MAGE  13 
By Heck



Comments to heck@heckster.co.uk

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE FISHING BOAT, travelling under sail with a crew of nine, had made the trip
in three days.

The dinghy, with Brenhya at the oars, reprieved occasionally by Oudreya and
allowing time for rest periods, had taken just over four. At first, Oudreya
had watched in awe as Brenhya bent to the oars, fascinated by the play of
muscle in the warrior's splendid body. As the musculature of her back and
shoulders coiled under her silken skin and the proud mounds of her biceps
rolled on each pull, she made the heavy boat skim through the choppy waves.

At last, its prow scrunched onto the shingle on the leeward side of the
island. The two women sprang lightly ashore, and Brenhya hauled the craft up
onto the beach, clear of the tides. She retrieved a long metal spike from the
boat, and drove it deep into the pebbles, tethering the vessel to it with its
own painter. She swung their weighty pack over her shoulder, which mostly
contained food supplies to protect Oudreya from the hunting urge, and frowned
up at the forbidding cliffs.

"I better eat something now", Oudreya said. "Before we climb these cliffs".

"Good idea. I could do with a little something myself. But let's get under
that overhang. We're a bit obvious, standing out here".

They tucked themselves into a niche at the foot of the cliff, where they ate
energy-giving travelling cakes made of rendered animal fat, dried fruits, and
rolled oats and tasting of nothing much. They washed the cakes down with
water, which made the food swell in their bellies so that they felt as though
they had eaten a full meal.

"The cliff is pretty sheer, just here", Brenhya observed, pushing back a stray
wisp of hair with the inside of her wrist. "It's climbable, but there has to
be an easier route. I think we should walk along the beach a way, see if we
can find somewhere more accessible". She took another mouthful of water. "What
do you think?"

"I agree. My human form is quite strong and flexible, but the tigress is more
suitable for this kind of adventure. I want to change into that form straight
away, but big cats find sheer cliffs to be a ...challenge". Her strange eyes,
with their vertically slitted pupils, crinkled at the corners, and Oudreya's
finely drawn lips curved in a feline grin. "Besides, in that form, I'd be
better able to keep up with you!"

"Fine". Brenhya returned the smile, and came to her feet in one easy action.
"While you do your thing, I need to stretch out a bit, after four days sitting
in a boat".

Keeping close to the cliff, Brenhya moved a few yards away, to allow Oudreya
her privacy. She found a spot where the cliff wall was dead vertical. She
lifted a leg smoothly, leaning the heel against the rock seven feet up.
Keeping her limbs perfectly straight, she grasped her ankle with both hands
and touched her forehead to her knee, repeating the movement a dozen times
before changing to the other leg.

Bending from the waist and maintaining her straight legs, she folded herself
neatly in half, grasping her calves and forcing her head against her knees. In
this position, she was treated to the extraordinary upside- down view of a
huge tigress padding silently up behind her. Emitting a deep, rumbling purr,
the big feline rubbed her furry head affectionately against the backs of
Brenhya's legs. The warrior smiled as she scratched the big cat behind the
ears, as she would pet a house cat.

"All right", she said. "Let's go".

The tiger pushed her whiskery muzzle at the backs of Brenhya's thighs. She
seemed to be trying to insert her head between the warrior's legs, and Brenhya
looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Don't fool about", she admonished, fending the animal off. "We have to get
on".

Still, her companion insisted on pushing at the woman's thighs. "What do you
want? What's so interesting about the insides of my thighs?"

As she spoke, Brenhya lifted a leg to avoid the attentions of the cat.
Immediately, Oudreya tucked her head under the raised limb and slid under the
warrior.

"Ah!" Realisation dawned. "You want me to ride you. Are you sure? I'm not a
light weight, and we may have long way to go".

For an answer, Oudreya stood solidly under Brenhya's leg, looking round at her
with a cat's patient expression.

"OK, then. We can probably save some time". Brenhya straddled the tigress's
sleek body, her feet just brushing the ground. Oudreya's cat shape was that of
a very large tigress, standing very nearly waist high to the woman, but
Brenhya was exceptionally tall, and she had to bend her knees to keep her toes
from trailing. An expert horsewoman, she knew to grip firmly with her knees to
keep her seat.

"All right", she said, as her steel fingers took a firm grip in the ruff of
fur around the striped neck. I'm just about set. Whenever you're re...whoa!"

The involuntary cry escaped her as her strange mount surged forward. Her
weight was obviously little burden to the tigress, and the animal loped along
the beach unhampered.

It took Brenhya a little while to get used to the peculiar gait. Used to
riding Makaar, whose action in any stride was smooth and even, like riding a
feather bed she often said, the tiger's gait was a combination of stretch and
bunch. The sensation of the powerful feline muscles stretching and arching
between her legs took a few minutes to get used to but, Brenhya had to admit,
it was a far from unpleasant feeling. To experience such close contact with
flexing muscles was exhilarating, to say the least. The animal ate up the
ground like wildfire and they covered distance far more quickly than had they
been both afoot.

The wind was rising, and clouds whisked across the sky.

They kept close to the cliff face. "There!" Brenhya indicated a sloping path
that zigzagged up the steep rocks. Oudreya, her burden still no problem to
her, resisted Brenhya's efforts to dismount and climbed the path with little
difficulty. At the top, Brenhya asked the tigress to stop and swung her leg
across the striped back. She stood looking out over the iron grey sea.

"Wind's getting up", she observed. "Look's like the weather's closing in. We
better get inland as soon as we can. We're too exposed, here".

The big cat made a huffing noise by way of agreement.

Tall, wiry grasses whipped in the wind and stung her calves as Brenhya
high-stepped through the sward, heading for a stand of stunted trees. The wind
was getting steadily stronger, blowing her hair out like a chestnut banner
behind her. At her side, Oudreya turned her face to one side and flattened her
ears against her skull, narrowing her eyes against the little chips of twig
and leaves.

Brenhya frowned as she made her way to the trees. It had been almost flat calm
when they beached on the island, and there had been no wind to speak of until
they reached the top of the winding path. Yet all at once it had been there,
and had been getting stronger and colder all the time. There were no swirls or
gusts; just a steady wind in their faces, now approaching gale force.

The trees, when they reached them, were no shelter at all. No matter where
they stood, whatever direction they faced, the gale was always directly in
their faces. It was now bitterly cold, raising tiny goose bumps on Brenhya's
bare arms and legs. She hunkered down beside the tigress.

"I don't know how much language you can understand in this form. I hope it's a
lot". She had to raise her voice to be heard above the wind, which was
beginning to howl. She adjusted her brass headband, the better to keep the
hair from her face, and produced a short leather thong from somewhere in her
brief halter and used it to tie her mane into a flowing pony tail. "That's
better" she muttered to herself. "See where I'm going. Oudreya, this wind
doesn't seem natural to me. You noticed how it's always in our faces?" The
animal gave a growl. She understands, Brenhya thought. "Looks like we're
expected. Well, that's OK. That can sometimes work in our favour. As long as
he doesn't know we know". She got to her feet, scanning the lay of the land. A
big splat of rain hit her in the eye.

"I see!", she shouted at the sky, wiping her eye as the rain began to fall in
earnest. "Not going to make it easy at all, are you? And here I thought you
wanted me to come to your party! Testing me again, eh? All right". She
crouched beside the tigress, who was lying flat in the grass keeping as much
of her body out of the storm as possible.

"This isn't going to pass", she yelled. "We might as well keep going, but I
think Chaithe is going to make it as difficult as he can, every step of the
way. If you want to go back and wait by the boat, I'll understand".

Oudreya curled a lip, showing her disdain by displaying a six inch fang.

"Fair enough", Brenhya smiled grimly. "Let's go, then".

The rain was coming horizontally, now, lashing at their bodies and soaking
even through the tiger's thick fur. Increasingly frequent hailstones,
propelled by the storm force winds, ricocheted off Brenhya's skin, stinging
like angry hornets. They were both leaning into the wind, each step more
difficult than the one before. They squeezed their eyelids together,
protecting their eyes from the torrential downpour, only opening them a crack
to see where they were putting their feet. Brenhya took Oudreya's tail in her
hand, ensuring that they did not lose contact.

It was as well that she did.

The storm was at its full power, now, and it was taking no prisoners. The gale
screamed in their ears, driving the rain and the painful hailstones
horizontally into their bodies and faces, stealing the breath from their
lungs. They leaned into the wind, battling against its force. Oudreya was
compelled to keep her body as close to the ground as she could, flattening
herself as far as possible to let the wind howl over her. Even Brenhya had to
lean far forward, one hand shielding her face from the vicious precipitation.
A person without her enormous physical strength may have been blown clean
away, and in any event would have made no progress at all.

The grass where they trod was being blown flat, and was getting treacherously
slippery underfoot. While swiping excess water from her eyes, Brenhya felt a
foot slide out from under her. Without letting go of the tiger's tail, she
flung out a hand to save herself. It found nothing.

Feet scrabbling, she felt herself falling. She had stepped into a patch of
deep quicksand that wasted no time in beginning to pull her down. Her powerful
fingers clawed at the rim, but the soft mud disintegrated in her grasp and
gave her no purchase. The sudden jerk of her weight on the end of Oudreya's
tail caused the tigress to yowl in pain, the sound whipped away and inaudible
over the cacophony of the wind.

Strong claws dug deep in the mud as Oudreya fought not only to save Brenhya,
but also to prevent herself from being dragged into the muck with her.
Brenhya's incredible grip closed even tighter on the end of her tail, causing
more pain than the weight. Oudreya snarled noiselessly, and redoubled her
efforts.

Liquid mud splashed into Brenhya's face, making breathing even more difficult
as she clung desperately to the tail. Urgently, uselessly, she tried to find
some foothold, until she realised her struggles were only hastening the
sinking process and in danger of causing a mudslide that would take both her
and her companion to the bottom of the quicksand. Then, she held as still as
she could, trusting in the tiger to get her out. She was still sinking, and
heaved in as deep a breath as she could just before the deceiving earth closed
over her head and the darkness overwhelmed her.

Fringed lips drawn back, sucking as much of the rushing air into her lungs as
she could, Oudreya dug her powerful back feet into the earth, straining
against the weight that threatened to drag her down, struggling to save the
only true friend she had ever had. Finally, she began to make progress, and
began to pull her burden back out of the ooze. Inch by painful inch, she
surged forward, dragging her friend to safety.

Her heart sank for an instant when she felt the implacable grip on her tail
release. She swung around, and was relieved to see Brenhya lying flat on the
muddy grass, legs still dangling over the brink, her steely fingers plunged
deep into the sodden, muddy grass. The warrior raised her filthy face and
smiled her thanks.

Oudreya stepped forward and took Brenhya's thick ponytail in her teeth.
Leaning back, and ignoring Brenhya's cry of protest, she dragged her fully
onto firm footing to drop her coughing and panting on the ground.

She spluttered and coughed up dirt, spitting onto the ground as she rolled
over. She wiped the muck from her eyes, opened them to gaze up at the huge
feline head hanging over her. She smiled up at her friend, reaching up to take
the soaked ruff of fur in both hands. The tiger braced her feet as Brenhya
pulled herself up to wrap her powerful arms around the striped neck, hugging
fiercely.

And without warning, the storm began to abate. The wind died down, the rain
eased, and the heavy black clouds dissipated, leaving two bedraggled figures
on the grass. It was as if it had done the job it came to do, and was now off
to its next task.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Excellent!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Human and feline sat looking into each other's eyes, thankful that the storm
had passed, grateful to be alive.

"Thanks", Brenhya smiled. She used her hands to strip away the worst of the
filth that covered her body and matted her hair. "Thanks for saving my life".
She indicated her ponytail. "And, by the way, ouch".

For an answer, the tiger rubbed her great head against the washboard of
Brenhya's belly, emitting a low, rumbling purr, while the warrior scratched
hard behind her sculpted ears.

"I could use Chthord's Rain Room, right about now", Brenhya sighed, looking
down the length of her body at the drying crust of filth. "Never mind.
Personal grooming will just have to wait. Shall we go?"

The next league or so of their journey passed without incident. The day became
quite warm and balmy and, in other circumstances, the walk would have been
very pleasant. Carpeted with fine, short grass, the path wound between groves
of trees, obviously guiding the travellers in a predestined direction, but
with a lack of any viable alternative Brenhya and Oudreya made no effort to
stray from it. They instinctively knew the pathway was leading them exactly
where Chaithe wanted them to go, but that was where they needed to be, anyway.

They rounded a curve in the path, and found their way blocked. A largish tree
had fallen across the way, obstructing their route and extending into an all
but impenetrable wall of vegetation on other side. Going round it was not an
option. It was heavily mossgrown and fungi infested, and had all the
appearance of having been there for several years. The woman, her usual
alertness heightened almost to paranoia by her recent experiences, was not so
sure and approached cautiously.

Oudreya, leading the way for the present, bunched her powerful quarters under
her and to leap over the deadfall. She made it halfway.

As if she had sprung into an invisible rubber sheet, the tigress rebounded in
mid-air. She was flung backwards with violence, and only her feline agility
prevented her from sprawling on the ground. Twisting in the air, she landed on
her feet. Her ears flattened against her head as she roared her defiance.

"Faugh!". Brenhya snorted her disgust. "Psychic barrier! Lon and I came across
one of these once before. And don't look at me like that". She glared at the
tigress, whose expression plainly said 'get on with it, then'. "The witch who
set that one had nowhere near the power Chaithe obviously has. I doubt if I
could break this one. Hey! What're you doing?"

Walking up to the tree, Oudreya sprang straight up into the air, claws
extended, trying to hook into the invisible surface. She scrabbled at the
clear sheet, trying to find purchase, hoping to climb what she couldn't see.

But the barrier was as slick as ice, as smooth as polished glass. Still trying
to find a hold, and feeling rather silly, the great cat slid ignominiously to
the ground.

Brenhya successfully stifled a laugh. "This is going to take some thinking
about", she observed. "Come and sit. Eat something. It's time you did, anyway.
Let's think our way around it".

Sitting cross-legged on the grass and hand-feeding the were-tigress strips of
dried beef, Brenhya cleared her mind, letting the problem wash unhindered
through her brain. It was peaceful, sitting there with the big cat and
listening to the birds singing in the branches. She could almost imagine this
was a leisure trip, and let herself enjoy the moment.

She let her mind wander, fleeting over the past and scanning briefly through
her adventures. An incident stuck in her memory, and she allowed her thoughts
to chew on it, masticating it thoroughly to get all the flavour, and digesting
its relevance to this situation.

"This has to be passable", she mused aloud. "Chaithe wants us to come to him,
so it stands to reason he wouldn't place an impossible obstacle in our path".
She got up and wandered over to the tree. She placed a hand on the moss
covered trunk and bent over, closely examining the junction between it and the
ground. She scooped a handful of loamy earth from under the base.

"Thought so", she said, standing up and turning to face her friend. "It's just
resting on the ground. If it had been there as long as it seems to have been,
it would have become embedded, by now. I could use a hand, here. Or a paw".

Oudreya came lazily to her feet, padding over with a curious expression.

"Can you dig along here?" Brenhya asked. "Just enough for me to get halfway
under. It'll take too long to dig all the way under, but I have an idea".

Trusting the woman to know what she was doing, Oudreya set to work with a
will. Her big front paws shovelled the soft earth from beneath the tree,
flinging it, dog-like, between her hind legs. In a short time, she had
excavated a trench long enough to accommodate Brenhya's tall frame.

"That'll do". The warrior dropped onto her belly and edged under the fallen
bole. There was just enough room for her to get over half her body length
under. She took several deep breaths, pumping air into her lungs and forcing
oxygen into her muscles. She braced her large hands against the ground and,
with an explosion of power, thrust upwards against the impossible weight of
the tree.

The human half of Oudreya's brain reeled in amazement. To imagine that Brenhya
could even think she could lift the tree was impressive enough in itself. But
there see was, actually attempting the impossible, magnificent musculature
standing out in relief as she heaved upwards and, although the trunk hadn't
moved yet, not giving up. Brenhya's gorgeous features screwed up tight with
effort. She blew out her cheeks and turned red in the face as she strove
against the tremendous weight. The deep cut inverted vee of her triceps began
to tremble. At this point, the whole of her effort was concentrated in her
shoulders and arms; she was unable to bring her legs into play as yet.

Brenhya began to grunt with exertion as she poured even more of her incredible
reserves of power into the feat. Loose moss and debris showered from the trunk
as it shook. At length, it began to move slowly upwards, creaking on protest,
giving in to the woman's stupendous strength.

Sensing her achievement, Brenhya let out a fierce scream as she locked out her
elbows. Now she could bring her mighty legs into the action. She came to her
knees, so that now the weight was more evenly distributed across her broad
back, and she was able to make small sideways movements to bring her body
directly under the trunk.

Now she was in a position to utilise the full formidable strength of her
splendid body. She brought up her knees, one at a time, firmly planting her
feet on the earth. The tremendous muscles of her thighs began ripple as they
drove upward, forcing the tree away from its bed.

"Eeeeyagh!"

With a yell of triumph and effort, the warrior locked her knees immovably,
bracing her hands against her thighs, supporting nearly the entire bulk of the
tree on her powerful back. Oudreya, completely taken aback, sat in stunned
amazement at the achievement she had just witnessed.

"Now would be a good time!", Brenhya grunted, making waving motions with her
fingers. The tigress shook herself out of her reverie, and rushed under the
tree, her fur rubbing against the woman as she squeezed past.

As soon as her friend was clear, Brenhya allowed her knees to bend just
slightly. In a feat that surpassed the display of enormous strength she had
just accomplished, the power exploded up through her legs, lifting the tree
again and actually throwing it a few inches clear of her back.

That was all she needed. With a desperate sideways lurch, she rolled clear.
She actually felt the wind of its passage as the tree crashed back to earth,
throwing up a cloud of soil and detritus that showered the two travellers,
adding another layer of muck to Brenhya's already dirty skin.

Brenhya was oblivious to that. She lay spread-eagled on her back, panting with
exhaustion, sucking in huge lungfuls of restorative oxygen.

To say that Oudreya was impressed would be like saying cheetahs run fairly
quickly. The were-tigress was simply astounded by the exhibition of sheer
human strength she had seen. She already knew Brenhya was the strongest human
she had met, but had she been told she would see her lift an entire tree in
the way just demonstrated, she would not have believed it.

Brenhya stirred as she felt a warm, rasping tongue lick affectionately at her
arm. Without opening her eyes, she lifted a weary hand to stroke the silky fur
of the tiger's cheek.

"Goddess, I could sleep for a week", she whispered. "If I never have to do
that again, it'll be too soon".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Perfect!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *