Dust filled the air. Somebody screamed. It might have been Syl, but she wasn’t sure. Her back hurt from where she’d hit the ground.

  When did I fall?

  She rolled to her side, ignoring the twinge of pain, and looked towards the gaping hole in the side of the building. The red light of the setting sun streamed through the gap, refracting off the floating dust and dancing across the rippling muscles of the Anihazi.

  It looked like a massive panther, easily tall enough to look her straight in the eye, with wide shoulders and powerful forelegs. Its body was slim but muscular, and a whipping tail snaked out behind it as it stepped forward.

  Wisps of smoke streamed off its body and blurred its edges, and deep gouges rent the floor where its heavy, clawed feet trod.

  No, not smoke, Syl realized as she watched it. Clouds… and not just trailing it. It IS a cloud!

  The Anihazi’s head tilted to the right and Milia squeaked where she leaned against the wall. She tried to scurry away but there was nowhere to go.

  Faster than Syl could imagine, the Anihazi’s claw lashed out across Milia. Four hard lines of crimson streaked the wall, and Milia toppled to the side, where she twitched and choked. The garish wounds weren’t enough to kill her outright, but her last minutes would be few and agonizing.

  “No!” Syl shouted, and pulled herself to her feet. She’d lost her bow at some point and instinctively drew the Sho-Val over her shoulder. The three pieces clicked together without thought as the Anihazi turned to face her.

  Eyes of crackling lightning froze her in place, and a rumble in the Anihazi’s chest vibrated the dust in the air and preceded a roar like thunder. Syl couldn’t do anything but cover her ears as the thunder pealed in the confining room, blasting aside the hanging dust and threatening to knock her back once again.

  She knew it at that moment, knew it to be true: It was there for her. To kill her. It didn’t even see the others as it took a step in her direction.

  It was leery of her, after what happened in the woods, but its bloodthirst was stronger than its caution. It took another step forward, and Syl took a step back. How could she fight something like that?

  Another step forward. Another step back, and Syl’s back hit the wall. She couldn’t run from it.

  I need to get away! Her mind raced. Her eyes darted for an escape route. Her legs ached to flee. The door to the kitchen wasn’t far. She might be able to get through there then…

  Then what?

  The Anihazi took another step forward, it was barely ten feet from her, and Dena scarcely rolled out of the way of its huge paw. The girl was dazed, her eyes as wide as saucers as she looked up at the massive beast. A small whimper escaped her throat despite her best effort to stay quiet.

  I can’t run. I can’t leave them, Syl thought, and her hands tightened around the shaft of the Sho-Val. The Anihazi stopped its advance, lowered its head, and issued another room-shaking growl.

  And Syl found herself growling right back. Seeing Dena scared sparked her anger and she fanned those flames as she looked at her other friends sprawled about the room.

  Blood dripped down Rogar’s forehead onto his face as he pulled himself to a seated position. Leeze wasn’t moving; she lay where she was thrown in the corner of the room, but one of the girl’s eyes locked on the Anihazi. Reylo was cradling his injured arm, his back to the Anihazi. He hadn’t seen it yet. Kule was frozen, the pickle raised and ready to throw if the Anihazi turned on him.

  Edar was halfway to his feet, where he’d stopped and simply stared in awe at the manifestation of all of his worst nightmares.

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  Syl couldn’t let the Anihazi kill them. They’d come out there for her, and she needed to protect them.

  “Come on then,” she whispered to the monster in front of her as she took a step forward. It was faint, but she could hear the drums of the Ka-Sho beating in her head. En Da, they pounded, and Syl naturally fell into the ready position.

  “Come on then,” she said louder as the familiarity of the Ka-Sho filled her with confidence. The Anihazi’s lightning-eyes met hers, and she watched the surface layer of its body ripple and shift as it prepared to pounce. To end the chase once and for all.

  “COME ON THEN!” she shouted, and launched into the first striking form of En Da, the drums rolling through her.

  The spear-point lanced out, sliced across, and then spun up as Syl’s hands twisted the shaft. The opposite spearhead streaked up as she spun herself and the weapon, but the Anihazi simply danced out of the way, and she cut only air.

  Syl cursed herself, not because she’d missed, but because her form was sloppy. Her hands were still trembling in fear of the beast in front of her, and her movements were sluggish. For the first time, Syl was half a beat behind the drums.

  I can do better than this. I AM better than this, she told herself as the drums had her sidestepping out from the wall. Likewise, the Anihazi shifted to its left a step.

  The next drumbeat brought her foot up, which she would follow with a powerful stomp and lunge. But the Anihazi’s sudden slash at where her foot had been surprised Syl, and her concentration wavered.

  If my foot had still been there, I would have lost my leg!

  The Anihazi’s surprise at missing its attack washed over her, and her hesitation squandered the opportunity to counter-attack. But the drums demanded she finish the motion, and she lunged forward with both hands. A fraction of a second too late.

  The spear missed, again, but the drums still hammered in Syl’s ears. They wouldn’t relent, and neither would she. Syl went on the attack as the pace changed. Her spear blade glinted in the light of the setting sun and cut through the dust, barely half a step behind the Anihazi.

  Dena scuttled out of the way as Syl’s blade whipped over her head, but Syl didn’t falter. She was finally falling into the rhythm of the dance. Her fear was subsiding, the familiarity of the Ka-Sho replacing it and buoying her confidence.

  The En Da is predicting what the Anihazi will do, her blade getting closer with each successive swing. I don’t know how, but I can do this.

  Just as Syl’s body perfectly tuned into the drums, the beat changed again, and Syl instinctively took a step back. A powerful downward swipe of the Anihazi’s claws rent the air where she’d been. As it was, the floor splintered and broke from the force of the impact.

  Syl’s logical mind told her to counter in that moment while the Anihazi recovered, but the drums told her something different. And Syl trusted the drums. She kicked her legs back and dropped straight down to her stomach, and not a moment too soon as the Anihazi spun. Its tail whipped across where she’d stood and the absurd power of the swing whooshed in the air above her.

  But there was no time to consider that, and she rolled to the side before popping to her feet and jumping into the air, her knees coming up to her chest. While the motions had seemed odd in training, they saved her life. The roll avoided a second downward swipe and the jump evaded a second tail-whip.

  As soon as Syl’s feet touched the ground, she took a single sidestep and launched herself into a handless cartwheel that flipped over yet another vicious claw rake. Frustration and surprise oozed off of the Anihazi, but Syl blocked it out as the drums changed again.

  They were taking her back on the attack and she rushed forward with the Sho-Val spinning in her hands. The room was almost too small for her to spin the weapon properly, and she had to be conscious of where her friends were, but the Anihazi feared her assault. She pushed it back but couldn’t land a hit. It was still just too fast.

  But Syl trusted in the drums. In the Ka-Sho. And her faith rewarded her with an opportunity. As the Anihazi’s eyes followed the Sho-Val’s blade after a wide swing, the beat changed, and Syl’s foot snapped up. The ball of her foot connected solidly with the side of the Anihazi’s short snout. It winced back more in surprise than injury, but Syl didn’t let up.

  The Sho-Val never stopped spinning as Syl danced forward. The Anihazi’s eyes never left the glinting metal. And that was its mistake. Syl struck out with fist and foot, scoring three more solid blows and forcing the Anihazi to retreat. Just as its attention left the blade and it moved to defend against her stinging strikes, the beat changed again.

  She spun with a powerful roundhouse kick, which the Anihazi easily ducked, but it was just a feint. The kick built momentum and attracted the creature’s attention while Syl spun with both hands on her Sho-Val. The building crescendo of the En Da told her the next strike would end the fight.

  “Edar, move!” Syl heard Dena shout as she spun and brought the Sho-Val around in a wide arc that would catch the Anihazi in the shoulder. As her head snapped around ahead of the blade, Dena’s warning made sudden sense. Edar hadn’t moved an inch since the Anihazi appeared, and if Syl didn’t change the trajectory of her swing, it would carry the blade straight through the side of his head.

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