The giant lion sauntered into the midst of his lionesses, then lowered himself calmly onto the sand, tail thumping the earth. He yawned, exposing long teeth — longer even than those of Suka. He might not have the sheer muscle of the giant polar bear, but all it would take was one well-placed chomp from that mouth to be the end of Briggan. And the lion moved so liquidly, with such ease, that it seemed all he’d have to do was decide to bite and then his jaws would be wrapped around Briggan’s throat.
For a long moment, Cabaro stared into Briggan’s eyes. Rollan could detect a keen intelligence there, a cunning mind churning through possibilities. Then, with a throaty, velvety voice, the Great Beast spoke. “Briggan. Essix. You’ve come for my talisman.”
Casually, Cabaro tossed his mane. When his collar of fur lifted, beneath it Rollan could see a spectacular treasure. The lion was wearing a length of gold rope, gleaming in the light. In the place of pride was a hefty gold figurine, fashioned after a yawning cat.
The Golden Lion of Cabaro.
Languidly, luxuriously, Cabaro tilted his head and licked the talisman again and again, like it was an unruly patch of hair. Then he rested back on his haunches, tossing his mane proudly. It came to rest over the talisman, shielding it from view.
“Of course, you can’t reply,” Cabaro said. “You are nothing like your former selves. I remember how proud you were, Essix. How regal, how quick-witted. Second only to Halawir the Eagle in the speed of your tongue. You might have convinced me to join your battle against the others, if Halawir hadn’t talked me out of it long before you called your Grand Council.”
Cabaro’s tawny eyes moved from Essix to the wolf beneath her. “And, Briggan — none of the Great Beasts would have claimed you were the smartest among us, but you were loyal to the end, the only one all of us trusted. Few could best you in combat, and certainly not if your Great Pack was behind you. But now you’ve returned, smaller and silent.” The lion’s eyes flashed shrewdly. “Yes, I’m aware your size is borrowed. From Dinesh, no doubt. Your new state is sad to see. You are puppets to humankind. Like so many animals. You might as well be pets or milking cows.”
Briggan and Essix held still. Suddenly it felt like there was a glass wall within Essix’s mind. It was harder for Rollan to know what the falcon was feeling on the other side.
“You are servants of the Greencloaks now, no? You, who need bow to no human. They speak of partnerships, of a union of souls. But what are you, really? How many decisions do the Greencloaks turn to their spirit animals to make? They call you up when they want you to risk your necks in combat. They banish you when you are no longer convenient, like a parlor trick. Do you remember the argument we had during the Grand Council? About whether the humans deserved their fate? They have only become bolder. Even more entitled. You are the ones with the wisdom hard won through eons of life. And yet you’re at the beck and call of humans, who have only the paltry stupidity of decades.”
Briggan growled, and Rollan realized he had no idea why. He desperately wondered what was going through the wolf’s mind. Did he agree with Cabaro?
“Look throughout Erdas,” the giant lion continued, holding up a paw and flicking his long claws in and out. “Cows are kept for milk, subverted to human needs. Pigs are chained, faithfully waiting for scraps until they are killed for a meal. Birds are crammed in cages because humans think they are beautiful. This is not a friendship, nor even the wild freedom of predator and prey — it is a system imposed by human civilization. And you are the firewood that system burns to run. That is why I have secured this oasis. That is why my animal guards kill any human who dares approach.”
Cabaro lost his fake calm. The giant lion stood and paced, crossing the clearing and back in a few long strides, keeping Briggan and Essix in his sights the whole time. “This is one region where humans will never come. One place where they cannot chain us, fool us, mock us, dominate us. Once enough allies have arrived, we will expand, and take back the world. I invite you to stay, Essix and Briggan. Join me, and regain control of your destinies.”
Oh, no, Rollan thought, swayed by Cabaro’s words despite himself. This could be trouble. He’d never tried it before, but he tried to funnel thoughts to the falcon. You are my best friend. We share a soul. I am not using you. And getting the talismans is the only way to stop Kovo and Gerathon and the Devourer. The ones who killed you so long ago. Hiding away here isn’t the answer.
Cabaro came to a stop in front of Briggan and Essix. He was almost in striking distance.
Please, Rollan implored Essix, we need the talisman. For all of Erdas.
Cabaro came nearer still, and soon his nose was next to Briggan’s. His lips peeled back from his gums, into a wide and toothy grin. “We ended on bad terms, but you always preferred my company to Uraza’s, didn’t you? Do you remember, Briggan, when we used to hunt in an animal paradise, before humans came and ruined everything? But you’ve finally come around, haven’t you?”
Briggan let out a low growl.
Essix spread her wings and arrowed into the sky. The sudden change in view set Rollan reeling, his stomach in tight knots.
For a moment, the future of Erdas was literally up in the air.
To Rollan’s relief, the falcon went directly for the Golden Lion. Within seconds, she had her talons around the back of Cabaro’s mane and lifted. If she’d been the one to benefit from the Slate Elephant, she might have been able to yank out the lion’s fur and peel away with the talisman. But the heavy gold pendant was too tangled. The falcon faltered.
That was all the delay Cabaro needed. With a roar of rage, the lion turned and pivoted, doing a full rotation in the air and landing a dozen feet away, the talisman still secure. Rollan and Essix waited for the Great Beast to strike.
But, surprisingly, he held still.
Instead, the attack came from the lionesses.
During the commotion, they’d quietly flanked Briggan and Essix, stealing in from both sides. The first to reach Briggan leaped, her fangs sinking deep into his shoulder. Briggan yelped and twisted, but the lioness held on. Then another latched on, her claws raking deep into Briggan’s hindquarters, and his howls became anguished.
Essix was a spear of fury, soaring into the air and diving for the first of the lionesses. The fierce cat released Briggan as she was struck in the flank, rolling along the sandy ground and lying still. By then Briggan had managed to twist enough to get another between his jaws. He plucked her from him and hurled her to one side. She too rolled and lay still.
A third lioness took advantage of Briggan’s vulnerability to latch onto his throat. Feathers flying, Essix hovered in the air beside her, lashing furiously with her talons. Cuts and gashes accumulated on the lioness’s body, but she held on, ears flat and eyes scrunched tight.
Meanwhile, Rollan saw that the wild dogs were accumulating at Briggan’s rear, growling and whining. Then the first wild dog clamped onto Briggan’s tail. Another sank its teeth into the wolf’s foot, heedless of being trampled. A third bit into Briggan’s hamstring.
Yelping in confusion, Briggan started sinking. The wild dogs went after his flank — six, then seven, then eight of them latched on, in addition to the exhausted lioness at the wolf’s front. Flailing under the combined weight, Briggan began to teeter and pitch. If the dogs pulled him off his feet, he’d be done for. Essix abandoned the lioness and started going after the dogs, picking them off one by one. But each attacker that Essix taloned away was replaced by two more as the pack attacked in full force.
Cabaro, meanwhile, had retreated to the other side of the lagoon. The whole time, he watched and waited, following the action with apparent calm.
His heart in his throat, Rollan could only hope that Briggan and Essix somehow managed to turn the tide before the wolf succumbed.
Then, suddenly, he felt his world shake. In one wrenching and nauseating moment, he lost all his perspective, and the horizon fell away.
Abruptly Rollan was in his own body again. All
he could see was Tarik right in front of him, leaning over with a concerned expression.
“What are you doing?!” Rollan shouted. “Briggan and Essix —!”
Tarik clamped a strong hand over Rollan’s mouth, his eyes flashing with urgency. “Hush! They’ll hear you.”
Rollan tried to speak, but the words were unintelligible under Tarik’s hand. He bit into Tarik’s palm.
Tarik winced, but kept his hand clamped firmly over Rollan’s mouth. Then he wrenched the boy to his feet and dragged him to where Conor and Irtike were crouched in the underbrush, staring intently at the narrow canyon pass leading to the oasis.
It was crawling with Conquerors. An army of them.
THE LADDER DOWN FROM THEIR CELL WAS RICKETY AND unstable, and in her half-starved state it took Abeke a few seconds to descend it. By the time Meilin was beside her and the trapdoor was closed, Abeke had done a count of the assembled Conquerors: twelve, and five spirit animals. Nearest to her was a mean-looking creature — an animal like a huge orange rabbit, with very strong-looking legs. Perhaps it was from Stetriol, which Abeke figured was bound to have its own sorts of animals, and so its own sorts of spirit animals.
Shane had a burlap sack in each hand. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wear these to the hall.”
Abeke shot a questioning look to Meilin, who nodded slightly. Shane placed the sacks over their heads, and the world went dim. Abeke clasped Meilin’s hand, and took comfort in how strongly Meilin held hers in return. Her hands were cool and firm, the callouses from quarterstaff training rough against Abeke’s wrist.
As she pressed near, Meilin whispered, “With a sack over my head, at least Gerathon can’t see through my eyes.”
Abeke squeezed Meilin’s palm. “I’m sure Rollan would find a joke somewhere about all this.”
“I can only imagine,” Meilin said.
Shane took Abeke’s other hand. While Meilin’s was cool, Shane’s was warm and throbbing with life. He tugged Abeke forward almost tenderly, and Meilin followed last, pressed tightly against her friend. Abeke heard the Conquerors fall into line beside them. No one seemed permitted to talk, so all she heard were reverberating footfalls in open stone corridors. Hot Niloan sunshine warmed her arms.
Their footsteps stopped echoing, the stone replaced with grass and sand. Abeke realized they’d passed into a courtyard of some sort. There were rippled murmurs, then all went silent. “Just a few more steps,” Shane said as he led Abeke and Meilin across an expanse of open ground. From the sounds around them, Abeke assumed they were in the manor’s courtyard.
Abeke felt the warmth of Shane’s chest as he leaned over her, and then the sack was off her head. She was right: She and Meilin were at the center of a courtyard that could only have belonged to a member of the Niloan upper crust. Living in Okaihee, Abeke had never seen so grand a home, but she’d heard of the merchant lords whose coastal villas were said to include arenas for sport and theater. Now, though, the baked-earth risers were full of men and women in Conqueror uniforms.
The assembled forces surrounded the two girls, but none made a move toward them. Their eyes were fixed on the front.
A round dais had been set up, on which stood the Conqueror leaders. At one edge was Drina, as beautiful as her brother, Shane, was handsome, but with only glimmers of his reluctant kindness. Her spider spirit animal was perched on her shoulder, motionless. At the other edge of the dais was Yumaris, the old prophetess whose earthworm spirit animal allowed her to scry locations far away. Shane stood behind her, almost hidden from view, looking somewhat sheepish, his arms crossed at his waist.
It was the beast at the center, though, that made Abeke’s heart pull down tight in her chest. Gerathon was two tons of snake, black coils rasping as her muscular body curled and twisted in ever-tightening spirals. The giant cobra stared right at them, her face fixed in a leer. A large forked tongue, as wide as the trunk of a man, flicked in and out as she smelled the air. Gerathon opened her mouth, revealing flesh pink and glistening as she extended and retracted her fangs. Even without injecting poison, a strike from those daggers would be enough to kill. The display was meant to intimidate, and it worked.
Abeke panicked. Her whole body seized, and before she could regain self-control she’d summoned Uraza. The leopard sprang to Abeke’s feet and immediately started growling, pacing tight circles around her partner. Abeke hadn’t felt the pain of summoning her spirit animal for a few days, and the shock of it returned her to her senses. But still — what a horror before them.
The serpent coiled around a massive man, clad in red mail with a horned helmet masking his face; all Abeke could see were two glinting eyes. She’d seen Gar in his full armor only from afar, at the Battle at Dinesh’s Temple and the beach when she’d arrived. He would have been looming and impressive in any other context, a formidable opponent for any fighter. But with the serpent mantling him and eyes glinting with wicked intelligence … all Abeke could think was that they were doomed.
“Silence!” Gar shouted.
As the crowd’s murmurs quieted, Abeke managed to focus her mind. Though Gar was an impressive man, Abeke started to realize how small he looked compared to Gerathon. The Devourer appeared to be in charge, but Abeke suspected how far that went. In Oceanus, Mulop had revealed the truth about the last Devourer, King Feliandor. He was only a puppet to the schemes of Kovo and Gerathon. Maybe the same thing was happening again. If so, she resolved to find a way to use it to her advantage.
Meilin whispered into Abeke’s ear, her words coming in a rush, as if she knew this might be their last chance to talk. “Zerif and Aidana aren’t here anymore. They might have gone to find Cabaro’s talisman. We need to find out where they are.”
Meilin sounded like Meilin again! Abeke’s heart soared with the sudden hope of it. Meilin had to be intimidated as well, but she was still planning their best moves for the future. Abeke was relieved too, to see Meilin had summoned Jhi. The panda stood on all fours, like Uraza, giving Gerathon a look of layered anger. Of course the two had a long history, had once been allies — or at least brethren — until Gerathon sent the last Devourer on a mad rampage, and Jhi and Uraza had perished in the conflict.
Gar spoke, and Abeke’s mind went back months before, to the day she’d first met him, before she’d joined the Greencloaks. Here was the same light but commanding voice, a grave and compelling sound. “Greencloak children. It is only right that you have brought forth Jhi and Uraza,” he said. “They too should see the history occurring around them. They helped shape the world once before, and now they can watch it happen again.”
The general removed his helmet, and Abeke saw familiar features under brown-and-silver hair, the circlet across his forehead in the shape of a snake consuming its own tail. Then, she hadn’t known what terrible destruction Gar would wreck on the world. Seeing the Devourer now made her body go rigid with fear and anger.
Abeke sensed Meilin go still beside her. This was the first time she was seeing the man who had killed her father.
The Devourer wasn’t more than a dozen yards off — even though Abeke had no doubt she would be dead soon after, she could easily have made a shot from this distance. She longed for her bow and arrow.
Drina spoke, and for some reason the moment she started speaking Shane’s face went pale. “Uncle Gar, you should have Gerathon force them to put away their animals. I’ve fought Greencloaks, and I know what trickery they’re capable of.”
Gar chuckled grimly and slapped his fist. “You may have been defeated by a Greencloak, dear Drina. News of your embarrassment has not escaped me. But that does not mean that any of them could manage to hurt me.”
Shane shot a concerned look at his sister, imploring her to stay quiet. Abeke studied their interaction, confused and fascinated. She thought Drina was right, actually — it was a mistake to allow them Uraza and Jhi. But all the same, Abeke knew that if she’d interrupted her father at a tribal council, she’d have heard no end of it. Gar had a
similar sort of severity to him, and Drina had clearly spoken out of turn.
“You are correct, General,” said Gerathon, her voice low and raspy. “It gives me pleasure to see how weak and pitiful Uraza and Jhi look in their new, tiny forms. If only Essix and Briggan could be on display here as well.”
“Maybe you’d like Jhi and me to come closer,” Meilin said defiantly. “So you can see us better.” Her legs locked into a fighting stance.
“Oh, if you wish to be eaten, I can make that happen,” Gerathon rasped. “Do not fear.”
“If you don’t plan to fight us or kill us, there is no other point to this meeting!” Meilin shouted, fury in her eyes. “You will learn nothing from us.”
Gerathon disengaged from Gar and writhed, her coils thrashing in smaller and smaller rings. The Great Serpent’s dark eyes flashed yellow, and Meilin went slack. Her own pupils dilated. “Rollan,” the girl said numbly. “Let me protect you, Rollan.”
Abeke’s heart dropped in horror at the sight of her friend possessed. Without meaning to, she lifted a hand protectively to her throat.
Meilin’s eyes regained their usual luster. She looked like she was waking from a dream, groggy and confused. Then a look of dismay came over her face. “What just happened?” she whispered to Abeke.
“Nothing,” Abeke said resolutely.
“Oh, we will learn plenty from you!” Drina called out. “Your Great Beasts are nothing compared to ours.”
“Sister, be quiet,” Shane said pleadingly.
Meilin hung her head. Abeke suspected what her friend was thinking, and it made her sick: Part of Meilin wished the Conquerors would kill her.
“Many months ago, I told you the plight of Stetriol,” Gar said, cutting through the laughs and mutterings of the assembled Conquerors. “That the Greencloaks have ignored our continent and left its people to suffer in isolation. And I wasn’t lying to you. But we are through asking for assistance. A war is underway. Once, Zhong might have given us the most trouble, but we have been victorious there. The royal palace lies in cinders. Amaya and Nilo are falling, and Eura will be ours soon after. It is inevitable which way this war will go, and once it does, Kovo the Ape will be released. Then, with the united talismans, the new age of order for Erdas can begin.”
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