Deep River Shifters 4 Book Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  “Must you do that in front of me?” the man said wearily, and the witch flicked away the slime, leering. A frame of curly brown hair obscured the man’s face, though the body his head perched on looked well-toned, more than capable of wielding a sword and lashing out in combat. How had this tiny woman overpowered someone so big?

  “I’ll do what I like. I’m Alicifer and this is me place. Now, don’t run too far. I’m sure ye’ll be perfectly happy in here. After all, yer used to caves, right?”

  The man growled, and Faye hastily tucked herself behind the fat mage again when Alicifer glanced over in her direction. She waited with bated breath, wondering if the witch would saunter over here and inspect. Please don’t come over here. Please don’t.

  A brief pause, then, “Behave, mind!” There was the sound of someone blowing a kiss, followed by a maniacal cackle, and then the witch’s footsteps retreated.

  Faye counted to a hundred, not daring to move so soon in case the witch decided to come back for whatever reason. Then, for good measure, she added another one hundred.

  Her tutor in Vrytal would be proud to see her keep her calm. “Too many princesses are silly and lose their heads at the first opportunity,” Sergey had said. “Upon teaching you the bow, I hope to teach you a little clarity as well.”

  Well, he’d tried, but she did occasionally have girlish impulses – right until Prince Anthony wanted to test out the abilities she’d boasted of, and she came with him on a Quest to “bond” with him and make it easier to sort through their impending, arranged marriage.

  When Faye peeked again, she saw that the imprisoned man had slumped as far as he physically could, leaving him dangling from the chains by his arms, his rear inches from the floor. Poor man.

  She tentatively edged out from behind the frozen mage, cleared her throat, and said, “Hello.”

  The man at first didn’t respond. She ventured closer, repeating the greeting. Now the man turned to face her. His eyes went from hazed to suddenly alert.

  “What are you doing here?” His voice slurred slightly, as if he had been drugged. Faye found herself staring into a rectangular face, exaggerated somewhat by the curled, wild hair blooming from either side of his head, with a sturdy jawline that could probably punch through rock. A rounded nose stuck out from the steady gaze he now directed on her, one with an air of self-assurance. His eye color was unfathomable, as the blue glow of the place gave everything a blue tinge, so they appeared dark – maybe dark green.

  The features were rather striking, honestly, breath-taking even, though she had no time to sit around and gawp at handsome strangers. No. She needed help, and it certainly looked like he needed it. Her eyes briefly scoured over his buttoned beige shirt, his thin black waistcoat, his white breeches and bare feet, at odd contrast with the otherwise wealthy attire he adorned.

  “I’m Princess Faye of Vrytal,” Faye said, keeping a cautious distance, because she still didn’t know exactly the intentions of this man. Why he might be chained, rather than iced like the rest of the prisoners here. “I was caught in the same curse as you see the others in.”

  “Were you?” the man said with great interest. “How come you’re free?”

  Faye sighed. “I really don’t know. But I’m not going to throw away the chance I’ve been given. Who are you, if I may ask?”

  “Prince Aizen. Of… Vrytal.” Aizen squinted at her, his nose puckering. “You smell human. Who do you belong to at Vrytal?”

  Belong to? “King Kallas and Queen Fran. Is that what you mean?”

  “What?” Now the man blinked rapidly, his mind clearly working fast, overcoming his initial surprise from when he first laid eyes upon her and her dark brown tresses, her simple hunter’s clothes. “There is no King Kallas or Queen Fran. We do have a King Razen, though. He’s my father.”

  Listening to his words and seeing his utter confusion made Faye’s heart sink. Oh no. Already, the world around her began swimming, and she felt a need to be sick.

  Aizen appeared to have come to the same conclusion as well. “Do you know how long you were in that block of ice for?”

  Again, Faye shook her head. “I don’t. I don’t… remember anything after being frozen. I remember being frozen – and then this. I could have been there five years, or five hundred.”

  “Forgive me,” Aizen said delicately, eyes wary, “but… do you remember there being… any… dragons in Vrytal?”

  “What?” Faye stared at him, flabbergasted. “Of course not!”

  “I see.” Aizen sucked at his bottom lip, his confident demeanor disappearing for a second. “Looks like I’m about to give you some bad news, princess.” He straightened up, groaning as his arms lost the tension from the chains.

  “Just hit me with it,” Faye said. “I know I’m not in my time anymore.”

  “Heh.” Aizen closed his eyes for a moment. “I believe, princess, if you don’t remember any dragons, you’re about two hundred years or more removed from your own time. Vrytal has, ah, become a dragon kingdom. And has been so for at least two hundred years.”

  Numb, Faye slid to her knees, her heart becoming denser, heavier. “A-are you,” she whispered, “a dragon?” He said she smelled human. Not a very human thing to say.

  Aizen smiled confirmation. “That I am. Except… well, it’s a long story. Now, I know you’re probably overwhelmed with vast emotions of sadness and despair right now, feeling a displacement and all that… but you wouldn’t mind getting over that for a moment to help me out of these chains?”

  Blinking herself out of her soupy despair, redirecting her feelings to glaring at him instead, she said in a chilly tone, “Why exactly, should I feel inclined to help out a dragon?”

  He appeared unperturbed at her reaction. “Well, let me see, princess. I don’t think you’ll be getting very far on your own in the Wilderness, should you make it out of here. And you don’t exactly have, well… a home, do you? I’d say you might need a friend or two.”

  “I’m not calling a dragon my friend!”

  “See, that’s where you’re old-fashioned,” Aizen said, yawning. “Plenty of people have dragons as friends nowadays. We’re pretty cool people.”

  Faye digested his point, hating that he made sense. All she wanted to do was curl up into a corner and sulk. “If I free you,” she said, mind whirring fast, “I have a condition. You’ll help me free everyone else here.” She gestured at the ice statues, gaze halting for a moment on Anthony. Like it or not, he was the only connection to her past now. A person of a bygone world – just as many of the frozen likely were.

  At this condition, Aizen winced. “Um… honestly, princess, I have no idea how to break something like this. I’m under a curse of a sort myself… the witch here is very powerful.”

  “How did she even get you, anyway?”

  “Trapped me,” Aizen grunted in response. “Took me right out of the air I was flying through, minding my own business…” He didn’t go on further than that, falling instead into abrupt silence. Then he said, “Look. I’ll agree to your terms. But I can’t free anyone now. All we can do is to get out of here. I can go to my mother and father and the witches in Vrytal, and see what they have to say about this place – but that’s all I can offer you.”

  Faye rubbed her face, unhappy, but knowing there was no way to secure a better deal. “Okay. Right, don’t try and eat me or anything, fiend. I’ll look into releasing you.”

  “Eat you?” Aizen said, distinctively offended. “Fiend? What do you take me for, some kind of savage?”

  “Obviously. You are a dragon.”

  “Give me a break,” Aizen said. “We’re way past the people-eating thing. We still like collecting our princesses, though.”

  “Uh huh.” Seriously doubting if she could trust such a creature, Faye examined the cuffs, seeing how they connected and testing the keyhole in each one. Then she dug into her messy hair, hoping to find a pin stuck there somewhere – she usually had three or four that she forg
ot to remove. The rotten things rarely worked the way they should, because her hair enjoyed growing wild and untamed. Eventually, her fingers closed around one hairpin, and she took it out with a satisfied grunt.

  “Well, keep still. This might take a while.”

  Aizen nodded, watching as she bent the hairpin out of shape and inserted it in the lock of his handcuff.

  Faye didn’t know what other choice she had. She just hoped she wouldn’t seriously regret this one.

  Chapter Two

  The last lock sprang free. Aizen tugged his foot away in relief, and the skin there was raw and chafed. “My thanks, princess,” he said, giving her a little bow. So, he did have some manners.

  “Don’t be thanking me just yet. Now we need to get out of here.”

  “Hmm.” He examined her, eyes large and dark for a fleeting second. “Best follow me. Just as soon,” he panted, “as I’ve gotten used to walking again.”

  “You weren’t chained up that long,” Faye pointed out.

  “And? You don’t know what that witch did to me.” His eyes glinted in anger. The hairs on the backs of his hands seemed to bristle. He took a few moments to regain some of his strength and confidence, and then strode off, leaving the ice statues behind. Faye gave one last, lingering stare at Anthony, before trotting after Aizen, wondering if she’d just made a deal with a demon.

  Down through the cold, blue corridor – then, upon approaching a catacomb web of tunnels, Aizen unerringly picked the second from the left branch, and Faye increased her pace to keep up, her cold breath forming clouds. The walls themselves had a light blue, luminescent glow, as if they were paper thin and the sunlight shone through them, except Faye felt pretty certain the walls were enchanted.

  “You better come back here. Some of these people have been waiting for a long time to be freed.”

  “Yes, yes, I know, princess,” Aizen said dismissively, clearly listening but not actively engaging in her concern. She needed to take two strides to his every one, and found herself rapidly out of breath following him. The path he took was different from the one Faye remembered taking before. She didn’t bother opening her mouth, in case the paths had changed in the passing years. Once, they heard the cackling ring of the witch’s voice, and they hesitated, venturing cautiously along, reducing the amount of noise they made as much as humanly possible.

  They finally made it out into a huge ice cavern, and stopped still.

  A giant, ethereal dragon slumbered, a blue glow emanating from it. At this, Aizen hissed softly. A naked longing, along with loss, floated in his expression.

  What was this? Faye crossed her arms, blinking as Aizen headed over to the slumbering dragon. He reached for its snout with a trembling hand, and when they connected, the dragon let out a rattling sigh, but kept its eyes firmly shut.

  Aizen stood there for a moment, before hanging his head and retreating, beckoning for Faye to stick close behind him.

  “What was that?” she whispered, their footsteps echoing in the narrow blue tunnel away from the dragon’s cave.

  “Me,” he replied. “That dragon is my dragon soul.” His jaw stuck out then in barely repressed anger.

  “What do you mean, that’s your dragon soul?”

  “The witch ripped it out of me. Said she wanted something to guard all the treasures she kept in her tunnels. And was planning to get more. I can’t feel it. I can’t reconnect to it.” Aizen gave a little shudder. He pulled her into a tunnel on the far right, and Faye saw a glimmer of light ahead.

  “Can you still turn into a dragon?”

  Aizen shook his head. “No. She took it out of me. Well… I still have heightened senses, but for all intents and purposes, I’m human. At least until I get my form back.”

  At this news, Faye suddenly felt more hopeful that Aizen would return to this place. He had good reason to, after all. Not for her, but for himself. To regain the dragon he’d lost.

  What would her family think, knowing she’d procured the aid of a dragon to escape? That for whatever reason they’d met, they were now temporary allies?

  Dragons can’t be trusted. No monster can.

  They emerged outside into a landscape different from what Faye remembered. Instead of dense thickets of green and the tall set of trees that obscured the cave’s entrance, she saw most of the trees had been cleared away, revealing a thin woodland in the distance, and building tops from where Vrytal had obviously expanded since she’d last seen it. She still saw the familiar spires of Vrytal’s castle, which left an ache for home. The same castle she’d once lived in, still existing at this point in the future, ruled by dragons. Did it even count as her home now?

  “Must look different from what you remember,” Aizen said. “Okay… we got this far. Now we need to make it down the ice mountain without breaking our necks, through the Little Folk Forest, and then we’re back in Vrytal. Oh, and I have to say this. There’s another little condition I may not have mentioned to you,” Aizen said, flashing Faye a rather hard smile. “You will be my princess.”

  Anger began to steam out of Faye’s ears. “No! I’m no dragon’s princess!”

  “As of right now, yes, you are. And the reason why I’m claiming it now is so that other dragons won’t come swooping in on you if they see you, or if a troll or something attempts to pluck you from the bushes.” A small, yellow wisp appeared in the air, weaving around Aizen, before going to Faye and disappearing inside her. “Now you smell different. Anyone can smell that you belong to me.”

  Just like that? “What? I just told you I don’t want to be your princess!”

  “And I just told you that you don’t have a choice. Sorry. It’s for your own good, trust me.”

  Like fuck it was for her own good. She trembled furiously as Aizen began searching for a descent, muttering, “I’m too used to flying everywhere… so weird having to do this from the ground...”

  She didn’t follow him, fully intending to stay. But when she heard a low, keening wail in the distance, she shivered, and then hurried after Aizen.

  “Fine. But only because I don’t want to be eaten.”

  “Wise choice, princess,” Aizen said. “I know it’s frustrating, but we’re in the same ship together. And… I don’t have my dragon form to protect us. Hmm.”

  “Can’t do anything unless you’re a dragon?” Faye’s tone came out mocking.

  Aizen appeared unruffled by her attempt to taunt him. “I can. Just obviously I’m not as strong. Right… let’s try this direction…”

  He offered a hand to help Faye down, but she ignored it and vaulted onto the lower step herself.

  “Polite, aren’t you?”

  Faye glared at him. She didn’t have time for his jibes. She’d just lost her former home, the prince she once knew, the history she once lived in – and it all felt like it was just a few hours ago since she departed from Vrytal. Sneaking into the dead of night. Being dared by Anthony to brave the ice cave, rumored to be nearby.

  The low, keening wail came again. Closer this time. Sweat broke out on Faye’s head. Her hands itched for the bow she didn’t have. She’d feel more comfortable armed. Aizen saw this movement with interest, though he said nothing on it.

  “Let’s hope we can get back safely. I don’t like the sound of that wailing… not sure what it belongs to.”

  Neither was Faye, which made them both pick up their pace, sometimes slipping on the path. They needed to double back a lot when they reached dead ends, and Aizen often complained about the fact that he could no longer fly, stretching Faye to her breaking point.

  “I don’t fucking care if you can’t fly,” she said sourly to him, as she skidded onto her rear end for the sixth time in a row, leaving a throb of pain there. “Now you know what it feels like to be a little pink meatsack. Congratulations.”

  Her description of a human made him pause. “Little pink meatsack?”

  “It was what the troll in the dungeon called us once.” Faye’s memories shifted back to
the castle, to the six-foot troll with neon purple hair, glaring as little princesses and princes prodded at him with sticks.

  “Huh.” Aizen considered the description. “I like it. Pretty accurate, too.”

  “I’m glad you do,” Faye said, slightly alarmed she might have accidentally bonded further with the dragon. When he gazed into her eyes, she saw bright yellow irises, adding to the wild, untamed appearance he kept, with that shaggy mane of hair similar to her own. However, under that mess and animal yellow eyes protruded an annoyingly attractive face. Faye kept getting those inconvenient stabs of energy when the attraction part of her brain started scoring off his physical attributes. She noted with unnecessary detail how a tiny shaft of light made his eyes twinkle a certain way, or how the shadows accentuated those two moles just above his left collarbone. Or how oddly prince-like he looked.

  Why, if he’d never admitted he was a dragon, Faye would have been none the wiser.

  The wailing drilled into their ears, sounding as if the monster that uttered it was right beside them. Aizen jumped, glancing around wildly, but saw nothing. Faye edged closer, and Aizen reached out an arm to grab onto her wrist, tugging her with him.

  “Apologies, princess. But we really should be heading along.”

  Faye privately agreed. Her feet stumbled over shale and stubborn bushes. Keeping her balance when being dragged behind Aizen proved hard, but when she saw a thicket rustle near them on the side, panic jolted through her heart.

  “I saw something move!” she hissed to Aizen, whose grip tightened on her arm. Then, without a word, he quickly yanked her towards him and slung her over his shoulder, now setting off at a run. She clutched onto him desperately, open-mouthed as he gathered speed, faster than what the average human could run and leap unless enhanced by gear. He made a great rushing bound onto a rock as something emerged from the thicket – a hissing chimera. A lion’s head and golden mane came first, attached to a muscular lion’s body. A goat’s head grew from the chimera’s spine – and this was what made the odd wailing. It opened its mouth, tongue lolling out, and wailed, shaking its head madly. Upon the chimera’s rear end, a tail in the shape of a snake swayed, with the snake hissing, eyes directly fixated on Faye.