Chapter 26

26

Nothing troubles a commander more than when one's enemies start working together.

~ Lord General Menok

Kaylina dropped her lantern and skittered behind the press as she traded sling for knife, though neither would help against an eight-foot-tall Kar'ruk warrior. Especially one she couldn't see .

"Levitke!" she yelled, hoping the taybarri wasn't so far down the shaft that she couldn't make it back to help.

The shadows stirred at the entrance of the alcove, the only hint that someone was there.

The brand on her hand warmed, and instincts made her duck. A breeze whispered over her hair—no, that was a great Kar'ruk axe being swung. The blue blade grew visible as it slammed into the stone wall behind the press. Magically sharp, it sank in deep, and rock shards flew. They clattered onto the letters and across the alcove, some bouncing off the chest of the warrior wielding the weapon.

Only when Kaylina was scant feet away could she see his shadowy figure. Even then, it wasn't distinct, and his broad gray face was blurry.

While he tugged his axe free from the hole gouged in the wall, Kaylina rushed past, praying she could slip by him before he readied it again. As she ran past what she hoped was the warrior's side, she slashed out with her knife. Chainmail deflected her blade, and something—an elbow?—clubbed her in the back.

The blow sent her tumbling into the dirt wall on the far side of the shaft. She almost cracked her head on a support post.

Fear surging through her veins made Kaylina recover quickly, and she sprang away. None too soon. The axe slammed into the support post, chunks of wood pelting the back of her neck. She sprinted for the exit.

The invisible Kar'ruk roared and rushed after her. But another roar came from deep within the shaft—a taybarri roar.

Kaylina raced outside and toward a copse of trees. If she could survive for a minute or two, Levitke might catch up and even the odds.

But the heavy Kar'ruk footsteps pounded the ground right behind her.

She leaped behind a stout pine, using it for cover, but doubted it would be enough. The trees didn't grow close enough together to hinder even a broad-shouldered Kar'ruk.

Once more, she switched knife for sling and loaded a round, but it was too late. The axe appeared, the shadowy warrior behind it, and the blade whistled toward her head.

Ducking, she scurried back. Luck favored her, and the axe clipped an overhead branch and deflected into the trunk of the pine.

The mark on her hand warmed again. Through it, Kaylina sensed feelings emanating from the tree. Pain, indignation, and fury.

As the Kar'ruk tore his axe out of the pine, she resisted instincts urging her to flee deeper into the forest. Instead, she darted around the thick trunk opposite him and rested a hand on the coarse bark.

Help me defeat him, please, Kaylina thought, not certain if the words were for the brand or the tree or both. Whichever would listen.

Though she doubted she had any power to lend, she willed the tree to take from her whatever it could to obey the plea.

Surprisingly, a wave of weakness washed over her. Her knees threatened to buckle.

Axe free, the Kar'ruk hefted it to swing at her again. This close, she could see him better. He was careful this time not to snag the weapon on the overhead branches.

"Grak toruk!" the warrior yelled.

As Kaylina tried to find the strength to leap away, a thunderous crack sounded twenty feet above.

The Kar'ruk paused, startled yellow eyes looking up. A huge branch crashed down, snapping smaller limbs as it dropped. Needles and wood fell onto the Kar'ruk.

Since he was big and armored, it didn't seriously hurt him, or even knock him down, but he lowered his axe and jumped back. Confusion swam in his eyes when he looked toward Kaylina until, as he backed further, he again blurred, half-fading from her view.

"That's right." Kaylina lifted her sling and aimed it between his eyes. "You mess with me or my tree friends, and you get pummeled." Though she had no idea if she'd caused the pine to do that, she attempted to look fierce and confident—not scared for her life. "Now tell me where the press operator is, and the tree and I will spare your life."

Another roar came from the mine shaft, this time at the entrance. Levitke rushed into the night and toward the copse of trees.

The warrior jumped to the side, turning his axe toward the taybarri, and Kaylina lost sight of him. She ran several steps closer until she could make out his outline again.

Maybe guided by senses other than vision, Levitke didn't have any trouble finding the Kar'ruk. She startled him by flashing, vanishing from the night, then reappearing behind him.

Probably familiar with the taybarri, the Kar'ruk recovered quickly and whirled, swinging his axe toward her. But Levitke was faster. She bowled into him as her jaws snapped together, latching onto the haft of his weapon.

As he braced himself against her weight, he tried to yank it free. Levitke's muscles tensed under her thick fur, and she kept her grip. With one hand, the warrior let go and grabbed a dagger on his belt.

Kaylina stepped closer, making sure of her aim, and fired her sling. The lead round slammed into their foe's head, an inch below one of his horns. As hard as Kar'ruk skulls were, it probably didn't hurt him, but he did flinch in surprise. His grip on the axe loosened slightly, and Levitke tore it free, flinging it into the creek.

A breeze rustled through the trees. Kaylina imagined the needles and leaves were applauding at the loss of the blade.

She loaded her sling and raised it to fire again, but the Kar'ruk lunged at Levitke. With his dagger, he slashed for her shoulder. She spun and whipped her tail at his arm, knocking the blade aside. As fast as a cat, she continued the spin until she faced him again, then sprang. She landed on his chest and bore him to the ground.

With the taybarri atop him, Kaylina couldn't get off a shot without risking hitting Levitke. It didn't matter. He'd lost his weapons, and, as tall and strong as the Kar'ruk were, once he was pinned, he couldn't escape. Levitke bit his arm, tearing it away from his head, then found his thick neck with her fangs. Bone snapped as her jaws crunched down. For the first time, the Kar'ruk cried out in pain.

Lowering her sling, Kaylina looked away.

Levitke finished him off, a reminder that the taybarri were deadly predators as well as honey-loving friends to the rangers.

"Thank you," Kaylina said quietly when the Kar'ruk was dead. She wouldn't get an answer to her question about the press operator, but she hadn't expected him to reply anyway.

Her hands only shook a little as she returned her knife and sling to her belt. Maybe she was getting used to being attacked.

"A depressing thought," she murmured.

Levitke padded over and gazed solemnly into her eyes. Her head shifted from side to side in a semblance of a human no shake.

"What's wrong?" Kaylina thought the taybarri should feel triumphant. She'd arrived when Kaylina needed her most. "Were you injured? Are more of them around to worry about?" she added, though Levitke's gesture seemed more regretful than pained or wary.

A soft whuff was her only reply. Kaylina wished she could understand the intelligent taybarri.

Her hand warmed, and a soft voice whispered into her mind.

Fooled I .

Kaylina blinked, glancing from Levitke to the brand and back.

"Did you say that?"

She glanced toward the pine, almost wondering if the voice had come from the tree, but that would be even harder to believe.

Levitke gazed toward the shaft entrance, shook her head again, then flopped onto her back with her legs in the air.

"If you were one of my grandpa's hounds, that would mean you wanted a belly rub."

Levitke collapsed on one side, then lowered her large head toward Kaylina, resting her snout on the ground at her feet.

Fooled I . That was Levitke speaking.

Maybe she didn't fully know the human language yet but could use some words. And something had happened so that Kaylina could now hear them.

"Well, you weren't fooled for long." She assumed the taybarri had been following the Kar'ruk's scent when she'd traveled deeper into the shaft. Maybe the warrior had spent time down there earlier and had only left the tunnel when he'd noticed Kaylina and Levitke approaching. He could have waited across the creek for a chance to trap them. But why had he been here to start with? "He was also invisible," Kaylina added and patted Levitke's big head.

Yes. Strange. The taybarri sat up, looked toward the body, and tilted her head. They were far enough away that the Kar'ruk was shadowy again. Even in death, the spell—or whatever it was—remained.

"Maybe they've found an altered plant that grants them the ability to hide themselves." Though Kaylina wanted to grab the journal and get it to Vlerion without delay, she made herself creep closer to the body. "If the rangers don't know about this new ability—maybe it's something the Kar'ruk just figured out?—that could be why so many of these guys have successfully sneaked into the kingdom."

Kaylina remembered Vlerion repeatedly saying that shouldn't have happened. When she crouched right beside the dead Kar'ruk, she could see him well. From this close, she could also see that a faint silvery powder covered his face, neck, and hands. Something made from dried leaves or berries? It even dusted his armor.

When she rubbed a finger over the chainmail, the gritty powder didn't come off. Maybe it had been applied wet and dried?

"It has to come off eventually," she mused. "None of the Kar'ruk we ran into in the preserve were wearing this stuff. Maybe it's rare, and they've only got so much of it. And they reserve it for the Kar'ruk who are doing something vital—or sneaky."

The memory of the Kar'ruk in the catacombs came to mind. He'd been wet, hadn't he? She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but maybe he'd been covered with the powder to commit the murders. Afterward, he could have been running from guards, or someone who'd spotted him, and fallen into that underground lake. She'd fallen into it, after all. For a big Kar'ruk, it would have been a tighter fit and the ledge just as treacherous.

Levitke issued a questioning whuff. Words didn't accompany it, but Kaylina could guess at the meaning. What was this guy doing that had been vital to his people's plan?

"I don't know."

Kaylina drew her knife and scraped off some of the silvery powder. As she'd done with the honeycomb, she used a page from her book to wipe it on. Had Levitke not eaten the newspaper article, she could have used that.

The taybarri padded over, lowering her head over Kaylina's shoulder to watch.

"We need to get this to Vlerion along with the journal. If the rangers don't know about this, they need to." Kaylina frowned at the thought of returning to the city where people were hunting her. "Too bad there's not any powder to hide me ."

She set down the paper and poked into the dead warrior's pockets and belt pouches, hoping to find more. She didn't, but she did pull out a few small blocks.

"What are…"

She stared. They were letters for the press.

"Did he stumble across this place and plan to take some of these back to show his allies? Or… You don't think he was the one setting the type, do you? Copying the journal and making the newspapers?" Kaylina was tempted to dismiss the idea, but the speaker for the diplomatic party had known their tongue. There was no reason some of the Kar'ruk couldn't have studied human languages well enough to read and write. And the powerful warriors would more easily survive alone out here in the wilderness than city-bred rebels. "If that's true, then it implies they are working with the Virts. That they made a deal. But for what? Access to the catacombs? When… a new ruler is in power and can allow that? A Virt ruler?"

Instead of answering, Levitke sniffed the powder on the paper.

Kaylina shook her head, finding the situation confusing. She would tell everything to Vlerion, and he and the rangers could figure it out.

Levitke drew back from her investigation of the powder and sneezed.

"Not as tasty as honey, huh?"

The terse whuff sounded like firm agreement.

"Does it have a smell? One you could track?" Kaylina lifted the powder to her nose but couldn't detect much. The paper had a more distinct scent.

The next whuff sounded like an affirmative. Dried cactus.

"Oh? Altered dried cactus?"

Levitke whuffed.

"Maybe some specific variety that grows in Kar'ruk lands? Is it warm enough where they live for cactus?"

The next whuff sounded uncertain.

Kaylina carefully folded the paper with the powder sample so she could tuck it away. "If we can get this to the rangers so the other taybarri can smell it, maybe they can more easily hunt down the Kar'ruk, whether they're invisible or not. How many are out here, do you think? Ready to attack if that so-called negotiating party doesn't get what it wants? And it won't. The Kar'ruk have to know that. After centuries of living here, humans aren't going to give up this land."

Levitke yawned.

"I'm tired too." Kaylina considered the folded paper and the journal. "I don't suppose you want to take these items back to the city and find Vlerion and Targon? The gate guards wouldn't object to you walking in alone, riderless, would they? It's either that or give it to the ranger in the watchtower and ask him to take it to them." But could she trust a man she might never have met? One who might be more likely to arrest her than help her?

Levitke gazed thoughtfully at her.

"Am I missing an option?" Kaylina guessed.

A vision floated into her mind, one of Kaylina riding Levitke while blue- and silver-furred taybarri bounded along with them, an entire herd heading along the Stillguard River toward Port Jirador.

"Are you sharing that vision? Can you do that?" Kaylina had her doubts.

It seemed more likely the plant was affecting her from a distance through the brand. But… it wasn't warm now. It wasn't doing anything.

Levitke rested a paw on Kaylina's brand and offered another whuff .

"I asked for that, didn't I? To go see your people in case they can help." Kaylina glanced at the brand, not sure how much the plant truly knew—or how much it wanted to assist her. It wanted Vlerion dead. How could she trust it?

Whuff .

"Do you think your people could help? And that they would be willing to if I came and asked? I'm not anybody, especially here. I doubt the taybarri elders have heard of my family's meadery and eating house."

Levitke's solemn gaze turned toward the pine tree, the broken branches on the ground around its roots.

"The tree did that. Not me." Kaylina had asked, but she wasn't positive it hadn't been a coincidence. There hadn't, however, been any wind, and tree branches didn't usually spontaneously break. The pine, she felt certain, had been willing to sacrifice a limb to help defeat the axe wielder.

The same vision came to mind, the herd heading to the capital with Kaylina in the middle of it.

"If they can help, I do still want to travel to see them." She couldn't do that without Levitke to guide her, so she couldn't send the taybarri away. But they needed to share their new knowledge with the rangers without delay. "Will you take me back to the watchtower along the highway? We'll tell the ranger there everything and then go visit your people."

Assuming the ranger didn't arrest her. Or worse.

The next whuff sounded agreeable. Before grabbing her gear, Kaylina returned to the press and removed the condemning letters on it. Then she tucked the journal safely into her pack and mounted Levitke.

The taybarri headed back toward the highway, but, before turning toward the tower, she gazed deeper into the mountains. Kaylina hoped she wasn't making a mistake in delaying the trip to see the elders.