… Slade…
Huh?
Slade, my warrior, come to me…
Slade sat up, knowing that that voice had not been part of his dream. It had been familiar to him, though.
Of course my voice is familiar to you, little one. I am your master.
You are? Slade asked. Then how come I don't remember you?
You were lost to me, little one. But, now that I've found you again…
The telepathic voice trailed off, but Slade knew instinctively what his master wanted of him. Tossing aside the blanket he'd been given, Slade rushed out to the edge of the hayloft. Not stopping, not even after he'd reached the end of the floor, Slade leaped out of the hayloft. Powerful leg muscles propelled him high enough to almost touch the rafters of the barn.
Free-falling, Slade crossed his arms above his head, and had to bite back a shout of pure exhilaration. Most Teknomen, since they were both immortal and essentially indestructible, tended to be thrill-seekers of one sort or another. Slade was no exception from this trend.
Crouching to lessen the impact of his landing, Slade only now noticed that the edges of everything in his range of vision were outlined by a faint green glow. If Slade had been able to catch a glimpse of himself in any mirror, he would have seen that his eyes were glowing the same bright, emerald-white that they had been when he had first demonstrated his telepathic powers to Rachel.
Slipping out of the barn, Slade felt a cool night breeze ruffle his long black hair.
I think I've lost your signal, Slade called out. Where are you?
This way, little one. Come to me.
Homing in on the rather obvious, to a telepath at least, thought trail that his master was leaving for him Slade dashed away from Cassie's barn and into the woods. Under the canopy of the trees, Slade looked around again. Everything seemed the same here; every direction looked like the other, and they all seemed to lead to the same inevitable destination.
This way!
Orienting right, Slade was off like a shot. The trees blurred around him as he rushed by them. Crashing through the underbrush like an out-of-control locomotive, Slade followed the voice that would lead him home.
Not so far away, on a tree that the path of Slade's manic race would soon take him past, Tobias was just settling down to go to sleep. He'd had a rare late hunt and was feeling comfortably full; not a common feeling for a bird-of-prey, even one with a human mind. Just as Tobias was starting to fall asleep, he heard the sound of fast footfalls coming his way.
Listening closely, Tobias found that the sounds were coming from a biped, most likely a human given the fact that Tobias knew that this particular forest wasn't home to any large bipedal animals. And the Hork-Bajir colony was too far away for any of the free Hork-Bajir to be this close to Cassie's barn.
Running. I'm still running. Slade smiled, more of a predatory snarl than anything else. I think I like it.
Of course you do, the voice of his master chucked softly as it rolled through Slade's mind. You are one of my warriors, after all.
