Chapter 4

Tygan suddenly jerked up as she looked toward the south. “What is it? Are you feeling them coming this way?” Ella asked.

“Not sure they all passed us a short time ago. It feels as if one of them has broken off and headed this way,” Tygan said.

“I think we should prepare for whoever this is,” Tygan said as she turned toward me. “I know that you don’t want to kill, though in this case you may have no choice.”

Dan nodded as they heard someone approaching very fast. Dan’s hands were glowing red ready for whoever it was.

A moment later whomever it was stopped short. Dan and the others weren’t fooled as they waited quietly.

Dan called out, “We know you’re there, reveal yourself!”

For a minute nothing happened. A voice called out from the edge of the forest. “Dan? May I advance?”

Dan shook as if he’d been slapped. “En’tra?” he said.

A movement had them more on their guard as the sexy Dark Elf stepped from the trees.

She looked at all four before her and shook her head. “I had transported you an hour or so, and you drew attention of the clan. Though how,” En’tra stopped her small mouth dropping open. “When did you develop Dark Magic?”

The other three females looked at each other and smirked.

“You might notice that he has all of our powers. Starting as strong as us, then quickly advancing. He already has more power than the fire witch,” Tygan said.

En’tra stood there for a moment, looking at all four there, the females first, then Dan.

By all that is unholy! He was three to four times stronger than all of them.

Shaking her head, she looked at Dan only. “I was sent to make sure that you never attacked my clan again. This, of course, isn’t about to happen. I also saw that your Shadow step has an almost unlimited range. Not many have I seen that could move as far as you did, especially with three passengers.”

Dan nodded, finally getting a hold on what was happening to him. “Who are the others that are after us? I felt the Dragon and apparently another Light Elf.”

“From what I gathered from them, they are after an outlawed human,” En’tra said.

“Outlawed? By all? How in the hell did that happen?” Dan asked.

“From what we can tell, the Elfin King presented evidence almost six centuries ago. In it, all humans were branded as untrained, undisciplined magic users, a danger to all,” En’tra said.

“Yes, I remember something about that in history lessons. Something about the humans killing his mother and queen. This was well over six centuries, as she said. A human Elf ensued. A war that spread to the Lychs, Dark Elfs, Golems, Mermaids, Harpies and Demon realms. Many of the races still haven’t recovered fully, the Golems among the worst,” Tygan revealed.

“Shit!” Ella said. “If it were true then I could see why he is so angry.”

Dan was shaking his head, he’d heard a lot of things, though never anything like this. He had researched a lot of history and was well aware of the period Ella had mentioned. It appeared that he was guilty of just being of the race humankind.

Drawing a deep breath, he saw all the females looking at him as if he had all the answers. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered just what he could do. He had power, yes, though he still wasn’t all that strong against a magical group.

He was about to ask more when Ella and Tygan looked around. “Shit it feels that the other two have noticed that you are gone,” they said to En’tra.

“It appears that the two of them are far more sensitive than I first thought,” En’tra said as she looked at Dan.

“Do you think that you can Shadow step all of us? I am unable to move as far as we need to. The forest near where my clan’s mountain is.”

“I can try. I’ve moved all of us a few times,” Dan said.

He had all of them hold hands as he thought of the forest that they had gone to after being attacked. The surrounding shadows started to slowly advance upon them as they were wrapped, then they were gone.

They all stumbled out of the shadows not far from where the En’tra’s Dark Elf clan was. Dan sat as he was suddenly feeling tired as hell. Then he got a message: {you have now earned the spell shadow shield.}

Dan tried to look up at En’tra, tried to ask her only managing, “What is shadow shei,” then keeled over.

“Dear,” En’tra said, “he appeared to use more energy than I thought. I also think that he just gained another shadow ability.”

“Another?” Bell asked. “What makes you think that?” She said.

“I heard him ask what is shadow shei, then he passed out. If he has indeed gained this, then we might have a chance. Problem is he has to be conscious in order to cast it,” En’tra said.

“I think that the last cast he made took more out of him than we thought. Moving four instead of three might have taxed him somewhat. I just he hope wakes up before the other two can catch up to us,” Tygan said.

“We have almost a whole day, as far away as we are, I am hoping it dulls their detection,” En’tra said.

A gruff voice came from below as Gre’ta to land beside the Elf assassin. “I have detected dark magic near where she left our company, though it was many times stronger than her power,” the assassin said.

“I have also thought about the distance they moved, it is not a normal dark magic power. I believe that we are dealing with a power that puts most of the world to shame. A power that few could fight against,” Gre’ta said.

“This is very bad as we are the strongest that can go against it. I believe that we need to be advised before we proceed further,” the Elf assassin said.

Gre’ta thought about it a moment, then nodded her ascent. Both moved away from each other as they thought, connected to their rulers.

“Queen Ad’ella,” called Gre’ta. “I had joined with an Elf assassin and a Dark Elf priestess. We were closing rapidly when I felt one of the four use Shadow step. As far as we know, there are two witches, a fire and a water user. There is a Light Elf with them. I have felt all their power double. I am afraid that the human is a four caster. Am I still trying to capture him, as I am afraid that the assassin has orders to kill him.”

“It sounds much like the Elf King’s reaction to the situation. A four caster? Hmmm, then he is indeed far more powerful than we thought. Yes, still proceed to capture, do not allow the assassin to kill the human. Hmmm, this is along the lines of the legend,” Adella said, then cut the communication.

The assassin was having a much harder time than Gre’ta. The Elf King was practically screaming at her.

“I do not care if he is a four caster. I want that human piece of filth dead! Do you hear me? Dead! I don’t care if you have to sacrifice your life, kill him before he gains more power. You have enough tricks to destroy him. It is your destiny to destroy it, so do it!” The King was yelling then cut the communication.

The assassin wasn’t sure about the mission anymore, as insane as the king was acting. She shook her head as she walked back to the clearing. She had heard the prophecy, and it was far different than she knew.

As she approached the clearing, she saw that the dragon was a little uncertain also.

Taking a chance, the assassin said, “all this talk of prophecies is troubling, isn’t it?”

Gre’ta, still a little shaken, said, “it can be yes. Though, as I have learned, prophecies and legends are oft’ are not interpreted correctly.”

The assassin almost smirked, as she had figured, that was why the Dragons were interested. A smile, a rare thing, came to her features. Perhaps this would help her to free herself and fulfill both of the tellings of the Elfs and Dragons.

It could though she’d have to be extremely careful. As it stood now? She was an insect to the power of the Dragon before her. Yes, she thought, careful and manipulative as hell.

All the females were shocked as hell when the other two hunters stalled in their search for them. A few hours later, Dan tried to sit up, not a good thing as he fell back into the chest of En’tra.

“Well,” she said with a seductive smile, “if you wished to get close, you should have told me” The Dark Elf giggled, causing the other three females to stare at her hard.

Tygan was especially shocked; she had never seen or heard of a Dark Elf laughing. She shook her head at the look of seduction on En’tra’s face.

Why in the hell was she getting jealous? True, she was only three hundred, she guessed that En’tra was about six hundred an older adult. Still, she was trained in seduction also.

None of this lost on Ella and Bell. They kept switching between the two Elves as they started to pay attention to Dan. Damnit! They had known him far longer and deserved him!

They both looked at each other as they realized that they were having the same thoughts. Shit they thought, what in the hell was going on?

Dan quickly came off En’tra’s chest as he blushed. “I am sorry En’tra,” he said.

Another seductive smile came to En’tra’s features.” Oh, I don’t mind!”

“Uh yeah. Well, I wanted to ask you what Shadow Shield is,” Dan said.

“Ah! I had thought that was what you meant. It is a dark power that can hide and protect against a lot of attacks. I have heard that all magics have one. If you do gain them, we should be well protected. They are higher abilities though. The fact that you have reached it in dark magic is fortunate,” En’tra said.

“Yeah, I have four in Dark and Fire magic. I guess I need to use the others to strengthen them,” Dan said.

Dan then tried to cast the Shadow Shield when a small Dark Shield appeared. Dan cursed as he tried it a few more times, managing to get it to cover twenty feet in front of them.

Dan stopped feeling a drain upon his magic. En’tra was shocked that Dan had made a shield that fast and large.

“See if you can surround us all. It should make us almost undetectable to all but someone with major power.” En’tra wasn’t as sure as she’d only seen this performed a few times.

Dan tried a few times as En’tra watched as the shield covered first him, then her. It then rapidly reached out to Tygan, Ella, then Bell.

All of them looked at Dan, wondering just what the hell he had done. All of them were staring at the covering that was on them.

Finally, Ella asked, “What in the hell is this?”

“It is part of Shadow Shield, we are now harder to detect than before. I figured it might keep us hidden more,” Dan said.

En’tra was nodding her head as she examined it.

Back where Dan and his companions had been, Gre’ta was examining the burnt area. She was shaking her head at the excessive heat it would have taken to cause such destruction.

Gre’ta thought that Queen Ad’ella’s assumption had been correct. The human was indeed far more powerful than they had at first thought. Capturing him might be getting close to her power level.