Feathers of the Hawk Chapter 11

Yes, it's way overdue, it's way too short, it's a cliffhanger again. Sorry.



When Kahu entered the stables again, Eyolf was waiting for her.
"And?"
"Can you ride a horse?"
"No, why?"
"I don't want to tell you right here. It's kinda confidential, though Niall did expect that I had already looked at the documents." Kahu as if the suggestion alone had offended her.
"What, you didn't?"
"Oh, shut up before I send the monsters of the first Hell after you."
"They'd never listen to you."
"Shut up." They both grinned. "Anyway, we still have to leave."
"What's wrong with running as wolves,  or flying as hawks?"
"I can't find my way if we fly, and I've never been able to run as a wolf before. But it's a good idea. Follow me." Kahu shifted and ran away, through a small gap that they had to squeeze through, into the forest that lay behind Skye Manor. After a mile or so, she stopped in a small clearing. It was evening at that moment, but Eyolf knew, instinctively, that the clearing would look the same way as it did then at mid day. 
"So, what was that about?"
"That letter we gave Niall."
"Yeah, what was wrong with it," pressed Eyolf.
"It warned about an upcoming attack by the weres."
"No!" Eyolf looked panicked, which  was completely justified. The weres, werewolves and –cats, were very dangerous, because for them it was easy to create new ones of their kind. A shapeshifter had to reproduce as if it was a human – but a were could just scratch or bite you so that you'd heal and be a were – or die. And to make things worse, the were-change was dominant over the shapeshifter change. Once you'd been bitten by a were, you'd never be able to shift into something else. Only now, far away from Niall's eyes that were set upon finding a weakness in Kahu, she let the fear she felt run out.
"Yes. The weres. But that was not what was wrong with it."
"What was wrong, then?"
"He already kn – " A twig snapped under someone's boot, and Kahu stopped talking immediately.