Throwing the Book at Us (Tuesday october 15th, 11:30 pm)

[Shaper Jenn]

Chapter 8 

Worlds Unknown 

Hyk, whom had never been alone before, went deep into the forest and she cried by a deep pool until the spring thaw made the sap in the trees run like the creekwater under the thinning ice. 
A great noise behind her was startling, for she had not been paying attention, and a large alligator slid up to her. 
“Do not be afraid, Hyk. I will do you no harm. I have missed you this long winter.”
“Oh Alligator, I am glad to see you, for I am all alone and the world is so great and wide without my friend.”
“Climb onto my back. I will protect and provide for you. That cat has done you evil, as they always do, and you must get back at her for her crimes. When you provided her food, she was obliged to pay you back with stories. When you provided her pillow, she was obliged to pay you back with ferrying. But now she has spat in the face of your generous nature, and she must be taught a lesson.” 
And then he shimmered and quivered and melted away, becoming an adder with a face on each side of his head. He hissed and encircled her in his coils. 
In the meanwhile, Rax, whom had never been alone before, went deep into the forest and she cried by a wild corn patch until the spring thaw made the trees shed their dripping icicles and the grass sprung green among the brown. 
A great noise behind her was startling, for she had not been paying attention, and a large lynx slid up to her. 
“Do not be afraid, Rax. I will do you no harm. I have missed you this long winter.”
“Oh Lynx, I am glad to see you, for I am all alone and the world is so great and wide without my friend.”
“Walk beside me. I will protect and provide for you. That snake has done you evil, as they always do, and you must get back at her for her crimes. When you provided her entertainment, she was obliged to pay you back with food. When you provided her safe passage, she was obliged to pay you back by laying still for your head. But now she has spat in the face of your generous nature, and she must be taught a lesson.” 
And then he shimmered and quivered and melted away, becoming a tom cat with a face as sharp as an arrow. He put his paws gently onto her shoulders. 
By the late spring, the snake and the kitten were fully grown, and had been given new names by their mates. Hyk the snake became Hykrexibek and Rax the kitten became Raxokarkos. Each of them had produced a litter of fine offspring on either end of a wide field. By night, their mates did battle over the territory, and soon the grass died from the blood spilled upon it, which sizzled like fire. Nothing would quell the  quarrel, and both Hykrexibek and Raxokarkos supported their mates, licking their wounds after the fight.
One night, the warring was so fierce that the adder and the tomcat lay dying in the field, injured and weak, Raxokarkos ran to find her mate something to nourish himself with, and so did Hykrexibek. But their combat had scared away all the birds and rabbits and field mice and squirrels, all the bats and all the butterflies and dragonflies and every creature beneath the sky. There was nothing to eat. Nothing, that is, but the offspring. 
Hykrexibek approached the nest in the dull weeds and saw before her three kittens, as jet black as their mother. She unhinged her jaw and in one motion, the three kittens found their way into her gullet, still mewling and wriggling, until she silenced each of them with deadly venom.
Raxokarkos approached the nest in the grey stones and saw before her three snake babies, as red and yellow and white and black as their mother. She opened her maw and in one motion, the three snakes found their way into her teeth, still squirming and wriggling, until she bit each of them with vicious fangs.
As they brought the food to their mate, each saw what the other had done and flew into a blind rage. They dropped their prey and then were upon each-other. The cat bit and kicked and swiped with her claws. The snake struck and lashed and grabbed with her tail. The mates ate. The fury of the former friends flecked the field with flesh as black as a curse, until finally neither could move. 
“I wish that no-one would ever enjoy your food again.” Muttered the cat, panting. 
“I wish that no-one would ever want to hear another story from you.” Uttered the snake, heaving.
The tom cat became a lynx and the adder became an alligator. They stood over their dying mates and nodded. “It is done.” They said in unison. 
Then they lay by their mates and whispered to them.
“You lay dying here, but your rage must have a body to carry it. Do you wish for a form not so frail?” Asked the Lynx.
“Yes.”  Raxokarkos replied, choking on her blood.
“Do you wish for a form that could match hers and carry your hatred in kind?” Asked the Alligator.
“Yes.” Hykrexibek replied, her vision fading. 
“It is done. But never must you tell.” they said in unison, and before them lay Raxokarkos and Hykrexibek, no longer a cat and a snake, but two women. They were young and naked, with fair faces, but dark hearts. They felt as wise and as powerful as the old wytch they had lived with. 
The lynx licked his paws and shimmered, and his lynx skin fell off with a puff of red and black. It left the form of an unassuming black cat that climbed onto Raxokarkos’s shoulder.  The alligator snapped his teeth and shimmered, and his gator skin fell off with a puff of ash and fire. It left the form of an unassuming snake with bands of colour, that slithered onto Hykrexibek’s shoulder. 
“Now go into grand society, find yourselves clothes and husbands,  make yourselves homes near enough to never forget the other’s atrocities and make many children to carry your legacy.” They said in unison. “But you will need new names, for Raxokarkos and Hykrexibek are the names of demons and you will be turned out if you wear them.”
The snake tickled his woman’s ear. “You will be called Gretchen.”
The cat nuzzled his woman’s cheek. “You will be called Brunhilde.” 

The End.