Despite her initial misgivings, Pileated Woodpecker was not impossible to convince. She told Haode she would spread the word, as her contacts were numerous, despite Felltree being a small community. "Anyone and everyone who's lost someone to Styzia," she had assured him. "We outnumber them. We will have our justice."

Then she had given them three horses and sent them on their way. The mares they now rode had once belonged to the village's defenders, all of whom had been killed by the sabretooth-masked monster. Like Peck and her children, they were named after birds. Haode tried to keep himself calm in the saddle. Letting Gyrfalcon pick up on his fear would only spell trouble.

He looked between the pale mare's tufted ears and saw a log in the path. She jumped over it with ease. Behind him, Ido's mount refused the jump. Ido shouted. Sparrowhawk pranced and tossed her head.

Haode looked over his shoulder. "Stop pulling so hard on the reins. That's how you tell a horse to stop, not go."

Ido's mount lunged awkwardly over the log. Dakko followed on Blue Heron. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"The Wash," said Haode. "Remember? The village below Styzia."

"That seems like the last place we'd want to be," said Dakko. "Well, except Styzia itself."

"The Wash probably provides Styzia's resources, due to its location," said Haode. "Which makes it an ideal ground to sow unrest."

Ido interrupted. "What if those people sympathize with them?"

Haode kicked his horse and snapped his head around to glare at Ido. "Anyone who sympathizes with those demons is brainwashed. We'll expose the truth."

"And how?" Ido asked.

"The truth," said Haode, "is that those monsters committed unspeakable atrocities in order to kidnap a girl, just like they kidnapped all of their so-called warriors." He looked up. "She, like all of their captives, will become the Masters' weapon. Qila and Xigon will set her like an attack dog on any who defy what they claim to be the Iron God's vision. And the cycle of oppression will continue." He clenched his hands around the reins. "That's how it will be."

"Sounds good," said Ido. "Surely they'll listen."

Haode couldn't tell whether or not Ido was being sarcastic. He decided not to press the matter. When he heard a trickle of water, he turned Gyrfalcon and rode toward it. The boys followed. They let their horses drink from the creek, then Haode led them downstream along the bank. "This must drain to somewhere," he told them. "And it could be a bluehole."

They rode along the half-frozen creek for quite some time. Haode ducked beneath the snow-weighted spruce and fir branches. Prickly green needles tugged at his hood every now and then. Below, Gyrfalcon's hooves punched holes in muddy slush. Occasionally she would slip and Haode would grab her white mane, startled and then relieved as she regained her footing.

The stream led them into a mist-shrouded bog. The trees grew shorter and scrawnier before vanishing altogether. The ground went from slush to damp moss and pungent black peat. Their horses' hooves squelched in the muck. Haode looked up. The mire stretched on as far as he could see. He took a deep breath. The air was earthy and noticeably warmer than the woods.

Something rustled in the shrubs. Haode jolted and yanked the reins. Gyrfalcon threw her head up. When Haode saw that it was only a muskrat, his panic subsided. Then he heard a chuckle behind him.

Ido rode up beside him. "Boss, that was only a muskrat."

Haode reached over and smacked him.

Dakko scolded his brother. "Don't make fun of him, Ido."

Haode tried his best to ignore them both. "I don't see a bluehole yet, and I doubt we can reach the Wash easily without one." He urged Gyrfalcon forward, but she pinned her ears and backed up. He was about to yell at her when he saw something move in the fog.

Two shapes were drawing closer to them. At first, Haode thought it was a wild horse, though a bog was a strange place for horses. Then he heard it. Click-click. Haode's heart skipped a beat. Click-click-click-click-click. Then it panted and sniffed the air.

Ido shivered beside him and struggled to keep his horse still. "That's a funny looking horse, boss."

"That's a nack, not a horse," Haode whispered. "Don't move. It'll probably go away. They don't hunt when they're alone." He caught himself trembling.

The nack lifted its pale head and sniffed the air again. Its mane fell back to reveal two short, pointed horns. Its mouth was larger, with thinner lips and sharper teeth. Steam huffed from the beast's nostrils. Its large eyes seemed to stare straight through him.

"Huh." Dakko cocked his head. "That's pretty interesting. I don't think I realized nacks were a real thing."

"There's truth in every tale," said Haode. Then he yelled at the nack. "Get away! Go!"

The nack startled and fled. Its feet splashed through the murky puddles. Haode breathed a sigh of relief and hoped there weren't more of them.

Something wailed in the distance. Another nack, no doubt. Haode cursed. Its keening sounded eerily human. Gyrfalcon whinnied. Sparrowhawk fussed as well. Blue Heron reared up and then took off. Dakko screamed and fought to stay on. Haode kicked his horse and charged after him. Ido followed suit.

Haode yelled and urged his mount. He tried to cut in front of Dakko's horse, but Blue Heron was too fast. Over the pounding of hooves in the peat and their own shouts, Haode heard the cry again. Much closer. A nack with an almost blood-red coat leaped in front of them. Their horses stopped. Blue Heron slipped in the black mud and almost fell. Dakko sobbed. "What's happening?"

The nack's tail swished. It turned its head to reveal the deep red eyes of a Ferash Therall.

"You're one of us?" Haode asked.

It responded in the Ferash Therall tongue. "More or less." The voice sounded feminine. She picked one hoof up. It flattened and grew fingers. Human skin spread up the arm. "I take many forms."

Haode's eyes shot wide open. If this was who he thought it was, they were in even worse danger than he had feared at first.

The nack looked at her newly human arm, then at Ido. She changed her other front limb, then the rest of her body to look like Ido's. She leaned back on her hindquarters and shrank into a perfect imitation of Ido, right down to the clothes and the little tuft of hair that always got in his face. The only difference Haode could see was that this shapeshifter had the calm, smug expression of someone playing a game and winning. When it spoke again, it sounded exactly like Ido. "Why the fear, vultures? You're the ones who ought to be making me afraid, don't you think?"

Haode was too terrified to move. He barely managed to speak. "Channei."

Ido whispered to himself and rocked in his saddle.

"You know me, do you?" Channei grinned. "Then surely you know you don't stand a chance if I attack." When she noticed Haode reach for his reins, she added on. "Don't even think about running. I will catch you."

Dakko caught his breath. "You're being controlled, you know that, right?"

Channei laughed at him. "And you aren't?" She looked at Haode. Her hair vanished and she grew taller as she morphed to imitate him. He heard his own voice come out of her mouth and nearly fainted. "I'd love to rip all three of you to shreds right here and now but branding my arm hurts and you aren't worth it." Haode's mirror image sneered at him. "So instead, I'm here to pass along a message from my masters. Suppose I should look the part."

Half of Channei's hair turned black, and half turned gray. She grew even taller. Frighteningly tall. Half her face wrinkled like an old woman's. When she spoke, it was with two unison voices. "Whatever your reason for seeking Kolo might be, turn back now. This is your first and only warning." She pointed to the eye on the black-haired side. "We are watching. No threat to our family will go unnoticed – or unpunished. If you value your lives, abandon this pointless quest."

Haode clenched his jaw. "Kolo is my only hope." He rocked back and forth in his saddle. "She's the only way I can survive!" He glared at Channei. "Tell your masters that I'm not afraid of them."

"But you are," said Channei. "You're terrified of them, and it's making you sick!" She erupted in laughter and then stopped herself. "I'm sorry, it's hilarious to me." She changed to look like a young blond woman. "Do you really think a bunch of angry villagers will put so much as a crack in our order?"

Haode shivered. His wasting muscles tightened. "I know what will put a crack in your order."

"Oh, you want to capture me or something?" Channei shrugged. "Go right on ahead. See what good it does you." She lifted her hands up. "I'm waiting."

"Now, Ido," said Haode.

Bolts of lightning exploded from Ido's fingertips. They cracked through Channei. She jerked and crumpled to the ground. Her limbs twitched and seized.

Haode dismounted, grabbed her, and threw her up onto Gyrfalcon's back. He got back in the saddle and kicked his mount. "Come on, boys," he growled. "Let's find that bluehole."

[12] Haode: Nack in the Fog

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