Free Sons of Destiny Prequel Series 003 - The Shifter by Jean Johnson

unnamed—had come down to take his turn in watching their "newest" member of Family Mongrel, leaving just long enough to make a trip to the refreshing hut outside. Shifting back slightly to hide his proximity to their prisoner, Kenyen clenched his fist around the ring and made a show of smothering a yawn.
    "No rest for you," the aging shifter grunted, working his way down the rungs of the ladder. "You'll need to look exhausted and out of it, if you're to fake a concussion. Show me your game face."
    Flexing his muscles, Kenyen shifted from his own heart-shaped face to the somewhat more oval visage of Traver Ys Ten. He also shifted his body, picking up more muscles in his arms and less in his legs. The whole transformation took less than three seconds.
    As he had thought might happen, the memory of what it felt like to be a hunting cat, only slightly larger than a typical house cat, was already fading from his consciousness. Kenyen could still consciously remember how to shift into any of his other shapes, but looking like Traver Ys Ten, being Traver Ys Ten, took concentration. Memory. That robbed him of the room to be aware of at least one other shape.
    "How do I sound?" he asked.
    The stocky elder raised his brows. "... Remarkably like the boy. A little rough around the edges, though."
    "Well, he's been speaking for hours." Kenyen glanced at Traver, narrowing his eyes slightly in a feigned show of wariness. "Maybe a little too helpful. I hope you haven't been lying to us."
    "You said if I cooperated, you'd let me go. And that you'd leave the valley," Traver croaked, licking his lips. "That's what I want. I want all of you gone. So you go take whatever you're looking for and just go, and leave the rest of us alone. That's the deal, right?"
    "... Right. That's the deal." Kenyen didn't believe it for an instant. The other shapeshifters would not want to leave any witnesses alive, which meant Traver was a dead man. "Well, you just stay put, and be nice and cooperative. I'll be back for more information. Don't make me track you down."
    The growled threat made Traver nod, then shake his head. Turning toward the ladder, Kenyen reached for the rungs. The other shifter cleared his throat. Glancing back, Kenyen lifted a brow in inquiry.
    "You'll want his clothes. Take them now. Give him yours so he doesn't freeze at night," the elder added, holding out the keys to the manacles shackling the young man to the root cellar wall. "We're almost ready for you to make your debut. You'll need to be Traver Ys Ten from head to toe to pull this off."
    Sighing, Kenyen accepted the keys and turned back to the other young man. Tucking the beaded ring into a fold of flesh in his palm, he started to unlock the manacles. A thought occurred to him while reaching for the ankle cuffs. Carefully shaping one finger into a stiff, tough claw, he in turn shaped that into an imitation of the next key.
    Using his body to hide what he was doing, he tested it in the lock. It hurt a little, twisting his hand hard enough to move the metal pins inside the hole, but it did work. That wasn't the problem, however; the problem would be figuring out a way to get Traver away from these curs without them being able to track him by scent.
    "Get your clothes off," Kenyen ordered gruffly. He took a few moments to subtly study the ends of the keys, doing his best to commit their angles to memory without being obvious. There was no guarantee he'd be able to get ahold of them later, and a high chance he'd be in a hurry to get Traver free.
    Once Traver had stripped off everything but his underdrawers, Kenyen did the same, then donned the plain brown linen pants, lighter brown shirt, and darker brown tunic the youth had been wearing. The smell of the Corredai permeated his clothes. Kenyen was grateful most outkingdom residents didn't have the sensitive nostrils of a shifter; had they tried to attempt this on the Plains, those who knew the victim best would be able to smell through