Neko-laus 2 : Toy Tiger

Merry Christmas. Here’s a present for you. One chappie left of part two look for that before New Years. Too-dell-oouu
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Catch

Plans are all fine and dandy but how the hell can you execute them when you are sleeping 18 hours of the day. There was no time for Mags or Wendy to rest because the powers that be weren’t buying it that all hands on board the transport were dead. Movement was limited to the deepest of night. Magic was limited as well. Apparently they have some sort of scanner that can detect...maxidohickimacallits, whatever the signature of Mage emits when they use their power. It can’t pinpoint the exact location but they can come close enough to make our escape a little hairy. I honestly don’t know if I shorted out the Citizen Chips completely or one of them was sparking enough to leave intermittent signals. I just knew that I couldn’t do a damned thing about it right now.

When I was somewhat normal I searched for another power source. The larger trees around us had residual power stored in them and I took what I needed to stay a little longer in search mode. These elder trees drew from a source far beyond my reach but I sure if I followed the path it must come closer to the surface. I felt like a battery that had lost most of its charge. I just needed to touch a pure source and I’d be back to my sword wearing, Maggie loving self. This Faded shit was getting old real fast.

Trying to herd two Tigers in the direction of my unseen source was like…well like trying to herd two tigers. I must have sounded like a whiny idiot when they veered off course pointing in the direction I wanted to go and making guttural complaints bugged the hell out of me so I know that they were bothering those two. Then I would dose off, they would find a game trail and by the time I woke up there would be almost nothing of the source for me to pick up. Trying to keep them where I wanted was causing nothing but delays, so the next morning when Mags dropped off into an exhausted sleep hugging me next to him I waited until Wendy went to do his “business” in the bushes and left us. I had to. I was holding them back.

To me, I sounded like some rabid animal crashing through the underbrush. That was because of so many years living in the Shambles. I used to be able to walk through an open field and not leave a trace I had been there. I think the Fade was a huge part of this as well. Trying to reach out and ‘feel’ for the source sapped my strength so I shortened my field of vision from one big elder tree to the next. I rested against it and drew energy from it to make it to the next tree and the next and so on.

I thought was I doing great. My concentration was so intense I didn’t hear my attacker until I was body slammed hard down on the ground. My shoulder rammed hard into the thick bark of my next objective then I had a face full of dirt to contend with. Instinct and Fade do not go well together. Instinctively I grabbed where I normally kept a blade but my fingers swept my naked forearm. They trailed towards my chest were my bandoliers were...missing. A hand dug into my shoulder and I was physically tossed onto my back. I had known it wasn’t Mags or Wendy. I could tell when they were around...not like I was synced to Wendy or even wanted to be but they sort of ‘felt’ the same. I think it was the sterile atmosphere that they were both honed in until they razor sharp but there wasn’t an emotional intent behind it. They killed because they were told to; not because they liked it. I didn’t recognize that difference immediately it because in my time in the Shambles, I was working toward that sterility because my emotionality had gotten my face punched in a few times. I was lucky I had only gotten beaten up when I first got to the Shambles. However, this ‘earthiness’ that was all around me only reminded me of how I had to live growing up – in fear and desperation and that is what I felt from my attacker.

I didn’t have any time to defend myself. A spear tip cut the soft underside of my jaw then a foot stomped on my arm. Staring up at the tanned face I could see the killing intent in his eyes and there wasn’t an ounce of resistance left in me. I had been kidding myself telling myself that I just needed the next tree. I wasn’t recharging fully from them. Another hard blow to my chest left me gasping for air. How many of them where they?

“Hold! We were sent out to find out why there was so much activity around this area, not to kill.” The leader hunter came forward pushing the spear butt away from my chest.

“He’s one of THEM.” My throat stabber snarled down at me.

“Just look at what he’s wearing.” The voices beyond my vision were crying out for blood.

“Keep it down, they don’t travel alone. They never travel alone.” The older man was probably not to keen on having me captured when they out on a simple search mission. “Now, let’s see what the hell we have here. Kellen move your spear.”

The hard eyed youth kept his spear head exactly where it was.

“Kellen.”

“Those black shirts killed my sister.”

“We have all lost loved ones to the black shirts but...” The older man grabbed the collar of the spear and forced it away from me. “...this is about me having to repeat an order to a first year hunter.”

The young man clenched his teeth and a stain of red colored his cheeks. “My apologies Ryder.”

Ryder? Why did that sound vaguely familiar? I could feel the Fade dragging me down. I laid my head back on the ground and found the canopy of the Elder tree swaying gently above me. My body ached from the pummelling I got. I turned my head and found that I was laying near the base of the tree I was trying to get to. Slowly, I raised my arm and reached toward an exposed root. I grunted in pain as Kellen stepped on my wrist. The leader, Ryder, said nothing to him this time.

“You don’t have the coloring of a regular black shirt. In fact, you look like one of us. Let’s see what we have here.” A hand wrenched my hair back from my face and the other grabbed my jaw forcing me to look up at him. His face blanched. “Who’s your people? Who’s your father? Tell me your father’s name!” Ryder rattled my head.

“Ryder, more black shirts coming.”

“Are they trying to ambush us?”

“They are making enough noise to wake the dead. They are calling for a...nek...neko-los.”

Ryder turned back to me. His brow furrowed. “Neko...laus...neko..nicko...Nicholas? Is that your name, boy?”

I jerked on my arm but Kellen ground down harder on it. I cried out in pain as tears stung my eyes.

“Off.” Kellen stepped off me and Ryder jerked me upright so hard I thought my neck was still trying to play catch up when my forehead bounced off his shoulder. “Tell me the name of your father, boy.”

“...nicho...lai...” The effort took too much out of me.

“Ryder, what do we do? They are coming in this direction.”

Kellen looked back down the path the other hunters had moved back up. “Kill him and leave his body for them to find.”

“Not an option.” Ryder’s hands tightened on my shoulders.

“He’s just a black shirt who wandered away from his pack of murdering fiends.”

“Who have we been looking for these past eight years?”

“The Lady Witch’s son.” A look of horror crossed over Kellen’s face. “Are you saying that...that black shirt is the Prince?”

Prince?

“He has the right coloring.” Ryder pulled my head back and pryed my eye open wider. “Who else has the ochre colored eyes but the Royal family. He looks to be the right age.”

“Nicky!” Mags voice rang out through the underbrush.

Mags!

Ryder slapped a hand over my mouth then dragged me far too easily to my feet. His hand motions were quick and precise but I was able to follow them. Come around behind them and kill them.

“…no…” I might have well been whispering in a cave for the volume that came out my scream. Still it was enough to have Ryder call a hold. There was no way I would be able to tell them we were looking for sanctuary and wanted to learn from the witches while hiding out from the Empire. Instead I brought my hands up hooked a finger of my left hand and dragged it off my nose down towards my jaw.

“Witch.”

“We don’t have one with us.” Ryder shook his head.

I gestured out to the woods. I gestured with my hands, “…with me.”

“A black shirt is?”

I shook my head and held up two fingers.

“Two of them are?

I nodded.

“How many?” This remark was directed toward Kellen.

“There were two then another group of six following up behind them.”

I tried to break free from Ryder’s hold. Ryder held up his hand and gave the order to disappear. “Let’s see what these sky witches can do. If they are truly with you and not hunting you then the others will attack them. If they are witches, they should be able to defend themselves. If not...”

“Then they are like all the other black shirts that have come out here and deserve to die.” The vitriol in Kellen’s voice was strong and fresh.

“Erras, hold him.” I got pushed sideways but my legs gave out and I crashed hard to the ground. This Fade fucking sucks. I was picked up by the back of my collar like a kitten and set back on my feet. I was so weak that all this Erras had to do was hold me by the back of hair to make me behave, well more like kept me from listing off to one side. One leg gave out slightly and then I was wrapped up in a strong embrace from behind. They were treating me like a woman. NO, not even a woman, a little girl.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“There is a glaze in his vision. I don’t know what it could be but it’s like he’s drunk.” Ryder’s closed fist came up and everyone went silent.

Erras felt my chest expand as I tried to get my body to react the way I wanted it to by shouting out a warning to the Tigers about the soldiers on their trail. My voice squeaked off as the edge of a blade rested against my neck. Kellen stepped into my field of vision his eyes hard. “Just try it black shirt. All I’d have to say is my hand slipped.”

“Kellen, Ryder said this is the Prince.”

“Why the hell would the Prince be a black shirt?”

I closed my eyes. I heard Kellen give me a malicious snicker then the blade was off my neck as if he had cowed me into submission. I didn’t feel threatened by that blowhard just annoyed. I knew what I was capable of. I knew what loss was. Maybe I was stuck in that angry frustration mode once, but I had grown up and beyond that. People died. Loved ones died. Sometimes they brought it on themselves. Sometimes it was just a random act of fate…but if not…if I could do something about it I was going to limited though I was right at this moment.

I shifted my weight and my foot hit the exposed root I was trying to reach before. I drew from the tree with a slight apology and prayer of thanks. It was amazing that little things I had put aside came back so easily as the sights, sounds and feel of the Wild came back to me. Strength returned to my legs. I didn’t need to shout to get Mags attention. I raised a hand to my chest and concentrated on pooling the energy there activating the Flaming Skull Tattoo. My chest tingled around the edges of my cat and crown then began to warm as Mags sent back his own welcome.

The incautious crashing both him and Wendy were making ceased. Slowly I dialled down my power because they were facing the woods to the left of our position. In my mind’s eye I could see Mags frown then he shifted his weight turning slightly in the right direction. I sent a quick pulse then faded again. He shuffled his feet off in the opposite direction and I pulled my power back from him completely. He turned in complete circle slowly pausing with each shift. When he was finally facing the right direction I let the tattoo warm.

“What is he doing?” Erras whispered.

Kellen shook his head his eyes forward on Mags and Wendy much like a predator locking onto his prey. Not good. I opened my eyes and saw Mags walk into the clearing with my curved swords across his back and my bandoliers on his shoulder. Wendy had a bulging backpack which I assumed could only contain the rest of my gear and the remainder of our rations. Wendy pivoted on his heel and stared back down the game path they had just trampled.

“We’ve got incoming.”

“We’re already surrounded.” Mags pulled a dagger free from the bandolier but it was clear that he was not familiar with it.

“How did he know?” Erras demanded lowly.

“We just want our companion. We will leave once we have him. He is suffering from an illness and wandered off.” Silence greeted Mags statement.

Wendy shook his head and dropped a hand on Mags shoulder. “We’ve got troopers coming up fast. Too fast to think this is just a coincidence.”

“Nicky?” Mags called out again.

Erras moved a hand over my mouth to prevent me from calling out. As if that would stop me. I sent a pulse to Mags tattoo.

“Two for yes. One for no. Are you hurt?”

Pulse.

“Can you come to us?”

Pulse.

“Are you in immediate danger?”

Pulse.

“Are we?”

Pulse, pulse.

“Grant, we need to take care of our pursers. They seem to be honing in on us directly so it doesn’t matter if you break out into Tiger Mode.”

Wendy dumped the pack on the ground. “Nothing from you. I don’t want to disappear in friendly fire.”

“I know. I’ll stick to this. Pointy end goes into the other person.”

“Stay behind me.” Wendy took up point and began to power up his attack. Even watching from this distance, his hands and movements were a feast for the eyes. Mags had his power glyphs moulded to his body to enable him to draw on several different attacks and defences in a moment’s notice. He still had never told me how he had done that and made it quiet clear that it was a subject we weren’t going to be discussing over beer in the officer’s mess. Wendy’s movements were a dance to the rhythm of his own personal power source. I could feel the change in the atmosphere as he powered up. I’m sure Mags did as well and he was fighting not to respond to the call. Then again it was the policy of the Mage Division not for Mages to be overly familiar with each other and a Mage’s battlefield was a solitary place.

Ryder moved quietly through the woods then tapped Erras on the shoulder then motioned him to follow. I resisted. I wasn’t leaving my Tigers out there alone even if I was Faded as I was.

A Mage was sent out to subdue and conqueror in the most spectacular and destructive way possible. That was the stock in trade to the Empire being able to roll into a new world and take it over. Loose the Battle Mage, the Gods of War, on the populous and just watch the carnage unfold. That is what they’ve been taught. That is all they knew. This is why both of them were considered liabilities to the Empire now. There was no way the Empire was going to let their two deadliest mages disappear into the forests of the Wild. If there were only six troopers tracking us, then they didn’t know that the Tigers survived. Maybe they thought they were tracking surviving crewmembers or Wildmen who had come to investigate. If Wendy did start blasting with his magic suspicions would become confirmed fact.

“…mags…” That was my intense scream.

Ryder turned back to me. Since my voice wasn’t working, I’d have to use someone else’s. I brought my hands up one finger extended then closed my other hand over it in a closing motion. I pointed to me. “Catch me?”

I pointed out into the clearing then cupped my hands around my mouth as if shouting.

“Why would I do that?”

“…please…”

“No, don’t do it.” Kellen jerked me out of Erras’s grasp and I lost the contact with the Elder tree and with that the natural energy that lifted me slightly out of the Fade.

“Catch me!” Ryder jerked me back out of Kellen’s grasp and shoved me at Erras. “This is the last time you are in my hunting party. I don’t have the time nor the patience to train a pup who should know his place and respect the chain of authority.”

I didn’t have time to attempt to link up with the energy when I was clubbed with a blast of raw energy. I could only say clubbed because that is what it felt like, a hard slam to the chest that took my breath away but brightened and lightened up my world. The force of it originally crumpled me to the ground. Erras wasn’t expecting it then bent over to pick me up. I cold cocked him. He crashed to the ground as I rolled out of the way. Scrambling on my hands and knees I broke through the underbrush. When I got back to my feet and ran towards Mags, I fully expected to get a spear in the back. His face lit up and he jumped to his feet. The routine pet and tickle would have to wait.

“Wendy jam their radios, don’t let them know it’s you and Mags.”

“Nicky!”

“Duck your head.” At least he didn’t stand there and argue. I easily pulled my curved blades free then snapped my wrists to loosen them up.

“Nicky are you all right?” Mags hand came up and cupped the side of my face.

“We will be. Keep the connection as long as you can but if you feel it draining on you or you start slipping cut it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Take care of business. Oh, defend yourself if you have to but try not to kill them,” I gestured to the woods behind them. “Stay here and watch Wendy’s back. These are the guys we were looking for.”

“NICKY!”

“Love ya.” I turned on my toe and ran past Wendy heading back down the game trail. I sure as hell didn’t mean for Mags to toss me his energy. I didn’t think he could do that then again, energy is energy so if it flowed one way, there was no reason why it couldn’t flow the other. Now the biggest problem now was length of time. I felt like my good old self but who knew how long this would last. I had six Empire soldiers to take out before Mags began to waver. I could hear them ahead of me. I could smell them they were so close. It was killing time.

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