Talon (The Astor Chronicles Book 1) (5 page)

I unsheathed the marblehilted knife, revealing a long iron blade pitted on the surface, but still strong.

‘When the smoke cleared, Ella was gone.’

Rekala growled in response, thinking,
‘If only I had been there. I would have protected both of you.’

We reached the grass-covered village centre where part of the battle had taken place. Rekala was able to see my memories of it in far more detail than my words could convey.

‘Where are they now, these Zeikas?’
the icetiger asked, swinging her head from side to side as if one was about to come out of one of the buildings.

‘They haven’t attacked us for years,’
I replied.
‘There were rivalries back then, between different Zeika Summoners, for the position of Bal—supreme leader. The current Bal’s name is Harar, but I believe there was a Summoner six years ago called Ogeyn who challenged Harar for supremacy. He failed, of course, but he left Reltland with a few hundred followers. It was Ogeyn who led a legion here to Jaria, captured our Anzaii and escaped over the Kiayr Ranges.’

‘With your sister?’

‘Yes. Only two Anzaii were left here. The other twelve were taken.’

‘Do you think the twelve are still alive?’

‘I hope so,’
I replied.
‘But Ogeyn and his ilk haven’t been heard of since. For all we know, the entire legion and all their prisoners perished in the mountains. It is rare for anyone to get far over the Kiayr Ranges and return. The weather is so harsh and the creatures so terrifying it is said those mountains cannot be crossed.’

Rekala spun, claws raised, when a Jarian by the name of Ivon approached from behind.

‘Morning, Talon,’ he said. Then he spoke to Rekala. ‘Sorry to startle you, my dear.’

She remained standing as he held out his hand for her to sniff.

‘I brought Jaseca over to meet you,’ Ivon said.

A pure white ermine crawled out of his back pack, its broad pink nose sniffing in Rekala’s direction. Jaseca was like a cat that had been stretched and given rounder ears. To Rekala, however, it was no cat—her first instinct was to pounce on the skittish creature.

‘Easy, Rekala,’
I said.
‘This is a fellow Rada-kin.’

‘The smell,’
she complained.
‘It’s going to take some time.’

‘Thanks,’ I said to Ivon. ‘It’s all very strange to her.’

‘When I first brought Jaseca into town, she wouldn’t come out of my overcoat for a week.’

I laughed. Ivon was about ten years older than me, but he’d only been living in Jaria for the past four years. Like many of our number, he had been compelled to journey out here after he met his Rada-kin. Some Rada lived happily in the big towns like Sarm, Telby and Ubu, but others felt their place was in a completely Rada society like Jaria or Lyth.

He gestured for me to sit next to him on a log seat.

‘I’ve been out of Jaria for about a week,’ I said. ‘Have I missed anything?’

Ivon chuckled at my facetious expression. ‘Actually, there is a new woman here.’

‘Oh?’

Ivon was well-known for his interest in women. In fact, there were half a dozen young ladies in Jaria who swooned over him whenever he drew near. This behaviour was frowned upon by most of the community, but, in the somewhat secret society of young adults, Ivon was a welcome diversion from the tedium.

‘She’s got a body like a Jesathian goddess, hair like fire and eyes a shade bluer than twilight.’

‘Hair? Eyes? You’ve only got one body part in mind,’ I teased.

‘One?’ he laughed back at me. ‘You know too little about women, Tal.’

It was true, but I didn’t take offense. I shoved him instead, and he shoved back, making me fall off the log. Rekala growled.

‘Have you got her attention yet?’ I asked, making a show of dusting myself off.

‘Sadly, no,’ he replied. ‘She’s the daughter of the Lyth prime and probably has higher prospects than me.’

‘Naw, you’re just—’ He waved my words away with a playful wink.

‘She just arrived here from Lyth, seeking help for our cousins down south.’

‘Sounds like you should volunteer,’ I said.

‘I don’t think she’s after troops,’ he replied. ‘I overheard something about banding together to petition the king of Telby. He has some connection to the Zeikas. I don’t know much more than that.’

I shivered. The thought of Telby allying with the Zeikas was horrifying. The very nation that had exiled both the Zeikas and the Tanzans couldn’t possibly consider an alliance with one of them, could it? The idea that they would choose the Zeikas over the Tanzans was also disturbing because it was a religious affiliation against our own. The Zeikas had made it clear that they wanted to slaughter all Kriites, or enslave us to build their own power.

In Reltland there were hundreds of Rada slaves, performing duties that required animal labour or communication over great distances. Their interest in the Anzaii was possibly something more sinister.

‘That traitor, Flale,’ I muttered. ‘He and his daughter will stop at nothing to secure their position.’

‘So you heard about Princess Denliyan’s lack of pregnancy?’ Ivon said, chortling. ‘Reckon it must be that husband of hers, Joram. Seems a flaccid sort of fellow.’

‘I’ve never been to Telby,’ I replied. ‘Never seen any of them.’

‘And may the Lightmaker spare you from all their noble filth,’ a new voice said. It was Cradic, a forty-something transformation trainer with family living in Telby.

While we had been speaking, other Rada-kin had come out to meet Rekala. She was now surrounded by eleven other animals. Her thoughts were filled with their thoughts; I did my best to filter them out.

‘That princess, though, she is a dish,’ Ivon exclaimed. ‘Willowy, smooth-skinned….’

Cradic shook his head in a friendly manner. ‘You have to find yourself a wife, Ivon.’

As if on cue, a young brunette woman called to Ivon from the other side of the village centre. He winked at us and went over to her.

‘Talon,’ Cradic said, ‘I hope you’re ready for today’s lesson. Bessed told me you only just met your Rada-kin a few days ago. You might consider giving it some more time before you learn to morph.’

‘We’re ready now,’ I replied.

Rekala extracted herself from the group of Rada-kin and padded to my side. Together, we entered the hall. We followed Cradic into a large room with chairs and a table at the front and a large open space beyond. Hanging from the ceiling beside the table were five life-sized skeleton paintings—a human, a cat, a dog, a goat and a rabbit. There were stuffed animals on pedestals all around the room, and skeletons on the shelves that lined the walls. The skeletons had only been natural animals, not kindred—we buried our precious Rada-kin in the ground after death, like humans. The floor was made of stone, but half of it was covered in straw and rushes for the comfort of the animals. It smelled like a barn.

I nodded to the other three new Rada and seated myself behind them. Rekala sat close beside me, her head touching my arm. Cradic moved to the front of the room where he welcomed each of us and asked us to introduce our new Rada-kin. Two of the others weren’t named yet: a hawk and a capybara. The third was a black horse who had accepted the name Shadow from his Rada. He was an impressive creature, but I could tell the other humans were more in awe of Rekala. The few icetigers who appeared throughout Jaria’s history were revered hunters and warriors.
Does a quartermaster need such a mighty Rada-kin?
I wondered.

Cradic held up the lower leg bone of a cat.

‘Who can tell me which bone in the human body becomes this bone during a transformation to cat?’

One of the others pointed to his forearm.

Cradic clapped his hands. ‘Now, which bone does a tail come from?’

‘The back bone gets longer?’ one of the students suggested.

Cradic shook his head. We looked at each other, dumbfounded.

‘There are many differences between the human body and the body of an animal. So where does the missing material come from and where do the extra parts go when we transform into the body of an animal?’

‘Isn’t it the waves?’ I asked. ‘I always thought that’s where our clothing and gear went as well.’

‘Precisely,’ Cradic said, ‘but how do you use the waves to control this? How do you tell your body what it needs to gain and what it needs to let go of? How do you do that?’

‘Isn’t that what we’re here to learn, Master?’ the youngest student asked. His capybara was sniffing around the room, finding it difficult to sit still and pay attention for any length of time.

‘Yes,’ Cradic replied. ‘You are here to learn the principles behind transformation so you and your Rada-kin can learn the rest on your own. Most Rada can only transform into five or six different forms. It really depends on your need to master forms, and your faith.’

‘What has faith got to do with it, Master?’ one of them queried.

‘In order to let go of your precious human body, it takes faith. You must believe in the gift Sy-tré bestowed upon you, so that you can remember the facets of your clothing and anything else you have on you during the transformation. If you forget something and you try to change back, that object could be gone forever.’

‘But I don’t know the inner workings of my body,’ I replied. ‘I couldn’t possibly know everything about it without turning it inside out.’

‘You’re right if you’re talking about your waking mind,’ Cradic said. ‘Thankfully each of us has an awareness of our body already built into our brain; we just can’t access this knowledge with our mind ordinarily. You might be surprised how much your brain knows about what’s going on inside your body. It is this self-awareness that you tap into when you choose to shift your form. All you have to do is picture the animal you want to become, imagine how it feels to be that animal, and instruct your body to shift to it.’

‘Sounds easy,’ one of the students said.

‘Ah, but there’s one thing to remember,’ Cradic said, hand raised, ‘if you try something you’re not ready for, the toll it takes on your mind will be too great and you’ll be back in your human form before you know it. Any interruption to your concentration will cause your mind to restore your body to your natural form. This is called a reversion.’

Thus began my training in the Jarian art of animal transformation. It went on for four days. We studied the bones and drew sketches of dozens of animals, discussed traits and differences, senses and instincts until all I dreamed of at night were paws, hooves and tails. We took walks outside and studied the way the animals ran and played. We practiced our arithmetic on the strides and leaping distances of various kinds, learned about weight-bearing, swimming and climbing.

On the third day, Cradic took us into the hospital for sick animals where we learned about the injuries and illnesses that could befall us or our Rada-kin if we weren’t careful. One lesson that stuck in my mind was the consumption of incompatible foods. If I ate bad meat or drank still water while in animal form, it could make me sick if I changed back before my animal body had processed it.

Any injury sustained in another form would usually remain after we changed back. Injuries could even become worse and tear during the transformation. Healing Master Safton, and his acolytes, were the only ones in Jaria to master “whole morphing”, healing recent injuries during transformation.

On the fourth day we got to attempt a transformation. The Rada-kin went first. Because they each had access to each other’s minds, through the waves, it was possible for them to sense how it felt to be another animal. Rekala’s first transformation was to dire wolf form. She had linked up with a dire wolf Rada-kin and used his impressions to guide her transformation. It was strange watching her body morph into the shape of a dire wolf. The luxuriant blue fur became rough black hair, the snout elongated and the teeth shrank a little. New teeth appeared that hadn’t been there before. The whole process took less than thirty seconds.

‘You did it, Rekala!’

‘You’re going to love this,’
she replied.

When it was time for the humans to try, Cradic went with us, one by one, to the big space in front of the table. When it was my turn, my stomach fluttered with nerves.

‘Touch your Rada-kin’s back, chest and legs, concentrating on her sensations more than your own. Think about how your body will have to change in order to become like hers. Imagine the feel of the air on your fur, and the sights, smells and sounds you will experience. It will be like what you can sense through Rekala now, but it will be through your own senses.’

After ten minutes of this he said, ‘All right, are you ready?’

‘I think so,’ I responded. Then to Rekala,
‘Are you ready?’

‘Yes,’
she replied.
‘You can do it. Believe it.’

I crouched down until I was on all fours and stared at Rekala until my eyes burned. I couldn’t seem to do anything more.

‘Ask Sy-tré for the transformation,’ Cradic whispered.

I did, but I still didn’t know how to initiate the change.

‘You’re focusing too much on what you see. Try closing your eyes,’
Rekala suggested.
‘Believe.’

I obeyed her, letting my eyes drift shut. The smells Rekala could sense were stronger than my own. The sounds were more acute, and it was easier for her to discern their direction and distance. I flexed my fingers into the straw until the nails reached the stone beneath.

I imagined claws there, fur upon my hands, and fur all over my body. I strained to feel what it was like having a muzzle that stuck out from my face and a short neck attached to my chest and shoulder blades. I felt the difference between my human knees and the knees of an icetiger. They were still there, but the legs were positioned differently.

My entire body changed. I let go of my human self, sending clothing, knife sheath and items in my pockets into the waves. An exultant feeling passed through me as I shifted, partly triumph at my achievement and partly from the sudden strength and flexibility of the feline form.