The older man rolled his eyes, brandished the rifle, and disappeared back the way they’d come.
Nikolai focused on the lions. The expressions of the two staring at him showed equal parts fear and hostility. The big male tried to rise, but his legs refused to hold him. Nikolai crouched to reduce his imposing height, took a cleansing breath, and reached deep within himself.
Then he began to hum.
It wasn’t just a sound. He wove into it the energy pulled from the life surrounding him. It generated a soothing aura that passed over and through the lions.
Pressed against his neck, Mai uttered a happy little squeak. The lions’ eyes changed. Both blinked, and the big male stopped trying to struggle to his feet.
Nikolai kept it coming until the lioness lowered her head and the male yawned. He crept forward until he reached the nearest cub.
Even before he spread his fingers over it, he knew he was too late for this one. There was a limit to what he could do—if the life essence had completely fled, he couldn’t put it back. He’d tried, once. The aftermath had not been pretty.
So he moved on to the next cub. It breathed—barely—its lips coated in froth. Nikolai buried his fingers in the soft fur, and concentrated.
Poison was a tough cure, especially when it had time to spread. Nikolai had seen the results of this kind of poison before—it caused hemorrhaging throughout the body. The cub had tried to purge itself—most of the tainted meat had been passed or regurgitated. But it hadn’t happened quickly enough. Nikolai raised a hand to his amulet.
It warmed beneath his touch as he guided the gathered energy into the cub’s body, and used it to drive the poison from the tissues, permitting the normal life processes to find their balance. In order to strengthen the cub, he concentrated mostly on the lung and heart’s functions. He pushed the poison from other organs, but left some healing to the cub itself—other pride members needed his ability, and he only had so much to give.
He used the body’s natural orifices to remove the poison. Viscous pools trickled from them. With the cub breathing easier, Nikolai moved to the next. And then to the lionesses. By the time he got to the one who’d been able to raise her head, she had also collapsed.
He left the big male to last—he was strong, and could hold his own the longest. Nikolai trembled and streamed sweat as he leaned over the lion. Channeling the power was exhausting work, and the crystal amulet burned between his fingers.
The big cat’s golden eye rolled to him as it lay on its side. Foam matted the magnificent mane and its breath rattled. The lion was no stranger to violence—predators lived and died by tooth and claw—but it didn’t understand this creeping, painful death.
A growl from nearby reminded Nikolai that the others were recovering. They were unlikely to regard him as their savior—he’d have to hurry. He clutched the red-hot crystal and reached deep, then extended it into the lion.
The big guy had eaten the most from the poisoned carcass, and a lot of it was still in his gut. Nikolai pushed it out, a messy process but necessary to prevent further absorption. Then he cleared the lungs of the bloody mucus and re-established the normal heart rhythm.
Another growl, low and deep. Nikolai’s time was almost at an end and he wasn’t sure he had the stamina to once more extend his soothing music over the entire pride. So he pulled his mental presence out of the lion, and backed away.
Two lionesses were on their feet, glaring at him with ears flattened. If he’d been working on the cubs, they might have already tried an attack. But they were accustomed to the lion defending himself as well as them. And their legs shook.
A piercing, single note penetrated the scrub. Nikolai’s heart froze. It was the call of a cuckoo, a relatively common bird.
But it was also what Ngubi used as a signal.
He scrambled to his feet, inciting panic and hostility among the lions. Nikolai grabbed energy and flung it over them—along with a clear mental message.
Run.
The lionesses snarled and staggered off into the bush, with the cubs trailing behind on shaky limbs. The male swayed, regarding Nikolai with somber, golden eyes before stumbling off in their wake.
Nikolai had taken three strides along their back trail when the shots rang out. Two. Three.
One from the old rifle. Two from something much more lethal.
Still connected to the life essences around him, he sensed it happen. The very moment when the man who’d raised him died.
Ngubi. No.
Heart pounding, Nikolai raced through the scrub, unconscious of the thorns that tore at his clothes and flesh. His single, driving purpose was to get to Ngubi.
Even though he knew it was far too late.
He emerged into the dry creek bed. There were five men standing around a body crumpled in the dirt.
Ngubi’s body.
