A tabby with enough curiosity to override her fear—aka: common sense—would turn out like me, and mine was not a life I wanted for Kaci. At least not until she’d matured enough to balance her mouth with a bit of wisdom. Or at least experience. I’d learned my lessons the hard way, and I would spare her that, if I could.
Finally, I looked up to see the birds all watching me, and the next voice came from behind me, so I turned again. “We will hear you speak on this matter. But we have no tolerance for ruses. If you transform, we will be forced to incapacitate you.”
“No problem.” I’d never put myself at their mercy long enough to “transform,” anyway. My fastest full Shift ever took nearly a minute, and even if I could do it again, that was plenty of time for them to rip me from limb to limb, considering how incredibly fast they changed form.
Oh. And that’s when I understood. They thought werecats could Shift the same way they could. Instantaneously. Miraculously.
I briefly considered explaining the truth, to make myself look less threatening and set them at ease. But in the end, I decided they were more likely to respect me if they felt just a little threatened by me. Right? That approach usually worked with toms, anyway.…
“Speak,” an elder female bird commanded, from near the windows on my left. So I spoke, fully aware that the safety of my entire Pride rested on me in that moment. Assuming I wasn’t already too late to help them. And I had no reason to believe the birds would have told me if I were.
“Malone is running against my father for a position of leadership within our Territorial Council. But Malone doesn’t fight fair.” I glanced around, trying to make sure everyone was listening, but though the faces were different—and in various stages of mid-Shift—their expressions were all the same. They looked frustrated, angry, and impatient. “Anyway, according to a source of mine—a werecat in Malone’s Pride—last week one of Malone’s enforcers killed one of your…cocks in a dispute over a kill and feeding rights.”
Several of the expressions hardened, and I spoke faster as my pulse raced; I was desperate to finish before someone cut me off. “I’m not saying your bird was necessarily the one at fault. Our two species have different laws, and I’m not qualified to sort that particular issue out. But what I am sure of is that Finn’s killer does not, nor has he ever, belonged to my Pride.”
“What does Calvin Malone stand to gain from misleading us?” another male bird asked from behind me, and that time I didn’t turn. It didn’t seem to matter which one of them I faced; I was speaking to them all, as unnerving as that concept was.
It’s like the tribunal, I told myself, grasping for something familiar. Everyone gets an equal vote. Unfortunately, that made the whole thing feel a little too familiar—the majority of the tribunal had wanted me dead.
“He’s gaining three things,” I said, fighting to project confidence and authority. “First of all—me and Kaci. He’s convinced you to remove us and turn us over to him, because in our world, he who controls the tabbies controls the toms. There are only a few female werecats of childbearing age in the entire country, and Malone wants us both married off to his sons, so he can keep all the power in his family. Thus under his thumbs. He tried to force me into a marriage I didn’t want a couple of months ago, through political means, and when that didn’t work, he resorted to brute force with Kaci.”“How so?” some nameless, faceless bird called out from behind us, and Kaci cringed against my side as all eyes turned her way for the first time.
“He snuck onto our property and tried to kidnap her.”
A couple of the birds—mostly the women—looked upset, if I was reading half-avian expressions correctly. But most of them just looked confused. They didn’t know enough about our culture to understand why Malone would resort to violence over a potential daughter-in-law. So I moved on to point number two.
“Second of all, he now has you fighting his battle for him. You’re weakening our offensive capabilities while we’re on the verge of a very well-justified fight against Malone.”
“How is your fight justified?” an exceptionally scratchy, gender-neutral voice asked from behind me and to my right. I gritted my teeth to keep from groaning in frustration as I resisted the urge to turn and search for the speaker yet again.
“One of his cats killed my brother almost two weeks ago, when they came after Kaci. Malone knows an attack is imminent. But this way, we bring fewer, weaker forces to the fight. Thanks to you guys.”
To my horror, several of the birds were nodding, not merely in understanding, but in admiration! They approved of Malone’s underhanded strategy! The bastards!
But even I had to agree that it was effective, if unconscionable.
“And in the third place, he’s deflected both the blame and the consequence for Finn’s death away from him. Which means his forces remain safe from your rage, thus intact. And you’re not getting the justice Finn deserves, because while you’re fighting us, the real killer is literally getting away with murder. In Malone’s Pride.”
Now they were frowning.…
A throat cleared to my far right, and my head swiveled so fast and hard I heard one of my own vertebrae pop. My focus snagged on a single dark beak as it Shifted almost instantly into the creased lips and chin of the oldest thunderbird I’d seen yet. She had thick white hair halfway down her back, and her hands were even more wrinkled than her face, but her eyes shone with shrewd intelligence.
“You insist that Calvin Malone is willing to compromise his honor for success in war. What evidence can you give us that you are not, in fact, doing that very thing?”
Why did they always use his full name? Did they think that was how all humans addressed one another? By both names? Or did they run the whole thing together in their minds, as if it were all one word? Like their own names…
“You’re asking why you should believe me instead of him?” My heart thudded in my ears when she nodded. I’d never delivered a more important argument than the one I was about to launch. Never before had so many lives depended on what I said next.
No pressure, Faythe…
“You should believe me because I stand to gain nothing from this except what we had before Malone interfered—the peace to assemble our troops in private and avenge my brother’s murder. I’m not asking you to attack my Pride’s enemies for us. Or to kidnap and deliver any members of his Pride to give us a political edge. Or to give up justice for your own dead by launching an attack against the wrong people. But Malone asked for all of that. He used you. Hell, he’s probably laughing at you right now.”
Okay, he was probably too busy plotting our destruction to literally laugh about the wool he’d pulled over the Flight’s eyes, but my point stood. They’d been played.
And finally, they looked mad.
“If you’re telling the truth, Calvin Malone must pay for his deception,” a disembodied voice called from overhead.
My brows rose, but I didn’t bother glancing up. “If I’m telling the truth?”
“We can no longer trust the unsubstantiated word of a werecat.” This statement came from my left, from a young female bird, whose dark-browed scowl was genuinely scary. “You will bring us proof.”
Proof. Shit. If I had that, all our problems would be over! “You didn’t ask Malone for proof.…”
“We are disinclined to repeat our mistake.”
Another scratchy voice spoke up, but I whirled too late to catch the speaker. “You will bring us evidence in two days.”
Two days! I glanced desperately from one impassive face to the next. “My whole Pride could be dead by then!” Though hopefully they’d take the thunderbird contingent with them. “You have to call a ceasefire.”
“No.” Short, simple, and spoken by the bird who’d begun this whole weird interrogation. “We will not stop the attack without proof that your people are innocent.”
A growl began deep in my throat, and it took me a long moment to contain it. “If you don’t call a ceasefire, I have no reason to go looking for your proof. What would I have to go home to?”
For a moment, there was more silence, as the birds conferred, cocking their heads at one another, and glancing from face to face. And finally they seemed to reach a mute consensus. “We will halt the attack against your Pride until you return with your proof. In two days.”
Relief surged through me, cool compared to the flames of fear and anger licking at my heart. I’d bought time for the rest of my Pride—assuming they hadn’t already launched their offensive. But my relief was short-lived.
“What kind of proof? And how the hell am I supposed to get it? I don’t suppose you have a car I could borrow?” Otherwise, it could take me two days to climb down their damned mountain and find the nearest form of public transportation.
“No. How you get this proof is not our concern, and we don’t care what form it takes, so long as it is irrefutable.”
Great. And staggeringly vague. “Well, then, I guess we should get going. We’re burning time.”
“The child stays,” said a firm, deep voice from behind me, and that time not only did I turn, but I turned Kaci with me.