Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (8 page)

The two of them looked at each other for a
moment before heading off in opposite directions.

Hayden chuckled. “I think those two are so
sweet together.”

“They’re together?”

She tilted her head back and raised an
eyebrow at him. “Come on now. Didn’t you see the way she looked at
him? And when was the last time you saw a shifter with that look on
his face every time he sees a certain someone?”

He chuckled. “Zane.”

She smiled. “And Luke, and Alex, and
you.”

“Me?” He feigned ignorance. “Who do I look at
like that?”

She kissed his cheek. “No one important.”

He fixed the blankets under them and lay them
down. “You mean there could never be anyone more important. Now, go
back to sleep. We have three more days to go and we should be
there.” They had made great time the past two days.

“Alright. Bunna soit, Hun.”

“Bunna soit, Shlova.”

*****

“Don’t be scared. Just go for the kill.”
Matthew smiled at Emelly. “I’ll stop it before you get to me.”

She blushed and nodded then looked over to
me. “Can you show me again?”

“Sure thing.” I smiled reassuringly. “Don’t
worry. It took me a while to get it, too.” I crouched down and
waited as Jasper grinned at me playfully.

“Ready, Shlova?”

I grinned back. “Bring it on.”

We had been taking a half hour every time we
stopped for a meal to help Emelly, William, and Steven with their
self defense skills. Though Steven had been raised by Namaels, his
adopted parents were from a quiet community and hadn’t thought to
teach him much to do with fighting. He was, however, very accurate
with a bow and arrow. William’s fighting experience was limited to
what he had managed to teach himself in the nine months he had been
searching for me.

Jasper reached for my right shoulder. I
ducked lower and spun away from him. He grabbed for my tunic and
spun with me. I pushed off of him, tucked and rolled then came up
on one knee. By then he was already on top of me. I thrust my
dagger up as I stood, aiming under his breast bone. He stopped
short, the tip of my dagger pressing into his tunic. I looked up
and our eyes locked. I had to remind myself to breathe. He smiled,
gently pushed my arm down and kissed me softly.

“Good job.”

I grinned. “Thanks.” I turned to Emelly. “The
trick is to stay just out of reach and then go for the kill when
they think you’ll be going in the opposite direction. Try not to
look where you’re going or where you’re aiming.”

She nodded.

“Alright. Let’s give it a try. Now, notice
how Hayden didn’t slow her strike at all? You have to stab as if
you mean it. If you get in the habit of holding back in practice
you’ll end up doing it out of habit in a real fight. That will get
you killed. If something happens that you do get me, Hayden’s right
here and she can fix me up.” Matthew smiled as Emelly paled at the
thought of actually stabbing him. “Now, I’m going to come at you.
You had better try to kill me.”

He took two long strides toward her and
stopped short, his green eyes wide. Emelly’s own eyes were mirrors
of his. She dropped her dagger and scrambled back a few steps. I
burst out laughing.

“Looks like she got you there, Matthew,”
chuckled Jasper.

Matthew smiled and looked down. “Damn. I hate
sewing.” He looked at Emelly and his gaze softened. “Hey, it’s
alright. That was excellent.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Look,” he said as he lifted up his shirt.
“You barely got me.” The tip of the dagger had barely broken the
skin just above his belly button. He bent down, picked up his
dagger and stuck it back into his belt. “Emelly, look at me.”

He tilted her face up when she didn’t. “Em.”
He brushed the bangs out of her eyes which she finally opened. He
gazed at her for a moment before lowering his head. He hesitated
for a fraction of a second before touching her lips with his. The
kiss was soft and quick and I could see it took a lot of effort to
pull away when he did. He placed his forehead against hers.

“Em,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m not going
to tell you I know how you feel. I was brought up fighting. I’ve
been killing in battle all my life. I’m not saying I enjoy it, mind
you. I’d rather not have to do it.” He took a deep breath. “What I
will tell you, well…” His hands moved to cradle her face. “You’re
starting to mean a lot to me, Em. I need you to learn this so that
nothing will happen to you.” He pulled back and looked searchingly
into her eyes. “Please.”

She gave a small nod before closing the short
distance between their faces. This kiss was just as soft and quick
as the first yet held the promise of better things to come.

I squeezed Jasper’s hand. “See?” I pushed my
hip into him playfully. “Together.”

He smiled at me. “I didn’t argue with you
about it.”

Emelly looked at us and blushed. Matthew
gazed down at her and I knew by the look in his eyes he had lied to
her. She wasn’t starting to mean a lot to him; she already meant
the world to him. It didn’t matter if she learned how to fight or
not, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her if he could help
it. Of course, that meant he would put himself in danger to save
her if it was necessary and I didn’t want that. I tossed her my
dagger.

“Here. Try mine. It’s smaller than Matthew’s
and should be easier to handle.” I sat down on the ground and
Jasper settled himself behind me. Matthew and Emelly moved a little
farther away to work on her moves.

Jasper chuckled.

“What?” I hadn’t seen anything funny.

“Jealous?”

“What?” I looked back at him.

“Are you jealous of Emelly?”

“What are you talking about? You’re nuts, you
know that. Of course I’m not jealous. I happen to be very happy for
Matthew. He’s thirty now and has never fated to anyone which means
he probably won’t. He’s a great guy and he is precisely the kind of
man Emelly needs. He’s strong, brave, and loyal to a fault. And
have you seen them together? They’re great for each other.”

“I felt you, Shlova. You were sad to have him
leave.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Not like that. I
was just thinking that he will do anything to keep her alive and in
doing so will put himself in more danger than necessary. I thought
of him getting killed and that was why I was sad.” I looked back at
him and kissed his cheek. “How could I be jealous of anyone when I
have you?”

He smiled. His gaze moved past me and I
turned to see what he was looking at. We both started laughing.

“Looks like she got you again, Matthew!” I
nodded approvingly. “Great job, Emelly.” It seemed that now that
she had made up her mind to learn and gotten over her fear of
stabbing Matthew, shy little Emelly was going to be a quick
study.

Our little group started getting ready to
move again.

Hayden!

I looked up and saw Dodge swooping down
toward us at an unbelievable speed.

“Dodge! Slow down!”

Rainen looked up in time to see my horse come
crashing into the ground just a few feet away from her. Her eyes
widened as she gazed into the sky.

“Hayden! Shield!”

I threw my shield out to cover everyone who
was closest to me. I felt my energy touch Rainen’s and I glanced at
her before looking up to see what had made the screeching sound in
the sky. My first thought was about dropping my shield and to
welcome the dragon flying over us. My second thought was that this
was no dragon. The creature in question had to be to same size as
Faren, the fire dragon I was bonded to, who was about thirty feet
long. Well, the same length as Faren. Whatever this was it was
lacking the bulk of a dragon. It looked more like a snake with
wings and ten sets of legs. It was covered from head to tail in
oily looking brown feathers.

I felt the push of magic come from up above
and I pushed against it with my own. The energy receded as the
creature flew past us. I started to pull back my shield and felt
Rainen doing the same. The screeching sound came again. Rainen
swore under her breath.

“We have to combine, Hayden. That first one
was just a test. Be ready.” She frowned. “I don’t understand why
it’s coming back but I have a feeling this is going to hurt.”

Everyone moved closer together and Rainen and
I held hands. The thing in the sky was getting closer.

“Now!” Both of us pushed our shields as hard
as we could and held them there. The furry snake came closer. I
felt its magic push against ours and retreat. Without warning, a
magic nudge so strong it felt like thunder rumbling against our
shields hit. I heard Rainen cry out and concentrated on the magic.
It pulled back ever so slightly and hit again. I fell to my knees.
My head was pounding and every muscle in my body was tense. I
closed my eyes.

“Rainen, push!”

I felt her gather herself and pushed my
shield up at the same time as hers. All I could hear was the blood
rushing in my veins and my heart beating in my chest. I focused on
the shields, pulled Rainen’s into mine and pushed as hard as I
could. I looked up in time to see the creature fly off course as
our energy knocked its own back to it. It shook its head and came
back toward us.

I looked at Rainen who was breathing just as
hard as I was. I stood shakily.

“What kills it?”

“I don’t know. They usually give up if they
sense you have any magic at all.”

I looked around but no one seemed to know. I
pulled the red waves in front of me. “It’s my experience that most
things will burn.”

She nodded and pulled her reds.

“On three, throw your deepest red as hard as
you can.” I got ready to do the same. “One.” The creature zeroed in
on us. “Two.” I chanced a quick look at Jasper. His eyes were
closed. “Three!”

Our waves mixed together and the resulting
flame was phenomenal. The thing swerved to avoid the fire but
wasn’t quick enough. Its tail and two sets of legs burst into
flame. It screeched and writhed through the air in a desperate
attempt to put out the flame. One second it was there and the next
it was gone. Vanished.

I looked at Rainen and sank to my knees,
trying to get my breathing under control. She stumbled and fell
against William who helped her to the ground. Jasper was at my side
in a flash.

“Shlova?”

I rest my head on my knees. “I’m ok.
Rainen?”

“I’m alright.”

“Did you do that at the end?”

“No. I thought you did.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do displacement
spells for some reason I can’t figure out.”

“What about a recall spell?” asked Gina.

“Maybe. Maybe whoever sent it made it
possible for it to get back to wherever it’s from if anything went
wrong.” Rainen wiped the sweat from her face with her arm.

“What the hell was it?” I asked.

“That was a Zerpanay. They are a cousin of
the dragon.” Harold looked up into the sky as he said it.

“Do they live here?”

He shook his head. “They are from the
Sandsea. You must travel a good month from Howel to the south to
get there. They don’t usually come this far north.”

“What usually happens if they do?”

Gina shuddered and Harold put an arm around
her.

“They take what they want to eat and go back
to the Sandsea,” explained Rainen. By the look on the Majs’ faces
it was obvious what the Zerpanay’s diet of choice was.

“So you’re telling me it was just after a
meal? What about the displacement at the end?” My breathing was
almost back to normal. I stood and shook out my arms and legs,
trying to get the muscles in them to relax.

Rainen put her head on William’s shoulder and
closed her eyes. “I don’t know. The disappearing act at the end
makes me think this wasn’t random.”

“Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “The last time I used this much
energy doing magic I was fighting Marilynn.”

“When was that?” I glanced over at her.

“Oh, a good twenty years ago, I’d say.”

“Who won?”

She smiled. “Neither one of us. Damian
stepped in. I remember being so angry with him. He told me
afterwards that it wouldn’t do to kill each other when the future
had surprises in store for us.” She was quiet for a moment. “I
wonder if he knew then what was going to happen now.”

My head started to reel and I blinked to get
rid of the spots that were blocking my vision. My knees
buckled.

“Hayden!” Jasper caught me before I could hit
the ground. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m ok. Just tired. I don’t think I’ve ever
used this much energy fighting something.”

“Alright. We’re setting up camp. Hayden and
Rainen need to sleep.” Jasper laid my head on a pack and went to
find firewood.

“Dodge?” I cracked one eye open then closed
it again.

I’m here, Hayden.

“Are you ok? You landed pretty hard.”

I’m fine. I’m sorry.

“What in the world for?”

I led it right to you. I tried shaking it but
I couldn’t.

“It’s alright, Bud. I’m glad you didn’t get
hurt.” I smiled as his soft nose nuzzled my face. I heard Jasper
strike his flints together to start the fire.

“Here are all the packs and blankets.”
Matthew dropped some by me and moved on to the others.

“Are you cold, Shlova?” I smiled when Jasper
didn’t wait for an answer and helped me get into an extra tunic. He
sat down, pulled me onto his lap and wrapped us both in a
blanket.

“How’s Rainen doing?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“But she’s alright?”

“She’s fine. Get some sleep, Shlova.”

“That was something else altogether,
Jasper.”

“I know. I felt it through you.” He rubbed my
arms and pulled me closer.

“God, I’m sorry. I was so busy concentrating
on that thing I forgot to shield you from me.”