My squirming dreams faded, but I fought against waking up. Abhorrent reality awaited me, if I opened my eyes. In the dreams I was too formless for dread. Perhaps death would be simir, but it was an intimidating barrier to cross.

  The mood for lingering sleep disintegrated, and I couldn't escape outer reality forever.

  Sulme was still asleep beside me. Weak sunlight poured through the thin drapes.

  I had to stifle a scream. My left hand, the one which has held my pistol and touched the scorching breastpte, was covered in dark grey scales all the way to my elbow. In pce of finger nails I had sharp bck cws.

  The palm of the right hand was normal, but on the other side was a patch of snakeskin.

  My outburst hadn't disturbed the man next to me. I held my breath and rose from the bed.

  The sight of my legs made me froze. The toes were slightly spyed, and their nails had grown and darkened bck. Patches of grey scales dotted the my feet and shins.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on exorcising my fear and disgust. The changes were nothing more than the price of abusing Umu's nature.

  The most bitter thing was that I wouldn't be able to re-experience the joy of yestereve. It hadn't been my first time in general sense, but unlike anything previous, our act had gone beyond the hollow satisfaction of the body. Despite my soreness, I wanted more of Sulme. I couldn't force him to copute with the monster I had turned into.

  "Good morning, Teissa."

  I frantically searched for my clothes, before remembering that Sulme had taken them down for washing.

  "Good morning." I turned to face the man.

  He sat on the edge of the bed and looked me over. His smile didn't waver.

  "So?" I demanded.

  "'So' what?"

  "You have nothing to say?"

  Sulme stood up and sighed. "You know, at times I think you are baiting me for an excuse to get upset."

  "In case you did not notice, I am already very much upset."

  The man reached to kiss me, and I didn't resist. His hand touched the scaly line of my back, as if enjoying the smoothness. He reached to my buttocks and grabbed my spine.

  I yelped and jerked away.

  The Nilkoan smiled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

  "What did you do?"

  Sulme's expression turned puzzled. "I just touched your tail."

  "Tail?" I reached to my lower back and fought against the wave of repulsion, when my hand touched an appendage covered in scales. The thick tail was only the length of my hand, but even that was much too long.

  "Oh Inmo's embrace," I muttered.

  "Come here." Sulme hugged me. "I wouldn't have touched it, if I knew it'd hurt."

  "Hurt? No. I was merely surprised."

  "Then you won't mind, if I touch it again?"

  I drew back. "Why would you want to?"

  Sulme shrugged. "It's cute."

  I stared at him in disbelief.

  "You are still comely," Sulme said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I find your peculiarities rather fascinating. Maybe it's a tendency, which I inherited from my father."

  I should have been livid about the man's perverted inclination, but on the other hand, it was nice that he didn't find me as disgusting as I felt. I hurried to the mirror. My face was still the same, though my hair was longer. It might been the lye in the soap, but the colour of my hair seemed more vivid and closer to golden.

  One change was apparent: my breasts had swollen. The bosom wasn't exactly huge, but the teats were noticeable on an otherwise lean girl such as I.

  My useless worm hadn't disappeared, though it seemed even feebler than the day before. The stones underneath had all but vanished. Perhaps, just perhaps, the transformation of my human parts would finish, before I lost myself to Umu.

  I wrapped a thin housecoat around me and sat on a chair in silence, pretending my best to have sunk into thoughts, while trying to keep my mind as still as I could.

  Sulme returned with breakfast and my clothes. I kept treating him like a valet, yet he bore it without compint. Any sensible person would consider it weird. Unless they had ill will, they'd think us married. Perhaps spirits were allowed to treat their husbands like servants. Of course, my condition made it impossible to have maids to attend me.

  I'd have to make it worth to Sulme for the duration I had left.

  The Nilkoan pced a tray in front of me. The fresh bread smelled delicious. For the drink was a jug of beer. Perhaps I shouldn't have started the morning drunk, but thinking about the coming day made my head hurt.

  I wasn't much of a politician, yet I'd have to be. The situation needed a lot of nosy work to make sense of. I'd have to separate reliable sycophants from untrustworthy grovellers, and the questioning yet prospective allies from passive opponents.

  Nobody had tried to burst in to kill me in my sleep. It was a start. At the very least, I had their fear, if not respect and obedience.

  "I sent the girl to buy a pair of long gloves for you," Sulme said. "It's still cold outside anyhow."

  I rubbed my scaled hand. Hiding myself was humiliating, but necessary. People wouldn't follow an abomination. Already many suspected that I was possessed, with good reason. Only by not showing any signs of uncontrolled fire had I avoided the breaking wheel.

  In the afternoon, I participated in the meeting of the town council. I refused the honour of being the speaker, nor did I accept a vote. The Issoans needed to handle the foundations of the rebellions themselves for our cause to have any hope of succeeding.

  My refusal of any personal power did bolster the assumption that I was a corporeal spirit, and thus put weight to my opinions in the subjects which truly mattered.

  "We need to sue for peace," the master furrier said. "Perhaps the Prince, in his mercy, will grant us status as a free city."

  I chuckled low. "The only thing the Fulgurite Prince will grant you is a ruler to keep you under the heel. Gentlemen, if you do not seize this opportunity, you will lose it, and more, forever."

  The debate passed over my remark. Some of the patricians painted images of wider conquests, even all the way to the coast of the innd sea or even beyond, but most of the talk was about taxes.

  The Attisans were well informed on the pnned changes, which they did not approve in the slightest. The war taxes to fund the Fulgurite Prince's expeditions were already intolerable. Or so the merchants without toll exemptions cimed.

  If they wouldn't fight for their rights, then fighting for coin had to be good enough. Still, the fact that a war with the Vonir would be an expensive and risky enterprise was not lost on the council.

  "What chance do we have of victory?" an affluent ndowner of common blood asked in a booming voice. "The cns of the coast gave up, before we even heard of their war."

  I stood up. "The Ekrans did not lose due to weakness of arms! Too long have they eaten from the Vonir hand. Ekran knights cked the heart to resist their masters, like wolfdogs unable to survive in the wild any longer. That shall happen to you also soon enough, though instead of a warm kennel, you will only receive the rod reserved for a cur."

  The debate turned into murmurs and effete questioning of my purpose at the council. I didn't bother to argue my case. If they wouldn't have me, then let them handle the Vonir Prince by themselves.

  Noon sun poured from the tall windows, and the meeting was adjourned. Because my presence only distracted the council from the tedious but necessary political wrangling, I decided to vacate the ancient castle serving as the town hall.

  On my way out, I was accosted by the chief matron of the fire temple and her two huge torch-carrying bodyguards. None of the local priests had participated in the council, as the clergy was in turmoil. Most sanctified men and women adhering to the Tamsi rite had fled the town, leaving many temple positions vacant.

  "Lady Umu?" she asked.

  I bowed. "Yes, grandmother?"

  "There's something I must discuss with you." The priestess gestured towards a side room. I followed her.

  In the small room, a servant herded me to sit and pced a wine cup in front of me. The matron sat on the other side, daintily as a snowfke despite her age.

  The beverages offered at the council hadn't quite quenched my thirst, so I helped myself to the disappointingly diluted wine.

  "There is talk that you are reted to the Lord of Bridled Fire."

  Inwardly, I groaned. Getting proscribed as a heretic was the st thing I needed. "Do you except me to prove something like that?"

  The priestess smiled. "No. The signs indicate that it is not a lie."

  I did my best not to indicate my surprise. "So. What now?"

  "Not much. We shan't denounce you. But we can't validate any cims of divinity either. The situation is too uncertain for that. Additionally, Luiheki is an unpredictable master." The priestess gnced at my gloved hand. "It is said, some serpentists manage to appear lucid for quite some time, despite being drenched in the serpentine corruption."

  I chuckled. "So you will use me in hopes that my little rebellion melts the Tamsi shackles off you, but you won't commit to anything."

  "Yes."

  I took a long gulp. "Fair enough."

  "Frankly, we do not understand, why some of the most devout servants of the Lord of Hearth end up with their souls so frayed. It must be the violent impulses. Try to curb them."

  "I can promise nothing. But I will try."

  The priestess nodded. "Now, on to other business. The master armourer wants to donate a steel suit to you, as a devotional offering to Luiheki. His team has spent the whole day and night resizing the most suitable set avaible to your approximate measurements. It would do his guild honour, if you accepted it."

  Metal clinked and the forge hummed in the workshop. Their music accompanied the forceful chant of the sweaty, sooty and singed smiths.

  I waited in the adjacent room wearing every part of my new armour that fit. The suit was of an old fashioned style, but of superb craftsmanship. According to the armourer, it had been imported from overseas to a young Nangoan nobleman, who had died before collecting it.

  The steel was gorgeously fluted and blued to a striking hue. Despite my recent feebleness, I barely noticed its weight.

  Though the suit was almost a perfect fit already, the smiths needed to adjust the parts protecting the shoulders and thighs. My recently grown additional padding didn't make the breastpte at all uncomfortable.

  My page fetched us mugs of warm milk, but I couldn't sit down to drink it. The tailor, who the smith had hired, wanted to make absolutely sure that the additional garments didn't impede my movements. The puffy shoulder garment and loose leg pieces were designed to look as if I wore a dy's gown with the armour.

  I humoured her by doing the ridiculous gymnastics she asked of me. Testing with the chair proved the 'skirt' wouldn't limit my ability to ride a horse. The sleeves had enough room for all sword stances and strikes I could come up with.

  When finally I was fully ironcd, I felt thoroughly protected, even if the blued harness was rather thin. With the double breastpte, only a serpentist could shoot through into my heart.

  With my every movement, my new armour let out satisfying ctter: the familiars sound of approaching death on the battlefield.

  "How do you like it?" the master armourer asked.

  "It is wonderful." I smiled, though he wasn't able to see it from behind the neck-mouth protection and visor. "I have never had armour, which was this effortless to wear. It is like a glove around me."

  The old master smiled wide. Though he hadn't made the pieces himself, he had succeeded marvellously at the adjustment done mostly by eye-balling.

  He bowed. "I am gd it suits you. Now, while I don't presume a payment, could you bless our main forge?"

  I stiffened. While Luiheki governed the fires of smithy, serpentists weren't known for their constructive influence.

  "Would that be proper?" I asked. "I am sure your fires are already thoroughly blessed. Besides, I was sent to use a sword, not to create them."

  "It would mean a lot to us."

  Umu chuckled in my mind. "Do it, girl. I will grant them fire."

  "Very well. After all, it is only polite." I followed the elder smith to the forge room.

  The spirit in me took over my tongue, as I lifted my hands in gesture of devotion.

  "Listen to me, fell fierce Father,force this fire to burn hotter.Melt off meekness, harden our steel,bless bdes to drink lifeblood with zeal."

  The fmes flickered brighter, almost translucent.

  Even in front of the bze, my cheeks warmed further. "I am sorry. My nature did not let out any blessing for armour-making."

  The smiths gathered around the forge.

  "Look, friends, how cleanly it burns," one of them said. "Must be fellfire!"

  Utterances of amazement went through the men. I stepped away to let them crowd around the forge instead of me.

  The master armoured turned to me. "It's not quite what I expected, but it sure is more! You truly are the daughter of the Master."

  "Of course," Umu said. "Pray tell, was there any doubt?"

  The armourer bowed. "Not at all, my dy."

  Sulme's voice greeted the people in the adjacent room. My armour rattled, as I hurried to him.

  The Nilkoan started from the sight of me. I didn't let him recover and instead grappled him tight.

  "Oh, it's you." Sulme chuckled, patted my back pte and pushed me off him. "They said you were fitting on armour. I didn't think it would be a full harness."

  I smiled, exaggerating with my eyes, so the man could see my mirth. I leaned forwards and whispered: "To be honest, I too expected a munition pte and some old iron cap."

  The old armoured strode after me. "Welcome, goodman. You must be the dy's companion."

  Sulme nodded deep.

  "Yes, I do recognise your mighty frame, even outside your ragged coat of ptes," the armoured said. "I must get you better steel to wear."

  "No thank you. My equipment suits me well enough."

  "Do not pass off generosity too easily," I said. "This man is the best mortal smith I have met." It was not entirely a lie: the maker of Kkki had enough strange liquids in his veins to be springy in his steps, in spite of having made the sword to my grandfather.

  Sulme hesitated.

  "Come on now," I insisted. "At least let him patch your warcoat, if nothing else."

  "Alright. I'll need to go fetch it first."

  "You do that. I will return to the town hall."

  "In full harness?" Sulme asked.

  "Yes. They could use the reminder to stop questioning my martial prowess."