Slipping into the stable, she paused as she stared around at the sheer mass of beings that were hidden in there. Not only the unicorn, dragon and chimera she had seen that day months before, but others, even an enormous tank with a siren who was looking back at her curiously.
Slowly making her way down the narrow row, she stared around in horrified fascination at the mass of figures, all of them who had noticed her were watching her in return. Pulling off the hat, she set it down on a post and bit her lip, already knowing which creature needed her the most.
It was the unicorn she headed for first, looking so sweet and perfect, not a hair out of place.
"I'll get you out," she whispered to the beast as she approached the pen.
It looked back at her with what could only be described as a sceptical expression, smiling at that. Looking down at the gate, she grimaced, taking in the iron bolt on the door.
Glancing around, she headed quickly for a blanket and was horrified to see that a saddle had been set out. Surely no one intended to try and tame a unicorn?
The idea repulsed her, and she pulled the blanket from the railing and headed back to the unicorn's pen.
Wrapping the end of the blanket around the bolt, she wiggled it free as quietly as she was able, the bolt giving a soft thud as it slipped free of the bracket.
The unicorn stirred, moving closer as she swung the gate open.
"Not yet, let me get that bridle off," she gasped, holding her hands up as she saw the beast about to bolt for the open doors at the end of the stable.
It was trembling as she moved forward for it, matching her hands as she reached for it and she whimpered as her fingers touched the feather soft fur on its muzzle.
The unicorn's eyes slid shut as it nuzzled its face into her palms and she revelled in it, a flood of warmth and love filling her that pushed the darkness in her soul down and left her tingling.
Moving around quickly, she slipped the catch of the bridle free and gently lifted it away, hushing the beautiful creature softly as she soothed the small rubs marks.
"You'll be okay," she whispered, almost falling over when the unicorn turned and nuzzled her with enough force to send her stumbling, but something gold caught her eye and she noticed its back hoof was tied as well.
Heading for it, she crouched down and undid the simple knot that held the golden rope in place, standing slowly as the unicorn turned to her and she stared up at the incredible radiance of the creature.
Without the shackles, it seemed to glow from within, throwing rainbows of light in all directions.
Reaching for it, she held the muzzle gently before she bent down and pressed a tender kiss against the silken nose.
"Go precious, go be free of this place," she whispered.
The unicorn nuzzled her again once and then turned, heading carefully for the doors as not to make any noise.
She had the attention of many of the others now and she squinted as she considered who she should free next.
The fairies and pixies were the easiest and she hurried for them, unscrewing the lids of their jars and allowing them to flutter up, chittering and buzzing around her as she released them all and then moved for the imps.
The moment they were released, they bowed to her and vanished into a scattering of leaves and she was glad they had escaped.
"Go, you're not safe here," she hissed at the pixies as they zoomed around her.
They were reluctant to leave, but she didn't have time to deal with, or even talk to them right then.
***
The chimera was something of concern for her, but she still headed for it and looked up into the magnificent face of the eagle.
"If I free you, do you promise to leave this place without causing harm? No harm to the city or anyone here?"
The chimera looked annoyed but then nodded and she sighed a relief, using her blanket to open the gate to its pen and hurrying forward.
Releasing the golden chain from its back ankle, she moved around it to remove the chain pinning its wings and then finally around to its beak.
"Forgive me," she whispered as she gave the chain a hard yank and it slipped free, the eagle opening its beak and stretching its wings as much as the pen would allow. The head of the snake looked at her as she reached to release those chains as well, then finally the head of the lion. All three looked incredibly relieved to be able to move and stretch after so long.
"Thank you, little Fae," the creature murmured, eyeing her curiously. Its voice was both incredibly deep and almost a screech at the same time. "I will uphold my end of the deal. Be safe."
With that, the beast followed the path of the unicorn and she headed for the dragon, not having a clue how to get the siren free.
The dragon was so beautiful, his golden scales mixed with bronze, browns, greens and tan, looking small and scared as she carefully opened the pen gate and slipped inside.
"You're okay baby," she whispered to him.
He had a distinct reptilian look to him, though it was not always the rule for the dragons. They could look like anything really, from more akin to cats and dogs, to snakes and lizards, some were even heavily feathered like birds, while he was all scales and leathery skin.
He looked up at her with huge, golden green eyes and growled as she approached.
"Hush, I'm going to set you free," she scolded him.
He blinked at her, lifting his head and looking around the stable to see that she had indeed released others and then he looked back at her, curious and alert.
"I need you to stay still so I can release your wings. Behave."
He gave a huff as though she were annoying him by telling him to behave, but he remained still as she worked to release the multiple chains that bound his beautiful wings. The membrane between each wing was a deep crimson and clearly showed the veins inside, beautiful and perfect until she saw that his right wing had a large section of it cut out.
"They grounded you?" she whispered, horrified by the thought. It was too clean and perfect not to have been intentional.
She didn't know if it would heal, she knew very little about the dragons for that matter.
Regardless, she still released his wings and the muzzle from his face, turning for the golden chain around his ankle.
When he was freed, she grabbed her blanket and turned back, almost screaming bloody murder when not a dragon stood before her, but a man.
He lunged for her, covering her mouth with his overly hot hand and staring down at her with large golden-green eyes.
"Don't scream, I'm not going to hurt you," he murmured.
His skin was a deep golden-brown colour that looked incredibly smooth, a set of black horns starting just above long, tapered ears to point out and down towards his shoulders with a mop of golden blond hair that darkened to almost red at the tips. He wore a black shirt that was torn and ripped, barely clinging to his strong, defined frame and long pants though he had no shoes on.
"Why are you freeing us?" he demanded, studying her face carefully.
"You were trapped," she whispered back after he removed his hand from her mouth.
He nodded slowly, not sure he believed her but willing to accept her words.
He looked to be around twenty, which was obscenely young for the dragons, barely a teenager and she was concerned as to how he had been captured at all. Where was his mother? She should have been protecting him to ensure he wasn't captured or injured. Their mothers were very territorial when they had young, did he simply wander away, or was his mother killed in order to capture the baby dragon?
"I will help," he said simply as he released her and instead grabbed her hand and half dragged her from the pen to the next one.
***
He didn't have the iron allergy that troubled her and so he had no issue releasing the gates and allowing her to slip inside, a dryad giving her a hard hug before she ran from the stables and vanished into the wind.
A centaur couldn't use magic to travel and so she looked up at him, his skin so black it was almost blue in the candlelight.
"Winter, Summer or unaligned?" she asked, his dark eyes boring into her face as he rubbed his red wrists.
"Winter," he said simply and she nodded.
"I will take him and come back," the dragon said, reaching his hand out and placing it on the centaur's shoulder but the centaur didn't take his eyes off her face as she stepped back and the pair vanished into a pillar of crimson fire.
The dragons were amazing creatures if one really stopped to think about it. Their magic changed to adapt to their current form. If in their dragon form, they could breathe fire and fly, if in their human form they could wield fire and transport themselves anywhere they wanted. It was what gave them a better chance against creatures like her where she couldn't simply take herself anywhere.
A man with his face covered by a veil turned out to be an incubus and he grinned at her wickedly as she slipped into his rather lavish pen and removed the veil.
He was incredibly good looking, perfect to the extreme and wearing no shirt, that fact immediately distracting her.
But he was shooed away the moment he was free, pouting and staring at her hungrily.
"What is your name?" he asked quietly, following her from the pen to the tank where the siren had been watching the show.
"Etani," she said simply, pondering how she was going to get the beautiful creature out.
"I'll take your siren friend home in exchange for a kiss from you," he teased; eyes greedy.
Looking back at him doubtfully, she glanced from the siren to him and back again before she sighed.
Unless her dragon friend came back, she wasn't going to be able to get the siren home.
"Deal," she said simply, glaring at him.
He grinned massively as he reached for her. She yelped as he spun her and dropped her into a dip over his arm, his lips coming down on hers with a firm pressure.
Her entire body melted at the taste of his lips, the flood of hormones his kiss pumped into her body and she found herself kissing him back eagerly, leaning up into it with her arms draped over his shoulders and after a solid thirty seconds, he finally lifted her back up again.
"I won't forget you, sweet little Etani," he crooned, kissing her cheek before he turned to the siren. "Let's go beautiful."
The siren pointed up and they saw that a wooden platform had been built into the roof of her tank, a set of stairs leading up to it at the back of her tank.
Heading up, she used her blanket to release the trap door and the siren swam up for them.
She was stunning with skin that shimmered in the candlelight, green and silvers mixed with pinks and purples. Large black eyes and a mass of emerald green hair. Her skin was covered in stripes from around her face to the tip of her long tail. The siren looked a lot like humans, complete with breasts though she had no nipples. Webbed fingers and that long tail would only be noticed closer up, making them exceptionally good hunters. It wasn't often a man could resist that level of beauty when it was calling to him.
The incubus reached in and took the siren's hand, helping to pull her up out of the water and as he did so, her long tail melted down into a pair of long legs.
That in and of itself was the difference between the sirens and mermaids. The sirens could change their tail to legs at will, the mermaids had to surrender the water to gain legs and rarely could return to it after.
"Thank you," she murmured, looking between the two of them curiously.
"Where do you live?" the incubus asked, wrapping his arm protectively around the tiny waist of the siren.
She murmured in his ear and he nodded, smiling at her before they both gave a wave and were gone.
She was glad to see she had nearly cleared the stable out, heading for one that appeared to be sunken into the floor. Coming to a slow stop by the gate, she peered inside and blinked as she found a green face looking back at her. His face resembled that of a duck, with a flat, wide, green beak and small black eyes. He had no feathers, his skin resembling that of a frog with black hair and a large indentation on the top of his head that contained water.
"Will you save me too?" he croaked, sitting in a pool of water that reached to his shoulders, filled with lily pads and pretty water flowers.
"So long as you agree not to try and eat me," she told the kappa.
He smiled at her with sharp teeth, nodding his agreement.
Lifting the blanket, she carefully wiggled the bolt free and stopped at the edge of his pond.
He seemed to be considering her too, but after a moment he stood on amphibian legs and waded to her, lifting one webbed foot to place it on the ledge.
Crouching down, she carefully picked the knot free and he breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you, strange woman. I will not forget this."
"Just don't get captured again," she said, offering her hand to him.
He took it and she pulled him from the pond, watching as he padded from the stable with his feet slapping wetly on the ground.