Being a true shifter isn’t the blessing it may seem. But through pain and darkness Perdita seeks to find her own life despite the ambition of others…
I fed the warrants page by page onto what soon became a nice little bonfire. Being nosy by nature, I read each document before consigning it to the flames. I had all but reached the bottom of the pile when my eye fell on a very different seal. This was a properly official document, which bade the Queen send her representative to The Legislature where a very important vote was to take place. Then I read what the vote was.
“Mandrake,” I said sharply. “I think we know what this is all about now.”
“We do?”
“Oh yes. Somebody is trying to have lycanthropes declared animals, thereby stripping them of all their rights and privileges and putting them at the mercy of humans.”
The Queen stared at me. “They can’t do that.”
“Why not? We allowed them seats in the Legislature. Now they want to legislate.”
“But how would it benefit them?”
“Many ways. Firstly those who are awaiting trial for kidnap and murder would be off the hook. Animal rustling carries barely more than a slap on the wrist. Plus. We gave humans a fair share of the land and if they worked hard they could have good lives. But many of them don’t see why they should work when it would be much easier to just take what we have.”
Mandrake chimed in. “Let is not forget the environmental issues. Currently we don’t allow them to destroy nature for gain.”
“No indeed and we are not about to move aside completely. So they propose to push us.”
The Queen’s eyes whirled green with anger. “We would not allow this. Surely all lycanthropes banded together could defeat a few mere humans.”
Mandrake shook his head. “Think again, my lady. All lycanthropes banding together? Without killing each other?”
“And there are more than a few humans,” I said. “They breed like rats. While our fertility keeps populations at a sustainable rate, humans know no such kerbs. In the valley below our cabin there is a dirt farm. The farmer and his mate have seventeen children.”
“What can we do, then?”
“We have to be at the Legislature and somehow scupper this vote.”
“When?”
I dropped my final bombshell. “Tomorrow afternoon.”
Mandrake swore and the Queen set fire to the drapes. I waited. To be fair to them, it wasn’t long before they composed themselves, but the way they cursed each other led me to suspect that there was some sort of a relationship there. In another place, on another day, I might have chosen to explore the idea – but right then I decided I didn’t have time. Which turned out not to be the best decision I have ever made.
“What must we do, shifter?” The Queen was almost polite.
“Can you appoint Mandrake as your token bearer? And loan us his old fighting wing as security?”
“It shall be done.”
Mandrake bulked his shoulders. “Also send messages to all the lycanthrope clans you have contact with letting them know what is planned. Some may even be able to send their representatives to the Legislature for tomorrow’s session.”
The Queen nodded and clambered back onto her throne. She seemed awkward in her movements and it came to me that she was heavy with eggs.
“Congratulations,” I said formally.
Her eyes softened briefly. “It is a pity that I should finally be in egg when the world is on a knife edge.”
“It is my thought that you would not have been taken in by these folks were it not for the hormones of egg-bearing.” I spoke without thinking, but she nodded.
“There is a certain milky calmness, I have found, and a disinclination for business. I still need help.” She looked at Mandrake who refused to understand the question in her eyes.
“I will find you reliable assistance,” he said, and went to the great brassy doors.
I felt impelled to apologise. “I’m sorry…”
She swept my apology aside with an impatient claw. “It was ever thus with him.” Then she smiled at me in the way of dragons. “It really isn’t your fault. He is such a stubborn male.”
She sighed and I became aware that her back hurt and that being gravid and unable to make the change was wearing on her mind and body. I felt sudden pity and laid a tentative hand on her shining scales.
“Would a back rub be pleasant?”
“It would indeed.”
So it was that when Mandrake returned he found me rhythmically rubbing my oiled hands over the muscles of the Queen’s back. He seemed more surprised than a simple act of sisterhood warranted, but males are odd even the best of them.
He brought with him six grizzled dragons, three male and three female, who bore signs of battle, and a motherly-seeming female with a crumpled and kindly face.
The Queen sighed. “My faithful advisers, pushed aside by those who sought our downfall. Will you forgive your Queen?”
They all bowed low and the oldest spoke. “Will you trust us once more, my beloved Queen?”
“I will, with gratitude.”
The motherly female came over to me and bowed her head briefly. “Does this ease the Queen’s Majesty?”
The Queen answered. “It does.”
“Then will you show this dragon what it is you do?”
While the dragons settled their plans for the security of Dragonheart and its mistress, I was fully occupied teaching a willing female dragon the basics of massage.
Once all was in place, the Queen hung a golden token around Mandrake’s neck and he bent his head in a half bow.
She laughed, but it was a sound that said more of sadness than humour. “There is never any need for you to bend your neck to me. Not you of all dragons.”
I felt the instant when something went click in his head and he withdrew his essence from me, hiding behind a wall of pride and fear. When he answered the Queen, his voice was even deeper than usual. “Especially me of all dragons. Be well.”
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