Now that I’d had a bit of time to get used to the sensation of having all these creatures summoned at once, I found it a bit easier to control them. This time, I gave the command carefully. I felt confident that if things got out of hand, I could call them back.

I focused on Astrid, thinking of my cougars encircling her, and they immediately started to prowl toward her. Their muscles bunched and rippled with each step until they had completely closed her in. Astrid quickly shifted her hands in a mudra, and a scarlet aura appeared around her body.

I mentally commanded four of the cougars to use their Frostbreath spells, and the beasts opened their mouths to let out deafening roars. Out of their mouths came beams of crackling blue energy, but the aura Astrid had cast increased her speed, and she dodged between the beams like some kind of acrobat with her leaps, cartwheels, and somersaults. The fourth and final beam clipped her on the right hip, and a patch of ice blossomed from the spot. She grimaced as she slid on her feet and came to a stop, but not before the cougars who hadn’t cast spells pounced. She blocked their claws with her forearms, and trickles of her blood curved through the air.

I called the cougars back, and I was pleased and a little surprised at the swiftness with which they obeyed. It was good to confirm that I was truly their master. They would unerringly obey my every command. It was an incredible feeling that made my chest swell up with pride.

“You know, they’re much more difficult to deal with when they come at you in a wave like that,” Astrid said as she walked toward me. “And that Frostbreath blast—did you know it slows you down?”

She reached for the patch of ice which had clung to her hip. It was now fading, and she knocked the last of the ice off with her six inch blades. Almost as an afterthought, she held her hand up and the blades retracted, leaving her hands looking normal again. She swigged on a healing potion that she grabbed from her duffle bag, and the cuts in her forearms healed almost instantly.

My cougars had returned and now sat in a line in front of me.

“I didn’t know that about the Frostbreath spell, no. You’re alright though, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine,” she said as she stopped to scratch behind the ear of the cougar who’d scored a hit on her. “The blast only scored a glancing hit, so it hardly slowed me down at all, but it’s good to know. I’d like to see what a blast full in the face would do.”