Darius's lips turned up slightly. "Your lady had trouble pinpointing the direction. Next time you send for reinforcements, perhaps make sure they can find their way back again."
Eva started, twisting to glare at the general. She hadn't been that inept.
Caden's eyes moved to hers, his lips twitching in a ghost of a smile that was gone before she could even process seeing it. "We'll work on it."
Eva didn't think so. This type of thing was for warriors and scouts. Not herd mistresses.
"What happened here?" Darius asked, running a bored eye over the destruction. "This is extreme even for you."
Caden stood, tossing the sharpened stick he'd been toying with to the ground.
Ajari stepped into view, the mythological's expression considering, as he took in the scene.
"I'd like to claim credit, but a good bit of this was done by her pet," Caden said with a nod to Eva.
Everyone's gaze swung to Eva. She shook her head in confusion.
"I don't have a pet," Eva started. It was the last thing she said before she found her arms full of an enthusiastic fox. He'd almost doubled in size since she'd left him with Caden, and he now had a third tail. The three tails made for a fluffy bundle as he licked her neck and chin, making happy sounds as he nuzzled her.
"Not a pet, huh?" Fiona asked, raising her eyebrows. "Could have fooled me."
Laurell leaned over, offering her hand for the small creature to sniff. "He's cute."
Hanna stared at him. "His coat would make a good fur-lined cloak or a blanket."
The fox bared his teeth and snapped them at Hanna, who reared back out of reach.
Those teeth were sharp and lethal.
"You didn't tell us she was a Caller," Caden said to Ajari as the mythological stepped closer, his gaze on the fox, fascination on his face.
At Caden's words, he glanced over in curiosity. "Oh? Your people remember the Callers?"
"Our oral stories stretch back many generations," Caden said. "We've preserved pieces of our Before history."
"Still, I'm surprised you would know of such a being. They didn't often wage war," Ajari said in a silky tone.
Caden inclined his head. "I try to make note of all that could be useful. Our elders spoke, I listened."
"What is a Caller?" Eva asked. The word was familiar. Ajari had used that term a couple of times before, but she hadn’t realized it carried any significance.
"Exactly as it sounds," Ajari said, moving toward Eva, his gaze locked on the fox who calmly surveyed him. "Someone who can call all manner of sorts to them. It's said they can communicate easily with any creature, no matter their language or species. Mythologicals, beasts, animals. It doesn’t matter; all are in their range."
Eva was quiet, thinking over her past. She’d always shared a special bond with most animals. It was one of the reasons she suspected why she’d been chosen to be the sacrifice.
Her mind raced with the implications. She'd started to hear the mythologicals' thoughts. She'd heard those water sprites before they tried to drag her under.
There were also the stories her mother used to tell when Eva’s father was fast asleep and it was just her and Eva. Stories about their ancestors who could do all sorts of magical and wondrous things. Stories she'd consigned to myth as she grew older and her mother withdrew into her own tiny little world.
“It’s magic?” she asked.
Ajari shrugged. “If that’s the term you prefer. However, it’s more like an ability only a very few have. Simply by existing, you’ll draw those of the four-legged variety to you. You won’t be able to help it; it’s in your nature. They’ll be attracted to you much like a bee is to a flower. The more powerful a caller, the more they can make their voices heard. They communicate with the voiceless, sometimes standing as a bridge between us and humans. You’re likely descended from one of their lines on your mother or father’s side. Any family stories about men or women with strange abilities?”
Eva glanced away. Yes, there had been stories, but not about people related to her. Cammi and her agreement with the hags—the bedtime story her mother used to tell her. Maybe it was more. Maybe Cammi was real and had used this caller ability to broker safety for her people.
“Our legends say they could call up armies of mythologicals, control them,” Caden said with an indecipherable expression.
“Legends. Myths. The callers could never control us. Don’t think they’re another form of the beast call who can be used to compel our obedience,” Ajari said coolly.
