Page 75 of Earthbound

Yeeran wanted to bang her head against the table. ‘Yes, they must have been breeding them,’ she said miserably. ‘I should have pushed for access, I should have looked harder.’

Rayan patted her on the shoulder but it brought her no comfort. ‘You couldn’t have known.’

The tomcat made a forlorn sound somewhere between a meow and a whimper. Furi clutched him closer to her chest.

‘They must have brought the first batch with them,’ Yeeran said.

‘I knew they never planned to sign the peace treaty,’ Furi said with triumph.

‘I’m not sure,’ Yeeran said. ‘If I put myself in their place, I too would think of all the ways I could infiltrate Mosima should the treaty fail. I don’t think Malak was lying–this was simply a contingency plan.’

Rayan nodded. ‘A beacon to herald the war. We have underestimated them.’

Furi snorted. ‘Have we? Rats aren’t exactly a weapon.’

‘Fear is a tool.’ Golan spoke up for the first time. His red eyes shimmered. ‘Those who know how to wield it can wound deeply.’

Rayan looked at him and his expression turned mournful. ‘The rats aren’t our only problem,’ he said.

‘Lettle?’ Yeeran asked, afraid of the answer.

‘She’s fine, but Ald–Afa…has revealed more of his life.’

Golan took in a quivering breath and walked to the window as though to hide his tears. But Yeeran could see his glistening face in the reflection of the glass.

‘What do you mean?’ Furi asked.

Rayan recounted Afa’s life as it had been told to Lettle. It was a story that chilled Yeeran to the core.

‘A faerytale come alive,’ Yeeran whispered in disbelief.

‘Some faerytales come true,’ Furi reminded her.

‘Yes, he calls himself a sorcerer,’ Rayan said. ‘He created the obeah from beasts that are now extinct.’

‘He made the obeah?’ Yeeran asked.

Pila, are you hearing this?

I am. The obeah didn’t seem too perturbed. Aren’t we all made from something?

Both Furi and Yeeran spoke at the same time.

‘—This doesn’t answer how the humans came to be obeah?’

‘—How do we break the curse on Mosima?’

But it was Golan’s voice who cut through them all. ‘What of Alder?’

Yeeran had never seen Golan angry. His gentle temperament was something she had always admired, and to see rage twist his features hurt her heart.

‘You speak of curses and spells, but you have not once asked what has happened to him,’ Golan said, looking between Furi and Yeeran, his gaze ablaze.

Shame sent a flush up Yeeran’s neck.

‘Lettle spoke with Alder, briefly,’ Rayan said. He looked haunted by the recollection. ‘He only exists as we know him outside of the sanctuary where Afa resides.’

Golan clenched his fists. ‘How do we get him back?’