Upslope, lights were turning on in the shifter’s dorms and voices called out the windows asking what was going on.
The provost pointed a finger at her neck, and then shouted, her voice amplified above the cacophony. “The academy is under attack. Send someone to rouse the staff, ring the bell in the central courtyard. Those shifters with combat training are called to come to the arena and defend the academy.” Then she lowered her hand, before lowering Melody to the ground.
“I am proud of you, sister. Stay here and rest, and we will sort this mess out for you, and then we will see where the dust settles.” She kissed the top of Melody’s head and then walked toward the southern point of the circle, opposite to where they had entered. Her aunt, seeing her foe about to leave the safety of the dome, ran around the edge of it to meet her.
Melody tried to protest, to call out a warning, but the pain still pummeled her to the ground, and her voice was lost in the noise around her. She needn’t have worried, however, as the provost raised a personal shield before stepping outside of the dome, turning to face the rabid witch who was racing toward her.
Just as the provost raised her arm to cast the first spell, Melody saw it, a wolf shifter approaching her at speed from behind. While he wasn’t able to penetrate her shield, it was connected to her, and his slamming against it propelled her forward, causing her spell to hit the ground at her aunt’s feet. Her aunt had no such problem with balance, she had no shield around her to jostle, and her spell launched forward at full blast when the provost’s shield flickered as she fell.
The curse hit the provost in the center of her chest, and Melody screamed as her torso simply exploded outward. The provost landed on her side, facing Melody, her eyes opened wide in surprise as they glazed over.
There was a scream, a sound of pain so primal that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It was two-toned, a deep bass note accompanied by a high soprano one. It took Melody a moment to realise that the high voice was hers, and when she turned, she saw that the bass note was Jonas.
Instantly he shifted to his lynx form and turned to rip at the body nearest to him. It wasn’t a wolf that Melody recognised, which meant it was more likely to be a student. The fact that the wolf didn’t turn to bite him back only confirmed it. Instead, the beast swung it’s rump around, lynx and all, and slammed it into the panther attacking him. The lynx simply turned and attacked the large cat, and between it and the wolf they took it down. Before the lynx could turn back to the wolf, another one barrelled into it from the side, and it fell, rolling with the canid and clinging to the wolf’s belly with his front paws, while digging away at the soft flesh with his back ones.
There was a stampede of beasts down the slope, and suddenly the attacking shifters were outnumbered three to one. Several of the students turned on the witches around them, until at last they broke and her aunt and the Bestia Coven members turned and fled through a portal, leaving their beasts behind. Within moments, the invading shifters were ripped to shreds, and Melody sobbed for them, for their slavery, for their bravery and for their loss.
She ached all over, and still the pain washed through her nerve endings as the last of the geasen were broken. No more compulsion to wash behind her ears, or to clean her belly button. No more urgency to dry between her toes, or finish a shower in less than three minutes. No more demands to cook and clean for her aunt before all others. No more, no more, no more. Every single, stupid, order; each command, each betrayal of her integrity, broke down to nothingness. It felt like every one took a piece of her soul with it.
Melody lay there on the damp ground, crushed, defeated and alone. She didn’t have the strength to crawl to the edge, and the others couldn’t get in to help her until she left the dome. They stood there, calling to her, signalling her to do something, but the ringing in her ears prevented her from hearing anything. All she could hear was the echo in her head of a two-toned scream of loss.
Something nudged Melody in the chest, and she looked down, expecting to see some creature come to feed on her. But there was nothing there. It struck again, and this time she felt it within her. It was magic. Looking up at her shifters, she saw Dean on his knees, a hand stretched toward her. Behind him stood the two dragons, each with a hand on his shoulder, right at the juncture of his neck, so their skin touched his. They were doing magic of some sort, she thought. Then it happened again.
A pulse came from Dean, straight toward her, pushing at her heart. Melody finally realised what was happening. They were forcing strength from Dean into her using magic, because she wasn’t drawing on him or Asher. She had forgotten that she could do that now.
Looking inward to where the magic was landing, and she could see two golden strands attached to her heart. Dean and Asher. Mentally, Melody took the magic lengths in her hands and pulled, drawing down on their energy. Outside the dome, Dean sagged and smiled in relief, while Asher came to sit beside him, a goofy smile on his face.
Melody drew from them again and again, using them to replenish her strength enough so
