Dragonsong Book 1

Chapter Seven

I ran into Fajiro at the stables, where he was loading several bags onto Dawn.
"Hop on!" He said, quickly tying the last bag. I mounted first so I could give Fajiro a hand.
"We need to get to my cave." He said. Since he was human right now, that sounded kind of creepy. On my birthday, I had been walking Dawn to conserve energy, but today I ran her full speed all the way to the cave. It only took about ten minutes. Fajiro practically flew off the horse and into the cave, with me closely behind. He climbed the rope and retrieved a small vile. He drank it and we got back on the horse.
"You shouldn't sit on Dawn, you could change any minute!" I told him.
"It'll take a few hours, I am fine for about five minutes." He said. His voice now had the same majestic quality as the night we first met. His eyes were turning yellow. I took off on Dawn the way Fajiro pointed.
"There is a village a few miles from here." He said. Horns started to sprout from his head, and his eyes were back to normal.
"Then why did you change back?" I asked, wondering why these humans were different from others.
"It's not a human village." Fajiro said. I didn't want to know what he meant.

                                                                                                      •••

The sun was setting by the time we reached the village. Large tents dotted a clearing surrounded by large spruce trees. Fajiro looked like a human with a tail and wings by now, and was flying beside Dawn and I. I wondered what creatures lived in these crude tents. Dwarves? No, no caves around. Elves? I thought their dwellings would be more elaborate. A man stepped out of one of the tents. He approached us. He had tan skin and black hair. He looked very Italian.
"Fajiro!" The man said in a heavy accent. He was very hairy.
"Hey?" He said awkwardly as the man hugged him.
"What happened to you?" The man said, gesturing to the human part of Fajiro.
"Potion. Vincent, this is Isabell, grandchild of Merlin. She is new to the whole magic thing." Fajiro said as the man shook my hand.
"What you doing with humans, eh?" The man said. Was he an elf?
"She is, my companion." He said.
"You one of ze lucky ones!" He said, patting Fajiro on the back.
"Congratulations, you two!" He said, spreading his beefy arms. "I'll go tell the pack, eh?" He ran off to a crowd of people roasting s'mores
"He can be a little...." Fajiro trailed off.
"Eccentric?" I asked, finishing his sentence.
"Yeah."
"What are they?" I asked.
"Werewolves. Allies of the dragons." Fajiro told me.
"I should have guessed!" I said, doing a facepalm.
"They are going to ask us if we want to go on a hunt, but we shouldn't go. Once they taste blood, they go crazy and try to eat anything." Fajiro was changing more rapidly now, and scales appeared on his face.
"I can handle it!" I said quickly. I didn't want Fajiro to leave me.
"Are you sure?" Fajiro asked.
"Positive. I'll bring my bow." I picked up the original crude bow I had stolen as a beautiful woman in her late thirties approached. She had wavy auburn hair that flowed to the center of her back and brown eyes. Her dark eyelashes complemented her deep purplish red lips. Her tan skin was clear of all marks but a small scar on her cheek.
"Would you like to join in the ceremonial hunt?" She asked. Her voice was as pretty and smooth as her face.
"Yes." I blurted out before Fajiro could answer for me. He put his talon on his forehead to say that that was a bad decision. I didn't care.
"It's good to have a new member of the family! She said, smiling. I hoped that didn't mean I was about to get mauled.
"You can hunt with us girls, the boys lose their minds when they hunt, but you'll be safe with us." The woman said.
"I am Victoria, by the way." She said, holding out her hand.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Isabell." I said. Victoria seemed so nice!
"Dear, you will need a better weapon!" Victoria cried as she noticed my plain bow. She ran into a tent. When she came out, she was carrying a whole rack's worth of weapons. She even had some nice clothing. She presented me with a plain green long sleeved shirt, along with some black pants. She gave me fluffy leather boots, each with a special compartment to carry a knife, along with leather gauntlets, with black designs painted on them like the boots. I tried it on, finding it to be practical and warm. She then handed me a bow and two knives. I slipped the knives in my boots and carried the bow on my shoulder. I had about twenty arrows I would carry in a bag until prey was spotted. I thanked Victoria and started off towards Fajiro.
"That's the boys hunting party silly!" Victoria called.
"What about Fajiro?" I asked. I thought by hunting I would stay by Fajiro. Now I regretted my decision.
"I was unsure what Vincent meant by 'a new member of the Fajiro family', but now I know what he meant!" Victoria said.
"Don't worry, it's not like the end of the world to be apart from your twin for a few hours!" Victoria said playfully. The crazed feeding frenzy of a hunt that Fajiro described was not at all what the hunt was like. Mainly, the wolves stayed human unless carrying back prey. They didn't look like the bear like beasts I had imagined. Instead, they looked like small wolves who had superior intelligence to your normal wolf, which they were. Victoria and another girl around my age with chin length blonde hair and blue eyes kept me company. Everyone was so nice, I kept waiting for their to be some sort of dark turn, but their wasn't one, which relieved me. It is hard to find nice people. I managed to shoot a few squirrels, but the girls loud chatter scared away most of the prey. At one point I caught a glimpse of a pack of scary looking wolves tearing into a young doe. I quickly looked the other way. The doe made pitiful sounds as she was ripped apart and eaten alive. The women seemed to hate it too, and hurried on as to not hear the doe's helpless pleading cries.