Page 46 of King of Forest and Fur

“Well, we know what happens if you can’t, so I sure hope you try. I need your time manipulation powers to do this. It’s for the greater good, you’ll see.”

“We can’t mess with time like this. You know that. It can change everything.”

“Exactly!” he cheered. “You finally get it. Change. We need change.”

Suddenly, Leila felt the hum she had been searching for.

She tried to keep her face morbid as Xanthus went off on what event would be blessed enough to be the first change. She didn’t want him to know that her edge was back.

Leila let her body become a buzz of power as she thought of what to do with it.

She didn’t want to send him anywhere in time. He couldn’t be trusted. Then, she thought about when she had manipulated time to change clothes and places of things.

“Now then, let’s give this a try, shall we?” Xanthus asked maliciously.

“Let’s,” Leila said with her own smile.

Xanthus looked puzzled at her sudden change of demeanor.

Then, Leila saw herself pop up by the door.

Xanthus saw it too. It stopped him in his tracks.

Leila’s smile grew as she saw herself now standing in a different spot.

Before she knew it, there were multiples of her all over the room. She had manipulated time to show her in the different spots she had stood in different parts of time.

Xanthus was baffled as his head swung around the room trying to keep up with all the Leila’s appearing everywhere.

“What are you doing?” he asked, a note of panic evident.

“What you asked,” Leila replied shyly. “Manipulating time.”

The room became overwhelmingly full of Leilas and Xanthus seemed to be drowning in them. He couldn’t find the real Leila. He kept exhausting his energy and powers by blasting the clones that kept popping up around him.

She watched the panic begin to ebb onto his face as each one he hit with magic fizzled and then popped back.

The power surge was humming stronger within her now.

How could it be fear fueling her when her confidence was only growing?

A crack at the door made both Leila and Xanthus snap their heads away from the chaos.

When she saw what had busted through the door, Leila’s heart lifted and the humming intensified greatly.

Rehn came surging through in his magnificent bear form. His auburn coat glinted, even in the shadows of the dark room.

A roar started low, then grew menacingly loud.

She watched him charge straight at Xanthus, who had been so overtaken by Leilas that he had no time to react to the bear heading his way.

Leila quickly looked away from what she knew Rehn was about to do. The sounds would be enough.

She heard a cut-off scream, then the snapping and crunching of bones.

Xanthus was dead and she was safe.

Her king had stormed the castle and finished off the villain.

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