The tigers moved with practised stealth. Within moments, they had encircled Alex, Leeuie and the alpacas. Any chance of escape was blocked. The creatures stared, unblinking, with eyes that were dark and hollow. Seeing, but not seeing. Black saliva dripped from their lips, and sharp shards of wood from Kiala’s tree were stuck between their pointed teeth.
Icy dread seeped through Alex. This was a trap. And she had walked right into it.
A lazy wind eddied about the very top of the tree. The highest branches chafed against one another, creaking and scraping, creaking and scraping. The gust of air moved downward, scooping up fallen leaves and dirt, blowing them across the ground.
The wind picked up, stronger, a breathy whisper filling the forest. ‘Attaaaaaack,’ the wind called softly. ‘Attack them.’
As one, the tigers crouched low. Teeth bared. Battle-ready.
The only hope they had of making it out of here alive was to complete the binding ritual and sever the control Kiala had over the tigers. ‘Can you hold them off while I do the ritual?’ Alex asked in a low voice.
Moraika nodded, her eyes not moving from the tiger army. ‘We’re warriors. We were born for this.’ Her woollen coat bristled. ‘Form a barrier around Alex. Nothing gets past.’
The alpacas snapped into formation. Gone were the farmyard animals who lived for nothing but apples. In their place were wool-covered warriors, eyes hard, muscles taut. Alvaro clenched a large stick between his teeth. Lilly crouched low, eyes darting from one animal to the next, daring them to come any closer. Ollin scraped a groove in the dirt with his front foot, gnashing his teeth. ‘We’re ready for you,’ he growled.
Leeuie followed their lead and unclipped his knife from his belt.
A tiger leaped at Alvaro. He swung the stick, catching the beast on the jaw and sending it flying. Three more charged, claws and teeth bared. Alvaro swiped them away.
Alex’s hands shook. She grabbed the rock, bag of sand and white feather from her backpack.
Ollin reared up, kicking out with his front legs. He caught one tiger in the jaw, another in the soft flesh of its stomach. The tiger mewled in pain. Leeuie sliced at the air with his knife.
A fresh wave of leaves and twigs billowed around Alex. She shielded her eyes, looking for Moraika. She needed some of the alpaca’s blood. ‘Moraika?’ Three tigers snarled around Moraika’s ankles. The alpaca booted them away before proffering a fresh wound on her leg to Alex.
Alex did not like the way Moraika’s breath was coming out in rapid bursts. ‘You okay?’
Moraika nodded, but her eyes were glassy and slightly unfocused. ‘Hurry!’
Alex winced as she squeezed the edges of the cut. Blood dribbled out and pooled into her hand, warm and sticky, making her stomach turn.
A tiger leaped at Alex. Lilly clipped the creature’s jaw with her foot, sending it tumbling across the clearing. ‘Quick, Alex!’
Alex tried to focus. She had the ingredients. She knew the binding incantation. But there were so many other things she did not know. Was she meant to shout the incantation or whisper it? Touch the elements against the tree trunk? Bury them in the soil?
‘Come on, Alex!’ Leeuie said. He stabbed at the air, just managing to keep the tigers from pouncing on him with the threat of his knife.
Alex took a deep breath. Please, please, please work.
She pressed the white feather to the trunk of the tree and recited the first line of the binding incantation. The wind swirled faster. She lifted the volcanic rock, touched it to the trunk, and said the second line. The wind picked up even more, and a shiver travelled down Alex’s spine. It’s working. I can feel it working! She quickly brushed a small amount of black sand against the tree trunk and rubbed Moraika’s blood along the pale, knotted wood as she recited the appropriate lines. The earth shuddered, as if trying to rid itself of some horrible sickness. Then, she spoke the final sentence.
‘With love I release you from your destiny !’
Behind her, tigers snarled and spat. The alpacas and Leeuie grunted and shouted. Alex blinked. Surely the fighting would have stopped if the ritual had worked?
‘What’s going on?’ Lilly shouted. Her voice was ragged and tight.
It didn’t work. Alex stared at the elements in front of her, the awful realisation sinking in. ‘It didn’t work!’
‘Then try again,’ Lilly shouted. ‘Fast!’
The fragments of light seeping through the forest were fading. Soon, it would be too dark to see anything. Think, Alex commanded herself. What did I do wrong?
Leeuie’s frantic scream cut through her thoughts. ‘Alex! Duck!’
A tiger was midair, leaping straight toward her. She flattened herself against the ground just as Leeuie slammed his body into the animal’s gut. The boy and tiger careened sideways. The tiger hit the ground with a thump, rolling a few times. Leeuie plowed straight into the dirt and skidded along the ground, arms outstretched. Before he had come to a stop, the tiger was up, shaking itself and bounding towards him again.
Alex stood, grabbed the piece of volcanic rock and in two strides she was between Leeuie and the tiger. She brought the rock down on its skull. The animal stopped, swayed, and fell to the ground.
‘Okay?’ she called to Leeuie, who gave her a slightly bewildered nod.
She turned back to the tree, but her foot caught on a root and she stumbled forward, straight into the tree trunk. Pain seared through her palm as the bark cut into it. Alex snatched her hand away, but not before she saw a smear of blood smudged into the oozing black sap.
Oh no, no, no, no! Fear clutched at Alex. She forgot about everything going on around her as she frantically wiped her injured hand against her jeans, sap and blood smearing into the blue denim.
‘Alex?’ It was Leeuie.
She glanced up, and her heart stopped. She had been so distracted by what might happen if she’d got Kiala’s poison on her, she hadn’t noticed the stillness that had descended in the clearing. The tigers had ceased fighting and were standing, rigid and alert. Waiting.
Alex swallowed hard. Waiting for what?
Right at the top of the tree, there was a flicker of movement. The branches shook as a black shadow passed through them.
Alex’s pulse drummed and her legs twitched, ready to run. She scooped the binding ritual elements into her backpack in case they had to move fast.
The shadow darted between the limbs, until it finally leaped from the lowest branch and landed on the ground with a soft, cushiony whoosh.
Alex gasped.
Standing before her was a young girl, eyes gleaming black and hard. ‘At last, the weary years don’t seem so long.’ Her voice was soft and dangerous. Honey and arsenic. ‘You have arrived.’