With everything done, and all of my clothes dried and on, I destroy the shrine, and Nyt and I step through the door, followed by Clio and Shadow as soon as the sun sets. I look around. Boot prints litter the muddy ground, all around where the door had been. I bend down and pick up the 120 dollars out of the mud. This is all the money I have at the moment. The 60000 had been taken from my pocket by the Icarian Corps when I was detained, and using what was in my bank account would be the stupidest thing I could do. I stuff the cash in my pocket and look around.

The river’s waters were closer than they had been three days prior, and the skies were still blotted by dark clouds. This had been the rainiest winter I could remember in my life. Luckily, it hadn’t yet reached us.

“Now, Shadow?”

Brrow?

“Can you show me where the white hooded people are? The ones who hurt Clio? We need to pay them a visit.”

They’re over the river.

Now that’s going to be a problem. There’s no way that the military doesn’t have eyes on the bridge, and the river’s current would sweep even me away. I suppose it’s time to test the sleep spell.

“Can you carry, Clio? She seems comfortable in your arms, and I don’t want her wandering off.”

“How about you?”

“They’re still looking for me. You, however, could look like a child if you tuck your tail and pull up your hood.”

She does just that.

“Again, what about you?”

“I’ll get there quietly, do you know the way?”

“I’ll just follow the river.”

Good enough.

“Companion of mine, lend me thy form.”

I shift into Shadow’s form. I feel a brush against my side as the cat rubs her body against mine in a greeting.

Mister is a cat now?

No. I think.

Master is like Shadow now?

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No, Clio.

I motion with my head to go ahead to Nyt before I hop into the nearest tree. Shadow follows after me. We wait for Nyt to gain enough distance, and then follow after her hidden in the shadows of the tree. We pass by dozens of doors on the way, but even closing the one before this close to the compound would throw up flags to the observant. Luckily, I probably don’t have to count Shawn or Janet among those. Garcia though? Was that a Shard I saw on his wrist, or something else? Was he the ‘apostle with a Mori-like patron,’ that was talked about in the documents in the stash we found?

Would it be a wolf god of some kind? No, if he had a Shard, it would have to be a wolf or dog-like spirit. As I ponder this, the rain begins to fall again; pelting the black leaves and black limbs of the trees. We’re forced onto the street at one point, as a section of the bank had been swept away by the surging waters. Shadow and I stalked the nearby lawns, darting from cover to cover, watching over Nyt to make sure no one approached, as Nyt held her held down and stepped as lightly as possible. Little less than a quarter of a mile to go.

The street curved into a more crowded residential area, and Nyt walked at a more natural pace so as to not draw attention from the lights blaring from open windows and open garages. If it were me, two months back, it would have taken me more than half an hour to walk the distance between that specific riverbank and the bridge we needed to cross, now? It was in view before we’d been out for ten minutes.

Just as I suspected, a barricade had been set up along the bridge. Five soldiers lingered at the other end of it beneath an awning set up and tied to a pair of jeeps. The muddy river water ran wild here; splashing the bridge with white foam as it roared just barely low enough to not barrel through it.

I jump to the ground and stick to the shadows.

“Shadow and I will go first.” I say, “Once across, I’ll put the soldiers to sleep, that’s when you’ll go across.”

Nyt nods and moves to the shadows cast by a nearby fence, and once more I shift into my cat form and take off on a mad sprint across the bridge. Do they know that I can turn into a cat? I don’t think so, though some of the people who I brought back know that I can. There are some obvious giveaways; namely the backpack on my back. I pass by the Marines and one of the approaches. I recognize them as one of the ones who lived in the tents in the compound; a rather large, intimidating man.

“Aww, look at this little guy. He has a wittle backpack.” He runs his rough hands over my back, and I squirm away and take another mad dash.

“ ‘Wittle backpack,’ really dude? This is why people think you’re...you know.”

Shadow and I hop off of the edge of the bridge as soon as we’re near enough to a steady bank. I turn into my human form, and crawl on my belly through the knee-high grass; damp with the now sprinkling rain. I point my staff forward at the three marines.

“I welcome thee, o weary souls, into the domain of Caer Ibormeith. Let her whisk you away on billowing wings.”

A gust of wind rushes out forward and pushes past the metal railings of the bridge, and collides against the group of soldiers.

“What was th…”

One by one they fall asleep. The one sitting in the jeep slumps in his seat, while the one leaning against the car slides down with his chin nestled into his chest. The one standing; the large, intimidating man falls face-first onto the hard asphalt.

“Shit.”

I push myself up and run toward the bride. I roll him over onto his back. Dark red blood flows from a large gash on his forehead.

“I call upon Brigid, the Beautiful, to lend me her powers to cure these wounds.”

The gash on his forehead vanishes, and I motion for Nyt to pass before they wake up I hop off the edge and rejoin Shadow in the grass. A moment later Nyt and Clio have crossed the bridge. This side of the bridge was sparsely populated. There was a corner shop just a little down the road from here, going south, and a small fruit stand that would pop up come spring. Other than that, there was a single double-wide trailer between the end of the bridge and the highway.

“Now, lead the way, Shadow.”

Shadow takes off in a mad sprint along the banks.

“Why are we going after these people?”

Nyt whispers.

“They tried to kill Clio.”

“But they didn’t. We could risk giving away that we’re a lot closer than they realize.”

“We’ll stuff the bodies in a door,” I tell her.

I was talking about taking human life; something, during my conversation with Reynard on his plane, bothered me immensely. Now? I had already taken two human lives, and would probably, by the end of the night, take a couple others.

Shadow darted into an olive grove. Tire treads formed in the mud lead deep into it, next to countless footprints. Just how large was this force? Past the first few rows of trees, the faint glow of man-made luminescence begins to twinkle off the rain-slick ground, and the rain-slick leaves.

Is this them? I ask the cat mentally.

Yes.

Good girl. Take cover. You too Clio.

Clio hops out of Nyt’s and hides behind a tree. I motion forward with my head at the circle of light. Nyt circles around, as I sneak toward the front.