A Bump in the Road. Chapter Fourteen.
A Bump in the Road
Chapter Fourteen
By Roofles
Not much had changed as I went through the gate and ended up on the cobble blue road. Black English style lamps rose from the sidewalk as if they were trees and if the ground were nothing but fresh soil. A fresh stream of bodies moved through the central walk way. Some big, some small, all various sizes and forms. And each one somehow managed to both crowd the street while not bumping into anyone. It was eerie watching the fluid motion of the bodies.
I could feel Tezca tense around me, the hood draping more in front of my face. I was about to protest when I noticed what had got him on edge. Directly cross the creek of blue stone and fish of people were a couple of members from The Pack.
In black leather and silver (coloring) spikes, chains and collars the group was talking amongst each other. One punched a nearby customer who flinched away and quickly withdrew back into the crowd. The group laughed, snapping at the waitress about something or other before one of them pulled the gazelle into his lap.
The gazelle looked as if she had just come out of a hippy convention. Long dread locks draped down her neck with flowers and moss tangled within; she was wearing strips of some kind of hemp that barely covered her brown fur chest and hips, leaving little to the imagination. Ok it kind of did with all that fur. Daisy necklaces, wrist bands and petals hung loosely off her. She really did look like some creature, a hippy one at that, from the forest.
"Tezca, relax." I said as one looked over as if sensing the blood lust in the jaguar's eyes. There was a deep growl and though he couldn't move I felt as if Tezca had turned his head away. The group laughed once more and ignored me the female who had looked over still caution but forgetting about it as more drinks were poured. The jaguar pelt hid any kind of trace from their sharp noses or eyes. The whole pelt felt far larger now as it sagged over my shoulders in front and down to my legs. I half expected the jaguar to get on all fours and just begin walking around with me trapped inside.
"Remember why we're here." I said slowly, softly barely opening my mouth as I did. It was a trick I learned throughout the years. Only someone directly next to (or in this case on) could hear me and from a distance it looked as if I wasn't saying a thing.
Subtle suited me best and Tezca, even as a massive jaguar, was very subtle in his own way. My steps were soft but powerful as I made my way against the stream and down one of the side walk ways. I eyed the shops around us trying to spot the one I had in mind wishing we had ended up right next to it. Tezca wasn't much help as he kept watching various members of the gang strolling around in the twilight of this place.
A forever twilight with stringing paper lanterns above (like you'd see in china town) and almost living koi fish that swam just above the street lamps. Each shop seemed to be from a different culture or place of our own world. From old English Britain to tropics of Brazil. Separate stores of Korean, Chinese and Japanese designs were mixed in (I was only able to tell the different from the signs. I can't read it but I can tell the difference at least).
We weren't dropped directly next to the apothecary shop that served as both home and work for the black cat. It wasn't hard to find thankfully and within the first couple of minutes I spied it. The window pane on the front read in large golden calligraphy "Varric's Special Brew." I chuckled at that thinking of the small feline with the oversized witch's robes and crooked pointed hat, looking as if he had gotten it as a last minute Halloween costume. I couldn't see through the glass and remembered it had some kind of enchantment preventing people from looking in. Or some BS like that.
"Come on," I spoke to Tezca but wasn't sure why. The jaguar not only was on my back but, a part of me knew, he would never stray far from my side. It just seemed appropriate to speak to him as if he were next to me rather than...a part of me. We were two separate beings... If I wasn't too sure about that anymore. "Let's make this quick. I don't want to stay in this place any longer than I have too."
I got a nod in return.
It took me a moment before I could slip through the crowd nearly stepping on something's flat beaver like tail, bumped into a fuzzy body as I turned to dodge another centaur trotting by and actually had to jump over a small crowd of raccoons. I stumbled a bit but found my balance was far better than it should have been for jumping backwards, towards the side and without being able to see anything behind me. The hood fell down over my face some more and I felt my feet moving on their own accord to catch my landing.
"Thanks," my voice seemed faint with a slight echo as if it came from down a long tunnel. I could feel a lower jaw forming on my chin and had to push the thought away that the jaguar was trying to devour me.
"Relax," Tezca said reading my worries. "Something is amiss inside. I am only preparing for the worse." He spoke as I faced the shop.
"By eating me?" I grumbled trying to contain my anger on the matter.
"It would be physically impossible for me to devour you in this form." I could feel Tezca roll those black beady eyes, a spark of teal fire within them. "People used to ask for this you know. Beg and sacrifice things for this gift. And here I am, out the generosity of my heart, giving it to you for free. You're welcome!" I could feel the grin on the pelt around me and actually smiled at the snide remark he gave at the end. Here I was afraid he'd be rubbing off on me and I'm the one infecting him. Human's truly pollute nature.
"Promise?" I still found myself asking though a smile crossed my face as I took the door knob.
"Promise." A growl replied. And then we opened the door.
A stale moldy smell like an old unused library, mixed with various things that reminded me of the witchdoctor's place. Spices, tonics, pastes and things that normally belonged to insects, rodents and birds normally rested on the set up oaken wood shelves that sprouted from the living floor as if it were all part of some giant tree. Normally these shelves would be stocked with bowls, jars and plates filled with various things one would suspect to be in a witch's shop. Eyes of newts, bat wings, creepy crawlers and all the other stereotypical things you'd read about in a Shakespeare play. Varric really loved playing off the cliché that he was.
Now? Now it was a mess.
The shelves had been ripped from the very floor and knocked over or thrown across the room. Things that still slithered and moved were bouncing and twitching on the ground like fresh fish out of water. The back counter had been broken. It looked as if someone had taken a sledge hammer to it and half the walls; large holes having been smashed into them. Sap trickled from these wounds. Something had gone down here and from the looks of it I had just missed it.
There was a few signs to this. One? Everything was still moving on the ground slowly gasping for air (even if they didn't have mouths, creepy) and slowly drying up. The dust on the shelves hadn't settled fully and some of the goo, liquids and sticky matter normally contained in jars were oozing down the walls. Some of them were actually scaling the wall towards the ceiling towards the branch like beams above and the thick foliage of leaves.
"What happened, here?" I asked to no one as I tried to force my brain into motion. The Pack might have discovered that Varric and Barney had helped me. They could have tortured Barney into telling them everything they could if he hadn't been able to escape during the fight we had in the arena. Or tracked my whereabouts back to this place somehow.
"Someone is still here." Tezca warned giving a low deep growl, the hackles on his back rising far higher than I thought possible for being a pelt. "Back room, one body. Male." I nodded and pulled my spare gun free. I had only one clip left having used everything on the gargoyle from before and a shot on the sorcerer dude. My hands were shaking a bit, my breath coming in quickly. Damnit Jim I was an investigator, not a soldier.
Once more I felt pressure on my wrists and around my hands as if Tezca was trying to calm my nerves, reassure me that things were going to be ok. That he was here and nothing was going to happen. I gave him a nod before going around the corner, gun up and looking into the back room.
The back room had several more shelves, a dozen at least but none were growing from the floor like they had in the main room. Instead it was like they were fresh fruit, fallen from the tree shop and moved into the back to help store all the extra ingredients. The smell was strong back here. Incense mixed with old decaying matter and moldy books and burnt dinners.
These shelves had been knocked down, backwards in on themselves and their contents spilled out onto the floor. And in the middle of it all was a rather large, white and tan fur giant rabbit. Like a man who had dressed up for Easter and forgotten to get a pink bunny outfit. Sprouting from his head was a pair of deer like antlers.
"Barney." I said loudly putting my gun away and moving towards his side. "Shit, dude. Are you alright? Speak to me. Come on, please." Damnit. I didn't want to get anyone else involved in this. After all his philanthropic help he had given me, his reward was to be like this.
His chest rose lightly and fell in shuddering, shaking motion as he groaned low and deep. His arm twitched but didn't move and his head was downcast his eyes slightly open. Open? That was strange for a barely conscious person to-
There was a quick swipe and an antler nearly took my head off. My feet moved on their own and I found myself leaping back, skidding on my toes and balancing myself with a hand on the floor. A deep growl echoed in the empty main room and Tezca jaws had sealed around my chin the fleshy interior stringing and forming together.
"Tezca," I nearly shouted at him as nails sprang forth and he snarled at the rabbit that slowly stood up.
"Not right." Tezca English broke, cracked and another loud growl followed.
"What isn't?" I tried to get him to reason out to explain what in the Nine hells was going on. I could feel his anger pouring into me, washing over me like an oven that had just been opened. It took me a moment to keep my thoughts straight and for that unbridled emotions to take hold of me. "Tezca!" I shouted in my head and felt him retract sharply.
Barney stood up, swaying slightly as he did so. His head was down and swaying from side to side as he moved. His fists were bloody and raw and there was a large gash on the side of his neck. Blood was soaking his fur, one leg was slightly twisted in the wrong direction and as he stepped I heard a sickening crunching sound, the sloshing of fluids in the leg and knew it was broken.
"Enchanted." Tezca said a bit slowly, steadying himself. "Bewitched. Charmed. Enthralled." He snarled the last word. "Not right. Not him. Dangerous." He spat the last word and once more that rage began to seep into me. I could almost hear Tezca's thoughts. Dangerous. Deal with. Take care of. Revenge about Barney attacking me. Wanting to kill him. Protect me at any cost.
I wasn't sure what he meant fully but I got the jist of it. Stupid magical world. "How do we cure him? Without killing him!" I nearly shouted the last part in my head already knowing the jaguar's answer to my first question.
"Unsure. Knock out. Find practitioner. Kill. Save." His voice was broken, uneven but controlled and tamed. A noticeable restraint he had put on himself in order not to lung directly at the rabbit and tear him to shreds. I shuddered as the thoughts poured into my head, already able to see the blood spilling onto the floor, tasting that acrid iron in my mouth and feel the hot ooze on my fingers. A fresh kill and the thrill that would bring.
It made me shudder, shake uncontrollably and I was sweating. Or was I crying? It was so strong, so powerful. That sickening rush coming back to me making me want to hug myself, curl up a fetal position in the corner. Or just throw up right there. Inhuman animal instincts, thoughts and desires beginning to fill my mind and cloud my thoughts.
Then it began to fade and with it that rage I had felt from Tezca. It drained away and I wasn't the only one shaking. "Sorry." His voice was soft and in the corner of my mind I could nearly see the cat lowering its head, sitting on his's rear and looking down as if ashamed. "I did not mean too." Then he went silent and I heard no more from him. And the image of him faded from my mind as he disappeared into some recess corner of it where I wasn't able to follow.
"Crap." Looks like I was, partially, in this alone.
Barney moved from the back room, nearly falling over as his left leg gave out. He stumbled to the side, hitting the counter hard before pushing himself back up. Even if I didn't do anything, the poor bastard was going to end up killing himself.
"Barney!" I shouted as he took another step closer. "Snap out of it! Your killing yourself. We need to get you to a doctor." I tried to reason with him, snap him out of this funk and get him to realize what he was doing to himself.
Those eyes looked up and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. His eyes had been bright, full of life and energy that would put the energizer bunny to shame before. And now? It looked like he was about to cry. Dull, lifeless eyes stared at me and behind them I could almost see him screaming for help. Who could have done this? Or rather...what could have done this.
It made my stomach turn and I felt wheezy once more.
He moved quickly for a guy with a gimp leg, bowing his head down and trying to ram me. It was easy to dodge the bum rush. I wasn't expecting him to turn suddenly and with a whip like motion lash out with his good leg.
My body moved once more, ducking just underneath the blow. And though I hated myself for it I found my leg spinning around to kick on the back side of Barney's gimp leg. He was swept off his feet and landed hard onto his back. I watched as his leg twisted the wrong way and winced back as it made enough sickening sound of bone rubbing against bone and fluids sloshing around, his leg swelling from it. Even in the shape he was in he was trying to get back up.
"Shit, shit, shit." I found myself cursing, crawling backwards as he blindly reached out for one of my legs. His mouth had open, baring those fangs and damn...if rabbits couldn't be scary mofos when they were pissed. His eyes were still glossy and dull but a low, inhuman hissing sound gurgled from his throat like a wounded animal trying to fight off a much larger predator. His jaws snapping at me as he continued to try to grab my leg. Then his fingers laced around my ankle as I kicked back at him.
Tezca moved then, stripping off of me and pouncing onto the rabbit, pinning him down with his two front arms. A large paw stepping on his throat, pinning him down on a arm.
"Tezca!" I said scrambling to get up to pull the jaguar off of him.
The jaguar looked back, eyes lit up like fire as that teal burned from those dark sockets. I stopped where I was watching as he pushed down a bit harder on Barney's throat. There was a gurgle from the rabbit and after a few seconds he fell limp and lifeless. "Tezca, what have you done..."
Then with a loud poof of white smoke and the rabbit vanished beneath him leaving a small bunny in it's place with tiny antlers sprouting from it's head. Tezca reached down and very gently grabbed the scruff of its neck as if it were a kitten and turned back to offer it to me. I stared waiting for the jungle cat to rip it to shreds white fur flying everywhere. But the rush of emotions I had felt from him were gone when he had stripped himself away and I couldn't be sure what he was thinking or feeling in that moment. He didn't, thankfully, rip the poor bunny apart and after a long minute I took the rabbit.
"His leg is broken. He's wounded but will live." Tezca sat down on the ground and looked behind him at the door, ears flicking and his tail swaying back and forth nervously as cat's are known too. Those teal eyes drifted back towards me far softer than they had been. "He will live." Tezca repeated bowing his head. "It is the only way to keep him from killing himself." He used my own words as the large feline continued to stared down at the ground. "As well as attempt to harm you."
I looked the rabbit over to make sure he was still alive. He was breathing lightly, a bit forced as if his...well as if someone had stepped on his windpipe and strangled until he passed out.
"Jackalopes are creatures of pure magic." Tezca said looking up. "He was only using a form to match that of a human. I cannot say why he would do this. All I did was expend his energy until he was forced to return to his natural form."
"And you know this...how?" Tezca always seemed to possess knowledge that applied to our situation. Though he wasn't omnipotent it was helpful at times.
"Jackalope's, as well as the cayjotte, were once friends of... my kind." He strayed for a few seconds. "Tricksters of the desert that would fool man for kicks and giggles. Though the cayjotte was also known to rip men apart and eat them. She was able to bewitch men." Tezca nodded towards the rabbit. "But I have never seen it gone this far before."
"It may have worked?" I asked a bit uncertain, petting the back of the poor rabbits head.
"Yes." Tezca bowed his head. "It was the only choice we had and it was a risk I was willing to take."
"It could have killed him." I found myself protesting as if being the voice of reason here getting angry at the very cat that had protected me. I had never killed someone before, no human anyways (even if I had attempted to kill a few of those were-coyote things). And, just as I had with the practioner, had gone out of my way to not kill.
"So be it." Tezca said coldly nearly glaring at me. But he was looking at the rabbit rather than me. "It is better to die a man than to live as a slave." And with that he stood up. There was something else on his tongue but the cat held it to himself. Something lingered in those eyes and I didn't have a clue as to what they were.
The jaguar stood there looking at me before away. Standing his ground firmly, without moving as if he were himself a statue.
I sighed, shook my head and crouched down to his height cradling the rabbit with both arms. "Is there any way to help him? Barney, I mean." I looked down at the rabbit, opening my arms a bit. He wasn't human. He was an animal. A creature of this world, inhuman. But he didn't deserve this. No one did. "Please Tezca." I offered the rabbit towards him hopeful he could do some voodoo magic and cure him.
Tezca looked at my hand. "Are you sure?" He asked almost wearily. "I do not wish to...tempt you as I have before." I recalled his offer for strength, a chance at revenge and even that over powering feeling of rage. I still stuck my arm out. This wasn't for me but for someone else. That was a good enough reason to ask for his help.
"We're in this together. Until we see it finish, your stuck with me." I gave him a soft smile. I didn't trust him fully. Tezca knew that and I doubted he trusted me as well. But we were stuck with each other until we could figure something out with our situation that wouldn't leave either of us hollow after.
The jaguar moved closer, as if stalking some helpless pray. Ok maybe this wasn't a good idea. Tezca looked down at the rabbit for a few moments. He opened his jaws and in a flash bit into the jackalope body, tossing it back and in a large sickening gulp swallowed it whole.
"Uh..." Was the only response I could give as I stared in shocked horror as he swallowed my tiny bunny friend.
"He should be fine within a few hours time." Tezca said sitting down in front of me. "I wish to speak with you, before we continue."
"You just ate Barney..." I muttered staring at his chest as if the rabbit was about to start thrashing around.
"Yes. You desired my help. So I will help the rabbit. Now then. I wish to talk with you before we continue." He repeated in a calm, controlled voice.
"You ATE Barney!" I tried to wrap my mind around it as well as stopping myself from opening his jaw, reaching down it and like a cartoon pulling the rabbit free.
"Yes." Tezca said with a frown and getting annoyed now but kept his cool. "The jackalope and I share a similar...spirit. He will be able to heal safely while we finish this task. Now then,"
"You. Ate. Barney."
Tezca face palmed.