Goya looked to Sin next, and Zai averted his gaze. If he could cover his ears, he would have. He didn’t want to hear or see Sin’s answer. Selfishly, irrationally, he didn’t want their time together to end.
Whatever it was that passed between the two Beasts was brief, and none of Sin’s thoughts was transmitted between them.
Zai wondered whether he purposely kept his response to himself.
Could a Beast do that? Did the link between Sin and Zai work only when Sin intended it to?
Somehow, the silence in Zai’s head left him feeling…
Bereft.
The Tiger King accepted Sin’s answer with a dip of his head.
So be it.
He turned back to Ben and said, knowing Zai would translate:
Take the forest path to the second tallest mountain in the northeast.
When the path becomes too steep to climb, you will come across a hidden cave. It will look like the aftermath of a rockslide. Piles of boulders surrounding more rock. But there is an entrance there if you look close enough.
Likely, you will not reach it before raptors will attack from the skies. That is how you’ll know you’re close.
And if the Eagle King accepts your request for audience, the raptors will escort you through the maze within the mountain to his throne.
If not, you will find yourself…removed from their mountain.
Zai conveyed the message to Ben quickly, and the boy lit up with a mix of determination, apprehension and relief.
“My thanks, Goya,” the boy said.
“I’ll…I’ll see you in time.”
The Great White Tiger cocked his head a little, regarding Ben thoughtfully.
In time, he echoed.
With that, he let out a series of low grunts, and the big cats began to move off, disappearing into the shadowed woods one by one.
Zai didn’t want to watch Sin leave too, so he began to walk off himself, in the direction that Goya indicated where the Eagle King’s aerie was hidden.
“Let’s go, human,” he said to Ben without turning to look at the boy, knowing he would follow.
“I might as well come with you. Someone has to keep you out of trouble, even if you have a tendency to seek it.”
Ben got in line and kept up with his long strides. One day, the human might grow to be even taller than Zai. He had the bones for it.
“I don’t go looking for trouble,” he protested.
“I wish these quests were a piece of cake. Drop in, drop out. But I’m starting to realize they never are. There’s no way I’m letting obstacles stop me from getting what I need, though. People I love depend on my coming through.”
“And what is it you need?” Zai asked, walking briskly.
He needed to put distance between them and the feline clan, even when, with every step he took, something inside of him was screaming at him to go back, find Sin, and…
And nothing.
Some part of him wished that Sin didn’t choose to stay with the Tiger King. That part of him listened carefully for almost silent paws that might have followed them.