Prophecy (The Destiny Series Book 4)

by Christine Grey

  “That’s not what I was saying! Don’t be an idiot, Logan. Wait, what am I saying? Maybe I shouldn’t set the bar too high.”

  “You are most funny, Darach Croi. Maybe I should practice on you. I would not want to misjudge my aim with Tabitha, but if I hit you, what’s the worst that could happen? So, I chop a few inches off your giant ego; you have plenty to spare.”

  “Oh, please do. I’ve been dying for a chance to put you in your place.” Brint drew his sword, and the slow hiss of steal as it pulled free of the scabbard filled the air.

  Tabitha thought Brint had been teasing initially, but neither man looked as if they thought it was a joke now.

  “You want to play?” Logan growled the words. “Let’s play.” He let the sword fall to his feet and held his hands up. A bright ball of blue flame sprang to life between his palms.

  “Tabby, do something,” Holly said in a panic.

  “Okay, you two, knock it off. You’re both being stupid.”

  “He started it,” Logan said. There was a cocky lilt to his voice that served to rile Brint instantly.

  “Yeah, and I’ll finish it. I’ve had about all I can stand of you and your arrogance, not to mention the way you undress Tabby with your eyes.”

  “I do not!” The fire shot from his hands on the last word, and Brint had to dive aside to avoid being singed. “Brint! I’m—I am sorry! I did not mean to—” but his words were cut off as Brint charged at him.

  Tabby had only seen her brother seriously angry a few times in her life. It was impressive to witness when he really let loose, but the look on his face at that moment was frightening. She was vaguely aware of the sound of Holly’s scream as she moved to intervene. Logan stood there with his hands extended in surrender, but Brint never hesitated.

  He raised his sword, and Tabby jumped, sword in hand, in front of her angry brother, but it was too late, he'd already begun to swing. The next thing she knew, she was on her brother’s back, one arm wrapped around his neck, and the two of them were tumbling backward.

  Tabby felt the blade nick her upper arm as they fell in a tangle to the grass, too shocked to even yelp. Brint sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head where it had hit an unseen rock. He looked like he was still trying to figure out what had happened when Logan shoved him roughly aside and scooped her into his arms.

  “What the—” Brint started to say.

  “I’m fine, really. It’s only a scratch,” Tabby said trying to calm everyone down. Logan completely ignored her, lowered her to the log by the fire, and ripped the fabric away from the wound. “Logan, honestly; it’s okay.”

  “Oh, Tabitha,” Brint said in a dazed whisper. “I’m so…I don’t know what came over me. I…What can I do?”

  “You have done enough! Get away from her,” Logan snapped at him.

  “Don’t start all that again,” Holly said as she nudged Logan out of her way. “It looks fairly minor, Tabby. I think, if we get it cleaned up and bandaged, it will be fine.”

  Holly stood upright and glared at the two men before her. “You!” she said to Brint. “You did start it. I’ve never known you to behave so badly. You should be ashamed of yourself! Go and get me some water to get this cut cleaned. I want it boiled thoroughly!

  "Well? What are you looking at? Get going!”

  Brint took himself off without another word.

  “And you!” Holly said, giving Logan an icy glare. “If you can’t control your magic better than a child, maybe you shouldn’t use it at all. There is absolutely no excuse for it! Go and get the scraps from Tabby’s bag. It’s a good thing she thought to save them. Cut them into strips so I can get this wrapped.”

  “Tabitha, I…” Logan looked like someone had reached in, plucked his heart out, and set it on fire.

  “No! You don’t get to even say you’re sorry. Go! Go!”

  Logan’s shoulders slumped, and he hung his head as he walked away.

  “You were pretty hard on them.” Tabby was quickly finding a new respect for the young woman before her. To think Tabby had thought her a mouse. It looked like the mouse had some serious teeth on her.

  “No harder than they deserved. The wound is superficial, but it might not have been. It all escalated so quickly, and over nothing at all—ridiculous!”

  “It was, wasn’t it? Logan doesn’t seem to rile easily, and Brint even less. I mean, he can get a little sharp from time to time, and he’s quick to tease, but even I’ve never seen him like that.” Tabby plucked at the sleeve of her shirt which was now soaked through. "Great! This will never come clean, and I’m almost out of thread. I hate to waste it on this.”

  “It'll come out, Tabby. Take it off, and I’ll go soak it in some cold water. We need to expose the wound to get it bandaged up, anyway. Speaking of thread, if you trust me to do it, a couple of stitches probably would help that heal better.”

  Tabby made a face and sighed. “I was thinking the same thing, but I really don’t relish the idea. I don’t have anything to numb the area, and it’s going to hurt. Still, I'll let you, if you’re willing.”

  Holly nodded. “Do me a favor, will you?”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “When I stitch it up,” Holly said, grinning. “Make a fuss, will you? A few winces and a couple of moans should about do it.”

  “Why ever would you want me to do that?”

  “Because,” Holly said as the grin spread across her face, “if we work this right, I don’t think either of us will be stuck with cooking duty for a long, long time. With all the guilt floating around right now, we’d be crazy to waste it.”

  Chapter 25

  Siusan had a basket hooked on each arm as she made her way to the holding area. She went every day, without fail, to offer what comfort she could. The prisoners were still worried for her, but had long since given up trying to talk her out of coming.

  As she walked, Siusan heard people as they whispered to one another. She tried to ignore them as best she could. She knew well enough what they were saying, and she wasn’t the least bit interested in their opinion. Brin, on the other hand, was beside himself with worry. Siusan had started spending almost all her time in his company, and that included the nights. The Etrafarians were confused at first—the dragon no longer needed her care, why would she be sleeping in his cave? When they figured it out, they were shocked. In the beginning, it was whispered like a dirty joke, but in time, people stopped laughing. Quite a few people looked at her with disgust, and they called their children away when she passed, as if she might taint them if she got too close. She was indifferent to their censure. They didn’t understand, and she wasn’t wasting her time trying to reason them out of their prejudice.

  Actually, she had taken a strange pleasure in purposefully giving them the wrong idea. Some of the bolder fairies would bid her good morning and ask her if she had slept well. She knew what they were really asking, and she would smile slyly and respond that she had hardly slept a wink. She was completely worn out, she would say with a hint of exasperation. They, of course, would be thoroughly affronted and toddle off to gossip with any and all who would listen.

  She approached the makeshift jail and lowered her baskets to the ground. “Good morning, brothers and sisters. I have brought some bread today, and some delicious jam. It is some of Meeshe’s that she put up last summer. I did not think she would mind if we snuck a jar or two.”

  “Siusan!” Nona whispered through the bars of her cage. Her eyes darted to the guards and back again. “You must go! Trina is looking for you.”

  “So? If she is looking for me, let her find me and be done with it. I am not hiding.”

  “You do not understand! She means to lock you up.”

  “What? What for? She has no cause to hold me.”

  “Oh, I would not say that.” Trina’s voice lilted from behind her.

  Siusan spun around, more from annoyance than anything else.

  “Hello, Siusan. I am so glad you are goin
g to make this easy. It was exceedingly kind of you to come here. It will save the guards all the trouble of having to drag you.”

  “Trina, if you think I am going to cooperate, you truly are delusional.” Siusan held her hands up, and the air about her began to stir.

  “Sister,” Trina cooed, “think what you are doing. You will only make things harder on yourself.

  “You are no sister of mine. As far as making things easier or more difficult, well, if it’s time to make a stand then it’s time to make a stand.”

  The guards hissed, and there was a collective groan from the cage behind her as she said the word “it’s” not once, but twice. Trina, however, looked thrilled.

  “You are caught! You have as much as condemned yourself. First your perversion with the dragon and now the impure speech. How much lower can you sink?”

  Siusan backed away from the enclosure. She didn’t want to risk hurting anyone unnecessarily, and it looked as though she was going to have to do something drastic.

  “Perversion, Trina? Since when is loving someone a perversion?”

  “Then you admit it?”

  “Of course I admit it, you old wind bag. Why would I deny it? Brin has my heart, and I would give it again a million times over before I would let you or anyone else stop me.”

  The air was gusting harder now, the grass around her was being blown flat. Trina pulled her cloak up over her face to shield her from the flying debris, and three of the guards stood with hands poised to strike. They appeared to be waiting for Trina to give the order, but she only stood there and did nothing. Why was she doing nothing? Realization dawned on her, and she spun to meet the threat behind her, but she didn’t even make it all the way around before the world went black.

  ***

  “Aodh!” Brin greeted the man as he came flying into the cave. “What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting you today. Siusan isn’t here, I’m afraid. She's off on another one of her missions of mercy, but she should be back soon." It was then that Brin saw the sheen of perspiration on the man’s face. He had come running into the cave, not walking, but actually running, and his face was as pale as fresh snow.

  “Brin, I…they…”

  “Speak, man!”

  Aodh closed his eyes, as if doing so made it easier to get the words out. “Trina has taken Siusan.”

  “Taken her? Taken her where?”

  “She has been imprisoned, Brin’du Drak’Tir. When she went to the field today, they were lying in wait. She tried to fight them off but—”

  “But what?” Brin was already moving, and Aodh had to trot to keep pace.

  “They hit her on the head and knocked her out. She did not stand a chance.”

  Brin spun his head around until it was no more than an inch from Aodh’s. A wisp of sulfurous smoke drifted from his mouth as he spoke through clenched teeth. “Hit her?” he said in a voice that was deceptively calm. “They hit my Siusan?”

  Aodh could only nod once. His knees actually shook a little as he stood before Brin’s furious gaze.

  Brin gathered himself, crouched low, and, with an enormous leap, he was airborne. He had not flown since before the fall of the Great Tree, and with every beat of his wings, he felt a stabbing sear of pain. Whether it was caused by some damage he was doing to his not yet healed body, or simply due to the stretch and pull of muscles little used, he could not say, and he was damned if he cared. They had hit her! The Etrafarians had become an extended part of his family, and he thought he would have died to keep them safe, but as he flew higher and angled toward the honey field, all thoughts of loyalty to them fled before his rage.

  You must not kill!

  Tolah’s words were like a blow to his mind. It was not a suggestion; it was a command. He had been stunned by the suddenness and force of the words, and he faltered in his flight, dropping like a stone until he was able to think clearly and make his wings work once more.

  Brin’s lips curled back from his teeth, and he felt his entire body shake as he struggled to control his urge to destroy any and all who had played a part in this travesty.

  You must not kill.

  Tolah’s words were gentler this time, but Brin didn’t doubt for a moment that His orders were most assuredly not open to interpretation. Whatever Brin was going to do, it would not involve the taking of life, whether he liked it or not.

  When the field came into view, Brin had no trouble seeing the place where Siusan was being held, as there were at least fifty guards stationed around it. All of them held their hands outstretched and watched warily as Brin flew in an ever tighter circle above them. He couldn’t kill, but Tolah hadn’t said anything about singeing a few hides.

  He swept low and a jet of flame issued forth, setting the winter-dried grass in the field alight. He banked and easily avoided their feeble attempts to hit him, except for the idiot males who shot fire at him. That he flew into instead of away from. It kind of tickled. He heard Trina screaming at the fools to stop wasting their time.

  They did not join him in the air, preferring, instead, to stay beside the holding area. The fire in the field was already being extinguished by some of the women. As much as he would like to have stayed aloft and torment them for a while longer, he could feel his strength dwindling. He went into a steep dive and pulled out just in time to land with great running steps that brought him to within fifty feet of Trina and her guard.

  “Brin’du Drak’Tir,” she called out to him. “You have no authority here. This is an internal matter and you will stay out of it. Remember, you are a guest here.”

  “This has everything to do with me. You have taken my—” His what? He wasn’t sure how to refer to her. They were not joined, and girlfriend seemed like a ludicrous title for the woman who was now half of his heart. Tolah’s words from the dream came back to him, and one piece of that bizarre exchange suddenly made sense. “You have taken my treasure,” Brin said in a voice that cut like a knife. “And you should know, Trina, that it is very unwise to ever come between a dragon and that which he holds dear.”

  His eyes narrowed to slits, and he began to stalk forward. Trina backed away from him, a flash of intelligence that Brin would not have credited her with if he had not been there to witness it firsthand.

  “You cannot do this!”

  Brin pulled himself up and glared down at her. She raised her hands and began to chant to herself. An icy orb formed and glowed with the power of her spell. Her lips were drawn back in an angry sneer.

  “Water, aren’t you, Trina?” Brin asked coolly.

  “Y-yes, I am.” She raised an eyebrow, trying for a hint of bravado, but it didn’t quite work when matched with the tremble in her voice.

  “Do you really wish to match it against my fire?”

  Two of her guards stepped forward to defend her. Brin gave them points for loyalty, but took away some for lack of brains. Trina waved them off. “Not today, Brin’du Drak’Tir, not today. She lowered her hands, the spell died, and the ice shattered at her feet.”

  “Siusan!” Brin called out.

  “I’m here, Brin.”

  Her voice sounded weak to him, and he turned to glare at Trina once more. She took another step back, but continued to meet his gaze, unwilling to back down completely.

  “Move them back, Siusan. I think we have had enough of walls.”

  “Wait,” Trina cried out. “You cannot tear it down. It is made from the Great Tree. It would be the desecration of something holy!”

  “You already did that when you built this abomination in the first place. Besides,” Brin said with a smirk, “while Rah may command my respect, I recognize no God but Tolah, and I certainly owe nothing to a hunk of dead plant.” Brin moved forward and peeled the roof back with no more effort than a child plucking petals from a daisy. The Etrafarians huddled in the far corner as Brin dug his claws into one wall. There was a terrible splintering noise as he tore the structure apart. The wall fell with a resounding crash, and the prisoners
poured out and immediately made for the forest. Until Trina could be permanently deposed, they would need to find safety elsewhere. Brin knew he could not be the one to do it. As strong as he was, he was not yet at his full strength. Even if he had been, he would need to sleep sometime. The Etrafarians were a people divided. There was no knowing how many real supporters he would have, and his control over them would be tenuous at best. For now, he needed to get Siusan to safety and then wait for the “they” that Tolah had spoken of in the dream. He was fairly certain he knew who they were. If Aesri had indeed gone to Maj, nothing would keep Dearra from coming back to help her children, and there was little doubt that Carly, Darius, and Daniel would be with her.

  Brin closed the distance between him and Siusan with only a few strides. “Are you well?” he asked, eyeing the patch of blood that had matted the hair at the back of her head.

  “I will be. Get me out of here, Brin.”

  Brin lowered himself down to his stomach. “Get on.”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “Come on, come on, hurry up. We can’t very well just walk out of here. Sit at the base of my neck and put your legs in front of my wings. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need those.”

  She floated upwards until she was in position and lowered herself to his neck. "Are you strong enough for this?" she whispered.

  “I hope so, or this is going to be damned embarrassing.”

  He took a running start and shot skyward.

  “Are you okay back there?” he called over the rushing wind.

  “I have no idea. I am not looking, and you cannot make me.”

  Brin laughed aloud and wheeled around.

  “What are you doing? Why are we going back?”

  “I thought you weren’t looking,” he teased. “You aren’t frightened, are you? You float all the time.”

  “Not this fast!” she protested. “Now, what are you up to?”

  “I just have one thing to do before we go.” He took a deep breath. A jet of flame flew forth and consumed the remnants of Trina’s prison. A few strong wingbeats and they were up and away once more.