I prepared myself, I would change back to wolf if I had to. Lone Shifters could not always be trusted. They were lone for a reason, after all. And then I watched him.
He definitely saw me. How could he not with my white self plastered against that dark trunk? It was when he moved that I decided things weren't all as they seemed.
He stepped forward, right arm raised in a gesture of peace, showing me he held no weapons. And then he stumbled to the ground.
I righted myself, stretching to see where he had collapsed. It was no use though, it was too dark. I strode toward him, determined to help. It looked as if he had been injured perhaps. And he was out in the forest alone instead of somewhere he might protect himself. Maybe he had a death wish, or maybe, I thought as I neared, he has escaped from whatever was snatching stray wolves from the forest.
"Where are you going now woman?" the Dragon Lord reached my side before I took my second step. "I thought you had agreed to come to the Amber Aerie, which, is a great distance the other direction."
"Wow, not everything I do is centered around your great presence Dragon Lord," I snapped. "And stop calling me woman, it sounds as though you are calling your dog. My name is Lis."
"Alright Lis, what is it I have done to deserve your ire? You are pricklier than a rosebush stripped of it's leaves. And if we are doing names then you may use mine, I am Cillumn."
"You want a list?"
"A list...?"
"Of things you have done that I am angry about."
"Er...no, I guess not," he shook his head. "Can I at least know why we are stalking off into the dark forest in a direction that seems to go nowhere? I do not want to render you unconscious once more."
"And you won't. Ever," I growled. I could hardly stop him, if he chose to do so, but I figured sounding certain that I had a choice would be far more likely to dissuade him. I turned so that I could study him in my periphery. He watched me, but not with malice or ill intent. More like a strange new creature that required careful observation.
I sighed. Was I used to that look.
"There is a shifter over here, he collapsed a moment ago. I am checking on him."
Cillumn's head whipped up. His eyes glowed amber, and he stalled a moment, searching the forest ahead of us. "Are you certain?" he whispered. "I do not sense anything."
I snorted. "Your wouldn't sense anything." A dragon might have the adaption to detect the emotions of those around them, and sometimes lies as well, but it was a weak ability, and easily fooled. The real, physical senses were far more reliable. It is hard to trick a wolf's nose. "Besides I saw him."
Cillum looked back toward the tree I had started at. "You saw him? From that distance, in the dark?"
I didn't answer, we were approaching the area the shifter had collapsed in. I could smell him better now. I tilted my head. Something wasn't right. There was no sign of illness or injury in the air.
"Look out!" I cried, an instant before a figure, the Shifter, leapt from the shadows behind us and landed, hard, against Cillumn. So much for my superior senses.
Cillumn was fast though, turning instantly when I spoke so that when the Shifter met him it was not his back the attacker faced. They tangled to the ground with a series of grunts and meaty thuds.
The battle was short lived, however. After the initial surprise of the attack, and a few blows the attacker rolled away. He rose partially, one hand braced against the ground, his chest heaving.
"Cillumn? How is it that you are here...and not dead?"
Cillumn was as surprised as I by the call of recognition, if his startled twitch was anything to go by. "Who are you?" he demanded.
The figure straightened. No sign of his earlier weakness. A flash of anger worked through me at being so thoroughly tricked. I was supposed to be clever enough not to fall for such things, I glared at Cillumn. His presence was messing with my thought processes.
"It is Scet, Lord Bloodbriar."
The name meant nothing to me, but it obviously meant something to Cillumn. He dropped his tense posture, adopting one that spoke more to confusion, and stood facing the Shifter.
"You'll have to forgive me friend. I find my mind is still not functioning at full capacity. I only awoke three hours ago."
"Do not call me friend yet Dragon Lord. Why is it you are not dead? And why are you here now?" Scet growled.
I frowned. What kind of a greeting was that? It seemed as if the two should know one another.
"I have spent the last three weeks and two days healing in a shifter camp not far from here."
Cillumn's voice was tentative and suspicious, and I found myself grateful that he was purposely vague about the whereabouts of my people.
"Three weeks healing Dragon Lord. No wound takes so long," Scet began to move back and forth, his nervous energy palpable.
"Indeed...apparently I was healed and then kept sedated until the pack decided what to do with me."
I could feel the Dragon Lord's eyes upon me, I tried not to squirm.
Scet stilled from his pacing. "That sounds like something a pack would do," he admitted after a moment. "What happened to you? All we found was a great deal of blood deep within the forest a very long distance from the Aerie."
"Pourtus happened to me. An ambush, he and three of the Onyx Aerie Dragons pounced on me as I guarded the Lady. What happened to the delegation Scet?" I noted the hint of trepidation in his voice. "Are you all that remains?"
"Far from it," Scet assured. "The only ones who did not make it were the ones who deserved their fate," he paused, running fingers through his loose hair. "It was far more complicated than a simple betrayal, and I fear we have only scratched the surface of the plot."
"How so?" If the survival of his people relieved him, the tension returned with the Shifter's announcement.
"I will explain, but not here, the forest is not safe," he looked at us pointedly as if to question our presence. Then he moved off into the night, expecting that we would follow blindly perhaps. Cillumn might know this strange Shifter, but I did not. Besides, I had been kidnapped from my pack and scared half to death. I was really through with being bossed around this night.
"The forest is never safe," I told him, refusing to move.
"That it is," Scet stopped and looked back at me, well, us since Cillumn remained behind too. "But it is even more so when you are being hunted."
***
"Hunted by who?" Cillumn asked as soon as we entered the small shelter.
It was an ancient looking shack, the logs that formed the walls were damp and moss covered I had nearly missed it it fit so well into the surrounding trees. But Scet's scent was strong here.
Which is why the traps, I supposed. Dozens of them surrounding the entire approach to the building. There was only one way in as well, tucked neatly against a steep slope with a deadly litter of loose stones on one side and the sheer face of a twenty foot cliff on the other. To reach the cabin from either of those directions was impossible. Unless one flew. But there were several traps lining the roof to take care of such intruders.
I had heard stories of lone Shifters, losing their sanity, slowly going mad and starving. A pack creature needed a pack. And Shifters were pack creatures. This ones delusions and paranoia about visitors spoke to such madness. The strips of dried venison hanging from a line strung in the corner and pile of slightly under ripe fruits made me re-think. It would be hasty to assume this man incompetent.
A pile of skins and furs made a bed of sorts in the corner, but the rest of the room was largely unfurnished except for a small table and a stump that served as a stool. An old set of dishes sat, on the table, chipped and worn, but clean.
There were no windows to allow light in, and only a small hearth hardly large enough to cook food, if one wanted. A low fire burned, hardly enough to cast light to the surroundings. By the supplies presented I guessed Scet did not cook.
Scet slipped on a pair of pants from a pile near the door as soon as we entered, passing me a pair as well. He eyed Cillumn a moment before moving to the bed and pulling up a threadbare blanket, which he tore down the center, giving half to Cillumn and half to me. I quickly took care of my nakedness. While he apologized to Cillumn.
"I have no pants for a man of your height, you will simply tear what I have which is precious little."
"Yes, and that brings up the question Scet, what are you doing living in the forest? And what is all this nonsense about being hunted?"
Cillumn's tone booked little argument, a man tired of not having answers. I supposed if I had missed out on three weeks I would be frustrated as well.
"I live here because I will not be welcome at the aerie for some time," Scet shrugged.
Oddly, it sounded like banishment. But the man's reaction to it didn't make sense to me. It was not something one often found...satisfying.
"And as to who is hunting me, or what. I do not know, not yet. Only that something is, and I believe it has to do with this," he lifted an object from the bunch of first piled at the head of the bed. It glinted in the flickering firelight. A metal, some sort of chain with a lump at it's center.
Curiosity drove me nearer, my heart skipping a beat. It didn't take long to confirm what I feared. The lump was a glyph, a roughly formed swirl bound tightly in the center before shooting out on eight sides, like the spokes of a web, each spoke ended with a crude hook.
And I had seen it before.