Part 7 (1/2)

”Take the next path!” he gasped at her, gesturing for her to pa.s.s it along. Abeke didn't hesitate. She shouted it up the chain, and the words traveled to the rest of the Greencloaks.

She helped us, Rollan thought feverishly as they ran. But she was still under the Bile's influence. Somehow, her willpower must be finding a way to break through the overwhelming control and if that was the case, then surely there would be a way to save her. Rollan forced himself to keep going, instead of turning around and finding Meilin again. Getting captured wouldn't help anybody right now.

They reached the branch with the Conquerors right at their heels. Somewhere above the walls and along the plains, Rollan thought he could hear the sound of battle the clang of sword meeting sword, horses' thundering hooves, shouts of men. Had the other Conquerors already been alerted? If the entire army knew where they were now, they would have no hope of getting through in time. As they ran, Rollan noticed the ground gradually starting to slope up. He ran faster.

”Essix!” he shouted as he went. Overhead, his gyrfalcon's familiar cry answered. He took a deep breath, then glimpsed through her eyes. An image flashed before him the plains from the night sky, dotted with hundreds of fires. Conquerors moving in chaotic cl.u.s.ters. They looked like they were fighting. Rollan peered closer through Essix's vision.

Right as their path led them up to the surface of the plains, Rollan realized that the Conquerors' army was fighting ... Greencloaks.

Olvan and his forces had finally arrived!

Rollan blinked, returning to his own view, then looked on in awe as they all ran. Familiar cloaks flashed in the darkness, clas.h.i.+ng with the Conquerors' dark armor, their silhouettes outlined sharply by the fires. Olvan's moose reared somewhere in the fray, his enormous antlers glinting in the dark. There! Was that ... a soldier wearing the crest of Lord MacDonnell on his armor? And there Rollan thought he saw Lishay, the Greencloak who had fought alongside them in Zhong, and at her side was her late brother's black tiger, loyal to her almost like her own spirit animal had once been. Rollan wanted to shout with relief. They were all here! Even a few Niloan warriors darted through the melee, their war cries joining the sounds of battle. They must have joined Olvan's forces! He wondered if Abeke's father was among them.

Then a figure flashed through the darkness that erased Rollan's smile. Zerif. He caught sight of Rollan, and the corners of his lips turned up into an oily sneer. The Iron Boar was looped around his neck even as Greencloaks on horseback tried to shoot him down with arrows, their weapons bounced harmlessly off of him. With a snarl, Zerif turned in his saddle as a Greencloak rode up beside him. Rollan looked on in horror as he slashed at the Greencloak with his sword. The Greencloak clutched his chest and fell from his horse with a sickening thud.

Another Greencloak galloped over to Rollan. He had several horses with him, stallions that looked much stronger than the mounts they'd been traveling with. It took Rollan a moment to realize that the Greencloak was Monte, with his racc.o.o.n spirit animal perched in front of him on the saddle. The racc.o.o.n's hackles stood on end, and it hissed in the direction of the battle.

”Go as fast as you can!” he shouted as he flung the reins toward Rollan. ”We'll cover you!” Then he waved reinforcements over and turned them onto the Conquerors on their tail.

Rollan let out a bark of laughter. Perhaps the tide had turned! He grabbed the reins and tried to swing up onto the horse's back. ”Stop!” Rollan shouted at the horse. It only slowed slightly for him.

”Here, let me!” Abeke shouted beside him. She made a running leap, grabbed the horse's mane, and swung up in one fluid move. Then she pulled the horse to a halt so that Rollan could climb up behind her.

Ahead of them, the large red rock formation loomed close in the night. They could make it.

Then Rollan heard a familiar voice next to them.

”Poor little boy. Shall I force you to fight the girl you care for?”

Meilin materialized out of the chaos, riding alongside on her own stallion. Her hair streamed out behind her. At her back rode other Conquerors. When she glanced at Rollan and Abeke, her expression looked stone-cold. Her eyes flashed like mirrors in the darkness. Hearing Gerathon's words in Meilin's voice sent a chill down Rollan's spine. He narrowed his eyes at her.

”I'll fight you,” Rollan snapped back. ”And I'll make you pay for what you've done to Meilin.”

Ahead, another patrol of Conquerors had blocked their path, forcing Finn to pull to a halt. Abeke turned their horse to face Meilin. Uraza growled at Jhi, who stayed firmly by Meilin's side.

”Meilin, it's us!” Abeke shouted. ”Look I'm okay, I made it here with the Greencloaks! Come with us!”

”She's no longer your concern,” Shane called back, emerging from the shadows behind Meilin to face Rollan and Abeke. Several talismans hung from his belt, clacking together against his hip. Shane wore one around his neck, though Rollan couldn't make out which.

Abeke fell silent. Rollan looked on in rage.

Shane stared at Abeke for a moment, his brows furrowed, as if he wanted to say something. Then he seemed to change his mind. He nodded at Meilin. ”I say it's time to take their remaining talismans. Don't you?”

Meilin narrowed her yellow eyes, then kicked her stallion forward. ”Attack!” she said. She charged at them, aiming for Abeke and Rollan.

Abeke spurred their stallion on. The two horses charged at each other. As they drew near, Meilin hopped nimbly onto her steed's back then, as soon as they were close enough, she jumped. She knocked Abeke right off the horse, leaving only Rollan astride it. The two landed on the ground with a shower of dust.

Rollan swung down from the stallion and rushed to where Meilin was striking out ferociously at Abeke. Abeke put her arms up desperately over her face, trying to s.h.i.+eld herself from the onslaught, but Meilin still caught her now and then, her movements a blur of motion. Head, side, jaw, arm. She struck everywhere, far too fast for Abeke to deflect. Nearby, Uraza snarled and growled at Jhi, who kept her at bay with her enormous, deadly paws.

”Meilin!” Abeke shouted. ”Stop! I don't want to fight you!” She struggled to defend herself without attacking back, but Meilin bared her teeth and continued on. Abeke's breaths came in ragged gasps, then sobs. ”I can't fight you!” she cried out. Meilin caught her in a blow to the stomach, and Abeke doubled over in agony, all the wind knocked out of her. She wheezed.

Uraza roared in fury. She tried again to lunge toward Meilin, but Jhi muscled her way between them, baring her teeth at the leopard. Essix cried out from somewhere above Rollan. She dove at Jhi, claws extended, but seemed unwilling to inflict real damage, avoiding the panda's eyes and going instead for the thick fur of her neck.

Rollan lunged forward as Meilin raised her fist to knock Abeke unconscious. He grabbed her shoulders from behind. ”Meilin ” he began.

Meilin whirled on him, knocking him right off his feet. He landed with a thud onto his back. Immediately he put his arms up to protect his head, but Meilin kicked him hard with her s.h.i.+n. The blow crushed his own arm against his face. Rollan rolled away, then scrambled to his feet. His arm throbbed with pain, as if just hit with a mace. His heart pounded wildly. She could kill him here, if she wanted to. She wouldn't even have to try.

”I saw you fighting it earlier,” he said. ”You can do it again!”

Though Meilin's face was the picture of anger, when she spoke, her voice cracked with anguish. ”Leave me behind,” she sobbed. ”Run!” She lunged for him again.

Abeke scrambled up and tried to grab her arms, but Meilin was on her in a flash, kicking her squarely in the chest and knocking her down again. This time, Shane joined in he shouted a command at his crocodile, and the giant creature snapped its jaws at Abeke. For a second, Rollan lost sight of Abeke behind the crocodile's towering figure. Then he saw her jump backward and whirl on her old friend with a determined stance. Beside her, Uraza let out a roar. She grabbed her bow off her back and pointed an arrow at him.

Rollan tried to remember his combat lessons, but facing Meilin, he couldn't seem to fight at all. He sidestepped Meilin's next attack, but she drifted with him, kicking out at his legs in a quick flourish. Rollan stumbled forward he caught himself before spilling over and then dodged Meilin's short sword by a mere inch. She whirled. He could barely see her through the speed of her movements.

”I'm not leaving you!” Rollan shouted as he desperately tried to match each of her punches. One landed hard on his shoulder. He cried out in pain it felt like someone striking him with a hammer. Meilin's eyes flashed from yellow to brown and the huge dilated pupils shrank to a normal size, then back again whatever toll it took on her to resist killing him, he couldn't guess. How do I snap her out of it? How do I help?

”Such a weakling,” Meilin snapped at him. Gerathon's words. ”What does she see in a street urchin like you?”

”Meilin!” he yelled as she stabbed out with her sword again. The blade nicked his arm, and he felt hot blood well up against his skin before he felt the pain. ”Do you remember when I first met you? Remember how much we irritated each other? Do you remember how many times you saved me?”

”Why should she remember anything about you?” Meilin hissed back. The words dripped with dark amus.e.m.e.nt. ”You are nothing.”

Meilin lunged for him, and the tip of her sword looked like a pointed star as it thrust straight toward his eye. Rollan ducked, stumbling, but continued stubbornly on. ”Remember my fever rash in Zhong? How you stayed with me when I caught the Sunset Death? Or that time we were journeying to Samis, when you stopped that thief before he could stab me?”

Something flickered on Meilin's face the old Meilin, the one he knew and cared about. Her yellow eyes filled with tears, but still she continued to advance.

Nearby, Rollan heard a sword clash with something wooden. It was Abeke's bow against Shane's blade. Abeke shrieked but whether it was in pain or anger, Rollan couldn't tell.

”Remember when you fought off the sharks in Ocea.n.u.s?” he said. ”Do you know how worried I was? How ... how impressed?” His last few words wavered and his eyes burned as the memory of their last journey together hit him. Meilin let out a harsh battle cry and leaped for him, as if to make him stop. He tried dodging her again, but she caught him this time with her fist and sent him tumbling backward. The impact knocked the breath out of him for a moment he struggled just to inhale. Meilin lifted her sword over her head. Her yellow eyes flashed wildly.

”Don't you prefer to die like this?” Gerathon's taunting words. ”By her hands?”

Rollan told himself to ignore it. ”Do you remember Abeke? Conor?” he gasped. Then he suddenly dropped his hands. Meilin had a clear shot at him, but he didn't bother to defend himself anymore. I have to do this. ”You're a Greencloak, Meilin! You're one of us, and we'll stand at your side until the very end. You're our friend.”

The blade trembled. Rollan shut his eyes and braced himself. His hands clutched tightly against the talisman on his chest. ”You belong with us,” he said weakly.

The blow didn't come. Rollan waited. The sounds of battle roared all around him. Then he opened his eyes carefully.

Meilin stayed suspended over him, but she had put down her blade and now both of her arms hung at her sides. Behind them, Shane glanced over from where he fought with Abeke. His face was incredulous. ”What are you waiting for, Gerathon?” he snapped at Meilin. ”Get the Coral Octopus!”

Rollan kept his eyes fixed on Meilin's.

Her eyes were brown a beautiful, human brown.

His lips tilted into a lopsided smile. ”If you're not here, who am I going to tease all the time?”

A laugh emerged from Meilin's throat sad, amused, relieved. She still looked like she was struggling, but she helped Rollan stand up and then glanced frantically around the battlefield. ”Keep me shackled,” she said. ”Don't let me go.”