The witch rebuffed the three attackers with a shimmering force field that blasted out from her core. They were thrown far, one of them sailing out of an opening, but I was confident they’d be able to catch a tree branch before hitting the ground far below.
Five other shifters charged her. An eagle shifter swooped down at her head, trying to claw at her eyes, while a coyote shifter leaped for her throat. Two bear shifters were charging her at full speed while Leo went for her back.
For a moment, I thought we really had her, but then giant, slate rocks shot up from the flooring all around her, forming a barrier, and she flew up into the air, hovering ten feet above our heads. That was certainly going to complicate things.
I needed to think differently, because the vines wouldn’t be enough. I reached out into the considerable amount of foliage all around us and latched on to the branch that I’d used to descend from the balcony. Had standing up there been a touch dramatic? Absolutely. But I figured I deserved a little flare of drama considering we were in for the fight of our lives.
Filling the branch with the sizzling energy within me, I besieged it to call upon a sibling. A moment later, another branch grew through the floor, moving around like it was water instead of a solid object. I was still pretty hazy on all the rules of my new ability, but it worked better when I didn’t question anything.
I placed my hands over my heart, letting the branches feel the steady beat of it and become part of me. As I crouched behind that stupid marble statue, I had one of them swing at the witch.
I must have caught her off guard, because the branches came down on her head with a sickening crack. Again, I thought I’d done it, that maybe cracking her skull would be enough of a distraction for everyone to surge in and finish her off.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The crack I heard was the branch breaking in two, the top part falling to the ground below.
Nevertheless, I persisted. I tried to wallop her with the second branch. She was wise to my scheme, though, and all it took was a glare from her for the branch to burst into flames.
I fully planned to beat her with that burning branch, but when I swung it down again, it disintegrated into ash that rained down onto the floor. Okay, so witch fire was different than regular fire. Good to know.
Katarina focused on me, but then my companions swarmed her again and she had to fend them off. I appreciated their protection, but their cries of pain whenever her spell hit made my stomach heave.
I decided to leave the offensive for a bit and do a round of triage, running to the various bodies lying around—thankfully, none of them were in human form yet.
I was armed with both a messenger bag and two fanny packs, one high on my waist and the other on my hips. It wasn’t exactly glamorous battle armor, but what mattered was that it was chock-full of things that would help with healing, and a few offensive vials I’d whipped up last minute after doing some research online. I had no clue whether any of it would work.
Luckily, that first one had packed quite a punch. It was dill, salt, holy water, and some of the ash from where my home had burned. I had been surprised it had worked at all seeing as witches weren’t vampires, and as far as I knew only vampires had a reaction to holy water. It had definitely sent a message, though.
The offensive potions could wait, though, because I reached my first pack member and knelt down to help them. I did everything at a rapid pace. When I finished pouring differentconcoctions over their wounds, I placed my hands on their flank and did my best to channel my energy through them.
My relatively new power sizzled a bit, as if in confusion, before trickling into the body beneath my palms. The hesitation must have been because I was helping a wolf and not a plant, which was where the majority of my power came from. I had a hunch that my ability could be turned toward healing as well. Not just because of myths, but because of how quickly the shifters had healed in my care when I had only a basic understanding of their anatomy and no understanding of magic. I figured it had been a subconscious thing, so I hoped I could tap into it more directly.
It seemed like nothing was happening, but then I felt something almost click within the wolf, and their own natural healing ability surged up to meet me halfway.
Perfect.
“Get yourself to safety for a few minutes before rejoining,” I said, already on my feet to the next person who needed my help. “We can do this.”
As I ran to one of the bear shifters pinned under a pillar of rock, my legs were yanked out from under me, and I was suddenly in the air. It reminded me of how Alric, the metal-controlling brother, had snatched me up, and my body reacted before my mind could. Hundreds of vines shot up from between cracks on the floor that hadn’t been there before, wrapping around my legs to my waist and trying to pull me back to safety.
“There you are,” Katarina said, floating over the chaos of battle until she was a few feet from me. “You know, I really was looking forward to one of your kind being able to run around these parts. Maybe restore the balance a little. But you had to go and waste it, didn’t you?”
“Did you really think I would sit back and let you kill our alpha?”
“I had hoped you would, yes.” She drew in a deep breath, then gestured at the wild battle all around us. There were whirlwinds spinning this way and that, sending shifters flying. Lightning cracked down from the ceiling and through the openings between the branches. There were more stone golems spawning out of nowhere, and occasionally, long tentacles of fire randomly appeared out of the walls to slash down at the closest shifters.
It was an insane display of power, and if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it came from one woman. No wonder the combined powers of her sons couldn’t take her down. It seemed she had all their abilities, but she’d had centuries to hone them. While I was still determined to beat her, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would make it through the fight.
If I didn’t, at least I could say I’d gone down swinging, and that was what mattered to me.
“Thanks to you, all your friends are going to die. It’s a pity, isn’t it? Revenge always begets more revenge.”
“This isn’t revenge! Not on our part. We’re protecting the man we love and admire. Our leader. We’resavinghim! You’re the one trying to avenge the justice that your raping, murdering sons got served to them!”
I almost expected a witty repartee, as Katarina seemed quite unruffled by many of the things we did. Instead, I saw pure anger flash across her face, and she raised one hand, curling her fingers as if she was choking someone. Almost instantly, my air supply cut off, and my lungs desperately tried to draw in breath.
“All these lectures! I have tried to be kind. I have shown the lot of you mercy, and yet you still dare to speak to me this way. I am a superior life form. Your kind only exist because I deem it so! And now, I will enjoy watching you suffocate in front of me while your little friends are helpless to stop it. I’ll laugh as your face turns burgundy, as all those little blood vessels in your eyespop with desperation, and then as you piss yourself like the filthy animal you are. Goodbye, little dryad. What a waste.”
The squeezing sensation around my throat grew tighter and tighter. I tried to pull my arms down to claw at my neck, but Katarina’s magic held them fast above my head. I tried to call for help, but I couldn’t make any sound. I hoped someone would jump in with a sudden distraction, but no. Everyone was occupied with their own battles. I didn’t know if any of them even realized what was happening with me.
