Discovered (The Shalean Moon) (10 page)

There,
a black shape darker than the grass; the tree behind it covering and sheltering.

He moved forward, and the shape moved.

‘What is it? Oh hell, Leira.’ Donny had arrived close behind him, his fur dripping, and his eyes gleaming amber; the look in them enough to frighten any wrongdoer out of their pelt.

‘Bri, is Rach here? Are they okay?’

Trust Leira to think of Rach first.

He projected to Donny. ‘Rach isn’t here, take care of Leira, and tell mum she’s fine. Let Rach’s dad know what’s going on. I need to find Rach. Tell him I won’t stop until I find her.’

He hoped that didn’t send her dad running to the police to find
him
.

‘Bri, he took her. He said he’d killed her. I tried to stop him and he pushed me into the ditch. By the time I got out they had gone. Oh Bri, I’m sorry.’ Leira now shifted back into human form. She was crying; her face was white and blotchy. If he’d been in human form he’d have cuddled her, but there wasn’t time for him to shift; not if he was going to find Rach.

‘I’ll find her, she’s not dead.’

She couldn’t be, surely he’d have sensed it? He took off at a run. His pace slowed as he tried to sense her; sense anything. With an almighty shower of sparks the electricity line along the side of the road burst into flames.

It sparked and fizzled out as the rain overpowered the flames. Another bolt of lightning hit off to his side clearly illuminating his surroundings. Brios could see the old ruined barn just past the end of his dad’s land a few yards ahead. Its outline was dark against the horizon. His pace quickened and he moved back into a steady lope. She was there, he was sure of it.

‘De—ead! De—ead.’ The voice seemed as if it was in the wind; in his mind; everywhere.

Drop dead yourself.
Brios thought as he thanked the Gods he’d shifted; otherwise the nettles would have played havoc with his legs. He made his way through weeds that would have been waist-high if he was walking; even as a leopard they almost engulfed him. He came to the old dilapidated building. The only solid bit about it was the door. He wondered whose land this was. His dad had been trying to buy it for years, but nobody seemed to know anything about it. The barn had become steadily more and more run-down; there were holes in the roof, and no glass in the one small window; But, it did have a new barred door.

Strange.

The door was also padlocked.

Brios prowled around the walls; his senses alert for danger.

Nothing
.

He sensed Struan was not far way. He made a full circle and he realized the tiny window was his only option. At least there was no glass to jump through. He moved back, stretched and leaped; his front paws scrambling at the window ledge before he was able to claw his way over and jump lithely through. He landed on all fours and spun in a complete circle.

There was nothing; no movement; no noise; nothing.

He knew Rach had to be here. His eyes scanned the interior slowly. It was almost empty, and it smelt musty. His nose had caught a faint whiff of human—of Rach, he was sure of it. He couldn’t be sure where it was coming from. The floor was compacted earth; hard and solid from years of use. Piles of old dead leaves were heaped up where the wind had carried them. He looked closely, but none were deep enough to hide a body. A few bits of farm machinery and pieces of wood were scattered randomly about; in the darkness it was hard to see exactly what they were. The flickering silver light of the moon made it hard to determine much at all, but he didn’t sense anything in their direction. He looked up. Large hooks were fixed randomly on the wall, probably for tying animals up or keeping fodder in. A few had empty nets attached to them. Beams crisscrossed the room, dusty and cobwebby.

Suddenly, in a dark corner he spotted a few wooden planks laid at an angle from one wall to its neighbor that made a sort of triangular ledge. Long ago someone had put in a space for storing things high up off the floor. Unfortunately, the height and angle made it impossible to see what was on them. He walked carefully across the floor skirting a rusty farm implement, and what looked like a wooden pallet.

Rach!
His senses told him she was near.

By now his eyes were perfectly attuned to the dark. He was right, he thought with quiet jubilation, there was something precariously on the edge of those planks; or, he hoped—someone.

‘You’re too late, I’ve gone. You’ll never catch me. Remember, I’ll always win Brios Parde. I’m better than you, and one day the Sept will be mine as it should be.’

‘In your dreams, Struan Scott; I’ll hunt you down, and I’ll find you wherever you are. Justice will prevail; for now though good riddance. I’m not too late.’

How he hoped that was true. Standing under the slats, he saw movement.

“Rach?” He spoke out loud; or he thought he did until he heard her moan and start—in fear? The he realized he was still shifted, so his speech came out as rumbles and roars. No wonder she moaned.

He shifted quickly, wincing as his skeleton took on its human shape. For sure he’d have plenty of aches and bruises tomorrow, but none of that mattered to him; Rach was more important.

“Rach, it’s Brios. Don’t move—I’m here, give me a chance to get you.”

Being a Shalean came in handy as he jumped for the ledge; his inbuilt athleticism helping him as he caught hold of a plank and swung upwards. Carefully he picked his way over the rotten and crumbling boards towards the figure lying on its side in one corner of the shelf, one leg now dangling dangerously over the edge. The last thing he needed was to startle Rach. He knelt by her, and slowly leaned forward.

Her face was white, her eyes were closed, and a purple bruise marked her cheek. He clenched his fists and swore by all he held sacred that Struan, and whoever had helped him, would be brought to justice. Shalean justice; no matter how long it took. He was so bloody angry the air shook.

Get a grip Bri,
he told himself
. Calm down, you need to look after Rach.

Brios looked down at her—unmoving and hurt—and something dark and angry filled him. He needed to be careful how much he allowed it to take hold.

He was trembling as he held out his hand and touched her cheek.

Her soft breath fanned across his fingers.

C
HAPTER
N
INE

Thank you Gods!

He put Rach in the recovery position—on her side, one arm and leg over her body, and making sure her airway was open—giving thanks for the fact that he’d volunteered to take first aid training as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award. He blessed the day the Queen’s husband had thought up all those challenges for teenagers to achieve. His Shalean gifts also served him well. He could tell Rach was unconscious; not due to injury, but because her Shalean blood had closed her pain reflexes down and allowed her mind to rest in a sort of trance.

Unfortunately, he needed to bring her out of it, but first he needed to contact the others. He hoped someone picked up on his projecting.

‘I’ve found her.’

He got several responses; his mum, his dad, Donny, Leira. They wanted to know where he’d found her; how he’d found her; and whether she was all right.

‘In the old barn on the edge of dad’s land; I found her by sense; and I’m not sure how she is yet, hold on …’

Rach’s eyelids were fluttering.

“Brios, is it really you? My head hurts. Struan ... He’s …”

Brios held her hand.

“He’s not here. I’m here, and I’m going to look after you.”

Rach was struggling to sit up.

“Is that really you and not another hallucination? I dreamed you’d been calling to me, but however much I shouted my voice wouldn’t work. Can you really hear me? We’re not doing that thought thingy? Am I really here with you, and safe?”

“I’m here,” he confirmed. “You’re safe.”

‘Tell her dad that she’s awake. Any sign of Struan?’

‘Nope, we’re still looking.’

Damn, they needed to find him.

‘You will never find me! I will be patriarch; wait and see.’

Brios didn’t even bother to answer.

***

Rach could tell Brios was thinking about how worried her dad would be; even after her dad has been awful about him. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying. Her face was sore, and she had a terrible headache.

“Make sure—” She swallowed. “Make sure he knows all of it is my fault and not yours. I was coming to see you; to tell you what was happening.” Her throat hurt. “Gah, I’m so thirsty. Have you got anything to drink?” She saw the shake of his head in the faint moonlight.

“I’m sorry; I just set off when I heard. I didn’t stop to get anything. I had nowhere to carry anything anyway. I’ll ask for something to be brought when my dad comes to get us.”

She felt like she was just catching fragments of his words; as if he was miles away. She thought he was in jeans and a jacket, so she didn’t understand what he meant about there being nowhere to carry anything; but, her mind was so fuzzy she could have been mistaken. She resolved to ask him about it later; if she remembered.

“What happened? Can you talk about it?” Brios was holding her, and she felt safe and protected.

“Um.” Rach wriggled, and winced as she felt an ache in her hip. Brios’s arm tightened. “Careful,” he warned. “We’re only on a little platform, and I don’t want you to fall off. You’ve had enough damage done to you tonight. Does anything really hurt?”

Rach shook her head carefully. “My head aches, and so does my cheek. I fell on it, when I fainted. At least I think I fainted, I went away at least. It was Struan; but, I think there was someone else telling him what to do.”

‘She lies, I need no telling.’

‘Plonker.’

“Did I really hear that?” She would have blushed if it had been daylight, and Brios could see her clearly. “And did I really answer?”

“In your mind, yes.”

“So,” she asked cautiously, “how did you know what I was talking about?”

Brios laughed softly. “I heard it as well. It’s a special sense we have.”

Rach felt that this projecting and sensing was really exciting—different, maybe a bit scary—but exciting.

“Define we.” It wasn’t just curiosity she told herself; it was something she needed to know before she asked her dad to take her to Saint Mary’s, or whatever the local psychiatric hospital was called.

“Later, first tell me what happened. Please Rach, it’s important. I have to know how to keep you safe.”

She sighed. “My dad said I couldn’t see you, that you’re too old for me. I told him we were just friends, but he wouldn’t listen. I needed to see you, to see if you knew why he was being so strange about you, and to try and find out what was up with him. So when he was asleep I crept out and started to walk to your house.” She shuddered.

“It was creepy; I kept hearing noises and stuff. Then, I felt something on my shoulder, and I heard that slimy toad Struan’s voice telling me I wasn’t allowed to try and find you. He said I was meant for something else, and he would finally get rid of you. He said I was an infiltrator. I think he’s mad. What on earth was he going on about? Well actually,” she said slowly, “I
think
he said all that, but not really; if you know what I mean. I think I fainted, but I’m sure I remember him saying stuff, and screeching at me. I didn’t actually see him. At the end though when I felt I was being carried my head hit the wall, and someone else said ‘you’ve killed her, leave her and let’s go.’”

Did I really hear that, or was it all to do with the bump on my head?
Rach put her hand to her scalp; the bump was definitely there.

“Oh.” With a rush, she remembered something else she’d heard. “He said something about now the Sept wouldn’t trust you; that you’d shown you had no judgment. That an infiltrator was a traitor’s partner and neither could be trusted. He said to tell you that you’d shown your true spots. I tell you he’s definitely not the sharpest pencil in the box; screwy.”

‘Aarrghh, I will win.’

‘Screwy.’ Rach threw back, and then gasped. “Argh, for goodness sake, now I’m answering the snake.”

Brios laughed and the sound made her happy. He held her close. The feel of his hand on her was amazing and shivers ran down her body. She felt warm now. She wanted to lean into him more.

Now if only he’d move closer and … no, Rach,
she scolded herself,
don’t go there. Not here, not now.

She really hoped he hadn’t got those thoughts! Then she remembered all the trouble she was sure to be in and her heart dropped.

“What will happen now, Bri? My dad is going to be so mad at me. I’ll probably be thirty before he lets me out of my room. Whatever happens I want you as my friend; you and Leira,” She giggled, “and even Donny—but especially you. I’ve got you into trouble as well. I hurt; I think I’ll have a black eye; I’ve been hallucinating and talking to myself and other people more and more in my mind. Something seriously weird is going on, and I don’t think it’s fair for me not to know all about it. Dad sending me away is not going to change my mind.”