Mathis waits until we’re back in our rooms but then he lets me have it with the double barrels. His lecture flips between admiration of my creative solutions, and complete disgust at my lack of true spearmanship. He does allow me some credit for managing to defend myself against Heir Fell’s attacks, judging them to have been superpowered by an attack Skill. His comments remind me of the sword I still have in my Inventory, and when his words finally peter out, I decide to distract him a little with the blade.

  “That’s an impressive weapon,” Laeman marvels as I summon the sword out, apparently willing to help me distract Mathis. It’s not exactly light, despite the points I’ve added to Strength. “An enhanced greatsword.”

  “A greatsword, eh?” I muse, turning the blade one way and then the other, feeling the slight strain in my wrist as I control its movements. It looks more like a blade I might see in a videogame than something that was likely to have been on the field in a medieval war.

  Though it’s not quite as wide as some of the blades I’ve seen in videogame adverts, it’s more than the width of my hand, and it’s almost as long as I’m tall, with its handle included. How Valence managed to get it in and out of that scabbard, I have no idea. Actually, yes, I have an idea – magic screwing with the spatial dimensions. There’s a section of unsharpened blade just below the hilt, and two spikes that jut out. I saw Valence use them a few times to deflect my spear and the unsharpened part of the blade offered him another handhold and more control of the blade itself.

  Putting two hands on the hilt, I take a couple of practice swings. My trainers quickly back away even though I’m moving slowly – probably a good idea. After a few swings, I shake my head and return it to a resting position with its point down and digging into the wooden floorboards of the training hall.

  “If you wish to take up the sword, my lord, I can offer you training,” Laeman suggests from the side of the room.

  “No, it’s fine, thanks,” I reject politely. “I don’t think it’s for me.” It appeals to the twelve year old inside me, but the adult says that I’m mediocre with enough weapons – I don’t need to add another one. Nicholas’ point about focussing on one weapon and getting competent with it has been thoroughly brought home for me. I didn’t need Mathis’ lecture to tell me how close I was to having lost the duel, though his words just emphasised the point. If I’d been better with the spear, I might not have got run through. One day, I might be in a duel where no Skills are permitted at all – I need to be good enough with a weapon to still put up a fight.

  Speaking of Skills, though, I send my magic into the blade in my hands, looking for the imbuement of Heir Fell’s Skills – that should be fascinating to examine.

  Unfortunately, the blade seems completely inert apart from an enchantment that’s tied to runes drawn in the crossguard. I’m not the expert with runes that Hunter is, but I have a strong feeling that they’re linked to sharpness and endurance, which would make sense. But as for the Skills that House Fell is known to embed in their armour and weapons, there’s no trace.

  I see three possibilities here. First, what ‘everybody knows’ is wrong, and House Fell doesn’t embed Skills in inanimate objects. Possible, but unlikely – considering how confident Sarran was about it, there must have been significant evidence. Second, I am incapable of sensing the Skills because they’re in metal, not in a body. I figure that is more likely – I’m not an enchanter. Or, third, the Energy-consuming properties of my Inventory have struck again and sucked the Skills out of them. Also possible, though Skill stones can go in the Inventory without taking damage so why not imbued Skills?

  Either way, it’s a little disappointing. I add the sword back into my Inventory – it could play a part in our discussion over tila tomorrow, perhaps. Maybe I could leverage it to get him to answer some questions about how he imbues his Skills. On that note, I still need to speak to Nicholas about what would be reasonable to ask in terms of reparations. But not now.

  “Alright everyone, training tomorrow?” I ask with a hint of weariness.

  “Why not now?” Mathis asks with a glint in his eyes that I definitely don’t like. “You’ve won the duel, but enemies still wait for their opportunity to strike.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Laeman tells him irritably. “You haven’t forgotten the ball, have you?”

  “Oh, right.” Mathis looks shamefaced. “My apologies, my lord.”

  “No worries,” I dismiss his words with a wave. “Honestly, I’d rather stay here and train than go to it.” I think longingly for a moment of being able to avoid the press of nobles, all no doubt eager to discuss the duel. But Nicholas made it clear that I must attend. “Actually, I’d better go and lie down for a bit – Nicholas indicated that the ball is likely to go on well into the morning.” And after the last few days of limited rest and the duel itself – and all the healing I had to do afterwards – I feel my bed calling for me.

  After a few more words, I return to my room. My Bound are already there, waiting for me. I wash myself quickly – I used Flesh-Shaping to clean myself, but I don’t feel as clean as if I wash myself with water – and then slide into bed. I feel warm and safe with Lathani on one side, Bastet and Ninja on the other, Fenrir near my feet, and Sirocco perched on the headboard.

  If only the rest of my pack were here with me, I think longingly as I drop off to sleep.

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  *****

  I’m walking through the forest with my sisters. We’re happy; we’ve learned so much today! And it’s getting easier and easier to communicate with our teachers – they are learning to read us as much as we are learning to read them. Details still require a translator, but more and more we are able to communicate our questions with gestures and context.

  Our pack travels around us, guarding us from harm. Five humans are with us today – after the scare a few egg-rises ago, the captain insisted on sending more guards on our trips. He would have preferred that we stop making them, but my sisters and I refused to entertain the possibility. Faced with either sending more guards with us or having us sneak away unaccompanied, the captain chose the former. But so far, there have been no more incidents. I was wary the first two egg-rises, but I’m starting to relax now. It is an unusual predator who waits this long to make a kill.

  Yet I can’t forget that we’re in a different world now – the predators here are not the same as those back home, and I’ve become increasingly aware that humans are different from the People.

  I push those thoughts aside. Humans are different from the People, but it is because of that that my sisters and I are learning so much. It is a good thing. Look at Markus and what he did for my kind.

  I feel slightly uneasy about that thought, and I don’t know why.

  I’m distracted by my thoughts by a crack of a branch. We all tense – prey, or a threat? The lead human guard exchanges a glance with the other guards and then speaks, his voice a murmur like a river running over stones – still mostly undecipherable.

  Still? I’m confused. Something tells me that I should be able to understand it, but I know that I only understand humans fully when Markus is around.

  The guard goes off with two companions when another crack rings out from the same area.

  He said to stay here, Loran tells me. I glance over at him. Worry ripples down the Bond from him, though it’s oddly muted. Almost like he’s far, far away.

  I go with, Artemis announces with determination, Orion agreeing wordlessly – his emotions are just as dulled as Loran’s. Confusion rises within me.

  Before she can take more than a step, everything abruptly goes dark. Panic explodes within me, this emotion not at all dull. I feel echoes of my panic in the rest of my companions, in my sisters, in the raptorcats. Someone collides with me and I let out a hiss of pain as someone’s claw strikes me in the thigh.

  Breathe! something, someone shouts at me. Breathe deeply and calm down so you can think!

  Calm. That’s a good idea. And as a sweet scent that’s vaguely recognisable enters my nostrils, that’s exactly what I feel. I don’t realise I’m falling until I hit the ground. And then I know nothing more.

  *****

  I wake in a cold sweat, bolting upright. My dream is terribly vivid in my mind. Was it a dream?

  “Did you feel that?” I demand from Bastet who, in response to my alarm, has woken and leapt to her feet. Lathani and Ninja are also awake, their eyes wide.

  Feel what?

  “The panic!”

  They all blink at me in confusion.

  I felt your panic, Lathani offers and the others wordlessly agree.

  “Not from the others we left behind at the manor?” I check in a quiet voice, not sure what I’m hoping for.

  I don’t feel anything from them. I haven’t since we travelled through that strange water, Bastet answers. No one else adds anything different. I subside against the cloud-like pillows. It must have just been a dream, then. They’re right – we’re too far from the others to get anything from them.

  But it felt so vivid. It felt kind of like when I was in Fenrir’s head when I went there accidentally – my thoughts and those of the companion I was inhabiting were mixed up together. I’m pretty sure it was River’s eyes I was seeing through, since I was thinking about sisters and could see Hunter and Happy. But we’re further apart than we ever have been. And why would I feel it if no one else did?

  I let out a weak chuckle.

  “Sorry for the panic, guys. I think the stress of everything is getting to me.”

  Sirocco preens my hair from the headboard.

  Trapped in this golden cave, no wonder. You still need to take us outside so I can fly, she reminds me.

  “I know,” I sigh. “Tomorrow, I promise. Maybe I can get Nicholas to show me the gardens – they looked beautiful from what little I saw.”

  And hopefully soon we can be with the rest of our companions. Bastet accompanies her words with a nudge to my arm. I take the hint and start stroking. Lathani jostles my other side so I obediently start caressing her too.

  I want to go hunting. And see Mother, she tells me plaintively.

  “I know – I miss them too,” I agree, feeling a longing for all my other friends which surprises me with its strength. After spending time in this cold palace filled with equally cold nobles who see companionship as weakness and deviousness as strength, I feel even more appreciative of the companions I have.

  A knock falls on the door a while later just as I’m about to drop off to sleep again. I sigh – it’s probably Sarrran coming to tell me it’s time to get ready for the ball.

  “Hold on a moment, I’m coming,” I call out, then carefully slide off the bed, doing my best not to disturb the others.

  When I open the door, I’m surprised to see it’s not Sarran, and then alarmed to see the grave expression on Nicholas’ face.

  “What is it?” I ask, going on high alert. Through our Bonds, I feel my companions responding to my sudden agitation.

  “Markus. I bring grave news. It seems…several of your Bonded have been kidnapped.”

  I stagger backwards. The news hits harder than any physical blow. For a moment, I can’t breathe as the words echo in my ears.

  The dream was real.

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here