She bowed her head in greeting to each one, even as her thoughts were focused on the problem at hand.
“Nali, if there is another alien, it is best that I help you search. You need my superior eyesight,” Pai coaxed.
Nali chuckled and sighed. “You aren’t going to give up, are you?” she demanded as she stopped and faced him.
Pai tilted his head as if thinking about her question before he shook it. “No,” he teasingly replied.
Her expression softened when she saw the worry that he didn’t bother to hide. She also noticed the silvering of his feathers and the slight limp in his gait. Pai’s expert skills would be useful, but she worried about his health. He was no longer the spry young hippogriff that he had been a century ago.
“You are aware of what the alien can do. You’ve witnessed what will happen if it enters your body. We are still not sure how it does that. I hope Denae will be able to tell us. You also know that you won’t have the same protection that I do, Pai,” Nali warned, already knowing that she would give in to Pai’s desire to go with her.
“And what will happen if it takes you by surprise before you can shift? Who would be there to protect you?” he asked.
“You, of course! Do you really think I don’t know when you follow me—even against my orders?” she replied with a wave of her hand.
Pai chuckled. “I must be losing my talons,” he answered instead. “Where do we start?” he asked.
“We start where the Sea Stag came ashore,” she instructed.
Nali soared through a cloud, her long wings spread wide, leaving a faint contrail of swirling mist behind her. Pai flew beside her, his sharp eyes scanning the coast. They were close to the area where the injured female Sea Stag had washed ashore.
“Empress, there is something moving near the rocks half-a-mile north of here,” Pai called.
Nali turned north, slowly descending until she had a better view. A line of rocks rose above the surface of the water, protecting one of the many black-sand beaches that lined this part of the coast. Near those rocks, she saw a Sea Stag struggling in the surf.
“Keep a safe distance, Pai,” she warned before pulling her wings in tight against her body and diving toward the beach.
She twisted at the last second, landing on her feet. She shifted, her skin and clothing hardening to smooth and supple black marble. Her feet sank into the fine, black grains of sand, her footprints disappearing behind her as she walked over to the Sea Stag. He was lying on the beach, the lower half of his body still in the surf.
She pursed her lips to keep her outraged cry from drawing Pai down to the beach. The Sea Stag was slit from his front fin to the tip of his tail. The wound was large and it gaped, revealing bone and internal organs. It was a miracle that the stag had made it to shore.
Nali cooed softly to the stag as she approached, placing the beautiful creature into a trance. The usually bright-red scales were pale and dull as the life force faded from the beast. The stag turned his head toward her and made a barely audible whinny. She kneeled beside him in the damp sand and gently lifted his head onto her lap.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” she murmured, stroking the slender jaw.
The stag’s eyelids drooped, and he shuddered. Rare tears slipped from the corners of Nali’s eyes as she held the dying creature. Only great tragedy and sorrow could bring tears to a gargoyle’s eyes. She bent forward and rested her head against the stag.
“Please, I need to know what happened to you before I can let you go,” she whispered.
Another shudder ran through the stag at her request. She closed her eyes as images of the stag’s last minutes formed in her mind through her bond with the beast. When the creature’s fear hit her, she took a deep breath and gently stroked the fin between the stag’s ears.
The living black liquid had come up out of the depths of the ocean. Long tentacles had attacked the juveniles before they broke free and escaped. The alien attacked the female first. When the male rushed to defend her, the second alien struck.
The images faded before she could see what happened next. The stag’s wounds were too grave, and she sensed him slipping away from