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It sent chills down my spine. There was something about these shifters and their ways. A comradery. These animals should be enemies of one another, but instead, they were family.
With that done, Amory grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward John and Emric.
I was content to stand there and watch as the land shifters moved to the fire and continued to circle around, this time more leisurely. And then with another roar from the queen, hugs and nudges were exchanged.
The party apparently had begun.
The queen landed behind us, dozens of winged shifters landing and small groups forming. The eerie thing was that watching it all before me by the light of the fire, I knew dozens of conversations were starting up. Yet I could only hear the Enchanted stuck in their human forms speaking.
The queen had only taken one step before she let out what sounded like a squeak and jumped, kicking one of her massive feet as she did.
Amory turned with a smirk on her face. “Spider?” She added to the rest of us, “She’s never liked them.”
The queen puffed out some smoke as a response.
“I’m sorry, what?” Emric asked, unable to help himself. “The queen,the dragon queen, is afraid of spiders?”
Rather than get defensive, the queen provided to all of us,In both forms, unfortunately.After a moment she added,No creature should have that many legs. It is terrifying.
I grinned. Though looking at her all you could see was this impressive and massive beast, her humanity still shone through so brightly.
She roamed over to a smaller pile of sticks. I assumed they were either the rejects for the bonfire they had going, or more for later. She grabbed one she appeared to deem worthy and laid down before using her talons to poke the stick between her teeth.
A toothpick, I realized. She was using a massive stick as a toothpick.
I noticed a younger dragon flying around and chasing a winged tigress. John was watching also.
“That would be the queen’s cousin, Samori. The one I already told you about.”
The queen picked her head up from where she was still using the giant toothpick to look up at the skies. She must have given them some sort of warning, because they did at least slow down.
“He’s not growing?” I asked gently. “That’s what you said, correct? That the shifters aren’t aging.”
John shook his head, as if he just couldn’t get over it.
No talk of work,the queen commanded us.We have large enough worries they’ll keep until tomorrow.
“Are Samori and Morana siblings?” I asked, wondering how many cousins the queen had.
No,the queen replied to all of us. Morana is my uncle’s daughter, Samori is my aunt’s son. I have two cousins on my uncle’s side, three on my aunt’s.
So counting her brother and all the cousins, there was a long and healthy line of succession to the throne here then. Much unlike Wylan who’d only had me and Krew.
“May I move a log with some magic?” I asked the queen and Amory, not sure which would answer me.
“Sure,” Amory said with a nod.
I took the largest log from the extra pile and brought it over, making a place for us to sit. Emric sat on one side of me, Amory on the other, next to the queen.
One younger looking horse must have been feeling brave, as he approached Emric.
Emric reached out a hand for the horse to sniff. But as soon as he did, the horse shook his head and let out a disgusted whinny.
“Oh, come on now,” Emric said lightly. “No need to be an ass.”
Amory snickered, thankfully.
I stretched out my legs before me and watched the flames lick upward along the logs and branches. We were content to chitchat and watch the animals. Though I still couldn’t hear their conversations, the footsteps and general body language of the shifters told that they were enjoying the party.
