by P. S. Power
No beatings either. Except for the morning practice sessions in unarmed combat. In those you were expected to defend yourself however, not suffer meekly as you were lashed over a log. The men standing back and laughing at you for failing, to drive the shame in deep.
It was an unsettling idea, that she wasn’t the lowest being alive. It was in the grand book. The words came to her as they walked, which she muttered.
“Those unclean destroy the world in their passing. Those marked by the Changing God. Those he refused. Those of death. The grand serpent. All these must be removed when possible.” Her voice was soft, enough so that only a few of the others got what she was saying.
The Rabbit man, Greg, snorted at her.
“Words. Here are some others; Behold the Dragon, greatest of all beings. Protector of those in need. When you behold a Dragon in the sky, you may feel peace and rest without worry, for true safety is watching over you, from on high.” He spoke without a single hitch in what he was saying, as if it were a common thing that everyone knew.
Hobson, the Bear from the Shifter Nation walked up, speeding a little to do so since they were all moving toward the promise of breakfast with decent effort.
“That’s nice. What’s it from?” He was looking at Gregory, who shrugged.
“Nothing. I just made it up. My point is that it can be done. It doesn’t have to make sense or be true. I’ve been around enough Humans to learn that lesson. Words are easy things to manipulate. Also, just as an aside, they aren’t unclean either. Not punished by not having a second form. Some of them have thousands of second forms. They simply exist inside of them. In their imaginations. They have different powers, but they aren’t lesser. Not really.”
He walked for a bit, before looking back at her.
“Neither are you. That… Growing up under that kind of thing must be a huge burden on you. I wish I could lift that from you, but…” He seemed pretty miserable but didn’t stop walking. No one else spoke until they were on the other side of the woods, near the base. It had solid buildings made of timber, all painted to match the foliage in the area.
Green and brown, in mottled patterns that had a military feel about it all. It wasn’t pretty, but was fairly fresh. Avery had helped with some of the work, over the years, since it had to be redone occasionally. There was already a group of people waiting, standing or sitting in a half circle, with Hart, the base commander, standing there, all three of the flags behind him, on a low table. His hair was full and steel gray, but his face had thick lines of age.
The man grinned at the people coming in, waving for them to jog over.
“There you all are. Captain Rome and her Red team won this one. A trifecta, even. All three flags were captured or held by red. Not bad for a first effort, Rome. See me in my office after breakfast? I have a mission for you.”
They didn’t salute or do anything fancy. That wasn’t the kind of group they had. She wouldn’t have ever thought about that, except that it had been mentioned each time a new battle camp started.
Not waiting, she moved toward the mess hall. Everyone else followed along with her. Behind her at any rate. Quietly and without gloating, pride tried to fill her in the winning of the game. She tamped that down firmly, since it was a low feeling to have. Pride, lust and envy were among the worst things a being could feel, after all.
The worst was rage though.
Thankfully that wasn’t a big problem for her, most days. Not after everything.
Now it was just hard to feel anything real at all.
Chapter three
After the meal, which was large and filling, if not that well prepared, Avery walked toward the Base Commander’s office. Hart was normally kind toward her, in a fatherly, or perhaps grandfatherly type of way. The gentle man went out of his way to come and find her several times per week, even if they weren’t family directly. At times he asked small duties of her. Helping to paint the buildings for instance. A few times over the years they’d had a shortage of cooks, so he’d requested that she step in there.
Avery had the skills to do that. In many ways she was often better at preparing good meals than the men and women that came in to cook for the camps. They cycled through every six weeks after all. Not everyone was good at fighting and among the two formed it wasn’t considered a great failing, as long as you did what you could to help the whole. So doing that, making food for beings that ate huge amounts was valid to most.
It seemed strange to her that men were put to the task, but no one had ever mentioned it as shameful to them. In fact, some of the better performers at that job were male. It was surprising to her, since among The Gray, men didn’t do homely duties. That was the realm of the wife and mother. They did other things, such as dealt with outsiders, made money doing different works and hunted when it was available.
They traveled, from place to place. In the summer the caravans would move north, going up into Canada. In winter they went south, to one of the different moots. Meeting places for their kind. All Shifters were welcome, but it was where they met with other Gray clans in the main. Avery missed the sense of freedom that moving constantly had given her as a child. All people had to grow up eventually, though. Even if it was less than comfortable.
At the door to the brown and green building, a small place made of wood with a metal roof, Avery hesitated. Not due to willfulness or a wish to shirk her duties. It was just that she had to wonder if her being taken to task by Calley and the others had reached the man inside. It was clear that these people weren’t harsh with the unclean, as a rule. They’d been kind to her and few of them had spoken ill of the Humans even. Avery had kept her thoughts that way to herself for the most part, however. The first time in three years that she’d explained had required others to school her. Not with a beating, but it was clear she was considered to be in the wrong in what she knew.
That to these folk her clan weren’t the Elect at all amazed her. They were thought just a group that abused their friends and outsiders alike. A cult. What that truly meant she didn’t know, but the idea that their beliefs were false struck at her very heart. Not, however, as she would have suspected even a week before, with terror.
No, part of her liked the idea. It would explain a lot of things. Like how the Elders would at times punish people when they didn’t get their way, instead of following the word of the book strictly. As they demanded of the rest of them each day. It would also explain the lying to and cheating of those not in the clan. Technically that was allowed in order to preserve life or survive in harsh times. The Elders had done that at every turn, as far as she’d seen. Always claiming that it was within the writ.
Even as a child she’d known that wasn’t truly honest. Avery had never spoken of it though, not wishing to be disobedient. That was a great wrong, in the eyes of the Changing God. At least that had always been what she’d been taught. Now, having seen people live differently and not burst into flames with each word, she had to wonder if it had simply been a good way to control her. All of them.
At the door she went inside the office without knocking first, which was the protocol there. The portal was never locked. The Commander had rooms in the back of the small space, so that others could find him, no matter what time it was. Even as he slept. That had always been reassuring to her. Like home, if a bit too stable and in one place all the time.
“Commander? Reporting to duty.” Her voice was soft, since she didn’t know what was coming. It often was with other people involved. Almost anyone, to be honest.
“Rome. Good work on the exercise last night. I know that you’re tired, but as I mentioned I have a mission.” There was a smile on his lips, but his eyes seemed a bit dead for some reason. Like he thought she might be displeased with the effort needed.
She was sleepy, but as long as she had enough food she could stay awake. Otherwise she was going to sleep, but that was just her flawed nature, not a thing she had control over.
“What’s needed, sir?
I noticed the cooking was a bit poor at breakfast. Do they need help in the kitchen? I can do that now, if you wish?” Swallowing, she winced, since she was being too forward. Her part was to listen to this man, not suggest how he direct her.
Instead of barking at her angrily, he chuckled a bit.
“Not this time. It’s a real mission. Working with a Human organization. The Center for Disease Control. The CDC, so you won’t be confused later. They normally go by that. It’s their job to locate and prevent illnesses in different locations. Right now there’s a hemorrhagic blood born disease outbreak in the Congo.” He stopped, then pulled out a map and waved for her to come around the desk so that she could look at the thing. With a single weathered finger he pointed to the correct place. In Africa. A land so far away that she’d never been there herself.
After a moment he went on, looking at her to make sure she understood where the problem was.
“It’s a war torn region. One in five people have been raped in the last five years. Death is common and frankly, the Human doctors are too afraid to go in alone. I don’t blame them. As things stand, they’d almost certainly be killed inside a week or two. The U.S. Military can’t go in, because of politics, so they’re contracting us. Not that the training camp is the only resource pool for this effort. On the good side, all Shifters are immune to this type of disorder. The difficulty is that it’s dealing with Humans. Some of our people have problems with that.” He didn’t mention why, but it seemed to make him angry just to think about.
If it was about the Chosen being forced to handle and work with Humans she couldn’t tell. Then, her part in the day, unless ordered to do differently, was to set aside that kind of thing. That was what Calley and the others had said.
“I can do it. Am I to go in alone?” There was a certain sense in that. After all, losing her wouldn’t be that great of a thing, over all. She was young and only a serpent.
“Not at all. We’re sending four battle groups in. I was requested to put a detail together to protect President Samson’s son. His group is going in the first wave. You’ll be his body guard, more or less. The trick there will be to make it seem as if you aren’t. The official appointment will be as an adjunct food service agent. We’ll send you in with provisions, instead of buying or hunting what is needed on the ground the whole time. That as well, however, which you’ll also be responsible for. It’s a new program we’re trying out. If it works, we’ll ramp up the training for field cooks…” The way he spoke led her to think it wasn’t a real program.
She nodded however, understanding, she thought.
“So, the group commander will assign me several assistants, one of which will be this man? Then I’ll be able to guard him. During the day at least.” She shook her head trying to work out how to do better than that, without being obvious about it.
Hart smiled.
“I won’t tell you how to get it done. Just do the best you can. You’ll be on your own, as far as chain of command. Not that Lewis is going to let you get into too much trouble. Meet with her first thing. You’ll need to ship out in six hours. Again, the important part of this is preventing anyone except Lewis from knowing that you’re a guard detail. This will probably take one to three months.” The man waited, though she didn’t understand why that was.
Probably having to work with Humans, but Avery didn’t think she could taint them much.
“I’ll see to that.” It didn’t totally make sense to her, but she wasn’t there to question her orders. Which, she suddenly understood, was what the man was expecting. For her to refuse to go. It was a war zone, which made it less than perfect, but these CDC people needed her aid, so she would give it. No matter what they were.
Avery thought that she was going to be left to her own devices for the whole thing, but Commander Hart wasn’t that cruel. He had a packet of data for her, which included plans for a field kitchen, a gear allotment for that and preserved food packs, as well as stored provisions which would allow for cooking and limited baking if she were clever.
There were also combat related things for her, which would be delivered on location. That was a risk, since taking her own gear in made more sense. It was probably a portion of sending her. She was both expendable and a Dragon. If she were left unarmed, she was still formidable in a fight. Not unbeatable, but it gave her some small chance to survive. That wasn’t her goal, however. No, the orders were clear on that point.
She needed to find President Samson’s son as soon as she was on the ground and work out how to keep him safe. The thing that came to mind was not letting him go into a war zone, but that wasn’t the point. A man needed to be willing to risk himself, or he’d become weak and shriveled inside. It was simply that having him die while working for the Shifter Nation would cause others to lose faith. It could anyway. Perhaps, Avery considered, that was the wrong idea. It wasn’t faith they might lose, but hope.
Hart handed over a last packet, smiling. It was a large but plain looking envelope. Not too thick, but containing at least ten pages. When she glanced in, the top never having been glued down into place, she got the idea. There was a picture, along with a lot of information about the President’s son.
“You already know Gregory? It’s in the files that you had a class together these last weeks. Greg Samson. This is a basic picture and information packet. You’ll notice that we have line travel for this, thanks to him. He works with the Coalition of Nations and was able to pull strings that way. It’s rather massive, since otherwise we’d have you all boarding a plane in a few hours instead of getting the CDC team in with a guard before they’re on the ground. On the good side you won’t have to face the Line Walker himself. Apparently there’s a Vampire woman that’s been taught to do that as well, however that works. Some think she’s a Demon in hiding, but the information is sketchy that way. If you can find out anything about how that functions, do it. That isn’t your mission, but it can’t hurt, if you get a chance. We have some data, but it’s all a bit sketchy. If you do find out anything, let me know as soon as possible?”
Nodding, Avery knew she had to figure out what to do, instead of just following along with what the orders said. It was even built in, right there on the papers, that she could pretty much do anything she needed to in order to make it work right. Guarding Greg. It was also clear that no one expected her to actually do much in regards to meal preparation. That was probably a mistake, since nothing would sell the idea that she was there for a reason like actually doing a good job would.
That part was a surprise to her. Not that Gregory was related to the President of the Chosen, but that he’d been forced to work with someone like her. It was dangerous for him, if nothing else. Why, just the night before the man had been shot by her. Avery didn’t let herself wince at that one. It had been her mission at the time and his job to hide well enough not to get hit. He’d failed at his task. Not that he hadn’t survived the whole thing to learn how to do better. Shifters were good at doing things like that, which was why they worked as mercenaries.
They could keep fighting well past the point where most other fighters died. Even beings of great power tried not to face them on the battle field.
The Commander told her more for a while, going over how to get things done, as well as her powers in the situation. Those were oddly great, considering she was simply supposed to set up a kitchen for their people in the field. Even at that they were bringing enough rations for people to eat cold if they needed. It wasn’t a real program at all, just her cover. She was also getting the ability to draw personnel from the forces going at need. Embarrassingly she had leave from the President to pretend to be interested in Gregory, so that he wouldn’t feel bad about her being there all the time. It was put a bit more bluntly than that, in a way that even she understood to be mildly sexual in nature.
Not that she wanted to do that kind of thing. She could, no doubt. She’d had a woman’s instruction from her mother and some of the other ladies. Positions
to use, as well as how to provide lubrication in case her future husband was too rough with her. She had no interest in that kind of thing at the moment, but could probably perform well enough to make it work, if it came to that.
The biggest drawback to that plan was that she was rather plain, as far as looks went. Clear skinned, true. All shifters were. Free of major scars as well. Her hair was interesting enough she had to guess, if a bit curly and unruly. Not long, but at battle camp that wasn’t a requirement, the stuff having gotten in the way most of the time. So she’d gotten the man who cut hair to do hers as well. It had grown back to about shoulder length already from the last cropping.
It would probably be enough to simply request Gregory be assigned to her team. That was going to require getting with Commander Lewis before she left. How that was supposed to work, Avery didn’t know at all. Blinking, she realized that the man in front of her was simply staring. Not speaking any longer. Also that she’d blanked on whatever he’d just said, which was incredibly rude of her.
“Sorry. Can I speak to Commander Lewis here, or…” She didn’t know the situation, but the woman probably wasn’t going to be coming in to the base there first. That didn’t even make sense.
Hart snickered a bit, then moved to tap on his computer for a few moments.
“I have her cell number. It should work if she hasn’t left yet. We’re doing this in waves. I also have contact data for Eve Benson. The line walker that’ll be taking you all in. Try Lewis first, since I don’t really want to tick off a Greater Demon if she is one.”
He sounded pretty serious about that, so, moving to the phone on his desk, Avery stood there for a bit, realizing that she’d never actually used a telephone in her life. The Gray didn’t allow them, except for the Elders, who truly used them only in emergency. Looking at the numbers that had been written for her on a piece of paper she was about to simply admit that to Hart when he looked up from what he was doing, then nodded a few times.