Saved

    It was a hot day, almost blisteringly so. The sand was hot too, unless you disturbed it a bit. It was much cooler underneath. But it still got everywhere, and that made it rather irritating. Especially when it was in your eyes, your nose, your mouth, your-

    “Get up!” Someone screamed from the crowd. The cry was picked up and chanted around the arena.

    The young shapeshifter laid in the sand, eyes closed, listening to the voices. She realized rather suddenly that she was human, knocked out right out of her bear shift by her opponent's relentless blows. She didn't really care. She was feeling every bruise, tasting the blood in her mouth. Every breath was an effort. Maybe she was dying. That would be nice. It would probably be quiet. She felt her body relax.

    The crowd booed. There hadn't been nearly enough bloodshed in this fight.

    At least, not yet.

    The tigress growled and narrowed her eyes at the motionless bear girl. What did she think she was doing? Ruining everything, that's what she was doing.

    The big cat slunk forward, wary. It occurred to her that this might be a tactic. Play dead, then jump her when she came to investigate. A growl rumbled in her throat.

    The girl didn't move when She approached. The crowd continued booing and snarling insults at them both.

    The girl was, perhaps, nineteen summers in age, strong enough, but lean, which was unusual for a bear shifter.

    She circled the girl, checking for clan-marks on her arms or back. She found none, and wasn't surprised. Another typical clanless brat scraped up from the edges of the forest. She hadn't had a proper opponent in months.

    The tigress knew that the girl wasn't dead. She was probably exhausted, definitely sore, but not dead. She was still breathing, deep and slow as she rested. The tigress had heard the breath of dying creatures many times before. This girl was far from dead.

    She sat about an arm's length from the girl's head and returned to her human form. “Fine, rest. But don't get too comfortable.” She looked to the opposite end of the arena where the queen sat on her throne on a tall balcony. “The guards will be over to get you up before too long.”

    The girl didn't respond beyond opening her eyes just a bit to look at the tigress shifter.

    “Now, I know you're just dying to tell me your life story. So let's get it over with. It won't change anything, but I'm sure you're convinced that if I just hear about your parents or your siblings or friends or pets or whatever I'll let you live.”

    The girl closed her eyes again. “Nah.”

    “Nah?”

    “I don't have family to miss me. Not anymore.”

    The tigress tilted her head. “Oh? So you're looking for pity then. I much prefer hearing about families. Care to try again?”

    “I'm not asking for pity, I'm telling the truth. No family. My parents died a long time ago. When the King decided our village wasn't doing its part in the war and burned it.”

    “Poor thing.” The tigress responded without any trace of pity in her voice. “I guess you should just...die.”

    The tigress lunged at the girl, turning her onto her back and holding her down easily. Grabbing the girl by the shirt with both hands, she lifted her right up into the air. Before she could attempt to escape her vise-like grip, the tigress slammed her back down into the sand.

    “I guess I'm just too stubborn for death.” The girl grunted after a moment.

    The tigress dropped down and sat on the girl's stomach. “Oh, I'll fix that.”

    The girl struggled in her grasp. “If it's all the same to you I'll stay the way I am, thanks.”

    The tigress smirked. She readjusted her grip on the girl's tank top so she was holding her with one hand. The other she carefully controlled, shifting it to a tiger's paw. She unsheathed one claw. “Tell me, have you ever gutted a fish?”

    “I have.” The girl said calmly, holding the wrist of the hand still holding her shirt, eyes on the tigress' claw. “It's a terribly messy procedure. I don't much care for it.”

    “No? Oh, but it's so much fun...” The tigress' lowered her claw towards the girl's chest. “One long slice from head to tail...”

    In a sudden motion the girl struck out with her fist and struck the tigress' jaw. The strike pushed the tigress' head aside and surprised her. The girl wriggled free in those few seconds, shifted into her bear form, and galloped for the other end of the arena.

    The tigress shifted as well, and tore off after the bear.

    The tigress growled to herself; the bear would end up among the heavy wooden scaffolding supporting the queen's balcony. That meant she'd have to get her out, and that was extra, pointless effort.

    The bear ran for the shadows under the balcony.

    The tigress was hot on her heels. With a roar, she leaped through the air and landed on the bear's shoulders. She bit down, but the thick reddish-brown fur kept her from piercing flesh.

    The bear roared in anger, but kept running until she was in the cool shadows. Then she reared up on her hind legs and backed into one of the support beams in an attempt to knock the tigress loose.

    The tigress clung on with her forepaws. “So,” She coughed, “Where'd they grab you?”

    The bear snarled, slamming herself against the support once again. “The Silver River. I stopped for a drink.”

    The tigress dropped off and landed on all four paws in the sand. Before the bear could react, the tigress sprang at her and struck her in the side. Unprepared, the bear toppled over and struck her head on the ground.

    The strike knocked her out of her shift.

    The tigress returned to her human form, then grabbed the girl's ankle and hauled her back out into the blazing sun. “Headed for the Golden City?”

    The girl squinted in the bright light, but was still visibly dazed from her fall. “No...away from it.”

    The tigress placed a foot on the girl's chest and held her down. “You're heading in the wrong direction, kiddo.”

    The girl smirked. “No, I wanted to come here.” She glanced around. “Well, maybe not here...but I've heard so  much about The Farthest Edge, I wanted to see for myself.”

    The tigress snorted. “Well, welcome. You must be crazy.”

    “Why do you do this?” The girl asked. “How did you get here?”

    The tigress pushed the girl harder against the ground. “I thought we weren't telling life stories.”

    “I'm not. I'm asking about one.”

    The crowd booed the lull in the action.

    The tigress stepped off the girl, then reached down and grabbed her by her hair. In a swift motion she hauled her to her feet, then threw her back to the ground.

    The girl shifted quickly and rolled away, then clamored to her feet. She began running for the opposite side of the arena.

    The tigress didn't give chase right away. Instead she watched the bear.

    What an odd fight this had been. The girl seemed almost unafraid. She didn't fight like a bear, but like a strange mashup of different animals. She wasn't built like a bear in her human form. And her brown fur had an odd orange-red tint.

    The bear kept looking over her shoulder. When the tigress didn't give chase she stopped and looked back, panting.

    The tigress began walking towards her, not shifting.

    The bear turned to face her, lowering her head.

    “You're trying to tire me out.” The tigress said simply. “That's a coward's move.”

    The bear shrugged, never taking her eyes off the tigress. “Maybe I'm a coward.”

    “No, you're stalling. You think someone's coming to save you.” The tigress felt an anger she couldn't explain rising in her chest. “Who? You said you had no one to miss you, no family. Who is it then, friends?”

    The bear glanced at the queen on her balcony, still calmly watching the proceedings.

    “You're decent looking. Is it your lover who's coming? A knight in shining armor?”

    The bear glanced at the sky for a heartbeat, then back at the tigress.

    “Because I have news for you. He won't get here in time.”

    The tigress lunged, shifting in mid-leap.

    The bear rose onto her hind legs to meet her leap, and they met in a strange embrace.

    The tigress pulled the bear closer, biting at her face, kicking at her belly with her hind paws.

    The bear battered at the tigress with her forepaws, striking her head with all of her strength.

    The tigress felt the satisfying tear of fur beneath her claws. She caught the bear's muzzle in her jaws several times. The blows from the bear's forepaws were heavy and distracting but not enough to stop her attack. She lunged and bit down on the bear's arm where it met her body. The fur was a bit thinner there, and the tigress felt her fangs sink into flesh.

    The bear roared, trying to shove the tigress off.

    The tigress would not be dissuaded. She'd been enjoying the fight before, letting her prey run off for a moment, resting between quick clashes. But now she felt the familiar anger in her claws and teeth. It was time to end this fight.

    Suddenly the girl dropped her shift. The change in her quarry's size forced the tigress to let go, but she recovered quickly and dropped to the sand snarling.

    The girl ran for the shade once again.

    The tigress snorted and ran after her. She leaped for her, claws outstretched, jaws open, fangs ready.

    At the last second the girl changed direction and the tigress overshot. She skidded in the sand and watched the girl stumbling away.

    The wound from the tigress' bite had probably been made worse when the girl shifted. It was a common mistake, one the tigress saw almost every time she fought one of these inexperienced children.

    The girl, exhausted, dark red blood running from her shoulder down her left arm and dripping into the sand, wouldn't run far.

    The tigress shook the sand from her pelt and began stalking forward.

    “Get her!” The crowd roared. “Tear her apart!”

    The girl turned to face the tigress, an unreadable expression on her face.

    The tigress snarled and began moving faster. A few more feet and she'd have the girl's throat in her jaws. A simple, quick slash with her fangs in the right spot on the girl's throat, the crowd would have all the blood they wanted, and the fight would be over.

    “Combatants, halt!” A guard bellowed.

    The tigress stopped, and both fighters looked to the queen's balcony. The queen was gripping the armrests of her throne, staring up at the sky, looking for something. The guards had raised their spears and were staring up at the sky as well.

    The crowd fell silent.

    A deep, rhythmic thumping throbbed through the air. It slowly grew louder. Suddenly, two potbellied airships swooped into view, their rotating rudders beating the air.

    The head guard began shouting orders at the others.

    The queen stared in horror at the sky.

    Suddenly the tigress understood. She looked down at the girl, slumped down in the sand. She was watching the airships circle the arena, a smile growing on her face.

    She wasn't a typical clanless girl. She was part of the resistance that had grown against the queen and her late husband.

    The arena was only a part of the palace hidden among the canyons of the Farthest Edge. From there the queen might be able to run along the hidden caves to the canyon edge where the palace was carved ornately from sandstone. Finding the arena meant finding the queen's main hiding place. It meant finding the true heart of the rulership. Finding the arena meant the resistance could win.

    The tigress stared at the girl. She'd had members of the resistance in the arena before. Why had this one been different? How had she led them there?

    The girl looked at the tigress, still smiling. Something stirred far back in the tigress' mind while the sand was churned into dust clouds around them.

    Her smile, the shine in her golden-brown eyes. Something about it was so oddly familiar.

    She should kill the girl. She had a chance. The girl wasn't in a position to defend herself, leaning to one side, slumped in the sand, exhausted and bleeding. But something was itching, way back in her darkest memories.

    The airships continued to circle while the guards began trying to urge the queen through the ornate doorway on the balcony into the catacombs. The queen was frozen in place, her thin hands clutching the armrests of her throne, her pale blue eyes wide and fixed on the airships above.

    The crowd was in a panic, trying to leave the arena, ironically, before the fighting began.

    The tigress coughed in the dust, but the girl didn't even seem to notice.

    What was it? Why did that smile make her look so...so familiar?

    The girl noticed the tigress suddenly and looked her way, her smile faltering.

    She knows I could kill her right now. Maybe they aren't on time after all. Maybe her friends are too late.

    But suddenly the tigress couldn't recover the urge to kill. She returned to her human form. Her mind was whirling like the sand around them. Then a long-buried memory, forced by grief and rage and fear into a far corner of the tigress' mind, exploded before her eyes.

    She was running, running with all of her strength, tears pouring from her eyes. Her village was burning around her, everyone was screaming, smoke clogged the air. She couldn't find her mate. She was screaming her daughter's name.

    She could hear her daughter wailing somewhere in the haze. She didn't know how she picked out that one voice among the chaos, but she just knew that voice belonged to her little girl.

    The ashes and charred wood on the ground burned her bare feet but she ignored them. Her baby was around somewhere, alone and terrified.

    Every time the tigress thought she was safe, the fire exploded from a window, snarled from another house, leaped up another tree.

    She just kept running, screaming for her daughter. Her little voice had gone silent. Where was she? Her baby, her little girl, her precious daughter...

    That girl. She was a bear, like the tigress' mate had been. She had orange-brown fur. She moved and fought like a cat. She...

    The tigress stared in horror at her opponent. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally managed to speak.

    “Ayvah...?” Her voice was fragile, barely audible above the chaos.

    The girl coughed in the dust. “Hi mom.”


    One of the airships hovered over the balcony while another swooped low into the arena. Ayvah's heart and soul leaped to meet it before it was anywhere near close enough for her to actually board. It didn't matter who was inside, she knew everyone. And they were coming to save her, to take her home.

    She'd helped them find the arena, the entrance to the palace, and the queen. Soon they'd be inside, and the war would be over. No more families torn apart on a whim. No more kids like her.

    Her mother, standing in the arena beside her, looked horrified and ill. She swayed on her feet and Ayvah wondered if she might be about to faint.

    “Are you okay?” She yelled over the noise of the airships and the wind. It was a strange question, she knew. How could a woman be okay after realizing she'd nearly killed her own daughter? But the question practically asked itself.

    “I...I remember.” Her mother said so softly Ayvah almost couldn't hear her. Her amber eyes were wide and blank, staring not at the chaos in the arena, but at the chaos in her own mind. Ayvah could imagine the memories swooping in on her mother now.

    “I know Mom, but now we can fix it! We'll be okay now, I promise! When the ship lands, come with us, and we'll help you get better!”


    The tigress barely heard the girl's voice.

    Ayvah...her little daughter, the child she believed to have been lost so long ago, was alive. Barely.

    She'd been about to kill her...she'd tasted the blood of her own child...

    She could remember now, remember those years before the village burned, before the queen snatched her from the wreckage of her home and nearly drove her insane. Before the queen had turned her into a killer.

    Ayvah sat in the grass, playing with the toy horse her father had carved for her. Suddenly she looked up.

    “What is it, sweetheart?”

    Ayvah pointed. “Ladybug! Momma, look!”

    A few feet away a ladybug had become entangled in a dew-coated spiderweb.

    “Oh dear!” She got to her feet, leaving Ayvah with her toys. Carefully she plucked a twig from a nearby bush, and let the ladybug climb onto it. The bug, freed from the web, flew away.

    “Yay!” Ayvah cheered, then giggled.

    She watched the bug fly away, then looked back at Ayvah with a smile.

    Happy memories flashed into her mind alongside more recent images of carnage. Blood from young warriors dripped from her hands while she heard her daughter laughing and smelled baking bread. Birdsong from happy picnics with her mate echoed alongside agonized screams. Screams of innocent shifters fighting for their lives. Lives she took without mercy. Pain, so much pain, all at her hands.


    The airship hovered overhead, and a rope ladder unfurled an arm's length away. But Ayvah was watching her mother. She was an image of unimaginable terror. She staggered and grabbed at her head, squeezing her eyes shut, groaning.

    “Mom...?”


    The tigress opened her eyes suddenly. It was all clear all at once. The cause of all of this suffering. The monster who had made her a monster too, then hidden her at the Farthest Edge of the continent, so far from her daughter.

    The tigress looked at the queen's balcony. The guards had the queen on her feet and were trying to drag her into the caves where she'd be safe. Overhead the airship hovered. The shifters inside were yelling something down to the queen. A challenge?

    No. There had already been a fight in this arena today. The tigress would not allow the guards to fight the youths of the sort who'd already died in this terrible place.


    “Mom?” Ayvah asked. There was a new expression on the tigress' face. She looked alert, more like the shifter she'd been trying not to fight.

    With a roar, the tigress shifted and ran for the wooden support beams beneath the queen's balcony. In a heartbeat she was there. She leaped, striking the central support with her massive shoulders at full speed.

    There was a loud snap like a breaking bone. The wooden beam buckled. The supports around it splintered under the sudden weight. The sandstone balcony lurched. It fell in a shower of sandstone, taking the queen and several guards with it.

    In seconds all that remained was a pile of splintered wood and crumbled sandstone.


    Ayvah stared at the rubble in horror. She'd lost sight of her mother...could she have survived? Was she there? Alive?

    A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Ayvah didn't resist when she was nudged toward the rope ladder and told to climb.

- - -

    Ayvah was in a fog when she climbed into the airship.

    Roe, a fellow medic, helped her to a seat while the ship rose higher into the air. He began looking her over, starting with the still-bleeding wound on her shoulder.

    “You're lucky to be alive, Ayvah! I thought you were an experienced fighter!”

   Ayvah grunted, staring out the open door at the arena below.

    “I'll never know how you convinced Erik to let you do this. He's crazier than you are.”

    Ayvah watched the remaining guards climbing down to the rubble. Everyone had been buried. No one could have survived.

    Suddenly a heavy, calloused hand was resting on her shoulder. Gently it turned her head until she was staring at Erik, one of the resistance's several commanders, and one of her best friends.

    “Ayvah, are you okay? Tell me you're okay.” He half asked, half demanded. His brown eyes searched hers, then looked down to the wounds on the rest of her body.

    All the pain and exhaustion and fear crashed down on her at once, staring into his eyes.

    Roe wiped disinfectant across her shoulder wound.

    She remembered the balcony falling, burying everything. Burying her last bit of family.

    Ayvah clung to Erik and sobbed.

- - -

    Late that night, Ayvah was awoken by a gentle weight draping across her waist.

    She was lying on her back in her bed. She turned her head and found Erik's face a mere breath away from hers. His eyes were closed as if he were sleeping.

    She rested her left hand on the arm he'd draped over her waist, wincing at the pain in her shoulder.

    Erik's eyes opened immediately.

    “Hi.” She whispered.

    “Hi.” He responded.

    “What's going on?”

    “Nothing. It's over.”

    Ayvah blinked. “What is?”

    “Everything. The queen is dead. I'm letting the others worry about all the political stuff right now. I wanted to sleep.”

    Ayvah yawned. “That's...good. I guess.”

    Erik shrugged.

    Ayvah wriggled a bit, getting closer to him and his warmth, resettling herself to sleep. He tightened his grip on her waist and rested his forehead on hers.

    “What about you?” He whispered.

    Ayvah frowned slightly and opened her eyes again.

    His chocolate-brown eyes were black in the dimly lit room. Still, she could see his concern. “You practically forced me to send you on this mission. You were looking for something here.”

    “What would a girl like me be looking for at the Farthest Edge?”

    Erik was silent for a moment. “Fine, don't tell me. But did you find it?”

    Ayvah closed her eyes. Every scrape and cut and bruise and gash on her body throbbed. She thought of her mother's face when she realized who she was. She thought of the snapping of the wooden support beam when her mother slammed against it. She remembered the pile of rubble, knowing her mother was beneath it.

    “I guess so.”

    Erik didn't press for any more details, simply hugged her tighter and held her until they both fell asleep.