Page 44 of His Human Believer

Hannibal stomps forward and looks down at the male in the leaves. “You shot my wulver.”

Vail, hisses through his bloody teeth, “Yes. And I’d do it again.”

“You put a weapon on my son and I shot you in return. Now, you’ll spend the rest of your life in the worst maximum-security prison on Tarvos.”

Hannibal stomps off.

Meanwhile, Vail can’t stop ranting. “Ask Coalstone what it’s worth.” He’s got a face full of dirt, and blood seeps through his sleeve. “Go on. Ask the Fellow what a confirmed specimen is worth.”

“Be silent,” Bergelmir snarls.

“You think I’m the only one?” Vail turns his head to get his mouth clear of the ground. “There are four listings on the exchanges right now. Do you understand what happens the moment that thing is confirmed to exist? Every poacher in four sectors will be standing in this preserve inside a month. I am not the only one, Coalstone.”

They haul him up.

“I am only the first.”

The Skyggjar has not moved. It stood in the middle of a clearing, next to Dagr, watching the Hyrrokin take down the poacher who was trying to harm both it and Dagr. It remains as a hovercraft arrives and Vail is dragged off in restraints and flown away.

Finally, Dagr lifts his chin and hums at it once.

The Skyggjar answers him and then it turns and looks straight at Vidar.

One second. Maybe less.

The male who has spent so many years of his life telling anybody who would listen that this animal does not exist, stands at the edge of a clearing looking at golden eyes. And then it’s gone, up, into the canopy. Hand over hand over hand, unhurried, moving its weight to where the wood is strongest, and it disappears into the black without a sound and without breaking a single branch.

And the preserve comes back to life. Every click, rasp and call in the understory floods back in one enormous rush like somebody released a held breath.

Hannibal Hellstone crosses that clearing in about nine strides and takes his son in his arms.

Back at the Hellstone Residence, Avery makes traq for everyone assembled. Mitry and Sela are asleep upstairs.

The alignment has ended and the world has returned to normal. And now there’s too much light in this kitchen after four hours of no shadows and my eyes hurt. I’m exhausted and so is everyone else, but Dagr refuses to go to bed until he’s told us the whole story of what happened. He doesn’t want to forget any detail. He’s at the table with a blanket around his shoulders and a cup he hasn’t touched. His face is still chalk-white in patches where it hasn’t rubbed off, which is somehow the worst detail of the entire night.

Hannibal stands directly behind his son’s chair.

Avery moves to the table and sits across from him. Bergelmir’s by the door with his arms folded. Vidar’s at the end of the table with his tablet.

“Start wherever you want,” I tell him.

“I know dad said to not go out there again, but I was really worried about the Skyggjar on the alignment. I’ve learned how to hum at it, and I was going to go out and warn him to hide until after the alignment. It was going to take ten minutes. I’ve done it before and it worked and nobody was ever going to know. But this time a Gravian came out of the trees. He asked me what I was doing out here.”

“Did he give you his name?”

“Not then.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, you’re the one it came to before.”

“Oh hells, he was watching Dagr for weeks,” Bergelmir growls.

I nod in agreement. “And then what happened?”

“He pulled a weapon on me and told me to walk with him deeper into the preserve. Skylo came through the gate,” Dagr says, and this is where his voice starts to go. “I didn’t know he’d followed me. He must’ve got off his lead. And he went straight for Vail. And he shot him. And Skylo went down and he made this noise and I couldn’t…I didn’t…”

“Dagr.” Avery’s hand is on the table. “You don’t have to⁠—”