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About a mile northwest, I found Phalen standing beside Hugo, facing a wall of fire. The vegetation wasn’t scorched nor was there any smoke. These flames were magic-made.
My mate was close by but I couldn’t pinpoint her exact location. Neither of my friends were alarmed so I didn’t react, though I felt a fierce need to set eyes on Raven and see that she was alright. The further into the forest, the more likely we were to encounter predators.
“It’s a little eerie, isn’t it?”
Hugo and I both looked at Phalen.
“There’s no sound to it,” he continued. “No crackle or spark. Nothing scorched. It’s not real.”
“An illusion?” I inquired.
“You want to touch it and find out?” he laughed.
I stepped closer to the barrier. A small amount of heat was emanating, strong enough to give me pause, but faint enough to determine it wasn’t a real fire.
“Is Raven on the other side of this?”
“Yes,” Hugo replied. “She’s got walls up all around so we wouldn’t see her.”
“Why?”
Phalen’s pursed lips had my hackles rising. “Why did she not want you to see her?” I demanded more forcefully.
“We believe she’s sparring, hand to hand,” Hugo stated.
Phalen crossed his arms. “Really? Sparring hand to hand? That’s what she’s doing?”
Hugo tugged at his earlobe. “Ok, then what would you call it?”
“Hand to paw. No, talon. Claw? Something like that. It doesn’t have hands.”
Blood froze in my veins and I suddenly had both their shirts in my fists, pulling our faces into an awkward triangle. “What is in there with my mate?” I hissed.
“She’s fine. I would never let her come to harm, Cas.”
My arms jerked them both inches away from my face. “Whatis in there?” I fumed, ignoring Hugo’s certitude.
“Oh, just fucking tell him,” Phalen cursed. “This is a new shirt.”
“A wyvern,” the healer finally answered.
“A small one,” Phalen added emphatically. “Hardly bigger than the three of us put together. A baby, really. She stopped it in its tracks with a flick of her wrist.”
They were dead. I would kill them both. They’d left my mate inside a ring of fake fire with one of the most bloodthirsty creatures in existence. I released my so-called friends, pivoted, and ran headfirst into the magical barrier.
My body slowed when I got one step into the flames. It felt like I was pushing through mud. Correction—hotmud filled with shards of glass that scraped across my skin.
Enough of this shit.
I shifted into shadow form and rose up with the flames. Moving in their natural direction was much easier than trying to move through them.
Once I broke free of the top, I had an unobstructed view of what was happening within the ring of fire. Without thought, I flew down into the open space, noting the wyvern lying on its side in the center of the clearing.
Raven was kneeling in a meditative pose near the dragon-like creature’s head. Her eyes were closed. Her face serene. I landed close by, solidifying, ready with my sword to remove the beast’s head.
“Touch him and I’ll remove your kidney the hard way,” she warned without opening her eyes.
“The hard way?”
