by C. J. Parker
The old woman smiled. “Derek must face the direction of our enemy’s charge. He will sense them coming and know their number.”
“That’s handy.” Derek rose and walked over to glance out the only window without shutters. “We’ve still got horizontal rain, but it’s coming from the opposite direction than before. There is all kinds of rubbish floating in the water. I can only imagine what the roads must look like.” He faced the center of the room and glanced around. “Anyone seen that radio Rhonda had?”
“It’s in my room.” Lexie uncurled from Stephen’s arms and picked up one of the lanterns. “I’ll go get it.”
Bobbie followed Lexie and shut the door behind them. “Let me see your mark.” She tried to keep her tone conversational, but it was hard when all she wanted to do was crush Lexie in a bear hug and never let go. “Is it like mine?”
Lexie held out her right wrist, a glow of pride on her face. The tattoo was complex in design. A copy of Kangee’s sword ran from her wrists to the middle of her forearm. Bobbie’s dagger, lay at the tip of the sword, forming a cross. The dragons’ tails twined around the blade of the sword, joining midway.
“Lexie, we need to talk.” There were things Bobbie needed to say, there were no guarantees she’d have another chance.
Releasing a sigh of resignation, Lexie set the lantern on the nightstand. “I know you’re upset with me, but this was something only I could decide. I’ve always known I was supposed to do something important in my life. Otherwise, I would have died with my parents.”
Lexie wrapped her arms around herself. “Aetheria taught me from a very young age to be ready for anything. Why would she bother if I wasn’t important in some way?”
Bobbie’s heart swelled with pride and tore with worry. “I didn’t want you to be mixed up in this. I never wanted you to know the weight of responsibly of our people, or the burden of having to condemn someone you thought a friend.”
She sat on the bed and drew Lexie down beside her. “You asked for this, so here it is. There will come a time when you will have to look at those close to you and decide if they are your friends or only there for what you can give. Many will be at your side through thick and thin, but many more will turn away when you need them most.”
Like Omeda. The thought sent a spear of regrets through Bobbie’s chest. “I’ve seen the suffering it caused in my father and brother’s eyes. I watched them sit up late at night and worry over a child’s first shifting and the tears they cried for each death.”
“But you will end that. You are the last leader of the shifters.”
“Then why did they mark you, Lexie?” Bobbie lifted Lexie’s arm as if showing her the tattoo for the first time. “Don’t you see? You will be the leader when I’m gone. There are many young ones left who will need someone to come to, someone they can trust to say ‘this is what you need to do.’ We will be around for a few more centuries.”
Lexie wrapped her arm around Bobbie’s waist and kissed her on the cheek. “You worry too much.”
Bobbie wished she could go back in time and change what had happened to Lexie’s parents, but she couldn’t. “Lexie, I know I’m not your mother, but…”
“Don’t ever say that again.” Lexie shot up as if the devil himself had bit her on the butt. “The Spirit Warriors said I’m Moran now.”
“I only meant…”
“I know what you meant. I know who gave birth to me. I remember my mother and father, and I love and miss them still.” A single tear rolled down Lexie’s cheek. “But they’re gone. Either you want the job or you don’t.”
“I want the job.” Bobbie dug the heels of her palms into her eyes. This wasn’t going the way she intended. “Lexie, I love you. If I’d not wanted to be your family, I’d never have given you the choice between me and another. Let me start again.”
She paused. “I didn’t want you to take on the mark of leadership because I don’t want you ever to know what it’s like. I want you to realize what you’ve gotten yourself into. You and Snow.”
“Stephen. Don’t call him Snow anymore. And I do know. I’ve watched Elsu and you be pushed up against the wall and push back when you’d had enough. You never jump before you think. I won’t either.”
She dropped to the bed and her whole body slumped. “I worry about Ionna, though. She’s a Moran by birth. Will she resent me? Will she turn against me like Omeda did you?”
“I doubt it.” Bobbie laughed. “That child doesn’t have a resentful thought in that jumbled brain of hers. She’s content with the way things are.”
“How do you know?” Lexie waited patiently for an answer, her expression expectant.
“She told her father to hit the road. She had to know if he wins this fight, she would be daughter to the king.” Bobbie hoped that decision wasn’t a mistake. “But she chose to stay with people who loved her.”
Lexie rolled her eyes. “She’s a kid.”
“And you’re not. I get it. I guess when I took on the role of your mother I took on the mother mentality. Can you live with that?”
“It’s been that way since the beginning of time, I think.” Lexie released a long drawn out sigh. “I’ll manage to suffer through it.”
Bobbie pushed Lexie down on the bed and pretended to choke her. “Suffer, huh?”
A light knock at the door drew their attention away from their play. Stephen opened the door and peeked in. “Is everything okay in here?”
Bobbie sat on the edge of the bed and straightened her back, trying to look as serious as possible. “Come in, Stephen. It’s time we had a mother-son talk.”
Lexie covered her face with a pillow, but her giggles seeped through. “Run, Stephen. Save yourself.”
Chapter Thirty
The winds are down to seventy-five miles an hour, but rain is still falling at the rate of two inches an hour. New Orleans’ streets are flooded and stacked several feet high with debris. Please, stay home. Do not to venture out yet. Too many trees are on the verge of toppling. Live power lines are down all over town. The water in the streets is churning with currents strong enough to pull you under. If there is any good news to report, it’s that the levies have held so far.
Bobbie turned off the radio and rolled her shoulders. “Let’s do this. The worst of it has passed us. The water has gone down a few feet.”
Tabatha opened the door and stepped out onto the porch and into the rain and wind. She sat facing the east, seeing nothing but darkness. Derek followed her out and placed his back to hers, crossing his legs.
Bobbie and Kangee followed suit, facing south and north. Bobbie’s stomach rolled as the stench of rot assaulted her. “What’s next?”
“Take the hand of the person next to you. Do not let go until I say.” Tabatha’s voice was no more than a whisper in the winds.
“Hey!” Their attention snapped to the far end of the village when they heard Rhonda’s voice. “Wait for me.”
Rhonda and Cuda struggled over fallen trees, broken limbs, and house debris trudging through the water and finally making it to the porch. Bobbie and Tabatha stood at the same time, drawing their friend into their arms. Everything was all right now. Everyone important to Bobbie was home where she could watch over them.
“I should beat you within an inch of your life, Rhonda Meads.” Tabatha pushed her away and gave them both a shake. “Why did you run off like that?”
“I saw Cuda jumping from tree to tree, looking toward the house. I thought he was in trouble.” She smiled and took his hand. “He was worried and came to make sure we were okay. I leaned against the railing to call out to him and it gave way. If he hadn’t been there, I’d have drowned.”
Bobbie scowled at Cuda hoping he could feel her anger burning his skin away. “If he hadn’t been skulking, you wouldn’t have wandered out there.”
Rhonda waved Bobbie’s comment away. “What’s going on? What do I need to do?”
Aetheria floated above the surface of the water like a Shade
, joining them. “We will form a second directional draw.” She waved Lexie and Stephen forward. “Lexie, you will face south, as Bobbie will.”
Stephen followed Lexie to the porch and sat behind her. “I’m to the south with Kangee.”
Aetheria smiled. “That’s right. Rhonda—”
“East.” Rhonda nodded. “Now, where’s Troy? Can’t Cuda do it?”
“I’m sorry, Rhonda, but you agreed to have Troy as your back guard.” Aetheria called into the house for Troy to join them.
Cuda gave Rhonda a hug and a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’ll try to talk some sense into my uncle, but I doubt I can change his mind. He’s convinced the world would be a better place with the shifters gone.”
“But, Cuda, you’re a shifter.” Rhonda’s eyes glistened with tears. “What if he turns on you?”
He took a slow step away from Rhonda. “I’ll be fine.”
Bobbie looked into his eyes. They still held a measure of mistrust, but she also saw a dim light of hope. Something had changed. Or someone had changed him. He smiled and took Bobbie’s hand.
“I promise not to fight you at every turn.” He turned and left without an explanation of why he no longer hated her.
Aetheria raked her forefinger against the deck, leaving behind scored symbols on the planking at their feet. “Make sure you touch shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee or back to back.”
Bobbie glanced at each of her friends. She couldn’t have slipped a layer of onionskin between them.
“Now, join hands.” Aetheria flicked her long robes into the air covering the top of their heads. In that same instant, the rain stopped, the winds slowed. “Close your eyes and call to your element. Beseech it to hear you. Demand that it follow your command. See in your mind’s eye the skies clear, the storm at an end.”
Bobbie opened her lids to narrow slits. Tabatha glowed with incandescent white light. Tabatha lifted her chin skyward, her lips moving but her voice silent. She tightened her hand on Bobbie’s and nodded slightly. Bobbie closed her eyes again and mentally visualized dry land, bright sunlight filtering through the trees, a breeze in place of the hurricane-strength winds until she believed it to be true.
When she opened her eyes again, the sun had set, stars filled the endless sky and darkness surrounded them.
The storm was gone.
“What are y’all doing up there?” Hylton called from below. “The storm petered out about an hour ago.”
Bobbie released her grip on Tabatha’s hand and rubbed at the tingle burning her fingers.
Releasing Tabatha’s hand had broken the connection. Tabatha opened her eyes and looked about them. “It worked.”
“Guess so.” Rhonda straightened her legs with a groan.
One by one, they all stood, stretched, and moaned as if in agony.
“I’m getting too old for this.” Derek massaged his lower back.
Bobbie nodded agreeing with him. “I feel like I’ve been shot at, poked and hit. Anyone out there?”
“No humans.” Derek rolled his neck. “A few animals venturing out of hiding places, that’s about it.”
“Talk with Hylton and set up some sentries. Everyone get ready. We each have the weapon the Spirit Warriors gave us. Use them. Don’t fight to maim, but to kill. Don’t give them a chance to come back at you a second time.”
Bobbie reached to open the door to the house, but found a gaping maw in its place, the door gone. “Hell. Might as well come on up, Hylton. Anyone else besides me hungry?”
“I could eat.” Hylton raced up the stairs. “What’s on the menu?”
“I’d say we’d best eat the meat in the freezer. I’ve got charcoal and an old grill.”
He waved his hand around the village. “Got enough to feed all my men? Not good to fight on an empty stomach. They tend to eat the evidence.”
Bobbie had to bite her tongue. She wanted to ask why Hylton thought that a problem. “I think we can find enough to keep them from fainting from hunger. But you need to go to each home and empty out the freezers. Find more grills. They wouldn’t have taken them to the shelter, they prefer camp stoves.”
Soon every porch left standing had hot coals burning, meat sizzling, and lukewarm soft drinks in everyone’s hands. But the silence took away from what would appear a happy scene. No laughter, no talking, men paced the small landings reaching out with their senses for any sign of the enemy.
Bobbie wondered where her own people were. Had Verdun’s men stopped them as she’d seen in the vision?
Hylton ran up the steps with the grace of a ballet dancer. It was hard to imagine a man that big, so graceful. “I’m sending my men back to bed. You should do the same. I’ll keep an eye out for any trouble.”
Derek shook his head. “I’ll stay up with you. Aetheria seems to think they’ll come out of the west.”
“Then they’ll probably come out of the west.” Hylton started down the stairs, but turned half way down. “I appreciate you offering to share guard duty, Derek, but it’s not necessary. Get some rest. We’re going to need you to be strong when they do show.” He bowed respectfully to Bobbie and continued on his way.
Bobbie took Derek by the arm and led him inside. “He’s right. Get some sleep. I am. And it appears everyone else already is.” The floor mattresses were a jumble of legs and arms. A soft snore drifted from somewhere in the dark.
Derek drew her into his arms. “Thank you for watching out for Tabatha. But when this thing happens, look after yourself and Lexie. I’ll take care of Tabatha and Ionna.”
She hugged him back. “You better.”
Bobbie sat by the gaping doorway, staring out into the night. A hefty breeze blew the limbs and rustled leaves overhead. Blended with the heavy humidity, it felt like a convection oven trying to cook her. Movement behind drew her attention as Tabatha sat beside her.
“Too hot to sleep.” Tabatha swiped at a bead of sweat flowing down her forehead.
Bobbie nodded. “Yeah. That’s it. It’s the heat.”
A comfortable silence settled between them while sounds of the swamps returned. Crickets sang. Bats fluttered past the house and into the bayou.
“Bobbie?” Tabatha’s voice held a hint of curiosity.
“Hum?”
“Why is it Hylton’s crew is all cats, but yours is a mixed bag of animals?”
Bobbie leaned her head against the doorframe and thought about how to answer that question. There were two ways to tell it, the shifter story or the human lie, that it wasn’t true that the different animals didn’t get along and could live in harmony. Bobbie didn’t want to lie to her friend and figured Tabatha had earned the truth.
“When my great grandfather bought this land, he was an outcast from the Chatot clan out of Canada. He’d killed an alpha male in a fit of rage, and they wouldn’t accept him as the new leader. No other clan would let him in. He’d traveled all the over the country being chased and nearly killed many times. Then he found this land.”
Bobbie glanced over the village and wondered what it must have looked like back then. “When he proceeded in to try to claim it, he was told it was worthless. Nothing but a muddy, mosquito infested swam land. But he insisted it was what he’d been looking for. The Outsiders sold it to him for ten dollars.” She laughed softly. “Can you imagine that?”
Tabatha smiled. “I guess back then ten dollars was a lot of money. But that doesn’t explain the eclectic clan.”
“I’m getting to that.” Bobbie shook her head. “Have some patience, will ya?”
“Sorry. Go ahead.” Tabatha made the sign of zipping her mouth closed.
“Well, he cleared off this section of land all by himself. Then he started building houses.” She pointed toward one house across the way. “The log cabin at the edge over there is one of them, sort of. Of course, logs have been replaced and roofs have been blown away. He’d managed to construct four when a hurricane hit, and wiped out most of his work.”
“Guess he didn’t kno
w about the storms down here, being from Canada.” Tabatha repositioned herself and yawned.
“Guess not.” Bobbie shrugged. “Anyway, he raced right back to work after the storm had passed, but this time he erected the houses up in the trees.”
“Why did he build more than one house?” Tabatha glanced at her than back toward the trees. “He was alone, right?”
Bobbie had wondered about that many times. “I asked my father that same question, but he’d said the old man was a visionary. Knew there would be more like him coming.”
Tabatha’s eyebrows arched. “I guess he was right.”
“Oh, they came. The story goes G-G-Paw had finished work for the day when a family of four stumbled into the clearing. They looked half-starved. The woman was heavy with child, had one on her hip and another hanging on her skirt tail.” Bobbie shook her head, never understanding why a woman would have so many babies so close together. “The father wore tattered denim overalls, and a threadbare plaid shirt. No shoes on any of them. G-G-Paw gave them the house next to his and shared the food he’d been storing up. They were a family of snakes.”
“Bad people?” Tabatha brought her knees up, laid her head on them and closed her eyes. But she straightened quickly as if deciding that wasn’t a good idea.
“No!” Bobbie laughed. “They shifted to snakes.”
“Ah.” Tabatha nodded. “What was G-G-Paw?”
“Anything he wanted to be. He was very powerful. I wonder if he had any idea back then that he was destined to be the first king of all shifters? Before him, leaders of each clan ruled their own, and they had no one to answer to.” Bobbie covered a yawn. “Anyway, he explained to the newcomers why he was out there by himself, and told them they were welcome to stay or leave. Seems his new neighbors were outcasts themselves. At least the man was. He’d been caught stealing food for his family. That’s when G-G-Paw set the first rule of the village. Food belonged to everyone. It would be stored in a community storage bin. Every man would hunt and supply. No one would go hungry.”
“Sounds good as long as everyone goes along with it.” Tabatha reached over and grabbed a couple of pillows from the couch, handing one to Bobbie. They stretched out by the doorway. “So now he has a family of snakes.”