Eldrick woke up in his own bed drenched in sweat. Sitting at the end of the bed was Lugh. Turning his head he saw two chairs had been brought in, the chairs held the other three members of the Thormalkian group. Confused about the situation he tried to rise. His body refused to cooperate. His mouth felt like the sun had crawled inside and sat there for a day. Trying to speak he managed only a hoarse croak. Lugh's head spun at the sound. He rose and picked up the cup and a cloth from the top of the chest of drawers. Turning back he approached and pressed the cup to Eldrick's lips. Tipping it ever so slightly so the water would pass through his lips, using the cloth to wipe up what dribbled down his cheek. Eldrick felt there was not enough given and yet too much.
"Easy Ellie. You have been out for two days. You need to rest and drink slowly."
Two days? How could he have been out for two days? Then he felt a weight removed from his forehead and a cool damp cloth placed down. Sighing in relief he drifted back to sleep.
"Do you think we should tell him?"
"I don't know how to tell him, do you?"
"Well someone should tell...."
Those were the last words he heard as the blessed darkness overtook him.
His mind swam through all the vivid possibilities of what could be so terrible they couldn't tell him. There were only two things which he could think of. Something had happened to either Sebastian or Sergei. He could hear a mocking voice coming from somewhere.
"You, you aren't even who you think you are. A fool trapped in the body of a moron. The mirror hates you. You hate yourself. You wish you could be in a different body. Well let me tell you something, no one can choose what body they have. It is the only one you will get. Oh, what I could do with such a young supple body. You have no idea how lucky you are." A bright light exploded around him. "Even your clothes betray you. There is so much you wish but there is no way to accomplish it. Try to live as you want and you doom your mentor. Try to live so you can keep him alive and you doom yourself. Your love is dying. Your teachers cannot help you. Your friends will soon be returning to their homes and everyone will be scattered. You are all alone." An evil cackle split the air. "You are going to fail everyone. Do you really think you can do this? Are you worthy of becoming a master druid little girl?" The mocking laugh returned only to fade into the blackness.
Eldrick lay in his bed tossing and turning. His form shifting through several variations. Caitlin shrieked. Jane fainted. Lugh jumped when a tail slapped him. Yosef rising, tripped and hit his head hard enough to knock himself unconscious. The room was total chaos when Petal came to check. His eyes became as wide as saucers as he saw Eldrick's form randomly shift from male to female, human to dragon and back again. Darting out of the room in a panic he nearly collided with the top of the door frame.
By the time Amaryliss arrived, everything had calmed down. "Now what is going on here?" Looking around she saw Lugh standing with this back to the chest of drawers, Jane was in a lump on the floor, Yosef was stretched out unconscious and Caitlin was hyperventilating. "Oh, this will not do." She caught sight of the bed where Eldrick lay, the covers were askew and he lay there shivering, drenched in sweat. "Caitlin, please cover Ellie properly."
"I, I, I am not going near her. She might change again."
"Don't be such a silly goose. I doubt there is going to be any shapeshifting. I have never heard of a human being able to accomplish a feat like that. The only ones who can shapeshift are dragons."
"He, he did become a dragon and a true woman. A, a, a few times in fact." Lugh managed to stammer out. "I have the bruise to prove it," lifting his shirt to show the scale impressions on his back where he was hit by Eldrick's tail. "I don't usually get spooked, in fact, none of us do."
"Here hold still so I can take a look." Amaryliss examined his back. Taking note of the size of the impressions. "Yes, I see there are scale impressions there. And from what I can tell a young dragon. As in just about second moult. There isn't much way to tell gender from scale impressions." She paused in thought for a moment. "Unless you have the tip. Male dragons are well like Sebastian, rounded on the end. Females on the other hand have barbed tails. All the better for corralling young dragons."
"Would you be able to tell if the tip struck something?" Caitlyn stood pointing at the bedframe.
"Well, I guess, why?" Then she noticed what Caitlyn was pointing at and froze. Examining the frame which had taken damage from a tail lash she stood back in shock. "Oh my. Yes, a young female dragon. Something here doesn't make sense." She looked at the two on the floor, "We need to take care of everyone here and cover Ellie up properly then I will let you in on a secret. But it has to stay between us."
Caitlyn helped Jane to the chair and woke her up. Lugh chose to assist Yosef, checking his pulse before moving him. Everything seeming fine, he helped him back into the chair he had fallen out of. Amaryliss readjusted the bedding and made sure Eldrick was asleep before turning to the others.
"Meet me in Sebastian's room. He is aware of the secret and his room is warded." Hopping off the bed she left with dignity.
Sebastian raised his head as his room was invaded by healers led by Amaryliss. He cocked his head to the side, his right eyebrow ridge shifting upwards.
"To what do I owe this visit?"
"You, you silly dragon have been unconscious for half a week. And it took some major work to save you and now we are dealing with a very ill healer because of it." She turned to Yosef as he was the last to enter the room. "Close the door behind you."
Yosef closed the door before speaking. "Now what is this secret you wanted to tell us."
"Not want, need. I need to tell you this since you have seen some of the truth for yourselves and otherwise, there will be too much speculation." She turned her gaze back to Sebastian. "You already know this and have given your word not to say anything unless asked directly." Climbing up onto the stool she sat down facing the room. "Eldrick, truly is a female, forced gender change through magic which she accepted. Part of the issues he is having are because the spell suppresses memory and his subconscious is trying to come through." Pointing to Sebastian, "He knows more about this but I am not sure how much more or if he can even explain. Well, Sebastian what can you add?"
"Well at one point, I thought I saw him shifting forms from human to dragon, male to female. I wasn't sure if I had seen it correctly. I confronted Sergei about it and he told me Eldrick was once a little girl but he changed her to Eldrick. The biggest thing was the spell was failing for some reason. I am sure Eldrick is a female dragon since there were times I could swear I smell her musk. But until she is ready to become her true self we cannot interfere. She has to accept who she is on her own. That is part of the reason I have been in here warded. My concern about keeping the secret and causing my soul bonded pain and discomfort was tearing me apart since it was conflicting with my draconic nature of being bound by my word." He paused when he saw the confused expressions on their faces. "I am going too fast, ok I will wait for it to sink in before I continue. Are there any questions?"
" Yeah, I have a couple. Are all dragons bound by their word? No matter what form they are in?" Caitlyn's eyes narrowed. She stared at Sebastian daring him to look away.
"The answer is yes to both questions. Why do you ask?"
"Haven't you ever noticed that once Ellie says she will do something she never shirks even when the odds seem stacked against her?" Caitlyn was now looking at her companions. "She said she would teach us what she could and there were those who didn't want to learn and her attitude changed until she got through to those who didn't want to listen." Her gaze fell on Lugh next. "She was tasked to help you learn and she recognized the fact that you couldn't read. Even I had missed that. Then there were the staff training exercises. She has more understanding of the use of staff than most people who have trained with them for years." She looked at Amaryliss now. "Even you, honoured elder have learned something from her."
Amaryliss just nodded. "I hadn't thought of that. If she is a dragon then there is some merit to that but she was too young to master shapeshifting when she became human so she had to have had help." She looked over at Sebastian, "Would another dragon have been able to cast something like that on her?"
Sebastian shook his head. "No, we can only affect ourselves. And for that fact, I know human magic doesn't work well on us. So either she approached an eldritch or one of the fae. But why she would do that is beyond me."
Amaryliss brow dropped in thought. "I can't think of any who would be willing to cast a spell like that. I mean it takes a certain personality."
Petal chose that moment to pop out of her hair. "Petal knows a pooka or two who could. Want Petal to go ask?"
"No Petal, I think it would be best not to bother the pooka. They like to play pranks and changing a pestering sprite into something else would be something I wouldn't put it past them."
Petal sat down hard pouting. "Petal wanted to see friends."
"Well if one of the fae cast a shapechanging spell on her then Sergei cast the other then that could explain a few things. I am afraid to see what happens when she accepts her true self. There is going to be a real upheaval. I don't know why I think that only that it will be." Sebastian looked at the floor. "Wait, did you say it took a major working to heal me Amaryliss? What was wrong?"
"You and Amarna were both suffering from some sort of magic infection. Eldrick saw it for what was. Somehow it was linked to the guardsman you saved a while back. The thing is only Eldrick could follow the patterns to reach you and push out the infection. Now he is lying in bed upstairs feverish and form switching."
"Uncontrollable? It could be moult, but as she is in human form she is shifting to moult and then back again. Or there is too much stress on him. I need to see him to know."
"You are not going anywhere until I say so."
Sebastian lowered his head to the floor. "Yes ma'am. You already have my word on that." He let out a longsuffering sigh. Turning his gaze to the four from Thormalk. "Laying here you hear odd bits, Are you truly being recalled to your homeland?
"There is rumour of a war brewing and they want everyone there in case. Word has it they are forming another Vigilance. If that is the case they want all who have the training to return for the challenge." Caitlyn didn't look too pleased at this news. "I would prefer to remain and complete my training here. But when the chief calls we answer."
Amaryliss looked over at Caitlyn. "I have an idea, though I am sure Petal will hate it."
"What will Petal hate?"
"Petal I would like you to travel to Thormalk and talk to the chief about these four remaining here to complete their healing studies."
"You are right Petal hates that idea. Petal wants to stay and learn. Though Thormalk is full of flowers war scares Petal."
"Petal," Caitlyn spoke calmly, "we are not at war at the moment. Besides we have always been friends to the sprites. We consider it a privilege to know the fae and have fair dealings with them." She looked over at Yosef, "Doesn't your family have a trade agreement with the fae?"
"Well, yes we do and the Chief is a good friend of the family which is how we heard about the upcoming challenge. Wait, we wouldn't know about it if my mother hadn't sent that messenger." Yosef looked thoughtful.
"Are you saying it wasn't an official recall? But that if we stay we will also miss the chance to join the Hunters?"
"Well, sort of, yeah. But until the official messenger arrives we have time to learn still."
There was a collective sigh of relief.
