Chapter 24 Sage
Sage
“Jaw lock, joint lock, stop!” Sage yelled, weaving his spell out of sheer desperation at the sight of a string of drool trailing down to the forest floor right where his hand was.
The loup-garou’s eyes widened in surprise as the beast fought against the magic to move its jaws.
He hadn’t bought himself much time, and he barely managed to scramble back to his feet before the massive body of the beast tumbled and fell on him.
He went down, but neither claws nor teeth went into him, so that was good.
Sage felt the loup-garou shift though, shifting back to his human form.
“Shit.” Sage got back to his feet and ran, though it could barely be called running at this point. The shift would make it easier for the loup-garou to shake off the magic, and then he could just shift back and attack all over again.
Over Sage’s right shoulder, he glimpsed another Elven marker, but there was no time to properly check the direction. Sage had to run, had to get away. He rounded a massive oak—and could have cried with relief.
There was a stone circle right there, and he sprinted for it with all he had. The fairy rings that sprouted all around it and kept trees and bushes at bay made that a lot easier.
The loup-garou was behind him. Sage heard the beast, his lungs heaving as he shifted again to throw off the magic for good. Sage was close, and he jumped forward, crossing the boundary of the stone circle in a more or less graceful dive.
The loup-garou jumped as well, but instead of landing on top of Sage, he yelped in pain.
“Succor, asshole.” Sage rolled onto his back and looked at the salivating loup-garou. “Can’t get to me now.”
The loup-garou looked around, but before Sage could compose himself enough to cast something deadly, the loup-garou sprinted off, apparently not stupid enough to glower at a witch who was free to cast at last.
Sage was left in the confines of the stone circle until he could come up with a viable way to get rid of the loup-garou. Peter came to mind. Sage patted his back pocket.
“Fuck.”
Will had borrowed his phone, and Sage hadn’t remembered to take it back, so calling Peter was out. The motherfucking bother, as the vampire would say.