This is already the second to last chapter for Blood Ties. I can't believe we're there already. Lucky for you guys, I've already gotten Fire and Ice done, so we're good for weekly updates until the end of July.

I'm happy to report that I've finished making my notes for Rise and Fall, which means that I'm almost done with the notes, with only the Evertree left, as I WILL NOT be doing the Fall of the Beasts arcs. My plan for writing and note taking is that I want to get the Evertree notes done in the next week and a half, and finish writing Against the Tide by the end of April. Then Rise and Fall by the end of May, and the Evertree by the end of June. That's just my plan, so we'll see how that actually shakes out.

Remember, once I'm done writing all seven books, I'll switch to posting more than one chapter a week, but that won't happen for a while yet.

Please, please, please, let me know what you think of this chapter (or even the story as a whole).

-owl

Meilin was fighting back to back with Rollan. Tarik and Lishay were also back to back nearby. Their current adversaries were Conquerors and their spirit animals, thankfully not the crocs. They fought in the now empty lake bed. Regardless, it could be going better for them. But it had definitely gotten better when Dinesh had stepped in to help.

She called Jhi out of passive state, and the panda stood in front of her, giving her a look that asked what am I supposed to do? Meilin pointed at the battle around them. With a slow blink, the panda joined the fight. Admittedly, she wasn't truly harming them, but rather licking the soldiers and putting them to sleep. But, Meilin couldn't argue that Jhi was helping, albeit unconventionally.

Jodoboda was fighting from where he sat on his rhino, and Meilin's father fought alongside. They were a good pair. They had been holding their own when a Bile crocodile wounded Jodoboda's rhino. In a chain reaction, the rhino stamped its hooves on the ground, startling other rhinos in the vicinity. General Teng got out of the way and continued fighting on his own.

The crocodile came back and dealt another blow to Jodoboda's rhino, bringing the beast to the ground. The croc then scurried away from the dead rhino and launched itself at Lishay.

The Greencloak raised her bow as though it was a club, but Meilin knew, as Lishay did too, that it would not save her from the fate that was coming for her. What did save her, though, was a white and black blur that was marred with red after it connected with the crocodile. Tarik slammed his sword through the croc's neck, beheading it as Lishay screamed.

The black and white blur had been Zhosur, who was now laying at Lishay's side, blood pouring from her flank. Zhosur's chest was still, no breath going in or coming out. Lishay stayed by the body, not moving as she carded her fingers through Zhosur's fur one last time. Tarik, meanwhile, had moved to continue fighting.

It was at that time that Meilin saw the Devourer astride his crocodile, approaching her father. Immediately Meilin moved to assist him, but was stopped by arms around her middle. Turning, she saw Rollan.

"Let me go!" she cried. "I need to help him!"

Rollan shook his head. "No, you can't! You'll distract him if you go over there, then there will be no chance that he'll win."

Meilin struggled again, trying desperately to pull herself away from Rollan, but to no avail. There should have been no reason that she couldn't get out of his grip. She should be stronger than him, she had been training her body since she was five. He had only been training properly for a year.

Finally, she was able to wiggle out of his arms. But, by then, it was too late. General Teng had been bitten by Gar's croc, and was bleeding heavily. By the time Meilin made it to him, he was barely coherent.

"Meilin?" he asked.

"Yes, Father?" she answered as she whipped her head around, looking for Jhi. Why oh why had she left the Bamboo Panda with the elephant priest?

"I'm so proud of you."

"I know."

"But... I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"The Bile... lied to..."

"Father? Father!"

But General Teng didn't say anything. His chest was still, his eyes vacant. Meilin tipped her head back in a silent scream as tears began to leak from her eyes.

There were suddenly arms around her, and Meilin didn't need to look to know it was Rollan. Then a hand was placed on each of her shoulders, Abeke and Conor.

"We won." Conor fell to his knees next to Meilin, his voice hollow.

"We won, but we lost, too."

After a few minutes, Rollan pulled Meilin up from the ground. Conor got up as well. Rollan began herding them towards the base of the pyramid, keeping one hand on Meilin's back the entire time.

"We need to go get the talisman," he said softly.

Abeke gave him an odd look. "'Get' the talisman? You say that like you know where it is."

Rollan rubbed his empty hand against the back of his neck. "I... um... found it when I was looking to see if the lake was draining. I put it back."

Conor stopped walking entirely. "You put it back?"

He nodded. "But that was a good thing! Dinesh said something like taking it then would have been stealing, and it's a good thing I left it, because that's why he decided to help us!"

"I guess I did wonder why he had joined the fight."

Together the four children picked their way through the battlefield, past bodies of spirit animals, Conquerors, Bile enhanced crocodiles, and snakeheads alike.

Dinesh greeted Rollan and the others at the base of the pyramid. His priests gathered around him. One of them was using the Bamboo Panda to heal some of the wounds on the elephant's massive flank.

"You all fought valiantly," Dinesh said, peering down at them.

Tarik nodded graciously. "Thank you for your help."

"Which of my siblings will have their peace broken by you next?"

"You said something about Suka entombed in ice," Tarik stated. "Would you by chance tell us where?"

Dinesh laughed. "Somewhere cold. Very cold. Now, Friend of Essix, you may go retrieve my talisman."

Rollan nodded and ran into the pyramid. When he returned, he saw the elephant priest handing the Bamboo Panda to Meilin.

"We should get moving," Abeke said. "It's getting dark."

Meilin nodded, and she moved to rouse Lishay, but was blocked by a black blur.

Zahmin nosed Lishay's forearm, and she sat up unsteadily.

"Zhosur? Zahmin?"

Then, with a flash, the black tiger was no longer next to her, but a tattoo on her arm, a stark contrast to the muted shape of the white tiger on her other arm.

"I've never seen that before!" Tarik exclaimed.