“Maybe three months,” Claire said. “Three months here. Six weeks there?”
Maybe if she ever got back she could figure things out for sure.
But then, Shade and Kale had popped in. Kale was okay, even if he was half-human. Or perhaps even if he was half-branwyn. Or in spite of the fact that he was annoyingly talkative. Specifically, he nattered incessantly about Shade. “Shade’s not so bad. Give Shade a chance. He came here for you.” Blah. Blah. Shade. Blah.
Taq. Claire preferred think of him as Taq. She had the feeling that Taq was his real name. Taqukaq. Inuit for grizzly bear. Shade was a corny name. Shade was the name of a Council minion. She wanted to spit on the name Shade.
Claire left the safety of the caves and headed out. No doubt Taq was watching for her. The guards let her past without saying anything. The Shadow Realm was a dark and grim place; the weres and humans were waiting for something impossible to happen. Some of the occupants had been in this place for decades, and they were still waiting.
Tatsu’s abrupt presence had been the last ray of sunshine. The original occupants of the realm had been dragons. Tatsu was drakken. Her dragon blood had done something to the portal; perhaps she was the key to the way out. But Tatsu was no learned wizardess or practitioner of the dark arts. She was simply another were who had been kidnapped before Martinez realized she belonged to the Showa family. In essence, she was drakken royalty. It was another one of Martinez’s fuck ups. Anton told Claire that Whitfield Dyson had desperately wanted a dragon were and paid quadruple Martinez’s fee to get one. Once they’d learned who Martinez had taken, they’d kept her locked up in the Council’s dungeon instead.
Claire took a deep breath and did a perimeter check. It had been days since Dyson’s last attack. The former manager of the facility had to be getting hungry and weres and humans along the outer edges of the caves were most at risk. When she was done, she came up on the back side of the portal cage, careful to stay downwind from Taq.
Kale had been freed and was working with Tatsu. They didn’t think they could reopen the portal there, but they were considering trying to find another portal or attempting to create one. Kale thought he’d found an ideal spot.
Claire couldn’t see Taq from where she perched on a rock. That was all right. She knew what he looked like. He was big. He was a tall were who could have picked her up and put her down anywhere he liked. His hair was as black as his eyes. His skin was burnished copper. He faintly resembled the Inuit people, except that he was a foot or two larger in both directions. Female weres likely swooned at the sight of him; Claire frowned at the thought.
She sniffed quietly and detected his scent. It was potent and worked itself into every pore as if it were reaching inside and caressing her soul. Weres had talked about the mating dance, and Claire had disregarded how powerful it could be. No, not some compulsion. Not to someone who had worked for the Council. How could this be?
“Claire,” Taq said. “I can hear you.”
Claire didn’t say anything. Taq wasn’t stupid.
“I won’t apologize for what I did. It was to protect you, and I would do it again.”
Claire rolled her eyes.
“But I’ve another story for you.”
Chapter 11
Don’t play with the bear if you don’t
want to be bit. – Italian Proverb
“Once there was a warrior,” Taq began, and Claire closed her eyes. She was glad that he couldn’t see her face, for she knew it reflected her internal turmoil. “A warrior,” he said again, “who saw a great red swan in the skies. It was a beautiful swan the color of a crimson sunset, and any who saw it marveled at its magnificence. The warrior decided that he would capture the swan and bring her home as his wife.”
Claire wanted to say something sarcastic. The old Claire would have done it, but months living as a wily survivor had changed her attitude. She said nothing. She didn’t even think of something sarcastic.
“The warrior named Ojibwe followed the red swan across mountains and lakes, over prairies and rivers. He came to a village, and the chief was so impressed with Ojibwe that he offered him one of his daughters to be his wife. Neither the daughter nor Ojibwe were pleased with the idea. The daughter told Ojibwe where the red swan had flown. Thus, the warrior followed the red swan’s path.”
A wellspring of sadness endangered Claire’s fleeting moment of peacefulness. She opened her eyes and looked at the distant horizon. The red tinged the sky like the sweep of an artist’s brush. The small sun tantalized the realm, always threatening to come up into the sky but never following through. There was food and water here. Some of the weres were those who had been threatened and cajoled by the Council, but they weren’t all bad. Taq had been one of the Council’s guards, a were who enforced their justice. She’d heard about his activities. She’d even heard about his exploits as a were playing both sides of the blade. She knew that he was one of the key players in the revolt. She knew that he had plotted with her own father. She knew all these things but a part of her was angry that Taq hadn’t simply told her the truth. “I won’t apologize for what I did. It was to protect you, and I would do it again,” he had said.
Claire’s shoulders settled into a hard line that revealed tense muscles and stressed emotions. Maybe what was good for the wolf was good for the bear?
“Ojibwe traveled farther and farther. He came to another village, and the chief welcomed him to his home. Telling the chief his tale, Ojibwe was again offered a daughter for a wife, but Ojibwe decided to follow the elusive red swan again. The second daughter pointed the way to him.”
Taq paused once more. “Ojibwe was determined. He knew the worth of the red swan, and he knew that she was worth any trek, any effort, to make her his. Soon he came to a place where an old man lived, and the old man was a magician. He could make an empty pot of food full with vegetables and meats. He told Ojibwe that the red swan had come that way many times and had many followers intent on capturing or killing the wondrous animal. However, none had ever returned.”
Was she supposed to be the red swan? Claire glanced down at her pale arms and sighed. Fat chance of that in this land of no sun.
“The magician said that if Ojibwe was strong of heart, divine of purpose, and his soul pure, he would succeed where the others had failed.” Taq paused again. “The magician told Ojibwe that the red swan was the daughter of a horribly powerful sorcerer, who’d lost his scalp to an Indian warrior, a trickster who had stolen the scalp for its magical properties. The red swan enticed strong warriors to go in quest after the scalp, so that it could be returned at last, to the sorcerer. That man who succeeded would win the red swan as his wife.”
These quests sounded pretty iffy to Claire.
“How does Ojibwe know where the scalp is? How does he know where the sorcerer is? What is he going to do with a red swan for a wife?” Claire chuckled.
“Ojibwe went on his way,” Taq continued without missing a beat. “He searched the rolling hills, the lowlands, the swamps, until he found the hut of the sorcerer. He swore he would return the scalp to the man in exchange for the red swan, and the sorcerer agreed. So Ojibwe went after the tricky Indian warrior who had stolen the scalp. He searched for a dozen years and never gave up. He went from the headwaters of the mighty river flowing from the north. The people there called it gichi-ziibi. He followed it to the southernmost tip of land where a great mass of water stopped him. Even though he could not see the other side, he swam across the water, for he was very determined, and finally, he found a people with a sneaky Indian warrior for a chief. They worshiped a tall pole with a scalp mounted on top.
“Here Ojibwe was very clever. He turned himself into a hummingbird and flew close to the scalp. Then he changed himself into a dandelion seed head floating in the wind and landed on the scalp. He untied it from the pole and then finally changed himself into a hawk. The hawk flew the scalp all the way back to the sorcerer’s home.” Taq paused again. “The sorcere
r was so pleased that his scalp had been returned that he gifted Ojibwe with the red swan, who was really his daughter and a young woman of exceptional beauty. It came to be that Ojibwe took the red swan as his wife.” His deep voice trailed away.
Claire knew there was a point to his story, to this particular story, but she didn’t want to address it then. She slipped away before Taq could say anything else.
* * *
“The kid’s sick,” Taq said. “Did he tell you?”
Claire was up on the rock again, behind where Taq was caged. She was downwind and not in a mood to talk, but he still had known she was there. “I can smell it on him,” she said regardless. She’d been out running the perimeter of the encampment. She had changed into the wolf, but the wolf was insistent that she check on her mate, so here was where she ended up her slog, changing back so she could stretch out her human muscles while she rested.
“Let me out. I can fight Dyson for you. My grizzly weighs in at eight hundred pounds, and my claws are like knives. I can fight pretty damn dirty…” he trailed off, probably because he realized what he’d just said.
It wasn’t a bad idea. Taq would protect her. The truth was that he wasn’t a bad were. He’d been caught in a pickle. She knew that but being trapped in a dungeon, facing a bone monster, and having her mate lie to her made her a little irritated. Tatsu had laughed at her and said, “You’re being a dog in a manger.” Claire didn’t like that much either. No wolf shifter wanted to be compared to a regular canine.
I am being a dog in a manger.
“What’s wrong with Kale?” she asked instead.
“Cancer. Lung cancer. He said it was something the branwyns commonly get.”
That was bad. Kale wasn’t going to get any chemotherapy around this realm. “He’s working on the portal. Apparently, it isn’t like snapping your fingers.”
“He had all the stuff when we came here,” Taq said.
“Giant wind-sucking portal, you remember?” Claire asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out. “He lost half of it. He’s trying to improvise.”
“Can’t he just open this one up again?”
“One-way portal.”
“Oh yeah. So he’s making a new one?”
“More that Tatsu is making it with a lot of his help, and when it’s finished, he’ll control it. They found a good spot where he said the veils between the realms are thinnest, better than this spot, which is tainted with Scarlotte’s black magicks.”
“I came here for you.”
“I know.”
“Let me out,” Taq said. “I couldn’t tell you what I was doing. There were ears everywhere in the catacombs. That’s how Scarlotte eventually found you.”
Claire didn’t have time to listen to a rehashing of the same old same old. She had guards to replace. She had rounds to make. Dyson’s weres were hitting all the weak lines, and she didn’t want to be the one to find a half-eaten corpse, nor did she want to explain to the others that they had lost another were or another human.
She stomped away.
* * *
Taq watched Kale approach the cage. In just a very short amount of time, the young man had lost twenty or more pounds. His face was gaunt, but his eyes were still bright. He handed Taq a wrapped haunch of something. “It tastes like goat,” Kale said. “I wouldn’t recommend it at a fine restaurant, but when there isn’t a convenient McDonalds, it isn’t bad.”
Taq sniffed it briefly and put it on a nearby rock. The inner bear growled in hunger. The beast was ravenous. He had likely lost weight, as well, but for another reason. “You don’t look good,” he said to Kale.
Kale shrugged. “I think I have a way out. We should be going very quickly. I needed to get my mind wrapped around a way to say an ancient Enthracki spell. I’m surprised I remembered all the words, and you have to remember the Enthracki have three mouths with which to say a spell. Dad will be thrilled to death. No pun intended.”
Taq was supposed to say, “Great,” but he couldn’t bring himself to say the word. Finishing the portal would probably kill Kale, and no one but a few weres would remember him for what he’d done and sacrificed. It seemed like a horrible shame. Then Taq was going to have to go to the branwyns and explain why the boy had been left behind in a Shadow Realm with no one to mourn him.
To his dismay, Taq found himself remorseful, and a knot formed in the base of his throat. He would miss the smart-mouthed young man. “You don’t have to finish it,” he found himself saying. That meant they would be trapped here, but Kale might live a little while longer. It seemed important. They could find another way. There was always another way.
“I have to finish it.” Kale laughed. “There are about two hundred humans and weres here who aren’t really terrible people. There’s one guy who sniffs the sky when I come near, but the rest, aren’t so bad. They’re getting picked off by the Dyson guy. Did you know he’s eating them? Eating. Them. Up. Like out of Grimm brothers’ worst nightmares, from the book the brothers didn’t dare publish. Of course I have to finish it.” Kale studied Taq carefully. “Shade, Taq, whatever you prefer, did you know a few of these people have children here?”
“Taq,” he confirmed. “I’d rather be called by the name my brother bear gave me.” He’d seen a few of the cubs cautiously sniff at him in the cage.
Kale handed over a battered liter bottle of water. “Drink and eat, for tomorrow I shall die.”
Taq took the bottle. “I would give up part of myself if it meant you wouldn’t have to die.”
Kale nodded. “Don’t get mushy. It’s true that I grow on people.” He took a deep breath. “I had a good run. I got laid a few times. I did about half the things on my bucket list. I got to come to a Shadow Realm. It’s been a good life.”
Taq reached through the bars and clapped a hand on Kale’s shoulder. “You’re a brother to us,” he said. “A brother to all of us.”
Kale sighed. “I think I got it. We should be at McDonalds in a few more hours. The Big Macs are on you.”
* * *
Claire, in wolf form, peeked over a rock and watched as Kale took a step away. The beast was able to sense things her human form could not. She had alerted on Dyson’s approach several times in the past. Sometimes it had even made a difference. It had been some time since he’d taken a human or were.
“Claire,” Taq said. How had he known that she was nearby? It was likely part of the mating bond, but she didn’t want to think about it overly. “Dyson’s going to figure out that you’re leaving this place. He’ll attack when you’re at your weakest. He’s that type of apex predator.”
The wolf whined just a little. When it was said and done, all the humans and weres would go through the portal, leaving only Claire and Kale. Claire would never be able to hold off Dyson by herself. She couldn’t even ask Taq to stay behind.
Taq obviously heard her whine. “You know this, already. You’re the Bloodletter’s daughter. You’re well aware of the problems you’re facing.”
Claire didn’t need to say anything, even if the wolf could have. She padded around to where he could see her. Taq hadn’t seen the wolf before. He studied her. “You’re just as beautiful in your shifter form,” he said.
She settled on a rock near the front of the cage. In a little while, Claire would change and let Taq free. He would do whatever it was that he needed to do while the others poured through the portal. She thought about what he’d said to Kale. Taq didn’t really want Kale to sacrifice himself, but Kale was highly moralistic. Once he realized that there were families in the Shadow Realm, children who had known nothing but the fear of living in a dangerous place, he wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.
“I have another story,” he said finally, as if he couldn’t think of something better to fill in the empty space. A chilly wind blew up from the valley below, and the dust permeated the air.
Claire’s wolf made an enquiring yip. It was all she could do at the moment without changing, and she couldn’t change wi
thout a good reason. It would be a waste of resources.
“Somewhere very far away there is a cave where the prairies and the badlands intersect. It’s said that no normal man could ever find this cave because it’s magical.” Taq’s voice sounded especially deep and profound. “Not even in this day, can the cave be found. The magicks protect it and shield it from those who would destroy it in their ignorance.”
Claire rested her head on her paws. Her ears rotated a few times, trying to hear in all directions at once. Nothing seemed out of place for the moment.
“In the cave is a very old woman. She is as shriveled up as a raisin that has sat in the sun for an extensive time. She is dressed the way the old ones dress because she has been there so long. She works making a blanket strip for her buffalo robe. She uses dyed porcupine quills the way the old ones worked. While she works, a nearby cauldron sits on a fire that has been burning for a millennium or more. Berry soup bubbles in the pot, and she slowly gets up to stir it once in a while. It takes her a bit because her bones are ancient, and her joints creak as she moves.
“While she stirs the pot of berry soup, her old black dog picks apart the quills on her blanket strip so that she has to start all over again.” Taq let his voice come to a stop. After a long minute, he added quietly, “It’s said that if the old woman in the cave ever finishes the blanket strip and puts it on the buffalo robe, then the world will come to an end.”
That wasn’t an Inuit story. Taq had been telling her all kinds of Native American stories.
Taq sat next to the door and let his arms fall through the bars. His black eyes locked on Claire’s, and he didn’t look away. He waited another minute before he added, “In this place, I think that the old woman is just about finished with her buffalo robe.”
Claire thought so, too.
* * *
“‘It’s the end of the world as we know it,’” Claire sang to herself. She watched as the last of the families escaped through the portal. Tatsu held up Kale while the single humans readied themselves to begin jumping through. Kale looked less than hot. In fact, he looked as if his eyes would roll up in his head at any minute and he would pass out and then die.
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