by Melle Amade
“They won’t,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Go get her. I’ll find you later.”
Polaris sprang towards her but she side-swiped him, launching herself to the window and pushing it up as she lept onto the ledge. “Harmenszoon,” was all she said as she jumped, shifting into a massive black raven almost instantly and disappearing into the cloudy Amsterdam sky.
I crammed the word into my memory as both bears turned on me. Patch let out a massive roar and didn’t stop as he charged towards me swinging a gigantic paw and catching me upside the head. I flew through the air, smashing into the far wall. My head cracking in agony as I crumbled to the floor, the wind knocked out of me.
I gasped through the pain, forcing air into my lungs as I figured out another tactic. They had size on their side, but I had speed. There was little room to move but I dashed forward as if to enter the jaws of Patch but at the last minute I dropped, slid under his body, pulling out the kris at the last second and sliding it along his inner thigh. There was no way I could gut him, if I had he would have collapsed on me and I would have been pinned down, easy prey for Polaris to uncover. Patch howled as blood poured out of his sliced leg and I gave it a sharp kick to open the wound, springing off his bone and plummeting towards the narrow stairwell that led to the street.
Both would be forced to shift to human form. Patch to heal his leg faster and Polaris to fit into the narrow Dutch stairwell. I lept off the top step, shifting midair to land nimbly on the first landing. In giant bounds I raced down flight after flight. No matter how fast the northern Berzerken was as a human, he was no match for me in full leopard escape mode. I pushed down the distaste that this was twice in twenty-four hours I’d been forced to flee instead of fight.
But this time, I didn’t want to completely escape. I needed to make sure I wasn’t leading them anywhere near Davin and where she was headed.
In fact, I needed to get them to move in the exact opposite direction.
Harmenszoon. That was the word Davin had said before she had flown out the window. She was clever that Irish girl. There weren’t many who would know what that word meant. Certainly not a couple of thug bears. They might know their northern heroes, but they’d have no idea who Harmenszoon was.
Few people in the history of the world were famous enough to go by just their first name. Cleopatra. Aurelius. These were rulers of empires. In the artist world people were known by their last names. Van Gogh. Da Vinci. Monet. But a remarkable few were so famous their first name alone itdentified them to the world.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was one of those artists. And he had spent most of his adult life in Amsterdam. The eagles were famous for their love of Baroque painting and it was little surprise that an eagle daughter would seek refuge in one of the most famous painter’s homes in the world: Rembrandthuis.
Shit. It wasn’t even far away.
I hit the bottom step at a full run, my paws flying off the cobblestone wet streets as I pushed through screaming crowds and in the opposite direction of Rembrandthuis.
The know I made an attempt on their alpha’s life. They were honor bound to kill me and they had already lost me once. Knowing the stupidity and stubbornness of bears, they would do anything to make this a hunt that ended in my death. Even if it meant causing a stir with the humans by racing in our animal forms through the streets of Amsterdam.
The canals of Amsterdam separate the city in grand arcs with the center point being the Centraal train station. This is the direction I headed now, weaving through the crowds of tourists, the locals on their bikes and the small vehicles that dared make their way into the oldest part of town. The bears followed me with frightening speed, their huge paws crushing and cars or people who came in their way of me.
I had stamina, probably more than the heavy bears, but this wasn’t the time to spend hours leading them on a merry chase around Amsterdam. I had to get back to Rembrandthuis and find Davin. If she was right and she held one of the two sacred magic items, then together we could work to stop El Oso’s plan.
They probably thought I was simply fleeing for my life, but if they had any inkling I had a destination I needed to give them one. I headed towards Anne Frank Huis it was still in central Amsterdam and wouldn’t take me too far from my real target, but it would give them something to focus on.
The screams of the humans echoed in my ears as I pushed my way past the small square and around the church that was just down the canal from the museum that memorialized the young jewish diarist from World War II. If I could convince them I entered the museum, they would spend time inside looking for me.
It was against the shifter law to change form in front of any humans. This was true for every Muiderkring in the world and one that was well honored everywhere. We all respected the dangers that could fall upon us if humans ever knew any of us really existed. None of us forgot the witch trials of the 15th and 16th centuries when so many of our people were burnt at the stake.
I had to get away from humans but stay close to Anne Frank Huis. The church was my best option. I loped up to the front of the church, slowing down just enough to make sure the bears would come close and see me. In the dark shadows I pushed my way through the heavy wooden doors and into the vestibule.
It was empty.
In that brief second, I shifted back into my human form, looking like just another punk Asian. It wasn’t so unusual in Amsterdam, after all Indonesia had been Dutch for more than three hundred years. Many of the humans from my island had resettled here and there was a healthy Asian population.
I slid out of the vestibule and into the nave. I had slowed my pace as worshippers were kneeling in the church and I knew even the bears would try to have a bit of discernment. I was right. They had shifted in the vestibule also and by the time I reached the north trancept, they were stalking me quickly around the pillars that held the gothic cathedral’s massive ceiling aloft. But I knew where the side entrance was. I always had contingency plans. It was part of what you needed to survive. If I gave them a chance, they would kill me here, but I needed to lose them in the busier building just across the small square.
When I was sure they could see me, I slipped through the side door and pushed through the crowd, knowing they were behind me. I could hear their thundering steps even over the loud, bustling crowd.
Without a ticket I pushed into Anne Frank Huis, knowing the cries of the outraged tourists would let them know where I was. It was exactly as I wanted. I made it as far as the bookshelf that separated the girl’s secret annex where she had hid so many years from the deranged world and when I knew the bears were on my scent and closing in, I grabbed the hilt of my sword and disappeared into a rising cloud of black mist.
7
I reformed my body on the roof of the house, breathing deeply exhausted from the course of magic it took to become shadow. The hollars and irritation of the tourists making their way through the mournful museum was enough for me. The bears were stuck in th museum in their human form with no way of shifting and escaping. No doubt they would be arrested and in would take Lord Van Arend himself, the keeper of Muiderkring West’s high seat, to pull rank in his home country and get Patch and Polaris released.
That took care of the most pressing issue. Now to find the girl Agi and see what Davin thought all the fuss was about her.
I moved through the hipster streets of Amsterdam swiftly, but still in human form. Every now and again I heard some rumblings of people talking about a leopard and bears who’d been racing through the region seemingly moments earlier. But considering we were in the central part of Amsterdam and most people here were drunk or high, my guess was, without proof, the stories would quickly die down as drug-induced hallucinations.
In moments I was at Zuiderkerk, the 16th century church that had once been painted by Monet. The Van Arend eagles weren’t the only shifters with an appreciation of art. But from here it was a straight line up the narrow road and over the canal to Rembrandthuis,
the 17th century restored former home of the baroque master himself.
This time, I bought a ticket. There was no point in stirring up more trouble and causing more rumors. My goal now was to blend in and to find my target.
It didn’t take long. I went swiftly from room to room barely glancing that the box closets they slept in sitting up or the paintings on the wall. I could smell Davin’s shifter scent, blackened ash on a down pillow coming from above. I circled up the stairs and landed in the master’s studio.
The red-head raven stood in the room, large by 17th century Dutch standards her head tilted back looking at the small alligator that was hanging from straps from the ceiling. It caught me offguard. The busts, the statues, the weapons, the sculptures…they all seemed to make sense for this artist and his students to paint. But an alligator? I’d never seen an alligator in any of his paintings.
“There’s more,” Davin said, completely nonchalant about the fact that I had just escaped two bears and made my way back across Amsterdam, figuring out where she was. Her interest was more on the feathers and tortoise shells and skulls of animals in the room.
“Do you think he was one of us?” she asked.
It was one of the favorite game shifters seemed to play with eachother. Guess if this famous person was a shifter. As excellent as our records were with the established Order, many of our people were still undocumented and would probably never be known.
“Is she here?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Davin shrugged, as if she hadn’t cared what I thought about her question either. Instead she led me back out the door and up a tiny circular stairwell that was nearly too small for even me to comfortably fit in. After a few turns there was a door open leading to another floor and a rope barring off the rest of the stairs. Without a moment’s hesitation, Davin slipped under the rope and continued up the stairs. I followed her up one more turn to a small door that we both had to duck through to get in.
“How the hell did you know this was here?” I murmured as I stood up in the small room. It had a wooden floor and wooden beams along the ceiling. Plain white walls and despite the fact it was in a 17th century museum, it was modernly furnished with a love seat, a small table and two chairs. Other than that, the room was bare.
“The jewel told me,” Davin said. “Well, it told me where she was.” She nodded to the woman I had almost missed. Agi stood in a white dress, her white blond hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, her pale skin all of it almost blending into the white wall where she stood in the corner. She was taller than both of us, her neck arched as she watched us carefully. She’d positioned herself in the worst part of the room. Away from the window and the door with her back literally in a corner.
This young woman was no fighter.
“Lady Anin,” she said with a slight curtsy.
I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening. “You know who I am?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said, her smile warm and friendly. “You are the daughter of Lord Wira, Holder of the High Seat of Muiderkring East.”
“How could you possibly-” I stopped myself. I knew who she was before I had arrived here. I just hadn’t thought they would care so much to know about us here in the west.
“You are welcome to Muiderkring West,” she said with a wry twist to her mouth. “I’m afraid I haven’t much to offer you but, I do wish to understand why you are here.”
“She came to kill El Oso,” Davin shrugged, flopping down in one of the chairs at the table and placing her swords on it. The clank of metal on metal was somehow comforting to me. As if this would be a woman you would want at your side in a battle.
“You don’t mince words, do you?” I smiled at her.
“I already told her,” Davin said. “But I left the other bit to you. I think she’s going to want to hear it.”
“I’m not sure how it will be written of in history,” I said as Agi came out of the corner and perched on the other chair. With nowhere else to sit I moved onto the worn love seat, folding my feet under me. “But I was sent by my people to stop a great wrong that El Oso is planning.”
“Which is?” Agi asked.
She had all the poise and grace I needed in court back home but struggled to have the patience for when I was out in the field.
“There is a great lost magic in the shifter clans,” I said. “My people believe El Oso has discovered an ancient spell that requires five magic items to create. The spell will give him not only power over all the clans, but it will give his people unknown magic.”
“And the items are?” Her voice was soft and lulled me forward.
I shook my head. “Why did you flee your own Matching. You were intended to care for your parents.”
“You were there?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes,” I smiled, “but not by invitation.”
She looked at me intently for a moment as if she could read me through gazing at my face alone. “I think you know the answers to all the questions you ask,” she said finally.
“Just show her,” Davin sighed. “She’ll understand then.”
My eyebrows knit together. “Show me what?”
Agi glanced sideways at Davin, but after only the briefest of pauses she reached a hand up to the chain on her neck. Slowly she pulled it from under the billowing folds of her white bodice.
I leaned forward, curious as to what could possibly be so important on the chain. When I saw it, a small gasp escaped my lips. Wrote from iron in the most intricate design with strong sleek bars and metal curving like vines around the top was a cage.
“An iron cage.” The words were like a light breath escaping my mouth.
8
“Lady Davin said it might be one of the items you are looking for.” Agi unclasped the chain from her neck and held it out to me.
I drew back. “Don’t give that to me.”
“I just thought you might want to inspect it closer,” she said, keeping her arm extended.
“How did you get it?” I stood, moving closer but not touching the item.
“Willem gave it to me when I told him I was leaving,” she said.
I frowned. “They can use it to track you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he would do that. It was only a keep sake. Something to remember him by. He slipped it in my hand as we parted and told me I would always hold his heart in this cage.”
“You have no idea what the power is?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“A jagged sword. A dark jewel. An iron cage. A gilded chain. And a sacred chalice,” Davin said, picking a dagger out of her boot and starting to worry the old, beaten up table with it.
I shook my head in amazement. “We have three of the five objects.”
“Indeed,” Davin smiled. “You might want to rethink your idea of trying to kill the fat old bear and instead we just find the other two objects.”
I couldn’t stop the niggle of doubt that worked its way up my back. “What would we do with all of them?”
“Relax,” she said with a sideways grin. “I want no power over all the clans. I just want my clan back. I’m the rightful heir to the Ravensgaard.”
“How will having all these objects help you achieve that?” Agi asked.
“Well, killing people isn’t always the answer,” Davin said, “though it’s been my preferred method for awhile. But trying to take on one like El Oso, it’s a fool’s mission. No offense.” She pointed her dagger at me.
I closed my eyes briefly and waved my hand to the side. “None taken, though it can still be done.”
“Fairplay to you,” she nodded. “But what if we can just stop the gobshite from getting them?”
“Like what, destroy them?” Agi asked, clutching her iron cage in her hand.
“No!” My voice rang out in the small room, startling Agi. “I’m sorry. Look, this is the jagged sword.” I drew Surya from her sheath and held it up, so it caught the afternoon light that filtered in through the
window. “It’s a family heirloom and imbued with magic. Even if I was willing to destroy it, which I’m not, it’s impossible. The sword is a part of me. A part of my bloodline.”
“As the jewel is a part of mine,” Davin agreed. “I’m saying we use them to empower our people and create a new alliance. One between the great houses of the East and West.”
“What of the North?” I asked.
“Only the bears live in the north now,” Davin shrugged. “And the south was wiped out in the Wars of Attrition. If we united our high seats and formed a new union with the magic of our families behind us, we could unseat the Murtagh’s and defeat El Oso’s hold on the Order.”
We both looked at Agi. “Especially with the Van Arend’s in our alliance,” I said.
She let out a slight nervous laugh. “What you’re suggesting is completely impossible. You were both there today. You saw what happened. My father and Lord Van Arend both agreed that Willem, heir to the High Seat should wed my sister.”
“But he loves you,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter who he loves. He must do as his father and my father have agreed with El Oso,” she insisted.
“Why?” I asked. “Why does everyone have to follow the Order.”
“My ancestors and your ancestors and your ancestors,” she said, her gaze move from me to Davin, “put the Order in place to help protect our people from the humans and make sure that we could always call on each other in times of need.”
“And do you see that working so well?” Davin asked. “They let Murtagh take my family seat. They force your people to marry who they want them to marry.”
“And they are trying to exert power in my Muiderkring where they don’t even know the customs and ways of our people,” I added.
Agi leaned forward, her troubled face gazing at both of us. “You both know I have no power. I am the third daughter of the Lord’s brother.”
“You have the iron cage,” I said. “You have all the power. And it’s quite possible no one of your people even knows it.”
