Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

"You will walk, not run, into The Wilds!" Brigita, an Imperial Fleet captain, shouted to the amassed candidates. She wore Fleet-issued fatigues that looked like they'd seen recent battle. The hem of her pant leg was shredded, and a small bloody cut had dried on her cheek.

Her creature, Sandor, was a lioness, and she prowled behind her, staring us all down like we were prey. Orange glowing ember stripes ran down the length of her back.

We were technically already inside The Wilds, with the fire sky above us and the thick trees all around us, but there wasn't much action at these outer edges. My father had too many soldiers out here. The creatures knew to stay away; they didn't want to test the boundaries for fear of dying.

"Once you are in there," she said, "you are on your own. We are not permitted to help, as this would defeat the purpose of only allowing the strongest into boot camp."

Boot camp, commonly referred to as hell month. It was four weeks of training that brought candidates to mental and physical exhaustion, and the envy of everyone my age from the Marble Shores of Amersea to the Northeastern Mountains of Imbria. We all wanted in, and the only way you could gain entrance was to be chosen in the Lottery and bonded to a creature here in The Wilds. If you graduated, you were guaranteed a top posting in the Imperial Fleet and a paycheck every week.

"My brother is stationed at Thunder Cliff base," one girl said beside us, "so I'm hoping to bond with a water creature."

Thunder Cliff sat just at the front of the war and saw the most action. They were right on the edge of the water, and those who bonded to a water creature were automatically sent there so they could slink into the ocean and spy on the Luskins. My father would kill me if I went and bonded with a creature that would cause me to be bound to water. No thank you.

Brigita cleared her throat. "Stay alert, stay alive, and good luck." She pushed a button on her airhorn and everyone began walking quickly through the giant trees and into the darkness that was The Wilds.

I began to walk at Tetra's pace as she struggled to use her cane while stumbling over the uneven footing. People pressed around us and the landscape got rockier. As I passed Brigita, her hand snaked out and grasped me by the upper arm. She pulled me close to her, narrowing her gaze on the Imbrians in my group.

Leaning into my ear, she whispered, "Steer clear of Kohen Badshah," and then released me.

I frowned, but gave her a nod and then we kept walking.

What did that mean? Had she already heard that we'd spoken on the bus, or did she just see that my alliance included some of his people and wanted to warn me that he was bad news? Or was she warning me that my father put a hit out on him and she didn't want me hurt when that went down?

I eyed Kohen. He was walking with all the rejects from the bus. Small, lanky, and awkward candidates followed him like puppy dogs after their master. Kohen was pointing to trees and people and things on the ground, giving them some lessons on how to survive, I presumed.

"He's not who you think he is," Anika said, watching me study him.

I snort-laughed. "He's probably worse."

We stopped at a sign planted right in front of the road, the place where all of our packs had been lined up in a row.

You are entering The Wilds. Entrance without a bonded creature is forbidden unless you are a candidate. And if you are a candidate, good luck. May the stars guide your way.

"Bond or body bag. Let's do this," Roc said, rolling out his neck and hefting his pack.

"Need help?" I asked Tetra as she readjusted her pack, while trying to balance on her cane.

She shot me a glare. "Are you going to wipe my ass, too, Aisling?"

I swallowed hard. Point taken. I was babying her too much.

I backed off, tightening the straps of my own pack, and kept walking.

The imperial soldiers that we passed gave me a salute of respect.

"Make us proud," one of them said.

No pressure.

If I came out bonded to a Labrador, my father would definitely be disowning me. And the people of Amersea right along with them. They expected a powerful creature to bond with me—but not too powerful so that I overshadowed my father.

I sighed. Everything was political when you were the emperor's daughter.

I led my group past the sign and into The Wilds, peering up at the fire sky in awe. Little glowing specks rained down around us, almost too small for the eye to see. Still, there was value in them if you gathered enough. I'd been to the edge of The Wilds with my father over a dozen times but never had I walked into the belly of the beast.

"I want hands on weapons. We could be attacked at any moment by an offended creature," I snapped, after I noticed at least half of my group walked lazily and without a care. Tetra included.

They remedied the issue and I relaxed a little.

"Wouldn't they only attack us if it was to bond?" Tetra asked.

She never paid attention in creature class. She assumed her entire life that she wouldn't be getting one.

I opened my mouth to speak when Anika started talking: "Creatures in The Wilds will kill you because they don't like the way you smell, or because you got close to their nest of eggs, or a hundred different reasons."

I nodded in agreement with her. "And sometimes you can use the opportunity to submit that creature to your will and bond with them."

"And others will kill you because your weakness offends them and they want to prove they are more dominant," Anika added.

Dammit, I liked her the more I got to know her. She was smart, no nonsense, and knew her stuff. In another lifetime we might have been friends.

The deeper into the forest we walked, the more a supernatural darkness fell upon us. The temperature dropped, and wide thin slices of ember floated from the sky like falling feathers.

Dev's hand snaked out and grabbed one, only to drop it on the floor as he hissed in pain, retracting his fingers to his mouth. It was smoking.

Anika grinned. "The big pieces are hot as they fall. You have to wait a few minutes for them to cool off. You should see my father's fingers, scarred from nail to wrist with burn marks."

He frowned, eyeing the chunk on the ground with its mystical orange and yellow glow, black charred marks at the edges almost like coal coming out of a hot fire.

"We keep moving," I announced. "There will be plenty of time to grab some ember before we leave," I assured them.

A twig snapped beside me and I flung out with my sword, stopping only when I recognized the person. The tip of my blade rested at Kohen's throat.

His eyes were stormy as they stared into mine. "Well, it's good to know I left them in capable hands."

I pulled the blade back, exhaling. "What the hell are you doing sneaking up on us like that?"

He held out a small, gray cloth zipper case and peered over at Anika. "These somehow got in my pack." There was worry in his gaze, and I looked over at Anika to see fear flash in her eyes.

She snatched it from him and stuffed it in her bag. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Good luck, everyone," Kohen told them, and then disappeared into the woods.

"What's in that?" I asked her as we started to walk again, Tetra and Meera in the middle like we'd discussed.

"None of your business," she snapped.

I rolled my eyes but kept walking, scanning the trees for threats. She wouldn't be stupid enough to bring drugs into The Wilds. The last thing you wanted was to be inebriated during an attack. Maybe they were tampons or something embarrassing.

A hair-raising scream echoed throughout The Wilds and we all froze for a second.

"Nothing we can do. Move on. Worry about your own teammates," I coached. It felt heartless, but running through the forest in the direction of that yell might get us killed.

After an hour of walking, the sound of trickling water pulled my attention up ahead and I immediately began to push our group north and to the left. Nothing good lived in that water, just creatures of untold power that would take you out as you attempted to wash your face.

"Anyone dying to be posted at Thunder Cliff?" I asked. Bonding with a water creature was generally frowned upon as it really restricted your movements.

"Nope," was the resounding answer.

The sounds of The Wilds seemed to only get louder the farther we walked. Growls, chitters, caws, slithers. It had my heart fluttering in my chest and all of my senses on heightened alert.

Something skittered across the leaves up ahead and I held up my fist. Our group stopped walking. I could hear another team talking farther in the woods, but about ten feet to our right, behind a thick fern, was the purple glow of a creature. They could choose when they wanted to turn that off, so the fact that the animal was currently showing its power meant it was preparing to attack or it wanted to be seen. I put two fingers to my eyes and then pointed to the fern. Our group all snapped their heads in that direction and the creature stepped out from behind the bush.

It was a beautiful white-tailed fox, not powerful enough for me, it was quite small and submissive by the looks of it. I could tell by how it had quickly dropped my gaze. I kept my voice low. "I know this feels quick, and we probably didn't expect this so soon, but this is a perfect creature for Meera or Tetra," I said.

"I agree." Anika flicked her gaze to Meera.

The small girl took a deep shaky breath but seemed ready to fight. I peered at Tetra and my stomach sank when I saw the raw fear coating her. She'd never fought anything. Asking her to do this would take time.

"Meera, it's all yours if you feel ready," I told her.

We'd been here barely an hour, so to have our first creature bonding fight already about to go down almost felt like bad luck. But Meera might not get a better chance. The next creature of mid power could be a bunny rabbit. A fox was reputable, and would land her a nice job in the Imperial Fleet. Anything lower was laughable and anything higher would kill her.

She took rapid breaths, before gripping her dagger in her right hand.

I was scared and excited all at once. Scared that Meera would die fighting this thing after I'd promised Kohen I'd keep her safe, and excited that I was about to witness a bonding firsthand.

"Give her room." I took four large steps backward and the group did the same, leaving only Meera, all five-foot one inch of her, to stand before the fox.

Anika rocked on her heels and I reached out and grasped her shoulder to steady her.

"You can't help her once first blood is drawn. You'll kill them both," I said.

"I know that," she snapped.

Once the bonding had started, if anyone intervened, it caused a magical rip in both the souls of the creature and human. Instant death.

Meera stared the fox down, beginning to walk a slow circle around it, and I was pleased to see that she had some training.

"Watch her. Learn," I coached Tetra. "The creature cannot tolerate a weak bond or it will cost them their life outside."

A bond too weak meant the creature wouldn't be able to breathe when they stepped outside. It had to be a strong connection.

My best friend was breathing rapidly, no doubt fending off a panic attack. I wished I could save her from this, sneak her out somehow, but her name had been pulled in the Lottery and her fate sealed. If you deserted, you went to the mines. Or worse: they just hanged you in the square. These lottery spots were opportunities others would kill for. So we didn't allow people to throw them away. Once the three days were over, they would send scouts for our bodies.

Just as Meera was about to lunge for the fox, it leapt into the air and went right for her throat.

"Meera!" Anika screamed, rushing forward. I reached out and yanked her back by the armpit.

The fox took a chunk of flesh from Meera's throat and I winced. A killing blow? I wondered, and then thought better as the tiny girl went absolutely feral. She slashed at the fox, one, two, three times, each blow drawing the mysterious blue blood that all creatures had. The fox then nipped her wrist, but she grabbed it by the back of its neck skin and yanked it up into the air.

Then it happened. The moment that I'd only read about and had never had the pleasure of witnessing.

A kaleidoscope of colorful arcs of magic flew from the fox's body. The bands wrapped around Meera, enveloping her as she held the fox firmly in her grip, never taking her eyes off of it. It was submitting to her. Bonding with her.

"Thank the stars," Anika breathed, shrugging out of my grasp.

We all released the breath we'd been holding, watching in awe as the colors wrapped around them both, blue, green, purple, pink. Now we couldn't tell where the fox began and Meera ended. It was like looking at an exploding star.

"It's beautiful," Tetra said, and I smiled.

It was.

After a moment, the colors died down and then Meera fell to her knees, dropping the fox as it curled up to her, snuggling on her lap, licking the wound on her wrist and throat.

"Meera? You okay?" As Anika moved towards her friend, a yellow snake shot from the ground and headed right for her arm.

I moved without thinking, a blur of motion. My sword cut the snake in half before I could even catalogue the threat.

Anika froze, staring down at the dead twitching creature and then up at me.

"Thanks," she managed with a shocked expression.

I nodded, eyeing the woods. "That bonding will bring more creatures. We need to move."

Bondings set off some kind of signal to others. Meera was safe now. She had her creature to protect her, and once you were bonded, the other creatures accepted you as one of their own. Meera could now come and go in The Wilds freely without fear of attack.

Meera looked up at us and I noticed the wound on her neck was superficial; the fox hadn't hit an artery. It was just a few layers of skin missing like you would get when you scraped a knee.

"I'm fine. Go!" Meera urged, stroking her fingers through the fox's fur. This was a special time when she and her creature would cement their bond.

Anika seemed as if she didn't like the idea of leaving her friend.

"She's more powerful than you now," I told the Imbrian. "Let's go."

It was true. Now that she was bonded, she had whatever power the fox had imbued her with, plus the fox's power.

"I'll see you on the outside!" Anika called after her as we ran to get away from where they'd bonded.

Tetra hobbled beside me, trying to break into a run but failing with her cane. We settled for a brisk walk with her wincing every ten steps. When I finally felt we were out of harm's way, we slowed.

"That was… violent," Tetra said, panting and rolling out her shoulder. I knew it caused her pain in her arm to walk on her cane for too long.

I glanced over at my bestie. "It will be. And you need to be ready. No flinching. No hesitating. You straight-up try to murder whatever creature you choose."

She frowned. "If I want to bond with it, why would I murder it?"

I shook my head. "That's the thing. If you are destined to bond, you won't be able to kill it. You will be equals."

She nodded. "Maybe I will find a creature with a gimpy leg too."

A few people in our group laughed but I didn't. Creatures were perfect. I'd never seen one with a deformity or weakness. But they would see hers, they would see it as a weakness, and her an easy kill.

The Imperial Fleet suffered no weakness, just as the creatures didn't. They were the same in that way. The more we walked, the more I wished I'd just convinced Tetra to take on that fox, though I had to admit I think it would have killed her. If a fox was too powerful, I'd have to try to urge her to a lower-class creature. She might be given grunt work when we graduated boot camp, but she'd be alive.