Circe's Gifts

Chapter 42

Kalliope came out of the fortress at a run and growling so loudly that no one could have missed her. It worked. Humans scattered and screamed and probably did themselves injury in their haste to get away from her. She didn't care, even when a few grew brave enough to strike at her. She moved faster than they could, and besides, Dylan proved excellent at tripping one or two.

Once they were past the first of the people,

Dylan and Petkin went past, a streak of movement that startled a few. The fact that the humans ran in fear from a cat and mouse probably would have amused Dylan and Pet at another time.

She darted after them, turning one growl back at the crowd when a rock hit the pavement near her. Whoever had thrown it wasn't brave enough to show himself to her face.

Kalliope didn't care. In a single bound she went beyond the reach of more rocks, and in a moment all three were around the first corner and out of sight of the crowd.

Though not beyond the view of humans. She soon found more humans on the streets, though not in a crowd. She and her friends charged through them, heedless of the panic they caused. Some seemed to think that the wolf chased the cat, though what they thought of the mouse on the cat's head was another matter.

Kalliope felt magic in the air: powerful magic that almost left her befuddled. She had to concentrate to follow Dylan, which shouldn't have been much of a problem.

Dylan seemed to have forgotten he had a wolf chasing him. He went through a hole in a fence that was so small Petkin had to duck. Kalliope nearly howled with frustration. She darted back a few steps then ran and leapt, barely clearing the uneven edges of the fence -- only to find herself landing in someone's garden. They hadn't gone unnoticed, either. A stout woman came running from the back of a brick building, carrying a broom in one hand and screaming curses at cats and dogs.

That stopped when she realized that Kalliope, untangling herself from some obnoxious vines, was not a dog. The woman looked so frightened that Kalliope changed back to her human form --

"I'm sorry about your garden," she said. The woman stared, blank-faced. Dylan and Petkin hadn't stopped so she couldn't take the time to stop and say more or try to explain. Instead, she turned wolf and darted off after her friends.

The woman might have fainted. Kalliope thought she heard something fall, but she didn't look back. Catching up with Dylan already proved difficult. They had run so far already. Surely Tiernan couldn't be much farther!

Dylan turned down a narrow alley, darted back into the light, circled back on another path -- and Kalliope, after four such turns, realized that the cat had the right area and was only looking for a clue as to where Tiernan had fallen.

He should have looked up.

The magic had become so strong in the area that Kalliope felt as though she would suffocate. She looked upward hoping to see Tiernan nestled on one of the roofs. Instead, she saw thin tendrils of black reaching across the sky that looked like smoke. However, she realized they twined and joined and moved on in a way that was not natural.

Reaching toward a roof a few buildings back behind them.

Kalliope stopped and howled. That brought Dylan up short and likely scared off any humans still around which was good since this was not a place they should be. She and her friends might not be much help either, but they'd no choice. Circe set them to protect Tiernan. Quite obviously their work was not done.

Dylan followed her back to the building in question. Kalliope thought about changing to human, but she saw outside stairs leading up to the roof and started that way instead. Dylan darted ahead of her, the cat much faster on the steps than she had expected. Kalliope wanted to howl at the foolishness of a cat and mouse charging into battle ahead of a wolf, but she had learned, if nothing else, not to underestimate those two.