by Jasmine Walt
We made it several miles into the forest before I caught the fresh scent of humans, and I stopped dead. Fenris and Annia went still behind me as I lifted my head, trying to discern where the scent was coming from and any other information I could glean.
“There’s a group of humans up ahead,” I told Fenris. “At least three of them, all men.”
“It might be a scouting party,” Fenris warned. “We must proceed with caution.” He relayed the message to Annia.
“You two wait here,” I said. “I’ll go ahead and check it out.”
“You shouldn’t go alone,” Fenris protested.
“I’ll be fine on my own against a couple of humans, and I want you here with Annia so I can report back to both of you on what I find. Besides, I doubt these humans will think I’m anything other than wild animal.”
“They may try to kill you,” Fenris warned. “Most humans see wildcats as a threat.”
I gave him a slow wink. “Then I’ll just have to make sure they don’t see me.”
I slunk through the trees, silent as a wraith as I followed my nose toward the strangers. The sound of their voices grew louder as I approached, and a tingle went down my spine as I realized they were speaking Northian, not Coazi. Were these men from the camp the shaman had told us about? Or could they be some of the missing delegates?
I crouched behind a tree, peering through the leaves into a clearing. Three men dressed in dirty khakis sat with their backs up against the trees, legs extended as they munched on what looked to be an early lunch. They boasted red armbands tied around their upper right arms – the classic mark of Resistance members. My heart sank: so it really was the Resistance behind Iannis’s disappearance.
“Say, d’you think we can finally get back to camp now?” the fellow closest to me asked around a mouthful of food. He had curly blond hair and a scruffy, tobacco-stained beard. “I figure we’ve combed these woods long enough. There’s no one out here but us.”
I held back a snort at that, glad that this particular scouting party didn’t seem to have any shifters in it. If it had, they would have scented us already and we’d have been forced to fight.
“We gotta wait until Daresh’s done sniffing around,” another of the men said. “You know how fussy he is about this crap. Wants to make sure no stone is left unturned.”
The blond rolled his eyes. “Can’t we just leave his tiger-striped ass here? Surely he can catch up with us on those four legs of his.”
I froze. So there was a shifter in their party after all. My senses went on high alert, trying to determine if there was a tiger shifter in the area, but I didn’t scent or hear anyone other than the three humans before me.
“Fenris,” I called as I began to creep away from the clearing. “We need to get out of here. There’s a tiger shifter on the prowl, and if he finds us –”
The wind shifted, and I stiffened as I caught the scent of a tiger male. The rustle of a bush was the only warning I got before he sprang out of the undergrowth, claws extended and mouth open in a ferocious snarl. I leapt to the side, and he sailed past me, landing a good ten feet away. Heart pounding, I took off running at full speed before he had a chance to turn around, making sure to head away from Annia and Fenris. There was no way I was going to stand and fight a shifter who was three times my weight, when I was three times faster at top speed.
Unfortunately, the forest terrain meant I couldn’t run at top speed, so I could hear Daresh crashing through the underbrush behind me. Sailing over a fallen tree log, I gave one last burst of speed, then took a flying leap into a tree. I scrambled up until I was out of the tiger’s reach, digging my claws into the bark for purchase, then clung to a thick branch and changed back into human form.
The tiger shifter came into view just as the white light faded from my eyes, and I watched as he skidded to a stop in front of the tree. His orange eyes glowed malevolently as he snarled, but before he could jump up into the tree after me, I shot out my hand and shouted a Word. Ice blasted from my palm, and the tiger yelped, jumping back out of the way before the stream of magic hit him. It hit the ground instead, and a sheet of ice crackled across the surface like the top of a frozen lake. Except this was summer, so the ice started melting immediately.
Okay, so maybe using ice wasn’t such a great idea. I would have preferred fire, but I didn’t want to risk catching the entire forest ablaze.
Growling, the tiger shifter stretched a tentative paw toward the ice. He yelped as his pads came into contact with the frigid ground, then snatched the paw back and growled at me again. I lifted my hand threateningly in the air again, magic glowing around my palm, and he froze.
Stalemate.
Fuck this, I thought as the ice on the ground rapidly melted into a puddle of water. Iannis had been training me to rely on Words to cast spells, but my Loranian repertoire was limited, and that shifter’s friends were going to be arriving soon. I could already hear them blundering through the woods, though still some way off. So instead I aimed my glowing hand at the shifter and willed him with all my might to freeze in place.
Magic shot out of my palm and blasted him straight in the chest. A blue-green glow rippled over the tiger as he froze in place, mouth still open in a soundless snarl. He stood stock-still, like a statue carved from orange, black, and white marble. If marble were fuzzy. And had really long fangs.
A ripple of fatigue washed over me, which was typical whenever I pulled magic directly from the well inside me instead of using Words. But I pushed it back, then used an illusion spell to make myself blend in with the tree. I watched the three humans charge into the clearing, weapons drawn as their eyes darted around anxiously.
“Fenris,” I called out mentally, scenting him and Annia nearby. “Hang back. I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Stay back unless I call for you.”
“What the fuck is going on?” the red-haired man snarled as he caught sight of the tiger shifter. “Daresh, why the hell are you just standing there?”
“Whoa,” the blond said, crouching down in front of the tiger and waving a hand in front of his face. “He’s like a statue or something.”
“By the Ur-God.” The third man, a stocky guy with long brown hair pulled back into a tail, grabbed blondie by the belt and dragged him away. “Someone’s cast a spell on him! There must be a witch in this forest.”
“It must be one of those shamans!” the redhead howled. “Daresh must’ve run across the Coazi, and now look what’s happened!”
“Are they still somewhere around here?” Blondie swiveled his head around frantically.
“I dunno, but I’m not gonna wait to find out! I knew this was a bad idea, having them send us out without any kind of protection against these magic-wielding savages. You guys do whatever you want, I’m getting out of here before they come back and turn us all to stone!”
Red sprinted from the clearing as though his pants had caught fire, and his companions quickly followed, not even sparing a glance at their shifter comrade. I arched an eyebrow at the tiger shifter, who was still capable of glaring daggers at me – his eyes were practically shooting flames.
“Guess your buddies aren’t real big on loyalty, are they?”
Surprise radiated from the tiger – he’d been so shocked by my spell he hadn’t realized he could still use mindspeak. “Their loyalty is to the Resistance, not to me specifically,” he growled. “I don’t blame them for running from an abomination like you. What the fuck are you?”
I dropped from the tree, landing in a crouch about ten feet away from the tiger, and gave him a taunting smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“A hybrid.” Disgust rippled through his words. “I’ve heard rumors a shifter with mage powers existed, but I thought it was a legend.” He didn’t sound impressed.
Ignoring him, I turned my head in the direction I’d scented Fenris and Annia from earlier. “You guys can come out now. It’s safe.” Sitting down,
I rested my back against the tree, then drew my knees to my chest and rested my forearms across them as I waited. A few minutes later, Fenris and Annia entered the small clearing. Their eyes widened at the sight of the frozen tiger shifter.
“Is that guy still alive?” Annia asked, awe in her voice as she crouched down in front of the tiger shifter and waved her hand in front of his face, much like his companion had done to him earlier. “He looks like a taxidermist went to town on him.”
“Tell her to get her hand out of my face,” Daresh growled.
“Or what?” I sneered. “You’ll bite her hand off?”
The tiger shifter said nothing, but the scorching fury burning inside him was so palpable I thought he’d set the tinder-dry forest on fire.
“Yes, he’s still alive, and really put out about the fact that you’re waving your hand in front of his face,” I told Annia. “He told me to ask you to stop.”
“Really?” Laughter tinged Annia’s voice. “That is just too weird.” Grinning, she patted the tiger on his head, then stood up and turned to face me. “How the hell did you do that to him?”
“I’ve got skills.”
“Indeed,” Fenris said dryly. “Have you used any of those skills to get information out of him, about the Resistance camp and Iannis’s whereabouts?”
“Not yet. Figured I’d wait until you guys got here first. Do you want to do the honors?”
“Certainly.” Fenris turned toward Daresh. “What business does a Resistance camp have in Coazi territory?”
“I’m not telling anything to the likes of you.”
I stood up and approached the tiger shifter, lifting my right hand in the air as I did so. Blue-green fire snapped and crackled from my palm, the flames licking at my fingers. “I’m not sure if the rumors mentioned this or not, but fire is kind of my specialty. Now that you’re not moving around anymore, there’s no reason I can’t slow-roast you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” The tiger sounded indignant and fearful all at once.
“Wanna bet?” Reaching out, I trailed my hand above his spine, letting the flames come within a breath of his fur.
“Alright, alright!” Panic screeched through the tiger’s mental voice. “I’ll tell you. Just get that away from me!”
“Talk first, and I might.” I raised my hand slightly so that I wouldn’t accidentally set him on fire, but remained close enough so that he could feel the heat of my flame.
“The Resistance has always had a camp out here,” the tiger shifter said hurriedly. “We negotiated with the Coazi a while back to let us hide out on their lands, as we do with a lot of the tribes across the country. They’re not allies, but because they hate mages too, they let us stay here as long as we respect the land and follow their restrictions.”
“So you’re not out here for any specific reason?” I pressed as Fenris relayed the information to Annia verbally. “Like, say, to take down an airship of mages passing through?”
“We didn’t take down the airship, but we were told to expect the delegates’ arrival.” Daresh’s voice turned smug. “We prepared some very special accommodations for them.”
Fenris growled at that, but hope filled me – Daresh had just admitted the Resistance had the delegates. “So you’ve taken all the delegates prisoner, then?” I demanded.
“All but the Chief Mage.” Some of the smugness faded from Daresh’s voice. “The idiot we planted aboard the airship killed him.”
No! I nearly screamed aloud as shock and grief rippled through me. But then I remembered the serapha charms around my chest, and forced myself to remain calm. The tiger shifter might have believed he was telling the truth, but his intel was wrong – Iannis was alive. The charm didn’t lie.
“How did he die?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know better.
“We weren’t given specifics. But trust me, if he’d been alive we would have brought him in. He was our main target.”
I gritted my teeth – the tiger shifter had confirmed our suspicions, but we were still collecting more questions than answers.
“Where is your camp?” Fenris demanded.
The shifter hesitated, so I lowered my hand, allowing the flame to singe his orange fur. “Oww, oww, oww! Okay! We’ve taken over an abandoned mining village at the base of the Sarania Mountain Range.”
I frowned, calling up a mental image of the map we’d studied earlier. “That’s to the west, right?” There were two mountain ranges flanking the plains here.
“Yeah, if you head west through the forest, you’ll come right to it.”
I lifted my head to look at Fenris and Annia. “Guess we’d better head over there, huh?”
“It’s the only lead we’ve got, so yeah.” Annia sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked off into the distance. “Not that we’re going to find the Chief Mage there, since this asshole insists he’s dead.” She shot the shifter a glare, who returned it in full force.
“Even if he isn’t there, the delegates are and we need to try and free them anyway,” Fenris said. “They are mages, after all, and could be useful to us.”
I groaned, not at all thrilled about the idea of working with a bunch of stuffy mages to rescue Iannis. But I couldn’t deny the extra magepower would be useful. “Alright then, let’s go.”
“Wait!” The tiger shifter yelled. “You’re not just going to leave me like this, are you?”
I turned back toward him and arched a brow. “If you were in our position, what would you do?”
“I’d probably kill you,” the tiger shifter admitted reluctantly.
“Then you should thank Magorah that we’re not you,” I told him.
Hefting our packs higher onto our shoulders, we left the clearing and headed west, the tiger shifter cursing us all the way until we’d traveled out of mindspeak range.
“How long do you suppose it will take for the spell to wear off?” Annia asked after a while. “We’d better be gone from the camp by the time he storms in there, howling for revenge.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Perhaps we should have killed him after all. He would not show us any mercy when he recovered the use of his limbs.
“Two to three days,” Fenris said, and we both turned to him, surprised by the certainty in his voice. “That should be time enough.”
I arched a brow. “Are you sure about that?”
“Sure enough to bet our lives on it.” Fenris strode past us, taking the lead with his compass firmly in his hand. “Now let’s go and find these traitors before they kill the delegates they do have in their possession.”
10
Three hours later, I stood on one of the topmost branches of a pine tree, one arm gripping the trunk as my other trained a telescope on the abandoned mining village at the base of the Sarania Mountain Range. Men were moving in between a handful of dilapidated brick buildings and sagging wooden cabins. The buildings had been painted over to approximate the dry, pale coloring of the desert landscape, making the compound difficult to spot from the sky. Many of the buildings sported boarded-up windows and missing slats in the siding. Only to be expected, considering that mining on tribal lands had been outlawed over a century ago, but I still wasn’t looking forward to spending time here.
“Can’t really see much going on from here,” I admitted to Fenris, who was waiting on the ground with Annia. “There are a few guys stationed at the entrance, and two on the rooftops with bows. A few guys are coming and going in the streets, but I have a feeling most everyone’s indoors.”
“Very well. Why don’t you come down then, before they spot you, so we can get on with our plan?”
I snorted. “They’re not going to spot me.” My perch was too far away for me to be easily spotted amongst the sea of trees, and I wasn’t sticking my head out like an idiot for anyone to take a shot at me. But I shimmied back down onto the ground anyway.
“So what’s our cover story?” Annia asked as I placed my hands on Fenris’s shoulders and mutter
ed an illusion spell to change his features. I lightened his hair, made him taller and thinner, and got rid of his beard. It was doubtful anyone out here would know him, but I was sure the higher-ups in the Resistance would be keeping tabs on Fenris because of his unusual relationship with Iannis. No way was I taking chances.
“We’re going to tell them that we’re recent recruits, and that Rylan Baine sent us out here.” I stepped back from Fenris, then used the spell to give myself short, platinum blonde hair, yellow jaguar shifter eyes, and a shorter but curvier frame. “From what I can see, they don’t have any electrical lines set up, so they won’t be able to send telegrams. By the time they reach my cousin and ask him for confirmation, we’ll be long gone.”
“If they don’t have electrical means of communication, it’s highly likely they will have a bird shifter of some kind to relay messages,” Fenris said, looking worried.
“Yeah, but even if they do, it’ll take a while for him to deliver the message and then get an answer,” Annia said. “At least a day or two. That’s more than enough time to get the information we need.”
It took us another thirty minutes to emerge from the tree line, and as soon as we did the guards stood up straight at the sight of us. The two guys on the roof trained their bows in our direction, and I was glad that we had a shooter on our side as well. Annia might not have had the eyesight of a shifter, but she was still damn good with her crossbow.
“Stop right there!” one of the guards stationed on the ground shouted, stepping forward. He was a human, with short black hair, and like his comrades was dressed in a long-sleeved khaki shirt and pants. The only bits of color were the red band tied around his upper arm, and a medal pinned above his heart that was shaped like a drop of blood. A hand went to the hilt of his sword, testing the blade’s clearance, though he didn’t draw. “Hands in the air!”