Kellen jerked out of bed and had enough presence of mind to grab his long knife in its sheath before stumbling out of the tent behind Kiypu and Vex. The screams and shouts rose and all around them. Dark shapes grappled in the night. It was impossible to tell who was who.

“Stay here!” Kellen shouted over his shoulder to Professor Gates.

“Light!” Kiypu shouted. The ground rippled around him as he summoned his earth mana. “We need light!”

Kellen thrust his hands upward and an explosion of golden fireworks sparked, then exploded over the camp. It was a new working, one that Kellen had only conceived and attempted a week ago. The golden blast of mana weaved and twisted, blossoming in the night sky before trickling down in fairy dust-like sparkles. It might have looked like something out of a Disney production, but it temporarily illuminated most of the camp. Warriors in white-paint appeared all around them, struggling against members of Gray Dawn.

“Kellen, look out!”

Spinning, Kellen turned just in time to see a woman with long spikes of white-crusted hair rushing at him, tomahawk raised in her hand. A blur of tawny fur flashed in front of Kellen and pinned her to the ground. A golden light gathered in Vex’s mouth and struck the warrior full in the face at almost point blank range. She went instantly limp.

Kellen swallowed and felt his knees buckling. “Come on! We’ve got to find Chief Hannup.”

Forcing his shaking legs to move, Kellen led them in between tipis and fighters brawling. With Tama and the rest of the hunters gone, they had to make sure they protected Hannup, the peace chief. Whenever an attack or raid occurred, every Gray Dawn child or parent with a baby were insructed to make for his tent. It would be up to Kellen and Vex to help defend them.

Kellen’s stomach squirmed like it was full of writhing worms. Icy stabs of adrenaline prickled him all over. A pounding filled his head and ears. As they ran for the chief’s tent, he did the best he could to assist the Gray Dawn warriors in their fights, casting a ball of golden light to knock aside an attacker, throwing up a shield to deflect a weapon strike. While not powerful, the workings came out second nature, honed from months of daily practice and refinement. He hoped they made a difference in the fights.

The ground rumbled beneath them. Kiypu was at work with his earth mana, though Kellen could no longer see or hear him. A chilling croak filled the air and the skeletal form of a crow swooped toward another white-painted warrior as it rushed for Kellen. Flapping her bony wings, Shakraa emitted a blast of white mana at the man, who fell screaming and clutching his face.

“Thanks!” Kellen shouted to Kiypu’s Mana Beast before she flew off into the darkness. He paused just long enough to send another blast of golden firecrackers overhead. Maybe, just maybe, Tama, Shani and the rest of the Gray Dawn hunters were close enough they’d see the signal. The numbers of the white-painted warriors seemed greater than the defenders by some margin, though no enemy Beastcallers or Mana Beasts had made an appearance.

“There’s his tent!” Vex said.

With Vex leading the way, Kellen rushed to Hannup’s tipi. He threw back the tent flap and found it empty.

“Dammit!” Kellen’s heart thrummed in his chest, the rush making it hard to think straight. Though he was cousins with Tama, Hannup was no skilled warrior. He was also getting up in years, with as much gray hair as any in the band. Kellen felt responsible for him. Though they hadn’t expected an attack of any kind, Nokom, Tama and Shani had trusted him to help Hannup protect the young. He couldn’t fail them.

His mind raced. Why weren’t they here?

“Any chance you can get a scent?” Kellen asked Vex.

“No way,” Vex said. He looked as uneasy and frantic as Kellen felt.

In the flicker of his dying golden fireworks, Kellen caught sight of several white-painted warriors running away from the camp. Were they retreating? That battle was still full in swing and undecided as far as he could tell. It was almost as if they were—

“That way!” Kellen shouted, pointing towards the warriors. Of course, if all the children were accounted for, the safest thing Hannup could have done was to lead them away from the fight. But they were being followed.

Kellen and Vex rushed after the warriors, moving as quickly as they could without being seen. There were five warriors in all. More than Kellen felt confident they could handle, especially in a fair fight. His mana reserves felt about half empty, just from the two light bursts and the hurried aid he’d given other Gray Dawn warriors as they passed. Worse, there was no time to call for extra help.

A child screamed somewhere ahead. The white-painted warriors picked up their pace, attention focused in front of them. The need for stealth gone, Kellen and Vex broke into a run, crashing into the tall grass marking the edge of camp.

Kellen shaped a ball of sun mana in his hand, wishing his sun mana wasn’t always so bright. Still running, he hurled it at the back of the rear warrior. Two months ago the throw would have missed. Between the increased reflexes he’d gained when Vex advanced to Companion strength and Kiypu’s unorthodox training, the baseball mana orb struck the warrior between the shoulder blades.

The shout of pain combined with the warrior crashing into the person in front of him destroyed the element of surprise. As the group turned, weapons raised, Kellen and Vex sent out two more shots, one of Vex’s horizontal crescent-shaped blasts, and two more orbs from Kellen. One orb went wide. The rest of the attacks knocked two more warriors off their feet, dazed but not dead.

“Beastcaller!”

The lead warrior stepped past her last two standing comrades, a wicked club with obsidian spikes like saw teeth held in her hand. Unlike the others, white bandages like a Halloween mummy covered her from head to toe.

Kellen raised an arm, forming a shield on each right forearm and shaping another orb in his left. An instant later, the bandaged warrior and her companions attacked.

Vex’s luminescent turquoise markings flashed. He rushed the two warriors to the side of the bandaged woman. Instinct overrode Kellen’s mind-numbing terror, a shielded arm lifting to catch the woman’s spiked club just in time. It struck his shield with a shower of sparks and he staggered backward. When he recovered, he glanced at the circular disc of sun mana and saw spiderweb cracks running through it. The woman leered at him.

“Your powers are useless against me.”

With a scream she charged forward again, swinging the club in crossing strokes that Kellen could barely block, let alone counter. She drove him backward relentlessly. The fourth time her club struck his shield, the working burst apart in a spray of golden sparks. Kellen only just formed a dinner plate-sized shield with his left hand and knocked aside a blow that would have severed his head.

By now, the obsidian spikes of the club should have shattered. Instead, it was his shield that was broken. The club looked just as sound and sharp as ever. Kellen took a pair of cautious steps back. The woman stood between him and Vex, who hissed and howled as he did his best to fight the two other warriors at a close distance. The fight was more evenly matched than Kellen liked, but he had his own troubles to worry about. His beast heart grew heavy in his chest. For what good it did him, his mana was running low.

“The Spider Witch has blessed my clothing and weapon to stand against mana,” the woman taunted, swishing her club in front of her. “And now, your end is—”

Kellen thrust both his palms forward, emitting a blinding flash. It was the last trick in his bag, the only other working aside from a mana bolt he knew. To him, the light was only a faint flicker. For everyone in front of him, it would have been like a spotlight straight to the face. The woman cried out, shielding her eyes. Drawing from the last shallow stores of his mana, he summoned one last shield and charged, swinging it with all his might at the hand the woman held her club in.

It might not have held as normal, but the force of the blow sent the club spinning into the darkness. Still blinded, the woman lashed out with a blind fist that glanced off Kellen’s head. He swung his cracked mana shield, aiming for the head but catching his foe in the shoulder instead. Eyes still squeezed shut, she drew a knife at her belt, slashing blindly in his direction. Kellen stumbled back out of range. His feet tangled in the tall grass and he went down hard on his back.

Blinking, the woman stood over him, knife raised. Kellen pushed himself up and raised his shield… only to see it disintegrate before him. The woman hissed and dove for him, knife glinting in the fading golden sparks.

Throwing a forearm up, Kellen lashed out with his foot. The kick missed the knife and caught the woman in the stomach, shoving her backward and knocking the wind out of her. He scrambled to his feet just as she caught her breath and lunged again. A bundle of flying white bones hit her in the head. Shakraa, bailing him out again.

The crow latched onto the woman’s face, clawing and striking at the bandages with her beak. Kellen wasted no time. He ran for Vex, who lie on his side, panting. The two warriors lay dead nearby. Vex’s tawny fur and swirling blue markings were cut in a dozen places, but as a being made of mana, he did not bleed.

“Are you okay?” Kellen asked, voice cracking. “I should have done something. I couldn’t—”

“Don’t sweat it,” Vex grunted without his usual pep. “As long as you’re fine, I’ll live.”

Kellen’s head shot up at the sound of rustling grass. For a moment, he tensed, then recognized Hannup. The old man rushed past them, spear in hand. A moment later, the bandaged woman’s scream cut short and the rustle of Shakraa’s bony wings told Kellen she was a threat no longer.

A firm yet comforting wrinkled hand gripped Kellen’s shoulder. “It is over,” a firm, aged voice said. “The last of them are running into the night like rabbits.”

Kellen remained kneeling over Vex. Clenching his teeth, he blinked hard to fight the tears, body shaking.

“You did well, Kellen-Lars,” Hannup said, using the mash up he preferred from Kellen’s first and last names. “So did Vex. Our children are safe because of you.”

Kellen didn’t feel like a hero. All he wanted was to curl up in a ball on the ground until the sun came up. He felt so drained, both his beast heart and his physical body. Nothing but lingering fear filling the empty voids.

“Come,” Hannup said, grasping Kellen’s arm and giving it a gentle pull. “Let us gather the children and return to the camp.”

“Can you walk?” Kellen asked Vex. He groaned in response and pushed himself onto his four feet.

“Feeling… better already,” the Mana Beast said in a weary voice that contradicted his words. “Once I find something to eat, I’ll be good as new!”

Hannup gave a shrill whistle and the half-dozen Gray Dawn children rose from their hiding place a short distance away, three parents each carry a crying baby surrounding them. Kellen’s gut twisted, realizing how close the warriors had been to kids. At a glance, he saw the other two white-painted people, both dead now too. Hannup must have come to their aid sooner than Kellen noticed. The grimaces of death and the unnatural poses of the corpses sent another shudder through him.

A comforting head nuzzled into Kellen’s hand, which hung limp at his side. “I don’t like it either,” Vex said in a soft voice.

Sickness seized Kellen. He dropped his head between his knees. Hands pressed against his shaking legs, he heaved and heaved. A wave of dizziness sent him lurching forward like a drunk. Hannup caught his arm and offered a water skin he’d produced from who knew where.

“Drink,” the old chief said.

Kellen took a small sip, then several gulps. He immediately felt physically better, though he tried not to think what would happen when things quieted down and his mind had time to wander.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. A shiver ran through him and he realized for the first time the sweat cooling all over his body. Plus, he’d ran out of the tent in only his worn out jeans and a thin shirt, sans poncho.

The adults led the children around the scene of the fight. Kellen saw more than a few stare at the bodies as they passed. He tried to walk between them and block the view, but none of the other adults bothered. Was violence this common for these people that they didn’t even try to shield it from their kids?

Kiypu met them on the edge of camp and offered Kellen a blanket as relieved parents and spouses ran to meet their group. In the dark, Kellen didn’t know how many adults were missing and tried not to imagine what that meant.

“Looks like you’re still on your own two feet, eh?” the mummy said, golden teeth shining behind his lipless mouth. Shakraa was nowhere to be seen, probably off making sure the coast was indeed clear of raiders.

All Kellen could do was nod. He stared at the results of the fight with wide, dazed eyes. Someone had started a big fire in the center of camp. The rising flames cast flickering shadows over a handful of white-painted bodies and a few indistinguishable others that could only be from Gray Dawn.

“Chief Hannup.” It was Akehsoh, one of the Gray Dawn warriors. He held his ribs with one hand. A cut on the side of his head glistened with trickling blood. Kellen remembered seeing the man’s two daughters after the fight and was relieved to see him alive and mostly okay. “Everyone is accounted for. Six of ours dead, and nine of the raiders. They were trying to steal horses and food stores. When they lost the surprise and saw we had Beastcallers, they ran like cowards.”

A heavy weight, like a stack of barbell plates settled on Kellen’s chest. Six dead? The band’s numbers were already thin after Ubira’s attack in the summer when Allison and several others had been kidnapped and Shani’s husband slain. There had only been twenty-six in the band, including the women hunting. Six dead was an enormous blow to a small community already reeling.

Kellen saw the same thoughts wrinkling Hannup’s weathered brow. As one of the smaller bands of the Storm Horse, Gray Dawn had been in a precarious situation before either of the attacks. Now they teetered on the end of destruction. If it weren’t for the luck that had united the band with the two Beastcallers, the enemy might have killed everyone in the camp.

“Get three or four who are still well enough to fight and have them keep watching on the hills,” Chief Hannup said to Akehsoh. “The rest that are not hurt too bad should tend to those with the worst wounds.”

“I will help where I can,” Kiypu said. “But my healing arts are not what they once were.”

“And the dead?” Akehsoh asked.

“We will prepare and honor them in the morning,” Hannup said. “Lay them out under the night sky and set a guard so they will not be disturbed.”

“What can we do?” Kellen asked, doing his best to keep the exhaustion out of his voice.

“Rest, that’s what,” Kiypu said. He grabbed Kellen’s shoulder and steadied him. Kellen hadn’t realized he’d been swaying. “You came close to draining yourself dry. What have I told you about control, little brother?”

“There wasn’t much time to think,” Kellen said, fighting the fatigue.

“We just started kicking butt,” Vex added. He sounded haggard and walked with a pronounced limp.

Chief Hannup shot Vex a kind smile. “You did well. Your teacher is right. Rest. We will need your strength if these white-paints come back.” He placed a hand over his heart and then extended the hand toward Kellen, Vex, and Kiypu. “Gray Dawn owes you a great debt.”

Akehsoh’s report of six dead flashed through Kellen’s mind again. “I… sorry we couldn’t do more.”

They made their way back to the tipi, escorted by Kiypu and Shakraa, no doubt to ensure they actually did as they were told and went to rest instead of finding somewhere to help. The mummified teacher didn’t miss the chance to give Kellen and Vex a lesson. On the way, they came across Professor Gates. He held a chipped club in his hand and flecks of blood stained the front of his shirt. When they asked if he was okay, he answered with a nod, eyes wide and wild. Clearly, he hadn’t followed Kellen’s advice to stay in the tent. He hadn’t known the professor could fight.

“There are no guarantees in battle, yet you cannot burn through the mana in your beast heart so recklessly.” Kiypu had been lecturing them all the way across camp. “You know this.”

The truth was, Kellen hadn’t meant to run through his mana so fast. He knew the consequences, yet when the heat of any emergency arrived, he couldn’t help himself. He never wanted to feel helpless again, and as a Beastcaller, he didn’t have to. What else was he supposed to do if it was life or death?

When they reached their tent, Vex all but collapsed. Kellen felt the same, yet wished there was something more he could do to help. The professor, Kiypu, Hannup, Akehsoh and the others weren’t resting.

“You did well, little brother,” Kiypu said, before closing the flap behind him. “Recover now.”

Kellen nodded and went inside their tent. Vex fell asleep instantly, but Kellen stared into the darkness, guilt chasing away sleep despite his exhaustion.

Had he done well? At every turn, someone had bailed him out, whether it was Vex, Shakraa, or Hannup. Without their help, he would probably be dead at least twice over. If one or two things had gone differently, it could have been him lying out there, growing cold and stiff.