by Phil Stern
Standing her ground, Caylee watched the Mepards approach. “That’s close enough,” she finally snapped, holding out a warning hand.
The first Mepard reached past her hand to snag Caylee’s wrist, intending to pull her close. This was a favorite Mepard tactic, allowing them to grapple with an opponent while shifting back and forth from cat to human form.
Caylee merely twisted and pulled her wrist back and up, breaking his grip and yanking the Mepard forward. The young sorceress then clocked him with a roundhouse left, square in the face. With an angry yowl, the Mepard was knocked onto his back.
Now the second Mepard raced in, trying to catch Caylee in flank. But she caught him flush on the nose with a wicked right jab. Stepping past him, Caylee then planted her right leg behind his left knee, shoving him to the ground.
The unicorns were enraged, but knew the score, tensely watching the action unfold. Walking up, Tiffany placed a restraining hand on both of their shoulders. One of the battle hawks also screeched in fury, ripping out a piece of log with his huge, sharp talons.
But this was something Caylee needed to settle on her own. Otherwise, the Mepards would just go after her again the next time she came to the dimension.
By now the first Mepard had arisen. Gingerly touching his smashed cheek, he then raced at Caylee, hands transforming back into vicious paws and claws.
Touching her earth stone, it took Caylee a mere moment to gather her power. With the Mepard almost upon her, Caylee blasted him back through the air, blazing earth fire slamming him into a sturdy tree. Eyes wide, the Mepard slid down to the ground, obviously stunned.
But forgetting the other antagonist by her feet was a mistake. In an instant, the second Mepard leapt up and grabbed Caylee from behind. Reaching a strong hand around her front, the cat-man ripped the earth stone from Caylee’s neck, flinging it across the glade.
At this Keri made to intervene, but Tiffany waved her back. If necessary, she’d turn the unicorns loose, who would make quick work of the Mepards. But the universe was a rough place, and Caylee wouldn’t always have support close by. Tiffany wanted to see how she’d manage the situation on her own.
And indeed, Caylee’s training served her well. The Mepard was still behind her, loosely grabbing the sorceress around the shoulders with his left arm, while having flung her earth stone with his right. Without missing a beat, Caylee’s left hand shoved up on the Mepard’s left elbow, her right hand yanking down on his left wrist. Ducking down herself, Caylee threw the much larger Mepard forward and down on the ground. Stepping back, she now pulled out her sword, warily eyeing the cat-man.
Springing to his feet, the Mepard quickly interposed himself between Caylee and her earth stone, now laying at the base of a tree off to Caylee’s right. Manically grinning and spitting, he then swatted at Caylee with a paw-hand, instantly darting back out of her counterstrike range. In this manner he backed her toward the other Mepard, who was now woozily recovering before the tree he’d been flung up against.
“Uh, Tiff?” Keri muttered, glancing at her over the top of a unicorn. “This isn’t looking good.”
“Give her a chance,” the senior sorceress urged, though she got ready to firmly tap both unicorns on the shoulder.
Yet the neophyte sorceress had a plan. Dropping her guard against the advancing second Mepard, Caylee turned and delivered a vicious whack with the flat of her sword to the head of the recovering first Mepard by the tree, dropping him once more. Instantly turning about, she then side-stepped the rushing second Mepard. With a seemingly clear path to her earth stone across the glade, she made a break for it.
But the second Mepard was quicker. Though momentarily outwitted, he turned, ran, and executed a tremendous leap over Caylee to land before her again, once more blocking the young witch’s access to her earth stone. Midair, he’d shifted even farther back to cat form.
However, in the split second between when the Mepard landed and being able to spring again, Caylee acted. With a strong two-handed stroke, she sunk her blade deep into the Mepard’s right leg. His great cat eyes widening in surprise, the Mepard lashed out with his left paw, catching Caylee on the shoulder. She landed with a cry on the forest floor beside him, arm bleeding, her sword lost.
Tiffany’s hands now began coming down for the fateful shoulder taps, but somehow held up at the last possible moment. For Caylee instantly rolled out of harm’s way, narrowly evaded the snapping, snarling Mepard on the ground. Springing to her feet, with the cat man again interposed between herself and the earth stone, it was now Caylee’s turn to leap up and over the rising Mepard, performing an incredible, non-magical forward roll through the air. Catching the Mepard by surprise, he was only able to reach up and rip her sleek black boot with one claw. Unimpeded, Caylee neatly landed next to the earth stone, immediately lunging down to snatch it up.
But the Mepard had one final play. In the split second before she accessed her power, the Mepard lunged at the lithe sorceress, aiming a heavy blow at her exposed back.
However, Caylee was ready for this as well, merely dropping down and rolling back toward the spitting, hissing Mepard. Surprised, he tripped over her body and crashed head first into the sturdy trunk.
By now, though, she’d had enough. Reunited with her power once more, Caylee grabbed the groggy Mepard by the throat, lifting him bodily off the ground. Blazing green energy saturated Caylee’s hand, burning the screaming Mepard. Holding him aloft for several seconds, she then slammed him, head first, into the ground. The Mepard’s neck audibly snapped, his head wrenched into an impossible angle. Large yellow cat eyes staring up in wonder, the Mepard’s body convulsed for a few seconds, then became very still.
In an earth fire drenched fury, Caylee then turned upon the surviving Mepard, only now clearing his head back on the other side of the clearing. Warily rising, he gingerly held a half-formed paw to his head. Replacing the earth stone around her neck, the sorceress stalked over to the cat-man. A strong, green sheen suffusing Caylee’s entire body, the sword flying back up into her hand of its own accord.
“Come here!” she snarled, slashing the Mepard on the arm. Cowering, he fully shifted back to human form, dropping down to the ground.
But Caylee wasn’t quite finished. Grabbing him roughly by the neck, she hauled him over to the waiting unicorns. Kicking out the Mepard’s legs, she then held his face right before a hovering, eager horn.
“Are we done?” she demanded, thrusting his face against the horn tip. Blood instantly welled from the point of impact.
Whimpering, the Mepard glanced entreatingly up at Tiffany.
“Don’t look at me,” the brunette advised, slowly shaking her head. “You were the ones who didn’t recognize Caylee for whom she was.”
“Are we done?” Caylee bellowed, hand tightening on the back of his neck. A battle hawk flew over to land on the unicorn’s back, screeching down at the Mepard.
“Yes!” he mumbled. “You are like Duchess and her Ladies!”
“Very good, asshole!” Flinging him up and back, the Mepard landed a short distance away, tumbling head over tail through the crisp fall leaves. Crawling to his feet, he looked fearfully at his dead partner.
“The next Mepard who fucks with me will wind up like your friend!” Now beginning to calm down, Caylee sent a green pulse along her sword blade, magically cleaning off the blood. “Make sure everyone knows.”
Yowling in fear, the Mepard vigorously nodded.
“Wow!” Grinning from ear to ear, Keri absently fed treats to both unicorns. “That girl is hardcore!”
Surprised, Tiffany recalled Marissa making a similar reference about herself in Vail. “She certainly is,” the brunette thoughtfully replied, giving Caylee an approving nod.
*****
They were soon joined by three “knights” on horseback, two trolls riding something resembling llamas, and a quartet of the large, intelligent bears. The human contingent brought horses for the three witches. Along with the chastene
d Mepard (now fully back in cat form), the unicorns and the battle hawks, they all made their way through the forest towards Coven Castle.
As her horse cantered along, Tiffany thought about Blake. Though loath to admit it, Eleanor was dead on about the state of her Earth-bound relationship.
Right now her live-in boyfriend thought she was in Phoenix, doing a story on the solar industry. Of course, that was merely another lie spun to maintain an even deeper, chronic deception. By design, Blake only saw whatever tiny slivers of her true self she chose to reveal. There wasn’t any possible way Tiffany could consider their relationship to be real until he knew, and accepted, her true existence. Until then, their love was little more than a pleasant fraud.
But how much could Tiffany really tell Blake? Some of the truth? All of it? And should she just blurt it all out at once, or give it to him in stages, one minor shock at a time? She just wasn’t sure.
Rasten did have a pleasant climate, with fall lasting most of the year. Tiffany loved the bright colors and crisp carpet of fallen leaves, the breeze coursing through her hair as they rode. Soon, they made their way out of the forest and into the gentle hill country leading up to the castle.
Behind her came the rest of the madcap posse, the trolls cursing and muttering at their llamas almost incessantly. Pulling up, she watched the surviving Mepard slink out of the tree cover, keeping a wary eye on the nearest unicorn horn. The humans looked like something from an Earth movie, with shining armor and banners flapping out from short staffs propped on their saddles. Though seeming rather heavy and ponderous, the bears were surprisingly nimble, easily running out onto the verdant grass on all four paws. Seeing that Tiffany had stopped, they also immediately halted, rising to stand respectfully on just their back legs. Keri and Caylee were bringing up the rear, still under tree cover, accompanied by the other unicorn.
How could someone like Blake possibly understand the fantastic scene before her, Tiffany thought, no matter how well she tried to describe it? Or to truly understand a world like Rasten, would she have to take him here? Maybe swap insults with a troll, or get knocked around by a Mepard? At what point would the “truth” finally sink in?
And when it did, what would he think of her? After all, she had painstakingly constructed an alternate, substitute Tiffany Smith for him to love. Could Blake ever accept her as a prominent operative of a sometimes violent, inter-dimensional organization? One that did indeed, even with the best of intentions, force its will upon other populations? What would Blake say if he could see her order a troll about, or deliberately kill the Prefect on Tethra? In the end, the sheer depth of her deception may be too great to overcome.
Still lost in her musings, Tiffany surveyed the group-at-large. “Everyone all right?”
They all nodded, grunted, muttered, and growled in unison. A troll nearly slipped from the saddle, angrily slapping his llama as he righted himself.
“Stop that, you little freak.” Fully emerging from the forest, Keri’s horse strolled past the llama. Reaching down, she struck the troll on the head, sending him sprawling to the ground with an enraged shriek.
Smiling tightly, Tiffany caught Keri’s eye. Frowning, the younger witch pulled on her reins, stopping. With a barely perceptible flick of her chin, Tiffany indicated the sullen troll, angrily swiping dirt from his tiny legs.
Getting the message, Keri sighed. “Come here, fuck face,” she said, gracefully swinging a leg up and over the saddle. Dropping to the ground beside him, she bodily hauled the troll up by one arm, unceremoniously dumping him back onto his own mount. “But don’t hit them again,” she warned, pointing a finger into his mashed, shrunken face. “That’s not nice!”
While Keri endeavored to teach the troll some manners, Tiffany studied Caylee. Her horse now at a slow walk, she was the last one to leave the forest, closely accompanied by the second unicorn. One of the circling battle hawks immediately flew down to land on the unicorn’s back, urgently rubbing his face against her cheek. Absently petting the bird, Caylee looked dully out at the gently rising landscape, where even now two more unicorns could be seen racing down to meet them.
Tiffany wasn’t sure how many worlds Caylee had visited recently, but she was clearly suffering from “dimensional fatigue.” Or Boundary Shock, as her older sisters sometimes called it.
Quite simply, a new sorceress was exposed to so many different worlds, climates, beasts, and situations, in such a short amount of time, that it became difficult to assimilate it all. Anxious to prove themselves, yet unused to the constant danger and occasional violence experienced by full-fledged Coven operatives, it was easy to slip into a stunned, almost confused state.
In Caylee’s case, she’d already killed a man on Tethra, followed by an especially brutal bout with not one, but two Mepards. Add in the stress of the ruby witch crisis and Barbara’s nonsense back in Haven, and it was no wonder she was shutting down.
“Hey.” Getting her attention, Tiffany nodded at the green hills ahead. “Ride with me, Caylee. We need to talk.” Without waiting for an answer, she wheeled her mount around, kicked him into a brisk trot to gain a little distance, then slowed to a walk. In a moment Caylee had ridden up to join her, Keri getting everyone else moving again behind them.
Peremptorily sending the two new unicorns back to join Keri, Tiffany allowed the unicorn warding Caylee to trail close behind. The battle hawk was urged back into the air, soon winging his way toward Coven Castle to warn of their impending arrival.
“You did a great job back there,” Tiffany began. “Those Mepards were tough, but you handled them.”
“I was lucky.” Eyes downcast, she bitterly shook her head. “I made every mistake in the book. First, I let them get too close. Then I didn’t act decisively enough, letting the first one…”
“Caylee, enough.” Letting the firm tone creep into her voice generally reserved either for Blake in a bad mood or rebuking younger Coven-mates, Tiffany briskly continued. “You did very well. Better than I did, in fact, the first time I was here.”
“Really?” Caylee carefully looked over at her. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Oh, believe it.” Tiffany smiled, urging her mount into a slightly faster walk. “And I only tackled one of them, not two.”
“Do you think I’ll make it?” the teenager asked, plaintively petting her horse’s neck. “As an operative, I mean?”
“Caylee!” Almost laughing, Tiffany slapped her on the leg. “You have made it! Here you are, in Rasten, battling Mepards and lording over trolls. You can go anywhere, do almost anything. You’ve escaped your brutal childhood, learned almost impossible skills, mastered tremendous powers, and have already begun making the universe a better place. Here’s a better question. How have you not made it?”
“Oh.” Clearly, she hadn’t thought about it that way. “That means a lot. Especially coming from you, Tiffany.”
“Nothing’s coming from me. You’ve earned everything you have, and the Coven is lucky to have you.” Tiffany nodded vaguely behind them. “And the unicorns and hawks adore you. That counts for a lot.”
“I can talk to them, you know.” Caylee bit her lip. “Did you know that?”
“I’d heard about you and animals, but I wasn’t sure how far it went,” Tiffany replied. “Can you talk to the bears back there?”
“Sure. I really like them.” Now Caylee allowed herself a tentative smile. “They think I’m the most advanced ‘Duchess’ they’ve met.”
“Well, you might want to keep that opinion to yourself,” Tiffany advised. “Pam may not appreciate it very much.”
She giggled. “I think you’re right.”
“And when we get to the castle, you’re going to rest.” Cresting a small rise, they stopped to study the now-revealed Coven Castle on the next, higher hill, the remainder of their crew still straggling behind. “I need you at your best when we get to Earth.”
It was an impressive sight, Tiffany had to admit. A tall, strong structure, t
he castle had four tall towers on each corner, topped by even grander turrets. Human bowmen manned the upper ramparts around the entire castle, with more flapping, proud banners. There was a rather clean looking moat at the bottom of the hill upon which the castle sat, spanned by a narrow bridge. Magical charges could easily destroy the bridge in an emergency, leaving any attacking force exposed on the far side of the moat. A herd of some twenty unicorns frolicked in the fields before the moat, with several battle hawks wheeling about. An “honor guard” of ten knights sat on horses before the bridge. On seeing Tiffany and Caylee, they snapped their banners forward in salute.
Staring in wonder at the stirring scene, Caylee sighed. “I’ve always wanted to stay in a castle, ever since I was a little girl.”
“Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Kicking her horse into motion, they ambled down the final rise. “Trust me.”
*****
To Tiffany’s mild surprise, the resident Duchess wasn’t upset at the Mepard’s death. In fact, Pam merely waved off Caylee’s explanation, instead giving the girl a firm hug.
“You did very well,” Pam said, gratefully sinking back into a plush chair. Though not quite as neo-medieval as the rest of the facility, Pam’s study still featured high ceilings and stone floors, with an eclectic assortment of sofas, tables, and maps. “Those Mepards can be tough, and they need a reminder now and then that we’re in charge.”
Though one of Barbara’s contemporaries, the senior witch in Rasten hadn’t kept herself in the same type of fighting shape. Somewhat overweight and clearly unaccustomed to exercise, Pam seemed to enjoy static assignments, such as hanging around Coven Castle for a month at a time. When not here, in fact, she generally planted herself in Haven Village, with only the occasional foray into a civilized dimension for appearance’s sake.
One of Pam’s assistants, an intense sorceress in her early 30's, now strode forward. “So you’re here to see Claire?” Rayna asked. “I’ve been talking to her almost every day. She’s told us very little.”