Guarding the Mountain
Supervisor
Sarahi took a deep breath through her nose, appreciating the scent of flowers and clean water that seemed to radiate out from the doors of the lodge. She had always been impressed by how clean and refreshing the place smelled, for as long as she could remember. "It's been forever since I've been here," she chuckled as Oro pushed through the doors into the lobby, "Mom and Dad used to bring me swimming in the summer. I took a couple of dance classes, too. You?"
The Rabbit quirked a brow. "Do I look like I'd ever set even one foot in a dance class?"
Sarahi rolled her eyes. "Have you ever been here before? Swimming lessons? Volley ball?"
"Mom was busy trying not to let us starve, and Dad was too lazy to walk further than the fridge," Oro snorted, letting the rest explain itself.
A pair of cute and friendly Dogs were chatting with each other behind the service counter, but broke off their conversation the instant Oro turned in their direction. "Hi!" the long-haired Shepard greeted as they approached, "What can I do for you?"
"Oro Ironheart and Sarahi Swordbright," Oro grunted their names, "We're new hires. Orientation?"
The girl behind the counter typed something quickly into the computer in front of her, smiling happily the whole time. Her eyes widened for half a second when the results came back, but she quickly schooled it back into warm and welcoming hospitality. "Welcome to the crew! You're supposed to meet Terrance. Right this way, please," she smiled, lifting the part of the counter that served as a gate between the employee's space and the rest of the lobby. Her co-worker picked up the company phone while she ushered the pair through the door behind them, through a short hallway, and into a large office. "He'll be right in," the Shepard promised, "Just make yourselves comfortable while you wait." She gave them a little wave before going back to her station.
They both took a brief look around. The office was clean and orderly, with just one personal photo set up on the desk facing toward the chair. The walls were decorated in framed maps and blueprints, crowded around a handful of what looked like personal awards, but they didn't really get a chance to look at any of them. They heard him coming before he arrived, as a steadily growing monolog coming down the hall: "...have time for this! The chlorine needs refilling, B9 needs sweeping, and the fertilizer delivery is due any minute!"
A grouchy, fluffy Mountain Sheep with leaves and twigs clinging to his wool practically crashed through the door, slamming it closed behind him just as fiercely as he'd slammed it open. He was carrying two veritable books bound together with oversize paperclips under one arm, a scowl on his brow, and, to all appearances, a baseball tucked into one cheek. He glanced at them each once, then opened the door behind him again and looked up and down the hall, as if to make sure he was in the right office. "Are you kidding me?!" he shouted as he threw the door closed (hard) again, "Are you two even out of school yet?"
Oro quirked a dubious brow at the needlessly loud Ram, his own ears twitching at each shouted syllable. "Last spring," he grunted, "You Terrance?"
"No, I'm his mother," the Ram sneered, stomping over to the desk and planting himself in the chair like he hoped it would collapse under him, "And you'll do what I tell you like I'm your mother if you want to keep working here."
"Fuck you," Oro sneered reflexively, turning Sarahi immediately pale. Telling off their new supervisor on day one couldn't be good for their employment.
"Fuck yourself," Terrance sneered right back, unphased, and slapped the two piles of paper down on the desk. "Those are your handbooks. Read them on your own time. You can read, right?"
Sarahi blinked, slack-jawed, and looked back and forth between the Ram and the Rabbit like she couldn't tell which was which anymore. "...Yes?" she answered hesitantly as the pair seemed to have silently engaged in a murderous staring contest.
"Good. Then I'm just going to repeat the important parts, and the forgotten gods help you if you can't remember them," he growled, never blinking as he met Oro's eyes, "First, I don't like you. Most important point," he spat sideways from the corner of his mouth, flawlessly hitting the soil of a potted plant beside the wall, "Second, you can ignore the entire section on timekeeping. You're on-demand contractors. You don't clock in, you don't clock out, and you don't get paid leave," he spat again, "You decide when and if you work. When you do, you come to the lodge, pick up a pair of radios, and report to me before you go out. You report again and return the radios when you're done. If you forget the radios, you can forget the per-diem, too. Questions so far?" he spat for a third time, finally blinking but still locking eyes with Oro.
"We get a per-diem?" Sarahi asked in genuine surprise, "I thought we were unpaid unless we kill something."
"Yeah," the Sheep grunted, "Fucking unwarranted special treatment, if you ask me. But the boss is soft, and thinks everyone deserves at least a lunch on her dime." He thumped a thumb against his chest. "You report to me, though. No one else. And if I catch you fucking around when you're supposedly working, I will fire you so fast your ears will smolder."
"...It's Lenny, isn't it?" Oro remarked out of the blue, more a statement than a question, "You're his dad." It took Sarahi a moment to catch up...but then she remembered a certain encounter back in high-school, and suddenly saw the resemblance between the man in front of them and the boy they'd left cowering in the showers after the fight.
"Yeah," the Ram spat into the pot again, "So fucking what? You got a problem with my boy?"
The Rabbit shook his head with a smirk. "Nope. Just explains why you have a problem with us. Isn't that some kind of conflict of interest?"
Terrance tipped his head sideways and stared at the Rabbit like he might need to seek professional help. The Ram glanced at Sarahi, who winced, and something about her seemed to spark recognition in him. As soon as it landed...he laughed. "Oooh. I thought your names seemed familiar," he gave them both a smug grin, though returned his glare to Oro, "You're the delinquents who beat the shit out of those boys at Southbend a couple of years back."
"Yep," Oro grunted, shifting his weight subtly to center his balance, preparing to move fast if he needed to, "They had it coming, too."
"Oh, I bet they did," Terrance chuckled, still grinning, "Guess I have to give you some credit for finding work that suits your talents. I still don't like you, though."
Sarahi tugged the back of Oro's shirt, quietly urging him to stand down. "You really didn't recognize us?" the Sha'khari asked, having noticed the shift of his expression a moment ago, "That's not why you're angry?"
"I'm fucking angry because I'm too fucking busy to be baby-sitting some fucking teenagers meeting the real world for the first time," he spat into the pot again, the grin disappearing from his face, "But I'm the park-side supervisor, so I got stuck with you as quasi-rangers. Busting my boy's nose was nothing but good for him. Builds character. It was two-to-one against you in a fight you didn't start, right? What kind of fucking clown do you take me for?"
They both blinked at him. Several times. Then Oro chuckled and remarked to Sarahi, "I think I like our supervisor."
"Yeah, let's see you say that a month from now. Where was I?" the Ram frowned, looking down at the piles of paper still in front of him. He pushed them across the desk toward the pair. "Right. Before you leave today, be sure to sign the insurance forms and turn them in to Tina. She's the one who showed you in. Then go around to the gift-shop and get your IDs from Mark. He'll need to take a photo. Call me later if you have other questions," he told them, pushing up from the desk and stomping out the door. "Fucking truck's probably sitting there in the sun letting the stink out," he muttered as he slammed it behind him.
Sarahi took a long, deep breath to collect herself again. Looking at Oro, she inclined her head toward the door their supervisor had just left through. "...Your dad?"
Oro flinched like she'd narrowly missed hitting him. "Don't make me punch you," the Rabbit growled when she cracked into giggles.
"Oh, hey, you survived!" Tina greeted them as they stepped back out behind the reception counter, smiling like they'd just been told a joke she'd heard the punch-line to a long time ago, "So...you good? Still on the crew?"
"He's kind of intense, isn't he?" Sarahi grinned sheepishly, handing her insurance form to the other girl.
The Shepard laughed. "Yeah. Don't take it personally. He's always like that," she assured them. "If you can forgive his language, though, he's pretty okay. He'll back you up so long as you're doing your job...and he's the best when a beligerant guest asks to see a supervisor," she added with a conspiratorial wink.
Sarahi could easily imagine how that would be reassuring...and how quickly the tables probably turned in that scenario. She smiled, giving a sideways look at Oro. "Yeah, I may have some experience with that..."
Meeting the Mountain God
They picked their way carefully through the trees high up on the mountain, where the air would have been cold even if it wasn't still the tail-end of winter, and could see their breath hang in the air with each puff. They'd followed the remains of the construction trail winding up to the mountain's peak, left over from one ill-fated effort by some developer to build a ski resort at the top of the mountain, but they'd left that hours ago to follow a little-worn path around the slope of the mountain. Actually, Oro wasn't entirely sure it was a path. It was just a gap between the trees that seemed to be running more-or-less in the direction they wanted to go, without too many rocks or roots in the way.
"Is it weird that this is kind of fun?" Sarahi asked, leaning on her spear as she used it as a hiking stick, and gazing down into the valley, "I mean, spring would be nicer, obviously. Warmer, too. But, I dunno, something about being out here like this reminds me of our after-school walks. It feels like forever since we did something, just you and me. I like it." Aside from the cold, the Sha'khari felt fairly comfortable under her winter coat and skirt (though she was wearing the latter over a set of her pants, for extra protection). She was surprised at being able to breathe and move so easily at this height, and could only attribute it to all the exercise she and Oro had been getting in the last few months.
Oro agreed that warmer weather would have been better, but he couldn't justify sitting on his tail for three more months when he finally had a job to do. Besides, the work of making their way through the woods on the side of the mountain was plenty to keep them both comfortably warm. The Rabbit paused long enough to swivel his ears around, listening for any sign of other people, but all they could catch from this height was the distant sound of automobiles and amusement-park rides drifting up from the valley. "...So do I," he admitted, "If this is weird...well, Hell, I've always been kind of weird, so no surprise I'd take this over normal any day. Still," he grunted, resuming the walk, "This guy sure lives out in the boonies. We're going to have to hustle to make it back before it gets dark on us, and that's assuming a short visit."
"We should be getting close," Sarahi said encouragingly, pulling her phone out of her pocket to check their location with the GPS, "According to what Johanna sent us, we're in the right area. There should be a clearing in the trees coming up soon, which is where she guessed his house would be."
She paused as she almost bumped into Oro, who had stopped in the middle of the trail to frown sternly at something. Looking past him, Sarahi saw a wooden post planted in the path, not quite as tall as Oro, and crowned with what looked like a carved model of some archaic building. Beneath the model, a sign had been attached to the post: "Shrine of Jareth".
"Huh," Sarahi blinked, looking over the unassuming carving, "At least he's not the gaudy type, apparently." The craftsmanship was good, even if the model was simple and scant on the details. A small slot had been cut out of one side of the roof, just large enough for a thick coin or folded bill to slide through. Looking into it, she realized the model was actually hollow...and, even more surprisingly, already had a couple of contributions contained inside. After considering for a moment, she shrugged and fished a coin out of her own pocket. "Can't hurt, can it?" she asked when Oro smirked at her, like she was falling for an obvious scam. The coin fell into the box-shrine with a soft thump.
"I really wish he hadn't put that up," someone said from behind her, causing Sarahi and Oro both to jump and round on the owner with weapons drawn. Leaning against a thick tree just off the path, the Stag chuckled at their reactions, raising his empty hands calmingly with a smile. "Easy, easy, I didn't mean to scare you."
Oro scowled, and did not lower his bat. "You Jareth?"
The Stag nodded, crossing his arms casually again, his smile as easy and unguarded as his posture. "Holy...it worked?" Sarahi blinked, clearly more than a little surprised, "Wow. No offense, but that seems kind of cheap for a divine audience." She'd just thought to drop in an offering and make a quick prayer as a gesture of good will.
The god-in-Deer-form gave her a sheepish grin. "Yeah, but it's not like I get a lot of visitors. I haven't actually been worshipped in so long that even I've forgotten a lot of the old rituals. So it feels kind of rude to ignore someone making an offering. That said," he nodded toward the little box-shrine, "I'm not really looking to build a following again, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't share this location around more than it's already been. I like my privacy up here."
Sarahi smiled back, also nodding, and resumed using her spear as a support instead of a threat. "Sorry about the intrusion. Don't worry, we'll keep it a secret."
"Why in Hell'd you put up a box, then?" Oro grunted, tapping his bat against the post.
"Oh, that was Rikko's doing," the Deer sighed, "Nice guy, and I appreciate the gesture. As an artist, myself, I really appreciate the craftsmanship he put into it, so I don't have the heart to take it down. But I hear every coin that falls into it, thanks to it being dedicated to me, so I'm kind of glad he at least brought it out far enough that it doesn't attract casual visitors. Speaking of which: nobody comes up here unless they're looking for me, specifically. That's been true since days when I was actually worshipped. So what can I do for you?"
Oro pulled his crisp, new employee badge out of his pocket, flashing it briefly at the Deer. "I'm gonna guess you know who Kita Peakwood is. She's hired us to hunt down some monsters she thinks are roaming around the mountain, supposedly eating tourists. Big, shadowy, look a lot like bears...ring any bells?"
The Deer scratched his chin, looking a little uncomfortable. "Uh, a little. I've seen a few over the years. Not all of them take the form of bears, though. Who pointed you my way?"
"Organa — the witch your mountain is supposedly famous for — apparently said something about ‘remembering who you are and doing your job'," Sarahi explained, "We're not here to pry into your business, or tell you to do anything, but it did suggest you might know something about these things, and we need information. The ‘big and shadowy' part is literally the only thing we actually know," she shrugged, "What they are, where they come from, how we might track them down...we need a lot of help right now, to be honest."
Jareth sighed, and gave her a pitying look. "Saddled you with a pretty tall order, haven't they?" he asked softly, shaking his head, "My honest advice, much as I'd hate to do that to Kita, is stay away from it. They are...," he thought carefully about his next words for a minute, "The modern world doesn't really have good words for them anymore. That part of the vocabulary has been lost over the ages, as magic became a less common practice. So don't think too hard about the specifics of what I'm about to say," he warned.
"I've heard more nonsensical fuckery in the last year than you'd believe," Oro grunted, "Lay it on me, so long as you include the useful details."
Jareth nodded. "Okay. We'll call them ‘spirits', then, for convenience. Most of them aren't too bright. No more than a well trained dog, at any rate. But they are unnaturally strong and solid...which should hardly be surprising, given they're not from this world, really. Yeah, it used to be part of my job to usher out that kind of thing...but I'm not exactly the paragon of power I used to be," he gestured to his physical form. "Heck, even in my hayday I was only a minor god of fairly little power. To be honest, kid," he nodded to Oro, "You are very, very near to being my equal already, if you're not careful. So is the witch, for that matter...and I pity you for getting mixed up with her," he added with a genuine frown.
"You and me, both," Oro snorted, thumping his bat on his shoulder, "So they're hard to kill. We get that. But we've got what it takes for that part, I guarantee. I need to know where they're coming from, and how to find them."
Jareth nodded again. "Well, like I said, they're not not really from this world, but...you know, that's probably useless to you even if I explain it, so don't worry about it. What you need to know is that they are either being called here or sent here. I can't say for what purpose with any certainty, but since they seem to be concentrating on my mountain, my guess is they're hunting for something they suspect is here. And that means, while you can kill them, it won't do much good until the one behind them is convinced to stop...or forced to," he grimaced, as if he didn't really want to think about what that might entail, if it was even possible.
Oro rolled his eyes. "Great. I'll add him to my list of skulls to crack."
"So...they're searching the area?" Sarahi quirked a brow, "Like they're looking for something? Why would they need to kill people to accomplish that?" She hated to think anyone would be unleashing monsters on purpose...especially against innocent people just enjoying their vacations.
"Hunting," Jareth corrected gently, "And a hunter is hungry, on the conceptual level, else it would not hunt. Like I said, the language to explain it more accurately is lost, but you can think of it as they are sniffing around until they either find their goal or succumb to their hunger...at which point any prey will do," he sighed, gesturing for them to follow him, "They are also very good at staying out of sight until the moment of the attack. Again, it comes with the concept. If you intend to hunt the hunters, remember to keep your guard up, always."
Oro quirked a brow, but walked along behind him as the Deer began strolling more-or-less down the mountain. Sarahi walked practically at his shoulder. Jareth seemed to be looking for something in the trees, occasionally knocking on one of the trunks as he explained, "Finding the one responsible might be more investigation than you kids can handle, but keep it in mind. As for tracking these things: they're not natural creatures, so they don't follow the natural behaviors you're used to. You won't find them sleeping, for instance, and they won't consistently follow regular paths, even if those paths lead to what you might think of as ‘food'. But they do need food, eventually, so you might catch them eating...but let's hope you don't. That will be nightmare-fuel to a mortal."
Sarahi grimaced, already trying hard not to imagine walking up on a scene like that. Oro just frowned, thumping his bat on his shoulder. "How many are there right now?" the Rabbit growled, prompting for more pertinent details, "Can't you tell?" He was, after all, supposed to be "the god of the mountain", which implied a certain degree of omniscience in the area.
"Yeah," the Deer sighed, as if not liking the answer, "But remember it hardly matters. However many are destroyed, more will come, unless the one responsible is stopped. Your job will never be over until you deal with the source. For now, there are four of those spirits running around my slopes, but there might actually be more, since they sometimes wander in from, or over to, Dragon-Back. The neighboring peak is beyond my domain. I can only accurately count the ones on my own mountain."
He came to an old hardwood, more dead than alive to Oro's eyes, with just a few branches near the top still bearing leaves. A large, black scar ran down the central trunk, lining a split that looked suspiciously like the aftermath of a lightning strike. Neither of the younger pair had the education to identify the species, but when Jareth knocked on the trunk a small, forked twig dropped down beside him from one of the dry, brittle branches...and the Deer seemed to take that as a good sign. "There we go," he smiled, picking up the twig and brushing the dirt off of it. Though thin and a little cracking, the touch of his hands seemed to harden it, and he gave it a couple of firm taps against the trunk before tossing it in the air. It fell in such a way that the fork formed an arrow pointing at the Deer's hooves.
"...The fuck is this?" the Rabbit grunted, thumping his bat again.
"About the best help I can give you, unfortunately," the Stag admitted with a sheepish grin, "This old tree is to trees what the witch is to the rest of town...only a lot nicer. Don't ask," he rolled his eyes, as if knowing that would make absolutely no sense to either of them, "The point is, it's sensitive to power. No matter which way you toss it," he stooped down and demonstrated again, this time tossing it a little over his shoulder, "It's always going to fall pointing at the strongest source it can detect." The stick fell pointing toward him again.
"Like a dowsing rod for magic?" Sarahi tilted her head curiously, "So we can give it a toss after we put a little distance between it and you, and it'll point toward the closest monster?"
"No," Jareth shook his head, still looking a little embarrassed, "The strongest monster. Within range. And how far that reaches is kind of fuzzy...maybe a mile or so? So you're still going to end up doing a lot of random walking. But maybe it will help," he shrugged, collecting the stick again and placing it in the Sha'khari's hands. "Sorry I can't do more for you. If you insist on taking on this job...well, if you get in over your heads, try your best to make it back to that shrine. Or the cabin in the clearing beyond it. I'm not what I used to be, but I can still pack a punch in my own home, and I'm not about to let one of those things inside."
"Thank you," Sarahi said sincerely, with a little bow, "For your time and your help." Oro nodded his thanks silently, looking dubiously at the twig in her hands. He'd learned what he needed to know, though, so he wasn't complaining.
"You're welcome," Jareth smiled, "Now, Eve is probably wondering what's taking me so long, so I'm going home before wondering turns to worrying. Be careful out there," he excused himself with a small wave and started back up toward his cabin.
"Well, he was nice!" Sarahi smiled as she and Oro started in the opposite direction, down the mountain and toward home, "I feel kind of bad for not making a bigger offering after all that."
Oro shrugged. "You heard what he said. It's not really his schtick anymore."
She nodded, but still mused, "Kind of a shame. A guy like him might be worth attending weekly sermons for." The Rabbit beside her rolled his eyes and scoffed skeptically, but let it go at that. The point was moot until and unless Jareth decided otherwise.
It was after dark by the time they got home, but fortunately not before they got back to the trail, and the road. Once they were safely in their own yard, just a few feet from the porch, Sarahi paused and gave their new tool an experimental toss. "Just curious," she answered Oro's curious look...and then chuckled when the twig landed. "I hope this isn't going to become a problem when we try to use it," the Sha'khari mused, noting that the twig was pointing straight at Oro. Just to confirm, she tossed it again, this time off to one side. It definitely pointed at the Rabbit...
First Job
"Fucking thing'd be more useful as firewood," the Rabbit muttered as he tossed the little branch for at least the dozenth time. He was deliberately putting extra spin on it now, trying to make it land facing a different direction, but each and every time the branch touched down it pointed directly at Oro. The only compliment he could give it was that it was consistent.
"Well, that's kind of encouraging, at least," Sarahi tried hard to be optimistic as they wandered almost aimlessly through the woods, "Assuming whatever we're looking for is in range, our detector rates you as stronger than it, so we stand good odds of winning."
"Yeah, yeah," Oro rolled his eyes, "What odds would you have given us against Sonova?"
The Sha'khari cringed at the name, still not comfortable hearing it again. "Not great, I'll admit. She had a range advantage, and her sister was huge, strong, and heavily armored."
"And yet we won," her husband reminded her pointedly, "I'd like to say that's also a mark in our favor, but it comes with a warning: don't get cocky." He gave her a sideways glance after making his point. "You okay? Sorry I brought her up."
Sarahi sighed, and nodded. "Mostly. Still having nightmares, but it's getting better. You?"
"Back down to just the one, mostly. She's just an extra in the background now," he grunted with a shrug, "Wish this fucking demon ate dreams instead of souls, that's for sure."
His second-wife nodded, moving up beside him where she could see his face clearly. "You've mentioned that before, that you only really have one nightmare. Would you mind telling me about it?"
"Yes," he sneered, tossing the twig ahead of them again. It still pointed at Oro. He sighed, and knocked a nearby tree with his bat, leaving a rough gouge in the trunk. "No," he corrected less venemously, "I don't mind sharing. I just feel fucking weak and clingy whenever I think about it, and want to spit on myself." He demonstrated on a nearby root. "It's the reason Nayeli keeps waking up in a crushing grip most mornings, and I can't bring myself to let go for a few minutes."
Sarahi's brow knit in mild concern. "That intense, huh?"
Oro nodded, thumped his bat on his shoulder, and exhaled as much of his annoyance as he could. "I don't know where I am when it starts," the Rabbit began, "There's water, and there's air, and the two keep flipping around like I'm at sea in a fucking hurricane. I can't tell which way is up, and the foam of the waves is the only distinction between the sky and the sea."
Sarahi unconsciously drifted a little closer to him, until her lower shoulders brushed against his hips. He wasn't usually the dramatic sort (vulgarity aside), so this carefully detailed exposition was probably reflective of the intensity of the dream, and how deeply it affected him. "I keep finding things that look like they'll float, like logs or rafts and stuff, but I can't get onto any of them. Might as well be made out of fucking ice for all the grip I can manage." The Rabbit pinched the bridge of his nose. This was where things turned a little embarrassing for him...and maybe a tad hurtful for her, not much further in. "So, one of them comes up under me. I don't really climb on so much as grab the edges for all I'm worth after I'm already on it. But everything's still flipping and spinning, and there's nothing to grab, really. The only way I stay on it at all is because you're there," he sighed, and Sarahi blinked in surprised, "You've got all four sets of claws dug in like fucking grappling hooks, holding you steady. I grab your legs, and you kind of pin me down while you steer whatever the fuck we're floating on. I can't see your hands. I can't even see your face. I only know it's you because of that thing dreams do where you just know things," he rolled his eyes, "But who else do I know that's got four fucking legs?"
Sarahi chuckled, trying not to look embarrassed at being in his dream, though she was flattered to play a positive role. "Yeah, that's a pretty unique feature of mine," she agreed, "So, do we get anywhere?"
"Hell if I know," he grunted, oblivious to her mild humor. Oro was getting a little lost in the recounting...a fact which brought fresh worry back to Sarahi, "You seem to think so, but all I know is I've never been more grateful to see you in my life. Because there's something in that water way worse than sharks, and I can't stay out of it without you. Hell if I know what that is, either. I keep thinking I see something, but it's too vague and deep to make out. I know it's a monster the same way I know you're you. Sometimes it reaches up and tries to grab us, or leaves a body behind like it's trying to scare us. That's where Sonova might show up, though it's still more likely to be my parents, or Tuli, or some kid from middle-school that I vaguely remember being nice to me once," he sneered, "So you're holding me steady, and fighting that thing, and taking us somewhere all at once. I guess we get there, because the next thing is we crash into Nayeli." He shook his head, like he couldn't believe how stupid he was not to see her coming. "She just...sort of pops up out of nowhere, in the middle of all that chaos, and as soon as I spot her we hit the shoreline or something. The raft flips over, throws us every which way, and then I fetch up against her and you fetch up against me."
He exhaled, slowly, blowing out the tension building in his back and shoulders. Sarahi patted him comfortingly. She hadn't expected this to effect him so much...or that he'd tell it to her, if it was going to. "She doesn't even flinch," he said softly, as if taking comfort in that fact, "Like she's made of rock or something. But she's...her. Like I know her," he looked into his own palm, flexing it a couple of times as if he could feel her fur against his scarlet fingers even as he said it, "Soft, warm, every strand of fur and crease of the skin exactly where my fingertips know it should be. And I can see her face clearly. Even her hair is telling that storm to fuck off, sitting perfectly calm with every strand in place above her smiling eyes." He took a deep breath, as if he could smell that faint, comforting scent of her even from here. "It's weird. The waves are still roiling, and I still can't tell the difference between sky and sea, really...but there's warm sand under her feet, and nothing is bothering us, and we might as well be standing on another planet for all the effect the weather is having."
Sarahi nodded, but stayed quiet. It made sense that Nayeli would be his rock; the calm in the storm of his heart. But maybe she was just reading too much into the chaos of a dream. When he didn't continue for a while, she prompted him gently, "So, what do you do next?"
"Fuck all," Oro grunted, "I'm confused, and scared, to be honest. I don't want to lose sight of her, and I don't want you getting too far away, either. You two are like a safe-zone in this mess, and you know it. She tries to reassure me that you're fine, that you're right behind me, and I can still feel your fur against my back. She tells me I'm fine, and I'd believe her except for this nagging idea that that will only be true so long as I don't lose sight of her. So...I grab her," he reached out and clenched his fist in the air in front of him, as though grabbing at someone's arm, "Just to make sure we don't get separated. I'm fucking desperate, though, and clumsy...so I over-commit, and we fall down."
Sarahi chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit as his seemed to grow ever more distant and glum. "Is this the part where you end up on top of her, between her knees and hand on breast?" she chided, bumping his hip playfully.
"Naturally," Oro rolled his eyes, "Not the fondling part, but yes, I'm on top and she's pinned embarrassingly. And just like the real Nayeli, she is irritatingly okay with that. Doesn't matter that I'm a fucking clumsy bastard. Doesn't matter that the world around us is the definition of fucked. Doesn't even matter to her that I'm too scared to move, much less pick my fucking tail up off her and look around again. She just smiles, and puts her arms around me, and tells me to relax and take my time." He blew another long, slow exhale, calming down a bit as he got to the end of the worst part. "You lay down beside us, and give her a kiss. You two are so fucking hot when you kiss," he confessed quietly, making Sarahi blush, "And I can't help feeling...entirely inappropriately, given the circumstances. And you two pretend not to notice, but I see that look she gives me around your cheek. Then she pulls me down, and kisses me, and asks if I'm feeling better now."
"Mmm...and are you?" the Sha'khari asked quietly, now almost as absorbed in the story as he was in telling it.
"I am by the time we break that kiss," her husband sighed, finally relaxing a little, as if soothed even by the memory of that embrace, "I don't know when we lose our clothes, or which of us starts moving first...but pretty soon we're...well, you know what she likes," he waved off the details there with a blush of his own, making Sarahi giggle outright. It was rare for her honey-bunny to be embarrassed. "Anyway...it's soothing, and comforting. The world is steady for a moment, and she smells sweet and feels warm, and she's saying something I can never quite make out but I take to be encouraging. I'm sorry: I don't know where you've gone during all this. You keep popping in and out to steal a kiss from one or the other of us...like you're keeping watch for something, and having a treat on your breaks."
Sarahi giggled again. "That sounds like a nice treat," she agreed with a nod.
"Yeah," he sighed in agreement. "So...when that's all done, she gets up and starts to walk away. Not run. She's not abandoning me, or trying to escape, or some stupid shit like that...just strolling off, enjoying the day. But the chaos sweeps in so hot on her heels it starts dragging at me, and I can't stay close enough to her. That's usually about the time I wake up. Some nights I'm lucky enough to wake up while my dick's still buried in her, and sometimes I don't even make it as far as finding her...but most of the time I get all the way to that part, and the effort of trying to catch up to her wakes me up."
Now it was Sarahi who blew a calming breath, stressed in sympathy with his desperation toward the end. "That's what you go through every night you wake up clinging to her? That seems like a lot, honey-bunny."
He shrugged. "It's less frequent than it used to be. Just about five out of any given seven nights now."
Sarahi blinked at that. "That often? Oro, that doesn't sound like a dream...or not just a dream, anyway."
"You think I don't fucking know?" he growled, "I told you it's the reason I keep waking up clinging to her like my life depends on it, and she might get away if I relax my grip. I am fucked up inside," Oro declared, throwing the branch in his hand for emphasis, like he wished he could throw away all the broken parts of himself, "Without you...without either of you," he said sincerely, looking Sarahi in the eyes for a moment, "I don't fucking know what I'd...!"
He paused in the middle of stooping down to fetch the branch again. It wasn't pointing at him. It was pointing off toward their left, between the walls of a small gully. "Well, fuck," Oro hissed, thumping his bat in his hands, "I guess our odds just changed. Eyes open, ears up," he grunted, turning toward the gully.
Sarahi held her spear out to stop him, then pointed it above the gulley, near where the rocks came back together with the mountain. It was standing there, staring down at them with what looked to Oro like contempt. It looked to be composed entirely of shadow and pearl, just like the bears had been, and was easily as large as any of those that they'd met so far. But it was a stag, tall and lean and sporting two veritable trees above its head. It stood perfectly still, observing them in silence, save for the edges of its sillouette trailing off from its body like ashes being carried away from the remains of a campfire.
Oro scowled, spat to one side, and showed his own kind of contempt by taking his eyes off the thing long enough to bend down and pick up their "sensitive branch" and tuck it into the pocket of his hoodie. "Fucking worthless," he muttered, "Dunno if the range is literally just yards or these things can appear and disappear whenever they like, but there's no point—"
"Oro!" Sarahi shoved him aside, raising her new shield as the deer came crashing down right where the Rabbit had been standing. The sharp tips of its antlers scraped loudly across the brilliant surface, driving Sarahi back even with all her claws digging into the dirt, creating four sets of little trenches in the ground. But she kept her feet under her and the shield up, and her spear was all too ready to return its efforts. When it turned its head in an attempt to pull the shield aside, she thrust around the edge, aiming for one of those burning eyes. The Sha'khari's shoulder was nearly wrenched from its socket when the thing jumped aside from the strike, dragging her shield with it until the angle reached a point that the shield could slide out from between the prongs.
Oro darted past her, chasing its broad ribs with Gorgorond. Quick as a blink, the stag jerked its head back in his direction, deflecting his attack in the forest of its antlers. Oro snagged one of those prongs with his free hand, braced his foot against the nearest prong he could reach on its far antler, and let it lift and carry him while he dedicated all his strength to trying to crack either an antler or its skull.
It didn't go so well for him. The stag's head reversed direction like a whip, and Oro felt its antlers actually twist in his grip to a less favorable angle. It threw him like a stone from a sling down the slope of the mountain and right over a short bluff. Sarahi could actually hear the thud of his body hitting the ground at the bottom...followed, much to her relief, by a fierce, "FUCK!"
Another voice, somewhat further away, shouted a marginally longer word: "Master!"
Sarahi didn't have time to worry about who that might be right now. She was too busy circling with this monster in what felt like entirely too small a space between the gully and the bluff, trying to keep her shield between herself and its horns and her spear in position to stab it the instant an opportunity presented itself. "Fist of Heaven," she growled through her teeth, priming the spear's most powerful attack. The stag dipped its horned head for a charge, unaware it was playing perfectly to her strength. "Punish the sinful," she whispered, growing still and watching for that decisive moment when its hooves left the ground and commited its weight to the charge, "Earth!"
It was fast. Almost faster than her spear. As the single syllable left her lips, it kicked its front hooves down again to thrust itself in a high arc, as if anticipating the attack. The hit wasn't as solid as she would have liked...but the shooting spear ripped its trailing back-leg off as it shot through the trees...way off through the trees, thanks to the slope of this area...and landed with an explosive impact somewhere not-quite-in-sight. Two things occured to Sarahi at once: her weapon was well out of reach now, and the stag was regenerating its back leg before her eyes. It would be back in fighting form in less than five seconds.
And it wasn't even content to wait that long. Sarahi braced her shoulder behind her shield as it charged again on just three legs, no less graceful and not much weaker than it had been on four. "Hey! You okay?!" Oro called from over the bluff, sounding a little nearer as he scaled it with all the haste he could manage.
"Not for long!" she answered, "Get your tail—!" She was cut off as the stag wrenched its head to the side again, dragging her with it, and slung her against the side of the gully. Raising its head high, she saw every prong in the forest of its antlers angle down toward her...and realized her shield was only going to be large enough to save her upper torso. Still better than nothing. Sarahi held the shield up for what cover she could get and squeezed her eyes shut as the beast's weight came down, bracing for the pain.
There was a thump, and a grunt...and no pain. Sarahi peeked one eye open to see the stag's head still reaching for her, its thick throat bent over an equally thick shoulder belonging to a massively muscled Tiger. "Young lady," he growled firmly through clenched teeth, "Get up."
"Yes, sir," she said softly without fully intending to. Something about this man's presence demanded respect on a subconscious level. But she was only too happy to take orders right now, and rolled to her four feet as quickly as she could.
The stag seemed to take offense at that. Twisting its head away from the Tiger's shoulder, it started to swing its hindquarters around for a kick. Sarahi's unexpected ally hammered his elbow into those haunches, forcing them back the other way...then reversed direction every bit as quickly as the stag's head could, delivering a similarly heavy blow to its shoulder, sliding the whole of the beast right to the edge of the bluff.
Even the monster was surprised to feel a strong hand on its ankle in that moment. "Got you now, fucker!" Oro snarled, planting his feet on the ledge and hauling back with all his might, yanking the beast right off the edge and into a tumble back down the bluff with him. Completely suspended in the air, Oro figured even this thing couldn't dodge his next swing.
"Master Longclaw," repeated the voice from before, now much closer, as a pair of Wolves and a Goat came running through the trees toward them.
The Tiger held out a hand, signalling them to stop, and all three halted in their tracks. "James," he spoke calmly, looking down the bluff at the strange fight playing out below him, "Get back to camp and call the rangers. We're just west of campsite C12. Tell them there's—"
Sarahi pulled her ID from her pocket and held it out to him. "Sorry, but they're just going to call us. This isn't a normal animal attack."
He read the title under her photo quickly, and frowned, but nodded. The Sha'khari was a little surprised at how easily he seemed to be taking it all in. Even more surprising was his tone, when he spoke again: not shocked, much less confused, just...pressed for time, and in need of information. "Tell me what I'm looking at," he demanded, eyes fixed on the Rabbit and stag below them.
Oro was (though he'd never admit it) on the defensive. Gorgorond had chewed off one of the beast's antlers during the fall, but he'd learned the same thing Sarahi had almost as soon as they hit the ground. Having taken that fall twice, it was frankly amazing he was still in fighting condition...not that he had much choice. But now the Rabbit was jumping, dodging, and generally dedicating his efforts to avoiding those massive antlers. He seemed to be hoping to get them tangled in one of the trees down there, but the stag was smarter than a normal animal, and strong enough to simply break through any trunk too narrow.
Sarahi did her best to be clear and concise for him. "A manifested spirit. We're responsible for killing it. Very long story. You should all get out of here," she suggested, hoping he wouldn't take offense at that, "Thank you for your help, but it can't be hurt by normal guns and stuff...much less fists," she warned, noting that none of the four were carrying any kind of weapon that she could see.
"You have something that can?" he asked quickly.
The Sha'khari nodded to the Rabbit still fending it off, occasionally making swings at the creature's head when he spotted an opening. "His bat can. My spear, too, but I have to go find it," she admitted with a wince. "Speaking of, I can't stand around here anymore. Sorry," she apologized quickly, stepping around him to start running in the direction her spear had gone.
"Hurry," he agreed with a nod, and made a gesture to his companions. "You three help her, but stay clear of the fight. You're not ready for this yet. Shout if you see another one anywhere."
"Yes, Master!" they answered crisply, and hurried to catch up with the Sha'khari.
"What?!" Sarahi skidded to a stop, looking back over her shoulder as the Tiger hopped off the ledge and wondering if he had actually heard anything she'd said. But he was beyond her reach or help now, and his friends were already running to follow orders, so Sarahi swallowed her shock and ran as fast as her four legs could carry her.
"The fuck are you doing, Tony?" Oro grunted as the Tiger landed nearby, "You heard her, right?"
"Tannor," the Tiger corrected, "Longclaw. You seem to be struggling, so I'm helping. I'm told I can't hurt it, but I can make an opening for you," he assured the younger Rabbit, taking a broad stance and facing the monstrous stag fearlessly.
Oro arched a brow at him. "You got guts, mister, I'll give you that."
Something about that brought a quirk of a smile to Tannor's lips. "They come with experience. You go left," he grunted as the stag came sweeping in on them. Oro split to the left, toward the trees, while Tannor moved to the right, putting his back to the bluff. Recognizing the Tiger had less avenues of escape from there, the stag made the sound tactical decision to eliminate one threat while it had the advantage, steering toward Tanner and jerking its head back and forth.
Oro thought it got him. The forest of antlers surrounded and engulfed the grim-faced Tiger, the lowest prongs digging into the dirt as the stag swooped in. But the size of his muscle-bound body belied his speed, nearly a match for Oro's, and the grace of his movements, nearly a match for the stag's. A step, a turn, and he was not only between the foremost prongs but sliding cleanly into the crook where the antler joined with the beast's head. Tucking one arm under that branch and the other over it, he put all of his considerable strength into pushing those antlers lower and tipping the head to one side...all in the space of about two feet, and the span of half a second.
The antlers plowed into the ground, finally found a rock they could not drive through, and the monster's momentum doubled its body over itself, slinging its back against the wall of the bluff. The body rebounded almost instantly, landing on its hooves as the Tiger jumped clear of its immediate reach again, and Oro gave a low whistle even as he rushed in for a swing at the beast's exposed backside. "Too soon," Tannor grunted. The monster hopped up the wall, kicked off the rock, and arced through the air far over the Rabbit's head, landing with a wary look and new appreciation for its enemies.
Oro growled in frustration as Gorgorond bit nothing but rock, leaving a long gouge in the side of the bluff before he whipped around to similarly face the stag again. "Damn," the Rabbit hissed, glancing at the Tiger resuming his stance a few feet away, "You know what you're doing."
"Also comes with experience," Tannor answered, never taking his eyes off their enemy, "Again. Wait for my signal to commit."
"...Right," Oro growled reluctantly, thumping his bat in his hands. Much as he hated to say it, he and Sarahi were essentially flailing about trying to do a job they were equipped but not prepared for. This guy was the opposite. He had a method already in place, and tactics, if not a formal strategy. He seemed to be working on that. Oro would do his part, and ask questions later.
The monster began stalking around to their right, behaving more like a wolf than a deer, and Tannor turned with it but didn't move from where he stood. "Left again," the Tiger growled softly, "I'll force it high, if I can," he warned, lowering his stance until he was very nearly sitting on the ground.
The stag wove as it charged, making it harder to predict which direction it would come from when Tannor got within reach of its prongs. Hard for the young and inexperienced, at least. Oro quick-stepped right over to the trees, and the Tiger pounced right through the gap between the sweeping antlers again, this time aiming for the creature's eyes and nose. It was quick in its own right, though, and got its head above his claws before they found their target. Tannor tucked into a roll right under the monster's high body, but remained in a crouch as his feet found ground again, while the beast kicked out with its back legs where his head would have been if he'd immediately stood up.
Not finding its target, the stag jumped forward quickly, turning as it went, to avoid a potential counter-strike. Tannor had to do little more than adjust the spacing of his feet to resume his previous stance, while Oro simply gnashed his teeth, holding his position. "Good, young man," the Tiger commended in a low voice, "Steady. One more time."
The stag charged again. Tannor shifted his stance forward just as its sweeping antlers got within reach of him, and it jumped nearly straight up, expecting the attack this time. It turned in mid-air, bearing down on the spot where it had been standing with all its weight driving behind its antlers.
But Tannor hadn't moved. Still low to the ground, he'd merely shifted into a (nearly painfully wide) forward stance. With one fist clenched at his hip, the Tiger roared, "NOW!" and punched straight up under the monster's belly. Something like a flare jumped from his hand, exploding as it contacted the monster, tearing a hole in its gut and suspending it in mid-fall for a full second.
Oro had been so quick to move at that command, he caught the blinding flash full in his eyes, and swore loudly as he finished the swing he'd already begun. Gorgorond bit flesh this time—or something like it—tearing through the stag's middle and dropping two halves to the ground on either side of the Tiger.
"Apologies," Tannor grunted, shaking his fist as if that last attack had stung his own knuckles, "You were faster than I expected."
"Fuck if I care," Oro tried to growl, though it came out as more of a chuckle, "So long as we won." He rubbed his arm across his eyes, waiting for his sight to return...and quickly clenched his grip on Gorgorond as the monster unleashed a death-wail.
The Rabbit couldn't see it, but the stag's mouth had stretched open wide enough to bite a man in half. The gums were lined with wide, sharp teeth more at home in a shark's mouth than a deer's, and it was dragging its upper half toward him with a startling speed on just its front hooves. Tannor reflexively jumped in front of the young Rabbit, his own hands already preparing their defense...
"Fistofheaven,punishthesinfulearth!" Sarahi spat so fast she almost tripped over a couple of the syllables. There was no dodging this time, and the spear lanced down from the top of the bluff right between the monster's antlers, and the explosive landing scattered whatever was left of its upper half like so many ashes in a gust of wind. Nothing but a small crater remained, with her spear standing like a flag at the center.
Oro tapped the Tiger's back with his bat. "Hey," the Rabbit grunted, "I appreciate the thought, but don't underestimate me."
Tannor looked him over once from head to toe. "No," the bulky Tiger agreed, "That would be dangerous." Stepping forward, he pulled the spear out of the ground, giving it a thoughtful frown as the touch sent tingles of intent through his body, flourished it briefly, and tossed it back up the side of the bluff. Sarahi blinked as it peaked almost right in front of her nose, reaching out to reclaim it easily. Then she quickly trotted around to where the slope of the bluff wasn't quite so steep, carefully making her way down in a series of short hops, followed by the Tiger's friends.
Oro snorted as they made their way down. "What was that you hit it with?" he asked, thumping his bat on his shoulder, "The thing that blinded me."
"Mastery of the third kind," the Tiger answered, crossing his thick arms over his broad chest as he turned back toward the Rabbit, "A ki projection. An arrow of the spirit. It's been a while since I've used it, but it's effective against bodies and souls alike."
"You got that right," Sarahi smiled, coming up behind Oro, "That sure seems handy. Can you teach us to do something like that?"
"Yes," the Tiger answered more quickly and firmly than she had expected. Reaching into his pocket, Tannor offering the surprised pair a business card. "After about twenty years. I've been following the Way of the Warrior for a long time, young lady."
Oro quirked a brow at the card, which indicated the Tiger in front of him was master and chief instructor at the Longclaw Dojo, a Redfang-Style Martial Arts Center. "Oooh, you're that guy," the Rabbit scowled, "Not my kind of learning environment. But I'll admit you don't seem like the sports-club type to me, after seeing that. You're the real deal."
Tannor nodded, making no remark on the assessment. "If you change your mind, weapon instruction is on Wednesday and Saturday. Given your employment," he looked to Sarahi, "I'll give you the active-duty discount. I hold high respect for law enforcement and military officers, and what you're doing walks pretty close to that line."
That earned a chuckle from Oro. "That'd make you the first man to respect me before I blacked his eye," he advised, extending his empty hand, "Thanks."
"Any time," the Tiger answered, shaking it without hesitation. "Now, our camp's not far from here, if you'd like a rest and some snacks. We were having an instructors' outing when we heard the commotion."
"Ah, we shouldn't impose," Sarahi declined politely, pocketing the card, "But thank you again. We need to get back and report our work to the lodge."
Giving them a crisp, military salute, the Tiger seemed content to leave it at that, and motioned for his companions to follow him back to camp.
