Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two)

by Wylie, Morgan

  He muttered quietly under his breath. Daegan heard and watched him carefully. “I have only attempted this one other time,” Hunter said as he looked toward Kaeleigh, to which Daegan responded with a questioning eyebrow. Hunter continued, “I warded Kaeleighnna when she was small with this ancient magic. She is special, young Daegan.” Hunter looked intently into Daegan’s eyes. “She must be kept safe. Kaeleighnna is the last marked by The Orchids. I believe she is part of an ancient prophecy, come to restore life and peace to our dying Alandria.”

  At the slight widening of Daegan’s eyes, Hunter saw what he needed to see. “You are aware of what she is.” It wasn’t a question and Daegan didn’t respond. “Yet you brought her here,” Hunter said, angrily gritting his teeth. He looked at Kaeleigh then past her out the window. After coming back to his current thoughts, he added, “You must get her to the mountains of Kandria. There is someone there she must meet. He will be expecting her.”

  While Hunter was talking, Daegan eyed Kaeleigh surreptitiously, wondering why she hadn’t jumped in to their conversation. Hunter realized what he was thinking. “There is a wall of silence around us that causes those near to be confused so they don’t get suspicious of the silence. They have no idea what we’re saying for the moment.”

  “I have witnessed a couple of those recently, but have not been able to achieve creating one myself,” Daegan grumbled, clearly irritated. He had known Hunter since he was young, but he was realizing that perhaps he didn’t really have any idea who this older man, whom he had suspected was an Elder, actually was that he could do such deep magic. Moving past his irritation, he was bothered by what this man was asking of him. This was not his responsibility. As it was, he had in fact already had a visit with Arileas of the Ehsmia—the hidden people of the mountain he assumed Hunter was referring to. It seemed they were allies of sorts. Daegan had lived with knowledge of magic, had his own kind of magic as a matter of fact. He was even able to accept that there was a deeper, ancient magic that he didn’t know about—there was much in Alandria that was hidden in shadow and secrecy. What he wasn’t able to grasp was this belief that these older men, who had clearly been through a lot, held that there was some kind of “savior” or “promised one” to restore balance or heal the brokenness that had become Alandria. He just couldn’t see how one being could do all that no matter how special her magic might be... no matter how special she might be. He believed that she had a part to play, that they all might, but it was too early to tell.

  Daegan was about to tell Hunter of his own talk with Arileas when he was interrupted by Kaeleigh leaning on the edge of the table staring narrowly back and forth between both Daegan and Hunter, clearly trying to figure out what they were doing.

  “She is perceptive,” Daegan said quickly before Hunter released the band of silence around them. Hunter nodded with a small smile.

  Kaeleigh looked at Hunter. “What was that all about?”

  Before anyone could answer her, the color and life drained from her face and she began to fall. Daegan quickly caught her, trying to keep her from hitting the end of the table or the floor.

  Hunter rushed to his side and put his fingers to her temple, reading her as Finn had done before. He looked up at Daegan, concerned. “Put her up on the table, quickly! She doesn’t have much time. We must hurry to complete this process before she is too weak... or she might not be able to finish the transformation.”

  Hunter began commanding orders to Finn and to Chel, who had been studying the various herbs and plant life around the cottage. Daegan lay her gracefully on top of the table in an unexpected gesture of tenderness and then swept Kaeleigh’s hair off her face.

  Hunter was surprised at how gentle and caring Daegan seemed toward his granddaughter. He had witnessed Daegan at several different times over the last handful of years as Daegan was growing up, mostly as Maleina’s errand boy and at times her hand of justice. Hunter knew his status as a great warrior, but had also seen that there was much depth to the young man that he kept hidden beneath his hardened shell. Hunter had first met him as a child silently grieving the loss of his parents deep within the forest many years ago. Hunter had been walking along the stream by his cottage like he did most days and had sighted a young, skinny, disheveled Daegan staring blankly at nothing. Daegan didn’t even hear Hunter approach him. Hunter, always the teacher, had surprised Daegan by putting him in a headlock and jabbing a pretend knife at his unprotected back. Thus began a secret friendship between the two, along with many hours of “lessons.” Daegan learned to always watch his back even among those he was supposed to trust.

  Hunter had never liked Maleina, nor Wren for that matter, but he had no proof of what he suspected of them. He didn’t trust them and Daegan knew it. Perhaps that helped Daegan keep his whereabouts a secret. If he didn’t, it could be detrimental. As it was, they didn’t seem to even know he was still alive. He knew the boy was unhappy and hoped that the attention he showed him was what kept him coming back. It was a place of safety for Daegan that Hunter knew he guarded fiercely. It was at great risk he associated with Daegan, but he felt would be worth it in the end. He liked Daegan, but he knew he was conflicted with his position and hoped that he would make the right choices to find his path, especially in regards to his newly found granddaughter.

  Everything happened quickly and smoothly. Chel closed the curtains, leaving them in only the soft light from the fireplace. Finn lit the candles and put them in the order that Hunter had instructed him. Daegan stared at Hunter with intense, sharp eyes and whispered beneath his breath, knowing only Hunter could hear him, “You have to get her through this.” Hunter fully planned on doing just that, but was somehow comforted by Daegan’s intensity. It showed an emotion Daegan hadn’t allowed himself to have in a very long time.

  Everything was ready. Hunter looked around at each of the people that had come into Kaeleigh’s life and felt the magic stir deep within him. They were nervous. Chel shifted her weight from one foot to another and wrung each of her fingers on one hand before moving onto the other hand. Finn, stubborn in his stance, stared intently at Kaeleigh, emitting a very slight tremor of fear. Daegan continued to look directly at Hunter, willing this to be over with his unflinching posture. At Hunter’s eye contact, he gave Hunter a nod of confidence to move forward. Hunter quirked his eyebrow at this young man’s confident audacity. Daegan reminded him of himself, once upon a time.

  Addressing everyone, he began explaining the ritual while he straightened the instruments again. The candles had been lit. The color and placement was important at each tip of the Rindyél star. Represented was a color for each of the elements along with a tribe: green (earth/Elves), white (air/Ehsmia), blue (water/Ferrishyn), red (fire/Shifters), and in the center from which all flows, purple (spirit/Elders or Orchids). Also the colors brown and light green are added for the Ancients of the Dryads and Earth Faeries respectively. The hair was Kaeleigh’s from when she was a child. Hunter had kept it when he performed this ritual the last time with the hope that he would be able to unbind her into her destiny someday.

  Hunter tied the hairs to the whittled stick. The stick, which came from the branch of an ash tree, represented the body, specifically Kaeleigh’s body. It would pass through each of the elements as he waved it through the flames of each individual candle. Within the little velvet purple bag, which had a silver insignia of an orchid on it, was dirt from the burial grounds of their ancestors, those who had come before them in their previous realm... included amongst those was her mother. He had hoped to explain to her about her mother before this had happened, but perhaps this way was easier. Finally, Hunter would use the athame to pierce the palm of Kaeleigh’s hand for blood to be her sacrifice. As she gripped the smooth stone representing the oath of the original binding, her blood would drip over the candle “spirit” to be given as a gift for the release of the warding upon her.

  Hunter began taking deep breaths, concentrating on releasing the magic that was beginni
ng to build within his chest.

  “What will happen to Kaeleigh when all this happens?” a quiet but concerned Chel asked, interrupting his focus.

  “Will she feel anything?” Finn asked, also concerned and refusing to look anywhere other than at Kaeleigh’s face.

  Hunter sighed. “I will not lie to you, I do not know. Never have I un-warded someone in the condition that she is in, and never to the degree that Kaeleigh had been originally warded. I’m hoping that unconsciousness will be to her benefit.”

  The magic began growing and building up pressure within Hunter. As it did, his confidence grew stronger that the time was almost upon them. “Look to me, all of you,” he said as he gazed into each of their eyes. “I feel the anticipation of the magic. You can help. Add in your magic—whether you know that you have any or not,” he added specifically to Chel as she was as new to all this as Kaeleigh was. “Think of Kaeleigh. Think of who she is to you. Think of her strengths and who you see her to be. Focus on her becoming and being revealed and made new in this new land.” Hunter took a deep breath, then looked to Chel. “You will add to the energy of this magic by focusing the positivity of your energy from deep within then push it out toward her. Visualize it flowing into her to give her strength when she has none herself.” Satisfied that they would participate, Hunter began his ritual, led by the magic of his ancestors. With his head bowed and his eyes closed, he took in deep cleansing breaths as well as releasing them. Then he began to utter some words softly at first.

  “Rudan. Brachtah. Thantül. Kothnyte.”

  The atmosphere was charged with tangible electricity. The room darkened by natural light giving way to candlelight until an unnatural glow began emanating within and out of Kaeleigh. A soft wind began to sweep through the little cottage even though all the windows and doors were shut. Hunter closed his eyes, muttering more words in an ancient language growing louder as he would repeat each line

  “Thantül. Kothnyte. Lyn du hasen lan ílleyll.”

  Finn and Chel both had their eyes fixed on Kaeleigh, but for the briefest moment, Chel lifted her gaze toward Hunter and then over to Daegan, who had been staring intently at Hunter. With his head cocked to the side like a puppy trying to understand what its master was saying, Daegan seemed to be comprehending some of the older man’s words. Unfortunately, Chel couldn’t decipher if his reaction was good or bad. A sudden intake of breath from Kaeleigh snapped her attention, along with everyone else’s, back to the girl lying prone on the table.

  Something was happening to Kaeleigh. The others watched, waiting to see what would happen, hoping she wasn’t in pain; unfortunately, the intense expression that came over her face wasn’t easing their minds.

  “Focus. Focus on Kaeleigh,” Hunter said with a commanding tone. Then they all joined in chanting the ancient words combining their strength and energy.

  “Thantül. Kothnyte. Lyn du hasen lan ílleyll.”

  Daegan swung his attention from Kaeleigh to Hunter with a questioning and yet accusatory look on his face. Hunter looked long and hard at Daegan until Daegan lowered his eyes and focused on Kaeleigh. Hunter did not have time to play dominance games with him today.

  Continuing to perform the ritual, sweeping the stick with the hair of her youth and innocence tied to it through each candle specific to the elements, Hunter muttered a word at each pass. Kaeleigh squirmed, moaning and slowly thrashing her head back and forth as if she was having a bad dream. The bulk of her body writhed up off the table as she released a gut-wrenching scream that sounded as if someone was skinning her alive, then dropped back down on to the table in silence. She was too silent. Too still. Wide-eyed, no one moved. No one breathed for what seemed like forever.

  Until finally Chel gasped and turned to Hunter. He held up a hand, interrupting anything she was about to say. Nodding to Kaeleigh, he spoke quietly, “She still breathes. Kaeleighnna is alive... but only just.” He took a deep, saddened breath. “I’m afraid it is now up to her whether she wants to make it back from wherever she has gone.”

  Chel and Finn looked from one to another, confused and lost. Daegan, of course, appeared to be the immovable, untouchable stone that he always was, except for the hidden spark in his eyes that was desperately willing Kaeleigh to live.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kaeleigh couldn’t figure out where she was or if she even was. She felt weightless, as if floating through clouds. Even though she was upright and her legs gave the appearance of walking, she couldn’t feel the ground. Looking around, she saw nothing but a misty white fog all around her. I’m dead, she thought as she ran her hand gracefully through the light moisture around her. The last thing she remembered was darkness. She had felt trapped, unable to move—cold and alone. There was pain, indescribable pain. Kaeleigh had felt like she was on fire again, like she had on the Bridge of Revealment. This time her skin itched and prickled as though someone had stuck thousands of tiny needles over every inch of her body. Her chest ached and there was a sharp, piercing pain in her stomach; the core of her being was being gutted and her outside was being filleted all at the same time. Almost as fast as it came upon her, it had instantly ceased and she felt nothing... absolutely nothing, and it terrified her. There was no way she could have lived through that. Absolute nothingness was what she imagined Hell to be and now she was there.

  Kaeleigh’s heart hurt and her throat constricted with emotion that threatened to consume her if she let it. She didn’t get to say goodbye to her friends. To Hunter—her grandfather she just found. She had hoped to get to know him and had so much to learn still. To Daegan—what had she felt for Daegan? She didn’t really know, but she had hoped to have gotten the chance to get him to lower those shields that he so carefully kept in place to find out who he really was. She felt sure there was a part of him that she would have liked to know. Lost in her thoughts, as she often was, she felt a light mist spray upon her face that brought her back to her empty surroundings. Looking around, she saw the mist beginning to thin, to lighten into a hazy white someplace—the place that she belonged to now, the place she had been for who knows how long. She was drifting.

  “Kaeleighnna.” A faint voice floated toward her through the mist. A feminine voice. A familiar voice.

  Kaeleigh suddenly stopped drifting and circled about looking for someone... anyone... but no one was there. Then she heard it again, but louder and more defined.

  “Kaeleighnna.” The voice—definitely a woman’s voice—was right behind her. She spun around only to find no one there.

  “Hello?” Kaeleigh responded weakly, but her voice was raw like it had been scorched since the last time she used it. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello? Who’s there?” She paused, waiting for an answer. “Where am I? Can you tell me? Please,” she pleaded, desperate to know something.

  Static sizzled off to Kaeleigh’s right, like someone trying to tune a stereo to the right frequency. She gripped her head, expecting the pain to rip through her head like it had before when she heard a similar static sound in the forest, but the pain never came. I really am dead. Her heart sunk at that thought. An image flickered in and out of view where the static was coming from. The image was blurry and seemed to be trying desperately to come into focus but was having trouble. It was the image of a woman. The woman seemed to be trying to tell her something, but something was containing her... or restricting her. Stunned, Kaeleigh watched, trying to figure out if she should be afraid or if she should try to help her, not that she knew how. She didn’t feel afraid, though; instead, she felt calm and enveloped by peace. Suddenly a thought, or a premonition, struck her and she instinctively knew what to do.

  Kaeleigh slowly and tentatively approached the flickering image of the woman. Kaeleigh felt solid enough—more solid than the blurry image of the woman at least—that perhaps she could anchor the woman in this place or wherever it was that Kaeleigh was. Kaeleigh slowly, with hope, reached out her hand toward the woman. The woman watched with anticipation. A
lmost there, just a bit further, Kaeleigh’s hand began to shake with minute tremors. Reaching tentatively into the thin veil of tangible static, her fingers tingled as they passed through. Kaeleigh’s hand stretched, grasping for something to grab hold of, but to no avail. Her hand fell right through the static barrier. By the look on the woman’s face, she was disappointed it didn’t work.

  “I’m sorry,” Kaeleigh said, saddened at the failed attempt to get some answers. The woman looked at her with a small smile in appreciation. Kaeleigh’s head shot up, her eyes alight with a spark of hope. “Wait. Let me try one more time.”

  Kaeleigh closed her eyes, trying to center herself and focus. She remembered when she had visualized being able to free Chel from the vines in the cave back in the forest and wanted to try to really try and give it all she had. Inhaling and exhaling deep breaths, feeling the rhythm of her heart... wait, my heart is beating, albeit a bit slower than usual, but it’s BEATING! Excited about... well, not being dead, even though she still didn’t know where she was, she was fueled with hope that this could work. That this needed to work. She didn’t know why she felt that strongly, but something in her was reaching out to this woman. To free her, to talk to her.

  Kaeleigh regained her focus... find my center... breathe in... she visualized reaching into the fog toward the woman’s hand... breathe out... Kaeleigh saw her own hand gripping the solid feminine hand... breathe in... then pull her out of the static that encased her... breathe out...

  Suddenly, Kaeleigh felt the magic’s energy stirring in her core looking for release. Standing up straight, she confidently looked into the woman’s questioning eyes and nodded with a cocky grin that made her instinctively think of Daegan. Which she then immediately lost, replacing it with a sincere, but confident smile. Without too much hesitancy, Kaeleigh reached into the fog, expecting to feel something, and she did! A hand—a solid hand—grabbed hers and squeezed affectionately. Not wanting to jinx it by losing her focus and end up only pulling half of the woman out only to leave her stuck in the static, she focused even harder visualizing her outcome. With one strong pull, she yanked on the woman’s arm.