The Channel (The Gifted Book 2)

by C. L. McCourt

  "Everyone's gift emerges differently. I'm guessing now that the Libraim has you back, things will get better." He spoke as if his belief regarding her gift was correct. Fortunately, it wouldn't be long until they knew for sure.

  "I hope."

  Daen lay back on his blanket. He would have preferred she tried to sleep, but he could tell she wasn't going to. He closed his eyes, intent on just resting them, not expecting to drift off.

  Rhea sat quietly, taking in the view of the quaint farm. The field in which they rested was small compared to fields she'd seen at home. As she stood guard, she listened to the sounds around her, remembering the few camping trips she'd made with her parents as a child. She'd been so nervous sleeping under the stars, wondering what might sneak up on her in the dark.

  After a while, she stood, stretching her achy muscles. Bored, with nothing to do, she peaked around the haystack that hid them from the farmhouse and wondered what their lives were like.

  As she watched and imagined different life scenarios, she heard a door swing open and then shut. Although the light of the day was barely upon them, there was enough for her to discern two men walking to the barn. Father and son, she thought to herself.

  Rhea glanced around, trying to determine if there was a reason the farmer and son team would venture in their direction. That's when she noticed that only half of the field's dry hay had been stacked.

  Rhea placed her hand on Daen's shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry to wake you, but I think we're going to have company."

  Daen shot up from where he lay—alert, checking his surroundings. "What is it?"

  Rhea pointed towards the barn. "Father and son farmers are up and about. From the looks of things, I'd say they're getting ready to head in this direction."

  Daen assessed the condition of the field and nodded. "Wake Sleeping Beauty." He picked up his blanket and rolled it while keeping watch for the farmers.

  Rhea shook Randell's shoulder. "Randell? Randell!"

  Randell jerked awake, sputtering. "What? Oh. Daen, why didn't you wake me? It's already morning."

  "You've only been asleep a few hours," said Daen. "Get up, we have to go."

  Randell stood and started to roll up his blanket. "What's happened?"

  "The farmer is up and about," said Rhea.

  "Ah. What's the plan?"

  Daen pointed away from the farmhouse. "I believe there's a town north of here called Brauns, assuming I know where we are." He glanced at Rhea's apparel. "We can get you some clothes there."

  Randell raised a brow. "Assuming you know where you are?"

  Daen hung his bag from his shoulder and watched Rhea do the same. "It's been a while since I've been in this area, but I'm fairly confident I know where we are."

  Rhea stepped in the direction Daen had indicated. "Let's get going then."

  "Hold up, Rhea." Daen scanned her attire from head to foot. "We'll be walking for a while and your clothes are likely to draw attention from anyone we pass. Can you," he waved his hand, "hide yourself until then?"

  Rhea knew what Daen was asking. Her ability to hide under a veil of energy made her appear to be invisible, a skill that had been instrumental in capturing the two trackers: Bestian and Gauvin. Something they felt they had to do to ensure the two men were returned to Luxatra and no longer threaten those she loved.

  "I suppose so. I don't know what it'll be like holding the veil for any real length of time." Reality seemed to rush over her. Could she do this? Everything had happen so fast, and now she was in a new world, one she'd often thought was just her imagination. Now she was being asked to make herself invisible with magic she only just learned she could do.

  Daen saw Rhea hesitate. He understood that it took effort to control one's gift. "I had hoped we would have come through the veil closer to town. If you get tired, let me know, and I'll find a place to hide until you can continue." He started to walk north towards Brauns. "And don't forget to eat. You're going to be hungry from keeping up the veil."

  Rhea took a deep breath and started walking. "Right. Gotcha." She reached into the bag that hung over her shoulder and pulled out a couple of snack bars they had brought from Randell's parents house a few hours before. She placed them in the pocket of the leather bomber jacket she'd 'borrowed' from her dad years ago and cloaked herself.

  "Rhea?" Randell was glancing around.

  Her voice came from a few yards away, "Come on. What are you waiting for?"

  Randell picked up his gear, chased after Dean, and hoped he didn't run into her.

  She turned just in time to step out of Randell's way. "This is definitely going to take some getting used to."

  Over the next couple of hours, they walked along a hard-packed, dirt road, just wide enough for two wagons to pass in either direction. Deep ruts in the dirt were evidence that the road was well traveled. Of course, the numerous wagons and carriages that passed them in both directions were also a clue.

  Rhea found it awkward walking next to Randell and Daen. Twice, Randell raised his arm to point at something and nearly clipped her in the face because she'd gotten too close. After the second near miss, she stepped behind companions.

  "How far are we from King Argeon's castle?" Randell asked Daen as he took in the scenery.

  "From here ... two or four days ride northwest, depending on how hard you're riding."

  At the mention of King Argeon's name, Rhea thought back to the story she'd written for class, the story that told Daen and Randell she was a Luxatran. She'd referenced Taulomi and its king as well as the other realms: Sentran and Laundan. The story was made up, but the descriptions she used were based on the bits of the land she'd seen from the moon shadows as well as information she'd gleaned from Lanne over the years.

  "Is that where we're going?" Randell's voice was tense with excitement.

  "I doubt it, but we'll have to see. Lanne and Gaibel are riding from there, and I assume they'll have a message from the king."

  Gaibel was Rhea's biological mother. Rhea had seen her for the first time only a few days ago via the moon shadow in her college dorm room. As she walked, her mind raced through scenarios of what Gaibel would say, or for that matter, what she would say once they were truly face-to-face. She had so many questions and prayed her mother would answer them.

  Rhea's stomach flipped with guilt as she realized she was looking forward to seeing Gaibel again. She loved the woman who raised her, the woman she knew as her mother. But, now that she knew Gaibel hadn't deserted her, that she'd given her up because she was in danger, she had a strong desire to know her. Was that fair to Christine, the mother she left behind? She didn't know.

  Randell's curiosity couldn't be stopped. "Do you know where Raisal lived?"

  Daen took a moment to think back to his childhood. He hadn't grown up in this realm, but one of his friends was related to the Gaulettes of Taulomi. He remembered when they learned she'd disappeared, but he couldn't recall the name of the town in which she lived. "Sorry Randell, I don't recall."

  "No problem." Randell tried to imagine his great-grandmother Raisal living in a home similar to the homes that were positioned along the road they now traveled. He looked ahead and assumed she had walked this same road at one time in her life.

  "It's mind-boggling to think that we're related," Rhea mumbled. According to Daen, Rhea's great-grandfather, Denach Gaulette was Raisal's brother.

  Not only was Randell a distant cousin, so was Lanne. Lanne. That was a name with which she was still trying to accept. Since she was nine, Rhea had known Lanne as the dog-like creature named Grennal who lived in a fantasy world only she could see.

  According to Lanne, the woman who'd secretly helped raise her through the shadows, Gaibel was tight-lipped about her personal life and the man who'd fathered her child. Would Gaibel tell her about her father?

  They had a long walk ahead of them, so Rhea decided to join Randell in twenty questions. "Daen, what was it like
when you first arrived at Randell's?"

  Daen glanced over his shoulder and saw nothing except the road they had just traveled. "What do you mean?"

  "You know, the cars, the technology. Did you already speak English when you arrived?"

  Daen and Randell looked at each other. Randell thought back to when he was 13 and Dean appeared, like magic, in Randell's backyard. Randell thought about the expression on Daen's face when he first saw a television and the appliances in the kitchen and couldn't refrain from laughing. "The look on his face was priceless."

  Daen rolled his eyes. "And the look on your face was just as good when you laid eyes on me for the first time." Daen peered over his shoulder. "You should have seen him, eyes wide, mouth gaping open," he laughed, "he looked like a kid who had just found a magic genie."

  There was no way for her to understand without sharing the story of the day Daen arrived, so Randell told her about finding Raisal's dagger and how when he was rubbing it with his shirt sleeve, a blast of blue light filled the room and how a few minutes later, he'd discovered Daen in his backyard.

  "What was it like when you saw your first car?"

  Daen laughed to himself, remembering his tour of the house. "I'd already been shocked by the small appliances in the kitchen, so seeing a large metal box on wheels was just one more strange thing. Of course, seeing it move without horses," Daen shook his head, "that took some getting used to."

  They continued on for another hour before Brauns came into sight on the horizon. Seeing the town reminded Daen that the conversation they'd been having so freely had to change. "Rhea?"

  "Yes?"

  "We're going to need a way for you to communicate with us while you're hidden."

  She chuckled to herself. "I suppose having a voice drift out from nowhere could cause a few heads to turn. What did you have in mind?"

  "I have an idea. Place your hand on my arm."

  Rhea did as Dean asked.

  "Randell, does that part of my arm disappear?"

  Randell looked at Daen's arms and started to shake his head but stopped. "There, your upper right arm, it looks like a chunk has been removed. Rhea, is that where your hand is?"

  "Yeah. If I can't speak or touch you, what're we going to do?"

  "I had to look closely to find your hand," said Randell. "If you don't keep it there long, I don't think anyone will notice."

  "Okay, I assume a tap to your arm is what I'll use to get your attention, but then what?"

  They walked for another few minutes and then Randell suggested, "Daen and I will pretend to ask each other yes/no questions. Rhea, you tap once for yes and twice for no."

  Daen shrugged. "I suppose that could work."

  "Works for me," Rhea added.

  "Also, we need to switch to Aduraun," Daen continued. "English will be a dead giveaway that something is up."

  They all agreed.

  ~~~

  Gauvin watched Bestian stir as he started to wake up just a few hours after falling asleep. It wasn't out of consideration that Bestian woke—it was the light. Gauvin knew he'd lost his chance to get any rest given Bestian's desire to leave at the start of the day. At least his clothes were almost dry, even if his boots weren't. He'd taken them off shortly after Bestian fell asleep, and had placed them close to the fire. It helped but they were still damp.

  Bestian looked at Gauvin's feet. "Why aren't you wearing your boots?" Once again, Gauvin proved he was going to be a hindrance to Bestian's plans. What fool removes his boots when on watch?

  Gauvin didn't answer as he watched Bestian stand and start to walk into the bushes with the soles of his boots squishing under his feet. Bestian hesitated, looked down at his own boots, and growled something Gauvin couldn't quite make out, but it didn't matter. Bestian had his answer.

  Now that Gauvin was back in his own world, his tracker senses would return, and he wouldn't be totally dependent on Bestian. His gift hadn't worked at all in that other world, not until just before he'd been caught by the guardian and sent through the shadow.

  The woman they had been trying to capture was using her gift to conceal her location when she'd gotten too close to him. He'd stopped suddenly, sensing someone behind him. When he'd turned, he'd seen a shift in the air, a wobbly wave that distorted a small piece of what he could see. He'd known what that meant so he'd reached out and grabbed her, but the guardian had caught him from behind.

  His next memory was waking up with a cloth bag over his head. He was interrogated by the guardian, then pushed back into his world, into Hondau Lake. Lucky for him, Bestian had been pushed through first so he knew what was going to happen.

  Now that he was back in Luxatra, Gauvin had options. First was to break his ties with Bestian when the time was right. He was tired of being forced to follow Bestian's plans. He wanted to bring in the prize, and Bestian's brute force style had been shown not to be the answer.

  As Gauvin waited for Bestian to return from his morning preparations, he considered leaving him behind. He had a good idea where the guardian would be heading: the Kinling Mountains and the guardian's headquarters. But he wasn't a distance tracker, and that meant he still needed Bestian—for now.

  Bestian stepped out of the bushes and barked his order, "Come on."

  "Where are we going?" Gauvin was curious to learn if Bestian would make the same assumption he had.

  "North, towards King Argeon's castle."

  "What makes you think a guardian will go there?" Gauvin needed Bestian to rethink what he was planning. He needed a way for Bestian to think heading in the direction of the guardian headquarters was the way to go.

  "It's the closest and safest place."

  Gauvin was impressed, his reasoning made sense but so did his. "If he wasn't a guardian, Argeon's castle would make sense." He left his comment hanging, waiting to see if Bestian took the bait.

  Bestian stopped, his eyes darted about as he reconsidered where the guardian would go. "We will head east towards the Kinling Mountains. He's a guardian. That's where he'll go." He rolled his eyes and looked at Gauvin. "You know what your problem is? You don't think things through."

  Gauvin nodded, his lips pressed together to hide the smirk that wanted to be released.

  3

  Brauns

  Bestian and Gauvin walked for hours before reaching the east-west road that connects the western shores of Taulomi to the Kinling Mountains and the guardian headquarters.

  Gauvin knew that their current speed would not allow them to reach their quarry in time. The guardian and the woman would be safe inside the guardian headquarters before he and Bestian even came close to the Kinling Mountains. If he and Bestian were to have any chance of catching them, they would need horses.

  The road they traveled was a busy thoroughfare, used by merchants as well as families making their customary trips to and from the shore. Gauvin knew there would be ample opportunity to acquire horses. The trick would be doing it without getting caught. He reveled in his ability to get away with the crimes, which would have had him swinging by his neck a dozen times over.

  Bestian, on the other hand, had had a bounty on his head before they were pushed into the other world. Fortunately, for him, his ability to sense gifts from a distance had made him near impossible to catch. And, if someone without a gift came after him, it usually wasn't a pretty picture in the end. They would either be left standing alone in an empty campsite having just missed him, or they wouldn't be left standing.

  Gauvin couldn't believe how lucky they'd been when the guardian had let them go, especially after what they'd done. He thought about the guardian's threats, promising they wouldn't survive their next encounter. The corners of his lips twitched, and his nostrils flared as he breathed in the air of freedom and basked in the knowledge that the guardian had made a huge mistake.

  ~~~

  The buildings grew larger as Rhea, Daen, and Randell approached Brauns from the south. The small, indis
cernible dots they'd seen on the horizon had become men and women walking about town, living their lives as if nothing had changed. But something had changed.

  Rhea had been brought back to Luxatra, and if Daen was right, she was someone very special. But that didn't matter at the moment since the people in the town couldn't see her anyway.

  As they entered the town, passing the livery stable on the right, next to it the blacksmith, Rhea mumbled, "That was obviously planned." As she took in her surroundings, she would swear she was on two movie sets at the same time: one for an old western movie and another for a movie based a Jane Austin novel.

  Some of the buildings were stone and some were wood-framed, while others were brick or some combination of building materials. The road had gone from hard-packed dirt to well-worn cobblestone.

  Randell watched two men step from the stables and walk across the road to the Black Pony Tavern and Inn. He couldn't help wonder if they'd planned the inn's location, giving its guests a place to stable their horses during their stay or if it was just a coincidence.

  Rhea took in the sights of the buildings and the purposes they served. She stared at the people going about their business. She noticed most of the women wore ankle-length skirts or dresses. She realized that not only was Luxatra less mechanical than the world of shadows, but the fashions were lacking as well. "I feel like I've stepped back in time," she mumbled.

  "Shh."

  Rhea stepped close to Daen and whispered, "Will I stand out if I wear the same type of clothes you two are wearing?"

  Daen stepped off the road and between two buildings. He looked at Randell, as they had planned, not wanting to draw attention. "Not many women dress in men's clothing."

  "Right ... well, unless it's going to cause a scandal, I'd rather wear something similar to what you and Randell are wearing. It'll travel easier."