As we convened around Rod, the metal door leading to the roof bent and flung open. Guards and mercenaries, all bustling with guns and weaponry of some sort, poured through the opening. It was like watching a massive glob of black suits, guns, and silver oozing from the opening, all targeting the three of us. Damn! Luna must’ve found another way onto the roof so the guards could have dramatic timing.
“Time to go!” I shouted, grabbing Layla’s wrist and running for the rooftop’s edge. Ignoring Rod’s pointed look as I passed, my other hand shot out and grabbed his arm, barreling past his resistance and the rope he had been knotting.
Rod’s strangled cry reached me, “You’re not–”
“No time!” I called back. “Gotta fly!”
Without another word, I leapt off the building.
You have to remember, here, I had worked with Rod before. What I knew about him, I knew very well. He had saved me a number of times, and I had saved him. I knew most of his tricks, having either relied on them or worked around them. So I knew that after being flung off a ledge, Rod would stretch and stiffen his coat into a sort of hang-glider and descend without issue.
It took about two seconds of free-falling before his coat warped in the air, flattening and hardening and catching the wind. We lurched into an unsteadily controlled fall, his coat designed more for him and maybe one other, not all three of us with additional windspeed. Rod struggled with using just enough magic to keep us afloat without making it so stiff as to snap under the weight while I worked to keep a tight grip on both him and Layla.
Layla, on the other hand, was still screaming at the top of her lungs. And flailing. And making it harder for us both to do our jobs. Her screaming was quickly drowned out by the sound of gunfire coming from above. The men managed to make it to the edge of the roof and began firing. The bullets zinged by us accompanied by the sharpened throwing something-or-other. Rod tried to edge around the firing so his coat stayed between us and them, the bullet-proof threads woven in protecting us below but did nothing to protect things like his head.
It seemed like we were stuck there, hanging in midair with bullets overhead and the ground threatening to crash into us at any moment. Layla’s feet hit it first, her knees nearly buckling as she propelled herself backward against the building. I was next, instantly letting go of both packages and taking cover. As Rod’s feet hit the ground, his jacket went limp and trailed behind him, the fabric now stretched and floppy. Shoes clopped the sidewalk as a small group rushed around the side of the building, firing as they rounded the corner.
We had to get out of here, and fast. Rod’s hat was caput. Layla was the slowest of us three. I couldn’t outrun bullets in my current form.
Snarling, I reached up to my face. Took a deep breath. And I began to sing. Softly, and to myself. Memories came clamoring and jostling at the back of my mind, each screaming to be seen and heard and experienced again. I closed my eyes and let them wash around and past me; images of my home, green fields covered in a thick blanket of slushy, purple-tinged snow. The valley ahead, the mountains behind, and above them the two moons in the sky. One red, one blue. They disappeared as the memory faded, and I felt the wash of cold, almost freezing magic grip my body as I summoned the mask from beneath my skin.
A low humming pressed in on me as the song changed, deep and in my chest as my memories changed, replaced with violent terror and pain. The world split underneath me and I fell into a pit, then I was washing upon Terran shores. Finding myself through the confusion. Those I cared for. Those I lost. The place of silence, on the edge of reality itself. I reached forward in the memory and in the moment, pulling out another mask. It was bleached white and held the eye socket, brow, and piece of nose bridge that once belonged to an Onishiki, the specific clan humans would call ‘Wolves’. I made the switch as quickly as possible, working the two masks in tandem as the song and memory reached their peaks, pulling the human mask away as I slid the wolf mask over the other side of my face.
I felt the pull of energy like an undercurrent, yanking my mind and body down into a new shape. One I hadn’t taken in decades. Forign, but familiar. I shuddered as shoulderblades moved up and back, arm bones and muscles snapping as they twisted and bent closer to my body. Felt each and every rib crack and break as new ones formed, felt each hair on my skin grow three times its length, felt my mouth and nose stretch and warp into a snout. Pain shot across my brow as a pair of horns began to twist and shove their way through my head, ears pulling and yanking as they stretched and shifted along my head.
The transformation completed with my feet on the ground, now in the shape of a homeworld Onishiki, half my human height and three times the girth, covered in fur with an elongated specialized claw in the center of all four paws. A set of curled, gnarled horns sat on my forehead between my ears, and a matching set of bone spires covered my back from shoulder to hip.
Rod and Layla stared for a moment, Rod’s eyebrow raised and Layla’s heart racing. The spell broke as the guards continued to fire at us and I roared “GET ON!!!”
Smashing the bone plates against my back, I braced as Layla immediately jumped on, scrambling wildly as she searched for a hold. Rod apparently felt he had enough time to shoot me a look, but a bullet whizzing by his head caused him to reevaluate his snark and jump on behind Layla. Both of them found a hold as I grabbed the human-mask between my teeth and took off, the three of us disappearing into the night.
-----
We ended up retreating into a broken-down shopping district. I had run as fast and as far as I wanted before deeming an abandoned gas station at a set of dusty country crossroads an alright place to lay low. The lights above the gas pumps were dead and gone, the inside of the station dark. As my paws hit the parking lot cement, I finally stopped. Rod rolled off my back with a groan, legs a wobbly and knees popping as he half-hobbled to the station’s door and unlocked it. He flitted inside and I carried Layla into the station.
I grunted for Layla to get off my back and sat down to reinforce the notion. “Looks fine.”
Rod didn’t answer. He was setting an old wax candle into its brass holder. He set it on the dusty counter by the door and concentrated, building up a small amount of magic. He waved a hand at the wick, and a fire quickly breathed into life. It came up slowly at first before growing into a gentle, glowing light.
Finished, he turned to us with his arms crossed. “So, what’s this really about?”
Layla’s eyes darted from him to me to him. “What do you mean?”
He pointed at her, then at me, repeating that action in a circular motion. “Alllll this. I saw you,” he stopped his roving finger to point at her, “on the security cameras throw a guy twice your size like he was made of fluff and you,” he switched to pointing at me, “don’t change shape in front of strangers. You made that crystal clear a long time ago. Something else is going on and I don’t like where my brain is heading.”
Layla and I exchanged glances. I dropped the mask and shook my head. “Tactical move,” I said, doing my best to use short words. This snout wasn’t great at doing human things. “Faster choice.”
“Oh bullshit,” he snorted. “You could have just tossed the kid on your back and ran if you were that desperate. No need for shifting.”
“Beone-Eanisa awawa-es, apphannea-es Oi! Apasik repaai!!” And if your hat were working we could have teleported out, you jerk, I snapped, reverting back to a more native tongue. “Spinelmko Reiinnea-es, kkb, Elani Helmko-ihi.” We needed a fast exit and I’m faster like this.
Rod hesitated for a moment, considering his answer. Then he opened his mouth and answered in the same language. “Emiros-Aanmon? Onelshi?” Does she know this speech?
Layla groaned. “Oh come on!” We paused to look at her. “Not both of you! What is this?!”
Rod let out a short laugh. “Isim Elopakani. Eeeno.” I’ll take that as a no.
I glanced up at her, Layla crossing her arms and doing her best to silently fume. “Pakani Hasomani-es. Esspoke.” I told you my concerns, I said quickly.
“Impakeani Non. Rosawah. Esspoke.” Not all of them, clearly, he answered back. Turning back to Layla, he switched back to Terran. “This isn’t about the Keepers chasing you,” he said, eyes slowly rimming with an ice-blue color. A note that some magic of his own was being used up. He expended more than he expected. “Olyvia has several contacts that could have gotten you off the hook. Hell, she could’ve done it herself if she wanted to. There’s more to this story than you getting Keeper attention because you popped out of the shades of Wonderland. What’s the real story?”
“Olyvia promised to help me find Darius,” Layla answered, shooting him a glare. I think it was meant to be intimidating. “All other facts are irrelevant.”
“Oh, well if that’s the case.” He hesitated, glancing at me and switching tongues again. “Masrikasi-emir Simpionas? Onelshi?” How well does she handle stress?
“Spinremir-es-Hman, Inani-es, repaai. Elopani Okeaamp? Onelshi?” You saw her throw the human. What do you think?
“Hasomir-Elopakani, Iinailes-Sanapa Absilarryk-es-Dairus, eloelompn–” I think I should tell her Darius is reported dead, but I don’t– he hesitated. Layla’s eyes had grown huge, shoulders tensing. “Roseaniani Roremir Okeaamp? Onelshi?” ...Did we ever establish if she could understand us?
I glanced up at her. Her heart had begun racing again, muscles tensing as her breathing shallowed. “Isim. Oomp-mo-Layla . Pakepo esoine.” We didn’t, I answered. But I think she just answered for us.
“...Tell me,” she said, voice shaking. “Tell me…why you mentioned…Darius…Why you said…Abs–Absilar…Why you said dead?”
Rod gave a half-shrug. “I found the Keeper reports as asked. They report that he’s dead.”
