Page 58 of Bear Protector
21
Xander
With gloomy snow clouds looming over the village and hiding the stars and crescent moon from view, it was pitch black outside. Darkness was fitting tonight. It matched the wrath that weaved around Xander’s chest, filling him with contempt and a blind fury. Coco had told him everything that Kiera revealed to her. The bird’s news about Minassus’ demands did not faze him. Minassus’ threat to harm his mother did not come as a surprise either, but when he killed the prisoner without a second thought or a sliver of remorse, just to underscore his point, Xander lost it. He had no doubt in his mind. It was no longer going to be enough to simply stop the Chancellor. Minassus needed to die.
Xander took the black skies as a sign of good luck. It provided the cover he would need. His plan was crude, but at this point, he did not care. He and the seven shifters with him were going to unleash their Kodiak bears, enter through the tunnels, and take the fortress by surprise. Coco and Kiera could get the prisoners to safety using the horses he and his shifters were riding in with. Xander would kill Minassus, and the region would go back to a shared government under the Council, just like it used to be before Minassus.
Xander would appeal to the Council for an immediate cease to the shifter transformation ceremony until that point in time where the witches found a way to perform the ritual without the risk of death. There would be an end to the mandatory draft of men with the 236-k gene, and only those volunteering would be turned. Reena and her science-based witches would continue to find new ways to fight and kills the destroyers. Every citizen would be free. That was the future he saw beyond the edges of his contempt, where Minassus was no more.
He kept that image in his mind right up until he and the seven shifters rode past the cobblestone path. By the time they made it to the clearing beside the Great Hall, Coco was flapping her wings hysterically as she flew ahead of them.
“Everyone, stop!” Coco called out. “Look! At the top of the fortress.”
Xander pulled the horse’s reins hard, bringing his mare to a grinding halt. He stared up at the glowing ball of light hovering above the top turret. From this distance, it was close to impossible to tell what that shape was inside the light. “Wait. Is that…a person?”
“Yes. It’s Kiera.”
He looked on, incredulous. He had never seen magic that intense. “But I thought you said nothing happened when you touched the seven shifters?”
“It’s true. Nothing happened.”
“So how did she become like that? Some magic has obviously been transferred to her.”
“I believe I understand what took place…though I never imagined it was possible.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Full disclosure here. It may be my fault. Kind of…I just didn’t think it could work. Oh dear.”
“What did you do, Coco?” Xander demanded.
“I may have freed the spirits of the last eight Chosen witches from the Chamber of the Sacred. By accident, sort of…and I think they have just possessed Kiera’s body…but only temporarily.”
Xander stared at Coco. “How?”
“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“Answer me!” he barked. “How did you do it?”
“Calm down! You’re making me nervous, dammit. It was Thalia’s talisman. I found it in the lockbox with her scrolls while Kiera and I were researching why her powers were growing. Of course, the Chancellor found us out and came to Kiera’s door, so I took the talisman with me when I flew out of her room…and I may have flung it through the window of the Chamber of the Sacred while I recited a tiny, little incantation…to conjure them.”
“Kiera is possessed. By eight witches,” Xander said aloud, not believing his own words.
“We were running low on options,” Coco added. “Plus now they are no longer under Chancellor’s thumb. He had their souls trapped in that room. No wonder they’re so vengeful.”
“They will rip Kiera apart!”
“That won’t happen. I am tempering some of their energy.”
“I don’t seeyougleaming like a lightbulb!”
“I can take on my human form and show you all my shining naked glory if you’d like!” Coco shouted.
“It’s okay. Save me the trouble. Coco, why are you sure it’s temporary?”
“Most of the spell I recited was to release their bindings and free them so their souls could ascend. Yes, I tacked on a little pit stop to help against the Chancellor and the destroyers. So sue me!”
“Mark my words, shifter witch,” Xander warned her. “If anything happens to my mother or to Kiera, I will personally clip your bird wings and smother that sharp little beak of yours in your sleep.”
