter, still impassioned speeches about the cause.
“You do enjoy spurring change, don’t you?”
“I don’t mean to. I swear it. Most of this is just me getting by and trying to survive.”
He nodded. “I’m sure you believe that now. There will be a time when you will have to be honest with yourself, though.”
I frowned but didn’t get to argue with him because a villager took him aside to ask him about his time with the Theleoni. I wasn’t sure what to make of his comment. I really didn’t set out to change things, I just took the opportunity to try and make things better when I had the chance. Okay, my version of better but still.
“Damn it, Jasper.”
He looked over at me and smiled. I almost stuck my tongue out at him but the woman beside him was already looking at me as if I might be a little unhinged so I just turned away. Time to get my mind around today anyway. The idea of having more of Kroshtuka’s people in the line of danger didn’t sit well but I had to start thinking strategically. It wouldn’t do any good to worry about them so I needed to put that away and get mentally prepared.
We gathered at the south gates. Some changed into their animals but most had weapons and stayed in human form. Kroshtuka walked through them hanging small stones around the animals’ necks or handing stones to the ones with hands and pockets. When he handed me mine I held it up to the light. It was a flat grey stone, nothing remarkable about it.
“We will take the Pathways. They are quicker but without these we would become separated on the first road.”
“Backroads?”
He nodded. “I do not know how the ringmaster discovered the secret of them. He doesn’t know them all but he isn’t afraid of exploring, which makes him dangerous. We are going to take some of the few Pathways that are still hidden from that bastard’s eyes.” He curled my fingers around my stone. “So don’t lose it.”
I smiled. “That’s how I ended up here the first time. I got off the wagon and they took off without me.”
“The Wilds are alive. The magic there is sentient. Perhaps it saw what you needed to do and decided to help get things rolling.”
Jasper walked over, a sword strapped to his back. He should have looked dangerous but his face was too beautiful and kind to pull it off.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?”
“And let you have all the fun?”
I looked from his sword to the gun belted to Kroshtuka’s waist. “Where’s my weapon?”
“Can you shoot?”
I shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
Kroshtuka grinned. “No weapon for you. Perhaps someday we can train with the gun or the sword but none of us want to be killed by friendly fire.”
I supposed I would have to hope my knowledge of the heart’s control room continued to grow.
“Besides, I thought you would become your spider again.”
“Maybe.”
Yes.
“What about you?” I said. “Going to be hard to pull a trigger with paws.”
He patted the gun. “It’s faster than claws and teeth.” The crowd around us slowly settled to quiet. “Are you ready?”
No, I wanted to say. Not at all. This stuff never goes as I plan it or as I think it should. Not knowing what would happen once we got there was worse than remembering what had happened last time. “No, but let’s go anyway.”
He barked a command and then we left the village―I hoped not for the last time.
The way was quick and the feeling of rapid movement more natural than when we’d traveled with the Carnicus. We were in Galleia before I had time to get tired from the half-run, half-walk we were doing to make up lost time between the Pathways.
I didn’t recognize much from my last visit, considering I’d been Neutria at the time and rather more concerned about my continued existence than sightseeing. We came on Galleia from a hilltop and had a great view. Past a sand colored wall, the town spiraled up a hill, the one-story homes painted in a multitude of colors. Clothes flapped on lines connecting some of the homes and a thin mist softened the scene. As we neared the town, the view disappeared behind the imposing wall and the ramshackle
edge of town was revealed.
“This is where outsiders stay and where anyone who wants to enter Galleia must repose until the townsfolk are sure they aren’t tainted.” He pointed upward at the men and women guarding the wall. “You have to petition the town. They give you a badge that monitors your movements and body functions for two weeks. If you haven’t given them any reason to think you’ve been tainted, they will let you in.”
“That is just wrong. Who are they to keep people out?”
He shrugged. “It’s their town. If it’s any consolation, I wouldn’t let them into Odd Silver either.”
It wasn’t a consolation because I knew he wasn’t serious. Sure, he would protect his people but if there was someone in need, the Meat Clan would let them in. Of course, they could also defend themselves if need be.
We scouted the village outside Galleia’s walls then decided our best bet was to split our force into four groups. It spread us thin but gave us the advantage of having more than one point of attack and perhaps gaining us the element of surprise.
Kroshtuka and I hunkered down to play dice in the dirt while Jasper and another, younger man sat down under the shade of a lean-to and passed a bottle between them. They fit in but I was sure I stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone else was covered in a thin layer of dirt. Kroshtuka assured me I was inconspicuous, especially after he tossed dirt over my head, then rubbed a smear of mud on my cheek. I batted his hand away when he came at me with another load of dust. “You can’t tell me a mud smear will hide me.”
“You caught me.”
The dice game wasn’t any fun, not in the heat of day while waiting to confront a group more than willing to kill us. The third time he had to remind me it was my turn, he pocketed the dice and made himself comfortable with his head in my lap. I leaned my back against the wall, warmed by the noonday sun, and entertained myself by trying to find the rest of the Meat Clan. Some were easier to spot than others.
I’d almost drifted off when the distant cloud I’d been gazing at grew until I figured out it wasn’t a cloud at all but dust kicked up by a large group traveling fast. Faster than seemed possible. They slowed about a half mile from the outskirts and their dust cloud beat them to town.
Squinting through the dirt, I scanned the party for Cyres or her cage―that upset me, the cage thing. For that, and for the torture they’d put her and Jasper through, the Theleoni deserved a good thumping. I hoped they would fight though. I wanted to do more than thump.
“How many are there?” Kroshtuka murmured. I thought he’d fallen asleep but apparently he was better at the waiting thing than me.
“At least forty-five of them.” Twice our number. “We should wait until they’ve made camp and gone off to drink themselves silly.”
“Buck and Dagger are in charge of the revelry. Their pockets are bulging and they’re ready to buy the tired travelers extra rounds. We’ll only need to take out a few guards, if we’re lucky.”
I wondered if I should tell him about Lizzie’s dream. There’d been no indication that the events she’d seen were going to happen here but I had a feeling this was the culmination point. The final battleground. “If we’re really lucky, we can sneak Cyres out of here without anyone being the wiser.”
“True. Now relax. A couple more hours before sundown.”
But I had to pee. I held it as long as I could and then sneaked off to the Traveler’s Rest, a shop plus boarding house. Kroshtuka had slipped me a few coins which I was glad of when the proprietor told me it would cost to use the facilities. Highway robbery. I paid and peed, washed my hands and meandered through the store looking at the wares. A pretty necklace and earrings caught my eye and I wasn’t paying attention as I moved to get a closer look. I ran into someone, knocking them into a display of jewelry that sent everything tumbling to the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” I said and bent to help pick up the items. I heard the shop keeper making noise behind me about clumsy strangers when I looked up at the person I’d run into. My hands stilled. Amara smiled at me, her goat-eyes hidden by a pair of silvered sunglasses.
“Do you know I was able to make Tytan cry? I didn’t know Skriven could cry. Did you?”
Normally, even when people pissed me off it took me a while to get angry, so the zero to one hundred in one second flat took me by surprise. I lunged at her, drove her body back with my strength and Neutria’s, and slammed her into the wall. Pots rattled and a plate fell to the floor with a splintering crash.
She circled both her arms, bringing them upward and inward and shouted. The power blew me into a display case, glass shattering around me. A sharp slice of pain lanced my side. I pushed myself up, nicking my palm as I stood. I didn’t get a bubble in time and she tossed me into the wall. My head knocked hard against the stone and my vision went dark for a couple of frantic blinks.
Her third volley I blocked—barely—and then I had my hands on the control stick in my mental cockpit and I loosed a barrage of power at her. The shop’s wall disintegrated and pulverized stone rained down on the spectators outside. Amara was gone.
“What are you doing?” The storekeeper shrieked at me, flapping his arms as if I were a mongrel to be shooed away.
“Trying to keep from dying,” I said, making another bubble in case she sneaked up behind me. I stepped through the destruction and into the street, craning my neck as I searched for the woman. A bark of warning sent me spinning to the ground as a statue soared over my head. It hit the wall of another shop with a dull thud, shards of marble raining down on me.
I shot another volley of power in the direction the statue had flown from but once again she’d vanished. Hands shaking, I formed another bubble around me and stood, my skin coated with a thin, white layer of stone dust, stuck to my skin with sweat.
Something hit me from the side and I went sprawling, skinning my arm on the cobblestones. Above me, the wall exploded and my savior covered my body with his as the bricks flew from the blast.
“I’ll hold her off. Go find Cyres.”
Ellison? I didn’t have any more time to think about it. He shoved me to my feet and then took the brunt of an airborne wagon. I stumbled around the corner, a steel-shod wheel barely missing my leg. I ran toward the place I’d watched the Theleoni set up camp, hoping they wouldn’t get scared and bug out. I wished I knew where everyone else was and hoped they would stay out of Amara’s way.
I skidded into a wagon, banging my shin and cursing. They’d circled themselves up like Leon’s group but it was messier, as if they just didn’t give a fuck to do it right. I didn’t have time to do a search so I concentrated on the Cyres I’d met last time and hooked to her. It was a cramped space that smelled like a cat had used it as a litter box. I gagged, then pulled my shirt up over my nose. “Cyres?”
Nothing.
I felt my way through the darkness, curling my lip at the skittery sound of tiny vermin. My toe touched something that thrashed against my boot before scrambling away with the scrape of claws against wood. “Cyres!” Oh yuck. Something squished underfoot and a musky smell wafted upward. “Can’t you help out a little Neutria? Super spidey eyes or something?”
Not darkness. Something else.
My fingers hit bars and curled around the rough metal. I gave them a shake and got a slight clunk for my trouble but otherwise the cage didn’t move. Thinking a moment, I went down into my control room and concentrated on finding something that would illuminate my surroundings. A simple light switch was screwed into the wall near what I thought of as the jet fighter cock pit. I flicked it. Outside my mind, my skin began glowing. I waved my hands and stared in stupefied wonder as they left behind streamers of light like sparklers.
Teeth and claws lunged at me. I shrieked as a growling, barking mass hit my chest and knocked me backward. Dust flew and the overpowering stench of mildew enveloped me as I fought to keep the matted brown monster from ripping out my neck. My fingers slipped and caught in its fur, squishing against things that poppe
d as I gripped its body and locked my arms. I grabbed at my magic and flung it at the creature, not using the cockpit, just desperate to get that rotten meat off me.
It worked. The thing blew back into the opposite wall and I slammed down a barrier. In my control room, black smoke sizzled up from the center core. I’d hurt myself, drawn from the wrong spot but I could feel the Source pouring in to repair the leak. The thing growled and paced at the edge of my barrier but didn’t try to break it.
I looked over at the cage and saw Cyres squatting inside of it. She’d poured out her food, some type of small grain, and was drawing pictures in it with her finger. She didn’t seem worried about the slavering beast, just hummed to herself like an enraptured child. “Cyres? Can you hear me?”
She nodded, still humming. Her fingers flicked a few grains to the left and then she sat back and smiled.
“I’ve come to get you out of here.”
“It won’t do any good,” she sing-songed.
I glanced back at the beast, no longer pacing. It sat still and I could see that it had been recently beaten. Blood matted its fur and those things that I felt popping under my fingers? Maggots. I gagged and swiped my hands down my pants, vowing to scrub until my skin was raw as soon as I was near soap and a sink. “Why?”
“I will die and Tytan will ascend.”
“No. I can keep you safe. Ty wants you safe. He doesn’t want to ascend.” I thought. I hoped. Lizzie’s Dream made me nervous but I had to go with my instinct that said Tytan was sincere about helping me. For now, anyway.
She didn’t answer but started rocking back and forth, balanced on the balls of her feet.
“What about this animal? What happened to it?”
Her humming stopped and she tipped her head at me. “They beat him because he protected me.”
Light? Meet the end of the tunnel. I looked him in the eyes. “What’s his name?”
“Pardus.” His ears flicked when he heard his name and his wide animal head swung Cyres’ way. “Aren’t you my pretty Pardus?” The thing yawned, showing off two inch long fangs, one a jagged, broken mess. His long tongue unfurled and he began stroking it along his paw.
