independent of each other, until they became five chairs constructed of churning water. Hesitantly Kiora reached out to touch one. She was worried that upon her touch the twisting water would revert into a puddle on the floor. To her surprise it felt dry. Her eyes widened. The water churned and moved beneath her fingers but felt like softened leather. Kiora looked up at Lomay in amazement.
“Sit, sit,” Lomay instructed with a wide grin. “They are perfectly safe.”
Kiora slowly eased herself into the chair, still nervous. The chair felt solid and stable underneath her. Kiora smiled as she ran her fingers over the watery arms. Lomay had a flare for the dramatic.
Emane sat next to Kiora followed by Drustan, who had been especially quiet since they had come through the tunnel. Alcander sat on the other side of Kiora. Lomay joyfully hobbled over to the final chair and sat down, patting the arms of his water chair as if congratulating himself on a job well done.
“So, what would you like to know?” Lomay asked Kiora
There were many things she needed to know. But Drustan’s uncomfortable silence left her only one question she could ask. “I want to know why you think it is acceptable to keep the Shifters as slaves.”
Drustan immediately sat straighter in his chair.
“I had no choice,” Lomay said. “The Shadow used the Shifters to wipe the good from the land.” Kiora frowned. Who was this Shadow? “Watch.” Lomay reached out and the shimmering void in the middle of the wings snapped taut, solidifying. The pictures began to roll.
A group of creatures were moving through the forest talking amongst themselves. They were all Shifters, but in true Shifter form they had each chosen a favorite body to travel in.
“The orders are to exterminate all those who do not follow the Shadow,” a giant of a man said in a deep, rumbling voice.
“How many of our kind are with us?” a smaller black skinned one asked.
“All of them.”
“Are you sure?”
“I have gone to all the villages and met with everyone. We are in agreement. It is in out best interest to serve the Shadow.”
A third one in the group spoke, a fair-haired winged one. “Extermination? Is that necessary?”
The other two who had been speaking abruptly stopped, turning on him.
“You question Master’s orders?” the first said, growing in height as he spoke, looming over the one who dared question.
The second dark-skinned one grew fangs, also leaning in. “The Shadow knows best.”
The winged Shifter took a step back, looking nervously between the others. “No, of course not. I will follow the Shadow’s orders.”
The scene in the Wings shifted to a forest filled with trees Kiora had never seen before. The trunks were rough and leafless, except at the top. There sprouted large, flat, strange looking leafs. She watched a winged person flying just above the canopy. The picture followed the winged person to a wooden home built between two trees. The home was surrounded by many others, all similar in design. It was a village.
The Shifters followed the winged person home. They moved through the underbrush in various forms, surrounding the village. Simultaneously, the Shifters began changing forms. Some became winged people that were twice the normal size. Others tuned into dragons, snapping trees like twigs as they grew. The rest shifted into a variety of other animals, and all looked made for killing. A battle cry rang out and the two groups clashed. It was not a fair fight. The winged people dropped out of the sky like flies. Large furry animals leapt into the air, grabbing the winged people and crushing them with their jaws. Dragons blew fire, igniting the homes. Screams rang through the trees. One of the Shifters who had shifted into an enormous winged person grabbed a mother who was trying to escape with her young child and threw them into a tree. The force of the throw was so great her body broke as she hit. Kiora whimpered as she watched the two tumble to the ground. Within minutes the battle was over. There were no survivors. The ground was littered with broken and bloodied bodies. It was a massacre.
So much evil, so much death. Tears poured down Kiora’s face. Her arms and legs were trembling and her dinner threatened to come back up.
Emane squeezed her arm. “Are you ok?” he whispered.
“I’ll be fine,” Kiora whispered back, the wobble in her voice saying otherwise.
The Wings had grown dark but Lomay said, “Drustan.”