“Wake up,” Henry said, impatience filling his words. “I've got you down the cliff but I need your permission to leave it.”

She opened her eyes slowly, her whole body aching. Had he thrown her off the ledge?

“Permission?”

“Yes! You have to say something like ‘I command you to unbind from Bloody Hawk Plateau.’ Doesn’t need to be flowery, but panache is never remiss when dealing with the divine.”

“Unbind from Bloody Hawk Plateau,” Alira croaked, then lifted her hand to pause his excited movement. “But you cannot leave my sight.” Henry scoffed, his eyes rolling in the moonlight.

“I’m not likely to let you out of my sight now that I’ve finally got you to unbind me from the plateau. I can…” He lifted his cloak and covered his head and melted before her eyes. “I can change form again though!” A small, gleeful red fox chirped quietly, getting down low on the ground and wagging his tail.

“Wonderful,” Alira wheezed, her ribs sore.

“I slowed your fall but you landed in that tree,” fox Henry said as he ran in circles around her.

“My things–”

“Order me to go get them!” The fox got low on his front paws again and yipped. “I wanna fly!”

“Go get all of my things from atop the plateau.” Henry changed into a large eagle and began flapping. “Bring all of the things to me!” Alira hissed after him. She was unsure if she had to give commands with clauses or what else his servitude entailed.

While she waited, Alira thought of all the things she knew about spirits being bound as servants. Admittedly it wasn't much and it worried her that now she had this enormous responsibility thrown upon her. She shook her head, wishing her mother had brought her into the fold of their history.

“Incoming!” Henry’s voice was screechy and sharp. With a rush of air and soft feathers, he landed beside her, her things bundled in her spidersilk cloak.

“Thank you,” she murmured and got to her feet.

“You don’t need to thank slaves,” the small fox said below her. He had shapeshifted again.

“Stop that. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“You could make that a command,” he suggested. “Force me to a single shape, again.” He pranced around her, nipping at the grass and catching a small bug. As his long jaws crunched loudly she looked down at him.

“Can I command you to tell me the limits and rules of your bondage?” She wrapped the spidersilk pack around herself and tied it tightly as the fox sat on its haunches and cocked its head.

“You could. But as I’d like you to help me figure out a way around some of the more annoying restrictions, I’ll just answer any questions you have.” His fluffy tail wiggled as she thought about his response.

“What kind of phrasing do I need to use to command you to do things?”

“No phrasing, pet.” He stood and circled her again, his excited energy uncontained. “Just mean what you say.”

“And what won’t you do?”

“I probably can’t kill you, even if you command me. Not directly. Anything that has a chance of failure, such as firing a bow at you, is technically possible but I will probably aim too high or too low to make those chances even greater.”

“That’s comforting to know,” Alira said sarcastically but in truth it was a relief that Henry wouldn’t end her. “Why is that built into your bondage?”

“Because the Morinn are controlling and wicked but they are smart. When you trap and abuse a powerful being, it’s best to not leave any loopholes.”

“What's the benefit of having a spirit bound to me?” She began picking her way through the forest, heading north.

“Have you seen me change shape? Let me just…” He became a bat then a small mouse finally settling back into his fox’s burnt red form.

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“I’m assuming you can do other things, though?”

“You’re incredibly hard to impress,” he huffed, clearly offended that she wasn’t agog over his shapeshifting. “But, yes. I have the shape of a man,if you recall, should you prefer.” The suggestion in his voice made Alira frown and blush with embarrassment.

“You’re not serious.”

“Very,” he trotted in front of her and glanced over his small feline-like shoulder. “Sadly, I have no real control over what I look like as a man, anymore. I suppose once I chose the basic form it just sort of stuck,” he sighed with regret. “But I find I’m not a hideous specimen. Many humans have fallen for Henry.”

“I’m sure.” She shook her head as she followed the fox. “Is there anything else I should know about your powers or limitations?”

“I’m always looking to test my own limits, sweetest Alira. Always ready for a challenge.” He snapped at a firefly as it lifted from a leaf. “Your mother was a very busy mistress. I’d not be sad if our adventures were less exciting.” He pranced and then resumed. “I mean, she did leave me atop the cliff but she would come to spend time with me once in awhile.” He fell silent for a moment and then continued. “She never wanted you to know about me.” He slowed and allowed her to come up beside him. Alira slowed herself and looked down at the cunning fox face.

“Why’s that?”

“Because she thought if she took you far enough away, if she cut her ties with the Witches, that when she died, I’d be free. At least, that’s what she told me.”

“Why was that so important to her? I could have helped her try to free you.”

“Because she loved me and it pained her to see me confined as I am, she said.” His tail brushed her bare leg. “Because Erin was the first human I’ve ever met who understood what it meant to lose everything and still love.”

“She was a good person,” Alira said softly but her stomach knotted thinking of her mother, complex and multifaceted. She knelt and reached a hand out slowly to Henry’s face. His dark eyes bore into her as she stared at him and he sat, his tail still.

“I promise to help free you.” Her hand brushed his furry cheek and his tail shimmied. Suddenly his teeth were on her, snapping closed around her index finger. She shrieked and pulled her hand free.

“Stop being so stupid,” he yipped. “Sentimentality is so unnatural and unattractive, Alira. Be better than that.”

“You bit me,” she gasped.

“You’ll live. Or, there’s a greater chance that you’ll live than die which is why I was able to actually bite you.” He pranced in front of her again.

“Why my mother even liked you is a mystery,” she said, nursing her sore finger.

“I was a much less jaded spirit when Erin was alive. She chained me to a damn plateau and sent her annoying, bedraggled daughter to fill her shoes.”

“She didn’t send me.”

“Not literally, of course. But she did set things in motion for you.”

“How long had you been up there?”

“Shortly after you were born, she relaxed her control over my powers and commanded me to keep watch over the dead.”

“Yes, I found the grave.”

“A grave. You found a single one.” His tail swished through a bush as he dashed in front of her.

“How many are up there?”

“I never counted them. The entire plateau is mostly hollow. There’s many witches there.”

“How did they get there?” Alira’s voice was laced with disbelief.

“Some of them barricaded themselves into their own crypts before dying. Some of them were brought up by their families. Some were put there by the rest of the coven. Before the Morinn, of course.”

“Coven?” Alira pushed a branch out of her way, the moonlight glinting off the slick leaves.

“That’s the Bloody Hawk Coven burial mound.”

“Do you mean one of the covens that disbanded when the church hunted them?” Alira could hear water nearby and turned slightly toward the sound.

“Obviously. They were more like tribes than covens then. They had males, though the men had no powers and were just for breeding.” Henry’s voice came from behind her and she turned to see where he had gone.

“Why did my mother bind you to the burial mound?” Her mind wandered to the untold spoils buried with the witches and she felt guilt seep into her as the spidersilk cloak glimmered in the moonlight. She turned and began walking again.

“As I said, she said if she died without you knowing about me, I’d be free. But she also understood that you and I are bonded. We’re destined. We’re…” His voice trailed off as they came upon the river. He sat beside her and they both stared across the narrow, black snake of water. A fire broke the darkness and laughter could be heard.

“Get down, idiot!” Henry hissed, crouching down low himself. “That’s a slaver scouting party.”

Alira threw herself down and felt the air leave her lungs.

“We can sneak back the way we came and head further downstream,” she suggested, crawling on her stomach.

“Or we could make sure they don’t go back to the camp,” Henry said darkly. Alira paused, the idea working its way into her thoughts.

“What do you have in mind?” Her whisper was barely louder than the air around them.

“I won’t kill you…” Henry’s unsaid words made her stomach lurch with excitement. “How do you feel about bears?” His fox eyes glinted and she held her breath for a beat, thinking.

Finally she nodded.

“Excellent,” Henry said as his fox shape expanded and darkened, a bear growing out of his small fox frame. “Let’s make a mess, mistress Alira,” The dark hunger in his voice was terrifying but Alira nodded, getting to her feet.