The Lost Werewolf King's Mate

Chapter 28: Mike's POV

Liz's clothes were torn, dirty and covered in blood. Her delicate face was covered in soot and tears and I could tell that, although she suspected the centaurs would attack the Northern Inkling Kingdom, she didn't think it would happen this soon.

I looked around at the capital city of the Northern Inkling Kingdom which, just a few hours ago, was gleaming with all its high rise building and aircrafts that no humans or magical creatures have been able to crack the code to. This proud city of innovation and the most advanced technological advancements was about to fall.

I looked back at Sebastian. He was busy healing as many people as possible, but there were too many people with serious injuries and he and the other healers were quickly losing their strength.

Seeing this horrific scene of broken silver machinery and highly advanced weapons just didn't make any sense. The centaurs weren't supposed to be winning this battle. They've been ruled by the Northern Inkling Kingdom for hundreds of years; and although there has always been the possibility of an uprising, the centaurs have not dared to rebel against the inklings in the past hundred years or so.

The last time the centaurs tried to rule over this territory, they found themselves defenseless against the machine army of the inklings. The inklings had used their superior intelligence to create a kingdom that relied on technological advances instead of magic. Thus, the inklings didn't even need to fight the centaurs themselves. They just sent highly advanced machines to fight the centaurs. That battle lasted only a few hours, with the centaurs suffering massive casualties, and not a single inkling was harmed. Since that battle, the Northern Inkling Kingdom has almost abandoned the use of magic altogether and, instead, focused on developing technologies that are incomprehensible to the rest of us. The cities and homes they built using their secret and highly advanced technology earned them the name we all know them by - the Silver kingdom; named after the shimmering silver look of the city caused by the technologically advanced high rise buildings, machines and aircrafts that fill the kingdom.

However, the city capital, the Silver city, was going to fall today. The centaurs were proving that no amount of technology could surpass great magic. And that's what they have on their side today- magic.

When we all left the meeting with the president of the Republic of Centaurs a few days ago, we all thought he understood that the borders between the Silver kingdom and the Republic had to be maintained at all cost. The Queen of the Northern Inkling Kingdom, Queen Merrida, had made it clear that the inklings are the rulers of the territory and the centaurs were given the autonomy to govern themselves, subject to oversight from the inklings.

Liz was the only one who pointed out that this was not a longterm solution and that the centaurs had probably been planning an uprising for years, if not decades. We all assured her that the last war between the centaurs and inklings had erased even the tiniest idea of them ever attacking the Northern kingdom. However, she insisted that in her line of work, someone who accepted such restrictive conditions to their rule always had something up their sleeve.

When she suggested that spies be sent into the centaur Republic, Queen Merrida reprimanded her and told her she was overstepping as a guest and outright refused the request. However, when the capital city's entire AI consciousness was frozen, literally frozen into a block of ice, Queen Merrida realised too late that she had made a terrible mistake.

This mistake was now costing us the lives of hundreds of inklings, seers and witches who live in this territory. Due to their technological advancements, the inklings in the North never had a need for a large army. The machines were their army, so they only have a small specialised unit of warriors who are trained to guard the Queen and royal members of the family. The remaining warriors are scarce, not well trained and are barely enough to protect the capital city, let alone the entire kingdom.

All these mistakes were now haunting me as I looked at the ashes covering the once mighty silver city. With the city's entire AI incapacitated, the whole machine army was rendered useless and, despite their intricate and highly complex designs, they were now no better than scrap metal.

Liz wouldn't be able to hold out any longer. The centaurs had dozens of evil witches with them who were laying thick and sharp ice wherever they touched. She was trying her best to melt the ice, but the witches were too many, too powerful and she was simply not strong enough.

I watched her touch the ground that was, despite her previous attempt, covered in thick ice again. I saw the flames she created travelling under the thick ice and slowly start melting it, but before the ice could even fully melt, the witches laid another thick layer of ice over the ground.

It was freezing and the mist that was now filling the entire city was making it impossible to see oncoming attacks in time.

"My my, the mighty Silver city has fallen". This dark and eerie voice of a man filled the entire city. It was in the air we breathed and felt like it was reaching into our hearts and trying to freeze us from the inside.

"Once mighty inklings, give me the girl who walks with flames and we will leave you to bury your dead with dignity. Refuse, and we will march beyond the capital and lay waste to your entire kingdom." The voice sounded amused. Like it enjoyed seeing all these people dying.

I knew whoever this was, they wanted Liz. She's the only person who has a power related to flames.

Seeing as evil witches were aiding the centaurs, it only meant one thing - the centaurs were siding with Raphael and for some unknown reason, he wanted Liz.

Liz looked at me with her fiery gold eyes which were now down to their last flickers of flames. She smiled like it would be her last time smiling at me, and I immediately knew that she was going to sacrifice herself stop this war.

I shifted back into my human form as I ran. "DON'T", I shouted while running to her. But I was too far.

She smiled at me one last time and walked into the icy mist. I couldn't see her anymore.

I ran to a dead inkling warrior and grabbed his silver cross bow and arrow that's been dipped in poison. When we realised that all the machinery was down, the inklings resorted to using old weapons stored from before their rapid technological developments.

My hands were shaking with fear of losing Liz. I was struggling to see past the icy spikes and thick mist created by the witches, but I saw a faint trail of fire that followed Liz. I caught a glimpse of her black leather jacket and shot the bow right into her shoulder. I watched her instantly collapse to the ground as centaurs and witches rushed to go grab her body, but I was closer to her and I knew they also struggled to see passed the thick mist.

I ran to her limb body that was lying on the frozen ground and picked her up with no time to waste. This was the only thing I could think of to save her. She was going to sacrifice herself and I knew they were going to kill her and I was not going to let that happen.

The ice was slippery and it was hard to see through the thick and icy mist, but I ran back to our base without falling.

I put her on the ground and pulled the poison arrow out of her shoulder. The poison was spreading down her arm and to her neck. I watched the black liquid slowly pulsing through her veins.

"Sebastian! Sebastian! It's Liz. You have to come help her. She's dying!" I was shouting as hard as I could over the battle cries, and had it not been for my werewolf tolerance for cold temperatures, my voice would have sounded like a whisper.

Sebastian ran to me with a worried face.

"I understand that you shot her in order to save her, Mike", Sebastian said as he looked at her wound, "but the rest of the healers and I don't have enough powers at the moment to heal strong poison like this."

I grabbed his arm and dug my nails into it. "Then find another way to help her. She's not dying. Not here. Not today."

Sebastian took a red flower out of his coat pocket and started crushing it into pieces. He mixed the crushed flower with a liquid, tore off the part of the shirt that covered Liz's arm and smeared it over the wound and then wrapped a white bandage around her shoulder.

"This won't heal her, but it will slow down the poison." He started looking around the battle field. "I have a friend. She's a good witch. Her name is Anha. We've received orders from Queen Merrida to get Elizabeth as far away from the Northern kingdom as we possibly can. The nearest safe place is the gryphon kingdom to the east. Anha will take you there. They are vicious and cruel and hate outsiders, but we don't have any other choice. Whatever the centaurs and witches want with Elizabeth, it can't be good."

It got colder and the mist was now so thick that I was struggling to see Sebastian's face. And then that eerie, death-like voice returned.

"Inklings, give me the girl who walks with flames, and I will let you be...for now." The voice sounded like death. It sounded like it was here to take all the light and joy and hope that we could ever have and swallow it in a dark whole. It sounded so sly and menacing that I could almost see it crawling around like a deadly snake. It was in the air. It was in the ice. The ice was carrying this voice and every breath we took felt like we were inhaling it.

"Take her and get to the nearest car. Anha will find you there. She will hide you long enough to get out of here." Sebastian was shaking and his hands had turned black and purple from the cold and all the healing he's had to do today.

I picked up Liz and carried her in my arms.

"Tell Queen Merrida she must attend the Werewolf king's coronation", I said to Sebastian. "Magic can't harm the wolves. Liz and I have seen it. The golden path has taken us to every single werewolf pack. They all train with good witches and none of them can be harmed by magic. Mathew will help the Silver kingdom. Just make sure he doesn't find out about Liz."

Sebastian nodded his head and gave me a pained smile. "I'll make sure to remind her, Mike. She won't have a choice now. You need to hurry. May Nayala, the Godess who rules the winds be with you. May she guide you and keep you safe."

I smiled nervously at him. "And may Selene, the Moon Godess, keep you safe."

I ran to the nearest car and put Elizabeth in the back. I was about to hot wire the car when an older looking woman with intricate braids in her black hair opened the passenger's door. She got it in, waved her hand and the car engine started.

"What? Who?"-

She cut me off.

"I am Anha. We need to leave right now!"

I got in the driver's seat and drove off as fast as I could. I didn't know where we were going, but I remembered Sebastian said the Gryphon Kingdom is in the east so I headed east.

Anha looked at the back of the car and then took a shiny purple stone out of her dirty blue bag. She was wearing a long shiny dark green gown with long sleeves, but it was dirty and covered in blood from the battle. She looked taller than most woman and the muscles covering her body made it clear that the woman had been training all her life.

She put the purple stone on the dash board, and despite the car driving really fast over all the debris in the city, the stone remained perfectly still on the dash board.

"What is that?" I asked her.

"It's a protection stone. It will hide this car and everyone in it. No one will be able to find us." She was very dismissive. Her voice was hoarse, like it was on the verge of cracking into a dozen pieces.

"And what about her?" I pointed at Elizabeth with my eyes. "Can you heal her?"

She got angry. "I'm not a healer. I'm a witch!"

"Then how the hell do I save her?", I roared at her. "If you're not here to heal her then you might as well leave this car!"

She let out a sarcastic laugh. "Without me there's no way you're getting into the Gryphon Kingdom. They will snatch you up and rip out your heart the moment you set foot on their lands. They have healers. If we get there in time, one of them will be able to save the girl who walks with flames.

She narrowed her crystal blue eyes at me as she stressed that last part.