Free The Sorcerer's Ring (Book 1) by Julius St. Clair

biulos!” Kace warned as they weaved in and out of the sleeping and grazing beasts. Remi coughed as she nearly stumbled into one. Gaining her footing, she glanced back for a moment, and sure enough, recognizable faces were on the hunt. She couldn’t see her parents, but the townspeople giving them chase were sure to give them just as much of a beating as they would.
    Remi faced forward and ran as fast as she could, but she was already losing speed. Kace and Olivia were getting further away, and for a moment, she considered transforming just to catch up. She knew it would be a mistake, but what was the alternative? What was the—
    “GOT YA!” the outcry jumbled her thoughts, and she found herself in the open arms of one of their pursuers. The muscular man tackled her to the ground and pinned her arms down as the group behind her closed the gap.
    They flanked us!
    The raid group came to a halt and stood around her in a circle.
    “Where’s the other two?” Anila asked, surveying the area. “They couldn’t have gotten far.”
    “The other group will meet up with them,” Bertil sighed. “But in the meantime, this girl here should learn what betrayal gets you.”
    “That’s right,” Anila breathed into Remi’s face. As hard as Remi struggled, she still couldn’t get the big man off of her. “And why would you go and do a thing like this anyways? It’s not like your parents gave you a home, a shelter and some food to eat. Huh? So what is it? Why’d you run away?”
    Remi kept silent. She wasn’t going to give them a thing. Not a thing. Not a—
    Anila kicked her in the face.
    The blow hurt so bad that she gave out a sharp cry and the group started laughing around her. Anila stood up and crossed her arms.
    “At least she did one thing right. We found some food by chasing her.”
    “Don’t…” Remi tried to warn them, but all she got was another kick in the face. Remi clenched her jaw and waited. There was no point in reasoning with them. There never was. And though she could have easily transformed, broke free of her captors, and led them to safety in a chase—she stayed silent.
    And waited.
    “Someone want to take down one of these things and bring it back with us?”
    The next sound Remi heard was the bellow of one of the beasts, screaming both in pain and for assistance. Remi wasted no more time. Gritting her teeth, she willed her body to transform. The bubble that formed around her threw off the man on top of her and he went flying several feet in the air. Her white robe manifested over her and she jumped to her feet. There were several people around her, but they weren’t as concerned about Remi anymore.
    The biulos had heard the cry of their wounded.
    Remi leapt into the air and landed on one of their backs as the biulos rammed into the townspeople relentlessly. As soon as one was finished, another in line would continue the job and so on. Remi tried to block out their cries for help as she ran across the biulos’ backs. She leapt into the air once more as one biulo tried to jump onto the back of another in order to get her. She nearly stumbled off, but miraculously she was able to maintain her footing.
    “Where have you been?” Kace shouted as he ran toward her. Once they met up, he matched her stride and they continued running across the backs of the beasts.
    “Crowd control,” she laughed. “Where’s Olivia?”
    “Guiding builos to the poor excuse of a raid group up ahead.”
    “You left her alone?”
    “She said she could handle it all by herself.”
    “How far along is she? Are they fighting past the builos?”
    “About a mile away.”
    “She’s going to need help,” Remi said assuredly as she sprinted forward. There was no way Olivia could take on a whole raid group by herself. It didn’t matter if the biulos were helping. It just wasn’t possible. If there were two teams sent out, the second raid group was always the strongest of the two.
    Always.
    Remi leapt off the last