Jared crouched in the gorse bush, watching the light of the gibbous moon reflect off the glint of metal in front of the cave for a second before shaking his head. It was cold; too cold for a ten-year old boy to be out this late at night. Jared wore nothing more than a pair of short trousers and a light cotton shirt, which made him miserably chilled. Plus, the rain had fallen in the previous afternoon, so the soil underfoot was muddy as well as cold. Also, sitting among the prickly leaves of a gorse bush wasn’t a bright idea either.

The dark-haired lad endured all of the pricks and chills, and the unseen things making noises in the forest around him. He’d much rather face this than the wrath of his mother…if he lived to get caught later.

“Bother! You never did have much of a head,” he muttered to himself, repeating one of his father’s old scolds. Then again, Jared never had a practical head. Not that anyone could blame him these days, especially since everyone was afraid for their lives...what with a monster in the cave.

No one knew when it had come. In fact, no one knew it was even there at all until a liveried page came to the village with two of the King’s guards beside him. Unrolling a proclamation scroll, the page announced that the King’s best trackers had traced ‘a most hideous and foul creature’ to the forest surrounding the village. He then stated that a champion, hand picked by the King himself, would be arriving soon to dispatch the monster, post-haste…or whatever that meant!

Brushing the tip of his long nose, Jared snorted, and shifted slightly. “Fine lot that did.” Peering to the left, he glanced once more at the pile of half-charred armor plate…all that remained of the King’s champion. After that, another man came bearing letters from the King, dressed in leathers and furs of every shade and color. He announced himself as a world-famous hunter, and he promised that he would capture and kill the monster in three days.

The village men found him hanging in his own trap with a broken neck two days later.

Since then, life for Jared and the other children became like a prisoner’s camp. Shivering slightly, he remembered that morning just the other day, when the village elders spoke to the rest of the people. No one was to go into the forest alone. The elders strictly forbade any child from playing outside. Worse, when the sun set, everyone had to lock their doors and windows, and to stay inside. Under no circumstances was anyone to set one toenail outside at night.

By then, Jared had had enough. That very evening at supper, he asked his father what they could do about the monster.

“Do!?” Jared’s father quickly wiped up the spit soup from his tunic and thick beard before he looked at his son oddly. “What can we do? That beast has killed the best of any man there was in this kingdom.”

“But we cannot live like this for much longer,” Jared told his father crossly. “Afraid to leave our homes. Shut in at night like cows against a wolf. We need to do something!”

Jared’s father frowned. “And what do you think we should be doing?”

“Take care of the monster ourselves,” Jared replied. “It’s only one monster…and there’s plenty of people here to get rid of it.”

That made his father look at Jared as if the boy had suddenly sprouted three heads. “’Get rid of it’? As if it were a stray dog begging for scraps!?” His burly hand slapped the table, making the cups dance. “Boy! We are not cowards here, but if one man alone could not survive and encounter with that demon, what makes you think more of us could?”

“It’s simple enough. We could get the village men together and arm them. Then surround the beast and overwhelm it with sheer numbers,” Jared reasoned.

That made Jared’s father bristle. “Listen to me, pup! Any attack against that beast would be like letting lambs go to the slaughter. No,” he said, crossing his arms over his barrel chest. “We will find a more practical way to deal with it, and without risking our lives to do it.”

“But, Da,” Jared said, exasperated. “If you’d just listen-“

“Not another word, Jared! Leave the monster to the adults,” his father intoned.

That wasn’t enough for Jared. He went straight to the elders after that, hoping to convince them to take action.

All that did was make the elders angry, since it rankled them to have to listen to a _child_, telling them what to do. After several minutes of berating Jared for his words, the elders got up from the table and dismissed him, ordering him to get home before dark. One man added testily, “Since when do you presume to know what is best for us to do, boy? We adults will deal with this…you go home to your chores!”

Humiliated and further exasperated, Jared got more verbal lashings when he got home after explaining where he was. That earned him extra work to do come daylight, and a couple of smacks with a switch from his father. The only comfort he got was when his mother came in to tuck him in for bedtime.

“Now, Jared,” she had told him. Her honey-colored eyes twinkled in the candlelight as she looked at him fondly. “You mustn’t be so cross with everyone! They only do what they feel is best.”

“But, they do nothing, Mother! That monster ruins our lives…a-and all they can do is act like cowards,” he complained.

Chuckling, she smoothed his brown hair back from his forehead. “Ah, Jared… you’ve courage by the pound inside you. However, do not judge the others so harshly. If they thought they could, they would face the beast and free us…but that’s nothing for you to worry about. Tomorrow is another day, and perhaps the answer will present itself then.” She kissed his cheek, her dark braid falling over her shoulder. She then stood up to blow the candle out, and left him alone so he could get some sleep.

But sleep didn’t come to Jared. Staring up at the ceiling of his small room, he told himself someone had to do something...anything to restore harmony to his village.

So, there he was, sitting in the woods in a gorse bush, shivering and muttering curses on the monster, while he pondered what to do next.

“What can I do?” Reaching down, he fingered the small knife stuffed it into the waist of his trousers. After filching it from the kitchen as he sneaked out of his parents’ house, he made his way to the cave to think of a plan. “A knight in full armor didn’t kill it,” he told himself. The only other weapon with him was a small sling, which lay wrapped loosely around his wrist in case he needed it.

“Still,” he said firmly, “I’d better get something done, or else I’ll end up with one or two things; a cold or a drubbing when I get home.” Squaring his shoulders, he slowly stood up from his place behind the bush. “And if I’m going to get drubbed, it better be over something worth it.”

Deep inside the cave, Jared could barely hear much of anything over the sound of his wild heartbeat and his rapid breathing.

“Some monster killer you’re turning out to be,” he hissed, whispering to himself sharply. In truth, he’d never known another moment in which he felt more scared than just then. Inching along the uneven curve of the cave wall, he felt his way with an outstretched hand and foot. Mindful of the pebbles and rocks - and Lord knew what else was scuttling along the floor - he stared into the gloom ahead and prayed he wasn’t making the last mistake of his life.

The dank air felt stifling in his chest. Green moss clung to the rocks inside the cave, casting a muted, eerie light all around as he went further in. Somewhere overhead, unseen things skittered and chirped sleepily, while moisture dripped down into hidden pools and puddles.

“Wonderful,” Jared softly told himself. “If I were a m-monster…this would be like…h-home.” He started shivering again, since the air was colder inside that it was outside. Pausing to rub some warmth into his limbs, he looked back towards the way he had come, frowning. The thought of giving up bubbled up from inside the ocean of thoughts inside his head.

A sound, something scrabbling against a stony surface made him jump back a pace, fright surging through every muscle and bone. Backing away rapidly, Jared didn’t see the thigh-high rock jutting out into the passageway just behind him. Yelping, he tumbled backwards, rolling for a few feet before he smacked into another wall of rock, hitting it with enough force to lose his breath and his senses for a moment.

When he returned to himself, he groaned, “Mice!” Lifting up slowly, he felt his head for blood, and finding none he sighed. “Some hero I am…can’t even face a hideous beast without falling over myself.” Tucking his legs underneath to get back onto his feet, Jared stopped when he heard a noise.

Someone…or something made a whimpering sound, just on the other side of the rock.

“What in…” Peering over the edge of the rock, he caught sight of a pair of large, round eyes reflected in the light from the moss. Gasping, he ducked back down, but curiosity overrode his better judgment. His next look revealed…nothing.

“Hey? Where did you go,” he asked, looking around quickly.

Suddenly, the sounds of rock falling to the floor of the cave drew his attention away from his searching. A soft cry of pain followed this, adding to what sounded like tiny claws dragging over a stony surface.

Unconcerned about the threat of the monster now, he hoped over the rocks and started walking deeper into the cave. Pausing for a second, he gathered up some of the moss into a larger clump, gathering it together to make a brighter light. “Hello? Where are you…I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly, creeping forward with resolved purpose.

Holding his improvised torch out in front of him, he forced the shadows back…and revealed the source of the sounds. A small creature, no bigger than the barleyman’s dog, crouched frozen against the side of a good-sized rock. Covered in dark fur, it peered at Jared with its round eyes, whining deep in its throat as it continued to push at the side of the boulder with its small paws.

“Oh! Easy now…don’t be afraid,” Jared said calmly, crouching down to make himself seem less threatening. After looking at the creature for a moment, he half-smiled and said, “What a funny looking thing you are.”

The small…whatever canted a pair of pointed, tufted ears in his direction, wiggling its whiskers like tall grass caught in a brisk breeze. A fearful air filled its eyes, but it stopped digging at the rock.

“What’s wrong, huh?” Peering closer, Jared suddenly noticed its tail curling around the front of it. The long, thin appendage ended where the rock began. “Ah, I see…you’ve got yourself into a bit of a pickle, haven’t you?”

The thing suddenly cowed its ears, chattering loudly as if to scold him.

“Hsss! Quiet!” Jared darted his hand forward and clamped it over the creatures short muzzle, silencing it. “You want to let the monster in her know where we are!?” He held on for a few moments, listening for sounds of the monster, before he said softly, “Now…I can get this rock off of your tail, but you have to stay quiet. Qui-et! Understand?”

The thing gazed at him with an unblinking stare, but slowly its ears rose back up.

“I’ll take that as ‘yes.'” Letting go, Jared steeled himself in case he need to silence the creature again, but it just sat there silently. “Right. Now…” Reaching down, he placed his moss-light on the ground next to them, then he turned back towards the rock. Placing his hands down low, he dug in with his fingers, feeling for a gap to help him raise it up. Even though the edges pinched at his skin, he managed to work his hands through a small gap.

“Hold fast…here we go,” Jared said. Breathing deep, he tugged upwards with all his strength. His arms crackled with the effort as the muscled swelled up, making his thin frame look bigger than it really was. Panting, he nearly lost his grip, but the rough surface dug into the flesh of his palms at the last moment, making him wince. A trickle seeped between the knuckles of his left hand, showing that he’d earned a cut.

About to give out, he surged upwards with one last burst of strength. A scraping sound preceded the sound of the rock tumbling over, flying out of his grasp to roll away for a few feet.

“Ahh! MICE!” Forgetting the need to be quiet, he fell back on his rump while clutching his hands to his chest in pain. Stinging prickles raced along his flesh, while a sting of a different kind drew his pain-filled eyes to his bleeding hand, where a long gash lanced across his palm like a raw whipstrike.

“Maker, what do I do now?” Fearing for it becoming worse, he was about to raise it to his lips to try to stem the blood flow…

…when a pair of paws stopped him from touching his wound with gentle insistence.

“Huh?” Looking up, his eyes beheld the fuzzy creature, standing there with a look that was either one of animal curiosity, or one of nearly human concern. Chitters issued from its muzzle, sounding less like the scolding tone from before, as it dropped its nose to sniff at his hurt hand. A long thin tongue slipped out between its whiskered lips, lapping with infinite care at the gash.

At first, it stung like he'd forced nettles into the gash. However, Jared soon felt the pain ease. The blood soon ceased to flow, and - while the gash still lay open - it felt much better than it had after Jared let go of the rock.

“Well, strike me,” Jared said in awe, using one of his father’s common terms of disbelief. Holding his hand up, he flexed it slightly. It felt nearly as good as new. Peering at the creature, who was sitting back on its haunches while staring at him expectantly, the boy muttered, “You’re some kind of healer, aren’t you?”

The small beast chattered, as if saying something depreciable. Reaching out, Jared softly placed his good hand on its ruff, tentatively giving it a scratch like he would any dog in the village. This caused the creature to stiffen slightly, but it soon leaned into Jared’s attentions, making a murring sound of content.

“Now there’s a good… lad, I hope?” Jared inched forward cautiously, not wanting it to suddenly dart away in fright. In a moment, he had it crouched between his outstretched legs, giving the beast’s fur a real good rubbing. The creature waved its long tail in a lazy ripple, issuing a full-strength purr as it turned and rolled on the ground, making sure Jared reached every available spot.

Jared smiled at his new friend. “You’re a nice beast, aren’t you?”

The beast emitted a noise that sounded like a cross between its purr and a soft cackle.

“How did you end up in this place, I wonder,” he asked. “After all, it’s not safe, you know? There’s a monster in here…monster!” Stiffening, Jared suddenly looked up, the tense fear from before returning with a vengeance.

The beast looked up with concern, seemingly displeased that Jared had stopped, giving the dark-haired boy a murring whine.

“Hss!” Jared suddenly noticed something he hadn’t seen before; there, across from where he sat lay a long, rumpled shape, casting a muted shadow from his moss-light. Scooping up the moss, he raised it up to view his discovery in a better light, and immediately wished he hadn’t. The shape was a large, scaly, misshapen skin. All gray and muted green, it had remnants of what looked like a long ridge of spines. A part that obviously had been a foot lay exposed on top of another rock; complete with cast-off talons as big as an ax head.

“Oooo…mice!” Dropping the light, Jared bent down to pull his furry friend into his arms, wrapping one hand around its muzzle once more. Without another word, he turned back towards the way he’d come and started walking…

Outside, Jared moved as silently as he dared, until he and the beast were some distance into the woods. When he was sure that he was far enough away, he clutched his charge tightly to his chest and ran.

The sudden movement brought a bark of protest from the beast, now free from its imposed silence to make itself heard.

“Be quiet! We’ve got to get away. Once we’re back in the village,” he reasoned, “We can be safe.” Heedless of the branches slapping against his face and arms, he plunged on through the foliage. Every other step brought him closer to his home, but every step of the way brought him face-to-face with branches, slippery rocks, prickly plants and other nuisances.

Suddenly, the creature let out a piping shriek. Twisting in his grip, it tried to get away from him.

Forced to let go, Jared opened his arms, staring as the beast hit the ground on all four paws. “Wh-what’s got into you!?”

The creature turned to face him. It’s dark eyes glittering as it seemed to chatter a string of nonsense sounds.

“What are you trying to tell me? I…I can’t understand,” Jared muttered.

The beast moved close to the boy, reaching out to pluck at his trouser leg with one paw, while seeming to gesture with the other forepaw in the direction of his home.

Jared stared off towards the familiar glow of his village. “What, you…you don’t want to go to my home?”

The small beast bobbed its head several times.

“But, why? It’s the safest place to be…safe as any with that monster prowling around,” Jared said.

The creature chittered again, bolting away for a few steps in another direction before stopping to look at Jared.

Understanding started to flower in Jared’s brain. “The village…it’s not…safe for you to go there?”

Again it bobbed, walking away for a few more steps before pausing again, making more sounds at him.

“Do you…want me to follow you,” Jared asked hesitantly, “to…somewhere, out there?” Turning his gaze towards his home, Jared started to wonder: what was he getting into? What would his parents do if something happened to him?

The critter just stood there, swishing its tail from side to side while it kept watching him intently.

Sighing, Jared shrugged, “All right, you strange thing, all right! I’ll come with you…but not too far, mind you! I mustn’t worry my Da and Mum.” The beast said nothing, but it seemed to smile - must be the moonlight playing tricks, Jared thought - before it turned away and trotted off. Forced to follow, Jared jogged through the trees, trying to keep it in sight.

Surprisingly, they didn’t go far. The creature led him through a few small thickets, and before too many moments had passed they both emerged on the back of a small river. He recognized it as the he one his father often fished in when Jared’s mother pined for something other than beef or pig. Here, the water gurgled and trickled, making soft melodies among the scattered stands of river reeds and standing stones. Moonlight reflected off the surface, twinkling like rhinestones his mother wore in her holiday shawl.

Jared blinked, coming to a stop on the stony bank just a beat behind his fuzzy friend. “Hullo? Why did you come here?”

The beast just sat next to him, staring at the eddies in the water, making the soft cackle-purr Jared heard back in the cave.

“Well, at least you sound happy,” he commented. Stepping away, Jared walked for a few paces along the bank. He’d never been by the river alone, much less at night. Breathing deep, he smelled the clean scent of the water, mixed with the smells of the plants and the flowering trees behind them.

Sighing, he added, “It’s marvelous here…you know?” Talking seemed to further ease his feelings about being in this place. “Mum never cared much for the river. Always talking about how dangerous it was…how you could drown, or get swept away when the rains came. Too bad she couldn’t see it like this. It’s rather nice. I could come to like it like this.”

“That’s rather nice of you to say so, boy.”

With a start, Jared nearly leaped into the water at the sound of that strange voice. Whirling around, he stumbled back from the bank before calling out, “W-Who said that!?”

That cackle-purr preceded a reply, “I did. Look, down here.”

Doing as he was bid, Jared stared at the small creature in wonder. “D-d-did you…s-s-s-“

“Speak?” The creatures' eyes now gleamed with a silver light as words - not sounds - poured from its mouth, borne on a very rich, feminine voice. “That I did. And I thank you for not taking me back to your village. Going there would have been the death of me, for certain.”

Jared felt the hair on his neck stand up as he took a small step backwards. “W-why…why didn’t you speak inside t-the cave, when I tried to free you?”

The creature brushed one paw over its whiskers. “Forgive me,” it chuckled, “but, that seemed to be the best thing to do, since I didn’t know what your intentions were.” Shaking its head with a snort, the creature explained, “I’ve had to deal with humans hunting me for weeks, since I became separated from my tribe. Those last two that tried made me scared that your people would try to attack me while I slept. So, I chose this form to hide until the furor went away.”

Jared’s curiosity got the better of his fear. “I…don’t understand.”

The creature cocked its head sideways. “You’ve never seen a Zerindi, have you? No, you haven’t, and it shows.”

“A Zerindi? What are they,” Jared asked.

“It’s what I am,” the Zerindi stated. “We’re shifters…that is, we change our forms to suit our needs by shedding our skins.”

“Then,” Jared said, a look of wonder creeping over his face, “you’re magic?”

“Of a kind. Actually, we get that from our ocean-dwelling cousins, the selkie,” the Zerindi said with a sigh. “Humans think they can control us like the selkie if they take our skins, but that’s not true.” She sat back on her rump, curling her tail around her hind feet as she went on. “So, we hide as best we can, or become some larger creature to keep hunters at bay.”

“Wait…” Jared dropped down to sit next to the creature, his eyes bright with questions. “Does that me you’re the monster plaguing our village?”

A sharper cackle bubbled up from the Zerindi’s throat. “Heaven’s no! It is true I did assume that drake’s form to deal with that man in metal skins - a knight, I think you call them -- but I’ve been hiding in this form you see now.” She looked down at her furry body and laughed softly this time. “Something I pulled together on the run…but, it works rather well.”

“Except for the tail,” Jared remarked with a smile, before he fell into a frown again. “But, if you’re not the monster, what has been attacking all the villages?”

“Oh, that’s mostly wild wolves and other creatures,” the Zerindi stated. “But, since the King’s been hunting me, I think he used the excuse of a ‘monster’ to gather aid from the other humans. Just make sure I couldn’t hide in any one place for too long.” She canted her head back to look up into Jared’s face. “You know, it’s rather refreshing to speak to one of your kind like this.”

“But, why did you risk speaking to me just now,” Jared queried. “I mean, if my people are always hunting you and yours-“

“Oh! Well…I guess it’s because you had the courage to come into that cave back there,” the Zerindi said at length. “Plus, you didn’t try to kill me when you saw I was trapped.” Snorting, she couched her ears at the memory. “That was my mistake, trying to climb those loose rocks to get away.” With a flick of her ears, she seemed to smile at Jared again. “Besides, when you saw my cast-off skin, it was sweet of you to think there was still a ‘monster’ about…”

Ruefully, Jared ran a hand through his hair. “So, you kept quiet…just to humor me?”

The Zerindi looked at Jared squarely. “Until you started back towards your village. But, it’s something my people do from time to time; humoring some of the humans we come across.” With a giggle, she added, “It’s one way to play games!”

Jared had to laugh along with that. “Well, now what happens?”

“Well, I was planning to head down the river when everyone stopped chasing me,” the Zerindi said with a sigh. “My tribe usually travels in the lowlands, where this river crosses, so I should meet up with them soon enough…it wasn’t that long ago that I was separated from them.” Reaching over with one paw, she patted Jared on the arm. “I thank you again for helping me back there.”

“I…I’m glad I could help you,” Jared replied. “But, what will happen when everyone realizes there’s no monster?”

The Zerindi started to walk away, speaking over her shoulder to say, “Well, since none of the King’s men can see me leaving, they’ll assume I might have died in that cave. Or that I could have vanished off into some other part of the land.” Pausing, she added, “Eventually, this will pass, and your village will be free to return to its normal ways.”

Jared nodded, trying to absorb this.

Looking at him again, the creature said pointedly, “I think you might want to go home now. I feel dawn will be here soon enough.”

Jared suddenly leapt to his feet. “Mice! If Da catches me like this, I’ll be switched for certain!” Turning away, he ran for the edge of the forest, stopping only when something struck his mind from out of the blue. “Oh, bother!”

“What is it?” The Zerindi looked at him with a puzzled gleam in her eyes.

Spinning around, Jared asked, “What do you look like…I mean, really?”

The Zerindi cackle-purred. “Oh, that is a secret known only to us Zerindi, boy!” Tilting her head, she thought for a moment then added, “But, there is a way that you might find out…”

Jared’s face beamed. “Really? How?”

“Since you had the courage to face that which you didn’t know, this is the how of it,” she replied. “Come back to this river every year, at this time.” Looking up at the moon above, she closed one eye in thought. “Follow it down into the lowlands, until it flows across the flat plains. My tribe sometimes rests there during our journeys from where we hunt and bring our young into this world. If you still have the courage to do so, wait in the tall reeds and remain still and silent. It’s when the world is quiet that my people are the most at ease with letting our true forms show.”

Jared’s mind absorbed what she said. “Will you be there as well?”

“One can never tell, young human,” the Zerindi replied. “If I am, you will know me. If not, well…” Shaking her furry head, she said pointedly, “That is for another time. For now, you must go home. Tomorrow should be a big to-do when the monster is discovered gone from the cave.”

Nodding, Jared grinned. “They might find your old skin, you know? Perhaps father and the others will use it to tell the King the monster is dead.”

The Zernidi chuckled loudly. “Oh, now that would be something!”

Jared laughed too, before he raised one hand to wave at his new-found friend. “Goodbye, Zerindi. I’ll look for you next year, I promise.”

“Farewell, boy,” she replied. “Live well.” Turning away, she picked her way along the rocky riverbank, waving her tail behind her before she darted into the reeds, and was gone.

Jared watched the place where the creature vanished for a moment more. A delighted shiver ran through him as he realized what he had done…then a thought popped into his mind like a clap of thunder. “Oh, mice! I really need to get home!”

Darting away, he shot back into the trees and headed for home. The sound of his dirty feet echoing through the trees, while the first light of false dawn began to lighten the eastern sky…

THE END

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