Allison watched the black bird pass overhead. She shuddered as it landed on the ground in front of Ubira.

“It’s bigger,” she whispered to Professor Ruggs.

The professor nodded but didn’t speak. They were close enough to Ubira and the bird that their mule was getting nervous. Even the other slavers that weren’t watching the captives stayed several paces away in a half circle, their horses whinnying and tossing their heads.

When Allison first saw the dreadful black bird, it was the size of a large eagle but could still perch on Ubira’s arm. Now, standing on the ground, it reached almost to his chest, and Ubira wasn’t a small man. Man and bird locked eyes. The bird opened its wide, fang-filled beak and let out a long hiss. Professor Ruggs had explained Mana Beasts to Allison. He claimed they could talk, but she thought he must be fooling her because all this one did was hiss. Apparently, Ubira could understand it, though.

The man never asked any questions in return, only nodding now and then, arms folded, considering. As they conversed, Allison noticed the bird looked like it had been through a blender since leaving that morning. Several feathers stuck out at odd angles against the rest and it held one wing slightly away from its body. She wondered what would be crazy enough to pick a fight with the bird.

When Ubira finished, he raised a hand in the air and the bird rose with a blast of dust and scent of rotted meat. This time, it flew in the opposite direction — southwest instead of northeast. Ubira watched the bird in flight for a time and then turned to his slavers.

“We are being followed,” he said. “Storm Tribe — probably the band we raided.”

Allison’s heart leaped with excitement. Maybe Kellen had found the same village and joined up with them to find her.

“They are a small group, but Shakraa tells me there are two Beastcallers among their number. Both weaker than her, but together they may cause us problems.”

The slavers muttered among themselves at this news. From what Professor Ruggs claimed, Beastcallers were some kind of warrior that fought with other weird animals like Ubira’s bird. Allison wondered if all the Beastcallers and their pets were as ugly as Ubira. Professor Ruggs had said they could use magic, but again, Allison felt like he was trying to trick her, maybe into being too afraid of Ubira and his bird to fly away. And now, the nasty bird was big enough it could pick her up and bring her back. She’d yet to see either Ubira or his pet do anything like magic, though.

“We should have never gone this far into the Thunder Plains!” Tapuk, Allison’s old pal with the mohawk was the first to speak up. The deep talon cuts on his face from Ubira’s bird were red, swollen, and infected. It looked like plenty other slavers agreed with him. “We could have found all the slaves we needed in Earth Badger lands!”

Ubira said nothing, just stared at Tapuk. It seemed with the bird gone, the man wasn’t as intimidated by his leader. “You have gone too far this time, Ubira. Now we will all pay the price with our lives.”

Once again, several others nodded and spoke their agreement. Allison looked behind them. The guards watching over the captives on foot hadn’t moved, but if a fight started maybe she could find a chance to get away while everyone was distracted. With the bird injured and away, she might not get a better chance to escape.

“Don’t do it.”

It was like Professor Ruggs had read her mind. Although he made no move to stop Allison, she hesitated. All she had to do was slip off the horse and back away while everyone watched Ubira and Tapuk. Even she could tell a fight was going to happen. It wasn’t any different from the lead-ups to the playground brawls she’d seen before. Except here the stakes were much higher.

“If you don’t like the way I lead, why don’t you do something about it?” Somehow, Ubira’s voiced carried, even though he spoke from behind the thick scarf wrapped around his neck and the lower half of his face.

Tapuk paused and looked toward the slavers for support. Most were stone-faced, but a couple nodded encouragement to him. He drew his two knives and took a step forward. To Allison, he didn’t seem too sure of himself. Ubira’s shoulders raised in a soft laugh.

“I didn’t think you had it in you.”

It happened so fast Allison didn’t have time to slide off the horse, let alone run away. Ubira seemed to glide forward in a blur of motion. The next second, his obsidian spear protruded out of Tapuk’s back.

Tapuk’s mouth opened in shock and his last living act was to look down at the spear sticking through his diaphragm. Both knives fell from his hands before he collapsed on his knees and fell over. The few slavers who had given the now-dead man encouraging nods took fearful steps backward as Ubira planted his boot on Tapuk’s chest and slid his spear free from the body. Allison stared in horror, unable to look away.

“I promised you a prize greater than any you could imagine if you followed me,” Ubira said, raising his voice for the first time since Allison had been with the group. “It is not for you to question me. A handful of Storm Tribe nomads are no concern of ours.”

As he spoke, his yellow eyes roamed about the group, snaring both slaver and captive alike. Allison ducked her head behind the professor’s back when Ubira turned in their direction. She’d seen enough.

“Is there anyone else who wants to challenge me?”

Allison peeked out from behind Professor Ruggs, but she knew the answer before she looked. Nobody else dared faced Ubira. The message was clear: he didn’t need the bird’s help to win a fight.

“We’ve wasted enough time,” Ubira said, nudging Tapuk’s corpse onto its back with the toe of his boot as he passed. “Let’s go.”

For the next few hours, Allison sat behind Professor Ruggs in silence. Tapuk’s last breath played over and over in her mind. How had Ubira moved so fast? It wasn’t magic — she still didn’t believe Professor Ruggs. But what else explained it? One moment, Ubira was standing still and the next, he’d driven his spear clean through Tapuk’s body from more than four paces away.

“Are you okay?” Professor Ruggs finally asked as evening fell.

“I’m fine,” Allison said. She pretended like nothing was wrong and nothing like a man killed right before her eyes had happened.

“I never saw someone die before I came to Oras,” the professor said. “And I don’t think I will ever get used to the sight.”

Allison didn’t want to talk about this — she’d spent the whole day thinking about it already.

“Is it true what Ubira said about those people following us?” she asked. “Don’t they even have a chance to free us?”

“Ubira does not need to lie,” Professor Ruggs said. “It’s best not to think of things like that and raise your hopes.”

The mule slowed to a stop. They were done for another day. Like the day before, she dismounted and waited with Professor Ruggs while he took care of their mule under the watchful eye of two guards. After removing the simple blanket saddle, they rubbed the animal down and hobbled its back legs so it could graze on the tall grass without wandering off. The task done, the slavers herded Professor Ruggs and Allison into a line with all the other slaves for their ration of water, rock-hard bread, and a bit of dried meat. Since Allison was no longer on the running line, she didn’t have to take the nasty tar-juice concoction. However, she still winced in sympathy as Kattoh chugged the contents down. In the two days she’d been forced to drink the stuff, she’d learned like him it was best to get it all done at once. Your stomach wouldn’t finish if it got a sip or two as a warning.

“Here.” Allison nudged Kattoh with her hand held down low at her side. She opened it, revealing her portion of the dried meat. The boy snatched it at once and shoved the meager strip of jerky into his mouth before anyone noticed.

As promised, Allison could spend the evenings with Kattoh, although they had tied him to a new person — a girl with the blue-gray skin they said was from the Storm Tribes. She couldn’t have been over seven. Allison saved half her bread for the girl and handed it over in the same discreet fashion. The girl scarfed it down almost as fast as Kattoh had the jerky.

All the captives gathered together at night and slept with guards posted all around them. The three children huddled together next to Professor Ruggs. The professor had a thin blanket he shared with them that wasn’t much, but it helped to keep their combined body heat from escaping into the frigid nights. There hadn’t been frost on the ground yet, but Allison thought they’d come close to dipping below freezing. No fires were allowed.

With dinner done and the horses and mules taken care of, there was nothing left to do but sleep. Allison wondered if it was fall like it had been on Earth. If so, the nights were getting longer, but it still never felt like they got enough sleep. She’d just settled down with the young girl cuddled between her and Kattoh when the woman slaver who’d stopped Tapuk from cutting off her fingers appeared over them. Allison had learned her name was Kycha.

“You, pale girl,” Kycha said, pointing at Allison. “Ubira wishes to speak with you.”

Allison glanced at Professor Ruggs, trying to hide her panic. He’d told her this might happen, but assured her Ubira would want him to be there when he questioned her, too. When the professor stood up too, the woman shook her head. “Just the girl.”

Professor Ruggs gave Allison an encouraging nod that didn’t hide his worried expression. “We’ll be right here when you get back.”

Too nervous to speak, Allison nodded back. The woman led her across the camp from the circle of captives where Ubira lounged against a small outcrop of rock jutting out of the grass. The sliver of daylight remaining cast shadows over his already hooded eyes and their intense yellow stare. A strange statue about the size of a garden gnome decoration sat beside him.

Allison had seen the statue carried by the slavers as they traveled, but never up close. She guessed it was carved from wood, although the light tan color was like no wood she’d ever seen. It appeared to be a skinny person with an antelope’s head, sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around knees pulled against their chest. Its legs were extra long, making up about two-thirds of the statue’s total height. The grains of the wood ran vertical down the carving. Up close, it seemed as if the lines in the wood were moving, like a continuous trail of ants scurrying upward. The head of the carving was painted red, white and black like an antelope. The texture of the horns was perfect. Allison couldn’t decide whether the creator had attached real antelope horns to the statue or their skill was just that good.

The longer Allison stared at the carved statue, the more her legs felt antsy, like she’d been sitting for hours at a wedding or in church. She clenched her toes inside her boots, but couldn’t ignore the sensation. Somehow, she knew a good long run was the only thing that would relieve the nagging sensation.

“Leave us,” Ubira said to the woman slaver. He raised a hand and gestured to the ground. “Sit.”

Allison tore her eyes away from the creepy statue, grateful for a distraction. She didn’t like being bossed around but did as she was told. She hoped by cooperating, she might learn something about where they were going or another piece of information that could help her escape. If Ubira could really move as fast as he’d shown in the fight, she’d need as much of a head start as she could get.

“You are like the scholar Professor Ruggs, a spirit traveler, yes?” When he finished speaking, he stared at Allison from behind his scarf, eyes unblinking. She felt like a mouse under the gaze of a hawk.

“I’m not from this place, if that’s what you mean,” she said.

“You are from the Great Before — Earth as it is called?”

“Where else would I be from?” Allison said, determined not to be intimidated. It was only half working.

Ubira’s shoulders rose once in what might have been a silent chuckle. “You have a sharp tongue for a small girl. Tell me, did anyone else come with you from the Great Before, spirit traveler?”

Allison’s thoughts immediately went to Kellen. She didn’t know if the strange light had sucked him in, too. In her heart, she knew he would have followed if he could. There was no way Kellen wouldn’t have jumped in after her. But if that was the case, where was he? Why did Ubira want to know?

“No.” Allison said. “I was alone.”

Ubira nodded, eyes never wavering. “So if I told you there was a young man who looked and dressed like you in the Storm Tribe band that follows us, that would mean nothing?”

Allison’s face gave her away. Her eyes widened and her heart raced at the news. By the time she realized it, there was nothing left to hide. She could tell Ubira knew it too.

“I am not in the habit of being lied to,” he said. He didn’t raise or change his voice, but suddenly Allison felt a shiver down her spine. “Tell me who this person is or I will make certain he is the first of the group to die when we meet again.”

“I don’t know for sure!” Allison said, the words spilling out. She wouldn’t let this man hurt Kellen. “It might be my brother, but he wasn’t there when I appeared in the village. I haven’t seen him since the morning before I came here.”

“Better,” Ubira said. “You will find the more you cooperate with me, the easier your time will be. I did not place you with Professor Ruggs out of kindness. You two are more valuable to the right people than the rest of my slaves combined. But that does not mean I will allow you to take advantage of your worth.”

“Fine with me,” Allison shot back. She wasn’t some blue-ribbon animal Ubira could sell off. And if she had to talk to this creepy guy, she was going to get something out of it. “I answered your question. Now I have one.”

She knew it was risk given how fast Ubira’s temper frayed, but the bald man nodded. “I’m not sure you realize how our relationship works yet. However, when I was a boy, my father used to tell me nothing is gained if nothing risked. Ask and maybe I will answer.”

Allison’s mind raced. She hadn’t really expected Ubira to agree. “Where are we going?”

Ubira gestured away in the direction Allison thought was south. In the dark, on the plains, it was hard to tell. “To the mountains.”

“What for?”

She thought she saw Ubira’s eyes raised in what might have been a smile if his mouth hadn’t been covered by the scarf to hide it. “We are visiting a special place. A great work is beginning.” He paused, as if considering something. “Your brother and his new friends may yet catch up to us. If they do and if you want him to live, he must not fight us. You will tell him to surrender. Understand? Do not doubt me on this.”

Fear threatened to take hold of Allison. She wanted to cry, to squeeze her eyes shut and wake up in her bed where she and Kellen were safe with their parents at home.

“I need your word, Allison.”

A deeper chill ran through her when Ubira said her name. In spite of all he’d already done to her and other innocent people, it was in that moment that Allison first realized she hated him. Hated him like she didn’t think she was capable of.

“You have it,” she said. “But if you hurt him, I’ll make you pay for it.”

Ubira threw back his head and laughed. A sudden rage came over Allison. She wanted to hurt him like he’d hurt all those people, to make him stop laughing at her. A growl escaped her, and she lunged for the slaver chief. Ubira’s boot caught her in the shoulder, knocking her back into the dirt on her butt. A moment later, the woman slaver appeared over her and grabbed her by the wrist.

“I enjoyed talking with you, Allison,” Ubira said. “Now get some rest.”