Trail of Bones: A Young Adult Fantasy Novel by Chris Salisbury Page B

for survival.
    The melee of horns and hair crashed into a rack of oil lanterns. Canisters cracked, spilling and spraying the flammable contents on the tent walls and Dox’s arm and shoulder. The beast-man swung wildly, flailing in all directions. His fist bashed metal racks and spears, showering the ground with sparks that ignited the oil, and a flame spread across the floor of the tent, leaped up onto the canvas wall, and licked the top of the structure. Before Dox could distance himself from the fire, his oil-soaked shoulder caught an errant flame.
    Kelor recoiled as the fire spread. He had seen fire, but only from a distance and then it was contained within glass lanterns and lamps. The inferno grew like a magical creature, lusting for fuel and destruction. Both mesmerized and terrified, the cat was not sure how to avoid this foreign threat.
    Meanwhile, Dox zeroed in on his enemy, completely ignoring his burning flesh. The Minotaur tackled the panther and the two bowled out of the tent and into the center clearing of the temporary city.
    Now Kelor and Dox were eye to eye. The cat looked into the Minotaur’s dark brown eyes and found nothing. Nothing! What kind of crazy creature is this? Kelor thought as he stared into his attacker’s gaze and then to the flames scorching the beast-man’s thick hide. It was as if life had vanished from Dox’s eyes and been replaced with a glazed and hollow look of a mindless predator.
    What Dox saw in Kelor’s eyes, however, was much different. He saw fear in the panther’s eyes, something never before seen in the youngster. Normally, such an expression would have evoked some sympathy, but Dox was so deep in the Blood Dream that it barely registered, if at all.
    The cat scrambled to escape the Minotaur’s grasp and the flames that crawled down his caretaker’s left arm. Fear overtook Kelor, and his only instinct was to escape. His claws sliced through the Dox’s flesh, yet the beast-man would not yield.
    The Minotaur landed several crushing blows to Kelor’s throat and the side of his skull. Dazed and foggy, the cat slumped to the ground as the beast-man straddled the large panther.
    Dox grabbed a tent spike lying nearby and raised his makeshift weapon high above his head.
    “Dox! Dox!” came a nearby shout. The Minotaur heard the words and understood their meaning.
    “Stop!” the voice commanded. But his predetermined attack could not be halted now.
    The beast-man was about to thrust down, but the blunt head of a war-hammer slammed into his exposed rib cage, shattering bones in the process. Several more blows from the heavy weapon struck him again and again, until he finally dropped the spike. Dox fell to his side, gasping for air that had been knocked out of his torso.
    The Warden stood over his wounded servant as he looked over the injured panther. He was about to finish off the troublesome Minotaur with another blow from the hammer when Kelor jumped.
    The cat pinned the unsuspecting captor with one quick and powerful motion. The hammer fell to the ground as Kelor slammed his paw into the Warden’s shoulders, pressing the human to the ground. Kelor lowered his head, his powerful jaws and fangs only a hand away from the Warden’s nose.
    “Go ahead, Cat, end me. Do that and your family’s best chance to avoid the afterlife go with me.”
    Kelor looked up; the tent was ablaze, and he realized his mother and brothers were still inside the cage.
    “Let them go. I’m the one you want,” Kelor said.
    The weight of Kelor’s paws pressed down on the Warden, making it difficult for him to breathe. The captor struggled to speak.
    “Get off me or we all perish today.”
    An explosion rocked the tent as flames spread across the canvas dwelling.
    “Swear it. I let you go, and you set them free.” Kelor’s head hovered over the Warden’s face.
    The Warden coughed. “Yes, I swear it.”
    Kelor released the Warden, stepping off his shoulders and moving a few paces away. The