by Brandon Mull
She might win her talisman back, but he was already hurt, and would almost certainly not survive.
“No, little warrior,” she said. “You’re going to live to continue this fight.” She lowered onto her haunches. “Climb on.”
Tembo didn’t wait for her to ask twice, almost jumping onto her back despite his injured leg.
“Hold tight,” Uraza commanded. “And if you tell anyone about this, I’ll eat you and your monkey both.”
She could feel Tembo gripping tightly to her fur. As the shield wall charged, Uraza lunged forward. She crashed through the end of their line, then accelerated down one of the streets. The flames had overtaken most of the stockade wall, including the gate. The heat of the dry season had left this fortification as kindling, ready to burn with the slightest provocation.
She dodged past falling timbers from one building and a Conqueror charging from another. They arrived at the hole that they’d entered through, but it was blocked by fallen logs and smoke.
They were both starting to cough as smoke began to choke the air.
“We need another way out,” Tembo croaked.
“Don’t let go,” Uraza answered, picking up even more speed as she raced across the ground. Finally, with a burst of strength, she leaped into the air. She could feel Tembo clinging tightly to her back as she barely cleared the bottom of the flames, leaving the fur on her feet singed.
Uraza loped across the savanna, leaving the burning stockade to light up the horizon behind her.
They met the others at the lightning tree, where Jinta removed the arrowhead from Tembo’s leg while Djantak and the others held him down. A knife heated by flame cleaned his wound. Afterward, the humans sat around the fire, retelling stories of the raid and the various mishaps and near-disasters that had occurred. Though he claimed he would have survived anyway, to hear the others tell it, Djantak had only escaped because a log had fallen on a group of enemies who had him cornered.
Uraza sat out of the ring of firelight, staring into the savanna night. She had lost her talisman. For the humans this was a celebration, but for her, it was as if a part of herself had been torn away in the battle. She watched the moon drift up from the horizon.
The Conquerors would keep coming. She was sure of that. Though they had what they had come for, this “Reptile King” would not stop until the whole continent was under his thumb. The whole world, perhaps. She had seen the marching lines of them while in the cage. There were just too many. Even a Great Beast couldn’t kill them all by herself.
“Djantak says I’ll be back in working order in a few weeks or so,” Tembo said, using a crutch to limp out of the firelight and stand next to the leopard.
“That is good,” Uraza answered.
They both remained silent for several minutes, watching a flock of black herons winging across the night sky, on their way to feed in the salt flats of the Kwangani River delta.
“Thank you,” Tembo finally said. “I don’t know why you did it, but you did. All I can give you now is my gratitude, and the promise that we’ll keep searching for it. Keep fighting.”
Uraza lowered her eyes. Human promises. From this one, maybe that meant something.
“We got a message from our allies in Eura,” he continued. When Uraza cast a curious glance in his direction, he nodded somberly. “People say the young King Feliandor of Stetriol has gone mad, and that he’s aided by Great Beasts as well. These Conquerors aren’t just in Nilo. They’re moving across all of Erdas — and we must fight back wherever we can. There’s a shipment of Conqueror siege weapons coming into Port Tantego next week. If we stop it, the city of Kalindi may be able to hold out through the wet season.”
“Then you’ll be headed there, I suppose,” Uraza said, looking away from Tembo once more. Though she did not show it in front of the human, the news that some of her fellows were helping these plunderers deeply troubled her. She had not felt the presence of her neighbor Kovo recently.
“We’re headed there, you mean,” Tembo answered. “I stole you, so you belong to me. We’ve been over this.”
“I should just eat you now, you insolent boy,” she rumbled.
Tembo shrugged. “What makes you think you could take me in a fight?”
Uraza placed a massive paw on the boy’s chest, letting it sit there so that he could feel its weight. But Tembo just grinned back at her.
“You’re nothing but a handful of kittens,” Uraza said, sprawling out to sleep. “Without me, you’ll get yourselves killed for sure. I don’t think I can give Samilia that satisfaction.”
Tembo smiled as he reached over and scratched the leopard behind the ears. Uraza’s claws extended reflexively, but she had to admit, it felt good. She should put a claw through his throat for presuming to do this. But somehow she found herself purring.
He had helped her out of a difficult trap. He had been willing to sacrifice his own life for her Amber Leopard, even when she had turned a blind eye to his people. She could tolerate his impertinence, she supposed. Just this one time.
By Emily Seife
LEAPING OVER A FALLEN LOG, KATALIN CURSED HERSELF again for the carelessness that had landed her in this position. She had been running for almost half an hour, ever since she’d stupidly stumbled right into a Conqueror’s camp, attracting his attention.
The Conqueror was big and strong, but she was faster, and she’d been sprinting hard. Was it possible that she’d managed to escape him? She glanced behind her. She couldn’t see far through the pouring rain, but she seemed to have lost her pursuer for a moment. If so, there was no point in continuing to stumble through the woods, possibly attracting his attention as she crashed through slippery bramble. Spotting a rocky crag, Katalin ducked underneath it and crouched toward the back of the stone overhang. A moment later, she saw a wave of shadow slip through the rain and then appear beside her.
Shaking the rain out of her eyes, she smiled at the dark form as it rippled up her leg and perched on her shoulder. It was Tero, a sleek black mink and her spirit animal. They had bonded only a year ago, but already she couldn’t imagine life without her quick, sly companion. She nuzzled her cheek into his tiny body, allowing his thick fur to briefly warm the tip of her frozen nose.
Looking down, Katalin realized that her tattered cloak was so dark with rain that it appeared as black as Tero’s own fur coat, not the true pine green that she knew it was. If anyone came upon her now, they would never recognize her as one of the resistance. But she was — not just a member of the resistance of Marked people and their spirit animals against the Conquerors and their Reptile King — but one on an important mission that could be crucial to Eura’s future. Adelle, one of the leaders of the resistance, had trusted Katalin with this. She had pressed the map into Katalin’s hand, looking hard into her eyes, and told her that she had to find Briggan the Wolf, one of the fifteen Great Beasts, and convince him to join their cause.
They needed Briggan if they were to have any chance at all of winning the war. While the resistance was still scattered and untrained, the Conquerors were already organized and battle-hardened. They were led by the Reptile King — no, Katalin reminded herself, they did not use Feliandor’s self-proclaimed title. The resistance called him what he truly was: the Devourer. For he and his army devoured land and lives. The Devourer was coldly calculating and controlling. Plus, his Conquerors were aided by two of the Great Beasts, the ape and the serpent. When impressing on Katalin the importance of her mission, Adelle had told her that their small movement would stand no chance unless they could get Great Beasts to join them.
Katalin made herself comfortable on the packed dirt, glad for the moment to rest and gather her thoughts. Tero, on the other hand, could never hold still except when sleeping. Getting bored, he leaped off of her shoulder and somersaulted across the dirt, pausing to snap at invisible bugs and to preen his beautiful coat. Katalin loved
watching him move and play. He was always hungry, even when they weren’t traveling across hard terrain all day, and he spent every moment of free time hunting. She’d seen him kill everything from flickering little fish to large birds.
When they had first bonded, her hands were always covered in cuts. Tero loved to nibble and used to bite her fingertips whenever she pointed or gestured. She was lucky to have been with the other Marked at that point. They had shown her how to enhance her bond with him, and ways to get him to respect and listen to her. Still, it had taken months until Tero was able to control himself, and even now he would sometimes give a reflexive little snap when she reached out to him. She thought she could read him well enough to recognize a slightly ashamed look that always followed after he forgot himself like that.
Shivering, she closed her eyes. Katalin had nightmares and could rarely get through a full night’s sleep, but she’d learned to steal small catnaps, collecting snippets of rest. She was getting close to Briggan, and would need to gather her strength in order to face the Great Wolf. She felt confident that she could find him, even though the Great Beasts were known to be reclusive. She had the map from Adelle, of course. And using her bond with Tero, she could draw upon his hunting skills and become a skilled tracker.
It was what would happen when she found Briggan that she was worried about.
If anyone could turn their ragtag group of rebels into an army of green-cloaked fighters, it was he. Known as the Packleader, Briggan was a Great Beast, physically huge and extremely powerful, but like any regular wolf, he had a strong pack sensibility and never traveled alone. Rumor had it that wherever Briggan went, he was followed by the Great Pack, a large cabal of ferocious and fiercely loyal canines. The resistance hoped that Briggan would use that same powerful leadership to gather and inspire their disparate members.
Adelle had told Katalin all this before she sent her out on the mission. “You’ll find Briggan in the Granite Hills,” she’d said. “You’ll recognize him when you see him, believe me.” Katalin had nodded — everyone knew that the Great Beasts were enormous, and Briggan was known to have hypnotic cobalt-blue eyes. “He has a powerful presence,” Adelle had continued. “So you’ll need to be respectful, but able to hold your own. It’s that very dominance that makes us need him to join us so badly. If he can use his leadership to guide our resistance and compel others to join us, it could change the tide of the war.”
Change the tide of the war . . . Katalin liked the sound of that, and liked knowing that she could play a role in making it happen.
Still, though Katalin hoped Adelle was right, that the huge wolf would be an ally, he was also a dangerous wild animal, and so was his Great Pack. She wanted to be alert when they came face-to-face for the first time.
Katalin felt a silky touch on her cheek and smiled, thinking it was the tip of Tero’s tail. No matter how much he cavorted, and how far he went on his little hunts, he returned back to her frequently to check in, letting her know he was still there.
Then she felt a sharp piercing sensation on her neck and she sprang up with a shriek, nearly banging her head on the low stone ceiling.
Two tiny glints of light shone from the rock overhang. As Katalin peered closer to make out the thing that bit her, a flurry of wings came at her and beat at her face. Katalin squeezed her eyes shut, but not before she saw that it was a tiny bat — a vampire bat — and it had a distinctly malevolent look in its beady eyes. Again it lunged at the exposed skin on her neck. She pushed it off with a flick of her arm, but it flapped its wings and quickly swooped up and out of her reach. She could feel small drops of blood moving down her neck, running in rivulets with the rain.
Katalin crouched down on the dirt floor. She tried to keep one eye on the bat as she scanned the rainy woods. It was possible that this was just a confused creature, but why would a nocturnal bat be out during the day? It seemed more likely that it was the spirit animal of the Conqueror who had been pursuing her.
Just then, the bat dove in again, tangling its webbed wings and feet up in Katalin’s long hair, and beating at her eyes to disorient her.
With a rush, Tero leaped toward her and landed on her knee. Using it as a springboard, he bounced up onto the top of her head immediately. He swiped at the bat, snapping and clawing furiously. Katalin tried to stay calm, but with a battle being waged in her hair, it was hard to keep from crying out.
But if this bat was the spirit animal of her pursuer, as she thought it was, it was too late for caution — they had already been found.
Then there was a yank — followed by a thud — and Tero landed on the ground with the bat and a chunk of Katalin’s hair pinned to the earth beneath him.
“Thanks, Tero,” she said, rubbing the sore spot on her scalp where the hair had been pulled out in the scuffle. “I think.”
He looked up at her, eyes glittering with mischief. She knew Tero was clever, that he had excellent instincts and a deep intelligence — but she wasn’t sure he truly understood the seriousness of their situation. Caution didn’t seem to be in his nature. He fed off of risk, and sometimes she could feel herself getting pulled into that dangerous current with him.
“We have to get out of here,” she said sternly. “Now.” She selected a large rock and carefully laid it down on the bat’s wing so that it was pinned and immobilized, but not injured. It might be a Conqueror’s spirit animal, but even so, she couldn’t bring herself to kill it.
Katalin and Tero took off together. She could feel Tero’s nimbleness infusing her body, making it easier for her to jump over rocks and tumble under low-hanging branches. Just as she started to think they’d left the danger behind again, a body came crashing through the leaves ahead, and a man landed right in front of them. He was crouched in a fighting pose, holding a crude club. His dark, bushy eyebrows flared on his brow like two bat wings. Katalin could see the tattoo on his forearm — so he’d retrieved his bat and put the creature into its passive form.
“Hello there, little one,” the man grumbled. “I’ve been trying to catch up with you for quite some time now. And on a rainy day like this one, I’d much rather be back at the camp in front of the fire.”
Katalin shrugged. “The Devourer is lucky to have a soldier as hardy as you.”
The Conqueror swung his club at her head. She reacted quickly, dropping to the ground just in time. Unable to stop the momentum of his swing, the club went crashing into a tree trunk, and it bounced out of his hand. “Mako! Come quick, I found the girl!” he shouted as he scrambled to recover it.
Katalin didn’t wait to hear more. She took off at a sprint. A blind panic pushed her forward, her fear bringing back old memories . . . mixing them together with the present, so that she could hardly tell where she was. Her heart pounded so loudly she could barely hear anything else. Then Tero bounded up onto her shoulder, and she could feel his cool confidence surging through her, bringing her . . . not calm, but exhilaration. With that, she was able to start paying attention to her surroundings again, to hear with clarity the sounds of the forest: the thudding footsteps behind her, the rain and the wind in the trees — and then another sound, also a wet sound, but heavier. They were near a river.
She glanced at Tero, and his smiling eyes confirmed her instinct.
Swerving to the right, she followed the sound of the river. She picked her way through bushes and brambles, trying to keep her footing in the mud. Then the ground slanted steeply down, and Katalin lost her footing. She skidded down the bank to where the dirt gave way to a stone overhang. The edge of the bank came into view, revealing the water below. She couldn’t stop herself, so she dropped down to hands and knees, throwing her body heavily at the earth and coming to a stop just inches from the precipice.
Her knees were scratched and muddy, but at least she hadn’t gone careening off the edge. She had a moment to look around and figure out the best way to execute her plan.
> All the heavy rain had swollen the river, making it deep and fast. That had its benefits if they decided to jump in and try to swim it — they probably wouldn’t land on a rock, or hit their heads on the bottom — but on the other hand, there could be dangerous currents just waiting to drag her under with invisible hands. Still, both Katalin and Tero were excellent swimmers. It was a risk she was willing to take, especially when the danger behind them was even more certain.
Taking a deep breath, Katalin dove into the water, Tero right behind her. The water grabbed them, shockingly cold, and threw them downstream. The river tumbled them over and over, like dice in a cupped palm.
Back on shore, the leaves shivered and shook. The wet forest closed around the spot where they’d disappeared, holding their secret, as the Conquerors thundered by.
Katalin woke up with a start.
They had passed a deeply unpleasant night. The river had allowed them to disappear and lose the Conquerors, but when they crawled out onto a muddy bank a mile downstream, Katalin and all of her possessions were soaked through. Tero’s coat dried quickly, but she spent a miserable night shivering and wet. When the rain stopped in the early hours of the morning, she had finally dropped off to sleep for a little bit. It was a restless sleep, veined with dark dreams.
No matter how hard she tried to lock up her memories, her mind kept circling back to the past, like a prowling animal. In her dream she had been back in her home village.
Her home had been in eastern Eura, the part closest to Zhong. The part closest to the Conquerors. When the Conquerors first swarmed out of Stetriol to begin their invasion, they started by swallowing the continents of Zhong and Nilo. They set their sights on Eura next. They’d started testing the waters, sending advance parties in on raids, to see what the resistance in Eura would be. They knew they wouldn’t have the element of surprise that had allowed them to take mighty Zhong, but they suspected that Eura didn’t have the organization or the power to resist.