Witching Time (The Wild Hunt #14) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,52
when there was a chuff from the bushes.
I froze. It sounded like a cougar or some sort of big cat. Occasionally found in the area, they came down from the hills into the cities and outlying areas. Or it could be a bear. Or maybe a coyote, but it sounded very cat-like.
Slowly, I turned to scan the trees with my flashlight. The light might frighten it off, if it was a big cat. Running would only make me prey in its eyes.
A minute passed, then another. I couldn’t see any sign of eyeshine or movement to indicate where the sound had come from. Slowly, I began to walk toward the bushes, raising my voice.
“So, who’s in there? Anybody there? Big kitty-cat, maybe? If you are, run along. I’m not your dinner.” Making noise was a good way to frighten off animals. But there was still no sound and I began to wonder if I had imagined the noise.
I reached the edge of the tree line. Still no sign, but now I could smell something. It wasn’t musky, like an animal, but it smelled vaguely of…gunpowder? No, not that. Not gunpowder but…ozone. That was it—the same smell I smelled before thunderstorms and snow storms. At that moment, a prickle of energy raced through me. Magic was thick here, and whatever kind of magic it was, it was like walking through mud, thick and oozing all around me.
Shuddering, I turned to go, but then the energy coiled around me, swirling to embrace me. I struggled to breathe—it was as though a great constrictor had me by the waist and was sucking the breath out of me. I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth and I realized that I couldn’t even hear the breeze through the trees. All around me, the world was suddenly silent.
I fought against the magic, trying to shake it off, but it was stronger than I was. And it was old—old and treacherous. I clawed at my waist, trying to loosen whatever had hold of me, but there was nothing to latch onto.
A moment later, I began to see spots and realized I wasn’t breathing. I was going to suffocate. I thought of Kipa, but the world remained quiet and I couldn’t scream.
Everything began to fade.
And then, right before I blacked out, I caught sight of a tiger racing toward me. He was gorgeous and huge, and he leapt for me. I stiffened. As he landed atop me, I fell, hitting the ground so hard I was seeing stars. Suddenly, I could hear his growling, and then I gasped for air as the sweet rush of oxygen flowed into my lungs.
I rolled away, coming up to a sitting position, dazed.
The tiger was grappling with something that I couldn’t see—but I could see ripples in the air, almost in the shape of a person. The tiger had hold of whatever it was, and was trying to maul it. But the creature broke free and the trees rustled as it raced deep into the thicket.
The tiger paused, watching it go, but then turned to me and came padding over. I froze, staring at it wide-eyed, wondering what the hell was going on.
“Raven? Are you all right?” One of Kipa’s men came running up from the path behind the tiger. “Jordan, are you okay?”
My gaze shifted back to the tiger. Of course, it was Jordan! He sat down on the ground, shaking his big fluffy head as though he was a little confused. The guard was holding his clothes.
A moment later, Jordan began to shift, a blur of light around him, rippling as he transformed. Another moment and he was sitting nude on the ground beside me, looking vaguely bewildered.
I realized I could speak again. “You saved my life.”
“What happened?” Jordan asked, still looking puzzled.
“You suddenly shifted form and raced off. I have your clothes, though they aren’t much good now—you ripped out of them like the Hulk,” Kipa’s guard said. I recognized him as being the guard named Emrys. He was a good man, steady and patient.
“Are you all right?” Jordan asked me. “I saw you—something was trying to kill you.”
I took stock of what shape I was in. I was breathless, but okay. No broken ribs, maybe a few bruises. “I’m all right, thanks to you. Whatever it was, it was sucking the life out of me. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t hear or speak. Did you get a glimpse of it?”