Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (20 page)

“I let go, Kellan.”
Jala
covered her face
with her hands.
“I
let go.”

Kellan guided
her
to the bed and knelt in front of her.
“Tell me
what happened.”

“I…I don’t know how we got separated last night, but we did. I…I remember going to bed last night, but as soon as I awoke, something did not feel right. I ran to Izzy’s room to check on her and she was not there.”

“That’s not all,” Kane informed him. “There is no sign of any of the protectors
or the watershifters that met with the Ellvinian ship yesterday.”

A frown creased Kellan’s face. “Gregor is not outside?”

“No.”

Kellan reached back into his own memory of last night. He remembered walking down to the gala and then his face reddened when he remembered dancing with Samara. Did he just leave the girls behind to dance with the Ellvinian
woman? He also remembered escorting
Samara
to her chambers and having a brief conversation with Maks
along the way.
Maks!
Kellan
stood in a rush and
pushed by Kane to
go into
the sitting room.

The big white cat lifted his head.
Yes.

Where is Gregor?

As I told you quite forcefully last night, he is missing.

You told me?
Wait!
Yes, I remember now.

It appeared as though you had other activities on your mind and you sent me away.

Kellan’s face blazed once again when he realized he did just that.
Once more, he
tried to put together the missing pieces. Oddly, the last thing he remembered was Samara telling him to forget all that they had discussed.
He scratched his head. She simply told him to forget and he did?

Kane produced an answer to his unspoken question.
“The Ellvinians can use mind control.”

Kellan whipped his head around to
face
his brother
standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “Mind control? Are they mindshifters?”
That would certainly make the situation much worse if not
utterly hopeless.

“I don’t believe so. Twice now, I have heard comments about the quality of the Ellvinians’
voices when they are using this control. You called it magic when you heard it, and Alia called it a song. It is almost as if they are putting their intended targets in a
type of hypnotic trance.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Ellvinian
sailors
attempted
to use it on me down at the wharf last night. It didn’t work.”

“Why didn’t it work?”

Kane’s golden eyes glowed
in the semi-darkness of the room. “I
haven’t figured
that part
out. Yet.”

“Wait. Are you suggesting…? Did Samara use this mind control on me last night?”

“She must have!” Jala cried. “You walked
away from me and Izzy without a word.” Her eyes glistened
and she turned her back on him, her voice growing softer.
“And, I did the same thing to Izzy.
I
promised not to let go of her hand, but went to bed
and left her with two
of the dark Elves.
I remember now that she was begging me
to stay, and I just walked away!”

Kellan
speared a hand through his hair and
it took all of his willpower
not to shed his own tears.
Izzy was like a sister to him and his guard,
Gregor Steele,
had been a constant presence in his life
ever
since
the
day he
was born. If the Saber was not outside of his door, he was most likely dead.
And,
not just him. Haiden, Elon, and Dallin were missing as well.

He had to think.
What would
his
father
and mother
do if
they
were here?
What would Kenley do? He never wanted
so badly
to see his sister.

“I already started
an
evacuation of the city.”

Kane’s casual statement stunned him. “You did?”

He simply nodded.

“Well done,” he said, genuinely impressed.

“If the
citizens
follow my orders, by tonight, all that should be left in Northfort are those confined to this estate. In my estimate, counting guests from the gala and servants, there are close to
two
hundred
people
here.”

“Not nearly enough
to fight twelve hundred
Ellvinians.”

Kane raised a pale eyebrow. “Depends how many of those Massans are shifters.”

“I like how you think, brother.”

“So, we’re trapped here?” Jala asked.

“For now. I suggest we play along with the Ellvinians. Act as though we do not suspect what is going on. That will give the people of the city the best chance of making it out. It won’t take long for the Ellvinians to realize what is happening, but our ruse just might give us enough time to find Izzy and the
protectors
before we show our hand. When that happens, all bets are off.”

“Do
what you must
to deceive the Ellvinians, Kellan,” Jala said, “but I am going after Izzy now.
If I have to burn this building to cinders to find her, that
is
what I will do.”

Kellan nodded.
“Izzy should be our first priority.
Kane, check on the
evacuation
and make sure it is happening
as discreetly as possible. Then, see if
you can round up any shifters that are left in Northfort.
We
are going to need all the
help we can get.”

Now, you are sounding like a Prince of Iserlohn,
Maks noted proudly.

“And, you?”
Kane asked.
“Where will you be?”

“I’m going to pay another visit to Samara and see what I can find out about the Ellvinians’ plans
or Izzy’s whereabouts.”

“I wonder if there is a way to counteract their mind
control,” Jala mused.

“Simple,” Kane replied. “Don’t
listen to
a word they say.”

* * * * *

The Premier laid back on his cushions
and
stared up at the domed ceiling
in a blood soaked haze. The world around him spun in a mesmerizing swirl of color, his heightened senses
reeling inside his head and over his skin.
The tips of his fingers and toes tingled with the blood pounding through his veins.

Magic blood.

He never felt so
alive in
all
of
his life!

With some effort, he
lifted his head and peered through bleary eyes at his companions. Balder and Anah were wrapped together in a lazy sprawl, eyes open but not focused. Jarl was sitting up and mumbling to himself through his euphoria.
In the corner of the room,
Emile sat apart, clear-eyed and sober, refusing to
partake in the blood.

A pale mound further along the wall caught his attention, but Hendrix was not sure what it could be. He struggled up
on
one elbow
to
look more closely.
What
is
it?
Is
that a leg?
It almost looked like…oh,
aye, he remembered now.

A mound of dead bodies.

Watershifters, they called themselves.

The ship returned just that morning with the
twelve
Massans and Hendrix wasted no time setting the Vypir on them to extract their blood.
Fortunately, the Vypir remembered exactly what he had been
created to
do
and
required
no prompting once the shifters were led
into
its room.

The
image of the creature
striking out
at the necks of the watershifters
with its tail to
siphon their blood played through
Hendrix’s
mind
in gruesome detail. One by one, he watched the
shifters
pound in desperation on the glass of the control room
and beg
to be freed.
With each kill, the Vypir grew stronger and the bodies more mangled by the time they were drained.

Hendrix looked over at the
pile
once again and the three barrels used to collect the blood.

It was unfortunate that all had been
killed. It had certainly not been the plan.
He just hoped that the Massan representatives due to arrive in Ellvin also had the gift of magic. If so, the
technicians would have to come up with a way to keep the Vypir from draining
them so quickly.

He needed to think. Sitting up, he stretched his hand along the floor looking for his goblet. He found it and raised it into the air. “Emile! More blood!”

“Aye!” agreed Balder, unwrapping himself from Anah’s amorous limbs.

Emile walked over with a cold expression on his face. He reached
out and snatched the cup from
Hendrix’s
hand. “May I speak honestly, Your Eminence?”

The look on Emile’s face told him it would not be something
he
wanted to hear. “If you must.”

“In a few hours, you have gone through the blood of twelve shifters.
Not only that, you depleted them dry when you could have kept them alive to make more blood.” He leaned down and lowered his voice. “Quite frankly, Your Eminence, you are not thinking clearly
with
so much
of the magic
in your system. You must stop.”

“Stop?” Hendrix bellowed. “I am an Ellvinian, Emile!” He
pitched
to his feet in anger. “I will have the blood!”

Emile stepped back, but pressed on. “At least keep them alive, Your Eminence. If you want a
continued blood supply, you cannot
kill them all!”

“It was the Vypir!
It was your little pet that did this!”

“You ordered all of the shifters in the room at once,” Emile pointed out.

He threw up his hands.
“Well, how was I to know what that creature would do? Now, that I do know of
its
vicious nature, I can assure you that steps will be taken so that it does not happen
again. The technicians are evaluating
the
proper protocol
for harvesting,
and
it is something we will work out with time.”

“I will not have you harm Tolah.”

“Please! Do not attach a name to that thing.”

“It is a human being.”

“It is a beast, but I will not harm it. Why
would I when it
brings
me so much pleasure?”
Hendrix waved a clumsy hand in the air.
“Do not worry so, Emile!
There are plenty of shifters in Massa. I have
complete
confidence that Samara and Chandal will do all that is necessary to ensure a continued supply of the blood. And, in case you have forgotten,
representatives from Massa will be here
any day now.”

“You cannot kill the representatives! It will be tantamount to declaring war!”

“If that is what it takes!”

Emile grabbed his arm
roughly. “Your Eminence! The blood is addling your mind! Stop drinking and then make your
decision.”

Hendrix screeched and yanked his arm out of Emile’s grip.
“Let go of me!
I have made my mind up and the decision is made! We have gone too long without, and
I am through doing this the peaceful way
with the Shiprunners. Take
all the
Battlearms to Massa, Emile!”
With that final
thunderous
declaration,
Hendrix slumped back down onto
the pillows.
He
was no longer looking at his Second, but could tell
Emile’s
next words were forced out through gritted teeth.