Hunter

Chapter 45

          After the shock, I ended up my back to the trunk of a tree. My body was dumb and heavy because of the blood loss, preventing me from moving. Alexandre Édouard kept sending me blows, relentlessly, with his magic, maintaining a perpetual pain through my whole body. Suddenly, he stopped. And while I was wondering why, I heard Arthur scream. I managed to turn my eyes right in time to see him complete his turn. Now a bit more than six feet tall, his body large and covered with fur, each of his limbs had lengthened and each extremity now had big claws. Although he was biped, his articulations were those of a classic wolf, as was his head. His bloodshot and bestial eyes were locked on his biological father, ready to pull him into pieces any moment.

"Im-impossible!" the wizard stammered as he tilted his head back to see the whole wolf.

Farax Ronchard let out a cry and teleported into a tree. The warlock yelled at his servant he was a coward, then he took a few steps back but kept his eyes on the threatening beast who was looking at him scornfully.

Suddenly, Arthur jumped onto the mage and tried to strike him with his right paw. If he had not stepped aside at the right moment, the mage would have been beheaded by the powerful blow. The last two claws had cut his face, leaving two wide rips on his left cheek. Stumbling, he leaned on one of the trees before dodging a new attack to the abdomen which still ripped his clothes. He fought back with a vigorous gesture of the arm which projected the creature backward. Panting and holding his bloody cheek, clearly exhausted, he looked at the wolf getting back to his feet. A roar resounded and the wolf charged again, but this time, the warlock stretched his arm before him and the beast crashed into an invisible wall, keeping him far from his prey. The wolf hammered the wall with his claws growling with frustration.

Keeping my eyes on the fight, I tried to raise my right arm, which I eventually succeeded to do after three attempts. Moving was killing me but was possible again. I started to crawl towards the dagger which laid on the ground, half covered with leaves. When I had crawled far enough, I stretched out my arm to take it, an iron grip imprisonned my throat once more, bringing me back to my feet again.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I was suffocating and soon I saw stars dancing before my eyes. The wizard had started to close the palm he held in front of Arthur whom immediatly curled up letting out growls of pain and his body started to twist. The more he closed his hand, the more the wolf's body was twisting and soon the muzzle of the beast started to turn and the fur to disappear. The warlock was forcing Arthur to turn back.

"Non!" I whispered.

Right away, the grip on my neck tightened. Few seconds later, Arthur had reappeared and crawled naked on the ground, his clothes reduced to rips by his first turn.

"I don't know how you did this." Alexandre Édouard said disdainfully. "But it makes you too dangerous. Too bad, you'll have to die, I'll figure things out later!"

"Sto..."

Once more, he tightened his magical grip on my throat, preventing me from talking.

Arthur  was still on the ground, out of breath and exhausted, unable to defend himself. I had to do something or the both of us would die. The only option was for me to succeed in casting a spell without saying it, but I could not. Evrything seemed lost, then I remembered my purse filled with herbs. I plunged my hand in it and held tightly the whole content in my palm. Perhaps if I tried again with the help of plants, I could do it. I had to succeed.

The wizard started his funereal walk towards Arthur.

Fortitùdinem!

He kept walking without letting go of his grip on my throat.

Fortitùdinem!!

He stopped and looked at Arthur who did the same, still out of breath and terrified.

"You'll die like the puny dog you are!"

I closed my eyes tight and frowned as I mentally screamed: FORTITÙDINEM! With a a cry of surprise when his feet left the ground, the wizard crashed on his back. The pressure on my throat disappeared and I fell to my knees before getting back up and walking to the dagger. A bit farther, the warlock was laboriously getting back to his feet.

"How did you do that?!"

Still shaken, he straightened up and started to stretch his arm towards me but he was interrupted: someone grabbed his shoulder from behind and stabbed him in his lower back. He arched screaming in pain before wheeling to discover a young woman with red hair, holding a kitchen knife, stained with his blood. Leaning on the nearest tree, he swiped the air with his hand towards Sophie, before he himself rose in the air and crashed a few feet from me. Taking advantage of the situation I rushed to him, dagger in hand, and attacked. He dodged the first blow, but the second reached his thigh. He cried in pain again. He kicked me in the head with his other leg and I collapsed once more, but stayed conscious. I shook my head to get a grip on myself and heard my enemy call out his manservant to the rescue, the next second they both disappeared in a cloud of dust