Spirit Animals_Fall of the Beasts_Immortal Guardians

by Eliot Schrefer

  “I feel like cutting it out,” Conor said.

  “Absolutely not,” Meilin said. “No way are you cutting into your arm.”

  “You said even that little fragment of the parasite was able to infect you,” Abeke said. “Last thing we want to do is risk splitting it into more pieces.”

  Conor shuddered, then reluctantly nodded.

  “All of Greenhaven’s most capable healers have gone to help the Evertree,” Abeke continued. “Who’s left?”

  “The best healer of them all, that’s who,” Meilin said. “Jhi.”

  The next dawn, the friends met for an early breakfast in the Greenhaven dining room, slate-colored rain drumming the stained-glass windows. The night before, they’d marked in ink how far up Conor’s arm the creature had reached. This morning it was only a tiny bit farther.

  “It’s slowed,” Conor said, sighing. “At least there’s that.”

  Meilin had spent the night on the floor of Conor’s room so Jhi could be near him while he slept. The panda had worked her healing throughout the night, and though there had been benefits, they’d clearly been minimal. “Did anyone get any sleep?” Meilin asked.

  Her friends stared back at her balefully.

  Meilin’s hair was sticking straight up in the back. Rollan cut a glance at Conor, silently daring him to comment on it. Abeke gave them a severe look: Don’t you dare.

  “While I was staring at the moonbeams on Conor’s ceiling,” Meilin continued, “here’s what I figured: We have two problems to deal with. Zerif is out collecting the Great Beasts as they appear. And something—probably related—is poisoning the Evertree from below.”

  “Lenori will know where the Great Beasts are going to appear shortly before it happens,” Abeke said. “We could try to intercept Zerif next time, and stop him for good.”

  “Regardless, someone should check out this mysterious door and figure out what’s poisoning the Evertree,” Meilin said. “Problem is, we can’t all do both at once.”

  Abeke nodded. “We’ll have to split up.”

  “Okay,” Rollan said, gritting his teeth. “I don’t like it, but it’s not like we haven’t done this before. We’ll be back together before long.”

  Conor watched as Meilin fixed Rollan a complicated, mournful look.

  “What?” Rollan asked. “What did I say?”

  Meilin switched to a stop-being-such-a-dolt look. “I’ll need to stay with Conor … so Jhi can heal him as much as she can.”

  “So? … Oh.”

  “Conor and I can check out the door,” Meilin said solemnly. “Rollan and Abeke are our best trackers, which means you two should find the other Great Beasts.”

  “I could go alone,” Abeke offered.

  “Absolutely not,” Rollan said, sighing. “Zerif was dangerous before he had a bunch of Great Beasts as his personal bodyguards.”

  “Thank you,” Abeke said, sighing with relief. “I’d argue harder, but I have to admit the idea was terrifying.”

  Conor wasn’t eager to follow the strange doorway into whatever darkness lay beyond it, but he couldn’t see any better option. He was terrified by the worm living inside him. What if Zerif could use it against him somehow—or against his friends?

  Meilin and Rollan were staring at each other with moony longing, but Abeke looked right into Conor’s eyes. He could tell from her expression that she’d followed everything that had just passed through his mind. She lay a hand on her friend’s infected wrist. With one move she’d told him that she wasn’t scared of his sickness. Conor’s eyes stung with gratitude.

  “I’ll probably regret suggesting this,” Meilin said, “but Kovo is the key to that door, which means he and Takoda should come with us when we go check it out.”

  “And a full detail of Greencloaks,” Abeke added. “You’ll need whatever we can spare to watch him.”

  “So we won’t have Kovo’s sparkling conversation to entertain us here in Greenhaven?” Rollan asked. “That’s really such a shame.”

  Abeke frowned. “Investigate the door, guys. See if it’s safe. But remember that you don’t have to do anything more than that: If that entrance is as old as we think, any tunnels beneath it may have collapsed already. Don’t get yourselves trapped.”

  “With the worst enemy we’ve ever known, no less,” Conor said.

  “We’ll be careful,” Meilin said, casting one last long look at Rollan. “And we’ll be back before you know it.”

  TAKODA WAS FALLING BEHIND.

  The monastery in Nilo had been so tranquil. The quiet, meditative men and women who had taken him in spent their days shuffling through terra-cotta hallways, whispering to one another in deliberative tones or meditating in the study.

  Takoda had spent his life in sandals, and now he was wearing a pair of heavy boots he’d borrowed from Conor. He struggled to keep up. His life had changed so much, so rapidly. He’d left Nilo for the first time, traveled over the sea to Greenhaven, and now he was in the Petral foothills. The monks who raised him were so very far away. A lush green cloak hung around his shoulders. Takoda stroked it admiringly as they trekked.

  Meilin was watching. “Remember that you’re just wearing a green cloak,” she said, a touch imperiously. “That’s different from being a Greencloak.”

  Takoda grimaced and continued marching. Sure, he hadn’t joined the order or anything, but all the same he enjoyed the feeling of the heavy cloak clasped around his narrow shoulders. He probably wouldn’t say no if they asked him to be a Greencloak someday.

  As if he had sensed Takoda’s thoughts, Kovo grunted in irritation. Takoda realized he’d pulled a few paces ahead, and returned to the ape’s side. Kovo never liked it when Takoda strayed, but the boy wasn’t naive enough to think Kovo missed him.

  The Greencloak delegation kept itself in a tight circle around Kovo. At first it had made Takoda nervous, but that soon turned to relief when he realized it meant he wouldn’t be responsible for the gorilla.

  Once a spirit animal bond grew strong, sometimes the animal could disappear as a tattoo somewhere on its human partner’s body. The decision to use passive form was ultimately the animal’s, however, and Kovo clearly was nowhere near trusting Takoda. So the smiths at Greenhaven had fashioned Kovo a collar with two rings that attached to long poles. Two Greencloaks took up those poles now, positioned on either side of him.

  Kovo suffered his indignity stoically, keeping his true feelings well hidden. The powerful gorilla clambered easily over the ground, knuckle-walking his way through brambles and thickets while the Greencloaks struggled to keep pace. As often as not Kovo had his gaze focused up in the clouds; Takoda frequently found himself following Kovo’s eyes and wondering what he saw up there.

  When they took their first break for the day, Kovo basked in the chill sunshine with his eyes closed, face to the breeze with a serene expression. Long before his captivity in Greenhaven’s courtyard, Kovo had been imprisoned for centuries for his crimes. Even chained to two poles, he must be finding this relative freedom sweet.

  The Petral foothills were like nothing Takoda had ever seen in Nilo. Brisk winds sheared off jagged, low mountains, sending waves of sharp chill down through the desperate leaves clinging to scrabbly bushes. The soil was thin and pebbly, dotted with broad flat stones barbed in green moss. The whole region was one giant shallow basin; ever since they’d crested the mountains at the Eura-Zhong border, they’d been slowly descending—toward what, Takoda didn’t know.

  He planted his numb, red fingers under his arms to keep them at least a little warm.

  “How is Olvan so fast?” Takoda asked Meilin, huffing as he struggled to make his way up a rise. His breath made little cotton puffs wherever he went. The leader of the Greencloaks was bounding over a rise half a mile ahead.

  Meilin shrugged. “His spirit animal is a moose. I guess we’re in a moose-y kind of place.”

  Meilin had brought Jhi into passive state, to spare the panda the trek. It was a moment that wo
uld forever be seared in Takoda’s memory: As soon as the ground grew rough, Meilin had taken Jhi’s face in her hands and they took a good long look at each other, both of them nodding once they’d finished their wordless deliberation. Takoda couldn’t imagine a spirit animal relationship more different from his own.

  “Briggan is a wolf,” Conor said. “But even he’s finding it hard to keep up.” Beside him, Briggan barked indignantly at the challenge. The wolf took off hurtling over the countryside, soon overpassing even Olvan. He took occasional leaps of pure joy.

  Conor grinned after him, the worry so frequently on his face melting momentarily away.

  Toward late morning, Olvan called the group to a halt on a rocky crest. “Look!” he called triumphantly.

  Takoda scanned the landscape but could see nothing all that different from the rest of the steppe they’d traveled. “It’s … pretty?” he tried.

  “Olvan, I see what you mean,” Conor said. “It’s just like the map!”

  Now that Conor had pointed it out, Takoda could see it. At the lowest point in the valley, dense shrubbery closed in, masking whatever was at the bottom.

  He heard a scuffle behind him, and his heart seized when he turned and saw the two Greencloaks, both barrel-chested Eurans, struggling mightily to keep Kovo in line with the collar. Kovo kept walking forward, despite his restraints. Then, with no apparent effort at all, he took a leap, yanking the poles clean out of the guards’ hands.

  No! Be good! Takoda signed.

  Kovo stared back, expressionless. It was typical; sometimes Kovo would sign fluently at Takoda, and other times he’d pretend not to understand a single gesture. The message he sent by being so selective was unmistakably clear: I’m the one in charge. Don’t forget it.

  Conor fell into a fighting position, but Takoda laid a restraining hand on his new friend’s shoulder. He wouldn’t stop the Greencloaks from battling Kovo if it came to blows, but Takoda knew his spirit animal well enough to see that the ape wasn’t about to attack. There was the trace of a wicked smile on his face, though—clearly Kovo had enjoyed the game of pretending that he was under their control … and had enjoyed proving it wrong even more.

  Kovo stood on all fours at the top of the ridge, scrutinizing the densely wooded basin. Olvan edged close to the ape, his moose hovering over him protectively. A shiver passed over Takoda as he watched his spirit animal—the Great Beast that had nearly conquered the world—stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the leader of the Greencloaks. With that one simple display of force, Kovo had made it hard to say who was truly in charge.

  The two burly Greencloaks brought Kovo’s poles back up, but the ape took advantage of the pause to barrel forward, dragging one of the men a dozen feet before the surprised Euran let go.

  “Briggan, tail him!” Conor said. But the wolf was already on it. Nose low to the ground and tail pointed straight back, he shot off on the chase, his whole body taking the shape of a javelin. Conor, Meilin, and Takoda fell in behind, scrambling to keep their footing on the dim and scrabbly forest trail. Takoda heard Conor tumble beside him, but couldn’t afford the time to help him up—Briggan was letting out a stream of barks so that the rest could more easily follow, but they were getting fainter as he and the ape pulled ahead.

  When Conor and Takoda flagged, Meilin assuredly sprinted past, easily hurdling upturned roots and fallen trees. Takoda picked up speed as he switched from following Briggan’s sounds to watching Meilin’s whipping hair as she leaped and ran.

  Though he couldn’t risk letting his gaze leave the path for even a second, Takoda became aware of ruined walls blurring by. Beneath his feet, the ground changed from soil and moss to overgrown mosaic floors and shards of dull broken pottery. “We’ve entered some ancient city,” Takoda puffed to Conor. “Abandoned.”

  “Maybe we’re about to find out why!” Meilin shouted from up ahead.

  “Be careful,” Takoda called. “Don’t trust Kovo!”

  “Don’t you worry about that!” Meilin disappeared around a curve, then yelled back for Takoda and Conor to stop. Takoda was already barreling around the mossy brick corner, though, and nearly slammed into her. She threw her arms around him to bring him to a halt before he tumbled.

  As Takoda caught his breath, he realized they were standing at the edge of what might have been a moat during a rainier season. It was only about four feet deep but a good dozen feet across, its bottom full of pine needles and dirt. It extended far into the distance on one side and stopped in a solid rock wall on the other; they’d have to cross it to continue the trail.

  Kovo must have made the same decision for himself: He was already standing on the debris clogging the moat, raised on two legs as he stared apprehensively along its length. The gorilla was perfectly motionless, and Takoda could see the tension rippling up and down his muscular legs. Clearly Kovo’s footing was precarious beneath the dirt and pine needles, though Takoda couldn’t see exactly why.

  Stop. Return, Takoda signed.

  Kovo roared and made one simple sign, his scarlet eyes glittering in anger. No.

  “Look!” Conor said, pointing at the cluttered moat floor.

  At first Takoda couldn’t see what Conor was referring to. Then, glinting from below, he saw rusty spear tips where the leaves and rubble parted a far ways down. It was a trap! But the rigged pit must have been so old that it was clogged, and hadn’t fired. Yet.

  Stop. Return, Takoda signed again. He cursed. If only he and Kovo knew more than ten symbols, he could explain the danger.

  But Kovo had already figured it out. His gaze returned to the terrain below and the stones that shifted precariously under his feet. He must have raced over the moat, and then gone still once he sensed the danger below.

  But not still enough.

  Kovo’s weight shifted slightly, and Takoda heard a grinding sound deep underground as a mechanism started moving. Kovo flashed a desperate look at Takoda. The grinding sound intensified, and then the stones under Kovo’s feet gave way. Kovo cried out and suddenly dropped, disappearing up to his waist in stones and soil.

  If he’d had a moment to think, Takoda might have let Kovo continue to fall. But he saw the ape tumbling to his death, and instinct took over. Takoda dashed toward his spirit animal, over the wobbling stones of the pit floor, which fell toward the spikes with every step.

  A furious light burned in Kovo’s eyes, and then, in a flash, his arm was around Takoda’s waist. Leaping into the air, the gorilla just managed to catch the far wall of the moat and hurl himself up. The ground beneath the moat roiled, then disappeared as rocks and debris tumbled somewhere below.

  Takoda fell against Kovo, landing hard onto the ape’s chest. For a moment the two remained there in a strange embrace, struggling to catch their breath. Then Kovo pushed Takoda roughly to one side and rose on all fours.

  “Are you okay, Takoda?” Meilin called.

  He couldn’t seem to get enough breath in his lungs to reply. But he nodded as the stones in the pit continued to gnash and fall away.

  “What do we do?” Conor asked Meilin. To Briggan, though, the right way forward was obvious. The wolf backed up, got a running start, and leaped across the churning stones of the moat.

  “Go!” Conor cried to Meilin, after seeing Briggan scrabble up to safety on the far side of the shifting floor.

  Briggan had apparently had enough of Kovo’s chase. The wolf’s hackles raised and he took feinting lunges toward the ape, long teeth bared and growls rumbling out from deep in his throat.

  Kovo and Briggan would have to fight it out themselves. Takoda’s attention was on the far side of the moat, where great gaps now appeared, revealing even more spikes. For a few moments, at least, there was still enough earth intact that his Greencloak friends might be able to pick their way across.

  Meilin jumped first, aiming for the most solid section of the moat floor. She landed, but sank up to her ankles in the loose soil. It held long enough for her to leap to the next. With each ho
p she left fewer footing options open to Conor.

  Takoda watched as the pale boy gritted his teeth and chose his own path, a few feet to one side of Meilin. Looking at the pit of rusty spears below, Takoda’s mind filled with flashing horror.

  Meilin grunted as she made her final leap, only just reaching the far side. Her fingers clawed deep into rocky dirt. “Come on, Conor!” she cried.

  Conor was perched on a teetering square of earth. There was only one foothold left that he could hop to in order to reach the far side, but it was already crumbling. He paused, unsure of himself, unsure of whether it would hold. Then, before Conor could act, the ground beneath him gave way and he was falling toward rusty spear points—

  —until a strong arm reached out from the far side of the moat and snagged the belt around Conor’s midsection. Takoda watched in disbelief as, with impossible agility, Kovo stepped right around Briggan’s snapping jaws, reached to fish out Conor, and hurled the boy through the air. Conor skidded along the ground and got to his feet as soon as he could, looking back to see Kovo climbing out of the half-fallen moat. The ape raised himself onto all fours, panting heavily. Briggan had ceased his attack and looked completely puzzled, his hackles still raised and one hesitant paw in the air.

  “What just happened?” Conor asked, shaking his head as he staggered to his feet.

  “Kovo saved your life,” Takoda said, kneeling beside the gorilla. Kovo stared furiously at his hands, clenched into tight fists in his lap. He raised one and used it to shove Takoda away.

  “It wasn’t a moat,” Meilin said, peering down. “It was a trap. Whoever’s city this once was, they didn’t want anyone going farther.”

  Takoda ignored her. Thank you, he signed to Kovo.

  The ape didn’t make any response. He’d never made the signs for you’re welcome—or thank you or sorry, for that matter—to Takoda. Maybe he hadn’t learned them. Maybe he didn’t know the concepts.

  The ape stared at Takoda, red eyes glittering. Takoda signed one more time. Thank you.