Change of Heart

like quicksilver, my body becoming energy, losing the memory of being mass, of being solid. Time became a continuous stream as I felt myself lifting, floating, becoming less a creature of the earth and more like one of the air. Only the chant of Logan's name tethered me down, my love keeping me from succumbing to the drop into oblivion. There came a wave of overwhelming, body-numbing exhaustion at the same moment I felt the first faint wavering of the inferno 214
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    roaring around me. Slowly, first in flying embers and twigs, then in an avalanche of roaring, consuming flames, everything began to drop out from under me. The mountain finally teetered, tumbled, and fell.
    My leap to safety was long, and I stretched my entire body out as the panthers attacking Logan were covered under a deluge of burning, falling wood. The screams were immediate; in the face of their fur burning off, Logan's attackers shifted back into men. People streamed from everywhere to pull them out as Logan came charging out of the flames. His fur was singed, his right shoulder showed exposed bone and muscle, and there were bloody paw prints where he had stepped, but he was whole, and he was still in panther form. That he was able to maintain his beast and not shift was a testament to his strength, and with Domin unconscious and the rest of his khatyu, his fighters, screaming in agony, it was Logan's clear victory. He was the undisputed champion, and it was there for anyone to see. He looked at me, but I nodded toward Domin, and he limped over to him.
    I ran to the first man who was being held down as he screamed. The burns were all over his body, dark and cracking, seeping with blood, but I bumped him with my paw and put my face over his. I shifted to human and then back to panther. I did it twice more before he stopped screaming and tried. He shifted slowly, and when he was a panther, he was badly burned, but when he went back to human form, the burns were better, not blackened and charred, instead red and blistering. His eyes were less wild, less crazed with pain, 215
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    and he nodded ever so slightly. The cry went up for the others to shift. They had no idea, and I was astounded.
    Werepanthers relied on their bodies to heal damage, but they never thought to help it along. The more we shifted, the quicker we revived. While most could not shift as fast as I, any morphing at all would help with their healing.
    As I turned away, there were whispers and murmurs, something about a reah, but I didn't hear what it was. I was tired, and moved to the side as Logan's tribe filled the floor of the pit. He was in human form, covered in a long, padded silk robe that Mikhail and Yuri had draped over him; his father was kneeling at his feet as he tied it at his waist. It made him look like a king, the midnight blue robe worn only by the semel of the tribe. He strode over to Domin, who was now down on one knee, naked and shivering in the cold, as he had returned to human form. He stopped in front of him, and Domin raised his eyes to Logan's.
    "My heart is yours. Take it quickly."
    Instead, Logan gestured with a tip of his head, and his father brought him another robe, deep red, quilted. After Logan took it, he settled it around Domin's shoulders. "The tribe of Menhit is gone. Your tribe will forever run with mine; you are now maahes, prince of the tribe of Mafdet, and you will be my emissary to others, my voice, my persuader, and my counselor for peace. Blood has been spilled; let there now be kinship between us."
    Dark brown eyes locked on gold ones. Logan just stared at him, and after a few moments, I saw the tears run down Domin's cheeks.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Will you take your place at my side?"
    If he did, he would no longer lead his own tribe. He would no longer be a semel; his sheseru and sylvan would be mere tribe members. Only Mikhail and Yuri would carry those titles.
    But as I looked at his sheseru, Markel, and the man I knew to be Domin's sylvan, and the others, all looking at him with astonishment on their faces, I knew that everyone wanted peace. They looked broken, struggling to hold back tears in red-rimmed eyes, their trembling bodies streaked with blood, and soot, and burns. Everyone was tired, everyone was in pain, and everyone wanted solace. The feud had gone on so long, Logan's father having fought with Domin's, but now it could be over if Domin could only