Unquiet Slumber (49 page)

The next morning Nathaniel pulled Seth to the side. His mental strain was causing him to lose a constant flow of energy and he needed to replenish before he became a liability to the quest. Since Tianna wouldn’t touch him, he needed to find someone to extract energy from. Seth checked the map and found that there was a human village not far from their path, but it was still a day away. Nathaniel asked Marcus to adjust their course so he could make a quick stop. Given Nathaniel’s condition, Marcus agreed.

The day arrived for Nathaniel to travel to the human village. Even though Tianna didn’t want him touching her she really didn’t like the idea of him going back to using random, unknown women, but she couldn’t deny that he was very weak. If he had been human, she would’ve thought he was deathly ill.

Nathaniel packed only what he needed. He planned to go, spend the day, and be back by nightfall. Tianna watched him as he rode away.

Nightfall came and no Nathaniel. Tianna suggested that he was very weak when he left. He may have needed to spend the night.

When Nathaniel didn’t return by morning, they all became concerned. Tianna came forward and insisted they leave immediately to go find him saying, “He wouldn’t just leave us. He may have made some mistakes but he wouldn’t leave without telling us.” They agreed it was time to go look for him.

Just as they were preparing their search party, Nathaniel’s horse trotted near the camp without Nathaniel on its back. The horse sensed their presence but the camp was shrouded so it couldn’t get in. Tianna lowered the shield and Gabriel retrieved the horse. He brushed off something that was on its side and glanced down at his hand, seeing blood. He checked the horse and there were no obvious wounds.

Seth smelled the blood and said, “The blood is Draak.”

Tianna gasped and started to panic. “He’s hurt. We need to find him. He was so weak when he left he might not be able to heal himself.” She knew he wasn’t her responsibility any more but guilt had built up within her. She didn’t have to share a bed with him, but she should’ve let him share energy with her.

After a quick discussion, they packed up camp and went to look for Nathaniel. Seth led the search party with his tracking senses. He was able to follow the path back to where Nathaniel’s scent still hung in the air. Given some of the damage that they could see in the bushes and tree branches, it was obvious there had been a fight.

Seth walked around carefully to try and find Nathaniel’s trail. “Given the direction of his path, I don’t think Nathaniel ever made it to the village. His scent leads in the wrong direction.”

Seth took off following the scent path with the rest of his group following close behind. They tracked his path for most of the day and then started to get that tingling feeling that a magical village was nearby. Tianna got off her horse, pulled out her book, and began preparations.

Marcus spoke to his warriors. “We need to have a plan before we go marching up to the village. If they’ve taken Nathaniel against his will, they aren’t our allies. They’ll fight us.”

Seth checked the map. The village wasn’t on his planned path. Tianna found the village in the book. “The village is called Coldrenn. Zarin has nothing written about it.”  She glanced up from her book. “We’ll be going in blind. What do you want to do?” Tianna fidgeted with nervous anticipation.

“Tianna has to do the spell since none of us can.” Marcus then turned to Tianna. “As soon as the shield drops, I want you to quickly fall back and stay hidden in the trees.”

Tianna got angry. “No! I won’t hide. This is partially my fault and I can fight. I’m going with you.”

Gabriel slid off his horse and walked up to Tianna. “My lady, I have to agree with Marcus. This isn’t a task for you. We don’t know what we’ll find in there. We can’t fight if we know we have to watch out for you.”

Based on the look that was now on her face, he knew he had said the wrong thing.

Tianna backed up without taking her eyes off of her companions. Her rage over everything that had happened to her filled her mind. Anger over the hate and fear she grew up with, the lie she lived with about who she really was, Nathaniel’s betrayal and her continued love for him, and most of all, the lack of any control she had on her own life. All these feelings caused her inner natures to come forward at once and this time she didn’t try to push them back. She embraced them like a lover and opened her mind.

They all felt a cold chill form in the air. Tianna ripped out the ribbon holding the braids in her hair and shook her hair free. Her hair began to billow around her head like she was floating under water. Her eyes flashed white. “I’m the daughter of the Faye and carry the blood of many Draaks within me.” As she raised her hands, a wind started to whip around the area where they all stood. A feeling of immense power was building. “I’m so tired of being treated like some silly little girl. NO ONE needs to take care of me!”

Her eyes turned pure black and she released all of her anger as she yelled and clapped her hands above her head. The Draaks were knocked off their horses by a loud crash of thunder.

They awoke some time later to find Tianna gone. They had no idea how long they had been unconscious but, based on the sun’s position, it must have been several hours.

Gabriel stood and brushed off his clothes. “Sorry my brothers. I didn’t think before I spoke. Looks like Tianna has learned to tap into more of her powers.” He was very concerned about the look he saw in Tianna’s eyes before he blacked out.

“Where do you think Tianna went?” Seth asked, scanning the area.

Marcus’ shoulders slumped. “To save Nathaniel.” Everyone knew he was right.

Seth started to pace. “What can we do? She’s the only one that can get into the village.”

They all stood there, staring at each other, trying to come up with a plan.

*~*~*~*

Tianna was led into a meeting room where several very large Drenn warriors were assembled. They stood when she entered and examined her from head to toe.

The leader approached her, saying, “My, you’re a pretty little thing. What can we do for you?” He gave her a leering grin.

Tianna, with a look of determination, replied, “I’m Tianna of the Faye. I’ve come to negotiate the release of my Draak.” This was the first time she had introduced herself by that title and it felt right.

They all laughed but that laughter stopped when Tianna caused a mighty wind to blow through the room, knocking several of them off their feet. “Don’t toy with me, warriors, for I’m in a foul mood. Let me see my Draak so that I’ll know he’s alive and well.”

A male with dark curly hair chuckled. “He’s alive but I’m not so sure about well.”

Tianna whipped her head toward the one that spoke and her eyes flashed blue. “He had better be or you’ll regret getting up this morning.”

He chuckled back. “A female with spirit. I like that.” He leered at her body. He stepped forward to try to grab her and a vine came through the window, wrapped itself around the warrior’s waist, and pulled him back until he hit the wall. He fell to the ground unconscious.

Tianna’s anger was starting to cause sparks to shoot from her fingertips. “Are you all done toying with me? Go get Nathaniel. NOW!”

The assembled men waited for their leader’s command. When he nodded at a guard standing next to the door, the guard bowed and left the room. He returned about ten minutes later half carrying, half dragging Nathaniel into the room. He dropped him on the floor but kept a knife at his throat. They had beaten him badly and he was unconscious, but alive.

“Why did you do this to him?” Tianna snapped.

“He wouldn’t come with us willingly so we had to insist. Lord Kai has been experimenting again and asked us to keep a look out for strong males that could be made into a special kind of Dregg warrior. Your Draak suited our needs nicely.”

“Kai’s here?” Tianna scanned the room while trying to hide her concern.

“He’ll arrive once we summon him. We plan to give him your play thing as a gift.”

“But he’s no good to you dead. So why beat him so badly before giving him to Kai?”

The warrior started to smile. “His current condition matters not. He’ll wish he was dead once Kai gets done with him.” They all chuckled as they nodded in agreement.

The leader walked up to Tianna and gently took a section of her hair in his hand, lifting it to his face. He inhaled deeply. Tianna wanted to pull back but held her ground. When his hand headed toward parts lower on her body, she grabbed his wrist, digging her fingernails deep into his skin. The wind started to swirl around the room.

He smiled down on her, ignoring the blood now dripping from his wounds. “Stop your magic now or I’ll have my guard slit your Draak’s throat.” When he nodded toward the door, she glanced over and the guard smiled back at her. His blade at Nathaniel’s neck had already created a thin red line of blood.

He pulled her hair hard to regain her attention and forced her ear closer to him. He breathed her scent in deep and whispered, “We may be willing to release your Draak to you if you’ve something better to offer us.”

Tianna needed a moment to devise a plan. To give herself a few extra minutes to think, she released his hand and let her body be the distraction. As the other two Drenn in the room moved in her direction with pure lust in their eyes, a plan came to her mind.

*~*~*~*

Gabriel had paced over the same path so many times that he had worn a trench in the ground. “I can’t just stand here and do nothing. She’s in there alone.”

Marcus walked up to Gabriel and put his hand on his shoulder. “I know brother. I’ve tried to think this through a thousand ways and can’t come up with a plan to get in there. We may have to go on to Haven and come back with someone that can break down their shield.”

Gabriel roughly pushed Marcus’ hand off his shoulder and stepped toward the hidden village. “I’m NOT leaving her here!”

Just then a slight shimmering appeared at a distance and the gate to the village of Coldrenn appeared for a brief moment. A small figure in a long black cloak walked out of the gate, attempting to help someone larger walk. Once these two figures moved far enough away from the shimmering, the village behind them disappeared again with a loud crack.

 “Nathaniel!” Gabriel yelled and the warriors ran toward the obviously injured Draak.

As soon as they reached Nathaniel’s side, Gabriel sniffed and grabbed the smaller figure into his arms and hugged her. Tianna moaned in pain. He quickly put her down in a panic, saying, “You’re hurt.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m okay. I’m just tired from carrying Nathaniel. Take care of him. They beat him badly. I did what I could to get him well enough to walk but he needs more healing right away.”

They carried Nathaniel back to the temporary camp they had set-up in the trees. Tianna did a quick spell to shroud them as they laid Nathaniel down and stripped off his clothes so they could survey the damage. There weren’t many places on his body that weren’t bloody and bruised. Tianna went directly into her healing task and worked tirelessly throughout the rest of the night.

As the sun started to rise, Nathaniel stirred and was responding to their queries, so Tianna moved away and sat down to rest.

The Draaks proceeded to ask Nathaniel about what happened. He told them how he was jumped on his way to the human village. He was weaker than he thought and wasn’t able to overpower them. He remembered being beat and drug to the village but had little memories beyond that until Tianna was dragging him out.

They all turned to Tianna, who was resting her forehead in her hands. She was still in the hooded cloak she wore when she left the village.

Gabriel walked over and sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Tianna, what happened after you knocked us all out? How did you get them to release him?”

Tianna shook her head, refusing to tell them. She just said, “Just consider it my gift to all of you.” Although they all continued to ask her questions, she would offer no information.

Tianna heard her name from a very weak sounding voice. “Tianna, take off your cloak.”

Tianna ignored his request but when Marcus approached her, she stood up quickly and backed away shaking her head. Gabriel started to grab at her hood but she squirmed. Marcus positioned himself quickly behind her so she was pinned. She started to fight Gabriel, and Marcus grabbed one wrist while Seth grabbed the other. She was too weak to fight.