Five Miles Outside Zalim, Saudi Arabia – May, 1964
I braked sharply, unable to believe my luck.
In town, the locals had exclaimed over how I’d just missed two men who’d “looked like me”, and I’d raced to catch up to them.
A car was stopped on the side of the road, both doors open.
Several yards into the desert, an abandoned pack, walking stick, and a trail of clothes told me they’d spotted a shifter and had given chase.
I put the car in Park, then grabbed my knife and gun and jumped out. The trail was easy to follow. The shifter had been making for some rock formations up ahead, and the luchd-òl fola following them weren’t being quiet about it.
“Here, puppy!” They made laughing noises. “We’re not going to hurt you. We only want to talk to you!”
Yeah, no one ever believed that.
Not wanting them to hear my footsteps, I misted to the top of the tallest rock and reformed, crouching down to peer over the side.
Ruari and Murdo were trying to capture a hyena shifter who’d backed into a divot between two rocks.
Ruari, the one who’d been taunting them, darted forward, causing the shifter to lunge and swipe with their claws.
He danced back, staying to the shifter’s right side.
Murdo stood off to the left, hiding behind the rocks.
The shifter would either tire itself out defending against Ruari, or they would bolt for what appeared to be an opening to the left, and Murdo would take them down.
Ruari made the weird laughing sounds again, and I realized he’d been trying to mimic a hyena. Badly. I aimed my gun at his head and fired. He dropped. The shifter backed further into the crevice, and Murdo flattened himself against the side of the rock.
I jumped to the ground, firing immediately at Murdo when he looked around the corner.
“Sìomon? What the hell are you doing here?”
I didn’t answer, misting over the rock and reforming in the air above him. His instincts had him ducking away, and the knife I’d been aiming at the back of his neck as I fell hit his hip instead.
He collapsed beneath me but then misted before I could stab him anywhere else. Cursing, I got to my feet as he flew toward the car. If I chased him, there was no guarantee I’d catch him, and Ruari might wake up before I could return here.
“Fuck!” But better one died than neither.
I trudged around the rock, startling when I came face-to-face with the hyena shifter, who I’d stupidly forgotten about in my eagerness to kill Murdo. They were bigger than they’d seemed from above, with impressive claws and teeth. Their growl echoed against the rocks.
“Hey, I’m not here for you. You’re free to leave.
” I forced down my battle mode, causing my claws to retract and my eyes to return to their normal color.
Holding my hands out to the side, I leaned down and carefully placed my knife and gun on the ground.
Then I backed up against the rock and gestured at them to return the way they’d come.
“Go on now. Maybe stay around people for the next few days, though. I don’t know where the rest of them are. ”
They edged past me, watching me warily, and with one last contemptuous lip curl they ran for their belongings and the road.
Sighing, I picked up my knife and gun and went to make sure Ruari never woke up.