IT WAS EARLY AFTERNOON WHEN Trinity slid off Mirra’s back. The trip had been fun. They’d stopped several times so Gaar could point out interesting landmarks and tell her the legends behind them.

“Mirra hunt now.” The Tracker disappeared into the brush.

“Is this it?” They were still deep in the woods and there was no water in sight, but she wouldn’t be surprised if the Lake of Sins was as dry as wheat chaff. Many of the landmarks that Gaar had pointed out had names that didn’t make sense, such as the rock wall that she’d bumped into when she was running from the Guards. It was called Harbor Point. It wasn’t near water and it certainly wasn’t pointy.

“No, but we’re close. We’ll travel the rest of the way at a slower pace. I don’t want to bump into any Guards.” He winked at her. “I’d hate to have to kill them.”

For a moment she’d forgotten that he was a predator, one who didn’t want her around. “Aren’t we going to wait for Mirra?”

He dug in his pack. “Nah. She’ll catch up later.”

It was just like he’d said last night. Mirra wanted to keep her, but he was stuck taking care of her. She’d prove to him that she wasn’t a problem. Not because she wanted to stay with him, but because she didn’t want to listen to him grumbling about what a burden she was.

He handed her a wad of cloth.

“Thanks.” She turned it over in her hands, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with it.

“Hook one end around your shoulder and the other one around your waist.” He snatched it from her when she got it tangled. “You’re right handed, so lift your left arm.”

He looped it over her shoulder and then tied part around her waist. He reached in his pack and pulled out a knife inside a sheath. He slipped the cloth through a loop on the sheath, tightening the contraption. When he was done, the knife was secured firmly under her left arm, with easy access to the handle.

She touched the cloth that was wrapped around her shoulder. It was soft and newly stitched. It fit her perfectly. She ducked her head to hide her tears. No one, besides her parents, had ever given her anything. Maybe, he didn’t really dislike her. “Thank you.”

He flung his pack over his shoulders and readjusted the quiver on his back. “It’s more for me than you. Mirra is always a pain to manage after something happens to one of her pets and I can’t watch you every minute.” He turned and headed into the brush.

That took some of the joy out of the gift, but it was still kind of cool. She gripped the knife handle and caught up with him. “I don’t know how to use this. We aren’t allowed to have any type of weapon.”

“Lessons start now.” He spun around and grabbed her by the throat. “Don’t just gawk at me, defend yourself. Use the knife.”

His grip wasn’t tight, but her heart thumped in her ears. She reached for the knife and he grabbed her arm.

“You’re dead.” He dropped his hold and started walking again. “You’re going to have to be a lot quicker if you want to survive.”

She stared after him, eyes narrowing. He was such a jerk. She didn’t know anything about this stuff. What did he expect from her? “If you hate having me around, just point me in the right direction. I’ll be happy to leave.”

He stopped and faced her. “I told you, Mirra wants you.”

“I thought you were the Handler.”

He laughed. “I learned a long time ago that to be a good Handler, you have to let most things go. Only fight for the important stuff.”

It was clear; she was not one of those. What was so wrong with her that no one liked her? Well, Mirra liked her but not enough to stick around just like her father. Some of her thoughts must have shown on her face because he sighed and walked over to her.

He stood behind her and wrapped his arm around her right one. “Like this.” His hand clasped over hers as he pulled out the knife in one fluid movement. He did it several more times, adjusting it in their grasp and making different stabbing motions. Some were up with a twist, some down and some straight ahead. “It needs to be an extension of your arm. Now, you try.” He stepped back. “As we walk.”

She stayed close behind him, practicing the entire time. She wasn’t an expert, but she was getting the feel for it and she liked it.

They’d traveled until late afternoon and then Gaar had ordered her to practice her survival skills, while he prepared the food and fire. She’d gotten pretty good with the knife, but these lessons included training in agility, speed and climbing along with the ability to expand and contract her claws at a moment’s notice.

She wiped her hands on her pants, leaving a trail of dirt and grime. She groaned as she sat across from him at the campfire. Every muscle in her body ached. She used to watch her father sneak into the encampment by leaping onto a tree, climbing up it and then dropping to the ground. It looked exciting, fun, but it wasn’t. It was torture.

“How high did you make it?” He finished whittling another stick and placed it in the quiver. Then he picked up a chunk of bread but didn’t offer it to her.

She was so hungry that even the thick, hard, brown lump of bread looked delicious. She licked her lips. “To the third branch.”

“Jump or climb?” He took a bite of his own sandwich, exaggerating the pleasure of the taste.

He was being such a jerk. He had been ever since Mirra left. She’d tried to make casual conversation but he’d refused to answer her with anything but a grunt. Well, she’d had enough. “What difference does it make? I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can.” She glanced around. “Mirra’s not here. Why don’t I go now? I can give you the directions from here to the Handler and Tracker camps and you can tell me how to get to the Finishing Camp. Mirra will forget all about me once she’s with the other Trackers.”

He took a bite out of her chunk of bread. Her shoulders sagged. They’d eaten the rest of her bread and fruit at lunch. At the time she was glad since it made her backpack weigh less, but it was obvious why he’d suggested it. Now, he controlled all the food.

Her stomach rumbled. “Fine. I jumped to the first branch and then climbed to the next two.”

“Good. Here’s your dinner.” He tossed her the bread.

She caught it, dumped water on it to soften it and tore off a chunk, cramming it into her mouth. She washed it down with water. “I was serious about leaving. It would be the best for both of us.” She glanced around again. Night was approaching fast. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be out here alone. Gaar seemed serious about there being other predators around. Several times during the day they’d stopped and he’d listened intently or sometimes even climbed a tree to get a better view. She’d never seen a thing, but he said that didn’t mean the predators weren’t there. “If you think Mirra will still be gone, I could leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t want to be alone out here at night, huh?” He smirked.

“No. That’s not it. I was alone out here the first night.” Sure it had been very close to camp but she didn’t have to tell him that.

“Doesn’t matter. You can’t go. Mirra will find you and bring you back.” He tossed the last of his sandwich in his mouth. “You’re going to have to convince her to let you go.” He chuckled. “I don’t envy you. She’s really taking a liking to you.”

Her shoulders slumped. How was she going to get away from these two? She was glad Mirra liked her, otherwise she would have been dinner, but enough was enough.

“Tonight we sleep in the trees.” He glanced up at the one behind him as he wiped his hands on his shirt.

“What?” She coughed, choking on a chunk of bread. The tree was huge. “I can’t.”

He stared hard at her. “You can and you will. Do you think the forest floor is safe at night? It’s barely safe during the day. The trees are better. Not everything can climb.”

It was a long way to the ground and her balance wasn’t that good. “I’ll fall,” she whispered.

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“Probably,” he said.

Did he think this was funny? She glared at him.

He smirked. “We’ll start low.”

His definition of low obviously differed from hers since the closest branch was about twenty feet from the ground. “I’ll break my neck.” She stuffed another bite of bread into her mouth and chewed.

“You should land on your feet. Your kind usually does.”

She jumped up, one hand still clutching her food and the other fisted at her side. “My kind! My kind! That’s all I hear from you. I’m also part Producer or have you forgotten that! I can’t do all these things. I can’t.” Her eyes began to water. She clenched her jaw. She would not cry in front of him.

He picked up a stick and began whittling. “Sit down and stop your belly-aching. You can do them and you will. More importantly, you have done them. You are more than a Producer.”

She sat back down. She’d always considered herself less than a Producer.

He didn’t bother to look at her. “The only things standing between you and death are all those traits that you hide.” He stared at her, his black eyes glowing red from the fire. “Funny how the Great Mother works.”

“You don’t worship Araldo?” She’d read about creatures of old who worshipped the earth and sun, but she’d never met one.

“Araldo is an Almighty’s god, not mine.”

“He’s not just an Almighty’s god. He’s our god too.” Her response was immediate.

“Really? Who taught you about Araldo? Your parents, right? But who taught them? The Almightys have been forcing their god on all the other classes for as long as I can remember, and I can remember a long way back.”

Suddenly, his face looked haggard. How old was he? How long had it been just him and Mirra in these woods.

“What is your god like?”

He snorted. “Curiosity. That’s your weakness.” He stood and stretched. Then he bent, gathering dirt and putting out the fire. “You wouldn’t like the Great Mother. She is a harsh god. She gives us everything that we need but there is a price.”

“What is it?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“The one that all pay. Death.”

She inhaled sharply. Araldo protected them. He did not make them pay with their lives.

“Everything dies and goes back to the Great Mother.” He gathered his pack and quiver. “Now, up the tree.”

She stood and groaned. Her whole body ached.

“Move it.”

“I don’t think I can.” She really didn’t. She couldn’t jump to the first branch, she’d have to climb and her arms felt like jelly.

“Is that what you’re going to do when death comes for you? Sit there and whine.” In a falsetto voice he continued, “I can’t. Please, don’t make me.”

Her eyes narrowed. He wasn’t a jerk; he was a…a Grunt’s ass. She turned and stomped several feet away and then raced straight at the tree. She leapt, exposing her claws, but her timing was off and she hit the trunk, tumbling to the ground. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t.

He squatted next to her. She waited for the berating, but he remained silent.

She sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. “Just leave me here. I told you I couldn’t do it.” She cringed at the whininess in her tone but she couldn’t seem to stop it.

“Try again.” He stood. “This time, extend your claws a second before you think you should.”

Unbelievable. How did he expect her to do something before she thought about it?

“You can do this. You’ve learned a lot today. More than I thought possible.”

She grunted. Great, now she even sounded like him. She wouldn’t admit it, but his words made her feel better, like she actually could do it. She stood and stretched. Then she walked several paces away and ran toward the tree. She was preparing to extend her claws in another step when she pushed them out and leapt. She hit the tree and her claws slipped a bit but held. It was working. She pulled first one hand and then the other free. She climbed up to the first branch. She’d done it. She turned and looked down, unable to stop smiling.

He stared up at her, his face blank. “Go to the third branch.”

The second branch was close so she jumped. Once she was situated, she climbed to the third one. When she looked, Gaar was already halfway up, his gear and her backpack on his large shoulders. She cringed. She’d forgotten her stuff.

He squatted on the limb and pulled out a rope from his pack. He tied it around her chest and waist so she was secured to the trunk of the tree. Then he moved to a branch next to hers and leaned against the trunk. He didn’t tie himself in place.

“Now, you need to practice listening,” he said.

She groaned. Not more lessons.

“Be still, quieter than quiet and pay attention to the forest,” he whispered.

He steadied his breathing until there was barely a sound. She mimicked him and focused on the surrounding area. She should do well at this. She had great hearing.

After a long moment, he said quietly, “Describe what you hear.”

She spoke in a hushed tone, like his. “An owl hooting.”

“Where?”

“Didn’t you hear it?” She turned toward him, surprised.

“Of course, I heard it. I want you to tell me exactly where it is.”

He had to be kidding. “It’s pretty far away. How am I supposed to know—”

“It is a quarter of a mile away to our right and above us by ten feet.”

Her mouth dropped open. He was right about the direction. She wasn’t positive about the distance but she’d take his word for it.

“Now, concentrate. It is not enough to hear. You must listen.”

She focused once again, trying to pay attention to all the different sounds and determine their location. “There is something below us in the bushes.”

“Describe it,” he said.

“It’s small. It seems to be searching for something.”

“Where exactly below us?”

She listened closer. “Straight down and about eight inches to the left.”

He turned toward her, his teeth shining in the darkness. “It’s ten inches to the left, but very good.”

She smiled back. Finally, she’d done something right.

“Not surprising. Your kind are good at pinpointing sounds at close distances, but you also need to identify locations of creatures at far distances. It could save your life.”

Her spirits sank a little. Out here, it always seemed to come down to life and death. She missed being safe. She missed home.

They practiced for another hour or so as night fully descended around them. Finally, Gaar called it quits. She was exhausted and her head pounded, but she was too excited to sleep. She’d done well in this lesson. He was proud of her. He didn’t say it, but she could tell. A cold breezed picked up and she shivered. He grunted and handed her the blanket out of her pack.

“Thanks.” She covered herself. It was big enough to share. “Do you want some?” She held up a corner of the blanket.

“I’m fine.”

“Okay.” She stared into the darkness, making out the shapes of leaves and a few small creatures that were huddled down for the night like them. “Gaar?”

He grunted in response.

“If the Great Mother supplies everything, why do you need to go into town?” It had been eating at her ever since he mentioned getting supplies. The forest was teeming with food.

After a long moment, his voice almost a whisper, he said, “Did you ever wonder how creatures such as Mirra and I came to be extinct, or almost extinct?”

She’d heard the stories about their annihilation by the Almightys but she wanted to hear his side. “I heard the Almighty’s version of the story, but I’m sure it’s not true.”

“It’s mostly true.” He sighed. “A long time ago there were quite a few of us. Then one day everyone was gone; everyone but Mirra and me.” His voice was clipped, the words sharp.

“You don’t have to tell me. I know that the Almightys killed your kind.”

He smiled grimly. “You heard part of the story. The rumor is that the Almighty eradicated us and that is true, but not the complete tale. Something went wrong. Something inside of us. We became violent.” He smiled. “More violent than usual. The Almightys had no choice. They came into the forest with Guards and weapons and killed everyone. I saw it. It was chaos. Handlers were fighting Handlers and Trackers were fighting Trackers. This sometimes happened, but”—he shook his head—“pairs, bonded pairs of Handlers and Trackers like Mirra and I were fighting each other. That never happened before. They wouldn’t stop even as the Almightys killed a few. The others just kept attacking.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I saw many die that day.”

She squeezed his hand, his skin rough and warm in her grasp. The Almightys had slaughtered everyone he knew, but he didn’t blame them. She wouldn’t be that fair minded.

“I was not affected, not at first, but then I found Mirra and she was…different. Edgy. Angry. I feared that she was becoming violent and that they’d kill her. I coaxed her deeper into the forest but she was starting to ignore me. That’s when I came across Bradley, an Almighty, and one of his Guards. They tranquilized Mirra and we carried her to Bradley’s lab. He invented a serum for us that we take monthly. It makes Mirra easier to handle, gentler.”

Had she seen this side of the Tracker? If this was the gentle easy to handle Mirra, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be around the other one. “Has she had her serum lately?”

He shook his head. “We’re due, but I have to wait. It makes her ill and I can’t have her sick when we free the Trackers and Handlers. It may not go well.”

“Do you think the captive Trackers take the serum?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Did they fight amongst themselves or only with the Handler?”

“They didn’t fight each other, but I don’t think their chains allowed them get that close to one another.”

“Hmm. We’ll have to wait and see then.”

They fell silent but she couldn’t let it go. If they had a sickness inside them, what caused it? Maybe, she could help.

“Did you ever get angry, violent?”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I felt agitated and upset…”

“That could be because of what you saw and worrying about Mirra.”

He patted her hand. “Possibly, but possibly not and I can’t take that chance. If I get violent no one will be there to give Mirra her shot and then she’ll die. The Almightys will kill her.”

“This serum. What’s in it?” If this illness were natural then there would be a cure in nature.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Perhaps, she could duplicate it. She was good with plants and herbs. “Do you have some that I can taste?”

“No. It might hurt you,” he said.

“I won’t drink it all. I’ll only taste it to try and figure out the ingredients. I may be able to find a natural alternative for you. Then we wouldn’t have to go into town. We could go directly to the Tracker camp.”

He remained silent for so long that she thought he’d gone to sleep. She shifted to get more comfortable. They could finish the conversation tomorrow.

“Nothing is free, Little One.”

She turned toward him. What did he mean by that?

He stared into the forest. “When we kill the Guards at the Tracker and Handler camps, we are going to be hunted. We will have to travel high into the mountains and stay there for a long time. I have some extra serum but not much. Some months I can hold off for a couple of extra weeks. With what I’ll pick up from town, I’ll have enough to last about six months, after that it might become dangerous. I want you to know in case you decide to go with us.”

He was giving her a choice. She could go home and she would, but did she want to stay? She liked the freedom out here. At home, she’d miss Gaar and Mirra, but they’d have others of their kind. She should stay with her kind, but who was that? “Let me sample some of the serum before I go home and I’ll try and identify some herbs for you.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “Mirra was right about you.”

She wasn’t positive that it was a complement, but she was going to take it that way. “Thank you.”

He closed his eyes. “Go to sleep. Tomorrow you visit the Lake of Sins.”