The Last: Endling #1

Byx and her companions reach the Infina, a large, open plain where the raptidons often hunt for food. Khara warns the group that the raptidons sometimes spy for the Murdano. As their route turns offroad, they decide to travel by day again. Khara scouts ahead and returns with news that there is a herd of garilans—six legged beasts—migrating south in a process called the Viagatto. She doesn’t believe that the group will cross their path.

The following day, Gambler, Byx, and Vallino become aware of the scent of humans and horses in the air. Khara notices a cloud of dust as well. They debate whether the humans are soldiers or some other source of danger. Khara decides to stop and take Byx and Tobble into a stand of trees where there is a raptidon rookery. Khara speaks to the raptidon guarding the entrance, assuring him that she is there to seek knowledge, not to bring harm. The raptidon allows them inside.

A large raptidon named Rorid Headcrusher comes to speak to Khara, Byx, and Tobble. Khara tells Rorid that she wants to know the identity of the band of humans that is following them. Rorid asks Byx to verify that Khara is speaking the truth and then asks Khara a series of questions about her relationship with Byx and the recent events on Cora di Schola. When Rorid is satisfied, he reveals that the Murdano’s soldiers are following the group, accompanied by a Knight of the Fire. Rorid comments on Khara’s sword, recognizing its true nature because he can see through the spells that hide it. Rorid believes that the Murdano is causing the extinction of many species and that Araktik has sent her soldiers after raptidons as well. Knowing this, he embraces Khara, Byx, and their companions as his friends.

Leaving the raptidon rookery, the group moves quickly in an attempt to stay ahead of the soldiers, but the Murdano’s troops soon draw closer. Byx asks what the Knight of the Fire is, but Luca can only tell her is that he is a great warrior. As they continue to move north, the soldiers draw close enough that Byx can see their faces. Khara takes them to the place where she spotted the garilans earlier. As they approach the riverbank where the garilans are traveling, Khara realizes that they will not reach the area in time, so she decides to go back to distract the soldiers. However, Gambler claims that she isn’t fast enough and volunteers to take her place. They watch as Gambler approaches the soldiers, creeping low in the grass until he springs upon the knight. The knight falls from his horse and grabs his spear, using it to send a jet of flame at Gambler.

The fire is made sentient by theurgy. The knight trains the fire on Gambler and chases him through the grass with it, eventually surrounding the felivet with flames. Byx calls to the knight to draw his attention away from Gambler and then rides Vallino toward the moving garilan herd. The knight sends lines of fire to cut off Byx’s escape, but Vallino jumps over the fire and rushes toward the now-stampeding garilans. At the right moment, Byx slips off Vallino’s back and onto one of the garilans, holding onto its neck with all her strength. The knight continues to follow Vallino until the horse grows tired and stops, turning in such a way that the knight finally realizes that the horse carries no rider. Byx waves from the back of the garilan, and the knight stops the chase. Byx is saddened because she knows that the soldiers have most likely killed her friends.

Byx rides the garilan until the evening and then falls into an uneasy sleep in the grass. When Byx wakes, she is surrounded by her friends. Tobble tells Byx that they were rescued by a flock of crows who attacked the soldiers. Luca and Gambler insist that raptidons have no control over crows, but they still believe that Rorid might have sent the crows to help them. Byx keeps watch as her friends sleep, looking at her notebook and rereading some of her previous entries. Tobble joins her and asks about the stone with the writing on it: the one he rescued for Byx. She tells him that the stone is carved with the words “Xial Renarriss,” which is dairnish for “In truth lies strength” (265). Byx says that the stone likely belonged to their pathfinder, Myxo. Tobble tells Byx that she is the pathfinder now, but Byx argues she isn’t ready for such a role. Tobble compares Byx’s denial to his stibillary. Tobble doesn’t believe he’ll ever have a stibillary because he is not brave.

As they continue to move north, the weather changes and becomes rainy. Byx also notices that Luca has become more argumentative and also more relaxed. This makes Byx nervous because she still cannot decide whether to trust him. Khara warns the companions that they are approaching “Saguria, the capital city of the Murdano” (268). Byx is nervous about going through the city, but Khara assures her that if they remain in the lower city, they have a good chance of getting through without being noticed. They camp above the city and plan to join the travelers going into the city in the morning. As they settle for the night, Byx is awestruck by the sight of the city. She wonders aloud why someone who controls all this wealth would care about the dairnes. Khara explains that it’s not about the dairnes, but power.

Byx and her companions join the influx of travelers approaching Saguria, but the rain and the number of people make the trek slow, and they must stop for the night. They sleep in a barn with Vallino even though Luca is eager to keep moving. Byx questions Luca about his connection to the city, and Luca answers with vague half-truths that bother Byx. The next morning, they finally reach the city gates, but the guards are asking for bribes, and Khara has no more coins. Luca volunteers to speak with the guards and shows them a silver fish pendant that he wears around his neck. Byx and the others assume that he has given the necklace to the guard, but they cannot tell for sure because Luca turns his body to block their view. The bribe works, and they are allowed inside.

The city is surrounded by two walls, one made of basalt and the other of pink coral. They are stopped and searched at the second wall before they are allowed entrance. The city is large and dotted with fine mansions, and the palace is so large that it is visible from all directions. As they make their way through the city, they are suddenly approached by a group of soldiers in white tunics. Khara instructs them all to stand close to the wall in a show of respect for the soldiers she calls the Pale Guard. After the guard passes, Byx notices that Luca is missing.

Khara encourages Byx and the others to move quickly. They turn and run into an arratoi, which is a large, rat-like creature. Khara orders Gambler to kill it because the arratoi are known to spy for the Murdano. They continue running, and Khara and Gambler explain to Byx that they suspect Luca of turning them in to the Pale Guard. Sure enough, a unit of the Pale Guard appears and corners them in the street. Gambler and Khara begin fighting, and Byx pulls her knife but doesn’t know what to do since Khara and Gambler appear to have things under control. Suddenly, two guardsmen come toward Byx with a net extended between them. At the same time, the guard that Khara is fighting knocks her sword from her hand.

One guard attempts to throw the net on Byx, but she slides between his legs to escape. Byx looks around and sees that a guard is holding a sword against Khara’s throat and Gambler is struggling with three guardsmen. Suddenly, Tobble cries out and attacks the guard holding Khara, tearing at the guard’s ears and nose. When the guard with the net goes after Tobble, the wobbyk jumps on his neck. Byx attacks as well, stabbing the first guard in the buttocks and the second behind his knee. Then, both Byx and Tobble turn on the three guards fighting Gambler, freeing Gambler to fight. Khara gathers Byx and Tobble onto Vallino’s back and urges him to gallop away. However, their escape is blocked by Luca and another unit of the Pale Guard.

Byx and her companions are shackled and taken to the Murdano. Luca announces that he is a Corpli, a member of the family that betrayed Khara’s family during the war. Luca announces that he has brought the last known dairne to the Murdano. The Murdano clears the room and tests Byx by asking questions of his advisor and having Byx verify that his answers are true. The Murdano then orders Byx and her companions to be taken to a room in the tower. He also warns Byx that if she tries to escape, he will remove her companions’ tongues and do something far worse to her. He also promises Luca a great reward for his actions.

Byx and her friends are taken to their room, where Khara compliments Byx on her bravery, but Byx doesn’t feel as though she did the right thing. They have dinner and lie down to sleep. Byx wakes in the night to hear Gambler singing to himself. When Byx asks, Gambler confesses that he is singing the felivet death song. Gambler refuses to remain imprisoned again, so when he feels he can act without endangering Byx or the others, he plans to attack the guards and allow them to kill him. Byx asks Gambler to give her time to figure out a plan. Gambler agrees to wait three days before going through with his plan.

Khara and Byx discuss Gambler, the Murdano, and Luca. Khara tells Byx that Gambler is correct in his judgment that the Murdano wants to keep Byx in order to exploit her truth-sensing talents. Khara also believes that Luca will attempt to steal her sword at some point because possessing it would make him a powerful ally in the Murdano’s planned invasion of Dreyland. This information allows Byx to begin formulating a plan.

Byx is summoned to an audience with the Murdano two days later, and she insists on taking Khara with her. Byx stands off to the side as Araktik comes in and speaks to the Murdano about the eumony for the dairnes. When Araktik talks of the hoax, the flying dairne that turned out to be a kite, the Murdano comments on how valuable having just one dairne would be. He then calls Byx forward.

The Murdano asks Byx if Araktik is lying. She says yes. Byx again tells the story of her escape from the attic of the building under construction. The Murdano asks Araktik if she tried to have Byx and her friends killed. Araktik again lies, and Byx verifies it as a lie. Finally, the Murdano asks Araktik if there are any other living dairnes. Araktik says that there are rumors, and Byx establishes that Araktik believes these rumors to be true. Araktik confesses that she understands how dangerous dairnes could be if everyone were to have access to one, but the person who has control of the endling—the very last member of the species—would be the most powerful. She then criticizes the Murdano’s obsession with war in his desire to conquer Dreyland. The Murdano orders Araktik’s execution.

After Araktik is taken away, Khara tells the Murdano that she brought Byx to him in hopes of repairing her family’s ruined reputation. Khara tells the Murdano that she has survived great trials to reach him and she would like nothing more than to bring the rest of the living dairnes to the Murdano in her family’s name. Khara tells the Murdano about Byx’s map. The Murdano asks Byx to verify Khara’s honesty, and she does even though she herself must lie in order to do so. The Murdano agrees to support such an expedition, but he demands that a unit of the Pale Guard follow the group to ensure that Khara and her friends remain honest. If more than five dairnes are located, the Pale Guard will also kill the excess. Byx, Tobble, Gambler, Khara, and Vallino leave Saguria in search of the remaining living dairnes.