in controlling me, because the moment I tried to squirm out of his hold and was about to elbow him in the gut was when his strength became my greatest enemy. I knew this the moment I started choking with what seemed like very little effort made on his part. He eased his biting fingers from my tender flesh a second later, and whispered down in my ear,
“That time was a mere warning, the next will be painful for far longer, so please don't make me hurt you.”
Trice was the first one to see this, and the next of their abilities was proven when all three of them crossed the large space a few mere seconds later at blurring speeds. Speeds that would be equalled to that of a vampire.
“LET HER GO!” Trice roared at the same time the army split into two lines and marched their way with purpose down the length of the hall. They ended up running parallel with the shifter brothers at the centre, along with the captain who was now striding with purpose behind them.
“Ah, such care they show for their bounty,” the King said, releasing a sigh before speaking to them in a strong, commanding tone that was now without a shred of ease and amusement I had been getting used to,
“Despite how this looks, I do not wish to hurt the girl. However, I can assure you that should my terms not be met then I could snap her neck with a mere flick of my wrist, and I think we can all agree, that would be such a waste.”
“You want tae bargain, then fine, let th' girl go 'n' we wull talk,” Trice demanded, making Gryph pull his war hammer from his back and twist its gilded handle in his hand with skill before he agreed with a short,
“Aye… talk.” Then he smirked as if this was the very last thing he was going to do. And that massive demonic foot dipped in black steel that was his hammer was warning enough.
“After all, communication is key,” Vern added calmly, whilst pulling his own weapon free and arming his bow with a flaming arrow quicker than any of the King’s men could react to.
“You are in no position to make demands of me!” It was in this moment, after the King had said this, that something in Trice completely snapped. It was something I had never seen before and from the looks of things, it was something his brothers hadn't seen in a long time either.
The air around him started to ripple just as if he was about to shift but instead of bringing forth the cockatrice creature in him, what actually happened was he started to manipulate the power of the shift. This meant that instead of losing sight of the man in the shift, he forced the reverse effect by forging his creature to his human host and now creating a demonic version of himself.
Then he rose up higher and continued to grow until he was a mountain of a man now clad in a demonic armour and was taller than Gryph. It also looked as if his skin had been replaced by that of his beast, as it continued to ripple over every inch of him consuming the dark grey cloak he wore. Even the bare hint of what I knew was his family’s tartan and one he wore around his waist beneath the belt of his sword, transformed into a blood red sash.
“Gods,” I whispered in shock and awe as suddenly his own wings from the combined beast burst from his back. They were a dark, navy blue that looked as if he had just brought with him a veil of night to this bright day. However, like this they looked far bigger and their reach forced the soldiers back, as each of them gasped in shock. They were sleek, as if built for speed, with each feather looking as if it were coated in something wet that had me questioning what.
But at the same time, a long scaled, dark and deadly tail started to appear from behind him. It rose up over his head like that of a scorpion, before creating the helmet part to his demonic armour. This was when it attached itself to his head, with the forked points running down his cheeks and curling back on themselves. This joined with the scales that were forging themselves into the right shape to fit its master’s head