I spent the next day practicing my magic and shapeshifting skills, aided by my new soulstone, while Joichan rested in the back of the cave. With the stone, I was able to change forms faster and maintain my dragon self longer.
After several hours of intense spell casting, I sat down next to my father for a much-needed break.
“Even with my new soulstone, it’s much harder work than I thought,” I said.
“You’re doing well, considering other shifters have been practicing since they were children, and you’re trying to cram a lifetime of learning into just a few days,” Father said. I basked in the glow of his praise, something I had rarely gotten from my false father, Hendon.
Which reminded me …
“Father, something has been bothering me.”
“Yes, Jennica?”
“How did Hendon get a hold of your soulstone? And how was he able to use it against you?”
In dragon form, Joichan arched his back, stretching. “I was a fool, overly trusting. Hendon sought me out, claiming he hoped to learn from my dragon wisdom. I allowed him to stay with me for several days, in which he learned much about Annlyn and dragon magic—and my soulstone. Including how to create one, and how to tap into the magic of an existing one. Soulstones, while primarily used by shapeshifters, can aid other users of magic. It’s just that the secret of how to create one is very well protected by us shapeshifters. My only consolation is that he never learned I was able to change into a human too, as I didn't shift at all when he was staying with me.
“One night, he drugged me and stole my necklace while I slept. I woke up and my stone was gone, with no way of tracking him. I could only surmise that he must have cast or carried some kind of spell to disguise himself and obliterate his tracks. I spent several months hunting him down, finally locating him somewhere near Calia. So I settled down there to wait for him, hoping his greed would cause him to be foolish.”
“Greed? What do you mean?”
Joichan pointed at my amber pendant. “A soulstone is linked to only one person upon its creation. It gains its power through the constant usage and link it has with its person. A symbiotic loop, if you will. If someone else were to use it, they would eventually deplete its magic, since they are not ‘keyed in’ to the soulstone. My stone would have run out of power and then Hendon would either need to create his own or replenish mine.”
“But Hendon’s not a shapeshifter. How could he create a soulstone?”
“Ah, that’s the trick, isn’t it? As I recall, he’s from Rothschan. They’re about as magically dry as you can get—not only does that kingdom have no magical abilities, they pass down teachings about how evil it is, so they have generations of mental defenses built up against it. It would take a lot of magical power for someone like him. An immense amount of power. And it’s dangerous; it could backfire on him and cause him to go insane. Or even kill him. It’s incredibly risky, but if he could do it successfully then he would have a source of magical power to tap into. It would eventually run out though, since, again, he has no innate magic. He’d have to find a way to replenish it somehow.”
By the end of the day I had just about mastered conscious control of my changing, even if I wasn’t able to stay a dragon for more than half a day.
My father declared his pride in my progress, and with the next breath, announced that he was completely well and we would leave in the morning for Calia. I was glad to get going; I still couldn’t connect with Taryn. But I was also worried about what we’d face back home—and facing Hendon.
We didn’t prepare any provisions for the trip. Since we’d be flying to Calia in our dragon forms, we would hunt for food along the way. But my father didn’t think it would be necessary, as he said the trip would take just under a day. I hoped I would be able to keep up. I hadn’t had a chance to practice flying, since just changing into a dragon had been such an ordeal for me.
In the morning, before we left, I prepared an extremely large breakfast. Bemused, my father grabbed a single roll and sat down, eyeing me as I wolfed down my food.
“Flying on an overly full stomach can slow you down,” he cautioned. “Not to mention give you stomach cramps.”
I piled a second helping onto my plate. “I just don’t want to hinder our journey by having to stop.”
“Hunting on the go is not a problem. It’s quite easy, actually, and a skill you should learn.”
I shuddered. “No, thank you.”
My father laughed. “When you’re in dragon form, the instincts take over. You don’t even notice the raw meat.”
I tried not to gag. “I’d prefer not to have to hunt at all.”
“It’s inevitable. Dragons, even small ones, eat at least five times as much as any human. How are you going to make up that food deficit if you won’t hunt?”
“I’ll eat trees or bushes or something. If we find a nice apple orchard …”
My father snorted. “A vegetarian dragon. Imagine that.”
I stopped eating as a thought suddenly hit me. “When you hunt … you don’t hunt anywhere near Annlyn, do you?”
Joichan shook his head. “Shapeshifters don’t taste very good. It’s the confusion between which form you’re eating. Human? Or animal?”
The food I had just swallowed threatened to come up. I pushed my plate away, my appetite gone. “Oh.”
My father laughed. “I’m just kidding. I’m a shapeshifter myself; I don’t hunt my own.”
I nodded, but it was some time before I was ready to finish my breakfast.
After we cleaned up the morning meal, we got ready to leave for Calia. On the ledge, I looked over the steep slope going downward. There wasn’t enough space for us both to transform, much less for me to get up to speed for flying. “Uh … Father? How are we going to do this?”
“We jump.”
“You can’t be serious.” We would plummet to our deaths within moments.
“I am. Now, jump.” With that, Joichan took his own advice and leapt off the ledge. I screamed, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of Joichan’s plunge or because suddenly there was an immense golden dragon flapping its mighty wings in front of me. The dragon didn’t say anything, but I could just see the exasperated amusement in his eyes. What are you waiting for?
Okay, here I go, I thought. I hope he can fly fast enough to catch me before I hit the ground.
I closed my eyes and stepped off the cliff.
I may have screamed again. I’m not sure; the air was rushing by me so fast that any sound from my throat got ripped away. I opened my eyes, expecting to see my father flying right next to me.
Instead, he was still hovering in the same place I had last seen him in.
And the ground was coming up way too fast.
I closed my eyes, trying to slow my anxious breathing so I could concentrate. In. Out. In. Out. My nerves calmed somewhat, enough for the hasty training of the last week or so to take over.
My awareness turned into myself, pushing out any intrusions from the outside world. My magic settled deep within me, filling every part of me and heightening my sensation of my self. My body tingled with the latent power within me. When I was ready, I pulled.
There’s no better way I can describe it. It felt like I was tugging my human skin over my head, revealing my dragon form underneath. My nose elongated into a snout, smoke trailing from my nostrils. My body grew larger, skin becoming thicker with shining golden scales, new muscles rippling. Wings unfurled from my back, and I was aloft.
I glided a little unsteadily back to my father, who had been watching, unmoving, as I went through my shift. Was he laughing at me? There was a smile in his eyes, something I never thought that was possible for a dragon.
“Good job.” Joichan’s rumbly voice held a tremor. He was definitely laughing at me. We started our flight northward to Calia.
“You just stayed there. Would you have flown after me if I couldn’t have changed in time?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said. “But I knew I didn’t need to.”
