[Mkguild] Crossing paths chapter 4

[joeschoder2 at charter.net]

Here is my next chapter.


Crossing Paths
Chapter 4
By: Joseph Schoder Jr.

Dimalya woke slowly, a violent sneeze racked her body and brought her fully awake.  She was laying at the river’s edge.  The small, smooth stones along the bank were actually rather comfortable.  The water of the river was calm, moving sedately, flowing over her legs.  She was still in the forest, the trees here abutting up to the river, the roots of some even visible in the calmly flowing water.  It was light out, the sun just beginning to rise.  She tried to stand up but for some reason she couldn’t get her balance, she fell back and yelped as pain shot up her back.

Her hand reached back, the first thing she noticed was that her clothes were torn up.  It must have been a rough ride down the river, how did she survive...  and without apparent injury?  Then her hand brushed the source of the pain, it felt like a snake was crawling through a tear in her pants, maybe it bit her.  Beginning to panic she tried to pull it out, but suddenly stopped as she felt something strange, it was like something pulling on her spine.  She unexpectedly realized that the feeling was coming from what she was holding.  She could feel her hand holding it, but the feeling was coming from it.  

She turned her body around, for a moment astounded by how flexible she was, but then she saw what she was holding and her mind went blank.  

It was long and thin, it had yellow/gold colored fur with black stripes and spots down its length and a white tip, and it was twitching in her hand.  

It was a tail.

Then she saw the hand holding it had the same gold colored fur with black splotches.  She looked at the palm, it was a thick pad but very sensitive, and from her fingertips grew wickedly curved claws.

The panic now full blown, she quickly stripped off her clothes and looked at herself.  Her body was covered in the same golden fur with black spots, splotches, and streaks.  She was a well read person, in fact she had even seen one in the savanna of the northeastern area of Irombi on one of her few visits to the mainland, and knew what she had become was called a Cheetah.  Well, that is, if a cheetah could stand upright and had a humanoid body.  But some of her spots were connected forming a rather mesmerizing stripe and splotch pattern, and for the life of her she couldn’t explain why she had changed.  Her feet were formed to walk on the toes instead of the heel which explained why she fell over, in fact it looked like she didn’t even have a heel anymore.  Her hand brushed over the top of her head, it hit her ear which reflexively twitched out of the way.  The feeling both startled and amazed her.  She still had her hair, she grabbed a lock of it and brought it out to where she could see it.  It was still the same dark black color. 

Her eyes crossed as she looked at her... muzzle.  Her nose was black and she had long whiskers.  She couldn’t help but brush her hand against them and quickly jerked it back as she sneezed again.

Then she became aware of her senses.  Her ears were swiveling toward perceived sounds almost without her thinking about it, and she could smell!  Oh, what she could smell!  She knew that there was a rabbit in the bushes about a meter to her right, at least ten birds in the trees above her and a deer somewhere downwind of her.  She didn’t have any idea how she knew, but she did.

The panic diminished, she was no stranger to wearing forms that were not her own.  She had never had a new form forced on her like this, but she was a summoner.  She acclimated herself quickly to her new form as she would with a lower order summoned creature, the kind that needed to join with the summoner to have life.  She quickly jumped to her feet, surprised for a moment by how fast she was.

Then she remembered last night, she turned upstream and prepared to run back, but she faltered, her hand going to a nearby tree for support.

He was dead.  There was no way he survived.  She wanted to go back, to take vengeance on as many as she could before they killed her, but... his last request to her.  She couldn’t just ignore it and throw her life away.

Her body started shaking, her tail twitching in agitation, her muzzle peeled back revealing her glistening canines.  She leaned heavily against the tree, her mind fighting between the desire to go back and die or go on and fulfill his last wish.

She felt pressure building in her chest, she couldn’t breath, her throat tightened in anguish.  A piercing scream resounded through the forest as she cried out her agony.  Her claws tore into the tree bark as she sank to her knees, sobbing.  

She couldn’t go back, if she threw her life away he would have died for nothing.  She sat back against the tree, her tail instinctively moving to the side.  Tears streaked her face as she said goodbye to the man she had loved almost her entire life.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out, then got to her feet and walked to the river.  She got down and scooped some of the water up in her hands to drink.  She tried to suck up the water, but with her muzzle it wasn’t working, she opened her mouth and tried to lap up the water with her tongue but it had leaked out of her hands by then.  

Anger gripped her at her inability to do even simple tasks and she slammed her fist into the water which promptly soaked her.  Bitter laughter forced itself from her throat and her face twisted into a grimace as she remembered the day they left home and the booming laughter of the man she loved.

She looked into the river, imagining how easy it was for normal Cheetahs to drink.  Suddenly her perspective shifted, she couldn’t stand anymore and fell to her hands and knees.  She felt her body... changing.  It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was definitely uncomfortable.  As quickly as it began it was over, looking down she lifted her hand, or tried to.  It wasn’t a hand anymore it was a paw.  She blinked in surprise as she looked down, or more accurately, looked back at herself.  She was a normal Cheetah!  She wondered at that for a moment.  Stooping down she cooled her parched throat and dunked her head underwater to wash away the tears.

Coming back up, she wondered about her form shifting.  She brought back the image of her bipedal form in her mind and focused on it.  Again the uncomfortable feeling but, being prepared for it, it wasn’t as bad as the first time.  In only a few moments she was back on two feet.  She shook her head and went back to retrieve her clothes, using the torn remains of her shirt to dry her face. 

With a mental trigger she brought a spare set of clothes into being.  She pulled on the loose shirt and was about to put on the pants when she stopped.  Holding them up she extended a claw and tore a hole in the back, then she put them on, slipping her tail through the hole.

She thought about her shift again and got an idea, she looked into herself and tried to dispel the form as she would a summoned creature.  Whatever it was fought back, it felt as if her body was being squeezed in a giant hand!  She was overcome by waves of nausea and fell to her knees, heaving.  As she backed out and returned to herself the nausea disappeared, she was still a Cheetah.  

“Ugh, alright, no messing with... whatever this is.”

Taking one last look upstream, her decision made, she walked into the forest.  She would find them. 

********************

Consciousness returned slowly.  Unfortunately, movement remained elusive.  Pain however, did not.  It radiated outward from his chest like the tides, pulsing, inexorable.  He couldn’t open his eyes, but thought he saw the guttering of torches behind his lids.

There were footsteps approaching.

A dark, resonant voice spoke, "What have you discovered?"

The next voice was apologetic and fearful, "My Lord, the power appears to work solely with him.  We tried using him to create the beings and bond them with others but the result is the same in all cases.  That is all that remains from four such tests, three lutins and one of my own apprentices.  In all four, the being dissipates leaving only charred remains.  From the tests I have run, I believe that this power is inherited rather than learned, I don't think that anyone not born to it could ever use it, even one already possessed of magic ability.  I apologize my lord, I have failed."

"This is unacceptable, the Mistress requires this power."

"I can do nothing more my Lord."

The dark voice growled, "I thought this could happen, your failure will not be your death, this time."

"My Lord is most generous," the relief was obvious. 

"Leave now," the dark voice grated.

"Yes my Lord."

Two pairs of footsteps were heard, one receding, the other approaching.

He felt breath on his face, "I will possess your power, one way or another!"

The footsteps belonging to the dark voice withdrew. 

Consciousness began to fade out again, but as the last vestiges of the world slipped away, a new voice spoke in his mind, in even, cultured tones, "This fool mage who serves my dear cousin may have your body for now.  But you, you took one of my servants without permission, without payment.  Did you think I would not notice?  No matter, Lilith may keep your body, I now take what is rightfully mine!"

Pain flared through his mind as his world vanished.