21
The Squirrel Cats
The oasis was so quiet that I wondered if perhaps the disturbing image before me was the result of one too many blows to the head. The squirrel cats – though now the word nekhek seemed more appropriate – held their ground, the muscles of their furry bodies twitching, almost quivering in anticipation. Panahsi, Nephenia and Tennat were more still, each one struggling to find the inner calm required to cast Jan’Tep magic. I found myself counting the seconds down, as if I were about to witness a mage’s duel. I could almost hear old Osia’phest: ‘Seven … six … five …’
‘Damn it,’ Panahsi said, fingers twitching as they ran through the somatic forms for a conflagration spell. He’d incinerate the animals if he could cast the ember magic wide enough, but his face was glistening with sweat and his chest was still pumping from his prior exertions. He couldn’t draw the magic inside himself yet, but he still kept his eyes on the squirrel cats. Panahsi knew full well that he was more powerful than Nephenia and Tennat. He’d see it as his job to protect the others. He really was a pretty admirable person when he wasn’t kicking you half to death.
I had no idea what the squirrel cats were thinking. The fur of the thin, flat skin between their front and hind legs rippled in the soft late-night breeze. It was like watching waves on the surface of a lake, if that lake happened to be made of pure unbridled rage and the promise of imminent bloodshed.
‘We should back away,’ Nephenia suggested without taking her eyes off the creatures. ‘Then we can call for help.’
Panahsi’s hands were still running through the somatic forms, but he said, ‘We can’t. The quieting spell is still active. No one can hear us.’
So that’s why I didn’t hear you until I was near the ring of the columns. It made sense of course. With the little monster screaming under their blood spells, someone would have been bound to hear eventually. But none of them, not even Panahsi, had the experience to cast a hush that could cover the whole oasis. Somebody must have helped them do it – maybe Tennat’s brother or his father?
‘No backing away,’ Tennat said, his voice soft, almost reassuring. ‘We kill them. Every last one of them.’
Apparently he wasn’t as good at bluffing as he thought, because a couple of the squirrel cats started growling and I could see them shifting, muscles bunching in preparation to attack.
The lead animal chittered back at them, ‘Nobody attacks until I give the damned order.’ Some of the others hissed and growled, but I had no idea what they’d said until the leader snapped back, ‘Well, I’m in charge now, so shut up and wait.’
The little chitters and grunts and growls he made were so clearly speech to my ears that I kept thinking Panahsi, Tennat and Nephenia must be able to understand them too. None of them showed any sign of it, though Nephenia looked conflicted. She glanced over at me, her face full of fear and anger and … I don’t know what. Maybe regret? Or maybe you just want to see that because then it might not be over between you. Like maybe you just think you suddenly learned to speak Nekhek because maybe that would justify betraying your own people.
‘They haven’t attacked us yet,’ Nephenia said. ‘Maybe if we just leave—’
‘No,’ Tennat said, his voice more forceful now. ‘We’ll be heroes for this, Neph. You’ll be able to choose any path of study you want and the masters will support you. We can set our entire futures right now if we wipe this lot out. When Pan casts the fire river, be ready to support his spell. Then we can watch these little monsters dance to their own death.’
The sickening excitement in Tennat’s voice at the thought of burning these animals alive set my stomach churning, but it also felt oddly reassuring to know that he was just as rotten a human being as I’d always suspected. Is it wrong that I kind of like hating him this much?
Slowly and quietly, I began shifting my weight, preparing to get my feet under me.
I didn’t know what to think about the creatures who were now only seconds from their deaths. Were they the vicious nekhek as I’d always believed? Evil spirits that had long ago served the same Mahdek bastards who had waged war on my people in centuries past and may have come back to kill my sister just two days ago? Or were they just what Ferius claimed – squirrel cats – animals trying to protect themselves as any of us would when attacked?
The leader bared his teeth and growled something that would’ve got me in a good deal of trouble if my parents had ever heard me utter it. Who knew animals had such foul mouths?
‘I think I’m ready,’ Panahsi said. His chubby fingers once again twitched through the somatic pattern for the river of fire. It wasn’t quite perfect, but probably close enough to work. I was going to have to make a decision now: watch as he killed the entire pack of squirrel cats, or take one more step into treason against my own people.
‘Don’t do it, Pan,’ I said. ‘Just back off and let them go.’
‘Shut up, Kellen,’ he replied.
Nephenia reached out but stopped short of touching him. ‘Maybe Kellen’s right. They’re not attacking. We can—’
‘Good,’ Tennat said, his voice still sounding as if he were soothing a nervous horse. ‘By the time Panahsi casts the spell it’ll be too late for any of them to get away.’
I had my arms under me now. With a solid push I could get to my feet and make a run at Panahsi before he got the spell off. Just as I was about to move, the lead squirrel cat turned and chittered at me. ‘Hey, kid, tell the fat one a couple of things for me.’
I froze. First, because it’s weird to have an animal turn and speak to you, and second, because I was kind of annoyed that he’d called me kid.
‘What do you want me to say?’ I asked.
‘Say you’re sorry for being a traitor,’ Tennat replied, assuming I was talking to them. ‘Or just keep cowering there. Either way, your turn is coming.’
The squirrel cats were still waiting, as if they were somehow prevented from attacking. Panahsi was breathing easier now, calmer. The lids of his eyes half closed and his lips were moving as he rehearsed the spell. Fire spells are tricky – make one mistake and you get all the flame you asked for but not on the right target.
‘Come on, Panahsi,’ Tennat urged. ‘Light them up.’
‘Just a second. I’m almost ready.’
The squirrel cat gave an odd noise then, a kind of ‘huh-huh-huh’ sound that I was suddenly quite sure was his way of laughing. ‘Kid, you listening?’ he asked.
‘Uhh … yes?’
‘Tell fatty that just because he doesn’t understand me, doesn’t mean I don’t understand him. Oh, and tell him to look behind him.’
I looked over to where the animal was nodding. There wasn’t any light behind Panahsi, so at first all I saw was a rock in the shadows, only I didn’t remember there being a rock there before. The shape moved and I suddenly figured out what it was, and why the squirrel cats had waited. While everyone was standing around staring at each other, one of the pack had snuck around the long way to get behind Pan.
‘Panahsi, stop! Look behind you!’ I called out.
He ignored me. I guess he figured I was probably just trying to distract him. The first syllables of the fire river started flowing from his mouth – a deep baritone that vibrated on the precise resonances called for by the spell. Hells, he’s doing it.
The lead squirrel cat evidently understood. He let out a new sound, this one a sort of ‘heff’ that I interpreted as a sigh. ‘All right then, skinbags. You asked for it!’ He gave a short, sharp snarl and the black shape of the animal behind Pan flew into the air, going straight for the back of his head and digging its paws into his thick hair. The creature wrapped its front paws around his head, the furry webbing between its limbs covering his face while it used its long, cat-like hind paws to kick at the skin at the back of his neck. The other squirrel cats scattered, moving quickly even though they never took their eyes off the source of the flames.
‘Aim, you fat idiot!’ Tennat shouted.
I saw Nephenia extend her arms, touching the thumb and middle finger of each hand together as she spoke three words into the night air. It was a kind of shielding spell that kept the other squirrel cats from jumping onto Panahsi.
‘Nice!’ Tennat said. ‘Keep it up a little while longer.’ He brought his own hands together, fingers forming an attack spell. Predictably it was another gut sword. He aimed at the lead squirrel cat, who skittered in a zigzag pattern as if trying to dodge someone throwing rocks. That wasn’t going to work against a gut sword though, which didn’t require perfect aim, only a clear line of sight. I got to my feet and charged at Tennat, but at the last second he turned on me and his expression shifted to a grin. Pain exploded in my abdomen – worse by far than anything I’d felt during our duel the other day. Whatever illness Tennat had been suffering lately was clearly healed now, because I was pretty sure he was about to kill me.
‘Tennat, don’t!’ Nephenia screamed.
Hey, maybe she doesn’t hate me, I thought, as my insides started crushing in on themselves.
She let go of her shielding spell and grabbed Tennat by the shoulder, but he just shrugged her off. He said something to me which I couldn’t possibly hear in all the noise, but I guessed must be along the lines of, ‘I’m going to kill you now, Kellen, because, as you long suspected, I am a huge moron whose only ambition has been to make your life hell until I could find an excuse to end it.’
Panahsi screamed. One of the squirrel cats had just bitten a tiny chunk of flesh out of his arm. Nephenia, evidently making a quick calculation about whose life was more important at that exact moment, turned back to start the shield spell again.
I tried to roll away, to get somewhere out of Tennat’s line of sight, but to no avail. It didn’t look as if I was going to get much help from the squirrel cats either. They were focusing all their attention on Panahsi, throwing themselves at the shield Nephenia was putting up, some of them getting through as she struggled to maintain her focus. Pan managed to reach back and grab the one on his neck. The flames of his fire spell danced around his fingertips, setting the creature’s fur alight, as he hurled the thing away, into the centre of the oasis. Two of its fellows raced towards it. The poor creature rolled on the sand in obvious agony as its fur began to burn. When the other two reached it, they turned around and kicked their back paws in the silver sand, half burying the burning creature to smother the flames. The injured creature got back up, hobbling back towards the fight, though I could see part of the thin membrane that allowed them to glide was burned away.
For a brief instant Tennat turned to the others, giving me a moment of reprieve from the gut sword. ‘Get it together. Burn these things to ash before they try to escape!’
But Pan’s spell was starting to fade. His concentration, which had been phenomenal considering the situation, was finally breaking. There were lines of blood on his face and hands and belly from where the squirrel cats had leaped on him. Nephenia was exhausted too, from trying to keep a shield around him. I saw her eyes as she turned to plead with Tennat to stop attacking me and help protect Panahsi. I guess I must not have looked too good because she started screaming at Tennat.
He didn’t care. He’d found a moment and an excuse to rid himself of the monster he hated most, which turned out to be me. In my entire life I’d never been in this much pain. My inner organs were being compressed and twisted – things which weren’t going to be repairable. I looked up into his face, ready to plead with him. He liked it when people begged. Maybe if I …
Suddenly Tennat’s eyes went wide and then his mouth opened as if he were about to say, ‘Oh.’ He dropped to his knees and behind him stood Nephenia, holding the stick that Pan had used to hit me. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. She’d just betrayed the people whose support she needed most so that she could save me. She didn’t look happy about it.
I tried to stand up, to reach out to her, but my legs wouldn’t support me. It was all I could do to kneel there on my hands and knees and see the battle come to its conclusion. Panahsi was done. The combination of our fight earlier and the pain from his wounds had left him unable to concentrate enough to cast another spell. Six of the squirrel cats surrounded him, ready to pounce and tear him to shreds. A few others crept around Tennat’s prone body, sniffing at it and baring their teeth, the stripes of their fur an angry black against the pale silver sand of the oasis. The rest were stalking towards Nephenia.
‘Stop!’ I called out. ‘Leave her alone.’
‘Stay where you are, kid,’ warned the squirrel cat whom I had, in my infinite wisdom, freed from his cage earlier, setting off this entire disaster.
I crawled on my hands and knees towards where Nephenia stood, shaking, terrified by the creatures in front of her whose entire bodies seemed to vibrate as they waited for the moment to attack. One of them turned suddenly, rearing on its hind legs so that its eyes were at the same level as my own. It opened its mouth wide and let out a growl that carried the scent of blood and an overabundance of rage. There was no doubt in my mind that these animals were fully capable of killing us.
‘Back away, kid,’ the lead squirrel cat chittered. ‘I owe you a debt for springing me out of that cage, but you’re on your own if you get between us and our prey.’
‘She didn’t attack you, she just—’
‘The bitch shocked my insides with her lightning,’ he said. ‘She’s going to get what she deserves.’
Nephenia was staring at me, no doubt wondering why I was talking to dumb, angry animals who just chittered and growled in reply. Panahsi looked as if he was having trouble staying on his feet. Tennat had woken up but wasn’t moving. I saw the first creep of a smile on his face and saw something reflected in his eye. A light. I glanced behind me and saw lanterns come to life in one of the houses off the square. Evidently the quieting spell had started to fade and someone had heard the ruckus, or else they’d woken up and seen the glow from Panahsi’s fire spell. It wouldn’t be long before people came to check on what was happening.
‘There are people coming,’ I said to the squirrel cat. ‘As soon as they’re close enough to see you they’ll summon the master mages. You’ll all be killed!’ I did my best to emphasise the importance of that last word.
The leader made his little huh-huh-huh laugh and started towards Tennat. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll be done with these three long before anyone gets here.’
Whatever else the creature was, he wasn’t very nice. I suppose I might not be either if I’d just been tortured.
As scared as Tennat was of the squirrel cats, he reserved his anger for me. ‘You’re a traitor, Kellen. Everyone is going to hear –’
He was interrupted by a voice from the darkness behind us. ‘If you’re going to concoct a story, always best to make it one folks will believe.’
I swivelled my head to see who’d spoken, my brains being too addled at that moment to make it out. At first all I could see was a dot of red light floating in the darkness. Then I made out the tiny trail of grey-white smoke rising from it. The figure stepped forward out of the shadows and Ferius Parfax came into view, a smoking reed sticking out of the side of her mouth.
‘Well now,’ she said, her customary smirk firmly in place, ‘you must be just about the cutest little bunch of critters I ever laid eyes on.’