'Oh rot the girl!' thought Maddock as he fished in his pocket for another handful of dried krakla berries.

He began to push them savagely, one by one, into his mouth.

Who did she think she was?

Hakansa is in danger! Do this for me because I am asking you to.

There was no good reason for him to do anything for that arrogant little shit of a girl. No reason at all.

'So why are you here, freezing your arse off in the middle of the night, when you should be warm and sleeping in your bed?'

Maddock pushed another dried berry into his mouth.

'I bet that's what she's doing right now.'

He peered out once more into the semi-darkness of the Enclosures. The only light came from the pale radiance of the Khensis moon, low on the horizon, and a vague rippling nimbus from the glow lights on the far side of the Infirmary, which cast the sprawling building in front of him as a square black silhouette. Only on the far right of the building were its harsh lines softened by the outline of the cherossa grove, which grew around the walls of the birthing meadow.

He had been in his hiding place between the two cart sheds long enough for his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness, and he could easily make out the line of pens on the opposite side of the avenue. He could even distinguish the slumbering form of Hakansa in the nearest pen's far corner, and if he listened closely he could hear, over the chittering sounds of the surrounding plains, the great beast's slow breathing.

The rest of the Enclosures were silent. The prides had been released to the great-bailey, and only Hakansa and Sacsensia remained. The other Pride-alpha was penned separately, around the far side of the building.

'This is madness, boy!' Maddock thought to himself, for about the hundredth time.

He hunkered back down into the shadows, and waited.

'I should just leave,' he told himself, also not for the first time. The girl had not asked the favour of him politely, or even given him any explanation, but...

She had looked half panicked. Her deep brown eyes had held something not quite usual.

"Madness,"Maddock muttered to himself, and then froze because he had heard a noise; a dull thud, followed by a muted curse from somewhere out in the avenue.

He had spent enough time playing seekers at the farm to know that you didn't move from your hiding place to see if you were close to being found once the hunt was on, so he stayed perfectly still. He let the handful of krakla berries fall from his hand, and waited.

A minute passed before a dark figure appeared in the frame made by the two cart sheds. It stopped by the side of Hakansa's pen, and it was impossible to distinguish any of its features, other than that it wore a wide brimmed hat. Whoever it was, they were clearly up to no good because they crouched and looked carefully up and down the avenue. As they did, an errant stab of moonlight caught at the gap beneath the sneaking figure's hat, and Maddock saw that whoever it was wore a scarf tied tightly over their face.

Maddock frowned, but made no other movement.

He watched the figure finish its furtive inspection, then it unslung something from its back and dropped it on the ground. It knelt down, and Maddock could not see what it was doing until it stood, and in one quick motion, threw something between the bars of the pen. The figure then picked its bag up from the floor and quickly walked away, back out of sight.

Maddock could feel his heart banging quickly in his chest as he wondered what to do.

He crawled forward out of his hiding place and peered down the avenue, in time to see the figure disappear around the side of the Infirmary. He thought about giving chase, but quickly decided against it. Instead, he ran across to the side of Hakansa's pen and peered through the bars. The shadows in there were long, but he could see, in a patch of moonlight, a darker shape lying in the grass in the pen's centre. There was also a smell he had become familiar with during his time at the Enclosures.

Meat.

Raw, bloody, karabok meat.

Why would someone want to feed Hakansa karabok meat in the middle of the night?

There could really be only one good explanation.

His heart still beating fast, Maddock considered his options.

He could go to the Madriel-master's quarters and get help, but Hakansa might wake in that time and he would surely spare no time in eating the meat right up, and with it, whatever poison it contained.

He could shout for help, but that would definitely wake the beast, and the Masters may still not get there in time.

Or he could go in and get the meat out himself.

Definitely not the cleverest option, but if he was quick and quiet...

He reached up to the bars of the pen and began to climb.

It was only when he reached the height of the fence and threw one leg over the top that he realised the full stupidity of what he was doing. He could see the dark bulk of Hakansa at the pen's far side, could hear his regular breathing, and smell his animal musk. He knew that if he stopped to think about it he would never climb down there, so he stopped his mind working and swung his other leg over the top bar of the pen.

It was then that Hakansa awoke.

The beast did not move, but Maddock heard his steady breathing change, and was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of being watched. He looked down to see moonlight reflecting off two luminous eyes, and there was a savage snort as the Pride-alpha took in his scent.

"Oh, nuts!" hissed Maddock, more loudly than was wise.

Hakansa moved.

Maddock saw the twin curves of his horns scythe the air as he lifted his head to sniff at him again.

"S'okay Hakansa," said Maddock, keeping his voice calm. "You've sniffed me before."

Hakansa hefted himself out of the grass and lowered his horned head away from Maddock. He snorted again, this time towards the slab of meat lying in the centre of his pen.

"No, Hakansa," said Maddock, urgency marring the calmness of his voice. "Not a good idea."

Hakansa took a step forward, into the slanting light from the moon, and Maddock could not help but marvel at the animal's heavy lines, and the dark pattern of his hide.

"No, Hakansa," he said again, trying to instil authority back into his voice.

The Pride-alpha lifted his orange eyes to him, and gave the lowest of growls.

'Okay you idiot, what do you do now?'

"Back, Hakansa!" he said, but even he could hear the anxiety in his own voice.

Hakansa turned away from him and took another step towards the meat.

And then another.

'Okay, farm grub. You're out of options.'

He lifted his head and looked towards the Masters' quarters. The dormitory windows were dark, but he thought he could see a dim light in the refectory block.

He took a deep breath.

"I need help!" he shouted as loud as his lungs would let him.

Below him, Hakansa growled at the noise.

Maddock looked down to see that he was only a few paces away from the slab of meat. He shouted again.

"Hakansa has trouble!"

He looked down into Hakansa's eyes. The creature's lips curled back in another low growl, and the moonlight reflected from the serrations of his teeth.

'And he's not the only one.'

"Treachery and trouble!"Maddock shouted one last time, and then dropped into the pen.

Agony shot through his injured foot as he landed, but he bit down on the cry of pain that would betray weakness.

"Calm, Hakansa," he said to the beast, which now stood not three metres away from him, the growl in his throat a permanent reverberation. "Calm."

He tried to draw on what he had learned in the few lessons he'd had training Raskal. The first had ended with him on his arse in the dirt, and the second had ended with his blood being spilled.

He had learnt little, except for one thing.

He did not take his eyes from those of the beast that faced him. He saw them as reflections of the moonlight, but he was sure Hakansa could see his eyes as clear as if it were day, so he knew he could not show any fear or uncertainty there.

Hakansa lifted one front paw to take another step towards him.

"Hakansa, hold!"

Maddock put as much force into the two words as he could, but they still sounded shrill and childlike in his ears.

Hakansa lowered his haunches to the ground, gathering his hind legs beneath him in a stance that Maddock recognised only too well from Raskal. He could almost feel the tension in the animal's muscles as it prepared to pounce

'Tera save me now.'

Maddock could feel the fear in his stomach, but there was also anger. Anger that he had got into this stupid place, and all because of that damned girl who he didn't even like. The arrogance of her in assuming he would do something for her, just because she asked!

The squire Tasker had shown a similar conceited indifference towards him at the riding-contests, and although it had flared inside, his anger then had not bettered him. He had focussed it and done something remarkable.

He knew that, if he tried, he could do it again.

He took in a deep breath, as the growling in Hakansa's throat rose in pitch. The beast's claws dug into the earth to propel him forward.

"Hold!" Maddock roared, his voice an emulation of the one he had used on Tasker's steed.

Hakansa's haunches came up, but his head dropped, his moonlit eyes still centred on him.

"Hakansa, hold," said Maddock, not so loud, but keeping the same authority.

The growling in the beast's voice had dropped back to a rumble, but his lips remained drawn, displaying his teeth.

"Calm, Hakansa."

Hakansa moved his head cautiously, from one side to the other, the tips of his curving horns just above the slab of bloody meat.

Maddock followed his eyes with his own, and took a cautious step forward.

"Hold!"

He did not dare risk a more complex command.

Hakansa lifted his head and rose upwards to tower over him.

Maddock took another step forward, and then another, and all the while Hakansa's eyes followed him so, as he drew closer, the beast's head lowered, and his great horns dropped, one on either side of him.

The meat was at his feet.

"You don't want to eat this," said Maddock calmly.

Hakansa gave a low roar of disagreement, but the growling in his throat then stopped. The animal just stood there and watched him.

'I've got him!'

He knelt down on the balls of his feet, which caused his injury to pulse painfully.

"You will thank me for this."

He reached down and took hold of the meat.

Hakansa's growling started again from somewhere deep in his chest. Maddock stood, his arm arced, and the meat went flying up over the pen wall.

The next seconds were both blurred and sharp.

Hakansa's growl vented into a roar of rage. He swiped with one huge paw, its extended claws six razor glints in the moonlight, and it was only Maddock's instincts that saved him.

He threw himself down, and the blow tore across his head. Pain seared his scalp.

"Hakansa, ho..."

The beast's head swung around, there was a more solid flare of pain as one horn caught him on the side of his skull, and he fell, lights dancing across his sight.

He felt Hakansa pin him to the ground with a heavy paw, could smell his animal breath on his face as he growled, and could see, through the swirling lights of his vision, the beast's livid eyes, and the horror of his teeth as he drew back his head to strike.

Darkness closed about him from the edges of his vision, and as the scene of coming death in front of him faded, he thought he heard a powerful voice shouting.

"Hold, beast!"

Before the darkness took him.

* * * * *

The Lady Tahlessa awoke with a feeling of contentment. At first she could not place the reason, but then she remembered the events of the previous day, and smiled. She was herself again. She was proud of her husband, and no longer scared. She opened her eyes, but instead of the grey light of dawn, she found the blackness of night.

She frowned in the darkness.

Over the previous few months, she had grown used to being woken in the night's heart, first by her son's kicking inside her, and then by his crying, but as she lay there, the surrounding dark was quiet. She pulled the bed covers from her and felt the night's breeze from the chamber's open windows on her legs, and she could see, in the moons' sharp light, the lines and angles of the room around her. Close by the bed stood the familiar curved shape of Kralmir's cot, and she stood and reached out towards it, feeling the smoothness of its silky wood under her fingers, before she bent down to find the warmth of her new son beneath his covers.

But there was no warmth there. The covers had been pulled back, and the sheets beneath had been chilled by the night air.

"Kamantha!" Tahlessa called softly.

Kralmir must have cried without waking her, and his nursemaid would have taken him for feeding, but as the sleep left her eyes and the room's shadows became clearer, Tahlessa could see that the nursing chair beside the bed was empty.

"Kamantha!" she called again.

The drapes that had been pulled back from the windows, so that they could be fully opened, stirred in the chill night breeze of the plains.

There was no other sound in the room, and she received no reply to her call.

END OF PART 2