Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

guess. Baindan must not want to Change back from his cripwof form until she had Changed. Good idea in this darkness. Siray stepped a little away from Baindan to give herself room, then took another step. Hard to know in the blackness if she had enough room, but it would have to do. Her sevonix form would, of course, have been ideal here, as it was equal to, if not more of a keener predator, than Baindan’s cripwof form. But it was too risky—she’d be signing up for a worse fate than the one staring them down now if she were caught. She shrugged to herself. Her yeibon form would have to do.

Siray focused inwards, her mind zeroing in on that hard core of power. In her mind, she brushed fondly over one shape chain before she moved onto the one she actually sought. Grabbing on to it with imaginary hands, she felt her body begin to shift, muscles stretching and a brief itch coursing over her as hair erupted all over her body. She breathed in deeply as her lungs enlarged, her nose twitching as she began identifying individual smells. Her altered eyes, once they had adjusted, allowed her to see more in the dark than she had before, although obviously not so well as Baindan could in his cripwof form.

Now Changed, Siray paced carefully back over to Baindan, being cautious to keep her heavy steps quiet, her nose and ears constantly moving as she located the two males across from her and Baindan in the dark.

They remained in the same corner as before, their evenness of breathing telling Siray that they were both most likely asleep.

Once she was in a suitable position, her head with its sharp horns angled so that it pointed towards the other males, she stopped and proceeded to get comfortable, listening to the minute sounds of Baindan circling twice before he laid himself down to sleep.

Her ears and nose told her that Baindan hadn’t Changed back after all, and she realised that he wanted to be able to leap into the fight straightaway if he had to.

When she felt something warm and furry touch her right front leg, Siray peered down. She could just make out Baindan’s muzzle resting against her foot, his large head rising a couple of handspans up the length of her leg. She looked back up and began her vigil over the corner where she could smell the two males resting. She hoped they stayed asleep throughout the night.

***

It was a shout of surprise that first startled Siray. She hadn’t been sleeping, of course—she wouldn’t endanger Baindan that way—but she had been enjoying the stars, counting how many she could see and marvelling at their distant beauty. For the past three nights, she hadn’t been able to savour their luminescence, being contained every other evening in her cell. Not that she had been able to appreciate them on the march here either, an endeavour she and most of the other captives had barely survived.

But now a yell from outside of the pit put all her senses on full alert, her sensitive yeibon ears twitching in response to the cry of alarm. Hearing the slightest noise from her right side, she knew that Baindan had also heard it, and a gentle, moist touch to the back of one front leg told her that he had risen to stand beside her, an almost inaudible huff escaping his cripwof lungs.

More yelling from outside the pit and what sounded like a stampede of running feet. Now grunts and shouts could be heard, mixed in with the sound of animal screams. Then, from closer by, but still above them, a terrible growling resonated through the night, and Siray ears communicated the sounds of two beasts ripping into each other.

She couldn’t understand what was happening. Had some of the captives attempted an escape? Had … Her thoughts trailed off in horror. She bent her head down carefully towards Baindan, meaning to communicate with him in some manner, but a quiet growl from deep in his throat made her swing her large head back up in alarm.

She couldn’t pierce the darkness with her eyes like he could, but her hearing was good enough to confirm what was missing. She couldn’t hear the other males breathing anymore. Her whole body tensed, at the ready, as she scanned the darkness, her nose quivering. There was a new scent in the pit …

The attack came from head-on, and Siray only had the sudden sound of hooves hitting the soft ground to warn her before she felt something slash her shoulder open to the bone. She let out a yeibon scream of pain and turned to confront her attacker.

But then a savagely snarling form dashed out from between her four legs and leapt into the dark onto a slightly darker patch of the night. Baindan was defending her. Ignoring the fire in her shoulder, Siray started into the darkness after him, proceeding carefully as she tried to make out what it was that had attacked her.

As torches were rapidly lit in the yard above while the guards dealt with the disturbance, the sudden flare of light in the pit made Siray rear up in surprise. All at once, the night had been chased away by flickering radiance, clearly revealing the situation unfolding within the hole.

Creeping around to Siray’s left against the pit wall, and now just as surprised as she at the sudden illumination, was a thin and scaly creature. Its body was one thick serpentine muscle that curved down to the sand, and its head, back, and tail were covered with hard chitinous plates like armour. It had sharply pointed teeth and a wide, curved mouth in an intelligent face that reached almost to Siray’s current height, but the teeth were the least of her problems. The issue, she knew, would be dealing with its two large claws, similar to arms, but with pincers that contained a strength