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“I’d prefer to speak in private,” Valiqa murmured.

Elias sidestepped, readied his spear in hand, and turned just enough to see her. Mona and Nihal were notably absent. “And I’d prefer not to be surrounded by strangers.” Without Melly, any more than two attackers in a closed room would be trouble. At least in the open, he had a chance against three or four opponents. However, after Ai’s informative introduction to Nyarlea, if any one of them wielded a fraction of the magic this world contained, that put him at an incredible disadvantage.

“You will be safe. You have my word.”

“You must forgive me. When it comes to my life, an acquaintance’s ‘word’ doesn’t hold much value. From a face I don’t know? Your word means nothing.” Elias readjusted his footing. He wanted to keep her three strides away; just enough to leap back should she lunge, or react if her companions emerged from the shadows. 

As it stood, there were very few catgirls wandering beneath the sunshine in the First Shell, and he hadn’t heard the footsteps or caught the movements of any others hiding away, which meant they’d either learned how to avoid his gaze or they were absent from this meeting. 

She sneered and crossed her arms over the same make of leather armor her cohorts had donned. “You’ve either the careful disposition of our fallen king, or you readily consumed all Naeemah had to say like a kitten to milk.”

“You are losing my attention, Valiqa. Make your point.”

“There are too many ‘points’ to make,” she snapped. “The destruction and removal of the walls requires too much time, [Energy], and Bells. Their absence welcomes fear, rage, and death into the First and Second Shells. 

“Without the Chikara, aggressive Encroachers have reappeared to snatch away our young and wound our soldiers. Naeemah has chosen to surround herself with the city’s limited guard, allowing crimes to go unseen and lives to be taken unpunished.

“King Magni’s generosity ensured our protection, livelihood, and comfort. His cages sent a message to all in Rājadhānī. Naeemah squanders what he built on a lie: Peace.” Valiqa spat off to the side. “Peace is the dream of a kitten, not a queen.”

“It was the dream of her father,” Elias said carefully.

Valiqa laughed. “Krethik? Useless pacifist of a man. He welcomed Encroachers into the city—into his home. He trusted the sands with his life, and they killed him. Why do you think his own daughter turned against his ideals?”

“Naeemah?”

“Sanrai.”

“Ah. The Ejderha leader,” Elias recalled from Melly’s tale. “That begs asking, if Krethik had many daughters, as men are expected to do, wouldn’t that increase the odds of at least one following a rebellious path?”

Valiqa’s expression darkened. That was not the answer she’d wished to hear.

“What is it you would have me do, Valiqa?” Elias pressed.

She looked over both shoulders, then took a half step forward before lowering her voice. “Take your place on Rājadhānī’s throne, and put me at the head of a new Ejderha contingency.”

Elias slid his right foot further behind him and evenly distributed his weight between both legs. “No.”

“Another spineless man like Krethik!” Valiqa snarled. She lunged forward, but Elias was ready for her. He used his spear to parry her attack and quickly hopped to the side. “Perhaps sending you back to Saoirse will help her reconsider. [Beckon the Storm]!”

Was that a Skill?

Valiqa swung her spear over her head in an arc, and a powerful gust of wind struck the center of Elias’s chest. Ah. So it was. He stumbled two steps back, exhaled with the blow and reset his stance, watching his attacker’s movements carefully. Her posture was crooked, and the next swing of her spear came at an angle. Careless.

She was a decent fighter, but her lack of formal training showed in her steps and her uneven breathing. There was little focus or concentration in her gaze, only the fury that consumed her.

Elias let the second windburst hit him straight on. It pushed him back a few inches, but this time he’d been expecting it and maintained his balance. The moment the last huff of air reached his ankles—before the dust had a chance to settle—he ran for Valiqa. She raised her spear again, but in two quick rotations of his shoulders, he knocked her spear to the side, then slammed the flat of the spearhead against her dominant wrist. The crack of bone was music to his ears.

“Damn you!” she cried as she dropped her weapon.

Elias snatched her hair in one hand, tugging it backward to pull her head prone and reveal her throat, where he aligned the point of his spear against the largest throbbing vein he could find.

“You would not be my first choice as a leader. Nor my second,” he murmured. “Are your friends watching?”

Her lips pulled into a thin line. 

He edged the spear against her skin until a tiny trickle of blood pooled around the tip. The sanguine pulse resonated in his ears, and he twisted the handle. The hunt called to him. “I would rather not kill you, Valiqa.” You are undeserving prey.

“Yes. They are watching.” Each word was venom on her tongue; sharp and pointed as if she were injecting them directly into his skin.

Elias’s grip in her hair tightened. “How many?”

Valiqa swallowed. “Only Nihal.”

He retracted the edge and slid it into a new section of her flesh. Excitement prickled along his arms and over his back as a second stream of fresh blood trickled out of the wound. Lie to me, Valiqa. Make this game more entertaining.

“Only Nihal!” Valiqa’s voice strained in her throat, and she writhed in his grasp. She was telling the truth.

“Very well.” He eased the pressure off her throat. “Step into the sun, Nihal!”

Nihal inched out of the darkness to his right, her empty palms held open and level with her shoulders. Everyone else in the First Shell had vanished; the scuffle had likely frightened them away.

“Right there. Don’t move,” Elias commanded once he was sure she could comfortably hear him.

Nihal nodded. If she had a sharper mind than Valiqa, she would heed his warning. If she didn’t, then the hunt would truly begin. 

Elias glanced between them. “If either of you wishes to learn how to fight and protect your city, then come and find me again. But if you continue threaten me, you won’t walk away from me a second time. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Nihal replied.

Valiqa remained silent, searching his face for a time. Elias watched a multitude of feelings cross her gaze and lips. Rage, confusion, fear… doubt?

“You don’t think I’ll kill you?” Elias smiled. He aligned the edge of his weapon to her throat one last time. “You have three seconds to agree, or you can deliver your own message to Saoirse.”

“Captain Valiqa!” Nihal pleaded.

“I understand,” Valiqa said.

“There, now. That wasn’t so hard.” He shifted his gaze a fraction to his right. “Nihal, drop your blade.”

Nihal unsheathed her sword and laid it on the ground.

“Walk back four paces.” She seemed perplexed as she did so. Did they not understand that allowing an enemy to escape armed was an excellent way to die? He’d watched it happen on four occasions.

Elias slowly removed the spear from Valiqa’s throat, then slid it into the small opening of his [Cat Pack]. He used his forefinger and thumb to part the strings when the arrowhead caught—the mysterious little satchel really could hold anything—and the weapon disappeared into its depths. Then, with Valiqa’s hair still in his hand, he lowered himself to the ground and picked up her spear. He readjusted his grip so that the point was a little over a few inches away from his hand, then marched Valiqa to where Nihal’s sword waited.

As soon as Elias bent his knees to collect the weapon, Valiqa twisted in Elias’s grasp, tearing a handful of braids from her head. She lunged for the sword, most of her hair still clamped in his grip.

“[Sang—”

Elias dropped to one knee and drove the point of the spear into the side of Valiqa’s neck, her words dying on her lips. Holding her hair up had given him a clear target to aim for, and the sharp point had impaled deep enough that it came out the other end, its advance only halted by the presence of his hand.

Weak, undeserving prey.

Nihal covered her mouth and stared at Elias with wide eyes. He yanked the weapon free and shoved Valiqa forward, watching as her blood soaked the earth. “Your threats are empty if you cannot sustain them in combat.” He picked up Nihal’s sword, frowning at the owner’s trembling legs. “Your blind reliance on your Skills and this world’s magic will be your death. My offer stands, Nihal. You can come retrieve your sword if you accept it.”

Valiqa’s quivering, rasping body stilled. Her bleeding slowed, and Elias sighed. There was no triumph in this. No true victory. A superior spear was not worth the wielder’s life if she’d never known how to wield it.

He deposited the spear and sword into his [Cat Pack], then repositioned Valiqa to slide his arms underneath her neck and knees. Blood soaked his left arm and doublet, but such things were easily replaced.

“What are you doing?” Nihal asked.

“Taking her to Naeemah. The queen can teach me how you honor your dead, and should know that your group is prepared to kill anyone who opposes your ideals.” His ears lowered as he met Nihal’s eyes. “I would recommend reassessing your strategy.”

Nihal nodded, her body tensing like a timid kit’s. Were the Ejderha just as poor at fighting? An island ruled by tyrants. 

He shifted Valiqa’s body in his arms. “Go.”

Nihal skittered away, leaving Elias standing alone in the First Shell with his first kill. 

If the spirits of his clan still clung to him, then his future hunts would be far more satisfying.

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