Island Shifters - An Oath of the Blood (Book One)

by Valerie Zambito

  The High Priestess looked dazed. “Yes, yes, of course.”

  Kiernan turned to leave, but then stopped in her tracks. “Gemini! My sword!”

  The sorceress retreated into her room and returned with the Sword of Iserlohn, thrusting it into Kiernan’s hands. “May the Highworld be with you, Kiernan.”

  “It already is!” she shouted over her shoulder as she ran.

  ***

  Kiernan knew it was dangerous to be running her horse at such reckless speed in the dark, but she had little choice. She had to find Beck and that meant putting her faith in the moonlight and the horse’s instinct to get her there.

  She hadn’t realized it before, but Earthshine was only a few days away now. And, with her and Beck on the opposite side of the island! If only she had stayed true and not become so…lost. Wait… That was one of the predictions that Mage Starr warned them about. One of them would be lost.

  Well, I’m lost no more.

  Drumming the horse with her heels, she sped ahead into the night, the rushing air cleansing the murky tangle of her thoughts. Only when the brackish smell of the Illian River drifted to her nose did she slow the horse to a trot and frantically scan both sides of the road for Beck’s campsite.

  “Beck!”

  Bajan!

  She continued to advance more cautiously now and stiffened when she glimpsed a soft glow from a gap in the trees. Heart racing, she dismounted and tore through the coppice only to find the remnants of a discarded fire pit.

  I’m too late! They’re gone.

  Her legs threatened to collapse beneath her. What now? Should I travel back to Iserport and then continue to the Valley of Flame from there? She chewed on her lower lip in indecision. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. There’s really no other choice.

  Decision made, she ran back to the horse. The only marker she had in the darkness was the Illian, and she figured she could follow it easily enough to Iserport as long as the terrain permitted.

  She tried one more time. Bajan!

  Calm down, Princess, we are here. We have stopped at a small stream just through the wood ahead of you.

  “Ahh!!” she screamed and jumped off the horse. She hastily tied the reins to the bough of a tree and started running.

  Prickly bushes and branches slapped at her face and arms as she dashed through the trees. She tripped over a log and her knee came down squarely on a rock, causing her to yelp in pain. She rose again, limping and bleeding, and finally crashed through the woods into a clearing.

  Naked from the waist up with a wide bandage around his torso, Beck was leaning over the stream with cupped hands preparing to take a drink. His head whipped around when he heard her.

  “Beck!” She started toward him, fell again and began to crawl, too emotionally and physically spent to continue.

  He stood up slowly and stared at her in disbelief, but did not move.

  “Beck! I am sorry,” she whimpered. “Please, Beck!”

  He started toward her at an uncertain walk, and then began to jog, and then ran. She held her arms out to him and it felt to Kiernan like an eternity had passed, but then he was there, lifting her off her feet. She wrapped her legs around him and sobbed into his shoulder. Beck dropped to his knees and they fell to the ground in a tangled heap. She clutched him close, hands digging into his shoulders, terrified that if she let go he would disappear and she would never get him back again.

  Chapter 36

  Taking the Plunge

  Kiernan untied her horse and slapped the animal’s rump to set him running free, hoping as she did that he would find his way safely back to the castle in Elloree. With the moonlight to guide her, she returned to the clearing.

  Beck asked if she was hungry and offered her a pear.

  “Famished,” she admitted, and bit into the fleshy fruit with relish, pleased that her appetite had returned after so long.

  He reached out and fingered a handful of her hair. “I like it much better this way.”

  “Thank you, Beck,” she said softly. She wasn’t talking about the compliment and he knew that. “You took me back,” she said incredulously.

  “Yes,” he said quietly.

  “Why?”

  He gave her a crooked smile. “Wait here.” He went to his pack and pulled something out. When he returned, he unwrapped a crumpled pink flower and handed it to her. “Because on the list of things I can’t live without in this world, you happen to be at the top.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes, blurring her vision. She accepted the flower. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She shook her head. “I don’t deserve you.”

  He laughed quietly. “Probably not, but you’re stuck with me nevertheless, Your Grace.”

  She playfully punched him in the side and he winced.

  “Oh, I am so sorry!”

  He laughed again. “It’s fine. At least one rib is broken, but they don’t hurt as much now that they’ve been wrapped.” He removed her pendant from around his neck and placed it over her head.

  “Will you finally tell me why you had me send away our fastest means of transportation to Iserport?”

  He grabbed her hand. “I’ll show you instead. And, we’re not going to Iserport. We’re going to Kondor.”

  “Kondor? Why in the Highworld do you—”

  “Trust me,” he interrupted.

  She looked into his blue eyes and the love she found there staggered her. “I do trust you. I go where you go.”

  He smiled, most likely remembering the first time she had said those words to him.

  “Go on ahead,” she told him. “I want to have a word with Bajan.”

  Nodding in understanding, he kissed her and walked away, and she fell back to wait for Bajan. He had been out hunting and his muzzle was stained red. It wouldn’t last long. Not on the meticulously fussy Draca Cat.

  Welcome back, Princess.

  Thank you, Bajan. She paused. Do you forgive me as Beck has?

  The question is, do you forgive me?

  She snorted in her head. What could you possibly need forgiveness for?

  I have failed you.

  What? No! How can you say that?

  My Sovereign, Moombai, told me that you were in danger and I needed to be vigilant, that I needed to protect you. I just did not realize that I needed to protect you from yourself.

  No one could have, she insisted. I must tell you that I had the most glorious visit from my mother.

  Did you?

  Yes, and she said to ask you about her.

  The Draca hesitated and Kiernan had to wait for several long moments for him to respond.

  Since the day that Galen Starr died and I was rendered unconscious, I have been having strange visions. I am not sure what they mean, and I am anxious to arrive at Callyn-Rhe so I can ask Moombai. He will know.

  I’m here if you need me, Bajan. I won’t leave your side again. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close, and Bajan purred with contentment.

  “Over here!” Beck shouted, waving his arm in the darkness.

  “What is this?” she asked, noticing a strange, open grate behind him.

  He briefly told her about his discovery of Aquataine and something about glow worms and playful porpoises and a stunned moment later, she found herself hurtling along a slide in the darkness. She would have been frightened to death if she had been alone, but Beck’s laughter was infectious, and she found herself laughing with him as they plummeted downward. A muted green light appeared beneath her right before she splashed into a warm turquoise pool of water.

  As soon as she surfaced, Beck guided her to the shore where Bajan stood shaking the water from his fur. She looked around in awe. Beck’s descriptions of an underground paradise had not been exaggerated.

  He pointed upward to draw her attention to the glow worms on the ceiling and told her about the reversal of day and night in Aquataine.

  “I’m just glad that Adrian’s spell hasn’t touched this place,” she rema
rked.

  “Oh, it couldn’t have because Adrian doesn’t know it exists. If you don’t know something exists, your spell can’t affect it.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him in question. “How would you know that?”

  Beck pulled a small black book from his backpack. “Galen’s Protetor.”

  “He gave that to you?”

  “Yes, he wants me to study to become a Mage.”

  She looked at it skeptically. “And?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve read a few pages in the book out of curiosity and that’s all. I’m content being a shifter.”

  “How come it’s not soaking wet?”

  “A protective spell. It’s far too valuable not to be protected from simple things like water damage.”

  They both turned at the shouted greeting of a man on a raft. “Hello again, Master Atlan!”

  Beck grabbed her hand and they ran over the beach to another pool of water.

  “Digby! Please tell me you have a port in Kondor.”

  “We do.”

  “How fast can you get us there?”

  The watershifter thought about it. “A day or so.”

  “What?” Kiernan exclaimed.

  “Can you take us there now?” Beck asked.

  “Always in a hurry, Master Atlan! Goodness, you need to slow down once in a while.” He paused. “Your lady friend is also a shifter, I presume?”

  “My lady friend is most definitely a shifter and also the Princess of Iserlohn. May I introduce you to Princess Kiernan Everard.”

  Digby’s eyes rounded to saucers, and Kiernan was surprised when he fell to a knee on the raft.

  “You know who I am?”

  “Of course! It’s only been the past ten years or so that Aquatainians have been unable to tolerate the Surface World for long. Before then, we traveled among Massans regularly.”

  She shook her head in amazement. It’s now confirmed. I know absolutely nothing about the world I live in. “Please rise, Digby. It is nice to meet you. “

  “Thank you, Your Grace,” he said, pushing his long, lanky body back to his feet. “Wait until the Elders meet you!”

  Kiernan looked back at Beck. “Elders?”

  “Come on,” he said, waving her onto the raft. “You have to meet with the Elders at the Temple of Grotte. I will explain on the way, but for Highworld’s sake, just don’t forget to take off your shoes!”

  She had no idea what he could be talking about, but he filled her in on the way and after delivering her oath to the Elders, she jumped off the portico of the temple with sandals in hand and raced back across the sand to the raft. Sadly, after departing Ebba, she didn’t have much of an opportunity to admire Aquataine due to the speed of their travel. Digby tirelessly propelled them through the channeled waterways for hours, stopping only once at a small village for a quick rest and meal of fruit, cheese and bread.

  “Digby, can we pay you for the food and transportation?” she asked during their meal.

  “No, your coin is no good here, Your Grace,” the watershifter told her with a wink. With that, he jumped into the water again and they were off.

  The hours sped by, most of them spent sleeping. But, she did ask Beck at one point, “Why Kondor?”

  “I don’t want to get all the way to Sarphia only to find out Rogan never made it,” he explained. “It’s not far out of the way, so better to stop first and be sure.”

  She agreed, and the next thing she knew, Beck was nudging her awake. Despite all the sleep, she felt woozy when she stood and Beck had to help her on shore. Bajan leapt off the boat with no apparent side effects.

  “I’ll be waiting here for you,” Digby yelled at their backs.

  Beck sprinted ahead toward a limestone stairway built into the side of the earth, and they raced upward and came out on top at a grate concealed in an outcropping of rock just outside of King Rik’s castle in Kondor.

  Darkness still covered the land, but all they had to do to find their way was follow the screams.

  Kiernan rounded the boulders and stormed into a clearing where two horned demons menaced a group of women and children trapped tight against the outer wall of the castle. A dozen soldiers in the maroon and blue of Deepstone were attempting to distract the demons away from the innocents.

  Several more soldiers lay dead on the ground.

  There was no conversation as Beck and Kiernan stalked forward—Beck with hands thrown out to his sides and Kiernan with sword drawn.

  Beck struck first by rippling the earth beneath the two demons and sending them crashing to the ground.

  Kiernan rushed forward, sword held high overhead with two hands and slashed powerfully at one of the creatures. The demon rolled out of the way just in time and her swing took off one of his clawed hands instead of his head.

  The women and children continued to scream in terror.

  The soldiers, bolstered by the unexpected aid, started an advance on the other demon. Another soldier died as a result.

  “Fire! I need fire!” Beck screamed at the Dwarves. “It’s the only way to destroy them!” He lifted his hands and sent an enormous boulder rolling over the ground to crash into one of the demons, pinning it underneath.

  The clawless demon howled, put his head down and rushed Kiernan, intending to impale her on his horns. She sprang into the air over his head, but he managed to catch her ankle with the intact claw and slam her to the ground.

  Grunting in pain, her sword fell from her grasp. The demon was on her immediately, forked tongue protruding through tiny serrated teeth. The fiend grabbed her hair, stood her upright and hissed in her face. “Your interference has cost you your life, Savitar. I will show you pain like you have never known!”

  Lightning fast, a muscled ball of white fury hammered into the demon and brought him down. The two combatants rolled over the ground in a vicious clash of snapping teeth and ferocious growls.

  “Bajan, move!”

  The Draca Cat leapt free as Beck jabbed a fiery brand directly into the creature’s mouth. Fire licked out through the orifices in the demon’s face in a ghastly show, and he wailed in torment before dying in an explosion of black smoke.

  Kiernan grabbed another torch and strode to the demon pinned beneath the boulder and set him afire. In seconds, his body, too, turned to blackened ash and disappeared.

  “Is everyone all right?” she asked, spinning back, half expecting another demon to appear.

  “Those of us still alive anyway,” one of the soldiers murmured with a grimace. “Not that I’m ungrateful for the help, but may I ask why you’re here?”

  “We’re looking for Rogan Radek,” Kiernan told the soldier. “By any chance, do you know who he is?”

  “I do. He left for Sarphia days ago. He should be close to there by now.”

  Kiernan nodded, relieved.

  “Where is King Rik?” Beck asked.

  “Left the same day as the shifter, just behind two cohorts of the Deepstone Army.”

  “But, it will take weeks for the Dwarven Army to arrive at the Valley of Flame! We need them there already!”

  The soldier looked embarrassed. “That’s all I know.” He ran a critical gaze over them. “Are you Savitar?”

  “So we’ve have been told.”

  “Best of luck to you then and do us all a favor by kicking some demon arse!”

  “That is the plan!” Kiernan shouted over her shoulder as they ran back to the grate.

  Evening was fast approaching Aquataine by the time they reached the raft, and they found Digby fast asleep in the sand. He looked so peaceful that Kiernan hated to wake him. The watershifter had gone well above the call of duty.

  Bajan, not so concerned, emitted a small bellow that had Digby scrambling to his feet and into the water.

  Once they were moving again, the soft sway of the raft lulled the fight-fueled adrenaline from Kiernan’s body, and she laid her head in Beck’s lap. Content for the first time in weeks, she felt rel
uctant to bring up the subject but, in the end, knew she had to clear the air between them or it would fester like an open wound.

  She cleared her throat. “Beck?”

  “Hmm?”

  “About those women in Iserport…”

  “What women?”

  Obviously, he doesn’t want to discuss the matter. She shook her head. “Never mind.”

  He looked down and stroked her cheek. “Kiernan, there will never be any other woman for me. There’s just you.”

  “But, I saw you,” she pointed out softly and sat up.

  “Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real. Magic was involved somehow, and I had the headache the next day to prove it. You have to believe me, Kiernan.”

  She felt incredibly foolish as she realized he was speaking the truth. “Avalon Ravener,” she suddenly growled.

  “Most likely.”

  She sighed. “Oh, Beck, how is this all going to turn out?”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “We’re going to make it, Kiernan. I promise.”

  Chapter 37

  Reunited

  “We’re never going to make it!” Kiernan exclaimed in a panic as they climbed out of the grate near Sarphia. “We only have two days left!”

  “We’ll make it,” Beck assured her, his voice still full of the confidence she had yet to feel.

  “Really? Let’s see. We have to find Rogan, find Airron, summon a magical map, find an invisible mystic land, uncover a weapon, and travel to Starfell!” She was babbling now. “We can’t do it!”

  Bajan growled an instant before a voice drifted to them from the trees and said, “Well, one down and five to go.”

  Rogan stepped out of the trees with a Dwarven soldier at his side.

  “Rogan!” she cried in relief and almost knocked him down as she threw herself into his arms.

  The Dwarf turned red and glanced sideways at his traveling companion. “Good to see you, too,” he said, hugging her back. He let go and reached out to shake Beck’s hand, but Beck was having none of that. He gathered Rogan in an embrace as well.

  Rogan finally disentangled himself to introduce Janin. Kiernan hadn’t realized the soldier was a female until she spoke in greeting.

  “Nice to meet you, Janin,” Kiernan said, eyeing the two of them suspiciously.

  “We better get going,” Rogan said brusquely, putting a halt to any questions that may have been forthcoming. He called a flame to life in his hand and started away on the path that led to Sarphia.

  Kiernan smiled knowingly as she followed behind.