Page 8 of Magic & Secrets
Once all six were broken on the ground, we faced the Necromancer. He stood in a quick motion and lifted his blade.Not against us. Instead, he held it to his throat and began to chant.
“Ivitithi is all-powerful. My death is a tribute to him. Return my breath, Ivitithi.”
Before the Necromancer could cut his own throat, I seized his wrist and snapped it. The blade fell to the muddy ground. The Necromancer did not cry out in pain. He stared past me, witnessing something unseen to us. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if this Ivitithi creature was watching.
I wrapped my hand around the Necromancer’s throat and lifted him off the ground. Walking with his limp body toward the bog, I noticed the water no longer bubbled. The magic in the air had fallen flat. The Necromancer knew he was defeated.
I was never taught to torture my prey. The Bane Shifters were weapons, not sadists. Yet, I wished I could make this limp magic man fear his death like my friends had done back in Haven Junction.
Instead, I turned him away from me and dug into his back. Through his flesh and muscle, I wrapped my fingers around his spine and tore it free.
After dropping the Necromancer to the ground, I washed my hands off in the bog. A few wide-eyed, lifeless bodies stared back at me. Death had never bothered me before, even when the Armgard stole the lives of my fellow Bane Shifters.
Now, though, as I stood with Koda and Delta, I truly grasped death’s finality. Killing this Necromancer didn’t bring back those we had lost in Haven Junction. No amount of slaughter would fill our friends with life. They were simply gone.
“He carried hearts with him,” Koda said, lifting a sack. “Perhaps, a sacrifice to whatever god he worshipped.”
I frowned at the idea of the attack on Haven Junction being no more than zealots hoping to please their bloodthirsty deity.
“We should burn them,” I said, concerned over how the magic folk might use the hearts for a ritual. “Leave only ash.”
While Koda did as I requested, Delta sniffed the air. “Who do we hunt next, Vampyres or Shifters?”
“The Shifters’ scents were strongest miles back. Lions and Wolves are traveling with a Sorcerer. I want the magic men dead first. They were the ones who gave the lesser creatures the power to kill our kind.”
Once the remains were burnt to ash, I shifted into my wolf form and returned to the hunt. At this rate, we could achieve our vengeance in less than a week and return to our retirement at Mt. Elysium.
Calla
THE THUNDER OF HOOVESpounded rhythmically across the open ground. Our horses ran hard like a brewing storm. Using a tracking spell, Mina led our bevy. Her raven braids were swept back from her temples and bounced with her horse’s movement.
We were dressed in our Elven warrior garb, just as instructed. If anyone asked, we were Elven half-breeds. Though proficient in all weapons, we carried only arrows, blades, and shields like the warriors of the Elven Empire. We wore leather leggings, chain mail, knee-high boots, and armored tops. None of it was necessary to protect our flesh, but the gear would hide how quickly our wounds healed. Red cloaks flew behind us as we moved like the wind toward our enemy.
Soon after leaving Haven Junction, the attackers had separated into smaller groups, likely hoping to make tracking them more difficult. Undoubtedly, the Bane Shifters were already on the hunt for vengeance.
Several hours before dawn, my bevy located the Chauve Vampyres. Their blood-soaked coterie had descended upon a human settlement called Emerald Outpost.
Vampyres were broken into two halves of the same species. Digne Vampyres looked mostly human and rarely killed for their food. Instead, their coteries forged treaties with human outposts, acting as protection for the settlements in exchange for regular feedings of human blood.
Chauve Vampyres were more deformed and animalistic. They hunted humans for food, killing whoever they bled. Theywere viewed as a scourge and regularly tracked down by humans and the Digne Vampyres.
The Emerald Outpost’s warning siren filled the air. I also heard the cracks of their weapons. The outpost was located in a disputed area within Arbdorre Territory. These humans were battle-tested, likely former Murade soldiers given land as part of their retirement packages.
Within the one-lane settlement, the humans put up a valiant effort for survival. I spotted several dead men and women on the road. The survivors had found refuge in a central building. They fired their weapons through spyholes within their bunker while the Chauve Vampyres worked together to tear through the barricades.
We leapt from our horses and approached on foot. Our steps remained silent as we prowled toward the enemy. At my right side was Enya. Her scarlet hair was woven into thick braids. Black and red war paint decorated her cheeks and forehead. Our faces were marked with a prayer to Solme Divige in a dead language few knew.
As we approached the enemy, I took stock of their appearance. Chauve Vampyres possessed deathly white skin, sickly yellow eyes, curved horns jutting from their balding heads, a mouth full of jagged teeth, and talons like blades. The Chauve Vampyres shrieked in a frenzied call for blood. Their claws tore at the barricades, slicing away at the wood and steel.
The settlement’s generators failed as the Chauve Vampyres grew more persistent against the approaching sunrise. A sensible choice would be for them to flee into the dark woods and hide until a long night awaited them. Instead, they ripped away another layer of steel protecting the bunker’s entry points.
The Chauve Vampyres’ human servants stood at the center of the road, each holding one wrist of an outpost child no more than seven. The crying girl struggled to break free. Her wails ofpain and fear were likely meant to draw her family outside for a battle they couldn’t win.
My first arrow entered the eye socket of the Chauve Vampyres’ male servant. My second arrow ended the female’s life before his body even dropped. I swooped in to grab the girl and leapt out of reach before the Chauve Vampyres noticed my bevy’s arrival.
Enya sliced open the throat of the nearest monster, allowing me to remove the child from harm. I jumped from roof to roof before finding an open window. Dropping inside, I located a more secure room.
“Remain here until your kind saves you,” I told the child as I barricaded the single window and prepared to leave.
