Feral Mage Book 2: Chapter 41

The gnolls clawed at the thick oak door of the temple, bits of wood falling to the ground as they began to work their way inside. Thea could see the monsters’ eyes looking at them through the gaps they created. It wouldn’t be long before they broke through.

Baroness Julia lifted a candelabra as a makeshift weapon, while the Priestess ran through a list of the Divines to pray to for protection. Thea flexed her claws and waited.

“Do you know any combat spells?” Baroness Julia asked as she fearfully watched the door.

The Priestess swore, much to Thea’s surprise.

“I’m a Priestess, not a cleric! The only spells I know are protection and healing, and I’ve already cast all the protection spells I know,” she said, her hands trembling.

The door finally broke open, and two gnolls rushed into the temple. Thea moved to meet them as the Baroness and Priestess screamed.

Fire poured from Thea’s mouth with a roar at the gnolls. Their charge quickly became a retreat as her Fire Breath ignited their fur along with the rows of wooden pews of the temple. She rushed forward into the flames, the fabric of her dress burning, but her Fire Bull Aspect kept Thea’s skin fireproof.

The first gnoll she came to was rolling on the ground, trying to put out the flames. It barely resisted as her claws tore out its throat. It was still gurgling as the second gnoll jumped at her, the flames extinguished from its horribly burned body.

Her wings flexed and sent her back with a gust as the gnoll’s jaws clamped shut where she had been. Thea struck out with her claws, raking them against the gnoll’s face and taking out one of its eyes.

The beast let out something that was a cross between laughter and a cry of pain before it charged her again. Thea tried to evade with her wings again, but the gnoll had caught on, shifting its attack and latching onto her arm.

“Let go!” Thea yelled as she tried to kick the beast away from her.

Despite the thick drake scales covering her arm, the gnoll’s teeth dug into her, and she felt the bone in her arm break.

“Leave her be!” Baroness Julia yelled as she swung the candelabra.

The blow struck the back leg of the gnoll, dropping the beast to its knees. Thea felt the teeth pull out of her arm as the gnoll directed it attention toward Baroness Julia. Thea reacted quickly. She didn’t want the Baroness to be hurt. The woman had shown her so much kindness.

She bit into the gnoll’s neck, holding it. She tasted the warm blood of the monster as the sharp teeth of her Sea Drake Aspect cut through skin and muscle. She smelled the fear coming off of it as her good arm dug its claws into the gnoll’s abdomen. She felt the wetness of its organs bursting as her claws gutted the creature. All while the monsters’ souls in her stirred with excitement.

Her jaw released the gnoll, and it fell from her blood-soaked arm to the floor. She heard Baroness Julia say something, the woman trying to bandage her broken arm with a sleeve torn from her expensive gown. She heard the Priestess utter a prayer and felt the wounds on the arm begin to heal.

Thea, though, just stared at the red pool of blood forming on the floor where the gnoll lay. There was a roaring in her ears as her heart raced, and she felt the monsters begin to take control of her once more.

“Get the Baroness out of here!” Thea said as she pushed back against the monsters.

She gave the Baroness a warm smile before she turned and raced for the door of the temple.

“I’ll hold them off, escape!” Thea yelled as she exited into the night.

The truth was she didn’t know how long she had before she lost herself once more. Before she killed and consumed anything and anyone around her.

The night air greeted her with the scent of blood on it. It was coming from the far side of the town, where a building was burning. She could also smell the putrid stench of more gnolls in that direction. Thea resolved that if she were about to lose herself, she would take out as many of the monsters as possible while she still could.

Her wings flapped, carrying her into the air.

Bryce

His gauntleted hands collided with the first gnoll to reach him. The strength from the Primal Troll Aspect punctured the claws deep into the hide of the beast as Ice Magic ran wild through its body. When he pulled his hand free, its chest shattered as it fell to the ground dead.

Two more were on him, though, and Bryce was forced to keep moving. The snapping of jaws sounded around him, and he killed a gnoll, only for another to appear. The fight was a whirlwind of death. Many landed blows on him, some with claws, others with their jaws, tearing chunks of flesh out, but the Primal Troll Aspect would heal him quickly. A few tried to grapple or pen him so they could maul him with their powerful jaws, but the Pale Queen Aspect’s Ice Magic would start to freeze over their body if his claws touched them.

The combination of both Aspects was powerful, and the gnolls individually were no match for him, but numbers were not in his favor.

Bryce broke the jaw of a gnoll, only to grit his teeth as a spear slammed into his side. His claws closed around it, sending ice up the shaft and forcing the dwarf to let go.

“Don’t let him touch your weapon!” the dwarf yelled as the gnoll he rode jumped back.

Bryce tore the spear from his body and flung it at the dwarf, who pulled up on the reins of his mount. The weapon instead struck the gnoll, which cried out in pain.

Before Bryce could attempt to close the distance between him and the mounted dwarf, a bolt slammed into his side and staggered him.

“Use the crossbows. Let the gnolls do the close work,” the lead dwarf said. “Once his strange magic starts to fade, we’ll move in.”

Another bolt struck his chest, knocking him to the ground. He tore it out, and given the force with which it had struck him, he knew they were using dwarven crossbows. A gnoll jumped on top of him before he could stand, sinking its teeth into his shoulder. Bryce’s claws came up and tore the throat out of the beast before kicking it off him. He staggered to his feet and glared as a dwarf leveled his crossbow at him.

The bolt fired, but the shot went long as something with wings flew by, snatching the dwarf from his saddle and carrying him into the night sky. Screams filled the darkness above them as a second later, the dwarf fell to the ground with a bone-breaking thud.

Bellamy?

Whatever snatched the dwarf had flown by so quickly that Bryce didn’t get a clear view. His first thought was that it was Bellamy joining the fight. Then the flyer descended from the sky. Blonde hair with bat-like wings and the nubs of cut horns on her head, but what stood out most to Bryce were the bright red eyes, which stared at him.

He heard the twang of a crossbow and watched as a bolt slammed into Thea’s wing, the force knocking her from the air. Thea screamed as she fell, and the gnolls started racing toward her.

“Damn it lad! The Commander said to bring her in unharmed!” the lead dwarf yelled.

The other dwarf sneered.

“She killed one of our brothers! You expect me to not retaliate?”

Bryce was moving to where Thea had fallen. Three gnolls were already upon her. He smelled blood and feared the worst had happened to her. As he approached, two of the gnolls ran and Thea stood up. The third gnoll’s corpse was in her arms as she tore the flesh from its head. She chewed her meal and looked at him with feral eyes. Not the eyes of a human, the eyes of a monster.

“She’s eating a gnoll…” one of the dwarves said.

The other reached into his satchel bag and pulled out iron chains and cuffs.

“Doesn’t matter what she’s doing as long as she’s alive. Get her,” he said, throwing the chains to the other dwarf. “I’ll deal with Levi’s killer.”

Bryce gritted his teeth as he saw the dwarf load his crossbow again. He gave a side glance at Thea, still eating her gnoll, as the dwarf with chains approached her. Cursing, Bryce raced for Captain Taylor’s killer.

The crossbow fired, the bolt grazing his cheek as he closed the distance. The dwarf’s eyes went wide and he tossed aside the crossbow to pull out his spear, then tugged on the reins of the matriarch gnoll. The beast raised both arms as its jaw opened to clamp down on him. As it moved to do so, Bryce slammed his fist into the bottom jaw of the gnoll, slamming it shut before plunging his claws through its chest.

The dwarf lashed out with his spear as his mount started to fall backwards to the ground dead. He managed to scratch Bryce’s chest before becoming trapped under the dead matriarch’s corpse.

“Damn you!” he yelled as Bryce approached.

The dwarf desperately pulled at the ground beside him, tearing up clumps of grass and dirt in a bid to pull himself free from his dead mount. Bryce reached out with his claws, grabbing the dwarf’s head.

“I liked that old man,” Bryce said as frost began to spread across the dwarf’s body.

He shivered for a moment and looked up at him with fearful eyes before he became still.

Bryce turned from the dead man and looked back at Thea. The dwarf that had intended to capture her was now gutted on the ground, Thea feasting on his entrails.

Bryce drew a deep breath as he slowly approached the chimera. His eyes landed on the iron cuffs still in the dwarf’s hands. He needed to capture Thea and then find the girls. He felt a knot in his gut at the fact they hadn’t arrived yet. He had only taken two steps toward Thea before the world turned black.