Page 58 of Blood of the Fallen
“My name is Yura,” the Chieftess corrected.
I glanced back and forth between the two women. They knew each other. When Chieftess Yura had been at the Academy, they had called her Amanda, and she’d been friends with Magistrate Novus, just like I’ve been friends with Val. That was the only explanation.
“They told us that—” Novus started then abruptly stopped herself. Something like regret seemed to cross her expression for an instant, then her mask of hatred returned.
The Chieftess cocked her head to one side. “They told you what? That I died? Was sent somewhere nice? I guess now you know the truth. They didn’t kill me, Elizabeth. I escaped before they had a chance.” She paused, giving the magistrate the opportunity to reply. When she didn’t, Chieftess Yura added, “I lead this pack, and I demand that you and your ilk leave our land.”
Magistrate Novus scoffed. “You know well you don’t own this land.”
“You know well that we do.”
Novus cast her attention over the camp. “How do you stand living this way? So uncivilized. It’s like—”
“Spare me your brainwashed rhetoric,” the Chieftess snapped. “How did you find us?”
I had wondered the same thing. It would be good to know that piece of information to avoid making the same mistake in the future, but I doubted the magistrate would tell us. Except, I was wrong. She immediately offered an explanation, a gleeful glint in her eyes.
“We had a little help,” she said, snapping her fingers above her head.
As she did, one of the guards behind her came forward, pulling a small child by the wrist. Slight and short, she couldn’t be more than four years old. She must have been clinging close to the guard to avoid notice.
She had pale skin and wore a buckskin dress with fringe at the bottom. Her eyes were pretty and doe-like. There was something familiar about her that I couldn’t place, not until she turned her face as if to hide from all the inquisitive gazes and I noticed a pointed ear peeking through her silky red hair. That was when I knew who she reminded me of. Delthomir’s baby.
The Chieftess sucked in air through her teeth in a hiss of anger.
“Delthomir,” Magistrate Novus called in a mocking, singsong voice, “are you here? Do you want your grotesque child back?”
Delthomir and his wife came from the back, skirting around the pack members, Odinah clutching her baby close to her chest. They stared at the ground as they walked, shame stamped on their features and their entire posture. They had given away our location to save their child.
“Mama! Papa!” the little girl exclaimed as she saw her parents approaching. She tried to go to them, but the guard yanked her back.
“Let her go. The mutt is useless to us,” Magistrate Novus sneered.
The guard released her, and the girl rushed into her father’s waiting arms. He scooped her up, tears spilling onto his cheeks as he embraced her.
Novus made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Now go! And don’t let me see you again.”
The couple backed away without turning their backs.
Delthomir, at last, raised his eyes to meet the Chieftess’s. “I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
My stomach churned as they turned their backs and scurried away through the trees. They had exchanged the lives of an entire pack for one child. But how could I blame them? In their place, I would have probably done the same.
“How low you have come,” the Chieftess said. “The person I used to know would have never done such a thing. What did they do to you after I left?”
“Don’t pretend that you knew me because you didn’t,” Novus shot back. “I was born to wield this power…” she held up a hand and let electricity crackle between her fingers, “… and many others. I chose this.”
Chieftess Yura shook her head, looking incredulous.
If we were to believe Novus, she had become a magistrate of her own accord and in full understanding of every single lie the Academy had told her. They hadn’t used any magic to persuade her. It seemed her predecessors had simply appealed to her greed. Not many apprentices became magistrates. Maybe those who failed to be ruthless enough also perished in the hot spring that ran under the ancient building.
“Many other powers, you say?” the Chieftess asked. “Like this new one that prevents us from shifting and leaving the camp. How are you doing this?”
“You don’t honestly think I’ll tell you that?”
“Fight me!” Chieftess Yura demanded.
Novus rolled her eyes. “Enough of all this. Kill all but the children!”
