“Am I going crazy?” I couldn’t stop the question from coming from my mouth.
“No, they’re spirits,” Danika replied. “They’re people who have had some sort of strong connection with Laz. You probably can put names to some of their faces, like I can. Several of them are from the village, like Valessa and my brother.”
Sadness pricked my heart. I remembered Laz telling me a little about Danika’s brother and that he died. I just wondered which spirit was him. I knew I had seen an image of him once, but it had been so quick I couldn’t recall it. When I spotted a man with long blue-silver hair sitting on the piano, I knew right then it was him. Other than his ears being a bit different, he and Danika had similar features. He looked like a nice young man. It was a pity he was dead. And, damn girl, can you get some nice looking men to follow you around.
“Why do her eyes do that?” Rylan whispered. “I mean the glazing-over thing.”
“It’s a shaman thing,” Danika explained. “Shamans, depending on their training status, will look one of two ways when spirits become involved. The eyes of a shaman in training will only glaze over, whereas the eyes of a fully-realized shaman will glow.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“It has to do with the ceremony that is performed when the shaman in training has learned what he needs to know.”
“What happens at the ceremony?” I asked.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. We’re not supposed to discuss it with anyone who isn’t a full shaman.”
My ears drooped. I wanted to know, but I understood, even if it made me wonder what type of secrets shamans knew. I wondered what new secrets Laz had learned. My ears pricked when a new sound joined Laz’s singing. The spirits were singing with her. I watched with wonder. I couldn’t make out their words, but it was such a beautiful sound.
Raikidan looked behind him, suddenly perking my interest. “You okay?”
He nodded. “Just thought I heard something.”
I looked back, but couldn’t see or hear anything. “I think you’re crazy.”
“He might not be,” Danika corrected.
I tilted my head. “How so?”
“When a shaman and spirits come together, it creates a type of field.”
“Like a force field?”
“Kind of like that, yes. Because there is this field, if there is a lingering spirit following someone and they come into contact with the field, they can be detected sometimes.”
“But only sometimes?”
“Spirits are tricky. They can allow you to see them, or they could not. It’s up to them. Even a shaman can’t control whether he’ll see them or only hear them. So from the sounds of it there’s a lingering spirit here, and I’d say it’s connected to Raikidan, since he’s the one who felt its presence.”
I watched as Raikidan went to thinking. He was so serious when he did that. It made him interesting to study. I looked behind me when a shadow caught my peripheral. “Blaze?” He walked down the hall, his movements stiff and uncharacteristic. “What’s Blaze doing over here?” I blinked when I noticed the spirit of a young woman following him. “And who’s the woman?”
“I’m not sure,” Rylan replied. He sounded just as curious as me.
We watched as the woman tried to stay in front of him, but he’d walked right through her. It looked like she was trying to get him to stop moving. It wasn’t until he grabbed the door knob of the door leading to the roof that she started to get frantic and I began to worry.
Just then, Argus bolted past us and grabbed onto Blaze’s arm. “Blaze, wake up!”
Blaze jumped and looked around. “What the hell? How did I get here?”
Argus sighed. “You were sleepwalking again.”
My brow rose. I didn’t know Blaze was a sleepwalker.
Blaze scratched his head. “I thought I fixed that.”
“So did I,” Argus agreed. “Now get back to bed, and lock your door this time.”
Blaze made his way back down the hall. “Yeah, yeah.”
We all watched as he disappeared into the darkness, oblivious of the presence of the strange woman following close behind.
Argus walked over to us and looked at Blaze one last time before peering into the music room. “I’m guessing it’s best not to ask about the translucent figures in this house?”
“It might give you a headache if you did,” Seda teased.
Argus chuckled and then bid us good night before heading back to him room. As things calmed down, I leaned against Rylan as I relaxed to listen to what was left of Laz’s song. Rylan rested his hand on my shoulder, and I was okay with that. I was okay with how I still felt. I didn’t want this moment to end. It was perfect. Almost.
I frowned when Laz’s song ended and she slid the piano guard over the keys. I had hoped she would have played for longer, but the look in her eyes troubled me. She looked… conflicted.
She pushed past us without making eye contact. We all watched her head down the hall, and instead of going to her room, she opened the door to the roof and headed up the stairs. What’s eating at you, Laz?
I smirked when Raikidan left the room and made his way up to the roof as well. Without fail, the faithful puppy followed her around. I wished the two would get their heads out of their asses and see exactly how perfect they were for each other.
Rylan grabbed my wrist when I tried to follow. “Ryoko, don’t.”
I slipped out of his grasp and continued on. “I’m just being nosey.”
“Yeah, and nosey is the problem,” Raid said. “Leave them be.”
I pretended to think about it and then continued walking. “No.”
The brothers sighed, but neither followed in an attempt to stop me. You guys are just as curious, but not nearly as brave. I wasn’t afraid of being caught. And meddling in Laz’s affairs definitely wasn’t beneath me in the least.
Careful of how I stepped so I wouldn’t make a lot of noise, I crept up the stairs and listened in on the conversation happening on the roof.
“Your voice is beautiful,” Raikidan complimented.
“What?” Laz asked.
“When you sing. Your singing voice is beautiful,” he clarified, though I wished he’d said it the way he first had.
Laz grunted. “It’s not that great.”
“Eira, you really should sing more. I’m not making that up.”
“Why, so you can kidnap me?” My brow rose in confusion, and I guessed Raikidan’s had, too, before Laz laughed. “Well, I always knew the story was a little farfetched.”
Oh right!
“What are you talking about?” Raikidan asked.
“It’s just a silly human story about dragons,” she said
“Oh, well, will you tell me it?”
“It’s nothing special.”
Stupid, just tell him.
“Your human stories interest me.”
See, tell him!
“You don’t tell me any dragon stories.”
“We don’t have many.”
“But you do have some.”
“Yes, but they’re not relevant to what we’re talking about.”
“How would you know?”
Raikidan sighed. “Eira, just tell me the story.”
Yeah, no kidding, Laz. You’re such a pain sometimes.
She snickered, showing how much of pain she was purposely being. “All right, all right. A long time ago, when dragons were more abundant, people believed that if a young maiden had a beautiful singing voice, a dragon would come and snatch her up to take her back to his lair so she could only sing for him, like a pretty song bird. It was because of this idea they forbade young women from singing while they were alone or outside, so they wouldn’t be taken away.�
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Raikidan laughed. “They really believed that?” He continued to laugh. “That’s ridiculous! The only reason a dragon would take her is if he knew her, and he’d only take her if she didn’t want to be around humans anymore.”
I tilted my head with curiosity as Laz spoke. “So a dragon would take someone?”
“Well, a red dragon, sure. Remember, most of them like human companionship.”
“That’s true. But they wouldn’t just up and take them?”
“Eira, we may be thieves when it comes to precious gems or objects we like, but we wouldn’t take someone against their will. That would just be dumb.”
He’s got a point.
Laz chuckled. “All right, all right. Not that you guys aren’t above making stupid decisions.”
That’s true too.
I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh when Raikidan smacked her. She also laughed, so I had to guess it was only in the arm. Though if you asked me, he should have aimed a bit lower.
“Do you have any other stories about maidens and dragons?” Raikidan asked.
“Only one type comes to mind. They’re about maiden sacrifices,” Laz said.
“I don’t know if I want to know about that one.”
“Not all of them are bad,” I said. “Or I don’t think they are. Yeah, some were killed, but most were tied somewhere in hopes a dragon would take them as an accepted offering to keep the dragon from destroying their towns or farms.”
“Why a maiden? Why not just anyone?”
“I don’t know. The stories just say dragons only liked maiden sacrifices.”
“Humans are dumb.”
She grunted. “Well if dragons are anything like you, then they must be dumb, too, since you follow a human around.”
I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t laugh. A good comeback on her part, in my opinion.
Raikidan smacked her again and then switched subjects, not surprisingly. “So will you sing more, Eira?”
Laz snorted. “Why would you want to hear a dumb nu-human sing?”
Oh boy, here we go.
“Eira, don’t start with me. Just answer my question.”
“No, I won’t.”
“You won’t answer my question? Or you won’t sing?”
My ears twitched at the sound of one of them standing up. “I won’t sing.”
“Eira, why not? Your voice is gr—”
“Because I’m tired of everyone making a big deal out of everything I do!” I jumped back from the ferocity in her voice. “I’m sick of people pointing out when I do something out of the ordinary, at least what they think is normal for me. I’m sick of everyone making a big deal over stupid shit! So I do what is thought to be normal of me, and everyone leaves me alone.”
Laz… She didn’t really mean that, right?
“Eira, I’m sorry. I was just trying to—”
“You were just trying to help.” She sighed. “I know. But the only way you’re going to help is if you let me do things on my terms, not yours.”
“All right, I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted.”
Yeah, no kidding. A little uncalled for.
“You had a right to yell. I shouldn’t have pushed. So let’s forget I asked, and go back to bed. You’re horrible when you don’t get enough sleep.”
Sounded like she pushed him. “You’re no better.”
I snickered and began creeping back down the stairs. Plans were brewing in my head, and I didn’t want to be caught. That’d just make it harder to enact them. But as I was leaving, I caught the last bit of their conversation.
“Raikidan, you won’t steal me away if I do decide to do what you’ve asked of me, right?”
“Eira, we’ve been over this.”
She chuckled. “All right, then I’ll think about it.”
I smirked. Laz, you give me too much to work with.
Chapter 23
(Eira)
Scattered street lights illuminated the dark, quiet street—not a civilian or soldier in sight. It was the perfect place to keep under the radar. Shamans, and dragons disguised as shamans, worked around me to carry cargo from two merchant caravans into a house designated for temporary shaman living.
But the cargo wasn’t supplies for selling. No, it was for the rebellion, and that’s why Ryoko, Rylan, Raikidan, Shva’sika, and I were here. Genesis had volunteered us to help since we knew the shamans and dragons better than anyone else—not that I minded.
I carried a small box from a wagon and over to the building it was parked in front of. I had no idea what they had obtained for us, but now wasn’t the time to find out. We needed to get the cargo unloaded and inside as quickly as possible.
Even though we had back up paperwork, thanks to some hands on the inside of the fortress, it still would be a pain to deal with the military if they did happen to show up.
I handed my box off to a North shaman guard waiting at the door, and went back to the wagon to grab the next. Nothing was ready for me to grab, since everyone was being so efficient, so I patiently waited. Just as the female shaman was about the hand me a decent-sized box, something crashed behind me and I cringed.
I didn’t want to know what had been broken, but since I was running this operation, it was my responsibility to deal with it. I sighed with relief when I looked at the broken crate and saw that it had been filled with actual merchant supplies. I was happy it was a supply box, and not one with contraband.
The dragon who had dropped the box looked at me warily. “Sorry.”
“Just clean up and get it inside. And nothing better be broken. You’re paying for it if there is.”
He nodded and tried to pick up the items as fast as he could, while still being careful. I just shook my head. I had been keeping an eye on this one all night. Even before Raikidan told me he was young and to keep an eye on him, I could tell how twitchy he was. All night he had been looking over his shoulder and doing more standing around and doing nothing than actually helping. And now here he was breaking boxes.
I didn’t know much about dragons, but since Raikidan had warned me about his age, I wondered if that had a significant impact on his actions. If he were young, like Rimu and his siblings, I would agree with the idea, but this dragon didn’t appear to be all that young. He had the form of a twenty-six-year-old.
The woman in the caravan giggled as she placed another box on top of the one she had planned to hand me before the distraction. “You’re so mean.”
I watched her carefully. She had light skin and freckles, but I couldn’t see her hair or eye color to be able to identify her better. Something is familiar about her… but what? “I wasn’t mean at all. I could have freaked out on him, but I didn’t. I just told him to pick it up and pray he hadn’t broken anything valuable.”
She giggled and stood up straight. “For a dragon, that’s a pretty big threat. We love our gold.”
Her long red hair rolled out of the confines of her hood, giving her away. “Xaneth?”
She smiled and then head back into the rear of the caravan to grab another box. I looked around to make sure things were going smoothly before jumping into the wagon.
“I’m going to be honest,” I said to her. “I’m confused. Don’t your unspoken laws state you can’t do this?”
She smiled and pulled her hood back, allowing me to see amusement dancing in her eyes. “Our laws, as you put it, say it’s wrong for a female to fight. They don’t say anything against helping this cause in other ways, though.”
This intrigued me. “So why are you helping?”
Xaneth sat down on a sturdy box and her smile disappeared. “Because I don’t want my children to live in a world where they have to be afraid of being seen. I want th
em to be able to see the world in any form they desire. My greatest wish is for them to see a world that isn’t as dark as this one currently is.” She then looked at me and smiled. “And I’m doing it for you.”
I tilted my head. “Why me?”
The look she gave me in response to my question made me feel a bit weird. It was like she was trying to get me to understand something secret and yet important, but at the same time wasn’t sure if she wanted me to know.
I looked behind me when someone came up to the back of the caravan. It was Raikidan. “Hey, you going to gossip all night, or are you going to work like the rest of us?”
I snorted. “I am working.”
“Right.”
Xaneth giggled. “I shouldn’t keep you any longer. I don’t need to get you into any more trouble with your keeper.”
I laughed at her joke and then left the wagon. I grabbed a box and headed for the house and briefly heard Raikidan and Xaneth speaking in their native tongue, but shrugged it off.
After handing off my box to the shaman waiting in the entrance of the house, I headed back to the caravan. I passed Raikidan on the way, and noticed his intense gaze following me. He’s so weird.
I grabbed a hold of a crate, but stopped myself when I noticed a pair of soldiers heading our way. It was obvious they intended to investigate us, and I wanted to sigh. No doubt one of the dragons being careless caught the attention of a neighbor watching from the safety of their house on this street. It was time for me to make sure this didn’t get out of hand.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” I greeted.
They both tipped their head respectfully, but only the one on my left spoke. “Good evening, ma’am. We received a call from a concerned resident on this street, regarding a break-in in progress.”
They thought we were stealing? I nearly laughed. Civilians never ceased to amaze me with the wild thoughts they came up with.
“I have a feeling whatever it is you and your fellow shaman are doing is the source of this claim,” the soldier continued. “Care to explain what’s going on here?”
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