"Good! You two stick together if something comes at you, Jax, toss that shield up. Caislyn, listen for any news you need to pass along from the wolves."
"You just threw a rock at us!" Jaxon was yelling at Seth.
"Yeah, and you two reacted just like you were supposed to."
"You. Threw. A. Rock. At. Us!" Jaxon yelled again.
"Caislyn," Seth continued, ignoring Jaxon's theatrics, "if it gets too heavy in there, you grab Jax and get the hell out!" Both girls began shaking their heads in protest. "I mean it!" Seth spoke the last words a little louder, trying to get through to the stubborn girls were still shaking their heads in decent. "You get the hell out and don't look back. I'll find you if need be."
"How many people do you think you can teleport at once?" Jaxon was whispering to Caislyn now.
"I'm not sure - so far three. As long as we are all touching, maybe everyone if we are all linked. I'm not sure what that would do to me though. There's no way to tell what the power drain would be like."
"Let's hope we don't need to find out, then."
Caislyn nodded and then cocked her head, listening to the wolves who were advancing on the castle ahead of everyone else. She looked over at Seth and said, "Get ready, they are about to breech the castle." She watched as Seth nodded and went to pass on the information. They all began to move in towards the castle, ready to get this thing started. Caislyn was ready to get it all over with and have her mom back safe.
The girls were left bringing up the rear, watching as the others charged in ahead. Caislyn stopped her forward movement, just before they reached the hole in the castle's exterior wall. A shiver ran through her body as she tried to make sense of the strange sensation. Jaxon felt the confusion and immediately tossed a shield around both of them, just in time to stop the energy ball that hurdled towards them from a bush nearby.
"Caislyn, of the Dara, I have a message for you." A very tall man stepped from behind the bush. He seemed a strange site to the girls with his pale, green skin,.and long, dark, stick-like hair. "You will not find your father's body here. My people have taken him home to rest in the Fey mounds." The green man seemed almost sad, bowing his head momentarily and then looking back up at the two girls who were standing before him. He cocked his head to the side as he regarded them. "I am to explain that you are not welcomed in the lands of the Fey. Out of respect for who your father was, we shall not seek you out any further, the Fey shall remain impartial to your, situation. Should you broach our lands though - certain death awaits. Half breeds have never been welcome in the Faerie lands. No exceptions are made, not even for Mac Dara's kin."
"Who are you?" Caislyn asked quietly.
"Ash of the Vale, I would be your betrothed were you the full blood daughter of Mac Dara." he looked towards the hole in the wall - startled. Caislyn did too, having heard the wolves who were coming to check on them. Ash turned back and bowed to Caislyn, "I must go, Caislyn. Please, heed my warning. I have sacrificed much to be here to give it." Before Caislyn could say a thing, Ash was gone and three wolves were pouring through the hole surrounding them. The larger of the three, the red wolf was asking Caislyn if she and Jax were okay.
"We're fine, just delayed." She nodded toward the hole and they all took off down the hallway that had already been cleared.
The remainder of The Brotherhood had been tossed into a single cell together, deeper inside the castle. Caislyn didn't see the man she was looking for amongst them. "He's not here," she said out loud without realizing it.
"Who's not here?" Jaxon questioned.
"The man with the pale eyes." Caislyn continued, "the one who stole my parents."
"He may still be here. Surely, they haven't checked everywhere yet." Jaxon gave Caislyn's arm a squeeze to reassure her and then they saw Seth coming up out of the recesses. with something cradled in his arms.
"It's the girl's mother." Caislyn overheard one of the wolves.
"Is she dead?" Another asked.
"She doesn't smell very alive does she?"
Caislyn didn't even bother reminding them that she could hear, she broke out into a run and met Seth midway. Her mom was a small broken thing in his arms, her hair falling in a tangled heap down her back. "Momma," she whispered.
"Caislyn...." Vesta breathed and then passed out again.
"I need to get her out of here, but where do we take her?" Caislyn looked to Seth for answers he didn't have. He just stood holding Vesta in his arms, waiting for direction, watching the emotions that swept over Caislyn's face. Jaxon was there holding onto her friend and a large gray wolf bounded up beside the both of them.
"Caislyn, we need to get her somewhere else, to stabilize her." When she didn't respond the large wolf hit her hand with his head. "Caislyn!"
"We can't go back to the cottage, I don't know where else..." tears began streaming down Caislyn's face as she looked at her mom's form dangling lifelessly in Seth's arms.
"You have the keys, take the SUV, Jaxon, Seth, and grab Merriwyn too. She will be able to help with that witch stuff. Head south-west. We need to get to Hradec."
"Hradec?" Caislyn questioned.
"The gypsies I told you about, they are just on the other side of Prague near Hradec."
Caislyn looked at her mother, "it won't be an easy journey for us with her like this."
"We'll make it, now get going. We'll meet up down the road a ways. The wolves and I will finish up with the Brotherhood - what's left of them, anyway. It looks like you were right, the ones who made it split off into several different directions, leaving behind this skeleton crew. I wonder if there were more who left before the Fey attacked? It would be interesting to find out."
"Well, my mom's not going to be telling us anything useful any time soon." Caislyn said, looking again at her mother's lifeless body.
"No, but the stragglers who were left behind may have something to say about it."
"Sir!" Another wolf came trotting up to them, "we tried questioning the Brothers who remain."
"I don't want to hear about what you are trying, I want to hear about the results!"
"Yes, sir. I think you need to come see this though.
Caislyn watched as the two wolves padded off in the opposite direction. She listened in a moment longer to what they were saying.
"Are they all like this?" Arkos was saying to his wolves. Caislyn, listened on, hoping to glean a bit information about where their leader may have gone. "They've cut their tongues out?" Arkos questioned again, "all of them?"
"Every last one, sir."
"Jesus Christ! What the hell are we supposed to do with that?"
Caislyn translated what Arkos had been saying to the others, who were quick to act. "Where's Merriwyn?" Jaxon asked, suddenly a bit panicked as she looked around for her own mother. "I don't see her anywhere."
"Jax," Caislyn tapped her on the shoulder, "she's there." Caislyn pointed behind her where Merriwyn stood and they both watched as she walked toward Seth, and saw who he was holding. She inspected the woman who was draped across Seth's arms.
"We have to get her somewhere safe, so I can treat her," she said and with that everyone was suddenly in motion sprinting for the SUVs they had arrived in.
~...~
The group had not been on the road long before Caislyn started nodding off in her seat. She awoke only because someone was shaking her shoulders. "Caislyn!" Another shake of her shoulders and yet another call of her name, "Caislyn, wake up!" Caislyn woke up groggily, thinking of blue-green butterflies when she realized Jaxon was still shaking her.
"What?" She asked, after looking around and seeing they were still in a moving vehicle, heading who knew where.
"Here," this time it was Merriwyn handing Caislyn a pouch of something. "I made this up for you back at the cottage, but I didn't have the chance to give it to you."
"What is it," she asked taking the pouch and looking inside. "It looks like my tea, without the water." Merriwyn handed her a bottle of water.
"Dump the contents in. It won't be as good or as potent since it isn't hot, but it will have to do."
"For what?" The heavy sleepiness Caislyn felt was beginning to slip away slowly, but obviously not fast enough for her to catch on.
"It's to keep the Fey out of your dreams. Remember, we talked about doing this before storming the castle."
"Yeah," Caislyn began dumping the herbal contents into her water bottle, careful not to spill any of it. "I remember now. I hope it helps."
Merriwyn nodded at her again, "I'm sorry I didn't get it to you sooner. We can't be too careful when moving to a new location."
"How's my mom doing?" Caislyn leaned back over the seat to see her Vesta's lifeless-looking body draped there.
"She's stable for now, but we need to get where we are going fast so that I can figure out how to treat her." Merriwyn thought for a moment before saying the rest. "I'm not sure what they've done to her, Caislyn. She's almost in a comatose state right now. She's able to breath, sometimes it's very labored though. Whatever else they've done to her - they've allowed her to get sick on top of it."
Caislyn's shoulders slumped with the news. She had hoped that when she awoke it would be to find her mother smiling at her and filling them in on why the Brotherhood had taken them to begin with. Now, that was seeming like less and less of a possibility. "So, I'm safe in my dreams, but what about her? Is she safe there? Will she ever wake up?"
Jaxon hugged Caislyn to her as Merriwyn shook her head, "I have no way of knowing, Caislyn. I'm sorry." Merriwyn motioned toward the half full bottle that Caislyn still held in her hands. "Drink up, Caislyn, you need to take the full dose for it to be effective."
Fifteen long minutes later and Caislyn was slumped against the window of the car, in a deep sleep. "I wish I could fall off to sleep so easily under these kinds of conditions," Jaxon commented.
"She had some help, Jaxon. That herbal mixture wasn't just for her safety in dreams, it was to give her some rest for now. She's going to need it over the coming days."
"What weren't you telling us before?" Seth had been quietly taking everything in up until now, so it startled both Jaxon and her mother when he spoke.
"Her mom's condition, I have seen it before."
"What?" Jaxon nearly shouted in surprise. "You just told her you didn't know anything."
"Because I couldn't tell her this, not yet." We witches can endure a lot, that's probably one of the reasons we live so much longer than the humans. Despite that, or because of it, there have been a few throughout history who have come up with clever ways of torturing a witch." She looked back at Vesta, who hadn't so much as stirred yet. "It would seem Vesta has become familiar with them first hand."
"What forms of torture?" Jaxon questioned, a bit of hysteria building in her voice, "what did they do to her?"
"Not now. We all need some rest before we get to our destination. I won't tell you now, or you won't sleep. I promise to tell you when we get where we are going. There will be a few things that I need to help Vesta once we are there. Arkos mentioned that we would be staying with a Gypsy clan. I am hopeful that they will have the supplies I seek." She patted Jaxon's hand. "For now, all you need know is that it is possible to bring Vesta back from this. I didn't lie. There is always hope."
"But, what about..."
"Jaxon, there are many questions, but for now we all need some rest while we can get it."
***
WELCOME HOME
The sun had just begun to set behind the SUV as they pulled over on the side of the road. Up ahead was an old horse and cart with a lantern attached. "What in the world kind of back woods place did Arkos bring us to?" Caislyn was saying as she looked up ahead out the front windshield of the car. She watched as Arkos got out of the vehicle behind theirs and walked up towards the cart. "Roll the window down, we need to hear what they're saying." The wolves had caught up to them after a few hours of driving and they all rode together for the better part of a day to get to their destination.
"It's okay, I can hear them," Jax said without thinking. All eyes in the car moved to her and she simply shrugged her shoulders. "What? I'm part vampire, remember?" Jaxon elbowed Seth as he smirked beside her. They listened for the conversation, repeating what was being said as introductions were made.
"I am Mikel Vadoma, I have been sent to ensure that all are peacefully entering our encampment."
As soon as Jaxon repeated the name Vadoma, Caislyn smacked at her arm. "Vadoma? Arkos has brought me to my maternal witch line?" Jaxon just shrugged at her not knowing what she was talking about. Caislyn was out of the SUV and marching over to Arkos and Mikel before anyone could stop her.
"Arkos?" Caislyn called to him, catching the attention of both men. Arkos slumped a little as Caislyn got closer, "how could you keep this from me?"
"Caislyn, please, go back to the car. This is not the time or place to..."
"Caislyn," Mikel's loud voice broke through the conversation and he held his hand out to her in greeting. "We have been looking forward to meeting you, cousin."
Caislyn smiled at Mikel. She had met her grandmother, great grandmother, and great-great grandmother, but she had never met any of the Vadoma line beyond that. She put her hand out and clutched Mikel's, shaking his hand as he broke out in a grin.
"Now, I get to be the first to welcome you." The howl of a wolf went up into the air, bringing them all back to reality. Caislyn turned back to Arkos.
"It's taking too long, they want to know if everything is okay."
Arkos ignored Caislyn for the most part and spoke directly to Mikel, "we need to get off the road and out of sight, can you get us to the camp now?"
Mikel nodded, still grinning from ear to ear, "follow me." Mikel walked back to the horse drawn cart that was off to the side of the road while Arkos grabbed hold of Caislyn's arm by the elbow and began escorting her back to the SUV she needed to be in. Instead of heading back to his own SUV he climbed in with Jaxon, Seth, Merriwyn, Vesta, Caislyn, and their driver. It made for a cramped situation, but he was hoping it would be a short ride to the Gypsy camp.
"Don't ever do that again, Caislyn," Arkos commanded. Do you know what kind of danger you could put yourself in, put all of us in," he peered back over the seat towards Vesta to bring home his verbal assault, "by running out in the open like that? Everyone knows who you are now - more importantly, everyone knows what you are." He looked at all of them now. "You too," he said as his gaze landed on Jax. "Word has spread fast that the two of your are the ones foretold about in the prophecy. There are many out there that would protect you and see you through the ordeal that the Seer has spoken of, but there are others who want to stop you at all cost. You have to be more careful. They will come for you, but they will use or destroy anything and anyone who gets in the way." He turned to Seth now, "That goes for you too. The minute the girls teleported you out of the council meeting your head was called for." Seth nodded, the girls hung their heads.
"Sorry, it's just..." Caislyn didn't get a chance to finish as Arkos continued on.
"I know how difficult this must be for you. Caislyn, I am well aware that you've never met this portion of your family. Right now, you need to keep a level head though. This could have been a trap that we were walking into. We had no way of knowing for sure until we got here if the Vadomas were really welcoming home family or if they were setting you up. You have to put your heart aside for now, no matter how difficult that may be."
"It won't happen again." Caislyn was silent the rest of the trip, as were all the other occupants of the car. The only assurance Caislyn had that she wasn't alone in all this was the firm grasp that Jaxon had on her hand. They watched as the road fell away to dirt and trees. Once they were far enough in the trees two young men popped out of nowhere and closed off the dirt path from which they had come. The brush and debris they piled there looked as though it had always been. The boys that closed the road off disappeared and Caislyn began looking around fo
r them.
"They've gone to rid the dirt path of our tracks so we can't be easily followed."
"Oh." Caislyn turned back around and realized they were now getting closer to what looked like a little grove in the middle of the trees. Lights were visible, but they didn't have the harsh output of modern electric lights, they had the more natural, flickering glow of fire.
The SUVs pulled up on the outskirts of the gypsy encampment. They all got out of the vehicles and took a look around. "I feel like I just stepped backwards in time," Jaxon whispered to Caislyn.
"Yeah, me too." She looked around taking in the various tents and campers that were strewn all over the open space. The center of the clearing was brightest where a large fire stood with flames licking greedily toward the sky. "I guess I got lucky that my grandma up and married an Irishman that wandered through these parts." A dark haired, well built man, with gray eyes walked past them and smiled down at them as he went.
"Hmmm, maybe not. If they all look like that here, I'm thinking Merriwyn should have dropped me off with you in this quaint little camp." Jaxon made a low growling sound in the back of her throat.
"Down girl! He's probably another cousin, so that would have done me no good. Besides, don't you have a thing going with our vampire stalker over there." Caislyn nodded toward Seth, who must have heard Jaxon's comment because he seemed a bit out of sorts at the moment.
"He definitely belongs to me," Caislyn watched Seth smile as Jaxon said that, "but that doesn't mean I'm blind!"
Seth's shoulders slumped forward in defeat and he started chuckling as Caislyn watched. She picked up an acorn off the ground and tossed it at him. He moved out of the way easily enough, and then walked over toward Arkos and the man he had been talking to. Jaxon looked at Caislyn, "what just happened?"
"He's a vampire remember?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, he heard every word you just said. It was funny watching his reaction as you said it, especially after he realized I was watching for it."
Revelations Page 7
