“We were picked for this because we do not change nightly,” Gloria said. “Having almost no magic makes us able to travel as humans at night. We aren’t slaves to the change.”
“Well it is not helping us out now,” Sawyer said. “The horses could break a leg if we try to ride out in the dark.”
“Let’s go,” Gloria said. “Grab any of the weapons you can and any money or anything else of value.”
“I can see in the dark,” Tam offered. “How many people are a part of this plan?”
“A lot of us are in on it. But most do not realize Satherin and Leo are behind it all,” Sawyer said. “They think it is the Jett. Hopefully the Jett can start biting people too. But that is going to be far into the future. If they didn’t bite anymore people the night of the blood moon, then it will be at least a month.”
Tam followed Sawyer and the rest. The little light the moon was giving off was barely enough for the bitten ones to see. Tam was able to see clearly in his beast form and easily kept pace with them. Just like Sawyer said, Tam could tell the sun would be coming up as the city came into view.
It was nowhere near as grand as the other human settlements Tam had seen and was surrounded by a great wooden wall. Anything that was not a cat would find it hard getting over that wall. Atop the wall were guard towers spaced out evenly all the way around it and were ringed with torches so the guards could see better.
“They are looking to keep others in, not us out,” Sawyer said, answering Tam’s unspoken question. “The torchlight allows them to see near the wall and inside it. But it prevents them from seeing us out here in the dark. You will need to climb up and see if you can take over one of the towers. If you can, I need the gate to be opened. Once we get in, I can find our allies inside of the city. If at all possible, we should be quiet about it until you can face the Archmage.”
Tam nodded and moved to the wall. He started to climb using his claws for purchase on the logs of the palisade. He blended in perfectly with the heavily shadowed wall and quickly climbed to the top. The man inside the tower he had chosen was huddled up and sleeping. Tam killed him quickly by crushing his throat in his strong jaws. The man struggled only briefly and made little noise.
Tam looked inside of the city and could see a moat was dug inside the wall. There was water in it which was probably an effective barrier to slow changelings from getting to the wall to attempt escape. Tam changed so he could climb down the ladder inside the guard tower in human for and quickly changed back once he reached the ground. He followed the small walkway against the fence which allowed the humans to could get to their towers.
Tam doubted the humans all swam over so he looked for a way connecting the towers with the rest of the city. He found it right alongside the main gate. Tam attacked the two humans manning the main gate, but they were fast enough to cry out before he killed them. They died quickly as Tam tore through their armor. He started chewing and clawing through the heavy beam keeping the gate closed. It took longer than he wanted, but he finally got the door opened. Then he fled into the city. Loud voices could be heard coming from the walls as the guards realized something was wrong, but there was no one on the street to stop him.
Tam found a shadow and hid. Unlike on the walls, there weren’t a lot of torches lit on the city streets. The buildings also looked to be dark. Tam could see Sawyer run in through the gate and dodge a couple of arrows. The man who was dead in the tower that Tam had entered first would have had a good position to fire on him. The rest followed Sawyer in. Tam used the rooftops of the crude buildings to keep up with the trio as a silent shadow.
“Where to now?” Tam asked as he dropped into the shadow Hawthorne was hiding in.
“Don’t do that cat!” Hawthorne demanded in a loud whisper. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“So where to?” Tam asked.
“We need to go to the center of the city,” Hawthorne said. “Most of the changelings are chained up inside of these big buildings, so not many people are out to stop us. The humans though are housed nearer the city center so it will probably get much tougher.”
“I can get inside some of these buildings,” Tam said, as a loud bell started ringing.
“Hurry up and do it then,” Hawthorne said. “The confusion might help if we release a bunch of them.”
Tam stalked up to a door and looking for a chain or something. Instead he found the door opened easily. Inside were large cages holding groups of bitten ones. He wondered if they were caged family by family. Tam started chewing on one of the bars when he heard a female voice from behind him.
“The keys are on a peg on the wall,” she said as Tam turned around.
Tam could see the keys she indicated and grabbed them. He handed them to the woman who opened up her cage and then started opening the others. Contrary to his first impression, Tam noticed all of the changelings in here were female. He went to the next building to find Gloria there already busy opening up cages.
“I have never been here before,” Gloria said. “None of us have. We have only been getting the information second hand.”
“Well let’s let everyone free before the mages get here,” Tam said. “Where is Sawyer?”
“Looking for his contact,” Gloria replied. “He only told me to stay put and wouldn’t say any more.”
“Mages are coming,” Hawthorne said as he ran inside. “I can see their fire out in street.”
“Tam it will be a slaughter,” Gloria said. “We don’t have any way to fight them off.”
“We have our weapons,” Hawthorne said. “The mages don’t know if we are one of their men or not.”
“I will attack them from above,” Tam said.
Tam crawled on top of a building from where he saw many people and wolves running towards the gates. Armored men were out front, followed by bonded changelings and finally mages. Tam leapt unobserved from building to building. He was happy they were not too far apart. The buildings were shabbily made and Tam doubted they kept out any of the cold.
He stalked steadily and quickly closer to the mages. Tam was finally poised to drop on one and kill him when he spotted Sawyer looking at him and signaling him to come. Tam let most of the men pass him by then leapt down to follow Sawyer. Sawyer led him towards the center of the city and pointed to a large well-made building.
“He should be in there,” Sawyer said as he drew his sword. Then he was off and running. Tam followed him and was suitably impressed by the brutality Sawyer showed the human guards who were unaware he was an enemy. Sawyer he killed the first man he came upon quickly and was good enough with the sword to kill the second man soon after, before he could draw his weapon. Sawyer entered the building and was hit with a spell Tam knew well. It was a lightning strike as strong as Tam had ever seen. Sawyer flew backwards and landed hard. Tam could see he was not moving and doubted there was anyway a normal human could avoid or survive a spell that big.
“Come” the Archmage said. “Let’s put down whatever this is. But try not to kill too many of them. We need their strong backs to build another city as this place is starting to get crowded.
Tam appeared as the Archmage walked outside. He bit him hard on the hand. Tam locked on his hand and was going to rip it off when a lightning spell hit him. It was like the first time he had been hit with it. The strong spell made him go stiff all over. Tam could feel himself burning as the spell winked out quickly. Tam dropped the hand and went down hard. He was dazed and was concerned about protecting himself. Something grabbed him by the tail and started dragging him inside, when Tam got his senses he could see it was the hyena.
“What happened?” Tam asked confused.
“That human used his lightning spell without thinking,” Satherin said. “You were attached to him and he fried himself as well.”
“I have never felt the spell that strong before,” Tam said.
“He was holding back the first time you both fought” Satherin said. “I wish I had known it w
as Sawyer coming through the door. He was a good soldier. What is happening outside?”
“Chaos,” Tam said as he got ready to leave.
“Not for long,” Satherin said. “The age of the changeling has arrived!”
EPILOUGE
“How are you doing?” Gloria asked.
“My headache is finally going away,” Tam replied.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, where have you been?” she asked.
“Deep in the forest,” Tam replied. “I am not scared of the other fell beast. She is larger, but she doesn’t have my bite or my spines. I fought her once, but it was a stalemate.”
“You fought the elder fell beast to a draw?” Gloria asked surprised.
“More like she got tired of beating on me,” Tam answered. “And she had a mouthful of my spines.”
“Well, I am glad you are okay. Did you find him?”
“I found him. He was happy to see me and angry I defied him. He doesn’t want any part of the human world. There are more packs of wolves inside of the forest the closer you go to his den. Small settlements have popped up inside of the forest. Not even the fell beast goes near them.”
“What of your mage?”
“Our bond is still there. It is the reason I came back here. The humans are planning on marching on this place.”
“Surely not with the army we have built” Gloria exclaimed. “Satherin has been busy. Any human we find has been getting the bite. There is a lot of powerful second generation changelings here of all ages. Most of the small towns close to us are also filled with our kind. The humans will be in a war they are not ready for.”
“Tam!” Hawthorne yelled, as he spotted him. “How has it been going kid?”
“Good,” Tam replied. “The humans have a force planning on taking this place.”
“Let them try,” Hawthorne said. “We will turn the kingdom into one of nothing but free changelings.”
“The mages won’t like that,” Tam said.
“No they will not,” Hawthorne said. “But we already have a few mages on our side. Jeraelin Satchel has joined our cause. Her brother was bitten. We have a noble changeling, Mychel Satchel is Duke Satchel’s second son. He was bitten by Satherin some time ago.”
“And they didn’t kill the hyena?” Tam asked.
“He would have needed a reason to tell,” Gloria said. “If he had said he was bitten then there would be great shame brought on the family because their son would have been classed as an animal. They kept it hidden until now. Mychel actually has thoughts of becoming the king.”
“What does Satherin has to say about that?” Tam asked.
“He doesn’t care,” Hawthorne said. “All the hyenas have to listen to him anyway. He does not particularly care about details like who has the official title.”
“Then the movement is gathering strength then,” Tam said.
“More than you could imagine,” Gloria replied. “Leo is still in enemy lands. But he feeds us information when he can.”
“Where is Satherin now?” Tam asked.
“In hiding,” Gloria replied. “He moves often. If he was to go down, then this entire thing would be for nothing. We have to hold out until the next full moon. Once the moon comes, all of the hyenas are going to spread the bite.”
“Aren't you worried about being overrun?” Tam asked.
“The hyenas could not possibly be as vicious as the humans were,” Hawthorne said. “I would welcome them over our former captors.”
“Well my message has been delivered,” Tam said. “I miss some things about the human world, like the plentiful food. If I was with that human, I would still be eating very well. These days I have to travel deep to make my kills.”
“You could always travel deeper into the kingdom and kill some livestock,” Gloria said. “As long as it does not belong to another changeling, I doubt any of us would care.”
“How can we get in contact with you if we need you?” Hawthorne asked. “The Jett are doing their part in this fight, but they are probably waiting for the full moon before they get real serious. That is the minimum time we have to be able to hold out for. But if we need a warrior to help us out, can we call on you?”
“Find any wild wolf in the forest,” Tam said.
“That we will do,” Gloria stated. “Until then we will be taking this thing slow and sure.”
“I hope you can break free from your mage,” Hawthorne said. “Or better yet, I wish you could get her to join us. That would be exactly what we need, another Glades coup.”
Reader, thank you for taking this journey with me. I wrote the Changeling and was told by a few of my regular readers it was not up to snuff. I thought about just trashing the book but my proof reader, Mr. Bill Angus spent his time editing it and Ms. Estrella Deanda, a sixth grader took her time to make me a cover. You should have gotten this book for a buck and I hoped it was worth your while. Just so you will not leave angry below is an entirely new book. I would not by the Lightning Mage if I were you since the entire book is below for your pleasure. As always if any of you care to get in contact with me I would love to hear from you. I am also known for handing out freebies so then there is that. Feel free to reach me at [email protected]
CHAPTER 1
“Jonathan” Joshua Thunder said as he looked at his son. “Your mother and I have done all we can to teach you what we know. You have to go to the tower now, the kingdom will be expecting you.”
“Is it really as bad as you say it is father?” Jonathan asked.
“You have been sheltered here Jonathan. The Archmage knows I have a son and also knows you have magic. We can wait a few more years but then questions would be asked about if we were going to send you at all. Nobles are going to hate you on sight, but hopefully you can do better than I did.”
“You did okay father. I have never known hunger and I have a decent enough place to lay my head.”
“Me and your father could have done better,” Sara said, looking at her son. “We are both stubborn and vengeful. We were motivated to get married to each other out of mutual hatred of the nobility, more than out of love for on another.”
“Bollocks!” Jonathan said, laughing. “I see the way you look at each other and I know what those stupid little trips you send me all over town for is really about. You are as in love as anyone I have ever seen.”
“We are both commoners Jonathan,” Joshua said. “Both of us could have married nobles if we wanted to and you would have had it better than you will when you finally leave us.”
“If you were with other people then I wouldn’t exist,” Jonathan argued. “What has come over you both? Why are you so negative?”
“Jonathan, I do love your mother,” Joshua said. “But the only reason I am with her and not some minor noble is because of your grandparents.”
“I thought my grandparents never met mom,” Jonathan said.
“They didn’t,” Joshua said. “When war comes the kingdom likes sending their mages to turn the enemy back. The first line of combat is always commoner mages. My father and mother were on that front line. Noble mages hang far back to the rear. They only attack when there is opportunity without risk. My parents both died fighting the Raelinians. This was before they had even gotten their own kind of magic. For their sacrifice to the kingdom, all I got was a letter and the rest of their pay for the month. Noble children would have received their parents entire pay until they reached the age of twenty five. I got five silver to help make things work. While normal people look on me with awe, noble mages do not. My ability to work multiple magics at the same time once put me in the sights of a few magical families. After how I was treated by our so called betters, I declined every offer and had my heart set on your mother.”
“I was with your father for much the same reason,” Sara said. “My mother had been killed so I wanted nothing to do with any noble for any reason. I had suitors, almost any girl does. They expected me to be so shocked that some n
oble wanted to give me a try, that I would fall right in line with their plans for me. I refused to even pretend to play along with their machinations. Like many commoners, I may not be able to work many magics, but I have a huge well of magical energy.”
“In a mage duel I can take out stronger mages using my lightning,” Joshua said. “My well is small though, so I do not have many bolts in me. If I fight a mage capable of withstanding my first couple of blows then I am done.”
“I have the energy but not the power to put behind my strikes,” Sara said. “Your grandfather does not have magic at all, which was probably the only reason he is still alive today. Me and your father both knew our shortcomings and decided to get married to each other because we knew our child would be something special. Noble mages are typically stronger than commoners, but not in your case. I can only think of a handful of families that have produced mages who could stand up to you. It is that reason that they will hate you even more.”
“How strong am I compared to them?” Jonathan asked. “You never let me even be around other mages.”
“And you have enjoyed your childhood because of it,” Sara asserted. “I wanted you to have it different than your father and I. We were scared just thinking about what the future held for us. We hope you will never feel this way. No matter what happens to us, marry a noble. In the long run it will be worth it. Many nobles will never accept you. Even if you are married to one of them they are likely to look down on you. But even so your life will be easier.”
“Are they really that bad?” Jonathan asked.
“They are worse,” Joshua stated. “But you are a Thunder and we come from proud stock. We are the only two people I know of right now that can use lightning. That is a trick I don’t think many will be able to accomplish. Your earth magic is also something I doubt anyone is ready for. I already know you will do all commoners proud just like your mother and I did. ”
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