At the Howling House, torches blazed, their fiery reflections thrashing in the puddles of last night’s rain. Out front, guards moved restlessly. At least three large mastiffs lay just inside the door. It was a hive of activity in comparison to the quiet town.
“This seems impossible!” Meilin whispered to Finn.
“Patience,” he whispered back.
Meilin wasn’t very fond of patience.
Abeke whispered to Uraza, and the two of them danced quietly through the shadows, finding an invisible path around the side of the fortified barn. The leopard led them to a hiding space in a blacksmith’s shop directly across the narrow road from the Howling House. It was full of the things one would expect to find in a smith’s shop — anvil, furnace, wrought iron firedogs for holding wood — but was also cluttered with cabinetry and farming equipment.
In the smith’s, Abeke crouched behind a half-built cabinet. Finn took a place behind a large harrow. Meilin hid beside the still-warm forge. The blacksmith was on the higher side of the road, and from their hiding places they had a clear view into one of the only rooms with a normal-sized window. Inside, there were five people eating a not insubstantial meal. One very handsome, oily man and four kids.
The last time Meilin had seen the man with his tidy beard and expensive clothing, he had been stabbing one of her allies in the back during the battle for the last talisman. Just the sight of him placing a spoon in his mouth was enough to close off her throat for a moment. She barely checked her first impulse, which was to leap across the road and engage him in combat on the spot.
“Zerif,” Meilin and Abeke snarled at the same time. Their voices were equally harsh, which surprised Meilin. She still didn’t trust Abeke, but her rage at Zerif sounded genuine. Uraza’s tail thrashed at the abrasive tone.
Finn said, “I’ll stand watch here. You two go listen.”
Abeke handed Finn the cat and Meilin shook her head with annoyance.
“What are you planning to do with that thing anyway?” she demanded. “Throw it at Rumfuss?”
But Abeke merely smiled, cool and catlike, before following Meilin to the window. The voices inside were mumbled, but audible.
“Don’t be foolish,” Zerif was saying in between bites of dinner. Meilin was disgusted to watch him eat — not because he wasn’t careful, but because of the opposite. For some reason the care he took to place each bite in his mouth and then wipe his lips infuriated her. How dare he eat like there is nothing wrong in the world. How dare he wipe his beard clean as if it matters if he is handsome!
“No one will care about the Great Beasts when we’re done,” he continued. “Did you see any of the townsfolk caring a whit for Briggan today? They only had eyes for Elda.”
Devin preened as he admired his wildcat tattoo. “She is everything the people want.”
“That’s what I am telling you children,” Zerif said. The older blond girl with the flat frog looked rather annoyed at the word children. “For decades, the Greencloaks lured in most people with their talk of Erdas’s Great Beasts. By making every village everywhere reliant on the Greencloaks and the Nectar, they denied the power every country already has. Briggan serves no one but Briggan! But you, Devin. You serve Eura with their black wildcat. And you, Tahlia, serve your people with Tiddalik, Stetriol’s beloved water-holding frog. Ana, with Amaya’s glorious and fearful gila monster, Ix. And of course Karmo with Impundulu, Nilo’s lightning bird. How long have your people been waiting for these legends to release them from hardship? Now they don’t have to wait for the future. We make the future.”
Devin nodded enthusiastically as Meilin silently fumed.
“How long do we have to deal with people like them, then?” demanded Karmo, jerking his chin toward the interior of the barn. He was a handsome, dark-skinned boy already as tall as Zerif. “As long as we battle the Greencloaks, we are distracted from our true purpose of aiding our people.”
People like them. Meilin was sure he must mean Rollan, Conor, and Tarik.
“Once we get the talismans, they will be powerless to stand against us,” Zerif said. He was briefly distracted by his reflection in the spoon. He admired it.
Tahlia looked vexed. “Just how can you be so certain? There are four other children with Great Beasts out there, looking for the exact same thing as us.”
“Two,” corrected Devin with a smirk. “These two we already have aren’t getting out any time soon. My father built the Howling House to be the best.”
Abeke and Meilin shot each other a look. Two? Who was missing?
“And I chose all of you to be the best,” Zerif said. “The four returned Great Beasts were summoned at random to rather unworthy human partners, as I think you saw earlier today. Each of you, on the other hand, was handpicked to be a hero. Excellent breeding —” He smiled at Devin. “Exceptional intelligence —” He pointed his spoon at Tahlia. “Exceeding connections —” This was directed to the girl with the lizard. “And exacerbating strength,” he said to Karmo.
The table was quiet, probably because none of them knew what exacerbating meant, including Zerif.
“With the Bile,” Zerif continued, “we can create even more worthy heroes. It creates bonds even when the Nectar fails. And the bonds are superior. The human has complete control! We choose the animal! No follower of the Reptile King needs to worry about bonding with a field mouse. Long live the Reptile King!”
The table was quiet again, and the faces of the children indicated that they had heard Zerif give this speech before.
Finally, he cleared his throat, moved his plate, and produced a piece of parchment. “Here’s the map we got from the two urchins. Devin, you and Karmo will use this to follow them to their destination. Get the talisman. I will come find you.”
Karmo said dubiously, “You are not joining us?”
“Karmo,” Zerif said. He stood and draped an arm across the tall boy’s shoulders. “Karmo, Karmo, Karmo. Now that the first stage of your training is done, it’s time for me to return Tahlia to Stetriol and Ana to Amaya, where they can begin to inspire their people. Devin remains here in Eura where he is most influential. And you, as we’ve discussed, have more work that you can do on Nilo’s behalf before you go home as a hero. There are two of you. Two of them. I think we can all agree that Elda and Impundulu are more than a match for that panda, even with Uraza helping her.”