Once everyone calmed down, Sarah outlined everything that had happened from the Khr'Vurr’s attack at camp to her trip to Sídhí to the umbra’s plan to unite the valleys with earth.
When Sarah finished, Cory cursed.
Bea’s ever-present humor had deserted her.
“To sum it up,” Nick said into the heavy silence, “The Khr'Vurr’s attack at the camp and the empire’s assault on Trellick Valley were just diversions. Very lethal and devastating, but the attacks were only a diversion to keep everyone, primarily Sarah, busy while they finished filling the ruins with liquid crystal.”
“Forcing the valleys onto Earth will destroy the dimensional barriers. It doesn’t make sense. There will be no In Between. The umbra use the In Between to hide in,” Bea said. Disbelief made her voice sharp. Her eyes flickered silver then returned to normal. “You must be wrong. It doesn’t make sense for them to destroy their bolt hole.”
“There is no doubting the ruins have been filled and activated,” Nick said firmly, not budging under the heated gaze of the phoenix.
“Then they are planning something different. Whatever it is, we will find them. The Clan vampires and dragons believe they are responsible for hunting the umbra to extinction, but we destroyed the final nest of vipers. Rather we thought we killed them all. Given time, the phoenix can do the same thing again,” Bea said with a snarl.
“You successfully hunted the umbra because their smell was somehow intensified inside the In Between. If there is no In Between, finding the umbra by scent, on Earth, would be difficult if not impossible,” Sarah said, brushing her foot against Nick’s leg, silently apologizing for taking over his debate, but her knowledge of the In Between was greater than his.
Before she could worry too much about his reaction, she felt his flash of understanding and relief that she had solid facts that might sway the difficult general.
Bea hissed, flashing fangs. “Now, that makes horrible sense,” she said, slapping her hand on the thick wooden table.
“Yes, it does. So once we get the valley stabilized, finding the umbra will be our primary concern,” Sarah said.
“What about trying to empty the ruins,” Cory asked, glancing at Nick as he growled at the general. “I agree the umbra need to be destroyed, but the problem they present is fixable in the long run. I think having the valleys and earth crash into one another should be the top priority.”
“She’s already tried to drain the ruins. It nearly killed her,” Nick said amid a harsh growl, glaring daggers at Cory.
“It should’ve killed her,” Colin said from the opposite end of the table. “From what Sarah has told me, most of you believe the old Chi’Kehra was killed when he pushed all his power into sending the elves to Earth.”
“Well, he is dead,” General Cory said sarcastically, glaring at the man who represented the vampire’s oldest enemy.
Colin snorted. “True, but that isn’t how he died. Once he filled the ruins with liquid power, he ordered the synth crystal to transport his people to earth. From experience, I know the moment I give a command to crystal, it instantly obeys.”
“I agree,” Sarah said softly, supporting Colin with a couple of simple words.
“Nearly a month after Chi’Kehra ordered the synth crystal to move his people to earth, the ruins remained inert. They appeared unresponsive. The umbra’s armies were literally on his doorstep when he gave into desperation and tried to mentally push the crystal into doing his command.”
“That’s what killed him?” someone whispered.
Colin nodded his head. “The man tried to merge with the power of the ruins as he gave the new command. I know this is what happened because I spoke to the single guard that lived through the resulting explosion.”
“So,” Sarah began, breaking the silence, “we know the valleys and earth will soon be merged, and there is no way of stopping it.”
“Yes, the ruins are locked-into the Chi’Kehra’s original command,” Colin said somberly.
“The chaos our valley is going through will soon be minor compared to what is about to happen. We need a plan of emergency as of yesterday,” Sarah said intently.
“Yes, but finding the umbra, before the In Between disappears, is critical,” Nick added.
“Agreed,” her dad rumbled as numerous heads bobbed in agreement. “The destruction they caused in the valleys thousands of years ago was bad enough, but we fought them. The Earthborn mundanes will never have a chance against them.”
Sarah tried to shut her mind to the remembered atrocities the umbra committed to numerous valleys, but memories transferred to her by eyewitnesses flashed before her eyes.
Entire villages devastated, blood everywhere as the umbra snuck up behind people and ripped them to pieces in broad daylight. People, unable to fight what they could not see, went mad with grief as umbra butchered loved ones. Neither adults nor children escaped from the slaughter the umbra embraced.
She clenched her teeth in anger. She would never allow the black-hearted creatures to have free reign again.
“When they come out of hiding and join forces with the Dhark Empire, the union will be nearly unstoppable,” Nick said, following her thoughts.
“How long do you think we have?” Bea asked. Her eyes glowed with determination.
Sarah eyed Bea thoughtfully and realized it was the phoenix that was glowing, not her eyes. “Bea, bring it down a notch,” she said quietly, issuing the over-used phrase the trainers used when working with phoenix.
Hissing in exasperation, Bea disappeared abruptly.
“Where…”
Cory cut Nick’s question short. “Don’t ever get too near an emotional phoenix. They tend to leak white-fire the way a glass of iced tea does on a hot day.”
“I’d like to disagree with him, but he’s right,” Bea said, appearing across the room from them. “Back to the question, we need time to find the umbra. How long do you think we have?”
Sarah glanced at Colin silently questioning him. He obviously had a lot more experience than she did.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps a month,” he said in an obvious guesstimate.
“I think that is a fair guess, but we honestly don’t know. Sídhí months are half again longer than Earth’s moon cycle, but the final leg of the journey will be much shorter than the first part,” Sarah said, glancing at various people seeking their reaction to her words. “The collapse could be today or next month, but I don’t think it will be longer than two months.”
“Any idea which valley they are in?” Bea asked in frustration, pacing the length of the room in long, agitated strides.
“No,” Sarah said bluntly.
“We’ll never find them in that time frame,” Bea said in exasperation. “We don’t even know where to start.”
“Ah, but I think you will,” Sarah said, glancing at Nick. When he gave her a short nod of approval, she knew he had either guessed or read the idea from her mind. “The umbra thought I had been taken care of. Since it’s obvious I was not, I think I will be their top priority. They will want me dead before the dimensions collapse.”
“In other words,” Nick said with a hard glint in his eyes, “we will return to the dragon’s summer camp and play bait.”
“No one will believe it. Why would Chi’Kehra be at a summer camp?” Miranda spoke-up.
“We’ve been monitoring all the news channels and no one can decide who Chi’Kehra is,” Sarah’s spymaster said with a wicked grin curving her lips. “Miranda, you weren’t here, but her worldwide announcement didn’t sound anything like her. One station hinted they might know, but if they do make the correct guess and figure out Sarah is Chi’Kehra, her return to camp will blow their story out of the water. Like you said, who would believe the all-powerful Chi’Kehra would attend a teenage summer camp?”
“What about the dragons?” Sarah’s dad asked. “They’re bound to question your disappearance over the last few days.”
Sarah chu
ckled softly. Several people, including her mate, rubbed hands down the back of their neck. “Guardian Alexander knows who I am.”
“High Councilwoman Cornelia’s grandson?” Cory asked, smirking. “Cornelia is older than dirt. Bloody, arrogant dragon needs taken down a peg or two.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Sarah murmured her agreement. “I plan to bring Alexander in on the plan, and if they don’t agree to help us catch the umbra, I’ll lock their gateways so tight they’ll have a single, one-way gateway with a ticket to the North Pole that can never be altered.”
Trying not to laugh, Nick coughed.
When the others stopped laughing, Nick brought up a point she had been considering, “I think the other valleys need a heads-up. Since it no longer looks like there is a question as to if the valleys will appear on Earth, but when, everyone needs to be prepared.”
“I agree they need to be warned. The pre-warning could save thousands of lives, but the kicker question is whom do we warn? If we warn everyone, there are dhark lords in the empire that will warn the umbra,” Sarah said, voicing her concern aloud. “Our becoming bait hinges on the umbra thinking I am clueless as to their true mission on Earth.”
“I don’t think that is a problem,” Nick said. “The group that tried to kidnap me, never mentioned re-energizing the ruins, and the umbra that told me about it is dead. And before you mention the other umbra that was hiding In Between, my kidnapper told me about the ruins while we were inside the In Between with no one else around.”
“It might work,” Colin said thoughtfully, “but don’t underestimate them. They know you are Chi’Kehra. And if they are already working with the Dhark Empire, which I think they are, the umbra will tell the dhark lords you are Chi’Kehra. The empire is well aware you can open and close gateways. There is no real reason for you to return to camp.”
“How else do we pull the creatures out of hiding?” Sarah snarled, revealing her frustration. “This place is too well fortified. They would never attack me here.”
“Agreed,” Nick nodded, throwing his support behind her.
“Oh, I don’t disagree with your idea. I think you should return to camp as soon as possible,” Colin said with a smirk. “They will know you are playing bait, and that is exactly how we will catch them.”
Chapter - The Future
Sarah gazed unseeing out the large window. Smoke from several fires turned the normal beautiful view hazy. She tried contacting Mac once again, but the phoenix had his mind locked shut. There weren’t many people strong enough to keep her out, but he was one. Oh, she could probably smash through the barrier, but it would turn his mind to pulp. She might be angry at the bird brain, but she didn’t want him dead.
Huffing in exasperation, she ignored the people milling around the room. After hours of discussing what to do about the umbra and the collapsing barriers, she had finally called for a break, believing food and a short rest would help moderate the shortened tempers.
“I hope fly boy caught Clara and Maynard before he disappeared,” Nick said, rubbing his palms down her arms.
“Well, there is one way to find out,” she said with a slight smirk. Turning from the window, she glanced at a bare spot on the floor before turning her attention elsewhere.
A few seconds later, she located the shards of crystal she had peppered Clara’s body with. Locking on a single shard, she ported the piece of crystal - and she presumed - the body containing it.
A shard of crystal, covered in dried blood, dropped to the polished flagstone floor.
“Well, crap,” Nick said with a snarl.
“What’s up,” Bea asked, looking curiously at the small piece of crystal. “Is that blood?”
“I think I should have used smaller pieces of crystal to tag Clara with,” Sarah said thoughtfully, indicating the shard with a flick of her fingers. “Want to go on a short trip?”
Nick wrapped his fingers around her arm.
“I knew I didn’t need to ask you,” she said, looking up at him with a grin. “Be ready for a hostile welcome.”
She ported the three of them into Dragon Valley, appearing within a few feet of the remaining shards. The small pile of blood covered tracking devices lay near a severed hand and a shrunken band of spiked crystal. Too bad, her hand would eventually grow back.
The large, rock-walled room held several conversation areas, two fireplaces, and a couple of flat screen televisions. Dried blood covered the nearest leather sofa.
Clara and Maynard were nowhere to be seen.
That did not mean the room was empty.
A dozen armed men and women aimed guns and swords at them.
Beside her, Nick and Bea snarled and tensed for a fight.
“Stop,” Guardian Alexander snapped, striding forward in a ground-eating lope.
“Why does it not surprise me you are here?” he asked, stopping a few feet shy of them.
“Where are they?” Sarah asked, ignoring his sarcastic question.
“Not until you explain how you knew to search Councilman Maynard’s home,” he said, glaring at her.
“We only received an unconfirmed tip of his involvement less than an hour ago,” Lizzie said, as she stopped beside her fuming mate.
“He showed up when we were fighting with Clara,” Sarah said, putting a light restraining hand on Bea’s shoulder, “but I was actually following the crystal I tagged her with.”
Turning to the phoenix, she said, “I think checking In Between would be a good idea.”
The woman nodded and stepped away, before disappearing.
“Another phoenix,” Alexander stated needlessly, crossing his arms.
Sarah tilted her head in question, but he didn’t take the hint. “I take it you’ve met Mackenzie?”
The dragon shifter grunted his agreement. “Yes, when we caught Eve and her son, Lawrence.” He gave them the entire story in a few quick sentences including Lawrence’s part in making Sarah think her lifeBud had been destroyed when it had only been torn. “When the boy realized his head was on the chopping block, he told us everything he had done.”
“That’s why it bled so badly. It wasn’t burned out, just shredded to pieces,” Sarah said with a slight shiver as she remembered her grief.
“Can you find Clara?” Alexander asked.
“Not quickly, not without those,” she said, motioning to the shards of crystal. “Maynard had to have cut them out of her.”
Alexander muttered a word, one not worth repeating.
“Nick and I will be returning to camp in the morning, and I have a feeling the umbra will use her when they try to catch me,” Sarah said. “We’ll capture her sooner or later.”
A new voice entered the conversation. “We know who the leaders of the Khr'Vurr are so we are closing the camp and sending the kids home.”
A beautiful woman, short of stature with long, golden blonde hair approached them. Even if Sarah hadn’t seen pictures of High Councilwoman Cornelia, she would have recognized the arrogant tilt of the woman’s head as someone who thought they were all powerful, not to mention the power signature blazing around her petite form.
“The camp needs to remain open,” Sarah said softly, as she locked gazes with the woman.
“No, that will be impossible. I realize you are under a bit of pressure young lady, but this is Dragon Valley and you have no say in our decisions,” Cornelia said with a sniff of disdain.
Sarah gave a moment of thought to her next action. She could explain the threat the umbra represented, or she could teach the old dragon not to mess with her or her people. Pure irritation with the dragons, and the dragon council’s original mandate forcing the other valleys to send their children to a camp created to flush-out the Khr'Vurr, made her pick the latter option.
Sarah allowed a slight smile to curl her lips.
In front of her, she heard Alexander suck in a sharp breath, while his sword hand clenched into a tight fist.
Nick inched backward a bit, no doubt re
moving himself from her line of fire. His laughter rang softly through her mind. After everything the dragons had put the other valleys through, he was all for teaching them their place.
“That, High Council Woman Cornelia DeLeigh is absolutely correct,” Sarah said, pausing to let the woman take a good look at her face so the old dragon would understand exactly what she faced. “I am sure you will be able to explain to your fellow council members why your primary synth spring has dried up overnight. That will, of course, close every gateway and make the walls of your valley collapse. I highly suggest coming up with an emergency evacuation plan.”
Cornelia’s face turned white then splotchy red. Her eyes began to glow with ill-concealed fury. “We will not be manipulated,” she said, curling her face into a snarl.
“The destruction of your valley is a terrifying idea, isn’t it?” Sarah asked gently.
Pulling synth from a small stream far below the castle, she glanced away from the angry woman toward a clear space on the floor. She could have caused the crystal to explode through the floor, but she wanted her words to make a lasting impression, not her actions.
A small rod of crystal punched a hole through the floor. Within a few moments, a crystal pedestal stood in the room. She filled the top with liquid crystal. Slicing her hand, she placed her bleeding palm in the liquid and told the arrogant, old dragon about the umbra and the re-fueled ruins.
The longer Sarah spoke the whiter Cornelia’s face grew. Before Sarah was finished, the old dragon was sucking in gasps of air. She looked like she wanted to argue, but every time she opened her mouth, her eyes snapped to the clear liquid.
“I’m sure you agree it is imperative we catch the umbra before our valleys collapse,” Sarah said. “They will come after me, so we need the camp to remain open.”
All Sarah got in return was a growl.
Cornelia turned and stomped across the floor. When she finally seemed to calm down, she returned to where Sarah stood. “Would you really dry-up our synth spring?”
“I never bluff,” Sarah said coldly, but the question had caught her off-guard, and she wondered if the woman had heard a word about the umbra. “If destroying your synth spring means catching the umbra before they are turned loose on the unsuspecting mundane world, then yes, I will carry out my threat.”
Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 Page 27
