When Ustarte awoke, back in her own form, she felt different. Faintly dizzy and nauseous she had sat upon the floor, amid the ruins of the furniture torn to shreds by her tiger self. Suddenly her mind opened, and she heard the thoughts of every man and creature within the prison. Simultaneously. The shock made her scream, but she did not hear it. Her mind was full to bursting. Resisting panic, she tried to focus, creating compartments of the mind, which she closed against the tumultuous roar. The most powerful of the thoughts would not be shut out, for they were born of agony.
And they were coming from Prial. Two of Deresh Karany’s assistants were experimenting on him.
Anger flooded through Ustarte, and a pulsing, volcanic rage began to build. Rising from the floor she focused on the men – and reached out. The air around her seemed to shiver and part. A fraction of a heartbeat later she found herself standing alongside the torturers within one of the meld-rooms on the other side of the prison. Ustarte’s talons ripped through the throat of the first man. The second tried to run, but she leapt upon his back, bearing him to the ground. His head struck the stone floor, shattering the bones of his face.
Ustarte freed Prial.
‘How did you . . . ?’ whispered Prial. ‘You . . .appeared from the air.’ There was blood upon his fur, and several implements were still embedded in his flesh. Gently Ustarte eased them clear.
‘We are leaving now,’ said Ustarte.
‘The time has come?’
‘It has come.’
Closing her eyes she pulsed a message to all of the meld-creatures within the prison. Then she disappeared.
The apartments of Deresh Karany were empty, and she recalled that he had gone to the city to meet with the Council of Seven. Deresh had plans to open a gateway between worlds and invade once more an ancient realm that had defeated them so many years before.
From outside came the sound of splintering timbers and screaming men. Ustarte walked to the window and saw the creatures of the meld swarming across the exercise ground. Guards were fleeing in terror. They did not get far.
An hour later Ustarte led the one hundred and seventy prisoners out into the countryside, high into the forested mountain slopes.
‘They will hunt us down,’ said Prial. ‘We have nowhere to go.’
His words were proved true within days, when Kriaz-nor troops and hunt-hounds began scouring the forest.
The escapees fought well, and for a time enjoyed some small victories. But gradually they were whittled down, and forced further into the high country. Some of the prisoners took off on their own, moving still higher into the snow, others were sent by Ustarte in groups to seek freedom to the east or the south. Disfigured and malformed as they were, she warned them to avoid the haunts of men.
On the last morning, as several hundred Kriaz-nor were climbing towards their camp, Ustarte gathered the remaining twenty followers around her. ‘Stay close to me,’ she ordered her people, ‘and follow when I move.’ Reaching out she pictured the gateway as she had seen it in Deresh Karany’s thoughts.
The air rippled. Ustarte threw out her arms. ‘Now!’ she cried, just as the Kriaz-nor burst upon the camp. Ustarte stepped forward. Bright lights in a score of colours flickered around her. As they faded she found herself standing within a green clearing in the shadow of a line of tall cliffs. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky. Only nine of her followers made it through with her. Startled Kriaz-nor warriors were standing close by. Ahead was a huge stone arch, cut into the cliff. Beneath the arch the rock was glowing, ripples of blue lightning flashing across it. The Kriaz-nor rushed at them. Ustarte leapt towards the arch. Prial, Menias, Corvidal and Sheetza, a young girl with the scaled skin of a lizard, ran with her. The others charged the Kriaz-nor.
Throwing out her arms, Ustarte summoned all of her power. For an instant only the rock before her faded, and through it she saw moonlight over a series of ghostly ruins. As it began to fade she, and the last of her followers, stepped through.
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