The Blood Jaguar

by Michael H. Payne

  "No, just tonight." The Lady Raven waved a wing upward. "Brother Kit Fox asked us to look in on you."

  "That's right." The Lady Dolphin flashed another of her grins. "Kit really seems interested in you, shaman; there something going on there we should know about?"

  "Sister..." The Lady Raven clicked her beak. "Can we stick to the subject here?"

  "No, we can't." The grin faded from the Lady Dolphin's snout. "And you want to know why we can't?"

  The Lady Raven reached out a wing. "Sister, please--"

  "I'll tell you why we can't!" The silvery sheen of the Lady Dolphin's flanks deepened to storm-cloud gray. "Because every time I think about how the fate of billions of earthly folk is riding on the pads and paws of these three morons, it gets my stomach churning!" The water in the pool began to swell and ripple. "It gets me thinking about how much I like earthly folk, the stroke of their gratitude when I rain where they need it or don't rain where they don't! And it gets me thinking that I might not have to worry so much if these idiots would just get their act together!"

  "Sister, you know it's not their fault; they're--"

  "Oh, really? Then I'd like to know whose fault it is!" She smashed her tail into the pool, and thunder came to Bobcat's ears. "You sent the dreams like you were supposed to, Raven, but this guy doesn't seem to have picked up a one!" The clouds rose from her flanks into the air, the whitecaps in the pool eating away its sides, stretching it across the sand right toward Bobcat, the Lady Dolphin rolling toward him like a cold front, lightning in her eyes. "You! You're supposed to be our champion, the world's last, best hope! And look at you! What a mess! It makes me sick, and I for one would like to know just what you've got to say for yourself!"

  At the back of his head, the Blood Jaguar's eyes flared up, twisting the ever-present claws in his gut, the tearing grip he knew only catnip would loosen, and Bobcat almost snarled at the Lady Dolphin, almost leaped up, almost shouted in her face that maybe they didn't try hard enough, maybe they should've thought a minute before settling on an idiot like him, maybe they should've picked a bobcat somewhere who actually knew something about this stuff, who understood and could do whatever it was they expected him to do.

  Almost he shouted this out, but the Lady Dolphin had slid right up in front of him now, and as he opened his mouth to snarl, he saw a glimmer behind the lightning of her eyes, a shimmer like sunlight sparkling off drops of summer rain...or like tears. And when her thundering voice shook him again--"What have you got to say?"--Bobcat could hear a quiver behind it, could hear a catch in her throat.

  Bobcat stared, his mouth still open, the words bunching up behind his tongue. She was trying not to cry....

  Her raw emotions filled the air, the electricity prickling his fur, and he swallowed his anger, swallowed his words, lowered his head, and said the only thing he felt he really could say: "I...I'm sorry."

  The clouds seemed to flinch, the storms over her to pause. "You're what?!"

  "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not a hero or a champion or whatever you need me to be. I'm just a guy who got kicked into a brier patch, and I...I don't know how to be whatever I'm s'posed to be." He ventured to look up, saw the lightning still frozen in her eyes. "All I know is that this is the Blood Jaguar's show, that she's still rattling around inside my head, letting me know that she's still waiting for me. I don't know why or where or what, and to tell you the truth, I don't think I could take knowing anyway. So, I mean, sure, I'll try, but I'm just stumbling around here the best I know how, and I'm sorry, but...that's all I can really do."

  The clouds rolled a little over her head, then began clearing up, the lightning dissipating with a few fizzles. The Lady Dolphin blinked, shook herself--Bobcat winced, but the drops that hit him were warm--and reached out a fin to take Bobcat's paw. "You're an idiot," she said, her voice as quiet as the waves lapping on the sand. "But at least you're an honest idiot. And that's better than nothing, I guess." She let his paw go then and just seemed to melt into the pool, the water dropping out of her shape and flowing back against the banks with barely a splash.

  A throat cleared, and Bobcat looked up to see the Lady Raven. "Again, let me apologize for my sister. Dolphin's heart's in the right place, but she does get a bit carried away at times." A sideways smile touched her beak. "You'd never know she was older than me, would you?" She shook her head, looked back at Bobcat. "I think she's so upset because, well, when this most recent round started, she was telling me that she had a good feeling about you, thought you were the best champion we'd had in millennia."

  Bobcat stared at her. "Me?"

  "Yes, you." She cocked her head. "Can't imagine why, myself, but, well, that's Dolphin for you." She spread her wings. "You ought to find your packs back up the stream a ways, but feel free to spend the night here."

  She turned, seemed about to take off, then paused and glanced over her wing. "She misses you, your Garson does. I'll visit her dreams tonight, let her know you're thinking of her." She looked upward again, flexed her legs, and leaped, the whole night sky embracing her.

  Bobcat stood, stared up at the stars, unable to turn away for several moments. "Wow," he got out at last, tearing his gaze away and moving it to the others. "What do you think she--"

  They were both asleep, curled up in the sand, their sides gently moving. Weariness washed over him then, made his eyes droop, and he settled into sleep beside them.

  Chapter Nine: On the Savannah

  A high-pitched squeaking made Bobcat's ears twitch, brought him awake, his whole body aching. He blinked at the little hill of sand in front of him, wondered where and what for a while before deciding to sit up and take a look around.

  The cove still curved away in both directions, the waves still lapping at the shore, the stream trickling into the pool next to him, the cliffs and the beach shadowed in the light of early dawn, the sky and ocean as clear and blue now as they'd been dark and silvery last night.

  All of which meant that it was possible the things he was beginning to remember about last night might in fact be true.

  Bobcat thought about that for a moment and was a little surprised to find that he didn't want to start screaming. Weird things were going to be a part of his life now, it looked like, and he didn't see what else he could but learn to deal with it. He was involved in an ancient reptile prophesy, was the one the gods had sent out to stop Death's plan for the world; the Ramon and the two Ladies had pretty much told him that straight out. He didn't like it, but, well, if everyone was going to be saying it, he might as well get used to hearing it.

  The squeaking was still going on in his ears, more like a cawing now that he was awake and listening, and it seemed to be coming from above. He tipped his head back and saw birds, dozens of them, gray and white and spiraling in slow circles up in the blue over the cliffs, the light flashing from their wings and making Bobcat squint down in the shadows of the cove. The shadows were lessening, though, crags along the cliff face becoming balconies and window ledges, awnings stretched over crevices, and Bobcat realized that he was looking at a seagull village among the rocks above the cove.

  A moan drew his attention back to the ground, and he saw Fisher standing and stretching. "Whew," she said with a yawn. "It's been a couple years since I last fought a bobcat. I'd forgotten how sore it makes me."

  Bobcat felt his ears go warm. "Uhh, yeah, I'm a little stiff, too." He swallowed. "I guess I should apologize--"

  She was pulling the sandy remnants of her cloak off. "Forget it. We were both acting like idiots. We should just be thankful the Lady Raven was here to keep the Lady Dolphin from frying us both. Then Skink would've had to carry on alone."

  Bobcat heard the lizard's dry little laugh and turned to see him crouched atop the sand dune.

  "That would have been the worst possible outcome. I, luckless, going to confront the one who has apparently taken it?" He shook his head.

  "Hey, that's right." Bobcat tapped a paw on the sand. "But why would the Blood Jagua
r need to take your luckstone? Can't she just wave a paw, do whatever she wants?"

  Skink spread his claws. "Cyclical Myths often focus on artifacts, items that must be gathered before an action can be pursued. Symbolism plays a large part in the--"

  "Yeah, okay." Fisher had gotten to her paws. "Maybe we can get into the underlying metaphors after we find the packs, you think? We don't know where we are or where we're supposed to be headed, so I'd like to know if we have to start worrying about rations, too."

  "The packs?" Bobcat stood up, gestured up the stream. "The Lady Raven said they were up there a ways, I think."

  Fisher raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Well, let's go see."

  The stream wound up the beach and into a brush-choked crevice that curved back into the side of the cliff, and that made Bobcat blink. The flood should have smashed all that brush to kindling, but Bobcat couldn't see any sign of damage at all. He turned to Fisher and gestured with a paw. "Hey, how do you s'pose we got down that canyon without leaving a mark? I mean, that was some flood last night."

  "What?" Fisher was tugging at what looked like a strap sticking out from a pile of sand. "Oh, we didn't come down this stream."

  Bobcat blinked at her. "But...but last night. I dragged myself out of this stream back there above the pool. It was... It was right there, and I--"

  Fisher let out a sigh. "Look, when that flash flood hit us, we got pulled into a...well, I don't wanna get technical. Just look at it this way: it was night, and we were in water. The Lady Raven is Night and the Lady Dolphin is Water, so it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that they could've done anything they wanted to us. And what they wanted was to pluck us up, plop us down in this cove, and have that little chat." She stopped, closed her eyes, and rubbed them. "Now, let's gather up the packs and get back to Skink, okay?"

  Bobcat stared at her some more, then at the stream canyon, his resolve to accept all the weird things in his life wavering slightly. When he looked back, Fisher had already dug out her pack, was shrugging it on, so he grabbed his own and followed her back to the dune where they'd left Skink.

  There, she had him pull out the stove parts, and she peered into them, blew them out, even filled a few with water and sloshed it around before she shrugged and put the thing together. "I'll say this for the Curials," she muttered, striking her flint and steel together. "When they want you to kill yourself for them, they sure do take care of you."

  "Fisher," Skink said from the dune, "I realize that the shaman's relationship to the Lord Kit Fox allows for these comments, but--" He broke off then and was suddenly gone. Bobcat blinked, saw movement between his paws, looked to see the lizard there, his eyes wide. "Above!" he whispered.

  Bobcat stared down, then up, and saw several seagulls winging down to land on top of the little dune. They cocked their heads, each pointing one yellow unblinking eye at him. "Uhh, Fisher?" he said.

  "Hmmm?" She had a twig burning, was poking it at the top of the stove. Bobcat heard the gas catch with a foomp.

  Another group of gulls landed--surrounding them, Bobcat realized--more birds settling with each passing second, a few dozen standing in a circle before he could get out, "We, uhh, we have visitors."

  "Really?" She was grinning when she raised her head, but it disappeared immediately. "What in the--"

  "Infidels!" came a cry from above, and one more seagull fluttered down to land inside the ring of birds, a seagull wearing a cap of black feathers. "You have no business here! We have been given sovereignty over these coves, we who follow both the Lady Raven and the Lady Dolphin, and we guard these sacred lands in their names! Now be off with you, vagabonds, or face our wrath!"

  Bobcat held up a paw. "Well, if that's all, the Lady Raven told us we could stay, so I don't see--"

  "Blasphemers!" The gull in the black hat leveled a wing at him. "In these sacred lands, such impiety is treated most severely! You may think it all very amusing to mouth such phrases, yet we who have known Her Ladyship, who have met with her favor, we do not find any humor in--"

  One of the other seagulls, her eyes wide, her feathers ruffling, began tapping the gull in the black hat. "Hrati! Hrati! Look at them! Look who they are!"

  "Silence!" The gull in the hat spun around, slapped at the other with his wings. "I'm Hrati this month, so I get to deal with this! It's my jurisdiction, isn't it?"

  "But Hrati!" The other seagull had her wings up, shielding her face. "But Hrati, look! They're a bobcat, a fisher, and a skink! Look at them, Hrati, look at them!"

  Bobcat folded his ears back; he'd been wondering how long it would take someone to notice.

  Hrati's wings froze. He wheeled around, cocked his head, and looked with one eye from Bobcat to Fisher to Skink. He clicked his beak together, turned his head, squinted with the other eye, and looked at them all again. "So," he said, then threw his head back, spread his wings, and let out a caw like a rusty gate creaking, repeating it over and over till the others took it up and joined in.

  This went on for a few minutes, Bobcat trying to hold his ears closed against the noise, until Hrati lowered his wings, and silence slowly fell again. "Minions of Death," he said at last. "My authority does not extend to act alone concerning you. Therefore, it is my judgment that you be held here in custody until such time as I can get word to the other gull councils along the coast. We shall all have to meet, and there we can decide whether to imprison you for life or just plain kill you."

  "Uhh, excuse me." Fisher was stepping forward. "If I might suggest a--"

  "Silence!" Hrati sprang his wings, looked like he might be about to leap at Fisher, when a commotion started among the seagulls behind him. "And you, too!" he shouted, spinning around, and with him out of the way, Bobcat could see something slinking through the gathered birds. The front rank of gulls jumped aside, and a cobra slid out onto the sand in front of Hrati. "What do you want here?" he demanded.

  "Surely you know." The cobra's voice made Bobcat's ears flinch, a shiver of that hypnotic thrum reaching him, and he glanced around, wondered if he could push his way out through these birds.

  But the snake never looked at him, just swayed there, staring at the gull, her tongue flicking in and out.

  Hrati snapped his beak a few times, then lowered his wings. "Of course," he said, his voice quieter. "I'm sorry, Seer. It's been such a long time, I had forgotten the stretch of your jurisdiction."

  "Understandable," the cobra hissed. "Please leave me now to my work. I shall notify you of my judgment."

  The gull cocked his head, squinted at the cobra with one eye, then with the other. "Of course." He raised his wings and rushed past her, slapping at the birds in the crowd. "You heard her! Go on! Let her get on with her work! Go! Go! Go!"

  Caws broke out from the crowd, birds spreading their wings, leaping and flapping away. Bobcat squeezed his eyes shut, flinched against the swirling sand that pinged against his nose, waited for the storm to die down before he ventured to take a peek.

  The beach stood empty of birds now, only the cobra curled in place, eyes unblinking, hood slightly flared. After a moment, she started slinking toward him, and Bobcat took a step back. Something remained in the sand where he'd been, though: Skink squatting still as a stone, not even looking at the oncoming serpent. Bobcat hesitated. Was Skink summoning up the Lord Eft again or whatever he'd done the last time? He was just sitting there, the snake coming closer and closer, but Bobcat didn't want to yell, run up and grab him or anything in case it might break his concentration.

  But the cobra stopped next to Skink, the tip of her tail sliding over to hover beside Skink's head. "I am pleased to meet you again, Skink of Donalis Kiva," her voice came soft and buzzing to Bobcat's ears. "I, Cobra of Jen-hrati Cove, your former opponent."

  Skink snapped his head over, reached out, and took her tail in the claws of one paw. "I am pleased as well. May I guess that you have found the voice that called you?"

  "I have," she said, and Bobcat almost thought he saw her smile, a stra
nge shifting of her facial features that was gone immediately. "I wandered after I left you last, followed the sound of my Lady's voice till at last I was brought down the cliffs to this cove. And here lay my Lady Dolphin sweetly singing the song that had drawn me on." She stopped suddenly, looked down, then back up. "Forgive me. It is hard speaking without rhythm, but my Lady proscribes it except on certain occasions. I am not yet accustomed to a meterless measure."

  Skink nodded. "I find it difficult myself at times, the plain speech of this common tongue, and I know my dialect of the Lord Eft's language is nowhere near as lyrical as cobra."

  Cobra bowed her head. "This language is the only tongue common between myself and these birds, among whom my Lady has set me to be their Seer. Long they have been without one, she said, long, for I was foolish, not listening to the call that would have drawn me here. Several disputes I have already arbitrated successfully, devouring those against whom my judgment fell." Her hood fluttered. "I have never known such joy as now embraces me, fulfilling the role Those Above have assigned. And I owe this all to you, friend Skink."

  Skink bowed to her. "I am honored to have been the instrument though which Those Above could reach you. Am I to understand that we three fall under your jurisdiction here?"

  "You do." She slid her tail from Skink's claws. "For the Seer flows forth from the Curial powers, and all that concerns them is matter for me." She stopped, swayed in place for a moment, then said, "You move toward Death at Death's behest, rendering my poor judgment moot." She shook herself and bowed to them each in turn. "I cannot let you eat here, but my Lady would offer you the hospitality of the waters if you wish to bathe or refill your canteens before you continue. The steps you follow sink deep into the earth, and I wish you all luck with them." With that, she turned and slithered away into the rocks.

  Bobcat waited until he couldn't see her anymore before he dared blow out a breath. "I thought we were in real trouble there for a minute."

  He heard Fisher chuckle. "What makes you think we're not?" She flicked the stove off. "Guess we'll have to eat on the march." She rummaged around in her pack till she pulled out a little jar of soap. "A bath sounds like a good idea, though. Anyone else?"