Foretold (Daughters of Saraqael Book Three) (15 page)

He caught the word,
Qel’a
. That was when he realized she was talking to her spirit guardian. Although he didn’t know why, his attention was heightened. Concern mounted. He took a step closer to her.

She stopped pacing. She looked calm…and resolved. He felt a surge of panic.

“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” she said, her gaze sweeping the room. Then she looked directly at Caleb. “Quincy is suffering and will surely be dead within the hour. I know I can get to him. And I have to believe that you can then get to me.”

“Skye, what do you think to do?” he asked, his mouth going dry with sudden fear.

“You already know,” she said quietly. “I have faith in you.”

She closed her eyes. And then, with a flare of light blue light, she was gone.

Skye hadn’t ever considered the idea of physically transporting herself. No one on the Estilorian plane had ever mentioned it was possible, after all. She was quite sure if it had been, Estilorians would be doing it all the time. But as her mind had raced with the options available to her in her determination to save Quincy, it hadn’t hit upon a single helpful possibility.

That simply told her she had to consider the impossible.

She had started by consulting with Sky Tomaganuk. Her spirit guardian was a high holy being. He had stood guard over her when she had been injured by the Mercesti after the Becoming ceremony. The Mercesti had avoided him because he had manifested as a form comprised of holy light. He wasn’t able to maintain the form for long, however, as it caused a considerable drain on her energy.

“Can you get to him,
Qel’a
?” she had asked.

You already know
, he had responded.

She had muttered a very unladylike curse over that. She did know. She had been trying to send him through the enchantment since waking from her dream. And she couldn’t do it.

“I have to get to him,” she said.
I promised.

I know.

How? How can I get there in time? My thoughts are leading me nowhere.

Then you should look outside of your mind.

Others may have completely dismissed the spirit’s suggestion. She, however, had merely shuffled the idea into her rapidly churning thoughts. Physically travel to Quincy, like teleporting. It shouldn’t be possible to go from physically existing in one spot to physically existing in another. It sounded like something out of a
Star Trek
episode.

But her wings did it, didn’t they? Faded in and out of existence. And the Lekwuesti could generate things with just their thoughts, couldn’t they? And the elders could to some extent, too.

And she had known then that she could do it.

She had looked down at her hands. They were stained with some of the dirt and blood that had been on Quincy’s hands. The detailed description he had given her of his current location would make it easy enough for her to summon up an image of it. She intuitively knew these elements would be more than enough to get her to him.

The look on Caleb’s face almost swayed her from her course. He looked terrified for her. But she hoped that his fear meant he would try all the harder to get to her. Because she would need him before it was done.

When she felt herself fading, she heard him call her name. Heard the raw emotion in it. And despite her outrageous fear, she was bolstered by the knowledge that his emotion-filled cry gave her.

Then she pulled Quincy into the center of her mind. She allowed his need for help draw her to him as she pictured the stone cell serving as his prison. She didn’t know how he had found her and managed to get into her head, but he certainly had her focus now.

“You have been rather disappointing,” she heard in her mind as she sensed herself growing closer to Quincy. “I had hoped to get another day out of you at least.”

The room started coming into focus. Dark. Lit only by one dim, red ball floating near the ceiling.

“The cuts I have administered thus far have been superficial,” the blond Mercesti standing over Quincy’s still form said in an unemotional tone. “Painful, of course. But not lethal. Perhaps I should leave you to heal for a few hours and begin again. We Estilorians heal rather quickly, after all.”

She found herself hoping he would follow through on that threat, just to get him out of the room. She felt her transition speeding up and realized she couldn’t stop it.

“Oh, never mind,” the Mercesti said. “You are too dull to bother. Hardly any screaming.”

Just as the Mercesti changed his hold on the hilt of his dagger, she zoomed fully into the cell with a flash of light.

The Mercesti flinched in shock and stumbled away from Quincy, much to her relief. She felt light-headed from the transport, but hurried closer to Quincy, prepared to do what she could to protect him. She would have to teleport him out of the cell, but she would need some time to regain her energy first.

The Mercesti remained relatively unfazed by her sudden appearance. He wisely stood a few feet away from her, gauging the threat she posed to him.

“How interesting,” he said at last, giving her a careful once-over. “Skye.”

It didn’t surprise her that he knew her name. Grolkinei would have made certain his minions had as much information as possible about her and her sisters. But she heard Quincy’s chains rattle in response to the Mercesti’s comment and knew then he wasn’t completely unconscious or unaware.

She considered and dismissed the idea of bringing forth her guardian for added protection. The drain on her energy would be too much. Hoping to buy some time, she gave the cell a disdainful glance and sniffed. “Hmm. Grolkinei could stand to find some better digs.” She focused on the Mercesti. “And you are…?”

“Eloy.”

He remained expressionless. It was extremely disconcerting in light of the tension in the chamber. He held his dagger with a great deal of familiarity. It glistened with blood. Fury shot through her at the sight. Knowing that emotion wouldn’t help her, she kept her expression contained and focused on restoring her energy and opening her mind to her family.

Caleb would lead them to her. She was sure of it.

“Eloy.” She raised an eyebrow. “What, exactly, do you hope to elicit this way?” she asked, waving a hand toward Quincy.

“Who said I was eliciting anything?” he returned blandly. He took a step closer. She held her ground, but kept her attention centered on him, bracing for his attack.

“
He
did, of course,” she answered, matching Eloy’s lack of expression with as much intonation as she could manage. Her tone this time said she thought her answer should have been obvious.

That did appear to give him pause. “This Corgloresti has been communicating with you?”

“And now I’ve come to get him,” she said by way of response, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

She guessed she didn’t when he jerked forward and sliced at her with his dagger. Because she had been anticipating the move since she entered the cell, she easily evaded it. Then she realized her movement pulled her away from Quincy, leaving him vulnerable. Eloy quickly moved to finish what he had started before she arrived.

“Stay away from him!” she commanded, and flung out her holy light.

Now Eloy screamed. He wheeled backwards and into the far corner of the cell.

She panted. The release of the holy light so soon after transporting had her feeling weak. Once again, her head spun. Her only clear thought was that she had to get Quincy out of there. She turned and bent over him to see if he was awake. She would need his help for the transport to work.

Don’t turn your back on him!

Caleb’s urgent warning sounded in her head in time to avoid taking a dagger in the back. Even as relief flooded through her over the established connection with her family, she whirled and used the momentum of the turn to deflect Eloy’s down-thrust using both of her hands on his forearm. The blade scraped harmlessly on the stone floor. A few sparks flew at the contact.

Before he could recover from the failed attack, she flung more holy light. He didn’t scream this time, but he hissed and backed away. She saw smoke rising from his skin and scented burning flesh.

Amber, can you heal Quincy?
she sent out, placing one of her hands on Quincy’s. In answer to her question, she felt healing energy cycling through her. She focused on pushing as much of Amber’s energy as she could into Quincy. It wouldn’t be unfiltered enough to fully heal him, but it would certainly go a long way toward getting him in the condition to help her get him out of there.

Her eyes remained on Eloy even as the healing energy cycled. He was eying her with equal suspicion, breathing heavily as he fought the pain she had caused him. She realized he was moving slowly and with some purpose toward the corner of the cell to her right.

Even as she debated using some of her much-needed energy to create a ball of light so she could figure out what he was doing, Eloy reached out and grabbed something from the darkness.

“No!”

She heard Quincy’s shout. Saw Eloy’s hand move. And then something was suddenly caught around her throat, cutting off her ability to breathe.

Caleb didn’t move for at least ten interminable seconds after Skye disappeared from their rooms.

He heard himself cry out her name as though it was expressed by someone else. Felt the insane fear rushing through him. Then stood, completely paralyzed, when he realized she had truly left him.

He knew exactly where she had gone.

In his training, he had learned how to protect himself against crazed, demonic Mercesti. He could wield and defend against nearly any kind of weapon ever conceived. He was fully prepared to use himself as a shield to protect a being to whom he was paired.

But he had never had to learn how to protect his heart after it had been yanked from his chest and transplanted somewhere, vulnerable, that he couldn’t be himself.

“We have to figure out how to connect with her,” Olivia said urgently. She was the first to come to her senses. “Come on. Let’s join hands.”

Caleb felt Gabriel grasp his hand and pull him into the circle with his family. When he had Gabriel’s wrist in one hand and Olivia’s in the other, he finally got past his shock. There would be time later for him to deal with his emotions. He would make damn sure of it.

They all closed their eyes and focused. But Skye’s essence felt nebulous. Caleb could just barely sense her, as though she was in his peripheral vision, but when he looked directly, she disappeared.

“It’s not enough,” he said suddenly. “The barriers around Central were put into place by all of the elders. We need them.”

Breaking the circle, they all ran from the room. They didn’t have to go far. Gabriel had, of course, sent out the message earlier regarding Quincy, and the other elders were already on their way to see him. They all met up with each other not far from the rooms.

“Skye teleported to Quincy,” Gabriel said. “We need to create a circle of power that will allow our minds through so we can connect with her.”

“You are talking about reversing the effects of what we have put in place for protection,” Jabari said. He looked just as surprised as the other elders over the news that Skye had teleported, and very concerned over what Gabriel had just proposed.

“Temporarily,” Gabriel insisted. “Just long enough to get her and Quincy to safety.”

The other elders exchanged glances. Caleb thought he just might start shouting at them as he thought of Skye alone and unprotected. How could they hesitate for even a second? But he somehow managed to hold onto his temper and his patience.

“Very well,” Jabari said at last.

Caleb stepped into the center of the circle with Amber, Olivia, James and Gabriel. And as the elders joined together outside them, he immediately knew it had been the right thing to do.

It took only an instant for them to enter Skye’s consciousness. Unlike with Olivia, who had needed to focus on allowing them to experience everything she was experiencing when she had been taken by the Mercesti, with Skye it was immediate. They closed their own eyes and were suddenly seeing from hers, feeling everything she was feeling.

He felt the outrage flood her as they entered her awareness and she shouted, “Stay away from him!”

The sensation that rushed through them as she generated the holy light was unbelievable. How could she possibly command such power?

Then he saw her about to make a fatal mistake as the Mercesti staggered away.

Don’t turn your back on him!

She had done very well then, perfectly executing the defensive maneuver against the dagger. And then, like Skye, he kept his gaze on the blond Mercesti in the cell with her as Amber did what she could to heal Quincy. He sensed Skye poising for action when the Mercesti began to move toward the corner. But he couldn’t see anything in the blasted shadows.

That was when the Mercesti’s hand lashed out and he heard the sound of the whip. He felt the weapon curl around Skye’s neck several times until the wicked barbed tip on the end sank into the flesh of her neck to keep it in place.

It burned where it touched her skin and not her hair. No, it didn’t burn. It blazed like the fires of Hell. He knew she would have screamed if she could have gotten a sound past her throat. He was screaming in his mind. Fury and shared pain over the injuries to her made him want to charge like an animal and rip out the Mercesti’s throat. He sensed her clawing at the object choking her, felt it burning her hands as the Mercesti used it to drag her closer. Skye almost lost her footing, but her years of dancing and innate grace allowed her to right her balance with barely a thought.

Twirl
, he thought quickly.
To your left, as fast as you can. The barb at the end is going to hurt like a bitch when it comes out.

She did, exactly as he told her. The whip unwound as she spun. And when the barb ripped from her neck, she cried out in agony and gasped for breath. But she impressed all of them when she had the wherewithal to reach up as she spun and grab the whip even as it tugged free of her neck. With every bit of strength she had, she yanked the weapon from the Mercesti’s hand.

She had to fling it to the far side of the cell because it burned her hands, but it was out of the Mercesti’s range.

“Tut, tut,” he said in his even tone.

But Caleb saw his red eyes glitter with renewed interest. Those eyes moved to her neck, where blood dripped from her wounds. Amber’s energy healed her sister as much as she was able, and the Mercesti saw it.

“How fascinating,” he said. His lack of inflection was in direct contrast to his words.

The vicious burning around her neck abated only slightly after the healing, telling them the curse on the whip was quite strong.

“I would like to see just what injuries to yourself you can heal,” the Mercesti said. He started moving again. “The Corgloresti seems to have recovered his energy. He appears quite concerned about you. I believe we should have him watch what I will do to you.”