Arrows of Time (17 page)

They ran on, the sound of shouts and barking orders receding in the distance. Drayco moved with ease, his stride still effortless and fluid.
Maudi? I have a new idea.

Tell.

Change with me.

She felt the warmth of his mind touch and the glow of his body as he pressed his consciousness against hers.
Change with you now?

Yes.

Are you forgetting what happened last time we tried?

This is different.

How so?

It’s an emergency, and there are no sudden drop-offs or children involved.

None that we know of anyway
…She considered the idea.

A witch’s bond with her familiar wasn’t only one of companionship, nor was it simply a mind-to-mind contact. Their indivisible link allowed for an even greater merging—an exchange of bodies. As a bonded pair, they could switch forms—her slipping from human body to feline, and he to hers. They did it sometimes while she slept, but this was different. Apparently Drayco thought it would be the next best thing to her shifting to a falcon, even though they’d only done the exchange once when she was conscious—with disastrous results. It took a lot of skill and they hadn’t had time to practise.
Even if we manage it smoothly, how’s it going to help?
She panted as she sent him the mental query.

You can find the portal much quicker than I can, if you take my form. The Entity is your homing device and you can guide us to it. If we do get tripped up by these guards, you’re free to find Kreshkali or Jarrod and bring help. Meanwhile, I can mind the bard in your form.

Rosette considered. Shifting with Drayco did mean she could at least locate the portal much quicker. Without Rosette—in any form—neither of them were going anywhere. They needed her consciousness to link with the Entity to travel the corridors. Drayco knew the priorities and was being logical. He was also being brave.

There’s no point in all of us being cornered when you’re the one who must survive.

Dray, we’re all going to survive. Don’t worry about that.

Drayco sniffed the air.
They’ve worked it out. They’ll be on us in minutes. They’re on horseback, remember?

I remember.

The exchange was a reasonable option in a pinch, and things were getting tight. The guards would catch up with them soon, despite the evasive trail they had left behind. The temple guards had to know these woods much better than she did. As they jagged around a stand of boulders Rosette didn’t recognise, she made a choice.

All right, Drayco. Let’s do it. I can lead the way to the portal, and you and Shane can follow.

Are you going to tell him?
Drayco rolled his eyes towards Shane.

No time. Come, before I lose my nerve.

Think easy and it will be easy.

She felt the soft pull of Drayco coaxing her out of her body and into his.
Easy it is.

Her limbs let go of her human form and found shape in the essence of the temple cat. It was like putting on a new winter coat—arms slid into forelegs, hands into paws, her upright spine lowering into a smooth arch above the ground as they ran. She felt her life energy flowing down the length of his shoulders and back to his hind legs, her pace no longer the churning pump of a biped but the graceful lope of a wild animal in the woods—tireless, majestic and formidable. For a moment they were together, the boundaries of their bodies blurred and souls intermingling, then he was gone and she alone inhabited the magnificent form.
Oh, my goddess of the underworlds. I’d forgotten
…

Rosette revelled, basking in the strength of the feline’s body, her mental anxiety vanishing as she succumbed to the new sensations. She felt the smooth
glide of her paws over loam the impact of each stride releasing a wealth of rich aromas. The scent brought a pungency of information that made her whiskers tremble, her tongue water. White-tailed deer had browsed here only minutes ago. A family of bush pigs hunkered nearby, disturbed from a midmorning snooze. She could hear their grunts and squeaks, visualising them lined up in a row, half covered with dirt, their pink snouts poking out of the black soil, worms in their teeth. Ripe blackberries swelled, sweet as jam, and the sun streamed in from holes in the leafy canopy. It formed shafts of gold against the dark wood, a perspective she’d never seen before.

She drew in another breath, scenting. There were feathered nests with spotted eggs deep under grey down, redwood bark peeling from the limbs of great trees, fairy ferns beneath the bracken, a babbling stream full of crawdads and minnows, a lumbering bear and two cubs on the far side. Each image was depicted through their auras and aromas, the new sensations rich with meaning. Rosette could taste them all on her tongue, and it made her head spin with delight and prickling curiosity.

Focus, Maudi! We’re fleeing danger, not sniffing out a picnic site.

She snapped to her senses, concentrating on the threat of the guards. Drayco and Shane had fallen behind.
Got it.

The sound of the guards entering the woods was clear as her breath. The great bulk of the warhorses moved surprisingly fast through the trees. They were in their element and knew the way. She heard the order given for some riders to head north and south, effectively cutting them off. Seconds later, she detected a troop of riders on the road.
Damn. More are coming.

Glad you can hear them.

She looked back at Drayco running hard in her body.
You okay, Dray? You look a little
…

A little what?

Strained?

It’d have been better if you’d warned me about the sore foot. What’s wrong with these boots?

Sorry. They’re new, remember? Bought them in Flureon before we left.

You could have mentioned it.

I don’t like to dwell on negatives.

He squared his shoulders.
And what’s with the breasts? I feel like a newly calved heifer.

It’s cyclic, you know…premenstrual.

Great. You better get out of here before I change my mind.

Drayco’s words were stern but his intonation full of warmth. She felt good in her heart and her hopes lifted.

She sped on, sensing for the portal. She couldn’t detect it.
Problem, Drayco.

What’s that?

I still can’t locate the portal. It’s got to be due south.

Unless we’ve passed it.

I’ll race on, doubling back if I can’t find it in the next few minutes.

Be quick, Maudi. Be safe.

She let out a rumbling growl before shooting off into the woods.
You too
, she echoed back to him,
and don’t forget Shane. He’s lost without us.

She heard a faint chuckle.

He might be just as lost with us, Maudi.

Rosette laughed in her mind, unable to replicate the sound in her throat.
I think you’ll be fine, Dray…as long as they don’t have dogs. Keep following.
The moment she sent the message, she heard the baying. Apparently they not only had dogs, but the beasts were yowling as if their quarry was in sight.
Dray?

I hear ’em. Don’t worry. Run.

‘Where’s he off to?’ Shane asked.

‘Ahead.’

‘Do you hear dogs?’

‘Just keep running,’ Drayco commanded, speaking the words as if he had a hot marble in his mouth.

Shane’s face twisted. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

The woman beside him did not answer.

Rosette charged ahead in her temple cat’s form, leaping fallen logs and tangles of undergrowth with ease, putting distance behind her with every stride. For a few miles she coursed in a zigzag pattern, searching out the portal. Eventually she could see it in her mind’s eye. It felt as if an invisible force was drawing her closer, propelling her faster than she had ever run. Yet when she thought she would have been upon it, the vision faded, and the portal was nowhere to be found. She sped on, a black streak, scenting and searching.

As she started to climb out of the forest, she knew she’d gone too far. Her tail whipped as she turned her ears behind her. They were like radar, catching the slightest bleep of sound in a wide radius. She listened for her familiar, hearing Drayco’s thoughts more than the voice of her body. What she sensed startled her—there was worry that she hadn’t known from him, and the sound of baying dogs and pounding horses was much too close. The forward thrust of her momentum slowed.
Drayco, can you hear me?

She braced all fours and skidded to a halt. Several miles ahead already, she couldn’t be certain, but she thought she heard the sound of capture—shouting men, barking dogs and drawn swords. Shivers ran down her spine. She hadn’t found the portal, and the swap didn’t seem such a good plan any more. She couldn’t abandon Shane and Drayco—and her own
body—to the Treeon guards, not this Treeon. If they weren’t caught yet, they would be soon, and she knew it wasn’t going to be a friendly inquisition.
I’m doubling back!

The sound of the baying canines made her hackles go up. It felt like goosebumps, only much stronger. She launched off, heading back the way she’d come. She covered the distance in bounds, crossing the forest like a gazelle. She leapt over the fallen logs and walls of tangled briars. She dodged boulders and redwood groves, making the straightest line possible to Drayco and Shane.

When she found them, they were surrounded by mounted temple guards. The horses were mincing from side to side, steam rising from the animals’ backs and nostrils. The riders had circled around to trap them in a small clearing. She sized up the horses, spotting two dark mares that stood out. Not only exquisite in form, their calm approach to the situation suggested sense and maturity. She wondered who was training the others. They were behaving like green-broke track horses. An’ Lawrence would be appalled.

She crept closer. Shane stood in the middle of the clearing, his shoulders back, right hand on the hilt of his sword. He did not look at all intimidated, which she felt was a good sign, though his conversation with the captain wasn’t getting very far. If his goal was to enrage the man, he was succeeding wonderfully.
Drayco? What’s with Shane’s diplomacy skills?

He doesn’t appear to have any, Maudi.

She chuckled, a rumble in her throat.

Maudi, where are you? Did you find the portal?

Not exactly. I’m behind the bay mare.

Which one?

The one with her ears pinned back and tail swishing like a flyswatter.

Drayco turned her body in a graceful movement, taking in the horse and the shrubs behind it.

That’s not the portal, Maudi. Do you need a map?

I had to come back. The swap isn’t working.

It would be working perfectly if you would simply get away and find the portal. I can handle this.

You can?

Just get through the corridors and bring Kreshkali. Everything is fine here. All under control.

Rosette lifted her head and scanned the scene again.

The riders were advancing towards the captives, swords and crossbows aimed at their throats. The hounds were straining against their leads, the handlers barely able to contain them. The noise was discordant. It hurt her head. A few young pups, out for training perhaps, crouched behind the older dogs, alternately barking and darting towards the captives and running away again, tails between their legs. Their yips pierced her ears and she automatically tried to cover them with hands. She didn’t have any.

You call this ‘fine’, Drayco?

If you don’t get out of here, you’ll be caught too, and then who’s going to bring Kreshkali through to sort it out? Please go.

I’m not leaving you. Wait for my signal.

Signal for what?

Just wait. It won’t be long.

Maudi!

Rosette inched forward on her belly, ears pricked, listening to the conversation. Shane was playing dumb, repeating each question the captain fired at him and returning it with one of his own. Of course the ‘playing dumb’ part wasn’t much of an act. Shane was utterly ignorant. He hadn’t a clue what was happening
or why he was here or where his world was or how he would get back. He didn’t even know that it was a Dumarkian temple cat that stood mute beside him and not Rosette. She peeked between the fronds, her eyes unblinking.

‘Let me put it this way,’ the captain said, his lips hidden behind a dark beard and curling moustache. ‘What are you doing with a sword woman?’

Shane scratched his head. ‘You mean Rosette?’ He stuck his thumb out towards her as he spoke.

The captain gave a curt nod as he tried to keep his horse still. The animal was restless, shifting its weight from hoof to hoof and pawing the ground with alternate forelegs. The fuss was making it difficult for the captain to stay composed. Most of the mounts were equally unsettled. They snorted and stamped and refused to stay quiet. The behaviour was most unlike any guard team Rosette had ever encountered. At Treeon, the equestrians trained in precision drills under all kinds of distractions, or at least they had in Rosette’s time, in Rosette’s Gaela. Here the riders were sloppy and unsettled, adding to their mounts’ distress. Pathetic.

Rosette belatedly thought that her scent might be upsetting the horses, especially since Drayco had sensed no other temple cats nearby. They would picture a mountain lion, poor things, or worse. She used her tail to flick leaves over her back, hoping to mask the aroma. Too late.

One of the pups from the pack had sniffed his way from the inner circle, nose to the ground, lungs like a bellows, tail wagging in circles behind. The young dog nearly bumped straight into Rosette, face to face, before it sat back on its haunches. It let out a small yip and stood, wagging its tail faster.