Scorched Fury: A SkinWalker Novel #5 (DarkWorld: SkinWalker) (21 page)

I
SAT
BESIDE
D
ARCY
AS
SHE
hunched over, and concentrated on Logan's mind. Her eyes were closed and her fingers pressed gently at his temples.

When Darcy stiffened I leaned closer. Her eyes opened eerily, and she stared at me. Blind.

"He's touched her mind a few times although she was frightened at first." She smiled tenderly. "He was very sweet. Tried to ease her into the joining of their minds, careful not to frighten her."

I waited, holding my breath as she spoke.

"He's seen the place through her eyes. He was confused at first because it wasn't the beach he'd sent you to, although he somehow knew that he hadn't been wrong on that end. She'd been there." She paused and swallowed, tilting her head to one side. "This time he saw a barren land, all craggy dark mountains and red skies. The rivers are red, and their sun hangs low and bloody on the horizon, as if about to explode."

I worried what that meant for Sienna but Darcy said, "The girl is ignorant of everything around her. She's living in the palace, a human servant of the queen. She's quiet, and unassuming. Unless it comes to her knowledge of weapons technology. She believes she is without power. Humans are mere chattels in this land, and have no freedom beyond their master's needs. But it has been known to happen that outlanders – as they are called – sometimes achieve high standing in the community."

All the more reason to find the place and restore the people's freedom, I thought.

"Funny thing, and this is something even Logan finds odd, though they believe her to be human and powerless, she is guarded at all times when she leaves the palace.

"She's privy to much that goes on at the court, attends the queen almost constantly, has minimal contact with others. She's intelligent, and very learned. And from what he saw she's a master tactician and the queen takes her opinion on board. Apparently she's proven herself in past battles and skirmishes. She's still treated as a servant, though." Darcy let out a soft laugh. "Logan is worried that she's in danger. He's happy that she can take care of herself but she doesn't use her power."

"Odd, considering she was so devastatingly powerful not too long ago." I hadn't realized I'd said that aloud.

"Logan thought so too," said Darcy. "Seems her memory was also tampered with. She can't recall anything about her past with him and their parents."

"I'm beginning to wonder if his parents were their real ones."

"The thought had crossed his mind but it's not something he wants to consider seriously. His feelings for his mother are too strong. But if that is the case, he'll have to address it at some point."

"Any distinguish features of this world? Buildings, land formations, people?" I asked.

Darcy frowned as if trying to grasp at an elusive thought. "He was trying to be as observant as possible. The mountains are obsidian black, and dangerously sharp. Unscalable to his eye, but he can't be sure."

"Doesn't sound very hospitable."

"No. But the palace is stunning. Sienna and Logan both think it's a thing of beauty. Everything is made of obsidian, walls, roofs, parapets, towers, all obsidian, gleaming like black glass. Only the streets are paved with black stone mined from the mountains."

Darcy seemed lost in the details of the world and I had to admit I was fascinated too. What I pictured in my mind was a city of beauty and danger, that is both home and prison to Logan's sister.

"There are strange outcroppings on the mountaintops, and around the city."

Darcy paused her forehead creasing as her blank eyes suddenly cleared and I found her staring at me shocked.

"Holy crap I think I know where she is."

"Where?" I urged her to answer.

Though she seemed disconnected from Logan's mind, she wasn't listening to me. "I can't believe I didn't realize it. I've seen it before in the mind of a Dracyr. The statues were the giveaway." She waved her hands above her head. "Gigantic statues of women with towering crowns and ever taller wings. "Dragons, Kai. Sienna is being held in the great city of Dyr."

"Dear Ailuros," I whispered.

Dyr, the mother city of the Dragonlands, the home of the great Queen of the Dracyr.

"But isn't-"

Darcy cut me off. "The Dracyr currently have no queen. To be queen, the dragon female has to be a very powerful alpha. The most powerful of all. And queens are always born paired with a twin brother. Powerful twins are borne, the female becoming the queen, the male her General. The twins feed off each other's powers and it is said that the male is often just as powerful as the female hence the whole leading the armies thing. The last queen of Dracys was Shrya. She was killed two decades ago - her newborn babies too."

"Twins?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Darcy nodded. "Right now, Sienna is attending Shrya's sister Lyra. The substitute queen has no alpha power but she remains ruling the land until a new queen is found. What's worse is that Dracys needs a new queen and fast."

"Why?" I asked, a little distracted with the thought of twins. Sienna and Logan were twins.

Twins born two decades ago.

"Because the red sun of Dracys is directly connected to the power of the dragon queen. She is its keeper and protector. It's said that the power of their sun lives within the queen and since Dracys has no queen the sun is doomed."

"Talk about a buzz kill. This story was going well until now. Dead queens and dying suns?" The story was so bizarre that I actually believed it. The truth was usually the craziest version of the story.

 
"There's some kind of ritual held in the largest volcano of Dracys where the queen imbues all her power into a giant egg. And when the power is returned to her, the sun glows brighter."

"And without a queen to complete the ritual, the land is doomed." I said the words unable to comprehend how devastating that reality must be for the people. "And they haven't found a new queen in all this time?"

Darcy shook her head. "There is only one queen at any point in time. If the twins are out there somewhere and are not found, a new set of children will be borne only when the living one's cease to exist."

"And while they're out there do they know their destiny?"

"Not if they're undiscovered. But if they did exist, they'd have been found by now. The Drakyr armies have a dedicated squad that works solely on finding the next queen. They have the ability to detect the power. No matter how far they have to go, they will eventually find the twins."

"So the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is 'What do Sienna and Logan have to do with this?" Darcy and I stared at each other. "Could they be the undiscovered twins?"

Darcy hesitated then began to shake her head.

And I nodded in agreement. "And of course, if Sienna was the one they would have discovered it by now. She's been right there all this while. No way she's the future queen right under their noses."

"Unless—"

"Unless her memory has been tampered with and her powers bound."

Darcy's mouth hung open and I got to my feet. I paced three steps then turned and went three steps back. Then I looked over at Logan.

"He can sometimes hear us, you know."
 

"Then hopefully he heard what we said and does what he needs to find out more about Sienna and the palace." I thought I saw Logan's eyelids twitch but I couldn't be certain.

Then Darcy straightened and looked at me. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan is find out more about Dracys and the situation there, then find a way to get in."

Darcy nodded then clapped her hands together lightly. "Then Sienna can help Logan recover. I truly believe they are linked in some inexplicable way, and that without her help he may not regain consciousness."I swallowed hard.

We had to find her.

"And if she is the real queen, which is highly unlikely and pure speculation on our part, then she can hone her skills and return to retake her kingdom with the support of the Elders."

"Come what may, we bring Sienna home."

I appreciated her positivity.

It made up for my complete lack.

CHAPTER 29

P
ACING
THE
PATTERNED
CARPET
OF
H
ORNER
'
S
office, I scowled and said, "How long does it take to get clearance?"

He shook his grayed head as if I was an errant child impatient for a reward. "It takes as long as it takes. We have to wait for the Elders to decide. But don't worry, Kai. I believe it's merely a formality. They will grant you the clearance."

There was a cadence to his speech that I hadn't yet identified, and it bugged me. But his certainty was reassuring and I stopped pacing and faced him, folding my arms tightly.

"Sure, it's just a formality. But I can't afford the time it's taking."

I was grumbling but I didn't care. Horner had wanted me on his Elite team, even made me a senior agent, so he had to put up with me.
 

I'd arrived forty minutes ago and considering I'd been waiting for clearance for thirty minutes, my mind kept entertaining every possible scenario that involved me turning up late for something.

Late to save Sienna, late to save Logan.

Somewhere in the pit of my stomach a sense of anxiety bubbled, filling my gut and making me sick enough that bile rose in my throat.

The phone rang, the sound shrill and sharp enough to cut ice. And eardrums.

I jumped, unable to control my response. I glanced up quickly at Horner, hoping he hadn't seen my reaction.
 

Horner's attention was on his tablet, and he'd already lifted his phone from its ancient cradle. The man insisted on using a telephone that harked back to a time when telegraphs had only just gone out of fashion.

He spoke a few words - a language that was foreign to me, yet offered me strange comfort. His tone was respectful, his expression so neutral that I had no idea whether the council had approved or not.

I was antsy, wanted to demand the result, but I forced myself to wait.

Horner thanked the caller, then slowly placed the phone back onto the cradle with a soft click. He leaned back in the chair and rested his elbows on the armrest, pyramiding his fingers.

"They have approved," he said, a small smile on his lips. I guess he had the right to be self-satisfied.

I took a couple steps forward and sat in one of the chairs in front of him. It suited the décor of the place, one of two wingback chairs, in a striped cream and brown fabric, another throwback to an era long passed. To say it was comfortable, was a bit of a stretch, but I wasn't here to get comfortable.

"So?" I raised an eyebrow. My arms were folded and the finger of one hand tapped steadily against my arm. Horner's eyes settled on the moving finger, then shifted to watch my face.

Then he cleared his throat. "Access to Dracys has always been limited. Free travel across the Veil into the lands has never been allowed, not by the Dracyr and not by the Supreme High Council. As of now, there are only three entrances to Dracys. One of those locations is within the lighthouse on the shore of Sand Beach."

I stiffened and stared at Horner, openmouthed. "We were so close and we had no idea." Then I paused, eyes narrowed. "They were protecting the access to Dracys. But were they also protecting the girl? Or was that only a coincidence?" The questions flowed and I suspected that most of the answers would be mere conjecture.

Horner shrugged but he didn't change his contemplative position. "It could be either one of those. But for security purposes you need to assume the worst."

Sounds ominous.

"So you're going to give me access to that portal?" I asked, questioning the wisdom of accessing Dracys from a location in which I'd almost been killed.

He was shaking his head. "The Elders don't believe it is in anyone's interest to have you risk your life accessing that particular portal." He got to his feet, sending the armchair swiveling behind him.

Horner walked to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on the left wall. The shelving was ornate, mahogany with a glossy veneer that made it look more ancient than his telephone.

He opened one of the drawers and retrieved a small black box. Returning, he placed it carefully in front of me.

I reached for it, opening the box just as carefully. Inside, lay a carved bronze disk. A portal key not much different to the one I'd had fashioned for me by the High Priestess of the Deathtalkers to give me access to the Graylands.

I frowned, lifting the key from the silk-lined box. "Doesn't this need blood to allow the bearer to move through the Veil?"

I knew because Lady Kira had bled me to give life to the portal key. Keys were created specific to one person only.

Horner looked at the key as I weighed it in the palm of my hand. "Most keys are fashioned that way. But there was a time, centuries ago, when the keys were more flexible."

Flexible? "You mean the bearers could change?"

Horner nodded then lifted the silk fabric that covered the base of the box. Beneath lay a silver knife, its blade deadly sharp, and I knew. "The keys could be recoded with the blood of the new bearer?"