LERRIN

They gave precious moments up as Nhox and the bird argued. The bird was terrified, but adamant: He wasn't strong enough to fly both of them, especially not alone.

Lerrin wanted to send Nhox with him—then he could allow the trackers to find him and he could surrender! But he knew the moment he proposed such a thing, both the males would suspect him. It made no sense. In all cases, the Alpha was to be protected, at all costs.

So, reluctantly, he agreed that the bird should take him, while Nhox continued northeast, towards the wide-route that the fighters had planned to use so they didn't pass close to the Tree City before they rallied their numbers.

With the bird's help, Lerrin would make it in an hour. Nhox would be lucky to make it by nightfall—and only then if he wasn't forced to halt or go further out of his way to avoid more patrols.

Lerrin insisted they give Nhox fifteen minutes head start—when the bird launched from here, his wings would be heard. If they were luck, the patrols would far enough away to mistake it for one of the larger eagles that sometimes nested in the mountains. But the more likely thing was that they would be rushing to this spot within seconds.

So the bird laid out the harness for Lerrin, his skin gray and pale, while Lerrin clasped hands with Nhox and commended him through the link.

You will not be forgotten, Son, Lerrin pressed on him. Be safe, get to the rendezvous, and find me when you do. I have a position for you in my personal clan.

Nhox's eyes widened, then he dropped to one knee with the formal salute. Lerrin pulled him to his feet.

Not now. This isn't the time. Thank you for your diligence. We'll give you ten minutes. Now go!

Nhox nodded at the him, then at the bird, then he faded into the trees silently—so silently, even Lerrin was impressed.

With an apologetic look at the bird, Lerrin laid down in the harness and pulled up the handled sides for the male to grip once he'd changed and they were ready to go.

Then he closed his eyes, and cursed himself for a fool. For thinking it would be so easy as to let the Cat catch him.

He couldn't let this all fall apart now. He couldn't. His people were being eaten from the inside. Killed by a cancer. And he had to end it. Now. Today!

He just had to figure out how.

As the bird sighed, then took his beast form, Lerrin laid very still.

*****

Ten minutes later, Lerrin worried that he had more present concerns than what to do about getting to Reth.

The bird struggled from the first moment they took off. His wings clapped the air, pulling at them both, the harness swinging beneath him as the sound of his flaps echoed across the sky until Lerrin feared they wouldn't need to find another answer, they would simply be shot down.

But the bird kept climbing, then gliding on the updrafts, circling small and tight, following the line of the mountain and the canopy layer of trees as closely as he could. But they lost altitude quickly, and soon he was flapping again.

Lerrin felt sick. This poor male was already panting, and he could feel the drag his body and the harness created on the poor creature. He wished there was a way to lessen the burden. They skimmed along the tops of the trees, which would make them less visible to any underneath, but meant the poor bird had to work to sustain his momentum.

Then, through the gap in the canvas hammock, he caught sight of the plume of smoke rising, thick, though not large, from the base of the mountain.

Had one of the firestarters gotten free and attempted to do his job anyway? Or was it a signal? Or had the trackers accidentally triggered one of the firestarters?

He reached for the pack mind, but he was too distant, or there were too few connected. He couldn't find them.

Peering down at the smoke, Lerrin tried in his mind to place its location precisely.

At the Royal meadow, he thought. But he wasn't certain how far they'd circled around the mountain. It was possible it was set at the edge of the Tree City, on the Royal side. But who would have—

The bird grunted and the hammock dropped suddenly, caught and began to rise, then something gave and suddenly Lerrin was plummeting, silently screaming because it happened too fast, before he could suck in a breath.

Branches snapped and cracked, there was a cry, and something stabbed at Lerrin's side, and scraped up his back in a way that felt like it cut. Then the hammock stopped, suddenly, the branches around him that weren't broken swaying and rustling, and Lerrin left hanging on his side, draped with the hammock across a one of the branches of a Great tree, it's upward pointing leather leaves crushed under him and hooked into the hammock.

Lerrin paused, forced himself to breath and to think, to evaluate himself.

He was injured, but not badly, he didn't think. He would be able to walk. The question was, would he be able to climb down?

Shifting himself, pushing the edge of the canvas down that had hooked on a wicked branch just beyond his head that he thanked the Creator he hadn't been impaled by, Lerrin looked around and down at the ground. Then cursed.

The bird lay awkwardly on the ground between this tree and the next—unmoving and back in human form because he was dead. He was arched back, his body broken, limbs splayed, neck clearly snapped. Which was probably a mercy, because there was a wicked looking arrow piercing his chest.

Fuck! No matter what decisions he made, he got people killed.

Cursing himself for a fool, Lerrin stopped being careful and pushed the hammock aside, catching himself on the branch above to hold himself until he could get his legs clear of the canvas, then climb down, his ribs aching, and that scrap on his back sticking to his shirt.

It took only seconds to examine the arrow that had taken the bird down—straight through the heart. Though it was one of the thicker arrows, from the longbows. Which meant the archer could have been anywhere between fifty and one hundred and fifty feet away when they took the shot.

But even if they were more than that, they had to have seen where the bird went down. They would be on their way. Especially if they had figured out it was Lerrin.

Lerrin sighed and considered letting them come for him. But… no. He had to work this out. Had to make it work. Had to find a way to Reth that didn't cost more lives—including his own, if it could be avoided.

So, he got to his feet and started northeast, his mind spinning.

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