We had spent the past two days underground, and our supplies were running low. If the mother lynx did not go hunting today, I might have to kill her tomorrow. As I was thinking this, the mother lynx's glow began moving down the steep slope below the den.
"She's finally going hunting. Get ready, guys."
Once it left my five-kilometer sensing range, we started toward the cave, but I left the wolf pup and Berus behind because they could not climb the steep slope.
As I approached the slope, I tilted my head back to gauge its height. Shadowcats were excellent climbers, able to scale such a steep slope every time without difficulty. If I had been an ordinary person, climbing up here would have been impossible, but I used Formotegon (Mold Earth) to dig hollows into the slope, forming a simple ladder.
The moment I reached the top, the cub spotted me and fled into the den. Crouching down to enter was not difficult, since the den was large enough for the mother lynx to enter as well. When the bear cub discovered me behind it, it began growling and screaming, but the mother lynx was too far away to hear it. As I approached, it tried to dart from side to side. It was very agile, and I had no time to deal with it.
"Letagon (Trap)."
It suddenly froze, and I quickly grabbed it; it was the size of a house cat. I tied the cub's legs, immediately climbed down the ladder, and headed toward Berus. I entered the alcove and sealed the wall. I had to establish a bond with this kitten immediately and leave before its mother returned.
I placed the Shadowcat on my lap, holding it firmly with one hand while placing the other on its head, and began the bonding spell. My technique improved each time. This bond took about half an hour and concluded smoothly. The only thing I had not expected was that it occupied nearly half as much soul space as I had imagined. If my magic increased a little more, I could form another bond, and I decided that the wolf pup would be my next target.
"To complete the bond, I have to give you a name. What should I call you?"
"Sith. You, I'm going to name you Sith." The moment I named her, magic began flowing into her body. I could feel her negative feelings toward me beginning to turn positive, and she rubbed her head against my chest. Then I began rubbing her head, and she started growling softly. It felt like a cat purring, but it was not as cute, and the sound was wild.
"Is our Lady Sith starting to like me? But we don't have time to play here. We have to go. If your mother comes back, we don't want to hurt her."
When I mentioned her mother, she began thinking of her mother and felt sad, but when I said we needed to leave, her sad thoughts were replaced by a determination to leave this place.
"Inanis Motu (Traceless Movement), Volhen Keli (Aspect of the Cat), Volhen Taur (Aspect of the Ox)." After applying the buffs, I put Sith and Berus into the Training Space and started running.
After two days of travel, we left the mountains and returned to the desolate forest beyond the Wall. We slowly headed toward the Wall; of course, even on the way back, I kept using Promodynes (Find Animal) to search for Direwolves, but found nothing.
(Gornard Tresky, Warg warrior's POV)
Our raiding party had suffered a setback in a failed raid; the raid had begun very smoothly, with our group of forty easily crossing the gorge under cover of darkness and plundering a village on the other side of the Wall.
We returned with our loot, but this time the damned crows were waiting at the gorge and ambushed us. We beat those crows to a pulp, but lost half our men. I even lost my wolf, and we had to abandon our loot to fight. At least we killed as many crows as we lost men. But I had to find a new wolf.
As we passed through the forest, I saw a black eagle in the distant sky. It looked about the same size as my eagle. Should I take control of that one?
"What is that?"
"A black eagle. I want it."
He looked up in the direction I pointed and said:
"It doesn't look like an eagle. Are you sure?"
"What else could something that big be but an eagle? And a black eagle at that? They're so rare."
I reached out to control it, but the moment I touched its mind, I was pushed back and fell onto my backside. One of my men helped me up and asked:
"What happened?"
"This eagle belongs to someone else. That Warg pushed me out."
"Of course, we're going to follow that eagle. I want it. I'm going to get it."
(Main character's POV)
We retraced our route, with Bo, Erebus, and their "murder of crows" keeping watch as usual. I suddenly felt Erebus become very angry, and I sensed that he had been attacked. I contacted him immediately.
-Erebus, are you all right? What happened?-
-Aermir, someone tried to touch my mind, and I pushed him back. It felt very similar to your connection, but he was more aggressive. So I got annoyed and kicked him out.-
Hmm...
It felt very similar to the familiar bond; was he a Warg? He had to be; he was either a Warg or a Greenseer. Old Nan always said there were Wargs among the Wildlings. It seemed she was right.
-Don't come back to us yet; I don't want them to know where we are.-
"Promodynes (Find Animal), humans."
When the magic took effect, I could sense them about five kilometers away. They were between me and the Wall, so I changed direction to go around them. I began heading southeast, and they changed direction, continuing to follow us.
-Erebus, can they still see you?-
-No, I'm flying close to the trees as you asked; unless they're flying, they can't see me from a distance.-
I suddenly realized what was happening and connected with Erebus again, sharing his sight.
-Are any birds following you?-
He began looking around and spotted an eagle following him from a distance.
-Can you kill it without getting hurt?-
As I asked this, I could feel his fighting spirit beginning to surge, but I sensed something else as well. I could feel the magic circulating within him, but it was not moving in circles around his heart as it did with the Magic Heart. Whenever his heart pumped blood, magic flowed along his blood vessels, empowering his body.