The ground spun into and out of sight as it both rushed toward me and seemed to stop moving. It was as though I was watching someone do something that would hurt them, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Not with how little time I had left and especially not with the dregs of mana that was in my mana pool. So maybe I went a bit overboard with propelling myself through the water. Did I have to move so fast, or could I have taken the time to swim to the edge?

  But what was it my mother used to say about hindsight? While it is twenty-twenty, that doesn’t mean there is anything that you can do with the information, so why worry about something neither of us can change? She was right. There was nothing that I could do to change what I did. That being said, what could I do to keep myself from going spt? Sure, someone could survive such a drop, but it wouldn’t feel great. Oh, who was I kidding, even if they did survive, they were going to be well and truly in pain afterward.

  As if summoned by my contemption, a funnel of wind surrounded me. It held me in its swirling embrace as it abruptly stopped my tumble. Head upside down, I tried to look past the wall of wind, but while the air itself was clear, the wind somehow managed to bend and distort the light. While it wasn’t by much, it was enough to turn the sharp outlines of people and objects into blurs of shapes and colors.

  Well, all but two pces anyway. Two points on opposite sides were clear of wind, or they were clear enough that I could make out the sky high above and the woman down below. She looked bored as she held a wand up. The tip circled around and around. Given how the wind was moving in the same direction, I was fairly sure that she was the one that managed to arrest my fall. To what end, I had no clue. Maybe she heard the shouting and looked up to find me falling to my death. She might have then decided to help me.

  Of course, I didn’t think that was likely, especially when a second person stepped closer to her. A man who happened to be holding an open crate. While it wasn’t a pet crate, I didn’t doubt that they were going to use it in a simir fashion. Too bad for them, I didn’t pn to give them the chance. The moment I was close enough to the ground, I was going to make my escape.

  Slowly, the tunnel of air brought me toward my savior and captor. It felt as though the thing was slowly pulling me toward the inevitable, toward death. Too bad for it, I was not going to go down without a fight. The moment I was within a couple of meters from the end of the line, I released what little mana I had left.

  Little orbs of fire formed into a ring around me. Each was smaller than any fireball I had created before, but even so, they were nothing compared to the little bundles of joy I had fed to the vampire. Of course, that didn’t mean these were any less powerful than any other fireball I had cast so far. Hell, if anything, they were more powerful.

  With a bit of will and the st dregs of my mana, I sent the ring spinning clockwise, counter to the direction the wind was going. Their speed rapidly increased until their blurred forms merged into a ring of fire. Then, the ring expanded outward.

  The moment my fire collided with the wall of wind, all hell broke loose. Ribbons of fire were stripped from the ring, rapidly whittling away at my spell. Not that it was the only spell affected. Her spell rapidly disintegrated as the fight ripped away at its power. Given the narrowing of her eyes, I had a feeling that she knew what I was doing, yet for some reason, she wasn’t stopping me.

  Finally, my spell managed to strip away enough of her spell to give me an exit. One that I was practically thrown out of. I mean, one moment I was holding together a spell and working to make my escape, and the next I was once again hurtling through the air. At least this time the ground was only a few feet away.

  My legs bent to absorb my fall just as something grabbed my scruff. “Now that be enough out of you, missy.” The man’s voice was rich and sounded like what I imagined a Canadian’s accent would be, given how various movies portrayed them. Of course, none of the people I knew with Canadian parents sounded even close to this.

  I whipped my tail around to keep bance as I tried to swipe at his arm. Too bad for me, such a move simply was not possible given our positions. “Marty,” the mage with the wand called out, catching the man’s attention. “Thank god you managed to catch the bugger.” Just how old was this woman? I mean, she didn’t look old, but who said bugger in this day and age? Then again it is better than her calling me a bitch…wait, was that even wrong? I was female and a canid. Sure, I wasn’t a dog, but close enough. Oh, who the fuck cares? I would consider it an insult even if it were true.

  “Let’s get her to the adventurer guild before one of the guards shows up.” As a third man spoke, the crate went skidding past my nose. Missing everyone and everything until it was forced to halt by a wall. Not that I cared. What I cared about were the questions that the man's words brought to mind. Why did they care, and why did it matter? How would my being turned into the guild be any different than being turned over to the guards?

  Up and to that point I had been hesitant to switch to one of my humanoid forms due to the fact that I would be naked for all the world to see. But the mention of being carried to the guild to be turned in caused me to reconsider. I gave in as the three of them started down the road, gently pushing people out of the way as they moved.

  Current environment is not safe for transformation. Remove all obstructions and try again.

  As I read over the message, I realized that I was stuck as a fox for at least a little bit longer. At least I would be able to get through spaces a human couldn’t. I just needed to wait for an opportunity to get away. Preferably after we got close to the guild and I had some more mana to py with.

  “Hey!” “Stop!” “Halt!” Multiple people shouted behind us. Given that they sounded as though they expected the group to stop, I had to assume that they were the guards the group had been talking about.

  “Raven,” came Marty’s voice. “A bit of cover, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, any preference this time?” She asked.

  “Anything but space distortions.” The third man sounded as though he was going to be sick at the very memory of something. “Never again.”

  “Hey, I will have you know that I am getting better at spatial manipution.”

  “Sure…” Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could tell that they were rolling around in his head.

  “Oi.” Marty admonished both of them. To my surprise, the two of them stopped arguing. Given the silence that descended over the three, I was almost sure that they were arguing behind his back or something. Then something weird flew by my face.

  A colored bundle of water, looking like a fantastical fish, jumped and swam through the air. Its tail flicked through the air as it sped around our group. It wasn’t alone either. Fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors joined in. To my eye, the mass looked like utter chaos as they darted and pyed amongst the obstacles that were the people and stalls.

  Kids cried out in joy. Some of whom jumped and ran after the swirling masses in an effort to catch one of the creatures for themselves. Of course, this caused the entire pce to descend into chaos as parents chased after kids. Chaos that this group took advantage of. They went from a fast walk to a run that left me dizzy.

  It wasn’t the speed that was the problem, as I was finding it fairly easy to deal with that. No, it was the fact that I was swinging from the scruff of my neck. Each step pushed my body into a different direction. One moment, I was swinging forward to back only to find myself rotating left to right the next.

  Their run didn’t st but for a minute, yet it was the longest minute of my life. As soon as they slowed down, my stomach made its displeasure known. Dry heaving as a human was something I had experienced a few times, but never in my life did I think that I would ever experience it as a fox. Now, now I could say that I had. Sure, I didn’t throw anything up, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t get some of the acidic bile onto my tongue. That stuff tasted horrific. Yeah, I wanted to bury that memory.

  I spit and spat in an effort to rid my tongue of the taste, yet it did little to help. The only thing that helped was when the guy set me down and practically shoved a bowl of water under my nose. My tongue darted in and out, shing at the water as it tried to dilute the taste.

  It seemed to work. Within a dozen swipes, I no longer tasted bile. Now the only issue I had was how in the hell I was going to drink some of this water. It wasn’t like I knew how. Lucky for me, I didn’t need to figure it out. Some muscle memory of some kind kicked in as my tongue started to p up the liquid.

  Sure, I could have drank all I needed as fast as possible, but I forced myself to take my time. After all, when else would I get a better time to look around and try and escape?

  My eyes scanned the room. It was massive and oddly familiar. It didn’t click until a lucky break in the crowd around us revealed a storefront that I recognized. One that sold clothes. Which meant that I was back where I started in this city. It also meant that, given the fact that the three of them looked to be waiting on something or someone, this was the guild hall. At least I knew that the pce had good rooms. I just hoped I would be able to afford one for a night or two. But first, I had to figure out how to get away from these three.