Elder

by Raine Thomas

  Tate winked at her as they started the next rotation. The bars groaned as they bowed. “Tiege won’t care what you look like, you know. He loves you for more than just your pretty face.”

  “Ha.” She was glad her exertion concealed her blush. Not meeting Tate’s gaze as she gave the stick another shove, she asked, “Do you really think so?”

  “Sure I do.”

  Her certainty brought a lightness to Ariana’s heart. It seemed to give her another burst of energy, too. She angled her body to lift the stick as Tate all but sat on her side.

  “Do you know that’s why I was seeking you out on the day archigos Knorbis led us away from everyone?” Ariana asked.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I wanted to see if you thought Tiege would be open to pairing with me as his Lekwuesti. I was too anxious to just ask him.”

  Tate raised an eyebrow. “His paired Lekwuesti?”

  “See? That was Sophia’s initial reaction, too.” Ariana frowned as she shifted again. “After discussing it with her, I wanted another female’s opinion. Do you not think he’ll want me, then?”

  “He wants you, all right. Just not as the Lekwuesti who sees to his hospitality needs.”

  Before Ariana could pursue the conversation any further, Tate stopped pushing and sat back on her heels. Nodding, she said, “I think we’ve made a big enough gap. Let’s give it a shot.”

  They hurriedly removed the towel and bar, dropping the rod to the ground with a loud clang. Ariana waved at Tate, who nodded again and moved over to the rather small opening. Taking a deep breath, she eased her head and shoulders out. She got hung up at her chest for a moment and had to do some wriggling to ease her upper body through the gap.

  “Guess it’s a good thing I’ve lost so much weight these past few days,” Tate said as she managed to spill out the rest of the way. “There’s no way these hips could normally do that.”

  Ariana quickly followed her out. Tate grabbed her arms and helped her to her feet. They glanced around the room. Approaching a table full of implements, Tate hefted a sharp tool that resembled an ice pick. Not wanting to be unarmed, Ariana grabbed a similar tool.

  “Let’s be careful when we leave this room,” Tate cautioned. “We don’t know where we are or what kind of dwelling this is. Metis might have guards out here.”

  Ariana nodded. She realized that she wasn’t as afraid as she probably should be. She just felt resolved.

  Tate grasped the door handle and gave it a pull. Then she frowned. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “What?”

  “It’s locked.”

  “Cephalus, stop your tirade. It is me—Metis.”

  She kept her gaze trained on a spot in the distance in case she once again had to teleport out of harm’s way. Despite the fact that she wasn’t looking directly at Cephalus, she certainly saw him. The six-armed giant was impossible to miss. If his extra appendages and fifteen-foot bulk weren’t enough to draw attention, his purple skin and writhing head of silver hair sure were. His black eyes had no irises and were little more than narrow slits as he turned in her direction.

  As odd as she considered herself due to Tethys’ miscalculations during the creation process, she thanked her good fortune that she hadn’t ended up like Cephalus.

  “I know it has been many centuries since you last saw me, and I no longer look the same,” she said as the giant hefted his spiked club. “But our creator gave me the ability to assume multiple forms.”

  His nostrils flaring, the giant took two long strides in her direction with his club held high. She teleported to the spot she’d been focusing on and watched the club shatter a pillar next to where she’d been standing.

  Shaking her head, she wondered if she’d miscalculated in coming here. But she needed Cephalus’ help to monitor and coerce the two females so she could go after the final scroll piece. She would also need his strength to get the two pieces from Eirik. She had nowhere else to turn.

  “I will bring you away from this place, Cephalus, if you will but listen to me.”

  That finally caught the giant’s attention. This time when he approached, he kept the club lowered. His hair waved around his head in a rhythmic manner that caught the sunlight. It would have hypnotized her if she hadn’t known to avoid gazing at it.

  “You would take me from this place after so many centuries of exile?” he asked.

  “Yes. And all that I ask in return is that you aid me in acquiring something.”

  “Acquiring what?”

  Knowing he wouldn’t deny her when she offered him something so precious, she explained about the Elder Scroll, the two females and Eirik. The giant didn’t move a muscle throughout her monologue.

  “You can teleport me while in that form?” he asked.

  “Yes. I wish to go to the laboratory first and acquire the two females. They will lead us to the third scroll piece.”

  “I agree to your conditions,” Cephalus said without hesitation. “Let us depart.”

  Metis didn’t want to waste any more time. She nodded and approached him. “You may be too tall to stand easily in my laboratory, so we had best do this while you are sitting.”

  He obeyed, laying his club on his lap. Closing her eyes, Metis touched his arm and visualized the laboratory, describing it out loud to help the teleport succeed. In the next moment, they both appeared next to the table where she had sat with Eirik less than an hour ago.

  “I smell human blood,” Cephalus said, getting to his feet very quickly considering his size. He had to hunch down to avoid connecting with the ceiling. When he lifted his club, it hit the table and sent it flying.

  “Holy light!”

  Metis had just realized the cage was empty when the exclamation issued from near the door. She froze in confusion as Cephalus whirled toward the sound of the voice.

  “No!” she cried, reaching for the arm that wielded the club. “Do not injure them, you fool!”

  He swatted her aside with one of his arms even as he swung his weapon. He aimed for the Kynzesti, scenting the human part of her blood. Tate stayed her ground until the club was less than a foot from her. Then she leaped to the side.

  The door splintered with a tremendous crack. Metis felt her plans sliding sideways.

  “Tate, get through the door!”

  The Lekwuesti produced something with a glow of lavender light. She ran up to Cephalus as he yanked on his club to disconnect it from what remained of the door. When he again brought the weapon up, she flung the contents in her hand at the giant’s eyes.

  He reared back with a roar. Metis belatedly tried to figure out where she could teleport to, but it was too late. Her last, panicked thought before Cephalus knocked her senseless was that the females were escaping the room, and they were almost surely going to die.

  Chapter 8

  “They have escaped the cage,” Zachariah announced.

  Ini-herit listened to the murmurs around him and imagined everyone was excited by this news. He nodded in acknowledgement, but his attention was elsewhere.

  What was wrong with Clara Kate?

  “Bloody hell. The damn door is locked.”

  This time, the responses around Ini-herit had a distinctly negative sound.

  Uriel asked, “Do they see a key or other method of opening the door?”

  “They’re looking.”

  Ini-herit’s thoughts again turned inward. Clara Kate really had looked pale. He’d noticed it a few miles before Quincy finally insisted that she land with him. He had been wondering how he could possibly convince her to let him touch her so that he could assess her condition and heal her. After seeing how she reacted when Quincy almost suggested the same thing, he knew she never would have agreed.

  Her behavior made no sense to him. If she was unwell, she should allow him to heal her. She was visibly exhausted. His abilities would have renewed her energy and adjusted any imbalances she suffered.

  Then she would still be with them.
>
  Instead, she was somewhere else with only three other beings for protection. Eirik and his followers wouldn’t hesitate to capture any of the Kynzesti, especially the daughter of archigos Gabriel and kyria Amber. Her stubbornness had placed her in danger.

  Blinking, he realized he was obsessing…something he’d never done before.

  “Get down!”

  Zachariah’s warning had all of them starting. Ini-herit realized the Mercesti was reacting to something he witnessed through his connection to Tate.

  “The door is no longer an obstacle,” Zachariah said. He looked at Tiege. “But we’d better hurry. Judging by the size of the six-armed giant Metis just teleported to their location, they don’t have much time.”

  Metis was a dead being.

  Eirik stood in the meadow with Friedrich and the five males he had selected to accompany him back to the laboratory. It hadn’t taken him long to realize he had been double-crossed. Now, as the sky lightened for sunrise, he had to decide what to do.

  “Perhaps she is merely late,” Friedrich suggested.

  “No,” Eirik said, his rage carefully held in check. “She is going to attempt to recover the third scroll piece. I am certain of it.”

  “Should we just fly to the location where the females are being kept?”

  Now, some of Eirik’s anger seeped into his response. “I have no idea where it is.”

  He wanted to kill someone. Instead, he clenched his hands into fists hard enough to crack his knuckles. Looking toward the library, he weighed his options.

  Even if Metis somehow managed to get the two females to cooperate with her to recover the third piece of the scroll, she would need the two other pieces to make it work. She’d have to seek him out. He realized she could conceivably kill a being he considered trustworthy and assume his form so she could get close enough to try and get the scroll pieces from him. He would have to be even more on guard.

  “I may not know where the laboratory is,” he said at last, “but the moment the Kynzesti awakens, she will connect with her avowed.”

  “Her avowed?”

  Waving off the question, Eirik continued, “We must fly to the library and take care to avoid detection by the Waresti. When they take flight after the females, we will follow them from a distance.”

  Without waiting for a response, he extended his wings and took flight. He cleared the tops of the trees and easily spotted the library to the east. The sun was just starting to rise when he realized that the Estilorians who were trying to rescue the two females had already taken flight. Their luminescent wings glowed like daylight stars a number of miles away.

  “We must follow them,” he ordered.

  “We will never catch them,” Friedrich responded. “They will acquire the females, who will surely lead them to the item you seek.”

  “I will worry about that later.” Frowning, Eirik asked, “Why are there red wings among all of the orange? Did the Waresti take prisoners?”

  “No, sir. Did you not know that Derian and his followers fought against us in the battle yesterday?”

  Eirik hadn’t known. He had gone into the library with Metis, Deimos and the two females before the battle had really gotten underway. Now that he thought back to his experience in the library, however, he realized there had been more than one pair of red wings heading toward them in the library just before Metis teleported them out.

  “Do you know those among Derian’s followers?” he asked Friedrich.

  “Not all of them.”

  Why had the Marked Ones, as Derian and his tattooed followers were known among the other Mercesti, joined with the Estilorians trying to free the females? Derian wasn’t an ambitious male. He had been content to bow to Kanika’s pathetic leadership. His vendetta to rescue Mercesti with strong or unique abilities who had been forced to convert by Grolkinei’s commanders was just as pathetic. The only time Derian entered into a confrontation was in those rescue efforts. Since Grolkinei and his commanders had been defeated nearly two decades ago, the Marked Ones hadn’t been seen much around the mainland.

  He must have teamed up with Zachariah out of a foolish sense of loyalty. They were both former Gloresti, after all.

  “Well, at least the tattoos most of them wear will help us identify them,” he said at last. “Just one more challenge for us to overcome to achieve our goal.”

  “A challenge that may be less difficult than you expect,” Friedrich replied. When Eirik looked at him, he added, “I happen to know that at least one of Derian’s followers is less committed to his cause than he believes. I am certain if we make the right approach, we will have a way to infiltrate them.”

  Clara Kate didn’t allow herself to weep for very long. She had made her bed—quite literally—and now she had to lie in it.

  Not offering any explanations to Sophia or Alexius, who appeared shortly after Sophia did, she wiped her face dry, took the supplements that Quincy handed to her and then extended her wings.

  “Please let me tell him when the time is right,” she asked Quincy.

  “Of course,” he said. He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “We’ll get through this, C.K.”

  She didn’t reply. Lifting into the air, she waited for Alexius to take the lead, following mental instructions from his elder. Then they started flying as quickly as they could to make up the precious minutes they had lost.

  We’ll get through this.

  Quincy’s comment circled in her mind as her shock began to ease. He hadn’t said, “Congratulations, C.K.” or “I’m thrilled for you, C.K.” None of the things beings said to her mother and aunts when they conceived. Why would he? She was eighteen, unwed, unavowed, and the baby’s father had no idea he had even slept with her.

  Her father was going to absolutely kill her.

  “Tate and Ariana managed to escape the cage,” Alexius related, turning her attention. “But the door to the room where they are being held is also locked.”

  Clara Kate focused on increasing her speed. When she drew parallel to Alexius, he realized what she was doing. Nodding, he also flew faster. Behind them, Quincy and Sophia sped up to stay close.

  “Are you all right, Clara Kate?” Alexius asked.

  Surprised, she responded with an automatic, “Sure.”

  His burnt orange gaze held hers for a long moment. Then he said, “It’s just that I haven’t seen that level of emotion from you since you were a child. I know I’m not the best at expressing such things, but I want you to know that I care about you. Seeing you so upset…it bothered me.”

  Well, wasn’t this just the day for grand revelations?

  Clara Kate almost lost her composure again over the concern shown for her by one of the least expected beings. Alexius had been a part of her life ever since she was born, traveling frequently to her homeland to help her and her cousins and siblings train. She’d never suspected that he felt this way.

  “Thanks, Alexius,” she said, giving him a small smile. “I’ve got a lot to work through right now. My head’s a little all over the place.”

  “Will you let me know if there is anything I can do to help?”

  “I will,” she said, and she meant it.

  “All right.” This time, he smiled. It was such a rare expression for him that it made her do a double-take. His features went from almost fierce to charming. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  Before she could reply, his gaze once again grew serious. “Apparently, something urgent is happening with Tate and Ariana. Something about Metis and a giant.”

  “How far are we from the others?” she asked.

  “Less than ten minutes. If we press ourselves, we can probably catch up with them in five.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 9

  “What did you throw into that giant’s eyes?” Tate asked as she ran up the steps in the empty chamber outside the laboratory door.

  Lifting her skirts to keep up, Ariana panted, “A combination of hot chili oil
and pepper. He’ll be blind for at least a few minutes.”

  “Awesome.”

  Fortunately, the door at the top of the steps was unlocked. They found themselves in the dining room of a rather normal looking cottage. Metis enjoyed fine things, judging by the china lining the shelves of a display cabinet and the beautiful, glossy wood of her furniture. Ariana wondered how she acquired such items, then decided she was better off not knowing.

  Their feet made no sound on the thick rugs covering the wood floors as they left that room and entered the living area. Tate dodged a coffee table as Ariana jumped over a footstool. They ran to another door. Opening it slowly, Tate eased her head outside and glanced around.

  Ariana’s heart thundered in her ears. Her breath left her in painful draws. Sweat dripped along her hairline and dampened her gown. She looked over her shoulder, expecting the roaring giant to pound his way through to them any second. His booming shouts and loud clatter as he fought to regain his vision echoed through the small cottage.

  “What is this?” Tate asked, easing the door all of the way open and stepping outside.

  Not wanting to be in the dwelling anymore, Ariana rushed outside with Tate and shoved the door closed behind her. As she clutched her weapon in one hand, she stared at the high wall of greenery standing before them. If they took three steps, they would hit the wall. There was a solid border to their right. They ran along the wall of greenery to where it opened up on the left. When they looked around the corner, they saw another hall-like stretch of two ivy-covered walls on either side.

  Above them, the sky was lightening as the sun rose. Ariana tried to extend her wings so she could fly above the walls.

  Tate glanced at her. “I can’t extend my wings. Can you?”

  “No. There must be some kind of enchantment in place prohibiting flight.”

  A loud boom sounded from just inside the cottage. Not having any other choice, they ran down the new hall of greenery. At the end of the long path, they reached a section where they could go either left or right.