How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Twenty-one: A hidden secret

Note: Gore and cuss words.

"Ugh!" I groaned as my arm was wrenched out of it's socket, sending pain up to my head as my feet caught in roots and rocks. I had dropped my wand when it had jumped over a fallen log as it ran. Blood poured down my arm from the wounds but I had no choice: I couldn't break the large wolf's locked jaw from my arm as he ran. 

The wolf's movement started to make me feel sick, it was like being on a spinning top ride while on a roller coaster track: with loops. I could feel bile start to come up my throat when we suddenly stop and I'm dropped into a heap.

I swallowed the bile down as I slowly sat up, since my world was still spinning. A few minutes passed before I could finally make sense of what I was looking at. I had been taken into a heavily dense area with gnarled trees that twisted into each other and thorn bushes in between them.

I shakily stood up, putting pressure on the wounds on my arm but blood still dripped from my finger tips.

"Grrrr." The large wolf growls at me once I had my balance, seeming to gesture ahead of me to this big tree with large roots, a dark tree hollow at it's center. It followed me closely as I limped over and tried to peer into the tree. It growls again at my hesitation and I reluctantly stepped inside.

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"D*mn it!!!" I kicked a wolf and stabbed it in the abdomen. We were once again surrounded by wolves with Tia missing. I had heard her cry out and turned to see her get dragged into the forest, but about 15 wolves popped out of nowhere which off my route to her.

We killed seven of them before they withdraw, disappearing into shadows in the trees.

"Report." I cleaned off my sword before sheathing it and turning to look at the rest of our group.

"I'm good."  Kimbra throws her braids over her shoulder and sighs. Blair, the red-haired woman and Barrett the muscled man both respond with "We're fine." while Nolo nods in my direction.

"That's not normal behavior." Kimbra crosses her arms. "We need to find Celestia." 

"We leave in three." I didn't bother to make a request; this was an order. I walked over to the spot she disappeared to and clenched onto my left hand. I removed my hand to reveal the same ring on my ring finger as the one I had put onto Celestia five years ago, although slightly larger then hers with a silver stone in it's center.

I rotated my wrist slightly and grabbed onto an invisible thread which was attached to Celestia's. I was able to tell the distance and state that she was in from the thread, so I knew that she was in pain. 

'Don't worry Tia. I'm coming.' I though as the others stand behind me.

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It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the gloom of the hollow as I hesitated at the entrance. The hollow was surprising deeper then I thought with the back extending into what seemed to be a cave. I walked forward, maneuvering around rocks as the wolf follows me closely while growling whenever I stopped. 

I kept going, the air becoming colder the deeper I went. The walls emanated a dim light so I see enough to not trip over some of the larger rocks. The only sounds were mine and the wolf's breathing, the small plops from my blood hitting the stone floor, and our foot steps echoing.

I lost track of time by this point and started to feel really chilled when I finally saw the end of the cave. I saw another wolf seeming to be laying on its side, it's back facing me: but this one was even larger- it's fur pure white.

'A Fenrir!!' I gasp a little in surprise then felt the silver wolf behind me push me from behind. I carefully moved around the wolf and gasp again but this time in fear. The Fenrir was gravely injured, multiple wounds with black blood oozing from it, dyeing its fur.

Whatever had attacked it, it must be really powerful to give such a wound to a Fenrir. Fenrirs are very power creatures which can use magic and some special ones can even speak. Some could even fight dragons and end up with a draw.

I freeze as it opens its ice blue eyes and stared at me.

"It's okay..." I glance over at the silver wolf and had a sudden moment of clarity. "I'm not here to hurt you."

The silver wolf must of seen me healing Kimbra earlier and had enough intelligence to bring me here to help the Fenrir. However, I dropped my wand earlier which is going to make healing the Fenrir challenging.

The Fenrir stared at me for a few more moments before blinking once. I took that as a sign of consent and carefully sat down in front of it.

Luckily, I had Alaric's waterskin on me so I used that to clean out the black blood that gave me a better look of its injuries.

The smaller ones were rather simple, but the largest one: I could see the Fenrir's rib bone. As an added bonus, there were signs of poison as well.

"Great." I huffed, swallowing another round of bile that threatened to burst out. "Just great."

Even if I had my wand: I wasn't confident that I would be able to heal the Fenrir. It's injures very serious, I was surprised that it wasn't howling in pain.

I glanced over at my bloody arm then at the Fenrir- there was only one way that I could save it.

The Fenrir had to become my familiar.