Early the next morning, Cathan watched as the clouds drifted along the morning sky, and yearned to be up there with them, gliding along with his wings spread wide as he searched for the intruders. He heaved a frustrated sigh, his body visibly shuddering. How long had it been since they’d left the Drachenwald tree? Not long by his calculation. I’ll never get used to being in this body, he thought.

“Are you alright?” Niamh asked nervously.

Cathan glanced over at Niamh and nodded as they walked up the crest of a hill. “I’m just eager to get back home.” His transformation magic stirred within him, but it felt off. “I think there’s a shortcut we can take through the woods over there that will lead toward Rhothia,” Cathan said, pointing toward the woods up ahead.

“Are you sure that’s the right way?” Niamh asked.

Cathan frowned. His senses weren’t as sharp in his human form as they were in his dragon one—his vision became blurry if he tried to see too far away, and he couldn’t hear the whir of a cricket’s wings from across the clearing like he could as a dragon. His sense of smell may as well have been non-existent. But he still had a good sense of direction. He glanced over at Niamh, trying to read her face.

“I’m sure. This will be faster,” Cathan replied.

Niamh limped ahead of him as they came to the wooded entrance, sitting down on a nearby log. Her breathing was heavy as she leaned forward, grasping her ankle. “I can’t walk anymore. My ankle’s getting worse.”

Cathan sighed in frustration. I should just leave her here, he thought, but they were still too close to the Drachenwald. He looked at Niamh as she sat on the log, watching as she rubbed at her ankle. How hard it must have been for humans to be unable to heal their injuries with magic. His empathy overcame his draconic instincts once more as he realized how weak she truly was, and he felt a strange sense of caring for the girl. He chewed on the inside of his lip as he knelt down in front of her. “Let me see,” he said.

Niamh raised the edge of her skirts, allowing him to examine her ankle. Cathan lifted her leg up, so it rested on his knee and he could examine it. “It’s a little swollen, but not too bad,” he said. He pulled a strip of his cloak off and carefully wrapped it around her ankle.

Niamh used the branch to stand, trying to maintain balance on one foot. “Thank you,” she said.

As they walked further, he opened and closed his fists anxiously. He was too far from home, and she was walking slow enough that he’d never make it back before sunrise the next day.

“Is there any chance we can stop? I’m getting tired,” Niamh pleaded from his side.

Cathan shook his head. “We have to keep going. I want to get as far as possible today.”

Silence lingered between them once more. Cathan noticed Niamh glancing up at him before quickly looking away.

“What is it?” he asked.

Niamh bit her lip. “Why do you not want humans in the forest?”

“Have you not heard the stories of what happened between the humans and dragons?” Cathan asked, surprised. Didn’t most humans know the story by now?

Niamh shrugged. “I know there used to be lots of dragons, but not what happened to them.”

Cathan took a deep breath as he began.“The humans and dragons had a pact to protect the Drachenwald trees. Some humans held magical connections to dragons, though it was rare. One such human existed and held a connection with a dragon. The human promised to train and become a guardian of the Drachenwald trees, keeping them protected from those who sought to use their magic for other means. Some humans hunted the dragons down to sell their parts at markets.” He breathed deeply, keeping his gaze forward as they walked. “The human and dragon shared everything, even emotions, which made the betrayal even more bitter when he betrayed his dragon and led a massacre to the forest. The humans destroyed all but one Drachenwald tree. One tree, and one dragon as its guardian, are all that remain.”

“How is it you survived?” Niamh asked, wincing.

Cathan glanced down at his side, feeling a phantom pain from the nearly fatal stab wound he’d endured all those years ago. “I almost didn’t,” he answered. “The rest of my kind were not so lucky . . .”

He trailed. “The humans had torn the power from the Drachenwald trees and turned against their partners.” He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, wishing he could claw them away permanently. Now the responsibility of protecting the tree had fallen to him, and although he’d accepted it willingly, it was a heavy burden to bear on his own. He felt the familiar urge to shed a tear, but ignored it.

“I’m sorry,” Niamh said. She wiped a tear away and looked down at her damp fingers in surprise.

“It was a long time ago,” Cathan replied. “I prefer not to dwell on it.”

“Why did you decide to help me?” Niamh asked.

Cathan kept his gaze straight ahead. “The sooner you’re out of the forest, the sooner I can get back home.” As he walked, he listened for the sound of her feet moving through the grass. “I can easily turn back, so you better keep up if you expect me to help you find your sister,” he called back to her.

Niamh appeared at his side a few moments later as she limped quickly to catch up.

“Have you ever been to Rhothia?” Niamh asked.

“Only once, many years ago,” Cathan answered after a moment.

Rhothia sat outside the capital of Valena as a merchant city. Many tradespeople from all over came to the city to sell their treasures—including the hunters that had murdered so many of his kind. Dragons were drawn to treasure, especially young ones, and Cathan had been no exception. His curiosity had allowed him to take advantage of his shifting magic and enter the city as though he were any other human.

He had wandered the streets, taking in the exotic wares from lands he had never traveled to himself. But his awe had turned to horror, then rage, when he caught sight of a dragon skull, on a merchant’s table with a handful of dragon scales, glistening in the scorching sun. His stomach churned, unable to keep himself from imagining what those dragons must have endured for humans to have their expensive trinkets.

Cathan shook the memory away and looked to Niamh, who stared up at him with confusion. He cleared his throat, looking away. “I went there once to explore the city. Let’s just say I didn’t like what I saw.”

Niamh nodded. “I was born in Rhothia. I remember wandering the markets and seeing . . .”

“Seeing what?” Cathan asked.

Niamh paused and looked up at him, sorrow in her voice. “The magical creatures some of the merchants had in cages.”

As Cathan held eye contact with Niamh, a warm prickling filled his stomach as his magic stirred—not the way it did when he was about to transform, but when his magic reacted to danger. He scowled, tilting his head to one side as he tried to make sense of it.

“We should keep going,” Niamh said, pulling her gaze away. “You need to get back to your tree, after all.”

A few hours later, Cathan followed the path in the forest, stepping over a large branch jutting up from the forest floor. The path ended in a clearing with leaves covering the ground, and he walked further in.

Something stirred on the ground. Before Cathan could react, a net flew up around him, knocking him off his feet as it rose swiftly into the air. Cathan snarled and thrashed at the ropes, his draconian instincts surging to the fore. His eyes dilating, his tongue darted out of his mouth and he bit at the net with his dull human teeth. His clawless fingers tore at the ropes, and his shoulder blades twitched with the urge to take flight.

Above, six humans sat up in the trees, three on each side of the clearing as they held the ropes and pulled the net further into the air.

Damn humans, he thought angrily. I should have known better.

If only he were in his dragon form—he’d rip them apart and burn them to a crisp in a matter of seconds! He pulled on his shifting magic, hoping he could transform and free himself, but the magic was weak.

Come on, he begged inwardly. Don’t fail me now!

He tried again, continuing to thrash and snarl as he attempted to free himself, but it was no use. The powerful magic he’d always known within him was too weak for a full transformation. He was too far from the tree.

Consider yourselves lucky, he thought.

A man with a dark beard peppered with grey approached the net, coming up to Cathan’s chest. He peered up at him, and Cathan gave him a hard glare as he held onto the net.

“What do you want?” Cathan demanded, his voice rumbling.

The man grinned. “Rumor in Rhothia has it that the townspeople have seen the shadow of a dragon flying over this forest, but no one was brave enough to find out if it was true. From what I know of dragonlore, some have shapeshifting abilities.” He paused, tossing his head back in Niamh’s direction. “Your little friend here confirmed who you were.”

Cathan looked behind the man to where Niamh struggled beneath another net as two men clutched her arms tight. The human standing in front of Cathan’s net turned toward Niamh and approached, pulling the net off of her and keeping his back turned, making it harder for Cathan to hear what he said to her.

The man turned away. “Cut him down and tie him up. We’ll make camp here for the night before we head to Rhothia.”

The net holding Cathan fell from the air and onto the ground with Cathan in it, knocking the air out of him as he landed on his stomach. Hands grabbed at his arms from both sides and yanked him up as Niamh, free from her net, walked toward him. He met her gaze.

“You don’t have a sister, do you?” Niamh didn’t answer. “Tell me, how does it feel to betray a dragon?” He held eye contact with the human girl, searching her eyes as a ghostly twinge of guilt tugged at his gut.

“I had no choice.” Her voice was soft as she turned away.


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