Chapter 2

The day went by without disturbance. When night fell, the two men made a another small camp. They hadn't seen any prey, so Bern, surprising light on his feet, took his massive bow, taller then even himself and probably heavier then either the human or elf could hold, and headed off into the woods to see if he could find anything. Roan got busy caring for the horses and the large reptilian mount.

Cylthan huddled into the back of the cage. She prayed that Draen would appear now that the human was all alone. But she hadn't heard from him and couldn't sense his presence anywhere nearby. Whatever he had planned obviously was a lot more complicated then just dogging them until he had them alone.

"No kitty-cat, eh?" Roan mocked her from the front of the cage. Cylthan sneered at him.

"You're just so tough, mocking me while I'm trussed and naked and in a cage. Such a man!"

"Ouch. Such harsh words for someone who happens to be at my mercy!" He smirked. "If I thought you wouldn't be stubborn enough to take the suffering rather then beg, I'd say you didn't want any water, but I think I'll be nice and give it to you anyways."

"Such a kind gesture for a bastard." She cautiously squirmed over to the front as he opened the cage door, leaning forward to get her lips to the waterskin he offered. She drank as he tipped it for her, all the while their eyes locked in a war of willpower. The slightest dilation of her pupils gave him barely enough time to dodge the mouthful of water she spat at him.

"You, bitch, don't know when to quit!" He snarled, reaching in for her. The cloak, which was wrapped around her legs, had hidden how close she'd brought her knees. As he leaned forward, she brought up both knees under his chin, slamming the top of his head against the roof of the cage. He slumped and fell onto his back unconscious. Having squirmed all day long, Cylthan had managed to get the ropes loose enough that she could slip her fingers out enough.

Without grace, she wormed her way out of the cage, dropping heavily onto the ground next to the Seeker. She managed to pull out his dagger and cut the ropes around her wrists and then ankles, both of which were bruised and bleeding a little. But she ignored it, instead grabbing her pack from next to the fire, pulling on some clothes hurriedly. She fastened her sword belt around her hips, turning to grab a horse and run off into the night.

"You are one serious spitfire." The deep gravelly voice of the giant made her draw her sword and turn to him. He was grinning at her.

"Want a piece of me?" She growled, holding her sword as steady as she could. She knew there was no way she could fight off the light grey-skinned giant. His skin was much too thick for a simple sword to pierce.

He laughed. "Sure I do, but I don't think you could take this," one of his lower arms grabbed his crotch, his grin mocking.

Cylthan's eyes narrowed angrily. She knew he knew that she was calculating her odds. And they were not good. They got even worse when she heard Roan groan behind her and roll to his feet, a hand on his head.

"Dammit, she hits hard." He picked up his discarded dagger, tucking it back into his belt.

"Well, maybe if you quit getting frisky with her she'd hit a lot less."

Cylthan looked between them. They seemed entirely unconcerned with her being free. She looked around, her sharp elven eyes piercing the darkness until she saw the ring of fire salt. It was thin, but glowed ever so slightly with a powerful spell. Should she attempt to leave the circle, she'd burn from the inside out. Only the two Seekers could come and go through the circle. And no wonder Draen wouldn't have attacked. But why didn't he tell her about it?

Bern chuckled, what sounded like two boulders grinding against one another. It sent a shiver through her. "I see that you've discovered the trap. Good job. You're smart for an elf. So you gonna hand me that toy before you hurt yourself?" He reached out a lower arm toward her.

Taking a deep breath, she knew she was defeated. She angrily slapped the blade into the giant's palm, the size of her head. She sneered at him and was about to turn to Roan when there was an odd gurgling sound from the trees above them.

Bern looked up with a dispaired "Oh for Lukoz's sake!" when five undistiguishable shadows fell into the circle around them. The shadows quickly took forms, growing fur and fangs and claws, burning eyes and an animalistic roar.

"Shapeshifters!" Roan backed away as one of the wolfen beasts lunged at him.

"Elf!" Bern rumbled to Cylthan. She turned back to him in time to catch her sword, swinging around and cutting deeply into another of the shifters. It yelped in pain and backed away. The wound oozed the black substance that was their blood. Yet another shifter leapt at the giant Bern. He caught it with two of his arms. The beast was strong even for him. It snapped its jaws at him, snarling and roaring, but it was cut short when Bern twisted the creature, snapping it into pieces.

Two shifters went after Roan. He bared his teeth in his own snarl, his silvery eye swirling. The shifters stopped, hypnotized by the magic. Cylthan focused on the shifter that had first attacked her. It leapt at her again, hardly noticing that it had impaled itself on her sword as it knocked her to the ground. She shoved her hand against the creature's throat, holding it up as it snarled, snapping at her, it's claws rending at her torso. She gritted her teeth against the pain, getting her feet under the large beast, she lifted it with all her strength, trying to push it off her when it was suddenly ripped off her by a massive hand.

"That's my toy, you overgrown mutt." Bern tossed the shifter directly over the ring of fire salt. The shifter landed on its back, leapt to its paws, but as it moved back toward them, it gave an agonized scream. The smell of burning flesh overpowered everything else before it finally fell to the ground, it's body soon turning to ash.

Cylthan lay on the ground panting in pain when another shifter's face appeared over her, snarling. It's hot drool splashed onto her forehead. It opened its mouth to snap at her when she rammed her sword up through its brain. It groaned and fell over, giving her another moment to breathe. She could feel her blood leak down her sides and soak into the leaves under her.

She could hear Bern and Roan fight off the last two shifters. From her position on the ground, she saw the flinting shadow that hung in the trees above. She caught her breath and went completely still, pretending to be dead as the vampire looked down at her. It then turned its eyes to the two Seekers before it dropped down onto Bern's back, forcing the air from him, the blow of the massive beast knocking the giant unconscious. The last surviving shifter joined its master.

"Killing my brother was your last mistake, Seeker!" The vampire rumbled as it approached Roan.

"Well shit." He sighed. "My whole week really hasn't gone the way I was hoping."

The shifter pounced him, which he dodged easily. But the vampire came at him in the same moment, catching him in its talons. He stabbed at it with his dagger, but it laughed. Roan snarled, his feet thrashing out at it. The vampire gave a surprised look, peering down at its slashed open abdomen. He was confused at the long claws the jutted out of the Seeker's boots.

When he looked up, he realized the human that he had been holding was gone. The creature that stared at him with a silver swirling eye was not something he had been expecting. Shifting magic was no longer thought possible amongst humans. He should have guessed by the eye.

A furless tail whipped at his face. He dropped the Seeker, who fell to all fours. "Bloody rat spawn!" the vampire roared. The rat looked up at him with a black beady eye. He then leapt at the vampire, going for the throat with enlarged incisors.

Just as the Seeker bit down on a raised arm, the vampire screeched, whipping around with the rat still hanging off him. The silver scimitar was lodged to the hilt between his wings. The tip was barely visible through his chest. He gaped at the stooping elf. Cylthan clutched at her bleeding torso, sneering up at him.

"I don't much care that you kill the damn Seekers, but I know you'll come after me, next. So join your brother in hell," she spat at him.

The vampire snarled before falling over. The shifter, free of his vampiric master, roared before shifting into a large birdlike thing and flying away into the night.

Unable to hold herself up, Cylthan fell to her knees. She looked up to see the beast that had once been Roan hop off the vampire's body and stand upright, his features shifting rapidly back to human.

"If one more thing goes badly..." He peered at his hands as they quickly changed back, nails replacing claws.

"What the hell... ?" Cylthan gasped at him.

"Not the time." He knelt next to her, speaking a healing spell. She felt a warmth rush through her, the wounds on her stomach mending rapidly. While he could heal her wounds, he couldn't replace the blood she had lost. She felt queasy and weak, and didn't bother to argue as he helped her over to the fire.

After prodding Bern a few times, the giant leapt to his feet with a roar, looking around quickly. "Cool it. The elf bitch is a lot more helpful then I think she wants to be." Roan turned back to Cylthan. She sneered at him, but turned away, keeping her eyes on the sky in case there were anymore unexpected guests.

Then Roan gave a deep breath. The swirling motion of his silvery eye had ceased completely. All beings only had so much magic in them. And every spell took a certain amount of that magic, of that energy. He was drained. Humans didn't have much to begin with, and shifting had obviously taken more then he had. Bern looked down at the dead vampire as it slowly turned to dust. "You shifted, didn't you?"

"I thought I was alone, didn't have much of a choice. I wouldn't have if I had known she was actually going to help." Roan sat next to Cylthan by the fire, glaring at her. She gave him a wary look. It was obvious they were both too exhausted to bother to fight.

"Obviously he thought you were alone as well. You play dead well, elf." Bern checked the animals, which other then panicked and scared, were fine.

"I have a name, you rock." Bern just chuckled at her attempted insult. His kind were often called that since they were said to have been born from stone in the beginning of the world's creation.

Then her green eyes turned to Roan. "Now's the time."

He gave a sigh. "This," he pointed to his silver eye, now almost black, "as far as I know was an ancient trinket. How I received it, I have no idea. I have no memory of my youth before the Seeker Organization. I had it when Bern found me as a child and it's what gives me the power to change into a giant rat. Now that I told you, how about you tell me your story?"

Cylthan looked thoughtfully at him. Bern smirked. "This should be interesting."

With some effort, the elf stood. "Nope. Wasn't much of a story, so if you two don't mind, I'm going back to my cage to sleep."

Roan sneered, but said nothing. He didn't have the strength at the moment to stop her even if he cared to. She got back into her cage and wrapped the cloak around her, being cold from bloodloss. She could hear Bern and Roan talk quietly, but she didn't bother trying to listen.

The rest of the night stayed quiet, and the morning was much the same. The two Seekers hadn't bothered tying Cylthan back up. She knew better. She'd never been very good with magic, not nearly as good as these two were. So she decided it was her best chance to bide her time and wait for Draen to make a move.

It reached high noon before they got to a large crossroads, the road splitting off into several different directions. They stopped just off the road.

"This is where Zoliac will be meeting us. He should be here soon enough." Roan smiled. His silver eye had begun its swirling motion again. "I really do hope your kitty gets here."

Cylthan kept her mouth shut. She hoped Draen would get there soon as well. They waited there as the sun moved across the sky slowly. Bern and Roan decided to play a game of bones, Roan obviously losing by his constant cursing.

A shadow passed overhead, drawing no one's attention. None by Cylthan's. She pressed her face to the bars of the cage and looked up with surprise. Roan and Bern were knocked flat by the concussive blast of wind from massive dark green wings. The screeching sound was deafening. Enormous claws clutched the cage that housed Cylthan.

And you thought I wouldn't come back for you! Bah, stupid reptiles. Draen peered over the wyvern's wing, his eyes glowing icy blue. He clung tightly to the beast's scales.

For its species, the wyvern was enormous, twice the size of the wagon easily, its maw making up most of its giant head. The needlelike teeth stuck out in all directions, its drool dripping constantly onto the ground, sizzling the leaves with its acidicness. Its large sickly green scales had the kind of sheen to them that made them look more like they were covered in snot rather than water. The length of its serpentine neck and spiny back were covered in spikes, drops of poison glimmering at their tips. And it's long, spindly tail ended in a massive stinger.

Flapping its giant wings with enough force to knock over not only Bern, but his mount, it screeched again, the claws digging deeply into the wood of the cage as it flapped hard to get up of the ground with its newly acquired weight.

Roan suddenly leapt to his feet, and ran at the wyvern as it got off the ground. He snarled as he lunged at the cage, his nails replaced by claws. With unnatural strength, he drew himself up, his transformation almost instant. The Wyvern squawked in surprise at this new weight, fluttering for a moment before gaining altitude again. The nimble, clothed rat scampered up the beast's legs and met Draen head on. The massive panther was only slightly larger than the Seeker in his other form. Large incisors bared, he hissed at the panther.

Draen, not fazed by the Seeker's change, roared, swiping out at him. He already had a precarious perch on the wyvern's back, trying not to touch the poisonous spines. The beast made it over the trees at last, shaking itself as best it could, trying to dislodge the unwelcomed guest. Much more nimble then the panther, Roan dodged every swipe from Draen. His tail firmly wrapped around a spine under its tip, the rat was able to use his front handlike paws to swipe back, catching Draen across the muzzle.

The wyvern suddenly lurched to the side. Scrabbling for purchase, Draen lost his hold and roared as he fell. At the last moment, his claws caught the wood of the cage. Now the wyvern was unable to stay airborne and it screeched as it slammed through branches. It attempted to circle back toward the crossroads where there were no trees to tangle its wings. Without front legs, and its back legs taken by the cage, it wasn't able to get a hold of anything to launch itself back into the air.

As it reached the road, its slitted, piercing eyes caught the glint of the arrowhead that buried itself into its chest. With an eeire scream, the wyvern struggled to stay up. As it fluttered, a loud voice rose above the racket. "Dal'ishjjim sorakt!"