Storm had a suspicion—a poorly-formed idea that loomed in the back of his mind. Then he heard splashing ahead, accompanied by low voices. Storm put on a burst of speed, came around a corner, and the cave broadened out. He could hear the distant sound of waves and thought that he must be almost on the far side of the cliffs.
He saw the silhouettes of a dozen or more telshees gathered in a circle around what looked like a pit. Acriss light glowed up from it. One of the silhouettes was enormous, as big around as the largest tree trunk in Leeshwood. Storm had last seen that form surrounded by coral, sleeping in the Dreaming Sea.
He wasn’t sleeping now.
“Keesha!” Storm trotted up to him, panting.
Keesha turned, his great seal’s face with its enormous blue eyes lit from beneath by the acriss glow. He looked down at Storm and smiled—an unnerving sight. “Storm! Well, this does complete the circle. I’m glad you’re here.”
Storm glanced around. He saw Shaw, looking at him with surprise and uncertainty. He saw Sauny and Valla, their faces expressionless in the eerie glow. He saw telshees that he didn’t recognize, and he followed their gazes down into the hole. It was a tide pool—a deep one with smooth sides.
Arcove was treading water at the bottom. There was no place to get out or stand up, and he was moving with the deliberate slowness of an exhausted animal trying to conserve his strength. However, Storm was relieved to see that he didn’t look injured.
He turned to Keesha. “I need him back. Do you know what happened on the mainland yesterday?”
“No,” said Keesha without interest. He was watching Arcove’s slow circuit of the pool.
“Treace attacked the herd. He’s taken them away into Leeshwood. He wants to…to eat them.” Storm still choked on the words.
Sauny and Valla looked up in alarm.
“Who is Treace?” asked Keesha in a bored voice.
“One of Arcove’s officers,” said Storm, “the youngest, born after the war.”
“Then I have no quarrel with him,” said Keesha.
“You should!” said Storm. “He is trying to destroy my herd, and he’d be no friend of yours if you met him.”
“Creasia doings are none of my concern,” said Keesha.
“What about ferryshaft doings?” Storm shoved his shoulder against the arc of Keesha’s neck. Look at me! I know I remind you of your dead friend, and maybe it’s wrong to play on that, but right now, I’ll take whatever I can get.
Keesha’s head whipped around, and he hissed. Storm sank down on his belly. “You told me once that you’d help me,” he said softly. “Now, I’m asking you to do that.”
Storm had expected a shouting match, but Keesha only turned and slid a coil into the tide pool. Arcove paddled away from it, but not quickly enough. Storm thought that Keesha was going to scoop Arcove out of the water. Instead, the coil whipped around him and shoved him under. The water roiled, but no part of Arcove broke the surface.
Keesha turned to Storm, his expression leisurely again. “You are telling me that Leeshwood is in the midst of one of its little power struggles, and you would like me to let Arcove return so that he can kill a rival whom you find distasteful?”
“Yes,” said Storm with mixed relief and uncertainty. “Yes, and you’re drowning him.” Already, the stirring of the water had slowed.
“Oh, he won’t drown,” said Keesha. “He may suffocate, but he won’t drown.” He thought for a moment. “Shaw tells me that you have adopted a creasia cub. Did you listen to nothing we told you?”
“I listened!” exclaimed Storm, frustrated beyond words. “Can we talk about this later? I promise I will come back and let you shout at me all you like, but right now, let him go.” The water of the pool had grown completely still, save for the muted lap of waves.
Keesha made a sound that was almost a giggle. “Oh, very well.”
He jerked the loop of his body suddenly out of the pool and flung Arcove’s limp form onto the cave floor. A murmur went up from the circling telshees. Storm understood then what Keesha had meant. He must have crushed the air from Arcove’s lungs when he pushed him underwater. Arcove couldn’t have drowned, even if he’d wanted to, because he couldn’t get a breath. The cat’s hollow sides lay still, his great jaws slack, eyes open and unfocused.
“You’ve killed him,” said Storm miserably.
“Yes,” said Keesha, “but I am willing to kill him again.” And then he sang. It was the most distinctive song that Storm had ever heard, yet he could not remember a note of it a moment later. The song vibrated in the roots of his teeth and the joints of his bones. Storm felt as though he’d sliced himself open on a sharp rock—a mortal wound—and he was watching the blood well up, waiting for the pain, hovering in that moment between trauma and agony. But the agony never came. At least, not for Storm.
Arcove’s body jerked and he sucked in a lungful of air. He convulsed briefly, kicking, struggling as though he were still drowning. He flipped onto his belly and grasped the stone with splayed claws, breathing in quick, panicked gulps.
“Arcove,” murmured Keesha, and Arcove’s whole body flattened at the sound of his name. He opened his eyes and glared up at Syra-lay. “Storm has some use for you. Do what he says, and I won’t hunt down every one of your mates and cubs. That’s generous, I think. More generous than you ever were. We’ll meet again soon.”
Arcove’s muscles went taut. His bared teeth flashed in the dim light, and he looked as though he would spring.
Keesha hummed a single note. And again, Storm felt the hair rise along his spine. He had the peculiar certainty that someone had dealt him a terrible blow that he could not quite feel. He could tell that the telshees sensed it, too. Behind Keesha, Shaw dipped her head and turned to the side with a grimace.
Arcove made a low, guttural sound, the like of which Storm had never heard. He backed away, lay down, and tried to curl in on himself. Storm could hear him trying to pant through clenched teeth.
“That’s better,” said Keesha. “Keep that in mind next time your tiny, predator’s brain prompts you to attack me.”
“You’re hurting him,” said Storm, who’d grasped that much. “I need him to fight.”
Keesha yawned. He’d stopped singing, although Arcove was still curled in a ball on the cave floor. “Storm, you do realize that it probably won’t matter who wins this fight, don’t you? Leeshwood has these bloody power shifts every few years. These cats will fight and fight, and that will help your herd more than anything. It’s the one redeeming feature of creasia: they kill each other.”
Storm felt angry, but he wasn’t sure why or at whom. “Can I take him back to the surface now?”
“By all means,” said Keesha. “I’m certainly not going to do it.”
Storm looked around desperately, but the telshees were melting back into the shadows. Shaw was gone without speaking to him. He couldn’t see Sauny or Valla. He felt utterly alone.
“Arcove?” he said. He was a little afraid to get near him. “Let’s go.”
Arcove stirred at the sound of his name, but he did not raise his head. Keesha’s nose darted out and gave him a shove that sent him head-over-heels. Arcove came up hissing. “There you go!” said Keesha. “Back to normal.”
Storm had to disagree. Arcove staggered side-ways, as though his legs weren’t working properly. Storm wondered how long he’d been treading water. He was bristling, but his tail was tucked under him. Storm had never expected to see Arcove tuck his tail.
Keesha turned away. “He might take a bit to get his legs sorted out, but he should be mostly functional by this evening. I make no promises after that.”
“Come on,” whispered Storm desperately. Before he changes his mind.
Arcove’s eyes were so dilated that Storm could hardly see any green. They seemed to look right through him. Storm gathered his courage and came to within a length of Arcove’s face. “Arcove,” he tried to keep his voice even. “Get up. We have to go.”
/> Arcove’s eyes seemed to focus. “Coden?” he said, in a voice so small that it could have been Teek’s.
Storm swore to himself, then and there, that he was going to hear the creasia side of this story. “No, it’s Storm. Can you follow me?”
Arcove shook himself as though to clear his head. “I don’t know.” He was slurring a little. “You’re hard to follow.”
“Not today. Today, I promise to be easy. Come on.”
Storm was relieved when Arcove finally got up and staggered after him.
Chapter 9. Arcove Delirious
Keesha was right about Arcove’s ability to walk straight, although Arcove kept ignoring the fact. He tripped. He slipped in puddles. He walked into walls. You’ll never win a fight like this, thought Storm.
At last, Storm said, “Stop.”
Arcove kept walking until Storm got right in front of him. “You need to rest,” he said. “We’ll have to climb at the end; you’ll never make it like this.”
Arcove squinted at him. “Roup?”
Storm sighed. “No, it’s Storm. Why don’t you lie down?”
“Confused.” Arcove’s voice sounded plaintive. “I’m…I’m not making sense. I know I’m not making sense.”
“I think it will get better,” said Storm. I certainly hope so.
Arcove squinted at him. “Why are you here?”
“Lie down, and I’ll tell you.”
Arcove hobbled over to the cave wall and collapsed. He arranged his head on his paws with effort.
Storm hesitated a moment, then came to within a length of his shoulders.
“I came because I think you’re better for the ferryshaft than Treace, but I want you to promise me you’ll stop the raids if we get out of this alive.”
“I won’t,” said Arcove, his eyes barely open to slits.
Storm felt frustrated. “You won’t stop the raids after—”
“No, I won’t get out of this alive.”
Storm felt a chill. “Like you said, you’re not thinking clearly.”
Arcove’s voice seemed steadier, now that he didn’t have to walk and talk at the same time. “Where’s Roup?”
“Probably waiting for you,” said Storm. “You wandered off into a cave after the avalanche. Why did you go in there?”
“Avalanche…” repeated Arcove. “I remember that. And then…then I woke up in my nightmare.”
“Keesha called him.” Storm looked up as Sauny drifted like a shadow out of the boulders. “Keesha woke up and left the Dreaming Sea. Then he sat in this cave for a day and a night and sang. And, oh, Storm… I’m glad he’s stopped.”
“Sauny!” Storm felt a wave of relief.
Arcove cocked his head at her. “Sauny Ela-ferry?”
Sauny looked at him warily.
“You’re the one who acts like him,” said Arcove.
“Acts like who?”
“Coden. Storm looks like him…but you act like him.”
Sauny glanced at Storm uncertainly. “He’s confused,” said Storm. “He keeps thinking I’m other animals.”
Arcove did not dispute this.
Sauny sat down in front of him. “You hurt me. You killed my friends.”
“I’ve killed a lot of friends,” agreed Arcove.
That isn’t exactly what she said, thought Storm.
“Keesha’s going to kill you,” said Sauny.
“He was always going to do that,” said Arcove. He squinted at her. “Didn’t I kill you?”
“No, you just…”
And then Storm remembered the way she’d walked out of the rocks. “Sauny, you’re—”
She grinned at him. “You were right. I was getting better last spring. Shaw kept saying it was too early to tell if the damage was permanent.”
“Yes, I—I remember.” Shaw had said that. Over and over. But I thought she was just trying to ease the blow.
Sauny trotted a ring around Storm. Her limp was gone. She turned back to Arcove. “You’re not as big as I remember.”
“You’re bigger.”
“Let him sleep,” muttered Storm. “He’ll never win a fight like this. He’s running into things and repeating himself. What did Keesha do to him?”
“I’m not sure,” said Sauny in a guarded voice. She was still watching Arcove. “He doesn’t sound confused.”
“Arcove, do you know my name?”
“Storm,” said Arcove quietly. “You were going to tell me why you’re here...or did I just forget?”
Storm sighed. “Because I need you to kill Treace. Because I’d rather deal with you and your cats than with his.”
Arcove said nothing.
“Why did you save me from the curbs?” asked Storm.
“Because Treace needs to prove to Leeshwood that he can do what I can’t…or didn’t.”
“Kill me?”
“Just so,” said Arcove. He thought for a moment. “What happened after the avalanche?”
“You’re repeating yourself,” said Storm.
Arcove grimaced. He laid his head down on his paws and stopped talking.
Sauny was watching him with an unreadable expression. Storm wondered whether she felt avenged. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to see Arcove hurt, but he couldn’t say that he’d enjoyed it. He wasn’t sure why. He felt that he ought to have enjoyed it.
Storm tried to picture the raids. Instead, he saw a pair of desperate green eyes, illuminated by flashes of lightning, a scream so close to his ear that it nearly deafened him, fur and blood in his mouth. Storm shook his head. His nose still stung where Teek had scratched him. And then…then he forgave me. How could anyone forgive that? Did he not understand when I told him? But Storm remembered the look on Teek’s face when he’d blurted out the truth on the council ledge. He understood perfectly.
Arcove had grown very still. Storm had to look closely to see that he was breathing. The telshees chased him. Then he tread water for who-knows-how long. Keesha held him under and he struggled until he passed out. Or died. Is that what happened back there? Did Keesha bring him back to life? Storm shivered.
Storm sat with his sister in awkward silence, watching Arcove sleep. Sauny stretched out on her belly and rested her head on her hooves. Storm wanted to ask her questions. He wanted to tell her things. But he didn’t dare. After a while, he put his own head on his hooves and dozed.
Storm woke to Valla’s excited voice. “Sauny, we found it!”
Storm jerked to his feet, blinking, before he quite knew what was happening. Valla and Shaw were both beside them in the tunnel. Sauny was dancing back and forth between them. “Thank you, thank you!”
“Don’t thank me,” growled Shaw, “just go before Keesha notices it’s missing.” Storm saw that Valla was wearing a familiar glossy blue stone around her neck.
Arcove had staggered to his feet, and he snarled at Shaw, white teeth bared to pink gums. Shaw took one look at him and turned away with a dismissive sweep of her head. She didn’t even bother to bristle. “Storm,” she said, “for the sake of the friendship between us, I will do this for you, but in return, I ask that you do something for me.”
Storm was bewildered. “You’ll do…what?”
“The herd,” said Sauny. “You said that Treace wanted to eat them.”
“He does,” said Storm. “He’s taken them away into the forest. No one knows where. Arcove and Roup said that he wants to make them into a food source for creasia.”
Shaw dipped her head. “You may use the Shable to open Kuwee Island. Send the ferryshaft there and make them safe while the creasia are at war with each other. When the blood stops flowing, you may be a free people again. But this thing between Keesha and Arcove—stay out of it.”
Storm took a step back. “No.”
Shaw growled at him. Storm didn’t think he’d ever seen her look at him that way. “Why?”
“Because this is our business,” said Storm. “This is land-animal business, not yours.”
“You do
n’t know what you’re talking about,” said Shaw.
Storm did not relent. “The creasia war affects the place where I live. Whoever rules Leeshwood will have a direct impact on me and my herd. You can come back here to Syriot when it’s over or swim to distant shores and forget about it; I can’t!”
Arcove spoke behind him. “He has a point, Shaw.” Storm felt at once relieved and alarmed to hear the focus back in Arcove’s voice. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw that the sharpness had returned to Arcove’s eyes, and he was holding himself with the poise Storm remembered.
Shaw did bristle then. “You are a dead thing,” she growled.
Arcove stretched, his long claws flexing against the stone. “Not yet.” He smiled at her, and Shaw hissed. Arcove turned away. “Let’s go, little ferryshaft, Coden’s foals. I believe you wanted me to kill someone for you.”
Storm trotted after Arcove. The creasia was moving with near-perfect coordination. “Do you remember the way out?” asked Storm.
“No, but I can follow my own trail.”
“You’ll go straighter if you follow me.” Storm was a little unnerved by Arcove’s sudden return to lucidity, although he told himself that it was a good thing.
“And who might you be?” asked Arcove as he slowed to let Storm go ahead. He was looking at Valla.
She bristled nervously and danced back.
“She’s my beta,” said Sauny.
Arcove snorted. “Two years old and you have a beta. You are very like your sire, and you definitely need to return to the herd.”
“I liked you better when you were too weak to stand,” Sauny commented.
“Likewise,” said Arcove.
Storm thought that that might make Sauny too angry to talk, but she piped up again a moment later. “Why do you keep calling us Coden’s foals? Storm and I didn’t even have the same father.”
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