CHAPTER 23

Trunks and branches whizzed by, chunks of matted dirt tangled with the roots of various mosses flew up in Lis' passing. They ran, the pack and Lis, and the movement created a hypnotic peace. A ground eating trot interspersed with long sections of loping.

She could smell the heady scent of the earth and deep green leaves of the plants, still wet from the small shower they had run through.

She thought, at first, that they might make their way back toward the Onyx Aerie, and the southern parts of the great forest where her pack had settled. But it was a foolish assumption, one based on her lack of experience and travel within the forest. South might be where she had lost Adda, but even she knew that her sister no longer lay in that direction. Before she had awoke Cillumn, she had planned to follow her link, gauging the strength of the connection in order to track Adda down. Illaise ran in a completely different direction. Lis had tried, more than once, to tell her this, but she was not inclined to slow down and shift so that Lis might voice her concerns.

It took most of the night, and long past dawn, before Lis realized Illaise was circling around the direction her sister was in, attempting to come in from the west. It was an odd choice, given the amount of mountainous and cliff-side terrain in that direction, but Lis assumed any other approach was unachievable. She had plenty of time to think, along her silent run, about how that might have turned out for her had she rushed after Adda on her own, even with the aid of Cillumn.

The sound and scent of water grew near, and Lis was surprised, for a moment, since she had been lost in her thoughts, when she rounded a bend and nearly ran into Illaise in full human shape.

Several of her warriors had shifted, as well, and they all bent over a sparkling crystal stream, drinking deeply.

“Your wind is down,” Illaise barked. It was a criticism, indicating how difficult Lis found it to keep up with the pace of the pack. Not something she had ever excelled at, but now with the heavy satchel weighing her down, and lack of any sort of rest for...well...days, it was not surprising she struggled. Lis didn't bother to answer her, or defend herself, as she might with her own pack. It would be useless, anyhow, she sensed Illaise was not one to be pleased about anything. Instead, she maneuvered herself around her and her men and worked her way to the stream to drink.

Illaise glowered at Lis, but her distaste was short lived.

“We will wait here for nightfall,” she commanded. “It is far enough away from the camp that we should not draw their attention.”

Lis hesitated to shift then, with fourteen males moving about the small clearing, but at last she did, unable to think of another way.

“Why wait?” she demanded. “They are blinded, would it not be wiser to push forward while we have the advantage of sight?”

The wolf drinking next to her snarled and snapped her direction. It was not Lis' place to question his Alpha. Lis did her best to withstand his treatment without flinching. Illaise turned, too, her lip lifted into a sneer.

“Do you question every decision not your own, rogue?” she spat. “Or are you hoping to take command of this mission?”

Lis did flinch then. She did not want to take command. She still had to bite her lip to keep from demanding more answers. Illaise's reasoning made little logical sense to her, but the Alpha was not a patient woman and Lis sensed she had pushed her as far as was healthy for her own safety. Most Alphas were not above roughing up those that got a little too forward thinking in the pack.

Lis shifted back to wolf, where at least she would be covered by her own fur, and found a small crag in a pile of rocks to curl up beside. She watched Illaise give orders to her warriors for provisions, scouts, and lookouts. She didn't trust the woman, not at all. She hoped that Gayriel had been right about her necessity.

“The camp has scouts that are not Quatori, or possessed,” a younger warrior had approached while Lis watched Illaise. He sat now, one leg bent and his arms resting on top. He was very young, too young to have a great deal of experience in battle. He watched the activity in the clearing with hooded eyes, and more wariness and intelligence than one his age was often entitled to. As he spoke, he slide his gaze to Lis.

“You do not trust her,” he continued softly. She could neither correct, nor agree with him, but he seemed happy with the one-sided interaction. “She is a good Alpha, fierce and loyal to her pack. She is the only leader of the free packs willing to take action against the evil plaguing our people, even though she has lost nearly all of her own warriors doing so.” He glanced at her again, perhaps sensing that she didn't see the number of deaths under her command as a quality of her leadership. “Every one of them was a volunteer. She never commands any one into battle, they follow her willingly. Just as you, yourself, do rogue.”

He was silent for a long time, and Lis thought he might be finished defending Illaise. He had given her much to think about. The woman had obviously won the loyalty of this young man, and if it were true that each of the other warriors were volunteers, then she must have their respect, as well.

“If you were to approach in the proper manner, you would find her quite reasonable,” apparently not quite done with his tirade, the boy continued. Lis huffed, tired of being chastised.

“She listened to my plea to come, to take action. I am not old enough, technically, to be a warrior, but after what happened to my father...she understood, and she has let me have what I need, a way to...do something. It is the same for you. You must know she slowed the entire pack so that you could keep up, and that this rest is more for your benefit than for ours. You are an encumbrance to this mission, yet she will not stop you from participating, not if that is what you need to do in order to grieve.”

“Madion,” Illaise's voice cut through his speech and he looked away from Lis, and to his leader. She gestured and he rose from his spot to join her. Lis watched as he approached. Illaise's face did soften slightly and she spoke softly, not with the harsh, impatient commands Lis was used to hearing from her. She gave him some direction or another, which had him nodding in agreement before shifting and dashing off into the forest.

Lis frowned inwardly, not liking the odd bit of guilt that settled on her for her quick judgments, or that she was a burden to the Shifters, and it seemed that even a near child could see that. She couldn't help the feeling that the pack saw this as a form of suicide on her part. And maybe they were right. She was small and weak, certainly no match for the creatures, not without her creations, but she had to try.

Slumber pulled at her, the afternoon sun beating down upon her fur, the trickling of the stream singing nature's lullaby into her heart. There were so many things that she should be concerned for, so many possibilities and dangers coming to meet her, yet her last thoughts were on Cillumn. Surely, by now, he had discovered her gone.

There was little doubt in her mind that he would follow. The only question was, would it be too late when he found her?

***

Something nudged at her side, poking her ribs smartly. She rolled away from the pressure, but it followed persistently. Her mind was mired in such deep sleep that it took her a few breaths to remember where she was, and what danger she was about to face. The thought cleared the last bits of fog. She sat, as well as she could in wolf form, and found herself curled around her satchel looking up at an unimpressed Illaise. Wolves and a few men busied themselves about the clearing, their actions smooth and practiced...and silent. There was only one reason Lis knew for such precautions.

Quatori.

Spider-legs crept across her spine. Had the Quatori found them? How many enemies were they looking at? She hated that she was unable to ask for clarification. Even a whisper could be deadly if the Quatori were near enough. The sun had arched downward, but still poured its bright rays into the clearing. Lis estimated that she had slept for maybe five hours. It wasn't enough, but it would have to do.

Illaise made an impatient gesture and she noticed that the woman held rations in her hands. What looked to be hard dried biscuit and several strips of meat. Lis' stomach turned at the thought of eating now, even that organ was concerned about the guarantee of her future death. A muscle in the Alpha's jaw jumped, forcing the shadows on her neck to dance. Maybe it was safer to do as was expected and try to eat than to defy her any farther.

Lis shifted as quickly as she could, feeling exposed and useless in her naked human skin, and accepted the rations gracefully. That wasn't enough for Illaise; she stood, watching Lis until she began to eat. Lis wasn't sure whether to be impressed that Illaise cared about feeding her, or irritated at the level of control she desired. Either way, she took the first tentative bites. The biscuit crumbled to dust in her mouth. It took a lot of chewing, but she finally got it down; the dried meat was a little easier, some of its inherent moisture still remained and it had been seasoned pleasantly.

When she had finished, she found Illaise staring away from her, watching the proceedings of the clearing. Her gaze was guarded and her face neutral, but the hand at her side was clearly visible from Lis' vantage and it clenched and unclenched in an agitated manner. How would it be, to feel responsible for all the lives before her?

She noticed Lis staring, one eyebrow twitched upward slightly as she turned back. Then she pointed toward the satchel and waggled her fingers, indicating that it was time, at last, to release the promised weapon.

Lis untied the leather fasteners and opened the sack, digging carefully through the compartments and removing five bundles. Each was a combination of two phials, designed to be tossed and broken at the same time. Illaise appeared unimpressed with her creations. She hefted one, roughly enough that Lis cringed at the possibility of it breaking. Fool of a woman.

There was no indication that she noticed Lis' flinching, except a renewed gentleness. A few rapid hand signals and four men appeared at her side. She handed one of the bundles to each of them, keeping the fifth for herself, and busied herself tying the awkward bundle about her neck with a thong of leather. A deep frown creased Lis' lips as the warriors designated to carry her creations followed suit. Did they not realize the danger? She had designed those bottles to break, they were not the most sturdy of vessels. At least in her satchel they had been held snug, tucked in against layers of cloth and her myriad of other bottles until there was little room to move and break. Around their necks. there was plenty of maneuverability, too much.

She needed to warn them of the danger, she tried hand signals of her own. Unfortunately, her weak flapping was of little interest, something else commanded their attention. Each of the men stiffened in turn, cocking his head and staring into the forest down along the path they had used to arrive at the clearing. A moment later, she caught the scent that they had noticed.

Quatori. They were closing in.

The warriors stepped away and shifted to wolf, their bundles swinging precariously around their enlarged necks. It was better for Lis' sanity, she decided, not to watch the spectacle. Instead, she dove her hand back within the satchel and found her dart launcher. It took less than a minute to set up the six darts and the poison capsule that would, with all luck, disable the enemy. She could not shift to wolf again, not with the launcher, but the wolf's natural defenses were nothing against this enemy anyway, and Lis refused to be that vulnerable.

There was some silent signal that she missed, for all of the wolves moved off at once. Some, those with her creations, vanished into the forest along the stream bank. Others took to crossing the stream, silently slipping into the water like beasts from the river, itself.

Lis watched for a moment, debating what to do. She had been given no instruction on the different directions the wolves followed. Part of her wondered if Illaise hoped that she would simply become lost, or maybe stay and be Quatori fodder now that she had her weapons. It was a possibility, but one that made little sense given the effort she had just taken to ensure Lis was rested and fed.

Lis spotted a flash of fur and her thoughts settled slightly. Not Illaise's pale sliver, but a deeper gray male, and smaller. He had crossed the river already and was pacing in the shadows of the trees, watching the path behind Lis anxiously.

Taking the hint, Lis entered the stream herself, careful of her footing. The shock of the cool liquid energized her skin where it touched. Danger, and the chance of finally reaching Adda, energized the rest of her. The water reached mid-thigh in the center of the stream, before receding as she climbed the far bank. Roots tangled there, exposed from seasons of water rushing by, providing naturally formed hand and foot holds. When Lis reached the bank safely, the wolf turned and dashed into the undergrowth. If she looked closely, there was the fine beginning of a trail that he followed. Grasses bent and a few branches deprived of their leaves, but it was not a deeply rutted game trail, no other animal had passed here for a long while.

This was not the first time the pack had run this path, she realized. Illaise had mentioned that she had sought passage into the camp, Lis hadn't thought she was speaking of recent events. By her estimate, that might have been exactly what Illaise was doing when Scet summoned her.

The trail was hard to navigate; it was clear, but the route had been chosen for the shape and abilities of the wolf form. And while the Shifter's wolves were much larger than the wild wolf counterparts, the form still had much maneuverability that human arms and legs lacked.

Behind Lis, a branch snapped, a sharp intrusion into the enforced silence.

She crouched, backing from the path slightly and working her way behind a trunk. Dread and hopelessness crept into her. If the Quatori had found them, and tracked them already, then what chance did they have?

As predicted, a man came into view, oozing around a fallen tree trunk. One of the mutilated and possessed beings. At this point, it still wore its human form, so it was impossible to tell if it was a Shifter or not. She knew now that the Quatori could also possess dragons. Could they take humans, as well? She wasn't sure they would have reason to, but she didn't pretend to understand the logic behind this evil.

The shadows around it behaved strangely, swirling and gathering, yet if she looked closely enough, they stopped. Such was the power of the Quatori. This man was particularly concerning. He weaved and moved as she had come to expect from those possessed. Oddly, his eyes were still intact, though swollen and oozing, not the gaping holes Lis had seen so far. Wounds split his skin, and they looked fresh. He snuffled at the ground, and she watched, her stomach heaving as he raised blood caked fingers and raked at his own face with a frustrated gesture. A pained moan followed, one that had her gritting her teeth.

A soft tickle against her skin nearly startled her from hiding. She flinched violently, which was dangerous in a situation that required such stillness. The gray wolf had appeared at her side. He watched for a long moment, the creature snuffling about the path, his gray hackles rising. Then he turned to Lis, meeting her eyes pointedly before tilting his head toward the path.

Yes, he was right, it was not wise to sit here and allow the creatures to catch up, especially since there was bound to be more than this one. Yet, she found herself unable to pull away. Just what was it that was pulling at her recognition? Something deeper that she was missing, something bad.

It wasn't until she caught a waft of scent that she finally knew what it was. She did recognize the creature, and he was a Shifter. This was...or had been her Alpha.