Novek looked out across what had previously been a sand and scrub plain — now transformed into an otherwise featureless dark, stony glass. “So — I think we all learned some lessons over the last few days.”

  “Yeah? I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to take away from all of this. Except maybe that if I can convince Nat to join up, we can finally make some real progress. You know what? That's not quite true. Even without him, I think we've picked up some new tricks.”

  “Did you know Hekkan could get that hot?”

  “Theoretically? Yes. But it's one thing to know it's possible, and another thing to see it.”

  “Let's jog and talk. I think we head north around the glassed area, there's no point going that way — there's nothing left there.”

  “Well, not if you don't want to hunt down the rest of the Jih'rehk nest. But they can't get out any time soon, the upper cave system was filled in with molten sand. I'll have to have my team excavate just to finish wiping them out.”

  Novek turned more northwards and fell into a ground-eating lope — all four paws on the ground. Siya remained happily in place on his back, clinging to his neck fur and armor.

  Ceress dropped into her own version of a jog — bounding across the ground in measured almost three meter strides. Her legs took the impacts like springs, compressing for the next leap. She would periodically slow and look above, checking on Soot, who was gliding high above to keep from having to — painfully — flap their wings.

  Novek raised his voice as he ran, “Well, at least Hekkan seems happy. I've never seen him so active.”

  “Right? He won't stop moving. It's weird. I think Hekkan being so energetic concerns Soot more than the scorched scales. I guess that is one lesson — I thought that I understood the Fel'nix metabolism — I did not.”

  “In your defense, it's not like you haven't literally bathed him in molten stone before.”

  “Still. But it makes me think what else I might have thought I knew. Or misunderstood. What's your takeaway from all of this?”

  “I have underestimated what Ber are capable of. I'm used to fighting disorganized, under-resourced Humans armies, sometimes Brin, and hunting whatever second-rate Ber are willing to remain this close to a schism.”

  “I'll try not to take that personally.”

  “You're the best of the second rate. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.”

  They were well out of range of camp at this point — approaching the true borders of the wilds as they headed north. Novek slowed, breathing heavily — he wasn't built for endurance runs, just sprints. He stopped and shifted his muscles and joints to return to his two legged standing position, to better look for targets. Ceress also slowed, and the two of them scanned the area, looking for something suitable for Soot. Either some large prey, or a pack of mid-sized Ber.

  “But back to your point — you underestimated Ber. You wouldn't be the first. So what are you going to do about it?”

  Novek patted Siya as he reached back for his crossbow, and received a soft bite in return. He picked out, and then loaded one of his new hunting bolts.

  A whistling sound came from high above, and Soot's circling moved slightly westward. Ceress looked up to spot Soot, now circling slowly overhead, and flexed her claws. “Let's see what she's found.”

  They walked now, voices lowered as they approached a small cluster of dark-orange boulders, at the bottom of a toppled rock formation that Soot was circling.

  Novek stopped, and inhaled deeply through his nose. A plume of information rose in his mind — various animals, smaller Ber, nothing significant. Certainly nothing for Soot to mark. He looked closer at the rocks.

  There it was. No wonder he hadn't smelled it — like a scrav, its camouflage was actual rock.

  “Bridge bug. Moderate size one. On the rock pillar.”

  Ceress turned to stare. “Hmm, I don't see it yet. Let's get close enough for me to sense it. Also, it's Bri'gir'da, you heathen.”

  “Yeah, yeah. It's lunch, is what it is. You sense any others?”

  “No, just the one. You want a fair fight, animal versus Ber? Ankarran versus Enkoen?”

  “When have I ever wanted a fair fight? Those are for fools and the dead.”

  “Just making sure you haven't lost your touch. Distraction on three?”

  Novek reached up behind and picked Siya up off his back, placing the kit on the ground. “Help me make sure he understands?”

  “Probably not necessary, but sure. Safety first.”

  “Okay, we're going for a stealth approach. Once a bridge bug is on flat ground they're not much of a threat — gravity keeps them from being able to strike fast or hard. While they're up on that rock, though, they're dangerous. So, first, we remove the enemy advantage. Then we reduce their capability to retaliate. No unnecessary risks — just watch this time, okay?”

  The kit simply stared at him.

  Novek looked to Ceress, “Does he understand?”

  She looked at the kit, and obviously did something with her Skill. The kit looked at her, stared a moment, then looked back to Novek and blinked once.

  Yeah, okay, the kit was absolutely awakening, if already done.

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  Ceress had the same thought, it seemed, “We're going to need to talk about supplemental education.”

  Okay, it was time to go to — play. Yes. Time to play.

  “This is what I'm doing about preparing for some real challenges.” He fired his crossbow at the bridge bug, and the bolt slammed into the carapace and stuck.

  The bug, which looked like a rock-covered ten-meter centipede was now visible as it flailed away from the rock face in pain and surprise.

  Ceress was unimpressed. “Yeah? That it?”

  “Hmm. Okay that one was a dud. Hold on, I've got another one with a slightly different fusing mechanism.”

  He was reaching back into his quiver when a meter diameter circular divot of the flailing Ber's carapace and body suddenly vanished in a muted explosion, the material thrown out into the surrounding air. It curled in on itself and fell to the ground, writhing.

  “Hmm, or it's just a timing problem. I can fix that.”

  Ceress sighed. “Clean kills, Novek. Clean kills. We've talked about this.”

  That was something that Ceress insisted on, and for her sake, he tried. But if he was honest — and he always was, with himself — while he might be smarter than his ancestors, he was still a cat. He always enjoyed the hunt more if he knew his prey was at least a little scared of him.

  She ran forward, covering the fifty-meter distance in seconds, before leaping atop the carapace, her toe claws igniting as she landed, puncturing and finding purchase in the rocky hide.

  Novek put the explosive bolt away, and loaded a heavy-duty bolt instead. To the kit, he said, “Remember, friendly fire, isn't. We don't use area effect weapons — explosives, acid clouds, fire bursts, when an ally is in range. Precision strikes are fine though.”

  He fired, and the bolt disappeared into the tail of the beast, which had been holding the ground for leverage as it tried to strike at Ceress. It let go of the ground, and all he could make out was slashes of blue flame and deep red glow as she began cutting through the unfortunate Ber's neck with an arm and leg grapple that exposed it to all of her claws.

  It tried to grip her with whatever legs it could bring to bear, but she'd also ignited her tail and was using it to deflect and cut through them like a hot wire saw.

  The strikes weakened, but didn't quite cease. It was simply too thick around for Ceress to cut through quickly.

  Looking at Siya, he waited till the kit was looking back, “Okay, the next lesson is — it's important to realize when it's time to change tactics. Range is no longer suitable — close quarters it is.”

  He placed his crossbow on the ground — he didn't want it to get smashed in the frenetic melee. Remaining on his hind legs as he ran forward, he drew two levered butterfly knives — capable of allowing him to apply his Talent, multiplying his cutting strength many-fold.

  “And remember: there's no such thing as a free lunch. Someone, somewhere had to work for it. Always be willing to be the one who works for it.”

  Novek started running forward, making sure the kit was able to keep pace. “Let's go get lunch!”

  Ceress would have been happier without the unplanned exertion, but whatever — she was having fun. She couldn't cut loose in her normal day to day — killing even a few Humans could set her back years in her attempts to get the nascent human states to stop treating every Ber'Duun they met like slave labor, or just one happy accident from being meat.

  She'd cut through almost the entire neck of the Bri'gir'da — now it was safe enough for Soot to come in and finish it off. Soot preferred live prey — but without wounding something so massive first it could deal significant damage to her. Soot might be large in terms of length and silhouette due to her wings, but she was built for gliding, not fighting. A hurt wing could ground her for weeks, and a grounded Que'ren was an unhappy Que'ren. An unhappy Que'ren was everybody's problem.

  “Soot! Dr—”

  Ah, fewmets. She cut off her command just in time. Looks like the big cat was coming in to ‘help’. Then she noticed he was moving slowly and looking behind him. Oh, he was making this teaching time. Well, alright then — she approved. Let's do this the safe way then — she pulsed deep red as she increased her mass, flared her toe claws to their maximum cutting power, and kicked straight into, and then through, the brain of the massive Ber.

  It immediately ceased real directed resistance, and instead just started twitching; coiling and uncoiling. Novek had his knives out, and was showing Siya how to dart in, strike a leg, and dodge back out of range.

  “Soot! Down!”

  She put her hands to each side and pushed, trying to extricate her legs from the rubbery mass. A sand bath was going to be the next order of business before they got on the road.

  Soot circled down with moderate speed, and landed next to the massive body, now only weakly spasming. She didn't even wait for Ceress to get clear before she started tearing into what was now her lunch, spitting molten stone onto the meat, then consuming both together, to grind in her gizzard.

  Novek was cleaning himself while the kit continued attacking one of the smaller leg tips with gusto. Even the tip was more than twice the size of the kit — it was adorable, she had to admit.

  That wasn't a bad idea, actually. There was no dragging the body back, so Ceress cut off a few legs to take back to the group. Lyn could definitely use some more high density meat; Nat too, she supposed — how the Human was powering that Talent, she had no idea. She'd have to ask Lyn about it — he should be exhausted based on everything she knew.

  A short while and a few quickly roasted bug legs later, it was time to leave. Soot would continue to gorge herself and catch up with them back at camp when she was good and ready.

  Siya had managed to cut off the tip of a leg all by himself and refused to leave without it. Novek didn't want it messing up his fur, but the kit would just resort to dragging it along if they started to leave it behind. Relenting, he placed the kit on his back, and then wedged the leg into the arm of his crossbow, so the kit could gnaw — or whatever it was vodat did — on it on the way back to camp.

  They were walking back, making talking much easier than on the way out — Novek seemed to have something on his mind, but only asked, “So, what are your plans now that Soot's unfrozen?”

  “Well, we need to continue to investigate the pulses. As important as my work keeping the local Humans in line is, if the pulses continue to accelerate, we'll have to abandon the area entirely — rendering it all moot. I'd move out to the next significant Ber'Duun population and re-start efforts there, with whatever completely different Humans take over as Ber'Duun retreat even further.”

  “You think it might keep getting faster?”

  “Well, that's what Moira and Lyn think. So, it's worth investigating — see what, or who, is behind it. And if we can do anything about it. What about you? The kit seems like it might keep you busy for a while.”

  “Yeah. I need to look into that. I thought I'd ask you if I could borrow a couple members of your team for some recon and analysis. That bandit you squished didn't decide to go after a Ber pack on his own. He had a buyer. They chased us for kilometers down a populated road in broad daylight. Normally this is something I'd mention and forget about, but you know how it goes — happenstance, coincidence, enemy action. And I don't believe in coincidence.”

  “Okay, I agree with you. I'm leaving as soon as we get back to camp here, and I'll ask for volunteers as soon as I'm back to base camp and send some guys your way. I can't spare the retrieval team here, and they're not the right people anyway. Restock your flares from my stores. You think Nat and Lyn are going to stay hereabouts? I've got some flares Lyn alone can see. Have them watch just after dawn, noon, and dusk.”

  “Thanks, Ceress.”

  “No problem, old man. So, what are you going to do about it that you're not going to tell anyone else about?”

  “Oh, I'm going to go into town and see if I can't bait them into attempting to squeeze me for information.”

  “Of course you are. You're crazy, you know that?”

  “I learned from the best.”

  “Hey, that's my line.”

  “Sure was — till I stole it.”

  “Well, be safe about it. You've got someone to watch out for now. Maybe take Lyn or Nat with you.”

  “What, as a distraction?”

  Ceress turned and gave him a serious look. “You know, a few days ago I would have said yes. But now? I think you might just be surprised.”