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.”
10
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.