Baltha

We creeped towards the sound of voices on silent steps, Ismene's surprisingly as silent as ours and keeping up. I gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. "Moving quietly in the forest in order not to startle the animals was quite routine for me." I nodded, smiling a little at how much she seemed to like animals better than people. Maybe that was why we got along better than she did with the others. We finally came to a stop, thick foliage separating us from the clearing where some three boys were being hassled by four men I could now see were in an enforcer uniform. I took a deep breath, trying to separate the scents around me and focus on the clearing in front of me. The smell of the earth clung to the boys, probably some kind of burrowing prey animals. Their little quivers solidified my suspicion. I looked to the emforcers once again, taking a deeper sniff. All four were wrapped in that sharp tang that clings to every morroian in varying degrees. I frowned. "Did we already cross over to Morrioa territory?" Ismene said in a soft tone, turning towards me. I shook my head before turning back to the scene. I heard more than saw her frown. "What then are Morrioa enforcers doing on Zambini soil? Harassing citizens no less." She added, eyeing their gold uniform that clearly marked them as Morrioan enforcers. But no one answered.

I took deep calming breaths, my hands shaking slightly at the effort it took to keep my bear in check. Protecting the weak isn't just a cultural norm, it's an innate part of us, and watching while children suffered, especially shifter children, was driving my bear berserk. But Zenon would have my hide if I rushed out without a plan. When on a mission, we let him come up with the plans because he was the most calculated of three of us.

I turned to Zenon and saw him assessing the situation, brow furrowed. "Hurry up," I whispered through gritted teeth. The fight with my bear got worse the longer we watched. I had my eyes on Zenon, so I saw the moment he stiffened, and his eyes tightened. I turned to see what caught his attention and swore under my breath. One of the enforcers had turned in our direction and his face showed clearly. The crescent tattoo Zenon had once described to me from the night his life went to shit, caught the fading sunlight. My head snapped back towards Zenon, his weight already leaning forward. "Rossi stop him," I said, but it was already too late. He might be morroian but his physical training was all zambinian, always pushing his body for speed. I didn't have to think twice about it, immediately following him, barely remembering to say, "Stay here," to Ismene, not stopping to check if she obeyed.

We rushed into the clearing, startling the enforcers, speed our only asset, four against three especially against morroians wasn't a good odd. A throwing knife embedded itself into the raised arm of one of the enforcers getting ready to cast, and I immediately transformed going for the next one not sparing him another glance, but met headfirst with a shield. I shook my head and charged around him, trying to both distract and find an opening. My speed broke for a moment when I saw Ismene herding the children to one side, away from the fight, pulling at one who seemed to have shut down in shock. Stubborn girl, I thought just before I was hit by a stunning spell. I let out a surprised huff, shaking my head to clear it, remembering to keep moving. Rowund's voice echoing in my head. Speed is a shifter's best defense. Nothing can take you down if it can not touch you. The moment you stop moving, you are good as dead.

I felt another spell zap past barely missing me. I increased my speed, trying to avoid the side, Ismene was huddled with the children while taking in the fight. The enforcer with the knife wound was almost completely healed, Zenon was locked in a battle with the crescent tattoo enforcer and another one while Rossi was locked in a battle with the last one. They were down to physical battle, probably because the protection spell Rowund made us meant malicious magic has a hard time hitting. Transforming for shifters, is its one form of magic and therefore negates other external ones, so my protection spell can work when I'm in my human form, but I'm strongest in my transformed state.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I felt another spell miss me by a hair's breath as I zipped around my opponent. I was starting to tire, and his labored breath was music to my ears. I had heard enough lectures from Zenon to always remember, a morroian's magic wasn't infinite. It takes a toll on their body, which is why they train, and use talismans for enhancement. But the council barely equips the enforcers, so they more often than not, have to rely on their natural strength. Not many people are as obsessive about training as Zenon, which means I train with one of the best. I stole a look at him and saw that one of his two opponents were down with his eyes shut. He was the only one of us who'd managed to put anyone down.

My opponent was still working to keep me from getting closer. Protection magic only works when your opponent can't physically reach you afterall. Darkness gradually fell over the forest. I slowly inched closer to my opponent. His protective shield shrunk the more he hurled spells at me, and I saw him realize it too. His eyes narrowed, then he smiled. I didn't like that smile. He hurled another spell, not towards me this time, but towards the children. Bastard, I thought as I ran in their direction, jumping onto the way in time to take the brunt of it and crashed to the ground. It was very potent, and I was close to exhaustion. I was built for power, but endurance wasn't my strong suit. I panted on the floor, trying to get up on shaky paws. Whatever he threw at me felt like currents of lightning running through my body. I raised my head, wondering why he hadn't tried to finish me off, and saw him and Rossi's opponent battling vines that broke out from within their shielded areas, and smiled. Rossi uses her gift so rarely, we often forgot she's Esperian, and nobody manipulates nature like an Esperian.

I shook my body a few times, trying to shake off the zing going off in my body, and ambled towards Rossi on her knees, hands buried in the dirt as more vines and bugs crawled out of the ground to attack the two men as they cut down others. I didn't know how long she could hold the attack, and she would be exhausted, so I held a protective position over her, while Zenon and the crescent tattoo enforcer remained locked in battle.

The light of the sun finally disappeared casting the forest into shadows. Right before my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I heard a growl that made every fur on my body stand on end. It sounded like darkness and nightmares and nothing like any animal I had ever heard before. At first, no one else seemed to have heard, too focused on their fight, but then the sound came again, louder. The children whimpered and the smell of urine assaulted my nose as someone soiled themselves. Something was coming was coming. Something bigger than the enforcers.

A louder and longer growl tore through the clearing and I barely held back a whimper myself. Whatever that was, I knew I didn't want to face it. Fighting had seized on all sides, everyone turning toward the sound, adjusting their weights in preparation for the new attack.

I pawed the ground, staring off towards the direction of the sound as my heart pounded. Then the first of the creatures stepped out of the tree lines.

The creatures were hard to describe. An inky blackness that sent a chill right down to my very soul, with an impression of gnarled horns. I couldn't accurately describe them, but I knew how they felt. Like the absence of light, and everything good. Like terror and nightmares that left you shaking and covered in sweat hours after you awake.

A movement to my side pulled my concentration from the creatures slowly prowling towards us and I saw the enforcers slowly inching away. Cowards the lot of them. They swore to protect, but I've never met an enforcer that did any protecting, and they proved it by disappearing through the treeline in the opposite direction of the creatures. I noticed Zenon's feet inch forward, like he was going to give chase and growled. He turned his gaze towards and and I looked him in the eye, trying to convey my thought. I knew the fight was personal to him, but we protect each other first. We always have since we were little boys and found ourselves on the streets. We fight for our lives first, then we seek vengeance. His mouth twitched like he had heard, and he turned back to face the creatures. They were more prowling shadows than real. I had never heard of them before, and hoped it wasn't because no one had survived their encounter to tell tales.

Shadowprowls, I named them in my head. Naming grounded them in reality for me. They were well withing the clearing now and I saw there were only three. They had blended so well with the shadows cast by the trees that they had seemed like more.

I pawed the ground once more and growled, angry that these things had made me afraid. I was no one's prey, not even fear.

With another menacing growl, I attacked.