Believing Binda (8 page)

By the time she
caught a whiff of honey and felt the breeze pick up she sensed someone behind
her. She stood as the wind began circling her and saw Zane running toward her.
He'd come for her. Despite Skye being injured and needing him and Baxter, he'd
left to look for her. They truly would put her first. She wished she’d thought
to leave a note explaining what she was trying to do. If the Great Wind didn’t
take her to the Goddess she’d have lost her men and best friends forever. The
raw agony in his features was the last thing she'd seen before being struck by
lightning.

Her focus
returned to trying to work out where she was now. It certainly wasn't anywhere
in Australia, or Earth for that matter.

"No, child.
You are not on Earth.
Or the Land of Feury."

The blood
drained from Binda's face as she turned her face toward the strong feminine
voice. Had it really worked?

"Oh wow.
Um.
Goddess?"

The woman before
her was beyond stunning. Her golden skin seemed to glow. She wore a jeweled
belt that had a length of sheer white material hanging down to the floor at the
front and back, leaving the sides of her legs bare to her waist. A simple white
halter top barely covered her breasts, and bolts of white material hung from
bands around her upper arms to brush the floor. Looking into her black irises
was strangely comforting. Binda moved to kneel, facing the woman who'd yet to
answer her.

With a slight
nod of her head and a small smile the Goddess spoke. "Yes, I am the one
the Warriors call Goddess. Tell me why you called on me and my Great Wind. I've
not had anyone call for such a long time."

Binda wanted to
choose her words carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was offend the
Goddess.

"The
dragons fear your Great Wind, Goddess. After the liaths used it to come and
kill all their females, none of them wanted to know anything about it."

The Goddess
closed her eyes, and a single tear left her right eye. As it dripped from her
chin it transformed into a bee that flew to rest on her shoulder.

"The liaths
never could accept their place. They used trickery to gain the control of the
wind. When I felt the call, I looked down and saw a young child, her mind pure
and kind. She seemed to be lost from her parents and wanting the wind to take
her to them. I sent the Great Wind to her. If only I'd delved deeper I would
have seen that the child's parents had been taken by the evil ones who wanted
to take over Feury. They took her place as the wind arrived. They were quick,
and I couldn't stop them in time."

"They
killed the child?"

Binda was
shocked that anyone could do such a thing, although considering what they went
on to do it shouldn't surprise her.

"Yes. She
is here in Neamh now. So few liaths make it here, but she is happy now with her
parents."

Oh hell, they killed her parents, too?

"I hope I
never meet any of these liaths."

The Goddess
smiled gently. "Fear not. There are none left now. Through their own
selfishness and greed their species died out years ago."

"You didn't
try to save them?"

A sad smile
graced her lips. "Early on I tried, but it was clear they would never
learn. It saddened me to see them perish, but they refused to listen so I could
do nothing."

Binda frowned as
she thought about the dragons. Not only did they need more medical aid, but
they also needed more females.

"What about
the dragons? They didn't do anything wrong and lost all their women. With only
us five, they will still die out."

The Goddess
moved to stand in front of her and stroked her hand down Binda's hair. With
that one touch her mind was filled with visions of her time on Feury. She’d
been so selfish and hurt everyone. Looking on from above she saw how hurt her
friends were when she sat at the other end of the table for breakfast. Time and
again she’d pushed her men away, hurting them each time.

“I didn’t mean
to, Goddess. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, especially not those I care about.”

Binda looked up
through her tears into the Goddess’s black gaze, and the shelf in her mind
shattered, releasing all her emotions at once. With an agonized scream she fell
to the floor.

****

Night fell, and still Baxter had no word from Zane. He was more than a
little concerned, but Skye had woken and required his attention.

"So how bad
am I?"

He moved to
stand at the end of her bed.

"Let's
start at the bottom and work our way up. You've badly twisted your left ankle,
and your left knee cap has been knocked hard enough to make it loose. Both
those injuries will need to remain strapped for some time. Your right leg
escaped with only some bruises and scrapes. Your ribs are bruised, not broken,
so it's going to hurt to breathe for a while but they'll heal up fine. Your
right wrist is fractured. I've set it, and we'll have to keep an eye on it as
it heals. Your left shoulder has a nasty cut, which required stitches. You'll
need those out in another couple of days. Thankfully, your spine is fine.
You've got a nasty bump on your forehead, which is the cause of your memory
lapses. Due to your concussion you're going to have to be closely watched for
the next day or so. You've been unconscious for just over a full day, and we
need to be sure your condition doesn't worsen. The scans didn't show any
internal bleeding or brain swelling, but we can't be too careful."

Skye really was
lucky to not have done more permanent damage—like break her neck—with the fall
she'd had.

"Can she
leave the clinic yet?"

He turned to
respond to Calix. "Skye needs to be on bed rest for the next day, but she
can do that in your chambers just fine. I'll come and check on her in the
morning to make sure she's progressing as expected."

"Excellent.
Let's go."

Baxter stood
back as the clinic emptied. He called out to his brother again telepathically
and received no response. Something was very wrong.

Dimitri, Binda went missing earlier this afternoon,
and Zane went after her. I've not heard from him, and I can't get a telepathic
response.

Meet me in the foyer, Baxter. I'm on my way.

Baxter rushed
out of the clinic to meet with his clan leader. When he reached the foyer,
Dimitri stood with not only Max and Eilagh but with a dozen other warriors.

"With it
being dark we need to be quick about locating both of them. Baxter, the other
warriors will follow your lead. Please keep me informed of your progress, and
we will wait here for your return. I understand Skye is awake and with her
males, so you can focus completely on your family."

With a nod
Baxter raced from the castle, his throat too dry to speak. The sour feeling in
his stomach was worsening with every breath he took. With a flash he was in
dragon form and tried to find either his brother or his Desired. He couldn't
feel Binda at all, and that had him feeling woozy from fear and dread. Zane's
presence was weak, but he could feel him well enough to locate him.

I can't sense Binda, but Zane is weak and on the
cliffs to the west.

He'd sent the
message to everyone near him and didn't wait for a response before he took
flight.
Please Goddess, let Zane and
Binda
be
alive. Anything else I can fix. Just let them
both
be
breathing.

Fortunately, it
didn't take Baxter long to find his brother’s unconscious form lying atop the
cliff. He landed and flashed to human as he ran to him. Fear had numbed his
body by the time he dropped to Zane’s side.

"Zane?
Can you hear me?"

Zane looked as
if he slept. No obvious physical wounds were anywhere on his body, and his
pants were completely intact. With no signs of having been in any kind of
struggle Baxter looked around the area. One of the other dragons lit up a tree
which was standing away from the forest. It offered light, without risk of
causing a wildfire. Baxter stood and walked around the cliff top. He stopped
dead when he saw the perfect circle carved into the dirt near Zane's body.

He shook his
head. "No. No, this can't be right."

But it had to be.
There was really only one explanation. The Great Wind had taken Binda, and Zane
had been struck by its lightning while trying to prevent her leaving. Baxter’s chest
ached, and his soul felt like it was bleeding out. Numbly he flashed to dragon
and carefully picked up his brother. The flight to the castle was silent, and
no one disturbed him as he landed in the courtyard. Dimitri approached him and
took Zane from his arms to allow him to flash to human.

"It can't
be without reason, Baxter."

He knew Dimitri
had been told by the others what
they'd found, but he
couldn't muster the energy to acknowledge Dimitri’s sympathy. He took the heavy
weight of his brother back in his arms and entered the castle heading to their
chambers.

He chose to lay
his brother on the bed in the master bedroom. The sheets still held Binda's
dewberry scent. Baxter
lay
beside him and let go of
his control. Tears rolled down his face as his heart broke. They’d tried to
make her a priority, but maybe they hadn’t done enough. Had she felt so neglected
she called on the Goddess to take her away from them?

Baxter didn't
know how either he or Zane were going to survive the loss.

****

Binda had lain curled up on the floor sobbing for what felt like hours.
Each emotion she'd bottled up had demanded she deal with it. Now she was
exhausted. She pushed herself to her hands and knees before she opened her
eyes. The room began buzzing as she'd moved, and now she saw why. There were
probably thousands of bees in the room with her and the Goddess. She gazed up
at the Goddess in confusion.

"Why?"

Her voice was
hoarse from crying so much.

"The bees
are here to protect us both. They easily sense emotional turmoil. And fear not,
they will not ever sting you. As to why I freed your mind, you needed to let it
all go to move forward."

"Move
forward?"

Binda's mind was
still a little fuzzy from the overload of emotions.

"Bringing
you and your friends to Feury was a test of sorts. To see what the dragons
would do with a chance to save themselves. They passed, of course. I was
certain they would but still needed to test them with a small group. Then you
called to me, and I saw an opportunity to take the next step. If you are
willing to listen, the dragons will be saved."

"But after
all that I’ve done to hurt them will they take me back?"

Now that Binda
had seen the pain she’d inflicted on her men and friends, she wouldn’t have
blamed them if they never wanted to see her again. The Goddess gave Binda that
gentle smile once again before she kneeled on the floor next to her.

"Let me
show you something else."

The Goddess held
her palms out in front of her, and the bees in the room began flying in a
circle beneath them. Eventually the center of the circle emptied of insects to
reveal the master bedroom of Baxter and Zane's chambers. Zane looked to be
sleeping, but he looked too still.

"Zane's not
dead, is he?"

"No child,
he is fine. He tried to pull you from the wind, and it struck him with its
lightning. He will wake any moment and be physically fine."

She focused on
Baxter, and her lungs froze up. He was sobbing. His muscular arm was over his
eyes, and she could see the moisture covering his face as his body shook.

"Are they
sad or angry tears?"

"They are
tears of misery. He believes that I took you because of their neglect of you.
In all your reading I doubt you have found the information about Dragon
Warriors and their need for their Desired yet. If a Desired rejects her
warriors, or simply doesn't agree to bond with them, the warriors will go
insane. They will need to be killed before they go rampaging."

Binda couldn't
speak. She'd done this to them. Why hadn’t she left a note? Or told one of the
younger warriors of her intentions? With all her emotions now free, she could
freely admit she’d fallen in love with these two warriors. Would she get the
chance to apologize to them and explain?

"I didn't
know."

"Now you
do. With everything I’ve shown you today, tell me, child, what is your heart’s
desire?” "I want to stay on Feury.
To be with my dragon
warriors and my friends.
I want the chance to apologize and beg for
their forgiveness."

Leaving the
portal open, the Goddess turned and pressed a palm between Binda's shoulder
blades. A searing pain tore the breath from her lungs. It took several minutes
before she could find her voice.

"What did
you do?"

"I have
marked you. Your soul is pure and kind. You trusted too easily on Earth and
were hurt. In turn you wrongly chose to refuse to trust anyone on Feury. Have
no fear of your dragon warriors. They will never
cause
you harm. They will protect you always. And they will forgive you, if you ask
for it. As will your friends, but you need to stay true to yourself and trust
those close to you in the future.