The stars were beginning to appear in the young night sky. Tamir was quickly becoming quite dark, and Cassima was having a hard time making her way through the meadows without stumbling over rocks or tree roots. Although the idea of leaving Tamir had crossed her mind several times, something told her that she hadn't found out everything there was to discover about this land yet. It would be hard to explore it with nothing but the stars to light her path, though.

She recalled Edgar's advice about becoming a wolf, which was beginning to seem more and more promising with every awkward step she took. She could barely see a thing now, and the night was just going to get darker. She had to become a wolf.

True, the panther could see in the dark as well, but Cassima didn't want to try out the panther shape just yet. There was something about it that made her a little edgy when she read its description on the ancient piece of parchment, something that invoked visions of ferocity and unpredictability. Somehow a wolf didn't seem nearly as wild and untamed – perhaps it had something to do with the wolf being kin to the dog, and after all, the island she was born on was populated by a species of dogs that walked and spoke like humans.

She spoke the word "Lupus" and was once again on all fours with large, pointed ears, thick black fur and a tail. The landscape around her had become five times as bright, and she could hear and smell a hundred different things around her that were undetectable to her as a human. She began making her way west, listening and smelling and taking in all that had been previously hidden to her. As amazing as it was, she could easily see how a keen sense of smell and sharp hearing could be a burden as well as a blessing – strong odors and large crowds would be unbearable.

She continued though the cool grass towards the seashore, then suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. The cabin that she had noticed shortly after her arrival was occupied. A yellow light shone through its windows. That cabin hadn't been occupied when she had first seen it. Had its owners just returned home? If they had, why did they have such a bright light on inside? The cabin appeared to belong to a fisherman, someone who had to work hard to support his family and therefore get plenty of sleep…why would he have a light burning at this hour? It didn't seem right to Cassima. Her human and animal instincts both told her that something was amiss. She had to figure out what was going on inside that cabin.

A horrifying thought suddenly struck her: What if Shadrack was in there? Icebella had said to look for Shadrack in warmer lands, and the wiseman had indirectly told her to go to Tamir…did this mean that the sorcerer was here now? Cassima shivered and backed away from the cabin, trying to find a safe place where she could gather her thoughts.

A sudden rustling in the bushes behind her made her whirl around in shock. She didn't see anything for a moment, but presently there was another rustling and she saw several leaves stirring in the undergrowth. Cassima cautiously crept closer to the bushes, and was just about to try sniffing them to see if she could identify whatever was hiding in them by smell, when something long, furry and white leapt out of the shrubbery with a squeal of terror, then prostrated itself before her.

"Mercy, mercy, mercy, O mighty carnivorous creature!" it squeaked. "Don't eat me!"

The madly trembling creature resembled a weasel, but in some ways it seemed different. It was white, but it had black on its paws, around its eyes, and on the tip of its tail, plus a curious ring of eight black spots on its back.

"I wouldn't eat you even if I were hungry," Cassima reassured him, hoping that this creature could understand (and more importantly, believe her). "Who are you?"

"I am Augustus the ferret of Tamir, Wolf!" the little creature said, brightening almost immediately. "And what is your title?"

So he could understand her. Apparently the charm let her communicate with all animals while in an animal's form, not just the species of the creature she had changed into.

"I…I'm Cassima." Cassima replied.

"CassimaWolf?" Augustus asked curiously. "Beasties like you are not indigenous to Tamir. Did a traveler bring you here?"

"No…actually, I'm not a true wolf."

Augustus looked fascinated by this. His little eyes grew huge.

"Oooh…a half-and-half?"

"No…"

"One-third?"

"No…"

"One-fourth?"

"No, no," Cassima said, beginning to grow a little weary of Augustus's inquisitive inquiries. "I'm actually a human. I've just temporarily taken on the appearance of a wolf."

"Woah," Augustus said, obviously impressed. "You're something else, CassimaWolf. But why are you that way?"

"I'm trying to find a dark sorcerer named Shadrack. I was told to look in Tamir, and I think that cabin over there may be a good place to investigate."

"And you thought that a ferret like myself could assist you?" Augustus asked.

"Yes…I suppose."

Augustus nearly bounced up and down with delight.

"All right! Come with me, CassimaWolf!" he cried. "We shall sneak up to that cabin as stealthily as snakes! On your belly!"

He flattened himself against the ground, and Cassima tried to do the same. She was still having a difficult time getting used to this body.

"Now follow me," Augustus hissed. "Slowly, mind you. Slowly…"

He slunk through the grass, heading west. Cassima awkwardly crawled after him. Soon, the cabin grew near. However, Augustus led her to a large clump of bushes several yards away that provided a perfect hiding place for them. Peering just over the top of the low shrubs, Cassima could clearly see the cabin's door. From here, she could also make out voices coming from within the small house…at least two voices, both of them men's. Her heart leapt as the door of the cabin suddenly opened, and out of the cabin came…

A small, fluffy, white dog.

As Cassima was staring confusedly at the dog, a dark figure slowly stepped through the doorway after it. It was a man of an average build, his features hidden by a hood. He moved slowly but deliberately, stopping a few feet outside the doorway, apparently breathing in the night air. Stumbling after him came another man who was thin, lank, and quite unsure of himself. He had scruffy gray hair and large ears, and was wearing a long, patterned robe. The little dog began padding around the two men's feet and sniffing the ground.

"Listen," the thin man said in a very nervous voice, rubbing his hands together anxiously, "I don't think your lord's plan would be safe for either of us. Unless there has been a major breakthrough in magic in the years I've been out of touch with the rest of the wizarding world, it's never been done before by anyone that lived to tell the tale, and as famous as you say you are, you wouldn't be remembered for very long if you attempted it."

"I have my reasons for this, fellow wizard," the hooded man said in a voice that sounded as cold and harsh as the northern ocean. "If my lord wishes revenge for what that runt King Alexander inflicted upon Brother Alhazred, I want nothing more than to fulfill his needs."

Cassima's shock at realizing that the hooded man had to be talking about Shadrack and was therefore a servant of him quickly changed to rage at the way he had spoken of Alexander. She glared fiercely at the hooded man, trying to make out his face.

"Hey!" Augustus spat from his position just to her left. "CassimaWolf! Keep it down!"

"What?" Cassima said flatly, her eyes fixed on the hooded man.

"Stop that! Do you want them to hear us?"

Only then did Cassima realize that she had unconsciously been growling under her breath. Embarrassed and a little mortified that she had come close to betraying their presence to the men, she abruptly went silent.

"I am pleased that you were able to get rid of that fisherman and his wife at least for tonight," the hooded man continued, "And I would like to discuss the remainder of my mission indoors, if you please."

"Yes, friend," the thin man trembled. His companion entered the cabin while he stood out in the night for a few more moments, wringing his hands and muttering to himself. Then he shuffled into the cabin as well, followed by the dog, which, judging by how it didn't follow the hooded man inside, was probably his. He gently shut the door behind him.

Cassima contemplated the situation. The hooded man had to be an agent of Shadrack's, unless there was another wizard eager to take revenge on Alexander for the blow the Black Cloak Society had been dealt.

He was also apparently a wizard, as was his lean, nervous companion…and why was that poor man conversing with a servant of such a dark sorcerer? He had probably been forced to do so, possibly by Shadrack himself. But why did the agent want to speak with him? What was going on in that house?

Cassima crept out of the bushes and carefully crawled towards the cheerily lit cabin, with Augustus skittering along beside her. She halted by a stack of firewood piled against the cabin's wall, stopping just below the window. Then, with all muscles tensed in preparation for a hasty retreat, she approached the front of the house, and was startled to see a thin sliver of light cutting through the grass. The light was coming from a slit between the door and its frame – the door hadn't been shut completely. The tiny crack seemed to be the only way to gain access to the cabin's interior.

"How am I going get in?" she wondered out loud in a faint whisper.

"I bet I know how, CassimaWolf," Augustus said.

"You do?" Cassima asked, looking at the little ferret.

"Yeah…"

Without warning, Augustus began shouting in a loud, raspy squeal:

"HEY YOU PIGS, LET CASSIMAWOLF IN! OR SHE'LL HUFF AND SHE'LL PUFF AND SHE'LL…"

"No I won't," Cassima said quickly, involuntarily bristling with surprise and horror. The terrified look on her face was enough to silence Augustus immediately. Fortunately, there was no commotion from inside indicating that the men or the dog had heard the ferret. To them, Augustus' threat must have sounded like nothing more than the squeal of a wild animal.

"Sorry, CassimaWolf," Augustus said shamefacedly. Cassima sniffed irritably at the ferret and turned her attention back to the problem of entering the house. If only she were small enough to squeeze through that crack. She would have to be pretty small, though…what animal would be small enough to fit through there? Or, to be more precise, what animal that she was capable of changing into would be small enough?

Finally, Cassima remembered the lizard shape on her charm bracelet. If she couldn't fit through that gap as a lizard, she would never fit through it. As she was preparing to recite the word from the Old Language, she suddenly remembered the warning on the parchment:

"It is advisable to try not to stay as an animal for long periods of time or change from one creature to another consecutively."

Although Cassima was making a valiant attempt to follow the directions and warnings on the parchment to the letter, she just couldn't risk changing into a human before changing into a lizard now. She might attract the men's attention, or at least the dog's. Besides, who could say how much longer those men would be doing whatever it was they were doing? There was little time for her to contemplate the soundness of her decision, and even less time to actually do it. She took a few steps away from the door.

"Stand back, Augustus," she whispered, shutting her eyes. "I'm going to change into a lizard to sneak into the cabin."

"Wow," Augustus wheezed. "You can transform yourself?"

"Yes. But keep quiet, Augustus."

"All right."

"Laceteilia."

Cassima felt a rush of air as the world around her seemed to increase in size a hundredfold. After the strange noise that accompanied the transformation had stopped, she opened her eyes and immediately felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. The cabin towered above her like a sheer cliff wall, and the grass around her was nearly as tall as she was.

Turning her eyes away from this strange new world, she examined the two thin-fingered "hands" that her paws had now become. She had five long fingers on each one, almost like the hands she had as a human, except these hands had nothing that operated like a thumb. The skin on her hands was covered with fine, black scales, which grew progressively larger further up her forelegs. This was the third form she had taken that had turned out to be completely black. Were all the forms this color, or was the charm incorporating traits from her human body – her hair color, in this case – into her animal shapes? There was no way of knowing for sure unless a different person used the charm, Cassima decided. The rest of her body was pretty predictable, since she had seen lizards before and knew what they looked like: a somewhat flat body, oddly jointed hind legs, and a long whip of a tail. She was also still wearing her headdress, though it had shrunk to fit her much smaller head.

Then she noticed Augustus, and almost screamed. Augustus was now more than twice as big as she was, looking like a huge, furry, whiskered monster. He gazed at her with his huge beady eyes and opened his mouth, which was lined with sharp, irregular teeth.

"Great snakes!" he whispered. "That's some talent you've got there, CassimaWolf."

Cassima sighed with relief.

"Thanks," she replied, still shaking a little. Her voice sounded fairly normal, but the tiny teeth and the pointed tongue in her mouth were a bit difficult to speak with. "I'm going in now, Augustus. If I need your help for anything, I'll signal you."

"I have a natural knack for creating loud distractions, CassimaWolf," Augustus said proudly. "If you need such a thing, just say the word. I'll be waiting here."

"Yes. Thanks."

Cassima crawled forward – the only available form of locomotion in this body, it seemed – and was soon at the base of the gigantic door. The tiny crack had become just wide enough to let her slip through, which she did so with ease.

The inside of the cabin was a cavernous chamber. A colossal stove and a huge set of shelves took up the wall to the left, while an enormous trunk and a table with legs bigger than the biggest tree trunks took up the wall to the right. Dead ahead was a large barrel with a small lamp perched upon it. The two men were sitting on crates on either side of the barrel, and sitting in front of it was the dog.

Even through its eyes were invisible beneath a thick mop of white fur, it was clear that the animal had seen Cassima. It scrambled to its feet and raced towards her, barking frantically. For a moment, Cassima was too frightened to move, then her instincts kicked in and she sped towards the only refuge she could find: the space between the trunk and the wall. She moved just in time. A heartbeat later, the dog had crashed into the door, slamming it shut. As Cassima was catching her breath, a huge white paw with enormous gray claws came scrabbling around the trunk's corner. The dog must have seen where she had gone, and it seemed dead-set on catching her, or at least inflicting some serious pain on her.

Cassima scurried away from the paw as fast as she could, looking desperately for somewhere where the dog couldn't reach her. Then she saw the table leg. It was rough and irregular, just the right texture conducive to climbing. Cassima crawled to the massive piece of timber and grasped at it with her claws. They gripped the wood snugly and showed no signs of slipping. Cassima would have smiled if her face hadn't been so rigid. With claws, scaling this table leg didn't seem daunting at all.

Clambering up to the tabletop was a bit more exhausting than she had anticipated, but the fear of being killed by the dog kept her moving. When she was finally at the top, she looked down to see the dog still pawing at the space behind the trunk. She smugly chuckled to herself, then turned to examine her current location.

The table was positioned directly under the window, and she could see the dark forms of Tamir's forests through it. On the table itself were a variety of odd implements: a spool of thread the size of a boulder, a large blue ceramic flowerpot with a twiggy plant growing out of it, a fishhook, a rook from a chess set and a letter which didn't mention Alexander, Shadrack, Alhazred or anyone else the agent had spoken of. None of these objects seemed like the sort of things a sorcerer – let alone a dark sorcerer – would have in his possession. Then Cassima remembered what the hooded man had said about the thin man's "getting rid of" the cabin's occupants, a fisherman and his wife. That would explain the fishhook and the thread (which might have been fishing line, it was hard to tell at this angle), and the letter was probably to or from a correspondent of the couple. Cassima didn't know what that rook was doing on the table, but she had little time to mull over such a trivial matter.

Peering over the edge of the table, she saw that the dog had apparently lost interest in her and returned to the barrel where the two sorcerers sat. They appeared to be talking, but it was difficult to make out what was being said between them. There appeared to be a pile of papers on the top of the barrel they were at, but Cassima couldn't tell anything more than this from her less than optimal vantage point. If only if there were a higher place where she could spy on them from…

She glanced at the behemoth flower pot, then backed up and craned her neck to look at the plant in it, which bore several fig-like fruits and many sparse, flat leaves. If Cassima could somehow climb up that plant, perhaps she could see what the men were doing more clearly. It was worth a try.

However, unlike the table leg, the slick surface of the flowerpot was impossible to climb. She had to find another way up. She didn't have any materials with her that could aid her in such a task, but a quick sweep of the items on the table gave her an idea. She crawled over to the spool of thread, pulled out several inches of thread (which seemed more like several feet to her from this perspective), and after a few seconds of apprehension, bit the line off with her teeth.

She then approached the fishhook, which seemed twice as large as a scythe, and with a small amount of trial and error with her stiff scaly fingers, tied one end of the thread to it. She then turned to the flowerpot, gripped the fishhook as well as she could, and with all her strength, flung it into the air, towards the rim of the flowerpot. The hook snagged the rim perfectly and stayed there. Cassima had a bit of trouble grasping the thread, but she eventually succeeded in climbing it and making her way to the top of the vessel.

The tree-sized plant in the flowerpot was surprisingly easy for Cassima to scale. She clambered from branch to branch, making her way to the highest and most stable limb. She then paused to survey the cabin from her new location.

From here, she had a much better view of the sorcerers. The first man was still wearing his hood, but Cassima could barely make out a brown beard sticking out of it. His companion looked more nervous than ever in the light of the lamp, and Cassima didn't blame him at all. There was an evil aura around this man who referred to Shadrack as "my lord".

The older sorcerer pointed to the papers on the barrel's top with a quivering finger.

"So these are your lord's plans?" he asked.

"These are the plans," the agent replied in his icy voice. "I am certain you can advise me on the soundness of them, although I'm afraid the magic used to encrypt their writing is a bit advanced for a wizard like yourself, who indulges in piffling pseudomagic items like exploding cigars and invisible ink."

"Now see here," the sorcerer said, becoming a little vexed at this insult, "I served as Court Magician to my kingdom's rulers for decades! Don't patronize me like that again, you hear?"

"I do."

"Good," the older man said, becoming nervous and insecure once again, "But would you mind reading me some of the plans, so that I might get a better sense of what scrambling method in particular that you used?"

"Of course," the agent replied.

He began to rifle through the papers, which were covered with oddly fragmented symbols that Cassima doubted she could make heads or tails of even if she could see them clearly. As he was shuffling the plans, one sheet of paper slipped out from the pile, turning over and over in the air before landing several feet away from the men's makeshift table, almost halfway to the cabin's door. The hooded man muttered something about picking the sheet up later, and began to read from a paper that he had picked out of the mess of plans and reading from it in a strange, muffled language that was just as incomprehensible to Cassima as the papers themselves.

The queen tried to make sense out of what she had just witnessed. The plans the agent referred to had to be plans that Shadrack had for carrying out his scheme. Perhaps the agent was trying to recruit this other wizard's help to aid Shadrack, or was merely seeking the man's advice – the older sorcerer did seem fairly intelligent, even if he was a bundle of nerves at the moment.

She stared at the paper that had fallen out of the pile and was now lying unnoticed on the floor. If she could get that paper and decipher it somehow, perhaps she could gain an insight into Shadrack's plan, giving her an advantage over him. However, there were four problems that stood between her and the paper: Numbers One and Two were the two men, Number Three was the dog, and Number Four was the closed door, which Number Three had slammed shut when it had lunged at it. There didn't seem to be any way of getting past all those obstacles…

…Unless she had help.

She quickly descended the plant, jumped from the top of the flowerpot to the table, and scurried to the window. There was a hole in it which was large, but not large enough for Cassima to fit through. That didn't matter now, though. What mattered was making herself audible to the one she hoped was still waiting outside…

"Augustus! Augustus, where are you?" Cassima hissed as loudly as she dared through the hole in the windowpane. After a few tense moments, a familiar white shape darted into view.

"I'm right here, Cassima…er…Lizard," Augustus said, panting slightly.

"Well, come up here! I don't want to be heard shouting like this by those men."

"Yes, CassimaLizard, yes."

The ferret scurried up the pile of logs to the base of the window.

"I have a problem," Cassima whispered, once he was near enough.

"Yes?"

"There's something in here that I need to get, but I can't get it without those men seeing me. I need a diversion."

Augustus grinned a toothy, whiskery grin.

"No problem, CassimaLizard. I'll have them out of your way in no time."

With that, he bounded down the logs and disappeared into the darkness. For a moment, nothing happened and Cassima began wondering whether something had happened to him, but then a harsh, shrill voice came floating through the still night air. It was Augustus. He was screaming – no, singing. It was a vaguely familiar tune horribly twisted by the ferret's inability to carry a tune and less than pleasant singing voice. Cassima finally realized what song Augustus was singing, and direly wished that she hadn't. Of all the songs he could have chosen to murder, he had chosen "Greensleeves."

"Alas, my looo-ove, you doooo me wrong, to cast me off discourteouslyyy…

And III have looo-oved you ohhh so long, delighting in your companyyy…"

Cassima cringed as the opening lines of the song reached her ears. Suddenly, there was a noise from behind her. She whirled around and ducked behind the flowerpot to avoid being seen. The older sorcerer had leapt to his feet, his large eyes flicking from side to side in alarm.

"Greeeeensleeeeeeeeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delii-i-iight…"

"That noise!" the sorcerer squeaked. "What is that?"

"You're asking me?" the agent said fiercely. "I thought you were the one who got rid of all potential troubles here!"

The men seemed to be quite alarmed at the sound of Augustus's singing, but Cassima couldn't fathom why. To a human, the sound would be nothing but a loud series of squeaks. Perhaps these men could understand the language of animals – it would make sense, since both of them were sorcerers.

Greeeeensleeeeeeeeves was my heart of gold, and who but my laaady Greeensleeeeeves…"

"I know, I know," the older man said wretchedly, "But whatever that thing is, I certainly didn't notice it when I first arrived…"

"It had better not be someone capable of interfering with my lord's plans. Let's go see what it is."

The agent rose to his feet and walked toward the door, with his companion close behind him. After they had opened and stepped through the door, Cassima held her breath for a moment, letting it out in a relieved sigh as the older sorcerer once again failed to close the door completely. Unfortunately, he had failed to take his dog with him. The scruffy beast was still beside the barrel. It appeared to be sleeping, but with that huge mop of fur on its head, it was difficult to tell.

Knowing that Augustus's horrible singing wouldn't keep the men distracted forever, Cassima decided to risk climbing down the table leg and making a dash for the paper, then the door. It was a move that was almost certain to fail, but that letter was the only thing that might help her save Alexander.

She shinnied down the leg closest to the paper and cautiously peeked out from behind the leg at the door and the dog. She froze when she looked at the latter. The dog wasn't asleep. It wasn't entirely awake, but it definitely wasn't asleep. How could she possibly reach the door – let alone the paper – now? Her mind raced as she tried to come up with some way of escaping.

Then it came to her: an idea that started as a memory from her childhood. When she had been trying to catch lizards as a young girl, she had grabbed a lizard's tail and it had separated from its owner and started wriggling wildly while the lizard itself zipped away. Startled and confused, she had told her mother what had happened, who told her that that was a trick that lizards had which helped them get out of trouble – their tails came loose easily, and for a few seconds, they would have a life of their own, providing an effective distraction for whatever was trying to catch them.

Cassima then remembered the parchment's section on lizards, and how losing a tail had no effect on the charm bracelet's wearer. Together, these two memories gave birth to a plan which would hopefully let her escape the cabin in one piece...more or less.

Cassima twisted around and placed her hands on her tail, pressing down on it with her hind feet as well. Gritting her teeth, she lunged forward with all her might. A sharp pain blazed up her spine, and she lay motionless before realizing that she had successfully parted company with her tail, which lay writhing and twitching beside her in an unsettling manner.

With a quiver of nausea, she picked it up, peered around the table leg at the dog, and tossed the flailing tail in its direction. Instantly, the dog was awake and on the tail like a shot, trying futilely to stomp it into submission. In the same instant, Cassima scurried up to the paper. Deep despair suddenly filled her. The paper was twice as long as she was. How could she hope to make off with it?

Then she recalled what had happened to the wolf statuette she had found in the Serenian mountains. Would the same thing happen with the paper? She grabbed hold of one corner and tried to shove it under her headdress. The paper immediately began to decrease in size until it was as small as a kernel of corn. Relieved, Cassima slipped it under her headdress, spun around and ran as fast as she could towards the barely open door. She never even looked back to see whether the dog had noticed her or not. She just kept running and running until she had made it through the door.

Once Cassima was outside again, she ran around the corner of the house and ducked into the pile of logs. Augustus was still singing, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly where he was. Then she heard his voice coming closer and closer before stopping at the same clump of bushes she and the ferret had originally spied on the cabin from. She sped towards him as quickly as she was able, considering the throbbing pain at the base of her spine. She dared not look at her self-inflicted amputation.

When she reached the bushes, she couldn't see Augustus at first, but when she looked up, she saw him perched in the branches of the bushes above her head, currently going through the second verse for the fifth time:

"If you inte-end to beee this wayyy, it does the more enraaaapture meeee…"

"Augustus!" Cassima hissed. "You can stop singing now!"

Augustus did, then stared down at her, looking quite put out.

"Oh?" he squeaked. "Why?"

"Because I'm out of the house, and I don't need a diversion anymore!"

"Ohhhhh," Augustus said.

"Let's go somewhere more sheltered before those men find us," Cassima panted.

"I know a nice clearing in the forest," Augustus said brightly, jumping down from the bushes and landing uncomfortably close to Cassima. "Want me to take you there?"

"Please."

"Then hop on," Augustus said, wriggling his hindquarters and twitching his tail.

Cassima hesitated, then leapt onto the ferret's back. Augustus scampered off into the woods at an astonishing gait, and it was all Cassima could do to keep from being thrown off. In the space of a few seconds, they had reached their destination. Cassima gratefully slid off of Augustus, who was once again looking inquisitively at her.

"Say, CassimaLizard, what happened to your tail?"

"It was needed elsewhere," Cassima said flatly, quickly changing the subject before the ferret could ask her any more questions on that topic. "Augustus, I want to thank you so much for helping me."

Augustus grinned amiably.

"No problem, CassimaLizard."

"Actually, it's just Cassima," Cassima said. "And I think that I should show you what I really am before I leave, since you have done so much for me. Stand back."

Augustus lithely hopped back several feet.

"Okay. Why?"

"You'll see," Cassima said with a smile. "Andros."

Instantly, the trees and shrubs around her began to shrink as she returned to her former size and form. After recovering from another brief bout of dizziness, Cassima found herself crouched on all fours in the cool grass, with the much less fearsome-looking Augustus gaping up at her with eyes as big as saucers.

"Woah!" he yelped. "You really are a human, CassimaHum – I mean, Cassima."

"That's right," Cassima said. Suddenly it dawned on her that although she was a human now, she was still communicating with Augustus.

"Augustus…why in the blazes can I still understand you?"

Augustus rolled his eyes.

"It was Genesta."

"Genesta?" Cassima asked, rising to a kneeling position.

"Yeah. She's this fairy that lives on that island towards the west. Flies around with a huge pair of butterfly wings, has a lot of long fur on her head – like yours but yellow instead of black; you'd know her if you saw her. She was strolling through the woods one day accompanied by those teeny tiny fairies that follow her wherever she goes, and one of the little things gets caught in a spider's web. Why it didn't cry for help, I have no idea, but I couldn't let the poor little fluttery thing get its insides sucked out by a spider, so I clawed the web around it loose so it could escape.

"Apparently, it told Genesta about what I did, because soon she shows up and taps me with that sparkly stick of hers. The next thing I know, I can suddenly talk with humans…and fairies, dwarves and pretty much anything that walks on two legs and looks like you. She tells me she gave me this 'gift' because I deserved to be rewarded for my kindness."

Here he shrugged.

"But this gift of mine hasn't exactly been much of a help to me. Sure, it's fun insulting the dwarves and scaring the fisherman and his old lady, but I can't really do much else with that fairy's little reward."

"You know, I think you might have done something tonight," Cassima reflected. "I wouldn't have been able to do what I did tonight without your help."

The ferret shuffled uncomfortably, and if it was capable of doing so, it would surely have blushed.

"Aw, you're just saying that," he grinned.

"I'm not," Cassima said gently. "I think you've used your gift very well, Augustus, and although I'd love to talk with you some more, I really need to be moving on. Thanks again."

Impulsively, Cassima reached out and petted Augustus on the head. Augustus stiffened, but didn't appear frightened or angry. Instead, he just stared curiously at her for a moment or two.

"Ah…sure, Cassima," he finally said. "Sure. Bye-bye."

With that, he scurried off into the bushes. Cassima couldn't help snickering a little to herself as she watched him leave.

Cassima stood up and took the sheet of paper that she had risked her life in obtaining out of her pocket and examined it. Finally, after so much aimless wandering, she had finally succeeded in uncovering something that could help her solve the mystery of Shadrack. Unfortunately, the paper was covered with a bizarre jumble of markings that looked more like a random mess of lines than any sort of language. This paper wouldn't be much help to her unless she could find a sorcerer capable of deciphering it.

She put the letter away and began contemplating the situation she was currently in. With Shadrack's agent and his potential accomplice nearby, this land wasn't safe to be in any longer. She had to leave, but where would she go? She had no idea which land she ought to visit next, and she doubted anyone who could advise her on which way to go would be up at this hour.

Then she recalled what that man Edgar had said about the Impossible Mountains. Somehow, the name sounded almost like a challenge to Cassima. She had accomplished several things the previous day that might have been termed impossible by others…perhaps these mountains were just another accomplishment waiting to be achieved. There was also that strange vision she had as she neared Tamir…that vision of the oasis beyond the mountains. She felt strangely drawn to that oasis, and if crossing the Impossible Mountains was a step necessary to reach it, then so be it.

She began heading east, through the thick forests, stumbling with the same clumsiness she had experienced earlier that night. However, her eyes soon became accustomed to the dark, and after several minutes, she found herself at the base of the Impossible Mountains.

A rough path seemed to be the only way of ascending the craggy peaks, and Cassima gratefully took it, picking her way carefully along the narrow trail. Perhaps it would have been a sound idea to become a wolf again, but she had just assumed the shapes of two different animals consecutively, and she didn't want to risk changing into one of them again so soon.

After several strenuous minutes, she was above the treeline. The moon had risen, and was casting its pale light across the barren mountains. Cassima continued up the path until a large heap of boulders blocked her way. The pile was too enormous and dangerous to attempt climbing, and the steep, rocky cliffs that surrounded her and stretched off into the east looked equally perilous.

Steep rocky cliffs…she had heard that phrase before…no, she had read it before. The guide to the charm bracelet. Which form did it say was ideal for climbing steep rocky cliffs?

The goat. Of course. It wasn't a very appealing animal to transform into, but if Cassima wanted to continue climbing the mountains, she had no choice.

"Oreamnos."

The swirling noise surrounded her once again, accompanied by a distant echoing bleat. Cassima opened her eyes to find herself looking down at two dark cloven hooves. It felt as if she was wearing shoes on her hands; no matter how firmly she stamped on the ground with her hooves, she couldn't feel anything but a dull, painless thud.

She realized that her headdress felt heavier than usual, but then she remembered what the parchment said. As she rubbed her head against a nearby rock, she felt something hard, tough, and firmly attached to her head scrape against it. She had horns. It wasn't an odd sensation, no odder than any of the other sensations she had had while using the charm bracelet. Still, she had little time to marvel at her new shape. She had to continue onwards.

After attempting a few experimental leaps and clambering up a nearby cliff, Cassima found her goat's body surprisingly agile and nimble. The Impossible Mountains were looking less and less impossible every minute. She trotted to the edge of the rocky path and set her sights on a promising ledge on an adjacent cliff. She backed up a few paces, then sprang through the air, making a near-flawless landing on the ledge. Her hooves gripped the rock as perfectly as her lizard's claws had gripped the wood of the table leg. She then began ambling along the side of the sheer stony cliff, soon coming to a spot that was impossible to climb across, then climbing down a few feet and leaping to another cliff and continuing her journey. It was a journey that would have undoubtedly terrified the average human, but for the average mountain goat, it was just business as usual.

Cassima continued traversing the extreme, barren peaks for almost an hour, but as the moon grew higher and higher in the sky, she began to grow exhausted from the exertions of the climb as well as from lack of sleep. Perhaps she should have flown through these mountains as a raven, but the raven wasn't the largest bird in the world, and there could easily be other much larger winged creatures in the thin air above the peaks. At least with walking, she could stop and rest without losing her bearings, unlike flying.

As she began wondering where she could possibly find a place to sleep in these harsh mountains, she noticed something winding its way along an adjacent peak that made her blink several times. As she neared it, she saw that it was definitely a path. She eagerly made her way towards it, leaping to the cliff it was on and clambering upwards until she was standing on it. After trotting along the path for several minutes and becoming assured that it wasn't going to end anytime soon, she gratefully changed back into her human form and continued along the narrow trail. She had no idea why the path was here or who had created it, but she was in no mood to be concerned about such things.

After several more minutes of walking, the path broadened into a small rocky clearing, with two tall cliffs bordering either side of it. It looked like a perfect place to rest. Cassima lay down on the cold rocky ground and tried to sleep, but she simply couldn't get comfortable. Then she remembered the long scarf she was carrying with her. She took it out of her pocket, coiled it up, and laid her head down on it, hoping that it would make a satisfactory pillow. Judging by how quickly she fell asleep, it had.

As Cassima slept, fleeting visions that were barely coherent enough to be called dreams flashed through her mind. Every now and then, she thought she recognized one or two of the images, while others were still quite vague.

The visions were tangled with thoughts of Shadrack, his agent, the nervous wizard accompanying the agent, her homeland, her parents, Alexander…

Alexander.

If she only knew that he was all right. She had no way of knowing how he was faring during her absence, and it was all she could do to hope that he had kept his faith in her and understood that she would do everything in her power to help him and return home safely.

As her thoughts of Alexander grew stronger and stronger, her pendant began to glow brightly, becoming so intense that she soon had to open her eyes…and when she did, there he was.

He was lying on the stony ground next to her, clad in his sleeping attire, staring longingly at her with a far-off look in his blue eyes. He slowly raised a hand and began reaching out towards Cassima, who automatically did the same. Their hands drew closer at an agonizingly slow rate, but just when their fingertips were a hair's breadth from each other, Cassima awoke with a start.

Although Cassima had no way of knowing, far away in a different time and place, Alexander had tossed and turned in his large bed, and in a semiconscious state had turned over to see Cassima lying beside him. When he had tried to touch her, however, something had caused him to wake up to a bed that was completely empty, save for himself, for the second consecutive night.

As Cassima stared grievously at the place in the clearing where Alexander had been, she suddenly realized that although she was lying on bare stone with nothing shielding her from the night air, she didn't feel cold or stiff at all. In fact, she felt quite warm and comfortable. It was as if she had been sleeping in her own bed just moments before.

The next morning, Cassima had awakened to a slightly sickly feeling that had fortunately passed quickly. She had then packed away her scarf and continued along the narrow path that continued to wind its way deeper and deeper into the mountains. There was a thick mist hanging over the mountains that blotted out much of the sunlight and made the air moist and cool.

By this time, Cassima had given up hope of reaching the Llewdor oasis via this route, but she had to head somewhere. There wasn't much point in continuing through these mountains if this path wasn't going to lead her anywhere. Unfortunately, she still had no idea where to go. Perhaps if she could talk to someone…

Cassima then remembered Edgar and how her pendant enabled her to communicate with him. As she was walking along and trying to focus on an image of him, however, there was a sudden blinding flash and at the same time a deafening rush of noise and a strange ripple that seemed to fan out through the air and almost push Cassima back. The queen halted in alarm, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Oddly, nothing seemed to have happened. Nothing had happened to her, nothing had happened to the path she was walking on, nothing had happened to the surrounding peaks...

Wait. Something had happened. The path she was walking on seemed a bit more worn than it had been a moment ago, and the mountains in the distance seemed a tiny bit more eroded and craggy. It was as if the world had suddenly aged…but why? Had somebody done this intentionally? Had she done it? She faintly recalled the wizard that she had met in Serenia, and how he said that her pendant did more than merely transport her to different places…but she pushed that memory aside. She didn't want to wander aimlessly in the Impossible Mountains another moment. She took out her pendant and concentrated as hard as she could on the tawny hair and hazel eyes of the man she had last seen sitting beside the pool in Tamir...

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