A Shifter's Tale

Mistake- Or Not?

~8~

I spent the next morning sword fighting with Seth, becoming increasingly impressed with my abilities to dodge and throw attacks at him. I remembered the first time I’d seen him with the sword, and was certain that I wouldn’t ever be able to match him. Three weeks on, and here I was, still not as good as he was but not bad either.

“God damnit, girl, you’re getting good,” Seth said to me with a grin as he struggled to block a swipe of my sword.

“Would be better if I had a balanced sword,” I replied back with a smirk. Hunter was stood at the far end of the hall, practising his archery again. Every time I caught him out of the corner of my eye, my stomach did a sickening little twist.

“Watch it!”

I jumped backwards as Seth’s sword came down on me while I’d been distracted and a clash of metal blocked the blade before it touched me. Demitri was standing to the side of us, his sword out and blocking Seth’s.

“You ought to be more careful, my lady,” he said with a cocky smile. “Have to remain focused during a spar.”

“I was fine,” I muttered, feeling my face go pink.

“Of course you were,” he said, sheathing his sword and continuing to grin at me.

“How did it go with the Slayers last night?” Seth asked, swinging his sword round in figures of eights while he spoke. I flinched at the sound of blade whooshing through the air and kept my eyes focused on Demitri.

“Chased them off,” he said simply. “Although I don’t think seeing twenty-three guys on horseback swinging swords about helped for keeping a low profile; if anything doing that would make the situation worse. Unless they actually see one of us shifting, all they can do is stand by theory.”

“They know we’re here anyway,” Seth said with a shrug. “And we can’t exactly stand by and let them burn the place down.”

“Why is it so bad for them to know?” I asked. “Whether they have proof or not, they’re going to try and kill us.”

Demitri and Seth exchanged a grim look. “My lady,” Demitri began, “Humans don’t just want to be rid of us.”

I frowned. “Then what do they want?”

“We have reason to believe they have new technology, a series of machines that can tear the animal part of our soul away and use it for themselves.”

“Literally,” Seth added.

I glanced from one to the other. “They want to tear our souls apart?”

“Afraid so,” Seth said with a shrug. “They haven’t actually launched a full-scale attack on us for over three decades, but there’s no promise of them not starting again.” The use of his casual tone unnerved me more than if he’d been shaking.

There was a ‘woof’ and I looked round to see Tails gambolling up to me, her tail wagging. The dogs were allowed to go wherever they liked, as long as the door was open for them. She skidded to a halt on the rubber matting and nudged my hand with her nose, demanding attention. Demitri watched the collie warily as she stared up at him with her big brown eyes.

Ebony appeared, clutching a small black cat in her arms. The cat hissed at Tails and the dog whined, leaning closer to me. I scratched her ears and looked questioningly at the cat.

“My father just dropped her off,” Ebony said, and I could hear the uncertainty behind her voice. “He said him and my mother are going to live in Enderwice and leaving me here.” Seth dropped his sword with a clatter and went to stroke the cat. She purred loudly and rubbed her head against his hand.