Free The Summoning by Carol Wolf

eye at me. “You felt the earthquake?”
    I nodded.
    “Yes. This may well be her destination. That is what we fear. Do you know what comes of a visitation by the World Snake?”
    I gestured to Richard. “He mentioned the names of some cities I never heard of. And one I do know that’s gone, except I think it was an island: Atlantis.”
    “That’s so.” Her voice was strong and musical, despite the gravity of what she was telling me. “It is said that the Worm swallows cities, and no trace is left of their passing but human memory. We are taking what measures we can.”
    “Hah.” One of the bears snorted, and she glared at him.
    “The power raisers of this city are working together—” She shot a look at the bears, trying to figure out where the chortle had come from, but they were all looking up or down or away. She amended, raising her voice to make her point, “We are trying to work together in a meaningful way. Those who are able are raising barriers of deflection. Those who can do more are doing their utmost to send her away out to sea. According to legend, this was done successfully at least once before. Some are studying to find the means, or to make the means certain. Others are… doing what seems best to them.” Another hard glance at the bears, but none of them had spoken. They might have been holding their breaths. She looked back at me. “Yes, to answer your question. The World Snake is coming here, unless something can be done to prevent it.”
    “All right,” I said. “Then you need to hear this, too.” I nodded to Richard.
    Richard raised his head, and met her eyes as he spoke. “The Eater of Souls will come first,” he told her. “Look for the signs. Look for the trail. Of the two of them, this one can cause the greater harm.”
    Tamara’s expression gave nothing away. She continued to glare at him.
    I said, “Is there a way of checking this out?”
    “It would divert important resources but, yes, we can look into it.”
    Richard took a step toward her. His body radiated tension, and his voice was dead earnest when he spoke, but honestly, he was a pretty sight, with his fair hair just a little tangled at the ends, and his blue eyes darkly troubled in the face of her hostility. Part of me feasted on the sight of him, and part of me was pissed at the distraction.
    “Whatever you think of me, Madam,” he said, his voice low, “I am an enemy of the Eater of Souls. I know he is coming. I can feel it, and I know he is a herald of the World Snake. I can be useful in the fight against both of them. I have been, in the past. With these.” He took out his tarot deck and laid it on the table.
    She smiled then, in disbelief. “To help to save the city, you are going to read tarot for us?”
    Before Richard could reply, there was a shifting around us. The bears caught each other’s eyes and looked toward the back door. The really big one, that had a long face and huge hands, looked over at Tamara. “So… anything else you want us to stomp for you?”
    She smiled at them and shook her head. “No. Thank you.” She glanced at Richard and then said to me, rather pointedly, “I take it that my good friends may continue with their afternoon’s leisure?”
    I shrugged. The big one and two others were already on their way out. The scarred one called Jacob held his ground. His bear aspect had disappeared, but he was still awfully impressive as a man. He was big, but there was a weight to him, a sense of controlled power. He told me, “Out in the woods they are saying that the wolf kind are missing a daughter.”
    My anger flamed. After all this time, and all my care, to face betrayal now! I raised my head to look him in the eye. It was a long way up. I thought of going with my sudden fury and growing larger, just to see what he’d do, but I realized it would take a fair while to get as big as he was now. And anyway, he was a bear. Bears get awfully big themselves. A wolf can take a bear, but