‘I think I have found the cavern we will take our clan to. But I don’t know that we are ready yet, and I’m not sure who will be with us.’
‘Teven,’ he said again. ‘But what does he do?’
‘I think he is Chief.’
‘I thought you were to be Chief.’
She shrugged. ‘I can’t see it clearly.’
‘What did you see?’
‘Too much of your blood, but I think that was Merik. And I wore red, but that could be Merik as well,’ she added quickly.
‘Ask your mother,’ he said again, then lay back and closed his eyes.
Cora slipped her tunic over her head before she lay back beside Artell and closed her eyes. Her mother appeared quickly before her, looking frustrated, and Cora paused.
‘Your brother is not the man he thinks he is,’ she sighed. ‘I wish you were here to help keep him in.’
‘He is older than I was when I headed out to hunt alone on dragonback.’
Her mother nodded quickly. ‘You were a very different child.’
‘And he is a man. Maybe he needs the space to learn just what he is.’
Her mother sighed and then smiled. ‘You have become the Ancient I knew you would be.’
Cora opened her mouth to disagree, but as she looked down, she realised she wore the red robes Arminel had worn her whole life. She sighed. ‘Perhaps like Wyndha, I have joined with an Ancient and so I am one.’
‘You were always one,’ her mother said, closing her arms around her. Cora was grateful she had been able to find the gift to reach her.
‘I fear that Merik may try to take it from me.’
‘I do not think he has the means.’
‘He twists the mind.’
‘Only if you allow it.’
‘It isn’t that easy,’ Cora said. ‘I see Artell’s blood on my hands. I can’t lose him, and I can’t lose him that way.’
‘You have had his blood on your hands,’ her mother whispered, taking Cora’s hands.
Cora leaned back from her and took a breath. ‘He tried to test me, but the blade was sharper than he thought it was. I felt him slipping away.’
‘That is the feeling Merik clings to. But you saved him. You didn’t let him die, and now he burns within you.’
Cora blushed. ‘How long will it burn?’
‘Days,’ her mother said. ‘But you can draw on it if you need to. I was able to. But then I had you,’ she said, running her fingers through Cora’s long loose hair, ‘burning away inside me.’
‘You didn’t know?’
‘Not until after it was all over.’
‘What if...’ Cora stopped. The Ancients she knew didn’t have any children. It wasn’t the way of the world. She felt a sudden moment of loss.
‘Do not think it yet. Your future is not set.’
‘Are you sure?’
Her mother smiled. ‘I always knew you would leave, that there were others who needed you more than we did. It may be difficult, but I know you will embrace it.’
‘Others will join me,’ Cora said, knowing it with a certainty she hadn’t felt before.
Her mother nodded once.
‘When was the last cavern established?’
‘The Keetar moved.’
‘They moved. They were already a people.’
‘It is not a question I can answer. You can look back where I look forward. You will find those who can guide you.’
Cora pulled her mother into a tight embrace. ‘I found a place. As much as I want to return, I know I am where I am meant to be.’
‘Come and visit with your father when you can.’
Cora nodded, then realised she was already back in the little cavern she shared with Artell. This was her home, until they could pull their people together at the new cavern. She glanced around. There was still no sign of Merik, and yet she knew he was close.
Chapter 28
Cora was surprised that she wasn’t wearing red when she focused on the room around her. Artell was by the fire, stirring the contents of a pot with the two dragons curled in close by. It was comforting to have them all near, but the already small cavern appeared much smaller.
Henda stood in the doorway, looking over the scene before her. She wore red, and although they looked very similar to Arminel’s robes, they were different. Cora wondered whether the Penna would give her cloth if she visited.
‘You seem to have increased the number you are happy to have in your little world,’ Henda said to Artell, and he nodded without turning from the fire.
‘Would you like to stay?’ Cora asked, then glanced at Artell, who continued stirring.
‘Teven is looking for you,’ Henda said instead.
Artell froze mid-task.
‘We have not told him the truth, but we must at some point. How will you explain not giving her back?’ Henda asked.
Cora looked at her seriously. ‘You offered me sanctuary,’ she said. ‘It is too late now to return.’
Henda gave Cora a disapproving look. Then her face fell in disbelief before she sucked in a deep breath and glared at her. ‘I had thought you might stay with me, but I did not expect this. Now that you have bonded, you too are Ancient.’
Cora nodded once.
‘What will Merik think?’ Henda asked.
‘He may already know. He sees so much from the shadows.’
‘You are stronger together. What will that mean for me?’ Henda asked suddenly. ‘We should talk with Edgris. Two Ancients is enough; three is something else.’
‘We won’t stay,’ Artell said, turning from the fire. ‘We were never meant to stay.’
Henda rushed forward and threw her arms around him. ‘What will your father say?’
‘He will understand, and we will not be too far.’
‘But far enough,’ Henda said, looking back at Cora as though it were all her fault.
‘Essara directs us as she sees fit. It is not for us to question,’ Cora said.
‘How can I be sure you follow Essara and are not working for Merik?’
‘Henda!’ Artell chastised.
‘I don’t know her.’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘I know her as I know myself.’
‘You have only known her a few days.’
‘We are bonded, and I trust her.’
‘Enough that you let not one but two unknown dragons into the cavern?’
‘They are our dragons,’ Artell said. ‘They have chosen to be with us.’
‘An Ancient with a dragon! Who has heard of such a thing?’
‘He is not mine. He belongs to...’ Artell stopped and looked at Cora.
‘Is he still out there?’ Cora asked.
Henda nodded, but didn’t look at her.
Cora straightened out the tunic, the one Teven had given her that had belonged to his mother. She ran her hand over the deep green dragon as she moved past him. Artell sighed as he pushed the spoon into the stew and followed.
‘I hope you know what you will tell him,’ Henda said, striding ahead.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t.’
Henda was still mumbling when they emerged in the trees. Then she led the way to where Teven was waiting on a fallen log. He stood quickly as they approached, and Cora sucked in a deep breath.
‘There is still something different about you,’ he muttered.
‘I have found where I need to be,’ she said.
‘Not with an Oldra then,’ he continued in the same tone.
She tried not to sigh. How were they going to work with him in the future when he behaved like this? He had been a man who did as he was required whether he wanted to or not, but he too had changed.
‘How is your father?’ Cora asked.
‘He doesn’t like that title.’ When Cora opened her mouth, Teven held up his hand. ‘Nor you calling him by his name.’
‘I don’t think it really matters what name I use; he will still try to take what he wants.’
‘H
e is stronger than he looks,’ Teven murmured.
‘So am I,’ Cora said.
‘You are not staying with the Nerrim,’ he said.
She shook her head.
‘She stays with her new mate,’ Henda said quickly.
It was not the way she wanted to tell him, and his face fell.
Cora heard the footsteps behind her as Artell emerged from the trees. Teven glared at him, then stood slowly. He looked at Artell and then back to Cora.
‘Teven,’ Artell said, stepping forward.
Teven groaned aloud and then nodded slowly. ‘You did more than meet then.’
‘It was meant to be,’ Artell said as Cora tried to form the words.
‘So she was telling me,’ he said, his grin too similar to his father’s. Cora stepped back beside Artell. Teven sighed and nodded once. ‘It is what it is. You will not return to us?’
‘There is someone you should meet,’ Cora said quickly, and Artell groaned.
‘It is a small space,’ he whispered hoarsely.
‘It is important.’
Artell sighed, then motioned for Teven to follow. They were only just within the trees when the large dragon appeared between them. Teven initially took a step back, but then he stepped forward and ran his hand down the dragon’s face.
‘I can hear them both,’ he said, looking to Cora beside him. ‘Will there be more?’
They both nodded.
‘Why can’t I hear them?’ Henda asked, suddenly confused.
‘You are not part of this clan.’
‘How does any of this stop Merik?’ Henda asked, the frustration clear in her voice.
‘I think this is something very separate from Merik,’ Cora said.
‘You can’t call him that,’ Teven said, remaining close to the dragon, although the whine was no longer present in his voice as he said it.
‘You are needed with us,’ Artell said. ‘There is a purpose to our little clan.’
‘He will destroy you,’ Teven said softly.
‘I don’t think he can reach me now that I understand what he is,’ Cora said.
‘Are you sure?’
She wasn’t certain, but she nodded to reassure the man before her.
‘Where is Serassa?’ Teven asked. As though called, she appeared from the trees. He stepped forward and looked over her. ‘You have grown.’
She bowed her head to him and then nudged him with her head, pushing him.
‘Yet just the same. We are a clan of three, with two dragons. What happens now?’
‘I don’t...’ Cora started, then looked around for Henda. ‘Where did she go?’
‘Back to the cavern?’ Teven suggested.
Artell shook his head and raced back through the trees. Cora and Teven ran behind him. They found Henda sitting on the ground, staring into the distance, large tears tracking down her cheeks. Cora dropped in front of her and put her hands on her knees.
‘Henda?’ she whispered.
‘I can’t save her,’ the woman murmured, looking at the ground beyond Cora and then up at the cliff face. Cora turned and followed where she looked.
‘No one could have saved her,’ Cora said, taking her shaking hands and holding them still.
‘How could she have done such a thing?’ Henda asked, her voice faint.
‘It was a long time ago,’ Cora whispered.
Henda glared at Cora and pushed her back as she stood. She pointed to a space on the ground, but there was nothing there. The tears flowing faster down her cheeks as she sniffed. ‘How can you be so heartless? I have lost my sister.’
‘Sister?’ Teven asked, stepping forward.
‘You didn’t know?’ Artell asked him.
‘I don’t know anything!’ Teven said too loudly. ‘He hasn’t allowed it. Your people allowed her to die and did nothing to assist me. I don’t even know her name,’ he added quietly.
‘He is in your head,’ Cora said to Henda. ‘He is making her relive it,’ she said, turning to Artell.
Artell nodded, but stayed where he was. ‘I don’t know how to stop it.’
‘Henda,’ Cora said softly, climbing to her feet and reaching out for her. The woman pushed her away. ‘Henda, why did she leave with him?’
‘The baby,’ she said. ‘He told her the baby would die if she did not go with him.’
‘How could she have allowed herself to come to be with child? She knew what he was, or what he was rumoured to be.’
‘He showed her something different. A different world from the one she lived in, the one we all lived in. When she realised what he was and what he had done, it was too late. Our father didn’t want to let her go, but he had no choice.’
‘How did he get the others to follow?’
Henda shook her head, her breathing calmer. The panic at reliving her sister’s death appeared to have passed.
‘Did he train with you? With Silphi?’
Henda looked up and focused on Cora. ‘He didn’t have the skill. There was something, but not enough to work with for the good of the people. Silphi would not take him on.’
‘Did he resent that?’
She shook her head. ‘He said he didn’t need her.’
‘Did he find someone else?’
‘I spent my time with Silphi, not with him. He went hunting with others.’
Cora turned back to Artell. ‘We need to talk to your father,’ she said.
‘There is not much he will tell us.’
‘Merik grew stronger and learnt what he could do. I need to know if he learnt that from someone else.’
‘There is no one else.’
‘How does he get into my dreams? How has he seen me for so long? How does he have the power he does to convince you something is real when it is not?’
‘He is just a man.’
‘If that were true, someone would have stopped him by now. He rarely comes out of the cavern, yet those who don’t want to be there remain.’
You need to see within him. Only you can see what he was and how he came to be that man, Serassa pressed into her mind.
‘But I can’t get close enough. As I look into him, he may do the same to me, and I don’t know if he can do what he has threatened to do.’
‘You haven’t dreamed of his history?’ Artell asked.
‘Only when he left the Nerrim, but he is in my dreams.’
‘There may be a way for you to use that knowledge of him.’
‘But how? You had no idea of what he really was, and yet you feared him. He would have left the cavern around the time I was born.’ Cora looked at Teven. ‘We must be close in age, or you might even be older. He was already powerful when he left the cavern, and he knew what he needed to become more powerful.’ She shook her head. ‘I have no idea what to do.’
She looked at those standing around her and then stepped back. In the shadows of the trees ahead of her was Merik, watching closely and grinning broadly. It wasn’t an image of him—he was there.
‘He uses the shadows,’ Cora whispered as the group turned, and he disappeared. ‘He has found something in the darkness.’
She looked back to the group, and then Artell’s eyes went wide. Before she could guess at what he might have seen, strong arms pulled her away from the others and shadows closed around her.
Chapter 29
Cora stood in the darkness, aware only of the man behind her and unsure of where she was or how she got there.
‘You can’t shine so bright without your mother’s gifts,’ he whispered hoarsely in her ear, and she shivered from the feel of his hot breath on her neck. ‘You don’t have the dragons. And...’ His hand slipped down and across her midsection. ‘You have not created a child in the fire who would save you.’
Despite her fears, Cora transitioned to the strong stone Artell had discovered.
‘That cannot protect you from me,’ Merik said. His hand slithered over her body and pressed on her chest, over the mark of Oldra.
Cora
closed her eyes against the darkness and concentrated on the man behind her. He was just a man. An older man. Not an Ancient—not like Arminel. She thought of him wise, old and far stronger than he appeared. There were days she thought he would live forever. Even though he had lost the woman he loved. There were not many male Ancients Cora was aware of. Artell was only the second, yet she was sure there were more. The hand over her heart pressed harder, pushing against the stone wall she had built. Merik’s heart beat loud in her ears, pushing through all her senses.
She reached out for his heart, hoping that Serassa was right and she needed to reach him. She had thought she might feel pain as she pushed out her senses, but there was nothing there. The shadows moved in, pushing on her as she tried to see inside the space. It contained only darkness.
A man with long white hair, a kind yet crinkled face and faded red robes appeared before her. The man behind her tried to find his way into her heart as he held her tight. Cora twisted to look back at him, but he didn’t appear to have noticed the man before them.
Then another appeared, not as old as the first, his hair darker and peppered with grey, cut short and messy like the men of her clan.
‘We are chosen by Essara as often as women,’ the elder of the two said. ‘You have not lived long enough to experience all that an Ancient can.’
‘Why have you come?’ Cora asked, and Merik stopped.
‘You wondered at male Ancients. We thought we could help you,’ the second said.
‘Merik is not an Ancient,’ she said.
Both Ancients before her nodded.
‘What do you think you can do?’ the man behind her said. ‘I may not be Ancient, but I have more power than any of them.’
‘Where did you get it from?’ Cora asked.
‘I was born with it. With a gift of visions.’
‘A seer?’
Both men before her scowled.
‘I gift the visions,’ Merik said with a cackle, and she felt the heat of his breath through the transition.
‘Then how did you get into my dreams?’
‘I was searching for you. I can put myself inside your head, as well as anything else I want.’
Cora had a thought of Artell, dead by the hearth of their cavern, her hands sticky with his blood. But she blinked through it, knowing it wasn’t true. She looked towards the two men standing before her. As she blinked again, it was as though she was standing over Artell again and Merik was there in the shadows, watching her.
The Heart of Oldra Page 24