It’s Tuesday, so strap in for about 1,000 words of this wild and weird shapeshifter story!
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The Shape of Family
Part Four – Priority
by Rick Cook Jr.
Sadie felt the malevolent presence leave them as Marie’s twin rode their backtrail. She panted and snorted with relief when Marie finally let her rest a bit, walking along the road that would lead to the capital.
The other girl was in danger. Sadie refused to think about it. Not her problem. She had saved Marie, wasn’t that enough?
I’m not their mother.
Marie rambled a bit and led Sadie to the center of the road. So long as the girl took her to the capital, Sadie followed orders. As best she knew how.
“Already lived through one attack,” Marie was saying, “let’s not give the bloody forest a reason to test that.” A mild laugh. Sadie snorted in return and the girl patted her neck. It was pleasant from Marie where it had bristled from the horse-whisperer.
Didn’t need that star chart after all, she thought, angry she had wheedled it out of old Sind and spent her last coin on it. Still, it needled her that she had given it up, and on a pretense of that Jeffrey’s magic working to avoid suspicion.
But all’s well, she thought. No more hiding in the forest, no more running from patrols. With Scout Mollen riding atop her, no one in their right mind would halt their progress. The capital in a day of hard riding. She had assumed it was far away and would take her a week or longer to travel the distance.
She would have hugged the girl if she could.
Marie hummed a gentle tune, Wind or Wing, and Sadie enjoyed the girl’s adolescent timbre. Wind or Wing was a favorite among the Changers, but perhaps it was also favored by the Winged Riders for obvious reasons.
Sadie was doing something akin to humming along with the girl before she knew what she was doing, and the girl giggled. “What was that?” she asked when Sadie cut off in a disgruntled snort. “Never heard a horse make noises like that before.”
When Sadie feigned ignorance the girl shrugged. “Do you know the words, weirdo? Shall I sing you a song before we pick up the pace once more?”
Sadie thought it might be safe to nod her head up and down, having seen horses do it before, so she did. The girl laughed and patted her neck again. “You are a weird girl, aren’t you? Okay then.”
And she started singing, low so as not to disturb the forest, a little off-key but Sadie would never complain. She couldn’t sing unless she was in the Song-Catcher’s form.
Wind or wing
Tales to sing
Along the hidden byways
Drift or fly
Say goodbye
Where earth and sky collide
Meet me soon
Grant your boon
Tears can shed tomorrow
Cause wind or wing will spread the song
The bloody woods have got it wrong
And though the starless night is long
Wind and wing provide
It was when she started the second verse that it went a little wrong.
Wind or wing
Serve your king
Sparrow’s loosened days
That last bit was so wrong that Sadie snorted with horse laughter and Marie stopped singing. “What, don’t like it after all?”
I like your singing fine, she thought. That last line was supposed to be spare devil’s noose and maze, a reference to the Red Forest and leaving it alone. The line she’d sung was adorably silly, something her nephew might have done in his younger days.
Sadie shook her head left to right, snorting with laughter still, and Marie seemed to understand she was being laughed at. “I’ll just keep my mouth shut then, you stupid broodmare.”
The light tone didn’t last long as Marie jerked in the saddle, her heels digging into Sadie’s flank. Sadie twisted her head around to look at Marie, to see what was the matter, but the girl’s eyes were crinkled in worry, staring back along their path.
Back to where the creature followed Marie’s sister. Damn.
Suddenly Marie yanked on the reins and Sadie wheeled about to face the other direction. “Ride, you bitch! Go, damn you!” Sadie hesitated and neighed at the slap of rein and the kick of heel.
“You’ve listened to me this far, why won’t you now?” Marie begged, pure panic. All composure gone. “Go, ride, my sister’s in trouble!”
Sadie didn’t budge. She needed to get to the capital. She needed to find Jonathan. She twisted around in the road, facing the way they were supposed to be going. Took a few steps and winced as the girl kicked harder and harder.
“I’m not fucking around here, you big black bitch. We’re not going that way anymore. We’re not!” But Sadie broke into a trot. The girl would come to her senses. Surely she would.
And, of course, she didn’t. Instead she punched Sadie in the back of the head, dazzling her, and in her confusion Sadie rocked upward on her hind legs, sending the girl sprawling to the night-strewn dirt, pebbles glittering in the moonlight, stars to combat the ones in the sky.
She turned to find the girl scrambling to her feet, reaching for the bridle around Sadie’s mouth. Gripped it in a shaking hand. Sadie’s heart melted for this girl.
“Please,” she begged. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but my sister needs my help, and I can’t get to her without you.”
Her fingers twisted in the bridle and yanked. Sadie hardly budged. She pulled back a little, a last attempt to get the girl on the right path again.
“Why aren’t you listening to me!” Marie yelled, shoving Sadie’s face away. She stalked off down the road, following whatever twinsense she possessed. “Fine. Jerk. You go on and do whatever. I’m finding Renee.”
Sadie watched the girl go, conflicted. She was a nuisance as well as a boon. She was protection in these lands, and navigator. But Sadie could go on her own. I can. I started without a guide, and I can finish without.
She turned back to the path and started trotting, away from Marie. Not my responsibility. The capital. She would get to the capital and find her family. Marie wasn’t anything to her.
Was she? Why’d you protect her, then? she chided.
Why? Why help a dog of the military. She didn’t know. And she hated herself for it.
She neighed wildly and spun about once more, racing down the road to find her young rider and do what Shadow-Dancers do best: flit among the stars.
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Come on back next week for Part Five, where we’ll check back in with Claire and the rest of her Winged Riders.
Panning For Clouds 