That tranquility lifted him away from the scene. He no longer felt Old Ponchy’s blows. He didn’t even feel when Old Ponchy stopped hitting him and stepped back. Old Ponchy put his hand behind his back and drew his reciprocator from his belt. He towered over Taig with sweat streaming down his face and his hands still clenched in bloody fists.
In that moment, Taig almost loved the man who would take his life. He admired the hardened fighter who could beat anyone who stood against him. No wonder all these people followed him blindly. He was unstoppable. He would lead them to victory over the Avitras, and they would take the best territory on the planet as their own. It was too bad for Roshin and Talya and Piwaka and Aimee and the other Avitras, but to the victor go the spoils. Old Ponchy had beaten everyone who ever stood against him and he’d earned the victory.
Taig smiled up at him. He could die at the hands of a man like this. He’d given his best to the fight, and he could rest assured he’d fallen to a worthy opponent. Old Ponchy caught his breath and started to relax. The fight was over. He charged his reciprocator. He wouldn’t make another mistake like the one he made with Lilith. He would blow Taig away with one shot. He wouldn’t suffer.
He pointed the reciprocator at Taig’s head. Taig nodded. Now was the moment of his destiny fulfilled. Old Ponchy’s hand tightened around the firing mechanism when another, disembodied hand clapped him on the shoulder. Taig stared at it, but he couldn’t force his mind to understand what it meant.
Old Ponchy spun around with a bellow on his lips, but the sound choked in his throat when he found himself face to face with Lilith. Dried blood and black bruises mottled her bald head. Blood trickled from deep gashes around her wrists, and one corner of her lip curled upward in tattered mockery of a smile.
Before Old Ponchy could recover from his surprise, before he could bring his reciprocator up to fire, she gave a vicious upwards thrust and stabbed him under the ribs with the knife he’d thrown at Taig’s feet before the fight. Old Ponchy’s mouth sagged open in a silent cry, but he never made another sound. He stared at Lilith, but he didn’t see her.
Lilith twisted the knife, and a sickening crunch echoed through the camp. The stale air rushed out of Old Ponchy’s lungs and never rushed back in. Lilith held the blade in place for an agonizing moment. She only let go of the handle when Old Ponchy collapsed at her feet.
Taig blinked. What just happened? He couldn’t register the fact that Old Ponchy was gone. He gazed up at Lilith, but she didn’t look at him. She kept her eyes on Old Ponchy. Then she bent over and busied herself with some detail of the body.
Taig craned his neck to see. He gulped and blinked again. She withdrew the knife from Old Ponchy’s chest and, with expert strokes, she cut off his head and sent it rolling away down the grassy verge, where it bumped into the rock where Lilith’s bonds lay limp and frayed.
Lilith wiped the blood off the knife and stuck it into her belt. She cast a critical eye around the circle. The Outliers stared at her in no less amazement than Taig did. Who was this enchantress? The awe he felt for Old Ponchy, at the moment his life was forfeit, transferred to Lilith. He’d never encountered anyone like her in his life. She must be inhuman. She must be immortal.
After what seemed like hours, she finally met his gaze and nodded. She took his hand and helped him to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We can’t run,” he pointed out. “You don’t know how, and neither of us is strong enough.”
Lilith waved her hand toward the assembled Outliers and shook her head. “We don’t have to run. They won’t come after us.”
End of Book 8
Book 9: Reina
Chapter 1
Anna climbed the stairs to Leflin and Leroni’s apartment and found the door open, so she walked right in. Mila sat on the sleeping platform with her siblings clustered around her. “How are you, Mila?”
“I’m just fine,” Mila replied. “Mother and Father aren’t here.”
Anna smiled. “I still like seeing you kids. It’s wonderful weather we’re having. You should be running around outside in the trees while you have the chance.”
Mila’s eyes flicked across the apartment, and Anna noticed for the first time the closed doors of the sleeping chambers across the room. “Like I said, if you’re looking for Mother and Father....”
Anna cut her off. “What’s going on? Has something happened to Sooss?”
Mila shook her head, but before she could answer, one sleeping chamber door opened, and Leroni came out, followed by Leflin. “You’re back, Anna. You’ve been gone longer than you planned. How was your trip? Nothing went wrong, I hope.”
“The trip was uneventful, as you might expect,” Anna replied. “Nothing went wrong, right up until I found the Lycaon village.”
“What about the village?” Leflin asked.
“It’s gone,” Anna replied.
Leroni spun around with a gasp. “What do you mean, gone?”
“I mean,” Anna replied, “the village is still there, but all the people are gone. It looks to me like they vanished without a trace. There is still food half cooked in the pots, and raw meat—rotting, raw meat—laid out on boards ready for cooking. They left instantaneously, wherever they went. They left everything they owned. They didn’t even take a change of clothes, and from what I saw, it happened a while ago. I’d say they’ve been gone for months.”
Leflin and Leroni exchanged glances. “That’s impossible.”
Anna nodded. “That’s what I thought, so I checked the other camp zones through the rest of the territory. That’s what took me so long. They didn’t migrate to any other camp site, or they would have taken their provisions with them. They just....well, vanished.”
Leflin sank down onto the platform next to his children. He stared at the floor with wide eyes. “But that means....”
Anna nodded. “It’s not just Caleb and Turk and their families. Renier and Carmen are gone. So is my sister Emily and her mate Faruk. The whole peace process has been wiped out in one stroke.”
Leflin shook his head. “We have to find them.”
“They’re nowhere,” Anna replied. “I searched everywhere they could have gone. The weather wiped out any tracks they left behind months ago. We have no way of finding them. They’re gone.”
Leroni spoke up. “But that means....”
Anna faced her. “It means Leflin is Alpha of the Felsite faction. I’ll leave here and go back to Harbeiz. When Donen finds out Faruk and Emily are gone, he’ll have to reevaluate the whole peace agreement. We may have to rebuild from scratch some of what we’ve accomplished so far.”
Leflin whispered under his breath. “This can’t be happening.”
Anna laid her hand on his shoulder. “It is happening, Leflin, and the tragic part is, we’ll probably never know who Sooss really is. There’s no one left to ask which family he belongs to. It looks like you’re stuck with him indefinitely.”
Leflin raised his eyes to Anna’s face, but he gave her only a blank stare. Anna smiled and patted him on the shoulder. Then she went to the door. Leroni accompanied her. “Thanks for everything you’ve done, Anna. It was our only chance to send Sooss back to his people.”
“There may still be a chance to send him home,” Anna replied. “My cousin Aimee knows the Lycaon warriors well. There may be a patrol on the frontier that didn’t disappear with the rest of the village. They may be able to identify him and take him back.”
Leroni nodded. “I hope so.”
“He’s doing well here for now, anyway, isn’t he?” Anna asked.
Leroni nodded. “He seems much more settled now. I don’t know why.”
Anna turned away. “It’s just a matter of time before he settles down here. You have a wonderful, loving home. Anyone would be happy to stay here.”
Leroni held the door open for her, and Anna turned to go when another set of footsteps sounded on the stairs. She waited to give the
person free passage before going down when she started back in surprise. “Reina! What are you doing here?”
Reina stepped into the room. Allen and Tara followed her, along with Aimee and Sarai, Roshin and Talya, Aeifa and Taman, Taig, and Lilith last of all. They filed into the room in ghostly silence. The Felsite gaped at them until they filled the room with their otherworldly presence. Reina looked Leroni up and down. “You look very well, Leroni. How are you managing, Leflin?”
Leflin shot to his feet and seized her hand. “You don’t know how relieved I am to see you, Reina. Anna just told us your parents vanished from the Lycaon village. We thought you vanished with them. We were just....” He swallowed his last words.
Reina nodded. “We know about the Lycaon village.”
“How could you know?” Leroni asked. “How did you escape without....What happened to your parents?”
Reina shrugged. “We don’t know what happened to them.” She swept the group with her hand. “We were camped out in the mountains taking shelter from a storm. When we went back to the village in the morning, everyone was gone. That’s all we know. We’ve been trying to find some answers ever since, but we haven’t found any.”
Leroni studied the group. “Who are these people? Who are these Lycaon?”
“This is Aeifa,” Reina replied. “She’s Caleb’s daughter. Her twin brother was killed.....on the Avitras border. These two are Taig and Tara, Chris and Turk’s twins.”
Anna came forward and peered at her cousin. “Aimee? How did you get here?”
Aimee sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Anna peered at Sarai. “I don’t recognize any of these others.”
“You wouldn’t,” Aimee replied. “This is Roshin. He’s Aquilla and Penelope Ann’s son, and he’s in line to become Alpha of the Avitras faction when Piwaka gets too old to do the job.”
Leflin pumped Roshin’s hand. “Oh, thank heaven someone is still alive! I thought I would have to take responsibility for the whole peace negotiation.”
Roshin shook his head. “I’m not Alpha yet. Piwaka is still alive and well back home. You can negotiate with him if you want to negotiate with somebody. He wouldn’t appreciate you putting me in his place.”
“You’re very welcome here, nonetheless,” Leroni interrupted, “you and your companion.”
Aimee waved to the Ursidrean boys. “These are Allen and Taman, Faruk and Emily’s boys.”
Anna sighed. “Donen will be relieved to find out they’re all right.”
“Donen already knows all about it,” Taman told her. “We’ve been to Harbeiz and told him the whole story.”
Aimee turned toward him. “Not the whole story.”
Anna gasped. “You’ve been to Harbeiz?”
Taman nodded. “I thought we could use Ursidrean technology to locate my parents’ tracking devices.”
“Did you find them?” Anna asked.
Taman shook his head. “There’s no trace of them anywhere on Angondra.”
Leflin shook his head. “That’s not possible. They must be somewhere.”
“We’ve given up on finding them,” Aeifa told him. “We’ve seen enough bloodshed and lost enough along the way. None of us wants to go searching for them anymore. We only came to bring Reina home. Then we’re all going back to our own territories.”
“Well,” Tara muttered, “almost all of us.”
“What about the Lycaon?” Anna asked. “There’s no one left in the territory to go back to.”
“There are Lycaon left in the territory,” Aimee told her. “They just aren’t in the village.”
“How do you know?” Leroni asked.
Aimee laid her hand on Sarai’s shoulder. “This is my son, Sarai. He’s been living with his father in the mountains along the Ursidrean border for seven years. His father is still there.”
“Seven years!” Leroni exclaimed. “But he’s only a boy.”
“He has human blood,” Aimee reminded her. “He must be developing at the rate of a human boy, even though....” She glanced over her shoulder.
“Even though what?” Anna asked.
Aimee held out her hand to the corner of the room. “Come here. I want you to meet someone.”
Anna frowned. “Who are you talking to?”
Aimee strode across the room and returned leading Lilith by the elbow. Lilith tried to escape, but Aimee wouldn’t let her go. “Come here. They won’t bite you.”
“Leave me alone,” Lilith demanded. “I don’t want to meet anybody.”
“I want you to.” Aimee didn’t let go until they came to the middle of the room.
Lilith crossed her freed arms over her chest and looked away. Old bruises and scars still marred her alabaster face and scalp.
“Who is this?” Anna asked.
“This is Lilith,” Aimee replied. “She’s my daughter, and she’s Sarai’s twin sister. She’s also seven years old.”
Anna and Leroni stared at Lilith. “That’s impossible.”
Aimee nodded. “Highly unlikely, yes, but not impossible. Anyway, their father is still alive on the border, so there are probably other Lycaon scattered throughout the territory. Whatever took the village wasn’t some deadly disease that wiped out all Lycaon. It struck only that village.”
They stared at the group in silent wonder. Lilith rounded on her mother. “Are you finished?”
Aimee smiled. “Yes, I’m finished.”
Lilith retreated to her corner of the room. Anna murmured under her breath to Aimee. “What happened to her?”
Aimee waved her hand. “She’s had a rough time, but she’s a hero to us all. We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for her.”
“It took us ages to convince her to come back with us,” Aeifa added, “but we convinced her in the end.”
Anna cast a suspicious glance toward Lilith, but made no reply.
Leroni came forward. “You’re Lycaon. Maybe you can tell us about Sooss.”
“Who?” Reina asked.
“Sooss,” Leroni repeated. “He’s a young Lycaon. We don’t know where he came from, and there seems to be something wrong with his brain.”
“I just traveled all the way back to your village to find out who his family might be,” Anna told them. “That’s when I found everyone gone.”
“But Sooss isn’t a Lycaon name,” Tara countered.
“That’s what so strange about him,” Anna replied.
“So how did he wind up here?” Reina asked. “He couldn’t have crossed our territory without someone noticing him.”
“That’s what we can’t figure out,” Leroni replied. “He just....appeared on the banks of the river. I found him in the sump grove without a stitch on him, and he can’t tell us anything about himself.”
Tara glanced at Aeifa. “That’s strange.”
“Strange doesn’t begin to describe it,” Leroni replied. “Nothing about him makes sense, but he’s the nicest boy you’d ever meet. He’s been as quiet as a mouse, and Mala dotes on him.”
“Where is he?” Tara asked.
“He isn’t here right now,” Leroni replied. “Mala took him out for a walk. She usually does after she finishes her morning work. They’ll be back soon.”
Leflin addressed the group. “You’ll be staying here for a while. Come with me and I’ll assign you quarter’s.”
“What about me?” Reina asked. “I can’t go back to my parents’ apartment when they aren’t there.”
“Of course not,” Leroni replied. “You stay here with us, Reina, until you decide where you want to live.”
Chapter 2
Leroni bustled around her apartment when Reina entered. “Are all your friends settled?”
Reina sat cross-legged on the platform. “It’s eerie seeing them getting comfortable in real rooms with real beds. We haven’t had that since we left Harbeiz, and before that, we camped on the open ground for weeks. I wonder how long t
he Lycaon will be willing to stay here.”
Leroni eyed her. “You’ve changed so much since you left with your parents. You’ve grown up.”
“We all have,” Reina replied. “We’ve had to.”
“What about the girls who’ve coupled with the Ursidreans?” Leroni asked. “I don’t see them going back to their own territory.”
“You’d be surprised how much Taman and Allen have changed, too, since this whole thing got started,” Reina replied. “They run as fast as the Lycaon, and they hunt and build camp like they were born to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if either of them decided to stay with the Lycaon.”
Leroni shook her head. “Sooss has settled down to city life just fine. He doesn’t seem to pine for the woods.”
Reina cocked her head. “Tell me more about him.”
“I can’t,” Leroni replied. “I don’t know anything about him, but he’s coming now. I hear his steps on the stairs.”
Reina sat up. “I’ll go get Tara and Aeifa. Maybe they’ll recognize him.”
She rose to her feet, but before she got across the room, the door opened and Mala entered with the young Lycaon Leroni found in the sump grove. Leroni called over her shoulder. “Look, Mala. Reina’s come home.”
Reina froze in her tracks. “What did you say his name was?”
Leroni didn’t turn around. “Sooss.”
“I don’t know where you got that name,” Reina murmured, “but his name isn’t Sooss. This is Ari.”
Leroni swung around, and the wooden bowl fell out of her hand. It clattered on the stone floor. “What did you say?”
Reina’s voice rose to a piercing cry. “This is Ari! This is Caleb’s son. We thought he was dead. Roshin threw him over a sheer cliff on the Avitras border and.....well, it’s a long story. How did he get here?”
“But that’s impossible!” Leroni exclaimed. “He was here, on the bank of the river. I told you that.”
“I can’t explain it, but this is Ari. I would recognize him anywhere.” Reina shut her eyes and shook her head. “I have to go get Aeifa. I have to tell the others.” She raced out of the room.
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