Tuya crouched into lion stance, eager to show the purple-fur lions whose teeth were deadlier.

Now who is arrogant, Batu thought, still a great distance away.

Not arrogant. Confident. I am a spear.

Three purple-fur lions circled her position in the dense, dark forest full of colorful trees and millions of living things. One of them was already wounded, Tuya could taste its pain with her mind sense, blended with fury. It would take more than fierce growls to make her afraid. Those seasons were behind her.

She lunged forward with the power of lion stance and the sight of Isihla. Tuya's spear sank deep into one purple-fur's eye. The beast had attempted to dodge, then tear into her, but Tuya preempted its movements as if it were no fleeter than the snails she'd first trained to anticipate in the dark place. Its death was instant, the only sound it left behind the crash of its body into matted forest floor.

Tuya shifted into wind stance. She was no windjumper who could leap skyward, but in a forest like this, there were plenty of places to reach for even those not blessed by Zafrir. She jumped, grabbing a red tree branch and swinging herself up onto it as the other two purple-furs collided beneath her. Feeling like crazy Yaha, feeling fully alive, Tuya did a thing not good for living and crazier than was wise.

She plunged from the branch, like her mother often had.

The spear struck in the open maw of the unwounded purple-fur, tearing through throat and lodging itself into the back of the lion-like beast's neck. It thrashed, Tuya having to let go of the spear before the second purple-fur mauled her.

Unarmed, two wounded purple-furs, one dying and both furious, fear touched the edges of Tuya's awareness. Still, it wasn't the spear that made her a spear.

The creature she'd already hit in the leg wasn't as quick as it needed to be. Tuya maneuvered through the trees, evading it while the purple-fur with the spear in its throat emitted a horrible roar that cut off into a raspy gag. She awaited Divine Zamael to seize the soul of spear throat, ensuring she never let it near her in the rage of a waning life.

The other lion couldn't keep up with her as she made the woods her own. Tuya didn't need a spear in a place like this where life waited for her. She touched a thick vine, making it more of itself, swelling its size. She climbed it, legs on the tree and arms on the vine, until she was higher than the wounded purple-fur could jump.

You can still live, purple-fur lion, she transmitted, pushing the thought to the growling beast that scratched at the tree bark and snapped its sharp teeth at empty air. Leave before you leave me no choice.

Just put the stupid four-leg out of its misery, Batu projected. He's the food, not you.

Unfortunately for the four-leg, it didn't listen. Already all of itself, hungry, angry, and too stupid to think the woman caught in the tree without her long wood and rock tooth was its end, it tried to climb the tree with its claws, scraping flecks of a pretty orange bark that looked like the sky just before sunset.

Celegana's energy was all around her, waiting for a wilder to channel it to make things grow and be more of themselves. The forest floor, covered in sticks, leaves, saplings stretching toward light, and little bushes and mushrooms that thrived in the dark beneath the multicolored canopy, was like a wilder's surfeit. Tuya sent her consciousness toward those forgotten on the forest floor; those walked on by runaway wilders and wounded purple-furs alike. One particular bramble thorn caught her attention. Fallen to this low, dark place from its once high place where light shone upon it, where it delighted in being a sharp thing protecting its parent tree from the moving things that pecked holes in it, the thorn radiated misery in its lack of being where it was meant to be. Like a wilder trapped in the Hollows that knew it belonged in forests full of life, Tuya understood.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

She gave the thorn strength, flooding it with the abundance of Celegana's glistening brown power, then willing it to, Be the protector you were meant to be. Be yourself.

Tuya sought this thorn for many reasons. One, she wasn't about to fight a frenzied purple-fur lion with her bare hands. She was wild, not stupid. She didn't have the Gidiite strength needed to do such a thing. Tuya wasn't small, despite being underfed in her early years, despite half of her lineage being of Isihla where folk tended to be short. Yaha thought that Tuya had some Gidiite blood on her seedgiver's side, but that didn't make her the type of woman who could wrestle a lion.

Second, it had been too many days since she communed with the plants and made them more of themselves. This skill was a gift that had given her so much since Paintaker, since the numbroot in the dark place, and in the symbiosis of making plants be more of themselves so they could help make Tuya more of herself. This was a part of her that couldn't be denied. She listened to the wild and she grew things. That was who she was.

Third, and perhaps of most importance, the thorn was right beneath the purple-fur's belly. Batu and Tuya thought this a very good reason to choose this plant out of the millions that wanted her love. The purple-fur, had it thoughts beyond devouring women hanging from vines, would've surely thought differently. Then again, it refused to heed the warning when her spear first hit it, when she eluded it with ease in its own home, and again, when she asked nicely for it to leave. Perhaps it wanted a thorny vine to burst to life beneath it, impale it, and carry it upward until it smashed into a bright yellow tree a solid five body lengths above the ground?

It was too late to ask now.

Smiling, Tuya vaulted down from her sunset tree that bled moisture and carried a few scratches at its base but no holes. Her bare feet padded over the life-strewn land. "Thank you, Thornfriend," she said in Celegan as she pushed the thought out to the last purple-fur's doom. "May the light shine on you as you protect." Tuya beamed with her eyes, showering the thorn in silver light, watching it grow even wider as the purple-fur's bones snapped and cracked against the yellow tree. She sensed, much more powerfully, the thorn's gratitude, pride that it had protected, as was its purpose.

She heard the soft thuds of padded paws hitting the damp forest floor, the swish of a near silent creature moving through the brush, then her mind confirmed it was Wolf as her eyes found him moving toward her. The way he came so close unnoticed disturbed Tuya. In the Hollows, it had been far easier to detect life around her. Her mind was bombarded with sensations in the Great Atmana Forest, like normal eyes trying to see when a lightmaker was shining in their face. She'd have to pay more attention to her surroundings here, especially if other creatures were as stealthy as Wolf and these purple-furs.

Wolf huffed, his pretty eyes widening at the sight of Thornfriend and the crushed, impaled purple-fur lion. Sniffing, he turned his head toward the other purple-furs. His ears perked, tail raised, eyes staying wide. He saw now what Tuya was.

"I bring death," Tuya said in Leverian, also projecting the thoughts to Wolf. Sorrow salted them, like tears at a goodbye. "It is better if you stay away from me."

The wolf shook his head, whining. That was a heartrending noise she wouldn't miss when she flew away.

I'm sorry, she thought, clutching Yaha's pearl, trying to convince herself it was for the best to keep moving. But she couldn't listen to his heartache and not feel horrible.

Because you know it is wrong, Batu intruded, his body steadily getting closer. You can at least warn his family before we go.

No, she thought. She didn't want to add even more faces to her nightmares. Already, she knew Wolf would haunt her, the memory of his compassion chasing her across the world as she sought allies who could help.

I know what it is like to lose family to the evil two-legs in the giant rock, Batu projected, his own nightmares flowing into Tuya's mind. A mate. Three children. Dead by his own talons. If we can save another family from that—

Tuya lost trace of Batu's thoughts. Wolf twisted, sniffing heavy, then charged toward Tuya, howling.

"Wolf!"

She braced for his assault, stepping into water form to evade. But her eyes saw truth. He wasn't coming for her. Wolf charged toward her side. She couldn't hear much over the din of Batu's graceless approach. Tuya crouched, her eyes and mind scanning for another threat. But not fast enough in this dense life-crowded land.

Wolf leapt. Something thudded, slamming into Wolf from afar. Something meant to thud into Tuya. He yelped, his heart-piercing whines announcing tremendous pain. He shifted back into a naked boy, rapidly being dressed in red as a branch with feathers stuck out of the side of his hip.

Tuya followed the path of the thudding thing—this arrow—remembering Batu's memories of battles in Mirrevar. In the distance, through brush and gaps in the trees, a bark-skinned woman wearing no hides grew her own as she changed. A bent stick slipped from her hands as they turned into purple paws.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.