Unicorn Point

It took some time for the awful fog to thin. Finally Nepe sat up. Her eyes were bleary and her breathing labored, but she could handle it, having known what to expect. “It will ease gradually,” she gasped. “Now we must arrange our escape.”

Forel roused himself. “But the net!” He coughed, then recovered. “They watch!”

She smiled. “Not any more. I made a spell of magic pollution; we experience only the peripheral effects.”

“The what?”

She realized that young werewolves would not be exposed to the technical terms of Proton technology. “What we feel is at the edge, and is weak; what is at the center is strong, and that is the pollution—the smoke and fog—that obscures magic. I learned this spell from the Oracle, who put it out on general information at the behest of Citizen Blue. That way I could learn it without giving away my hiding place. It seemed a pointless exercise at the time, and few people even noticed; Blue does crazy things every so often, like making public love in vats of green gelatin. I knew he hoped I would find use for it, and now I have. No magic net can spy on us now—not until the fog clears.”

Forel nodded, smiling. “What makes us cough, gives the Adepts a real illness!”

“Close enough. Now under this cover we must act. They will be checking each creature who seeks to leave this region.  I must be of a form they will not suspect.”

“But canst thou change forms as Bareisi could? He knew man, wolf, bat and ‘corn, and in secret worked on others he dared not assume lest he be discovered. Likewise he dared not do magic, though he be talented in it.”

“He worked on ogre, dragon and harpy forms,” she agreed. “And cloud magic. He thought to infiltrate the enemy ranks, where they would not suspect. But he knew that the net would catch him in the change, so he didn’t dare. But no, I can not change forms; my mother Agape was here once, and it took her a long time and much mischief to change forms. I know better than to try. The Adepts will check all creatures anyway, and know who is not natural. That was why Bareisi knew he was trapped.”

Sirelba had roused herself and become somewhat acclimatized to the choking environment. “Harpy form? But he be male!”

“Perhaps you natural form changers are confined to the same sex. We are not sure that holds for Adept form changers. Bareisi wanted to try the harpy form and see whether it was possible. Now that we have exchanged minds, I believe it is possible, for I am a female mind in his body. Only the natural body is fixed; the others can be adapted for size and appearance, and I think sex would be one of the options. But that is not the point: had he so changed, the net would have caught the flare of magic, and the Adepts would have known.”

“Mayhap,” Sirelba agreed, awed.

“Now, with the pollution spell, such form changes can not be accomplished. The enemy would have caught the flare of my spell, but its very nature quickly made that useless. The three of you must not try to resume your wolf forms; the spell would interfere, and you might get into serious trouble.  So we must change our forms another way.”

“Another way?” Terel asked, the last to rouse herself. Her eyes were streaming; the pollution was affecting her worse.

“Makeup. We need clay, or something similar. Something that can be molded, and will dry in place and keep its shape.”

“There be fish-nest lining in the nearby stream,” Forel said. “It be much like clay, and holds its shape, but ne’er dries out completely. It be flesh-colored. Would that do?”

“Excellent! We must go there immediately.”

They led her to the stream, uncertain what she had in mind.  The water was clear, and the pollution was less intense near it; Terel lay down beside it and found some relief.  “Now we must convert this body to female, and one of you girls to male,” Nepe said, undressing.  “Bitches,” Sirelba said.

“What?”

“We be bitches. Female wolves.”

“Oh. Yes. Do you see the nature of this ruse?”

“They will catch and hold the males, not the bitches!”

Sirelba exclaimed. “They will let these pass!”

“Yes. Unable to verify us magically, they will do it physically; Two males, two females—by the time they realize their error, I should be past their net.” She frowned. “But there may be danger. When they learn that they have been deceived—”

“A wolf lives by danger,” Forel said bravely, and the two bitches agreed. “We shall decoy them, and deceive them, and take the consequence. They can not be too cruel, for our Pack would react.”

“The hair!” Sirelba exclaimed. “Thy hair be dark, like mine; thou canst not pass for Terel.”

Nepe nodded. “Good point. You and I must exchange appearances.”

They went to it. They packed fish-nest lining about their crotches, masking their genitals. Nepe’s masculine appendage had to be folded down and covered, while Sirelba required an artificial appendage. Forel had great fun shaping it for her, to her embarrassment. Wolves were open about natural functions, but this reversal of roles was a new experience for the bitch.