“Gabriella is going to make them eat her dust, isn’t she?” T’Harris guessed, as more of an observation than a question. He was actually only looking for verification of what he thought about the show she was putting on.
Cambria gave a slight snort as she stated what she figured was the actual fact, “Gabriella will be so far ahead of the crowd within an hour, they won’t even be able to see her dust, never mind eat it. She as much as told them she didn’t need an escort yesterday. They refused to accept her word for it. Now she will show them she meant it.”
Chania and Britallia joined Cambria and T’Harris while they spoke. It was clear to see that neither was happy with Gabriella’s actions. “Does Gabriella realize our lands are not as safe as they were, or they are in the Elven Empire? I thought she would at least wait for her escort to surround her,” Britallia commented.
“My sister seems to be in a rush to check out something on the other side of the Valley,” Cambria’s excuse for Gabriella’s actions sounded lame, even to her.
“If there is trouble brewing around the tunnel area, she should wait for backup,” Chania objected to Gabriella’s actions. “What is she thinking? Surely, she wouldn’t allow one of her soldiers to do anything so rash.”
“Probably not,” T’Harris answered for Cambria, before adding. “She would expect to go into the danger zone on her own to face the enemy, rather then send one of her men out. It is what she does. It is also time she realized things like this are about to change.”
Cambria, Britallia, and Chania watched as T’Harris stalked into the middle of the square and then changed into a huge Gold Dragon. He didn’t look happy about what was happening, and they could tell, especially when he decided to break one of King Gerolth’s newest and strictest rules. He was not supposed to be shifting in front of these people.
Talus, Daeron, and Thieron walked up to their Life Mates, while Daeron commented, “Something tells me one Elven General is about to get her ears blistered by one very irate Guardian. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes when he catches up with Gabriella.”
“You think for one moment that Gabriella can’t hold her own against T’Harris?” Cambria asked.
“It may be close, but I have never seen T’Harris this angry before. He tends to keep his temper on a very tight leash. Anyone else interested in watching the sparks fly when they face off?” Daeron chuckled.
One after the other, the Guardians of the Empire at the citadel shifted, as did their Life Mates. They doubted if it mattered if anyone saw them shift now, especially as T’Harris had done it earlier. Besides, it was the only way they were going to be able to catch up to either T’Harris or Gabriella. There wasn’t one of them that didn’t wonder how T’Harris was going to handle this matter. As far as they could figure things, this had to do with more than Gabriella racing to check on what was going on in the Valley Kingdom. This was about her running from her Life Mate, as all self-respecting Light Elven females did. The difference was, she was the High Lord General and an Eagle Claw. Even more, he was her equal in many ways, and he wasn’t about to let her walk roughshod over him or anyone else. Yes, things were about to get interesting.
CHAPTER VIII
T’Harris had no intention of hunting Gabriella down quite yet. He figured if they met face to face in the moods they were in neither would be accountable for their actions. She was too volatile, and he was angry. The two didn’t mesh well which meant someone would end up getting hurt. When he thought of who he was dealing with, he figured that someone would probably be him, because he would back off a lot sooner than she would. He would rather avoid putting himself in that position.
With all the possibilities taken into consideration, T’Harris decided to fly high, where the currents were strong and the air colder. As he could sense her, he figured Gabriella could feel him as he flew overhead, even while she galloped her horse over the floor of the valley. Whyngold fairly flew over the ground below. He was swift and surefooted. Gabriella trusted him to get them safely to where they were going no matter how fast he ran. He had to admire her mount, even though he felt someone should take his rider over his knee and spank her delectable derrière. She needed to understand that her title didn’t give her a license to run roughshod over everyone.
Those that followed T’Harris in their Dragon forms were careful not to get too close to him. Daeron warned the others that while their comrade had control of his Dragon when he was in Elven form, this might not be the case when shifted. Anger had a way of clouding a man’s judgment, and the same applied to most women. They got the feeling T’Harris understood this when he turned away from the direction he had been flying and then headed towards the ocean.
“What is that about?” Chania asked. She had no idea what T’Harris was thinking. She had expected him to confront his Life Mate at the very least. Gabriella, after all, had been out of order, and she had the feeling the High Lord General knew it. That could make her touchy, something she was not known to be.
“You would have to know T’Harris to understand him.” Daeron explained. “If he is angry, he will often go somewhere quiet, where he can collect his thoughts and think things through. When he returns, he will have a new plan of action in place. That is T’Harris.”
“With luck, it will be something better than what he has come up with so far, because he has fallen short of the mark,” Chania replied. She didn’t have a clue about what might help him with Gabriella, but she got the impression he was losing ground.
T’Harris would have disagreed with Chania’s thoughts if he had known them. He still figured he was making headway in his relationship with Gabriella, despite her attempts to keep him at a distance. At this moment, her tactics were working, and she had the upper hand. She had figured out what his next move would probably be and had guessed right. This meant he needed to change the course of his actions. He needed to do something she didn’t expect to throw her off guard. It was the only thing he could think of that stood a chance of working.
Gabriella would automatically know he was angry with her and would undoubtedly think he was going to take her to task over her actions. If he decided to, which he had no intention of doing, no matter how much she deserved what she would get, she would be waiting for him to come at her. This meant she wouldn’t allow him to deliver the punishment. Under the right circumstances, she should be taken over his knees and paddled until she screamed for him to stop. He had a good idea what would happen the moment he released her though.
Gabriella was not the type of woman to put up with any type of manhandling and rightly so. It wouldn’t take her more than two breaths to pull her swords on him, and they would be fighting a full-scale battle, while he would be forced to defend himself. That could get dangerous. She would be out for his blood, and she was beyond good with those blades. He had a feeling she was equally qualified in the use of any other form of weaponry. This meant he needed to find another avenue of controlling his Life Mate’s tempestuous nature.
Gabriella’s actions gave T’Harris the impression she was testing the boundaries of their future relationship. Well, two could play that game.
As T’Harris landed upon a secluded beach on an island in the ocean, Gabriella continued to ride across the miles that separated the Citadel from the Fortress. No one bothered her. She felt free. Yet, she could tell that there was something missing. Unfortunately, she had a good idea what this was. The loss of T’Harris anywhere close to where she could feel him was making her uncomfortable.
What was a poor Elven General to do when the very thing she wanted the most made her feel empty inside? Of course, this was T’Harris’ fault. Damned Male Elf. Why had the fates fashioned the relationship between Elven Life Mates so closely? No woman should have to go through what she was just because the man that was meant for her wasn’t close. She had seen matches where the males leaving for a while didn’t have this effect on their Life Mate’s. What was so different about her bond with T’Harris? She couldn’t
figure this out, and it bothered her. There wasn’t anything she hadn’t been able to work through before, so why now?
“What do you think?” Britallia asked Cambria. She figured that if anyone had a clue about what might be going through Gabriella’s mind, it would be her twin sister.
“There is only two possibilities with Gabriella when it comes to T’Harris. One, she has dismissed him, which is highly unlikely. We all know how difficult a Life Mate can be to forget. They have a tendency to get under a woman’s skin,” Cambria explained.
“The other possibility?” Chania asked.
“She is having a difficult time trying to figure him out and that will drive her to do outrageous things.” Cambria answered.
“You mean like she has done since coming to the valley?” Britallia pointed out.
“I have to admit, Gabriella is definitely not acting like her normal self,” Cambria stated. It was the truth and something she knew would drive her sister to the brink of screaming with frustration.
They had all been sure T’Harris would have hunted Gabriella down, which would have ended in a confrontation between the two of them. With the way she was acting, it might have even come down to an actual battle. They had a suspicion this was the main reason he flew off, rather than challenge her to account for her actions. To see if they were right in thinking this, Chania questioned Daeron, “Why do you think T’Harris left the area?”
Daeron, Talus, and Anders had been flying close to their Life Mates to guard them from any harm that might come their way. Daeron hummed, as he gave the matter some thought, and then answered, “My best guess would be that he didn’t want this to turn into another sparring contest. T’Harris is close to being Gabriella’s equal when it comes to using his sword, but he isn’t about to confront her just because he wants to show off. He isn’t that type.”
Talus added, “Face it, girls, Gabriella isn’t the only one that is running on a full head of steam at this moment. You can wager T’Harris isn’t sitting on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun for the good of his health. He will be cooling his temper off, even as he plots his next move.”
“You seem to know your friend well,” Britallia noted.
“We have all been together for a long time. A man gets to know his comrade’s temperament over several millenniums,” Talus answered.
“We know what you are saying, and I am sure if Gabriella suspects T’Harris is plotting, she will be doing the same as she rides. She isn’t the High Lord General for nothing,” Cambria commented. “Notice how much alike they seem to be? That is scary. Think what their children’s Talents will be like. How will anyone control them if they have minds like my sister and her Life Mate?”
“I want to be close when they meet the next time, especially if neither has gotten their tempers under control,” Ander’s admitted. “That was an interesting sparring match the last time they clashed.”
“You got to see T’Harris in a sparring match that he actually lost?” Talus grumbled, “You have all the luck, and if there is going to be a replay, I want to see it too.”
The looks Anders and Talus got from their Life Mates told Daeron he better not voice his thoughts because they were much the same as his brethren.
“Don’t you want to be standing on the sidelines cheering your friend on like the others?” Chania asked Daeron.
Daeron smiled widely at Chania as he answered, “Only if you are by my side.”
“Whoa, have you got him trained,” Cambria teased.
“If he gets any more docile, Daeron will be lying on his back at your feet, begging for belly rubs,” Talus teased Chania.
“It wasn’t me begging for favors from my Life Mate last night,” Daeron reminded his friend.
Talus snorted as he replied, “That will be you tonight.”
“And I will purr when I win my lady’s favor,” Daeron smirked. There might have been a time when he wouldn’t have admitted to any of this, but those days were over. His Chania meant everything to him, and he wasn’t too proud to let her know.
The three Guardians and their Life Mates could easily see the Fortress looming in the distance. It would only take them a few moments longer to get to their destination. Gabriella had at least another hour riding before she arrived. They decided they might as well land and freshen up, so they would look presentable when she arrived.
The first person to approach the six Dragons upon landing was Cormar, and he watched with interest as they shifted back into their Elven forms. He held out his arms to take Britallia into them while he greeted her. “I don’t know if I will ever get used to seeing you change from your Dragon. It sometimes feels like I don’t know you anymore. However, we better not let King Gerolth hear about this, he wouldn’t be happy.”
“There are times I feel like I don’t even know myself,” Britallia admitted, as she embraced her brother. She had noticed Cormar’s tendency to distance himself from her, and although it wasn’t his fault, she often wondered if Talus had anything to do with it. “We had no choice but to come in Dragon form, and you will find out why shortly.”
Talus knew what Britallia was thinking, but she was wrong. He hadn’t done anything to alienate her brother or to discourage their relationship. They had been moving away on their own. It made him feel sad to see them drift apart, especially as they had seemed like such a close-knit family. It was something that had changed when Matrium had crossed over into the Myst to be with her Life Mate. Their Grandmother had feared this would happen when Britallia had bonded with him, but she had assured him things would improve in time. The siblings would grow used to the changes in their lives and life would return to normal. Well, as much as she figured could be possible under the circumstances.
Cormar greeted Cambria and Anders with bows and handshakes, before turning his attention to Daeron and Chania to repeat his actions. As he greeted them, he sent a message to Laylia, “We have company.”
“You will be receiving even more,” Britallia warned Cormar, as Lindquist joined them.
“Sound ominous, who have you come to warn me about from those amongst our Elven friends?” Cormar wondered.
“The High Lord General Gabriella Eagle Claw should be here in approximately an hour. I don’t expect the guard that set off after her to show up any time soon after,” Britallia informed Cormar. “She was not in a good mood, or should we say, she wasn’t the last time any of us saw her.”
“Oh, quit offering excuses for the spoiled brat,” Cambria interrupted with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “My sister is in a snit, and everyone has to grin and bare it. She has met her Life Mate and is running scared, like any well-bred Light Elven Female.”
“Gabriella? Scared? I can’t begin to imagine that as a possibility,” Cormar admitted. The Gabriella Eagle Claw he had met didn’t have a cowardly bone in her body.
Cambria snickered at the disbelief shown on Cormar’s face and added, “Believe me, she is leaving a trail of white feathers all the way from the Citadel. She isn’t proud of it, but that is how it is.”
“How could you say something like that about your own sister?” Cormar nearly gasped.
“I know, sisters can be brutal. It is what we do best. When you get to know Gabriella better, you will realize she isn’t much different than the rest of us.” Cambria assured Cormar, as she continued to grin.
“Have we met her Life Mate?” Lindquist wondered.
“T’Harris, and I am not sure if you have or not,” Britallia answered.
“Briefly,” Cormar answered in a tone that told everyone he wasn’t impressed.
“You will get over it, brother. I am sure your time will come and you will forget all about the High Lord General Eagle Claw,” Lindquist teased.
“Not another,” Cambria wailed. “What a waste, especially since she has never noticed men as anything more than competition. Of course that changed when T’Harris came into her life. It helped that he is really good with a weapon. I have to wonder if she realizes
he is one of the better-looking Guardians.”
“Hey,” Anders objected.
“I said one of the better looking ones, my darling, not the best,” Cambria commented with a grin and a wink.
“You are an imp,” Anders chuckled.
Cambria’s smile widened as she teased back, “You love every moment of it. But, for now it might be a plan for us to sit back and rest before the fireworks begin.”
“Fireworks?” Cormar asked. He had to admit to being confused.
“Like Britallia said, Gabriella is in a mood and deserving of a good paddling. It isn’t anything anyone dares give her, so we will see what T’Harris comes up with. We all want a front row seat at the show when they next meet.” Cambria reminded Cormar, even as she watched him shake his head as he led them into the cool interior of the building. This was going to be fun if it happened at all.
CHAPTER IX
Several hours later, Gabriella galloped her horse through the open gates of the Fortress. They came to an abrupt halt in front of the stairs to the main building and she dismounted.
Cormar watched as Gabriella tossed the reigns of her stallion to one of the stable hands and give him her instructions.
“Walk him for the next half an hour. You can then place him into a stall to rest. Do not allow him food or water until he has settled in. You can take his trapping from him as he does calms-down, and then brush his coat down twice until he shines. Watch his right hind leg. If you are careless around him, he will kick you with that one. He seems to think it is fun to do this sort of thing if he feels he can get away with it,” Gabriella warned.
The stable hand bowed deeply, as he accepted the reins to the massive steed and led him off with a proud tilt to his head. He had been given the responsibility of taking care of the High Lord General’s horse. For a groom, there was no higher honor, unless it would be to do the same for the Emperor Lariel.
The General Page 6
