The Silver Siren (30 page)

It was a silent battle of
wills, and the moment lasted so long that I was left with no doubt
in my mind that in the last few days Fenri had kissed Syrani.
Clearly, she had given him her heart in return. Syrani squared her
shoulders and in silence communicated:
Her
or me
.

Fenri stepped forward and said, “I
have to.”

A trickle of apprehension ran through
my body.

A warning.

I tried to call out to caution Fenri,
but it was too late.

As soon as he reached out to grab
Siobhan’s pale arm to help her up, he started to gasp for breath.
His hand went to his chest and he fell to his knees in
pain.

“
No!” I screamed and burst
forward to confront Siobhan. She whirled on me and her face lit up
in recognition. Her hand pointed at me and her finger
beckoned.

Syrani screamed and ran to Fenri as he
collapsed. Her hands wrapped around him possessively and her hands
glowed as she sent a healing touch through him, but he still wasn’t
breathing. I could hear Syrani’s cries for help and I had no
choice. If Syrani had access to power, then so did I.

I knew what Siobhan was doing to
Fenri, because I had done it enough times, but I wondered if she
had ever been attacked by a ticked off Siren herself.

Well, she was about to be. Walking
slowly, I stepped in front of Fenri, cutting off the view, and I
attacked her. Going for the pulsing light, I began to pull at her
essence, stealing her life. She choked and stared at me, her eyes
wide in fright. Attacking the very essence of either a Denai or a
Siren, I had learned, was not a quick attack. It was a slow
process, and the results—though devastating—took time. It was a
painful way to die, and I was inwardly suffering because I didn’t
have another option. It was the only way I knew to break the bond,
other than distance.

My cousin tried to cry out and she
grasped at her chest, her fingernails digging into her dirt-stained
shirt. Her eyelids began to flutter and I saw her head start to
bob, as she stopped her attack on Fenri. Then, and only then, I
released the pull on her soul.

I watched as Fenri started to breathe
again. Odin ran forward and pulled him out of the circle of
onlookers, out of range. Syrani stared at the empty spot that Fenri
had just vacated, her eyes glassy and filled with tears. When she
turned those blue eyes on my cousin, they became filled with
hate.

“
Siobhan, you don’t have
to hurt anyone. Especially Fenri. We’re your family.” I held my
hands up to her, showing her that I didn’t have a weapon. I watched
my cousin for signs of change, but that thread of power controlling
her was back, and thicker than before. Bearen came forward and
started to kneel in front of his niece. “Stay back,” I warned my
father. I tried to think of a way to immobilize her without hurting
her.

Siobhan started to laugh, a loud
cackling that chilled me to the bone. It continued to echo forth
out of her frail body. My cousin was eerily close to
breaking.

A large rock came out of nowhere and
wacked Siobhan on the back of the head. She fell face first into
the dirt, unconscious. At first I was worried that the rock had
killed her, but I saw that it had crumpled into many tiny pieces
upon impact. It was a soft blow, not a deathblow. Meant to
incapacitate.

I looked over my shoulder accusingly
at Syrani who stood next to me. She shrugged her shoulders. Syrani
kneeled on the ground and began to run her hands back and forth
along the cool earth, as if she were communicating with it. I could
see a slight glow as she sent little pulses of power through the
ground and waited.

Seconds later, she jumped up from the
ground and looked to Bearen. “The girl was right. They’re
coming.”

Chapter 29

“
Who’s coming?” Bearen growled out. “Sinnendor’s
Elite?”

Syrani shook her head and looked at
me, her eyes filled with uncertainty. I didn’t wait for her to
answer. I reached out like Syrani had but—where she used the earth
to search—I went high. I pushed my senses out toward the thread of
power connected to Siobhan and followed it back. It took a few
minutes of scanning, searching, even traveling at impossible speeds
and it was dizzying. The farther away I searched, the blurrier the
vision became.

I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. There
were many blurred and shadow beings. Horses, hundreds of horses,
weapons, swords—and they were on the move. It was easy to doubt
what I was seeing, and I could understand Syrani’s hesitancy in
speaking out. It was a very large army and they were traveling in
the night. I felt like I was zooming in and out of focus as I tried
to find the anchor, the person controlling my cousin.

Using my sight to search was taxing
and it left me vulnerable to my surroundings. I was barely aware of
people making plans around me. I knew that Syrani was watching me
intently, waiting for me to see what she had seen.

There! I saw a thread of purple like
the one used to control Gloria at Skyfell. I followed it to a rider
who sat silently off to the side of the army, focusing on a spot in
the distance. He was probably doing his best to reach Siobhan’s
consciousness, but since she was incapacitated, she couldn’t hear
his commands.

The rider was clearly frustrated,
pulling on the reigns of his horse, trying to keep him in check, as
the horse wanted to follow the hundreds of others moving in a
throng.

I was slightly confused by what I saw
through my sparse sight. More threads of shadow moved around the
camp. I blinked in surprise when I saw Narn scurry passed the man
on the horse. So he had lied and safely made it back to his
brethren. I realized what my moment of pity cost me. One more
soldier in the Septori army. I should have executed him on the
spot. But I couldn’t worry about him now. I needed to keep
searching.

I continued to scan and, most of
soldiers were humans, with quite a few bright beacons of light
symbolizing Denai. I had just about decided to stop my search when
another horseman came by and spoke to the power-focused
Denai.

“
So what? You lost track
of one. We’ve hundreds more to see us through. Focus on them and we
will soon see victory.”

The hooded rider shook his head. “I
can’t believe that one got so far away before I realized it. She
stopped just inside the border of Calandry. Perhaps I can keep her
there. We can get her before we cross over. She’s so much like her
cousin. Not someone we can afford to lose. Without her, I can’t
make more of the serum for our Denai.”

“
The Raven won’t be angry.
Not when your results these last few weeks have been impeccable.
Surely, there is room for a little error,” the other rider
spoke.

“
Impeccable? I failed time
and time again. Raven wanted another like her, and I gave provided
her—even sped up the process. But now I’ve lost her, even tethered
like the others. There’s something about these Sirens that doesn’t
like to be tamed. Blast! Why did it have to be that one to wander
off?”

“
It won’t matter. There
won’t be any more Sirens soon. Come, we must catch up with the
others. Either bring the girl back or release her.”

“
If she is harming our
mission, I need to cut her off, but I can’t reach her,” he said
through clenched teeth. “I had her. I found her. She was among a
large group of people, and I used her to attack them, but now?
She’s too far, I just get muddied pictures.”

My heart began to thud loudly in my
chest. My head pounded and spots marred my vision. The distance was
too far, and the Denai and I were both struggling with the sight.
If I found it this hard to see, he was finding it just as hard to
control from this distance. But it gave me answers. They hadn’t
meant for Siobhan to escape. It sounded like they were moving,
preparing to attack. Their pawn had just wandered off.

“
Cirrus, come. It’s time,”
the other rider reached out and touched the man’s shoulder. Part of
his hood slid down and I was greeted by the long bleach blond hair
of Adept Cirrus. A soft wail escaped with the revelation. It was a
deep, deep betrayal. But how deep exactly? Was the whole Adept
Council involved?

Cirrus growled. “As soon as I can
reach her again, I’ll destroy her.”

I backpedaled, pulling my conscious
back to me as fast as I could. But not before I heard Cirrus reply.
“Jay, remember not to use my name in public. It’s
Albatross.”

I snapped back into my body and I was
cold, freezing. I groaned inwardly and I felt my neck pop. My head
still pounding, I felt like I had been hit numerous times.
Something wet dripped from my nose. I reached up and pulled my hand
away. Blood smeared across the back of my hand.

Syrani came over and handed me a small
handkerchief. “You were scanning too long. Your conscious is not
used the toll it takes on the mind and body. You were able to see
longer than I could.” Her voice dropped off and her eyes flickered
to the ground and back up to me. I knew she wondered what I
saw.

“
I saw enough,” I
answered.

I used the small white cloth to wipe
at my nose and I studied her expression. I could tell from the
uncomfortable look on her face that she had recognized him as well.
After all, Syrani was Adept Cirrus’s niece.

“
I didn’t know, I’m still
in shock. I’m still…I don’t know. But you have to trust me, I
didn’t know.”

“
It’s okay, we’ve both
been betrayed by family.”

“
What do we do?” Syrani
whispered. Her posture dropped and she looked over to my father who
was organizing the men, getting everyone on horses, and moving
out.

He was furious. I could tell by the
way he carried his shoulders. “What did you see exactly?” I
asked.

“
An army larger than I’ve
ever seen, and they are heading this way,” she shivered. “What did
you see?”

“
I heard Cirrus discussing
their plans. It sounds like they are heading to Sinnendor. They
intend to wipe out all of the Sirens.”

“
Sirens?” she questioned.
“And you could hear them? I can only see them through vibrations. I
can’t actually hear anything, but I recognized my uncle’s
horse.”

I shook my head and waved my hands.
“Long story, but in short, if Siobhan wakes up, she’s dead,” I
finished just as Bearen overheard my last sentence.

“
She tried to kill Fenri.
She’s one of them now,” Bearen said.

“
No,” I corrected. “She’s
one of us and she’s being manipulated. If we can keep her from
coming to long enough, we might be able to save her. But Syrani’s
correct. We have to leave. They’re coming.”

“
Whoever it is,” Bearen’s
voice rose in frustration, “we can handle them.”

I shook my head and watched as Syrani
paled at the thought of fighting her own kin. “No, it’s an army.
Larger than any of us could imagine, and we are right in their
path.”

“
Daughter! Speak clearly
now, for your constant dancing around the answers is starting to
give my brain blisters. I can’t keep up.” Bearen warned.

“
It’s the Septori with an
army of Denai, and they are heading toward Sinnendor. So choose now
father, whose side you are on, because we are standing in the
middle of the battlefield. You said you wanted to go after the
Septori, a chance to bring peace.”

Bearen looked at me stunned, his mouth
dropped open as he processed what I asked of him. Before he could
say anything I continued, “But whatever side you choose, I’m taking
my cousin back to Sinnendor. There might be my only chance at
saving her.”

“
Their Elite attacked our
village!” He pointed his finger into the night back toward
Sinnendor.

“
And you’ve been murdering
their messengers for years. I think you two are even now. But I
promised myself that I would stop the Septori from hurting anyone
anymore ever again. They are going to try and wipe out our kind,
using Denai as pawns to do it. And they are using my blood to do
it. They must be stopped at all costs. Even if it means siding with
our enemy.”

Odin had come alongside us during this
exchange and had listened quietly as Bearen and I discussed our
plans. He finally reached up to scratch his head and raised his
hands up playfully. “Uh…you know, Bearen, what they say about
enemies.”

Bearen’s beaded eyes snapped to glare
at Odin, “What… the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

“
No,” he scoffed. “When my
enemies fight, I raid their coffers.”

Something came up behind me and Syrani
made a small squeak. I turned around and was surprised by a very
large horse. I felt my whole body relax as I wrapped my arms around
Faraway. He was dusty, dirty, and smelled of horse
sweat.

You came,
I sighed and leaned my full weight upon
him.

You needed
me
.

I need Kael, and
Joss,
I whispered into his mane.
I can’t do this without them. I can’t fight the
Septori without them. Where are they? Why haven’t they returned? Do
you think Kael was captured and among the…
I started to lose myself in my own fear and
self-doubt.