Broken Forest: Book One of the Daath Chronicles (3 page)

BOOK: Broken Forest: Book One of the Daath Chronicles
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I bolted outside and filled a pail with water, then flew back in. Calli moaned and my heart lurched. “What’s wrong?”

“Go ask Jeslyn what happened.”

Derrick and I both looked at each other. “Jeslyn wasn’t with her,” Derrick said.

My mother swirled around, her eyes wide. “Where’s Jeslyn?”

Neither of us had any idea, and my mother’s frantic expression chilled me. “I haven’t seen her since this morning,” I said.

“Calli, where’s your sister?” My mother patted Calli’s head with the wet cloth.

“Gone, Momma. She’s gone.”

“What do you mean she’s gone?” I said, stepping closer to the bed. “Gone where?”

Calli sobbed and reached for our mother.

“Avikar, go get your father.”

I couldn’t move.

“Avikar!”

My mother stared at me. Her eyes filling with water. It was a bad dream. It had to be.

Derrick ran outside to get my father, and when they walked back in, I was still trying to convince myself this wasn’t happening.

My father knelt by Calli’s side, calmly asking her questions.

She sniffled. “They came out of nowhere, Poppa. I was so scared.”

The vein in Father’s neck bulged, but his voice stayed steady and smooth. “Tell me what they looked like. Think of anything out of the ordinary.”

Calli’s petite shoulders rose and sunk. “One had an ugly scar on his face, and the other two dressed real sloppy.”

Father sighed. “Anything else?”

She shook her head.

“Okay.” He kissed her on the forehead and stood.

“What are we going to do?” my mother cried. Her tone tore me to pieces.

“I’ll go,” I said.

“No,” Mother replied. ‘We’ll gather men and send out a search party.” Tears wound down her face. “If we can get word to Lord Tyre, maybe he can help.”

“There’s no time,” I argued. “If we don’t leave this instant we could lose the trail!”

Father stormed past us. His big bushy brows narrowed in an angry line. I followed him. He ripped his massive battle-axe from its mantle. The only remnant from his war days.

“Father, no!” I protested.

Derrick stood by me. I saw the resolution in his eyes. He would go with me, and together, we could rescue her.

“Boy, now is not the time to test me!” Father pushed past me and grabbed a satchel from the kitchen cupboard, which I snatched away. His gigantic hand grabbed me by the shirt, lifting my toes off the ground. I could feel the growl coming off him. If we were wild animals, I’d be cowering on my back.

“Let me go. You can’t ride with that leg. You’ll only slow us down,” I urged, “I can track whoever took her.”

“I’m going with him.” Derrick dared to look my father in the eye. “It’s only three men. We can protect ourselves and take care of them.”

“Garn,” Mother said softly, touching Father’s arm.

He ignored her and gripped my shirt tighter. “You’re just boys. What do you know about killing?”

Nothing, but that wouldn’t stop me from going
.
“Father, you taught me how to hunt, how to track. I will find her.” I breathed in deep. “I know you both blame me for Jimri’s death, and I will never let myself forget that.”

Mentioning Jimri caused Father’s jaw to clench.

“I won’t fail you this time,” I finished.

Father released his hold. I didn’t want to wait for an answer, or listen to all the reasons why I couldn’t go. I motioned for Derrick to follow me.

We swarmed through the house without speaking, grabbing supplies and leaving as quickly as possible. I tried to think of everything we might need: fanna, my bow, enough arrows to keep my quiver full, and coin.

“Is that all of it?” Derrick asked, throwing one of the packs over his shoulder.

“Yes. We just need the horses, and then we can head to the shop to grab weapons.”

Derrick gave me that you’re-going-to-get-us-in-serious-trouble look. “Do you think your father is going to let us walk out of here with two of his horses? He wasn’t exactly…”

“He’s not stopping me.”

“Then lead the way,” Derrick said.

We marched past Calli’s room. Mother held Calli in her arms, rocking back and forth and humming. I stopped, walked in and kissed her on the head. She continued rocking.

Calli wiggled out of her arms and reached for me. I lifted her up, hugging her as hard as I could. “You take care of Momma for me.”

She kissed my cheek. “Be careful, Avi, and hurry. I know you’ll find Jess.”

My eyes watered. No matter what I did, Calli always believed in me.

Calli ran over to Derrick and threw her arms around his thick waist. He placed a hand on her head and rubbed it.

“Don’t worry, kid,” Derrick said. “Jeslyn will be back before you know it.”

She stiffened. “I almost forgot!” She ran into her room, searching the floor and bed for something. “Here!” She ran over to me, her tiny hand holding out a piece of green fabric.

I took it. “What’s this?”

“That’s from the man who took Jess. I ripped it off,” she said. “And he had a snake right here.” She pointed to her forearm. “I saw it when I ripped his shirt.”

I smiled and shoved it in my pocket. “Good thinking, Calli.”

We headed outside where my father stood on the porch staring into the distance. I breathed deep, mustering whatever courage I could to face him. This wasn’t going to be easy. I stood straighter, waiting for him to scold me, possibly lock me in the stables, or worse. Instead, he turned around, holding a black sheath in his right hand.

Holy heifer
.

Time slowed as he handed the object over to me. I clasped the hard leather, my mouth going dry, my heart spinning. Father was a man of few words, and I didn’t need to hear any to understand what the gesture meant—he was giving me permission to go. He patted my shoulder and shuffled back into the house.

Derrick crept closer. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s my father’s dagger,” I croaked.

I slid the gleaming blade out of its case. Laying it across my palm, I touched the fine metal. Iron. All our weapons were made from bronze. The iron mines were by the king’s land and the metal too expensive to buy. The dagger had a jeweled hilt with two brilliant rubies worth more than our whole farm. Three circular runes were etched on the hilt, between the two gems.

We both gawked at the weapon. When I was younger, my father told me about the family dagger. For generations, it had passed down the Desdar line to the eldest son. After Jimri’s death, I never expected to receive it. I didn’t deserve such an honor. I had assumed Father would wait until he had another son, but he didn’t. He gave it to me.

I put the dagger back in its sheath and belted the sheath around my ankle.

Derrick stepped off the porch. “You ready?”

I didn’t think anyone could be ready for what we were going to do, but I was close enough.

The clear liquid inside the bowl rippled, revealing an image of four exquisite creatures. Their delicate and sensual features accentuated their beauty.

“Good morning my pets,” I said.

They sat around giggling about nonsense and stroking one another’s hair. I found it interesting how excitable they became before my visit. Ah, and how beautiful they all were. However, not perfect. The voluptuous brunette had a nose with a slight bump, and the redheaded vixen had a forehead too wide. If I could combine the full lips from the petite one, and take the hazel almond eyes from the shy one…

“Spying on your dolls again, hmm?”

With a flick of my hand I brushed the image away. “I’d hardly call it spying.”

Romulus bobbed his square head as he waddled over to a table stacked with various beakers and caged animals. He opened a cage and pulled out a large lizard which snapped irritably at his hand.

“You spend too much time on these females,” said Romulus. “I wonder what the King would say of this, hmm?”

Romulus only got away with such brazen talk because he was my advisor. Anyone else and I would have cut out their tongue. “It’s research. I must understand their ways if I am to blend in.”

He scrunched his large nose and grumbled. “Obsession, not research. I do your research.”

Insolent fiend. I willed myself to calm, ignoring his brash comment.

“Have you collected the specimens I discovered? I think you will be pleased with what arrives.”

“Yes.” Lucy had left weeks ago to start the hunt. With the firemares pulling the wagons, they should arrive back in Daath shortly. I trusted Romulus that one of these humans would be the one I had been searching for.

“Good,” said Romulus. “I think it’s time we discussed your Awakening, hmm?”

My Awakening. A topic of extreme interest. Romulus had been my teacher since I was old enough to kill a wyvern, the smaller dragons of our home world. On my upcoming birthday, the dormant power in me would release. No one knew the extent of my abilities, but Romulus had an idea. I would lead our people into a new era, and it would begin on Tarrtainya.

Romulus dropped an orange liquid onto the lizard, and it screamed. “I have calculated this planet’s gravitational pull on the day of your Awakening. You must perform the ritual at the exact moment of the eclipse.”

“Yes, Romulus. We’ve gone over this already.”

He grumbled and picked up the decaying lizard with a pair of scissors. “You need to have a pure vessel. This world is different from ours. The pure females emit a specific aura that is critical, hmm. You must capture this during your Awakening. The aura will amplify your magic.”

“How strong will I be?”

He laughed a wheezy, gurgling sound. “Stronger than any of us.”

“Is The Council aware of your research?”

Romulus shook his head. “No, they have yet to discover the connection we have with the human females, but in time they will learn.”

But not before my plan had come to fruition
.
“Well done, Romulus.”

I stood. “I’ll see you when I return from the tunnels in a few days.”

He ignored me, already lost in his strange dissection.

My stomach churned as I studied the red stains splattered across the ground. I knelt and swiped a finger across the sticky substance and sniffed. Berries. I should have known it wasn’t blood—the consistency didn’t match—but I had to be sure. My heart thumped and I was sure the kidnappers could hear it, but they were nowhere near us. It was just nerves.

BOOK: Broken Forest: Book One of the Daath Chronicles
2.39Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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