[Mkguild] [MK] Happy Yule

[Kit]

Excellent story, nice characterization, but you should probably know that
not even Nasoj knows how to cure the curse.

Kit

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 6:43 PM, billy morph <billymorph at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  I started writing this in time for Christmas. One of these days I'm going
> to have to learn to write short stories.
>
> Happy Yule
>
> "I'm bored," Hale announced to the small knot of soldiers huddled around
> their camp fire.
>
> "Then go back to the keep," Kristin rumbled, cleaning the grit out of her
> claws. "You're the only one that doesn't have to be here."
>
> Hale rolled his eyes. "Oh you know full well why I'm in the arse end of
> nowhere," he said, gesturing at the small hamlet they were camped at the
> edge off. It was so small no one had even gotten around to naming it yet.
>
> "Why are you here?" Raff, house cat morph and proud of it, interjected.
>
> "None of your-"
>
> "He's hiding from the Duke," the tiger growled.
>
> "Krissy!" Hale protested.
>
> "What, half the keep knows?" she said, shrugging.
>
> "Yeah, but you don't have to keep telling people," he protested.
>
> "Why's the Duke after you?" Raff cut in, saving the company from another
> sibling row.
>
> "He's pissed off because I won't play currier for him," Hale explained,
> lounging back and almost fell off the log.
>
> "You play currier for anyone who pays," Raff said, raising a quizzical
> brow. "You delivered a letter for me last week."
>
> "Yeah, well don't tell him that," Hale replied, shrugging. "He'll be
> annoyed when he figures out he just has to pay me more."
>
> "Shouldn't have taken the salary," Krissy sighed.
>
> "He wanted to pay me the same as everyone else," Hale protested. "Why
> should I get the same money when I'm a hundred times better than they are?"
>
> "Hey!" one of the horse morphs protested. "I used to be a runner."
>
> "And yet you still had me carry your parcels," Hale said with a dismissive
> wave. "Face it, I'm better than you."
>
> "Hale," Krissy growled. "You asked me to tell you when you were pissing
> people off."
>
> "That doesn't sound like something I'd say," he replied, frowning.
>
> Kristin slumped. "It was after that tavern brawl you started. You know,
> with the guy build like a siege engine."
>
> "Oh yeah," Hale said, snapping his fingers. "Well in my defence, he really
> did look like a pig."
>
> "Oi!" the boar morph protested.
>
> "Not as much as you of course," Hale amended, aiming for an apology and not
> even hitting the same fief.
>
> "Hale you're annoying me now," the tiger rumbled. "I know you're bored, but
> can't you just name stars like the rest of us?"
>
> "It's just so pointless," he exclaimed, standing. "Why are we even
> bothering to guard this pathetic little hamlet?"
>
> "Orders!" the tiger bellowed, also rising and towering over the irate man..
> "And some of us actually care enough about rules to follow them."
>
> "They're stupid," Hale shot back poking Krissy in the chest. "There's not a
> bandit for twenty miles."
>
> "Not with all this yelling," the hare, not bunny, muttered. It was odd, the
> whole patrol wa s animal morphs, not an age or gender among them; it wasn't
> impossible, just unlikely.
>
> "I was attacked six miles from here," Krissy snapped. "This is not a safe
> country."
>
> Hale shrugged "All the more reason to cut and run then."
>
> "Have you no sense of loyalty?" Kristin muttered.
>
> "Yes," Hale replied with a simple nod. "You're the most important thing in
> the universe to me."
>
> "Oh just go away," she replied, pushing Hale backwards and he flickered a
> moment, then was standing at the edge of the firelight.
>
> "I shouldn't have left you alone last time," he said to the trees, not
> looking at Krissy.
>
> "I have a bloody huge sword," she snapped, hefting the greatsword one
> handed. "And I was fine last time."
>
> "You don't want my help?" Hale asked in a deadpan tone.
>
> "You brand of help gets us chased out of town by an angry mob," she
> replied, scowling. "I'll help myself if you don't mind."
>
> "Be that way," he murmured. "I'll stop looking for that cure then." And he
> disappeared without a whisper.
>
> Kristin's eyes widened, first in shock and then in anger. How dare he
> suggest he could fix this? He couldn't do anything. It was his blasted fault
> that she was guarding a twenty building village in the cold side of nowhere.
> If it wasn't for him she'd be safe and warm by her parent's fire for Yule
> rather than shivering in the snow in a gods forsaken wasteland! No, worse
> than that. She'd be lucky to shiver, the fur coat he'd gotten her deadened
> the cold quite nicely thank you very much.
>
> "Hale! I'm not finished with you. Come back here you bastard!" Her voice
> degenerated in a roar of rage that shook the snow from the trees and she
> struck out at the wood pile, which splintered as Bloodfall bit deep.
>
> "Kriss-" Raff began, as the big cat rumbled.
>
> "You can shut up and all," she snarled. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me before
> my watch and lose an eye."
>
> Kristin stalked aw ay from the fire and found a shrub that offered at least
> a little protection from the snow and shifted to full form to curl up
> beneath it. The fact she did this without a second thought no longer
> bothered her. The fact that she'd just yelled at her squad mates was just a
> passing concern. She had not a care that any of that would have been
> unthinkable just a few months before. She just tried to settle down and
> think non-Hale dissembling thoughts.
>
> "Huh," Raff said, breaking the stunned silence around the fire. "Must be
> that time of the month."
>
> He had to duck to avoid a tree branch hurled at him.
>
> ***
>
> To say Krissy was annoyed to be roused by someone yanking on her tail and
> yelling, "found another one," would be an understatement. Despite the old
> adage pulling a tiger's tail is one of best way's to risk life and limb and
> even Hale had given up after his fifth trip to the infirmary. Within an
> instant, and bellowing in consternation, she was on her fe et and pulling
> the culprit close with his lapels.
>
> It came as a bit of a shock to find herself face to face with a masked man
> and a terrified pair of eyes, Kristin had been expecting Raff, but a quick
> glance at the leathers and the wicked knife at his belt had her moving in an
> instant. The open handed blow caught the guy around the side of his head and
> her claws bit deep, tearing out chunks of flesh, and he went down screaming
> in pain and clutching a ruined eye.
>
> "It's awake!" another masked man bellowed, and Krissy charged the knot of
> people dragging the other unconscious keepers away. She didn't draw her
> sword, for some reason she knew it wasn't in her scabbard, and leapt into
> the air too late as a ceramic pot shattered on her muzzle.
>
> Kristin barrelled into the crowd as her legs just stopped listening,
> sending the bandits flying like ninepins as she crashed to the ground. Her
> arms wouldn't move, her eyes wanted nothing more than to close and be done w
> ith it but inside she was roaring in protest, which translated into a low
> whimper.
>
> "And that's why you should always check to see if the pelts are dead," a
> man declared, standing right next to her head. Any other time Krissy would
> have tried to take a chunk out of his leg, but it seemed just too much
> effort. Instead she gazed up at the petty mage; taking note of the
> threadbare robe and pots of what she hoped was just knockout gas on his
> belt.
>
> "The bastard took out my eye!" the rather foolish other man screamed.
>
> "Bitch," the mage corrected, rolling his eyes.
>
> "I don't care, she'll pay for that."
>
> Krissy, if she had been lucid enough to be worried, would have panicked at
> the sight of a man, clutching at his ruined face, brandishing a knife that
> could only be called overcompensation. But he was stopped in his tracks as a
> flash of flame from the mage almost took off his eyebrows.
>
> "She is worth a lot more than your pride," he warned. "There's a lot of
> mages who'll pay a boat full of gold for a specimen like this. And even more
> nobles would pay for the hide."
>
> "Oh shit," Krissy thought just before unconsciousness claimed her. "Well,
> at least Hale will save me."
>
> ***
>
> She woke up caged. It wasn't the first time, and after the first dozen
> cells, 'private suites' and tallest towers Kristin had begun checking out
> the escape routes as a matter or course. This situation didn't look so good
> though, she was in a low metal cage that looked as if it had been designed
> to hold bears from the size of the bars and there was a pair of guards by
> the doors.
>
> That was pretty bad even by their standards.
>
> On the plus side it didn't look like she'd been moved any further than the
> village chapel, which just raised further questions really.
>
> Kristin rumbled as she dragged herself onto all fours and sank into a full
> animal form as she realised she'd been stripped.
>
> "Eup, big guy's awake," one of the guards said to his partner. Krissy
> recognised them both as from the hamlet, Johnson and Jameson if she recalled
> correctly, though which one was which was beyond her drugged mind.
>
> "What the hell?" she muttered, shaking her head to try and clear the
> cobwebs.
>
> "Hey, no talking!" the larger guard snapped, rapping on one of the cages
> and Kristin growled as the clang echoed in her ears.
>
> "Can you hear this?" Raff asked from the next cage over, almost inaudible
> even to the tiger.
>
> "Just," Krissy replied, just moving her lips. One of the guards frowned but
> didn't stop them.
>
> Raff nodded. "Good. You know what's going on?"
>
> "I think they're selling us to a mushroom kingdom or something," Kristin
> said, shaking her head. "I'm not quite sure they got me full in the face
> with that sleep drug so I was pretty out of it."
>
> "Selling us seems to work," he admitted, thinking about it for a moment.
> "Explains why they were so eage r with the sleep gas bombs."
>
> "What happened?" Kristin asked. "I was already asleep."
>
> "They got us as we changed patrols," he explained. "A half dozen pots and
> we were out of it. Damn, we're never going to live this down once we
> escape."
>
> "Was it bandits?"
>
> "No, the bloody villagers," he hissed, and one of the guards shot them a
> suspicious look which the cats met, both trying to appear the picture
> innocence.
>
> "I think this whole place is a set up," Raff continued, crab walking to the
> edge of the cage and staring out through the bars. "Think about it. Brand
> new hamlet, a bowshot from the curse border, just guys and a few wispy girls
> who if I'm any judge are 'for hire'."
>
> Krissy rolled her eyes; he would be the judge of that.
>
> "It's a set up," Raff repeated. "And we've got to get out of here. What
> about your brother?"
>
> "I don't know, this church been sanctified?"
>
> "They did some prayers here," Raff admitted, shruggin g. "Don't know if
> that counts, why?"
>
> "Means Hale can't get in," she sighed. "Long story, but we're-"
>
> "How dare you accuse me of going behind Kratans back!" a rather whiney
> voice protested. "I am under direct orders to check the prisoners, and I'm
> sure you don't want their escape on your heads."
>
> Kristin couldn't hear the reply, but a moment later the man who thought
> catching a tiger by its tail was a good idea stormed in. Krissy smirked as
> she saw the bloodstained bandage wrapped over the side of his ruined face..
>
> "You two might want to step outside," he said to the pair of guard, who
> just glanced at each other. Not moving.
>
> "Now, or you'll be asleep just like them," he snapped, gesturing at the
> sleeping keepers.
>
> "We'll be right outside," they warned, and left.
>
> "Yeah, but the lock's on the inside," he murmured, waving his hand over the
> bar and slid it into place without a sound.
>
> "Shit, mage," Raff murmured.
>
> "Oh awake are you," the one eyed man said, rounding on the cats. "I told
> Kratans that we should have tested the mix on something other than dogs.
> Well, all the better."
>
> He strode down the row of cages, unsheathing a dagger, and two pairs of
> silted eyes followed him.
>
> "Huh, pathetic," he said, squatting in front of Kristin who bared her
> teeth. "Can you even speak?"
>
> "Can you even see?" she shot back, and the man bristled.
>
> "I'm not the one in a cage," he growled, rattling the blade against the
> bars.
>
> "Ah, but at least that's not my fault."
>
> "Err, Kriss," Raff murmured. "Might not want to make this guy angry."
>
> "Yeah, listen to the moggy moggy," the man snapped, jabbing the dagger into
> the cage. Krissy didn't flinch, just focused on the steel point, waiting.
> "I'm calling the shots here."
>
> "So, eye for an eye is it?" Krissy said.
>
> "What the hell are you doing?" Raff hissed.
>
> That was a good question. Kristin didn't know with all honesty.
> Antagonising her captors had never been part of the pattern, but for once
> she was tough enough to stand a chance against them, and this guy had
> already lost round one.
>
> "I think the eyes are a good place to start," the man said, glowering. "And
> then maybe a few other things. I hear there's a good market for tiger
> parts."
>
> "Bring it."
>
> The dagger darted through the bars and a quick as a flash Kristin caught
> his hand in one paw. There was a moment's pause as the guy realised just how
> bad a decision he'd made and then the blood began to run in rivulets onto
> the straw. With a yell he ripped his hand out of Kristin's claws and
> clutched at the ruined appendage as Krissy dragged the discarded dagger
> deeper into the cage.
>
> "Wow, you're bad at this," she said, and Raff covered his eyes.
>
> "You'll pay for that bitch," the man bellowed, as fire wreathed his hand.
>
> "Hey, why is this locked?" one of the guards yelled, hamming on the door.
>
> "Oh shit," Kristin exclaimed. "Look, I'm telling you this in all good
> faith. Don't do it."
>
> "You'd like that wouldn't you?" he rumbled, the wildfire around his hand
> mirroring that in his eyes, and the bars of the cage began to glow.
>
> Krissy backed away. "It's not me I'm worried about," she admitted.
>
> "You're not going to do anything," he said, manic grin spreading across his
> face. "Except burn."
>
> The wash of flame leapt through the bars and in an instant Kristin had
> vanished in a wash of magical heat and smoke. Raff yelled, pressing himself
> against the far wall of his cell as his fur began to singe, back-pedalling
> to get as far away as he could from the manic mage.
>
> Then it was over and the tiger was left crouching it her cage.
>
> "That was really, really stupid," Kristin said, shuddering.
>
> "What the-" the man said, eyes widening.
>
> "I'd run," Krissy said, claws scoring deep furrows in the woo d as her fur
> colour rippled through the spectrum. "Really, just go."
>
> There was a boom as the door was blasted off its hinges and the mage,
> Kratans, rushed in.
>
> "What the hell is going on in..." he petered out as he saw the green tiger
> in a flowering cage.
>
> Quicker on the uptake than the junior mage who was staring in open mouthed
> horror, Kratans was back out the door and dragging the guards with him as
> the magical ground zero began to spread. The flowering boards were giving
> way to melting iron which became red sand before it hit the ground and
> Kristin stood, shrugging off the remnants of the cage.
>
> "Please," she gasped, clenching and unclenching her fists as she fought the
> magic flowing through her. "Run."
>
> "Why wont you just die," the man roared, throwing another fireball that
> bounced off Kristin's chest, not even ruffling her fur.
>
> The blast knocked away the blocks Kristin had on the torrent of magic as if
> they were cobwebs and i n an instant she went jet black as the power flowed
> through her.
>
> "Raff, run!" she screamed, as a moment later sound vanished from the word
> and she saw the cat squeeze through the warping boards of the chapel. The
> stupid mage was screaming soundless curses at her as he hurled more fire
> that was absorbed into the maelstrom of magic Kristin was trying to hold
> back, but they were mere drops in the ocean.
>
> As black tendrils wrapped their way around the building Kristin hoped this
> would be one of those spells that was all show and didn't do much. Okay, so
> none of the other magic she'd let lose had been anything but destructive,
> and she had as much control over what happened as she did with the changing
> of the tide, but maybe this time, because her squad mates were lying
> unconscious mere feet away, the magic would be lenient.
>
> The dawn's light vanished as the tendrils thickened and blocked out of sky
> and Kristin frowned at the wannabe mage.
>
> "I don't kn ow if you can hear me," Kristin said, she couldn't hear herself
> but there was always an off chance. "But I just want the last thing you hear
> to be the truth. You're a moron."
>
> The darkness descended like a rock and then Kristin was left alone in a
> void.
>
> ***
>
> In an instant the black vanished and Kristin was standing at the epicentre
> of a circular plane of discoloured glass, the only sign there'd even been a
> building was a single smouldering beam as the very edge of the blast zone..
>
> "Krissy!" Hale roared from the forest's edge, where he was dragging an
> unconscious Raff between trees stripped bare of leaves. "Run!"
>
> She whirled to see the bandits approaching the disaster zone and took one
> step before slipping and falling flat on her face.
>
> An arrow skittered off the glass and Kristin dug her claws in, morphing
> into a full tiger as she bounded away on all fours and was off like a shot
> into the wood after Hale.
>
> "What the hell happ ened?" Hale exclaimed, as Krissy flipped back to
> bipedal, still running, and swept Raff over her shoulder.
>
> "An idiot tried to kill me with a fireball," she explained as they sprinted
> through the snow. Angry yells were following them and every so often a lucky
> bowshot would hit the ground a couple dozen paces away. "And you know what
> that means."
>
> "Anger in, hellfire out," Hale completed. "Shit. Was there anyone else in
> there?"
>
> "Oh, only everyone in my file," she replied, snarling.
>
> "Ah. Take a left here." They dove through a low thicket and Hale pulled
> away a curtain of fallen branches to reveal a tiny shelter. "And hide, I'll
> be back in a moment."
>
> Kristin laid Raff down in the hollow before squeezing herself in after him
> and pulling the curtain shut. At any other time she observed, this would
> have been one of Raff's dreams come true, but some how Kristin doubted his
> fantasies involved massive internal injuries. A troop of angry bandits
> stormed past and Krissy pressed herself as deep into the hole as possible,
> ignoring Raff whimpering in pain. She lay there, panting, until the voices
> fades and the enormity of what had just happened sunk in.
>
> She'd killed them, not the mage he'd brought that on himself, but the rest
> of her file. Okay, so there was an off chance that they'd just been
> teleported to another dimension, or changed back to normal and sent home, or
> ascended into higher beings, but most likely they'd been blasted into their
> component elements.
>
> At least they hadn't been conscious.
>
> There was a pop as Hale reappeared and hefted the cover off the hide.
>
> "Well that should keep them busy for half an hour," he said, clapping his
> hands. "Now is someone going to tell me what the hell happened or what?"
>
> "I think they're slavers," Kristin explained, dragging Raff out of the hole
> and laying him on the snow. Now how did you check to see if a cat was okay,
> damp nose? "The ham let, our little protection patrol, all a set up."
>
> "Shit," Hale said after a moment, bending down next to his sister. "I
> probably shouldn't gone and told them back at the keep then."
>
> "No, I meant they tricked the keep, not that the keep tricked us," Krissy
> corrected. "Tone down the paranoia a tad."
>
> Hale shrugged. "Eh, paranoia has never killed anyone. Lack of paranoia on
> the other hand. Though that reminds me, we have reinforcements on the way."
>
> "How long?"
>
> "Ooo, a few hours yet," Hale said, as Raff groaned. "Not sure if he's going
> to last that long."
>
> "Great," Krissy grumbled. "Don't suppose you can just 'port him back..."
>
> Hale shot her a look that could have frozen the sea.
>
> "Okay. Well I don't see any blood, but that means I have no idea how to
> help him," Kristin sighed. "Damn, basic said one thing on internal injuries,
> and that was not to move them.
>
> "We've already carted him half a mile," Hale pointed out .
>
> "Hell," Kristin swore. "And they're going to find this place sooner or
> later."
>
> "I'm think distraction," Hale said after a moment's thought. "I'll-"
>
> "Slip back to the hamlet and start a fire," Krissy completed, huffing.
>
> Hale stared at her. "How did you know that?"
>
> "Because that's always your plan," she sighed. "You fight, you get me, we
> set fire to something and escape in a chaos. It's the pattern, but it's not
> going to work this time, they don't care about the hamlet."
>
> "Yeah, but they're still going to go and find out what happened," Hale
> countered. "And then we can ambush them for once."
>
> Krissy chewed her lip and below them Raff groaned.
>
> "We've had worse plans. Go for it."
>
> "I'll be back with your sword," Hale said, standing. "Just stay here."
>
> "Some clothes would be nice too," Krissy interjected, as he was about to
> pop out.
>
> "I thought you had a fur coat?"
>
> He vanished as a clod of snow whistled past his head and Kristin slumped,
> placing a paw on Raff's forehead. She couldn't tell if he were hot or cold,
> heck given her new form Krissy would be hard pressed to tell if she had a
> fever herself.
>
> "Hell Raff," she murmured. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess."
>
> A couple hundred meters away the snow crunched and Kristin's ears zeroed in
> on the noise. Two humans, fast walk, armed and heading straight towards
> them. Terrific. A growl rose in her throat as she dropped onto her haunches
> and the two bandits balked as they broke through the bushes to see an irate
> tiger glowering at them.
>
> "Just run," Kristin snarled. "It's the best offer I'll give you today."
>
> The pair looked at each other and as one drew their swords and charged.
> Kristin rolled her eyes, why did no one ever just give up, shifted her hind
> paws a little and sprung. One of the bandits had his sword in a guard, but
> the other had his by his side and so got several hundred p ounds of irate
> tiger to the chest as Kristin tackled him.
>
> They fell in a tumble of fur and yells of alarm and Kristin was off and
> away, skittering away on all fours before rounding of the pair again. She
> didn't like prowling around like an animal, for one she wasn't that
> practiced, but shifting took up valuable time.
>
> "Last warning," she said between growls, forcing her voice human enough to
> be intelligible.
>
> "I have a sword," the man warned, as his friend took one look at Kristin
> and decide to play dead. "What do you have freak?"
>
> There was a flicker in the bushes and Kristin grinned, showing a
> distressing number of teeth as she rose onto her hind legs.
>
> "Mine's bigger," she replied, holding out a paw and for a half second Hale
> was standing next to her, before he passed her greatsword, bloodfall, into
> her hand.
>
> The man's eyes widened, then he charged screaming and Kristin dropped onto
> one knee, holding her huge sword in a close gua rd. A moment later she moved
> in a flurry, sweeping the blade round and clasped the crossguard under her
> shoulder, holding the point out like a spear and the bandit, realising way
> to late to stop or even put his sword in the way, skidded on the snow before
> impaling himself, the body only stopping a full half length down.
>
> "Okay, that was disgusting," Hale said, as Kristin stood and kicked the
> limp body off the sword, before wiping down the blade with the back of her
> hand.
>
> "No, he was disgusting," Kristin corrected. "They're selling us as slaves..
> And," she continued in a much louder voice. "When we have to leave in half a
> minute I sure hope there's no one left that we have to deal with."
>
> The other bandit was gone almost before she'd finished speaking and Krissy
> slumped, looking down at her hands.
>
> "Okay, wiping blood off with your own fur may look intimidating but this is
> going to take a fortnight to wash out," she sighed.
>
> Hale shrugged. " Well I think that guy wet himself at least."
>
> "Urgh," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose. "I hate playing the tough guy."
>
> "Kind of stuck with it," Hale said, and Krissy was just about to snap at
> him when there was a 'whumph!' and a flare of light lit up half the forest.
>
> "And that would be the lamp oil catching," he explained, as Krissy whirled
> to see an orange pallor lighting up the clouds from the direction of the
> hamlet.
>
> "You set that up a while ago didn't you?" she sighed.
>
> "Yep," Hale replied, nodding and gazing at the conflagration like a proud
> father. "Man I wish I could do fire spells."
>
> "And our entire village is glad you can't," Kristin countered. "Now let's
> get moving before we blow any chance we have of ambushing them."
>
> They set off at a jog, and Hale explained his plan.
>
> "Okay, so the mage jerk has set up at the centre of the blast site. No way
> of sneaking up and he's got guards so I'm not really going to b e able to do
> much. On the other hand he can't hit you with magic and so if you just wade
> in there you can hand them their asses no problem."
>
> "I notice your plan has you out of the action," Krissy cut in.
>
> "Hey, I'll be making sure anyone who tries to break off the search and help
> gets a dagger in the back," Hale protested. "If I see an opportunity I'll
> take it."
>
> "Okay, fine. But I want my armour back."
>
> "Oh right," Hale said, slapping himself on the forehead before vanishing
> for a moment and appeared again with the leathers. "I'll give you some
> privacy then." He shoved the armour into her arms and disappeared.
>
> "He just realised I was naked didn't he?" Krissy asked the empty forest.
> "Man I miss having curves."
>
> ***
>
> Kristin lay on her belly at the edge of the forest, watching the mage and
> his guards. There were only three, the rest having left to save their
> burning homes and the mage was busy concentrating on the glass plain tha t
> Krissy has seared into the earth. At a guess he was trying to figure out
> what had happened to his captives, but given he was just sitting there
> Kristin had no real idea.
>
> She stalked through the singed scrub grass towards the guards on all fours,
> slow, deliberate, trying to avoid making any noise and freezing every time
> she thought someone was looking at her. Wild hunting wasn't Krissy's forte,
> any animal in a forest full of half human predators kept its wits about it,
> but in the flickering firelight and her stripes just going orange again, she
> was almost invisible as she picked her way closer.
>
> "You have one chance to surrender," Krissy said as she hunkered down mere
> feet away from the knot. "They don't kill people who surrender here."
>
> The guards looked around for the speaker, hands heading for their swords
> and Kristin waited for a slow count to three.
>
> "Okay. I'm through with you people."
>
> One of them spotted her but was way too late a s Kristin sprang, shifting
> in mid air and she swung her sword in a broad arc that took his head half
> off. Wrenching the blade out of the ruins of the man she brought it round
> just fast enough to catch an overhand blow on the crossguard and kicked the
> offending bandit in the shins, claws extended. He dropped to the ground,
> swearing as his clutched at his leg and Kristin whirled, batting the final
> bandit's clumsy swing away and darted forwards, smacking him in the face
> with the flat of bloodfall and he crumpled to the ground.
>
> The injured man yelled something incoherent and Krissy turned too slow as
> his sword tip tore through her cheep armour and cut a swathe through her
> chest. She didn't even slow though, swinging her sword in a high arc that he
> managed to intercept and Kristin hooked his blade on bloodfall's bladelets,
> letting the momentum carry her forward and driving the crossguard through
> his neck.
>
> "Ow," Krissy said, yanking her sword out of the dead man and rubbing the
> crimson line in her leathers, the wound was no where as deep as she feared.
> "Score one for natural armour I guess."
>
> "Now, where did that mage go?" she asked, glancing around for the vanished
> man.
>
> "He's making a break for it," Hale exclaimed, flickering into existence
> behind her. "Come on, he has a horse waiting."
>
> They set off at a sprint towards the burning village. A couple of the
> bandits were still defending the place with bows but Hale, being somewhat
> practiced at being shot at, had cut their strings before they'd even notched
> an arrow.
>
> "You know, I just thought," Hale said, as they paused by a recently
> deserted hitching post to get their bearings. "Why are we chasing this guy?
> The bandits are running for the hills, they're not going to be a threat to
> your friend anymore."
>
> "Because," Kristin growled, setting off at a run along a trail of hoof
> prints. "If we let him go he'll just come back and try it again."
>
> "But he's not going to fool you again," he pointed out, as they crashed
> through the snow clad forest. The trail wasn't hard to follow; the horses
> had been at full gallop as the mage ran like the hounds of hell were after
> him.
>
> "Can't you think about any but us for a few minutes," Kristin snapped, and
> there was a yell as two bandits leapt out of the bushes in front of them,
> brandishing their swords.
>
> Their ambush didn't seem to go as planned. Hale was a hundred yards past
> them in an eye blink and the smarter bandit leapt out of the way as a
> several hundred pound tiger roared towards them, tucking her sword under her
> shoulder like a lance. The braver, or slower, one was tossed away like a rag
> doll as the blade crashed into his arm and then Hale and Kristin disappeared
> into the night.
>
> "I'm just saying we're putting ourselves at risk to catch someone who may
> not be a threat," Hale continued, panting and teleporting on every third
> step to keep up. "He's certainl y not coming near you again."
>
> "Because of him, a lot of my friends just died," Krissy snarled. "We've got
> to go faster."
>
> "Well we're not going catch him on foot," Hale snapped back.
>
> "Not on two feet. Find me a short cut," she barked, sheathing bloodfall and
> dropped onto all fours before shooting off through the undergrowth.
>
> "I've got to get her out of here before she gets herself killed," Hale
> sighed, as he watched her go, trying to ignore just how freaky it was too
> see his sister running on her hands. "Right, let's find an ambush."
>
> Within a few minutes Krissy was beginning to tire. Cats were not marathon
> runners, and judging from the fading scent of horse she was loosing them.
>
> "Come on," Hale snapped, materialising next to her. "They've hit the road
> but they had to double back round a cliff. You can fall a dozen feet right?"
>
>
> Kristin huffed, too far gone to speak, but Hale bulled a trail through the
> forest and a few momen ts later they burst out into the scrub ground next to
> the road. The mage and a bodyguard were careening past and Kristin didn't
> miss a beat, pulling herself up onto her hind legs on the run and leapt,
> sword screeching through the air as she fell and slammed into the bodyguard.
>
>
> They fell in a tumble of fur and flesh, and horse as Kristin's momentum
> demolished the steed, and the mage's mount reared, sending him crashing to
> the ground before charging off into the distance. Moments later only Krissy
> and the mage pulled themselves to their feet, the tiger clutching a bruise
> at her side. The bodyguard wasn't going to be getting back up. Heck, the
> horse wasn't in that great shape.
>
> "I'm going to give you one last chance," Krissy sighed, hefting her sword..
> "Please. Give up."
>
> "Oh just die already!" the mage bellowed, and a shard of ice leapt from his
> outstretched hand and hit Kristin square in the chest.
>
> "Why do you people keep doing that?" she gasped, staggering backwards and
> felt the power leap into her like a flood.  "Seriously, it doesn't work!"
> Tendrils of white hot energy wreathed her for a moment and then she slammed
> her sword into the ground, roaring as the magic earthed itself.
>
> With a yell the mage charged, drawing a short sword and Kristin wrenched
> bloodfall out of the ground, though now it was completed by a couple of
> pound of cooling glass on the tip.
>
> "What is it with the glass?" Krissy sighed, then yelped and she got a
> clumsy block in the way of the mage's sword just in time.
>
> He was good, she realised as they traded blows. Another burst of ice shot
> over her shoulder as she ducked underneath his guard, but the mage leapt
> back and even managed to elbow Hale in the ribs as he appeared behind the
> man. With an incomprehensible yell lightning wreathed his sword, and Hale,
> gasping, flickered away to a safe distance.
>
> "Magic," Kristin gasped, cracking the mage across the arm as she rolled out
> of the way of the electrified sword. "May not be the best idea."
>
> "For you," he began, and swung for her head. "Not for-"
>
> The blast catapulted the pair apart and Kristin landed on all fours a dozen
> yard away, which would have been far more impressive if the mage hadn't
> managed to levitate himself to the ground about three feet from his slagged
> sword. With a yell and a roar the pair charged, the mage drawing a knife
> from his belt and Kristin yanking a glowing bloodfall from the snow. More
> sparks shot from them as their weapons met, punctuated by the occasional
> bolt of pure darkness that cut swathes out of the surrounding forest as the
> mage tried spell after spell.
>
> As a burst of heat turned snow to steam the combatants leapt back and
> paused a moment, gasping for breath.
>
> "Come on mage," Kristin snarled. "You're not going to beat me."
>
> A throwing knife leapt out of the mage's belt and Kristin ducked too slow
> as the dagger thudded into her shoulder. With a bellow of pain Kristin
> staggered as the mage charged. Kristin hefted the greatsword into position
> one handed, snarling, and caught the mage's swing on the bladelets. Then,
> pushing with all her might, she smashed the spiked crossguard through his
> chest.
>
> "Told you," she said, as the look of shock spread across the mage's face
> and his warm blood began to soak into her fur. She glanced down, to see a
> second dagger buried between her ribs.
>
> "Shit," she sighed, as the pair fell away from each other and she crumpled
> into the snow. "That's not fair."
>
> With a yell she ripped the dagger out and regretted it as bolts of pain
> spread across her chest. Getting wounded wasn't supposed to hurt that much.
> And the hero wasn't supposed to be stabbed by the guy she'd just defeated..
>
> "Hell, Krissy, are you okay?" Hale exclaimed, appearing over her and
> crouching down.
>
> "That was really unfair," Krissy sighed, the world was going bright,
> everything fading to white. Which either meant she was ascending or going
> into shock. "Hurts too."
>
> "Ah, not again!" Hale snapped. "Krissy, can you hold out a few minutes
> while I get help?"
>
> "Sure," she replied, coughing up blood. "Doesn't hurt that much anyway."
>
> "Come on Krissy stay with me!" he barked, shaking her shoulders. The tiger
> tried to bat him off. It was annoying. "I'm not losing you."
>
> "Well unless you've got some magic up your sleeve, you've not much hope of
> that," Krissy sighed.
>
> "Argh, why didn't we just let him go?" Hale yelled, standing and stamping
> in frustration.
>
> "Because." Kristin coughed again. "Sometimes you can't run from your
> problems."
>
> "Well, I do have a trick up my sleeve still," Hale sighed, crouching and
> placing his hands across Kristin's wound. "It's for treating paper cuts."
>
> "How many people have I killed with magic today?" the tiger inquired, as
> Hale began chanting.
>
> He pa used. "With luck one less." And let the magic fly.
>
> Kristin kept a tight hold on the power. All day, every day, she kept a dam
> across the flow, stopping it from randomly turning people into frogs and the
> like. Hale's spell shattered the fragile barrier as if it were made of no
> more than cobwebs.
>
> The cavalry riding to their rescue saw the flare from five miles away.
>
> ***
>
> The roof was treacherous, blanketed with snow and Hale crawled his way up
> the tiles on all fours, scowling at the tiger tracks he was following.
> Kristin had managed to walk up; Hale had already fallen off once.
>
> "Damn it Krissy," Hale snapped as he grabbed the weathervane and manoeuvred
> himself next to the big cat, who was basking in the setting sun. "Why did
> you have to pick the tallest tower in the bloody keep?"
>
> "I didn’t" she replied in a monotone. "The gryphons have that one; this is
> the second tallest tower."
>
> "You know what I mean," Hale sighed. " Why are you skulking up here?"
>
> "A lot of my squad mates died a few days ago. I almost died a few days
> ago," she said. "I don’t know if you remember."
>
> Hale gritted his teeth. "Yeah, I remember, but the guy responsible is in
> chains downstairs begging to be released before he gets a pelt."
>
> "No that’s not what-" Kristin began, but paused as she realised what Hale
> had said. "Wait. I thought after he got caught up in that healing spell they
> were going to lock him up outside the valley?"
>
> "That is certainly what they decided," Hale admitted with a shrug. "But the
> Duke really should pay his guards more."
>
> Kristin stared at him for a moment and Hale met the tiger's gaze.
>
> "Okay, that's evil," she said at last.
>
> "I prefer vindictive," Hale said. "Besides, I hear they like irony in this
> place."
>
> "I can't believe you sometimes," Krissy said, shaking her head in disgust..
> "Besides, he wasn't the one who killed all those people." *
> "Oh for the love of light Kirssy," Hale snapped. "You weren't responsible
> for that, you don't have any control of what happens when someone zaps you."
>
>
> "And me not having control is my fault," she bellowed, teeth flashing as
> she rounded on Hale. "Me putting myself where blowing up like that could
> hurt people is my fault. Me antagonising that moron into throwing a fireball
> at me is my fault, and I did that because I'm stuck in this stupid over
> aggressive body and that's... well that's you fault isn't it? You're why
> we're here."
>
> She settled back down into the snow, patting, her breath forming a cloud at
> the end of her muzzle.
>
> "You didn't have to come," Hale muttered.
>
> "Oh grow up," Kristin barked, elbowing Hale in the ribs and the boy
> stumbled, slipping on the icy roof and tumbled over the parapet.
>
> A moment later he reappeared, covered in snow.
>
> "Okay, I just had to teleport into a drift," he said, scowling.
>
> "Good," she growled back. "Maybe that'll remind you what a bloody stupid
> thing that was to say. Until we got here I followed you like a lost dog. It
> was your decision to come here. Your stupid quest. You got those people
> killed."
>
> "Hey," he protested. "I can't be held responsible for every wackjob mage
> that throws fireballs at you. This isn't my fault."
>
> "Hale," Kristin said, fixing him with a withering stare. There were tear
> tracks in her fur. "We cause chaos, misery and death wherever we go. It was
> fun for a year or so, but I want to go home."
>
> "Great, I'll beat a cure out of Garison and we'll-"
>
> Kristin swept his legs out from under him and Hale disappeared over the
> edge again.
>
> "That is very annoying," he reporting, popping back onto the roof.
>
> "You just don't get it do you," Kristin sighed. "This isn't something
> you're going to be able to fix with a half baked plan. Heck, I don't even
> know if you can fix this."
>
> "I've never failed at anything before and I'm not starting now," Hale
> declared. "I'll find a way-"
>
> "I don't want you to try and fix it," Kristin snapped, standing and
> grabbing Hale by the shoulders. "I don't want there to have been anything to
> be fixed. I want to go home and get away from all this chaos and death."
>
> "Kristin I," he began, then his face light up. "I have an idea." He
> vanished leaving Krissy grasping at air.
>
> "I don't want an idea," she sobbed, slumping down onto the snow. "I just
> want an apology."
>
> ***
>
> The next morning was Yule. People were bustling around the keep, preparing
> feasts, exchanging presents, and more than a few nursing hangovers. Kristin
> dragged herself out of bed long after the sun had barged its way in through
> her bedroom window. Rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and plunged her head
> into a handy bucket kept for just that purpose.
>
> Shaking the water out of her mane Kristin was at last awake enough to look
> for Hale. His bed w as empty and made, atop it sat a plain envelope
> addressed in flowing script 'Kristin'.
>
> "Well, beats last year," Krissy grumbled, sitting on Hale's bed, tearing
> open the envelope with a claw, and pulled out a pendent. It was a simple
> thing, a cat's eye jewel with a pewter clasp and leather strap but it seemed
> to sparkle in the morning light. Kristin held it in one hand as she pulled a
> letter out of the envelope.
>
> "He sold himself cheep," she read aloud. "Signed, Nasoj!" She glanced down
> at the pendent that was now held in a normal, human, hand and dropped it as
> if it burnt. A moment later the familiar paw returned.
>
> "Oh Hale," Kristin sighed, picking up the pendent again and watching her
> claws shrink. "What did you do?"
>
> She watched the fur recede up her arms and the magic had reached her
> shoulders before she made a decision. It was her chance. There wasn't going
> to be another. This was her once shot to escape.
>
> Krissy slipped the pendent o ver her head and became human with a bang.
> Within moments she was off, gathering up anything that she'd need to reach
> the next town and stuff that looked easily fenced. Swinging a backpack over
> her shoulders and strapping her sword over that five minutes later she was
> reaching for the door when someone knocked.
>
> "Yes," Kristin snapped, wrenching the door open and a very surprised
> messenger leapt backwards.
>
> "Um, I have a message for the tiger, Kristin," the messenger said,
> adjusting her tunic.
>
> "I can tell her," Kristin replied in a growl. "What is it?"
>
> "Her squad mate, Raff, is not improving," the messenger reported. "Coe says
> he may not last the day."
>
> Kristin froze. Raff hadn't been close enough to be healed along with the
> mage. He'd been half dead by the time they'd gotten back to the Keep, and it
> sounded like life was trying to finish off the other half.
>
> "I'll tell her," she snapped, and slammed the door.
>
> The backpack fell to the floor with a clatter and Kristin slumped against
> the door. She was running again. It was all she and Hale ever did, and she
> kept berating him over that. But in the end, given the chance, she was doing
> the same thing.
>
> "Where exactly am I running to?" she asked the empty room, fingering the
> pendant. It wasn't home; there had never been anything there. Half the
> kingdoms in the county had a warrant for her arrest and it wasn't like she
> had friends anywhere but the Keep. It was the one place where she'd even
> begun to have a life beyond Hale.
>
> With faltering fingers Kristin pulled off the pendent and threw it across
> the room. Then she got up, dusted off her fur, and went to visit Raff and
> get on with her life.
>
>
> If you liked this comment or visit my website at:
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>
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>
>
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