Page 39 of Zane

“I regret saying meat.”

Luke drove his shoulder into a wooden brace until it splintered, then jumped back as three starving boars slammed against their gate.Their thoughts were blunt and furious, all tusks and empty bellies.

“We know,” Luke said, palms up, his voice shaking but steady enough.“You want the men who put you here. I promise, if we see them, we’ll form a very respectful line behind you.”

Trak was already waist-deep in mud near the far wall, hauling at a chain wrapped around the cage of a black bear whose ribs showed beneath rain-slick fur.The bear’s rage was immense and old, a storm larger than the one outside.Trak closed his eyes, pressed his forehead to the bars, and let the animal feel his own exhaustion, his own terror, his own refusal to leave anyone behind.

The coliseum groaned as floodwater poured down the steps where crowds would soon sit, cheering.The cages rattled in answer.

Leopards snarled at antelope, wolves snapped at monkeys, and a hornbill screamed insults so specific that Blake briefly lost concentration.

“Irene,” she said through clenched teeth, “tell the bird that nobody’s mother smells like boiled mushrooms.”

“I will not censor the oppressed,” Irene replied, but a smile flickered through her ghostly face before she turned her power outward again.

Her voice spread in waves, passing through iron, wet stone, and panicked minds.

“To the river,” she called.“Down the eastern chute.Do not fight here.Fight by livin’.”

At the chute gate, Alvin lay half-submerged in runoff, looking like an extremely judgmental log.Blake had asked him to guide the animals toward the river.Alvin had agreed, though his agreement felt less like enthusiasm and more like a damp legal contract.

When a cage of capybaras bolted past him, he opened one yellow eye and projected, in the general direction of everyone, I am not a ferry.

Hank and Oscar, were less subtle.They stood side by side on a fallen beam, rain hissing off their armored backs, tongues tasting the air like black ribbons.

Hank hissed at a nervous herd of deer, not to threaten them, but to keep them moving.Oscar, who enjoyed authority far too much, added a mental shove that translated roughly as: Single file, no biting, and if you faint I will be disappointed.

The first locks broke, and the arena exploded into motion.A tiger leaped free, landing so close to Blake that mud splashed up her legs.Its hunger flared hot enough to make her stagger.For one heartbeat, it saw her throat.

Then Irene appeared between them, transparent and terrible, and the tiger saw through her the memory of moonlit grass, wet leaves, cubs hidden beneath roots, and the river shining like a road.

Blake caught the tiger’s gaze and added her own command, not with force, but with certainty.Run now.Hunt later.

The tiger snarled, a sound that shook water from the bars, then turned and sprang toward the eastern chute.

“Thank you,” Gaspar called after it, still wrestling with a lock.“Very mature of you!”

There were far more animals than had originally been reported.No doubt, some were meant to be food for the others.But they were all to be saved.

Luke ducked as something unidentifiable sailed over his head, an animal tossing a broken lock to the wall.

“I’m not saying that was useful,” he shouted, “but I respect the commitment.”

Two guards suddenly appeared, realizing what was happening in the darkness of the coliseum.

Trak saw them first.He drove his shoulder under the chain of the bear’s cage and pulled until something in the mechanism screamed.The gate sprang wide, and the bear stepped out slowly, every inch of it soaked, starved, and done being patient.

Trak did not command it.He only pointed toward the guards and then toward the river, offering the choice as clearly as he could.The bear huffed, considered murder, considered freedom, and chose both in a practical order.

It charged the archway, scattering the guards like dropped pins, then lumbered down the chute with rain steaming from its back.

Blake moved from cage to cage, her mind splitting into threads.She soothed the antelope without weakening their speed, steadied the wolves without dulling their instincts, and convinced a python that the phrase temporary allies did not include swallowing Luke.

Each animal was a separate storm, and she held them all with both hands inside her skull.

Irene did what Blake could not.She went into the cages before they opened, passing through bars and crouching beside the animals too broken to trust any living voice.A chained lioness snapped at her out of habit, teeth passing through silver light.

Irene did not flinch.