Feral Bonds

Chapter 39

Gretchen didn't know what was happening. Natania looked like she'd been carved out of darkness. Her eyes were yellow but her pelt had turned black. She looked almost like Fergus did when he died, inky blackness oozing out of her skin, and she'd gotten much larger. Her head was only inches from the high ceiling. Horror flashed through Gretchen. What have I done?

The shadow wolf leaped at the witch, twitching as she cast some sort of spell. It snarled as it collided with her. The woman screamed and cages flew open around them.

Something Gretchen thought she would never see hit Natania's side. A dragon, blue scales seeming to glow in the darkness. She doubted it was a full sized dragon, they should be larger than that, and Gretchen felt slightly ill at the idea that the witch was holding a baby dragon in this place.

Awe and horror filled her as the darkness from the wolf seemed to consume the dragon. Leaving nothing but dust and the echoes of the dragons pained cries.

"She's really far gone, huh?" The glowing haired woman in the cell beside Natania's was the only creature that didn't respond to the witch's summon.

"What do you mean?" Gretchen asked, not taking her eyes off the wolf as it tore through creatures she'd only seen in fairy tales, struggling to reach the witch. A bear clambered for the shadow wolf, knocking into her side, but Natania barely budged to the six hundred pound battering ram. She snapped at the bear, severing its spine clean in half.

"The demon has taken over her body, if not her mind. The wolf can't stand to power like that," she said. "I wonder if they will live."

Gretchen didn't want to know what she meant. Of course Natania would live. The wolf was swatting the other creatures around like they were toothpicks, steadily bridging the gap between it and the witch.

Many of the creatures turned to dust when the wolf touched them, others she ripped apart with tooth and fang, and soon the dungeon was empty except for the four of them. The wolf snarled with triumph and leapt the remaining distance, trapping the witch in her paws and biting off the top portion of her body.

The legs fell, lifeless, to the ground and the wolf howled its victory. The sound reverberated around the room, shattering several windows. Gretchen winced and covered her ears.

Natania halted, ears twitching, then turned to face them. She stalked forward, her teeth bared. Shadows leaked out of her mouth like smoke.

"You should run," the phoenix said. "She won't know you."

Gretchen swallowed nervously. "I can't abandon her. I did this to her."

The phoenix stared at her appraisingly. "She will kill you."

"Then I will have paid for my sins," Gretchen insisted, though there was a slight trembling in her hands.

The phoenix turned back to the wolf. "The wolves were made with darkness," she muttered, seemingly to herself. "I wonder if..." she trailed off, giving the wolf a contemplative look. "It might not work, but magics always have a counter. I might be able to..." She pursed her lips. "It's worth a shot. She did free me from my chains." The feathers on her arms ruffled as she looked back at Gretchen. "I'll try to free her. It will be brutal and painful to silence the demon, but the rest will be up to you."

The flaming phoenix walked out of her cage and toward the wolf. It snarled and leaped at her, but the phoenix smoothly dodged out of the way. "It's all right," she murmured. "Peace, wolf. Take back control." Fire burned from her fingers and the wolf was engulfed in blue flames.

A horrible screech escaped the wolf and Gretchen shouted at the phoenix. "What are you doing?"

"I told you it would be painful," she responded, "but it's the only chance she has."