Rollan noted that the man still carried his oily charm, but Conor had been right: Something was off about Zerif. His eyes were a bit too wild. His smile was a bit too stretched.
“And this must be the boy who has summoned Tellun,” Zerif continued, turning to Anda. “What is about to happen to you can either be painful or mercifully quick. The amount you will suffer is your choice, but the outcome is not. Tellun will be mine.”
In response, Tellun bowed his noble head—not in deference, but in preparation to charge. He raised one hoof and pressed it to the earth, like a runner taking his mark. But then he paused.
Something emerged from the shadows behind Zerif.
It was a large serpent, as thick as a tree trunk, with a broad, triangular head. Her wide, slitted eyes had a manic tilt to them, and as she came into the full light she reared back and opened her black hood. Fear filled Rollan’s mouth with a foul, bitter taste, and his skin felt like rubber. He’d met this cobra before, during the war. Of all the opponents they’d faced, cruel Gerathon was the one who most often stalked his dreams.
“Gerathon,” Abeke said bitterly. “You’ve bowed to this fool?”
Abeke knew what she was doing: Gerathon had always been a haughty, stubborn creature, with a definite bent for killing humans. It might work to pit her pride against Zerif. But the cobra’s triangular face remained impassive as she turned her merciless gaze on them. Rollan knew from experience that, although they were a dozen feet away, they were still within striking range of the cobra’s fangs.
Rollan had his dagger out, ready to dodge and counterattack, but Essix chirped to stop him.
Tellun stepped forward, approaching the serpent. Rollan’s heart was in his mouth as he watched the elk stride calmly in front of the coiled snake and go perfectly still, head lowered.
Staring right into Gerathon’s slitted eyes, Tellun worked his way closer. Though information seemed to pass between the beasts, Tellun apparently didn’t get the response he’d expected. Gerathon lunged, hissing, and the elk sprang to one side, all four legs tucking under him in the air.
Beside Gerathon, another form emerged from the darkness—an eagle, slightly larger and stockier than Essix, with a sharp and noble prow.
A new fear pricked at Rollan’s neck as Halawir looked hungrily at Essix. The falcon would be in for the fight of her life if it came to aerial combat. “Stay near,” he whispered to her.
Rollan heard Abeke’s bow creak, and knew she was readying for battle. “I don’t know what your plan is,” Abeke called to Zerif, “but you won’t have Tellun as part of it.”
“Are you so sure?” Zerif spat. “He’ll have no say in the matter.”
“Prepare,” Abeke told Rollan and Anda through the side of her mouth.
Gone were the days of allowing Zerif to call the first shot; Abeke gave no warning before letting her arrow fly. He dodged to one side just in time, and the arrow thudded into something beyond the edge of the dawn’s light—something that trumpeted in anger. The ground rumbled as the furious beast surged forward. It was Dinesh, the mighty elephant thudding into the crisp light, rage in his eyes and a comparatively puny arrow shaft sticking out of his flank.
Trembling, Anda took an involuntary step backward. “We have to run!” he whispered. “We have no chance against them.”
Fear had the opposite effect on Abeke; she gave a battle cry and summoned Uraza. Instantly, the powerful cat was twining itself around her feet, growling as she prepared for the fight.
But then Zerif ripped open the front of his tunic, revealing three more tattoos riding the muscles of his chest—a boar, a ram, and a polar bear. One by one the tattoos flashed and disappeared, until three more Great Beasts stood before them: Rumfuss the Boar, with his wide, flat head and pointed shredding tusks, chilly hatred in his expression; Arax the Ram, all wiry hair and bounding energy, bitter anger flashing in his eyes; and Suka the Polar Bear, the largest of them all, with pure white fur. The polar bear’s black lips pulled back to reveal a row of powerful teeth.
As one, the beasts leveled their hostile gazes on the companions. Zerif had them all under his command; there was no doubting it.
“Anda, run!” Rollan ordered. “We’ll hold them off as long as we can!”
Essix launched herself at Zerif, but Halawir unfurled his great wings and sprang to meet the falcon. He hooked his sharp beak around one of Essix’s talons, and the two crashed together in the air, tumbling, beaks snapping and clawed feet gouging. They flew higher as they went, shreds of feathers floating down.
Though Rollan was desperate to keep his eyes on Essix, he had plenty to worry about on the ground. With Arax, Rumfuss, and Suka at his side, Zerif charged Tellun. Arax pulled ahead first, brow lowered to the horizon line so his great curving horns were parallel to the ground.
But Tellun held his ground, four legs planted deep in the earth, antlers lowered in defense. They looked spindly compared to Arax’s densely curled horns.
Anda had started to flee, but when it was clear Tellun was making a stand, he reversed course and raced to his side. He was still yards away when the two Great Beasts made impact. With a horrifying crunch of breaking bones, they went down in a cloud of geysering dirt.
When the dust cleared, Rollan saw Tellun staggering to his feet. A fragment of antler was on the ground, but the elk was otherwise unharmed. Apparently those antlers weren’t as spindly as Rollan had thought.
Arax was splayed out on his side but soon leaped back up, preparing to charge again.
Now it was Rumfuss’s turn to attack. His short legs didn’t allow him to get nearly the momentum Arax had, but he scissored his tusked head from side to side as he went, ready to slice anything that got in his path. The impact with Arax had spun Tellun sideways, and the boar would soon catch him broadside. When Rumfuss hit, Tellun would be gored.
If not for Uraza. The leopard had been silently circling the field since the attack began, and launched herself with the speed of one of Abeke’s arrows, hurtling through the air to strike Rumfuss’s flank. Her claws sank into the boar’s tough hide. They did little damage but held like burrs, and Uraza’s weight fishtailed Rumfuss to one side, crashing leopard and boar into the dirt. When Gerathon streaked toward the pair, Abeke loosed an arrow that embedded into the snake’s tail. Gerathon hissed, hesitating long enough for Uraza to scramble to her feet and make a desperate leap to the side. Gerathon’s fangs sank into the dirt where Uraza had been only moments before. Another arrow and the serpent was pinned at the hood, flailing as she tried to extract herself from the rocky soil.
That still left a man, an elephant, and a polar bear for the others to contend with, with Arax preparing to rejoin the attack. While Tellun settled into a defensive stance, Rollan took up a position next to Abeke, with Anda behind him.
“Let’s do this,” Rollan said grimly.
Abeke nodded resolutely.
“I’m afraid I’m not much help as a warrior,” Anda said.
“Don’t apologize,” Abeke said sharply. “Just fight as you can!”
Anda cast a glance to Tellun, and Rollan was surprised to see a lack of fear on the boy’s face, though surely he had to be aware of the hopelessness of their fight.
Dinesh led the charge. As the massive, trumpeting animal bore down on them, Rollan knew they had only two options: Get out of the way or die.
The companions’ hasty defensive line scattered as they tumbled to either side. Even Tellun didn’t dare stand up to the massive beast. He leaped directly away from Dinesh, looking over his shoulder to make sure the elephant gave chase. Only the elk could hope to match Dinesh once he got up to speed. The fleet leader of the Great Beasts was soon leading Dinesh away from the companions. Rollan could hear the crash and clatter of the life-or-death chase as they hurtled away.
A few yards off, Uraza was facing the impossible task of simultaneously holding off Rumfuss and Arax. While her assailants circled and lunged, Uraza growled and dodged, making harassing jabs with her claws as she
tried to keep the beasts distracted and buy them all time. Somewhere in the sky above, Essix’s shrieks matched Halawir’s screeches as more broken feathers glided down to the earth.
Meanwhile, arms crossed over his chest, Zerif calmly took in Rollan, Abeke, and Anda where they lay sprawled in the dirt. “I will claim three Great Beasts today. My job is nearly done.”
“You will not have Uraza!” Abeke said, spitting blood as she got to her feet and dusted herself off. With the leopard present, she was even more agile than usual, regaining her feet in one springing motion. “I’d bring her back into tattoo form long before you could take her.”
“Sadly, you’re right,” Zerif said, leaning nonchalantly against Suka’s flank. The possessed polar bear didn’t even seem to notice the man next to her, her smoldering eyes fixed on the fleeing elk. “I’ll have to kill you first. Though I wonder if Tellun has the same protection.” His eyes fell on Anda. “Tell me, plainsboy, you only just summoned the Great Elk. Have you mastered his dormant state?”
Anda didn’t answer, but his wide, fearful eyes confirmed plenty.
Zerif’s mouth split into an oily grin. “So much of my life lately has been about good timing.”
Rollan readied his dagger, clenching his sweaty fingers over its leather grip as he kept his eyes on Suka. Powerful and agile—even a normal polar bear was nothing Rollan and Abeke could contend with without the aid of their spirit animals … and Uraza and Essix had their own life-or-death battles. Favoring his good leg, Rollan edged closer to Anda.
“Suka,” Zerif commanded, “kill the plainsboy first.”
Suka bared her sharp yellow teeth and took off toward Anda, starting slow and lumbering but soon at lethal speed. The boy scrambled backward and tumbled, grinding his body through the dirt in his haste to get away. Abeke loosed an arrow at the bear, but cursed as it did nothing to slow her. She readied another, but she would have no time to shoot before Suka reached Anda. Rollan threw himself forward and tried to slash at the bear with his dagger, but the blade was slowed by her thick pelt and only barely nicked Suka’s skin. The polar bear continued unimpeded.
With one great swipe of her claw, the boy was lying prone on the ground. With another swipe, his body tumbled and rolled and came to rest beside a tree.
Abeke got another arrow off, and this one made contact, hitting Suka in the flank. The polar bear roared in pain. But it was too little, too late. Suka laid one strong paw on Anda’s chest where he lay still and opened her massive jaw to finish him off.
Anda’s life would have ended right then—if it hadn’t been for Tellun. Tree branches snapped sharply as the elk burst over a rise, head bowed, heading straight for the polar bear who had dared harm his boy. Caught by surprise, Suka took Tellun’s antlers hard in the flank and fell over, rolling in the dirt.
Tellun stood over the moaning Anda, antlers lowered protectively. The elk was bleeding from many places, including one particularly nasty wound on his backside that must have come from Dinesh’s tusks. Rollan noticed that Dinesh had not followed Tellun and felt a glimmer of hope: Could it be that Tellun had actually defeated him?
Zerif had taken advantage of the distraction to creep up undetected. Tellun was facing Suka, ribs shuddering with exhaustion, foamy spittle dripping from his mouth. Abeke worked busily to get a third arrow notched. With his wounded leg, Rollan was too far from the fight to reach them in time. “Watch out, Tellun!” he cried.
Zerif was upon the elk before Tellun could whirl to face him. That moment of advantage was all he needed. With vision sharpened by his affinity with Essix, Rollan watched Zerif unstopper a vial and splash something gray and squirming right onto the elk’s gashed cheek.
For a moment, the leader of the Great Beasts was frozen in shock. Then he frantically slashed his head from side to side, trying to get the creature off. It continued to wriggle up his head, though, and as it did Tellun seemed to realize what was happening. He looked down at Anda, sorrow joining bewilderment on the elk’s face.
“No!” Anda cried. The boy managed to raise himself to his forearms just in time to watch Tellun’s expression change to anguished horror as the creature disappeared under his skin. The elk’s eyes went milky, then bright.
He turned coldly away from Anda and stood at attention, ready for orders.
From Zerif.
“Tellun?” Anda called, eyes wet with tears.
“Slay the boy,” Zerif commanded.
Without even a moment of hesitation, Tellun lowered his head, preparing to charge in with his sharp antlers.
Rollan peered around in desperation. Essix was locked in combat with Halawir, and Uraza was still busy with Arax and Rumfuss, breathing heavily with exhaustion. Anda lay motionless on the ground, paralyzed by shock.
It seemed hopeless.
Until he heard a whizzing sound, right over his shoulder, as a spear appeared in Tellun’s leg.
Rollan watched in astonishment as the elk fell. It wasn’t a mortal wound, but it was crippling; the elk struggled and failed to get up, neck muscles standing out as he thrashed and struggled. Tellun was out of commission.
Some of the hunters from Anda’s tribe must have followed them! Rollan whirled, hoping to see Anda’s parents had come up behind them.
Instead, striding out of the dawn mists, was a stranger.
Friend or foe, child or adult, it was hard to tell anything, as the mysterious figure wore a long, stiff crimson cloak. Even if there hadn’t been a hood hanging low over his head, a curious mask—a single white plate, like one huge scale of a reptile—covered his features. The stranger strode forward fearlessly, the fingers of one leather-gloved hand flexing and unflexing.
“Stop right there!” Zerif called.
Tellun was baying in agony from the spear. Rollan had never heard such a terrible noise.
The red figure continued striding forward. Though the movement looked effortless, the stranger approached at the speed of a sprint and was soon upon them. To Rollan’s shock, he went straight for Suka. The polar bear opened her jaws to strike, but the stranger was too quick. His run turned into a dropkick, and the heel of his boot smacked Suka full in the face. Already weakened, the enormous bear groaned and tumbled to one side, unconscious.
Rollan and Zerif both were frozen in shock at the stranger’s amazing strength. Abeke took the opportunity to loose her third arrow, this one right at Zerif. It struck the man in the abdomen, and he doubled over. For a moment he looked at the shaft in astonishment, as if surprised to find himself vulnerable after all. Then—his eyes full of a maniac’s zeal—he yanked the arrow back out and threw it to one side, drawing himself back up to his full height.
Abeke’s next arrow went to Rumfuss, striking his shoulder. When the boar looked up in surprise, Uraza swiped him in the face. Having freed herself from the arrow, Gerathon arrived and was soon coiled and making feinting strikes with her hooded fangs. Bleeding from the leopard’s gashes, Rumfuss returned his attention to Uraza.
Arax was unwatched.
Abeke’s desperate shot had left her open to attack. Arax lowered his head and charged. Though Rollan shouted for his friend’s attention, it was too late—there was no way Abeke would be able to leap away in time. Once Arax’s horns hit her at this speed, death would be instant.
But with one long stride, the red-cloaked stranger was in front of Abeke. As Arax neared, the figure simply held out its hands. Rollan gasped when he realized the stranger meant to catch the ram’s horns.
With a giant thunderclap of sound, a cloud of soil and rock erupted into the air, like an explosion had gone off beneath the earth. When the cloud settled, Rollan strained his eyes through the dust to see what had happened.
The figure was still on his feet.
But Arax was not.
With superhuman strength, the stranger pressed Arax’s horns deeper and deeper into the ground. The ram struggled but was wrenched hard into the soil, neck bending, his possessed eyes now full of fright. Rollan found himsel
f swelling with unexpected pity for the once Great Beast.
Above, Rollan heard Essix shrieking. She wouldn’t be able to keep Halawir at bay for much longer. Rumfuss, too, was up and ready to attack again.
“Zerif!” Rollan cried, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. “Suka and Arax have fallen, and Dinesh has disappeared. Surrender!”
Zerif narrowed his eyes and flicked them to the figure in red. Rollan watched as furious calculations passed behind Zerif’s eyes. Finally, the man in black nodded, a scowl twisting his mouth. “You might keep Uraza and Essix today, but I have what I came for. Tellun is mine!”
Zerif parted the rent fabric of his tunic farther, and with a flash and a popping sound, Suka and then Arax disappeared, right under the hands of the masked stranger. Zerif must have called Dinesh from wherever he was trapped, too. All three appeared as tattoos on his chest.
Finally, without a second look at Anda, Tellun himself vanished and appeared as a tattoo crossing Zerif’s ribs and up under his arm, his antlers just gracing the hollows of Zerif’s collarbone. Anda got one dazed look at the elk emblazoned on the body of his enemy and finally passed out, his eyes rolling white before his head hit the earth.
Zerif kept Rumfuss, Halawir, and Gerathon in active form. The beasts flocked to his side, ready to press the attack.
Abeke soon had another arrow notched and pointed at Zerif’s heart. Zerif put one hand out to still her. “Your plainsboy friend will die unless you bandage his wounds now. If you shoot, we will attack.”
Abeke’s fingers on the arrow shook with tension for a moment, but then she wearily nodded and lowered her bow.
While Zerif headed off toward the forest line, his beasts tailing after him, Uraza and Essix returned to Anda’s side.
Once their enemies were out of sight, Abeke dropped her bow and ran to the boy.
Rollan, though, went to the red-cloaked figure. “Thank you for your help,” he said warily.
The figure didn’t respond, just stood perfectly still, arms folded. Then the shining white mask nodded, catching gleams of the dawn’s light.
Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts #1: Immortal Guardians Page 14