The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Fifty-One

“Natasha no,” Articus yells, finally reaching me. He rolls me over as my eyes begin to fade.

“Since when do I listen to you,” I tell him, giving a hard laugh. “Take care of Gedric for me.” I grimace, my overload beginning to cause me pain. My back arches as I cry out in pain.

“Is Ari dead,” Gordon demands from me, kneeling next to me

“Deader than me,” I answer before screaming out in growing agony.

“Connect with the earth,” Articus yells at me, touching the ground and lowering me into it. “Now!”

“What good will that do,” I ask from him.

“For once just listen and do it!” He yells. “Gordon!”

I scream as I feel my body becoming covered in dirt. Articus covers my mouth, covering me in dirt completely. My fists clench the earth as I feel my skin pushing out, feeling as if it’s about to burst. Desperate I connect with the earth. The worse that can happen is that is speeds this up.

The earth’s magic, predictably, attacks my body. I scream out in agony, struggling under Articus’s grip. This pain is unbearable. I can’t stay still as fire fills my veins. My heart is racing as my breath quickens. Exploding is more painful than I thought.

I feel as if I’m being absorbed by the earth as I try to move, unable to do so. Is this the part I explode, because I’d like that very much at this point. I scream out again, golden green magic pouring out of my mouth, making Articus release his grip on my mouth. The earth’s filter at that point takes over my foreign magic, absorbing the rogue magic and filtering my cleansed magic back through me. My eyes widen in alarm. It’s neutralizing my overload.

After what had to be an hour inside the earth, my overload has calmed. Articus feels my body relax and pulls me out of the ground. I cough, trying to remove dirt from my lungs while I violently wipe at the dirt from my eyes. When I open them, I look to find Allaric, Gordon, and Articus sitting next to me.

Silently, Gordon reaches over and heals my shoulder. That’s when I look down to my stomach to find it has healed. When I give him a confused look, Gordon smirks at me. “I healed it during your overload. You’re welcome.”

“How did you do that?” I demand from him.

“Same way you did,” he tells me, lifting his shirt slightly to reveal the injury on his stomach.

“Now that’s just cheating,” I say, unsure what to say. I was not expecting this. I was expecting death if I’m being honest.

Articus laughs, making me look at him. I do a double take when I see the same man from the Fate’s Plane. He’s in his original body. “You won the deal.” Articus explains to me. “The moment you confirmed Ari was dead, we were able to help you. I saved you using the same methods I had to do hundreds of times when I was mortal. The earth attacked you, tricking the filter into thinking that you were rogue magic acting up. It filtered out the overloaded magic, and returned the healthy magic to its original place; which was your body.

“However, the reason you’re currently alive is thanks largely to Gordon and Allaric. Allaric is currently creating an illusion to the Fates that Gordon and he had returned from the battle; so Gordon could stay and heal you. Unfortunately, they’ll need to leave soon, before they’re discovered. The next time we see them, it’ll be as enemies.”

Allaric nods, agreeing with him. “Sadly yes. The Fates are not happy right now. Mikal is not going to give up on Natasha anytime soon, especially after this impressive display. Novin is going to do everything he can to get you back Articus,” Allaric says, putting his hand on his knee. “Guard yourself well, because it’ll look like their last attempts were child’s play.”

Articus shudders. “I hate to picture what he has in store.”

“Nothing good, I can tell you that.” Allaric says, looking to me. “Stanya is next to be recruited, as soon as she masters her illusions in spiritual form. I’m warning you of this now. So is Gedric. He’s destined to be stronger than Mordecai with his earth magic.”

I nod, giving him a determined look. “In other words, this isn’t over.”

“Not even close.”

Gordon looks to Articus. “Remember your promise Art.”

“I’ll free you four. I swear it.” Articus vows, surprising me.

“Shouldn’t you be watching your promises for now,” I point out. “You’re barely free of being a Servant.”

“I’m not swearing it to the Fates, now am I?” Articus demands, before rolling his eyes. “Tell Mordecai and Lometh for me.”

“After I figure out how to give Mordecai his head back,” Gordon says, looking at me. “It appears only you can heal what your raven has done.”

“Oh! You have your eye back,” Allaric says, looking at him.

“Well she does hold the Raven.” Articus says, looking at me. “And the deer, owl, and bear.”

I stiffen as I look at my back, seeing nothing but the black of my shirt. My heart stops. “Did Gedric still die?”

Articus shakes his head. “No. Gedric died long enough for you to be permanently given the bear marking to guard. However, you brought Gedric back to life and, still, the bear could not return. Gedric killed Ari and inherited his wolf marking. Congratulations, your boyfriend was saved from being evil by sheer luck.”

Allaric cuts in. “Art, I need you to keep Stanya safe. Illusionists do not do well in our world.”

Articus scoffs, “and sheiks do?”

He glowers. “You know what I mean.”

“I think it has something more to do with the fact she’s your greatest granddaughter.” Articus points out.

“Don’t tell the Fates that,” he hisses. “Remember when they found out about Natasha? They sent you to be the one to recruit her.”

“Then you better stop talking to her.” Articus snaps. “They’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“Enough you two,” Gordon says, putting his hand on each of their chests. Instantly they relax, making me raise my eyebrow. Emotional manipulation is difficult and impressive. “We need to go. I can sense Mordecai is looking for me.”

Gordon turns his attention to me. “May I have his head back?”

I shrug, summoning my raven. It appears next to me and coughs up Mordecai’s head. I look at the silver ringlet head. His brown eyes are wide open and glaring at me. He opens his mouth, but without a voice box, nothing comes out. I smirk at him, a little pleased by his reaction. My raven nuzzles me before returning back to me.

Gordon picks up the head as he stands. “A deal is a deal Sheik. I healed your shoulder, now I get Mordecai’s head.”

I match his angry expression. “Enjoy trying to reattach it.”

Gordon winks at me as he and Allaric vanish. Well that was a pleasant man. I look to Articus, “So what are you going to do with your freedom?”

Articus stands, pulling me to my feet. “Train you. You’re far too dangerous without a magic cap. You nearly killed this entire country with your overload. Mikal was an idiot for giving you boundless magic. A human body cannot handle that much magic. Granted, he didn’t intend for you to get this old. You’re welcome by the way.”

I give him a confused look while Articus looks me over. “Who do you think was the one that told Brin about Ari?”

My jaw drops. “You told him?”

“I triggered a vision, and I swore him to secrecy. If the Fates knew, they’d use me as their personal punching bag for the rest of eternity.”

“Why?” I ask, unsure how to feel about this.

“Because you’re blood.” Articus looks me over. “We’re not unfeeling Natasha. The thought of a six year old girl standing side by side with us horrified us. We all agreed to do what we could to stop them from killing you that young. I went into Brin’s body and told him. I triggered the vision so he could see what was going to happen and swore him to secrecy. It’s one of the reasons he knew the Fates were going to try to claim you.”

“So I’m alive, thanks to the Servants?”

“Yes,” he answers, looking me over. “You’re our only chance of being free Natasha. We’ll take that chance when we can, and welcome you if you should fail.”

“That’s a lot to take in,” I tell him, leaning away from him slightly.

“You have a bit of time to absorb that, but in the meantime, let’s go find your little friends. Where did you send them?”

“Brighton,” I tell him with care. “Can you handle civilization?”

He rolls his eyes and waves his hand, wrapping us in the earth’s filter as he pulls me next to him. I give him a confused look as he grins before snapping his finger, teleporting us.

“Do you know how much time you could have saved me if you taught me that?” I demand from him when we reappear inside Brighton at the gates.

He chuckles. “It was my job to kill you, remember?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know whether to hate you, or-” I stop in mid-sentence, feeling my new bear marking move. I look to my left and see Gedric rounding the corner.

“Gedric!” I cry, racing towards him, throwing myself into his arms.

“Natasha,” Gedric breathes as he inhales deeply, tightening his grip around me. “I felt you. The wolf marking felt you. How are you alive?”

“Articus and-” I start.

“Just Articus,” Articus says quickly, making me look behind me to see Articus put his finger to his lips.

I nod. Let’s not get Gordon into trouble. “Articus submerged my body into the earth, and it filtered my overload. He also healed the wound I took from you.”

Gedric squeezes me tighter. “Thank you for this.”

“I told you to trust me,” Articus tells Gedric, folding his arms. “I kept my promise, now do you intend to keep yours?”

Gedric nods. “Yes. I’ll help you free the Servants.”

“Natasha!” Stanya screams, finally catching up to Gedric. She launches herself at me, throwing her arms around me and pulling me from Gedric’s grip. “Stop nearly dying,” she begs, beginning to bawl.

“I’ll try.” I tell her, squeezing her back.

“How are you alive?” She demands, standing back to look me over.

“Articus,” I say, motioning towards him.

Stanya pulls me closer to her as she glares at him. “Are you here to kill her?”

I shake my head while Articus bursts out laughing. “Stanya, he’s here to teach me.” I tell her soothingly. “I’m going to help him free the Servants.”

“That’s a given,” she tells me, glaring at the man. “But why is the man who tried to kill you here?”

“Do you remember the deal, Stanya?” I tell her, putting my hand on her shoulder as I look at Articus. “We defeat Ari, and Articus is free.”

Her eyes widen. “Articus is free of the Fates?”

“Yes I am,” Articus declares with a grin as big as life spreading across his face.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Stanya says, looking at me. “So now is he here to teach all of us? Because I’m not letting you go into that kind of a battle without me. I’m going to free Allaric from them.”

I raise my eyebrow at her. “You two bonded that fast over the night?”

“No, but I know he’s a nice man and he doesn’t deserve what he’s going through.” She looks to Articus for confirmation. Wordlessly, he nods, a little floored by her attitude.

“Look, let’s just rest while we can,” Gedric says quickly, snagging my waist and pulling me back towards him. “Nat just survived certain death, and so did I. I’m tired.”

Stanya chuckles. “Only if you two actually rest.” She looks at me. “Before you worry, Ari is buried in an unmarked slab of marble. Halthin is fine, just in the infirmary. He got pretty injured during that battle. Gedric died trying to save him.”

Gedric grimaces. “Did you have to phrase it that way?”

“You dove between Halthin and the knife Ari was about to stab him with. Yes, I did.” She grabs Gedric’s hand. “Did you see this little souvenir?” She asks, holding up the very realistic wolf’s head marking on Gedric’s hand to show me. She gives me a serious look. “Is he going to turn evil now?”

I shake my head. “No, I have the bear marking.” I glare at Gedric. “Don’t die again.”

Gedric shakes his head. “Not likely going to happen with this marking. It’s more sensitive than that bear. It can sense whoever I’m thinking of before I even think of them. That’s how I felt Nat. I sensed her raven mark.”

“Aww,” Stanya croons. “It’s the raven and the wolf.”