“Don’t be silly,” I say. “Of course I’m with you, Emmy. I just didn’t expect to hear you say that.”
“We’re up against too many things,” she says. “I’ve been thinking about it all night. The only way to make our lives livable is to remove a threat.”
I nod. “I think you’re right,” I say.
“We obviously can’t hope to go up against those Moon Casters we just met,” she says. “They were too powerful. Even if we fought them as wolves, I don’t know what we would do against them because they would just freeze us where we stood again. I mean, I guess we could wait a few more days for the moon to wane a little more—”
“No,” I say. “I don’t think that would work. Even if we attacked under the new moon, I don’t think that would be any guarantee that they’d be weakened enough for us to have a chance against them. Which is especially fucked up. My magic is basically useless under the new moon.”
“You can’t do magic at the new moon?”
“I can, but it’s hardly worth talking about,” I say. “It’s the same at an eclipse. I can make little sparks—probably enough to start a fire. I can heal paper cuts. Things like that.”
She nods. “Good to know,” she says. “I’m sure it will be the same for me.”
“Probably,” I agree.
“So we can’t fight the Moon Casters,” she says. “And most of the wolf packs aren’t hunting us, even if they would prefer us out of the picture. The only one that’s actively looking for us is mine.”
“If we can take them out,” I say, “We remove the offer of a bounty against you, and people won’t be motivated to hunt you down.” I’m talking about rogues, mainly—people like Nate, who owe no allegiance to any pack and can make hunting for a bounty target their full-time business. Who knows how many of them are out there looking for Emlyn? But if word spreads that the pack that wanted her taken out has been taken out themselves…
Well, not only will people stop wanting to look for her, they might become actively afraid of her. I would worry about the girl who eliminated an entire wolf pack, if I heard that story. I would stay out of her way.
“I know how they fight,” Emlyn says. “I spent my whole life training with them. I can teach you some moves, so you’ll know what to expect in battle with them.”
I nod. “And I can give you some combat spells,” I say. “That’s a big advantage we’ll have over them, the fact that we’re able to do magic.”
“Under the waning moon,” she points out.
“Even so,” I say, “it’s a hell of a lot more magic than any of them are going to be able to do.” I sigh. “But they will have us outnumbered. Even with magic on our side, our chances aren’t going to be great.”
“Not necessarily,” she says. “They’ve been splitting themselves into smaller groups to cover more ground, trying to track me down. We might not have to take on all of them.”
“You don’t think we need to wipe them all out?”
“I think if we could get the alpha, Bruce, and also Victor—he was my alpha mate, the one who rejected me—I think the others would probably stop caring about me. They would give up and go home.”
“You don’t think they’d try to get revenge on you for killing their alpha?”
“I don’t think so,” she says. “But if they do, we’ll just take that one thing at a time.”
I nod. “Okay,” I say. “If we’re going to do this, you’re going to need some combat magic.”
“Do you know any?”
“Only the basics. But that’s all you’ll have time to learn anyway. I used it defensively against the Moon Casters.” I hold out a hand, focus my mind, and project a shield. It’s daytime, of course, and a waning moon, so my shield is weak. But it’s strong enough to hold Emlyn off.
“Try to attack me,” I say.
She looks confused. “Why would I attack you?”
“I’m showing you something,” I say. “Come on, take a swing at me.”
She still looks hesitant, but she swings. I can tell it’s not full strength. That’s probably good. I wouldn’t want the rebound to knock her over.
Sure enough, she meets my shield and it halts her swing abruptly. “What are you doing?” she demands, holding out two hands, pressing against the air in front of her and finding it unyielding.
“Combat shield,” I say. “It keeps out physical and magical attacks.”