“What if you took from all of us?”
“I’ve never been able to do that. Both Fillian and Hanna have worked with me, but I can’t.” I felt as if I hadn’t slept in a week. My eyes closed. “Rainen?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you feeling really tired?”
“Hmm hmm.”
The world started to spin. “Traina?”
There was no answer. I tried to open my eyes to check on her. At first it was as if my strength was leaving me. After a few minutes I realized what was happening and by then, it was too late. Whatever was happening to Damian was happening to us, but more quickly. I tried to call out to Jasper but couldn’t.
It was almost like a dream. I heard someone humming notes under her breath. I tried to place the voice. Then another voice joined in, this one humming a different tune. The darkness closed in, the voices tuned out, and somehow I knew. I was dead.
Chapter Four
My first indication that I was alive was the pain. I groaned and tried to bring my hands up so I could hold my head. That movement hurt too much.
“Chaid! She’s waking up!” The words were slurred and fuzzy to my ears, but I was sure the voice was Jasper’s.
“Hayden? Can you hear me?” This voice was a man’s but I didn’t recognize it. I tried to nod. The pain in my head tripled and I gasped.
“Don’t try to move, Shlova.” I could hear the relief in Jasper’s voice. His lips touched my forehead and I felt a tear fall on my face. He wiped it off then kissed me softly on the lips.
“I think she’s through the worst of it, Jasper. If she’s coming to, then she should be fine.”
I felt strong fingers lock with mine and I squeezed.
“How is she doing?” That was William.
“I think she’s starting to wake up. What about Rainen?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Hey.” Matthew sounded exhausted. “Did I hear you say Hayden is waking up?” Jasper must have nodded. “Thank god. Maybe she can explain what the hell happened in there. Emelly is still out.”
“Damian?” Collin.
“Same as when we first got here.” Jasper.
I tried to swallow. “Wa…”
“Water?”
I squeezed his hand. I felt the glass touch my lips and I took a few sips and tried to follow the rest of the conversation. Sleep came for me again and I didn’t fight as it carried me away from the pain.
*****
When I came to again, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. I took a few deep breaths. When that didn’t hurt I decided to flex one muscle at a time. I felt as if I had run a marathon with no training, but no part of me was anything more than sore. I opened one eye, noticed that the only light in the room came from a couple of candles lit on the table beside me, and opened the other. From the room next to mine, I heard a snore. I turned my head one way, then the other.
Jasper sat on a chair, his legs sprawled out, his arms crossed, his chin resting on his chest. I turned slowly onto my side, reached out and placed my hand on his arm. He jerked awake, knocked the chair over and looked around wildly before his gaze focused on me. He blinked and ran a hand over his face. I smiled.
“Bontu,” I whispered.
“Hello,” he answered back huskily. He swallowed hard.
“Come here.”
He simply stood and stared.
“Chom labba, Jasper. Come here. You’re awake.” I scooted back gingerly to make room for him on the bed. He walked over then lay down. His hand moved slowly to my face and came to rest on my cheek. I closed my eyes as he stroked my cheek with his thumb. I put my hand over his, turned my head and kissed his palm.
“Shlova?”
I nodded, unable to speak through the sobs that were making their way up my throat.
“Oh, god, Hayden.” Jasper pulled me to his chest. “I thought this was it. You were gone. I felt you die.” His own sobs shook him and we clung to each other. He pulled back and looked at me as though making sure this wasn’t a dream. I reached up and wiped the tears from his face. He returned the favor then brought his lips down to mine. I pulled myself up onto my elbow and pulled him to me. His arms crushed me to his chest. He lay back and I rested my head over his heart. I checked myself mentally a final time to make sure everything was in working order.
My heart stopped and my breath caught in my throat. I sat up quickly, Jasper a fraction of a second after me.
“Hayden…”
I closed my eyes and concentrated. He put a hand on my leg.
“Hayden.” He took my face in his hands.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
“It didn’t make it.” I heard him swallow hard before continuing. “Whatever almost killed you was too much for it to survive.”
I pulled the green waves in front of me and passed them over my belly, looking for the little ball of energy that had been there.
“No…no…no! This doesn’t make sense! We were supposed to make Damian better! I felt it suck everything out of me! What the hell was it? What the hell happened?”
Jasper pulled me onto his lap and rubbed my back. “We don’t know. You’re the first one awake. Rainen is still out. So are Emelly and Damian. Traina is dead.” He took a deep breath. “I was talking to Collin. I could feel you were tired, but nothing serious. Then in the matter of minutes you felt weak. I ran back to the room and just as I was opening the door…” A tremendous sob shook him and he pulled me closer. “That was it. You were dead. I couldn’t feel you at all. I went to you and just as I picked you up Traina dropped, then Rainen, and then Emelly. Just before Emelly hit the ground you jerked and felt pain.”
I lay pressed to his chest, shaking from the shock of it all. He brushed the hair from my face.
“We knew this might happen, Hayden. We knew the odds were against it.” His voice was thick and I knew he was trying to reassure himself as well as me. We were both quiet, lost in our own thoughts and misery.
“Hayden?”
I jumped as his voice broke the silence.
He tilted my head so that I was looking at him. His perfect blue eyes searched mine from under a few stray curls. I reached up and brushed them out of the way.
“I love you, Jasper. I’m so sorry.”
He frowned. “Sorry for what?”
“I should have listened to you. We shouldn’t have crossed back.” I started to look away but was stopped by his hands on my face.
“This was not your fault. You had no way of knowing something like this was going to happen.”
“Maybe not this specifically, but if it wasn’t this, it would have been the next battle, or the one after that.” A tear slipped down my cheek.
“If I had stayed in the room I could have gotten you out.”
“Or you would be dead.” I shook my head. “There’s nothing you could have done. If you had been in there you wouldn’t be here now.”
“And you almost weren’t. Shlova, I’ve never lied when I’ve told you I’d be happy simply holding you for the rest of my life.”
“I know, Jasper, it’s just…” My throat tightened and I had to clear my throat.
“I know, Hayden.”
“What are we going to do?”
He pulled me to his chest and I held him tightly. “I don’t know, Shlova. I don’t know.”
*****
Every day I would run a green wave over Rainen, Damian, and Emelly twice a day. Each day, Rainen and Damian got better while Emelly stayed the same.
It took three more days before Rainen finally woke up. By then I had started to remember some of the things that had happened before I had blacked out. I only told Jasper, wanting to verify with Rainen before I told everyone else and caused an uproar. I was, however, extremely confused about the events right before everyone dropped like flies.
I was sitting outside with Jasper, watching a couple of wolf pups chase each other up and down the road in front of their house. A black haired man
sat on the step, keeping an eye on them. William came running out of the house.
“Hayden! She’s awake!” He was back in the house before I could acknowledge that I had heard him. Jasper stood and pulled me up.
“I wish Marilynn was here.”
I looked up to see him frowning at the house. “Why is that?”
“Rainen may not be very happy to hear what you’re going to tell her and you’re not totally recovered yet.”
I started to laugh. “She just woke up from a coma; I think I’ll be safe. Besides, she will have felt it too. You can’t fake the feel of your magic.”
“Well, either way, I’m coming in.”
I smiled and brushed a few curls out of his eyes. “I know.” He hadn’t left my side since I had woken up and I didn’t want him to. “Come on. Let’s go see if I’m right.”
We walked through Rainen’s house and made our way to her bedroom. She was propped up on some pillows, taking a glass of water from William. Her midnight blue eyes met his hazel ones. He gave her a lopsided grin which made her smile. She turned towards me and the smile widened.
“Hayden!”
I walked to the bed and gave her a hug. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Ugh. Like someone threw me over the edge of a cliff. You? How long have you been awake?”
“I’m better; almost back to normal. I’ve been up for three days now.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Hayden. I had no idea until my nudge touched her.”
“Don’t be sorry. Like you said, you had no idea. When the Zerpanay came for us, I thought the magic felt familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Then, when we were in the room, I didn’t remember the feel of it until…well, by the time I realized, it was too late.”
She nodded.
“What’s going on? You guys know what happened?” William was glancing from me to Rainen, looking more than a little annoyed that he didn’t know what was going on.
“I was pretty sure, but I didn’t want to tell anyone until I talked to Rainen. There are still a few things I’m fuzzy about, though. When the Zerpanay used its magic on us, it felt familiar. That’s because it had the same feel to it as Damian. But it wasn’t exactly like Damian’s and it threw me off. When we were in the room, it was actually Rainen who felt it first. The magic Traina was giving off was the same as the Zerpanay’s. She sent it.”
He shook his head. “But how did Traina’s magic feel like Damian’s? I mean, I know absolutely nothing about this, but when you guys talk about it, it sounds like everyone’s magic feels completely different.”
Rainen nodded. “It does. See, the Zerpanay felt a bit like Damian and exactly like Traina, but Traina didn’t feel exactly like herself anymore. She felt like Damian.” She let that sink in and waited for it to make sense to him.
His eyes widened. “His energy was leaving him…and going into her?”
I nodded. “She was the one killing him.” I looked to Rainen for her confirmation which she gave with her own nod.
“But I thought they were fated…”
Jasper picked up this explanation. “If you are fated to someone, you are paired with the being you are supposed to be with. That doesn’t mean you end up with the being you want to be with. Not all fated couples live happily ever after. Of course, if you truly despise your mate, the only way to feel anything for anyone else is for one of the two to die…”
“So she wanted a divorce and this is the only way to get one here.” He looked at me, disbelieving. I couldn’t help but laugh at the description.
“Sort of. See, I don’t think she wanted to be with anyone else. I think she wanted to be head sorceress. That was why when Damian died it couldn’t look like murder. She’s been taking his energy and making herself stronger in the process. She helps when people try to heal him, looks devastated when nothing works; no one thinks she would do anything like this. Of course, even if she was getting some of Damian’s magic, she couldn’t be sure that Rainen wasn’t still stronger than her. If Damian died and Rainen was the stronger of the sisters, she would automatically get boosted the head sorceress and Traina would only be second in command.”
“I think that my sister’s plan all along was to kill me then Damian. She sent the Zerpanay after me and assumed it had killed me. She wouldn’t have ever thought that Hayden would be with me to help me out. Thinking I was out of the way, she then decided enough was enough and tried to choke what little life Damian had out of him. Unfortunately for her, Grant came into the room and caught her in the act. She killed Grant, but had to hold off on killing Damian because of the attention the scuffle caused.”
“Do you remember what happened?” I asked her.
“I do. I didn’t realize what was happening really until you asked me if I was getting tired. Then I heard her chanting. I don’t know why I had never thought of a chanter’s curse when it came to Damian. I tried to counteract it, Hayden. I didn’t know what to use, really. She was sucking the energy out of you at an unbelievable rate. I just kept multiplying it, trying to stay ahead of her. I couldn’t keep up. She was pulling from me too, but not as much. That’s when I heard Emelly start chanting. By then, I was so weak that everything felt like a dream. Whatever Emelly was doing she was doing it to Traina. I kept after you. You dropped and Emelly got louder. The next thing I knew Traina dropped and I fell, but just as I was blacking out Emelly chanted something totally different, I saw you jerk in Jasper’s arms, Emelly fell, and that’s all I remember.” She looked at William while I digested all of this new information. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. He put a hand on her arm. “Will, could you go get Collin for me? I need him to find someone for me.” William nodded and left.
“I wonder why Emelly isn’t waking up yet.” I was still shocked to find out that our shy, little Emelly was a chanter. “She must have known something. That’s why she came into the room.”
Rainen nodded. “I’ll get Collin to find Trista for us.” She shook her head, obviously angry with herself. “I never thought to ask her to look at Damian. Most chants have to do with death. All I could think of was the healing end of it. If I had brought her in, she might have recognized what was happening.”
Collin and William walked back into the room.
“Rainen.”
“Collin. I need you to find Trista for me and bring her here. I think she can answer a lot of the questions we have.”
He nodded and left. She ran her hands over her face.
“Are you alright, Rainen?” William looked from her to me. I ran a green wave over her and nodded to him. She was going to be just fine. Rainen smiled at him.
“I’m fine, William. Just tired.”
There was a knock at the door and Steven poked his head into the room.
“William? Jasper? I think you need to see this. I was walking back from the courtyard and I heard a group being loud behind me. I turned and got a good glimpse of them. I recognized at least three. They’re from Paradin.”
I looked at Collin as he walked into the room with Trista. She was a couple of inches taller than me with silver hair and grey eyes. She looked to be in her sixties. She nodded to me respectfully and went to Rainen’s side.
Jasper turned to Collin. “We need to start checking the packs. Steven says he recognized three humans a short while ago.”
Steven nodded. “They were in the courtyard.”
“Maybe that’s where we should set up. It has the three walls around it. We can set our packs up at the entrance so no one can escape.” Collin chewed on his lip thoughtfully.
“In Pinsaber we had the packs wait where they couldn’t see what was happening so any humans that were there wouldn’t try to run before we got to them. We did all of the packs in the keep then checked the ones that came in from patrols as soon as they came back.” Jasper waited for Collin to decide what he wanted to do. This was, after all, his territory. Collin nodded.
“That sounds good. I’ll send my men out to find who
ever is in from patrols. Hayden? When do you think you will be ready?”
“I want to hear what Trista has to say. She might be able to help us get Emelly better. Damian just needs to sleep now. I give him a few more days and his energy should be back to normal.”
He nodded.
“I’ll go with Collin if you don’t need me here.” Jasper gave my hand a squeeze.
“Go. We shouldn’t be too long.”
He left with Collin and was followed by Steven and William.
Trista smiled at me. “So, you’re Hayden.”
I grinned. “I know. I don’t look like much.”
She started to laugh and I immediately liked her.
“Trista, how long have you been chanting?” Rainen asked her friend.
“Oh, let me see. I’m sixty two now and my mother started to teach me chants when I turned of age. So, about forty six years. Why?”
“Did you know Traina was a chanter?”
Trista jerked and the surprise was clear on her face. Rainen visibly relaxed.
“Can someone explain to me what chanting is exactly?”
Trista looked at Rainen who nodded.
“Chanting is a form of magic. It is a rare art. I can think of about twelve beings that are chanters and that includes me. I’m sure there are more, but they don’t like to announce what they are. We meet twice a year and that is all the contact we have with each other. We have rules like healers and sorcerers. Chants are only to be used in battle and never on an individual as a personal vendetta. That’s the main one. Also, never use a chant that you can’t reverse.”
I nodded. “Can I nudge you?”
“Sure.”
I sent my nudge in her direction. The first thing I checked was to make sure she was a Maj; she was. I then checked to see how strong she was. I frowned and nudged again.
“You don’t have any magic!”
She smiled. “No chanter does. When we chant we use the energy that is around us. And really, we don’t chant. We hum.”
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 8