Oolid slowly approached, shield at ready.
"Don't struggle. We're not trying to hurt you," he said as he held it up.
Sovanna hissed when her legs were bound. But she still had her paws and kept them moving, so they couldn't be caught. A yowl escaped her as a needle prick her thigh. Sudden waves of drowsiness plunged into her body. Her eyelids grew heavy, but she fought back, biting her tongue so hard to make pain keep her awake.
Oolid pressed his finger on his lips. "Shush, child, it'll be over soon and then you don't have to worry about a thing."
Worry? Don't? Panic rose in her chest. How can I not?
She thrashed her arms around as Humans neared to bind her. "Taking away what makes us Kaunlutha's evil," she said, her words slurring. Her tongue was thick and sluggish in her mouth. "Our a-and. Our mah-ick."
"But look around you. What's left here but some overgrown jungle and a forgotten castle? In an enclosure? Don't you want to be free? Relax and let them care for you, child."
By now her arms were tiring. The rubber rope dug into her legs, numbing them below the knee. Tears of frustration bloomed in her eyes. Sovanna refused to cry or that would mean giving up.
"No more fighting. That's it." Oolid's voice sounded far away. Her eyelids fluttered, but she still refused. She flinched when Oolid's cold hand touched her nose. He pushed her jaw, closing her mouth.
"Take the shield and press it to her flank," he ordered to someone behind him, "Magick is in the heart."
Sovanna with her mouth forced closed could only whine in protest. The medicine they put into her relaxed all her muscles. She could hardly move and her arms weren't even bound. The shield touched her side and with a shudder, she turned from lion to lionkind, becoming smaller so her legs slipped out of the rubber. With feeble paw, she tried to tug the one around her neck, but it only tightened as the Human holding it pulled it taut.
Oolid's white beard brushed against her head as he leaned over her. "That's it. There's a good girl," he said. "I was surprised, you know, when Ogalutha told me to use the shield on him. I didn't know that's what it did, take magick for safe keeping. I didn't know that he would die."
Die? Oolid killed him?
"When Rathana came, she was surprised I killed him before she did. She dismembered him. With his magick still intact in the shield, his body didn't turn to ashes like your mother. But you have to understand, Sovanna, I didn't know he would die. He's the one that let me do it. Did he know? I would say he would have to have known. Suicide. What kind of father does that to his daughters?"
Her mind whirled with confusion. She couldn't believe her father would have Oolid use the shield, take all the magick, knowing it would kill him. Ogalutha was fine. Sovanna never saw him look so stressed out that he couldn't take it.
Something deep inside of her shuddered then. Fear rippled across her body as the shield turned deadly into a needle that pierced her heart, digging into the core of her powers.
"Oolid," She lifted a heavy paw to try to stop him, but he grasped her paw in his hand and held it down, "no, please."
She realized what he was saying then. The shield could take all magick away, not just some. She guessed Fira only had some, so she didn't die. It didn't make up her whole being like it did for Ogalutha. The same went for all other Kaunlutha.
I have to get out of this. I have to stop him. She forced her eyes open, pushing the sleep back as far as she could, but it was like trying to hold open a heavy door that only wanted to close.
A bout of nausea crept up her throat and she heaved. The needle touched something before the core of her magick. It was so close. If it pierced the core, her magick would be sucked into the shield. Having strong powers meant her heart would give out.
The savat, trying to kill me!
Surrounded by Humans with more shots of medicine at the ready, Sovanna couldn't make any sudden movements. Six Humans stood around her, watching with blank expressions. The shield warmed against her side. Her magick shuddered, sending another wave of nausea up her throat. Sovanna gasped for breath as her chest compressed and she convulsed.
Help, someone, she thought as tears and snot ran down her face. The needle came face to face with the core and in her mind's eye, a ball of pale-yellow light floated in a dark blue space. Red and purple flames on one side, yellow and orange flames on the other, the core represented sunset and sunrise. The golden sparkles in the center were like stars.
It's beautiful, she thought as her vision darkened. When the needle touched the center of the core, a flash of memory rushed into her mind.
The spirits of her parents telling her they believed in her. Taro and Rokki wanting to help. And her own imagination of herself as queen, standing before her pride with her head held high as her father did, gazing upon Kaunlutha who survived time and again as long as they had their king. They would unsheathe their claws and raise them to the sky in respect. Sovanna didn't know when Ogalutha gave up, but she knew they followed their king.
Kaunlutha. The pride. They follow him.
Then the vision switched to the present of Kaunlutha without a leader, heads bowed, following the orders of those smaller and weaker than them. Willingly, they gave up their identity as Kaunlutha.
They need a leader, she thought, forcing herself back into consciousness. She could exist as a leader, doing leader things like standing before them and declaring herself, but that wasn't what it was about. Her father was a symbol for them. Because he was there as their identity, they followed and never lowered themselves to Humans.
Sovanna growled as the vision faded, forcing the needle back. She snapped her eyes open and reached deep within herself, seeing her core again. Her full potential, dormant this whole time.
It's time for solar magick. Time for sun.
She took a deep breath and roared. Together, her magick pushed out from her throat with such force that her voice tore through the Humans and Oolid as wind, throwing them back across the clearing. The shield went flying, crashing into a tower wall where it shattered. A myriad of orange, red, and yellow sparkles shot out of the shield and pierced the chests of their Kaunlutha. Manes rippled with newfound sparks of fire.
Golden and orange sparkles of magick rained down on Sovanna, giving her a warm hug. Sovanna blinked as fingers fumbled around her now thickened neck as she took on her lion form.
Her instincts were to hiss at him and first he let go.
"Kaunlutha are more than lions," he said, "Let me help you."
She growled again in warning but turned her head. Tears pricked her eyes. There were still good Humans, but Sovanna wasn't sure if she could ever trust another Human fully again.
But before the last knot could come undone, a gunshot went off. The young male fell to the ground and blood pooled out of his neck. Beyond him, Oolid with glaring eyes held a smoking gun.
"No use," He threw the gun on the ground, "We fight you but you have magick. We work with the Guardians to weaken you. Make sure females can't get pregnant. Make sure iceblood spreads from time to time. Finally, an endangered, dying species all on their own without mass murder." Then he snatched up the gun again and aimed it at her. "I hate to do this, Sovanna, but I can't have you doing all this magick."
Before he could do anything, Sovanna's roar returned on the wind, coursing over the heads of Kaunlutha and Humans. Oolid turned, startled, as sunlight burst over the trees into Rukkatukin. All Kaunlutha remaining, one by one, dropped their wooden crates and unsheathed their claws raising them to the sky.
"Kaunlutha!" Sovanna shouted. "I am Sovanna-Kiya Praenglutha. The daughter of Ogalutha and his true successor. I will head north to rid of the frost beast that creates the frost fog. Take the weapons of the Humans. Force them to let you leave the enclosure until I return." She went up to Oolid and knocked the gun from his shaking hands. "See to it that this one is put in the dungeon, Fira," she said and Fira, who had been near, squeaked a response of shock.
"You are great warrior," Sovanna said with a small smile, "use your skills for me. Use it for Kaunlutha. Lead them in my absence."
Fira fumbled for her tail. "Me? But why?"
"Because you can be tough, can't you? Patria, Bayah," Sovanna yowled out the names. It was Bayah who answered from far ahead where Fira was. She ran up to Sovanna and took a knee. Sovanna rested her paw on Bayah's shoulder.
"Listen to Fira. She will lead in my place. I must go north to rid of the frost fog."
"I will not disappoint," Fira said, raising her unsheathed claws in the air, "my Praenglutha," she said and took a knee as a warrior would, and bowing her head.
Sovanna turned to Rokki. He gave a nod and his flaming mane rippled. To her surprise, when he roared, he transformed into a lion and fell on his face unused to being on all fours.
"Fidni," he said and scrambled to stand on his two feet, but as a lion, he was off balance. With another surge of flames around his body, he was back to his bipedal form. "I never turned before."
Oolid whispered something.
"What?" Sovanna said into his ear. "Speak, traitor," she hissed.
He tugged his beard. As he spoke, his face paled. "Ogalutha's and Sechalutha's magick in the shield gave him extra power. Would be the same f-for all others a-and," his voice trailed off and his eyes widened. All the other Humans backed into tight circles as many full-form lions, twice their size and with rippling flaming manes corralled them.
Rokki smirked. Then he gave a kiss on Fira's forehead and joined Sovanna.
"I'll return in two weeks," she announced, "and if I don't, consider me dead. Lead together. Work together. The strong must help and train the weak. Lower Kaunlutha must share knowledge and other way, too. Never lose your identity. Makes us Kaunlutha."
All Kaunlutha in the vicinity yowled in farewell to her. Sovanna listened to their chorus of yowls and sometimes roars. They were united some way, but she knew there would be a while to go. It seemed like a good start to her though.
I did pretty good, didn't I? She gave a smug smile, unable to help but feel like she did quite a decent job at being the leader they needed. Sovanna ran off into the jungle with Rokki at her heels.
"We need to find Taro," she said, checking over her shoulder to see the Humans were not following.
"Been a few days since. How we going getting over fence?"
If only a few days had gone by, they had less time to get to Drazlesk even if they could meet Vislo in time. Gripping the ground with her claws, she pelted into the jungle. Rokki huffed behind her, slower with his bipedal running.
Undergrowth brushed against her legs and arms. Branches snagged on her fur. All the while she was trying to figure out how to get over the fence without having anyone with wings to help. She raked her mind for a way out. There was no way they could climb a nearby tree and drop to the other side. Near the fence, there were no nearby trees that hadn't turned brittle by frost. They would fall before they could even climb high enough.
When her mind wandered to using rocks to stack up and make a tower to climb, an idea flickered by. She caught it in her mind's claws.
The factory building was adjacent to the fence. She hadn't been back since the accident, but she distinctly remembered the wall of the side near the fence frozen stuck to the fence. If the roof was connected, they might be able to go across the roof to the other side.
She explained her idea to Rokki.
"What if it's not?" he panted. "Can you, slow down?"
Sovanna shook her head. "And I'm sure it is."
He groaned. "So sure of yourself."
When they got to the factory, she crept along the side where the tree had fallen into the wall. The bark was burnt and frost made ice patterns across it like little crystal stars. From where she stood, she couldn't see the roof well and no even Rokki who was taller could tell if the tree was frozen into the roof or if there was a gap.
Sovanna gave a roar and turn back into her bipedal form. Then with a running start, she leapt into the air and launched herself at the tree. Some of her claws found bark between ice and she pulled herself up over the edge.
Her feet slipped.
With a squeal, she slid off the other side, falling into a pile of crunchy ashes. Ashes got in her mouth and she spat them out.
"Are you okay?" Rokki called.
"Savat, I slipped," she said back. She heard a THUD and soon Rokki was precariously perched on the slanted roof, digging his feet claws into one side and the other for balance. The roof didn't used to be slanted, but that was how wreckage froze over.
Rokki held his arms out to the sides and wobbled. "I don't know if I can pull you up. Can you climb?"
Sovanna glanced up, but the rest of the factory was caved in here, looking into the place she was last time with the giant hole. It was where she found Bristya covered in ashes and soot.
I never asked about it, she realized.
She began to pace. The hole sticking in her mind. She could hear Rokki calling to her and then swearing when she didn't answer him. Sovanna knew the factory had at least two floors belowground.
Why come through there if you can fly? Can you come through there?
The fence loomed above her. She never considered it an obstacle before. Now she wanted it gone, so they could hurry up and get to helping Taro and going to Drazlesk. The fence was a lot higher than the roof of the factory, so getting from roof to top of fence was not an option.
"Wanna try this hole?" she said. Rokki hesitated but then jumped down, joining her in the room where she saved Bristya. "I pulled Bristya from here, but it goes down two floors. I think there's a way out from down there."
"How to get down?"
Sovanna pointed to the oil tree, blackened and partially frozen. It wasn't the best option, but she couldn't think of anything else.
"Bristya can fly."
"You want to look for map of factory? Waste time?"
His eyes brightened up. "There's a map?"
She scowled at him. "I don't know. Humans always have maps somewhere."
"I'm not risking being trapped in oil tree hole. It's probably dripping."
She put her paws on her hips. "You have better idea then?"
Rokki bit chewed on his lip. "Fira and I have a secret."
Sovanna hissed. "You dug your way out?" She grasped his arms. "To the frost fog? I bet it was you, going there, making frost fog come through, spreading iceblood and—"
"That's not how iceblood spreads, fidni. No, it's a crack in fence, just crumbling when we were play fighting near it. We hid it and sometimes we went to see it again."
I think that's why it's coming through faster. A hole! She couldn't believe they didn't tell Ogalutha about it. He would have told the Humans and they would have fixed it right away. But the thought of Humans only brought a bad taste in her mouth.
"But we can't go near yet. It's far from here." He pointed back toward the way they came. "Goes close to lower Kaunlutha's far end corner. So, let's hunt."
Sovanna huffed. "I'm a good hunter, in case you needed to know."
Rokki arched his brow. "I'm a good real hunter. I bet you never catch a mussa that's a real mussa." He went down the hallway and dodged fallen debris. Sovanna went after him.
"What do you mean, 'real'? I eat real ones all times."
"One to catch two mussa first gets tastier bite." He grinned over his shoulder.
Sovanna growled at him. Rokki broke into a run, dashing out of the factory. With a roar, he turned into lion and did a somersault on his face. Sovanna turned with a roar and stopped to stand beside him as he lay grimacing on his back.
"Lazy lion," she teased, pelting away. With a snarl, Rokki chased after her on four wobbling legs. They zig-zagged through the jungle where sunlight made dapples on the ground. When she heard Rokki fall again, a snicker fell from her lips. For a moment, she let her worries go.