The man was breathing fast, trying to ignore the pain coursing through his body. He had been beaten and tied there without being able to release him.
He was a wolf. Sorcerers were despicable and treacherous animals. Once again he regretted his decision to leave the Tomorrow Star crew alone. >The captain led search parties through the forest for nearly two weeks in search of witch hunters. It seemed all too easy and natural to escape the tedious task and venture into the city to spend some money on booze and women.
He knew he would be a dead man if he returned to the pack in disgrace after telling what those sorcerers were looking for. Only he also knew that their leader was a man who did not spare his victims. Ryan was young. It was the first time he had left his clan's lands. Only recklessness had probably cost him his life. He had accidentally overheard an intimate conversation between the captain of the ship and his lover in the castle at the bow of Star.
A girl had been brought as a child to the pack. Ryan had listened in awe when he found out who the girl was. No one had ever noticed. It was indeed a stroke of bad luck that the girl had powerful parents. His greatest unhappiness was the anger of the father who had taken his daughter without his consent. Valerius and his mercenaries had beaten him to the point of almost death. His healing ability did not work with wounds that were applied with blades soaked in wolf grass. His skin burned. He knew that death awaited him.
How could anyone imagine?
A witch among wolves?
Had nobody ever noticed? His curiosity that time forced him to go on a journey of no return. Ryan leaving the ship's deck that morning would never have imagined the end of the day. He should be with the privateers looking for smugglers. The drink after several glasses had left him slightly intoxicated and prone to telling stories that had caused that connection. He should have noticed that there were wizards in disguise in the tavern where he was having fun in the company of women.
Sorcerers were not tolerant.
The indiscriminate hunting of humans by their species had made him violent and determined. The taken girl belonged to their king. She was a princess of her people and heir to the White Order. Macgrover did not seem willing to forgive or spare any wolf's life after he discovered that the pack kept their only daughter in their company. His sentries had orders to hunt and kill wolves without exception, without, however, attacking women and children. He was going to die for the recklessness of his decisions.
Even though she escaped from the sorcerers, Ryan had also heard that the shaman expelled from the pack had tried unsuccessfully to master the girl's skills. That knowledge meant a death sentence. The Council would not spare you even if you escaped.
Another scream of loud pain echoed loudly when the sorcerer once again cast the spell and his head seemed to explode. He had said nothing. Only the images that surfaced in his mind even against his will showed a truth that should not be revealed
.-Kassandra...James de Macgrover sighed deeply, his mind absorbing the images that the spell caused to emerge and his face showed boundless displeasure and fury.
The girl was raised among wolves as one of them. The blood flowing through her veins had aroused the interest and fear of the Council of Elders. Macgrover was furious with triple rage at the memories he had of that wolf. His daughter had been given another name, he grew up among wolves like a practically abandoned cub.
She was a beautiful young woman, she had the same beauty as Koriander although her shiny red hair was the heritage of her ancestors. The emerald-green eyes indicated strong, ancient magic. The girl possessed Elemental magic. It was a primer that was what he feared most.
He needed to find her
.-Gather search groups. His voice was strong and clear. His eyes shone with fury, the magic fueled by negative energies like spite and revenge.
Continuously, he removed the dagger from his belt and cut his wrist, dropping a blood splatter on the floor. His lips were quietly invoking an ancient ritual in ancient and little-known dialect. A summoning spell. He was going to use the bloodline to summon the girl so he could find her.
.Valerius showed a very satisfied smile. Everything goes better than planned.
Magic can be considered an art, a science, or even a practice based on the absolute certainty of influencing facts and producing effects even if not natural. Witches or sorcerers were masters in the art of witchcraft, their powers were linked to nature and linked to the five elements: fire, earth, water, air, and spirit. They had a natural ability to invoke hidden and natural forces. The use of natural forces, spells, enchantments, and spiritual invocations produced impossible effects on objects or people. Being a sorcerer was a genetic gift of heredity. Magic could be innate when a sorcerer resorted to it, and it was undoubtedly the most convenient or quickest although it caused pain or discomfort from overuse.
So it was essential to learn how to channel it. The channelling allowed a sorcerer to use the magic of another equal through an object or connection source such as the bloodline. Only black magic had always been feared. Fueled by the powers of darkness and negative emotions of a sorcerer, it defied the authority of the spirits of nature.
Its overuse could lead to several problems such as nosebleeds, headaches, fainting, and in more serious cases death. Ancient legends said that the use of salt or steel could weaken your powers. So the wolves had created the tear powder for defence. Kassuim had learned nothing of that in his few years onboard a ship. His magic was as innate as any child with the skill who had not been instructed.
The demonstrations were spontaneous. Excessive use of the gift could lead to the instant death of a sorcerer, just as the bite of a wolf could extinguish the powers. Fear was a cruel enemy. Just like empathy. Her extremely sensitive personality allowed us to capture emotions around him. The first sensation she had sensed when she woke up in the castle had been desperate anxiety and the intense and sudden fear was the result of real danger. The elders brought the dreaded tear powder.
There was no need for words when looking at the stern faces in front of him. Her spontaneous and unexpected reaction had been surprising. Magic had manifested itself as a self-defence mechanism to the elders' absolute surprise. She was in that room in an instant. I heard the proposal to receive money to leave the castle forever. and the next ...A loud, loud crash echoed again only this time in the silence of the forest and was followed by a flock of frightened birds. The afternoon showed a dark sky filled with clouds and cut by thunder, followed by electrical discharges.
The girl gasped when her feet hit the ground and fell awkwardly into the undergrowth. Continuously she shrugged in a defensive attitude with the certainty that her head would explode in mind-boggling pain in her aching temples. Discouraged she looked around. This was a forest. The damp, cold wind brought a chill to her skin as she took a deep breath, her eyes shining as silver as the rays that illuminated the sky.
The guards who had previously surrounded her had disappeared. She was alone and had no idea where she was. It was not the Scarlet castle. Memories came slowly to mind. That time the elders didn't just bring tear powder. It was something else ...There was also the image of monstrous figures and their prominent canines that moved with surprising agility before he had appeared. It was him.
Kassuim had never been this close to him before although Richard Morgan filled his youthful dreams with impossible desires. Beloved God, where am I? It wasn't Garonne. could swear to my amazement that it was Chabone. The extinct volcano on the outskirts of the forest offered natural shelters and was sought after by smugglers. For years the caves located near the mountains were also used as a refuge in winter times by the Roma of the region.
There they kept stocks and provisions for the cold, preserved foods and bundles of wood. Sheep farming also offered a lucrative trade in the making of warm blankets and fabrics. The rumours that ran in the city about the forest were fueled by the ignorance of the population and the peasants. They believed they were haunted lands by sorcerers, dangerous animals, and even robbers. The gipsies had taken advantage of the fear to settle in the place safe for the difficult times brought by winter.
There was an irrational fear of humans when talking about sorcerers and wizards. Kassuim shook her head in admiration. She couldn't be in Chabone! It was impossible. Her stomach clenched with nervousness. She had lost control. Faith had warned her several times to try to keep her strong emotions under complete control. She was impatient and willful. Everything had gone miserably wrong. She didn't have any money. Perhaps with luck, the Unicorn was at the port.
Mercy. How am I going to explain that I'm here?