Free Sleeper Of The Wildwood Fugue (Book 7) by Charles E. Yallowitz Page B

matter what, so I trust you. I will say that I don’t like it.”
    “I’m not enjoying this either. Stand back, everyone.”
    Taking a deep breath, Luke focuses on the spirits and slowly entwines all of their auras around his own. He takes the form of Stiletto, who grows to the size of an adult lion and sprouts wings of brown feathers. As his head turns into that of an eagle, a scaly tail grows out of his hindquarters and curves over his body. With a violent spasm, Luke’s wings shed their feathers to reveal a pristine gold that folds against his heaving sides. A ruby tries to sprout from his forehead, but he rears back and screeches in rage, forcing the Sword Dragon further into the back of his mind and aura. The bizarre creature settles down and eyes the awestruck adventurers with the brown and gold eyes of their friend.
    “Let’s get this over with,” the chimera says in the young warrior’s voice.
    *****
    The song that Luke follows is unnerving and resembles someone whispering a depressing lullaby. There are no words within the tune, but it does sound like it is being made by a human voice. Visually, the mysterious song appears as a white tunnel where skeletal faces occasionally loom out of the sides. Many times the path brings them to people trapped within the cursed forest. The victims’ faces are masked by distorted visages that hiss and scream at Luke, some even appearing to spin their owners’ heads around. Infuriated by the noisy distractions, the warrior roars back at one of the figures. With fading shrieks, the ugly face splits and the elf it had been attached to drops dead. For the rest of the journey, Luke refuses to acknowledge the victims even though the Sword Dragon gleefully urges him to put them out of their misery.
    “Luke doing okay?” Fizzle asks, bathing the others in dragon’s breath. He watches Nyx mumble to her fingers, the half-elf getting angry at her left thumb. “Fizzle keeping breath low. It help with curse, but not cause panic.”
    “That’s good because I don’t think I can handle them thrashing,” Luke growls in a guttural voice. His tail sways in the air, coming dangerously close to jabbing Timoran who keeps trying to grab the venomous spike. “Stiletto and the griffin are behaving, but the Sword Dragon is really pushing my limits. The snake fiend keeps switching sides. I’m scared about what will happen if I stay in this form for too long.”
    “What happen?”
    The chimera shudders and a rippling of metal scales runs down his body. Patches of snake-like skin appear before the brown fur envelopes them and sheds the steely plates. For a few seconds, his tail becomes that of a dog, which wags happily in Timoran’s face. With an urgent roar, Luke yanks the extremity away from the barbarian and keeps it out of reach while it turns back into the deadly spike of a snake fiend.
    “The longer I’m in this form, the harder it’ll be to return to normal. I could get stuck like this or be trapped as the Sword Dragon. The griffin said there would be a big risk, but I didn’t want to worry anyone,” Luke explains, his voice strained and growing deeper with every word. He breaks into a lopping run as panic sets in, but the unsteady walking of the others slows him down. “Why do you have to keep dosing them with your breath weapon? They’re tied up, so it isn’t like they can wander away if the curse takes a hold.”
    “Fizzle breath can be dispelled when sleeper found,” the drite calmly replies, giving another blast to Delvin. The warrior grins and holds out his shield arm to pet a creature that only he can see. “Curse make friends useless when we reach sleeper. If Luke trapped then we need others help.”
    “You’re right. I can barely keep my mind clear with all the arguing. It’s hurting.”
    Everyone jumps when Nyx breaks into a loud song and Sari joins in by rhythmically clapping her hands. As the surprise performance grows louder, Delvin whistles and Timoran