4 Captured

As night settled over the woods, two green eyes emerged from the darkness. Sionna sniffed at the air tentatively, it smelled as thought the wizard had walked right past her den during the day. Now he seemed to be much further away his fire and campsite were now west of her.

"He didn't travel very fair during the day, only a few miles." She thought to herself, "Is he lost?"

With hesitant steps Sionna crawled out of her den, each tiny white paw stepping carefully.

When suddenly her body froze in place, the buzz of magic filled her ears. She was stuck in mid motion, one paw was still in the air. She was unable to move anything except her eyes, and she moved them from one to the other. Coming from under the leaves she could just make out a freezing stone.

She cursed herself, the wizard must have put them there. How could she have been so naive to not look for some sort of trap. This was the second time she was caught in a trap this week.

Angered and stressed she tried to see if she could shape shift. Hoping to break out of the rocks powerful hold. Freezing rocks were given there name because when set up in a square they could trap anything that moved inside of it. The rock's powers come from the mountain tops they are found on and are then spellbound to be used as traps.

Under their power nothing could move and Sionna used incredible strength just to move her eyes. It would be impossible to transform.

Over the buzzing of the magic she could hardly hear but she could smell. And she could the stench of the wizard getting closer.

Sionna couldn't flee as she felt his scent getting stronger, and eventually she could hear him stumbling around in the woods.

Eventually she could see a dull glow of light and a figure in a black robe stumbled up to her.

Upon seeing her Sullen smiled a wicked smile. His yellow stained teeth didn't glow in the dull moonlight making his smile dark as if he didn't have teeth.

Sionna felt a shiver going to her bones seeing the figure's creepy smile, but her body was still unable to react. He pulled out a crystal ball and spoke into it.

A dark figures appeared in the crystal orb and a voice appeared in the darkness. "What is it now Sullen?"

"I caught the fox!" He said unable to hide his excitement.

"Is that so?" The figure said looking at the small red fox. "Remove a stone quickly, let her transform and put it back." The voice said now softer then her iterated tone before.

"All I have to do is not transform in front of her. This will be easy!" Sionna thought to herself, because she did not understand the magic of the freezing stones.

Not sure what else to do Sullen obliged, and quickly removed a stone.

The stones did not stop Sionna from being able to transform, they delayed the reacting to the point it would have taken her years to complete the process. So the second Sullen removed the stone her body was able to complete the shapeshift. It all happened so quickly she had a hard time understanding what was happening.

"I need to get out of here," was her only thought as soon as Sullen lifted the stone but her body changed quickly making her loose her balance. She fell face forward into the dirt, her front legs changed into arms that were only able to catch her right before her face hit the ground.

The shapeshifter changed so quickly Sullen almost forgot to replace the rock.

"Perfect!" The excited voice of the Keeper rang out bringing Sullen back to reality and he quickly dropped the stone back in place freezing the women in her unfortunate position.

"A female fox shifter, in immaculate condition, unmarked and untainted will be worth hundreds. You did well Sullen, I am impressed." The Keeper's voice echoed through the forest; yet, the man stood their motionless holding the crystal ball.

Never in his life had he seen something as beautiful as the women in front of him.

The soft blue glow made her pale skin glow vibrantly in the moonlight. Her red hair shadowed her upper back, shoulders and anything below her face that was now inches from the ground. However, when she feel forward she fell onto her knees with her hips still in the air. This put her beautiful naked body in the perfect position for Sullen's dark imagination to wander.

It was only when the voice spoke again that he was dragged out of his wild fantasy.

"You must mark her immediately, fox's are sly and if she can shape shift at will she will be able to escape."

'Mark her?' He though to himself, still in his dark fantasy about the beautiful women trapped in front of him. 'Oh right! The spell!' He said finally remembering his mission.

Pulling out a scroll from his robe he commanded it, "Leviticus" he whispering causing it to levitate in the air.

Then recasting the spell he did the same to the crystal ball. Gripping his staff with both hands now, his palms felt sweaty. The magic he was about to preform is the darkest more powerful spell he has ever attempted. It was banned by the government and it bonded a shapeshifter's magic to another being. It prevented the shifter from taking the form of its choosing. It meant the person in control over the marked shifter could choose when and what shape it took.

'Mark me?' Sionna thought to herself a tangled feeling in her gut, her Papa had mentioned the dark magic to her but it still seemed unreal. 'No one can control me' she thought to herself glaring at the cloaked man in front of her. If she ever got the chance she would rip his throat out without hesitation.

Sullen gripped just staff and moved the women's hair exposing her shoulder blade, then following the floating scroll he began to chant. The gem atop the staff was previously glowing a light blue, but it started to get darker to an almost purple. Then raising his staff Sullen pointed it at Sionna's shoulder blade focusing with all of his might.

He had painstakingly gone over the incantation many times and he new it by heart. The scroll was just there to make sure he didn't mess up, but now it was coming back to him and he closes his eyes. His lips moving quickly, his facial features tense. As the blue light shot out form his staff and his Sionna's flawless fair skin.

It felt like her skin was being burned and she wanted to scream, but was unable to do anything. She had never felt so defenseless in her life, and a deep hatred brewed inside her. As she felt the agonizing pain on her skin she decided two things. She wanted kill the man in the black cloak, and she wanted to torture the women in the crystal ball.