Lilau froze. The Great Eagle rested in front of them, its head tucked tightly into the feathers between its wings. It stood tall in a clearing, a statue of warning to any intruder. The rider was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps resting in a nearby cave or sleeping in some unknown village. Whichever it was, Lilau hoped it was far away. She didn’t care for another arrow wound.

She crouched and let the sharp incline they’d been climbing cover her from view. Makotae hunkered beside her in the deep shadows, his black fur disappearing in their midst. Lilau found herself ever more grateful for the brown winter gear Alakna had given her. It wasn’t as good of night camouflage as Makotae’s fur, but it at least covered most of her white hair and pale skin. What little showed would hopefully blend in with the snow sprinkled across the ground.

We need to go back, circle around. Makotae punctuated his thoughts with a swing of his head.

He’d been busy telling her all the better ways of trekking up the mountain without getting caught, while she had ignored far too much of it. It wasn’t like her, and she knew it. Yet the closer she came to their destination, the stronger the desire to get there became. It took all she had to not break cover and run past the sleeping eagle. The wound lay a short distance past the Great Beast. She was sure of it.

Yes, Lilau forced herself to answer. We’ll have to go around carefully.

Relief flooded from Makotae.

Together, they moved away from the eagle, each step a painstakingly slow movement which dragged like sharp nails against Lilau’s skin.

Getting eaten wouldn’t do us any good, she reminded herself. Stay hidden. Don’t take unnecessary risks, and we’ll get there soon enough.

Something in the back of her mind balked. Every second not at her destination wasn’t soon enough. Tension built with each motion, pushing against her better sense. She and Makotae had only made it a dozen feet from the Great Eagle when it cracked through.

Lilau turned, her steps quickening, seeking her destination in as straight a line as possible. Each footfall crashed into the ground, all stealth discarded. The noise reverberated in the night's stillness.

Lilau!

A loud ruffle sounded to Lilau’s right. Her better sense returned on a wave of survival instinct.

The Great Eagle’s scream pierced Lilau’s heart, colder than the winter wind. She didn’t wait. Run!

For the second time, Lilau and Makotae ran for their lives across the uneven ground of the mountains, weaving between skeletal trees and over jagged rocks. Makotae’s view slipped over hers, his night vision lighting up the obstacles in front of them. Too late.

Lilau’s boot struck a jutting rock she hadn’t seen. She fell forward, tucked, hit the ground and sprang back up, her clothes protecting her from the hard earth. She made it three more strides before the pain in her ankle caught up. Each strike of her foot sent knife-sharp pain up her leg.

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Another screech, followed by a loud thud, echoed from behind. The thudding repeated, a massive drum with an increasing rhythm.

I knew it. It’s chasing us on the ground because it can’t see well!

Makotae appeared at her side, his strides slowing to match her own. You still can’t outrun it. Get on.

He was right. But he also didn’t know the way to the wound, if he cared to get there at all. If she got into the saddle, nothing would keep him from taking them right back down the mountain.

Lilau’s skin flushed. Makotae only wanted to keep her safe, but safe wasn’t what she needed. I’m sorry.

He growled and fell back.

The thudding slowed. Snarls from Makotae mixed with shrieks from the Great Eagle, close but not gaining. Lilau didn’t look back. Her eyes were locked ahead of her on the ground as it dipped down and vanished in a blue glow. She came to a stop at the edge of a deep pit.

Lilau couldn’t fathom how she hadn’t seen it from much farther away. It stretched in front of her in a long oval large enough to allow the Great Eagle room to fly its perimeter. The oval dug deep into the mountain, exposing a jagged mix of soil, root, and stone. Trees and boulders rimmed the top edge. Chunks had been shaved from each, cut cleanly down their length as if the whole wound had been cut out with a carving knife. Blue shimmer coated the air inside the wound, yet failed to pierce the surrounding forest as shadows clustered above the glow. The contrast stung Lilau’s eyes.

The farther down she looked into the wound, the brighter the light became. A lake shone from the bottom, bright as a star and a clearer blue than she had ever seen. Tears streamed down Lilau’s face as the image of the lake’s gleaming surface burned itself into her eyes. An impossibly pure color in an impossibly deep crater.

The glossy surface rippled. A single, small upset at first, it spread, spawning more ripples until the entire lake boiled. A creature twice Lilau’s size shot from under the water, glittering jewel-green covering its many winged and sharp-angled body. More followed in a flood.

Voices spilled out of the crater. They enveloped Lilau as the winged creatures wheeled within the crater. Whispers dug into her mind, her skin. Meaningless words thrummed in her ears. Her eyes widened as things she should not know burrowed into her thoughts, twisting her reality until she felt her sense of self start to slip away.

“No!”

Lilau jerked away from the edge, collapsing to the forest floor even as her instincts told her to run fast and far. What lay within the blue lake wasn’t meant for people, of that she was sure. She couldn’t provide whatever the mad Guardian wanted of her.

Sometimes the impossible must become possible to stop the unstoppable.

Lilau’s heart leaped into her throat as she drew herself up and spun toward the familiar voice. To Tirijuki.

The fox Fokla glowed as bright as the lake, casting an eerie glow on a frozen scene of Makotae and the Great Eagle behind them. Makotae had frozen mid-stride as he weaved between the eagle’s legs. The eagle’s beak gaped open in a silent scream, wings out and one leg up, ready to stomp on the nuisance wolf. Neither moved nor breathed.

Lilau’s concern shifted in an instant as she tried to move to Makotae’s side. Tirijuki cut her off.

The caterpillar must dissolve to become the butterfly. Let’s hope you fare a little better.

Tirijuki grew in size. Its shape shifted, its torso straightening as it stood on its hind legs. Front paws changed to clawed hands.

Lilau growled and jerked to the right. Makotae needed her. She didn’t have time for the Fokla’s riddles.

The fox Fokla’s arm shot out, catching her across the chest and holding her tight. She kicked and bucked, trying to keep her balance as Tirijuki dragged her to the edge. She might as well have fought the mountain. Its other arm lashed out, trapping her arms against her sides as the large, human-like Tirijuki hugged her to its chest. Its carved, glowing mask, cold and compassionless, was the last thing she saw as the Fokla cast her into the wound.