A Wolf's Courage(Tales of Europa Book 1)

Chapter 5-Discovery

After my world had gone dark I felt my body envoloped in warmth. A warmth that melted my frozen bones like ice as it turns to clear water. The steady jostling of my body slowly brought me back from the dark. My eyelids opening ever so slowly against the bright light.

Loud noises assault my ears like the droning of bees, strange smells tickle my nose and make me sneeze. A small sound that makes my body shudder and quake. Then I feel a gentle rumble on my back, a slow but powerful rumble that brings me out of my stupor.

I feel my heart pound harder as I take in my surroundings. Dark stone walls, large groups of humans, wickering horses, and strong arms holding me tight to a hard chest. Arms connected to hard shoulders and a face that sends a stream of ice down my spine. How can someone be so beautiful, but be so deadly?

A light sparks in his green eyes a small smile spreading across his face. All I see is his sharp menacing canines gleaming in the sun, teeth that will cut flesh and tear muscle and bone. I have felt nothing for a long time. Empty is my heart and numb is all I have ever felt, now I feel the heart stopping jolt of fear. Fear that makes me twist from his hold and sends me flying to the ground.

It was mere moments, but it felt like forever as I drew near to the hard dirt. I closed my eyes as the wind whipped past my ears, a faint cry piercing the air. A powerful gust of wind pulls me upright, and my feet settle onto the dusty ground. The woolen blanket falling from my shoulders as black smoke and feathers whirl around me.

My eyes go wide and tears trail down my cheeks as I see a whirlwind of feathers dissipate and fall. Dark eyes and blue black hair bring forth memories from long ago. Ones of laughter, hope, and chaos. The thin girl before me my anchor and protector that I had thought I'd lost. Lost to the fires of my youth, fires that turned from comfort to the danger that took her from me.

"Nadia," I whisper. The bones of my hands shake, my feet scuffing across the ground until we're just inches apart. A fresh wave of tears trail down my face as I throw my arms around her almost skeletal frame. "Nadia, Nadia, Nadia," I sob into her bony shoulder.

Gentle hands brush across my head and back, then stop at my shoulders and gives them a firm squeeze. "I am here Ivaine, I am here cousin," she croons in my ear. Snuffling I look into her dark eyes, her cheeks so sunken that her bones could cut through her skin. "Where have you been?" I cry. "Where did you go?"

A small smile spreads across her cheeks, her skin dry and sickly. The healthy almond color of her skin ghastly pale. My eyes catch on the whirls of black feathers on her skin. Feathers twisted with branches and, nettles. "I have been with you," she utters. "I have been with you cousin, always."

More tears fall as the smoke and feathers give way to blue sky, and a space filled with humans staring with shock and horror on their faces. The throaty yell of a male's voice chills my blood. "Witch!" he cries, as the sound of shrieking metal fills the air.

The same cry that split my world in two and severed my innocence and childhood. A cry that signed my family's death warrant, and forced me into isolation among the dark lifeless woods. Never again will it happen to me, never again.

I imagine my mother's animal hide drum and it's steady beat, the one thing that stayed with me after so many years. A heavy pounding rhythm as I raise my hands to the heavens and whisper to the sleeping earth.

Mater Terra Voco Te
Mater Terra Da Mihi Virtutem

I chant the spell as more humans draw their weapons. Nadia placing her back to me as she chants her own incantation.

Domina Tenebrae Voco Te
Domina Tenebrae Da Mihi Virtutem

The ground shakes and buckles as thick leafy green vines shoot out of the earth. Spirals of smoky darkness circle above. A sight just for show, the spirals and vines circling around us in a barricade of green and black.

"Where are the exits?" I say, craning my head back to see Nadia. "Two, the side gate and main gate, but they are both blocked off by armored men," she replies. "Mauris," I growl in return.

I bring my hand up to twine the vines tighter but Nadia's cry of pain freezes me, and the vines drop as the dark spirals disappear. "Nadia!" I scream, whipping my body around I catch her body and cradle her against me.

For a girl a few years older than me, she is so small and frail against my chest. Her breath comes in pants as a trail of blood seeps from her shoulder. The arrow dark and menacing like a snake. The sound of boots grows louder as two shadows come to hover over us.

"You burn her then I burn to," I hiss. My fingers gently brushing her snarled locks from her face.   "We won't burn you and we won't burn her," a low voice says.

The crunch of gravel making me look up to see a male, about Nadia's age, with a face of pure concern etched across his porcelain face. A light to Nadia's dark with his golden locks and light blue eyes. A blue cape trailing down the back of his brown tunic. His eyes then glancing down at Nadia, and filling with pure and undeniable adoration.

"Why should I believe you?" I growl. "Because she is his mate," the green eyed male says as he also comes to kneel in front of us. "And he will protect her just like I will protect you."