Page 74 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

My relatively new power sizzled a bit, as if in confusion, before trickling into the body beneath my palms. The hesitation must have been because I was helping a wolf and not a plant, which was where the majority of my power came from. I had a hunch that my ability could be turned toward healing as well. Not just because of myths, but because of how quickly the shifters had healed in my care when I had only a basic understanding of their anatomy and no understanding of magic. I figured it had been a subconscious thing, so I hoped I could tap into it more directly.

It seemed like nothing was happening, but then I felt something almost click within the wolf, and their own natural healing ability surged up to meet me halfway.

Perfect.

“Get yourself to safety for a few minutes before rejoining,” I said, already on my feet to the next person who needed my help. “We can do this.”

As I ran to one of the bear shifters pinned under a pillar of rock, my legs were yanked out from under me, and I was suddenly in the air. It reminded me of how Alric, the metal-controlling brother, had snatched me up, and my body reacted before my mind could. Hundreds of vines shot up from between cracks on the floor that hadn’t been there before, wrapping around my legs to my waist and trying to pull me back to safety.

“There you are,” Katarina said, floating over the chaos of battle until she was a few feet from me. “You know, I really was looking forward to one of your kind being able to run around these parts. Maybe restore the balance a little. But you had to go and waste it, didn’t you?”

“Did you really think I would sit back and let you kill our alpha?”

“I had hoped you would, yes.” She drew in a deep breath, then gestured at the wild battle all around us. There were whirlwinds spinning this way and that, sending shifters flying. Lightning cracked down from the ceiling and through the openings between the branches. There were more stone golems spawning out of nowhere, and occasionally, long tentacles of fire randomly appeared out of the walls to slash down at the closest shifters.

It was an insane display of power, and if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it came from one woman. No wonder the combined powers of her sons couldn’t take her down. It seemed she had all their abilities, but she’d had centuries to hone them. While I was still determined to beat her, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would make it through the fight.

If I didn’t, at least I could say I’d gone down swinging, and that was what mattered to me.

“Thanks to you, all your friends are going to die. It’s a pity, isn’t it? Revenge always begets more revenge.”

“This isn’t revenge! Not on our part. We’re protecting the man we love and admire. Our leader. We’resavinghim! You’re the one trying to avenge the justice that your raping, murdering sons got served to them!”

I almost expected a witty repartee, as Katarina seemed quite unruffled by many of the things we did. Instead, I saw pure anger flash across her face, and she raised one hand, curling her fingers as if she was choking someone. Almost instantly, my air supply cut off, and my lungs desperately tried to draw in breath.

“All these lectures! I have tried to be kind. I have shown the lot of you mercy, and yet you still dare to speak to me this way. I am a superior life form. Your kind only exist because I deem it so! And now, I will enjoy watching you suffocate in front of me while your little friends are helpless to stop it. I’ll laugh as your face turns burgundy, as all those little blood vessels in your eyespop with desperation, and then as you piss yourself like the filthy animal you are. Goodbye, little dryad. What a waste.”

The squeezing sensation around my throat grew tighter and tighter. I tried to pull my arms down to claw at my neck, but Katarina’s magic held them fast above my head. I tried to call for help, but I couldn’t make any sound. I hoped someone would jump in with a sudden distraction, but no. Everyone was occupied with their own battles. I didn’t know if any of them even realized what was happening with me.

Help me, Leo! Please!

I scanned the area for him, but my vision grew too fuzzy and the battle too hectic. Then I remembered I had no interest in being the damsel, so I desperately tried to think of a way to buy myself time. I knew Leo would come for me.I knew it.

What could I do? I couldn’t move. I couldn’t run. Katarina’s hold on me kept yanking me up while the plants I’d conjured were desperately trying to pull me down. I supposed the only reason the witch didn’t incinerate them outright was that between holding me, choking me, and keeping up everything else she had in the room, she didn’t have the attention to divide. Really, I only needed a second or so of slack to get free, or even draw a breath.

My thoughts grew sluggish, taking on that unreal quality that came after waking up from a long, intense dream. I had a few moments left at best. People didn’t realize that usually it took a really long time to actually choke a person into unconsciousness, but that was when magic wasn’t involved.

The plants around me began to writhe, their little leaves rattling almost as if they were trying to ask me questions. They could tell I was in crisis, but they didn’t know what to do. They weren’t advanced enough for that kind of high-level thought. Besides, it wasn’t like they would understand what strangulation was. As long as their leaves and vines were exposed to air, theyhad thousands of different places they could bring in carbon dioxide.

Wait a minute.

Actually, I didn’t have a minute, so all I could do was wait a second before trying something so insanely stupid that there was no way it could work, but I did it anyway. I sent all the magic I could fizzing down into the plants covering me. There wasn’t a lot of physical contact considering my clothing, but some of those vines and leaves were wrapped around my belly or had gripped my ankle and calf. I focused on my connection in those places and ordered them tobreathe.

The first tiny little bit of oxygen that hit my lungs was hardly more than a sip. I was so shocked, I nearly laughed. Except I couldn’t, because the witch still had a stranglehold on my throat.

But the next rush of oxygen was like a full gasp, and my panic receded. It was an insanely strange sensation not to breathe through my nose or feel the air go down my throat, but I wasn’t about to complain.

I played dead.

I made a good show of it. I gasped and concentrated on trying to make my face red. I crossed my eyes. I struggled. The key was not to succumb too soon because I didn’t want her to catch on to the fact that I was faking.

When it came time for the big finale, I couldn’t bring myself to pee down my leg, but I did let out some horrendous choking sounds and dribbled spit all down my chin. Gross but effective, because the magical stranglehold released me, and Katarina cackled.

“Do you see, Leo? The futility of trying to fight what must be. Your precious mate is dead now, and soon the rest of you will all join her.”

The howl that issued from my lover was so pained, I felt guilty. I hoped he could sense I was alive, but he was obviously too far away for that.

I did, however, hear a host of other shifters answer his mournful cry, and those that were free all rounded on the witch.

---