Summoned by Monster Girls

The area that we ended up camping in was on the edge of a small meadow. The trees there were predominantly oaks, with a few stands of pine and sections of white birch. The stream that we had followed wound through the far edge of the meadow; the black stones of the stream bed left a very distinctive line through the field. The waist-high grass of the meadow took some tramping down to clear enough space for me to be able to set the tent up, but I was certain it would make a far softer mattress than the last time we’d camped out.

Rieka had been upset with Kassandra for a short while about the tent. They’d argued about it for around five minutes before Kassandra reminded her that the reason we were getting the dimensional bag was to make it easier to carry more amenities and a spare tent was not a ‘necessary addition’ after all. It was nice to have, for sure, but not necessary and that she knew she could trust both her and me as well to not do anything to make the tent uncomfortable.

Applying reasoned logic to the problem was what eventually swayed Rieka. The wolf-eared princess finally caved to that logic and forgave her friend’s mischief. She then apologized for causing a scene over it and the implied distrust she’d had of me.

“Liam?” Rieka’s voice drew me out of my thoughts and I glanced towards the woman. She was standing next to the small collection of stones that the girls were using to ring a fire pit just under the cover of the trees a short distance from the tent. She had a small, folding spade in one hand and somehow had managed to smear a line of dirt under one ice-blue eye and across her nose.

“Yeah? What’s up Rieka?” I rose from where I’d been hammering the last of the tent pegs in using the butt of my mace and headed over to her.

Rieka’s eyes roamed over me for a moment and she didn’t speak, seeming to be lost in thought until I came to a stop in front of her and holstered my mace. The ‘click’ of the metal head of the mace into the loop on my belt broke her from her distraction and she twitched, her fuzzy ears jumping upright and she shook her head like she was shaking off water.

“What’s up, Rieka?” I asked again, leaning over to peer into her face as she turned away slightly.

Rieka glanced back at me, blushed, and then opened her mouth to speak. She stopped again, glanced the other direction, and then started to speak once more.

“Hey you two! I got dinner for us, and it's fresh too!” Kassandra trilled from the trees just behind me and made both of us start in surprise.

Turning, I saw my affectionate, serpentine lover slithering towards us dragging something fuzzy through the grass behind her.

Rieka pushed past me and hurried over to her friend, an intent look on her face.

“Kassandra, where did you run into that thing? Are you okay?” Rieka’s exclamation was sufficient so I just followed after her.

“I was just setting up the wardstones; the improved ones I’ve been working on during the week. I was working on trying to get one settled down against the ground, since having it sitting on top of the grass would make it unstable, when I glanced up and saw this beast chewing on grass. I’ve never seen a babbit this big!” Kassandra cheered, her sinuous hips dancing back and forth with excitement when she came to a stop and dropped the creature on the ground.

“It looks like a rabbit…” I muttered, coming up behind Rieka and making the blonde woman jump slightly in surprise. I guess she didn’t realize I was following her. I thought silently as I peered down at the creature.

It really did look like a rabbit, but sized upwards to be more around the dimensions of a medium dog than a little bunny. The creature's fur looked incredibly soft where it wasn’t frozen solid. Only the barest amount of blood was showing around its neck where the broken-off shaft of ice protruded from the wound that killed it. However, unlike a regular rabbit, the foot claws on the creature were more like miniature shovels and reminded me of a mole’s feet.

“I bet these things are terrific diggers…”

“Oh they are, Liam. Massive pests too. Not carnivorous though, thankfully.” Kassandra supplied with a grin. “One thing they definitely are though is tasty! Plus the fur can be valuable if we are careful. Uncle Silas actually has a friend that uses babbit furs to make muffs for the ladies during winter. So dinner, practice skinning, and possibly some extra funds!”

Rieka snorted a laugh at that, shaking her head slowly while a small smile crept onto her face.

“I know the items you are talking about. I remember being very confused at the name and having to ask my mother about it. She didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked what a ‘muff’ was and thought it was something dirty I’d overheard the guards talking about. Though I agree, babbit stew is good stuff. There is far more meat on here than we need though.”

“If you two process it, I’ll set up a chill box to keep the leftover meat fresh until tomorrow?” Kassandra offered and Rieka nodded in agreement before both girls turned to me. “Also, I highly doubt there will be any leftovers.” Kassandra said with surprising confidence.

“I have no reason to disagree. Just tell me what this ‘chill box’ is first…”

<><><>

I ended up helping Kassandra make the chill box while Rieka processed the ‘babbit’. I’d intended to go help Rieka once we were done, but she was already finished and came to us first with the meat she didn’t plan on using for dinner that night.

Making the ‘chill box’, as Kassandra had put it, was as simple as digging a hole and lining it with some of the river rocks. She then froze a large hunk of ice in the nearby stream and had me bring it over to nestle into the hole on top of one of the flat rocks. The meat was wrapped in linen, then set on top of the ice. After that, another flat stone was placed over top of it.

Concerned for bugs, I used a bit of earth magic to harden the sides of the hole into a porcelain-consistency with some drainage in the bottom to let any melt from the ice drain away. I also formed a lid of hardened earth and we pinned that in place with another rock. The whole system was set inside the lines of the wardstones as well, to keep any inquisitive predators out of the area if they smelled it. It was only after digging the pit out by hand with the little spade and then hardening the sides that I realized I could have used earth magic to dig it as well.

It wasn’t perfect, or even all that sanitary, but Kassandra swore that the supernatural chill from the ice would drive bugs away and, after I hardened the sides of the hole to store it in, she doubted any bugs would make it inside the faux-icebox regardless. I was surprised at how much meat was on the creature though. Even with the meat set aside for the stew Rieka was preparing, there had to be a good ten pounds of meat in the pit.

With the meat stowed, I finished securing the tent quickly. Rieka and Kassandra got the fire going to have the stew simmering slowly while we did an initial pass to look for signs of this mountain lynx.

I took a minute to use a bit more earth magic in free-form, to Kassandra’s minor annoyance and Rieka’s amusement, to create a circle of packed earth under the fire pit to prevent fire from jumping to the grasses while we were away.

I didn’t like leaving the fire going while we weren’t in camp. But, the stew was going to need to simmer for an hour or two and it didn’t need one of us to stay behind and watch it, after all. So when they were set, we headed across to the stream to wash the blood off our hands from processing the babbit and then followed the stream up into the trees.

From what Rieka had told us, the mountain lynx preferred foothills and the lowlands during the spring, retreating back into the mountains and to the snowline during the winter. It was an odd trade off, but Rieka explained that the creature was ice-aligned and thus didn’t follow normal rules. It hunted during the spring, summer, and fall to build up for a winter hibernation where it absorbed ice mana from its environment.

“Ultimately, we are looking for the kind of tracks and devastation that Kassandra normally leaves behind herself. That will tell us that the mountain lynx is in the area.” Rieka finished explaining.

“So rampant sexiness and men left as drooling wrecks, got it.” I teased, shooting Kassandra a grin. My mischievous noodle just smirked at me while Rieka rolled her eyes.

“No, Liam. More like frozen bodies or ice in unexplained places.” Rieka explained with only a light blush on her cheeks. That blush darkened immediately when Kassandra piped up.

“Right! What you described is the wreckage that Rieka leaves in her wake!” Kassandra said cheekily, grinning as her friend blushed. Before Rieka could protest, I joined forces with my lover.

“Ah, you are right. How could I forget? I apologize for my lapse, dear Rieka.” I said with a flourishing bow to the wolf kin princess, who was blushing so furiously that her normally fair skin was a bright, tomato-red and her tail was puffing up.

“Cads. Both of you are cads.” She mumbled from behind her hands.

“Not true!” I protested.

“Quite proudly!” Agreed Kassandra, still grinning up at her friend with a high degree of wickedness and amusement.

Rieka took one hand away from her face to swat at Kassandra, but the nimble noodle of a troublemaker dodged backwards out of the way with a giggle before slipping around her friend and scampering off along the stream.

“Get back here, Kass!” Rieka demanded, hurrying after the dwarf lamia. I followed close behind the two as they bickered good-naturedly.

The stream led us up to the edge of the treeline with only a few minutes walking. Once we broke past the trees, the rising mountains surged up ahead of us, they were covered in scrubby bushes, twisted and gnarled trees, and sparse grass.

Distantly, I could see a small herd of what I guessed were elk walking along the mountainside. They were nothing more than pale-brown dots at this distance.

The girls had quit their bickering and were instead focusing on scanning the hillside for any evidence.

What surprised me the most though about the view was a second treeline of evergreens further up the mountainside. It gave the entire mountain an odd, banded look that I hadn’t noticed until we had gotten to this section. The ground cover was primarily loose scree and scattered boulders.

“Okay! So the report stated that the sighting was about a week ago. They found both frozen carcasses of babbits and deer, as well as tracks in nearby mud. So that’s what we are looking for.” Rieka muttered quietly. “I think we should keep to the treeline for now. Look for evidence of it hunting in the area. Even if it’s moved on, we should still see some evidence of it in the area. Look for scratches in the trunks of trees as well.” Rieka reviewed.

“Got it. We should still stick together though. Mountain lynx are not as aggressive as the crag hunter, but they are still predators.” Kassandra was focused for once and not teasing or distracting with innuendo and I appreciated that.

We followed along the trees, keeping off the loose scree to prevent making noise as much as possible. The girls split the view, with Rieka watching the hillside above us and Kassandra scanning the trees. I worked between them, keeping an eye open in both directions.

Kassandra found the first clue, a collecting of parallel scratches deep into the bark of a fallen tree. Rieka found the second and third clues. A section of hillside that was disturbed and bones scattered about it, then a patch of frozen ground that was in direct sunlight.

The two girls took to examining the frozen patch of ice, both pointing out the deep scratches in the surface that showed claw marks and a few chips that Kassandra was sure were evidence of hooves slipping on the ice.

I was scanning the hillside, watching that small herd of elk wandering further up along the tree line for the moment. The hillside was silent except for the girls' conversations and that was bothering me.

The last time that the birds and bugs went silent, the crag hunter tried to jump us by surprise. Now, I might just be suspicious but I don’t like this.

Reminding myself to not think too much about the mechanics of the change, I let my Shape-Shifting sink into my head and allowed it to extend my senses.

First was my eyes.

Focusing on the idea of ‘eagle-eye vision’, I mentally pushed the image of my eyes shifting to improve to match that of a hunting eagle.

Abruptly, everything went out of focus and colors swam in front of my vision. I winced as my brain fought to catch up and process everything I was seeing. Instinctively, my eyes slammed shut to cut off the stimulation.

Once I was fairly certain my eyes were not planning to claw their way out of my face to dance amongst the cosmos of colors, I opened them just a bit.

Colors I had never realized existed swam over everything around me. It took three long seconds to realize what I was seeing and a factoid that I had read about, but not really internalized, rose up in my memory.

Eagles, like a fair number of birds, could see in the ultraviolet spectrum.

I hadn’t realized it before when I’d used to check that window back at the Juneau campus, because wood and cloth normally didn’t have the effect. However, the bouncing wildflowers, trees, and even the distant herd were showing bits of brilliant light. Colors became sharper than I was used to, glowing vividly even when they weren’t enhanced with the ultraviolet fluorescence.

“Wow…”

“What is it, Liam?” Kassandra’s sweet voice drew my attention back to the girls. I turned to look at them and was abruptly struck dumb by what I saw.

Every single one of Kassandra’s scales shone with a glittering patina of iridescent color. With my far-greater eyesight, I could see each and every scale on her muscular tail. Following it up the length of her body, I could see faint lines and whorls on her skin, like the lines of a fingerprint only much larger. It gave her an ethereal, almost divine quality that was astonishing.

“Whoa! Liam, what did you do to your eyes?” Rieka said, shifting beside Kassandra and my attention snapped to her. She had the same whorls and strips on her skin and across her face, but Rieka did not fluoresce like Kassandra did. Instead, the fur of her ears and her tail seemed to drink in the extra colors and hide it's shimmer away inside it, appearing darker than expected.

“Shifted them. Improved my eyesight and it's…giving me some side effects that I hadn’t expected.” I muttered, blinking rapidly and shaking my head to try and clear it.

“Your eyes are orange! There’s no white to them now either. That is really kind of eerie.” Rieka continued, squinting slightly at me with her nose wrinkling up cutely. “It’s kinda sexy though.”

“Rieka!” Kassandra affected mock outrage for only a moment before grinning. “It really is, isn’t it?”

“Sexy wasn’t the goal, ladies.” I chastised, giving the hillside one more quick survey before moving to the next part.

So far, my brain was coping with having to process the new information supplied by my modified eyes. The next part was to enhance another of my senses. I was doing this slowly and in stages in an attempt to avoid hurting or overloading myself. The last thing I needed was a sensory episode that sent me into a coma and the girls weren’t able to help me with it. I had no idea what sort of effect Kassandra’s healing magic might have on that and didn’t want to try it out.

Instead, I focused on improving my sense of hearing.

I’d done a bit of research and was amused to find that the runner up on eyes to eagles had some of the most sensitive ears of all. The barn owl only lost out to the eagle, in my estimation at least, due to the telescopic effect that the eagle's eyes were giving me.

The shift of hearing took only a moment and the girls gasped again as feathers sprouted from the sides of my head to cover my ears. I’d included them to help shield the delicate structures from the wind, not sure if they’d work without something to filter that constant rustle out.

“Okay. Now he looks just cute. So fluffy!” Kassandra’s whispered squeak was like a shout and I flinched slightly at it. “Sorry!” She hissed as quietly as possible, immediately comprehending what the problem was.

The girls held stock still while I let my senses adjust.

I could hear my own heartbeat in my head and I had to consciously put it aside in my consideration to focus on what was going on. Two more rumbling heartbeats sounded out nearby and I knew that was my girls, so I discarded them as well.

Another tiny heartbeat sounded from the ground below me, fast and rattling like rain on a tin roof. I looked down to see a field mouse nosing through the grass about six inches from my boot and smiled.

“Wow, this is sensitive.” I murmured in a voice that sounded like thunder to me and I winced.

It took an extra minute or two to figure out how to moderate my hearing so we could talk without deafening me. I could still faintly hear the distant sound of hooves on stone from the herd further up the mountain, but I could at least converse in a normal voice with the girls.

“That is going to take getting used to. Do you think you are going to keep your eyes like that often, Liam?” Kassandra asked quietly.

The dwarf lamia had shifted away from the patch of frozen ground to peer up at me curiously. The lines on her skin even formed rippling circles around her eyes to match the spectacles that glimmered on her nose and I had to fight the urge to lean down and kiss her.

“I might with the eyes, but not the ears. Way too much information coming in. The last thing I need is to end up sprawled on the ground because someone is pounding on a pot with a spoon.” I answered and she nodded intently.

Rieka also nodded in agreement from her position behind Kassandra, watching me intently.

“Liam, I don’t think we have even begun to scrape the surface of what you can do with this Shape-Shifting power. You have only used it in combat up until now and I feel like that is a grave disservice to it…can you imagine the potential? Wings like a fire drake, claws like some of the greatest hunters in our world. But more importantly, maybe, senses like we have never encountered or documented before.”

“I don’t know if I can do things like wings or that though.” I protested, turning my gaze to Rieka again. The thin lines on her skin shimmered like light off of a rippling lake and I was distracted for a moment.

“But do you know what to expect with these eyes? Did you have any preconceived ideas for that? What about the claws you borrowed from Lady Valda? How well did you conceive of them before you were able to take that form?” Rieka leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with fascination as she paused to accent the moment. “And you’ve already copied things from this world. Lady Valda’s claws, Kassandra’s scales, and ears like my people.” I blushed when she said the last part.

That means she knows I was listening in on their conversation…crud. I thought for a moment before what she was saying locked in and my eyes widened suddenly.

“There we go! Now you have it.” Rieka laughed quietly.

“Getting what?” Kassandra inquired.

“The idea that he’s not limited to animals from his homeworld for one. And for two, he’s starting to really think about the possibilities.” Rieka’s happy smile shone like a sun rising over the horizon as she watched me intently.