Shifting Hearts

by Ivy Hayes

  “This is cause for celebrating.” We approach the entrance of the tavern, “I think we deserve a night of some good old drinking fun.”

  “Don’t get too drunk, that will ruin your proposal plans.”

  “Nothing could ruin those plans.” We head inside and I scout out a place to sit while keeping my eyes out for Ash. It is still early enough that there are a few tables open, but I don’t see her anywhere. “Want to grab that table? I’ll head up to get drinks and ask where Ash is?”

  “Okay. Get some food too.”

  “Do you think I wouldn’t?”

  “No, I guess not.” He rubs his tummy, “Hurry.”

  I wave to Nash as I near the bar, he heads over to help. “Howdy Nash, can we have two pints and two of whatever you cooked tonight? Is Ash in the kitchen?”

  He shakes his head, confused, “No. I thought she was with you all day.”

  “She’s not here?” I look around, frantic. “She left my place this morning and was planning on making a quick stop at the market on her way back to here.” Where is she?

  Nash looks startled, “Do you think she ran again?”

  “No, I know she didn’t. Can you cancel my order, I am going to go find her.”

  “Is she in trouble?”

  “I think she might be,” I turn and start to walk away, Nash asks, “Do you need help, I can close up and search along with you guys? I care for that girl like she was my own.”

  “We might. I will let you know, but right now, just keep running the bar.” I turn back to him, realizing he has been seeing most of the people in and out of town today. “Do you remember that guy that was with Den and Stann last night?”

  “The shady one from Naven? Yeah, why?”

  “Did you see him today?”

  “I did. Those three were in here this morning, with your father and two other guys I didn’t recognize.” I feel as if I just got hit by a truck. Father deliberately lied to us and used that to set Ash up. Six of them have her and I have no idea if she is still alive. I start running towards Grant, “Thank you, Nash, I will come find you if we need help.”

  Grant sees me approach in a frenzy, he stands and asks, “What is wrong?”

  “Father lied to us, they didn’t leave town. They must have grabbed her sometime this morning.”

  “What!”

  “Nash saw all of them early this morning, there are six of them including father. We can’t talk here, let’s go.”

  We both head towards the exit, pushing through the throngs of people. We are almost out the door when I see Den out of the corner of my eye. I nudge Grant and he follows my sight. Wordlessly, we both head in towards him. Thankfully, he is alone.

  “Den. Can you come outside with us?”

  “I’ve been looking for you guys,” he gets closer and whispers, “I have some news about the shifter.”

  I growl, “I know you do. Outside. Now.” Grant grabs his arm and we head towards the door again.

  “Calm down guys, what the hell has you so angry?”

  “I will tell you outside. Now hurry.” I am aggressively pushing past the people that are trying to enter and make a path out the door. We head towards the woods that border this end of town. Once hidden from view, Grant pushes Den forward and I say icily, “What do you know?”

  “They think Ash is the shifter that killed my cousin.”

  “She was,” I say, without hesitating. No point hiding the truth, when I am going to kill him for hurting her.

  “I don’t believe it. That’s why I was looking for you, I know you are close to her. I don’t know what to think now.”

  “She had to do it,” I say, “She tried to get away, but two of you tried to stop her. Would you expect her not to fight back?” I start shouting, “You guys attacked her clan for no reason, they were peaceful, just trying to live!”

  Den flinches at my shouting, “I had no part of that!”

  “But you had a part of this!”

  “Stop shouting,” Grant yells at us, “Do you want someone walking in on this, Greg?”

  I am shaking with anger, “Is she still alive?”

  “She is. At least she was when I left. Your father is the reason?”

  “How?”

  “He wants to be one hundred percent sure she is the shifter before they kill her. He knows you have feelings for her and does not want to hurt you unless he has to.”

  “How are they going to prove she is the shifter?”

  “Ted gave her an ultimatum. She can shift on her own, or if she doesn’t by sunset,” he hesitates, and I stare at him, urging him to continue, “He will torture her until she does.”

  “That is in less than an hour. Damn it.”

  “Why are you telling us all this?” Grant asks.

  “Because I don’t agree with it. I have never shared my family’s hatred for shifters, I don’t see the point of it. And I like Ash, she was always nice to me and Stann.”

  “Will you help us get her out?” I ask.

  “Only if you promise not to hurt Stann. I love him and would never forgive myself if he died in there.”

  “I won’t hurt him unless it is the only way to save Ash.”

  “That is not good enough, if that is the situation, let me talk to him first. If he dies, it would crush me the same as Ash’s death would do to you.”

  “I didn’t know you were that close. We promise, don’t we, Gregory?” Grant says.

  “Fine. We will not hurt him. But we will all have a big talk when this is over. Ash and I are not leaving so you both will keep our secret.”

  “And father,” Grant added.

  “Maybe. I can’t trust him anymore. We need to move out. Where are they holding her?”

  “Stann’s warehouse.”

  “That’s so close, it will save us some time. Grant, can you run in and tell Nash we need him and to be ready in fifteen minutes?”

  “Good idea, we need more strength.”

  “Hurry.” He runs off, back towards the Tavern. “Den, who else is a Ridder in town.”

  “No one that I know of,” he shakes his head, “Why?”

  “I need more help, but I didn’t want to risk letting the wrong people in on the plan. When Grant is back, we will head out and get Aaron, Big Walt, and Tom, if we can find them.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT – ASH

  I woke up in a cage with the Ridders arguing about what to do with me.

  If I shift, they will kill me. If I don’t, they will torture me. There is no real way out of this. Right now, they have me locked in a big metal cage, preventing me from flying away if I shift. When they come to grab me, I will fight if I can, but I doubt I will have an opening. I won’t make it easy, though.

  I can’t even be pleased with the added time, they should be done long before anyone notices my absence. Gregory isn’t planning on going to the tavern until hours after sunset and I am sure Nash thinks I am still with Gregory, so he won’t go looking for me. I doubt I will last long enough for any of them to come save me. From what I know of Ridders, they aren’t very patient.

  I wish they would just get started with it, the waiting is horrible. I keep imagining the different ways they will torture me. The longer I am forced to wait, the more my resolve settles. I will not shift, no matter what they do. I don’t want them to get the satisfaction of being right.

  Let them kill me and live with the regret.

  One thing is guaranteed, this torture is going to be terrible.

  TWENTY-NINE – GREGORY

  I couldn’t find Aaron but we more than made up for it. Nault decided to join in with Tom. Samuel was with Big Walt. I am floored by these men, they didn’t even hesitate when I told them we were saving a shifter from the Ridders. Their loyalty only drives home my desire to stay here. These are my people and when push comes to shove, we support each other.

  Gathering everyone and coming up with a plan took much longer than I am comfortable with. Sunset is minutes away and we are just starting
to head towards the warehouse. I am terrified they have already started torturing her, or worse, already killed her.

  I have to trust the plan and hope for the best. It’s a relatively simple one: we will split the group in half, Nash, Grant, Den, and Tom will go around the back, Nault, Big Walt, and Samuel will head in the front with me. I won’t be going in as a human though, my goal is, as soon as the doors are open, to fly to wherever Ash is and set her free.

  That is my priority for two reasons. First, if she is free, they can’t simply kill her, she would be able to defend herself. She is easily the best fighter amongst us and we need her to shut down this operation. Second, if things go south, she can fly away. I would gladly die if I knew she got away. I am counting on the distractions at both doors to give me enough time to set her free.

  They all know not to kill Stann, but to try and eliminate the other three Ridders. We can’t let them live, otherwise, they will come back with an army. There is no set plan to do with my father. I told everyone to use their best judgment. If he joins the fight on the side of the Ridders, we will treat him like we are treating the others. If he stays back, it will be a different story.

  It would be ideal if he wasn’t even here, but based on his all-day absence, that is unlikely.

  The four of us who are going in the front pause, allowing the others a little bit more time to get in position. We need to attack the doors at the same time, keeping the element of surprise, otherwise, we are likely to lose. I address the group, “Thank you all, again.” I strip my clothes off.

  “We will always help,” Nault said, “There is no point to these senseless killings. We protect our people.”

  Big Walt and Samuel both nod their heads in agreement.

  “Let’s do this,” I say, then change into my owl form. Samuel jumped at the sudden change, he has probably never seen a shift before. I start flying towards the door and they follow. Big Walt slams his body against the door and we all crash inside.

  THIRTY – ASH

  I know Ridders are not very patient, but I didn’t expect them to gather me for the torture a full thirty minutes before sunset. All of them are in the room, except Den.

  Here we go. Ted and one of the ones I don’t know, approach my cage. Ted kneels down to talk to me, “You have one more chance to shift, we won’t torture you if you do. We will reward you with a quick and painless death.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Wrong answer, shifter bitch.” He unlocks the door of the cage, I hear the soft metallic click and I prepare my attack, but he doesn’t open the door right away.

  “Turn around and put your hands on the back wall.”

  “No.” I stay in my fighting crouch.

  “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” He nods to the other man, “Smith, can you help persuade her?”

  He reaches down and pulls out a long skinny sword and smiles, “Happy to.” I now understand why there is a long slit running horizontally through the middle of the cage. He sticks the sword in, right for me and I am forced to back up. “Now turn around and grab the cage. I won’t ask again.”

  “Damn it,” I do as I am told. This is not good, I will not be able to fight from this position. I feel hands shove me roughly into the cage and another set yanks my arms behind my back. Whoever is holding my hands, switches the grip to free a hand. A second later, there is a knife at my throat.

  Ted speaks, “If you try anything, I will slit your throat. It won’t be deep enough to kill you though, so don’t think that will be an easy way out.” So, he is the one holding me. I don’t know how I will do it yet, but he will be the one I kill first.

  Thinking of revenge will help keep me strong. I cling to my hatred and let it envelop me.

  He backs me up off the fence and we head towards the table. “Climb up.” I don’t have an option to refuse him, not with the knife at my throat or the sword in easy striking distance, so I obey. When I am on the table, the other stranger comes over to tie me down. He starts with my ankles. Each one gets its own rope, which he secures to something under each corner, holding my legs hard against the edges.

  I am then forced to my back, a lot harder than necessary and they raise both my arms over my head. They get the same treatment and I am stretched out, each extremity reaching for a different edge. The ropes are secured so tightly, they are digging into me even when I don’t move. I can tell they have done this before because I will be helpless to struggle.

  Ted starts laying out the torture supplies, they are the standard ones with a variety of clamps and knives. I refuse to look scared, so I turn my gaze towards the ceiling. “You can end this at any time, remember that. All you have to do is shift.”

  “I will tell you again, I am not a shifter. I am just a woman who moved to a new village.”

  “None of us believe you. Should we start with fingernails?”

  “Or what about flaying?” Another asks.

  “No. We will give her a chance before it gets to that.” I know they are just trying to scare me and god it’s working. My last moments are going to be unbearable.

  I look around the room and catch Stann’s eyes. At least he doesn’t look like he is enjoying this, but his discomfort doesn’t help me. Unless it gets bad enough and he decides to stop it. I remember what he said though, he was looking forward to torturing the person who killed Den’s cousin. Does it not matter to any of them that he is only dead because he attacked me? Was I not supposed to fight back?

  I see Ted approaching and I wince. So, it begins. When he picks up my hand, I feel the cold steel of the pliers on my fingertip, but before he rips, Gregory’s father’s voice rings out, “Hold on a second.”

  “What now Cliffden?”

  “Are you absolutely sure she is the one who did it? A matching hair color and a coincidental timeline could just be that, a coincidence.”

  “You know I am sure. There was also her behavior. She was strange during dinner, Stann told me that was not her normal attitude.” He released my hand and set down the pliers. They made a heavy bang when they hit the surface of the table. “Then after we left the tavern, Zach watched her breakdown and immediately leave with your son, Gregory. Not to forget your other son, who slipped out behind us and followed until we got to Stann’s house. Why would he do that? Perhaps to gather intel on an enemy?”

  “It could all be a misunderstanding, she was attacked and almost raped two days ago. Her behavior could have been an aftershock from that.”

  “She is the shifter.”

  “You better be right, my son loves her and her death will crush him. It had better be for a reason.”

  “I will be proven right soon enough, she will shift when the torture starts. They always do.” He picks up my hand again. Before he is able to get a grip on my fingernail, I hear the door crash in. I am helpless to look around, but in a second, I see see a familiar owl flying in my field of vision. Gregory found me.

  From the sound of things, he brought the cavalry. For a group of people that are used to hunting shifters, they do a horrible job of noticing Gregory flying above us. They are distracted by the mass of men running through the doors. The three men surrounding me run towards the door to defend against the invaders and prevent them from getting to me. This opens it up perfectly for Gregory.

  He lands, shifts and sweeps a knife from the torture supply all in one heartbeat. During the next one, he is sawing through the bindings on my arms. He gets them free, then hands me the knife so he can look around and it was not a moment too soon. Ted is wielding a sword and a long knife, and he is charging straight for Gregory.

  I saw my leg bindings with a fury. These bastards will not hurt another person I care about. Gregory easily dodges the blow but he is in real danger, going against Ted while unarmed. Taking a quick look around the room, I see Den and Stann wresting on the ground. Gregory’s father is standing back, not fighting. The other two are easily surrounded by my group of defenders.

  That leaves Ted
for me.

  I get my other leg free, then leap off the table, striking out with the knife at the same moment. It isn’t a killing blow, I make a shallow cut on his arm. It does what I needed and it distracts him away from Gregory. “You were right, Ted. I am the shifter from Naven.”

  “I already knew that,” he shouts and lunges at me. I dodge and meet his lunge forward, getting close enough to prevent him from being able to effectively use the sword against me. I place myself if the danger zone of a knife strike, but that is safer than a sword. From here, I at least have a chance to strike back at him.

  I punch out with my left hand, aiming for his throat. He is blocked from stopping me by his grip on the sword, so my strike lands. At the same time, he was swiping at me with his knife hand, I only partially block it, allowing the tip to graze my shoulder. I feel the warm spurt of fresh blood, but I don’t feel the pain.

  He starts choking from my throat hit and he backs up, trying to create space. My guess is he wants to use the sword, to give himself a chance to recover. I am not going to let that happen. I follow his retreat. I slash with my knife, cutting deeply into his forearm. Blood starts flowing down over his hand, and I know he won’t be able to grip the knife nearly as well now.

  He tries to back up faster, and I can see the fear in his eyes. He didn’t expect me to fight him so easily. I am preparing to throw him to the ground with a kick when I see Gregory approaching him from behind. One second, Ted is running in retreat, the next he has a knife sticking in his back, so deep I can see the tip pierce the front of his shirt. He looks down, stunned, then collapses to his knees, dropping his sword and knife on his way down.

  I follow him down, and say, “You could have just left us alone and nobody would have had to die.”

  “I needed to rid the world of your evil.”

  “We are not the evil ones.” To drive home that point, I give him a quick and painless death. I stab him directly in the heart. He would have died from Gregory’s, but it would have taken a few hours of suffering.