Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (16 page)

I dropped the topic with a
shrug.

Two tigers, a jaguar and a lion walked
into the courtyard and came to stand in front of Jasper.

He explained everything to them as he
had to the other three. Again, he had to dismiss them.

“You know,” I said, grinning at him. “I
must admit that this captain thing is pretty alluring!”

He laughed. “Well, had I known that, I
would have mentioned something earlier.”

I took a quick look around to make sure
no one was watching. I pushed him onto the grass and sat on him,
kissing him tenderly.

With a small scream I jumped up,
swatting at something that had landed on my shoulder.

“Hayden, stop!” Jasper was laughing so
hard he had tears in his eyes. I glared at him. “It’s just one of
the blue birds!”

The bird came back and landed on
Jasper’s knee. It cocked its head at me and back to
Jasper.

“Alright, fine then. You told me
so.”

I laughed. It was the bird from my
first day here. The one who had told Jasper we must have been
fated. I smiled at the memory until I noticed that Jasper was
frowning. He was listening intently to the bird, nodding
slowly.

“I will let them know,” he
stated.

The bird chirped.

“After tomorrow. We are all meeting
here before we leave.”

She bobbed her head then chirped
again.

“She wants to know if she can stay with
you tomorrow.”

“Sure. Why not.” I smiled then wondered
what Tiny was going to think of the idea. The little tairat was out
hunting for her lunch.

She flew up, landed on my shoulder,
gave me a peck on the cheek and flew away.

Jasper shook his head. “Even the birds
can’t help themselves.”

“What was she telling you?”

“I’m afraid we are about to lose a
significant part of our army. But let’s worry about that
later.”

“What should we do now?”

“Well, I was quite enjoying myself
before the bird interrupted us,” he grinned at me. He took my hand
and started leading me towards Tara’s house.

Just then, the dark clouds that had
been threatening all day let loose a sheet of rain.

Jasper started running, dragging me
along with him, laughing. By the time we got to Tara’s house we
were soaked right through.

Tara was in the kitchen with Ben. I
gave a quick wave as we laughed our way to our room. Jasper helped
me pull my swords off and put them on the desk.

I turned and had to suck in a breath.
His white tunic was clinging to his body, his blue eyes bright. He
sprayed water over everything as he shook his head. His dark curls
stuck out everywhere, a couple of them down over his eyes. I walked
over and brushed them away from his face.

Jasper took my hand in his and placed
it over his heart. He held it there as he pulled me closer to him.
His lips touched mine softly.

I caught my breath at the look in his
eyes when he stopped to look at me. His need for me, his love for
me was so strong, so pure.

“I love you,” I whispered and hoped he
knew how much. “No matter what happens on that ridge, I wouldn’t
trade the last three weeks for anything.”

I stood on my tip toes and kissed him
just as softly. He moved his lips along my jaw line, down my neck.
I felt him smile as he muttered, “I love you more.”

We took our time, making sure every
moment, every touch, lasted. We missed lunch. And
supper.

*****

I woke up screaming. Jasper had his
arms around me in a flash

“Shush, Hayden. It’s ok. I’m right
here.” He brushed my hair back from my face. “What was
it?”

I couldn’t talk. All I could see over
and over was a tiger falling to the ground in front of me, impaled
by two arrows, as a bailau dragged me away.

I buried my face into his chest,
sobbing.

“Shush...” Jasper lay down, holding me
tightly to him. He ran his fingers through my hair. “It will be
ok.”

I cried myself back to
sleep.

*****

When he asked her about the dream the
next morning, all she could manage was a new wave of tears. She
leaned against him and he rubbed her back. It was taking everything
he had to push down her fear, to keep calm.

“You have to leave,” she
whispered.

He looked down at her in shock. “You
saw me leaving you? You’re wrong! There is no way that I would
leave you!”

Hayden shook her head. “I mean that I
want you to leave. You can’t stay here.” Another sob shook
her.

“I will not!” He was yelling. Her eyes
flew open. This was the first time he had lost his temper around
her. “I don’t care what you saw! I am not leaving! The only way I
am leaving is if you are coming with me!”

Hayden completely broke
down.

It was strange to be feeling two
different things. He was annoyed and angry that she should even
suggest such a thing. And yet, right along with that, he was
feeling her fear, her desperation.

He took a deep breath and composed
himself. “Hayden,” he whispered into her hair. “Whatever it was you
saw, you know it’s not set in stone. We’ll find a way to change
it.”

She nodded into his chest. “You have to
promise me something.”

He looked down at her,
unsure.

“You have to promise me that when the
bailau grabs me you won’t try to save me.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Jasper, please. I don’t know what
happens after that, but if you die trying to save me...”

“What if I can save you? There has to
be a way.”

“You can’t. You don’t. Jasper, I
promise that I will find a way to get away from it. But you won’t
do any good coming after me. I can’t lose you any more than you can
lose me.” She looked into his eyes, pleading. “Please. I need you
to stay alive.”

He looked back at her and was lost in a
sea of green. Finally, he nodded.

*****

Out in the courtyard everyone waited
for us. As we walked over to where our original little group was
standing, I looked around in amazement. There were now about twenty
Scannoves, fifty Wedelves, and at least that many
Namaels.

Everyone looked at us expectantly. The
little blue bird landed on my shoulder. Tiny peeked around my head
to have a look at her then settle back down.

Jasper looked amazing as he stood on a
bench so everybody could see him. He was so confident.

“First and foremost,” he addressed the
group. “We would like to thank everyone for volunteering to help.”
He stopped and frowned slightly. “Now before we go on any further I
have been informed that I must order my men to return to the
castle.”

A murmur spread through the crowd and
everyone looked over to their neighbor.

He continued. “Queen Melana is ordering
us to leave and go back to help reinforce the keep.”

My head snapped up at the word
“us”.

Jasper waited patiently until the noise
had died down. “And so that is what I am doing now. Men, though we
appreciate your offer to help, you are to head back to the
keep.”

The blond boy, he looked about
nineteen, from the first group to arrive spoke up. “What will you
be doing, captain?”

“I’ll be staying.”

Everyone was silent so Jasper could
explain himself. “I am needed here. Whether Hayden is here or not,
the dogs are coming. We can’t leave the Wedelves to fight by
themselves.

I will not ask any of you to disobey an
order from the queen. You are free to do as you wish.”

A group of five bowed to him and
left.

The blond looked at his friends and
back at Jasper. “I’m staying sir.”

Jasper nodded to him as he made his way
to the bench. “Thank you, Brice.”

Brice turned towards the crowd. “I can
only speak for myself on this, but I will stay with the captain.”
He looked sideways, a bit embarrassed. “Jasper has always put us,
his men, first. He has changed orders and plans to make sure that
most of us would get home to our families. It is a rare occasion
where we have been defeated. If he feels that this is the right
thing to do, then I trust his judgment.” He stepped down and joined
his group.

I looked up at Jasper, the love and
pride I had for him overwhelming me. Standing in front of us were
men that had been born to obey. Yet somehow, they were able to
ignore an order because of the kind of man Jasper was.

He looked down at the group in
amazement as only four more of his men bowed and left.

He addressed the whole group once more.
“We will head out in an hour to set up on the ridge. Roben will
explain our strategy to the rest of the Wedelves, Shanus will lead
the Scannoves. Any opinions or ideas are appreciated.” He paused.
“Again. Thank you.”

He stepped off the bench and I threw my
arms around him, not caring that a lot of people were
watching.

“You, my dear, are the one who is
amazing!” I kissed him.

He blushed.

“Do you realize how many of those men
just broke their bonds with the queen so that they could stay with
you?”

He shook his head in wonder. “I don’t
understand it.” He looked down and kissed me. “Though I am fairly
sure a lot of this has to do with you.”

When everyone had made it back into the
courtyard, we set off on our trek deeper into the Wedelven Woods
towards the ridge. There was a bit of chatter, but for the most
part everyone was thinking about what was coming up.

I gave Dodge a pat on the neck from in
the saddle.

“Did I tell you that to control the
colors, I think of you?”

He shook his head.

“I want you to promise me you won’t do
anything stupid tomorrow. I’ll need you around after this, you
know.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking.

He blew out of his nose and nodded his
head.

“He said he’ll promise if you promise
the same,” Prense translated from a few horse lengths behind
us.

“I promise.”

I looked back towards her. “Do you know
anything about a stone that Dodge is supposed to find? Fillian and
Jasper mentioned something about it, but with everything happening,
I never got a chance to ask again.”

She nodded and trotted up beside us.
“Dodge comes from a herd of horses called the Winged Ones. They are
sort of like the Queen’s personal herd. They are born regular
horses and stay that way until the age of three. At that point,
they set off on their stone quest. For some of them it can take
years and because they must go to the Northern Regions, where the
dragons live, there is a large number of them that never make it
back.”

“So they have to find a
stone?”

She nodded. “It depends on the horse.
It can be a ruby, a opal, a garnet, an emerald. Each horse is
different. Once they find their stone they grow their wings and are
able to talk mentally with anyone they choose. At that point, they
join the Queen’s guard.”

I looked down at Dodge, amazed. “You
were supposed to go find your stone seven years ago! Why in the
world didn’t you go?”

“He says keeping you safe is more
important.”

Dodge snorted. “That his stone can
wait.”

“How about this, buddy. How about we
both stay alive tomorrow and when everything is settled down, I’ll
get my magic up to par and we’ll go stone hunting
together.”

He nodded.

A little way ahead of us the ridge
towered. Fear tried to take over as thoughts of tomorrow filled my
head. I looked around for Jasper and relaxed at the sight of him in
his tiger form trotting beside Zane the panther.

He seemed to sense I was looking at him
and glanced back. He slowed to a walk so we could catch up to him.
Jasper shifted mid stride and hopped on behind me on
Dodge.

“Show off,” I teased as I leaned back
into him. “When we first met, you always hid to shift. How
come?”

He laughed. “I thought I was protecting
your fragile mental state.”

I looked back and up at him. “Well, I
suppose I must have looked pretty close to a break down those first
few hours.”

“And now look at you.” He gazed into my
eyes and leaned down to kiss me.

For the next half hour I relaxed
against him, enjoying the feel of his arms around me.

Once we arrived at the ridge, everyone
gathered around as Ben, Jasper, and Shanus went through their
defense strategies.

The Wedelves were to get into the trees
and be ready to take out the first attack with their bows and
arrows. The Namaels were to face where the attack was coming from
and be ready to engage should anyone escape the archers. The
Scannoves were to watch our backs.