He mounted it as though climbing onto the back of a horse.
“There really is nowhere to hide, is there, Frost?” the little man said, the tiger moving beneath him, muscles taut beneath its fur. The fire flickered in the man’s eyes like candle flames.
The winter man stared at the Keen Keeng, not looking at him. “Nowhere, Li.”
“Then I am with you.”
Frost tilted his head, icicle hair clinking together. “That is very good to know. We may have a difficult time leaving the city.”
Blue Jay knew the name. Li, Guardian of Fire.
“If you’ll allow me,” Li said, gesturing toward the Keen Keeng.
Frost nodded. “By all means.”
The tiger-rider raised his hand and fire rushed up from it, forging itself into a flaming blade. Li spurred the tiger forward. The great cat bounded toward the Keen Keeng and Li swung the fire-sword, decapitating it in a single, searing stroke.
The Keen Keeng’s head fell to the ground.
Silence ensued. For a long moment those gathered in the courtyard only looked at one another, ignoring the restaurant’s patrons completely. The two Mazikeen stroked their braided beards. Grin stood with Cheval and Chorti, who were checking one another over for injuries. Li stood beside Blue Jay, across from Frost.
Word had traveled faster than reality. Frost had been planning to begin a rebellion, to gather up those who would fight back, who would hunt the Hunters. But now it had begun in earnest.
A soft clapping broke the silence.
Lycaon continued the derisive, almost mocking applause as he approached the circle.
“Well done. Now leave. Begone from here, valiant idiots.”
Frost glared at him, blue-white ice eyes narrowed. “You are Borderkind, wolf. They will come for you, in time.”
“Not if you stop them first,” Lycaon said.
“But you will not help us, even to help yourself?”
“Some of us still live here,” the werewolf growled, and his cruel features became darker, more bestial, as though he might transform at any moment. “Most of you Borderkind are nomads, but I’m no wanderer. I have a home. And I want you out of it, before they destroy it to reach you.”
Blue Jay chuckled softly. Rocking gently from side to side he stepped toward Lycaon. The rain spattered his face and the feathers in his hair danced in the breeze.
“Coward,” the trickster said. “You’ll regret this. If not at the hands of the Hunters, then at my hands, when this is over.”
“As it may be,” Lycaon said, and he raised his hand and gestured to the door.
One by one, they walked out of Lycaon’s Kitchen and into the street, half a block from the Latin Quarter’s marketplace.
Blue Jay glanced up immediately, scanning the rooftops and dark windows again. A pair of huge black birds took flight, streaking toward the city center. But they were not alone. At least half a dozen others perched on various ledges and rooftops, watching them.
“Strigae,” Cheval said, coming up beside him.
Blue Jay nodded.
“Watching for the Keen Keengs to emerge,” Li said.
“Or for us,” Blue Jay replied. “They may have been tracking us from the moment we passed the watchtowers.”
The two Mazikeen raised their hoods, hiding their gray faces and haunting eyes.
“There are Hunters in the city. Jezi-Baba and the Manticore. We have sensed Perytons as well.”
Frost shook his head. “Ty’Lis grows bold, sending out Hunters that can only be commanded by Atlanteans.”
“We haven’t the numbers to face them,” Cheval said, shifting her feet nervously, her equine nature coming to the fore.
Blue Jay had seen a wounded spirit in her eyes-her heart had never healed after her husband’s murder. Much of the time she was the quiet, pensive widow, but all too often she wore the mask of a brittle, imperious bitch. He thought it might be best if she kept the facade up at all times; if Cheval drew too much attention or sympathy from the rest of them, it could endanger them all when the time came to fight. As it was, he wondered how effective Chorti would be in the midst of a real battle. If all he cared about was Cheval’s safety, he would be useless to them.
We’ll find out in time, Blue Jay thought. All too soon, I expect.
He studied the Strigae. “We’ll have to face them in time, numbers or not. But I’d prefer it not be today.” He looked at Frost. “We’ve got all the help I think we’re going to find in Perinthia. Could be we’ll find more on the road south. For now, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Frost nodded, starting northward. The other Borderkind followed, heading toward the edge of the city. It was the opposite direction from their destination, but for now the quickest route out of Perinthia was the smartest.
As they began to run, the Strigae took flight, pacing them.
“Pardon me, sirs,” Grin said, long arms at his sides as he loped along. “You know we’re never going to get away from the Hunters as long as those damned birds are watching us.”
Blue Jay smiled grimly. “Not in this world.”
The tiger trotted along the road with Li on its back. The little man had gained on the rest of them almost immediately, the tiger swift on its feet, even by the standards of myth. Now Li and his tiger turned together. Fire guttered from Li’s eyes.
“Trickster, you wish us to cross the border?”
Cheval laughed softly. “That is what we do, is it not?”
Troubled, Li frowned, and the flames in his eyes burned higher. “I have not been through the Veil in a great many years.”
The Grindylow shrugged. “Never done it, myself. Not once. My sort can do it, mind, but I never had the urge.”
The strange parade of creatures turned onto a side street, threaded beneath a half-toppled column and through what had once been a Roman bath. Several times they spotted figures in alleys or windows of the Latin Quarter, but the people were not going to trouble them. Only the Strigae pursued them. The eyes of the Hunters.
The Mazikeen moved in silence, hands together in front of them like monks. They seemed only to walk, but covered more ground in a single step than was possible.
Blue Jay caught up to Li. “You’ll love it, my friend. Their world is more corrupt than ever, but still beautiful, even so. Still stormy with love and lies and passion.”
The trickster glanced around and then faltered. He came to a halt, and one by one the other Borderkind did the same. Chorti snuffled at the ground and then the air, baring metal fangs at the Strigae that circled high above them. The Mazikeen had their heads together, nearly touching, communing silently in their sorcerous way.
“Where’s Frost?” Blue Jay asked.
Even as he did so there came a cry from above-a shriek that was not quite a bird’s scream. The trickster turned and looked up just in time to see a Strigae fall, end over end, toward the ground. It shattered upon impact, body splintering into fragments of black feathers and ice.
Up on the edge of the roof, Frost crouched. He shot out a hand and a spike of ice extended instantly from his fingertips and impaled a Strigae in mid-flight. It screamed, blood mixing with the rain, and then it glided lower and lower to crash to the street, dead.
Frost leaped from the roof and simply flowed down toward them, merging with the rain, becoming an avalanche of snow and ice, and then re-forming on the ground only inches away from Blue Jay.
“Beautiful,” Cheval Bayard said, sliding closer to Frost. She reached out to run her fingertips along the sharp edge of his shoulder in fascination.
The winter man pulled away and glared at her, then regarded the others. “There is no choice. We cross. Only long enough to escape the spies…”
He gestured skyward, where several other Strigae still circled, another joining them.
Blue Jay watched the sky. “Are you sure that’s wise? All of us in one place, in the mundane world, we’re sure to draw attention. You saw what happened the last time.”
“Perhaps we’ll be lucky,” Frost replied.