We stopped for a quick break around lunch time and then started up again. It seemed to me like the further along we went, the moodier Jasper got.
“Ok. That’s it. Dodge, stop!” I swung off as he halted. Jasper shifted and walked up behind me. I spun around to face him.
“What’s going on? Last night, what happened, was unbelievable. At least it was for me. And I thought for you too. But now you don’t seem happy at all.”
He was looking at the ground, quiet, his eyes narrowed.
I looked at Dodge. “Can you give us a minute, please?”
Dodge looked irritated and walked away.
I took Jasper’s hands and pulled him to the ground so that we knelt facing each other. “I need you to explain to me what is wrong,” I pleaded softly. “This, us, is right. I’m not going to pretend to know or understand how things are around here, but I am willing to leave everything and everybody I know and love to follow you on this quest, or mission, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t even understand how I could feel this strongly for you after knowing you for only three days, but I do.”
He was still looking down. My voice was just a whisper as I continued. “But if this isn’t what you want, or expected...” I tried to keep the quiver out of my voice, but he looked at me then, just as a tear slid down my cheek.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “That’s not it at all.” He cupped my face in his hands and wiped the tear with his thumb. “I have been waiting for six years for you to come back so I could find you. Finding you is a hundred times better than I could have imagined. I don’t care if that’s not how it is supposed to be. But since last night I keep thinking about something. You see, I wasn’t lying to you when you asked what I did. I am part of the Queen’s guard. And when we get you to Queen Melana, once we get to Pinsaber, I will be ordered to return to my scouting duties.”
I was speechless. He was going to leave me!
“I can’t ignore an order from the queen. Namaels are guards. It’s genetics. We are born to obey.” His voice cracked.
I felt like I was choking. “No!” I tried to breath. “Don’t you dare leave me! You can’t!”
He looked absolutely miserable. “It’s not my choice.”
Dodge picked that moment to come back. He shook out his mane.
It took a fraction of a second to make up my mind. “Let’s go,” I told both of them. We continued walking. As we got further along, I started to get nervous. I thought my plan had been a good one. But as I had more time to think about it, I realized it could backfire horribly.
“Are you alright?” Jasper took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
I looked straight ahead and nodded.
After about an hour of walking, the path we were on forked. Dodge turned and started walking onto the path that led up the mountain.
“No. Not that way.” I turned and stalked off along the base of the mountain.
Dodge and Jasper stood staring at me as I walked away.
“I don’t know what she’s doing,” I heard Jasper say to Dodge. “Hayden! Wait!”
I ignored him.
The two of them trotted up behind me. “Hayden, you don’t even know where you’re going!”
“So tell me, then. What’s in this direction.”
Jasper hesitated. “The Wedelves.”
Dodge snorted.
“Well, I’m not going to lie to her!”
“Good. I have a few questions for them.” I kept walking.
“Hayden, please.”
“What?”
“My orders were to find you and bring you to Queen Melana.”
I stopped and glared at him. “So are you going to tie me up and drag me there?”
His eyes widened at the thought. “Of course not!”
I looked at Dodge, the same question meant for him. He shook his head.
“Well then, I guess you guys have a decision to make. I’m going to see the Wedelves. You can come with me, or you can do your own thing.” I started walking again.
There was no hesitation as they fell in beside me.
I glanced sideways at them, a little shocked. “That was easy.”
Dodge snorted. I looked to Jasper for the explanation.
“He was born your guardian. He won’t be leaving you any time soon.”
“And you?”
“It seems the bond between us goes deeper than genetics.” He put his arm around my shoulders.
I looked up at him and smiled. “Well, that’s something, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say. I wonder if the Wedelves will have some insight in all of this.”
“Let’s go find out.”
Dodge stopped so I could swing up. Jasper looked up at me. “I was right.” He grinned. “Stubborn.”
I grinned back at him and shrugged.
And with that, we trotted off in search of Wedelves.
*****
The sun started slipping behind the trees and we found a little clearing to make camp. Dodge couldn’t smell any horses nearby and stayed with us.
I lay in Jasper’s arms, enjoying the feel of his lips on my hair.
“So how far to the Wedelves?”
“Shouldn’t be more than another day to their land. Then it’s about four days to Sageden. That’s the closest of the Wedelven towns.”
I nodded. I had a good feeling about this.
“What’s Shlova?”
He started behind me. “When did I say that?”
“This morning, when we started off. Before you got mad at Dodge. You said ‘we better get going, Shlova’.”
“Oh. Well, it means love.” His voice was quiet.
“What language is that?”
“None.” I felt him smile against the back of my neck. “My siblings and I made it up. We had enough words that we could have a whole conversation without anyone being able to understand. I haven’t spoken that since I was fourteen.”
“Hello camp!”
Jasper was up in a flash, a growl rising into his throat. I froze.
“Geez, Jasper. Relax.”
Jasper looked at the man walking into the firelight and smiled. “Zane! What brings you to these parts?”
“Do you know, I’m not sure. I woke up three days ago and started to wander.” He looked back into the bushes. “It’s alright, guys. It’s just Jasper.”
Two more people walked into the clearing. No. Not people. Animals. And yet, not really.
Zane was human. At least he looked it. He was tall. At least 6'3”. He had shaggy black hair and black eyes.
Next was a centaur. Or so I thought at first glance. He stood about six feet tall. From the waist up he looked like a twelve year old boy with blond hair and yellow eyes. From the waist down he was a horse. His body was the same color as his hair. Only his body wasn’t covered with hair like a horse’s. He was covered in scales. He jogged up to Jasper and gave him a hug.
“Jasper!”
“Hello, Phlann!”
The third person in the party stepped into the firelight and my eyes widened. This scaly centaur stood about nine feet tall. His chest and arms were immense. He had light blond hair and chocolate brown eyes. His body matched his hair, but a few shades darker.
“Jasper. Dodge.” The centaur nodded to both of them.
Jasper nodded back. “Shanus.”
Dodge swished his tail and Shanus looked at him. “Well as far as we can figure out, three days ago we all woke up and wandered into each other.” Shanus looked at me. “It seems you have a way of drawing people to you, young lady.”
Zane sat down by the fire. He stared intently at Dodge for a few minutes.
“Well, that’s annoying,” I muttered.
Jasper came and sat beside me. “What is, Shlova?”
“Everyone can hear Dodge but me!”
“I can’t hear him.” Phlann walked over and stood on my other side.
“Oh. Why is that?”
Phlann shrugged. “Dad is blocking me. H
e still likes to think I’m too young for all of this even though I became of age two seasons ago.” He made a gesture toward Shanus.
Jasper put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. “Shanus is a bit of a sorcerer himself.”
Dodge had walked up to Zane and Shanus by the fire. Both of their mouths fell open.
“You’re right,” mumbled Phlann. “That is annoying!” He glared at Shanus.
Jasper sighed. “We are fated,” he explained.
Phlann’s eyes widened but he managed to keep his mouth shut.
I felt myself blush and my temper rose. I hated being put on the spot.
Shanus was the first to get some sort of control of his mouth. “But how?”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” I stood up. “Are we going to have to do this with everyone we meet? We don’t know how. He thought we might be. I didn’t know. I kissed him. I guess it happened just like it happens to everybody else! Why does everybody have to act like it’s the end of the world because it happened to us?”
Red waves overtook me before I had a chance to calm down. “Oh, shit!” I tried not to focus on anything.
Jasper spun me around and faced me away from the group, towards the forest.
Everyone hit the ground as not one, but two trees exploded into flames.
Dodge snorted and Jasper nodded. “It does appear to be getting stronger. We have to find someone to teach her how to control it.”
“I’m sorry.” I sat heavily on the ground and buried my head in my arms. “Please tell me that trees aren’t beings here.”
Jasper pulled me against him. “There are tree folk, but don’t worry. Those were just trees.”
“Wow!” Phlann looked at me with wide eyes. “That was great!”
“Glad you think so,” I mumbled. I leaned into Jasper who grabbed the second blanket and wrapped us up.
“Shanus, do you know anything about color waves?” asked Jasper.
He shook his head. “No. Mine is more of a mind magic. Illusions and things like that. I can’t see the colors.”
“Illusions. Neat.” I wondered if I could do that too. I fell asleep listening to them catching up on the last few days. There had been signs of dog patrols but no actual sightings as of yet.
Everyone was asleep when I opened my eyes. The fire was almost gone. I snuggled closer to Jasper. He mumbled something in his sleep and tightened his arms around me.
I was looking at the fire when something caught my eye in the woods behind it. Fireflies. I smiled. Then I noticed that they weren’t moving and that they were all in a straight line. I tensed. They were eyes reflecting the last of the firelight. I was scared to breathe.
“Jasper,” I whispered. “Wake up!”
He mumbled something. I elbowed him
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
“Something is looking at us across the fire,” I tried to keep my voice as quiet as possible.
He shifted slightly, pretending to still be asleep.
“Dogs!” He growled as he sprang to his feet. That was all the others needed to wake up on full alert. Jasper flew over the fire, shifting into a tiger in midair.
Phlann was in front of me, bow and arrow ready. Shanus already had two huge swords pulled from the scabbards on his back.
The wolves had broken into the clearing. Jasper collided with the leader and managed to get it by the throat. Another wolf jumped on Jasper’s back, biting the back of his neck.
I started to scream and stopped. A black flash swooped down on top of the second wolf, pulling him off of Jasper. The panther rolled and hissed at the wolf as they circled, eyeing each other. Zane!
That’s when I heard the sounds behind me. I spun around and felt Phlann move with me, his arrow already flying through the air. There was a loud thud as the wolf fell to the ground. Phlann shot another arrow. This second wolf was bigger than the others. It was the size of Dodge. Its midnight blue eyes stared at me.
Phlann fired two more arrows into the wolf. It seemed to laugh at us and kept on coming.
It lunged quickly, aiming for me. Phlann pushed me back, his eyes wide as the wolf closed its jaws around his arm, crushing bone and tearing skin.
“Phlann!” I screamed, unable to move.
“Shush, Hayden. It’s ok.” Jasper’s arms were tight around me.
“How is it ok?” I closed my eyes and buried my face into his chest.
That’s when I noticed we were still laying down on our blanket. The rest of the group was looking at me, half asleep. Except for Phlann. He was out like a light.
I glanced at the fire. It was still bigger than the one in my dream.
“We have to go now!” I had never been more certain of anything in my whole life.
“Shlova, it was just a dream.”
“No. It wasn’t. Phlann was supposed to take first watch, right?”
Jasper nodded.
“But he’s sleeping. In the dream, the fire is a little lower than this. They are coming. You get the first one. Zane rips one off your back. He’s a panther, right?”
They all looked at me.
“No one told me he was like you! Now tell me I’m wrong and that he doesn’t shift into a panther!”
Zane ran to my saddle and threw it on Dodge. “Phlann! Wake up! You good for nothing toddler!”
“Hey? What’s going on?” He saw the looks on everyone’s faces. “I fell asleep! What happened?”
“Nothing yet,” growled Jasper. “Let’s go!”
I swung onto Dodge and watched as Jasper and Zane shifted into cats. We raced into the night, getting as far away from the clearing as possible.
It was starting to get light when the group slowed down. Jasper called some bluebirds down from the trees and asked them to do some scouting. We finally stopped at a river.
I fell out of the saddle, exhausted. Every muscle I had burned with fatigue.
Jasper caught me and sat with me cradled in his lap.
“Can you tell us what else you saw?” He asked, stroking my hair.
“There were six or eight wolves. Normal ones. But there was one big one the size of Dodge!”
“What color was the big wolf?” asked Zane, back in human form.
“Black. Why?”
Jasper explained. “The Majs’ armies are shifters, like us. The difference is that we turn into cats and they turn into dogs.” He spat out the word. “There are three big wolves that are the size of Dodge; one brown, one grey, and one black.
The brown one is Damian. You won’t see him, he always stays in his keep and sends everyone else out to do his dirty work.
The grey one is his second in command, Rainen. She is a very powerful sorceress.
The black one is her son, Ream. He is still young and his powers as a sorcerer are undeveloped.”
“So what does it mean, then, that he was here?”
Zane and Jasper looked at each other. “If they sent Ream to supervise this little mission, it means that they really wanted what they were after.” Jasper’s voice was quiet.
I shivered even though the day was starting to warm up.
Zane asked the next question. “You yelled Phlann’s name when you woke up. Why?”
“The black wolf was coming at me and Phlann pushed me out of the way. He was getting ripped to shreds...” I whispered.
Shanus grumbled. “Serves him right for falling asleep.”
My eyes widened and I glanced at Phlann. He looked miserable.
Just then, one of the blue birds came back. Both Zane and Jasper listened intently. They looked at each other.
Dodge stomped his foot, annoyed.
“Now you know how I feel,” I told him.
Jasper crushed me to his chest and kissed the bridge of my nose. “You are amazing, my love,” he whispered in my ear.
“I’m glad you think so,” I grinned up at him. “Now maybe you wouldn’t mind letting the rest of us know why.”
“Our ca
mpsite was destroyed. There are dog prints everywhere. And from what the animals have been telling the birds, Ream is with the pack.” He leaned down and kissed me softly. “Were it not for you, they would have gotten the better of us.”
“If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”
“Shush, now. You didn’t ask for this.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t have you guys getting killed just because of me. Maybe it’s best if we head to see Queen Melana.” I looked around at all of them, hoping for a little help deciding.
Phlann turned to me. “What do you think we should do?”
I thought hard for a minute, but only managed to give myself a head ache. They were all looking at me.
“Could you guys give me a minute? All this staring is making it hard to think.”
“May as well go find some breakfast.” Zane shifted and bounded into the trees.
“Should I go as well?” inquired Jasper.
“Of course not. You help me think.”
“What would you like me to do?”
I smiled up at him. “Just what you are doing now.” I leaned my head against his chest. He pulled me closer and set his chin on my head. I tried closing my eyes to focus, but thinking about it didn’t help. I had no facts to base my decision on, so I went with my gut feeling.
I looked up at him.
“So?”
“I still think we need to go to the Wedelves.”
“How would you feel about the Wedelves coming to you?”
I jumped at the voice coming from behind me.
“Hey, Hayden,” sang a musical voice.
Jasper stood, pulling me up with him. I whirled around. “Tara!” My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. “Is that you?”
She laughed. “Yes. It’s me.” She turned in a little circle so I could get a look at her.
I slowly walked up to her and stared. The eyes were the same caramel color they had always been. Her hair was no different. But her skin...
“Holy shit! Your skin is green!” I fought back the urge to poke her.
She laughed and waited for me to snap out of my trance.
I looked her up and down, taking in all the details. She was wearing light colored buckskin pants that tucked into her calf high dark brown leather boots. Her shirt was a cream colored tunic that fit snugly and stood out against the khaki green color of her skin. She had on a belt that held a dagger and a quiver full of arrows hanging next to a bow on her back.
Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' Page 6