The Change

by Lori Aisling

  Bror approached as Ristan released her and he took his turn pulling her into an embrace. “I am going to have ta side with Ristan on this one, woman. You scared the shite out of us both and in a weakened state and unable to protect ya, I, for one, am very grateful for the ferocious nature and fighting prowess of your friends.” He looked at Boz, Jessie, and Jayson. “Thank you. This war is not yours ta fight, yet you have never faltered and never backed down. I truly feel that the gods put ya in Bristol’s path to aid her in this Re-Order. I am honored ta have you on our side.” He dipped his head in acknowledgment.

  “I can’t believe we did this, guys, I really can’t. I thought we were friggin’ goners there for a bit,” Jessie stated. “Now that we have persevered and no one is dead, I wanna wash, dress, and get out of this death plot.” Jayson wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and pulled her back to his chest.

  “Let’s go bathe and just decompress for a bit,” he whispered. Jessie smiled at him and leaned against his shoulder as they turned and headed to the creek at the edge of the field where they had just fought their biggest battle to date.

  Boz had retrieved a set of clothes for Bristol and a blanket for her from Sleip’s saddlebag. Tossing them to Ristan, he addressed the trio.

  “I’m pleased we were able to work together. But can someone tell me how the hell I could look through my eyes and see what Bristol was seeing? I am not an Other. I am not bonded to her and I don’t have the same power. Am I missing something here?”

  “You are Fae,” Ristan explained. “As such, you are a creature made of magic. The Fae are a very magical race and are easy conduits for spells, magic and hexing. For Bristol to know this, and how to use it, is puzzling. However, it’s not surprising that she was able to channel into you. I hope you understand that what you did today could have very well saved us all. When Bristol pulled from Bror and me, she weakened us. Nothing that a night of good sleep and meal won’t fix, but neither of us would have been able to draw a bow and hit a target.”

  “Hell, I couldn’t even stand for a few minutes,” Bror grumbled. “I don’t remember her draw ever being so powerful and intense. Even with all four of us and her in her full power. We really need to work on our conditioning.”

  “Just wait until I have all my power, boys. I’m gonna knock you all on your prissy little asses!” Bristol joked and slapped Bror on his rear. “The last one to the creek is a rotten egg!” She hollered as she took off running for the water.

  “Hell, we already smell like rotten eggs. Or worse,” Boz admitted.

  Bror put his arm over Boz’s shoulders as they followed behind the woman that drove them all crazy. “Well hell, lad. We were created ta deal with the silly lass. You chose her as your friend with yer own free will.” He smiled and chuckled as Boz snorted, choking back a laugh.

  “You are right about that! She seemed so level-headed and normal. Shows my judge of character should probably not be trusted!”

  “I can hear you!” Bristol yelled, laughing as she submerged herself in the water up to her neck. “ I know I am acting crazy and I don’t care! I am just so glad that we’re all alive! We stopped the horde from reporting back to Chaos and we figured out their weak link. Today was a victory!”

  Bristol

  As the group finished washing the battle off of them and cleaned out their wounds, Bristol addressed the group, suddenly somber. “I know we are all in a rush to get out of here, and I get that. But we need to pay our respects to the people that died here today. Without their sacrifice, the horde would not have been distracted and they would have been continuing to move. It would’ve made this much harder for us.”

  “I agree. I am not sure how we are going to pull this off in the future if the horde is moving,” Jayson said.

  Drying off and dressing, they made their way from the creek back to the old cabin where the family had made their home. Bristol saw their vegetable garden was in full production, and she could imagine the folks that lived here canning and drying food for winter. The senseless destruction and loss of life angered her. They died to feed Chaos. To feed that greedy bitch the power she needed to completely destroy this planet and the life on it. She sent a mental curse to the gods that would allow such depraved actions against innocent lives. With every day that passed, she realized that she had indeed been primed her entire life to fight against this kind of injustice. Gathering the bodies, they discovered it had been two couples that lived here. Two males and two females, the females both wearing simple gold bands showing their dedication to their mates. Hearing a sharp intake of breath and a strangled cry, Bristol snapped her head up to see Jessie on her knees, hands shaking, as she stared at the dead woman lying on the ground before her.

  “Oh gods, Jessie! What’s wrong?” She exclaimed, running to her friend’s side.

  “This woman, Bristol. Look! She was pregnant!”

  Bristol fell to her knees next to Jessie and laid her hand on the woman’s swollen belly. “Oh no!” She cried, tears streaming down her face. Since The Change, most women had stopped cycling. Bristol had not had her period since she had first came into her power on that awful night that she killed Dave. From what she had learned, very few people were able to reproduce. The people that were lucky enough to find a shifter of their same species would sometimes begin to cycle and could have a baby. She had seen this first hand with the fox shifters that she had left in control of her family farm when she left Nebraska. The two had found each other after The Change and had been wandering, looking for a place to settle. When Bristol had found them at the Barne’s farm, she had invited them to stay with her. It was much easier to manage farm life with more than one person. Ryan had known he was a fox shifter, he had came into his shift shortly after The Change. Claire, however, found out shortly after her arrival at Bristol’s farm. A freak accident caused a tower of hay to collapse and trap her, thereby pushing her body into a shift as a defense mechanism. The couple was thrilled to discover that her shifted form was also a fox, but none of them realized how important that would be for them. About four months later, Claire began to cycle and was pregnant soon after. Following the birth of the cutest little set of twins Bristol had ever laid eyes on, she had started making plans to turn the farm over to the young couple and move on. She had not realized at the time how incredibly rare it was for women to get pregnant and have babies since The Change, but she had since learned the true miracle that had bestowed Ryan and Claire. On her knees now, with her palms on the dead woman’s belly, she let the tears fall unabated. Hearing the guys approach, she saw Bror motion to Boz and instantly, her friend was behind her and Jessie, his hands on the back of their necks, letting his calming magic flow through them.

  “I want to feel this, Boz. Please don’t,” Bristol said through her tears. “These people died for no reason. This baby will never get to live all because of this cursed game the gods play. The least I can do is mourn them.”

  “The sadness that you both feel is feeding Chaos, love,” Bror whispered. “Don’t let her have this power over you. Don’t give her more fuel ta use against you. We understand. We know this is hard. This is why ya became so bitter in previous Re-Orders. Use your emotions for justice. Change it. Use it. But don’t let her win.”

  Ristan knelt on the other side of the dead woman and scooped her up in his arms tenderly. He nodded at Jayson and the two of them headed to the edge of the garden that had been so lovingly tended to.

  “We will bury them all together, ok? They will know respect as they are laid ta rest,” Bror said, moving to help Jayson and Ristan as they carried the dead couples to what would be their final resting place.

  Boz left his hands on the girls’ necks and rested his forehead against the back of Jessie’s head. She leaned back against him and took a ragged breath. “Holy shit. This is hard,” she stuttered.

  “Yes, it is. I am sorry you guys got drug into this with me,” Bristol whispered.

  “I’m not,” Jessie replied.
/>   “Really? Why?”

  “Because I am counting on you to have a plan, Bri. You have the power to stop this shit and I am going to be there fighting next to you and doing what is right. For the first time in my life, I feel like maybe I can help make a difference in something important. That dead woman and her baby just reinforced what I had already known- that all the death, destruction and misery can be stopped by you and your Others. I might not be part of the god’s big plan, but damn it, I will be the baddest, meanest cat you have ever seen. Fuck this shit, Bri. Even if we go down, I am going down with flesh under my claws and a mouthful of bad guy.”

  Bristol looked over at her friend and grabbed her hand, squeezing hard. “I promise you, Jess. We will fight this to the end. I might not remember what I did in the past to win or lose, but this is a different playbook. We aren’t pawns. We will not just be played and used. It’s going to be different this time.”

  “I agree with Jessie, Bri. I might not be one of your Others, but I feel that there is a reason I am here and I will fight by your side. We haven’t been at this long, but I feel like we have already made some progress into learning what needs to be done to end this,” Boz said.

  “Then let’s go help lay these good people to rest and make plans to make an even bigger dent in that bitch’s power grid,” Bristol said, rising to her feet and clasping the hands of two of her dearest friends. Holding them tight, the three of them walked the short distance to where Bror, Ristan, and Jayson were preparing the mass grave for the two young couples.

  Bristol

  Once they had completed their somber task, they gathered a decent amount of vegetables from the garden and loaded the pack saddles with supplies from the modest, yet well-stocked, cottage. Mounting up, they decided it would be best to move on, at least for a couple of hours, and put some miles between the source of such sadness and themselves, before settling for the evening and coming up with their next plan. Bristol chose to ride with Bror, snuggling into him and letting his strength calm her. Jessie was curled up in front of Jayson and from where Bristol was sitting, it appeared the petite lady that hid a huge tiger had fallen asleep in her lover’s arms.

  “This is happening everywhere across the whole world. All the killing and torture. How can we even make a dent?” Bristol asked Ristan and Bror.

  “We just keep chipping away at it. Day by day. Every chayn and every Empurin we kill is one less. It takes a lot of power for Chaos ta manifest them. For every lost horde and Empurin, it is a depletion of power. With them gone, they are not harvesting for her. It does make a difference, love, even if it seems small. As your power grows and your victories become larger, the damage will hit her even harder. Don’t lose faith, for we have just begun,” Bror told her.

  “As soon as we find a good stopping place, I want to help you with your powers. I think it would be good for us to lay low for a couple of days. Rest and make plans. Work on drawing your power, then harnessing ours and combining them, and even use the Fae. He is an excellent conduit and he trusts you completely. You are not helpless in this fight and you’ll only get stronger every day,” Ristan reiterated.

  “I feel stronger. Every time I pull my magic, it feels like there is more somehow. And it gets easier for me to call it. I want to do this, but we need to rest. The horses need to rest; Max and Sly are in their teens. Jessie has put more miles on her body in the last week than her entire life, I’m sure. We need to be strong. Because when we head out again, I have every intention of seeking out another horde, another Empurin, anything nasty out there that we can kill. The more we ride and the more we engage the chayn and the other creatures that Chaos sends out, the more I’m sure we will start to see other clues the gods have placed. We’ve been missing something all these years and Re-Orders. There is more out there at our disposal, I just know it. We need to figure them out.”

  Bror squeezed her knee and they lapsed into silence as they rode on, chasing the sun as it made its descent in the sky. Fall was rapidly approaching and Bristol could feel the slight chill in the air as the days were getting shorter. Coming upon an abandoned hunting cabin encircled with trees, Ristan motioned for them to stop and pulled up his reins.

  “This is good. Fresh water, open on all sides for guarding and short patrols, and no way for us to get boxed in. We are a long distance from a road with only a very slim chance of anyone just happening upon this place.”

  The exhausted group dismounted and as if on auto-pilot, the horses were rubbed down and turned out to graze while Jessie and Jayson carried the packs into the cabin and set up sleeping arrangements for everyone. Boz got a fire going in the pit outside while Bristol prepared an evening meal from the fresh vegetables and canned goods they had taken earlier in the day. Although few words were spoken, the team worked together as if they had known each other for years. Bristol realized what it was; it was balance. The team was in sync, playing off each other’s strengths to perform these simple tasks like a well-oiled machine. Looking back over the past few days, she realized that the transformation from a group of strangers, friends, and co-workers into this efficient team had happened quickly and with minimal effort. It was as if it was destined. As she sat next to the cheery fire and they all ate their supper, Bristol started a mental checklist of everything she wanted to accomplish over the next few days while they rested and regrouped. Finishing up her meal, she rose to her feet. “I am going to take a few minutes, guys. I won’t go far, and I won’t be gone long. But there is something I need to do real quick.” She patted the bullwhip at her side and winked at Ristan. “I know, I know. Watch. Be vigilant and yell like a banshee if I see something bad.”

  Ristan smiled and nodded his head. “At least you listen to some of what I say,” he smirked.

  “You want some company, girl?” Jessie asked.

  “Nah. Not right now. I’ll be right back.”

  Bristol walked through the little clearing around the cabin and headed west towards the setting sun. Being mindful to not go far, she found a large rock that jutted from the ground facing the setting sun. She sat down and admired the beautiful colors splashing themselves across the sky. As the day bled into nightfall, she felt the missing pieces in her soul. She knew what it was now. It was her Others. The two that had yet to find her. As well synced as she was with Ristan, Bror, Jessie, Jayson, and Boz, she knew that she needed Caspian and Bane. She needed them to strengthen her powers, complete her balance and fight for this realm. But she felt the need for them in her heart. The need to have all four of her men around her. She was puzzled at this gnawing ache to have them with her. She had not even realized they existed a short time ago, but now it was as if she had known them all along and had been separated from them. Which was exactly what had happened! The gods pulling them away from her time and time again irked her. They were hers. Digging into the power in the pit of her stomach, she pulled at it, trying to drag memories of her Others from it. She felt it tickling her, tingling up her arms and illuminating around her. She concentrated on the core of her magic, the need for her Others, her connection with them. She thought of their names, all four of them, and the feeling of feeling whole and complete. She could feel the warmth and the closeness of Ristan and Bror. She dug deeper, gathering the feelings of Caspian and Bane. Her hands gripped tightly onto the rock on either side of her as she pulled and strained, urging her power to grow and manifest her desire. She felt a gentle breeze around her and her hair danced and floated on the wind, illuminated with the warm yellow glow of the raw magic around her. When she felt she couldn’t hold any more she ordered it out into the universe; a beacon to her men with a simple plea: “Come to me”. Feeling the power rush out of her, she let out a deep breath, her limbs weak. Hearing a rustling behind her, she clambered to her feet and swung around to face the intrusion. Ristan and Bror were headed straight towards her, a determined look on both their faces. The other three were following behind at a safe distance, weapons drawn.

  Never breaking stride
, her two Others invaded her space, pulling her to them. She wrapped her arms around them both, inviting their embrace.

  “What the hell was that?” Jessie screeched. “We’re hanging out, trying to teach your two knuckleheads here how to play ‘go fish’ with a deck of cards Jayson found and all of a sudden they go all glassy-eyed, get up, and walk off like fucking zombies or something!”

  “Seriously. That is exactly what it was like,” Jayson verified. “It was as if they became possessed at the exact same time. Freakin’ weird.”

  “She called to us. We could have denied her like we could deny breath,” Bror said. “I have never felt the pull that strong. Ever.”

  “I knew there was no danger; she was not in distress. She just requested us,” Ristan said, releasing Bristol and palming her face in his hand. “She has called to her Others with a strength I could never have fathomed. If Cas and Bane feel that pull half as strong, their path to you will be much clearer.” He smiled at her and placed a kiss on her forehead. “You are wise, woman. You’re harnessing your strength and making it work for you. The gods are in for a surprise this time.”

  Bror smiled and took her hand. “We will work with your power more tomorrow. Come now. Let’s return ta the fire and you can go fishing with us.”

  “It’s called ‘go fish’, not ‘go fishing’,” Jessie giggled and rolled her eyes. “These guys. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t save the world without ‘em.”

  Holding both of her Others tight and smiling at her friends, Bristol turned to take one last look at the setting sun and headed back to their temporary home to ‘go fish’ with her new family.