Mirage (23 page)

He disappeared into his work. Once he’d double-checked that the commbox was ready to receive whatever signal Aluna might send, he turned his attention to the force shield. Two more pieces of fruit later, he’d finally figured out why the force part of the force shield was shorting out every time he activated it.

It frustrated him, the fact that they mostly tried to find new uses for old tech. If Rollin hadn’t had the tiny little hearts of a force field lying around her tent, his shield would have stayed an idea in his head, instead of a piece of actual tech in his hands.

“Hoku?”

He looked at Calli, but she was still unconscious.

“Hoku!” Aluna said.

He turned to the commbox, and there she was, looking so familiar, so Aluna-like, that he wanted to reach into the viewscreen and hug her.

Her initial smile faded. “Rollin told us about Calli. How is she?”

Hoku frowned. “She’s holding on, but I don’t know how long she’ll keep fighting. She hasn’t been conscious since I found her.”

Aluna reached out her hand and touched the viewscreen on her end. “I’ve sent for Nathif. He’s a healer, and the Serpenti know a lot about poisons. Do you think he could talk to one of the Equian healers about Calli? He might be able to help.”

His heart leaped. “Yes. I’ll make them listen, even if I have to dim the video display so they don’t know who they’re talking to.”

“Great! Now listen. Before he gets here, I have to tell you some things.” Aluna launched into a description of their conversation with the Serpenti pharos, and by the end of it, he was a member of a bizarre new Equian herd called Flame Heart.

“So our new herd has two Kampii, one normal-looking Equian, two slightly unusual-looking Equians, and an Aviar?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I have to say, we’re not all that impressive.”

“Yes!” Aluna said, ignoring his sarcasm. “And Nathif, too, if I can convince him.”

“Barnacles! Why don’t you invite the entire Serpenti population while you’re at it?”

Aluna’s brown eyes grew wide as clams. “Hoku, that’s brilliant!”

“It is? I was joking.”

“I have to talk to Tayan about it. If the Serpenti join Flame Heart, the other herds may not be able to attack them as easily.” She looked down. He could almost hear the gears in her brain spinning. When she looked up, her eyes sparkled. “It’ll be tricky. Our muddle of a herd is already a little light on actual Equians. But Tayan assures me that herd law is a powerful thing, even when they don’t like what it says.”

The entire Serpenti city, as part of their new herd.

“So . . . anyone is welcome to join?” he asked.

Aluna grinned. “Fins, hooves, tails, wings — we’ll take anyone,” she said. “Just not Weaver Sokhor or his traitors.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Hoku said, his own gears beginning to spin.

He heard Dash call Aluna’s name from somewhere offscreen. “I have to go,” she said to Hoku. “I’m going to talk to Tayan. Nathif will be here in two flashes of a tail.”

“I’ll go get a healer,” he said. “But call back soon!”

Aluna touched the screen again. “You know I will.” And then she was gone.

Hoku checked on Calli, then climbed to his feet. One of his legs had fallen asleep. He pounded it as he stumbled out of the tent. First he needed a healer to talk to Nathif. And then, after they figured out some way to save Calli, he had a very important question for Rollin.

When they left the Shining Moon settlement, only half the herd went with them. Khan Arasen sent the other half — all the children and non-warriors — north toward the distant mountains. If things didn’t go well at the Thunder Trials, he wanted them as far away as possible.

Hoku had argued for sending them to Coiled Deep. What would be safer than an underground city that the herds hadn’t been able to find for generations? Even now that the comm signal had been broadcast, he doubted that anyone would look until long after the Trials. But neither the khan nor Dantai would agree, even when Tayan herself got on the commbox and tried to convince them.

At least the Equian healers had been open to speaking with the Serpenti. With Nathif’s guidance, they’d managed to bring a little color back to Calli’s cheeks. Hoku considered sending Calli north with the fleeing Equians, but the journey to the mountains would be physically rigorous. And besides, Tayan had promised Scorch that Calli would appear at the Thunder Trials. If he sent Calli to the mountains, she’d just fly back and yell at him when she woke up. Calli didn’t get angry often, and Hoku wanted to keep it that way. No, it made more sense to take her to Nathif, who might be able to cure her.

He kicked Sunbeam halfheartedly, and the horse cantered up to Rollin’s side. She sat astride Nightshade. Hoku wasn’t sure which one of them resented the arrangement more.

“When will we get there?” Rollin said. “Saddle needs more cushion. My horse trots bumpy on purpose.”

“The horses all hate me” and “the horses are out to get me” were two of Rollin’s most well-used complaints. Hoku listened to them gladly. He owed her at least that much for snapping him out of his despair.

When he’d first asked Rollin to join the herd, he had thought she might cry. She lobbed a circuit tray at his head instead. For Rollin, projectiles were a sign of affection. Now she wore her Flame Heart colors proudly. She’d even painted her hand attachments light blue and yellow.

Hoku and Rollin took turns pulling Calli’s sand-sled. Hoku tried not to think about the Thunder Trials. He was afraid of change. Afraid that Calli might die from the poison in her body, or that Dash or Aluna might get hurt. He was afraid that if they failed, the whole world would fall into the hands of Karl Strand.

Back in the City of Shifting Tides, his dad always used to say, “Hunt fish, gather clams.” He didn’t mean it literally, although Hoku had thought that for a long time. His dad meant that focusing on practical, everyday things helped you calm down and gave you a sense of purpose. So now, instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, Hoku concentrated on his force shield. During the day he puzzled through the remaining issues in his head, and at night, sitting by Calli’s side, he tightened tiny screws and adjusted the shield’s complex wiring patterns. His dad would have been proud.

W
HEN THEY SET OUT
from Coiled Deep on their way to the Thunder Trials, Tayan rode at the front of the group, the Flame Heart bloodline amulet around her neck. Aluna followed right behind her carrying the new Flame Heart banner. Nathif had sewn it, based on Tayan’s ideas. The top half was blue, but not as dark as the midnight color the Shining Moon wore. More like the sky, or the brilliant blue of ocean water on a clear day. Golden flames licked up from the bottom of the banner, sewn in a shimmering cloth that Aluna wanted to touch every minute.

But her favorite parts were the details. You couldn’t see them from a distance, but up close, Nathif’s tiny, meticulous designs sewn into the golden flames started to take shape. A falcon for the Aviar. A seahorse for the Kampii. A snake for the Serpenti. A horse for the Equian. And when Aluna had mentioned that Rollin, Hoku’s Upgrader mentor, had also joined Flame Heart, Nathif had added round objects with jagged edges called gears.

Aluna patted Tal’s neck and apologized again for the bumpy ride. Hoku had shown her the saddle he was making to accommodate her tail, so she was practicing keeping her legs in the right position — knees forward, atop Tal’s withers, and calves and ankles together on Tal’s left side. A Serpenti skirt clung to her body from her waist down, tapering all the way to her ankles and thankfully covering her unsightly patches of growing scales.

Both male and female Serpenti wore the same style of skirt — they were tight enough that they stayed in place even during slithering and fighting. Nathif had made Aluna’s skirts himself — one out of Kampii green with decorations of gold, and the other out of their new Flame Heart colors. He’d even sewn in a thin lining of sponge that Aluna could soak with water. Her legs needed to be kept wet if she wanted the scales to come in healthy. Aluna loved her new skirts more than any other clothing she’d ever worn.

Although all the Serpenti were technically part of the Flame Heart herd, only Nathif and a dozen Serpenti had chosen to join them at the Thunder Trials. Aluna was thrilled when the cappo’ra master, Sefu, and his prize pupil, Subira, decided to join them. Five other cappo’ra fighters, two healers, and three warriors trained in weapons rounded out the group. Hoku might be bringing the brains, but she was definitely bringing the muscle.

Most nights, Dash practiced with his sword. Aluna sparred with him, hopping onto her hands and swinging her legs around like a Serpenti tail, trying to knock him off his feet. He was fast and quick, and she almost never caught him. But balancing on her legs, even now that they were stuck together, she could still spin her chain whips — her talons, Spirit and Spite — and occasionally catch his sword arm or even his neck. Dash was faster, but she was creative and had picked up techniques from the Kampii, Aviars, and Serpenti. When he tried to guess what move she would do next, he was always wrong.

Back in the City of Shifting Tides, the Kampii Elders had called her wild and unpredictable. They’d always meant it as a critique. But here in the desert, those very same flaws had become her secret weapons.

The Thunder Trials were held in the Valley of the Dead, on a great flat plain of salt called Ghostwater. Dash said it was an ocean’s graveyard, but it comforted Aluna to be close to even the memory of the sea.

As they approached, tents and bonfires spotted the desert in greater and greater numbers. Vendors hawked food and offered to sharpen weapons. Finally they found themselves winding through campsites thick with Equians.

Most Equians would attack Serpenti on sight and not bother to figure out if they were part of a new herd, but Shining Moon had done them a favor. Despite being furious about Tayan’s decision to lead Flame Heart, Khan Arasen and Dantai had promised to spread the news of their coming. The Equians watching them now hurled insults and slurs, but no weapons. Aluna changed her grip on the Flame Heart banner so she could hold it ever higher.

“Let them gawk,” Tayan said. “The sooner they see that we are here to participate honorably, the better. Already they will be whispering about Chabi and how Flame Heart has been rekindled. And about how strong and noble the Flame Heart khan is.”

Aluna laughed. She still wasn’t used to Tayan exhibiting a sense of humor, but she liked it.

Tayan led them directly to the heart of the campsite, where a vast arena had been dug into the ground and a huge pavilion constructed above it. Aluna marveled that so large a structure could have been constructed out here, in the middle of nowhere, so far from any settlement.

High Khan Onggur and Scorch stood inside with a dozen other Equians. It looked like a party, with servants offering food and drinks on trays, and a cluster of Equians stomping and playing instruments in one corner. They must have seen Flame Heart coming, but they gave no indication. Ignoring them was apparently part of the game.

Tayan clomped into the pavilion and pulled out her sword. The bloodline amulet glinted around her neck, easy for everyone to see. Her voice boomed, “O Great Khan! Herd Flame Heart has arrived and seeks official welcome to the Trials.”

The High Khan turned slowly, as if someone had offered him a snack and he was considering his answer. The smile on Scorch’s face glittered, too white and not at all welcoming. They’d had too much time to prepare for this.

“The Flame Heart bloodline was destroyed in the Venom War,” Onggur said easily.

“So we all thought,” Tayan said, “but we were mistaken. I recovered the bloodline and have resurrected its legacy.”

High Khan Onggur glared. “And you will submit to a test of authenticity?”

Tayan nodded. “Of course, High Khan, so long as the bloodline remains in my possession the whole time.”

The smile slipped slightly from Scorch’s face. She clearly hadn’t counted on Tayan being so slick.

“You have brought one of the three prisoners that you promised to our ally Scorch, and I trust that the other two are not far behind,” the High Khan said. “But I see no reason for you to defile our sacred games by allowing the enemy of our people to accompany you.”

Aluna loosened her grip on the Flame Heart banner. If she needed to, she could toss it to the ground and have her talons out and spinning in a flash. Behind her, she heard the Serpenti coiling their tails into their defensive pose.

“I have defiled nothing,” Tayan said. “All who stand with me are members of Flame Heart reborn. As are Hoku of the Kampii, Calliope of the Aviars, and the remaining residents of the Serpenti city, Coiled Deep. Just as our Equian families may forge themselves in any shape so long as there is loyalty and love, so is Flame Heart forged.”

The other Equians in the pavilion stomped their hooves. A man wearing the purple and yellow of herd Swift Wind shattered his cup on the ground.

“Insolence!” Scorch said. “My father would never allow such a disgrace.” She said it to Tayan, but her eyes strayed to the High Khan.