Mouth dry, Jackson shook his head. He looked in the direction Asena was pointing. The shadows moved, and what Jackson had first taken for sun spots mixed with shade turned into the biggest Smilaguar Jackson had ever seen in his life.
Without warning, it attacked.
Chapter Twenty
A flash of orange passed in front of Jackson as Asena leaped to her tamer’s defense. She struck the Smilaguar hard and the two of them crashed into the creek, snarling and biting. It took Jackson a moment to snap from his surprise and terror before he regained himself and started issuing Asena commands.
The giant Smilaguar seemed to match Asena in terms of its level, and Jackson wished he had time to pull up its chart. Luckily, Asena had the benefit of Jackson’s outside perspective on the fight and soon fought clear using a combination of physical attacks and small Fire-Elemental moves that had an advantage over the Earth-Elemental Smilaguar. After a few hits, the feline Djinn freed itself from Asena and disappeared in a flash into the undergrowth. A sharp command to Asena kept the Lyote from giving chase.
Jackson let out a long breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and called Asena to his side. He bent down and examined her for any injuries — fortunately she’d come away with only a few minor bites and scratches. And, thanks to the Smilaguar fleeing, she hadn’t gained many Experience Points, either.
Fiona walked up, Rebel at her side. The Megala’s ranged feather needle attack would have been a huge help, but there had been no way for Rebel to attack without hurting Asena. Just then, Scrappy descended from the trees above with a squawk. It had taken too long for the Scoundrook to make it back in time to be any help, and Jackson saw that as a sign to recall the Djinn to his ring. If they had others to face in the trek ahead, it would help to have both Djinn with him at all times.
“That was the biggest Smilaguar I’ve ever seen,” Jackson said as Scrappy disappeared in an obsidian light.
It wasn’t just the size of the Smilaguar that surprised Jackson. Like Black’s, the Djinn’s spotted hide had more mottled greens and hues of browns — perfect camouflage. But compared to Black’s Smilaguar, this one had been around one and a half times bigger, with larger curved fangs and a longer, more muscular body.
“That’s because it wasn’t a Smilaguar,” Fiona said. She grabbed Jackson’s wrist, pulled up his Djinncyclopedia, and typed in an entry.
Djinn: Arkodon
Element: Earth
Arkodon, the Advance-Form of the Felinx line is one of the fiercest natural predators in the Djinn world. Arkodon are known to hunt in packs and solo, often assessing or stalking a prey on their own to determine if a larger group is needed to make the kill. Evolution and adaptive camouflage have allowed this Djinn to successfully hunt in a number of different climates and regions.
Jackson tapped through some of the more specific details regarding the Djinn. “Oh, dang,” he said. “According to this, that was a small one!”
“It’s pretty crazy to see an Advance-Form Djinn in the wild,” Fiona agreed. “They must fight with other packs to level up and gain Experience. If a tamer had raised that Arkodon, we would have been in big trouble.”
Jackson was also happy Asena had the Elemental advantage in that battle. “I’m more worried about the part where they gang up on their prey,” Jackson said. He glanced around at the surrounding foliage. “We better keep moving. If a pack of those things hits us, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
They continued their uphill ascent following the creek. All conversation about relationships was forgotten. At least it seemed that way with Fiona, and Jackson was too on edge to press the subject. He made a mental note to find out more about Kay — he really didn’t think he was that clueless, but he’d never picked up any signs that she was looking to be something other than best friends. Then again, he never thought he’d try to kiss Fiona Sato at a Bronze League Awards gala, either.
The terrain grew steeper, the slopes interspersed in some areas with small bands of cliffs. Although these weren’t especially large or tall, they posed a significant challenge to climb due to the moss and generally wet, slippery jungle floor. Fiona cut her arm when she slid on an outcrop, and less than an hour later, Jackson twisted his ankle when he slipped. Fortunately, it didn’t swell, and he could walk on it with only mild discomfort.
Asena continued on ahead of them, still sniffing and scouting out the area directly ahead. Her acute senses were the only thing that kept Jackson from going crazy with worry. If Asena didn’t sense any Djinn nearby then he felt comfortable they were safe.
The sun inched its way across the sky behind them — at least that’s what Jackson could tell from the breaks in the trees they occasionally found. The jungle thinned a little bit as they climbed, enough for Jackson to tell that they probably only had a few hours of daylight left. He remarked as much to Fiona, thinking he might impress her with his wilderness expertise.
Instead, she rolled her eyes and pointed to his wrist. “I could have told you that by looking at your watch.”
Jackson kept his bravado to himself after that.
Although there was plenty of fresh, cool water along their route to drink and rinse the grime and sweat from their faces, the fruit Black had assured them of hadn’t been found. Jackson thought it was strange that any trees and bushes with fruit or berries wouldn’t be growing along the creek where the water was, until he remembered how much rainfall Lombardia Archipleago received each year from his research. Water clearly wasn’t a problem.
That didn’t do anything to fill their bellies with food. Jackson was tempted to send Scrappy out looking for fruit, but after the encounter with the Arkodon, he didn’t want to have half of his Djinn team away if another attack came. Fiona agreed.
“I’m hungry, but I think we’re better off keeping our Djinn close,” she said. “And I definitely don’t want to wander away from the creek ourselves. We’ll be fine with just water even if we don’t meet up with everyone until tomorrow. It’ll suck, but we’ll live.”
Jackson was impressed with Fiona’s fortitude. Sure, he’d always known she was a hard-nosed tamer — one of the few he could say with almost certainty who worked harder than him with her Djinn. But in spite of that, he realized he’d been harboring a sort of bias toward Fiona based on her upbringing. She’d never been a snob, but Jackson had always gotten the impression that the Sato money made Fiona more…confident and self-assured than she would have been otherwise. Now, trekking through the middle of the jungle with no sleep, nothing to eat and more besides, he realized she was just plain tough.
While they caught their breath and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, Jackson took the opportunity to check their location on his Nav app. According to the GPS calculator, they were less than a mile from Splitrock Falls, the halfway point of their journey. Jackson felt new strength and optimism flood him…until he looked at the elevation gain. The last mile would be an uphill hike the whole way, some parts of it looking like they’d be spending more time crawling on their hands and knees than walking. On the plus side, Splitrock Falls offered a larger clearing around the pool at the base of the falls, meaning they would have a safe place to spend the night where predator Djinn could not approach unseen. Though setting up camp next to a water source seemed risky, he felt they’d be less vulnerable than if they stayed among the trees.
When he explained his findings to Fiona, she agreed that it would better to make it to the falls than risk staying in the jungle, even though both of them were exhausted and hungry.
About half of a mile into the last stretch, the last orange rays of the sun sank into the ocean horizon behind them, now visible through the thinning trees. In the twilight that followed, a hundred thousand bugs came alive. Unlike the gnats and mosquitos of daytime, these were multi-colored fireflies, floating and bobbing through the forest in various red, blue, and yellow hues. The accompanying constant buzz of other various bugs — some Djinn, some not — provided a tune to the floating li
ghts. The noise would have been annoying if they had been trying to sleep, but Jackson took it as a sign the jungle around them was safe. As they progressed, the crickets in their immediate area went silent and then resumed as they passed. Jackson kept an ear open around them for the same silence, in case any Arkodon wanted to try their luck against the group.
An almost-full moon provided pale silver light, filtering through the trees, to aid the rest of their journey. Given the incline and their fatigue, Jackson halted every five minutes or so to give him and Fiona time to rest. Asena remained their guide as her eyes were the best of any of their Djinn in the dark. Plus, Jackson reasoned her ancestors had evolved for generations to be perfect fits for Lombardia Archipelago. In fact, Jackson thought, looking at Asena, it was possible that Asena had come from Lombardia herself. He really had no idea where she was first caught by his mother.
On one of their breaks, Asena raised her head, pausing from smelling out the route ahead to stare up at the waxing moon. Jackson called to her and then sent a telepathic inquiry but both were ignored. The Lyote seemed transfixed by the moon and acted like nothing else around her existed or mattered. In between labored breaths, Jackson heard a faint call, so far away he had thought he imagined it at first. The long, forlorn note sounded again and broke the moon’s hold on Asena. Her ears tilted toward the sound before she tipped back her head and answered with a low howl of her own.
The sound put the hairs on the back of Jackson’s neck on end. He’d never heard Asena let out a call like that, not even in the heat of a battle. A moment later, the answering reply drifted back. This time, Asena turned her entire body in the direction of the howls and took a couple of steps toward it, to the north, rather than uphill to the east as Jackson had directed her.
Panic swelled in Jackson as he understood what the growing moon and the call of what could have only been another Lyote meant. Asena was being drawn away. Not only by the call of her kind, but the desire to evolve. Jackson scrambled up the slope and called out to her.
“Asena. Hey, girl,” Jackson said softly.
At the sound of his voice, Asena whipped around, fangs bared into a snarl. Jackson froze, and for the briefest moment, he thought she might turn on him. A shaft of moonlight glinted off his ring and the pale orange reflection caught Asena’s narrowed eyes.
Just like that, the spell of the Lyote howl and the moon was broken. Asena let out a whimper and curled into a submissive position, her ears down and tail between her legs.
“It’s okay, girl,” Jackson said even though his heart pounded and his voice and arm shook as he pet his Djinn. He prayed the call wouldn’t come again. For a brief moment, it had felt like his connection with Asena had been completely severed. In place of the fiery presence he felt in his mind when they communicated, there had been…nothing. The regular feeling was back now, but he could still sense Asena’s confusion.
“She’s going to let the whole island know where we are,” Fiona said.
“She couldn’t help it,” he said in a low tone. “That was another Lyote calling.”
Fiona looked like she might feel bad for having said anything. She bit her lip, then nodded. “Right. Sorry.” She paused, as if to say something, and then stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Jackson said. But he knew what she was thinking. That it’d be best to recall Asena in her ring. And she’d be right, even if it was the last thing Jackson wanted to hear in that moment.
“Nothing,” Fiona instead said. “Let’s just get to the clearing and I’ll feel a lot better about things.”
Whether it was his desire to stop climbing the side of a mountain in the dark, or anxiety of Asena being drawn by another Lyote call, Jackson pushed himself as hard as he could to make it up the last stretch of the climb. Fiona seemed similarly motivated and had no trouble keeping up. The whole time, Jackson kept Asena mentally reined in close to them, and was prepared to recall her to her ring at a moment’s notice.
In all their time together, she’d never had a feral moment like when he’d interrupted her howl to the other Lyote. Not even when he’d first released her from stasis when she was young and untamed. It cast a shadow of doubt over their Bond and Jackson felt a vibration against his wrist, signaling a decrease to 90%. That only fueled his desire to find the Everore and protect his Djinn.
When at last they stumbled out of the jungle into the open meadow surrounding Splitrock Falls, Jackson’s entire body ached and throbbed from the torture of the climb. A myriad of growing bruises covered his entire body, along with dozens of tiny cuts and scrapes — wearing shorts the night before on the boat now seemed like one of the worst decisions he’d ever made.
Fiona drew up beside him, chest heaving, dark hair wild and unruly, and dirt covering her face. When she looked over at Jackson, he felt a strong desire to pull her in close to him. Their gaze only added to the feeling, until Fiona broke it. At that sign, Jackson stamped out his own emotions.
Splitrock Falls would have been one of the most beautiful, amazing natural sights Jackson had ever witnessed had it been in another setting. As it was, in the humid night, with the constant worry of losing Asena and being attacked by wild Djinn, stranded and without help, the effect was somewhat ruined.
The waterfalls cascaded down a long stretch of domed rock. At the very top, the water gurgled and occasionally sprayed bouts of mist into the air, like a geyser or a fountain set on top of a pedestal. The water must have pooled at the top somehow because it all ran down the north side into the pond before them. The pool was about fifty yards across. Jackson could only guess at the depth. A large, almost square rock sat in the middle of the water, as if directing the current to run off into either East or West Splitrock Creek.
Now that they’d made it to their destination for the night, Jackson withdrew Asena into his ring. Part of him reasoned she could use the rest, but he knew if he was being honest that it was more over a worry of another Lyote call than anything. She didn’t seem pleased that she was receiving such treatment after all her hard work scouting ahead, but Jackson didn’t care. There was no room for error or mistakes.
Fiona’s Donkick served as their new watch-Djinn. Sabrina lacked Asena’s acute sense of smell and night vision, but her ears worked fine and she started grazing around the meadow, happy to be released after almost two days in stasis. With the Donkick watching out, Jackson and Fiona gathered an almost star-shaped, red-purple fruit from a nearby tree. After Sabrina ate one without hesitation, they needed no more encouragement. Both filled the fronts of their shirts with the fruit and gorged themselves by the edge of the pond. When Jackson finished, he worried he might feel the urge to puke it all up after not eating for so long, but the fruit had been soft and sweet, and it flooded him with much-needed energy.
“It’s a good thing it’s so warm out,” Jackson said.
“I know. Can you imagine us having to huddle together for warmth overnight?” Fiona said. “Awkward.”
“Oh, so now you make jokes?” Jackson said.
“Hey, if I can’t at least laugh about it now, when can I?”
Their gazes met for a moment before Jackson looked away.
“Why don’t you sleep for a little while and I’ll keep watch?” Jackson said.
Fiona shook her head. “Sabrina will do the job, you might as well get some sleep too.”
Jackson was tempted to release Asena once more as support, but the fear of something happening while he was asleep was too strong. Instead, he nodded, too tired to argue, the exhaustion overwhelming his sense of fear about any predator Djinn.
He laid down a couple of feet from Fiona. The grass was surprisingly soft. He had expected it to at least feel scratchy, but to Jackson, it felt better than the nicest hotel bed he’d ever stayed in. High above them, a scattering of the brightest stars shone through the almost-full moon. He had to admit, it made for quite the spectacular view. When he mentioned this to Fiona, however, he received no reply. Rolling on to one side, Jackson found her
already asleep.
When the Arkodon’s scream and Sabrina’s accompanying bray of warning shattered the night, he had no idea how long he’d been asleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jackson jolted upright, twisting his head around to find the source of the sound. Sabrina stood only a few feet away, her rear toward them. She was standing in an attack position, though Jackson couldn’t see what the Djinn was poised to take on. Jackson looked at Fiona, whose eyes were wide in confusion. Their glances asked the unspoken question: where was the Arkodon?
In answer, dozens of yellow eyes appeared in the glow. At first, Jackson thought they were more fireflies, but they moved in a steady line straight toward the tamers. Once free of the jungle, the hulking forms of the Arkodon became apparent. A quick count told Jackson there were over twenty of the predator Djinn, closing in on all sides save for the water at their backs.
“What do we do?” Jackson asked Fiona. Even with all four of their Djinn out, there was no way they would win a fight with that many Arkodon.
Fiona stared out at the pack, mouth slightly open. She gave a small head shake at Jackson’s question, as if stunned.
Neither Scrappy nor Rebel were large enough to carry Fiona or Jackson in flight yet — their only option was to… Jackson wasn’t sure they had any options.
He craned his head around once more to check their backs and saw the large, square rock jutting out of the middle of the pond.
“Can Scrappy and Rebel distract them long enough for us to make a break for that rock?” he asked Fiona, gesturing behind him.
Her eyes were wide with fear but she nodded. “They’ll have to try. On three?”
“One,” Jackson said in response.
The Arkodon were close now, less than two dozen yards away. They prowled forward carefully, huge clawed paws not making a sound on the grass. Jackson realized if not for Sabrina, they would have probably been dead before they ever realized the threat.
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 68