Eve Langlais (19 page)

* * * *

About two days travel away, Hunter moved quickly, already deep in the woods. His morning teleport had dropped him inside a small rustic village, the only one left before the wilderness and the vast mountain range. He’d set off immediately on foot, loping into the dense forest like a shadow whispering between the trees. He’d found the Dragon’s and Jared’s trail within half a day of tracking, heading toward the mountains as suspected. He figured they were about a half day or so ahead of them. The Dragon was moving a lot faster than expected even with Jared at his side. But nowhere near as fast as Hunter could move.

Out here in the wild, Hunter was in his element. His keen senses, which he’d so missed on the other side of the boundary, emerged in full force and, as if eager to be let out after such a long absence, his special gifts seemed stronger than ever. Moving silently through the woods, he left not a sign or scent of his passage. His feet glided over the forest floor, automatically avoiding the twigs and small plants that would have marked his path. A natural talent he’d honed over the years so as to not alert enemies of his passing and to fool the prey he stalked.

Nose flaring, he scented his quarry much like a dog would. The sweet living scent of the forest, like an old friend, filled his senses. His mind sorted the scents—dry bark, decaying vegetation, pine, and something else. Something that didn’t belong, that stained the palette. He breathed deep. Oh yes, the Dragon had been through here. The scent of the Dragon, which he’d smelled on Suzie and Jessica, a distinctive dry and musty reptilian scent. That odor, too faint for normal noses, wafted through the trees where he’d brushed them in his flight, mingled with the softer, familiar sweet scent that he recognized as Jared. It was almost too easy to track their flight, the Dragon too arrogant to even hide his passage.

Broken branches, bent grass, even torn clothing littered the trail, and Hunter shook his head at the 72

sloppiness. His commander would have punished him if he’d ever been so careless. But this carelessness worked in Hunter’s favor, allowing him to move quickly in pursuit.

The sun had begun dipping, signaling the arrival of late afternoon, when his nose and keen eyesight noted an anomaly. He’d arrived in a clearing where the grass had been trampled sloppily. And here’s where it got interesting. Sniffing the ground, Hunter found a new smell, still Jared, but also something other. Something reptilian.

Jared had shifted. And not only shifted, but run off. Hunter could smell the Dragon, his path meandering in and out of the woods, as if searching for something—make that someone.

Hunter grinned in pride—the boy had eluded his captor. The only problem? While the Dragon had lost the boy, so had Hunter lost Jared’s scent.

Impossible. Hunter never lost a scent.

Hunter walked in widening circles around the clearing, nose twitching. He found the trail where the Dragon had finally given up his search and continued on through the forest. Good news for him, but of Jared’s scent he found nothing.

How can this be?

Hunter backtracked to the clearing and looked around again. Where had Jared gone?
Think
, he told himself.
Imagine being a little boy, one who has just shifted into a creature, a frightening thing to have happen alone and
for the first time
. Jared knew he couldn’t outrun his captor. So what did Jared do?

What would he have done in Jared’s position? Hunter looked up at the trees surrounding the clearing pensively. He’d have climbed a tree.

Hunter started walking his circle again, this time paying attention to the trees in his search. About fifty meters from the clearing he found the claw marks high up on the bark of a large maple. He sniffed.

Yes, the same scent as in the clearing. Hunter craned and looked up, but the branches clustered together too densely to see anything.

“Jared,” Hunter called softly. Nothing. “Jared, it’s Hunter. Let me help you.” Again, nothing. Now what? He pressed his face against the bark where the marks marred the wood, close enough to taste. He knew they belonged to Jared. But why didn’t he answer? Had Jared tree hopped?

Hunter started walking backward to get a better look at the tree branches and to look at the trees bordering the maple when he heard a soft rustle. If it hadn’t been for his keen hearing, he might have missed it.

Hunter stopped moving. What the hell should he do? The fact that Jared hadn’t come out of hiding meant he was probably terrified. Couldn’t really blame him.
Think like a little boy
, he reminded himself.

What would his parents have done?

Remembering his own childhood, he didn’t think his father’s method of yelling would be the best course of action. Heck, when his father went on a rampage, everyone hid. So what would Suzie or his own mother do?

Hunter came back to the tree slowly, and sat down, his back against the trunk, and he started to talk.

“I know things are kind of scary right now, Jared. I know I’d be scared if I was you. So many things have happened. I thought you might you to know that your mother and sister are fine. I brought them to my house, and my mother healed them. They’re all better. They miss you an awful lot, though. I miss you, too. It’s why I’m out here looking for you.”

Hunter paused. Silence. Shit, maybe Jared wasn’t in the tree.
Or maybe
, Hunter thought,
terror still grips
him
. What if he feared his new shape? Scared that Hunter would reject or hurt him?

“Your mother can’t wait for you to come back. I promised her I’d find you. I also promised to make sure that the bad man won’t hurt you anymore. No one will ever hurt you again if I can prevent it.” And he meant that. “I know some weird stuff happened to you. I know you look a little different, and that’s okay. One of my best friends turns into a wolf, you know, and I still like him.”

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Wait. Hunter held his breath as he heard a little rustle above his head and the sound of claws scrabbling on bark.

“I know you’re scared. Let me help you. Trust me, Jared. I won’t hurt you. Let me bring you home.”

Hunter held his breath and waited.

Leaves fell as the branches above him shook. Hunter looked up and saw a little dragon face peering down at him, the big, brown eyes liquid with tears.

“Mama,” lisped the toothy mouth, one fat tear rolling down the dragonling’s blue-scaled cheek.

“I’ll take you home to her,” said Hunter, his throat tight.
Poor kid
! He held up his arms, and Jared, the little weredragon, half leapt and fell into his arms.

Hunter hugged the little serpent body carefully, noting the little wings on his back.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, little buddy.” But how the hell would he explain to Suzie her baby was a dragonling? Maybe he could find a way to get him to shift back before they returned. Although, Hunter had no idea how. All the shifters he knew didn’t come into their powers till puberty with only a few exceptions. And out here in the wilderness, he wasn’t exactly likely to run into many of them. Or not any who wanted to be found.

First things first, though. He had to get Jared home and keep his promise to Suzie.

Then he’d be back to find the Dragon.

* * * *

As the tall hunter carried his son away, the Dragon had to hold onto an urge to scream so as to not give away his position. But his rage, a living thing, coiled and twisted inside like a demon with claws that wanted to escape, and his breath came fast and harsh. He had to hold on strongly to his sense of self so as to not shift so close to his enemy. The moment after shifting sometimes tended to be disorienting and would have put him at grave disadvantage like a newborn colt that hadn’t yet found its legs. So he swallowed his anger, eyes glowing, watching as the hunter strode off with his son.

The Dragon still couldn’t believe his own flesh and blood had run away from him after shifting.

Okay, so he’d helped him shift into dragon form. He’d gotten tired of listening to him whining and crying. He’d figured once the boy realized what he was, he would come to his senses and stop asking for his mother. Wrong! Instead, the boy had panicked and taken off, and the Dragon had lost him. The Dragon had wandered off, hoping the boy would come out of hiding so he could capture him again. But no, that annoying cow had sent her suitor after him. What a surprise that had been, to know that her mundane paramour was, in fact, a Realm hunter. The Dragon had messed up.
But all is not yet lost.

The hunter had mentioned that he’d brought Suzanne and the girl back to the Realm. That his mother had healed them. The Dragon had heard talk in the dungeon about a powerful hunter. One who not only had a mother who healed, but who’d also been sent into the mundane world to deal with the thinning border problem. And as everyone knew, there were no coincidences in the Realm.

The Dragon smiled. He knew exactly where they were headed. Now, he only had to get there. Then, not only would he take back Jared, he’d take his daughter too for spite. And as for the cow that had birthed them, he’d make sure she died this time along with anyone else who stood in his way.

And the Hunter, well, it had been a while since he’d enjoyed such a tasty treat.
Yum.

74

Hunter had been gone three days. Three long, nail biting days. And while Suzie walked around skittish as a doe, the slightest noise making her jump, Jessica was having a ball. Not only had she turned into a horse freak, she’d made friends with some of the children living in the castle and was having a blast discovering this new world she found herself in.

Poor Nat had to follow her like a shadow everywhere. Although, Suzie had a feeling that Nat was quite enjoying herself even if she did put on a gruff show.

Just look at the lessons she’d been giving the kids in defense and escape. Something Suzie wasn’t sure she agreed with, but at least it kept Jessica from thinking too much about Jared. Jessica had picked up the concept rather quickly. Nat had taught her to stomp on a person’s insole to distract them. Kick them in the shin, bite them, punch them in the jewels. All things a child could do to protect his or herself if someone larger tried to hurt them. And Suzie watched and learned along with Jessica. Too shy to ask for lessons of her own, she sucked in what the children were taught because she never wanted to feel helpless again. A mother should be able to defend her children, and she’d failed. A hard fact she’d have to live with the rest of her life. But something she had the power to change in the future.

That night after she put Jessica to bed, Suzie went up on the parapet, her new favorite spot, leaving Kyle guarding the door, while Nat trailed after her. Suzie still found it hard to accept her shadow of a bodyguard. Nat took her guard duties very seriously. About the only place she didn’t follow Suzie was the bathroom. Thank God! Although, she did stand right outside the door. Talk about distracting.

Suzie sighed, leaning over the wall.

“What’s wrong?” asked Nat, who didn’t mince words.

“I hate this waiting. Why haven’t we heard anything? What if something’s wrong?”

“Hunter will be back when he finds your boy.”

“I know. I know. You all keep saying that. But when?” Patience had never been one of Suzie’s strong points, not where the safety of her kids was concerned. Suzie wished she had gone with him.

Then at least she’d be doing something instead of sitting around waiting, feeling useless.

“You have to give him time. The mountain ranges are huge. It’s a walk of several days from the last village to even the foothills. If you’re lucky, he’ll catch them before they start heading up into them.”

“This is all so strange. A few days ago, I was just a regular mom, in a regular world, where magic was something you only saw in movies. Now my ex turns out to be some half dragon, and my kids might be too. And everywhere I look, I see the impossible,” said Suzie, opening her arms wide to gesture at the fairytale landscape around her.

“Apparently, not too impossible since it actually exists. It’s funny, you talk about things like cars and movies, and to me, that seems impossible. I mean, metal boxes on wheels that move without horses, and pictures that move and talk. Who’s to say what’s magical and what’s not?”

“I keep forgetting your side of the boundary doesn’t have much contact with ours. Why is that? I mean, surely there are some things in our world that you could have used to better yours. I’ve seen your libraries. The books are all handwritten. Talk about a lot of work when you could just get yourselves a printing press.”
Or how about doing laundry by hand with scrub boards?
Suzie thought. It had made her hands sore just looking at the women with their red, chapped hands as they scrubbed and rinsed the huge loads of laundry the castle generated.

“The council made the decision a long time ago to keep the worlds as separate as possible. They’re stuck in the old ways and aren’t really keen on the idea of change.”

“So what, you guys are going to stay stuck in the middle ages forever, with women doing all kinds backbreaking household chores while wearing ridiculous skirts?” Feminine as the skirts made Suzie feel, sometimes they could be a pain in the ass, especially when you tripped on them going up the stairs. She had bruised knees to attest to that.

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“You don’t need to preach to me. I’m one of the few women in the Realm who refused to stay home, get married, and birth babies like brood mares. And as for dresses, the last one my mother got me, I stuffed and used for archery practice. I think both the Realm and the council need a good shaking up, but everyone’s scared of change.”

“Just who, or what, is this council you all talk about?” Suzie asked.

“The council is our governing body made up of wizards, for the most part, who inherit their seat from their fathers and uncles. Although, a few sorceresses have managed to fight their way onto it when no appropriate male heirs could be found. They make the policies for the Realm, the laws that all must abide by.”

“So they’re not even elected? But what if you have a bad bunch in charge? How do you get rid of them?”