December 23, 2003 – 21:00
The Northerners were playing at home that night. When the game was over and she and Sebastian were about to take off to go home, Coralis received a call from Emma. She signalled Sebastian to wait and put the call on speakerphone. Emma was in a panic.
"BLUE, can you come RIGHT NOW?"
Sebastian suddenly got worried.
"Where? What's going on?"
"Is Stephanie okay?"
"Here at Red Crescent pack. Yes, Stephanie is fine. She left Healing Moon at 9 to go home. She's not here."
Sebastian was relieved to hear that and swore that if Stephanie still wanted it, he'd complete their bond when he got home, even if he knew Coralis was probably right: the mark was a seal.
"I'll be on my way. I'm close by," said Coralis, ending the call, and took off, Sebastian following her.
"What do you think happens this time?" said Sebastian, as he was trying to keep up with her.
"I don't know, but I'm guessing she couldn't reach out to anyone at the CMMA. Remember the last time they got a hold of us directly?"
A few minutes later, they were hovering above Red Crescent pack land. She quickly spotted a dozen feral werewolves by the southwestern border, trying to force their way through the wards.
"This is odd. I designed the wards to be able to stop any non-lycanthrope species from entering their territories, except knowing humans and a select few elementals," said Coralis as she lowered her altitude to land.
Eva and Emery were in Winnipeg, so Sebastian opened a portal for them while Coralis approached the feral wolves. Alpha Collins ran to her as soon as he spotted her on his land, his beta following close behind him.
"It's been like that for at least 20 minutes. I tried to contact the CMMA, but couldn't talk to anyone. Emma called you as soon as she arrived from Healing Moon. Thank you for coming quickly. My office is such a cluster, I couldn't find your number to call you myself."
"We saved it on our phone if it's okay," said Carlito, his beta.
"It's fine. I wasn't far from here," said Coralis, standing a few metres away from the wards she made, her left hand stretched toward the wolves. "It's a good thing they couldn't pass the wards, but I need to find out why."
"Holy gods from above, what are we dealing with?" said Emery.
"Remember the case where High Fay Zaaro tried to summon wolves?" said Coralis.
"How can we forget! Are we dealing with that nightmare again?" said Eva, sniffing the air, "Yeah, they reek of turmeric."
"Worse," said Coralis while approaching one of the wolves, who became more aggressive. "This time, they also got injected with vampire essence, to make them faster and more agile. That's why they can't pass through the wards."
"Do you want me to go get backups?" said Emery.
"I need you to get what's needed to drain the summoning spell. Do you remember the list of supplies from the last time?" she said as Emery nodded to her and she lowered her hand, turning to look at the group behind her. "It's worse than last time, but I think we'll be able to resolve this without anyone bleeding."
"HOW?" said Eva and Emery at the same time while Sebastian opened a portal for Emery.
"Do I need to call in warriors?" said Alpha Collins.
"No. Before I can override their summon, I need to contain and weaken them, and here is what we will do. Sebastian, I will cross the wards and push a restraining spell onto them to freeze their movement. They'll try to break through, but it should restrain them for a few minutes. During that time, I need you to surround them with an uninterrupted circle of water on the ground. Puddle like. Think you can do that?"
"Yes."
"Eva and Alpha Collins, make sure no one comes close to us, just in case the feral wolves manage to pass through."
They nodded and Emery passed through the portal.
Coralis took a deep breath as she rubbed her hands together. She raised her right hand above her hand and started walking toward a large tree to their left. They followed her. Her left one was hanging left to her waist, palm facing them. As soon as she passed the wards, she transformed the air particles around them into ice, which she wrapped into a thick layer of fog.
The feral wolves became enraged: they tried to launch at her, but they couldn't. They watched Sebastian going around them and tried to get to him, but they couldn't. Coralis noticed that they moved in sync and deducted that only one fay had control over all of them, and was struggling. Whoever was controlling them was strong, but not that strong.
As soon as Sebastian was done and returned across the wards, she kneeled and interrupted her spell to put her hands on the ground within the circle of water, right at the edge of it. Before the wolves could regain their movement, she lit a ring of fire that followed the ring of water, from within, and turned the minerals from the fog into silver particles.
The wolves weakened rapidly and one by one, they collapsed and shifted back to their human form.
"Impressive, very impressive," said High Elf Yalor.
Coralis quickly glanced in his direction. Zahir and Emery were next to him.
"That was quick," said Eva.
"I need to go back, but High Elf Yalor insisted on coming to help contain them," said Emery before crossing the portal again.
"For how long are they going to be out?" said Emma, standing next to Eva and staring at the scene in front of her eyes.
"I don't know, I still need to override their summoning. We are dealing with one fay summoning the entire group at once and whoever was controlling them struggled to maintain the spell. I knocked them down with silver just so I could override each summon one by one without being eaten by the other wolves in the meantime."
"I remember Ellya talking about a similar case you and Agent Eva suri dealt with last year. Zaaro was behind it," said High Elf Yalor.
He tried to cross the wards to join Coralis, but he couldn't. Coralis lifted her hand to him and he grabbed it to pass through. He followed her across the ring of fire.
Sebastian saw that the fire was gradually evaporating the ring of water he made.
"Do you need me to add water around your circle?"
"Yes, please."
"I'll help you," said Zahir as he touched Sebastian's shoulder to pass through the wards.
Steam could be seen between the fire and the water puddle. Coralis removed the silver lingering in the air so that it wouldn't affect her and High Elf Yalor, and kneeled between two wolves, both hands on the chest of a different wolf. She closed her eyes and worked on overriding the summon.
"I know who's behind this," said High Elf Yalor. "Lieutenant Youmis."