Feral Mage 3: Chapter 20

Callie drew the knife across the red thorn mark that had appeared on her arm. Blood trickled down as the blade cut into her skin, but her eyes were focused on the edge of the wood surrounding the estate. A single question repeated in her mind.

Where are you, Bryce?

Thea added a voice to her concern as she stood beside her, fear plastered across her face.

“He should have returned by now,” she said.

He should have, but Callie knew if she said that, it would just cause Thea even more distress. Instead, she turned and looked at the cluster of nobles and guards being led by Jasper as they moved cautiously away from the garden. The corpses of the puppets and abominations were burning where they had fallen, set afire by the Duke’s guests. She was tempted to leave Thea with the group so she could search for Bryce, but she wondered how well they would actually protect the Princess if they encountered trouble.

Her hearing picked up the sound of horses and a wagon, drawing her attention from the group to the wide open gates leading into the estate, the guards nowhere to be seen. She watched as two riders wearing the uniform of Witchbrook’s city guard and a familiar wagon entered the estate grounds, Vex and Janna sitting in the driver’s box.

Seeing the rest of her team, she felt a mixture of relief and concern about what else had happened. She gestured for Thea to follow her as she went to meet the wagon. Shouts of fear and confusion echoed from the nobles at the new arrivals, but they seemed to calm as they noticed her and Thea approaching.

“We have an important message for Duke Leon Brook,” one of the city guards said as he reined his horse into a trot.

Callie hooked her thumb toward the clustered nobles.

“The Duke is with his guests,” she said as her gaze drifted to Janna and Vex. “I would approach cautiously. We were just attacked moments ago.”

Janna’s eyes widened while Vex frowned, her eyes darting around the yard as her ears lowered until they were flat.

One of the city guard swore while the other made a sign of protection for one of the Divines. Slowly, the city guards approached the group of nobles while making friendly gestures.

They only made it a few yards before Vex spoke.

“Where’s Bryce!” she demanded.

Callie sighed and looked to the woods.

“That’s what I would like to know as well.”

Vex let out a growl before Thea gave them more information.

“He went to rescue Princess Charlotte from the puppets that attacked us, but he hasn’t returned,” she answered.

Janna gasped.

“They already attacked!” she exclaimed, and Callie narrowed her eyes.

Vex hopped out of the wagon, pulling off her callingstone necklace as she did. She held it up and watched as the stone pulled slightly one way.

“Princess! Princess!” Vex growled before switching to beastkin. “Why do they gather around my mate like flies to sweets! Useless and no good for the pack. Alice is smart for not wanting to be one. Nothing but trouble!”

Then she went into the back of the wagon, grabbing her bow and whistling for Omelet to jump out and join her. She turned and started walking toward the direction her calling stone moved.

“Vex! Let me hitch the horses first!” Janna cried after her.

Callie started following the wolfgirl.

“Leave it, none of the nobles will bother the wagon or even care. The horses will just graze in the yard,” she said, glancing back at Janna.

Thea started walking beside Callie, the Princess casting nervous glances to the gathered nobles as the Duke and Jasper spoke to the two city guards. She couldn’t hear what they were saying this far away, but the Duke seemed furious. She could, however, hear Janna mumble something softly.

“Yes, they can be a stubborn bunch, Grandfather.”

When Callie looked back at Janna, the kitsune’s face turned slightly red at being caught talking to herself. She hurried to walk beside them as they all followed Vex, her naginata in hand and resting on her shoulder. Callie wondered if she had perhaps named the weapon ‘Grandfather’ because it was a family heirloom. She wouldn’t be the first warrior to name and speak to their weapon. After all, for many in their profession, your blade was your most trusted friend.

“What happened?” Callie asked Janna. “You came with the city guard, but not enough to deal with the attack we faced.”

The kitsune wore a grim look as they neared the woods. “Bellamy and the twins returned to the guildhall with a letter they found while scouting in the Deathridge Kingdom. I don’t know what it said, but Nicole and Mark are certain that Witchbrook is going to be invaded in the next few days. The city guard is here to warn the Duke about the attack, and Mark sent us to get Bryce.”

Callie’s hand gripped the hilt of her sword.

“Shit! I guess Harold Volson got tired of usurping everything with his puppets, or he figures a war is a great way to test out his newest variety.”

Janna drew a deep breath.

“There’s more. The seal on the letter was from the Saltland Kingdom,” she added before her brows furrowed. “What new variety?”

A chill ran through Callie at the mention of the Saltland Kingdom’s involvement. She now had a bad feeling about Princess Charlotte trying to lead the nobles away from the puppets.

That little bitch!

“It seems the Princess of the Saltland Kingdom was here for more than just to investigate the journal Alice found,” Callie glowered. “As for the new puppets, let’s just say the bastard took inspiration from both a butcher and monsters.”

Janna looked past her to the plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the garden.

No one from the group of nobles paid them any mind as they vanished into the woodline. They only walked a short distance when Vex lowered her hand holding the necklace and growled, before rushing through the forest and arriving at a corpse.

“One of the Pikemen puppets that attacked us,” Callie stated as she looked the corpse over.

Vex, though, paid it no mind as she walked past it to a spot where the ground had been disturbed, as if someone had recently crawled across it. She knelt and touched a small pool of blood, then smelled it. A deep growl rumbled in her throat as she glared at the spot.

“Bryce’s blood,” Vex said, snarling as she showed her red fingers to them.

Before anyone could speak, a shadow passed over them. Callie swore as she glanced up and pulled free her sword. Janna readied her naginata, Vex glared at the sky, and Omelet’s feathers poofed out as if to make him seem larger.

“That’s a….” Thea started to say softly as she backed up under a nearby tree.

Callie’s heart raced as the flying monster flew away from them.

“A Quill Wyvern,” Callie said.

Vex growled again as she held her callingstone necklace

“It’s going to where Bryce is!”.

Bryce

Bryce’s body felt cold as he lay in the back of the wagon. Blocks of ice surrounded him, as did the corpses of the three nobles who had fled with Charlotte. He had healed what would have been a fatal injury the moment he pulled on the Primal Troll Aspect, but the paralyzing effects of Charlotte’s spell had lasted long enough for her guards to appear and place him in this wagon, his tattered and blood-covered clothing masking the fact that his stab wound was healed.

He knew Charlotte had more men with her than just the guards she brought to the estate, and he was sure more than a few of them were puppets. He even caught a glimpse of another centipede-abomination waiting beside the wagon. Bryce was planning his kill order for when the spell’s effects wore off. Incapacitate or kill Charlotte, the abomination next, mostly to injure it to reduce its speed so that he could focus on the guards. All in all, a stupid plan that would probably get him killed.

“Rest, my Chimera,” Ciarra’s voice softly rang in his ear, as he felt her fingers trace along his cheek. Then he heard the Goddess’s fury in her following words. “They wish to mock my children, then I will show them my children.”

Ciarra started to sing a beautiful melody in some ancient tongue he didn’t understand. What he did know was that the monsters’ souls inside him stirred at its call.

“The scouts spotted riders approaching the estate,” a mounted sea elf guard stated as he approached the wagon.

Charlotte swore as she began to climb into the driver’s box, a human male taking the spot opposite her and holding the reins.

“I guess we will need to flee before we are caught and reveal our hand. Far fewer than I had hoped, and only one that could be useful,” she said, glancing into the back of the wagon. “At least this was better than the attempt on the Duke’s ship.”

Oddly enough, Charlotte had set a wooden puppet beside her in the wagon as she held a sheet of paper in her hand. The fact that she blew on the ink scribbled across the paper told Bryce she had just written it. The wagon had started rolling when Charlotte folded the paper and slipped it into the mouth of the puppet.

He watched from his vantage point in the back of the wagon as runes appeared on the puppet and glowed brightly, only to fade away. Nothing happened for several minutes, except that Bryce finally felt the spell fade from his body. Then the driver spoke.

“A shame you could not capture the Duke or my beloved niece. Still, her bodyguard is a decent prize, though we do not have time to make use of him before the attack. Have your men bring him and the minor nobles to Fort Breakwater. I will arrive there in four days. Instruct them to keep the bodies on ice. I do not want a repeat of the last batch,” the driver said in a monotone voice. “Return to Witchbrook and find where nobles may flee during an attack on the City. You will need a story for your escape, kill some of the puppets and take their wooden hearts, and claim your guards found you. Use this as an opportunity to try to befriend Thea. She will be your sister-in-law soon enough.”

Charlotte stared at the driver with her mouth agape.

“You seriously want me to stay in that wretched city? The moment the humans realize the attackers are using Saltland ships, they’ll be cutting the ears off every sea elf they can find!” she sneered. “I—”

A heavy sigh escaped her, followed by a laugh.

“I’m losing my damn mind talking to a puppet. Mother, what were you thinking with this alliance?”

Ciarra stopped singing as a roar echoed overhead. Bryce’s eyes widened as Charlotte looked up, only for a spike to slam into her back, knocking her from the wagon. Another spike struck the head of the driver, piercing through it. The horses cried out as they broke into a full gallop.

The driver pulled free his sword and jumped from the runaway wagon. The fact that he was still moving despite the head injury told Bryce he was a puppet.

Another roar echoed as Bryce placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. He recognized the roar, and when he sat up, he spotted the Quill Wyvern attacking Charlotte’s soldiers and the abomination.

Did Ciarra’s song bring it here?

He recalled the legends about the Goddess sending monsters to destroy the drow Kingdom when they angered her. Had she done that with her song?

He heard the Goddess laugh as the Quill Wyvern tore apart the abomination while the Carrion Fairies swarmed the guards. Charlotte lay on the ground as she used a healing spell on herself, the driver standing guard beside her watching the monsters.

Bryce grabbed the wooden puppet still sitting in the driver’s box and jumped from the wagon, pulling free his sword after he landed. He was several yards away from Charlotte and even more from the monsters, but no one had noticed his approach.

“You need to get me out of here!” Charlotte screamed as she watched the Wyvern decimate her guards. “You damn puppet! The fall from the wagon broke my leg! Start carrying me out—”

Bryce used the strength of the Primal Troll Aspect to cleave the driver in half with his blade. As the puppet’s body fell to the ground, Charlotte turned to look at him with sheer terror.

“Please, help me. I-I-,” she tried to say, her body trembling.

He looked down at her with a cold expression.

“You really think that would work?” he asked.

She paled before her hand reached out to touch him.

“In my God’s name—”

Bryce swung the wooden puppet, bashing it against Charlotte’s head. The blow knocked the Princess of the Saltland Kingdom to the ground, where she lay unconscious. He was really tempted to leave her to the Wyvern, but two things stopped him. First, Charlotte had information on Harold Volson and apparently knew about a planned attack on Witchbrook. Second, he seriously doubted that Ciarra would allow him to live if he fled the Quill Wyvern again, a concern confirmed a second later when the Goddess spoke to him.

“Champion, reward my child for its service to its mother. End its suffering,” Ciarra commanded.