Rising Moon (The Rune Stone Trilogy)

by Anne Haley

  "You’re mother was one smart cookie," El said, leaning against the footboard.

  "She had to be. She knew what killed my father, and figured I would have the same fate. So she spent most of her time teaching me what she knew," Aylin said sadly. "We have so much to talk about." She looked down at her hands. Her fingers traced the red welts on her left wrist.

  "Yes, but we have time. We all need to heal, and stress won’t quicken the process." Terra put a hand on Aylin’s leg.

  Aylin managed a smirk. "Yes mother."

  "Before mother sends me back to bed," El eyed Terra, "we’re going to have to give thanks to some new friends before too long."

  "Who?" Aylin frowned.

  "It seems the cave they had you in also was home to some Knockers."

  "Knockers?" Aylin’s jaw dropped. "Really?"

  "Yes, and cranky as usual. But they had pretty good aim at the young witch."

  "How do we give thanks to them? I didn’t see them." Terra frowned.

  "No, almost no one has. But they have a fascination with human artifacts. Even something like a shoelace is a treasure for them. Blake, would you mind?" Aylin looked to him.

  "I’ll take care of it." He nodded.

  "What are we going to do about Mom?" Terra asked weakly. She felt selfish asking about her, but she didn’t want any harm coming to her.

  "We need to recover, and then we’ll get her out," El said.

  "What do you mean?" Aylin sat up straighter. "Why would we go in for her?"

  "They had her too, in the cave," Blake said quietly.

  "She was? That doesn’t make sense," Aylin said, her brow creasing. "None of you asked how they got to me. I was in Mary’s car, she said she wanted some company on her trip to Grand Marais, and she drugged me. She had brought tea with iron in it. She…" The memories brought tears to her eyes, the feeling of betrayal so fresh to her. "She gave me to them."

  Blake crushed the ceramic mug he held in his hands. Coffee spilled onto his shoes and the floor, but he didn’t notice. "Why would she…How could she…" He couldn’t understand what Aylin told them.

  "But she’s not a witch. We would have known that," El frowned.

  Aylin shrugged. "I don’t know. But, I’m sorry Blake and Terra, but I don’t think she needs rescuing."

  Terra had been silent up until this point. She bristled under the implication of Mary. "There has to be another explanation."

  "I hope there is, for your sake." Aylin’s eyes drooped.

  Blake stepped forward. "We have time to discuss all of this. For now we all need to recover, and Aylin needs to sleep."

  Terra slid off the bed. "You’re right. Get some sleep Aylin." She and El left the room, and Blake stepped closer to Aylin.

  "I’m so sorry Blake," she said quietly and wouldn’t look at him.

  He leaned over and brought her chin up until her eyes met his. "Do you think I’m mad at you? You have no reason to lie, and you didn’t tell us this with a light heart. When it’s time to deal with it, we will. For now, I want to be here with you. Let me do that, Aylin."

  She smiled thankfully up to him and he lightly kissed her lips. She settled back down into the pillows and dozed off with the feeling of his lips still on hers.

  At his own home, Blake moved about collecting personal items that would sustain him for a while at Terra’s. He stopped short when he noticed the Seanchai lying open on his coffee table. He knew he had left the book under his mattress. But there it was, open on the table. He frowned at it and went to his bedroom to investigate. Everything was in place, including the cloth that he had wrapped around the book. The cloth was still under the mattress, neatly folded in to a square that was the same size of the book. Blake ripped the cloth out from the bed and stalked back into the living room. No one had been in his house except Owen. Blake had a feeling that the way Owen now works, if he had been doing some investigating in Blake’s house, Blake would never know about it. Owen wouldn’t leave any indication of being in his home.

  Blake raked his hand through his hair and sat down on the couch. When he peered at the book the page it was open to had his attention immediately.

  Kobolds:

  Also known as knockers, a type of goblin. Origin: Cornwall, England.

  Can be found in mines, caves, wells, and an unfortunate basement.

  Description: Stands less than three feet tall, eyes are large and unable to see in the light. The ears are large and pointed and twitch with the slightest sounds. It has hands like a human, except the index fingers are extended, used for "knocking". The ends of the fingers are round and as hard as a hammer’s head.

  Once, centuries ago, they would knock their fingers to indicate where rich ore could be found in mines, also their knocking is known to be a warning to impending dangers of collapsing walls. It was believed they did their own mining also, but the evidence could never be found. Now, as the human population has grown, so has the knocker population, stretching to the New World. Instead of helping miners and cave dwellers, they are now a nuisance and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If entering a cave that these creatures have inhabited, take care to not whistle or swear. If done, you shall receive a shower of stones.

  To stay on the good graces of these creatures, the knockers treasure human artifacts.

  Blake leaned back against the couch after reading through a second time. He had been curious since the previous night of what invaded the walls of the cave, and this odd book knew. It sent a chill through his body, and he stood to shake it off. He had accepted that there were magical creatures that were apart of his world. He might even be one of them, but he couldn’t wrap his head around a magical book. The Seanchai somehow can read his own thoughts and questions and magically produce answers if previous Storytellers had written it. After what he saw the night before in the cave, this should be easy to accept, except he couldn’t. He didn’t trust the Seanchai.

  With no answer he wrapped the book and put it on the bottom of his duffel bag.

  Days later Aylin was on the couch under a heavy blanket with a roaring fire in front of her. She had spent the first twenty-four hours in bed, and once she became restless she started walking small distances, beginning with the couch. Blake hadn’t left her side when he was in the house. Some might have found his hovering to be overpowering and annoying, but she welcomed his presence. He seemed to know when she would shift, and he would move with her.

  He was always finding her something to drink or to eat. She tried not to turn her nose up at the canned soup that he heated up for her, and El took notice. She hastily made batches of soup and stew, and disposed of the stale, bland canned soup. El took special care to infuse the dishes with herbs to induced healing and relaxation also.

  The memories were still too fresh for Aylin to close her eyes in the dark. The moon was covered in clouds, and her bedroom was pitch black. She would walk out to the living room to find Blake waiting for her. He had heard her shifting on the bed, and they ended up talking into the early hours of the morning. Their conversations stayed light and traveled through childhoods and very deep discussions on their favorite kinds of chocolate. When she would become exhausted and drift off to sleep, he scooped her up and carried her to bed.

  Blake brought in two mugs of hot chocolate and set hers on the table next to her. "You know, you’re my knight in shining armor." She smiled up at him.

  "Duty calls." He shrugged, and a grin played on his lips.

  "Thank you for helping me. I know we had a rough start when we first met, but I understand why. You would protect Terra with your life if it came to that." She had taken the mug off the table and held it in her hands. She was looking down into the creamy chocolate.

  Blake turned toward her. "I’d do the same for you." She looked up to him in surprise. "I did it already, and I’d do it again."

  "Blake…" she whispered. He took the mug from her hands and set it on the coffee table along with his own. He took both her hands in his, and they were stron
g and steady.

  "We both know I’m in this, and I have accepted that. You helped me accept that. Now I need you to accept something. Accept that I’m in love with you." He squeezed her hands gently and could feel the trembles running along her body. Her eyes were wide, but her mouth slowly formed a grin.

  "We still barely know each other," she whispered.

  "I know that, but it doesn’t keep me from feeling this." He brought her hand to him and rested it over his heart. His heart was beating quickly. Her lips twitched as her nervousness surfaced. "What is happening around us isn’t going to end anytime soon. I can feel that. But you need to know how I feel." He brought her hand up and turned it over, laying his lips on her tattoo sending a stream of new tingles into her skin. "I love what you are, but I would still love you if you were human. There is something inside you that being human wouldn’t take away."

  "What is that?" Her breathing had become shallow.

  "Your heart."

  She took a deep breath and watched his fingers trace her own. "Blake, when I was in the cave, and I was watching my life pass before my eyes," she squeezed his hand when his eyes turned cold, "I need to tell you what I was thinking. I saw memories of my parents, of El and Terra. But there was something I regretted. You." His hands stilled in hers. "No, I didn’t say that right." She flushed. "I regretted being too careful with you. I’ve seen what you feel for me, and I won’t lie and say it doesn’t frighten me."

  "I have no intentions of hurting you," Blake said softly.

  "That's not what I'm afraid of. I could make you weak. Letting me into your heart creates another weakness for you."

  His fingers laced through hers and squeezed. "Your in my heart now. It's not a weakness. It makes me stronger, fuller. But I want you to let me into yours."

  Aylin smiled. "If you didn't think you were, you wouldn't have brought it up."

  "You're right." He smiled and leaned toward her. She met him, and he pressed his lips onto hers.

  When he tried to deepen the kiss he felt her hands push lightly on his chest. He pulled away and looked at her questionably. "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about. Before Mary kidnapped me she told me you had an ex-fiancé?"

  "This is hardly the time to be bringing up the ex topic," he said patiently.

  "I know. It's really poor timing." Aylin looked down at their hands intertwined together.

  "Yes, it is. I'll tell you everything, just later. I don't want to ruin the moment."

  Aylin nodded, and was surprised that she didn't feel disappointed. He wasn't hiding anything from her, and it was a relief. She pulled her hands from his. "I'm okay with waiting. But I am going to ruin the moment. I've been thinking the past few days, and I've come to a conclusion. I haven’t spoken to the others yet, and I know Terra will put up a fight."

  Blake didn’t like the strain in her eyes. She was still too pale and she had lost weight, letting her cheeks begin to sink in. Her pale skin was losing the gray tinge it had gotten with the iron in her blood. However, she was still showing signs of complete exhaustion. He took her hand and kissed her palm then closed it. "What is it?"

  She shifted so she sat up straighter. "When I was in bed, healing for days, it gave me time to think about our situation. I think I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t helped them. And I know that you are tied to this. But we decided to let you in before we even knew that. What if that is the difference between the others and us? What if we need to let go of our fears of allowing humans to help?"

  Blake frowned. "You want to go public with what you are? I don’t think that’s a good idea at all."

  "No, not go public. But maybe let someone in that could help us, someone that has an expertise that could get us some information that we need. You even mentioned that we need some more solid information." She laced her fingers into his. "Owen has an expertise," she said quietly.

  "Owen?" Blake was beside himself. "He plays with computers. What expertise does he have?"

  "You know he doesn’t just play with computers. Terra has said he is amazing and resourceful at getting information. What if there is something more out there that he can find? What if he could help us find weaknesses in the witches?" She was keeping her voice low, since Terra was in the house somewhere.

  Blake was quiet for a while. He was concentrating on her hands. She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he weighed the pros and cons. "Plus, he loves Terra," she added. "I don’t think he’d let anything happen to her."

  "How are you going to tell them?" Blake asked.

  "I have no idea." She shook her head.

  "You’re right. Terra’s not going to agree. But I think we can take all the help we can get."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The dinner table had been set for a formal feast. Aylin had found a box of white china in Terra’s basement that had belonged to her grandmother. After a delicate washing the plates sparkled under the light. They also put out crystal goblets for water and wine glasses. Terra made the centerpiece of twigs and oak leaves arranged in glass jars, bringing the fall colors inside the home. El and Terra spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing the three-course dinner.

  Aylin was ordered to stay on the couch in front of the smoldering fire that Blake had made earlier. Her scars were almost gone, and the color was back in her cheeks. She still exhausted herself easily, and El could read her like a book making it impossible to hide when she began to tire. Terra had brought home three new books on gardening and two large vases of flowers to brighten the living room.

  Blake had gone home to collect more firewood, and to check on his house. He had spent the week at Terra’s. During the day he went to work, and at night he slept on the couch. Even after the three of them insisted they could manage a night with out him as a bodyguard, he stayed.

  "Penny for your thoughts." El walked to the window.

  "I was thinking of our body guard," Aylin smiled. "I feel so bad, he’s stiff as a board from sleeping on the couch."

  "You could fix that, you know." El shrugged, looking over at her.

  "El!" Aylin hissed.

  El turned toward her with her hands on her hips. "You two are adults. You can sleep in the same bed and only sleep. I think it has been done before." She put a finger to her lips thoughtfully.

  Aylin bit her own lip. "Well, I was thinking the same thing. But I don’t want anyone to feel awkward about it."

  "You mean me and Terra? We’re all adults. If she and I want some time alone with you we will come right out and say it. But we’re both okay with you and Blake. And Blake is going to continue staying under this roof as long as you are. So I think you should either invite him into your room, or make a chiropractor appointment." El moved toward Aylin and sat down next to her, stretching her feet out onto the coffee table. "Do they even have chiropractors here?"

  "I will talk to him." Aylin leaned back and folded her arms over her stomach. "What about you? You must be getting pretty restless. Not a date in how many weeks?"

  "I’ve been too focused on other things to worry about that." She rolled her eyes.

  "No, I don’t buy it."

  El drummed her fingers on her leg for a moment. "Okay." She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a folded business card. "I was thinking of giving him a call. You know, now that you think he’s harmless."

  "The writer?" Aylin took the card from her and unfolded it. "Corey. Corey doesn’t seem to be your type."

  "I don’t have a type." El glared at her. "Anyway, I said I was thinking about it. I haven’t done anything about it."

  "I think you should, it would be good for you to get out of the house for awhile. You are getting too cooped up and then you start picking on Terra."

  "Terra leaves herself wide open." El snickered.

  The front door opened, letting in the crisp autumn air. Blake stepped in and smiled at them. His cheeks and nose were rosy from being out in the cold. "Stocked with firewood for a while now." He pul
led off his boots. "Oh, and by the way, El and I took a little gift back to the cave." He looked to El.

  El snorted. "Yeah, we filled an old shoe box with rubber bands, paperclips, Blake added a rusted out wrench, and Terra contributed a fork. That should make them pretty content for awhile."

  Dinner was a feast, starting with spinach and bacon salad drizzled with warm vinaigrette. Next, El and Terra served them herb roasted pork loin with potatoes and glazed carrots. There was a bottle of merlot and a bottle of pinot grigio; Aylin preferred the white with a hint of sweetness whereas El and Terra favor the dark red with its woodsy tones. It wasn’t until they were eating the five layer chocolate cake that they began asking Aylin the questions they had restrained themselves from asking during the week.

  "After I lost consciousness in Mary’s car," Blake frowned down to his plate, "I must have been out for awhile. When I came to I was in the cave. Well, you saw how they had me chained." She rubbed her wrist absently where her scars once were. "There was a man in the background the whole time, but it was the older witch that asked the questions. She kept asking me who I was, who was with me, and where the Duile was."

  "Wait, what did they call it?" El leaned forward.

  "It caught my attention too. She kept calling The Rune the Duile."

  "Why is that important?" Blake asked.

  "My mother had said that it was no longer called that. It’s a very old term for the elements. The witches’ line must go back farther than we realized." She sighed. "And the man in the background, I couldn’t see him, but he felt really powerful. He had energy about him, a dark, ancient energy. I would guess that he is the one behind all of it. But he never got close enough for me to see him clearly." She decided to leave out the parts of torture that the older witch attacked her with. None of them needed to hear about that.