Chapter Seven


Thousands.

Lilly could have cried right about then. She wasn't quite sure if she was going to make it through the night, she was do distraught. Thousands of morsani? Headed her and Lyra's way? She'd have to tell Legatus. She desperately needed to train. Harder. She needed to learn fighting tactics, and fast.

She slipped into her bed, but did not sleep. She gazed up at her beautiful canopy again, fingering the silky fabric. What was it worth, anyway? All this luxury. She might as well give it all up tonight - she'd surely die facing thousands of deadly morsani!

And then, her thoughts turned back to her family. How were they? She'd asked Legatus countless times if she could go back and see them, but he said no to every request. What was wrong with wanting to see her mother? And the boys, they were probably causing a world of trouble....

Somewhere far away, Lilly heard Lyra shifting in her sleep. Lyra! Lilly couldn't lose to those foul morsani with Lyra on her side. She, unlike the morsani, could be airborne, and that gave her a huge advantage. Feeling slightly better, thoughts of family faded slowly from her mind as she drifted off to sleep.





Lyra, awaken, said an elegant, femenine voice in Lilly's mind. The aura is good today. Our training will be successful.

Lilly opened her eyes slowly, as a very adult Lyra came into focus. It had been years since the incedent with Spyri. Years of fierce, unhalting training on her part and Lyra's part had aged both. Lilly, indeed, was now 17. Her dark eyes narrowed as bright sunlight from the window struck them with such force that she was nearly blinded. Noon. Time for lunch.

She had taken to the habit of sleeping late in mornings, and staying up late nights. After all, the morsani were most active around dusk and into night. She needed to patrol the borders of the city, searching for the scouts.

The Walled City's only line of defense against the threatening onslaught of deadly morsani was to kill their scouts. That way, no information could get back to the leader of the pack.

Legatus's pet morsani, whose name turned out to be Shaman, proved himself to be a very talented spy. Through him, Lilly had learned all she needed to about the pack coming ever closer to the city. The pack was called Koukiv, and its leader was named the same. He was a black mottled red, and his fierce disposition made all who knew him fear him. He lead an army of males that was some 2000 strong. His main asset, however, was Okolog', the massive hellhound.

Hellhounds, as Lilly found out through extensive research, were massive dogs. They were as fierce and deadly as sip of pure poison, if not more, but they were some of the most incredibly stupid creatures on the planet. They would do whatever their leader told them to do. Their leader was whomever gave them the most to follow.

Okolog', Shaman stated firmly, was no different. If he was, he put on a great show. He was always chasing the morsani about, until they threatened to nip him. Even he wasn't thick enough to not know the results of an attack like that. When he was forced to stop chasing, he would take to trying to capture his own stub of a tail. It was one of those things that you just had to step back from, because he wouldn't take a word of sense about it from anyone.

Come now, Lyra said, bringing Lilly sharply and swiftly out of her reverie. Legatus will be awaiting our arrival.

"All right, all right," Lilly yawned, rolling out of bed and onto the floor. Lyra only switched out of her mystical, mysterious personality when she was urgent or impatient. Lilly got ready extra-fast, and jogged back into the room in a loose, lavender sweatsuit. "Ready, let's go."

All right, Lyra said, spreading her wings to reveal her back. We shall have a good training today.

I climbed onto her back. We slowly walked through the house, until we reached the door. Lyra decided to open it today with her long, slim tail. And then they were out, into the eternal twilight. A soft moon shone down on the pair, and a soft, warm breeze washed over them.

And Lyra took off. Her wings moved swiftly up and down in a constant battle against gravity. She won, and the two were soon gliding over the infinite forests, gazing down for any sign of Legatus. He was in his usual spot, it turned out, sitting on the mountain side. He waved cordially to them, and they waved back.

Up, down, to the left, right, up again, Shaman said, sounding quite tired. Just like him.

And then Lyra zoomed upward, cued by a touch to the neck. Then they went down, swerving to the left as they both took in the joy of flight.






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