Page 16 of Hexes & Heartstrings (Shifters of Bastion Keep #2)

Roland nodded. "Aye. Anyways, even with Galina leading all the packs, it still took nearly three days to find the lad, hungry and exhausted." Roland rubbed an eye. "Fuckin' hell, still feels like yesterday. Little pups grow up into big wolves so fast."

Despite his valiant efforts, Bruin succumbed to the urge to comfort his boss via a tight hug. Roland allowed it for about two seconds before pushing him away.

"In short, Russ didn't have a great time, and it left an impact. So while he bravely accompanies me to each anchor, I think he still doesn't like this place."

"Thanks for telling me. I'll find a quiet time to ask him about it, see if he's willing to share his side."

"Aye, course, lad! You're his boyfriend, some things you should know."

Bruin was about to comment further, but there was a loud pop from the direction of his coven, and he looked over to see Lux helping to steady a laughing Arthur.

As Bruin watched, Arther seemed to be making a second attempt at a charm, forcing two Umbral sticks to merge into one another.

He succeeded for several seconds, seeming to strain to keep them occupying the same space like a pair of opposed magnets, but then with another snap, the sticks flung apart from one another like two kids caught making out beneath the bleachers by their gym teacher.

Lux nodded to Bruin when he neared, then turned back to Arthur. "I think the Shadow Fold charm will prove useful, if we can work out the kinks. Okay, next charm?"

At Bruin's request they traveled to a nearby stream, but the water here was like the earth, difficult for him to feel.

He grabbed one of his glass jars that he used to collect herbs, getting himself a pint of the Umbral water.

After some reflection, he also collected some mud, a rock, and a bit of grass, then had Rosemary help him paint Hallow charms on the jars' surfaces, which should hopefully prevent the natural world from contaminating their contents.

After an hour spent alternating between trying out charms, writing notes, and studying the Umbral itself, Lux tucked away a parchment of his that he'd been making constellation notations on, then turned to Roland.

"I think we've got all we need for today. I might ask to revisit in a couple of weeks to try out some more experimental charms, see what works and what doesn't, but this is a good start."

"Aye? Then let's get moving. I'm eager to see what Leona has for lunch today."

Once more gathered in a loose group, they began the journey back to the anchor they'd entered from. As they walked, with Marka and her pack keeping away the wildlife, Arthur sidled closer to Bruin.

"Hey there, Shirtless Gardener! What did you think of the place?"

Bruin made a face. "I can't get over the silence and the lack of solidity. It feels almost like being underwater. What about you? How's it stack up to other spirit realms?"

"It's interesting," Arthur said, drumming his fingers on his belly. "Compared to the slices of Dream and Mentality, I'd say this one feels… quieter. And closer to our own reality."

He lowered his voice, putting his hand on Bruin's lower back as he leaned in. "I wanted to ask, I saw you kiss the big redhead earlier. Was he the boyfriend you mentioned?"

"One of them, yeah. Russell is an absolute sweetheart."

"Ah. I'd been hearing things from some of Lady Yi's pack. An altercation?"

"Yes," Bruin said flatly. "And it had better not happen again."

"Oh! Yes, of course. But, well, he is a big guy, isn't he? You don't think he'd make a good guardian with a bit of training?"

Bruin looked over at him, but held back his first heated response. He wanted to stay calm, and besides, maybe growing up in the Free Glades and working in royal houses with other shifters made for some cultural differences.

He couldn't stop himself from thrusting his jaw and tusks out, though.

"Do all tall guys need to play basketball? Do all pretty people need to be models? I don't know about you, but where I'm from, people get to choose who and what they are."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean offense. I guess I heard a bad retelling of what happened, maybe.

Yes, of course if someone doesn't want to be a fighter, they shouldn't have to.

" Arthur made a so-so gesture. "But if he changes his mind, I just wanted to tell you that I know some Hedge rituals for infusing courage into people, if he wants just a little emotional boost."

Bruin was about to tell him again that Russell didn't need to change anything, when he noticed that Marka had called everyone to a halt.

Roland strode to the front of the group. "What is it?"

Marka pointed ahead at the path. Bouncing on his feet to see above werebeast shoulders, all Bruin noticed was a clear path back to the anchor.

"Dunno," she said slowly, unsheathing her broadsword. "Just got a funny feeling. Was the path this bright coming out?"

"It was not," Lux said with the confidence of a Sun witch who can tell the time practically to the minute based upon the sun's angle. "Is it not normal for the local area to change illumination?"

"No," Marka said, then gestured with her blade. "We're taking another route, Steel Fang! Let's back up just a bit and go down this hill. We'll climb back up once we're past the area."

Everyone did as they were told, going down a rather steep embankment, then found another path and began walking down it.

As they rounded another bend, though, they saw another patch of light…

or maybe the same one, and it had moved?

At the same time, the surrounding environment seemed to get darker in a hurry, shadows creeping in.

Worried, Bruin reached out automatically to the closest person, grabbing Arthur's arm. The other witch patted his hand.

"Shiiit," Marka said, drawing the word out. "Alright, everyone, be on guard!"

With curt directions, Marka had her pack forming up protectively around the witches, and any of the guardians not in their werebeast form shifted into it. Nobody's hackles were raised, but Bruin saw ears swiveling and hard gazes checking the terrain.

Roland shifted as well, sniffing the air. "Definitely a beastie, but could be anything from a shadowling to a spirit king. Might not even be interested in us. Still, get your magic ready, witches. Lux, give me the staff."

Bruin saw him hand it over, and Roland pulled out one of those glass prayer candles, lighting it with a mutter.

"Packleader! Our anchor's still a short ways off, so I'm going to use the staff to open a rift here for us to slip through, instead. It'll take a couple of minutes."

"Heard that," she called back.

With a motion of his head, Lux called their coven together, and Bruin took his hand back from Arthur so he could rifle through his witch's bag.

"Rosemary, I want you on protection charms. If you're not pressed, insight charms if a foe appears. Bruin, can you make barricades?"

"No, the terrain is too unfamiliar—wait." Bruin drew out the jar of Umbral dirt. "Sympathetic magic. It'll be limited, though."

"Control the battlefield if you can, but try not to get in any guardian's way, and be ready for healing. Arthur…"

A tremor in the ground cut Lux off. As they peered around into the deepening darkness, the only remaining illumination was from the staff and the platform of light in front of them, like a helicopter's spotlight on one part of the path.

Bruin hurried to kick off his shoes, swiftly followed by his socks.

The ground felt even more hollow than before, almost like it wasn't there at all, and Bruin suffered a flash of acrophobia. More pressing, though, he could feel something…

"…beneath us?" he said automatically, speaking his thoughts out loud.

His words barely registered to himself before he staggered as something burst out from between their group. Roland only just had time to brace himself before he was slapped roughly to the side, tumbling into the darkness.

The staff fell where it lay, and in its light Bruin saw a rubbery appendage, about as thick and as tall as an oak tree, with pale gray flesh but covered in bioluminescent stripes. Nearby rumbles and shouts indicated more bursting tentacles, engaging with the pack.

The only thing stopping Bruin from panicking was, ironically, feeling so untethered to the ground. In his overwhelming desire to find a way to moor himself, he remembered the jade lion statue he had in his bag, and he drew it out even as he stumbled, falling to his knees.

Small as it was, only about the size of a baseball, the statue was still made of comforting stone, and he used its solid presence to stabilize his thoughts. Holding it out with both hands, he intoned his charms.

How green your heart and strong your soul

O' lion of my pride.

With savage bite and flashing mane

Empowered by my light.

He felt the stone responding, and then a lion-shaped presence gathered around him like he were inside of a ghostly tank, and he spun his gaze around the sudden battlefield.

He saw Lux dart forward to grab the staff Roland had dropped, a wand held in one hand to make a fiery lash at the tentacle as he ran. The tentacle didn't seem much bothered, still slapping down to either strike Lux or reach for the staff.

With an act of will, Bruin sent the lion forward, and that descending tentacle was intercepted by an unseen and unyielding maw. His lion had time to savagely rip at the tentacle before bounding back to follow Lux, keeping him protectively within itself.

Keeping track of what was happening was harder than Bruin would have thought, even harder than when he'd defended the keep against Deception's shadowlings.

At least there, the world had made sense.

Here, the only light in the area was being provided by the staff and that nearby pool, darkness subsuming the rest of the area, and glancing at one or the other left Bruin night-blind.

Keeping tight rein on his fear, he did his best, bouncing his earthen shielding charm between anyone he thought might be in danger, but between staying well clear of the tree-sized tentacles and the fact that his bare feet couldn't make sense of his location with the distorted Umbral ground, he soon found himself lost in the darkness after making one too many circles and stumbling down a path.

He grunted, angry with himself. He needed to get back and help. But which way?

Ah! He could feel his lion, still protecting Arthur. The solidity of it was something he could track, and he began hurrying blindly in that direction, occasionally tripping over the uneven ground.

Just as he could see glimmers of charm casting in the air, something rubbery settled on his shoulder, and he screamed.

"Hell's bells, pup!" Roland snarled, pulling back his paw, and then Bruin heard his breath catch. After a pained intake, he grabbed Bruin's arm, leading him forward. "Stupid, allowing the Umbral to mislay you like this."

"Sorry," he said, and then he called forth more white light, threading it through the hand holding him, confirming his suspicion. "You're hurt."

"Less talk, more moving . "

Still. Bruin used his free hand to go through his witch's bag, grabbing a couple of water-infused crystals. He didn't know how exactly Roland was hurt, but a quick burst of soothing energy wouldn't go amiss, he was sure.

"That you, pup? Tsk."

But he didn't tell him to stop.

They quickly approached both the light and his lion, and it was like stepping into another world entirely.

Battlecries and incantations filled the air, and Bruin saw the guardians being forced closer to the pool of light against their will by a lashing grove of tentacles. His lion was pacing around his coven members, shielding them with its bulk. And then—

"No!" Rosemary cried.

Marka was knocked right into the lighted path. She sank fast to her knees, like being in quicksand, and then was engulfed the rest of the way, disappearing with a yip.

Rosemary threw out a handful of salt in the next instant, and Bruin felt the outpouring of her light.

Heed,

Blessed shield!

As he saw his friend's hands shaking with the effort of sustaining a protection charm, Bruin dropped his jade statue and his water crystals, reaching into his bag for the jar of earth he'd gathered earlier.

Someone touching the pool of light must have confirmed that there was food for their unknown predator, and there was a sound like pouring sand as a hill emerged, except that it wasn't a hill. It was a nautilus shell, and as large as an apartment building.

Bruin jerked his eyes away from the spirit, grunting. No time to be distracted!

"Spit!" he ordered Rosemary, twisting off the jar's lid and holding it beside her mouth, and she did so without question.

"Arthur, aid Rosemary," he heard Lux order, and then Bruin felt his coven leader giving him his own light. It helped.

Sympathetic magic. Between the spit of someone who cared for her, and holding Rosemary's arm and thus feeling the general location of Marka—ten feet beneath the ground—it was enough to find the link, and he bound the earth in the jar together with that which surrounded Marka.

"I am you," he chanted. "You are me. We are one."

With his arms outstretched and keeping firm hold on the jar, Bruin moved it, pulling it to his chest.

He felt the earth around Marka moving by exponentially greater measure and saw her head resurface. She stabbed her sword into the ground before her, pulling against some kind of suction.

Bruin was gathering light for another moving attempt, when he saw Marka raise an arm high above her head.

For a brief second, he feared that she'd given up and was about to sink back beneath the ground, but then in a flash of silver wings and scaled arms, he saw his mate swooping in for the assist.

Glad cries and howls accompanied his presence as Sergiy pulled his sister from what was probably the beast's buried maw, and then Bruin could see twenty other guardians charging forward, some attacking tentacles, others the gargantuan shell of the nautilus.

Bruin and Rosemary nearly sank together in relief, catching their breath and clinging less tightly to their summoned light. He saw Sergiy set Marka down on the ground before flying towards him, a quick aerial check to make sure he was okay before returning to lead the fight.

Thank the light for protective boyfriends.