Smart boy, thought Rogan. He was giving the King a way to do the right thing and save face in front of his soldiers. “I need to travel to Sarphia to rejoin the other Savitars.” He looked around at all of the Dwarves. “An oath of the blood resides in the marrow of my bones, but I will swear again to all of you now, with the Highworld as witness, that I am a friend to the Dwarven people and all of Massa. I go forth now to battle the Mage, Adrian Ravener, from enslaving the people of this island, and I will not stop until he is destroyed. If you wish, I will return here to Kondor after the threat is over to stand trial for any crime I may have committed.”
“There is still much to resolve,” King Rik pointed out, “and I will have you back here as soon as the war has been won.”
“You have my word, Your Grace.”
“The Dwarves have done their part as well. Two cohorts of the Deepstone Army were dispatched to Starfell yesterday.”
Just yesterday? The Dwarves will never arrive in time to help Iserlohn. However, now was not the time to quibble.
“Now, get out of my land,” Rik demanded and wheeled his horse around aggressively. As the King thundered away, the mounted Fists scrambled to catch up.
Janin placed a hand on his arm. “I still want to go with you. Now more than ever.”
He stared into her eyes and noticed for the first time that they were a lovely shade of gray. “Where I’m going, only the Savitars may travel,” he said. “But, I very much appreciate the offer.”
She looked crestfallen. “You need me.”
He realized then that she didn’t want to part from him just yet, because he felt the same way. “Would you be interested in traveling to Sarphia with me? I would like to have the company. After I rejoin my friends, you can meet up with the Deepstone Army.”
She smiled. “I would like that.”
He gestured to the house behind him. “Unfortunately, I need to get a few hours of sleep before we go. I don’t think I can take another step otherwise.”
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll take watch.”
“Cousin!” Prince Erik, dismounted now, hurried over to them. “Cousin, I just want to thank you and apologize for my father. It is well known that he can be a little hot-tempered at times.”
Rogan tilted his head with a raised eyebrow.
“All right, very hot-tempered,” laughed the boy. “But, he does see reason after he thinks things through.”
“No thanks necessary,” Rogan assured him. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get some rest and be on my way.”
“Wait! I came to give you something.” The Prince held out his hand and a silver pendant dangled from his grip.
“Where did you get this?” Rogan breathed in shock.
“My father has had a box of keepsakes from your family home for many years. I searched through it once and found this pendant. One look at how the flaming torch flickered confirmed to me that it was infused with magic. I vowed that if I ever had the chance to meet you, I would return it.” He suddenly sounded like the young boy he was. “I love magic.”
“Thank you, Erik,” he said as he put the pendant around his neck. “Your actions today may have saved thousands of lives.”
The boy grinned and bowed. “I leave you now to your sleep. I look forward to your return when this is over.”
Erik held out his hand.
And it was at that very moment—as Rogan was shaking the hand of the Prince of Dwarves in the early-morning hour with the sun making its climb toward the west—that the world was plunged into darkness.
Chapter 35
Queen Grace
Kiernan looked in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize herself. Her long wavy blonde hair, pulled back into the severe braid preferred by the Gems, added years to her youthful features. Her cheeks had a hollow look from the constant combat training and her lack of appetite.
Beck is coming.
Bajan is coming.
She had known for almost two days now and still hadn’t found the words she would use to tell them that she wasn’t leaving Elloree. This was her home now. But, how was she to explain that to Beck? It was hard enough for her to comprehend the emotional journey she had been on let alone adequately describe it to him.
She wasn’t even concerned any longer about the women she saw him with on that evening so long ago. This wasn’t about him. It was about her.
Bajan had been trying to reach her all morning, so she knew they were close.
A knock on her door startled her and she jumped to her feet. “Come in.”
It was Diamond, and the beautiful sorceress wore a grim look. “A young man approaches. Yours?”
She nodded.
“Stay here. Sapphire and Citrine will deal with him.”
“No, Diamond, I have to talk to him. I need to make him understand that I’m staying here with all of my sisters of my own free will.”
Diamond’s eyes were as hard as her name. “Sapphire will make him understand.”
“I don’t want him harmed, Diamond!”
The witch raised a pale eyebrow. “I guess that depends on how well he takes no for an answer.”
***
Beck didn’t attempt to disguise his approach to the sorceresses’ castle, suspecting that a direct tactic was best. That, and the fact that he didn’t have time for anything else. He needed to find Kiernan and get out as quickly as possible.
As he drew closer with Bajan at his side, he observed several women standing on a wide staircase that led to the front entrance of a graceful and feminine castle with spires covered in a pink-hued tile and colorful pennants flapping in the breeze. A narrow road made of colored gemstones cut through the middle of lush, well-shorn grounds.
He didn’t see any guards or soldiers, just the women. And most of those, he noticed with more than a little concern, carried weapons. Surprisingly, all were formally attired with their hair in braids.
A raven-haired woman stepped off the stairs and approached. “May I help you?” she asked, cold blue eyes glaring at him suspiciously.
“I’m looking for Kiernan Everard. She is—”
“Not available,” the woman finished for him.
Beck drew in a breath. “I came for Kiernan, and I’m not leaving without her.”
“Oh, but you are. The only question that remains is whether you would like to leave on your own two feet or be carried.”
Beck stared at the woman for a moment and then made a decision. He put one leg out as if to depart, and then forcefully spun away from her and leapt into the air, somersaulting over her head to land on the bottom step of the stairs in front of the other women. The black-haired sorceress screamed out in fury behind him, and Bajan answered her with a mighty roar. The ferocity of his bellow caused all of the witches to hesitate in alarm, and that was all he needed to get past them and into the castle.
“Kiernan! Kiernan, where are you?” he shouted, running into the foyer and sliding along a white marble floor and past a highly wrought fountain.
Blue eyes blazing, the dark witch stalked in after him, her lips moving fast.
“Kiernan! Kier— Ah!” His arms flailed helplessly as his feet were swept out from under him and he crashed to the floor. Before he could recover, an invisible force lifted him into the air upside down.
He saw the fist coming toward his face while suspended in midair but was powerless to avoid it after the sorceress cast another spell that pinned his arms to his sides. She struck him in the mouth, and he spat blood onto the marble floor as the room filled with more and more women. One with fiery red hair approached and began to strike him in a series of what Beck was certain were magically-assisted punches in both sides of his body. His breath left his lungs and he grunted when one of his ribs broke.
The black-haired sorceress grabbed his hair. “Let us try this again, shall we? Your own two feet or carried?”
He looked up at her defiantly. “I will not…leave…without Kiernan.”
The wom
en attacked then, and he had never known such pain in his life.
***
Princess! Are you going to stand by and let them kill Beck? I am shut outside of the castle, but I can hear them beating him. Princess Kiernan Everard! What has happened to you? Help Beck!
“Kiernan, are you all right?” Diamond asked, and spun her around by her shoulder. The sorceress recoiled from her in fright. “Highworld! What is wrong with your eyes?”
Kiernan broke her connection with Bajan and blinked. “I have to go. They’re killing him!” She ran to the door, yanked it open and stumbled through, righting herself to sprint down the hall to the front foyer.
“Kiernan!”
She ignored Diamond and kept running, leg muscles straining with the effort. She arrived just as six of the witches opened the front doors and threw Beck bodily down the stairs to land facedown in the dirt outside.
“Stop! What are you doing?” she screamed, pushing the women out of her way to run to Beck. He let out a soft moan as she knelt beside him. She looked up at her new sisters sternly. “Leave us! I need to speak to him alone.”
“Kiernan, are you sure…?” began Citrine.
“Yes! Now, please leave. I’ll only be a few moments.”
The sorceresses reluctantly withdrew, respecting her wish for privacy.
“Beck, are you hurt badly?” she whispered urgently, slowly turning his body onto his back. His face was covered in dirt and bloodied from a split lip, but it was Beck. Her Beck. And, her body trembled at the need to throw her arms around him.
He groaned again. “I will be fine…I think. What was…that all about?”
“Beck, I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would react like that. I think they’re just trying to protect me.”
He sat up, holding an arm around his ribs. “That redhead really packs a punch.”
“She is a sorceress of magical combat.”
Beck looked at her for the first time in over a month. He took in her dress and braided hair. “You look different.”
She lowered her eyes. “I am different, and I don’t know if I can help you understand,” she said, withdrawing from him.
“Try me.”
“The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you, Beck. You know that, don’t you?”
He nodded.
“But, this is my home now. I belong here with all of my sisters.”
“Kiernan, you can’t mean that! We have to go! Right now! Adrian Ravener is killing people all over the island. Demons walk the earth! We have to stop him.” He paused. “It’s our sworn duty to stop him.”
“No.” She stood up and removed the pendant from around her neck and held it out to him. “Take this. It’s the pendant you need in the upcoming battle, not me.”
Beck took the pendant and got to his feet with a wince. “To hell with the battle! I need you, Kiernan! I love you!”
She turned her back to him. “It’s for the best, Beck. You must go.”
He spun her around, a tear dropping from his eye. “You promised me, Kiernan! In your mother’s dressing room in Nysa, you promised me that we would be together always.”
The reminder elicited her own tears and they streamed unchecked down her face. “Stop, Beck! Don’t make this any harder than it has to be!”
“Just answer me one question, Kiernan,” he croaked. “Do you still love me? At all?”
She turned away again and fell to her knees. She couldn’t look at him when she answered. “No. The answer is no, I don’t love you anymore.”
The ground rumbled underneath her and Beck let out an agonized scream. She turned and watched as he threw his hands out and uprooted a massive oak tree on the grounds in front of the castle and sent it sailing through the air. Face etched in pain, he went down to one knee and wrapped an arm around his ribs.
“Beck…”
Lurching back upright, he didn’t look at her as he staggered away down the road.
Kiernan put a fist to her mouth to keep from crying out. Out of nowhere, Bajan appeared in front of her. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. His blazing green eyes said it all.
Bajan, I am so sorry.
Why Princess?
I have my reasons, Bajan. Stay with me.
I cannot.
Please, Bajan. You are my bondmate! Stay with me!
While you have strayed from your path, Princess, mine remains clear. I must help the Savitars. Good-bye.
The Draca Cat turned and began walking after the faltering Beck.
Bajan! Don’t leave me!
He did not respond.
She stayed outside on her knees until both Beck and Bajan disappeared from sight. When she didn’t have any tears left to shed, she stood to go back into the castle and as though in response to her mood, the whole world went dark.
She had no will to question why and numbly retraced her steps back to her chambers. None of her sisters tried to intercept her for which she was grateful.
She lay down on her bed in the dark, not bothering to light the tapers in the heavy bronze holder on her nightstand. Emotions warred in a heated battle inside her mind and body. She tossed and turned for hours praying for sleep to take her away from the unbearable pain of her waking life.
It finally worked. Her eyelids grew heavy, her senses sluggish. That’s why it scared her so much when a bright light burst into existence in the center of her room. She sat up in bed and pulled the covers tight to her neck, sure that Adrian Ravener was there to kill her.
“Do not be frightened, my love,” said a voice from the light, warm and loving.
She breathed a sigh of relief. She recognized the voice, and it was just a dream.
“It is me, Keke.”
Queen Grace Kenley Everard walked out of the light toward the bed, her body silhouetted in an otherworldly glow.
“Maman!” It was a child’s name for a mother, but all she knew.
“Yes, darling, it is me.”
“I love when you come to me in my dreams.”
“I am always with you, my darling, every moment of every day. But, this is not a dream.”
“I miss you so much.”
“I miss you too, Keke.” Her mother was the only one who ever called her by that name and it made her heart soar to hear it again. “I have come to remind you that you cannot give up the fight. You are Savitar.”
“You know of that?” Kiernan asked in surprise
“Yes.” The radiant wraith moved closer, her face pained.
Kiernan tilted her head in question. “But, Gemini said you wanted me to stay here.”
Her mother nodded and wisps of vapor trailed around her head sinuously. “That was the foolish wish of a frightened mother for her daughter. I now know that you must be there with the Savitars if there is to be any hope for Massa.”
“But, Maman—”
Grace Everard swelled in size and Kiernan cringed back. “I will not have my daughter, the Princess of Men, hide her head while innocent people die!”
The words caused the blood oath to flare to life, making Kiernan faint from the magic now swirling inside her body.
“You must fight, Kiernan!”
“Is that what you want?” she cried.
“It is what must be! You are a Princess! A protector!”
“Then, I will do as you say, Maman,” she declared, all of the uncertainty shedding from her mind at last. “I will fight! Highworld help me I will fight!”
Her mother’s image receded and returned to its former size. “I’m so very proud of you, Kiernan,” she said, softly now, teary wisps flowing down her misty face. “Remember that always.”
Kiernan swallowed. “I will.”
“Do you love him?” her mother asked suddenly, and Kiernan didn’t have to ask who she meant.
“With every fiber of my being.”
“You hurt him very badly.”
Kiernan buried her head in her hands. “I know, Maman, I know.”
“Fight
for him, too, Kiernan.”
She shook her head. “It’s too late. He’s gone.”
“No, he is camped south of the Illian. The darkness and his injuries have slowed his progress.”
Hope coursed through her body and burning tears stung the back of her eyes. “This is not a dream, is it, Maman?”
“No.”
“But, why have you appeared to me now at this time?”
“Ask Bajan.”
“Bajan?”
“I must go. I love you very much. Never forget that.” The glowing figure slowly faded away. “Tell Gemini that the cats are singing! She will know what it means.”
Kiernan jumped off the bed to reach for her. “I will! I love you, too, Maman!”
And, the light was gone.
Kiernan scrubbed her tears away and fumbled in the abrupt return to darkness for the tinderbox to light her candles. With trembling hands, she managed to get them lit and packed her belongings as quickly as she could. She stripped off the dress the Gems had given her and put on her blue gossamer dress with the arm veils and gold cuffs and her sandals.
As she raced from the room, she ripped the braid out of her hair, tumbling it free.
After passing the fountain, she took the stairs two at a time and came to a frantic halt in front of Gemini’s chambers. She pounded on the door. “Gemini! Are you awake? It’s me, Kiernan!”
She heard shuffling from behind the door and waited impatiently.
Gemini opened the door dressed in a night cloak, her gray hair hanging loose for sleep. She held a candle out in front of her. “What is it, dear? It’s the middle of the night!”
“I’m leaving,” she said without preamble.
Gemini’s eyebrows knitted together. “Does this have anything to do with that boy?”
She smiled. “It has everything to do with that boy. It also has to do with my mother. She came to me in my room, Gemini. I don’t have time to explain. Diamond will figure it out before long.”
“I can’t allow you to leave, Kiernan. You don’t understand.”
“I’m not asking your permission, Gemini, but I do understand.” She tempered her resolute words by pulling Gemini into a hug. “Thank you for everything. I know you were doing what you thought my mother wanted, but circumstances have changed.” She pressed her mouth close to Gemini’s ear and whispered, “She told me to tell you that the cats are singing.”
Gemini squealed and pulled back. “How…how do you know that phrase?”
“I have to go, Gemini. Can I take a horse from the stables?”