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"Sir Garik! I've found the way."

The knight was slumped against the wall, and his head shot up as soon as I talked with the exaggerated movements of someone who's half asleep.

"What took you so long, Zeek?" I ignored the nickname and padded silently to his side. He caught a hand around my neck and pulled, levering himself to his feet. His hauberk jangled quietly, then with a practised shake, Sir Garik settled his layers of armor comfortably.

"This floor's a bit of a maze. Follow me, it's not well guarded." I hesitated for a moment, then continued. "In the last room, sir, there's a guard..."

"So we'll ambush. If you can get behind whatever it is..."

"No sir, it won't work. They aren't things we can fight."

Sir Garik let out a low growl, and the hand tightened at the scruff of my neck. "Losing your zeal for fighting already, cat?"

I stopped dead, a low growl building in my throat. Sir Garik stopped abruptly, then turned to face me. Our eyes met and held, while anger bubbled slowly just beneath the surface of my thoughts.

A moment later, I dropped my gaze. This was my knight, it was my duty to protect him, even when he was being obstinate and dense. "No, sir. They're sylphs. We have no weapons that would pose them any threat."

The words hung in the corridor between us. I bowed my head, trying with all my being to be the submissive, subservient squire that I'd been just a scant day ago. I felt his fiery gaze on me, though I couldn't meet his eyes, and waited silently for a response, any response.

I felt fingers tug on my chin, lifting my head up. Sir Garik looked down at me, and his expression had softened. "I'm sorry, my squire. Damn, I've been saying that too often this last day, but I mean it. I'd not have made it past the second floor without your guidance. It's just this shape you've taken, it's hard to accept you as..."

"As a monster?" I finished, and I saw the answer in the way his facial features flinched, even though he said nothing.

I wanted to tell him how much I liked being who I was now, or how useful I considered my new-found abilities. As a wolf, I was a small, inferior candidate for knighthood, but as a tiger, I was regal elegance twinned with raw, brutish power. If any of those words passed my lips, though, I knew I would lose him. Sir Garik simply couldn't accept it.

"Sir, we need to keep moving." Was the only reply I could muster.

"Yes. You're right. But how can sylphs be the guards? They're harmless."

"One or two, yes. I found hundreds, and they've got water to sculpt."

Sir Garik thought for a moment, then nodded. "An intelligent enemy that we can't hurt, but can easily both overpower us. You have the right of it, Rezik."

"I have an idea, Sir, but it's... improper."

His gazed at me for a moment, then his hackles rose. I may think of him as stubborn and obstinate, but his mind was a agile as his body. "I will NOT act the prisoner role."

"Actually, sir, it's not prisoner, it's closer to..."

He growled as I hesitated. "Spit it out, Rezik."

"Pet."

Silence dominated the corridor for a moment again. A war of emotions played across my knight's face, as he weighed humiliation against the cost of failure.

"I can't do it, Rezik. I can't, I just can't." To my surprise, he didn't sound humiliated. Instead, he sounded afraid.

"Sir, I understand, maybe we can find another way."

"No." He stated curtly. "I've questioned your talents here constantly, but every time, you're proven yourself exactly correct. If you say the only way forward is through, I trust you."

I let my breath out in a long sigh. It felt good to finally be recognized, but it was a hollow victory. He stank of fear, and I wasn't sure what, between humiliation or defeat, had won.

"Lead the way, Rezik, let's get this over with." He took a firm hold of the scruff of my neck, and I led the way towards the sylphs' auditorium.

We turned left, then right, and crept across the abandoned warren. Whatever had been stalking me earlier seemed to have returned to its lair, and even my sensitive ears heard nothing but the subtle shifting of Sir Garik's chain mail. After another turn, we found ourself facing the elegant waterfall and pool that the sylphs called home. Readying my mind for a battle of wits, I tugged at my knight's arm, leading him into the chamber.

"Ooh, the kitty's back." "And he caught a wolf." "Pretty wolf." I felt a warm caress on the bridge of my muzzle, and a voice spoke directly to me. "You didn't tell us you already had a wolf, tiger."

I gave a tooth-filled smile. "Would you have believed me if I told you?" I wrapped my tail possessively around Sir Garik's waist.

"Yes!" "Yes." "No." "Yes!" A chorus of conflicting answers erupted from the sylphs, but the one sitting inches in front of my eyes wasn't fooled.

"But you're not here to play, no."

"You're right." I responded. "I'm taking him upstairs."

"Not supposed to let you do that." "No, shouldn't bring him up." The one on my nose, who appeared to be the official speaker, chimed up. "Would let you up with him normally, but he's still wearing armor and holding sword."

I gave what I thought was a convincing laugh. "You think he's actually a threat to me?" I snapped my jaws playfully. "I'm a tiger in my prime, not a little kobold to be running scared from a knight's shadow."

A few of the voices tittered, and I felt the exhilarating rush as the breezy touches of a few sylphs pattered over my hide. The spoke-sylph piped up concernedly.

"But there are little kobolds upstairs. If you do keep him, he's your responsibility." I let out a chuff, and Sir Garik's hand clenched at my scruff tightly enough that I felt his claws.

"I'll make sure he behaves, little sylph. May we proceed?"

I felt the presence on my muzzle leave, and the sylph voices conferred for a moment, in a language and pitch too quick and buzzing for us to understand. Finally, the warm sylph's touch reappeared in front of my nose. "Sure, pretty tiger, on one condition."

"And that would be?" I narrowed my eyes, but in our position, were in no place to make demands.

"Bring the pretty wolf back to play sometime. We all want to see what's in his fantasy!" Some of the sylphs giggled, and I mocked another smile for them.

"Deal, next time we pass through, if I've got the time, we'll stay and play." The presence disappeared, and with a faint rippling across the water of the pool, they departed.

"Let's go." I led Sir Garik forward, and he walked woodenly next to me as we climbed the staircase at the far end of the room. Both of us kept our mouths firmly shut until we had crested the stairs, and were well out of the sylph's den.

"That was degrading." I heard Sir Garik complain from between clenched teeth as we found ourselves on the next higher floor. "I was just an object..."

"It wasn't that bad." I responded, breathing a sigh of relief. The sylphs had let us go easily. I had expected to talk my way out of much worse.

"That bad? I'm a knight of the Order, Rezik! No one should treat me like a possession!" His voice raised a bit, and my ears immediately swivelled, checking for any tower inhabitants nearby.

"We might be heard, sir!" I really didn't want to have this conversation. I might end up saying something that I regretted.

"Let them hear, then." He was talking at normal volume now. "I can't take this tower any more. First sneaking in like an assassin, then my squire turned into an order-damned monster, being led around like a blind pup, and now being poked and discussed like a piece of chattel?"

A growl built in my throat as my knight finally goaded me too much. "It never bothers you when I'm treated that way."

"Rezik! Hold your tongue."

I spun and faced him, though I knew he couldn't see me well in the dark. "Why? Why should I hold my tongue?"

He glared down at me. "Because you're my..." I launched myself up at him, catching his shoulders with my front paws. He stumbled, then slammed back into the stone wall, with my formidable weight pinning him there.

"Because I'm "your" squire, right? Say it." My voice was a whisper, no more than a hushed growl as I leaned in towards his face.

He blanched, and his ears pinned back to his skull. "Rezik, I..."

"You're sorry. You didn't think." I let him go, and fell back to all fours on the ground. "I'm no less the wolf you are, "Sir"." I slurred the word, making him feel my contempt for his attitude. "And now, I'm even more. Stay, I have scouting to do, and we have a quest to complete." Without waiting for his reply, I stalked off into the depths of the tower.

---

"Sir, I've had mixed messages from some of our residents that a wolf's been spotted. A knight, no less."

Kerris Sel'Dar lifted his head, and his agile talons stopped their elegant scrawl with a quill across the half-finished letter on his desk. "Spotted? Spotted where?"

"Well, the Nik-Nik tribe that usually camps out in front of the tower has scattered without a trace, we found some bodies halfway down, and the sylphs say they've seen the wolf themselves." The speaker, a huge lizardman with colorfully painted scales, spoke simply, hiding any emotion or opinion from his voice.

"None of that's particularly out of the ordinary, Lir. There's only so much order we can impose here, and still keep our guests happy."

"Sir, one of the dead was Wringer."

"Wringer? That huge minotaur?" Lord Kerris' ear tufts fell, and he stood. He'd seen Wringer stop fights by just lifting the two combatants until they grew weary of trying to hurt him. "What does the report say?"

Lir closed his eyes, and rattled off from memory, "The gnoll that came to report said, "It was strange, sir, like there was a monster and a wolf working together. Half of 'em were slashed with a sword, an' half of 'em were crushed. I ain' seen nothin' like it." He didn't give me any other details, except that he was staying high in the tower until whatever it was had been caught." The lizardman opened his eyes again, watching the lord of the Black Tower impassively.

"Get a full five-squad, nets and all. Keep it quiet, I don't want anyone agitated. Make sure at least two of the squad are big, and all of them are smart. Lead it yourself, and find this disturbance." The gryphon rattled off orders quickly, walking towards the far side of the room.

"I hear and obey, sir." Lir stepped back and turned crisply, propelling himself out of the lord's chamber. Kerris walked quickly over to a small circle of stone standing vertical against the wall of his chamber, only as high as the gryphon's waist. It was dark gray in color, and the runes engraved into its sides were embossed in silver.

The gryphon stood unsure for a moment, then clacked his beak in agitation. He sat in front of the miniature Gray Portal and spoke, "Guardian, I seek your wisdom and guidance."

Like a malignant cloud, a thin trail of smoke curled itself around the edges of the stone circle. The smoke solidified, its form writhing until an onyx black serpent lay coiled in front of the portal.

"Lord Kerris." The snake acknowledged the gryphon's presence.

"Guardian."

"We have things to discuss..."

---

As I walked from hall to hall, I cursed myself as I went. "Stupid, stupid, stupid" kept running through my head. As we'd ascended, we'd found more and more of each floor of the tower inhabited, and now almost every room seemed to have signs of life, if not active residents. I wasn't careful, though, and I threaded my way between the tower's denizens without care for direction or the attention I drew.

A squire was respectful and proper at all times to his knight. I was marked indelibly as his, with the sigil, the scent, and the soul. Any mage or priest, on viewing me, would know for certain whose squire I was, and anyone with a nose could pick me out of a room if they knew Sir Garik. The sigil, though, that was a small dyed patch in my shoulder fur, and was left behind with my body at the entrance to the tower. Still, it wasn't just the trappings of the position that were important, it was the mentality.

I felt as if I'd leapt at full speed across a line I'd never before imagined even approaching. As I passed silently through a room full of sleeping kobolds, I wondered if it was something about my new form that had changed my mind, or changed my behavior.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I stopped. Was I different? Was I becoming a monster, as Sir Garik had so bluntly inferred? I sat on my haunches in the kobold warren and pondered. Around me, the faintly reptilian snores and hisses echoed hollowly in the room.

Suddenly, and without warning, a tight grip latched onto my tail. I spun, a growl building on my lips and claws extended from my over-large paws. My tail flipped and squirmed, but the grip tightened, holding my appendage hostage. Aggravated and ready to strike, I lifted a forepaw.

And saw, laying on its side, a kobold that had grabbed my tail. It was still asleep, and its uneven breath fluttered against the wispy fur of my tail. I paused, the growl dying in my throat. My tail must have strayed too close to the sleeper, and whether in dream or by instinct, it'd grabbed tight. I tugged at my tail, pulling it through the kobold's grasp, and its scaled hands clasped around air for a moment before they tucked back against the monster's chest.

The strange unease I'd felt ever since I'd entered the tower finally solidified, and I realized that here I was, a squire and apprentice Wolf Knight, in a room full of monsters. Worse, I was here, in a room of monsters I had no intention of killing.

Something inside my White Tower trained mind snapped, and I examined the claws on my altered body's paw. They were sharp, cruel weapons, better than any sword I'd ever carried. With a swipe of them or a snap of my jaws, each of these kobolds would be snuffed before they made a peep. I could dispatch this entire room without fear of endangering my mission, or that of my knight.

But as I lifted my forelimb for a mercifully quick blow, my eyes caught on a small contraption near the kobold's hands. A fabric pouch had been carefully sewn full of downy feathers and adorned with spindly legs and arms made of discarded debris. Its legs were bits of horn that gave the impression of sturdy trunks, while the arms were small, wooden forks that'd been rescued from a makeshift cantina. The fabric was faded and rubbed until it'd started to fray, and one of the rag doll's bead eyes had come free. I dropped my paw and backed up, looking around. To my left and against the wall, I saw two of the kobolds curled up together, one gripping the other's tail and murmuring in its sleep. A third was waking up, spreading its long snout in a rather crocodilian yawn, then smiled at me blearily.

No matter how deep my training at the White Tower ran, my rational mind and common sense ran deeper. These weren't monsters, they were people. Scaly, minute, and rather barbaric, perhaps, but people. I could no more kill them than I could take a sword to a hamlet of wolf villagers.

I fled the room, the realization stinging like a lemon squeezed into a wound. In a flash, I suddenly realized what the oracle, and later the guardian, had meant. As fearsome as Sir Garik's prowess in battle was, he would never make it to the top of the tower. We couldn't be more than halfway up, and we'd already been forced to slaughter an entire room of these... people. If he continued, it would be a slaughter. He and I would paint the walls of the tower red with blood until a creature large enough, skilled enough, or lucky enough, stopped our rampage. We couldn't hide forever.

But though we couldn't hide forever, without him, I had no need to hide. I could continue to the top, unimpeded and unharmed, and dispatch the Lord of this haven without needing to kill another innocent monster. The thought gave me a chuckle. "Innocent Monster." A contradiction in terms. It was the only answer, though, and to my mind and soul, the right one.

Now if I could only make Sir Garik see the wisdom of my plan.

---

Lir stalked through the passageways of the Black Tower with the cool confidence of a lifelong resident. Each labyrinthine switchback and dead-end was avoided with grace, five reptilian lizardmen of varied builds spread out in the wide corridor in his wake.

Lir held up his hand and sniffed, pointing down the stairs. A skink-like lizard scuttled forward and crept down the stairs into impenetrable darkness. Lir and his four other compatriots held completely still, patient and impassive as the stone itself. In a few moments, the skink slunk back, its body still mostly concealed by shadow, and made quick, jerky motions to Lir.

Silently, Lir motioned two hulking lizards forward. Each carried a bolo weighted net and snares, with a serviceable dagger hanging at their sides. They were females, and thus the largest and heaviest that their tribes had to offer, but they moved with animalistic grace, making no more than slight claw-clicks on the hard stone floor as they moved. The rest of the lizards, Lir included, descended the stairs after.

One of the two lead reptiles pushed at a wall at the base of the stairs, and it swung away with a bang as the entire group hurried through the entrance. One net flung out, weighted leather balls whirring through the air. The second hulking lizard struck out with a snare. In between them, a clanking and rattling wolf-like form stood transfixed, its motions wild and unfocused as if it were blind. In mere seconds, the snare caught at the wolf's sword, dragging it from the wolf's grasp, and the net landed neatly around the wolf's torso, weighted bolos twisting and tying together.

A steady stream of cursing echoed from the wolf, reaching a crescendo of strangled yips and barks as one of the lizards lifted the disarmed and entangled knight bodily over her shoulder.

The skink crept close to Lir. "Complains enough for a knight. Is a real one, yes?"

Lir examined the sword and shield that their captive had dropped. "Looks real." Without further comment, Lir handed the sword and shield to the other large reptilian female and followed them back towards the top of the tower.

The skink stayed behind for a moment, its eyes having caught something in the shadows. It squinted for a moment, and in the shadows of one of the corridors, a tiger the size of a small horse stood, watching with a stunned expression. The skink waved with an offhanded gesture, then scampered up the stairs to keep up with the retinue.

"Big cat was watching. Tiger. Looked like a dummie." The skink commented, and Lir gave a grunt.

"More newcomers showing up every day. Good thing we've still got enough room for them." Lir didn't take his eyes from the path they followed.

The skink squirmed a bit as he paced alongside the behemoth of a lizardman. Each of Lir's steps took him three of the skink's short paces. "I'll make room for him. Big cat, very pretty."

Lir let out an aggrieved sigh. "Latch, if you don't stop bending over for every new monster that arrives, your tail's going to fall off. Again."

"And Latch grow it back." The skink held his snout up pertly.

"So when your dick falls off as well, what'll you do then?"

The skink gave a quick wink, almost invisible in the dark corridor. "Latch see if he can grow that back too."

---

I had heard a bit of a scuffle as I approached Sir Garik's room. Quickly, I dashed the last few intersections, then turned to the room where I'd left my knight. I half expected to see Sir Garik standing over the slain, wiping down his blade. What I found, though, shocked me into a stupor.

In two quick motions, Sir Garik had been disarmed and restrained. Without even a grunt of effort, one of the reptile ambushers lifted the wolf over its shoulder and bore him up into the dark insides of the tower, through a secret door I hadn't seen until now.

I stood, torn in indecision. My instincts cried out to me to rush in and save my knight, but this wasn't just a little skirmish. The two behemoths easily out sized me, and their hides were clad in thick scales. I could dispatch the little skink, or perhaps the two thinner, lither ones carrying bows with blunt and weighted arrows, but the group of all of them wasn't a battle I could win.

As I watched, the little skink danced around a third large lizardman, who'd descended only after the wolf was disabled. The one that I could only assume was the leader bent and picked up Sir Garik's sword and shield, then disappeared back through the secret door. The skink paused for a moment, peering into the darkness at me. I caught a lightning-quick smile, and the creature's frilled hood lifted for just a moment, showing startlingly red coloration, before it dashed to follow its group.

In my indecision, it only just occurred to me that they didn't see me as an enemy. I could just follow them where they were going, and I'd be nothing more than...

The secret door they'd disappeared through closed with a soft "snikt". I rushed forward, but the opportunity had passed. None of my training had taught me how to search stonework for hidden catches, and nothing around the hidden panel appeared to be a "secret". I pushed and prodded here and there. Then I felt with forepaws around the edge of where I'd remembered seeing the door. I even pushed against it, and when that failed, rammed my head against it with a small head-start. Other than knocking myself dizzy, though, nothing seemed to work.

I huffed and panted, leaning my side against the closed secret door. There was a trick, obviously, but it was beyond my ken to find it. As I stood panting, though, it occurred to me that even though I had no idea how to open the door, one of the inhabitants of this floor probably would. With a frustrated snarl, I turned away and stalked back into the twisting corridors.

Now truly on the hunt, I felt aware of everything within the demnses. Faintly, to the left, I could hear a conversation hushed by the distance, while to the right, the soft scraping of wood on stone. A table or chair, I thought, being dragged. Ahead one intersection, then right, I heard a coughing laugh as another conversation began, adding to the quiet hum of activity that suffused the deceivingly bare corridors of the Black Tower.

I closed my eyes and focused, letting my natural camouflage blend me into the mottled shadows while I let the noise float over my consciousness. To the left, I heard gruff voices and the few words I could make out seemed to be describing a hunt. A jungle hunt, more precisely. No use, foreign hunters. I blocked out that passage and focused ahead and to the right. I heard the smooth babbling of multiple reptiles, and after a moment, my ears began to burn. They were discussing sex, and from the sounds of it, it was a topic they all shared intimately with each other. Again, I blocked that out as well.

Forward, and echoingly to the left, I heard a rumbling growl of a conversation. Just below the growl, there was a conversation about the tower. Something weird two levels below. Then, my ears picked up the word "wolf," and before I heard another word, I'd already started to prowl towards it.

Two corridors down, A pair of monsters was travelling in what appeared to be alchemical light. A large hyena-like canid was carrying the glowing orb illuminating the hallway. At his side stalked a smaller panther with three pairs legs sprouting from its lithe form, rather than two. I thought back to my learning, and the names popped up after a moment. A gnoll and a displacer. True to my memory, as the light flickered, I saw the panther's form shift and wave.

"I'm telling you, Hrral, I smelled a wolf here. I've smelled them before, and there definitely was one downstairs at that massacre." This from the displacer beast. I closed my eyes and let my ears work for me. It sounded like it actually was right next to the gnoll. Maybe the displacement ability was a conscious trait, or maybe the books I'd read were just exaggerating. I could sort out its smell from the surroundings, too. Definitely feline, even if it was a monster. And male. Definitely male.

"And I'm telling YOU, you flea-bitten pussy, you're crazy. A wolf in the jungle? You been sneaking into the nik-nik's secret mushroom stashes again?" They were facing away from me, and I was able to sneak closer. The gnoll's smell was thick in the air. My nose twitched. Female, definitely. I wrinkled my nose at the sharp tang, and found a place I could conceal myself in a darkened corridor across from where the pair squabbled.

The displacer beast mantled and let out a soft growl. "Hrral, the only reason you couldn't smell a wolf down there is because of your own rank stink."

"Fine, you want make that report to Lir? Then you're on your own." The gnoll gave a muffled grunt, then ambled down the hallway, away from the panther-like monster.

"Hrral? Get your tail back here, you mangy bitch! I'm not reporting alone!" The displacer beast held its ground as the hyena (and light) receded into the distance.

"And I'm not reporting that there's a wolf here. You're on your own." The hyena must have turned a corner, because the light suddenly extinguished, leaving the beast in the dark.

Seeing my chance, I struck. From my crouch, I launched myself towards the displacer beast, a growling roar building with the exertion of the pounce. Halfway to my target, as I was mid air, the panther-like head turned towards me with a expression of stark dread. With a faint shimmer, the creature seemed to the left, but I was ready for it.

It's a trick, I told myself, smoke and mirrors. An illusion. It is a monster, and it's not as it seems. I kept my head tilted to where the beast had been, and my forepaws forward. Half a second later, I slammed into a furry body, and the image of the displacer beast shimmered back to the invisible creature in my grasp. Air exited the beast's lungs as my pounce carried its front against the wall of the corridor, my superior size pinning it effortlessly. The rest of the creature lay below me, struggling under my weight.

Conscious that the gnoll may still be close, I kept my voice to a low growl. "You. You will lead me upstairs."

The panther's eyes were wide, and ears plastered back to his head. "Bu... but I..."

I let the growl rise. "That wasn't a question. You know how to get upstairs. Show me!"

The beast seemed to seize a little of his composure back. "Upstairs is just more sleeping areas, you don't want to..."

I slowly unsheathed my claws, pressing them into the shoulder of the pinned feline. I leaned on him, and his eyes began to show panic. "I do want to. And you'll show me the way." I felt hot blood on my leathery paw pads as my claws dug into his side.

"I... I can't..."

Frustrated, I latched my jaws around the displacer beast's neck.

"Oh." Its voice was almost mewling with fear. "I..." I let out another growl, louder this time. The beast's six legs scrambled beneath me, and I felt his body thump up against my chest and belly as he squirmed.

"I just..." His hips thumped against my my crotch. "Drakes, I'll show you..." Victory. I felt my lips pull into a smile, but before I could release him. I felt him squirm again. "Just take me..."

I let his neck drop from my muzzle. "Wait, what?" I tasted a faint bit of blood on my fangs. Not much, but I must have bitten just hard enough to draw a little.

"Oh, creator, just take me! Now!" He squirmed again, and I felt him push back against me.

It struck me in a moment of insight. The beast was excited by this! Was he really expecting me to...

"I'll help you, I swear I'll help you!" He whined, and tried to move under my pinning weight.

He was. His hind end bumped up between my hind legs, and his tail flicked up against my sensitive parts. I couldn't believe that the fear was giving him pleasure, that my rough treatment was driving his passion.

But where my mind failed, my new body naturally knew how to proceed. The heavy paws on his shoulders pushed harder, and my claws left red, angry lines down his pristine black fur. He let out a soft mew of pain, and his body shivered against mine. Slowly, my conscious mind caught up. He wanted this. He wanted to be used roughly. Worse, what came as a revelation to me, is that after the years of holding back and submitting myself under Sir Garik's tutelage, I wanted this too. After abject fear of death and rebirth, and hours of nerves and frustration climbing the tower, my body wanted this. And after this monster and his brothers took Sir Garik from me, I wanted to do this to him.

The growl that'd been simmering in my throat grew to a roar, and I clawed down the beasts side, leaving furrows in the black fur that quickly started to seep blood. My muzzle caught his throat again, and I squeezed. I felt his breath gasp in and out from between my teeth, and my tongue licked at a vein that throbbed with each beat of his heart. His tail thrashed between my legs again, and it almost surprised me to feel that it was rubbing against bare flesh. The cat's submission, total and without question, ignited my passion and fuelled my quickly rising excitement.

There wasn't any foreplay, and this wasn't a seduction. The beast thrust his rump against my belly and I responded by jabbing hard against him with my unsheathed weapon. My aim was off, and it slid low between his legs. It bounced off of his dangling jewels, then glided across his own needy length. He gave another mew beneath his breath, met by my answering growl.

I gave another stab with my hips, and I felt a moment of resistance before I slid into the beast's grasping heat. My orbs swang forward and jounced against my prey's own, while I ground my sheath against his abused hind end. Below me, the beast gave a stuttering growl of pain, and his tail tried to flip down between his legs, though my newly sheathed sabre blocked it. My fangs bit deep as I felt the feline beneath me squirm and writhe, and I tasted blood on my tongue. He couldn't, or wouldn't, escape, though, and his wriggling just excited me further, as the squeezing tunnel twisted and clenched around me. With a roar halfway between a cry of battle and victory, I tugged back, and began to hump.

Slowly, my claws dragged further and further down his back, until I was half-standing over his tented hips. He gave a shudder beneath me, starting to move. I gave him a warning growl, but he ignored me. With a snarl, I slammed one large paw into his back, pushing him to the ground cruelly. My hips gave another jarring thrust, and the feline twisted and writhed on my impaling spear. He let out a gasp, then a soft hiss of pain, but I was past caring about his condition. My rational mind had retreated and battened the hatches, leaving my primal lust and instincts controlling my every move.

With one weighty paw pinning his back, I pulled the other forepaw under his raised hips. His body shook with the impact each time I slammed myself against his rump, and my forepaw served to steady him as I speared deep into his tail end. I felt his own hot flesh bounce against my pads with each thrust, slapping against the thin fur on the back of my paw. After only a score of my frenzied humps, the feline beneath me went rigid, and I felt liquid splash against my paw.

I pulled my paw back and slowed my thrusts. White streamers swept across my black fur like a new set of stripes. I lifted my head and licked at them, and they disappeared on my tongue. It was bitter, and the sensation contrasted with the iron-tinted blood that already overwhelmed my taste. The cat beneath me gave another shudder as he climaxed onto the tower's stone floor. Better, his peak caused him to clench around me in slow waves, gripping like a fist.

I was nowhere near done with the beast, though. The sylphs had slaked my immediate thirst earlier, and it would take more than just a few quick thrusts for me to peak. As the cat let out a low, shivering yowl below me, I slammed my hips against his again. I lowered my front end as I humped, my mouth opening over his head. I licked at his muzzle, leaving his whiskers smeared with seed, mixed reddish with his own blood. His breath came quickly and his eyes were closed, and even though he'd just hit the height of his own pleasure, he still pushed his rump back against me.

"Rrassis? What are you... Oh." The smell of female broke through the haze of my lust, and I turned my head to look. Gazing at us, no more than ten steps away, was the displacer beast's gnoll companion. She'd stopped dead in her tracks, her muzzle open in surprise.

Perhaps it was the taste of the beast's blood, or something strange with my new body, or even some part of me that I'd never explored before, but instead of embarrassed or guilty, I felt proud. I lifted my hips, intentionally slowly for the gnoll's benefit, then slammed back into the displacer beast. He gave a low mew beneath me, and squeezed around my excitement. The gnoll took a few steps back, and I saw her indecision. One of her hands had slipped down to her waist, fingers below her loincloth. I gave another stiff thrust, answered by a yowl from beneath me, and the gnoll gave a colorful curse. She turned and stormed back the way she'd come.

Alone again, I turned my full attention back to my captured beast. I closed my eyes and buried my muzzle in the fur of his neck as I rolled my haunches, slipping back and forth in his shuddering rump. I gloried in the sublime feel of the tight ring sliding up and down my length, of the hot, furry body clenched and pinned beneath me, of the taste of him on my tongue. Time seemed to slow as I felt the passion rise, the cat's breath beneath me coming in ragged gasps like music to my ears.

The displacer beast went rigid again, and the added friction of the grip tightening around my pride drove my pleasure to a peak. My ears rang, and I tasted blood again as I bit down on the loose fur around his neck. My foreleg contracted, pulling him tight, and after just a few moments of exquisite ecstasy, my hips shuddered with the bliss of release. The smooth feeling of his grip around me went at once from velvety to silky, lubricated with my own fluids. A slight shudder passed over me, and as it reached my hips, all of my movement stopped.

As my heart slowed from its staccato beat, I felt the beast under me squirm in discomfort. All of a sudden, it struck me that I had bitten him hard enough to draw blood, and the floor was stained were my claws had cut. With a pang of guilt, I quickly backed up, dismounting and eyeing him sorrowfully.

"Em, I'm so..."

"Don't." He said, interrupting me. He crouched, then rolled onto his back, all six of his legs waving in the air. "Don't you dare apologize."

"But I... I didn't mean to..." I stuttered.

"Didn't mean to give me the best ride of my life? Mmm, I can still feel you in me, all smooth and silky. And... Ow." He shifted, avoiding the side where my claws had raked his hide.

"I really am..."

"I said, don't apologize. That was worth whatever it takes for those to go away." His voice was a low growl, like a waterfall heard in the distance. He swayed to and fro on his back, his own equipment flopping between his legs and spasming fitfully.

"Well, then I won't say sorry. But I'm not used to being so... Primal." Even with my tutelage, I was at a loss for the right words.

"Then you haven't spent enough time around your own kind, I'd think. What are you, anyway?" He flipped back up to all six paws, looking me over with obvious curiosity.

"Well, um, I'm a tiger." I answered lamely.

"Na, regular tigers aren't smart. I've met a few. They're crafty, but not talkers. Don't know what you are, then? Didn't your folks tell you?"

"No, I, well..." Lying had never come easily to me, but I obviously couldn't go into the truth.

"Oh, they didn't survive?" The displacer beast's ears fell, and he bumped his muzzle against me. "Don't feel too bad, most of the monsters here are missing family on one side or another. I was lucky that I knew my parents for most of my life."

"Then they're here?" I started hopefully.

"No, they were caught in our den by wolves. My sire was always careful to stick to the forests, since he couldn't shift like my dam and I could." His form slithered to the left, the "displacement" part of the displacer beast's lineage on display. The beast's shape shifted back to where I knew he actually stood after a moment, though, and he smiled at me.

"Your father couldn't shift? Oh, so you're not all displacer beast?" The idea of a hybrid didn't quite sit well with me, though I knew it was just what I'd been taught at the White Tower. Wolves with Wolves, foxes with foxes, rabbits with rabbits, mice with mice, and so on. Not that most of us paid attention to that part of the scriptures, but at least we were decent enough people to feel a little guilty when we strayed from the accepted pairings.

"No. No tentacles, see?" He dipped his shoulders, and it struck me that I'd forgotten that the normal displacer beast also had two long appendages sprouting from their shoulders. "My sire was a Rhaksha. Sort of a ghost-cat, though he was a solid as you or I."

"Look, I... Why are you taking this so well? I just attacked you!" The last came out as a blurted demand. I hadn't really intended to ask, but I just couldn't understand why he was so calm. Just moments ago, I'd had his neck between my teeth, just a little squeeze away from oblivion.

"Taking what so well? Okay, you were a bit rough, but I was asking for it. Did Hrral set you up to this?"

"This? Set me up for what? And who's Hrral?" I asked blankly. It's as if we were having two separate conversations.

"Hrral, that gnoll bitch that... Oh, never mind, if you didn't know her name, then she obviously didn't set you up. She's going to be angry that I won't be stopping by tonight. Rrr... So, if she didn't tell you to catch me and pin me down, who did? Chey? Lintor? Wringer?"

Slowly, my mind was catching up to what the displacer beast was implying. "You thought I was just looking to... to fornicate?" Again, the words fell from my lips long before my mind had decided whether they were a good idea. The shock caused me to revert back to my White Tower teachings, even though I knew from the last few hours that monster's didn't quite talk like that.

"Well, I think, yes." The beast answered bluntly. "Wait, you mean..."

"I'm new here." I quickly explained. This was about to become a disaster if I didn't quickly talk my way out of it.

"Oh." His feline ears fell, and his tail flicked down, as the realization that he'd actually been inches from losing his life just moments ago. "I... Right, I think I'll take that apology now."

"Then I'm sorry." I rushed, quick to cover the realization. "It's been a long climb, and I haven't had the most welcome reception..." Catch more flies with honey than vinegar, my instructor in diplomacy had once told me.

"I accept your apology. My name's Rrassis. Did you still need that guide upstairs? This place is a bit of a maze."

"Yes, if you'd be so kind." It occurred to me that if I'd simply asked, he would have done this for me to begin with. Even so, the idea of just walking up to a monster and asking directions still felt too strange for me to accept. "Oh, and I'm Rezik."

"Nice to know your name." He spun and walked away from me, muzzle pointing in the direction I'd come. I fell into step beside him. "You know, now that I think about it, you look a little like my sire, except that you're a tiger instead of a panther. Think you might be a Rhaksha?"

The sudden change in topic caught me off guard for a moment. Without thinking, I shrugged. "I just think of myself as a tiger." I thought for a moment. There was an opportunity here. "Although," I continued, "maybe there's some way to tell? Do Rhaksha have any special talents? Supernatural abilities?"

Rrassis chewed his lip as he walked for a moment. He turned right, heading back towards the room where I'd seen Sir Garik captured. "Well, my sire did have a trick, though he never showed me how it worked. He said I hadn't inherited the talent, so there was no point. He could do something so that for a few moments, it was as if he wasn't there. He couldn't touch anything, and nothing could touch him, except the ground. He could walk through walls, and arrows and swords would go right through him. Just for a few moments, though."

"Any idea how he did that?" It would be damn useful. At least I wouldn't be stopped by any more secret doors.

"None. He said it's sort of like how my dam and I displace. It's just something he does."

I thought for a moment, then stopped. After a moment Rrassis stopped as well, turning to me. He gave a broad smile. "Thinking what I think you're thinking?"

I nodded back and sat on my haunches. I'd never considered that this monster body might be more than it seemed, but thinking now, it seemed perfectly logical that if I was a "monster" that I'd have some monster-like qualities. Maybe Rrassis had it right. I thought and concentrated and willed myself out of existence, but I didn't feel any less corporeal. I put my paw against the wall of the tower, and felt cold stone under my pads.

Rrassis shook his head. "If my sire was right, then it's like displacing. It's sort of like a muscle you can move, but it's not attached to anything."

I squeezed and flexed, trying to follow the displacer beast's advice. I must have looked silly, because Rrassis gave an amused chuff. After twitching my tail and clenching my thighs, though, I felt a reflexive tug from something (it seemed to be some place in the middle of my back) that I could squeeze, but I didn't feel my body respond. With glee, I stood straight, and flexed.

Around me, the shadows exploded with colors. Shapes seemed to dance from the corners, small, gangly creatures made of the essence of darkness itself. They played and contorted as they crept from the shadows, dancing on their shadowy limbs with no hint of anatomy or the limitations of joints. They reminded me of puppets I'd seen in shows when the bird's circus had visited the White Tower in my childhood, dancing as if some invisible strings held them aloft.

I backed up, and the living shadows followed. The circled me, twirling and gambolling in a macabre dance that was more a parody of life. Watching them disturbed me on an instinctual level, almost horrified me.

Rrassis backed up, his eyes wide and black fur reflecting light from my direction. His face held the same grimace I'd seen earlier of anxiety and fear, but it was somehow more true, more real. I looked down, and saw that my white stripes were glowing, wisps trailing off of them like smoke. The light flickered on the walls and cast shadows from the sharp corners of the tower's corridors. As each shadow was cast, more and more of the little hellions were born of them, and they joined their brothers in their uncanny revelry around me.

Startled and scared, I relaxed the "muscle" that I'd been clenching, and the shadow creatures wisped away into nothingness.

"Rrassis, did you see little..."

"Shadows walking. Yes, I did. You're a shadow cat." I glanced at him, and his eyes were wide. His irises had dilated in abject horror, and his voice huffed around his clenched teeth..

"A what?" I asked. That's a monster I'd never read about. The name would have stuck with me if I had.

"Shadow cat. They... Err, "You," that is, can create creatures from shadows. we should bring you to Lord Kerris."

"So those things were under my control?"

He sighed, visibly trying to calm himself down. "Completely. They weren't actually creatures, but more extensions of yourself, if the stories are right. Come on, we really need to take you upstairs." Rrassis seemed nervous, his tail tip was constantly twitching about.

"Why the rush?" I asked, now a little suspicious.

"Shadow cats are dangerous. Really dangerous. Even the dragons avoid them when they can. I know you're new to this, so I wouldn't flex that muscle of yours again until you're really ready. Those... Those THINGS you can summon are..." He faltered, obviously at a loss for words. I stood my ground, waiting for an explanation before I took another step.

"They're what, exactly?" I asked sharply. I could tell he knew more than he was letting on.

"Look, I can't explain it. I'm not what you are. Drakes, I wouldn't want to be. Those shadow creatures you summon share a little bit of your soul and your mind. While you still live, they can't be killed, and they can't be stopped. Even the brightest light throws a shadow, Rezik."

Rrassis stopped for a moment, and my eyes followed him carefully. "There's more to this you're not telling me. I'm not budging from this spot until you say it." I sat my haunches down, ready to wait out the beast's words.

He gave me a funny glance. "Weren't you the one that was in a rush to get upstairs? What changed?"

I blanched. He was right. In the glamour of my new-found abilities, I had forgotten my goal. Sir Garik! He was still in the clutches of those lizards, and who knew how long he had? "Sorry Rrassis, you're absolutely right. Fine, lead on."

"Right, this way." The beast stood and started to walk again. His gait was strange with his six legs, and I found that even with my superior size, it was still hard to keep up with him. "I'll tell you anyway, though. We felines need to stick together." He turned to give me a wry glance.

"When I was a kitten, I met another shadow cat. He was a big tiger, like you, but his colors were all off. Black with royal blue stripes, if I remember. He stayed with us for a few nights; he said he was on a journey east, though he never went into details. One night, I asked him what he could do, and he did what you just did, made the shadows dance. 'They're my best friends and worst enemies, all rolled into one.' He said. 'They listen to my heart, not to my head.' I was a stupid kitten then. I tried to pounce on one of the shadows."

Rrassis stopped. We'd arrived in the room where I'd last left Sir Garik. My new companion lifted his left forepaw, and held it up to me. One side of the paw was gnarled and withered, like it'd aged far past the beast's own time. "This is my reminder of that little shadow."

I opened, then shut my mouth. There wasn't anything I could say to that, nodding mutely.

"Come on. If you're really new to this, you'll need someone to help you keep it under control, and Lord Kerris will have my hide if I don't report it." Rrassis turned tail and led. As he spun, his tail flicked under my chin, and I got a whiff of the feline's scent. He was afraid, afraid of me. Even more so than when I'd pinned him in the hall, now he had the stale stench of terror. I followed, while my mind spun. Just what had I been recreated as? What had I become?

Rrassis reached out and pushed a claw against a brick in the wall opposite where I remember seeing the secret door. The secret door swung wide on invisible hinges, and we began to ascend. As the panel shut behind me and we continued our trek to the top of the tower, I began to feel helpless, out of control. This wild quest we'd been sent on was slowly, inexolerably, growing larger than Sir Garik or I could have imagined. There were greater powers at play here than a simple knight and his squire.

I could only hold on for the ride and try to keep my wits about me. I only hoped, by the end, that we would come out of this alive.

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(Fin! Rezik, Sir Garik, and all the monster's they're about to slay are (c) Kandrel. Any resemblance to other characters is only incedental and unintentional. Reposting is permissable, however, all reposts must be in original form, and must contain the author's name unaltered.)

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