The drums pounded their slow, steady beat, and Syl shifted her right foot forward, her guard alternating with her change in stance. The Anihazi, likewise, stalked out of the burning house. It was smaller again than the first time they’d seen it, but its muscles were no less intimidating and its claws no less sharp.

  But then it stumbled, and a profound sense of weakness rolled off the Anihazi. It was barely staying upright. The growl of hate was nothing more than show.

  Syl fell deeper into the Ka-Sho, letting the drums wash away her weakness, and took another step forward. It couldn’t sense her fatigue like she could feel the Anihazi’s. Trepidation mixed in with the weakness and the Anihazi’s muscles tensed.

  Syl readied herself for the assault, but it never came. The Anihazi, instead, leapt to the side and dashed into the woods. Syl could sense its disappointment for not being strong enough to finish things.

  It disappeared into the treeline and the pounding of the En-Da went with it.

  Was the drumming coming from the Anihazi? What could that mean…? Syl took a moment to wonder as she relaxed her stance. As much as she would have liked to finish things with the Anihazi, could she have won that fight?

  “The… others…?” Kule asked weakly from behind her. He was struggling to sit up, but the way he held his hands close to his body told Syl just how much they were paining him.

  “Stay here,” she told him, but didn’t wait for a response. The fire engulfed the back half of the house by the time she passed the remnants of the southern wall. Her eyes drifted to Leeze, but she couldn’t do anything for the girl. Not anymore.

  “Syl…?” Dena asked faintly from the one solid corner left in the building. She must’ve been thrown straight into it and was having trouble getting to her feet.

  “Are you okay?” Syl rushed over and kneeled in front of her best friend. “Can you move? Where are the others?”

  “Too… many questions,” Dena said, and offered a small smile. The fires behind Syl danced in Dena’s eyes. They didn’t have a lot of time. Syl leaned forward and carefully helped Dena to her feet.

  “Does it hurt anywhere?” she asked.

  “Hurts everywhere,” Dena answered, but was able to stand on her own. “I saw Reylo get thrown through the wall over there,” she pointed, “and Rogar flew past me. They must both be outside. Leeze? Edar? Kule?”

  “Kule is outside. Hands are hurt bad, but he’s alive. I haven’t found Edar yet,” Syl answered.

  “Leeze?” Dena asked nervously, the answer to her own question already written on her face.

  Syl could only shake her head. It was her fault Leeze was dead and speaking it would just be too much. She couldn’t afford to break down now. “Let’s find the others,” she said instead.

  “Wait,” Dena said, her hand gripping Syl’s arm tightly. “The Anihazi?”

  “Ran off,” Syl said. “It’s hurt too, but it got away.”

  “What are we going to do?” Dena asked, fear in her eyes.

  “We find the others,” Syl gave her friend a tangible goal. “Can you look for Rogar on your own?”

  Dena took seconds that felt like hours to answer, “Yeah. I can do that.”

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  “Good,” Syl said, squeezing Dena’s shoulder to reassure her. “I’ll get Reylo. Kule is out that way,” Syl gestured. “We’ll meet there in a minute.”

  “Is it gone?” Dena asked, referring to the Anihazi. Her eyes lingered on the blood dripping from Syl’s hand, but she didn’t ask.

  “I can’t feel it anymore. I think it’s hurt worse than we are, but we can’t stay here. Find Rogar. I’ll get Reylo. Then we’ll look for Edar,” Syl said, her voice stronger than she felt. The image of Leeze’s lifeless body wouldn’t stop flashing through her mind and it was taking everything she had not to break down in tears. “Go,” she said, and Dena nodded and clamoured out of the house’s wreckage.

  Syl turned and found flames everywhere. Even if she’d wanted to retrieve Leeze’s body…

  Reylo is the important one now. Grieve later.

  She exited the burning building not far from where Dena had and angled around to where her friend had pointed. She let out of relieved breath when she easily found Reylo sitting more than twenty-feet clear of the house.

  “You okay?” she called as she ran over.

  “Depends what your definition of ‘okay’ is,” he answered. Like Dena and Kule, a layer of dust covered him, but she couldn’t see any obvious, serious injuries. “Your arm?” she asked.

  “Hurts worse,” he admitted. “But I’ll live.”

  “Good,” she said with a small smile. “I can’t have my first real patient dying from something like that. It would be bad for my reputation.”

  Reylo returned her smile. “And I’d hate to ruin your reputation.”

  “Have you seen Edar?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “No,” he said. “That… the house… that’s unreal…” His words trailed off.

  “C’mon,” Syl said, bringing his focus back to her as she helped him up. “I’ll take you over to where Kule is, then I have to find Edar.”

  “The Anihazi?” he asked predictably.

  “Gone for now, but we can’t stay. Let’s go,” she threw his good arm over her shoulder and helped him stand.

  A furious blush climbed his neck and coloured his entire face. “I… I’m fine… you don’t need to…”

  “Be tough later,” she interrupted, and together they limped around the burning house to where she’d left Kule. By the time they got there, Reylo was walking on his own, and Syl’s worries lessened even more. Dena had found Edar, as well as Rogar and the three of them, knelt beside an upright Kule.

  “At least it wasn’t my face,” Kule said. “Leeze would never look…” he choked on his own words and clamped his eyes closed.

  The look on Kule’s face broke Syl’s heart. Of course, the two were close, but this… this she didn’t have words for. So, she reached out and wrapped the broken leather cord of Leeze’s pendant around his neck. His eyes stuck on the bloody bone carving while she twisted the leather into a new knot. It wasn’t perfect, but it would last long enough.

  Kule nodded his thanks and gently cradled the pendant in his ruined hands, ignoring the pain it must have caused.

  “Glad to see you’re okay,” Syl turned and said to Rogar and Edar, leaving Kule to his thoughts for a moment.

  “You too,” Rogar said, the least hurt of everybody.

  Edar just scowled at her, and then turned away, arms crossed.

  “What now?” Dena asked Syl, glancing at Edar and then shaking her head.

  “Can everybody walk?” Syl asked, her comment mainly aimed at Kule.

  “Just don’t ask me to do any handstands,” Kule said, still fighting back tears and not completely succeeding.

  “Then we’re going to leave before the Anihazi gets back,” Syl told them.

  “Back to the village?” Rogar asked.

  Syl shook her head. “The Anihazi went in that direction. We’ll follow the tracks Reylo saw.”

  “No,” Edar said, strongly. “We should head back to the village where it’s safe.”

  “We won’t make it,” Syl said plainly. “Not as hurt as we all are. We need to find a place to rest. I need to treat Kule’s hands.”

  “Why follow the tracks then?” Rogar asked.

  Syl pointed towards the mountains with her uninjured hand. “There are multiple forbidden paths around the valley. I’m hoping there’s another cave.”

  Edar’s eyes went wide. “You can’t be serious. That’s what got us into this!”

  “I don’t think so,” Syl said. “But I’m sure it’s our best chance.”

  “You guys can’t go along with her. Going into the cave is what brought the Anihazi down on us. It’s what caused all of this…” he waved his hand at the destruction around them.

  “The cave was the safest place we’ve found,” Rogar said. “I’m with Syl on this one.”

  “Me too,” Dena said.

  Edar didn’t even bother looking at Reylo. “Kule?” Edar asked, eager for any support.

  “Is the Anihazi dead?” he asked Syl.

  “No,” she said.

  “Then I’m with you,” he told her. “That cave may have more of those arrows, and I want to make that thing pay for what it did to Leeze. I have to make it pay,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Syl didn’t mention Kule may never regain the use of his fingers, let alone be able to fire a bow. So she just nodded.

  “Help me up, would ya?” Kule asked. Dena and Rogar each took a side and got him onto his feet. He wobbled only a single step, then looked defiantly at the mountains. “What are we waiting for?”

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