Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage (16 page)

Kirby looked around as if he had just noticed something. “Where is Prince Beck, Your Grace?”

“Gone,” she said simply and walked away. If she stopped to explain further, it would be the end of her.

C
HAPTER
10

Changes

Airron stood on the sandstone butte and stared out at the landscape before him. A sudden strong westerly wind swept his silver hair out behind him and whipped his clothes around his body, but he hardly noticed.

He had found Beck.

After days of traveling through the harsh landscape that was Deepstone, the trail ended here. His narrowed violet eyes scanned the one cave among the hundreds that he now knew held his friend. It had a distinctive swirling of red and tan color right above the black opening. There was no movement coming from the cave and he wondered if Avalon had armed support. Was she capable of capturing and holding Beck on her own? He doubted it and knew he had to be prepared for a fight.

A flash of green caught his eye below and he watched Melania walk toward the inviting water source they found earlier that day in between the boulders. A fresh waterfall splashed down from the crevice between two rocks and formed a small, but deep turquoise pool of liquid.

Melania had been much more reserved and less demanding since his uncouth comment a few days ago. She awoke at sunrise and performed her daily prayers by herself away from their camp.

He would apologize when the time was right, but decided to let her stew for a little while longer. She had to realize sooner or later that he was a person with his own ideas and desires and she could not mold him into someone he was not. Yes, he would agree to pick up after himself. He would even wear the gaudy tunic she was sure to choose for him. But, he would not live in a loveless marriage. He wanted what Beck and Kiernan had. What Rogan and Janin now had.

Melania bent to the pool of water and began to fill their two water bags. It was obvious that she did not know that he was standing on the rock far above her.

Gathering a cup full of water in the palm of her hand, she splashed it on the back of her neck. Suddenly, her head picked up, she looked furtively around at her surroundings, and then graceful as a dancer, she stood. Airron’s breath caught in his throat and an ache of desire pounded through his body when she reached back to the clasp of her high-necked, halter dress.

He really should turn away, he knew. It is what a decent person would do. But, he found that he could not take his eyes from the vision before him.

His wife.

She looked around once more and then unfastened the dress, letting it fall to her waist. She quickly unbuckled her knife belt and the dress came the rest of the way off. She stepped out of the emerald silk piled around her feet and slipped into the cool pool of water.

At this point, Airron did step back out of sight, and finally let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding to try to dispel his stimulated thoughts. He had enjoyed many women in his life, but could not remember one affecting him this intensely.

Silently, he made his way off the butte and back to their small camp.

While he waited for his wife to return, he busied himself caring for the horses while he mentally prepared himself for the confrontation with Avalon just ahead. He was securing his pack to the saddle of the Haventi when Melania, fully dressed now but silver hair hanging damply down her back, appeared around the rock formation.

She looked at him suspiciously. “Where were you?”

“I needed to get a good view of the cave with human eyes before I left.” He decided not to lie. “From above.”

Her face turned pink, and she bent to gather her belongings. “I hope you found what you were looking for.”

“Oh, I did. The view is really quite stunning from that angle. Quite frankly, I have never seen anything like it.”

She stood up in a flash of anger. “Airron Falewir…”

He held up his hand with a smirk. “I did not know that you would be there, but I do offer you my sincere apologies. If that is not good enough, can we please argue about it later? Beck needs my help.”

She held her chin high, but her eyes still blazed. “Fine, but discuss it we most certainly will.”

“Be ready to go at a moment’s notice. I don’t know what I will find or who will be after me when I find it.”

“Be careful,” she offered softly, but made no move to turn away.

He looked at her questioningly.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I need to bodyshift now.”

She waved her arm. “Go ahead. I am used to it by now.”

He cleared his throat. “Then, you should also be aware that I must disrobe first.”

“Oh, right!” she said, averting her gaze and dropping into a squat to rummage through her pack. Although, what she could possibly be looking for, Airron had no clue.

“Unless, of course, you would like to even the score?” he asked.

“Airron Falewir!” she screamed.

With a laugh, he immediately shed his clothes and bodyshifted before she could throw something at him.

The Gangi took off down the road at a sprint. He was small, but his legs were lithe and powerful. It was very easy for him to locate the trail that he had already found earlier that day. And, just as soon, the unfamiliar scent that surrounded the one he sought bemused him. The caustic smell assailed his nose, and he shook his muzzle in disgust.

Continuing along the road, it was not long before the cave with the distinctive swirl came into sight. There is where he would find the human he tracked.

It was also where he would most likely find a fight to the death.

The air flickered briefly and the Gangi shifted into a mouse and scrambled up the boulders to the cave entrance. Taking care to remain out of sight of any humans, he peered cautiously into the gloom. Even from the low vantage point, he could clearly confirm the devastating truth.

It was empty.

Airron sprouted up from the mouse form and examined the area. Beck had been here, of that he had no doubt, but he was gone now. He slowly walked around the cave, the bright sunshine from outside lending him plenty of light from which to see.

A stone table and several seating areas were carved directly from the cavern walls. Avalon had created this hideaway well before

Rogan’s wedding it seemed. Again, he thought, why Beck? He could understand if she kidnapped
him
to gain revenge for their altercation years ago or Kiernan for ransom, but why was it Beck that she chose? The strongest man on the island? He had something that she wanted obviously. But, what?

He walked to the back of the cave and noticed that there was another exit. The trail did not end here as he had assumed, but continued on by way of another road.

He resumed his perusal, but there was not much else to see. He was just turning to leave when a flicker of white caught his eye, and he turned back to the stone table. There, underneath the protrusion was a folded piece of parchment.

He picked it up and opened it.

It was a map. A map of the southern portion of Deepstone, and a location was marked southwest of the Koda River. Was this Avalon’s or a discard of some other person? It could take him well out of his way if he simply followed it blindly, but unfortunately, his choices were few and far between.

His best friend was still in the hands of a monster.

Avalon rode behind her Cyman guard with one thought plaguing her mind. She needed a female human form.

By this time tomorrow, they would reach the Koda River and there, in the river settlements, she would be able to find one. She knew from previous visits that the mining community where they were now headed was made up of several families from Iserlohn, including women and children.

It was a well-known fact that the southern portion of Deepstone was a veritable payload of precious gems, marble and granite—the primary sources of exported income for the Dwarves. Prior to the war, no Dwarf in existence would have dreamed of parting with their closely guarded mining expertise, but in a show of fostering island collaboration, King Erik allowed a limited number of men and Elves into the country each year to learn extraction techniques from the Dwarves so they could improve the engineering of ore in their own lands.

Several of these expeditions were taking place now and the miners were camped at the Koda.

Reaching into the small leather purse around her waist, Avalon retrieved a small mirror she kept there. She almost cried aloud in horrified disbelief. The visible signs of desiccation to her face were far more pronounced than they had been when she left her home in Farout Falls a few weeks ago.

Other changes were taking place as well. Her speech was becoming more slurred and guttural sounding, and she was finding it difficult to talk at times, especially when she was tired. The other disturbing transformation was the appearance of two bony protrusions on her back just under her shoulder blades. They were extremely painful to the touch and throbbed incessantly.

When all of her attempts to create the LifeFire Tonic through traditional incantations and formulas failed, she turned to the dark sorcery she learned from her brother, Adrian, and the effects were devastating.

The unthinkable was happening.

She was changing into something less than human.

Yes, she needed a female body very soon. She already acquired several male forms over the years and would have Beck Atlan’s very soon, but required the body of a female for tasks only a woman could carry out. She could have taken Gemini’s likeness after she killed her, but it never would have worked. The High Priestess was too well known and thus of no use to her. Discretion was, and always had been, her greatest ally.

She wondered if the sorceress she had recruited from the Bardot Academy had achieved the goals Avalon set for her. The girl was in Bardot to study fireshifting, but the lure of power and wealth turned her to Avalon’s cause. Truth be told, it was never very difficult to find accomplices for her plans. She could always depend on the inherent greed of people, their covetous hands forever reaching for further possessions and status.

Unfortunately, the little twit did happen to retain at least of modicum of decency and refused to kill Gemini, which meant that she had to travel to Bardot and commit the act herself. It was a very risky undertaking, but she was now satisfied that she had been forced to do so. It was only right that she be the one to end that witch’s life when Gemini’s brother, Galen, had been the one to take her brother from her.

That one was for you, Adrian.

Afterward, she had traveled to Kondor right on the heels of the royal
Savitars
. Fortunately for her, the watershifters’ prerequisite for traveling their waterways was shifting ability, not good intentions.

Thinking of the
Savitars
, she reached up to touch the scars on her face, a habit of hers over the years. Whenever she touched them, she remembered the foe that put them there. In her entire existence, he was the only one of her intended victims that had ever escaped her alive.

Her breath caught in her throat when a disturbing thought came to her. That despicable Elf that gave her these scars was at the wedding of the Dwarf!