The second mage closest to me was still casting her next spell when I punched her in the gut. I would have aimed for somewhere more permanently damaging, but I wasn’t sure what the deal with all of these MOME people was. How many of them thought they were doing good in the world? How many of them were there to take things down from the inside like Sol was? How many of them actually thought it was ok to abduct young children for ‘research’ purposes and keep them from their families?
Whatever the answer was, either Trev already had it, or he just didn’t care. The mage who was fighting Seamus—who had shifted to his wolf form and was happily digging teeth and claws into said mage—was reaching into his leather vest (I hadn’t noticed until that moment, but three out of five of the mages were dressed like they’d driven Harleys to get here) when he suddenly burst into flames with a bloodcurdling shriek. I caught sight of Trevor’s wing clipping him just before he ignited, and wondered what on earth he’d been about to reach for that made my brother decide he deserved a flaming death.
I didn’t have time to ask, though, as that bit of pyrotechnics set the remaining mages, who weren’t engulfed in flames, scrambling to regroup. I decided the safest thing was to render unconscious the one I’d just hit in the gut. I clipped her just under her jaw and watched her collapse.
Just as I was about to attack the mage who had come after me with handcuffs earlier, I felt something hot graze my back and shoulder, and ducked just as something sizzled past my ear. I could smell my hair burning where the spell had grazed me.
A heartbeat later, searing pain jolted through me, as my nerves finally registered whatever had been done to my back and shoulder by the spell.
Some instinct made me reach for my snow leopard form before I could even think twice about it. The pain was gone as soon as I shifted, and I wondered if that was because I was no longer attached to the body that had been hurt, or some other, more mystical reason. I didn’t have time to contemplate it for long though, as more spells were slung around me.
And now I realized why Trev had suggested I shift before we’d even hit the floor in this room. While I had been able to see some of the spells being slung in my human form, as a snow leopard it looked like I could see… well, everything. All magic seemed to be visible to me. Not only could I see even more spells whizzing through the air, as my friends did their best to dodge them and take down the mages, I could also see a thin skin of power around the mages who remained conscious. I could even see residual magic along surfaces throughout the room where spells had either hit and bounced off, or passed right through the materials. It was an interesting view.
In addition, my other senses, smell and sound, as well as the vibrations picked up by my whiskers, were so heightened in this form that I found myself reacting to things I would never have noticed as a human. And my muscles… they responded to my call so quickly that I almost felt as though time was slower as a snow leopard. Maybe it was.
I saw Sol take down the mage who had cast whatever spell had burned me, and I almost felt sorry for the bastard as she tore into his arm with her teeth. She was in her gloriously huge panther form, and I was once more impressed with the deep black of her fur and the bright yellow of her eyes. It looked as though she, at least, had decided not to kill our opponents, as she released the mage’s arm once he appeared to have passed out from either shock or blood loss.
He was the last to go down. Five for five.
Trev reappeared as a human. He seemed untroubled by the fact that he was naked.
“Don’t anyone else bother to shift, unless you have something of dire importance to add. We need to get out of here, quickly. Follow Vic and me through this ventilation shaft now. If we can get to the exit before they realize we’re using the vents, we might just make it out before they try to drug us, or worse.”
Then he turned into a flaming bird once more, shooting up through the gaping hole that we had crashed through earlier. I didn’t hesitate, but leapt through the hole and reveled in how powerful my snow leopard body was. I didn’t know if a normal snow leopard could have made that leap—I’d have to do some research on that front—but either because I was a shifter, or because snow leopards were badass, the eight feet between floor and ceiling felt like nothing to me.
Being a snow leopard was so awesome.
LESS THAN A quarter of an hour later, I saw Trev disappear suddenly from in front of me and felt a cold wind slap me in the face as I neared the open vent that waited ahead. The drop beneath me was sheer; climbable, certainly, but far enough down that I wasn’t stoked about the idea of scaling it without a rope. Since I didn't see Trev below me, I looked up. There he flapped lazily, a firebird relaxing on a heady breeze. Assuming we were in for a long, upwards climb, I shifted to my human form.
Come on up!
Even though we’d been doing it since Trev had shown up at the house in Flagstaff, it still blew my mind that we could communicate telepathically.
I still can’t believe this works! Our five-year-old selves would be so stoked, I thought.
They may have encouraged me to… practice here, Trevor said. That made my mouth go dry. What else had they forced him to do?
Trev, if it’s… we don’t have to use it. We can just wait till we’ve both shifted to human again and talk then.
It’s fine, Vic. This part was never so bad, and it always made me think of you. Once I started getting it right I got really excited about showing off for you once I found you again.
That made me smile. Typical Trevor, really. Must share all new discoveries with Vic, otherwise they don’t count.
You never gave up on us, did you?
Before Trevor could respond, a hand was resting on my back and pushing me forcefully towards the opening.
“Now, now, now. Must go now. No time to hesitate. Go. Go. GO!”
The last go was followed by a shove so firm that I catapulted to the edge of the vent and would have free fallen the 1000 feet to my rocky death below if I hadn’t managed to catch the lip of metal that had formerly kept the grate in place.
“Sol! What the—”
The "fuck" died on my tongue as I turned to see a terrifying green cloud of… I didn’t want to know what, that was seething behind Seamus' and Sol’s fast-moving, now-human forms.
The green cloud was so horrifying that I didn’t even notice that Sol and Seamus were both naked, let alone take a moment to appreciate the view, as they burst out of the vent and onto the cliff wall, just barely catching the rock in time to prevent themselves from plummeting to the ground below. Instead, I just angled myself so that I could reach the rock face above and to the left of the hole I’d almost fallen out of and started scrambling for holds as fast as I could.
There are some benefits to growing up in the Rockies. One of them is having access to world-class climbing every weekend throughout one’s entire childhood. I was never going to be a professional climber—I spent too much of my time training in martial arts for one thing—but I loved to climb, and could get up and down your average cliff face with minimal trouble. At the moment I was doing my best to “sprint” up the face before me. I don’t know if it was some sixth sense provided by being a were, or if it was just a basic human instinct, but something told me that whatever the festering cloud of green slime that was chasing Seamus touched would not come out unscathed, or even recognizable.
Luckily, Sol and Seamus seemed comfortable enough on the rock face we had suddenly all found ourselves scaling, though they were probably highly motivated by the cloud of roiling death that seemed to be dissipating into the clear void beneath us. Still, neither of them seemed paralyzed by a fear of heights, or so unsure of their next move that they couldn’t keep going. They were both seeking holds and making use of them with the seasoned motions of people who had done this before.
Thank the gods. This was going to be a long enough climb as it was, we didn’t need to add stressed out newbs to the equation.
“What in the hells was
that thing?” I asked Sol, as we picked our way up the cliff face that towered above us. There wasn’t as much left above us as there had been below, but it was still a formidable wall. Thankfully, it was made of a friendly granite composite that had eroded into some relatively positive holds. Of course, the downside of these types of walls is that they crumble easily, but we weren’t going to think about that just now. We were just going to climb… and worry about the creepy cloud of whatever-it-was behind us.
“That,” Sol explained, as she sought out her next handholds, gingerly testing their solidity before putting her full weight on them, “was a spell that is supposed to be banned. A fucking scrambler that supposedly only the ‘bad guys’ use. If it touches you… let’s just say it turns you into a Picasso, and not in a good way.”
“So… we have your MOME buddies to thank for having one tailing us?”
Sol grunted.
“Buddies isn’t the word I would choose, but yeah. Three of the five mages we were up against in that room are known for using illegal spells. They are supposedly only sent after the most dangerous criminals in the magical world, but…”
“But they sent them after us?”
“Well, first they sent them to ‘help’ with my interrogation of Seamus. Once they heard me ask him about you, they decided I needed backup. When they decided I wasn’t being rough enough with Seamus, that’s when everything went to hell in a handbasket.”
“Ah. So we showed up just in time, then,” I muttered. “Shit!” I added, when one of my handholds broke off and tumbled away from me. “Rock!” I cried, even though there was no one below me. Well, no one that I cared about, anyway. Seamus and Sol were both climbing to my right, not far enough beneath me to be in line of any rockfall I might create, and Sol had basically caught up already.
“Yeah, well, I could probably have gotten us out of there,” she said. “But not without completely blowing my cover. As it stands now… HQ will probably forgive me for not wanting my captive beat to shit, and then you and Trevor clearly showed up to break Seamus free, and I merely followed you.”
“What about the guy you tore up back there?”
“I can write that off as protecting Seamus. Technically, there are laws protecting captives, even MOME captives. It would be very by the book of me to have defended him.”
“And will they—shit!”
Another hold crumbled out of my hand, and I was left hanging by my left arm. I had been testing holds before I took them, but some seemed more solid than they actually were. I made a point of not looking down at the over 1000 foot drop below me.
“It’s only a matter of time before one of us loses our grip completely,” Sol said.
I looked at her and Seamus, both still climbing along steadily. Seamus hadn’t said a word since we’d started our ascent. He might have been shitting his pants (figuratively that is) but it was hard to tell. Trev had flown up ahead of us, and I wondered if he was doing general reconnaissance, or had already seen something that concerned him. Then I remembered that I could ask him.
How’s it looking up there, Trev?
For a long moment there was no reply. Then, suddenly—
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Must fly faster. Vic! Change direction. Now!
What? Trev, it’s over 1000 feet to the bottom an—
NOW, Vic! Go, go, go!
“Shit! Downclimb! Now! Trev sounds scared shitless and is telling us to reverse course.”
No one argued, though I could tell they didn’t like the idea any more than I did.
Downclimbing was always sketchier than going up, especially on a face like this one where anything could crumble out from under you. There was no way to check holds first when you were downclimbing, especially not when you were in a hurry to escape… whatever the hell had Trevor cursing like a Spanish sailor.
All three of us descended as quickly as we safely could, but apparently that wasn’t fast enough. A ball of flames and wings shot past me, which I could only assume was Trev, and then there were blasts of magic shooting past me on all sides and Sol and Seamus were both releasing a string of curses as they went.
There was no way for us move faster without greatly increasing our likelihood of falling to our deaths, and there was no way to dodge the spells being slung at us easily either. The best we could do was try to move erratically, but that wasn’t exactly easy when trying to scale a cliff in reverse.
“We’re so screwed,” I muttered, as another spell flew past my shoulder. “At least these mages seem to aim like storm troopers.”
As soon as I said it, I felt the rock under my right foot tumble away at same moment that I had let go with my left hand to bring it to the next hold beneath me. I felt my left foot pull back from the rock, as my body swung wildly to the right, and then I began to scream as my right hand held, held, held, held for all it was worth, hundreds of hours of muscle memory doing their damnedest to save my life, and then I felt the rock there crumbling away too.
The fact that it was probably a spell loosening the rock around me, and not just shitty luck, didn’t make much of a difference as I felt my body start the free fall that would end with it splattered all across the jagged boulders below me. Somehow, I suspected that turning into a snow leopard would only leave fuzzier remains spread out across the valley floor. My right shoulder bounced off of the cliff face as I tumbled into the air, knocking the wind out of me, and leaving my arm feeling numb at my side. I’d probably lost a fair chunk of flesh on that rock—naked climbing certainly had its added risks.
I heard Sol shout my name as I fell away from the cliff face, and Seamus let out a bloodcurdling cry as he leapt for my body. He crashed into me, already fully changed to wolf form by the time we smashed together, and I wondered what the hell good he thought he was doing. All he’d managed to do was push us both farther from the side of the cliff face, which I suppose was a good thing if one didn’t want to die hitting every damned ledge on the way down, but it left a lot to be desired as far as saving our asses went. We were still going to die horribly when we hit the giant scree pile that was getting closer with every last beat of my frantic heart.
I wanted to thank him for trying, or curse him for throwing his life away with mine, but I couldn’t do anything but scream. It wasn’t a high-pitched keening or even a crying wail, it was just a sustained emptying of my lungs. Just me raging against the dying of the light.
Then, before the ground could swallow us in its rocky maw, something else hit me hard from the side. I barely managed to keep my grip on Seamus’ furry form as everything turned black around us.
I BLINKED AND found myself standing in a small forest clearing gazing stupidly at a tree that looked a lot like a figure in a hooded robe, holding a scythe. Seamus was still clutched in my arms, breathing heavily in wolf form.
“What the —” I had been about to say hell, but I stopped myself. Just in case.
“Where are we?” I asked the clearing at large. This place was familiar. I suppose it had only been a few days since my last camping trip, in the clearing where all of this started, but it already seemed like a lifetime ago.
I looked at Seamus as I gently placed him on the ground in front of me, but he just gave me a wolfy shrug.
“Thanks, Seamus,” I said, rubbing his head. “Are we dead?” I wondered aloud. “I seriously hope we’re not dead.”
YOU ARE NOT DEAD.
“Whoa… who is that?”
I AM THE TREE OF LIFE.
I focused my eyes on the lone oak tree in a glade full of scotch pines and felt a weird tingle go up my neck. It was the oak from the night that I had met Gwen. The one that looked suspiciously like a robed, hooded figure holding a scythe.
“Are you sure you’re not Dea—”
I AM THE TREE OF LIFE. MY RESEMBLANCE TO ANY PERSON OR CHARACTER, REAL OR IMAGINARY, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
“Ok. Ok. Sheesh. You don’t have to go all legal disclaimer on me. I get it. You are the Tree of Life. Fin
e. It’s just that you look an awful lot like Terry Pratchett’s Dea—”
LIFE. YES. THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT. I HAVE BEEN GROWING THESE BRANCHES TO LOOK MORE ALIVE FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
I shut up, not wanting to waste any more time arguing with the big tree with glowing eyes. Had they been glowing when we’d arrived? I didn’t think they had been, but whatever, I had more important matters to worry about at the moment. I started to stand up and pull my hand from Seamus’ fur, but he whined and leaned hard against my leg, unwilling to put any space between us. I dug my hand back into his fur.
“So, Dea— er… Life! It’s good to see you. I think…”
I looked around the clearing again.
“Did you just save us?”
The hooded tree figure that definitely wasn’t Death shook its head.
I DO NOT SAVE PEOPLE.
“Right. Ok. Cool. You didn’t save us. Do you know who did?”
ME.
“Umm… didn’t you just say that you don’t save people?”
GWEN HELPED. ACTUALLY, SHE DID THE SAVING, BUT SHE IS MY INSTRUMENT.
“I’m not a damned violin, you talking tree.”
The leather-clad redhead stood in the circle next to Death, and I couldn’t help but wonder how much of this they had known about back on that first day in the woods. I mean, that’s an awfully convenient setup otherwise. Still, first things first.
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it. I really didn’t want to die in general, but least of all smashed into a bunch of tiny pieces at the bottom of a mountain in the Andes. Well, ok, maybe not "least of all," I could think of far worse ways to go, really, but damn it. I had a lot to live for yet, and my long-term goals involved dying peacefully in my sleep in my hundreds, or at least dying splattered at the bottom of a cliff when I was a LOT older.
“I can’t ever repay you,” I said. “I really had no way out of that.”
Gwen smiled, and the amount of tooth she bared made me start to sweat a bit.
Victoria Marmot- The Complete Series Page 12