“To have an affinity for healing, among magic users, is rare outside of the medical profession. More generally, such an ability manifests as a particular skill for precise, targeted magics. Alurian has displayed no such skill.”

~ Bek Trent, M.A.S.O

Lit by a flurry of cheeps and screeches, the world flashed past. Rock, more rock, falling from the sky, thrusting from the earth, roaring with the hot breath of the mountain. A frigid wind hurled sleet against the mountainside, cutting viciously through the rocky crags and crevasses that were home to the nightwings.

Itoru dove and swooped amidst it all, ears ringing, world a ghostly dance of still images layered one on top of another. He had left Bek the moment they reached the mountain and saw the nightwings spiraling above it. Alone, he had pelted into the night, wings snapping in the wind, to join the battle for his home. Though tiny compared to the great nightwings, he knew his strengths. Only he could carry word to their srinn that the tree wolves had come not only with the beastspeaker, but with the eggs of the king of beasts…this fight would decide not only the fate of the colony, but of the dragons as well. Only his kind could dart among the larger beasts of the colony, singing battle formations all along the mountainside.

The battle had ended.

Now, he climbed higher and higher, the air thinning as he rose above the destruction, above the chaos that he had navigated long before the sun set to find his srinn. With the Zara gone and what remained of the caverns safe, he had been given a new task; go to the tree wolves, whose contributions to the battle were clearly felt, and gather them together while the colony likewise collected itself. Determine if they are injured, and assure them that they are welcome.

Even flying high above the earth, it took him time to reach the belt of trees below the main caverns. There he darted in closer to the canopy, hugging the crowns of the great trees as he chirped and clicked and listened for any sign of the familiar beasts. It was the voice of a human, finally, that guided him to them, and he lit soundlessly in the trees high above Bek’s head. Zien was with the human, but they were alone, and for a moment, the little bat listened rather than interrupting.

“She is stronger than I imagined,” Zien growled, tail tips twitching in the darkness.

“We didn’t come out here to talk about that,” Bek responded simply. Silence. Itoru remained deadly still, content for a moment in his blindness.

“No. I came to tell you what I had told her,” the alpha rumbled more softly, “Silver will be the voice of the beasts, our ambassador among mankind. She chose this path herself. You knew already that we planned to present a trade to the vampires and ally with them in the coming conflict. Silver agreed to present the trade for us.”

“For the Dawn Stone,” the boy said in equally hushed tones, “You knew the Zara would come after it, and Silver must have, too. She’s not stupid.”

“She is already tied up with the Zara.”

“You know why he hunted her family,” the human stated. There was anger in his voice, tightly controlled.

“I have my suspicions, but none of them explain how their paths crossed originally, or who the Zara is. From everything I have seen, I believe he was once a dragon, and that his hatred of her must be ancestral. Perhaps Hess woke the Zara from their long silence, and he immediately began to hunt those who had wronged him in life, some centuries ago.”

“Zien,” Bek shifted, but the bat could see little of the movement, “we’ve been in communication for over two years now, and we’ve known each other longer than that. You know how I feel about the MASO. At some point, you have to trust me at least enough to tell me what you really think of her. These eggs were protected by powerful enchantments that did not, for one instant, slow Silver down. She is, as you said, a beastspeaker, hunted by the Zara, and she apparently has an affinity for healing. The wolf that’s taken up protecting her…what’s their relationship? Ordinary wolves do not run with the tree wolves. You knew about Silver before I said one word to you, and I suspect—”

“The wolf is no ordinary wolf, it is true. But Bek, I know no more than you. It was the wolf who found Silver.”

“You know no more than me?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you trust the wolf?” Bek clarified.

“I do. She’s been with us for years, cast out by her own kind,” Zien huffed wearily. Silence pressed between them for a moment before the alpha of the tree wolves added, “Until today, I saw nothing special in Silver. There were once more people like her in this world. The nerske, Bek. The people who stood with the beasts. But she still has a great deal to learn.”

“So, we came to discuss what happens next? It seems like your business at the caverns is done,” the human stated.

“Not yet,” Zien disagreed, “Not until we know for sure where the Zara is headed.”

“Without the MASO’s resources, I’m useless to you in that regard. The Zara could be headed anywhere.”

“No,” Zien paused a moment, seeming hesitant to finish her thought, “I believe I have been blinded by the scope of events.”

“What do you mean, Zien?” Bek asked.

“My messenger informed me that both the caverns of the East and North had been destroyed by the Zara. I’m sure we will learn more in speaking with the srinn of the West after today’s fighting is done, but it strikes me that today the Zara retreated quickly.”

“They had what they wanted,” Bek surmised.

“If they knew it was here, they could have had it more quickly, still. But no…no, instead, the Zara that had hunted Silver possessed the body of one of the survivors of the East and attempted to unravel the wards on the Stone. Quietly. That’s the key, Bek. The Zara acted quietly. That is something we have not seen yet. And the other Zara left right after him, either because they followed…”

“Or because they gave chase,” the human finished for her, clearly coming to some realization in that instant.

“This Zara has acted alone all this time. He is fixated on Silver, and possibly on the wolf. It is possible, Bek, that the Zara took the Stone with the intent that Silver would follow him. The others know he is not acting in the interest of their master.”

“If that’s the case, and he really was once a dragon, there’s only one place he would go,” the boy’s voice was inscrutable, “the castle.”

A sound behind the tree wolf indicated the arrival of another beast, and the bat cocked his head, listening to the familiar tread of the wolf. He knew the silvery beast well.

“Zien srinn,” the wolf rumbled, coming to a halt at the edge of the trees, “I come to tell you that Biarn is awake. What you just said, however, I also overheard.”

“Then what do you think of it, wolf?” the alpha purred, seeming unconcerned.

“I heard the shadow beast’s voice. He bid me chase after him with the girl, to keep her from Hess.”

The bat waited, knowing that the human did not understand, and sensing that the alpha of the tree wolves was processing this new information. Finally, the alpha growled, a simple sound of frustration. She relayed the wolf’s words to Bek, who responded almost immediately.

“Then it’s decided. There’s no way we can let Silver get anywhere near the castle. If you must have the Stone, Zien, you’ll have to retrieve it yourself.”

“This is not for you to decide, human,” the alpha said with a faint snarl. Bek made a sound of scorn.

“By all means, if she plans to play middleman between you and the vampires, prance her back through these woods carrying the dragon eggs on her back. See if you can find a better way to kill off the only person in this entire world who could really understand you. But Zien, really? A Zara you know wants her dead, who threatens you with the name of a demon – Hess - none of us know anything about? You would send her after him, and hope for what, exactly? A miracle? This sounds an awful lot like something the MASO would do.”

“Hold your tongue, human,” the tree wolf snarled with none of the restraint she had exhibited before. Itoru was surprised. He had only ever seen her treat the humans with a carefully measured calm, if only because speaking their words was immensely difficult for her. When she grew agitated, as she just had, she spoke only as a beast, and Bek responded to whatever he thought she had said. Luckily, the years had made him particularly adept at reading her.

“I won’t drop this, Zien. Don’t think for a moment I’ll let you do to her what Jorik did to me.”

“She’s not my puppet, Bek.”

“Close enough.”

“Humans bicker over the fates of others,” the wolf barked, silencing them both. “If you have not realized yet that Silver will hunt the Zara with or without us, you have not yet understood the human who is to be our voice. If the demon waits for us, let us prepare. Let us hunt as the wolf hunts.”

“She claims this choice is not ours,” Zien huffed at the human. The bat could not see if he changed his expression, but knew that their conversation had come to a close. This, too, was one of the many skills of a messenger.