The Familiars #3: Circle of Heroes (11 page)

A CUNNING CAPTURE

“
B
lue sky, fluffy clouds,
My mind with wandering thoughts,
Of you and loves lost
.”

Gilbert was staring off into the yonder, reciting one of his haikus.

“The frostbite must be making him delusional,” Banshee whispered.

“No,” said Skylar. “That’s just Gilbert.”

“Actually, I thought that was one of his better poems,” added Aldwyn. “It didn’t contain a single reference to food.”

Orion had quickly reached the bottom of the Yennep Mountains and was now racing across the northern portion of the Chordata Plains. Upturned dirt and footprints were the only evidence that hundreds of skeletal great cats had recently risen from the dead here before traveling to the Enaj. Skylar unrolled Scribius’s map on Orion’s back and studied it as the horse ran. She looked up and pointed her wing due west.

“If we head toward those hills, our path will intersect the Brannfalk Pass,” she said, referencing the road named after the long-deceased king of Vastia, Loranella’s great-great-grandfather. “From there, we follow it northwest, until we meet the Ebs.”

“It is true that your directions would lead us to where we’re going,” said Orion. “But I know a faster way.”

The stallion was already adjusting their course, steering beyond the hills, toward a dense forest.

“Are you sure it’s wise to stray from the map?” asked Skylar, her voice rising an octave, the way it did whenever someone failed to follow her plans.

“You needn’t worry, young blue jay,” Orion said. “I know these lands better than any map can show. I intend to use that wisdom to give us every advantage I can.”

“From here, I defer to you,” said Skylar, but her high voice betrayed her true feelings. She rolled up the map and put it back in her satchel.

Aldwyn looked to his fellow travelers: first his two trusted companions, then the three of the seven descendants needed to summon the Shifting Fortress. For the first time since he had read about the failed prophecies in Kalstaff’s diary, Aldwyn was feeling confident again. They were quite a team.

Orion reached the edge of the forest and soon they were galloping along a well-trodden path that twisted through trees filled with yellow and red leaves. The lightmare left burning twigs in his wake, his sparking hooves igniting small flames. Without slowing down, he bent his neck to the ground and retrieved a bronze shard of metal from the path with his teeth. Still moving swiftly, he dropped it into the saddlebag slung over his back.

“What was that?” asked Banshee.

“A fragment of a shadow shield,” said Orion. “In the time of Brannfalk, those on two legs who profited from trading illegal weapons and components used this road to go undetected by the king’s soldiers. It became known as the Smuggler’s Trail. Some say this whole forest is enchanted, hiding things that don’t wish to be found.”

Aldwyn thought he saw fluttering figures out of the corners of his eyes, but every time he turned to look at them, they disappeared. Evidently what Orion had said was true: there were things all around that lurked just beyond their view.

Suddenly, Orion came to a screeching halt, his hooves grinding in the dirt before him. Aldwyn looked down to see what had caused the stallion’s unexpected stop. There in the middle of the trail was a small mouse—a small mouse with a horn sticking out from its head.

“Please, help,” cried the unimouse. Aldwyn remembered seeing an animal like this in the familiar shop in Bridgetower. “Many have been injured in my village. We had hoped to go unnoticed here among the forest’s protective spells, but the hare’s minions found us. Wolverine enforcers from Paksahara’s animal army came to recruit soldiers from our village. We refused their demands, and we paid dearly for it.”

“Did you say wolverine enforcers?” asked Aldwyn.

“Yes,” replied the unimouse. “We tried to fend them off with hexes, but our lack of black lichen meant we didn’t stand a chance against them.”

“When did this happen?” Simeon asked the unimouse.

“Less than an hour ago.”

“Do you have any idea where the wolverines were headed next?” asked the bloodhound. Clearly, Simeon had had the same thought as Aldwyn: to intercept the wolverines now and collect the needed descendant from their ranks.

“I’m afraid not,” said the unimouse.

“Did they leave anything behind?” asked Aldwyn. “Anything that might give us a clue?”

“I don’t know,” said the unimouse. “You’re welcome to take a look around if you like.”

The little creature led Orion off the path, and no more than ten yards away, an entire community of mice appeared before them. Dozens were lying on the ground, some cut and bruised, others with their horns snapped off.

“Aldwyn, see if you can find anything,” said Skylar. “Perhaps I can cast some healing spells. I’m no raven, but I’ll try my best.”

“I’m a bit rusty, but I can try my hand at a few, too,” said Banshee.

Skylar and Banshee began their casting and succeeded in closing the unimice’s wounds, but unlike a raven, who could reverse any injury, the bird and the monkey could provide merely temporary relief.

A weakened mouse who had lost a horn approached Aldwyn.

“Maybe this will help,” she said, holding up her detached horn. On closer inspection Aldwyn could see a tangle of wolverine hair wrapped around the tip.

“Skylar, you should come see this,” said Aldwyn.

Banshee continued to tend to the wounded, allowing Skylar to fly over. She examined the tuft of hair, then removed the Olfax tracking snout from her satchel. The disembodied wolf’s nose immediately sprang to life, hungrily sniffing the hair. It began to snort and lunge itself toward the south, but was held back by the gold chain it was attached to.

“Looks like they went that way,” said Skylar. “We’re all thinking the same thing, aren’t we?”

“That we should steer clear of these wolverines? Yep,” said Gilbert. “They are bad news.”

“No, that we go and capture one now,” said Skylar.

“Whoa, wait a second,” said the tree frog. “I thought we were avoiding them until the very end. Save the worst for last.”

“We always knew we’d have to do it sooner or later,” said Aldwyn. “We’ll use the snout to find them, and once we see what we’re up against, we can figure out what to do.”

“What happened to going to the Abyssmal Canyon?” asked Gilbert. “Rounding up a mongoose and a king cobra. Two descendants for the price of one.”

But the others ignored him, and before Gilbert could complain about the unfairness of the majority rule yet again, Banshee, who had done what she could to help the injured, rejoined the group. The unimouse who had sought their help stood before them.

“You are the Prophesized Three,” he said to Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert. “Go. Stop that wretched villain Paksahara before it’s too late.”

The familiars climbed onto Orion’s back with Banshee. Simeon led the way and off they went. The lightmare hadn’t taken more than a few steps before Aldwyn turned to wave farewell to the unimouse village—but it had disappeared in a flurry of leaves, hidden by the forest once more.

Now, as they charged ahead, Orion was not the only one leading the familiars forward. So, too, was the Olfax tracking snout.

The animals had entered a darker, thornier region where the trees had grown so close that it was difficult for Orion to travel between them. The stallion was moving stealthily now through the midday shadows, no longer thundering across the ground but stepping lightly so as not to tip off the supersensed wolverines they were hunting. The snout was sniffing frantically; if it had still been attached to a face with a mouth, it surely would have been growling. They had to be close.

Orion came to a stop and Banshee, who had volunteered to spy ahead, jumped to the ground. She coated herself in forest berries and crushed leaves to hide her scent from the wolverines. Then she turned herself invisible and disappeared.

Aldwyn and the others waited quietly. Every time Gilbert was about to break the uncomfortable silence, Skylar lifted a feather to his lips. Just a few minutes passed, but it felt like an hour, before Banshee reappeared. Aldwyn hadn’t even heard a rustling in the trees.

“There are five of them, just over that wooded ridge,” said the howler monkey. “The one who appears to be their leader is skinnier and leaner than the rest.”

Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert looked at one another. They all knew who that description matched: Lothar, the leader of the wolverine enforcers. They had encountered him at the Nearhurst Aviary. Like with the unimice, the wolverine enforcers had been trying to recruit Skylar’s family and the other illusion-casting birds of the Aviary into Paksahara’s army. With a shiver, Aldwyn recalled Lothar’s bloodstained teeth and the double hex branded into the bottom of his paw.

“Do you think you could take them?” Banshee asked Orion.

“With your help, absolutely,” answered the lightmare. “But I can’t promise that there won’t be injuries, or maybe even casualties.”

“I’m okay with a few of the wolverines getting hurt or worse,” said Gilbert.

“I was talking about us,” said Orion.

“Like I was saying, we can still head straight for the Abyssmal Canyon,” said Gilbert.

Skylar seemed lost in thought before her eyes lit up. Aldwyn took a relieved breath, knowing the blue jay had come up with a plan. After she explained the details, everyone agreed that it was their best chance at a successful kidnapping.

With no time to waste, the group split up, and Aldwyn moved to the wooded ridge to serve as a lookout. From there he could see the wolverines gathered down below, feasting on the carcass of a no-longer-identifiable animal. Two were fighting over a leg bone.

“Hey, that’s mine,” Aldwyn could hear one say.

“I brought down the kill,” replied the other.

“I’ll settle this,” snarled a third, all-too-recognizable, voice. Lothar pushed the two other wolverines aside and grabbed the juicy bone for himself.

Just then a stallion made of translucent green energy appeared in the sky, and riding it was a gray hare, who looked unmistakably like Paksahara.

As the flying stallion landed before the wolverines, Lothar dropped the bone from his mouth and bowed down low.

“I did not smell your approach, my gray lord,” he said.

“Hiding my whereabouts has become of the utmost importance,” replied Paksahara. “Even from you.”

Lothar rose back to his feet.

“And to what do we owe this unexpected visit?” he asked. “We have successfully recruited the High Plains mountain goats and the wall-crawling dingoes. Unfortunately, the unimice chose a different path. Unfortunately for them, at least.”

The other wolverines sniggered.

“Well done, Lothar. I knew I could rely on you. Now walk with me—important developments are afoot.”

Aldwyn watched as the hare led her trusted enforcer away from his soldiers and into a ravine. He could still see them, and his ears perked up as he tried to catch what was being said.

“We’re putting recruitment on hold,” said Paksahara. “Your focus now needs to be on killing the Prophesized Three and the descendants they’ve already gathered.”

The hare opened her paw and Aldwyn could see a cat hair, a blue jay’s feather, and a tuft of monkey fur.

“I thought I had sensed the presence of these animals in our midst,” said Lothar, who seemed to be trying to impress Paksahara.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aldwyn spied Gilbert in a neighboring tree, giving a wave. Then Aldwyn glanced at Lothar’s soldiers, who were still devouring their kill. He used his telekinesis to snap a dry branch and send it crashing into the shrubs on the other side of the pack, far from Lothar and Paksahara. The wolverines immediately jumped to attention, then stalked off to see what had caused the disturbance.

Aldwyn looked over to Lothar, who had also heard the noise. He briefly turned his back to Paksahara to investigate the commotion. But before he had taken as much as a step, an invisible Banshee bashed him across the head with her drum. The wolverine stumbled, but didn’t fall. He turned around, but Paksahara and her spectral steed, who of course had been nothing but Skylar’s clever illusion, had vanished. For a split second, Lothar was confused—just long enough for Orion to come galloping in, kick up his hind legs, and knock the wolverine senseless.

Skylar soared down from the trees and tossed Grimslade’s Mobius pouch to the invisible Banshee. The howler monkey materialized and removed the dispeller chain from the bag. Moving quickly before Lothar came to, she clamped the chain around his neck.

Aldwyn, still on lookout atop the ridge, saw that the other wolverines were returning. He ran down into the ravine, shouting, “They’re coming back already. We need to go now.”

Orion jostled Lothar awake. “You’re going to want to keep up behind me.”

The lightmare took one end of the dispeller chain with his teeth. Aldwyn, Skylar, Gilbert, and Banshee leaped onto the horse’s back, while Simeon hurried alongside them.

The captured wolverine dug his heels into the dirt to slow Orion’s escape.