Queen Titia’s messenger came at sunset, and he was perhaps the most fearsome creature Hormiz had ever seen.

He called himself Jack, and he was a giant furry beast with massive, sharp antlers.

He said Zeke was invited to meet Drya in her secret glade. Hormiz was not, and Jack would stay behind to ensure Hormiz would not follow.

“You truly think you can stop me?” Hormiz taunted the beast.

Jack responded, “Young’n, I been alive since the dawn of Eden. Yer mother was a good friend o’ mine. Don’t make me dishonor her memory by disciplining ye here and now.”

The last time Hormiz rose to someone’s challenge, he ended up sobbing like a baby for an hour, so Hormiz was feeling humbled enough to heed Jack’s warning. He was also curious. Jack said he knew Rowan, and Hormiz wanted to know more. So they agreed. Zeke would follow a pixie to Drya’s secret glade and return by sunset tomorrow. Hormiz would stay with Jack.

Watching Zeke walk away, Hormiz felt a surprising anxiety. He wanted to run after Zeke. He knew Zeke could return anytime he wanted, so there was no need to worry. But still, he had grown fond of Zeke. When he was crying earlier, it was a comfort having Zeke there. But Hormiz held restraint. His entire life up to that point had been spent holding restraint and serving Lilith’s whims. Restraint and service came naturally to him. Discomfort had a comfortable familiarity to it. He just didn’t expect to care so much, and he didn’t know what to do about it; so he set those curious feelings aside and turned to face the great horned beast.

“You say you were my mother’s friend. Tell me more. What was she like?”

Jack had eyes on either side of his face, so as he turned to the side, one eye looked at Hormiz directly. It was a deep, dark brown. “Fierce. Very capable. Even as a young immortal, she was talented beyond most o’ her peers. She was a diplomat. That’s why she was away when Adam destroyed Inari.”

“You knew her before?”

“Yes. Not well, o’ course. She was just a messenger when I first met her. She was so silly back then. Showed up in the shape of a giant turtle and challenged me to a race.”

“What’s a turtle?”

“Don’t matter. Point is, after losing her family, her home, and her people, Rowan weren’t silly no more. Consumed by a need for revenge. I saw little o’ her in those days. But there was a moment when I saw her be silly again. Ye were born on Morgan’s coinnigh, did ye know that? I visited Rowan there, and it was the happiest I’d ever seen her. Ye brought her joy and hope, for herself and for her people. Losing ye devastated her. She was in a very dark way when Sam finally found her here.”

Hormiz was oddly satisfied to know she suffered in his absence. He moved to sit down on a fallen log. There was a smoky orange and amber glow shining through the trees; perhaps from the sunset, perhaps from the forest fire.

Hormiz picked up a small stick and began to fidget with it. “You knew kitsune society before Adam destroyed Inari. What was that like?”

Jack flopped onto his side. “It was peaceful. Most kitsune spent their days underground in the magma banks. Some were always flyin’ with the firebirds. They had little use for architecture or buildings, ‘cept as artistic sculptures or memory storage inspiration. For centuries before Adam came, kitsune shepherded the human refugees that arrived on these islands; taught ‘em what foods to eat and what to farm. They guided Vulpen culture and development. Get to know the people here, and ye’ll find echoes o’ ya people.”

Hormiz considered this news for a moment. But he had more questions. “And what of soulbending? Queen Titia said it was kitsune magic. What does that mean, and how do I use it?”

“Hm. I’m sorry, I don’t know much about it. The details were a secret among kitsune. My understanding was that God made kitsune to help guide the Ghost Ikon, the Dying One. The specifics were never mine to know.”

“Where is this Ikon now?”

Jack looked away, seeming sad. “He was lost.”

“Lost to Adam?”

“Unknown. All we know is that an angel was involved. The Dying One’s whereabouts remain a mystery.”

“What else do you know?” Hormiz dared.

Jack tilted his head, seeming amused. “I’ve been around a long time. I know many things.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What do you know about the Bone Gauntlet?”

Jack sighed. “Her name was Aegir. She was a giant. She and her twin used to ride storm clouds across the world. They were inseparable. His soul is trapped in the Shell Gauntlet.”

“Hm.” Hormiz turned away. He remembered too well the waves of grief and loss he experienced when his mind touched the Catalyst Ikon, but he understood better now. She was suffering in the absence of her twin.

Hormiz wondered if he, too, would go insane, trapped and isolated as Aegir was. Could such an insane force be controlled, harnessed? How did Lilith manage it? And what madness would they unleash if they freed her?

If they freed her.

Hormiz was considering it. What madness, indeed. What incredible madness.

Jack interrupted his pondering. “May I ask ye a question?”

Hormiz nodded. “Of course.”

“What do ye want?”

Hormiz examined the furry beast. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Well it seems to me, and note, there’s only ever been one a me; but it seems to me that as the last kitsune, ye have wants and desires for yeself as well as others. Do ye not?”

“I do.”

“Well, what are they? What do ye want?”

“What do I want?” Hormiz repeated stupidly. Then finally, “I want to kill Adam!”

“Ha, get in line, friend. But that’s a distant goal. Set that aside for the moment. Ye may yet live a long time, but one day ye’ll die. How do ye want to live?”

Hormiz was frustrated. “What does it matter?”

“If Rowan was here, she’d say it was the most important thing in the world.”

Hormiz groaned. Then he asked seriously, “Can we really bring Rowan back?”

Jack lowered his head, his massive horns exaggerating the effect. “It’s possible. But I cannot promise we’ll succeed.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s never been done before. We believe Adam used the Catalyst Ikon to bury Inari under the ocean. In theory, a freed Catalyst Ikon could bring Inari to the surface again.”

“‘We believe.’ ‘In theory.’ This is just guesswork and hope. You have nothing to offer me.” Hormiz scoffed.

“Aye, it’s guesswork and hope informed by six thousand years o’ lived experience. I knew Aegir. She can do it. The challenge will be in preparing her, the way Rowan and Sam prepared Ezekiel.”

Zeke’s full name sounded strange to Hormiz, reminding him of when he’d first heard Zeke’s name, while he was torturing Samaal.

Samaal was delirious and thought he was talking to Zeke at the time.

‘When I first held you in my arms, such a tiny little thing, I felt that old hurt and anger. And I knew I had to do right by you. I wouldn’t do to you what my parents did to me. I wouldn’t abandon you.’

Did Samaal defeat destiny? Or did he abandon his son in the end? What hope had Hormiz of faring better? He was monstrous. He could only raise a monster. But then, wasn’t Samaal a monster, too? He helped raise Zeke, and Zeke turned out alright.

“What was Samaal like?”

Jack began to clean his ears as he answered. “Unintentionally funny. He had a very direct way about him, but never superior. A living nightmare when he was angry. A local constable once challenged the legitimacy of Morgan’s claim to the coinnigh she’s on now. Sam said he’d deal with it. The next morning, the constable was found wandering the roads, completely insane. I didn’t know Sam as well or as long as I knew Rowan, but I feared and admired him.”

“You didn’t think him a monster? The way he was made, the things he did?”

“I don’t sit on high in judgment. From what I saw, Sam was devoted and courageous. He saved us all from that constable’s inquisition. He brought Rowan the Ivory Blade, and then together, yer parents did something I thought was impossible; they freed Ezekiel. They raised him to be a good man. Now, I don’t know how Sam was made, and I don’t know his every action, but whatever his failings, they don’t undo his victories. Ye’re here, perhaps his greatest victory of all.”

“I don’t feel like much of a winner.”

“Ha,” Jack laughed sarcastically. “Perhaps ye aren’t playing the game properly.”

“Ha,” Hormiz laughed mockingly. “And how might I improve my strategy?”

“Build something.”

“What?”

“Build something. Anything. Consider for a moment, Lilith wants to take Eden and destroy the race of man, and then control all life on Eden, yes?”

Hormiz shrugged.

“Take, destroy, control. Now consider Adam, he wants to take power from the Ikons, destroy any opposition, and control all life on Eden, yes?”

Hormiz shrugged louder.

“Take, destroy, control. That’s their strategy. Sam went a different way. He built a life. He gave people hope. And he was instrumental in the fight to bring ye home. Rowan wouldn’t have known ye were alive without his intelligence. Now, his victories don’t erase his failures, either. Ye remember a monster. Maybe ye’re right. But he’s gone, and ye and Zeke are here. That’s got to count for something.”

Hormiz shook with emotion. He had only ever thought of Samaal as a selfish, thieving traitor, and an absent father. To hear that he was none of those things was at once a relief and also infuriating. Jack had such wonderful memories with ‘Sam.’ Hormiz remembered the crunch of Samaal’s finger bones, the taste of his marrow.

Jack continued, “Sam didn’t let his origin define him. After everything he lost, the lives he saved, and the life he built, I remember a hero. Maybe we’re both right.”

Hormiz stood up and walked away. He wandered to the river bank and watched the fire rage on the other side.

It was beautiful and peaceful. A realization dawned on him.

Hormiz wanted to be like his father. He wanted to build a life with Zeke.