Excerpt: The Kingdom Between the Mountains and the Sea

“You can’t trust him you know,” Inanna remarked, her usual gruff tone softer and almost gentle. She dipped her head, closer to Tai as they both gazed across the clearing to where Coyote was coiled up tightly against himself, apparently asleep and oblivious to the rest of the world. Even so, she found herself keeping her voice quiet – not out of fear of waking him up but in case he could somehow hear her, even like that. Her dark eyes fixed themselves on the human, so young even by their standards, willing him to be on his guard.

“I know.” Looking away, Tai found the trees to the side of the clearing infinitely more fascinating, silently willing his new friend to drop the subject. It had already occurred to him many times – it had occurred to Kaiden many times – that Coyote was more than what he seemed but there didn’t seem to be any other choice in the matter. They needed Coyote and his knowledge.

“He lies,” Inanna insisted, pushing the point, trying to make the human see. It infuriated her that she was in the same area as that thing without doing something about it and it scared her to think that this human and his brother might actually trust the creature, trust him enough to follow his lead and do what he wanted. Her forehead ached dully, flaring up a little at the mere thought of Coyote and all that he had done or could do. Why couldn’t Tai see what how much danger he was in?

“My ears are burning. Someone talking about me, hmmm?” All of a sudden, Coyote was there, when a split second ago he had been across from there. Tai couldn’t help but give a little flinch as Coyote rested next to him, surprised by the sudden movement and more surprised that he’d not seen the animal move. Coyote pushed his soft, silken head up against Tai’s arm, crafty expression on his face. His eyes darted between them both. With a snort and angry swish of her tail, Inanna moved away from them, all her energy going into physically restraining herself from inflicting an injury.

“Inanna’s wrong, everything I’ve ever said to you is the truth.” How Coyote knew what they had been talking about when they had spoken so quietly, how he had known when to move and speak, Tai didn’t know, didn’t even know if he truly wanted to.

“Even the lies?” He couldn’t help himself, words blurting out before he could stop them.

“Oh Tai, my dear Tai,” The words were spoken with a sharp bark of laughter and bright grin, Coyote truly amused for a moment. “Haven’t you learnt even that by now? Especially the lies.”