They returned to the group on horseback, Kellen now grateful for the temperamental storm horse if it meant he didn’t have to run through the knee-high grass any more. The other seven had broken camp and were all on horseback waiting for them.

“I believe I saw them,” Nokom said to Chief Tama’s questioning look. “Still heading south, although the wildfire smoke made it hard for me to see their true numbers.”

“The tracks from just beyond the creek indicated they had a larger party waiting with horses,” Tama said. “How many are captives and how many are slavers?”

Nokom shrugged. “Who can know? We will travel faster than them, even if they are using some power to make those on foot move quickly. When we get closer, I will be able to tell their numbers.”

With that, they set off at a pace somewhere between a trot and a canter. Kellen was surprised to find his legs, back and hips less sore until he realized tapping into his beast heart must have soothed the aches from riding along with the temporary burn of physical exertion. Still, without stirrups, he bobbed up and down on the back of the horse even when he tried to hold on by squeezing his legs against the animal. He admired the way the Storm Tribe warriors moved like an extension of the horses they rode. They made it look as easy as sitting in a chair. In contrast, he still felt like a scarecrow tied to a mechanical bull.

After the first little while, Kellen better followed the rhythm of the moving animal. He wasn’t comfortable, but no longer feared falling off with every other step. After riding at the head of the party with Tama, Nokom joined him at the back of the group.

“I will teach you with words while we ride,” she said. “That way, we can save our evenings and mornings for more practical instruction.”

On the back of normal horses, carrying on a conversation even at a trot would have been hard. Aside from the jarring movement, even a group of ten horses such as theirs would have made enough dust to kick up a cloud that irritated the eyes and nose and made talking a practice in eating dirt. But the longer Kellen rode the storm horse, the more sure he became it was a much smoother ride than a normal horse and the easier he found his seat.

It seemed Nokom used her powers to the dust, too. The lack of dirt flying up from horses’ hooves made him think something was up. Now and then, Kellen saw her mutter what looked like a spell and wave her hands. Each time, a gentle breeze stirred around the hooves of the traveling horses and settled the swirling dirt back down. Kellen’s allergies were already running rampant, and he could have cried in gratitude if his eyes weren’t already streaming. After one such incantation, Nokom started her lecture.

“Mana is the vital essence from the Wild Mother that resides in all living things. It exists at times in non-living things as well: clouds, rain, fire, stone, metal. There are seven different kinds of mana: fire, water, earth, storm, sun, shadow, and nature,” Nokom explained. “All people across Oras are from one of these tribes of mana, but that is a story for another time. As we told you this morning, what gives the Beastcaller the ability to use mana is their connection with a Mana Beast.”

“That’s why Mana Beasts are so awesome,” Vex said, interrupting Nokom. “We can use mana all on our own!”

Nokom shot the little round fox a silencing glare from the back of her storm horse. “Don’t interrupt!”

Vex stuck his tongue out and Kellen clapped a hand over the fox’s muzzle at once. Briefly, he thought about throwing him off the horse, knowing Vex could change into his bat form before he hit the ground. This was confusing enough without interruptions.

With a last withering glance at Vex, Nokom continued. “Mana Beasts can bond with humans in three ways. The first, most natural and most powerful is when a Mana Beast is shaped from the vital essence and ‘born’ to a human. This can happen at any point in a person’s life, although it usually requires a significant event, such as a birth, death of a loved one or other experience that changes the course of one’s path. There are no guarantees, but this method of becoming a Beastcaller is often passed down through bloodlines, which is how the strongest tribes hold their power through generations.”

Kellen had lots of questions. So many he knew he’d forget some of them, so he tried to wrap his head around the basics of what Nokom said.

“So you’re saying Vex just popped out of nowhere the moment I came from Earth to Oras?” Kellen asked.

“I know the answer to this one,” Vex said, fighting free of Kellen’s mouth long enough to speak.

Ira soared by on his battered wings and looked down his graying nose at the fox. “Please, oh, wise one, share your knowledge with us.”

“Before Kellen, I… I just…” Vex trailed off, confused. “Well, I know I waited a very long time for him!”

Ira’s tongue lolled out of his mouth in a smug coyote smile. “No one knows for certain,” Nokom said to Kellen. “Not even the Mana Beasts. Most believe that mana cannot be gained or lost. Instead, it moves. This is another power that humans grant to their partner Mana Beasts. When a wild beast is defeated, its body dies just as any other living creature. The wise think this Mana returns to the Great Before, where it gathers itself together and forms a new Mana Beast. When a Mana Beast with a Beastcaller is defeated, as long as their human still lives, they will return to a lower, more basic form but will not die.”

“That’s why you’re so important, Kellen,” Vex said from his perch in Kellen’s lap on the saddle. “Without you, I’d just poof away into a pile of magic sand, just like that bear!”

That sounded like a lot of responsibility to Kellen. Like if storks really delivered babies and just dropped one off randomly at your house, whether or not you’d asked for one. Except, unlike human babies, Vex could talk. And shoot magic light out of his mouth. For better or worse.

“The other ways a person bonds with a Mana Beast are not so simple. Any Beastcaller is rare, but for these paths to work is a very small possibility. When a wild Mana Beast is killed, it will sometimes leave a relic of its beast heart behind. This heart can be used by a human to revive the Mana Beast and bond it to them. These Beastcallers will never be as powerful as those who naturally form a bond through the natural course of their life and most often the ghost of the Mana Beast will reject the bonding anyway.”

Kellen recalled Nokom asking Shani is there had been a heart in the bear’s remains. It made much more sense now. With the heart, Shani or someone else in the band could have become a Beastcaller. Even without a sense for just how rare Beastcallers really were, Kellen realized it would be a nearly invaluable find.

“Okay, so when do we talk about the fun stuff?” Vex asked. “Like how I make my attacks stronger and stuff like that? All this discussion about the Great Before is boring.”

During the conversation, Vex shifted into his bat form and flapped along in the air above Kellen and Nokom’s storm horses. Ira soared in closer and clipped Vex with his wing, like a teacher might smack a student on the back of the head. Vex tumbled out of the sky but caught himself the moment before he hit the ground. To Kellen, it seemed like the little Mana Beast had a knack for always landing on his feet, like a cat.

“You need to understand how things work,” the coyote said in a weary voice. He looked over at Nokom. “I don’t remember that we were ever this impatient.”

“The passing of the seasons dims many things,” Nokom agreed. “But I think you are right.”

Their conversation ended when Shani peeled off from the front of the column and directed her storm horse alongside Nokom. Kellen didn’t miss the scowl sent his way, nor that she kept Nokom between them when she’d joined the back of the group. Kellen couldn’t quite make out what she said over the constant low rumbling of hooves, but Nokom nodded. As an afterthought, the old woman said something else to Shani. This time, Kellen didn’t need to see her angry expression because he heard her shout of protest. Nokom cut it off with a sharp word and then rode away. Ira glided after her, leaving Kellen and Vex in an awkward position at the rear, alone with Shani.

Since Kellen’s storm horse seemed ingrained with understanding of the distance behind the others and the pace he needed to keep, there wasn’t much else to do but hold on and keep a good seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at Shani. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead. With that kind of focus, Kellen could tell she was doing everything in her power to pretend he didn’t exist.

Each morning, Shani refreshed the line of black paint smeared horizontally across her eyes from temple to temple. The look was even more intimidating when combined with her sharp features: high cheeks, straight nose and pointed chin. Unlike the others, she wore no beads or feathers in her hair, just a single braid behind her. Her bare arms showed a lean muscle definition that thousands of Instagram wanna-be fitness coaches would have killed for.

All together, she was beautiful, but so were tigers. Shani had the same deadly air about her. Kellen knew that, Beastcaller or not, she could snap him like a twig. He wondered what Nokom had said to force her to ride alongside him and felt a ball of uneasiness clench his stomach. Should he break the silence? What could he say? Nice weather we’re having today? Glad it’s not too dusty out? How long have you ridden a horse with a horn that could skewer a grown man? Do you often go on man hunts?

Each thing Kellen came up with sounded worse in his head than before. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one in his head.

“Do you often go on man hunts?” Vex asked. He did a barrel roll in the air that brought him almost to Shani’s shoulder. “We’re just curious. And I’m bored. And Kellen won’t ask you anything because he’s too worried about looking stupid.”

Kellen contemplated falling off the side of his horse to put himself out of the mortifying embarrassment gripping him.

Shani’s dark eyes flashed, and she looked toward Kellen for the first time. She didn’t respond.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to offend you,” Vex said. “It’s just so awkward back here.”

Kellen wished Vex would stop saying “we” but that concern plunged down the list, when Shani spoke.

“Does your Mana Beast always speak for you?” she asked. “Are you too much of a coward to say anything?”

Kellen actually leaned back a little, just in case they hit a bump to knock him off the storm horse and provide an escape from the downard spiraling conversation. No luck. His mind scrambled for something to say, but before anything insightful came to mind, Vex started talking again.

“You know, it’s rude to pretend I can’t — ”

“I can talk!” Kellen blurted out.

Both Vex and Shani looked at him like a hole just appeared in the middle of his head. Now it was Kellen’s turn to stare ahead like nobody else existed.

“I didn’t want to bother you.” He realized she probably couldn’t hear him, but shouting would only make things worse.

“He said he didn’t want to bother you!” Vex was so loud that several other Gray Dawn riders in front of them turned in their saddles. Shani stiffened. The fox noticed them at once. “Don’t worry, all good back here! Nothing to see!”

Falling off his horse no longer seemed like a severe enough solution. Kellen’s face burned, and not just from the heat of the rising sun.

“I didn’t mean to get in your way with the bear,” he said, hoping a change in the subject would drag him from the brink of death by embarrassment. “I thought you needed help.”

Kellen didn’t have much experience with girls, but he knew at once out of all the things he could have said, he’d made a terrible selection. Shani’s face hardened, and she resumed her resolute stare forward.

“If you expect a thanks from me, you won’t get it,” she said. “I didn’t want help. I was prepared to die if I didn’t defeat the bear.”

Vex swooped past Shani, oblivious to her desire to be left alone. “That seems a bit extreme, don’t you — ”

A scream rent the air before Vex could say anything to get them in more trouble. Kellen jerked his head up just in time to see a ragged black shape course the morning sky. It struck Ira, who’d been flying high and in the front of the riders as a lookout. Kellen watched, mouth open as both creatures tumbled out of the sky, locked in fierce combat.