Eternal Promise (Between Worlds Book 3) (15 page)

Zanna and Sebille nodded. “Of course.”

Drake smiled. “Mo Bhanríon, I’ll follow you.”

Surprise crossed the faces of the rest of the council when Drake spoke.

Zanna said, “I’m sure we can get together some guards.”

“Thank you.” I stood up and walked out of the room. As soon as I got outside, I pressed up against the meetinghouse and closed my eyes. That was scary and exhilarating at the same time.

Kallan?
I tried to reach him again. There was no answer, but it felt like he was there.
We’re coming, Kallan.
I could only hope he could hear me. What if she had hurt him? What if he was dying? The tears started coming then and I ran to the woods so nobody would see me cry.

I plopped myself down on the ground and leaned against a tree, letting the tears freely fall down my cheeks. After a few minutes, the sobbing subsided and I took deep breaths. That’s when I felt the earth shudder again. I gasped as the strange ripple flew through me. It felt stronger this time. I placed my hands flat on the ground. “Tell me,” I whispered.

The ground didn’t talk back—not that I expected it to—but I could feel it hurting. Something was definitely wrong.

Still standing in front of the meetinghouse were Drake, Zanna, Sebille, and Olwydd, who had just arrived. I nodded and thanked each of them. Then I asked the burning question, “How are we supposed to fight without an army?”

“Zanna and Sebille are masters at archery. Olwydd is also trained as a guard.”

“We’re here too,” a voice said behind me.

I turned and saw two light faery walking toward us. I only knew one of them. “Warren, thank you for coming.”

“I believe in you, Oleander.”

I smiled.

“This is Bayard.”

“Hi, Bayard. Nice to meet you.” They were all staring at me and I realized they were waiting for me to tell them what to do. “Um…I…we need to…” I blew out a deep breath and started over. “Olwydd, can you get us back to Satine’s castle?”

“Yes.”

“Once we’re there, we need to take out any outside guards.”

“Zanna and I can do that with our bows,” Sebille said.

“Then we need to get in and get Kallan out.”

“What about Satine? Or Kyro?”

Sebille shook her head. “I can’t believe Kyro turned on us like this. He was always so kind.”

Kyro? Kind? If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was talking about someone else. “We focus on getting Kallan out. If Kyro or Satine get caught in the crossfire, so be it. If not, we’ll go after them later.”

Olwydd suggested to us we follow and we did. Our small army quietly discussed strategies until Olwydd stopped suddenly in front of a vacant area. He had a look of confusion on his face.

“Where’s the castle, Drake?” I looked around. It had been here. I knew we were in the right spot. Everything was the same…except there was no castle.

“I don’t know.” He scratched his head.

“Could it have moved?” I asked.

“It’s possible,” Olwydd said.

“Great,” I said sarcastically. “How do we find it?”

“Give me a minute.” Olwydd walked off.

I glanced at Drake. “What do you think he’s doing?”

Drake shrugged. “No clue.”

After a few minutes, he motioned for us to follow him.

“Did you find them?” I asked.

“Shhh!”

My eyes widened. He shushed me! This guy had no respect for me. I could have torn him a new one right then and there if he wasn’t the only tracker I knew. I bit my lip and trailed after him.

We walked in silence for twenty more minutes and climbed up a small hill. Before we reached the top, Olwydd gestured for us to squat down. “There.”

I peered over the hill. There were two guards standing at the mouth of a cave. “They’re in the cave?”

“Yes.”

“Is Kallan there?”

“Yes.”

Kallan?
I called out to him, hoping he’d hear me now that we were right outside. No answer.

Zanna and Sebille quickly took out the two guards with their bows and arrows, allowing us to go right up to the front. Drake took the lead and we slipped inside the entrance. Unlike Crag cave, this one was lit with faery lanterns. Slowly we crept in farther. The passage split in two directions. Zanna and Sebille stayed at the split. Olwydd and Warren went right and Drake, Bayard, and I went to the left. Down the corridor about ten yards was a glass door with no handle. Odd place for a door to be. Drake peered in. I tried to look around him, but he put his hand out to stop me.

“What do you see?” I whispered impatiently.

“There’s a cage—” His body tensed and he turned toward me. His face was white and he ushered us back outside. My heart was racing trying to figure out what was so bad he wouldn’t let me see. The sun blinded my eyes and I squinted.

“Drake?”

He took my hand and pulled me over a hill. We stayed close enough to the top to see the mouth of the cave. His eyes darted back and forth.

I was getting quite annoyed. “I am the leader of this realm. Tell me what’s going on!”

Drake met my eyes. “It is my job—my most important job—to keep you safe. No matter what I cannot let anything happen to you. You have to understand this. My life depends on it.”

“Okay…”

“Kallan is in that room—”

My heart leapt. “Is he okay? Is he hurt?”

Drake grimaced. “He looks fine. Rylie, he wasn’t in the cage, he was guarding the cage.”

I shook my head, not understanding. “He’s guarding someone?”

“Yes.”

“So he’s not being held captive?”

“You said you couldn’t talk to him with the ring anymore, right?” Drake questioned.

“Right. It’s like I can feel him there, but something’s just off…”

“I think his mind has been taken over.”

I sat back and let that sink in. His mind had been taken over? Could that happen? Someone could just take over someone else’s mind? Did that mean he was still in there somewhere? Or was he completely lost to me now? My eyes filled with tears at the thought of never feeling his lips on mine again. Never lying next to him. No! I couldn’t—wouldn’t—accept that. Kallan was strong and he loved me. He wouldn’t be pushed aside for good.

I wiped away the tears and said, “We have to save him.”

“And we will,” Drake said.

“Warren and I will go in front. Zanna and Sebille, you two flank us. Bayard and Olwydd take up the rear.”

“Where do I go?”

“You don’t. You stay here. Call upon the forest to protect you,” Drake insisted.

“I’m coming,” I demanded.

“No, Rylie!” Drake grabbed me.

“Why not?” I growled at him.

“I can’t let you.”

“Because you’re supposed to protect me?”

“Yes!”

“You don’t have to. I can take care of myself.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Of course not. “Why not?”

“I’m Kallan’s second in command. When he tells me to do something, I do it. He told me to protect you, to put your life above mine—”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“You’re the Aurorian! You must be saved. You are to do great things, lead the fey.”

“Fine, then as the Aurorian, I dismiss this stupid command Kallan gave you.”

“Promise.”

“What?”

“It was a promise.”

“What exactly were the terms of this promise?”

“To be second in command, I have to protect you with my life.”

I sighed. “And that means only he can let you off the hook, doesn’t it?”

Drake nodded. “Yes.”

“What do you think Sierra would think of this? She’d kill me if I let anything happen to you,” I said back to him. “She’ll give me hell just knowing that a promise like this even exists.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I must focus on you and this situation right now.”

“Fine. You said Kallan was guarding somebody.”

Drake looked away and nodded.

“Who?”

I could tell he didn’t want to tell me, but he had to. He couldn’t lie. “Adam.”

“Adam?! My Adam? Adam from the human realm? That Adam?”

“Yes,” he responded quietly so I would lower my voice.

“You’re telling me that Adam is in a cage in that cave with Kallan guarding him.”

“Yes.”

Could this get any worse? I held my head in my hands for a few minutes, trying to wrap my mind around this and figure out what to do about it. I wasn’t sure sending for an army would do any good. We were too far from home to get help quickly. We’d send word, but it would take a while before an army got here, if they even came at all.

There were only seven of us. What could we possibly do to get Kallan and Adam out of there and then how do we fix Kallan?

A flutter above caught my attention. I held my hand up to block the sun, which let me see the piskie I had lost a few hours with. I waved her down and she flew close to me. “You owe me one,” I told her. “I need you to tell my mother where we are. You know who she is?”

She gave a quick nod before flying away. I had no idea what Azura would or could do, but any help would be better than what we had.

I turned to Drake. “I’m going in with you, Drake.”

He stared in my eyes like we were having a no blinking contest, but then said, “Fine, but invisible.”

I nodded curtly.

“We need to go now before they realize two of their guards are dead,” Warren said.

I willed myself invisible and the seven of us entered the cave again. When we got to the split, I heard voices to the right and tiptoed closer to hear. The first voice was a male voice. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get the friend or the parents—”

“It’s fine. He’ll have to do. Now we need word to get back to her that we have him and lure her here. We’ll get her this time.”

Drake took my arm and pulled me down to the door. Zanna put her hand on a crescent moon etched into the cave and the door opened. “Only opens for the dark,” she whispered to me.

Slowly, she pulled open the door and the seven of us entered. I was baffled by what I saw. A cage was lifted in the air about two feet over a pool of water.

Adam was in the cage. Kallan was on the sidelines, rigid, watching the cage. I had to save Adam and Kallan, but I didn’t know how to do either.

“There’s no one else here right now. Let’s get them out,” I suggested.

“Rylie, someone gave him faery sight. If you drop your invisibility glamour, he will see you in your true form.”

“I don’t care.” That was the least of my worries. I turned visible and started toward Adam.

“You can’t!” Drake grabbed my arm.

I yanked away and glared at him. “I know Kallan doesn’t like Adam and you’re loyal to Kallan, but—”

“It’s not that. I’m trying to protect you, Rylie. That’s not water Adam is hanging over. It’s Tetterzu, a faery poison. You touch it, you die.”

I rocked back on my heels. That changed things. Now what? Azura’s words came back to me.
Nature manipulator. Control the earth.

I knew what to do to get Adam out, but before I could rescue either of them, a bunch of guards filed into the room from the doorway on the left followed by Satine and Kyro. My wings fluttered and I willed myself invisible again before they saw me.

“Seize them!” Satine yelled.

Zanna and Sebille took two of them out before they even had a chance to move. I couldn’t let Satine get the upper hand. I felt around for a talent I could use.

Using the power of the faery with yellow wings, I knocked them all down to the ground like he had done to me.

“The Aurorian is here,” Kyro announced. He turned to Kallan, who was just staring straight ahead. “Find her.”

Kallan didn’t respond. He just started walking our direction.

Kallan. It’s me, my love. Can you hear me?

No response.

“Stay still,” Drake whispered obviously to me.

He was closer now and I could see the lost expression on his face. It was like his body was a shell. I held back the tears threatening to come. I remembered Varwik saying he could detect an invisible faery. I wondered if Kallan could do that too.

I got prepared to hit them all again with the pulse I had just used. It would send Kallan to the ground too, but I didn’t have a choice. He was under their command and that meant he was a danger to me.

Satine scowled. “Bring Ahern in. He might have lost to her before, but that’s what makes him even better now. Oleander, as you see I did get to the human realm and brought back a surprise. He is unharmed, but won’t be for long. Surrender yourself now and I’ll let him go. If you don’t, I have no problem torturing him or using him. Maybe next time it’ll be your parents.”

Furious, I vowed to put an end to Satine.

The other faery from outside the castle walked in and I could no longer feel other powers. The blocker had to go.

I remembered how Azura said Aurorians could control the elements. Using the air, I conjured up a small twister and sent it right at Ahern. Focusing on it, I made it stronger and Ahern was picked up. Using my hands to guide it, I steered it into the back wall and then made the twister dissipate throwing Ahern into the wall.

Kallan froze mid-step and I knew Drake was using his power on him. Kyro formed a fireball and threw it at Drake, forcing him to release Kallan and freeze the fireball. Kallan punched Drake, knocking him over, and then looked at the rest of us. He started coming toward me again. I tried to stay invisible and completely still and not breathe just in case he couldn’t see me, but when he looked right in my eyes, I knew he could feel me.

“Grab her!” Kyro yelled to Kallan.

Kallan reached out and grabbed me. I dropped the invisibility. No point in it now. Maybe if he saw me, he’d let go.

“Squeeze the life out of her,” Kyro ordered.

Kallan backed me up to the wall and placed his hands around my neck.

Kyro laughed. “I love that I’m able to control him, tell him what to do, and push him around.”

Satine laughed. “Well, darling, that is because of me.”

“Yes. I know. You keep throwing it in my face.”

“Brother, don’t kill the girl. Just knock her out,” Satine ordered. Looking at Kyro, she said, “I want her alive. We will use her.”

My lungs burned without air and I struggled trying to get free.
Kallan. This isn’t you. Fight it.

I tried to see around him. Drake was fighting a guard with his fists, Zanna and Sebille took aim at others, Warren was removing his blade from a guard on the ground, and Olwydd was trying to get out of his own chokehold. Bayard lay on the ground. If he wasn’t dead, he was close.