Page 41 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

"If I help you," she said carefully, pausing next to the hanging vines, "will you truly guide us to the flower?”

"More than that," Malcolm promised."We will stand with you when you face the one who cast these curses.The prophecies speak of allies who will rise to aid the thornless rose in her darkest hour."

"Thornless rose?"Rosemary echoed.

"A healer who would sacrifice her own quest to save strangers," he explained."One whose power grows not from selfishness, but from the willingness to give everything for others."

The weight of prophecy settled around us like a shroud.This was bigger than just Briar's curse, bigger than my mother's schemes.Rosemary was at the center of something ancient and powerful, and these wolves were offering to be part of it.

"Take me to your son," Rosemary said, her voice steady.

The alpha smiled, but it held no warmth."Follow me, healer.Let us see if you are truly what the prophecies promised."I watched as the female wolf blew something into Rosemary’s face, and she collapsed into her arms, unconscious.

And then, only silence remained as I fought against every muscle within my tiny feathered form, but nothing would waken my body after the damage it had taken.It may have been a magical form, but it still had its limits.A crackedcawfell from my beak as the darkness finally consumed me.

Broken Wings

ELIAS

Awhite-hot spike of pain shot through my skull as I jolted awake.My stomach lurched as I turned wildly, searching for any sign of her.But the space where she had slept was empty.No warmth.No movement.Only the shredded remains of her bedroll, torn to ribbons like the aftermath of a predator's feast.

A ragged cry ripped from my throat, raw with fear.My wings flared even as agony ignited, feathers bristling as my talons scraped desperately against the damp moss.My wing wasn’t broken as I’d thought, but sharp pain throbbed along the fine bones as I bent it.

I pushed through the pain, forcing myself to ignore it.The werewolves had taken her, and I hadn't been strong enough to do a damn thing about it.

I ripped through the hanging vines, bursting from the cave into the cold embrace of the night.The sting of my twisted wing was immediate and vicious, but I shoved the pain aside.Rosemary.I had to find her.

The damp, cold earth bore the deep imprints of heavy paws, a path carved by the creatures that had stolen her away.With a furious beat of my wings, I launched higher into the air, my body screaming in protest.Every movement sent bolts of pain lacing through my bones, but I gritted my beak and forced myself forward, gliding low, tracking their path.

Then I saw them.Snapped branches littered the ground, a violent trail of her struggle.And there, dark droplets glistening against the dead leaves.Blood.

I forced my battered wings to carry me faster.The winding trail pulled me deeper into the forest, where the trees stood like silent sentinels.The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and crushed lavender, but none of it soothed me.Not when every instinct in my body screamed that I was running out of time.

Then, I saw them.

Four massive wolves, their fur rippling like shadows under the silver moon, circled a still figure on the ground.Their eyes burned a hungry, feral yellow, gleaming like candlelight through stormy glass.

And there, Rosemary.

She lay motionless, her strawberry blond hair spilling like ink over the earth, her pale dress stark against the night-stained ground.

Something in me snapped.

Rage surged like wildfire, burning away the last of my hesitation.My talons clenched, my wings flaring wide as a shrill cry ripped from my throat, echoing through the trees like a war cry.

The wolves' heads snapped toward me.The wolves watched me, their snarls curling through the cool morning air, but before I could reach them, the whistling snap of bowstrings cut through the quiet.

Arrows.

One tore past my head, so close I felt the wind of its passing.Another struck my already mangled wing, and pain exploded through me, white-hot and searing.My vision blurred, my balance wavered, and I tumbled through the sky like a withered leaf caught in a storm.

But then, a flicker of gold.

The first rays of dawn stretched timid fingers over the horizon, painting the treetops in hues of pale amber and dusky rose.Usually, the light had to fully claim the sky before I could shift, but I wouldn't wait.

I twisted my body, forcing myself into a steep descent, plunging into the tangled embrace of the trees.The moment my claws scraped against the mossy earth, I reached inward, grasping, pulling, wrenching the change from within.

My bones cracked and splintered, the shift brutal and raw.Feathers tore away as my limbs stretched, talons lengthening into fingers caked in damp earth.My spine arched, twisting, until I was no longer something winged and weightless but something whole.Something fae.