“No!” I heard myself scream in real life as well as in the dream. I slid towards him as fast as I could, moving like a mangled snake. Sticks and rocks cut at my arms and tore at my clothing. “Jasper!” I looked up to see if he had reacted to my voice. I doubled my effort when it became obvious he hadn’t heard me.
“Oh, god, please!” I moved up to him and looked into his eyes. They were open, but not seeing. I lay my head on his chest. Nothing. I tried to call the green waves to me but couldn’t with my hands behind my back.
“Argh!” I got onto my knees and slammed my head against his ribs as hard as I could then put my ear back against them and listened.
“Please.” I head butted him again and again. I could feel my face swell and saw drops of blood fall onto his tunic after I slipped and hit my nose against him. Sobs raked through me. I curled up against him, crying.
“Hayden! That’s enough!” Jasper’s real hands tried to shake me awake.
I fought him, trying to stay in the dream, hoping that if it lasted a little longer, he might move behind me.
“I can’t lose you,” I whispered. “I won’t lose you.” I felt Jasper pull me into his lap.
“You won’t, Shlova.” His voice was thick. “I’m right here.” He hugged me tightly. “Wake up.”
I let myself leave the dream and wrapped my arms around him. “I kill you,” I whispered into his chest.
“Shush. It’s alright. It was just a dream. You know we can change it.” He rubbed my back and pressed his lips to my hair. “Tell me what happened.”
I took a deep breath, not wanting to relive the dream, but knowing I had too. “I get captured. It’s the humans but I don’t know where we are. The leaves in the trees are green so it’s summertime and it’s not in the Wedelven Woods. They say I was with another girl, but I don’t know who she is or what exactly happens to her. There’re seven of them that I can see. Two of them come to where I’m sitting and push me over.” I shivered at the memory and felt the low growl that vibrated deep in Jasper’s chest. “But then the energy comes.” I looked up at him. “Like with Dave, but I know that if I push it into just one of them then there’s still six of them to fight off.” I gazed into his eyes. They were so alive, so full of worry. I remembered the unseeing look, the glazed stare and fresh tears slid down my cheeks. “I pushed it out like a magic nudge. It threw them backwards, killed them.” A sob shook me. “You were…were there! I di…di…didn’t see…you! I saw it hit you! My…my hands…were tied and I cou…cou…couldn’t pull the greens…up!”
Jasper tilted my head up so I was looking at him again. “It won’t happen. Understand?” He wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumb. “It won’t happen.” His lips brushed against mine and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pressed his forehead against mine. “It won’t happen.”
“If they take me, don’t come after me.”
He jerked and held me out at arm’s length. “I’m not just going to let you go.”
“You have to. If you come for me the dream will happen. I kill them. Just stay away until I kill them.”
“You saw seven. That’s doesn’t mean they were the only ones. What are you going to do when the rest of them find you, still tied, surrounded by their dead friends?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. You won’t follow me.” I looked around to everybody. “None of you. I won’t be responsible for killing any of you. If I get taken you all stay away.”
“And why is it that the humans want you?” Rainen was sitting by the fire, Harold and Gina still at her side.
“You felt how I can project? I’m sure you know that Braw has a staff that separates a shifter from his or her animal.” She nodded. “He wants to use me to project the power of the staff to every shifter alive. He wants to wipe you out. Liberate you I think is the term he used.”
“Can you do it?”
“Whether I want to or not. All he has to do is touch me with it.”
Her eyes widened.
“Two years ago I was captured by the humans. I separated five shifters.” I swallowed hard to get rid of the lump that was forming in my throat. “That was his little test. He needs to do it on a certain night to get the power of the staff to project as far as he needs it to. I couldn’t stop it, Rainen. I felt it flow into me and I tried to push it out. Then I felt it projecting out of me and I tried to keep it in, but I couldn’t.”
“That’s why we were coming to find you.” Jasper moved so that we were both facing the fire and the rest of our pack made their way so that we could all see each other. “We need a truce between Namaels and the Majs. Whether it’s a temporary one or not is between you and Melana. Braw needs to be stopped.”
Rainen was quiet for a moment. She looked up from the flames. “I’ll admit that this was something I hadn’t anticipated.” She frowned. “By the moons I would give anything to have Damian awake right now. This is his department, not mine! I just lead the army.” She looked directly at me. “Were you serious about wanting to heal him?”
I nodded.
“Very well. I’ll declare a truce with your pack. As for Melana’s, well, let’s see what we can get done with Damian first.”
Everyone was quiet, lost in their own thoughts. I leaned my head back against Jasper’s chest and closed my eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around me.
“Stop thinking about it,” he whispered in my ear. “Are you still tired?”
I shook my head. “No. How long was I out?”
“Two days.”
I looked to the waterfall to our right and smiled. “Do you remember our first time here?”
“How could I forget,” he chuckled. “It took everything I had not to pull you off of Dodge and kiss you.”
I turned my head and kissed his cheek. “I don’t think I would have put up much of a fight.”
“A shlova yan,” he whispered.
“I love you more.” I smiled as Peena and Goop, Tara and Ben’s deer, fought over a patch of grass. Watching them reminded me that I had missed my chance at imprinting on Cholta’s fawn last spring due to our unplanned trip out of this world. I jumped up as I realized I had forgotten our friend.
“Cholta! Where is he?”
Jasper smiled and stood. “He’s fine, Shlova. Rainen looked after him while you were sleeping. He’s resting now.” He started walking toward one of the blankets by the fire. I knelt beside him and ran a green wave over the sleeping Wedelve.
“He’s full of energy!” I looked over to Rainen.
“I know a spell that multiplies energy. He should have enough now that you can heal him with the safe green. I put a numbing spell on him also so his pain would seem less until you could fix him.”
“Thank you.” We looked at each other over the fire for a few moments. I turned my attention back to Cholta. “The scars I won’t be able to heal. Hopefully I can heal all of the internal damage. It has been a long time.”
“How long after an injury have you been able to effectively heal?” Rainen was leaning forward, watching as I passed the green wave over my friend and started to concentrate his energy where he needed to heal.
I pulled the ribs together and healed the punctures to his lungs. “Seven days.” I moved to his right forearm and fused the bones in it.
“What of the other healers you’ve trained with?”
Sweat was starting to run down my face and I wiped at it with my forearm. “Two.” I moved to his legs and pushed the left knee joint back into place.
“How long has he been injured?”
I frowned and concentrated on Cholta’s hip. There was nothing left of the joint.
“Six weeks,” Luke answered.
“His hip won’t go back properly. It was starting to heal wrong.” I sat back on my heels and looked at Jasper. “It’s like he was hurt a week ago. The breaks were still fresh.”
“Would you mind telling me what happened?” Rainen was looking at Luke.
“I didn’t see what ha
ppened to Cholta specifically. The humans came to Sageden looking for Hayden. They took us all by surprise.”
“Did they have a magic wielder of any kind? A sorcerer, a healer, or a chanter perhaps?”
My brother-in-law shook his head. “Not that I noticed. A chanter? I haven’t seen one of those since I was a pup.”
She nodded. “They’re still around. Those who know the art seem to keep to themselves. If the humans had sent one of theirs disguised as a shifter to train with a chanter, they would have quite a weapon on their hands.”
“What’s a chanter?” I had lived in Quelondain for five years and had never heard of them before.
“Chanters are magic wielders. They don’t use waves or spells, though. They use songs to weave their magic.” Rainen turned to Gina. “When we get back to Howel we’ll find Trista and see if she can help us figure this out. I’m sure I’ve heard of a chant that keeps a being from healing, though I was sure that if the chant was finished it helped hurry the dying process.”
“Maybe the chanter was interrupted,” suggested Harold.
“Hmm. Maybe.” She looked back to me. “I can lift the numbing spell if you’re done healing him. He should wake up.”
I nodded. She mumbled something and pushed her magic nudge toward Cholta. The Wedelve lay still for another minute before moving his limbs one by one. He opened his eyes and smiled when his eyes met mine.
“Hayden!” He sat up cautiously before giving me a hug. “Thank you.”
I kissed his cheek. “You’re welcome. But I didn’t do it on my own. Rainen helped.”
His eyes widened and he looked around until his gaze fell on the Majs’ head sorceress. He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
She nodded.
“I couldn’t fix your hip,” I explained. “I’m sorry. You’ll probably limp from now on. I hope it doesn’t cause you too many problems.”
He laughed. “Hayden, dear, I’m alive. If I have to live with a limp, I’ll pretend I’m dancing for the rest of my life.”
I smiled.
Alex, Matthew, and Kacey came walking back into camp carrying a large buck. I watched as they got it ready to put over the fire. Jasper handed me a canteen of water then sat behind me. I leaned back into him and sighed.
“I almost forgot how quiet it is here.” After almost a year in the other world surrounded by buses, cars, and the constant noise of phones, microwaves and other such things people took for granted there, the silence was welcome.
Jasper chuckled. “I know. I keep waiting for my cell phone to go off.”
I laughed. “Did you bring it?”
“I did.”
I looked back at him. “You know it won’t work here, right?”
“Yes, I know that.” He smiled. “I brought it along to show the twins.”
“I can’t wait to see them.” My heart beat faster at the thought of seeing all of our friends and family again. The smell of the deer cooking over the flames blew toward me in the breeze. My stomach growled. I kissed Jasper’s cheek and stood.
“I’m gonna go talk to Rainen for a sec.”
He frowned slightly. “Do you want me to come?”
“No. I’ll be fine.” I walked around the fire and made my way over to where Rainen, Harold, and Gina were standing around talking. The three of them looked as I approached.
“Hayden.” Rainen nodded to me.
“Rainen. Harold. Gina.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping to get a minute to talk to you alone.”
She turned to her companions. “Why don’t you two run a perimeter check? Supper should be ready by the time you get back.”
The two of them nodded before shifting. My eyes widened.
“Holy crap!”
One of the grizzlies turned to look at me before following after the other.
“I knew you had bears in your packs, I just never had the chance to see them up close,” I explained to Rainen who was smiling at my reaction. I sat on the ground and waited for her to do the same. “The reason I wanted to talk to you was to apologize.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath. “About Ream.”
She looked away from me and into the fire. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Well, um, he had been sent to abduct me. I had a dream about it and we were able to build a bit of a pack to surprise your son’s when they got to the ridge. Everything was going well for us and it didn’t take long before Ream’s pack was retreating. I remember looking down into the clearing and seeing him walking toward the ridge by himself. Jasper and Zane went after him. Jasper said another magic wielder must have been hiding in the woods because he was knocked over by something and he couldn’t move.” My eyes welled up with tears as I thought back to that day. I cleared my throat before continuing. “Ream stepped on Jasper and broke all of his ribs. He grabbed him by the throat.” I blinked and tears slid down my face. “All I could think about was saving Jasper.”
Rainen looked at me, tears rolling down her face.
“I didn’t want to kill him. I don’t even know if I did it on purpose. All I could see was red. I pushed it toward them. When I looked again there was a wall of fire flying toward Ream and Jasper. I picked Jasper up with a gust of wind. I had been told that your son was a sorcerer. It didn’t make sense to me that he just let the fire wall engulf him. It wasn’t until afterwards that someone told me the Majs and Namaels can’t do magic in their animal forms.”
Rainen shook her head and wiped her face with her arm. “I told him to be careful.” Her voice was just a whisper. “I shouldn’t have sent him. He was arrogant. Told me I was worrying for nothing, that there was no way you could out magic him. You had only been here a few weeks. He didn’t think you would know how to control the waves yet.” She took a deep breath. “He was hard headed, that boy; had a little too much of his father in him. Thurstan was the same way. He’d argue with a rock just to hear his own voice.” She smiled sadly and looked back to the fire. “We were patrolling out by the Blue Woods. Our pack came across one of Melana’s. I’d told him to stay back, that I could get them with my magic if none of our pack got in the way. He said he was bored and could use a bit of excitement. Then he rushed toward them. I didn’t see their sorceress until it was too late. I tried to shield him. I almost managed to do it, too.”
“How old was Ream?”
She shook her head. “He wasn’t born yet. I had gone into heat just before we were assigned this patrol. He never knew Thurstan.” She frowned into the fire. “I hated you that day. Before then, you were a prize, something that would help us defeat Melana. When Ream’s pack came back without him, I couldn’t have cared less about the Namael queen. The only thing I wanted was to capture you and get you to myself. I was going to make you suffer and then you were going to die.”
The butterflies in my stomach were starting to run out of flying room. I braced myself, ready to block whatever she decided to throw at me. I saw Jasper tense across the fire as he picked up on my nervousness. His stare focused on Rainen who noticed the added attention.
“Your mate seems to think I might try to harm you.”
“That’s my fault. I was getting a bit nervous with all the talk about torturing and killing me. Jasper can feel what I’m feeling.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” She looked back to me, her dark blue eyes focused on mine. “I wouldn’t dream of harming you now.”
“Why not?”
“Damian.” She said the name as if it should have been obvious. “If you’re telling the truth and he has been helping you, then I am bound to do the same. There are beings out there who seem to think I have been trying to steal Damian’s position as Head Sorcerer of the Majs.” She snorted. “By the moons, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. My last orders from him before he got too sick to talk were to find you and bring you back to Howel. That is precisely what I’ve been trying to do. Battles, fighting, ma
gic; those are the things I can handle. Making decisions that affect an entire population? No, thank you!” She smiled and I smiled back. She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. “I miss my son, Hayden. He was my world; the only thing I had left of Thurstan. I can’t say I don’t hold some sort of hard feelings toward you for killing him, but he was a grown man. He made his own choices. Walking out into that clearing expecting nothing from you was a bad one. As for why you did it, I can’t say I disagree with your actions. I watched someone kill my mate. Had I not been knocked unconscious by her nudge, I would have made her suffer for it. By the time I came to myself the battle was over and I was alone.”
Jasper’s body relaxed as mine did, but his gaze never left where I was sitting.
“I hate killing, Rainen. I don’t like fighting. All I want is to be in my clearing, in my cabin with Jasper. I want to go to bed at night without having to worry about the next dream I have that shows us battling god knows who. I want to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about whether or not I’ll have to find some way to escape the next pack that manages to get their hands on me. All I want is to be left alone. Once the situation with Braw is done and over with, I’m hoping that life can be like that. I mean, it would be stupid to cancel the truces after this. There are dogs fating with cats for crying out loud. We can’t have couples battling against each other. I’m not going to pretend to know what’s happening, but my guess is that things are going to change drastically in the next little while and I hope it’s for the best.”
She nodded. “It all makes sense to me, dear.” She smiled. “But like I said, that’s up to Damian.”
Everyone looked up as Harold and Gina came jogging back into camp in bear form. The pair of them shifted and nodded to Rainen.
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 3