Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (15 page)

I grinned back at him. “So you’ll help
me?”

He nodded. “You know,” he said, the
look in his eyes changing, “watching you this afternoon...” He
blushed a little. “What I mean is, the way you were moving, with
your hair flying everywhere...” Jasper stopped trying to explain
himself and crushed my lips with his, his fingers lacing in my
hair.

We made our way to the bed, dropping
clothes on the floor as we went.

Chapter 4

It was dark when I woke, covered in
sweat and barely able to breath. I sat up trying to catch my
breath. Jasper sat up with me, pulling me close to him a fraction
of a second later.

“What is it? What did you
see?”

“They’re coming here!” I
whispered.

“When?”

“Not very long. A week. Two
weeks?”

“Let’s go! Pack your stuff. We’re
leaving. I’ll go let the others know.”

He jumped out of bed and started
pulling his clothes on.

“No.”

“Hayden, we have time to move. Let’s
go!”

“No.”

He stopped trying to get his shirt on
and stood looking at me.

“No more running.”

“We don’t have enough men! A week or
two is not enough time to plan! This isn’t the time to be
stubborn!”

“The Wedelves will help.”

His mouth fell open. “The Wedelves
don’t mix themselves in everyone else’s business. You saw them in
the dream?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s just a
feeling I have. In the dream it’s just me and you. We’re on a ridge
with a waterfall. They start to come out of the woods and cross a
clearing. That’s pretty much all I saw.”

He tried another approach. “Let’s go to
the castle. We’ll warn Queen Melana. When they decide to attack
there, we will be ready for them.”

I simply shook my head. “They are
coming here regardless. I won’t run and leave the Wedelves to fight
alone.”

He sat heavily on the bed, his head in
his hands.

I reached over and put a hand on his
arm. “I can’t leave them,” I whispered.

“Did you see how it ends?”

I shook my head. “I woke up too
soon.”

He looked over at me shaking his head
in disbelief. “You are amazing.”

I blushed.

“Two weeks ago, the most excitement you
had was running circles on Dodge. Now you are willing to face the
Majs to save the Wedelves. And what is even more amazing than all
of that, is the fact that you are mine.” He leaned down and kissed
me tenderly, his hands cupping my face. “Even if it may be for a
shorter amount of time than I had anticipated.”

I reminded myself to breathe as his
words sank in.

“So do we have a plan?” he whispered,
his forehead against mine.

I glanced out the window into the
darkness. Maybe running was the best option. I screamed in my head,
telling myself I should have finished the dream. What if he died?
What if I did? Was it possible that we only have a week or two left
together? I pushed the thought out of my head. Somehow, I wouldn’t
let that happen.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and
pulled him to me. I moaned as Jasper explored me with a new
urgency, as if trying to get a lifetime of touches and kisses into
the next few hours.

When the sun came up, I took a deep
breath. “Let’s go warn the others.”

We got dressed, Jasper showing me how
to put my short swords on my back.

Outside, we ran into Phlann. I quickly
explained that he needed to find Fillian and Brinnan and get them
back as soon as possible.

We then tracked down Tara and Ben.
After letting them know what was about to happen they ran off to
round up as many of the Wedelves as they could find.

Jasper called down some of the blue
birds and sent then to find any of the Namaels who might be willing
to help. It was a long shot, but any little bit of help was better
than none.

It was a long day filled with
waiting.

Jasper, Shanus, and Zane questioned me
over and over trying to get any minute detail I might remember from
the dream. When they weren’t planning the three of them were
working with me and my short swords.

Late that afternoon, Fillian, Brinnan
and Phlann came running into the courtyard.

I quickly explained what was happening.
Brinnan and Jasper stepped to the side so Jasper could explain
their defense plan to him.

Tara and Ben were the next to come back
two nights later. They had ten Wedelves with them. “More are
coming,” explained Tara. “Friends of ours offered to keep up the
recruiting so we could get back.”

Ben turned to me. “Where will they come
from?”

“From the direction of the bridge we
came across. They have Wedelves with them.”

He nodded. “The hunger for power runs
in all beings, unfortunately. What else?”

“We need to set up on the ridge over
the waterfall.”

Jasper cut in. “From what she could see
we will need to have most of the Wedelven archers in the trees on
the ridge. You should be able to take out quite a few of them as
they step out into the clearing.”

Ben nodded.

I remembered something I hadn’t thought
of before. “They have more than just wolves and Wedelves. There’s
all sorts of dogs and minotaur looking things too. They had bulls’
heads on a human torso but cows’ legs. Oh! And four arms and a
lizard tail.”

“Those are Bailaus,” explained
Jasper.

“We’ll take care of the cows!” grumbled
Shanus.

As if on cue, a half a dozen centaurs
galloped into the courtyard

Not centaurs, Hayden. Scannoves, I
reminded myself.

One of the females trotted up to Shanus
and hooked her arm over his back. She was amazing to look at. She
was the color of a blue roan, her waist long hair grey streaked
with black. She wore a sort of leather halter top that didn’t quite
cover her six pack.

Shanus leaned down and kissed her
passionately in front of everyone.

She blushed.

“Hayden, I would like for you to meet
my mate, Prense.” She nodded to me, smiling.

“Hi,” I smiled back.

She turned to Shanus. “The Wedelve
Cholta found us and explained what was happening.”

“What were you doing this far from
home?” asked Zane.

“About two days after Shanus and Phlann
left to go hunting, we decided to start a search to see why they
hadn’t come back. For some reason, we ended up traveling in this
direction.”

Shanus laughed. “All of us here know
the feeling.” He winked at me.

It was my turn to blush.

The next three days were much of the
same. A lot of waiting and practicing. Fillian worked with me and
the colors. Even though healers couldn’t use the colors that would
cause harm, they were able to use the ones that protected. We
worked on using the elements to drive the enemy back.

“I want you to push this cup over with
wind,” said Fillian as she placed a cup on one of the
benches.

“Does it matter which wind?”

She shook her head. “Whichever you
like.”

I took a deep breath and focused on the
grey waves, letting them move in front of me. I picked a light grey
one that would act as a strong breeze.

“Now, remember. Calmly. We just want to
push the cup.”

I took a deep breath and thought of
Dodge, letting all but the wave I had picked disappear.

“Just the cup,” I muttered to myself. I
pushed the wave ahead of me and watched as the grass started to
move in the wind. I pushed it a little harder and was rewarded when
the cup moved a fraction of an inch away from me.

“See, Hayden, you can do this,” Fillian
encouraged me. “Now try to push it along the length of the
bench.”

I nodded and pushed even harder. The
cup started to move backwards along the bench and I smiled.
“Yes!”

The cup flew backwards with amazing
speed, sailed through the air and connected with Zane’s
head.

“Zane! Oh, my god! I am so sorry!” I
ran to him and helped him up. “Are you ok?”

He grinned and gingerly rubbed at the
goose egg that was already forming on his right temple. “I’m fine.
It’s my fault, really.”

I stared at him with my mouth open.
“How in the world is it your fault that I can’t control
this?”

His grin widened. “Well, after seeing
the destruction you unleashed with your mini tornado yesterday, I
should have known not to stand in the line of fire!”

Jasper and Phlann burst out laughing. I
turned red and glared at them. I heard a snort coming from my left
and was surprised to see Fillian covering her mouth to hide a
smile.

“You are doing just fine, dear. The
main key is to stay calm. Always calm.” She grabbed the cup from
off of the ground and placed back on the bench. “Now. Let’s try
that again.”

I took a deep breath.

“You’re doing great, Shlova .” Jasper
gave me a soft kiss and wrapped me in his arms.

I breathed in deeply and sighed. “Ok.
Let’s do this again.”

He kissed my forehead and went to stand
behind me. Phlann and Zane joined him.

“Calm, cool, and collected,” I mumbled
to myself. I cautiously pushed the grey wave away from me toward
the cup. It slowly made its way along the bench and I fought to
keep my excitement down. “Calm, Hayden, calm.” I took a deep breath
and quickly stopped the wind as the cup lightly fell off the edge
onto the grass.

“Good job, Hayden.” Fillian smiled at
me.

I turned toward Jasper and ginned at
him. “I did it!” I ran and threw myself at him, knocking him onto
his back. “Yes!”

He laughed. “I knew you
could.”

We decided to end on a good note and
moved on to sparring.

Dodge insisted I practice fighting from
his back. Both Jasper and him agreed that this was the safest place
for me to be. I wondered if they weren’t conspiring to whisk me
away if things got too hectic.

Every now and then our practicing would
be interrupted as small groups of Wedelves made their way into the
town. By day five the Namaels began to arrive.

The first three were in human form as
they walked into the courtyard. We were all sitting on the ground,
taking a break from sparring.

Jasper looked up as they came to stand
directly in front of him.

“Captain,” they acknowledged him. My
mouth dropped open.

He glanced at me, looking
embarrassed.

“It’s just Jasper here.” He addressed
them. “No one is being ordered to do anything. We are all here
because we want to be. I thought I had told the birds to make that
clear.”

The blond one spoke up. “They did,
sir.”

“Jasper.”

“Yes, sir. Jasper.” He looked extremely
uncomfortable. “Sir.”

“Alright, then. By the looks of things
we are just heading to lunch. Feel free to do as you please. We
leave for the ridge the day after tomorrow.”

The three of them stood looking at
him.

Jasper sighed. “Dismissed.” I couldn’t
help myself. As soon as they were far enough away, I started to
laugh.

“I don’t know who looked more
uncomfortable! You or them!” I gave him a playful shove. “Why
didn’t you tell me you were a captain!”

He shrugged. “No reason, really.” His
blush gave him away.

“Come on, now. I won’t laugh. I
promise.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure if we were
fated or not. I thought we were, but the fact that we are different
always made me wonder.” He blushed a little deeper. “In case we
weren’t, I wanted you to want me for me. Not because of who I was.”
He glared at me. “You said you wouldn’t laugh!”

“I’m so sorry. I just...the thought of
wanting someone for their rank...” I took a few deep breaths to get
under control. “Ok. I’m ok. Sorry. It doesn’t matter to me if
you’re the king himself or a beggar on the street. I love you for
you. How could I not want to be with you.” Then a thought occurred
to me. “Why doesn’t Zane call you captain?”

“The panthers aren’t part of the guard.
We don’t know for sure why or how, but uncountable years ago, they
split from the guard. They still come and go from the keep and help
if asked. But somehow, their bond to the queen isn’t
there.”

“I think you are more like the
panthers.”

He shook his head. “No. The panthers
aren’t obligated to obey. I am.”

“No. You’re not. Your orders were to
find me and take me to the queen, and yet, here we are.”

He shook his head again. “That may be
because of our being fated.” He still looked shocked by the
thought.