Warden (Elemental Paladins Book 1) (8 page)

“What makes you so sure it isn’t all an elaborate act?”

Beyden’s look was full of scorn. “That woman’s face is an open book. I don’t think she could lie to save her life. She may have dodged answering certain questions last night, but she never outright lied … and you know it.” The look Beyden gave him was reproachful, “You can read people better than anyone else in this room. So tell me; is she lying?”

Dammit! Beyden was absolutely correct, he was good at reading people. And not in the same quiet, attentive way Beyden was either. Ryker’s domain was life itself. Although he couldn’t see auras or manipulate a person’s body to the extent of a warden, his element offered certain advantages when it came to interacting with his fellow humans. He was quite empathic and could pick up on the small bursts of energy produced by feelings, thoughts and emotions. Each one had a certain feel or taste to them and deceit was very distinct. It was bitter, always so bitter no matter how accomplished the liar was. Max had tasted like cinnamon.

He fucking loved cinnamon.

“She hasn’t been untruthful yet.” He admitted, responding to Beyden’s direct question.

“Yet? Don’t qualify it Ryker. We’ve hardly given her a chance to share her story. I don’t know how or why but that woman is completely ignorant of her origins. She really does need our help.” The man’s amber eyes were earnest and Ryker always felt they were a direct reflection of his own domain; the beasts.

“But that is just my point. How is that even possible? How is she still alive if she didn’t know about paladins? It doesn’t add up.”

“I agree.” Axel was drinking milk straight from the carton again and Ryker waited for the inevitable explosion. Darius hated that particular nasty habit of the paladin of fire. He felt it was uncouth. Darius really was the gentleman of the group and had his work cut out for him in keeping them all honest. It appeared Darius wasn’t rising to the bait today however, for he didn’t even blink an eye. The little red head must have made quite the impression on his oldest friend as well.

“You agree?” Ryker addressed Axel, relieved to finally have one ally at the table.

Axel crushed the now empty carton with one hand, “Yep. I totally agree. But I don’t care.” He shrugged those heavy shoulders of his and threw a wicked look around the table, “I like her.”

“You don’t care because you like her?” Ryker was incredulous.

“Why are you surprised Ry?” Cali asked. “Did you see the breasts on the woman? I mean, jeez, talk about a handful.”

“Cali!” Darius finally seemed fit to partake.

“What?” The female paladin was completely unrepentant. She turned to Axel, “Am I right?”

“Cali, my love. You are, as always, unequivocally correct.”

Darius was still frowning, “When are you going to grow up?”

Axel rocked backwards precariously on his chair like the true rebel he was, “Now why would I want to go and do something like that?”

Ryker could feel a headache threatening and it wasn’t even nine in the morning yet. Sometimes he felt like he was playing child care teacher and other times he thought maybe he was a zoo keeper. Ryker usually appreciated Axel’s wry humour and dry wit. When he had moved in just three years ago he had brought a much needed levity to their little tribe of misfits. On this occasion however, Ryker was tempted to reach across the table and sucker punch the other paladin in the head. He shouldn’t have been looking, let alone commenting on the chest area of any warden and the fact that Ryker himself had barely been able to drag his own eyes from Max’s luscious breasts really was not the point.

“Enough. We need to sort this mess out. I want her questioned – properly this time. Then I want to contact the Local Warden Council and inform them we have a stray. They can get in touch with the International Domain Council and deal with her as they see fit.”

“But Ry, don’t you think we should see to her health first? She needs vitality.” Lark stated.

“The Local Council will sort that out. It’s their job after all. It’s certainly not ours. Unless any of you have suddenly changed your mind about being in an Order overnight?” Silence met his question. “That’s what I thought.”

“I still think we should learn more about her first before we throw her to the wolves. Maybe just a couple of days for her to rest up, gain our trust. She seems skittish to me.” Beyden sure was talkative today, Ryker thought. Not even twenty-four hours and the woman was already causing dissension in his ranks.

She definitely had to go.

Pushing his chair back, he stood to his impressive height of six foot four. “Look, we don’t need some stray warden hanging around, bringing trouble to our doorstep. We’ve all had enough of it to last a lifetime!” Ryker gave them all one last stern look. “She goes. This is not up for debate.”

NINE

Ryker hadn’t even bothered with a shower before seeking the miniature warden out. He had pulled his long sleeve grey tee shirt back on though, more to conceal the faded coat of arms on his forearm than from any sense of modesty. It was his turn to ask the questions and he wasn’t giving the woman any new ammunition to turn the tables. He was just about to follow her grand exit through the door off the kitchen when he caught sight of her through the windows behind the sink. She sure was stunning in a short, pixie kind of a way. She wouldn’t be gracing any catwalks in Milan given the length of her legs but the whole package still worked for him. That hair of hers was now shining brightly in the early morning sun and Ryker could make out the red tones easily unlike the night before. She was slender but curvy in all the places a man wanted a woman to be curvy. Although her face was marred with lines of exhaustion and smudges of illness, it was still arresting. Some of that was due to those blue-green eyes of hers, but most of it was that crooked smile and the vibrancy she exuded. She certainly had a way about her.

Ryker frowned as he studied her face more closely. Was she beginning to look better? She didn’t look quite so pale anymore and had some colour in her cheeks. The dark circles under her eyes appeared to lighten and the slight tremors he had seen in her hands were now practically undetectable. Even as he continued to watch her the answer seemed to unfold in front of him, although he didn’t know if he could trust what he was seeing. She was walking around the garden at a leisurely pace touching a tree here and stroking a flower there. She bent down to pick up fallen leaves and gave a dandelion husk freedom by blowing it off a fingertip. She even picked up a spider and let it crawl over the back of her hand before returning it to its web. He could see her lips moving and although he couldn’t make out the words he knew she was talking to the nature all around her.

She was actively communicating with her domain ... Amazing!

She appeared to be unwaveringly focused in her task and although her power was a thing of beauty to behold, it was also a danger. It was like she had no real concept of the power she was exuding or even what she was receiving in return. He had no doubt she was acting on pure instinct given the naiveté inherent in her actions. In the past, before the Great Massacre fifty years ago, such displays of power were quite common. But now wardens were more passive in their roles, preferring to act as conduits and guardians rather than catalysts. Ryker knew some of them still participated directly with their domains – some of them couldn’t seem to help it, especially those very few powered by life itself. It was a little hard to ignore the whole world, after all. Still, he was pretty sure that what Max was doing was something altogether different.

“Stalking?”

Ryker jumped. He was so absorbed by the spectacle in front of him he had been completely unaware of his surroundings and Darius had managed to get the jump on him, “What?” He asked.

“You’ve been standing here staring out the window for ten minutes. I was just wondering if you had decided to stalk our new guest.”

“Of course not! No.” Ryker gestured with his chin in Max’s direction. “What do you make of that?”

Darius frowned, “What am I looking at?”

“The warden!” Ryker gestured impatiently.

“She’s playing with a ladybug. So what?” Darius answered before stilling and leaning closer to the window, “Wait a minute … what
is
she doing?”

“Recharging.”

There was a heartbeat of silence before Darius replied dubiously, “Recharging? Like vitality recharging?”

“Yep.”

“That’s not possible.” Darius’s response was swift.

“It shouldn’t be possible. I’ve certainly never heard of it happening before, but that’s absolutely what she’s doing. She’s asking the trees, the earth, even the insects, if she can borrow from them. When they give her permission, she takes just a tiny amount of their life force.” He turned to Darius front on, “This is how she’s survived on her own all this time without a paladin … She’s Life.”

“She’s Life? What do you mean?” Darius asked, but immediately answered his own question. “Her domain is Life?”

“Yes.” Ryker answered simply. He knew Darius would understand the significance of this revelation.

“Are you sure? Ryker, there aren’t many life wardens around and certainly not many females. Hell, I only know of a handful.”

“There are twelve wardens connected to the domain of life scattered around the globe and only two of them are women.” He should know. Being a paladin allied with life, he was constantly hounded by those wardens to join their Orders. Life paladins were not as rare as the wardens but it was pretty darn close and every warden wanted at least one paladin in their Order that mirrored their own domain. Ideally, they wanted more than one for when the vitality came from the same elemental source, the more powerful the warden became.

“Shit!” Darius swore harshly – well harshly for him anyway. Darius rarely cursed. “We have to report her to the IDC immediately.”

The IDC was the International Domain Council and was the governing body of their people. It was comprised of seven Ambassadors, one warden from each of the seven domains of nature. They were all very old and all very powerful. They lived all over the world and congregated at the same location once a month to discuss business, uphold rules, pass judgements and address issues brought to their attention from paladin and warden citizens. The IDC acted as the judge and jury of their society; the Rangers were the executioners, but thankfully Ryker saw no need to include them. Ryker had met with the IDC numerous times in the past and although they were mostly fair they were also very inflexible and very out-dated in their thinking. Sometimes the old ways were not always the best ways in Ryker’s humble opinion. But he was nothing more than a modest soldier, so what did he know? He did know that he wouldn’t be informing them of Max’s presence quite yet though.

“Not yet.” He told Darius. “We don’t report her yet.”

Infinitely composed, Darius merely raised his eyebrows, “Any reason?”

“My gut.”

Darius nodded. “That’s good enough for me. I’ll spread the word to the others.” The friendly slap to his back forced him forward a step. Damn, that son of a bitch was strong!

“So, she was telling the truth after all, huh?” Cali voiced from behind.

Dammit! He hadn’t heard her approach either! Ryker grunted and figured that was enough of a response. He should have known better. Bloody females!

“You going to apologise?” Cali asked.

Ryker merely raised his eyebrows at her to convey his feelings. The water paladin had been living with him for over fifteen years. She had been one of the first castoffs he had offered refuge to so talking wasn’t really necessary anymore.

Cali snorted and shook her head, “Of course you’re not. What was I thinking?” She leaned her hip against the sinks as she too watched the warden at work with narrowed, speculative ice-blue eyes. “Interesting.” She remarked.

“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” He asked. Cali was originally from Sweden and had lived all over the globe before settling in Australia, perhaps she had come across something similar before.

“Not even remotely.” She answered decisively.

“What about you?” He asked Darius when he felt him once more by his side. As well as being the oldest paladin in the house at over a thousand years old, Darius was also their resident scholar, although Lark was fairly close to having him beat in the book-reading department. The two always seemed to have a book in their hands whenever they weren’t training or at the Lodge, but their tastes varied significantly. Where Darius was into the non-fiction and historic side of things, Lark enjoyed reading fiction in all its make believe glory. He read everything from crime to romance to sci-fi. He always said he had enough of the real world living in it every day so when he relaxed, he wanted to get as far away from reality as he could. Ryker couldn’t really blame the man given his past.

Darius was staring at Max and appeared to be just as spellbound as himself and Cali. “No, never. And I haven’t read about it either but you know so many of the
Warden Chronicles
were lost during the Great Massacre.”

Ryker grunted; a great many things had been destroyed during the Great Massacre.

“It must have something to do with her domain. The fact that life is hers to see and hear and shape. Perhaps it is responding to the call of its master?” Cali suggested.

“Maybe.” Ryker conceded, “But you know being a warden or a paladin of life doesn’t literally give the keeper powers over life as the name implies. It’s more of a spiritual and physical element – the mind and body.”

“I know. But what other explanation is there?”

Ryker had no idea, he was completely stumped. Given that Life Wardens were such a minority, he didn’t have much to do with them and didn’t know any he felt comfortable enough to ask. But he did know someone who might be able to shed some light on the situation.

“Where’s Diana?” He asked looking at Darius. The other knight looked startled by the abrupt shift in topic.

“How would I know? I don’t keep tabs on the woman.” He replied stiffly.

Yes, you do,
Ryker thought to himself but knew better than to say so out loud. Instead he turned to Cali, “Do you know where she is at the moment?”