by Natalie Erin
Vera’s Song
Creatures of the Lands: Part II
Natalie Erin
Contents
Copyright
Other Books by Gryfyn Publishing
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Afterward
The Witch’s Curse
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright © 2015 by Natalie Erin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The reproduction or utilization of this work in part of in whole including xerography, recording and photocopying is strictly forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Erin, Natalie
Vera’s song / natalie erin
Summary: When Kiatana’s young son and Changer are abducted, she and her friends must trek across the world in order to get them back.
BISAC Category: Young Adult/Fantasy
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Art by Clarissa Yeo
Distributed in the USA by Gryfyn Publishing
For information about custom editions, special sales, ARCs, and premium and corporate purchases, please contact Gryfyn Publishing at [email protected]
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Chapter One
Memories of the Past
The child stood silently at the edge of the garden that was buried deep within the Verinian Forest. His mop of green hair was sticky with sweat from playing out in the sun, and his tiny bare feet were covered in dirt. His tan skin and golden eyes stared out in front of him as he watched his mother bustle about the large garden that was under the shadow of their tiny cottage. One hand was held up to his mouth as he sucked his tiny thumb, and the other was jammed into the fur of a small lynx that sat next to him.
He looked down and smiled at the young cat, smiling. “Allie,” he said softly, never taking his hands from his mouth.
“Kennu,” the Changer said back, wagging her small tail in joy at being acknowledged. Kennu stroked her lightly and she arched her back. A low purr ushered from her throat.
Kennu looked back towards his mother. She had green hair that matched his, and she wore it in a long braid that almost fell to her knees. A small amount of dirt clung to her face and the simple green dress she wore. Her pink eyes kept floating back to check on her son. Her frosty white wings carried her about and prevented her from stepping on any of the small flowers she had spent all afternoon planting.
Kennu smiled and made his own wings appear. They were black, and had a dusting of yellow on them that appeared to be stars glistening in the night. Allie looked up at him nervously, but he simply laid a hand on her soft head, a gesture that said everything was okay. She calmed down instantly, knowing the boy only wanted to show off his wings. He couldn’t fly yet. He was too young and simply couldn’t gain his balance once he was in the air.
“Where’s my big boy?” a familiar voice asked from behind him. Kennu whipped around, smiling brighter.
“Daddy!” He held up both of his thin hands and his father scooped him up and spun him in the air.
“Daddy!” Allie copied her Accompany and looked up at his father expectantly, wagging her tail.
“Oh, yes. I forgot about you. I’m sorry Allie,” Keota laughed. He picked up the lynx, holding both of them close. “Why are your wings out, Kennu? I thought Mommy said you weren’t supposed to try and fly?”
“No fly,” Kennu agreed.
“No fly.” Allie repeated.
“Maybe he was just copying his mother, Keota.” A bright emerald dragon walked up and joined the group, chuckling lowly in his throat.
“Io,” Allie said happily. She jumped from Keota’s arms immediately and onto Ionan’s back, snuggling against him and purring loudly.
“I missed you too, Allie,” the dragon laughed merrily. “I could’ve never imagined being away from you would cause me such deep loneliness.”
“Keota.” Kennu’s mother came fluttering out of the garden and into Keota’s spare arm, kissing him on the cheek with a slight smile. “You’ve finished cleaning up the memorial already? That storm was huge. I’d expect you to be up there until midnight.”
“We had some help from a few of the animals that live up in that area.” He drew her into a kiss, holding her there for a moment tenderly. “So, what have you been up to all day, Kia?”
“Gardening. Kennu and Allie were trying to catch butterflies earlier. It was so adorable! And they only got away from me once today!” she said proudly, as if this was something to be excited about.
“Well, I guess that’s better than the usual seven times,” Keota said.
Kia instantly turned red. “At least I don’t lose them every five minutes,” she snapped.
“I’m just teasing,” he said playfully. “Be glad that losing our children is the only thing wrong in our perfect world.”
“Oh, sure,” she said, shaking her head but still smiling. “That’s something to say if the only thing that has gone wrong in the last five years is consistently having our son go missing. Maybe our world is a little too perfect.”
“KIA!!” The couple was startled out of their reverie by the small bird known as Scarlet, zooming into the clearing in an obvious panic.
“What is it now Scarlet?” Kia moaned at the bird.
“One of my eggs is MISSING! It was there this morning, but now it’s gone! My mate and I are so worried. What if something ate it?” Scarlet cried.
“Mommy.” Kennu tugged lightly on Kia’s braid.
“Not now Kennu, Mommy’s busy.” She pushed his hand away and turned back to look at Scarlet. “I highly doubt that it was eaten. I’m sure it just fell out of the nest and will be right there on the ground, unharmed.”
“Noooooooooooo!” Scarlet said. “You’re wrong Kia, you’re wrong this time and I know it! This forest is far too peaceful. Chaos is bound to happen sooner or later, and it’s starting right now, with the vanishing of my egg!”
“You’re being overdramatic Scarlet, as always.” Kia rolled her eyes. “My son wanders off all the ti
me, and he always comes back.”
“Yes, but he’s not an EGG,” Scarlet demanded.
“Mommy!” Kennu tugged her braid a second time.
“Not now, sweetie.” Kia pushed her son towards Keota with a look that commanded the Accompany to take the boy. Keota scooped him up in his arms, while Allie circled his feet, looking up at Kennu.
“We already looked on the ground below the tree. It’s not there,” Scarlet told her.
“Are you sure?” Kia asked in a rather annoyed tone of voice.
“Yes, I’m sure. There is no way it fell onto the ground,” Scarlet replied, equally annoyed.
“MOMMY!” Kennu yelled at her from Keota’s arms, and the overwhelmed Accompany set him down.
“Yes! What is it, baby?” Kia wearily turned to look at the five year old.
“Kennu found it in tree,” he said proudly. In his hand he held a small egg. “It’s for you, Mommy.”
“For you,” Allie copied. Kennu held it out to her and she took it gently.
“See, we found your egg.” She walked with Scarlet back to his nest and she placed the egg inside. “No harm done.”
“Thank you Kiatana. I appreciate it very much,” Scarlet said glumly, clearly upset his promise of disaster wasn’t directly upon them.
“And if you please, Scarlet, would you try to keep your panic to a slight heart attack next time?” Kiatana said. “Nothing has happened in this forest for years. We’re all safe here. This place is happily boring.” She combed her hand through her son’s hair affectionately.
Scarlet looked at her grumpily. “That’s what you said last time,” he muttered under his breath.
The bird sat in his nest next to the newly found egg and waited for his mate to return. Kiatana walked back to the cabin and looked at her son, hands on her hips. “You can’t take things, Kennu, that egg belonged to someone else.”
“I’m sorry,” the boy said back with his head hung low.
“We’re sorry,” the Changer said from behind Keota, her little tail wagging slowly.
“It’s fine. Go get your shovel and you can help Mommy in the garden,” she told them. He and Allie ran inside to get the gardening tool, and she looked at her husband. “Keota, you may want to get yours too. I’m going to need a lot of help.”
“With what?” Keota smiled.
“I need ten holes dug to plant some things. Go make yourself useful, instead of standing around with that stupid, yet really cute grin of yours.” She tried to hide a smile of her own, tweaking Keota on the nose, and went inside to help Kennu find his shovel.
“Is that her idea of flirting?” Ionan said, chuckling. He went inside to help as well, leaving the Accompany to his task.
When Kia came back outside she immediately fell into a giant hole. Kennu and Allie followed her, and she caught them at the last minute before they went tumbling into the pit. Gathering her bearings, she stumbled to her feet and poked her head out of the hole. There were ten large pits dug a ridiculously far distance from the garden, so deep that you could only see Keota’s head as he kept shoveling out clumps. Kia fluttered out of the pit with an open mouth, the children in her arms, horrified at what he had done to the lawn. “Keota, what did you do?”
“I dug holes like you told me to,” he said, scooping out another large mound of dirt with his enormous Accompany strength. Kia fluttered to the ground, putting the children down.
“I meant in the garden,” she groaned. “And they only need to be small, for flowers. Not pits Ionan could fall in!” She placed one hand in the middle of her forehead in frustration. Kennu looked up at her and copied the gesture, while Allie tried to do the same.
Ionan laughed the minute he walked out of the house and saw the mess, his loud roar echoing around the forest and causing birds to flit away from the trees. “I can’t leave you alone, can I?”
“Sorry Kia, but you really need to be more specific. Your instructions were rather unclear,” Keota told her. Ionan only laughed harder.
Kia let out a large sigh. “Come on. We’ll work together to fill them in.”
“No! Tag!” Allie screamed. The two children began running from hole to hole, and the adults charged after them, falling into the pits constantly. Kia and Keota slammed into each other while chasing after their son and fell into a hole together, Kia landing on top of Keota with a thud.
“Oof!” Keota cried. “Can’t keep your hands off me, huh?”
“In your dreams,” Kia giggled, and she kissed him deeply on the lips. “You make so much extra work for me.”
“Yes, but I’m always fun,” he said, playfully flitting with the bottom of her dress. She laughed and batted his hand away, flying out of the hole and leaving him to climb out after her. Husband and wife began chasing each other around the yard, laughing loudly as they ignored the children who attempted to run from them.
“Mommy and Daddy forgot us,” Kennu said to Ionan, pointing.
“They didn’t forget,” Ionan said, crouching down and changing into a white lion. “They just knew you couldn’t outrun me!”
The children screamed happily as Ionan began chasing them. After tag was done, Kia gasped for breath and said, “Alright everybody, we’ve got to repair the lawn, before it gets dark.”
The small family, including the two Changers, spent the last few hours of daylight filling the holes. When darkness fell Kennu and Kia ate, they all bathed, and Kia and Keota went to their room, leaving Ionan to put the children to bed.
“Yes,” Kia sighed against Keota’s chest as they laid on their shared bed. “My world with you is absolutely perfect. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Keota kissed her on her head, staring out the window at the stars above. “Of course it is. What could ever go wrong, as long as we’re together?”
Kia didn’t answer. She had fallen asleep.
The next day Ionan rested under a willow tree, his head on his claws. Kia and Keota had taken Allie and Kennu on a picnic in Casiff’s old territory, and Ionan vouched to stay behind and watch over things. Usually he would have gone along, but he resisted today. In the five years that had passed since the battle, everything had been peaceful and normal. Yet Ionan grew weary. He wanted more than anything to go back to Nesting’s Haven, the birthplace of Changers and Accompanies. Ionan knew someday Kennu and Allie must go to the land of their origin, but to get there they had to fly, and Allie showed no interest in changing into any creature with wings, not even a little bird. Every time Ionan had asked she had refused harshly.
He, for the first time in his life, envied those creatures that sleep could carry away. Ionan knew it was selfish to complain, but he was still homesick. In time he had grown to love the forest, but in his heart he knew it could never replace where he grew up.
Ionan sighed. He couldn’t sleep, but he could think. He closed his eyes and darkness came around him. Take me back, he thought. Back to the place where Accompanies and their Changers roam. Take me back to our finding ceremony. Take me back to see…Vera...
All at once the darkness vanished and was replaced by a dreamlike vision. He was in a perfect land, where the wind whispered and the light shone down on his scales to warm him. It was a bright, warm day, with sandy shores as far as the eye could see and palm trees waving in the cool ocean breeze. The hills behind the beach were lined with beautiful flowers that made a lovely scent float through the air. There was laugher from all around as two dragon hatchlings flew together over the tropical flora.
One was a purple female. Her body was long and slender. She had short, spiky horns from the tip of her nose to the back of her head in a blaze-like fashion. The spikes went down in a line down her neck to her upper back, leaving a slight dip between the shoulders. Her wings were attached on the back of her front legs, and were covered in stringy, pink feathers. She had four spikes sticking out the sides of her tail., the tip also covered in feathers. Lastly, there were sharp claws on her digits, to compliment the fangs that stuck out o
f her mouth. But the most beautiful thing about her was her eyes, which were a deep ocean blue that sparkled and shone like sunlight upon the waves.
“Can’t catch me Ionan!” she giggled. The dragoness twirled in the air, sucking her wings into her sides.
Ionan smiled in his subconscious as he gazed at his former self. Unlike his friend, his body was not smooth and willowy, but bulky and rough. His wings sat on his shoulders and were not feathery, but bat-like and had a spike at the tip of the membranes. He didn’t have multiple horns, but two giant ones at the back of his head. His eyes were golden yellow, and his spikes went all the way down from his neck to his tail, ending in a giant arrow tip in the end. He had no feathers, but only shiny green scales around him. But he shared the sharp fangs and long claws that the other hatchling also acquired. Both of them were no larger than a child’s forearm.
Ionan laughed and dove under the other hatchling, colliding into her and fluttering down onto a bed of lilies.
“That was so much fun!” she laughed and swiped her tail at him, jumping up and landing on his back with a thump.
“Ooof,” he sighed. “Get off me Vera!”
She smiled and did so, twirling her tail around her legs. He sat up and shook his horns free of the flowers that entangled it.
“Are you excited for the finding ceremony tomorrow?” she asked exuberantly.
He jumped up and swished his tail. “I’ve never been more excited. Are you nervous?”
“No. I’m just as excited as you are.”
“Aren’t you afraid of not finding an Accompany again?” he questioned.
Vera smiled and changed into a Pegasus foal with a creamy white coat. “Not really. I know my Accompany is out there this time. I can feel it. You know how we can tell things Ionan? Well this time I’m sure my Accompany is out there, waiting.”
The one called Ionan changed into a tiny rabbit. “I can’t feel anything. Does it mean my Accompany isn’t going to find me?”