I said, and dipped my right forehoof into the water. It was the beginning of the morning ritual.
I said, and moved back to crush a small tuft of grass beneath the same hoof.
I spread my arms wide.
I looked with all four of my eyes at the rising sun.
I sighed. This was really pretty pointless. I had never been a big believer in all the rituals. I mean, if you’re going to be a warrior, you have to do it. And any aristh who gets caught rushing through the ritual is verbally reprimanded.
But still, I was about half a quadrillion Earth miles from my home world. It was hard to see why I should still be acting like a good little warrior-cadet. I was all alone among aliens. Who cared if I performed the rituals?
I bowed low.
I hesitated. Tobias had landed in the tree above.
I straightened up again, then assumed the fighting stance.
With that, I drew my tail blade forward and pressed it against my own throat.
Then I relaxed my tail. This was the part of the ritual that called for contemplation. You were supposed to think about the parts of the ritual and ask yourself if you were living up to all of it.
The destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow. That was the part that stayed in my thoughts.
I had not destroyed my enemy. My enemy was terrible and powerful. And if I tried to destroy him, I would be the one killed.
But that did not matter. What mattered was the enemy. The creature who had murdered my brother. Not in battle, but as he lay almost helpless.
It was the humans who’d told me the rest of Elfangor’s story. As the dome went crashing into Earth’s sea, my brother’s fighter was damaged by the Yeerks.
He landed in an abandoned construction site. There were five human youths passing by: Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias.
Elfangor was dying, and he knew that Earth was now defenseless. He told the five youths about the Yeerk threat. And then he did what he should not have done. He gave them a weapon to fight the Yeerks.
He gave them the Andalite power to morph.
Never in all of history has any non-Andalite been given the power to morph. It’s against our major law: the law of Seerow’s Kindness.
Only one other creature can morph: the Yeerk who invaded and took over an Andalite body. He is the only Andalite-Controller. There are hundreds of thousands of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and humans enslaved that way, but only one Andalite.
Only one Yeerk has an Andalite body, and the power to morph.
The Abomination: Visser Three.
The humans told me of Elfangor’s last battle. How Visser Three had morphed into a huge, monstrous creature. How Elfangor had fought to the very end, lashing out helplessly. How Visser Three had opened his jaws and . . .
The humans don’t know it, but if Elfangor had lived, he would have been in huge trouble. He would have been demoted, at very least. He would no longer have been a prince. Elfangor as the great hero would have been finished.
I had faced Visser Three more than once. He was still living. I had no excuse, except that I was still just an aristh. If I were a full warrior, it would have been total dishonor for me.
Elfangor would have had the courage. If it had been me killed by Visser Three, Elfangor would have gone right after him.
But I guess I’m not Elfangor.
I said. Actually, I was not fine. Tobias being there reminded me that I had something planned for this morning, and I was nervous. Maybe that’s why the morning ritual had not left me feeling calm, like it was supposed to. I was planning to do something very frightening. I was planning to go to school.
Tobias said.
I asked.
I listened.
I turned to face the snake. I saw it coiled in the leaves. What I did not see was when it struck! It was too fast! Too fast to see, let alone avoid.
Luckily, the fangs hit my hoof! I whipped my tail forward and pressed the snake against the ground, holding it immobile. It squirmed and made the rattling sound with its tail.
Tobias advised.
But I had a different idea. I focused on the snake. I began to “acquire” it, absorbing the snake’s DNA into my system.
Tobias asked, sounding dubious.
I said. The snake had gone limp, the way animals always do when you acquire them. When I was done and the snake’s DNA was within me, I used my tail to flip it away into some bushes.