They marched through the night. The moon had risen, and the territory they were traveling through was clear enough that even Jessica could see her way without much accident. When she stumbled, Marcus steadied her with his hand, or she felt Verrine's powerful panther body press against her, keeping her on her feet. Marcus walked as a man, Verrine padded on all fours, and between them, Jessica did her best to keep up.
Kaella's healing had worked wonders, leaving her strong and rested, but there was an exhaustion at the edges of her mind, something that told her she would need to rest, truly rest, sooner rather than later.
Dawn was just pearling the sky when a deep howl pierced the air. A lurch of fear shuddered through Jessica's body, leaving her looking around, but Verrine looked utterly unconcerned. Marcus looked up with delight, and to Jessica's shock, he lifted his head and howled in kind, the sound identical to the one they had heard.
“Friends are coming,” he said, and suddenly the clearing was full of wolves.
They streamed from the forest, standing higher than her hip at their shoulder. She could see several thin red wolves of the Indian subcontinent as well as the thickly built and powerful timber wolves of North America and the slender golden wolves of Africa. They frisked like puppies around them, their eyes bright with human intelligence, and Jessica shook her head.
“I am never going to be afraid of wild animals again,” she mused, and Marcus glanced at her.
“Well, there are some wild animals behind us that scare the hell out of me, so you can be brave for both of us,” he joked, and then they were off again.
When the sun was half way past the horizon, they came to a village that greeted them with shouts of delight. It looked like many other villages that Jessica had visited in remote places in the world, but there was a heavy wooden wall that surrounded it. A tall woman, her skin as black as polished mahogony and a serene beauty on her face, came out to greet them.
“You are welcome to the sanctuary of shifters, she said in lightly accented in English. “Be welcome, all.”
A loud shrieking went up from the trees, and Jessica's head jerked up. Now that she was looking for them, she could see the chimpanzees high in the trees. The People of the Trees had been following them all night, and she had never noticed. The woman who had spoken looked up with surprise.
“You have called some powerful allies to you, Marcus,” she said, and he nodded grimly.
“I am very much afraid that we will need them,” he said. “We need to talk strategy.”
*
After that, everything seemed to speed up. Marcus touched her fingers with his, sending a spine tingling jolt through her, and then he was gone. Jessica might have felt a little at a loss, but a tall young girl, her hair knotted tight to her head and a fierce look of determination on her face, tugged her away.
“You are human,” she said bluntly. “You have no place in the fight to come.”
“I want to help, though,” Jessica protested, and the girl nodded.
“Come and help care for the children and the elderly, there is a safe place.”
Jessica knew with a pang that the girl was right. She would not be of any use in a fight between humans, let alone between one of shifters. She turned her head scanning for perhaps one last glance at Marcus, but after a single glimpse of him, he was gone, swallowed by the crowd.
“I want to help,” she said firmly, and the girl smiled at her.
The village and sanctuary were naturally fortified with the battlement wall of wood in front and a sheer rock face that stretched high behind. Both village and sanctuary had been in place for hundreds, perhaps, thousands of years, and there were rough steps hewn into the stone. Jessica joined the long line of humans heading up the steep steps, carrying a little girl on her back. Though there were shifters, young ones or weak ones, scattered in that crowd, they were mostly humans. Jessica realized from their calm demeanor that this was something that had happened often enough that it did not panic them. They spoke a language that she didn’t understand, and when they reached the cave, they all settled in to wait out the battle. Despite their calmness, however, Jessica could see that even the young children carried long knives. If any enemies made it up the stairs, they would be in for a grim surprise.
Jessica's body ached with exhaustion, but she sat the edge of the cave, her eyes scanning the jungle below for any sign of movement. The sanctuary protectors were as stealthy as those hunting them, and for almost an hour, it was quiet, like there was nothing amiss. The tension was just in her head, and everything would pass peacefully.
A sudden shout changed that, and from the heart of the forest stampeded a thick-tusked boar, as big as a pony, yet far more dangerous. It squealed a challenge before rushing straight for the wall, and Jessica had no doubt that if it struck, it would crash right through. Immediately after, however, a half-dozen gray wolves broke from cover, charging at the boar with tooth and fang. Though they were less than a quarter of the boar's size, they turned it, snapping at it viciously.
Then the battle was joined in earnest, and the ground in front of the village was turned into a mass of snarling fur and fang. She could see animals leaping at each other, screaming, dying, but in all the tumult, she could not find Marcus.
Oh please let him be all right. Please. Please...
She held her breath when a black panther leaped up out of the fray, coming down with claws out on what looked like a rampaging rhinoceros. It could have been Marcus, or perhaps it was Verrine, or even some shifter she had not met yet. The rhino bucked hard, and the panther was flung off of it. It hit a nearby tree with an impact that Jessica could feel from where she watched, but it was spared the beast's trampling feet. In a moment, the panther was up and ripping at the rhino's face, and the beast bellowed with pain.
The fighting swept over the scene, and Jessica was left without any view at all until she saw Marcus rise up in his human form at the edge of the fight. She could see the splotches of blood on his bare chest, saw how he moved like lightning. She reached out a hand as if she could protect him, and then he was launching himself across the clearing, a gleaming sword in his hand.
It was an enormous tiger that sprang forward to meet him, an animal that would have dwarfed him even in his panther form. In his human form, wearing nothing but a dyed swathe of fabric tied around his waist, Marcus looked ricidulously vulnerable, frail and human.
He had told her that the blade had powers though, and now she could see them. He swung the blade hard and fast, and it bit into the tiger's shoulder. Marcus slid backwards at the impact, but then the tiger was leaping away, howling with pain. That was enough for a trio of nearby wolves to fall on it, and after that, the battle was over.
The enemy was chased into the woods or killed, and the people around her raised a ragged cheer.
It was another restless hour before they were told it was safe to come down. Jessica descended the stairs on shaky legs, and when she found level ground again, she thought that she might faint for a moment. Then she found the strength to go on and to find Marcus, but he found her first. He had hurriedly bathed the blood from his body, but otherwise, he was as he had been in battle, bare-chested and powerful.
He swept her up in his arms, and this time, Jessica couldn't help but burst into tears.
“I was so scared. I thought you might die...”
“Not while you’re here waiting for me,” he said. “Not while you carry my heart in your chest. It would take more than that measly bunch to keep me from you.”
She laughed through her tears at his words, but there was some truth to it. She had given her heart to him, too, and she knew that he would keep it safe.