Dimension Shifter
Page 30
“You’ll get us all in trouble if the King hears that.”
“I’m sure he knows, besides, I don’t really care what the King thinks,” she said, emphasizing the word King sarcastically.
“What’d he do?” Finn asked weakly.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m surprised you married him.”
“I had to. Daemionis ordered it.”
“That’s weird.”
“What’s weird is that he and Sithias agreed on it. I didn’t have a choice, trust me.”
“Then Qualsax tried to take her,” the Knight said. “Now she has guards.”
“Why does Qualsax want you so badly?” Finn asked into the dark.
“Oh I know now,” she snapped.
The Knight lowered his voice, “They wanted to have a Qualsax as the next king.”
Finn sighed, “Great. So how is it you two are even down here?”
“We fell,” Kyrin explained. “One of the Knights is hurt back where we fell, and we couldn’t get back up, so we started down this passage.”
“How long ago?”
“I’m guessing it’s been about eight hours since we fell,” the Knight said.
“Shh, time to get some rest,” Kyrin told them. She grinned when it fell silent. She wondered if she could order them around now that she was Lady of the Kingdom. Course, she didn’t plan on staying, not after what Alric had done.
Kyrin leaned back against the cold ground and started to drift off. She woke up a while later and wrinkled her nose, “What’s that smell?”
“I don’t know. It's awful,” the Knight said.
She sat up, “Should we head out?”
“The Captain’s asleep.”
“Should we wake him up and…” Kyrin quit talking when a burst of warm air wafted past her. “We’re not alone down here.”
She scrambled to her feet and used the spell to light up the passageway. Looking at them from the depths of the darkness was a scaly blue head with brutal yellow eyes and long teeth. It hissed at them, and they all screamed.
The Knight grabbed Finn and headed down the passageway after Kyrin, who had immediately taken off running. They moved quickly, even though it didn’t sound like the beast was following them. Kyrin ran with her hands glowing, ready to throw fireballs at it if its head appeared again.
When they barreled into the room with the injured Knight, he looked up at them, “Where were you? I thought you were dead.”
Kyrin turned and brought her hand back, ready to pelt magic at the beast, but it didn’t follow them.
“Captain!” the injured Knight said, shocked.
The Knight laid Finn down beside the injured Knight and then looked up, “Now how to get up there.”
Kyrin finally turned back from the door and looked up, “I have no idea.”
The Knight turned slowly and looked at her, “How well do you climb?”
Her eyes narrowed, “Why?”
“I think I can get you up to that ledge, but from there you’ll have to climb.”
She glanced up again.
“If Alric married her, he’s not going to want her smeared all over this floor,” Finn said, looking way up to the top.
She sighed, “Lift me up.”
He nodded and then picked her up gently. When he had to put his hands on her butt though, he blushed, “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Kyrin was laughing too hard to care, and finally made it to the tiny ledge. Realizing her shoes were keeping her from grasping the wall, she slipped them off and then started slowly up the face of the wall.
“He’s going to kill us,” the injured Knight said, watching her.
“Please don’t fall,” Finn called up to her.
Kyrin started laughing again and almost fell, but steadied herself.
“Why are you even laughing?” the Knight asked, irritated.
She calmed enough to speak, “I’m an evil for god’s sake. Why would I come back after you?”
The Knight gasped, “You wouldn’t!?”
Finn grinned, “I bet she would.”
They watched breathlessly while Kyrin maneuvered up the face of the cliff and finally disappeared over the top.
“You ok?” the Knight called up to her. When she didn’t answer, he sighed, “Do we need to find a way out of here?”
Finn shrugged and then slowly shut his eyes.
Kyrin hit the front of the cave running and tore through the trees, heading for the castle. The thoughts of leaving Paragoy were far from her mind, as was Alric’s deception. Right now she wanted to get help for Finn. She hadn’t lied to the Knight. She didn’t really care if he got out or not, but she felt a kinship with Finn and wanted to get him help.
She tried to muster up a spell to help her move faster, but it didn’t work so she cursed and kept running. Once in sight of the castle, she ran past the Knights, who all watched her and wondered where her personal guards were.
Kyrin took the stairs two at a time and burst into Alric’s office, out of breath and covered in dirt.
“Kyrin! Where have you been?” he asked, standing suddenly.
“Fell… cave… Finn…”
“Wait, calm down,” he said, taking her shoulders. “Catch your breath and tell me what’s going on.”
Finally, she was able to talk, “The Knights and I fell down a hole in a cave. We followed the cave around and came out inside a Qualsax dungeon.”
“You what!?”
“Finn was in there, and some Knight that’s been gone for five years. We got out, and they’re stuck down in the hole.”
Alric stood back and then smiled, “Are you kidding me?”
“No, some of us don’t always lie.”
He sighed, “I didn’t lie to you. You have to trust me still.”
“After last night? No, no more trust.”
“We can talk about this later, ok? I have some work I have to get done.”
She crossed her arms, “So after all of that you’re not going to go get them out of the hole in the cave?”
He looked up and frowned, “Are you being serious?”
“Yes”
He just watched her, “And you found Finn?”
She rolled her eyes and started for the door, “Fine, I’ll go get help elsewhere.”
“Wait, Kyrin,” Alric said, taking her arm. “Do you just want me out of the office to talk about last night?”
She was starting to get mad, “Tell you what… come with me, and I won’t shift before we can talk.”
“Fine,” he said, sighing. He then followed her out of the castle.
Kyrin turned to the closest Knight, “Do you have a really long rope?”
The Knight looked at Alric, who shrugged, “Go get it.”
Once he returned, Kyrin crawled up onto a horse and made sure the others were with her before kicking him and running into the trees. They were deep in when she stopped and slid off of it, looking around, “It’s here somewhere.”
“You don’t even know where we’re going?” Alric asked, looking around also.
Kyrin moved to him quickly and slapped him. He looked at her with wide eyes when she yelled, “I don’t like you right now, so don’t push me!”
Alric backed off the Knights when they went to restrain her. She turned and started through the bushes, still mumbling about Alric.
Alric chuckled and started after her. He stopped when he came out of the trees and saw her knelt down inside of a cave, talking to the floor. When he realized someone was talking back, he ran up and looked down.
“King Alric!” the Knight said, looking up at him.
“Get the rope,” Alric said, turning to the Knights. Kyrin stood back with her arms crossed and watched as they pulled the Valharans out of the hole. The first to come up was Finn, who was still too weak to move much on his own.
Alric knelt and began to heal his wounds, while the others told the Knights what they’d seen over the last nine hour
s down in the cave.
When Finn stood up with Alric’s help, he smiled at Kyrin, “Thank you, Kid. I owe you for that.”
She spun and started back for the horses, still irritated that Alric hadn’t believed her. He caught up to her and took her arm, “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
She tore her arm away from him, “Don’t touch me.”
Kyrin got on her horse and rode off, leaving the others to fend for themselves.
Alric watched her go and then turned to Finn and shrugged, “Not a lot has changed.”
He smiled and then was able to climb onto the horse with much effort.
“Are you ok?” Alric asked him.
“Just tired.”
The injured Knight, Alric, and Finn rode back on horses while the other Knights returned on foot. Trox was waiting for them and was shocked to see Finn come in with the King.
“Is Kyrin back here?” Alric asked, dismounting.
Trox nodded, “Yes, but she’s pretty mad.”
“See to Finn, make sure he gets a room in the castle and gives a full report.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Alric walked inside quickly, wanting to talk to Kyrin before she decided to take off. He found her in the Lady’s room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire. The time in the cave had sent a chill deep into her bones, and she’d started to shiver.
He pulled a blanket down from a rack and wrapped it around her shoulders before sitting down, “Thank you for helping them.”
She shrugged and watched the fire.
“Do you want to talk about last night?” he asked.
Kyrin glared at him, “You lied to me.”
“I didn’t though! It won’t hurt again. I swear.”
“No it won’t, it’s not happening again.”
He studied her, “You need to trust me on this.”
“Why would you do that?”
“It’s what married people do. It’s what people in love do.”
“That’s why I’ve avoided love! You had no right trying to make me believe it was anything different.”
“It was different. It’s done in love. I swear.”
Kyrin stood up, “Well that was the discussion I promised. Now it’s time for me to go.”
“Wait, don’t go, please,” Alric said, taking her hands in his.
She hated how her stomach fluttered just looking into his eyes. He reached down and kissed her, holding tighter to her hands when she tried to pull them out of his grasp.
The more he kissed her and the more forceful he became, the more she weakened in his arms. Her mind screamed at her to stop, but her body ached to be near him.
Alric picked her up gently and laid her on the bed in the Lady’s room. When his body pressed into hers, she started to panic, but her protests were stopped by his lips.
***
Kyrin sighed softly and then opened her eyes and looked over at Alric as he slept. She smiled and moved over to nuzzle close to him and went back to sleep.
Pronunciation Guide for Dimension Shifter
Alric – Ah l ri k
Daemionis – D ay me ah nis
Jilavanu – J il ah vah n oo
Kyrin – K ear un
Kyrstalis – K eer st ah lis
Nosata – N oh s ah t a
Ozehshiesh – O z eh shee esh
Paragoy – P air ah goi
Shamagiem – Sh ah mah gee eh m
Sithias – S ih th ee us
Tiasis – T ee ah sis
Vasiieth – V as ee eh th
Books in the Dimensions Saga
Dimension Shifter (Book 1)
Paragoy Dimension (Book 2)
Check the website for more!