Khollo backed slowly away, putting distance between himself and the massive cat. When he was twenty meters from the place where he had seen the cat, he began to relax.
To your left!
A snarl punctuated Kanin’s warning and Khollo spun around to see the tiger bearing down on him, claws outstretched, maw open wide. The beast was fifteen meters away, ten, five-
A blistering wall of fire sprang into being between them. Khollo fell backwards, flinging an arm over his eyes. The Sen-teel flew from his hands as he landed hard on the ground.
He saw the tiger through the flames, pacing back and forth. It looked in no way defeated, merely annoyed. Then, with a rush of wings, Kanin landed and roared. The tiger eyed the dragon for a long moment, then turned and bounded into the jungle.
Khollo groaned and rolled over. The ground was steaming around him and the air had a charred quality to it. Patches of fire still smoldered here and there along the line Kanin had blasted to keep the tiger at bay. The young warrior heard hurried footsteps, then his father was kneeling over him.
“Are you hurt?”
Khollo spat out a glob of blood. The inside of his left cheek hurt terribly, and he suspected he had bitten himself. “I’ll live. The beast got away again?”
“Looks like it,” Ezraan said, glancing at the jungle. “You’ve had trouble with it before?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. I have seen it many times, but only at a distance. I’ve always had plenty of time to climb a tree. Once I am among the branches it cannot follow.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Khollo muttered, struggling to his feet. He scooped up his Sen-teel and sheathed the two pieces, letting out a pent-up breath.
“I think we’ll call it a day,” Ezraan announced. “Kanin has the hang of the drill. We can run it a few times tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s go back to the hold and give the tiger some time to forget about us.”
“Right,” Khollo muttered. “Next time, can we just kill it? I’m sick of that creature popping up every time I’m starting to feel safe and secure.”
“I know,” Ezraan said softly. “From now on, nobody stays on the ground alone.”
“Then how will we – ?”
“We’ll train at the dragon hold, for aerial maneuvers at least,” Ezraan replied. “We can still drill on the ground together and be reasonably safe. And it might lure that tiger out of the jungle so that we can kill it.”
Khollo nodded and walked to Kanin’s side. The dragon looked at him with one great eye, whirling with concern.
I’m fine, Khollo reassured him.
Kanin snorted and bumped Khollo with his head. Get on. Time we left this place. No more stripes.
Agreed. Khollo climbed up onto Kanin’s back, Ezraan sitting behind him. Kanin took off immediately, winging back towards the holds in the east.
It was not yet midday when they landed on the stone ledge outside the hold that Kanin and Khollo shared, but all three were tired from the attack and promptly retreated into the hold for an afternoon of rest. Kanin dozed fitfully, growling to himself.
Khollo meanwhile brought out his bow and ran his hands over the smooth wood. Then, he set the weapon aside and picked up his quiver. The fletchings of a dozen arrows protruded from the leather tube.
“Do you know how to make more?” Khollo asked Ezraan.
His father looked over at him, his face drawn. “More?” he asked, confused.
“Arrows,” Khollo elaborated. “I’m running low and with that tiger on the loose, I’d like to be prepared.”
Ezraan nodded and moved closer, sliding one of Khollo’s arrows out of the quiver. “I can show you how,” he said finally. “We will need fletchings, shafts, heads. And glue,” he added as an afterthought.
Khollo considered this. “We took a deer earlier in the week. Would the hooves boil down to glue?”
“Should,” Ezraan said. “It will smell terrible though.”
“Wonderful,” Khollo muttered. “Best do it while Kanin’s asleep. He has a sensitive nose.”
Ezraan got to his feet, groaning quietly. “I’m too old for this,” he muttered. “Flying, fighting, sitting on stone floors.”
“I’m not,” Khollo said, grinning mischievously.
Ezraan nodded. “Good. Then you can sit out on that uncomfortable stone ledge and boil the hooves while I sit at the table in one of those excellent chairs and work on some arrow shafts.”
“Fine by me,” Khollo said, shrugging. “I’ll have a great view of the jungle and the mountains, maybe a nice cool breeze.”
“Wait half an hour,” Ezraan warned him. “Then you’ll wish that you could use your age as an excuse too.”
Chapter 35
Ezraan’s warning proved more than accurate. The process of boiling down the hooves of the deer produced a smell far worse than any Khollo had ever had the misfortune to experience. The cadets’ barracks had been bad on occasion. And up close the vertaga were more than a little ripe.
But Khollo would take either of those over the smell of boiling hooves. On a smell basis at least. If he factored in the inherent danger in being close to a vertaga, then he might take the hooves. But it would be a close decision.
To make things worse, the process took an enormous amount of time and the smell only got worse. There was no wind to carry the stench away, and the warm, humid air compounded the problem. Around midafternoon, Khollo retreated into the hold, eyes streaming, one fist rammed up under his nose.
Kanin growled and shifted slightly in his sleep, lips curling in distaste. Khollo slipped past him and into the kitchen, where Ezraan was shaping arrow shafts from short lengths of hardwood. The older man wrinkled
