Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (36 page)

“So,
what
is this Vypir?
What
are
its organic roots?”

“It used to be a Mage,”
Alric
replied,
nervously
picking at the
pieces of volcanic rock on one of the walls.
“The last experiment gone wrong I guess you could say.”

“Used to be
a Mage? What is it now?”

The Elf turned to look over his shoulder.
“A beast.”

Beck clamored
to his feet
at the word he had dreaded to hear for over a decade. The
word that
filled
his
every nightmare.
“Where is this beast? I must destroy it at once!”

“Beck, what is the matter?” Kiernan asked
anxiously.

“We have to go after it!”

“It’s missing,”
Alric told him.

“Missing?”

“Ever since Emile left with the Battlearms to go to Massa—”

“What? The Premier sent fighters to Massa?”

“Aye, I thought you knew.”

Beck’s face paled. “I
think I now
know where
your
Vypir is.”

Kiernan grabbed his arm. “What is going
on?”

“It is the time, Kiernan!
The time the Oracle prophesized about
fifteen
years ago.”

She gasped in shock. “How do you know?”

He never told her about the beast
because he did not want to subject her to years of nightmares about a monster coming to the island.
“The signs are there.
This Vypir
is in Massa, Kiernan, I’m sure of it.
Come on!
We have to get the others and
get
back to the ship.” Beck grabbed Kiernan’s hand and sprinted out of the cave.

Alric quickly took the lead. “Follow me.”

It was much easier to run down the hill from the caves than it had been going up.

“What are we going to do, Beck?” Kiernan asked. “It will take time to
ask around and find out where they are holding Rogan, Airron, Janin and Melania.”

“I am not in the mood for subtle, Kiernan.”

She
glanced at her husband’s profile and almost stumbled. She had never seen him look so determined—so deadly.
“So…so, you are going to
just
barge right into the city and demand to be told where they are?”

He lifted one edge of his lip, but Kiernan was not sure if it was a smile or a snarl. “That is exactly
what I plan to do,
and Highworld help any Ellvinian that stands in my way.”

C
HAPTER
29

A
N
A
RROW
T
HROUGH THE
B
ACK

Kiernan noticed
Yurek look back uneasily at Beck’s uncompromising words.
Not for the first time since they arrived on Ellvin, her fingers twitched over her
shoulder
to reach for
the sword of Iserlohn.
“I need a sword,”
she
whispered to Beck.

“I’ll get you one.”

Kiernan nodded and continued down the hill after the men. After what seemed
like
hours, they burst into the clearing where the Premier had them tied to stakes the evening before.

It was empty.

Beck stopped to look around, his face an
inscrutable
mask. Then, he gestured for Alric and Yurek to continue on the path through the mangroves toward the beach.

“Wait!”

Kiernan watched Beck spin
around
and peer into
the
swampy
groves
just outside of the clearing.

“What is it?” Kiernan asked.

“I hear something,” he said and stood still as he scanned the area
for the source of the noise.

“It’s probably those crabs that are all over the trees,” Kiernan murmured. “I just hope it’s not a snake.” Her whole body convulsed
involuntarily
at the thought.

Beck moved toward the
swamp
and used his earthshifting to move branches and
tightly woven
bramble away. At one point, he disappeared entirely.

Kiernan was growing
impatient.
“Beck, we have to go.”

She heard him curse and instantly grew more alert. In the next instant, he was crashing back through the trees to the clearing.

Kiernan gasped.

He was holding a child.

Beck laid the boy on his side. A small crossbow dart was sticking out of his back between his shoulder blades, and his small mouth
was coated with a red substance
that looked like blood.
Kiernan watched her husband lean in close to the boy. “I must remove the dart in your back and then I will heal your wound. You will not remember anything, I promise.”

The boy’s eyes fluttered nervously in response.

Beck
then
waved his hands over the boy’s chest and whatever he did put the child to sleep.
Gently, he
extracted the
short
dart and threw it the ground in disgust.

“Who could do this to a child?” Kiernan asked.
“Does he have any other injuries?”
She knelt down beside the boy and watched as his small body convulsed and arched from Beck’s healing ministrations.

Beck
shook his head.
“Shockingly, no, not even infection.
Besides the wound to his back, extreme hunger pains, and dehydration,
he seems fine.” Beck wiped the red substance from the boy’s face
and
brought his fingers
to his nose. “Berries. He
must have been
surviving on berries.
It is fortunate that he did not try to remove the arrow. If he did, he would be dead by now.”

Kiernan looked at Alric and Yurek
who were crowding closer. “Do you know anything about this?”

Alric nodded.
“I did hear about a missing child
from
the Ironfingers caste. It must be him.”

“We’ll find out soon enough. Stand back, I’m going to awaken him.”
Beck brushed his hand once more across the child’s chest.

The boy’s
eyes popped open and he let out a strangled cry upon seeing the strangers leaning over him. He tried to scramble away.

Beck held out his hands. “It’s all right. We are here to help you.”

The boy
started to cry when he saw
Alric and Yurek.
“Get away from me!”

Beck
picked the boy up into his arms
and
held his flailing body tight.
“Hush now, everything will be all right.
What is your name?”

“I just want Papa,”
he moaned.

“I will bring you
to him,” Beck assured him. “But, first tell me your name.”

“Tatum.”

“Who did this to you, Tatum?”

Silence.

“You can trust me.”

The
boy
shook his head, wiggled
to get down,
and
sat on the ground.

Beck tried an easier question.
“How long have you been out here in the swamp, Tatum?”

“Many days.
Two
weeks
maybe.” He looked up at Beck with a sudden question in his eyes. “Are you the foreigner
who
was
to bring the
wormwood plants?”

Beck smiled and knelt in front of him. “Yes.
Your island now has plenty of plants and can begin to harvest them
once
again.”

The boy covered his mouth.
“Then, Mama will be well?
She can have the draught?”

“Yes, Tatum. Your mother will be well now.”

The boy stood and threw his arms around Beck’s neck. “Thank you, sir! You cannot know what it means to
me
that you have come.”

“I’m still trying to figure that one out,
Tatum” Beck said
cynically and picked
the boy up in his arms
once again. “I will take you back to
the city.”

“No!
They will try to kill me
again!”

Beck made sure that Tatum was looking directly in his eyes before he spoke.
“I will not let anyone harm you, Tatum, I promise.”

Kiernan put an arm around Beck’s waist and looked
up
at the boy. “Trust me when I tell you, Tatum, that this man is very good at keeping his promises.”

“You’ll take me to my parents?”

“Yes. I will not leave you until you are in their arms.”

“All right.”

Beck
led the way through the mangroves and onto the beach with the boy in his arms. He noticed that many people from the feast still lingered as they cleaned up the leftover debris, raked the beach or stood in small groups talking animatedly. Some still sported the elaborate costumes of the evening before.
All stopped and stared as Beck made his way purposefully toward the wharf and
the
ship he hoped was still waiting there.

Kiernan and the two fighters trailed behind him silently.

A tall Ellvinian peeled away from one of the groups and started toward him, a scowl on his face.

Beck recognized him. It was Second Jarl of the Ironfingers.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded of the fighters behind Beck. “These
trespassers
are to be arrested at once! They are dangerous!”

Alric stepped forward.
“With all due respect, Second Jarl,” he said in a tone that implied he had none, “I would like an
explanation
as to why we are treating the Massans in
this
manner.
What have they done to deserve such
offensive
treatment?”

Nervous murmuring echoed
as the people on the beach gathered closer to the confrontation.

Jarl took a step closer. “I was not aware that
Seconds
had to clear their decisions through you, Battlearm.”

Alric held his ground. “As
a
citizen of Ellvin, I think
I
have a right to understand your reasoning. That is all.”

A few people in the
quickly growing
crowd
shouted their agreement with Alric.

“I just want to see Papa,” Tatum murmured in Beck’s arms.

“Who is that? Who do you have there?” Jarl demanded, peering around Alric.

The boy lifted his face for all to see.

“It’s Cullen’s boy! Run and fetch him at once!”

“Tatum!
It’s Tatum!”

“I thought he was dead!”

Jarl’s hard features softened. “Put him down.”

Beck
let the boy drop to his feet, and Jarl knelt and held out a hand toward Tatum.
“We have been looking for you for a very long time, young man.
Welcome back.”

Tatum bit his lip nervously.
Even though the Second seemed genuinely pleased to see the boy,
Beck could tell that
Tatum
did not trust Jarl.

Excited shouts in the crowd grew loud as a
very large
man
with scars up and down his arms
pushed
through
the line.
As soon as his eyes
fell on Tatum, he sank to his knees, covered his face and began to cry.

Tatum hurried over
to
the kneeling man. “Papa!
Oh, Papa!”

The man grabbed Tatum around the waist and held him tight. “I thought I lost you, boy. They told me you died.”

A woman
came forward, her face haggard and tear-stained.

“Mama! You had the draught?”

Tatum’s mother
nodded and fell in the sand beside her family. “Aye, darling. I am going to be all right now.”