The Last of the Ageless (43 page)

You can communicate with that bug telepathically?
The mystic’s mental voice seemed incredulous.

Everyone bonds with one in my tribe. Are our hunting companions and guardians. Help us scout out prey or enemies while in a shortsighted transmeld, like the omdecu, who see best at night. Guess this means my doublethink wasn’t working?

Hah, doublethink. That’s good. It was fine, but like I told Nyr, I’m more experienced. I can unravel your thoughts and hers at the same time.

Not to brag, right?
Dalan couldn’t help but like the mystic. Nyr had tortured him, but yet he tried to help her. Then again, he remembered the last time he’d naïvely trusted someone based on what they appeared to be.

Except I’m nothing like her. You can call me Caetl, you know.
That the mystic heard his background thoughts in addition to the ones he specifically tried to think
at
the man troubled him.

Just hope you’re not something worse,
Dalan admitted.

Nyr snarled. Fur erupted from every inch of her skin. Before anyone else could move, she straddled the mystic with one claw above his face.

“You’re the Wizard—you’ve got to be. I swear you get in my head just like he does. You push my thoughts around just like he does.”

The mystic stared at Nyr. Dalan dared not move a feather, but Ti’rros rose slowly from the ground, out of Nyr’s line of sight.

Caetl cleared his throat. “What you just did is perfect. The Wizard will never see it coming.”

Nyr pulled back her lips in a snarl and rested her fingertips against his face. “Explain.”

The mystic’s expression betrayed his fear, but his voice remained steady. “When you shift forms like that, you’ve essentially become part animal. And animals can react instinctively before a human can even
think
of moving. By giving into your animal side, you can be provoked into acting without any premeditation whatsoever. Meaning, I never even saw the thought cross your mind that you intended to attack me.”

Ti’rros struck. Her tail hooked around Nyr’s middle, and the Joey yanked her away like a rag doll through the air. Nyr yowled in fury and collapsed to the ground as Ti’rros stumbled back. Nyr sprang to her feet, claws unsheathed.

It’s okay,
Caetl said in Dalan’s mind.
Nyr won’t hurt her.

“What’s your problem?” Nyr spat the words.

Dalan held his breath. His skin itched, making him realize he’d started transmelding unconsciously.

“Just as I wouldn’t allow Dalan to harm you, I will not allow you to harm the mystic.” Ti’rros spread her arms wide and held her tail at the ready with her backwards knees bent.

“Why?” Nyr dropped into a fighting stance as well. “Is he suddenly part of your idealistic little clan now?”

The Joey’s stoic gaze bored into her. “He knows where the person behind these necklaces is. It is important to keep him alive.”

Dalan hoped Nyr would listen to reason, but she took two steps toward Caetl. Ti’rros stepped into her path. Nose-to-nose, Nyr glared at her. At the same moment, they both tilted their heads, listening to something Dalan couldn’t hear.

Caetl snapped his fingers twice.

Nyr smirked at the mystic. “You would say that either way, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s not me speaking, you know that.” Caetl tipped his chin up to the darkened sky, his eyes unfocused. “I won’t.”

Dalan tilted his beak, regarding Caetl with one eye and then the other, trying to figure out who he was talking to.

He knows.
Caetl’s words slipped into Dalan’s mind.

Nyr glanced at Ti’rros. “What’s he—”

“No!” Caetl’s back arched, and he slammed his palms to his temples. Then he rolled to the side, his knees coming up to his elbows. “You fool!”

Dalan flapped away, unable to control the hawk’s startle response. Saquey buzzed in from the east, circled the group, and then hovered next to him in the cool air. Dalan stared in horror at the scene below. Nyr and Ti’rros kept their distance as the mystic flung himself back, kicking up dust.

“Caetl…” Ti’rros said.

The mystic took a deep, shuddering breath. “We’ve got to stop him. He’s too powerful. I—I’m not sure my mind will hold up to another assault like that.”

“Who?” Nyr put a hand to her hip.

“The Wizard, of course.” Caetl put a hand to his ribs and let out a groan. His eyes searched the campsite until he spotted Dalan and Saquey above him.
He knows I can tap your thoughts. Sooner or later, he’s going to try again. He’s gotten stronger. More experienced.

Will try what again?
Dalan asked. His wings grew tired without any updrafts to keep him aloft.

He tried to get to you through me.
Caetl’s mental voice sounded strained.

Dalan’s pulse quickened.
How?

He’s suddenly able to break into my head somehow. But he still wouldn’t be able to tap your thoughts unless he...
The mystic’s words cut off.

What?
Dalan tried to understand how this could happen.
Hears your thoughts?

I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter. You’re our greatest asset, Dalan. I’ll try to keep him at bay, but you’ve got to get that amplifier away from him.

Nyr’s shoulders ached from holding the uprooted bush in front of her face as they advanced ever so slowly through the night. “This is ridiculous,” she whispered. “We don’t even know if that’s really the Wizard in there. He could be feeding us a load of shit.”

They trudged along in single file with Nyr in front holding the bush and Ti’rros and Caetl directly behind. They’d abandoned the horses while Dalan flew on ahead.

“I’m standing right here,” the mystic whispered from behind her.

When Nyr took a step, Ti’rros and the mystic took a step behind her. “I know.”

“Silence is advisable—”

“Shut up, Joey. No one asked you.”

But Ti’rros kept talking. “The mystic is supposed to be concentrating—”

“We don’t know what he’s really doing, anyway.” Supposedly the mystic had been blocking the Wizard’s ability to hear their thoughts over the past day so he wouldn’t see their plan.

“I’m right here…” Even in a whisper, the mystic sounded exasperated.

Ti’rros replied, “I haven’t heard the voice in a while, so it must be working.”

“Or, as I said before, he
is
the Wizard,” Nyr growled.

A second or two of silence went by before the mystic said, “This is your plan.”

“Yes, and it’ll only work if you’re not screwing us. Let’s hope the four guards are as stupid as you say they are.” According to Caetl, the Wizard had grown more paranoid over time and started posting guards outside his hut. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, except apparently he could bring down some kind of magic walls if they gave him enough warning.

As they trudged along, Nyr’s thoughts began to wander. Lucky Dalan could flap along and bypass all the hard stuff. She let out a small growl and heard someone’s boot scuff the dry ground behind her.

“Keep your feet light,” Nyr said.

The mystic squeezed her shoulder. “Sorry. I thought it was an animal. Their thoughts are sometimes difficult to pick up, you know. But we should all focus on being quieter now.”

They took a few more slow steps.

“We’re almost within their hearing,” Caetl whispered. “Only mental communication from here on out.”

In the darkness, Nyr couldn’t see the hut or the guard they planned to ambush. She might have come up with the plan, but too much of it depended on information from the mystic.

People have a harder time seeing what’s right in front of them, coming straight on, compared to something moving laterally across their vision. Your plan is a good one.
The reminder that the mystic could poke around inside her head annoyed her. And that he could hear her thinking about it being annoying was annoying.

Nyr tried to push him out as he’d taught her, even as she said,
I know. I’ve done something like this before. Also at night.

While young and newly initiated, she and her fellow felines had sneaked into a Changeling village in the dead of a moonless night. After picking off the few sentries the Changelings had posted, her fellow clanmates had caused a ruckus, awakening the town.

“It’s more fun once they realize what’s about to happen,” one of the older felines had said before leaping into the fray. Firestarter Changelings could spark a flame, but once it began, they had as little control over it as any normal human.

Nyr had watched as Kyrun, one of her fellow newly initiated littermates, trapped two girls in a small stable. The older firestarter tried to fight and grabbed Kyrun’s face. She burned him, but the girls suffered a far worse fate. Kyrun barred the stable doors, letting them burn in their own flames.

Watching the firestarters’ desperate and futile attempts to save each other had sickened Nyr at the time. She hadn’t killed anyone that night, but she’d more than made up for it on her next outing with the Tiger Clan. And over the years she’d become immune to such weak feelings.

They’re not weak emotions, you know. Compassion is noble.

I don’t need lectured by the likes of you, mystic. And…

She knew he could already see her next thoughts, but he asked,
Yes?

Giving him a mental middle finger, she said,
Don’t tell Dalan anything you see inside my skull, okay? He wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Don’t worry. I’ve no reason to share your secrets.

I’m sure if you found a reason, you’d use it.

She heard the mystic sigh behind her.
Before we get ourselves into this mess, I just want to remind you of something.

Yes?
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

It’s okay to ask for help every now and then. Don’t forget that we need to work as a clan to take down the Wizard.

Something tall rose out of the darkness behind the hut, but all she could discern was the circular motion it made. A Changeling with horns protruding from his forehead stood guard.

It’s Ishan,
the mystic whispered in her head.

You know him?
When he didn’t answer, she thought,
Alright, tell Ti’rros not to mess this up.

Yes, yes. I know my part in all this. Message central.

Nyr held her breath and scooted up another few inches. As a feline, she could see the outlines of the two other men standing at the other corners. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t noticed the bush advancing through the darkness.

They couldn’t see the bush until just now,
the mystic seemed to feel the need to explain.
There are plenty of bushes out here. I’ll let you know if they start getting suspicious.

Nyr took another step forward. Only her passage and her companions disturbed the still air of the drylands.

“The old man’s probably asleep by now,” Ishan said.

His voice was so loud and so near that it startled all of them. Nyr thought they’d been discovered, so she dropped the bush and prepared to strike. When she realized her mistake, it was too late.

“What the—”

Nyr leaped forward, pouncing on the horned Changeling. As she tried to rake across his neck, Ishan blocked her swipe and struck straight toward her chest. Her necklace’s shield foiled him, and she used her other hand to slice across his ribs, causing his hands to go down protectively.

The mystic’s voice sounded panicked in her head as he broadcast to all of them at once.
Dalan, get inside before the Wizard can close the force fields. We’ll handle this.

When Ishan brought his hand back up, he was holding a gun. Before Nyr could lunge for him, a net of writhing blue strings enveloped his lower half. Ishan screamed, and the gun skittered across the packed earth.

“Idiot,” she hissed. The Joey had wasted the one shot Dalan’s worthless LEC6 had after dark on someone Nyr would’ve taken care of. And probably hadn’t killed him.

From her peripheral vision, Nyr caught the blur of someone coming in from her right. She kicked at his shins. Faster than Ishan, he dodged toward the hut.

A pressure around Nyr’s midsection took her breath away. Then she sailed through the air, giving her a moment to wonder if Ti’rros had tossed her aside again. She tumbled to the ground and let out a howl of pain as something snapped.

Shouts rose from the village, and Nyr cursed as she climbed to her knees. A Changeling with a long prehensile tail charged her. She met him with claws out, but his tail whipped forward and encircled her neck before she could do anything to counter it.

Raising a hand to slice at his tail brought a shock of pain, blanking out the rest of the scene.

“Everyone stop!” a voice called from inside the hut. “Let them come inside.”

The rope-like tail uncoiled from around Nyr’s neck. Two of the guards trained weapons on Ti’rros and the mystic.