Trojan Wolf: Savages Read online

Diego corrected himself. The mocking choir suddenly stopped with the cry of the pair that held Jack as they fell. Thompson’s blade had been so swift that three of the four legs she’d severed were still standing upright in a gruesome fashion.

  Diego felt the feral magic latching onto his and reaping the veil from around the Sergeant Major. The curved sword cheated two beasts out of a neck before it was taken. Thompson fell to the ground, unarmed, broke a nose, dislocated a jaw, severed a spine and finally got pinned down by no less than three humanoids.

  Daya ran to her rescue and parted two monsters from their very life, but a clawed hand dug into her throat and she collapsed. Diego felt the shape of Jack’s magic quickly shifting as he crafted enchantments of all sorts in a matter of seconds. Some were designed to slow down the bleeding, others to protect, and the last ones to harm their attackers. But the monsters’ strange magic hacked away at it with a savagery unlike any other.

  “No!” Diego shouted, revealing his presence, and the veil was torn from him as well. But the noble command didn’t stop the monsters in any way, a situation Diego had only experienced with Barbarians so far. Beasts, much like the Berserkers, didn’t bow down to Authority.

  He let go.

  Diego’s magic exploded into the air and for a split second, he saw fear into their yellow eyes. The power burned at their meager defenses and started clutching at the monsters, stripping them of their life by forbidding them the right to breathe or entertain a heartbeat. The potent charm struck half of them as they tried to come at him, before the rest decided to retreat.

  The one that spoke got hold of Daya and dragged her behind him. Diego’s magic flew in the monster’s direction, ready to tear it apart, but it couldn’t get a hold of him. Slithery, the beast escaped him. Diego focused, tried his best, but what he had in force he lacked in true mastery. The monster got away…with Daya. The nobleman looked around. Three of the creatures had escaped his wrath.

  The urge to scream out his anger came, but he buried it under his lungs and straightened his back, as he’d been taught as a child. These things would pay, and their creator with them.

  “Don’t waste your magic.” He hadn’t heard Thompson’s steps over the sound of his furious heart.

  “I’m not going to waste my energy trying to keep it under control,” Diego retorted.

  Jack came closer as well, panting. “What do we do, Dom?”

  “We track them,” she said.

  “We should ask the Wildlanders for support,” the young technician argued.

  Thompson closed her eyes. “I don’t trust them,” she eventually said. “We have to do this alone.”

  “Dom, if we want to forge an alliance, showing them that they’re of value might…” Diego started, remembering his lessons.

  “Wildlanders are opportunists,” she interrupted. “The only reason they welcomed us into their camp was because they couldn’t take us out. If they get the chance, they’ll just kill these things and us with them to claim the forest for their people.” The Sergeant Major seemed spiteful more than angry. She opened her dark green eyes and her weapon jumped from the ground, back into her hand. “Follow,” she ordered.

  Diego had to keep track of her using his magic or he would have ended up lost in the woods. Thompson moved with an ease unknown to most Imperials. She didn’t bother with subtlety, though. The things they were after knew that they’d come after them. How many of these monsters could there be? The team had just walked into a trap. Now, they were possibly running into the beasts’ den. Yet, there was no hesitation. Fear and doubt even eluded the calculating mind of Diego in the face of the only other alternative, leaving Daya to the mercy of these monsters.

  “Did you get that?” Jack asked, next to him.

  “No.”

  “It’s Daya,” he explained. “She’s counting three hostiles.”

  Thompson slowed down her pace. “Okay. What else?”

  “Her magic is getting cold, but she’s up for a fight.” He paused. “They just got to a cabin.”

  “Fuck!” Thompson stopped. “I’ve lost the blood trail. Daya’s healed, alright.”

  Diego’s magic wriggled. “I can sense them.” The power suddenly stiffened and backed off. Something he’d never witnessed in his life. The long bands of energy started retracting, loosening their grasp on the living to get back to him. “There’s something else,” he said.

  “What?” Thompson almost shouted.

  “No idea…” He clenched his fists. “I know where they are,” that’s all that counts, he thought.

  He took the lead, and his magic kept shrinking as they went. Why would it? It had mirrored his wish to slaughter the monsters as soon as they’d appeared. Now, he was the one mimicking its behavior, feeling less and less certain he wanted to go forward. Finally, the cabin appeared between the trees.

  “What’s Daya’s situation?” Thompson asked. “Jack?”

  “She isn’t answering.”

  No matter how reluctant it was, Diego forced his magic forward. The power filled the surroundings, wrapped the house and eventually seeped into it.

  “I’ve got her…” he paused. “They aren’t with her.” He looked around. “I can’t sense them anymore. They’re veiled.”

  The Sergeant Major turned to Jack. “Traps?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got a clear read on this. There’s a major enchantment below ground, but it’s for electrical power.”

  “Ward us up,” she ordered.

  Diego felt boxed up inside the multiple layers of enchantment. No matter how smooth and warm Jack’s magic, it felt oppressive, but for once, he didn’t have to keep his magic from hacking at it. His power seemed to wish nothing more than to play dead.

  Blood. The cabin’s interior had been drenched in it. No expert in the matter, Diego still spotted the different shades of crimson, noting that the reddening had happened over several instances.

  The three monsters weren’t veiled, they simply were dead. Their warm corpses had been busted open from their navel to their throat. He grinned. Daya had done a fine job.

  They approached slowly, and Thompson examined the bodies. “They’re warm… wait!” She plunged a hand in one of the abdomen, her blade in the other. “This one’s missing a liver.” She frowned and walked up to another beast which had died on a table. “No stomach…or bladder.”

  Diego winced and walked away, Jack did about the same. For once, learning wasn’t his first preoccupation, they both wanted to find their colleague, their friend.

  “This one’s got no tongue, and no liver as well,” she punctuated her investigation loud enough for them to hear. Diego climbed up to the mezzanine while the technician went downstairs, where he’d spotted a generator.

  “Dom, you might want to come!” the nobleman called when he found what appeared to be a cloak made out of feathers. He couldn’t quite remember why, but something told him it was relevant. Something about a cult.

  When he held it out for Thompson, “Fuck!” she was quick to react. “We need to contact Dispatch ASAP. The Corneille noire is in Washington.”

  “No!” The cry was saturated with pain and horror.

  They both rushed for the basement.

  Jack had fallen on his knees, next to something…someone.

  Thompson watched over silently.

  “But, I…” Diego couldn’t believe it. “I felt her. I felt her magic. She can’t be.” He made a step forward. “She isn’t…” Horrified, he suddenly saw what had been done to her. Whatever had killed the monsters had done the same thing to Daya.

  The Sergeant Major gave him a furious look. “Don’t make this worse for him.”

  The nobleman swallowed hard. “You don’t understand.” Why couldn’t he be imposing now that he needed it the most? How could his confidence fail him now? “No!” He clenched his teeth, looking for words. “She’s alive.”

  Thompson’s look changed from anger to pity. She thought he was in denial.

&n
bsp; “I can feel her magic. She might not be breathing, but she isn’t gone yet.” He launched his magic at her, but it wouldn’t comply. “Believe me, Jack.” He looked at Thompson. “Try.”

  Jack gasped. “Gods…” He looked up, revealing his tears. “Her heart.”

  Diego did his best not to shy away from the viscera and crouched near what they’d taken for a corpse. Seconds later, the dark mass contracted with a wet sound, unable to restart but desperately trying to.

  Could this woman ever be killed?

  He grinned. Espero que no.

  THE END

  A message from the author

  First and foremost, thank you for downloading and reading this short story.

  Trojan Wolf: Savages is my second short story to be originally written in English. Much like I did at the end of my first short story, Trojan Wolf: Olympia, I would like to invite you to review and rate this work.

  Sharing your opinion on a book may not only help your friends find their next best read – or avoid a terrible one – it also helps writers find an audience. Because we’re all different, and all have our opinions on the stories we read, we often define ourselves both through our similarities and differences. When you express your discontent for an aspect of a story, people who think like you will keep their distance, while others might investigate. Whether you enjoyed this short story or didn’t, once again, I invite you to share your thoughts. It’ll be an encouragement for me, whatever your position, either to continue writing about Diego and his teammates, or to try something else, or simply