Raining Light (Fate's Intent Book 5) (6 page)

She was obviously looking at the stone in the lion’s mouth on the top of the box and Trever only glanced at it before continuing to set up everything he needed. “No need to worry. You’re fearing the outcome too soon. Now, do you mind offering up some more of your blood? I used it all when I tested this. Yours is needed most to get a clear vision of all of them.”

“Fine.” She got up with a sigh and went next to him. “How much?”

“You make it sound like a chore. It’s really not much.” He took her hand and stuck a syringe into a vein on top of it.

“Ouch.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m going to stick you with this. Hold still.” He pulled back and extracted some of her blood. “That should be enough. Apply pressure.”

Adele put her finger over the needle hole and pressed down. “Anything else?”

“No. Just yours.”

We waited by while he set up the rest but I still watched. Adele’s blood was placed on the stone surface in a circle with drops of our blood being applied within it in pairs. That herb was placed around all of it and he looked at us.

“Before I do it, let’s be clear about one thing. I’m not going to know what is truly going on in any given situation shown so don’t ask me about it when this is done. I know just as much as you. Okay? Ready?”

I only nodded and Jaylyn took my hand with her own anxious nod.

Trever set fire to the herb and the smoke rose into the air like last time. I could hear the voices first.

“Where are you?!”

“Running for my life!”

We began to see Seth crouching behind a rock in some outdoor environment. He was, I would say, around twelve in age based on when I’ve seen Zayden that old and someone else was running by. Seth grabbed him and shoved him against the rock so he was hidden.

Jaylyn gripped my hand.

“Ouch.”

“You’re fine.” Seth said. “Where is he?”

The boy opened his eyes to peer around the rock and I was stunned to see he had his mother’s eyes. They were beautiful but he still looked like me. “Looking. We can’t stay here.”

“I know. You break west, I’ll go east. It’s time to put him down. Don’t get burned.”

“You don’t get burned. I’ll heal.”

“Then don’t get your head ripped off.”

“Is he really that mad?”

“Isn’t that the point of this exercise? On my mark. Three. Two. One.” Seth signaled to move and as they did, fire engulfed the stone; a curious fire. I looked around and no one seemed to know what that was but it didn’t exactly look natural.

“Seth! Stairs!”

Fire burned at the heels of my son as he ran but Seth helped him out. Stairs were formed in front of him and taken away after he touched them until he reached a much more familiar place. It was Izin’s private arena in Seni. He was breathing fiercely while on his back and a pair of large feet stepped next to him.

“How’s it coming?”

“Hot.”

It was Darius and he helped my son to his feet but he was different somehow, not like how I’m used to seeing him. He was older and more—refine.

“And the progress?”

“Improving.” Seth climbed over the rail and joined them in looking down.

“Well done. You deserve a rest.”

They were still looking down and I was hoping we’d get to see him; his son but I could never have prepared myself. He climbed onto one of the rocks, allowing us to see his feet first then the image moved up over his tattered clothes that smoked from fire to his face that began to show a confident smile.

“Whoa!” Zayden said loudly.

It seemed everyone reacted in some way to the view of this boy. He was Darius’s son all right but his eyes lit up like gold; like his mother’s and his hair was hers too.

The image faded and all we could do for the first few seconds was stare at where the smoke had formed.

“Did you see him?” Adele asked, plainly in shock. “That was incredible.”

“How could he not want to see that?” Jaylyn asked.

“It’s not about the boy.” Trever said. “It’s just the concept in general but he’ll have to eventually.”

“On his own time.” I said. “So we probably shouldn’t tell him about this.”

“And what about yours?” Adele asked with a growing grin. “He was adorable.”

“I know!” Jaylyn cheered. “I knew he’d look like you.”

I tried to be as happy as she was but I knew this wasn’t going to happen for a while. “Except with one difference.”

“Yeah. That was weird.” Trever said.

“It was cute.” Adele corrected him.

“I was actually a bit disappointed you didn’t learn his name. I wanted to see your faces.”

“You know?” Zayden asked.

“I can’t tell them. I wouldn’t want them to pick something else because of the unusualness of hearing it these days.”

“We won’t.” Jaylyn said.

“I can’t be certain of that.”

“Do you know the other name?” I asked.

“No. I didn’t learn that one yet. Seeing him was enough. Red is going to die when she learns of his hair color.”

“No kidding she will.” Adele agreed. “She’s always been so proud of it.”

“Well, this was fun.” Trever began to pack up everything like he was ready to go. “I don’t know about you but I need a strong drink after that.”

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“Yeah, why have them come all the way back when we’ll just be going in that direction anyway?”

I guess he had a good point when considering what it would do to the horses.

“We’ll stay here for a little while longer.” Adele said.

“You mean so you can talk while I’m not here?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“It’s okay. You’re more open around each other as a group. I get it. I’m not a part of this. My group is—well, I don’t need to go into detail, do I?”

“Please don’t.”

“Okay but catch up in a timely manner and if I see your other two, I’ll send them your way.”

“Thank you.”

He took the box with him to his horse and rode off through the trees.

“Oh, it’s going to be really hard not to say anything.” Jaylyn groaned.

“Well, we can’t.” Zayden said. “I think I actually sent them into a fight because I mentioned it one time. We can’t risk that again when we’re on this trip in search for peace.”

“I know but—”

“How about we just say that we didn’t even see him?” Adele suggested. “You know, in case Ruby’s curious nature asks.”

“Yeah. I could tell she wanted to.” I said. “But then saw that he didn’t.”

“He’s never going to be open for it and to be honest, I don’t want to make it a regular thing.”

“You don’t?” Zayden asked.

“Of course not. I like seeing him, yes but it’s never for really that long and it’s always so random that I’d just rather wait and see it all when it actually happens. The future can always change. We don’t know that what we see is going to be real or not.”

“As of now, the path we’re on, that’s what it was going to be.” Zayden said.

“I know but even the slightest thing can change it.”

“We saw Trever leaving.” Ruby and Darius came from nowhere behind me. “I guess that means you’re done?”

We didn’t quite know what to say but we were very vague about it.

“Yeah.” Adele said. “He wanted a drink anyway.”

“Are we seriously going to wait until they get back?” Ruby groaned. She was acting as if they’ve been sitting here the whole time and no one saw a vision of any kind like she was trying to ignore the fact that it happened at all for Darius’s sake. “If we are, we might as well sleep because they’re going to make it into an all-night thing if he’s going to drink.”

Adele’s eyes were looking off to where Trever disappeared and she slowly started to smile. “You kind of have a point but no. We’re not going to wait. In fact—” She got right up to her feet with a plan. “We’re going to rudely interrupt their so-called night of fun and get on with this trip.”

“Really?” Ruby wondered, not sounding at all enthused about the idea.

“Yes, really! They know something they’re not telling us by giving us tiny facts that only make us more curious and if we let them walk all over us, they’ll do it until we get into Seni.”

“Why just until we get into Seni?” I asked.

“Because that’s where the chain of command changes. It’s your home and I can’t wait to see their faces when you let them know it.”

Zayden smiled and pulled her down in his lap. “Don’t you worry about that. You’ll get to.”

“Good. So, who’s in? We go now, remind them of our mission and push it so we spend as little time possible resting on this side of the border. We’ll have to at least have one night here since we’re days away and Ruby’s probably hoping that’s soon. She looks about ready to fall asleep already.”

I looked at her and Ruby had her eyes closed while her head was laying against Darius. “I am sleeping. Leave me alone.”

It seemed so easy how Adele got away from what we’ve just seen in front of us a moment ago but it was better that they didn’t even go on about it like they didn’t care. Not telling them just got easier.

“So, when do we go?” Jaylyn asked.

“Right now. We’ll pack our gear on the horses first. It will give Trever a nice good head start so we don’t catch up to him.”

We got up, going over to the horses and we saddled them and packed up all of our gear so nothing was left behind.

“Jaylyn, ride ahead.” Adele said. “Make sure they stay unknowing to our arrival. I want to surprise them with our demands.”

Jaylyn nodded as she started turning on her horse to the east but met my gaze. I was in complete wonderment as to why she had to go and a part of me didn’t want her to. She must have felt it but simply just blew me a kiss without a word and rode off into the darkness.

My eyes followed her just to make sure she’d stay safe and I felt like I was in my own world but at least it was next to her.

“Troy!”

Adele’s voice startled me and I instantly lost sight of Jaylyn when I turned my head. “What?”

“Stop doing that. I hate it when people do that.”

“Do what? What am I doing?”

“Forgetting who we are. She’ll be fine.”

“But why send her ahead?”

Ruby laughed. “With all the respects possible, your white horses may be beautiful and a sight to see for sure but Roslyn and Rajet, no other horse could match their speed. Like Adele said, she’ll be fine and safely waiting for us when we get there. So relax. A few minutes without her won’t kill you.”

“You never know.”

I didn’t want her out of my sight for a second. I was starting to become like Zayden. I could feel it. I saw the son we would share and I was hopeful. I remember saying that I just wanted it to be us for a while but something about actually seeing him changed that and I wouldn’t be upset if it happened a little earlier than I planned.

Chapter 9

Jaylyn

I knew he didn’t want me to leave but Adele was right. There was no point in prolonging this trip, especially their way. I wanted it to go on. I saw my son; my future. He was amazing and if that meant having him sooner by doing this, I had to.

I rode fast to the east with the others far behind, getting farther from my senses until I could no longer feel them. It only took a minute but I already missed the sound of Troy’s steady heart.

I focused myself on getting to the crossroads and trying to keep a low profile until they were able to catch up. While I rode on the back of Rajet, who showed no signs of wearing out, I hoped that Trever was moving just as fast so he could get his precious drink or I would be liable to catch up to him at this speed; something I really didn’t want to happen. We’d have nothing to talk about except all the things he can’t tell me.

My eyes fought from looking behind me, knowing I wouldn’t be able to see them yet and reality came to me that I was alone. The night only grew darker around me and I tried listening to the sound of Rajet running hard against the dirt road over the simple loneliness that came with the silence of night.

With the wind in my face, I felt like I was flying. It’s been what seemed like forever that I’ve been able to take Rajet out on a run like this. He was enjoying it. Running was a passion to him, something he and I shared as a bond. It was always only us. Nothing else could dream to keep up and it was as if we were one; body and soul tied together, making the world seem insignificant and small.

It never lasted as long as we both would have hoped. A glow started to appear through the trees ahead and I knew I was getting close to the town that settled on the crossroads.

“Come on, boy. Almost there.”

Rajet picked up the pace to my request and we were insight of the town but something quickly slowed me down before I was to officially make it inside the limits.