Leo and Heidi

Sternenberg, Switzerland

“You know someone who could train a free mage?” Seb asked seriously. He doubted that the Alpha knew any instructors versed in free mage sorcery, as the texts concerning the topic were already destroyed hundreds of years ago. Nor did he think there was a mage in his pocket that he could pull out as a rabbit out of the hat.

Peter grimaced regarding what he was about the reveal but deemed it necessary. He understood that her safety would be threatened. After all, she was the last living free mage he knew. Wounded, but a free mage nonetheless. But the girl was right - they needed not only to get ready but also to train the runt. So they needed all the help they could get.

“There was a woman more than five hundred years ago. She was grievously wounded in a fight against a man you now know as the Pope,” Peter started carefully, observing the evident shock on everyone’s faces, even his daughter’s.

“What transpired is long-forgotten history, but what is important is that I helped her when the need arose and granted sanctuary, in a similar way I decided to do to you yesterday.”

“What does that mean?” Evan asked, not following.

“It means, boy, that our Alpha here saved a free mage on the verge of death. Correct?” Seb asked Peter. The large alpha nodded at the mage and continued, “Yes, in essence. She was grievously wounded. Something about her core being crushed. So I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time. I helped her hide.”

“Hide where?” Heidi asked, interested. Peter sat down in the other free chair in the room and continued, looking at his hands, “In the mountains at the far end of our territory. No one from the pack knows about this but me.” Peter looked up and met his daughter’s gaze.

Lis asked her father, “That is the reason you never allowed anyone, even us, your children, to run through the mountains?” Peter nodded, confirming her suspicions. “Yes, Lis, and I am sorry for keeping this secret. But you must understand that it was a secret better kept by only me. You know how your brothers are. And you know how often the Church visited us over the years as if searching for something.”

Everything clicked for Lis, and she nodded in understanding, “I understand, father. That also explains why they have been using various loopholes in the accords with us to take away the land from you. To continue the search - legally.” Seb nodded at the little wolf girl, thinking, Smart girl.

Peter sighed, “You are smarter than your brothers give you credit. Yes, they were searching for her all those years, and I have kept my promise - protecting her.”

Evan sat up straighter in his chair and asked, all decorum be damned, “Common, Alpha. Throw us a bone here - who is she?” Heidi kicked the leg of his chair in frustration at the lack of respect in the mud. Even if he did not understand their customs, did he not have the slightest notion of decorum to let the elderly speak?

“You must know her,” the Alpha began, “as the greatest mage to have ever lived. The only one to lead the tide in the age of darkness against the tyranny of the oppressors.” Leo interrupted the Alpha and asked, “The Walpurga? Are you serious? She is alive?” Leo felt his heart speed up at the thought of someone, possibly from his lineage, being alive. Disregarding the fact that the mage was deemed to be a legend, she was the only one who could explain what the hell was going on with him.

“Yes, Alea Monti, the one and only,” the Alpha nodded.

“Peter, do you have some insight into what happened to her at the time?” Seb asked. “You see, our clan history books are a little thin on this topic. No clear source was able to explain the events that took place around the 13th century when the Conclave was disbanded. From the texts, what I could tell, they were waging a successful war against the Church one moment and the next - they were gone, poof. Walpurga vanished, and so did the Conclave. The mage world went up for grabs.”

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Peter nodded, recognizing the line of thought he had heard numerous times from other sources over the years but did not dare to correct them. “I can only share what she conveyed with me at the time, which is not a lot, mind you.” Everyone nodded to him expectantly.

“It is as you said. The Conclave was wagging a successful campaign against the Church. All thanks to one person - Alea. Her affinity, which you no doubt have heard about, made her a fearsome opponent on the battlefield if any dared to face her.

“While she was reluctant to use her talents, being the honorable sort, the Church did play by her rules at the time and moved a lot slower and with caution. That changed one moment when the Pope decided unexpectedly to offer a truce.

“The truce was a simple offer. The Pope proposed that the Church and Conclave split the land and the responsibility for the people. Equally, one might say, however, the exact details were not shared with me. What I did witness, though, was the aftermath of their meeting. It was devastating,” Peter finished with a sigh.

“I cannot fathom how someone of her supposed stature could have been brought down so easily,” Seb mussed, sitting down as well.

“Well, that is the thing,” Peter continued, “she was not. At least from what she shared with me. We had a brief chat, you know, once I managed to drag her away from the destruction they left behind themselves. She used a clever little spell to hide and play dead until I found her in the forest. Spells that play with your vision and mana sense do not do much against a wolf's nose, you know.”

“So what did she share? What happened?” Leo asked.

“The Church had some sort of spell array prepared beforehand. As you might imagine, the Pope was the one who organized the meeting. Had been planning the whole thing for months. Alea of course made sure that the site was clear, as much as she could tell, however, they turned out to be craftier and invested heavily to contain her.

“I have not heard of such a thing from the information available to us,” Seb commented.

“Of course, you have not!” Peter exclaimed. “Alea explained that it is an expensive thing to set up, even for the Pope. Also, it was one-time use and scaled against the user. So if you want to seal away magic without putting anything on a user, you have to go out of your way. Not the same as those little bracelets they use now.

“So the array. It sealed away her magic for a moment. But a moment was enough. The Pope used some kind of relic. A grail of sorts. He did not go for the kill. No, he went to disable her core. Corrupt it or crack it - I am not sure how it works for you mages.”

“And it worked?” Leo asked.

“Did he succeed, you mean? Yes, of course, he did,” Peter answered. “Managed to crack it like a walnut, and her magic went. Though, with the last of her mana, she managed to fake her death, playing it as if the Pope had finished her off. Played to be weak and survived because of it.”

“How come there were no signs of their battle or any notion in the history books? Sure the muds would notice a battle of mages of such level. Hard to hide such things back in the day, even if there were no modern technologies to share the information,” Seb asked.

Peter nodded in agreement and explained, “I know what you mean. Asked the same thing, why there was so little destruction, compared to what might have been. She explained that it was due to some overlapping array that contained their magic. A mirror world? Cut them off from this plane. That is about it. After she ran away by the skin of her teeth, she met me, and I granted her sanctuary and hid her away in the mountains. She has been there for all these years.”

“Doing what?” Heidi asked pointedly.

“I do not know, Heidi. I suppose something related to her core and magic. She did not have many options. The way I understood it was that her longevity stayed, even with a cracked core, however, if the Church discovered her…” Peter trailed off.

“They would come and finish the job,” Evan completed the thought for him, as Peter nodded.

“Yes, and they have been searching for her non-stop. Clearly, they had their suspicions that she could not have run far away, as they have been harassing us ever since. But that does not matter at the moment now, does it?”

“I agree,” Seb started. “If you know where she is, is there a way to contact her? We are grasping at straws here. No way we can depend on the clan to support us, as I said. The best chance we have is to make something out of you, Leo.” Seb nodded toward the boy who was chewing over the information shared.

“I believe the time has come for me to pay a visit to her and explain the situation,” Peter explained but was interrupted by quiet steps coming up from the corridor. His werewolf hearing made it hard for anyone to sneak up on him, especially in his home and in the confined rooms he now shared with the mages. Though, he was surprised that he did not hear them sooner, as a similar scent had not sensed for centuries hit his nose.

Seb, noticing something was wrong with the Alpha as he stared at the door, asked, “What is wrong, Peter?” However, before the Alpha could answer, the door to Leo’s room creaked open, and a dark hooded figure walked into the room.