Heir of Dragmoore- The Veiled Haven

by Jennifer Ann Schlag

  Captain Buckman wakes Deegus. “Get up, druid.”

  Deegus rubs his eyes. “Are we there yet?”

  “You slept through all of the storm and the yelling and screaming?”

  “Yes. We druids can put our bodies into a deep slumber regardless of the noise around us.”

  “While you were napping, your partners went overboard. Victims to the Gracken.”

  Deegus almost wants to grin. “And the dragon?”

  “Maria has him up top. She is trying to talk to him but he isn’t responding. Sure, dragons can hear humans speaking, but only a special kind of human can talk to them.”

  “How tragic.”

  “You aren’t very upset to lose Talen and Prince Remy.”

  “Not particularly. Why should I care about humans?”

  “Gerald?”

  “Yes, captain?”

  “Tie him up and put him below with the cargo.”

  “Right away.”

  “I am to be your prisoner? What is my crime?”

  “Druids are human, Deegus. I never thought I’d see you switch sides. Taking up with the elf queen I gather.”

  Gerald runs over with a gold rope. He ties it around Deegus’s wrists.

  “Ah, Grecian rope. Smart thinking, Captain.”

  “I always carry it on board. Sometimes we have unsavory characters travelling with us.”

  Gerald takes Deegus down into the cargo hold. Logan peeks his head down. Deegus locks eyes with him. Buckman gets in between their line of sight.

  “I won’t have any secret messages being sent.”

  “Not from me.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  “A rogue druid isn’t tolerated by Nalaren. He will be sentenced to death if they judge his crime to be severe. Isn’t that right?”

  Logan shrugs his shoulders as if he doesn’t know. Buckman sees through him. For the life of him, he can’t figure out the reason for Logan’s deception. He has seen all kinds of people and he has never met such a confounding person like Logan before.

  Desmond moves his hand along the king’s throne. As he is about to sit down on it, Gavin comes in.

  “It’s not wrong to think about sitting in it.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “The line of succession doesn’t have to change. Remy will be a good ruler.”

  Desmond walks outside to the garden behind the castle. He pulls the emerald necklace off his neck. “Do you know how this came back together?”

  “Your powers are increasing.”

  “It’s worthless now.” He tosses the necklace across the grass.

  Gavin sniffs the air. It’s cool and crisp. “Do you know why I will never tell Talen about her mother and her aunt?”

  “To protect her?”

  “Why do you love her so much?”

  “Because I remember everything. And she liked me more back then.”

  “Didn’t her and Remy joke about getting married one day?”

  “It was all childish and innocent. You know very well that I have loved her since the day you introduced me. I knew my heart then, just as I know it now.”

  Gavin walks around to the front of the castle. In the distance he can see the farmers moving about their farms. Things are going back to normal with none the wiser. He longs to see his daughter again and see the kingdom restored to what it was when dragons ruled beside humans. He’ll see it happen, even if it takes his life.

  “I respect your guidance, Gavin. What shall I do?”

  “Keep the city alive until Remy returns.”

  Captain Buckman keeps Kip with him as he steers the wheel. Logan comes over. Kip snarls.

  “He doesn’t like you.”

  “Captain, when will we be at our destination?”

  “As long as we don’t encounter anymore disturbances, I say that we should reach the South Port tomorrow. Maybe sooner if we catch a good wind.”

  “Good.” He starts to walk away.

  “Hold it,” Buckman says.

  Logan stops.

  Buckman signals to Maria to take the wheel. Once the exchange is made, Buckman takes Logan for a walk. Kip is close at the captain’s heels.

  “You summoned the Gracken, didn’t you?”

  Logan is being walked to the bow. Buckman lays his hand against Logan’s back. “Do you mean to kill me, Captain?”

  “That depends. What information do you carry with you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Buckman nudges Logan to move forward.

  “This isn’t going to work out the way you want it to.”

  He yanks him around. “Did you summon the Gracken?”

  Logan grins wide. “Yes.”

  “Who do you work for?”

  “Admiral Alexander Bushwap.”

  “He is known for having the most luxurious pleasure ship around. Why is he interested in Talen and Remy?”

  “He is in search of his daughter Bessy. He knows she went to Dragmoore became a Hunter. Once I knew we had Prince Remy Dragmoore on board, and of course Talen Dragniss, it was clear to me that I needed to act upon it. Use whoever I could to get to Bessy. He wants his daughter to come home. And Gavin Dragniss is an old friend of Alexander’s so I assumed his daughter must know Bessy. Alexander cannot leave Welsa. He has a warrant on his head.”

  “You summoned the Gracken to kill them. How is that helping you?”

  “I suspect the Gracken has not killed Talen. If Prince Remy made it to the shore alive, fine. If not, then he doesn’t sit on throne.”

  “Were you working with that druid down there?”

  “We sea druids don’t play well with the other druids. Whatever his agenda is has nothing to do with mine. My objective was getting Talen separated from Remy. That proved difficult. The times I got her alone, something or someone interrupted us. I decided to use the Gracken. You should feel lucky that it listens to me.”

  “If I push you overboard, you’ll simply shift into a sea creature and escape. Why are you travelling on my ship? How could you have known that Talen would be on my ship?”

  “I didn’t. I came across the information in the North Port. Bribed a pretty woodsy girl to stay quiet on the matter. I sent a message to the admiral informing him that I had Talen Dragniss at the North Port getting ready to set sail. He told me to engage her right away. I was going to, but I decided to wait. Then I had to book passage. She wants to go to the Veiled Haven. She isn’t going to like what she finds there. That is one thing I didn’t lie to her about. I’ve been there.”

  Buckman looks down at Kip who surprisingly isn’t sad or upset without Talen. “Talen is special.”

  “Because she can talk to the dragon?”

  “No one talks to animals, especially dragons, unless they are a Master. They will recognize her as one of their own.”

  Logan wipes away the sea spray from his face. “Maybe so. But it doesn’t change the fact that she’s going to cause a lot of problems if she marries that prince.”

  “Don’t you believe that he is dead?”

  “Unfortunately, he’s probably alive. After all, he is a sea druid. But I never said what prince she will marry that will cause all of the trouble. Do you know who her family is?”

  Buckman shakes his head no.

  “Her mother is a princess. The sister of Queen Galaria. Talen is half elf.”

  Kip whips his head around to that. How could I not sense that about her? he says to himself.

  If anything, Buckman saw her as a Master unaware of her true potential. But to be half elf and a Master. Despite Masters needing to be human, Buckman wonders what kind of lineage Talen has past her immediate family. While mixing the races is forbidden, it does happen, and when it happens, it has to benefit both sides. Elves and humans never got along. Throughout history there have been wars between the two. The humans always came out victorious because they have mages and the Masters to use as weapons
. He knows the trouble that will befall Talen if she continues on her quest. Whether she is with Remy or Desmond, the elf part will take over. When things become dire, the elf part will shine through and there’ll be no going back.

  Remy wakes up. He takes in his surroundings. He covered a good distance from where he started. Still no port in sight. No ship on the water. His stomach growls from lack of food. He looks around the forest for anything that he can eat. There’s nothing but the berries. He caves in and takes the plunge. Picks a few and pops them one by one into his mouth. His body becomes a little hot. His walking becomes dreamlike.

  Talen has covered more beach than Remy. She stares at the berries. “I can’t eat them.” She keeps walking. She looks out at the sea. Her thoughts stray from food. “I wonder if he can hear me from way out here.” She stops walking and faces the ocean. “Kip, can you hear me?”

  Birds squawk overhead. They dive bomb the waves. Talen notices little fish rolling over in the water. Some swim away. Others are breakfast for the birds.

  She falls into despair. Her dragon can’t hear her.

  “Talen!”

  “Kip?”

  She then realizes that Kip’s voice isn’t heard out loud. He doesn’t move his mouth to speak. She does a double take. Remy is running towards her with a stupid grin on his face.

  “I found you.” He goes to hug her, and she welcomes it, but he stumbles and falls backwards instead.

  “Remy?”

  “Yeah?” He laughs uncontrollably. He waves his arms around in the sand like he is a child being set free for the first time.

  She has seen the drunkards down in the city center numerous times, falling over each other, laughing the same way. She doesn’t pick up a whiff of liquor but there is a fruity scent. “The berries. Remy, tell me you didn’t eat that many of the berries?” She goes down to his level. “What are you doing here? Did the ship dock somewhere close by? Where’s Kip?”

  “I jumped after you. Kip is fine though. I doubt anyone would harm him.”

  Talen sits down next to him.

  The way the sun is shining against her eyes, her hair, her skin, and her soft lips; he doesn’t wait for her to make a move. He goes right in and kisses her. He lays her back onto the sand and puts his one hand on her hip. He is forceful, determined to have her. She manages to push him off.

  “Remy, it’s the berries that are making you do this.”

  “No. Well, sort of. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you.” He tries to kiss her again.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  “I love you.”

  She looks up at the sky as if begging someone to come down and kill her.

  “Don’t you love me?” He tugs at her hair.

  “Snap out of it. Come on, let’s get going. We have to find the port.”

  She walks away from him. He lies back on the sand and stares up at the sky. Then looks down at the dagger. He pulls it out of its sheath and stares at Talen who is getting further and further away from him. He gets to his feet. In haste, he is after her. He is powered by more than lust.

  “If you aren’t going to love me, then I have no use for you.”

  Talen wishes she knew the area better. The beach up ahead ends. A mist or fog is blocking the rest of the view. “I swear, if the port is in the other direction, I’m going to lose my mind.” She looks behind her and sees Remy coming with the dagger pointing forward. “I hope those berries wear off soon.”

  “You should have said that you loved me.” He is a few feet away from her.

  “Remy, we can use that dagger to kill something for food. We need to eat. No more berries.”

  When she realizes that he isn’t stopping, she starts backing up. The dagger is still facing forward. There’s madness in his eyes.

  As the distance is closed between them, he stops. “You should have loved me.”

  If only the berries hadn’t affected him in a bad way. “Okay. I love you.”

  “Liar.” He swipes the dagger at the air.

  “No. I mean it. I love you, Remy.”

  He lowers the dagger. Starts crying.

  If she runs, she may trigger him to chase. If she tries to comfort him, he may get defensive and attack. If she stands there and does nothing, that may give him the time to consider his next action. Seeing his struggle, she decides to go with the second option. She puts her arms around his neck and hugs him. He puts his arms around her waist with the dagger still in his hand.

  He leans into her shoulder. “I am sorry about this.”

  Her eyes grow wide. Fear. Shock.

  Before she can make a move, the dagger pierces her skin. He is kind enough to not push the whole blade into her side. She hangs onto his arms and lays her head against his chest. “For all the doubts I had, I knew you would do it. Is that strange that I knew?” She falls backwards. The dagger comes out of her body.

  Remy’s hand starts shaking. The dagger falls. “Talen?” He kneels beside her. “Talen?”

  Deep, rolling laughter fills his head. He rocks back and forth, like how he felt on the ship during the storm. He grabs his head, pulls at his hair. It can’t be true.

  The laughter stops. He stops rocking. Looks up. Logan bares his teeth like a monster from the darkness.

  “I didn’t mean to. I don’t know how it happened.”

  Logan cracks his neck and then a yellow light bursts from his eyes. Before Remy knows it, he’s on his back. Coming through the yellow light are two giant black paws. Shiny nails rip at Remy’s shirt. Then a giant black head comes down to his face. Yellow eyes glowing. Whiskers tickle at Remy’s nose.

  “Logan?”

  The black panther tilts its head to one side as if answering Remy.

  “I swear I didn’t mean to do it. My father had originally asked me to kill her for my task of worth. I agreed to it, but deep down, I wasn’t going to do it. No matter how much she yelled at me, scolded me, or hated me. Then my father announced that her and I would be married. I actually felt happy. I don’t know what came over me. I ate some of those berries. It made me feel lustful. And then I grew really angry.”

  The panther eases off him. Sniffs at Talen’s lifeless body.

  “Oh, you aren’t going to eat her, are you?”

  The panther seems to laugh. Then it puts a paw under her and rolls onto its back with her flat on its chest. It wraps both paws around her.

  “That is not right. She’s dead.”

  The panther closes its eyes. A yellow light shines through its body. Remy can feel the warmth radiating from it. The panther rubs its paws up and down Talen’s body. The light coils around her body like a snake squeezing the life out of its prey. The light slowly streams down off Talen’s body and re-enters the panther’s body.

  Talen opens her eyes in fright. Remy grabs her from the panther’s clutches. “Talen, you’re alive.” He pulls her close to him.

  Talen watches the panther shift back into Logan. It happens instantly. Logan manages the pain of transformation better than Bessy does. “She wasn’t dead. She was badly wounded.”

  “Talen, forgive me.”

  Talen looks into Remy’s eyes. “I forgive you.”

  He can’t help touching her face with his hands. Without thinking it through, he kisses her lips. Then gives her kisses around her face and forehead. He helps her stand up. The wound he created is gone. All that remains is the hole the dagger made. A bit of dried blood around the tearing.

  “Why are you naked?” Remy asks.

  “I took off my clothes. I didn’t want to get them wet.”

  “Bessy never had to take off her clothes,” Talen says.

  “Is she still in Dragmoore?”

  Talen nods. “Why are you naked?”

  “I just told you why.”

  “Well, can you put some clothes on?” Remy says.

  “Why? You afraid your betrothed enjoys this view better than she does yours? It’s okay if you want to stare. I get that a lot. I h
ave a lot to be proud of.” He points down. Talen blushes but can’t look away. Remy immediately looks away. “Besides, I think I got further than your prince did. My hands were all over your body.”

  “That’s enough now,” Remy says. “Thank you for healing her.”

  Logan chuckles. Talen walks Logan a few feet away.

  Remy grabs the dagger. He sees Talen’s blood on it. He tosses the dagger into the crashing waves.

  Talen smacks Logan on the side of the face. “You tell me right now what happened to my dragon?”

  Logan points. “There is the South Port.”

  A fog lifts from where land meets sea. The seaport comes into full view. It is literally on the other side of where the beach ended.

  “The ship should be docking later today. You and your dragon will be reunited. Now, I’m going to get some food. Wanna join me?”

  Remy grabs her hand. “She isn’t joining you anywhere.”

  “Oh, I’m sure I’ll get a taste of her soon enough.” He rolls his tongue over his lips then runs off.

  “It should have been him that I stabbed.”

  “Druids aren’t that easy to kill. Let’s follow him. It’s where we need to be.”

  Talen takes off first. Remy takes off a second later. He watches her watching Logan. His bare ass has her in a trance. She can’t help staring at it. Remy has no idea what his own looks like. He’s never had to imagine what it looks like. He figures it must be pleasing since he has caught many women staring at him as he walks past. They can’t be staring at the back of his head. This isn’t the first guy that Talen has shown interest in. There was the Marksman. He slows his running to better observe her staring at Logan, who just happens to turn around to see if they are still following. Remy has seen this cheap move before. Flashing his goods to Talen to keep her interested. Some of his pretend drunk noble friends would parade around naked at night to entice women to come out of their homes. As far as Remy knows, she hasn’t kissed the Marksman, certainly hasn’t kissed Logan, so he is miles ahead of them. He can’t believe he is seeing those two as competition. He and Talen have bonded in a short amount of time. There can be no competition.