Prologue pt 2

Elaine

"The amount of time it would take to train her could be the entire length of her punishment sentence, so no I reject your proposal. Plus she doesn't deserve the honor of being a pet to one of our elite before she is punished for what she has done. I suggest, we simply keep her in a dungeon and torture her while repeatedly healing her. She would learn her place well and by the time her sentence is up she will be submissive enough to serve her betters appropriately without the extensive training you put your products through." Another masculine voice interjects and his suggestion makes my body start to sweat. As my vision gets clearer, I'm able to see the various groups of people standing and sitting on the tiers.

Another man opens his mouth to speak when he is interrupted by an elderly stern looking man.

"Dane, enough. It is late and I do not wish to draw this matter out any longer than is needed. Now stand the child up. This gathering is already quite informal enough." The elder commanded the guards with the stamp of his cane on the ground. The guards reached down and pulled me up til I was on my feet. Everyone could tell I was barely managing to stay standing even with the guards keeping their hold on me.

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" I request hoping that a show of manners would get me the answers I seek.

"Hmm, maybe the child truly attacked and tried to murder the priestess in error. She doesn't even appear to be aware of the situation. I don't even think she knows about her change." The high priest commented thoughtfully from his seat next to the stern looking elder. He appeared to be analyzing me and his comment made me take a look at what I could see of myself externally this time. My fingers were a bit longer and my nails appeared to have changed into claws. I think I might be a few inches taller but I can't quite figure out if that is the case or my equilibrium is that messed up. My hair that is falling over my shoulder looks longer and seems to have even more volume. My head does feel really heavy now that my mind is clearing up more. I thought it was the drug making my head feel heavy. I apparently have changes I can't see right now or feel due to my arms being restrained.

'Solstice, do you happen to know anything about any changes to my head?' I ask in hopes my familiar can enlighten me.

"Horns"

'Excuse me, what do horns have to do with any changes to my head?'

" You have horns coming out the sides of your head now."

'What! I have horns now? Do I have a tail and a third eye too?'

Silence met my question. I pondered on if I indeed may have a tail or third eye when my addled mind finally caught on to what the high priest had said about my conflict with Selina. My brow furrowed in confusion.

"There is a misunderstanding going on here. I didn't try to kill anybody."

My legs chose this moment to give out which motivated the stern looking elder to send for a chair. A short wooden bench big enough for two people was brought over. The guards roughly pulled me up and placed me onto the bench. Two guards stayed near by with a hand each on one of my shoulders.

"Adele, you are being accused of espionage and attempted murder of Selina. You attacked her so badly, we were only able to heal her quickly because a healing priest was near by when she ran out of her suite screaming. I knew you may have changed after all these years but I never would have expected this of you. Who have you become? Why would you feel the need to harm her?" My first adopted mom, Avena, asked with a very dramatic sad face. She was sitting on the opposite side from the group of seven robed elders. Her tone was so filled with disappointment and dismay.

"You have got to be kidding me. I'm not a spy. What or who would I even be spying for? I arrived yesterday and most likely at the same time as all of you.When would I have made contact with anyone? On top of that who would I have contacted? I didn't know anybody here! Nothing is making sense." I muttered and started getting lost in my head again. 

'Whatever Selina dosed me with seems to be really potent since my skill is taking so long to clear it out. I feel things are starting to get foggy and disorienting for me again.'

I barely suppress the urge to throw up. I look down at the ground and just breathed until the urge passed. I can vaguely hear people speaking softly amongst themselves. I'm only catching every few words and I still can't figure out if this trial will be put on hold while they investigate the accusations or if they will move forward with sentencing me based on what ever story they were told. My mind and vision have become stable again so I observe and listen to everything while I'm coherent. I now notice that there are some people missing that I thought for sure would be here.

'Where are the others? Do they know what is going on or have they deemed me guilty already so they felt there was no need to show up to this trial? I truly would have expected the trio to at least show up.'

I felt an intense possessive gaze upon me so I looked around to figure out who was looking at me with such eyes. It was Selina. Now that she had my attention her stare changed to one of sadness and pity with a hint of helplessness. That expression being directed at me as if this is all my fault caused rage to build up inside of me. "What the fuck, Selina? You know what really happened and you know I tried to . . . I did not try to kill you. Tell them the truth!" My hold on my mind was slipping again. I felt frustration at losing my train of thought in the middle of my rant.