Chapter 56

• Brinah sat thinking. "That will allow me to make a compound that will counteract the one he's using. But that won't stop him. It will only make it harder for him." She thought some more. Cullen could see her mind working over what she had been told earlier. "If he's making weres then he has to have recreated something ancient. When I was still with the Circle that kind of alchemy wasn't practiced any longer. I know that in ancient times, when Rome threatened the Celts, the Circle created a compound that when mixed with animal blood and ingested over a period of time would give the person who drank it the characteristics of the animal that the blood came from. It was a lengthy and painful process. When it was completed the person was able to change into that animal. Hence all of you. It was done by a small group within our number that thought we should fight back. Seeing as we weren't fighters and Rome was so powerful they theorized that the only way for us to protect ourselves was to have guardians that were stronger than the Roman legions."
• Sarah shook her head. "I always thought that was a story told to us when we were children to make us more sympathetic to the druids. I thought that the druids started that story because they wanted to guilt us into protecting them. Make it seem like we should show them respect and loyalty."
• Brinah smiled. "In the end all creatures with a brain assert themselves. We watched the lycans grow and move on to create their own identities and we were pleased to see it. Humans who didn't understand us or what we had done turned it all into stories about druids being shape shifters, able to speak to animals, and things like that. Everyone creates their own legends to make what they don't understand make sense. I'm sure that even our stories about that time have become tainted over the years. Believe what you like about your origins. The truth about history isn't what the current dilemma is about. Right now, if Rafe is using ancient alchemy to create weres there is nothing I can give you to stop that. Once it's done then it's done. I can only tell you that it is possible."