by Scott King
The act of digging was quite degrading. A worm's mouth connects directly to their digestive track, which is why worms prefer to eat soft dirt or decaying plant matter. Eating hard dirt caused her insides to reel and felt worse coming out her back end. Once she cleared a hollow space, she tried to shift into something larger with claws. She had thought being a mole would work, but the ground was so unstable that, when she took a different form, the earth shifted, threatening to squash her.
Reverting to a worm, she took the safe route, slowly twisting and turning toward the surface. After more than week of digging, she broke free to see a bright, sunny sky. She instantly shifted back to human form, without bothering to create clothes for herself, and lay in the sun, enjoying the warmth on her skin. She wasn't one to get claustrophobic, but it was nice to be able to stretch her legs out and relax with her arms tucked behind her head.
Medrayt would want her to touch base or regroup with the Red Hounds that had survived. That wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to go after Doug, and she knew exactly where they were going. Compitum.
She could go as a dragon, but dragons felt played out. Maybe a griffin or great eagle? Flying was the fastest way to get there.
Kane settled for functionality over style. She warped her arms into a hollowed-out exoskeleton, keeping the shell flat and thin, like the egg cases used by stingrays. She narrowed her body, letting it take on a snake shape.
She waited for a wind gust, and when it hit, she jumped into the air. The second her feet were off the ground, she blended her legs together and formed a mermaid-like tail, but instead of its being made of a fatty flesh, she made it hollow like she had her arms.
Kane flapped her tail, creating a powerful thrust that sent her soaring into the clouds. The horizon curved in the distance, and she leveled off her incline. Flying too high could be risky.
It took only a day to clear the mountains, putting her about halfway to Compitum. She didn't enjoy holding a shape for too long. It felt off. She could get cramps and feel jittery. Already her back end ached, like knuckles needing to be cracked.
By this point, she decided that she had to be ahead of the brat and dragon. A few hours with dirt under her toes wouldn't delay her too long. Plus, once she got tired of running, she could take to the sky again.
Kane landed on a grassy plain that stretched as far as she could see. The ground, too rocky for trees, was perfect for wild flowers and small rodents that made dens in the shrubbery.
Hunting for field mice could be fun. She had time to spare, but it would be irresponsible. So instead of taking on the shape of a fox or dire wolf, she settled on a kirin. The big reptilian creature, like a mini-dragon without wings, was common enough in the region, and its sleek form was perfect for running. Naturally, they could only sprint for a limited distance, but that wouldn't stop her. Her endurance levels were unmatched.
The pads on her claws made a drumming sound on the hard earth. The serenity of the rhythm soothed and relaxed her.
An hour into her sojourn, a fluffy strand of black clouds crept along plains, delivering a downpour. Rain beat on Kane's golden-green scales. The coolness felt refreshing though she had to shift her innards from being cold-blooded to warm.
The downpour transformed the hard earth into a sloshy mess. Instead of running for speed, Kane had to adjust her stance, digging into the ground with her claws with each stride. Mud flew in all directions. It coated her hindquarters and clumped on her back.
It became a game to see how long Kane could slide in the mud before needing to use her claws to keep from falling. This was living. Being free and feeling the beating heartbeat of the world.
A burning sensation tore through her right hind end.
Kane stumbled.
Her face smacked a puddle, and she rolled.
Lifting her stiff neck, Kane saw an arrow's shaft sticking out of her thigh, its head, buried too deep to see.
Kane told her legs to shift, intending to shove the arrow out of her body. The wound itself was superficial. Nothing more than a hindrance, yet her legs didn't warp. In fact, she couldn't feel anything past her midriff.
"I got it!" a man yelled.
Kane curled her front half around and caught a whiff of something spicy. The arrow had been doused with drug or toxin. That's why she couldn't shape shift.
"Hold up," someone else said. "Let the juice sink in first. You don't want to approach it until it does."
The numbness spread, covering Kane's entire body. There was nothing she could do to stop it, but that was alright. It would wear off, and when it did, she would kill whomever was responsible for it.
Two men, one in his twenties and another older than crap, scooped Kane up and dumped her in a cart. From where she lay, Kane could only see the dark clouds and hear the pattering of rain.
The men took her to a log cabin nestled on a hill that overlooked the plains. They dumped her in a wooden cage and left. She heard mugs clanking from inside the cabin and assumed they were celebrating their catch.
When the numbing agent wore off, Kane discovered that her cage was but one of a collection of ten. All the rest were stocked with kirin, though none had scales as shiny and beautiful as hers. The others looked as if they had been injured from arrow wounds, including two cubs that could have been only a few stints old.
The storm intensified, and lightning danced across the plains. Thunder cracked, and the other kirins cowered in the corners of their enclosures.
Kane appreciated that the cages were wooden and not metal. She had been struck by lighting before, and had no desire for it to happen again. The last time it had almost killed her.
The hunters could not be collecting kirin for food or clothing. Kane could forgive such a thing. Nothing wrong with making your place in the world. To have this many kirins alive could be for only one thing. The men intended to sell the animals to a fighting ring.
Compitum, being at the edge of Gara, Kelsam, and the Freelands, had a particularly high-class rich sector. Despicable unpoxed aristocrats who hadn't worked a day in their lives and were so bored that they did asinine things like bet on kirins fighting in an arena.
This would not do.
Kane shifted into her human form, but shrunk small enough to fit through the bars of her cage. On the other side, she returned to normal height.
Seeing her, the kirins bristled and hissed. She couldn't blame them. They were hurt, trapped, and scared. None of which was right.
Now that she could see it clearly, she realized that the wooden cabin was hardly bigger than a shack. It must be a hunting lodge that had been passed down within a family for generations.
She could set the cabin ablaze and burn the men alive, but that felt a bit impersonal. She could charge in and with a few swings of an arm blade kill them, but that felt a bit too personal. She needed something in the middle.
Kane grinned. Justice sometimes had a perfect sense of irony.
Shifting, she grew to giant size so that the kirin cages reached her knees.
Careful not to make any noise, she picked up each of the cages and rearranged them so that they formed an arc around the entrance to the cabin.
Kane tore off the doors to each of the cages.
The kirins' hissing grew to howls.
The door to the cabin burst open, and both men rushed out. The bewildered expressions on their faces made it clear that they were unprepared to face the loose animals. The kirins, on the other hand, were itching for a fight.
Thunder boomed, drowning out the screams.
Kane didn't stay to watch the whole ordeal. She wasn't a monster. She watched just long enough to make sure that the kirins had everything under control. The last thing she wanted was for them to be further hurt.
Satisfied with her work, she stretched, taking in her surroundings. Earlier in the day, the rain had felt fun and carefree, but now it felt bothersome. Evening was coming, and the stars would be out. She felt a particular urge to be closer to them. Maybe sh
e would shift into a falcon or a roc? Something with feathers. It had been a few weeks since she'd had feathers.
15
The Oracle
Ulesday, 27th of Hearfest, 1162.111
Carter raced up the hill to join Alex. The view was unimpressive. Protruding from the mostly flat horizon were jagged buildings. They didn't seem tall enough to be the fabled four towers of Compitum. "You sure that's it?"
"What else could be that big?"
"Doesn't look big to me."
She laughed and continued down the other side of the hill. Two hours later, when they still hadn't reached the city, Carter found out why. They must have been more than four leagues from Compitum, and as they got closer, the towers grew and grew and grew. He had never witnessed structures so tall, nor imagined that they could stand without toppling over.
Compitum sat smack dab in the middle of the Alsend with three bridges leading to it; one from Gara, one from Kelsam, and one from the Freelands. On their side of the river, the lake ended in a dam with a series of locks that ran for a dozen leagues connecting to the North Alsend. Carter had always envisioned the manmade canal to be no more than a stream, but it was a full river packed with barges, fishing boats, and ferries.
"Get a move on it." Doug prodded him. "We are almost there."
Carter hadn't realized he had stopped walking and followed the others across the Garan Bridge. They passed merchants with carts and the carriages of those unwilling to make the walk. The outer walls and inner buildings were the same cream color as the towers, and Carter was confident that they must have been originally built with magic because he didn't see any seams breaking their smoothness. Smoky clay slates covered the roofs, but the residents made up for the monochromatic drabness by imbuing everything else with over-the-top vibrant colors. Door trims ranged from a bright pink to baby blue. Rainbow awnings covered shop entrances, and second-story balconies were filled with ivy and blooming flowers.
There were too many things and too many people to look at, and if Carter felt overwhelmed, he wondered how Doug was managing it. When he asked the former dragon about it, Doug wrinkled his nose and grimaced. "They try to cover up with fragrances, but it's not working. Thank the light, I'll soon be a dragon again."
Gideon led them to the park surrounding Compitum's central tower. Closer now, he could see that it was teardrop shape and it wasn't white like the other buildings, but a crystal that reflected the cream colors of the surrounding buildings.
"Is that where we are going?" Carter asked.
"No, the Oracle is in there." Gideon pointed to a black obelisk sitting in the shadow of the crystal tower. It had no windows and only a single rectangular door at its base. The interior had a sunken floor, lower than the ground outside, and in the center of the room was an azure pool of water.
A woman in a loose white dress draped across one shoulder watched them as they entered. Her pale skin was perfect, without a blemish, and her bleached white hair ran to the center of her back.
"Hello chickens," the woman said.
"You!" Carter, Doug, and Alex yelled in unison. The three shared a confused expression and then glowered at the woman.
"It's not cheating. I never committed to messing with only one of your futures at a time." She licked the tip of her finger and held it up in the air. "Oh look at the time, I must be going."
"We came to see the Oracle," Doug said. "Are you her?"
"Ohhh sorry," the woman said. "The oracle no longer oracle-izes."
"What does that mean?" Doug's fingers curled into a fist.
"Maybe if you come back on the third Tuesday of the month in the second leap year of a new millennium." The woman shrugged.
A pink poof of light flooded the room, and when it faded, the woman was gone.
"What in the name of the abyss was that?" Alex stomped a foot and punched at the air. "She helped me slip out of Elene without my father finding out. You two recognized her too?"
"She was there the day I left the Dragon clans," Doug said. "And she looked exactly the same as she did now. As if she hadn't aged."
"She was the one who turned me into a girl," Carter said.
"You got turned into a girl?" Alex's mouth dropped
Carter felt his cheeks redden. "Kind of, but it was an illusion. I wasn't actually a girl."
"Calm down, all three of you." Gideon pushed passed them and stepped into the pool of water. Instead of making a splash, his boots passed right through the surface, as if the water were not there. "She was goading you. Having a little fun."
"An illusion?" Carter strained his eyes staring at the pool. He did not see the smallest trace of magic.
Gideon answered by walking deeper into the pool. Step by step, he sank until he was completely out of sight.
Carter followed and felt a strange sensation. His eyes told him he stood in a pool of water, while his body told him he was dry. Unable to see where he was stepping, he dropped his head below the surface. The moment he did, the water faded away, and he saw he was at the top of a large staircase. The walls were made of blue crystal and shined with light. "There are stairs under here," he yelled to Alex and Doug. "Take small steps, and you'll be fine."
The four followed the stairs to a long hallway. Several rooms branched off, and at its end, it opened onto a large chamber. Floating in the air were three women. The one they had just seen and two others who looked identical except for their hair color. One had brown hair, and the other was a yellow blonde.
"We are disappointed in you, Gideon." The one with brown hair said.
"We like when the chickens discover us themselves." The white-haired woman gave Gideon a deadly scowl.
Gideon shrugged, not seeming to care.
"I told you," The blonde pointed at the white-haired one. "I should have been the Oracle today. You always mess it up."
"It didn't matter which of us it was," the white-haired one said. "They would have found us no matter what."
"Can I do the voice?" the brown-haired one asked. "I never get to do the voice."
"It's 'cause you aren't good at the voice."
"True, but I still like doing it."
"Stop it!" Doug yelled. "Stop this nonsense and explain what is going on."
"Don't you dare raise your voice with us." All three women spoke as one.
"In all fairness, you were being rude," Gideon said. "The brunette is Atropos. Clothu has the yellow hair, and Lachesis is who you met upstairs."
"Spoilers," Clothu said.
"Together they are the Oracle," Gideon continued.
"We are more than a mere oracle," Lachesis said. "And you, my ducklings, have been caught in a dangerous web."
"Gee," Doug said in a snide tone. "I wonder who made the web?"
"He's a smart one,” Clothu said.
"He always was." Atropos narrowed her eyes.
"Maybe we chose correctly?” Lachesis asked.
"Forget it." Doug threw his hands in the air. "I don't want a lecture or to know what game you are playing. I came here to find out how Carter can turn me back into a dragon. Tell me so we can be done."
"Carter cannot help you." Clothu waved her hand. The light dripping from the crystal ceiling expanded, taking the shape of a floating image. It shifted and morphed to become a purple flower, one that Carter had never seen in nature or in any of the books he had read. "This is the Dragon Lotus."
"It is what you seek." Atropos clapped her hands.
"Well..." Lachesis added. "It is what you will seek now that you know it is what you seek."
"A flower?" Doug leaned closer as if he hadn't heard right.
The Dragon Lotus's shape reminded Carter of the water lilies that grew in the lake by Owen's cottage, but its shades of mauve and mulberry were entirely new.
"Not a mere flower." Clothu held up her hand, correcting him. "It is a Dragon Lotus."
"You can repeat its name all you like, but it doesn't explain anything." Doug puffed out his cheeks, and Carter wondered
if the woman were playing with him again, simply for the fun of it. "How can a flower turn me back into a dragon?"
"The Dragon Lotus is tied to the origin of dragons, hence the name," Atropos said. "If you eat a flower, it will restore you to your true form. Not so much undoing Carter's spell, as going around the root of the problem."
"Where can I find the flower?" Doug asked.
"We will get to it. There is a rhythm in how these things must be done." Lachesis snapped her fingers, and the image of the Dragon Lotus zoomed out to reveal a bed of flowers circling a black pit. "You see the Dragon Lotus are also what Alex desires."
"I desire a way to end the dragon attacks," Alex said.
"And we will tell you how to stop them," Clothu said. "But first, we must show you how they started."
"No. Tell me now where–"Doug barged forward waving his hands through the light projection.
Atropos snapped her fingers, and Doug went from stomping around like a child to hanging upside down from the ceiling. Silver cords of light coiled around his body and covered his mouth. He squirmed and Atropos giggled. "I love making omelets from the eggs."
Once again, Carter saw no sign of magic being used. He heard no words of power and didn't sense any threads. These women and what they were doing, or at least what they were capable of doing, was something old.
Lachesis cleared her throat, drawing attention back to the light projection. In it was the silhouette of a man. From the way he moved, Carter could tell he was older, but without more light or seeing the man's face, he couldn't peg the man's age. "The flowers are located deep inside the Island of Kale. This is Medrayt, the one responsible for the dragon attacks. Kane works for him."
"Does she?" Clothu asked. "I never understood that relationship, and Kane doesn't let anyone tell her what to do. Even us."
"I agree," Atropos said. "They are more like allies."
"Fine," Lachesis said, "they are allies."
