its thick and enchanted stone wall. Aurora glowed within her own aura of soft golden light. Rafe made a mental note that the large, dirt-covered, metal box that held the sword was nearby if they needed it. There were legends about the sword, forged by both humans and dragon kind together. But he had to make a choice. Fight with the sword in his human form, or shift and fight with tooth and nail and dragon fire, as his beast. Personally, he liked his Dragon’s chances. Without taking another step, he stripped out of all but a few simple garments and let his Dragon out finally. Its strength started as a fire in his belly that spread to his loins and then up and out his throat as a roar as a bestial fury poured through him. Wings erupted from his back as his limbs grew and all at once fangs erupted. In an instant, he was a powerful scaled hulking beast. God help any who stood against him. Dimly holding on to his connection to his Rafe nature, now he just sought action. He must protect. Her, the woman, his mate. And he must crush any who threated his kin. This was all. This he knew. They moved out into the dark forest.
It was good to be in the forest again. He leapt and sensed. He felt the magic one. The Fairy was close. Aurora. Danger. His scales tingled.
“I think I see her,” Aurora whispered, pointing to a shimmer of white light near the wall up ahead. The unicorn pawed at the ground in irritation as they approached. Its eyes were wide with fright. Aurora whinnied at the horse and spoke to it in its own language. It whinnied back at her, shaking its silvery head. “She says she has no idea how she got here,” Aurora said out loud, though she knew in his Dragon form, Rafe as much felt her thoughts as heard her. She whinnied another question to the unicorn. The unicorn walked over to them and nuzzled Aurora's hand while snuffling a response.
Faeries strange. In his Dragon form he sensed something off. Danger. The dark beast were stronger now.
“She remembers someone opening the gate, but she didn't recognize them. Then she woke up here, somehow.” She rubbed the creature's nose and cooed to her. “She wants to go home now,” said Aurora, looking at Dragon Rafe with concern in her eyes. “I suggest we place a guard with her and the other creatures, just in case. Something is off. I can feel it.”
Rafe Dragon simply roared. Pain and anger bite at the dragon now. Peter, friend, dead. All here. Danger. Must be ready. In front of them now was the outer most of a separate set of stone walls the encircled the dark place. Not safe here, away.
The two of them, the Dragon and the fairy were on the same page. They had the unicorn. It was time to retreat to safer ground. Aurora took to the back of the beast and broke into a gallup as Rafe took wing beside her. They returned to the safety of the fairie gates. As they finally came to a halt by the large wooden doors once again, Rafe shifted back.
“You know I really should give you a raise for this clothing spell,” he said, grabbing at the simple metal disk he wore on an elastic lanyard around his neck. Shifting and not being stark naked certainly comes in handy sometimes.
Aurora laughed. “It’s the least I could do. You think us fairies want to see your naked ass all the time? We were working on that for years.”
Rafe grew serious again. “Did you see how the wall was glowing? Could you feel it? I have not felt the strain on our defenses so strong since Peter and Ellen fell.” The Void, the portal to darkness, had not stirred or presented any threat since the battle that took their live, but it required constant vigilance. That battle proved the need to always be ready. It also left Rafe with a crushing guilt, and with the task of raising three children who by all rights should still have a father. If somehow Rafe had had them all better prepared before, perhaps his friend would be alive today. “The Void stirs,” he said simply.
“We need to be more vigilant. I would have once considered the woods to be safe, but no more. I'm afraid the dark beasts are hungry, as usual.