Alaskan Fury (52 page)

“You were a legend, you know,”
the Fury laughed at his magus, as she stalked around Kaashifah.  “Stories of
your exploits were taught in the temples.  They were
scripture
.”

“I think there’s a
misunderstanding,” Kaashifah said tentatively.  His magus still had yet to take
her wings.  “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“We haven’t,” the woman sneered,
casually sliding her sword down the wall and through the stone floor between
them, carving the rock into nothingness.  “You’d been banished by the time I
was allowed my first mission.”  Her face twisted in a vicious smile.  “I see
you still haven’t succeeded in our Lord’s task.  Why is that?  Did you fall in
love
,
Sister?”

Oh no,
‘Aqrab thought. 
Kaashifah straightened, her face reddening with shame, and ‘Aqrab felt his
heart begin to thunder, knowing that his life was at stake.  It was all he
could do not to slip to the Fourth Realm and await his fate.

But to his surprise, Kaashifah
said, “What I’ve done with my life is none of your business.” 

“Oh?!” the woman laughed, her
words filled with raw, undisguised hatred.  “Just as it was none of my sisters’
business, when I was given a similar task?”

Seemingly confused by the sheer
viciousness
the woman directed at her, Kaashifah frowned.  “I don’t understand.”

Still circling, the Fury said, “I
was given a command by my Lord.”  There was fiery loathing in her eyes when she
said, “Seek out the feyborn blacksmith, in a creek-bound gully along the road
of Tirol.  As two flames unite into one, draw his blood into your body, spread
your light within his walls, and extend your warmth upon the souls of his
children.”

‘Aqrab cocked his head.  That
sounded like…

“He meant for you to take him to
mate,” Kaashifah said softly.

Did she just say…
‘Aqrab’s
stunned brain spasmed, losing all grasp on any other threads.

The Fury paused, giving his magus
a startled gaze.  It quickly faded, however, replaced by a deeper hatred than
before.  “Oh, I know what it meant, little sister.  But that didn’t stop my
sisters from making me eat his heart.”

Suddenly, horribly, everything
clicked into place for ‘Aqrab. 
Oh Goddess, no,
he thought, realizing
just what shared the cave with them.  Not just a sister. 
The
sister. 
The
only
sister.  The reason there were no more Furies.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” his
magus went on, oblivious.  “They shouldn’t have done that.”

The blonde woman, who towered
over Kaashifah by more than a foot and a half in her winged form, seemed to
jerk at Kaashifah’s words.  “You’re
sorry
?!” she whispered, and ‘Aqrab
saw her fingers grow into talons, her body growing in size, her face shifting
into a beak, feathers spreading across her skin…  “How…
dare
you?  You
were one of the
worst
!  The one the others looked
up to
!”  Her
voice was rising in a roar, her wings flaring out, growing larger, filling the
cavern.  “They were trying to
emulate
you!”

“Listen, fledgling,” Kaashifah
growled, her tawny fingers tightening on the disc of light.  She still remained
in her human form, dwarfed by the radiant eleven-foot beast that now shared the
cave with her.  “You don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, but I
do
,” the winged
one screamed through her raptor’s jaws.  “I want to show you what it was
like
! 
What you made them
do
.  I want to take your precious djinni and rip out
his heart and feed you the pieces until you throw up on yourself.”

“That’s nice,” Kaashifah said. 
“But the djinni’s mine.  If you try to take him from me, I will end you.”

“With a
plate
,” the full
Fury, towering at over eleven feet, now laughed.  “Oh please.”  And the woman
lunged. 

‘Aqrab watched, heart in his
throat, as his magus danced around her sister, just out of reach of the Fury’s
sword.  She ran to the door, spun, twisted, and hurled her plate at the winged
Fury in the room.  Her opponent batted the disc aside with her sword and
laughed, and it sank into the wall and dissolved a nook into the stone with its
weight.

“Oh, sister,” she giggled, her
voice echoing like a thousand howling voices upon the face of the stone, “I can
tell it’s been too long for you.”

And it had, too.  ‘Aqrab watched
his mistress’s eyes widen as she stumbled out of the way of the Fury’s sword,
barely an inch passing between her chest and the sword’s tip.  She staggered
again as the fallen Fury renewed her assault, and as ‘Aqrab watched in horror,
her movements devolved into a desperate dance, exhausting herself simply trying
to evade the radiant weapon. 

In her full Fury, Kaashifah’s
sister was simply too strong, her reach too hard to avoid.

All too quickly, his mistress,
starved to bones in the weeks before, three thousand years distant from the
memory of battle, tripped and fell.  The winged Fury used the opportunity to
lunge in and kick his magus in the face hard enough that he heard bones pop. 
Then, a scaly, taloned foot on Kaashifah’s throat, she raised her sword…

“We should flee,” the dragon
commented, from the safety of the half-realm.  And true enough, the winged Fury
no longer looked interested in cutting out hearts, but, panting, eyes wide,
only in plunging her sword through his mistress’s skull.

‘Aqrab slipped realms and threw
his arm around the winged Fury’s neck, yanking her away from the killing blow.

“‘Aqrab,
no
!” Kaashifah
cried, from the floor.

No sooner had he done so than the
winged Fury started laughing, completely unaffected by his grip on her throat. 
“
That’s
what I was waiting for.”  And ‘Aqrab, with a sick feeling
clotting in his gut, realized his mistake.

He had
touched
a magus in
battle
. 
The greatest, stupidest thing that even the most idiotic
children
of djinn
knew never was to be done.  Before he could disentangle himself, she had passed
her magics to him, from her skin to his, and without any of his usual barriers
to stop it, he felt the prickly tingle of a First-Lander’s dimensional bands
forming around his wrists.

He instinctively tried to slip
realms, but the Fury’s magics held him anchored.  He stumbled backwards,
looking at his forearms in horror.

“So,” the winged Fury said,
twisting around lazily, smiling at him.  She languidly down-shifted, until she
was in the half-form, standing at about eye-level with him.  “How should we do
this, djinni?  Shall I cut off your balls first, or your dick?”

‘Aqrab whimpered and backed
against the wall, unnerved by his inability to slip to safety, terror twisting
like a cold knife through his intestines.

“Please don’t hurt him,”
Kaashifah slurred, from the ground.  She was trying to raise herself into a
seated position, but looked dazed, disoriented.

The winged Fury caught ‘Aqrab by
the throat and rammed him back against the wall, choking off his air.  As
‘Aqrab gagged and reached up to grasp at the Fury’s iron-fast arm, her
stone-gray eyes stared back at her indifferently.  “The dick, I think.  Djinni
will fuck anything that moves, but they aren’t known for their balls.”  Then
the winged Fury was lowering her weapon, her sword-tip sliding between his
abdomen and his shaft, and ‘Aqrab whimpered as he felt his flesh begin to
disintegrate as easily as the stone floor.

“Goddamn it,” the dragon growled,
“I said I didn’t want to be involved.”  But he popped into existence beside the
Fury and his great jaws bit down on her arm, hard, yanking it away from
‘Aqrab’s throat.

Her fingers loosened, ‘Aqrab sucked
in a gasping breath as the Fury retreated and turned on her attacker.  “You
just chose your grave, pup,” she snarled.  Almost off-handedly, the Fury threw
the dragon aside so hard it cracked the cavern wall.  The dragon, in a popping
crush of breaking bones and the glassy clatter of scales, let out a whine and
crumpled to the floor.

Then ‘Aqrab was alone again,
facing the insane wrath of a Fury.  “Please,” he managed, babbling as he tried
to slide sideways down the wall.  “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

A malicious smile formed on the
woman’s Nordic face, and he saw insanity gleaming in her stone-gray eyes.  “You
have
everything
to do with this.  You have to give me your
heart
so I can force her to
eat
it.”  Seemingly abandoning her idea of carving
off his delicates, she shoved him back to the wall and put her fingers to the
left side of his ribcage, and ‘Aqrab forgot to breathe.  He knew the kind of
power behind a Fury’s strike.  He watched her fingers start to glow, watched
them disappear into five rays of radiance.

“Please,” ‘Aqrab whispered,
unable to take his eyes from the hand that was about to carve its way through
his chest.  “I never hurt anyone.  I’m a
storyteller
.  I’ve never killed
anyone in my life.”

The winged Fury cocked her head
at him, and for a moment, he thought he had gained a reprieve.  Then that sly
smile spread across her lips, and she said, “Aimon was a storyteller.  And I
can still taste his blood on my lips.”  He saw her tense her arm.

His magus’s words broke the
silence, weak and slurry.  “Djinni, I wish you were immune to Firstlander
magics, and, by coming within fifty feet of you, a Fury loses her power.”

  For a moment, ‘Aqrab thought he
had misheard, but it ignited Law within him anyway.  He felt the violet energy
surge, saw the winged Fury stumble as her world began to spin with him. 
“How
would you fulfill this wish?”
the Law demanded of him.

As he watched the Fury’s eyes
darken with rage, he quickly thought,
I would grant myself immunity to all
detrimental Firstlander magics, and create a permanent fifty-foot sphere of
influence around myself that cancels out the power of this Fury in front of me.

Immediately, the magic swept
through him on a surge of ecstasy, granting his mistress’s final wish, leaving
‘Aqrab utterly breathless, his heart hammering uncontrollably with the
knowledge of the boon she had just given him.

Free.  At last.  Never to be
bound by First Lander magi again.  He could go
home
.

As his world began to lose its
violet hue, the Fury in front of him screamed in rage and tried to shove her
hand through his chest, but only succeeded in making him grunt.  As he watched,
she shrank suddenly to a human, small and female.  She stared up at him, but it
was not fear that filled her face.  It was fury.  Cold, unspeakable fury.  Hands
shaking, insanity in her eyes, she raised her sword, grabbed the hilt with both
tiny hands, and plunged it into his chest.

Then, as ‘Aqrab gasped and doubled
over, the Fury turned and bolted out the front of the cave.  A moment later, he
saw the snowy mountainside light up, saw a set of radiant wings as they soared
away.

“Owwwwwwww,” ‘Aqrab groaned, his
knees going limp and dropping him to the floor as he pulled the sword from his
ribcage.  The blade, having been made of an ancient, rippling Damascus steel,
had already half-melted in his chest, the rest dripping onto the floor in a puddle
as he threw it aside.  “Neekni,” he panted.  “Neekni sahrawi.  The fleas of a
thousand camels infest your armpits, you
qybah
!” he shouted at the open
entrance to the cave.  Already on his ass, he threw his head back to the wall,
gasping, as his body mended and the pain within subsided.

“You still alive over there, mon
Dhi’b?” he asked, after he’d caught his breath.

“Barely,” she managed.  “She
almost kicked my head off.”

‘Aqrab didn’t doubt it.  Had his
mistress been any other creature, the Fury’s blow would have killed her.  “And
you, dragon?”

He got a pained moan in
response. 

Wincing, ‘Aqrab crawled over to
the serpent and put his hands on the creature’s chest.  The dragon was splayed
on its back, mouth wide, gasping, and the odd shape to his chest made Aqrab
suspect he had flattened his ribcage against the wall when he’d landed.

“Hold on,” ‘Aqrab said, rubbing
his hand along the glass-smooth scales.  He summoned the thread that tied him
back to the Fourth Lands and drew upon his power as a lord’s son to push enough
magic into the beast to begin knitting its wounds.  His father would probably
object, but ‘Aqrab would tell him the beast had protected his family line and
that would be that.

“You’re going to have to do the
rest,” ‘Aqrab said, once the power allotted him dried up.

“Thank you,” the dragon managed,
slowly rolling back onto his stomach.  “That helps immensely.”

“And you, Fury?”

His magus made a dismissive
gesture and struggled to her feet.  “Just help the dragon.  I can take care of
myself.”

For a long moment, ‘Aqrab watched
the two of them, fully aware of his capability to return to the
firelands…forever.  He could, at last, leave this place of cold and wet and go
home
. 
He was
free
. 

Then, with that thought,
something else occurred to him.

His breath caught.  ‘Aqrab
glanced out the opening of the cave.  The hillside beyond was white and smooth,
crested with drift after drift of snow.  He stood up slowly, biting his lip,
the blood rushing through his eardrums drowning out all other sound.  Kaashifah
paused in sitting up to watch him, wary.  Sounding desperate, she said, “‘Aqrab,
before you—” 

Then he bolted.  Out the door,
down the hill, through the snowdrifts, as fast as he could go.

At any other time in the last
three thousand years, he would have slammed into the end of his tether like a
dog at the end of a chain.  But nothing happened.  He was a good thousand yards
down the mountainside, with no sign of a tether in sight, when he lunged into
the snow and started rolling down the mountainside, giggling.