Obsidian Prince, page 9
"You must not tell anyone that you have the sword back,” Liliana told him as they moved through the busy after work traffic. “Not even your beloved."
Pete's brows furrowed. "What's wrong with telling Ben?"
“You can tell him afterward.” Liliana smiled to herself. “In fact, telling him will help him come closer to our world.”
“How?”
“He and I agreed to an experiment to show him that I could see the future. He would put the sword where I could steal it. If I was wrong about the future danger to you, then I would return it in a year.” She smiled to herself, fangs peeking out, foreseeing the consternation on Ben Harper’s face. “Tell him our experiment was a success, and I returned the sword to you when you needed it so you didn’t die. You can tell him about the assassins and Lou.”
“He knew about this?”
“I convinced him to help me steal the sword by telling him that if I could truly see the future, then letting me steal the sword and give it to you at the right time would save your life.”
Pete looked down at the sword, frowning.
“He did not believe I could see the future but was willing to let me steal it anyway. Your life was more valuable to him than his belief in the world as he sees it.” It was the best comfort she knew how to offer her friend.
Pete smiled at her, wanly, as the auto-drive kept them moving through the traffic. “Maybe there’s some hope for us after all.”
“Give him time and patience. There is hope.” Liliana smiled to herself, seeing in her fourth vision the moment when Ben sat on the couch, spiked coffee in his hand, the shock on his face turning to thoughtfulness as he considered the ramifications of children who could become rabbits. “There is progress, even. I made sure of that.”
Pete reached an arm across, leaned over, and hugged her sideways. “I’m really glad I met you, Lilly.”
She turned toward him, hugged him back, and smiled at his chest. “I would have preferred that you had not tried to kill me when we met, but …” She shrugged. “I am really glad I met you, too, Pete.”
Pete asked. "Are you going to fight with me when the Wolfhound assassins come after Lou tomorrow night?
"No, I will not. I must be somewhere else. But you will do fine without me. Doctor Nudd will help you instead.”
Pete nodded, watching the traffic go by, face pensive. “This is what you've been training me for, right?"
"Yes. You are ready, now."
"Where will you be?"
"Hopefully, not dying, although that is a strong possibility.”
"Oookay, then." Pete shook his head. "You know, I would feel a lot better if I thought you were kidding or exaggerating."
Liliana smiled. "Don't die, Pete. Make your enemies die instead.”
The red wolf grinned back at her, bright and fierce. "You, too, Lilly."
Siobhan and Nudd were already sitting on the wooden double rocking chair on the big back porch of Nudd’s rambling house with grass on the roof. They made merry music with their mismatched instruments, a bass guitar for Siobhan and a violin for Nudd. It echoed through the forest with no neighbors near enough to complain.
Liliana jumped from the vehicle almost before it stopped. She ran to the backyard, leaping into the low branches of the trees that grew from the surrounding forest right up to shade the back porch her friends made music on.
She bounced to the music as she swung from branch to branch as if they were the swings of a trapeze. She left behind long lines of silk that trailed down to the green grass in the small clearing behind the porch.
It had been so long since she’d had the joy of dancing with long silken sashes, woven from her first mother’s silk dyed bright colors, hanging from the old circus tent’s tall superstructure. She missed that desperately. The only part she didn’t miss was that she used to have to dance in front of hundreds of staring strangers who paid for the privilege.
Now, only her friends shared in her expression of the sheer joy of living in a world filled with music. It was so much better. Knowing that she might die the next night gave her dance an extra edge. Tonight, she was in every muscle and drop of blood, from her hair to her toes, alive.
Pete added a hand drum beat to the music after a time. It wasn’t long until another friend arrived. Detective Jackson’s acoustic guitar joined along with her voice in a wordless song, as if her voice were another instrument, harmony one moment, and a soaring melody the next.
Doctor Nudd’s home-brewed mead flowed. Everyone’s auras showed bright sunny yellow happiness to her third vision.
Another car stopped and more people came, but Liliana was lost to the music and the dance by then. She would see what friends had come later. For now, her mind filled with motion and joy as she swung and spun and leaped in time to the music.
Her foot touched grass, twisting and spinning in a pirouette that made her wide red satin skirt spin out into a circle. In one hand, she caught a trailing silk line as she pushed off into the air, arms wide, back arching, as if she flew, up and up, the long wing-like sleeves of her bare midriff red blouse adding to the illusion. She released the line at the top of the arc, and flipped twice as the music did a hard double-beat.
Her ankle hooked a line, winding it around so that her dive shifted and she swung upside down, one leg, bare of tights today, stagged up. She rolled out of the embrace of the silk on her leg flying free for a moment, the full moon making it easy to see the branches and silk and grass that was her stage.
The cool wind tossed her long hair and the flowers from her garden intertwined with the tresses. The evening air played in her hair like fingers as she flew. Her feet fell on a slender branch that she let bend under her weight. When it started to spring back up, she used the momentum to flip before dropping her toes back to the grass just as the music reached a crescendo.
A final flourish as the musicians reached a mutually agreed ending had Liliana make one last leap flipping into a twisting layout so she landed in front of her friends, bending her knees to absorb her weight into a flourish and bow, like she would if they were a paying audience back in her youth.
Her chest heaved as she panted with the exertion. Sweat coated her skin. She laughed for the sheer joy of being.
Her friends all set down instruments so they could applaud each other as much as her. She joined in, delighted to have such wonderful music to dance to and such wonderful friends to dance for.
When she looked up from the bow, she saw the two latecomers.
Lieutenant Runningwolf stood to one side, a small smile on his face, wearing jeans and a concert t-shirt. She’d never seen him out of uniform, but she barely noticed him.
Beside him stood the Fae prince, Colonel Alexander Bennett, in charcoal gray slacks and a synth silk black shirt like a living shadow amidst all her brightly dressed, happy friends.
She shut all but her human eyes. She’d given him her word not to look past his skin without his permission. Or if he kissed her, although that was unlikely to happen again.
She didn’t want to talk to the handsome Fae prince. He was cold, cruel, and hurt people who loved him. But she liked that dumbfounded look on his face. It gave her a feeling of power.
Pete said, “Hi, Colonel, John. What brings you two by?”
“Uh,” Alexander Bennett said. “I, um …” He cleared his throat. He tore his gaze off Liliana finally, looking over to Pete. “Sorry. I came to let you know there’s been another murder, a corporal on my SET team, a hyena-kin. No one remembers him deciding to camp in that area, but his body was found there torn apart like the others.”
Pointedly ignoring Alexander Bennett while he spoke with Pete and Detective Jackson, Liliana faced John Runningwolf. “You are looking well despite the dangerous experiment Andrew Periclum did on you.”
The stocky badger-kin smiled. “Doc Nudd’s been clearing my system of toxins every week or so with his magic. It seems to work. I’m getting the benefits of the nanites like Doc Periclum wanted, but none of the bad side effects.”
“Dying is a very bad side effect. I am glad that you are not dying.”
“Yeah,” He chuckled. “I’m pretty happy about not dying, too.”
Liliana grinned up at him. “This party is the opposite of dying.”
John’s face turned wistful. “I can see that. I wish I’d brought my keyboards.” He sighed. “We’ll have to go investigate that latest murder, anyway. With the victims all being literally torn apart, it’s obviously an Other doing it.”
“I think my friends would welcome you to add your music to theirs. I will ask them to invite you next time. Bring your instrument. I like having many harmonies to dance to.”
“Was that what you call dancing? That was incredible. Made quite an impression on the Colonel.”
Liliana’s smile faded to a scowl. “He can be impressed all he wants. I do not care.”
John’s eyebrows climbed. “Mmm. I see. You don’t care at all about the Colonel being impressed with you.” He glanced at Bennett, who was still talking to Pete but kept stealing glances at them.
Liliana tilted her head to one side, wondering why what John Runningwolf said sounded odd even though it seemed to be a simple statement of truth. “Right,” she said, then shrugged. “I will go home now. My friends will not make any more music. They’ll have to go investigate the new death.”
She walked around the sprawling house.
Behind her, she heard running footsteps. “Liliana, wait.” It was Alexander Bennett’s voice.
Liliana kept walking, ignoring him.
His long strides caught up to her as she reached Doctor Nudd’s driveway.
“Don’t you have a killer to hunt?” Liliana asked.
“Maybe you can help with that.”
Liliana did not look. She had no wish to aid Alexander Bennett just then. “You have clues, a detective, and a smart forensic biologist. You do not need me to help.”
A self-driving cab pulled up. Liliana had told it before she left her house what time to come get her. She opened the door to get in.
“Have I done something wrong?” Alexander asked.
“I see many things, even when I do not look into you.”
“What did you see that has you giving me the cold shoulder?”
Liliana’s shoulders were not cold. She was still hot from her exertion, in fact. And she wouldn’t give Alexander Bennett the time of day right then, much less one of her body parts. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just don’t want to talk to someone who is cruel to his lovers.”
He winced a little. ‘You saw me and William part ways.”
“You mean, I saw you coldly dismiss someone who loved you. You have made a very dangerous enemy.”
He sighed. “It couldn’t be helped.”
Liliana snorted and got in the car. She told the polite voice of the computer her address, but Alexander Bennett held the door open so she couldn’t leave.
“He wouldn’t have believed any less callous rejection. Too sure of himself.”
“I don’t care.” She popped out one arm blade, hooked it around the edge of the door, and yanked it out of the prince’s hand.
As soon as the door closed, the auto-cab drove away, leaving Alexander Bennett standing alone in Doctor Nudd’s driveway. Liliana watched with her fourth eyes without turning around.
She considered the possibility that saying she didn’t care was one thing Liliana had never done before.
It was a lie.
Chapter 8
Champion
The next night, a lion-kin in a corporal's uniform waved them in through a small seldom-used entrance to Fort Liberty. The entire Magoro family drove on base in their big SUV with Liliana in the shotgun seat. They didn’t even request Liliana's base pass, or anything from the Magoros. All the cameras, camera drones, and other base security precautions were turned off for this one entrance. Officially, it was closed. There was a big sign that said so.
Every adult lion in the two-hundred miles or so surrounding Fayetteville gathered together at an abandoned hangar on a part of the base far from most everything else. The parking lot was full. There were even more beast-kin than Liliana remembered the last time she witnessed a pride-king’s succession. There had been more time since the death of Andrew Periclum for everyone to gather. Even out in the parking lot, she could hear the echoes of growling, shouting, and occasional roars coming from inside the big metal building next to a small disused airstrip.
Liliana and Daniel Magoro walked side-by-side across the parking lot, toward the building full of angry lions and other beast-kin. Arel and Kazi fell into step on either side of them, small smiles on their faces as if they had already won. The fifty-fifty fighting chance that Liliana offered was far better odds than they’d had before they met her.
Daniel paused in front of the door, waving his wife and daughter inside ahead of them. He squeezed Liliana's shoulder with a massive hand to stop her for a moment outside the door. "Thank you for this, but I have to wonder why you're risking your life for us. Are you expecting something in return?"
Liliana smiled at his belt buckle. "If I die, leave this state immediately with your wife and daughter. Maybe try Canada?"
Daniel grumbled low in his throat, a lion's growl in human form. "I'm not inclined to run."
"I know. But if you do not run, your family will die." Liliana held onto Daniel's tree trunk arm whispering urgently to him. "This is what I want in return. Survive. Save your family. Start over somewhere else. Give me your word."
The old lion looked down at her, a muscle on the side of his jaw jumping as it clenched and unclenched. "All right. It's not that much to ask, I guess."
"Promise," Liliana said. A pride-king's word was law. If this lion would be king, then he would keep his word scrupulously.
Daniel nodded. "You have my word that if you don’t win, I'll leave the state right after the challenge with Arel, Kazi, Marilyn and her son."
Liliana did not look into the future to see if the Magoro family would survive. She believed Daniel would keep his word. He would at least try to escape. If the spider-kin died tonight, she would die believing she had bought a few more good lives with her blood. She patted the old lion's arm. "Don't worry about Marilyn and her son, they left North Carolina this morning. You will have to call them back if I win."
"Huh. Guess she doesn’t have much faith in you."
Liliana shrugged. "Faith is not what drives Marilyn Bradley. Protecting her son is what drives her actions."
"Good for her," Daniel commented.
Daniel pulled the door open. Arel and Kazi waited for them just inside. A wave of noise swept over them—shouts, growls, and hundreds of voices, all charged with anger, anxiety, fear, and excitement.
Liliana cringed. She grabbed the lion-kin's arm. "Daniel."
"What else do you want?" Daniel's voice was wary, as if he expected her to extort something else from him now that it was too late to change his mind.
"I am not good with crowds. Just get me to the dome, put a sword in my hand. I will be fine after that."
Arel Magoro leaned down to look in Liliana's face. "What do you mean, you're not good with crowds?"
Lilliana avoided the lioness's eyes. "You'll see." She hunched in on herself as if she were walking into the winds of a hurricane. Her petite form hid behind the broad wall of Daniel's body. Arel and Kazi closed ranks on either side of her, a half step behind the big patriarch.
They waded together into the crowd. There was a lot of passionate arguing punctuated with growls around them. Minor skirmishes here and there as arguments turned to quick spats with giant clawed demi-lion hands. There were a few of the other large predator-kin, too, bear-kin, and some of the other big cats, plus a few varieties of wolf-kin and some creatures that Liliana didn’t try to identify. The future of the beast-kin of North Carolina would be decided here, and everyone wanted to have a say. She noticed there weren’t any rabbit-kin or any other prey species. They might want a say in their leaders, but knew better than to get in the middle of this crowd of teeth and claws.
Daniel's big body got even bigger as he shifted. Tawny fur flowed over his massive muscles before she closed her eyes again. He roared as if to terrify a huge herd of gazelles. Everyone fell silent. Even the scuffles of minor fistfights or claw fights stopped.
Liliana huddled behind him, trying to be as small and inconspicuous as possible, hoping no one would notice her.
"I am the king of lions!" Daniel roared. "Who here would follow me?"
Arel and Kazi shifted to demi-lion form. They roared in one voice from either side of Liliana, "I will!"
Other lions' voices declared themselves for Daniel in the crowd. Liliana was surprised to hear so many. They had to know that Daniel couldn't win, but they supported his claim nonetheless. It spoke volumes for the respect the old lion had earned.
There was a commotion in the crowd, a great deal of shouting and growling.
Liliana tried to shrink even further into herself. All of her eyes were tightly closed. She held onto the back of Daniel's belt as a guide so she wouldn't get lost in the crowd. She would not be able to stop her mind from shutting down if she opened her third eyes. The overwhelming emotions in the room would assault her. Seeing so many strangers so close to her would make her shut down if she opened even her first eyes. She hunched her shoulders and trusted Daniel to guide her, blind, through a crowd of angry lions.
"I am the king of lions!" another deep male voice roared from the crowd. "Who follows me?"
A chorus of roars of support so loud it vibrated the floor beneath her feet followed. Tray Bradley had many followers. The majority of lions in the vast echoing hangar, though, kept silent, voicing their support neither for Daniel, nor for Tray. Since Tray Bradley's victory had to seem almost certain, their silence said that they did not support him, but were too afraid to oppose him. The jackal-kin, hyena-kin, and other beast-kin hovered around the edges of the hanger, or sat in the rafters, observing, but not voicing support of either side. Everyone followed the pride-king, but non-lions rarely had any real say in who that would be.
Pete's brows furrowed. "What's wrong with telling Ben?"
“You can tell him afterward.” Liliana smiled to herself. “In fact, telling him will help him come closer to our world.”
“How?”
“He and I agreed to an experiment to show him that I could see the future. He would put the sword where I could steal it. If I was wrong about the future danger to you, then I would return it in a year.” She smiled to herself, fangs peeking out, foreseeing the consternation on Ben Harper’s face. “Tell him our experiment was a success, and I returned the sword to you when you needed it so you didn’t die. You can tell him about the assassins and Lou.”
“He knew about this?”
“I convinced him to help me steal the sword by telling him that if I could truly see the future, then letting me steal the sword and give it to you at the right time would save your life.”
Pete looked down at the sword, frowning.
“He did not believe I could see the future but was willing to let me steal it anyway. Your life was more valuable to him than his belief in the world as he sees it.” It was the best comfort she knew how to offer her friend.
Pete smiled at her, wanly, as the auto-drive kept them moving through the traffic. “Maybe there’s some hope for us after all.”
“Give him time and patience. There is hope.” Liliana smiled to herself, seeing in her fourth vision the moment when Ben sat on the couch, spiked coffee in his hand, the shock on his face turning to thoughtfulness as he considered the ramifications of children who could become rabbits. “There is progress, even. I made sure of that.”
Pete reached an arm across, leaned over, and hugged her sideways. “I’m really glad I met you, Lilly.”
She turned toward him, hugged him back, and smiled at his chest. “I would have preferred that you had not tried to kill me when we met, but …” She shrugged. “I am really glad I met you, too, Pete.”
Pete asked. "Are you going to fight with me when the Wolfhound assassins come after Lou tomorrow night?
"No, I will not. I must be somewhere else. But you will do fine without me. Doctor Nudd will help you instead.”
Pete nodded, watching the traffic go by, face pensive. “This is what you've been training me for, right?"
"Yes. You are ready, now."
"Where will you be?"
"Hopefully, not dying, although that is a strong possibility.”
"Oookay, then." Pete shook his head. "You know, I would feel a lot better if I thought you were kidding or exaggerating."
Liliana smiled. "Don't die, Pete. Make your enemies die instead.”
The red wolf grinned back at her, bright and fierce. "You, too, Lilly."
Siobhan and Nudd were already sitting on the wooden double rocking chair on the big back porch of Nudd’s rambling house with grass on the roof. They made merry music with their mismatched instruments, a bass guitar for Siobhan and a violin for Nudd. It echoed through the forest with no neighbors near enough to complain.
Liliana jumped from the vehicle almost before it stopped. She ran to the backyard, leaping into the low branches of the trees that grew from the surrounding forest right up to shade the back porch her friends made music on.
She bounced to the music as she swung from branch to branch as if they were the swings of a trapeze. She left behind long lines of silk that trailed down to the green grass in the small clearing behind the porch.
It had been so long since she’d had the joy of dancing with long silken sashes, woven from her first mother’s silk dyed bright colors, hanging from the old circus tent’s tall superstructure. She missed that desperately. The only part she didn’t miss was that she used to have to dance in front of hundreds of staring strangers who paid for the privilege.
Now, only her friends shared in her expression of the sheer joy of living in a world filled with music. It was so much better. Knowing that she might die the next night gave her dance an extra edge. Tonight, she was in every muscle and drop of blood, from her hair to her toes, alive.
Pete added a hand drum beat to the music after a time. It wasn’t long until another friend arrived. Detective Jackson’s acoustic guitar joined along with her voice in a wordless song, as if her voice were another instrument, harmony one moment, and a soaring melody the next.
Doctor Nudd’s home-brewed mead flowed. Everyone’s auras showed bright sunny yellow happiness to her third vision.
Another car stopped and more people came, but Liliana was lost to the music and the dance by then. She would see what friends had come later. For now, her mind filled with motion and joy as she swung and spun and leaped in time to the music.
Her foot touched grass, twisting and spinning in a pirouette that made her wide red satin skirt spin out into a circle. In one hand, she caught a trailing silk line as she pushed off into the air, arms wide, back arching, as if she flew, up and up, the long wing-like sleeves of her bare midriff red blouse adding to the illusion. She released the line at the top of the arc, and flipped twice as the music did a hard double-beat.
Her ankle hooked a line, winding it around so that her dive shifted and she swung upside down, one leg, bare of tights today, stagged up. She rolled out of the embrace of the silk on her leg flying free for a moment, the full moon making it easy to see the branches and silk and grass that was her stage.
The cool wind tossed her long hair and the flowers from her garden intertwined with the tresses. The evening air played in her hair like fingers as she flew. Her feet fell on a slender branch that she let bend under her weight. When it started to spring back up, she used the momentum to flip before dropping her toes back to the grass just as the music reached a crescendo.
A final flourish as the musicians reached a mutually agreed ending had Liliana make one last leap flipping into a twisting layout so she landed in front of her friends, bending her knees to absorb her weight into a flourish and bow, like she would if they were a paying audience back in her youth.
Her chest heaved as she panted with the exertion. Sweat coated her skin. She laughed for the sheer joy of being.
Her friends all set down instruments so they could applaud each other as much as her. She joined in, delighted to have such wonderful music to dance to and such wonderful friends to dance for.
When she looked up from the bow, she saw the two latecomers.
Lieutenant Runningwolf stood to one side, a small smile on his face, wearing jeans and a concert t-shirt. She’d never seen him out of uniform, but she barely noticed him.
Beside him stood the Fae prince, Colonel Alexander Bennett, in charcoal gray slacks and a synth silk black shirt like a living shadow amidst all her brightly dressed, happy friends.
She shut all but her human eyes. She’d given him her word not to look past his skin without his permission. Or if he kissed her, although that was unlikely to happen again.
She didn’t want to talk to the handsome Fae prince. He was cold, cruel, and hurt people who loved him. But she liked that dumbfounded look on his face. It gave her a feeling of power.
Pete said, “Hi, Colonel, John. What brings you two by?”
“Uh,” Alexander Bennett said. “I, um …” He cleared his throat. He tore his gaze off Liliana finally, looking over to Pete. “Sorry. I came to let you know there’s been another murder, a corporal on my SET team, a hyena-kin. No one remembers him deciding to camp in that area, but his body was found there torn apart like the others.”
Pointedly ignoring Alexander Bennett while he spoke with Pete and Detective Jackson, Liliana faced John Runningwolf. “You are looking well despite the dangerous experiment Andrew Periclum did on you.”
The stocky badger-kin smiled. “Doc Nudd’s been clearing my system of toxins every week or so with his magic. It seems to work. I’m getting the benefits of the nanites like Doc Periclum wanted, but none of the bad side effects.”
“Dying is a very bad side effect. I am glad that you are not dying.”
“Yeah,” He chuckled. “I’m pretty happy about not dying, too.”
Liliana grinned up at him. “This party is the opposite of dying.”
John’s face turned wistful. “I can see that. I wish I’d brought my keyboards.” He sighed. “We’ll have to go investigate that latest murder, anyway. With the victims all being literally torn apart, it’s obviously an Other doing it.”
“I think my friends would welcome you to add your music to theirs. I will ask them to invite you next time. Bring your instrument. I like having many harmonies to dance to.”
“Was that what you call dancing? That was incredible. Made quite an impression on the Colonel.”
Liliana’s smile faded to a scowl. “He can be impressed all he wants. I do not care.”
John’s eyebrows climbed. “Mmm. I see. You don’t care at all about the Colonel being impressed with you.” He glanced at Bennett, who was still talking to Pete but kept stealing glances at them.
Liliana tilted her head to one side, wondering why what John Runningwolf said sounded odd even though it seemed to be a simple statement of truth. “Right,” she said, then shrugged. “I will go home now. My friends will not make any more music. They’ll have to go investigate the new death.”
She walked around the sprawling house.
Behind her, she heard running footsteps. “Liliana, wait.” It was Alexander Bennett’s voice.
Liliana kept walking, ignoring him.
His long strides caught up to her as she reached Doctor Nudd’s driveway.
“Don’t you have a killer to hunt?” Liliana asked.
“Maybe you can help with that.”
Liliana did not look. She had no wish to aid Alexander Bennett just then. “You have clues, a detective, and a smart forensic biologist. You do not need me to help.”
A self-driving cab pulled up. Liliana had told it before she left her house what time to come get her. She opened the door to get in.
“Have I done something wrong?” Alexander asked.
“I see many things, even when I do not look into you.”
“What did you see that has you giving me the cold shoulder?”
Liliana’s shoulders were not cold. She was still hot from her exertion, in fact. And she wouldn’t give Alexander Bennett the time of day right then, much less one of her body parts. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just don’t want to talk to someone who is cruel to his lovers.”
He winced a little. ‘You saw me and William part ways.”
“You mean, I saw you coldly dismiss someone who loved you. You have made a very dangerous enemy.”
He sighed. “It couldn’t be helped.”
Liliana snorted and got in the car. She told the polite voice of the computer her address, but Alexander Bennett held the door open so she couldn’t leave.
“He wouldn’t have believed any less callous rejection. Too sure of himself.”
“I don’t care.” She popped out one arm blade, hooked it around the edge of the door, and yanked it out of the prince’s hand.
As soon as the door closed, the auto-cab drove away, leaving Alexander Bennett standing alone in Doctor Nudd’s driveway. Liliana watched with her fourth eyes without turning around.
She considered the possibility that saying she didn’t care was one thing Liliana had never done before.
It was a lie.
Chapter 8
Champion
The next night, a lion-kin in a corporal's uniform waved them in through a small seldom-used entrance to Fort Liberty. The entire Magoro family drove on base in their big SUV with Liliana in the shotgun seat. They didn’t even request Liliana's base pass, or anything from the Magoros. All the cameras, camera drones, and other base security precautions were turned off for this one entrance. Officially, it was closed. There was a big sign that said so.
Every adult lion in the two-hundred miles or so surrounding Fayetteville gathered together at an abandoned hangar on a part of the base far from most everything else. The parking lot was full. There were even more beast-kin than Liliana remembered the last time she witnessed a pride-king’s succession. There had been more time since the death of Andrew Periclum for everyone to gather. Even out in the parking lot, she could hear the echoes of growling, shouting, and occasional roars coming from inside the big metal building next to a small disused airstrip.
Liliana and Daniel Magoro walked side-by-side across the parking lot, toward the building full of angry lions and other beast-kin. Arel and Kazi fell into step on either side of them, small smiles on their faces as if they had already won. The fifty-fifty fighting chance that Liliana offered was far better odds than they’d had before they met her.
Daniel paused in front of the door, waving his wife and daughter inside ahead of them. He squeezed Liliana's shoulder with a massive hand to stop her for a moment outside the door. "Thank you for this, but I have to wonder why you're risking your life for us. Are you expecting something in return?"
Liliana smiled at his belt buckle. "If I die, leave this state immediately with your wife and daughter. Maybe try Canada?"
Daniel grumbled low in his throat, a lion's growl in human form. "I'm not inclined to run."
"I know. But if you do not run, your family will die." Liliana held onto Daniel's tree trunk arm whispering urgently to him. "This is what I want in return. Survive. Save your family. Start over somewhere else. Give me your word."
The old lion looked down at her, a muscle on the side of his jaw jumping as it clenched and unclenched. "All right. It's not that much to ask, I guess."
"Promise," Liliana said. A pride-king's word was law. If this lion would be king, then he would keep his word scrupulously.
Daniel nodded. "You have my word that if you don’t win, I'll leave the state right after the challenge with Arel, Kazi, Marilyn and her son."
Liliana did not look into the future to see if the Magoro family would survive. She believed Daniel would keep his word. He would at least try to escape. If the spider-kin died tonight, she would die believing she had bought a few more good lives with her blood. She patted the old lion's arm. "Don't worry about Marilyn and her son, they left North Carolina this morning. You will have to call them back if I win."
"Huh. Guess she doesn’t have much faith in you."
Liliana shrugged. "Faith is not what drives Marilyn Bradley. Protecting her son is what drives her actions."
"Good for her," Daniel commented.
Daniel pulled the door open. Arel and Kazi waited for them just inside. A wave of noise swept over them—shouts, growls, and hundreds of voices, all charged with anger, anxiety, fear, and excitement.
Liliana cringed. She grabbed the lion-kin's arm. "Daniel."
"What else do you want?" Daniel's voice was wary, as if he expected her to extort something else from him now that it was too late to change his mind.
"I am not good with crowds. Just get me to the dome, put a sword in my hand. I will be fine after that."
Arel Magoro leaned down to look in Liliana's face. "What do you mean, you're not good with crowds?"
Lilliana avoided the lioness's eyes. "You'll see." She hunched in on herself as if she were walking into the winds of a hurricane. Her petite form hid behind the broad wall of Daniel's body. Arel and Kazi closed ranks on either side of her, a half step behind the big patriarch.
They waded together into the crowd. There was a lot of passionate arguing punctuated with growls around them. Minor skirmishes here and there as arguments turned to quick spats with giant clawed demi-lion hands. There were a few of the other large predator-kin, too, bear-kin, and some of the other big cats, plus a few varieties of wolf-kin and some creatures that Liliana didn’t try to identify. The future of the beast-kin of North Carolina would be decided here, and everyone wanted to have a say. She noticed there weren’t any rabbit-kin or any other prey species. They might want a say in their leaders, but knew better than to get in the middle of this crowd of teeth and claws.
Daniel's big body got even bigger as he shifted. Tawny fur flowed over his massive muscles before she closed her eyes again. He roared as if to terrify a huge herd of gazelles. Everyone fell silent. Even the scuffles of minor fistfights or claw fights stopped.
Liliana huddled behind him, trying to be as small and inconspicuous as possible, hoping no one would notice her.
"I am the king of lions!" Daniel roared. "Who here would follow me?"
Arel and Kazi shifted to demi-lion form. They roared in one voice from either side of Liliana, "I will!"
Other lions' voices declared themselves for Daniel in the crowd. Liliana was surprised to hear so many. They had to know that Daniel couldn't win, but they supported his claim nonetheless. It spoke volumes for the respect the old lion had earned.
There was a commotion in the crowd, a great deal of shouting and growling.
Liliana tried to shrink even further into herself. All of her eyes were tightly closed. She held onto the back of Daniel's belt as a guide so she wouldn't get lost in the crowd. She would not be able to stop her mind from shutting down if she opened her third eyes. The overwhelming emotions in the room would assault her. Seeing so many strangers so close to her would make her shut down if she opened even her first eyes. She hunched her shoulders and trusted Daniel to guide her, blind, through a crowd of angry lions.
"I am the king of lions!" another deep male voice roared from the crowd. "Who follows me?"
A chorus of roars of support so loud it vibrated the floor beneath her feet followed. Tray Bradley had many followers. The majority of lions in the vast echoing hangar, though, kept silent, voicing their support neither for Daniel, nor for Tray. Since Tray Bradley's victory had to seem almost certain, their silence said that they did not support him, but were too afraid to oppose him. The jackal-kin, hyena-kin, and other beast-kin hovered around the edges of the hanger, or sat in the rafters, observing, but not voicing support of either side. Everyone followed the pride-king, but non-lions rarely had any real say in who that would be.
