~ Marie ~

Marie leaned against the side of the house as she watched the wolves mingle amongst themselves. They didn’t look ready to start yet. Peter was off to one side organizing things and speaking to several of the wolves. Probably some last minute things that needed to be done before the Rite of Accord could start.

She glanced at the man standing next to her. Adrian continued to scan the area for anything unusual. He had his polite mask on but it was contradicted by his stiff posture and crossed arms. Marie wondered what the wolves would do but they were polite to both of them. Even Grayson gave her a polite greeting.

Ten minutes passed before everyone turned into their wolf form and formed a circle in the middle of the area. One wolf howled then all of the wolves howled together.

[What’s going on?] Marie frowned. Adrian had asked for the communication spell before they’d left the room.

[The Rite of Accord has started.]

[This is where they fight for pack leader?]

[Yes. It’s basically a single elimination tournament.] There were some extra rules in there but she only remembered some of the details. The only thing she knew for sure was that magic was not allowed. A wolf’s natural physical strength and endurance was being tested with these fights. Any magic that went off needed to be canceled immediately. While the wolves were all focused on what was going on in front of them, Marie started to write on the wall behind her. She faced forward as she wrote behind her back.

[What are you doing?] She knew she couldn’t keep this from Adrian but at least he wasn’t drawing attention to what she was doing.

[I’m putting up a barrier. Since the sorcerer likes to use smoke this should keep everyone here from inhaling any.] [As long as they stay in the area.] Marie nodded as she finished writing out the last script. It wouldn’t stop her orders from reaching the wolves but it should prevent any wolves from passing out or getting poisoned.

Wind blew and she pulled the jacket closed before she crossed her arms. A lot would hinge on whether or not Peter could keep the wolves here. If too many wolves ended up with the sorcerer then the likelihood of some of them disappearing would increase. Marie frowned. She would do everything she could to keep that from happening.

The wolves moved again. Most of them moved to one side while two wolves moved forward. There was a moment of silence then the two wolves rushed towards one another. They growled, circling one another before one of the wolves made his move and rushed forward. He tried to grab the other wolf’s neck but ended up having to jump back as the other wolf went for his neck. The wolf managed to grab his neck but they didn’t have a good grip and were forced to let go. The wolves circled again.

It went on like this for several more minutes before one of the wolves was forced to the ground. The wolf on the ground whined. They broke apart and the wolf who lost had his tail tucked between his legs as he moved to the left. The one who won went to the right. One by one, the rest of the wolves took turns fighting each other.

[Are the wolves that bothered you here?] She frowned. There was no need for him to get involved with that.

[I took care of it.] Marie kept her eyes on the fight but she could feel him staring at her.

[Are they here?]

[No, I don’t see them.] Silence met her reply and she hoped that was the end of the conversation. Another set of wolves began fighting. The winner for this match looked more obvious to her. The wolf on the right was much larger than the wolf on the left. The smaller wolf tried to lunge and bite at the legs of the larger wolf but the larger wolf was prepared for the attack and used the chance to bite at the neck of the smaller wolf. The small wolf moved but the larger wolf still managed to wound the smaller wolf on the back. The wound was bleeding quite a bit. Since they had regeneration, none of the matches would stop because of injuries. The only way they would end a match was if a wolf resigned or was knocked unconscious.

[Is Jesse here?]

[No, he left already.] He had been gone since yesterday.

[Why did he leave?] What was with his sudden interest? She glanced his way.

[Does it matter?] Adrian glanced down at her. His face was expressionless as he studied her. He looked back at the wolves. [He had business to take care of and I placed protections on him before he left.] She wasn’t going to explain everything to him but that should be good enough.

[Why did you teleport while you had your concussion?]

[I was trying to get back.] But concentrating was difficult and every time she teleported she got nauseous so she stopped after a while. Why did he want to know so much about her? He was fine with ignoring her before. She glanced back at the wolves. It looked like everyone had taken a turn. All of the wolves stood again and howled, as four wolves stood at the front separated from everyone else. [Four left.]

[Any magic?]

[No. Have you noticed anything?] Adrian shook his head. The wolves sat down again as two wolves went to the front and faced each other. One was a reddish brown wolf while the other was a grey and white wolf. The grey wolf was Grayson. She had made sure to remember the markings for Grayson and Peter. Marie wanted to keep an eye on their fights since they were the only Alphas that belonged to the original pack. Grayson was unlikely to win but it didn’t mean that the sorcerer wouldn’t try to use him against Peter.

The two wolves faced each other. The red wolf growled and moved sideways but the grey wolf just rushed right in. Grayson tried to bite the other wolf but the red wolf was quicker. The wolf bit the air inches from Grayson’s face. The grey wolf jumped back in surprise but was now off guard as the red wolf jumped forward. Just then she felt a brief magic signal.

[Magic?] Marie nodded as she wrote out a counterspell. She blocked the magic but there was still too much of a difference between Grayson and the red wolf. Eventually, the grey wolf was forced to surrender. The red wolf moved to where the other two were waiting and sat down. [Did you figure out where it’s coming from?]

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[No. The magic was too quick.] The only thing she knew was that the magic wasn’t too far away.

[They’re headed this way then?] Marie nodded. The sorcerer wouldn’t waste what little magic they had on this if they were running away.

The next two wolves faced each other. A brown wolf growled as he circled the grey wolf. They looked to be evenly matched in terms of size but it looked like the grey wolf was faster. Peter had already caused wounds on the front left leg and the back right leg of the brown wolf. The wolves began to circle again.

Marie felt more magic activate and canceled the spell before it could make a difference. The brown wolf couldn’t keep up with the grey wolf and was soon forced to surrender. One more fight to go. She straightened up and sent her senses out. That last magic signal had felt closer.

The red wolf stood up as the brown wolf joined the rest of the wolves. This next fight would decide who would be the pack leader. Marie scanned the forest. Now would be the best time for the sorcerer to attack. With no leader, the wolves would fall to chaos as pack members attacked one another. She was proven correct when a woman walked out of the forest.

“I didn’t think things would become so difficult.” The wolves began to growl at her. All the wolves except for the two wolves still fighting were staring at the woman.

“This is private property. Leave!” Grayson had transformed back into a human after his fight. He stood there, hands clenched, as he glared at the woman.

“I don’t think I will. Not after all the work I’ve put into this.” The sorcerer tapped a finger against her chin as she smiled at Grayson. “I think you should sit down and relax. This should be over shortly.”

“Wha—?” One of the pack members grabbed Grayson and threw him to the ground before straddling him and holding him down. Grayson struggled and yelled to be let go but the man holding him ignored him. Other pack members tried to pull the man off Grayson but then those people were attacked by other pack members under the sorcerer’s control. It was starting to get out of hand.

Marie looked for Peter. The fight had started and it was already beginning to look one-sided. Instead of attacking, Peter kept dodging and staying out of the way. He was already injured, based on the blood on his side. Peter kept looking at the woman or at Grayson. Tsk.

“I’ll take care of the dogs then you and I can settle things.” The sorcerer pulled out a pouch and threw it to the ground. Smoke billowed out and flowed towards the wolves. The first wisps of smoke reached out for Peter. Before the first tendril could touch him it was stopped by her barrier. Marie used magic to burn the bag and wrote out another spell to blow the smoke back towards the woman.

Two of the wolves changed back. They were the ones Peter had talked to. The two men shouted orders to the pack. Marie turned her focus back towards the woman.

The sorcerer threw a talisman at her barrier. It landed on the barrier. Thin cracks began to form on the barrier as the magic was drained out of it. Marie wrote out another spell and burned the talisman before it could break the barrier. She had learned quite a bit from the case with Mark. The barrier was cracked but it should still provide sufficient protection to the wolves. She quickly placed a barrier on herself and Adrian before walking towards the woman. The wolves looked like they were getting things under control. She wouldn’t have to worry about any of them getting in the way.

Three wolves burst out of the forest. They moved to the right of the woman and growled as she approached. Marie recognized who they were once she was close enough to see their markings.

[Were those the wolves that have been giving you trouble?] Adrian stopped her for a moment.

[They didn’t give me trouble.] She frowned. This wasn’t the time for questions.

[We should divide the work. I can handle the wolves while you handle the sorcerer.] Marie glanced back at the sorcerer. The woman rubbed the head of one of the wolves. There was no reason to object to his plan especially since it worked in her favor. Marie nodded. Adrian rushed towards the woman. The wolves immediately rushed towards him. He jumped back and led them away from the sorcerer to an empty spot on the right. Marie walked towards the sorcerer. The woman hadn’t stopped smiling even though they were keeping her plan from succeeding.

The sorcerer threw another pouch to the ground. Thick, white smoke billowed out and covered the area in seconds. Marie quickly purified the air but the smoke wasn’t thinning out. Two other talismans activated and created more smoke.

More magic signals went off before ice shards came out of the smoke, straight towards her. Marie stood her ground. If both these attacks hit the barrier behind her, it would break. Since she couldn’t tell what kind of smoke this was, it was better to keep it away from the wolves. Marie held her breath as her barrier shattered. She didn’t need her yellow eyes to come out again. She rushed forward and found each of the smoke talismans. She burned them as soon as she found them. Marie used a spell to blow the smoke away. She glanced around but didn’t see the woman anywhere.

It was a trick. The woman had run.

"Guardian!” Peter ran towards her in his human form. “Where did the sorcerer go?”

“She went into the forest. I’m going after her.” Marie looked towards Adrian but he was still fighting two of the wolves. “Don’t let anyone go into the forest.” Peter nodded and went back to giving orders. Marie walked towards the wolf that was unconscious on the ground. She knelt on the ground next to him.

This wasn’t something she liked to do since the magic cost was high and it left her open to attack but she was not going to let this woman escape again. She placed her hands on the wolf and sent her magic into him looking for the spell. It was still active. She sent her magic into it and followed it back to the source. With the sorcerer running away, Marie would only have one chance.

[Marie!] She tried to pull her mind away from the spell quickly but she’d dived too deep. When she opened her eyes, she had a glimpse of teeth before she put her arm in the way to shield herself. The white wolf she’d been touching, woke up. The wolf bit down on her arm and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

[I’m fine. Concentrate on what you’re doing.] Only silence greeted her words. She didn’t have time for this. Her eyes changed to orange before she shocked the wolf. He went limp and she went back into the spell. Thankfully, the spell was still there.

Marie went as fast as she could back through the spell, trying to reach the end as quickly as possible. She found the source and quickly forced a tracking spell through. A sharp jolt of pain went through her body from the effort. The spell connected just as her connection was terminated. The sorcerer had taken off the mind control on the wolf from her side but it didn’t matter. Marie had accomplished her goal. Now she just needed to follow her spell.

“Done?” Adrian knelt beside her. She nodded while he stood up. He offered his hand and she took it. Adrian pulled her up before lifting her into his arms. [Where?]

[Straight.] Marie grabbed his neck automatically as he ran forward. Her arm felt bulky. She looked at the bandage that Adrian had applied to her arm. A white bandage had been wrapped around her wound. Had she been in the spell that long?

[Still straight?] Marie focused back on the spell.

[Yes. No. She’s going left now.] Adrian smoothly switched directions without slowing down.

[How’s your arm?]

[Fine.] Blood was starting to seep through the bandage but she wanted to conserve magic.

[I thought the sorcerer shouldn't have that much magic.]

[That's usually the case. That doesn't mean that's always the case.] Something about this wasn't right. Why was the sorcerer acting like they didn't have much magic before? Was it all just an act? Or was there another reason? [Right.] He jumped over a log and ducked under some branches before switching directions. [Just up ahead.]

His speed picked up as they went up a hill. He jumped down and her stomach flipped over. Marie stopped herself from choking him. Adrian picked up speed as he broke through a group of trees and found a clearing on the other side.

Standing in the center was the sorcerer. She was pointing a talisman at the wolf sitting next to her.