Taking advantage of his distraction, Rollan’s horse stopped in its tracks and tried to take a bite out of his leg.
“No way!” he told it, jerking the opposite rein. “That’s my favorite leg.”
From down the road, Tarik said, “Your horse used to be a spirit animal. His human fell in battle. That’s why he’s so irritable.”
Rollan worked to save his favorite leg and then the other one. “Pretty shoddy reason.”
Abeke said thoughtfully, “I hear it’s unbearable if the bond is broken.”
“It’s true,” Tarik said. “As you four know, the bond is a powerful thing, and it gets stronger the longer you’re together. To lose your bonded partner is like losing a limb.”
Rollan’s horse made another grab at him. Yellow teeth snagged fabric and narrowly missed bone.
“I’m right on track to know what that feels like,” he muttered.
“Do you think the horse is jealous of Rollan and Essix’s bond?” Abeke asked.
There was not a lot to be jealous of. Essix would come to Rollan in a pinch, but they both seemed to be loners. Rollan couldn’t figure out a way to get through to the falcon — or even if he really wanted to. He’d gotten along fine before she came along, and he figured he could probably manage fine after too. He guessed she felt the same way about him.
Tarik lifted a shoulder. “Possibly. Or it could just remind him of what he once had.”
Rollan twisted to look at Abeke. Her bond with Uraza seemed pretty great. The leopard followed her as if the two of them were thinking the same thoughts. Wanting the same things. With Essix, Rollan felt they wanted the same thing about as often as any bird and boy would . . . which wasn’t much at all.
Tarik’s horse spooked, hooves stamping and scraping on the ground. Rollan couldn’t immediately see what had startled it. Then he glimpsed a small, furry animal scrabbling up the horse’s side. Tarik swiped at it with a surprised, hoarse laugh. He called out, “It’s a weasel!”
Rollan curled his lip. He hated weasels more than his horse. They were like rats, but longer. Like snakes, but furrier.
“What’s going on up there?” Finn asked from his position at the rear.
“I’ve got it under control!” Tarik called back, swatting at the biting and clawing animal. It looked like he was being attacked by a scarf. Behind him, Conor and Abeke clearly couldn’t decide if they were allowed to laugh.
The weasel lunged for Tarik’s eyes. Tarik blocked the animal — barely. His horse reared again.
Suddenly a surge of intuition jolted through Rollan, certain and overpowering and ferocious. His eyes found Essix in the sky without having to search for her. The falcon’s gaze was fixed on him as well. This was one thing they had in common: an uncanny ability to read people and situations. And when they worked together, the connection was — well, it was easy to see why Essix was called a Great Beast.
Now Rollan knew the truth as clear as if someone had shouted it to him.
Something was wrong.
This was an ambush.
“Watch out!” he shouted. “It’s a trap!”
Finn scanned the woods, his expression sharpening. “Conquerors! Arm yourselves!”
Two men plunged out of the brush, a fox on their heels. In a decisive move, one seized the bridle of Finn’s horse and the other threw himself at Tarik. Lumeo, Tarik’s spirit animal, an otter, twisted suddenly out of his dormant form. A third man charged from the trees, a badger on his heels.
Rollan’s stomach dropped.
These new animals were no ordinary animals.
They were spirit animals.
Conquerors’ spirit animals.
“Don’t just stand there!” Meilin ordered, voice clear and ringing. “Attack!”
Rollan realized he had been frozen by the chaos. Up ahead, Tarik jumped off his horse and drew a knife against his human attacker, even as the weasel dug its teeth into his shoulder. The Conqueror easily avoided Tarik’s knife — the bond between him and the weasel was giving the man superhuman agility. More Conquerors emerged — too many to count. Everything was a mess of people and spirit animals. So many spirit animals.
Rollan kicked his horse to get closer to the fray. The action promptly caused the horse to swing its head to snap at him.
“No!” he said furiously. “You grass-burning chump! Look! They’re in trouble! Go that way!”
The horse bucked. Rollan clutched its neck to keep from flying off. Briggan loped by him, Conor close to his heels, dagger in hand. Abeke was right behind, wielding a large tree branch like a weapon as Uraza pounced. They all looked gloriously useful.
Overhead, Essix cried out. In falcon language, it clearly meant Do something!
“I’m trying!” Rollan said. “Where’s your sense of loyalty, horse?!”
The horse reared. This time, Rollan slid right off the back of his rain-slick saddle. Both his pride and his tailbone shouted angrily as he landed. The horse was gone faster than you could say traitor.
He clambered to his feet. Essix swooped low to see if he was okay.
At least somebody is loyal around here, he thought. He gave her a thumbs-up. He didn’t know if she understood. Falcons didn’t have thumbs.
Two other Conquerors were closing in on Tarik. One of them was bald and had a snake wrapped loosely around his arm. The other was dramatically mustached and had a small cat at his feet. As Tarik parried their blows with astonishing precision, Lumeo pounced on the cat in a chaos of fur and tooth. The cat’s Conqueror was momentarily distracted and Tarik took advantage of this, delivering a roundhouse blow to his foe’s midsection. The Conqueror stumbled back into Tarik’s horse, who delivered a kick of its own, knocking the attacker unconscious. The cat fled to the woods.
Conor and Briggan were holding off the Conqueror who’d been joined by the badger — the man seemed to weaken as soon as Briggan got the badger clamped in his jaw. Finn stood in the shadows, head bowed, holding his side tightly. He seemed to be fighting a battle that existed behind his own closed eyes. The Conquerors hadn’t noticed him yet. Close by, Meilin had been drawn farther away to fight with two other Conquerors. When Abeke approached with her tree branch to give aid, Meilin shouted to her, “I don’t need your help!”
Abeke looked shocked, but she wasn’t deterred. She leaped to rescue Finn as a Conqueror discovered him. It wasn’t ideal, but Meilin, Abeke, and Finn looked like they were handling themselves. Tarik, on the other hand — he faced not only the persistent weasel, but also the bald Conqueror with the snake wrapped around his arm.