The Changeling Read online

  According to Satherin, changelings were mistreated because they could be. The average citizen did not care, because it didn’t concern them and under the present system, changeling labor was cheap. Satherin had wanted a city for all of the changelings. It would be his staging ground for a massive assault like what had happened at the capital. The changelings that were killed in the cull days after his uprising were either newly changed who refused to go, or those who would not participate in Satherin's plan. Most of the people hunting them did not know that they were ignorantly killing changelings in favor of the status quo.

  But Tam had defended his mistress against the Archmage. In the end, the only reason Tam was brought into the confidence of the Satherin and Leo was because he was amongst the strongest of changelings. They truly needed him for his ability as a superior warrior.

  Tam jumped out of the pond as quickly as he could. Scared, Bristol backed away and turned to run. Tackling the man to the ground was easy. The others hit and poked Tam but it was no use. Tam let out a loud roar right next to Bristol's face. Three wolves appeared from the edges of the Baron’s property. Tam’s roars wouldn’t alert anyone else, since he often did it when he was in pain. The wolves raced over as Bristol vainly tried pushing him off. The first wolf bit down hard on one of Bristol’s legs and shook it, Tam let the man go and went on to maim Cevin and the last man Frank. They were screaming but both were brought down and bitten hard by the wolves.

  “We need to get the rest of the servants,” Tam roared.

  “Is the bite going to work?” one of the wolves asked. “We thought it would only work on a regular full moon.”

  “The blood moon is sufficient,” Tam said. “They will change at the next full moon instead of immediately. Just like you were able to change. As long as they received multiple bites from all of you.”

  “We all bit them at least once,” the wolf said. “I am Sawyer. Are you sure your owners will not be ready for a fight?”

  “We are going to ignore them” Tam said as Bristol began screaming.

  “Shut up human!” Sawyer snarled.

  “He said shut up” Tam said as he had changed back. “I can smell a faint change in you. Go ahead and alert them. We are far out from the humans, those that do come will eventually know what you are and you can be broken next.”

  “Tell him we were chosen because we do not have much magic anyway,” Sawyer growled, unable to speak to the downed man while in beast form. “We are barely better than real wolves. We can’t heal well or change naturally unless the full moon is out. I wonder what use the humans would have for him as a changeling with little magic?”

  Tam translated to the newly bitten for Sawyer. “He says to tell all of you that the humans will kill you rather than give you the abuse you have been giving others” Tam laughed. “You are all going to be very weak changelings. You should shut up and enjoy this moon. It will eventually heal your bites since you do not have enough magic inside of you to heal yourselves magically.”

  “Fair translation kid,” Sawyer said. “Now lead the way.”

  “The broken ones will sense us on the approach,” Tam said. “One of them is bigger than all of you and has strong magic inside of him. There are three of them like that. They may alert the humans before we can flee.”

  “Can you keep them bottled up in whatever kennel they are being kept in?” Sawyer asked. “The wind favors us so they shouldn’t smell us until we are right up on them.”

  “I can try” Tam said. “If anything happens I want you to flee, I can stop the humans from going after you.”

  “Are there any dogs,” asked a female wolf.

  “No dogs,” Tam replied. “At least I don’t think so.”

  “We should abandon this plan,” Sawyer said. “Our main goal was rescuing you and we did it. There are many other people we can bite without any threat.”

  “We can do this,” Tam said. “I will lead you.”

  “There are too many unknowns,” Sawyer complained. “Follow me into the forest, until you reach your limit. We will not abandon you. I plan on biting many humans. Then we will use the threat of me outing them to the cull to keep you secure. Too bad we cannot get to your mage.”

  “I am not sure how far away I can go, but I think the pain will be minimal,” Tam said as he turned around and complied.

  The wolves fled back in the direction from whence they came. Tam followed. He could feel pain from the bond, but it was more like a nasty headache rather than the crippling pain he felt before. The headache wasn’t pleasant but in time it would become more bearable. Thankfully, Tam never reached his limit as he traveled with the wolves. They snuck into homes with Tam’s help and started biting more people. Many wanted to scream out, but knew that if they were found out they would be killed by their neighbours or sent to live in miserable servitude. Humans had a nasty habit of only caring about themselves – so the newly bitten said nothing. Sawyer made sure to have Tam tell them to shut up or they would have their throats ripped out. He also asked them if they had any enemies that they would like bitten. Misery loved company! Tam thought at least twenty more humans had been bitten before they fled again. In the morning Tam felt a tug on his magic. It was Katie. Tam was sure she caught a glimpse of who he was with since she had started tugging furiously.

  “My captor is up,” Tam said. “She has likely seen all of you as well.”

  “Damn,” Sawyer replied. “I wish we had one of those collars so we wouldn’t change back. Can your mage track you?”

  “Yes,” Tam said.

  “This wasn’t unexpected,” Gloria said.

  “No it wasn’t,” Sawyer replied. “We need to flee this place. The Archmage is in the city they built for us, so is Satherin. We need you to get there so you can help defeat the Archmage. After that we can really put a hurting on the remaining humans.”

  “Kill the humans?” Tam asked.

  “We are going to have to I think,” Sawyer replied. “Strong mages cannot be turned and we will never get another chance like this. Most of the mages are waiting to fight the Jettians. There are only a few assigned to keeping control of the unbonded. If Satherin is freed, he can turn many into hyenas without losing his magic.”

  “All without the full moon to aid him,” Tam said excitedly. “He is a pureblood!”

  “Well let’s hurry up and leave,” Gloria said. “Hawthorne, are our horses ready?”

  “Yes,” the other wolf replied.

  “I do not know how to ride the beasts,” Tam admitted.

  “You will learn on the way. We need to beat your mage to where we are going,” Sawyer said.

  Sawyer hated his human form. He had found some clothes during their night of bites, but they were ill fitting and did nothing to pad his soft human flesh. Sawyer had let him know that many attacks like the one they conducted had happened all over Tafarion. Mage heavy areas were avoided so Sawyer didn’t think there would be many casualties among the changelings.

  Tam could feel Katie was trying to find him. She was tugging furiously on their bond and had to know he was heading towards the great forest. The city they were going to was built on the edges of it and was meant to be a one stop shop for hunters wanting Changelings. Hunters could also depart from there and bring back any wild changelings to be broken and handed over to worthy mages. The place was still being built and the Archmage was given orders from the king to oversee the construction personally until it was fully completed and running smoothly. The route they took to the city was easy enough to follow. It was on a main road and they changed horses often.

  “We are about a day out if we keep at the same pace,” Sawyer said. “How far away is your mage?”

  “She is in no hurry to get here. She hasn’t made many stops but they are traveling in a carriage and not on horseback.”

  “Well then we might just make it.” Sawyer grinned. “I know it is morning but we should take a wagon. I only have a little bit of coin left. We are going to need t
o do the rest of this on foot after I find out how far a wagon will bring us. I am going to ask the human who owns the one behind the inn here.”

  “We need to hurry up in any case” Gloria said. “If Satherin leaves we will be set back for months if not years.”

  “I don’t trust this human,” Hawthorne said. “Something about him seems off. Just look at him.”

  “He smells of dogs,” Gloria said. “I may not have my wolf senses, but I can smell the animals from here. Does his wagon look familiar?”

  “It is like the wagon I was brought in,” Tam said just as he saw Svend stick out his hand and take coin from Sawyer.

  “It is the man who captured me!” Tam exclaimed. “He has many dogs and other hunters with him around here somewhere.”

  “I don’t like this” Hawthorne said. “We should make our own way.”

  “Here comes Sawyer,” Gloria said.

  “Sawyer I do not like this human,” Hawthorne said.

  “He is a hunter,” Sawyer replied. “He was going into the city anyway and offered to leave early for our coin.”

  “He was the one that caught me,” Tam said. “I am bigger now, but I think he would recognize me. He helped break me in the beginning. The only reason he was not helping break me again was because the baron couldn’t find him.”

  “You should get our coin back Sawyer,” Hawthorne said. “Get our coin back and let’s leave.

  “He can keep the coin, we should just go,” Gloria said.

  “Pit! There are more of them” Sawyer said as he saw other men exit the inn followed by eight dogs. “He can keep the money.”

  “Sawyer,” Svend called out. “My men and I are ready to leave.”

  “He is coming over,” Tam said. “I am not going down without a fight, he doesn’t know what I can do.”

  “Stand down little one,” Sawyer said. “Maybe this can be salvaged.”

  “What are you doing out here fell beast?” Svend asked as he joined them. “Where is your mage at?”

  “She broke the bond and sent him away,” Sawyer said quickly. “Now we need to get to that city before anything happens to us. My group has decided we want to travel alone and want our money back.”

  “Hold on there,” Svend said. “Coin has already changed hands and I got my men up earlier than they wanted to go.”

  “You cannot trust this human,” Tam said looking at Svend.

  “Nonsense,” Svend said. “We are both going to the same place – unless you are actually trying to escape from it. In that case the laws are quite clear.”

  “We gave you money to take us there,” Sawyer said.

  “Then you will have no problem riding with us” Svend replied. “The only space I have available is in my cage.”

  “I am not getting in there. I will walk,” Hawthorne said.

  “So it will make it easier for you to slip away?” Svend asked. “I will put a mattress inside for all of you to lay on, the cage is big enough.”

  “We decline,” Hawthorne said as Svend put his hand on the pommel of his sword. Svend let out a whistle and the five men with him started pulling out their swords.

  “We have already paid,” Sawyer said. “We have all ridden in a cage before, it wouldn’t be anything new.”

  “And I will throw in some food,” Svend said. “See, we can all work together fell beast.”

  Tam followed the others into the cage and watched as the cage was closed then locked. Svend had a steak but withheld it and let out a great big laugh along with the rest of his men. The dogs they had with them started howling as Svend bit into the meat then drank deeply from his waterskin. Sawyer had a look of acceptance on his face as did Gloria and Hawthorne. Tam wasn’t sure what was going to happen, it seemed he was the only one ignorant as to their predicament.

  “Animals are beyond stupid,” Svend laughed. “I am going to get paid three times for this. Once from these filthy animals, once for bringing in the animals I captured while they were trying to hide and once for bringing in a pureblood fell beast.”

  “I didn’t know a mage bond could be broken,” Richard said. Tam remembered the man as one of those who clubbed him over the head in the great forest.

  “I didn’t neither” Svend laughed. “He must be a horrible changeling. But he sure has a lot of power. That girl must have hated him to sever the bond. Mages can only bond once.”

  “You lied to us,” Tam said. “We are no runaways.”

  “You are if I say you are beast,” Svend said, laughing. “They will believe me over you. You are going to make me a very rich man fell beast. I am going to sell you for a lot of money either to the breakers or some mage. Me and my men can retire off of that money.”

  “Ignore him kid,” Sawyer said. “We need to prepare ourselves.”

  “They are going to beat us when we get there,” Gloria said crying. “We all know what they do to bonded that try to run away. It might be worse for us.”

  “Oh it will be,” Svend said laughing. “But you don’t need to worry. They won’t beat on you too bad. There is a special place for unbonded females. I would let my men try you out beforehand but I don’t trust to open the cage door with your fell beast in there.

  “Stop leering at her!” Hawthorne screamed.

  “Or you will do what?” Svend laughed. “You are going to do nothing but piss and shit all over each other in that cage. Come on men. Let’s go get our money.”

  CHAPTER 11

  “We are close,” Sawyer whispered. “I think we are stopped for the night but should be there before morning.”

  “Shut up in there!” Richard screamed as he jabbed a wooden stick through the cage.

  “Maybe they need some water,” Svend laughed. “I bet I can hit all four of them with the same stream.”

  “Huh?” Richard asked.

  Tam was so furious Sawyer had to hold him back as Svend started urinating in the cage. He would make this human pay for what the insult. But Sawyer wanted them to wait for the right time to strike. Svend’s men thought the entire thing was funny. They each took turns urinating on them. Tam stopped struggling like the rest and just accepted it as he silently marked these men for death in his mind. The men eventually got bored with tormenting them and left them alone. Sawyer was right. They were stopped for the night. Tam was wet and furious as the night dragged on. He dozed off waiting for the night when most of the people would be asleep.

  Sawyer shook him and Tam took that as his cue to change. Tam began chewing on the bars in beast form. It took some time to do it silently without alerting the Richard who was on watch. Sawyer stood ready and took the bars as Tam made them ready to remove. They removed three of the bars and Tam could see they were going to use it as a weapon. Tam got out of the cage and changed so he could help the others out, all of the dogs were sleeping and didn’t alert anyone. Tam changed back into a fell beast and immediately attacked Richard. The man screamed loudly as Tam's claws rent his back. Tam had no more time for him. He whirled to find Svend had been frightened awake and already had his sword in hand.

  Tam snarled and advanced as Svend backed up blindly toward Gloria who hit him hard over the head with her bar from the cage. Tam turned and raced for the dogs who were now barking madly. Tam never felt better as he tore into the mongrels. He ripped out throats with teeth and claws, and disemboweled their soft bellies with powerful effective swipes. He even managed to shoot his spines into some unsuspecting humans. Sawyer had finished Richard off and acquired the man’s sword. Two of Svend's other men never got out of their sleeping rolls, as they were killed when the fight first started by Hawthorne who had acquired another sword that belonged to one of sleeping men.

  “It’s just him left,” Sawyer said, as he circled Svend.

  Tam shot out a spine and hit Svend in his sword arm, the man cursed but did not drop his sword. The four started circling Svend as Tam took the time to hit vulnerable parts with more spines. Svend wore a breastplate. But his legs, feet and hands
were soft targets that were hard for the man to defend. The circle became tighter. Svend leapt at Tam and struck him hard just behind the shoulder. The sword bounced off, and someone grabbed Svend from behind and brought him to ground. Svend struggled tremendously, but was quickly overwhelmed. Gloria struck repeatedly at his head, while Svend vainly blocked her blows with his arms. Clearly, his hands were broken badly from this necessity. Tam sat on his haunches and watched the entire show.

  “You will die here human,” Tam said. “If not from one of these others, then I will kill you.”

  “You animals will pay for this,” Svend cried. “You can’t hide what you have done.”

  “I haven’t been fed properly in quite a while,” Tam said. “Soon you will be nothing but my shit that I won’t even bother covering up. The only reason I have not killed you yet is because the female wants the honor.”

  “I am not scared of you!” Svend said angrily.

  “Oh yes you are” Tam replied. “I can smell the fear washing off of you in waves.”

  “Hold him still,” Gloria said angrily as she started taking off her pants. “I hope this doesn’t ruin your meal.”

  “All prey urinates on itself when it is caught,” Tam said. “It does not bother me a bit.”

  Tam watched the woman piss on the screaming man. Then the others stabbed and poked Svend until he eventually died. Just then Tam felt a strong pull on his magic and became enraged at himself. His captor had tried locating him while Svend was being mistreated by the group and Tam had been too distracted by his anger to keep her off. Tam tugged back on his magic and saw she was explaining something to a shocked looking Baron Glades. Tam didn’t know where they were, other than inside of a building. Tam sighed and faced Sawyer.

  “What is it?” Sawyer asked.

  “My mage saw some of what was happening here,” Tam said. “I am still dealing with the headache and I was too angry to maintain my focus on suppressing the bond. She knows we are here and what we have done.”

  “Then we need to move right now,” Sawyer said. “We aren’t that far out. If we push we can make it there before morning. This would be a lot better if we could change into our wolf form like most others do every night instead of waiting for a full moon.”