Shifters Alliance

by Shaun L Griffiths

  Approaching the pass, her mind came slowly back to the present. Now she had a new responsibility. She must take the children home, and she had to do it before the gateway closed down, disintegrating to a mound of dust on the grasses of the Northern Plain.

  She could see the passes getting closer, climbing higher through the snow and ice. Her mind came back to the problem now approaching: where in the passes would the children be? They would be at a point where they could keep watch over the snow field, giving them plenty of warning of anyone’s approach. Where would she wait if she were to guard the pass? She slowed, using her sense of smell to try to find whoever was on guard.

  She stepped into the fresh snow, driven overnight by the wind into a smooth carpet of sparkling crystals. There were no tracks to be seen, but that was not surprising after the storm of the previous night. She sniffed the air, but could find no trace of anything familiar, nothing to remind her of home, or her people. The pass was deserted. Her mind was in turmoil for what to do next. She expected them to be here, waiting and overjoyed to see her. But with the pass deserted, she felt lost. Then her thoughts turned to the only sense she hadn’t used.

  She howled, a deep rumbling howl that bounced back at her off the mountains, echoing again and again in the still empty air. She listened and then tried again, louder and longer, her chest heaving with the effort.

  And then the mountains answered her. She heard it, far off to the east, a reply. A howl that could only have been made by someone like herself. She moved her head to locate the source, hearing the plea for help in the reply. She let out another howl, strong and confident, letting everyone know she was here and she was coming to them.

  Kerri ran for the second pass that Sonny had pointed out to her. It was not far but it seemed an eternity before she could get there. She howled again and heard the reply much closer, and the first hint of a scent on the air. She recognised it. Carter, who’d been taken last week. She knew the scent of him, like she knew his father’s house from the cut pines and sawn logs that could be smelt all across the village.

  At the pass, she stopped, narrowing down the source. There, on the high bank looking out over the gap between the rock walls. He was standing alert, but also very weak. She could see from the droop of his shoulders and the drop of his neck that something had happened. She ran as fast as she could to reach him.

  ‘Carter, it’s me, Kerri,’ she said.

  Carter stared at her; he seemed to be in shock. ‘Kerri, you’re here, they brought you too?’

  ‘They didn’t bring me, I’ve come to take you back.’

  ‘But we can’t leave, we must defend the pass for winter.’

  ‘Carter, we must leave now.’

  ‘But we can’t, they’ll invade our land and attack our village. You must go to the other pass and defend it, there’s no one there now.’

  ‘Carter, where’s Holly, where’s Holly Boatman?’

  Carter looked at her, unable to speak with sense. He was in deep shock.

  ‘She’s here, Kerri. I couldn’t save her, I came too late. I heard her calling during a break in the storm. I don’t know how long she’d been calling me, but I ran as fast as I could. Honestly, I came as soon as I heard her call, but I was too late.’

  ‘Where is she, Carter, where’s Holly?’

  He pointed to a rise in the fresh snow. ‘She’s there, Kerri. There was nothing I could do to save her. I had no moss with me.’

  Kerri felt an enormous sense of dread come over her. She looked to where Carter was pointing. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she said, ‘I must check, though.’

  She went alone to the fresh snow banked into a mound by the wind. Gently, she brushed away the snow to see Holly, still as a hound. She sniffed her mouth, but there was no breath. She touched her nose against hers, but she could only feel Holly was very cold. She tried to shake her, to rouse her, but Holly lay unmoving. Kerri’s legs were shaking. She felt like screaming in despair, overcome by the wasted life, rage at coming too late, anger at these cats for taking her friend.

  ‘She was only a little girl,’ she whispered to herself. She felt the tears close, but knew she had to be strong now for Carter, to get him home safe. There would be a time for tears later.

  Kerri brushed snow back over her and slowly walked back to where Carter was standing watching her.

  ‘Tell me what happened, Carter.’

  ‘We were told to guard these passes. They said they were expecting the bears to attack soon, and to be ready. I told Holly not to be afraid, that I’d be close by. If the bears came, then howl and I’d come running to help.

  ‘I stood all night watching, but the storm was so fierce. I couldn’t see anything, and the wind, it was screaming through the pass, I couldn’t hear anything. Then, there was a break in the storm. The wind stopped for a moment and that’s when I heard Holly. I heard her howls, she sounded like she was in big trouble. I ran and I ran. But when I got here, Holly was already down. The bears had come. There must have been an awful fight. I saw at least ten of the bears were injured in the snow. Holly had stopped at least half of them, but there were just too many for her.

  ‘When they saw me run up, they were shocked. The one in the front said to me, ‘Go home, stranger, this is not your fight.’ But I told them, ‘I’ll not let you pass.’ I was standing over Holly, ready to protect her, and they stood looking at me for such a long time. And then, they just seemed to change their mind. They turned and picked up the wounded bears and ran back into the pass. If it wasn’t for the wind, I would have heard her sooner. I could have come to help her, but the wind was so loud, it was screaming around me. It was awful.’

  ‘I know, Carter. You must believe me, it’s not your fault,’ she said. ‘We have to leave now.’

  ‘But what if they come back? What about Lulu in the Northern Pass? We can’t leave her.’

  ‘Sam’s here, he found Lu, and they’re going back to the border, they’re going home. They lied to you, Carter. You’re not here protecting our land, you were brought here to protect the cats. They stole something from the bears, and now they’ve come to get it back. This is not our fight. But we must go now. Can you run?’

  ‘Yes, I’m okay, they didn’t fight with me.’

  ‘Follow me, we can’t stop until we’re on the other side of that plateau. Now run, Carter, run.’

  Sam was very quiet as they descended from the heights. Sonny walked on his left side on the lower slope, guiding and supporting him, with Lulu on his right, also there for him to lean on.

  ‘When we reach the plateau, you’ll breathe much easier. You’ll regain your strength,’ Sonny said to encourage him.

  They travelled down the mountain face, well away from the track that had been made over the years by men and animals looking for the easiest way to the pass. They travelled slowly and carefully, aware of Sam’s tiredness. Their luck held long enough for them to pass the town behind the ridge line, unseen by anyone who would look upwards at that time. When they were out of sight of the town, they descended the final slopes, leaving the rocks and boulders behind for the dust and sand of the plateau.

  ‘We should rest for a short while and drink something,’ said Sonny. ‘We must cross the plateau as quickly as we can. We can’t be exposed for too long, or someone is sure to see us.’

  Sam could feel his strength returning, but he still felt so tired he was having trouble thinking straight. He looked out over flat plain ahead of them.

  Once across that, there’s only the high grass and then home, he thought.

  ‘Soon be back, Lu,’ he said. ‘Your Mom’s there waiting even now. It won’t be long.’

  He didn’t want to ask Sonny how much longer he thought the gateway would be open. He didn’t want Lulu to think that it may collapse at any time.

  Vin and Naz sat side by side on the edge of the plateau. After three days of standing guard they were very tired, very hungry, and very bored.

  The long spell of si
lence was interrupted by Vin.

  ‘You know, my head still aches, and I can still feel the bump on my head,’ he said, rubbing his paw over the top his scalp where he had taken the blow from Kerri’s staff.

  ‘I keep telling you, you should’ve waited.’

  ‘I was only trying to scare ‘um, like you said.’

  ‘But she was only a little girl, Vin.’

  ‘Little girl! She was mean, Naz, right dead mean. Vicious, that’s what she was!’

  ‘You were lucky you stopped that blow with your head, it could have done you a lot of damage otherwise.’

  ‘Was I really out cold for two days?’

  ‘Yeah, two days, but I still reckon you were pretending. No one snores when they’re unconscious.’

  ‘I was suffering, Naz!’

  ‘I tell you though, I wouldn’t want to meet her on a dark night.’

  ‘You’re right there, nor her mum.’

  ‘What d’you reckon they were doing coming this way?’

  ‘Dunno what those Southerner’s are getting involved for, I just dunno. It only complicates things.’

  ‘Especially keeping company with them cats.’

  ‘You know they call themselves lions, don’t you?’

  ‘Yeah, I heard that, just trying to make themselves feel brave I reckon.’

  ‘Mountain Lions, of all things!’

  The sustained laughter rang out over the plateau.

  When they’d managed to catch their breath again, Naz observed, ‘They do look more like cats, though.’

  ‘Why d’you reckon they turn into cats and we turn into bears then, Naz.’

  ‘It’s all in the genes. Glad I don’t come out a cat.’

  ‘You’re right there, nor a hound. Apparently they got really bad breath. Fishy-like.’

  ‘Is that right?’

  ‘It’s what I heard. So, when d’you think we’ll be relieved, Naz?’

  ‘Soon, I hope. I just about had enough of... hold on, look over there, there’s a cat, with one of those mercenary hounds, and a guy in the middle, it looks like he’s injured, he’s having trouble walking.’

  ‘He a Southerner, he’s got dark hair. Maybe he’s just tired, he looks a bit old for coming through these gateways.’

  ‘Never mind that, what’re we gonna do about that hound? They said no cats are to get past us.’

  ‘I don’t think we should try to scare ‘um this time, Naz, it didn’t go well last time.’

  ‘No, you’re right there.’

  ‘Maybe we should act like we’re still unconscious.’

  ‘No, we can’t, we’ve got to take our responsibilities serious, Vin. It’s the box we’re talking about. We’ll never get it back if everyone acted unconscious whenever a hound turned up.’

  ‘Yeah, I forgot about that. So what’re we gonna do?’

  ‘Hold on, that’s the same guy came through here the other day. The guy with the stick.’

  ‘Oh no, I don’t know which is worse, him or that hound. I tell you what, I’ll take the hound.’

  ‘Thanks, Vin. No, I’ll tell you what, we’ll act mean and decisive.

  ‘Okay, I’ll act mean, I don’t think I know how to act decisive.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll tell ‘um we’re guardians. We’ll play it by ear.’

  ‘Good plan, Naz, better than the last one.’

  ‘Shhh... here they come.’

  The trek across the plateau was coming to an end. They could see the ground sloping off to the south, the path that they’d taken coming up. Lulu became alert; she could sense danger.

  ‘What is it, Lu?’ said Sam.

  ‘There’s something there, up ahead.’

  ‘It could be the bears again.’ said Sonny.

  Sam called out, ‘Naz, is that you?’

  The two bears stood to block the path. At full height, both were very imposing. Sam could see the one looked very angry, probably because of the beating Kerri had given him.

  Naz shouted, ‘Stop, you cannot pass.’

  ‘Naz, we met before. It’s me, Sam.’

  ‘Dad, you know these bears, you know their names?’ Lulu asked with amazement.

  ‘We met on the way through,’ he said.

  ‘Naz, we need to pass, we’re returning to our own land. We’re going to the border. Please let us pass.’

  ‘You have a mercenary with you, you can pass but the others stay.’

  ‘Mercenary?’

  ‘The hound,’ said Naz

  ‘This is no mercenary, it’s my daughter.’

  ‘Your daughter? The one who hit Vin with the stick?’

  ‘No, that was Kerri.’

  ‘You have two daughters?’ said Vin, getting worried.

  ‘Why are your people fighting against us, why help the cat people?’ said Naz.

  ‘I’m not a cat, I’m...’

  ‘They’re our children,’ said Sam. ‘They were stolen from us, and then lied to. Kerri’s in the mountains now, she’s bringing them home.’

  ‘So there won’t be any more hounds in the high passes?’ asked Vin, no longer angry.

  ‘We don’t belong here. We only want to go home.’

  ‘And this is your daughter?’

  ‘Yes, Naz, my daughter.’

  ‘Okay, if she’s your daughter she can pass, but the cat stays.’

  ‘I’m not a cat, I...’

  ‘This is Sonny,’ said Sam. ‘He’s the son of Duma.’

  ‘The son of Duma? You mean dirty, rotten Duma who stole the box?’ said Naz in amazement.

  ‘I don’t know anything about a box,’ said Sonny.

  ‘We need him to show us where the border is,’ said Sam.

  ‘He must stay, until they give back what they stole from us. That’s why we’re here.’

  ‘He’s helped us. Without him I couldn’t have found my daughter. If it wasn’t for him, our children would still be standing guard in the passes.’

  ‘Standing guard as hounds,’ said Vin. ‘Maybe this cat’s not like the others, Naz. If the hounds leave, we’ll be free to move in.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Naz. ‘We need to get this information back to the boss.’

  ‘Naz, I’d really like to stay and talk with you, but we must go. We don’t know how much longer the gateway will be open. We don’t have time to search for it. We need him to show us.’

  ‘Okay. We’ll let you pass. But go quickly now, our guys will be here to relieve us soon, and they may not be so understanding.’

  ‘It was interesting meeting you, Naz. I hope you get back what was taken from you.’

  ‘We will.’

  ‘When it’s all over, maybe you should come and see us, and tell us all about it. Come as friends.’

  Naz nodded, ‘Go now, and go quickly.’

  ‘That went well,’ said Vin. ‘So what do we do now?’

  ‘Now we wait, and when the relief arrives, we get back as quickly as we can and tell them the passes are open.’

  They travelled without stopping, but Sam’s deteriorating condition made their progress tortuously slow. Always afraid of losing any more time, they pushed on into the evening light, conscious of their time for escape running out. Sonny led them on a meandering path through the boulder field, the rising moon casting a blue hue over the scree and rock slopes.

  Eating and drinking as they walked, the morning sun found them still descending, painfully slowly, over the lower hills. Exhausted and dehydrated, they finally reached the tall grasses, with their journey’s end now in sight. Sam, feeling his strength seeping away, held on tighter to his daughter for support.

  ‘We’re nearly there, Dad, not much further now,’ said Lulu encouraging him on through the last obstacles.

  ‘How are you doing?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m so tired, it must be all this mountain air.’

  ‘We’re on the plains, Dad! You’ll soon be home.’

  Then Lulu caught the first scent of strangers.

  ‘Sh
hh! There’s someone out there,’ she said. ‘I can smell them.’

  Very slowly, Sonny lifted his head, and in the stillness of the midday heat, he could see the grasses being moved. Something was coming in their direction.

  ‘It may be Kerri,’ whispered Sonny.

  ‘No, I know Kerri’s scent. I don’t know these, and I don’t want to find out. We can move further south, and they should walk straight by without seeing us. Dad, keep very low, now go,’ said Lulu.

  Moving to where the grass was higher, they lay flat, waiting to see who would pass. They were looking for feet as the grasses in front of them started to rustle. Lulu held her face very close to Sam’s ear.

  ‘Bears,’ she whispered.

  With their faces in the earth, they held their breath, hoping not to be seen. The time for fighting was over, now they urgently needed to get to the border. One stopped close by. They heard him noisily sniffing the air.

  ‘What is it?’ someone called.

  ‘Dunno, I smell something different.’

  ‘Food?’ the other called back.

  ‘He’s always thinking about his stomach!’ joined a third voice.

  ‘You coming or staying?’

  ‘I’m coming.’ They heard the rush of feet as the bear ran to catch up with the others.

  They lay in the grass afraid to breathe in case they gave themselves away. The bears carried on their conversation in the distance.

  ‘He always manages to find something to eat. He was eating the yellow berries yesterday! Ha, you should have seen him trying to...’

  The banter drifted off into the distance, toward the plateau.

  ‘Now let’s move, this way,’ Sonny urged them.

  They walked on in a daze, tired and thirsty, with the afternoon sun sapping their energy. Sonny kept their direction by watching the path of the overhead sun. Without warning, they stumbled out of the high grass onto the flat plains, as if they’d stepped out from behind the wall of a maze. The plains rolled away to the south, endlessly similar terrain, stretching as far as the eye could see.