by Tara Gill
Barghurr seemed to have no such problem. His speed increased and soon he was sprinting along at blinding speeds. Things around her were a blur. Bushes, boulders and other small animals whipped by as she clung to him. She had read cheetahs were the fastest species, but she thought her lion might be even faster. After what seemed like miles and miles, he slowed down.
She could smell muddy earth and dampness, so she deduced they were near a body of water. The ambience grew lighter and they burst into a large clearing. A small lake gleamed at her like a blue jewel from the middle of the clearing. All sorts of grazing animals ran pell-mell as they saw the lion upon them.
He ignored them and went to the lake, where he lapped up the water. She sat up on his back. She unclenched stiff fingers from his mane and slid off, standing on wobbly legs.
He growled at her. She sensed that he wanted her to stay close.
“I want to explore.” She patted his back. “You’re with me, nothing can happen to me.”
He grunted, dipped his head in the water and licked his whiskers.
She walked around in wonder at the beauty of the location, at the strangeness of the wildlife around her. Bushes in purple surrounded the lake. Pure white birds flew in flocks around the trees. A red and long-tailed bird sang a song that pierced her heart with the exquisiteness of its melody.
Her eyes landed on a large animal on the opposite side of the lake, the size of an elephant. It was fully black, had a triangular face, a tusk above a wide mouth which chewed on the blade-like reeds. The animal was part of a herd scattered about the lakeside. It was sturdy with short, thick legs but still managed to move nimbly on its feet.
Other large flightless birds pecked at insects she couldn’t see and what she thought to be large rocks on this side of the shore turned out to be giant, round-shelled animals. They seemed to have no head or tail but only short fat feet which they used to amble minute distances in search of food.
Mia wandered to a stop next to the water. Blue at the top, the entire bottom was lined with translucent lavender rocks of irregular sizes, so that the lake shone violet back at her, beautiful in an unearthly manner. As she stared entranced at the body of water, the lion nudged her.
“What?” She looked around. “Didn’t you want to go hunting? Well shoo.” She waved at him. “I’ll wait here, maybe make some friends, while you get a meal. Is that all right?”
He snarled. All right, maybe he isn’t fine with that plan.
“I’m sorry, boy, but I don’t want to see you eat some bloody carcass. I’d rather be here. It is so unusual and relaxing, if I had a sketchbook, I’d stay here drawing for hours.”
He nudged her again, away from the lake.
“So, you don’t want to hunt?” He shook his head emphatically.
“What do you want to do then?”
He growled and snapped at her playfully.
“Oh, you want to play with me?” He nodded.
“All right.” She had no idea how lions played. Hesitantly she threw a stick away and pointed to it. “Catch that?”
He rolled his eyes.
“No?” He started to edge his way towards her, front legs low and head close to them, as if he was going to pounce.
“You want to catch me?” she exclaimed.
He nodded vigorously as if she was finally catching on.
“Eek.” She sprinted from him, finding it quite easy to run in the boots. The animals simply ignored her as if used to the antics of lions and two-legged beings. When she reached the shadow of the forest, with a giggle, she wheeled to run to the other side of the clearing.
With powerful legs he chased her, but when she glanced back, it was obvious he wasn’t using his full speed. Golden eyes twinkled at her as he sprinted after her, tail lashing about.
Enjoying the game, she became bolder, climbing over large boulders, running around the large black creatures munching away. She found a tree with a sturdy looking, low-hanging branch and climbed it, as she used to when young. “Want to try catch me now, lion?” she taunted him.
He chuffed at her and lay himself down a few yards ahead where a large beam of sunlight fell on the ground. Eyes closed, he enjoyed the patch of light, sunning himself, just like a housecat, Mia thought in delight.
When he turned on his back, showing his belly to the sun, Mia climbed down and approached him on cautious feet. Seating herself beside him, she scratched his belly with hesitant hands. He purred and then rolled so that the majestic leonine head lay in her lap. Mia leaned against the tree-trunk, and gently petted him.
“You’re so magnificent,” she praised in a low voice. “And you know it, don’t you? The sun looks good on you. I never had so much fun in my life, like I did today playing with you. We should do this all the time…” She whispered more compliments about how splendid he was, how swiftly he ran and how powerful he appeared. She knew he understood her and sensed his pleasure in her praise.
He napped for a while in her lap, while she sat in the shade. Some of the tusked herbivores left, and she saw stranger animals come to drink: headless treelike ones, that crawled along and dunked their entire upper body in the lake to suck in water, a bethorned animal with four legs and beady little eyes, small brown puffy-looking fur balls with protruding orbs for eyes.
Some were scary, some were cute, all were strange.
When it grew too warm for her, she shook him awake. He woke with a blink and a large yawn.
“The day is getting on, and I’m hot,” Mia said apologetically. “Shouldn’t we return home?” Neither of them had eaten, and since Barghurr refused to leave her to hunt, she thought they’d better go home for some sustenance.
He sat up and then indicated she climb on him. When she did, he padded into the forest again. The lion ran a short while, maybe ten minutes, to another part of the forest where it was not so dark. Here the trees were different—squat and hung with all sorts of fruit in jewel colours.
The lion stopped by a tree stump and indicated she get off his back. As Mia stood up, Barghurr shifted to his human form. “Wait here while I get us something to eat,” he instructed and moved around plucking some fruits by hand.
“Please let me help you,” she offered.
“That is not a good idea. You do not know to avoid the poisonous ones.”
“Oh.” She took an involuntary step back and sat down on the tree stump by accident.
Barghurr glanced back at her. “Another time, I will show you the fruits, the mushrooms that are edible and the ones to be avoided. But now it is time to feed my mate.” He laid his bounty on a large leaf, longer than his entire arm and brought the leaf bundle over to her.
A small rug appeared at Mia’s feet.
“Come here.” He sat across from her cross-legged. When she rose, she was pulled down to his lap. He peeled open a fruit exposing a juicy, white pulp and placed a piece between her parted lips. They ate like that, him feeding her and taking some bites in between, when suddenly he stiffened and sprang up.
Chapter 11
Deadly inch-long claws sprouted from Barghurr’s hands and feet. Fur popped out all over his body. He snarled, shifting to an odd sort of half-form, which was neither man nor lion and padded forward on soundless feet.
Mia slid to the ground from Barghurr’s lap when he stood so suddenly. Surprised, she strained her ears and gaped around the forest clearing, but nothing had changed from the minute before, so she couldn’t identify whatever had set him on edge. Kneeling up, she whispered, “Is something wrong—”
He hissed and whirled on her so fast, she stopped short. Taken aback by his actions, she stumbled back a step. Bounding to her, he pointed up the nearest tree—a tall, robust specimen with strange purple-black leaves and a gray bark—silently indicating for her to climb. Helping her up, he signalled her to keep going until she was hidden in the leaves. With a warning to ‘stay’, he padded away.
Heart beating fast, she shifted on her perch, not daring to make a sound.
What has Barghurr so wary?
As he stalked an unseen enemy with hushed stealth, powerful muscles flexed under his furred, golden skin. In this half-form, his strength, his dominance was evident, as was his intelligence and cunning and she became viscerally aware of a new aspect to her mate—the apex predator quality. He was alpha, and everyone she knew was so much weaker in comparison. Men were so much more effeminate back home.
The question was: should she fear his strength or revel in it?
If he ever decided to use his strength against her, she would not survive, she realised that now. Yet paradoxically, she felt safest when with Barghurr. Even now when there was clear danger, she couldn’t bring herself to worry overmuch, confident that Barghurr would protect her.
A tiny smile broke out on her face, for this feeling was a revelation—this knowing that in spite of the strangeness of Lionhaeme or incoming danger, she’d rather be here with Barghurr than anywhere else in the world. I am where I’m meant to be. Her heart gave a leap and then settled.
Mia’s lips parted in a silent gasp as seemingly effortlessly, Barghurr leaped up into a high bough and vaulted almost the entire length of the small clearing.
“Argh! The King has us! Quick, grab him!” With round eyes, Mia watched as Barghurr landed on and brought down men who’d been creeping towards them through the greenery—men she hadn’t noticed—about seven in number, who appeared to be in their twenties. From what Mia could see, they wore ragged-looking clothes and appeared strung out, with red-rimmed eyes.
Growling, they sprang up and shifted to their half-forms and attacked Barghurr with teeth and claw. One of them threw a ball of fire at Barghurr, but Barghurr had backed away, tail swishing. A near invisible wall fell into place between the men and Barghurr and they bounced back when they hit it.
“Climb over it!” One by one they jumped higher trying to scale the wall.
“That doesn’t work, too elevated,” a lion-man whose fur was so pale he was almost white growled out. “Do this!” He ran at the barrier hitting it with all his weight and the other men followed, battering the wall repeatedly with no luck.
“Enough! Move away. Let me try.” The tallest lion-man of the lot, the one with the orangish-gold fur who had thrown the ball of fire at Barghurr faced the barrier and held his arms out. Closing his eyes, he frowned, clearly concentrating on something, perhaps his magic? The hazy wall of the barrier shuddered in response, but it stubbornly stayed. “Fuck! I can’t get rid of it! Retreat.”
On his command, the men shifted back into their human forms and began to back away, but the wall, made of a bluish haze, enlarged and encircled them, blocking them on all sides. “Let us go, King Barghurr. You have won this round.”
“Not so fast, Abid. You will tell me what you are doing here in my lands or lose your men.” The leader stepped up to speak with Barghurr. In his human form, Mia could see that he was not bad-looking. He wore his brown hair tied up in a leather band and appeared handsome enough, but his eyes held a fevered gleam, and he didn’t seem to see anyone, not even Barghurr. Meanwhile, the other men kept mapping the translucent, cylindrical barrier searching for flaws, and weak points.
“Go fuck yourself, O Great Leader. Rather, I’d prefer to kill you and fuck your new mate. Where is she? Never tell me you left her alone?”
Barghurr remained calm, but his expression turned menacing. The men stepped back in caution. “You will tell me, or I will take your mind. Believe me, you will not be the same afterwards.”
The men paled, but Abid snarled at Barghurr. “Do your worst!”
“Oh, I shall.”
A short, broad-shouldered man shifted to his half-form and leaped high, breaking free of the invisible shield. The man, built like a rock, vaulted over the top toward Barghurr, who slapped his head away with a massive paw. He flew a few feet away, hit a boulder with a horrible, bloody crunch and slid down unconscious.
Mia pressed a damp palm to her trembling lips, feeling her heart pound into her ears, unused to witnessing such violence. So far Barghurr seemed to have the upper hand even when facing off against many other lions. Would that last?
“You killed him!” Enraged at the harm to their comrade, the men shifted, and redoubled their efforts to break free, battering at the barrier like crazy men, only this time instead of using force, they used magic: Abid tried to set the barrier on fire, while others tried to transmute it into mist, a brownish- furred man-lion built a vine and tried to make it climb the barrier, but the barrier remained untouched.
Barghurr raised an unperturbed eyebrow at their efforts. Hands on hips, he asked, “You are especially wound-up today. What could be wrong?”
Abid panted as he tried to get to Barghurr. Was that foam near his mouth? “We heard you found a new mate. The pheromones that wafted across Lionhaeme all night confirmed it. They have been driving us insane. We are going mad without a woman to slake our passions on, and it is all your fault,” he gritted out. The other men howled in agreement.
Barghurr exhaled. His shoulders squared. “I would be sympathetic, if you hadn’t tried to kill mated men and their innocent children and tried to kidnap women for use as your chattels.”
Mia stifled a gasp at his stark words. These must be the Rogues the Harem women spoke of.
“We have no choice, you know this. No woman will have our cubs. Every year the need to have children grinds at us making us more animal and less man.” Abid roared back, eyes crazed.
Barghurr sighed. “You do not slake your need by taking away a woman’s choice, by destroying the lives of her loved ones. When you do so, you have already lost the fight not to be an animal. How many times must I tell you this?”
“It is easy to talk thus when you have all the magic anyone dreams of and now a mate to quench your lusts on, to build a dynasty with.” Abid paced to and fro, sounding like he was already very far away.
Barghurr growled through protruding fangs. “Not so. There are plenty of women who are single. There are concepts which may be strange to you called courting and respecting a woman’s right to say no. If you only learn them, you may be surprised at the results. But for now, I can’t do much for your torment except give you the bliss of sleep.”
He held an arm out and fisted his hand. The men gasped for air. As Abid became paler, he gasped out, “Attack him. Now.” and slumped. He fell unconscious alongside his men. A tense Mia clutched her cheeks so tight, her nails dug into her skin. She startled at a sudden loud bang followed by an explosion of smoke. The barrier vanished leaving the men comatose at Barghurr’s feet.
Thinking that the coast was clear, she moved to climb down. Barghurr glanced back at her. Smoke rose all around him; she squinted, trying to make out his expression. A shimmering crystal globe that emanated greenish light flew through the air and crashed into the back of Barghurr’s skull. He fell like a stone and ominous, green smoke stole into his nostrils.
“No!” She gave a muffled scream, her palm pressed against her mouth. There were more Rogues than Barghurr had noticed.
A scratched, unkempt-looking man wearing a mixed expression of fear and triumph emerged from where he had been hiding behind the nearby berry bushes.
She bit her fist, in an attempt not to cry out. She needed to help Barghurr but was clueless what she could do amidst all the aggression and magic.
I am no warrior, but Barghurr needs help!
“Ouch!” She’d bitten so hard she’d broken the skin. Droplets of blood welled, but she ignored it as she stared at the man who was examining her mate. His hair was a tangled, knotted mess and he seemed to be in his thirties.
When Barghurr remained unmoving, the man smiled showing stained teeth and crowed, “He’s truly out of it! You can come now, Kurt.”
Kurt stepped out to join him and crouched beside Barghurr who lay on his front, unconscious. Mia’s belly tightened in worry.
Wake up, Barghurr.
“Dead, is he Rufus?” Kurt said in a rough, eager voice. �
��Would solve all our problems if he was. Reckon it would be the best day of our life.”
Mia seethed. She had to do something. Her eyes frantically scanned her surroundings checking for ideas, weapons.
Think Mia.
“Naw. Just knocked out. Even if he were dead, wouldn’t save the rest of us from a manhunt the likes of which Lionhaeme has never seen before. His Da’s a powerful man, and we’re few in numbers. But maybe we could keep him as a hostage? The King would make an excellent bargaining tool, I expect. Abid’s idea of getting a dark witch to hex that orb was a good one. Worked exactly like we planned.” Rufus waved his hands and ropes of a strange gold-bronze material wound around Barghurr’s limbs. “There. As long as he doesn’t awaken, he should be manageable. When Abid comes to, he can decide what to do about the King.”
“I can help with that.” Kurt scanned the forest and stepped towards a nearby thicket to pluck a poisonous-looking bunch of red berries and returned to his spot beside Barghurr. “Here, hold his jaw open. The juice of these volpo berries is enough to incapacitate a man for days.”
“But aren’t volpo berries deadly?”
Kurt chortled. “Not if you take the juice in minute quantities.”
As he crushed the berries, the juice started to drip into Barghurr’s defenceless mouth, and Mia couldn’t bear it anymore. Soundlessly she slid down the tree. Discovering a heavy, round stone, she ripped away the skirt of her knee-length shift and rolled the stone in it, making a primitive weapon. Circling it in the air to increase momentum, she hurled it at Kurt with the unerring aim she had used when playing with catapults in her country estate with Tom. The made-up weapon hit Kurt in the skull with a thwack sound and he sagged over Barghurr, unconscious.
“Hey!” Rufus jumped up and rushed towards her. Mia hid behind the tree, her heart pounding, and was considering if she should run or hide, when he was upon her. She fled into the forest. He gave chase and tackled her to the floor.