Defy (38 page)

“Tate said that when she left the protected
area to follow Sophia and Quincy, she didn’t experience the usual
sense of leaving a place and not knowing where she was or where she
had just come from,” Tiege said, causing heads to swivel in his
direction.

“Her ability to see through any lie allows
her free access through the protections,” Skye said, her brow
furrowed. “But because we designed the protections with her and the
other children in mind and accounted for her second power, she
can’t dispel the protections altogether.”

“Zachariah must have somehow funneled Tate's
ability to get to her,” Amber said.

Conversation ceased as the pair in question
emerged from the forest. The kragen, Nyx, trailed behind them, but
stopped before completely leaving the cover of the trees. Caleb
realized that Tate looked happier than he had seen her in a long
time, an observation that warmed his heart. Whatever her Mercesti
guardian had told her seemed to have been the right thing.
Regardless of his paternal concerns, the fact that she was so
content was enough to satisfy him for the moment.

Still, when he watched his wife hurry up to
Tate and oh-so-casually fix a hairpin that was sliding precariously
from Tate’s mussed hair, he frowned and gave Zachariah a deadly
glare.

“Congratulations, sweetie!” Skye said,
tossing him a warning look over her shoulder. “I can’t wait to
enjoy your party.”

“Party?” Zachariah echoed.

“Yep,” Tate said, giving him a dimpled grin.
“You now get the pleasure of attending a dinner party to celebrate
our pairing, during which time my family will make you feel
incredibly awkward as they ply you with questions and tell you all
kinds of things about themselves that you don’t want to know.”

He eyed her as if trying to determine whether
she was serious. “Is that why your hair looks so ridiculous?” he
asked.

She gasped and smacked him on the arm. Then
she burst out laughing. “You know what I love about you, Sparky?
You always know the perfect thing to say.”

Eirik held the scroll as he paced. Once
again, he reviewed the words etched there, though he had memorized
them by now.

“
Should time and Fate both dictate

That nine Elders become eight

Let not their power and sway

Fade like the light of the day.

~ - ~

By this scroll may power flow

So another’s skill may grow

And from eight will one become

Mightier than anyone.”

“It is incomplete,” said the being seated in
a nearby chair. “If it was not, you would even now have assumed the
powers of an elder.”

“I was never told it had been altered from
its original form,” Eirik said, waving the piece of parchment in an
angry gesture. “How can you be sure we just do not know how to
imbue it properly to make it work?” He shifted to pace in the
opposite direction and snapped, “Would you make that thing shut
up?”

Deimos growled and hissed in the room next
door. The second being issued an impatient sigh, then spoke a few
words. There was a pause in the noise.

“About the scroll,” the second being
continued, “it was torn at the bottom by some very powerful energy.
If you had not been so angered by the way things turned out as you
were recovering it, you would have surely realized that
yourself.”

Stopping his pacing, Eirik again looked at
the parchment. All of the edges were a bit ragged. Still, when he
tossed up a ball of light and gave it a more careful study, he saw
what the other being meant. He was frustrated that he hadn’t
noticed it himself…but then, that was why he had come here in the
first place. To get some answers.

And some aid.

“If I am to find the missing piece—” he
began.

“Or pieces.”

The interruption as well as the thought
further irritated him, but he knew to pick his battles. “Very
well,” he ground out. “If I am to find the missing
pieces
, I
must get Ariana back.”

“That will be rather difficult with her under
the protection of the elders. I imagine she will be assisting them
by now. Perhaps they already have the rest of the scroll. They
might have even destroyed it.”

Eirik clenched his hand into a tight fist and
forced himself not to rip out the other being’s throat. “If they
have, I will kill every last one of them, no matter how many
centuries it takes.”

Raising an eyebrow, his companion said, “I
suppose it is possible that it cannot be destroyed. There must be a
reason why the thing still exists, after all.”

That logic calmed Eirik down. “Yes. That is
correct. They would have destroyed it already if they could.”
Resuming his pacing, he said, “Back to the Lekwuesti. Even if she
has helped them find the other piece—or pieces,” he tacked on when
he sensed the other being about to speak, “that means the pieces
exist and are out on the plane somewhere I can access them. Ariana
is still the one being who can find the scroll.”

“What if the rest of the scroll has been
hidden at their base? And what if the Lekwuesti is being housed
there, as would make the most sense for her protection?”

Eirik waved that away. “I have connections in
that regard. If that turns out to be the case, I will have either
the scroll or Ariana brought to me.”

There was a pause.

“And what if the scroll is protected by the
powerful illusion that thwarted you this last time?”

That had Eirik frowning. It was a likely
possibility. “I shall have to find the Kynzesti who shattered the
illusion.” He thought about this some more. “Actually, she said at
one point that I was lying during my conversation with Zachariah.
She
knew
I was lying.”

“She can see the truth.”

“Yes.” Deimos’ sounds resumed, but Eirik just
ignored them. “I will likely need the Kynzesti female, as well, to
finish this.”

“She is very heavily protected.”

Once again, Eirik stopped pacing. When he
caught the gaze of his companion, his eyes flashed. “I know. That
is where you come in.”

“Happy birthday, honey.”

Tate glanced over her shoulder and smiled.
“You’ve said that about five times today, Mom.”

“I know,” her mother said as she walked up
and linked arms with her. She winked. “I’m sure I’ll say it about
fifty more. You’re my firstborn child. You deserve lots of birthday
wishes!”

Glancing back down the slope leading to the
training paddock, she returned her attention to Sparky. He leaned
against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest, observing as
Tiege worked with Ariana on a training exercise. The Lekwuesti
female had agreed to aid the elders in finding the scroll pieces,
but she insisted on being more prepared to protect herself first.
Her experience with Eirik and Deimos had been very difficult for
her. Fortunately, she seemed to be a quick and eager learner.

She seemed especially eager to train when
Tiege was her instructor.

“Uh-oh,” her mother said. “Emma.”

Tate followed her mother’s gaze and spotted
her impulsive youngest sister, Emma, running straight for the
training paddock. Before either of them moved to chase after the
toddler to keep her away from the sparring match, Sparky reached
down and snatched the little girl up by the back of her gown.

He held her up at eye level as if trying to
determine what she was. She dangled in front of him for a moment,
not looking away from his gaze. Then she erupted in a fit of
giggles. Tate grinned as Sparky’s eyebrows drew together. She knew
he was trying to figure out all of the emotions flowing so freely
around him. Although he had been around before the separation of
the planes and had once experienced human emotions, that was many
centuries ago.

“He’s a great match for you,” her mother
said.

Tate glanced at her. “I happen to think so.
I’m glad you do, too.”

“When we take you out for your flight lesson
later, don’t make it too easy on him. I can tell you from
experience that it’s rather fun being rescued.”

That made Tate laugh. She noticed that Sparky
glanced up at her when she did. He was trying to put her sister
down, but Emma clung to him like moss to a tree.

In the distance, Tate watched flashes of
lavender appear in her family’s garden. The Lekwuesti, minus Ariana
at the moment, were setting linen-covered tables so everyone could
gather and enjoy birthday cake and otherwise celebrate the twins’
birthday. She watched as her father walked into the house with her
uncles, bringing to mind a conversation she’d had with Tiege
earlier that day.

“Are they still going to try and recover the
memories from Uncle Gabriel and
archigos
Ini-herit regarding
the scroll?” she asked. “Tiege wasn’t sure.”

Her mother shrugged. “I don’t think so. Now
that Ariana can help find the pieces, it really isn’t
necessary.”

Tate had figured as much, but she had worried
over the possibility when Tiege and Clara Kate filled her in after
her rescue. She didn’t want anything to happen to her uncle. Or the
Corgloresti elder, for that matter. And from what she had been
told, the memory retrieval could be dangerous.

“Good,” she said. “Then it’s just a matter of
getting Ariana comfortable with the idea of leaving here so she can
help find them.”

Her mother gave her arm an understanding
squeeze. “One step at a time, honey. Why don’t we get through your
birthday party first? You have candles to blow out and wishes to
make. Then we can bear the worries of the world together.”

She was right…except for one thing. As Tate
watched Sparky give up the fight and lift Emma so she sat on his
shoulders with her hands in his untamed hair, she knew her biggest
wish had already come true.

Coming soon........

Book two of the Firstborn Trilogy

Turn the page for a preview of
Shift
,

from the mind of Raine Thomas.

Donald, lieutenant of the Waresti, heard the
moan first. He wasn’t as knowledgeable about human emotions as his
two commanders and class elder,
archigos
Uriel. Yet even he
recognized the suffering conveyed by that sound.

He and a patrol of twenty Waresti were
conducting a sweep of some caves within an ocean-side cliff,
intending to rout out any Mercesti residing in them. A Corgloresti
transition point was located not too far away. Thus, Donald wanted
to secure a mile-wide perimeter, clearing it of the Dark Ones. No
sense risking the Mercesti finding a Corgloresti’s vulnerable form
and attempting to destroy it, after all.

Glancing at Isaiah, the Waresti in the group
with the keenest hearing, Donald used hand signals to
communicate.

Did you catch the origin of that noise?

Yes, sir. North tunnel.

Donald nodded. Signaling that the warriors
all move in silence, he took the lead and treaded carefully into
the tunnel, his sword at the ready. Although the moan had sounded
feminine, Mercesti weren’t above using trickery to try and lead
others into a trap.

The tunnels were dark. Donald didn’t conjure
a light, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence. Mercesti
could see in the dark, giving them an advantage in this
environment. Waresti, however, had also developed good night vision
over the centuries. Donald progressed with quiet confidence through
the inky tunnel.

He heard another muffled groan and the
sliding of a body along a gritty surface. When he rounded the next
bend, he spied a huddled form on the ground. All he could make out
was a glimpse of white skin and a long length of black hair.

Fan out. Check the tunnels
, he
communicated to his warriors. He wasn’t about to risk being taken
unawares by skulking Mercesti.

When they moved to obey the order, Donald
focused again on the small being crouched before him. He realized
that his initial impression of a female had been correct. From what
he could determine, she was unclothed and shaking violently.

Even these observations didn’t prompt him to
lower his defenses.

“I am—” he began to introduce himself.

The female screeched as though he had sliced
off one of her limbs. Her long hair covering her face like a dark
web, she flung her arms out as though warding him off and scrambled
to press herself against the closest cave wall.

He tried to wait for her to get over her
surprise so he could finish introducing himself and tell her that
he and his warriors meant her no harm, but the screaming continued
unabated. The horrible sounds careened crazily off the rock, making
Donald wonder if the entire cave might not just collapse on their
heads.

“We will not harm you, female,” he declared
in a loud voice.

By then, most of his soldiers had returned,
giving the all-clear. They also stared at the demented being on the
floor as though unsure what to make of her.

“I am Donald, lieutenant of the Waresti,” he
continued, hoping his words would get through to her. “We will help
you if you have been injured or require assistance.”

Her next wail wasn’t quite as piercing, and
he took that as a positive sign. Over the next several minutes, he
spoke to her in a calm voice, explaining that they would take her
to Central and that someone there would ensure she was well tended.
Eventually, the screaming stopped altogether.

“Would you be more comfortable in clothing?”
he asked.

Slowly, the female lifted herself so that her
hair shifted away from her face. He saw that much of her head, neck
and upper body were caked in dried blood and dirt. A noticeable
stench clung to her, and it wafted closer to them when she moved.
Bruising along her sides indicated that her ribs had been broken.
He wondered if she had fallen down the cliff and crawled into the
cave for shelter. Whatever had happened, her form had been severely
mistreated. It seemed a miracle she had survived.