Shadow's Howl

by Riley Storm

  The Mage Council wanted ‘neutrality’ in the conflict between the shifter houses. In other words, they wanted the Tyrant King to retain his throne, because he was a known commodity who was also an ally of the Council, unlike Logan, or the Ursa Queen, both of whom distrusted the current Council a great deal.

  Probably a smart move on their part.

  “It’s not just about you leaving your position, Jennifer. You know that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “There are plenty of others who can fill in for me. I know I’m not going to be allowed back after leaving like that. I understand all that. You can go now.”

  Maybe by dismissing him so casually, she could prevent this from getting any worse.

  “Who the hell is this guy?” Liam repeated, tiring of being a bystander to the conversation.

  “This doesn’t concern you,” Daniel said, not even letting his eyes stray.

  Liam inhaled sharply, stepping around her. “You’re trespassing on my farm buster. That does concern me. I’d be careful if I were you.”

  “Liam, don’t—”

  Daniel extended one hand toward the shifter, magic curling about his palm.

  “That’s about far enough, shifter,” he snarled.

  Liam growled at the mage, the sound exploding out of his throat in an animalistic fashion. It was deeper, and darker than any sound she’d heard him make so far. It promised violence. A lot of violence.

  “You had better put your hand down mage-boy, before I rip it from your arm,” the shifter growled, taking a step closer.

  “As much as I’d love to see that,” Jennifer said, interjecting between the two, shifting the focus back to her. “I wouldn’t recommend either of you try to fight the other. It’s not a good look. On either one of you.”

  Both the men bristled at that, as if she’d accused them both of being poor fighters, instead of testosterone-infused idiots. Only an idiot would take it that way.

  She ran that thought through her mind again, realizing the irony inherent in it. Great.

  “Go home, Daniel,” she said. “I’m not leaving. I’ve made my decision.”

  “This isn’t just about you, Jen.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “You haven’t earned the right to call me that.”

  “Fine. Jennifer, there is more at stake here than just your personal interests.”

  Liam muttered something that might have been I knew it, under his breath, but she ignored him. For now, there were bigger fish to fry than reducing Liam’s ego a size or ten.

  “I’m well aware of the stakes, Daniel. The thing is, I just don’t give a shit about the private agendas of the Council members. This is my decision to make, not theirs. They don’t get to control me. Just like they shouldn’t control you.”

  His blue eyes glowed at the cheap shot, but Jen knew it bore some truth as well. He was their pet herald, their messenger, and everyone knew it. He did as they asked without caring what his orders were. Cheap shot or not, if it wasn’t true, he wouldn’t have shown such a reaction to it.

  “I’m really getting sick of this guy,” Liam said, jerking a thumb in Daniel’s direction. “Are all you mages this insufferably arrogant?”

  “Don’t you have an ass to sniff somewhere?” Daniel taunted.

  Liam’s growl filled the space between them yet again, and she could swear this time, some fur darkened his skin ever so briefly. His wolf was on the surface, and it was angry, she could tell. Daniel wasn’t the greatest at making friends, but then, that wasn’t his mission here.

  “Just leave,” she told him. “I’m not going with you. Tell the Council they can—”

  “You’re to tell the Council yourself,” Daniel pronounced. “The Council had already decreed our neutrality in this conflict. You went and violated that. They now wish to speak to you themselves.”

  Jennifer swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Well that was unexpected. She hadn’t believed the Mage Council would care so much about one wayward mage’s actions, but apparently, she was wrong. If she defied them now, that would be…serious.

  “Staying neutral is the wrong choice,” she said after taking a moment to order her thoughts. “It’s wrong. And we have a duty not to obey orders that are wrong, Daniel.”

  “We are to stay neutral,” Daniel repeated stubbornly. “Despite any views to the contrary.”

  “Yeah. I know.” She smiled. “I would have thought you’d agree with me on some level, at least. Knowing how you feel about Laurien and all. I would have thought you would be chomping at the bit to join the Tyrant King, to stand at his side.”

  Daniel bristled, but his reply was drowned out by Liam.

  “What?” he barked. “Is that true? Are you a supporter of the Tyrant King?”

  Oh shit. She’d just made a big, big mistake with that last sentence. Jennifer had been trying to get a rise out of Daniel, but instead she’d angered Liam.

  “Don’t do anything,” she said, getting in between the two. “It’s not worth it.”

  “I told you once, pup, this doesn’t concern you. If you intervene one more time, you’ll be sorry. Do I make myself clear?” Daniel’s face was stern, and more magic swirled around his fingers, red lines like cloth wrapping themselves around him endlessly.

  Liam snarled and took a step forward.

  Well shit.

  Daniel flicked his hand out with casual distaste, and a spherical blob of red energy shot toward Liam. The shifter lifted his hands to try and ward off the incoming spell more out of reflex than any hope it would do him any good.

  But it never reached him.

  Two-thirds of the way there, a smaller teardrop-shaped bolt of green energy intercepted and merged with the Mage Council representative’s spell. There was a brief flash and then the red spell exploded into a shower of green droplets that fell to the bare earth and were quickly absorbed into the earth.

  A moment later, spurts of greenery pushed forth from beneath the surface, growing several inches before they slowed, the little bit of creation magic in each droplet having used its potential.

  Both Liam and Daniel turned to stare at her in shock.

  “Don’t give me that,” she snapped at the other mage. “I’m not some sort of novice amateur. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist the opportunity to hurt him. I was ready for your spell from the moment you arrived.”

  “Be careful, Jennifer. Be very, very careful,” Daniel threatened, his tone low.

  “No. You be careful,” she snapped. “It’s time you left.”

  Daniel straightened, and she saw his eyelid flicker. He was drawing more power, more magic. Readying more spells to cast her direction.

  “I don’t want to do this,” she said, pleading for a peaceful resolution. “All you need to do is go.”

  “I can’t,” he told her. “Not without you.” He raised his hands, red beginning to coil around them once more.

  “That’s not going to happen,” she said, then turned to Liam. “I guess now, you’ll get to see what I can do.”

  “You’re not a fighter,” he urged.

  She smiled. “I don’t know spells designed to blow things up or burn them down, but that doesn’t mean I’m some doddering old fool,” she said, calmly stepping between the shifter and the mage. “Just stay behind me.”

  Liam growled in indignation but did as he was told. That surprised her almost as much as the twin blasts of magic Daniel shot her way without any further warning.

  There was no turning back now.

  14

  It had worked the time before, so Jennifer simply repeated her trick, pushing green creation energy into each blast of pure destructive red magic Daniel had used to lash out at her. Green droplets sprayed everywhere, and once again the ground sprouted fresh growth.

  “That’s a great spell,” Liam muttered from behind her. “But it doesn’t do much to stop this dick from firing again.”

  “Shut up and let me concentrate,” she hissed, fending off a third
strike from Daniel.

  While he conjured up another blast of energy, clearly looking to simply overpower her, she dipped into her other bag of tricks. Red energy gathered in her hands. Raising them over her head, she flicked her fingers skyward.

  An umbrella of magic descended over the pair of them, its apex anchored squarely above her head.

  “Come on,” she hissed, taking his hand and dragging him away from the four-wheeler, heading farther out into the field. “This will mask us from his presence, but it won’t last long.”

  “Why not?” Liam wanted to know as he jogged with her. “I thought you were strong. Is this twerp more powerful than you are?”

  She snorted. “Yeah right. In terms of raw strength, I outclass him easily. However, unlike me, he is combat trained. Not to mention, he knows my strengths, so he’ll be expecting this spell. I can hold the spell near indefinitely if nobody’s looking for me. But if they are…”

  A pulsing circle of red spread out like a shockwave from Daniel. It expanded evenly in all directions until it encountered the umbrella over them. She watched as it wavered, and then died. The spell was effective in resisting human senses, not magic. There was a distinctive difference between the two.

  Still, she’d been expecting him to cast just such a spell, and that gave her an advantage, because she could strike before he was ready. Most upper-level mages required little time to cast spells, but little was different than none. It took a moment to gather the energy, and a second to focus it.

  Daniel had no idea in which direction he was going to encounter them. Which meant he couldn’t be prepared to stop her either. A flash of green spat across the distance, impacting the ground at his feet.

  Liam whistled as undergrowth shot out from the dirt, wrapping itself around Daniel, gripping him tightly as vines, long grasses and even trees grew so rapidly they practically encased the other mage in a cocoon of verdant growth.

  “That’s not a half bad spell,” he remarked, sounding impressed with her for the first time.

  “Thanks. But it won’t keep him for long.”

  “Why n—oh.”

  Before Liam could finish asking his question, the growth erupted in fire and disintegrated into ash around the other mage.

  “That’s why,” she said, trying to restrain her anger at the casual destruction of nature.

  It didn’t entirely work. Deep down, she felt a surge of something else, matching her anger, stoking its flames. It beckoned to her, inviting her in, promising her power and more to match her opponent. She could brush him aside with ease. All she had to do was reach out and take it.

  “No!” she growled fiercely, shaking her head.

  “What?” Liam looked at her. “No what?”

  “Get out of my way,” she said, pushing him aside just in time to avoid a spear-length lance of red energy.

  Daniel wasn’t giving up. He had to be stopped. She reached deep for more magic, taking a brief moment to confirm the power raging between her cupped palms was green, and not another color. Thankfully it was a beautiful viridian hue, nothing else.

  There were three types of magic. Power levels.

  Red was the most basic. It often dealt with the elements and was the most widespread and easily moldable of all magic. Every novice started out learning how to do the most basic of things, such as light a fire, mold the earth, or put out a candle with the wind. They were entry-level skills, requirements to progress.

  Those who demonstrated skill and power with their red magic, were sometimes granted the ability to study with certain mages, to hone their skills, and learn the ins and outs of the next level of magic. Green.

  Creation. Destruction. Chaos. Order. That was the origin of green magic, though it could be used for so much more. Cast a red-level spell with green magic, and you supercharged it.

  Not all green spells were allowed. Delving into certain areas, pertaining mostly along the destruction and chaos splices, was strictly forbidden.

  All blue magic was forbidden. Blue magic dealt with life. And death. Not since before the Battle of Novarupt on the edge of the Alaskan-Russian border in the early 1900’s had blue magic been cast about without fear of reprisal. Now the shifters policed the mages, sending out their death squads to hunt down rogue mages who disobeyed the Novarupta Accords.

  But it was still there, residing deep within her and many of the other more powerful mages in the world. Breeding temptation and more. Jennifer forced the temptation aside, ignoring that inner voice, as she’d done for many years.

  No. You’re better than this. You don’t need that power, that temptation. It would be too easy to go too far. All it would take is a moment for your control to slip, and then it’s too late. You’ve done something you can’t take back. These shifters would never accept your help, because you would be just like him then.

  Evil.

  Jennifer was ripped from her thoughts as a burst of energy slammed into her side, sending her tumbling through the air. She stretched out a hand and cast a spell of her own, and thick, lush green grass grew before her eyes, reaching up to gently wrap her in its embrace, cushioning her fall, turning her body so she landed on her feet.

  She tried to strike back, but Daniel was in his element now, and his spells came fast and furious. Liam shouted, running for her side, but a blast of red smacked him away like he was little more than a mosquito. Jennifer tried to help him, but a red fireball bearing down on her changed that decision hurriedly.

  A desperate last-second effort managed to turn his fireball into an explosion of butterflies. The multi-colored creatures danced in the air for a moment before scattering as Daniel strode through their mist to loom over her.

  “You could have just come peacefully,” he said through a clenched jaw. “It would have been so much easier.”

  Bright red magic pulsed in his palm, glowing ever brighter as he prepared his final spell. It reached up to his eyes, giving them a terrifying aura. The mage raised his hand to strike, kicking at her with his foot as she tried to summon her own magic, the pain causing her focus to disappear at a critical juncture.

  Jennifer lay on her back, staring up at Daniel. If this was her end, then she was going to watch it come. There would be no cowering on her part, no clenching her eyes shut.

  “Do it already,” she hissed.

  Daniel roared and his hand descended.

  Something flashed through the air, and abruptly the mage was gone. Jennifer scrambled to her hands and knees, looking around wildly until her eyes landed upon what she’d seen.

  A giant wolf had Daniel by his mage robe, and was whipping him around like a rag doll, shaking the mage back and forth, slamming him into the ground and exerting wild g-forces on the hapless victim.

  Jennifer grinned. She knew full well the mage robe would never part, never fray, even under the teeth of a wolf shifter. The fabric was magically woven, enhanced with a mage’s own wards, to provide protection and any number of other helpful elements to it.

  Liam, at least, she assumed the wolf was Liam in his animal form, was using that strength against Daniel now. She winced as the beast whipped its head around in a full circle. Daniel flung out to the side, up over the top and then straight down into the ground with a bone-bruising thud she felt in her fingertips thirty feet away.

  Somehow, despite all that, Daniel kept his wits about him, triggering off a ward from his robe. The magic seared through Liam’s teeth, briefly daisy-chaining them with lightning before the wolf was flung back from the energy discharge.

  Jennifer knew she couldn’t let Daniel get back to his feet and recover. Thrusting both hands forward, she poured pure magic into them, emerald patterns of energy flowing down from her shoulders until it shot forth from her hands. She controlled it with her mind, wrapping him up in it, tightening it.

  Getting to her feet, she closed the distance between the two of them, trying to keep her focus. It was growing tougher by the second. Most of her magic used various spells practiced ov
er the years or was refined using things like a staff or other charms. Tools or training that helped her focus the energy.

  What she was doing now, a raw brute-force approach using raw unfocused magic, was brutally tiring and not something she could keep up for long. But it was the only way she could think of to hold Daniel back.

  “Liam,” she gasped. “Get over here.”

  The wolf trotted over to her side, teeth bared at the helpless mage. The giant beast shivered, and then in the span of several seconds, Liam was back. He strode forward and slammed a fist into Daniel’s face. Then stomach. Then twice more to his face again.

  “Enough,” Jennifer said, falling to one knee, rapidly tiring from holding him. She lifted one hand and slashed it at the open air behind Daniel. “Through there.”

  Liam understood what she meant immediately. As the green magic died out, the shifter took Daniel by the collar, hoisting the stunned mage high into the air with casual ease.

  “If you ever come back,” he snarled. “I will quite literally crush your skull. Am I understood?”

  Daniel nodded weakly. Before he could even finish that simple motion, Liam sent him through the portal she’d opened, throwing Daniel underhanded like he was a softball.

  The instant he was gone, Jennifer closed the portal and then fell back with a weak cry, exhausted from the effort.

  Above her, the sky wavered, darkness creeping in at the edge of her vision.

  15

  His attention was snatched from the empty air where the portal had been by the pained cry from Jennifer.

  Racing over, he fell to his knees at her side. “Are you okay?” he asked frantically, looking her over. “I don’t see any injuries. Where are you hurt? How can I help?”

  Jennifer grabbed his hand, stopping him from patting her down. “Tired,” she said weakly. “Very tired.”

  “Are you injured?”

  “My ego,” she said, and with that, he knew she would be okay.

  “You had me scared there for a minute,” he rumbled unhappily. “I thought you were in serious trouble.”