The LEVELER King ✔

BOOK 3: CHAPTER 15

Crane couldn't seem to stay still lately. Even Indel had to take notice of it when he'd shift about during their first meal. No doubt he was eager to see to his ino. Two days now with little change in her quiet state but Crane was loyal and steadfast.

Indel had a lot planned for today. After Boon, who'd decided he was no longer on speaking terms with his brother, marched out early to ride his ino, Indel thought to go, too.

"I will make weapons today," Indel said, finishing the last of the worms. He longed for meat but didn't dare hunt in this stage.

He needed to train them now that they were big enough to take a hit.

"Boon needs more time to heal," Nala said, sitting down. "Does he not?"

The training wasn't for Boon. Rather than admit to that, Indel tried to think of a new solution. Boon would need more care but he'd do well to learn to fight with his hands; words were not his forte either.

"Crane can start first."

Outside when they gathered to start the lesson, it was tense talking to two people who refused to talk to one another. Boon strutted his ino out for them to see before he picked up the sticks Indel gathered for them. Indel had shaped them into claws for now until their own grew in again. Boon's fancy introduction was foolish but it did put a dent in Crane's otherwise cold expression. Crane's ino hadn't done much but stare at him since he'd gotten her two days ago.

Even when they trained Crane couldn't stay still.

Nala sat atop the stone fence watching them.

"You don't want to be too low," Indel said, but if you can catch your opponent under the belly, rip in a jagged motion this way until you strike one heart. Once he hunches...." He pivoted up, even though this body wasn't suited for a fight. "And cut the throat. You want to do it shallow for a light match or to teach him a lesson. Or deeper for a fatal wound. Should you lodge that hook into his throat, he cannot repair it even on a shift. He will perish."

Crane's discomfort took up everyone's attention.

Indel asked, "What is it?"

"It is nothing," Crane said. "May I go in early? I want to check my Betty."

His abrupt departure left Indel beside himself. "What has happened to this boy?"

Boon watched him go. "Just a little touched in the head." He raised his arms and lumbered from side to side, mocking Crane's large frame.

Between the fighting and the repairs to the farm, Indel was more than ready for the night to come. When he awoke to find Nala gone, he smiled.

It took some doing for him to climb from under Crane and wiggle free of Boon as he headed for the door. Growing Levelers were hard to rouse from sleep and although Indel didn't mind the challenge of trying to leave that bed of hay should the need arise, Nala wasn't as adventurous; she still slept apart. Indel didn't care about the cuts from his sons' scales. They did hurt but it was manageable. Still, only Indel and his sons followed old ways by sleeping close.

He wasn't sure how Summoners managed if they slept apart from each other. Should one larva wriggle away or something remove an offspring from the nest, there would be no way to tell if families slept at a distance. Perhaps this was only Nala's habit and not that of all Summoners.

As Nala had long since taken to sleeping on her own bed, her coming and going was quiet. Since the false Earther's retreat from the area, Nala kept her urges to mate to herself, going off in the night instead. It was a strange thing, but Indel no longer questioned Nala's strange things.