Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage (12 page)

Saber Anton LaFrae opened the door and announced Rogan, Janin and Airron.

Janin immediately rushed to her and held her in a tight embrace. “I am very sorry, Kiernan.”

Kiernan simply nodded. She did not trust herself to speak fearing it would come out incoherent.

Airron approached and took her hands as soon as Janin released her. “Kiernan, we
will
find him. Do you hear me?”

She nodded again and cleared her throat. “I…I have to return to

Nysa to help my father. I cannot abandon my realm and the people

I am responsible to protect.” She paused. “Beck would understand.”

“I know he would, Kiernan,” Airron quickly assured her. “You are making the only decision you can. King Erik still refuses to send aid to Iserlohn, so Rogan and I discussed our options and have decided to split up. I will stay here and search for Beck. My animal forms will help me to scent and track him better than the soldiers can, and Rogan and Janin will seek aid for Nysa and your father.”

Kiernan shook her head. “But, how? Where?”

Rogan smiled slyly. “If I cannot raise the Deepstone Army, I will raise one of my own.” Before she could question him further, he held up a hand. “Don’t ask.”

She looked at the two Dwarves. “But you two have just been married.”

Janin snorted. “I have been married to this man for six years. We just happened to make it official yesterday.” She looked directly in Kiernan’s eyes. “There is nothing we would not do to help your family or to help find Beck.”

Kiernan was touched. “Thank you, Janin.” She looked at her best friends. “I thank all of you.”

A loud commotion sounded in the hallway. Kiernan hurriedly walked over to open the doors, but they slammed opened before she could reach them.

“I said let me in!”

A beautiful Elven woman stormed into the room and looked around, her violet eyes furious. Finally, her gaze landed on Airron. “There you are! You will not get away from me so easy again, you lout!”

Kiernan waved away the angry Sabers at the door and looked at Airron. “What in the Highworld is going on here?”

Airron burst out in laughter.

“Airron! Who is this woman? Why are you laughing like that?”

“I am only laughing because otherwise I will be crying.”

Rogan glared at him. “What did you do now?”

Airron shook his mane of white hair and then held out his arm toward the woman. “Kiernan, Rogan, Janin. Let me introduce you to the Lady Melania Shael. My wife.”

Davad Etin stopped short in his intention to run his sword through King Maximus’ heart when Bo Franck, the Saber, and the servants stepped up together to form a line in front of their King. Even the stout house manager, Belle, looked like she was ready to take him on single-handedly.

Raj Mendel spoke over his shoulder. “My Lord?”

Davad shook his head. “Stand back, Commander. I will handle this.”

The soldier moved to the door.

“So, you are going to allow these people to be cut down in your defense, Maximus? Are you that much of a coward?”

Maximus calmly pushed through to the front of the line. “Oh, they have no fear of being cut down, Davad, because you are just about to leave.”

Davad tilted his head. “Oh, I am? You do not give the orders any longer, Maximus. Are you really that arrogant that you cannot see what is happening? Or, are you really as crazy as I have suggested?”

Maximus ignored his comments. “Before we part company, Davad, think on this. The people of Iserlohn will never accept your lies. They will never accept you. Find it in yourself to give up your schemes now so that more innocent people are not killed.”

“I have no intention of giving anything up, you fool! And, for the record, the innocent do not die under my rule—only those that stand in my way. My
schemes
are really quite simple. You will be dead momentarily, and I will be sitting on the Iserlohn throne by the end of next week. I will have no problem rallying the support of the other Houses once they face the reality of their limited choices. You have lost, Maximus! I have won!”

Maximus snorted. “I should have known you would not listen to reason. A King protects his people, Davad, he does not walk across their backs to obtain a higher position. I implore you one last time to have mercy on them.”

“Enough of this! Stand back!” he once again ordered the line of people.

“As I said, you will now be leaving us. Goodbye, Davad, and think on what I said.” Maximus turned to the side and gave a terse nod. Suddenly, one of the servants, a blonde woman, thrust her arm out and pointed.

“
Reversi!
”

Davad’s body involuntarily wrenched upright and his sword fell from nerveless fingers. The door slammed open, and he turned to the cry of surprise from Raj Mendel behind him as the man backed out of the room with unnatural, jerky movements.

Davad issued his own shout as his body began to move backward. He felt like a marionette powerless to fight against an invisible puppeteer. His arms flailed wildly as his feet took step after step toward the back of the room. With a final yelp, he was yanked through the doors and slammed up against the wall on the opposite side of the hall. The soldiers in the corridor, finally realizing something was amiss, rushed to enter the room, but the doors crashed shut. As soon as they did, Davad felt the magic dissipate, and his body convulsed once in a repulsed shudder.

That blonde woman cast a spell at him! She was no servant, but a bloody sorceress!

He stood up from the floor and strode through the knot of soldiers to the doors reaching immediately for the handle. Locked! It would not budge. He knew then that they would never get that door open. His instincts told him that it was magically sealed and no amount of force would open it.

“Stay here!” he ordered Commander Mendel. “If anybody so much as takes a peek out of this door, strike them dead!”

With that, he retreated back down the corridor.
Oh, this is not the end of it, Maximus. You may have found a temporary hole to hide in, but you will be ferreted out and disposed of. I promise you that.

“And, find me a new sword!” he shouted over his shoulder.

C
HAPTER
8

Sinister Motives

Beck Atlan was all hers. Avalon Ravener could hardly believe that her plan had worked so flawlessly. Their bodies less than a hand width apart, she smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Reaching out with his large hands, he framed her face and gazed down at her with unadulterated love in his eyes. The look was so powerful that she almost pulled away. With pressure from his thumbs, he tilted her head to the side and slowly lowered his lips to hers. A soft moan of pleasure escaped him at the intimate contact. Avalon allowed the kiss for a moment and tried to enjoy it but, unable to do so, she finally did pull back.

“
Ejektelo!”

Her spell sent the earthshifter soaring through the cavern to land hard against the stone wall with a grunt.

This was the third time she had to use the repel spell on her captive. For some reason, the glamour spell was working very strongly with him. She guessed it was due to the fact that he was a shifter, because she had never seen this type of reaction when used on the Cyman men who did not have the gift of magic.

She laughed inwardly when she realized that he must have acted this same way when she cast this same glamour spell on him years ago in Iserport. What a scene he must have made with those two prostitutes. She only wished she had been there to witness the spectacle.

“Mistress, please!” Beck pleaded, getting to his feet. “Did I do something wrong? Do I not make you happy?”

She turned her back on him. “You will make me happy by staying right where you are.”

“Yes, Mistress. Then, you will give me another kiss?”

“Maybe,” she muttered noncommittally over her shoulder. Unfortunately, the glamour was necessary until she could secure the earthshifter properly. Once he did not pose a physical threat to her, she would remove the spell so she could question him.

One of the reasons for the kidnapping was to retrieve The Protetor that was given to him by Galen Starr. She only learned of the existence of the book from one of her informants just this past year. With that book, she would have access to all of the secret arts of the Mage and, most importantly, the formula for the LifeFire Tonic. In the six years that she had been unable to take the life-giving elixir, she had aged considerably. More every day, she was feeling her three hundred and twenty five years. Her hair was starting to gray at the temples and her face had become hollow and gaunt, the fine lines of age spider-webbing across her face.

Another reason was that she needed Beck Atlan’s body.

Her plans required her to have the kind of access to the palace that only a royal family member could provide. She originally thought to use Kiernan Atlan—she was the weaker of the two—but, once she found out that Beck was in possession of The Protetor, she decided that he would fulfill both purposes quite nicely.

She moved to a stone table cut into the side of the cavern wall and studied the maps strewn across its surface. They were still a considerable distance to her hideaway in Farout Falls where she had been living in isolation with her small group of twelve Cyman followers. Why the Cymans who deserted during the war willing followed, she was unsure, but this particular band was unaware that most of their brethren had traveled back to Nordik. She made sure these outcasts had little access to information and stayed well hidden. In truth, they had formed an unlikely family of sorts and depended on each other for survival.

The otherworldly location of Deepstone was chosen to imprison the earthshifter primarily because he would have limited access to the earth and therefore his power would be stunted. She never dreamed that he would make it so easy for her by traveling right to her doorstep.

A shadow fell across the cave entrance and a Cyman soldier ducked into the spacious cavern. “What is it, Cyrus?”

“The place is crawlin’ with soldiers, Mistress. We will ‘ave to git movin’ to The Falls much sooner than we thought.”

She figured as much. The disappearance of a Prince was sure to trigger a very significant manhunt.

“Very well.”

She looked over at her prisoner. He was leering at her ridiculously, and she shuddered. He was far too pretty for her taste. After living with Cyman men for hundreds of years, the smaller and weaker men of Massa seemed like pitiful creatures to her. Almost feminine. Oh, Beck Atlan was larger than most Massans, but still paltry compared to her Cymans.

She thought about her last lover, Titus. She had wished often over the years that it had not been necessary to kill him, but it had. She had not taken another lover since then. She wondered why? It was not as if she had ever been in love with the boy. Or had she? She shook her head. Whatever the case, that was then and this was now. The bottom line was that Beck Atlan needed to die and not just to gain The Protetor or because she needed his body. He needed to die so that a new King could be raised in Iserlohn.