Shaper of Stone (The Shapers Book 1) (4 page)

“Since yesterday,” she
replied. “You said ‘thank you’ to Tavi, and I
understood what you said, and today every time you said something I
understood it.”

Wait, she understood everything I said
today? I was always careful to speak to Tavi in English. I might have
slipped up once, but not all day. I was sure of it.

Acting on a hunch, I switched back to
English, “You learned my language from the translator didn’t
you?”

“That must be it,” she
replied, “I use it all of the time for my Uncle, and this has
never happened before, but I’ve never had headaches before
either. Not like these. There must be something special about you
that made this happen. How long have you been able to understand
Harithean?”

Switching once more to Harithean I
said, “A few days now. I noticed Tavi could understand me, and
with a little effort I can switch between the two languages. I was
going to say something, but the only time I see you is when you are
helping me with the translator. So, I... uh...”

Oh man, where did that last bit come
from. I didn’t want her to think I had lied to her all week,
but the only explanation that I could think of was that I enjoyed
spending time with her. What would she think of me then. Ah crap, how
was I going to explain this now. Fortunately Abella saved me from
myself.

Patting me on my hand she told me,
“We’ll have to tell my uncle, but it can wait until
tomorrow. The reason I came to your room was to invite you to join us
in the morning. A caravan is coming into town, and my uncle needs to
greet it. Since you hadn’t been out of the estate since you got
here, I thought you might enjoy coming with us.

“We can tell him on the way down.
Then when he is taking care of his business I can show you and Tavi
around the town.”

“I’m sure Tavi will love
it,” I said. To myself, I thought if we waited until we were
down there Vatrale won’t separate us. At least not right away.

I couldn’t help but smile.

How did you like that. Things were
starting to look up already.

-o-

The next morning we climbed inside a
carriage pulled by four snow white horses. An honor guard of a dozen
men formed a circle around us as we made the journey to the ten foot
tall wall that surrounded the estate where Abella and her uncle
lived. Another four men stood guard at the arched gate.

Inside the perimeter wall was a dense
forest of tall trees with a cobblestone path leading from the gate to
the estate’s courtyard, but once through the gate the road was
mostly a rutted dirt track bordered by tightly packed single story
buildings. The widest road ran beneath the shadow of the wall and
circled the compound with smaller roads branching off into the town
like spokes on a wheel.

We followed the wider street for a
short distance before veering off onto one of the side roads. It
looked like a straight run to the town’s outer wall. The
caravan was camped just beyond since the streets were too narrow to
allow their wagons to pass easily. Even the carriage had some
difficulty navigating the way. Several times we had to stop as the
guards rode ahead to clear the path for Lord Vatrale.

Each time we paused, I felt the urge to
confess to the old man, but Abella and I had decided to wait until we
cleared the town’s wall before speaking. So each time, I bit my
tongue and waited. Which meant that most of the trip was made in
silence.

This time when we stopped I was looking
out the window wondering how close we were to the gate and wishing I
could ask. The carriage was at an intersection. In front of us a cart
was in the process of being unloaded. The guards were arguing with
the merchant, trying to get him to move the cart off to the side.

-o-

The argument was cut short by the sound
of thunder. I looked up to the cloudless sky, but then I caught
something out of the corner of my eye. A flaming wagon was barreling
down the road toward the side of the carriage. It wasn’t
thunder I had heard, but the sound of the wagon bouncing over the
rough road.

I screamed, “Hold On!” and
dove for Abella just seconds before it hit. I tackled her to the
floor as the wall I had been sitting against exploded inward.
Splinters of wood flew across the carriage.

The wagon that hit us didn’t
stop. I felt the carriage start to tip with the force of the moving
wagon, and the next thing I knew we were rolling sideways. There was
a bone jarring crash when we flipped and slammed into the ground.

The carriage was dead on its side with
one door pressed into the ground. The other door faced the sky with
the burning wagon wedged on top blocking it. Vatrale was laying on
the ground, blood poured from his scalp while flaming oil dripped
around him. He was conscious though and started to get to his feet.

You have to give the old guy credit, he
was tough.

Abella was on top of me. When I
realized we were going to roll I twisted my body between her and the
ground. Her dress was torn from her shoulder, but otherwise she
seemed unharmed.

I was not so lucky. The side of the
carriage under me had buckled on impact and I could feel something
poking into my side, pinning me to the ground like a butterfly on
display. Blood tricked down my back, but I couldn’t reach it to
apply any pressure. I hesitated to pull myself free in case it made
the bleeding worse, but I needed to do something before the carriage
was completely engulfed in flames.

Tavi and Carvis had been riding
outside. I had no way of knowing what happened to them. I hoped they
were better off than me, but from the sounds of fighting and
screaming coming from the street, I didn’t think they were.

“Don’t move, Devin,”
Vatrale had already climbed over to my side and helped Abella to her
feet. While ignoring the blood on his head and the flames falling
around us he leaned over to inspect my injury. “Ah, it looks
like the hinge caught you.”

Before I knew it he grabbed me by the
shoulder and rolled me off the piece of metal. I screamed expecting
to feel my spine ripped out, but surprisingly it hardly hurt at all.

Vatrale then slapped me on the
shoulder, “Just caught your shirt and scratched your back.
You’ll be fine once we get out of here.”

I hung my head embarrassed by my
outburst. I swore the next time I screamed it would be for a good
reason.

Abella climbed forward to the small
window behind the driver’s seat. It was too small to crawl
through, but at least she could see through it. “Uncle, I can
see Carvis. He is fighting two men. Most of the other guards are
gone. He isn’t going to be able to get us out of here.”

“Tavi? Do you see the boy?”
I asked as I got to my feet while checking my back to verify that I
wasn’t really impaled.

Abella looked around quickly, “No
sign of him. Lords! Carvis was just cut across the back. We have to
get out to help him.”

I caught Vatrale staring at me like a
frog he was getting ready to dissect.

“Boy, you’ve been holding
out on me. We’ll talk about that later. First we need to find a
way out of here.” Vatrale moved to what was once the top of the
carriage, but was now the side and placed both hands on it. I felt a
slight tingling in my stomach and realized he was trying to shape the
wood so we could get out.

“Damn it! I can’t do it.
Boy, place your hands on my shoulder and relax. I need to draw
strength from you.”

I immediately did as he instructed,
coughing as the smoke thickened around us. As soon as we made
contact, the sensation in my stomach grew stronger. It was like a
string being pulled through my belly button. It tickled a little. At
any other time I might have laughed.

The wood in front of us cracked and
began to peel back like someone splitting a role to butter it. Within
seconds Vatrale had made a hole wide enough for us to pass through.
We let Abella go first. She squeezed through and ran to an open
doorway. To my relief Tavi was there waving her forward. He looked a
little dirty, but otherwise unharmed.

“Devin, you are next. I will
follow right behind you.”

The flames on the carriage were
spreading quickly. I decided this was not the time to argue who goes
first. I slipped through the hole and took off in a sprint toward the
others when I heard Vatrale yell, “Get Down!”

I dived for the ground smacking my chin
into the earth. Dazed I looked back to Vatrale. He was only a few
feet behind me. An arrow stuck out of his shoulder. Behind him three
men with crossbows were in the process of reloading.

Nothing stood between us and them. We
were screwed!

There was a roar of rage as Carvis
leaped over the burning wreck, his sword slashed down on the closest
bowman. Without slowing down he charged the next one. The archer
swung his crossbow wildly and managed to block the lizard man’s
attack. It wasn’t enough to save him. He never saw the dagger
in Carvis’ other hand. It found its mark and the bowman fell to
the ground.

Unfortunately the third bowman had
loaded his bow and aimed it at Carvis. The bow twanged as the bolt
was released. Carvis fell backwards with the quarrel sticking out of
his chest. The bowman then turned toward us and drew his sword.

“Devin. I can’t do it. I
need you.”

I had already anticipated that Vatrale
would need to siphon my power again. I rushed back to him and placed
my hand on his shoulder.

Behind the bowman Carvis fought his way
back to his feet. Black blood covered his chest where the bolt was
still embedded. He screamed in fury, drawing the attention of the
bowman away from us.

Vatrale shoved a bracelet into my hand.
“Put this on. Quickly! I need to draw on your strength, and the
bracelet will create a link between us.”

Even as he was telling me this, I could
hear the sounds of fighting as Carvis was being pushed back. I
glanced in his direction and he wasn’t looking good. I had no
idea what kept him on his feet.

I slipped the bracelet on my left hand,
“It’s on. Give them all you got!”

Vatrale smiled at me, “Oh, I
will,” and suddenly the arrow in his shoulder popped out, spun
around and flew into the leg of the last bowman.

I screamed! The tingling in my stomach
ignited as if I was on fire.

The old man leaped to his feet as I
stumbled to my knees. He raised his arms and I heard him scream a
challenge, “You fools! Come! Face the powers of a master!”

I tried to tell him to stop. That he
was draining too much, but I couldn’t. All I could do was curl
into a ball as my body burned from within. Until the pain was too
much, and then there was only darkness.

-o-

The sound of fighting faded away after
Lord Vatrale charged into battle. The smoke from the burning wagon
rolled in to fill the street. Tavi and Abella had lost sight of the
others from their position deep within the doorway.

Tavi grabbed Abella’s hand and
made a dash from their hiding place. The two kept along the walls
where the visibility from the smoke was slightly better. The
occasional clash of steel on steel or a cry of pain would rise out of
the smoke, but they didn’t see anyone.

Tavi ducked into the first alley they
reached. A cool draft kept the worst of the smoke at bay. They
stopped to catch their breath. Abella moved to the mouth of the side
street and tried to see into the cloud. At first she didn’t see
anything, but a muffled curse caught her attention. As she watched
she began to make out the shadowy forms of three men. They were
headed in their direction.

“I’m telling you, they ran
this way,” one of them whispered far too loudly.

Abella didn’t waste any time
waiting around. She spun and grabbed Tavi. This time it was her
leading the way down the alley. She had no idea where she was or
where the road would lead them, but it had to be better than waiting
to be caught.

“There they are! Get them!”

The three men approached the alley.
Without the smoke to block their vision, they easily spotted the two
running from them.

Fortunately Tavi and Abella had less
than thirty feet to go before they would reach the opposite end. Once
they were free of the alley, they could head off in any number of
directions.

Escape looked like a sure thing until
two men stepped out of the shadows at the end of the street.

“Where do you two think you are
going?” asked one of the men as he reached for his sword. He
stopped when his companion smacked his hand.

“Don’t be stupid. It is
only a boy and a woman. We’re taking these two alive.”

Abella and Tavi stopped before they
reached the two men. Behind them the other three were approaching
fast. The second group of men already had their weapons in hand.

Tavi hesitated only for an instant
before throwing himself at the two men in the front. His arms and
legs were flailing as he tried to kick, punch and bite his way
through them. As hard as he tried he was still just a young boy
against two grown men. In no time one of the men had Tavi’s
arms pinned to his side and lifted him off of the ground.

Abella grabbed a discarded bucket from
the ground and swung it as hard as she could at the second man’s
head. He ducked the clumsy blow while grabbing her wrist. He smiled
at her as he squeezed her wrist trying to get her to drop the bucket.

Abella smiled back at him before
bringing her knee up as hard as she could between her attacker’s
legs. His smile turned to a roar of pain as he doubled over and
grabbed himself with both hands. Her arm free, she swung the bucket
once more for all that she was worth. It shattered across the back of
his head.

She spun to help Tavi when a pair of
tattooed arms wrapped around her and lifted her into the air. She
immediately kicked back, but she only managed a few glancing hits
against her attacker’s legs. Whoever grabbed her shook her from
side to side trying to keep her off balance.