by Logan Byrne
“Okay, let’s go,” Blake said. Britta and I teleported us all down, my ears filled with the whistles of the wind before being interrupted by the sound of crackling wood.
2
It was like walking into a war zone. The Minotaurs’ homes and tents were desecrated, and their totems and statues either cracked in half, burnt, or lying in the dirt. There was no sympathy in the way the duskhowlers attacked, torturing the people in their path just for being who they were. I didn’t know any of these Minotaurs, but I had to believe they’d never done anything to deserve this. They only wanted peace.
“Blood,” Blake said, sniffing some red marks spread over the canvas exteriors of the tents.
“How fresh?” Faus asked.
“It’s not fresh, maybe two or three days, if I had to guess,” Blake said.
“Where did they go?” Britta asked, as ash snowflakes gently and sparingly fell from the sky.
As I walked forward, something rustled ten feet ahead of me, moving a wooden barrel. I quickly pulled out my wand and approached slowly, side-stepping for a better vantage point, as I heard somebody there, hiding from us.
“Freeze!” I shouted, pointing my wand straight at their head.
A young Minotaur girl, maybe twelve, was cowering behind the barrel with her head buried in her knees, crying and shaking as she refused to look at me. “Lexa, what is it?” Britta asked, running over.
“We aren’t here to hurt you,” I said, putting away my wand, as I knelt down to her level. She refused to even look up, let alone at me, as she sniffled and cried. I reached forward, touching her shoulder, and she gasped, pushing herself backwards into the tent in terror as her eyes lit up in fear.
“We’re from the resistance!” Britta said. “We’re here to take you to safety!”
“What happened here?” Faus asked as he approached.
“They came,” she said, her eyes wide, her bottom lip beginning to tremble. She was in shock, it was more than obvious, as she quickly kept glancing between us, likely monitoring who was a threat.
“What did they want?” I asked, in a calm and peaceful voice.
“They wanted us. The men came, they were wearing masks and they laughed as they killed and tortured our people,” she said, her voice monotone. “I hid, like my mother told me, and they didn’t find me. They didn’t find me.”
“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” Britta said, before she reached out and embraced the girl. She didn’t run away, or attack, instead burying herself against Britta and crying, as if a flood of emotions ran rampant through her nervous system as she relived the attack.
“Did they take any of your people with them?” I asked.
“I heard one of them talk, he said they had to get back to the camp, that it was a long walk away and they couldn’t transport all of my people by magic. Our spirits wouldn’t allow it,” she said, wiping her snout.
“What do you mean they wouldn’t allow it?” Blake asked.
“Their tribe is rooted in a spiritual bond where ancestors guard and look over the living. With their protection, as well as the ancient ancestral Earth spirits, magic effects don’t work on them if they aren’t welcomed,” Faus said.
“How do you know so much about my people?” the girl asked.
“We’re more alike than you know. Did you happen to hear or see what direction they traveled in?” Faus asked.
“That way,” she pointed.
“West, it figures. That leads out of the mountainous region and into a flatter prairie. Their transportation will likely be easier from there,” Faus said.
“What’s your name?” Britta asked, holding her hand.
“Espy,” she said, her strikingly blue eyes looking up at Britta.
“Well, Espy, my name is Britta. These are my friends, Lexa, Faus, Charlie, and Blake. We used to be auditors with M.A.G.I.C., but now we work with the resistance. You’ll be safe, I promise. We’re going to find your tribe, and we’re going to take them all to our safe camp where they won’t have to worry about anybody hurting them,” Britta said, smiling.
Espy nodded, still holding onto Britta, not letting her go as if she were some kind of safety blanket. “Are you sure she should come with us?” Blake asked.
“It will be a long journey, and she’s been through a lot. We could always drop her off in the camp to ensure her safety,” Charlie said.
“No!” she yelled, standing up. “I’m not leaving my people behind. I won’t do it!”
“It’s okay, you can stay with us,” I said, putting my hand on her upper back and rubbing it consolingly. “You need to do what we say, though. If we tell you to hide or run, then you have to do it, do you understand? These men are very bad, and they won’t hesitate to hurt you if they get the chance.”
“I understand. Just promise me you’ll save my tribe,” she said, looking at me with her oceanic eyes.
“We’ll do everything we can, I promise,” I said, smiling.
“It’s too much for us to keep teleporting around. We’re going to need to walk it,” I said, cracking my knuckles.
“We need to try to stay out of sight, on the high ground if we can,” Faus said.
“That ridge goes on for miles,” Britta said, pointing towards a long mountain that stretched as far as the eye could see. “We could get up there for the vantage point and then stay elevated. That way we could see them before they’d ever see us.”
“Good thinking, I like it. Whenever you girls are ready,” Faus said.
“Espy, we need you to allow us to teleport you with us. We’re going to go right up there, onto that ridge. The teleportation will be a little weird at first, since you’ve never done it,” Britta said.
“I trust you,” she said, her eyes softened. “Thank you for helping me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come.”
“Of course,” Britta replied, with a soft smile on her face.
My wand glimmered in the stray beams of light that broke through the black smoke as Britta and I raised our wands high and pulled all of us away in the blink of an eye. In a moment our feet were firmly planted on the rocky crust of the mountain ridge we’d just looked at moments prior.
I looked behind us at the raging vortex of black tainting the beautiful blue sky before I shook my head, failing to understand why any of this was happening. Were they this hell-bent on controlling everything and everyone in the realm? Did Kiren intend to leave a trail of bodies in his path, mowing down any creature or being that didn’t kneel before him, as if he were some god?
“I’ve never seen everything from up here,” Espy said, as she carefully walked along the side of the ridge. She kept to the inner shelf, her hand extended as she leaned over, as if scared she would fall.
I looked down at her hooves as she walked cautiously, their edges scraping and sliding a little. I shivered in the wind whistling through the thin air. The conditions weren’t the most appealing up here, but it was sure better than being exposed in the valley below.
“Do your people use these mountains a lot?” Faus asked.
“They’re sacred, connecting the Earth spirits to our people. To come up here, for our tribe, would be an honor and something not taken lightly. Usually it’s reserved for those of us who are most in tune with the spirits,” Espy said.
“Have you ever been outside this region?” Charlie asked. “You know, to a city or town?”
“I’ve never left the area, no. It’s hard to even imagine what a city is like. I’ve heard a lot of stories, but nothing is in my head of what they look like. Is it like this?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. “There are buildings around, huge ones, some that are as tall as these mountains.”
“I don’t know what to even say, let alone think, about something like that. It must be magical,” she said.
“There is a certain charm, but it can be quickly lost when you see what else is around you,” I said.
“What about mortals? Have you met them? Are they kin
d?” Espy asked.
“We’ve met them, lots of them. They have the best food,” Charlie said, rubbing his stomach.
“Mortals are a different bunch, Espy. I’m afraid they would never understand you, or any creature from our world,” Britta said.
“I heard they would scream at me,” she said, her head hanging down a little.
“Possibly, yes. They can be easily scared by things they don’t understand. They have good hearts, though, most of them, anyhow,” Britta said.
“You’ll never have to worry about them. You’ll be safe in the camp,” Blake said.
“How long will I be there? What if you don’t find my tribe and I can’t go back home?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“Once Kiren is out of power and the threat is gone, you’ll get to come back here and be with your tribe,” I said.
“What if it doesn’t happen? You guys beating Kiren, I mean,” she asked.
“Well, it won’t be just us, that’s for sure. I’d say not to worry about it, and just let nature take its course. If you panic and think about it too much, you’ll drive yourself crazy. We’ll find your tribe, we’ll rescue them, and you’ll get to come home. I promise,” Britta said, putting her arm around Espy’s shoulders.
It was unfair to think that a girl of her age was having to worry about these sorts of things. I felt angry for her, even though she seemed relatively calm with us, as I walked behind her and Britta and watched her trot along, just wanting to survive and be reunited with her family and tribe.
She should have been running around her home, the wind rustling her fur as she laughed and played with other children her age. She shouldn’t have to be fearing that she would never see her parents or elders again, and that her friends would be killed or tortured. That wasn’t what children were supposed to do. Maybe it was because I’d had such a bad childhood, but I hated the thought of a child experiencing such misery like she was.
“Do you see anything?” Blake asked, looking at Charlie.
Charlie shifted, his stiff tail sticking out like a counterweight as he intently scanned the horizon. “Nope, I don’t see anything in the distance. They probably got too far ahead over the couple days since the attack.”
“It’s only been an hour, I guess. I suppose we shouldn’t have expected to even find them today,” Blake said.
“How did you do that?” Espy asked, looking at Charlie.
“Do what?” he asked, still prowling beside us in his jaguar form.
“He’s a jaguar shifter. Is he the first you’ve met?” Britta asked, smiling.
“It’s amazing, seeing him do that. He was like a mortal, and then he changed into a beast,” she said with a bright smile, as if her attention was briefly taken off the problem at hand.
“If you like this,” Charlie said, before shifting into his human form, “you should see what this guy can do.” He pointed towards Faus with his right thumb, but Faus’s face was that of a not-so-happy camper.
“Charlie, enough. I said no,” Faus said, yanking Charlie’s shirt and pulling him back towards him.
“Is something wrong?” Espy asked.
“They’re just teasing each other and playing around,” Britta said, diffusing the situation.
“We need to set up some kind of camp for the night,” Blake said later that day, when my feet were beginning to burn. We’d been walking for the better part of six hours and I could feel it. The terrain was uneven, the rocky face of the ridge unforgiving to our feet.
“We’re close to the edge anyway,” Charlie said, kicking a rock along.
“Can you see how much further?” Blake asked.
“Maybe a few hundred feet,” Charlie said, pointing forward. “It ends there and drops off, I can feel it.”
“Okay, we need to—” Blake said.
“Quiet, I hear something,” Charlie whispered, crouching down. Panicked, we all followed suit, kneeling on the ground, as Charlie pivoted his head and tried to find the source of whatever noise he was hearing. “There, do you see?”
We looked down, and I spotted two men, guards, scouting the area on the next ridge. The mountain had multiple levels, all of them coming and going depending where you were. On a narrow ridge about seventy feet down the duskhowlers walked without a care.
“Do we attack?” Britta asked quietly.
“There are only two of them,” Charlie whispered.
“What if we don’t defeat them, and what if we do? What are we going to do with them?” I asked quietly.
“We could always take them into custody and back to the camp. There’s a make-shift prison inside,” Britta said, shrugging.
“Whatever we decide, it better be quick. Our chance is disappearing fast,” Blake said.
“I say yes,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, same,” Britta replied.
“Faus, you stay here with Espy, and do not come down towards us. Stay up here, promise me,” I said, looking Espy in the eyes.
“I promise,” she said, nodding.
I pulled out my wand, Britta doing the same, before Charlie and Blake began to shift. “Ready?” I asked, feeling jitters flow through my core.
“Let’s do this,” Charlie said, before hopping down the side of the ridge.
“Above!” one of the men yelled as we flew down towards them. They fumbled to get their wands out before Charlie pinned one man down, slamming his paws onto the man’s chest before he violently smashed into the gravelly ground.
The other man swung his wand, a bolt slapping Blake against the face, flinging him eight feet away as he slid in the gravel. “Rigormorio!” I yelled, but the wizard reacted in time and broke the spell in its tracks.
He grinned, laughing, as he shot out bluish bolts bristling with electricity. “You help Charlie, I’ve got this,” I said to Britta, keeping pressure on the man as Britta ran towards Charlie, who was wrestling with the other duskhowler.
Britta kicked his wand away, the wood clinking against the rocks, before she restrained his hands behind him with a magical sort of lace handcuffs that she drew around him.
“You can think you beat me, girl? I don’t care who you are, filthy pilt, you’ll never defeat a wizard of my caliber! Rigor Viberum!”
He flicked his wand back, the faintest black glow emanating from the tip as it began to grow darker and more intense. The glowing black was all that I could focus on. I went to swipe my wand upwards, a shield being the only thing capable of potentially stopping the spell from killing me, before I looked over.
As if in slow motion, the Earth almost standing still, Blake tackled the man, lifting his feet off the ground as the black spell building on his wand dissipated, his casting interrupted. Blake roared, the full scene coming to fruition as time instantly sped up and Blake was snarling in the man’s face, spit dripping from his fangs.
Britta took his wand, snapping it in half, before doing the same with the other wizard’s wand. “You two are a little too dangerous to be allowed access to these,” she said.
“Rigormorio,” I said, the spell hitting my attacker and freezing him in place. I did the same to the other, even though he was restrained. I didn’t want either of them to be able to break free and run around. I was sure they knew some wandless magic, and I wasn’t about to give them the chance to use it.
“Blake and I will take them to the camp and get them into their cells. Will you two be okay here with Espy and Faus?” Britta asked, gripping her wand.
“We’ll be fine,” Charlie said, licking his paw. “Take your time, and we’ll get camp ready.”
Britta leaned in, kissing the top of his furry head, before Blake began to shift back, his werewolf features quickly disappearing as the anger visibly left him. He didn’t say anything, not even looking at me, before the four of them teleported back to the camp.
“I can’t believe what happened. We were watching from up here,” Faus said, as Charlie and I teleported back up the ridge to him and Espy waiting
patiently.
“You shouldn’t have been. A stray spell could’ve hit either of you,” I said, before pulling out the tents from Britta’s bag.
“It was my fault. I just wanted to see,” Espy said, looking a little nervous, as if she were scared to get in trouble.
“Just be more careful next time. These men are dangerous, and they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or kidnap you,” I said, with a softened smile to let her know I wasn’t angry or upset.
I waved my wand, the tents growing before I flicked the tip, the stakes pounding into the rocky soil before the polyester tarp of the tents began to ripple in the breeze. “This wind is brutal,” Faus said, as the backs of the two tents began to pull upwards.
“Here,” I said, flipping my wand, stacking rocks around us as a windbreak like Britta did with the ice in Greenland. They cemented in place, the wind funneling around the barrier as the abuse on the back of the tents stopped.
“What’s it like? Doing magic,” Espy asked, looking on.
“It’s fun, but it’s dangerous. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with using it,” I said.
“Can I try? Could you teach me?” she asked eagerly, and I giggled a little.
“No, I’m afraid not. Magic isn’t something you can teach unless you have the ability already,” I said, sheathing my wand as Charlie began building the fire.
“Maybe I have the ability,” she said optimistically.
“I’m afraid not,” Faus interjected. “Minotaurs aren’t able to possess the ability to use magic, at least in this form. Shamanistic magic, yes, but not wand style. When we rescue your tribe, you should ask your elders to teach you. I think it would be good for you.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, her head hung down a little, obviously upset.
“We got them in,” Britta said, as she and Blake teleported back to the ridge and walked towards us.
“They didn’t give you any problems?” I asked.
“We had them pretty secured, and finishing off their wands was a nice touch. Quick thinking there might’ve just saved us,” Blake said.
“They’re under resistance control now, and I think they’ll get some good intel out of them,” Britta said. “I see you got things set up here.”
