Elam (2 page)

Chapter 1

The ground was soft, but she was still exhausted, trying to plant the small seeds within the welcoming ground. Lindsey had been at this for hours, working the ground, and realized almost right away she might have bitten off more than she could chew. Putting her hand over her growing belly, she smiled down at the small plants that she’d put in the ground the day before.

They were already sprouting up, their tender leaves stretching to the sun. She knew it was beans, her favorite thing to eat, raw or cooked, and had put them in the ground first. Even the potatoes were coming up, the small curls of green just peeking through the dark of the earth.

“You’ll wear the two of you out. Don’t you want me to come help you?” Jacob was moving across the two yards toward her, a plate in one hand and a glass in the other. The man was forever pushing food at her and Essie. It was as if they weren’t fat enough and he thought them to be bigger. She took the tea but left the sandwich alone. “Here, let me at least turn the earth for you. I swear you’ll have that little man here if I don’t watch over you.”

He was spading the ground when she moved to the deck to sit. She and Essie were large with child, but unlike the other woman, Lindsey was having a good pregnancy while Essie had been sick nearly every day since just after Christmas. When she heard her talking to herself, or perhaps one of the little dragons that seemed to be everywhere these days, Lindsey watched her.

“I swear to you they think me an incompetent. I can do more with one hand tied behind my back than they can do all day.” Lindsey asked her who when Essie sat down beside her. “Asher and Kiaran. I was as glad to see them leaving this morning as I was to be able to get up without puking ten times.”

“You didn’t get sick today?” Essie said she was slightly nauseous but not puking. “Well, that’s wonderful. I was getting worried for you.”

“Me too. But Caroline gave me some tea, and since I’ve been drinking it before bed, I’ve been feeling better every day. And the slightest smell doesn’t send me to my knees in front of the commode.” Jacob muttered something and they both laughed. Essie asked him what he’d said.

“I said I tried to tell you to call her a mite sooner. I was as worried as I could be about you and that babe of yours.” He’d dug up the neat little row for her, and Lindsey got up to put the seeds in it. “I got it now, don’t I? I’m doing this so that them boys of mine won’t come here and scream at me for letting you get too tired again. Durn near had to sleep in the barn, they were so upset with me.”

They’d not said a word and Lindsey knew it. Jacob was just a wonderful old man that loved them all very much, and wanted them to not think he was soft. Which everyone knew. When the sky above them darkened for a few seconds, they all looked up. The men were coming home.

Not Elam or Asher, however. They’d gone to the city to pick up a few things. Straw for one thing, the dragons so loved to roll in it. As well as some things that Elbert had needed for the house. Elam also had to close up his business, having sold it some time back for a good sum of money.

Daisy, her watcher and one of the smaller dragons on the property, came to her and sat on her knee. It was still something that she had to get used to, having dragons that were not her own around all the time, but they were for the most part a wonderful addition. Daisy had the task of keeping her straight…her head, anyway.

Ada, sister to one of the dragons who had died, was still hurting from the death of her brother Dawod and didn’t come around much. But the rest of them, about ten of them now, came and went as they pleased, but never leaving the land or the magic that kept them safe. When Jed came to sit with them, he picked her up as if she didn’t weigh nearly a ton, or so she felt, and put her on his lap. Zak landed in the yard softly, then shifted to his human self. Her mates were here and life was suddenly very good again.

“My lady.” Lindsey looked at Daisy, who had been moved off her when Lindsey had been picked up. “My lady, there is someone coming. Someone that has been sent by the queen.”

Lindsey looked over at Essie, who by all rights was the queen of them all, and was surprised when she shook her head. Lindsey looked around, just because Daisy made it sound as if this person was coming now. She’d come to realize that dragons, no matter the size, had a different time reference than she did. She supposed that it was because they’d been around for nearly forever. Right now could mean hours from now. Later might have been a month to them. And when they told you sometime, you might well have just not been told. It might be years or so before it even came to pass. Zak told her he’d keep the timeframe on track for her.

“They’re beyond the trees. Not yet on our land.” She looked at Jed when he spoke in her ear. “All I can tell you is not human, in the event that you didn’t know. Whoever it is, they’ve been there for several days. Just watching us. I cannot tell what it is, but they are there. And magical.”

“What does this person want? Do you know?” He said that he didn’t. “Okay, so we just wait for them to come to us? Or are they planning to murder us in our beds? I have to tell you, Jed, I’m going to be very pissed if this person comes into our room and we’re playing.”

“As will I.” As they all laughed, Lindsey reached out beyond to feel for the dragons. She was afraid for them, all of them coming here with a slayer out there trying to kill them. And even the few that were here already might be in danger still. There was a monster chasing them, a person that they knew nothing about, and even less as to his reasons for trying to kill one of these beautiful creatures. When Jed told her that it was time for supper, they entered the house ahead of her and she reached out again. This time she felt them, though very slightly.

You’re out there, aren’t you
? Lindsey felt the stirring grow a little, of someone that was trying to hide from her. And for some reason she knew that it wasn’t the man, the monster.
Are you friend or foe? Do you mean us harm?

Nay, I do not. You are the keeper of the dragons, are you not? The one that calls them to you?
Lindsey said that she was.
And you are not a dragon. How is that possible?

I don’t have a single clue. I do know that should you try to harm them, I will hunt you down in a minute.
The person—because she wasn’t sure if it was male or female as yet—stirred in her mind again.
You’ll not breach it. I’ve been told I have a lock on my mind tighter than Fort Knox.

I know of that place. I have been there, several times. It is easy to get in and out of if you know how.
Lindsey told the person that she had no doubt if you were magical.
And you believe that I am? That I have some power over you?

I never said you had more power, nor did I say that you had anything over me. But I am strong. Come out and I’ll show you.
The person politely declined.
Up to you. But you’re coming here, to talk to us, right? The dragons know that you’re there.

I should like to give you some information. You may or may not already know. But there is a man here. He hunts what you keep close to your heart. The dragons. I have spoken to him. Today as a matter of fact.
She asked if the person was known to them.
Only in that his heart is gray, not black, and that he is set upon his course no matter what the others have warned him about.

Thank you for that.
The person said it wasn’t necessary.
But it is to me. Why do you hide from us? Why not come here where we are? If you fear for your life, we can protect you.

I have no need of your protection. But I thank you for it. And I will wait for another time to visit. The one I seek isn’t there. I have a message for him.
Lindsey asked who it was.
I don’t know the name, only the face. I was sent to give a message to him and him only.

There are only two missing from here now. Can I assume that it’s one of them that you need to talk to?
Lindsey expected her to say something, that she was coming back, but nothing.
Who are you?

A witch. Not necessarily of good standing, but I am to be trusted with this. It was a bargain that I made long ago. A promise that I will keep, should it be allowed.
Lindsey wasn’t surprised that she was more than likely old. And now that she knew her to be a witch, the gender of her voice changed to show her female.
I shall return in two days’ time. Until I return to speak with him, I will keep an eye on the man who hunts. He has slayed two of your dragons. And one that died with you.

Dawod.
The woman said nothing. And when Jed came out on the porch, he didn’t speak when she shook her head.
You are welcome here if you wish. There is shelter and plenty of food should you want that.

I will return in two days. I will message you when I have information on your hunter.
Lindsey thanked her again.
Your babe? You know that it is mostly dragon, some other magic that I cannot tell as well. Dragon young are a rarity nowadays. You are aware of what someone would do with such a child?

Yes. I’m careful. No one will touch what is mine.
If she thought the woman would answer her, she was disappointed. After moving to Jed’s arms and telling him of the conversation, he simply held her. “I don’t think she means us harm, but she does have a message for Asher.”

“She told you his name?” Lindsey asked him who else it could be for. “I don’t know. But I guess Asher would be my guess too. And she gave you no indication as to what the message might be? Maybe we can get him home sooner for her.”

“No, just that she’d return in two days. I don’t think it’s necessary to have him rush home. I know he’s busy.” Lindsey looked out over the fields and knew that the woman, the witch, was there just on the edge, waiting. But for what, she didn’t have a clue. “Jed, she’s a witch. Do you think Caroline might know who it is?”

“I have no idea. But we’ll ask her. She’s coming back soon as well. And bringing you more seed. Though where you’d plant it is beyond me. We’re going to have a garden big enough to supply armies now.”

Maybe, she thought, but she was driven for some reason to have plenty to eat. It might have been her upbringing or something else. But food was going to be needed, and she was going to make sure that they had it.

~~~

Elam stretched his neck and felt it pop into place. He wanted to go home. Now, today, and not be bothered with this anymore. The man who had bought his business a few months ago had been putting him off for days now, and he was getting sick of it. The check was in the bank and had cleared nicely, so he wasn’t sure what the put off was about. Elam was glad now that he’d had his banker cash out the money and not deposit it. There was something very fishy about this deal. Now the paperwork had yet to be signed making it a legal sale. And sitting here in the lawyer’s office was making his dragon insane. The both of them were on edge.

Do you think him to change his mind? It would be like him, I think, to back out now when we have such plans.
Casdon, his counterpart and the dragon to his man, chuckled
. To think that we are close to having the castle ready to start the repairs and rebuild, and now this happens and we have to wait here. I wish we could return and be working on it with the others. Don’t you?

Yes. Asher too. When we called home this morning, Jed said that they had the entire lower levels cleaned out and had found several things they couldn’t wait to show us. The kitchen was located too, and now we’re ready to begin laying the stones back as soon as the lower levels are put together by the magic we have.
The low growl from Casdon made him smile. The man across from him, Asher’s lawyer, just grinned too. He told Jamie that in ten more minutes he was going to get up and leave.

It wasn’t as if Elam needed the money, but he did need to have this finished. He didn’t want to come to the city anymore. Not to stay. The family was at home, their family home, and he wanted to stay there as well. The castle, as they had talked about, was coming along nicely. The furniture was being built to the specs that they’d been given, and even some of the local women, a group of them from the local nursing home, were making rugs, rag rugs they’d been called even back in his father’s time, to put on the cold stone floors when they were finished.

They’d been working on it for the better part of a year now. Moving the fallen stones had been the hardest work, heavy too. Then there had been minor and some major upsets along the way. A monster in the sublevels, a witch that tried to kill Asher, and a neighbor that had to be taken care of by one of the dragons to save their lives. Things, he supposed, were not normal, and he loved every minute of it, now that it was over and everyone was safe. And treasures had been found as well.

Hair combs were the most plentiful of women’s things that were unearthed. Most of them in the lower levels were made of shells and wood. And they knew from reading books and talking to his dad that the lower levels, like the ones that held beds and other items, were used by the staff. Cleaning staff and the cooks from the kitchen above the ground had used it as their homes. Some of the guard had also been known to sleep in the lower levels, his dad said, when the weather was just too bad to go out.

Three swords had been found in the rubble. Two of them had the same marking, a dragon on the pummel, and the blade still, even after all this time, shone brightly in the daylight. They knew those to be of the castle guard. The other they assumed was from the men who had stormed the castle that night. The very swords that were part of the death of the king.