Quest (OLD: the new version MIGHT be posted shortly)

Chapter 5-Sage

“Look at the wolf,” Carson gasped. I looked under the blinding sun and saw that the wolf looked trapped. It didn’t move forward because the sun was repelling it, but it didn’t seem to want to go towards the walls, either. The reddish-gold glow must be something harmful to werewolves. Then I remembered the mistletoe; that must be it. Mistletoe must have some magical properties.

“That means we can trap it,” Sage mused. “We’ll have to try it. Everybody, corner the wolf against the walls.” We all stepped forward so the wolf couldn’t move. Carson summoned and unsheathed the sword. The silver was glowing nearly as brightly as the magic sun.

“Gladio,” I heard Sage whisper. I turned to look at her and saw a long sword in her hand. Her face was set, but I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes. Her hand shook and she took a deep breath, her chest expanding and contracting.

We all took another step forward and the wolf backed up, bumping into the wall. It yelped pitifully and stepped slightly forward again. Its yellow eyes looked for a weak spot, a way to escape. Sage and Carson stared edging along the walls to the corner that the beast was trapped in. The wolf looked at them and growled, its fur standing on end and great beads of drool dropping out of its mouth.

Sage lunged at the thing’s right paw. It snarled and took a swipe at her. She dodged it and sliced at its leg instead. At the same time Carson sunk the silver blade into the other thigh. The monster howled in pain and it sounded like the entire city replied. The stab wound was sizzling, even after Carson pulled the sword back out. Sage took advantage of the distraction by creating a long gash in the beast’s stomach. The wolf snapped its maw and Sage barely ducked out of the way, just avoiding the long, glistening fangs. She didn’t dodge the paw, which knocked her into the wall.

Sage crumpled to the floor, her blood smearing the wood. Carson shouted to get the wolf’s attention and drove the sword deep into the wolf’s chest. The brute retaliated by creating three long claw marks in Carson’s face. Sage had stood back up now and had dropped her sword. Instead she was holding a sphere of blood in her hands.

She looked incredibly frightening. Her blood had smeared across her face and one of her braids had come undone. Her hair had gotten darker, somehow, which seemed impossible. Her eyes, too, were dangerously darker. Her head was raised high, her face a stony calm, and an aura of black was glowing around her.

The orb of blood was floating above her hand, as she had done to test it in the bar. She clenched her hand into a fist and the wolf howled. It was thrown back against the wall. It yelped and howled horribly. It seemed to be in immense pain. The sun made it look pure white against the dark wood, and the blood seemed black.

“Carson, kill it!” Sage screeched. Carson stood up, seemingly dazed, and pulled the sword out of the beast’s chest only to plunge it in again, this time stabbing the heart. The monster whimpered and collapsed. Sage sagged as well, the dark light around her vanishing and the blood in her hands spilling onto the floor.

The wolf’s fur fell out, the claws retracted, and it took on human shape again. This time, however, he was terribly wrong. The magic stopped working on him, so his bones didn’t mend themselves into a human shape. Instead, he was just a sack of bones. His silver hair was splayed out around him, his old eyes gazing into nothing. The Moonstone sword was still sticking out of his chest, but as the large wolf chest turned into a thinner human one it slid out, landing on the floor with a clatter.

“Sage,” Serenity whispered kindly. Sage looked up from the shepherd’s body, her face covered in blood and tears. The magical sun disappeared as the eldest of us led Sage away from the body. Austin sent up an orb of softly glowing light that was nowhere near as hot as the sun. It actually seemed to let out a cool breeze.

“’Ere,” Argus gruffed. He tapped his wand on Sage’s head and I watched the gash mend itself, blue-green smoke coming off of it. “Can’ do nutt’n ‘bout da blood, bu’ I reckon your head feels a might bett’r.”

Sage didn’t reply so Argus went to Carson and drew his wand across the long cuts in his head. More smoke came off of them, but when he was done there were still scars. I walked over to him and held out the wand.

“Thanks, Jae,” he mumbled.

“Thank you,” I told him. “You just saved our lives.” Carson looked up at me, his bloodshot eyes searching my face for some sort of safety line.

“I also took a life.”

“And now we’re that much closer to saving thousands,” I reminded him. He nodded and I walked away, seeing that he was done talking. ­Everyone was done talking, actually. For the rest of the night we just sat there, not able to sleep. The howling and growling outside would keep anyone awake. We were all tired, sweaty, and shaken, but we just sat, waiting for moonset.