Chicks - The Chick Is In The Mail Part 24

Taliya gave him a partial reprieve. "Sit, Sabre," she said, and Sabre plunked his bottom down, his tail sweeping back and forth across the earth. She put her hands on her hips and c.o.c.ked her head at the man. "Talk, then. Make it good. I still haven't said h.e.l.lo to s.h.i.+ba."

"No, nono-have mercy! I'll tell you what I know! It's not much-"

"Just talk," Tallon growled, but Sabre thought he hid a smile.

"All I know . . . it's gonna happen soon. They've got a way to smuggle in a receiver spell, and once it's in, they'll trigger the other half from over the border. It'll make a safe corridor, one the dogs can't detect-they'll be able to bring magic right through."

Taliya and Tallon exchanged a glance. "How're they going to get the first spell through?" Tallon said.

"How are they so sure they'll get it past the dogs?"

"I don't know," the man said, but he'd turned sullen, and wouldn't look either of them in the eye. Or at the dogs, for that matter s.h.i.+ba had inched closer, scenting the air, eyes glinting with intensity, watching Taliya, following the swaying path of Taliya's long, thick braid against her lower back.

And Sabre scented it too, that strange magic again, the one that swirled around so close to imperceptible, not attached to any one person or thing. Although . . .

He turned a suspicious eye on Tallon.

Tallon was in no position to notice. "Taliya," he said, one firm hand keeping the man on his knees, "what was it you were saying about Sabre? What an excellent linehound he is?"

"Skunk!" the man squealed.

Tallon tightened his grip. "Watch your mouth!"

"No, skunk, skunk!" Desperately trying to protect himself with his elbows, the man did a strange twisting dance on his knees and babbled away. "They've got a skunk! Two skunks! Enhanced ones! They'll dump 'em right in front of the dogs, d.a.m.n curs won't be able to sniff an outhouse in a sweet spring meadow." He jerked his head at s.h.i.+ba. "Her, especially. After she broke up the [critter]-smuggling ring last season, they know they'll never get by her nose withthis ."

Crude! He'd said the true-name forcritter right there in front of Taliya! Sabre, increasingly irritated by both the untraceablemagicsmell and his undefined itch, went so far as to growl. "Softly, son," Taliya said, though she, too, had a gleam in her eye.

s.h.i.+ba moved forward, her head low, her expression intent. The kind of expression that meant a linehound had scented prey, and scented it so close that nothing mattered but the nose and the prey; not even the linemen could deter a dog so focused. And Sabre, agitated, lifted his nose to the new magicsmell and felt himself slipping into that same state; he growled again, despite himself.

"Sabre!" Taliya said sharply, turning to point a warning finger at him . . . turning suddenly enough that her braid swung briefly out from her body, then thumped gently against her back.

Too much for s.h.i.+ba. She leapt, bellingtrail andtreed in a strange combination of voice and bearing straight down on Taliya.

Astonished Taliya, standing there with her arms akimbo and her jaw dropped, crouching slightly as though to run and no time to do it . . .

Too much for Sabre-Magicsmell!Trail-cry!-who bounded right over the top of s.h.i.+ba, bearing straight down on Tallon.

Astonished Tallon, standing there with his arms akimbo and his jaw dropped, crouching slightly as though to run and no time to do it.

Magicsmell! Magicsmell! Oowh! Treetreetree!The trail-haze slowly lifted from Sabre's mind, allowing a slow trickle of input from his surroundings.

Bellowing humansmade up the biggest part of it. Tallon, bellowing at s.h.i.+ba-as best he could with Sabre perched on his chest and bawling in his face-his head twisted aside, his eyes squinched shut, one hand cupped protectively over that soft spot halfway down his body and the other ineffectually shoving at Sabre's broad chest.

Taliya, bellowing at Sabre-as best she could with her hands clamped firmly around her long braid, bent at the waist in a futile attempt to get more leverage than s.h.i.+ba, whose jaws clamped firmly around the thick rope of hair.

"Get off!" they finally managed, more or less in unison. "Bad dogs!"

Uh-oh.

No morehappy .

How and when the prisoner escaped, no one was quite sure.

How and when Taliya and Tallon came up with the idea to work together, Sabre couldn't imagine.

How and when they come up with the idea to work eachother's dogs, he didn'twant to know.

Maybe it had something to do with events when they'd tried to team up.Disgrace was a word that came to mind. Definitely nothappy . But who could blame a linehound for being a linehound? Withmagicsmell all around them, what were they supposed to do? Not his fault that the smell led him unerringly to Tallon.

Not s.h.i.+ba's that Taliya somehow did the same to her. Sent out to patrol in sweeps, the linehoundsinevitably ended up back with the linemen, barking a subdued and chagrinedtreed , until both humans were flushed and embarra.s.sed and frustrated. At that, the strangemagicsmell seemed to fade, and s.h.i.+ba-crittersp.a.w.n, but shedid have a fine nose-picked up the scent of familiar magic, leading Sabre along until the trail came clear to him.

They had worked it slowly, carefully-and had to, because the smugglers were on horseback, and had taken wild leaps from one place to another, traveled some distance up a deeply running creek, and wound their trail around in overlapping circles. Together, they closed on the smuggler, running side by side, picking up speed- Together, they had run into the skunk.

"G.o.d and G.o.ddess," Tallon said now, his eyes watering visibly as he dumped another container of stewed tomatoes over s.h.i.+ba's back, there in the side yard of his little cabin. "There's got to be a better way to handle this. We're lucky the smugglers spooked back to the other side of the border." He took a rough scrub brush to s.h.i.+ba's back, smearing tomato into her coat-most unpleasantly, to judge by how flat she'd plastered her ears to her skull.

Critter, he didn't have to judge it by anything. Taliya did the same to him, rubbing sticky smelly tomato into his face, between his paws, along the velvet length of his ears, doing nothing for the itch that ever plagued him . . .

Not happy.

"They'll be back," Tallon persisted, "and we can't take the chance that they'll get through this time."

"No," Taliya said, dumping a big cold bucket of water over Sabre, a gleam coming into her eye. "We can't."

That might have been it, right there-the beginning of the idea. Not that Taliya had had a chance to say so just then, not after dumping another bucket over him, not after Tallon did likewise to s.h.i.+ba, leaving the two hounds with their heads scrunched down between their shoulders, water streaming off their ears, dripping off their tails, running off their brows and sheeting across their flews.

They exchanged a glance, the dogs did, knowing the humans were engaged in developing some important Human Thoughts. Sabre felt a sudden kins.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+ba the too-perfect, an admiration for the sly way she lowered and c.o.c.ked her head, a sudden desire to emulate . . . humans distracted . . . wait till they lean closer . . . wait . . . wait . . . .

Shake off!

Yes, maybe that had done it. And this partner-swapping was meant to be some sort of punishment.

It seemed entirely likely to Sabre. He'd somehow gottenused to patrolling with s.h.i.+ba. He missed her.

And now he missed Taliya, even though he knew that the linewoman and s.h.i.+ba weren't far behind. s.h.i.+ba was probably harnessed and leashed, just as he was, probably even wearing her bramble-guard.

Humiliation.

And why did Tallon call ahead to him, constant encouragements, using s.h.i.+ba's name? Humiliation.

Until he struck the scent of magic, and forgot his woes in the thick glory of it. He forgot s.h.i.+ba, he forgot Taliya . . . he even forgot about the skunk. He loped swiftly through the woods, nose to ground, thoughts consumed bymagicsmell ,humansmell, horsesmell . Vaguely, he heard s.h.i.+ba backing him, but the rough frustration in her voice meant that she remained harnessed.

The scent was his, and he took it.Gloryglory magicsmell! He poured on the speed, glorying in that too, in his strength and confidence and certainty that these smugglers had no chance to escape- Skunk! He literally tripped over the creature, staked right in the scent trail on a short chain.Skunk !

Mad skunk.

Mad skunk lifting its tail.

Sabre's eyes snapped shut, his trail cry cut short into gagging and sneezing. His sinuses instantly swelled; his nose began to run. He heard the skunk stamp its front feet imperiously-again-and flung himself blindly away from the creature-no seconds for him, no, no! He threw himself on the ground, rolling and whimpering and rubbing his face against the leaves and dirt in a frantic effort to relieve the sting.

At last, someone snagged his collar and dragged him away from the skunk.Taliya! He threw himself into her lap and met not her rangy curves, but unfamiliar angles of muscle and bone.Tallon .Not his . But as Sabre gathered himself to dive for the ground again, Tallon caught him up by the jowls and held him firmly, rubbing a wet cloth over his eyes and nose. Cool, soothing, something herbal . . . Sabre stopped struggling, if not whining. "Sorry, son," Tallon told him, tossing the cloth away and digging out a fresh one, soaked in tomato juice. "It was the only way." He scrubbed at Sabre's face, borderline harsh, and then brought out yet another cloth. This one he used more gently, wiping away the juice, smoothing Sabre's fur back into place with a petting motion, even wiping along his gums and jowls.

When he was through, Sabre blinked up at him, panting, able to breathe and see again. He gave a tentative wag of his tail and Tallon smiled at him. "Good boy."

Oooh. Agood boy !

Not far-though definitely upwind-Taliya called to them. Not her human voice, but two short yipping barks. Tallon answered in kind, locating them, and in only a few moments, s.h.i.+ba took up the trail cry.

Sabre understood, then.

They'd used him, used his speed . . . made the smugglers think s.h.i.+ba was on their trail so they'd deploy their second skunk . . . and now s.h.i.+ba had circled round him, her nose protected and intact, and taken up the trail.

He felt a strange twitch of pride. They'd not get past her. He barked, trying to back her even from here, and whined his most beseeching whine at Tallon. It rarely worked on Taliya; she was inured to it. But Tallon . . . Sabre could see him softening. He didn't need his nose to back s.h.i.+ba, he needed only his legs, and he still had those. He still had his speed; he could catch up to her without trouble. He whined again, wagging just the tip of his tail, and widened his eyes in hopeful attention. "G.o.d and G.o.ddess," Tallon muttered. "Howdoes she resist you?"

Sabre knew permission when he heard it. He sprang to his feet, dug in his claws, and sprayed dirt and leaves into Tallon's face with his takeoff. Tongue lolling, eyes squeezed into slits against the undergrowth, he ran flat-out through the woods, his body stretching, coiling, exploding, barely heeding the obstacles in his way. He knew he was on trail again by the deep hoofprints before him, signs of the horse being pushed to speed in these tight woods. And then s.h.i.+ba was just ahead-first just her belling voice in his ears, and then her b.u.t.t in his face.b.i.t.c.h-b.u.t.t .

Sabre was glad to see it.

He hung back, trusting her nose, until he saw the flash of movement through the trees. Then his bark roughened, grew choppy; he found a place to pa.s.s her and did, surging into his powerful speed. In moments he was barkingtreed , leaping up against the side of the horse to reach the magic carried on the man who rode it.

"[Critter]-sp.a.w.n!" the man spat as the horse faltered; he jerked on the reins, fighting the creature while Sabre leapt at them again and again, knocking them both off balance, delaying them, not even considering that the man might turn the horse against him until one hard hoof landed on his front leg, briefly trapping him . . . snapping the limb in a clean break.

Sabre didn't even feel it, not with his quarry so close; he didn't need all four legs to throw himself at the man, and the injury barely slowed him. But it stole his agility, and the man easily kicked him aside; Sabre's strong tail was the next to break, and by then he was beginning to feel his hurts, hesitating- The man was not. He drove the horse onward, kicking it into compliance, aiming it at Sabre . . .

s.h.i.+ba. Bellowing all the while, she bounded into the fray from behind and with one mighty leap latched onto the horse's tail midway up its length. The animal froze-an instant only, and then it hunched its back and kicked out, but she was too high up, too close, for the kick to do anything but knock her aside; she was back on the tail in an instant, worrying it, growling, fierce in her trail fury. And all the while the man hammered his heels into the horse, yanking its head around, still trying to aim for Sabre, who'd taken up barking a steadytreed for Tallon and Taliya, right in the animal's face.

And then he shook out the whip. He lashed at s.h.i.+ba, the kind of feeble strike that would barely affect her through the bramble-guard, and which hit the horse right along with her.

Too much for any horse, even a good one-which this was not. It launched into a bucking protest, dislodging both s.h.i.+ba and the smuggler.

s.h.i.+ba landed on her feet. The smuggler, not as agile, rolled to a dazed stop on his stomach. Unlucky for him that he had clipped his long, scruffy hair at the back of his head. Unlucky. Just as he made the effort to prop himself up on his elbows, s.h.i.+ba landed on his back, audibly driving the air from his lungs as she latched on to the trailing tail of hair. She braced her feet on his back andpulled . His head came up, the skin of his face stretched back and a squeak of protest in his throat. Sabre hobbled forward, stuck his nose in the man's face, and bellowedtreed as loud as he could.

Which is exactly how Taliya and Tallon found them.

Sabre s.h.i.+fted his awkwardly splinted leg and woofed to let Taliya know they had visitors. Tallon ands.h.i.+ba, as of course had been the case every day since Tallon had carried Sabre back to this cabin-with the help of a sling made from the smuggler's s.h.i.+rt, for no man carries a densely boned, muscle-packed linehound far without help, not even a lineman trying to impress a linewoman. And once the smuggler was secured, and Sabre's hurts tended, Taliya seemed quite impressed indeed.

Now she came out of the cabin, raising a hand in greeting as Tallon and s.h.i.+ba broke through the trees surrounding their cabin. Tallon went to Sabre first-wise man-offering a treat of dried meat; Sabre accepted it delicately between his front teeth and swallowed it whole.

He was learning to wag his bottom instead of his broken tail.

s.h.i.+ba sniffed Sabre's toes-still his-and sat nearby while Tallon went to greet Taliya. He seemed to have some sort of treat for her, too, although it didn't smell like dried meat. Nothing important, then.

Sabre would have ignored them altogether if the strangemagicsmell hadn't filled the air. He'd finally realized the truth of it the day before-when this same thing had happened yet again.

The magic wasn't Tallon. It wasn't Taliya. It was something that happened when the two of them came together, and he was critter-bed.a.m.ned if he could understand why.

But it did make Taliyahappy . And it made hernot happy when Sabre fussed about it, and especially when he jumped on Tallon, so though it tore at his linehound sense of duty, he was willing to ignore the magicsmell . For her.

s.h.i.+ba seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Though her eyes glinted and her nose flared at the scent of it, she turned her back on the humans-why did they lean so close to one another, anyway?-and sniffed Sabre's toes again, her long, graceful ears brus.h.i.+ng his feet.

Ooh, that itch again.Where -he nibbled his side-not there-and lifted a hind foot to his ear-not there-and tried desperately to reach the spot under his splinted front leg-no, not there-and then noticed that s.h.i.+ba had engaged herself in the same sort of frustrated exercise. She twisted herself around, trying to reach the loose skin directly over her spine, that glossy black fur twitching with her efforts . . .

Mesmerized, Sabre gave up on his own scratching and reached over to nibble the spot for her. To his utter astonishment, his own vague p.r.i.c.kling sensations instantly vanished. s.h.i.+ba regarded him in momentary surprise, then-still twisted around-she solemnly cleaned his face with her tongue.

It seemed he'd finally found the right b.i.t.c.h to scratch.

Foxy Boxer Gal Fights Giant Monster King!

Pierce Askegren

"So this is j.a.pan," Jenna Ferguson said. "Everything's so different." She took another bite from her BigMac, chewed the two all-beef patties, special sauce, cheese, pickles, onions and sesame seed bun, then swallowed.

Teruhisha smiled. They were seated beneath the sign of the golden arches and looking out through spotless windows at busy downtown Tokyo. Some of the local residents, mostly men, were looking back in, and Jenna knew they were looking at her.

That was understandable; even sitting down, Jenna stood out.

She was a redhead, with fair skin and green eyes, and a great body that put her a full head taller than most men. Right now, she was eating her second sandwich and watching Teruhisha work on his meal, which had been something of a surprise. Jenna had never seen rice on a McDonald's menu before.

"I am so pleased you are enjoying yourself, then," Teruhisha said, positively beaming. He spoke American that was almost perfect, with only the faintest accent. Sometimes he used words that Jenna didn't understand, but that was okay; it happened in America, too. "Later, if you like, I will tell you more of our city," Teruhisha continued. "Over dinner, perhaps?"

Jenna ate a French fry. Eating was a good way to paper over awkward gaps in a conversation and calories weren't a problem for her. A minimum of three hours a day working out, with free weights and Nautilus, with the jumping rope and the heavy bag, and she burned off the food as fast as she could eat it.

Jenna had arrived in j.a.pan a week before, and Teruhisha Kitahara had been her almost constant companion. Connected somehow to the j.a.panese government, Teruhisha had met her at a reception and done his best to make his presence known ever since. He had cheerfully served as a combination tour guide, escort, and translator. Jenna knew that he wanted to serve her in other ways, too, but she didn't think that was going to happen.

"I am very glad you have decided to stay in our city, after the match," Teruhisha continued, as if Jenna had replied.

"Not much else to do," Jenna said, suddenly sad. She ate another French fry.

Four days before, she had come here to defend her t.i.tle. Instead, she had lost the Lady Prizefighter Amazon Cla.s.s World Champions.h.i.+p to an unpleasant bit of baggage from California, a peroxide blonde with more plastic parts than a Barbie doll. The match had been heavily publicized, globally televised, so viewers on five continents had seen her go down in defeat. The day afterthat , her manager had decided that he liked blonde winners better than redheaded losers. Moving swiftly, he had renegotiated his contract-and his marriage to Jenna.

Now, there didn't seem to be any real reason to hurry home.

"That may be so," Teruhisha said, cheerful and oblivious. "But there is so much for you here! Why, in Tokyo alone-"

Jenna sighed. Tokyo's charms were beginning to wear a little thin, actually. Her best time had been spent in the Ginza, shopping and spending much of her consolation purse in an attempt to console herself. Even that hadn't been entirely successful; apparently, no dress shop in all of j.a.pan had anything that would fit, and a mere mention of her shoe size made shop girls roll their almond eyes in something like horror.

Teruhisha had tried to help, but what he really wanted to do was show her parks and shrines and monuments, scattered through the city like chocolate chips in a cookie. Before she could even try to change the subject, however, something else did. It was a low, wailing shriek, a siren howl from outdoors so penetrating that Jenna's teeth (all of them her own) began to hurt.