Enfri felt strange.

Understatement of a lifetime, she thought.

"Strange" didn't adequately describe the experience. Bizarre was closer to the mark. It was ridiculous, peculiar, odd, unconventional to the highest degree possible, but more than anything else, it was plain feathery.

"I'm a goose," Enfri stated in the same manner she'd say that the weather was cloudy.

Deebee, waddling up front in the guise of a silver-feathered matron, gave her a hard look. "Gosling, specifically. That means you go peep, not 'I'm a goose'. Don't make me regret adjusting the polymorphy to let you keep your vocal cords, so kindly button your beak, girl."

Enfri glared daggers at Deebee's back. It was easier for her to focus on something other than what they were doing. Being annoyed at Deebee kept Enfri's thoughts from the wild danger just out of sight.

"They've made a grave error," Deebee had said, before she turned Enfri into a gosling. "I don't know what that monster was thinking, but she's given us a chance."

Jin and the other assassins were probably expecting Enfri to wait for her end with prayers and meditations. A miscalculation; Enfri was no priestess. Or perhaps they believed she would try bursting from the house in a frantic dash for freedom. Just as unlikely. Enfri wasn't an idiot, either.

Deebee decided that they would sneak out by using a spell cast with the heart of a stag beetle as fuel; Deebee did say it was a grand treasure, after all. Enfri was told to shut her eyes tight, there was a strange feeling of warmth that surrounded her, and then opened her eyes. It was fortunate that the assassins were out a ways, else they would have likely heard Enfri cry out in utter shock to find herself turned into a baby goose. Deebee should have at least warned her what was going to happen.

After taking an hour to get used to walking in this new shape, Enfri then wriggled her way underneath the door and out of the house. Deebee told her that they would meet by the garden, where the real geese usually slept. Enfri then spent a few minutes nervously watching the geese stare bemusedly at the unclaimed gosling in their midst. It might have been her imagination, but Enfri was under the impression that the geese somehow recognized her.

It was a profound relief when Deebee appeared next to her and changed from a mouse to a goose. "Your body isn't made for changing form like mine," Deebee then explained in a hushed whisper. "It took every ounce of that heart's imprint and much of my ether to get this form to stick on you. Even so, I don't have the strength left to lock this spell. That means I'm going to have to hold it in place. I think I can keep it up for another few hours, so we need to be as far away as possible by then."

That was how Enfri found herself surrounded by geese as they made their way south towards the pond. She did her best not to think about what they were heading towards. Deebee said that Maya and another assassin were fifty yards south of the house. Hopefully they wouldn't pay any mind to a gaggle of domesticated geese in the night.

Another thing occupying Enfri's thoughts was the question of what had happened to her clothing and supplies. They had apparently vanished when Enfri was changed. That didn't make sense to her. Deebee wasn't able to make clothes for herself when she changed into a human form.

So, Enfri wondered, how did she manage to make mine a part of this form? Shouldn't I have shrunk right out of my dress?

Every time she learned something about magic, Enfri felt like three other things were brought into question. Spellcraft apparently had rules she couldn't guess at, let alone understand. She imagined that if she asked, Deebee would give very patient explanations about weaves and imprints or whatever nonsense that would leave her head spinning like a kite caught in a whirlwind.

Enfri's goslings were almost ready for fledging. Though adolescent in the reckoning of barnyard fowl, they remained in the habit of following their mothers. Enfri placed herself in the middle of them, and it helped her feel less exposed. She had the paranoid feeling that if an assassin saw her, even in this form, she would be found out immediately.

The seven mother geese plus Deebee walked side by side, their offspring trailing behind. The four ganders surrounded them. Three of the males were in front while the biggest kept close by in the rear.

The rearguard was a great brute of a bird that Enfri had taken to calling Bellamy. He was by far the loudest and crankiest of the lot, and it was all but certain that his influence was what had turned Enfri's geese into the terrors they had become. Many were the nights that Enfri dreamed of finally turning Bellamy over a spit, but she couldn't have been happier to have his surly disposition protecting her at the moment.

Deebee's plan was to go with the geese to the pond. From there, they would turn east and head towards Sandharbor. Once in the village, they would have more options.

The goal was nothing more than escape— get as far from the assassins as possible before daybreak. Once Jin returned to the house and found Enfri gone, She would start looking for her prey. Enfri needed to be miles away by the time that happened.

Where to then? Enfri wondered. She didn't know much of anything about the world outside of Sandharbor. Geography was something she never needed to consider before. The whole of the Five Kingdoms was to the east, the sea to the south, hundreds of miles of sparsely settled wilderness to the north, and the Espalla Dunes to the west. Most of it belonged to Althandor.

North seemed likeliest. There were still isolated kingdoms and city-states free of Althandor's rule. Most folk believed that it was only a matter of time before the king turned his attention towards them as well. Anywhere Enfri went, Althandor wouldn't be long behind. She may escape for a time, maybe even years, though it wouldn't be forever.

They'll find me again, she thought dejectedly. I've been hiding here right under the king's nose and protected by Deebee's magic, but they still sniffed me out. I don't know if there's anywhere that's safe for me.

It seemed hopeless, and with the twilight passing and the night growing dark, there was little to take comfort in. Enfri kept casting her eyes about, terrified of catching sight of one of the assassins. She didn't share Deebee's confidence that this ruse would work.

Something hard and warm tapped against Enfri's feathered back. She nearly squawked from the fright it gave her, but when she turned her head to look, it was Bellamy nuzzling her with his beak. Her nervousness must have been obvious if the goose was trying to give her heart.

The ganders up ahead came to a stop. The rest of the flock followed suit, and Enfri felt her fear start to worm its way back into her stomach. She could hear voices nearby.

"This is a waste of time," said a young woman's voice. "Two minutes, four at the most, and we can leave this backwater."

Enfri held her breath. It was Maya. She could never forget the cold arrogance that saturated the voice of Jin's older sister.

The assassins were hidden from Enfri's sight by the press of feathers around her, but it sounded like Maya was close by. She couldn't have been further than ten paces away.

"I wouldn't advise it," said a man whose voice Enfri didn't recognize. "Jin accepted guest-rights. She'd be obligated to stop you."

"I would love to see her try," Maya scoffed.

"Enough of this," said a third, and there was no mistaking that it was Jin who spoke. "We had to be certain, and now we are. A few hours is a small price to pay for confirmation."

"Pointless," Maya snarled. "We should have leveled the house as soon as we arrived. You already had all the proof you needed."

"No. Not enough to condemn a subject of the crown to death. 'Better that five guilty men escape justice than one innocent suffer undeserved punishment.' These are Father's words."

Maya laughed. It was a mocking sound. "So high minded, but irrelevant. Tell me, little sister, what crimes did your deformed herbalist commit? When you gave Uncle the evidence that condemned her, were you proud of yourself?"

"Enough, Maya," Jin warned.

"Lie to me all you wish, but don't lie to yourself. This brat did nothing against the crown aside from being born Aleesh. She's innocent as a babe, but that doesn't change that she has to die. Keep your platitudes to yourself."

Jin didn't respond.

"We're not knights, Jin. We're assassins. Murderers. We kill people, and this playacting as if you're something better isn't proving anything. Winds take guest-rights. Let me kill the girl and be done with it."

"No one is above the law, Maya," Jin said with some heat in her voice. "Not even Father, and especially not you."

Enfri heard Maya laugh again, then came a noise as if someone was walking away.

"You let her bait you too easily," said the man after a moment. "Your father gave you command of the contract. You aren't obligated to explain yourself."

"What do you think, Tarlus?" Jin asked. "Which of us is right?"

"Both and neither," Tarlus replied. "You were right to seek confirmation of the target, and I understand the reason for the delay. However, Maya spoke true. This isn't removing a traitor or hunting a rogue arcanist. No edict from your father can sweeten what we're doing here, and distasteful things like this should be handled quickly and quietly."

Jin's voice hardened. "It is because this is distasteful that I'm doing this. If we let ourselves act solely out of convenience, what stops us from always doing so? There has to be an order to what we do, or we're no better than what Maya says we are."

"Murderers?" Tarlus asked.

"Nothing so noble," Jin said. "Exterminators."

"I don't disagree with you on any of it. I'll do as you say, and I'll make sure our sweet princess there does the same."

Enfri heard a soft whinny. Jin must have mounted her horse.

"Thank you, Cousin. Keep your eyes peeled for anything strange. The sky woman may be meek as a kitten, but the dragon is another matter. It won't wait obediently for the dawn."

Tarlus chuckled. "You're certain the big wolf wasn't just a pet?"

"It spoke, so there's no doubt. Your father saw the evidence with his own eyes before he slew the spearman. Yora was bonded to a dragon, and that means it's doubly imperative we not let the sky woman escape."

"Aye," Tarlus replied softly. "Do you think the girl is bonded as well?"

"I can't be certain. Kill either, and we'll know for sure. I'll see to Dashar and Josy before I rejoin Gain."

The sound of hooves fading to the north-west did little to ease Enfri's mind. She felt something altogether unexpected burning in her chest. It was a powerful anger.

They spoke of killing Father, she thought. They spoke of it like it was nothing. Like he deserved it!

Enfri believed that if she still had teeth, she'd be grinding them together. This Tarlus' father was the one who killed Yora. Learning that made it feel more real. The son of her father's killer was a mere few paces from her. She wanted to confront him, scream at him until he understood what they had taken from her.

How dare they speak of Father when I didn't even get to know him.

A wing fell over Enfri, and Deebee nudged her to start moving again. Reluctantly, she did as she was told. Enfri lowered her head and glowered.

The assassins were here because of Jin. She was the one that deduced that Enfri was Aleesh. This was all her fault. And for what? A pat on the head for a job well done?

I hate her, Enfri fumed.

It was a foreign emotion, one that Enfri had never felt for another person before. It was a pleasant feeling in a way, having a face to put to everything that was wrong with the world. Father's death, the reason for the ward, Enfri's loneliness, and even Mother's disdain could be traced back to the assassins. When Enfri thought of the assassins, Jin was the first to come to mind.

She may not have been directly responsible for everything, but Jin represented it in Enfri's mind. The hate was real and wouldn't fade.

"Girl," Deebee warned in a whisper.

The geese had stopped again. The wind had died down to nothing, and even the nighttime trilling of the crickets was absent. Everything was silent.

Two pinpricks of a faint, blue light appeared ahead on the path to the pond. They moved as one, bobbing along in time with the other. Enfri squinted, not understanding what she was seeing. She felt cold, but couldn't explain why until she saw the lights for what they were. They were eyes, reflecting the spare moonlight.

The figure the eyes belonged to approached from the darkness. The man was slight of build. He would have only come up to Haythe's shoulder and couldn't have weighed much more than a hundred pounds. There was little about him that was intimidating except for the way he moved. He reminded Enfri of Dashar in the way he placed his steps, a fluid and languid grace to every motion of his body.

As he came closer, Enfri discerned more details about his face and burned them into memory. Tarlus was a young man, of an age with Jin and Maya. His aquiline nose was crooked, likely having been broken several times in the past. He bore a small scar above his left eye that cut across his brow. The shoulder-guards of his armor were adorned with hooked claws that Enfri recognized as coming from scale lions.

How had he gotten ahead of them? At the very least, why hadn't Enfri heard him moving from where he was speaking to Jin and Maya? That he could move swiftly and stealthily in the dead of night was astounding.

His eyes, Enfri thought. He can see in the dark as well as I can during the day.

Enfri froze in place when she saw that his glowing eyes were fixed on the group of geese. Tarlus was only a few paces ahead as he studied them intently. He then straightened, his posture relaxed, and he sheathed a knife that Enfri hadn't noticed he'd been brandishing.

"Shoo, birds," he whispered with a grin. "Not the time to be out and about. Get you gone."

Cautiously, the lead ganders started walking again, and the rest of the flock followed. Tarlus didn't move as the geese parted to waddle past where he stood, as if he was just a stump on the path.

Enfri tensed as she followed the others. She tried to act unconcerned. There was no reason to panic. She was just a baby goose accustomed to humans and saw them as no threat to her.

As the goslings started milling by and through his legs, Tarlus reached down and stroked their backs, a little smile on his face. The sight of it shocked Enfri. She supposed even monsters like the assassins could be softies for baby animals.

"Hey now," Tarlus muttered kindly. "I said only birds."

His hand shot out like a viper's strike. Deebee made a strangled noise as Tarlus' fist gripped her by her slender neck and pulled her off of the ground.

The geese scattered, their distressed honking sounding into the night. Enfri backed away from the assassin, horrified that he had somehow seen through Deebee's disguise.

If he can see through hers... Winds, no!

Deebee flapped her wings uselessly, her avian face contorted in pain. Tarlus pulled his knife back out.

"I'll finish the job my father began," he said, a feral expression on his face. "They'll name me Dragonslayer."

Deebee cried out. "Run, girl!"

The dragon's command snapped Enfri out of her state of inaction. Her tiny feet moved as fast as she could force them to. She knew she was being too slow. Even the real goslings couldn't move quickly, and they had a lot more practice at it. Enfri looked back, mouth open in horror.

Tarlus' eyes grew wide as he scanned the fleeing birds. "She's here!" he shouted. "Filth! You polymorphed her. Which one is she?"

"Flames take you," Deebee choked past the grip on her neck. "Let me go if you want a real fight, or they'll name you Gooseslayer, you monster!"

Tarlus readied his blade to strike. "If I kill you, then all your spells end. She's ours."

Enfri didn't want to see this, but she couldn't look away. Deebee was trapped, and the blade was plunging towards her. Why didn't she change? A bear, a scale lion, a blustering cow! Anything but a helpless goose.

"Deebee, no!" she shrieked.

Like a bolt of lightning, a mass of feathers, nails, and belligerence came streaking out of the night and struck Tarlus in the face. Bellamy emitted his angry war-honks as his wings beat furiously about Tarlus' head. His webbed feet tore at the assassin's face, and his beak snapped at nose and eyes.

Tarlus roared out of anger and surprise. He used one hand to fend the gander off while he swiped ineffectually about with his knife.

Deebee, abruptly freed from the assassin's grip, changed into her dragon form. She swooped towards Enfri and caught her up in her talons. Deebee flapped her wings to climb for altitude, carrying a howling gosling into the sky with her.

Enfri screamed as a burst of flame streaked past her face. Her cries caught in her throat as Deebee dove back towards the ground.

"It's the other assassins," Deebee said in a rush. "They're all coming this way! We can't fly out of here, or they'll see us. Their spellfire will bring us down if we try it again."

Deebee dove towards a patch of raspberry bushes. She crashed through the shrubbery, curling around Enfri's body to shield her from the impact.

The landing was rough, and Enfri rolled across the dirt. She came to a stop a pace from Deebee. The dragon was getting back to her feet and shaking her head clear.

Tarlus was still shouting angrily. Enfri looked in that direction and felt like her stomach dropped to her feet. They hadn't gotten far from where they started. Tarlus still struggled under Bellamy's attack a mere twenty yards away.

"Listen, Enfri," Deebee said, "as soon as you change, I want you to run as hard as you can. Head towards the village, and I'll be with you soon."

Enfri backed away. "What are you going to do?"

Deebee stood on her hind legs and moved her claws through an intricate set of gestures. The motions were precise as she stared at Tarlus. "I'm going to transfer the spell's energy out of you to another. Much easier to change him than you. I might even be able to manage a lock."

"You'll change the assassin's shape?"

"There's no time, Enfri. Start running. Now!"

Tarlus got a hand between his face and Bellamy. With a cry of rage, he threw the gander away from him. The assassin snarled, blood coating one side of his face and one eye ripped open. Bellamy spread his wings and issued an angry hiss at his opponent.

Enfri ran, her feet barely able to maintain a waddle in this awkward form. Behind her, she heard Deebee mutter to herself.

"Five point double somatic. Always hard, but I can do this. He already has the soul of a wolf. Let's give him a body to match."

Bellamy launched himself at Tarlus once more. As he shot through the air, the goose changed. Tarlus backed away in shock as a great black wolf, jaws snapping, was suddenly upon him.

Enfri stumbled and sprawled into the dirt. She got a hand beneath her and pushed herself back up, only registering with half of her awareness that she had hands again. Her brace pressed against her spine, and her walking stick was in hand.

She was glad that she hadn't come out of the polymorphy naked, but there was no time to celebrate small victories. Enfri ran, the rage-fueled howls of wolf and assassin echoing behind her.

Deebee landed on Enfri's shoulder. She turned her body to look behind. "You'll have to catch me," she said.

"What?"

"Catch me," Deebee repeated as her claws worked through another set of precise gestures. There was a pulse of energized sensation that burst from the dragon's body, and Deebee went limp. Enfri barely managed to get her arm up in time to keep her from tumbling to the ground.

"What was...?"

"Locked the spell," Deebee panted from the crook of Enfri's elbow. "Blaggard will stay a wolf even if I can't see him. He'll... buy us... some time."

Deebee was weaving in and out of consciousness as Enfri ran. Locking the spell must have taken almost everything the tiny dragon had left in her.

Enfri looked to the sky and reoriented her path. She needed to go east towards Sandharbor. That was the plan, and even though everything was going sideways, she didn't know what else to do.

The roar of flames coming from the west was more felt than heard. Spellfire, and it was a long way back. Enfri had gotten some distance between her and her pursuers.

Oh, Bellamy, she thought. You were magnificent.

 Enfri could scarcely believe that she was mourning a goose, but it had been that sort of evening.