Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

How was this possible? That Tayse, who had distrusted sorcery with all his heart when she first met him, was now willing to abandon himself utterly to witchery? While she, whose life had been shaped in every particular by the power in her hands, was hesitant and afraid to submit to enchantment? She took a deep breath.

“We must have some kind of agreement,” she said. “After the first hour of flight. You must stop, and set us down, and ask us if we can tolerate more of this unnatural existence. And if we say we cannot-”

“Well, you won’t be able to say anything,” Kirra pointed out. “You’ll still be a mouse.”

“I realize that! But you will ask, and you will give me a task to do to indicate that I am or am not willing to continue. And if I am, then you can gather me up in your claws again and carry me away for as long as your strength holds up.”

Kirra practically bounced in her chair. “Most excellent! I am proud of both of you. Sleep well tonight. We leave on quite an adventure in the morning.”

THEentire manor house was awake by dawn, for their own small party was not the only one anxious to return home. Senneth met all three of her brothers in the dining hall and said good-byes over a hasty breakfast. She waved off Will’s wild enthusiasm about her magic and Harris’s somewhat less hearty appreciation, and she gave Kiernan a sober look.

“When I see you again, it may be on another battlefield,” she said.

“Count on it,” he said. “I will ride out with the army I send to Ghosenhall.”

“Travel safely back to Brassen Court. You have to assume there is unrest across all the northern Houses. I would avoid Tilt, if I were you.”

He smiled grimly. “Yes, I believe I will. You, too-take care in your travels.”

He had no idea how completely she planned to disregard that admonition.

It was still early morning when she and Tayse, Kirra and Donnal gathered in a little garden not far from the kitchens. Tayse made a pile of the items he wanted to bring with him back to Ghosenhall-his various blades, his uniform, his sash with the royal lions-but Senneth had very little she cared to salvage from her outbound journey. The blue dress was ruined. Her pendant, Kirra had assured her, was small enough to change along with her body. She added nothing to the pile.

“All right,” she said, taking a deep breath and sinking to the ground, “change me if you can.”

Kirra knelt beside her and put her hands on Senneth’s face. The blue eyes were intent and serious as they watched Senneth; the beautiful face was furrowed in concentration. Senneth closed her eyes and felt the sharp tingle of magic along her cheekbones, down the back of her throat, in her hips, her knees, her toes. Her head felt suddenly bound with pressure, which abruptly faded. Her fingers involuntarily splayed and flexed. Her heart was beating so fast it should have made her breathless, but the pulse seemed strangely unalarming. She sniffed and thought how rich and spicy the air had suddenly become.

“Open your eyes. And give yourself a moment to adjust.”

Oh, how the world had changed.

She was in a forest of high, brown grass; nuts as large as her head littered the ground. Huge, ungainly creatures were grouped around her, so big they were impossible to see. Below her, the ground stretched on forever, loose soil full of hidden treasures, pockets of mud safe for burrowing into. Her feet were pink and dainty, perfect for scratching through dirt. She could feel her nose twitching, sifting through the laden air, picking out scents for food and danger.

In a lifetime of magic, Senneth had never experienced such a strange spell. She lifted one of the four-toed feet and patted her cheek, trying to get a sense of her face and fur. She was herself, all her thought processes familiar and intact, and yet she wasn’t. Fine-honed instincts not her own hovered at the back of her mind. Even now, knowing that the monsters around her were beloved friends, she was poised to run should they suddenly turn capricious. She was calculating the distance to safety; she was distracted by the presence of a dried berry on a nearby shrub.

One of the gigantic humans flattened to the ground, its face inches away. Senneth recognized Kirra but it took all her willpower to keep from chittering and scurrying away. “How are you tolerating this so far?” Kirra asked, her voice very loud and quite distinct. “If you don’t think you can bear it another moment, just stay right there and I’ll change you back. If you think you can manage, take a few steps over toward Donnal.”

Well, which one was Donnal? Senneth turned in a half circle to locate him, kneeling a few feet away, his outstretched hand lying on the ground. She minced over and scrabbled into his palm, thinking how different the texture of skin was compared to grass and dirt.

She felt a moment’s panic when his fingers closed around her and he lifted her up, but she sternly suppressed her fear. She blinked her little eyes as she found herself staring into Donnal’s large ones.

“She’ll do,” he said. He was grinning through his beard.

A rustle and a thump as Tayse dropped to the ground. “Then change me, and let’s be off.”

Senneth didn’t really get a good view of that alteration, for Donnal held her and stroked her back until it was over. But a few minutes later he set her on the ground face-to-face with a sleek black mouse with bristling white whiskers and inquisitive black eyes. Tayse. He took a few tentative steps forward, lifted his feet one at a time as if to gauge how they worked, then came close enough to touch Senneth’s nose with his own.

It was so strange. It was Tayse. She could almost see his mind working, hear him assessing how he felt, what his strengths and weaknesses might be in this particular form. He didn’t seem nearly as disconcerted as she felt. Indeed, after only a moment of self-exploration he whipped around in a circle so tight that his long tail almost snapped across Senneth’s face. He was looking at Kirra, and his stance plainly communicated his message: No more wasting time. Let us leave now.

Kirra laughed and looked over at Donnal. “Successful so far,” she said. “Do you want to be responsible for the Rider or the mystic?”

“I’ll take Tayse,” he said. “Let’s be on our way.”

Senneth had to fight back a moment of abject terror when Kirra and Donnal, suddenly, became two great hawks stalking majestically through the grass. Kirra and Donnal, she reminded herself. Kirra and Donnal. But the hawks looked ferocious, sharp-beaked, and evil. Her little heart was hammering inside her tiny chest.

And, oh, didn’t that get suddenly worse when the nearest one closed its talons around her round brown body and carried her off into the fathomless air.

Senneth shuddered in Kirra’s careful grip, trying not to shake too much for fear the claws would open and send her tumbling to the ground. For the first ten minutes of the flight, Senneth couldn’t even bear to look down. She just concentrated on calming her terror and reminding herself who she was. When she did finally try to peer through the talons to the ground below, she felt another surge of fright. There was nothing-just patches of white that must be bits of cloud, and a blur of dark so far away it had no distinguishing features. They could not possibly be so high in the air; this foolish little creature must simply have eyesight that could not see very far.

Senneth did not know whether to be sorry or grateful.

They flew for what seemed like forever. Once her fear faded, and she realized she couldn’t even entertain herself by watching the landscape, Senneth started to get bored. Two days of this? No conversation, no distraction, nothing but wind and existence? How in the world would she endure? The only real option was sleep, and that was easy enough to achieve, despite the truly extraordinary circumstances. She closed her eyes and let herself be lulled by motion.