"In a sense," he answered. "The Illusion picks up what's behind you and projects that image forward."
"So it's like camoflage. I guess that's why there's that small distortion on the edge. It's the border between the magic and reality." She walked completely around him, then stopped before him. "I can definitely see the green of your eyes, and they certainly stand out. But from a distance and from behind, I'd never notice you."
"That's what matters," he nodded, willing the Illusion to stop. "Am I here again?"
"In all your wondrous glory," she told him. "That's amazing, my mate! Is that mine or yours?"
"If you want it, it's yours," he shrugged. "But you're going to look a bit silly running around with nothing but a belt."
"Who's here to notice?" she asked.
"Did you have any trouble while I was working?"
"Nah," she sounded. "That lobster thing hasn't come back yet, but it's about due. I was kinda hoping that it would show up while you were working."
"Don't bother it, Jesmind," he told her.
"What you didn't know wouldn't hurt me," she grinned.
"It would have been a little hard to to hide that much," he chided.
"I'm curious."
"If you're that desperate for lobster, I'll Conjure you some," he told her. "Just don't try to eat the one that comes in here."
"Spoilsport," she teased. "How do you feel?"
"Like I've been dragged behind a horse for a few months," he answered honestly. "I'm hoping the second one won't take me as long. Since I made the first one, and it seems to work, I'll know what I'm doing a little better the next time."
"Well here, let's get you into one of the springs," she said, taking his paw. "I'll fix you something to eat, and you can soak before you get some sleep."
"That sounds wonderful," he sighed sincerely, letting her lead him away.
After a long, relaxing soak in a hot spring and a filling meal, Tarrin got some much-needed sleep. he slept longer than he intended to sleep, and because of that he started on the second belt almost immediately once he got up, almost forgetting to Conjure Jesmind the food and some things to help her pass the time before he committed himself to his work.
The second belt took him only a day and a half to make, but just because he had experience now, that didn't make it any easier. It did make the process of laying down the weaves a little faster, and he had to rest less often. But when he finished with that one, he was even more worn out than with the first, as the concerted effort of making both belts without proper rest between the two projects had taken its toll on him. He finished when Jesmind was taking a light nap, dozing in cat form just outside the circle he'd drawn on the stone that told her not to come any closer to him than that. Tarrin didn't disturb her, moving to a stable pool of water to test the belt. He put it on and activated it, then stepped out onto the surface of the water as if it were solid ground. Nodding to himself, he returned to solid ground and deactivated it, then went over to the food pack he'd Conjured and pulled out a meal of bread, cheese, and salted ham. He fell on the meal ravenously, finishing it and continuing to deplete the pack, until he realized that he'd eaten everything he'd left for his mate while he was working. He solved the problem by Conjuring a large side of beef out of some inn's kitchen somewhere, one that hadn't been cooked yet, but the meat's raw state in no way discouraged him from starting to devour it.
"Mmm," Jesmind hummed in her humanoid form, coming up behind him and sitting down beside him. She was still nude, but to his relief, she wasn't wearing the belt. That would look a little silly. She had probably played with its magic for a while, then got bored with it and put it away. "Done already?"
He nodded, taking another piece of meat off the flank with his claws. "When are you going to put on some clothes?"
"As soon as we leave here," she told him. "You may not notice it, but it's rather hot in here. I'd rather sweat into the open air rather than my clothes." She ran her paw up his back sensually. "Besides, I think you enjoy the view."
"I can't argue with that," he admitted with a slight smile. "As soon as I get some sleep, we'll be on our way again, my mate. and we'll have to pick up the pace."
"That's fine with me. I'm starting to get restless in here. It's hard to sit and do nothing while--" her voice broke a little, and she looked away.
He put his paw around her shoulders. "It was necessary," he told her gently. "But now we have the tools we need to move swiftly and without worrying about being seen, and that's going to give us a much better chance to get there and get her back."
"I know," she said, putting her head against his shoulder. "Someday we'll have to bring Jasana here," she said. "I kind of like it here. It'll be quite a journey, though, just to take a bath in a hot spring."
"I've been here long enough to get a good lock on this place, Jesmind. I can Teleport back here whenever I please."
"You can?" He nodded. She smiled up at him, then kissed him lingeringly on the lips. "I knew there had to be some good use for all that magic of yours, my mate."
"Yes, it can do alot more than amuse you, can't it?" he asked dryly.
She laughed and slapped him on the back with a paw. "Move over," she commanded. "I haven't had any meat that wasn't crusted with salt for two days."
After a heavily filling meal, Tarrin caught up on his sleep, lounging in the heat in his cat form, laying on one of the heavy fur coats he'd made. It was quite relaxing, and the coat had Jesmind's scent all over it, which pleased him. He always seemed to sleep better when surrounded by the scent of a mate.
When he woke up, with Jesmind sleeping up against him in her cat form, he realized that their time in the hot spring was at an end. That saddened him a little. He had spent good time here with Jesmind, had healed their relationship here, and though the circumstances of their visit were dire, he would leave the place with fond memories. He had taken his break from reality, though, and it was time to get back to things. He had to rescue his daughter. Though he had enjoyed his time here, that thought had never been far from his mind.
The vacation was over.
Rising up, he licked affectionately at his mate's cheek and ear, grooming her. It woke her up, but she submitted to his attention, lifting her head to give him more access to her fur. For the first time in quite a while, he heard her purring. Though the loss of their daughter had deeply pained them both, at least for the moment, she had found enough contentment to purr. He groomed her for quite a while, prolonging her pleasure as much as he could, but the inexorable ticking of the clock that so ruled them intruded on his intimate moment.
Sighing inwardly, he stopped, then rose up and padded away from her, giving himself enough room to shapeshift. He did so without thought, rising up to his full height and looking around the chamber, knowing that it was time to go. "Pack up," he told her in a sober voice that was all business once again.
Jesmind shapeshifted laying on the coat, then rolled over on her back and sighed. "We have to come back here," she told him, putting a paw on her stomach as he found his vest and slipped it on. She had piled the clothes they weren't wearing by the food pack, so he reached down and grabbed her breeches, then lobbed them at her. They landed on her shins, and she sat up and looked at them. "Ah well, back to silly human customs," she mused. "I forgot how free it feels to go without clothes."
"You just like me staring at you."
"Of course, but there's still something nice about being naked."
"Be glad you're Were. After five hundred years, could you imagine how you'd look if you didn't regenerate?"
Jesmind laughed. "Gravity would have done a number on me, that's for sure," she said as she started pulling on her pants. "My breasts would be hanging down around my hips."
"So, there's at least one thing clothes are good for," he told her calmly as he picked up the food pack. He made sure it was empty, then tossed it aside. He had no more use for it. He tossed Jesmind her shirt, which she pulled on, then made sure to hand
her the magical belt he'd made, which she'd placed at the bottom of the stack of folded clothing. She took it and put it on immediately, touching the cathead design of the buckle gently.
"You have the hang of how it works?"
She nodded. "I practiced with it while you were working on the other one. You should have warned me," she accused.
"About what?"
"That if I stepped out onto boiling water, it would burn my feet!"
"I thought you'd have the sense to realize that, Jesmind," he told her.
"You did it!"
"I can't be hurt by heat either," he said mildly. "Forgot about that, didn't you?"
Jesmind glowered at him, then made sure the Cat's Claws were settled on her wrists.
They were ready to go in a matter of minutes, and Tarrin stopped to look back. It had been a good stop. He and Jesmind had repaired their damaged relationship, and he had made items that would help them greatly in the journey to come. They had lost eight days, but with the ability to move on top of the snow, they could quickly regain some of that lost time. He checked his book, then his watch, and realized that they had actually lost ten days. His pause before making the objects, the pause in between, and the pause afterwards added up to two days. There was only eighteen days left. They were far behind schedule!
"Come on, we have to go!" he said with sudden urgency. "We're behind!"
"We are?" she asked in surprise.
"By two days!" he said with a growl. "I knew I shouldn't have rested so much!"
"You had to rest, Tarrin!" she protested. "It wouldn't have done you any good to start out if you couldn't walk without your knees buckling!"
"I should have let you carry me," he said, sick with himself. They had to make that time back up! "I should have given you the map and let you carry me while I rested!"
"Calm down, my mate," she told him. "These belts you made will let us go very fast. We can make the time back up. Don't get stressed."
He was about to give her a nasty retort, but he blew out his breath and collected himself. She was right. They would move much faster with the belts, and the combination of the Illusion and the fact that they would leave no trail would protect them from aerial hunters. "You're right," he growled. "But we can't lollygag around anymore. We have to go, and go now."
"Well, let's go then," she said, touching the belt around her waist, then bending down and picking up the two heavy coats he'd made and the white cloaks she'd made. She handed him his, and he tied them in a roll behind his shoulders again, a cushion in case he accidentally rose up into the roof of a cave. Jesmind did the same, pulling a bit in discomfort at the fur-lined heavy shirt he'd Conjured for her. "Let's go before I melt," she complained.
The passages on the other side of the hot spring were much easier to traverse than the ones down which they'd originally came, and that, he realized, was why the ones on that side had animals in them. They moved with great speed, almost haste, rushing along the passages and galleries, pausing only when a fork in the tunnels made him pause to use magic to determine the path they needed to take. The caves turned into a labyrinth of interconnecting passages, and they were inhabited. They saw several smaller lobster-like creatures, some huge flying bats, slugs and a centipede that had to be twenty spans long. Some of them fed off of mushrooms and fungi that grew on the walls, and the rest fed off the ones that ate the fungi. There were some pretty big animals, but none of them actually attacked the swiftly moving Were-cats. Tarrin guessed that since they'd never seen anything like them before--or sensed, since some didn't have eyes--they decided to leave the strange creatures alone, uncertain as to how dangerous they were.
Since they weren't harassed, the two Were-cats managed to get to the cave opening on his map in less than a day. The fact that they'd not once had to creep or crawl or climb cliffs or swim across lakes helped significantly. The light that flooded the tunnel made both of them move a little faster, knowing that they had come to the end of their journey, but Tarrin was a bit wary of leaving the safety and protection of the caves. But it was necessary; they could move much faster overland, and the route to the pass on his map was much shorter going through the passes than trying to find a way to get there through the caves. They reached the cave opening, which was a small ledge looking down into a deep chasm. The sky was cloudless and a deep blue, the air thin--they had come up a great deal since entering the caves--and it looked to be about noon or so. Jesmind stopped at the edge of the ledge and looked down into the chasm as icy stiff wind whipped at them.
"How do we get across?"
"Magic," he answered, putting his arm around her waist. "Don't wriggle."
"I'm all yours, love," she said lightly, putting her arms around his neck.
After scanning the skies to make sure nothing could see them, Tarrin set about the task of getting across. It was a simple matter to weave a bridge of Air across, but it angled down, and the bridge had no friction to give the Were-cat traction. He ended up having to slide down his ramp carefully, and activated his belt just before jumping over onto the snow. The snow took his weight completely, and he didn't leave so much as a clawmark in the snow. But unlike the water, the rough surface of the water gave the pads on his feet good traction. Jesmind's foot sank into the snow, and she quickly pulled it out. "Oops, I forgot to turn it on," she admitted, then set her foot down again, this time having it tread solidly on the surface of the snow. Jesmind took off the roll of her coat and cloak, put on the coat, then pulled the cloak on over her shoulders over it. The wind whipped it around her body, but she made no real notice of it. "Put on your cloak," she ordered. "When we're not hiding behind the Illusion, they'll still make us hard to spot against the snow."
Tarrin nodded, pulling out the cloak and putting it on. Jesmind winced as she looked around. "It's really bright," she said, shielding her eyes from the sun. The sunlight was reflecting off the unbroken surface of the snow, creating a blinding glare.
Tarrin Conjured two of the crystalline visors the Selani wore and handed Jesmind one of them. "These will cut down on the glare," he told her, fixing his over his eyes, causing the world to be stained with shades of dark violet. It did help reduce the blinding light reaching his eyes.
"Handy," Jesmind said, putting hers on and looking around as Tarrin knelt down and took out the map.
"We go that way," he said, pointing south after studying it a moment.
"How long to get to the tundra?"
"I'm really not sure," he frowned. "Maybe fifteen days. But we have to do it in twelve."
"Why twelve?"
"So we can stop to rest before hitting the tundra, and I can figure out how long it's going to take us to make it to Gora Umadar."
"Oh. Are you ready?"
"Hold on. I don't want to have to stop every half hour to check the map. Let me get a good sense of it."
"Take your time, my mate," she assued him, settling the visor on her face a little better. "This thing isn't going to sit very well without ears," she grunted.
"I must have sized it wrong," he said, standing up and pressing his paws to the sides of it. He set his will against the Weave and sent flows of Earth into it, causing the crystal from which it was made to retract. He fitted it to her face, sot he bride of her nose and the ridges of bone just over where human ears would have been would support the visor on her face, then extended the tips so they just slightly wrapped around. That was how he'd fit his, and he'd found that it was both comfortable and made it very hard for the visor to come off. It would even stay on in a fight. "Just remember to pull it up before you try to pull it away from your eyes," he warned.
"That's much better," she said with a thankful smile.
Tarrin finished studying his map, then put it and the book away. "Let's get moving," he announced, activatingthe Illusion that would hide him on the open snow.
"That is so weird," Jesmind laughed as she activated her own, and the two figures of the Were-cats disappeared behind projections of white snow
.
They moved surprisingly fast in their new mode of travel. Being able to run on top of the snow both allowed them to treat it like unobstructed ground and prevented any trail from being left behind. Alot of the time Tarrin expected to take in the mountains was plowing through deep snow, and that too had been removed as a hindrance. Tarrin led with Jesmind following, and since she was so close, she followed the slight distortion the edges of the Illusion created, giving her a visible reference point that would be much harder to see if one was further away. The Illusion wasn't perfect, but it was still enough to hide them from scanning eyes.
That first day, no less than six vrock soared over their heads. Every time they saw one of them, they immiedately stopped and knelt, spreading out their cloaks to widen out the distortion effect and make it less noticable, and waited for the Demon to pass over them. They didn't see them--or at least he didn't think they did--and they were poignant reminders that they were being hunted.
Their presence was proof to him that it had been as he expected. Val knew what he was doing, knew the plan he'd given to the others, and had set out his Demons in the mountains to catch him before he got the pyramid on his own terms. If Tarrin could reach Gora Umadar, Val would be forced to bargain. If Val could catch him before he got there, his bargaining position would be severely hamstrung. Without the immediacy of the Conjunction to give Tarrin weight, he wouldn't be able to demand Jasana's release.
That gave Tarrin a rather grim satisfaction. Tarrin's plan seemed logical, if a bit dicey in some parts, but that was only consistent with his rather unique approach to plans. Find something that seemed good and go with it before it was entirely thought out, which often forced him to go by the seat of his pants once he ran out of plan and still found problem in front of him. It seemed that Val had bought it, had swallowed it hook, line, and sinker...or it seemed that way. Whether it seemed that way or not, all Tarrin needed was for Val to believe that long enough for Tarrin to get to him on Gods' Day. If he could do that, then it didn't matter what Val thought or believed or planned. Tarrin would have the advantage, and it was an advantage that, if played right, he would not lose.
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