Oracle’s Haunt: Desert Cursed Series Book 4

by Shannon Mayer

  Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

  Ollianna stepped up beside Emmy on one side, and Patrice joined her on the left, closest to me. “Well, you think we don’t know what you are, shifter? The question is why are you here in our swamp? The golden lions were wiped out by the Jinn. You’d think if any were left, they’d be smart enough to avoid dangerous places.”

  He snarled but otherwise said nothing. Ollianna smiled. “One way or another, you will answer me. And in the end, I will get what I want along with a lovely lionskin rug for in front of my fire. I’ve always wanted one, you know. Nearly had one last year even.”

  Last year . . . then she’d been one of the ones chasing Steve and me. Well, wasn’t that just fucking awesome.

  Shem roared and I blew out a breath. Time to play rough. I leapt forward, still in my cat form, landing between Shem and the witches with a tiny splash. I bared my teeth and hissed up at them.

  Emmy grimaced. “I do need to improve my aim.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said as I prepped myself for the shift from four legs to two, “my aim is fucking spot on. So if you want to live, I suggest you let us pass.”

  My speaking startled them and they all took a step back before catching themselves. I continued to growl, baring my tiny teeth. I knew how it looked. Ridiculous, but that was the plan, such as it was. Let them think we were easy prey.

  Let them believe they could kill me with ease right before I smashed the shit out of them. At least, that was the plan.

  “Never,” snarled Emmy, her beautiful face twisting into a semblance I did recognize. The hag under the teenager face had been one of those who’d kicked at me the last time I’d been in the swamp. The one who’d sung to the captives.

  Fear lanced through me and I buried it deeply.

  “Then you die,” I said.

  “You’re a cat. What can you do? Nothing, that is the answer,” Emmy said. But her friends didn’t answer her. They tugged her back a step. Maybe they knew more than I thought about me.

  The three of them shared a look, taking their eyes off me, and that was the opening I needed.

  I shifted, and as I stood on two legs, I reached for the flail on my back. A lot of things happened at once. The diamond peering out between the folds of my shirt was the first.

  Shem was thrown up and through the trees, far away from us to the south of the swamp.

  And I let the flail fly fast and hard, the handle warm under my fingers, sticking hard to me in order to do as much damage as possible. Patrice ducked the ball pair, but Emmy was not fast enough. The spikes drove hard into the side of her face, crushing bone and making her left eyeball pop right the fuck out, dangling by threads.

  A scream ripped out of her, unnatural and violent, and the screech was the one we’d been hearing earlier. She was the one with the weird bird call. I yanked the flail off her head and she dropped to her knees, sinking into the water up to her chin, a hand against the side of her face I’d crushed.

  The flail hummed and shivered and I knew that it wanted to dig into her, to take her magic. But I didn’t want that. I just wanted to get us out of here.

  Simple, right?

  Wrong again.

  “You two want a taste of what your friend is chewing on? Your own teeth and the inside of your brains?” I whipped the flail in a slow, lazy loop. “I don’t mind, but I’m thinking you’d be smart to fuck off now and leave us to our path.”

  Patrice flexed her fingers, and in the distance, Shem roared, pain-filled and then strangled as if she’d cut off his air . . . I snarled and leapt toward Patrice. Except something grabbed the back of my calf. I went down, right under the water and that same something coiled around me.

  Shit.

  The snake was big and moved fast in the water, liquid lightning that was so muscled, there was no way I could beat it strength to strength. I fought to get my feet under me. I needed to get up and get a breath and then I’d kill the fucker. Only I couldn’t find my feet.

  The flail. I had to get the flail into this fight.

  I tipped my hand so the weapon swung toward me under the water, drifting toward the thick, muscular body that wrapped around me. Above the water, the voices were dim, and they were laughing at me.

  They thought I was a fucking joke, did they?

  I rolled my wrist, twisting the flail closer yet. And then it touched down right where I wanted. The second the spikes touched the scales of the snake, they dug in and the reptile convulsed, the flail glowed under the water and then the snake was dead.

  I shot to the surface and drew in a big breath in time to see Lila dive into the fray and spit acid on the back of Patrice.

  The brunette witch screeched and threw her head back, a hand shooting toward Lila. A magical net whipped at Lila, one that crackled with lightning.

  “Lila, down!” I yelled.

  She dove for the water and the net missed her by barely an inch. Good enough. Only when she came up there was murder in her eyes, and not the hey, let’s survive this fight kind of murder. More the hey, I’m going to kill you all and then go on a rampage of death and destruction through this swamp until every witch is dead kind of look.

  The blue sapphire under her skin shone through her scales as she swept down and along the top of the water. The muddy filth froze solid, holding the witches where they were.

  “Lila, enough!” I yelled.

  The three witches looked at me. They thought I was saving them, but I wasn’t. I was saving Lila.

  My friend swooped through the air and I saw her intention plain. To go between the witches and freeze them solid. “Lila, no!” I yelled at her, but she ignored me.

  She cut between them, avoiding their touch easily as she pinged each of them, icing them over, making them solid statues that froze over in seconds.

  “Now, it’s enough,” Lila growled. “They won’t hurt anyone anymore.”

  Ford dropped out of the tree with a splash, rolled and came up on four legs.

  I reached for my connection with my pride and found Shem, hurt but alive. “Lila, go find Shem and stay with him—he’s hurt.”

  Her eyes shot to mine, glittering, so angry that my heart broke a little.

  “Please,” I said. “He needs us, and he needs to be protected if he’s injured.”

  That seemed to mollify her; she winged away through the trees, going straight to where Shem was. Ford sauntered over to me as the sound of hooves splashing through the water reached my ears. I spun around to see Balder sloshing his way toward us, Batman right behind him.

  “Disobedient,” I grumbled, grabbing his nose and giving it a shake. “This is not south.”

  He snorted, and if horses could shrug, he would have. As if he knew better, he knew that we were going to need him. And he was right.

  A cracking of ice snapped me around to stare at the witch-sicles behind me. Emmy, the one in purple, stared back through the thick ice. If hate burned, they’d be out in seconds.

  “Fuck,” I whispered. “Run, Ford.”

  “Why?”

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph on a fucking donkey, do as I say and run!” I roared as I leapt up and onto Balder’s bare back.

  This was not the plan. But now we had no choice. We had to run and I fucking hated it. Broken limbs, shattered bodies filled my mind even while I knew that we had to do this. I shifted to my cat form so I was as light as possible for Balder and then I hissed at him.

  A hiss was the sign for him to go as fast as he possibly could.

  He leapt forward, plunging into the swamp, as a wave of nausea cascaded over me. I fell from his back, hitting the mud with a splash. Too many shifts, too close together left me helpless.

  I sunk down as the horses took off, following Ford no doubt. I pushed to the surface and opened my mouth to call them back and instead puked. I couldn’t help it or stop it, as I shifted without meaning back to two legs and remained on hands and knees, puking my guts out, the clear diamond dangling from my neck like a
fucking carrot right in front of the three witches I took it from.

  The cracking of ice slowly drew my head up. Ollianna, the redhead, shook free of the ice first.

  “That was very clever, hiding a stone in a small creature,” she said, her voice heavy and sluggish no doubt from the cold.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” I managed to say while my brain went into overdrive. How was I getting out of this? I moved to push to my feet and she shook a finger at me.

  “No, do not move.”

  “I’m not sure listening to you is my best move at this point.” I smiled up at her even though I was freaking out inside. How long before the other two freed themselves? My eyes slid to them and they were still solid, though there were cracks in the ice.

  “We have a few minutes, you and I.” Ollianna swept toward me, her skirt within my reach had I wanted to touch it. I looked up at her and slid back so that I sat on my haunches. Another wave of nausea rolled through me and I gritted my teeth against it even as my stomach clenched. Ollianna stared down at me.

  “That stone is powerful, but it takes a toll on the one who carries it. And like your dragon, it will eventually cost you who you are.”

  I frowned. “The stones don’t bother me. And why are you telling me this?”

  She spread her hands and magic coursed through them, sparkling black lights that I wanted to stare at, to fall into, like the night sky and the stars that twinkled within it. I shook my head and Ollianna laughed.

  “I tell you because I do not want that stone back in our coven even if others do. I sensed you first, and I knew the stone was close. I could not persuade those two to go back, though. They seek to impress the Mother.” She tipped her head back to Patrice and Emmy.

  She sighed. “If the stones truly do not bother you, then I know who you are. I will give you two things, Zamira.”

  My jaw dropped. “How do you know my name?”

  “Family should always know family, don’t you think?” Her gray-green eyes damn well sparkled with laughter as I stared at her gaping like a fish.

  “We . . . are not family. You are no shifter.” Of course, I forgot how much of my bloodline was not shifter.

  She leaned in. “Niece.”

  Niece. “You’re related to the Emperor?”

  Ollianna nodded. “We all are here, though some are closer than others to his power.” She tipped her head to the side. “I give you this—knowledge. You will face the Emperor at some point, so do not let him convince you he is not a beast. And this, a moment free of your curse, enough to escape this swamp. I want you gone before the sun rises, Zamira of the desert, child of the cursed one.”

  She swept her hand over me and my body shifted without me asking it to do so, and I was on four legs once more.

  Only I stood taller. I blinked and looked down at my limbs. Big, solid bones, the body of a jungle cat, made for leaping through trees, navigating a swamp. I shook my head. “This is not possible.”

  “It is, for a moment. This is what your curse keeps you from.” She smiled and part of me hated that there was not a mean streak in it. “You saved us from that diamond when you took it, and now I will save you. Go, Zamira, and be ready. For what comes at you in the distance draws closer with deadly precision.”

  I stepped back and she turned, her shoulders slumping as she lifted her hands toward her two companions. They had loosened the ice enough to be able to thrash, their eyes on Ollianna, fear riding them.

  She would kill them to keep what had happened here silent. To protect herself from the Mother witch. To protect me too.

  Perhaps she was not the sweetheart I’d thought. I turned and leapt for the trees, shocked as I sailed onto not the lowest branch, but the one farthest up. My body was my own, and yet not. I didn’t want to enjoy this, but I couldn’t help it. Being a large cat was everything and more than I thought it would be.

  The power in my body, the ability to bound from place to place, the strength of my claws as I dug into the bark of the trees, racing across the branches and avoiding the water completely.

  This was strength.

  This was freedom.

  This was everything I’d ever wanted, and I almost cried knowing it was only until the edge of the swamp.

  I chose not to consider the fact that I was not a desert cat at all, but a cat made for the deepest, darkest jungles. Because while I didn’t think Ollianna cared one way or another what I looked like, that meant I didn’t doubt that she’d only lifted the curse on me. This jungle cat that I was, was not a creature she created. This was who I was. Who my mother was.

  Ollianna was my aunt? That thought stumbled my feet as I leapt between branches and landed on my belly, back end hanging down.

  The Emperor had been busy for being locked away. I snorted and pulled myself onto the branch and swiveled my ears. There to my left was the snort of a horse. I twisted and ran that way, still staying to the trees.

  I found them converged around Shem, who lay on the ground, naked as the day he was born.

  “We have to go back for her!” Lila snapped. “And if you won’t—”

  “I’m here,” I said, and three sets of eyes turned to me. “And don’t freak out, this is temporary.”

  I dropped out of the tree and bounded up to them. Ford was still on four legs and while he was still bigger than me, the size difference wasn’t so great after all.

  “We have no gear, and much as you might be able to ride bareback, I don’t think I can. And Shem can’t while injured,” Ford said, though his eyes kept drifting over me.

  “We go as fast as we can without,” I said.

  There was a popping sound behind us. I spun as our gear materialized out of thin air and dropped onto the one dry spot. A note floated down with it. Ford caught it and showed it to me.

  Ride hard, they are coming. O.

  “Tack up, now!” I yelled and Ford shifted, grabbed the gear and started to sling it over the horses’ backs.

  Shem pushed to his feet and helped where he could. He shot me a look, and I knew why.

  I hadn’t shifted. I wasn’t helping. And I . . . didn’t want to say that I only had this form for a short time. I didn’t know if I’d get it back if I shifted to two legs. Selfish, I knew it was selfish and I didn’t care.

  Ford did most of the work and handed Shem a pair of pants while he took his own.

  “That will have to be enough.” I jumped up and hugged the tree closest to us, climbing at a rapid rate. “Follow me.”

  I leapt from that tree to the next, my eyes scanning the dark waters below. From above, I could see the worst of the footing and I led them through it. Lila flew beside me, helping.

  “Stay left!” I yelled and the horses plunged before their riders even gave them the cue.

  Good boys, they knew who was still in charge. I grinned, my lips pulling back over fangs that could do some serious damage. Gods, how long had I wanted this? To have it now was a gift in truth.

  Ollianna might be a witch, but she was currently my favorite aunty. Assuming she wasn’t lying about that.

  All around us, the feeling of being watched intensified. The other witches, they were coming, that’s what the note said. Did that mean Ollianna had handed us over? Or had others sensed the diamond as she had and decided to come for it?

  I suspected it was the latter.

  “I think I can see a break in the trees!” Ford shouted. He urged Batman forward and the two of them nearly went down in a deep hole. Batman stumbled and then they were back up again.

  I was right above them as the first volley of arrows sliced through the air, right where Ford and Batman had been only moments before.

  The arrows were white, flecked with green ribbons that fluttered as they flew at their targets. I’d never seen anything like it before.

  “Go hard! Don’t stop until you hit sand!” I yelled. Whatever it was coming from, I didn’t think it was the witches. Which meant we had fae to deal with. Little though they mi
ght be, what I knew of them was enough to make me glad they’d never been handed a jewel.

  Mean by nature, they mobbed like insects on people, and could strip a person of all their flesh down to the bones in seconds, singing while they did it no less. At least those were the stories. Made of pure magic, they were hard to kill.

  The horses below, Shem and Ford riding, suddenly burst out of the trees, sand flinging up behind them. I slid to a stop at the last tree before the jungle turned back to desert.

  “Zam?” Ford yelled back.

  “I’m okay,” I answered. My feet clutched at the tree. Ten more steps and I’d be able to jump onto the sand, free of the jungle. Free of the witches once more.

  Free of this form that I’d craved for so long.

  I swallowed hard and Lila landed on my back. A strange sensation for me to carry her on four legs.

  “I get it,” she whispered. “Even when the necklace was strangling me, being a real dragon for a few minutes was worth the danger.”

  I bowed my head. “I . . . I didn’t know what I was missing, not really.”

  She wrapped her front legs around the back of my neck and said nothing. Because she did get it. A taste of all you could be, only to have it snatched away . . . I was not sure there was anything more cruel.

  And yet. If I were to somehow find my way to the Oracle, to save my pride and my brother once more, I had to go forward. I had to leave this form behind.

  A flurry of arrows slammed into the branches around us, and I turned my head to see a dozen creatures creeping along the limbs toward me. Twelve inches high, dressed in a camouflage that shimmered as they moved, hiding them completely when they went still, and they all had their eyes locked on me.

  Fun times, fun times.

  “They have escaped again,” Ollianna’s voice rung out below us and the fae flinched, their heads swiveling as they nocked their arrows. The green ribbons that dangled like moss shifted to a deep red.

  “Poison. The green was a stunning potion only, I think,” Lila said.