Free The Black Wing by Mary Kirchoff

head bent against the early snow and unseasonably cold winds. Khisanth dropped
     to a crouch to make herself smaller against the backdrop of the black trees. Squinting,
     she focused her sharp dragon sight on the creature. The person looked up suddenly, as if
     it felt the dragon's gaze. It peered into the darkness beyond the torchlight, but its
     limited human vision revealed nothing. Khisanth's eyes allowed her a clear view. Heavily
     bundled against the elements, the form lacked definition. Its features, swathed in a
     tattered blue scarf, were something like an ogre's, but softer, much more pleasing to the
     eye. A narrow strip of soft brown fur arched over each of its eyes, which were shaped more
     like Kadagan's than Khisanth's, but not so impossibly bright as the nyphid's. It had plump
     pink cheeks that curved, then hollowed abruptly. The mouth between them was too small to
     be of use in tearing apart food, Khisanth thought disdainfully. ”It is a human woman,“
     said Kadagan. ”She seems nervous about the weather.“ Aggis Mickflori was indeed worried.
     Her trip to Styx for much-needed supplies had taken longer than usual. Now she was
     terribly afraid of traveling back to her small shack during a snowstorm on a moonless
     night, but her children were little and her lame husband was nearly as helpless as they.
     In truth, with rumors of ogres in the hills of late, she was more afraid of what she would
     find at the shack if she did not hasten her steps, storm or no. Dragon and nyphids watched
     the woman adjust her scarf lower over her determined face, hug her packages closer to her
     chest, and set off. Head bent to the storm, she was oblivious to the presence of the black
     dragon lurking in the darkness ahead. Annoyed that the woman should pick the path that led
     to her hiding place, Khisanth's first instinct was to ready her breath weapon. She
     wondered absently what human flesh would taste like. ”No!“ Kadagan hissed softly, sensing
     her thoughts. The dragon shook away the urge to attack. ”I remember the ogres,“ she
     whispered. Khisanth focused on her breathing, envisioned the steady rise and fall of her
     own chest to slow the pounding of her blood. In time, it thrummed peacefully through her
     veins. The woman was almost close enough to see Khisanth, if she looked up. ”Now thou hast
     seen a human. Change form, before she discovers us," urged Kadagan. The dragon closed her
     eyes and concentrated on an image of the woman: hair under the scarf, plump cheeks, softly
     curved jawbone, arms to the narrow waist, the stride of
    legs that were half the height of the body. She held tight to the vision in her mind,
     blocking out all other sensations. Suddenly the black dragon's snout began to tingle. Then
     through her body a hot flash raced like mercury, ending at the very tip of her tail. Her
     entire frame convulsed as her bones constricted. Khisanth could hear strange pops and
     clicks, and then only the eerie wind that accompanies a snowstorm.
    The dragon nearly staggered from the enormous weight that suddenly pulled at her neck,
     dragging her to her knees. Looking down, she saw that the sword choker that before had
     seemed so tight now dangled to the ground, the maynus casting a soft yellow glow from
     under snow that was quickly covering it. Closing her eyes again, Khisanth formed a mental
     picture of the choker reduced to about the size of the human woman's neck. Tinkling
     together gently like bells in the wind, the swords and globe shrank until the vine was
     snug, the snow-covered swords and globe unexpectedly cold against the skin of her neck.
    “Goodness, child, what are you doing out in this storm? And as naked as the day you were
     born. Did you think that ugly necklace would keep you warm?” Khisanth's eyes popped open
     at the insult to her hoard. She looked into the woman's clear brown eyes. The young
     dragon's mind was a tumble of