Chapter 15

“Shifter,” Cade spat. Razar growled deep in his throat and stalked toward the beautiful woman.

“No!” Simon yelled and stood between Cade and the woman. “She too is looking for the witch!”

Cade’s eyes narrowed. “Then it be for no good cause. Stand aside. You know the penalty for harboring a dark race. And penalty you shall pay.”

Razar chose that moment to leap for the woman. The air shimmered a split second before Razar’s jaws clasped her delicate throat. The hound fell to the floor undeterred and put his nose to the ground. He chased something across the dirt floor.

“To me,” Cade commanded and Razar stopped mid pursuit and returned to Cade’s side.

“Are you crazy man?” Simon bellowed. “Your hound could have killed her!”

“Death at Razar’s jaw is merciful for the dark races,” Cade spat. “Do you know what you’ve done inviting a Shifter into Amstel? You’ve doomed every living soul!”

Simon held up his hands. “I did not invite her in!”

Cade read the truth in Simon’s face.

“Why is she here?” Cade asked watching every corner of the room.

Before Simon could respond a female voice drifted toward them. “If you will keep your hound in check Wardex, I would be happy to explain it myself.”

Razar lifted his eyes toward Cade as if asking permission to seek out and destroy her.

Cade hesitated only a moment then shook his head. He would know who invited the Shifter to Amstel and why.

No Shifter could enter a human city without invitation. And no invitation would ever likely be forthcoming from a human because it was equivalent to a death sentence. Shifters were able to take the form of any living creature. One Shifter could in a week’s time destroy every living soul in a city, often in the guise of a loved one. The ancient cities the Shifters destroyed still stood as a haunting testament to their treachery.

Long before the last wars, the Wardex banned all human contact with the dark races, and that included Shifters. As was the curse of their race, half were born of the light, and half of the dark, with no human able to discern one from the other. In the interest of saving humanity from extinction, all Shifters were classified a dark race.

When the dark races were defeated and forced south of the Gray Mountains the Shifters moved with them. As far as Cade knew, no Shifter successfully crossed the Gray Mountains in the two thousand years since the end of the final wars. Until now.

Cade studied the woman. She was once again a beautiful red head. But she was not human, the vibrating of Magus told him that. Were he to pull the emerald out of his inner pocket he knew it would be glowing.

“You are safe from Razar for the moment,” Cade bit.

She gave a small smile and even smaller tilt of her head. “I came for the witch,” she began.

Cade’s eyes narrowed.

“She is indeed a witch Wardex,” the Shifter said. “Though she is not a human one.”

“Who invited you into Amstel Shifter? I would have the name.” Cade said between clenched teeth.

The Shifter bristled. “Are you so short sighted? Is that all you care to know? Your clan has not seen my kind in over two thousand years and all you want to know is who invited me in?”

Simon dropped heavily into his chair. “You might as well tell him the tale you wove for me.”

Cade looked to Simon. “How could you betray your race Simon LeRoe?”

Simon rubbed his face in exhaustion. “I have betrayed no one Wardex. I thought Shifters folklore until this very night. I did not seek out this one, she sought me. She, like you, wanted information about DeTac. I did not know her for Shifter until the same moment you did. I thought her a would be apprentice to the old witch, as she claimed herself to be. She wanted me to introduce them and in exchange she gave me this.”

Simon hefted a large bag of coins onto the crate top.

Cade looked to the woman. “What need have you of an alchemist?”

“Witch,” the Shifter said and moved closer to Simon.

“Hold,” Cade commanded. “You will not move. You will not shift. If you try I will drive Magus through your heart. I have never before seen a Shifter but I know your race well. And I do know how to kill you Shifter, do not doubt.”

The woman paled and for just a split second her form seemed to become transparent. “Your sword’s name is Magus?”
Cade didn’t respond but kept his openly hostile stare.

“Do you know what this means?” She said her voice shaking. “I have found the beginning.”

“Do not speak in riddles!” Cade bellowed.

Simon gave a loud sigh. “Would you let her speak? If at the end of it you don’t believe her, kill her and be done with it. I for one would like to hear what she is talking about.”

Cade slowly nodded. “Speak it.”

The Shifter nodded. “My pardon Mr. LeRoe for giving you only part of my story. I will give the full accounting now.” She straightened her shoulders. “Two thousand years ago when we were forced south of the gray mountains after the final wars, the Shifters fought an internal war. While the other races were fighting over new land, my race was split down the middle and fighting to extinguish the other half. Half were Shifters of the Light, and the other half, Shifters of the dark. Most of the war took place on the south slopes of the Gray Mountains before we ever set foot on the plains. The dark Shifters were repelled but only to the base of the mountains. The Shifters of the light have occupied the south slope ever since.”

Cade shook his head. “We Wardex guard the Gray Mountain passes in mass. We have never seen a Shifter.”

The woman nodded. “It is true your clan stands guard on the north side of the mountains. You think to keep any of the dark races from returning, we know this well . But our presence on the southern slopes keeps the darkness out of your lands. We’ve repelled numerous attempts by the dark races to return.”

Cade shook his head. “You lie. We heard of no battles anywhere on the mountain.”

The Shifter sighed. “You heard of nothing because we defeated those who would see all humans dead long before they reached your sentries.”

“I do not believe you.” Cade said.

The Shifter shrugged. “Tis not for me to convince you Wardex. My mission was to find and kill the witch. But in my failure to complete one mission I have succeeded at a larger.”

Cade considered her words. His sixth sense verified the truthfulness of her statements, but he wasn’t sure it accurate on any but the human race.

“What interest is this old woman to you?” Cade asked.

“The old woman DeTac, is only half human Wardex. She is other half Arachna.”

Cade’s face registered his disbelief. “It is impossible, and forbidden.”

The Shifter sighed and looked at Simon. “Pray tell me all Wardex are not as disbelieving as this one or we will certainly be overrun before the first even begins to believe.”

Simon shrugged. “I have only had the pleasure of meeting this one.”

Cade interrupted. “Overrun?”

“Yes,” the Shifter said. “Always in the past we were able to repel the dark bands who attempted to cross the mountains. Our dark kin take mighty pleasure in killing the lesser races who must cross their stronghold at the foot of the mountain to reach any of the mountain passes. Some of the more intelligent groups have indeed made it to the southern side of the mountain, but were quickly dispatched by our patrols.”

Her brow creased. “Recently things have changed. The dark races have always hated each other to such a degree they were never able to unify and come against us at once. Now they camp together without death. And our dark brothers are welcoming them into the southern plains. War is birthing Wardex. Know it well.”

Cade thought of his younger brother, Loghan, even now patrolling the Gray mountain passes. “If this is a Shifter trick…”

“Do you not know your own Prophecy?” The Shifter asked. “It is said all Wardex are born with the Prophecy firmly written upon their minds.”

“I know the Prophecy Shifter,” Cade growled.

“And well I know mine,” she said softly. “Our prophecy came only two years after we took Gray Mountain. It has been carefully passed down through our seers.”

“And what does your prophecy say?” Cade asked impatiently.

“There will be in the end time of peace, when the hordes overwhelm, a shining Magus of steel and black hound to compel. Seek ye the witch, who is human but not, in a place of the humans where dying if caught. Wisdom must be forewarned, battle lines drawn, the war will come to birth a little dark soul.”

Cade held up his hand. “Enough.”

“You still do not believe?” The Shifter asked.

Cade shrugged. “I have heard enough to know you must return with me to my clan and speak with the Alai.”

The Shifter shook her head. “No Wardex. You did not hear the rest of our prophecy. You must return to the Gray Mountains with me. War is brewing and we must stem the flow. My race will be over run and destroyed.”

Cade sheathed his sword. “It is my duty first and foremost to protect the human race from itself, and from others who would harm it. It has always been so with the Wardex, since before time memorial. This threat you speak of, if indeed there is such a threat, will be met with force at every conceivable pass.”

The Shifter sighed. “You are too few! Your young Wardex will never hold the passes and will never take aid from Shifters.”

Cade nodded. “That is precisely why you must come with me back to my clan and retell this to the elders. Only they can decipher its meaning for humans in light of our own prophecy.”

The Shifter looked at Simon. Simon shrugged.

“We must leave now,” Cade stated.

“What of the witch?” The Shifter asked.

Cade shrugged. “We do not have the time. If she is truly as you say, then the Arachna will most certainly give her shelter. I need more Wardex.”

“Our prophecy is not clear on her part in the coming war, but she is vital to our enemies. It is why I was sent to destroy her.” The Shifter said more to herself than to Cade.

Cade reached for the bag of coins on the crate. He hefted it in his large palm judging its value. He looked at Simon. “In light of your most recent transgressions Simon LeRoe, not the least of which is harboring a dark race….I fine you..”

Simon held up his hand. “Take it, take it all. Just leave me in peace.”

Cade locked eyes with the older man. “There will be talk of my presence here. If the old woman is what this one says, she may still have minions in the city. Guard yourself well thief, or leave Amstel soon.”

Without a backward glance Cade strode from the room. Razar waited until the Shifter followed Cade, then took up a silent watch from the rear.