Mage And Wolf
Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

We’re greeted at the boundary line by the Chief and 3 of his youngest warriors. Things must be pretty dire on their end.

"Greetings, I’ve brought a team with me this time, and we should be able to take care of your troll infestation in a hurry."

"If only it was just the trolls. They’ve amassed an army of thousands of small trolls and Goblins outside the portal, preventing us from reaching the site. Hunting rounds work fine on the smaller monsters, but we’re running very low on stock. Everyone is, the plants can’t make it fast enough to keep up with demand."

"Fortunately for you the Death God is generous" I joke, reaching back into the truck for stored cases of ammunition. Mary and Karl have been busy in their limited off time, and Mary stocked up all our vehicles with case upon case of .223 ammunition for the smaller rifles.

"Is that what they’re calling you now?" The chief laughs and Hui’Jin gives him a funny look.

"Calm down little one, he doesn’t know, and we can’t expect him to know yet."

I hop in the truck with the chief and the rest of my team piles back into the Toyota to follow us to the staging area near the ongoing battle.

"I was one of two chosen by the Dragon God of Death as her High Priestess here on Earth. Dragon forces have been battling Earth’s defense forces at the portal near Seattle for weeks now, and we just came to an agreement with them last night for a ceasefire in the city and a Dragon Temple to be built here in North Dakota at the city the Mage Corps are building, attached to the university."

"Will they teach useful skills or just more of that big city college nonsense?" The chief asks, not particularly interested in higher education.

"They’ll have courses on magic and cultivation, as well as trade skills. If any of your people are interested that is. It’s all funded by the city and tithes from the church. No charge to the students."

"That could be helpful. There’s a lot of skills we’re lacking, since most everyone who went to university before all this rarely came back. The warriors are doing well though, the meditation has led a lot of them to break through to the first stage of awakening as the spirits have told them to call it."

"You’re in contact with the ancestral spirits? That’s great."

"Yes, they say our planet was dying and they couldn’t talk to us easily, until the portals came. Now they’re free to talk to their children."

"You should spread this to the other bands you’re friendly with. The better their warriors, the better their chances of survival."

"You don’t want us all to follow your Gods?"

"Nope, the Dragon Gods don’t believe much in conversion. They’re absolutely sure their power is self evident and those worthy of being their followers will choose to follow on their own. The only exceptions are followers of Gods they’re not on good terms with, but I can’t seen them having a grudge against the spirit animals of North America."

"It’s good to hear history isn’t repeating itself." The chief notes with a wide smile "We’re here, Evan White Bear will give you the rundown on the situation. He’s the only one to break through two times so far."

Evan looks happy to see I’ve arrived with reinforcements, and leads me to the ridge line the tribes warriors are mostly gathered behind, with a single line of defense on top.

"Do these people follow animal spirits?" Hui’Jin whispers in my ear. This little dragon is seriously sneaky, I didn’t even hear her leave the truck.

"Yeah, for thousands of years now. But since the portals returned, so did the spirits power."

Hui’Jin smiles "It confused me, everyone here smells like animals and I thought we were at a grocery store until I saw it was all humans."

I can’t help but chuckle at that thought. I guess little Hui Jin is carnivorous.

Taking a deep whiff of the air, she’s right. I can smell Bear, deer, badger, coyote and many more animal scents overlaid on top of the warriors scents. If they keep cultivating I suspect the strongest among them might even become shifters, following the path of their spirits towards an animal form.

"White Bear, we brought about ten thousand rounds of enchanted ammunition, take what your warriors need. We only have one option .223 but it’s common enough it should help out a fair number of warriors. How are things going?"

"The small trolls and goblins are forming ranks, like a trained army. They number in the tens of thousands now, so I’ll have each man with a rifle in the caliber to load one magazine for emergencies. The chief mentioned something about a Death God being on our side?"

"Yeah, long story, but I was elevated to the clergy, you’re looking at a bona fide High Priestess now" I laugh, thinking of our last encounter, laughing around a rodeo ring.

"I’ll change to my ceremonial garb for the battle, don’t let it freak you out too badly. It can be a little intense the first time you see it."

White Bear nods, clearly not actually understanding, but that’s fine. It’s best to see firsthand, an explanation doesn’t really cover anything.

"I’m going to charge out in front and clear a path" I tell my assembled group and the tribal leadership. Take the Toyota along behind me and use the belt fed gun to take out the large Trolls. They’re very thick skinned, so light arms fire isn’t going to do much to them. So it’s that or close combat."

Everyone looks prepared and starts returning to their position, except Hui Jin, who is still standing by my feet.

"What’s up little one? You don’t want to ride along in the truck? Or does the Goddess demand more of you?"

She nods, indicating the second option, but she doesn’t look particularly happy about it. I wonder if it’s possible for dragon kin like her to change Gods, or if their position is set from birth by the clan they belong to? Something in their nature maybe?

"How about this, I’ll carry you with me on my back. It’s easy enough to rig up a sling. You’ll be safe there, and close enough to the battle to use your fire magic. That should make the Goddess happy, right?"

Hui Jin thinks a while before agreeing "That should do it, but I’m not certain I can do it. I’m really, really bad with blood, and I might pass out like last time."

Oh, so it’s not the fear of injury or the thought of killing that’s crippling her, its the sight or possibly smell of blood.

"Well, then this will be much like a trial by fire for you. Because once we get near the Trolls there will be blood. A lot of blood."

Her grey scales seem to turn a bit lighter, highlighting the black streaks and rims. Neat, I didn’t know a dragons scales even could change color.

A few moments with a length of rope and Jurgen has her securely attached to my back like a camping pack. In fact, she’s so small I think I’ve carried heavier backpacks for overnight trips with the Pack. He’s done an intricate Turtle shell pattern with the ropes, leaving no chance of her being jostled free, but I do wonder where he learned such unusual rope work.

"You clear to cast without hitting me in the head?" I voice my final concern. She’s tied to me well enough that even if I decided to do cartwheels she’s not coming loose.

I can feel her nod against my back, so I take that as a signal it’s time to go and call forth my ceremonial robes. A gasp sounds through the assembled warriors, quickly silenced by commands from their leaders who knew to expect this, if not what it would actually look like.

"Team, with me. Designated warriors, mount your rides and follow at 20 meters behind the Toyota" My voice has the hollow boom of the Death God’s servants and a heavy layer of command from my Lycan nature.

There is no hesitation, and everyone falls into place, my loping gait taking me over the ground in a smoother and faster manner than would be possible in a wheeled vehicle. I slow a bit, seeing the horses struggle to keep up, even across this flat field and we’re soon within 100 meters of the assembled Goblin forces.

The goblins are looking nervous, mutterings about the Death God reaching my mind despite being too quiet for my ears to hear. I signal towards the largest Trolls for the 50 caliber to start doing its work and tell Hui Jin to get ready to fire when in range.

"I have a spell to enhance your voice if you want to put the fear of the Gods into them" her voice is barely a whisper over the wind.

"Yes, let’s do that. Nothing like a good war cry to set the mood."

Unlike the sexual tinge Karl’s spells have when they wash over me, Hui Jin’s spells feel like a gentle hug. But over every inch of my body.

Not Bad.

I’m about to shout something random when a thought enters my mind. A war cry of the God of Death. At the very top of my lungs I shout the keening wail towards the goblin lines. The effect is amplified both by the spell on me and my robes, coming across as a haunting shriek with a promise of eternal suffering and terror. It’s obviously some sort of divine magic, and it’s doing its job well. The majority of the goblins have fallen to their knees, and many of the Trolls look queasy.

Over the next second, all of the goblins have collapsed. I’m now close enough to look at them, and they’re bleeding from every orifice in their heads, blood pooling around them where they’ve fallen, clearly dead.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be" Hui Jin’s shaky voice comes from over my shoulder.

"Just pretend it’s a movie, just pretend it’s a movie" she mutters to herself, she finally noticed the blood I guess.

I turn left and head towards the flank of the Troll’s defense and signal the Toyota to bank right, a sickening crunch of goblins under tires and horse hooves has Hui Jin making gagging noises as I run into combat.

"Throw everything you’ve got at the nearest troll as soon as you’re in range" I instruct.

"As the Goddess wills it" she really doesn’t sound good. But she’s started firing large fireballs, scorching crude armor and melting flesh with surprising efficiency for such a young Mage.

She must sense my confusion, because I hear her voice in my mind ’my kind have much more innate magic than humans, so even as children we’re deadly’

Well that explains it. Much like the humans at their third breakthrough are finally reaching the strength of a non cultivating alpha lycan, the Dragon Kin have a huge head start on humans when it comes to magic.