weakened me. Kane’s paws slid a little in the dirt, but he was already catching himself for another pass. I remained kneeling on the ground, waiting for the attack. As he launched himself into the air, I pushed upward, jumping as high as I could while forcing my wings to explode from my back. The pain was excruciating. Between the wound in my shoulder and the force needed to expand my wings so quickly, my body screamed. In fact, the pain nearly kept me from summoning up the wind I needed to lift me a few off the ground and out of Kane’s reach.
I circled the clearing, blood dripping down on the field of battle as it rolled from my shoulder. For now, I was buying myself time, which was exactly what Kane didn’t want. Overhead, the clouds began to churn and the sky grew dark as the moon was blotted out. A storm was brewing, though the first rolls of thunder had yet to be heard. It took time, energy, and concentration to summon up a lightning storm, something I couldn’t do while I was running from Kane every second.
Unwilling to give me even a moment’s rest, Kane quickly switched forms again, stunning me. I had assumed that the animal clan leader would go for something large like a condor or some other taloned raptor. But Kane was trickier than I gave him credit for, flashing into a griffin. With the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle, the creature was able to easily launch itself into the air after me. My only advantage was that I was the one controlling the wind. I swooped away from the beast as its talons streaked two long gashes along my legs.
Reaching upward, I gave a large sweep of my wings, pulling me straight up into the air. At the same time, a large beak clamped onto my right ankle, snapping bone. I bit back the scream as I focused my attention on the storm. I was taking a big risk, but I didn’t have much chance of winning this battle otherwise. As I exhaled, a lightning bolt sizzled down from the clouds. It washed straight over me and down through Kane before it finally pummeled the ground. Kane immediately released me and fell.
Spreading my wings, I glided slowly down to the earth, where I landed on my left foot while keeping my right foot up in the air. My wings were spread, holding me balanced, as I couldn’t put any weight on my broken ankle until it mended.
Kane lay in his natural form in the center of the clearing. Smoke rose from his large naked body as he slowly shifted. I had no doubt he was merely stunned, but a part of me was hoping that this was enough to win him over to Cynnia’s camp.
“Do you yield?” I demanded, trying to keep my voice even and free of the pain pulsing through my frame.
“Kane will never yield to the Dark One!” shouted one of the members of the animal clan that surrounded me. The cry was repeated by several others, until two coyotes finally ran onto the field of battle. Knife in hand, I managed to slash one in the chest as he lunged at me, but I couldn’t reach the other as it jumped onto my back and bit deeply into the bones of my wing. My scream echoed through the forest as pain filled my frame. The wings of a wind clan member were some of our most sensitive parts. Broken wings were nearly impossible to mend and could not be fully retracted until they were.
Blinded by pain, I slashed again at the coyote before me, gutting him up the center. I tried to reach the other one on my back but stepped down on my right foot and crumpled to the ground with the coyote on top of me. I was preparing to shove my knife into the stomach of this creature as he opened his jaws and dove at my throat. But before either of us could act, a large black boot caught the coyote on my back under the chin, sending it flying across the clearing. I looked up to see Rowe standing over me, my whip tightly clenched in his right fist and one of my swords in his left.
“I thought this was going to be a fair fight,” he shouted. “Do you doubt the abilities of your leader so much that you must break the rules of engagement?”
“Kane?” Locke asked.
Kane was pushing into a sitting position as I saw his second in command step around the throne. Kane had started this fight, and right now he was the only one that had the power to keep things from turning ugly. I had a dark suspicion that Locke would let the animal clan tear us apart regardless of any earlier agreements. The scent of blood was in the air, and they were ready for the attack.
“Just a scratch,” Kane growled. I looked up at Rowe and nodded, signaling that I was still strong enough to continue. Not that I had much choice. I had to beat the leader of the animal clan or die.
We both pushed to our feet. For now, Kane remained in his natural form, eyeing me warily, while I still balanced on my left foot. The bone in my right ankle felt as if it was mostly healed, but it was still too weak to put any pressure on. At the same time, my right wing hung limp at my side. The hollow bone had not been broken, as I initially feared, but the wound was deep and throbbing painfully. It was going to be a while before I had the ability to completely retract my wings again.
“You wish to continue?” Kane asked, one side of his mouth quirking in a smile. At the moment I was the only one who was bleeding, since the single knife wound I inflicted had already healed on him.
I tightened my grip on the knife. “I will not fail Cynnia. She wishes to have the animal clan at her side, and that is what I will deliver no matter what it takes.”
“That’s what I thought,” he grunted. “The Dark One did not become a proficient fighter because she backed down when the odds were against her.”
Still grinning at me, Kane transformed into the shape of a mountain lion again, knowing he had the advantage of both dexterity and speed in that form. He stalked me, circling to my left, forcing me hobble away in an effort to keep a comfortable distance between us. The skies overhead gave a foreboding rumble and lightning flashed as it streaked between clouds. Kane snarled, but hunched away from me as if expecting yet another strike. He was at least wary of me, but that only meant there was a fresh urgency now to take me out before I had a chance to call down more lightning.
A low growl rumbled from Kane as he shifted his weight to his back paws. I knew what he was going to do and I was prepared for it. The mountain lion leapt at me, claws extended as he aimed for my upper body and face. At the exact moment, I fell flat on my back. Pain screamed through my system as I smashed my wounded wing into the ground with my body weight, but I pushed through it as the mountain lion overshot me by nearly a foot.
As his paws hit the earth on either side of my head, I plunged one knife deep into his stomach and pulled upward, opening up a long wound. I pressed the other knife against his throat with enough force that blood splattered down on my forehead. If he moved the wrong way, I had the ability to gut him and slice his throat all at the same time. He was trapped.
“Do you yield?” I asked in a deceptively soft voice. The clearing had becoming eerily silent as I held the life of their leader in my blood-covered hands. Kane growled softly at me but didn’t move a muscle. “How are you going to call this one, Locke?” I called out. “If he moves the wrong way, I will kill him before he can get a tooth or claw on me.”
Locke paused for only a moment. I didn’t know if he was either communicating telepathically with Kane or honestly weighing whether he wanted his leader to live. A few quick slashes from me and he could not only claim leadership of the animal clan, but also consort to the next queen. Luckily, Locke didn’t strike me as the power- hungry type. Otherwise, I don’t think Cynnia would have offered herself up so quickly to what could become a very dangerous situation.
“The fight is over,” Locke declared in a loud voice. “You have defeated Kane.”
With amazing slowness I withdrew both weapons from where they were pressed within the mountain lion. However, they were still tightly clenched in my hands and held at the ready as Kane looked down at me with his narrowed gold eyes. He was not happy about the outcome, and I was waiting to see if he would abide by Locke’s declaration. He paused over me for a tense moment, then limped into the center of the clearing.
I painfully pushed up into a seated position in time to watch Kane shift back into his natural form. There was a long cut along his stomach, while a second wound stretched across his neck, leaving his front covered in blood. There was a low murmur of conversation among the other naturi surrounding me, and none of what I could catch sounded good. Kane was the one that had demanded this fight. He had promised that his people would help Cynnia if I were to win. Now they seemed extremely reluctant to accept that I had beaten their leader.
A frown pulled at the corner of my lips as I tried to weigh my next plan of attack. If the rest of the animal clan attacked, I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to fight. I wouldn’t be able to take to the sky and I still couldn’t run, so I would be forced to fight every last one of them, along with any animals in the area they might summon.
