“Get that thought out of your head, Wolfe Noxus. I can sense your emotions, and I am not calling you, My Lord.” Cassie insisted while everyone else slowly gathered their wits.
“Well, we can discuss that later. But more importantly, we need to find the source of the restrictions on everyone’s aura and eliminate it before any other groups come along. A group of Witches without their magic is pretty helpless, and we’ve only got so many bullets.” Wolfe reminded them.
“My aura is back already. I think the last one you killed was a Witch because as soon as you killed her, the restriction lifted, and my aura returned.
I would hate to see what price she had to pay to cast that curse, though. Area curses that can restrict Witches as strong as we are don’t come cheap in terms of backlash.” Noor informed him.
“I think the Familiars are coming around as well.” Parker agreed, then nudged her Imp with her toe and startled it awake.
“Damned curse. Be careful. They’ve got a Witch.” It blurted.
“Yes, we noticed. A dead one at the moment.” Wolfe agreed.
“Oh, good news. How is everyone holding up? The last I saw, we were surrounded by mundane sorts with weapons. How long was I out?” The Imp asked.
“Only a few minutes. Now, I still have a bad feeling about this. They had the confidence to attack students this close to the academy, and they had such a large group. It didn’t seem random to me. Go search the bodies for anything that might identify them.” Parker ordered her Familiar.
“You just don’t want to touch them. Fine, I’ve been saving this spell for a while.” The Imp agreed.
Wolfe watched carefully as it activated an Unholy Spell, and all of the clothes and accessories removed themselves from the bodies, forming a pile in the clearing.
“Now that’s useful. I’m more concerned with how everyone is, though. Killing actual living, talking people isn’t easy.” Wolfe commented, looking around at the shocked Witches.
Not that he was in any better mental shape after the battle, and even if he resisted the urge to vomit, he wasn’t entirely sure that his shaking legs would continue to support him. He was just doing his best to fake a steady presence so that he didn’t make things worse.
Or as his dad had always said: “If everyone believes you’re in charge, then you’re in charge. That’s the secret to how you become the boss.”
Mary looked up with a relieved sigh once Pup woke up, and her inspection of the dog determined him to be unharmed by the curse. “I think I will be fine. But how are you so calm and organized? Look at Curtis, he’s clearly in shock, and he didn’t get a single shot off.”
Wolfe gently took the gun away from their hyperventilating companion and tucked it in Curtis’ pocket in case he needed it later.
“The trick is to take all the panic and rage and hide them on the inside. If you look confident outside, nobody questions you, and then you can deal with the emotions later. Later later.” He explained.
“Just repress everything until it doesn’t bother you anymore? Did you learn that from the Noxus Patriarch?” Cassie asked.
“Nope, I learned that lesson from my boss at the courier company the first time I punched an annoying client.”
While they talked, the imp was searching the pile of equipment to identify any incriminating or potentially valuable items. He had the loot mostly sorted by type, and a small pile of tokens caught Wolfe’s eye.
“What are those?” He asked, picking one up.
It was a red arrowhead with the number 43 on it and a pair of crossed blades on the other side. They all appeared to have the same number on them, so they weren’t personal effects but some sort of gang or unit marking.
“I recognize that from somewhere. I think that’s a military badge from the border guards. Or maybe from another nation. Military badges all look pretty much the same to me. There are only about ten of the badges, though. Maybe some of them were deserters?” Parker asked.
Wolfe became even more uneasy at the thought that they might have been attacked by their own troops but nodded. “That’s possible. We would have to ask when we got back to the Academy at the end of the week. For now, everyone should keep one in case we need to bluff our way out of trouble later. Little Imp, where did they carry them, do you know?”
“They were worn on the shirt, inside the jacket.” The Imp replied as it finished sorting everybody’s belongings.
They didn’t have much, and there was no camping gear, so they most likely had a base of operations nearby that they felt safe leaving intact or with a few members to guard.
“No travelling or cooking supplies. They must have a camp or vehicle.” Wolfe told the Witches as he looked through the loot.
“They don’t look like much, but those Arrows all have spells on them. Does anyone have a magnifying glass? They might have a manufacturer’s mark.” Ella suggested.
They didn’t have a magnifying glass, but Noor had a spell that would do the job, and the mark was quickly found.
“You’re right. It says the arrow is property of the Morgana Coven border guard.” She whispered, looking around in concern.
“If this was a patrol group moonlighting as slavers, we could be in real trouble if anyone finds out we killed them, even this far from the border where they should be stationed,” Curtis added, looking panicked.
They didn’t have any evidence of the incident, just bodies. If they were supposed to be in the area, it would be hard to convince anyone that the Academy Students hadn’t gone on a killing spree.
“Keep the badges hidden, and I will purify the rest. I still think the badges might be useful later.” Wolfe explained.
[Unholy Smite] had no problem turning bodies to ash with a bit of patience, though they all felt the loss of the quality weapons as the flames destroyed them. It was a colossal waste, but they couldn’t return to the Academy with the distinctive and clearly marked standard-issue weapons of an active military unit.
Earth Magic buried everything that remained deep underground, while a combination of wind and Witch Magic hid the damage to trees and grass like they had only just arrived in the clearing.
“Let’s go. I don’t want to be here any longer.” Reiko insisted, then picked up Flame and led the way to the edge of the clearing.
Wolfe overtook her in a few steps and patted her head. “I might have missed this one, but I’ve still got the best detection spell of the group. I’ll lead.”
The path they were on ended up leading to the main road back to the academy, so they gathered to make a plan.
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“Our first camp isn’t far. We could stop there for the night again, or we could push through the night and be back into the secured area around the Academy in the morning to take a day long break and plan our next hunt. We don’t count as returned until we enter the gates.” Wolfe suggested.
“We’ve got extra amulets for stamina. Take one for everyone, and let’s follow the road home.” Parker offered, taking out the amulets.
“Then it’s decided. If we hear anyone approaching, everyone moves off the left side of the road, and we will wait for them to pass.”
Later in the afternoon, they heard a group of vehicles slowly approaching, so they left the road and headed into a ravine to get out of sight before stopping to have a cold dinner next to the river, afraid that a fire would attract unwanted attention.
The noise stopped near them for a while, then continued on, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Once it was out of earshot, they began to return to the road, only for Wolfe to stop them a few steps out of the ravine when he felt that something was watching them.
“Good senses and better judgement, but your detection spell doesn’t have as long of a range as mine does. Come on out to the road. Headmistress Peach has ordered all students back to the academy.” A polite sounding voice from the road informed them.
