LOGINShare
Flock of Lies
Last Updated:
2021-05-21 10:49:47The flock of birds was coming straight for us, and all I could think about was protecting my pack. I had my staff at the ready, and as tired as I was, I was determined not to go down without a fight.
That’s why it made no sense to me when I looked over at Mage Jaye and saw her jumping up and down, clapping her hands. “What are you doing?” I asked her, my forehead crinkled in confusion.
“They came! They came!” she shouted. “I knew they couldn’t stay mad at me forever!”
It dawned on me then that these birds were not another monstrous thunder of dragons bearing down on us to dislodge our souls from our bodies and dismember us, leaving our innards strewn about the forest. No, these were the reinforcements Jaye had sent for. “Are you shitting me?” I asked her.
She was too
Bella MoondragonSo sorry y'all! Chapters did not post correctly. The chapter before the one that was originally called Saddled didn't post right, so I combined both of those chapters into this one.
Related chapters
Mage of Wolves Night Call
I collapsed in my bed that night--alone. I’d found a place for Fionna to sleep. She had whined and asked why she couldn’t sleep with me, but I told her I needed to be alone because my head hurt, and she seemed to understand that. It wasn’t too much of a lie. I definitely had a headache. Or two. I tried to go to sleep. It was nice to be home. I’d taken a shower to wash away all of the left over awful mage residue. I was exhausted, and I hadn’t been in my own bed for a long time. Sleeping in the forest, whether it’s the one right outside my door or the one that Fionna created in her bizarro world, is not that comfortable. The last night I’d slept in my bed hadn’t been comfortable either, so I was due a good night’s sleep. So of course I couldn’t fall asleep. I just kept lying there on my back, staring up at the ceiling, like somehow my mind would just turn off
Last Updated : 2021-05-22Mage of Wolves River of Secrets
I woke up the next morning confused. I wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t Sam who was with me. Nor was it Ben. Thank God it wasn’t Fionna. I gathered all of this before I even opened my eyes. My sense of smell was nothing compared to my wolves’ but I knew a Raven when I smelled one.I sat up, leaning on one elbow and looked at the clock. “Shit. We’re late for school,” I said.“We’re not going to school today, Harlow,” she said.“Why not? Haven’t we missed enough already in the last few weeks?”“Sure, but it’s Saturday.”I stared at her like she was the crazy one and then fell back on my pillows. She was sitting next to me, her legs
Last Updated : 2021-05-22Mage of Wolves A Talk with an Ostrich
The urge to shift into a wolf and go off tearing through the forest looking for Sam was difficult to subdue, but I found a way to fight it. I knew I was acting irrationally at the moment, and I just needed to calm down before I talked to him. Was I happy that he was out in the woods with Starla? Of course not! Was I going to handle it like a mature mage who knew how to take care of her business? Also no. But what I was going to do was give myself some time to chill out before I went off the deep end. If there’s one thing I can definitely say about Ben Peterson it’s that he knows how to keep his shit together in situations where other people would’ve lost it like a bathroom stall in Taco Bell. So I was going to take a page out of Ben’s playbook and not lose it on Sam. For a while.Instead, I made my way out to the old school site to see what was going on there. It was a pile of rubbl
Last Updated : 2021-05-23Mage of Wolves Planning for What Comes Next
It all sounded too good to be true. Mage Jaye was gone, and I didn’t even have to talk to her before she went. Fionna was going to be leaving with Mage Ostrich to go to a school where they might actually be able to help her, which was great because, as fond of her as I was growing, she needed help beyond what I was able to give her, and the School for Mages was no longer in my back yard.I was going to miss some of these people when they left, though. I wanted to talk to them and see if there was a chance a few of them would want to join my pack, but I needed to talk to my wolves first, and I wasn’t sure there was going to be time for that before they all left. For all I knew, Mage Ostrich had already sent everyone packing except for the ones that had flown in with him the night before. I hoped that wasn’t the case. I wanted to see them again at least to say goodbye, and I hadn’t re
Last Updated : 2021-05-23Mage of Wolves Choices to Be Made
Trying not to let Sam’s words cut into my heart like a dagger plunged in by an enemy mage was not working. I stared at him for several seconds before I finally had to ask, “Why is that?”He shrugged, and his face took on a sympathetic expression, like he was sorry he’d been so harsh. “I don’t know, Harlow. I guess it’s easier to be mad at you than it is to be mad at me because he knows how I feel.”“So… you came calling at my window last night, came in looking all irresistible and wanting me, and it’s my fault that we fooled around?”Sam shrugged. “I didn’t say it made sense. I’m just telling you how he feels.”I folded my arms. “What did he say exactly?” I realiz
Last Updated : 2021-05-23Mage of Wolves Mage-r Confusion
I sat there for so long, my pack mates probably thought I’d become encapsulated by the stump and couldn’t move. But then… if that was the case… none of them came looking for me, so maybe they just knew I needed a moment or two. Or an hour. Or two.When someone did come looking for me, it wasn’t a member of my pack. It was Fionna. She came out of the woods down the same path Ben had come down. I wasn’t crying anymore, but I was sitting there staring at the same tree I’d been staring at for a long time. She kneeled down and wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my lap, and I hugged her back as she said, “Friend sad.”“I am sad, Fionna,” I admitted. “I’m really sad right now.”“It’ll be okay, Harlow Nightingale
Last Updated : 2021-05-24Mage of Wolves Decision Made
I generally pride myself on being fairly observant. I know it took me forever to figure out the fact that I am a mage, and maybe i should’ve been able to pick up on clues about that earlier than I did, but other than that, there haven’t been a lot of times in my life when i haven’t noticed things that are important, things that matter.You’re probably going back through this story now, at least mentally, looking for examples of when I’ve missed something. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. It really doesn’t happen that frequently.But with Fionna? Having feelings for Ben? I did not see that at all. Not even a little bit. I sat there on my stump thinking about how it could even be possible. How could she be so fond of me and secretly be in love with the man I was meant to marry? It didn’t even
Last Updated : 2021-05-25Mage of Wolves New Gang
Happy. Sam wanted me to be happy. That was the best news I’d heard in a long time. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no idea what was going to make me happy.But I did know I had some mages to talk to. So after my discussion with the pack, I went out to the compound Mage Ostrich had sprung up on my property and had a look around. It was definitely nothing like the School for Mages I’d built by myself in a couple of hours, but it wasn’t bad. I supposed the individual mages could change things to be more suitable to each of them if they so desired.It didn’t take long for me to find my friends, or for them to find me, as the case may be. Kayla, Lluvia, Sean, and Liz were sitting on lawn furniture chatting while Liam and Leo played basketball, or something that resembled basketball, nearby. The ball they were using didn’t quite look sol
Last Updated : 2021-05-25
Latest chapter
Mage of Wolves Epilogue
There’s a comfy chair right next to the fireplace in the main living area of Brookstone. It has become my favorite place to sit. I can sit there for hours and do absolutely nothing but stare out the window at the beautiful forest and sparkling lake. It’s amazing to me to think how far I’ve come in just a year and a few months. I don’t just sit around and do nothing, though. I haven’t had to use my magic to fight off any other mages or shifters since we destroyed Grimly Grouse and his evil minions, but I do use my magic sometimes for other things, like producing presents for my friends or making mythical creatures to entertain us. Brookstone is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Part of that is the fact that we modernized it and redecorated a lot of the rooms. We wanted all of the modern conveniences we were used to, but we didn’t ruin the amb
Mage of Wolves The Big Bad Wolf
My plan had been pretty simple. I’d bust into Brookstone, make the other mages and any shifters that were there think that the house was on fire, and I’d run them out to where my pack mates were waiting to take them down.I had no idea one of my pack members had her own idea of what should happen then. I guess I should have. It isn’t as if she hasn’t shocked me enough times in the past for me to expect Fionna to do something… unexpected.The mages in Grimley’s pack came streaming out of the house. Most of them went out the front door because I’d started the alleged fire in the kitchen, which was in the back of the house, on the east side. Fionna, being the tricky mage that she is, had opened a portal right on the other side of the front door so that every single one of the mages who ran out that exit sprinted right int
Mage of Wolves Where There's Smoke, There's Probably Fire
I didn’t bother to get a ride back to Brookstone the next day. It was clear that no one wanted to drive out there anyway, and it wasn’t as if it was a necessity. We had other ways of getting there, after all.I volunteered to change my wolves into birds so they could fly with us, but all of them passed on that. They said they weren’t used to flying and were afraid they’d fall out of the sky or something. Like I’d let that happen. I’d rolled my eyes, but since most of the area around where we’d stayed the night before was woodsy and rural, we decided it would be okay for them to walk out into the woods and shift there. The rest of us would fly over.My wolves weren’t going to be entering the property until after I knew the situation in the house. Once I knew whether we were on the defensive or the offensive, I woul
Mage of Wolves Plans
It was difficult to get rooms with enough beds for all of us, but my wolves decided they could always shift into their wolf forms and sleep on the floor, and since most of them didn’t sleep much anyway, we went with that. I was definitely going to be sleeping that night, though. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open to discuss the plan for the next day. Fighting mages is hard work--apparently.“So what is our plan for tomorrow?” Kaylee asked. We were gathered in the room she and I were sharing, all of us sitting on the beds, the floor, and the small sitting area. “I take it we’re going right back there since you wanted to stay so close, Harlow.”“Yeah, we need to go right back over there and take care of things once and for all,” I said. “We just need a plan that will get rid of Grimly Grouse as s
Mage of Wolves Splitting Hairs
With the ground shaking beneath our feet, the mages lifted themselves up into the air. I pulled up my wolves, too, but that didn’t help save my house. The thought of Grimly Grouse destroying my family home was enough to make me want to set his hair on fire.The ground was cracking beneath us now, some of them were at least a foot across. The idea of one of my people dropping inside of one of them was enough to make me want to fly everyone out of there and back to our rental right away.“Kaylee,” I shouted, wanting to try to fix the problem beneath us and keep my wolves out of danger. “Can you take over for me?”“You mean… float them?” she asked. “All of them?”“We can all help,” Liam said from the o
Mage of Wolves Winning or Losing?
Looking around at my mages, I tried to determine who I needed to help and who was okay on their own. Liam was taking on a large male mage with a nose ring and the appearance of horns coming out of his bald head. I assumed those were placed there by magic, and he didn’t really have horns growing out of his head, but it was difficult to know for sure. “Give it up, Harlow!” I heard Grimly shout from far behind the line of advance. “I have more reserves. You cannot win.” It was difficult for me to keep my eye on this brute that was about to knock Liam out and respond to the maniac in the back. I decided to ignore Grouse and concentrate on Liam’s predicament. I was fairly far away from the fight, and there were other engagements going on between me and Liam, but I couldn’t let that stop me. The devil guy with the horn
Mage of Wolves The Heat is On
The mages from Brookstone were slowly walking toward us, their long cloaks in a rainbow of colors not even moving from the wind they made, their steps were so even and slow. I stared at them for a long moment, trying to determine what the best thing to do was. A quick estimate told me that there were probably about thirty of them, which meant my team was outnumbered about five to one as mages went. The wolves would be able to help a little, but not much. They were mostly there to fight off any wolves that came our way, and Grimly Grouse had stopped using those, pulling out the big guns instead.We really only had two choices. We could stand there and fight and probably get annihilated because we were outnumbered so badly, or we could run away, regroup, and figure out when and how we should come back. I was really starting to lean toward Plan B, but when I looked at the faces of my packmates, I could tell t
Mage of Wolves Grimly Grouse At Last
I took advantage of the fearful flicker I’d seen in Grimley Grouse’s eyes and hit him with a bolt of power before he had much time to expect it. He got his hands up, but it wasn’t enough to completely deflect it. I ended up hitting him hard enough to knock him backward almost to the edge of the stream. The other mages around him took a few seconds to stare in shock before they remembered they had powers and could possibly do something to help him.They weren’t going to be able to help him, though. My mages were all ready, so before any of the red cloaked mages could hit me with their powers, mine had their hands up, shooting rays of light to counteract the ones directed at me. I watched the magic around me bend and shift, redirecting back the way it was coming. A few of the red mages were knocked off balance, but none of them went flying the way that Grouse did, probably because mos
Mage of Wolves Accidental Battle
I heard the first sounds of battle coming from my left, to the southwest of the house, but I couldn’t tell who it was that was caught up first by the wolves coming from Brookstone. I thought that Raven and Tony had been the furthest to the south, but I wasn’t certain. I decided I should fly over there and have a look. Of course, by the time I got over there, there was a good chance the rest of my wolves would be under attack as well since we’d seen the wolves shooting through the forest at an incredible rate spread out in a line. As I landed, I heard the sounds of battle echoing across the forest as Grimly Grouse’s wolves collided with mine. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I changed back into my mage form as soon as my feet touched the ground and immediately fired a
