by Sharon Coady
“Well, that’s good to know. I guess.” He glanced around, feeling a sense of dread surrounding him.
“It’s fine son. You are most likely picking up on the darkness that is part of me. I have no control over that part being there. Although I try to control it and not let it consume me anymore. It is no longer who I am.” He shrugged.
Easton placed his hand on Beorn’s arm.
“Enough talking, let us get busy on this training.” Nalia turned to face them. “We will work on the same exercises as normal, but this time, you will be faced with both of us.”
Easton smiled. He’d thought she might want to try something like that now that his father had arrived. “Let’s do this.” He closed his eyes and opened his inner eye, listening to the whisper of their feet on the grass as they circled him. Instantly, he detected the change in movement and threw both arms out to the side, effectively blocking both of them.
“He’s good,” Beorn mumbled.
Easton felt the hit. His eyes flew open. Beorn and Nalia were both standing with their arms crossed and grins on their faces. “What happened?” He rubbed his shoulder.
“You let my voice distract you. Instead of focusing on what you should have been listening to, you were listening to me talk. The enemy will use many distractions, one of them is speaking to take your concentration away from the true enemy.”
Easton tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“When you started listening to me speak, you lost the sounds of us moving, right?”
He nodded.
“The enemy will show himself and talk to distract you as others sneak up from behind. Let us try this again. Concentrate on our movements, not my voice.”
The exercise started again. Easton focused as they moved around him. Beorn started speaking but he concentrated on their movements, blocking the sound of his father’s voice. This time when the shift happened, he blocked it perfectly.
“Good! Again.”
Over and over they worked until Nalia called time. They made their way to the bench by the tree, sat, and drank ice water. “Now, we are going to try it with your eyes open,” she said. “We need you to be able to use all your senses. So now that you have the simple parts down, we’ll add back the sight.”
“Would you like to place a wager on this one?” Beorn snickered.
“Do you jest, my friend?” She rubbed her hands together as if she was trying to warm them. She pulled a yellow silk bag from a hidden pocket in her dress, gave it a jingle, and smiled. “How much? I will wager that he can do this.” She laughed.
“Well Nalia, it appears we will not be able to as I was going to bet for him as well.” Beorn chuckled.
“Well, at least we can agree on something.” Nalia stood and put her purse away. “Let us work some more before the heat of the day rolls in.”
Easton jumped up, eager to show both of them he could do it. He opened his mind’s eye and focused on hearing his surroundings again. Taking a deep breath, he watched as they circled him, blocking out everything but their movements. Again, he heard and felt the shift in Beorn’s movement before he saw the movement begin. He blocked the hit and turned quickly to block Nalia’s blow. The wind changed slightly, and he ducked under Beorn’s arm, spun and caught Nalia’s arm in his hand before sweeping his leg to knock Beorn off balance and putting him on his butt.
Beorn threw his head back and laughed. Easton extended his hand and helped his father up.
“Good job.” Beorn clapped him on his back.
“Now, there is something I want you to try.” Nalia smoothed down the front of her shirt. “Inside of you, there is a power of fire. I sense it is stronger since your father is here. It will be useful when you have to do battle. It can be used to take down your enemy or block magical spells from making it to their intended target.”
Easton felt his jaw go slack. “I can make fire?”
“Yes, fireballs are a great source of magic, and only a select few druids are capable of using them in battle. Beorn saw this magic in you. So now we are going to work on this and teach you how to harness the power.”
Over the next few hours, Nalia and Beorn taught Easton how to envision the fire forming into balls in the palms of his hands. It took great effort at first just getting a small ball of fire in his palms, but once he learned how to do it, he was able to conjure up larger ones.
“Good. Now, I want you to try throwing them at the targets over there.” Nalia pointed to the targets that appeared out of nowhere, sitting on the far side of the clearing. “Remember all of your training to this point, Easton.” She backed up to stand beside Beorn.
Easton concentrated and imagined the fireballs hitting each of the targets. Raising his hands, he pushed them from his palms toward the targets. The flaming ball hit dead center, and the ground shook. A loud boom like the crack of thunder filled the clearing, causing him to jump backwards with a yelp.
“Well, that was more impressive than I thought your first try would be.” Beorn clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks.” He laughed. “What did you think, Grandmother?” They turned to see her talking to a tall woman. Both of them looked worried about something. Easton went to step forward and was stopped by Beorn.
“Do not approach them. It is disrespectful. We will wait until they are finished speaking,” he whispered.
“It looks like something is wrong.” He glanced at Beorn and saw the same set to his mouth that Nalia had on hers. Fear ran through him. Tegan, where are you?
I am in the kitchen. Is something wrong?
No, just checking in. I think we will be back shortly. Easton didn’t want to upset her, but he had to make sure she was okay.
All right, my love. I will go ahead and start dinner. I fear we have all missed lunch at this point. I will see you shortly.
Yes, you will. He glanced over at Beorn. “Tegan is okay. She said she would start dinner for us.”
“I figured you were checking on her.” He nodded as the woman who was with Nalia vanished.
“Where’d she go?” Easton asked, feeling a little surprised at the sudden disappearance.
“Back to her post. She’s a witch who can travel through air. A good quality to have sometimes. Come, let us go talk to Nalia and find out what has happened.”
Nalia faced them and squared her shoulders. “It is not good. The hunters are getting closer to your home, Easton. I’ve asked for more witches to travel there. We have to protect our portal. They are putting stronger spells around the home now. Beorn, I think we may have to go sooner than we thought, to protect the humans as well as to keep anyone from entering the white realm.”
Beorn bowed. “Whatever you say, Nalia. I know they sent a small army, but have your scouts been able to identify just how many hunters were in that army? All I know was that it was not the full force. To get any more details about the search would have placed me in suspicion from the higher ups, something I was trying to avoid.”
“Yes, at this point there are ten searching. Five have gone to your hometown and five are searching for the new one. So far the spells have held. “
“You have people protecting them?” Easton was not sure how he felt about his stepfather and brothers being protected.
“Your brothers are still family even though they do not have your blood.”
Easton’s jaw dropped at this newest revelation. He’d never considered that they weren’t related by blood.
Nalia drew her brow down. “Ah, you did not know.” She shook her head. “Your father was married before your mother. The two boys who you called brother are from his first wife. They have no magic. It is not their fault that he turned them cruel. I do not want their blood on my hands, so yes, I am protecting them until this danger is contained.”
Chapter Eighteen
Easton didn’t know what to think of the many tents in the field and the gathering of all the witches and druids. He never imagined there were so many of them and all willing to
help keep his family safe. They bowed when they spotted him or Tegan, making him feel strange since he didn’t consider himself royalty. He wasn’t sure he liked the feeling.
The last twenty-four hours had been busy and hectic. He did his best to keep Tegan away from the small crowds that came and went through their home. He found this more daunting than anything he’d faced up to this point, as there were people everywhere.
Beorn didn’t appear any happier about it than he did, doing his best to avoid any of the witches or druids who would appear in the hall or kitchen. Easton could see the discomfort on the faces of all of them. In a way, it angered him, this druid was his flesh and blood; he was here to help too. Easton found himself wanting to protect his father from their stares.
“Nalia, I think we need to have a meeting with everyone. I am uncomfortable with the way these witches and druids are treating Beorn.” He held his hands in front of him as she cocked her head and raised her brows. “I know, I was leery of him when I first met him too.”
“I will speak about it this evening when I address them. It would be good if you were there with me.” She smoothed the front of her dress and stood watching him with a brow raised.
He glanced down into her eyes. “May I ask you something?”
“Speak.” She motioned for him to go on.
“If there are only ten dark hunters, why do we need so many to help us?”
“All you see are not here to go to battle with us, Easton. Most are here to protect the white realm. The strongest of us will go to your world to fight the ones who seek you. Beorn will be the one who leads them. If you are strong enough when it’s time, you will join them.”
“Are you worried I won’t be ready? You seriously don’t wish for me to stay here while others risk their lives for me?” His doubt increased and he fidgeted with the hem of his T-shirt.
“I have faith that you will be ready. It is you who have the doubts.” She took his hand. “Remember, we are protecting your family. Now come, let us go and work on some more magic that will be helpful in battle.”
Easton beamed. “That sounds good. I want to be a strong as I can in my fighting and spells.”
“You are learning quickly and grow stronger every day. I just pray we have more time before we go into this battle.”
When they got down to the room, Easton was pleasantly surprised to see Tegan already there setting things up.
“I feel how proud you are of her. It makes me feel good to know both of you are exceeding what I thought possible.”
“I’m trying Nalia. I feel I’m learning a lot from Beorn as well.” He shuffled his foot and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. “The unknown we are about to face scares me though.”
“It does not surprise me to hear this. Beorn is a very capable teacher. You will need to draw on some of Beorn’s dark magic if we are to defeat the dark hunters. I am proud of you.” She slipped her arm through his. “You have grown in the short time you have been here. The fear and the walls you built around yourself have subsided some. I am proud of you for that also.”
“Thank you, Nalia.” He patted her hand feeling the heat spread over his face at her string of compliments. “I hope I can live up to the faith you have in me.”
“You will. One day, I will share with you the secrets of my knowledge so you will have the strength to pass it on to your son. But alas, today is not that day.” She tugged his arm. “Come on, let us go celebrate with Tegan.”
“Easton! I heard you did very well in your training today.” Tegan stood wide-eyed, a smile of pure happiness turned her lips upward.” She was so excited she sounded short of breath.
“You might want to breathe. You sound out of breath.” He hurried to her, pulling her into a big hug. “I think I’m learning rather quickly.”
Tegan smiled and clapped her hands together. “I have some more spells for you to learn. Powerful spells.” She leaned over and picked up her grimoire.
The door burst open and Beorn rushed in. “Play time is over. There has been a breech around the perimeter of his house. One of your witches just came back through and said they are close to breaking in. If they find the mirror, they will bring the fight here. I do not think you want that, Nalia.”
Easton swallowed hard, he could feel the worry radiating off Beorn. His fists were clenched at his sides and veins stood out in his neck. “We need to act fast. I don’t want any of them near Tegan or my son.”
“You are coming with me. You are powerful and when we combine our powers, it will increase yours.” Beorn put his hand on Easton’s shoulder.
“Combine them how?”
“If you will allow me into your mind, I will let you into mine. By doing so, it will allow you to obtain my knowledge, which will increase your powers.” Beorn’s brow furrowed, he crossed his arms and stared right back. “It is the fastest way.”
Easton glanced over his shoulder at Nalia. “Is it advisable, in your opinion, for me to allow this exchange of power?”
She nodded once. “It is if we want to protect everything you and I hold dear. What he speaks is only the truth.”
“You know this for certain?”
“I do. I trust him. I would not have allowed him here if I thought otherwise.” She squared her shoulders and stood tall.
Easton bowed. “Please forgive me for questioning your wisdom. In my world, one should always question and not be led. We seek the truths of what others might say.”
“I understand. It is probably wise to do that in my realm as well.” She chuckled. “Come Tegan. Let us take our leave while these two do what they need to do.”
Tegan glanced at him nervously. Are you okay with this?
I am.
I will see you when you are finished here, my love.
Easton pulled her close and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll talk to you soon.” He nodded once as Tegan walked passed him to follow Nalia out the door. “Go on, my love. I will be with you soon.”
Once they were gone and the door closed behind them, he turned to face Beorn to find him sitting cross-legged in the center of a large circle. Candles were placed around the circle just as he’d remembered them when Nalia taught him his first spell. Easton crossed the room and stood outside the open circle, took a deep breath, stepped in, and sat down facing his father.
“Why do we have a circle?”
“To protect us and this place as we exchange our magic. I am not sure of the consequences of this exchange. Nalia said you have tremendous, untapped magic. That may be dangerous, if it is just unleashed. This circle will help offer some protection. I want to give you as much of mine as possible, to make you as strong as I can.” Beorn sighed, dropped his eyes, and raked his hand through his hair. “I promised your mother to always keep you safe. I cannot break that promise.”
“You won’t. Show me what I need to defeat these hunters. I’ve never had anything in my life before that mattered to me, and I find I have more to protect now than I ever imagined.” Easton locked eyes with Beorn. “That includes you.”
Beorn’s eyes widened for a moment. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “Let us begin. We will transfer the knowledge and I will help you to your room. You will need to sleep for a while to let the magic take hold and to refresh yourself. While you do so, I will meet with Nalia and the other druids she feels will work best beside us to quell this attack. I no longer hold any allegiance to that realm, and I have vowed to her I will protect this one with my life, if needed.”
“I just found you and I would like you around for your grandson, so let’s try not to die in the next couple of days.” Easton felt his throat close up as he held the tears back. He’d already lost his mother, and he would be damned if he would lose the father he’d just found. Hell, he would be damned if he would lose any of them. “Let’s get started. Tell me what to do.”
“First, you will need to take the chalk and close the circle around us. It must be you who comes willingly to m
e for the exchange. Magic knows if there is reluctance.”
Easton picked up the chalk and carefully drew the line. “I come to you of my free will and accept what you are about to give to me.”
Beorn raised a brow. “It seems you already have gained some knowledge.” One corner of his mouth rose in a lopsided grin.
Easton nodded, a smile forming on his lips. “I accept your knowledge.”
Beorn motioned for him to lean forward as he raised his hands to the side of Easton’s head. “As you did with Nalia, look deep into my eyes and do not glance away. Allow me into your mind as I now allow you into mine.”
Easton did as he was asked and felt the weird sensation of Beorn’s mind entering his. Power surged through him as Beorn delved deeper. Sensations and pictures flickered faster and faster. He heard spells being cast as the words wove their way into his subconscious. Something sparked inside his mind when they spilled in. Suddenly, he felt a reverse of the sensation and something strange sparked inside of him. Power—deep, untapped power—surged forth and blasted its way free from deep inside of his soul. Easton wanted to break contact with Beorn’s eyes, fear threatening to overtake him.
No, stay with me. Nothing will harm you. It is your powers that have been hidden all this time, awakening. Nalia was right. You are more powerful than any druid I have come across.
Easton felt himself relax again and allowed the mix of their minds to continue. When the images and words slowed down, he felt the heavy weight of exhaustion flowing over him. When Beorn dropped his hands, Easton fell forward into Beorn’s arms, drained of all strength.
“I have you. Rest a moment and get your bearings before I help you to your room.”
Easton closed his eyes and listened to the beat of Beorn’s heart. “I’m exhausted.”
“When you feel you can stand, let me know and we’ll get you to your room. I sense Tegan is anxious to see you.”
“I want to see her as well. Can you help me to my feet?” Easton lifted his head, dropped his hands to the floor, and attempted to raise himself up. “I seem to have no strength. How long will it last?” He concentrated on slowing his breathing.