The Channel (The Gifted Book 2) (9 page)

Rhea turned around to face the man approaching … the man who helped her … the man from the tavern. Her tingling sensations may have subsided, but her everyday senses were still on high alert.

She raised her sword, politely warning him not to come any closer. "Thank you for your help, but you'll forgive me if I'm cautious. Who are you?"

Sword still in hand, the man stopped where he was and bowed slightly. "Taulin. At your service."

Daen stepped next to Rhea. "Randell?"

Randell gave the stranger a once-over to discern if he meant any harm. His aura was as brilliant as the first time they had seen him in the tavern. Nothing about it indicated the man was a threat. "So far so good."

Daen placed his hand on Rhea's arm, gently encouraging her to lower her sword before stepping in front of her to greet Taulin. "Thank you for your assistance. I'm Daen, this is Randell and this is Rhea."

"I'm glad I was able to help." Taulin bent and wiped his sword with a dead man's cloak before sheathing it. He glanced around at the carnage, taking in the faces and uniforms of the men they had just defeated. Anger and frustration boiled inside him, but he didn't let it show.

Daen and Randell sheathed their swords as well.

Daen grabbed the wrist of the warrior who lay at his feet and started to drag him off the road. "We need to get rid of these bodies."

Randell and Taulin followed suit, but Rhea remained frozen in place, trying not to look down at the horror in front of her.

Daen returned from dumping the first body in the tall grasses that separated the road from the forest that blanketed the base of the Kinling Mountains.

He gently took Rhea's sword from her hand, and following Taulin's example, gave it a quick wipe before sheathing it for her. "We'll take care of it."

Rhea took a shuddered breath. "I'll get our things and work on catching the horses."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Taulin grip the arm of the man he'd slain and start to drag him towards the tall grasses. She forced the image from her mind and focused on her task.

She turned toward one of the horses. She didn't want to spook him, cause him to run, so she forced herself to be calm and smile as she stepped slowly towards the animal, cooing at him.

His head jerked up from the grass he was munching on, and his eyes went wide. He looked like he was ready to bolt when, suddenly, the tension seemed to ebb from his body. That was about the same time Rhea's tingling sensation started to increase, again.

Rhea reached out, offering her hand for him to smell, and his head bobbed up and down as he started to walk to her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, he just came to her. It was as if they'd known each other for years, trusted each other. He pressed his muzzle to Rhea's chest, and she stroked his forehead, thanking him for his trust.

She picked up the reins from the ground and walked with him to two other horses about twenty feet away. Before she reached them, their heads lifted, meeting her eyes. She hadn't reached out to them or called them, but they came, just the same.

Rhea laughed to herself. "I must be a horse whisperer." She walked them to the tree line and tied them in place before retrieving the other three who had already started walking towards her.

Daen, Randell, and Taulin had finished moving the bodies off the road and had joined Rhea at the tree line where she'd managed to catch and secure the warriors' horses, thanks to the magical force that was ever present around her, in her.

As Daen checked out the horses, he looked to Taulin who was leading his horse towards them. "Where are you from?"

Taulin didn't answer but, instead, looked at the bodies of the six men that lay in the tall grasses nearby. His face solemn, his body rigid, he turned and walked to the dead. He rolled one over on to his back and stared at the uniform he was wearing. His face showed anger and pain, his breaths deep.

He pulled a dagger from his boot and proceeded to cut open the uniform to reveal the man's chest, examining a spot to the right of his heart. He went to each man, cutting open the uniform, looking at their chests.

Daen, Randell, and Rhea watched in silence. Randell gave Daen a puzzled look, but Daen just shook his head and shrugged.

Taulin dropped his dagger back into his boot and returned to stand in front of them. Before answering, he studied the crest on Daen's leather armor and then looked him in the eye, his chin slightly raised. "I am from Laundan."

Rhea raised a brow. "Those warriors were from Laundan. What's going on?" Her hand gravitated towards the hilt of her sword, but Daen stopped her.

"Don't be fooled by my apparent desire to keep her from killing you. I, too, want to know what's going on." Daen quickly glanced to Randell for assurance that nothing had changed in Taulin's aura to indicate he was a threat.

Randell nodded that all was well.

Taulin stood in front of them with open hands at his side. "I mean you no harm, and those men are not Laundan warriors."

Rhea couldn't stop watching Taulin. The draw she felt towards him at the tavern and again when he walked towards them after the fight still lingered. It was a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on, or maybe didn't want to.

She studied his aura, wondering at how to interpret what she was seeing. She didn't feel like he was a threat, but she could definitely feel there was more to him—more than he'd shared. "How do you know? What makes you so sure they're not Laundan warriors?"

Taulin was calm and polite. "First, Laundan warriors have not been ordered into Taulomi. Second, they were not dressed in full uniform. And third, they don't wear the warrior's mark of Laundan. They are impostors."

Daen studied the man and his comments. It had been a long time since he'd been home, so he couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling he knew this man's identity, over and beyond his name.

Before he or the others could continue their questions, the sounds of hooves pounding the road from the south reached their ears. Rhea turned to see a small whirl of dust drifting above the tree line, just past the curve in the road. The riders were still a ways off, too far to see who they were. She closed her eyes and reached out to better see them, wondering if more warriors approaching.

All she could distinguish was their heat signatures but she needed to know more. She asked for further help to see the truth, and the scene came into her mind's eye. She gasped at the change, at how easy it was to need something and have it granted.

"What is it?" Daen's voice whispered in her ear.

"Nothing. I'll explain later." Rhea opened her eyes to see Daen standing close to her, silently asking, not wanting to reveal too much to Taulin. She shook her head ever so slightly as her eyes were drawn to the six bodies. "Are we just going to leave them there, in the open?"

Daen turned Rhea away from the bodies. "We are about to have company. We don't need to be seen with these ... men." He turned to Taulin. "Thank you again for your assistance, but I think it's best for all of us to be on our way."

Taulin nodded and reached for his horse. "May I join you?"

Daen didn't have time to be clever or polite. He glanced to Randell and then asked Taulin, "Are you a threat?"

Randell watched Taulin for any shift in his aura. He knew Daen's concern, but he also knew Daen didn't want to leave the man to fend for himself if he was their ally.

Taulin stood a little taller, a little more dignified. Or was it arrogance? "I am no threat to you or yours, guardian."

"Then let us get clear of this place."

Rhea took the reins of the horse that had first come to her. She felt a special bond with the animal, a feeling she couldn't explain.

"Can you ride?" Randell asked.

Rhea grabbed the edges of the saddle and mounted but noticed her feet didn't reach the stirrups. "I wouldn't say I was an expert, but I've ridden."

Randell quickly adjusted her stirrups as Daen brought her a set of reins from another horse. "Take these and lead him." He did the same for Randell, picking up the last pair of reins for himself.

Taulin came up next to them. "May I suggest we head into the forest for a while? There's a trail that runs along the base of Kinling."

Randell gave Daen a quick nod.

Daen waved his hand forward. "Lead the way."

~~~

Bestian brought his horse to an abrupt halt forcing Gauvin to avert his, coming around him before stopping. "What are you doing? Don't stop like that."

Bestian snarled at Gauvin. "I'll do whatever I want." He scanned the area around them. "Did you feel that?"

"You know I can't feel a gift from a distance."

Bestian closed his eyes and raised his nose in the air. "It's them. Oh ... the power." He shuddered. "It's ... it's unbelievable."

Gauvin started to get excited. "Where? Is it the woman? Can you tell?"

Bestian pointed northeast from their current position. "I can't tell who it is, but I've never felt anything like it. Maybe the hooded man who sent us on this mission was mistaken. No one with this much power was anywhere near us in the other world."

"Don't forget that the other world robs us of some of our gift."

Bestian nodded. "This is true." With a swift kick to his horse, he was off again, heading straight for the source of power he'd felt.

Gauvin kicked his horse, forcing the already tired beast to push even harder.

10
Taulin

Daen, Randell, and Rhea followed Taulin on a narrow animal trail that took them towards Kinling but then turned north, keeping them at the base of the mountain. They rode for a few hours without talking, listening for anyone who may have followed them or who might be in the forest with them.

Daen followed Taulin, watching him. There was something familiar about him. He'd seen it in the tavern and again after the battle. At first, the recognition concerned him, not knowing if he was remembering someone he didn't want to engage. Now, as they silently rode along the base of the Kinling Mountains, he took his time, studying the man and his mount.

He was obviously someone of stature but nothing he wore, nothing about his horse spoke as to who he was. Daen trusted Randell's ability to sense danger in a person, and now with his gift's power enhanced by Luxatra, he trusted him even more. Daen knew he would know who this man truly was. He just needed to be patient.

Randell brought up the rear. Before the battle, he'd been having a good time on his adventure into Luxatra. Now, he understood Daen's initial reluctance to bring him along. He'd held his own against two rather strong and burly warriors, or whatever they were. But if the one with the mace hadn't taken an interest in Rhea, he wasn't sure if he would have survived.

Randell watched Rhea's body sway with the gait of the horse as she rode. She looked comfortable in the saddle, a natural. But she was quiet, maybe too quiet.

He'd seen her take down the first warrior in a spin so fast that he wasn't sure it actually happened until he saw the blood gush from the man's neck, before he slumped to the ground. He'd heard Taulin comment that she'd taken out the man with the mace as well.

Two men, dead. Randell was having a hard enough time dealing with his involvement in helping Daen take down one of the warriors in black, so he couldn't imagine how Rhea was handling the repercussions of an actual kill.

Visions of Daen's almost-savage stance and the man sliding from his sword flashed through Randell'
s mind, and his stomach flipped. He knew Daen was a warrior, but he never imagined his good friend could look so ... so fierce. He also never imagined he would be put to the test as he had been today.

The slow undulating motion of the horse beneath Rhea lulled her mind from everything but the attack. She played the scenes over and over, analyzing what she'd done as if she were on the outside watching. It was clear self-defense. Kill or be killed. She'd given them warnings, but they'd ignored her.

Her emotions were a ghost by her side, disconnected, yet there waiting to be recognized. But the only thing she could feel was the rolling of her stomach each time she remembered the metallic scent from all the blood. It felt like it was burned into her nose. It made her gag, but she held it together quietly, not wanting the others to know.

~~~

The sensations were getting stronger the closer he got. Bestian knew their target was close. As they charged up the north-south road, they'd gone only a short distance when the horses started to spook.

Bestian's horse veered left as if there was a wall only his horse could see, running wild into the field of flowers that paralleled the road. Gauvin's horse came to an abrupt stop almost launching him over the horse's head.

"Stop, you damned horse!" Bestian was pulling back on the reins, trying to get his animal under control. The horse did has Bestian commanded, but also reared, throwing Bestian back and onto the ground before running further into the field.

Gauvin happened to look up just in time to see the spectacle and couldn't help but laugh. Of course, the instant Bestian righted himself, Gauvin wiped the joy from his face. He knew his partner would try to take his horse, so he took off into the field after the spooked animal.

Bestian walked back to the road to see why the horses had gone crazy. It didn't take long to know why. The dark, reddish-brown stains smelled of only one thing. Blood.

The battle was fresh. Bestian had seen enough to know at least that much. But where were the bodies? With that much blood, there had to be bodies.

He scanned the tall grasses that lined the road and found the evidence he needed ... pressed grasses leading towards the Kinling forest. He followed the path a few feet but didn't need to go any further. The stench, coupled with the buzzing fury of a swarm of flies, told him what lay hidden in the tall grasses.

He lifted the collar of his shirt to his nose and proceeded. He had to know who it was. Three steps gave him his answer. Black riders. Their doublets cut open, their bodies exposed to the elements.