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Without warning, she shrunk into a mouse. Yes, that's exactly what it looked like. As if she suddenly deflated and became tiny within the blink of an eye.
"What are you looking at!" the tiny Luch shouted at the two women. "Never seen a mouse shift before?"
Macey closed her mouth and decided to say nothing. Luch was weird even by supernatural standard.
"Why couldn't you fly away from this place?" she asked Amber instead.
"There was a barrier high up in the air. Hard like glass but invisible. I crashed into it and almost broke my neck. Just about managed to avoid falling, but it's clear that there's something protecting this place. I tried it one other time to explore how big this barrier is and if it goes all around the castle, but they caught me before I got far. After that I decided not to try again."
Her eyes took on a defeated look for a moment, but then she squared her shoulders.
"But Luch has been with me for so long, and if she says that we can fly out of here, then I believe her. Let's do this."
STOP TALKING AND START KILLING!
All three women ignored the Voice this time. He'd not made an appearance in person yet, and so far, he was staying out of their minds, so he wasn't worth wasting time on.
Amber quickly took off her ragged clothes and shifted in one fluid motion.
By the waves! Macey had thought that the rumours about beithirs were just exaggerations, but obviously they were true. Amber had turned into a massive - giant! - snake with a head like a dragon and two long tendrils hanging from her chin. Despite this kind-of-beard, she still looked feminine somehow. Macey shook her head in amazement. How could that thin, small girl suddenly turn into this gigantic form? Of course, she was a bit larger as a kelpie than as a human herself, but the difference wasn't as mind-blowing as in Amber's case.
Strangely enough though, the beithir had no wings. How was she supposed to be able to fly?
Amber flicked her head, motioning Macey to get on her back.
She picked up little Luch and carefully sat down on where she supposed Amber's shoulders were. The beithir's scales were soft and warm, not at all what Macey had expected.
"Where do you want to sit?" she asked Luch, but the mouse was already climbing out of Macey's hand and up her shirt. Her tiny claws hurt a little, but Macey knew better than to complain. When the mouse reached the shirt's neckline, she climbed inside, making herself comfortable between Macey's breasts.
"Seriously?"
Luch snickered. "It's not my fault you don't have any pockets. Now fly, Amber, or we'll never make it out of here."
Amber nodded her massive head and tensed her muscles. Then they were up in the air, hovering above the ground. It looked effortless, as if gravity had decided to no longer work on the beithir. Amber wasn't even moving but still, she was flying. How very strange. Macey made a mental note to ask the girl later on how she did it.
They gently rose higher, increasing in speed. The courtyard below became smaller and smaller and Macey got a better view of the castle she'd been held prisoner in. It was a massive, expansive structure with dozens of towers and turrets. It had seen better times and on one side, the main wall was crumbling and some of the buildings had lost their roofs. It fit the image in her head that not many people actually lived here. It was just the Voice, the prisoners and some guards. There was smoke coming from a chimney on the main building in the centre of the castle, but that was the only sign of life.
Macey wondered where this castle was. Somewhere in Scotland? Elsewhere in Britain? Or maybe in a strange inbetween place like her men's house? There was a lot of mist all around them, covering the land surrounding the castle, but that could have been just the weather rather than the mists of the Staran. She supposed she was going to find out soon.
"Don't go too high, aim for that reddish tower over there!" Luch shouted and Amber nodded slightly to signal that she'd heard.
While most of the castle was built from dark grey stone, there was one sandstone tower that they were now flying towards. It looked almost too pretty to be in a place like this.
"There's a hole in the barrier just above the merlons that you should be able to squeeze through."
"Should?" Macey shouted against the wind. "Are you sure we're going to fit?"
"I didn't think she'd be this big!" Luch shouted back. "We'll see!"
Macey's hair whipped around her face. She really should have le
arned from last time to carry hair ties with her. Advice for another time. It wasn't like she could do anything about it right this second.
She couldn't do much about anything.
Luch squeaked from between her breasts, clearly enjoying the experience. Why wasn't Macey surprised? The mouse was an odd creature indeed.
She wasn't sure what made her do it, but Macey ducked down and pressed her body flush against Amber's smooth scales. A static charge started to build around her body, and she tried to brush it off. An undercurrent of concern remained. She didn't want this to end badly, otherwise the three of them could end up trapped with only the Voice as company again.
