Raven and the Dancing Tiger (28 page)

The smell of her blood—not human, not at all—made even Cai sad.

But she wasn't the true enemy, and possibly never had been.

Peter faced Prefect Aaron as he stepped out of the chairs, continuing to address him in a loud, booming tone. "But Peter, really, what would you have us do with the recalcitrant ones?"

"Teach them to be whole," Peter said.

"They can't learn," the prefect said, shaking his head as he walked closer.

Cai gave a warning caw. Peter stayed alert, not letting the prefect get too close.

"They can," Peter insisted. "I did, despite your teachings. The others can as well."

"Are you certain it was despite, and not because?" the prefect asked, stopping less than a foot away. "You stepped on the line destined to take away your power. Do you think it was there to weaken you? Or to finally let you find your destiny?"

Peter shrugged, refusing to be derailed. "It doesn't matter. What matters now is that you stop. The rooms downstairs must be dismantled."

"I will defend those rooms, and that way of teaching, with my life," the prefect stated.

"Then be prepared to lose," Peter said, drawing himself up, readying himself for a second battle.

Cai gave an encouraging caw. From somewhere Peter didn't understand, suddenly he felt refreshed, ready to fight again.

There was so much to learn with Cai, now, again. He wished he could do a somersault, to give Cai that giddy feeling in return.

But before Peter could engage with the prefect, the older man flowed past Peter, moving much faster than Peter could see.

One moment Prefect Aaron stood before Peter, the next, he was gone.

Peter knew where he'd gone, as well. Down to those damn rooms.

Peter looked over at Sally. She looked grim, but she nodded. He wasn't out of danger yet, but she trusted him to do the right thing.

So Peter flowed out of the room, moving as fast as he could. He thrilled at how quickly he could move in this form, how easily he slid down the stairs, how drawn he was to the shadows.

For the first time, he truly understood the histories, and why his people had been known as warriors and assassins throughout their long lineage.

Prefect Aaron stood outside the clipping rooms, his own raven warrior visage in place. He loomed under the fluorescent light, between the scratched and dirty walls. The hallway was too small: Peter couldn't spread his arms out without cutting the wood. The concrete felt cold and harsh under his talons.

Peter didn't wait this time. He flowed into the hallway, then kept flowing, straight at the prefect.

Suddenly, all the forms they'd practiced made sense. The parries and blocks were for bladelike-feathered fingers, not hands or knives. Peter pushed with a flurry of moves, driving the prefect down the hallway.

But the prefect merely smiled and pushed off the far wall, pivoting and turning, trying to drive Peter into the corner.

Peter pushed back, hooking his talons up into the wood and flipping over the prefect, coming up behind him and getting a good cut across his back. It was like the flips he'd learned dancing.

"Clever boy," the prefect said, his clear tones ringing in the enclosed space. "But still, a boy."

The prefect drove forward now, attacking with blades, beak, and talons. Peter tried to hold his ground, but the prefect was merciless. Peter took one step back, then another. It was like how Rudi had hounded him, at first.

"You will tire, my son. And you will lose."

Cai laughed, a squawking sound that Peter echoed. "That's what you said last time." He remembered the "drop dead" pose Rudi had done, and he repeated it, adapted for a raven, one wing outstretched and acting as a distraction as the other drove in.

The prefect now took a step backwards. "You cannot control them," he said with gritted teeth as he defended himself. "You will see. You will learn. Some of them cannot be saved."

"I know," Peter said, drawing himself up and pausing for a moment. Chris had been a bully from the first day. He might have always ended up a lost boy. "But the raven clan needs to change. Or we will lose them all."

"You're wrong," the prefect said, attacking again. He also left his back open again.

With a quick leap, Peter somersaulted over the prefect and sliced his back open, cutting through the armor, muscles, and tendons.

The prefect turned, his right arm still out, ready to defend himself. His left hung loose at his side.

"It doesn't have to end this way," Peter told him.

"I will give my life to this school," the prefect said, attacking again. He started to mutter words under his breath as he fought.

"
Araf
fy
gelyn
,
cymylu
ei
feddwl
,
heb
ei
llafnau
ddiflas
—"

Peter didn't have a choice. The prefect was trying to slow him, stop him. Already his energy started to fade.

With Cai's echoing cry in his ears, Peter rushed forward again, a dancing hop-step. The prefect fought, kept trying to stop him, even as Peter knocked the prefect's feathered blades against the wall, sliced open the muscles across his chest, spun and kicked his head to the side, dislocating his jaw. The prefect fell and slumped into the ground, shrinking down to merely human.

He was dead.

Cai gave a loud, rocking caw, celebrating the death of his opponent.

Peter knew he'd have to mourn later. And alone.

The words the prefect had last spoken continued to echo—Peter had thought he'd imagined them, but they were growing louder. The spell was gaining momentum. Peter fought the exhaustion that suddenly washed over him, Cai boosting the strength in his arms again.

Charms in the walls that Peter hadn't paid attention to sprang to life.

Cai screeched loud and long, countering the human words. He continued to caw, fighting them how he could.

Peter attacked the wood now, destroying the hidden knots and camouflaged charms. He spun and pecked as Cai showed him every last one.

Finally, not just the prefect lay in a huddled mess; so did all the defenses on the walls.

Peter shivered, his strength flowing back into him. Traps within traps. He knew he needed to go through the halls of the school and strip away the charms there, too. The charms for watching and keeping kids in line.

"Peter."

Peter whirled, but didn't raise his arms. He already knew who stood there.

Sally.

"It all has to go," Peter told her.

She looked at him warily. Rudi appeared at her shoulder, his eyes liquid brown and appraising.

Peter looked over his shoulder at the prefect, then back at Rudi, who nodded, then went to stand guard over the old man's body while Peter opened the first door.

It was a torture chamber. The charms on the walls screamed at him. Tears, blood, and rage still tainted the room. A dentist's chair with thick restraints sat in one corner. On the far wall was a perch, also with chains attached. A bone saw, still bloodied, lay on the table, along with thumbscrews and other finger vices.

Sally looked around the room, touching the things that Peter couldn't, not without destroying them first. Her eyes were full of tears when she looked back at him. "Yes. Destroy it all."

Peter gladly went to work.

* * *

Peter tore through the rooms, one after another, gleefully destroying all the instruments, tearing apart the padding on the chairs, dismantling every charm. He wished he had a sledgehammer to take to the walls, to collapse the place in on itself. He satisfied himself with complete annihilation of everything that the three rooms held.

After Peter finished the last room, he stood, panting, in the center of the hallway. Prefect Aaron's body had been taken away, and the smell of broken wood, shredded padding, and construction dust covered the scent of his blood. Exhausted, Peter shrank back down to human, though Cai remained close.

Someone coming down the steps drew him back up to full attention, though he didn't reach for his armor.

Prefect Kitridge rounded the corner, then stopped.

Even from where Peter stood, he could see how her hands shook.

Raven-hard eyes surveyed the destruction. Prefect Kitridge carefully stepped into the hallway, paused, grew completely still, then leaned forward, slowly, so just her head passed the threshold of the door to the first room.

She pulled back quickly and looked at Peter. "Thank you," she squawked.

Peter knew it came not just from her, but also from her raven soul.

Prefect Kitridge shook herself, her human soul coming all the way back. "Now you'll have to show them the new way." She jerked her head, indicating the flight of stairs.

"Them?" Peter asked, suddenly threatened.

"The clan. The elders. They've known only the old ways for so long."

"Me?" Peter shook his head. "They won't listen."

"They will now."

Peter took a deep breath, the weight of the coming challenge settling on his shoulders.

The ones who wouldn't listen…well, he wasn't afraid challenge them if he had to. Not anymore.

Cai sent him a strange image, of a nest full of baby ravens, with all their mouths turned toward him. His wings were tired, and he was hungry himself, but he'd never let his babies go hungry.

And Peter knew he could feed them better, feed their souls, help all of them grow up to be full raven warriors.

There should never be another Jesse.

* * *

It was easy to find Sally. All Peter had to do was close his eyes and think of home. There she was, a tug on his heart, drawing him up the stairs.

She sat outside, on the steps leading to the school, looking at the cold half moon staring down at them, listening to unseen ravens carry the news above them. The night smelled like new grass.

Peter sat down next to Sally, who immediately took his hand and looked at it. "It's amazing, what you do. What you are."

Peter leaned over and rested his temple on Sally's shoulder. He knew he didn't have to be worried about her reaction, but he had been.

Cai grew closer as well.

"You need to stay here, don't you," Sally asked without asking.

"Yes," Peter said immediately. The other students deserved the chance to learn how to be full raven warriors, to live without fear, to come into their full inheritance.

He wasn't looking forward to dealing with the elders and the other prefects. At least Prefect Kitridge was on his side, and probably Prefect Becker as well. But there had to be changes. It was what he had always wanted.

"You know, there are a lot of people who need help up here," Peter said, turning his hand in Sally's palm and interlacing their fingers. "Families who need meals and other basics."

"Wyoming has a fairly high poverty ranking," Sally said, nodding. "Plus, other raven clan families who need assistance."

Peter felt himself relaxing even more, leaning on his mate. "I love you more than words can say," he said softly.

Sally chuckled. "I know."

"Marry me?"

"I feel like Wendy, being whisked off to the island of lost boys."

Peter stiffened. No. No more lost boys.

"Of course, I'll marry you," she said, kissing the top of his head. "You're my mate."

"And I'm yours," Peter said. "Both of us."

Cai gave a happy caw as they drew together for another kiss.

The old wounds weren't healed. The mistakes of the previous generation still had to be addressed. But finally, Peter felt like he could do something about it.

Maybe he could change the world. Or at least, his part of it.

Leah Cutter's first three novels (
Paper Mage, Caves of Buda,
and
The Jaguar and the Wolf
) are all historic fantasies, set in diverse periods of time, such as Tang dynasty China, WWII Budapest, and the Viking era, respectively.

Her recent novels, (
Clockwork Kingdom, Zydeco Queen and the Creole Fairy Courts,
and
The Raven and the Dancing Tiger
) are all contemporary fantasies, and set on the Oregon coast, in rural Louisiana, and around the city of Seattle, respectively.

Her short fiction includes fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and horror, and has been published in anthologies and on the web. A collection of her recent short fiction is available in
Baker's Dozen
. A collection of her mysteries all set in the same future world with a ghost detective are available in
The Shredded Veil Mysteries
.

Follow this author's blog at www.LeahCutter.com.

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Book Two of the Shadow Wars,
The Guardian Hound,
is also available.

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