“Maybe there’s volcanic activity near them. Based on what I learned while working with Edward, they’d naturally be drawn to it.”
“The Lucidium order would know this, wouldn’t they?” Farryn peered at the girl as she sat on the floor, rocking on her heels.
Catori nodded. “Yes.”
“You don’t think they went after them already, do you?”
Catori chewed her bottom lip pensively. “No. they don’t know where to look. They do check out volcanic activity, but my people would avoid such obvious places.”
“A dormant volcano?” Gabriel offered. “I bet they chose a dormant one instead. It’d be the last place the Luci—err, L—would look.”
Farryn peered over a map he had pulled from the volume he was scanning. He spread it across the long, rustic wooden dining table built when her father had turned the ranch house into a lodge. How he’d done it without much help was a mystery to her. Watching how comfortable Gabriel was in the lodge, she suspected he’d had a lot to do with helping her father. It made her feel guilty that she hadn’t been here to help him get the business started.
“Here.” He pointed at a mountain range in Argentina and another near Alaska's Aleutian Islands. “These would be perfect, and they haven’t erupted in eons. Maybe the two main tribes are hiding near these two areas.”
Catori hopped to her feet and peered down at the map, her eyes burning intensively as she studied it. Then, without warning, she gasped and turned toward the window. “They’re here.”
“Who’s here?” Farryn followed her line of sight but saw nothing. She approached the window, but before she could have a look, Catori grabbed the curtains and flung them shut.
“The Order is here for me. I didn’t think they’d find me so easily. Most of them are morons when it comes to tracking, but I bet they sent Leland this time. Crap!”
“Who’s Leland?” Gabriel appeared as confused as Farryn but didn’t wait long to reach for his bag and pull out a shotgun.
Farryn’s pursed her lips. She went to a safe sitting in the hallway closet, pulled out a handgun, and loaded a magazine into it. “I have my own protection.”
“I like shotguns. You don’t need to aim as perfectly as with a handgun.” Gabriel’s sheepish grin made her roll her eyes. He wasn’t bad looking, but she was far from looking to date. It didn’t help that he was just a few years older than her, with warm brown eyes and dark hair that kept falling into his eyes. Whatever he did now for a living was a mystery to her, but she was glad he was here now. She shoved a strand of hair back behind her ear and switched the gun’s safety off.
“Catori, who’s this Leland guy?”
The lodge went dark with a strike of lightening, and Catori took off running up the stairs.
“Dammit,” Farryn cursed under her breath as they peered around in the dark. Gabriel came up next to her as they checked the door to make sure it was locked and listened for any noises. Catori didn’t make a peep upstairs, so they made their way to the steps.
Farryn stopped at the base of the stairs and looked up. “Catori?” she called. There was no answer, but she heard heavy boot falls. Catori had been barefoot. She threw a worried look toward Gabriel. “She’s got company up there.”
Gabriel nodded, holding his shotgun ready. He took the stairs quickly, with Farryn not far behind. She grasped her gun in her hand. Despite her father’s love of the outdoors, she’d never been much of a hunter, but she’d recently taken up target shooting at an indoor range in New York. Now she was glad of the practice.
They heard a crash followed by a thump and the sound of breaking glass, along with a pained grunt. As they approached the second floor, they realized the door to the attic steps hung wide open, and a slight cool breeze drifted in from above them. Farryn swallowed, afraid of what she’d find in the attic. Catori was up there, probably injured, or worse. She prayed she wouldn’t be finding her frail, thin body in a pool of blood.
Her imagination was running wild as Gabriel went ahead of her, even though she was ready to pummel anything that came their way. Reaching the top of the stairs, Gabriel peeked around the corner to find something surprising. His eyes widened as his mouth dropped open, and he turned towards Farryn, waving her on.
Once they entered the attic, they found that Catori had a young man in a chokehold, ready to snap his neck if she must. They had to give the girl credit; she was strong, inhumanly strong. It was no wonder the guy couldn’t buck her off. With the rage pouring off her and steam rising from her body and billowing softly from her mouth, there was no more denying what she was. Her skin had reddened and taken on a scaly appearance. If she morphed anymore and began breathing fire, it’d be enough to burn the lodge down if she wished.
Farryn couldn’t look away. She was curious to see a dragon shifter mid-morph, to see exactly how the process occurred, but it wasn’t a pretty sight even though Catori held on to her human form well. Whether it was because she couldn’t morph anymore or because she didn’t want to, she didn’t know.
“Catori, are you okay?” Farryn approached but stopped as Catori blinked her way and gave her the slightest shake of her head.
“Behind you,” the girl’s roughened voice shot.
Farryn turned to find Gabriel pointing his shotgun at another young man who looked to be related to the one Catori held tight in her grip. He had the same black locks of hair, the same deep blue eyes, but while the one standing had a long, straight nose with a chiseled jaw, the other had a plumper nose paired with a rounded chin.
The standing man held long, ornate blades in his hands, drawn and ready. The one Catori held in her grip had lost his pair of knives, which now sat behind them on the floor.
“Let him go,” the standing man demanded as he took a step forward, even though Gabriel shook his head, tapping his shotgun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I may not have fancy knives, but I prefer the simple things—like this shotgun. I can take your head off with just the squeeze of the trigger. Trust me, you don’t want to test me.”
The young man hesitated as he studied Gabriel, running his eyes along the barrel of the shotgun. He was assessing the odds of dodging the shot but didn’t appear to doubt Gabriel’s willingness to use the weapon. He stopped moving and glanced toward his brother, looking more concerned as the seconds ticked by and sweat dripped down his brow.
“Tarek? Are you okay?” His voice came out soft, but he cleared it and straightened, eyeing his brother, doing his best to ignore the barrel of the shotgun pointed right at him.
“He won’t be okay if you come any closer!” Catori snapped, tightening her grip around Tarek’s neck as he pulled and tugged at her arm to no avail. His face purpled from the pressure. Peering up at his brother, he shook his head as much as he could, holding out a hand to stop him from approaching any closer.
“Leland, stop.” He could barely whisper the words. His eyes rolled back into his head as consciousness began slipping away from him.
“Let him go. You’re going to kill him.” The young man whose name was Leland didn’t move, but he began shifting on his feet, nervously glancing between the other two and Catori, narrowing his eyes at the girl with unfiltered hatred. He pressed his lips together knowing his brother had little time left.
“Please. Don’t kill him. I’ll do anything if you let him go. He’s my brother. I care for him.”
Farryn step forward, shaking her head, her heart beating in her throat. “Catori, it’s okay. Let him go. There’s no need to go any further.”
Catori eyed Farryn with a wild look, partly feral, still pumped full of adrenaline and chaotic shifting energy flowing through her as she contemplated the woman’s words. It was possible Catori couldn’t control her shift or couldn’t shift fully, which would be a bad thing in the enclosed space. She was ready to snap the boy’s neck. She’d do it to save her life, and Farryn understood why, but she couldn’t have anyone dying in her lodge.
“Please.”
Leland’s eyes widened, desperation growing as his brother’s gasping lessened. “I’ll swear my loyalty to you. I’ll be in your debt forever if you spare him.”
“Catori? It’s okay. Let him go,” Farryn begged.
“You swear it?” Catori asked.
He nodded, holding his breath as he watched his brother cease his struggling. “I swear it. I pledge on my life that I will guard you in exchange for my brother’s life. Please… he’s dying.”
Seconds passed before Catori loosened her grip around Tarek’s neck. He collapsed to the floor, leaning forward and coughing madly while grabbing at his throat and sucking in deep, hungry gulps of air. Catori backed away but not before grabbing his knives from the floor. She made her way toward Farryn but kept the weapons pointed at the intruders. Leland stepped forward to help his brother to his feet. Once Tarek’s coughing fits subsided, they both stared at the trio, defeated.
“Who are you, and why did you come here?” Farryn asked.
Catori held up one of the knives and pointed at the symbol etched into the blade. “They came here for me. To kill me.”
Leland shook his head. “We were not going to kill you. We were just going to take you back to the Institute.”
Catori shook her head, scoffing at his words. “Like I said, they came here to kill me because I will never go back there with them. They’d have to kill me. There’d be no taking me back.”
“You’re right. We won’t be taking you back. Not anymore. My allegiance has changed.” Leland stared at the ground like he could laser-eye his way out of the attic before he turned toward his brother. “Tarek, you’ll have to return to the Institute by yourself and tell them I’m no longer a Paladin of the Lucidium Order.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” Tarek wheezed, his voice hoarse as he rubbed his throat. “No way in hell.”
Leland narrowed his eyes at his brother and stepped back. “You have to return. You are not compromised. Tell them I won’t be coming back.”
“No! I won’t do that.”
“Dammit, Tarek.”
Gabriel stepped forward. “First, give me those knives. No one is going to be hurting anyone or taking anyone out of here tonight. Got it?”
Leland and Tarek lowered their heads, silently glowering. Leland slid his blades over to Gabriel, careful to move as slowly as possible.
“They can’t stay here.” Catori snapped. “Didn’t you both hear what I said? They were here to kill me.”
“You heard the boy. He’s bound to serve you now. I may not know as much about this as you do, but I remember reading about this. It’s not something to be taken lightly.” Gabriel turned toward Leland, whose frown had deepened. “There’s more than words behind your oath, isn’t there? You can’t go back on it even if you wanted to, can you?”
“Correct. This shifter is not the only one with magic here. I’m bound by my life magic. If I break my vow, I must forfeit life.”
“How are we to know he’s not lying?” Catori’s voice thickened the more frustrated she became. It sounded Celtic, and it was becoming hard to decipher. She’d hidden it well with a fake American accent.
“Good point.” Gabriel turned toward Leland and his brother. “You can say the oath is bound by your ‘life magic,’ but can you prove it? Tell me exactly how this all works.”
“The Order harnesses magic to make us strong and agile, but the magical energy itself is not controlled by the Order; it has its own laws. Once we accept it, our lives are bound to it forever. I do not know how it works, just that it does.”
Gabriel nodded, turning back toward Catori, who was eying the brothers with pure disdain. “I’m inclined to believe him. What he says lines up with what we learned about the Order from Edward’s notes. He’s bound to you.”
“His brother isn’t.” Catori scowled, drilling her hate into Tarek.
“I’m bound to protect him as he is to me,” Tarek retorted, his eyes bloodshot from the broken capillaries. Pinprick dots of blood began to bloom across his face, causing him to look angry even though he was not that mad. “Where he goes, I must follow until I’m of age.”
“And when you’re of age, what then? Will you kill me then?” Catori scoffed.
Tarek frowned but did not let her win the stare down. They continued to bore their eyes into each other until Leland stepped between them.
“My brother is not a threat. If he dares go against my oath to Catori, I will kill him myself.”
Tarek’s eyes widened. “What?”
Leland met his gaze, daring him to speak further. “You heard me, Tarek. You will obey my word and oath if you choose to remain with me. If you dare compromise that, you will force me to end you. You will leave before it’ll ever happen. Got it?”
Tarek dropped his eyes to the floor, seething. “Yes. I got it.”
“Good.” Leland turned toward Catori and bowed courteously. “You see, we are at your service, Miss Catori. I apologize for our earlier actions. We were duty bound.”
“How can you so easily change your allegiance like that? You could turn on me just as easily.”
Leland straightened, frowning. “There is no changing an oath like this.”
Catori flicked her eyes toward Tarek then back to Leland, contemplating the words. “So, if you betray me, you die?” she asked.
Leland nodded.
She looked back at Gabriel. “You’re sure about this?”
“I only know that it matches what we read in Edward’s notes.”
“Okay, then. The notes are correct about a lot of other things, so I’m willing to believe it… for now.” She smirked and stepped toward Tarek. “I wouldn’t force your brother’s hand. He won’t be able to save you again. If either of you betray me, your lives are mine, with or without an oath.”
Chapter Seven
Everyone sat quietly as the evening hours ticked on. Everyone except Catori, who’d spread out sheets of paper across the coffee table in the main sitting room of the lodge and was furiously scratching out plans of some sort with a pencil. Every so often, she’d tap her temple with a finger and pensively close her eyes, thinking about something she strained to remember, before placing the pencil to the paper to capture her thoughts. A map was forming but without names or any identifying features.
Leland leaned forward, trying to decipher the scratches. “Where is this location?” He pointed at the central focus of the map, taking in the landscape surrounding it: a mountain circled by treacherous lands of sharp rocks and dry, barren terrain.
Catori flicked her eyes up at him, glaring with profound disdain at the Lucidium Order Paladin as she swiped away the paper. His little brother, Tarek, sat next to him, shoveling in spoonsful of the leftover stew, and the girl threw him an equally frigid glare. The boy was an endless pit, and it was already his third bowl of stew. Farryn was relieved she had told the cook to make plenty. She’d planned to freeze it and eat it over the next few days, but it looked like that wasn’t going to be happening, to her minor irritation.
“What’s it to you?” Catori snapped. “It’s not for your eyes anyway, so butt out.”
“Look.” Leland lifted his hands in defeat and sank back into the couch. “I just wanted to know what was going on in your head, especially since were going to be spending a lot of time together from now on.”
Catori frowned. “What makes you think I have to take you with me? It’s your stupid oath, not mine. You’re not coming with me.”
Tarek almost choked on his soup, coughing violently. Leland pounded his back with a good, swift slap.
As his convulsions stopped, Tarek cleared his throat. “That’s not how the oath works, Catori. A Paladin does not take these oaths lightly, and my brother is sworn to protect you until death. He must remain near you, or die regardless of whether he keeps his word.” He cleared his throat again, his eyes watering as he worked out the last of the soup that had gone down his wind pipe.
Catori swung her eyes toward Leland’s younge
r brother and scowled. “What would you know about life oaths? You’re not even a Paladin yet, just a mere apprentice. You betray your Order by staying with your brother. Besides, to take anyone with me is to offer them death at the hands of my people; they won’t trust you any more than I do. All I know is that you guys kept me prisoner for years, robbed me of my family, and killed my best friend. You’re animals. Worse than my people ever were.” She smirked. “And the Lucidium call us monsters. Not so. You’re the real monsters.”
Tarek slumped, dropping his eyes to the floor while his skin flushed red. He placed his half-empty bowl on the side table, having lost his appetite. Leland had no such reaction, still sitting back on the sofa with one leg draped over the other as he picked mud from his boot. Farryn frowned at the mess accumulating beneath him.
“It doesn’t matter what you think of our people, Catori, or what the Order thinks of yours,” Leland said, keeping his voice steady. “From now on, wherever you go, I have to follow. I am bound to you by my life magic. Unfortunately, this is the way it works. The Order may hunt creatures like you, but the magic we use to enhance our skills is indifferent to our motives. Whether you like it or not, dragon girl, I’m here to stay.”
Catori frowned and looked away, continuing her chicken scratching on the map she was creating. It might have been a scene from some foreign land or a far-off place, but Leland couldn’t be sure where it was. All he knew was she wanted to go there. He could tell from the determination etched on her youthful face, and he didn’t doubt it had everything to do with her family.
“Who will be there at the end of the map, Catori? Who are you searching for?” Leland asked.
Catori did not look up from her drawing, but her lips tightened as though trying to keep her from lashing out again. Finally, she sat back, resigned, with anger lining her eyes. Evaluating the situation and Leland’s trustworthiness, she breathed out slowly. Maybe she’d tell them what the map meant. Maybe she wouldn’t, but her face softened and her hatred diminished, leaving her looking even younger. Her red face faded to a soft white with pink flushing cheeks and lips.