The Difference
Chapter 11 - One of Those Days When You Wanna Cry
(Marco)
The blood I smelled in wolf morph I could never have smelled as a human. It was such a faint odor, but it was there…
True to her word, Alay had left Tobias on the forest floor, a well place dagger in the middle of his back. That some natural predator hadn't picked him off yet was a miracle. But when I nudged him and called his name in mindspeak, he didn't respond, not even in the slightest. That was a bad sign.
Tobias, seriously, if you're joking, this isn't very funny. It's funny how human emotions work… I had never thought of myself as really good friends at Tobias, but he was still a friend and the prospect of losing him really… hurt.
Stop… I felt the wind pick up and heard it toss the leaves in the trees around me. You must not move him anymore. 'Lay is known for killing blows with daggers - He is still alive and that is a wonder..
Who… who said that? The wolf instinct wasn't amused by the lack of a speaker, or by the heaviness of the air around us. And I wasn't amused by the… familiarity of the voice. She sounded like Sarah but there was something different about the way she "spoke". She seemed much more… ladylike. It makes Sarah seem like a she-male when I say it like that, which she isn't, she just isn't as much of a… girl as this voice seemed.
Then the voice took form - and I knew who she was.
You're… you're Emily! The figure gave a nod, then shook her head, tossing the strands of hair that hung loose from her ponytail over her face.
Not as you would think, morpher, came the voice again. It was her voice - her lips moved and I heard no sound except that in my head. This is not a form Herdan can control. She looked at me hard and narrowed the blue eyes I was used to seeing on someone else. Believe me or not, but if you do not move, he will die and you will be left to explain to mi itelan why you let her atala die. There was something in her voice that irritated me - arrogance, maybe, or just plain superiority and it bugged me.
You're not touching him, Yeerk, I stated flatly, stepping over the prone Tobias. She arched a delicate eyebrow and rolled her eyes.
Why is your kind so stubborn? She lifted her left hand and snapped her fingers - again, just the motion, no sound whatsoever. My body jerked roughly and suddenly the ground was further below me then it had been before and my paws dangled on air, not dirt.
What the-?! Put me the hell down!
Where I come from, even children know better then to disobey a Caster, she told me sharply, then flicked her wrist gently, sending my into a convenient group of shrubs. I cursed her as I struggled to untangle my limbs from the branches and to get the wolf mind under control - being thrown around like a rag doll had sent it into a panic.
Leave him alone! I stumbled from the bushes, pulling hard enough to free my back leg and lunge to protect Tobias - only I was too late. The apparition of Emily was gone, leaving only Tobias… Tobias in human form.
Wake him - gently, mind you, and have him return to his other form. The voice came from nowhere again, but it was the same voice, with the same undertone of arrogance. Then go and help mi itelan - she will deny she needs, but that is because she has that stubbornness of a Northern range reca herder. She needs help and you do not need a Scanning Cast to tell you that.
What did you do to him?! I yelled at the nonexistent girl. If you've hurt him…! It didn't take a genius to figure out it was an idle threat - after all, I couldn't hurt her if I couldn't see her, but threatening her made me feel better, so it helped a little.
Quit babbling, you idiot. You are wasting precious time! I felt myself demorphing, even though I hadn't started it, and when I tried to stop it, nothing happened. I demorphed completely before I knew it was over and crouched there on the ground in shock, surrounded only my silence. Something hit the ground next to my hand, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. Use that, it is now yours. She sounded fainter and her voice itself seemed weaker. As the highest Caster I know of in the area, I appoint you as guardian to my sister until she gets her brain parts together - tell her I have done this and I will hunt you down personally, morpher. She must not know, understood? It is for her own good.
"How in the hell do you expect me to protect her when she can wipe the floor with my butt?!" I countered.
You can morph - use it. Just do not… I don't know how I knew, but I knew she was gone. And, since my day hadn't been bad enough, she had cut off in the middle of a warning. A warning of what, God only knew…
I sat back on my heels and stared silently at the dagger. Guard Sarah… protect her - from what? There was no way I could do anything for Sarah that she couldn't do for herself - she, after all, was the one teaching me to control my Casting, not the other way around.
Another day, another hole in the ground… I scooped up the dagger but didn't take a moment to look at it - "precious time", as Emily had put it, was slipping me by.
"Tobias!" I grabbed his shoulder with my free hand and shook it. "Tobias! Come on, buddy, I think Sarah needs us both alive."
