"Wait… you two are elves? Like me?!" Firion stammered, utterly bewildered.
The foreign elf only grinned and glanced at his partner. In answer, she reached up and lifted away her own carved mask.
Beneath it was another elf. Her skin was a deep, warm brown, her white hair a crown of tight curls that bounced in the breeze, and her eyes shone a vivid magenta, like desert blossoms at dusk. Her ears, like her husband's, were long, pointed, and undeniably elven.
"In Aldenburg you say elves," she explained, "but out here in Junai, we prefer yumboes. It is the name the great Ogun gave to our people."
"Ogun? Who is Ogun?" Kaida asked, tilting her head.
Firion's own questions spilled out right behind hers. "And may we know your names? Do the devas and elv… I mean, yumboes, live together out here? I have seen white fangs before, but I never knew elves lived in Junai."
"Whoa! So many questions!" The man laughed and held up his hands. "Let's start with the simplest greeting. My name is Jaheim, and this lovely woman is my wife, Alima! We are desert rangers, and we patrol this region together."
He ticked the answers off on his fingers. "As for your other question, yes! Devas and yumboes have lived side by side out here for millennia. Honestly, I am surprised you don't know that. Nobles from Aldenburg come out here all the time! And Ogun is the mighty white lion god of the west. The deity of iron!"
Firion looked even more dumbfounded.
His whole life, he had been told that Junai was a land of lion demons who slaughtered elves on sight. Now, for the first time, he was hearing that Aldenburg's nobles visited freely, and that elven tribes lived peacefully beside the white fang devas.
Another lie, he thought bitterly. How many more will I uncover?
"Actually, there are more yumboes on this side of Junai than in the north," Alima added. "But plenty of devas still live out here. My mother is a white fang deva, and my father is a yumbo."
Kaida's eyes lit up like lanterns. "So you're an elf born from a deva mother? Do your breasts make milk too?"
Silence.
Kaida had no idea how improper that question was. Alima turned bright red from her ears to her collarbone. Jaheim doubled over, howling with laughter. Firion simply covered his face, his cheeks burning at his wife's boldness.
Alima crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "YES, I DO! But please understand, my sister, that is NOT something you discuss with strangers! That is bedroom talk, between husband and wife! And please, call us yumboes. AND JAHEIM, QUIT LAUGHING!"
She balled up her fist and brought it down on top of her husband's head with a solid thunk. A large welt rose almost instantly. Even the three-horned saurian swung its great head around and gazed at its master's lump with what looked like pity.
Kaida pressed her palms together and lowered her eyes, the same way she had the first morning with Firion, when he scolded her for touching him in his sleep. She was clearly ashamed now. Through her horns, she felt a tangle of emotions from everyone around her, embarrassment, amusement, irritation, and it only confused her more.
Firion could not bear to see her look so small and lost. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"You did not know, Kaida. I should have taught you more about the customs of the world. You must not feel bad. You cannot help what you were never told growing up."
Her husband's arms always felt so safe, like a warm shelter in a storm. Slowly, her shoulders relaxed.
Hearing Firion's words, Alima and Jaheim calmed down as well.
"Wait a moment," Jaheim said, rubbing the lump on his head. "What do you mean your wife doesn't know the outside world? And you didn't know Aldenburg's people visit here all the time? They told you we were demons? My brother, are you sure you weren't raised in a cult?"
Firion rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he owed them the truth.
So they sat together in the shade of a broad acacia tree, and Firion told them everything: the betrayal and the bridge, how Kaida found him half-dead in the forest, the soldiers sent by Archduke Magnus, the secret marriages between Aldenburg and Mycean, and all the lies and inconsistencies he had only just begun to see.
By the time he finished, the yumbo couple looked just as dumbfounded as he had moments earlier. They had never expected such a tangled story.
Alima gave her husband a light nudge. "Jaheim, maybe we should take them to the oracle. I am sure Nkiri could help them. She is very wise about matters like these."
"An oracle? Is she your leader?" Firion asked.
"Not a leader," Jaheim said. "More like someone the villagers come to when they need guidance. Even our mayor asks for her insight. Bibi is the type to tell you to use your own good sense. But with something as complicated as you and your wife, maybe she can foresee the best path to follow. She can read the stars."
The blue-horned maiden perked up at that. "What do you mean, she can read the stars?"
"An oracle, Kaida, is someone with clairvoyance," Firion explained. "The ability to see the future."
"She is one of the four oracles chosen by Ogun!" Alima said proudly. "Believers the white lion found worthy of his wisdom. He blessed them with astral sight, so they can glimpse what has not yet come to pass!"
Jaheim rose, dusted off his knees, and gave a sharp whistle for his saurian. "Why don't you two come with us? We still need to inspect one more area. After that, we will take you to Taraji and arrange a meeting with Bibi. If she is in a good mood, that is…"
Firion and Kaida exchanged a glance and nodded.
"We will gladly accept your offer," the forest elf said. "Perhaps the oracle can tell us where to go from here."
Before anyone could say another word, a streak of light tore across the sky.
A purple fireball arced high above the treetops, burning bright as an amethyst against the pale blue, before it burst apart in a shower of violet sparks.
Alima and Jaheim froze, their eyes wide.
"Oh no," Jaheim breathed. "That color only means one thing. One of our friends is in trouble!"
Firion stepped forward and laid a firm hand on his shoulder.
"You offered to help Kaida and me. Let me do the same for you. I may not look it now, but I served over two hundred years in Aldenburg's army. My strength is yours, however I can offer it."
Jaheim looked to Alima. She gave a single, confident nod.
"Then let's go," he said. His voice dropped. "But I will warn you. I already have a good idea what this is… and so does Alima. We may have to make a very hard choice today."
The four of them climbed onto the back of the massive three-horned saurian, whose name, they learned, was Lola. With a snort and a toss of her great frilled head, she broke into a thundering gallop toward the distress signal. Kaida clung to Firion's waist as the plains rushed past in a blur of gold grass and red earth, the hot desert wind whipping her hair behind her like a banner.
Through her horns, Kaida could feel the storm inside their new companions: anguish, dread, and something deeper, something painfully personal.
She could not stay silent. "Alima, my horns let me sense what others feel. I can tell you and Jaheim are deeply troubled. Will you tell us why?"
It was Jaheim who answered, his jaw tight. "We know who it is. Alima and I tried to move him away before, but he keeps coming back and killing the native saurians here… and it is our fault he is here at all."
"Who keeps coming back?" Firion asked. "A poacher?"
Both of them shook their heads.
"No," Alima said softly, her gaze drifting far away. "A saurian we rescued from poachers decades ago, when he was just a little hatchling. His name is Acro. He is a meat-eater from the northern tip of Junai. Poachers smuggled his egg to the border, and we stopped them… but then the egg hatched."
"He was such a tiny thing back then," Jaheim said. "He used to chase our ankles and roll onto his belly to be scratched. When he grew bigger, we thought he would settle in, since there are other predators out here. What we did not realize was how powerful he would become…" His voice cracked, and he fell quiet.
A great shadow swept over them.
Overhead soared another saurian, this one built for the sky. Its wings were vast sheets of leathery, scaled skin, and its long, crested head and slender beak made it look like an enormous bird of prey.
"That's Sky!" Alima pointed. "But where is Emani? Unless he sent her out to find help!"
Firion shaded his eyes and scanned the horizon. The sun was still high and bright, and it took a moment, but then he spotted it: a thin column of dark smoke curling above a cluster of tall trees, in the very same direction as the purple flare.
"There! Someone has lit a smoke signal!" He pointed toward the dark billows.
Jaheim yanked the reins. "Lola, that way!"
As they rode, the land grew grim. Half-eaten carcasses lay strewn across the grass, bones jutting through torn hides, swarms of flies buzzing in the heat. Without a doubt, this was Acro's work. Some of the sights were so gruesome that Kaida squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face against Firion's back. She had never seen carrion so mangled.
Sky circled ahead of them, guiding the way. The closer they came, the heavier the air felt, until at last Kaida and Firion laid eyes on the beast itself, prowling in slow circles around the trees.
"Jaheim… it's him. It's Acro," Alima whispered, holding her husband tightly.
Jaheim gritted his teeth. "Why did you come back? Don't you understand what I have to do now, Acro?"
Acro was a towering predator that walked upright on two powerful hind legs, with a pair of small, clawed arms tucked against his chest. His scales were strikingly beautiful, speckled black and white like a starry night. But beneath that lovely hide, every inch of him was rippling muscle, and his jaws were a cavernous maw lined with teeth like serrated daggers. Most terrifying of all was the ridge of tall, sharp spines running down his back, like a row of spears.
Among the trees, Kaida spotted a man pressed against a trunk, gripping a spear in trembling hands. Blood streamed down his leg. He wore the same kind of patterned ranger garb as Alima and Jaheim.
"Is that your friend, Emani?" Kaida asked calmly.
Alima cupped her hands to her mouth. "EMANI! WE'RE HERE!"
The wounded yumbo jerked his head toward them, and relief flooded his face. Above, Sky swooped low over him and let out a piercing screech at the predator stalking her master.
Huff… huff…
"Jaheim… Alima…" He coughed, a little blood staining his lips, then gathered the strength to shout. "MY GRANDMOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT THIS MONSTER! NOW LOOK AT WHAT IT HAS DONE!"
Firion raised an eyebrow. "Your friend is rather angry for someone being rescued."
"He has every right to be," Jaheim answered quickly. "Alima and I spared this creature years ago, even after Bibi told us to end its life while it was still a hatchling. We refused. Now look at the ruin it has caused…"
He gripped his spear. Beside him, Alima filled her quiver with arrows.
"Kaida, you and Firion help Emani," Alima said, pulling her bowstring taut. "Jaheim and I will deal with Acro."
Firion drew his short blade. Whatever came next, he and Kaida would do their part.
Then Jaheim stepped forward and roared at the beast, his voice raw with fury and grief.
"ACRO! I TOLD YOU NEVER TO COME BACK! AND YET YOU RETURNED! I SPARED YOU ONCE… NOW I WILL BE THE ONE WHO SENDS YOU TO THE NEXT LIFE! COME AT ME!"
The saurian answered with a roar of his own, a deep, bone-rattling bellow that sent birds scattering from every tree. Jaheim leveled his spear at the creature that had once slept curled at his feet.
He charged.
Alima loosed an arrow. It hissed through the air and buried itself in Acro's thick hide, striking a nerve. The beast's leg buckled and he stumbled sideways, and in that instant Jaheim leapt onto his spined back.
If I strike just right, I can sever his spinal cord. Give him a quick death…
He steadied his spear and drove it down into the creature's thick neck. But the moment the spearhead sank in, he knew his aim was off.
"SHIT! That was only cartilage—"
He never finished. Acro thrashed violently and flung him off like a rag doll. Jaheim slammed into the ground so hard that something cracked in his ribs.
"JAHEIM!" Alima screamed.
She nocked another arrow and let it fly. This one struck true, piercing the beast's eye. Acro shrieked and reeled away, and Alima sprinted to her husband's side.
"Jaheim, get up! Quickly!" she cried, trying to haul him to his feet.
He winced, every breath a stab of pain. "I thought… if I cut the spinal cord… I could give him a quick death. But I was off… just a little…"
Alima cradled him in her arms. Behind them, Acro staggered back to his feet and swung his head toward his former caretakers. Blood ran from his ruined eye. With his one good eye fixed on them, he crept closer and closer, then threw back his head and roared again.
In a single heartbeat, Firion was on the beast's back.
No one had even seen him move. Two centuries of soldiering surged through his limbs as he gripped a spine for balance, raised his short blade high, and drove it down with all his strength into the base of Acro's skull. The blade sank to the hilt, delivering the mortal blow Jaheim had aimed for.
Acro staggered. For a long moment he swayed, his great body trembling. Then Firion leapt clear, and the beast toppled to the earth with a thunderous crash that shook the ground.
Kaida slowly led Emani forward. His wounded leg was bound in a broad palm leaf, and he leaned heavily on Sky, who walked beside him with her great wings folded.
Acro lay on his side, his breath rattling. Jaheim and Alima walked up to him, and his remaining eye turned toward them.
Slowly, gently, they both laid their hands on his speckled hide.
The fury drained from the dying saurian's gaze. What remained was something softer, something warm. It almost seemed as though he remembered them: the two young rangers who once scratched his belly and let him chase their ankles through the grass.
Alima's tears fell onto his scales. Jaheim bowed his head.
From a distance, Kaida, Firion, and Emani watched in silence as the great beast drew his final, shuddering breaths, and then, at last, lay still.