Tarom fixed his eyes on hers, and in a moment his gaze glowed red. His appearance triggered her image of the cimafa rider. She flinched and nearly lost focus on her aura. When his energy entered, many of her own thoughts froze, but she still kept control of her aura. She didn’t feel his movements or anything other than a dull vibration.
After what seemed a couple of minutes, he released her. A sudden wave of exhaustion passed over her, and she rested into a pillow on the side of the settee.
Kenzo wrapped a wing over her shoulder from his perch on the arm.
“I didn’t teach you how to protect thoughts, but you did so. Quite unexpected and advanced. I don’t know whether to be pleased with your stellar performance as my pupil or taken aback that you hid knowledge from me. Considering my position, probably the latter.” He paused, as though her ability caught him off guard. “At any rate, I think you now have a skill you may rely upon, and I’m grateful to have helped, even in this small way, to restore my dear friend to health.”
Lyra yawned. Her limbs felt heavy. “I think I need to rest for a bit. Learning new crafts has often made me extra tired.”
“That is expected. Come. I’ll show you and your owl to a chamber.” They walked into the foyer. “I had hoped to have a dinner in the air element room since I seldom have interesting guests.” They paused at the doorway of a grand, unusual dining room. From the ceiling above the table, hung a complex system of gears powering fans. The origin of the energy to drive the machine was hot vapor. Currents of air wafted various scents throughout the air. Lyra caught whiffs of patchouli, citrus, and saffron.
Tarom led them through the Earth room and down a wide hall to a spiral stairway. On the second floor, her room was off the landing. Decorated in a simple but comfortable Asian theme, it invited rest. “If you need anything, please call from the stairwell. We’ll see if you rise in time to dine. If not, I’ll leave a dinner tray outside your room. Tomorrow morning, I’ll send you and your friends safely off.”
***
Lyra woke tangled in soft sheets and a thick satin comforter. Kenzo lay at her feet, a warm lump of feathers.
Male voices engaged in conversation sounded from somewhere else in the castle.
She rose and tiptoed to the door.
Tarom spoke to another man whose voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t identify.
She walked onto the landing. A small butler table outside her door held a tray. She leaned over the railing.
The two men argued about something to do with the Dark Realm she didn’t understand. Making a stern point, Tarom addressed the other by name—Symar. The unknown voice now registered to Lyra. Symar organized the weather over Dragonspeir. How did that connect him to the Dark Alchemist? She listened more carefully, but only heard bits of sentences. After a while, Symar brought up Revelin’s name, saying that he had possession of Lyra’s jadestone and would use it to lure her. A plan to capture her made no sense when she already stayed willingly as a guest. She couldn’t guess the connections between the three men.
The voices moved toward the stairs, and they talked of tiredness and sleeping.
She quickly took the tray into her room and locked the door.
Kenzo still slept.
After placing the tray carefully on the bed, she went to the window. It faced the side of the castle, but she saw no sign of Gea or Yasqu. She wished they could leave now. However, it would bring less attention if she left as planned with Gea in the morning…unless Symar saw her. For some reason, Tarom didn’t harm her—probably the bloodswear mark they shared. Or his friendship with Cullen. Or both. Tarom didn’t turn her over to Symar. Then, why did he join the discussion plotting ways of leading her to Revelin for capture? Her head spun with possibilities; she couldn’t find a logical explanation.
Returning to the bed, she picked at a muffin. While chewing, she opened thoughts she read from Tarom’s mind. His choices of animals for transformation included a great white shark and a range of insects, favoring dragonflies and some types of marsh-dwelling butterflies. His range of forms did allow any insect, including the guise of Aunt Jean’s murderer, a purple-spotted black butterfly. She twirled a strand of hair into a tortured knot. With longer examination, she might have chronicled his memories with relative dates and known whether he was the killer.
She didn’t find information about the significances of the purple pendant or the unusual style of cloak he wore. He probably used mental shielding and covered that information with his aura. Although Tarom had declared his allegiance to the Black Dragon to perform as the Dark Alchemist, his true allegiance remained a mystery. Neither completely good nor evil. Like Cullen said, Tarom was independent and walked to his own rhythm.
Lyra did learn Tarom rode his own cimafa. She found stored information about how he trained them. Also, there were arguments with Symar on methodology to control stealth flight and soul harvesting. The two men held widely different views. Tarom maintained his beasts’ natural urge to harvest auras in stealth by leading them on hunts of lesser dragons in Versula. He did not subscribe to Symar’s method of sacrificing tokens of his own aura in exchange for compliance. Regardless, they both kept cimafa and primed them as attack creatures. From her view as a victim, finer points of training held no importance. Both seemed equally likely to be the rider who tormented her. If she could use the morning hours to ask Tarom about his beasts, she might learn more, but not with Symar present.
She lay back against the pillow. Fascination gave her new information, but no answers. Tarom remained a suspect in Jean’s murder as well as whoever worked with Eburscon to steal her soul.
Outside, the stars shone against a clear, midnight sky. Unable to view Hamal through her window, she studied those present and tested her new knowledge. She located Cullen’s birthmate star, Aldebaran, of the earth sign Taurus. She hoped his soulstar watched over him. She transmitted a burst of her power to it, with directions to send it on to Cullen as her kiss. Moments later, it seemed the star twinkled brighter for just an instant.
***
Before daybreak Lyra sat in her room, fully dressed. Her eyes never closed after hearing Tarom and Symar talking.
Kenzo awakened early, and she explained all in whispers. He perched on the back of a chair, silent, with every muscle on guard.
After a tedious hour passed, she heard a slight knock. “Can you open the door?” Tarom asked in a hushed tone.
Her pulse raced. Afraid of a trap, she cracked the door and peered through to see him alone.
“Please allow me in for a moment, so I may speak.”
Reluctantly, she opened the door, her hand shaking on the knob.
His eyebrows drew together, hanging over dark circles surrounding his eyes. “For your safety, you must leave immediately.”
“Why?”
“I cannot answer. Time is precious. Are you ready to depart?”
“I am.” She fixed her cloak around her shoulders and followed him into the hall and down the stairs.
The flutings on his feathers raised, Kenzo flapping noiselessly beside her.
In silence, Tarom led them through several doors and corridors until they reached a wide stable. Gea and Yasqu snorted into the cold air at an open archway.
“Let them ride below for cover,” Tarom directed. He handed a small pack to Lyra. “Some food. I wish for the sake of my dearest friend I could do more, but my position…” He bowed his head and stepped back, allowing them to settle and take flight.
As they flew away, the bitter cold air surged down her lungs. She felt compassion for the man pacing on the ledge below; he lived for his independence yet still acted as if he was bound.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Tunnels of Rowan
Gea flew fast and strong.
“Please, head to the border of Silva Nocens,” Lyra called out to the golden dragon above the roar of the harsh winds. After noticing Gea’s nod, she pulled the furry hood tight over her head and face.
Gea battled whipping
gusts on the leading edge of a storm. Symar likely created the front before visiting Tarom’s retreat to rest while it passed over.
When the dim glow of the sun reached its mid-morning height, they landed in a gulch, just deep enough to cover Gea’s height. “We’ve arrived. On the far side of this ridge is the border of Silva Nocens. This is as far as we will escort you. Take some time now for sustenance by this stream.”
Lyra stood and stretched her limbs. “Thank you very much, Gea. I owe you a favor.”
The great dragon bowed her head low. “I can never repay what you have already done for me and my son. Someday you will understand how your kind heart is worth as much as your scribal aura. We will take leave now since our size will draw notice.”
“I hope we meet again soon.” Lyra stepped to Yasqu and gave him a hug around his foreleg. “Thank you, too. You were brave. I’m so proud of you. You have a great mother.” She patted the side of his head and pulled away.
As always, he snuggled his cheek against her.
Kenzo joined her, and together they watched the pair of dragons sail along the ravine towards Silva Caliga.
Lyra opened the pack Tarom sent and found food for a couple of meals. She opened a tin of grain and nuts and set it on a flat rock for her companion, before she took a seat and ate a sandwich. She stared at the tall, dense trees of the evil forest. Strangely, even the ones on the edge didn’t bend or sway with the gusts.
When they finished, she secured the small bag inside her cloak and began the arduous crawl up the rock wall. She held tight to any brush along the way and edged along a narrow trail, only wide enough for her feet. Thankfully, it was a low gulch, not like the canyon they traversed their first day in Versula.
Reaching the top of the cliff where the forest began, she wiped her hands on her cloak to remove bits of splintered rock. Although her palms bled along dozens of small scratches, she didn’t dare kindle the glow of magic healing.
The tiger owl hovered close, and they walked into the forest—the Dark Realm, home of the Black Dragon.
An eerie stillness hung inside. No wind penetrated, as if a door shut at the border. The air remained cold. The vapor of their breath froze in the air.
Lyra’s boots crunched no matter how lightly she tried to step. Although no life stirred, she felt eyes upon her. She cut off of the trail to be better hidden from view. After traveling that way for several minutes, her sense of direction became confused, passing the same gnarled tree twice.
Dropping under a thicket, she motioned Kenzo to join her. “Do you know the way to the leader’s lair?”
He shook his head, then circled it around to see if her voice alerted any attackers.
Pulling her phoenix pendant and map from under her cloak, Lyra whispered, “Lady of Peace, show me the way I need.”
In an instant, the tail feather within the globe sparked into a brilliant flame, casting a beam of light over her left shoulder. She noted the path and immediately wrapped her hand around the sphere. The size of a golf ball, only a small portion remained uncovered through the gaps in her fingers. Slowly, the flare dowsed to a faint glow and extinguished.
She followed in the indicated direction, cutting around clumps of vegetation.
Kenzo flew ahead a few paces and perched on a low branch. His head snapped behind him at the exact moment a raucous cawing noise sounded. “It’s an avril,” he whispered as he dropped to the ground, tackling Lyra to cover her.
The flapping of the scout bird’s wings circled above them for many minutes, its guttural cackling sending shivers down Lyra’s spine. She didn’t look up, fearing it would sample her aura through eye contact. Finally, the bird flew away.
Lyra shifted the owl off of her and sat up. “We’ve been discovered. It’s only a matter of a short time before we’re attacked. If we can find a hiding place, I can make a ward over it. Depending upon who is after us, that may hold them off.”
“The avril flew back the way it came. Let’s continue the way we were headed with an eye out for a secure place.”
Lyra jumped up and held out the phoenix flame again, calling on it for guidance. She raced along its beam to gain as much ground as possible before taking cover. After a few minutes, she covered the orb and slowed, searching frantically for any depression in the forest floor. Behind one tree lay a low spot. She kneeled down and scooped out leaves, hoping the basin would be large enough for them. Barely.
“Over here!” she called to Kenzo. She sat in the hollow, her legs wrapped around a tree root, and pulled leaves over her calves.
The owl nestled next to her stomach and used his wings to drag in more leaves.
“Contego,” she stated softly but firmly, revolving a hand in the air above them. “The ward is in place. It will keep attackers out who have only minor powers.” She wondered about the abilities of the enemies. Hearing her own ragged breath, she lengthened her exhalations until it became shallow.
In a few minutes, shuffling and sniffing noises sounded…growing louder…closer. Peering between the leaves covering her face, Lyra saw the terrifying form of a half dragon creature, whose upper torso resembled a reptile. A dracura. Its forked tongue flicked out, testing the air. She remembered they track by keen sense of smell. The ward didn’t hide their odor.
Moments later, another dracura appeared, looking almost human above the waist, except for huge horse-like ears, each rotating in different directions.
The avril’s caw split the silent of the forest as it swooped above them. The huge black bird perched upon an overhanging branch.
A large clawed foot of the reptile dracura thumped against the ward, and he let out a loud grunt to his partner, who turned to examine the discovery. The reptile-dragon placed his hands on the ward.
Lyra’s heart beat in her throat, and sweat covered her forehead, despite the intense cold.
A hand ripped through the ward and grabbed a handful of her hair.
She screamed, and Kenzo flapped his long wings at the face of the beast.
The dracura swung his free arm at the owl.
Her friend continued, undeterred.
Lyra clasped both hands on her attacker’s wrist and declared, “Trunco!”
The creature let out a loud yowl, but held tight.
Kenzo bit his nose, and finally the dracura let her go.
Lyra ran with all her might, legs powered by adrenaline.
The human-dracura chased them. Although his dragon legs were stumpy, thick muscles gave him mighty acceleration. Soon, he ran only two strides behind.
She tried a zigzagged path, hoping he lacked maneuverability with those short legs. A good technique, it gave her a couple more strides…until the first twinges of fatigue set into her thighs. She panicked and looked back over her shoulder.
In the next instant, an arm, not belonging to her pursuer, wrapped around her waist with an iron grip. It pulled sideways, smacking her hard against a tree trunk. She fought against the thick dark arm.
It yanked them both she and Kenzo inside the tree, like when the tree surrounded them with Revelin. In seconds, bark closed in front of her face, putting them in total blackness. She tried to wiggle her arms to push outside, but the thick wall of the tree didn’t relent.
“Shh.”
Lyra wondered what made that noise. It wasn’t Kenzo’s voice. She forced a shoulder against her confinement.
“Shh. Be still.”
A thud sounded from outside the tree.
Lyra bit back a whimper forming at the base of her throat. She reached out and ran her fingers through Kenzo’s feathers.
A blow shook the trunk. And another. The tree crackled with the attacks. A third hit made Lyra’s head smack into the hard surface behind her.
“Lady Lyra, step back and down. Follow me,” between bangs, a soft voice called from below.
In the dark, Lyra inched her right foot backward until it dropped to a lower level. She moved the left down, then repeated the process onto the next step-like
drop.
The trunk of the tree groaned, its fibers pulling apart from another fierce blow.
“Kenzo, come with me.” Lyra moved her feet quicker, descending below ground. She felt feathers brush against her hand—he followed.
“Come faster,” the small voice below her urged.
Lyra stepped down more quickly until she reached a smooth surface. A hand gently touched hers and she jerked. “Who are you?”
“The cicutaminus of this rowan tree. The Lady of Silva Caliga sent word to aid you.”
Lyra exhaled a sigh. “Thank you.”
The tree above them shuddered and toppled, its roots breaking and disconnecting from where they stood. Gruff voices above cheered.
“We must go deeper. Hold my hand and follow.” The keeper’s hand was small and leathery, like the spirits of the hemlocks.
Lyra’s feet stumbled over gnarled twists in the roots. After they traveled a few minutes and the noise above quieted, she asked, “Please stop. May I use a light?”
“Oh, yes. Didn’t know you couldn’t see down here.”
She felt for her phoenix globe. “Lady of Peace, show me the correct direction.” The sphere sparked into a glowing beam, pointing to the left path in a fork ahead. Taking a few steps, she touched the sides of the walls. “These are tree roots. We’re following inside a system of underground roots.”
“Only those of the rowan—protector of Earth and fire and opposition to negative energy.” The tiny female, reaching only to Lyra’s shins, bowed low.
“Please, what is your name?”
“Me?” The creature’s eyes opened like saucers, deepening the furrows of her brown-skinned brow. She twisted her hands in the sides of her gray gown.
“Yes, what is your name?” Lyra smiled.
“It is Rona. It is an honor you want to know my name.” The keeper bowed again, her wiry silver hair falling over her face.
Enchanted Bookstore Legends (5-book complete epic fantasy romance box set) Page 54