Stingl chuckled. “It’s Nkem’s charm. Imagine how boring this would have been without him. Not to mention we haven’t seen another person since the beach. I wonder if—”
“Better if you didn’t,” Zawne said. “I’m sure they’re—”
Zawne stopped in his tracks. Up ahead was a shallow crevice in the desert, one of the many dried-up riverbeds that cut through the land. Climbing onto its rim were three leopards.
“We’re in trouble,” Zawne said. “Ready yourselves, men. It’s another test!”
The leopards moved toward them with silent, stealthy resolve. They were nearly invisible against the sand, their yellowish coats the perfect camouflage in the scrublands.
Nkem was pulling his pocketknife from his rucksack, but Zawne stopped him. “No, brother. It will prove our worth as warriors if we can defeat our enemy without killing them. It will show our mercy.”
Nkem nodded. “Got it.” He dropped his knife in the sand, and the men readied themselves. They firmed their stances as the leopards began to charge.
The leopards worked as a pack. One dashed straight at Zawne, and the others flanked to attack Nkem and Stingl. Zawne’s leopard leaped into the air and pounced onto his chest with its heavy paws, knocking him down and trying to bite out his throat. Zawne caught it by the muzzle and yelled in its face, “Not today, beast!” He flung it off him. At the same time, Nkem and Stingl were fighting desperately on the desert floor.
Zawne clambered to his feet and ran at the leopard, catching its paws in midair and headbutting it on the top of its skull. It gargled and landed on its feet. Its hair stood on end as it snarled, hissed at Zawne, and made its second attack.
But Zawne was fast. He kicked the oversize cat in the snout and knocked it sideways, then stood astride it. He punched its face—once, twice, three times between the eyes—until the leopard groaned and backed away snarling, then dissolved into the heat of the desert.
Zawne stood powerfully in the sand, his shirt ripped by the claws of the leopard. A primitive look had possessed him during the fight. It was as though the warrior spirit had entered his body, as though the memory of Lordin’s tragic demise had turned him into a savage. He looked at the sky and roared in triumph.
Stingl was on the ground not far from Zawne, struggling beneath the ferocious attack of another leopard. Zawne ran to help. He drove the animal off Stingl, man and beast rolling through the scrub. They spiraled in a mess of fangs and claws, spritzes of blood flying as the leopard tore off chunks of Zawne’s chest. It ended with Zawne on his back and the leopard in his grip. Zawne had his arm wrapped around its throat, choking the cat as it flailed and hissed. Then it was unconscious. Zawne pushed the leopard off him and into the dirt.
“Stingl!” Zawne stood up and dusted himself off. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Stingl said. He was dabbing at the blood weeping from a gash in his arm. “It’s just a flesh wound. But where’s Nkem?”
Zawne looked around. There was no sign of Nkem. “They must have rolled into the riverbed,” he said. “Come on, let’s go!”
They found Nkem slumped against the wall of the gully, blood leaking down his face. He was panting, hands limp in his lap. The leopard was gone.
“What happened?” Zawne asked. He skidded down the loose wall of the riverbed and knelt by Nkem.
“It ran off,” Nkem said. “I shoved my arm down its throat, and it ran off gagging, but not before it clamped its fangs down on my head.” He gestured to the tooth marks on his scalp, chuckling as he said, “That’s probably going to a leave a mark.”
“You bet,” Zawne said, cracking a smile. He took off his shirt and ripped off a long strip. “Here, let me bandage your head. You don’t want the wound to get infected before we reach the coast.”
Whatever animalistic spirit had invaded Zawne during the fight had gone with the leopards. He was normal again, even cheerful, as he bandaged Nkem’s head. He used the rest of his shirt to wrap Nkem’s chest and Stingl’s arm.
Afterward the three friends sat against the wall of the dried-up riverbed and talked about their victories. Stingl was a little upset because he had not defeated his own leopard, but Zawne comforted him.
“It’s all right, Stingl. You faced a leopard and lived. We worked as a team to overcome wild beasts. That’s what the Aska training is all about: perseverance, mastering the mind, the value of life, the value of others.”
“Yeah,” Nkem said. “There was no way Zawne or I could have defeated all three leopards alone. We needed to be a team. The same as we need to be a team for these next thousand miles. After that, a quick swim across a shark-infested channel. It should be a piece of cake.”
It wasn’t.
They stood on the shoreline, looking across the strait to Lodden. “It’s right over there,” Nkem said. “Maybe twenty-five miles.”
“Twenty hours of swimming, I reckon, with breaks,” Stingl said. “It’s not bad.”
Zawne was nodding to himself. He looked across the water to where the continent of Lodden lay shrouded in fog. “Not bad at all, Stingl. Our wounds have healed. Our minds have been fortified. We could walk another four thousand miles in our sleep, probably in half the time.”
“I reckon you’re right,” Nkem said. “It feels like even though we have been eating bugs and dirt, I’ve gained muscle mass. I bet we make it across in fifteen hours.”
Zawne flashed him a smile. “I’ll bet we do it in twelve.”
“You’re on!” And with that, Nkem jumped into the water.
It was exactly fifteen hours later
