Black Ice-Completed
Chapter 33

Warning: some language in this chapter.

Taking a steadying breath, she looked around the room and froze as eighteen pairs of eyes stared back at her, all wide eyed. Children that ranged in ages between four and thirteen looked at her, some were siblings, others with different hair and eye colors.

Again, she felt a tug on her clothes and looked down. Seeing the same child who had previously spoken to her the child said, “We’ve been expecting you. What took you so long?”

“Y-you have?” she asked in confusion as the child grabbed her hand and started tugging her to another doorway.

“Of course, Mira has predicted your coming since I was three years old, I’m ten now!” the child said proudly as he continued to drag her trough a maze of doors.

“Who is Mira?” Nyota asked as her skin crawled with apprehension. Who was this person who had seen her coming when she had only been fifteen?

“She’s our savior! A lot of us are children of slaves or people who have become slaves. Mira and Nem come replace us and shelter us!”

Nyota frowned and stopped when the child finally stopped tugging on her sleeve, “Lady Mira, the great wolf Nyota is here to see you… finally,” the child said casting Nyota a mischievous smile before leaving the room and firmly closed the door.

She stood in the doorway puzzled as she looked around the room and found no one there. As she huffed, she moved towards the wall that held a bookcase and looked at the titles. Tome I Volume XII of the Fengari Coven: Spells and Poultices, Twelve Curses to Befall Your Enemies, and The ways of Seeing What Cannot be Seen.

As Nyota touched the Twelve Curses Tome, she felt a ripple of power rush along her spine and with a snarl, she turned around to see two women not much older than her.

“My my, she has quite a temper sister, much like father. Are you sure you wish to help her?” one woman said as she stood behind another that was sitting, her mouth set in a firm scowl as she looked at Nyota in revulsion.

Both women were taller than Nyota, but where Nyota was bulky, they were waifs. Their clothes held an ethereal quality, shimmering as they moved. Both had lilac eyes but had different hair colors. The one who stood had brunette hair that curled into tight locks while the other was blonde with straight lanks.

“Yes Nem, I’m sure. She’s not used to magic, or have you forgotten that magics have lost their hold over these lands. She has a right to feel threatened,” the blonde said softly as she continued to look at Nyota blankly.

“Sit wolf,” Nem commanded and Nyota suddenly found herself seated and the chair drawn towards the two women.

Growling low, she tried to get up and found herself stuck to the chair, “Release me!” she snarled as she tried to push against the chair.

“She’s quite rude,” Nem said and then laughed as she watched Nyota struggle to get out of the chair, “I can see why mother cursed the wolves.”

“Nem,” Mira said quietly, “release her.”

“Why? Because you think this wolf can break mother’s curse! Don’t make me laugh. You’ve been trying for centuries and why? Because you feel guilty?” Nem snapped as she continued to watch Nyota struggle, her eyes flashing with dark glee.

Mira waved her hand and Nyota suddenly found she could stand up but as she was about to say thank you, Nem screeched, “You know it’s against the rules to break a fellow sister’s spell!” and flung her hand towards Nyota causing her to slam back into the chair so hard that the chair slid back into the wall. Nyota grimaced in pain as her head connected with the wall itself.

“Nem!” Mira growled as she stood up, “You hold too much of mother’s hurt even though you were too young to even remember the events. It’s my fault that the wolves got cursed in the first place. If I had talked to mother after dinner then she wouldn’t have followed father into the woods! Mother should have never place father in the shoes of another human. She knew the ways of the wolf as well as you and I!” As she said that, her eyes glowed with the wolf that resided deep within her.

Nem shrieked in outrage and blasted a wave at Nyota, “How dare you show me that beast! How dare you take this animals side! Look a the monsters he has produced!” she screamed and flung her hand at Nyota once again causing her head to bang into the wall.

She had finally had enough with the pain and the argument between the sisters. If she had wanted to be beaten up she would have stayed with the soldiers and guards that were coming after her. As Nyota watched Nem pull her hand back up to release another wave of magic, she growled deep in her throat and shifted, her body taking up more than half the room, the magic falling off her body as if it was never there.

Nyota watched as Nem flung another wave of magic towards her and all three women were surprised when Nyota stayed standing. Nyota could feel the ripple of magic along her fur but like the spell that had kept her sitting, this too fell away.

Nyota gave a smirk at Nem and shook out her coat to get rid of the feeling of magic, “Now that we’re on an even playing field, why don’t you tell me what you want so I can be on my way. My time is needed elsewhere and you’re taking up precious amounts!” she growled low, watching Nem like she was a rattlesnake.

Mira smiled softly as she looked at Nyota and felt pride in her extremely great niece. She was strong and would be a good Alpha if circumstances went together. So many possibilities could happen. “We wish to help you,” Mira said and ignored Nem’s derisive snort, “We have information to relay and spells to cast upon you so you’ll be safe until you reach your destination.”

Nyota looked at the two women and tilted her head as she contemplated what Mira wanted to give her. Would this information change anything for her? Would the spells really keep her safe? Did she really need their help or even want their help at all? What would they want in return? Nyota decided that Mira was safe enough but the blonde had said “we” and she didn’t feel at all comfortable accepting Nem’s help.

“Thank you for your gracious offer, but I have no use for spells. Whatever information you may have could end up killing me, especially if I make a wrong move against your advice,” Nyota said carefully, not wanting to give insult to Mira. It wasn’t her fault that her sister was a bitch.

Nem glared at Nyota but Mira simply nodded in understanding, “If you won’t accept the spells or the information, how can we help you?”

Nyota looked at the women again, Nem had a continuous sneer plastered on her face as if she smelled something foul. Mira looked like she really wanted to help Nyota out and that made her sigh. To rankle Nem, Nyota scratched behind her ear and hid a smile as the witch shrieked in disgust. Ignoring her muttering about mutts and fleas, Nyota turned to Mira and said softly, “Water and food would be a great help as I traverse the desert.”

“It shall be done,” Mira said confidently before Nem could say anything.

…

Nyota screamed in outrage as she threw the canteen several yards away, “Curse those witches!” she shouted as she slumped into the sand.

It had been several hours since she had left Kalsavin along with Mira and Nem. And when Nyota had went to take a drink of water, she had found her canteen empty.

“This canteen will fill itself back up whenever you take a drink. The food in your pack will never spoil and last for a very long time,” Mira had said as he had handed both to Nyota.

She could remember the sloshing of water in the canteen when it had been handed to her. How was it suddenly empty? At the thought of the food, she pulled the container and opened it. Instantly she threw the container away, the food spilling out onto the sand in a wriggly mass of rotten maggoty meat.

Those damn witches, Nyota growled as she glared at both canteen and meat. She had given all her water containers to the children before she had left, thinking that the witches were going to be true to their deal.

She remembered that while she had been talking to the children, Nem had been close to her pack. That fucking witch was behind this! Nyota would bet her own pelt that it had been Nem who had messed with her supplies.

Growling in fury, Nyota picked the canteen back up. She’d just have to fill it when she came across an oasis. Which, it turns out, took three days to replace.

When she finally found it, she slammed to her knees and ducked her head into the water, taking huge gulps of water, half of what she drank spilling back out of her mouth.

Taking another huge gulp, she pulled her head out of the water with a sigh of relief. But when she opened her eyes, she found herself face to face with a desert kroskisk that had chosen to cool off in the water as well. As the animal gave a hissing growl, Nyota smirked back at it, “You picked the wrong creature to try to eat,” she growled.

…

Nyota sat licking her fingers as she finished a hunk of meat and turned the spit so the rest of it would get cooked. There was a lot of meat on a kroskisk, but the suckers were hard to eat. The skin of the animal was so hard that you had to literally skin the leathery scales off first before being able to get to the meat. The only place they were particularly vulnerable were between the eyes. Get a sword or claws within that spot and you had a dead kroskisk.

She stayed at the oasis for a couple more days as she recouped from dehydration and hunger. Black Ice wolves could live on very little water and food when they were travelling, but if they had none, they weakened just as fast as humans, quicker if they were in the middle of the desert because heat was one of their biggest weaknesses.

As she packed the last of the meat, Nyota pulled the canteen out and filled it with water. Taking a quick guzzle, she refilled it once again before leaving. She had to replace Veronica before she made a move onto Azgeta.

Being so close to her homeland made her feel giddy. She was twenty-two, soon to be twenty-three, and was so close to her goal. But was she ready to take on Lyosha? Would Syn accept her as she was, as an Alpha? Or would he try to treat her as inferior and as a weakness?