Shaman, Healer, Heretic by M. Terry Green Page A

she yelled as she continued to drag him backward, turning him toward her.
    Beyond his headdress, Livvy saw something moving–something taller than the buildings. It was casting a shadow against one of the skyscrapers. As she looked up, the kachina whirled around to see what she was seeing. The enormous and steady thudding continued, becoming deafening.
    Transfixed, they stared as the shadow grew. Whatever it was, it was around the corner at the end of the next block. A great serpent-like tail with a spade at the end flicked into the air and smashed the top edge of a building on that block, sending bricks flying in every direction. They both hunched lower. The shadow ran across the road and up onto a building to their left. A horned head appeared in silhouette.
    As one, she and the kachina began to backpedal on the buckling street, back along the thoroughfare that led to the central plaza. No longer interested in seeing what was going wrong in the Underworld, Livvy turned and ran. The kachina followed her. Ornamental stonework pitched into the street as the giant footsteps grew closer. Livvy and the kachina ran in a zigzag pattern down the street to avoid being crushed by the debris.
    The plaza was still far away, but Livvy felt the hand of the kachina tugging on her arm as its long strides outdistanced her. Then, the giant footsteps stopped. The kachina was slowing down. Finally they stopped and turned to look behind them. At the end of the street, not far from where they had just been, they saw the creature.
    It had stopped at the intersection and was apparently trying to decide which direction to take. Slowly, it swung its heavy head away from them, the head of a bird of prey. Its lengthy and sinuous neck was feathered down to its chest, where the feathers gradually morphed into a glossy golden fur. The muscles there rippled, the light reflecting off them at different angles. As the front legs extended down from the chest, they turned back into eagle legs, with great gleaming talons that pierced the asphalt of the road as though it were wet clay.
    Livvy sucked in a breath but dared not move now, her eyes wide. The kachina had also frozen. What in the Multiverse was this creature? Where had it come from? Oh gods, why had she agreed to this? Perhaps it would cross the street, she thought, and they could make a dash for the fountain.
    As it turned its head to look forward, a profile emerged. It had the beak of a vulture, long and downturned, red at the tip. Its feathers made a brushing noise in the silence of the deserted street, echoing from the walls and what remained of the windows. Although she quaked with fear, Livvy and the kachina remained where they were. Perhaps it wouldn’t see them if they didn’t move.
    From a broken window to their left, a great condor swooped down to land on the ground only a few feet in front of them. The enormous monster at the end of the street swung its head around with a speed that created a gust of wind.
    “Oh no,” whispered Livvy.
    The condor swiveled its head to look at her. She looked down at it, anger building on top of her terror.
    “Way to go,” she muttered.
    An ear-piercing screech shattered the air and forced Livvy to her knees as she covered her ears. Every window in the vicinity turned to dust, drifting down like snow. The black, pointed tongue of the creature seemed to dance in its gaping maw, its jaw nearly unhinged in its deafening cry.
    Like a train coming around a bend, it began walking again, pulling the rest of its body around the corner. The sinewy torso of a lion curved around into the street as the thudding of the front talons made the buildings jump. Great wings lay folded along its sides and powerful, clawed back limbs finally came into view, the pointed tail dancing high above. Although it seemed impossible for so immense a being, it started to move faster, directly at them.
    “That’s it,” screamed Livvy, getting to her feet.
    Without waiting to see what