“Daemon is after the Book of Knowledge and now he knows that I can get it,” she continued.
“But Keira, the Book has been lost for hundreds of years. Nobody knows where it is,” Chloe said.
“Yes, that’s what everyone was supposed to think. But the High Priestess of the Akasha has always known where it is and it was part of her duty to make sure it stayed hidden. Victoria was going to show me, when I was initiated…but…. Well, it didn’t work out that way. During my time with Cassandra—during the Dreaming—I was shown that it could possibly be in the Void, but no one knew for sure. I would have to enter and see for myself.”
“Keira,” Marco whispered. “You were going to the castle to enter the Void? This was your plan all along?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Cassandra suspected that the entrance is somewhere in the castle. I was hoping you would distract Daemon’s Watchers, which would give me a chance to try to find it.”
There was a stunned silence. Everyone was staring at Keira as if seeing her for the first time.
“Holy Shit!” Adam cried out. “You are one seriously crazy chick!” and he laughed with approval.
That broke the silence and everyone started talking at once.
“Quiet!” Marco shouted and glared at Keira. She looked calmly back at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” he demanded from her.
“Because you would try to stop me,” she replied.
“You’re damn right I would. You are not doing this!”
“Oh, really? I am not having this discussion with you, this is my decision!” Keira jumped up from the chair.
“No, it is not. You have a responsibility!”
“Yes,” she agreed. “That responsibility includes keeping the Akasha safe from people like Daemon, who want to use it for their own gain. If he gets the Book, he will be able to alter time. I really have no choice.”
They stood glaring at each other, not aware of their identical, crossed-arms stance.
“Well,” Rafael said drily. “You two obviously have something going on….”
Keira and Marco swung around in unison and turned their glares on him.
“Okay!” he laughed, holding his hands up. “It was just an observation!” He then turned serious. “This information changes things. We have to rethink our strategy for attacking the castle. The plan was to form groups of two and go about it stealthily, from all sides. But if Keira needs a distraction, we will have to make one big show of it; which will draw all the Watchers away from where she will enter and start her search.”
Soon everyone was involved in discussing tactics and strategies. The room was buzzing; even Alison and Sammy had been included in the debate. Adam had found some of Sammy’s suggestions very interesting, and the two sat with their heads bent together, a clear attraction forming between them. Alison and Yoshi had overcome their natural shyness and were also taking part in the discussion.
Marco stood with his back to the group, staring out of a window at the dark forest. Keira walked to him and lay her hand on his arm.
“Marco—”
“Yes?”
“There is no other way.”
“I know, and that is what makes this so hard.”
He turned to her and wrapped her in his arms. “But you are not doing this alone. I will be next to you, every step of the way.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “It’s selfish, but I don’t want it any other way.”
They stood in silence for a long moment. Keira relished the feel of his arms around her. She felt warm, safe. Soon she would walk, knowingly, into a trap. She wanted to enjoy Marco’s presence while she still had the chance.
Rafael cleared his throat. “I think we’ve worked it out then. The Draaken will approach the castle’s gate and demand Daemon’s surrender. He won’t, of course, and we will keep them busy while Keira and Marco slip around to the south wall, climb over, and search for the entrance to the Void.”
“Short and sweet,” Adam said. “Just the way you like it!” his sisters chimed in, and everyone laughed, breaking the tension.
Rafael continued. “Alison and Sammy will stay here with Justin and Amber. They will wait for twelve hours; if they don’t hear anything from us by then, or if we are not back, they will take the children to London.”
Silence met his words. No one wanted to think of the reason that would happen.
Zina cleared her throat. “Now, as your Healer, I have to insist that everyone get some rest. It is five in the morning already. I assume we’re keeping to the plan to leave at eleven?”
Marco nodded. “One last thing,” he said. “We can expect some resistance along the way. It is important that the Watchers see Keira with us, until such time as she and I can slip away. Understood?”
“Yes, yes,” Adam grumbled. “Don’t hurt the poor little Watchers too much, they have to carry messages back to their Master!” Everyone laughed at his sulking as they filed out of the room in the direction of their bedrooms.
Marco and Keira were left alone. He still had an arm around her shoulder, and slowly turned her to face him. A warm glow of anticipation grew in her heart.
“Keira?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered with a smile. She took his hand and led him to her room. He walked inside and she closed the door softly behind her.
*****
The soft beeping from Marco’s wristwatch on the bedside table woke them a few hours later. Keira lifted herself on one arm and looked at the man lying next to her. His blue eyes were half open and he smiled sleepily. The usual lines on his forehead were smoothed out; his face was calm and relaxed.
She softly stroked the smooth skin of his neck where it met his shoulder and traced the outline of the flame tattoo on his upper arm with her finger. She bent forward and kissed a scar across his right collarbone, her lips finding the pulse beating above it.
He groaned, grabbed her wrists and tumbled her over onto her back, his body lying half over hers.
“Marco! We have to get up!” she laughed and tried to wriggle out underneath him.
“Hmm,” he said, nibbling at her ear. Then he jumped out of bed and pulled her up after him, into his arms where he proceeded to kiss her until her knees threatened to give way.
“Can you stand?” he asked with a wicked grin.
“Yes!” she laughed and mock slapped his arm. “Come, we have to get ready.”
They were the last to walk into the living room where everyone greeted them with knowing smiles. Keira blushed, but Marco just strolled in with a self-satisfied grin and poured two cups of coffee from the breakfast fare Magda had laid out for them.
“Good…um…I see everyone is ready….” Keira mumbled and took the coffee Marco handed her. She took a quick gulp and nearly seared her throat.
Chloe took pity on her and threw the group a strict glare. “Yes,” she said. “We’re ready. Magda’s son has the truck waiting outside.”
“Good,” Keira said again. Sudden nerves fluttered in her stomach. They were actually going to do this.
She walked to Sammy and Alison and held their hands in her own. There were no words. The three women looked at each other with wavering smiles.
“I am so sorry to have dragged you into this,” Keira eventually forced out of her tight throat.
“Don’t be silly,” Sammy admonished her. “I told you before, this is the most excitement I’ve had in years!”
Alison nodded in agreement and brushed a rogue tear from her cheek. “Don’t worry about the kids, we’ll take care of them.”
“I know you will. Thank you,” Keira whispered and gave each of them a long hug.
“Now go!” Sammy said and pushed her away. “Go break a leg—or better yet, go break that bastard’s leg and tell him it’s from me!”
Keira nodded and waved to her friends as she walked through the front door, followed by Marco and the rest of the Draaken. They got into the back of a rusty Bedford truck, closed the green
canvas covering, and were soon bouncing along a dirt track in the direction of the border between Germany and the Czech Republic. They travelled in silence, except for the occasional curse when the truck hit another pothole and they were thrown about on the hard, metal seats. By the time they reached the drop-off point, everyone was grateful to get out and stretch their aching bodies.
One the old truck had coughed its way out of sight back towards the Herberg, the silence was deafening. They stood next to a narrow, two-track dirt road, surrounded by towering oaks, silver firs and pine trees. A cornflower-blue sky promised a cloudless day.
Keira had one hand behind her neck, trying to massage out the knotted muscles. “Here, let me,” Zina offered and gave her neck a quick rub.
“Oh, thanks. That feels so much better,” Keira groaned.
“Okay, let’s go,” Marco said. He took the lead as the group left the track and silently filed through the dark trees. This time, Keira knew where to put her feet and she had no trouble keeping up with the Draaken. Her return to the castle was very different from the agonizing, fear-filled escape a couple of months ago.
Two hours later, Marco called for a rest stop next to a small stream. The group waited for everyone to catch up and took turns drinking from the clear water.
“How much further?” Keira asked.
“About an hour,” Marco replied.
A loud caw from the trees up ahead of them had everyone on their feet in a flash.
“Shit!” A guttural, unfamiliar voice cried out and then a group of black-clad Watchers erupted from the forest and ran at full speed straight at the Draaken.
Keira connected with the Akasha at once and felt the build-up of power as she got ready to toss energy pulses at the advancing figures. The ringing of steel told her that Yoshi had engaged with the attackers; then the earth rippled under her feet as Adam slammed his hammer on the ground, taking three Watchers down.
Chloe and Rafael were fighting as one person, whirling and somersaulting over Watchers’ heads in a dance that would have been beautiful to watch, if it wasn’t so deadly. Zina and Kamau had found their rhythm as well and crumpled figures were a testament to their passing.
A line of fire seared past her, enveloping a Watcher creeping up behind her. She scarcely had time to thank Marco, when he screamed, “Cover your ears!”
The sound that followed pierced through Keira’s hands as she fell to her knees. Eyes watering, she looked up and saw the twins, Nikki and Jemma, advancing through their ranks right up to the remaining Watchers, who stumbled back and tried to escape from the two beautiful blond girls. One Watcher’s hands dropped and Keira could see blood erupting from his ears; he fell to the ground with unseeing eyes. Two Watchers made it to the trees and ran for their lives.
“Stop!” Adam bellowed. The screeching didn’t seem to affect him in any way and he waved to his sisters, who skipped back to his side.
“Sorry, loves, but we had to let them carry a message back to their Master, remember?” he smiled proudly at them.
“Next time, please give us more warning!” Rafael grumbled and helped Chloe up from where she was crouched on the ground, still covering her ears.
“It doesn’t affect you, at all?” Keira asked Adam in amazement.
“Nope,” he replied casually. “Well, let’s admit, it’s no swan song, but for some reason my head doesn’t explode when they do it. Must be a family thing.”
“That’s handy,” Rafael drawled.
Everyone dusted themselves off and got ready for the last stretch to the castle.
*****
Daemon was standing with his back to the door when it crashed open. Two dishevelled Watchers burst in and bent over, gasping for air.
“Yes?” he asked, without moving an inch.
“Sir—sorry, Sir—Julius said you were in here—they are coming!” one of the figures managed to say.
“Good,” Daemon said and continued looking out of the window in what used to be Victoria’s bedchamber.
“You can go now,” he said and waved them out with an impatient flick of his wrist.
The door opened again.
“Don’t you knock?” Damon asked with an annoyed frown.
“Sorry, Sir! Shall I come back and try again?” Julius asked.
“Dear Julius, if you weren’t so useful….” Daemon threatened.
Julius thought it best not to push his luck. His time would come, though he knew better than to think it too loudly.
“Simone wasn’t with the Draaken,” Julius said.
“She also didn’t check in with me at our agreed time. We have to assume she has been exposed. A pity really, she was an asset,” Daemon sighed.
“The Watchers are ready. Guards have been stationed on the walls,” Julius informed his Master.
“Remember, no one attacks until I give the sign!” Daemon told his lieutenant. “I need her alive!”
Julius nodded and left the room. Daemon turned again and stared through the window to the forest beyond the walls.
Come to me Keira…. I am waiting.
Chapter 32
The Draaken stood just inside the last row of trees, overlooking the narrow expanse of clear ground between them and the castle’s moat.
“It is time,” Keira said. She reached out on either side of her and everyone linked hands in a long chain. She closed her eyes and connected with the Akasha. The group immediately felt their power raised to a new level as a surge of energy swept through the line. Eyes became more focused and lips set with greater determination.
“For the Guardians…. For Victoria,” she whispered and the chant went down the line. Hands unclasped and the Draaken walked side by side towards the gate, open and uncovered.
It wasn’t long before a shout sounded from the castle’s boundary wall. “They are here!”
The nine members of the Draaken stopped a few metres from the raised drawbridge.
Keira and Marco watched them from the cover of the trees, apprehension in their eyes; he took her hand again. “Come,” he said and pulled her to the left, staying in the shadows. Keira kept looking over her shoulders at her friends, dwarfed in front of the indestructible castle and outnumbered by the figures on its walls.
May the Akasha be with you!
*****
Inside the castle, Daemon raised his head and sniffed the air like a bloodhound. He eagerly left his room and strode down the halls, through the front door, across the courtyard and up the stone stairs leading to the top of the parapet overlooking the moat and road approaching the castle. The drawbridge was raised.
Insults came flying across the moat. “Come down you mommy’s boys!” and “Hiding behind your master’s silk panties are you?”
Grumbles were starting among the ranks of the Watchers, which quickly quieted when Daemon arrived. He stood, looking down on the Draaken, who also fell silent when they saw him.
Rafael stepped forward and shouted up at Daemon. “Come down here and fight man-to-man, you coward! Lower that drawbridge!”
“Where is your leader?” Daemon asked, his eyes scanning the surrounding forest.
“I am the leader!” Rafael replied.
“Don’t waste my time,” Daemon said, his voice filled with scorn. “You are but a boy living in your brother’s shadow. Where…is…Keira!” he shouted, his hands gripping the edge of the stone wall.
“Do you think we’d be stupid enough to bring her straight to you?” Rafael mocked. “We got her friends back…they are safe! Why the hell would she come here?”
Daemon glared at the smirking group on the other side of the moat.
“Lower the drawbridge,” he instructed a Watcher standing next to him.
“But, Sir! They will cross—” a Watcher made the mistake of protesting. An energy bolt from Daemon’s hand threw him from the top of the wall and his limp body hit the moat with a splash.
At a glance from Daemon, another Watcher rushed to do his bidding and the drawbridge was lo
wered with creaks and groans of its heavy chains.
“Get ready,” Rafael whispered to his friends. He glanced over at Chloe, who smiled at him reassuringly. “I love you,” they whispered and then concentrated on the advancing hordes.
*****
The thunder of erupting power surges and the screams and yells of battle reached Marco and Keira where they stood, panting and dripping wet, pressed against the castle’s wall. They had run across the open field when they heard Rafael shouting, then slipped into the moat and swam to the opposite bank. Keira expected a bolt of energy to hit them at any time, but nothing happened. The Draaken had successfully drawn all the Watchers to the west gate.
Marco knelt down and pressed his hands on the ground. A quick incantation and a small green vine erupted from the mud. It grew thicker and thicker and, in a matter of seconds twined itself up the wall and over the top.
“So, you have a thing with plants?” Keira asked with her hands on her hips.
“Among other things,” Marco grinned back. “Let’s go,” he said and held his linked hands for Keira. He gave her a boost up and she climbed the now-thick vine to the top of the wall. Marco was right behind her as she swung her leg over the edge, and they lay panting on their stomachs. The wall curved away left and right, forming a circle around the courtyard and inner buildings. Across the yard, they could see the through the open gate and over the lowered drawbridge. A battle was raging outside around the Draaken, who had formed a circle and were fending off attackers from all sides.
“I can’t see Daemon!” Keira whispered.
“There,” Marco pointed. Daemon was stalking up and down, shooting energy bolts from his safe position at the top of the wall. Keira could see his face, contorted with rage.
The urge to run at him and engage him in battle was overwhelming, but, as if reading her thoughts, Marco put one hand on her arm and pointed with the other to the nearby stairs.
Silently they crept down the stairs, their backs to the wall, keeping a wary eye on Daemon’s outline, as well as a lookout for any stray Watchers. There was a small wooden door at the bottom of the stairs; Marco softly turned the handle and they slipped inside the castle.
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