Of Feathers and Fire

Prologue
Elizabeth ran. She ran as fast as someone who had given birth merely five hours ago could run.

She cradled Ethan gingerly- her precious little child, the light of her entire life. She hadn't known her bond with the him would be so strong when he was brought into the world only five-or was it six now?- hours before.

Then again, his birth had brought multiple surprises.

Ethan was a boy, for one, despite all the priests saying he was going to be female. But that was the least of the surprises.

He was a Shifter. A Dragon Shifter, to be exact.

Shifters were people who could change from human to a certain creature. They were fairly common- though Elizabeth was a normal human, her husband, Matthew, was a Wolf Shifter. They always kept one trait of their creature in human form, though. For Matthew, he had grey hair following his spine down his back. Ethan had sharp little claws on his fingers.

Recently, their kingdom, Mithar, was in a devastating war with the neighboring kingdom, which was larger and had more forces. In a desperate attempt to not be crushed, they started capturing and selling all of their Shifters as slaves to the other kingdom. So far, the other kingdom had not attacked after this deal.

But when the doctors had tried to take her child to sell, she had refused, saying she wanted a day with him before he had to go. The doctors had reluctantly agreed, and she had escaped while they were all away.

She hugged Ethan closer to her chest. "It'll be okay, little dragon." She had just come up with the nickname, but it felt like she had called him that for years. It felt right.

She realized she had run into a forest- the Anarchia Forest, probably, because the canopy was thick with Elderdew leaves, and how the trees were gathered close together. "Perfect." They wouldnt be able to find her in her- at least, for a very long time. And Elderdew trees were easy to cut down, for they had hollow spaces in the middle where they stored water, so she could make a house for them. She smiled and kissed Ethan on the forehead.

"You're home now, little dragon."