Edited by: SilentCarto
Proofreader: Coandco
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Dresden Files or My Little Pony, that is Jim Butcher and Hasbro respectively. This story takes place between books Eight and Nine in the Dresden Files.
Rainbow Dash flew through the air as the dawn broke before her. She closed her eyes and savored the wind flowing past her, the sunlight striking her face, her mane stretching out behind her. On pure instinct she went to flap her wings and catch the updraft she could feel coming. She wanted to launch herself into the sky and race through the clouds.
But nothing happened. Not so much as a twitch.
Dash reached the top of her jump’s arc and began to drop, still moving forward. She opened her eyes and scanned the landing. She would hit the rooftop a good two feet in and the fall distance was minor, no need to worry about the impact.
Her feet thudded into the rooftop and for a brief moment her mind fought to keep her balance in a way that couldn’t work in her new body. Dash stopped thinking about it and let herself move forward, relying on her new instincts to stay upright and keep her momentum. Without missing a step she surged forward, already gathering speed for the next jump.
It was so much easier when you didn’t stop and think about how unnatural it felt. Dash had always been good at listening to her instincts, and much of her training and practice had honed them to razor sharpness. At the speeds she flew, there was no time for thought, just action. But these new instincts were so … weird, it was hard to keep her mind from getting in the way.
The edge of the roof rushed towards her, and she had less than half a second to spot a safe place to land if she wanted to commit to the jump. The next roof over was a floor lower than the top of this building, but the distance wasn’t too bad and the path was free of obstacles. She launched herself into open air, enjoying the feeling of freedom, the brief illusion of flight.
She opened her eyes in time to realize that she had jumped too hard, she was coming in too fast. Here she needed to use her brain. Murphy had shown her how to roll with a blow, reducing the amount of force of anything that hit her. The ground wasn’t that different, right?
Dash tumbled forward, bleeding off speed and force. She meant to spring back to her feet and keep running, moving without stopping. But somehow, she couldn’t get her feet under her. Instead, she rolled over and over until she smacked into a great big air duct.
It didn’t hurt much, but she glared at the big metal box anyway. Stupid air duct. Stupid feet. She wanted to kick the air duct, but stopped herself. Dash took a deep breath, then got to her feet and eyed the next roof over. She exploded back into a sprint, letting her anger float off in the breeze.
When you fall, get up. When you fail, keep going. If you’re weak, get strong.
Never stop. Never hold back.
Being the best took talent and hard work. Dash had plenty of the first, no matter what world she was in, or what she looked like. All she needed right now was the second.
………
Dash had left the rooftops by the time she got to Murphy’s neighborhood. Not because she was tired of jumping; she could do that all day. But the roofs on all these houses were sloped, and they didn’t look all that sturdy. Plus, Dash didn’t want to wake anybody up. It was still really early.
So, Dash was on the streets, her pace slowed to a quick jog. She didn’t want to be out of breath by the time she got to Murphy’s house. There was some traffic, but not much. Dawn wasn’t that long ago, and the city was still waking up. The only other person around was another jogger, some human in a hoodie. Dash grinned to herself and poured on more speed, planning to easily breeze past the person.
“On your left,” she called out as she sprinted around them.
The human jerked back in surprise. “Dash?”
Dash blinked and glanced back at the person she had just passed. The voice had been hint enough, but seeing Murphy’s face clinched it. “Murphy?” Not too surprising, seeing as how I’m close to her house, but dang, that is some good timing on my part, Dash thought.
Murphy blinked in surprise. “Did you walk here?”
“As if! I ran. It’s not as good as an early morning flight, but it’ll do,” Dash said. She crossed her arms and struck a cocky pose, while still jogging backwards. She almost tripped over her own feet, but managed to keep her balance. Just barely.
Murphy arched an eyebrow. “And you knew how to get here?”
“Yeah! Fluttershy was poking around on that goggle-thing on the enter-net, because Twilight asked her to. She helped me use the maps part to find your address from the business card that Pinkie took.” Murphy scowled at that, and Dash briefly wondered if Pinkie had asked permission before taking a card from each of the ‘nice police officers’. “But, yeah. That was pretty cool. I never figured humans could do maps like that; it’s not like you have pegasus map-makers.”
“I don’t know if Dresden left a lot out of his explanations or if you just didn’t listen to anything that didn’t interest you.” Murphy quickened her pace, catching up to Dash. “Either way it shouldn’t really surprise me.”
Rainbow Dash was pretty sure that there was an insult lurking somewhere in there, but she shrugged it off. Murphy was just being tough on her, like any good coach. “Whatever. I came to see if you wanted to spar. I’m up for another round.”
Murphy snorted. “Sure thing, kid. Maybe this time you’ll give me a challenge.”
Dash’s face turned red, but inside she was cheering. “If you want a challenge, it’s a challenge you’ll get!” She grinned to herself, and turned around, tensing herself for a race. “Race you to your house!” She’d go slow at first to keep Murphy nearby, then speed up once they were close.
She heard laughter come from somewhere off to her right instead of just behind her. “If you insist…” Murphy laughed. Dash spun around to find Murphy rushing up the driveway to what must have been her house! Dash hadn’t been keeping a close eye on the house numbers!
Murphy had an huge distance advantage; she was almost there already. But Dash was no quitter, she killed her momentum entirely, screeching to a halt and reversing her direction. She blocked out all objects except the door in front of her. Muscles bunched like coiled springs and drove her forward as if she’d been shot out of the world’s largest party cannon.
She found it there. The feeling of flight, of pure speed that she’d been missing. For a moment she wasn’t shackled to some weird, two-legged, wingless body. She soared like the wind itself.
Dash found herself grasping the doorknob, breathing hard. But Murphy didn’t have a hand on the door at all. She had won.
Dash took a deep breath and let the glow of her victory soak in for a few seconds.
“Hey kid,” she heard from a fair distance away. Dash turned and saw in surprise that Murphy was standing on the porch of the next house. “You’re good, I’ve got to give you that.” Murphy grinned and reached out to touch the door next to her. “But old age and treachery beat youth and exuberance every time.”
Dash suddenly realized that the door she was touching didn’t match her memory of Murphy’s front door. She saw red and bolted over to Murphy’s side faster than the other woman could blink. “You cheated,” she insisted.
Murphy grunted doubtfully, but Dash noticed that she was breathing hard. “No such thing as cheating when there aren’t any rules. You just said first to my house won. You’re welcome inside, by the way.” She unlocked the door with a key from a small pocket in her shorts and went inside.
Dash swallowed a retort and followed her in, breathing a quiet sigh of mixed relief and disappointment when her transformation didn’t snap back. Human thresholds were weirder than human bodies.
“So about that sparring…” Dash said, following Murphy into the kitchen.
“After coffee,” Murphy said. “Or any spar we started would stop being ‘friendly’ real quick.”
Dash nodded. She didn’t need the extra boost, but she’d seen plenty of co-workers who were practically zombies until their caffeine kicked in.
Dash went downstairs and stretched out while Murphy got ready upstairs. She came down in a loose fitting set of clothes she called a ‘gi’. Dash was already loosened up and ready to go, but Murphy seemed to almost deliberately take her time as she got ready. Dash twitched in place once or twice and almost spoke up, until she noticed the slight - barely even there - hint of a smile in Murphy’s eyes as she watched. Murphy knew that she hated to wait. She was using that to get her keyed up, to make her make mistakes.
Instead Dash took a deep breath and focused herself. She was too awesome to let something like that get to her. Sure, maybe Murphy could get her goat, but if that was what she wanted, she was going to have to work a lot harder at it.
Finally Murphy finished her prep and stood on the opposite corner of the mat. She gave a shallow bow and Dash replied in kind. Then they entered the invisible ring and a soundless bell rang. Dash snapped immediately into a stance modified from her previous teachings to fit a human body. Murphy’s hands moved neither fast nor slowly as she flowed into an unfamiliar stance.
For a time they circled each other. Dash knew she was faster, but Murphy was positioned and ready. She didn’t have to be faster to intercept Dash’s attack, just well-timed. Murphy left a couple of openings that were too obvious. Dash was certain those were a trap of some kind. Instead she bided her time, then when the moment felt right she stepped in and committed to a swift jab at Murphy’s midsection. Somehow Murphy’s hand was already in motion before Dash’s fist was anywhere close. The jab was turned aside, and Murphy stepped into Dash’s space, seeking to grapple.
Murphy knew that Dash’s speed was her biggest strength. A wrestling match would take that away from her, and give the advantage to Murphy’s experience. The sensible move would have been to hop back and reset her stance, but a fight like this was almost as much mental as it was physical. Dash’s instincts told her that Murphy was expecting a move like that. No matter how far or how fast she jumped back, it was a trap.
If there was anything Dash had a talent for, it was the unexpected. Her leg muscles tensed then released, sending her straight up instead of back.
Murphy’s hand closed on empty air and her eyes began to widen just as Dash put her hasty plan into motion. Her jump was higher than that of any normal human and her feet lashed out, catching both of Murphy’s shoulders. They connected solidly and Dash heard Murphy bite off a curse as she was sent flipping backwards. One corner of Dash’s mind began to celebrate even as she went to flare her wings, to stabilize herself and swoop in to take advantage of her foe’s weakness.
She collapsed to the mat, unable to twist herself around in time to land properly. Murphy landed, and rolled backwards, then came up in a fighting pose.
“You okay, kid?”
Anger flared in Dash and this time she didn’t fight it. “I’m not a kid!”
She leapt to her feet and entered Murphy’s space faster than the human could register. A rain of blows fell on the woman, but they didn’t seem to do much. Murphy twisted, redirected, and backed up from the onslaught of punches. She took a few good hits, Dash was sure of, but she seemed to roll with them. Eventually, Dash overextended and had to watch as Murphy cut beneath her defenses and delivered a solid blow to her ‘solar plexus’ that gained as much of its force from her own momentum as from Murphy’s power. The breath went out of her, and she staggered back a few steps, awkwardly resetting her form.
If Murphy had pressed her advantage the fight would have been over then. Rainbow Dash could admit that to herself even if she’d never say it out loud. Instead Murphy just waited at the opposite end of the mat for Dash to get her breath back.
“So, what’s eating you, Rainbow?” Murphy asked, taking a surprisingly aggressive stance and taking a swing. Dash sidestepped, but didn’t get a chance to counterattack before Murphy had her guard up.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Dash said, throwing a couple of quick jabs. One of them hit home, but Murphy stepped into the blow with a slight grimace, and Dash had to jump back to avoid another grapple.
“Yeah, right,” Murphy replied. “You can lie outside the ring, but not once sweat hits the mat. Something is up with you.” Her eyes narrowed, and Dash cursed internally, taking a couple of bad swings just to keep those eyes from boring into her. Murphy didn’t let up. “You aren’t satisfied with your progress. You keep wanting to go bigger and better. Trying things that you aren’t ready to pull off.” She swatted aside a rapid-fire punch from Dash. “Why, though? You’ve been in your new body for - what? Two days? Your learning speed is nothing sort of amazing. You should feel proud.”
Dash took a deep breath, and let her guard down.
“I can’t be proud. I’m… I’m not good enough.”
She threw another punch, causing Murphy to swerve aside, then had to perform a dodge of her own to avoid a grasping hand that would have flipped her onto her back.
“I don’t know what Dresden told you, but I’m famous for my speed. One of the fastest fliers to ever live and that isn’t just bragging. Coming here cost me my wings. Twilight tried her best to let me keep them, but it didn’t work out. I told her it was no big deal, but I just didn’t want her to worry. But if I’m being honest? Losing my wings feels like losing part of myself.” She sprang forward and unleashed a kick that Murphy redirected into the mat. The padding wasn’t thick enough to keep it from hurting. Murphy wrapped her arms around Dash’s back, probably going for a suplex. But Dash still had one leg beneath her and Murphy didn’t count on it being powerful enough to send both of them careening into the wall. Murphy’s hold was broken, and Dash spun to face her.
“And everypony expects me to be the brave one. I’m Rainbow Dash! I’m supposed to lead the way and face anything without fear.” Dash grabbed Murphy’s arm while she was still stunned and forced it against the wall.
“You feel vulnerable,” Murphy said as she twisted her arms in an unexpected way, reversing Dash’s hold and flipping her to the ground. One of her arms got bent back at at angle that would have been impossible for any pony, except Pinkie, and even as a human it was uncomfortable. A weight settled onto her back, and Dash knew she had lost the fight. “You’re used to facing impossible odds and surviving on your own strength and suddenly it isn’t enough any more.”
The pressure on her arm and back disappeared, and Dash pulled herself back into a sitting position. Murphy was offering her a hand up, and Dash wasn’t too proud to take it. “Believe it or not I know what that feels like. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but for a woman to make it this far in the human police force she has to be tough as nails. But I did it. I took everything the world had to throw at me, and even after I got sent to the worst department in the force, I still got results and proved people wrong. Then, this imposter that looked like Harry came along and wormed his way in.” She started to shudder, but stopped it with a deep breath. “He was inside my head and I couldn’t do anything about it. All my defenses meant nothing to him, and it took me a long time to get over it.”
For a moment they stood there motionless. Dash bit her lip, then looked up at Murphy. “How did you get over it? I mean, I’ll get my wings back when we’re done here, but that won’t solve everything. Between the Nightmare returning and that demon that fought the Princess to a standstill… I’m not strong enough and that scares me to death.” Rainbow Dash hung her head and felt her fists clench so tightly that the dark skin across her knuckles almost turned white. “I can’t let my friends down again.”
“Kid,” Murphy said, giving a tired smile and putting a hand on Dash’s shoulder, “I don’t think you have to worry there. I doubt any of them would think that you let them down in the first place. I don’t know if I’ll ever forget that awful feeling of helplessness, but it helped when I realized that I can’t do everything alone. I need other people, and so do you. You should always strive to be your best, but you need to trust them to be their best.”
“I guess,” Dash said. She wasn’t really sure, but it felt good to finally tell somebody. Like she’d taken a weight off of her wings. She stretch, listening to her joints pop, then grinned. “So, best two outta three?”
Murphey paused for a moment, looking tired for the first time that morning. “One more match would almost kill me, much less two. I’m ready to call us done and get some breakfast.”
“Quitter,” Dash taunted, sticking out her tongue. The rumbling sound from her belly betrayed her, and she rubbed her head sheepishly. “... but if you insist.” Murphy rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. Dash followed Murphy upstairs, thinking all the while. “Oh yeah, and Murphy? If you ever tell Dresden or the girls what I said, I’ll get rid of the whole human disguise and kick your butt.”
Murphy turned around with a slight grin on her face. “And if you ever tell Dresden that that imposter from all those years ago still bothers me, then I’ll break out my good guns and return the favor.”
Dash chuckled and threw an arm over Murphy’s shoulder. “Y’know, I think we get each other. Wanna trade embarrassing stories about Dresden over breakfast?”
Murphy put on a grin that could’ve belonged to Discord. “Oh, I can’t wait. Did he ever tell you his ‘brilliant’ plan for fighting an ogre when we were trapped in a Walmart?”
“No,” Dash said, mirroring Murphy’s expression. “You’ve gotta tell me that one…”
………
Murphy and Dash were just finishing up breakfast when Dresden and the van pulled up. The fruit was okay, but the oatmeal had needed a ton more cinnamon and sugar before it was worth eating. Dash hurried out front as soon as she heard the engine loudly cough to a stop. Murphy sighed and started following at a slower pace.
“Dashie!” Pinkie cried as she exploded from the the side of the vehicle with a burst of confetti. For all her speed Dash soon found herself trapped in a hug that she had no hope of avoiding. Instead she relaxed herself as Pinkie shook her to and fro like a colorful ragdoll. “We were so worried!”
“I wasn’t worried,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“Shoot, it would be nice if you let us know that you were headed off, Dash,” AJ said, giving her a quick noogie while Pinkie held Dash captive. AJ would pay for that, later.
“She told me,” Fluttershy said.
“Yeah,” Spike said. “Twilight was crazy worried when we realized you weren’t in the hotel. Plus you missed breakfast.”
“If everyone would have just listened…” Fluttershy mumbled.
“I hope you don’t plan on making a habit of this ‘sneaking off’,” Twilight said, but her smile made it sound a lot less stern than it could have.
Fluttershy just sighed.
“You guys…” Dash complained, but deep down it was nice to see them getting a little worked up about her. A quick tickle to the tummy made Pinkie let go with a giggle, and Dash managed to land on her feet and strike a quick pose. “You guys should’ve known I was just working out with Murphy. Gotta stay strong even on vacation.”
“Which likely means you intend to snooze through whatever sights Dresden has planned for us later today.” Rarity said drily, made up all fancy in her new human outfit. Dash doubted anything Dresden could show them would beat watching the sun rise over an alien city as she ran across its rooftops, but she didn’t say so. Fluttershy would probably get worried about her being up so high without wings.
“Whatever. So what’s the plan for today anyways? Is Molly going to be hanging out with us again?” Dash asked, inspecting the ‘van’ Dresden had rented. She didn’t know much about cars, but even she could tell that it was an old clunker. The rust spots and faded paint were some pretty good signs.
“Navy Pier,” Dresden said, coming out from around the other side of the van. He cast a doubtful eye at the thing, but turned back to the group with a shrug. “I figure we’ll do the Children’s Museum, the Funhouse Maze, the botanical gardens and catch whatever’s on at the IMAX. Plus there’s plenty of restaurants, shops, and other exhibits.”
“Geez, could you make a more stereotypical tourist?” Murphy asked, cradling a cup of coffee in her hands.
He snorted. “It’s popular for a reason, Murph. Plenty of stuff to do, none of it too pricey.” His expression darkened for a second. “And plenty of crowd. Nobody is going to try a snatch and grab in broad daylight there.” For a half a second his shoulders sagged, but he straightened up and forced a smile. “Molly isn’t coming with us. She has to go to school. But I called Will and you’ll get to meet a couple of my other friends here soon. ”
Murphy gave him a look. “And my house is the impromptu meeting place because…?”
“I had to get them out of the hotel quickly after the musical number at breakfast. I was worried about people asking questions.”
Dash’s jaw dropped. “Aw, I missed a song?” She fought the desire to blush. “Not that I wanted to sing, but Pinkie always comes up with the best lyrics and Fluttershy has a great voice.”
“Eyup,” Applejack said. “You missed a real catchy one too. It only took one chorus before all the humans in the place joined in. Though I’m a mite curious why one of’em brought his trumpet with him to breakfast.”
Murphy stared at all of them blankly. “You’re messing with me. Harry, you shouldn’t put them up to that kind of thing.”
Dresden put one hand over his heart and raised the other one. “My hand to God, Murphy. The whole room was singing along to the chorus while Pinkie somehow turned the regular continental into a breakfast banquet. It was spooky as hell, and I’m pretty sure she pinched some of that stuff directly from the hotel kitchens somehow.”
“It is not spooky,” Twilight huffed. “Mass singing is a rare, but perfectly normal event caused by confluence of magic, emotion, and imagination. We are naturally harmonious beings and that harmony can manifest in a sense of symphonic unity.”
“Or in normal talk,” Dash said, “sometimes when ponies get excited they just want to sing and everypony else gets caught up in the excitement too. Nothing weird about that.”
Murphy and Dresden shared a look, but didn’t say anything. Why were they acting like they were the normal ones? “That weirdness aside, I have work so all of you be good. Especially you, Harry. I don’t want to hear anything about you bunch over the police band.”
Then Murphy turned around and headed inside before Dresden got a chance to make a joke. Pinkie still waved and shouted ‘bye-bye’, even though Murphy was gone from view.
Dash shrugged, Murphy had pretty much covered everything. One thing did confuse her. Why would any band, with or without police, be talking about them? Before she got a chance to ask Dresden, she was distracted by a new car pulling into the driveway. It was way nicer than the van; all sleek and shiny.
Dresden just grunted. “Nice car.”
“And that’s why you aren’t riding in it.” The brown-haired man that got out of the passenger’s seat was only a few inches taller than Dash, but was about twice as wide. Not that he was fat. He was just built wide and filled out with some solid muscle. The way he moved told Dash that was no stranger to a fight. She made a snap judgement and placed him as moderately tough.
Dresden shook his head sadly. “You ruin one SUV and suddenly nobody trusts you with their car.”
“For good reason,” said a woman getting out of driver’s seat. She was tall and thin with long brown hair, but it was a shade lighter than the man’s. She had muscle too, but hers were more lean. “You shouldn’t have complained about how many times your magic has shorted out your Beetle.”
Dresden grinned broadly. “Will, Georgia, it’s great to see you two. How’s the married life treating you? Have a good time on your honeymoon?”
Georgia flushed a bit and Will flushed a lot, but both were smiling.
“That good, huh?” Dresden asked, which made them blush harder. Dresden chuckled and turned towards the group. “Everybody, these are my friends Will and Georgia. They were teenage werewolves.”
Will rolled his eyes. “I hate you, Harry.”
“Not like it isn’t true.”
“Really?!” Spike asked, his eyes shining with delight. “You two turn into wolves? Did you have to get bitten by a werewolf first? Do you only do it on the full moon? This is so cool!”
“Hold on,” Twilight said, her brow furrowed. “You told me that transformation here is illegal!”
“‘Here’?” Georgia asked, looking at Dresden.
Dresden sighed and massaged his temple with one hand. “I imagine both sides are going to have a lot of questions, so let’s get going. We can have show ‘n tell in the van instead of out in the street.”
Twilight started to protest, but Dash knew if they let her get going, they’d be here all day. “C’mon people! We’re burning daylight,” she shouted, helping to get everyone packed into the van. She grinned to herself as Twilight yelped in protest. Navy Pier sounded like it would a ton of fun. It was time to forget about her worries for a little bit and just have some fun with her friends.
Besides, nothing went wrong when Dresden was around.
………
Ouroboros tore another chunk of meat from the bone and sniffed the air, not for the first time. The building had once been one of slaughter. Thousands of throats had been cut in this place to bleed out onto the floor below. Yet there was no sign of battle or even the markings of an execution ground. There were tools that might have been instruments of torture, but the building lacked the sort of dark energy that would have accompanied hatred on such a scale.
She had asked her … guard for an explanation.
It had taken some time to explain the concept of the mortal meat industry and the role this ‘Chicago’ had played in it.
The false-man had brought her here under the watchful eyes of his servants. The mortal city had been a startling sight, a testament to how far they had come in the past few millennia. It was leagues beyond the simple mud huts and occasional stone circles they had built before her imprisonment.
One day, when she was whole again, Ouroboros would topple those towers to punish the mortals for their pride and arrogance. They were little more than clever apes, yet they dared to presume themselves great. The old gods and spirits were weak and disconnected. The new creatures like the false-man enriched themselves from the mortals’ growth, but they were fools to keep the true world hidden. They thought themselves clever to rule from the shadows, but one day the shadows would be gone.
The shadow rulers had allowed their slaves to grow too strong, and the moment the mortals discovered their chains, blood would spill like never before.
Ouroboros chewed slowly on her latest meal, crunching vertebrae between her teeth and considering what the future held. The false-man had erased her track, or so it seemed, as no Fae had come in pursuit of them. She would serve him until she had a chance to destroy him and all his followers without causing alarm. Yet, she did not know how that would be accomplished, and the thought rankled her. The Queens of the Fae must not discover her or they would scour the Earth until she was found and imprisoned once more. Even crossing their servants was dangerous, as they would seek retribution for any death. Could she perhaps bargain with this ‘Green Lady’ without revealing her true nature?
The door to the room crashed open, disrupting her train of thought. She did not, however, glance up from her food or otherwise acknowledge the creature that entered.
“What are you doing?” the false-man demanded, his tone cold.
“Eating,” Ouroboros stated diffidently. Had he gone blind since she had last seen him?
“That is the guard I left to watch you.”
The meat was a bit greasy, but Ouroboros slurped down a long string of muscle anyway. “Is that so? I told you I was hungry and you left this creature in the room with me, so I thought it was supposed to be my meal.” These bones were stronger than human bones, but they still cracked and splintered beneath her teeth. “At least he gave me some small challenge. I haven’t had that since the first human I took in this world.”
The false-man radiated anger and bloodlust, but he brought himself back under control. Ouroboros didn’t pause in her eating. She played a dangerous game with him, but it was important to remind him that despite her temporary service, he did not own her.
“Do that again, and I will make certain that the Green Lady finds you. You will eat what and when I say,” he regarded her coldly, anger still lurking within his eyes that she had taken something of his.
A growl rumbled deep in her throat. “And if I choose otherwise?” Her teeth sunk deep into the skull, and she tore out a chunk. “I’m nearly done with this carcass and ready for another…” she said, eyeing him up and down.
He tensed, putting his hand on the mortal weapon at his hip, but did not back away. “I think you’ll find me a difficult meal, to say the least. But even if you succeed, I have means set in place to inform the Green Lady and my own people of your existence and the materials to track you. The moment I die your death warrant is signed, no matter how long it takes them to find you.”
Ouroboros studied him, but reluctantly decided that he wasn’t bluffing. There were so many mortals and ways to pass on a message now that there was no way she could catch or stop all of them. For now, she had to obey this creature.
The false-man read the defeat in her body language and smiled. “Do we understand each other?” She grunted a reply and took another bite out of the skull. The creature’s teeth crunched between her own.
“Good. Now it is time to earn your keep. The wizard and his new companions are at a mortal attraction called ‘Navy Pier’.” The false-man held up a picture of a tall mortal man surrounded by brightly colored mortal women. They were exiting a ‘police station’. He tapped the image of the man. “You will rampage a short distance away to attract his attention. If possible, kill him. If not, then lead him on a chase down into the undercity.” The false-man pulled out a map and more pictures and and explained to her the caves beneath the city. “Kill and eat whatever you want so long as you keep his attention. He must be dead or distracted. Return to this place once you are done.”
“I thought you wanted to use me to avoid any connection to your work. Yet, you risk that he will follow me here?”
The false-man gave her a pitying look. “This place is just an abandoned slaughterhouse. You and your guard were the only ones to stay here. I’m not so foolish as to believe that you wouldn’t betray me if you thought it would serve you. My real work is elsewhere.” He turned and strode out of the room, without regarding her further. “Leave as soon as you’re done eating. I’ll return with further instructions later.”
Ouroboros felt her nails dig into the poured stone floor, and forced herself to stop. Her hate was strong, and it was right, but she didn’t need it right now. She would let that hatred simmer and smolder until the right time came.
His meat would taste all the sweeter when she finally killed him.