ELRETH

When the door swung open again, they were all just staring at this stupid animal, while Elreth wondered how the hell they'd gotten here.

It was part relief, part annoyance to see her brother—massive and confident—stride into the building looking like not only did he have a right to be there, but that he should probably be running the show.

She was glad he hadn't fought Aaryn. But she didn't appreciate the demonstration. He needed to come in here submitted, not full of himself.

Interestingly, she caught a look between Gar and Aaryn as they stepped inside that pricked her ears. What had they been saying to each other before they got here. And why were they watching each other warily?

Maybe Gar had fought after all.

She wasn't sure if she was going to face the brother who'd come to the disformed meeting and shown his solid strength, or the brother who'd tried to railroad her this morning and refused to see the risk he'd presented the people.

She was still angry about that. But it seemed like Gar wasn't brooding, so if he could put it aside for now, she would too.

"Thank you for coming," she said quietly as he joined them at the table. Gar nodded at all the males around the table, his eyebrows popping up when he caught sight of the carcass in front of them all.

"A pricklepig, huh?"

"We're more concerned about these bullets," Elreth said, passing him the small cluster of metal. "Can you tell us how they're used."

Gar nodded, then for the next few minutes explained what experience he had with something called "guns" and how they were used. He made the comparison to bow and arrows—but with far greater speed, noise, and velocity.

"The bigger versions could drop a male like me at two hundred feet or more—dead instantly, if they have good aim."

Elreth gaped. "And one of these is loose in Anima?" She was horrified—terrified, if she was honest. It was her worst nightmare, the very thing her father had been warning her about since she was young and showed an interest in the Portal.

She'd never really envisioned what that would do—only understood that their weapons were incredibly deadly, and on a mass scale. But this? "How many can they use at once?"

"The smaller ones, two per person, though they are normally only effective with one—especially if it's a larger one."

Elreth took a shuddering breath. Aaryn put a hand to her back.

"How do we guard against this?"

"You don't. At least, beyond a really big rock, we don't have anything that will stop them if they shoot. But of course if you can take the gun from them then the bullets are useless. They need the power of the gun to work."

There was discussion then about shields and Gar just kept shaking his head. "Look, whoever this is, they've obviously used the gun to kill something to eat. And they haven't come to talk to us, right? Maybe they just want to be left alone and they haven't brought it to make conflict."

Out of nowhere, rage flared in Elreth's chest. Just that morning she'd warned her brother about this very problem. And he still wasn't taking it seriously.

"If we have one human here—with a gun or without—then more of them must know of Anima. This is… this is a disaster!"

"Look," Gar said, "humans don't scent, and their hearing and eyesight aren't as good as ours. They often don't know much about how to move around in the forest… they're weak. If we can track them, we can probably take them and remove the gun from them before they even know we're close. That's your best bet: Get them in your hands and question them."

"And if this human is skilled, or we misjudge, it's a death sentence for whomever we've sent to go after them," she snarled.

Gar nodded. "So send your best trackers and pray."

"That seems a touch simplistic," Tarkyn said dryly, frowning at Gar.

Elreth wanted to bite him. If it weren't for the Councilors watching, she would have been at his throat. How could he be so flippant?! But she knew with this kind of threat it was even more important for her to be seen as balanced and thoughtful—not emotional and aggressive.

"This requires a great deal of planning and care. And in the meantime, we have to keep the Tree City safe. Tarkyn, how far out are the sentries posted?"

"One hundred feet from City limits."

Elreth nodded. "Double the number of eyes, and move them to two hundred feet." Tarkyn nodded and beckoned to one of the messengers, the young equines who squatted along the edge of the wall, waiting to run with information.

Elreth turned to Lhern. "What reason could we give the people for not leaving the City for a few days? We need some time to track this person down and I don't want innocent Anima stumbling on them."

Lhern rubbed his chin. "We could say there's been an outbreak of fireleaf? It's a little late in the season, but… we could tell them we're sending teams out to exterminate?"

"Yes, perfect. Get the word out. Okay, who are our best trackers and what can we do to help keep them safe?"

Gar shook his head. "These weapons will go through any leather armor—hell, they'll go through walls. You need the Anima that are skilled enough to find them without being noticed, then watch them until they're separated from the weapon, then remove the weapon first—then the person."

She couldn't deny the wisdom in that. But as they all began to discuss the different guards, trackers, scouts and spies available to the crown, Aaryn cleared his throat.

"We might be able to offer some people that are right for this?" he said quietly.

Elreth turned, blinking. "'We'? You mean the disformed?"

Aaryn nodded. Then he cleared his throat. "We have a handful trained that are extremely skilled in evading notice. But even more than that… they're specifically experienced with… with humans."

Everyone stared.

**** Privilege Warning & Mass Release ****

1. Don't forget: DO NOT buy expensive privilege tiers this late in the month, because privilege resets on 1 October (30 September for the USA) and you would have to pay again! Wait until the monthly reset and enjoy your privilege access for the full calendar month for a single charge! QUEEN will remain on 45 available chapters this month, but I have dropped the prices of the tiers, so if you do choose to buy the top tier, you'll get them 300 coins cheaper than last month!

2.. Unfortunately QUEEN didn't earn any extra chapters through Golden Tickets this month, but I'm so grateful for your ongoing support, gifts, comments and reading, that I've added a bonus chapter for your summoning pens on the last day of the (AllNovelFull) month. I hope you enjoy!