Jasper chuckled. “William and now Ternach.”
“Ugh. God, when you name them all, I sound horrible.”
He pulled me down so he could kiss me. “That’s alright. You can make it up to me when this is all done.” My head started to reel. Jasper groaned and pulled back. We both looked to where the Wedelves were getting ready. Dodge stomped a foot.
“You’re a little tense, Bud.” I gave his neck a rub.
Could you promise me you’ll stay on me?
I frowned. “Well, how about I’ll stay on unless someone knocks me off. I promise to try my damnedest to stay on you. How’s that?”
He nodded. It will have to do.
Jasper put a hand on my leg. I covered his with mine and gave it a squeeze. His sky blue eyes met mine.
“Hayden…” He frowned.
I leaned down and kissed him softly. “I promise I’ll be careful.”
He took a deep breath. Even with everything we’d been through together, I couldn’t ever remember him looking this tense.
“You’re thinking about your dream?” The dream had been reoccurring every night since he’d told me about it and he’d admitted to having had it before then.
He nodded. “Maybe you could stay behind until we have the city cleared. You could come in when all the fighting is done.”
We both looked up at the sound of arrows being released. There were cries of surprise and pain from the humans lining the top of the wall. Their return volley did minimal damage as our packs hid behind the trees once again. I watched as three of our healers ran to attend to the injured.
“That’s going to be our advantage, you know.” I nodded to Danny as he ran back out of the line of fire.
“Healers and magic,” agreed Jasper.
“And we’ll need all of our healers and all of our magic to win this. I can’t just sit back and let everyone else do the work. I need to be in there helping.”
The Wedelves let fly more arrows and retreated behind the trees. I gave Jasper’s hand another squeeze.
“Even if I thought it would be best for me to stay behind, I can’t let you go in there without me. It would be a disaster. I’d be out here worried as hell about you and you would feel it and wouldn’t be able to concentrate…” I watched as more arrows took to the sky.
Jasper took a deep breath. “I know, I know…” He growled. “Just stay away from Ternach.”
Do as he says, my love.
“Do you know about his dream?”
I do. I’ve had it too.
We’ve all had it, Hayden. Dodge blew out of his nose.
“Everyone?”
“Everyone who makes up the main part of our pack.” Luke’s eyes never left the scene before us as he spoke. Matthew nodded.
I took a deep breath. “Why in the world did no one tell me this?”
“Would it have made a difference?” Jasper’s voice was quiet. We all watched as Danny ran forward again.
I thought about it. “No. We knew going into this it was a good possibility I wouldn’t make it out alive.” I shook my head. “I was born to destroy the staff and that’s what I mean to do. Dreams can be changed. If anybody knows that it’s us, right?”
There were screams of terror and the air warmed as Faren flew over the wall and let loose a devastating flame. The humans that jumped off of the wall to escape it were picked off by the archers. She turned and made a second pass.
I looked to the west of Paradin, waiting to see the first of the Winged Ones and Faelies to appear over the ridge. That was our cue to rush the gates.
“Not yet, Shlova.”
“I know… Not until the wall is clear.”
It was a tense day and you had to hand it to the humans; they were persistent. Supper rations were sent up to the Wedelves and I bit into a bit of cheese.
“How’s it looking from the inside, Ternach?” Jasper looked to the keep.
They’ll hold out until dark.
I made myself relax. It was going to be a tense night waiting for the second day to start.
*****
My love, you need to relax.
“Relax. Yeah, right.” I took a deep breath and rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the tension in my back. It was getting close to supper time of the second day and the humans were showing no signs of giving up their wall. They had managed to find a way to launch flaming balls of something at Faren and she had been forced to watch herself as she made passes over them.
“I’m worried about William and those guys. What if they got caught? Why aren’t they back? Did you remember to send Brice’s stone in with them?”
Jasper swore and stuck his hand in his pocket. “No. I have it here. Shlova, I’m sure they’re fine. Steven and William would have known where to hide. They’re probably just waiting for us on the inside.” He ran a hand through his dark curls and watched as the Wedelves sent another volley of arrows at the wall. “Ternach? What do you think?”
I heard his grunt as he assessed the situation.
You’d better get settled down for the night.
Jasper nodded. “If this keeps up we’ll have to storm to gates tomorrow whether the wall is clear or not.” I saw him glancing at the diminishing number of arrows our archers had at their disposal. The darkening sky lit up with Faren’s flame. Something slammed into her and I saw her falter in the air.
My head was filled with a grunt and I clutched my head. “Faren!”
We all looked up and watched as the dark form plummeted from the sky and crashed a short distance from the wall. There was a roar of victory from the humans and they swarmed to the top of the wall.
“No!” I watched as arrow after arrow was able to penetrate the dragon’s tough skin from such a short distance. The Wedelves left the cover of the woods and their arrows whistled through the air. The red waves overtook my vision and I waved them away.
“Faren!” I closed my eyes and waited to hear her answer. “Damian!” I hollered to where he was standing. “Can you displace her?”
“Can she think of where she needs to go?”
“I don’t know! Faren!” The tightness in my chest was increasing as I waited to hear her in my head.
Tell the Wedelves to fall back, Chosen One. Bryenk’s voice was soft. She’s gone.
I opened my mouth to tell him he had to be wrong, but all that came out was a choked sob. I closed my eyes and felt the tears run down my face. I vaguely heard Jasper yelling at Ben to get back into the woods. I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked to where my friend lay. Her dark form seemed to glow in the dimming light. I frowned.
“Bryenk, what’s happening to her?” The light radiating from her seemed to get brighter.
When a dragon dies its body returns to the element from which it came.
Faren’s body started to smolder and finally caught on fire. Jasper put a hand on my leg as we watched her burn away. Bryenk landed on my shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Bryenk.”
What for? He tilted his head to look at me.
“This whole mess is my fault.”
His chuckled made me frown. You did not cause this, Chosen One. You were born to stop this. Faren died doing what she had been born to do. We all have a destiny we need to fulfill. I felt him smile. I always knew she would burn bright.
I looked up again and was shocked at the flame that was now Faren.
My love, Melana just broke through the defenses at the north end.
I realized suddenly that the wall was devoid of life. Faren’s flame was throwing off too much heat for their archers to handle. I looked at Jasper. “I thought we didn’t want to go in at night.”
He shook his head. “We didn’t want to, but I don’t think we’ll get another opportunity like this. Dodge, send the signal to the Winged Ones.”
My horse nodded. Whatever he did was something I couldn’t hear or feel. Rainen shifted and howled. Jasper followed suit, growled then shifted back.
“Be careful, Hayden.”
I nodded and tried to shove down the adrenaline that was trying to take over. “I will. A shlova yan.” I leaned down and kissed him tenderly.
He kissed me again. “A shlova yan jer.” He shifted and I felt Dodge gather himself under me before galloping toward the gate. Everyone split apart to let us through. I saw Teean, Marianne, and Rainen shielding against the heat of Faren’s flame. I turned my attention back to the two huge wooden gates ahead of us and pulled the red waves in front of me.
“If you’re by the gates, Ternach, move away.” I flicked my wrist around the deepest red I had then amplified the fireball. Damian looked at me from on the back of a chestnut winged one, his fireball ready as well. “Here goes nothing.” We threw the fireballs then pushed them with our nudges. The gates smashed into bits of burning wood. Bryenk flew past us, a wave of water following behind him. He threw the water at the gate and put the fire out. Everyone behind us screamed, howled, or roared and we flew through the gates.
Damian and I threw our nudges as we crossed the humans’ threshold. I watched as the humans who had been running to stop us flew backwards. I felt the tingle of magic and looked up to see the Burries dropping their dust. The one over me nodded and flashed a grin full of pointy teeth.
Hayden, left!
I looked down in time to see a tiger leaping at me. It wasn’t glowing. I grabbed a silver wave and knocked it to the ground. I looked up in time to see a leopard launching itself at us. Jasper collided with it.
I didn’t have time to see what was happening with him. Dodge spun and knocked a human down with his wing.
Pay attention! He barked at me.
“Sorry.” I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the urge to look around and see how my friends were doing. I saw the next attack coming and sliced my sword across the blond man’s chest before he could get close enough to pull me off. “On the plus side, they’re trying to catch me alive.” That meant less weapons aimed at me.
Dodge’s ears flicked backwards and I braced myself, ready for him to kick whoever was trying to sneak up on us. I heard a sickly wheeze as his hooves connected. I turned at the sound of a yelp coming from my right and saw Danny fall under a tiger. I kicked Dodge in that direction and stabbed the cat as we ran by. The fox pulled himself out from under it, gave a nod in our direction, and turned to take on his next opponent.
“Where’s Braw, Ternach?” I raised my sword to block the dagger that was aimed at Dodge’s shoulder.
He grunted. Like I’m going to tell you. He’s by my side, though not too close should he decide to destroy me. Are you staying safe, my love?
It was my turn to grunt. “I’m in the middle of battle. What part of that seems even remotely safe to you?” I turned to look west where cries of surprise were shouted out as the Faelies and Winged Ones came flying down the mountain side. To the north, the sound of battle cries and metal on metal rang. Melana was getting closer to our ranks.
Parker leapt past me and took a wolf by the throat.
“Hayden, watch out!” Phlann started to run toward us. I looked back and ducked. Dodge fell to his knees to avoid being decapitated. Phlann’s broad sword deflected the next attempt on our life. The human screamed as his arm was severed at the shoulder. Dodge fell to his side and I rolled away from him before running back to his side.
“Dodge!”
He grunted. Bastard got me in the leg. I think it’s broken. He tried to get up.
“Sit still! I’ll heal it.” I looked up and scrambled backwards as a fox leapt at me. I managed to grab a grey wave and blew him away. Phlann grunted with the effort of taking on two humans at once. He pushed them both back before glancing back at us. I stood and squared off with my own opponent. The woman’s eyes widened as I picked a red wave. She ran before I could throw it.
You can’t take the time to heal me, Hayden. It’s too dangerous.
“I can’t just leave you here!” Tears blurred my vision and I wiped them away with my arm.
Phlann!
The Scannove made his way closer to us.
Take her to Braw!
“No! I’m not abandoning you!”
My horse stumbled clumsily to his feet, his right foreleg held off the ground. I pushed away a blond man who thought to capture me. He fell backwards and screamed as Jasper’s jaws locked on his throat.
My mate shifted. “What’s wrong?”
“Dodge broke his leg!”
Jasper swore under his breath. “Can you fly?”
Dodge nodded. He grunted and managed to take to the air, heading back toward the woods where we had hidden. Jasper ducked and plunged his dagger into a black haired man’s chest. I heard a wail and looked up to see Marianne sitting with Rodney’s head in her lap. Her eyes met mine and my heart dropped in my chest. Matthew roared and knocked a man off of Emelly. Alex and Leslie stood back to back, keeping the humans away from each other. Luke, Kacey, and Mel were surrounded by five big cats. I looked around at all of my friends, most of them injured, and despair started to sink in. What had I been thinking? Had I really thought this would work?
Jasper hissed as a dagger slid across his thigh. He shifted and sank his teeth into the human. Damian managed to make his way to us. He kicked the man he’d just thrown to the ground in the head and turned to me.
“Hayden?”
Jasper shifted back and took my arm. I looked up at him, dazed, and noticed that his nose was broken. The anger started as a small spark in the pit of my stomach. I glanced around again at all of the death around us and the spark flared. My mate nodded and boosted me onto Phlann.
“I have to get to that staff, Phlann!”
He nodded, took a deep breath then charged deeper into the bodies fighting in front of us. The muscles in his back and shoulders stood out as he swung his swords, clearing a path. Jasper and Damian followed along. I looked up and saw where I had been held captive. I pointed to the right.
“That way!” I was sure that Braw would be in the courtyard he used to separate the shifters. Phlann jumped sideways to avoid a sword and I dug a heel into his side to stay on. He grunted.
“Sorry.”
“No worries, Hayden.” For a quick instant I had a flashback of the young Phlann who’d just turned of age when I had first crossed over. I focused on the present. I noticed that the closer we got to the courtyard, the less resistance we were encountering. I started to grow uneasy. I supposed it made sense; Braw wanted to get me to the staff.
Phlann slid his sword across the last human that stood between us and our destination then stopped short when we entered the courtyard. Jasper growled. Braw had ten shifters tied to the posts on the stage. My heart jumped in my chest. Of the ten I recognized one; Marilynn’s limp form hung unconscious. The only thing holding her up was the rope that held her to the wooden stake. Braw stood in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by five beings. He still looked like someone’s hippy grandpa. His long silver hair was tied back with a leather string. He held the staff like a weapon, ready to swing it if needed. Ternach sat on the stage, well away from the staff.
Brice looked up as we entered and his blue green eyes locked with mine. I fought the urge to cry. His dirty blond hair was long, past his shoulders and all he was wearing was a pair of ripped pants. He was covered in scars and he’d obviously been starved. He flashed me the grin I’d been sure I’d never see again and turned his attention back to Braw. Steven threw himself at the human dictator. Braw swung his staff and caught him on the head then pulled it back and aimed for Brice. My friend rolled away from the blow and stood, ready for whatever happened next. Braw held the staff by the end and took a few steps toward Kacey who jumped back. Brice tensed, ready to interfere.
“Brice!” Jasper threw something as hard as he could. Brice’s eyes widened and he jumped forward, caught his stone, shifted in midair and tackled Braw. The old man fell under the jaguar with a cry. I could hear Melana’s packs just on the other side of the courtyard, but there was no way for them to re
ach us from where they were. Brice grunted and shifted back so he could put pressure on the cut Braw had inflicted on his thigh.
Braw stood and looked at me. “Hayden, dear. I knew we’d meet again.”
I grunted. “I see you’re still as delusional as the last time I saw you.”
He smiled. “Hayden, now how can a woman of your experience think that I am delusional? You were raised there. How can any of this seem right to you?”
“It’s not my place to say whether or not this is right. If it exists then obviously there’s a reason for it. How old were you when you crossed, Braw?”
He frowned. “Why do you care?”
I shrugged. “Call it curiosity.”
“I was ten when I crossed. That was sixty years ago.”
“Is your name really Braw?” Under my breath I asked, “Are you bound to protect Braw?”
Ternach shook his head.
“Micheal.” Braw seemed to have trouble saying his own name. “Mike Brawnson.”
I smiled. “I’ve always liked the name Micheal.” I mumbled the next line. “I’m just going for Braw for now. We’ll figure out the staff thing after.”
Ternach nodded.
“So why do you hate shifters so much, Mike?”
He eyed my friends warily. “You can’t honestly believe that what they can do is normal, Hayden, dear.”
“Actually, I do.” I swung off of Phann and took a step toward him. “Maybe if you took the time to get to know a couple you’d find they’re not as bad as you thought.”
He shook his head and swung the staff back toward Kendall who had been sneaking up on him. My friend stumbled back, the staff narrowly missing him. I looked at Damian and whispered, “Where’s Rainen?”
He shrugged.
I took a deep breath. “Nudge on three?” Here was hoping two of us were going to be enough.
He nodded. I tapped out the countdown with my foot. On three we each pushed out as hard as we could toward Braw who slammed the staff into the ground in front of him. He cried out but seemed to be shielded from most of the blast. We repeated the process and this time, Braw fell to the ground. He stood shakily.
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 31