Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

"A moment, Millie!" Cal interrupted me as he used our connection to pull me toward Gasric's tent. He ducked inside and soon came out with the flute which he held out to me with a smile. "You are forgetting your staff."

I pursed my lips as I looked between the flute and its former owner. "Are you sure?"

He grasped my hand and set the flute in my upturned palm. "I have never been more certain in my life. Besides, if memory serves me, you were once able to change this into a broom to escape my men. I had hoped you might do the same now."

I lifted my gaze to the stormy skies and pursed my lips. "I'm not sure which way we'd head-" My question was answered before I finished by a bright flash of light in the distance to the west. The illumination was followed by a terrific roar of fury. My eyes lit up and a smile brightened my face. "Ben!"

Cal lifted an eyebrow at me. "Pardon?"

"No time to explain!" I told him as I clutched the flute in both hands. I shut my eyes and pressed the object against my chest. "I have to get to Ben. Take me to him."

My hands glowed and the light was matched by the flute. The wood lengthened and transformed into the broom. I scurried onto the handle and Cal did the same. Together we pushed off from the ground and high into the air.

The rain pelted us and lightning sheared the sky. I turned toward the west and beheld a huge billowing smoke cloud. Ben was angry. Really, really angry.

I stiffened my jaw and shot us over the canopy of the thick forest. Ben's trail led from Rookwood toward where we had been held captive. He had probably been following my scent but lost it due to Gasric's efforts, and now he was rampaging.

His fury hadn't gone unnoticed by others and I glimpsed werewolves running through the woods toward the calamity that was my fiancé. They were more slender and faster than Gasric's clan, and I guessed they were those loyal to Eall.

We flew close enough that the trees parted and I glimpsed the fully transformed Ben. He stood in a clearing of his own making. Charred trees surrounded him and many had been toppled by his thrashing tail. A narrow trail of fire followed behind him. The wolves had their hands full merely putting out the flames.

Cal pursed his lips as he inspected the destruction. "If we do not stop him soon the truce will be meaningless. There will be nothing to exchange."

A short figure raced among them putting out the flames with magic and I recognized it as Dreda. I landed close beside her and she jumped at our abrupt appearance and spun around to face us. A bag hung at her hip, carried by a sling over her person. "Don't go startling me like that!" she scolded us as we hopped off.

I hurried over to her and grasped her hand. "How do we reach Ben and get him to stop?"

She pursed her lips and shook her head. "I don't know. He's never been this far gone before. I tried to reach him, but he didn't recognize me."

I steadied my nerves and shoved the staff into her hands. "Let me try."

"Your Highness!" The shout came from Edouard as he hurried up with his face a mess of blackened ash. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed me, sans ribbon. "You!"

Cal set his hands on my shoulder and smiled at his soldier. "That will have to do for another time, Commander. Millie here has something she must do."

I didn't wait for any more revelations but turned and hurried into the trees toward Ben. Werewolves darted to and fro, some carrying buckets and others putting the fires out by throwing dirt on the flames.

One of the larger ones leapt into my path and blocked my way. Their yellow eyes studied me with a familiar glint. "Miss Lucas."

I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes at the beast. "Deor?"

The werewolf nodded. "Have you come to soothe the beast?"

I looked past him at the scaly rear end of his friend. "I'm going to try."

Deor turned his back to me and lay on his stomach. "Allow me to help."

I climbed aboard and Deor took off like a shot. He skirted around Ben's right side but far enough away to avoid the flaming limbs that fell from the burning trees. We soon emerged from the woods just ahead of Ben and my heart skipped a beat.

Ben wasn't quite as large as the source of his curse, but he towered over us as we faced off against his fury. I sat up on Deor's back and waved my hands above my head. "Ben! Ben! Over here!"

Be careful what you wish for, as the old saying goes, and I regretted my shouts when Ben whipped his head around to face us. His red eyes glowed with fury and he opened his gaping maw to reveal a pit of hellfire in his gullet.

"Deor!" I shouted as I grabbed onto his fur.

"Already on it!" he yelled back as he took off.

Ben spat out a column of fire that followed us across a quarter of the clearing. He was only checked by the fact that his neck couldn't twist around any further. Deor dodged into the trees and ducked behind a particularly large specimen. His chest moved up and down beneath me and my own pulse was going at light speed.

Deor twisted his head around to catch my eye. "What now?"

I tightened my grip on his fur and lifted my chin. "Can you get me on his back?"

His eyes widened. "Pardon?"

I leaned down and met his surprised gaze with my stern one. "Can you get me onto his back?"

He pursed his long lips but turned to face ahead. "I can try but I hope you know what you're doing."

Deor sprinted back toward the clearing, but this time he went around to the rear of the great beast. My ride shot out into the clearing and leapt over the swishing tail to land neatly on Ben's broad ass. I scurried down, trying to avoid the nearly suffocating heat, and climbed up Ben's back.

Ben twisted his head around and his eyes fell on me. Deor clawed at Ben's scales and managed to loosen a few, catching Ben's attention.

I slipped on the smooth scales and crashed onto my stomach. His glossy back meant I slid backward for a few feet before my hands managed to catch on a few larger scales. I used the flakes to clamber up his back to his thick neck. Ben leaned in and snapped his jaws at me.

I sat up and my hand began to glow. "Ben, behave!"

He flew at me for a mouthful of Millie. My right hand began to glow and I slapped him on the cheek. Hard .

Ben's head snapped to one side and the glow from my hand flowed over his head. The light slipped into his eyes which blinked and became the familiar dazzling blue. He shook his head and turned his head to and fro.

I raised my hand and narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you back with us, Ben, or do you need another good slap?"

Ben swept his eyes over the area and sadness slipped into them. His sorrowful voice echoed in my head. "I did this?"

My ire, too, was quelled and I dropped my hand against my leg. "Yeah, but it's partly my fault. You were trying to find me and me not being able to control my powers got me captured."

"If you two are finished blaming yourselves," Deor called from the ground where he had dropped. "You might wish to change yourself back before my brethren finish with their work and get close enough to see your true form."

I slid off Ben's back and turned to watch him shrink to his human form. Everything was normal down to his nakedness, his transformation having completely obliterated all of his clothes. I blushed as I looked over his muscled body.

Ben turned to his old friend. "You don't happen to have another set of clothes, do you?"

Deor shook his head. "Left it in my other fur coat."

"I have something." The offer came from the woods where Dreda hurried toward us followed closely by Cal and Edouard. She opened her bag and drew out a pair of clothes. "I thought you'd be needing this after your temper tantrum."

Ben smiled and accepted the bundle. "Much obliged, Aunt."

He hurried into his clothes as Deor's ears twitched. He turned and scuttled to the edge of the woods just as some of his brethren arrived.

"Where is the beast?" one of them asked him.

"Flown into the sky during the last lightning shot," Deor informed them as another large strike struck overhead. "I don't believe it will bother us again."

"But how did it come to be here?" another wondered.

"If I might intercede on this conversation," Cal spoke up as he moved to join them. "I have an important matter to attend to with your king."

Another wolf narrowed his eyes at him. "Who are you?"

"Emperor Callidus the Third of the Ortusia Empire."

A dead silence fell over the crowd as the werewolves gaped at his imperial majesty.

Deor stepped up to fill the void. "He tells the truth. Our king is expecting him for an important matter and we must ensure his safety."

"There is also a matter of dealing with those of the mountain clan," Cal added as turned to Deor. "They attempted to interfere in official business by murdering me in the Pit of Sacrifices."

Deor's extra-bushy eyebrows crashed down. "I see. This is disappointing, but not unexpected. We'll deal with them when we can. For now, let us hurry to Eall."