This is an excerpt from Book Two, Dan's introduction to both Sito and Everest Tempanieum.
Dan wandered the streets of Kinnesburg lost in thought, but also just lost in general. The people here were haughty, busy, and had no time for a backwater musician like himself. He meandered around, finally finding himself in a mostly empty lot that seemed to serve as a crossroads of alleys. He paused, and turned in circles trying to get his bearings.
In the distance, but growing nearer at an alarming rate, a cacophony rose. There was the distinct clanging sound of trash cans being knocked over, accompanied by whistles, shouts, and even gunshots. Through it all, there was a frantic barking and howling. Dan stared curiously down the dark of an alley as the thumping of footsteps and the panting of breath drew closer and closer. His hand strayed nervously to his banjo.
A strange form began to take place, bent over and galloping along the cobblestones on strong and sturdy limbs. Dan shrieked and leapt back as a barefoot and topless woman ran full tilt out of the alley on all fours. Her head was that of a coyote, with gray-red fur spreading down her shoulders, tongue lolling out of her mouth, and bright yellow eyes glinting dangerously. Blood dripped from a wound in her upper arm, a wound she was ignoring completely. She cocked her head curiously when she spotted Dan, and he saw that her lower jaw was exposed bone. Her teeth were set firmly into the jawbone, but Dan could see up into her mouth from below as she panted.
Her curiosity lasted but a moment. The coyote’s tall ears twitched back at the sound of shouting echoing between the brick buildings. She glanced behind her, muttered a curse, and took off again, brushing by Dan. Eyeing a low awning, she leapt for it. She managed to catch hold of the edge, but scrabbled to pull herself up, legs kicking the air. The wound in her arm burned with a fury. The woman cursed again, and the lawfolk’s whistles grew louder down the alleyway. Just as she was sure she’d slip back down, she felt skeletal hands beneath her swinging feet. Dan boosted her up, and with a:
“Many tanks, skeleton!” she sprung up to the roof and bolted away.
“You there! Did you see a beast-kin come by this way?” A red-faced deputy jogged out ofthe alley, followed by a posse of gun-waving lawfolk.
“Sure did sir, she came a-runnin’ outta that there alley all bent over like some kinda demon critter, why, nearly knocked me right down!”
“Hurry up dead man, which way did she go!”
“Fates, no need ta be rude officer. Sure, she went off thataway.” Dan pointed out towards the crowded streets. Without another word, the posse rushed past him.
“Wait a minnit boys.” The one who spoke wasn’t dressed in the usual white and blue uniform, but rather in the black and gold trimmed outfit typical of a wandering ranger.
“Think we’ve got a liar on our hands.” Dan took a cautious step back as the posse changed direction to corner him.
“I ain’t lyin’.” Dan lied. The ranger laughed smugly and pointed up at the awning, where a bit of the coyote’s blood had splattered from her wound. That damning finger moved to point next at Dan’s hat. His hand reflexively moved to touch the edge, and sure enough, his bone white fingers came back red.
“Well mebbe I were lyin’!” Dan huffed, pulling himself up to his full, unimpressive height and drawing forth his banjo. “Awright, y’all, I don’t think yew wanna fight me, so I’d recommend scootin’ off afore anyone gits hurt! I ain’t nobody ta mess with!” The ranger just smiled.
“My name is Everest Tempaneium. Not sure if you’ve heard of me, but I’m fair popular in the bounty hunting world. Some call me a mercenary, or a gun-for-hire, but two things are for sure, I’ve never lost a prize, and I don’ t take too kindly to liars. I think as well you will find that I am the one you ought not mess with.”
Everest’s fingers clicked, and a dome of shimmering energy expanded swiftly to cover the alley. Dan didn’t have a heart… but he felt it drop. The magic which normally sprang easily to his fingertips was silent. The confident and genderless ranger had cast a powerful mundaneity spell, and Dan's magic was fully suppressed. He glanced from side to side, searching for a way out. Tempaneium stood afore him, lawfolk were closing in on all sides, and as he took another step back, he could feel the brick wall pressing against his spine. He was trapped.
The ranger gestured for half the posse to follow the coyote woman, and with much struggle, they scrambled up the awning and took to the roof. Everest took a languid step forward, boot heels clicking ominously against the otherwise silent cobbles. Dan raised his banjo threateningly, but a lightning fast fist shot out and connected with his cheekbone. He gasped in shock, panic flooding into him like water from a dam. It was that same cheekbone that Bill had broken a few seasons back, and while the punch hadn’t shattered his face the same way the hammer had, the pain still flung him back into that helpless feeling. He shook his head, trying to shake away the memory, and Everest’s fist hit him in the sternum. Dan doubled over, but dodged the elbow that came next and retaliated with a bony punch of his own. The ranger deflected it easily, and kicked Dan’s legs out from under him. Once Dan went down, it was just kick after kick after kick as the rest of the lawfolk surrounded him and joined in the attack. He curled up, trying to at least protect his skull and ribs, and waited for it to stop.
A howl rang out from above, and Dan glanced up through the throng of boots and shining star badges to see that coyote woman, now drenched in far more blood than just her own, leap down from the rooftops and into the fray. The lawfolk scattered as she sank her teeth into whatever poor fool was close enough, snarling and snapping and lashing out with her fists.
“Up, skeleton, up up up!” she shouted, as blood poured down through her bone jaw.
“We LEAVE!” Dan scrambled his way up, snagging his banjo and smacking a deputy with it. Tempaneium’s fingers snapped again, and Dan could feel that mundaneity field redouble in strength. In fact, he felt it in his very bones. With a deep shudder of fear, Dan remembered that he himself was held together with magic. His joints felt weak. They ached. His knees slipped and he nearly fell back down.
“Aw no, fuck!” He cursed as his jaw fell off. His left radius slid down his ulna, taking his fingers with it and clattering loosely to the ground. He sat down hard as his right boot filled with leg bones that no longer felt up to the task of supporting him. Dan struggled to pull himself back together, but one by one his connection points failed. The coyote woman growled, her own jaw hanging loosely. Everest laughed self-assuredly… But that confidence didn’t last much longer.
The coyote woman tipped her head, twisting her ear like she was listening to something, and then she grinned a wide, open mouthed grin. As Dan fell apart, the coyote flung back her head and howled. She reached up into the air and took hold of the mundaneity field, twisting it between her fingers like it was a physical material and not an intangible energy. She wound it up tightly as Everest stepped back in shock. Holding it in her teeth, the woman grasped the other field as well, and spun them both together into a long thin string of raw power.
Dan’s bones enthusiastically reconnected, and his magic returned to him. Flexing his freshly attached fingers, Dan launched right back into the fight and plucked out a bright and merry tune that shook the earth. Dark storm clouds gathered low in the alley, and the air hummed with static electricity. The skeleton hesitated before striking. Last time this spell had been cast by his banjo and his hands, it had murdered one of his best friends. He redirected it at the last minute, frying the ground directly in front of Everest, who leapt back, eyes full of fear. The coyote snapped the string of energy like a whip, cracking it over the shocked lawfolk.
“How? How did you do that?” Tempaneium cried out, deputies fleeing away from the blood soaked coyote.
“No one defeats me!” she yelled. “I leave now! I go to my plateau! I see any of you again, you all dead, understand? Skeleton, come along.” Dan nodded and trotted along behind her, leaving the ranger and lawmen to nurse their wounds.
She strode into the middle of the busy street, dragging her energy whip behind her. Carriages swerved wildly around her but she just stood still, her face turned to the sky. The coyote howled again, and Dan felt the earth begin to tremble. She snapped her long whip, and it grew longer with each crack. The earth was shaking more and more, nearly sending Dan back down to the ground.
Buildings shook, townsfolk fled, and as Dan glanced up at the sky, he watched her whip reach the sun. It split and divided like a cell in mitosis, leaving two suns beating down on the earth. People screamed, and Dan felt the land beneath him shudder and rise up. It phased up through the buildings and people like they weren’t there, telescoping towards that second sun. The coyote woman and Dan balanced on the highest layer as the rest of the magical plateau erupted out of the ground to catch up with itself. The original sun disappeared, blinking in and out of existence. The plateau settled with almost a sigh.
Instead of the bustling city of Kinnesburg, with its noise and crowds and bustling energy, they now stood in a vast and empty desert. Creosote shrubs and cholla cactus grew as far as the eye could see, wild and dry. The sky was too close, too big, and almost too blue.
That strange new sun stared down like it was inspecting them. The coyote woman sat down on a rock, breathing hard. She shook her head, sending little clots of dried blood flying from her fur. Dan stretched out his hands and inspected his banjo. It was no worse for wear after clubbing a deputy or two, and he twanged out a few notes.
“Well! That sure were somethin’.”
