The Battle Sylph Read Online Free PDF Page A

directed him in changing his shape, making his chest and shoulders broader, his legs longer, his face more angular and symmetrical. He let her, delighting in her enjoyment as she turned him into her ideal mate. He became a stunning young man only a little taller than herself, the kind she was sure even her aunt would sneak a look at in the streets, and she moved a little closer, not afraid of him anymore, as she directed him in the details. It was expected, she told herself. Sylphs looked like what their masters wanted. If she was going to have a battler, he had to look human or everyone would know what he was. There was no reason he couldn’t be someone attractive.
    Someone very attractive. As she directed him in the specific shade of his eyes, Solie realized that she was kneelingright in front of him, her face up close to his so that she could see the details, and she was feeling much warmer than the hot springs really should have caused. She shivered, suddenly wondering if those lips she’d had him shape tasted as good as they looked.
    He inhaled deeply. “I like the way you smell.”
    Solie turned beet red, covering herself even though he wasn’t looking. “Turn around!” she screeched, and he obediently did so. “Why don’t you have clothes on anyway?”
    “You don’t have any.”
    “That’s because they cut mine off!” She looked down at herself. “I need clothes. Can you get me some?”
    “And leave you alone? No.”
    Solie frowned. “Why not?”
    “I have to protect you.”
    From what? She looked around. “Well, I can’t stay here forever, and I need clothes. I can’t go into a town without any.”
    “Why not?”
    She blew out a breath, wondering what kind of place he came from that he didn’t know about something as simple as that. “People don’t go around naked. Not unless they’re…” She blushed again.
    “Not unless they’re what?”
    “Never you mind!” she snapped. “You have to obey me, don’t you? Well, I’m ordering you to go find me clothes! Girl clothes,” she added, “that aren’t taken off some girl! And don’t hurt anyone while you do. And don’t give yourself away as a battler!” Was anyone looking for them? she wondered in terror. She hoped not. No one knew who she was, and they certainly wouldn’t recognize Heyou now.
    The battler sighed, accepting the order as he rose to his feet and shimmered, turning into black, winged smoke. He rose into the air, flying away, and Solie sat staring after him,suddenly nervous again at being alone. She’d forgotten to tell him how soon to be back.
    Heyou headed in the same general direction he’d come from, though he was careful not to return to exactly the same place. He still remembered the other male he’d seen, the other “battler,” as his queen called them, and the scent of several others. He did not want a fight. Not with them. The rest of the males he’d been able to sense in the cavern and below him when he flew were all weak things, like the ones he’d destroyed at the gate. He thought about destroying them too, but she’d told him not to hurt anyone. Besides, he could smell females around many of the males and didn’t want to risk hurting them. They weren’t part of his hive, but females were inviolate. The males could quite happily die, for all he cared.
    Heyou landed outside a small hamlet on the edge of a forest. Shifting back to his human form, he strode in, sure he wouldn’t be recognized as a battler. A girl came out of a hut and saw him, and he was simply smiling at her when she screamed and ran back inside. A man came out a moment later, blinking. His face showed shock, and he grabbed a pitchfork from beside the hut.
    “Get out of here!” he yelled. “Freak!”
    Heyou looked down at himself. He still looked human. Glaring at the man, he felt the loathing inside himself, the blinding hatred for any male not of his hive. It boiled inside, reaching out, and the man blanched as he felt it. A woman