by C E Johnson
Her mother held her tightly. “I like that answer.”
“I love you, Mom,” Emily gave her a kiss.
Jean peered at Emily, eyes glistening with emotion, “Getting serious tonight. Did Luke knock you too hard today?”
“Just thinking like Dad. Glad for the time we have together.”
Emily went back upstairs reluctantly. If Xena wasn’t with her, she probably would have stayed downstairs with her parents until they went to bed, waiting until Blacksky picked her up, accepting whatever would have happened. Instead, she went through the motions of packing in a daze. The presence of her bondsmate gave her mental support and comfort.
No metal, Xena advised.
Emily laid out warm clothes without any plastic or metal. She wanted something appropriate in case it was cold where she was headed. She set out her favorite jogging shoes, knowing the plastic couldn’t cross the portal, and that she would have to leave them before she crossed. She set out the little silver key. Okay, Z, let’s get a nap before we head out. She sank into her bed, initially unable to sleep, her mind wrapped around Acacia. Although the room wasn’t cold, she felt a chill run down her spine. Hands clasped around her knees, she focused on her ceiling fan spinning silently above her head.
Emily awoke at midnight to the chirping of her alarm. She was surprised she’d managed to sleep at all with the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through her veins. She had the urge to simply close her eyes and go back to sleep, but Xena was already awake, standing next to her bed, looking at her.
The time has come, Xena spoke solemnly. Xena looked to the window and let out a low growl as the fur rose on the back of her neck. Emily felt another chill go down her spine and she found herself trembling slightly as she slowly pushed herself to get up and look out her window.
So many cars, Emily whispered. More vehicles were amassed along the street, twice as many as before, many with interiors lit up by a glow of computer screens. Her window of opportunity was closing fast.
Duck, Xena bristled. Emily ducked just as an agent wearing night vision goggles turned in her direction. She knew Xena was right—it was time to go. In the gloom, Emily slipped into the dark clothes she had selected for the journey. Xena slid noiselessly to the door, pausing momentarily to look back at Emily.
I’m ready, Emily thought as she crept through the dark house after her bondsmate. She sent Xena out the back door first, watching through her bondsmate’s eyes as she wove strategically through the vehicles and trees.
Patrols were even going through the greenbelt around the yard. Noting the agent’s patterns and positions, Xena kept Emily waiting until she saw an opening. Now, she urged Emily to move.
Emily slipped out the back door. Running along the trails in the moonlight, she was comforted by the silent presence of her Doberman loping at her side, fearless and swift. I’m strong, I’m going to find my parents and my twin brother, she repeated over and over to herself, but the words were overshadowed by a seed of doubt that continued to grow in her mind as she ran.
The tree that never had to fight, Xena whispered encouragingly.
Emily focused on her father’s poem that stressed challenges would make her stronger. Somehow, she found the energy and conviction to keep moving. The oaks swayed like threatening giants stalking her every movement, reaching branches out to slow her passage, but she trusted Xena’s lead, jogging through the uncomfortable shadows that lurked beneath the trees. Am I really doing this? she thought to herself. Everything seemed so dreamlike.
You are doing it, Xena replied. We are doing it. Follow me closely. Xena ignored any of the distractions and moved forward boldly, plunging through the darkness. Emily glided soundlessly over the rocky terrain, using her bondsmate’s senses to prevent her from stumbling. She fed off Xena’s strength. Savoring the light breeze on her face and shivering with anticipation, she listened to the coyote yips and howls that rang through the night. Although it felt like an eternity, eventually they arrived downtown.
Breathing heavily, Emily scrambled to the ledge and opened her godfather’s unlocked window. After Xena leapt inside, they crept through his office and listened at the door, only exiting once the area was silent. While allowing their eyes to adjust, the two slipped unnoticed down hallways to the elevators where Emily pushed the button and waited impatiently for the doors to open.
The key, Xena advised.
Once inside, Emily pulled out the silver key that her godfather had hidden for her in her scabbard. She inserted it, pushed SB, and they went down to the subbasement.
The deserted corridors gave her an eerie sense of deja vu as she dashed out of the elevator. She carefully cast spells at each door while following Dr. D’s directives, her memory of her dream-link merging with reality. At last she slid to a stop, toppling over Xena to fall to her knees as a cold draft of air washed over her at the entrance to the great underground chamber. She could feel raw power pulsating from the imposing portal, with a deep rhythm to the pulsation, like a heartbeat bounding from the center of the Earth. The underlying stone was a pale, bone white, smooth, symmetrical, and rectangular. The white wall of stone was twice as tall as Emily, dominating the cavern. There was an archway in the center of the structure that was as black as death, a void of nothingness. Next to the archway, words were carved into the stone, and beneath the words was a flat tablet stone. She stood and cautiously approached the temple-like structure, marveling over the glow of blue light that intensified in brightness as she neared. Initially she could see whorls and patterns, but all of this was lost in the blue light as she moved closer to the dark void. There were no handles, but Emily knew this was the door to Acacia.
Carefully taking off her shoes and removing Xena’s collar and the key from her pocket, Emily slowed her breathing. Ready for this, Z? Even her voice through their link was shaky and faint.
Make the letter, Xena urged while giving Emily mental support.
Emily took a deep breath. She traced the intricate A for Acacia with her finger, and the letter burst into a blue flame. A faint humming drifted through the still air to her ears, as if a large generator somewhere far off was powering on.
Time to go, Xena whispered while moving even closer to Emily’s leg, her warm fur a reassuring contact. Fascination overriding her fear, Emily stepped forward into the void.
Burning liquid fire roared through Emily’s veins even as cold water surrounded her. She fought the urge to take a breath of the deadly fluid. The blood pounding through her vessels was nearly deafening, and she wanted to release a primal scream of fear, but her countless hours of training in the pool allowed her instincts take over and she kept her mouth closed. Xena was instantly next to her, calming her in the turmoil, directing her upward toward the light filtering down through the water. Emily let out a bubble of air and watched its course to make sure she knew which direction was up.
It’s wonderful here, Xena crowed. She wasn’t frightened in the least, and instead Emily felt a calm joy emanating from their link. Xena radiated with excitement. I’ll race you to the surface, Xena taunted.
Emily felt better immediately, and she had to suppress a giggle at Xena’s audacity. A challenge we both know you can’t hope to keep, Emily teased. Following the bubble, Xena’s direction, and the light, Emily began to swim, and it hit her immediately that her body was different. Everything was different. Her muscles were suffused with strength and power, and she reveled in it, kicking hard toward the growing brightness of the surface.
Such power, Xena marveled. She was a black blur beside Emily as they raced up. Emily broke the surface with such speed that she found herself hurtling through the air. Arching her back and trying to convert her momentum into a graceful dive back into the water, she sliced like a knife and swam back to the surface laughing with pleasure at Xena’s wet head bobbing next to her.
It’s pristine, Emily gasped while studying the new world. Treading water and looking around, she became overwhelmed by the clarity of he
r vision and the vivid colors surrounding her. It was midday on Acacia and a dazzling single sun was directly overhead with rays of warmth cascading down, warming the tops of trees that crowded the lake. The forest was highlighted by a gigantic old ironwood with a base trunk wide as a house. There was a wide rainbow by the enormous tree, fed by the mist of a crashing waterfall. Covering her eyes to steady herself, she realized how heightened her hearing had become. She could hear the lake water lapping at the shore and animals shuffling through the forest nearby. Is this home? she asked Xena in awe.
It’s magnificent, Xena sounded amazed. I feel as if I was blind on Earth.
Emily stared at Xena. She realized there were hundreds of shades of black in her bondsmate’s wet, glistening coat and intricate details in the patterns of brown that swirled in her iris that she had never noticed before. Pure happiness reflected in Xena’s shining eyes, and an entirely new existence permeated through their mind-link. My bondsmate, Emily whispered in bliss. Abruptly, Emily dove beneath Xena, releasing a torrent of bubbles beneath her link, whooping underwater as the small spheres exploded like little bombs against Xena’s fur.
An unfair attack, Xena said with joy in her words. Xena joined Emily underwater and she pushed Emily lightly with her long snout.
Emily laughed, realizing a game of tag was in the making. She moved her legs together with a strong dolphin kick, touching Xena back before darting away. You’re it! she roared. Currents of water shot from her feet, and she propelled away from her bondsmate, down into the depths, spinning like a corkscrew. The details in the fish around her were vivid and sharp. There were circular varieties with stunning red dappling their bodies in lines like rippling blades of grass. Rectangular species in shimmering gold with rust colored fins danced around her. Others with powerful jaws and razor-sharp teeth peered at her, studying her actions. She could sense the miniscule vibrations from their movements transmitting through the water and tickling her skin.
While Emily was lost in the dazzling world of the fish, Xena was upon her gently tagging her once again. Got you back, Xena conveyed playfully. Emily giggled and laughed so hard, her sides began to hurt. She rushed to the surface and grabbed a breath of air.
I’m going to explore, Xena informed Emily while angling toward the shoreline. Emily followed. She glanced underwater as she swam, fascinated by a pod of electric blue lobsters that she disturbed. They were quick to scuttle out of her path. When she caught Xena, her bondsmate stood majestic, caring and protective in two feet of water. Emily joined her, wrapping her hands around her bondsmate’s neck as the two remained unmoving. Their mind-link was overwhelmingly clear, startling, and pure. No longer having to focus on their link, Emily could slip in Xena’s mind as easy as breathing or slipping on a shirt. The closeness of their position, mentally and physically, allowed an intense feeling of comfort she had never experienced before. They were one, but different with all emotions and feelings raw and exposed. Dabbling in the new qualities and dynamic complexities, they mentally explored each other’s personalities. After a time, they both broke contact simultaneously, and Emily leaned back, floating in the shallow water with a content smile on her face. Her ears were underwater, her eyes were closed, and the momentary reduction in her sensory input was actually welcoming. She realized an ache had begun at the base of her neck. I wish I could block out some of the noises and turn down the brightness of the colors. It’s almost too much.
What about that spell Dr. D taught you? Xena asked gently, her voice soft as silk.
Emily eagerly thought back to the spell to push outside stressors to a normal level her godfather had taught her in her training sessions. She grasped at the idea, Flammeus absorbeo, and the intensity in her mind began to die down. The growing pain receded to a dull flicker, and the colors and sounds were now at a tolerable level. Using her incantation again on Xena, she made sure her bondsmate was similarly protected.
It’s dynamic, Xena’s voice lifted excitedly.
Emily realized Xena was right. They could dim or increase the intensity of their senses to the degree they wanted and the two experimented with the fine points of the spell which cost almost no magus-energy.
We’re learning to adapt, Emily realized with pride. Increasing her strength to full intensity, she tested the spell before leaving the water. Moving through the water so fast it almost burned, she gasped in pleasure as rivulets brushed off her skin as she plunged through the cool liquid. Making her way back to shore, she glanced back to the very bottom of the lake, looking once again at the great stone portal pulsating in the water with a fading blue glow. The sunlight began to wane.
We need to eat, Xena whispered.
Emily swam to the side of the lake with Xena, hungrier than she had ever felt before. I can’t get over my sight, Emily marveled. She turned down the vivid colors flooding through her mind. Her vision, even dimmed, was startling, pure, and breathtaking. She felt as if a curtain had been lifted from her sight. Never in her dreams had she ever imagined a place so staggeringly beautiful or colors so mesmerizing. She had never felt so alive and she continually explored the balance of immersing herself in the welcome flood of new information from her senses, titrating to the highest level that wouldn’t allow the pain to return.
As she scrambled onto the bank, a whoosh resounded above her and she instinctively ducked to the ground. After looking around frantically at nothing, she realized she fully hadn’t adjusted her heightened senses, and the sound had originated high above in the sky. She ducked under the cover of nearby bushes calling Xena to her. Gazing into the sky, she gasped in disbelief, spellbound. The noise was the beating wings of three black dragons. Squinting to test the bounds of her improved vision, she admired the obsidian glimmer of their scales and the wicked curve of their claws.
We need to take better cover, Xena advised worriedly, but Emily still felt too shocked by the strength in the creatures to move. The three enormous black dragons of pure power flew in formation like a small squadron of fighter planes, their majesty without compare. Their scales came into better view, rectangular in shape, black as a moonless night with a faint lighter black star in the center, like a sapphire.
Dracul, Drago, and Drakkon, spoke Emily’s ki in her mind. She listened to her ki and believed. There were three riders on dragon back, clad in dark leather. Each had a black aura. Suddenly, the lead dragon turned her way with searching eyes black as coal. The deadly orbs woke Emily from her daze, but she wasn’t sure which way to move.
Better cover, now! Xena lowered her head and fairly pushed Emily further into the cluster of low bushes.
Trembling, Emily murmured the words, Flammeus absorbeo, attempting to reduce her aura to the lowest level possible. They plunged deeper and deeper into the undergrowth until they stopped at the base of one of the larger trees. Emily leaned her back against the rough trunk, sensing the dragons’ approach.
They circled overhead, and the riders called to her. “Who’s down there? Come out and face us!”
Hush, Xena warned.
Emily remained motionless, chilled to the bone. The whisper of wind over beating wings found her ears, and the smell of blood and death found her nose. The creak of leather moving over scales became louder and louder.
“We have a mission. Let’s go,” a rider advised. “Samil’s waiting for us.”
“He’s right,” a second rider added.
The third rider spoke in a low voice full of malevolence, “I sense something here, something with power. I’d love to use a kill spell on it.”
“Mother doesn’t want us to use the kill spell until we’re fully trained,” a different rider retorted angrily. “I’ll dream-link with that huge yapok running the Angkor division. He’s a pretty strong magician. He’ll investigate this area. Let’s go.”
Emily heard the dragons snorting, likely reluctant to leave their quarry, but, nevertheless, the group departed. She peeked around the corner of the trunk watching them gain altitude and glide over the dist
ant hills. Still trembling, she placed her hand on Xena’s back. Even with my new powers, I’m no match for those dragons or a kill spell, she worried to Xena.
We’re going to have to learn rapidly if we’re going to survive on this planet and get to Ladon, Xena thought. Emily wondered who Ladon might be. Xena leaned into Emily. All at once Xena sent Emily a musky smell of fruit and seeds emanating from several nearby large birds that looked like enormous cranes. They had a glimmering layer of scales shining like polished silver beneath their
feathers.
Emily focused on Xena’s excitement and even managed a weak smile as she realized what Xena was about to do. Just don’t hurt them, Z.
A wisp of a Doberman grin flitted across Xena’s face before she left Emily’s side, moving into the bushes stealthily in hunt-mode, stalking. Emily stayed in the foliage for a moment watching her bondsmate in action while feeling a new sense of ecstasy—her bondsmate’s elation through the link. Closing her eyes, Emily delved into their bond. She found she could better give a portion of her strength to Xena through their magical attachment, augmenting her bondsmate. Using her added strength and speed in a heightened black mass of muscle, Xena silently bore down on the birds, landing right in the middle of the flock, knocking the closest animal to the ground while the other birds let out a shrill, resounding shriek before fleeing in a panicked mass of chaos. They’re so slow, Xena exclaimed while jumping backwards. She was startled at her success, watching wide-eyed as the downed bird recovered and likewise took to the air.
You’re faster than you thought, Emily laughed, glad the birds had escaped.
I had no idea, Xena whispered while loping over to Emily with a sheepish grin on her face. Xena lay down on the ground and turned over with her legs in the air.
Fierce canine warrior. Belly up like a puppy? No dignity? Emily teasingly chastised.
CHAPTER 23