Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (15 page)

Everything stayed quiet on the other side of
the river.

“Anyway, we thought you might like to know
what was happening. Any help you might be willing to offer would be
greatly appreciated.” I waited a few minutes to see if I would get
some sort of response. When it became obvious that I wasn’t going
to get one I turned back toward Howel and Jasper followed
along.

“Maybe you should have talked,” I muttered.
“You’re great at pep talks and getting everyone riled for a
fight.”

He grinned. “I also have a bit more
experience in the field. You did alright. I don’t think I could
have done much better. I have never seen a Faelie before and have
no idea what would get them going.” He put his arm around my
shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “You did just fine.”

“So what is the deal with them? The spelling
of their name…it makes it sound like they should be living by the
Namaels, not the Majs.”

“They used to be our neighbors. King Julian,
that was the ruler before Melana, was a bit of a tyrant. I wasn’t
born then, mind you, but the stories I’ve heard are enough to make
anyone shiver with dread. He is the main reason there is such
animosity between the Majs and the Namaels. It has taken Melana
over fifty years to mend the damage done between the Namaels and
the Free Folk around our parts. The Faelies relocated here sometime
during Julian’s reign.”

“Those poor beings. First the Namaels then
the humans.”

We had gotten back to Howel by this time and
were met at the gates by a very agitated Kip.

“Hey, you. We weren’t gone that long!”

Jasper got down on his knees and let our dog
lick his face before grabbing a stick and throwing it. Kip gave an
excited bark and chased after it.

“Do you have everything ready to go for
tomorrow?” Jasper took the stick from Kip and threw it again as we
walked toward Damian’s house.

“I do. You?”

He nodded and threw the stick. “If everything
goes according to plan we should be home in three weeks or so.”

My throat tightened at the mention of
home.

“Shlova, we can build another one.” He
stopped walking and turned me towards him.

“I know. It’s just…that one has a lot of
great memories attached to it.”

He smiled and kissed me softly. “We’ll just
have to make new memories in the new cabin.”

“Hmmm.” I kissed him back. “I guess I could
handle making new memories with you.”

We started walking again.

“I wonder what Tiny will think of Kip.” Our
little tairat tended to be very particular about who she liked.
Jasper laughed.

“She can’t possibly hate him more than she
hates me!”

“Aw, now. She doesn’t hate you. It had been a
good month since she’d bitten you before we left!” I could still
remember how he had come up behind me and put his chin on my head.
Tiny had decided he was too close and had run up my leg and bit him
on the forearm.

“Besides, I know she likes you. Those are
just love nips.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve seen what she does to people she truly
doesn’t like.” A picture of Ryland’s face after he had abducted me
came to mind. Tiny had thrown herself at him and bit and clawed
until he had managed to throw her off. There hadn’t been an inch of
his face not covered in scratches and bites. Unfortunately, tairats
were the size of a large rat and the damage hadn’t been life
threatening.

“Yes, well, I hate to admit it, but I do miss
the little thing.” Jasper flashed me a grin.

We reached Damian’s house and walked in.

“So?” asked Rainen. I shrugged.

“I could see their auras but they never
showed themselves. I told them what was happening and why. They
never responded.”

“I think we should be fine without them.
William was telling us about a few more weaknesses around the keep.
It seems Braw has been a little overconfident since finding the
staff.”

Jasper nodded.

“Rainen?” Damian’s eyes looked from me to
her.

“Yes?”

“Tonight, while I’m sleeping, I was wondering
if you would mind multiplying my energy for me.”

“Not at all.”

“Thank you. I’d like to leave with Hayden and
Jasper tomorrow.” He turned his attention to my mate. “That is of
course, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m sure Hayden has tons of questions for
you,” was the answer he was given.

I gave Jasper’s hand a squeeze, smiled at
Damian and sighed to myself. This was going to be like introducing
two dominant dogs to each other, only one was a dog and the other
was a cat. Maybe that was the better analogy; the one that was true
to life. It was like asking cats and dogs to get along. I
laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Jasper glanced at me
warily. I shook my head.

“Nothing…everything.” I tried to stop
laughing. This was too much. Cats and Dogs. What in the world were
we thinking? Tomorrow we would start the second final leg of our
journey to a battle that would determine the lives of almost all
beings throughout the land of Quelondain. Did we actually think
that we could win? Could I do what everybody thought I could? Fear
and anxiety flared in me and I decided that laughing was better
than crying. I waved Jasper’s concern away and made my way to the
kitchen, out the back door and sat on the step with my head in my
hands.

“God, Hayden. What the hell are you thinking?
All it will take is one wrong move and you’ll have sent all of them
to their deaths!”

“You could just keep hiding.”

I jumped at the sound of Rainen’s voice
behind me.

“Maybe, but every time I hide, someone finds
me.” I looked at her as she sat beside me. “What would you do if
you were me?”

She took a breath, frowned, and shrugged.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I wasn’t born the Chosen One.” She smiled
at my glare.

“If I fail…” I closed my eyes. “Jasper would
be gone. Zane, Dawn, Kara. Luke, Mel, and the twins. Melana,
Damian, you. Two entire races will be wiped out. And then, what?
Without the Majs and the Namaels patrolling borders, how long will
it take for Braw to decide the rest of this world needs
cleansing?”

“Well, why don’t we look at all the
options?”

“Now, you sound like my dad.”

She grinned. “Supposing you stay in hiding,
what do you think would happen?”

“Braw would keep coming after me. I’d have to
keep moving around. Of course, now that I’m safe from both you and
Melana, I’d have quite a few more hiding spots at my disposal. Or I
would just have to cross over permanently.”

“And Jasper?”

“Would come. We’ve already discussed it. But
hiding doesn’t solve the problem. Even if I left, I would know that
Braw was still separating whatever shifter he could get his hands
on.” I shook my head. “Hiding isn’t an option.”

“Alright. Now, if fighting is the only
option, then there is no point in worrying about the outcome. If we
win, then all the better.”

“We can’t lose.”

Her midnight blue eyes met mine.

“I don’t care how it’s done, Rainen. There is
only one rule in this battle. No matter what happens, Braw does not
touch me with that staff.” We stared at each other for a moment.
She nodded.

*****

The early morning was beautiful and I smiled
as I pulled my swords onto my back. Excited butterflies bumped into
each other in my stomach. After well over a year, we were finally
going home.

Jasper grinned and handed me my pack.

“How long?” I asked.

“Three weeks.”

I laughed and kissed him. “What’s three weeks
after a year?”

“Too long.”

“I agree. At least it’s summer and we won’t
get stuck in any blizzards.”

He chuckled. “True enough.”

There was a knock at the door and Matthew
walked in.

“Good morning.”

I gave him a hug. “Morning. Are you and
Emelly ready to go?”

He nodded. “Steven, Mark, Kearan, and Karryn
are waiting by the gates already. Does it seem odd to anyone else
that as of the moment we leave Howel, our pack will have more
humans in it than any other kind of being?”

“It’s a bit odd I suppose, but that’s just
until we reach Sageden.” I shrugged. “Though, if you think about
it, when we were at odds with Rainen before we crossed over last
year, we had more Majs in our pack than anything.”

Matthew did the math in his head. “Can you
really count Tyler and Trent? They were only twelve then. They’re
not even close to being of age.”

“They can fight as well as anyone else I
know.”

“True enough. I suppose that when your aunty
is the Chosen One, you don’t have much choice in the matter.” He
grinned and ducked to avoid the slap I was aiming at his
shoulder.

Jasper opened the door and waved him through.
“
If you’re not careful, we’ll be short a Namael
before we hit the road.”

“Ah, she wouldn’t dare.” Matthew
winked at me. “She loves me.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and
he left laughing.

“Ok. I think we’re ready.”
Jasper stuck his dagger in his belt.

“Where’s Kip?”

“The last time I saw him he was
following Steven around.”

I smiled. “It’s the cheese he
keeps in his pocket.”

We left the house just as Rainen
and Damian were coming out of the other.

“Wow! Damian, you look great!”
His strange eyes which were dark grey on the outside and got
lighter until they were white by the pupil were no longer sunken
into his face. He had put on at least twenty five pounds overnight.
He looked like his very healthy looking projection I was used to
seeing. At about six feet two inches he was an imposing figure with
his greying dark hair, though he looked quite a few years younger
than his fifty five years. He grinned.

“Rainen has some amazing tricks
when it comes to energy.”

“No kidding!” I turned to her.
“You’ll have to show me some of them.”

“Definitely. We’ll have lots of
time between Sageden and Paradin.”

“Ok, I’m all set.” William
stepped out of the house and came to stand by us. “Is everyone
ready?”

I looked at him, a little
confused that he had decided to come with us. I noticed he wasn’t
looking at Rainen.

“We were just waiting on you.”
Jasper didn’t seem to notice anything unusual.

I gave Rainen a hug.

“We’ll be there about a week
after you,” she said. “Don’t leave without us.”

I laughed. “We wouldn’t dream of
it.”

We turned and headed for the
gate where everyone was waiting. I hung back and walked beside
William.

“I’m sort of surprised you’re
coming now.”

“Why’s that?” He glanced at
me.

“Well, I guess it’s because I
thought you would want to travel with Rainen.”

“Oh, I do. It’s just, I promised
to fight with you. I can’t very well do that if I’m not with you,
now can I?”

I stopped and grabbed his arm so
he would look at me.

“William, you can stay. We’ll
meet up in Sageden. We shouldn’t have to do much fighting between
now and then.”

He looked at me and then to the
house where Rainen was sitting on the step, watching us leave. He
shook his head.

“No. My place is with you. It’s
hard to explain.”

“It’s not. You’re forming some
sort of bond. It probably started when we first met in Paradin and
the more time you spend with me the stronger it gets.” I looked to
the house. “Was she upset?”

He shook his head.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I like Rainen. I mean, I really
like her. The problem is…well, she can’t very well go back with me,
can she?”

“She could, but you’re right.
She probably wouldn’t.”

“I don’t need anything happening
that will make me change my mind, Hayden. I want to go back.”

“Have you told her?”

He nodded. “Last night, when I
was getting my stuff ready.”

“You know, I’m not entirely sure
what will happen when all of this fighting is done, you know, with
the bonds and what not. If you stay too long, you might not be able
to leave due to the fact that the longer we’re together, the
stronger the bond gets. There’s also the fact that if something
happens and I get killed, I can’t get you across.”

He stared at me and I could see
the wheels turning in his head.

“Think about it, William. If you
want to go back that badly, I’ll have to do it soon.”

“Hayden! Are you coming? We
can’t very well save the world without the Chosen One!” Matthew
yelled from the gates.

I laughed as Jasper gave him a
slap to the back of the head. I turned back to William as we
started walking again. “Take a couple of days to think about it,
but don’t wait too long.” I gave his arm a squeeze and jogged the
rest of the way to the gates. I swung onto Dodge.

William was walking back to
Rainen. She stood and listened as he talked then put a hand on his
arm and nodded. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her
softly, shifted, whined, and ran back to our group.

“Alright, let’s head out!”
Jasper shifted.

I looked back and gave Rainen
one final wave as we started off for home.

*****

We spent a week on the move with
nothing more exciting than running into a herd of hallopes, a short
deer like ruminant. Of course, things can never go smoothly and our
peace was disturbed by one lone grubborn, a flat muskrat looking
animal, which Karryn managed to step on due to the fact that she
was paying more attention to Steven than she was to where she was
going.

The grubborn, which was a
peaceful creature unless provoked, twisted and wrapped its tail
around her leg. Its thin spines dug into her and released their
deadly poison. A fraction of a second later Steven had cut its head
off with his dagger.