Tales of the Golden Judge: 3-Book Bundle - Books 13-15

by Hart, Melissa F.

  Immediately, Aja felt the winds rush for her from all directions, pushing her this way and that. She was small and light, but that was not as much of a liability as it looked. Instead, she simply danced with the wind, following it, and not letting one wind or another push her off her feet. She took a few moments to gauge what the wind was doing, and then she forced one of the winds under her control. She made it her guard dog, keeping the others off of her and she heard Stefan's shout of surprise.

  Just wait. You're not going to like this...

  She reached up and up into the sky, searching for the heavy winds that hovered far above. They were powerful, but so was she, and when she summoned it down, it filled the clearing with cold air, and bore Benedict to the ground as if he were as light as a child. She held him there for a moment, and then released him. The winds in the clearing died down to normal, and she grinned.

  “Are you satisfied now, child?” she asked teasingly. He was obviously several years older than she was, and he shook his head in admiration from where he sat on the ground.

  “That was amazing,” he said. “You must teach me.”

  “First you must help me find my... you must help me find the monster I seek.”

  Benedict scowled. “Come here, I have something to show you.”

  Darian and Aja followed him into the cabin, which she saw was well-equipped with all of the luxuries she was fast becoming used to in this modern world. There were lights, running water, a machine that made the air deliciously cool, and a glowing box in the corner that she knew could be used to access all sorts of information.

  Benedict led them to a small desk in one corner, and he opened up a notebook that was nearly as large as the table when it was spread out. The notebook was full of fascinating sketches of animals, of muscles and bones, but nothing looked remotely familiar until he stopped.

  Aja gasped out loud. There on the paper, rendered in sure strokes of dark gray, was her monster. It was enormous, lizard-like and fanged with a tail that looked poised to lash at a foe.

  “This is it, this is the thing, where did you see it?”

  Benedict looked grim, and it came to her suddenly that he must become some kind of bird, perhaps a hawk or a vulture, when he transformed. Only the winged ones could look so stern and uncompromising.

  “My wife and I encountered it two years ago,” he said. “She is a scientist, someone who looks for animals that have remained hiding. While she was looking for something in the lake near here, she found this beast, and it nearly killed us both.”

  Aja bit her lip. “Is your wife here?”

  Benedict nodded. “You can meet her later. At the moment, she is with the monster she was looking for.”

  Aja started to ask him what she meant by that when the door opened. There was a friendly-faced woman in the doorway, and if she looked a little shocked to see two new people in her home, she gave no indication.

  “You must be the guests Benedict was telling me about,” she said warmly. “Pleased to meet you. I'm Marcie.”

  Where her husband was grim and a little cold, Marcie bubbled over with warmth, and Aja found herself warming to the woman immediately.

  “Benedict says that you two were attacked by the monster I am searching for a few years ago.”

  “Yeah, that was nasty. I was out here looking for a type of animal people were no longer sure existed, and I guess I bit off more than I could chew. Or rather, it tried to take a bite out of me!”

  Marcie laughed, and Benedict flinched. It was obvious he didn't care to revisit the memories of his wife's near death, because he took over the story.

  “We found the beast that she was looking for, and we also found that monster that you are hunting. Marcie's beast is nearly tame with the amount of time she spends out there studying it, but of the other monster, we've seen nothing of it.”

  “This whole area is grown up on limestone,” Marcie explained. “Many of the lakes here are connected by channels deep underwater, and I think the thing, if it still lives, is sneaking around that way. I keep a watch for it, but I've not seen it since.”

  “Wait, you saw it two years ago?” Aja suddenly exclaimed. “Two years?”

  “Yes, why do you ask?” Marcie looked puzzled, but Aja slumped down on the floor, tears in her eyes.

  The magic had miscalculated. She was meant to wake up when Stefan and the monster did. She had felt bad enough that she’d had to spend months in training before she could venture through to the outside world. The fact that Stefan had been out in the world for two years or more, alone, struck ice into her heart.

  Marcie and Darian were on the ground next to her, asking her what was wrong, but she could only shake her head over and over again.

  “I can't...” she whispered. “I just can't...”

  “Can't what?” asked Darian, but before she could answer him, there was a hollow boom from the woods outside.

  Everyone in the cabin stood up as if shocked, and Marcie ran for the door.

  “Damn it, that was a gunshot, and it came from the lake,” she cried, and she was off and running. With a swear, Benedict ran after her, and both Darian and Aja followed him.

  The woods were growing darker and darker, but Marcie ran with the grace of familiarity, and even though Darian and Aja were strangers, their eyes were far better than those of a regular human being.

  Benedict grabbed Marcie's arm just as they got to the lake, and he pulled her up short.

  “Damn it, you are not going to go running into trouble as if it were something that tasted good!” he snapped. “Stop and look, for the love of the eight winds!”

  Marcie stared at him defiantly, and Aja found herself liking the woman more and more.

  “When the last member of a prehistoric species that is meant to be protected is threatened, I will do what I damn well please!” she exclaimed, but she did slow down.

  Just when the darkness seemed peaceful again, there was another shot, and they were running again.

  There was a dark figure standing on the edge of the lake, but more frighteningly, there was something rolling and moving in the water, churning it up and making it impossible to see.

  “Stop!” Marcie cried. “There is absolutely no hunting in this area, and if you continue, I will call the rangers!”

  The figure in the darkness spared her a look. Aja could tell he was male, but the shadows made it difficult to see his features.

  “If you knew what that thing was, you'd thank me,” he said, his voice as flat as the blade of a sword, and chills ran up Aja's spine.

  “I know what that thing is,” Marcie said fiercely, “and it's not what you think it is. It is precious and rare, and most of all, completely harmless.”

  The man in the dark snorted. “You're a fool,” he stated, and he raised his gun to shoot again.

  Marcie swore, and she lunged into the water, making Aja stare after her in shock. At the same time, Benedict and Darian lunged for the man, knocking the gun from his hand and pinning his arms behind him.

  The man started shouting, but he wasn't cursing or trying to get them to let him loose.

  “Get her out of the water, it will kill her. Don't you understand, it's going to kill her?”

  “Use your eyes if you can,” Benedict snarled. “Open your eyes and look!”

  In the water, a soaked Marcie was standing next to an enormous animal that Aja had never seen before. Its body was large but graceful, and instead of limbs, it had flippers. A long thick tail curled protectively around Marcie, and its large head, twice the size of a cow's stayed focused on the shore, where everyone stared at it in astonishment.

  “Does this look like something that needs to be shot?” Marcie demanded, and slowly the man shook his head.

  “I... I was mistaken... I didn't know...”

  When he spoke without that ring of cold and anger in his voice, Aja knew in her bones that her early suspicions were correct.

  “Oh, Stefan,” she said softly, and he tur
ned his head to her as if she had shouted it.

  Yes, it was him. She ran toward him, her arms open. Benedict and Darian stepped back, and she crashed into her lover's arms, shaking with silent sobs.

  “Are.... are you... no, it can't be!”

  Instead of returning her embrace, Stefan's heavy hands landed on her shoulders and pushed her back. In a million years, she could never have imagined a reaction like that one, and she cried out in shock and surprise.

  “Stefan!”

  “No!” he said, whipping off the cap he wore. She was shocked to see his hair cut short, the way most men wore their hair these days, but more frightening was the way he looked at her, as if he were repulsed. “You are not Aja, stop lying to me!”

  “But... but Stefan, it is me...”

  “Aja died,” he said, his voice rough with sorrow. “She died. This... this is a cruel joke, a hallucination...”

  “She slept,” Darian supplied, his voice as cold as ice. “She slept just as you did, and if you keep on saying things like that, we're going to find out how good you are in a fight.”

  Stefan turned to him with a snarl, as if relieved to find a threat that he could quell in a way he understood. “You're a werewolf, just as I am,” he snapped. “Shall we test each other, then, little puppy?”

  Aja wrapped her arms around her, unsure of how this had all gone so wrong. She knew that this was Stefan, every bone in her body called out to him, but he was far from the man she had come looking for. There was something hard and terrifying about this man, and it might have come to a fight between Stefan and Darian if Benedict had not intervened.

  “Put two wolves in one place, and you're sure to see a pissing contest of one sort or another,” he said with disgust. “Both of you, stand down. There is no cause for fighting here.”

  The authority in his voice automatically made Darian take a step back. He had been obeying judges since he was a pup, but Stefan only turned a cold eye on Benedict. “You seem to think you know a lot,” he said, his voice chilly.

  “He knows plenty,” said Marcie. She had come away from the lake, and though she was drenched, she seemed no worse for the wear. She must have sent her companion away, because there was no sign of it in the water.

  “Look, we're cold, I'm wet, and I think we have a lot to talk about. You, your name is Stefan?”

  “Yes,” he said, sounding a little disarmed by the forthright way that Marcie was speaking. Aja felt a stab of jealousy at that, but she consoled herself that at least he sounded a little like he was inclined to listen and a little less like he was going to disappear into the night or kill Darian.

  “Well, I'm Marcie, that's my husband Benedict, and that nice man you're threatening is Darian. The woman there is Aja, and I don't care if you don't believe me because that is all secondary to the fact that I am standing in the cold air, rapidly coming down with a chill. Will you come back to the cabin to speak with us?”

  For a moment, Aja was terrified that he was going to say no, that he was going to disappear back into the forest and be beyond her grasp forever, but after a long pause, he nodded.

  “Yes. Yes I can do that.”

  She felt so relieved that it was as if her spine had turned to water. She stumbled, and it was only Darian's quick response that ensured she didn't tumble to the ground. As Darian righted her, there was a low and deadly growl from Stefan, and Aja surprised everyone by laughing.

  “You remember some things, don't you?” she asked.

  ***

  The trip to the cabin was completed quickly, and as Marcie changed out of her wet clothes, Benedict heated soup for everyone else. The silence was tense, and Stefan seemed content to look everywhere that wasn't Aja. He had been silent after her remark about remembering things, and for the moment, she was simply content to look at him.

  He wore modern clothes with ease, and with his hair cut so short, there was something open and hard about his face. His eyes were still that same unmistakable green, however, and every now and then, she caught him sneaking looks at her.

  Finally, Darian rolled his eyes and stated that he was going to help Benedict in the kitchen, though it was obvious he simply wanted to be away from the pair.

  “Do you know who I am?” she asked softly.

  The look he gave her was confused and unhappy, and she wished that things were simple enough that she could simply reach to him and hold him, taking all of that confusion and sorrow inside her.

  “I was asleep for a very long time,” he said softly. There was no recrimination in his voice now. Instead there was something quiet and wounded about it. “I lived, and then in a fierce battle with the beast that I hunt I was sent to sleep with it. I awoke next to it, and I was so afraid and confused, I ran. If I had my wits around me, I would have killed it before it rose, but I knew nothing. I was... lost and afraid.”

  “I'm sorry,” she said, her voice aching. “I... it's my fault that you were swept up in it, my fault that you were sent away to sleep.”

  He looked at her blankly, shaking his head. “I remember a life before I slept, and there were dreams. There were dreams of a family who loved me, and a father and mother who took pride in me. I remember a woman with white hair like your friend's... I remember... I remember a woman who I found in a storm.”

  “That was me,” Aja said in a small voice, but he continued as if he had not heard her.

  “I awoke, and I might have died if it were not for the kindness of a bear shapechanger who took me in. He was very old, and very frail, but he lived in the forest and came across me as I was deliriously stumbling from tree to tree. He took care of me until I found my feet, and when we came back to deal with the beast once and forever, it was too late. I have been hunting it ever since.”

  “How long have you been hunting the beast?” asked Aja. Her eyes stung with tears at the thought of Stefan, alone and confused, and if she ever met the old bear who had taken care of him, she knew that she would never be able to thank him enough.

  “Four years now,” he said. “It's fast, and it travels by both land and water when it needs to. I think it is here to stay, however. There is land for it to hide in and animals and sometimes people for it to eat. I will find it, and I will kill it.”

  “It was my mission first,” Aja said softly, and Stefan frowned at her.

  “It was,” she continued. “There was a sorcerer who made it by taking blood from me.”

  She showed Stefan the scars on her wrists where she had been bled, and she saw something flicker across his eyes in recognition.

  “He was the reason that my cousin, her fiancée and I learned to control the elements, and after we killed him, they went home, but I went on hunting to find the beast. I knew that it needed to be killed, and I knew that I needed to be the one to do it.”

  “And... and then you met me.”

  She nodded tightly.

  “Your memories are right. You fished me out of the water. We were pretending to be engaged because Ina's father wanted you to marry her, and you wanted to keep your clan's independence.”

  “My clan...”

  “You're Stefan of the Blackbone wolf clan. You led them well, and after you were sent to sleep, Ina led them. Darian is her descendent.”

  “Darian...” Stefan said the name as if the taste of it disgusted him. “What is Darian to you?”

  “A friend,” Aja said, smiling a little. “You remember enough to be jealous, I see.”

  He shook his head. “I remember... I remember strange things,” he admitted. “I remember fighting by your side and by Ina's side that last day. You were going to cast a spell that you knew, one that...”

  His voice trailed off, and Aja nodded, clasping her hands together so that she wouldn't wring them in sorrow.

  “I cast a spell that would take the beast far away, wrapped up in a sorcerous wind that would keep it sleeping forever. Then... then at the last moment, you leaped in front of me. I think you thought the thing was lunging for me, and
, oh, Stefan, you were caught in the spell's range.”

  He made a wounded noise, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he remembered. He could remember this, and her heart sank. It would have been well within his rights to turn away from her forever, because she took him away from his clan, his home and everyone he had known. Still, she owed him the rest of it, and she took a deep breath to finish the sad tale.

  “I changed it at the last moment,” she said brokenly. The tears finally overwhelmed her and dripped down her face. Still she kept talking. “The spell worked, but I changed it so that you wouldn't sleep forever. A thousand years isn't forever, and I thought I had lost you, and I couldn't bear it. But Ina gave me another alternative. She sent me to sleep for a thousand years, she used her mother's magic to do it. She showed me that I would awaken when you did, but something must have gone wrong. Oh, Stefan, I never meant for you to be alone for so long!”

  For a moment, she thought she had reached him. She could see him reaching for her, she could see him waver, but then he drew himself up.

  “I... I believe you,” he said softly, “But for the past four years, my life has been nothing but the hunt. Now I'm close. I cannot think of anything until this thing is dead.”

  His words mirrored her own thoughts so closely that it brought tears to her eyes, but it also gave her resolve.

  “All right,” she said decisively. “We will kill this thing, and then we shall talk.”

  ***

  The sun was setting by the time the four shapechangers had put together their plan. Marcie was put out that they were leaving her out of it, but as her husband rightfully pointed out, she would be of more use ensuring that her own gentle monster stayed away from the fight. Though the creature she loved could have been useful, there was simply too much opportunity for confusion for someone to strike at the animal that was trying to help them.

  Marcie put on the wet suit that would keep her from the cold, and Aja hugged her impulsively before she left.