not another werewolf story!
I follow at a guarded distance the man who just saved my life, unsure of how much I can trust him not to take it later. He walks briskly, taking great strides with labored ease. He maneuvers the night as if it's day, lumbering about the backwoods like he doesn't feel the roots and bumps underneath. His manner disgusts me but his form is pleasing, and he literally took a knife for me --does he even know, it's still bleeding-, so I follow him apace.
My hackles are raised, still tender from my sudden encounter with death. I don't like this one bit, I don't like the cold, chill air, I don't like the frenzied man-monster leading me to "the pack" to "consult with the alpha", and I
definitely
don't like being
still
cuffed from the last person to force me to travel against my will. My nerves are still on fire from adrenaline, and though he jogs I easily keep tempo. He doesn't realize I can see in the night as well he, probably better even. The shades of nature muted by blacks and greys race past, blurred at the edges. We are on some private property, off a very local back road, and I have seen no hint of life for miles until we crest a hill and discover a large complex of very nice, big homes and big, yawning yards.
We are met at the gate to this complex by a uniformed man in a jeep-looking car who roughly tosses me in the back seat, separated from the front by bars. My captor ambles into the vehicle with some difficulty, his frame too large really for the car. I sit quietly, like a good boy, eyes alert, looking for the first warnings of escape. I inhale deeply and slowly and clear my mind. The full moon shines so intensely above me. It fills my vision and glows and vibrates. I hear a silvery voice in my head, it whispers a Word to me. My eyes widen as the Word reverberates in my head, visions of chance and choice dancing before me. I focus on the source of my magic, deep in my gut, and I reach inside and release some. I will it to act, beg it to save me. I just need one chance. I say the Word.
"
Wyrd."
I cast the spell, a forbidden spell that you should never use- unless you have nothing left, no chance, when you're down to your last hope- I cast it, and I cry out to the universe for help. For a long minute, nothing happens. I'm holding my breath. The drab colors speed by. The moon pierces my vision. My captor coughs and the driver growls, "Did you hear something?" and the sound of pavement beneath the car. Then comes my wish.
"What the fuck?" says the driver as the check engine light flashes, and then I hear a pleasant
ding!
and then a loud glorious
BANG
and the car jumps and shakes and smokes and we careen off the road and come to a screeching halt, almost but not quite tipping over. The men in front are both temporarily unconscious, surely a lucky stroke of fate, and I reach again into the well of magic and blink and suddenly I am standing outside of the car. I stare at my handcuffs and imagine them burning up into nothing and as I will it, they do, melting and dripping off my hands to the grass below. I will the magic into my limbs and let it seep into my muscles, granting me temporary unnatural strength, endurance, and speed. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, focus, and release the spell, "
Go."
I take off like a shot, the smoke billowing up several moments after I pass. I run and speed down the road in the opposite direction of the fucked car and my captors, and I approach the gate. It is locked and high but I know I can jump it. I am aware of movement behind me and I know it is my captor, shuffling and running behind me at full speed, predator. But I am not prey.
I jump at the precise necessary moment and easily clear the gate, knowing my captor is only a few paces behind. Above the gate, I twist in the air and train my flat upturned palm to him. He jumps, to intercept me, and I say, eyes blazing, "
Ignite,"
and a big, round fireball bursts from my palm and strikes my captor square in the chest. He is knocked back into the earth, and I twist like a cat and land feet first, rolling with gravity and my body and recovering smoothly into a full-tilt sprint. The man behind me howls, boiling mad, enraged, and I turn around and give him the finger. With his night vision he sees me and snarls. I laugh, stick out my tongue, and continue on my way.
Cue the badass rock music. My mad dash to escape continues for many miles along empty, moonlit roads, underscored by heavy bass, thrashing percussion, and a sweet guitar drawling as I sprint, never tiring and aided by the magic, down dirt roads. I can keep this up, but not forever. I need a more efficient way to escape, so I put the brakes on, hard. I skid over several feet to a stop, feet digging tracks in the road, leaning into it like a skater. I stop and check my feet- no damage. It seems I have been favored tonight. It's a good thing, because I'm not yet clear.
I take a wide stance and squat a little. I twist my hands into the owl sigil, and I say, "
Become,
" and my bones creak and roll and hollow out, and my feathers come in and my head feels squished and then I see my beak and feel my talons and the trees grow taller and then I flap my wings hard, take off and hover a second, still flapping, then I ascend. I propel myself with magic-aided wings, and will a warm breeze underneath to buoy me to the skies. It bobs me up among the clouds, high above the ground, and I see everything diminish. The owl's vision is sharper than mine and just as good in the night. I bust through a cloud and suddenly the moon, large and demanding, is before me.
Its vibrant rays paralyze me in ecstasy, and the owl has to take over my body. I am held in its thrall, unable to do anything but gaze directly into the moon's face. It whispers many Words to me, Words too complex and overwhelming to understand. I am bombarded with images- glaring eyes in the dark- blood washing over the land like a flood- the eye of the storm, churning about on every side, a battle frozen in awe- my captor, in warm sunshine, atop a white blanket- a marble man with a glass face, lit by the light of fire- a dark man atop a throne of ash, tempting and poison- an unspeakably evil entity at the edge of things, pulling strings at the fabric of life, it sees me and smiles, it laughs uproariously at me- and then my vision returns and the moon whispers
Be not afraid, child. All is as meant. Thy Wyrd is yet pure...
and the voice fades and I regain my body and realize I am above a city, an urban outsprawl.
I home in on civilization and descend, scouting a place to land. I have no idea where I am, having just escaped the clutches of my original captor Jareth and his underground cult. I have no intention of going back to them, I'll take my own life first. If that other guy, the big lumberjack howling man, hadn't stopped the transport van I'd still be in the dungeons, shackled to The Rock, wasting away but never allowed to die. I'll give my thanks for that one, but he kidnapped me too, so he can get fucked as far as I'm concerned.
I see a huge mall in the skyline. I angle toward it. A perfect place to disguise myself and figure out my next move. This has been a real lucky night so far- I hope it holds. I land in a little wooded area behind the mall, reassume my human form. I am naked, a caveat of the transfiguring magic, and I look around, hoping to spot an outfit conveniently left on a hanger in the trees for me. Finding none, I keep low and to the cover of the trees, searching for any opportunity to nab some threads.
A man walks by, presumably to his car, dressed in boring dad jeans, a polo shirt, and a large brown jacket. I think his feet are too small for me, but I can probably make it work. I reach into my well of magic, now considerably depleted, and raise a Charm. "
Entice
," I whisper, and the man stops short, stopped by some realization or force, turns his head and looks straight at me. He drinks in my nakedness and his pupils dilate. He walks to me, propelled by his desire, and I pose for him on a nearby tree.