Page 57 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Alia’s shoulders deflated. “We have to go back?—”

Footsteps pounded down the stairs. I turned to stand between the black mages coming down those steps and my little motley crew, but I counted at least twenty different footfalls and heard more further up. “We cannot go up,” I said.

My hands curled into claws as the first mage rounded the corner. A fireball shot from his hand. I used my cloak to absorb the worst of the heat, not dodging for fear it would hit those behind me. I lunged to meet him, slicing his throat before he threw another flame.

“Please don’t kill them!” Alia yelled.

I grumbled under my breath, grabbed the next mage by the throat, and tossed him up the stairs at another.

“Even I cannot handle this many without killing. Get us a way out of here!”

“I can’t?—”

“I do not wish to hear those words uttered again, Little Red. Believe in yourself.” An elf stabbed under my guard, and I threw him at a mage who was about to zap someone in the area behind me. They went down in a tangled mass of limbs.

I heard the trickle of water. It started as a slow drip then slowly turned into a whirlpool.

“Duck!” Alia yelled. I dropped into a crouch, getting a knee to the face for my efforts.

A tiny orb sailed over my face and landed in the midst of four mages, two dark elves, and a werewolf. I covered my eyes and ears just in time for a bright flash of light.

I was up before the rest of them and found a massive hole in the earth where the nymph and mage had been a moment before. Alia saluted me and jumped into the hole.

I grumbled about idiotic, trusting Reds and leapt in after her.

The blackness sucked me in. Took me back to a place I promised myself to never return. As I was falling, a part of me felt the walls closing in around me. My arms felt the sides of the tiny stone cell where I had been left for hours to contemplate my failures?—

My feet hit resistance. Then it gave. Cold water enveloped me. It shocked me back to the present as I clawed at the water spinning around me. There was no water in the punishment cave. Only cold rock.

That did not mean I would survive this.

Water burned down my throat as my body craved air. My head broke the surface and the water spat me out on a sandyshore. It was pitch black. Some assume werewolves can see in the dark. We can. But even we cannot see where there is no light.

Something glowed. I blinked quickly. It was an eerie yellow-green. Then I smelled Alia. Her face appeared next as my eyes adjusted to the scant light. The mage was a wet bundle of disgruntlement while the nymph was playing in the water, splashing and smiling, a gentle song with an ethereal quality to it coming from him.

My original instructions were to bring the captive to Mother, but there were no detailed instructions besides that. She was beyond her Command limit for the month, so I did nothaveto do anything. Surely, when I accidentally lose the creature during our escape, it would not be much of a problem. I had done worse.

"Where are we?" the mage asked.

“Underground water-source," said a voice which was layered with other voices—the nymph. He sounded much stronger.

Another glow began.

A turquoise-haired nymph emerged from the waters, the gold scrolling on her forehead alight as her eyes locked onto the nymph we had rescued. A song washed over us. A song of longing. Of joy. Of such hope, it was nearly painful.

The song intertwined with the song of the child nymph we had rescued. A splash erupted from the water as the child jumped into his mother’s arms, his keening so like a pup's whine my chest clenched. The mother enfolded him into her arms, her hair swaying in the air as if they were still under the black waters.

A blue circle lit up around the nymphs and extended to the surrounding waters, clearing the sewage from the waters and making it clear as the south sea.

"Source heard my pleas, and sent you to bring home my child, just as was asked. You two will be blessed of the very Life-Source of this world. Thank you.” It was the nymph Alia had consoled after she saved Fenbutt’s life by nearly killing herself.

The nymph rose to the water surface. Her seaweed-esque dress went down to her knees. Fins emerged from either side of her calves, and her feet had webbing in between the toes. She knelt before Alia, the mage, and me, bowing her head.

Alia caught her shoulder, lifting her up with a gentle, joy-filled smile. The mother's eyes were wide as she glanced up at Alia. "We are grateful it was us. Go help him heal from this, and live a good life.”

The nymph reached out a hand and touched Alia's cheek. "My name is Ahhanhi," the nymph said.

My entire being froze. Nymph names were regarded as a precious honor, given only to those who are considered allies of their kind.

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