Chapter Twenty-Two
"We can't do that!" Cassie objected.
"Yes we can." Rachel contradicted, with that she walked over to Max and stopped.
"What's the brilliant motive of not having me around?" Max sneered, "Why? So you lie?"
"No, because you'd never explain it the way you should!" Tanja said.
"All right I'll sit in a corner with my arms folded, just like a little boy." He made a face and threw himself down on a bale of hay.
Tanja glared at him, then she looked at us. "Where do you want me to start?"
"At the beginning?" Marco said helpfully. Although I could have sworn there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I'll tell you about the people in the Kanagers. And where they came from. But before that I'll tell you about the first attempt from the Yeerks to enslave our world." She said.
"What's that? Kan-agers?" Cassie said.
"No, Kana-gers" Prince Ralph corrected,
"So this is round two?" Rachel demanded.
"You could say so." Alexis said.
"The first attempt was not centered in America, they didn't know which nation was dominate back then. And were they went didn't help it. Also it gave them a fair idea on the 'what's a race they were getting into."
"They went to Europe?" Marco asked.
"A bit lower south." Alexis said.
"Africa?" Cassie asked.
"A part of Asia. And the Amazon." Tanja nodded.
"Why there?" Prince Jake asked.
< They all lie on your Equator. > I observed.
"Ax," Marco argued, "It's not just our equator it's every bodies. I don't see any other equator on Earth!"
< I do now. > I said dryly.
"Hey!" Marco objected, looking surprise and horrified, "He cracked a joke? No wait every body, that was Ax cracking a joke, we have to bring the president to-"
"Marco. Be useful or shut up." Rachel warned. I seriously considered using my tail on him. Marco, though smart, could be very annoying. Very.
"Just as Ax said, they all lie on the equator. The Yeerks had no idea on where to start so they picked regions lying near the equator." Prince Ralph said.
"Where did they start?" Rachel asked.
"They first went to the Amazon, then Europe. They saw that the Europe was full of people and activities so they settled for the Amazon. It took the Yeerks a few weeks to realize they wouldn't get any where if they started to enslave Brazil, so they went to Africa." Alexis said.
"Africa? Which part? The south?" Marco said.
"No, North Africa. They didn't venture in the Sahara, they stayed in countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Libya." Prince Ralph said.
"It was an advantage. Around there, they could just sink low and not bother any one. They started with farmers and other remote areas then built there way up to citizens and politicians. After having a fair view of Humans. They started to climb up to Asia." Prince Ralph said.
"They didn't get that far." Alexis reminded.
"Hey! I was just getting on to that!" Prince Ralph protested.
"That's where we come in." Max snickered.
"I thought you were going to shut up." Tanja said.
Max didn't say anything.
"That's where they come in." Tanja glared at Max, "The Kanagers."
"It means Daggers in Arabic." Max said with a smile, "Devils came up with it. Where she came from -Arabia- the dagger is a sign of danger and is the most sinister and powerful weapon."
"Devils?" Cassie said skeptically.
"Uhuh," Max said, defying the German's orders on 'Shutting up' "Eblees, the Devil, The Kanagers always called her Eblees. It's only the Germans who called her Devils."
< Why was she called that? > Tobias wondered.
"She's as evil as Satan himself. She fights against peace and manipulates members of our groups to turn against themselves, that's not all of what she did-" Tanja was interrupted.
"Manipulates!" Max spat, "Yeah, to you! What do you guys have against her anyway? Tanja is it just your jealousy over-"
"No it was NOT!" Tanja screamed her face red with anger.
"Ha Ha!" Max exclaimed, "Then why do you get upset when I talk about it?!"
"I thought we were going to explain what's happening to the Animorphs." Prince Ralph said heatedly.
"Oh, yeah. Em. Back to what we were saying." Tanja stuttered.
Max looked smug and leaned back on the bale of hay.
"As you may have figured out. In the Kanager, there are six members. Devils was the official leader. Julian and Max were best friends. Felix knew Max and Salix. Guttani and Julian are the closest to Devils. But I bet even they don't know much about her private life." Tanja said.
"Official?" Cassie said.
"Yes, Unlike You guys or us, the Kanagers were not a democracy. Remember that I only mentioned the members that morphed. About another twenty people know about the invasion and fight along side the Kanagers."
"Now, Crayak gave the Kanagers their morphing powers. But, Devils never used it. Got that? She never morphed, despite her having the power." Prince Ralph said.
"Why?" Rachel wondered.
"Because, because, because…" Alexis said, he then turned to Max, "Why?"
Max shrugged and looked troubled.
"Ahah!" Tanja yelled, "I told you they don't know anything about her! For instance, forget the powers, what does she do after battles? In her time when she isn't looking for food or around us? Where? Of course you don't know, you wont know!"
Max looked at the ground. The smug impression was placed with a disturbed one.
"We don't ask we aren't nosy. Devils private life is no concern of ours-" Max started.
"That's the problem ID-DEE-UOT!" Tanja yelled, "If any of you knew or asked then maybe, just maybe, Devils wouldn't have met her violent fait. Oh, sure, we knew she was going to die a violent death of some sort. We knew that she was not going to get out of this fight in one piece. We knew. But what did we ever do about it? Huh? What did we do? We did nothing! And that's what we got!"
"That's why we came here, Tanja, to insure it would not happen again." Alexis whispered.
"Huh? Its going to happen again? To who?" Prince Jake asked.
Dead silence. No one was moving.
"Rachel?" The Animorphs said in awe.
"No." Max said with a sigh. We were mistaken; we just assumed it was Rachel, but if not Rachel then who?
Max got up slowly and turned to the Animorphs.
"To you," He said softly.
Seven pairs of eyes snapped, five human voices, two thought speak voices; one belonging to an Andalite said the same name.
"Ax?"
< Ax? >
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I froze, what? I thought, me? Why? I looked nervously around.
"Okaaaay." Prince Jake said slowly.
< To me? > I asked, unsure of what I just heard.
"Uhuh, to you." Max said.
< But I have nothing to do with your human friend Devils. > I said.
"True-" Alexis started to say.
"He does." Max interrupted firmly.
"You can't just assume you know." Tanja said exasperated.
"You just figured you were in Africa right?" Max said.
I nodded slowly. Cassie looked strangely at me.
"At the Zoo? That was the beast you saw? The lioness?" Cassie figured it out.
I nodded again.
"You saw? I bet you were chased, that's what freaked you." Max said.
I nodded again.
"Will you stop nodding and talk to us." Marco said.
I nodded again. Just to provoke Marco. He started at me. So did Prince Jake and Tobias.
< That still makes no sense. > Dagmar spoke up.
"Yeah, that doesn't tell us he was with Devils. It could be something entirely different." Prince Ralph pointed out.
"That doesn't. Sure, whatever you say. But this does." Max said.
"What does?" Alexis seemed irritated.
"Ax, would you mind?" Max said.
< Mind what? > I asked.
He walked over and held my right hand. He turned it so that they could see the palm.
On it was a wound. It was a very deep vertical wound. I never noticed it before. I frowned. Trying to remember exactly how it got there.
He held my hand up high so that they could see and then dropped it. He looked at the Germans. They had all turned horribly pale. And I got a more nervous.
"But that couldn't have happened." Prince Ralph gasped, "She died, we all heard her! We saw her dead body. You saw the wounds! She was dead, no question about it."
"And yet," Max mused, "Looks like our friend here got into a fight with her. Or something happened. She must have been near him."
"This doesn't make sense!" Rachel raged, "How can you tell by looking at his hand that she was with him?"
Max sighed and turned to me, "Do you remember having this?"
< No. > I admitted.
Tanja backed away to the far side of the Barn, looking horrified. Trying to get as far away from me as possible.
"She couldn't have been here! She's dead! History!" Tanja croaked.
"That's not what we should be thinking about." Max said, "Why Ax? Why not Rachel or Tobias? Why not Tanja? What does Ax have in common with Devils?"
"Huh? What does this have to do with me or Tobias?" Rachel said in suspicion.
"Tanja got in the way of Devils. Devils disliked her. And Rachel? Rachel loved the Adrenalin rush of battle, so does Devils. She also has a past with Crayak. We have been told about Crayaks little offer to Rachel." Rachel looked surprised, "And Tobias is human but lives in the wild, understands the ways of the wild. So does Devils. She lives in the Sahara and sometimes moves to the Savannas or wide planes of Africa."
"This girl is human?" Prince Jake asked.
"No," Tanja said.
"Yes," Max glared at Tanja, "She is human, and is in a human body."
"Never seen a human fight a big cat and live to tell a tale of it." Tanja muttered.
"What does the Ax-man have in common with Devils?" Marco asked.
"In common? Well, she is away from her family, and is waiting for revenge. Revenge and Avenge, these two are pretty much the same. Also I don't know what else does she have with him. Could be something real small or something really big but-" Alexis said when he was interrupted by me.
< How did you know all this?! > I snapped.
"We have our sources." Alexis said.
< Avenge? Avenge whom? > Dagmar asked.
No one answered her. Not even me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Day again, the sun is rising, good, not too much light or too little the less the light the better. That's okay, that suits me just fine. At least for today.
I was hunting an inexperienced calf, its mother was not on guard and he was about five hours old. His walking was okay but he had some trouble running.
Perfect target. Haunch down, conceal your figure blend in. Be part of what they see. Or be what they don't see.
The mother turned away from me. Stupid, I sneered. Too far away from the herd with a young one, what are you up to?
I stole a few steps forward then froze again. Willing the wind not to betray me. I was not in a good shape to run in. The leopard yesterday had messed me up. I couldn't run without limping. But that kind of pain was irrelevant. I could shut it off for a few seconds of outburst.
I waited patently for the perfect moment. That would be when the mother was bent down away from me, eating. And the foal sitting down. I could be very fast in an out burst of energy. I was confident if…I felt, rather than saw the grass bend from the force of the wind. No! The wind turned against me and…
Every single gazelle bolted away racing as far as possible from me. All but the stupid mother and calf.
I bolted after the small gazelle feeling the Adrenalin pump through my system as I leapt at its back and my unusually long canine teeth, more like fangs. Latched them on the back of its neck. I clamped down hard to deliver the classical neck back. The force of my fangs would dislodge and dislocate its spine in that area. Causing a fast painful death. I felt the blood gush into my throat.
The warm blessing blood and I started to rip at the still bleeding body desperate to-
< Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! > I screamed in disgust. I woke up with a startle and leapt off the ground. Turned and slammed directly in Dagmar.
< Ah! > I yelped in surprise.
She hit the ground hard and I bounced back.
< Sorry! I didn't mean to I. I. I just- >
< It's okay. > She seemed to understand my babble.
< What brought you here? > I grumbled.
< You. > She replied,
< Excuse me? > I said, not believing what I heard.
< You were screaming. > She explained. I felt my self-burn with embarrassment; first for misunderstanding her and secondly for screaming. Sure, act like the idiot you are, I told myself.
< Weird dream, > I lied.
< Aximili? > She asked.
< Yes? >
< Whom were they talking about? When the humans said something about you having to avenging. >
< What? > I stalled.
< The person you have to avenge. > She said.
I didn't want to think about that, not now. Not after the 'weird dream' the human's frenzy in eating the spilled blood had reminded me of what Visser Three had done to my brother. The way he morphed into a hideous creature from another planet and opened his mouth to… The way the Taxxons reach out to eagerly eat the remains…
< I do not want to talk about it, at least not now. > I said.
The answer came when I least expected it, < Is it Elfangor? >
I stopped walking away and froze. Staring at the Earth trees in front of me they were not like my trees, the leaves were too small and too green. The grass had no tint of blue in it very different from the trees of my home world, too tall and the bark too stiff. The grass would never match the superiority of my Andalite grass. Grass that I had lived on.
< How did it happen? > She asked.
I gave her no answer. Maybe it was that dream, the switch to Africa, I don't know. Maybe it was the scar on my hand, the one the human Max had noticed. Maybe it was the events that were happening around me. Maybe it was the war. Maybe it was homesickness. Maybe it was because I was away for a long time away from my people. Maybe it was the sudden rush of having to recreate with a member of my kind. Maybe it was because she was a female. Maybe, maybe and maybe. Too many 'maybe' s.
She took my hand in hers. Even though I was not looking at her I could feel her looking at me.
< I understand. > She said softly.
With those two words. She turned and disappeared into the thick forest.
I stood there, I looked at my hand, the one she held. A shiver ran through my spine. I shakily turned it, then I turned my other hand. What I saw on my palms almost made me faint. Right then and there. I took another shaky breath. Exhaling it out slowly. I opened my eyes-I had closed all four. How I wished to change what I was looking at.
On them was the same wound. Very symmetrical. And then, I realized that Dagmar's words were not hers. She had spoken them softly, but, there was something else in their, something so not Andalite. Something human. Something human, in a chilling way.