by C. S. Moore
“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.”
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 unconsciousness. She couldn’t see him in danger. It was too much to bear. As her mind tried to swirl into its cocoon of safety, she fought the urge with all that she had. Amanda shook her head furiously and turned to Madgie, who looked at her with every bit of concern a mother would have.
“Madgie didn’t you hear me? Cole needs help!” she turned to run into the field, but Madgie grabbed her arm.
“Sorry S-B, you’re too weak to fight, and besides, you’ve had no combat training. Only men have that.”
Amanda turned to her and spoke quickly. “I’m not too weak. My entire life I have been, but I don’t want that, not anymore. Battle training or not, it doesn’t matter. Look around us, we are in a war zone, Madgie!” Amanda said and turned sprinting into the clearing and the fight with her wolf close on her heels.
Cole was amazingly quick and fierce in battle. Carter’s clothes were in tatters and his nose bloodied, while Cole stood straight and unharmed. It was strange for her to think of him as a warrior, but that was what he looked like to her at that moment, blocking Carter’s onslaught and throwing spells of his own.
Amanda blocked a spell thrown at her from across the field and stood surprised. She hadn’t even felt him build it up. Her wolf’s fur rose up on end, and a low rumble escaped his mouth. Carter was tired and broken down, making his moves more erratic and harder to block. Cole looked cool and confident, but she was still worried about him. Carter was more frightful to her now with his face contorted into a strange mask that was so different from his usually cocky one.
Amanda stopped running once she got to the opposite side of the field. She didn’t like being so far from Cole but knew this was strategically better. Now they could attack from the front and the back. She felt the world around her, searching for more energy and a way to fight. Her great silver companion was giving her a limitless supply of energy, but she didn’t know any offensive spells. He looked at her with questioning eyes, but she had no answer to give him. Her confidence level was dropping. She didn’t know what she could do to help. The only thing she’d truly mastered was shields.
An idea occurred to her and she smiled. Crouched down and ready, she waited for the opportunity to strike. Carter looked over his shoulder and saw her behind him. He quickly threw out a barrage of attacks at Cole and spun toward her.
Cole, busy blocking the torrent spells, could do nothing but call out, “Amanda!”
Carter gathered up his remaining energy, and in his hand appeared a dark ball of smoke. He cradled it in his palm, delicate as a baby bird. Then he met her eyes, and with a look of disgust, he drew his arm back.
Just as he released the spell, she threw up a shield, not in front of her but directly in front of him. The dark energy exploded off the shield and ricocheted back into his face with violent speed. All was silent, or at least she perceived it that way, save one noise.
A guttural scream tore through the clearing, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She couldn’t see anything through the grey fog that surrounded Carter. Cole began to cautiously cross the space between him and the swirling cloud. She fought back the urge to throw up as his screaming died into a bubbling gurgle.
What have I done?
Cole had almost reached the strange mist that seemed alive. It didn’t sway and move with the wind as it should have, dancing and moving as it desired
. She choked back the rising vomit and guilt. She couldn’t let him go in alone. Without a second thought, she darted across the dry dying field.
As she neared it, the fog became darker. Her wolf ran in front of her, blocking her path, but she moved around him. She paused before the wall of haze. It looked so solid she wasn’t even sure she could step into it. Amanda was scared of the first step but was so desperate to find Carter alive she closed her eyes and plunged in. She felt a kiss of cool moisture on her face as she crossed the barrier. Amanda had a million thoughts reeling through her brain. She never thought she would kill someone. She was surrounded by the dark mist now. The smoke smelled sickly sweet, and it hung on her like a wet blanket.
“Amanda!” Cole screamed from the other side. “Get back! Get out of there!”
She was startled and tried to back out, but it seemed to follow her. Not finding a way out, she searched for her wolf, but he was nowhere near. Breathing in the fumes left her with a syrupy residue on her tongue that made her choke. Her hands began to sting and she looked down at them. They were beet red. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew that it wasn’t good.
“Murderer,” a haunting voice gurgled.
“What?” she shouted. Her eyes were stinging so badly that tears were streaming down her face, making it impossible to see where the chilling voice had come from.
“You did this to me…”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the last coughing turned into a bubbling sputter. “Cole, help!” she cried.
Amanda attempted to shout for him again but began hacking violently. She tripped over something and fell hard but continued moving on her hands and knees, attempting to find the exit. Salty tears ran down her cheeks like a river, stinging her already burning flesh. Just as her fingers made contact with something that felt like gelatin, a strong thin hand pulled her back to her feet.
“S-B! Don’t breathe or speak, you’ll be out in a second.”
Amanda had never been happier to hear Madgie’s voice, though she was wishing Madgie wouldn’t hold her so tightly. Her skin felt like the worst sunburn imaginable.
“Amanda!” Cole exclaimed in worry when he found the two in the smoke.
“Don’t worry. She’s fine. She is probably in a lot of pain but…” Madgie said.
Amanda wanted to say, “Ya think?” but obeyed her orders. They never stopped their brisk almost running pace as Cole and Madgie talked.
“Well, get her out of here as quick as you can. I’ll keep scanning for him,” Cole said.
It was silent for a good while, and her lungs were on fire by the time Madgie gave her the okay to breathe again. When she took in the first gulp of fresh air, her head began to clear.
“Are you and Cole all right?” Amanda asked in a rushed breath, her eyes still closed.
“Don’t worry. We’re fine. He was searching for you in there same as me, but we had the forethought to use protective spells before running into a cloud of acid,” Madgie said.
Amanda’s brain stopped working for a second. “A cloud of acid!” she replied.
Madgie had her hands above Amanda, going over her body with healing and pain relief spells. “Yes. That was quite a nasty spell. I haven’t ever seen anything like it. It kills me that he knew a spell like that.” She paused. “Why would they teach such things at the Hovel? I mean, I’ve heard whisperings of what they did to the Guard, but still…”
Madgie was there in body, but her mind seemed a thousand miles away. Probably puzzling on all of the locked doors in the Hovel, all of the places that she, as a woman, had never been granted permission to enter. And all of the dark gossip that she hoped wasn’t true.
“Madgie?”
“Yes, child?” Madgie replied.
Amanda was terrified to ask the question, but it tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Is Carter alive?” she asked, thinking of the terrible voice calling out to her in the smoke. A moment went by then another. She peeled her eyes open to look up at her friend. “Madgie?” The old woman’s face was distraught, and she knew the answer.
Madgie took in a deep breath. “I don’t see how he could be. Look at you.” She gestured to Amanda’s clothes that had holes eaten through them. “And that was after it had dissipated. “S-B, if he’s dead, it isn’t your fault. It’s not like he was throwing a cupcake at you. You just made his actions literally blow up in his face. He’s the one who chose that awful dark spell, not you.”
She didn’t want to argue with poor Madgie.
Cole came walking out of the fumes a few moments later.
Amanda was relieved to see him until she took in the ghostly white face and dark red slime dripping from his hands. She sprang to her feet a little too fast and wobbled out of balance as she ran to him.
“What happened? are you hurt?” She went to touch him and he took a step back.
“Just give me a second,” he said in a rush. Cole took a breath and exhaled in a terrible sigh of pain.
“What is it, Cole? How can I help you?” she begged.
He knelt down on the ground and held his hand out to her.
It still dripped with the unknown goop. “I found Carter…” he said and looked down at Amanda’s hand. She followed his gaze. She had the same strange jelly on the tips of her fingers. “And so did you.” Her body convulsed with retching before her mind understood why.
She was wrapped up in Cole’s thick wool cloak, one of the few things that had escaped the acid. Her hair was still wet, and it made her shiver. Madgie had insisted that they wash up in a creek before the protective spells wore off.
“So Carter is dead,” Amanda said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. But Cole answered her anyway.
“Yes, he was when I found him. I tried to get him out anyway even though he couldn’t have possibly been alive. Don’t know why I even tried. He just… fell apart in my hands.” He shivered and she followed suit. “He deserved what he got. I’m glad he’s dead,” Cole said evenly.
“I didn’t mean to murder him.” Her voice cracked as she spoke.
Cole moved toward her and put his arms around her frail frame. “You didn’t murder him, Amanda. Don’t even say that! You aren’t a murderer. If he were throwing a stunning spell, it would have just knocked him out. He killed himself, and I’m glad he did. When I first saw him, I felt a stab of pity. It was like someone punched me in the stomach. I wanted him dead, but that death… it was a shock.” He looked down at her and gently cupped her face in the palm of his hand. “But then I realized that that was the death he meant for you.” His deep voice shook with anger. “He meant for that lump of flesh in the field to be you.” He pulled her closer as he continued. “Don’t you shed one tear for him, Amanda. He was consumed in darkness. Nothing good was left in him. He had nothing but evil to bring to this world.”
She felt calm in Cole’s arms but knew she wouldn’t be able to just shrug it off like he wanted her to. Shaking her head, she quickly changed the subject before her mind put together exactly what Cole meant by ‘lump of flesh.’ They did have a lot to discuss. “So, Madgie, where do we go from here?”
“I’ve told you where I think you should go and how to get there. Do you remember?” Madgie asked.
“Yes, I remember, but… aren’t you coming with me?”
Amanda didn’t like the way Madgie said that.
“Well, I do think it is best to travel together, at least until you’re healed up from your burns. I figure that should take a good week,” Madgie said, as she looked her up and down. Amanda had first and second degree burns over a good part of her body. She was looking more and more like an extra in an over-the-top cheesy horror film. Her wolf appeared by her side and plopped down next to her, resting his enormous head in her lap. She absentmindedly stroked his fur.
Cole’s resting head shot up. “Are you just going to leave her?” he asked with a hint of venom in his tone.
Amanda was taken back, but it was Madgie
who spoke. “No, I’m not just going to leave her. We’re all going to leave each other.”
Cole looked like someone had slapped him across the face.
“But why would we do that, Madgie? I don’t think splitting up is a good idea.”
Maybe she regretted coming with them. Being on the run from the Ancients, unable to go back to her home, she shouldn’t have let either of them do this. So much had happened to them in such a short amount of time, and she wondered what was waiting for them in the future. When she pulled herself out of her thoughts, she saw that Madgie and Cole were in an intense argument. Well, Cole was heated anyway. Madgie sat firm and patient while he threw his hands around.
“I won’t leave her side, Madgie! You saw what just happened, didn’t you? That pales in comparison to what she has coming for her. Carter? He was one guy. They will be sending the whole Guard, no doubt. What will she do against that?”
Madgie shrugged her slender shoulders. “What will you do against that?” Madgie asked.
Cole’s face turned red in exasperation. “I’ll fight. I’ll protect her.”
“It will do her no good. There are too many to fight. The best thing to do is to try and not be found. It is harder to find one spirit among the billions on Earth than to find three. We’ll stick out like a sore thumb together. We’d be much easier to track,” Madgie said
Just before he could respond, Amanda butted in. “Hold on one second… the Ancients have a Guard, like an army?”
CLASSES HAD BEEN CANCELED EVER since Amanda and Madgie had fled, and Nell was more than a little angry with them for leaving her behind.
How could they leave me here? she wondered furiously as she sat in the dining hall listening to the latest in the speaking campaign against her friends. The Hovel’s walls were splashed with Amanda’s face.
Posters of anti-Amanda propaganda were strange enough, but the new presence of the Guard had turned her home into a prison. She tried to calm her thoughts, knowing they couldn’t have guessed what the Hovel would turn into in their absence.