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She squirmed futilely against her bonds and screamed as loudly as she could manage. The wooden pole behind her back was worn smooth from both weather and previous unwilling tenants. The villagers crowded around her had stripped her bare. Moonlight cascading out of the trees that surrounded them all seemed to hug the short, fine black fur that clung to her body. Down her neck, chest, and curvaceous stomach a white streak broke the monotony. Her face and features were definitely human-like but they were crossed with that of a panther. It was uncomfortable to feel her body stretched out and her toes touching the pile of wood they had built beneath her feet. Across her outer legs and around her arms danced blue runes that writhed against the light of the full orb riding in the sky. The ropes holding her had been coated in the blood of the livestock she herself had killed; apparently someone in the village knew her kind well enough to capture and hold rather than to just kill. Her yellow-on-black slit eyes scanned the crowd searching for some sort of sign of who it was.

She wondered as she pulled against the slick ropes if the person involved planned to use her blood or dig up her corpse and defile it for some dark ritual. Her kind, while beautiful to the human eye, was ostracized all on account of 'witchcraft' as they called it. She didn't have time to ponder the implications as the local bumpkins splashed lamp oil on the wood and her legs. Her last resort was to beg. "Please! I am sorry about the sheep but I was hungry, I'll pay for it I swear!"

"Hush your lies you filthy Varis!" A particularly hulking and smelly man said from the front of the gathered crowd. "We know what you did to little Talla!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, of what crime am I accused?" She strained forward against her bonds and attempted once again to call upon the natural powers granted to her race by the goddess Hecate. Her voice was a whisper. "Great mother above please help me."

"How dare you!" A balding, pasty-faced man said to her more toward the back of the gathered masses. "My little girl is under some vile malady because of you, release her!"

"I know not what you speak of I swear it by the great mother." She replied quickly. While she had killed and half-eaten a sheep she had not touched anyone's children. It was a temptation, true, they were meat on legs just like any other creature but she had forsworn consuming sentient beings a long time ago. "I have never struck or killed a human that did not deserve it!"

"Oh?" The man said as he strode forward and pushed the hushed crowd aside. "Then what did my daughter do to deserve your wrath? She's innocent of any crimes; she's barely a young woman!"

"I did not hurt her, but I may be able to help. Please let me down and take me to her." She tried adding a slight compulsion to her voice but the blood smearing her wrists and dribbling down her arms was infused with something that prevented her from using any magic. "I promise you that if I can't help her I will submit to your punishment."

"Do not listen to her!" A robed figure called from the rear of the gathered mass of people. His black clothing and clean-shaven appearance stood out as a stark contrast to the rest of the villagers.

Nava knew at that moment who had incited the hunt against her. This man was obviously tied to some sort of arcane energy. Her people were often hunted to be used as experiments or spell components. "I swear by Hecate the great mother and Vajyr the goddess of the earth that I will do everything in my power to save her."

"We cannot take that chance my friends. Do not listen to her lies and deceit, this creature will say or do anything to save her own skin." The antagonist at the rear retaliated without waiting to hear a response. "Burn her!"

"But she may be able to save my daughter." The bald man said dejectedly, looking down at his shuffling feet. "You said the bonds will hold her, correct?"

"Only for a time, we must act quickly and kill her before the dweomers I laid upon the bonds expire." The black-clad arcanist put his hand on the larger man's shoulder. "I will do what I can to save your daughter Horace."

"If the bonds will hold her, I say we let her at least try. Maybe she's telling the truth." Horace replied to the crowd gathered. "The ropes should hold long enough for her to try."

"We cannot take the chance Horace. What if she harms your darling Talla instead of helping, or holds her hostage? Are you willing to take that chance?" The sly arcanist replied, attempting to coerce the grieving man into his line of thinking. "If we kill her now the magic she used to curse your darling little girl may fade."

"Truly?" Horace said though eyes shimmering on the verge of tears.

"Aye." The arcanist nodded grimly, turning toward the stack of wood and the prisoner tied to the pole in the ground.

Horace looked down to the ground again and his voice was barely audible. "Do it."

Fear struck her instantly and she realized that she could not talk her way out of the situation. She grabbed and clawed at the ropes struggling and fighting to get her arms free. The nearest villager sparked up a torch using a flint and tender and glared at her wickedly. A sound akin to a moan of despair escaped her throat and she began clawing the ropes but the blood seemed to render them immune to her attempts at severing the fibers.

Just as the torch was being lowered they all heard a call from across the square and a young man came barreling into the crowd calling for arms. All at once the crowd's attention was drawn from her to the sandy haired lad that burst into the clearing waving his arms. "Armed men bearing the standard of dragonminge approach from the far bridge!"

"Have they reached the bridge Steyn?" A tall spindly man in fine tailored clothes asked the out of breath young man.

"No sir Mayor Broash, they've not exited dragonspine pass!" He said excitedly, his eyes wide with terror.

"All to arms men!" The mayor called to them all.

"Throw the torch!" The arcanist cried at the top of his lungs but the farmers and workers around him ignored his plea in favor of defending their homes from invasion. "Mayor we must destroy her."

"She'll wait. Steyn guard the prisoner until our return. Volrath you're with me, consider your current fee doubled if you assist us in routing our enemies. Tis late in the season for such an attack but the recent weather has been harsh on crops." The mayor led the fuming arcanist out of the town center and down a much-used cobbled street that led toward the Harsember River and bridge.

Nava let out a breath of relief and hung from her wrists painfully, sobbing into her arm. If she had known how much trouble one sheep would get her in to she would have continued eating squirrels and the local wildlife instead of risking a tastier meal. The feeling of someone tugging at her bonds drew her attention and she turned her tear-stained face upward to find Steyn untying her. "You'll be killed."

"Talla is my sister." The young man said as his features morphed from Steyn to a younger male with sky blue eyes and raven black hair. He was toned from years of farming and had an odd air about him now that he had her attention. "I know you didn't do this, it was Volrath. He took her from the north field and did bad things to her then he cast a spell upon her to keep her silence. Please you have to help her."

"Why would you trust me if you know what I am?" She asked as she was unceremoniously dropped down onto the pile of wood. She rubbed her wrists and used the dirt under her feet to taint the blood soaking her arms. The runes on her skin disappeared almost immediately.

"We don't have time for this. They're going to realize that Steyn is still at his post, are you going to heal her or should I tie you back up?" The young man's posture didn't change, he seemed confident in himself.

She shook her head, just happy to be free. "No need, take me to her quickly."

The streets were empty and most houses were shut to shield the women and children from the potentially grizzly scene at the village square. They passed by the quaint little homes and stores at a pace that she was able to keep quite easily. The door to the baker's shop was unlatched so they entered with very little resistance.

Inside stood a portly woman baking bread and preparing stew for dinner but her tray hit the floor when she realized who was standing in the open doorway, her thought forgotten. Nava braced herself for the coming scream but to her surprise the boy that had saved her put his hand across the woman's mouth.

"Mother you have to trust me, she can help." When the woman nodded he moved his hand and led Nava up the stairs with the baker woman fast in tow. Almost reverently he brushed the door open revealing a sweat-soaked girl lying bare under a pile of blankets. "Save her, please."

Nava merely nodded and rushed to the girl's side. If she were to have any chance of escape she would have to hurry. When she took the girl's hands the runes that had been crawling under her fur appeared again and seemed to brush the skin of the young girl's hand. "She's been afflicted with a powerful curse. Your Volrath has made a pact with a demon of some sort, I've seen this before."

"Can you help her?" The large woman said in a worried tone as she eyed the boy and her almost simultaneously.

"I can but I will need quiet. I require a small amount of her blood and the blood of someone else from her family." Nava's eyes looked to the young man that had freed her but he looked away and the large woman stepped forward, offering her arm. Nodding, but curious she sliced the woman's arm just a little and gathered the blood on her hand then did the same for Talla.

Her voice started low as she began singing. Nava's arms spread wide and she faced her palms upward, begging for Hecate to give her the power to heal the ailing child. She begged in the mother's own language, citing the girl's innocence and purity. The runes crawled and flashed a bright white color and with a look of concentration on her face she put her hands on the girl's chest. The blue-white runes leapt from her body and crawled across her soft white skin.

For a moment Nava held her hands close to the girl's heart and felt the energy leaving her body and entering that of the afflicted child. The spell faded and finally broke with an audible whine and she fell back to her rump, her tail dropping to the wooden floor. The world began to swim but she held onto her waking mind for dear life, she had to flee. Just as she rose to leave Talla's eyes fluttered open and she looked startled. "Nava?"

"Yes dearest, I'm here." Nava said, turning back around to the girl that had befriended her so long ago regardless of her race. "You'll be fine love but I have to go now. Your family will take care of you; your brother risked everything to save your life."

"Kace?" She cooed as he knelt by her side and put his forehead against hers. "What happened why does Nava have to leave?"

"You know her?" Kace marveled as he looked from his sister to the Varis female and back again. "How?"

"By the river." She said wearily. "She saved my life, one of the bulls had gotten loose and he was chasing me across the pasture. Nava jumped out of her hiding place and scared it so bad that it ran back into the round pen without a fuss."

"Then it's true, you didn't do this to her?" Kace replied as his eyes fell to Nava. "I'm glad I intervened."

"Nava what are you doing here anyway?" Talla said softly, pulling the covers up over herself tighter. "What do you mean you have to go, will I see you again?"

"No young one, your people do not understand and never will. In order to keep both of us safe I must depart and make my den elsewhere." Nava took her hand and smiled down as the color began filling Talla's cheeks again. "I am glad to have met you Talla."

"And I you Nava." She said softly, turning her eyes downward. "Fare your travels well and may the lord of winds be at your back always."

"Harvest blessings to your family." Nava replied, using a more local farewell.

As Nava turned to leave a voice from the street called into the house angrily, shouting for Kace. The door slammed shut behind the angry individual and Nava could see the villagers pouring back into the square searching for her specifically. Growling in frustration she hurried over to the window, her unclad form once again gathering up the moonlight to shine brightly. Before she could open the window she felt Kace's hand on her arm. "We had a deal."

"I'm altering it, take me with you." He said quickly, looking to the door that even now his adoptive mother was hard pressed to keep closed. "Please, father will have my head. He knows I can change my face whenever I wish. He'll kill me."

"Kace I don't think..." Her statement was cut off as the door slammed open and the Harold plowed through the door sending his wife sprawling down onto the wooden floor.

"You!" He cried loudly, clenching his fists tight.

"No father!" Talla shouted, astounding him momentarily. "Leave Nava alone!"

"Okay come quickly!" Nava shouted to Kace as she flung the window and shutters open and leapt down onto the street with Kace in tow. The last thing she needed was baggage but the alternative would leave a mark on her conscience.