The creature had glossy black coat like a horse. The heavy shoulders. Long limbs..... The specific shape a horse has.
But the similarity stopped there. The mouth of the horse was too wide, hinging further than any jaw should, lined with sharp pointed teeth. Those weren't meant for grazing. Those were for tearing.
There was something wrong about its eyes as well. They weren't soft eyes of that of a horse. They were glazed, pale and flat. It dragged Mehta's now lifeless body into the shadow of the bush.
Rudra waited. So waited the last of the two hunters. They had quitted the remaining act of professionaalism to stand behind him. The sky, covered with cloud, thickened the darkness between the trees- Twilight was setting in Ashkavar in the middle of the day. Sounds kept coming from the direction of the creature had dragged away Mehta. Sound like something thick and elastic getting torn. Like rubber. Or Flesh.
Finally the creature emerged back. Rudra's eyes immediately dropped to his neck where there was a bloody patch, like that part had been cut open. The wound was healing.
The horse didn't trot to them. It prowled. Like a predator, eyeing the three of them with hunger. It came to a stop about ten feet away from Rudra, far enough that he didn't have to crane his neck to meet its eyes, but close enough he could smell the same rotten stench.
"Forgive me Your Highness," The creature spoke, aside from it's mouth just falling open, there was no other movement, "I needed to borrow his voice so we can communicate in the language of human beings." It had Mehta's voice, almost, Mehta's voice. But not quite.
The pitch of his voice kept shifting as if it was trying badly to get his voice right. "This is the third men of my crew you have killed," Rudra said. He didn't return his bow, he just stood observing the wonderful anatomy of the thing before him, "You could have taken the voice of any of the two you have killed before him. Why waste another body?"
"Six actually," The creature corrected Rudra, "I have killed six of your men. The three hunters you sent back," it stretched it's lips, not into a sharl, but into something whole different - like it wanted it to be a smile, but it was failing miserably, "I couldn't have let them reach the palace. Then more people had come rushing to rescue you. Things would have gotten.....messier."
Sidh took a sharp breath. But he didn't say anything. Kesh, for his part, had gone unnaturally still.
Rudra didn't say anything. He stared cataloguing every little movement in his head.
"Ah," The creature mused, "And the boy in charge of dog pen! We killed that one last night. Because we needed the dogs. I do regret for the dogs. Clumsy things. They aren't as smart or as disciplined humans claim they are."
Rudra still didn't answer. Still waiting.
"Right, where are my manners?" The Creature spoke again, "I am Suba. You could say I am the leader of the shapeshifters in Ashkavar and neighbouring region," it gestured at the tree from where they had heard Dhaman's eerie laughter, "That one is Marich. My brother. And we are here to offer you a deal."
There it was...
"You have a minute," Rudra allowed, "What do you want?" "We want to live in harmony," The creature bowed it's head, "Have a place in the Royale Court of Your Highness."
"You killed six of my men."
"We want to live in harmony with you," The creature, Suba, clarified, "Not with humans. Give us a chance to serve you instead of these...," he tilted his head, looking at the two hunters cowering behind Rudra, "Weaklings."
Suba took one step and another half towards Rudra, "Think about it. We are not so different- our species and yours. We are both shape shifters- just different types. We can hold human form or animal form for decades to the end, operate fluidly in both of our forms. We are far stronger, smarter and better companions than human beings. With us as your subjects, Partha will certainly be the strongest nation ever to exist!"
Rudra felt mildly fascinated, "How come your corpses do not change form after death?" He asked, "And the voice boxes. How do you remove it so fast. The ones in the city are not as efficient as you are. Their corpses also shift back to the animal form as soon as they die."
Suba seemed very pleased with the questions, "It is because we are better than those in the city. Think about how the humans have evolved from their lesser ancestors...apes. My folks used to be nothing then. Beasts of instincts and fur merely able to blend in with our surroundings to hunt the natives in this area. Nothing close to what we do now, what we can be now." A faint humorless smile left it's mouth, "Then the Great Dragon arrived. Your grandfather. Almost two thousand years ago he conquered this entire subcontinent and permanently changed the ecosystem around this region. Because, Dragons, Your Highness, they don't just arrive, they shed. Scales, skins, occasionally even blood- the nature mold itself around their very breath. Our lot sought out the scales you mindlessly scatter, your winter shed you abandon without a care. We ate those and our generations grew stronger and stronger until we have evolved into what we are now. Something which is far more superior than the human beings," as he spoke, Rudra felt Kesh and Sidh moving back, not just from the shapeshifter but also from him.
"The change wasn't an immediate shift ofcourse. It was slow, like a stone getting shaped by a river - our kind was shaped by you. However, it was also not as slow as the evolution of human beings. Those things took milions of years to learn just how to make fire. Us? We hardly took two thousand years. We drank the water which had your draconic saliva, we ate of that land which was shaped by your fire. And we have become what we are now."
Suba stood tall. Proud, "In a way, we are your Grandfather's legacy." He walked closer and closer until he was looming over Rudra - a beast which was well over twenty feet tall, "Because he is the reason we exist at all," his voice came out almost mocking, "Every part of what I am, I owe to him. To you in a manner of speaking."
He paused, savouring his own words and then he asked, "Doesn't that, of sort, make us family, Your Highness."
He stopped talking. He faced Rudra directly, eyes pale and still.
"No," Rudra said.
"What -"
Before he could finish, Rudra reached back, grasping Kesh's sword off his sheath and swung- cutting his head off his body in one single strike.
The woods fell silent- as if the trees themselves were holding breath.
Suba did not scream like an animal or human would. His body remain stood. The head rolled away a feet or two.
"Why?" He asked, almost disappointed, "Why still choose humans over us? Them over your family."
"You are not family," Rudra simply answered, "My mother was family."
"And she was human."