Feral Mage: Chapter 9

Callie stared down the tunnel, she had backed herself up in a dead end to make her stand. She couldn’t run anymore. Her eight-year-old hands gripped the sword and held it in front of her. The blade was heavy. She flinched as she heard the barks and snarls of the wolves. It was a sharp contrast with the music that played above her. She heard footsteps above as well and lifted her head. The tunnel’s ceiling was a metal grate that served as the floor for the party above.

Music played in the well-lit room above as the partygoers walked about, watching the scenes of violence unfold below them. An elven man wearing elegant clothing stood beside his harem of women watching her. Many of the women were silently crying, their makeup running down their faces. Her mother stood near the man, her face filled with fear. The man, though, just watched her impassively.

“Father, I’m scared,” Callie called out to the man.

He lifted his glass and took a sip.

“You have not earned the right to call me father, child. Prove you’re of the Queenshield blood, prove to me and our Queen that you have the bloodline.”

Callie trembled and tears welled in her eyes.

The sound of the wolves grew closer and she could smell them. The scent of iron, the scent of blood.

“Please, father!” Callie called above. “I don’t want to die!”

The man sneered before he poured his drink through the grate down on top of her. The liquid burned her eyes.

“There’s no point in watching this. You’ll be a failure, just like your siblings. Food for the wolves,” the man turned and walked away, his harem following. Even her mother.

Callie dropped the sword and started to sob.

A snarl brought her attention to the end of the tunnel, the first of the wolves had appeared. Its coat was tainted red with blood.

She grabbed the sword and readied herself, trembling as she held it.

More wolves appeared behind the first and the pack made their way to her. The air was heavy with their scent.

The scent of iron, the scent of blood.

Callie’s eyes opened and she stared at the night sky above her. The dream had been jarring and it took a moment to recall she was back on the road. Traveling to the Red Pine Kingdom with Erica, Cade, and the dwarf mercenary they had picked up at the tavern, Darren. The wind shifted and her eyes widened as she gripped the hilt of the sword lying next to her in the bedroll. The smell was a familiar one.

The scent of iron, the scent of blood.

Cautiously, she sat up in her bedroll. Her eyes took in what the low light from the dying fire provided. The person on watch was supposed to keep the fire going to keep away animals.

She scanned the camp in the low light and saw two more bedrolls occupied, Erica’s and the dwarf’s. Cade must have been the one on watch she realized. Callie picked up a small pebble and flicked it at the dwarf’s bedroll.

“What?” the dwarf asked as he propped up gripping a hand ax.

He looked at Callie and she made a gesture for silence, then pointed at Erica. The dwarf looked at her confused for a moment then he gave the camp a sweeping look. When his gaze turned back to her it was hard as steel and he gave a nod of understanding.

Darren might be a drunkard and a horrible singer, but he was a mercenary. He knew when a situation was bad.

Callie threw her bedroll off herself, and her armor creaked as she stood up. Erica and Cade had given her odd looks when they learned she slept in her armor. Darren didn’t, and the dwarf even slept wearing a chainmail shirt. They both knew the risks of a blade in the gut while you slept.

She grabbed an unlit torch and stuck it in the dying fire. The embers ignited the fuel of the torch and it roared with a bright light. She looked back to see Darren had woken Erica and was now standing guard by the forest elf. He gave Callie a nod while wearing a grim expression, conveying he would watch over her. Callie returned the nod and then made her way into the woods. Droplets of blood glistened on the ground from the torchlight marking her path.

The scent of blood grew stronger the further into the woods she went. She stopped when she heard a loud cracking sound. Turning the torchlight in the direction of the sound, she saw Cade.

The snow elf soldier’s eyes were glazed over as a howler held his corpse in its jaws. The ox-size cat glared as it guarded its kill, its two horns aimed at her. Howlers were a more common monster in the lower areas of the mountains, and this one seemed to have taken to hunting along the roadside.

Callie’s sword clicked as she started to pull it from the sheath, and the howler charged at her, dropping Cade’s corpse. She flung the torch at the howler’s face as she moved out of its charge and finished drawing her sword. The giant cat let out a roar as the torch collided with its face.

She rushed behind it and swung her sword at its leg, leaving a deep cut. Callie wanted to limit its mobility as soon as possible. The howler yowled as it turned and swiped at her with its paw. The claws made a harsh sound against her armor but failed to pierce it.

She rushed back and picked up the torch, holding it out towards the howler. The light of the torch would hamper the nocturnal howler’s sight.

The two of them circled each other, the torch light reflecting silver off the howler’s eyes. The cut on its leg had been deep, but the monster had no limp. Meaning its cut wasn’t deep enough to limit its movements. She could call out to Darren for help slaughtering the beast. Two fighters would be the safest way to deal with it, they could bait and switch their attacks. That’s what she would have done before her fight with Bryce. Back then this monster would have just been an inconvenience to her, now it was practice.

“You’re no manticore, but you’ll do for now,” Callie said as her blood roared in her body.

She could feel the bloodline activate, strengthening her body. Bryce might be an Aspect mage, but this was her power. The Bloodline of Thorns, the blessing and curse of the Queenshield family.

The howler must have sensed the change in her, as it chose to ignore the torch and charge. Its movements seemed slower to her now and as she dodged its attack her sword gouged out one of the howler’s eyes.

The monster yowled in pain as it thrashed about, swiping at its missing eye. Callie readied for another charge as the beast turned to face her. Instead, the howler leaped at a nearby tree and climbed up into the darkness of night. Callie stood there in the woods, with only the sound of her breathing. The flicker of flames from the torch kept drawing her eye to shadows that danced from it. The torch was doing her more harm than good with the howler in the treetops, so she closed her eyes.

She steadied her breathing and took in the sounds around her. The wind through the trees, a distant owl hooting in the night, and the roar from her blood in her body. She threw herself to the side as she heard the sound of bark breaking on a tree.

The howler pounced down from the treetops, its massive claws tearing into the ground where she had been standing. It tried to turn towards her before it fully landed on the ground, its jaw opening to show jagged teeth as long as her fingers. She swung her sword, her muscles enhanced by her bloodline. The sword cut into the howler’s neck and she felt it hit the beast’s spine. She shifted to add her weight onto the blade, forcing it down more into its neck. A shudder rippled through the howler’s body before it dropped to the ground and twitched. Callie retched her blade free and swung it again and again at the neck.

She stood in the night air by the decapitated howler and took three deep breaths as she deactivated her bloodline. Her hands went to her armor, working quickly to remove it. She tossed it on the ground and threw her shirt on top of it. The torchlight illuminated her chest as she examined her body. Her skin was pale except for her pink nipples, erect from the brisk air. She didn’t see what she was looking for and moved to examine her sides. She found what she was looking for on her right side, a blood-red mark that looked like a vine covered in thorns. She took her dagger and knicked the skin where the mark was. As the small cut bled, the mark vanished from her skin.

When it was gone and the bleeding had stopped, Callie redressed and made her way to Cade’s body. The howler had devoured one of his arms, leaving only gnawed bones held by bits of sinew. She grabbed his leg and started dragging the corpse back to camp. She could try to recover it in the morning, but something would come for it before then. A light grew brighter as she neared their camp.

“Is— is that Cade?” Erica asked fearfully from her bedroll.

“Yes,” Callie answered Erica.

Darren stood by the fire tending it, both his hand axes on his belt. He gave her a somber look and stood up when he saw the corpse.

“Burying or burning?” Darren asked, not looking away from the fire.

Callie dropped the leg she was using to drag Cade just outside of their camp. She approached the fire and warmed her hands.

“Burning,” Callie answered. “I killed what got Cade. The smell of blood from its corpse will bring more beasts in looking for a meal. A bigger fire will discourage them from our camp.”

“I’ll cut down a tree for the pyre. What got him?” Darren asked as he stood.

“Howler,” Callie answered as she stared into the fire.

Darren shook his head as he retrieved a woodsman axe from his pony.

“Not many could take a howler on in a one-on-one,” Darren said before he made his way to a nearby pine tree.

Erica started to sob from her bedroll. Callie didn’t need to look up from the fire to know the forest elf was staring at Cade’s corpse. She hadn’t been a soldier, just some courtier of the Duchess who knew the Red Pine Kingdom. Death was a rarer event for her.

Darren had the wood for the pyre fairly quick and they gave a quick service for Cade before igniting it. They waited until the pyre had died down, leaving only ash and bones, before they broke camp and made their way south to the Red Pine Kingdom.