The Wand and the Wolf

41 - Out of sight

Ibhans POV

I didn't know why I had done it, I had felt a little possessed actually, when I walked out of the forest to Kyda. She was like a magnet. When she had looked at me I felt nervous even though I had held her in my arms for most of the last three days, but it was different now.
I leaned against a tree, feeling lightheaded as I tried to catch my breath. Walking away from her had felt wrong, but there were more pressing things that had to be taken care of.

"So, what did she say?" Damien asked as I made it back to camp.

"Were you listening?" I asked, a little annoyed and he gave a sheepish smile.

"Wolf hearing, you can't do anything without me hearing," he said pointing to his ears. I sighed as my brain went back to Kyda and how she hadn't even heard me approach her. I hoped it wasn't permanent. And I hope my brain wouldn't be so one track minded forever. Riaz and Eliza were sleeping as I sat by the fire, crossing my legs and pulling out my spell book. I flipped through the pages, finding comfort in the aged book. Seeing the light of the flames dance across the page, I remembered that I had my shadow marks.

I set aside the book and held my hand out in front of me, pulling the shadows out of myself and across my skin. The feeling was electrifying and I was entranced by the way the shadows curled across my skin. They were wispy like smoke but felt like ice.

I realised then how different my life was to how I had envisioned it to be. I was supposed to get my shadow marks, train some more, find Isamu, return to my life and live out my days. Maybe I would join the guard as my father had, but I had never really made a proper decision on that. Now the thought of joining the guards made my blood boil and my stomach turn.

Instead of all of that, I was sat in a forest surrounded by a rival turned friend, a warlock and her werewolf mate, with my own light being held hostage by hospital staff and her brothers just a few hundred metres away from me. It wasn't that I had no plans to go back for Isamu, but the plans had changed, unwillingly.

I lay back in the grass, looking at the patches of sky between the trees, and I felt restless. Feathers was close as he always was but the bond meant I had grown attached to Kyda so quickly, I wouldn't be able to sleep without her tonight.

As predicted my sleep was broken and disturbed. I woke up multiple times throughout the night, and even willingly put Feathers inside the neck of my shirt, but I couldn't sleep. I was so fucked.

Imogen came back to camp early, having slipped quietly away in the night after we made a rough plan. In the light of day, she was much brighter than I remembered, and a faint croaking sound seemed to follow her wherever she went.

"So, I brought some more stuff for spells and such," she said, placing a large duffel bag beside me, "feel free to help yourself to anything you find, most of it is home grown," she added with pride. I opened the bag to find an impressive variety of herbs with some small tools inside to properly use them.

"So, where do we start?" I asked and she pulled out a small hand drawn map.

"We'll the first person who saw the little bundles found it near the foot of the mountains, and following few were getting closer to the pack line. We live more up north which is why we didn't find any of them ourselves, so they probably already know we're there but aren't counting on the fact that wolves tell each other everything," Imogen said and I nodded. Warlocks couldn't dream of being as social as wolves.

"So I think it's safe to say they must have some kind of base camp on this area," she continued, circling the area closest to the mountain, "since there's nothing in the inner edges that would have been seen on a daily patrol," she explained.