church. Those are the pincers of control. When those pincers have a hard time squeezing regular people, they’re going to start squeezing the government instead—”
“And then the government will be squeezing the specific people who are upsetting the pincers. Got it.”
“Hah! Got what? This is all dream stuff, Abhi.”
“No,” I said, smiling at him. “Not really.”
He didn’t smile back. “Tell me what you mean.”
“The Sixth Kenning is real. But you can’t simply be told, right? You need to be shown.”
“Pfft. Of course. I can’t simply take anyone’s word for it.”
“That’s fair. Understandable. I’ll show you in the morning if you want. And anyone else who wants to escape the city.”
His parents returned home then, flushed with drink and apparent success; they believed a fat contract with the army was practically in hand. But that meant I had to tell my story again—the part about my family, I mean. They wouldn’t hear of me sleeping alone in my house and I had no intention of doing that anyway, so I slept in their guest room and wondered, as I drifted off in comfort, if Murr and Eep were still safe.
—
Tamhan didn’t forget our conversation and wanted to know what I was talking about, so after a solemn breakfast with his parents and after I sold my family’s knives and my father’s collection of finer ones, I used the coin to buy a small cart, a horse, a brush, and some feed and apples. I piled everything into the cart along with my few belongings in the field bags and bought more food and also a canvas tent, a bedroll, and blankets. Tamhan accompanied me, asked what I was doing, and looked progressively more worried when I kept putting him off but promising a full explanation soon.
We lied to the guards at the Hunter Gate and said we were a party of two looking for bluetips and gharel hens. Once out of their earshot and safe in the grass, I undid the horse’s bit but left her tied to the cart.
“Hello, my name’s Abhi,” I told her. She turned her head to look at me, somewhat startled to be addressed. “I won’t make you wear a bridle anymore or whip you or anything. I’ll just ask you to walk or stop and feed you apples whenever I can. I’ll also make sure nothing hurts you. You have to believe me when I say that, okay, because there’s going to be a bloodcat coming along soon, but he will definitely not hurt you.”
“Look, Abhi, I understand that the loss of your family has been hard on you, but you’re starting to sound less than sane here,” Tamhan said.
“Walk on, please,” I told the horse, and she did. I mentally searched for bloodcats in the area and saw that Murr was nearby, less than a hundred lengths away. Eep was somewhat more distant but would be able to make it in a couple of minutes. I called them both and told them not to worry or bother the man and the horse with me.
“All right, Abhi, seriously, you need to stop,” he said. “Let’s go back before something has us for lunch.”
“Nothing will harm us, Tamhan. I found the Sixth Kenning. Didn’t you see me ask the horse to walk on?”
“Yes, but horses are trained to do that all the time.”
“Have you ever seen a bloodcat or a stalk hawk come when called?”
“No, of course not, but—”
“If a bloodcat and a stalk hawk appear here and walk along with us through the grass, will you believe that I have found the Sixth Kenning?”
Tamhan rolled his eyes. “Okay, sure, but that’s—holy Kalaad, that’s a bloodcat!” He pulled out his belt knife, and Murr, who had just appeared to Tamhan’s left, laid his ears back and hissed at him.
“No, no, it’s fine, put that away!” I told Tamhan, grabbing his shoulder to hold him. “Murr, stay back until I can get this guy to calm down.” The horse did well; she shied and looked nervous but didn’t bolt. She simply kept walking. “Tamhan, he’s not going to hurt you; I already told you. Murr, you’re not going to attack, right? Shake your head and say no.”
Murr did so, and Tamhan’s eyes changed from panic to wonder. “You really control animals?”
“I don’t know if control is the right word, but they don’t eat me and so far they don’t eat other animals that hang out with me if I ask them not to.”
“But you can talk to