Page 7 of Magic & Secrets
Nearby, Delta prowled for clues. His black hair clung to his sweaty, scarred face. Only the most powerful magic could have left such marks on a Bane Shifter.
In the final battles against the Armgard, the female warriors unleashed their most violent magic to stave off an impending loss. The entirety of Delta’s team had been brought down by a dozen Armgard warriors.
I still wasn’t certain how my friend survived the battle. We’d found him wandering the woods, skin blistered, hair burned off, and mumbling about monsters.
A century later, Delta still suffered nightmares from that attack. I occasionally heard my friend’s pained howls echoing in the night.
Despite our bond, the three of us hadn’t spoken to each other in many full moons. Now, we stood together in Haven Junction, surrounded by death.
With no need to strategize or bid farewell to the rest of the pack, we shifted into our wolf forms and chased the enemy’s scent out of the village.
The vibrant green Nexus Valley unfurled ahead of us. We raced through yellow and blue wildflowers. After we crossed a stream, I realized the enemies’ scents separated. I studied the valley, considering how this would be a solid location to stage an ambush. Yet, the enemy had broken into smaller groups and fled in different directions.
My instinct led me to follow the Necromancer’s trail since his kind tended to travel the slowest and would be the quickest to destroy.
Before chasing the scent, I took a moment to look back at Mt. Elysium. My usual hunting grounds were near the snowy peak. I already missed the crisp, thin air.
My sentimentality didn’t last long. I turned my attention back to the Necromancer’s scent and began running again.
Back when the Bane Shifters roamed the Territories, there was only one species of magic folk with an immediate death decree. Necromancers were treated like the plague. Their magic was viewed as serving no legitimate purpose. That was the official line, anyway.
In the whispers amongst the Murade’s elite was talk of raising their dead by hiring Necromancers. Sometimes, it was done for closure. Other times, the dead were brought back for more nefarious reasons.
As we dashed through woodlands thick with pine trees, across yellow valleys, and over rocky hills, I considered how the world might have changed. Necromancers could be quite common now. I half-expected to find a world where the shambling dead were as normal a sight as the birds in the sky or the fish in the rivers.
This Necromancer didn’t travel alone. I picked up the rancid scent of his minions. Walking corpses changed over time, turning foul and clawed. Their taste for flesh grew more perverse, craving younger prey. I suspected half a dozen of the creatures ran alongside the Necromancer’s horse.
In hunting mode, my kind felt no fatigue, thirst, or hunger. Koda, Delta, and I were able to run nonstop for hours.
The Necromancer must have sensed us. His tracks changed. His horse ran faster now. I suspected he hoped to reach the Wicky Bog filled with the dead from a massive battle over a hundred years ago. The bodies were left behind to rot as a sign of disrespect. The Necromancer no doubt planned to unleash the corpses on us.
The land changed as we neared Wicky Bog. The air grew moist. The clouds above were gray and heavy. Even as my paws struggled against the muddy ground, I refused to slow my pace. The Necromancer’s putrid scent was likely the last smell my dead friends had experienced. I longed to spill blood in their honor.
The bog was choked with tangled reeds and decaying vegetation. A nauseating fog hovered over the murky waters and clung to rotten tree stumps. Bloated corpses were hidden beneath the surface.
A single narrow bridge guided travelers across the wet graveyard. The Necromancer stood on the other end. His horse neighed and backed away at the sight of us prowling closer.
The Necromancer’s short black hair clung to his head in jagged spikes. He wore human garb: black boots, slacks, and a shirt. He looked utterly normal except for his entirely white, unblinking eyes.
Creeping around near him were six hunched over, humanlike monsters. Their skin was pale and saggy. Their eyes were a milky white except for squirming red veins. Bloody drool leaked from their oversized mouths. They stretched their long, clawed fingers in anticipation of a battle they couldn’t win.
Since the bog water would prove difficult to traverse as a wolf, I shifted back into my human form. I eyed the Necromancer, deeply offended he would think to challenge us. We had left far more powerful creatures in our wake than this mere Necromancer and his rotting minions.
Stepping into the water rather than risking the rickety bridge, I heard the Necromancer whispering his incantation. Koda and Delta shifted into their human forms and spread out before entering the bog. We all knew what was coming next. The Necromancer seemed to think this was our first hunt.
The bodies within Wicky Bog trembled. The water reaching my abdomen began to pop and gurgle. I walked over the dead without looking down. My gaze remained fully focused on the Necromancer. I wouldn’t allow him to distract me.
The corpses’ hands reached up from their watery graves and tugged at my legs, attempting to drag me down to my death.
Rather than break free, I reached into the murky water and dislodged the corpses. They flailed in my grasp. I launched the first one like a missile toward the Necromancer. He attempted to duck, yet the corpse’s flailing leg crashed into his shoulder. The Necromancer dropped to the ground, half hidden under the moaning carcass.
I hurled another undead as the Necromancer stumbled to his feet. This one slammed his body against a tree.
Delta and Koda followed my lead. While marching through the bog, we launched body after body at the enemy. The humanlike monsters tried to outrun their fates, dodging right and left. A few ran into each other like a comical performance, complete with them looking shellshocked on the ground.
Reaching the other side of Wicky Bog, I tossed the last body in my grip at a minion attempting to help the Necromancer to his feet as I approached. The body trapped the creature, which hissed and snapped at me. I reached down and placed my large hands on the sides of its head. I stared into its unreadable eyes and wondered if this thing remembered being human. Knowing the answer was never to be answered, I wrenched its head from its shoulders.
The other creatures screeched in horror. Delta silenced one by stomping on its head. Koda caught a fleeing creature and twisted its skull backward before dragging the head from the neckbone in a sickly snap.
