Chapter 1- Slaughter

Max

There was fire. Its ribbons of red, scarlet, orange, yellow and white fluttered in the breeze giving the night an impromptu sun of sorts. I woke to the harsh smell of smoke in the air. It sank in my lungs, suffocating me. I felt its heat on my skin, casting a blistering glow.

"Angel! Mom?" I cried, frantically throwing the doors to their rooms open.

I looked around wildly and something crashes behind me. Cries went up in the night. They weren't there. I searched all through the house. They weren't there. Where was papa?

There was a cracking sound behind me. I turned in time to see a large post fall. I dodged and fell to the ground, my side hurting from the impact.

"Everyone, quickly, to the sky!" I heard the clan's chief squawk, already shifting into a hawk.

And to the sky we flew, or rather they flew. Fascination and horror overwhelmed me and my wings wouldn't come. I had never seen such a large fire before. There was fire in candles, but those were fleeting and small. There was fire in lamps and bonfires but those were contained. Where was mom and Angel? I saw my dad, trying to get through to me but every time he tried, the fire flared up, the sparks spraying centimeters from his wings. It was too late when papa yelled at me to concentrate and to get out of there.

I got up and started running towards the spring when a springing sound interrupted me. Arrows suddenly joined my clan in the sky and one by one, the hawks fell. I saw as papa as he tumbled down from the sky.

"Papa!" I screamed. His feathers snapped away from him, hanging in the air as he hurtled downwards, "No!"

I ran towards him, but he fell into the fire, and I stopped, sobbing.

The final sparks died as the sun shone over the horizon. The dawn's first light spread like golden warmth over the charred remains of the village. Our aeries were nothing but ashes. In the glowing sky, no one remained, and on the earth below, bodies stuck in half bird, half human form littered the ground. I saw papa, his gold beak and black and gray feathers still visible. But I couldn't find my mom and my sister.

The fire burned away all we had. The clothes I wore were darkened with ash and dirt. My shoes were burned through, revealing my muddy feet. I shook them off.

"Sir! There's still one left!" a strange human pointed at me. He wore iron and steel and I might've laughed at his clumsiness if the tone of the morning wasn't so dark.

I charged at him, throwing punches. I jumped into my hawk's skin and picked him up, lifting him high into the air before dropping him. He was long dead before his companions arrived. Their armor clinked as they ran towards me and their dead friend. They aimed their bows and arrows at me and I prepared myself to fight.

One to ten odds? Definitely in my favor.

Another man appeared. He was fatter than the rest but the others gave him respect. I understood he was their leader. I bare my teeth.

"No," he holds up a metal-clad hand, "We keep this one. It's the last shifter left."

His cruel laughter made me clench my fist. I heart of the bloodshed in the north but never would have imagined that I was the last one left.

I slid out of my feathers to meet my captors with human eyes.

The soldiers caged me as if I was a criminal. The bars unnerved me. I switched through my forms rapidly until my human form had feathered hair and my hawk had arms and legs. I paced in the cage. It seemed like my nervousness was contagious because the guards' eyes flicked uneasy glances at me and then at each other. They talked rapidly in hushed tones.

They brought me into their city. Its high walls felt forbidding and unwelcoming. Its streets were filthy and littered with poverty. Everyone stopped to watch as I passed by. I snarl at them and they look away.

Three years ago, my dad and mom took me and Angel to a Cardinal city in the north. It was a beautiful city, no walls to enclose people in, and a fountain in the center poured water into four streams that ran through the streets. The entire city was clean, unlike this place. With a start, I realized that because there were no walls around the city, it was open to attack. And I realized that the city was destroyed.

I was brought before a large building of white stone surrounded by water. I didn't like this closed-in place. A bridge was lowered to allow me into the building and as the cart crossed it, I saw that the water was an inky polluted black. I recoiled in disgust.

Inside the fortress was another contained city. I looked up in despair to see the sky was blocked out by the windowless ceiling. The humans inside were deathly pale and fragile, their dress was finer than those who lived outside. The women wore gowns inlaid with jewels and the men wore multiple layers. They spoke about me quietly and the men were wide-eyed and surveyed my human body with interest. I hissed at one near me and decided to stay a hawk.

The narrow halls broke into a large room. The fat man who I saw before knelt before a garishly dressed woman on a high throne. There was a shorter but equally richly decorated chair to her right. She had high, sharp cheekbones and stern looking eyes. Wrinkles poorly hidden by powder could be seen. Her thin dull brown hair was covered by a thick wig. A golden crown rested on her head. Her maroon colored ball gown trailed off to the floor. Behind her was a wall of heads. And not just any heads, they were the heads of each clan chief. A vile taste in my mouth rose when I saw a group of people hanging up my clan chief's head being mounted.

"My queen," the fat man said, bowing low. I narrowed my eyes, so this was the queen I've heard so much about.

"Rise, Lord Gunther-Hagen," the Queen said impatiently, "Who is this you've brought back?"

"My queen," the fat man said, "She is the last shifter in existence. I thought her a nice addition to your zoo."

I jump to my feet, "I think not. Lord Gunther-Hagen," I say curtly, "She can speak for herself."

The room hushes. The Queen casts her cold dark eyes to me, "Very well, speak, girl."

I spit, "No thanks, I'd rather not speak to those lower than me."

Anger flashes in her eyes, "Take her to the dungeons."