Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
‘What happens now?’ Maia asks.
I slide the trinket box to Yiselda, ‘As you all know, we need somewhere or something to seal Thypon in. I searched every place I went to and found this at the Covenstead.’
Yiselda nods at the trinket box and then at me, ‘This will do perfectly,’ she assures me.
‘Now that I have everything. We need to work together to restrain Thypon while I activate the sceptre and cast the spell to seal him into the trinket box.’
‘You never told us what the sceptre does,’ Yiselda says.
I gaze at Alec, and he nods at me reassuringly.
I turn to face the guardians once more and say, ‘We cannot defeat Thypon. Only a god has the power to vanquish another god. Making one of us one of them is the only way our deities can aid us and give us a chance to save Mysteria.’
The guardians gasp and look around at each other in shock. I stand, and they stop talking and look at me.
‘Even when I become a Goddess, I still may not be as strong as Thypon. I will need all of you to work together with me. As one, we can do this. We can defeat Thypon, free our people and restore Mysteria to the way it once was!’
Everyone stands and cheers, throwing a fist into the air.
Kadva makes eye contact with me, ‘When do we attack?’ he asks.
‘Tonight,’ I smile.
I wait as everyone gets themselves prepared to leave. I approach the tree Reaper is in to see the she-bird has warmed up to him. She nuzzles her beak into the feathers on his chest, preening them.
‘Congratulations, Reaper, I see Alec’s advice helped,’ I mind-link and smile.
‘Thanks, but Alec’s advice wasn’t working. She has been quite stubborn,’ he mind-links.
‘Then how?’
‘Not even an hour ago, she was being attacked by a large eagle trying to kill her and take over her territory. He had her by the wing, about to rip it off. I used my shadow power against him, making him burst into ash. The ash rained down on us like snow as she stared into my eyes. After a few moments, she gently leaned against me and started preening my feathers and singing to me,’ he says and holds his head high proudly.
‘Oh, Reaper, you romantic little hero. You saved your damsel in distress and won her heart,’ I wink at him.
Reaper spreads his wings and warbles happily in song. I’m so happy for him. ‘I guess I’ll give you two some alone time before we go through the portal shortly,’ I say, waving as I walk away to have some alone time with Alec before we leave.
I have all the guardians of Mysteria step through the star portal to port to Wolfwell. I place the sceptre in my satchel and jump through the portal. Together, we walk over the small rocky mountain. We can see Moon Crest Castle from the peak.
I stop and turn to face the guardians, ‘Are you all sure you are ready for this? If any of you are having second thoughts. Now is the time to back out. Once we are off this mountain, there is no turning back.’
Lilac, Ria, Kadva and everyone else all look at one another with uncertainty. Ember, in her fox form, rubs her face against my leg. I look back to every guardian staring at me with their heads held high.
Sir Hugo unsheathes his sword and holds it in the air, ‘For the King! For the Queen! For Mysteria,’ he shouts.
‘For Mysteria!’ we cheer back.
With adrenaline coursing through our veins, we run down the rocky mountain. I’m coming, Magnus. We will be together again.
I turn and face Vermillion, ‘You are too large to sneak into the castle grounds with us. Perhaps You could find where the dragons are and blend in with them. You might be able to occupy them to help slow them down or stop them from coming to attack us,’ I suggest to him.
He snorts out a few clouds of smoke from his nostrils and flaps his wings to descend into the sky. The guardians and I watch as he flies around the back of Moon Crest Castle until we can no longer see him.
We crouch in the small patches of high grass that haven’t been destroyed outside the grounds of Moon Crest Castle. Reaper blends in with the crows in the dead trees to keep watch ahead of us. His little mate wouldn’t stay in Mystic Pride and followed Reaper through the portal. She continues to preen his feathers at each chance she gets.
Crouching, we sneak up and surround four Minotaur. Lilac whispers a spell, ‘mutify,’ towards them as soon as they spot us. I’d never heard that one before. They try to shout, but no words come out.
Then Ria casts the next spell ‘Dreamus Sleepous,’ she says.
I watch as the minotaur’s eyes close. They fall asleep and drop to the ground.
I smile and nod at her before we creep closer to the castle. There are a dozen Minotaurs and Harpies ahead. I notice a harpy look our way. We become steel and remain in our crouching position. The harpy squints and flies up into the air, where she can see us. She lets out a scream of attack and flies toward us. The others follow her.
‘Repeliate, Inferno Flamo, Skedaddle Dash, Restraino Detainous,’ are shouted by Yiselda, Lilac, Ria, Ela and Fern. Queen Maia forms purple spheres in her hands while Kadva summons blue spheres. Together they throw them, obliterating any of the creatures they hit. Alec and Reaper summon shadows that wrap around the Harpies. The shadows squeeze around them, making them explode into dust. Sir Hugo swing’s his sword, cutting the head off a Harpy and striking the Minotaur in the back and legs. Within minutes they are all dead.
We proceed, defeating the odd Minotaur and Harpy until five death worms surround us and lunge out from the ground. Sir Hugo runs up behind one and lunges into the air, wielding his sword. He lands below the neck of the Death Worm, where his sword rips through the soft, slimy skin of the Death Worm with ease. As I’m about to cast the fire spell on the next, Sir Hugo dashes by slicing it open, then to the next and the next until they are all dead. He wipes the blood and slime from his sword onto his leg and then looks up at us all, who are speechless at how quickly and easily he has killed them.
‘What?’ he asks, sheathing his sword.
We look at one another, ‘Er, nothing. It’s nothing,’ I smile.
‘Don’t tell me you bunch of guardians are sad I didn’t leave one for you to kill?’ he smirks.
‘Sure, don’t be so greedy next time,’ Kadva laughs.
We laugh with him before sneaking up to the low stone wall. I gasp as I see all the men are no longer in the cages but in chains on the ground. Most of them are covered in cuts and bruises. The werewolves’ wounds aren’t as bad as the vampires, though. Werewolves must heal faster. They must have been in a worse state earlier.
Some of the women are not in the cages but are nowhere to be seen, while many others and all the children remain caged.
‘Can you see Damon?’ Queen Maia frets.
‘No, I can’t see Magnus either,’ I say as I scan the men.
Minotaur walk by the men and shoves them over. Some spit at them as well.
We attack the minotaur and use our fire spells to melt the chains and free the men. Queen Maia tries to heal as many of them as she can. The healed werewolves shift into their wolf form to help defeat more Minotaurs and Harpies. The vampires become raged as their nails extend into claws and the veins along their necks and faces become visible as their eyes darken.
We hear a loud growl and know it’s Thypon approaching. As Thypon becomes aware he is under attack, he slithers from behind the castle with his staff in one hand and long chains in the other.
‘You think you have any chance of defeating me?’ he laughs, making the ground shake.
My eyes follow the chains he holds to see Magnus and Damon chained around the neck on the other end. Their hands are also cuffed together. They are barely conscious and covered in blood. Thypon drags them across the ground, laughing.
‘Damon!’ Maia shouts.
‘Magnus!’ I shout.
‘After much torture, my Minotaur made your men endure. They had your people confess to who ruled here and had the highest ranks,’ Thypon says and yanks the chains, bringing Magnus and Damon in front of him, pointing his staff at them.
I quickly step forward, and the guardians stand together behind me, ‘Stop!’ I shout.
Thypon laughs, ‘Yield and become my slaves until I figure out how to leave this hideous world, and I might consider sparing these two pathetic lives.’
‘Even if you were to find a way out. You would still destroy Mysteria and everyone in it before leaving,’ I shout.
Thypon narrows his eyes at me, ‘You’re a clever little one, aren’t you,’ he smirks. ‘But your magic is no match for mine, which gives you two choices. Yield and serve me, and in return, you live longer and die later or die now with all your loved ones. Which one shall it be?’