Rory POV

Analee grinned like she had won the biggest prize of her life. She was excited as magic began pouring out of her palms. A mist was filling the space between us, thickening into a dense fog. “Are you ready to play, mutt?” Her laugh put me on edge.

Another wizard that has elemental magic…I have poor luck. Analee disappears into the thick fog. My eyes will fail me here, so I close them and focus on my hearing. I can hear the light crunching of snow beneath Analee’s feet. The girl is moving quickly through the fog, hoping to catch me off guard. My lightning magic will not help me in this fog. It will only give away my position. I have more than just lightning magic though. Wolf beast folk can use terrain magic.

Digging my paws into the icy slush that covered the ground, I felt the rush of magic through my body like an internal cold wave. My paws began to move at a fast speed as I tunneled through the ground below. I need to create a network of tunnels, so I can get close to Analee easily. I dig toward the north for twenty feet or so before popping back to the surface. I run toward the southwest and begin a new hole in the ground to form a tunnel going east. Repeating this method, I worked to create a network of tunnels that connected back to the first one.

Analee didn’t wait for me to finish my plan. She managed to shoot a few icicles at me. One landed in my left thigh, which was now bleeding. The girl had aimed well in this dense fog she created. Moving was painful, and I wanted nothing more than to stop and scream. My flesh was torn from the impact, but I can’t let this shit stop me. I charged forward to try to make another tunnel.

Analee chose to hop into one of my holes to bring the fight to me. “Here, little mutt. I just want to play with you.” She gave out a shrill cackle. “Come on, mutt. I have a surprise for you.” I heard her charge through the tunnels, trying to find me. “It’s just a lifetime of servitude.”

What the hell is wrong with this girl? Is she deranged? I know slavery exists. Some of the kids Myrra brought to the academy were former slaves. Everywhere I have been, there were slaves assisting their masters on adventures and working in different businesses. None of them chose servitude for their life, nor did they want to stay that way. I am not going to let this wizard make me a slave or familiar, nor will I let anyone have control of this power that I can’t control.

Analee’s scent permeated through the tunnels, alerting me of her nearing my position. I had two choices: run or fight in the tunnels. Running could mean that I could find Ema, however, I might run into more enemies. Athyra was attacked by wizards before fighting me, and now the wizards were trying to take me down too. If I could revert back to my human or normal form, then running would be easier…Although being in another form could cause my identity to be known, or even risk the frenzy form appearing again. Diverting the transformation from the frenzy form is what got me stuck in this wolf form in the first place. Theoretically, my body will force a transformation by sunrise tomorrow because I can only hold this wolf form for three days.

Fighting in the tunnels is just as risky. My magic is temperamental at best with the way it reacts to my emotions. The bursts of magic will likely cause a cave-in from the icy ground above us. I know I could survive the cave, but too much damage may keep me from fighting Athyra later. I have more enemies than friends at the moment. I am relying on magic that I can barely control, and my body is on a timer that will run out at the next sunrise. Uncle Elias would tell me to do whatever I could to survive. Myrra would tell me to be strategic. Aunt Leah would say protect my secret, so I can live freely. Hmm… Screw it. I am going to fight my way out of this as a wolf like my mother would have.

Darting down another tunnel, I used the connecting tunnels to loop around the girl. Her scent was heavy with human sweat, and her heart thudded at the thrill of the chase. I knew where she was. I could see her poorly laid traps in the tunnels. This wasn’t Analee’s best work. This girl was more powerful than I care to admit. She was probably using these mud and ice traps as a distraction for me. Ok, Analee, let’s play. I worked up the energy in my body allowing the chill of magic to splash through my veins once more. Red sparks sizzled and zapped around me as the air became dry. I could feel the lightning in my paws, so I charged forward sending the bolt directly at the girl sneaking about the tunnel in front of me. She turned back to see the red bolt headed straight for her. Without any hesitation, she fired an icicle at the bolt, forcing it to discharge into a web around her. I watched as she screamed at the burns she received on her right arm from the uncontrolled discharge.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“You, damn mutt, that hurt!” Analee yelled as I was suddenly barraged with fireballs.

Ducking into a side tunnel, I felt the impact of at least four fireballs. My red fur sported black scorch marks from the fireballs. The smell of burnt fur invaded my nose. She’s a quick spellcaster where I have to put all of my focus into my magic to hit something. I may need to fight this as a wolf instead of a spellcaster. I let out a growl of frustration from the soreness of my body. I could hear Analee heading toward me, so I forced my body into an attack position.

Analee tumbled into my tunnel with a barrage of fireballs. I chose to take the hits as my body lunged forward tackling the girl. My teeth sunk into her shoulder as she attempted to push me off her. I wouldn’t budge. My teeth were crunching her collarbone to bits. Would this immobilize one of her arms? Maybe. Did it feel like sweet revenge for the icicle in my thigh? Hell, yeah.

“Let go, you, dumb animal!” Her voice was loud and full of pain.

She shot off some fireballs, but I clamped down harder on her collarbone. Her hands switched back and forth between pulling out fistfuls of my fur and casting spells. My paws held down her uppers as I decided to start tearing away at the muscle. Her screams were shrill as began shooting little ice rocks at my gut. The short distance and stress of the moment seemed to cut the power of her attacks to less than half, but the ice rocks were still making gashes across my belly. Blood was spilling out of both of us as we were locked in combat.

“Do you want to die, mutt?” She shrieked at me as ripped more fur off from the sides of my body.

I couldn’t take her shit anymore. Turning my head, I released her collarbone in exchange for her neck. Hot blood soaked my mouth as I felt her struggle to breathe beneath me. If this idiot had just left me alone, she wouldn’t be dying in such a brutal fashion. Analee tried to fight back, but I crushed her throat ending this battle before I lost any more blood. Her heart slowed, and her body went limp under me. I dropped the dead flesh of her neck on the floor of the tunnel and backed away from the dead body. Making my way toward the surface, I used my terrain magic to collapse the tunnel network, leaving Analee buried under the icy dirt.

Climbing out of the tunnel, the pain of all the wounds caught up with me. I lay down on the ice to cool the pain in my belly. More ice had melted after my fight with Analee. The sun had sunken lower in the sky, but Athyra hadn’t left the sky above me. This ice dragon just watched as I took on two different spellcasters within minutes of each other. Not a word or glance came from my sky shadow. If another fight were to come, this dragon would not lift a talon to help. Athyra is an enemy in the end. There’s no way I can let my guard down. Laying down, I knew I needed to rest, but how long until another person appeared to attack me?

Resting my head on my paws, I tried to block out the pain and let the ice numb my body. In the distance, I could hear movement near the treeline. None of them smelt like Ema, so these people were likely enemies. Would they attack me or just try to get my flying shadow above me? I stayed in my spot not wanting to move again. Deciding to wait and see what this new group of people will do, I let myself relax a little more. Until I leave this damn forest, I am in a fight for my life. If this new group of people wants to attack me, they will do it whether I am lying here or running away from them.

Time passed quickly. The sun sunk toward the horizon. Sniffing the air, I could finally smell the new group of people approaching me. When the wind shifted, a familiar scent hit my nose. My eyes flew open as I processed the smell in my mind. It clicked in my mind who that scent belonged to, and my head sprung up from my paws. Is she here to fight the dragon? This wasn’t my enemy. Immediately, try to shift back to my human form, but nothing happens. I try to force a shift with magic, but nothing happens. She won’t know that I am not her enemy. At least normally, she would not have been my enemy, but she wouldn’t recognize me as a red-colored wolf. I had a glamor charm that made me look and smell different. Shit.

The footsteps were only a few feet away. I looked up to see a party of ten people nearing me. The woman who led them came to the front looking down at me. “What have we here?”

If wolves could cry, I would have. Almost four months ago, this woman was chasing me through the guild hall because Ema stole an S-rank mission from the job board. I whined at the sight of her because I still didn’t have a voice to speak to her. I wanted so much for her to know who I was, but my body wouldn’t allow it. All she saw was a giant wounded red wolf lying on the ice. Dried blood on my muzzle and sadness in my eyes, I looked up at the woman who helped raise me. Please, recognize me, Myrra.