Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King



What Wolfe couldn't know as he flew away and made his final delivery of the day was that he had inadvertently made a new friend.

Khalifa the Huntress, as she was known in Faerie, stood inside a mushroom circle in the middle of the Gravity Barrier, with one hand resting on the head of the Worgen Alpha.

The Elf's green hair blew in the wind, covering her face as she looked up at the sky, watching her benefactor depart. She had no idea how the man had known she was here, hidden inside a tree to observe this strange world, but to gift her with a full Worgen pack the moment she entered these woods was a kindness that couldn't be underestimated.

The Fae woman petted her new subordinate and spread her magic over the pack.

"Since you have been so graciously gifted to me, we will have the most wonderful hunts together. I have set a spell of return to this location, but first, we should see my father back in Faerie. He will be overjoyed to meet you all."

The magical beasts were incredible hunting companions and highly valued in Faerie, but incredibly rare, as they weren't native to the world. Here, they were the mutated, monstrous descendants of everything from timber wolves to stray dogs which had survived the war, and there were thousands of them spread through the Frozen Wastes.

Wolfe set the plane down outside the last village, which had heard the howling, and was much more nervous about coming out to greet him than the others had been.

"Fear not, friendly neighbours, I have trapped the Worgen pack, and they're not coming after you. They were just chasing the airplane for entertainment, but they've given up now that they're stuck in a magical barrier." Wolfe shouted so that the villagers hiding near the entrance could hear him.

They slowly came out, and Wolfe opened the side door to the plane so they could get their supplies.

"We will be back again when we can, but for now, we have a full plane load of food and a case of potions for you, the same as the other villages on our route. If you split the potions into ten portions, they are the vials that we pass out to the scouts, only higher quality.

I know you have been missing out since the Forest was raised since your scouts can't come straight to us anymore. But on the northwest corner of the forest, where the river enters, we have set up a new welcoming building. If you come to that spot with your reports, they will trade with you.

We will set up another one on the East side eventually for the villages over there, but you're lucky enough to be close to where we are staging to trade with the Witches in Myrrh Coven." Wolfe explained.

"Oh, so much good stuff. Thank you, Mister Wolfe. This means a lot to us, especially the potions. The Worgen attacked our scouts a few times last week, and they are still recovering. How long will it be until they return?" A villager asked.

"I'm not sure if they will. But it could be as early as tonight if they flee from the forest as soon as possible and somehow end up near where they started. The Fae Forest likes to get creatures really lost, so they might end up on the far side and pick a new territory." Wolfe explained.

The gear was quickly unloaded, and Wolfe turned the plane back to the forest's edge.

"We really need more than a compass to go by. I wonder if we can get one of the GPS units from the human vehicles to work." Wolfe sighed as he looked at the blank dashboard, which had only a compass built in and the map taped onto it.

"We tried that in the past. They don't work right in the Frozen Waste to begin with. Inside this plane, where I can feel the magic in my bones, you would likely kill a wristwatch, never mind the sensitive electronics of a GPS." The scout laughed.

Wolfe sighed. There were some downsides to having too much magical power, it seemed. It made some sense, the extra energy in the air would naturally want to seep into the capacitors, but that didn't make it any less annoying that he couldn't use all the human army's toys that he had wanted to.

The witches cheered for them as they stopped in front of the shack by the river, and the twins came out with the netting that they had created to hide the airplane from casual sight.

"That's it for the day, and it's still not even dinner time. We made good time today. Thank you, everyone." Wolfe greeted them.

"It's our pleasure. Did you have any issues other than whatever was howling at you during your last flight?" Jenna asked, still wondering about that feeling that they had gotten as he took off.

"That was just a pack of Worgen. They are trapped in a one-way barrier in the woods, and they shouldn't bother anyone. Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly. Should we start heading back?" Wolfe replied.

"Sounds good. We will accompany you. These two are taking over for the next week, so we are returning to town to watch the last of the Festival and study some new things for the villagers." Mollie agreed, indicating two of the witches in the new arrivals, who were already beginning to unpack their gear into the small hut.

Wolfe smiled at the pair taking over welcoming duty. "If the shifts are too long, let us know, and we can switch every few days. I know nobody signed up to be living in a shack at the edge of the woods for a week at a time."

The witches waved off his concern. "We have an arrangement worked out already. With only a half dozen scouts visiting every day, it's basically a vacation unless some witches show up or there is trouble. We've brought books to continue our studies, and a bit of alone time will be good for us."

The wink she gave Wolfe left no doubt why the two witches wanted some alone time together, so he left them to it and got the plane stowed away out of sight before heading for the boat.

"Well, I will see you all in a day or two anyhow. The majority of the deliveries are done, but I want to take a flight to look into the mountains next. There aren't any villages there that we're aware of, but there might be good stuff hidden in there." Wolfe explained.

"Well, if you come out to see us, bring food. A meal we don't have to cook for ourselves is always welcome, even though we brought a whole cooler full of leftovers and jars of soups from Cook." The dark-haired witch laughed.

Frontline welcoming duty wasn't really roughing it when you didn't even have to cook for yourself, just reheat leftovers from the freezer. But the shack was now fully stocked with food and potions, so they had lots to trade to the scouts when they arrived.