by M. L. Ryan
How hard can that be? I reasoned. Apparently, quite difficult, because I labored for what seemed like hours without any luck. Over and over I tried to scratch Rufus’ ears. I could poke him behind the ear, no problem. But the added finger movement required to achieve scratchitude eluded me. I knew I was getting tired, but I was so certain I could do it. Eventually, Rufus started to stare at me as though he’d wised up to where the transcendental annoyance was coming from. I sat on the edge of the bed for one final shot.
I should have stopped as soon as I felt the tingly electricity in my hands, but I was sort of in the zone and shrugged it off. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late and my fingertips glowed with energy. I knew I didn’t have enough time to tamp down the magic with my usual thoughts of oozing wounds or bloated road-kill. In desperation, I shouted at Rufus, hoping he’d get out of the way of the imminent destruction when the power burst forth with an ear-splitting boom.
Thrown backwards, I ended up sprawled on the floor near the opposite side of the bed. Somewhere during the journey, I must have banged my head on something and it took a few seconds to catch my breath and clear the cobwebs. As soon as I was able, I dragged myself onto the mattress to see the havoc I’d wrought.
Through a thin veil of haze—which could have just as well been the side effects of the magical recoil—I could see part of the stone wall was chipped and smoldering but I couldn’t see the dog. Frantic that I’d obliterated my canine companion, tears started to well up as I called his name. I thought I heard something and crawled along the floor toward the faint scuffling. Seconds ticked by, as I blindly reached out trying desperately to feel for Rufus, but all I touched was air.
“Rufus!” I sobbed. “Where are you?” The dust had settled somewhat, and I could see a little better now. Something large huddled in the corner. It looked bigger and less dark than Rufus, but I chalked that up to my hysteria and the limited visibility. Or maybe debris from the zapped walls. I sped as fast as my hands and knees could propel me toward the dusty blob. Please don’t let him be dead, I pleaded silently as I finally made contact with what I thought was Rufus’ back paw. Instead of the familiar course, curly coat, however, there was only smooth flesh.
My first inclination was I had burned off the poor dog’s coat. I soon realized the lack of fur wasn’t the only thing that was off. Even in my state of panic, I could tell the appendage I touched wasn’t a dog leg.
19
The last time I instinctively launched myself in reverse as I did at that moment was when I stumbled upon a nest of rattlers on a hike. There was no conscious component to my body’s need to put as much distance as possible between the writhing mass of reptiles and me. The same was true now, except this time it wasn’t snakes that kicked my sympathetic nervous system into high gear—it was a man. And a completely buck-naked one at that.
Still rattled from whacking my cranium, I couldn’t quite process what had happened. I still couldn’t see Rufus, and there was some unclothed dude lying in a heap in my bedroom. My immediate reaction was Doc had found a way in but as far as I could tell, this person was taller, leaner, and had none of Doc’s telltale burnt-hair smell. Thinking it wasn’t him didn’t do much to assuage my fears, though. After all, someone uninvited had materialized and that didn’t seem good no matter who it turned out to be.
As I pondered what to do next, the man shifted himself to an upright position. He moved slowly and ended up sort of slumped against the wall. In his current state, he didn’t seem to be an immediate threat, but I knew I didn’t have anything left in my magical tank to defend myself if the situation changed. Lacking any other weapon, I opted for false bravado instead. “Who the hell are you?”
Mr. Without-a-Stitch-On spread his arms and looked down at his body as if he’d never seen it before. Leaning his head against the wall, he closed his eyes and in a voice barely louder than a whisper, finally croaked out, “Thank you for releasing me.”
“Look buddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What did you do with my dog?”
He gazed at me and with a small, rueful smile and said, “I’m Rufus. Or, at least, I was.”
Now that I looked more carefully, his hair was a lot like Rufus’. It didn’t cover his entire body, obviously—I would have been even more freaked out if a naked Sasquatch suddenly appeared in my bedroom—but what was on his head was short, reddish-brown corkscrews. Still, that alone wasn’t enough to convince me.
“Lots of people have curly brown hair,” I argued. “Even me. What else you got?”
Slowly, he tilted his head to the side and lifted his locks so I had a better view of the missing chunk on the top of his left ear. Just like Rufus. Still, was that really enough to prove his identity? Rufus’ missing ear tip was something anyone could see and recreate if they wanted to scam me. There was only one thing I could think of that would be convincing—something that only I could detect and only a few people knew about.
I got up and walked hesitantly towards my unclothed visitor. As I came closer, I could see his irises were amber like Rufus’. Could be contacts; still need more proof. When I was right in front of him, I crouched down and leaned in until my nose almost touched his lips. His eyes widened; I sensed both fear and apprehension. Hell, I wasn’t thrilled with being this close either, but I figured this was the only way to know for sure if he was telling the truth.
“Breathe out through your mouth,” I ordered.
At first he looked at me like I was nuts, but soon comprehension spread over his handsome face and he let out a long, slow puff of air. The distinctive smell of puppy breath wafted over me, and I sucked in the unique scent. I was so relieved I hadn’t incinerated Rufus that I joyfully threw my arms around his human neck.
My solace was short-lived, however. The heavy door to the hall burst apart and the room was suddenly filled with people.
“Carisa, we heard a loud crash and perceived magic,” Alex began breathlessly as he practically flew across the floor toward me. He stopped mid-stride when he realized I was sitting on the floor hugging a nude guy.
Sebastian ran up next and gaped. “Lucy, you got some splaining to do,” he said in a mocking imitation of Ricky Ricardo’s Spanish accent. I didn’t know he even watched television, but maybe he had different interests in the 1950s.
The rest of the crowd, an assortment of royal guards and Xyzok operatives, shifted uncomfortably near the doorway, not knowing what to make of the odd scene. As quickly as I could, I gave a synopsis of the events leading up to their arrival. I left out the part about the TA practice—it was bad enough this was likely to be fodder for gossip—I didn’t need everyone to know about that, too.
Human-Rufus sat silently while I explained, but did offer views of his damaged ear at the appropriate moment in the story. Alex and Sebastian’s demeanors shifted rapidly from their original confused skepticism to alarmed protectiveness when they heard who—what?—my male companion was. The guards surrounded Man-Dog and hoisted him to his feet.
“Hey, not so rough,” I complained, taking exception to their less-than-gentle treatment. “He didn’t do anything.”
Sebastian snorted with derision. “Posing as an animal to gain access to you and the royal residence is hardly an innocuous endeavor, my dear.” He flicked his head to signal the guards to take their prisoner away.
I knew the Courso were much less concerned about nudity than the average American, but it irked me that they planned to drag Rufus wherever in his all-together. “At least give him something to put on.”
Alex glowered but pulled the sheet off the bed and flung it to one of his men. The Xyzok wrapped it around Rufus like a toga before the telling the guards they could continue.
He-Who-Used-To-Be-My-Dog glanced over his shoulder at me as he was being taken away. I expected to see worry or fear, but he didn’t seem bothered by his predicament. In fact, given the circumstances, he looked surprisingly nonchalant.
When Alex, Sebastian, and I were t
he only ones left, I asked, “Where are they taking him?”
“There are some holding cells in the lower levels. We will interrogate him there.” Alex’s tone was clipped, and I wasn’t certain if it was because he had gone into Xyzok-mode, or if he was pissed at the scene to which he was treated when he brought the cavalry to my rescue.
“Hey, I know it must have looked… odd, but I was just so relieved I hadn’t annihilated Rufus.”
Alex frowned. “So he didn’t transform on his own—you used magic to change him?”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to change him,” I corrected. “He just sort of got in the way of an errant miscalculation.”
“Miscalculation?” Sebastian interrupted. “Not counting the time you put me on my rear end, you haven’t erroneously zapped anything in a long time. What precipitated your lack of control?”
I really didn’t want to get into this with Sebastian. “Nothing. I was trying to move Rufus’ chew, and I guess I used more power than needed. The next thing I knew, I was across the room, and the dog had turned into a man.” It wasn’t a lie, at least not totally, and I fully intended to come clean to Alex later when we were alone.
Alex placed his hand on his chin while he considered this information. “Well, we will get to the bottom of all this when we have a chance to speak to him in more detail.” He nodded at Sebastian, and they both started toward the door. “I’ll have someone come up to repair this,” he said, examining the splintered remains of what used to be the door.
“Wait a minute,” I complained. “I want to be there when you question him. He had his nose in my crotch. I think that entitles me to hear what the hell was going on in person.”
The muscles in Alex’s jaw tensed. Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have reminded him about the groin greetings. I had to give him credit, other than that slight clench, he kept his expression neutral. He shifted his gaze to Sebastian, who shrugged.
“Alright, you can come along,” Alex acquiesced, “But you must remain impassive throughout, and you cannot question our methods.”
That seemed a bit ominous. “What are you going to do, torture him or something?”
“Normally we would,” Sebastian piped in, “but we left the iron maiden and the tongue shredder back at headquarters.”
I knew Sebastian was just yanking my chain, but I couldn’t help but conjure some remarkably unpleasant visions of how a tongue shredder might be utilized. “Very funny,” I griped. They still hadn’t been forthcoming with regard to the methods I wasn’t supposed to take issue with, but I couldn’t believe Alex—or Sebastian for that matter—would do anything horrific. On the other hand, these were perilous times so who knew what might be considered acceptable. Even more reason to be there, I reasoned as we left the bedroom.
It turned out the inquisition was to be held in an area near where Rufus had been previously kenneled. There was some strange karmic symmetry to that, I supposed. Before we entered the heavily protected cell—six sentinels and elaborate arcane enchantments designed to prevent unauthorized access and egress—I paused.
“He thanked me.” I wasn’t sure why I felt it necessary to add that tidbit of information at that moment, and judging from Alex and Sebastian’s crinkled foreheads, they didn’t understand it either.
“For what?” Alex inquired briskly.
“For releasing him.”
Sebastian snorted. “Good to know our spy is polite.”
“We don’t know why he is here,” I snapped. “I admit, it doesn’t look good, but we need to keep an open mind.”
Alex placed his hand on my shoulder. “That is our job, carisa. We always remain as impartial as possible,” he said in a soft, comforting tone. “However, you must remember to keep your opinions to yourself in there. Whatever we ask, we have a reason, no matter how it may appear.”
With a deep breath and a nod, I conceded, “You’re the pros,” as the heavy, metal door swung open and we were ushered inside.
The room was a lot like Rufus’ original holding cell when he was a dog, except it was smaller. Curly-haired dog-man sat in a wooden chair behind a table set in the middle of the room. Between everyone crammed inside, there wasn’t a lot of extra space. Alex and Sebastian grabbed two chairs from the far corner and sat so they were across from their prisoner. I stood against the wall, bookended by two poker-faced guards.
Sebastian tapped his fingertips against the tabletop. “Well, well. It seems our suspicions as to your true nature were not unfounded.” He leaned forward. “Talk, provocateur.”
The spy in question squared his shoulders and let out a long breath. “I am not what you think. My name is Ulut, and I, too, have been hunting the man you call Doc Martens.”
From my vantage point, I couldn’t really see Sebastian’s expression, but Alex was sitting more at an angle so I had a clear view of his skeptical smirk.
“Do tell, Ulut. I can hardly wait,” Sebastian responded, sarcasm dripping like venom with every word.
“In the third dimension, my job is much like yours. I track criminals, but not as a government-sanctioned operative, more like a bounty hunter. I was hired to find Keem—Doc—who has long been a thorn in our side. He is the nephew of a very powerful warlord and up until now, his misdeeds have been extensive, but relatively minor: petty thievery, smuggling, that sort of thing.
“Warlord?” Alex interrupted.
Ulut shifted his attention from Sebastian to answer the question. “Yes, the majority of people in our dimension have no magic. The few that do, however, often use that power to control those without. While there are some relatively stable regions ruled by benevolent leaders, many are run by those that wield the most arcane power. They tend to govern using a motto of ‘might makes right’. Keem’s uncle is a rather despicable despot who lets his relatives run roughshod over whomever they wish.”
Ulut’s dimension didn’t seem all that inviting, and Doc was an over-indulged brat from a family with questionable ethics. Sounded a lot like the British aristocracy during the late fourteen hundreds.
Alex waved his hand to signal Ulut to continue. “So, how did you end up in the human dimension as a dog?”
“Keem made the mistake of taking money from his uncle’s coffers. Apparently, it is one thing to steal from meaningless strangers, quite another to do so from your own family, at least in Uncle Jifga’s demented mind. Jifga had others attempt to find his nephew, but no one was successful. He hired me because I’m the best. What he didn’t know, what no one knew in fact, was I excel at my profession because I can turn into a dog.” He looked at me as he added, “I prefer to keep that detail a secret so no one suspects an animal might be following them.”
His comment brought me back to that morning in the North Carolina mountains when Rufus appeared at the MCP. Ulut must have seen me the night before, first as a hawk, then as me, and put two and two together. With everything that had transpired, I somehow never made the connection that Ulut and I had something in common: the ability to become an animal. I wanted to ask more about that, but I figured it could wait.
“I thought it would be an easy job, but Keem proved to be quite resourceful in his efforts to elude me. In fact, he was a lot smarter than I was led to believe. It took me a few months to figure out why he seemed to disappear into thin air when I saw him actually disappear into thin air. He dematerialized a few more times as I continued to watch him, and after a few weeks, I finally got my chance to see where he went when I followed him to the human dimension after he forgot to close the portal he created.”
Judging from their identical raised eyebrows, neither Alex nor Sebastian appeared to believe him. “So let me get this straight,” Alex said, crossing his arms. “You were trying to apprehend this Keem fellow, you observed him moving out of your dimension, and decided to follow him instead of capturing him?”
Ulut shrugged his shoulders, their broadness enhanced by the draping of the bed sheet. “I was never supposed to capture him, only find him. I know I s
hould have reported his location as soon as I had the chance, but I’d never heard of anyone able to just vanish. For eons, fantastic yarns have been spun about the existence of other dimensions but most people considered them to simply be tall-tales told to children at bedtime. The magical traces he left behind made me think he wasn’t just becoming invisible, and I was curious.”
Alex pursed his lips as if still not completely convinced. “He just left this inter-dimensional portal open for anyone to jump through?”
“Well, I told you as a tracker, I’m the best there is. He didn’t know anyone was following him.”
“That’s true, Alex,” I offered. “When he was Rufus, I often was surprised when he just kind of showed up. He was very stealthy.”
Sebastian gave me a dirty look. Crap. I forgot I was supposed to keep quiet. I mouthed a silent “sorry” and tried to look appropriately chastised.
Alex continued. “And what happened next?”
“For some reason, I couldn’t do it as an animal, and I had to change back to my natural form. When I made it through, I transformed back and continued to follow Keem. Eventually, I figured out I was in another dimension—the human one—but I soon made another discovery: I was stuck as a dog.”
“Why could you not change back to your real form?” Sebastian asked, sitting up straighter.
“I’m not sure, but it also meant I was stuck in the human dimension, as I could only cross the portal as myself. I was hopeful when I successfully traversed the portal into Courso, I would be able to change forms here.” He gave a small shake of his head and added, “But things didn’t work out that way.”
