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Glitter with stars and moon,
Rise and arm yourselves
Bring us brilliance and starlight
Bring yourselves glory and fame.
Bring honour to Katáne.
Kuvu, kuvu, kuvu!’
‘It’s a modern take on a famous Katánian fight song,’ Kaniz explained to the stunned Shotelai. ‘One of the most rousing renditions yet.’
Sana’a’s eyes tracked upward as the gilded bird’s feathers beat against the air with a vigorous stroke as it rose.
The beguiling creature’s wings created a gentle swooshing sound as it flew overhead.
As if forged from the molten cores of distant stars, with a body of shimmering gold and eyes that glinted with ancient knowledge and wild kätu.
Then it was gone.
‘Who is she?’
‘No one knows. But the Golden Songbird has a unique and natural ability to sing and interpret music. Each time she does, it’s different, as if singing from a deeper place—not from her head but from her heart.’
After the rendition, the crowd returned to their roaring, baying for action.
They were soon placated when the warm-up act, two older female kavs, emerged from the arena’s underbelly.
In the enclosure, the two Katánian k?thi battlers had a hectic moment as they shook krests and wished one another luck.
K?stian soared in as the female fighters retreated to the centre of the ring and stood facing each other.
With a flurry of his half-transmuted wings, K?stian opened the bout. ‘Fight!’
‘Kuvu!’ the combatants shouted.
‘Kuvu!’ the crowd roared back.
The two warriors transformed, keeping their limbs intact as their wing spans unfurled. They flapped into the sky, and within seconds, their koya blades flashed in the sunlight, bringing them down at a sharp angle.
One fighter, with a banded magenta and black krest, rushed forward and feinted, guiding her sab?r koya to the left.
Her opponent, a leaner, hungrier form with a yellow-speckled krest, moved to block the attack with a long pinion.
But the striped fighter soared back at the last second, the blow glancing off her shoulder.
The crowd gasped and jeered as the first warrior twisted her right arm, her íkan laced sab?r flashing in the sunlight.
The yellow-speckled leviathan failed to react in time, and the koya thudded into her upper shoulder, ripping through armour and piercing her skin. Silver blood spurted, and she slumped to the ground in agony.
The victorious winner levitated towards her fallen opponent, offering him her talons.
With a pained smile, the defeated fighter took the proffered claw and handed her koya to the winner, and the two women embraced.
Sana’a raised a brow. ‘That’s new.’
‘They’re old friends,’ Kaniz murmured to Sana’a. ‘They fought together in the same wing of the Imperial Hawks and have a deep kinship for each other.’
