by D. E. Morris
“Come with us.”
He glanced at her with his good eye. “Where? To Horse Head? Why?”
“You know why.”
With a stubborn shake of his head, he set his jaw. “There's no reason to.”
“There is every reason to.”
“I'm not going, Mairead.” He stopped walking so he could face her, cold and detached. “Swear to me that you won't tell anyone else what I just told you. Swear it. I haven't even told Kenayde and I don't want anyone else to know.”
“Why not?” She searched his hardened expression for a way in and was hurt to find an impenetrable wall of anger and defense. “Elas, the island could answer so many questions for both of us.”
A growl built in his throat like a warning from a feral animal. “I don't want anything to do with it, do you understand? If 'm supposed to protect you, then I will. I never had the chance to keep a little sister of my own safe so I can be that protective older brother for you if that's what I'm supposed to do, but that's the extent of my involvement.” A group of young women were coming down the hall and Elas glanced at them before taking a heated step back. “I wish you well on your trip. Safe flight.” Turning away from her, he stalked back down the way from which they had come, his angry footfalls echoing until he was too far away to be heard.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cavalon's mood had not improved any by the time he returned to Siness. If anything, he was more on edge about what was going on in Braemar, frazzled over the fact that he had to leave yet again, even if he understood the necessity of his departure. For the mother of a newborn not even a month old, Luella looked surprisingly well rested and was overjoyed to see Jaryn, Kenayde, and Elas when they were greeted in the bailey. While Misuzu checked on Nagisa, the group of onlookers grew. Cailin injected herself into the conversation that was being had about the hunters and the Gaels in Braemar.
“They have nets,” Cavalon said, horrified. “Have you seen them? They're covered in these thin little hooks and razors-”
“Oh, we've seen them,” Jaryn seethed. “Ashlynn got caught up in one herself a couple of weeks ago.”
Glancing back toward the castle, Cailin nodded to a waiting Niam and Connor to call them over. “Yes, but we may have a way to combat those nets soon.”
“How do you mean?” asked Cavalon.
“Armor for dragons!” Connor burst out. “I've been working on it for weeks. Niam's a smith and he's helping me design it and then he'll manufacture it. We're going to test it out on Nyx first. Not with the actual razor nets.”
“They volunteered me for that,” said Cailin in a dry tone.
Niam nodded with enthusiasm. “We'll have to make a whole new set of armor for Cai because she's bigger than Nyx, but I want to make sure it's feasible with a smaller test subject first, get an idea of how many plates it would take to cover a smaller animal, what I'd need for hardware, leather-”
“Saddles,” Connor added.
“Not my area,” Niam snorted.
Jaryn and Cavalon looked at one another as the three of them went on, caught up in their excitement. Eventually, Cailin caught on to the fact that what was being said was either being lost on them or going way over their heads, and put a hand on a forearm of each of the two younger men. “Basically,” she offered with a small laugh, “we want to give control back to the Gaels. We want them to be able to feel safe again when they fly.”
Connor gave them a lopsided grin. “Eventually Keepers should be able to have their own dragons like I do, all armored up like war horses and really aggressive, don't-mess-with-me beasts of pure destruction.” Niam cleared his throat, making a motion to tell Connor to take it down a notch. “I mean, it's just an idea I had.”
Luella, who had been silent and taking it all in up until now, looked at Jaryn and Cavalon with a change in subject. “Tasarin told me about the hunters with headdresses. We have been seeing them in Caedia near the capital and the larger lesser kingdoms, as well as areas that are known to be heavily populated with Gaels.”
“Same in Braemar,” Cavalon rumbled. “They're multiplying like rabbits all of a sudden.”
Jaryn's brows lowered in concern. “Have you made any arrests?”
“No,” Luella answered with a shake of her head. “There have been no grounds upon which to do so. They have done nothing to so much as cause a disturbance, let alone commit any crime. They do not engage anyone and they are not confrontational.”
“They exist on the periphery,” Cavalon supplied, to which Luella nodded. “It's like they're just there to freak people out.”
“And it is most definitely working.”
Jaryn's eyes slid toward Cailin. “Ashlynn saw one of them on the parapet outside our window this morning. It sounds like it could be the same method of operation.”
“We'll keep looking.” With a incline of her head, Cailin led Connor and Niam back toward the castle to leave the other three alone to talk. As they passed under the high stone walkway above, Mairead and Misuzu were exiting. “Be safe,” said Cailin, her words and the warmth of her smile clearly meant for Mairead, but as the two groups passed one another, her eyes flickered to Misuzu. The two women shared a quick, emotionless nod before Cailin disappeared inside. Connor echoed her sentiment to both women, adding that he was glad to see Mairead safe. She congratulated him on his engagement, sending him inside with a grin. When Niam lingered, Misuzu walked on, leaving Mairead alone with him by the open doorway.
“I won't keep you long,” he promised, a respectful distance between them, “but I wanted to say something before you left. I don't know what happened down there and you don't owe me any explanations. You don't owe me anything. I just want you to know that you deserve more than you believe you do, Mairead, no matter what you may look like and no matter what kinds of lies the Deceiver tries to whisper in your ear. You are strong, courageous, intelligent, and incredibly brave, and whatever happens in your future, the Giver has amazing plans for you. Maybe that is why you've been through the trials you've had to face, because the enemy doesn't want you to succeed. Don't let him beat you. Take me with you on your journey or don't, I will always be your biggest supporter, and I will always be there for you when you need me, no matter what.” Stepping forward, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Please be safe.”
Cailin stuck her head back out the door, careful to be delicate. “Niam.” She gave a fleeting smile to Mairead before nodding to the young man. “Come on.”
Mairead watched him go, unable to say anything, and swallowed.
“Ready?” called Cavalon. She breathed in deeply and looked in his direction, nodding in an almost automatic manner before joining everyone else out in the sunlight. Luella and Misuzu had already transformed and taken to the sky, their contrasting shades of light and dark forming a sort of yin and yang in the air as they circled one another in a mildly playful manner, waiting. Though Cavalon was anxious, carrying much in his thoughts, he was patient with Mairead and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she drew near. “Ladies first.”
“Safe flight,” offered Jaryn to both of them before moving back toward the safety of the castle with Kenayde and Elas.
Mairead watched them go, catching Elas' eye in the quickest moment before he turned his back on her. Though she was surrounded by people and had heard more words of encouragement than she felt necessary over the past two days, she felt incredibly lonely. There was no reason for it, no justification for her sadness or the anxiety that gripped her throat, but as she shifted, all Mairead could think about was that she looked forward to the serenity that came with being in her draconic form, and the inevitable joy that would find her in flight.
It was only a matter of minutes before the four dragons were soaring through the air away from Altaine. Nyx, sensing Luella, her parent Element, came out of nowhere before they got too far. She was aggressive toward the others, despite her familiarity with them, more so than Luella. Her natural instincts made her act accordingly
until Luella commanded her away. With a mournful cry, the young darkness dragon banked and flew back to the castle, leaving the four to fly ahead on their own. They kept as high above the clouds as they could to avoid any possible attacks, all of them taking pleasure in the feeling of the air around their bodies. Mairead marveled at the way Misuzu was able to twist and turn without wings, much the way the water dragons could move through the currents. She was certainly the more playful of the group, weaving her long, sinuous body around, over, and under the others. Cavalon snapped at her once, though she was hardly bothered, and soon, Luella began to play as well. Mairead simply enjoyed the moment, opening herself up to the sensation of the cold air rushing over and through her scales, filling the membranes between the spines of her wings, and chilling her lungs with each deep breath. This was freedom. This was bliss.
Though all of them had been shifting for long enough that they could resist the feral pull for much longer than a newer shifter, they decided to take a break. They returned to their human forms on the other side of the highland mountains, pausing for a while on the northernmost peak of the Sinessian mainland. Far out in the distance they could see land mass, Horse Head Island.
The sea wind came up over the edge of the tall cliff and whipped at Mairead's hair and dress. She jumped when she felt a hand on her back. Turning, she met Luella's kind smile before looking back out to the horizon. “How do you feel?” asked the darker skinned woman. The question made Mairead give a dry chuckle.
“I must look as though I feel a certain way since that is the question everyone is most fond of asking me lately.” Her forehead furrowed as she turned around to focus on Cavalon. “I know you believe that I might be an Elemental.” He, along with Luella and Misuzu, who was casually eating an apple she'd brought along, shared a look that told her she was not wrong. “But how can that be,” she asked, “when there has never been an elemental in my family?”
Misuzu swallowed what she had bitten off and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “The seasonal Elementals died out a long time ago, before Cavalon was ever even born.”
“It is possible,” Luella clarified as Misuzu took another bite of her apple. “As the years went on, because the power was dormant, no one kept track of its lineage so it is possible that one of them was part of your family at one point.”
Once more, Mairead wore her disbelief openly. “Would I not have to be a direct descendant?”
Finally, Cavalon spoke, his shoulders rising in a shrug. “We don't really know. Because the seasons have been gone for so long, the rules might not apply in a reawakening situation. Would you have to have been related to a previous seasonal Elemental? Yes, without a doubt. Benevolence and Malevolence are the only ones of us with a say in who their powers are passed onto, but this...this is uncharted territory for us.”
Finished with her apple, Misuzu tossed the core out to sea and wiped her hands on her trousers. “Why would it be Mairead? That's my question. There are older Gaels in your family, right?”
She nodded, and again, Cavalon shrugged. “When power reemerges, it tends to look for the strongest candidate in order to have a fighting chance.”
“Like the jewel dragons,” Misuzu grinned. “I cannot wait to see Ashlynn's new form!”
“Then let's get going.” Cavalon looked past Mairead and Luella, out toward the island. “I think we all have some questions that are about to be answered.”
As they all took turns shifting once more, Mairead waited with Luella while Misuzu and Cavalon went first. It was only by chance that she glanced over at the older woman to see the way she watched the other two with rapt attention, her dark blue eyes and the curves of her profile bringing another face to memory with sharp focus. “Our turn,” Luella said with a soft smile. As she moved away, Mairead remembered asking Lilia back in Cynefin if Rhiamon reminded her of anyone. Now that she was in Luella's company again, it was impossible to miss the near mirror resemblance.
The stone statues slowly took on shape as the dragons drew closer, cold ocean waters rushing past below them. Whatever levity Misuzu had been feeling must have stayed behind on the mainland; her path was as straight as all the others, determination in her draconic eyes as she kept pace beside her friends. Both she and Mairead knew well that there would be no room for all four of them to land, having been there before five years ago when fleeing from Ironedge. When Cavalon saw some of the others sitting around a fire by the stone statues and only a thin strip of beach big enough for one of them to land upon, he let out a bellow of protest.
“You have to land and shift one at a time,” Ashlynn called up, “or land in the water and shift there!”
Misuzu didn't wait to see what any of the others were going to do; in less time than it would take to land either on the beach or in the water, she shifted her body into that of a small bird and flapped her tiny wings, chirping her laughter and teasing the others as she swooped down to drop to the sand with ease. Turning back into a human, she joined the other three adults at the fire and grinned up at the dragons still high above. One by one, they landed to shift, Cavalon letting the women go first as he had at their departure. By the time he was human himself, it was clear he was having a hard time keeping his irritation in check.
“What's the point in keeping these statues here if there isn't even enough room on their island for people to come look at them?” he asked Ashlynn, “and where are the kids?”
“Cavalon!” cried Rowan from high above. She'd waited until he was close enough to the statue whose head was pointed skyward, the one whose snout she was draped across, more than fifty feet above him. “Catch me!” With reckless abandon, she dove into the air in a graceful arc. Cavalon's breath left him and his eyes bulged, his arm outstretched and completely frozen. She was halfway down when fyre erupted around her and took her away, leaving nothing but a wave of heat in her wake. In another colorful burst of flames, she reappeared on the ground near the rest of the group. Everyone watched Cavalon, wondering whether he was going to explode or pass out. He turned to look at her slowly, lips parting as palpable anger crawled over his features.
Snickers began echoing around the group.
Finally inhaling, the Badarian was building up a storm of words. Before anything could come out, Lochlainn, who had been waiting atop the other statue in between the ears, followed Rowan's example and also yelled, “Catch me!”
As one, every single person on the island shouted, “No!” before Lochlainn could even move. He peered down, looking from face to face before deflating into a pout. He sighed heavily and disappeared in fyre only to reappear on the ground.
“What. Was. That?” Cavalon spat, each word's articulation enhanced by his anger.
“That was impressive,” Luella enthused, crouching to beckon Lochlainn over into an embrace, an act which he was all too happy to oblige.
“He's been practicing since we got here this morning,” said Ashlynn.
Mairead watched them all, gathering around one another, staying as far back from the group as she could on the beach. There was no conscious decision made on her part to try to blend in or disappear, but she found herself trying not to move, to even breathe in an effort to keep the attention from being cast her way. Cavalon's anger at Rowan's reckless stunt eventually bubbled over. She laughed at him, completely unaffected by what he had to say and reminding him that she was not a child anymore, that she was completely in control of her abilities and knew full well what she was doing, Ashlynn finally looked Mairead's way and left the din of voices to join her friend as a spectator.
“So far the only show has been this one,” she chuckled. “Apparently it takes more than all six Elementals being together for something magical to happen.”
Mairead forced a small smile. “You have all been together before.”
“But not before I lost most of my powers. This is the first time it has been all six of them at full strength.”
“I wonder if we have to be shifted,” said Misuzu, turning her
head toward the two women.
“I do not think that should matter,” Badru remarked, rising from his spot by the fire to brush grass and sand from his colorful robes. “Besides, as has already been established, there is not enough room.”
Rowan lifted her face to the sun, expression thoughtful and palms out to the sides. “What if we hold hands?”
“I'm not holding hands,” Cavalon grumbled, crossing his arms.
Still thinking, Badru's dark eyes took in the company he stood among. He tapped his chin as he thought, muttering more to himself than anyone else, “Everything has a pattern with the Elementals.” With no further explanation, he took Rowan by the shoulders and placed her before the fire before pushing Killian back away from it. “Luella, Lochlainn, if you please.” Hand in hand, the two of them approached the fire to be arranged, Lochlainn a few feet away from his foster sister and Luella a few feet away from him, as Killian went to stand with Mairead and Ashlynn. Cavalon was placed on the other side of Rowan, then Misuzu, all of them forming an open circle around the fire standing across from their opposite, male, then female, leaving one space for Badru. With growing excitement, the older man stepped into position looking like a child about to open a gift.
Nothing happened.
“Well that was disappointing,” Cavalon monotoned.
With a reluctant glance at his long-time friend, Badru muttered, “Perhaps we should hold hands.” The Badarian gave a loud sigh, but dropped his hands out on either side of him, his facial expression suggesting he would rather be facing certain death than holding Misuzu and Rowan's hands. Rowan's giggling wasn't helping the matter any. Once more, Badru was the last to close the circle, taking Luella's hand only once everyone else was connected. Once more, nothing happened.
“Sorry, everyone,” Ashlynn offered, moving closer with Mairead and Killian trailing behind. “I know we've all been hoping for years that just being together would mean-”