Shifter


This is a short story that I've written, and also Part 1 of a fantasy novel that I've started. If you have any comments, or wish to read more of it, please email me at tag@myna.com (there are email links at the bottom of the document).
PLEASE NOTE:
This draft of Shifter is
over 2 years old.
Shifter is presently being completely revised.
"Shifter" is copyright © 1994, Trudy A. Goold. May be distributed electronically, on the condition that this copyright notice remains intact.


Part 1



Tara sat down at the table in the inn and looked around carefully. <Four months now!> she exclaimed to herself, pushing her short dark blond hair out of her eyes. <Four months now I've been on this wizard's trail, and I still don't know anything about him except for his appearance, his magename, and the fact that he's destroying my home!> Her pale blue eyes glittered with anger for a moment. She sighed, and then directed her attention to the other patrons.
There weren't really all that many. Merchant Ives, of course, was seated at the main table and was busy digging into his dinner. The other members of the merchant caravan had had to stay with it, but Tara was leaving the caravan here, and the merchant was paying for her evening here. She dismissed the merchant from her mind, as he was obviously not the one that she had sensed the magic from when she had walked in.
At the table closest to the fire were three burly men, probably farmers from just outside of town, looking to enjoy a bit of ale before going back out into the downpour.
And next to the fire was a young, slender androgynous figure, playing a travelling harp. The music drifted through the common room unobstrusively, and, Tara realized suddenly, was the source of the magic she'd sensed.
The mercenary shrugged to herself and leaned back in her chair. It wasn't all that strange to feel magic in music, particularly if the one playing the music was a bard. Whoever that was, however, looked a bit young to be a Bard.
As the thought crossed her mind, the figure looked up, and bright silver-green eyes met her own. The music stopped, and the figure got up and walked over to her table.
"May I sit down?"
A girl's voice. Tara nodded. "Certainly."
The girl sat down, and Tara took a moment to study her. Her face was pale, but the pallor looked natural, not due to illness. Her eyes were dark green with silver specks in them, and her hair was a curly blue-black colour, and hung to the small of her back. She was dressed in dark green clothes--a tunic, hose, and cloak--and she had black leather boots and a long knife at her belt. Her hands were cradling the harp gently.
"Your music is quite beautiful," Tara said then.
A faint smile was her answer. The girl glanced around the room for a moment, and then settled back in her chair. "Have you ordered yet?"
Tara shook her head. "I was just about to. Would you like me to--"
"Good, then. I've ordered my meal, and I'm sure that you'll get something too, since I've decided to sit with you. The innkeep is hoping that his kindness will keep me here for a while longer."
Tara blinked at the sudden flood of words. "What's your name?" she asked.
The girl paused for a moment, as though weighing alternatives, and then answered, "Ie'Leah."
"Iyeh-leeah?"
The girl shrugged. "Close enough," she answered. "And you?"
Tara also considered for a moment, and then decided that she owed the girl, Ie'Leah, an honest answer.
"Tara of Perun."
Ie'Leah's eyes widened in surprise. "Tara of..." she whispered in awe. "The one who fought in the Freedom Wars?"
"Yes, I'm that Tara. Why?"
Ie'Leah took a deep breath and looked at the mercenary. She knew Tara of Perun's reputation, and she had seen the devastation that was slowly overtaking the mercenary's land. She also knew who had caused it. "You're looking for the wizard Argis, aren't you?"
Tara stiffened, and her hand went automatically to her longsword. "How do you know that?"
"I'm looking for him too," Ie'Leah began, but stopped as the inn door was flung open and two men stumbled inside, one supporting the other.
The innkeep hurried over. "What's wrong, Henrik?" he demanded.
Henrik, the man who was supporting the other, took a deep breath. "There's some kind of shifter monster just outside the town," he gasped. "It tore Rin up pretty badly."
"A shifter?" one of the men sitting near the fire asked. "Those are just legends!"
"No they're not," Ives exclaimed, waving his amber silk-covered sleeves. "I've seen shifters before. They're extremely dangerous, and bad to anger. If you've got one outside the town, we're all in danger."
Tara gritted her teeth, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, the merchant turned to her. "Tara, you're still contracted to protect my caravan until tomorrow morning. I want you to go and get rid of that creature."
"Merchant Ives, just because I'm contracted to protect the caravan doesn't mean--"
"You can help us?" Henrik asked, looking at her hopefully. "Please? It really hurt Rin," he added, looking worriedly at the other man, who was lying on the floor. The innkeep's wife had hurried out of the kitchen and was bent over him, trying to clean the jagged wound in his leg.
Tara cursed to herself. <Admit it, Tara. You've always been a soft touch. Never can turn down anyone with a good reason... Oh well, maybe I'll end up getting a room and some food tomorrow free if I take care of this beast.>
"Where did you meet it?" she demanded, sighing mentally, and promising herself that she would get her head checked at the first opportunity.
"Just outside the main gate, about fifty yards into the forest," Henrik answered, sounding relieved.
Tara pulled on her leather vest, which she had taken off as soon as she had gotten into the inn, and, gripping her sword and cursing herself, strode out into the rain.
She had pulled her sword out of its sheath as soon as she had slipped out through the main gates. She looked around carefully, but couldn't see anything except the muddy road and a few trees through the downpour. She sniffled, and cursed again as she felt the cold rain land inside her vest, soaking through her clothes to her skin.
<Probably no shifter-beast here at all. The poor guy must have just fallen on a sharp branch--> Tara began to think to herself, and then stopped as a large greyish thing stepped out of the woods onto the road in front of her.
"Shit!" was all she had time for, as the beast leapt at her. She raised her sword, but the beast was quicker and turned his body just enough so that he avoided the sword, but still rammed into her. She slipped on the mud and fell to the ground, losing her grip on her sword as she did so.
The beast snarled in her face and opened its jaws, presumably to rip her throat out, or something grotesque like that. Tara fought to move, but the beast was too heavy and its forepaws were on her chest, immobilising her.
Suddenly, just as the beast was about to close its jaws around her neck, a small black form crashed into it from Tara's right, knocking it off her. She took the opportunity to roll away and grab her sword, snarling at herself for dropping it in the first place. Then she glanced toward the beast, and froze.
The beast was snapping and snarling at a black wolf, which kept circling to avoid the bites the beast was directing at it. The wolf was growling, and then its form began to shimmer. A moment later, a large cat stood in front of the beast, and leapt forward, trying the same trick on the beast that the beast had tried on Tara.
It didn't work, but the move broke the trance that Tara had been in, and she moved forward quietly, holding her sword up. The cat, seeing her approaching, swiped out at the beast with its claws. The beast snarled, and then some instinct alerted it, and it glanced around to see Tara's sword come down on its neck. It didn't have time to do more than realize that it was going to die before her sword crashed down and severed its head.
The body of the beast shimmered and changed to that of a very dirty, grey-haired man whose head was a good foot away from his body. The cat regarded both the body and the swordswoman for a moment, and then changed as well, into the girl Ie'Leah.
"It looked like you needed some help," Ie'Leah said quietly.

Tara blinked in surprise. "You're a shifter?"
The girl gave her a sheepish grin. "And a bard, and a thief," came the answer. Then she looked down at the dead body on the road, and spat. "Not like him, though," she added hurriedly. "He was rabid, insane. I'm a lot more stable than that."
<I'm taking this all very calmly,> Tara thought wryly. As a mercenary, she'd learned to take help where it was given, and be damned to local superstition. Then an idea occured to her. "You said that you were looking for that wizard, Argis, as well. Why?"
Ie'Leah smiled grimly. "He killed my twin brother doing experiments near our home," she answered. "We hadn't even realized there were any humans in the area, much less wizards. I've sworn an oath to see him dead."
Tara took a deep breath. What she was going to propose was insane, but it just might work. Certainly Argis would never expect something like it, and the more surprises she had in store for the wizard, the better she liked it.
"You seem a pretty good person to have at my back during a fight," she said slowly. "And we both want the same thing--Argis' death. What say we join forces?"
A grin appeared on Ie'Leah's face. "I like it," she said simply, and held out her hand. Tara gripped it with her own, and sheathed her sword with the other.
"It's a deal. And let Argis beware!"
------------------------------
To be continued...

I hope that you enjoyed Part 1 of Shifter. Please send me any comments, suggestions, and/or constructive criticism you might have, in order to help me improve both Shifter and my other stories.

Return to Writer's Haven: Original Stories
Comment on Shifter
Send comments re: Shifter to author

------------------------------
Last modified October 31st, 1998.
------------------------------
Trudy A. Goold/tag@myna.com