by Natalie Erin
“Wyntier quickly rose in the ranks of the army. He ended up becoming commanding officer of our battalion in just a few months, though how, I’m not sure. Most likely, he bullied his way to the top. Of course, ever since the First Despondent ended ages ago, there’s been no one left to fight. The army was reduced to settling small skirmishes in the city, and the occasional uprising on the edge of Southwild, the land bordering Nesting’s Haven. Most of the time, it was very boring. We spent the majority of our service fighting rebels in the jungle.”
Moorock shook his head. “Wyntier had grown up with violence, and it came to the point he needed the rush it gave him. He loved seeing the terror in another person’s eyes. If he had any remorse when we killed rebels, he didn’t show it. Then, one day, something happened that just sent Wyntier over the edge.”
“What?” The kids all leaned forward, on the edge of their seats.
Moorock grimaced lightly. “Ionan saved Wyntier’s life.”
“You’re not serious.” Soran let his jaw drop.
“I’m more than serious. Wyntier and I were desperately outnumbered against a group of rogue Accompanies, who were trying to rise up against the Council. We were supposed to be defending our base, but we weren’t doing our job very well. The look in Wyntier’s eyes was insane, a crazed madness only war could bring. I thought it was all over until Ionan swooped in with Keota and saved the day. We weren’t able to rescue the base, but we were able to get out in time. It was Wyntier’s mistake that the base had been attacked. It turned out he had made an agreement with the rebels to raise up some sort of militia against the Council, and they’d turned on him. When we returned to our general’s camp, Wyntier was stripped of his power, and he and Vera were chased out. He fled to the Lands, and I haven’t seen him since.”
The bell rang. The kids got up off the grass and packed their stuff away, heading towards the door.
“Wait, Soran. Stay for a moment. I can write you a pass,” Moorock called.
Soran put down his bag in confusion, slowly turning to the professor. The teacher strode up to the boy, hands in his pockets. “I need to tell you something else. Something you and your sister should know.”
“So you believe she’s his sister, then?” Zorna asked sourly.
Moorock turned to him and said, “Without a doubt. She laughs the same way her father used to.”
Stung by this bit of information, Soran recoiled. Moorock only moved closer. “Soran, I’ve had you as a student for about a year now and I’ve noticed you have a little trouble controlling your temper. Is that correct?”
Soran gulped and looked down at the grass. “Yes sir, it is.”
Moorock sighed. “Your father had a problem with his anger as well.”
“Yes, but Soran would never hurt anyone.” Zorna changed into a bat and climbed onto Soran’s shirt. “Especially never me.”
“I know that, Zorna. At least not intentionally.”
“No. Not even then,” Zorna said defiantly.
Moorock closed his eyes. “The reason I ask is that…Soran, I’ve been keeping secrets from you too long. Do you even know who your family is?”
Soran shook his head. “Only my mother’s side. Nothing of my dad’s.”
“Did you ever remember Wyntier eating when you were little?”
“Eating?” Soran asked. “Wyntier’s an Accompany. He doesn’t need to eat.”
“No...I suppose his blood had enough Accompany in it to keep him strong so he didn’t have to eat much...” Moorock mused.
“Professor Moorock, what are you talking about?” Soran asked.
Moorock looked at Soran. “I’m telling you this because you and Vivienna need to know, and I’m the only one Wyntier ever told. The reason that Wyntier isn’t as strong as an Accompany is because his father, your grandfather, Soran, was a human.”
Once the initial shock wore off that he had human blood, Soran found he didn’t really care much. He was already a half-breed, due to his mother being a fairy. What was one more species thrown into the mix?
His friends stunned, however, close to treating him like something to be avoided once he had told them he was part human. Daren had completely flipped when Soran told him.
“But there’s all kinds of diseases you can get! Sneazles and bamcer and who knows what else!” he had yelled, flabbergasted, throwing a medical book at his friend that Soran was sure was outdated.
Vivienna was nearly as bad as Daren was. She was already stressed with all the talk of Wyntier returning. The papers talked about it nearly every day now. Melodi kept zooming around and around above her Accompany’s head, changing forms constantly.
Vivienna’s anxiousness was making Soran testy. He began pacing around his sister’s room. Zorna the coyote followed, tracing his Accompany’s steps.
“Cut it out! You’re making me dizzy,” the Accompany babbled.
Soran petted him. “You’re tired, Zo, I can see that. Why don’t you go rest while I meet the others down at Ana’s? That way, Vivi and Melodi can catch up later and you can rest. Except...damn.” He made a face. “I forgot to pick up my book in Moorock’s class. Can you fetch it for me before you come?”
“Sure, I’ll do that.” Zorna yawned, shaking his head. “I’ll meet you there in a bit.”
The coyote trotted towards his dorm room alone, jumping onto Soran’s bed once he got there. Immediately, the coyote laid his head down and his eyelids began to slowly droop, slipping into the realm of memories.
It was last summer, the end of his sophomore year and soon to be his seventeenth birthday. He was in the Lands, and they were running through the old plains. Nearby, a herd of unicorns grazed close to Vixen’s house.
“Catch up, Zorna! You’re so slow.” Allie laughed as she bounded through the fields as a doe. Zorna followed behind her as a black stag, his antlers glistening in the sun.
“Allie, you’re too fast for me,” he complained, coming to a halt and gasping for breath. A few butterflies landed on his antlers and Allie laughed at him, hopping up and down.
“Zo, you’ve got something on your nose,” Allie said, growing closer to him.
“What is it? Is it a bug?” he asked fearfully. He wasn’t afraid of many things, but for some reason, he hated bugs.
“Just hold still. Let me get it. It’s right…about…” She drew closer and closer until their muzzles were almost touching. As he looked at her, he realized that her eyes were the deepest and most sparkling brown he had ever seen.
“Here!” She pecked him right on the nose in a deer-kiss and ran away with a mischievous snicker, kicking up her heels.
Zorna jerked up his head in shock, the butterflies flying off his antlers. He laughed and said, “Allie, you’re such a flirt.”
He saw Kennu and Soran coming to get them. He turned to Kennu, whining, “Your Changer is hitting on me again!”
Kennu laughed. “She hits on everybody. I mean, how many animals has she gone out with now? There was that lynx from Creekfall…”
“The canary from Brooksbend,” Soran interrupted.
“And the snow leopard from the mountain!” Kennu laughed.
Allie laid her head on Kennu’s shoulder. “I liked them all, but they just weren’t right for me. They all have mates now, anyways.”
“Aren’t you worried about finding a mate after pretending to like all these animals? No one will believe you if you actually tell them you like them, after word gets around that you like to play games,” Soran asked.
Allie waggled her tail. “I don’t plan to have a mate. I want to be single forever.”
At this moment, Zorna came out of the memory, finding a grinning Vivienna and Melodi by his side. They’d followed him back to his dorm for some reason, and were whispering to each other in a girlish way.
“What?” he asked in irritation, getting up and shaking his pelt.
Vivienna beamed. “Your tail was wagging. Were you dreaming about Allie again?”
He wrinkled hi
s nose. “I was thinking about the Verinian, not just Allie. Always jumping to conclusions, you two are.”
“Ooh, Zorna has a crush,” Melodi sung cheerfully.
“I do not!” he protested.
“Oh, yes you do! Were you two kissing?”
“Allie’s just my friend. I don’t have a crush on her,” he repeated again, the heat welling underneath his coat. Zorna jumped off the bed, scampered out of the room and padded down the hallway, running at full speed to get away from Vivienna and Melodi. He headed towards Moorock’s class, to pick up Soran’s book.
As he drew near, it sounded like two people were arguing. He perked up his ears at the sound of conversation and stood away from the door. If Moorock was having a conference with one of the teachers, then he wouldn’t interrupt. He would just have to wait.
The teachers were talking very loudly. It became impossible to shut their voices out.
“We’ve got to be on watch, Moorock. Aurora got kicked out for simply being around Soran’s little protest. We could be next,” a teacher Zorna knew as Professor Chloe said.
“Heaven knows I realize that. How many of us are left that haven’t gotten fired? Five?” There was a scraping of a chair and Professor Moorock said, “Any news that you believe involves Wyntier?”
“Not much, except for the Lands. A fairy had her forest burned to the ground. Poor thing. It’s all gone.”
A forest? Zorna’s heart caught in his throat.
“I heard something about that. Wasn’t it the...uh...the Verinian?” Moorock asked. Zorna’s throat got even tighter.
“I believe so. It’s not in the news, but the Council’s been talking about it. My sister, she told me. As far as I know, the entire family fled. But one of them didn’t make it, a Changer. She died before the fire started. Killed by Ortusans.”
Zorna’s heart was either beating very quickly or not beating at all. Moorock said, “Who was it that died?”
“I’m pretty sure it was Kotakenzie’s and Allayr’s daughter. You remember them?”
“Of course I do. Terrible tragedy, that was. Well, it looks like the whole family’s wiped out now. What did you say her name was again?”
“I didn’t. It’s Allakenzie.”
Zorna let out a great cry and the teachers turned to see him collapse in front of the doorway. He couldn’t maintain his coyote form and ended up changing back into a phoenix, wings spread out wide as he hit the stone hard.
“I’m leaving, Moorock, I’m not getting into this. If you tell anybody I was here, I’ll deny it,” Professor Chloe threatened.
“You have nothing to worry about from me. Go, and do so quietly.” Moorock knelt by Zorna’s side as Professor Chloe fled, picking the phoenix off from the ground. “Zorna? Zorna what’s wrong?”
Zorna breathed in heavily as tears ran from his eyes. “She’s gone. Allie’s dead.”
Moorock picked him up, Zorna’s tail feathers dragging on the ground. “Come, Zorna. I’ll take you to your room.”
“No! Soran!” Zorna protested loudly, screaming at the top of his lungs. “I have to see Soran!”
“Alright, son, just calm down. Tell me where he is.”
“Ana Morimoti’s. Just get me there, please. I must see Soran!”
“You’re giving me burns!” Moorock yelped as flames began flying from the phoenix’s feathers. Zorna stopped the fire, but not the tears, which were now smoking and sizzling on his beak.
Moorock started running through the school with Zorna in his arms, ignoring the stares and points as students began to gossip amongst themselves what was wrong with Soran’s Changer.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Parade of a Tyrant
Keota stood in Ana’s backyard, gazing at the mess he’d made. His newest rampage had caused him to lose all sense and tear up Ana’s beautiful garden. The once lovely flowers were now lying scattered amongst the dirt with crushed buds and broken stems. He felt terrible destroying his sister’s hard work, but at the same time, he thought he couldn’t help it. He’d figured leaving the Verinian would make everything better, but in reality, it’d made everything worse. He was losing it without Ionan. What was worse, and he hated to admit it, was that he missed Kia.
As he turned to head back into the house, something snarled at him. Curious as to what the noise was, he rounded the corner and almost fell to his knees.
It was Ionan. His lion’s fur was ragged and dirty, mane tangled and dull, eyes appearing like they had seen too much for his years, but it was still Ionan.
The two stood and looked at each other for very a long time. Then, in an instant, they both charged towards each other. Keota enveloped Ionan in his arms, gruffly gripping him in a firm hug.
“You came back,” he said, tears entering his Changer’s mane. “Even though I left you again, you still came back.”
“I swore when next I saw you I would rip your eyes out,” Ionan said. “But now I realize I cannot do that, and was wrong for thinking so. I forgive you, my friend.”
Keota pulled away, his arms till wrapped around the lion. “Ionan, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it? You didn’t come here for no reason.”
Ionan looked behind him beneath the shadow of Ana’s house. A weary looking Sunset emerged, Mirabelle dragging her wings on the ground behind her. An emaciated Lyrica clung to the dragon’s back.
“We’ve been feeding them what we could find,” Sunset explained.
Lyrica made a disgusted face. “We had to eat meat a few times. I hated it. It’s horrible.”
As Mirabelle cooed in sympathy Keota stared in disbelief at his son, lying across Sunset’s back. Kennu looked awful. He was sleeping across the dragon’s shoulders, with one arm hanging limply off. His hair and body was matted with grime, weight less than Lyrica’s, bones protruding from the skin. He looked deathly sick.
“He’ll recover now that we’re here,” Ionan said, in a voice that hoped more than it believed. “We’ve been flying as fast as Mirabelle could keep up for weeks now. We could’ve made the trip shorter, but we couldn’t push the children too much.”
“Why didn’t you go to Southwild? Your parents are there,” Keota asked Ionan.
“Kiatana said to find you first. Southwild is too far away, and I don’t think Mirabelle could flap her wings another beat. We’ve had to carry her half the way.”
At the mention of his wife’s name Keota looked around, as if he expected her to suddenly appear. When she didn’t, he asked, “Ionan, where’s Kia? And Vixen, and Casiff? And where in the Lands is Allie? She should be helping Kennu,” he said.
At the mention of Allie’s name, Ionan broke into sobs. Keota grabbed him and Sunset said, “Keota, it’s been a very long journey, and not one well planned. We had to flee the Verinian.”
“Flee?” he asked, voice cracking.
“A few weeks ago, Nineva burned the forest. We didn’t have time to pack or get ready. The Verinian is long a pile of ash now.”
“But what about Casiff and Vixen?” Keota asked weakly, once again. “And what about my Kia?”
“We’re not sure if they made it out alive,” Ionan said dully, his tears ceasing.
With all the air gone out of him, Keota asked, “You still didn’t mention Allie. What about Allie?”
Ionan didn’t say. Mirabelle and Lyrica looked dead, as if they had remembered this story too many times to count for it to have any effect on them anymore. Sunset drew them close with her wing. “Before the attack, the young prince and the Changeress got into an argument. She became so upset that she flew off into a thunderstorm and Ionan chased after her. Wyntier hid with his Ortusan friends and shot her down. They took her body.”
Keota’s mouth dropped open. “Allie’s...gone?”
“Yes, Keota,” Ionan said with a weary sigh. “Allie is gone.”
Mirabelle came up to her father and said, “Don’t cry, Papa. We don’t grieve for those who are gone, we grieve because we miss them so.
I know Allie’s happy where she is. She’s probably wrestling with the best of griffins right now and winning.”
Ionan laughed sadly. “I bet she is.”
Kennu groaned. They all looked at the fairy prince and Ionan said, “Where are you staying? Kennu needs rest. We all do.”
“At Ana’s,” he said in a voice that didn’t sound like his own. “She’s inside.”
Keota pounded on the door. Ana opened it to find Keota standing outside, a crowd of people and animals behind him. Keota reached up and took Kennu off of Sunset’s back, cradling his son in his arms.
Sunset said, “I’ll go sleep behind the house,” and she disappeared. Ionan walked in and flopped down on the rug, curling up to rest without bothering to say hello.
“Keota! You found Ionan! But what on earth is going on?” Ana asked, looking down at Kennu.
“I’ll explain later. Just get me some rooms,” he said quickly.
Ana called for Maekrel and she guided Lyrica and Mirabelle to the next room, where she found a bed for them. They both collapsed into it, Mirabelle changing into a puppy at her Accompany’s knees.
“Uncle Keota, what’s going on?” Soran asked. He followed him into the last spare room they had in the house. Keota drew back the covers and put Kennu inside the bed, who was shivering.
“Keota, my nephew and your Changer, along with two little girls and a dragon, are now piling into my already crowded house. Would you please explain to me what’s going on?” Ana demanded.
Keota looked at Soran before tucking Kennu in. He went to speak, but before he could, the house door once again flew open. They ran out into the hallway, Ana snarling, “How many more visitors can I get in a month’s time?”
She trailed off as she saw Moorock standing in the doorway. Zorna flopped out of the teacher’s arms and Soran gave a cry, rushing to his Changer’s side. All was silent as Zorna lifted his head, opened his mouth and cried, “Allie’s dead!”