to mention I had no way of getting in, or knowing if they had anything flammable inside.
As I was contemplating, I caught the smell of heavy perfume... roses. A scent I’d never experienced before, but that I liked. There was a woman nearby.
A cultist, most likely. I shot to my feet in a start, heart beating rapidly. I’d been found. Someone was hunting me.
My gaze immediately went upward. There she was, perching in the trees. A woman wearing leather armor and a white cloak hung in the branches, the hood cast over her head. She wore a mask, like me.
“You shouldn’t be here. You need to leave.” The woman’s voice came out in a low, sultry tone. I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t know her.
I bared my teeth. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to scare you off,” the woman warned. “Last chance.”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I crouched down and leapt. I soared through the air, jaws extended as I prepared to take her down from the trees. She moved quickly— she jumped to another tree branch just as my paws skimmed her cloak. I fell to the ground, spinning in place to face her again.
The woman gritted her teeth. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“Enough talking,” I said. “You want to get rid of me, you’ll have to do it by force.”
The woman didn’t need any more convincing. She fell from the trees, her cloak billowing around her. She landed in a crouch and stood tall, flinging her arm outward.
I attempted to charge, but I smashed against a painful illusion spell. The surrounding air crackled like glass, blue veins spreading around my form like I’d hit some kind of shield.
I shook my head, dazed. No illusion had ever stopped me before. This was an exceptional sorceress.
“I know who you are!” the woman threatened. “You’re Prince Ethan of the Arcanea! You need to go back!”
I reeled in shock. Bile rose in my throat, and horror spread from my paws upward. How did she know my name?
My missing leg. I’d never acted as the Phantom in my shifter form before. She must’ve guessed.
“Who are you?” I breathed.
The woman blinked behind her mask. She took a second to answer before she spoke. “You may call me the White Rose.”
So no name. She was keeping it hidden from me, for obvious reasons.
I changed back into a man. My hand immediately went for the blade at my side. “Whoever you are, it’s you who’s met their fate.”
I attacked, but the woman was waiting for me. She combated my blade with a dagger of her own, and my arm was sent swinging to the side.
My mouth dropped open in shock, but I gathered my bearings and charged again. I tried fainting at her left and going for the throat, but she dodged that and slashed at my chest. Blow after blow, our blades clashed, but she was too quick for me to make a move on. Every time I took a swing, she met me as an equal.
Her fighting style seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from— not to mention the woman was so skilled, I had no time to wonder, as all my effort was spent keeping up.
This opponent had the ability to guess my every move. How did she know me so well? Had she studied me in the King’s Contest and took notes for when we met? How long had she been following me?
I lost my temper and stabbed forward with a snarl, but the woman beat me to it. She ducked beneath my arm and kicked me in the chest, sending me crashing to the ground. My weapon went flying out of my hands. I fell on my knees, looking upward at the advancing sorceress.
Godsdammit, she was good. Her teacher had to be excellent. I struggled to get up as she approached, a deadly illusion growing in her hand. The illusion glowed white, morphing into an orb that grew with each passing second.
“I told you to leave,” she snapped. “I won’t ask again.”
I let out a laugh. “I’m stubborn like that.”
The sorceress threw the illusion. I rolled to the side and grabbed my blade as I did so. The illusion skirted me by, rushing past and blasting a hole in the ground where I once lay.
Our fight had caught the attention of others. I heard voices— cultists coming out of the cave to investigate.
I hurried to catch my breath as footsteps approached.