The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun (14 page)

Shockingly, he managed to get quite far away from the pyramid
before he found himself forced to change into his legged form. He
didn’t wait for one single second. Instead, he rushed through the
heavy foliage, running as quickly as he could.

His mind was screaming, and his heart felt torn into pieces. He
felt betrayed, and at the same time, like he’d done the betraying. He’d
dishonored his family by fleeing from the pyramid. But he didn’t
believe in human sacrifices, and he’d been convinced his kin didn’t
either. They only killed when defending their territory. Or did they?

Now that he thought about it, he’d known some of the guards
who’d shot at him. He’d even been in battles by their side. A mix of
anger and shame filled Nicolas, swallowing the confusion, fear, and
pain. His entire life had been a lie. He’d wanted to be a warrior so
much, believing in his clan’s honor. As it turned out, his people had a
very big secret, and the one thing Nicolas could never forgive.

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Behind him, Nicolas heard the rest of the hummingbirds coming.

He took a decision and changed direction. He was heading straight
toward ocelot lands, but right then and there, he’d rather take the
chance with the felines.

Still, his pursuers didn’t let up. On occasion, bullets splintered the
wood of the trees, and Nicolas only managed to escape being hit
because of his speed. He was actually much faster than other
hummingbirds his age.

It must have been either that or incredible luck that allowed him
to leave his clan’s territory reasonably unscathed. And still, his clan
persisted, never once abandoning the pursuit. All of a sudden, Nicolas
felt a different presence behind him. On instinct, he looked back, only
to see a female figure sweep past him. He couldn’t figure out the
woman’s identity, but she seemed to be heading straight in the
direction of Nicolas’s pursuers.

A few minutes later, Nicolas realized his clan stopped following
him. He mentally thanked the unknown female for distracting them.

Whatever she’d done, she might have very well saved his live.

Nicolas reached a large grove and knelt in the grass as he
realized the sun was shining brightly once more. The world had not
ended because he’d fled from his kin. His relief melted when the
feeling of being watched encroached on his senses. Nicolas looked up
and saw an ocelot approaching slowly, baring its fangs at him.

Nicolas couldn’t even tell if it was an animal or a shape-shifter.

He slowly began to back off, knowing he was in no condition to fight.

The standoff with his family still occupied his thoughts, and he
couldn’t focus for the life of him. He’d also lost the weapons he
always kept on him when he’d shifted into hummingbird form.

The ocelot pounced, and at the same time, Nicolas turned back
into his bird form and flew off. He moved as quickly as he could,
frantic, without really watching where he was going. He ended up
high up in the trees, but when he finally lost the ocelot, another
danger grabbed him.

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The tiny Nicolas ran straight into a spider web. The sticky threads
captured him and refused to let go, no matter how much Nicolas
struggled. Intellectually, Nicolas knew this could have all been
avoided had he calmed down and paid more attention, but now it was
too late.

Of course, he would not allow the spider to make him its dinner.

Quickly, Nicolas shifted into his human form and released himself
from the web. But as he readied himself to change back into a bird
and take flight, the ocelot pounced. It must be a shape-shifter, then.

No mere animal would have followed Nicolas so high.

They fell together through the foliage, with Nicolas struggling to
fight against the enraged, insane feline. He didn’t know what in the
world was going on in the ocelot’s mind, but the carnivores were very
vengeful.

As they came closer and closer to the ground, it occurred to
Nicolas that the ocelot would most likely land safely, while Nicolas
would break every bone in his body. And then, a heavy tree branch hit
the back of Nicolas’s head, and Nicolas knew no more.

Terror coursed through Nicolas as he finally grasped everything that had happened and would happen. His people still believed in the old Aztec superstitions and had intended to sacrifice him during the great 1991 eclipse. The same feelings of betrayal invaded Nicolas, like during that fateful day. His people should be better than this.

They should understand that the past was the past, and it should stay that way. The hummingbirds suffered enough from the attacks of the ocelots. They didn’t need to die at the hands of their own kind.

But unlike twenty years back, Nicolas no longer considered himself a traitor. During his time away, he had learned a lot of things.

He’d gained more and more respect for books, which was the main reason why he’d decided to have a bookstore in the first place. From these books, he’d understood the true causes of astrological phenomena. No one would defeat the sun if Nicolas didn’t die. The
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sun would be there long for eons in the future, untouchable in its absolute power.

And Nicolas, as a child of the sun, could not allow for more crimes to be committed in its name. For himself, for Garth, for Preston and Corbin, and for every other hummingbird who might be targeted by the elder’s ignorance and need for power, Nicolas needed to stand his ground and live.

The dagger fell, tracing an arch of death toward Nicolas’s abdomen. At the last moment, Nicolas moved out of the way, rolling off the slab, much like he’d done twenty years back. The elder was, however, quite fast. He intercepted Nicolas, and attacked him once more, wildly swinging the weapon through the air.

This time, the dagger struck true. Pain exploded over Nicolas’s cheek and neck. It was only by miracle that the sharp blade didn’t sever his jugular. Nicolas staggered back, the light of the sun blinding.

From the corner of his eye, Nicolas could see the edge of the pyramid dangerously close. He wanted to change into his second form, but he was dizzy, so very dizzy. His wound burned, and distantly Nicolas acknowledged it must’ve had some sort of poison applied.

As the elder lunged forward, Nicolas took one more step back. He realized that single move would be enough to send him tumbling down. But he didn’t fear death. He only wished he’d have been able to see Garth one last time.

It was the image of Garth’s smile that appeared in his mind’s eye as he fell from the pyramid top. The way it was built guaranteed that by the time he reached the bottom, he’d break every bone in his body.

From that kind of injury, not even a shape-shifter could recover.

But all of a sudden, through the haze of the pain, Nicolas heard a voice beneath him cry out, “Nico!”

It was Garth. Garth had come for him. Nicolas couldn’t believe it.

He would get his wish. He would see his mate and tell him how sorry
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he was for all this, for never confessing the truth and endangering him and the kits, for never showing the true extent of his feelings.

That thought gave him a strength he didn’t know he had. His body melted into his bird form, and he took flight, the steps beneath him a distant threat.

He could now see a large group gathered around the pyramid. His sight zeroed in on Garth’s familiar form, but he could also spot Byron Cunningham, as well as Brody, Liam and Soren.

Even as he acknowledged the fact that his friends had never come to his aid, his previous injury seemed to still affect his body. It was strange, but it seemed the blood flow hadn’t stopped with his shift.

Injured, Nicolas couldn’t hold himself aloft for much longer. He spiraled down in a fall that would have easily crushed his small body.

At the last moment, though, instants before he was about to hit the ground, his lover caught him and held him close.

Nicolas couldn’t believe it. He wanted to see for himself that Garth had truly come for him, that it wasn’t all just a dream. He’d dreamed so much of Garth lately that now he didn’t know if he could trust his mind not to play tricks on him.

He tried to crack his eyes open, but the strength that had saved him from falling to his death drained out of him. Then, he tried to call out Garth’s name, but the only thing that came out was an exhausted chirp.

No longer able to resist the cold fatigue that fell over him, Nicolas surrendered to the darkness.

* * * *

Garth paced in front of the small building, his heart thundering and his mind reeling with the events of the past hour. When he’d come to the rainforest, the last thing he’d expected was to find Nicolas on the brink of being sacrificed by a fanatic shaman wannabe who couldn’t let go of a past only he considered glorious.

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The mere thought of what happened in these forests without the knowledge of any outside authority made Garth sick to his stomach.

He knew that after all this was over, he needed to sit down and have a serious talk about sending in an ambassador to deal with shifters in remote areas. It simply wasn’t acceptable that in this day and age, people would still be sacrificing their kin to pagan gods.

Of course, all those concerns faded in front of the fear for Nicolas’s life. When he’d been left with Nicolas’s fragile hummingbird body in the palm of his hand, he simply hadn’t known what to do. He wasn’t trained in offering medical assistance beyond the most basic of knowledge, and he definitely didn’t have what it took to deal with Nicolas’s injuries. In fact, it was beyond his power of comprehension why the hummingbird’s condition hadn’t improved upon shifting. They’d brought a medic along, but the man had been just as puzzled.

Thankfully, Nicolas’s parents had arrived at the scene. Garth could still remember the conversation with crystal clarity.

“Oh, no!” the woman cried out upon seeing Nicolas’s tiny body.

“My baby!”

“Are you Nicolas’s mother?” Garth asked. She nodded shakily, he added, “Please help us. You must know of some sort of medicine that could help him.”

“Yes, there has to be a way.” She took a deep breath and seemed to decide on something. “I am Margarita, and this is Nicolas’s father, Felipe. Please, follow us.”

It was easier said than done. During their conversation, their misguided…guides had realized their mistake, at least to a certain extent. They now seemed confused as to Garth’s obvious affection toward Nicolas. The guards from inside the pyramid had also emerged, accompanied by a tall, older hummingbird. “Get them!” he ordered.

“Just go,” Byron told him. “We’ll deal with this.”

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Liam, Soren, and Brody followed behind Garth as he left the pyramid grove, trailing behind Margarita and Felipe. Their doctor had also come along, even if the two hummingbirds didn’t seem too happy about it. As they ran, he could still hear angry voices shouting, then the sound of a battle. Garth trusted Byron to diffuse the situation, so he didn’t once look back.

The two hummingbirds had led him with great speed away from the pyramid. As they walked, Felipe had started to explain, “We never wanted this to happen. We just never had the courage to stand up to the elder.”

“Someone came to us just now, a healer,” Margarita offered. “She told us the truth about the elder. He needs to be stopped.”

“And this healer can help Nico?” Garth had inquired.

“I hope so,” Margarita whispered in a barely audible voice.

“Come, we’re very close now.”

At last, they reached a hut in the woods, where an elderly woman had met them. She’d taken Nicolas’s tiny body, made a disgruntled sound, and then pushed Garth from her abode. To her credit, she’d accepted the presence of the other doctor inside.

And so, Garth’s only choice had become waiting, waiting and hoping. Margarita and Felipe seemed convinced that the old woman could help them. Garth didn’t trust them as far as he could throw them, but they did seem to love Nicolas. Besides, there were no medical facilities here, and their doctor, while competent, couldn’t deal with such a situation on his own.

Finally, the door to the hut opened, revealing the hummingbird healer woman and the doctor from Garth’s group standing in the doorway. It was an odd sight, past and modernity together struggling to save a life.

The woman gave Garth an enigmatic smile. “Come on in.”

Garth didn’t delay in taking her offer. He slipped inside the hovel past the two and immediately headed toward the small cot. Nicolas lay on the tiny bed, motionless, but breathing.

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Garth rushed to his mate’s side and took the hummingbird’s hand.

He kissed the far too cool palm, mixed feelings of fear and relief swelling inside him.

Even looking at his lover’s face made him feel guilty, like he’d failed Nicolas. His mate seemed so very pale, and the whiteness of his skin contrasted with an ugly line of red that traced Nicolas’s cheek and neck, starting from the very corner of his eye.

“Is he going to be all right?” he asked the medics. “Why isn’t the wound healing?”

The old woman released a sigh as she came to sit by his side. She took a bowl with a clear liquid and began laving Nicolas’s face, paying close attention to the injured area. “He will live, but there is nothing I can do about the wound,” she said in the same broken English the ocelot guide and the other hummingbirds used. “I have many times warned against this, against the use of such poisons. But the elder never listened. Stubborn people, always wanting more than they are granted by nature.”