Rayka’s scream pierced the air, raw with agony.
She collapsed as blood poured from a deep cut in her left thigh. Elena stumbled back, clutching her right forearm, a deep gouge marring her flesh. The magic that thrummed through Cade burst forward from his core, a wave of destruction shooting forth with impossible speed. A wall of flame slammed down in front of the women before the werewolf could finish what he started.
“Gavin, stop!” Cade shouted, but the werewolf’s eyes were filled with primal rage, unrecognizable.
Nora stepped forward, her obsidian blade gleaming menacingly. “Whose fault is this now?” She asked as she passed Cade.
With a yell, she jumped through the diminishing wall of flames, unconcerned by the heat. She fended Gavin off with swift, precise strikes. It was a sight to behold, as raw force met with honed technique. The pair of them dodged and rolled and weaved, exchanging blow after blow with vicious speed. Nora used her greatsword in ways Cade didn’t know was possible. If it was any other situation, he might’ve taken a second to appreciate her skill, but he didn’t have that luxury.
Nora’s dark blade rippled with darkness for a brief moment, but it was hard to see through the undulating heat. Gavin howled in pain as the large blade pierced his tendons.
But they regrew almost instantly, his body regenerating at a visible rate. Orro cursed and then leapt through the flames as well, Jer close on his heels. The acrobat’s boots pulsed with a blue light and then he was well over the height of the fiery wall. He yelled a fierce warcry and attacked with abandon on his sister’s behalf. Cade’s boots scraped against the sandstone floor as he rushed to the fallen.
“Are you alright? Gods, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I should’ve seen this coming. I should’ve—” Cade was cut off by a shout from Elena.
“You blubbering wobblewump, shut up! We’re injured, not dead, you big idiot!” Elena bellowed even as red liquid seeped from where she clenched at her forearm. Rayka’s face was pale, but her determination was set.
“What she said. We’ve had worse, Cade. Go stop the bastard before he accidentally kills one of us,” Rayka added between her ragged breaths.
Cade looked up at the fight. Gavin’s speed was almost impossible to counter. He ducked and lunged with fluid motion, his claws gleaming in the dim light. Evie slid to a halt by the wounded women and started to apply strips of cotton to their injuries. To his surprise, the material for the bandages came from the girl’s finely sewn dress.
She hadn’t hesitated to rip it apart to help. Cade’s chest pulsed with gratitude, and he nodded once to the brown-haired companion. He stood and approached the remaining embers of his brief wall of flame. Cade conjured scalding wind blasts and shot them forward, the heat hissing through the air as it crashed against Gavin’s thick hide. The werewolf barely flinched, his fur absorbing the impact with ease. Cade cursed.
“Orro, flank him!” Cade ordered, his voice steady despite the chaos.
Orro moved like a shadow, his dark cloak billowing as he struck at Gavin’s exposed side. The werewolf snarled, dodging the attack with a swift leap. His claws slashed through the air, narrowly missing Orro’s shoulder. Jer danced into the opening left by Orro’s movements, and he kicked up into Gavin’s armpit with a nasty crunch. Jer flipped out of the way as the lycanthrope shrieked in pain, his left arm hung loosely by his side.
Nora’s blade cut through the air with deadly precision, piercing Gavin’s hide again and again. Each time, the wounds closed almost instantly, the regeneration relentless.
“He’s too fast,” she gritted out, her frustration evident.
Cade felt his anger rising, the sight of Rayka’s bloodied form pushing him over the edge.
“Keep him busy!” he shouted, his magic flaring.
He conjured another blast of wind, this time directing it at Gavin’s legs. The force knocked the werewolf off balance, but only for a moment.
Gavin recovered quickly, his eyes locking onto Cade with a predatory glint. He lunged, claws extended. Cade barely had time to react, ducking just in time to avoid the lethal strike. The werewolf’s claws scraped against the sandstone, sparks flying from the impact.
“Rayka, stay with me!” Evie’s voice was desperate as she finished tying off Rayka’s thigh.
Cade’s sister cursed and moaned, and the thief saw that blood was already soaking through the bandages. Vote of confidence or not, he needed to end this now.
Gavin turned his attention back to Nora, his growl reverberating through the maze. He lunged at her with blinding speed. Nora barely managed to parry his attack, her blade cutting through his fur and flesh. The werewolf howled in pain, but the wound quickly stitched itself together. Seeing Nora’s greatsword glimmer in the combined lights of the overhead sun and the pale illumination of the gem, Cade finally knew what he needed to do.
“Orro!” Cade called out. “Get your orb of nonlight ready. We’re going to use it on the lunar gem Hugh left behind. Wait for my signal.”
Orro nodded, his dark orb at the ready. Gavin managed to slip past Nora, his claws aimed at Cade. The thief waited for the last possible second, then dove to the side. As he landed, Cade reached into his pocket and used his focal stone.
Without hesitation, he screamed through the telepathic link, “Ascots are for virgins!”
The ridiculous claim stunned Gavin, his thick snout shaking as if to dispel the mental accusation. Cade could see the pale light that spread through the hallway start to diminish. Orro’s orb was working. Gavin staggered on his feet as the moonlight was drawn away from him. Cade sent a burst of wind into the werewolf’s knees and this time it connected. He fell to all fours, his head slamming into the sandstone with a nasty crack. The pale lunar light faded entirely, and Cade waited, arms raised, as he watched something shiver beneath Gavin’s skin.
His claws were the first to shift back, returning to chipped and broken nails that strained against the floor. His charred fur was replaced by unblemished skin that rippled with muscles not of beast but of man. His breathing transitioned from the heavy grunts of a monster into the ragged breathing of an exhausted warrior.
Cade sagged with relief, his arms heavy and his core strained from the repeated use. Though his magic might’ve been limitless, the amount he could pour out at a time felt like a trickle sourced from the ocean. Yet, even as he recovered, he felt that intrinsic store of power inside of him replenish. It would take another hour before he was fully restored, but even that was marginally faster than even just last night.
He needed to get stronger. And fast.
This couldn’t happen again. It wouldn’t have occurred in the first place if he had been powerful enough to detain Gavin in the first place. Or, at least, distract him long enough so that Orro could remove that horrid gem’s effects.
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Cade turned his attention away from the struggling man in his tattered clothes to his sister and friend. Both women were leaning against the wall now, Evie at their side. With cautious movements, the telepath stood up.
“Halt, shifter,” Nora sneered, greatsword pointed at his throat.
She said the racial classification like it was the worst insult she could think of. Cade felt goosebumps rise over his arms as the paladin’s blade darkened. Thin streams of shadows stretched from the large weapon, and it was like the color drained from all around them. The sun grew cold on his skin.
The darkness converged on the raven-haired warrior as Gavin’s eyes dilated with terror. “Take one more step, and you die.”
“Nora, enough,” Cade cut in. He strode toward the warrior, shoving down this strange pulse of fear that ripped through his mind as he got close to her.
Without looking at him, Nora replied, “He’s been lying to us. He’s also been breaking the law for Destiny knows how long, not wearing the mandatory sigil as a shifter. I don’t care who he is or what he’s done. I’m not going anywhere with him until I get the truth.”
“Please, I—I can explain,” Gavin said, stepping forward. Nora’s blade didn’t budge, and she pressed its tip into the soft flesh of his neck. He backed up against the wall, looking very, very, small.
“Start talking, shifter,” Nora spat out.
“Enough.” At Cade’s words, the maze stilled.
His boots padded against the sandstone, and he pushed Nora’s blade away with his free hand. With his other, he grabbed Gavin’s shoulder. His team watched on in awe and concern as he held the telepath in his gentle yet firm grasp.
“You’re a werewolf.” It wasn’t a question, and yet Gavin nodded at Cade’s statement. A loose lock of the man’s thick brown curls got in his face, and he tucked it quickly behind his ear. “You’re a telepath.”
“Yes,” Gavin replied in barely more than a whisper.
“You’ve had to hide not one but two parts of yourself most, if not all, of your life, haven’t you?” Cade asked, his tone as reassuring as his grip.
“Yes.”
Cade took in the slumped posture, the misty eyes, and the soul-crushing guilt inside this broken man. He recalled what his traitorous mentor had said, and his compassion swelled.
Gavin mistook his pause as hesitation, and he began to ramble quickly. “Please, I can explain everything! I didn’t mean to deceive you all. I—I’ve been managing it for quite some time now. I swear this is under control. Please—”
Without a word, Cade closed the distance and gave the tall man a hug. The telepath’s entire body froze, each muscle tense and quaking at the sudden contact.
“It’s okay, Gavin. You don’t have to hide from us anymore,” Cade said just loud enough for him and his team to hear.
“I don’t know, I still think we should gut him,” Elena chimed in morosely, her head resting against the pale off-white wall of the maze. “He ruined a perfectly good forearm. The scar is gonna look legendary, though.”
“Maybe just a little castration?” Rayka offered with her eyes closed and head on Elena’s good shoulder.
“NO,” Cade and Evie said at once, though for remarkably different reasons.
The petite girl blushed furiously while Cade let go of Gavin to raise an eyebrow at her. He gave her a knowing look.
“We aren’t harming him, guys,” Cade declared. “He had no control over that. It was Hugh that caused it, and it’s our fault for not asking the right questions when hiring teammates.”
He looked then at Rayka and Elena.
“I’m sorry, both of you. I should’ve picked up on this sooner, and I should’ve told you all what I suspected.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head slowly. “No, that’s not right either.”
Cade peered up at Gavin, who was doing his best to tie his shredded clothes over his nether region.
“I should’ve just asked you and had you tell us your side of the story. I’m sorry, Gav.” Cade gave him a sad smile.
“Nothing to forgive, mate.” Gavin smiled sadly at them. “I apologize for keeping you all in the dark. It’s not something I can just bring up lightly in conversation, you know?” His eyes darted to Nora for a heartbeat, but quickly moved away. “Most people hear ’shifter’ and immediately assume we’re as duplicitous as they come.”
“You were being duplicitous by pretending you were being something you weren’t,” Nora retorted with a huff as she lowered her greatsword.
“Oh, like you’re not hiding aspects of your identity?” Elena snorted.
Nora flushed with anger as a muscle feathered in her jaw. She turned away, her sword’s blade glinting ominously in the sunlight. The image of those dark tendrils rippling off her blade flashed through Cade’s mind.
That woman was hiding so much more than any of them realized, and he hoped beyond hope that it didn’t get them all killed.
“We should keep moving,” Orro grunted softly.
Cade nodded, his best friend’s words a reflection of his own thoughts.
“Let’s talk more once we get out of this thing,” Cade promised.
He replaced the amulet around his neck, tucked it into the collar of his light brown tunic, and then gestured for his team to follow. Evie and Jer helped the wounded to their feet. While Nora approached Gavin. Her sword was again sheathed, but that hardly alleviated Cade’s concern.
Given her showing today, he knew that she didn’t need a blade to kill with ease. Though he didn’t stop her, his recovering magic flowed toward his hands, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.
She walked toward the scantily clad man, steel boots pounding resolutely on the ground like a war-drum. She shoved a finger into his chest, the force of the small blow enough to stagger him.
“This isn’t over, shifter,” she hissed.
Then, before he could reply or defend himself, she walked past the entire team, eyes set in front of her.
“I’d hate to see her if she ever caught her man cheating,” Jer whispered conspiratorially.
Evie shivered. “Trust me. You don’t.”
And from the haunted look in her eyes, Cade believed her.
Cade held Rayka’s arm over his shoulders and helped her walk deeper into the maze, taking over for the curly-haired woman. They all followed behind Nora, though the brooding paladin remained within Cade’s sphere of safety. He was still hoping that the crowd hadn’t noticed how exactly he had pulled that particular trick off, though he had no doubt the Lifekeepers present were beginning to suspect. He’d have to throw them off the scent.
“I’m going to deactivate the amulet soon so that the stalled traps look like a fluke. Once we have a better heading for the center of this place, I’ll turn it back on,” Cade sent through their shared mental connection.
A few grumbles later, they were moving steadily, if slowly, through the labyrinth.
Their path bent and twisted in odd directions, and it was more than once that they had to double back. After another two hours of meandering rather aimlessly, Cade gave the signal, and the amulet was turned off. He could still hear the constant thrum of the crowd above them, and he knew they were all waiting for the bloodbath to resume.
Cade was once again convinced Destiny himself hated his guts, for as soon as they turned the corner to what was certainly the center of the maze, a booming and melodic voice declared: “THE TRIAL IS FINISHED.”
And there, standing atop a large dais inlaid with gold, with stairs carved out of pale marble, was Hugh. He held aloft a bright crystalline shape Cade could’ve sworn was an egg, and he met Cade’s gaze with a cold glint. The walls of the maze descended back into the ground right as a small group of darkly cloaked individuals arrived from the opposite side of the massive circular epicenter.
Their leader scanned the dais but then stared directly at Cade. Her pale skin glinted with sweat, and Cade couldn’t help but recall what the Lifekeeper had said about this group. Viewing them together, he had to put some credence to the speculation. Draugrs.
A cold shiver that had nothing to do with the gentle breeze ran along his spine as the young girl raised an eyebrow at him. She blinked, then turned on her heels and made for the nearest iron gate out of the arena.
“FOR FINDING THE ORB OF RESILIENCE, I GRANT UNTO THEE A BOON TO ADD TO YOUR NEW ACCOUNTS!” Life declared, her white smile like starlight.
Her sumptuous curves bobbed in a mesmerizing dance as she descended to the arena floor and placed a dainty hand on Hugh’s chest. The crowd went wild. From another corner, the survivors of Hugh’s team stumbled toward the dais. Each and every one of them were weighed down with a veritable mountain of jewels and gold and scantily clad Lifekeepers.
Cade cursed. Destiny sucked.
What's the best way to deal with discovering your teammate is secretly a werewolf?
