A thousand Toda fell upon the wooden houses of the village. Fences and buildings collapsed in a churning cloud of dust that left only wreckage in its wake. The horde of Toda sped toward the city without slackening its pace. Archers on the wall showered them with arrows, but although enemy soldiers fell, this had no effect on the Toda. Once they reached the wall, they would quickly scale it with their sharp claws and pour into the city beyond. The Lahza would conquer Amasulu just as they had planned. Soaring across the city, Elin could see people climbing onto roofs, clinging to one another as they stared at the invading force.
The Toda mustn’t clear the walls.
If a battle between Royal Beasts and Toda was going to cause a catastrophe, then she must stop the Toda forces before they reached the city. Otherwise, the people would be slaughtered.
The Royal Beasts reached the outskirts and flew beyond its walls. On the plain below, the Toda raced toward the city. Steeling herself, Elin plucked a different sound on her harp. In response, the Royal Beasts tilted their wings and began their descent.
How will it start? And at what distance?
She now guessed that the calamity must have been caused by some kind of sound emitted by Toda and Royal Beasts when they came too close. Somewhere, an invisible boundary existed. Whatever happened would start when they crossed that line.
Leelan led the way. She dropped toward the advancing horde, emitting a long, trailing whistle. As the high-pitched sound echoed through the air, the Toda in the front lines reared upward and flipped, landing belly-up. Their Riders were crushed beneath them before they could even scream. Alighting on the hapless Toda, Leelan began ripping their flesh, taking her time. The smell of blood assailed Elin, and she heard the crunch of breaking bones. Leelan lowered her head, hunching over the Toda to feed. Over Leelan’s shoulder, Elin saw the face of a dead Lahza warrior. His eyes were open wide, as if surprised. He looked so young, not even twenty.
Elin screamed at Leelan. “Up! Up! Get away from the Toda you’ve killed!”
With a sulky expression, Leelan spread her wings.
Nothing happened. Even though we came into contact with the Toda.
As this thought was flitting through her mind, Eku and the other Royal Beasts, which had spread out over the Toda horde, began dropping from the sky while trilling a high, piercing melody.
The Toda, their bodies mutated by hakujisui and repeated breeding, were now face-to-face with their natural enemy. Overcome by fear, they emitted a voiceless scream. When the Royal Beasts’ song collided with that scream, it all began.
The Toda host morphed. Pressing against one another, the Toda picked up speed. Each one leaned into the other as though the angle of their bodies had been perfectly measured to move in a circle. They revolved in a clockwise vortex that generated a thick cloud of dust. The cloud rose and radiated outward, but it contained more than dust.
The Toda, a thousand strong, burst into a high-pitched wail like wind shrieking through a cracked pipe. Rather than one long sound, it came in short, repeated bursts that grated on the ear. Each time Toda bumped one another, a secretion triggered by fear and excitement spurted from the gaps between their scales. This was swept up with the dust and dispersed like mist into the air.
The Toda Riders suddenly arched backward as if they had been struck by lightning. Bodies rigid, lips puckered like the mouths of fish unable to breath the air, they bounced about limply on the backs of the running, shrieking Toda.
Although she didn’t know why, Elin was certain that every single Rider on those whirling Toda had died.
Something strange was happening to the Royal Beasts as well. Lesseh and Fuseh recoiled from the Toda they were attacking, springing into the air. They twitched and flapped like shrimp, opening their mouths wide as though in a scream. Shaking their heads, they shrieked soundlessly, yet still they plunged back among the Toda as though pulled by an invisible string.
Elin stared mesmerized by the sight when suddenly she felt her body lift. Leelan was swooping down toward the Toda. “No!” Elin shouted, but Leelan didn’t stop. Elin saw Toda with Riders’ corpses lolling on their backs, rushing toward her. When Leelan hit the layer of whirling dust, a mist touched Elin’s cheeks. Pain shot through her face as though it was being pierced by a thousand needles. She screamed, but something caught in her throat as she inhaled. She couldn’t breathe. The searing needles of pain swept beyond her face to jab every inch of skin.
Instinctively, Elin leaned back, pulling with all her might on the riding harness. Leelan shook her head and, with a voiceless cry, twisted her body and soared upward at an angle. The same voiceless cry burst from the other Royal Beasts as they writhed in agony. The soundless sounds overlapped one another, resonating and repeating as they collided with the Toda’s screams of terror.
Crazed, the Toda charged round and round in circles, and the Royal Beasts, wings tilted, revolved with them. Earth, grass, and feathered hair ornaments were whipped into the cloud of dust, which roared as it gyrated upward. Rain steamed like smoke and swirled, whistling, up into the air. Caught in this maelstrom, the bodies of the Toda Riders were reduced to mere objects that would never scream again.
Blinded by tears, Elin desperately plucked her harp. Even that sound seemed warped to her ears, but Leelan responded. Groaning, she flapped her wings and twisted her body, fighting to break free of the vortex, then flew up into the heavens.
“To the sky! To the sky! To the sky!”
Elin plucked the strings so hard she worried they would snap as she tried to pull the Royal Beasts back from the maelstrom. By the time the strings finally broke with a twang, Eku had joined them, and Nola, Kaseh, and Tohba were struggling to follow. But for Kalu, Lesseh, Osseh, and Fuseh, it was too late. They had already gone mad. Blood spurted from their eyes, ears, and noses, yet they continued their wild circular flight. At that moment, the Toda that bore the Aluhan’s troops finally caught up with the Lahza force, and the four Royal Beasts dove down into them. The Aluhan’s Toda were swept into the frenzy, joining the others in their anguished scream.
Who was from Lahza and who was from Lyoza no longer mattered. Every living creature on the plain, man or beast, pulsated in unison as they were swept up and crushed within a mortar of ever-magnifying fear. The Royal Beasts, the berserk Toda, circling and undulating like a whirlwind, became one tortured mass. Blind and deaf to the world, the mass smashed into the city’s outer wall.
* * *
“There were no longer any victors or losers.”
As he pressed his face into Alu’s back to protect it from the rain into which they flew, the woman’s words kept ringing in Jesse’s brain.
“When tens of thousands of Toda collided with thousands of Royal Beasts, this is what happened. The Royal Beasts went mad. Men and Beasts touched by the mist generated by the Toda were killed instantly. Buildings collapsed, crushing women, children, and babies beneath. In minutes, the deadly mist that rose from the horde had covered the land.
“For the few that survived, there were no enemies and no allies. When Lyoza saved them, our ancestors banded together and, leaving the ruins of that country, fled deep into the mountains. Since that time, the golden-eyed and the green-eyed ones have lived as one family.”
Lyoza was the name of the younger brother of Jeh, the woman who had flown the Royal Beasts and caused that great catastrophe. At the cost of his own life, he had finally stopped the Beasts attacking the Toda. A hundred people had been saved. Jeh left the valley and built another country, giving it her brother’s name.
Mother …
Surely nothing bad will happen, Jesse told himself. His mother probably hadn’t flown the Royal Beasts yet, and even if she had, she’d survive.
But he couldn’t suppress the horrific images that kept bubbling up like foam in his mind. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t keep them down. He prayed that he would find his mother in Amasulu. Alu couldn’t go any farther, not when she was pregnant.
&nb
sp; The rain had lessened and no longer struck his face. Raising his head, he saw clouds hemmed with gold. It seemed like a good omen, and he felt his heart lighten.
8
THE SILENT WHISTLE
Elin couldn’t hear. Sounds came to her, but they had no meaning.
Her mouth gaped as she gulped for air. Even trying to open her eyes was agony. Tears streamed from them, and her lids twitched uncontrollably. She managed to force them open a crack but could see only a wobbly band of light. When she wiped away the tears, red blood from her nose stained her palm. That color was the only thing she could see clearly.
The gray clouds covering the sky flowed on the wind, and a ray of golden light fell through a gap onto the earth below. It dappled the gyrating, undulating sea of crazed beasts. Kalu, Lesseh, Osseh, and Fuseh rose and fell, arcing over the Toda as they attacked them over and over. Each time they attacked, the Toda tried to escape, only to collide with one another. Panicked and crazed with pain, the writhing mass of Toda, no longer distinguishable as individual beasts, slammed repeatedly against the outer wall of the city. Those in the rear continued to throw themselves against those that were already pressed limply against the wall. With each impact, stone dust rose like a cloud of white smoke.
The main gate to the city shuddered. The thick slabs of cedar, which fit seamlessly together, groaned, and the iron spikes that fastened them loosened from the frame. As Lesseh swooped down yet again, the Toda below twisted violently and crashed against the gate. Its heavy bolt snapped, and the gate splintered. Bursting open, it was trampled beneath the Toda that poured into the city. Those that stumbled or fell were crushed underfoot, while the rest plowed down the wide street, toppling the trees along the boulevards. Above them swooped the Royal Beasts.
Fuseh dove down and sank her fangs into a Toda’s back, then suddenly reared, her body contorting and twitching. She toppled to the ground like a stone and did not move again. Wild with pain, their faces streaked with blood, Kalu, Lesseh, and Osseh threw themselves repeatedly against the Toda, the source of the noise that was driving them mad.
Archers defending the city let loose a hail of arrows from the windows and rooftops of two large buildings facing the main gate. But they merely pierced the corpses of the Lahza warriors still lolling in their saddles. Toda crashed into the buildings where the archers stood, and a thick mist rose. Archers collapsed at the mist’s touch. Dropping their bows, they plummeted to the ground.
The strong wind and intermittent rain diluted and dispersed the mist, but even so, those who had sought refuge on the roofs began to cough. If the wind changed direction, the mist would kill them, too.
* * *
All this Elin saw from a world where sound had vanished.
She knew that she must stop Kalu and the others. As long as they kept attacking, the Toda in their terror would continue to emit the deadly mist. But the four Royal Beasts were now deaf to her voice and blind to her gestured commands.
Elin raised her eyes to the heavens and wept. She had known this catastrophe would happen. She had told herself that to witness it was the only way through to the future. But for the beasts and men dying in agony below, there was no future.
She clenched her teeth to hold back a scream. She had to stop them. Now. This was no time for weeping.
The mist that rose from the frenzied Toda as they tried to flee the Royal Beasts was deadly. Toda in the wild, and even the army of Toda on Tahai Azeh, hadn’t emitted any poison. But the Toda whirling below were clearly generating a toxic mist. Elin bit her lip.
They aren’t the same as Toda in the wild or the ones on the plains of Tahai Azeh. They were bred by the hands of men.
She remembered what Ialu had said. When the new breed of Toda were agitated, the men around them not only became quick-tempered and violent, but also went into convulsions if they came in contact with their bodily fluids. Over several generations, breeding must have resulted in more concentrated toxins, while fear or anger accelerated the Toda’s metabolism. When the panicked horde pressed against one another, the poison spurted from their bodies and dispersed as a deadly mist into the air.
The Royal Beasts and the Toda. Unless she could sever the chain reaction of fear and madness, the toxic mist would continue to spread. She had to end the madness before that poison wiped out the entire city.
Eku, who was flying beside Leelan, shuddered. Even at this distance, the screams of the Toda were reaching him, Elin thought. Something in that sound was driving the Royal Beasts insane.
She had to get him and the others to safety. She raised her hand high and waved it repeatedly. “Eku! Go! Get out of here! Nola, Kaseh, Tohba! Fly!”
Eku looked at her hand, shook his head once, and flew away, heading straight toward the hill. Nola, Kaseh, and Tohba followed. When they were just tiny specks far away from the whirlpool of Toda below, Elin saw another tiny speck hurtling toward her from the hill. For a moment, she thought that Eku must be flying back, but she realized immediately that it wasn’t. She peered at the approaching figures, trying to make them out, then gasped.
Jesse? Impossible! Why?
Elin spurred Leelan toward him. Soon she could make out his face. He was clinging to Alu’s back and staring at her. Shifting his gaze to the Toda and Royal Beasts below, he moved his hand and brought something toward his mouth. When she realized what it was, Elin cried out. “Jesse! No!”
* * *
Jesse wept. Below him, the gentle, timid Kalu had gone berserk. Fangs bared, drenched in blood, he fell upon the Toda, ripping them apart. Lesseh and Osseh were slamming their bodies against Toda, slashing and writhing as they tried to pull themselves away.
His eyes full of tears, Jesse looked at his mother. As she drew nearer, he raised the Silent Whistle that hung at his neck and placed it to his mouth. It felt cold against his lips. His mother was yelling something, trying to stop him, he guessed.
He could end this. All he had to do was fly into the midst of the Royal Beasts and blow. He knew that, but he couldn’t do it. If he did, Alu would fall to her death. And her unborn cub would die with her.
Leelan and Elin raced toward him. He saw his mother raise her palm and heard her yell as she waved her hand. Instantly, Alu swerved aside and flew up into the sky. “No!” Jesse screamed. “Alu, no!” But Alu didn’t stop. She passed Leelan who was on her way down. For a moment, Jesse saw his mother’s face, ghostly white, then she was gone.
He twisted his body, trying to follow their flight. As Alu banked away, he saw his mother bend forward to whisper something in Leelan’s ear.
* * *
The instant Elin saw Jesse raise the Silent Whistle to his lips, she knew what she must do.
Thank you, Jesse, she thought.
As they passed each other in midair, she seared his face on her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “Let’s go, Leelan,” she murmured in her ear. “Let’s go to your children.”
Leelan obeyed without protest. Watching her back as they descended, Elin wept.
If you’d never met me, you could’ve escaped this fate.
It was Elin, not Leelan, who had rebelled at the idea of this Royal Beast ending her days dozing in the meadows of Kazalumu. Yet even if she could live her life over again, she would probably choose the same path. She would’ve tried to free the Royal Beasts to live as they would in the wild—to mate, bear young, and die. Remembering the life she had shared with Ialu and Jesse, a warmth spread through her.
The pool of beasts filled her sight, undulating, swirling, colliding. Leaping into the thunder that rose from the crashing bodies and flying between the frenzied Royal Beasts, Elin raised the Whistle to her lips and blew.
Like a thread that has been cut, all sound vanished.
Kalu and the others froze like statues, wings spread wide. Rocking from side to side, they dropped to the ground. The Toda froze, too, then collapsed on the spot. For as far as the Silent Whistle reached, every beast toppled over, sev
ering the chain reaction generated by the screams of the Royal Beasts and the Toda.
When the Royal Beasts hit the ground, they smashed into the Toda with the sound of shattering bones. Elin had blown the Whistle in Leelan’s ear. She froze, wings spread wide as her body hurtled to the earth. Elin’s hair rose. The wind whistled in her ears. The Toda had fallen outward, leaving a hole in the middle of their ranks. Elin saw the ground rushing toward her and squeezed her eyes shut.
The next moment, Leelan slammed into the earth.
9
ASH-COLORED CITY
By the time he reached Amasulu, Ialu could see small specks flying in the air above the city—Royal Beasts. They dropped from the sky like eagles attacking their prey, then flew up and dropped, again and again.
“Move it! The battle’s already begun!” The commander blew his war horn, spurring on the Toda and their Riders, who had raced through the night without stopping to sleep. Ialu rode beside the commander, and together they plunged into the river. Spray shot up into the air, drenching them. Beyond the white curtain of water, they could see horsemen galloping, not toward the city where the battle was taking place, but toward the river. One of them pulled ahead of the rest and waved his arm frantically, shouting at the approaching Toda troops.
“I’ll go on ahead,” Ialu said. He urged his mount to the riverbank where the horseman waited. When Ialu was within hearing distance, the man yelled, “Stop! Don’t go to the city!”
Frowning, Ialu said, “What do you mean? Get a grip on yourself!”
The Rider took a deep breath and tried again, his shoulders heaving. “The Toda and the Royal Beasts! They’ve gone mad! Anyone, friend or foe, who gets caught up in that whirlwind spits blood. It crushes everything in its path. Turn back, or your Toda will be driven insane!”
There was a wild look in his eyes. “When the Royal Beasts attacked, the Toda went totally berserk. And then so did the Royal Beasts, with blood gushing from their eyes and noses. You’ve got to turn back!”
The Beast Warrior Page 46