Seth asked with uncertainty in his voice. “Could that really have been Kai we fought last night?”
Marcus sighed. “I wish I could say no. Given the power I felt, I’m not sure what to think. He was unlike any Draak that I’ve ever encountered. Whether he’s the real Kai or not, all of Lagrangia is in danger.”
Gabriel said to Tianna. “Please tell us what happened in your dream. I want to know every word he said to you.”
Tianna told them everything she could remember. She even told them how she felt when she was near him. As she spoke, she heard a low growl coming out of Nathaniel.
Her story confirmed Marcus’ fears. The evil, now referring to himself as Kai, was after her. He had come back to try to rule all of Lagrangia and he wanted Tianna at his side.
Tianna shook her head. She just couldn’t believe that some great evil wanted her. She asked, “But why me? I’ve been living in Trille unprotected my whole life. Why didn’t he just come get me there?”
Marcus pondered on her question for a minute and then said, “I think that he wasn’t searching in the right place. He has been trying to find a very powerful, magical female and was attacking magical villages thinking that was where you were hiding. Instead, you were hiding in plain sight in a human village.”
Seth suggested, “Maybe your powers weren’t strong enough until now for him to be able to track you down. You said that your powers have grown dramatically over the last year. Odds are, the stronger you grow, the easier it is for him to find you.”
She shook her head again. ‘“But he has to be mistaken. I’m not that powerful.”
Gabriel responded this time. “You’re very powerful, and I think you’ve just scratched the surface of these powers.” He stood and started to pace. “You also have a connection to Kai and he’s using that to draw you in. That’s why we must be diligent in helping to protect you. We must all band together. We’re strongest when we work as one.”
Tianna hung her head. “This attack was all my fault. It was the drink.”
They all stared at her confused.
She explained, “The parting gift I received from the old woman. I thought it was just the same drink I had been enjoying all week. Now I think that it was laced with a potion. It made me think I saw things and made me paranoid.”
“But why?” Seth asked confused.
Marcus answered. “To divide our ranks. As Gabriel just said, we’re too strong together. He couldn’t break down our defenses. To get to Tianna he had to make it so we didn’t trust each other anymore. He needed us to not come to her rescue.”
Gabriel said with sorrow in his voice, “And it almost worked.”
Tianna stood silently with a shocked look on her face. “That old woman. I saw her disappear in the street, but I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me because I was so tired. I also had an odd sense of familiarity around her, although I haven’t been able to place it yet. I’m now convinced she set me up. She was most likely working with Kai.”
Seth asked, “If she was working with Kai, why didn’t she just attack us there?”
Marcus and Gabriel responded at the same time, “Military strategy.”
Gabriel completed their combined thought. “He didn’t want to fight the knights.”
Marcus added. “He was playing out a plan that would better ensure success. He’s a brilliant strategist.” He couldn’t hold back admiration in his voice.
Tianna’s eyes burned. “It’s my fault that Seth was almost killed. I didn’t do the protection spell as well as I should have. I was so angry and paranoid, my powers were affected.” She hung her head again, ashamed. “I wanted to stay with Kai.” She glanced back up at Nathaniel. “If you hadn’t called me back, I’m positive I would be in his arms right now.”
She then shifted her gaze to Seth. “I wasn’t strong enough to stop his attack on you. While you laid on the ground in pain, I swooned in his arms.” She stared at the ground and said, “You could have died,” and her voice broke.
Seth took her in his arms in a bone-crushing hug and said, “If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead. I’ll be forever in your debt.”
Tianna shook her head. “I can’t take all of the credit. My mother helped me.” When everyone stared at her confused, she explained, “The woman’s voice I’ve heard in my dreams… it was my Faye mother. She was warning me to stay away from Kai, but I didn’t listen to her. When Seth was dying, she came to me again. She gave me the strength I needed to save him.” Her voice gave out as she was overtaken by emotion. She and her mother had made contact and she hoped that someday they would be able to have a long conversation.
Nathaniel added his arms to the hug and held Tianna tight. “You were absolutely amazing. Don’t you dare blame yourself for any of this. If anyone is at fault, it’s us. We left your side when you needed us the most. I’m so sorry.”
Tianna gazed into Nathaniel’s eyes and said, “It was you that pulled me back from the dark and broke the spell.” She pulled him down and gave him a kiss and whispered, “Thank you.”
Tianna raced to retrieve her spell book saying, “I need to find a way to never let this happen again.” She was trying to find spells to block her dark stranger who she now knows as Kai.
They spent the next few days traveling slower than normal, trying to recover. The Draak’s shifted, Tianna played in her trees, Gabriel’s nightly lessons resumed, and Tianna and Nathaniel touched at every opportunity. Once they felt like their normal selves again, Seth and Marcus announced their next destination. Everyone had apprehensive looks on their faces.
Marcus responded to their concerns. “I had Tianna check what Zarin said on Eden first. He says it’s the home of the Faerdi who are friendly people that he likes to visit often. They’re strong in potions and spells and it’s a beautiful village that’s a good place for a male to relax. Now that we’re strong again, we need to get Tianna hidden inside the safety of a magical village.”
Seth added. “It’ll only take us a few days to get there.”
Tianna got a puzzled look on her face. “What do you think he meant by the comment that it’s a good place for a male to relax?”
Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure, but I’m anxious to find out. My body’s getting older and a certain body part of mine needs to be separated from a saddle for a while.” He rubbed his backside.
“As long as they don’t live in trees!” Nathaniel exclaimed with hope.
Tianna chuckled. “I loved staying in the trees and had a wonderful time. You were so cute hanging upside down.” She gave Nathaniel a big smile.
Nathaniel just snorted in return. “One of these times, we’re going to be at a village that gives me the advantage and then look out Faye Girl!”
Tianna laughed as she walked over to prepare her horse for a long ride. “Don’t hold your breath, Blue Boy.”
By the time the few days of traveling were up, they were ready to visit Eden and to once again be shrouded behind magic. Their travels had been much harder now that they had to be on constant alert day and night. Although Tianna slept in Nathaniel’s arms, her other protectors slept very close by.
When they exited another set of woods, they heard water babbling. As they approached a large river, Seth repeated what the wizard book said, “The village sits on top of an elevated plateau overlooking a river.” He looked at the cliff face that hugged one side of the river and said, “I think we need to go up.” He pointed to a trail that gradually ascended toward a plateau.
Once at the top, they all began to feel a tingling sensation, and Tianna knew they had arrived at their next village. The feeling here was more like Willow, so everyone relaxed a little.
Tianna had memorized the spell she needed to use. She rode up as close to the feeling as she could get and spoke the words. Soon there was a shimmering and the village of Eden appeared. As before, they were greeted at the entrance and welcomed with warm handshakes.
The Faerdi greeting pa
rty consisted of tall, thin males who were wearing long, colorful robes and loose fitting pants in flowing materials. The robes were open, revealing bare chests. Although they seemed fit, they weren’t overly muscular.
The females that approached had figures that were much more pronounced than in previous villages. They were extremely feminine, appearing strong and protective as they carried young children on their hips. They wore loose fitting dresses in varying length in the same flowing materials. The tops of many of these dresses plunged very low or were tied loosely up the front revealing ample breasts. Given the number of nursing mothers they saw, Tianna thought their dress design was very practical. Her fellow travelers just enjoyed the view. For once her figure wasn’t going to stand out. One thing they all had in common were welcoming smiles that made their brilliantly colored eyes twinkle.
They were escorted into their village. Instead of wooden or stone structures, they lived in large tents, which came in all shapes, sizes, and colors of the rainbow. In Trille, the streets were straight and buildings arranged neatly in rows. Not here. There seemed to be no method to where structures were placed and they seemed to run into each other. The roads, if you want to call them that, were just wide paths that snaked their way in and around the tents. The village resembled a maze.
The doors to many of the tents were open and Tianna watched as villagers, many of them children, seemed to come and go freely. This wasn’t a village of many individual families. The Faerdi lived as a very large, closely knit community.
As they walked along a path toward a large center tent, the greeters asked about the travelers. Nathaniel wasn’t about to let Tianna repeat the same mistake as in the last village, so he instantly introduced himself and Tianna as a mated pair.
It was apparent by the number of children they saw that family was very important to this village. When Tianna asked about this, she was informed that they believed the more offspring you had, the more blessed your family was. The elders asked how many children Nathaniel and Tianna had. Nathaniel, thinking quick on his feet, told them a story of how they had been together for a short time and hadn’t yet been blessed by children.
The elders seemed overly thrilled. “You must attend our evening meal at the full moon. It’s for mated pairs to ask for blessing on their union to make it fertile.”
“Maybe you’ll be blessed while you are here.” An elderly, heavy set female said sweetly while she patted Tianna on her stomach.
Nathaniel chuckled and said, “A little Tianna running around would be sweet. Right, mate?” He gave Tianna a kiss on her head and patted her on her stomach.
When Gabriel started to talk about all of his descendants, the elders’ eyes opened wide and they whacked Gabriel on the back with a roaring laugh. Gabriel was going to be treated like a god while he was in Eden.
As they continued their tour around the village, they observed how the females pampered their mates. They seemed to consider it a great honor to take care of them, and the males in turn had only eyes for their mate. They flirted endlessly with each other.
When Tianna asked about this behavior the answer was, “A happy mate is a content mate. A content mate will give you lots of babies.” Seeing the number of children running around, their theory seemed to work.
Tianna also loved to watch how the males treated their mates that were with child or were caring for small infants. The family roles completely reversed. The males doted on their female’s every need and rarely let her lift a finger.
Nathaniel’s grin grew larger the longer he observed the normal couple behavior. The males touched and kissed their mates whenever the opportunity presented it, and he quickly started to mimic this behavior with Tianna. Nathaniel leaned over and whispered into her ear, “I’m really going to like staying at this village, mate.” He kissed her cheek and then swatted her on her behind.
Tianna could see that Nathaniel was going to keep his promise and get back at her for all of the teasing she did to him in Willow. When she thought back to all of the trouble she brought to their journey, she decided they needed to be pampered for a little while. She would happily serve all of her protectors while they were in Eden and tolerate Nathaniel’s mimicked behavior.
When they entered a tent full of piles of clothing, they were given local clothes to wear. The flowing robes were quite attractive on the Draaks and showed off their muscular chests. When Tianna first put it on her outfit, she questioned its design. The other females told her, since she hadn’t yet been blessed with a child, it was to keep her mate interested so that their nights would be fruitful. Tianna’s cheeks heated up as she peeked down and saw how much of her figure the dress revealed.
When Tianna approached Nathaniel the first time, he grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap. He was obviously interested, and she feared nights were going to be challenging. Gabriel also approved of Tianna’s new wardrobe. He decided he needed to stay very busy to help distract his growing urges.
Over the first few days, the Draaks tried to learn about the village trade. Besides being exceptional with weaving colorful materials, they also had extraordinary skills with potions and the use of herbs. Some of the mixtures they made were used to create the wide variety of colors they used to dye their fabrics.
In exchange for being taught village skills, Gabriel and Marcus helped them build new tents for some of the growing families. Seth gave the children lessons about the stars at night.
Nathaniel spent any time he wasn’t chasing his mate around working with the local healers. Everyone was fascinated by Nathaniel and Tianna’s use of blue fire for healing. Anyone that even had the slightest ache or injury requested their healing power just so that they could feel the tingling sensation. Tianna swore she had many repeat patients.
Gabriel continued his warrior lessons and encouraged local protectors to join in. He wanted to assess their abilities to fight. Although they weren’t physically strong, they held the ability to be very cunning fighters. They used spells to trick their attackers into seeing things that weren’t there, or they made sounds to frighten or confuse them. Combining these skills with his warriors’ fighting abilities could make them an excellent addition to a fighting team.
Tianna was once again euphoric and tried to do and learn everything. The villagers were amazed by her connection to nature as well as her potion and spell skills. They exchanged knowledge, and Tianna was thrilled to be with people who embraced her uniqueness.
Like in Willow, whenever the opportunity presented itself, Tianna would be found with a child nestled in her arms or resting on her hip. She was often asked to carry the babies that needed calming. Her blue fire or just her humming or purring would always do the trick. She would loosen the front of her shirt and press them against her bare skin. They would snuggle contentedly against her. Nathaniel would watch, wishing he was one of the babies.
Tianna was so tired at night Nathaniel often helped her to their tent. Much to his dismay, she would be fast asleep by the time he finished braiding her hair before bed.
One day, Tianna met Jesper, the village wizard, and his young assistant named Kaylee. She appeared to be around 14 years old. They both were overly fascinated by Tianna’s hair. When she told him that she was part Faye, he let out a shout of joy. He said Faye hair had all kinds of magical properties and asked her if it would be alright to take it out of the braids so he could work with it. When she agreed, he also asked Nathaniel, as her mate, for permission to touch her.
Nathaniel chuckled at the idea that he had to give permission for other males to approach her. He agreed, but stayed close by to make sure he didn’t touch his mate any more than was necessary.
Once out of the braids, the wizard could make her hair act alive. He could make it reach out and caress his fingers and wrap lovingly around his arms. As Nathaniel had always suspected, her hair did have magical qualities all of its own.
Jesper took a strand of her hair to show how much power was in it. He proceeded to demonst
rate how his normal potions were greatly enhanced by just adding a small piece of her hair. After the display of magic, many of the adults and children asked to touch her hair. Tianna ended up just leaving it out of the braids, and Nathaniel got pats on his back for having such a unique mate.
Seeing Kaylee’s excitement in assisting her wizard master, Tianna had to chuckle. She reminded her so much of herself when she was a young apprentice. Over the next few days, she made a point of spending time with Kaylee, where they shared stories about life as a female wizard.
Tianna asked, “My parents realized that my future would most likely include being a wizard’s apprentice when I demonstrated my healing fire at age 3. What made you stand out so that they decided being Jesper’s apprentice was in your future?”
Kaylee replied, “Besides sneaking out and being under Jesper’s feet helping him with spells and potions whenever I could, I also showed unusual skills with those expecting a child.”
Unquiet Slumber Page 25