by M. J. Caan
“Thank you for charging up the ley lines that run beneath us,” said the Warlock. “You made it susceptible to the witch’s commands. She was able to transform it into the black obsidian that you are bound to.” He walked into view, an evil grin crossing his face. “You remember that? The obsidian is what I use to drain and store a witch’s power. I am going to drain you and your aunt,s and use your power to augment our own to cast the Leveling.”
The wave of fear that I should have felt was replaced by searing anger. I reached for my magic, but it felt far away and unresponsive. Whatever that witch had hit me with, it was still lingering in my system.
“No magic for you,” came the witch’s voice. “At least, not for awhile. By the time it returns it will be too late for you.”
She strolled into view, the hellhound walking at her heel. The reddish glow from the monster cast an eerie light on the witch’s form, the flickering flames made it hard to focus on her.
Hatred flared inside me at the site of her. “What have you done with the rest of my friends?”
“By now, I am sure the ones that attacked our home are dead,” she replied. “No lie this time… they were hopelessly outnumbered when we left the fight. As for the ones here…” She let her voice trail off.
“Never mind them; did you find him?” said Mallis.
“No. My blade should have killed him, but there is no body. No matter, in his condition he could not have gotten far. Once the spell is cast we will find him and easily put him out of his misery.”
Elion. They had to be talking about Elion.
“His strength continues to impress…but my blade struck true. He should be ashes by now,” said the witch.
“No matter,” replied Mallis. “The Black Sun is moments away. Start the ritual. Combine your powers with that of the bound witches to bring night to this land forever!”
I glanced over at my aunts again. They were still unconscious, their heads hanging limply. At least…I hoped they were only unconscious. The thought of that filled me with rage again. This time the rage carried a little spark with it, a blue flame that I could feel building behind my eyes. Again I reached…and again, nothing.
The witch looked up at the sky and nodded. “Yes, it is time.”
We were bound in the clearing, and I could hear the rush of water that flowed from the Falls to the pool somewhere near us. I watched as the witch and the Warlock moved to stand in front of me and my aunts.
The witch raised her hands and face to the heavens.
“Ethnea ni arturin!” she exclaimed, her voice rolling across the clearing, loud and strong. “By all that I hold most unclean I command the Earth to hear me and open! Ethnea arturin! Ethnea arturin!”
The Warlock joined in her chanting, repeating the same incantation and adding his voice to hers. In response, the ground around us started to heave and roll. Cracks appeared beneath us, racing outward in all directions. Pink light began to glow upward from where the earth was splitting open, and I could feel the buildup of mystical energy charging into the air around us.
No! every instinct I had screamed at me. This was wrong…this was a corruption of the power of the ley lines unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I watched in horror as Mallis strode towards the witch…this time dragging along two bodies behind him. He dropped them unceremoniously at the feet of the still-chanting witch.
One of the forms stirred, and a soft moan escaped its lips. It was Dana, and I felt my heart lurch. She was alive, but just barely. I watched as the Warlock bent down and callously rolled the detective onto her back so that she faced the now-darkening skies. The other body remained crumpled in a heap, but I could tell from the outline it was Nate.
Mallis looked over at me and smiled, his fangs fully extended and gleaming. “Thank you for bringing me my first meal under the Leveling! Honestly, she will only be an appetizer. The main course will be the shifter that was with her. I’m not sure what he is, but he smells incredible.”
I tried to block him out, refusing to let my mind’s eye project the horror he was predicting. Instead, I closed my eyes and concentrated like never before, sensing the roiling energies around me…I just needed to touch them, try to shape them into anything that would help me. I probed at my aunts, silently praying they would wake up, but to no avail. The magic around me began to grow, changing and darkening as it became infected with the witch’s blackness.
“Now!” she screamed at the heavens.
The Warlock turned and focused his attention on me. His eyes turned a ghastly shade of gray as he extended one trembling hand in our direction and began to softly chant to himself. Instantly I felt it: the clawing of his dark magic as it made its way into the very depths of my soul. Every fiber of my being cried out in revulsion as I felt the mystic energy within me began to leach outward.
I looked over at my aunts, and I could actually see the power being drained from them. The black obsidian they were bound to began to pulse, almost like it had its own heartbeat. No. Not a heartbeat of its own, but rather that of my aunts. It was beating in rhythm with their own fading life-forces. I watched in horror as gray tendrils of magic were pulled from them, wafting slowly over to the Warlock.
The bindings holding me tightened slightly as I struggled even more, returning my attention to the witch. She was hovering off the ground now, the magic she was warping holding her aloft. The Warlock turned and raised both arms in her direction. His body glowed as he poured his stolen magical essence into the witch, feeding her, making her stronger.
The earth beneath her opened up, and white light flowed from it to her body, before she was shot upward into the sky in a single ray of devastating power.
My body shuddered inwardly, sickened by the display of black magic that was destroying the natural order of things. I could feel myself weakening…the Warlock was pulling my magic away and using it to feed the spell that would destroy my world.
Wait. Maybe that was not such a bad thing! His spell was tethering me to him, and through him, to the witch. Maybe, if I could just tap into that link…try to control it…
Instead of fighting against the Warlock’s spell, I gave into it, letting my power pour forth and flow into the link he was creating. Through him, I could feel the enormous, primal power into which they were tapping. I could feel the witch taking all of the stolen power that was flowing from us and bending it to her will. Her chanting increased as she focused our magic, pushing it deeper into that of the ley lines, degrading their power and drawing them further away from the natural order of things.
The earth around me moaned in response to the violation.
I could sense my aunts’ life-forces fading. Their magic was almost gone, and when the last reserves were leeched from their bodies, they would be no more. Panic and anger set in, the kind that I’d felt in our basement when the witch first attacked us.
I could feel more power swell up within me and I used it, reaching out to probe the minds of my friends lying at the Warlock’s feet. They were too deep into casting the spell to notice. I probed at Dana’s mind but unconsciousness had clamped down on her thoughts, yet still i probed, going deeper until she opened her eyes and looked my way. She nodded and slipped one hand into her pocket, bringing out what looked like a small double AA battery, a single red dot on the end of it. I mouthed the words “do it” to her and closed my eyes as she depressed the button.
The sound of the blast was devastating as the satchel of C-4 detonated inside the cave.
The mountain shook from the explosion, triggering a rockslide that caused the opening of the cave to collapse. It wasn’t the controlled detonation that Dana had hoped for; Mallis must have attacked Dana and my friends before they could complete their strategic deployment of the explosives. That was fine. I had wanted to seal off all possible entry points into the cave systems, but now I would just settle for the distraction that the massive blast caused.
I felt the ripple of disturbance in the magic around me, inclu
ding the slightest interruption in the binding spell that locked me to the obsidian. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough.
I focused my magic and pushed it into the rock I was bound to, breaking the binding spell. I dropped to the ground. My movement immediately attracted the attention of the Warlock, and he turned and sent a bolt of crackling black magic at me. I deflected the bolt, sending it at the obsidian that bound my aunts, blasting them free. They toppled to the ground and I could see that they were still alive, but were far too weak to help me.
This didn’t escape the Warlock’s notice. “You’re too late to stop the Leveling, Allie. And you can’t fight us alone!”
“Well. It’s a good thing I’m not alone then,” I replied.
Before he could react, the air around us was shattered by the cry of an enormous bird of prey. From above, a shimmering, blue harpy eagle descended rapidly on us. I didn’t think I’d ever been happier to see a Totem Shifter in my life.
But I was wrong. Because sitting astride Austin’s back was Kendra in her human form. With her high ponytail trailing behind her and silver blade held aloft, she was a magnificent and welcome sight.
They weren't alone. Through the woods I heard another crash, and turned to see more of my friends breaking through the trees into the clearing. They were led by a golden lion and huge, ivory unicorn. Behind them came bear, elk, wolves and various other shifters headed straight for us at a sprint. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the large, dark form of a werewolf bringing up the rear, running full-speed towards me and my aunts.
Cody.
He darted ahead of the others, his wolf form becoming a blur as he raced to my side. As he approached, he leapt, shifting to his hybrid form in mid-air. He had been carrying something in his mouth as he ran, and when he’d shifted he’d dropped it into his hand. As he landed at my side he threw the bloody, severed head of Shira toward the witch, where it landed and rolled to a stop at the feet of Mallis.
The vampire did not even try to hide his rage. “You will all die for that!” he shouted.
It was then that I noticed that the witch had dropped a significant portion of her power and turned her back, raising both arms in the air. Black magic bloomed around her as she opened a portal; a large, smoldering hole that split the air. Through it poured Mallis’ army. Wolves and apostles came forth in a wave that rolled towards my friends.
21
The clash of the two armies coming together reverberated throughout Singing Falls.
The witch’s concentration may have been broken, but mine wasn’t. I gestured into the air, throwing as much magic as I could at the spell she had been casting. Only the witch who cast a spell could call it back or undo it, and as I probed at the spell and then the earth and air around me, I realized it was too late. Even I couldn’t reverse what she had begun. The Leveling had been cast and the eclipse had started. Darkness began to fall across the landscape and with it, my hopes at being able to stop this evil.
“Allie!” growled Cody, “The eclipse has started!”
“I’m too late Cody…there is nothing I can do!”
He grabbed me by my arms, forcing me to look at him. “It’s never too late, Allie. I have faith in you. You need to stop this!”
Didn’t he realize that was all I wanted to do? That it was all I had been thinking of since all of this shit started? But I wasn’t strong enough. My last ditch plan had failed and now, our world was going to die as a result.
Wait. Our world. Maybe that was it.
“Cody! I have an idea! But I need a few minutes to make it work. You have to distract them; buy me some time!”
He didn’t hesitate. Spinning away from me, he shifted into his full wolf form and sprinted for the Warlock, unleashing a long, powerful howl that served as a rallying call to the rest of the shifters. In the darkness, he disappeared almost immediately.
The sound of battle was everywhere. The screams of the dying mixed with the roars and shrieks of the attackers in a terrifying cacophony of supernatural war. Flashes of magical light illuminated the air as the Apostles fought along with Mallis’s wolves. The impact of thunderous blows being traded echoed across the clearing. The horrific sound of bones cracking and limbs being ripped away assailed my ears. But I refused to let any of that deter me. I had one last shot at this, and by God I was going to make it count.
Turning, I located my aunts and ran to their side. A wolf appeared almost instantly and charged at me, jaws open and slobbering. I struck with a full-force blast of blue fire that incinerated the werewolf on the spot, snuffing out its life before it had the chance to howl in pain. I continued running, sprinting through the cloud of ash that seconds before had been a living, breathing, supernatural being to reach my aunts. They were still unconscious and defenseless. I placed both hands on the ground and sent my magic traveling into the stone that the Warlock had used to bind us and drain our magic.
Breathing an incantation of protection, I commanded the obsidian rock to reshape itself, growing further out of the earth so that it curved into a protective dome that settled over my aunts, cutting them off from the life-and-death battle around them. This would hold up to almost anything that stumbled across them, keeping them safe. At least I hoped it would.
A blast of orange light, accompanied by an ear splitting roar that rattled my teeth, caught my attention. I turned to see the hellhound at full flame, blazing feet firmly planted in the ground, head down with what looked like molten lava dripping from its fangs. Its flames illuminated the area around it, and I could make out several shifters circling the beast. Cody and Jhamal, along with Jase in full, splendid unicorn form. They circled the great beast warily, but before anyone could attack another roar split the morning air.
Nate stalked forward, his large saber-tooth body nearly the equal of the hellhound’s in sheer size. In his jaws he carried the limp form of a large werewolf which he callously threw aside, and joined in with the others as they closed ranks on the hellhound. The hound roared his defiance and pawed at the earth, scorching the ground with his fire as he readied for the attack.
That was the opening I needed. I summoned my magic, feeling it flow all around me. The disruption to the ley lines meant there was an excess of energy crackling all around me. Tapping into it, I fought my way across the clearing, blasting through wolves and apostles alike until I reached the witch. She stood with her back to me, face to the sky, her lips still moving as she silently invoked more of her black magic.
“That’s close enough, my dear,” said Mallis to me. He was standing only a few feet from the witch, and even with magic enhancing my eyesight, I had not seen him. His fangs were slick and red with blood. He dropped the body he had been feeding on. “I told you she would be my first under the Leveling. She wasn’t as tasty as you, of course, but then again…few are.”
I looked down at Dana’s body that he’d dumped so carelessly, and it filled me with rage. My fists glowed bright blue as I readied a bolt of magic to fry his smug ass.
“No,” came a calm voice from behind us. “Don’t waste your power on him; do what you have to. I’ll handle Mallis.” Elion stepped into the light that was created by the glare of my magic. “I begged you not to do this, brother. You’ve pushed my hand, and I am sorry for what I have to do.”
Before Mallis could respond, Elion was at the vampire’s side, one hand clamped around Mallis’ throat. He lifted the vampire into the air and slammed him to the ground with enough force to shake the clearing. Mallis fought back, roaring in defiance as he struggled to his feet and struck Elion a blow that nearly doubled him over. He grabbed Elion, wrapping both arms around the smaller vampire in a bear hug, pinning his arms at his side. I watched in horror as Mallis leaned close, fangs extended, targeting Elion’s exposed neck.
Elion reared his head back as far as he could before slamming it forward, his forehead smashing into Mallis’ face with bone-rattling force. The impact forced Mallis to break his hold on Elion, who then clasped b
oth his fists together and struck Mallis a blow that sent his body tumbling into the air. Instantly, Elion disappeared in the same direction Mallis’s body had flown.
Throughout the entire encounter, the witch had not moved, her body still rigid as she continued her chanting.
I raised my hands, already forming the spell in my mind that I hoped would accomplish what I needed. Before I could trigger it, however, I felt a tightness wrap itself around my throat. Black energy passed through me as I instinctively grabbed at the tentacle around my neck that was threatening to choke the life out of me.
The Warlock. Damnit, how had I forgotten about him?
His magic pulled me close, dragging me backwards until I could feel his fetid breath on the back of my neck. “I know that the act of taking your life was promised to another, but I think I will be forgiven just this once,” he breathed. A black blade materialized in his hand, the razor-sharp edge glinting in the darkness as he raised it to my throat. “I’ll make it fast, I promise.”
Before he could make good on his threat, a black shape slammed into both of us, knocking us to the ground. I rolled over onto my stomach, just in time to see a large, catlike creature pounce on top of the rattled Warlock.
Kendra, in full were-panther glory.
“Hold him!” came another voice from close by. In a flash, Esmee leapt at the grappling figures, her silver rapier cleaving the darkness as she stabbed downward repeatedly. I rolled to my feet, ignoring the screams of a dying Warlock, and returned my attention to the witch.
She was facing me this time, an evil grin making a mockery of the face I had once loved.
“It is done,” she said. “The sun is gone, little one.”
“No,” I replied stepping forward. “That’s where you’re wrong. See, I realized something. You can’t erase the sun…it’s still there, we just can’t see it. The Leveling is nothing more than a forbidding…like the one that imprisoned the Warlock for a time. Like the one that separates our world from the dark dimension where you found the hellhound. And probably where the Warlock and Mallis were able to pull you over from. You’re not my mother, bitch.”