Keller felt stricken and at the same time furious at her own helplessness. She was in charge here; she should be heading Winnie off.
But she was a shapeshifter like Galen. And along with the ability to transform and the exquisitely tuned senses, they both shared something unique to their race.
The guilt of the shapeshifters.
The terrible guilt that went back to the ancient days and was part of the very fabric of Kellers mind. No shapeshifter could forget it or escape it, and nobody who wasn't a shapeshifter could ever understand.
The guilt was what held Galen standing there while Winnie yelled at him, and held Keller unable to interrupt.
Winnie was right in front of Galen now, her eyes blazing, her body crackling with latent energy like a small but fiery orange comet.
"Who woke that dragon up, anyway?" she demanded. "How do we know the shapeshifters aren't up to their old tricks? Maybe this time they're going to wipe the witches out completely-"
"Stop it!"
It was Hiana.
She planted herself in front of Winnie, small but earnest, a little ice maiden to combat the witch's fire. Her nose was pink and swollen, and she was still wearing those teddy bear slippers, but to Keller she somehow looked valiant and magnificent.
"Stop hurting each other," she said. "I don't understand any of this, but I know that you're not going to get anywhere if you fight. And I know you don't want to fight." All at once, she flung her arms around Winnie. "I know how you feel-it's so awful. I felt the same way when Grandma Mary died, my mom's mother. All I could think of was that it was just so unfair."
Winfrith hesitated, standing stiffly in Diana's embrace. Then, slowly, she lifted her own arms to hold Iliana back.
"We need her," she whispered.
I know. And you feel mad at the people who killed her. But it's not Galen's fault. Galen would never hurt anybody."
It was said with absolute conviction. Hiana wasn't even looking at Galen. She was stating a fact that she felt was common knowledge. But at the same time, now that she was off her guard, her expression was tender and almost shining.
Yes, that's love, all right, Keller thought. And it's good.
Very slowly, Winnie said, 'I know Galen wouldn't. But the shapeshifters--"
"Maybe," Galen said, "we should talk about that" If Winnie's face was pinched, his was set in steel. His eyes were so dark that Keller couldn't distinguish the color.
"Maybe we should talk about the shapeshifters," he said. He nodded toward the kitchen table, which was still strewn with the parchments. "About their history and about the dragons." He looked at Diana. "If there's any chance of-of a promise ceremony between us, it's stuff you ought to know."
Iliana looked startled.
"He's right," Nissa said in her calm voice. "After all, that's what we were doing to start with. It's all tied together."
Keller's whole body was tight. This was something that she very much didn't want to talk about But she refused to give in to her own weakness. With a tremendous effort, she managed to say steadily, "All right. The whole story."
"It started back in the days humans were still living in caves," Galen said when they were all sitting down at the kitchen table again. His voice was so bleak and controlled that it didn't even sound like Galen.
"The shapeshifters ruled then, and they were brutal. In some places, they were just the totem spirits who demanded human sacrifice, but in others..." He searched through the parchments, selected one. "This is a picture of a breeding pen, with humans in it. They treated humans exactly the way humans treat cattle, breeding them for their hearts and livers. And the more human flesh they ate, the stronger they got."
Iliana looked down at the parchment scrap, and her hand abruptly clenched on a tissue. Winnie listened silently, her pointed face stern.
"They were stronger than anyone," Galen said. "Humans were like flies to them. The witches were more trouble, but the dragons could beat them."
Iliana looked up. "What about the vampires?"
"There weren't any yet," Galen said quietly. "The first one was Maya Hearth-Woman, the sister of Hellewise Hearth-Woman. She made herself into a vampire when she was looking for immortality. But the dragons were naturally immortal, and they were the undisputed rulers of the planet. And they had about as much pity for others as a 7. rex has." "But all the shapeshifters weren't like that, were they?"
Iliana asked. "There were other kinds besides the dragons, right?"
"They were all bad," Keller said simply. "My ancestors--the big felines-were pretty awful. But the bears and the wolves did their share."
"But you're right, the dragons were the worst," Galen said to Iliana. "And that's who my family is descended from. My last name, Drache, means 'dragon.' Of course, it was the weakest of the dragons that was my ancestor. The one the witches left awake because she was so young." He turned to Winnie. "Maybe you'd better tell that part. The witches know their own history best."
Still looking severe, Winnie thumbed through the parchment scraps until she found one. "Here," she said. 'It's a picture of the gathering of the witches. Hecate Witch-Queen organized it. She was Hellewise's mother. She got all the witches together, and they went after the shapeshifters. There was a big fight. A really big fight."
Winnie selected another piece of scroll and pushed it toward Diana.
Diana gasped.
The parchment piece she was looking down at was almost solid red.
"It's fire," she said. 'It looks like-it looks like the whole world's on fire."