Faren nodded. And the second?
“Don’t call me the Chosen One. It’s not something I want to be. It’s not something I’m going to be. I’m just Hayden.”
Faren’s laughter chimed in my head. It’s not something you get to choose. You are born who you are. Everyone has a destiny they are fated to fulfill. Whether you wish to be the Chosen One or not, that is who you are. You can run from what you don’t want to be, Hayden, but I promise you this. It will eventually catch up to you. It is what you were meant to do.
I frowned. “And what exactly is it that I’m supposed to do?”
That, I cannot help you with. That is something you will have to find out on your own.
Jasper gave me a boost to get onto her leg and I climbed the rest of the way up with the help of her wing.
“How far is it to the hot springs?” I asked as we started walking toward the river.
It takes me a day to fly there.
“How about on foot?”
Dodge snorted.
Brice translated. “He thinks about five days.”
“So we’ll go get Dodge’s emerald, and then what? We can’t hide out here like the plan was. Do we just go home?” The thought of having to travel for another two months was making me grumpy. I missed our cabin.
I looked down at Jasper and tried to smile at the reassuring look on his face. I had cut his hair fairly short before leaving Sageden almost two months ago. The dark curls were starting to brush into his eyes again. His week-long stubble framed his face and helped to hide the fact that he had lost some weight since we had left home. His sky blue eyes smiled up at me. He looked so tired; even with Brice there he wasn’t letting his guard down for an instant. What he needed was a good week of eating and sleeping.
I got the sudden urge to hold him; to put his head on my shoulder, to keep him safe, to make him full, and warm; to hold him until he fell asleep in my arms.
His eyes softened and I melted into them. Maybe sleep wasn’t the only thing I wanted to do with him. It had been too long since I had felt those strong hands run over me, felt those soft lips brush along my skin.
Jasper groaned and closed his eyes.
I shook my head to clear it. “Sorry.”
When he opened his eyes again they were full of amusement. “No worries, Shlova. I feel the same way.”
If the two of you are quite done, Faren laughed in my head.
I blushed. We had stopped moving and were standing on the edge of the river. “How are we supposed to get across?”
I’ll fly you across.
“What about the others?”
I will come back for your mate and your friend. The Winged one is on his own. If he completes his quest with the help of others, his stone will lose its powers and he will have done all of this for nothing.
“Is that true, Dodge? You can’t have help?”
He nodded.
“Ok. Faren is going to fly me across, then come back for Jasper and Brice. What are you going to do?”
“He will swim.” Jasper was looking up at Faren with indecision.
Dark red eyes looked back at him. Tell him not to worry.
I smiled at him. “She says not to worry.”
“Alright. But she drops you off right on the bank.”
Faren nodded. I felt her tense and great wings moved behind me. I had thought to close my eyes, but all I could do was stare as we lifted into the air. Four slow beats of the powerful wings had us across the river. Faren landed and knelt so that I could slide off.
“That was awesome!”
Her laughter rang in my head. I’ll be right back.
She sprang into the air and made her way back over the river. Jasper made his way easily onto her back. Dodge walked down the bank and made his way into the river.
“Come on, Buddy! You can make it!” I wasn’t sure if he could hear me over the rushing sound of the water, but couldn’t help but cheer him on. I stripped out of my jacket and extra tunic and took a deep breath. It was odd to smell flowers when you could still see snow.
I looked up as Faren landed beside me and let Jasper off. “Oh!”
Both of them looked at me.
“You’re silver!” I gazed intently at Faren. “I mean, you’re black, but you’re surrounded by silver. Kind of like the magic waves, but different. Softer. It’s like a haze.”
She nodded. All dragons have silver auras.
“Why can I see it now?”
I think it would be because we linked. You can hear me, so I imagine it is safe to say you are tapping into what I can do.
“You can see auras?”
She nodded.
My guess is that you will be able to see more of them the longer you are linked to me. You can learn to see them when you feel like it. Call on it when you need it.
“What color is Jasper?”
Blue. Namaels are a light blue. She looked at Jasper and nodded. It has been a while since I have seen one. I wanted to make sure. Namaels have a light blue aura. Majs have a dark blue. Wedelves have a purple one if memory serves me right. You’ll find that all creatures of this world have one.
“All creatures from this world. Does that mean humans don’t have one?”
She nodded.
“I’m half Wedelve, half human. What color is mine?”
She turned her focus on me and I felt the slight nudge of magic. I felt the nudge pull back before it hit me again, this time stronger.
Jasper felt my surprise and growled.
Faren pulled back and shook her head. White.
“White?”
She nodded. I had to check twice. I’ve never seen a white aura before.
“Is everything alright?” Brice was watching us from the other bank.
Faren crouched and launched herself one more time to the other side of the river.
Jasper took advantage of the few minutes we had alone to pull me against him. I took a deep breath and hugged him close.
Every being that used magic had its own feel for it. I felt a nudge that wasn’t Faren’s and tensed. Jasper felt it through me and growled.
Hayden!
Faren’s voice was the last thing I heard before the magic hit hard enough to make me black out.
Chapter Two
Jasper’s head felt like it was going to fall off. Or maybe he just wanted it to.
“Jasper! Wake up!”
Ugh. Was someone talking? All he could hear was a loud drumming noise in his head. He turned so that he lay on his stomach, his hands spread wide against the ground to keep the world from spinning.
He tried to think through the pounding in his head. He remembered meeting Faren. Flying over the river. Holding Hayden.
“Hayden!” Her name came out as a moan. He couldn’t feel her; could feel nothing from her. No pain, no fear; nothing good either, though he doubted if he felt like this that she would be feeling anything good. He heard a deep rumbling from somewhere to his right. He opened his eyes just enough so he could see through them.
“Jasper! By the moons, wake up! Get her off of me!”
Jasper fought the urge to throw up and tried to focus on what he was seeing. He heard another of the long rumbles. “Brice?”
“Ugh. I think my arm is broken.”
The pounding in his head was receding and he stood shakily to his feet. “Oh, god!” He took a step forward but fell to his knees and decided that crawling would be faster. He reached Brice and sat with his head on his knees. “Are you alright?”
Faren made another grumbling noise.
“Other than the fact I have a dragon laying on me, I’m fine. What in the world happened? Both you and Hayden flickered, then you came back and fell to the ground, but she didn’t and Faren just fell out of the sky!”
Jasper crawled to Faren’s head. “Are you alright?”
The dragon nodded her head slightly then groaned.
“Can you lift your right forearm? You’re lying on Brice.”
Faren did as she was asked, though her whole body shuddered with the effort.
Brice took a deep breath to make sure nothing had been damaged by the weight of the dragon’s leg on his chest then stood, his right arm cradling the left. “Where’s Dodge?”
Jasper tried to look around and gasped at the pain that shot through him. He lay his head back down against Faren’s neck. “Dodge!” The sound of his own voice split his nerves and he groaned.
There was no answer. “Go check the river bank, Brice.”
Brice did as he was told, careful of his arm, and Jasper pulled back from Faren’s neck so he could watch her answers.
“Was it Ternach?”
She nodded.
“Did I only feel it because I was holding Hayden?”
Again, she nodded.
He took a deep breath. “I…I can’t feel her. Do you think…Would he have…” A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed hard to clear it. “Was he supposed to get her to them alive?”
She nodded and he let out the breath he had been holding.
“He’s not down here!” Brice started making his way back to them.
Faren gave a shuddering heave and rolled herself onto her stomach, her neck stretched out ahead of her, her eyes closed.
Jasper stood and leaned his back against her shoulder for support. “How’s your arm?”
“I think it was just my shoulder dislocated. I slipped on the river bank and it popped back in.” He moved his shoulder in slow circles and winced. “What do you think happened to Dodge?”
“He can feel magic, right? So the only things I can think of are that the nudge knocked him out and he was still in the water, in which case…” he didn’t finish the thought. “Or, he was transported elsewhere, which is what I think happened to Hayden.” He looked toward Faren’s head. “Do you know where he might have transported her?”
She nodded.
Jasper felt her tense and pushed away from her.
Faren gave a loud groan then pushed herself up onto all fours. She stood with her legs sprawled apart for balance.
Jasper fought down the urge to laugh. He was fairly sure he didn’t look much better. “Do you think you’ll be ready to go soon?”
She turned her head and he found himself staring into blood red eyes. Brice took a step back. Faren shook herself, took a deep breath, and straightened. The red eyes were on him again.
“Does that mean you’re ready?”
The dragon knelt down and waved her head toward her back.
“You can fly already?” He didn’t want to admit that his head was still killing him. He grabbed all of their bags as well as Hayden’s swords and her jacket, pulled himself up onto Faren’s back and helped Brice up, careful of his friend’s shoulder.
That was when he felt the best feeling in the world. Confusion.
Faren looked back at him.
“Let’s get to her before that confusion turns into something worse.”
He felt the dragon gather herself and then they were airborne.
*****
I felt something soft on my cheek and smiled. “Hey, Buddy. What happened?” I lifted my head up and looked around. “Where are we?”
Dodge snorted and I waited for Jasper to translate for me.
“Where’s Jasper?”
Dodge shook his head.
“You don’t know?” I wasn’t sure what to think. I wasn’t hurt. If our situation had been a bad one, Dodge would have found a way to let me know. I tried to see through the steam rising from the ground. My hair and clothes were plastered to me.
“Are we at the steam beds?”
My horse nodded.
“There was someone there, on the riverbank. I felt the magic.”
Dodge nodded again.
“Man, I wish I could hear you.”
He stomped his foot in agreement.
“Are we close to your stone?”
He turned away from me and looked into the distance. He nodded his head.
“Well, since we’re here, we may as well look for it. Maybe we’ll find everyone else along the way.”
I swung onto him and gave him a pat on the neck. He picked his way carefully over rocks and through pools of steaming water. More than once we had to detour around large puddles of mud that threatened to suck us down into their depths.
I squinted through another thick cloud of steam. “Dodge. What’s that?”
A small shape was making its way through the air toward us.
Dodge stopped and froze when it landed between his ears facing me.
“You’re a dragon!”
Of course, I’m a dragon. What did you think I was? The gruff male voice sounded insulted. The spines on his back were raised, like an irritated cat.
“It’s just…well…I don’t mean to offend you, but you’re very small.”
The dark blue eyes blinked at me. He looked back at himself, his gaze running along his dark burgundy body, to his tail, and then back to me.
I choked down the laughter that was trying to make its way up my chest. I reminded myself that even though he was only the size of a large sparrow, he could still turn me into ice. “The first dragon I have ever met was Faren. I didn’t realize dragons varied in size. I don’t suppose you know her?”
He relaxed and his spines lowered. I know her. She is one of the three fire dragons.
“There are only three fire dragons?”
He nodded. Three fire dragons, two water, five wind, four earth and one Mother. These numbers are constant. The Mother only hatches an egg to replace a fallen dragon. He shook his head. At the rate Faren is going, we should have a new hatchling to play with soon enough.
“Why? Where is she? What happened to them?”
She thinks Ternach has you. She is on her way to his lair. I assume your friends are with her. The mother had us all looking for you. We are to tell you to leave these regions immediately. Had it not been for the fact that your Winged One deflected Ternach’s magic and redirected you here, he would have captured you. Leave. Now.
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving. Where is Ternach’s lair?”
I won’t help you jeopardize your life.
Dodge shook his head and the little dragon had to take to the air or be flung off. My horse started forward at a trot.
The dragon came to rest on my shoulder. What are you doing?
“I have a feeling Dodge is going to get his stone and then we are going to help our friends.”
I heard a little sigh by my ear. My name is Bryenk.
“I’m Hayden.”
Dodge snorted.
“Only me?”
He nodded and I laughed. “I don’t do it on purpose. And you have to feel better that we have dragons as friends as opposed to enemies.”
He snorted again and I took it as an agreement. Back in the world where I had grown up I’d had a habit of picking up every stray that walked around. Here it wasn’t any different.
We moved along for a few hours before Dodge slowed and then stopped. He swung his head to the side.
“You want me to get off?”
He nodded. I did as I was told and gave him a pat on the neck.
Is he after an emerald?
I nodded.
Bryenk let out another little sigh. I am guardian of the emeralds. Tell him to go get it. I won’t stop him.
I relayed the message to Dodge, who nodded toward the dragon before trotting off into a large cave.
The Mother won’t be pleased with me, though I imagine she might not mind losing one emerald if it means you’ll leave these parts sooner.
I sat on a rock and pulled my damp hair away from my neck. I looked around at our surroundings. “What do you eat? There’s nothing here.”
I fish. The deeper ponds are full of them.
“So you can swim?”
I am a water dragon! His laughter rang in my head.
“Can you tell what Faren is doing?”
Bryenk shook his head
. Only the Mother is linked to all of us and even that is only a one way connection. She can feel and contact us, but we can’t do the same.
I heard hoof beats and a snort behind us.
Hello, Hayden.
I turned and smiled. If I had ever tried to imagine what Dodge’s voice would sound like, this was almost it. It was deep and soft.
I got up and went to give him a hug. “Hey, Buddy. Let’s have a look at you.” I stepped away and walked around him.
He looked just like he always did with two exceptions. I reached up to touch the emerald that was embedded into his forehead and he closed his eyes.
“Did it hurt?”
No. It feels like some little part of me that was missing is back.
My hand made its way over his ears, down his neck, and stopped on his withers. Just behind his shoulders were bumps, one on each side. I touched one lightly. “Do those hurt?”
He shook his head. No. Not really. They itch more than anything.
“Do you know how long they will take to grow in?”
No.
Bryenk looked over to me. Will you leave now?
“No. Now we go find Ternach.”
The little burgundy head shook at me. Are you so eager to die?
“No, but I’m also not willing to let my friends die.”
Your life is more important. They will understand.
I shook my head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m no more important than anybody else. Will you tell us which way to go?”
He took a moment to think of it then lifted a leg and pointed.
“Thank you.”
He looked toward the mouth of his cave, shrugged, and then looked toward one of the steaming ponds. A wave of water left the pond and formed a wall at the entrance. Bryenk blinked and the wall turned into ice.
If you’re going up against Ternach, you will need all the help you can get.
“Thank you.” I fought the urge to pet the little head. I was pretty sure he would have been insulted. I turned to Dodge. “Can you displace us like you did before?”
No. He shook his head. I’m not even sure how I did it. I can feel magic, but I can’t use it. When I felt it, all I could think about was getting you out of there. The next thing I knew, we were here. He gestured back with his head. Hop on. We’ll have to do this the old fashion way.
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 3