Feudlings by Wendy Knight Page B

colony he lived in was hidden in one of his shrouds so that no one on the outside could see what they were doing inside. Ari used his shrouds every time she went into battle. That way no one could tell what she looked like, or even where she was. Ari couldn't do shroud spells herself, but Richard didn't know that.
    She pulled the hood of her gray cloak up and stalked toward the team waiting for her. She watched as their eyes flickered up at her and away, and they all scuttled out of her path, clearing the way to the waiting black SUV. She slid inside and waited while the rest of them piled in behind her. It was a tight fit, but no one dared sit too close to the distorted shape of the Prodigy; they rode in uncomfortable, fearful silence the entire way. Ari just stared out the window, her reflection a gray, undistinguishable shimmer.
    She could see the sparkle of blue Carules magic traces before the building even came into view. It was a nondescript warehouse in a nondescript industrial district. She didn't care what it looked like. While the rest of the team jumped out of the SUV and moved stealthily toward the only visible door, Ari climbed out slowly, watching them with weariness. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to fight with anyone. But what choice did she have? Shoving the remaining traces of her humanity way down deep, she straightened her spine and slammed the car door shut behind her. Shocked and more than a little startled, they all whirled to look at her, but she ignored them and stalked straight up to the warehouse door.
    It was locked, of course. Ignoring the second-in-command of her team, who rushed forward with a lock pick, Ari stepped back and traced a sabate on the front of the door, pushing the spell with her hands. It was a minor spell that created a small explosion, but she shoved it a little too forcefully, perhaps, as the door blasted inside, its pieces smashing into the opposite wall. She heard yelling as the Carules in the building above scrambled to ready themselves. Didn’t they realize who must be coming? Didn’t they realize it was a lost cause to fight her? Why couldn’t they ever just run ?
    Angry now, because they wouldn’t save themselves, she stormed in, turned left down the hall, and found the stairs. She could feel Troy and his partner above her, and in the back of her mind she wondered why no one had bothered to tell her his partner’s name. Probably because no one had ever considered that she might like to know who she was rescuing.
    At the top of the stairs she paused, getting a feel for where her Edren targets were. Blue flames blasted by her head and she turned, her fingers already up and throwing an alable spell. Fire shot from her hands, chasing the Carules warrior who had dared to attack her. He dove behind a wall but her flames blasted through it. She heard him scream as he was hit and horror tried to rise up from somewhere around her stomach, but she shoved it away as she turned her attention to a second, third, fourth Carules coming around the corner at a dead run. She traced the spell again and threw the flames at them, so fast they couldn't follow her movements, let alone get out of the way. Before the spell hit and she could see the terror in their faces, she turned away, looking for the next threat.
    Her team had caught up and swarmed around her, trying pointlessly to protect her. More Carules poured out of the rooms on either side of the hallway, throwing spells of their own. Blue flames assaulted her team and she watched two of them go down, taking fire for her.
    Please don’t lose your lives for me.
    "Get behind me!" she yelled. They, of course, didn't listen, desperate to protect their Prodigy. She couldn't throw any of her spells without fear of hitting her team. Frustrated, she darted forward, shoving them out of her way. Already tracing her spell into the air in front of her, she forcibly moved her second-in-command ( shouldn’t I at least know his