The Far Side Of Forever Part 20

"I can't stop it!" I called to the man in a voice that wasn't as steady as it should have been, starting to gel to my feet as the white beast shook itself to throw off the pain I'd given it. "All I can do is hold it off for a while, but that should give you time to get the others. Hurry!"

The white beast glared malevolent hatred at me, as though it knew that 1 was the one who had given it pain, but it didn't come for me as I'd expected it to do when I'd stood up. Its look of hatred had a sense of patience to it, as

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though it knew it would have no trouble taking me later, when it had the time, but just then it had a more pressing objective. It bared its fangs in a silent snarl of vengeance promised-and then turned again toward its first choice in prey.

I'd expected Rikkan Addis to do as I'd said and go after the others, but when I turned to look where the beast was looking I saw that he hadn't moved except to stand straight.

! moaned inwardly to see him still there, not knowing how long 1 could hold off the white beast if it kept attacking, and then I noticed that something strange was happening.

The man's bronze eyes were glowing brighter and brighter, so bright that the glow was beginning to spread to all of him, and in the glow he was-changing' One instant a man stood there and the next there was a giant bronze beast in his place, with nothing left to show that the man had been there except for a discarded drying cloth lying in the gra.s.s. The bronze beast was almost as large as the white one, and this time when the intruder attacked, there was no attempt made to get out of its way.

The two beasts came together with a thud and the sort of snarling growls I'd never heard before in all my life, true challenge given and answered inlhe most basic way possi- ble. Claws raked and fangs stashed,'the gra.s.s tore out by the roots under their churning feet, and then they were rolling over and over, first one on top and then the other.

Any other two beasts fighting like that would have been shredded to ribbons instantly by the terrible violence and ferocity, but although there were streaks and lines of red on both white fur and bronze, neither beast seemed to notice it. They were engaged in a fight to the death, and wounds could be worried about by the one to survive.

I had heard about people with link-shapes, but I had never before seen the transition and results, nor had I ever seen one of those link-shapes engaged in that kind of a fight. From the way it had started I'd expected the meeting to be noisy, but aside from panting and grunting and heavy thras.h.i.+ng around, the fight was nearly silent. Each was trying to bite the throat out of the other, or claw its way through to a vital organ, and they had no time or energy for sound effects. The only time I had ever seen savagery

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like theirs had been during my time in the streets, a part of a very small number of those who haunted the alleys and gutters. That sort either went on to make their presence felt by the entire city, or died by the same savagery they, themselves, produced; but whichever way it went, no one ever entirely forgot them.

The white beast howled suddenly and threw itself away from the bronze, and in its hurry to back off I could see it was limping badly. Its right foreleg was torn and bleeding, possibly even broken, and the beast knew exactly what that meant. Only in perfect condition did it have a hope of besting the bronze link-beast, and it was no longer in that kind of condition; it was now only a matter of time before it died. With that realization blazing full in its yellow eyes, it turned with the sort of speed it had shown at first, and launched itself directly at me.

I can't say I wasn't expecting the attack, but expecting something doesn't make you able to stop it. I spoke me smas.h.i.+ng spell a second time, but this time the capping gesture did no more than make it scream, nothing to stop its racing advance. The bronze beast was right behind it, easily matching its speed, but he had been caught by surprise when the white beast had turned from him, and there was no way he could reach it and stop it before it got to me. I stood in what felt like a dream as the two rushed toward me in slow motion, the white form out ahead and certain to stay that way. the bronze straining every muscle in its body in useless effort, no time to throw myself aside and out of the way. All I could do was stand there and silently curse myself for letting my strength and power drain so far, and then the white form leaped, triumph in its yellow eyes. If 1 had been capable of it 1 would have screamed as I fell backward and would have closed my eyes-but then I would have missed the savage streak of black hurtling in front of me.

By the time I hit the gra.s.s and was able to twist around, there was a second fight already in progress. My heart thundered inside my chest and every inch of me was shaking uncontrollably, and InThig had never looked so beautifully welcome in all my life-or so screamingly enraged. The black demon who had been the companion

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and-bane of naif my existence was almost unrecognizable in its maddened fury, the blaze of its red eyes making the white beast's yellow gaze seem mild and unexcited. It had knocked the white beast down with its attack, and amid the most blood-curdling screams it was literally tearing the thing apart, scattering it in red and white pieces all over the gra.s.s. The white thing was dying but it wasn't dead, and its howls of agony were making me ill. InThig's claws and teeth just kept ripping and tearing, forcing me to put my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut. It was the time with the h.e.l.lfire all over again, and the memory of that experience was too fresh to let me even begin coping with the current one.

And then I was pulled to my feet and two strong arms were wrapped around me, holding me tight to a broad, bare chest in an effort to calm my shuddering. I didn't know where he'd come from but I didn't particularly care, as long as I could stand in his arms and share his warmth.

I had never thought of myself as a baby, even when I was very small; I hated feeling that way, but I couldn't seem to help it- After what seemed like ages the howling stopped, but it took a minute or two before the snarling and tearing did the same. I had never seen InThig that furious, and it took some doing before it calmed down. A big hand had been gently stroking my still-wet hair, and finally I was able to raise my face with a weak smile of thanks-which froze in place when 1 saw who had been holding me.

"It almost got you, and that was my fault," Rikkan Addis said, the look in his bronze eyes more than uncom- fortable. '*! should never have let it back off, but I didn't realize how stupid a move that would be. I'm sorry."

"But-I thought you were Zail!" I blurted, feeling like a foot, feeling the heat in my face again. After the way we'd argued, after everything I'd said and done to him- To let him hold me like that!

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Zail doesn't happen to be around right now," he said, letting me go as I stepped back away from him, an odd expression in the eyes look- ing down at me. "Or anyone else, for that matter. As soon as we're finished here, we'd better go check on them."

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He turned away from me then to watch InThig claw one last time at a motionless, white-red body, and the move- ment finally took him far enough away so that 1 was able to see all of him. Thin, while lines covered him here and there on his tanned body, what was left of the wounds his link-shape had taken, healed in the transition back to human form, but that wasn't what made me gasp. I hadn't realized it sooner, but he was stark naked, and then I had my back turned even as my cheeks flamed hotter.

"What's the matter?" his voice came from behind me, more concern in it than I had expected. "Don't try to force yourself to look at that carca.s.s, there's no one here to impress. Just walk around it without looking, and we'll..."

"That's not the carca.s.s that's bothering me," i interrupted, annoyed at his instant a.s.sumption of superiority. "You may not realize it, but you lost something in that fight."

"Oh, the drying cloth," he said after a moment of silent inventory-taking, finally getting the point. "I'm not used to worrying about clothes and such, my belt usually holds everything inte.r-transition, waiting for me to change back.

Obviously it slipped my mind that my belt is with every- thing else, piled in my tent. i appreciate your reminding me about it."

He sounded so d.a.m.ned amused that I wanted to scream and throw something at him, but all 1 did was stand there staring out over the water, rewrapping my own cloth- Clothes had been a very special status symbol for as long as I could remember, marking the ones who had them as winners, the ones who didn't as losers. Very often if someone was thrown out of the pack, they were first stripped naked before the ejection. Morgiana had very properly agreed that being naked wasn't right, so I'd never had to explain the point to her; now this-this-man was daring to laugh at me for doing what was right, and I didn't like it even a little.

"Are you all right?" a still-growly voice asked, just before InThig came stalking around to my left to examine me with nan-owed, burning-red eyes. "The nerve of that life form, to believe it might harm my-ah-companion, without fearing what / would do. Are you sure it didn't hurt you?"

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i.

"It didn't come anywhere near me," I answered, put- ting one hand to the big, black head. "Thanks to you. The next time I try chasing you away, feel free to hit me with something. Now thai it's dead, the only thing left to worry about i? where it came from- How could I have missed it when 1 warded this area?"

"That's something I'd also like to know," Rikkan Ad- dis put in, coming to stand to my left now that he was decently wrapped in cloth again. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do it, but now it looks like we'll have to stand watches tonight."

"Watches won't be necessary, Rik," InThig answered, sitting on its haunches to look up at the man before lifting a paw to lick. "That beast must have come through the gate, just the way the insects did. I detected the insects when they came through and followed them, but they moved too fast. By the time I reached the pavilions our companions had already been stung, and were lying on their floors unconscious. There were six insects and four had performed their duty and died. but when I searched for the other two, I found them dead as well. They must have been created with an extremely short life cycle."

"To keep them from turning on the beast next, and preventing it from doing what it was sent to do," Rikkan Addis-said, nodding in thoughtful understanding. "If the insects got all of us, the beast would only have to finish the job. If they didn't get all of us, the thing could have some fun before getting on with it- But what I still don't understand is how the insects and beast got through a gate that we couldn't get through."

"Obviously, the gate isn't timed the same from at least one of the worlds it leads to," I said, feeling very, very stupid. "You can't get into it from this side, but there's nothing to stop something or someone from coming out of it. And I thought I was being so clever, including the gate in the area of warding to keep us from having to leave its safety in the morning. I should have remembered I was too tired to be intelligent and alive, never mind clever. Now I'll have to seal it off."

"As long as there's still a point to sealing it off, we're ahead of the game," Rikkan Addis said, dismissing my

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stupidity as though it didn't matter in the least. "As far as I'm concerned, if you hadn't knocked that thing aside when it first came for me, I wouldn't have had time to link- change and I would have ended up a tasty dinner snack. In my book that means I owe you one-or two, if you care to count the way 1 let the thing get away from me long enough to go after you. From now on, feel free to bad- mouth me any time you like."

He was looking down at me in the deepening darkness, his bronze eyes glowing with that same odd expression, taking me completely by surprise with his offer. He wasn't joking, I could see that clearly, and suddenly i didn't want him blaming himself for something that hadn't been his fault.

"Considering the fact that the thing went after you twice, there was no way you could have known it would change its mind and target," I pointed out, looking away from his stare to search for the deep red ball that was the setting sun. "We'd better get over to that gate now, before it gets completely dark. I don't think I have enough left for sealing and lighting the way. And when it comes to start- ing up with people, I'll choose my own points of conten- tion, thank you. I don't need anyone volunteering points."

"Oh, yes, ma'am," he said as 1 moved past him head- ing toward my dirty clothes, carefully skirting what was left of the white thing, hearing the renewed amus.e.m.e.nt in his voice. "I withdraw the suggestion with all due haste, so just pretend I never said it. There is one thing I'd like to ask, though . . ."

"What thing?" I said when his voice trailed off, straight- ening up after bending to get my clothes. He had followed along after me and stood there beside InThig, his arms folded across his chest, the demon back to sitting on its haunches. Bronze eyes and red eyes glowed at me out of the deepening dark, and I had the feeling both pairs were holding down laughter.

"It's really such a little thing," he said, his deep voice faintly coaxing. "From now on, why don't you call me Rik?"

It was already dark by the time we got back to the pavilions, checked on our companions and made them

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comfortable for the night, then went to get something to eat. I replaced the drying cloth with a robe before sitting down to the meal that was still hot and tasty because of my spell, thankful that I'd had the foresight to provide each pavilion with its own lamp. After sealing the gate I was just about empty, and wouldn't have been able to uncover the food if I'd had to do it with magic.