The Castes and the OutCastes: The Complete Trilogy

by Davis Ashura

  “They know we’re here,” Query said. “They’re moving to intercept.”

  “Link them as soon as you can,” Farn said. “After that, we need to get moving. I don’t like being stopped here out in the open.”

  A moment later, four individuals, three men and one woman flickered into view, their Blends Linked with those of the Ashokans. It was Rukh, two men Jaresh didn’t know, and Jessira.

  Jaresh dismounted, grinning widely. His brother was alive. Before he knew it, Rukh was standing before him and pulling him into a firm embrace. Farn was there as well, grinning just as widely as Jaresh.

  “What are you two doing here?” Rukh asked, appearing as stunned as Jaresh could ever recall seeing.

  “We were sent to bring you home,” Farn answered, quickly explaining the commutation of Rukh’s sentence. He turned to the two men that Jaresh didn’t know. “Court. Cedar,” he said in hesitation before embracing them. “I am so sorry for what’s happened.”

  Jaresh briefly wondered who these men were to Farn but other concerns were paramount. “We should get moving,” he said, glancing about nervously. “We’ve been stopped too long as it is.”

  “Agreed,” Farn said.

  “Where do you intend to go?” one of the men with Rukh asked—Cedar. He apparently had taken command of the OutCastes from Sign.

  “Back to Ashoka,” Farn said. “We’ll search for any other survivors, and then we’re going home.”

  “Perhaps I will see Ashoka after all,” Court said with a half-smile of heartbreak.

  Farn squeezed the man’s shoulder, his face full of sympathy. “I wish I could have seen you again under better circumstances.”

  “Another three Blends,” Query said. “This time from the south.”

  “Devesh damn it!” Farn said. “Should we just make camp here and wait for everyone to show up?”

  Sign Deep was glad to give over command of the Shadowcats and the other twenty-nine warriors from various units to Cedar. He was the only officer amongst them, and so far she was finding that the crown of leadership was a thorny helm. After the Queen’s attack on the East Gate, Sign had been charged with leading those who had escaped the slaughter to safety. Her goal had been a large cavern filled with food, water, and weapons—established for just this kind of emergency.

  But soon afterward, Chimeras—Tigons, Braids, and Ur-Fels—had caught their scent. The Strongholders had been forced to flee. But always the Chims were right behind them. A few times, the OutCastes had escaped the traps all around them through the simple expedient of hiding. Luck was on their side, and they always managed to find a place to hole up just before a group of Suwraith’s beasts marched by. Sign had kept her people moving and alive, but without any real plan on what to do next.

  Hopefully, Cedar could do better, even if it meant relying on the Purebloods. Maybe they would all turn out to be like Rukh: open-minded and humble. It flew in the face of everything she knew about Purebloods and the history of her own kind. But then here was Farn Arnicep. During his time in Stronghold, he had been treated just as poorly as Rukh. He had likely been just as angry about it. But despite it all, Farn was still willing to help the OutCastes, going so far as to offer them sanctuary in Ashoka itself. If so, she would bless him to the stars

  Of course, she still wondered about his appearance back in Stronghold on the same day as Suwraith’s arrival. It was a monumental coincidence, but Cedar trusted Farn. Sign figured she would have to as well—unless she was given a reason not to.

  “Sir,” an Ashokan said. “Those people from the south…their Blends aren’t very good.”

  Sign grimaced. Prior to Rukh’s demonstration in the Trials of Hume, she had never given credence to any of the fables about Pureblood abilities in the use of Jivatma. She had been wrong about Kummas, and apparently, she was wrong about Murans and Rahails as well. When the Silversuns had approached, none of the OutCastes had known Cedar and the others were there until long after the Ashokans had detected them. And now, this group from the south….Sign couldn’t sense the Blends the Ashokans seemed to so easily feel.

  Sign didn’t like feeling inferior, and right now, she felt distinctly so. After the horrific tragedies today, it seemed such a petty emotion to hold onto; but she clung to it anyway. It was a way to occupy her mind and help her forget….She choked back a sob. Peddananna and Peddamma, Kart, Jeshni, the children, and so many others—all dead. Her city dead. Her people…a single tear streaked a clean line down her dusty face. The Sorrow Bringer was well-named. Sign felt a sob catch in her throat.

  “We’ll cry when the time is right,” Jessira whispered, squeezing her hand. She must have noticed Sign’s grief. “You need to stay strong.”

  Sign nodded and wiped away the tear. Her cousin was a pillar of strength, and strength is what they all needed. That and courage. She prayed her people—the few who remained—would have enough of both to see them through the terrible days to come. Court stepped to her side. Quiet as he usually was, somehow his presence had always been comforting. He put his arm across her shoulder, drawing her into a brief hug before letting her go. He stayed with her, though, for which she was grateful. She couldn’t imagine life without her strong, silent brother.

  “Three Blends,” Cedar, moving to stand next to them. “I can feel them now.”

  “So do I,” Rukh said. He stood with his family: Jaresh and Farn.

  Cedar stepped away from the other Strongholders. “I’ll let them know we’re here,” he said. He dropped his Blend and stood in the midst of the pass, waiting for those approaching to notice him.

  A flicker to the south revealed those who were coming, and Sign’s mouth dropped. Terror hit her with the force of a hammer, and she gasped in shock.

  Standing no more than thirty feet away were three Baels. The fragging bastards could Blend! The world was doomed if Suwraith could give Her demonseed creatures Humanity’s Talents.

  Rukh and Jessira shouted for the Ashokans to hold off their attack.

  “It’s Li-Choke,” Rukh explained to Farn. “You remember him. He was with us in the Hunters Flats.”

  Farn appeared as stunned and fearful as Sign. “One of Dirge’s Baels?” He sounded doubtful.

  “Let them approach,” Jessira said. “Choke is a friend. They all are if we allow it.”

  At a gesture from the brute in the center—the one with the most feathers—the Baels fell to a knee, planting their tridents firmly against the ground. Their chained whips remained coiled at their hips. From behind them came a happy cry.

  “Cedar,” a voice shouted. A woman dashed out from behind the Baels. Laya! Sign gave a happy shout, as did Jessira and Court. Cedar ran forward, inarticulate in his joy. Tears streamed down Sign’s face as she watched them embrace. It was a small enough gesture of hope on a day filled with uncountable tragedy. With Laya came two young girls, both under ten. Her nieces.

  “I thought I’d lost you forever when we were separated,” Cedar said.

  “I tried to get back to you, but there were too many Chimeras in the way, and they kept chasing after us.” Laya turned a fond smile to the two girls with her. “At least some good came out of it. I came across these two.”

  “We were driven away as well,” Court said. “Cedar had us circle back to where we last saw you, but by the time we got there, you were gone.”

  “But we’re together now,” Cedar said, taking her hands and kissing her fingertips. “That’s all that matters.”

  The Baels remained rooted to the ground. They waited, kneeling as Rukh and several other Ashokans—Farn and Jaresh among them—approached. Cedar held Laya as if he never wished to let her go, and some of Sign’s fear ebbed. It hadn’t been the Baels who had learned to Blend. It had been Laya and the two girls. Somehow, the horned bastards must have coerced Laya and the others to Blend them.

  The lead Bael was talking. Sign wanted to hear what was going on. She walked over to them.

  “…she says Chak-Soon saved them from
fifty Braids,” the Bael said, gesturing to Laya.

  “We would have been dead if not for the Tigon and his claw. He said we were brothers. It was surreal, especially when he asked if I knew you and Rukh,” Laya said, appearing stunned to find herself amongst her family. “I thought maybe I was having a nightmare, but then we ran into these three.” She gestured to the lead Bael. “Li-Choke offered to keep us safe if we Blended them. We didn’t have many options, but then he also asked if I knew the two of you.” She looked to Rukh and Jessira. “I always thought your story about Baels couldn’t be true, but it was. All of it. The Chimeras are your friends.”

  “Not all of them,” the one named Li-Choke said, coming to his feet. “Only the Baels and a fistful of Tigons.”

  “Why are you here?” Rukh asked.

  “To exterminate you Humans,” Li-Choke said with a grin. Sign did not find him amusing. “Mother commanded that I bring a Shatter north to kill any who escaped Her vengeance. As usual, the Baels have decided to interpret Her wishes in our own fashion.”

  “What do you intend to do?” Jessira asked.

  “Mother visited me just before I ran into Laya Grey,” Li-Choke answered. “She claimed to have killed any who had escaped your city from the west. She said a few hundred remain of those who fled to the east.”

  Sign missed the rest of what the Bael said. A few hundred? Out of forty thousand, that was all that was left? So few. Her eyes welled, and she shared a look of horrified loss with Court. How would they survive? Their people were all but extinct.

  “And your suggestion is for us to make for the River Gaunt, where it meets River Heart, and hope some Tigons might save us?” Farn said, his voice a growl of distrust. He stood directly in front of Li-Choke, a hand on the hilt of his sword. “Maybe instead, you can explain why I shouldn’t cut you and your ‘brothers’ down right here and now.”

  “My suggestion isn’t without peril,” Choke said, sounding unperturbed by Farn’s threat. “There is a Fracture in that area, but only one. The rest of the Shatter will be otherwise occupied. It is your best chance to escape.”

  “We know him,” Jessira said to Farn. “We trust him. You were there when his SarpanKum spared my life and those of my brothers. They weren’t lying then. Choke’s not lying now.”

  “I agree. I think we should trust him,” Rukh said.

  Sign looked to Cedar, waiting on his judgment.

  “I don’t see how we have much choice,” Cedar said with a sigh. “We’re going north to the confluence of the River Heart and the River Gaunt.”

  Sign would have expected Farn to ask the opinion of one of the other Kummas, but surprisingly, he turned to Jaresh. “What do you think?”

  “I trust Rukh, and he trusts the Bael,” Jaresh replied.

  Farn looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. “Fine,” he said as he unclenched his hand from his sword. “I don’t like it, but I do remember this Bael and what Rukh said about him. We’ll go north.” He turned and pointed a threatening finger at the Baels. “But if anything goes wrong, I’ll come back from death’s door and take all of you with me.”

  They picked up another sixty-nine Strongholders during their journey to where the River Heart emptied into River Gaunt. Adding them to their original sixty-two, perhaps only one hundred thirty-one out of forty thousand of their people had survived this morning’s slaughter. It was a loss too terrible to put to words, but Cedar had no time to dwell on his grief. He had to lead his people, save them from the noose of Chims ranged throughout the hills and valleys surrounding Stronghold.

  Thus far, they had managed the journey north without coming across any more Chims. It was a minor miracle, even with Li-Choke’s promise to keep his forces away from the confluence of the Rivers Heart and Gaunt. Cedar didn’t entirely trust the Bael, not after all the terrible events of the day; and he certainly didn’t expect their luck to hold out. Only an hour earlier, while pinned against the shore of an oxbow lake, he had been certain they had been discovered. A claw of Tigons—herding Bovars harnessed to a large number of wagons—had passed by close enough to count the cats’ teeth.

  Even finding the canoes and large rafts Li-Choke had promised ready and waiting along the shoreline of River Heart hadn’t settled Cedar’s fears. Only when his people were on the water and far from here would he believe they might actually survive this disaster. Several of the watercraft had already been launched, and Cedar silently urged those still boarding to greater speed. The center of his back tingled uncomfortably.

  His people were tightly packed on a thin sliver of a beach. Around them loomed the walls of a river canyon, widening where the two waters merged. The cliffs extended east and west along the length of the Gaunt, but along the near eastern shore where they stood, the sandstone bluffs slouched down into the water in a gradual tumble of shale and wagon-sized boulders. To the north, mounded hills marched off into the distance, gradually giving way to scalloped mountains. The light was dying with sunset less than an hour away. Shadows stretched long, but on the ravine’s floor, a dismal gloom already held sway. A dull, ceaseless thunder echoed along the canyon’s wall from the whitewater rapids as the Gaunt raced downhill, over partially submerged boulders, and through a constriction directly to the east.

  Cedar watched as another raft was launched. It raced away, making it through the center of the narrowing channel before being lost to view. None of the Ashokans had yet taken to the water. They stood facing back in the direction from which they had come, bows uncased and arrows nocked.

  “Just a few more rafts, and all our people will have boarded,” Jessira shouted to him over the rushing roar of the rivers pouring together.

  Cedar nodded acknowledgement. Just a little bit longer.

  As if in response to his burgeoning hope, from the bluffs to the south rose the hooting cries of Balants. Cedar’s gaze snapped in the direction of the sound. Standing atop the mesas, were Balants, Tigons, and Ur-Fels dancing about with excitement.

  Cedar’s heart sank. Their luck had run out. Down on the floor of the ravine, hundreds of Chims appeared. They had their quarry in sight, and they swarmed down the banks of the Heart; minutes away. The basso roar of a Bael calling the Fan Lor Kum to battle rumbled on the wind.

  “Get the women and children aboard first!” Cedar shouted. “Warriors of Stronghold, form a line. Bows!”

  Farn Arnicep was also calling for his Ashokans to battle. Their bows were held in steady hands. The Kummas clustered in groups of two and three, standing eerily silent. “Watch our backs,” Farn said to Cedar. “Keep them off the bluffs so they can’t get at us from behind. We’ll hold the ravine.”

  “There’s too many to fight on your own. You’ll be destroyed.”

  Farn unlimbered his bow. “We’ll hold as long as we must,” he said with grim determination.

  “We can help,” Cedar insisted. “We aren’t cowards.”

  “I know,” Farn said, “but bravery alone won’t win this day. Your warriors would do the most good on the cliffs.”

  Cedar nodded reluctantly, knowing Farn was right. “We’ll keep them off your backs,” he promised. He was about to lead his warriors to the slopes of the surrounding bluffs, but he paused and turned back. “Thank you, Farn,” he said, staring the Kumma in the eyes and infusing his words with all the gratitude he could muster.

  Farn briefly squeezed Cedar’s shoulder before turning away.

  It had been weeks since Aia and her brothers had found Rukh and Jessira in the wilds to the west of the Privations. After their initial meeting, the Kesarins had left the two Humans, wanting to see the high country where so few of their kind had ever been. Their exploration had been a revelation. The mountains were ominous and powerful, with jagged rocks and swift running water. They could end the life of the unwary as easily as any predator. And while game was plentiful, it was hard to catch. Mountain goats could evade the Kesarins without any effort. Lunging down steep cliffs or climbing ragged hills was not something at which Kes
arins excelled. Thankfully, herds of antelope and deer also made their homes along the shoulders and valleys of the high country. They were slow and tasty.

  Eventually, Aia had seen enough of the lonely mountains. It was time to go and reclaim her Human.

  This morning Aia and her brothers had intended to meet Rukh and Jessira in the hills north of the stifling caverns in which he denned, but those plans had quickly gone awry. Nails had clawed their minds. A howling scream had reverberated over the mountains. The Demon Wind. Aia and her brothers had fled, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit her fear. No one challenged the Mistress of the Nobeasts, the Sorrow Bringer as the Humans named Her.

  Later, when they felt themselves a safe distance away, Aia had time to worry about Rukh. She searched for his thoughts and found them seething with anger and implacable resolve. Rather than flee from the Demon Wind, her Human had placed himself directly in Her path. For a moment, Aia had wondered if Rukh actually planned on fighting the Sorrow Bringer. Thankfully, he had only worked to save as many of his kind as he could. Eventually, Rukh had retreated along with his mate and several others.

  Afterward Aia and her brothers had no time to spare for idle thoughts. The hills crawled with Nobeasts. There were far too many for three Kesarins to handle on their own. Even the entire Hungrove Glaring might not have been able to defeat so many. Once again, Aia, Shon, and Thrum had been forced to flee. It left a bad taste in all their mouths. The Kesarins were hunters. They were never hunted, and to behave as prey was to be humiliated.

  There finally came a time when the Demon Wind left, and it was then that Thrum had argued with Aia when she suggested they help the Humans by killing any Nobeasts who threatened them. To her brother, it made no sense. What were the Humans to them? They owed them nothing, but Aia was firm in her decision. It was something Rukh would have done, and for some reason, his opinion was important to her.

  *They will die if we don’t help them,* Aia said. *The Nobeasts seek to finish what their Mistress started. They will kill all the Humans.*