The Warrior

Cepheus

When I landed on the sidewalk outside of Sprague's house, I thought long and hard until the wings on my back disappeared and I slowly returned to my human form.  I carried Shawnee into the house.  Sprague's wife was in the kitchen and let out a shrill scream once she realized what was going on.

"He's killed her!" she yelled.  "Honey, your nephew killed her!"

"She is not dead," I corrected.

Sprague ran into the room.  Perseus and Gemini were at the top of the stairs, closely watching to see what would happen next.  "What did you do?"

"She is not dead.  She is going to wake up soon."

"Well, get her in her room upstairs and we'll be up soon.  Why are your clothes ripped?"

His wife walked over.  "Quit it, honey.  What happened to her?"

I looked at Sprague, trying to tell him with my facial expression that it was something I could not speak of in front of his wife.  "She fainted."

"What?"

"I'll explain some things to my wife," Sprague said.  "Do what I told you to do, Orion."

I went up the stairs and walked past Gemini and Perseus to one of the bedrooms, laying Shawnee down on one of the firm mattresses.  We'd often daydreamed of sleeping on a bed in our stone form.  "Did you two see the ice?"

"It covered the entire house," Perseus answered.  "What really happened?"

"Blitzen came, but I took care of her.  It seems she made a mistake when she changed us into humans.  We can change into winged demons."

"Well, I suppose that is better than being strictly human."

"Fascinating," Gemini said.  "Did you defeat her in battle or something along that line?"

"She is impaled on the spire of a human building," I answered.

Sprague walked in and looked Shawnee over carefully.  I could see his wife at the top of the stairs, looking at Gemini, Perseus and I with a fearful gaze.  "Go to the room at the end of the hall.  Orion, there's some clothes from the church in there that you can get into for the time being."

We did as we were told.  Gemini sat on the floor and Perseus sat on the windowsill while I changed into a new shirt and pants in the new room.  Shawnee was going to be awake shortly, and I knew she would start asking questions.  Sprague must have told his wife; that was why she feared us.

"After I transformed, Blitzen died," I told them.  "She then came back to life and battled me over the city."

"Someone else was controlling her?" Perseus asked, looking out to the city.

"Yes.  She was only a puppet in the master plan of someone else."

"It has to be the man in armor who came to the bell tower last night," Gemini said.  "He did not think very highly of us, but wanted us for something."

"She said that they were draining Cepheus and Draco of their strength.  She was doing it to me, and it felt as if she was pulling every ounce of life from my body."

"Cepheus will be able to get through it," Perseus said.  "He is the strongest of us, and he can survive anything."

"What about Draco?" Gemini asked.  "He is so imprudent that he would not be able to survive something akin to what you have described.  We have to save them.  If Orion says we can transform into something else, we can."

"That will be for another day, for soon the day comes and the night leaves."  He squinted at something outside.  "No, it cannot be."

"What do you see?" I asked.