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Prologue

The creature stalked through Brekkin forest, its massive body plowing easily through the branches and twigs of the thick undergrowth. It could smell the elusive scent that quickened its blood, and also the sweet innocence of a small girl child as she played not far ahead. The tantalizing smells drew it forward, closer and closer.

Soon, the creature was no more than a few feet away from the child. The scent of her was almost overpowering, and the beast sniffed the air, huffing in great quantities of the delicious aroma. It exhaled, sending a gust of its foul breath over the leaves of the bush that concealed it, and paused, withers quivering in anticipation.

The beast was not concerned that the child would see it crouching there, waiting and watching. It had long since grown accustomed to the cloak of evil magic that clung to it like cockles, protecting and concealing it.

The beast waited a moment longer, wanting to catch a trace of the other scent it had followed down from Galhad mountain, the scent that drove it to madness and beckoned it across the miles. But it could not find any trace of what it had come for, and so it remained, watching the child play.

A man was with the child. Not young, nor old, but a healthy man in the prime of his life, he played alone with the young girl in the quiet meadow. By the scent of him, the beast knew the girl was his offspring.

The man began to swing the child around and around in his arms, eliciting a bubbling giggle from her. The sound grated on the beast's nerves, and it gave a low angry growl. Faster and faster they twirled, until they were almost a blur to the creature that watched them, eyes glowing with hate.

A singlethought, one buried deep in the beast's mind, asserted itself again, reminding the beast of its purpose. There was a litany of enchanted orders given long ago, a single all-consuming command that had been burned into its thoughts with such powerful magic that it was now a permanent part of the beast. It was an echo of the evil magic that cloaked it. Seek... find... capture. Seek...find...capture.

The beast's tongue flicked out to catch the drool trailing from one long set of fangs. Yes, Master, I will not fail you. I will please you, Master. I will please you this time, it thought.

The creature crept closer, then closer still, until it was so near it could feel the brush of air as the man twirled the child. An evil grin pulled back the lips of its many mouths, and it smiled.

The man and the child, still unaware, played on.

Between one heartbeat and the next, the creature pounced, and as it did, the cloak of evil magic fell away for just a second. The child squealed as she saw it, a high thin shriek of abject terror that echoed across the meadow and was quickly choked off.

The man turned to face the unknown threat behind him, shoving the little girl behind his back for protection.

But it was already too late, much too late.

Kaitlin looked up from the task of stripping the bushes of their fruits. It was dim and cool in the shade of the garden, but she was still hot. She longed for the day to be done, so she could run through the forest to the waterfall. Closing her eyes, she could imagine the cool spray of water as she dove through the waterfall and into the deep pool that it fed into. The water would be very cool, almost cold, for the waterfall was a runoff of the Cailuk River that ran down from the mountains. Even on a hot day, the water was always blissfully cool.

Kaitlin opened her eyes again, a smile hanging about her mouth. Maybe her new friend would even join her. It would be nice to see Shazara again, almost as nice as gliding through the cold refreshing water. Kaitlin absently felt for the bulge in her pocket, thinking of the gold hidden there. She wouldn't have the small nugget of proof if not for her new friend.

Kaitlin giggled to herself, hope and joy sprouting anew within her as she patted the small bulge in her pocket. She had the proof that she needed; now all she had to do was convince her friends to help her. And that wouldn't be hard at all after she showed them the gold. She sighed happily as she thought of the adventure ahead, and then went back to picking the succulent berries from their stems.

Kaitlin's basket was finally full an hour later, and she lugged the fruit back into the kitchen of the little cottage that she shared with her sister. Maria was already there, bent over the rough wooden table as she prepared fruit for yet another pie.

"Kaitlin, you need to run those two pies into the village for me before dark, I have to finish these. They both go to the Shoar family. You know, down by the Smithy's shop?"

"Yes, I know where it is. Is it okay if I stop by to visit Jake on the way home? I haven't seen him since last Saturday."

"Sure, honey, just don't dawdle. You have to be home before dark, you know that."

"I will, Maria, I promise. Is there anything else I can do to help before I go?" Kaitlin picked up the pies, wrapped them gently in a clean towel, and then placed them in her basket.

"No, Kaity, there isn't." Maria paused in rolling out pie dough to give her a loving smile. "Thank you for asking, though. Be very careful on your way to the village, I mean it."

Kaitlin nodded, returning her sister's smile. Maria was so good. Kaitlin sometimes wondered how she had gotten so lucky as to have such a great older sister, though Maria was more of a mother to her than anything. Kaitlin couldn't even remember her real mother, or her father either, for that matter. It had been so long ago when they died. Maria had always taken care of her, had always found a way to keep things going. Baking pies was just one of the jobs she took on so that they could keep the lovely little cottage in the mountains. If not for her resourcefulness, Kaitlin knew they would have lost their home long ago, and would have had to move into the village.

"Mind if I take a tart with me? I'm starved!"

Maria glanced at the pile of fruit tarts that lay cooling on the counter. "No, go ahead, I made a few extra for you, anyway. I know how you like them. If you don't mind, you could also deliver the tarts to Mr. Mackar while you are out with the pies. I know it is a long walk to his house, so if you don't want to, it can wait until morning." Maria gave Kaitlin a fat smile, knowing what her sister's response would be before she gave it.

"Mr. Mackar? Sure! I'll be able to see Rebecca and Tyn while I'm there. I don't mind at all!" Kaitlin gathered up the tarts, wrapping them in a towel, too. She left out two for herself, and then put the rest into her basket. "I'll be back before dark, Maria, I promise. I want to go swimming by the waterfall later."

Maria nodded as she began to chop the fruit for her latest pie. "All right, Kaity, but I'd feel better if you took Dun with you when you go."

Kaitlin grimaced, she hated taking Dun to the village. He always scared everyone silly. "All right, Maria, if I have to."

"C'mon, Dun! Quit messing around over there, I want to get to the village as fast as I can. And you'd better be good while we're there, too," Kaitlin shouted into the bushes, watching them whip around violently before Dun came leaping out.

Kaitlin shook her head at him, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to lecture, but launching into one, anyway. "Really, Dun! Can't you ever behave? I mean it! If you scare even one person in the village today, I'm gonna' be very mad at you!"

Dun ignored her, as usual, just shaking his big shaggy head and bounding off again into the bushes. Kaitlin wondered why Maria thought him such good protection. Whenever she took him along on the long walk into the village, he always spent half the time chasing rabbits in the bushes.

"You ignoramus!" Kaitlin shouted after him as he leapt out of the thicket beside her, almost knocking the basket from her hands. "Maria will skin you for sure if you mess up her pies before I deliver them!"

Of course, that was an outright lie. Maria would never do anything to Dun; she loved him. But Kaitlin liked to threaten him that way; it made her feel better to hurl insults at him when he ignored her.

When the village came into view a short time later, Kaitlin smiled in relief. She had been in such a hurry that she was almost out of breath. She paused at the edge of the clearing that the village was built inside, admiring the view for a few short seconds.

It still took her breath away with its beauty, even though she'd been there a hundred or so times before. Cottages clustered around the outskirts of the valley and along a packed dirt street lined with wooden boardwalks were the few buildings that were for buying and selling goods, or trading for services. The smithy's shop, where all the horses were fitted with shoes, a tiny eatery that was owned by Jake's mother, and a few other stores were all teeming with activity as people came and went about their business.

Kaitlin loved the little village, where everyone knew one another and there was no such thing as a stranger.

"Dun!" Kaitlin yelled, waiting for him to come back into view.

He appeared almost immediately at her side, long pink tongue lolling, ears flopping around his huge head. He loped up to her side, and began to change before her eyes. The squarish canine head reshaped itself into a man's features; furry paws grew to the correct proportion for a tall man. Only Dun's eyes remained the same, so light a shade of silver that they were almost transparent.

Kaitlin rolled her eyes at the display, "Really, Dun, couldn't you have done that while you were off in the bushes? Someone might have seen you!"

Dun opened his mouth to reply, but only a harsh growling "woof" emerged. His man's face smiled at her, and he cleared his throat and tried again. "Who cares if anyone sees me, Kaity? It doesn't really matter anymore, they all know what I am. And why did I have to come with you, anyway? I hate being a man to go into the village! Why can't I just stay a dog?"

"I'm sorry, Dun, but Maria said you should go with me. For protection. You know that Maria is worried about all the strange things that have been happening around the village lately. And, I know you'd rather be a dog, but the villagers are even more afraid of you when you take that form. You have to admit, not very many dogs are as big as a horse, with eyes that practically glow in the dark!"

"They do glow in the dark!" Dun answered, shrugging his massive shoulders. "I don't care if they're frightened of me--you do. But for Maria, I'll come with you, and if you share your other tart with me when we get home, I'll even be good."

"Dun, if you can manage not to scare anyone on our visit today, I'll give you the whole tart! I have friends in the village, you know. And Maria depends on people to buy her pies and stuff. If you scare everyone, they won't buy anything, and then what will we do?"

Dun hung his head, he'd obviously not thought of that.

Kaitlin felt immediately contrite for making him feel bad, he was so huge that often she forgot that he was several years younger than she was. She reached out and took his hand, which was only a little bit hairier than a normal man's would have been. "I'm sorry, Dun, don't feel bad. I know you'd never do anything to hurt Maria or me on purpose. It will be okay, you'll see. We are going to sell enough pies this week. Maria said. And I've got an idea where Old Og hid his gold. If I find it, we'll be able to pay off the last of the money from what Dad owed to Mr. Perriy, and the cottage and all the land will finally be ours."

Dun looked at her with his luminous silver eyes awash with tears. He was so sensitive when he took on the human form, Kaitlin almost always preferred for him to be a dog. She knew that he liked it better that way, too. He always told her that human emotions confused him, but the feelings of a dog were easy to understand. Dogs felt mostly joy. "I'll be good, Kaity, I promise."

"All right, Dun, I believe you. I think next time I come to the village, you should stay home, though. It isn't fair that Maria always wants you to come to protect me, just because you can see, smell and hear better than I can when you are a dog."

Dun nodded, he agreed. Though he'd do anything that Maria asked him, because he loved her and she had saved his life, he didn't like coming to the village. It would be nice if he never had to do it again.

They walked down the hill and into the village together, Kaitlin still holding Dun's hand. A few of the villagers crossed to the other side of the street so they wouldn't have to get near him. Others tried to duck inside stores or houses so they wouldn't be seen and maybe run the risk of having to talk to him.

If Kaitlin hadn't known that it hurt Dun's feelings to be shunned that way, she would have had to laugh at the way they all acted. The villagers were a superstitious group, and they all seemed to believe that Dun was going to turn mean at any moment and attack them. She had told them all on several occasions that Dun only ate the plants of the forest; he didn't even eat the rabbits that he so liked to chase. Only a few villagers seemed to believe her, though, and most of them remained wary of the shapeshifter.