Page 47 of Witchblood
We stumbled to a stop at another stream. The water burbling and cheery. It smelled okay, and I was dying of thirst, but I sat, watched, and waited. The movement of the waves certainly wasn’t normal. It lapped the shore for a while, then seemed to crawl forward a few inches, before sliding back.
The little light filtering through the trees made the stream glitter like diamonds. The water smelled sweet and clean. It sang of my thirst, tempting me closer. Only there were no fish. Why would a stream have no fish?
It inched toward me. A living thing with its odd snake-like movement.Slither. Side to side. I backed away twice before watching a bird land close to its edge. The water rose up and slapped the bird like an invisible hand. The bird vanished into the depth of the water. I trembled. The cold fire began to lick at my gut again, draining my energy.
No. Not again. I didn’t think I had enough strength to survive that again. Whatever it was. I leapt away from the stream. Keeping my distance, but following it, hoping for some place safe to rest.
Some ways down the stream I found a pile of rocks, collapsed around in an odd triangle. They were some space from the stream. The grass around them covered the opening, but when I investigated I found no scent of anything other than grass and wind. What an odd place. The fox nudged me to rest. Too tired, it protested. I wiggled into the opening. Happy that it provided a good view of the whole area, even though I was straining to see through the tall grass. I listened intently. Body throbbing with unmatched pain. We were waiting, the fox and I. For the next attack.
Chapter 22
Imust have half dozed from complete exhaustion because the smell of cinnamon, vanilla, and cardamom wafting through the air startled me awake and to my feet. For a while I sat peering through a very densely overgrown field of grass for any sign of movement. The scent was so out of place, and exhaustion had me disoriented, all I could do was blink into the distance, confused as to whether I should run away or pursue the delicious flavor in the air.
Silence blanketed the field, enough so that I felt I had lost my hearing completely. The grass sat still. No wind. The stream still present, but completely absent of sound. The sky overhead was an odd teal more like an ocean color than any sky I’d ever seen. Not a cloud to be found. There were trees, twisted and dark things that reminded me of artisans’ renditions of gnome-like faces carved into the knobby sides of trees. Faces, dark and angry stared out at me. They didn’t move either. Though I hadn’t remembered them being there when I’d fallen asleep.
The smell intensified. It curled around me like a living thing wrapping me in a warm hug and begging me to come. A fae trick? Perhaps another monster? One with a lure of sweet home and memories? I could almost see someone’s face attached to the memory of the scents, but couldn’t quite make it out. Like something blocked the memory, or slowed my thoughts. Maybe it was because I’d been the fox too long? I’d never spent more than a day or so as the fox. I vaguely recalled that werewolves lost their humanity very quickly when forced to stay wolves for extended periods of time.
The face almost appeared in my mind again. A cloud of darkness hovered over it. Frustrating me because I felt like I needed to see it right that second. Just finishing the memory would clarify my thoughts. I was sure of it.
I dropped back down, trembling with the need to follow the pull tugging at me. After a few minutes I heard it. My heart beat in tandem with someone else’s. The idea should have terrified me, except that it just made me listen harder and feel for that other half I’d somehow been missing. More than just a smell now. A feeling of home and safety. Aneedfor something so profound I couldn’t put it to words. It was like my very soul would rip itself out of me to follow the sensation if I didn’t move. So I got up.
I followed the tugging, reveled in the scent, slowly at first, cautious, until a few dozen yards’ distance showed no ill intent. Then I was bounding across the vastness, racing toward the feeling of home, theneedburning in me like I’d been lit on fire. I’m not even sure how far I ran, since I was already long beyond exhausted.
At one point I felt as though I’d hit some sort of invisible wall. I raced back and forth alongside, not sure why I couldn’t pass through when I saw across to the other side just fine. I nipped and clawed, digging into the ground a little. Nothing worked.
The invisible wall ran along the edge of the stream for some ways. I followed it, keeping my distance from the stream, kicking rocks toward the wall only to watch them bounce off. It wasn’t just me who couldn’t pass. The stream was different there as well. Less vibrant and clear, more mobile and full of darting fish. How strange.
I followed them for a time. The wall and the stream. Saw the splice in the water, where the barrier seemed to cross, dividing something. The fish just couldn’t pass one area, and everything beyond the wall where I stood radiated menace. Warning. The chill of it sank into my bones.
I doubled back toward the fish filled side of the stream. It meandered on for a mile or so it seemed until there was a bridge. Built from stone, it was narrow and covered in green and brown moss. The water rushed beneath it like a real stream. Sounds of water over rocks and fish darting about were still a bit muffled, but I knew they were there. Life existed on the other side of that bridge. Though I wasn’t sure anything had crossed it in decades. Would it crumble beneath me?
Then there was the barrier. I could see it here too. A swirling thing, like too much sun over a tar road. Wiggles of color that solidified into the distance, but over the bridge looked a little weak.
I sat staring into the swirl for a bit. Trying to think through my options. Stay in the unknown with monsters chasing me, or try to get to more familiar ground? I made up my mind with a huff, rose to my feet and paced a good distance away. That inner cold fire rose up again, rolling over me like flames eating oxygen in a newly opened room.
Maybe I’d break my neck, but I planned to run at the wall to break through the weak spot. If it was someone’s magic, perhaps I just needed a little force. I took a few bounding steps before pushing my tired body to run. In the last minute I closed my eyes, expecting to be eaten or run headfirst into a rock. But something just seemed to pop and I tumbled through, ass over teakettle, landing in fallen leaves and pine needles. At least this little forest area looked more like what I was used to. No gnome-trees in sight. The stream was gone and I could hear birds and insects again. The wind blowing through the trees chilled my skin. I forced myself back to my feet and ran on at a slight tilt upward.
It wasn’t until I found a small cave that I slowed.
The delicious scent curled into the space. My heart leapt forward as though demanding I proceed. But a dark cave was not what I thought an ideal hiding place in Underhill. A million things could be waiting there to eat me. The smell was so strong. That heart beating with mine. That call of home. I trembled with the need of it and approached the entrance slowly. If it was a trick, it was a good one. I could barely breathe through the need to be in that cave right that second.
A light flickered inside, far enough away from the entrance to cast shadows. Nothing moved through the dance of the flame. I expected some sort of trick to befall me the second I set foot inside the cave. Only nothing happened. Still I strode forward as though my feet were covered in molasses. The panic ever present, just on the edge of my consciousness, ready to overwhelm me at the slightest hint of something out of place.
Further into the cave an old fashioned oil lantern sat on a small rock ledge. A bedroll had been spread out a few feet away with a pile of blankets and a bag beside it. A man lay on the roll, his stomach pressed to the earth and his face turned away. His back was presented to me. I froze, too afraid that moving would wake him, or bring an attack. Was he trying to make himself look vulnerable?
The silence brought back that echo to my heartbeat. Fast, but not racing. I cocked my head and studied the man. His breath even and strong, though his eyes were closed. He didn’t look injured. Intrinsically I knew he wasn’t asleep. His breathing was too focused and not slow enough to symbolize sleep.
Thump. Thump. Thump.Our hearts beat, together. I shuddered with the need to touch him and verify it was his heart I was hearing. His that mimicked mine. His energy that danced in unison with mine. His cool calmness that tamed the fire burning my soul while igniting the heat in my gut. His body that I wanted to wrap around me.
There wasn’t enough light to see him clearly. Just a mop of darkish hair, blue jeans and some sort of sweater over the top, which made sense since the cave had a bit of a chill. My fur kept me warm enough, but humans didn’t have that luxury. I took another step toward him. Still he didn’t move. Was it him who smelled so divine?
That pull of need kept dragging at me, urging me closer, one strained step at a time. Until I stood over him, close enough to hear his heart clearly. Beating with mine. Not a trick. Couldn’t be a trick. Not this close.
A touch of tension strained his shoulders, like he was trying to keep himself still. I touched a paw to his back, expecting him to leap up and try to catch me. Only he didn’t. Instead he let out a long sigh and the tension melted away. I couldn’t stop trembling. Touching him drained the last of the energy out of me and I collapsed on top of him, my entire body racked with spasms.
“Sebastian,” He whispered, voice soft, familiar, yet my memory was still so fragmented. He heaved a heavy breath and rolled over, careful to catch me and hold me against his chest. Not confining like he’d captured me, but more like he held something precious. I didn’t have the strength to run anyway. And now as my heart settled over his, I could finally breathe.
The change poured over me without conscious thought. One moment I struggled with being the fox, run into the ground and nearly lifeless with exhaustion, burning with an unseen cold fire, to becoming the man I’d lost for a few hours, and frozen as though I’d been dumped in a subzero lake. Still my head swam with confusion and a jumble of scattered images. Only now I knew whose arms I was in and whose heart beat with mine.