by Xander Jade
‘Let’s head back and get everyone up. We need to discuss our next move.’
‘HAHAHA…you don’t think they’re up? I guarantee they were up when your mini-mes roared their defiance.’ Herc cackled.
Reap chuckled. ‘If they weren’t, then your weather display definitely got them up. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the shockwave hit them too.’
‘I have to agree, brothers. I’m sure we’ll have a welcoming committee when we get back,’ Nicas responded.
‘I have loads of questions. Will you be available when I need them answered?’
‘Yes Max, I will be with you during your journey. While we travel to your home, I want you to practice mimicking. You’ll need to get better at summoning quicker.’
I nodded, summoned my minions, and set off.
***
Back at the cabin, not long after Max went with Reap and Herc to hunt, Tia got up out of bed, since it was her turn to stay with him, but it was so damn cold in that room with the ice in it. She slept in her room and went to check on how her mate was doing. She yawned as she stepped into his room and stopped cold. The elf looked around the room to find broken ice everywhere, and no sign of Max. She went to the kitchen and the other rooms, but he wasn’t around anywhere. Tia went to the front door and asked the weres if they saw anyone come through the doors. They shook their heads no. She was starting to panic and ran through the cabin yelling for everyone to get up.
“Tia, what the hell is going on?” Val growled, not wanting to get up.
“What is the yelling about?” Cass asked in annoyance since both babies were up and crying now. Cass and Val picked them up and tried to calm them down while making their way to the front room.
“Tia, you had better have a good explanation as to why you woke us up,” Soph snarled.
“Ladies, what is the ruckus about?” Gordon asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
Sasha and the other wood elves came into view to see what was going on.
Tia took a deep breath and calmly said, “Max is gone.”
They all looked at her for a moment, then scrambled to his room. The group saw the broken ice scattered all over the room, but no Max.
“Where the fuck is he?” Val yelled while scanning out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of him outside.
“I don’t know. I slept in my room because it was uncomfortably cold in his room as you all well know, and this is what I found when I came in to check on him,” Tia replied.
“Wake everyone up, we need to get the weres together for a search party,” Cass said.
They nodded and went out to do as Cass said. It was almost dawn, and most were up by now, so it wasn’t a chore to get the weres together. It took some time to get going but they met outside the house for instructions. Cass and Val had Lashane and Shaila watch over the little ones with their guards hovering over them.
“Listen up everyone, I’m not sure if anyone here knows what is going on, so this is what we know. Max is gone. He broke out of the ice capsule, but no one has seen him. We need to locate him quickly,” Cass relayed the situation to the assembled group.
The weres, concerned for their Alpha, couldn’t believe nobody saw anything. Gurak and Tavoria hovered, not saying anything.
“Where are Reap and Herc, maybe they know where he is?” Sean asked.
“They’re gone too,” Sasha quickly replied.
“Could they be out hunting or something? I mean, Max has been laid up for a week,” Rachel commented.
Cass replied, “We’re not sure, I don’t want to take the chance to find out he left for some reason unknown to us. I want him foun—.”
She was interrupted by roars in the distance.
“That was Reap and Herc, it sounds like they’re going into a fight,” Val growled, her lioness about to come out. Then they heard what sounded like a pack of weres, their roars were deafening.
“What the hell was that?” Soph asked.
“I don’t know, but whatever they are, they mean business. It sounded like almost a dozen making the same sound,” Sean advised.
“They aren’t far away either, we need to set up a defensive perimeter, and get the orcs to help. I know we’re all worried about Max, but our people may be in danger. We need to protect them first,” Gordon suggested.
They nodded in agreement.
“Gurak, Tavoria, handle that for us, please,” Cass commanded.
“Yes, ma’am!” both of the orcs replied.
“When this blows over, I’m going after him,” Val advised.
“Not without me,” Soph said.
“Nor me,” Tia said.
“It will be all of us, just try to stop me and the others,” Rachel growled.
The whole area was in lockdown and on high alert. Archers, weres, orcs, and mages strolled the outer perimeter checking the surroundings. Everyone was trying to keep their conversations quiet to hear any announcements.
The Inner Circle was conversing when Cassie felt her body tingle, like she did when lightning was summoned. She looked up and found black clouds were forming north of their location. Everyone was scanning and pointing to the sky.
“Something’s happening,” Cass said.
“What’s going on?” Gordon calmly asked.
“Someone is summoning a storm, a big one,” she replied.
They watched the storm develop and then it happened. An enormous bolt of lightning came out of the clouds and struck the earth with a loud boom.
“My goddess! That had to have been the biggest lightning bolt I’ve ever seen,” Tia bellowed.
“It struck close to where Reap and Herc are,” Rachel said as a whistling sound came from a distance.
“What is that sound?” Gordon asked while trying to figure it out.
Cass’s eyes widened. She knew what was coming.
“Everybody brace yourself; a shockwave is coming!!” Cass shouted as loud as she could.
In the next few moments, the whistling got louder, and then it hit. The shockwave was powerful, knocking people off of their feet into others, while some hit trees. When it was safe, they got up to assess the damage.
“Damn, I would hate to see the epicenter of where that shockwave began,” Cass muttered.
“Let’s check to make sure everyone is okay, then we’ll head out,” Tia proposed.
They went around to check and heard people groaning. Some had injuries, but none looked fatal. Sasha and some others went to heal them. The others regrouped at the cabin.
“Let’s go and find Max,” Val said as she looked around at the others.
All the eyes of the weres lit up and they were about to shift when shouts of alarm could be heard throughout the area.
Soph groaned, “What now?”
“It looks like people are congregating over there, let’s go have a looksee, eh?” Tia suggested.
They walked over to the group getting into defensive positions.
“Frank, status?” Gordon questioned the mage in charge.
“The earth mages and weres are picking up movement headed this way. We’re setting up a defensive position here.”
“Okay, we’ll join you,” Gordon replied.
Everyone was looking at the clear meadow in front of them to see what danger was coming. A few minutes later, they got their answer, and it wasn’t what they were expecting. Reap and Herc walked out of the woods into the clearing, but everyone’s jaws dropped when they saw what was following them. Ten sibas walked out of the covering the woods provided.
“What the fuck is going on?” Soph asked.
“It looks like a pack of sibas headed this way,” Tia replied in awe.
“That’s impossible. Someone would have seen them, or at least noticed them the past couple of weeks,” Cass commented.
“I don’t know what to tell you. Unless all of us are looking at the same illusion, ten sibas are walking this way,” Val responded as everyone watched the sibas approach.
Suddenly,
the sibas ran to the center siba and vanished.
“What the hell kind of magic is this?” Gordon asked, bewildered.
“I don’t know, but it's badass,” Sean replied and everyone around him agreed.
They watched the three, walking side by side and getting closer, then one of them shifted into a seven-foot-tall mammoth being. His muscles had filled out even more, but there was no mistaking that walk. It was their Alpha. He stopped and picked his clothes up off the ground then got dressed.
“Holy shit! It’s Max!” Soph bellowed and took off towards him.
All the girls sprinted to meet their mate. He wrapped his strong arms around them.
When their reunion was over, they looked at Max and found he had changed again. His hair had blonde streaks through it and he had multicolored eyes. There was no distinction between his pupils and irises, they were black with white specks. Instead of white surrounding the normal iris, it was bright orange with black streaks.
“Damn, Max, the new look is quite frightening.” Gordon smirked.
“I have to agree, love, the eyes are freaky, but we still love you,” Soph explained.
Max chuckled and looked around to find people bandaged up.
“What happened here? Was there a battle?”
“No sweetie, a shockwave hit us and injured some, but none of the injuries were fatal. Sasha and her healers are helping them,” Cass replied as she looked at her love.
“Shit, umm…sorry. It wasn’t meant to do that.”
“What are you talking about love?” Val questioned while looking at his eyes, thinking it was the most unique thing she’d ever seen. ‘He just keeps getting sexier,’ she thought to herself, and sighed.
“That shockwave was a result of the lightning bolt I summoned,” Max sheepishly said. Everyone looked shocked at his remark.
“Y-y-you called the lightning?” Cass stammered.
“Yes.”
“That was a tremendous display of power,” Soph whispered.
They all gasped as lightning started moving around Max’s body. His eyes changed to white. He moved his hands as though to look at them, and then released the lightning off his body, which turned his eyes back to normal.
“Max, when did you learn that? I have never seen you use that power,” Tia said in awe.
“A couple of hours ago. Nicas showed me while we were fighting some dark ones.”
“What do you mean, dark ones?” Gordon asked.
Max grinned and decided to tell them what had happened the last couple of hours.
“Well, when I woke up...”
Chapter 17
We made our way to the meeting hall. They sent someone to get me a couple plates of food. It had been a week since I’d eaten.
“Their master, whoever that is, led them here. It was just luck we came upon them.”
“Hmm… draugrs this close isn’t a good sign,” Tia responded.
I spoke after taking a deep breath. “We also bring dire news. We learned they are about to raid BlackCrest.”
Cass and Val gasped.
Cass voiced her concern, “Max, what about your family? We need to go and make sure they’re okay.”
“Yes, my avian love, we do.”
I turned towards my friend. “Gordon, we also learned that they’ll take Oakenshore.”
Gordon’s entourage began to stammer out boasts that they could never take the fortified city.
“I said the same thing, but their reply made me tense. They’re sending siege machines and devices. Ogres, orcs, and trolls are providing the backs and strength to carry them.”
Everyone looked worried after I dropped that bomb.
Gordon seemed calm, but I knew he was borderline panicking and I could relate.
“Max, what do you want to do about this situation?”
I went over to him and put my hands on his shoulders to try calming him down.
“Don’t worry buddy, I know you're anxious, and so am I. We’ll send some scouts to both locations. We need to do some recon, before we reveal ourselves.”
He took a deep breath, seeming somewhat relieved, and nodded. I turned to the weres around me and addressed them.
“Sean, Rachel, Marie, get your best people on this. Have them ready to leave within the hour. I want to know what’s happening immediately.”
“Yes, Alpha!” they bellowed. They then bowed and left to handle my commands.
“Frank, Jacob, get the mages together and whoever you think is capable of handling themselves. Let them know, as soon as the scouts get back, we’re leaving.”
“You got it boss!” Frank replied and Jacob nodded, then left.
“Gordon, we will get there in time. Take today off.”
“No Max, I’d just worry myself to death if I did that. I’ll get the others together and continue the fortifications. Come and find me later on, I will give you a tour of your new abode.”
I smiled. “OUR new home. People will soon come to check what we’re doing here. They will find a place where anyone can come if they need help. That’s my goal for this settlement or town, whatever it is now.”
He smirked. “I know my friend, and it brings me joy to see everyone here feeling like they belong. Now, I’ll go and see to my duties, my liege.”
Groaning, I responded, “Cut that shit out, Gordon.”
He smiled and left.
The girls were looking at me with concern in their eyes, and they came over to console me.
“Are you okay, Max?” Soph asked.
“Of course, I will take it one day at a time. Just know, when the time comes, I’ll be leaving.”
“I hope you don’t think you’re leaving us behind, do you?” Tia asked.
I looked off in the distance, acting like I was thinking about it.
“I don’t care what you think. We’re going with you whether you like it or not,” Val grumbled.
Smiling, I replied, “I wouldn’t dream of leaving you here. Now, bring me the blades that I made for you. I want to make sure they’re not nicked or broken.”
Cass and Val went to get their blades from their rooms.
“You made those blades, Max?” Tia questioned.
“Yes, I did. A dagger and throwing knives. I made them before I met you gals.”
Cass and Val came back into the room and handed me their blades. I checked them over and nothing seemed out of place.
“Can I see those?” Soph asked as I handed them over. The rest of the women examined my creations.
“Damn Max, these are the most exquisite blades I’ve ever seen,” Leena gushed.
“I agree. My goodness, they are beautiful. Can you make us some?” Soph pleaded.
“Yes, I would love some blades like these. We might need them in upcoming battles,” Tia said with hope in her eyes.
The others admitted they wanted some as well.
I smirked and replied, “I don’t know. Have you earned them?”
“You’re damn right we’ve earned them!” Soph bellowed.
“Yes, husband. We’re ready for them,” Sasha advised me.
“Hmm…okay, if you think you’re ready for something like that, I suppose I could make them for you ladies.”
They squealed and gave me kisses.
“Enough chit chat, we need to see about finishing some projects today. I need to go talk to Gurak and make sure he’s ready to go with us.”
They nodded and we left to go in separate directions for our daily duties. I walked to the orc encampment. They were going through some training exercises when Gurak saw me coming. He barked something in orcish, and the bastards came over to kneel before me.
“My liege, we are glad you’re well,” Gurak said.
“Cut that shit out Gurak, and everybody get up. Who made you say that?”
They got up and kept at attention, like they were awaiting orders.
He smiled and laughed. “Nobody my liege, we know who the leader of our tribe is. It’s out of respec
t we do this, not mockery.”
I grumbled, “Fine, we need to discuss some urgent news.”
Tavoria and Racar came over.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we fought some dark ones this morning. Ghouls, goblins, and some draugrs.”
“Yes, Max, we heard about that. That’s disturbing news and we were also told they were led here,” Gurak said.
“Yes, that’s correct. We also found out they are going to raid a couple towns with some ogres, trolls, and orcs. I need for our men to be ready. We will march when our scouts get back.”
“We will be ready to move at a moment’s notice,” the orc leader advised and the other two nodded.
“Will fighting your own kin be a problem, Gurak?”
He hesitated but ended up shaking his head no. “But maybe we can get them to join our fight?”
I thought about it and nodded, “If you can without anyone getting harmed, then so be it.”
“Thank you, Alpha.”
I put my hand on Gurak’s shoulder and responded, “No problem, my friend. I believe the keep is done. Have they talked to you about setting up a security schedule? How about defense perimeters?”
“We have come up with a schedule and the defense perimeters. By the way, the fortifications that are being built are amazing. We are honored to be a part of this.”
I nodded and replied, “That they are. Let me know if you need anything.”
They nodded and I left towards the forge to check on the dwarves. I walked in and immediately felt the heat of the forge. I felt at home, remembering the days helping dad and got a little homesick. I shook those thoughts out of my head.
“Max, it’s great to see ya! Like the new do. Some freaky looking eyes though,” Krom bellowed.
I grinned and made my way over to the space left for me. I grabbed the molds I kept from the girls’ blades and inspected them. They seemed to be usable again. I went and got some ingots from the pile of titanium and started on my girls’ blades. Tia, Sasha, Lashane, and Shaila wanted ones like Cass. Soph and Leena wanted some like Val’s. When the titanium was ready I poured it in the molds for the knives and daggers. I mixed malachite into the mixtures because of Tia’s beautiful green eyes and for the wood elves because of the forest. When they were done, I laid them to the side, and got started on the blades for Soph.