Lost

by Dean Murray

  "You're pulling my leg, right?"

  Celeste pointed up ahead and I got my first look at a deep-bayou alligator. To say it was huge would have been an understatement. It looked like it was twenty feet long and pushing fifteen hundred pounds. Before seeing it I wouldn't have thought there was anything in the bayou other than the lamias that could threaten a full-grown hybrid. I would have been wrong. Down in the water where the hybrid's mobility would be hampered, there wasn't any guarantee that a hybrid could take down a monster like that.

  Its sheer size would make it harder to get at anything vital and I had a suspicion that its thick skin would be resistant even to my hybrid claws. As if that wasn't enough, it weighed enough that I wouldn't be able to manhandle it like I could have a smaller creature. Lifting something like that, while it was thrashing and struggling would be like trying to lift a ton and a half of dead weight.

  "Do we have to worry about one of those things attacking us when we're inside the boat?"

  "Possibly. All of the big predators are going to view Ash and Kristin as wounded, easy prey. The boat usually scares everything away, it's one of the benefits of it being so loud, but some of those things are bigger than the boat is."

  "Just great. No wonder nobody else has found the lamias. The native wildlife eats them before they make it far enough in to see anything they aren't supposed to see."

  "You're not wrong."

  We both laughed, but it was gallows humor.

  Celeste turned the boat in a long, slow arc around a large stand of trees and it was as if we'd entered yet another world. The long, unmoving waterway had given way to a series of low islands. Some were the result of the ground sloping up out of the water, some were because several trees had come together and established a spot above the water that was just sufficient for other plants to have a chance at survival.

  The effect was astonishing. The ground and water seemed to merge together without any real rhyme or reason. Celeste slowed the boat even more as the terrain around us became more dangerous.

  "I was actually just about to wake you. I'll try to keep us out of reach of anything dangerous, but if you can keep an eye out that would be good. I'd hate to have a water moccasin come over the side of the boat."

  "Okay, is this boat going to capsize if I suddenly put a few hundred extra pounds on?"

  "I hope not, but I don't know for sure, I've never shifted forms on one. Try to stay towards the center of the boat until you've actually changed, if it comes to that, and you'll probably be okay."

  We journeyed on in near silence for another half hour, the giant propeller on the back of the boat turned down to the point where I pulled out my earplugs so I'd have a chance to hear if something tried to sneak up on us. I was surprised when we didn't arrive at our destination within a few minutes of my having woken up.

  "How long was I out for?"

  "A tad more than two hours. Why?"

  "I was just adding things up. You bought me more than just an hour if the whole trip was only supposed to take an hour."

  She looked…not embarrassed exactly, but definitely uncomfortable. "You looked like you needed the sleep so I took a less direct route. I figured it couldn't hurt, it might even throw Onyx a bit further off of our trail."

  "Thanks. I appreciate it."

  "Yeah, just try not to get yourself killed. I'd hate for all of that effort to end up being wasted."

  We hit another stretch of water that was more open, so I risked looking away from our surroundings to check on Ash and Kristin. They were both unchanged, which was a good sign. If either of them had been suffering from serious internal bleeding then they would have probably died while I'd been asleep.

  It didn't mean that they were out of the woods yet, but they had a chance still despite the fact that we were miles away from any medical help.

  I looked back up and nearly shifted forms out of sheer reflex when I saw more than a dozen huge, simply-clothed forms standing in the water less than thirty feet ahead of us. I hadn't been looking down for that long, it shouldn't have been possible for them to have appeared in the middle of the channel like that.

  Even if I hadn't been expecting to run into lamias I still would have known that there was something off about the figures ahead of us. They were tall. It was hard to say just how tall since I didn't know how deep the water was, but it looked like they were somewhere between the size of a hybrid and a werewolf.

  That, combined with the fact that none of them seemed worried about standing in the middle of a bayou filled with giant snakes and alligators, would have been enough to tell me that I'd just seen my first group of lamias, but the real shocker was the way that their forms seemed to flicker whenever I looked at them out of the corner of my eyes.

  None of their forms were quite right. On one the eyes were wrong—he had the slit-like pupils of a snake. Another had skin that gave off the smooth sheen of scales, and another opened his mouth and displayed fangs like a rattlesnake.

  Celeste cut the engine back to almost nothing so that we approached the group at something less than a walk. My beast was wide awake and pacing back and forth inside of my mind. He hadn't liked the presence of the monstrous alligator from before, but that had nothing on how he felt about the lamias.

  He knew they were threats and he was throwing off energy in hissing, burning waves that were being mirrored by Celeste. She cut the engine completely and we coasted up to the middle lamia, one with fangs that were visible even when his mouth was closed. He reached out and stopped our forward motion without any apparent effort.

  "Why are you here?"

  His voice could have almost passed for human except for the undertone of dry scales sliding across sand. They weren't snakes in the traditional sense, they had two arms and two legs with no tails, but I could understand why the ancient peoples had painted them as being half human and half snake. It was the only way to depict something that was almost human but reminded you of a snake at every turn.

  I almost responded, but Celeste beat me to it. "I've come to talk to your queen, one queen to another."

  The lamia blinked at her before turning to look over Kristin, Ash and me. It had happened too quickly for me to be sure, but I thought that his eyelids had closed from the sides rather than from the tops and bottoms.

  "Your…people, your…escort is small and sickly. What kind of queen travels away from her enclave with so little protection?"

  He held his s's for the barest fraction of a second too long. It was unnerving, but Celeste took it in stride. She'd probably had a good idea of what to expect from her family's oral histories.

  "A queen who comes as a supplicant, one asking help from one greater than herself. My champion is ready to face your champion and prove his worth."

  "No, not his worth, the worth of you all. As a consort reflects the glory of his queen, so too does the queen stand illuminated in the light of her people. You risked much to come here with so few. You do us great honor in displaying such trust in our honor… our hospitality. You know more of the way than most of the energy ones…the sun people. You will be granted the right of combat."

  I half expected him to attack me then and there, but he simply turned our boat towards a nearby island and gave us a push towards it. Any scholar would have been beside themselves at the idea of interacting with a previously undiscovered culture. I was no exception. I already had half a dozen questions that I was itching to ask the lamias.

  He'd called us 'sun people', which almost sounded analogous to the dayborn, but we'd always referred to the humans as dayborn. It hinted at a mythology different than our own while still suggesting the possibility of some kind of common origin. I'd already had plenty of reason to try and survive the coming fight, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to add one more reason into the mix.

  If I survived then maybe I would have a chance to ask some of my questions.

  The lamias had collapsed around us, forming a long double line. As we pulled even with
each set of lamias, they reached out and grabbed the side of our boat for just long enough to give us a push towards the island. The resulting journey was much smoother than I would have expected. Their pushes were deceptively graceful and by the end we'd built up a lot more speed than I'd realized or I would have tried to cushion the impact when we hit the island.

  We hit with enough force that Ash and Kristin were both sent sliding forward toward the front of the boat. They didn't hit the gunwale, but being pushed across the bottom of the boat, which wasn't perfectly smooth, drew a ragged groan out of Ash.

  I reached down to check on him, but Celeste was already there, her fingers on his pulse.

  "I think he's okay still. His pulse is still about as strong as it was when I checked him earlier while you were asleep."

  "Okay, keep an eye on him. It wouldn't take much to open some of those tears back up and he hasn't been topped up with fresh blood like they did with Kristin before we broke her out of the hospital."

  I got a distracted nod in response, which caused me to turn and look. The lamias had all left the water and gathered on the far side of the island, which meant I was able to get my first clear view of their size. I was surprised to see that there were two different groups. The one who had been talking to us—the one with the non-retracting fangs—and two others were only a couple of inches shy of seven feet tall, but all of the rest of the lamias looked like they couldn't be more than six-two or six-three.

  Knowing my luck I was going to have to fight one of the big ones, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. This was their home, which meant that we were going to be playing by their rules. I was running out of clothes so I stripped down to my ha'bit, took a deep breath, and then stepped off of the boat onto the squishy mud of the island.

  I walked up to the lamia in the center, the one we'd been talking to, and gave him a respectful nod that I hoped translated between species.

  "My name is Isaac and I'm ready to begin. Who am I challenging?"

  The lamia before me gave me a slow nod in return. "Welcome, Isaac. I am known as Set. Your manner does you credit."

  "Thank you. Will I be fighting you, then?"

  He looked me over, eyes stopping at each of the spots where I'd been injured, despite the fact that my ha'bit covered up all of the tape.

  "You're injured. While it does you credit that you are willing to face me…honor does not demand such a match yet. You are free to face a…lesser opponent if you so desire. Any of those present would be considered worthy opponents, but the other two consorts would likewise be considered beyond the bounds of what honor requires."

  I looked around at the rest of the lamia who were waiting to either side of Set. None of them seemed unhappy with having been called lesser opponents; in fact, none of them seemed to have any feelings one way or another about the fight.

  When you were dealing with a shape shifter pack in any kind of challenge situation you could always count on them throwing someone at you whom they were confident could beat you. Preferably that wasn't the alpha of the pack as it set a bad precedent, but if he was the only one the pack was confident would come out on top then he was the one you faced off against. It was only when nobody in the pack was good enough to be sure of beating you that they threw the submissives into the rotation in an effort to wear the challenger down to the point where one of the dominants could be sure of winning.

  Everything about this challenge felt wrong. Set had just indicated that he could wipe the floor with me, but instead of taking me on himself so as to make sure that none of the others in his party would be killed, he was offering to let me go up against someone he thought I had a chance of beating.

  If I knew enough to pick the right opponent then I could maximize my chances of winning, but I had no way of knowing who the weakest fighter was. There wasn't any surge of energy as they prepared themselves to fight, nobody was moving back and forth with pre-fight jitters, it was just one long line of impassive lamias who didn't seem to care whether or not I picked them.

  "Honored Set, I have no way of knowing who would be the most appropriate opponent for me. I would defer to your judgment, if honor allows such a thing."

  It was a risk. Set could always set me up against a ringer I couldn't possibly beat, but it seemed like the right risk to take.

  "Such a thing is indeed permitted, although it puts me in a difficult position. The snnelt…the worker on the far end is the youngest and least able fighter. You may fight him without any fear of dishonor. You show uncommon wisdom for one not of the people, for a sun person."

  I bowed my head to him in respect. "I thank you for your guidance and apologize for any discomfort my request might have occasioned. I will do as you have counseled."

  "Very well. You may shift to your sun form now if you wish. The contest will commence when your opponent steps toward you."

  The change tore through me without any effort on my part. I'd had my beast leashed as tightly as I'd ever managed before and I'd still nearly started shaking as my beast tried to force a transformation. As soon as I relaxed the grip I was maintaining on my beast, he pushed me into hybrid form.

  My added weight once I was a hybrid forced my feet deeper into the mud. I moved side to side, shifting my feet to pack down enough mud that I'd be able to move without getting stuck.

  The lamia I'd chosen as my opponent remained motionless for several seconds and then sprang towards me with the kind of speed that I'd only ever seen out of hybrids or werewolves previously. He was fast, but not so fast that I didn't have a chance at beating him.

  I dodged to the left, avoiding a slash from the claws on his hand, and raked my claws down the outside of his arm. The texture was all wrong, it felt like my claws were skidding off of scales. I should have scored a long gash down the length of his arm, instead there wasn't anything more than a thin, intermittent line of blood.

  We both recovered and started circling. Set had indicated that my opponent was young, which hopefully also indicated that he was less experienced, more easily tricked, and prone to simple, direct attacks.

  I moved forward, trying to draw his arms out of position, but he saw through my attack and blocked my claws with his. I'd hoped that his claws might not be as hard as mine, but that wasn't the case. They were made out of something different, something almost crystalline in feel, but they seemed more than able to withstand the punishment of hitting my claws if we were both going after each other for real.

  The next exchange sent me reeling back with blood running down my right arm. He hadn't gotten to the inside of my arm, so it wasn't bleeding like it could have been, but it was still a sign that he'd read my attack and been prepared for me.

  I set myself and then charged forward. My enemy was fast, but he hadn't seen just how quickly a hybrid's reverse-articulated legs could launch me forward. He tried to plant himself at the same time he brought his arms back into position to intercept me, but I'd caught him off guard and his arms were too far to the outside.

  I led with my shoulder and hit him hard enough that most hybrids would have gone tumbling backwards, but he was heavier than I'd expected. I still knocked him down, but it was a close thing.

  I'd been hoping for the kind of bone-rattling collision that would disorient him and tip the balance of the fight firmly in my direction, but I hadn't been depending on it. I hit him with my shoulder, but my right hand had been only a couple of inches behind and the fact that he hadn't given as much as expected meant that the tips of my claws hit even harder than I'd been expecting.

  His scales had stood up well against raking attacks, but they were no match for a straight stabbing attack with my full weight behind it. There was only the barest amount of resistance and then my claws punched through his scales and buried themselves inside of his flesh.

  I rode him to the ground as my momentum carried him over backwards. I was so worried about his claws that I didn't pay enough attention to his feet. Somehow he managed to get them up betwe
en us and he straightened them with a single explosive movement at the exact instant when his back hit the ground.

  He launched me more than twenty feet backwards, tearing my claws out of his chest a split-second before his feet lost contact with my chest. The impact was bruising. I was frankly surprised that he hadn't cracked some of my ribs, but for the first time this fight I felt a smile pulling my lips back so my teeth showed.

  He was fast—nearly as fast as I was—and he was much stronger than I was, but he wasn't indestructible. I'd just hurt him and by my calculations I was up on points and feeling pretty good about things. Even my chest wounds weren't hurting like they had been.

  There was a quiet murmur from the watching lamia, which made me incredibly nervous. Other than Set, none of them had said anything before now, but that exchange had apparently caught them by surprise. All I could do was hope that I hadn't broken some kind of unstated rule that was going to cause them all to turn on me.

  My opponent pulled himself back to his feet, one arm pressed against his chest where I'd stabbed him, and then stood motionless for several seconds as he waited for me to move and I waited to see if Set and the others were going to come after me.

  Set made a gesture and the lamia I'd been fighting broke into a run towards me. I made as though planning on meeting his charge head on, but I knew he would level me if I actually tried that. Instead of meeting brute force with brute force, I dodged to the side at the last possible instant.

  I'd almost waited too long. His arms were longer than I'd realized and he managed to slice the top of my right shoulder. I spun back around to slash him before he made it too far past me, but he was already gone and my right arm wasn't working quite right anymore. I still had good lateral movement and strength, but I couldn't raise it as high as I normally could.

  The confidence I'd just been feeling evaporated as the lamia turned back around and charged me again. If anything he was even faster and more committed than he'd been before. I started my dodge sooner this time, but he was expecting me to do exactly that and he had just enough time to compensate for my dodge. This time his claws tore into my side in almost the exact same spot where Nicolas had injured me just hours before.