Up ahead, the mist was clearing, rays of sunlight pierced through the gloom and she could see the green of trees in the distance. She slowly twisted around and tried to wake Adam. She shook his shoulder but there was no reaction. It was no surprise, her own arms were still too sluggish to respond to the messages her brain screamed at them.
She wondered if she should stop the horses, but it was clear that Adam, Marco, and Yoshi were out cold and would probably stay that way while they were in the mist. What was the alternative? To go back to the ranch and leave Alison and Sammy in Daemon’s clutches? She immediately discarded that option, wouldn’t even consider it. Her friends needed her, which was all that mattered.
They were in this mess because of Keira, and she would do her damnedest to get them out of it.
Chapter 28
Amber was blow-something-up-if-she-was-a-firewalker mad. Her little body shook with waves of rage. She wanted to cry so badly that she had to bite really hard on the inside of her cheek to forget about wanting to cry. This was a trick that Justin had taught her and it worked, most of the time. Not today though; a few treacherous tears still managed to escape.
The Master’s Watchers had come for Mama and Papa early in the morning, before they had even been awake. The men had grabbed her parents and dragged them down the stairs, to the dungeon. They had ignored Amber’s frantic crying and her desperate attempts to stop them. She hung onto her father’s legs as long as she could, but a vicious kick from one of the Watchers left her dazed on the floor. She crawled back to the kitchen on her hands and knees, and sat shivering in a corner. After what felt like hours, the Master’s servants strolled into the kitchen, sneering at her.
“Where are your parents, girl?”
She didn’t answer.
“Could it be that the Master has grown tired of their snivelling? You do realise that you will be next?” and they had laughed, slapping each other on the back.
“Noooo, I know,” one of them crowed. “Someone finally noticed that the Master’s tea was disappearing! And that someone was me!”
Amber wanted to explode with hate. This is all about the tea? My parents are in the dungeon because of his tea? She wished, more than ever, that her magick manifested as fire and she could blast these people out of her life. So far, the only thing she could do was be really good at hide-and-seek.
She sat staring at them with big, dagger-flinging eyes. They laughed louder, then shouted at her: “Get out of here, you lazy brat. You’ve got toilets to clean!”
Amber scampered off, hurrying to get away from the menacing adults. For the first time, she was glad to go. It gave her a few moments alone.
Her father had taught her to never give up, and she had no intention to start doing that now. As she scrubbed, she kept on repeating to herself, I will get them back; I will get them back; I will get them back.
*****
They broke out of the mist and into the middle of a screaming horde of black cloaked figures, all advancing on the horses and their riders. Keira had only a moment to draw on the Akasha.
The horses reared and her three friends were thrown onto the ground, but Keira jumped and landed lightly on her feet, crouched and waiting for the first wave of attackers to reach her.
Come and get me, you bastards!
Two men attacked from her right, two from the left, trying to separate Keira from the immobile figures on the ground. But she was ready and threw a bolt of energy that downed two of the assassins. Then, her arms dancing as if she was conducting an invisible orchestra, Keira slowly moved forward, closer to the attackers trying to surround her. Waves of power left her fingertips, rippled like a mirage around the clearing and left crumpled figures in its wake. A wind howled through the trees, bending them down with creaks and groans; low hanging branches swiped from side to side and took even more of the attackers down. But Keira’s strength was seeping away. The Akasha was oblivious to friend or foe and took the same amount of energy from both. She had to step out of the connection soon, or it would embrace her like a long lost lover and never let go.
Just then a silver star came whizzing past her ear and lodged in the throat of an attacker. The ringing of steel sliced through the air as a long sword was drawn and Yoshi ran towards the enemy at full speed, screaming a Japanese battle cry.
Adam was not far behind, swinging his heavy hammer and sending men flying in all directions as he clubbed a path open. Every few paces he would smash the hammer into the ground, sending a ripple through the soil that toppled everyone in front of him.
Marco was a blur of movement as he held four men off through a combination of karate and dirty street fighting, alternating kicks and punches with fire bolts shooting from his hands.
Keira made it to the airplane hangar and sank to the ground, her back to its metal wall. The last of her energy was spent sending a whirlwind to clean up the remaining attackers, flinging them a hundred metres through the air, beyond the trees.
The battle was over as suddenly as it started. The only sound came from the three men’s harsh breathing, and then Adam’s raucous laughter.
“Run you bastards, run!” he shouted at the departing backs of two cloaks retreating down the runway. “Or do you want me to go get them?” he asked.
“No, let them go,” Keira answered. “I want Daemon to know what happened.”
“Keira, are you all right?” Marco asked, concerned as he bent over her where she still sat on the ground.
“Yes…Sammy…Alison?” she asked, half dazed and exhausted by the effort of just lifting her head.
“Yoshi went to check. Come,” Marco pulled Keira up and put her arm over his shoulder. Together they went into the hangar and found Yoshi untying Keira’s friends where they were bound to chairs against a far wall. A Lear jet stood parked to the side, door hatch open.
“Keira!” Alison cried. She rushed over and threw her arms around Keira. When Sammy also joined in the hug, Keira staggered back and would have fallen if Marco wasn’t holding her.
“Are you all right?” she was asked once again, this time by a concerned Sammy.
“Talk on the plane,” Marco interrupted brusquely. “We have to go, now!” He herded the women onto the jet and into their seats. He closed the door and walked to the cockpit where Adam was already seated, going through the preflight preparations. Yoshi had taken a seat behind the women.
“We don’t have clearance for takeoff,” he said with a grin.
“Too bad,” Marco countered, sitting next to him in the co-pilot’s seat.
Adam nodded in reply, pushed the lever forward and taxied out of the hangar. Moments later they were hurtling down the runway and up in to the blue sky, turning towards Germany and their arch enemy.
*****
Back in the cabin there was silence. Yoshi gazed discreetly out the window at the white clouds. Keira sat frozen, she didn’t know where to start, didn’t know what her friends were thinking. She stole glances at them, desperately wanting to break the ice, but not knowing where to start.
“Well,” Alison began. “We always knew there was something different about you, Keira,” she smiled. Sammy nodded her agreement.
Keira smiled hesitantly back at them. “I’m so sorry—”
“Are you kidding?” Sammy cried. “This is the most excitement I’ve had in ages! Except for the part where I woke up, tied to a chair—but the rest of it—wow, Keira, you kick ass girl!”
Keira grinned with relief. “I don’t know where to start—how much you know—” she said.
“Quite a lot,” Alison interrupted. “Those idiots who took us talked so much, it gave us a good idea of what was going on. You’re an awesome butt kicking-Wonder Woman and there’s this bad guy who wants to catch you, which is why he caught us, and who wants to rule the world, but you’re part of a secret organization that’s going to stop him. Is that it?”
“That’s it, in a nut shell,” Keira acknowledged.
They are scared of you, did y
ou know?” Sammy said.
Keira merely smiled and leaned forward, taking her friends’ hands in her own. “I am so happy you are safe,” she said.
“Believe me, us too!” Sammy laughed. “But tell us how all of this happened, Keira. We got word that Victoria had died and you were taking time off, but every time we tried to contact you, we got stonewalled. Then we were kidnapped…and here you are. Accompanied by three gorgeous male specimens, I might add!”
There were girlish giggles all around and Yoshi shifted uncomfortably in his seat, still trying to pretend that he couldn’t hear what was being said.
“Hmm,” Alison agreed. “And as happy as I am to be taking an unplanned trip with you, where are we going exactly?”
“All right,” Keira steered the discussion back to serious matters. She continued to fill her friends in on everything that had happened since she and Victoria left London. She left nothing out. Not the trauma of Victoria’s death, nor her travelling to another dimension and being trained and initiated as the next High Priestess of the Guardians. For the first time, she knew how Victoria must have felt, in that other plane more than two months ago, trying to explain to Keira what it meant to be a Guardian of the Akasha.
“Also, we can’t take you back to London right now. We have to go to the Guardians’ castle. I have unfinished business with Daemon. But you’ll be safe, out of his reach. It’s just that we can protect you better this way,” Keira said.
There was a stunned silence when she stopped talking.
“Wow,” Sammy whispered.
“I’ll second that,” Alison said, equally overwhelmed. “I mean—we knew things happened around you, but….” She fell silent.
“Nothing like this, right?” Keira asked wryly. “Don’t worry, I was just as surprised, to put it mildly. But things have changed. Now I know where I fit in—where I belong—and it feels great.”
“That’s wonderful, Keira. I am so happy for you,” Alison said and gave her friend’s hands a squeeze.
“I sure wish I had some of those powers of yours right now,” Sammy said wryly.
“Ditto,” Alison said.
Marco emerged from the cockpit. “Keira, we have to talk,” he said.
“It’s okay, Marco. They know everything,” Keira replied.
“All right,” he said and sat down in a chair facing the women. He beckoned Yoshi closer and Adam also joined them.
“We’re on autopilot, we’ve got thirty minutes till we land,” Adam said.
“We were betrayed. Again,” Marco said.
Adam swore. “Thought so,” he said. “No way they could have been waiting for us, at exactly that spot, without some bastard telling them.”
“You’re right,” Keira confirmed. “When we were in the mist, Cassandra’s voice called to me. She told me to be ready, we’re walking into a trap. I tried waking you up, but it didn’t work. So when we got to the grove, I was ready.”
“Keira,” Alison whispered. “You knew you were being led into a trap, yet you still came?”
“Yes, there was no way I was leaving you,” Keira answered.
“Wow…. Well, it seems I’ve been saying that a lot recently. But—Wow!” Sammy smiled, her eyes glinting with tears.
Marco nodded his approval. “You certainly took care of them, but it was a close shave nonetheless.”
He turned to Yoshi, who was silently following the discussion. “Yoshi, any ideas? You’re good at observing and I’m afraid I’m too close to the group to be objective about this.” Marco shook his head. “Each member of the Draaken goes through extensive training and background checks, but Rafael and I ran another full check on everyone who survived the battle at the castle, and who was at the ranch in Argentina. Nothing came up. The only thing I can say with certainty is that it is obviously not anyone on this plane. We could all have been killed in that trap.”
Yoshi nodded thoughtfully. “Leave this with me. I will find the proof you need.”
“I don’t mean to rush you Yoshi, but we will be arriving at the Herberg very soon,” Keira said.
“At least we don’t have to stick to Daemon’s schedule anymore. We have your friends,” Marco said with a nod to Alison and Sammy. “But the traitor would have told him that we’re coming, anyway.”
“Yes, so the best would be if you and Marco kept any decisions about the rest of the mission to yourselves,” Yoshi said. “Only inform the group, myself included, at the last minute and only give short-term instructions. I’d also advise that the group be split up as much as possible, and each cell be given different orders. In that way, we will isolate the traitor.”
“Agreed,” Marco said.
Adam was still grumbling and mumbling curses under his breath as he walked back to the cockpit to ready the plane for landing.
Keira looked out of the window, her thoughts miles away. She was mentally reviewing every member of the Guardians she had met to date. As Marco said, it was so difficult to be objective about it. Everyone had worked together to save her from Daemon’s clutches, and to keep her safe in the aftermath. Now she had to find the one who was only pretending, who was feeding Daemon information about her and her friends. Anger replaced indecision as Keira realised this traitor was also the cause of Victoria’s death, and that of the Council members.
I will find you, she vowed. Start running.
*****
Daemon walked aimlessly through the castle. His tread left no sound on the rich Persian carpets, the air hardly stirred with his passing, as if he was a ghost gliding through the halls. Eventually he reached the Great Hall, walked to a divan covered in red velvet with a gold fleur-de-lis pattern and sat down. He ignored the two men standing at attention, waiting to be noticed.
Julius stood to one side, as if not wanting to be part of whatever news they had to report. No one made a sound as Daemon fastidiously smoothed his trousers and pulled at his diamond cufflinks.
A speaker took a reluctant step forward.
Daemon made him wait. Then, in his own time, he acknowledged him: “Yes?”
“Sir, the Chosen One, she was warned of the trap. She was prepared,” the man stuttered.
Daemon’s only reply was a dark stare.
“Sir, the two women were freed. They took the plane and it is believed that they are on their way here.”
“Hmm,” Daemon sounded bored. He crossed his legs and swung a foot up and down, lazily. He lifted a hand and shooed the group out of the room; they almost fell over each other in clear relief to get out of Daemon’s sight.
“Seems as if your little plan didn’t quite work,” Daemon drawled.
“It would have worked if our little friend had done her job!” Julius protested and added a belated: “Sir.”
“Oh, she did her job all right. It was your men who failed to execute their part. But, this is no time to play the blame game. It appears that she is on her way here anyway, in my plane,” Daemon had to stop and collect himself.
“Why would she come here? She has her friends,” Julius asked, confused.
“That is the question. It seems little Keira has a death wish, because that is the only thing waiting for her here.” Daemon’s voice lowered, leaving an ice-cold trail of revulsion shivering down Julius’s spine.
“Unless, of course….” Daemon’s eyes brightened. “Hmm, she knows it is here, in the castle, and she’s coming to get it!” His manic laughter shivered the stained glass windows.
“Has the scroll revealed more clues about its exact location, Sir?” Julius asked.
“No, only that the Gate and Gatekeeper are here, somewhere.”
“Well, I’ve had the men search every inch of the castle and outbuildings, sir. They haven’t found any gate, or gatekeeper.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. The little dove is flying right into my hands. All we need is patience and we’ll lure her right into my lap and then—ahh—then my dear Julius, I’ll have all the time in the world to do whatever I want.”
Julius let his boss dream in silence for a moment, then he asked, “Why don’t we take them at the airstrip? It would be easy to set a trap.”
“No! Your buffoons have had their chance. Besides, it is now more important than ever that she be unharmed. I need her to open the Gate. Make sure there is a token resistance when they come, but if anyone harms her, they answer to me!”
“Or course,” Julius murmured and bowed to Daemon.
“Now go!” he dismissed Julius as the cell phone on the glass table next to him rang. He picked it up and purred, “Any news?”
Neither of the men saw the red-headed girl where she hid in the shadows behind an antique display cabinet, clutching the duster in her small hands.
Chapter 29
The conversation she overheard last night replayed in Amber’s mind. She knew which scroll they talked about, it must have been the one she had helped him translate. Whatever the Master—no, she refused to call him that—whatever he planned, it had something to do with that scroll. It was obviously important. To her, this meant Keira and the Draaken needed to see it.
But she would have to be very, very careful, very, very patient. She couldn’t give them the slightest reason to throw her in the dungeon as well, otherwise there would be no way that she could save her parents.
Amber’s chance came earlier than even she could have hoped. That same afternoon, she was sitting in her corner, chewing down some dry bread and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, when the new cook and her assistant started whispering over their dinner preparations.
“Hey, did you hear? That group of Guardians that the Master’s been hunting, they’re coming here!”
“What! Here? But—what about us? There will surely be fighting—I didn’t sign up for that! When—”
“I don’t know, I only heard that the Watchers are getting ready.”
So that’s why everyone is rushing around, Amber thought. When the Master came, the castle became quiet, dark, and more than a bit scary. But since this morning, the Watchers had been running up and down the halls, slamming doors, and shouting orders at each other. It’s been very noisy.
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