The bance of power was shifting in favor of the werewolves. Something else caught Alex’s attentioivated his echo spell to firm his suspis. The number of werewolves didn’t match what he’d initially tracked. Including the lone werewolf he’d followed earlier and the group of five with the werewolf wizard, there should have been seven. But now, he ted eleven werewolves.

  Tolves had even circled around the rocky highnd, positioning themselves behind the taurs. Their stealthy movements suggested they were waiting for the right moment to strike. “I see now,” Alex murmured, gng at Wimzy. “The werewolf who left earlier went to summon reinforts.”

  “Master!” Wimzy gasped, pointing toward the wizard. “That’s him! That’s the one who attacked my old master! But there weren’t this many werewolves with him back then…”

  Alex nodded grimly. “So, he’s their leader. He must’ve sent out a signal to call the others. Looks like there were more werewolves in the Forbidden Forest thahought.” He frowned, pieg things together. ‘If one of those werewolves hadn’t waoward the forest’s edge, I wouldn’t have even known about this.’

  Alex knew better than to rush in recklessly. The werewolves were dangerous oppos, and without a full uanding of their capabilities, charging in would be foolish. For now, he opted to observe. “Despicable poacher!” a deep voice bellowed from the taur side.

  Alex’s eyes locked onto a taur elder at the ter of the formation. The elder’s broad shoulders and thick beard gave him an air of authority, and his voice carried the weight of prophecy. “We should have seen the signs iars!” the elder thundered. “Betelgeuse of Orion dimmed, and the werewolves expaheir rahis is your doing, you and your disorderly pack!”

  “Hahaha!” The werewolf wizard let out a low, menag ugh, his sharp teeth glinting iorchlight. “Smelly old horses! You should surrender now. I only want the bright-colored ponies behind you. As for the rest of you… I’ll gdly feast on your tough, stringy meat!”

  The taurs bristled at the insult, their bows straining as they prepared to fire. Alex ched his jaw, his mind rag. ‘So, their target is the youaurs. But why? Do they pn to sell them? Or is this some twisted werewolf ritual?’

  “You!” The lead taurs erupted with fury at the werewolf wizard’s words. The three younger taurs behind them, their emotions boiling over, loosed arrows in rage.

  The werewolf wizard didn’t even bother drawing his wand. He deflected the arrows effortlessly with his sharp cws, their tips snapping against his gnarled nails. “You dare threaten us on our nd!” bellowed the elder taur, gripping his spear tightly and pointing it at the werewolf wizard. “Leave now, or the disaster destined for you and your kind will soon desd upon you!”

  The werewolf wizard snorted derisively. “Spare me your hollow threats, old nag. I’ve been le because I don’t want to damage the merdise. Those young ones behind you—if their hides are torn, their value plummets. Don’t test my patience.”

  “Mercy from a cruel and despicable werewolf? What a joke,” scoffed another taur, his voice dripping with disdain as he readied his spear. “Killing, corrupting, and polluting—that’s all your kind knows how to do.”

  The werewolf wizard’s grin twisted into a snarl, his fangs bared menagly. “Turtles in a trap daring to insult wolves? Soon, the wizarding world will tremble before my army of werewolves. I’ll breed more, unstoppable and savage, until every creature like you is hunted iin. Aren’t you proud of your prophecies? Predict your own doom, horse!”

  The taurs quaked with rage at his words. Their tightly held formation began to waver as a few soldiers shifted forward, ready to charge and silence him. “Hold!” the elder anded, his voice cutting through their anger. He raised his head, gazing briefly at the sky before returning his calm yet steely eyes to the werewolf wizard.

  “Run while you , despicable werewolf. Thunder’s wrath is about to greet you. The stars have revealed your end: the messenger of the seventh star of the Big Dipper will bring your death. By dawn, only two of your pack will live to see the sun rise.”

  The werewolf wizard threw his head bad ughed, his guttural voice eg through the forest. “Enough of your bedtime stories! You’ve tested my patience long enough. Since you love your stars so much, I’ll send you to join them!”

  With a flourish, the wizard drew his wand in one hand and crushed a handful of vials iher. A viscous liquid spilled from the shattered gss, transf into a dense, swirling vapor as he waved his wand. The cloud of mist surged toward the taurs. “It’s Sleeping Draught!” one of the taurs cried in arm, the team’s formation faltering.

  “Master!” Wimzy tugged urgently at Alex’s robes. “Those potions! They’re the ones he stole from us!”

  Alex gave a curt nod but didn’t take his eyes off the se. His mind wasn’t focused on the wizard’s as but on the prophecy spoken by the elder taur. ‘The messenger of the seventh star of the Big Dipper… Thunder’s wrath… Could that be me?’ Alex’s position in the north aligned with the taurs, and he couldn’t ighe eerie accuracy of their words. ‘Did taur prophecy actually hold weight?’

  Until now, Alex had dismissed prophecy as fanciful nonsense—vague predis to be interpreted however one pleased. Divination had seemed as unreliable as Professor Trewney’s dramatic but hollow warnings at Hogwarts. But this prophecy? It pointed directly to him. ‘If I stay here and do nothing, will the prophecy fail?’ Alex wondered, a dark smile tugging at his lips.

  “Master, look! The taurs are charging!” Wimzy’s urgent whisper jolted Alex back to reality.

  The taurs, realizing they couldn’t wait for the potion’s effects to incapacitate them, anized a desperate charge. Their spears glinted iorchlight as they surged forward, trying to break through the werewolves’ line.

  The werewolf wizard responded with a chilling, guttural howl, summoning his pack. The werewolves charged with feral iy, their yellow saliva dripping as they closed the distah terrifying speed. The csh was immediate and brutal. taurs thrust their spears into the snarlis, while werewolves cwed and snapped iurn. Blood spattered the ground as the two sides collided in chaos.

  At the ter of it all, the elder taur held his spear aloft and charged straight for the werewolf wizard, his i clear—a swift and decisive beheading. The wizard grinned cruelly, raising his wand. A red streak shot toward the taur elder—a quid deadly curse. But the elder was faster than he looked. He swung his spear horizontally, defleg the curse with practiced ease. The spell fizzled harmlessly into the air, and Alex’s eyes wide the sight.

  ‘What is that spear made of?’ Alex wondered, noting its remarkable resistao magic. But while the parry was impressive, it also slowed the elder’s advance.

  The werewolf wizard’s grin widened, his yellowed fangs glinting iorchlight. “You’ve got spirit, old horse. I’ll enjoy breaking it.”

  From his vantage point, Alex took itle’s iy. The taurs were valiant, but the werewolves’ relentless savagery and regeive abilities tipped the scales against them. “They’ll be overwhelmed if this tinues,” Alex muttered.

  “What will Master do?” Wimzy whispered, her wide eyes fixed on the se below.