Telari's Arc

Chapter 3 of 11

Telari and Katt crouched at the tree line above the camp. Nine pale shapes moved between the torches. The tall leader stood at the center. Telari had counted them and found the gaps. But she and Katt stood forty paces apart now, hidden in different brush. The lions waited between them. She realized the flaw. If she loosed an arrow before Katt was ready, the camp would turn on her alone. If he charged too soon, she could not cover him. "Telari." Katt's low voice carried through the dark. He did not look at her. He watched the enemy. "We need a signal to time our strikes. One that won't warn them." He was the blacksmith who had mended her arrowheads all winter, honest and steady. He never rushed. "You call it. I follow." Telari's mind raced. A whistle would carry too far. A shout would end them. She looked down at the grey lion pressed to the ferns beside her, then to the small white one flat in the brush near Katt. The lions knew her. They answered her hand. "The cats," she whispered. "Watch the grey one. When I send her forward, she'll break cover first. That's your signal. The moment she moves, you move." Katt turned his head a fraction. "And if she breaks early?" "She won't. She waits on my touch." Telari laid her palm flat on the grey lion's shoulder. The muscle was tense but still. "I hold her until we're both ready. When I lift my hand, she runs. You'll see it. So will the white." Katt drew his longsword slow, keeping the blade out of the torchlight. "Then we have a signal." A short nod. "Give me ten count to reach the near torch. Then send her." He slid off into the dark, silent for so large a man. Telari watched him vanish behind the far tents. She counted. Her hand stayed on the grey lion. The white one crept forward, eyes on its bonded sister, waiting for the same cue. Telari nocked an arrow with her free hand. Her heart slammed but her fingers held. Eight. Nine. Ten. She lifted her palm. The grey lion exploded from the ferns. The white one launched after her, a streak of pale fur through the torchlight. A pale creature shrieked and spun. Katt burst from the shadows on the far side, longsword swinging, exactly on cue. Telari rose and drew. Her first arrow flew clean and dropped a soldier by the fire. The attack landed as one. No one was surrounded. No one struck alone. But the tall leader did not run or fight. It raised both arms and threw back its hood. Cold blue light spilled from its open mouth, and the fallen soldiers began to twitch and rise again. Telari's next arrow froze on the string. Killing them was not enough. She had to reach the leader before it raised the dead a second time.