Archive of Our Own ^beta

“That… that was a bad idea,” I wheezed as I struggled for air.

I didn’t dare open my eyes again until I felt little less nauseated. The panic attack was finally subsiding and now I was very aware that I was feeling both chilled and sweaty while sprawled on my back in a t-shirt and jeans in the kind of forest debris which took years to built up and never ever got as soft as all that moss made it look. I didn’t even want to think of how many insects, leaves, sticks and who-knew-what were now in my hair.

And I really needed a hair cut.

“I don’t think a wolf will work for you,” River Shoulders said, his rumbling deep voice sounded really concerned.

The afternoon sun cutting through the high arboreal crowns of leaves of the forest trees created a much dimmer space than in an open field but it provided enough light for River Shoulders’ shadow to darken the red behind my eyelids into darkness.

I willed myself to open my eyes, after shoving most of the lingering feels of doom into a box.

“I thought a wolf would be easier to do first. I’ve been once before. I’ve had a brush with a Hexenwolf belt,” I managed to say without my voice shaking too badly. I had decided to take up River’s offer of training. How could I not? After seeing how Grey used his shapeshifting, and then learning how the my werewolf friends had figured out how to seal injuries with it (yes, leaving behind thick scars but hey, better scars then bleeding out that’s my motto) I jumped at the first opportunity I had to learn this skill from the expert who’d taught a member of the Senior Council.

Cue me having the dumbass idea to turn into a wolf considering what happened the last time.

River Shoulders shuddered in horror. An impressive thing to see on a being as tall and bulky as him. “Then yes, a wolf is a bad idea,” he said grimly, as he held out an impressively large hand to me.

I took it without hesitation and let myself be hauled back up to my feet.

“For the magic to work. For you to be able to allow your body to change, you don’t only have to have a tie to the animal and an understanding of its nature. You also have to…well, trust it.” River Shoulders hesitated, “It can’t have the kind of trauma that would come from an experience with such a belt. The wolf in your mind is tainted now.”

I stood on shaky legs and considered that information. Yeah, it made sense to me considering what I’d felt as I’d tried to shift. It had been years since I’d felt that demonic touch but I still remembered it. Then I considered the other time I’d been transformed into an animal.

“Okay, I think we should will rule out dogs too,” I said.

River Shoulders shot me surprised look.

I grimaced. “It’s long story.”

I like dogs, as evidenced by the existence of my own in Mouse, my furry Foo dog buddy who does double duty as woolly tank and a fierce babysitter for my girls. But too many years of having my godmother threatening and promising to turn me into one of her hounds brought a sour taste to my mouth at the thought of doing it to myself. And I’m not even factoring in the entire events which encircled the one time I had allowed myself to be turned into a dog.

I considered for a moment and then smiled at River.

“Well, I’ve always thought myself of being more of a cat person anyway.”

*-*-*-*

Being a cat is awesome!

Hell’s bells, the things you can see as a cat! They have a weird sight that is almost like Sight but doesn’t have the same horrible sense of permanence and like you’re carving it forever into you. It reminded me a lot of the glamour-penetrating ointment I’d gotten from the Gatekeeper.

No wonder they could see spirits. Its like they got partial ability to see into spirit world all of the time.

As a cat you can see and hear and smell freaking everything! Okay, maybe not the full spectrum of colors a human is used to but deeper somehow. I was aware of all movement. Every shift of the breeze and how it moved the leaves, the winging of birds from branch to branch.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something shift and almost before I finished noticing I was coiling and leaping.

I caught it! Yes, I was the best hunter!

River Shoulders snorted with amusement and then tried to picked me off his humongous foot.

But I knew the cat noodle trick and went utterly boneless until I practically slipped through his fingers like water and ending up back on the ground.

I remembered enough to NOT dig my claws in but I was certainly smug as I settled down on his, well now mine, foot.

Again River Shoulders gave an amused rumble before he grabbed something from the leather bag strapped over his shoulder.

The twinkle noise it made made my ears perk up but otherwise I ignored it. I knew this was a trick. He was trying to reclaim the foot that was now mine by right as the hunter that caught it.

Then he threw whatever the enticing thing was.

It sparkled and jingled and there was even a trailing flutter of something feathery and blue as it flew through the air.

I took off after it before I’d even realized I was moving.

Shapeshifting of the sort that River Shoulders taught, was more along the lines of what my friends the Alphas could do when it came to changing into werewolves although fortunately without needing to be naked to do it. Unlike the spirit of rage which had given me a shortcut with the Hexenwolf belt or the instant dog instincts Lea’s magic provided, no, this was me in a cat-shaped body with a handful of kitty instincts because they were the ones I knew. So pretty much I was more or less one hundred percent human trying to figure out how to get around on a body in entirely the wrong shape than I was used to.

Which is why in moving so fast I got confused over the number of legs I had and ended up sprawled in an undignified heap of fur with my head buried in a mound of forest leaves.

I’d lost sight of the toy.

I meowed in annoyance.

River Shoulders laughed.

I ended the spell and shook off the all the new crud that had fallen into my hair. Again.

Damn, I’m so glad that the Forest People’s transformation magic did clothes.

“As you now know, any animal you chose to transform must be one you know,” said River Shoulder once his chuckles tapered off.

“I understand,” I said seriously. “Thank you.” I couldn’t help tossing him a grin. “Just…. Just don’t tell me were all the extra mass goes.”

River Shoulders gave me a look. “I know you can figure it out,” he said dryly.

I shuddered. Nope, nope. I figured it was in the spirit world but I did not want to image a pink blob balloon of me stuff floating in the Nevernever until I called it back. Nope. Nope.

But it did remind me….

I did need a battle-form that would do much more damage than a house cat, even one topping at Mister-size. My grin was probably a little too toothy which I completely blamed the predator instincts of the cat, which, by the way, are insane.

“You can use ectoplasm from the Nevernever to go bigger, right?”

“Yes,” said River Shoulders. “Is there another animal you know that you wish to try?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said as I practically bounced on my booted feet. My grin went feral as I considered the one animal mind I knew as well as I knew that of my cat.

I looked around the glade and made mental measurements.

“I think we’re going to need more space.”

*-*-*-*

Every time the Fomor attacked Chicago they seemed to go out of there way to target me.

You get rid of one psychotic goddess and her followers just refuse to: Let. It. Go. Man, can the Jabbas hold a grudge.

For this particular battle, the Fomor were throwing some of the heaviest forces we’d seen yet. Chicago had about twenty-six miles of Michigan Lake beachfront and the Jabbas had fighters along every mile of it. Although, they were focusing a lot of those attacks on where I happened to be.

I’d made sure they knew where I was so I had a nice thick target rich environment and met them with fire.

But no matter how much heat I had brought there’d been too damned many of the bastards.

I hate to say it but the only reason we weren’t instantly overwhelmed was because Marcone had had lookouts for any movement coming from that damned gate which the Fomor had hidden in the lake. And the bastard had the foresight to set up heavy artillery from nearby buildings and the loud thump-thump-thump of the guns kept the Fomor servitors from advancing too quickly.

But they were advancing.

We’d already lost the sands, they weren’t exactly all that wide to begin with. But if they broke into the city…I didn’t want to think about that. Once was bad enough.

I panted for breath and reminded my exhausted self that no one called time out in a war.

Well, you could call time out but I had the feeling the other side wouldn’t honor it.

The wall of ice I’d called up was nearly twenty feet high and about as thick with thrusting thick sharp blades of ice intended to skewer anything that got too close. It also held the flash frozen bodies of those shark-teethed attackers which the Jabbas liked to use as canon fodder. Normally I’d trust something like that to hold back anything on foot for a good while or at least until they found the edges were it ended and came around (which is a possible tactic since it wasn’t twenty-six miles long, only about six). But the Jabba princeling leading this particular attack, for the glory that would arise from destroying insolent Chicago and… oh, right and me, giving him the clout to claim the empty Fomor throne had four sorcerers along for the ride. They’d destroy the wall before too long.

“Harry, we need a better attack plan,” said Murphy, glittering in her copper Titan armor. I grinned at her, always enjoying the sight of her as Chicago’s new battle goddess. Hey, you defeat a Titan, you get to claim the spoils, including the amazing, mystical armor which threw Svartalves into a fawning tizzy whenever they saw it.

“Something they do not expect is usually the best tactic to get past their defenses,” Marcone added coolly from where he stood in the circle he employed to protect the tech toys he used to coordinate with the rest of his subordinates. First time I’d seen his set up I’d been impressed. No piece of technology younger than what you’d find in a World War Two film and a circle powered with with the magical equivalent of alternating current. He could shoot as much as he wanted right through it and the circle would pop back into existence practically instantly. Which explained why Hendricks was manning a gun almost as big as he was without leaving them defenseless in the face of magic.

I looked around at the tired mob soldiers, Einherjar, the S.I. cops willing to join Murphy, the Paranetters, and the even the occasional normal human Chicagoans whom less than a year ago had been living happy lives utterly ignorant to the supernatural but now weren’t willing to leave themselves so vulnerable again. And somewhere along those twenty-six miles of beach there were also Sidhe warriors, White Court vampires, two Knights of the Cross, a pack of werewolves, and every ally and friend I could beg, borrow or steal for this war putting their lives on the line. Hell, even Goodman Grey was out there, earning every penny it cost to pay his going rate.

I wasn’t about to let them die.

“There is something they haven’t seen me use yet,” I admitted, and I couldn’t quite help bouncing on my feet in excitement. I looked around. “I am going to need more space.”

I got it.

“Way more space,” I repeated. Murphy’s mouth twisted up in a knowing smile. I kept made shooing motions with my hands until I got enough room which would still be a tight fit. Hopefully no one would get squished.

“Mr. Dresden,” said Marcone, his voice still cool but with that hint of threat that told me he was thinking longing thoughts of ordering Hendricks to ventilate me with his little friend.

I ignored him, knowing it irritated him so much when he couldn’t figure out what I was about to do.

The sight of his annoyance fed my soul.

“Lacertus magus,” I said, gathering my willpower as River Shoulders had shown me. I was still a novice at it which is why I needed the focus of the words to carry my will. River had told me if I kept my practice up I could be as good as Listens-to-Wind in a century or so. So for now: words. “Lacertus magus. Lacertus magus.”

The shiver of power which rippled around me felt a lot like one of my shields at first. Then abruptly it looked like everyone around me shrank

The yells and scrambles to give me even more space as amusing. The number of guns which were now pointed in my direction were less so.

Maybe I should have given them warning I was about to go all Harrysarous rex.

Then I saw the wide-eyed expression on John Marcone’s face.

I deliberately dropped open my jaw in as much of grin as I could make with a dinosaur face, letting him see the nearly foot-long serrated teeth.

There was an almost visible ripple of fear which flashed across his face.

It lasted a single glorious second before he got a hold of himself and Marcone’s money-green eyes narrowed. I could see the moment the bastard began to calculate how he’d take down a T-Rex. Then he said something into his radio, looked back at me and pointed to the wall towards the right with an impatient ‘Get-On-With-It’ gesture.

Jerk! He’s so damned infuriating!

Next to the mob bastard scumbag, a thoroughly pallid Hendricks looked like he wanted to grab Marcone and run for the hills. Of course, I couldn’t even enjoy the sight of a freaking out Hendricks because that’s when the ice wall began to crack from the Fomor’s entropic magic.

I gave a little shimmy from head to tail, getting myself reacquainted with my new body shape. I reminded myself that the Tyrannosaurus rex did not corner well because I had the bad habit of forgetting when running. And that the Winter Knight mantle made the desire to eat everything really strong and I needed to focus to keep it in check.

I like to think I was always willing to try new cuisine but I drew the line at frog legs.

I reassured myself, yes, I had gotten in sufficient practice on the island to handle being a T-Rex in a fight. And that I was more damage resistant than usual with my leather coat’s defense spells transposed onto my new dino skin.

I took a deep breath, aimed for where Marcone had pointed and jumped over the crumbling ice wall, roaring with all the thunderous power of a great ferocious predator as I landed smack down in the midst of the sorcerers.

I took out one with a satisfying squish under my right foot. Another sorcerer with a score of servitors got a solid smack with a tail which could total a car and were sent right into some of the remaining icicles of the ice wall. A Jabba sorceress raised her staff which I smacked away with my head as I dug my long teeth into her shoulder to fling her high and over into Lake Michigan.

She went far but T-Rex's are excellent predators with amazing vision so I saw the moment the sorceress splashed down.

Less than couple of seconds later a huge crocodile leaped out of the water and took her head off.

Dammit, Grey. I was the best lizard around here.

“Dresden!” came an angry warble yell that made it sound like it was coming from underwater.

I saw the bullets hit and disintegrate as they passed through an entropic magical shield before I heard the thump-thump-thump of Marcone’s artillery.

Oh crap. This guy wasn’t so easy to take by surprise.

I roared again.

I lowered my head and trusted in the power of the animal I now was. I trusted in the tons of T-Rex strength to match anything that evil Jabba sorcerer could throw at me.

I also trusted in the shield I called forth with my magic to protect me because I wasn’t a damned idiot

And I charged.

*-*-*-*

I ended the magic keeping me in T-Rex shape with a flex of willpower and I landed in a pool of ectoplasm which was disgusting as always but now managed to hit a new level of gross when you added sand and gooey Jabba remnants to the mix.

“Ugh,” I said as I struggled to my feet. I shuddered. I really hated being slimed like this. I know it will all evaporate away into nothingness in around fifteen minutes give or take but I always felt sticky afterwards. Even if I knew that nothing of the Nevernever remained behind I couldn’t help thinking some of it was still stuck to me.

I resisted the urge to shudder again and looked at the battlefield.

With the death of the leaders the majority of the forces had routed. They ran away, desperate to get back into the safety of the water.

Except for the servitors. It was a relief to know that most of their forces weren’t human based because when the Turtlenecks saw their masters go down they went rabid and attacked even harder.

Even now there were maybe a few handfuls of the servitors still fighting on the beach.

They would never surrender. They would go down fighting.

It sucked because I couldn’t help but wonder how willing they actually were. The Jabbas twisted minds. How many of them were victims who’d been stolen away from their human lives? I shook those thoughts away as useless. Right now it made more sense for me to stay out of the way. I was too exhausted, anyway our side knew how to handle the servitors.

You saw them. You killed them. Don’t give them the chance to attack.

I managed to stagger over to the command center to see if there was any spot on the beachfront that really, really needed my attention, but Marcone gave me the kind of stare when I asked which made me think that in his estimation I was quickly losing I.Q. points.

I glared back. Made my hand into fist, thumped my right hand onto of the back of my left and instantly spread my fingers of my hand as if it been squashed flat.

Marcone didn’t even twitch.

“There’s a reason dinosaurs are extinct,” he said dryly.

“No, they’re not,” I said at once. “They’re birds now, or haven’t you heard?”

“Yes and I do believe we eat them,” Marcone said, with a show of white teeth which were definitely not friendly.

I threw him the bird because how could I not with such an insult laid on the T-Rex and their descendants before I stomped off with my anger at Marcone giving me enough energy to not wobble embarrassingly in front of that asshole.

I found a clear space of sand that was out of the way of the medics tending to the wounded and sat down before my legs gave out. I had to wave away a concerned EMT but accepted the water bottle he handed me. I dug out an energy bar from my coat pocket and ate it in two bites.

It wasn’t too long before Goodman Grey found me. He was still dripping lake water.

He gave me cool look, his brown eyes flashing with brighter gold. “I’m still a better shifter.”

“I am the Lizard Wizard,” I told him solemnly.

He snorted and sat next to me.

“You found the gate?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said calmly. “About five miles out. And it’s deep, right down to the lakebed.

“Show me,” I said quietly. He handed me the coordinates he’d gotten from the GPS device he’d carried when he’d found the means the Fomor used to enter Lake Michigan and attack my city.

Soon the Jabbas would learn how it felt to deal with an invasion landed in their doorstep for a change.

We were quiet for a while as we watched the post-battle clean up which had become too much of a regular sight these days.

“So… how did you learn to do that?”

“Wizard,” I said lazily pointing at my own chest. “I thought that part was pretty self-explanatory.”

“No, really, how? It’s like there are dinosaurs around,” Grey asked with a frown.

I blinked at him. Thought about how Grey’s shifting probably worked. Had his other forms come from something he’d… well, eaten? He’d had do swallow down the blood to another person to mimic them why would it anything different for the other creatures he could do.

“I don’t think this shape-shifting works like yours,” I admitted. I thought about it for moment. “Have you tried eating a fossil?”

“I can’t say its ever occurred to me. I don’t think that would work. It has to be fresh.”

“Well, you can’t take a chomp out of me, buddy,” I warned him joking, but really not kidding.

He gave a calculating look with eyes which shimmered with more gold. “No. You’d taste terrible.”

I tried not feel insulted over that.

We were quiet again for several minutes. “The Fomor are going to expect it if you use it again,” he said.

“I know,” I agreed. It was infuriating how quickly the enemy adapted to what we could throw at them. And they had spies to keep an eye out for anything we were developing to use. That’s why I’d kept the whole T-Rex trick to myself.

And not just because I enjoyed giving Baron John Marcone a scare. That was just the cherry on top.

“But next time,” I continued smiling again. “I’ll be using more magic.” It was difficult to hold two spells going on at the time in my mind, that’s why I hadn’t thrown fire as I stomped around only managing to hold a shield. Nor was I quite ready to freeze a bunch of Jabba fighters and keep a grip on being a T-Rex at the same time. At least not yet. Although my aim was getting better.

“And then,” I said with relish. “I’ll be the Blizzard Lizard Wizard.”

Grey stared at me with wide brown-gold eyes before shaking his head as if trying to get rid of an unpleasant thought. “Even earning Rent isn’t worth suffering through that. I quit.”

I snorted in amusement before I dug into another coat pocket to pull out my wallet. I handed him the dollar I owed him before waving another bill under his nose.

“Want to be hired for the next fight?”

He growled. Then he nodded, got up and walked away.

I lay back onto the rather comfy sand and decided to wait until until Murphy found me.

End