The LEVELER King ✔

BOOK 3: CHAPTER 10

"Butchers!" Idsel barked as he threw the axe. It struck the tree.

Their visitors long gone, they spent most of the day in tense silence. This was the first time Idsel was able to speak. The response was less than favorable.

"It is not something I expect you to understand," Nala said.

"I do not have to understand it," Idsel said, retrieving the axe. "To understand it would mean that it is not nonsense. And it is nonsense."

Nala folded her arms, looking more like an Earther than a Summoner when she said, "The queen has promised peace. There's no danger if more Summoners seek out a higher stage."

"To what end?" Idsel asked. "To cower away within structures to hide from the day? Then cower away in structures to hide from the night? It is nonsense."

"We should at least see it before we judge," Nala insisted.

"You judge," Idsel said. "Today I will take the babes to swim and catch water birds."

Nala lowered her arms. "I can keep Crane here."

"Why?"

"With his tail so...so short, don't you think it best? Maybe he cannot swim so well. It's dangerous with you alone and two of them if he starts to drown. And it's too bad if he stays out of the water. Maybe he'll get discouraged at seeing Boon have fun without him."

Idsel cocked his head to the right, puzzling about her meaning.

"No, he will come as well," Idsel said finally. "And of course, he can swim. Do not tell him what he cannot do before he's even attempted it. That is your folly, not his."

Nala quieted, and although Idsel knew the Summoner meant well, he couldn't find it in him to apologize for being so harsh. The pensive look Nala gave him was enough; he'd made his point.

The next day Nala set off alone. Idsel watched her disappear down the slope, worrying for her. He seldom feared for Nala. Until yesterday, until the moment he heard that no tail meant no ability to adhere to the cycle, he hadn't fretted.

All this time he'd thought Nala stubbornly held onto that stage. It occurred to him that Nala simply didn't know how to change them at will, but never that she couldn't at all; that if she was near death, she couldn't change even to save herself.

There was no rejuvenation if she were injured. This meant she only had the one lifecycle. Knowing there was only one cycle changed Idsel's viewpoint.

The boys were terrors until they reached the riverbed. Getting Boon to step in was a daunting chore. Usually, Nala could convince him to come in and bathe but Idsel wasn't as fortunate.

He taught Crane for some time before Boon agreed to try and enter the water.

Crane took to the water without trouble. Boon clung to his father's throat until they were back on solid land yet again.

As they walked home Boon cried. He cried again after they ate. And before sleeping, when he realized Nala was late, he wept as well. At one time, Idsel hated it, but today he didn't mind. Boon couldn't swim because he feared the water, and Boon could barely sleep because he feared Nala wouldn't return. In a way, Idsel had trouble sleeping for the same worry.

Idsel's body filled with so much dread that he feared he'd shift through the cycles against his will. Half of him didn't care because he knew if something happened to Nala that he'd long for his first stage so that he could find those idiot Summoners and rip them limb from limb.

The other half of him just longed to know Nala was safe.

In the dead of night when the door finally swung open, Idsel shot to his feet.