Forever following your flight,
The history you thought was done
Will always circle back to bite.
The past can never be outrun.
Jay did not look able to move. The bowstrings creaked tighter.
"Come forwards," repeated the bowcreature.
"Weakling," said a new Coppertail, entering the hall. "Just shoot the kids."
"No, wait," said another. He was tall—taller than Rose—but he had a Flatlander's build. He stepped in front of his two companions. "Bluejay. Black Death. You remember me."
It was not a question. Rose curled her tail around a group of Lowland creatures and drew them slowly into the tunnel with her. All eyes were on the three new Coppertails and the frozen Raindai.
"Lie down, Bluejay," said the tall male.
Jay sank to the ground. Rose made sure the Lowland creatures were out of sight, then looped her tail around more.
"Don't move," said the last Coppertail of the trio, glaring at her. She was a Northlander, smoke grey and prickling with threat. Rose stopped moving.
Something shot from the shadows; in a heartbeat every bowcreature was mown flat. Creatures charged from the hall.
"Go, go!" shouted Rose.
Ash leaped between the grey Northlander and the children; she pounced on him and something snapped. Beech was right behind him. The first new Flatlander floored him beside his bondmate, lifeless. Rose was flung to the ground. She saw teeth, then didn't; the grey Northlander leaped off her and whirled, screaming, "Don't shoot!"
Something flashed in front of Jay. There was a thunk, then the snap of the bowcreature's neck. The tall male dropped the body.
Wing dragged the arrow from his shoulder and snapped it.
"That one stays alive," said the tall male. "Lady Winter will not appreciate it if we cost her assassin another bondmate."
"Jay, talk to me," said Wing without turning around. Jay did not move.
"He understands who he obeys," said the tall male. "Bluejay, come."
Jay stumbled to his feet. He walked around Wing and faltered.
"Come," said the tall male again. "Your cooperation will determine how that one comes out of this. I can always do to him what I did to your 'Bracken'."
"Jay," said Wing.
His head still lowered, Jay started walking again. Wing lifted his gaze. The next heartbeat he was on the tall male in a wild, screeching attack. Jay gasped and staggered back. Fear flashed raw in his eyes and he scrambled away as the blue-spotted Flatlander approached him instead.
"Don't be like this, Bluejay," she said. "His safety rests on what you do from now on."
The battle broke. Blood-streaked and snarling, Wing landed between Jay and the trio again. The tall male was scarcely out of breath.
"I do not give a Drakon shit how I come out of this," said Wing. "Jay, you don't even remember them and seeing them does this to you?"
"I taught his body, not his mind," said the tall male.
"You're the one he's scared of."
They slammed into each other again. This time, the Flatlander seemed to have doubled in strength; he was only just starting to get serious.
"Don't move," growled the grey Northlander as Rose tensed. "I hate killing bystanders."
Wing was spun around and slammed into a wall; he broke free and ripped into his opponent's shoulder. A kick met his ribs and drove him to the ground. The tall male slammed his stomach before he could recover his breath. Wing lay gasping. The Flatlander stood on him and said, "Bluejay."
"Get out of here, Jay," gasped Wing. He screamed as the tall male snatched the broken arrow from the ground and rammed it into his flank.
"That is your first warning, Bluejay," said the creature.
Jay was faltering, but he still flinched away when the female Flatlander stepped towards him.
The tall male slammed Wing's head against the ground. "Second warning."
Wing had gone still. Blood leaked across the stone beneath him.
"How did the last one die?" said the tall male. He stepped off Wing and set his teeth in the mutt's stomach. Something gave out in Jay. He walked to the female Flatlander and did not flinch as she pushed him to the ground. She knocked him out with a hard cuff.
"We're done here," she said. "Stone, leave the bondmate. If he dies, we go through all that trouble again. Cinder, we're leaving. That one"—she gave Rose a hard look—"won't follow us."
Rose did not. She could not. She could only watch, tears trickling down her face, as they picked up Jay and walked out of the hall, leaving the bodies of Wing, Beech and Ash behind. Only one of the three was still alive.
"Should I double the guards?" said a quiet voice.
"Yeah. We already confirmed how they came in, but someone might have followed them from Costar. Get a border patrol out, too."
Voices rustled and smells curled around each other in the half-darkness. Someone lifted Whipper by the scruff and set him on a soft ledge. He could feel Dusk's fur beside him. The world felt more dream than reality.
"Mariah," said someone.
A Watermouse shouldered her way through the shapes by the door. All but one left. The Watermouse finished rolling up her sleeves and put a paw on Whipper's forehead, then Dusk's. Drakon-shell arm guards graced both her forearms. "This one needs an operation," she said to the last shadow in the room. The Coppertail stepped forwards and dropped something on the ledge. Mariah pulled a vial and a cloth from her well-stocked belt. She uncorked the vial and poured a few drops on the fabric, which she rolled into a ball. The vial was recorked and replaced.
"Go to sleep," said Mariah, flicking Whipper's forehead. She draped the fabric over Dusk's mouth and nose. Then she was tucking a sheet under the edge of the Nightlock's body. Small metal instruments appeared across it. "Aren't you needed?" she said without looking up.
"Only once I'm not needed here," said the Coppertail. She reappeared from a corner with a blanket in her mouth. Mariah helped unroll it and drape it over Dusk. A paw brushed Whipper's fur as a corner was tugged over him too.
Mariah removed the cloth from Dusk's muzzle, chuckled, and tossed it over Whipper's. "Alright, renegade. I'll sleep you for you."
Winter's army surrounded the Warren hill and poured into the Labyrinth. In heartbeats, someone had found the right way. The front line roared. Like a flood, they burst into the fort. Leslanders took the main room and fanned out through the tunnels. They occupied rooms. They met no resistance. Warcries faded into puzzled murmuring.
"They bolted," growled Corsair.
"I figured as much," said Winter. On the surface above the sinkhole, a grey shadow flicked a message and slipped out of sight.
The army trickled out of the fort. It was snowing really hard now, and the ground was covered in white powder up to a Rivrit's ankle bones.
"Corsair, scout the fort and see if there is room for everyone here," said Winter.
"I wasn't expecting snow," said Autumn quietly when the second-rank had left.
"Neither was I."
The clouds flashed like a Whitewing mirror. Thunder crackled, and a paw-sized lump hurtled from the sky. It bounced half a tail-length on the frozen ground. A second chunk shattered on the stones. It wasn't hail.
"Lightning-ice?" murmured Winter. She had not seen this south of the Grass Flats.
There was a whistling sound from above. Winter and Autumn dove back into the Labyrinth as an ice block the size of a Forester took two branches off a nearby tree. Winter grabbed the first Leslander she encountered. "Find me Woodash."
"Yes, Milady!"
Soon the tracking commander was wading through the crowd towards the Mountainairs. "Milady," she panted when she arrived, and bowed.
"Woodash, is it possible to reach camp from here via the Labyrinth?"
The Leslander's tail swished uneasily. "Milady, there was only one creature who could tell you that, and that was Radar."
"Then we will find it ourselves," said Winter coolly. "Thank you. Send me Corabel and start scouting."
Woodash left. Corabel arrived soon after, hiding his limp. "Milady. You wanted me?"
Winter smiled. "Only to tell that there is an empty room down this tunnel behind me, with the remains of a healer's cache. I thought you could make use of it."
"Thank you." He bowed and left.
Winter settled herself on the floor. She shifted once, then again, then got up, her tail swishing. "Autumn, I'm going outside. Watch the fort for me."
"Yes, Winter," her sister replied, but Winter was already gone.
Sethral fought her way through the snow in Firebrand's tracks. They had lost Wing's trail when the snowstorm started. Firebrand forged ahead, her head bowed against the wind that rattled the trees and whipped at her fur until it was stiff with ice. Sethral gritted her chattering teeth and pulled her wings tighter.
There was a flash from ahead; Firebrand had found a tunnel entrance. The wind's noise was cut by four-fifths as they struggled inside. The air warmed significantly.
Silversand bounded in behind Sethral and shook herself, spraying snow everywhere. She shivered miserably. "I miss Rockhall."
Ice crusted the tunnel walls. Sethral blew on a fernlike crystal that dissolved beneath her breath. "Keep going, Firebrand. We need to ditch this wind."
They followed tunnels and eventually found a rounded-out cave. Roots made the ceiling shaggy and the floor was loose dirt, but there were fewer icicles.
"I'll take first watch," said Sethral.
Silversand and Firebrand both murmured their thanks and dropped to the ground. They were asleep in heartbeats.
Sethral pulled out her notebook. Her sketch of Costar made more sense in light of where they had emerged, but where Whipper and Dusk were now was a mystery. She sketched the river, then several caves and a crude Labyrinth network. She was so engrossed in her map that she failed to notice the creature until her nape prickled. She looked up.
Standing in a tunnel across the room was someone she had hoped never to see again. Sethral rose to a crouch and bared her teeth. Her heart was thundering. Radar did not step forwards, or even move, really. Sethral knew immediately that something was wrong with him. His coat was dirty and unkempt, matted in places like there were injuries beneath the fur. He looked like he had not eaten or slept in days.
"You're Tikki's friend, aren't you?" he said.
She nodded, unwilling to even give him her voice.
"He survived the bite."
Surprise registered through her wariness. "Yes?"
"That's good." It was barely a murmur. "Listen..." He hesitated. "I... know you hate me. And I know I deserve it." Something in him twitched, making him shudder.
"You're an animal," said Sethral softly. "You're a murderer and a torturer and a piece of scum."
"I know. But Sonar was lonely and I... I didn't know what else to do."
Suddenly, the creature before her was not a slave driver, but a small child.
"I'm not sorry I did it," said Radar. "Tikki saved Sonar's life. Twice. And my brother was always good to him."
"You weren't."
"I don't regret it. I did what had to be done. I wanted to make Sonar happy. I owed him that." Radar's head lifted a little. "I let him down once. I didn't protect him and he got taken. By a pet-hunter. Sonar trusted everyone, and she believed her when she told him she had a cage of wonderful creatures for him to pick from. She tried to push him into an empty cage. Sonar panicked and attacked her, and he hit him. Hard. I got there in time to rescue him, but he never grew up from being a kit after that. All he remembers from that incident is being happy about maybe getting a creature to have as his own. He was two moons old."
"So you got him a pet."
"Tikki wasn't the first."
"What about the slave trade?"
"When I got older, I went back and found the pet-hunter again. I wanted to show her how it felt to live in captivity. So I sold her. Then creatures came to me with the names of others they wanted to see caught. They paid me with food, so I managed to keep Sonar fed that way. He was growing but... you can imagine his hunting skills were slow to catch up. I wasn't a good enough hunter to feed both of us on my own. So I honed my hunting with slaves. I found pets for Sonar that way, too. That's how I found Tikki."
"And proceeded to wreck his life," growled Sethral. She could barely manage the growl. "Why are you telling me this?" she more asked than demanded.
"Because I want you to take Sonar a message for me. He's a good creature. He won't attack you. Just say you're a friend of mine and Tikki's."
"I'd rather die."
"Please."
For the first time, Radar looked up and looked her in the eye. Sethral was shocked. He was pleading.
"Please," whispered Radar. "Tell him I've gone on a journey, okay? Tell him I didn't have a choice, but if I did, I would've stayed. He can manage on his own, but it would kill him if he knew I was gone. Please don't say... please don't tell him I died. And tell him I love him. Would you do that for him?"
Sethral felt numb. That was it. Radar wasn't just hurt, he was dying. No wonder he looked so tired. She swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. "I'll do it."
"Thank you."
With that final whisper, Radar turned and limped slowly away. Finding a place to die.
Winter must have betrayed him, Sethral knew. Beaten him up and driven him from the army. Only a short while ago, Sethral would have exalted in this. She would have celebrated with the sweet taste of justice, and the regret that she had not done the deed herself. If she had heard that news just a short while ago, she would have been glad that Radar was gone. That Ryatzi was free.
She was still glad. But the dominant part of her twisted her up inside and made her curl into a ball and cry.