An hour later, I’m still satisfied at how that whole confrontation turned out. I’m also drawing close to where Kalanthia has made her temporary den. Being an accomplished Earth-Shaper, making a home away from home is the work of only minutes for her. This time I can see that she’s made an effort to conceal her presence – I’m only able to find the den because I’ve already visited her here once before.

  Most of it is underground, only a small mound above the earth indicating where the entrance is for those who know. The entrance itself is a small hole concealed by another mound of earth – Kalanthia must make it bigger when she wants to pass through it as it’s barely big enough for me to crawl through; definitely not her size.

  She’s also done something to conceal the whole area from magical senses. I noticed it last time too, and want to ask her to teach me when we have more time. Somehow, even though I know that there is a large, hollow space below the ground, I can’t feel it there, not even with earth-magic. Every attempt I make just indicates that it’s solid under there.

  “Kalanthia?” I call, wondering where she is.

  I am here, Markus Wolfe, her mental voice tells me. Of course, mental voices don’t offer the same sort of directionality that a physical voice does, but that’s solved a moment later when she drops a little package of images into my mind. I follow the trail of image breadcrumbs past the mound and then to the right.

  Pushing through the thick undergrowth would be harder than it is if I didn’t have my strength or my protective hide armour – several of the bushes around are spiky. And I suspect that at least one is capable of moving in ways plants from Earth are not if the way I see some of the tendrils twitch and slither away from me is any indication. At least the plant is smart enough not to attack our party.

  Emerging from the mess of bushes, I’m struck with a sight which makes my eyebrows rise into my regrown shaggy hairline. Raven and Kalanthia are…together? And not biting each other’s heads off either verbally or literally?

  “Well, this is new,” I remark to the two of them when I’m both able to speak and continue walking forwards. The rest of my party breaks through the last of the undergrowth and into the small clearing, evidently recently made. Probably for Raven to be able to take flight easily.

  Lathani runs towards her mother to greet her. Bastet, Storm, Ninja, and I follow to do the same, though at a more sedate pace. The three alcaoris hatchlings dash over to me as quickly as they can too and wait impatiently for me to finish greeting Kalanthia. I rub their scales in their favourite places – each of them prefers a different spot.

  Sending a quick pulse of magic through them, I determine that they’re not any worse than when I last saw them two days ago. In fact, Daphne and Ivor’s crazy mish-mashes of internal channels seem slightly more logical. They also haven’t gone backwards with their physical forms, fortunately. Noir, of course, is unchanged, though perhaps a little bigger.

  “When did you two get all friendly?” I ask curiously when the greetings are all done, the rest of my party just showing more or less fearful respect towards the two Tier threes.

  The thing is that while Raven and Kalanthia haven’t tried to fight since I helped them form an Alliance, they’ve still been very far from buddy-buddy. There’s been a spoken and unspoken understanding to avoid each other’s indicated territory and to try to ignore the other as much as possible. Even when we were travelling together, they mostly greeted the Guardians individually and didn’t speak on the rare occasion they were both with our caravan at once. I hadn’t considered what they might do while the rest of us were at the Festival, but if I had, I would probably have said that they would try to stay apart as much as possible, continuing the standoffish truce.

  The evidence in front of my eyes, however, indicates differently.

  We realised that we have some things in common, Kalanthia explained. We are both Enlightened beasts away from our families. We both have young who have been badly hurt. And we are both here because of you.

  Well, as a summary, that’s pretty accurate, I have to admit.

  “And this has allowed you to build, what, a friendship?”

  I wouldn’t go that far, replies Raven coolly, though his body language towards Kalanthia tells me differently. He’s relaxed in a way I’ve only seen him with his hatchlings, when he forgets to be wary of me. But I have…appreciated the company.

  “Your own brothers are still giving you trouble?” I ask sympathetically. Raven sighs, a gust of slightly-warm breath huffing through his nostrils.

  Yes, he admits. They still will not allow me access to the hatchling grounds.

  According to him, alcaorises aren’t social in the sense that samurans are. They don’t live together the majority of the time. They don’t come together in big groups to face threats. They don’t even hunt together much, and if so, only in parties of two or three at the most and that usually only at Tier one. But when it comes to raising their offspring, there is this period of time every mating cycle – which from the indications he’s given is probably about a decade long – when the fathers who have successfully hatched their eggs bring their hatchlings to the ancestral hatching grounds.

  Apparently the hatching grounds are where the alcaoris fathers bring their new hatchlings to meet each other and to interact, learning to fight, to play, and to be with others of their kind. It also gives the fathers a bit of a break as they take it in turns to fetch food for everyone, and social contact which Raven won’t admit that he misses.

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  The problem is that, due to the problems the young alcaorises are still suffering from, too many of the other alcaoris fathers are not willing to accept that it has been a successful hatching. They see Noir, Daphne, and Ivar as being deformed and disabled, doomed to die young – not true alcaorises. And they have barred Raven from the hatching grounds as a result.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to him honestly. He turns his head away from my sympathy – the prideful beast has difficulty admitting any sort of vulnerability. That apparently he’s been able to get over himself enough to build something of a friendship with Kalanthia is amazing.

  Why are you here, Markus Wolfe? Kalanthia asks, perhaps to distract the attention from Raven and his continuing issues with his kind. I willingly go with it – I don’t have unlimited time, after all. Explaining the Hunt and my task, I soon have both Tier threes’ eyes on me. At some point, I sit down, the three dragonlings pressing in close to me as I speak. Apparently Ivar, Noir, and Daphne have missed me.

  Treasures, Raven muses as I finish. They seek some treasure to empower their group.

  “That’s what it’s about?” I ask, glancing at Joy and Poison who are most likely to know the answer to my question.

  The ritual of the long-dark does empower us in some way, Joy admits. It is hard to explain it, but those who make it to the Festival are often healthier and stronger than those who do not. It is why we must make sure not to leave the same Warriors behind every time – and another reason for why we bring all our Pathwalkers, even the newest, despite the danger of the journey.

  “I see,” I say thoughtfully. “And does it make a difference to the ritual what kind of object is brought back?” Logically, I would have thought it did – different Energy Hearts have proven to have different effects on Energy channels, after all. On the other hand, if it’s just being used as a power source, to amplify something else that the Pathwalkers do….

  I do not know, Joy admits, Poison flicking his tail in uncertain negation as I look at him next.

  “Alright,” I say to them, then turn my attention back to Raven and Kalanthia. “Do either of you know of a treasure nearby which we could aim for that would suit the requirements?”

  They are both silent for a long moment as they consider the matter.

  I do not know of any treasure that is not already claimed, Raven replies first. If I did, I would have already claimed it for myself or my hatchlings.

  “Then you know of some treasures which are already claimed?” I check.

  I do, he answers, though since the treasures I know of are ones that I would not dare claim for myself because of their Guardians, I suspect that you will not want to try for them either.

  “Well, that depends,” I say non-committedly. “What about you, Kalanthia?”

  She huffs and comes closer to me, presenting her chin for me to scratch. When I start doing so, she rumbles in pleasure. Not one to be left out, Lathani comes over to receive her due, shoving Ivar out of the way to get through to me. The alcaoris hatchlings hiss and snap at her for her invasion and I’m distracted as I am forced to deal with the issue or risk World War III breaking out on my lap.

  “Stop it all of you,” I reprimand them sharply. “Lathani, you pushed Ivar out of the way – he’s understandably upset by that. Come sit here where there’s space. I’ll stroke all of you in turn, OK?”

  They all grumble about that but settle as I start fulfilling my promise. Kalanthia grumbles even more loudly when I withdraw my hand from her chin to stroke Lathani. I fix her with a mock-glare.

  “Like I said to your daughter, everyone gets a turn,” I tell her teasingly. She grumbles again wordlessly, but then sighs and finally gets around to answering my previous question.

  I am afraid I cannot offer much good advice to you on this matter. Similar to Ravenous, the treasures I know of around here are powerful enough to meet – or exceed – your requirements, but they are guarded by beasts more powerful than I would expect you to be able to overcome. The deeper into the valley, the more powerful the beast must be to maintain their territory. Most of the beasts around here are at least as strong as Ravenous. Even at full strength, I sense that she begins speaking privately only to me, I would have to be careful with quite a number of them too. Your party is not stealthy enough to be able to steal the treasure and avoid being tracked by its enraged Guardian either.

  “Alright,” I say slowly, my mind turning over the information. Looks like I’ll be going with Plan B after all. “Then Raven, I would like to call in one of the three favours you owe me. I would like you to help me with this Hunt.”

  The alcaoris looks at me, startled and a little uncharacteristically nervous.

  I am not certain we could win against most of the beasts around here even if we fight alongside each other, he warns me. Several of the treasures I know of are guarded by other, stronger members of my kind.

  “But do you think we could kill a Tier three if we work together?” I ask him with my eyes narrowed. “Not one guarding a treasure.” Raven eyes me for a moment.

  Yes, he says a moment later, more thoughtfully. If we targeted one who was not of my kind, one who would be vulnerable to my attacks, perhaps. My kind is generally more powerful than another of the same stage so if we attacked another at the beginning of Tier three, we would probably win. Especially if it is not a Guardian with a treasure. There could easily be casualties among your numbers, however – a clash between Enlightened beasts often has an impact on the environment around.

  I know that he doesn’t care about those in my party, so this concern is rather uncharacteristic of him. He’s nervous, I realise, looking at him and feeling the muted sensations he’s projecting over the Bond.

  “If you’re hurt, I’ll heal you to the best of my abilities,” I promise him, wondering if that’s what he’s concerned about.

  I would hope so, Raven snaps, sounding more like himself for a moment. Then he hesitates. If I am killed, you will take good care of my hatchlings, yes?

  Ah. Right. Father. Perhaps becoming a parent has made him more cautious, especially when considering the disastrous consequences of his decision to submerge his eggs in Pure Energy.

  “Of course,” I tell him. “But I doubt you’ll be dying. Not with the target I have in mind.”

  And what is that? he asks curiously. I sense that the attention of everyone else with me sharpens too – he’s not the only one who wants to know.

  here!

  here!

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