Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage (41 page)

“What do you want me to do?” Sapphire shouted over to Avalon.

“Do not harm the Princess yet! I will need her body to get the two boys out of Bardot.” She looked across the chasm at Rogan. “Kill the fireshifter.”

Rogan crouched again and faced Sapphire just as a furious roar resounded through the cavern. Rogan whipped his head around in time to witness a sinewy white ball of fury leap onto Avalon’s back. She shrieked in surprise, but before Baya could tear into the sorceress’ neck, she disappeared to the ground, although what shape she took Rogan could not see.

Kenley, the length of her leash now on the ground, turned toward Reilly and began to unbuckle his collar. For some reason, the Cyman holding Reilly was standing by passively as Kenley tried to free his son.

Sapphire saw none of this as she had already turned to him with a menacing growl. Rogan searched wildly for a way past the sorceress to the bridge, but there was nothing except a sheer cliff wall to the left and an unfathomable drop to the right.

“
Reversi
!”

The spell caused Rogan’s body to jerk upright from his crouch and to his horror, his feet began to shuffle backward toward the abyss. His arms floundered as he tried to stop his body from moving closer to a fatal plummet.

“Reilly! Kenley! Run!” They would never be able to get away from the giant Cymans, but he had to try. He looked over his shoulder. One more step and he would be over.

“Baya! Lead the children to safety!” he cried in desperation.

If Kenley and Reilly could just manage to escape this chamber, they might have a chance. Maybe Airron had recovered. He could very well be on his way into the cavern now and would arrive in time to save Kiernan and the children.

The Elf did like his theatrics.

Rogan’s heels hung over the ledge and stones and dirt dropped away, disappearing into the black hole. His life with Janin flashed before his eyes, and he actually managed a small smile. His only regret was the pain his death would cause her.

Sapphire raised her hand to sweep him from the ledge at the same time that a thick fist lashed out and struck her in the side of her face.

It was one of the Cymans.

Sapphire collapsed to the shelf floor. Without hesitation, the soldier reached down, picked her up over his head and threw her into the chasm.

Rogan looked back, and he fell. He tried to grab the edge on his way past, but could not gain purchase on the loose dirt and gravel on the sharp precipice. For a heart-stopping moment, he was airborne, and then his body jerked to a sudden stop. The Cyman that killed Sapphire had Rogan’s forearm grasped in an enormously strong hand. Rogan dangled from the soldier’s grip and then the giant hoisted him back up onto the cliff ledge.

Panting from the flow of terror-induced adrenaline, Rogan looked up at the Cyman with confusion on his face, and then Kiernan was there, peeking around his body. “They are with us. Come on.”

Rogan’s heart was still beating violently, but he got to his feet. Reilly, Kenley, Baya and the five Cymans on the other side of the chasm were running across the bridge.

Avalon was nowhere to be seen.

Kiernan sprinted out to meet the children and ushered them toward the ledge with Baya and the Cymans following quickly behind.

Finally recovered from his near death experience, Rogan met them as they stepped off the bridge. He picked up Reilly and ran toward the center tunnel. “Follow me!” Not bothering with light, he sprinted through the dark passageway with the others racing after him.

A now familiar, but just as horrifying, high-pitched scream ricocheted throughout the cavern, and the frenzied flap of beating wings pursued their retreat. Bursting through the narrow corridor, Rogan ran through the chamber with the wooden pallets.

“Hurry!” he heard Kiernan shout and the sound of pursuit grew louder and more threatening. “We are not going to make it!”

Rogan thought his lungs were going to burst as he ran with his burden. He made it to the main chamber and then skidded to a stop at the exit to look back. Kiernan was running in the middle of the Cymans and holding Kenley’s hand.

His eyes widened in horror when the creature that was once Avalon Ravener exploded out of one of the passageways and dove at Kenley, her clawed hands reaching to snap her up.

Kiernan bent down over Kenley, and pulled her close to her chest into a protective ball and rolled to the floor.

Avalon screeched when her prey got away, and she wheeled around for another attempt.

Rogan set Reilly on the floor and summoned fire, but the confined space was making it difficult to unleash for fear of harming those he was trying to save.

Avalon flew low over the heads of the beleaguered group and one of the Cymans jumped up and seized her leg. She squealed and beat her wings furiously around the Cyman’s head in an attempt to untangle herself from the snare. The Cyman held on, and ripped her from the air, swinging her in a circle before sending her sailing toward the cave wall.

Before her body hit, she bodyshifted again and disappeared from sight.

Kiernan immediately got to her feet, picked up Kenley and ran. She waved at Rogan, “Go!”

He grabbed Reilly and started down the stairs on the outside of the mountain. He could not move as fast on the treacherous descent and the others quickly caught up to him. Glancing up to the cave entrance, there was still no sign or sound of Avalon.

When Rogan finally made it down to the stone floor of the valley, he hit the ground running. He did notice that two of the Cymans took the time to pick up their comrade who had been cursed with a binding spell and had been lying unmoving on the ground.

A moment into their frantic escape, he heard the most horrific gurgling sound, a scream, and then a bestial yelp. Turning back, he saw Avalon, shifting once again into the female body she used in the cave, and gripping Kenley’s leash in a vicious yank that sent the little girl to the ground. Kiernan and Baya were lying still.

Three of the Cymans worked together to gather up Kiernan and the Draca Cat and ran to where Rogan stood waiting.

Dazedly, Kiernan came to and struggled with the Cyman holding her. “Kenley! What is happening to Kenley?”

Avalon waved her free hand and Kenley twitched upright to her feet and started walking toward them.

“Do as I command, girl!” Avalon yelled at her.

With a trembling arm, Kenley pointed and the air around them began to swirl in a strong wind. She moved her hand in a circular motion and soon a maelstrom of dirt and pebbles littered the air. Tears created dirty tracks down Kenley’s face as she was forced to airshift against her will, and the magic surged from her in an uncontrolled torrent.

One of the Cymans who had stopped to stare, realized his mistake and turned to run to avoid the dangerous tornado.

A cry wrenched from Kenley’s throat as she turned the growing vortex directly at the running Cyman, and the strength of the wind sucked him up into the center of the funnel, spun him around, and spit him out again to soar through the air and crash into the ground.

“Rogan, what is happening?” screamed Kiernan.

The air was becoming so thick with debris that Kenley disappeared behind the gray mist of the whirlwind. Rogan bent over Reilly to protect him with his body. “I can’t see anything!”

A scuffle broke out beside him. One of the Cymans was grabbing the arm of another.

“Let go, Cyrus!” the soldier yelled trying to jerk his arm free.

“Arlen, you cannot go out there!”

“I can’t let the witch ‘urt ‘er, Cyrus! I just can’t stand by and let that ‘appen to a little girl!”

“But, you will be killed, Arlen!”

The Cyman called Arlen laughed with a hysteria that, to Rogan’s ears, bordered madness. “Don’t you see, Cyrus? I am makin’ this choice!” he screamed over the wind. “For the first time in my life, I am doin’ what
I
want to do! Not a choice the dark Mage forces on me or the witch or even Captain Lucin. I am finally free, Cyrus! I am free and I am goin’ to save that little girl!”

“Arlen, no!”

“I am comin’, Kenley!” screamed Arlen and he ran into the mist, the whirlwind swallowing him whole.

Cyrus cried out for his friend several more times, and then his voice became muffled in the fog that surrounded them.

The gale-force winds continued to batter at them furiously, and Rogan was finding it difficult to stand on his feet. Kiernan reached out to him and threaded her arm through his to help keep her balance.

“We have to get away from here!” she yelled over the din.

The cyclone continued to grow in diameter, and Rogan lost all sense of direction. Grasping Reilly tight with one hand and Kiernan with the other, he felt the terrifying pull of the vortex. Kiernan was right, but which way to run? If he chose wrong, he could lead them directly into the eye of the storm.

“Rogan!” Kiernan’s legs were swept out from under her and she clung to his arm as her body hovered over the ground in a desperate fight against the power of the tornado.

“Don’t let go!” he shouted and struggled to move against the buffeting tempest. Muscles straining to hold on to Reilly and pluck Kiernan free, he felt his own body begin to lose the struggle with the potent pull of the raging twister.

Suddenly, the wind lessened around them, and Kiernan fell to the ground. She scrambled back upright and Rogan felt her stiffen beside him. “It can’t be,” she whispered. “He’s dead.”

He followed her gaze and peered through the mist.

The silhouette of a lone man walked toward them. Dressed in black, a long cloak billowed out behind him as he strode undaunted through the wreckage of the night.

C
HAPTER
25

Utterly and Without Remorse

The air was clear around the imposing figure, and he took on recognizable features as he strode to the Cyman, Cyrus, and settled a large hand on his shoulder. “Your friend is at peace with his decision. Do not belittle or underestimate the power of choice.”

The Cyman nodded almost hypnotically, and Kiernan fell to her knees in disbelief at the mirage before her.

It was Beck.

Standing tall and resolute before her in his black cloak, he reminded her nothing so much as his grandfather, Galen Starr.

He turned his gaze to look down at her, kneeling on the ground. “Hello, my love.”

All she could do was stare at him in disbelief, afraid that if she said a word, he would wink out of existence. He was not supposed to come home.

“Have you forgotten your husband so soon?”

She shook her head, ashamed that she had not believed in him.

“Do you remember how desperately he loves you?”

Her body trembled and she could hardly see him through her tears. “Remind me,” she whispered.

Giving her that dimpled smile that was so achingly familiar, he reached down and lifted her into his strong arms. Hair whipping around her face, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and buried her head into his chest. He stroked her back tenderly. “For a time, I thought that I had lost you,” he told her huskily. “You can never know what that did to me. To have you here in my arms, to smell the sweetness of your skin, to feel your heart beating against mine, is almost more than I can handle. You are all that is beautiful in my life, Kiernan Atlan. I live for you and I would die for you. Do you remember now?”

Head still buried in his shoulder, she said, “It’s a good start.”

He chuckled.

She lifted her head to look into his face. “You came home,” she stated, surprised to see tears of his own trickling down his face.

“I promised you I would.”

“I know, and I wanted to believe you…it is just that…”

He reached his hand up to place a finger on her lips. “You do not have to explain. I understand. Are you all right now?”

Kiernan nodded and he set her on the ground. “Beck, Avalon has Kenley!”

He smiled. “I guess I will just have to get her back then.”

His confidence and strength infused her like a palliative cure, but outside of his arms, she felt cold and alone. She wanted nothing more than to cling to him and lose herself within the safety of his embrace, but she resisted the urge. Kenley needed him.