WingSpan (Taken on the Wing Book 1) (16 page)

More lamps circle the room but they contain no flame. Instead they glow with a pearly shimmer like fire but cooler. The outline of several smaller openings is visible behind the statues but it’s too dark to tell if they are tunnels or other rooms. Or even impressions in the uneven stone. On either side of the statues a pair of large angels rests on one knee, their attention completely on Shadow.

A dozen feet away Torrent pulls her to a stop and drops to one knee forcing Shadow down with him. Before she knows it she’s on all fours, still panting from the uphill run.

“My Sire Sher, my Dame Arden,” Torrent announces. “Before you is the traitor Shadow. I demand justice. The traitor called me a liar among other things and assaulted me. Her marks are plainly visible.”

Sher and Arden? Get her before Arden before Torrent gets her before Sher, Feather said. But now it’s both of them. And how can she plead to Arden and keep Talon’s sister out of trouble?

And why am I more concerned about Feather than I am about myself?

Shadow watches the three openings behind the statues but nobody comes out.

“What justice do you seek, son?”

As Shadow focuses on the statue the voice came from, the other starts to move. Both have very human heads as their beaks disappear and they straighten up.

“Oh, shit,” she gasps as the last of her ‘holding it together’ fails. She crawls away from the changing statues and imagines the sound of grinding stone drowns out her own nonsense cries, the only real sounds in the room.

Her captor grabs for her neck again but Shadow turns on her back, reacting instinctively to his neck trick now that she knows what follows. She has to get away and can’t when she’s lying peacefully at his feet. Torrent drops a knee to her stomach and easily pins her hands above her head.

“The rogue is wild,” he exclaims. “Disrespectful. I demand she be tossed from the eyrie to the rocks below and denied the honours that would free her spirit.”

“No!” Shadow screeches as she gets air in her lungs. Torrent flips her to her stomach and holds her down, forcing her face into the stone floor. Blinding lights flash inside her eyes matching the shooting pain in her shoulders. He doesn’t use his hand to weaken her as if he needs her resistance to prove his point.

“The only remedy to my humiliation is to bring shame to her eyrie and her sire!”

“Please, Arden,” Shadow begs as Torrent forces air from her lungs again. “Help me, please.”

Shadow submits to Torrent’s hold, exhausted and trembling on the ground, and strains to see the statues. Two angels stand before the chairs. Both look to be in their sixties and wear the same short trousers as Torrent. The female’s shirt appears to be of pure gold. Sleeveless, it dangles down over the waist of her pants. She sparkles in the strange lamp light like it’s laden with jewels.

“Please, please, please, Arden,” Shadow begs, eyes stinging with tears that seem to have dried in place. “I’m not an angel and if you just tell me what I did wrong I swear I won’t do it again.”

“Silence!”

Shadow cries out as Torrent grinds his knee into her back.

“She’s mated to the rogue who harboured her after her crime!”

“She’s terrified and confused,” Arden corrects and Shadow watches as she takes Sher’s elbow. He looks as pissed as Torrent but holds his tongue. “What exactly happened?”

“Sire,” Torrent sounds like he’s breathing hard to hold Shadow down but he shouldn’t be. She’s spent. “I was discussing a position in my guard with her mate when she burst from his home and accused me of lying. Before we knew it she slashed me and her mate hauled her away. I went after her but she cast a barrier, preventing me from entering.”

“She what?” Sher can’t hide his surprise. Shadow knows part of Torrent’s story is a lie like the night at Talon’s but it’s better to keep quiet. Calling him out is what got her in this mess in the first place.

“Magic,” Arden breathes. “You know what this means, Torrent. She’s royal.”

“It’s inexcusable!” he shouts and Sher hisses, silencing him.

In following quiet, the frantic steps of another angel come rushing through the tunnel. Shadow twists as far as she can to see a young female with wild red hair pause, eyes locking with hers for only a moment before she takes a few steps away and drops to one knee facing Sher and Arden.

“Child, approach,” Arden says about as softly as Sher’s annoyed growl.

The girl stands with her head lowered and passes Arden a note. She scans it and shows it to Sher.

“We will see him immediately of course,” Sher announces. “Escort him to this chamber, Cloud.”

“Sire,” the girl scuttles off, not taking her eyes from Shadow.

“Your matter will wait, Torrent. Sire Lev has urgent business.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Child, come,” Arden offers, her hand extended to Shadow.

Torrent’s complaints are audible but he releases Shadow. Once at Arden’s side the older angel takes her elbow.

“Bravery,” Arden whispers and Shadow looks at her in surprise as her courage begins to return: only in bits and pieces but enough to hope. She’s desperate to believe that not all angels are bad because she likes this one; the only one with wings who’s treated her kindly. Feather said take her before Arden and it was Arden’s calm head that prevented Torrent and Sher from tossing her straight out to the rocks below the cave entrance.

It seems Arden is in control of the so-called trial since Torrent and Sher have deferred to her and not with indulgence. It’s with genuine respect and Shadow hopes that respect will see Arden’s kindness prevail.

Torrent takes position with the two guards near Sher. His very presence still frightens Shadow and she steps into Arden, nearly pushing her over. She’s as tall as Talon and pulls her wings closed about them, partially hiding Shadow from Torrent. Up close Arden’s cool metal garment is as soft as silk. Shadow wants to imagine the scent of bird seed but Arden simply smells sweet, like walking through the cosmetics section of a giant department store.

The sound of approaching footsteps reaches them and Arden turns to face the tunnel. The girl Cloud rushes out and immediately kneels before Arden. No boys are allowed on this side of the room it seems and Shadow’s mind races as it registers the guards on this side are female. Shadow watches the girl with interest, nervous that she’s so close. She’s a teen, maybe all of fifteen years old but she’s much taller than Shadow. Her unruly hair reminds Shadow so much of her brother’s. Cloud stares, just as open mouth curious of Shadow, until both realize they’re doing the same thing and look away.

A bustle of activity at the tunnel opening gets Shadow’s attention and she collapses weakly into Arden, her senses slammed by what she sees.

“Terry,” Shadow whispers followed by an out of control “unh, unh, unh” as she tries to keep from deflating completely. Arden holds her up like she weighs nothing.

The big angel who strides in is the image of her dead brother armoured in a black leather vest, trousers, wrist bracers and gloves and the handles of a pair of crossed swords extend past his shoulders. Jesus, he still wears army boots. He holds his enormous wings tight to his body like shields and his shoulder length blonde hair is just as she recalls when he remembered to take care of it. He doesn’t glance at Shadow but she barely notices as her stomach goes cold at the sight of the angel with him. The good angel, the very same one who’d knelt by Terry’s broken body on the hot worn pavement two and a half years earlier.

He does look at Shadow, long black hair draped past his shoulders. His armour is the same as Terry’s with the exception of his choice in weapons; daggers at his waist and one bound to his upper arm.

“I’m dead,” she states certain she must be. Terry and the good angel have come to bargain with the bad angels for Shadow.

“Sshhh,” Arden whispers.

Shadow tries to take a step toward Terry but Arden’s embrace tightens.

“Sire Sher, Dame Arden,” her brother says as he bows first to Sher then to Arden. The good angel to his right drops to one knee and rests his hands on the other. “My gratitude for your reception on such short notice.”

“Sire Lev,” is the response. “It is always an honour.”

Lev? What the hell is going on?
Shadow looks more closely at the big blonde angel. He appears to be a man in his mid forties, not the young twenty-eight-year-old she saw for the last time during the moments which changed her life forever. The good angel looks her way again and Shadow claims the bravery granted by Arden’s touch and stares until he looks away.

“My eyrie has suffered a tragedy,” Lev continues. “The events of that day led to a great deception in the face of my friends and further deep loss for my family. In the past two weeks the last of all I hold dear has disappeared. I have come to admit my deception and to take the difficult course of humbling myself before you by asking for your help.”

“Lev,” Arden speaks. “Any choice you have made to protect the remnants of your people requires no justification. You need only tell us what must be done for our friends and our action will not waver until it is finished.”

“Indeed, my friend,” Sher agrees and Lev bows again. “You have always done the same for us.”

“Thirty years ago my eyrie was attacked by a band of rogues in strength and number never seen before. Dame Treasure was heavy with our children and her protective magic was weak. They gained entry and came for her first.”

“My dear friend,” Arden exclaims. “The extent of your loss was as terrible as we’d feared.”

Lev continues, his voice thickening with grief; a sound Shadow knows all too well. She pictures the looseness in his throat and feels the shaking of his diaphragm which make him speak more slowly than necessary lest he give in to the tremors inside.

“Many gryphons died defending her as we made our escape,” Lev pauses. Shadow looks at the wings and tails and knows these aren’t angels at all. Impossibly scary as bad angels seem however she’s hesitant to embrace imaginary beings. On some level she believes angels are real and is unwilling to think Terry didn’t go to heaven so she dismisses the word.

“We took shelter in the forest miles from the eyrie. Treasure bore my young before she passed from her injuries. To protect them from further danger from the rogue army they were placed in the human foster care system and raised without knowledge of their past.

“When my son Condor turned six I introduced myself and began his education in the ways of the gryphon.”

“And the sibling?” Sher asks.

“True to her mother’s bloodline she shows no sign of taking wing these thirty years,” Lev explains. “She does not know of us.

“Then three summers ago, Condor was killed in a very human accident.”

Arden’s arms tighten around Shadow. Lev’s voice is too much and she turns to Arden, hiding in her shoulder. Again the room is quiet like there’s nothing that can be said which is in any way sufficient.

“Last summer my daughter was seen in the company of a rogue,” Lev looks harshly at the angel at his side. “The Master of my guard knows this rogue and felt him worthy of her and did not intervene. I have yet to decide if his actions warrant punishment or praise. It was believed they bonded and the rogue confirmed this a few weeks ago.

“Then she disappeared.

“The rogue is linked to your great eyrie and I hoped my search for answers could begin here.”

So much of Lev’s story tears at Shadow’s heart. So much of it could be told about her own life.

“Without hesitation,” Sher announces. “Point us in the right direction and we will begin now.”

Shadow turns to Lev. She’s completely drawn into his story and feels the urge to assist as well.

“Then, my friend,” Lev holds a hand to Shadow, acknowledging her for the first time. “You will explain how she comes to be in your chamber, dirty and battered, in the garb of a prisoner.”

As Arden lets Shadow go all eyes turn in her direction. Fine dust from the floor covers her black clothes and she’s embarrassed to be so dirty in front of everyone. She takes a step back to hide behind Arden but finds herself alone. Arden has moved to Sher’s side leaving Shadow by herself and the focus of attention. Panicking, she tries to wipe the clothes clean.

He’s telling the truth,
Shadow knows this as sure as she knew Torrent was lying and takes a step to Lev. The big man smiles and nods in her direction.