Azimuth’s wing beat silently through the fog shrouded night sky, the grey clouds moved around her, stirred into a semblance of life by the air being forced over and under the strong beat of her membranous wings. Tilting them slightly her light body banked to the left, coasting through the air toward the faint scattering of yellow lights that were appearing through the mist. Far below the bat a bell sang it's song softly, chiming a mournful dirge through the night, warning all who heard it that the tower was there. Isolated as it was upon this promontory that thrust out into the wild ocean it was well protected from assault but also a danger to passing ships. A safe haven for the mage who now made it their home, at least they thought so but it was not safe from her. The air carried her down toward the outer wall, the Gatehouse that controlled the drawbridge was her goal. Even by air she could not land atop the tall onyx tower but breaching the outer ward by air was within her power.

Flaring her wings suddenly the bat beat them furiously for a second, slowing her silent descent so she could hook her dark talons onto the crenellated wall above the gate. Knees bending to absorb the shock of landing the bat leapt from the ramparts and darted with quick motions into the shadows. Her wings wrapped about her slender frame, her bright orange ruff and speckled brown fur hidden beneath the dark fur lined natural cloak of her wings. For the moment she paused, content to catch her breath and take stock of her surroundings and check her belongings. The heavy bandolier that passed over her shoulder and beneath her left wing was still securely in place, part of the belt that circled her slender hips. The heavy pouches attached by small black hooks were all accounted for and the slender orange, green and black chain around her neck still had the tiny mirrored charm attached. Her legs were clad in soft leather trousers but otherwise she wore no other clothing, this permitted her wings, talons and claws to be free.

Satisfied she still had all of her gear she glanced up toward the tower that loomed up into the night, its cloak of grey fog drifting back and forth, coiling around the ancient stone work like a snake. Azi knew it was because of a weather control spell, shrouding the tower and making it hard to observe. A security measure that had ultimately helped her to infiltrate the tower, it had other purposes, to cloud the mind and make travelers ignore the tower but she had pierced those enchantments. It’s most insidious power however was the tight funnel of wind that coiled ceaselessly around the towers facade, making it impossible to fly to the top or reach the windows. Satisfied that for the moment her entrance was undetected she unbuttoned the pouch closest to her neck and drew a small alabaster statue out into the damp air of the night. It was a fruit bat like herself, with a thick orange ruff, grey hair and orange speckles across pure white fur. Warming the statue between her wing-hands she breathed over it, her life giving breath misting gently in the air before settling over the statue. Each warm puff of air dissolved the marble like finish of the statue, gently releasing fur, bright eyes and a gentle heartbeat from their stoney prison. With a startled gasp the white and orange bat sucked down a deep breath as his lungs unfroze and he fluttered up out of Azi’s hands before settling back down.

“We’re in then?” he chirped quietly up at the larger bat, his talons curling around the side of her hand as he peered around in the fog, “That’s good well done sis, I was worried I had to get all tiny and small for no reason.”

“Yes Auggy we are in,” Azimuth whispered nuzzling the tiny bat affectionately, “And you’re the one who agreed to help. Now you remember what you need to do?”
Spreading his wings gently he smiled up at her, showing off his fruit sucking fangs, “Oh yes, I need to fly down and infiltrate the gatehouse, sort out the guard and get him to let you inside without tripping any of the alarms,” licking her snout with his long bat tongue the white bat flapped his wings happily, “Let’s do this sis, it’ll be fun.”

Nodding her head Azi shifted Auggy onto her arm, his talons hooked into her fur and he hung upside down, wings wrapped about his body so could use both hands. She unhooked the mirrored charm off the necklace around her throat and stretched it out to roughly six inches. Holding it between her hands she nodded and Auggy let go of her arm, his wings spread and flapped and the white bat curved up over her head then tucked his wings in around his body and dropped out of the sky. He plunged through the surface of the mirror, it rippled like water and the bat that emerged from the other side glistened. Gone was his white fur, replaced by a clear, mirror bright reflective surface that rippled and flowed like skin yet reflected Azi’s image as clearly as any mirror. His orange ruff was now a beautifully buffed bronze surface and his eyes were now two orange mirrors that neither blinked nor closed. Flicking his wings rapidly to avoid hitting the floor the mirror bat flapped up and landed on Azi’s left arm and tucked his shiny, reflective wings in against the side of his body and smiled at her.

“This feels so strange sis, you sure this is reversible?”

Affectionately nuzzling her brother’s nose Azi nodded, “Yes, when you swore to become my spell-bat we bonded. I can restore you whenever, now get going, the night is getting older and we need to get into the main tower,” shaking her arm she dislodged the mirror bat who flapped up into the air, costed over the crenellated wall of the gatehouse and dropped down into the mist.

With her brother safely away, his presence a warm sensation at the back of her mind letting her know he was safe she started to remove the rest of the party from their pouches. She had to restore them to life and size so they could help her during this infiltration of the tower. Lining them up on the stone before her she examined each one carefully for any defects or damage before unbinding the spells that kept them trapped as statues. The first to be restored was Nocuous, the purple scaled kobold shapeshifter and hunter would be essential to their infiltration of the tower. Whilst life was returning to his scaled hide and he was growing back to his very impressive size of three feet and seven inches she slipped the next statue out of its pouch. It was another kobold, male but with rose tinted scales, breathing life into him she set the pink-kobold down next to Nocuous to grow and took out the fourth and final member of their group. He was an otter, big and buff, fully anthro with a cascade of dreadlocks that reached down to his arse. Warming this final statue between her hands she breathed life into him and set him down then moved off a few feet and opened the last pouch on her bandolier. This one contained armour, weapons and various accessories which she began to unshrink, restoring them to their proper size as the otter continued to grow, swelling to an impressive eight feet of muscles and swinging dreadlocks.

“That… was unpleasant,” the pink kobold hissed as he scrambled forward and grabbed the magically enchanted stealth suit from the pile and started to wrap himself up in it, “I never want to do that again if I can avoid it.” The suit covered every part of the pink kobold’s body, with gloves and boots and a cowl and face covering that hid everything, even his eyes beneath a layer of black cloth and gauze. The last part to be wrapped up was his tail and then he swiftly retrieved his weapons, lock picks and other tools, dropping each item into the shadows were they vanished, stored away until he needed them.

“It wasn’t that bad Tileki,” the purple kobold muttered as he buckled on his light armour and settled his crossbow firmly onto his bandolier, “It wasn’t like we were awake for that trip in.”

“Yeah, but she could have just left us as statues and we’d never have been found,” the thief grumbled as he finished reclaiming his stuff, “I hate petrification, what about you Garn? You can’t tell me you liked being turned into a tiny statue?”

“Well it is over now,” the otter Garn rumbled as he finished wrapping a bronze bordered kilt around his waist, “So miss Azimuth, here we are, what do we do next?” he snagged a heavy leather vest off the pile of equipment and slipped his arms into it and laced it up then locked a pair of heavy metal rings around his wrists and strapped on a pair of bracers, “You paid us enough money to come on this quest, do we get to know the details now?”

“Of course Garn,” Azi chirped handing the otter his large enchanted spear, “It’s simple, at the top of that tower is a Tengu, he’s stolen a very fairy potent artefact, the Crystallizer of Shadows. We need to break into his tower, fight or trick or steal our way past his various levels of protection and stop him before he finishes his fiendish plan.”

The otter glanced up at the tower, brushing a hand idly through his long dreadlocks and considering the dark expanse of architecture rising up toward the sky, “Seems simple enough, how do we get inside?”

“I’ve sent one of my bat familiars down to convince the guard to let us inside the gatehouse, from there we can cross the courtyard and slip inside.”

“Great,” Tileki hissed settling deeper into the shadows, “We get to wait around up here in the cold.”

Checking his quiver of crossbow bolts Nocuous shouldered his enchanted weapon the Varsi Joursi then glanced at the younger kobold and showed him a grin that was all teeth, “Don’t be so impatient, it’ll be worth it once we’re rolling about in the loot this place promises to have,” he glanced slyly at the bat, “That is of course assuming your promise to help us loot the place stands.”

Azimuth grinned, “I stand by my word, you get me to the top of that tower you can keep the loot you pick up along the way, no sharing it with me and otter whiskers here said he didn’t want any either.”

“Indeed,” Garn murmured, sitting down with his back against the wall, “Defeating a mad mage before he can use a fairy artefact to cause untold damage is reward enough. Now let’s try and be quiet until Azimuth’s familiar unlocks the door for us, it wouldn’t do to get caught up here.”

With a smile Azimuth settled down, concentrating her inner sight on the presence of her brother and spell-bat Augustus, trying to divine how he was getting on with the little task she had set him. He should have little trouble ensnaring the guard below and letting them inside and then, the real work would begin.

-0-

Coasting through the chilly fog Auggy twitched his wings and span in a slow circle toward the tower courtyard. At the last second he flapped them silently through the fog and picked up speed, coasting toward the small lead-lined window of the guardhouse. He could just make out his gleaming, mirror bright reflection in the glass and at the last second tucked his wings in tightly about his torso and zipped between two pieces of the lead lining. The glass rippled, he felt his reflective body twist lightly and then he was through, leaving a series of rings frozen in the glass. It was as if a drop of water had landed in a pool and the ripples had frozen; it was very pretty but the mirror bat didn’t have time to stop and admire it. Twisting his wings out he flapped quickly through the air, tilted his body back, brought his legs around and landed with happy chirp upon the back of one of the chairs pulled up before the fire.

The guard snoozing in the other chair didn’t stir much, he grunted softly and shifted but otherwise remained fast asleep. Auggy frowned at the grey and white wolf and tucked his wings in, carefully balancing on the back of the chair. Dressed in a mail hauberk, leather trousers and heavy boots he looked like a guard. The snug black collar with bright gold tag around his throat was a bit odd but maybe it was part of the dress code for guards? Either way he’d clearly decided he could have a nice nap, belief in the complex spells that should have warned him if anyone approached the guardhouse from inside or out. This would never do, spreading his wings wide, balancing on the chair and making sure his mirrored body caught the light Augustus chirped as loudly as he could, a happy, excited trill that made the wolf jerk suddenly and sit upright. His helmet tipped off the back of his head and clattered to the floor and his eyes widened as he found himself staring into his own reflection; displayed in the mirror bright chest and wings of the bat perched inside his guard room.

“What on earth,” the wolf muttered staring into the reflection of his own eyes, “What on earth are you?” he reached out with one hand toward the bat, eyes roving over their bright reflective body. He was half out of his chair, other hand reaching toward the bell cord that would sound the alarm when he notices the changes happening. He was a wolf, with a thick, rugged winter coat so it was pretty obvious that it was suddenly changing, laying flat, spreading, growing thinner, transitioning into a smooth, sleek, velveteen pelt. Staggering to his feet the wolf yelped as his ears started to itch and his nose flared and shifted; his muzzle was changing, morphing, flowing into a most peculiar shape. It was all happening so fast, by the time the wolf thought to yell his voice came out as a eager little chirp. Two stumbling steps toward the alarm cord were all he managed before the talons tearing their way out of his boots made him trip and fall flat on his face.

Struggling upright Forest pushed off with his hands, gasping in surprise as his armour suddenly bit into his torso. It was so tight all of a sudden, he could feel the metal digging through the padded undergarment and then with a jangle and cascade of metallic links his armour burst apart! His arms jerked backwards with the motion, bones clicking, changing, bending in new and strange ways as a thick membrane pushed its way out from his armour and spread up either side of his body. It spread quickly along his arms, growing taught and sturdy, backed up by a new framework of hollow bone and a pair of clawed wing-tips that were almost like hands. Rolling over into a sitting position Forest spread his arms… no his wings and gaped at them in disbelief. It had all happened so quickly, one minute he was a wolf, now he was a bat, he was however still a guard and no sudden transformation was going to stop him! This was clearly some sort of magical attack and he had to act fast, get help down here.

He got halfway to his feet before he fell over again, his trousers tangling around his legs, he scrabbled to get free and dislodge them but they were rapidly growing bigger then he could cope with. The remnants of his padded under-tunic flapped against his body then slipped off as he grew to small to wear it. Wriggling free of his trousers Forest staggered to his feet and squeaked as he found himself face to face with the bright mirrored bat. His bronze eyes were fixed on his and try as he might he couldn’t look away. For a long moment he just stood there staring, trembling lost in the bright shiny reflection of his own eyes and then Auggy spoke. Thoughts cascaded back and forth through his mind, alarm, worry, doubt, a nasty sense that he should be doing something else. There was something urgent he was supposed to be taking care of… something but what. Augustus sure was shiny, wait was his name Augustus, how did he know that, he was just the shiny bat who’d woken him up or… no he was Auggy, Mistress’ brother bat, his brother bat yes… no… of course they were bats, what else could they possibly be!

“So we going to go let Azi and her friends in Forest?” Augustus’ voice was cheerful and bright and Forest was startled from his dreamy contemplation of his brother’s mirror body. He had been distracted again and the mistress was waiting on them, flapping his wings Forest looked around worriedly then turned to Auggy.

“Wait I am Forest? Yes… of course I am hehe silly me sorry ah… what was I doing in here?” he looked around, his mind felt fuzzy and bright and strange. There had been something else he was doing.. .hadn’t there… no that wasn’t right he was a fluffy bat! Jumping he turned to look at Auggy as the other little bat nuzzled into him and smiled at the brightly mirror surfaced bat. “Oh right, yes come on, let’s go let the mistress in!”

Waddling lightly he launched himself into the air, flapping his wings and clawing his way into the air. He felt a bit off, as if he hadn’t done this before but Auggy was circling him, cheering him on and Forest found his doubts fading. Of course he had done this millions of times before, he was a bat! What a silly thought, turning his wings he flapped up the stairs toward the roof door, the mistress was up there and he had to let her in! It was going to be great to see her again, it had been too long and Auggy was here too so he had all the batty company he needed!

-0-

Crossing the courtyard had been easy, Azimuth’s new bat friend knew how to disable all the alarms, traps, runes and wards between the gate house and the front doors. The grey and white bat fluttered about her head chirping and chattering away; occasionally breaking off his cheerful dialogue to whisper instructions to the large bat lady. The doors into the tower however were a different matter, the bat which had formerly been the outer Gatehouse guard did not know how to open the gates of the tower. Tileki however knew a way, the shrouded kobold crouched by the main lock whilst his clan brother Nocuous and Garn kept watch on the courtyard and Azimuth’s bats stood guard overhead, their wings silent in the fog as they flew back and forth.

“Will this take long?” the otter asked in a whisper as he watched the kobold fiddling with narrow lengths of wire and a long pick, “We only have a few minutes until those wards Forest shutdown reset.”

“I know that,” Tileki hissed softly, “I’m going as fast as I can but this isn't just a lock, the whole things enchanted.” withdrawing a small vial of silver powder from a pouch the kobold blew a measure of it into the lock and watched how it glittered before shifting the picks slightly. First left, then right then a quarter turn before he pressed a large piece of cerulean gum to the wood around the lock. Rolling it like putty he squeezed it into a long roll and packed it in place, for a second it glowed with a sickly green light, oil seemed to cascade along its length then the whole thing dried out, crumbling and flaking into dust. With a happy yip Tileki pushed on the door and the heavy timbers slid open on well oiled hinges, “There, two layers of spells, quite sneaky inlaid into the lock and the hinges and metal fasteners.”

“Well done,” Nocuous yapped before grinning slyly at Garn, “I told you Tileki could do it, he's the best thief I've ever met.”

The otter muttered something and hurried inside after Azimuth and her bats, once everyone was through the door Tileki pulled them closed and peered around the huge otters legs to get a good look at the hall. It was fancy, a tiled marble floor, a vaulted roof supported by thick pillars of carved and fluted basalt; they had huge stone dragons coiling around their length to support the roof. It was illuminated by large crystal globes held in the yawning mouths of the dragon statues whilst the walls showed brass-relief carvings of brilliant birds lined with gilt and precious gems in flight.

“So let's be extra careful now,” Azi whispered, “Our intelligence says this whole hall is trapped, Tileki this is still your field, how do we proceed?”

Peering ahead the pink kobold adjusted his goggles, swapping the lenses out and cautiously edged forward past the bat, examining the floor and walls. “There is a lot of magic in here, and I think quite a few mechanical traps as well, Garn, Nocu stay behind me and step where I step but only when I say. Azi can your little bats detect magic still like you promised?”

“Sure they can, I just need to get Forest ready,” she quickly expanded the mirror on her necklace and fed the grey and white bat through it. He squeaked and flapped his wings at being caught but didn’t voice any verbal protests. Tileki watched with interest as fur was replaced by a bright, mirror smooth layer that turned the former wolf into an identical copy of Auggy.

“That is such a neat enchantment,” the kobold admired, “Great way to make the most of your animal companions.”

Azimuth grinned at the kobold, “Thanks, I like to think so, now then, detect magic, they're all ready to go, shall we?”

Grinning the kobold led the way, relying on his skill at detecting mechanical traps, his goggles and backup from Azimuth’s bats. It was a slow process, some traps had to be avoided by stepping on certain flagstones, others had to be triggered causing gouts of flame, pit traps to open, lighting and at least one shower of acid to roar, crack and splatter across the marble floor. Twenty minutes later they were across the hall without incident and Tileki was grinning behind his face mask.

“That was challenging, I've never encountered a web like that before,” skittering through the doorway at the end of the hall the kobold peered around the vestibule beyond. Pointing at the staircase that wound it's way up into the towers heights he looked back at his companions, “Shall we go up?”

Tileki yelped and ducked as Garn lunged forwards suddenly, his hands grasped the hilt of a spear out of thin air and he thrust it above Tileki to catch the downward swing of a huge mace that would otherwise have flattened the small reptile. It was an amazing spear, the haft was glowing red crystal wrapped in a spiral of white crystal and black iron that formed together at the tip into a broad blade. It thrummed with power and Tileki scuttled out of the way as the otter forced the wielder of the mace back.

Garn put his weight behind his spear and forced the lumbering golem backwards, the mass of ten foot tall magically infused stone stumbled as the otter proved more than a match for it. Ducking behind Nocuous as he readied his crossbow Tileki peered around his clan brother and watched the gigantic polar-bear lumber in for another attack. It was made from white marble and polished bronze wielding a mace that was almost the same size of it. It swung toward Garn but the otter seemed to dance out of the way, spear spinning a long arch that struck copper and caused the hall to be lit by a flash of sparks.

Azimuth finished casting a spell and both of her mirror bats burst into bright white light just in time for Nocuous and Tileki to spring apart in different directions as a second polar bear golem swung its mace at where they had been standing. Wrapping himself in shadows Tileki walked his way to the opposite side of the room and hid behind the stone balustrade at the bottom of the stairs. Nocu however opened fire, a crossbow bolt screaming through the air as it exploded with sonic magic. As he watched he saw the purple kobold load another crossbow bolt into the breach of his weapon and fired it again. This time it sprung out wrapped in an ethereal green light that splattered across the front of the golem and hissed and steamed as the potent acid started to eat its way through the marble chest of the giant bear.

Nocu then had to leap backwards as the mace swung through the air again and shattered the flagstones where he had been standing. Azimuth meanwhile had taken off, the dark brown and orange bat flittering around the hall, weaving a spell together quickly. Garn was battling the other golem, it was big and strong and it’s eyes glowed with an intense light. It’s motionless, expressionless face was carved into an angry growl and though slow and lumbering it had great strength and was able to use that to block many of Garn’s strikes. It wasn’t fast enough to stop every attack the otter made however, his spear released jets of white and purple light every time the twisted blade struck home, gouging chunks out of the beasts stone body. Then with a sudden shift in direction, Garn jumped atop the polar bear’s mace as it crashed into the ground, ran up the length of the heavy weapon, dodged a feeble attempt to grab him and rammed his blade home into the eye sockets of the golem. The bear lumbered to a halt, dropped its mace and tried to grab the otter with both hands but he’d leapt clear. A second later the golem detonated as the surge of magical energy from the otter’s attack hit its power core, shards of bronze and marble clattered everywhere, a few chunks bouncing off Tileki as he cowered.

Daring to peer back out the pink kobold was in time to see Nocuous fire another acid bolt out of his enchanted crossbow. The armoured golem had a hole in its chest now, the green gunk eating through to reveal the delicate magical workings inside. The bear roared and swung at Nocu but Azimuth was ready, she shouted a word that made Tileki’s head tingle and the two mirrored bats she had accompanying her flapped their wings and unleashed a pair of bright incandescent balls of flame. They slammed into the golem’s chest and destroyed the delicate magical components within, white smoke billowed forth and the construct slowed, the fire in its eyes dying until it was still.

Scampering out to join Garn the pink kobold looked around hesitantly then peered up as Azimuth winged her way down and landed and Nocuous strolled over, his crossbow held at the ready just in case the hall had any more surprises in it.

“Well that could have gone better, you aren’t much use in a fight are you Tileki?” Garn commented as he let his spear dissipate back into motes of light.
“I’m a thief, not a warrior, that’s what Nocu is for, I’m here to unlock things.”

The otter grinned, dreadlocks swaying as he shook his head, “You do that well, just would have been useful to know ahead of time you don’t fight. Stick close to me next time we get attacked, I’ll keep you safe, safer than hiding in a corner where we can’t cover you.”

Nocu slapped his tail against his brother kobold and grinned, “See, told you this lug was a good beast to have around. Now then shall we go up and see what’s on the next floor?”

“Good idea,” Azimuth said as she collected her bats, allowing the shiny, mirror surfaced critters to perch on her shoulders, “We’ve got many floors to go,” and with those words she started up the stairs, leading her group onwards and upwards!

-0- End of part 1