Stone of Ascension

by Lynda Aicher

  The man simply nodded, his acceptance a smooth ease of agreement.

  “From now on, my life is mine.”

  “Of course,” the Ancient agreed. “Your life was always yours. The choices you made belong to you and you alone. That is the power of a true sacrifice, one given in the belief of rightness—in truth and honor—in spite of the personal pain it inflicts.”

  Damian bit his tongue to hold back the retort. Instead he pushed forward. “Are you responsible for this?” He lifted his hand to show the intertwined dragon and bird. The two marks were now completely separated beneath his skin, each struggling against the pain that pulled them apart.

  The man smiled again. “No, old one. That is the doing of the energy—of the two of you. A sign of dual power. Of a joining that will bring great strength to the coming war. Together, you will ascend and lead the Energen race in the battle that faces us all. It is your destiny. It is time you rise to it.”

  “And the wings on the dragon? What do they mean?”

  “The winged ones were once our greatest strength, our allies, against the serpentine Shifter dragons.” The Ancient narrowed his eyes. “You must recall the tales, the stories of the great winged giants of the West. The dragons that soared on positive energy until the Slander convinced the world they were the evil ones. He persuaded all who would listen to kill the winged ones into extinction and tricked them into honoring the eastern wingless dragons instead. The ones who are the true bearers of the negative energy and of all that is evil.”

  Damian stepped back and dropped his hand, trying once again to absorb and reconcile the words of the Ancient. “And Louk? What of him and his—” He stumbled over the word. “Mate?”

  “What of them?” the man snipped, impatience finally filtering through his voice. “Listen to what I say and don’t fight what you know to be true. Your own denial holds you back. Not your people or the energy. Only you.”

  Emotions warred with the logic, with all that Damian knew. His dragon paced, eager to rejoin its mate. The energy pushed at him to follow, to find Amber and keep her by his side.

  Forever.

  She was his bonded mate.

  “Drop the barrier, Ancient,” Damian demanded, his voice filled with the authority of a CEO controlling his destiny. Or a king commanding his right. “There is only one thing I need to do right now. The rest will play out as the energy determines. Now let me go to her.”

  As simple as that, the invisible barriers dropped. Damian felt the energy give way and then he was gone, his heart following his need. His life hinged on the unbreakable link that connected him to his future.

  Amber.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The cool brush of the late afternoon wind wound through Amber’s hair, pulling the ends up in a taunting dance of defiance. She snapped her head back and inhaled the salty air. Closing her eyes, she absorbed the freshness and embraced the freedom that surrounded her.

  The solitude that held no expectations or judgments.

  She stood alone and confused, poised on the edge of the Aquinnah cliffs. The steep edge located at the western point of Martha’s Vineyard was both rugged and beautiful. Dusk crept up behind her as the sun made its slow descent beyond the horizon, glimpses of it flashing through the solid bank of clouds that cloaked the sky.

  She shuddered against another strike of the wind, the icy currents circling her neck and snaking under her clothes. Amber hugged the wool coat closer, a valiant attempt to retain what little warmth she had as she looked out over the crashing waves of Vineyard Sound.

  Unwanted, Damian’s scent drifted over her, embracing her in security while cutting her with betrayal. She gasped, releasing a huge gust of pain that tore from her chest and threatened to take her to her knees.

  It hurt. A simple description that didn’t come close to defining the ache that encased her in a numbing iciness steeped in rejection. Once again, she wasn’t good enough. Tainted by association. By blood she didn’t want. Didn’t ask for.

  But it was in her nonetheless.

  Still, it didn’t define her. Didn’t make her who she was.

  And who was she? The question echoed inside her, the answer edging close, but still so elusive. Her hands fisted in the deep pockets, her knuckles banging the forgotten collection of artifacts from the previous day. A simple if not subtle reminder of all that had changed.

  A seagull screeched high and long in the distance, its wings spread wide as it caught a current and soared with the wind. Below her, the uniquely aqua-colored waves pounded the sand and rocks in a repeated cycle of abbreviated fury.

  Crash and retreat, break and fall back.

  Maybe that was what had brought her here. The simple reminder of the repeated circle of life. Of the continued beat of peaks and lulls that pulled you forward into the next event. Waves that let you ride high on the crest before they crashed against the cushioning grains of sand or the hard, cutting rocks.

  But it didn’t answer why she was there. She had wished to return home and instead she had solidified on the cliffs—the lands of the Wampanoag Indian Tribe and the very people she would love to disown. To her, home was back in Newport at the little antique shop where she’d spent over half her life caring for discarded objects and forgotten memories. Not here, among the very people who despised her simply because she was a by-product of her mother.

  But she stayed because the beauty and peace of the spot soothed her. The energy brushed soothingly over her face and around her chest, easing the ache and promising an end to the pain.

  That, and because she wasn’t certain she could pull off the porting trick without the Ancient’s help.

  Glancing at the sky once again, she realized her internal clock was completely askew. The lateness of the day had taken her by surprise, but maybe the whole porting thing took longer to execute than she realized. And she had no idea how long they had slept.

  Slept. With Damian. Another jolt of pain shot from her chest. Her bird cried in protest, a cry that was echoed in her own heart.

  The pain was followed by another harsh gust of wind that beat at her body and forced her attention back to the elements. To her surroundings.

  To the person approaching in the distance behind her.

  Her hair lifted and twirled around her head, sending sharp snippets of sensation from the crown down her spine. The energy fueled her in warm bursts of heat that countered the chill of the wind and whispered of the presence.

  Friend.

  Her tightened muscles relaxed incrementally, the steps of the visitor unheard over the harsh cut of the wind. Testing, pulling deep, Amber called on the energy to tell her who it was. Could it do that? Could she?

  Gentleness, authority, hard resilience, respect.

  Kayla.

  The certainty of the identification flowed through Amber with a confidence that broached no question. No doubt. She smiled, a soft acceptance of what the energy told her. An understanding of what she was capable of doing. She turned to watch her friend make her way up the ridge.

  Maybe it was time for her to accept who she was. All of who she was.

  She had been so quick to throw out accusations and judgments against Damian, yet she was just as guilty. Judge not lest ye be judged.

  Over the years, had she unconsciously proclaimed a judgment on herself? One of unworthiness, of fault? Was that the cause of the subtle doubt buried deep in her subconscious that held her back and kept her from taking what was hers?

  Her life had become a quiet state of acceptance, of what people said, of her station in life. Of her outcast place in a society that seemed to reject the very fiber of who she was.

  Now, it was time to change.

  Acceptance. The truth washed through her, burning a new path of understanding as she slowly straightened her spine.

  She was Amber Morningstar—the blooded descendant of Moshup, the ancient leader of the Wampanoag people and an Energen. Her shoulders moved back.

  She was Ambe
r—the only daughter of a misguided and lost mother who gave away her body in the delusional hope of finding her soul in the arms of a man. Her chest expanded.

  She was Amber—the prophesied bearer of destruction or salvation. Her chin came up.

  She was Amber—blooded of both light and dark, positive and negative. Shifter and Energen, beings that fought for the fate of the world in their hidden battle over the energy. She inhaled.

  She was all of that. And more.

  The power surged in her chest and beat in hard time with her heart. The wind snapped and bit around her, little nips of approval. It lifted her hair, pulled on the hem of the coat and soothed her with long caresses against her cheeks.

  Inspired, Amber lifted her arms and held her hands to the sky. Her entire body tingled, fizzy snippets of energy from the tips of her fingers, down her arms, through her torso and legs until each little toe felt the change.

  She reached out for the power she knew was there and waiting for her. Her bird soared with her, flying high into the currents in the ecstasy that unleashed with the freedom. Left behind, the dragon paced and prowled, the need to be at its mate’s side driving a fiery spike through the dragon’s heart that smoldered and burned in misery.

  In that moment, she became the energy. It bound to her like a second skin, adhering to cells, attaching to every nerve ending and lighting her soul with a newfound identity. The purity of the revelation was both quiet and explosive. It settled ever so gently in her heart while blasting a cannon-sized hole in her mind.

  She was Amber Morningstar—who she became from that point on was completely up to her. No matter what everyone said or thought or judged or predicted or…it didn’t matter. She was the one who decided how she felt about herself. And for once, she was proud of who she was. Proud of all she was and what she could become.

  “The power becomes you.” The soft voice drifted on the air and melded with the vitality that encircled them.

  Kayla. Her friend had reached Amber’s side and now stood beside her in quiet acceptance. For who and what Amber was. Approval vibrated from Kayla as strong as the crashing waves below.

  Amber lowered her arms, the moment past but the power remained. She held out her palm and focused. Almost instantly, a ball of flame burst from the smooth skin. It held, twisting in mingling colors of white, yellow and violet as it danced in a formed sphere of sizzling heat.

  “And this does not surprise you?” Amber’s focus remained on the unnatural fire that burned in her palm.

  “Yes,” Kayla answered, her word clear in the sudden quiet that had settled around them, the wind now silent in an act of courtesy to their conversation. “And no. This is what you were born to do. Be. It’s beyond common logic, but it is, nonetheless.”

  “So you knew? All along you knew?”

  “Some. Most of it, yes.”

  “And that’s why you were my friend when no one else would be?” The flame in her hand flickered, sputtering at that last hint of doubt.

  “No, Amber,” Kayla said as she rested a hand on Amber’s forearm. Her firm grip added reinforcement to the words. “I was—am—your friend because of your gentle heart and quiet kindness. I am your friend because you are one to me.”

  “And now?”

  “That doesn’t change. Your life may lead you from here, but I will always be here for you. True friendship doesn’t die with distance.”

  Amber squeezed her fist shut, cutting off the flame to end the little show. Her palm hummed with the receding energy, but her skin held no mark or indication that fire had just burned there.

  Tucking her hair behind her ear, she turned her head to finally look at Kayla. Her friend met her gaze, strong eyes of deep brown that held nothing but warmth and kindness in them.

  “Thank you,” Amber whispered, her throat too tight for anything stronger. The simple statement expressing all that she felt. “How did you know I was here?”

  Kayla smiled, a mystical expression reminiscent of her shaman grandfather. “The wind told me.”

  Yesterday, Amber would have laughed at that answer. Today, she understood and accepted. “Are you one of them?” Her brow wrinkled. “Us?”

  “No,” her friend denied with a slight shake of her head. “My role, the role that has been passed down through my family, is only to guard the one who is. But now that you know, you can do that yourself.”

  Amber looked back over the water and absorbed it all. The words, the view, the freshness that nipped in the cooling air. The sun had finally dipped below the horizon, allowing the darkness to follow like an obedient slave. Before them, the fading light still held the faint glow left from the sun. But behind her, she could feel the darkness approaching. A physical beast that stalked the light in the perpetual battle for supremacy.

  “But who will protect you, human?”

  The cold, silky words had both women whipping around to find the source. The dark coldness that was forever present around the edges of the energy expanded at the sight of her stalking nemesis. Kassandra.

  The cocky woman stood about thirty feet back, strategically blocking any exits for Amber and Kayla, which were few given the steep cliff that plunged behind them. She was dressed much the same as the previous night only this time she wore a long leather coat that flipped and slapped her calves as the wind returned with its earlier gusto.

  “What? No dragon tonight?” Amber taunted as she instinctively stepped in front of Kayla.

  “The night is still young,” Kassandra practically purred back, her throaty reply full of sultry confidence. “There’s still plenty of time to kill you both.”

  “Didn’t you try that before?” Amber’s simple question was edged with barbs. “Without success, I might add.” She let her lips curl up with confidence. Confidence that was felt, not feigned this time.

  “But there are no circles to hide behind this time, pup.” Kassandra flipped her curls over her shoulder and braced her feet farther apart as she leaned into the ever-increasing wind. “And I have more than a thousand years of experience and power behind me.”

  The truth of her words rippled over the energy. The woman before them was old, strong and powerful. Amber swallowed and took a step toward the enemy, pushed on by the wind at her back shoving her away from the edge, away from Kayla. Her hands hung loose and ready at her sides. The little dagger in her pocket wouldn’t help her in the fight to come.

  And there would be a fight.

  “Why does Tubal want me?” Amber asked.

  The woman’s face contorted in an angry scowl at the mention of her mate. “He doesn’t want you. He wants your power, you fool. Something you’re too stupid to even realize you have.”

  “What will he do to you when he finds out you hurt his prize?” Amber prodded back.

  “Who’ll tell him?” Her nemesis made a big show of looking around the area. “It’s just you, me and the useless human. I doubt if any of us will squeal to my mate.”

  Amber used Kassandra’s distraction to inch further away from Kayla. It was a calculated risk between staying close to protect her friend or drawing the fire away from her. Literally.

  “Won’t the energy tell him?” She wasn’t sure that was true, but from all she’d learned so quickly, it sounded plausible. The scowl that darkened Kassandra’s face confirmed Amber’s assumption.

  “You think you’re so smart,” the Shifter sneered. “Let’s see how far brains get you against this.”

  The fireball appeared and flew at them almost faster than Amber could react. Fortunately, reflexes kicked in, causing her hands to come up to deflect the deadly projectile. Like magic, the fireball bounced off the invisible shield of air and sailed over the cliff edge into the night.

  Behind her, Kayla gasped—a sharp intake of shock—but that was all. So like Kayla to remain steady and strong in the face of the unbelievable.

  Across from her, Kassandra snarled, the low, feral sound hinting at the animal that lived within her. The animal Amber rea
lly didn’t care to see again.

  Her heart thudded as adrenaline kicked in. She could do this. The ability was there—she only had to reach for it. Use it. Believe in what she could do.

  Calling up her own fireball, Amber returned the assault, aiming the flaming ball directly at Kassandra’s head. The woman ducked, a simple move that let the ball fly over her head to fizzle out in the damp grass behind her.

  Kassandra straightened and laughed, the throaty vibration beating against the winds that carried the tint of manic evil to them. “You surprise me, pup.” She strolled to the side, but her eyes remained on them, some of her cockiness pulled back. “This just became way more interesting. Let’s see what else you can do.”

  The stone fired up, burning hot pulses of energy into Amber, vitalizing all her senses and honing her instincts in anticipation of what was coming. Her animals, the bird and the dragon, also responded; the two fighters bared their claws and circled in excitement. The ache of separation remained, hindering them, but did not stop them.

  Instead of waiting for the other woman to attack, Amber went on the offensive. Stepping forward, she sent a volley of fireballs at her opponent. Calling a quick succession of the flaming gold and violet missiles into her hands, she propelled them forward as fast as she could. Kassandra shrieked while she dove to avoid the attack. She rolled gracefully across the high grass, a moving target that dodged all of Amber’s fireballs.

  “Run!” Amber shouted at Kayla before Kassandra sprung to her feet.

  Keeping up the distractions, Amber remembered Damian’s trick and raised her hand to call to the sky. Almost instantly, a lightning bolt shot from the clouds and cracked into the dirt a foot from where Kassandra stood. The woman launched herself backwards on an angry wail of frustration.

  “You bitch,” Kassandra cursed. “You shouldn’t be able to do that. You can’t control two elements.”

  Amber had no idea what the woman was talking about. It didn’t matter, either. The energy had become a bonded entity within her, vitalizing every nerve ending until she felt as if she was glowing from within. It felt like she was finally whole, like the piece of her that had always been missing was finally, finally in place.