Island Shifters: Book 01 - An Oath of the Blood

by Valerie Zambito

  Dillon grinned and Janin snorted.

  “Your help is appreciated and welcome,” said Dillon magnanimously and held out his hand in a gesture for Rogan to continue down the passageway and to lead them.

  Rogan nodded curtly and sprinted ahead in the stone tunnel, the flame in his hand held out before him. As soon as they came to an intersection, he asked Dillon, “Can you take me to my old home? As I told you before, I must retrieve an item that will help us in our efforts.”

  Dillon nodded. “I thought you might want to head there. We better hurry, though, because the King will be thinking the same thing.”

  He was right, thought Rogan. That is exactly where King Rik would look for his escaped nephew. After all these weeks, he was still trying to wrap his mind around that information. King Rik killed his parents and, given the chance, Rogan was sure he intended to visit the same fate on him.

  As Dillon started to leave, Rogan grabbed his arm. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “Thank you and Janin both for getting me out of that cell. I honestly don’t know how much longer I could have lasted.”

  Dillon held out his hand, and the two men shook hands. “I know you do not remember me, but I have thought of you often over the years. For what it is worth, I think it is foolish to banish magic users.” Dillon did not let go of Rogan’s arm, but held it tighter and looked him in the eye. “I am your friend. I am in this with you to the end.”

  Rogan looked at him in surprise. “Glad to have you on my side, friend.” He looked over at Janin who was anxiously looking down both sides of the tunnel. “You as well, Janin.”

  She gave him that look again and nodded with a small smile. “As much as I would like to stand around and chatter, a little more running would suit me just fine. We have demons to fight.”

  “Demons?” questioned Rogan sharply.

  Dillon shrugged. “Did I forget to mention that?”

  Just then, the alarm Rogan feared finally sounded.

  Earthshine was less than a week away, but that fact no longer concerned Kiernan. Especially when, whenever she felt a pang of guilt, there was always a Gem nearby to convince her that her involvement was not necessary. The relentless indoctrination into the coven left little room for any cognitive awareness of current or past events. She accepted the fact that she would always have a void in her heart and mind by her separation from Beck and Bajan, but it was slowly filling in with new purpose and activities.

  Humming softly, she casually made her way to Gemini’s chambers with the intention of discussing the evening’s ceremony. As she walked, she realized that it felt as if she had been here all her life. She enjoyed working with Citrine and the sorceresses of her Sect, honing her combat skills. It still amazed her how the power of the gemstone heightened speed and strength to such an enormous degree. The women in Citrine’s Sect were lethal, and she was looking forward to her advancement in the coven so that she would be able to work with the stone one day.

  Tonight the Gems were having a formal ceremony in her honor, proclaiming her a Friend of the Coven, the first of a three-step process to becoming a sorceress. The second step would be a year-long, academic instruction period in the use of all gems and their magical properties, and the third and final step was practical training in the gem of choice. This last step usually took two years and at the end, Kiernan would be a sorceress.

  She smiled at the irony of the thought. Kiernan Grace Everard, mindshifter, Princess of Iserlohn, would be a witch. She deliberately left out the most recent title bestowed on her. She was no longer that person. No longer on that path.

  As she rounded the fountain in the center of the antechamber, she came upon two of the Sect Leaders. Ruby, was in charge of the study of Runes and deciphering the obfuscated, ancient language, and Amethyst led the study of Alchemy and the development of magical potions for both Healing and Spell Casting. Both women were stunningly gorgeous and ageless, their hair wove back from their faces in a tight braid. The two often worked together in their crafts as many of the early instructions for potions were written in languages and symbols that only the sorceresses of Ruby’s Sect could interpret.

  Ruby smiled at Kiernan and grasped her hands. “Kiernan, I am so very excited for the ceremony this evening.” She looked at Amethyst knowingly. “We are both very happy you are on your way to becoming one of us.”

  Kiernan smiled, flattered. “Thank you, Ruby. I am glad to be here, too, I truly am. You have all made me feel very welcome.” She nodded politely and moved to step around the women to continue on her way, but they stepped in front of her.

  “Why don’t you join us for lunch?” said Amethyst taking Kiernan’s arm and turning her around.

  Kiernan shrugged away as politely as she could. “Thank you for the offer, Amethyst, but I must be on my way. I have to speak to Gemini.”

  Amethyst barked out a laugh. “Gemini is extremely busy, Kiernan, and does not have the time to spare for every silly girl who feels the need to interrupt.” She turned to Ruby. “Can you imagine? The woman would never get any work done!”

  Kiernan’s face turned red. “I…. I did not realize.”

  “Yes, well, now you know. Gemini is enmeshed in a multitude of details required to administrate this coven and must not be disturbed. If you cannot join us for lunch, then run along,” she said, shooing Kiernan away from the stairs with two hands.

  Again, Kiernan noticed a calculating look pass between the two Sect Leaders. Her intuition told her something was amiss, but she allowed herself to be ushered away. “Thank you. I will just return to my room then to rest before the ceremony.”

  Ruby nodded victoriously. “Very good.”

  Kiernan walked way, started back toward her room, and watched as the two women continued along the corridor to the dining hall. As soon as she felt it was safe, she hurried back to the fountain. The antechamber was clear. She picked up the sides of her dress and sprinted up the stairs to Gemini’s office, her steps in her soft sandals muted on the white marble floor. Halfway down the corridor, she paused with her back to the wall. Were the Sect Leaders trying to keep her from Gemini?

  Determined to find out, she pushed off the wall and walked the rest of the way to Gemini’s chambers. Light spilled into the corridor from the door left slightly ajar. She did not dare look in, but as it turned out, she did not have to. She could hear clearly the voices inside.

  “It is none of our affair.” It was Gemini.

  A hand slapped down on a desk. “It most certainly is, Gemini,” said an angry voice. Diamond. “You have always had faith in my craft before. Why do you wish to discount it now? There is great destruction in store for Massa, destruction on the scale of the Mage War! I have foreseen that Kiernan is one of the Savitars! She must fight!”

  Another voice. Citrine. “Gemini, I trust in Diamond’s visions and agree with her that we must get involved. As a member of my Sect, I will personally accompany Kiernan, as will all of my Gems. We will stand by her. Harm will not get a peek at the Princess.”

  “No.” The reply came so softly that Kiernan almost did not hear it.

  Kiernan heard the frustrated sighs of Diamond and Citrine. “Why Gemini?” pleaded Diamond. “Why are you doing this?”

  A chair scraped back. Gemini must have risen. “She was my best friend, Diamond. I promised Grace I would protect her daughter— with my life if necessary.”

  Diamond snorted. “Her life will be forfeit anyway if she does not fight.”

  “Not so. There are three other Savitars. Nowhere in your visions or in prophecy does it say that all four have to be there at the battle. Let the three other Savitars fight! Kiernan will stay here where she will be safe. It is what her mother wanted, and what I swore to do.”

  Diamond launched into another argument, but Kiernan had heard enough. She walked down the passageway and back toward the stairs, tears welling in her eyes. Her mother tried to protect her all her life. First by concealing her shifting abilities from her father, next by at
tempting to shelter her within the Gem coven and by ensuring she had a Draca Cat protector, and finally, by extracting a vow of protection from her sorceress friend. Unlike her father, who exiled her and lied about finding Bajan, her mother had done everything in her power to care for her and keep her safe.

  She wiped the tears from her face. If that was what her mother wanted, Kiernan would not disappoint. She would stay here with the Gems and become one of them.

  Become a witch.

  Maximus Everard, Adrian Ravener, and Beck Atlan be damned.

  Chapter 25

  SISTERLY LOVE

  Kiernan shivered as she waited alone outside of the ceremonial hall. Whether due to her jittery nerves or the fact that she was utterly naked under her robe, she was unsure. Probably a little of both. Tonight was a new beginning for her, with a new family.

  She paused at a sudden errant thought. Would this really be any different from exile? The Gems were as cloistered as the shifters had been. How long before she railed against the invisible walls of this new confinement? No! There was no turning back now. The Gems accepted her and she must accept them in return. The choice had already been made, even if she did not quite remember making it.

  Citrine opened the double doors of the hall and approached her. Kiernan was so used to seeing the Sect Leader dressed in yellow, that she was surprised to find her dressed in a black robe identical to hers, with a black veil covering her face. Kiernan only knew it was Citrine by the distinctive red braid peeking through.

  “We are ready,” she said, enigmatically.

  Kiernan took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Do not be nervous, Kiernan. This is the shortest and most straightforward of all our ceremonies. It will be over quickly.”

  Kiernan lowered her eyes. “I am not nervous, it is just that everything has happened so fast. A month ago, I was headed in one direction and the next, I am here.”

  Citrine smiled through the veil. “Do you not wish to be one of us?”

  “I do! It…. has been difficult, that is all.”

  “We are sisters now, Kiernan. I am here for you any time you wish to talk. Do you hear me?”

  Kiernan nodded and took a deep breath. “I am ready.”

  Citrine reached for her hand and led the way into the hall. Hundreds of candles arranged in a semi circle in the center of the ring of benches and balconies lit the room. Kiernan heard soft chanting from many feminine voices, but could not make out the words or see their faces in the concealment of shadows where the candlelight did not reach. The strong smell of incense filled her nose and she breathed in the piquant scent. Citrine led her through the breach in the circle of candles to the lone veiled figure standing in the middle and knelt, pulling Kiernan down with her.

  “High Priestess,” began Citrine, “we ask for your blessing in naming this woman, Kiernan Grace Everard, as Friend of the Coven.”

  “Who asks?”

  “We all do!” was the reply from Citrine and all of the Gems in attendance in the dark behind her.

  “Please rise.”

  Kiernan rose to her feet shakily and felt a moment of panic when Citrine left her side and departed back through the glowing tapers. She stood alone now in front of the figure she knew to be Gemini, but kept her eyes lowered.

  “In the presence of the Highworld spirits and the entire coven, do you come to us of your own free will? Unencumbered of material possessions?”

  “I do,” she replied, as instructed earlier by Citrine.

  Gemini’s hands reached out and gently opened Kiernan’s robe and pushed it along the top of her shoulders until it fell to the ground. She trembled as the cool air accosted her body.

  “Do you swear to keep secret the arts of our practice? Keep secret the rituals and ceremonies for which you will now have knowledge?”

  “I do.”

  “Do you swear to protect and defend your coven of sisters from all harm?”

  “I do.”

  Sensing movement, Kiernan slowly lifted her eyes to see Gemini lift her veil back over her head. Kiernan was feeling light-headed from the strong incense and swayed on her feet. She closed her eyes and her head rolled back. She felt wonderful.

  The chanting stopped.

  Very softly, almost in a whisper, Gemini said, “As High Priestess of this coven, I find you worthy of this circle.” She reached out her hand and lightly cupped Kiernan’s chin and kissed her on the lips.

  “I accept you mind…,” and she kissed Kiernan on the side of her temple.

  “Body…,” and Gemini leaned down to kiss her stomach, right above her navel.

  “And, soul..,” and she kissed Kiernan above her left breast over her heart.

  Kiernan did not open her eyes during the intimate ritual.

  Gemini walked around her, picked up her robe and put it gently around her shoulders then turned to face the Gems. “Let us now close the circle of sisterhood and let it never be broken.” One by one, the Gems approached, filled the gap with one of the candles in the outer ring, and silently departed.

  It is over. She was committed now to the sorceresses of Elloree, just as her mother wished.

  When at last it was Kiernan and Gemini alone in the ring of candlelight, her emotions ruptured and she began to sob. “Now, now,” said Gemini, grasping her hands. “It is done. You are a Friend of the Coven for now and evermore.”

  “Forgive me, Gemini. I…. I have just felt so alone. I have missed my mother for so long.”

  Gemini folded her into her arms. “I miss her, too. She was a remarkable woman, and you know what?” she asked, putting a finger under Kiernan’s chin to force her to look at her. “You are remarkable, too. She would be very proud of you.”

  “Thank you, Gemini, your words mean more than you will ever know.”

  “You have us now, Kiernan. You have all of your Gem sisters and you have me. I already think of you as a daughter.”

  Kiernan cried even harder.

  Forced to wait for a ferry at the pier in Iserport, Beck clenched his jaw impatiently. Instead of traveling east as originally planned, he and Bajan would now be traveling west on the Illian River directly to Elloree. Nobody could tell him exactly where the sorceresses’ lived in Elloree, but cautioned him to be wary. Although, the people of Iserport had known about the Gems for some time, unless a shifter daughter was born, they generally stayed as far away as possible.

  He wondered why the Gems, a coven of witches by all accounts, would kidnap Kiernan. He asked Bajan to try to reach her again, but the Draca was unsuccessful. For reasons Beck did not want to contemplate, she was unable to telepathically respond to her lifelong friend.

  “Beck Atlan?” Beck turned to a clean-shaven, sinewy man walking toward him with his hand extended. Beck shook the man’s hand of corded muscle and grimaced. Despite his own strength, this was one powerful man. The kind of man you would want at your back in a skirmish.

  “I take it you will be our Captain to Elloree,” stated Beck.

  The man laughed good-naturedly. “Well, I will be navigating the ferry if you can call that a Captain, lad. The name is Rafe Wilden, but just Rafe is fine.”

  Beck smiled. “Rafe it is. When do we leave? I am very anxious to be on my way.”

  “Now.” He pointed to an open sided, flat-bottomed boat with sloping square bow and stern. “There she is, the Blue Lady. Make yourselves comfortable, and I will be along in a moment.”

  Beck and Bajan walked over to the boat and boarded, apparently the only passengers on the Blue Lady that afternoon. A cool breeze ruffled his hair as he grasped one of the vertical beams that supported the canvas roof of the ferry and gazed out over the Illian River. The sun was sitting brilliantly in a red-orange ball right above the western horizon. His father always told him that the redder the sun at sunset, the warmer it would be the following day. He did not know if it was true or not since almost every day on the island was hot and sunny, but he liked to believe it so. It would be one more reminder of hi
s father and a small tidbit of lore that he could hold close until he passed it on to his own son.

  The ferry lurched when Rafe jumped aboard with his crew of two young oarsmen. The three men worked in tandem to push the ferry away from the dock and steer her in a westerly direction out of Lake Traverse and onto the Illian. Beck’s thoughts were a jumbled array of hopes for his fellow Savitars as they set out. He hoped that Rogan was able to retrieve his pendant and discover word of his birth family. He hoped that Airron survived his ordeal in Havenport and was awaiting them in Sarphia. And, he hoped more than anything else in this world that very soon he would be able to hold Kiernan in his arms again. That particularly incredible wish was his last conscious thought as he slid down the rail against his back and fell fast asleep.

  He awoke reluctantly to what felt like a large file being dragged along his cheek. He waved the affectionate Draca Cat away and opened his eyes. “I’m up, I’m up,” he said groggily and realized it was afternoon—of the following day! The soft swaying motion of the ferry was all that was needed to lull him into a much overdue deep sleep, and he stretched contentedly for the first time in over a month.

  “Good afternoon to you, lad,” said Rafe. The short oars of yesterday replaced now by long poles as the three oarsmen navigated the shallower waters near Elloree.

  Beck stood, sore from sleeping up against the boat’s rails the entire night. “Good afternoon. How much longer to Elloree?”

  Rafe pointed forward with a jerk of his chin. “Right around the next bend. Rope!”

  One of the men put down his long pole to retrieve the mooring line with a noose on one end. When the Blue Lady steered around the next curve in the river, a lone dock with two wooden pilings came into view. As they neared, the man with the rope tossed it over the side and looped it expertly over one of the pilings.