Charac, wearing dark clothes and holding a long knife, came out of the castle and paused, scanning the ground. In his human form, Kerial had left no trace on the ice-hard snow, but where the panther had slipped through the trees, pine needles had fallen, clear as writing on the snow. Cerrita watched Charac notice them; then he bent to creep under the branches, following Kerial’s trail.
_No._ Even in her bodiless dream-state, fear spiked through her. She fled ahead of him, into the forest. She must find Kerial"warn him to keep his panther form until Charac had given up on finding him and had returned to the castle.
Unhindered by the crowded trees, she sped after the panther, following unerringly, as if by scent. And now she caught sight of it: slinking under the low branches, ears pricked, alert to every sound and smell of its hunting ground.
Except to her.
Cerrita’s hands, stretched out in warning, passed through it as they had through the trees. Her voice went unheard. The panther stalked on, then paused and sank silently to the ground, every hair aquiver. Ahead moved a pale shadow"a deer.
Paw after stealthy paw, the panther crept forward, eyes eager green slits. If it killed now would it _change_ immediately? Would Charac see Kerial’s transformation"find out the secret?
Cerrita shrieked at it, straining to make Kerial hear her, but the words remained soundless.
From behind them came a soft patter of falling needles. The panther’s head whipped around.
Charac came through the trees.
The panther’s eyes blazed. She could hear its thoughts: _Prey. Bigger than the deer._ And a frightening undercurrent: _If I kill him now will it not be his fault, not mine?_ It moved toward the man, its upper lip drawing back.
What would it do to Kerial, if he killed Charac like this? If he fed on not just animal blood, but human? Cerrita poured her whole self into her frantic cry"
_"Kerial!"_
Somehow, it heard her. Its ears twitched toward her, then it moved to slink away into the darkness.
Too late. Charac’s knife flashed out. He took a step toward the panther, cutting off its retreat.
A low snarl rose in its throat. It sprang. As Charac fell backward the knife moved, vicious and swift.
A spitting snarl, a yowl of pain. Then Charac scrambling desperately back, bleeding all over his face and neck, his knife lost in the darkness. The panther a motionless shape against the snow.
And she was dragged away, sucked back through the forest, branches slashing down in front of her eyes. She was struggling to get back, screaming useless warnings, she was...
... she was awake, bolt upright in the empty dark of her room. Somewhere out there Charac was wounded, maybe bleeding to death in the unforgiving night. And Kerial"Kerial could be dead.
_A dream. A nightmare, born of your divided loyalties._ But it was a long time before she slept again.
