Author's note:
Thank you all for reviewing! That is what keeps me going. A tiny bit of this was borrowed from another trilogy, the Pit Dragon Trilogy, The Drakk bit in this chapter is from that trilogy, by Jane Yolen and that in its entirety belongs to her, not me!
Arielle ate her stew and yawned.
"I barely slept last night" She stated and Hannah nodded,
"Neither did I" She said and yawned.
"How would a nap sound?" Arielle asked and Hannah nodded cuddling up to Arielle as they both sat against the cave wall, soon they were both sound asleep. The dragons went off to hunt as the humans slept.
A loud howl was heard in the mountain forest. A mouse's ears pricked up as it scampered away from the sound of padded feet, the feet of a strange creature; it looked as though it was a wolf or even a werewolf, but the truth was far worse.
Arielle awoke to a horned nose nudging her gently in the thigh,
"But I don't want to go to school today..." She muttered
"MOM!" She shouted as the nudging persisted. She awoke with a start as a small claw pricked her foot,
"HEY!" She started but stopped when she saw it was Kyril that awoke her, he was in awful condition; his wing was torn and bloody as was his tail and left hind leg.
"Kyril? What happened?" Arielle asked immediately calling upon the Charter marks for healing
"Do not waste your energy on me, I will be fine" He lied
"Kira needs your help more, werewolves" he managed to gasp before he collapsed on the cave floor in the middle of a puddle of black liquid that was working its way through stone, it was his blood. (Dragon blood is acidic in nature but can also heal) Arielle healed his wounds and ran outside,
"I'll be back Kyril!" She said going to the middle of the forest where the howls had come from.
Kyril stood up smirking at how easily the Human had been fooled, he then shifted back to one of his favorite forms, that of a large male Drakk; Drakks are creatures who feed upon the young of dragons; they look somewhat like dragons but have long snakelike necks and stink horribly just seconds after being killed. This particular form was a black male Drakk about the size of a large dog. He hissed and walked around inspecting the cave, soon he found what he was seeking,
"Ah the chosen one" He hissed, his eyes glittering with thoughts of the rewards for capturing her and returning her to the orphanage.
He curved his snakelike neck around the sleeping child,
"How shall I get you to the orphanage once more?" He asked himself accidentally waking her,
"What!" Hannah yelled her eyes adjusting to the dark, the shifter took this chance to escape. At least he would know where the girl was that would get him some sort of reward. He shifted to a small falcon and swooped out of the cave and back to the orphanage.
Back at the orphanage the shifter nervously shifted into a human male with black hair and simple clothes. He walked into a large room in which a large chair stood behind a desk facing a window, a loud voice boomed from the chair,
"Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?" It boomed.
The shifter cowered in fear,
"She… she…"He stuttered
"Out with it!" The voice yelled
"She is in the cave with the young maiden and three dragons, She awoke before I could capture her sir" He said shakily his voice a high squeak.
"Very nice, you have earned your reward" Said the voice and a bag of gold coins slid across the table.
'Thank you sir" Said the shifter, and grabbed the bag bowing quickly scampering out of the room.
Author's endnote- Ohh Ohhh Who is this mysterious booming voice? The Shifter? Who knows? I DO! HA HA HA!