Free A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez

Knights wander the world, trust ing fate to take them to wrongs needing righting. Most likely, he's just passing through. I can't think of any wrong righting required here."
    "If he were just passing through, I don't think he would have stopped and talked to the soldiers."
    "If you'd really like to know, I can find out." There was more to the offer than a friendly favor. I wanted to see the dark White Knight, even if seeing him was all I could ever do.
    "Newt, I need your body."
    My familiar balked. "I'm using it right now."
    "Only for moping."
    I threw him a disapproving glare, and he walked to my side. I bent down and kissed his bill. Switching bodies with my familiar was a small magic. I thrust my mind into him. His jumped from his body and fell into mine for easy storage. My skin could have been an immobile prison for him, but I allowed him to move in it as a polite gesture.
    I looked into my emerald green eyes. All the grime on my face did little to hide my beauty Fortunate for me so few looked below the surface.
    Newt glowered with my mouth. He set me down on the table where I mixed medicines.
    He spoke with my voice. "Egad, what a form." He felt my lips and the teeth. He pulled at the ears and ran his hands up and down my body. He squeezed my left breast and patted my bottom. Then ran fingers down my stomach to my thigh and back to . ..
    "Would you please stop fondling my flesh?"
    "Sorry." He stood, but my body swayed almost off its feet. He flapped my arms to regain his balance. They weren't wings, and it didn't help. Sunrise caught him before he could topple over. "The weight distribution is a little tricky." He sat. "All in all not a bad form. I'm not sure I care for all the bare skin or the feet. But I've always wanted teeth and what fine teeth they are. Sharp and deadly I bet you could crack bones with these." He chomped the air and gnashed my teeth.
    "You can crack bones with your bill," I reminded.
    "It's not the same."
    "There's some fresh pheasants over there. Crack their bones all you like while I'm away"
    He picked one bird from the small collection and ground my teeth enthusiastically.
    I hopped off the table. I'd borrowed animal forms before as part of my education. Ghastly Edna had taught me to listen to the body. "Tell it where you want to go, dear, and it will tell you how to get there." Newt's body moved easily. His odd walk, programmed into the flesh by his years of uninterrupted use, remained part of it.
    Sunrise parted the tent flap for me, and we stepped outside.
    Gwurm, who made a habit of sitting outside my tent should I need him, raised his head. He was short an eye and rolling something from cheek to cheek. "Leaving so soon?"
    I explained my switch with Newt and how I was off to the fort to check on the White Knight.
    He spit out his missing eye and licked it to a lustrous, saliva-coated shine before popping it back into its socket. "How does being a duck who can't fly help?"
    "Newt can fly. He's just forgotten, but my mistress taught me so I could take full advantage of a bird's body. It's very basic. Jump in the air, flap your wings, and mind the ground."
    I stretched out my wings to loosen them. Sunrise and Gwurm wished me luck, and I was off. It took a few hops, but soon I was flying. It was a lurching, ungraceful spectacle, but better than any flight Newt had taken. I soared over the settlement in wide circles until I'd gotten the hang of it.
    I banked to a flying pattern over the fort proper. I'd never seen it from this angle. It was a square of stone walls with only one gate. Smaller buildings of wood and stone had been built within. Lanterns and moonlight lit the large open areas. There weren't many soldiers. Most were in the barracks, attending the financial needs of prostitutes, or spending time with their families. One duck slipped past the night guard with very little trouble.
    Finding the Knight was also easy. Half of Newt's demon essence belonged to his mind, but the other half