Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (32 page)

I wrapped my shield around her and
waited for the push of magic.

“Parker!”

The cheetah glanced up at my scream but
was too late to avoid the energy blast. He flew backwards through
the air and landed a few feet from Marilynn. Jasper managed to
reach the sorceress and tackled her to the ground just as another
blast pushed toward them. He shifted and covered her as best as he
could, trusting that I would be able to shield them.

With no one standing between us and
Aaron, I started to throw everything that I could at him. I picked
wave after wave and pushed them through the air. Teean followed
suit, keeping Aaron too busy trying to shield himself to be able to
throw anything at Marilynn.

I noticed the young sorcerer start to
fade as the magic started to take its toll on him. Even I was
starting to feel the effort of this battle.

“Teean, on three, throw your deepest
red.”

He nodded but kept his attention on
Aaron.

“One…two…”

Aaron dropped his shield long enough to
try and pick a wave from the air.

“Three!” I took the deepest red wave I
had and pulled Teean’s into mine then pushed both of them out as
hard as I could. Marilynn’s long lost mate screamed as the fire
engulfed him. Teean fell to his knees. I fought the urge to do the
same and ran to where Jasper and Marilynn were lying, Hanna right
behind me.

“Jasper!”

He looked up at me from under his arm
then knelt beside Marilynn who was starting to come to. She groaned
and held on to her head.

“Parker?” Her voice was just a
whisper.

A wheezy cough answered her as Parker
shifted and pulled himself over to where she lay. He stretched out
beside her, wrapped her in his arms and closed his eyes. As an
afterthought, he opened one of them and smiled at me.

“Thank you, Miss Hayden. I believe the
reason I am still here is because you managed to shield me from
some of that blast.”

I knelt beside him and ran a green wave
over him. “Any time. Unfortunately, you’ll be a bit sore for a few
days, but other than that, you’re fine.” I gave his arm a squeeze
and turned my attention to Hanna who was checking on
Marilynn.

She looked at me and grinned. “The same
goes for Marilynn. You two are officially on bed rest for three or
four days. This is nothing a bit of sleep won’t fix.”

Everywhere around the clearing the
members of Parker’s pack were starting to stir. Groans and growls
could be heard. I heard a soft sob and turned to see Teean sitting
with his head in his arms. Jasper put a hand on my arm to stop me
and headed toward him in my stead. I watched him sit beside the
young man then went to the edge of the clearing. I was shocked to
find that I felt no remorse or guilt as I looked down to the
charred remains of Aaron.

“Bastard got what he deserved,” mumbled
Jasper. Teean stood beside him, his fingers playing with an amulet
he held in his hand. He nodded in agreement with my mate then
turned and walked away without a word.

I wrapped my arms around Jasper. “Are
you alright?”

He nodded. “You?”

“Just tired.”

“Alright. Let’s get you
home.”

We rejoined our little group and with a
lot of moaning and groaning we all managed to make it back to the
keep and into our beds for some much needed sleep.

*****

“They’re here! They’re just pulling
into port!”

“Thank you, Collin.” Marilynn smiled
and took another drink of her tea. Parker kissed her cheek before
sitting back down at the table. The two of them had recovered
nicely from Aaron’s attack.

Collin gave a quick wave and was out
the door in a flash. After finishing our drinks, we followed along
behind him.

Whatever I thought the Gysps would look
like, this was not it. The first ship threw its anchors overboard
and I watched them lower smaller boats filled with beings and goods
into the water. The closer to shore they got, the better I was able
to see them. In the front of the first boat, the captain of the
ship stood and gave a wave to the waiting beings on shore. He was
tall and thin. I would have guessed about eight feet tall but only
two hundred and fifty pounds. His skin was a deep bronzed color. He
had no body hair whatsoever that I could see, not even eyebrows or
eyelashes. He was covered in tattoos. The only clothing he wore was
a pair of worn cotton pants.

I turned to Jasper. “Are those
gills?”

He nodded. “They’re able to breathe
under water. Terrific fishermen.” The Gysp captain raised his arm
again and revealed the gills that were situated on his side, just
below his armpit, even with his breast.

The tall man jumped out of the boat and
helped his men pull it onto shore. He looked around at the crowd
that had gathered to welcome them. His eyes were a shocking orange
color. The pumpkin colored gaze fell on me and widened.

I felt Jasper tense beside me. The Gysp
placed his palm over his chest and nodded to me.

“Chirraka delt.”

I looked to Jasper and he
shrugged.

“Hi, there. My name’s Hayden.” I took a
step forward and was surprised when the man scrambled backward away
from me. The rest of the tall people that had made it to shore
looked over at the commotion and fifty pairs of orange eyes fell on
me. Their owners all touched their chests and nodded
quickly.

“They’re warding off evil,” explained
Marilynn.

“What?”

“They think you’re evil.”

“What in the world would make them
think that?”

“I’m not sure. How about you head back
into the keep and I’ll try to find out. By the looks of it they’re
thinking of heading back to their ships because you’re
here.”

I blew out of my nose,
insulted.

Jasper took my hand and smiled. “Don’t
worry, Shlova. They probably have you confused with somebody
else.”

I gave one more glance backward and let
Jasper lead me back to the keep.

We had barely made it back through the
gates when Marilynn appeared beside us.

“It’s not you they think is evil,” she
started to explain. “They are sensitive to magic. They say you have
been touched by evil. By an evil that was stolen from the land
across the sea. A magic so black that its only purpose is to
destroy life.”

“Braw’s staff.”

She nodded. “They say that so long as
the staff is whole, you will be made to carry its
curse.”

I shivered. “That doesn’t sound
good.”

Marilynn smiled. “Just some more
incentive to destroy it.”

“So what’s the curse?”

“I’m not sure. They wouldn’t tell
me.”

“Great.”

Jasper was frowning. “If you can, try
to find out more.”

She nodded, whispered under her breath
and disappeared.

Jasper squeezed my hand. “Are you
alright?” I shook my head and he pulled me into his arms. “What do
you want to do?”

I took a deep breath and fought the
tears that were threatening to start flowing. “Can we go
home?”

His arms tightened around me. “Of
course, we can go home.”

We had planned on staying another five
days in Pinsaber, but with this new revelation, all I wanted was to
be in the comfort of our cabin.

Jasper tilted my head up and kissed me
softly. “Let’s go tell everybody. We’ll head out in the
morning.”

*****

“So, Hayden, keep working on that
displacement spell. It shouldn’t take you too long to get a hang of
it.” Marilynn had come to the gates to see us off on our journey.
“Do you have any last minute questions before you
leave?”

I thought for a minute and smiled.
“Scamk kees. That’s find?”

She nodded. “You need to have something
that belongs to the beings you wish to track. Go to the last place
known where this being has been and say the words.”

I thanked her and stuck my tongue out
at Jasper who started to laugh.

Dawn gave me a hug and handed me
Kara.

“You be a good girl for your mama and
daddy, sweet Kara.” I gave my niece a kiss on the forehead. Her
almost white eyes blinked at me.

Melana had asked Dawn and Zane to stay
at Pinsaber in an effort to keep Kara as safe as
possible.

“I still don’t know how I feel about
leaving you and Hayden,” Zane was saying.

Jasper looked up at his friend and
smiled. “You have a family now. They come first. We understand
that.”

“You’re family, too.”

I handed Kara to Jasper and hugged Zane
as hard as I could. “We’ll come visit soon. Kara will be much safer
here.”

He picked me up off the ground. “You
guys be careful. I don’t like this plan of yours.”

“That makes two of us.” Luke was giving
Dawn a hug goodbye.

“This is how it needs to be.” Jasper
had his ‘that’s final’ look. “If Rainen doesn’t agree to see us,
they’ll kill us.” Jasper explained once again. “There’s no need to
put everybody at risk.” Our plan was to return home to Sageden,
wait out the winter then travel to Howel when spring came to talk
to Damian and Rainen. It would be just Jasper and I
going.

Matthew kissed my cheek and smiled. “I
think that by the next time we’ll see each other, I’ll be
ready.”

I laughed. “It should be good timing by
then.” I had noticed how his mannerisms toward Melana had seemed
much more casual this time around.

When everyone had said goodbye, we
started out of the gates. We had been travelling for about ten
minutes when a cheetah came running through the woods toward us. It
stopped in front of Dodge and shifted.

“Miss Hayden.”

I smiled. “Parker.”

“I was hoping to give you a little
something before you left.” He dug into his pocket and held his
hand out to me.

I opened mine and smiled at the stone
he dropped in it. It was light pink.

“It’s a calling stone,” he explained.
“If you ever get in a fix just hold the stone and think of me. It
will displace me to where you are.” He closed my hand over
it.

“Thank you.” I leaned down and gave him
a kiss on the cheek. “Stay safe, Parker.”

He smiled. “Stay safe, Miss Hayden.” He
nodded to our group, shifted and trotted off toward the
keep.

Chapter Seven

Jasper looked out the window. His brow
was slightly knitted together, his jaw lightly clenched. The storm
outside showed no signs of letting up.

“It’s been almost three years since
you’ve crossed over the first time, Shlova.” He kept looking out of
the window.

“It’s amazing how time flies. You’re
right. Another four months will make it three years.”

“Do you ever wonder what your life
would be like if you had never seen that trail?”

“No. Not really.”

He turned toward Hayden and leaned
against the wall. “Think about it now.”

She smiled. “Well, if my grades were
good, I would be a year and a half away from graduating Vet Med.
Unless I wanted to specialize. Then I’d have a few more years to
go. Let’s see. I don’t know. I imagine I would still be riding
horses and hanging out at the arena.”

He kept looking at her, trying to judge
her reaction.

“Why?”

He shrugged.

“What would you be doing if I hadn’t
found that trail?”

His heart jumped and he mentally shook
his head at himself. He had asked first. It was only fair he
answer. “I suppose I would still be patrolling.”

“Do you miss it?”

He blinked and thought about it before
answering. “Maybe sometimes.” He smiled to reassure her. “But not
very often.” He walked to her and kissed her softly. Since he had
started the line of questioning, he decided he should finish. “Do
you ever regret coming here? Was leaving everything you know behind
worth it?” he asked softly.

She frowned. “Well, I miss my mom and
dad. I miss training horses.” She was quiet for a bit. “No. I don’t
regret it.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “It was worth
it.”

He took a deep breath and some of the
tension left him. “That’s good.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

She looked intently into his eyes and
he lost himself in the green, gold, and grey in hers. “Do you
regret that I came?”

It took a moment for the question to
register. He smiled and shook his head. “How can I regret the best
thing that’s ever happened to me?” He held her face in his hands
and ran his thumb over her cheek bone. He looked deeply into her
eyes and wished she could feel how much he meant every word.
“Shlova, we could be living naked in the woods and I would never
regret the fact that I found you.”