now, nearing the middle of a clearing. I don’t like this.
“Something is wrong here.”
As she said the words, a cold vise tightened around her ankle, but when she glanced down there was nothing. Amanda attempted to fight the unseen force but lost her footing and fell awkwardly to the ground. Cole turned to look at her, losing his focus. Their echo spell failed for one millisecond, and she felt the sharp sting of an energy sphere rip the flesh from her shoulder. Amanda cried out in pain, unable to stifle it.
Cole was at her side gently catching her slumping body.
“Please no. Amanda, are you all right? Talk to me.” His words sounded like marbles shaking in a jar, and she couldn’t feel his touch.
She was going into shock but managed to choke out one word, a warning to Cole. He shouldn’t be coddling her. He should be running from…
“Carter,” she whispered.
Cole pulled out of his shocked state quickly enough to block the next dark spell hurled at her. It erupted in a cloud of smoke inches from her face.
She looked up at Cole, expecting to see the relief she felt, but there was something else there. A look she’d never seen on his face before. Hatred. He took his cloak off in one fluid motion and put it on top of her shaking body.
Jumping to his feet, he shouted into the darkness. “Carter!”
A cackle of laughter erupted at the edge of the clearing, and a dark cloaked figure stepped into view. “You’ve always been passionate, Cole, but in this case…” He gestured to the ground where Amanda lay, clutching her shoulder and chattering her teeth. “As in all others, you must detach emotion. You and I had the same training. You should know better. Feelings have nothing to do with the fact that she’s tainted, and the Ancients have put death upon her. Why fight it?”
She tried to speak through the involuntary spasms of pain rippling through her body. “Madgie?”
Carter tilted his head to address her, and Cole protectively put himself between the two. The shadowy figure smirked at the gesture as he spoke. “I’m surprised you don’t know where she is. After all, you two were always so attached.” Carter snapped his fingers, and the grip on her tightened. She looked down and saw what held her was no longer invisible, and it wasn’t a metal vise or cuff as she had thought, though it was just as cold as ever.
Madgie’s hand held her tightly in a death grip. Her friend’s body appeared lifeless, stiff and unmoving. Amada heard sobs tear through the sky, her own, but quickly reined them back. She still felt Madgie’s spirit. She was alive, just under some kind of binding spell. Madgie’s face showed nothing but pain. Cole’s anger spread to her, and she no longer felt the sting of her shoulder. She only felt hatred for Carter.
“Madgie did nothing wrong! Release her,” Amanda shouted over the field, causing the tall meadow grass to sway.
Carter looked confused as he watched the grass, but only for a moment. “I’ve been ordered to bring all of you back, dead or alive. So be happy that she’s among the living. I wasn’t sure I could take her alive. Old bat put up quite a fight.”
In his nonchalance, Amanda had almost forgotten they were in the middle of a fire fight, until she saw another dark smoke cloud erupt against Cole’s shield. She could only focus on her rage and nothing else, anger at Carter was the only thing keeping her conscious.
“If you try to hurt her again, I’ll kill you,” Cole said calmly.
“Really? I didn’t think you liked using anything but defensive spells. I don’t seem to remember you having an interest in combat training.”
Carter was trying to distract again. She could see the gears in his head turning and feel the slight pull of energy he was taking from the plants around him. If he was stealing energy from an outside source, Cole’s shield wouldn’t be able to hold, not with just his energy.
She tried to add to the shield, but was still too weak. “He’s pulling,” she warned.
Cole took a deep breath. “I know. Just stay behind me.”
Again and again she threw up a shield that wouldn’t stick. She looked across the field and watched as the plant life around their adversary’s feet wilted, the leaves turning brown and falling slowly to the dirt. At first, it was just an inch perimeter around Carter’s feet, then two, and before Amanda could blink, half of the lush green meadow was an ill-looking orange brown. She closed her eyes, focusing on the shield.
It locked into place firmly in front of them. Her face stretched into a smile. She looked up at Cole, who returned her surprised grin. She took in a breath and felt power, not air, fill her lungs. She gulped in another and felt the tingling sensation of pins and needles work its way across her shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she not only saw her restored flesh, she also took in the bright light of her wolf.
He towered over her with his silver fur on end. He bent down to Madgie and slowly touched the tip of his nose to her cheek. Then he looked back up to her, nodding, gesturing for her to touch her friend’s cheek too. Amanda didn’t understand how she knew it, but she did. She quickly touched Madgie’s cheek, which immediately flushed back to the rose color that was always perched there. Madgie fluttered to life and sprang to Cole’s side in one fluid movement, her eyes locking on Carter.
Amanda slowly stood up and joined her friends. Carter took a step back, recalculating his odds now that it was three to one, the gathered energy fleeing with his concentration. She exhaled in a sigh of relief.
“What, you don’t want to fight anymore? Or is it that you only attack unconscious or injured women?” Cole said.
Carter acted as if he hadn’t spoken. “How did you do that?” Carter demanded, pointing between her and Madgie. They didn’t take their eyes off Carter, but she could sense that they were interested in the answer too.
Amanda felt a huff of warm breath on her arm as her great wolf stepped closer. She puzzled over how they couldn’t see him, but shrugged her shoulders and planted her feet.
“I don’t answer to you Carter,” she said in a strong voice.
Carter rolled his head from side to side and righted himself into a battle stance, and she spoke quickly. “We have no reason to fight each other. Even if you agree with the Ancients, let them come and fight if they want to. But you don’t need to get hurt over this, just turn and go back home.”
Carter smiled at her. “Have you started calling the Hovel home? The place that you ran from for years? What changed, I wonder?” He glanced at Cole with hateful eyes. “Oh, a little romance? Now I understand why you so readily left.” He lifted his chin at Cole. “Just bring her back to the Hovel when you’re done having your fun,” he said with a flick of his wrist.
“Enough of this!” Cole shouted. “I believe in choices, and you have one to make. You could choose to turn and leave now or… well, that’s the only choice that doesn’t end with you in a lot of pain. Quite a simple decision for anyone to make, even someone with as small an intellect as you.” He paused. “So what’s it going to be?”
The field fell silent with everyone standing still, waiting for Carter’s answer. Amanda’s heart dropped as Carter let out a battle cry and sprinted across the field. Cole murmured something under his breath before breaking into a run himself. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it sounded like, “I’d hoped so.”
10
Amanda tried to move her feet, but they wouldn’t obey her. She was frozen in place, watching Cole running at Carter, who had an energy ball black as an oil slick in his hand. The darkness in her rose up, threatening to break her down. First, her hearing went, then her vision began to blur, but the wolf rubbed his muzzle against her back, and she was herself again. The sounds of the battle rang out all around her, and she screamed, caught off guard by their sudden noise. Carter’s face was wild with madness as he threw spells of destruction at Cole, one after another. Madgie had positioned herself between Amanda and the fight.
“Madgie, stop! I don’t need help, Cole does,” she shouted. Everything in her was screaming for
