Page 51 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Dark Magic

ALIA & SHEN

Alia

The building in question was a plain, two-story thing that blended in with the the row of gray and tan buildings crusted in salt and grime. There were quite a few people running around, going home from the docks after a long day fishing, clamming, building, or whatever else they were doing.

There were two people in front of the doors, one with a dark hood that I couldn’t see beneath, and the other lounging against the top step with blue-green hair.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“The two left will not leave the post. They have two shifters up top to sniff out any inconsistencies?—”

“Which is the reason Doc sent this,” I said, pulling out a vial of what I called no-smell-em.

“Precisely. Care to give a bit of a distraction?”

I stared at the two mages. A slow smile crossed my face. “I’ll give you a distraction. You have two pes and a boot?”

Shen

She worked quickly.She pulled a strange substance from her cloak—how much did that cloak hold?—and stuffed it in my boot.

“The thing about dark mages is how they connect to Source,” she mumbled as I stood, half-watching her work and half-watching the pathway where the elves will return.

I could have easily dispatched the two dark mages. It was my plan, in fact. But I did not want Alia to see me like that yet. She would. She would see the darkness inside me. I could not bear her eyes being shaded with horror and fear as they had been in the beginning. She no longer jumped for a blade when I moved, and I wanted to keep it that way for reasons I did not wish to explore too deeply.

So I gave her an option she did not entirely know she had.

And it had the added benefit of bringing out a side I did not know was buried beneath the warrior shell. The more I learned about her, the more I realized she wore strength like armor.

“They connect through a twisted pathway which can be disrupted. And these two need blood to continue practicing, so they are weakened right now.” She added two copper pes to the boot. She counted softly to three and then threw the boot into the street.

She covered her ears.

I did not react in time. The sound was a mix between a screech and glass shattering.

She got up and dusted off, sending me a tiny smirk as I opened and closed my jaw, trying to restore my hearing by popping my ears.

She strolled up the street, pulling her cowl up as she went. “Hey guys, heard there was a kidnapping happening around these parts. Couldn’t pass up a good fight.”

The two mages exchanged glances. One had their hand on a blade at their waist, and the other leaned casually against a wall, though her eyes were scanning and her coiled muscles were ready to pounce.

“Who are you?” one asked, raising his hands as if to keep us from coming closer. The girl stayed slouched against the wall, ever watchful.

“Just a friendly neighborhood Red,” she said.

The girl straightened. “You aren’t wearing the Red Hood,” she said, squinting.

“Wanna test it?”

“Not really,” the guy said. “But we ain’t got a choice.”

Alia cocked her head. In that moment, she exuded a magnetism I do not think she realized she held. “There’s always a choice. It may be between two crappy decisions, but there’s always a choice. And who knows, maybe neither one of you has access to Source.”

The man muttered “Pechin’ Reds” beneath his breath and then froze.

No wonder Reds were so very feared. I’d heard Reds could also separate the shifter from their wolf. I had not put much thought into that old tale until now.

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