by Jacinta Jade
Part of her noted his golden eyes go wide as he saw the result of her efforts just before she ducked her head to apply her teeth to his bonds.
An instant later, Zale stepped away from the post, pulling the remainder of the tattered ropes from his arms and body, and went stiff as yells began to reach their ears.
Siray twisted her head to better catch the sounds.
She understood what they meant a breath before Zale and began to back away towards the edge of the platform.
Zale nodded at her. ‘They’re rallying. Do what you need to, and I’ll get Baindan.’
Siray snarled softly in agreement and ran to the edge of the platform, yet before she leapt, she heard Zale speak softly from behind her.
‘Please be careful.’
As she turned on that ledge, his golden eyes stared into hers, his face pale but set.
Siray’s predator eyes caught the glint of something metallic on Zale’s exposed wrist, but she didn’t allow herself a second look as she extended her claws and then began to let herself slowly down the side of the platform.
When she judged she had climbed far enough down, she sheathed her claws, disengaging them from the wood, and allowed her body to tumble down through the air.
As she fell, she instinctively rotated her head and shoulders, her rear legs following.
Her front paws touched down on the sand an instant later, before her coiling rear legs propelled her away.
As she veered around from the side of Zale’s platform, Siray confirmed what her ears had already told her. The thirteen remaining soldiers were indeed regrouping … had realised their only chance of standing against her lay in maintaining a coordinated front.
And more of them had Changed. The rilander who had charged her once before was at the head of the group, his massive bulk turning to face her. Others within the group were cripwofs—a common form in the Faction, it seemed—and there was even a black yeibon, which gave her pause for a moment, so strongly did it remind her of Tamot.
But then she caught a glimpse of Zale running across the sand for Baindan’s platform, and that burning white haze snapped back into place like an electric field, blocking out all other thoughts.
Some of the soldiers were still in their normal forms, gripping weapons as they wearily watched her approach, but Siray didn’t hesitate as she sped across the distance between them, her speed an advantage against their numbers. The less time they had to plan a counterattack, the better.
The rilander didn’t wait for Siray to reach them but went on the offensive, charging away from the others and straight at her, its intention clearly to flatten her.
But as the creature’s bulk and strength was its advantage, Siray’s swiftness and cunning was hers. What had started off as just small hunches in her mind now became more pronounced urges. It was the instincts and wild mind of the sevonix, sharing the experience of this battle and merging with her so that Siray’s mind was enhanced … making her a more dangerous foe. It made her sharper, faster to calculate everything from the distance between enemies to the arc of a leaping attack. And it made her more ferocious. Because, while the white fire was hers, it seemed to make her connection with the sevonix stronger.
Yet she was still in control. Just.
It was this weapon of a mind that assessed the rilander stampeding towards her, and which told her exactly when to launch her attack. Every fibre of her body was alert, ready to be called on, and she timed her next move as the six thundering columns that were the rilander’s feet drew closer …
When it was just a step away, it’s head lowered to ram her, Siray abruptly sat backwards onto her haunches, and then dropped to her back, flattening her entire spine to the ground even as her momentum caused her body to continue sliding along on the sand.
To pass beneath the rilander.
As the massive beast’s middle sped over her, its six legs crashing down to either side, Siray raised her two front paws and unsheathed her claws, extending her forelegs up so that her talons speared into the softer flesh at the underside of the rilander’s throat—it’s only vulnerable point.
Blood splattered Siray’s fur; both her momentum and the rilander’s meant that her claws were dragged down through its flesh, one set managing to rip through a major artery there. She didn’t disengage her claws but let them continue to rake down the underside of the rilander as its length passed over her, the ground trembling beneath her back.
When bright sunlight hit her body again, Siray rolled onto her front and was up in an instant, wearily watching the rilander slow, then turn, blood marking its sprint across the sand.
Then it began to charge for her again; its speed building once more.
Siray puzzled over this for an instant—she had been sure she had dealt a significant blow.
But then her sevonix instincts made her refocus on what really mattered—continued survival. So she watched the rilander charge towards her again, trailing dark spots against the sand, and knew that she could not risk the same tactic twice.
So she didn’t.
This time, when the rilander drew close, its nose lowered even farther this time, Siray leapt up and over its head, landing on its broad back. She didn’t stay there, didn’t try to make a futile attack on the hard skin of its shoulders, but leapt off straightaway, landing at a run on the sand. She continued moving, increasing her speed, even as her shoulder burned a little from where the knife had sliced into her earlier.
She didn’t wait to face off against the rilander again but made a tight circle and sprinted straight for the remaining soldiers.
She could see that this strategy took them by surprise—but while their strength was in numbers, it was also an advantage she could exploit. As she sped towards her nearest enemy, she snarled terribly, letting her lips pull up, her nose wrinkle in a constant rise and fall, and her ears go flat, while her jaws opened wide to show every aspect of her glistening fangs.
She had their complete and utter attention now.
Which meant that none of them saw the attack Baindan and Zale launched at them from the side.
With weapons Zale had taken from the bodies of those Siray had already slain, the pair hacked into the soldiers and animals closest to them, downing two before the others even realised the existence of another threat.
And for just that one instant, all eyes shifted away from her.
So none of the remaining ten soldiers saw Siray launch herself silently through the air … and into their midst.
Confusion and terror reigned as she landed on one soldier, ripping at his face and throat before she let him fall dead to the ground. Then she was face-to-face with a cripwof, its snapping jaws missing her throat by a hair as she spun out of its reach before lunging back in again.
She knew how to handle the cripwof, both from watching Baindan fight in the form and from her instincts as a sevonix. While the cripwof fought with its fangs alone, Siray fought with both teeth and claws, giving her a distinct advantage in the struggle. And she had good need of it when the other cripwofs joined the fight.
Now, she was truly fighting for her life.
Three of them beset her, and from a distance, it must have looked like a blur of fur, teeth, and bodies as they battled, three against one.
Siray felt their sharp teeth ripping into her flesh and heard their snarls as they tackled and rammed her with their bodies, trying their best to knock her off her feet so that they might expose the underside of her throat and tear away at the life that surged there.
But she had another advantage over them. While they had to be cautious of each other, she had to be careful of no one, and so she tore and slashed at anything that moved around her. She used her speed and agility to avoid their teeth whenever possible and attacked with a vengeance whenever she saw an opening.
Long moments after Baindan and Zale had caused the original distraction, two cripwofs and four soldiers lay still or twitching in the red-splattered sand, while the third cripwof h
ad escaped to stand by the second rilander and the black yeibon.
‘Siray!’
She heard Baindan’s voice as if from a great distance and then saw him and Zale running to her as she wavered on her feet. Her muscles, strong as they were, wouldn’t let her fall.
But neither did Siray feel like she could move any further. She could smell the blood that coated her—now mostly her own, a result of the numerous wounds she had received during the terrible fight with the cripwofs. One of her front legs would not hold her weight after one of the furry creatures, a particularly vicious female, had decided to target that leg when Siray went for the female’s companion, the cripwof’s teeth clamping down on Siray’s leg and tearing muscle from bone.
Siray turned her head to the side, knowing where her remaining enemies were but not able to account for the whereabouts of the first rilander that had attacked her.
Then her eyes spied a large mound a short distance away, and she noted the semidry pool of blood almost hidden by the muscled bulk.
So, she had dealt a killing blow after all—it had just taken time for the rilander to bleed out, large as it was.
‘Oh, Great Mother …’ Zale breathed out the words out as he reached Siray’s side and was able to take in the full extent of her injuries.
She knew it was harder to see them from a distance, her coat being such a dark colour. But she could feel every rip and tear in her body, and the sharp pain where flesh had been parted to expose the bone.
Only her muscles, her strong and powerful muscles, stopped her from collapsing. That, and a need to finish this. She couldn’t actually say if the stubbornness was coming from her or the sevonix. Maybe both.
But the haze of white fire was receding slowly from her mind, and with its withdrawal, the pain of her wounds intensified. So while her mind was still eager for the hunt, Siray was beginning to realise that her body had been too badly hurt to continue the fight.
It was now three against three, but unless her foes stood still for her, she wasn’t going to be a match for any of them.
Siray was desperately raking her mind for any way they could possibly win this last fight when steps sounded from behind them. Many steps. She whipped her dark head around …
And saw a division of soldiers approaching across the sand, marching in time, all armed.
Siray’s spirit wilted for just an instant before it flared up again, the white fire returning hotter and brighter even than before.
To the death then.
She swivelled her head around to check on the three foes behind them in case they were using the approach of the new soldiers to sneak up, but she was surprised when she saw that, instead, they were actually retreating … quickly. Silently.
Indeed, they were almost at the edge of the arena, and all of them were now in their normal forms. Waiting.
Assured that she, Baindan, and Zale faced a reduced threat from that side, Siray turned her whole body awkwardly around to confront this new division of Faction soldiers, careful to avoid putting weight on her injured leg.
Baindan moved up close on her left, Zale on her right, and together, the three of them faced the approaching mass.
The merest brush against her fur on one side, and Siray knew it was Baindan, assuring her that they would face whatever happened next together. She turned her head to look at him, maybe one of the last times she might do so, and her eyes met his.
They seemed to exchange a conversation in that one instant, a shared understanding of what they were both fighting for. Would have continued to have fought for, if time, destiny, or the Great Mother had granted it.
Siray glanced back at the advancing contingent and gave her most ferocious snarl yet, belying the pain she felt.
Yet she also felt warm, like the fire in her mind might be consuming her, hair by hair, rolling down her body. Her form trying to combat the accumulating effects of the wounds she had received, she guessed.
She would not depart this world easily or lightly, but would fight for her and her friends until her last breath … until the Mother saw fit to take her.
The fire, now definitely in her mind and body, seemed to burn hotter still at these thoughts, and Siray panted a little.
The soldiers halted in one synchronised movement.
Silence.
And her puffing. It seemed loud in the sudden quiet, so it didn’t surprise her to note the turn of Baindan’s head next to her. But when, from the corner of her eyes, she saw him still staring at her, she angled her head as well, wondering what was wrong.
The look on his face arrested her.
Baindan was indeed staring at her—half in wonder, half in shock.
Siray whipped her head around to look the other way, in case she was mistaken and there was a threat approaching from that direction.
All she saw was Zale’s face, and his mouth moving wordlessly as he also gaped at her.
Siray dropped her head quickly and looked at the part of herself she could most easily see.
And realised she was standing on all four legs.
It took her a moment to take this in, but once she had, she raised the previously injured leg to inspect it carefully.
The deep wound she had sustained there was gone, a hot feeling all that remained. And that warm sensation had spread—across her neck and shoulders, along her back, down her sides, and along the length of her supple feline body, all the way through to the tip of her tail.
Siray turned her head carefully to look as far over her shoulder as she could.
Her teeth shone in the light as her jaw dropped open, her shock coming through in a reaction that was purely hers, her feline eyes widening unnaturally. What she could see of her back and sides looked perfect—blood still coated her, yes, but her flesh and fur was no longer bleeding or torn. Even the knife wound in her shoulder was gone, the deep pain a mere memory.
The sounds of wavering steps from the side made Siray’s head snap around, and her eyes quickly found Kovi, several paces away, his head bent over something in his arms as his feet trudged heavily across the sand.
Just lengths away from her, Baindan, and Zale, he collapsed to his knees, and reverently placed something on the ground before him.
Genlie.
***
Siray was running towards the motionless body of her friend before she even realised she had decided to move, and she skidded to a stop, facing Kovi, who still leaned over Genlie and was brushing damp blonde hair away from the female’s forehead.
Siray felt wetness on her face and, reaching up to brush the tears from her eyes, vaguely realised she had Changed to her normal form and was on her knees.
‘Kovi …’ she whispered. ‘Is she …?’ She couldn’t bear to finish the sentence, didn’t want a confirmation.
‘Not yet,’ Kovi said, deadpan. ‘But …’ His voice broke, and he paused, simply finishing with, ‘Blade went too deep.’ His hand brushed Genlie’s face again. ‘She always was a fighter. But this …’ He shook his head.
Siray felt the heat of someone kneeling down by her side and saw it was Baindan, his pale face making his grey eyes stand out as he looked down at Genlie. She felt his hand clasp hers and grip it tightly, and knew he was thinking that it could have been her lying there.
And it might have been, if not …
Heat, whispered a voice within her mind. Search for that warmth.
Siray stilled at the whisper, her spine going stiff. But then her breath caught as a daring hope speared through her.
Heat.
She could still feel heat … in her bones, in her blood. And it wasn’t heat from Baindan, as she had first thought. It was the fire still moving through her body, still healing and perfecting her.
Siray turned back to the pale and limp Genlie, trembling at what she was about to try. And she focused. Her mind’s eye went to that ball of power within her, but this time she wasn’t looking for a form—she was looking towards that fire that had hidden itself deeper still,
and as she dived into that centre of herself, the familiar heat washed up and over her.
Reacting quickly, she thrust her hand out over Genlie’s body, eliciting a cry of surprise from Kovi.
But Siray couldn’t see him anymore. She couldn’t see anyone. She was gazing ahead at a white wall of flame that burned fierce and bright before her.
It is the gift … came the voice again, still weak but discernible, even in that place where she could perceive nothing else. It spoke again, but each word grew more faint, as if the speaker was growing weak from the effort. A rare gift that the Mother provides to us, the special few, once or twice a generation, so that we might heal and continue on …
The voice faded away completely.
Siray’s hand, which she knew was somewhere before her, began to grow warm as she focused her mind on that wall of fire, burning white and hot deep inside her. She commanded it with her mind, willed it to do her bidding.
Her vision returned suddenly as heat flowed down her arm, and she felt her hand grow hot. Instinctively, she lowered her burning palm to Genlie’s pale body, placing it over her friend’s wound.
For an instant, nothing happened, and Siray wondered if she had failed.
But then the three males gasped as Genlie’s wound began to close, the flesh of her abdomen knitting and once more becoming unmarred, her face gaining colour, and her lungs beginning to rise and fall in a normal rhythm.
Her hand on Genlie’s stomach, Siray could feel the fire beginning to dwindle. She focused harder, struggling to maintain her command over the flow of heat long enough to heal her friend … and then, the fire went out.
She collapsed forwards towards Genlie, but was caught by Baindan, who still had a grip on her other hand.
Weakly, Siray raised her head, staring at her friend, hoping it had been enough. That she had acted quickly enough.
Nothing.
But then—
Genlie’s eyes fluttered open and she took in a deep breath, as if waking from a heavy sleep.
Kovi emitted a sob that was part joy, part shock, and flung his arms around the female who meant everything to him.