Chapter 1
Caught
Arclin ran through the trees, his legs fighting to keep up with the unexpected pace he demanded of them. “Got to... keep… running,” he panted, his legs searing with pain as bushes whipped against them.
He looked behind to see three lights from his hunters as they ran after him through the dark forest. The Enforcers. A small, specialized police force built after the revolution, meant to track down and catch remaining shifters, like Arclin, who had escaped the uprising. Shifters had been the ruling class until about a decade ago. Now they were hunted because of their innate ability to change into another creature, and the fear they would try to rule again over those who couldn’t shift.
A branch snapped behind him, and he glanced back to see the three Enforcers and their lamps gaining ground.
Need to move faster, he told himself. They’re catching up.
Not that it would matter, his legs couldn’t carry him much longer. The last decent meal that Arclin had had was over a year ago, and that was because someone had forgotten to lock the door to their house before leaving. Without that energy there was no way he was going to outpace them. He needed to find another way to lose them.
The sound of rushing water reached his ears, and he grinned. The moon’s scattered light through the foliage made it hard to judge how far ahead the river might be, so he followed the noise instead until he came to a stream that was almost large enough to be a full-on river. If only it was a river, then he could have hidden in the water instead of running. Deciding not to cry over his circumstances, Arclin waded across the ice-cold water, conscious of the chill running up his legs as the cool autumn breeze wafted around him.
Curse the gods and their changing weather. He should have had summer weather for at least another few weeks, instead this ill-fated breeze was making him chatter when combined with the freezing stream. His bones and teeth shook so much he doubted if the enforcers would see him first before hearing him.
Climbing out of the water he rested on the bank and realized it was a little higher and steeper than he thought. Carefully, slowly, he began to pull himself up making sure to have a good foot hold before continuing up. No point in messing up and having to start over when I have company to avoid. He was a little more than halfway to the top when one of their lights fell upon him.
“There he is!” an Enforcer with a deep voice cried. “After him!”
There was a splash of water, and he glanced back as three Enforcers jumped in after him. They all wore the same green uniform of an Enforcer and they each held a lantern that illuminated the brook where the stream lay. The tallest of their group was making the best time across the water with his long legs as they splashed after him.
“Quick, before he shapeshifts and runs away,” the deep voiced Enforcer said, his badge on the shoulders marking them as their captain.
Arclin cursed. Blast his luck! How were they so fast, and who in town had alerted the Enforcers that he was a shifter anyway? He hadn’t shifted in front of anyone recently, had he? The only ways he knew to tell a shifter apart was either track them down from their family trees, or to make them change in the open, and he hadn’t done that since… well, maybe he had done it once last week while here in Darithane.
He tossed caution to the wind and shimmied the rest of the way up the high bank. Looking back before running off he could see his pursuers had already crossed the stream and were starting on the deep incline. Stomping on the edge, he tried to kick dirt into their faces to slow them down and then booked it in the opposite direction.
Blaming himself for his tired body, he kept what he hoped was a steady pace. But where can I hide? I need a place to hide! Why, oh why did he have to get caught! It was just a little fruit, and he had shifted to get away faster. But the cart owner never seemed to mind if he stole some fruit here or there. At least, Arclin didn’t think so since the Enforcers nor the police had never been called before. Perhaps someone remembered what he looked like when he had shifted into his wolf-dragon form and had spotted him again? Could they have recognized him that easily? The only other time he had shifted was three weeks ago when he had made a run from the Tulsan City Enforcer’s.
That’s the last time I let myself steal from that cart owner! Or anywhere for that matter.
His stomach growled, reminding him of why he had tried to steal food in the first place. Unless I want to die, I should probably avoid shifting, he worried.* Shifting now could use up the last of his energy, and instead of getting away he’d be caught. While shifting was a natural ability it still took energy, and a lot of it. Shifters could only change into one other shape, and it was usually determined by their ancestry. Arclin’s family claimed their bloodline was one of the purest for dragon shifters known as Drahl. Obviously, someone had taken a liking to one of the dark-skinned nomadic Rathi and added their wolf shifting blood into the mix.
Oh, how he wished he could fly. He still had the wings to fly, but they weren’t large enough to do more than glide. For now, he just wished to have strength running through his limbs again. His father had always said, “Strength over weakness.” He had always assumed that meant to be weak was to give your enemies an advantage over you. Well, right now his apparent weakness was allowing the Enforcers to catch up with him again, and again.
If only I was strong enough I could have gotten away from these Enforcers long ago.
He plowed through some bushes, angrily cursing them for their noise and for whipping at his legs mercilessly.
Suddenly, Arclin burst into a wide dark clearing, the trees on the far side stood as nothing more than shadowy outlines against the starry backdrop. His heart pounded in his head. How was he supposed to escape now? Any direction he went would allow the Enforcers to find and follow him easily. It was getting brighter as the light from their lamps shone around and through the trees behind him. They had almost caught up again.
Surveying the area quickly, he spotted several large bushes among the tall grass, and he ran to the nearest one, sliding to a stop behind it. Praying to the gods above that the Enforcers wouldn’t find him, he worked on calming his breathing as his heart pounded in his ears.
“Hurry! This way,” an Enforcer called. “I saw him enter the clearing just a few seconds ago. Spread out. He won’t get away this time.”
Arclin cowered behind his bush. Don’t let them find me, don’t let them find me.
He held his breath as the Enforcers drew nearer and nearer. He could see their lanterns lighting up the clearing wherever they pointed them. One of the lights came dangerously close to revealing where he was hiding, the bush casting a shadow around him and keeping him out of sight. Arclin held his breath as the light bobbed around his shrubbery and the soft pad of footsteps came closer, and closer.
“I’ve got one!” an Enforcer called out from the other side of the field, and the light creeping toward Arclin moved away from him and toward the Enforcer who had spoken.
He heard some shouts. From someone other than the Enforcers? Surprised at his luck from just being missed he tentatively peered around the bush to see who they had caught.
“It’s not the one we were looking for,” the shorter Enforcer grunted as he pulled a girl out the rest of the way from behind another bush. “But I’m sure she’ll do.” Arclin was about twenty, but she looked a little younger than he was at around eighteen or so, and her hair was a matted mess over her tan skin from living out in the woods and hung in clumps around her head. Face half covered in hair; she snarled as she clawed at the Enforcer holding her.
“Leave me alone,” she said as she tried to pry the man’s figures off her arm. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”
“Can’t be anyone too important,” the tall one laughed as he grabbed her from the other side. “Otherwise, you would have been on our watchlist.”
The girl tried clawing at their hands to get away, but with both holding her now Arclin knew there was no way she could escape. He turned away, ashamed of himself and his weakness. If I wasn’t starving, I could help her, he thought, trying to excuse his cowardly actions.
“You’re going to regret this!” the girl shouted as the Enforcers pulled her back the way they had come.
“I seriously doubt that,” said the captain, and Arclin heard a thud as the girl gasped in pain. “You weren’t the one we were after. But you’ll be a good consolation prize for what we missed out on, especially if you happen to be a shifter.”
Arclin squeezed his eyes shut. I can’t help her. I’m too weak. We’ll both be caught if I try. He heard them punch her a few more times and he winced with each one, the heat in his face rising with anger. The girl moaned as they dropped her to the ground, laughing.
This wasn’t what he wanted. Arclin had just wanted to get away, he didn’t want someone else to suffer for what he had done. But what could he do? He was weak, and they could easily stop him if he tried to help the poor girl. He shook with anger as the girl sobbed, angry at himself and his weakness. He should be the one getting punched, not her. He should have stood up ages ago, before the Enforcers had taken over. He should have stood up when they had raided his home and killed his family! When they killed his mother and father and made the rest of them run into hiding. All because they were shifters.
“Perhaps we’ll have some fun before we take you back,” the tall Enforcer said loudly. “They don’t need to see how pretty that face is of yours to know your trouble. I’ve got a debt to pay to you shifters for getting my brother killed in your wars.”
“We aren’t to break any bones, now,” the captain said. “But a good punching bag is hard to come by nowadays, and like you said, we all have a little something to share from our families.”
They each muttered in agreement, and Arclin gritted his teeth. He couldn’t take it anymore. It was one thing to chase him down for stealing, but this... this was inhuman. He had seen Enforcers catch other shifters before, even peaceably. But these were not those same men.
I’m not going to let her suffer for my mistakes. Arclin made up his mind as it snapped into place. Without even thinking about what he was doing, his form transformed as he shapeshifted, growing bigger until he was just a little larger than a man. His body rippled with scales and fur that stuck out between them down to the tip of his strong tail. His paws held razor sharp claws, and his mouth had been filled with little sharp teeth. Three rows of spikes jutted down his spine like a saw blade, and wings, just behind his shoulder blades, sprouted wide enough to allow him to glide.
Jumping from around the bush he saw the two Enforcers who had been holding the girl bending over to pick her up again. The captain standing in front of her.
Arclin charged forward on all fours. His mouth opened as his serrated teeth flashed in the moon’s light. Perfect for ripping into an Enforcer’s flesh. He bounded towards the men, jumping he opened his wings and glided towards the captain, ready to bite the man’s head off.
The captain, however, had seen him jump and swung his fist to intercept. Arclin was able to turn his just enough that he caught the punch inside of his mouth. Pain shot through him as his vision burst with stars, his animalistic instincts kicked in and he clamped his jaw shut, biting into the captain’s hand as together they crashed to the ground.
The captain howled as his blood filled Arclin’s jaws. There was a sharp tug, and he felt the captain’s hand rip from his mouth as his teeth tore through flesh. Getting to his shaking feet, Arclin growled.
Kneeling a few paces away, the captain was cradling his hand in the crook of his uninjured arm as he moaned into the night. “Get him!” he growled through his teeth. “Get that bastard before he runs off!”
Arclin’s vision still swam from the punch he had received, but he was still able to see both the tall and shorter Enforcer hesitate. They had seen what he could do if he bit them.
Arclin snapped his bloody jaws at them menacingly, bits of skin and blood flying through the air each time he did. Despite his eyesight clearing up, he was quickly losing strength, and he knew that if he changed back now, they’d have him.
The girl was still on the ground, but she was not lying as still as he had suspected. Her form began to grow and change. She needs more time. Reaching out, he snapped at the heels of the Enforcers still standing and made them jump away from the girl.
There was a strong kick from the captain who was now standing beside him, landing a hit right at Arclin’s head. Falling into the dirt, his head throbbed in pain, and he groaned from his sore body. Too much had been done in so little time, and it had exhausted him beyond what he should’ve done. Letting his body shift back to his human self, he groaned as he placed a hand to the side of his head that had received the blow. Drawing back his fingers he found dark blood shining with the moons light as it dripped from his fingertips.
“Take him!” the captain spat, still cradling his arm. “And if I lose my hand on the way back, I’ll make sure to even the odds, boy.”
A moan escaped Arclin’s lips as he was lifted to his feet. A fist punched him in the face, and pain seared across his face as he screamed in agony.
“That’s for biting me,” the bloodied captain snarled before throwing another punch to his gut. “And that’s for the long chase.”
Arclin cried. He didn’t care that they saw. He knew that this was it. Over. Finished. He wouldn’t run anymore.
There was a loud screech and the Enforcers dropped Arclin to his hands and knees as they all looked to where the girl had been a second before. Now, instead of a hapless girl, they found a cat-dragon who was much larger than Arclin when he had been shifted. So, she’s got Drahl blood too huh? Arclin thought sluggishly as he lifted himself up to his elbows. Must have some Silvi blood in her.
The cat-dragon girl growled at them with her whiskered snout that was leaking a small amount of smoke through her nostrils as liquid flames dripped between her teeth. Her bright orange fur partially hid her hard scales underneath, along with her strong muscles that she flexed at the Enforcers as a puff of smoke escaped from her maw.
“She’s a fire breather!” the tall Enforcer said, turning around and sprinting off into the dark woods, leaving his lantern behind.
The cat-dragon girl screeched again and shot a ball of fire at the captain, but he had dodged out of its way, barely missing him, and blasting into the ground. The dry grass and shrubs in the clearing soon lit and began to spread around them. Grunting with the effort, the captain turned tail and threw another kick into Arclin’s bent over head as he ran away, the last Enforcer following close behind.
Arclin felt himself fall to the ground, his head ringing as the already dark sky above winked out. The last thing he heard before losing complete consciousness was the screech of the shapeshifter girl and the beats of her wings as she supposedly gave chase to the Enforcers into the dark night. His mind drifted, and he thought he could feel a warmth envelope him like a cocoon as the dark sky and burning fields faded from sight.