Harbinger

No, that particular enmity would have to wait for the moment. He turned his thickly maned head away from the citadel and the distant screams of its inhabitants. They had earned whatever came through from the Otherside.

What the Rossin wanted, his former subjects and rivals could not give to him. His freedom would not be brought from the Otherside . . . that would be found elsewhere. The great cat bounded off down the length of the riverbed, leaping over rocks and bushes with speed not even a horse could manage in this terrain.

It felt good to be moving away from the Deacons, their runes, and the corrupt Patternmaker that they had hung their dreams on. The night was chilly and the moon low in the sky—perfect weather for hunting.

The river valley eventually faded away again, and the Rossin stood, head raised into the wind, on the edge of a cliff that dropped away in another series of rapids and waterfalls. The cat opened his mouth and roared. It was a full-throated proclamation of his pride and his strength, but it was meant for one set of ears in particular.

The Rossin did not have long to wait. The Fensena padded out of the low scrub near the river. Humanity called him the Oath Bender, and a hundred other unpleasant terms, but the geistlord admitted they were not given without cause.

The huge coyote with eyes of burning gold looked in his direction with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, and began to trot toward him. When he reached a rock just below the Rossin, he dropped back one paw, and performed a bow that a circus pony would have been proud of.

Well met, my lord of the great long tooth, the fellow geistlord offered mind to mind rather than using humanity’s more difficult words. We are met again in strange times.

End times, the Rossin replied, his claws flexing on the unyielding rock beneath. He had come to like the feeling of this realm—in fact come to rely on it. He would not have it snatched away. The moment of the geist is upon us, and I will not be unprepared for it.

Indeed, those meddling priests have woken more than they could imagine on the Otherside. They wanted power, and soon it will come to find them. The coyote looked up at the stars, as contemplative as the Rossin had ever seen him. We must all make preparations for the changes to come or else be swept away by them. His gaze when it returned to the other geistlord was chill and strangely free of humor. To that end I bring news. I did not come empty of paw to you tonight.

He bounded off into the brush and returned a moment later, something long clutched in his mouth. The Rossin inhaled the scent of this offering and felt the warmth of achievement wash over him. His servant had done as he had asked. His pelt lay on the rock before him—his real pelt, not the one he formed from his host. It was one vital piece of their puzzle. The great cat bent his head and nuzzled its luxurious softness.

You have done well, the Rossin conceded.

I would say I have. The Fensena sat down and cocked his head. Vermillion is a dangerous place to be for man or geist these days.

His fellow geistlord survived in the human realm in his own way; a way that the great cat viewed as more than a little disgusting. The Fensena was transmitted from body to body through bite, and he wasn’t particular about who or what he lodged in. He happily jumped from human to dog and back again, leaving a trail of exhausted bodies in his wake. Possession by the coyote burned through a body’s resources, but he most often chose not to wear them down to death. It was a messy, wasteful business, but at least his fellow geistlord was not trapped as the Rossin was.

Linked to one family, one bloodline had seemed like a wonderful way to lock into a focus point in this world. Unfortunately—either by luck, or perhaps by the design of the family that had taken the name of the Rossin as their own—the pool of blood relatives the geistlord could transfer to on the death of his current host was gone.

At least for the moment that is so, the Fensena replied. This is the answer to your problem.

My pelt is not the answer! The Rossin tilted his head and snarled. A thousand years, and you think it can just be fixed by putting this on me?

Those clever searching eyes of the coyote, fixed on the massive cat. It is a step, my lord. A step closer to your freedom.

The Rossin, tired of these games that the Fensena did so love to play, examined the pelt. Through his geist-sight it appeared like nothing more than a piece of luxurious fur. Not one touch of rune or cantrip was on it. However, there was a tug inside him, and an urge to keep it in his sight. When the first Emperor had ripped it from him, and taken it as part of the pact, it had hurt. It was a part of him; his freedom.

The fact that he did not know what to do with it frustrated the great Beast.

Rage boiled inside the geistlord that Derodak had thought to trick him in such a way. He would have bent and grasped the useless pelt right then and there, had the Fensena not put himself between him and it.

Not after what it took to get this!

The two geistlords snarled and snapped, for a moment reverting to the nature of the flesh they inhabited—a dog and a cat arguing over scraps. It was the danger of being so clothed; it sometimes overcame their greater nature despite all they might do. After a few seconds, they gained control of themselves.

The Rossin, huge golden mane of fur standing out from his body, loomed over the smaller shape of the Fensena, but the pelt had been saved.

Out with your plan, scavenger, the Rossin hissed. Before I lose every bit of my temper.

The Fensena tucked his tail between his legs. The priests I told you about, they have the knowledge of how and where the pelt must be attached to bring your whole power into this world.

I need to be free of this cursed family before the last of their blood dies. The Rossin bent and sniffed the pelt as if it might hide a clue.

It is one part of the puzzle. The Fensena licked his own jowls in a gesture that might have been nervousness. The rest of the answers I will hunt the world for.

There was an ill tone in the other geistlord’s words; an almost leer that the Rossin could not tolerate. He sprang on the coyote, with such little warning that the Fensena was knocked off his paws. He tried to scramble away, but the Rossin slammed one paw the size of a cauldron down on the coyote’s brindle hide, pinning him to the rocky ground.

The Fensena howled in pain, but he was lucky that the great cat did not extend his claws and do him real damage. The coyote made to bite at the paw holding him down, but the Rossin flexed it hard enough to make his point.

Give me what I want, liar, or there will be a true death for you, with no foolish beast or man to give you shelter.

The Fensena looked up at him, and there was a satisfying edge of fear in that gaze. I promise I will hunt down the priests with the knowledge you need. Derodak’s story is old and scattered, but it still exists I am sure.

The Rossin breathed down on him, letting him smell destruction hot on his face. If you do not find what I want, then you will meet the same fate as all my enemies, but their suffering will seem like a welcome relief to that which I will deal to you.

The two geistlords stared into each other, and the memory of flame flickered to life in the Fensena’s gold- coin eyes. That was when the Rossin knew he had not forgotten the Otherside and the chaos of survival there. Geistlords were snakes that fed on other snakes, and the alliance between himself and the coyote was unusual. Yet they had both profited off it.

When the Otherside tears its way into this world, the Rossin reminded him, we will need all those skills and more to survive. I cannot be vulnerable with this body. Help me, and I will help you as of old.

The Fensena’s ears shifted back and forth, as if he were listening to distant sounds and making a judgment. The Rossin had some idea of his fellow’s powers, and it was possible that was what he was doing. He was hearing the sound of distant battles and the breaking of promises all over the realm. Finally, the coyote closed his eyes and