A shout woke Daisy from troubled dreams of dragons and gorgons.

She sat bolt upright in bed, pushed her long black hair out of her eyes and saw that Jemima and the family of deer, sleeping at the bottom of her bed had also jolted awake.

'What was that?' Jemima mumbled, rubbing her puffy green eyes, her curly red hair disheveled It was not yet dawn but looking through the window, Daisy could see a light shining in the temple.

Daisy and Jemima hastily pulled their green acolytes' cloaks over their nightdresses and ran out of their cottage. Outside the temple, Cressida stood hunched over, one hand on the temple wall, the other holding her forehead. She was breathing heavily, her shoulders rising and falling. Gerda had a hand on her upper back.

'They can't have gone far,' she was saying. As soon as she saw the two girls, Gerda spun towards them, arms outstretched as if to shield them from the truth of what had happened.

'Go back to your. . .' she started but Cressida cut her off.

'The Gorgon's escaped and the crystal's been stolen.'

'What?' Daisy's eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

'But how?' Jemima protested. 'Nobody from outside knows how to get here.'

'She didn't escape alone,' Cressida straightened up and tucked her white hair behind her ears with trembling hands. 'There are echoes of dark magic all around here.'

'Look, tracks!' Jemima called from over by the edge of the forest. 'Hoof marks and ruts that look like they've been made by a wagon.'

'We'll follow them,' Gerda ran to where Jemima was crouching.

'You won't be able to follow the tracks. They'll disappear as soon as the ground becomes hard.' Cressida's voice shook. 'There are so many paths through the forest.' Daisy had never heard the Burned One sound so desperate. It alarmed her.

'I've got an idea,' Jemima said, running back to their cottage. She came back a minute later with her special belt. A smile spread across Daisy's face, Oh my friend, you are ingenious! It was a wide, cloth belt which fitted neatly round Jemima's waist. It had dozens of small pockets sewn into it, each with the name of an animal embroidered on the front: Tabby Cat, Wood Pigeon, Grass Snake, Spaniel, Black Stallion. 'Here it is, Bloodhound! I knew I had it! Daisy and I will shift into bloodhounds and follow the scent.'

Jemima and Daisy were both Shifters – specially talented Wise Women who could transform into animals by touching the animal they wanted to change into and concentrating on it. After a lot of practice they were now able to Shift just by touching a part of an animal such as a piece of fur or feather. Jemima, always the organized one, had spent months collecting fur, feathers, hair, claws, discarded reptile skin and such like and arranging them in specially labeled pockets in her belt. Now they could Shift into whatever form they needed to take, even if the animal wasn't there.

'Great! And we can practice our reclothing spell too,' Daisy joined. The disadvantage with shifting was that when you turned into an animal you left your clothes behind so when you became human again, you were naked. While perusing the rarer books in the library, Daisy had found a spell which disappeared your clothes and rematerialized them when you shifted back into your human body.

The two girls breathed in, half-closed their eyes to connect with their inner power, and chanted the spell in unison. From her belt, Jemima extracted a small muslin bag tied with a string. It was stuffed with tiny pieces of brown fur. She untied it and held it open in her palm. The each placed their index finger inside, closed their eyes and imagined themselves into bloodhound consciousness.

Gerda watched as they dropped simultaneously to their hands and knees, their bodies shrank down, ears and jowls lengthened, tails grew and short brown fur covered their bodies. Within a few seconds there were two perfectly formed bloodhounds, noses to the ground, sniffing around the wagon tracks. With her new super sensitive nose, Daisy caught the scent of horse and another smell: acrid, sour, almost burnt, which she recognized with a shiver as the smell of dark magic.

She looked at Jemima with her big brown eyes and barked. The other dog barked back in acknowledgement and they snuffled off into the forest, Gerda following behind them.

*****

It was late into the night when they emerged from the forest into the Wise Women's village, again.

They had followed the scent as far as the North Road before turning back and heading home. Daisy and Jemima had shifted back to their human bodies at dusk, their clothes returning with them. How they wished they could have used Jemima's belt to turn into horses to make their return journey faster. But by now they well knew the two rules of shifting: Firstly, one shift could only last as long as the day or night it happened in. If they weren't back in their human bodies by the time the sun rose or set, they would have to stay as that animal for the rest of their lives. Secondly, only one shift in twenty four hours – if they shifted in the daytime, they'd have to wait till the following day to shift again. The same applied if they shifted in the night.

The three Wise Women slumped on wooden chairs in Cressida's kitchen while she ladled stew into bowls.

'It's a straight road. It only leads one way: to Crosstain,' Cressida placed the bowls on the table in front of them. 'We'll have to catch up with them on the road.'

'How can we? They've got a day's head start on us,' Gerda's voice was weak with exhaustion.

'Gerda, we have to find out who they are and where they're going . . .'

'We can do it,' Daisy interrupted. 'Jemima and me. We'll shift into birds and fly along the road until we catch up with them.'

'No, I forbid it,' Cressida barked. 'It's against our Code to send uncloaked Wise Women on a dangerous mission unaccompanied by an elder.' Gerda fidgeted uncomfortably. Three years ago she'd sent Daisy off alone on just such a mission. Then there had been no other option. She couldn't see one now either.

'But they're the only Shifters we've got. None of the rest of us can transform into birds.'

Cressida shot Gerda a sharp look. 'You have to learn to uphold the code if you're to replace me as Burned One.' The room fell silent. Daisy and Jemima stared at Cressida, mouths open in confusion. She gave them an apologetic half-smile, sighed and reached for their hands. 'I would have told you sooner or later,' The Burned One stroked the backs of their hands with her thumbs. She suddenly looked more tired than Daisy had ever seen her. 'Dear ones, I'm old, so very old.  Burned ones live much longer than ordinary human beings but even we must die eventually,'

The lines around her impossibly deep green eyes crinkled into a smile. 'I have no fear of death. I've worked hard for the Goddess all my life and now I'm tired. Soon the gorgon's poison will claim my life and the Goddess will take me into her arms so I can rest. I have chosen Gerda to take my place here. At the next full moon, I will summon the dragon from his home under Sacred Mountain, Gerda will be burned in the Fire Ceremony and I can leave knowing our tribe is in safe hands.'

Daisy met Gerda's glistening eye and read her emotions instantly. Honour and pride at the privilege she was being granted, along with the soul-deep knowledge that this was her Goddess-given destiny. But at the same time there was foreboding, fear, reluctance to take on such a tremendous responsibility and a nagging suspicion she wasn't worthy of it.

Before either girl could react there came a tap, tap tap at the window. Daisy turned to the see the brown feathered form of a golden eagle perched on the ledge outside, tapping at the window with her yellow hooked beak.

'Karin!' Daisy shouted, jumping up and running to open the window. Karin was a Wise Woman Shifter who many years ago when the Wise Women were persecuted, had turned into an eagle to escape being burned at the stake. In those days, life as a human Wise Woman was so dangerous, she had elected not to shift back and had been living as an eagle ever since. She hopped onto Daisy's outstretched arm.

'Karin can accompany us!' Jemima trilled. A glint of hope glimmered in Cressida's eyes only to darken seconds later. She shook her head.

'She's old now in eagle years. I don't know if she'd make it.' The eagle squawked indignantly, deafening Daisy in one ear.

'Of course she will,' Daisy beamed. 'And she'll have two healers flying beside her if anything should go wrong.'

Cressida pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, 'Alright. The three of you will go together. You leave at first light.'

Thanks for reading this chapter 😊

If you liked it, why not vote? Let me know if anything doesn't make sense. I explain shifting in more detail in Plaguesbane but hopefully it's clear ⭐️ 💬

This chapter is dedicated to sumangali because of the special belt 😉

Next chapter Tuesday. I'm trying to stick to a Tuesday and Fridays update schedule from now on but it might go down to once a week if I get stuck.

The story's all plotted out till the end but it's shifting and evolving as I write which is fun but sometimes a little alarming (!)

Goddess protect you all.

✨⭐️🌿🌺💛🌺🌿⭐️✨