Chapter 28

  Snow stepped back from the news.

  The monstrous wolf before him had become unnaturally still as it watched him accept the fact that those rumors the saviors mentioned had some truth to them. A few beats of silence passed between him and Gerik before the shifter asked his own question.

  “Which side will you be on, magician?” he asked.

  Snow was suddenly thankful he had discarded his gloves while eating his dinner. His bare hand was free to draw his blade, the silver quickly catching the moonlight before he held it low at his side.

  “I will be on my own side,” he said firmly.

  Gerik stepped back and turned his body back towards the woods as if preparing to run. “Peace,” he said, “I only offer an invitation. I would prefer to travel with one who would be an ally, but it would seem you need time to consider this news.”

  “Right. Then perhaps we should both be on our way now,” Snow replied.

  “Agreed.” Gerik nodded. “But you may wish to look in on your friend. She doesn’t stalk any four-legged livestock tonight.”

  Snow’s brow furrowed at the suggestion, but Gerik loped off into the underbrush before he could ask more. What few sounds the shifter made quickly drifted into the distance. Once he was sure he was alone again, Snow turned towards the nearest farm and started making his way down the hill.

  Pheobe was quietly grazing on a grassy patch near the bottom. He could have left her there, but he feared trouble was on the horizon and he couldn’t risk rushing back for her. He mounted up and turned her towards the closest, lit home.

  Somehow, Phe found a convenient lane that led down along a rail fence enclosing a dark pasture full of cows and goats. The moon was higher now and though it was not full, it was bright enough to make the dirt lane stand out against the darkness of the vegetation along the pasture edges. Snow looked carefully at the animals as he rode by, none looked disturbed and there was no sign of Lia.

  Within minutes he was riding up along the side of the house, listening carefully for any disturbance within. All was quiet though, and Snow prayed he would only find an irritated owner when he knocked. He left Phe tucked alongside the house by the rail fence and readied some excuse as he came up to the front and rapped hard on the door.

  The sound of angry footsteps started to beat on the other side before the door opened a few inches. Immediately, a hard, suspicious face of a middle-aged man stared back out at him.

  “What do you want?”

  “Forgive me for bothering you at this late hour, sir, but I got turned about in the dark. Could you point me towards the inn?”

  The man stared at Snow for a long minute before pointing a calloused hand out the narrow opening. “Down that road there. Take a right at the old oak and you will go straight into the village.”

  Snow turned to look where he had gestured.

  “Thank you, sir. Have a pleasant eve-” the door was shut in his face before he could finish his pleasantries.

  Snow huffed and mounted Phe again. He didn’t know if he wanted to risk traveling further away down the road. The shifter could have been mistaken and Lia could be now looking for him at the top of the hill, wondering where he got off to. But the fact that Gerik had no motive to stir up this fear continued to gnaw at him.

  He rode on towards the mentioned oak tree, deciding that if he saw nothing at that crossroad, he would turn around and question Lia when he saw her again. He was carefully drafting those questions when Phe suddenly came to a stop and whinnied.

  A head popped up from the tall wheat to the right of the road and Snow instantly recognized Lia.

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  “Lia?”

  “Korvinian? Have… have I been gone so long?” she looked up as if to gauge the time by the stars wheeling above.

  “What are you doing there? This is no pasture.” Snow leaned in his saddle to see if he could spot what carcass she had on the ground.

  “I thought it best to take my dinner over here. The wheat is tall.” She stood and started to wipe her face with her hands and lick her fingers.

  “And what did you find for dinner tonight?” Snow asked.

  “Oh, a goat was easy enough to grab,” she shrugged.

  A groan then came from the wheat. Lia went still with the noise.

  “A goat?” Snow asked with ripe suspicion as he started to dismount Phe.

  “Now, wait. I can explain,” Lia started as she walked towards Snow.

  “Explain what?” Snow slipped past her and parted the tall wheat to see the outline of a man lying on the ground.

  “He was drunk and bent on dragging me into the field! Had I been some poor human girl, he would have had his way with me!”

  Snow wasn’t sure if he believed her. He bent down next to the man and checked his pulse. To his relief the man’s heart was still beating.

  “And he’s alive, I might add.” Lia crossed her arms. “Though he doesn’t deserve to be.”

  Snow sighed and shot a look back at her.

  “And what happens when he wakes up tomorrow? It won’t take his neighbors long to figure out what happened to him with a neck wound like that.”

  “Can’t you… heal him with magic?” Lia asked.

  “I could restore him if he were dead, but to heal the living not only requires power, … it needs a proper spell or invocation.” Snow kneeled and thought about it for a moment.

  “What do you mean… invocation?”

  Snow looked up at the moon before saying, “help me pull him out onto the road.”

  Lia bent down and lifted the man as if he weighed little more than a babe. At Snow’s direction, she laid him on the side of the road, facing the rising moon.

  “Watch the road,” he ordered before turning the man’s head so that the wound would not be in shadow. The man mumbled something that sounded like ‘darling’, but Snow ignored it as he focused on the still seeping bite wound.

  Snow then brought his hands together, to make the shape of a circle with his fingers and thumbs. He held them above the man, so the shadow of his hands encircled the wound – a circle of moonlight landing on the wound itself.

  Lia paused her vigil to watch as Snow spoke some ancient words under his breath. For a moment, it looked as if nothing was happening, but then the circle of light that Snow’s hands had made on the wound began to glow with the same icy blue light of his power. But instead of the fierce lightening he had sent through Waldron’s body, this light was dim and gentle. The man sat still as if unaffected as the piercings began to close.

  Snow continued his chant for a minute longer before pulling his hands back and inspecting his work.

  “You look like you’re surprised that worked,” Lia noted.

  “I am. I haven’t invoked Ilone in a long time. I wasn’t sure if she would listen to me.” Snow went back to Phe to collect his water skin and a cloth to clean up the man’s neck. He couldn’t do anything about the blood on the man’s clothes, but at least the villagers might have a harder time figuring out what happened to him.

  “Who is Ilone? I thought that was only a lake?”

  “The lake was once dedicated to her and still has her name. Ilone is one of the old gods. She’s the goddess of the moon, master of time and healing.”

  Snow stood up to admire his work before turning back to Lia.

  “Do I need to explain what’s going to happen if you do this again?”

  Lia sighed like a toddler. “No.”

  “Is there anything else you’ve been hiding from me?”

  Lia rolled her eyes. “No.” Then realization dawned on her, “How did you know?”

  It was Snow’s turn to confess.

  As Lia mounted up behind him, Snow retold the story of Gerik and his pack, and of his invitation. Even Lia remarked that it was a rare thing for an alpha to extend any trust to a newly met stranger. Then again, both of them had heard tales of how shifters can know the type of person they’re dealing with by scent alone. Snow quietly wondered what he smelled of… especially during these hard days. Perhaps the shifter knew that the scent of his strong magic coupled with the stench of three days outdoors meant Snow was no villain. That no powerful being would willingly sleep in the dirt unless they had some hesitation when it came to taking what comfort they wanted from the world.

  Whatever the case… Snow did not like the feel of it all. Saviors, shifters, and now the old gods. Something was happening and the unease made him nudge Phe along a little faster.