He closed his eyes after a while, thinking that if he slept in the dream, maybe it would allow him to wake in reality. Then she sighed softly and shifted, causing him to again open his eyes. She had managed to move even closer to him, he realized in consternation. Indeed, when her head lolled a bit more, her lemon-scented hair brushed his bicep.
Somehow, she seemed to be striving to annoy him even in her sleep—in the middle of another dream.
Shaking his head at himself, he tried to shift away from her. He realized as he moved that her weight was unbalanced. The moment he eased away from Nyx’s belly, the sleeping female all but fell against him. Growling low in his throat, he put a hand to her head with the thought of shoving her forcefully from him.
Her hair was like spun silk.
Unbidden curiosity quickly overrode his irritation as his fingers sifted through the brightly colored curls. He could admit that he had wondered whether her hair would feel like normal hair. The shiny dark blue curls, in particular, appeared to be made out of a sort of shimmering fiber more than they did hair. He discovered now that the texture of all of the curls was the same, regardless of their color. Fascinating.
Realizing what he was doing, he abruptly dropped her hair. After giving more thought to the idea of shoving her away, he glowered at the top of her multi-hued head. Then he issued a resigned sound and moved his arm so that she was pressed against his side with her head on his chest, as she seemed so inclined to be.
“Damned females,” he mumbled as he put his free hand on the tomahawk’s handle. He forced himself to ignore the fact that another being was touching him for the first time in ages, even in a dream. And worked harder to ignore the effect that touch had on him. “Utter nuisances.”
But this time when he closed his eyes, he slept.
Chapter 23
"What do you think happened out here?” Clara Kate asked in a quiet tone.
Tiege glanced up. Like Quincy and Ini-herit, he squatted near the female Mercesti’s remains that Sophia found while in her panther form. C.K. and Sophia stood beside each other about ten feet away, studying the area in the moonlight.
“There are a number of tracks,” Tiege said. “And holes in the ground.”
“For tent stakes,” Quincy observed.
“A mobile Mercesti camp,” Ini-herit added. “I am thinking there are anywhere between thirty and fifty Mercesti, depending upon how many could fit in each tent and whether they all even resided within the tents.”
“It certainly isn’t unheard of for a Mercesti to die at the hands of another Mercesti,” Quincy said. “In-fighting is rather common, in fact. Perhaps that’s what happened here.”
“This female died particularly violently,” Sophia murmured. Tiege barely made out the words. “Her blood was spread over quite a circumference.”
“Maybe she was attacked by an animal,” C.K. hazarded.
Sophia hesitated, but then shook her head. “There were no animal scents surrounding the remains that would lead me to think that. And…”
They all looked at her when she trailed off. C.K. reached out to put a hand on her shoulder in a show of support. “And what?” she prompted in her calm voice.
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, Sophia shifted her gaze to some distant spot. Then she said, “I believe that the Mercesti who attacked her…forced himself on her. I could detect evidence of it.”
Tiege felt the words flow over him like a chill in the air. He got to his feet, as did Quincy and Ini-herit. “And you believe they have another female with them?” he asked.
“Yes. I did a thorough scan of the area in the panther form, absorbing as many elements of the scene as I could through the animal’s heightened senses. There was definitely another female among them.” She frowned. “There was something about the scent of the new female that felt different from the Mercesti scents. It was cleaner somehow.”
“You mean, you think the female isn’t Mercesti?” C.K. asked, her brows drawn in concern.
Sophia nodded.
“Could it be Tate?” Quincy asked, glancing at Tiege.
The question had Tiege’s gut clenching. His sister in the hands of these savages? He would kill every last one of them.
“That would seem unlikely,” Ini-herit said. He walked over to another edge of the clearing and studied the ground. “It appears this group left in this direction. Exactly opposite the direction we are headed.”
Tiege’s relief was short-lived. “That means there's some other female still with them,” he said. He recalled the conversation he and his cousin Joshua overheard among the elders and his parents on the day Tate was taken by the kragen. “The other elders said that a female Scultresti named Luvania was killed in a violent manner here on the mainland. Luvania said that her attacker was a male named Zachariah.”
Ini-herit and Quincy both stood straighter. “Are you certain you heard the name correctly?” Ini-herit asked.
“Yes.”
The two Corgloresti exchanged looks.
“What?” C.K. asked. “You two obviously know something.”
“It’s odd,” Quincy replied. “Zachariah was the second commander of the Gloresti. He was killed more than fifty years ago by Mercesti raiders.”
Silence fell as they all processed this.
“Evidently, he’s still alive,” Tiege said at last. “And I guess that explains why the elders all looked so troubled and perplexed when they mentioned him.”
“You are saying that Zachariah is still alive and is now living down here on the mainland, preyeing on females?” Ini-herit asked.
Tiege shrugged and nodded.
The elder’s brow furrowed. His hands on his hips, he gazed in the direction the Mercesti had taken. “That does not sound like Zachariah.”
“If he’s killed someone like you’ve described,” Quincy pointed out, “then he has converted to a Mercesti.”
Once again, they all exchanged looks. Sophia said, “Maybe he’s one of the Mercesti in this group. If so, what I pieced together from my earlier investigation was that he killed that Mercesti female with the other female nearby. He could be doing it to entertain the Mercesti traveling with him. Who really knows?”
C.K.’s frown increased. “That other female’s life is in danger,” she said. “We have to try and help her.”
Tiege clenched his jaw in indecision. He agreed with her. But Tate was in the opposite direction.
“We’ll have to split up,” Sophia said. “Some of us go after Tate and some of us go after the female hostage. It’s possible there will be some Waresti along the path who can help.”
They all considered this idea in silence. Tiege knew she was right.
“Tiege can track Tate,” C.K. said. “And Soph, you can track that female if you shift.”
Sophia nodded.
C.K. glanced at Quincy. “You have some supplies and healing skills. Ini-herit can heal with his power. So it makes sense for Quincy and Sophia to stick together and head after the unknown female.” Now, she shifted her gaze to Ini-herit. “And you should take Tiege after Tate.”
“And you will come with us,” Ini-herit added.
“I was thinking—”
“That was not a question.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, C.K. glared at him. Before she could light into him as she clearly intended to, Ini-herit moved forward and took her arm. They walked a far enough distance away that whatever words they spoke were too low to hear. After a moment, they returned. C.K.’s cheeks were flushed, but for what reason Tiege couldn’t guess.
“I’ll travel with Ini-herit and Tiege,” she said. “For now, we should get back to camp and get some rest. We’ll want to get an early start tomorrow.”
Harold and the experienced Waresti under his command didn’t stop to make camp during the night. There wasn’t any need. Over time, Waresti developed the ability to go days without sleeping or eating and still remain as vigilant and energetic as a fully-rested Estilorian. Simi
larly, their burnt orange eyes adjusted easily between varying degrees of light. While they couldn’t see very well in the absolute dark like the Mercesti, they had excellent night vision.
They were crafted for offense.
Moving in near-perfect silence, they fanned out through the forest and looked for signs they were on the right track. Harold relied largely on instinct to guide this rescue effort. He also used what he knew of the five individuals traveling in search of Tate to enhance his team’s chances of successfully completing their mission.
Tiege was young, strong, intelligent and, due to his mother’s nature, quite intuitive. He had been trained by his family to defend himself and had been educated about nature and his environment. But learning things in a classroom or training setting and experiencing them himself were two different things. When it came right down to it, Tiege was green and untried…and thus, unpredictable.
Clara Kate shared many of the same traits as her cousin. She also possessed patience, charisma and grace under pressure, three things that made her a natural leader. Because she was also quite loyal, Harold wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she had been the one to direct the others to depart with Tiege, nor would he be surprised if she made many of the decisions that guided the group now. He had helped train her over the years and greatly respected her judgment. Of all of the Kynzesti, he felt he knew her the best. He could only hope that knowledge would help him find all of them.
Tiege and Clara Kate’s cousin, Sophia, was the true wild card in the group. With her ability to shift, she could turn into just about any animal on the plane. In her animal form, she would be nearly impossible to identify. It was a remarkable ability, and one that concerned him. If Sophia wanted to stay hidden, it was likely no one would find her. Harold figured their only hope was that she stayed with the others on this quest.
Quincy’s participation in this venture defied Harold’s logic. By nature, Quincy was a rule-follower. He was fiercely loyal to kyria Amber, adelfi Olivia and adelfi Skye. Their father had been his best friend, and the sisters had once saved his life, making his commitment to them all the more powerful. Leaving them when they were pregnant struck Harold as very outside of his character. The only reason Harold could conceive that might possibly compel the Corgloresti to leave the sisters at their time of need was an even more powerful loyalty.
Which brought him to the Corgloresti elder.
Archigos Ini-herit was about the most level-headed, predictable being that Harold had ever met. Never in all of his centuries of existence had the Waresti commander ever known the Corgloresti elder to do something that, at least to Harold’s thinking, was so rash. He could simply not reason why the elder had gone on this odd excursion without apprising any of the other elders. And he knew very well, since he shared thoughts with his own class elder, archigos Uriel, that no such effort had been made.
This had prompted Harold to carefully analyze what he knew of archigos Ini-herit’s character. The one thing that the Corgloresti elder had in spades was faith. And that, above everything else, was what convinced Harold that Tate must still be alive.
He insisted that the other Waresti proceed with that same understanding. While the Waresti was not a class known for its faith, it was known for its logic and ability to assess situations. Among the Waresti, there was none better than Harold at identifying the quickest and most efficient solution to any problem. Thus, when he issued the order to search for Tate as well as Tiege and his companions, there hadn’t been a single argument voiced.
After nearly thirty-six hours of diligent searching, however, Harold began to doubt his own abilities. He had led one contingent in the direction that Celine predicted the kragen went and had sent his second commander, Alexius, along the likely path Tiege and the others traveled. Thus far, none of them had encountered anything to support his theories.
As the second night of their search slowly blanketed the plane, Harold considered calling off their present course. It had felt right, but it was highly unusual for a carefully planned maneuver to not pan out within two days. It was beyond frustrating, especially with archigos Uriel checking in frequently for updates. Harold understood the need for those updates, as his elder was sitting with the parents of each of the missing Kynzesti, and they were surely looking to him for answers. That pressure only heightened Harold’s focus. He was determined not to overlook any possible clue that would provide answers for the beings he considered friends.
So when he saw Celine motioning at long last, he felt a huge amount of relief and exultation. He knew his hunch had been correct.
He and the other nearby Waresti approached Celine, cautious not to get too close. Her motions indicated she had found some helpful evidence, something they didn’t want to disturb by trampling it. She used hand signals that the Waresti had developed over the centuries. Although Harold could communicate telepathically with archigos Uriel, Alexius and Donald, such communication wasn’t possible among the rest of the Waresti. Because stealth was always of high importance with Mercesti roaming freely on this plane, the hand signals had been a necessary adaptation.
Kragen tracks, Celine signaled when they approached. They are large enough to belong to the one that took Tate.
Harold squatted beside the easily discernible indentations that Celine found. Using hand signals, he indicated that the Waresti circling around him follow his lead.
The tracks led to a cave not even fifty feet away. Drawing his sword, Harold produced a ball of light and tossed it into the yawning black cavern. Although only silence greeted them, there was a rancid scent in the air that indicated something either lay inside or had been there recently.
Hoping they weren’t too late, he moved silently into the cave, scouting with his sharp eyes for any signs of life or movement. Unfortunately, they didn’t find any.
But they did find blood.
Harold circled the smears of blood on the ground, assessing how much of it there appeared to be. He reasoned almost immediately that whatever wound had caused it hadn’t been fatal. While that was a relief, it didn’t cause near the sense of accomplishment as his next discovery.
“What is that, sir?” Celine whispered near his elbow when he lifted his find.
“It’s a feather,” he responded.
And as he slipped it into his pocket and reached for the two beads beside it, he smiled and sent out a thought to his elder.
Chapter 24
Tate woke up in the middle of a steamy dream in which she and Sparky were kissing in the rain. Unfortunately, that had really been a dream and not a part of their unusual connection.
A pity.
She woke up to find herself face-down in a puddle. Sputtering, she jerked fully awake and tried to push herself up, only to slide in the mud with a loud splatter. She realized as she managed to get her elbows planted and looked around that it must have rained overnight and she slept right through it. Her fire was nothing more than a mess of sloppy ashes.
The sun briefly peeked out as the gray clouds parted. An anemic amount of light bathed the area, reminding Tate that she was still near the water.
She was covered nearly head to toe with mud. Although she desperately needed another bath, the idea of going back into the freezing, murky river held no appeal whatsoever. Taking stock of her supplies, she realized that she had just enough of her soap nut and lemon balm cleanser from the night before to use for one last scrubbing.
Sighing over her deplorable condition, she got to her feet and gathered her things. It wouldn’t hurt to walk along the banks of the river to see if it led to more impressive waters, she reasoned. If worse came to worse, she’d jump into the river again for a quick wash.
Making a face as her wet boots squished with every step, she started walking. As she scoped out the water to her right, her mind turned to the dream conversation she’d had with Sparky the night before. Although at first she’d been appalled to learn that he had left her behind in the cave, she could acknowledge that he had
saved her life. Sure, he hadn’t waited around to nurse her back to health, but he hadn’t been obligated to do anything. She could only appreciate the fact that he chose to use the antitoxin, doing what he could to reverse Nyx’s actions.
She had no idea how long it would be until he sent Nyx after her now. He had obviously been irritated with her before she went to sleep, which would likely extend the process. Though she didn’t know him very well, she figured he would wrestle with the decision for a while before he finally gave in to his natural predilection and did the right thing.
She wasn’t about to sit around waiting for him to make up his mind, though. Plus, she reasoned, if the kragen could find her there, she could find her anywhere.
About fifteen minutes from the place she camped the night before, she came to a slope that had her spirits rising. Breaking into a light jog, she scrambled along the slope until she reached a break in the horizon.
The river fell twenty-five feet below in the form of a magnificent waterfall. Trees sloped down along either side of the wide pool at the waterfall’s base. Huge rocks started at Tate’s position and piled down, forming the tall base that supported the waterfall. She easily found a path down and started descending. Although the water wouldn’t be any warmer, at least this way she could just stand under the water to get clean.
She was halfway down when she heard the singing. At first, she stiffened in fear and surprise. Then she realized it was a female’s voice. The song sounded like a cheerful one.
Hurrying the rest of the way, Tate reached the bottom of the rocks and edged behind the waterfall, where the singing seemed to originate. Maybe this happy, singing female could help her get home.
“Hello?” she called out.
The singing paused. Tate looked around the alcove behind the waterfall with growing bewilderment. She could see from one side of the enclosed area to the other, but there wasn’t another being in sight.
“Oookay,” she said, shaking her head. “Tate, you really have to get a grip. You’re totally losing it.”