Moon was holding all the cards. He was a monster and killing a little girl would mean nothing to him. She was only a pawn in his sick game to lure me into a trap.

  “Alright, what do you want?”

  Moon smirked and his image grew larger on the computer screen.

  “You already know Mr. Zane. I want you. Your friends, this girl, and her parents are merely my desert. You are the main course Mr. Zane.”

  “Why don’t you just tell me where you are so we can settle this once and for all?”

  “I am afraid that would not be very sporting of me, and I do enjoy our little game. After all, I did promise you a chance for survival, as small as it might be. I even left you this computer showing exactly how long you have before this child falls to the same fate as Mrs. Williams.”

  Moon’s image disappeared and the timer continued counting down on the computer screen. It showed two hours and 23 minutes. Moon’s voice then sounded from behind the countdown screen.

  “Tick tock Mr. Zane, tick tock.”

  I synchronized my watch to match the computer countdown and then threw the computer it into a tree, smashing it to pieces.

  Only a couple of hours to save the girl and her parents. I don’t know where to begin … she could be anywhere.

  Alura walked over to the smashed PC and said, “I have an idea. Moon probably wasn’t the one who handled this PC, but someone near him did.”

  “And that is important?” I asked her.

  “Maybe, if the handler wasn’t using gloves and touched the computer, there might be DNA residue on it. If there is enough, you may be able to create a tracking spell.”

  “Tracking spells were not part of my training back on Keob. Do you know how to make one?”

  “No, but Kyiel does. He can show you.”

  With all the fighting, I had forgotten all about Kyiel. He could be summoned anywhere, anytime, even down in this hell-hole. I focused my mind and said, “Aptier Kyiel,” and he appeared a few feet in front of me.

  “Man, am I glad to see you,” I said and nearly fell on my face after trying to embrace him and spreading his molecules into the air.

  “Sorry, I forgot.”

  Kyiel always knew what was going on since his conscience was linked to mine, so I skipped over all the details.

  “Kyiel, I need you to show me how to cast a tracking spell. All we have is this broken computer and we’re hoping Moon or someone near him left some DNA on it.”

  Kyiel told me to gather a handful of dirt and cover the computer with it. After I did this, he told me to place my right hand on the dirt and say trako three times. He said I would have to concentrate hard because DNA from mere touching something was not a strong connection, like a personal item or blood would be.

  I placed my hand on top of the dirt and said, “Trako, trako, trako,” and nothing happened.

  “Try again Azul, with greater concentration,” Kyiel instructed.

  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and again said trako three times. I was startled when an electrical charge made a white flash and then watched as the dirt gathered into a small pile on top of the broken computer. After another flash, the dirt turned white and glowed as bright as my staff amulet.

  “It is done,” Kyiel said. “Now, pick up the dirt and put it in your wizard bag except for a small amount to begin tracking.”

  “Okay, now what?”

  “Raise the dirt in your hand to you mouth and blow it toward the trees.”

  I did as Kyiel instructed and the dirt sparkled as it lifted up in a stream and slowly moved toward the trees. There were three paths this time and the dirt moved down the center path vanishing out of sight.

  “You can repeat the same procedure as needed until the dirt is gone.”

  Wow, pretty cool magic. I use to get in trouble as a kid when playing in dirt, but right now, dirt was my best friend.

  I thanked Kyiel and told him he could go. He bowed his head ready to disappear, but then paused and looked at the cabin.

  “The old woman is no longer human,” he said. “She is still chained to the chair and has some human features, but her spirit is gone. Only the wolf remains.”

  Alura grimaced. “I’ll take care of this brother. Wait here.”

  Alura went inside the cabin and closed the door. I heard growls and the chain thrashing on the wooden floor. There was a swoosh sound and then complete silence. Alura exited the cabin and placed her sword in the sheath on her back, then walked toward the center path without saying a word. Her eyes didn’t have any tears because she was filled with anger.

  “Thanks again Kyiel,” I said and he bowed his head and disappeared.

  I pointed my staff forward and followed Alura to the center path while thinking how she always came through in dire situations – she is amazing. Alura looked back at me with a big smile letting me know my thoughts were understood. There she goes again with her mind reading. She shook her head and let out a little laugh.

  We came to a few more paths along the way and I repeated the tracking spell sending sparkling dirt to point the way. My watch showed the counter had only 12 minutes remaining, but I sensed we were getting closer. Moon’s continued ability to miscalculate combined with my tracking spell will give me the advantage. How much of an advantage I may actually have or need was unknown.

  More rustling in the woods continued on both sides of the path as wolfs watched and followed. As long as Moon wasn’t being tipped off by his four legged friends, he’ll be surprised when I show up – I was counting on it. The element of surprise could be the difference between being the hunter or the hunted, and there was no doubt which one I wanted to be.

  We continued walking for ten minutes before coming to another clearing. As we got closer, I saw a barn next to a cottage and stone well with a crank handle and wooden pale. I have to give credit to Moon for being able to accurately reproduce 16th century English settings, which is nothing compared to the engineering required to create an arena 500 feet below the surface. Who would have thought that lycanthropes were so capable?

  We pushed forward. Everything was eerily still, even the crickets were silent. The hairs on my neck warned me certain danger lurked ahead, so I was hopeful the two minutes we had remaining might just be enough to save the day. Alura pointed to me and then the barn. I nodded and headed toward the barn and Alura entered the cottage.

  An old kerosene lantern hanging from a post lit up most of the barn’s inside revealing bales of hay and animal stalls. I checked each stall, ready for an ambush, but they were all empty. As I was leaving to join Alura in the house, I thought I heard something and stopped to listen. There, I heard it again. It sounded like rustling, but this time it wasn’t coming from the trees – it was coming from inside the barn. I slowly moved toward the back of the barn and the noise stopped, but I kept moving to where it had originated. Something was definitely here.

  Chapter 23

  I heard more shuffling sounds to my left and pointed my staff ready to blast anything with fur or yellow eyes. Instead of lycanthropes, there was a man and a woman chained together and gagged. The woman began screaming, but her gag only let muffled sounds escape. I raised my finger to my lips telling them to be quiet and they stopped making noise.

  “Can you understand me?” I asked as quietly as possible and they both nodded. “I’m here to help you. I’m going to take you somewhere you’ll be safe.”

  The tension in their bodies relaxed, obviously relived to see something that wasn’t going to eat them. I tapped my staff on the lock holding their chains and it melted to the ground. I didn’t try to remove the wrist shackles because the man and women would get burned. I also left their gags on in case they got frightened and made more noise.

  Moon’s countdown ended several minutes ago and I sensed that something dark was nearby. I could feel it, and it was more dangerous than solider wolfs. The young girl must also be nearby – alive I hope.

  I thought now would be a good time to see if Alura could hear my thoughts, so I spoke to her in my mind.

 

  The hostages and I walked quietly to the barn door and stopped. I opened it a few inches and saw Alura running out of the cottage to the well. Guess she heard me. Once I opened the barn door all the way, the three of us ran as fast as we could toward the well where Alura was waiting.

  Maybe we were going to get out of here alive after all.

  Out of nowhere, Moon appeared standing next to the cottage still in human form, but his eyes were glowing bright yellow, and he was growling at us. We froze in our steps and the women began screaming through her gag.

  Alura and I exchanged looks and her chin and eyes moved to the well. I was still new at being a wizard and my mind was not yet able to hear Alura’s thoughts. She repeated the gesture and I looked at the well.

  It was the water – she wanted me to see the water.

  Kyiel and Alura taught me how to manipulate water during my training on Keob. I had only cast a few water spells working with small puddles, but the volume shouldn’t matter. If there was enough water in the well, and because fur balls can’t cross moving water, I might be able to make a barrier between us and Moon.

  I pointed my staff at the top of the well and shouted, “Hydlama.” My staff amulet glowed with intense blue-white swirls of light and a small spurt of water burst out of the well. A few seconds later water came roaring out and up into the sky. I slid my hand to the bottom of my staff and began swinging it around my head. The water followed my motion like a hurricane, and in one quick move, I pointed my staff at Moon and said, “Aktum,” and the water raced forward enclosing Moon in a swirling 30 foot tall liquid prison.

  Moon made a ferocious howl and turned into his natural wolf self almost instantly. He was huge standing eight feet tall and probably weighed 500 pounds. He panicked at first, being caught off guard by the swirling water, and then turned several times in full circles before fully realizing what just happened. When he stopped turning, and he glared at me and narrowed his eyes while making a vicious snarl.

  The fur ball was trapped and he knew it, but not for long. Keeping my mind focused on moving the water was draining my strength and magical energy. A minute or two longer and the wall of water would fall to the ground, and then there would be no magic left to fight him. I had to think of something fast.

  Moon lifted his head and let out a series of ear piercing howls. He was calling out to his partners and any other wolves still alive to come to his aid. Yellow eyes began appearing along the tree line behind him and howling sounded out from all directions. Moon glared at me again and smirked in a way that tells someone they’re screwed.

  My options were limited. I could swamp Moon in water, but not much more given the drain on my magic. Hopefully I’d catch him off guard again and be able to summon some lightening. If I failed … well, I don’t even want to think about what might happen if I failed.

  I moved my staff downward and the water surrounding Moon collapsed with enough force to knock him off his feet. He trashed his arms and feet as the water flowed over him, but it didn’t last long, and he got up on all fours coughing and spitting out water. That was when Alura sprinted into action and leaped over Moon dragging both her swords across his back. Moon arched his back and howled in pain.

  I focused my mind on all the magic I had left to summon lighting from the sky and shouted, “Aknor stellara.” Clouds formed near the arena ceiling with thunder and flashes of light, but no lightening bolts. I could barely stand from being drained both physically and magically.

  Alura was about to attack Moon a second time when I again shouted, “Aknor stellara.” I then pointed my staff at Moon just before he leapt at Alura and bolts of lightening rained down from the sky. The first bolt hit Moon and tossed him up in the air. A second bolt pushed him back on the ground yelping in pain, and to my surprise, took his arm off. This gave Alura a few seconds to ran back near the well and raise her swords to continue fighting.

  Moon was hurt badly with his arm completely severed from its shoulder. He hobbled into the barn and the wolves along the tree line disappeared after seeing their alpha take such a beating.

  I took my last green coin from my wizard bag and crushed it under my foot, then said, “Relesa.” Green mist once again swirled up from the ground covering me from head to toe and magic flowed back into my body. My staff amulet glowed blue-white and the exhaustion I felt was gone.

  “Alura, I’ll go after Moon. You stay here and protect these people.”

  “Be careful Azul. The beast you chase will not die easily, wounded or not.”

  I ran into the barn where Moon had gone and saw drops of blood along the way. The blood trail led to a bale of hay that was turned over exposing an opening in the floor – it was a tunnel. I looked down and saw a closed metal door with an electronic keypad.

  Damn it. Moon escaped … again.

  “That son of a mangy dog,” I muttered. “Well, you won’t be coming back this way fur ball.”

  I pointed my staff toward the tunnel and said, “Aknor stellara,” sending a bolt of lightening into the opening that destroyed the tunnel entrance, and the recoil from the blast knocked me on the ground.

  I already hated Moon and now I hated him more. He was cleaver, no doubt, which is why he has survived so long. Chasing him in the tunnel was my fist thought, but I had a better way to find him. I had his blood, and as Kyiel pointed out earlier, blood was a great source for casting a tracking spell.

  Wherever Moon escaped to, I was going to find him and finish the job. I gathered some of his blood drops and placed them in a small container inside my wizard bag.

  “Catch you later fur ball,” I muttered while looking back at the destroyed tunnel.

  Alura had freed the hostages from their shackles and gags by the time I got back to the well. The women was crying and pleading to find her child.

  “My baby girl, where’s my baby girl?”

  “We will find her, I promise” Alura said.

  I couldn’t hide the frown on my face because Moon’s countdown expired 20 minutes ago. The girl may have already been killed or bitten. Most of the arena remained unexplored and she could be anywhere.

  Alura looked up at me. I knew she wanted me to confirm her promise, as did both parents. I hesitated for a moment, feeling such a promise would not likely be kept.

  “Of course we’re going to find your daughter,” I said.

  Alura smiled and continued comforting the women.

  It was late and Moon’s partners were still roaming the arena. For now, we had to head back to the clearing to meet up with Thyzil as planned. Hopefully, we would find the girl unharmed along the way.

  A couple hours later we arrived at the clearing. There was a small camp fire where Thyzil and the young girl were sitting and singing songs. You’ve got to be kidding me. Alura beamed with a big smile and the mother ran to her daughter, her arms spread out in the air, shouting, “Baby, my baby girl.”

  “Thyzil, you son of a gun. How in the world did you find the girl,” I asked.

  “Well,” Thyzil said, uneasy about answering my question. “You see, I found two big doggies, then lightening fell from sky. Was that you wizard?”

  “Yes, it was me. I put a couple bolts into Moon and tore one of his arms off.”

  “This is good, yes?” Thyzil asked, but didn’t answer my question, so I repeated it.

  “How did you find the girl?”

  “When doggies saw lightening, they ran toward it. Did you see them?”

  “No, but I know where they went. Moon escaped through a tunnel. Bet you my last dollar his partners escaped through another hidden tunnel.”

  “So … Thyzil, how did you find the girl?” I asked, knowing he was intentionally delaying a response.

  The young girl giggled. “I sneezed and he tripped over a log into the bushes where I was hiding.”

  Thyzil’s blushed. I never thought I’d see the day when the great Zeshtune warrior would be embarrassed.

  I grinned. “Do tell,” I said, trying not to burst into laughing.

  “Old warrior trick wizard,” Thyzil said. “Fake falling to make enemy think they won.”

  “Poor baby,” Alura said, also trying her best not to laugh.

  “Do not worry my princess. I am not injured.”

  Alura rolled her eyes. “Not you knucklehead. I was talking to the girl.”

  Everyone bust into laughter, including Thyzil, and for a moment we forgot about the horror inside this arena.

  It felt good to know we saved three human beings from a horrible outcome and lived to talk about it. As a special bonus, I could now track Moon any time using his blood, which pleased me to no end. I kept grinning thinking about Moon hiding in a hole somewhere licking his wounds. All things taken into account, today turned out to be a very good day.

  We all walked up the path to the ledge where the elevator was located. It was too small for all of us to ride up together, so Thyzil and I stayed behind while Alura and the happy family rode up to the surface.

  “Don’t forget to send the elevator back for us,” I said in a joking manner.

  Alura arched an eyebrow and shrugged.

  “Oh, you’re real funny Alura. Just don’t forget to send it down for us.”

  The elevator door closed and Thyzil and I sat down with our backs leaning against a large boulder.

  “Not fair wizard. You and Alura killed most doggies today. I think you both owe me.”

  “Sure, next time you take the lead Thyzil. You know that I’d be more than happy to watch you deal with the bad guys.”

  Thyzil smiled. “We have deal wizard.”

  It wasn’t long before the elevator door opened. I stood up and brushed dirt off my pants while Thyzil looked back out at the arena.

  “I will miss this place wizard,” he said.

 

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