Authors: Colleen Montague
“The Brilken may come without—”
“That’s it.” Calla had had enough. She reached over and put one hand on the opposite side of his head and pulled, trying to make him fall over. He started to fall but caught himself with one arm. Calla knew she would have to get a little rough with him, for his own good—she cut the side of her hand into his elbow, knocking his supporting arm out from under him. His support gone, Hiran just fell, his head landing in her lap. Calla jumped slightly in surprise, but when he didn’t try getting back up she relaxed a bit; at least now he would get some amount of sleep, so this didn’t seem too awkward. He muttered something inaudible to her, his words slurring and voice fading as fatigue finally took over.
Ca
lla smiled down at him, running her fingers along the felted cords of his hair. After seeing him look so fierce and strong for so long, seeing him lie there looking so peaceful had a strange kind of pull on her. She felt herself being drawn by how handsome he suddenly appeared.
She stopped abruptly when she realized she was leaning down, getting closer to his face. She pulled herself back upright, scolding herself.
Damn it girl, what are you thinking? You don’t even know the man.
She forced herself to look away from him.
For most of the night she sat and kept watch, fighting off the exhaustion that hovered at the edge of her awareness. The stars glided slowly in the black vault overhead, casting down their dim light to the ground below. Ca
lla watched for hours, staring towards the darker-black void they had left behind as Hiran continued to sleep in her lap.
XIX
Lina
Lina stopped at that hard line between living and dead grass, staring into the dark world beyond; the dead of night made the Dead Lands even darker. She shuddered at the idea of what creatures roamed there at night, flicking her three tails in agitation. The wall of death seemed to have expanded a few yards since she was last here a few days ago. She growled at the silent shadows. Her corner of wilderness grew smaller every time she looked away. Very soon she wouldn’t have any place left to call home. She cursed at whatever let those shadows expand.
She would never know what constantly worked to kill her world—that was something beyond even her understanding.
Lina was about to turn away when something in the air caught her attention. She stopped, sniffing at it intently. It smelled like blood, freshly-spilled blood. That was strange, for though she was to the border of the Dead Lands that was not where it was coming from; it overpowered the stink of decay, coming from somewhere east of her on this side of the line.
The stink was of dark blood, no kill from any natural creature
living here. Her curiosity pricked, she bounded towards the source with a swish of her tails.
She ran on for much of the night following her nose. The scent of blood grew stronger as she went, until it was suddenly all around her. She skidded to a stop, though not before bumping into something hard and scaly. Lina jumped at the impact
and snarled, straining to see what it was in the dark; she couldn’t see anything, the starlight too faint and no moonlight to be had. She focused her animal senses, projecting them out from her until she could feel what lay around her.
She could sense the forms of many reptilian creatures lying about on the ground about her,
several of them in pieces. The creatures themselves were massive, bigger than anything she had ever met. The air here was saturated with the stink of their blood, so foul it gave her a headache. Several of them had been impaled on massive spikes of rock, some in many places. One was missing its head. They all had to have come from the Dead Lands.
Her ears pricked up and she cocked her head to one side.
Odd
, she said to herself.
I don’t remember that formation being here before. I don’t remember it being anywhere before.
This was a new development.
And how could these ugly monsters deliberately run themselves through on such a formation?
Lina flicked her center tail, striking the
hard end of it against the ground. Still using her other senses she noticed strange marks in the ground, a trail of them leading away from this unusual scene. She walked slowly in that direction, following them. After a few yards she found these were footprints, two sets of them, both from two-legged creatures. She growled quietly, immediately suspicious. She had found no other trails on this side of the line, so the two these tracks belonged to must have come from the Dead Lands as well. There was a strong likelihood this meant trouble.
She followed their trail until her
paws hurt. She stopped, panting heavily; she was exhausted. Where she stood now was as good a place to rest as any other spot in the area. She let herself flop to the ground on one side, resting her head on a large clump of grass; it would be dawn soon. She closed her eyes, surprised by just how tired she was. She would rest here, but only for a little while…
“You fell asleep?! After you said you would keep watch?!?!”
Lina’s eyes snapped open and she sprang to her feet. The rising sun was shining down brightly on the world, harsh on her opening eyes. She raised her ears, listening intently: someone was shouting at someone else. Wary, she crouched low to the ground and crawled forward on her stomach through the clumps of tall grass, her fur bristling. She stopped when she spotted movement in a space of shorter grass up ahead of her; peering through the tall blades she saw a strange man with white hair pacing back and forth and shouting angry words, apparently directed at the equally strange-looking girl still sitting on the ground in front of him.
“I cannot believe you!
” he shouted. “We could have been killed during the night—”
“Honestly,
Hiran,” the girl said calmly. “Is this how you usually wake someone up? As you can see we’re still alive, so you shouldn’t have anything to complain about.”
“
Solely on luck! It could have been a much different outcome!”
“But
the point is nothing happened. You have to admit that if there was going to be another wave of those things coming, we would have met them already; chances are that Dranl wasn’t expecting us to escape from the last group.”
Lina felt the tension in her body ease as she continued to watch the two go back and forth with their argument. There was no doubt these two had come out from the Dead Lands, but the
ir scent was wrong—it wasn’t as foul; they smelled almost…earthy. Slowly she rose up from her hiding place without thinking about whether or not they could see her, her curiosity gaining more of a hold.
Who are these two?
The two were suddenly silent. Lina paused,
then looked up. The girl was still staring at her companion, but he was staring somewhere else.
He was staring s
traight at her.
Her hackles rose as she tried to stare him down; she didn’t like the look in his eye. She let a growl rumble in her throat in warning.
He didn’t back off, just folded his hands into fists and brought them up to the level of his shoulders. Her fur bristled as she stepped out from her hiding place. They kept trying to stare each other down for several minutes.
Lina let all three of her tails rise in threat.
Bring it, tough guy.
The girl got to her feet quickly and backed away
from them several paces. “Um, Hiran?” she said nervously. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You worry too much, Cal
la,” the man replied, not taking his eyes off Lina. “I can handle this.”
Lina
stalked towards him, swishing her tails through the air.
Come on, then. You will be the one that eats the dirt next—if you are lucky.
“
Hiran, she’s not too impressed…whatever she is.”
“I can tell you what she is in a minute. It should not take much longer than that.”
You won’t last that long. You’ll have my teeth in your arm in half that time!
With a snarl Lina sprang towards him with teeth bared. She was aiming low, planning on getting him by his leg and possibly cutting some artery with her teeth, then moving in for the final kill. She snapped at his foot when she thought she was close enough; she missed his ankle by several inches. He, on the other hand, didn’t miss: one hand clamped down on the back of her neck right behind her head, the other latched on to one shoulder, and he threw the rest of his weight down onto her back. She went down, pinned underneath him. His weight was putting a lot of pressure on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
Get…off,
she gasped, twisting around in a vain effort to bite.
“
Hiran you’re hurting her!” the girl cried.
Air…C
annot…breathe…
Lina tried to swing her center tail at him; it rose only slightly through the air before thudding against the ground again.
“Get off of her, she can’t breathe!”
“She will only go after us again if I do.”
“Damn it
Hiran,
get off!
”
Her vision hazy, Lina could only just see the girl slam into the man on top of her. That force was enough—the pressure on her chest lifted as he rolled off to the side.
She lay there panting heavily before she slowly sat back up, breathing hard as the air flowed back into her lungs without restriction.
Lina looked off to her right. The girl was
sitting next to her; she seemed to just realize how close she sat to her, a hint of fear on her face. Hesitantly she reached out one hand and placed it on Lina’s shoulder, running her fingers through her fox-red fur. Lina didn’t like being touched by two-legged creatures; her instincts usually said the people would kill her for no reason apart from sport. But this time her instincts were different; now, she found this gesture comforting, and she suddenly wanted more. She leaned towards the girl as she continued to scratch her shoulder.
Could you maybe go down and a little to the right?
The girl—Calla, it must have been—slid her hand down to the exact spot. Lina let out a happy groan as that itch was finally relieved.
Ah, that’s the spot. Thank you.
The man just sat up and stared at the two of them for the whole time, a look of puzzlement on his face. He shook his head in apparent disbelief. “I cannot believe it,” he said.
“Believe what?”
“You have actually befriended a Tri-tail.”
Calla looked up at him. “A what?”
He didn’t stutter.
Lina rolled over onto her back, nuzzling the girl’s hand for more attention.
“A Tri-tail. They are wolves
from the ancient world, ancestors to the more common modern wolves that roam the earth today. I have only heard about them in the old stories, but they are said to be quite unpredictable—in most tales they are incredibly aggressive. This seems to be a side no one ever mentioned, if it has ever happened before.”
“She seems quite sweet to me,” Cal
la replied.
Why, thank you.
“You’re welcome.”
Lina stopped for a split
second, then jumped back to her feet with a yelp. Her three tails flicking through the air, she turned and stared hard at the girl.
Wait, wait one minute. You can understand me?!
Ca
lla looked uneasy. “Well, yes—it’s hard for me not to.”
You can hear every word I say?
“Yes.”
Liar! Repeat after me: the squirrels of summer sleep in the soft moss of the silver birch under the shining stars after sunset.
“‘The squirrels of summer sleep in the soft moss of the silver birch under the shining stars after sunset.’” The girl shrugged. “That’s really not a tongue twister.”
Lina blinked.
Well, this is unusual.
“I’m sorry if it bothers you. I can’t help it.”
Lina took two steps towards her hesitantly, and then jumped right in her lap. She pawed at Calla’s sleeve.
Most unusual
, she said,
it is usually those Nymphs and tree spirits that try talking to me these days. But you do not smell like any of them—I do not think I have met anything like you. And yet I like you. Very interesting…
“Cal
la, if you are finished playing with your furry new friend we should get going. Time is running out.”
Ca
lla raised one eyebrow. “I’m not sure if I can.”
Going? Going where?
“Just get her out of your lap so we can go. I would prefer we reach our destination by sundown.” The man—Hiran—stood up. “Come on, before we have to fight her again.”