The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Four

Once it falls silent, my eyes finally focus on something. The dresser. Where is Brin? The sound of the door closing claims my attention, filling me with dread. Without a second thought, I sprint to the hard wooden door and yank at it, trying desperately to turn the doorknob, but it’s locked. Panic spreads as I try again, but it’s still locked. I can see a slightly red coating over it. This is Brin’s doing. No!

Worry spreads as I go to the window, responding to the sound of people screaming below on the street. I stick my head out the window and find Master Brin walking down the street. Brin is not what they’re scared about. It’s the man waiting in the middle. Purple cape. Copper skin. Black hair. My nightmare in the flesh, Ari.

Ari waves his hand, ceasing all sound. “About time old man.” Just his voice is enough to bring back my nightmare. Six. Fire. Slaughter. “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for two minutes.”

Brin chuckles, “You cannot rush what is inevitable Ari. Soon, you shall learn this lesson.”

Ari glares at him and clenches his fists. “And what does that mean?”

Brin waves him off, “In due time. In due time.”

“Whatever.” Ari just shrugs off his words without much thought, but I see his message. This is what he saw. Ari killing him. He gave me the two other power sources so Ari wouldn’t have them. And…he must have seen my death as well. I know that’s a leap, but he wouldn’t do this if there was a remote chance that he only got three out of the four sources. Ari is the wolf. Brin is sacrificing himself. He’s a distraction from me. Horror spreads through my body. I can’t let him do this. I try to call out to stop him, but Brin flicks his wrist, creating a seal on my mouth. I’m too drained to fight it, though I do try.

Ari calls back my attention to the scene below. “I hear you have something that belongs to me old man.” He raises his hand, revealing a wolf. It grows black while his arm turns white, linking to the image on his back. “A missing part of the puzzle.”

Brin looks at him with a smirk lying under all those wrinkles. “I am afraid the puzzle piece is lost my dear...playmate.”

Ari clenches his jaw while fury spreads through him. Brin grunts when Ari raises his hand. Brin rises from the ground, grasping at his throat while Ari’s face becomes deranged. The wolf on Ari’s hand begins pulsing, but soon dies down once it comes up empty. He tries again, but, again, comes up empty.

Black begins to glow around Ari and Brin. No! “You’ve hidden it old man!” Ari cries with outrage. “Not only one, but two. What did you do with them?” He throws Brin into a building next to him once Brin does not answer. Brin grunts and lashes out with his own magic. Red ignites around him as he throws out his own attack. Ari has to drop him in order to block it. They throw an attack at the exact same time, creating a loud explosion, and sending them both flying back into the street as windows shatter.

Ari is the first up. Black shoots from his hand and swarms around Brin. Brin looks up at me briefly to lock eyes in his final goodbye to me, then closes his eyes; accepting his fate. Brin’s face relaxes with a smile in relief as he draws his last breath; content that he completed his final mission.

Ari claps his hands, creating a thunderous boom as I cry out, “No!”; bringing a black cloud around Master Brin to seal his death. The black cloud fades away from Brin moments later. Brin is lying in the ground, still and lifeless. Tears start forming in my eyes as agony takes over. I bite my hand to muffle my cry. I know what Brin wants. I can at least give him this one. Get out of the city unnoticed. Too bad they already sealed off the city for curfew. I can’t even teleport because I have no strength left.

My door opens slowly while I cry into my hand. I can smell Stanya before she’s even halfway through the room. Fresh mint and roses. She puts her hand on my shoulder and leans into me. I had seen her below. She saw it up close. I have a feeling our separation was by Brin’s design.

“You okay?” She asks, her soft voice coming closer than I thought it would.

Stiffly, I shake my head. “I’ll get there,” I answer moments later, and shake my head once more, wiping my tears. “If Ari hears someone crying, he’ll investigate it. Then I’m in trouble.”

“Still drained?”

“Like an empty lake,” I sigh. My body has become numb. It’s not allowed to process my proper emotions, or that could mean death. This is its treatment.

She hesitates. “Did you hear what Ari is planning on doing with Master Brin’s body?”

I shake my head.

“He’s going to stake it as a warning so that all Sheiks are to be reported immediately. He’s also using it as a trap to lure any nearby Sheika to him. And…he’s going to drain the body.”

My jaw clenches as anger tries to break through my ice barrier. “If he does that, he’ll pay.”

“But what can we do? Ari is getting ready to place a magical barrier around him to prevent theft.”

That sparks my interest. “He hasn’t done it yet?”

I feel her hair on my shoulder as she shakes her head. “The battle with Brin has stalled him temporarily.”

I grin as an idiotic idea comes to mind. “Can I borrow your power for a bit?” I ask her as I pull my gloves off.

“The best you’ll get is an illusion,” She warns.

I shake my head. “Not if I drain you of power for twelve hours. May I?”

“What are you planning Natasha?” She demands, raising her eyebrow at me.

I glare darkly out the window before I answer, “The least we can do is give him a proper farewell.”

“Why don’t you just get us out of here?”

“Because I’ll only have enough strength to transport one person.”

Another moment of silence. “Alright. If anyone deserves this, it’s Brin.”

I nod as I take her hand. Blue power flows into my body and turns a bright green. I hear Stanya slump as the air is knocked out of her. I visualize a woman with midnight skin and purple hair walking up the street. I make damn sure that there is an image of an owl on her skin, before releasing her onto the street below.

Ari spots her and stops in mid stride on his way towards Brin; his eyes zeroed in on the owl. I grin and visualize a green bubble around my illusion and Brin’s corpse. It’s too late when he realizes that he dropped his guard on the body. He sends an attack at the bubble surrounding my illusion, meaning he’s buying it. I grunt when I feel like a blow has just been given to my stomach. I think of the city Brighton, home of the Red Sheika Clan-also Brin’s home-and snap my fingers. My illusion cackles while the bubble vanishes.

Once that is done, I can’t even remain standing. I fall to my knees as my lungs beg for air. I can hear Ari cursing as his search for a magic trail, only to come up empty. Men from the Magicnite come out to the street to help him, and usher the crowd away. That is given away by the sudden chatter and metal moving together. I hear Ari barking orders to find the damn Sheik or it’s their heads. In turn, they remind him that it is curfew, and they’re trapped in here until morning. Ari just curses and orders them to bed.

“Be up by dawn or you’ll never wake up again!” Ari claps his hands, which is followed by a flashing white light. I curl on the floor then, covering my mouth as I try to resist screaming my heartache. I won’t let Brin’s efforts be in vain. Ari cannot hear me cry.

A knock comes at our door an hour later, making us jump. The toad face innkeeper sticks his head in. “Dinner time girls. It’s mandatory in this village,” He instructs, holding the door open for us. With a deadened sigh, Stanya helps me up and we head down to dinner. He leads us to a table for two, right by the fire. Probably figuring we’re cold from our travels. He brings us two bowls of stew and bread. Numbly, we thank him and begin eating.

Ten minutes after we started eating, someone horribly familiar sits at the table right next to us. Stylus. I kick Stanya when she tenses up while keeping my eyes on the stew. She kicks me slightly. Annoyed, I look up to snap at her, but she motions next to me with her eyes. Immediately I glimpse through my sheet of hair and nearly choke on my stew. Ari is sitting right across from Stylus. It’s all I can do to remain sitting and not rip his head off. If he was as weak as I am at the moment, or I had my power back, I’d kill him. Don’t react Natasha, I remind myself internally; doing by best to ignore my anger and fear.

“What happened to your hunt? You reported you found two magical creatures, and now you sit here empty handed? Did you lose them?” Ari demands from Stylus, while the Inn Keeper sets down a bowl of stew and bread in front of each of them.

Stylus mumbles his answer, but speaks louder after receiving a swift kick from Ari. “I don’t remember, okay? My men tell me that they found me unconscious with my head bashed in. I don’t remember anything from today.”

“Anything?” Ari demands, his shoulders tensing.

Stylus bites his lips, hesitating. “I-I remember two things. It was all I could get after working on it.” Stanya shoots me a glaring look. I slightly shrug. Memory extraction is not exact, and she knows it. If it was a strong impression, they’re nearly impossible to erase.

“Well?” Ari demands, reaching for him. “What was it?”

He takes a breath. “A pair of eyes and a green shard.”

Ari chokes on his own tongue. He coughs a few times before he’s able to phrase his question. “A green shard?”

Stylus nods. “It vanished in my hand. It was real.”

Ari’s eyes narrow. “Show me the eyes. Show me.” Stanya and I exchange confused glances. Why do the eyes matter?

A blue flame appears in Stylus’s hands. He turns it so the palm is facing up. Just above the tip of the flame dances a pair of deep blue eyes with emerald specks. Oops.

Ari growls under his breath. “She’s still alive. I’d know those eyes anywhere,” He shouts, grabbing Stylus’s hand. Stylus howls in pain and I know Ari’s invading his mind. Ari’s trying to resurface the memory, but he can’t resurrect something that isn’t there.

Frustrated, he slams Stylus’s hands on the table. “She’s alive!”

“Who is alive?” Stylus demands, rubbing his temples; aware others in the room are watching him.

A renewed fire is flashing in Ari’s eyes when he answers. “That little girl from fourteen years ago. The one that escaped from me. The one with that damn raven on her neck!” He smacks his soup off the table, making everyone freeze as the clay bowl breaks. He launches to his feet, “And I’d be willing to bet it was her that took Brin’s body.”

Stylus looks confused. “But what about the girl with the purple hair?”

Ari slams his fists onto the table. “It was a damn illusion! I didn’t even get a trace of it. She’s strong. Stronger than me if she could overpower my senses; and still shrug off my attack like it was water. She has to be powerful if she took out fifteen of my men, and teleported herself, and others, away; and still be able to transport Brin’s body and a damn illusion!”

He knocks the table over, causing us all to get up and run out screaming. Stanya and I peek around the corner to still see Stylus trembling and Ari flipping what was Stanya’s and my table. “And I bought the illusion damn it! I bought it! Now I have to find a girl who I have no idea what she looks like.” He grabs his chair and throws it at the wall, shattering it to a million pieces. He knocks Stylus off his chair and throws it against the wall as well. “This damn bitch is going down.”

Aw crap.