On the battlefield he’d take a hit for any one of his brothers without a second’s hesitation. He would use himself to protect one of them and he knew without a doubt that they would do the same for him. Where Volos struggled was, when they were at home and in the safety of the Oasis, as the oldest if he ordered them to do something he expected them to do it, immediately. His brothers, on the whole, understood he was training to be their new king, and in so they would comply. This, of course, didn’t apply to Josua, he was the thorn in Volos’ side. He was convinced all Jo needed was a good ass kicking to bring him into shape and was more than happy to put on his steel caps and give him one almighty good boot. As a brother to brother thing, no one would bat an eyelash. But as a future king? This would not be tolerated and perhaps even cost him the crown.
His father would say, ‘A king must be able to persuade and communicate effectively with his people, even the most difficult ones. In fact, greatness is achieved only through difficulties overcome.’
Clearly, his father had never truly met his son because Jo was one of the most difficult men he knew. They had nothing in common and at times, Volos even questioned their same parenthood.
After a quick bathroom visit, Volos checked over his weaponry, making sure he had everything including placing a small dagger into the body of each of his boots, plus the side pocket of his leathers. Volos stood in front of the large mirror that almost covered the entire wall on his room. The moments before any battle he spent alone.
They had been told this was an information gathering mission only, but many a warriors’ life had been stolen from assuming there would be no threat. Volos stared at the reflection of his own eyes—somewhere buried deep in the ice blue pools was a very scared boy. A boy who’d been groomed from the age of six that a king cannot react, a king cannot feel, a king cannot be attached, even to his own family. A king must work for the greater good, at all costs. Volos, the man, had been buried for the benefit of the clan. In his place a warrior, a leader, a king was born.
Volos looked down, each of his hands held the grip of his favorite weapons. The cold ink black bone handles sat perfectly in his hands. They had been crafted only for him, the strong steel curve of the sickle blade was balanced only for exact grip. These two deadly blades had saved him and his brothers on more occasions than he ever cared to remember. Volos stared into his reflection, he reached up and slid the arc-shaped weapons into the grooves especially sewn into his vest. From the front, only the very tip of the handle was visible. He was able to grip them, slide them out and decapitate a threat within the beat of a butterfly’s wing.
Volos cleared his throat as he stood at the door to the living room, his eyes scanning the three sets of eyes that greeted him. Attor and Ladon were both in a deep conversation over beside the window. Sitting on the sofa flicking through the channels was Wyvern, his youngest brother. The set of eyes that were missing was that of Josua, he was the one brother that seemed to fight him at every turn. Jo had no respect for the rules and why they were in place. He was a loose cannon and a dragon with an attitude. As far as Volos was concerned, any dragon who could not follow a direct order was a risk to the safety of the entire clan.
“Where’s Jo?” Volos asked, the brothers shrugged in a silent reply.
“Jo’s no longer here.” The voice came from over his shoulder, Volos never flinched, he had trained himself to be non-responsive to any external surprise. “This is your conscience,” Jo continued to whisper into Volos’ ear. “I’m telling you to remove the pole from your ass, you might be surprised by your own flexibility once it’s gone.”
Within a fraction of the time it took for Wyvern to blink, Volos had lowered down and spun on one foot, extending the other to swipe out Jo’s feet landing him on his ass. As the sound of air shot out from Jo’s surprised mouth, the glint of silver caught his eye as it came down and rested its cold blade of death against his throat.
Attor and Ladon were now both standing and braced in an attack pose themselves, ready to break apart the brothers if either looked like they were going to lose control.
“I think my flexibility isn’t in question, little brother.” Volos looked down into his brother’s pure white eyes that now seemed to be radiating a mixture of humility and hatred. “However, your readiness for the unexpected might be something you want to work on.” Volos placed his large strong hand on his brother’s head and held it down for a few extra seconds while he stood up. A smooth movement down his back and he had sheathed his weapon safely.
“Fuck you, V!” Jo stood up and straightened his vest.
Volos looked back to his brothers, their postures now returning to a more relaxed state. “Are you all ready?” They nodded to his question. “This is an information gathering mission only, but as we have just seen…” Volos sliced a knowing look at Jo who replied with the finger, “… being ready for anything could just be the one thing that makes the difference between life and death.”
“I have all the coordinates,” Wyvern said. He rarely said much, the brothers always treated him like the baby, protected him and sheltered him from the dangers that they faced. He was a computer genius, and although the brothers didn’t like him on the battlefield, they relied on him with anything technical or computer related. Wyvern had been secretly practicing for months with the star weapons, but he had not shown his brothers for fear of ridicule. Three times a week over the last six months, Wyvern had gone to the surface and located a human with the skills he needed. He trained hard and fast, and according to his sensei, Wyvern’s ability to hit a tiny target with a ninja star was at a skill level he hadn’t ever seen before. He was now waiting for the chance to prove to his brothers, that he wasn’t a little kid with a keyboard anymore.
Volos looked over at his littlest brother, the corner of his mouth tilted slightly as his thoughts comprehended that while Wyvern was the littlest by age he was, in fact, the second tallest at six foot four, only topped by Ladon at six foot five. “Good job, Wyvern, are they sent to our personal devices?”
Wyvern nodded as he looked down at the black square device that was strapped to his and all of the brothers’ wrists. The ‘band’ as they called it served a few different purposes. It had a location beacon, so if one of the brothers got trapped, lost, or injured, they would be able to find them. It also served as a small computer, allowing coordinates and information to be sent to them individually. There was also a camera, video and sound recorder built in, for the time when you needed a little more evidence than a simple ‘he said, she said’ scenario. Pressing a button the screen lit up and showed the numbers they all needed. He looked at his brothers as they were all doing the same thing.
Volos looked back at Wyvern and nodded, he then addressed all the brothers as a collective. “All righty, let’s go see what these fools are actually doing.”
“Payton,” Kylee screamed as she darted from the car and ran over to the edge of the cliff. Her feet sliding as she ground to a halt, inches from following her friend into the black abyss. “Paayyttooonnn,” she screamed over and over until her voice was husky with terror.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” a female voice greeted Kylee’s ear.
Trying to hold the phone steady enough to speak, Kylee said, “My friend… she’s gone.”
“Gone where, ma’am?” the reply came with the tapping of a keyboard in the background.
“Huh?” Kylee asked as she struggled to look over the cliff, her eyes scanning all over the rocks below. She could hear the waves crashing but couldn’t see the blue of Payton’s jeans. “Payton,” she screamed again, forgetting that she had her cell still at her mouth.
“Ma’am, please don’t scream at me, I’m here to help you. Now you said your friend is gone?” She spoke calmly, still tapping away in the background.
“I didn’t fuckin’ scream at you… Shit! I can’t see her…” Kylee was in full panic mode, “… I can’t see her. First, there was a wolf… then one second she wa
s here and the next she vanished.” Her thoughts jumping along with her words.
“A wolf has your friend?” the voice asked.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“What?” Kylee looked at the phone like she had somehow called 1900lunaticsRUS.
“You said there was a wolf, ma’am.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“There was a wolf. I honked that fur ball away. No… Payton was standing on the cliff’s edge and then she fell. Gone…” Kylee’s voice hitched as the tears started the fall and the shock was setting in on her.
“Your friend fell off the cliff?” she repeated back.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“I swear to God, if you were here right now I would slap you seven ways from Sunday. Yes, my friend, Payton, has fallen off the fucking cliff and is now most likely dead at the bottom, lying in a pile of broken bones across the jagged rocks. Oh… my… God…” Kylee sobbed openly as the reality of her words hit her like a cold whip to her heart.
“All right, ma’am, help is on the way. They should be arriving any second. Can you stay on the line with me, please?” she said.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Like that’s going to happen…” Kylee pressed the end button and stretched further over to look below, her tears dripping from the end of her nose as she started to hear sirens approaching her in the background.
The next few minutes were a blur, as she explained to the first responders what had happened, and within a ten-minute bracket they had a helicopter hovering beyond the cliffs, shining its high-powered light across the rocks to find any sign of her friend.
Kylee sat in the back of the ambulance, covered in a silver foil blanket to help reduce the shock that was engulfing her body. She watched the emergency services erect large portable halogen lamps to illuminate the area, so they could continue searching even with the black of the night. Men started arriving with climbing gear and setting up anchor points, so they could descend down the cliffs to continue the search from below.
Kylee sat, her body shaking, as she watched the entire town start to appear around her.
All attempting to find her best friend, her soul sister, Payton.
The cold of the water hitting her that night was like metal being driven into her flesh from every angle. The wind had hit her so hard, it had lifted Payton clear off the cliffs and rocky outcrop below. Invisible tendrils, delicate air-filled fingers had carried her back further and dropped her into deeper water. Fear had stolen Payton’s voice as she bobbed silently in the cold black ink of the ocean, while she watched the lights start to appear on the cliffs.
“Help,” her voice peeped past the spears that had filled her throat. “Help me.”
She looked down as she could feel what was like fingers of seaweed wrapped around her ankle. There was nothing there, yet she could feel the tightening of an invisible grip against her flesh. Payton looked up suddenly to the sound of a helicopter, she tried kicking away and using her hands to stroke toward the lights.
“Help…” Kick. Kick. “I’m here…” Stroke. Stroke. “Help me…” Kick. Kick.
Payton’s eyes began to mix her tears with the salty ocean water that was splashing up against her. She wasn’t getting anywhere and they couldn’t hear her. Following an instinct, she suddenly stopping moving—no kicking against the invisible hold on her ankle and no stroking her arms—she just bobbed, holding her breath, begging for her suspicions to not be true.
“Fuck!” She exhaled her breath, the words barely holding back the rising panic she was feeling.
Payton realized she was moving… away from the coast.
“No. No. No.” Her heart rate was spiking dramatically as she started to comprehend that the lights of her possible rescuers were now mere twinkles on the horizon. She began to kick and struggle—she was fighting for her life—the water around her splashing and tossing around as she used every part of her body to gain some traction.
The tightening sensation of fingers around her ankle send her blood into instant Ice Age. Payton’s body went rigid and her eyes wide at the sky above as the grip yanked her down.
Her eyes looked up at the water’s surface that was now traveling at warp speed away from her. Reaching out her arms, she tried in a futile effort to claw her way back. Even as the midnight black of the deep ocean started to blind her, she still kept clawing.
Air was escaping her lungs on its own in an attempt to reunite with its own kind above the water’s surface. Payton stopped fighting, her eyes blind now with the depth of the water she was sinking into. Taking off her shirt she made a last-ditch effort to help the rescuers locate her, so she released the shirt and she watched it begin to float upward.
When they find my dead body, I hope they bury me with my grandmother, Payton thought moments before the world went black.
Volos was the last to leave the transfer chamber. He liked to ensure the latch had been secured fully before flying. Once the dome ended up with a flood from a poorly secured latch and it took them months to fully dry out. It was a lesson a very young Volos had paid close attention to.
As Volos’ wings began to release from his shoulder blades, the transition was smooth and effortless. The vests that the warriors wore were designed to place no resistance to the wings or the three small gill slits that appeared under them. This, of course, allowed them to remain dressed in both human and partial dragon form. It was rare they needed a full dragon change. When they had taken to the water for protection, the dragons had found the partial change of wings were sufficient enough for water movement. If they were to take to the air again, they would need a full and complete change, there would be no part of their human form left visible. The evolution into the water had also given them small gills, allowing them enough oxygen to stay under water for extended periods of time. They were still an air-breathing animal, but being able to process small amounts of air from the water around them had been a life saver many times over.
Volos always felt free with his wings extended out into their fully stretched positions. They were the deepest of ocean blue, with small golden highlights on the edges leading to the fully golden hued tip. The feeling of water movement with the pulsating beat of his large ten-foot wing span, Volos heaved a great breath through his gills, feeling the cold bubbles of oxygen enter his body.
Flicking his large powerful wings once, twice, then a third time in the water, the ripples flowing around him as the dragon fully awakened within himself. Volos looked up to see his brothers hovering a short distance away, looking at him like he was having a senior moment. He nodded that he was ready, and with a single beat of his wings had soared past his brothers and left them in his wake. He had explained the benefits of taking a few minutes to breathe and center yourself after a transition. It wasn’t his fault they didn’t listen.
Hope you weren’t waiting for me? Volos spoke to his brothers.
However his lips never moved and there was no sound except for what his brothers heard in their heads. One of the traits of a water dragon, while in dragon form, they had full telepathy and could speak directly to each other no matter where they were in the world. Only one condition, you had to be in dragon form to speak and hear it.
No one likes a show-off, V, Attor replied.
Correct, brother. And something else I don’t like is when my brothers refuse to change correctly and make the most of their power… what if there was—, Volos was speaking when Jo interrupted.
There isn’t a what if, V, Jo snapped back. You change like a two-hundred-year-old nana with a dodgy hip. I prefer the more direct route, get in, get it done, and get the fuck out of town.
Volos decided that now was not the time to lecture Jo, he wasn’t sure when there was ever a good time, but he was sure now wasn’t it. So, he just swallowed his cutting reply and swam past them at a great speed. He had a mission to complete and a smart-mouthed brother wasn’t going to stop him.
Breaking the surface, Wyvern stopped and looked at what all his broth
ers were staring at. Over in the distance they could see a ton of flashing lights, sirens, and even a helicopter was hovering near the cliff’s face. Its strong beam of light scanning the stone wall and out into the ocean surface.
“What’s all that about?” He spoke with his voice. Above water, the choice was theirs for communication while in dragon form.
“Some fool probably jumped.” Volos scoffed. “Humans are as useful as the anal slime of a sea slug.” He looked to his brothers, daring them to laugh. “We have shit to do. Let’s do our best to avoid the circus humans call life, and find what we need.” Volos ducked under the water and soared off toward a secluded beach shore far away from the lights and helicopters.
Volos and Attor walked up the shore and the brothers retracted their wings, rotated their shoulders making sure all human joints were back in place. The material their uniforms were made off was water tight and looked dry almost instantly upon leaving the water. Apart from few little beads of water rolling down, you wouldn’t even know they had been in the ocean at all. All the brothers kept their hair on the shorter side to help with the illusion, the shorter the hair, the less it looked wet when they went out and about.
Volos looked back to the water’s edge. “You three go up further, scout the water, check for any differences in the water quality. If they are snooping around, you should detect some disturbances in the water.” Then he looked back to Attor. “We will go to the C.O.D.E. office and see what we can find.”
Ladon and Wyvern nodded. Jo gave him the finger with a grin and ducked under the water.
“Back in an hour, V,” Wyvern confirmed with a frustrated sigh. He hated the constant bickering between Jo and V. He was the youngest by age, but sometimes age didn’t dictate maturity.
Immersion (Apalala Clan Book 1) Page 4