Dakasi Winters: The Vampire Queen

Chapter 15: Running with Wolves

     After the measurements were completed, Dakasi left Rosalind to start work in her shop. She exited the doors of stained glass, and took a moment to enjoy the view before her. She rested her arms on the front porch railing, only to immediately jump back. She flinched and quickly studied her forearm, noticing it was covered with sunburns.
     "Oh, joy..." Dakasi sighed before shaking her head. "I should get inside anyways... Lillian has probably been left alone too long... I don't even know if we were supposed to leave her alone in the house at all." Dakasi muttered to herself.

     Dakasi paused as she walked down the wooden steps. She looked up towards the shop, and chuckled as she imagined Rosalind leaning over her desk, fabric strung about everywhere as she poured all of her focus into her work. "I think I'm starting to understand why Kantori has so much skills despite being so young. She must have had a lot of time without supervision to practice combat." Dakasi noted to herself. This caused Dakasi to smile fondly and shake her head.

     As Dakasi turned around, her purplish grey eyes noticed a beautiful wolf leaping onto the porch. She blinked and walked towards it, her arms raised in front of her as she did. Ones hand held open her coat, while the other reached for a pair of knitting needles she had stashed inside of it. As she approached the wolf, she pulled out the needles, held them together with both hands, and casted a spell onto them. The needles, which were red and decorated with white rose designs, grew long and twisted around each other. They became a staff of swirling reds and whites, with a wooden rose at one end of it and a sharp tip at the other. The wolf watched this spell curiously. It sat in front of the entrance to Rosalind's house, and tilted its head at Dakasi. Both the Elf and the Wolf's ears perked and twitched, both cautious of the other.

     "You're one of Salebelle's familiars..." Dakasi whispered to herself. She sighed, and lowered the staff. She held it at her side, unable to turn it back into knitting needles now that it was a tool for channelling her magic. "What business do you have here? Are you a spy, or a messenger?" Dakasi questioned, trying to keep any fear from showing on her face.
     Suddenly the wolf bolted, and Dakasi tensed as she watched it run off. After hesitating a moment, Dakasi looked at the door behind her. Then she looked towards the running wolf. Should she check on Lillian, and leave the Familiar be? Or should she destroy it... In case it was about to report something to Salebelle that could cause the Rebellion harm?

     Trusting her intuition, Dakasi chased after the wolf. It leapt over, around, and through obstacles. Dakasi found her own way to get past each, running around people carrying crates that the wolf ran under, running across benches that the wolf went around. The wolf ran through an alley, and Dakasi almost slid into the road when she turned the corner to chase it. Dakasi ran past a woman pulling a cart of eggs and milk, and the woman scolded her for it.

     The village alleys were filled with garbage cans, crates, chests, and planks stacked against the wall. The stone road was cracked and difficult to walk on. While the wolf ran ahead, Dakasi searched around her for materials. She grabbed a wooden bucket that rested by a store's drain pipe, then tossed it over the alley. Using her magic, she turned the water to ice. Then she leapt into the platform of ice she had created, and used her staff for balance while she slid across it.

     The wolf ran out of the village and into the forest path. This was a more crowded part of town, but the wolf moved slower so that Dakasi could still keep up. Once the crowd started to thin out, the familiar continued to make things difficult so as to keep Dakasi's interest in the chase. Dakasi persisted, even when the chase made her dizzy and out of breath.

     Carrying her staff with both hands now, Dakasi waved her staff in a circle above her. A whirlwind surrounded herself and the wolf, causing the autumn leaves around them to fly into the air. Dakasi's eyes glowed a mix of violet and red, and her staff did the same. She spun around, and conjured a forcefield made of leaves and energy to block the wolf's path. She then bent down, scooped a stone off of the path, and grasped her fingers around it. After whispering an enchantment, the stone in Dakasi's hands transformed into a ball of magical energy. She threw it at the familiar, which whimpered as it disappeared into a cloud of mist. Dakasi sighed in relief, then held a hand on her head as she dispelled the forcefield.