Panthera Spelaea

I could hear the car gunning its engine, likely moving to cut off the escape of my mates. There was a spot near where we were last night that the road came close to the trail. I had to hope they were smart enough to hide somewhere else.

I hurt from the slide and fall, and the bullet wound in my shoulder wasn’t helping. The blood matted and dripped from my fur onto the rock ledge below me. I was out of sight, safe for now, but completely exposed to someone on the top of the cliffs. I had to get somewhere else, and quick.

The ledge ended about ten feet to my left; looking down, it was sheer walls down at least thirty feet. Even in cat form, that wasn’t a jump I’d make. I twisted around on the narrow ledge and trotted to the other end.

There was a spot to jump to, about twenty feet out and four feet down. The target area was only three feet wide and continued around a rock outcropping, with no room for error. If I screwed up the jump, it was a fifty-foot drop to the broken rocks and water below.

I didn’t have a choice in this.

I backed up a few feet, bounding forward before jumping towards the ledge. I realized about halfway over that I’d used a little too much power. I landed on the far part of the ledge, skidding furiously to try and stop. Nine hundred pounds didn’t stop on a dime, and I made a quick decision as my front legs reached the edge. I switched back to my human form, scraping up my chest and stomach, but able to stop myself by grabbing a rock. My head and shoulders went past the edge until I was looking down at the surf below. “Fuck, that was too damn close,” I said out loud. I pushed myself back onto my knees and stood up.

I looked around for my next move. There was a crack in the rock face, enough to hide maybe half my body. The good news was the slight overhang; it would hide me from anyone directly above. The cliff had partially collapsed further on. The landslide left huge boulders and wall sections piled haphazardly down to the waters. It was a mess; nothing flat to land on, and ankle-breakers everywhere.

I heard the car slide to a halt on the gravel road. The car door slammed, and I heard pistol shots further ahead of me, shots trading back and forth with the girls. I prayed for their protection as I considered how I could get down to the water, or at least to the shelter of the rocks.

“FREEZE,” a male voice shouted from behind me. “You’re cut off. Surrender yourself, and we will let your women live.”

I turned around, hugging the wall. I was screwed; there wasn’t enough rock to shield my body from his rifle, and the only other option was to take a header onto the rocks below. “Why? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

“DON’T DO IT,” Anna yelled, which provoked more gunfire.

“Surrender now, or they are dead, John. Save me the trouble of fishing your body out of the surf, and I will let them walk away.” He had a rifle on me, and he was right. I was confident the next Cave Lion would want two pregnant mates, so at least my girls could live. They’d get over me eventually.

“I surrender,” I told him. “What do you want me to do?”

“Climb up to the top,” he told me.

“Fine. Tell your man to stand down. ANNA, SVETLANA, IT’S OVER.”

I looked at the rocks above me, finding a crack and some handholds I could use for the ascent. “This might take a while,” I said. “This isn’t the climbing wall at the gym.”

I wedged a foot in and reached for a handhold, pulling myself off the narrow ledge. I was startled by a loud screech and looked to my left.

In an explosion of feathers, a diving Golden Eagle crashed into his target. The rifleman had been standing at the edge of the cliff with his attention on me. A forty-pound raptor missile was more than enough to push him past his point of balance. He dropped the rifle, his arms waving, but it was too late to save him. He tumbled over the edge, bounced off the ledge below, and cartwheeled through the air. I heard the clatter of the rifle, then a wet splat as he hit the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs. I looked over to see the broken body of the Golden Eagle on the ledge near where I’d gone over.

“YOU BASTARD,” Anna yelled as she started firing. I heard Svetlana join in, and soon the return fire stopped. Anna was screaming for me as she ran to the edge of the cliff. “JOHN!”

“I’m here,” I told her. “Stay back. I’ll be up in a minute.”

Cliff climbing naked isn’t my thing, especially against an overhang. I made it here, and making it back would be a little more of a jump. I switched back to my Lion, taking as much of a running start as possible before launching myself for the first ledge. My front legs cleared, but my rear legs had to scratch and scramble their way up to get me over.

The girls ran towards me as I switched back to human form. “Anna, do you have the backpack?”

“Just a minute,” she said. She was back shortly. “What do you need?”

“Take out everything but my clothes and shoes, then lower it to me.” I took the bag and dressed quickly, including the surgical gloves we’d brought along just in case. I didn’t think I could get another Switcher beast after getting my Cave Lion, but why risk it? I unzipped the backpack and carefully stuffed the broken bird inside before zipping it up. “Take this,” I said as I held it above my head. Anna pulled it up before the girls helped me climb back to the top. I plopped down on my back, the girls piling onto my chest and hugging me. “Are you all right?”

Anna nodded, but Svetlana didn’t respond. “Lana?” I rolled her off me, seeing the dark stain on her black jeans. “LANA!”

“NO!” Anna saw what I did, and Lana was limp. I unzipped her jeans and moved them aside, finding an entry wound about four inches right of her belly button. “Get me a t-shirt, anything,” I told her as I pressed on the bleeding wound. I had her fold it into a square and hand it to me, removing my fingers only long enough to move the material into place. “Help me check for an exit wound,” I said. I rolled her onto her left side and found nothing, so I put Svetlana on her back again, keeping pressure on the entry wound. “Get the cellphone and call for help.” I thought for a moment. “Art’s help, not the authorities.” I didn’t want to explain a gun battle, a dead raptor, or Svetlana’s healing rate to the police and hospital personnel.

Anna was barely keeping it together, but she got up and ran for the spot they’d first taken cover. She had the Element on the line; they were getting underway from their anchorage off Portorvesme, where they had been waiting for a berth to open up. Art had dispatched a helicopter to us as soon as we reported the eagle sighting, and they would be here in ten minutes.

It was the longest ten minutes of my life. Svetlana didn’t awaken; her body looked pale, and the pool of blood kept growing. The shirt soaked through, and I had Anna tear my shirt off and fold it. I put it on top of the t-shirt, knowing from my first aid classes not to pull the original bandage away. That could rip out any forming clots.

I heard the helicopter approaching finally, and Anna waved it down. I asked her to put on the backpack with the eagle, not wanting it left behind. I had Anna keep pressure on the wound while I picked my mate up, and we walked together to the helicopter. I kicked off the ship’s personnel, leaving only the pilots as we laid her on the bench seat for passengers. “GO,” I said as soon as Anna had the door closed again.

Flight time was less than five minutes. Svetlana’s pulse was weak, and we were losing her. Medical teams were waiting on the bow of the Elements when we landed and carried her down to the ship’s hospital.

I got Anna to Art’s office, and we collapsed crying together on the floor. Art had stewards bring wet towels to clean the blood off our hands, and that was when he saw my shoulder wound. “Take him to Medical,” he ordered his people.

“They need to help Svetlana,” I argued.

“I can’t have you bleeding all over my office, John. We’ll get Anna cleaned up, and you can wait your turn in Medical.”

“Anna, tell him what happened.” I let his crew members lead me away.