"Changeling" by Cori E. R. Trout

A soft breeze whirls around, ruffling my hair. I close my eyes, attempting to become one with the wind. Imagining wings instead of arms I now possess. Hoping for the ability to fly as no human has. Not merely satisfied to glide on fabric wings.

There is a slight barrier; I shove against it with my mind, breaking through it. Suddenly I could feel my nose lengthening, three fingers lengthened to several times their original size. Ears stretched and lengthened, becoming small, oval, and mobile. A tail sprouts from my back, whipping around with four deadly spikes protruding from the end. Normal human nails thickened into claws, the ones on my feet retracted into protective sheaths. While this was happening I dared not open my eyes, fearing I might get stuck mid-form for two weeks . . . again.

It was done; I opened my eyes upon the world. The leaves had settled upon the forest floor once again as the breeze stilled.

Cautiously I lifted my hand, now covered in a golden brown fur. My thumb and index finger hadn’t changed with the exception of sharp claws, fur, and more flexibility. The other three fingers were folded against my arm in rest. They resembled the elongated fingers of a bat, bound by a fairly thing and flexible membrane that easily scooped the air. I flexed my fingers, checking again how they worked, same as with the normal hand, although much longer. As part of the routine check I swished my tail side-to-side and flexed the two gripping claws on each foot.

Now I was ready. With a small shake I deemed myself dust-free and ready for flight. A small bound brought me onto the thick branch of a near-by tree. Quickly I clambered up, careful not to whack off a branch with my tail. Within moments I was clinging to the top-most part of the trunk. My head popped above the canopy, perfect, no one close by to see my excursion.

A powerful thrust of my strong hindquarters sent me into the air and over the trees. As my jump reached its peak I spread my arms and fingers, allowing a slight updraft to fill the membrane sails and pull me up.

Other than being an adept glider I was a good flier in this form. Powerful shoulders could send me as high as the tallest mountain, but I would forgo that opportunity due to the lack of oxygen at such heights.

For a few minutes I allowed a thermal to take me upwards. The trees appeared so small and I could see the houses afar off, even my small hut at the edge of the village. At this height they would mistake me for a bird of bat, although I was larger than any of those creatures by far.

Needing a thrill I dipped my wings, tilting downward my middle fingers and feeling the wind rush over them. The wind swept back my dark-brown mane, whipping it back forcefully as I increased the slope of the dive. Only a few yards from the treetops did I start to pull up I scrapped the trees with my tail, sending leaves and twigs flying. No fighter pilot could have such precision, even in the most agile of planes.

Nothing more than sheer joy coursed through my veins as I swooped up and down, in and out, left and right. Nothing else that I knew of gave me such a thrill as flying.

With slow, soft beats I lowered myself within the grasp of a sturdy branch. Easily I gripped the branch with y hind legs, allowing time to fold my wings and grip the branch with my hands as well. With a careful eye I scanned the ground below me. Then I listened, oval ears swiveling back and forth at times the ears could "see" better than the eyes. No sound, no sight, and all smelt normal as well, at least, no human scents were there. In a fluid movement that would make any gymnast marvel I swung off my branch, twisted several times in the air, and landed daintily on my hind feet. Wings out stretched for balance, along with the readiness to leap and fly away if I saw, heard, of smelled someone or thing out of place.

It was always easier to become human again. Nose, tail, and fingers retreated, forming a more human figure. The summer coat thinned and lightened into fine human hair. The thick, luxurious mane that ran down my neck to my back receded to the shoulder-length golden brown hair.

It was complete; I opened my eyes, although, to my horror, a dark figure was standing in a bush not far away. Looked to be one of the village boys my age. When my eyes met his he bolted. I followed, charging through the brush, shirt being pulled constantly by the trees that bid me to come back.

I needed more speed. He was too far ahead and he moved through the forest as easily as a deer. Okay, I didn’t care if I would be stuck for two weeks. This guy needed to be brought down, and fast. We were close to the village, almost to my house. Quickly I dropped to all fours and sprinted after him. He’d have a real reason to run now. Cougars although not known to range in this area were lethal, especially when angered. My powerful hindquarters brought me forward in leaping bounds. I could see him clearly now. It was Kiem, although one of my more trustworthy friends he didn’t know my secret, at least until now.

When I was close enough to spring several hundred pounds connected with his back. With large paws I shoved his face into the dirt, muffling his scream. I looked up, good; we were but 20 yards away from my hut. No one else was in sight. I also couldn’t smell nor hear anyone close by. The muffled sound of people at the Town Square could barely be heard. Swiftly I changed back to human, but didn’t release my grip on Kiem for another even a second.

When I did get off him he looked up with wild-eyes fear, took one look at me and tried to bolt again. I jumped after him and managed to wrap my arms around his ankles, sending him colliding with the dirt once again.

"Kiem! Wait! Calm down!" I told him as he hit the dirt.

He spat a few leaves from his mouth and glowered back at me. "Changeling! Filth! Get off me!" He tried to kick me off his legs with little success.

"Why is it such a big difference now? I’m the same person I was yesterday." I growled. Humans were so irrational. They held it against you if you were different, that’s why I had kept my secret so long. And Kiem wasn’t going to blab to everyone that I was a shape-shifter.

"You’re evil! You’ve deceived us all! You’ll sacrifice me to some demon god!" He wailed.

"No more evil then you, I might have deceived you, but I had to. Sorry, I’m all out of demon gods, ran out of them last week." I retorted, the last third being, of course, sarcastic, though he took it rather literally.

Okay, I admit, it was rather satisfying to knock him out, but it was also necessary to keep him from attracting unwanted attention. Gripping his ankles I pulled him into the hut. It was a great feat for me to shove him into a chair, being as he weighted almost two times as much as I. Quickly I gathered up a rope, tied him down, blindfolded him, and, as an extra precaution, gagged him.

He groaned and his head lulled to one side. His brow furrowed in pain as he undoubtedly had a rather large headache from being knocked out.

I was perched upon another chair in front of him, amber eyes staring at him intently.

Suddenly he snapped awake, rigid in the chair, which caused me to jump and nearly fall off the chair. I would have bet my life that the sounds coming from Kiem’s mouth was a chorus of curses and swear words. It took a while before he stopped, finally realizing that I couldn’t hear him clearly and he was wasting his breath.

"Ready to settle don and let me talk?" I asked, hopping off the chair, shoes thudding softly on the wood floor. He tensed as I walked towards him, but gave a low grunt, which I presumed was a reluctant "yes".

First I pulled of the blindfold. His eyes were startled at first but they became hard and cold. I also loosed the gag and tossed it on the floor. I wasn’t stupid enough to untie his hands and feet.

"Are you going to be good and not tell anyone of my secret?" I asked, seating myself back in the chair across from him.

He stared at me with contempt. No doubt he was contemplating saying yes and then running off and telling, then again, what if I came searching for him after I was run out? If he were to concur sincerely would I kill him anyway? More questions raced through his mind and across his eyes as he thought. Anxiety, fear, hope, and pain crossed over his azure eyes as he contemplated the possibilities. Coming to a conclusion he gave a slight nod.

"Good." I nodded. "If I untie you will you run?"

It took little thought for him to answer that. He nodded vigorously, probably afraid that if he were to open his mouth he’d be unable to control what came out of it.

Poor guy, he was probably scared to death. He probably presumed if he were to run I’d just chase him down as some horrible monster and eat him or something. I untied the ropes and they fell to the floor with a dull thud. I could tell he wanted to jump up and charge out, but he managed to keep himself under control.

I returned to the chair and sat.

"Okay, so you’ll keep my little secret right?" I waited and he nodded. "Now that we seem to have that down-pat anything you’d like to ask or say?"

"Are there any . . . more?" He asked cautiously, frightened at the mere thought.

"Not that I know of, but there could be." I said. I opened my mouth to say more, but decided against it. I hadn’t smelt a human before I transformed back to human; yet, Kiem had been there.

"What?" He asked, intrigued by my decision not to speak.

"Do you really want to know? You might hate yourself if I did tell you." I said, really, I didn’t want him to hate himself.

"Go ahead, I don’t care." He urged me.

Should I really say it? He might freak out or something. Although telling him what I thought would make it a mutual secret between the two of us. Plus, if he were to know he’d be able to learn to control it. It would be bad if he were to suddenly change into a cat or something. He’d be kicked out and in the process rat out on me because misery loves company. "Okay, but don’t go bolting out of here if I tell you." I stood up and paced a moment, wondering how I should word what I thought. "My secret might be your own secret too." I said finally.

He looked at me quizzically, okay; the concept went right over his head. I decided to try again, this time a little blunter. "My secret is I am a shape-shifter, the secret that you might not be aware of yourself is the same as the secret that I have." Still no response, okay, this guy wasn’t as intelligent as first perceived. "You’re a shape-shifter too."

Ahh! A response! A slightly comical one at that. He attempted to jump backwards, although the chair’s back was in the way. The force of his hump caused the chair to topple over backwards and cause Kiem to land squarely on his shoulders before causing his legs to fly over his head and end him up on his stomach.

"I don’t believe you." He said firmly, not believing for a moment.

"Would you like to see if you really are or not?" He didn’t look very trusting, I held up my hands. " I won’t even touch you okay? It isn’t like I’m a witch or sorceress!"

He nodded slightly and stood up, batting off his pants.

"If you could be anything, what would you be?" I asked.

"A dragon, I guess." Kiem said as he put his chair upright and sat in it.

"Better be a small one." I warned. "Don’t want you busting up anything."

"What do I do?" He asked. Apparently he was skeptical and didn’t care. Seeming to know he was a perfectly normal human being. Boy would I rock his world. I was pretty certain that he was the same as I.

"First get comfortable. No, not on the chair on the floor! Don’t sit, crouch, like this." I demonstrated for him, he followed suit. "Now, think of what you want to become, think how you would be shaped in that form and how it’d feel if you were to walk, run, of fly. Concentrate, there will undoubtedly be a type of barrier, but press through it mentally, using your mind. Concentrating on what you will become. I warn you, don’t open your eyes or lose your concentration after you’ve passed the barrier or you’ll be stuck mid-form for two weeks. Trust me, I know." I added the precaution. "I wouldn’t want to say you ran into a witch in the woods who didn’t like you or something. Go ahead." I encouraged.

"Okay." He said and began to concentrate. Face twisting slightly in concentration as he sat crouched on the wooden floor. His forehead glistens with sweat, then, suddenly, he relaxed. Barrier passed. Although his face screwed up in pain once it hit him.

Strange as it was to transform it was an entirely different experience to watch someone do it. I’d nearly forgotten the pain that went along with the first transformation, although it had been an accident when I had. Slowly he changed, hair receding to form scales, claws shaping from the fragile human nails. Arms burst from his shoulders that formed into elongated hands, which became bat-like wings, membrane sails semi-translucent. His size increased as spikes appeared down his spine. A tail sprouted from his back, whipping around, a deadly spade at the end. The scales changed from peach to a dark blue and the transformation was complete.

His eyes remained closed for a few minutes, no doubt contemplating if he was done changing or if he had actually changed in the first place. I presumed he came to the conclusion that he had indeed changed, for he gulped hard before reopening his eyes.

The eyes that opened were not the story blue of Kiem’s human form, but a deep yellow, slightly orange with cat-like pupils.

"You could have chosen a less painful form." I told him. He didn’t move, just looked at me. "Go ahead, move a bit. Figure out how that form works." I told him.

First he blinked his eyes, one of the simpler motions. I encouraged him more. Moving his head hands, feet, then his tail, before he moved onto the wings. It was a little harder to move the wings, for it was an entirely different group of muscles that controlled them than a human had. The wings were just one reason I preferred a wyvern when I flew.

I ended the movement lesson and told him to turn back. He protested with a hiss and giving my floor a nice cut in it, but I was persistent and told him once we’re outside we could work more.

Now that he’d accepted what he was I had a hard time convincing him not to run out at every chance and morph. People would notice.

With another sharing my ability and secret I could say I was having a lot more fun. Relaxing a bit, although still keeping my guard before and after morphing.

There was never a dull moment with Kiem at my side. Always being the radical and choosing obscure forms. Even though it wasn’t very practical his favorite form was that of the blue-scaled dragon. He was a real joke his first few flights compared to me with my agility as a small wyvern. I was also much more experienced than he, who had trouble with the simplest of maneuvers. In time he learned to control and was able to avoid any more unpleasant confrontations with trees.

When Spirit week rolled around it war all-too tempting to make a ghostly appearance as our favorite forms.

"Did you hear something?" One of the teen boys asked, poking his neighbor. The other shook his head, listening to the speaker.

I growled again, making sure to rustle the bush. The two boys looked behind them. I’m sure the sight of two amber, luminous globes is what sent them scrambling out of their seats. I leapt forward and let out a joyous roar, which scared the day lights out of everyone. If the sight of me didn’t scatter the crowd, then the bulky, blue Kiem was enough to scatter everyone, even the bravest of the men.

I tailed the speaker, snapping playfully at his heals as he ran. "Away evil spirit!" He said shakily as he ran on.

Kiem had his fun scattering and regrouping the other teens as a herd of sheep.

After that you couldn’t go anywhere with out the stench of garlic for a month. Need I say more then I am not a happy changeling with nothing to worry about, but where my next adventure will be? Sure, I might get caught and be run out, but there are only more things to find and explore in new places, beyond this small village.