“Well…” said Cornell, clearing his throat. “This puts our efforts to shame…”
“Yeah, the woman kind of kicked our asses,” Arnon agreed. They caught themselves and peered back at Eddy. Juliska had fought well, and they’d failed in protecting her. Balloch tried to comfort his student but had a difficult time keeping his eyes off the dragon.
Nashua watched with a mix of emotions…
The energy inside the cocoon lessened, two white wings spreading out wide. They shimmered, carrying a bit of the ethereal glow they’d stretched out of.
A fiery exhalation escaped alongside a growl.
Teeth. So many dagger-like teeth.
Protected by a fierce mouth, long snout and spiked horns that glistened.
The Grosvenor regrouped and eyed the dragon like a prize they’d fight to the death for.
Arnon wasn’t sure even a dragon could win against the Grosvenor.
But it was their best hope.
He jumped when someone grabbed his hands from behind. He looked over his shoulder to see Nashua had freed himself and was doing the same to him.
“Transformed into a wolf,” he explained. “Bindings slipped off.”
Once free, Arnon and Nashua freed the others.
Eddy sprang to life. He didn’t care about the dragon fighting the Grosvenor…
“We have to go after Juliska.”
The others agreed, but their immediate concern was staying alive long enough to be able to.
Kanda’s dragon taunted the Grosvenor. Her powerful neck lunged out at them, her tail thrashed. They attempted to use magic on her but anything they threw at her ricocheted off her impenetrable scales.
Her movements were mesmerizing… the way her body swayed and gleamed in the moonlight.
Kanda could not kill the Grosvenor, but she could definitely take them out of commission long enough for her friends to escape. She tilted her head upward, releasing a rush of fire into the sky, lunging upward straight through the flames. Her wings snapped against the air, her body moving with a graceful agility.
The Grosvenor fled out of her path. But one was not quick enough and she clipped its body. It lost its smoke-like form and plummeted to the ground. Another blast of flames spewed out of her mouth, a direct hit to another Grosvenor swinging over her head, trying to catch her off guard. It let out a hideous screech and flew to the ground, rolling around to put out the fire.
The remaining Grosvenor dashed through the air with extreme speed, but they were no match for the size and strength of the dragon. Kanda body slammed two more Grosvenor and they smacked into each other before falling to the ground. She dove, her mouth opening wide as a torrent of flame escaped. The Grosvenor raised their palms to defend themselves but it was too late. The damage was done.
Seared Grosvenor… Kanda liked the smell of it.
She thrust out her neck and caught one of them in her teeth, crushing its body. She let it fall back to the ground in a heap. One of the burned Grosvenor hissed and hobbled over, grasping the crumpled body. They disappeared. Fleeing…
The others followed just seconds later.
They would not win this prize today.
And Fazendiin had what he’d come for.
Kanda rent out a victorious roar that shattered the night.
The men on the ground breathed out in partial relief.
They were alive. And had no life threatening injuries.
But there had been a great price paid.
Kanda had outed her gift.
Juliska had been taken prisoner.
Two events that could not be undone.
A swoosh of wings soared high overhead. A pearly glow surrounded the dragon form, nearly blinding them. Kanda was coming in for a landing. However, by the time the dragon landed she was the dragon no more, a woman once again, lying on the ground.
Before Nashua could assist his sister, Arnon ripped off his jacket and ran over, covering her. He helped her sit up.
“Thank you,” she whispered breathlessly.
He lifted an eyebrow in grim amusement. “I think we should be thanking you…”
“Maybe you’ll believe me from now on when I say I can take care of myself.”
“Actually, I was hoping if I was ever in trouble, you’d be there to save the day.”
She shook her head and he helped her to her feet.
They joined the others.
“I don’t understand,” muttered Milo. “All of this… this was all so they could take Juliska?”
“It would appear,” confirmed Nashua.
“Then why did the rest of the Grosvenor remain once he’d taken her? Why not just leave with him?” asked Balloch. “Were they just bored? Thought they’d have a little fun? Killing everyone just for the hell of it.”
“No.” It was Eddy. “They were giving him time to get away and cover up his tracks so we could not follow.”
They all glanced at Cornell. He nodded in forced agreement. It was true, there was no magical trail left to follow from Fazendiin. It had been wiped clean.
Eddy began searching through what belongings still remained after the destruction of the tent, looking for anything that might give him a clue. He had to find her. He’d promised to keep her safe. Everyone else just stood and watched. He stopped and gawked at them.
“Why aren’t you helping me? We have to try.”
“Eddy,” pleaded Arnon. “We’re not going to be able to find her.”
“And we’re supposed to not even try?”
“It’s a useless endeavor to start now,” agreed Nashua. “It might take months. Maybe years.”
“It’s true,” said Cornell, though his voice was tight. “Grosvenor are very hard to find. And if they came specifically for Juliska…” he couldn’t finish. “I’m sorry, Eddy.”
“I can’t…” Eddy was at a loss. “I have to try. I can’t just…”
“We won’t abandon her, Eddy,” said Arnon as decisively as possible. “But it’s not going to be easy, or quick.”
Cornell came over and patted Eddy on the shoulder. “Let’s go home. We will do everything we can.”
Eddy’s mind spiraled downhill fast. The woman he loved was gone. The woman he’d promised never to let go of, had been ripped out of his arms. Taken because of what she was. Taken because the Grosvenor needed a seer.
The woman he loved was a prisoner now. He’d weakened her, because he’d made her love him. He’d taken away her focus. Maybe she would have had the vision she needed if he hadn’t… he stopped himself.
None of this thinking was going to change what happened or get her back.
He looked at them all and nodded in grim acceptance. He wouldn’t give up looking for her, ever. But he could see it in all their eyes. Hear it in their unspoken words. In the tears they were trying to hold back.
They didn’t believe they’d ever see Juliska Blackwell again.
At least not alive.
CHAPTER 9
Month One…
Juliska’s eyes fluttered open. She took in a deep breath and let it out. Her head ached a bit, and there was a haze keeping her brain from thinking coherently. She looked up at the ceiling…
“This isn’t my ceiling.” Her mouth was dry, her throat scratchy.
She sat up, looking around her.
“This isn’t my bed.”
It was much fancier than anything she’d ever slept on before. A four-poster wooden antique from the looks of it.
“This isn’t my room. This isn’t my house.”
She looked down at herself. She was fully dressed in the same clothes she’d been wearing and had been placed on top of the covers. A flutter of nausea swept through her.
How long had she been sleeping? Where was she? And how did she get here, the last thing she remembered…
“I was taken…” it all came slicing back into her mind.
Jurekai Fazendiin had taken her. She was his prisoner.
She slid her legs over the sid
e of the bed and put her feet on the floor. She had to get out of here.
“I don’t even know where here is.”
Panic took over. How did one escape the Grosvenor?
First answer… they didn’t.
That was an unacceptable outcome.
There had to be a way.
Grosvenor were wise and cunning. Not so much because they had more power or magic than anyone else, but because they’d lived for such a long time. They’d amassed hundreds of years of knowledge. Plus, being Grosvenor, they were immortal. You could hurt one. Maim one even. But not kill… they always came back, which made them a formidable foe even without all their years of knowledge.
They were dangerous, selfish, untrustworthy creatures. Once, a very long time ago, living men and women. They might look the part today, but anything that made them human had been stripped from them ages ago. They lived for one purpose… their own.
And now she was a prisoner of this inhumanity.
It zapped her breath away and she clung to the edge of the bed.
“Eddy…” his name slipped across her lips, longing, heavy in her tone.
What had happened to him? To the others? Had the Grosvenor left them alive? Were they all dead?
Why had they taken her? What did the Grosvenor, or Fazendiin, want with her?
What do they all want? her snide brain retorted on her behalf.
“My gift of course. They want me to see something…”
But for how long? The rest of her life? And how long would they let her live?
Juliska swallowed that thought and buried it as deep as it would go. Letting panic claim her now would prove a mistake. She needed focus. And calm. And some way to escape.
She got to her feet and tiptoed to a window. She was far up, at least three stories. Outside was a vast expanse of manicured grounds, including lush, blooming gardens. She turned around and saw a door. It took every ounce of strength she could muster to step over and turn the knob.
An anxious breath escaped her lips… not locked in.
She twisted the knob and pulled. The door was heavy, but it opened with only a slight squeak. She peered out, and to each side, saw nothing moving and daringly stepped out into the hallway.
It was long, narrow and went in both directions, left and right. Something wasn’t right about it though. The hallways went on and on, seemingly with no end in sight. It could not be real. Probably the point. Wherever she was being held prisoner, they’d confuse her so she could not escape.
Still, she had to try.
“Which way?” She looked right, then left, many times.
She finally picked right and started out, but the hall went on and on and never came to any end. Her heart pounded hard. Could she even get back to her own room? There was obviously some kind of trickery at work here.
She came to a stop with a rush of air.
Her room.
It had taken her in a big loop of some kind and she was back at her room. The thought was dizzying. What if she was stuck in this illusion forever?
She stepped back into her room and went back to the window.
Assuming the view was even real… she wondered if the window would open and how difficult the climb down would be. Once outside, she’d find her way to freedom.
“What if this isn’t real either?”
Maybe none of it was real. All some sort of illusion and she was actually chained up in a dungeon somewhere. Panic threatened to surface, the idea of being stuck inside some kind of prison with no exit suddenly making her spacious bedroom feel like a coffin that might as well have been buried underground because the oxygen was sucked out of the room making it hard to breathe.
You still have to try… Juliska reminded herself. You can’t give up.
With a hard push, she got the window to open. A warm breeze came in, filled with the smells of the blooming gardens below. If this was an illusion, it was the best one she’d ever seen. She leaned out to have a better look below her window when her entire body jumped, startled.
“It’s a long fall, straight down. I would not recommend trying it.”
She spun around, a hand still clinging to the window frame for support.
Her captor. Jurekai Fazendiin.
He was alone at least. For now…
“I did not mean to frighten you.”
She wanted to say, “yeah, right,” or “too late,” but her vocal chords refused to obey her order to speak.
He took another step inside. She could not go back without falling through the window… for a moment she wondered if it might be a better fate. To just fall out and plummet to her death. He’d probably just stop her from falling… at least until he’d gotten what he wanted.
“I truly do not mean to frighten you, Juliska. You are safe here. Although I realize it will take some time to understand this. Or trust me.”
“Trust you?” she stammered with a shake of her head. “The very idea is…” she stopped herself from saying more.
“Insane? Preposterous? Never going to happen in a million years?” he finished for her.
She refused reply but he was right, and he knew it.
“I’m certain you’ve heard many stories about me. And my kind.” The way he said it insinuated what she’d heard about him was not true. “ With time, you’ll understand what I mean.”
All she heard was him claiming everything she knew about him were falsehoods. The only thought in her mind again… Yeah. Right…
“Do you feel rested? I’d imagine at this point you must be hungry.”
At this point… how long had she been here?
“You’ve been asleep for nearly three days,” he informed her.
“Th-three days?” she stuttered.
Three days already. Was he telling the truth?
And no rescue.
Rescue? How the heck would anyone rescue her? She’d heard the stories, the nightmares, the things Grosvenor had done and were capable of. There was no rescue coming for her.
Don’t think about that… she scolded herself. Accept that you are on your own. Trust yourself and no one else. It’s the only way you’ll survive this.
“You can relax Juliska. I’m not going to hurt you. I didn’t take you to harm you. I’m actually going to help you.”
“I don’t have any problems that require your kind of help.”
“Ah, except that is not entirely true. It’s just that you don’t know. Yet.”
Her eyes widened in repulsion of the smug grin on his face.
“I’m sorry about the confusion in the hallways. I couldn’t stand around waiting for you to wake up. And I wanted the chance to show you around the house myself, once you were awake, and ready.”
“Wh-what do you want with me?” she asked boldly.
“I told you already. I’m going to help you.”
“That…” she shook her head. “Why did you take me?”
“Same question, same answer. But the truth is, I smelled your blood.”
“What does that even mean?”
“I will explain. But not just yet. The spell is removed from the hallways. You’ll find a hot bath waiting for you just down the hall to your left. It’s your own personal bathroom, and I’ve had it stocked with anything and everything you might need while you’re here with me. If you open any closet in this room, you’ll find the same. Once you’re bathed and feeling ready, come downstairs and we’ll have a meal. Then… we’ll talk.”
He left her alone, the door open.
She had no choice but agree. At least she’d get out of this room and beyond his illusion in the hallways. Magic beyond anything she’d ever seen before, and didn’t understand. She wondered how much he knew about Firemancy; it might be her only defense.
Who was she kidding? This man was immortal. Grosvenor. He’d been alive for hundreds upon hundreds of years. She’d never outsmart him.
For a moment, she wanted to sink down into the bed and hide under the covers. Maybe she’
d fall asleep, wake up and see this was all just a nightmare.
If he was telling her the truth, she’d been gone for three days.
She wondered if Eddy was out searching for her, or if they’d given up once they knew she’d been taken by the Grosvenor. Even with a skilled magic tracker like Cornell, they would not get far.
Most likely, she thought, they’d all returned to the island. The quest an instant failure. Her mother worried sick… her siblings… she honestly had no idea what they’d be feeling about her sudden departure. And Eddy… she fought back the tears. Another wave of nausea swept through her.
Poor Eddy.
Forced to go home without her after swearing he never wanted to spend a day apart.
Forced to give up the search… they would let him try if only to make himself feel like he was doing something… but she knew… she knew he would never find her.
Juliska pushed these concerns deep into her mind. If she allowed them to surface she’d never make it. Never survive whatever her captor had in store for her. And most likely, once the Grosvenor were done with her, she’d either remain a prisoner or they’d kill her. So the fact that she’d never see Eddy again… she pushed it deep. This thought would only make her lose focus. She needed to be alert and sharp in the upcoming hours.
She looked up and with determined strides went to one of the closets and opened it.
This one was lined with clothes and shoes. She looked into another. Coats, sweaters, boots… boots! It was the middle of summer. Another wave of panic swept over her.
He really wasn’t going to let her go. She was a prisoner here, indefinitely.
And what was all this talk about helping her, and smelling her blood?
Sure, he was acting all friendly now, but once she refused to help him, or give him what he really wanted… the friendly act would disappear.
“He took me because I’m a seer,” she whispered. “Don’t forget that.” She’d keep this reminder firmly at the front of her thoughts.
And what was she going to do? Avoid having visions? Lie to him when she did?
Did he have some way to force her to tell him what she saw? And just what was he hoping she’d see? Surely he had to be aware that having visions wasn’t something she could just do. Or force. Especially of specific topics. And even more so while under duress.
The Ghost, The Dragon, and The Lost King (Fated Chronicles Book 4) Page 10
