Chapter 8
“What happened?” I stammered as I studied the occupants of the room.
Including my parents and I, there were twenty-two RM’s left. From hundreds to twenty-two! What could have happened to the rest of them? A plague? Disease? Severe flu?
Before my eyes, Link seemed to shrivel up. His dark eyes dulled and his face seemed more lined. Years of worry suddenly appeared on the planes of his face, aging him a good ten years. His shoulders were hunched as his pain-filled voice filled the room once more.
“The killings began a little over twenty-five years ago. Only the RM’s were targeted; men, women and,” he gulped, “children.”
I felt my mother shudder beside me and heard my father’s sharp intake of breath. I squeezed their hands, trying to convey my warmth to their cold limbs. I was alright, I wanted to tell them, we had escaped on time. They had saved me, I knew, even if they had lost everyone they loved in the process.
“How did you first find out about the deaths?”
Link blinked once, seemingly trying to bring me into focus. He breathed in deeply and for a moment, the historian took over for the aggrieved man. “As I mentioned previously, the RM’s are Rydon’s descendants and therefore more powerful. Decades ago, they made a decision to help out the villages in Rydon. They each took responsibility for a village and every few months they would go to this village and pour some of their blood and energy in a crystal vial, roughly the size of my palm.” He opened his hand to give me an idea of the size.
“What was the purpose of the crystals?”
“They dispensed energy for the villagers. Those of little power found their magic growing. Difficult tasks were simplified with the use of the magic from the crystal. The land of Rydon became lazy over the years, depending mostly on the crystal for their tasks.”
I frowned, unsure what he meant. My mother raised a hand. “May I interrupt?”
Link bowed his head to her and she turned to me. “Look at it this way; before televisions were equipped with remote controls, people actually had to get up to switch channels. When the remotes became popular, people got lazy. Now, they couldn’t picture themselves without one or two and would be lost without them. Do you understand?”
“But the remote is practical. Lazy, but practical.”
“Same goes for the crystals. We don’t have electricity here, Shanna, and everything is done by hand or by magic. Those villagers, those people who had little magic, used to do their washing and cookies, their dishes and everything else by hand. When the crystals came to the villages, the villagers were able to call upon the magic to have their washing to itself while they make their food.”
I knew my eyes were wide as I asked, “No electricity at all?”
“No. Terra has evolved technologically and we have evolved magically. We have no use for electricity.” It was Link who answered. When his shoulders sagged, I knew he was returning to the explanation of the killings. “One day, one of the villages’ portals reached us and said that their crystal had exploded. It had happened sometime during the night and the villagers only noticed when they tried to make magic and their abilities wouldn’t come forth. We hadn’t known what the explosion meant; it had been a first for us. We had suggested that maybe the crystal had been too empty and hadn’t taken the emptiness well but the villagers had insisted it had been full; their RM, Desidora, had come less than two weeks before.”
“What happened?” I asked softly.
“We found her in her home, butchered. We sent trackers to find her killer but it was useless, they kept losing the killer’s trace. We mourned Desi but we thought it would be a one-time thing. We had never known murder in Rydon. Sadly, Desidora was the first of many. For starters, the killer only targeted the adults but soon he came after the children.”
“Why the children? Because they are more vulnerable?”
“No, because they are more powerful.”
Huh? “Run that by me again?”
“As I said earlier, children are more powerful than adults because of their naive view of the world, of their imagination and their creativity. Pair that with the miracle of giving birth and they are essentially magical babes. You simply have to set a baby down on the dead ground for it to come alive, to grow, to thrive under the baby’s touch and this while the baby has no conscious thought. Think of how powerful a child is, one who can wield his magic and put thought behind it.”
“So, this killer is trying to get rid of any opposition?”
Gaspar rose. “You may sit Link, I will continue.” The other man gratefully sank onto the couch. The formidable man bowed his head to me and I returned the gesture. “We did not understand the killings at the beginning. There was no pattern to them and we could not find any motive. We tried to see if there was a common link between the victims but there wasn’t. The killings were gratuitous and they sickened us. How could we stop such cruelty? The killings continued but suddenly, they were no longer butcheries. When we found the RM’s, they looked peacefully asleep. Except that all their blood had been removed.” I gasped and Gaspar nodded solemnly. “Not one drop left. That is when we knew what the motive was; power.”
I said slowly, “If one tiny vial filled with blood and energy can sustain a whole village for several months . . .”
“Then hundreds of litres of that very same blood will make one person very powerful.”
“But what would be the point? I mean, once he or she has crushed all the RM’s . . .”
“The people of this land will be remaining. They do not have enough power within them to hold off the murderer and they might be slaughtered if they offer any resistance. We think he wants complete control over Rydon; the people, the land, everything. He could change the weather and the land on a whim, could burn down villages and construct some new ones. There will no one left to oppose him and he will make the land a living hell.”
Even when faced with the hurdling knife, Gaspar had not looked as grim as this.
“Is that why my family and I are here?”
Gaspar’s eyes were dark and sad. “Yes. I would have liked to tell you that everything is fine, that the world is as we once knew it but it isn’t. We need all the help me can get.”
“But Shanna’s untrained in our ways. She doesn’t know how to wield her magic or even how to use it.”
Gaspar stared thoughtfully at my father, then said, “Cecelia, do you have it?”
“Yes, Gaspar.”
“Open it.”
Gaspar was addressing the oldest woman in the room. She had stark-white hair, dark eyes and a lined face. She looked regal as her head dipped to look at something sitting on her lap. She raised her head, looked straight at me and said, “Don’t panic.”
She kept her gaze locked on mine as she flipped open what seemed to be a book and immediately the room was filled with clashing sounds and shouts.
I
n the room appeared men and women I had never seen before. A petite woman with flaming red hair materialised directly in front of me and shot a ball of fire. I dodged to the side and turned; the ball hit a huge black-haired man. Another man went running for her and I heard, “Aya!” The man who had called out was tall, blond and green-eyed. Aya turned, blasted the other man, turned to the blond and yelled, “Tristan, watch out!”
I gasped. “Oh my god!”
I distantly heard the soft thud of the book closing and the ghosts in the room disappeared.
“That was . . . They were . . .”
“Who? What?” my mother asked.
Gaspar nodded. “They were characters from one of Shayna’s books, the Descendants. So Logan, yes, she may be inexperienced with our ways, but she has found a way to practice her magic. She has written several books and it is obvious that her talent lies with words.”
“I have never seen anything so vivid,” my mother whispered and I felt her eyes on my face.
I was just thinking that I was glad that Cecelia hadn’t opened the book during one of the sex scenes. I didn’t want my parents to see how vivid those were.
“Yes, she is very talented.
Sudden weariness took over. I felt my brain liquefying from the major info dump I was receiving and my body was struggling to stay awake and alert. No matter that I had slept I didn’t know how many hours; it had come to the point where being awake in the afternoon was unnatural to me. I glanced at my watch and did a double-take. It was almost five o’clock. When was the last time I had anything to eat? My stomach growled loudly, suddenly awake and fiercely hungry.
There was a chuckle in the room, then a wide-spread laugh. I looked up and found every occupant in the room staring at me. One of Gaspar’s snow-white eyebrows shot up. “Shayna, when was your last meal?”
I blushed. That was why they were all staring at me? They had heard the monster in my belly?
“I think my daughter has had enough for one day. Would you mind if we left to get her some food?” It was a question, but my mother wasn’t waiting for an answer. She took me by the hand and rose, nodding to the people we passed as we exited the room.
Our sighs matched perfectly as the door closed behind us. We turned and grinned at each other before my mother impulsively pulled me to her for a tight hug.
“Come, let’s get you some food, okay?” she eyed me from head to toe. “What do you think if we take the food upstairs to your room? Maybe we could talk in peace there?”
The cooks allowed us to make good thick sandwiches although they protested that it would ruin our meal. I held back another eye-roll as my mother snagged a bag of chips and two soft drink cans.
Five minutes later, we were on my bed, meal set on the dinner trays the cook had supplied and we ate while eyeing each other. I had questions and she knew it but she had to be wondering what my first question would be.
“So, how did you and Dad actually meet?” Well, that wasn’t what I had planned on asking but I actually did want to know.
A soft, dreamy look crossed my mother’s face as her lips stretched into a tender smile. “We were actually pledged at birth. Our parents were rather old-fashioned and even though it wasn’t common to strike up a marriage contract anymore, our parents did. But Gabe and I, we rebelled against it, we wanted nothing to do with it. We tried everything to break the contract; I had the servants start rumours that I was sleeping around, that I wasn’t pure. It was one of the few things that could breach the contract.” My mother smiled mischievously. “You father had his own people spread rumours that he had a highly contagious terminal illness. Our parents were appalled by our behaviours but they persisted in seeing us married.”
My eyes, I knew, were wide with wonder. I would never have pictured my parents this way. “What happened then?”
She shrugged. “We both ran away from home. We lived in two separate castles but Fate had us leave at the same time and we reached a village between his home and mine. We arrived at an inn at the same time but there was only one room left. We had no idea who the other was at the time but we got into a huge argument about who had gotten there first.” My mother stuffed a chip in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “We were both desperate, you see, and we had so much to lose if we were discovered. We might have continued shouting all night long if the inn keeper hadn’t intervened. She was a practical woman and she told us there were two beds. If we didn’t mind splitting the costs, why not share?”
My mother wiped her hands on her pants before continuing. “The plan was to stay the night, then part ways. It suited both of us perfectly but during night, your father got very ill. It might have been something he ate or the temperatures he had been subjected to during his escape but . . . I couldn’t leave him. I nursed him back to health.” The tender look was back in her eye. “It took him almost two weeks to recover and during that time, we fell in love. We both knew the other was bound to a marriage but we decided to run as far and as fast as we could. We would live in poverty, yes, and would always look over our shoulders to make sure we weren’t tracked but we didn’t care; we were together and in love.”
I sat with my knees raised, my chin resting on them and my arms wrapped around my legs. I was enthralled and captivated by the tale my mother was recounting. “What came next?”
“While your father went to bargain for horses, I took a walk around the village. I wanted to get as much exercise as I could before spending long hours horseback riding. That’s when my parents’ guards found me. I put up one hell of a fight until one of them knocked me unconscious. One of the villagers had seen everything and ran to tell Logan but he also had been outnumbered by his parents’ guards.”
I wondered whether my mother realised she kept switching my father’s name. One minute, he was Gabe, the next, Logan.
Her eyes were lost in the distance, reliving her memories. “They kept us locked up in our rooms for the next two weeks and then dragged Logan and I to the temple to be wedded. His father had manacled your father’s wrists to his own; he would have had to drag his father with him if he’d fled. Me, they dragged in kicking and screaming. I had never made such a fuss in my life. I called my parents unfeeling, cold-hearted bastards for ripping me away from the man I loved. I went on and on until I heard your father’s incredulous voice above my own ‘Cassie?’.”
She smiled at me. “That effectively stopped any fight from me. Suddenly, I couldn’t get to the altar fast enough.” Her smile turned into a laugh. “I’ll never forget the look on their faces when they realised that he was the man I was in love with; the one I had refused to marry.”
We sat there in silence, my mother reminiscing about her past, me wishing I had one. One I could speak about without feeling my throat constricting. The way my parents had met was a wonderful bedtime story I would have loved to hear growing up, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Sheesh, I thought, you keep saying you’re not mad at them but you keep bringing things like this up. Decide now, are you mad or not?
Okay, I have issues, I decided and left it at that. I was spending time with my mom; I could think things over later on.
My mom’s smile was sly as she said, “What about you and Riley?”
I choked on the sip of pop I had just downed. “What about me and Riley?”
My mother’s eyes performed an eye-roll that would have made my own eyes proud. “Oh come on. I’ve seen how you look at each other.”
“How?” I asked cautiously.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spill the beans to my mother, but the truth was that there were no beans no spill. Up until two nights ago –was it only two nights! It felt like an eternity ago – Riley had been my guard dog. I had felt a special connection with the canine but I had chalked it up to being loneliness and missing my own dog. Then, I had found out that Riley was a man. A beautiful, caring, funny man who seemed protective of me. Was he acting on instinct? Was it because although he transformed back to human shape, his need to guard was strong?
Or was it something else? Something that involved me . . . and only me?
My mother looked thoughtful as she said softly, “There’s just something between you two. You can almost physically feel the connection linking the two of you and not necessarily only when your eyes lock. Sometimes, just being around the two of you gives me shivers. As if, someone, something, had a hand in your reunion. You know?” She looked at me and blinked as if finding her way back to reality. She smiled apologetically. “Don’t mind me, I’m probably simply being fanciful.” She frowned slightly, “Although, even as kids you- ”
“Ah ha! So we did know each other as kids!”
My mother looked taken aback. “Well, yes. Hasn’t Riley told you?”
I shook my head. “We haven’t really had much time to talk and last night I had about a million other questions to ask.”
“Last night? You were passed out cold last night, sweetie.”
I blushed. “When I woke up in the middle of the night, he was there on the bed with me.” I thought about my words then realised what it sounded like and said hurriedly, “He was in dog form! He said he didn’t want me to wake up alone in a strange place.”
My mom’s eyes suddenly turned all wise and knowing; a look only a mother could pull off as far as I was concerned. My blush intensified.
She pretended not to notice my crimson cheeks and instead said, “Hannah, Riley’s mom, was a close friend of mine. You were born the same year she was killed, barely a month after, actually. Riley was four at the time and missing his mom terribly. Unfortunately, his father was mourning his wife so deeply he had no time for their son. He began spending much time with your father and I and when you were born, he concentrated solely on you. You were a quick learner, even as a baby, and at one year old, you stumbled and tripped in your haste to follow Riley everywhere. His name was the second or third word you learned to say, although you called him ‘Iley’.”
My mother smiled tenderly, once again locked in her past. I let her be; it probably did her worlds of good to speak of this after all these years.
“He was so patient with you, such a sombre child. Of course, he had learned to love and had lost at such a tender age but there was something about you. He let you follow him everywhere and when you didn’t, it was him following you. Grace had been astonished at the bond you two had.”
I nodded. “She mentioned something like that in the courtyard. She said that after all these years, Riley was still by my side.”
“And so he is,” my mother said rather enigmatically. “Do you think he’ll come join you tonight?”
I shrugged as I noticed the pale moon riding up into the sky. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him all day.”
My mother rolled her eyes as she rose and gathered the trays and plates. “You said that like you’ve been up for twenty hours when you’ve barely been up for eight.”
She leaned down and hugged me. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go hide in a corner and read a bit. Apparently, I have a few of my daughter’s books to catch up on.” She winked and I smiled, delighted.
“Mom, where did my book bag go? I have my laptop and writing material in it.”
She frowned. “It must still be in our car. We left it so quickly when we arrived that we must have forgotten it.” She glanced outside. “It’s dark now, how about we go look for it tomorrow?”
I nodded, relieved. I felt naked without my writing.
“If you’re bored, you can always go to the library on the first floor, there’s literally thousands of books to choose from.”
“I think I’ll do that right now.”
I followed her out and we parted ways as she went to drop off our dishes in the kitchen and I headed for the library. It was as grand as my mother said and I held back a giggle at the sight of the floor to ceiling bookshelves. There’s was a ladder propped up against the wall; it was needed to get to the higher books.
I picked a few fantasy and suspense novels before heading upstairs to escape my life and enter someone else’s.
* * *
Three hours later I was done with the first book. I rubbed my grainy eyes, shut the lights and headed for the window seat to gaze outside.
The moon shone over the deserted landscape we passed through the day before to get to this castle. It was a stark and forbidden sight.
I leaned my head back against the wall. What were the council members expecting my parents and I to do? How were we supposed to stop the monster who had been killing off the RM’s for almost three decades? Just ask him to stop, pretty, pretty please? I snorted. Yeah right.
Where had Riley gone today? Did he have a girlfriend, a wife? Nah, I didn’t think so. When I thought about it, really thought about it, I knew my mother was right. There was something going on between Riley and I, something I wanted to explore but was afraid to.
First of all, I was discovering my new identity and hadn’t really had the time to have a heart to heart with him.
Second and most important; I was inexperienced with boys, with men. I knew how to tell them to go to hell, in both French in English. I could tell them to get out of my store, to press on the doorbell or that they had to pay before gassing up. But I had no idea how to tell a man I was interested in getting to know him. No idea how to thank him for being so protective of me, for making me feel special and cared for. No idea how to tell him that his smile and eyes made me feel warmer than a heating blanket could ever do. No idea . . .
My thoughts stopped abruptly. I held my breath as someone came into my bedroom. I couldn’t see who this person was, either male or female, but I was surprised that he or she couldn’t see me. I knew I was bathed by the glow of the moon but that light seemed to shine only me, nothing else in the room. My heart pounded wildly as the shape came closer to me but stopped at the writing desk in the corner of the bedroom. As the shape turned around, to leave I supposed, I noticed the flash of white in the darkness.
“Riley?”
“Shanna!” He jumped, startled.
He had probably expected me to be in bed, not on the cushioned window seat. I rose and clicked on the lamp on the bedside table. We both squinted in the light and I could barely make out Riley’s clothes; he was dressed all in black. If not for the moon beam reflecting the white streak in his hair, I wouldn’t have known who the intruder was.
“What are you doing here?” I asked and my heart fluttered. He had come to see me again!
A faint blush crept up his cheeks as he shrugged without meeting my eyes. “I, um . . .”
"You, what?”
He gestured somewhat shyly to the desk. “I brought you a pad of paper and some pens. The fountain ones, like the ones you write with sometimes? I found them at my father’s today and I . . . Well, I thought of you. I didn’t know if you had your writing bag with you so . . .” He shrugged again and the blush stained his cheeks a darker red.
I stood there in shock until I realised how uncomfortable he was. Impulsively, I walked forward, threw my arms around him and hugged him. At first, he stood still as if afraid to move but soon after, he was wrapping his arms around my waist. I didn’t know how long we remained that way but I became aware that Riley’s lips were on my head. I could his hot breath on my scalp and suddenly I was very conscious of our close proximity.
What if he wanted to kiss me? What would I do? Kiss him back, yes, but what if I sucked at that? What if my breath was horrible? I couldn’t very well lift my hand and take a breather in it to check it out, could I? Uncomfortable, panicked, I stepped back from the embrace. This first kiss business was way out of my comfort zone. Of course, once the first one was done, I wouldn’t have to worry about the other ones, right? Should I walk back into his arms? They were so warm and welcoming. Maybe I should.
I looked up into Riley’s dark eyes. He was studying me intently. What was he thinking? Was he disappointed I left his embrace? Relieved? Had he ever kissed a woman before? Surely, yes. He was handsome, this guardian of mine. There was no way women were able to keep their hands off him. I felt a pang of jealousy at the idea of other women touching him. I shoved the feeling back so hard it tripped and fell. I had no stake on him, none whatsoever. So what if he looked at me tenderly? And who cared if in his eyes, the sun and moon rose with me? Well, that’s what I wished his gaze said.
I held back a nervous giggle. “Riley. Thank you. For the pad and papers, I mean. I asked my mother just tonight where my book bag went and she said we’ll try to retrieve tomorrow.” It was my turn to shrug. “I feel naked without it, you know?”
He nodded slowly. “That’s what I thought also. That’s why I brought it for you.” He swept his arm around the room. “This must all seem strange to you. I thought that maybe your writing could help you put your thoughts and emotions on paper.”
My breathing hitched in my throat and I had trouble swallowing. “Thank you.” I repeated, the words thick with emotion.
He took a step closer to me and ran his finger down the length of my cheek. “Shanna, can I ask you something?”
I quoted his words from the night before, “Since you already have, why not?”
He chuckled but his eyes were serious as they locked on mine. “Given your past, I was wondering; have you ever slept with a boy before?”
That was the question he verbalised but what he really meant was there, in his eyes. He was actually wondering if I had ever kissed a man, been intimate with one. The answer was, “No.”
We stood there, near the window, bathed in moonlight. His warm hand was cupping my cheek and we stood only a breath away. It was a beautiful, magical moment and my heart fluttered at Riley’s proximity, at his scent.
“I had planned on putting the pad on your desk then shifting to my dog form to sleep with you again but if you’re awake, maybe we could . . .”
His head dipped and there was no mistaken his intent as his eyes fastened on my lips. He must have seen the panic in my eyes, though, because he paused before touching his forehead to mine.
“Thank you,” I breathed. I didn’t know if he’d understand why I was thanking him but he seemed fairly intelligent.
Just give me time to get used to the idea of intimacy. I wanted to tell him that but I was afraid of his reaction, afraid of what he might think of me. Instead, I took a deep breath and said, “I . . . I’d love to sleep with you.” Perhaps I put a little too much emphasis on the word ‘sleep’ because Riley chuckled.
When Riley removed his shirt, I noticed he was in fact wearing his pyjama’s. I devoured the sight of his washboard tummy before flicking off the light. No need for him to see exactly how yummy he was to me. I turned to him, “What side would you like to sleep on?”
He chuckled again. “The middle.”
“Well, um, okay, but that won’t leave much space. You’re a mover, eh?”
“Shanna, you think too much; get into bed.”
Unsure, uncertain of his intentions, I got into bed and scooted over. I curled on my right side as I always did and felt the mattress dip as Riley climbed in after me.
He wrapped his left arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I tensed at the unexpected warmth of Riley at my back. What the hell where you expecting? He’d asked if you slept with a man, not in the same bed as!
Right. I felt myself relax as Riley ‘s chin settled on my head and I matched my breathing to his own. Soon after, we were both sleeping. Thankfully, Riley didn’t snore. I just hope I didn’t either.
Wasn't expecting that one! All in all, goooooood chapter!! xxx
