"They thought you were dead," I said as I tried to make sense of the attack. "Who attacked you?"
"The one leading the charge was one of the King's former concubines, Yolyn."
Bastien stepped forward. "You were attacked by your own people?"
"I'm afraid so. And they were backed up by the tayhang." He looked at Bastien. "Wolves."
Silence filled the space between us. The tension building from that simple statement became thick and palpable. One look at Bastien and I knew Brahms was in for a fight. "No Wolf would help a Nisse."
"I know how this sounds," Brahms said with his hands out, palms up. "But that's the truth. There were Wolves. They killed my kin." He pulled his jerkin over his head and tossed it on the ground.
I gasped when I saw the half-bandaged wound on Brahms's side. He'd bled over what could have been a torn shirt, wrapped tight around his middle. My protective instincts kicked in as I approached Brahms. Bastien growled. "Shove it," I muttered as I called on Spirit to give me the power to heal. Power accumulated in my hands as indigo light burned bright. Brahms gasped when I placed my hands on his side, over the wound. The healing power of my Unicorn sought out the rendered bone, muscle and flesh, folded it together, and stitched the damage. When it was done, I got a little dizzy and fell back into Bastien's arms.
"Careful, chérie," he said gently. "You can't heal like that, not without your Arcane."
He was right, but him pointing out my new weakness irritated me. I didn't like having my faults thrown into my face. Logically, I knew he was warning me, reminding me not to be reckless. Emotionally…I wanted to deck him.
"You are an Arcane Witch?" Brahms asked from somewhere in the fog of my recovery.
The night air chilled me and I started shaking. I'd grown so accustomed to having the Arcane to replenish me that reverting back to having to wait on my strength to return made me feel weak. "Right now, that's debatable." I eyed his chest and saw his wound was little more than a scar.
"That's why I found you. I need an Arcane Witch to find the King."
"You don't know where you sent him?"
“You don't know which ley line you sent him down?” Bastien sounded suspicious.
Brahms shook his head. "I…wasn’t thinking. The place where we were attacked is one of the seven crossroads with seven paths to take. I opened one but I’m not sure to where? I was bleeding and trying not to pass out."
"So you have no idea where your king is," Bastien said as he helped me stand back up. Whoa…woozy.
"None."
Bastien opened his mouth to speak, but stopped abruptly and looked away. Brahms and I watched him as he cocked his head to one side for a few seconds, and I realized he was listening to voices I could no longer hear.
The pack link.
When he stepped away, I took that opportunity. "Brahms—I'm sorry you lost your king. And I'm sorry I'm not an Arcane Witch…at least for now. But I can’t help you right now. There’s something I have to do."
"You are refusing me?"
"I'm sorry. I have to find someone—"
"We have to go back," Bastien interrupted. "Now."
I blinked. "Back…back where?"
"To New Orleans."
"No—" I held up my hands. "You know I can't abandon finding—"
"Risi in full armor appeared in your shop today, chérie. They nearly attacked Jack. He shifted."
Oh. Lady Darksome! "Why were they in my shop? Is Jack okay? Why didn't Kyle protect him?"
Bastien held up his hand. "I don't have those answers. I have to get back to the pack. You can stay here and continue this pointless search, but I have more important things to take care of."
Oh, his words set off a very short fuse with me. "You son of a bitch!" I stomped toward him. I didn't attack him. I wasn't stupid. But I was mad. "You've supported me in this since I left New Orleans, and now you're telling me it's pointless?"
"It is now." He stood his ground, but I could see the resignation in his face. Gone were the good-natured smile and the concern in his eyes. Bastien LeBlanc shifted into Alpha mode. Something he really should have done months ago, taking charge of his scattered pack instead of following me around. Bastien focused on Brahms. “Yolyn was there, along with a prince. They were looking for your king. And apparently, a Quest has been triggered.”
All the color drained from Brahms’s face. He turned away. “If…if this is true, then the King is dead. That means I sent him to his doom.”
“Will one of you please explain this Quest?”
Brahms that spoke up, "My people are a warring people, Samantha Hawthorne. So when the Risi won the right to rule the Nisse, the Purs created a right of ascension to the throne. It’s not done by blood, but by completing a Quest. King Satar is the first king, and he has been our only king. A Quest has never been issued because it is impossible to complete. One of the key elements required in a Quest is the heart of a Dragon. But Dragons don't exist anymore."
I was already on my way back to the hotel and heard the two of them as they caught up with me. If this Quest was a reality, and Nisse had already shown up in my shop, it was possible they would discover what Crwys was.
I was a stubborn Witch. Self-centered and egotistical. So full of my own determination to destroy the Dragon who killed my mother. But when it came down to reality—when faced with the idea of losing the man who captured my heart—I would always protect him. "I'm grabbing my bag, Bastien's getting dressed, and Brahms is making a gate big enough to drive the SUV through. We're going home."
No one was going after Crwys's heart.
It belonged to me.
That is…if I hadn't lost it already.
SEVEN
Crwys stood in front of the wall that hadn't been there the last time he'd been in the shop. He's already tried pushing it, hitting it, kicking it, body-slamming it, and eventually tried yelling at it. Kyle, Tas, Dharma, Arden and Ivan moved around the break room kitchen. Dharma made tea for everyone, while Kyle and Arden went back and forth between Sam's office and Kyle's workbench. Tas and Ivan stood near Crwys, their expressions set.
"I told you," Kyle said again, "I already tried everything."
"Yes, you said as much," Crwys said. He motioned for Tas and Ivan to step back, then released a small bit of his Fury spell (what kept him looking human) to conjure Dragon's Fire. His wings became visible—albeit a smaller version of them—and his right hand grew scales and long black talons. Bright orange and red balls of fire appeared in his palm as he fired them, one after the other, at the wall.
Nothing.
Which…seemed odd. Because nothing else caught fire either. The wall remained untouched, not even a scorch mark. He shrugged the Fury spell back into play as his wings vanished, and as he examined the wall by kneeling before it, his hand shifted back to human.
Tas knelt down beside him. "Nothing burned."
"You noticed."
"Not even the floor."
"Nope." Crwys rubbed at his stubbled chin. "And I have no idea why." He stood and looked at Kyle as he and his aunt approached. "If nothing affects this area, could it mean there's actually a barrier and the stairs are still behind it?"
"That's what I'm hoping," Kyle said.
"I do too. I'd hate to think I told the King he'd be safe down there and then poof, he's suddenly trapped and dead inside rock, or concrete, or dirt."
That wasn't an image Crwys wanted to think about. Though, given Riven and Yolyn's fear a Quest had started, it would make sense. According to Tas, Quests only began when the Purs sensed the King's death. Even if Sam returned and reopened the basement, what they found might be a bit gruesome.
Crwys's mood slid at the thought of Sam actually coming back. He knew it was possible, but as long as she was tracking Lethe… And he wasn't going to admit he'd tried finding Lethe himself, just to bring Sam back into his life. Of course, that had proven an utter failure. Dragons couldn't be sensed if they didn't want to be. And given the damage Artemis's Arrow had done
to the Dream Dragon, he was pretty sure Lethe was putting whatever power reserves she had into keeping herself invisible, even to Sam's magical Tracking ability.
"Go over again what happened?" Ivan said as Dharma handed out coffee cups of tea.
Arden took hers and waved her hand over it. Crwys had no idea what she'd just done to it. She frowned at Ivan and then looked at Kyle. "Weren't you two going to go after Sam at some point? I remember plans about this?"
The two Witches exchanged glances, but it was Ivan who answered. "We did…but that really didn't work out."
"No. It didn't."
Arden looked at each of them again, then shrugged. "I was at the cabin doing some cleaning, and by cleaning I mean some magical cleaning because there have been some odd things happening out there—" She stopped and made a face at Crwys. "I was cleaning when I felt the Cairn open."
"You can feel it?" Ivan asked.
"Yes, but only because it's tied to my land, and I am tied to it. Gypsy Gardens is my place of power, you might say. Same as this shop is Sam's. When it opened, I assumed it was Tzariene or Medbh coming through for a social visit, since it was after midnight. I didn't expect to see this cute little Risi fall out of the portal. He collapsed on the ground with an arrow sticking out of his back."
"He had an arrow in him?" Crwys said. "Did he say what happened?"
"Not at first. He asked me for help, and being the kind of person I am, I had to help him." She smiled sweetly. "But once I got him out of the Cairn and into the cabin, I worked on healing him. Drew power from the land."
"Did it work?" Dharma moved next to Ivan.
"Yes. It took a few days, and I had to rest—"
"You could have called us," Kyle spoke up.
"I know, but when one of the Nisse population shows up on your doorstep, that usually means bad things will follow. And given everything that's happened in the past year"—Arden glanced at Crwys, but he didn't look away—"I didn't want to burden you."
"Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact he was handsome?" Crwys said with a half smirk.
Arden sneered at him. "No. What kind of a Witch do you think I am?"
"You were talking about healing him?" Levi said, obviously trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Yes. So about the third day he was well enough to talk. He said his name was Satar Windsong. He and his contingent were gating through the Greater Kingdom on their way to see the Boggarts and were attacked. They were outnumbered, so when Satar was wounded, his Chevalier created a gate and got the King to safety."
"His what?" Kyle asked.
"His Chevalier," Tas said. "They're the court's protectors, but they're sometimes Pathfinders. If he created a gate, then that's exactly what he is. Only Pathfinders can do that by using the Earth's natural ley lines." She looked at Arden. "And no one else came through?"
"No. In fact, he wanted me to show him where he'd come through to just prove to him that his Chevalier didn't come through with him. He was very upset and needed a place to hide himself until he could contact his kin. I told him that using that Cairn was a bad idea, and when I thought about safety, I considered the basement."
"It makes sense," Kyle said. "So, should we contact Yolyn let them know their King's here?"
"You really wanna do that?" Ivan gave a nervous laugh. "Oh hey, we found your King, but he might be encased in concrete or good old Louisiana dirt."
Kyle looked angered for a second and then pointed at Ivan. "You're right."
Tas walked to the wall and put her hand on it. "I'm not sure we should tell anyone just yet."
"Why?" Crwys moved up beside her. "What are you thinking?"
"Arden—" Tas moved around Crwys. "Did he say who attacked him?"
"Yes, but it didn't make much sense to me. He used two words I don't know. And he wouldn't talk about it again. It seemed to hurt him."
"What were the words?"
Arden looked away for a second, holding her coffee cup between her hands. "Oh…gwathel and tayhang."
Tas froze. No one really noticed except Crwys, as the others had Arden pronounce the names a few times. He moved in close to her and was struck by an overwhelming feeling of the familiar. It was a bit disconcerting since he'd stood by Tas many times while working, ever since Sam left. The feeling radiated off of her, and he tried to ignore it. There was no reason she should seem familiar to him. "You know those names?"
"Yes. Gwathel means those related to him, and tayhang means wolf." She looked at Crwys. "The wolf on two legs."
"Werewolves."
"Are you saying he was attacked by his own people…and Wolves?" Arden set her coffee cup on the corner of the break room's giant table. "You mean like the Aces?"
"I doubt it was Bastien's pack," Crwys said. "There are more than thirty known packs in the United States. And if they were in the Greater Kingdom, that would put them around Oregon. Probably closer to Washington." He pulled his phone out and checked the text from earlier. "Arden, what day did the King show up?"
"About five days ago. He spent almost four with me healing and I fed him. A lot. Then he wanted to find a safe place, so I brought him here."
"What are you thinking, Crwys?" Levi stepped up. "You really think this king's dead and that's when the Quest started? Meaning all these half-stone bodies?"
"Half-stone what?" Dharma said.
Crwys held up his hand. "Just a second." He refocused on Levi. "The timeline doesn't work. First body showed up a week ago. Satar allegedly came through the Cairn five days ago, and he was fine up until what, a day ago?" He looked at Arden. “That’s when you brought him here?”
She nodded.
"I see." Levi put his hands on his hips. "The King was alive when the bodies appeared."
Crwys nodded. “Uh huh. So I’m not buying it. There's something else happening here if Satar claims the Wolves and the Nisse are working together."
Tas turned from the wall. "I think Crwys is right. We need to find Sam and get her back here to open this basement."
"Uh oh," Ivan said. "There's something happening." Ivan's eyes glowed a soft green and had that look to them, as if he were looking at something else. He was online.
"What is it?"
Ivan turned and gestured to the small flat screen Kyle had added to the break room. The TV came on and flipped to the local news as everyone gathered around.
"…Of the CDC has called an emergency meeting with the Governor. Until this potential threat can be evaluated, the mayor's office has issued a citywide curfew. Until a cause can be confirmed and investigated, all bars, restaurants and hotels will comply with the new curfew, and all residents and tourists will be off the streets by nine tonight—"
Levi's phone rang. "Tulose." He looked at Crwys. "Okay. We'll be right there." He lowered the phone.
"They found another body?" Crwys asked.
"Yes." Levi looked at the TV.
Crwys realized there was something else that Levi wasn't saying.
Dharma held onto Ivan as Kyle rubbed at his forehead. "I'm gonna call Solomon and see if he's been keeping up with this. He might know how to open the basement."
"Good idea," Crwys said as he, Tas and Levi headed to the door. "It might be good if everyone gathers at a safe location?"
"This place is as good as any," Arden said.
“No,” Crwys said. “Those Risi gated right into this shop, through the wards you and Kyle set up after Sam left. That means they can come right back in again when they want” —he looked at Arden—“unless you have a counter spell?”
Arden shook her head and sighed. “No. I don’t. At least not yet. So let’s meet at Gypsy Gardens.”
“Should we leave the King alone in the basement?” Dharma asked.
Crwys shrugged. “I don’t think anyone’s getting to him any time soon.”
Once the three detectives were out the front door and in the car, Crwys looked to his right at Levi. "What was it you didn't want to say? Is there a new body?"
"Yes."
When he still didn't answer, Tas put her hand on the back of his seat. "Levi?"
He hesitated. "The Captain was upset. So, I don't know if what I heard is what she meant. It's not one body…it's twenty bodies…as one."
EIGHT
"So," I began, after we were packed and while Bastien loaded the SUV. Brahms had reassured us the gate he would make would be large enough to drive the SUV through. And we would come out on the other end in a safe area. It had occurred to me that this was just as risky as when Dags opened a doorway, or gate, or whatever it was he called it and ended up driving an eighteen-wheeler through the front of the store. "Exactly why do you have these Quests instead of just making a successor out of the kids of the present king? Everyone else does it."
"Our history proved that's not an option for us. Children don't inherit."
We stood beside the SUV. The morning sun crested above the trees and dew covered the rich, loamy ground as well as the lichen-encased trees. Everything about Oregon spoke to old legends, ghosts, and dangers. Maybe that's why I'd never wanted to settle here.
I'd showered and put on my usual business attire. Jeans, boots, black t-shirt, and one of Crwys's plaid shirts. Bastien had on his normal oh-my-god-that-is-so-tight shirt and jeans. And Brahms…
Well, I'd tried to put him in my clothes and they kind of swallowed him. He was a lot smaller than he looked. Bastien's clothing was out of the question. No way they would fit. So Brahms insisted he use his delphynad clothing and let it create something similar in fashion. It created the appearance of a black hoodie (to hide those horns), jeans, and very white sneakers. I noticed the side didn't say Nike, but Nisse.
Great. A Risi with a sense of humor.
"Why not?" Bastien said as he came around the front of the SUV.
"Blood is very important to us, to the land, to our world. The Nisse, all classes and races, are tied to the land by blood. When one blood line continuously mixes with another, it grows stronger."
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"My father's name is Bounderfoot."
I really, really had to stop myself from laughing at that. "Oh-kay."
eldritch files 07 - elemental blood Page 5
