A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"She wants me to do what?!" Emily yelled, her face full of complicated emotions, ranging from anger, to fear, to anxiety. "Forget it! This is surely a trap! There's no plan, she's just trying to trade me for safe passage or something!"

Emma looked sad and raised her hands in an attempt to soothe her sister. "Please, Big Em, calm down! Master would never allow that! He sent me a message too just now, confirming he agreed with Elora's plan. Besides, you know Elora still wants you to join our family!"

"Does she?! Well, she's got a funny way of showing it! I'm still pissed off about that last trick she pulled!" Emily shouted, now starting to get a little off track.

"Right… what was that about, anyway?" Emma asked quizzically. "You just stormed out of that bedroom in the morning and you haven't mentioned it since."

Emily deflated a little as anger drained from her face, to be replaced by embarrassment. Her eyes fluttered across the room, unwilling to meet Emma's gaze, "T- That… that's beside the point…"

She shook her head and refocused on the issue, by turning to Astrid, who looked thoughtful. "Well, what do you think about this so-called plan of Elora?!" she grumbled.

Astrid shrugged casually, "Well, the idea is a little weird for me, but I'll do whatever it takes to help. I don't know this Elora well enough yet, but I… I want to believe I can still trust Erik, even if he's changed. So if he trusts Elora, then so will I."

With Astrid supporting Elora's plan, Emily was now the only one who was still unwilling to follow it. Yet, when she looked outside at the people gathered there, including the powerful third-rank Frostfang, her defiance began to waver. After all, she didn't have a better idea.

Plus, when she looked at that lone figure of Erik, standing defiantly opposite a much more powerful opponent, she couldn't stop her heart from filling with various emotions. She had to admit, albeit begrudgingly that, aside from wanting to help herself and Emma, she also wanted to help Erik.

Seeing her doubt, Emma struck while the iron was hot. "Please, Big Em!" she pleaded. "We're running out of time! It's now or never. You know you can trust Master!"

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Finally, Emily allowed herself to be convinced. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "Fine!" she said through clenched teeth. "But I want it on record that I do not like, or trust that damn woman, even if I'm choosing to follow her plan!"

While Emma slaked a sigh in relief, Emily turned to Astrid, frustration, and anger still clear on her face. She beckoned the vampire woman over, "Come here then, Astrid. This won't take long."

Despite knowing what was about to happen, Astrid didn't show any anxiety and stepped towards Emily with determination. Even if she would've preferred a simple fight, she could handle anything in the name of making it through this!

At the same time, Emily took out her sigil carving tool. While Elora could place simple sigils on someone's body by touching them, the far less experienced Emily still needed the sigil carving tool for this.

Luckily, it wasn't actually necessary to literally carve the sigil onto Astrid's skin, as she just needed to trace the lines with it.

*****

Outside, the standoff reached a boiling point. Frostfang's anger, sparked by defiance and compounded by suspicion, threatened to erupt into violence. But just as the air crackled with imminent conflict, two women entered the scene while waving their arms.

"W- Wait!" one of them stammered in a panicky tone. "Don't hurt him! We give up!" Her beautiful black hair fluttered behind her, while her black puddles for eyes were wet with unshed tears.

Surprisingly, this woman was Emily, who wasn't sure how much of her words she actually meant.

Meanwhile, the other woman looked equally distressed, but she also ran a little strangely, as if she was uncomfortable in her own body.

This woman was tall, with crimson-red hair and emerald-green eyes. It was Elora.

Or at least, so Victor thought when he laid his sparkling eyes full of greed on them. "There they are…" he muttered under his breath with an excited smile hanging on his lips.

While the real Elora was anything but tall, such a detail was lost to Victor, as Elora's most prominent features were her hair and eyes.

'Ugh,' Astrid thought, as she couldn't help but tug on her hair a little. 'This feels weird.'

As it turned out, this was Astrid, masquerading as Elora. After all, Elora was currently occupied with planning and coordinating, not to mention that she simply wasn't built for the front line.

With the limited knowledge of sigils Emily had been taught by Elora, she could just barely create an appearance change sigil that managed to darken Astrid's normally strawberry blond hair, while turning her red eyes green.

Luckily, while changing Astrid's height, face, and other certain assets that were a bit bigger on Elora, was out of Emily's skill level, just this was enough to fool Victor, which was all that was needed.

Naturally, the five shapeshifters who had been living in Frostvik along with them for the past few days immediately noticed the problem, but, unfortunately for them, the covenant forbade them from revealing anything new regarding Erik and his group.

Olaf and Anne especially had clenched jaws and strained faces as they tried desperately to utter the words they so wanted to say: "That's not Elora!"

Yet, no words left their mouths. The mark on their hand flashed and forced them to abide by the deal they made.

Nora, meanwhile, didn't even try. Even if the covenant didn't stop her, the Bond of Service certainly would. Plus, she had to admit that she didn't really want to say anything. She hoped Erik would get away.

Viljar, too, remained willfully quiet as his love for his nephew warred with his loyalty to Frostfang and the Enclave. Luckily for him, he had an easy out. Simply submitting to the covenant's enforced silence was far easier than making a choice.

Finally, there was Björn who, perhaps surprisingly, had a similar expression to Olaf and Anne. Although his was even more desperate, and even some panic shone through in his eyes.