He looked at me uncertainly. “Um, I don’t know.”
“Give him a wolf, Hayden.” Rainen smiled at me.
I picked through the bag until I found a wolf stone and passed it to him. He shifted and stood there, looking from me to Rainen. The grey wolf shook before turning back into William.
“Man, that is the weirdest feeling ever.”
“Alright. Let’s move out.” Jasper gave my hand a squeeze and kissed me softly before shifting. I hopped onto Dodge and we all started off at a trot deeper into Maj territory.
*****
Jasper was just starting to fall asleep when he felt Hayden’s shields drop. He pushed himself to wake up and concentrated on her feelings. He frowned.
Matthew walked by their blankets and stopped. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s dreaming again.”
“That’s two in just over a week.”
“She hasn’t done that since she first crossed over.”
Jasper concentrated on her feelings, trying to get a feel for what she might be dreaming about. He felt her annoyance and her fear which quickly turned into two emotions; her battle calm in the dream and an anxious fear that she was feeling as she dreamed it. This was followed by a dual feeling of overwhelming relief.
A sob shook her and tears flowed down her face. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She turned and held him tight.
“Thank god!” she whispered.
“What was it about?”
“It was the same dream.” She looked up at him and smiled. “You don’t die.”
He frowned. “How?”
“Damian. In this dream he’s there. He’s with you. When I push the energy out, he shields you.”
Matthew pushed away from the tree he was leaning on. “Why would it change?”
“I don’t know. Maybe after I made up my mind to go after Braw things changed. Maybe we get there sooner. I’m not sure.” She took a deep breath.
Matthew smiled and gave Jasper a pat on the back. “Well, either way it’s nice to know.”
Jasper smiled back. “I can’t disagree.” He noticed some movement by a bush a little ways away. Emelly took a step toward them then stopped, as if unsure if she was allowed to come closer. A breeze blew through the trees and he felt Hayden shiver against him.
“Care to join us, Emelly?”
Matthew’s gaze moved in the direction he had looked. His friend’s face lit up with his smile. Emelly gave a small nod and smiled shyly. She made her way to their blankets.
“I just, I heard Hayden cry. I was making sure someone was with her.” She turned red and looked at the ground.
Hayden smiled. “I’m fine, thanks. Jasper’s never too far away when I start to dream.” He felt her love him and warmed all over. He realized, however, that Hayden wasn’t feeling the warmth.
“Are you cold?” The night was cooling off quickly and the temperature was dropping lower than it had all week. He actually thought it might snow.
“Always,” she laughed. She leaned back against him and he wrapped them both in a blanket. “If I had known it was still this cool here, I would have brought my winter coat.”
“Don’t you have a jacket, Emelly?” asked Matthew. He frowned as another gust of wind blew by and she shivered.
She shook her head. “When the human pack attacked us, dad yelled at me to run. I didn’t grab anything, I just ran.”
Matthew pulled his tunic over his head. “Here. Put this on.”
“But…”
“It’s alright. I have another one. This one is the thicker of the two.”
“But, what about you?”
“It’s fine. Shifters aren’t as affected by the cold as humans are. Really. Take it.”
Jasper noticed Emelly take an appraising look at Matthew’s bare upper body from under her eyelashes. She finally took the tunic and pulled it over her head then rolled up the sleeves.
“Thank you.”
Matthew flashed a smile. “No problem.” He frowned again. “Do you have blankets?”
She nodded. “William and Steven each gave me one of theirs.”
“Alright. Well, if you need another one just come find me.”
“I will. Thank you.”
The two of them looked at each other for a moment before heading off in opposite directions.
Hayden chuckled. “I think those two are so sweet together.”
“They’re together?”
She tilted her head back and raised an eyebrow at him. “Come on now. Didn’t you see the way she looked at him? And when was the last time you saw a shifter with that look on his face every time he sees a certain someone?”
He chuckled. “Zane.”
She smiled. “And Luke, and Alex, and you.”
“Me?” He feigned ignorance. “Who do I look at like that?”
She kissed his cheek. “No one important.”
He fixed the blankets under them and lay them down. “You mean there could never be anyone more important. Now, go back to sleep. We have three more days to go and we should be there.” They had made great time the past two days.
“Alright. Bunna soit, hun.”
“Bunna soit, Shlova.”
*****
“Don’t be scared. Just go for the kill.” Matthew smiled at Emelly. “I’ll stop it before you get to me.”
She blushed and nodded then looked over to me. “Can you show me again?”
“Sure thing.” I smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It took me a while to get it, too.” I crouched down and waited as Jasper grinned at me playfully.
“Ready, Shlova?”
I grinned back. “Bring it on.”
We had been taking a half hour every time we stopped for a meal to help Emelly, William, and Steven with their self-defense skills. Though Steven had been raised by Namaels, his adopted parents were from a quiet community and hadn’t thought to teach him much to do with fighting. He was, however, very accurate with a bow and arrow. William’s fighting experience was limited to what he had managed to teach himself in the nine months he had been searching for me.
Jasper reached for my right shoulder. I ducked lower and spun away from him. He grabbed for my tunic and spun with me. I pushed off of him, tucked and rolled then came up on one knee. By then he was already on top of me. I thrust my dagger up as I stood, aiming under his breast bone. He stopped short. The tip of my dagger was pressing into his tunic. I looked up and our eyes locked. I had to remind myself to breathe. He smiled, gently pushed my arm down and kissed me softly.
“Good job.”
I grinned. “Thanks.” I turned to Emelly. “The trick is to stay just out of reach and then going for the kill when they think you’ll be going in the opposite direction. Try not to look where you’re going or where you’re aiming.”
She nodded.
“Alright. Let’s give it a try. Now, notice how Hayden didn’t slow her strike at all? You have to stab as if you mean it. If you get in the habit of holding back in practice you’ll end up doing it out of habit in a real fight. That will get you killed. If something happens that you do get me, Hayden’s right here and she can fix me up.” Matthew smiled as Emelly paled at the thought of actually stabbing him. “Now, I’m going to come at you. You had better try to kill me.”
He took two long strides toward her and stopped short, his green eyes wide. Emelly’s own eyes were mirrors of his. She dropped her dagger and scrambled back a few steps. I burst out laughing.
“Looks like she got you there, Matthew,” chuckled Jasper.
Matthew smiled and looked down. “Damn. I hate sewing.” He looked at Emelly and his gaze softened. “Hey, it’s alright. That was excellent.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Look,” he said as he lifted up his shirt. “You barely got me.” The tip of the dagger had barely broken the skin just above his belly button. He bent down, picked up his dagger and stuck it back into his belt. “Emelly, look at me
.”
He tilted her face up when she didn’t. “Em.” He brushed the bangs out of her eyes which she finally opened. He gazed at her for a moment before lowering his head. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before touching her lips with his. The kiss was soft and quick and I could see it took a lot of effort to pull away when he did. He placed his forehead against hers.
“Em,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m not going to tell you I know how you feel. I was brought up fighting. I’ve been killing in battle all my life. I’m not saying I enjoy it, mind you. I’d rather not have to do it.” He took a deep breath. “What I will tell you, well…” His hands moved to cradle her face. “You’re starting to mean a lot to me, Em. I need you to learn this so that nothing will happen to you.” He pulled back and looked searchingly into her eyes. “Please.”
She gave a small nod before closing the short distance between their faces. This kiss was just as soft and quick as the first yet held the promise of better things to come.
I squeezed Jasper’s hand. “See?” I pushed my hip into him playfully. “Together.”
He smiled at me. “I didn’t argue with you about it.”
Emelly looked at us and blushed. Matthew gazed down at her and I knew by the look in his eyes he had lied to her. She wasn’t starting to mean a lot to him; she already meant the world to him. It didn’t matter if she learned how to fight or not, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her if he could help it. Of course, that meant he would put himself in danger to save her if it was necessary and I didn’t want that. I tossed her my dagger.
“Here. Try mine. It’s smaller than Matthew’s and should be easier to handle.” I sat down on the ground and Jasper settled himself behind me. Matthew and Emelly moved a little farther away to work on her moves.
Jasper chuckled.
“What?” I hadn’t seen anything funny.
“Jealous?”
“What?” I looked back at him.
“Are you jealous of Emelly?”
“What are you talking about? You’re nuts, you know that. Of course I’m not jealous. I happen to be very happy for Matthew. He’s thirty now and has never fated to anyone which means he probably won’t. He’s a great guy and he is precisely the kind of man Emelly needs. He’s strong, brave, and loyal to a fault. And have you seen them together? They’re great for each other.”
“I felt you, Shlova. You were sad to have him leave.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Not like that. I was just thinking that he will do anything to keep her alive and in doing so will put himself in more danger than necessary. I thought of him getting killed and that was why I was sad.” I looked back at him and kissed his cheek. “How could I be jealous of anyone when I have you?”
He smiled. His gaze moved behind me and I turned to see what he was looking at. We both started laughing.
“Looks like she got you again, Matthew!” I nodded approvingly. “Great job, Emelly.” It seemed now that she had made up her mind to learn and gotten over her fear of stabbing Matthew, shy little Emelly was going to be a quick study.
Our little group started getting ready to move again.
Hayden!
I looked up and saw Dodge swooping down toward us at an unbelievable speed.
“Dodge! Slow down!”
Rainen looked up in time to see my horse come crashing to the ground just a few feet away from her. Her eyes widened as she gazed into the sky.
“Hayden! Shield!”
I threw my shield out to cover everyone who was closest to me. I felt my energy touch Rainen’s and I glanced at her before looking up to see what had made the screeching sound in the sky. My first thought was about dropping my shield and to welcome the dragon flying over us. My second thought was that this was no dragon. The creature in question had to be to same size as Faren, the fire dragon I was bonded to, who was about thirty feet long. Well, the same length as Faren. Whatever this was it was lacking the bulk of a dragon. It looked more like a snake with wings and ten sets of legs. It was covered from head to tail in oily looking brown feathers.
I felt the push of magic come from up above and I pushed against it with my own. The energy receded as the creature flew past us. I started to pull back my shield and felt Rainen doing the same. The screeching sound came again. Rainen swore under her breath.
“We have to combine, Hayden. That first one was just a test. Be ready.” She frowned. “I don’t understand why it’s coming back but I have a feeling this is going to hurt.”
Everyone moved closer together and Rainen and I held hands. The thing in the sky was getting closer.
“Now!” Both of us pushed our shields as hard as we could and held them there. The furry snake came closer. I felt its magic push against ours and retreat. Without warning, a magic nudge so strong it felt like thunder rumbling against our shields hit. I heard Rainen cry out and concentrated on the magic. It pulled back ever so slightly and hit again. I fell to my knees. My head was pounding and every muscle in my body was tense. I closed my eyes.
“Rainen, push!”
I felt her gather herself and pushed my shield up at the same time as hers. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my veins and my heart beating in my chest. I focused on the shields, pulled Rainen’s into mine and pushed as hard as I could. I looked up in time to see the creature fly off course as our energy knocked its own back to it. It shook its head and came back toward us.
I looked at Rainen who was breathing just as hard as I was. I stood shakily.
“What kills it?”
“I don’t know. They usually give up if they sense you have any magic at all.”
I looked around but no one seemed to know. I pulled the red waves in front of me. “It’s my experience that most things will burn.”
She nodded and pulled her reds.
“On three, throw your deepest red as hard as you can.” I got ready to do the same. “One.” The creature zeroed in on us. “Two.” I chanced a quick look at Jasper. His eyes were closed. “Three!”
Our waves mixed together and the resulting flame was phenomenal. The thing swerved to avoid the fire but wasn’t quick enough. Its tail and two sets of legs burst into flame. It screeched and writhed through the air in a desperate attempt to put out the flame. One second it was there and the next it was gone. Vanished.
I looked at Rainen and sank to my knees, trying to get my breathing under control. She stumbled and fell against William. He helped her to the ground. Jasper was at my side in a flash.
“Shlova?”
I rest my head on my knees. “I’m ok. Rainen?”
“I’m alright.”
“Did you do that at the end?”
“No. I thought you did.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do displacement spells for some reason I can’t figure out.”
“What about a recall spell?” asked Gina.
“Maybe. Maybe whoever sent it made it possible for it to get back to wherever it’s from if anything went wrong.” Rainen wiped the sweat from her face with her arm.
“What the hell was it?” I asked.
“That was a Zerpanay. They’re a cousin of the dragon.” Harold looked up into the sky as he said it.
“Do they live here?”
He shook his head. “They are from the Sandsea. You must travel a good month from Howel to the south to get there. They don’t usually come this far north.”
“What usually happens if they do?”
Gina shuddered and Harold put an arm around her.
“They take what they want to eat and go back to the Sandsea,” explained Rainen. By the look on the Maj’s face it was obvious what the Zerpanay’s diet of choice was when visiting these parts.
“So you’re telling me it was just after a meal? What about the displacement at the end?” My breathing was almost back to normal. I stood and shook out my arms and legs, trying to get the muscles to relax.
Rainen put her head on William’s shoulder and closed her eyes. �
��I don’t know. The disappearing act at the end makes me think this wasn’t random.”
“Are you alright?” he asked.
She nodded. “The last time I used this much energy doing magic I was fighting Marilynn.”
“When was that?” I glanced over at her.
“Oh, a good twenty years ago, I’d say.”
“Who won?”
She smiled. “Neither one of us. Damian stepped in. I remember being so angry with him. He told me afterwards that it wouldn’t do to kill each other when the future had surprises in store for us.” She was quiet for a moment. “I wonder if he knew then what was going to happen now.”
My head started to reel and I blinked to get rid of the spots that were blocking my vision. My knees buckled.
“Hayden!” Jasper caught me before I could hit the ground. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m ok. Just tired. I don’t think I’ve ever used this much energy fighting something.”
“Alright. We’re setting up camp. Hayden and Rainen need to sleep.” Jasper laid my head on a pack and went to find firewood.
“Dodge?” I cracked one eye open then closed it again.
I’m here, Hayden.
“Are you ok? You landed pretty hard.”
I’m fine. I’m sorry.
“What in the world for?”
I led it right to you. I tried shaking it but I couldn’t.
“It’s alright, Bud. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” I smiled as his soft nose nuzzled my face. I heard Jasper strike his flints together to start the fire.
“Here are all the packs and blankets.” Matthew dropped some by me and moved on to the others.
“Are you cold, Shlova?” I smiled when Jasper didn’t wait for an answer and helped me get into an extra tunic. He sat down, pulled me onto his lap and wrapped us both in a blanket.
“How’s Rainen doing?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“But she’s alright?”
“She’s fine. Get some sleep, Shlova.”
“That was something else altogether, Jasper.”
“I know. I felt it through you.” He rubbed my arms and pulled me closer.
“God, I’m sorry. I was so busy concentrating on that thing I forgot to shield you from me.”
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 31