“The human is so sickening, you know,” he said, facing Johnis and Silvie. “But it won’t last long. The Horde will end this madness.” The Shataiki twisted his head. “The Horde. They’ve embraced the new world. They listen to reason.”

“They wage war on the Forest Dwellers who love Elyon,” Johnis said.

The creature’s jaws snapped impossibly wide, and he roared with enough power to shake the platform. Hot, rancid breath blasted over Johnis, who found he couldn’t move, much less jerk back, at the bat’s sudden roar. Teeleh was reacting to the name Elyon?

As quickly as the roar began, it ended with a snapping of the bat’s jaws. Saliva dripped over his lips and strung to the ground.

“Elyon,” Johnis said.

The bat’s furry, flea-bitten skin quivered. But this time he just stared.

“Do you have my book?” Teeleh asked in a grating voice.

“What book?”

“The book that makes everything right.”

“The question is, do you have my books?” Johnis asked.

The throngs of Shataiki bats were glued to the scene. They hissed, bickered, screeched. Silvie glanced at him with questioning eyes.

Teeleh whipped his head toward his legions and snarled. Like a crackling rifle shot, the sound from his mouth echoed around the stadium, silencing them immediately.

Teeleh gathered himself. “Do you doubt my intent to have the books?”

Johnis felt his knees quake, and he tried to still them. “No.”

“Do you think you can stop me?” Teeleh asked.

He answered honestly. “No.”

“But you’re sick with delusions about your destiny, so you can’t tell me where the book is. Let me put your mind at ease. Look at your hand.”

Johnis lifted his arm and saw that the flaking of his skin had already begun. So soon? It must be the Black Forest.

Teeleh’s voice was low. “Humans all have the same destiny: to become Horde and to serve me. It can come easily, or it can come with great suffering. The choice is yours. In the end you will never stop me.”

“Why do you need the Books of History?” Silvie asked, her voice thin.

At first Johnis wasn’t sure Teeleh would answer. “To heal me,” the beast said.

“You’re sick?”

“I’m . . . incomplete. But I can be beautiful again.” He swept his sinewy arm wide. “This can all be beautiful—if I have the books.”

“I’m sorry,” Johnis said. “You’ll have to find another way. Maybe the Horde can help you.”

Again the throng hissed their shock at his courage.

Teeleh kept his eyes fixed on Johnis and curled a single claw as a sign. Two mangy bats whooshed to where the horses sat, dumped the saddlebag contents unceremoniously on the ground, and began to search for the Book of History.