Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two)

by Wylie, Morgan

  A spark… an ember of energy… simmered in Daegan’s heart. He would free Kaeleigh as the last thing he did before he found his own fatal freedom. If he didn’t take it, Maleina would. He refused to be used by her again. He would rather die.

  She began to saunter back to her throne as if nothing had happened, then she remembered something as she stuck her finger in the air. “At sunrise, dispose of the mutt and the traitor. I want the Sol-lumieth broken.”

  He rose and left the throne room for the last time.

  ⚔⚔⚔

  Hidden behind the doorway that led from the throne room into Wren’s private quarters, Rheina and Halister stood frozen speechless. They were in shock at all that they had heard, Halister more than Rheina as it was her vision that directed them to be there when they were. Not wanting to get caught, they snuck off without a word, hoping to cut Daegan off at the stables.

  ⚔⚔⚔

  Daegan wrestled with his plan, if you could call it that. If his life was no longer, he would still be leaving Hal unprotected and he couldn’t do that. Almost caught unaware by the presence that was following him, he veered off his path to hide behind a tree in order to surprise his pursuer. Focus. I need to get to Kaeleigh before the guards do. With his knife clenched at his side, he jumped out into the path only to come face to face with Rheina and Hal.

  He took a deep breath. “I almost killed you!”

  “You wouldn’t kill little ole me, would you?” Hal failed at his attempt to make his own tension lighter, and his face fell when he really looked at Daegan. “What are you going to do?”

  “Somehow, I think you know already,” Daegan said, running his fingers through his hair.

  Rheina grabbed hold of his arm, staring directly into his eyes. “We were in there. We heard everything.” She waited until he understood what she was saying.

  Daegan’s eyes shifted to Hal’s and back to his sister’s. She nodded.

  “You have to go, Daegan. Get Kaeleigh and Chel and Finn and get far away.” Hal sounded more serious than he ever had before.

  “No, I will not leave you both here with that… that woman!” Daegan spat out angrily. “You are my family.”

  “This is bigger than all of us, Daegan. I think you realize that now. You MUST get the Sol-lumieth to the mountains. We will do what we can here.” Rheina focused her gaze on him, willing him to see the bigger picture.

  Hal leaned in and whispered, intently locking his most serious gaze on Daegan’s. “The guards will be bringing all three of them up the prisoners path to the castle to be questioned further in one hour. You can intercept them there and head for the woods. The trees will protect you. You know they will. It will buy you time.”

  Daegan, feeling a rush of adrenaline, was confused. “But she told me to kill Chel and Finn at sunrise… What is your mother doing?”

  Hal smiled. “Perhaps my mother didn’t give the order.” With a brief expression of pride and sarcasm, he continued, “Must have been that spineless son of hers.” Hal winked, then more seriously he added, “However, she will be really angry if they actually get to the castle—then we’re all in trouble.”

  Daegan smiled and spoke with sincerity, “Your mother truly knows nothing of your quality, my brother.” He looked down as he pondered the weight of what he was about to do. Worry furrowed his expression as he looked intently at Hal then at Rheina then back to Hal again. “I may never see you both again… she can find me… she can control me,” he said with a strangled breath.

  Rheina interrupted, “This is your path, Daegan—your purpose. You must follow it as we must follow ours.” She kept looking back up at the castle from the tree line. “We need to go. Quickly, here, take this.” She handed him a wadded-up piece of material. Clothes for the journey?

  Daegan nodded and gave her a quick hug and kiss on the top of her head. “I love you, Rheina,” he said simply. His words surprised her as she had never felt such sincere affection from her adopted brother before. He then grabbed Hal’s forearm and pulled him in for a tight hug. “You are a good man, please be careful. Protect our sister and yourself. Hope that I do not die before I’m able to free them.”

  They turned to walk back to the castle. Daegan’s emotions came up into his throat as a hundred memories of him and the only brother he ever knew flooded his mind.

  “Hal!” he called out in a broken voice. Hal turned back around, revealing the tear running down his cheek, and nodded his head to the brother he loved. Daegan, overwhelmed, could only nod in return. Then he turned and disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  A creaking noise coming from the entrance of the cave stirred everyone from their attempt at sleep to bunch together, senses on high alert. Kaeleigh recognized the noise as the same one she heard when they walked in, however long ago that was now. Jumping up, Kaeleigh pulled a half-asleep Chel along with her. Finn stepped up in front of the girls, pushing Kaeleigh back behind him when she tried to force her way next to him. He wouldn’t have it; not when they didn’t know who was coming their way and what they intended.

  Footsteps grew louder as they got closer. Kaeleigh gripped Chel’s hand like she thought she was dangling over a cliff, and bunched the back of Finn’s shirt with her other hand. She could feel how tense the tight muscles in his back were through his shirt. He has a really nice back, she thought as she recalled seeing him with his shirt off. She could appreciate nice things, right? Why not? FOCUS! Kaeleigh’s brain screamed at her. Letting go of Finn’s shirt helped, along with taking a step back with focused breathing.

  Finally the footsteps came to a stop. One of the Ferrishyn guards stood before them suited up like he was going to war. Kaeleigh glanced out of the corner of her eyes just in time to see Chel roll her eyes, knowing it was at the unnecessary attire. He was tall with broad, muscled shoulders. He could have walked straight off a movie set.

  “My lady Maleina requests your presence at a meeting with the council to discuss your punishment... perhaps even your banishment.” The tall brute with the low gravelly voice sneered before he began to unlock their cell door.

  “Oh sure. Well...” Kaeleigh looked around the little home away from home cell as the frustration and fear came bubbling up out of her with sarcasm. “Let me just drop everything I was doing so that I won’t inconvenience your ‘lady.’”

  The guard just stared at her with an unflinching gaze that made Kaeleigh want to curl up and hide under a rock. Finn grabbed her hand and pulled her along, silencing her with a deadly look that dared any further comments from making their way out of her mouth.

  As they passed by the cell housing their fellow prisoner, Kaeleigh saw his fingers gripping the bars. She felt so drawn to the man that she couldn’t help when her hand reached out to touch his that held the bars. The contrast of her already white skin on top of his sun-deprived shriveled skin was fascinating and disturbing. At the moment of contact, her emotions latched onto his energy, catching bits of images that leaked out of his mind. They were slower as if passing through a veil. He must have erected some kind of mental barrier or wall protecting his thoughts, similar to Daegan. She let go as soon as she was conscious of the thought or feeling that she shouldn’t be there, almost like she was being watched—being deemed worthy enough to be there or not. But her release of the connection was a little too late. Some images had reached her. They didn’t make any sense to her except for one repeating factor that she had seen too many times to count... orchids.

  Nervously, she looked back to the guard to see what he would do. He turned around, irritated that they had paused, but he only frowned then waited expectantly as they continued following. But Kaeleigh’s eyes could not break from the stranger’s eyes that burned into her from the inside of his cell. Wanting to flinch away, she felt it important to keep eye contact, trying to convey that she was worthy to keep his secrets. Something was tugging at the back of her mind, something familiar, but she couldn’t figure out what.


  Her friends were now pulling her along to keep the guard from getting her himself. More than once she heard, “Please, Kaeleigh, keep going,” “Come on,” “Lean on us,” from a haze surrounding her mind.

  Finally she stumbled outside with her friends. The chill from the night air quickly brought her lucidity. Scanning her surroundings, she couldn’t see much as it was extremely dark with nothing but the light of the two moons shining brightly before her and stars that seemed to wink at her, making her smile. It was breathtaking. She could almost forget she was in another realm until she saw something like the scene in front of her. The biggest of the moons was a striation of shades of blue including turquoise; the smaller the purest white she’d ever seen. The only thing prodding her gaze away was the tall guard that firmly grabbed her arm, jerked her around, and pushed her forward along the path.

  “Keep up!” he barked at her, continuing to push her from behind.

  Finn dared to speak up, probably to force him away from his focus on Kaeleigh. “Where are you taking us?”

  “Not that it’s your business to know, but my lady requires your presence. The sentence is to be declared and commenced,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “What?” all three exclaimed. “But there was no trial or hearing my side!” Kaeleigh stammered out.

  The guard just shrugged. “That’s not how we do it here.” He gave her an evil smirk and prodded her along some more.

  Finn reached back, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. He whispered probably more to himself, “We’ll figure something out.”

  Kaeleigh felt a tremor starting to form in her gut that spread to all her limbs. This was bad, this was very bad. Her emotions became tumultuous; they were on spin cycle ranging from fear to anger to sadness to injustice to rage and back to fear. Hand shaking, she tried to pull her unruly hair back out of her face. She could try to use her magic, but she wasn’t sure what she could do without getting Finn and Chel hurt. Hunter hadn’t had the chance to do much instructing with magic. She needed to remain calm. Finally a blessed numbness settled throughout her body, subduing the chaos of energy she was subconsciously trying to contain when all she wanted to do was unleash it on the ones inflicting their false ideas of justice upon her. I don’t even live here!

  Stumbling along the path, trying to think fast enough to find a solution or an escape—she couldn’t let anything happen to her friends—unaware of her surroundings, she almost missed the barely imperceptible struggle behind her. Finn grabbed her and Chel, pulling them behind him jerkily while he crouched in a fight stance, though he no longer had his weapons. Sticking her head around his shoulder, she tried to see what was happening, but all she could see was a cloaked figure, almost part of the darkness, wrestling with the guard but only barely before the guard was rendered limp onto the ground.

  Gasping, Kaeleigh and Chel held onto the back of Finn’s shirt, not sure if they should be afraid of this new threat or grateful he had just taken out their guard and apparently another one that had been hiding in the bushes as “silent backup.” Well, he’s definitely the silent backup now. Kaeleigh chuckled silently to herself and her ill-timed humor... or insanity.

  Now heading toward them, the looming figure hooded in black spoke, but his words were struggled and gravelly like he was in a tremendous amount of pain. “He won’t stay out long. You need to hurry, get out of here before they send more guards out looking for them.” His breaths were coming out strangled and labored.

  Kaeleigh didn’t see the guard get close enough to have hurt their cloaked savior. His voice gripped her heart and it started beating too fast. Eyes wide, she couldn’t help but take steps toward him, shaky as they may be. Finn gripped her arm as she tried to get closer. He just frowned at her, willing her not to get too close. Pleading to him with her eyes, she had to know. “Are you all right?” she tentatively asked the “masked man.” There she went again with her inappropriately timed insanity humor. Oh well. She shrugged. Might as well embrace it.

  He was now beginning to sag onto the ground. Angered, he ground out with clenched teeth, “Get out of here now! Take her. Time is running out.”

  Something about his strangled cry at the end broke her heart. Even though Chel and Finn were trying to pull her back, she hurried the rest of the short distance and dropped beside him.

  Trying once again, but even more labored than before, he gasped, “Kaeleigh, you must go!”

  Gasping, she whispered his name as her heart did a little flutter, “Daegan.” Her shaking fingers slowly reached the top of his hood to pull it back from his face. It was him. He had come to her rescue, and it was costing him—possibly his life.

  “What is it? Are you injured?” she asked with shortness of breath, as she couldn’t believe he had come. Still angry and hurt from before, she couldn’t deny the truth in her heart at realizing it was him.

  He just shook his head, straining trying not to cry out in pain. He was strong and extremely tough—he was a warrior after all—but for him to be showing this much, he must be in excruciating pain. But why? And what could she do? Frantically, she turned back to Finn, but he made no move to help, staring blankly at her. She could see Finn’s heart breaking, knowing where her choice would be were she presented with it. Damn it! This was not the time.

  Her scowl must have alerted him to this fact, for he suddenly shifted and took on a no-nonsense stance as he placed his hand upon Daegan’s foot, which was closest. “There are no physical injuries that I can sense except for an extreme amount of negative energy coming off his left shoulder,” Finn said as he pointed toward his arm.

  Inhaling sharply, Kaeleigh reached toward Daegan’s shoulder, but he flinched and glared at Finn, of all people, which made Kaeleigh frown. “Get her out of here!” he growled.

  About to snap, Kaeleigh interjected angrily, “Don’t you start! You saved us, now let me help you. I know I can.” Kaeleigh was confident in that fact. “It’s her, isn’t it?” she asked, not really expecting an answer, but she saw the pain, the regret, the humiliation, and the anger answered in his eyes. “I can see the connection if I focus on it. I think I can break it or maybe redirect it.” She settled closer to him as she started to yank up his sleeve, grabbing his hand. Ignoring the tingles that shot through her hand, she tried to focus, but his whispered pleas caught her attention.

  “If broken... I... die. Gonna die anyway.” His words were broken and breathy.

  Anger surged in her and she instinctively reached for the energy within her that had been seeking release earlier. She touched the skin of his shoulder; it felt hot and fevered. She was instantly captured in an onslaught of images she knew he wouldn’t have let her receive if his guard had been up. The fear for him and knowing what she was looking for seemed to give her a bit more control over her gift. She was beginning to see it as such.

  Gasping, Kaeleigh watched Maleina instructing a young boy, one of the boys from some dreams she had had—she couldn’t believe it, but kept watching the scene. Even at his young age she could see the struggle in his eyes, the fight not to lose himself over to her whether he knew it or not. Next he was in a line with other boys that looked a bit older—all warriors in training. He was the youngest among them, but had a commanding air about him that made him stand apart from the rest. One by one they went behind a door and then it would close. Daegan was next. Inside the door he was strapped down in a chair, but he seemed fine with it for the most part. Perhaps it was expected. The older man in the room wore a long jacket resembling a lab coat as he talked to Daegan. The man turned his back to Daegan and prepared some kind of device with a sharp-pointed needle at the end.

  It was like watching a silent movie; Kaeleigh could only observe what happened. Oh God, I can’t watch this. Kaeleigh shuddered, surprised she could even think coherently within this vision.

  The man grabbed a couple of vials and poured one into the device. Then an evil glint sparked in his eye and with a smirk he grabbed the other vial with a bluish l
iquid in it and poured it in as well. Turning back to Daegan, he grabbed his shoulder and started to work. A tattoo. He was giving these young boys a tattoo! There was something different about Daegan’s, though, and he winced in surprise, trying desperately not to show his fear or pain. Kaeleigh’s heart hurt for him.

  The next image of Daegan was much older. He was dressed for battle, and preparing to received a punishment meted out by Maleina. Kaeleigh could see the barest hint of hesitation in his posture and the internal war he fought in his eyes. He hid it well but Kaeleigh could see it perhaps even more clearly with the connection into his mind.

  Suddenly he squared his shoulders, decision made. He turned away from the little cottage he had been focusing on for what seemed like forever, intent on walking away, away from it all. Gripping his shoulder and dropping to his knees, he let out only the barest cry of pain, his face contorted in agony.

  Kaeleigh tried to run to him, forgetting she was in his memory. She was in pain for him and a rage began stirring inside her, growing from her mind where it connected her to him throughout her body, residing in her heart. Not yet ready to be unleashed, she watched in horror.

  Daegan staggered up, turning back toward the homey cottage with the white picket fence surrounded by thick forest. It was the perfect location for his duty. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he began standing up straighter as his pain seemed to ease with each step he took toward the back of the house. He prayed to whoever would listen that no one was home. A middle-aged man was his intended target. Maleina wouldn’t tell him why and he didn’t want to know. Slowly he made his way to the edge of the forest and onto a well-worn path leading through a small gate onto the property. Well-maintained flower beds and small herb gardens sat to one side of the path and opposite it were children’s play toys. His steps faltered. Head hung low, he took a deep breath and steeled himself to once again turn back toward the forest. More intense than the first time, the pain hit hard, instantaneously slamming him to the ground. Still, he tried to crawl toward the shelter of the forest where he was determined to leave this realm for good if that was his only choice. His body betraying him to the invisible leash that bound him to his duty, his mind strong of will forced him to keep trying. Straining, he reached forward with his strong arm, clawing his nails deep into the earth for better leverage. After several failed attempts to keep moving, he simply lay there trying to catch his breath. His back and shoulders shuddered with emotion.