by C Lee Tocci
“Fine. Forget about it.” Mitchell rolled her eyes as she stood up. “I’ll take her. She gets on with Garen. I’ll tell him to watch her.”
“You won’t have to worry about her for long,” said Nov’m. “When the Stone Voice rises, Lilibit will be the first to go. She’s impossible. There’s no way she’ll make the cut.”
“Eh. She ain’t that bad.” Mitchell said with a shrug. “She just don’t like rules and such. She reminds me of me, when I was a kid.”
“Disrespectful and disobedient?” asked Gwil.
“Yeah.” Mitchell grinned. “Before I grew up and got all sophisticated.”
“So, when do think the Elders are going to pull the trigger and disband the Ravens?” Gwil asked. “Lilibit missed Quay-bo this morning, but other than that, they haven’t made any real trouble lately.”
“Don’t worry,” replied Nov’m. “If Lilibit doesn’t screw up badly enough on her own, I’ve got a backup plan. All you have to do is stand firm when the time comes.”
Of course, thought Nov’m, if everything went to plan, Lilibit wouldn’t be around much longer. Just as well. One less problem for the Stone Voice when she rose.
“So it’s settled. We’ll divide the Ravens as agreed.” Gwil stuck out his hand to Nov’m, anxious to seal the deal.
With a satisfied nod, Nov’m grabbed Gwil’s hand and shook it, but didn’t let go. Instead, he turned to look at Mitchell, who stood watching the two of them, her eyes narrowed and gleaming. She walked over and slapped her palm on top of the two hands in agreement.
“Mental,” she declared as she broke away. “The two of youse. You’re both idiots.”
Gwil and Nov’m exchanged leery glances as they dropped their hands.
“Both of you think youse gonna get the Infant Stone Voice when you break up the Ravens,” she said.
“What do you mean?” It was Nov’m’s turn to play dumb.
“You think that Nita’s the Infant Stone Voice, don’t you?” asked Mitchell.
“Nita?” Gwil was amazed. “You think Nita’s the Infant Stone Voice?”
They’d shaken and sealed the deal. Nov’m decided to not to deny it.
“Well,” said Nov’m, “you’ve got to admit that there’s been strange things happening over in the Raven’s hogan. Yeah, I think the Infant Stone Voice is in that clan and I think it’s Nita.”
“You’re crazy!” said Gwil.
“Why?” Mitchell turned on Gwil. “You think it’s Marla!”
“Of course,” Gwil said scornfully. “Nov’m, you’re so blind! Did you forget Ulex? Who else but a Stone Voice would have a bodyguard like that? No one else got one when we found our stones. It’s so obvious, I can’t believe you don’t see it!”
Nov’m froze as he thought about that, but then shook his head. He just couldn’t picture the Stone Voice being someone who wasn’t one of his own people. “No. My money’s still on Nita.”
“Morons. You know you’re a pair of morons.” Mitchell shook her head. “You can’t see what’s right in your face.”
“So please, Madam Chieftain.” Nov’m leaned back against a pillar. “Enlighten us.”
“Who’s the only neophyte,” she asked, “what doesn’t got a stone?”
That question threw them both off. Neither answered.
“Everyone of us got a stone what gots them here to Kiva,” she continued. “’Cept one. There’s only one neophyte what don’t got a stone. That’s ‘cause a real Stone Voice don’t need no stone to get to Kiva, ‘cause the entire earth’s a stone.”
Nov’m ran through all the neophytes in his head. He’d only heard about one neophyte who didn’t have a stone.
“Devon?” Nov’m was incredulous. “You think Devon is the Infant Stone Voice?”
Mitchell nodded.
“But he’s a boy! Stone Voices are always girls!” said Gwil.
“Not always.” Mitchell was triumphant. “They says usually it’s a girl, but these are unusual times. We must have heard Hihomay say that over and over again. And in unusual times, they say, the Stone Voice can be a boy.”
Mitchell looked very sure of herself, but Gwil shook his head.
Nov’m wasn’t convinced either. “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? We’ve made our choices, and we’ll just have to live with them.”
Mitchell would have said more, but Nov’m spoke quickly to cut her off.
“So we adjourn this Cabal of the Chieftains in agreement?”
“What you got in mind for Lilibit?” Mitchell asked with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t worry about that,” said Nov’m. “You can leave that to me, I’ll take care of her.”
If neither Gwil nor Mitchell seemed very comfortable with that, they didn’t say anything. They had agreed to do their part and, when the time came, he’d hold them to it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Faunamorph
“Faunamorphing,” said Keotak-se, “or Shapeshifting is a skill that some stone warriors may acquire.”
Lilibit lay on her back, waving her arms and legs, making dirt angels in the gravel. The spring sun was warm on her face and the sound of the breeze rustling the newly budded leaves was much more pleasant than the grating drone of Keotak-se’s lesson. Mr. Tree might be a powerful stone warrior, but he was duller than dust when it came to lectures. Marla hissed at her and she sat up. Every neophyte from all four clans huddled quietly on the hillside, listening to Keotak-se’s lesson.
“Usually, Faunamorphing can only be mastered by a warrior of a risen Stone Voice, but there is a possibility that your guide stones, the stones that led you to Kiva, might be able to channel enough power to effect a rudimentary transformation.”
Lilibit looked around smugly. She knew that her stone was powerful enough to let her faunamorph. She sighed and plopped down on her back again. None of the others, except Todd, knew about her morphing and he’d told her not to mention it.
“Even if your guide stone cannot channel,” Keotak-se continued, “this training will at least prepare you for the time when you receive your true stones of power.”
As usual, there was the excited buzzing that happened whenever anyone talked about the new stones they’d get when the Stone Voice rose. But Lilibit didn’t want a new stone. She was quite happy with Ewa-Kwan. She pulled it out of her pocket and rubbed it against her cheek, grinning as her jawbone vibrated with her stone’s song. She was so busy listening to her stone, she missed the next part of Keotak-se’s lesson and was surprised when everyone started to stand up. Shoving her stone back into her pocket, she stood as well, brushing the grit off her leggings.
“What are we doing?” she whispered to Marla.
“Running,” Marla answered.
“Why?”
“Weren’t you listening?” Marla asked, then sighed as she answered her own question. “Keotak-se said that running as fast as you can is one of the ways to get the inside of your body moving. Then, you think about what animal you want to turn into.”
“Really? Why running?”
Keotak-se, overhearing Lilibit’s question, chose to answer. “When you strain your body to run past its normal endurance, the cells in your body begin to move very quickly, like water boiling into steam. It is then that the power of the Earth Stone, when properly channeled, can restructure your body, down to its smallest element. Extreme fear has also been known to trigger the effect, as well as extreme joy.”
From the far side of the clearing, Todd asked, “Can you get stuck in that new shape?”
Lilibit twisted her neck to find Todd. Sure enough, Sylvie still clung to him, like seaweed to a boulder. It had been two weeks since the water balloon incident and Sylvie and Todd had become inseparable. Sylvie waited for Todd outside their hogan every morning and hung on him, following him everywhere he went. He even had to tell her to stay away when he went to the latrine. This morning, Todd had spent almost a half hour in there. Lilibit was sure that he only stayed in there in th
e hopes that Sylvie would get bored and go away. No such luck. When he finally came out, there she stood waiting and all that the delay accomplished was to make her cling to him even more.
At first, Todd seemed tickled by the attention, but Lilibit hoped that, as much he liked the face sucking part, Sylvie was starting to bore him.
It puzzled Lilibit that Todd seemed to really like face sucking. She and Garen had tried it and she thought the whole process was stupid and icky. Of course, they’d only done it for a second or so before they’d both started to giggle. She couldn’t understand how Todd and Sylvie could do it for hours.
Maybe she would ask Mr. Tree about it.
At this moment, however, Mr. Tree was busy answering Todd’s question. “In the normal course of events, a stone warrior would never be trapped in animal form. It takes a lot of concentration and intent to hold the faunamorph. All you would need to is to break your concentration and you would return to your human form. Stone warriors, by themselves, cannot hold faunamorph while asleep or unconscious. Yet if a greater power, such as a Stone Voice, were to exert influence, the animal form could be held indefinitely.”
“That was such a good question!” Sylvie gushed at Todd, loud enough for everyone to hear. “You are so smart!”
Todd’s face turned red and Lilibit rolled her eyes. Jeff snorted and made gagging noises while the rest of the neophytes sniggered. Keotak-se mercifully intervened.
“We will start by running for twenty minutes as fast as you can, without stopping.”
Moans were heard from some of the neophytes, but everyone stood and began jogging around the base of the hill.
“Faster!” Keotak-se barked and the grumbling faded as the neophytes saved their breath for running.
Todd bolted like a deer chased by wolves, outrunning Sylvie’s shouts of “Todd! Wait up!”
“Can’t!” Todd huffed back. “Keotak-se says we’re to run as fast as we can.”
Lilibit took off after Todd, hoping to get close enough to tease him, but Todd’s legs were longer and his motivation, greater. While she passed some of the other runners, she couldn’t catch up with him.
Nov’m had a good strong stride, but even he couldn’t catch Todd, so he lagged behind until he was all alone on the path. When Todd appeared behind him, at the head of the pack, Nov’m veered sharply, knocking Todd sideways.
Todd stumbled and fell. He got up quickly, but now Nov’m led the pack and few noticed that he was actually a full lap behind the rest of the runners. Lilibit, however, had seen the whole thing.
Her temper snapped. “Stupid Nov’m,” she muttered as she bit her lip and ran after him, a burning rage powering her steps. It wasn’t supposed to be a race, but Nov’m had just made it one, and a dirty one at that. She closed the gap between them.
Nov’m shot a glance behind him and snickered. He leaned forward as he sped up.
By now, the rest of the neophytes were well behind them, and as the path curved around the hill, they were lost to sight. Nov’m pulled away again. His longer legs were a big advantage. Lilibit bent as she tried to run faster. Her breath, catching in her throat, sounded almost like a bark.
Nov’m looked back again, but this time his sneer faded and an expression almost like fear washed his face. His footing faltered.
Lilibit, taking advantage of his stumble, leapt forward. She slammed into him and he thumped onto the gravel path.
A strange elation made her heart race. Nov’m turned over onto his back, but she stayed on him, her hands on his shoulders, her face in his face. She would have laughed, but she was out of breath from running and trying to speak made her cough.
Nov’m lay on the ground and stared up at her, not moving. Then he did the very last thing she expected.
He screamed like a girl.
Lilibit thought this was so funny, she laughed out loud. She was still too winded to laugh properly, so it came out like one long howl.
The other neophytes came racing around down the path, Todd in the lead. They froze when they saw the two of them on the ground. Lilibit thought Todd would have thought the whole thing funny too, but he just stared at them, aghast. Ginger Greene, Nov’m’s sidekick, started toward them, but Todd grabbed her and held her back. Lilibit would have asked them why they were all acting so weird, but she was too breathless from the chase to speak.
From the other side of the hill, Keotak-se appeared, drawing his quaybo as he ran. He slowed to a stalking pace, his body taut as he wielded his staff warily, but then, abruptly, he stopped. Straightening, the tension left his body and he lowered his quaybo.
“Lilibit!” His voice was unusually harsh, even for him. “Get off Nov’m.”
Lilibit heard the neophytes buzzing as she looked down at the quivering Nov’m. She tossed her head defiantly but she pushed off his chest and walked towards Keotak-se.
“Now stand up,” Keotak-se ordered.
Lilibit paused. Stand up? She was walking toward him! Of course she was standing! It was then that Lilibit realized that she was crawling on her hands and knees. That’s why all the neophytes were staring! She was acting weird! Embarrassed down to the roots of her hair, she pulled herself up.
She couldn’t do it. When she tried to straighten, she fell back down again. She looked back at her legs.
She looked like a big black dog.
I’m a wolf! she wanted to say, but all that came out was “Woof!”
She tried to look at herself, but every time she turned, the back of her body moved, so she spun around in circles, chasing her tail.
I’m a wolf! She heard herself bark again and panic made her chase her tail even faster.
“Lilibit!” Keotak-se’s voice cut through her panic. “Calm down.”
Lilibit bounded over to Keotak-se and ran around him, trying to make him understand. She was a wolf! And she was stuck as a wolf! She was stuck!
“Lilibit! Sit!” Keotak-se ordered.
Lilibit froze, a little annoyed at being spoken to as if she were a dog, but she sat and looked up at him.
“Now, visualize yourself as a girl.”
“But I am a girl!” she said, and then she realized that she had actually spoken the words. She looked down at her girl’s body, which now sat crouched at Keotak-se’s feet. She stood slowly, feeling a little strange in her own skin.
All the neophytes stared at her. Most had their mouths gaping, but Nita and Devon were grinning.
“That was padrisimo, Lilibit!” Nita chirped as she and Devon ran to her.
“Yeah, it was awesome!” agreed Devon. “How did you do it?”
“I just thought how cool it be if I could be big enough to push Nov’m around like he pushes us around.” Lilibit buried her bewilderment as she explained. “And then, suddenly, I felt like I was big enough.”
Nov’m was on his feet and he strode over angrily, pushing Devon and Nita to one side as he bore down on Lilibit. “You snotty little runt!” he hissed. “Do you think that was funny?”
Todd bolted forward as Nov’m pulled back his arm to backhand Lilibit across her face, but Keotak-se acted first.
“Enough.” The ice in Keotak-se’s voice stopped Nov’m mid-swing.
Nov’m turned his rage on Keotak-se, but the Stone Warrior quelled him with a look.
“Enough.” Keotak-se said again, this time to all the neophytes. “We will meet again tomorrow, an hour before sundown, and every day after that. Since it is apparent that your guide stones are potent enough, we shall begin Faunamorph Conditioning in earnest. You will begin by twenty minutes of sprinting, which we follow up with exercises and lectures. You are dismissed for today.”
Without a backward look, Keotak-se turned and headed down to the Crescent Courtyard. Todd pulled Lilibit out of Nov’m’s reach and began herding his clan back towards their hogan, but Sylvie stepped forward.
“Thanks a lot, Lilibit!” Sylvie spat as she reattached herself to Todd. “Now we have to run twenty minutes every day.”
&
nbsp; “It’ll be good for you, Sylvie.” Lilibit grinned sweetly. “You’re butt is starting to get fat.”
Sylvie hissed liked a snake before dragging Todd away. Since Marla was busy talking to Nita, only Lilibit heard Nov’m’s parting shot.
“Foul little snot!” he muttered, loud enough for her to hear. “It’s a wonder that her aunts want her back.”
The comment made Lilibit freeze. She turned back toward Nov’m, but Marla, noticing where she was looking, grabbed her arm and dragged her to the hogan.
But Nov’m’s words had struck the ghost of a memory and Lilibit thought about them for the rest of the day.
That night, Lilibit lay awake wondering, did Nov’m know something about her family that she didn’t?
Chapter Thirty
Nov’m Plays His Card
Near the top of Lilibit’s list of classes most likely to skip was Silversmithing. Todd knew this and usually kept a close eye on her whenever a lesson was scheduled, but today, since he was completely preoccupied with Sylvie, Lilibit found it ridiculously easy to slip away. So easy in fact, her disobedience lost most of its appeal.
As she scuffed her feet through the gravel, she felt strangely lonely. It was no fun playing truant when no one really cared where you were. She probably would have wandered back to Wakawinappi Hall except that there was something more important burning at her. She headed down the path to Kamama Hollow where the Tigers and the Rabbits were taking a lesson with Cohanna.
Lilibit hid in the same grove of trees that Keotak-se had stood in. Cohanna’s voice was soft, but it carried to every corner of the Hollow. She crouched, listening, but her thoughts weren’t on Cohanna or her words. She tried to pick out Nov’m from among the neophytes who sat on the ground, their eyes closed, their hands and feet on the soil.
This was a dilemma. If Nov’m caught her alone, he’d probably beat on her for what she’d done to him in yesterday’s Faunamorph lesson. But she needed to know what he meant when he said that her aunts wanted her back.
She had practically no memory of anything from before she’d arrived at Dalton Point months ago, but sometimes there were smells and feelings that seemed “auntie” to her. If Nov’m had said “parents,” it wouldn’t have felt nearly as real to her as “aunts.” But how could she get Nov’m to tell her what he knew without getting beat up at the same time? She needed a plan. She stood and walked away from the Hollow, hoping a walk in the woods might inspire an idea. A fierce shove from behind derailed her thoughts.