- Such self-confidence and yet you need our help? Where would your friend be now? In the next world? – Irma grinned, which caused a wave of irritation in Thea.

- I suppose you need my help as much as I need yours. Otherwise, why did you so abruptly decide to take us with you? I’m still young, but I’m not stupid enough to ignore the obvious things. - Thea said harshly. – You want to know about the bliars, and I want peace for all races. Don’t you want to live in peace too? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

- Ha... Live in peace? People in this world are too selfish to coexist peacefully.

- And yet in the prophecy that my mentor saw, you took part in the war. Do you want to wait for some circumstances that will change your decision? What if these circumstances are not in your favor?

- We don’t know your mentor, we don’t know what she saw there. Do you know how many gypsies I have met who offered me to tell fortunes on my hand? And how many of these divinations have come true? Not it all! So why do you think that your mentor is some kind of authority for me?

Thea took a deep, ragged breath. It was already beyond her capabilities, trying to convince a human who was too stubborn to listen and hear others.

- Come on, Irma, don’t get excited. - Marcus squeezed her shoulders and kissed her temple, but it didn’t relax her much.

- I don’t understand why we bring them with us? – she hissed with displeasure.

- Teanna is right, we really need to know more about bliars, and even more so we have a girl marked by Klaus. After all, he’s your favorite pet.. – he grinned, noticing how Irma frowned.

- There’s something else I’d like to ask. - Thea took out an envelope with a pattern drawn inside and handed it to Marcus. – Do you know what this pattern means?

His furrowed brows reflected concentration. He looked at the drawing carefully and eventually returned it to the owner.

- This is the first time I’ve seen this.

- I see. – she sighed, annoyed. – I was hoping that maybe you know what to do with it, since I have no idea. My mentor gave it to me before she left, and I believe it’s something important.

- Leave it for now. When we get to Norland, you can show this to our shaman. - He gently stroked Irma’s forearm, calming her flighty temper.

A little later, when many had already gone to bed, Marcus brought a thin blanket to Thea.

- Irma is pregnant, so her emotional state is not always stable. Don’t be angry with her. And yet, you have to be prepared for the fact that many in the pack will treat you the same as she does.

Then he came back and lay down next to Irma, pulling her by the waist closer to him and putting his hands on her still flat tummy.

Thea didn’t feel any resentment at her words, rather it was just irritation, but she smiled anyway, seeing how caring Marcus was and how harmoniously this couple looked together.

Two men remained on guard while the others slept. Before closing her eyes, Thea looked once more at Adeline, lying motionless and unconscious. One of the men was sitting next to her and it helped Thea breathe a sigh of relief and finally fall asleep.

In the middle of the night, a rustle and a low growl made her open her eyes. It was so quiet, but it still made her wake up. She looked around and didn’t notice any guards. Involuntarily, her gaze slid in the direction where Adeline should have been, but she wasn’t there either.

In a hurry, she threw off her plaid and stumbled to wake Nicole. Marcel responded to this noise and immediately became alert when he heard a growl in the distance. At one point, he picked up the others at a signal.

The situation suddenly became tense.

- Carrick, Sean, you stay with the girls. Jake, you’re coming with me. – he immediately rushed to the sound, carried near the lake, but Thea blocked his way.

- I’m coming too. – he didn’t argue with her and only nodded quickly, bypassing her and rushing to run.

About two hundred meters from the place where their sleeping place was located, they found two bliars who were furiously fighting with two men who were on guard – Urum and Cornel. Each of them took on a bliar, while Adeline stood slightly behind them and protected their backs using explosive and wave potions that she had in her bag.

Adeline looked much better than the day before, but there was still a laceration on her leg, which fortunately no longer bled.

She heard footsteps approaching, but she was afraid to turn around so as not to lose her concentration. All her thoughts were now occupied with keeping the bliars as far away from men as possible.

Adeline threw a wave potion at one of the bliars, which threw him away from Cornel. But he was still wounded in the stomach and fell to the floor at once, spewing blood from his mouth.

Marcel and Jake instantly took on a wolf form and rushed to the aid of their friends. Marcel immediately caught one bliar by the throat with his teeth and threw it first into the air, and then landed on the ground with a crash, causing the snow around to shudder.

But the bliar was much stronger than the one the girls had faced earlier. The wolf let out a powerful growl and swung his clawed paw, cutting the wound on Marcel’s face.

At the same time, Urum and Jake were trying to attack another wolf. They knocked him down on the snow, breaking one of his paws with a resounding crunch. The wolf howled and hissed even more. His movements were aggressive, abrupt and too fast. He threw both werewolves off and got into an attacking position.

Nicole came running after, noticing the bleeding man, hurried to drag him back to the lake.

- Don’t let Irma come here, she’s pregnant. - Thea shouted after her and Nicole nodded.

Thea tried to assess the situation, thinking about who she should help first, but a ferocious growl behind her brought her out of her own thoughts. Her eyes instantly widened and her heart skipped a beat as she tried to take a convulsive breath.

She turned around and came face to face with two more huge bliars. Their eyes glittered with murderous thirst, and thick gray, fetid saliva flowed from their mouths.

Taking a step back, she finally regained her lost breath and at once created a snow dome around herself, which served as a fence and would not allow these two bliars to get out until she was defeated. But she wasn’t going to give up so quickly.

Her fingertips were already itching from the magic passing through them. The wolves rushed at her at once and the next moment a whirlwind created from snow and wind flew at them.

Thea threw up her hands and followed, the snow swirled in a whirlwind stream with ice as sharp as blades. She sent icy blades into one of the bliars, piercing through his skin, causing him to roar in pain.

The second bliar was unexpectedly fast and caught her by surprise, pushing her away from where she was. She flew several meters before hitting the dome of the barrier she created. And although landing on the soft snow softened the blow, she was still injured when the wolf poked her in the side with his claws. The snow beneath her was immediately stained with her blood.

For a second, her magic lost focus, but soon she returned the blades to the air again. They rushed chaotically at her enemies, wounding them and draining them of blood.

At some point, she realized that she needed to separate these two bliars, as they distracted her attention too much and, closing her eyes, she sent a clear ice stream into one wolf, trapping him in an ice trap, like a thin shell covering his entire body and paralyzing all his movements.

And then, out of nowhere, a massive, sharp sword appeared in her hand, decorated with precious stones and with a thin red trickle in the middle of the blade. With one swing, she swung at bliar, who was trapped in an ice trap, but was immediately thrown back again by a strong push. She felt a warm liquid flow down her legs and her eyes dropped down, noticing the wolf’s paw sticking out in her stomach.

She coughed and lost her balance, falling onto the cold, bloody snow. The barrier lost its strength at once and scattered like snow dust.

The wolf pushed his hand harder into her stomach, grinning and growling. His slimy drool dripped onto her face.

She firmly grabbed his clawed paw with her hand, which pressed her to the ground, and from this contact an ice crust ran down her arm, which blocked further movements of the wolf.

He growled even harder, trying to pull his hand out of this vice, but her ice magic was stronger, absorbing his flesh into an ice trap.

Bliar made an attempt to bend down and bite her face, but immediately his head rolled on the ground with a thud when Thea swung her sword at the wolf’s neck with her free hand.

With the last of her strength, she got up, coughing up blood and with the next step plunged the same sword into the throat of another frozen bliar. After that, her strength left her and she fell backwards on the snow, which was now trampled and did not seem soft and fluffy.

She just lay there, looking at the sky with bleary eyes, her fingers were now tingling not from magic, but from numbness, and her head was buzzing from unbearable pressure and a rush of blood to her.

A thin trickle from the corner of her mouth did not bode well.

Her vision was completely blunted, giving way to gloomy darkness and only remotely she heard the echo of voices, but could not make out a word of what was happening around.

Another short, gurgling sigh of blood and her consciousness dissipated, plunging her into deep serenity.