“Do we keep going?” Reylo asked, his eyes on the pitch-black sky. The road was hard to see, but not impossible. Most of the group had walked it a hundred times before, so there was little fear of losing their way.

  But it was dark, and in that darkness lurked a supernatural creature with murder on its mind. Their murder.

  “Of course we do,” Kule answered. “Just because the sun set doesn’t change anything. We’ve got the road in front of us… somewhere…” he said, gesturing vaguely.

  Syl couldn’t help but smile, just the tiniest bit, at a glimpse of her old friend coming through the veil of revenge.

  “And the Anihazi could be waiting for us anywhere along it,” one of the farmers pointed out.

  “Or it could be killing our families back at the village,” Rogar reminded everybody. “We don’t have the time to stop. We all knew it when we set out this morning.”

  “Rogar’s right,” Syl added. “I’m getting better at tuning out the pressure of the storm on the other side of the mountains, and I think I’ll be able to sense the Anihazi if we get closer to it.”

  “You think?” the farmer asked.

  “Enough,” Firon cut in. “We’re all tired. And we’re all getting grumpy because of it,” his words were blunt, but his tone was soft enough to calm those around him. “But we’re the only ones who have a way to fight the Anihazi. The village is counting on us to get these weapons back. To get the knowledge back of what we’re up against.”

  “And how to kill it,” Kule added.

  “Yes, and that,” Firon conceded. “Syl is doing her best with the Cloud Stone and we’ve all learned a tremendous amount from what she’s shared. Because of that, and because of your hard work to carry these weapons, we have a chance to survive this.

  “I’ve walked this road more times than I’d care to count and I’d estimate we’re only a few hours from the village. We’ve made amazing time, all things considered,” he pointed at the wagon as he spoke, and gave an appreciative nod to the four men pulling it. “Just a little more and we’ll reach our goal.”

  Firon stopped and took a breath before continuing. “And, I know I don’t have the right to ask you this, not after what you’ve gone through. After what you’ve lost.” He put his arm around Syl’s shoulder. “But my wife and son are still back in the village, as are many other loved ones.

  “You, more than anybody else, understand what that means. Why I need to get back to them. And, why I need your help to protect them,” he finished.

  Despite the darkness, Syl could see the men and women from Teb’s farm nodding.

  “And of course, you’ll get it,” the farmer said. “I’m sorry I spoke to you like that, Syl. I know you’re doing your best. Your father’s right. Just tired. Let’s get moving again,” he said to his fellow farmers. “We’ve got a village to save!”

  The others raised a small cheer, if it could even be called that, and the group was underway again.

  They’d barely started when a flash of light lit the sky. Several seconds later, just long enough for people to turn their heads and wonder, thunder rolled across the valley. Several other flashes followed, outlining the blurry mountain peaks, with their accompanying claps of thunder.

  “Syl,” Rogar started hesitantly. “You said we still had hours.”

  Syl reached out with the Stone and felt the water-laden clouds creeping over the mountains. “We probably do,” she said. “The clouds are right around the peaks… you can see them when the lightning flashes. It’ll take another big push before they start crashing down on our side. Even then, they won’t spread across the valley immediately. We have time.”

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  “But not to waste!” Firon called as he turned to the motionless group. “Let’s go,” he said, and even went to help push the wagon.

  A peal of thunder in the opposite direction stopped them before they got moving again.

  “I didn’t see any lightning,” Rogar said.

  “Me neither,” Dena agreed. “Syl?”

  “Nothing. All the clouds are behind us,” she said, confused.

  “When the Anihazi roared, it sounded like thunder, right?” Reylo suggested, joining them.

  “You’re right… can you feel it Syl?” Dena asked.

  She strained, but the pressure of the clouds behind her was too much. She almost told her friends as much, but the memory of the look in Kule’s eyes, of Leeze’s lifeless body, gave her the resolve to push on. The building storm and rolling clouds were too much interference for her to simply force her way past, so she changed tactics. Syl stopped trying to ignore the clouds, and instead focused on them.

  She embraced the storm, the way it pulsed with power and caressed the mountaintops. Syl listened to the rhythm of the thunder beating between the clouds, watched the lightning dance across the sky, and felt the soft kiss of falling rain. She took it all in and imagined herself once again taking wing, diving and rushing miles above the ground.

  The clouds stretched beyond imagination, and Syl instinctively knew, or maybe the Stone told her, she’d lose herself if she kept going. So, she pulled back, though her thoughts lingered on the infinite possibility beyond the mountains. When her mind returned to the valley, she found the power of the storm far less overwhelming. It was instead a good friend, familiar and comfortable.

  “Syl, can you sense the Anihazi?” Rogar asked again.

  “Almost got it,” she said through a mouth miles below where her mind soared. Syl wished she could stay up there, among the clouds, free, but her responsibility grounded her. Now so familiar with the storm, it was little more than background noise.

  Her senses expanded, unhindered by the storm, and she reached out for any trace of the Anihazi. The valley filled her mind, cupped gently between the imposing mountain peaks, and criss-crossed by rivers and lakes. Villages and roads hid under generous foliage, and if Syl didn’t know better, she’d think the valley empty of human life.

  Thunder echoed dimly in her ears, lightning flashed in the corner of her eyes, and something about Lake Cashin still creeped her out, but she ignored all of it; her goal was the Anihazi.

  The panther’s familiar malice glowed like a small sun on the valley floor.

  “Got it,” she said and opened her eyes. “It’s about halfway between us and the village.”

  Dena, Rogar, and Reylo shared nervous glances. Even with the weapons in hand, their confidence wasn’t overflowing.

  “We can do this,” Syl told them, one part of her mind firmly locked on the Anihazi. She wouldn’t let it out of her ‘sight’.

  A rumble of thunder so loud and deep it shook the leaves on the trees seemed to disagree.

  “The panther’s moving,” Syl said, that glow of it in her mind speeding between the trees. “It’s planning to ambush us before we get back with the weapons,” she explained, interpreting the pulses of emotion she picked up from the Anihazi. “It knows we have them.”

  “How?” Reylo asked. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. So, it’s going to attack us before we can arm the other villagers?”

  “Yes,” Syl said, a plan forming. “But we aren’t going to let it. I’m going ahead to finish it before it has the chance.”

  “You’re not going alone,” Rogar and Dena said at the same time. A look of surprise passed between them but was quickly replaced by one of determination.

  “You’re right. She’s not,” Kule said, his Sho-Val gripped tightly in both hands.

  “When do we leave?” Reylo asked with a smile.

  “You’re not coming,” Syl told Reylo.

  “What? Why not?” he asked, trying to keep his anger and hurt in check.

  “I can’t really stop them, but… your arm. I’m sorry Reylo. You can’t hold a bow or a Sho-Val right now. It’s too big a risk… for all of us…” she trailed off. It was hard for her to say, but the brutal truth was the best way to keep him, and them, safe.

  “I…” he started, but couldn’t go on. He knew he’d be risking their lives if he went. He would be a liability. It hurt his pride, but he wouldn’t let that pride endanger his friends. And that was what Syl was counting on. “I understand,” he said finally.

  “You’ll help keep the others safe if the Anihazi gets past us,” Syl said, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You’ve fought it before. You know what to expect. Keep them safe,” she said. “Keep my father safe.”

  “I will,” Reylo said with a nod. “But it won’t come to that. You all have to make it back.”

  “One of us isn’t walking away from this fight,” Kule said dramatically. “Wait, I mean…” he started again as he considered his words. “I mean the Anihazi isn’t walking away. I didn’t mean one of us…”

  Syl just hugged her friend while the others shook their heads.

  “You better remember that means you have to come back from this too, okay?” she whispered just for him. She felt some of the tension in his muscles ease, and the slight nod told Syl he’d heard her.

  Now she had to make sure they all survived.

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