by Daniel Ruth
"Don't try that shit with me," he snorted disdainfully. "When I heard about you, I checked with the elders and their old rules. As a pack leader, I have the right to appeal their selection." He cracked his knuckles and gave me an excellent steely glare. "This is me appealing."
I bit my tongue on a sharpened tooth and spat out bloody saliva on a previously prepared activation ward. A spellcaster or a demon would have immediately noticed the arena area lighting up with magical energy as arcane energies penetrated every crevice of the area. To my aura sight, I could see the power coiling around the newcomers, forming bonds that would be agonizing for hellspawn. It did nothing.
"Grendle, I think my allergies are acting up," one said whispering behind him. "I've been itchy ever since we went through the freaky entrance and it just got worse." He was subtlety scratching as if he was covered in invisible hives.
The Unseelie's arrogant smile became more pronounced. He had obviously known. I had expended a lot of energy to give an exceptionally sensitive were leopard the equivalent of magical poison ivy. What a waste of a night's effort.
"Shut up Ethan," Grendle snapped without heat. "You ready?" He waved his men back and waited. I nodded to Jim and Joe and they stepped back. They absently scratched at their skin as well.
As soon as the others had backed away Grendle leaped at me, almost instantly crossing the forty feet between us. I stepped back as he impacted me but simply let him latch onto me. His transformed claws did almost no damage and when he transformed fully to his hybrid form, his teeth only left thin red lines.
I reached up and gripped his shoulder and then peeled him off me with a firm jerk. Holding him up I give him a judicious punch that sent him sailing across the arena. I didn't want to kill him. Now that he was confirmed to not be a demon, I had distinct plans for his pack. He rolled to his feet, bloody but mostly intact.
He was much more cautious as he moved back toward me. Rather than leaping at me, he gingerly closed and began elegantly dancing forward to kick me. I blocked him but he somehow leveraged the kick into another kick that hit me along my head. It bruised a bit but hardly had an effect.
Unfortunately, he repeated this tactic, staying at range and using frequent feints to get strikes past my guard. Even when I gave up defending, he was skilled enough to keep out of my grasp and I couldn't seem to get a hold of the limbs he was hitting me with.
I started to get frustrated. I had a similar problem with Sebastian, during the rather frequent times we had fought. With him, I was able to get him to commit and simply accept being hit. Once you do this it's extremely difficult to avoid being simultaneously hit. Grendle did though.
The worst part was that I had over a dozen things I could do to end this fight. I could adhere to this fellow to the ground with a spell, bubble him in a force field, float him in the air. Almost anything except hit him physically.
I had an image to project as the 'Arbitrator'. This meant no magic or overt psionics. This also meant that flailing wildly and more importantly, uselessly, was not supposed to be in the script.
My stopgap action was to shift to my gigantic werebear form. I wasn't any stronger in this form, unlike a werebeast I was a dragon regardless of what I looked like. However, since I moved about as fast in either shape, I could effectively increase my speed since my limbs moved over a greater area. Yeah, a trick, but it changed things enough that I wasn't being slapped in the face at will.
Admittedly Grendle was still using my limbs like a trapeze artist but I could keep him away from my face. It changed nothing except I looked like I was less at a disadvantage. He did try a few times to jump over my claws to kick me, but at my new size, it was easier to dodge someone ten feet away than two feet away.
In fact, the more I could get him to jump, the more likely I could catch him in midair. If I did, I would certainly not smack him away again. This tactic was a mixed bag for both of us. My attempt to grab him in midair failed as he used my hand and arms as springboards. However, I was able to control him enough that I wasn't getting hit at will. I did have the disturbing feeling that it looked like I was doing the Macarena dance.
"For an Arbitrator, your hand to hand skills suck," he said as he leaped away again. I glared at him. If I had my swords, I would show him my hand to hand skills. I paused, I suppose that did prove his point. My hand to hand skills really were abysmal. "I can just grind you down, I got all day."
"That is not going to happen," I growled out in my bear hybrid form. Really, it wasn't, I was embarrassed as heck but I could do this all week. Literally. But I wasn't going to do that.
Next time he leaped in to play at being my shadow I concentrated as he tumbled over my arm. Then I pushed out my telekinetic power in one burst as I jerked my arm to brush his leg. All that power flowed into his and he shot straight upward, flailing wildly. I usually used that power to shoot gold coins like a railgun. with his mass, I got twenty feet.
I about to reach for him for a grapple but the shifter surprised me again by twisting his body and turning his tumble into a controlled dive. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw his tail and spine twist around. I suppose a wereleopard writhing like a cat shouldn't surprise me but it did.
Since he was looking at me, apparently ready for my lunge I changed my plan. I moved in a simple punch, as fast as I could and hopefully not vaporize him on impact.
I still should have hit harder. He smoothly moved his legs towards me and used them as springs to deflect the force and dissipated over half the power.
As a side effect, he flew away from me like a rocket-propelled missile, easily reaching hundreds of feet where he impacted the wall. He then proceeded to effortlessly smash through the wall. I heard some additional damage from other buildings in the way.
I cursed under my breath. These were normal walls, not permacrete or durasteel. This was meaningless for most supernatural creatures. He may as well have landed on pillows.
"Well come on," I groused out to the hole. "This is a battle to submission or unconsciousness. Ring outs don't count. Unfortunately."
I heard footstep and rocks being pushed aside. Grendle staggered through the hole in the stadium wall. I perked up as I realized he was limping. Blood was pouring out of what looked like a crushed femur.
As I watched the blood slowed to a trickle and the flesh moved as it attempted to close the side of the wound. It was nothing he wouldn't completely recover from in a few hours but without his incredible movements, he couldn't compete with me. He knew it too. I saw reluctant realization in his eyes.
"I... I concede," he spat out as he made his way up to me. I could see him examining me and disappointment was obvious in his eyes as he realized that all the scratches he had inflicted were already gone.
I also noticed that the Unseelie watching our antics also held a tinge of disappointment. I could see that he wanted to continue to enjoy my being made a fool. I made a note of that.
"Excellent!" I ignored my scuffs and smudges as I shrunk down to my human form. "Let's get to work."
"Since you need a meeting spot," Cunobelinus offered like a dutiful manservant. "We have a wonderful meal planned at the Golden Lotus. We would love to host you while you hold your discussions."
I looked suspiciously at the sidhe. First of all, being helpful was not in his nature and second of all I had no idea where the Golden Lotus was.
"The casino we held the dinner at last night," he clarified, seeing my look.
"I've only ever seen the restaurant part," I replied. "Thank you. Lead the way."
Chapter 28
I was in a grumpy mood even as the food arrived. It was beautiful and delicious. It was also completely fake. Checking its aura, I could vaguely see it was the same stale bread and overcooked meat we ate before. Knowing who was serving us I was grateful it wasn't poisoned or cursed. I didn't feel like enforcing the oath at the moment.
"You want us to what?" Grendle asked in disbelief.
"We need you to do some videos
and interviews about your long-lost clan member," I replied blandly. "We'll focus on some cute shots of your cubs, mention Dash's nieces and nephews before having some question and answers with an old lady. We'll call her the grandmother."
"That's insane," the leopard pack leader spat out. "She's a cheetah! We're leopards! Our species are only vaguely related!"
"Your all shifters," I said dismissively. "You think the humans care about the details of 'Animal Planet'? As far as they are concerned your all supernatural cats and magic makes it work. Most won't even notice. The scientists among them will still be trying to figure out where the lost mass goes."
"But why should we," another leopard member complained.
"You should have thought about that before you decided you didn't care about outing the entire shifter community. You did that. You decided Dash was so damned wonderful that why couldn't you walk in the open like that."
"We didn't..."
"You did!" I said over his objections. "Now you get to fix it. You should be happy. After this is over you will be able to walk proudly among the humans."
"After the ads you're talking about, we'll be lucky to slink around trying to avoid all the grimy humans trying to pet us."
"True," I acknowledged. "But they won't think of you as bloodthirsty monstrosities, eating their women and children."
"Are the European packs really okay with this," Grendle asked uneasily.
"Would they have sent me out here if they weren't?" I asked rhetorically. "Besides, since when did you care about the pack hierarchy?"
He ground his teeth but stayed silent. Another leopard member asked, "Is Miss Dash going to go along with this?"
"She won't be interviewed by our agency," I said with a hand wave. "But I can guarantee she won't contradict our backstory as long as it paints her in a favorable light."
"What about her pack?" Grendle asked. "It would be humiliating for her family to be thought of as leopards." He grimaced. I could tell he was already feeling the same humiliation as a Cheetah was grafted onto his family tree.
"Her family won't say a thing," I assured him. "They don't differentiate between shifter cat breeds." This was also true. Rakshasa's main characteristics were feline heads on human bodies. This was purely cosmetic. Whether it was a lion, cheetah or tiger head they were all demons when it came down to it.
An hour later the festivities had ramped down and the dejected pack members had been escorted out. Even Joe and Jim looked glum, though they hid it better. Frankly, they should be glad that I thought that even the most ignorant humans would find it hard to accept some tripe regarding wolf and cheetah hybrids. Otherwise, I would be pulling in their own pack members as long lost family members.
I had been careful how I worded my commands to the sidhe. If the connection to the Unseelie home hadn't been severed I would be worried that they would vanish only to reappear a year later as shriveled old men.
"What do we owe the pleasure of your continued presence, my lord," Ciarra asked pleasantly. Suspicions glowed deeply in her eyes.
"Well, first I wanted to thank Cuno for leading my guests to the arena," I nodded amiably to the sidhe in question. My buoy still floated next to him.
"It's, Cunobelinus, my lord," he clarified tensely.
"Right, I now dub thee 'Linus'," I replied magnanimously. His eyes narrowed to slits and practically glowed with rage. "I also wanted to thank you for the offer for our meeting room. Since you now know the entire plan for peacefully bringing the shifter community to the humans' attention, I have to assume you are volunteering to help."
"It was not our intention..."
"I know it wasn't," I waved away his statement. "It would be most unfortunate if something happened to our plan or something went wrong. I have to thank you for offering your aid. Of course, since you are involved, if anything did happen, I know you would be taking full responsibility for it."
"But anything could happen..."
"Yes indeed," I lazily talked over him. "They could trip on camera, stub their toes or perhaps humans or demons somehow find out things they shouldn't. It doesn't matter anymore. With you involved I feel confident that nothing will go wrong. With you involved, I know who will take responsibility if anything does go wrong. Anything. Linus."
"Yes. My. Lord." Linus' eyes went from glowing red to his normal indolent gaze in an instant. From one moment to the next you couldn't even tell he held any animosity.
"It shall be done as you said," Ciarra said languidly. She hid her ire even better than her compatriot. Truly Unseelie were unparalleled in their illusionary skilled.
"I want to take a walk," I said abruptly, standing up. I started to march towards the back. Even back in Arc, I hadn't ever been in the actual casino area. "As your liege lord I should be familiar with my new land."
"Of course," Ciara said stiffly. The other sidhe exchanged glances full of indecipherable meaning. At least I couldn't decipher it. I did ready myself for an attack from the rear.
I entered the rear half of the casino and it abruptly looked like its namesake. Tables were spread through a massive room. Although they were empty I could easily imagine dealers at each one of them. Every table seemed slightly different from the next and every table most likely had once hosted a different game of chance. To one side I saw a bar. A typical semi illusionary construct manned it. Walking towards it I noticed a noticeable increase in the ambient energy. I slowed my pace to concentrate on it more completely.
I had wondered at the unusual energy density of this domain. Being on a single ley line didn't explain it. As it increased even more, I nodded to myself.
"Get me something to drink," I told the construct. "Anything. I don't care."
It stood still and ignored me. Ciarra hurried over and whispered to it. Moments later I had a sweetened alcoholic drink in my hand.
"Well, let's look upstairs," I said, sipping my drink and headed to the front stairs again.
"Lord, the upper level is still warded," Ciarra said smoothly. I would have known she was lying even if Karen hadn't told me otherwise. After all her lips were moving.
"I'll be careful," I assured her with a smile. "I have a knack with these things."
She trailed me up the stairs, despite her statement about the wards. She must be confident in my skills indeed.
We passed several rooms. One of them was indeed a circle room. Black ash and dust were scattered atop the glowing circles. Unless I got Sulayman to give me the key to the circle matrix I wasn't likely to get Karen's fellow human's remains back. I couldn't even get near his circles, let alone study or use them.
Past this there were several bedrooms, several obviously held women's nightgowns and delicates. I gave a sidelong look at Ciarra but she remained expressionless. We slowly moved down the corridor and the energy in the air gradually built up.
"My lord, it's dangerous here," Ciarra spoke up once more. "There are guardians that can kill even the most mighty in an instant."
"I am sure there are," I nodded. Likely if there were, they belong to the Unseelie rather than the long-gone demigod. "Remove your illusions on this floor. By your oath."
"As you wish," she replied with gritted teeth.
Instantly the lights vanished and the area was covered in fog. Unlike the outside it wasn't so thick I could see. Magical script covered the wall in elegant lines of softly glowing energy matrixes.
These obviously were not the wards and circles that within Sulayman's expertise. These were added on later. My instinctive understanding of magic engaged and I roughly comprehended their purpose. Geas of commanding, the binding of spirits, restrictions of blood. All tied and powered by something that was broken somehow.
"I'll need a drop of your blood," I said as I held out my hand.
"It won't be enough," the Unseelie woman said, gritting her teeth.
"Don't make me command you three times," I warned her. Shaking in fear and rage she took a black dagger out and pricked her finger. A drop of crim
son so dark it almost glowed black bubbled to the surface. She reluctantly dabbed it on my outstretched finger.
I directed my clothes to change. They receded slightly to bare my chest. With half intuition, half inherited knowledge and half luck I etched a design on my chest. It crossed and intertwined with the runes on my chest. The 'human' rune was broken in places, barely functional. The 'anchor' rune ironically stood strong. Fluidly it had been subtly redefined, rather than broken. The concept behind it had been re-sculpted rather than discharged. It had been my blessing and my curse. The Unseelie were looking at them in horror.
"It is forbidden..." Linus said.
"The power required is reserved for the gods," Ciarra said stoically. "Those that have that power stand on the cusp of being a greater god."
"On the cusp?" I asked, surprised at unexpectedly getting information on the black dragon that haunted my dreams.
"Yes. If he was truly a greater god that rune would not be broken. It will still not be enough. These glyphs were etched by my grandmother."
"Well better that side of godhood than the other," I muttered to myself as I pulled out a bowl and affixed a ward of negation to it. I empowered it and put it on my head. Only as the stately and beautiful sidhe stared at me in disdain did I feel a slight bit of embarrassment for the first time. "I'd like to see you do better."
I stepped forward into the entanglement of sidhe enchantment. It felt like burning cobwebs trailing across my skin. Ciarra walked beside me effortlessly. Linus stood at the edge of the enchantment staring at me darkly.
"You are powerful and knowledgeable," Ciarra warned quietly as we moved forward slowly. "A suitable combination for our Lord, however, you will be destroyed if you step wrongly."
The ambient energy grew stronger, as did the protection enchantment. The burning sensation grew and by the time I reached the end of the corridor, scorched lines of magic blackened my skin. Both of us ignored the scent as I opened the door.