To Lilau’s surprise, Radai approached her at the edge of the caravan as she secured the last saddlebag to Makotae’s saddle. The cooling twilight air couldn’t hide the sour smell of sweat, proof he’d done as much work packing the camp up the second time as the first. Probably more, since Zayla had insisted the hunters save some of their strength for the coming assault.

“I figured you’d be far too tired to come over here,” Lilau said with a thin smile. “Shouldn’t you be trying to nap, or are you on first lookout?”

“No. Well, not on lookout. I just wanted to talk to you before you left.”

His tack secured, Makotae lay down with a huff. If he’s not resting, I will.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Radai said. “One night’s rest, one decent meal, and now we have to do it all again?” A bit of a growl entered his tone.

Lilau narrowed her eyes and studied him. “What happened to going with the flow?”

“This isn’t a flow,” he snapped. “It’s a raging sandstorm. It’s foolish. Everyone’s exhausted. Do you think the tower guards are exhausted and underfed?”

Lilau tensed.

“I’m sorry.” Radai sighed, his shoulders dropping. “I’m not angry with you. It’s this plan. It’s dangerous, and people are going to get hurt, or worse.”

“I agree.”

Radai’s eyes widened. “Then why are you going along with it?”

“Because I’m a hunter, and Macien agrees with Zayla.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know, Radai. There’s a lot about the Cat Tribe I don’t know, but I know I want to do whatever I can to help this camp, Macien, Inalia, and you.”

Radai’s jaw clenched. Lilau could almost hear his teeth grind. He opened his mouth, shut it again, then turned away. “Be careful.”

He walked off, all hints of the carefree storyteller gone.

He’s worried about you. Makotae lifted his head from his paws. I can understand, and I get to go with you.

I’m worried, too. Lilau shook her head, trying to clear the muddled emotions competing for her attention. But right now, we need to focus on the fight.

Makotae stood. Agreed. Time to go.

*****

Allak took the lead on the formation as they closed in on their new target. Another tower, of identical make to the last, although what land its moonstone siphoned essence from, Lilau couldn’t say. Macien had rushed their preparations, giving them the bare minimum of details needed to take the tower down and rejoin the rest of the Silent Hunters, who were already on the move.

The small moonstone holders raced ahead in perfect unison. Lilau’s breath quickened. The image of the dying guard flared in her mind. She gripped her Spirit Bow tighter, allowing the ache in her hand to distract her. She tensed, ready to spring from Makotae’s back as the tower’s thin doorway loomed closer.

A moonstone holder yelled. Too late.

Electricity shot through Lilau’s body. Makotae yelped. Hisses and cries filled the air as they were thrown back, Lilau in one direction, and Makotae in another.

The desert ground drove the wind from Lilau’s chest. Stars sprang up in her sight in a rainbow of colors. Sharp pain faded to buzzing as Lilau rolled over and tried to stand, tried to get her leaden arms and legs to work even as she struggled to understand what had happened.

Angry yells echoed in her pounding head. She forced her eyes toward the sounds. The stars in her sight interspersed among the rainbow-filled bodies rushing toward her. The closest one leveled a bright blue curve in her direction. A blinding white sphere grew inside.

Lilau!

Makotae’s sharp cry cut through her confusion. Lilau latched onto the guard’s Spirit Weapon. The sphere blinked out. A dozen others flew by.

Screams. One sounded like Allak. She twisted, trying to catch sight of the hunter. More balls of light. Rainbow leeched from bodies as they fled or writhed on the ground. Hunter bodies. She was supposed to protect them. Macien had entrusted them to her. They relied on her.

Something white hot struck her back, but it didn’t hurt. It sunk into her flesh, melding with the ember sparking in her core. The fire caught, grew, and its hunger grew with it. Orbs of light came from all sides, pulled in by the raging fire until it could no longer be contained.

She embraced its hunger and became the sun.

Fire burned away all. Fear, pain, uncertainty. Lilau floated free within the beginning and the end, at peace with the nothing.

Rae-Lini.

The word flowed by in a familiar, feminine voice. Lilau didn’t care to make sense of it.

The voice grew harder, insistent. You can’t stay here.

It broke the calm and stirred feelings Lilau had rather let die.

Your battle isn’t over yet.

Isn’t it? The guards were prepared. Something changed, and we never had a chance.

There’s always a chance. The voice dipped deeper, becoming even more familiar. Your power destroyed this threat, Rae-Lini. Go further and cleanse the rot from the land.

I didn’t ask for this power.

Yet you needed it just the same. The hunters may have fallen, but would you leave the rest of the outcasts to death? What of Macien, Radai, Makotae?

Makotae’s name sent a shockwave through the calm. I hurt him. I’ll only do it again.

Cocooned here, how do you know what you have done? What you will do?

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Lilau tried to form a rebuttal, but the voice had had enough. A face materialized from the nothing. A ceremonial mask etched with swirling symbols and punctuated by shining green eyes. Tirijuki. Get up and fight.

The nothing collapsed. Heat bled out, chased away by the cold of the night as the pungent scent of burned flesh and cloth rushed in.

Lilau sucked in a shuddering breath and curled into a ball from her position on the ground. Every movement sent a deep ache through her muscles and bones.

Lilau?

Makotae’s tremulous thought wormed its way into her tired mind. Are you there?

She uncurled and sat up with a groan.

The tower no longer touched the sky. Only its foundation remained. Every other brick had been blown back, leaving a thick trail of debris behind it. The burst of essence had left her drained, her Spirit Sight faded, yet sparkling bits shone in the rubble. Remnants of the moonstone which once sat on top. A snuffling came from behind Lilau. She turned and glimpsed something far worse than the collapsed tower.

Bodies.

Blackened, smoldering robes melted to bodies. The acrid air emanated from them in waves. Nausea rose to match it.

Get on, Lilau. We need to leave.

What did I do, Makotae?

What you had to do. Come on. The Great Cats believe the caravan is unsafe.

Tirijuki’s words echoed in Lilau’s mind. Macien and Radai were in that caravan. She scrambled onto Makotae’s back and buried her face in his fur. A small voice told her to look, to fully absorb what she wrought, but a louder voice refused. What have I become?

A survivor. Same as always.

The sound of multiple paws thudding against the sand followed Makotae as he ran from the scene of death and the scent of char. Groans and curses came from their riders. Some of the other hunters had survived, but how many were felled by the guards, and how many by her own hand?

With the question ringing in her head, Lilau picked her head up and looked. Two of the original six Great Cats ran beside Makotae. A third, struggling with an injured leg held close to its body, lagged some distance away. The hunters clung to their cats, blood coating large portions of their half-burned robes.

Farther away, a fourth Great Cat loped half-heartedly, riderless. None of them were Allak’s Yann.

Lilau tried to remember where he’d been. He’d rode alongside her, then….

Don’t think about it right now, Makotae told her. Focus on the fight. Take stock later.

Lilau tried to listen, but the only thing to distract her was the throbbing in her head. Instead, she replayed the start of their attack over and over in her mind. The moonstone holders were in place. They’d had enough time to bring down the shield, yet what they’d hit must have been the shield. What had changed?

The scene continued to replay until new sounds shot across the sands. Yells, the clang of metal on metal, the roars of Great Cats and the screams of the injured.

Lilau set up straight, eyes straining in the darkness. For once, she missed her Spirit Sight. Makotae noticed and blended his sight with hers.

The caravan was in shambles. Robed people, some in Silent Hunter’s tan, some in blue, clashed over the innards of tents, the debris of belongings now hazards on the open battlefield. Great Cats danced in and out of the mass of fighters. One grabbed a blue clad person as Lilau watched, jumping from the fray with its prize dangling from its jaws.

A familiar curse filtered through the din. Lilau focused in on the sound.

In the center of the fight stood Macien, curved blades spinning in the moonlight as three attackers bore down on her. She parried left, right, nicked an attacker in the belly, then spun, too slow. The third attacker’s blade sliced across Macien’s chest as Makotae closed in on the fray.

Lilau cried out, drawing her bow. Her heart ached, her breath came in ragged gasps, yet no fire stirred within and her bow stayed dark. She tossed it with a growl and leaped from Makotae’s saddle.

Her small size proved a boon as she weaved under and around debris and combatants. She drew her dagger and plunged it into the back of the one who’d struck Macien. His two companions spun toward her. Their surprise shifted to anger.

A large, black blur collided with one as Makotae took his place in the fight. The last attacker stumbled back, her eyes locked on Makotae.

Lilau didn’t hesitate. She launched over Macien’s prone form, hitting the other side in a crouch. A push to the left, and her dagger sunk under the arm of the distracted raider. The woman spun with a yell, sword swinging up, but Lilau’s strike had been true. The woman fell for the last time as her blood flowed freely into the sand.

A whoop sounded nearby, followed quickly by others.

Jerking, Lilau swivelling in place to find her next target, only to realize there were none. The raiders were dead, their blue-tinted robes scattered among the bodies. Far too many tan robes lay with them.

Lilau dropped to her knees in front of Macien. Red coated the sand beneath the Weapons Master, soaked into her robes. Yet as Lilau watched, Macien’s chest rose and fell.

She was alive.

Lilau scrambled to unwind one of the cloth strips binding her sleeves up, tearing them off at the base. Makotae. Tell Inalia’s Great Cat to get her here.

A spark of agreement came from him as she undid Macien’s robe, revealing the thin, short-sleeved shirt underneath. The shirt sunk into Macien’s right side. A sword gash across her ribs turned the pale fabric dark with blood.

There’s no froth, Lilau thought to herself as much as to Makotae. The sword didn’t pierce her lungs.

Inalia is coming, Makotae sent back. But others need her attention well.

Lilau frowned, but understood. Inalia couldn’t play favorites. She’d have to deal with each crisis as she came upon it, and there was no telling when she’d get to Macien. That was fine. Lilau hadn’t spent so long under Mara’s tutelage, and so long dressing her own wounds, to let the Weapons Master go without a fight.

She packed Macien’s wound with a wad torn from her robes, then fastened it with the cloth strip. Crude, but it would slow the bleeding.

With one injury taken care of, Lilau looked for the next. The sword gash threatened Macien’s life, but it didn’t explain why she was unconscious. Her question was answered when she pulled back Macien’s hood. Thick blood pooled underneath. The blood had coagulated. It was older than the sword gash. Macien had been hit in the head, yet had continued to fight until she fell.

More cloth from Lilau’s increasingly tattered robe, and she’d secured another bandage around Macien’s head.

The shaking started in Lilau’s arms. A groan a few bodies to her left spoke of another injured fighter. The lack of a Great Cat cutting it short spoke of a Silent Hunter. She needed to help them. She stood, the pain in her head magnifying as a low whine started in her ears.

One trembling leg in front of the other, Lilau walked toward the downed outcast. Her foot caught on a dead raider. She stumbled, the mess of her mind trying to make sense of the ground rising to meet her.

The reverberation of the impact barely registered, muted by the fuzz at the edge of her vision. Her core felt so cold.

A warmth pressed against her. Wetness slid down her face as something pressed into the mud of her mind, searching for her, reaching for her.

She reached back.

Makotae’s large tongue scraped across her face in frantic licks. The whining faded as she sputtered and rolled away.

Lilau, you’re back!

Her mind spun in confusion. You brought me here.

Then you collapsed. What do you think you’re doing on the ground? You’ve pushed yourself too hard. You need rest.

Lilau scoffed, pushing herself into a sitting position while ignoring the trembling in her limbs. Rest right now? Only the dead have that luxury, Makotae. We need to help the injured.

You are injured.

Not as bad as the others.

Makotae huffed. Fine. But I’m not helping you do it.

Makotae.

He looked away as she scooted closer. His soft fur felt wonderful, inviting, but the groan she’d heard still echoed in her mind. Survivors scrambled around the remnants of the battle, grabbing bits and pieces before rushing to a prone form to administer aid. None had made it near her, yet.

Lilau pushed up, eyes locked forward and not on the body she’d tripped over. Her head swam with each movement. Walking proved impossible, so she crawled. She made it to the injured outcast just as another camp member did the same. They crouched down to her level and clasped her shoulders.

“Lilau, what’s wrong?” Radai asked. “Where are you hurt?”

“Not me. Them.” She motioned toward the outcast.

“Lilau.”

“I’m fine.” She pushed his hands away and sat up, turning her attention to the injured. Yiddi, the goatherd. He’d gone silent, but his chest still moved. Barely.

Her hands moved of their own accord, years of training and practice paying off. She found a deep wound along his arm. Lilau grabbed at her robes, hands fumbling. She growled. Why was everything so difficult? She grabbed again.

Radai’s hand draped over hers, stilling the shaking that had resumed. “I’ll do the bandaging. Would you look for more wounds?”

Lilau nodded. He removed his hand, leaving a prickle across her skin.