Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage (7 page)

Kiernan noticed that Digby looked somber, and it was a look totally out of place for the cheerful watershifter. “Digby, is everything all right?”

He lifted red-rimmed eyes to look at her. “No, Your Grace, it…it is my wife. She came down with pneumonia a few months ago. The healers have been trying to help her, but tell me now there is nothing more to be done. I can hardly stand to say the words, Your Grace…but, she is dying. My wife is dying.” The watershifter put his head in his hands and began to weep quietly.

She rushed over to him. “Digby! I am so sorry. You should be with her. Go to her now!”

He shook his head adamantly. “I have my duty, Your Grace.”

“Yes! To your wife first and foremost. I command you to return home. We will find another to transport us to Kondor.”

An urgent tug on Kiernan’s arm caused her to look down. It was Kenley. “Maman! Baya can save Digby’s wife. I know she can.”

Kiernan paused. Yes, it was possible that the Draca could heal Digby’s wife with the Healing Breath. The Sovereign of the Draca Cats, Moombai, healed her own terrible injuries when she traveled to Callyn-Rhe years ago. Although the Healing Breath of the Draca could not reverse illness related to the natural aging process or congenital diseases—the inescapable road to death could be eluded by no one—it could heal almost all contracted ailments and injuries.

Kiernan looked to Beck who was emerging from the lagoon and then back to her daughter. “You are right, Kenley, we should give it a try. Has Baya learned to do the Healing Breath?”

Her daughter nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. Moombai himself trained her last year during her visit back to Callyn-Rhe. She already healed me of a fever I had a few months ago.”

Kiernan shook her head in wonder. Thank the Highworld for Baya and the bond they shared. It gave her such immense peace of mind knowing that the Draca was her daughter’s protector.

She looked over at Digby who was glancing at them expectantly.

“Do you really think…?”

“There is only one way to find out. Lead the way.”

Kiernan quickly explained to the others about Digby’s wife and Kenley’s suggestion, and the watershifter hurriedly ushered them over the beach and into another cavern where several rafts were moored to crystallized stalagmites that jutted from the ground. They boarded one of the rafts, and Digby dove into the water to propel the raft forward from the rear.

“How far?” shouted Beck.

“Just up ahead.” Digby pointed with one webbed hand. “There. The limestone house on stilts.”

Kiernan noticed Kenley’s eyes turn black and heard her relay to the Draca Cat what was needed.

Immediately when the raft pulled up to the dock in front of Digby’s house, Baya leapt to shore and up the stairs of the house. A young girl opened the door and her eyes widened in fright when she saw Baya, spiked tail swishing with excitement.

Digby hurried up the stairs. “Do not be frightened, Alia! It is just Princess Kenley’s Draca Cat, Baya.”

The girl put her arms out to her father, nonetheless, anxious for the safety of his embrace.

“Where is your wife, Digby?” asked Kiernan.

“She is in the back room, Your Grace.”

“May we?”

“Yes, please.”

She nodded and then followed Kenley and Baya through the small, neat house. Kenley knocked on the only closed door along a short corridor and was granted permission to enter from a coarse voice inside.

Digby’s wife looked painfully frail as she lay on the bed in the dark room, the blankets pulled up to her chin. Digby entered behind them, knelt by the bed and explained to his wife, who he addressed as Liliana, why they were there. The woman’s watery eyes brightened at the prospect of a cure, and she waved Baya toward her bed weakly.

“Come.” The Draca Cat obeyed and padded over to the sick woman. Without hesitation, Baya leaned over Liliana and exhaled a vaporous breath. Sinuous, silky strands of energy coiled around the two heads joined mouth to muzzle. The room crackled with powerful, ancient magic and the hair on Kiernan’s arms lifted straight up.

After a moment, Baya lifted her snowy head and stepped back.

Liliana’s eyes remained closed and she did not stir.

It didn’t work
, thought Kiernan. If anything, Liliana looked closer to death. When Kiernan noticed a small tear make its track down the woman’s face, she wanted to cry out in helplessness. She could never imagine being faced with the prospect of death while a young child still lived. To leave a child behind, vulnerable and unprotected by a mother’s love was heartbreaking to contemplate. A new empathy for what her own mother must have suffered welled up inside her.

Liliana let out a soft moan suddenly and reached for her husband.

“I am so sorry, Liliana,” Digby cried into her shoulder. “I had so hoped that it would work.”

A gurgled laugh erupted from Liliana, and Digby pulled back to look at her. “I think it did, my husband. I am just terrified to test it out.”

“You feel better?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”

“Well, try to get out of bed,” he encouraged her.

Everybody in the room stepped back as Liliana threw the blanket off her body and swung her feet to the ground. Her laughter mixed with her tears as she stood.

Little Alia ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her leg.

“Alia! Be careful with Maman,” cautioned Digby.

But, Liliana shook her head. “No, Digby. I never want her to let go.”

Digby turned to Baya. “I cannot thank you enough. If there is ever anything you need now or in the future, you have only to name it. You do not know what you have given back to me and Alia.”

The Draca Cat nodded her head regally, and her eyes turned black.

After a few seconds, Kenley spoke up. “She said a honeycake would be lovely.”

The quiet laughter that rang out so close on the heels of death lifted the spirits of all in the room.

After producing the promised cake to Baya, Digby was all business, leaving the house in a rush to retrieve the boat they would use for their passage. Just moments after his wife was cured, he appeared around a bend in the waterway with one of the newer transports that had been constructed over the past few years to accommodate the heavier traffic in Aquataine now that all of the shifters had been given leave to utilize the underground metropolis for travel. The boat was large enough to offer spacious sleeping quarters below deck so that passengers could rest in comfort during their travel. Two watershifters were needed to propel this particular model to Kondor, but because of the distance, three would go so that one could always be resting while the other two shifted.

Digby looked at Beck ecstatically when he pulled himself from the water.

Beck returned the smile and asked, “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay here with Liliana?”

Digby immediately shook his head. “No. It is the least I can do after all you have done. Liliana is already sending for her sister to come stay with her, but she says she feels perfectly fine. Also,
nobody
escorts the royal party except yours truly!”

“As you wish,” Beck conceded.

It would take two days to make the journey to Kondor, and Beck was glad that Kiernan would be able to do so comfortably. He could tell that the pregnancy was starting to take its toll on her and wanted to do what he could to put her at ease.

He spent the first day of the journey on the top deck with Rogan and Airron. Airron did not waste the opportunity to rib Rogan at every chance about his upcoming marriage. Beck could not remember the Elf ever being so averse to marriage before and wondered what was driving the sentiment.

During a more serious moment, they also discussed the murder in the Grayan Forest and the widow and children the man from Iserport left behind.

It was late when Beck climbed down the small ladder to the lower deck and entered the cabin he shared with Kiernan and Kenley. They were cuddled together, slumbering on the narrow bunk built into the hull of the boat. He smiled, pulled the blanket up over their shoulders, and then laid down on the bunk on the opposite side.

He was sound asleep in seconds.

The next morning, he awoke to dark. It confused him for a moment until he remembered that it was nighttime in Aquataine. He left Kiernan and Kenley and walked onto the upper deck. The watershifters were still in the water propelling the boat forward and he was alone. He glanced up at the glow worms on the cavern ceiling emitting their green radiance. The cavern where they now traveled was very narrow, and he could reach out and touch the limestone walls if he leaned over the rails far enough. He was just about to try when Rogan joined him on deck.

He waved him over. “Come join me. You do realize that by this time tomorrow you will be a married man.”

Rogan sat beside him. “I have already been married to Janin for six years.” He paused thoughtfully. “Best damn six years of my life, so I think it is about time I made her my bride.”

Beck laughed. “I could not agree more.”

“Agree with what?” They both turned to Airron emerging from the lower deck, silver hair fanned out behind his head. “That the Dwarf is a cooked goose?”

Rogan crossed his arms at his chest. “And, what about you, Elf? Not yet ready for matrimony?”

Airron’s purple eyes grew wide in shock and he shook his head. “Not me! I would like to keep my neck for a few years yet, thank you very much.”

“Your neck?”

Airron massaged his throat as if it were in danger of the guillotine. “Yes, you know the saying. Once you are married, the man becomes the head of the house. But,” he said, holding up a finger, “the woman is the neck, and she turns that head any which way she wants.”

Rogan looked over at Beck. “How many times do I have to tell you that he is not right?”

“Do not be envious, dear friend, it does not become you,” Airron retorted.

Kiernan came on deck then and they slid into the easy conversation of old friends. Just like that, they were teenagers again and sitting around a campfire near the Grayan Forest outside of Pyraan, sharing stories and laughs. Although they lived in separate lands these days, their bond of friendship was as strong as ever, and they made it point to visit with each as often as possible.

Second in line—at the moment—to the Deepstone Crown, Rogan lived in Kondor at the royal palace with Janin and his two children. Reilly was four years old and Jala was three. Rogan’s cousin, Erik Rojin, was now King, his father, King Rik, having been killed in a hunting accident a few years back. Erik was only eighteen, but should he marry and have children, they would become heir to the throne.

Airron lived in Sarphia and was third in line to the Haventhal throne. King Jerund J’El sat the throne now and Airron’s third cousin, Prince Thorn J’El, was second.

It was somewhat surprising that Kiernan, Rogan and Airron were all of royal blood. Their pureblood status spoke to the fact that as descendants of the original
Savitars
, they were pure in magic, not royalty.

It was late when they retired to their cabins and early the following morning, the boat began to slow and Beck knew that they must be approaching Kondor.

“Almost at the grate!” Digby confirmed and within moments, they pulled into the small Aquatainian village of Fontaine. Shouts of greeting drifted to them from the shore and waterway. All villagers who could, knelt to the ground.

Beck helped Kiernan and Kenley disembark while Baya leapt off the deck in an impressive leap and landed in the sand with an enthusiastic shake of her white coat.

“Thank you, Digby. Can I talk you into leaving now and going home to be with your wife?” Beck asked.

The watershifter shook his head. “I will go home as soon as I escort you back to Bardot.”

Beck nodded reluctantly, knowing he would not win the argument against Digby’s unfailing loyalty. Stepping off the boat, he led his little party to the stairs cut into the limestone walls of the cavern that led the way to the Surface World just outside of King Erik’s castle in Kondor. It was a considerable walk to the top, so Beck waited for Kiernan and scooped her up in his arms. She yelled at him to put her down muttering that she was quite capable of walking a few steps, but he ignored her and soon she gave in and snuggled into his shoulder.