Page 74 of Freed Wolfsbane

Conan dips his chin in response. He opens a portal and fireman carries each of the four mages through.

“Get up another shield,” Cian barks. His deep blue eyes narrow in concentration as his green magic flares from him. Three mages near him rush to reinforce his shield.

“Did you stop the missile?” Bastian asks with wide eyes. When I give him a small nod, he grins at me. “That’s so fucking cool. Great work, pretty girl.”

I can’t help the smile that briefly crosses my lips at his praise. It drops when I see Vale is one of the ones fighting with the Knights. My heart is in my throat as I watch him get punched and shot at. I have to resist the urge to run out there and help him, but I know I’ll only tear his focus away from the danger surrounding him. That’s infinitely riskier than what he’s doing now.

After a few minutes, Vale returns to the safety of our main shield, and I can finally take in a full breath. It’s so much easier when I’m the only one in danger. Watching the people I love put themselves in harm’s way is one of the hardest things for me to sit back and do.

It’s another ten minutes of walking, stopping to fight, and repeating before we reach the green. We have to cross the whole thing to get to the castle. I realize how massive a problem that’s going to be when I see the utter chaos happening.

People are running around, bullets are flying, explosives are detonating, and spells are flung all over the place. I swallow hard when I see the fallen from both sides covering the formerly green grass now stained a dark crimson with blood. While there are more Knights lying lifeless, there are still far too many shifters and mages among them.

Seeing the men and women who have sacrificed themselves for this makes everything feel more real. It hardens my resolve to make their deaths mean something by destroying the curse.

With rage burning through my veins at the senseless loss of life, I start firing spells along with the mages. Each Knight I strike down fills me with a grim satisfaction. I’m sure later I’ll play over and over each of the lives I took, but right now, all I can see are people who want to hurt everyone I care about.

Our group sticks together as we ever so slowly wade through the green. While the defensive spell keeps bullets and other projectiles out, it doesn’t keep people from going through. Knights charge at us from all sides. They clash with the mages and shifters on the outer ring as I watch.

The shifters mostly deal with the Knights at this close a range. There’s too big a risk of hitting one of us for the mages to use their guns, and even their spells could accidentally go awry. The shifters’ teeth and claws prove much more useful as they savagely rip out throats, tear off limbs, and sever spinal cords.

I know my eyes are wide as I watch the death and destruction surrounding me in between my attacks on Knights further away. While my life has been steeped in violence since my mom died, I’ve never seen this much blood and guts and gore.

Even though I’m not the one physically fighting, my clothing and skin are still soaked with blood. I can feel it dripping down my fingertips as I stand here and flying from my arms as I cast spells. The smell of death permeates the field and feels like it’s choking me as we seem to stand still. With how the Knights crowd us on all sides, we can hardly move an inch.

I can tell our group is beginning to tire out and get sloppy. “We need a new plan!” I shout at my mates to be heard over the roar of the battle.

Xander nods in agreement as he slices through the throat of a Knight who got too close. His tanned skin is speckled with blood, making him look almost like he has freckles. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head as I look around at the overwhelming number of Knights surrounding us. It seems like more and more are pouring into the clearing. For every one we take out, two more appear. “We just need to get them off us, or we’re never going to make it to the curse.”

Bastian punches a Knight in the nose before grinning at me, clearly enjoying all the fighting. “Is there any way you can target a spell at just the Knights? Sort of throw them back? I assume that would require less magic than just killing them.”

I look at Saint because I’m honestly not sure. He rubs his chin before shrugging. “I don’t know of any spell that can do that, but your magic isn’t confined by the traditional spells, little shadow. I don’t think it hurts to try. While you’re doing that, we can think of other solutions, too.”

Nodding, I close my eyes to locate my magic. Unlike my wolf, it’s just a flame, so I don’t think I can ask it any questions. Instead, I just picture the Knights flying back and slamming into the buildings that ring the green while our shifters and mages stay where they are.

The blue flame flows toward me and winds around me. Once it’s circled me a few times, my magic explodes out in a flash of blue so bright I have to close my eyes. When I open them, I see Knights sailing through the air and slamming into the empty shops around the green space. They land with audible thuds that are hard enough to knock some of them out.

I gape at the destruction for a moment, still not believing that my magic actually worked. I see the mages and shifters surrounding us doing the same. Some of the Knights start climbing to their feet, which snaps me out of my shock. “We should probably move while we can.” My voice is slightly frantic as I watch more and more Knights shake off my magic.

Rhys struggles to tear his gaze away from all the Knights lying on the ground like bowling pins after a strike. When he does, he glances at me before seeming to process what I said. “You’re right. Everyone move!”

We start sprinting toward the looming fortress. Its two front sandstone towers stand out starkly against the inky night sky. I don’t see any movement from the tall, skinny windows around the middle and top of the castle, which would be the perfect perch for snipers. The mages keep a shield up just in case, though.

I’ve just cleared the green when Knights pour out of the front of the fortress. While some hang back and fire their rifles, most of them charge right into our group. These ones seem more skilled than those in the giant open space. Instead of being able to take them down with quick slashes and bites, the shifters have to grapple with these Knights and are racking up more injuries.

Within a few minutes, the Knights separate our large group of nearly a hundred mages and shifters into smaller groups of only five to ten people. The Knights seem to specifically go after my mates and me. After a few minutes, we’re completely cut off and surrounded.

As the Knights attack the five of us, Bastian and Xander shift, their clothes shredding as they do so. They leap at the closets Knights and incapacitate them with relative ease. Malachi stays in his human form and pulls out a knife. None of the Knights are using their guns, so he’s pretty evenly matched with them.

Saint relies on mostly hand-to-hand combat but will throw the occasional spell when he needs. Dido hasn’t tried to take control of my body yet, so I’m letting my magic flow out of me to handle the constant stream of assailants.

We’re making some progress toward the fortress when I’m suddenly yanked back. A scream gets lodged in my throat as I’m pulled away from my mates by a rough hand in my hair. My hands fly back to hold the dude’s beefy wrist to stop him, but it doesn’t do much.

“Briar!” Malachi shouts as he tries to run to me. Knights block his path. He viciously stabs, punches, and kicks his way through the hoard, but he can’t seem to reach me. I dig my heels into the ground, hoping to slow him down before he can get me too far away.

At Malachi’s scream, the rest of my mates start struggling to get to me too, but it’s dividing their focus. They’re getting wounded from their unprotected backs, not that any of them seem to realize it. I need to get this guy off me stat before my mates get killed.

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