Treoir Dragon Chronicles of the Belador World: Book 2 Page 14

Females of two pairs were pregnant.

  That plan had been working brilliantly. Even after Queen Maeve lost control in a Tribunal meeting, which was reason for her ejection from the coalition, VIPER did not boot out warlocks and witches appearing to integrate into the humans’ realm.

  Fear inside here tripled what he’d felt from the guards.

  Her body had grown to ten feet with a head stretched tall and wide on one side as if her change had stalled lopsided.

  A robe of black wraiths wrapped her body and moved with her, demonic red eyes staring out from different spots along the undulating mantle.

  Her normally beautiful cascade of hair had bristled wildly a foot thick in some spots, shooting straight out in other places. The color couldn’t decide between silver, orange, and a putrid shade of green.

  Pale skin on her hands had a rough, leathery appearance with dirt-brown splotches.

  Screeching at the top of her lungs, her warped body waved back and forth as if her feet had been glued to the floor.

  Along with the alteration of her body, her voice deepened to the sound of a monster from the underworld. “You are too stupid to be my servants. Unworthy of the duty I awarded you. How can you come to me whining?”

  Content to hold his lofty and invisible position, Cathbad searched the faces for any idea what was going on. He hadn’t wasted his time asking the guards at the entrance to this room. Not when the penalty of repeating anything she said in here would be far worse than dying.

  Queen Maeve had never cared for the swift punishment of death, as was the case with that red dragon she’d kept in the form of a throne for too many years.

  Not this woman. Death would cheat her of a pleasure only torture provided when she executed a penalty.

  “Who among you deserves to return to the human world?” she roared, turning to face each one. As she twisted around, her misshapen jaws and jagged teeth came into view. A horn stuck from her forehead.

  Cathbad had not seen that before. Nothing about the horn could be good news.

  All of her followers in the room lifted their trembling hands, volunteering to return to the human world.

  Who wouldn’t raise a hand when remaining here would end with the equivalent of their skin being peeled away while alive?

  She tossed her head back and laughed a high-pitched cackle that grated on Cathbad’s ears.

  When she stopped laughing, she swept a furious white-orbed gaze at them. “Four will not return.”

  The warlocks and witches began looking around at each other, clearly trying to determine who went and who stayed.

  Slowly, the queen’s body began shrinking back to a normal state. Even her hair smoothed out and shaped itself into a towering pile of curls and jewels. She drew in a deep breath as she returned to her normal shape and a dazzling red gown replaced the smoky black robe.

  Her voice also returned to its sultry smoothness. “I do not send you to the human world to waste your time there. I expect results.” As they all nodded fervently, she continued,“Which four would prefer to stay with me?”

  Not a person moved.

  They barely breathed.

  She broke out a sexy smile. “Oh, come now, it isn’t that hard of a decision.” After waiting another minute, she shrugged. “I shall allow you to decide as a group. You have one minute to cull your group back to twenty without my help or I will choose who stays here.”

  The air sucked out of the room as panic set in for a split second then battle erupted with screaming and blood flying. Some of those warriors were highly skilled. Some were not.

  The pregnant females died first.

  Cathbad sighed to himself. What a waste.

  In less than thirty seconds, ten were dead.

  The others fought on.

  Queen Maeve lifted her hand and made a slashing move. Every follower still breathing froze in place. “You have fourteen left to complete your task. You will return now and find the damned grimoire volumes. Do not expect to face me empty-handed again and for me to be so understanding.”

  With a flick of her hand, those still living disappeared.

  Had she considered where she teleported them to at this minute? Probably not. If someone reappeared in the middle of Atlanta traffic or on a train track, they would not survive.

  Shoving her hands on her hips, she stared at the carnage with a confused expression.

  Did she not realize she had created that bloody mess?

  He allowed his energy to flow out slowly.

  Lifting her head slowly, she turned to stare straight up at Cathbad.

  He dropped his cloaking. “I was not hidin’ from ya. Merely stayin’ out of yar way, love.” With a smile in place, he floated to the ground.

  She pursed her lips and shifted her head one way then another, studying him as a cat would a tasty prey. “What do you want, druid?”

  At one time, she called him druid as an endearment.

  Not now. The word sounded as though it tasted bad in her mouth.

  “Would ya like me to make this all go away?” He’d often cleaned up her messes.

  Without taking her eyes off him, she extended her arm with her palm down and waved it. All the corpses burst into smoldering flames then expanded and imploded into themselves, drawing the blood spilled with them.

  With a small pop, it all disappeared.

  She brought her hands together in front of her in an elegant show of being composed and lifted an eyebrow in question.

  “I understand yar message, Maeve. Ya feel ya do not need me or anyone else.” He walked over to her. “Sadly, ya have lost yar desire to rule all of this world, while I still wish ta accomplish what we started.”

  She did not move a muscle to acknowledge or deny his words.

  “I do not know where we stepped off our path, love, but I am willin’ ta find our way again if ya are. Ya could use some help with yar people. That has always been one of my strengths. In fact, ’twas a duty ya handed me when we reincarnated.” He kept his voice pleasant, but business.

  This would only work if she returned to the woman who once met him halfway.

  If he pushed her, she would never come back.

  “What do you want, druid?” She repeated as if she could see inside his head to know his true reason for being here. He’d come to use her scrying wall. His gaze slid past her to check her progress.

  The wall swirled with pale blue and gray smoke.

  She’d completed the wall? How long had it been active?

  He glanced back at her.

  She had a cunning smile in place and crossed her arms, tilting her chin up.

  Oh, hell. Had she been observing him with that scrying wall?

  Chapter 20

  Daegan almost called up his blade when Luigsech pulled hers free of the sheath.

  “You are not takin’ me away from here, Drake. Not without blood bein’ shed and I warn you it will not all be mine.” She’d backed up so she had Quinn in view as well.

  Quinn's voice came into Daegan’s mind. We’re losing her. Maybe if we agree to find Fenella, she’ll work with us.

  ’Tis a good suggestion. I am makin’ an enemy of this one and ’twas not my goal. I keep tryin’ to reach Tristan with no reply and this woman will not aid us. It infuriates me.

  “Stop doin’ that!” she shouted.

  “Doin’ what?” Daegan frowned at her.

  “It feels like you two are talkin’ somehow. Are you telepathic?”

  Quinn offered nothing.

  Daegan said, “Aye. We speak mind-to-mind.”

  “Just don’t,” she grumbled, sounding tired and stressed.

  Daegan had made a mistake by frightening her. He seemed to be making lots of mistakes since meeting her. He’d sent Tristan off on his own only to be captured. He’d started on the wrong foot as an adversary of this woman by entering her home uninvited. Now, he’d tried to get the information he needed by threatening her.

  He’d never been so heavy-handed with a wom
an who had not presented herself as a threat to him or his people.

  Daegan held his arms out wide in a show of being unarmed.

  She stared at him with suspicion. “What are you doin’?”

  “I did not come here to battle ya or threaten ya, Luigsech. I came to find the grimoire volumes and my man went missin’. We started on the wrong foot last night. I wish to aid ya in findin’ Fenella. If ya put your weapon down, I propose we start over and work together.”

  “What can you do to find Fenella?” She slashed a warning look at Quinn who put his hands up with palms out.

  “If I may?” Quinn interjected.

  Daegan lowered his arms to his sides. “Go ahead. See if ya can get her to understand.”

  His Maistir explained, “We have exceptional resources for tracking people. If you could help us figure out who Cavan is, we can probably find him quickly and determine if he has either of our people.”

  She gave Quinn her attention, but remained with her guard up while she thought. “With all you’ve said so far, I have a feelin’ you might know who Cavan really is if you had his true identity and just need to narrow it down. Is that so?”

  No point in pretending otherwise, especially now that she knew he possessed telepathy. Daegan admitted, “My man called to me while I was at your cottage. He only got out a few words, but he said ‘Cavan is’ then his words were cut off. I am convinced he recognized Cavan and knows that I would recognize him. Discoverin’ Cavan’s true identity is the one thing standin’ between us and freein’ our friends.”

  She took two slow breaths then lowered her sword, but warned, “If this is a trick to disarm me, you will regret it.”

  “’Tis no trick. Savin’ my man, and Fenella, is too important to play tricks. Now that ya know what we know, the wise choice would be to work together, would it not?”

  “How can I be trustin’ you two?” she put to them both. “What will stop you from takin’ off just to save your friend and not Fenella?”

  How one small woman could infuriate Daegan so much was beyond his understanding. “I do not care how ya come to that point, Luigsech, but sooner would be better than later for both of us. ’Tis easier to negotiate the end of a war than to gain one inch with ya.”

  “You should have thought about that before pissin’ me off last night, buster.” She slid her sword over her shoulder and into the hidden sheath.

  The hint of a smile tilted Quinn’s lips.

  Daegan glared the smile off his face.

  Moving around until she settled on her rock again, she said, “What more can I possibly tell you that will help you figure out if this Cavan is someone you know? I’ve described all I saw. No tattoos. No unusual markin’. Nothing else.”

  Finally, Daegan felt the blockade between them begin to crumble a little.

  Quinn scratched his jaw and gave Luigsech consideration. “I don’t usually share this, but I have an unusual gift where I can look into a person’s mind and see a memory of a place they’ve been or someone they’ve met. Would you allow me to do that?”

  Her eyes widened. “Go into my mind? No. Not a chance.”

  “But if Cavan has your friend and sent no ransom demand, plus you missed his meeting, how long do you think he’ll keep her alive?” Quinn’s voice drifted off at the end.

  Daegan heard the insinuation in Quinn’s voice that Fenella could be facing death even at this minute.

  Luigsech’s eyes turned shiny, but this was no weepy woman. Still, Quinn had touched her heart, the one place Daegan had failed to get near.

  She stared off past them with a battle of thoughts playing out on her face. Without addressing either one specifically, she started speaking softly. “Cavan warned me if we did not meet he would harm Fenella. I thought she was safe until that meetin’. I expected to find her before he arrived to get her out of the way, but I couldn’t find her last night and she never showed this mornin’.”

  “So that’s where you went when you disappeared from your cottage last night?”

  “Yes.” She shifted a dark glance Daegan’s way when he reminded her of last night. “Fenella left early yesterday from the centre to pick up goats from a farm owned by Mr. Peadar. She’s known him a long time. I had called several times to reach her last night before you showed up. When I couldn’t get in contact with her and had no phone, I ran to her farm. She wasn’t home. No lights were on. Her truck wasn’t there. No goats. She would have called me if she had broken down or had any issue, but she didn’t. Her farm is halfway between the centre and the goat farm. I had to be at the centre in time to meet Cavan or I guaranteed puttin’ Fenella in danger, so I made that choice, thinkin’ I’d reach her by phone at the centre. I called Peadar and he said she never showed up.”

  Daegan grimaced at the regret in her voice. He understood the agony of choosing wrong, but Luigsech had made the best decision under the circumstances. He gently suggested, “’Tis possible Cavan had your friend in hand already by the time he made that threat.”

  She nodded slowly and scrubbed her eyes with her hands. “I have had that thought.” Standing, she addressed both of them. “I don’t know why he took your friend, but the only hope I have of savin’ Fenella is to find that grimoire.” She held a hand up to Daegan. “Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. I don’t want the wrong person to have that book and you haven’t convinced me you’re the right person.”

  Daegan had negotiated many cease fires and alliances when his father ruled. He found the best way to start those talks was by offering what the other person wanted. “We are willin’ to help ya find Fenella. Does that now show ya we are the right side of all this?”

  He’d said something that piqued her curiosity. Her voice held hope. “How would you find her?”

  His chest eased with the first sign that he might be able to get what he needed from this woman while helping her at the same time. He wouldn’t say he trusted her entirely, but neither did she trust him.

  Fair enough.

  But she held the most significant piece of information in her head and there was only one way to pull it out.

  Keeping his tone as nonthreatening as he could, Daegan explained, “I can understand ya not wantin’ someone to be diggin’ around in your head, but Quinn is exceptional at this. His offer is not one given lightly and should be taken as the gift it is at this moment.”

  “Oh, sure.” She shoved her hands up in the air then dropped them. “I’m supposed to just open my mind for someone to invade?”

  “’Tis not what I’m sayin’,” Daegan shot back.

  She shouted, “I’m not about to allow some stranger in my head.”

  “Then ya must not care as much for your friend as we do for ours!”

  Her head jerked back as if he’d smacked her.

  His words had come out sharper than he would have wished, but his head pounded again and he could not be sure if his powers would return or continue to weaken.

  The longer she put him off, the more she lowered his chance to save anyone from this Cavan.

  Ruadh growled and banged angrily.

  Daegan wanted nothing more than to free his dragon, roar at everything, and unleash the power pummeling his insides.

  But he’d only add to his people’s troubles if anyone saw the real red dragon.

  Tears formed in her eyes. She squeezed them shut, denying the tears to leak out. When she opened her eyes again, the pain in them hurt Daegan.

  She challenged, “Would you open your mind to save your friend, Drake?”

  He couldn’t spew out a quick answer.

  Even he would not believe a reply rattled off with no thought. He gave her truth and hoped she would believe him.

  “I have had to make split-second judgements on people to trust or not when in many a dangerous situations. I trusted ya last night to not stab me with your weapon when I turned my back on ya and ya were a dangerous stranger. If I had been presented with someone like Quinn who had not jumped into my mind w
hen he could have at any second during this time together, yes, I would trust him to do as he offers and no more.”

  She heaved a deep breath and her clenched fingers uncurled. She had not expected him to admit that, huh?

  Quinn stepped in. “I do realize how anyone would fear this, Miss Luigsech, but on my honor, I would never intentionally harm you in any way or search for more than intended. I don't believe in entering someone's mind without permission unless there is no other way to save a person from death.”

  Daegan admired Quinn’s ability to manage such a powerful gift many other supernaturals would destroy everything in their paths to possess. That’s why the world needed Beladors to protect humans and nonhumans.

  Continuing in that same soothing tone, Quinn said, “If you’ll permit me to use my gift and you follow my instructions, I will be able to enter quickly, see Cavan’s face, then leave just as quickly. By the way, do you have a photo of Fenella with you?”

  “No. Why?”

  “It will accelerate our search to have visuals on Cavan and Fenella.” Quinn paused as she said nothing, hesitating again. He prodded, “If we do not do this, I have no idea how long it will take to find Cavan’s identity and then start to hunt for him, as opposed to searching for him immediately.”

  Her shoulders drooped with the weight of all her troubles.

  Daegan hated that he had put some of that burden on her.

  She chewed on her lip, struggling to make a decision. After a little nod to herself, she lifted her chin to Quinn and jerked her head at Daegan. “He’s wrong when he said I must not care as much for Fenella as he does for his friend. I’d lay down my life to protect her. You say this mind power isn’t overly invasive. What do I have to do?”

  Relief flowed off Quinn whose eyes warmed when he spoke to the woman. “That is correct. I will go no deeper into your mind once I have Cavan’s face. All you have to do is pull up his face and Fenella’s, then focus on each one alternately. I’ll tell you right before I enter.”

  Still she wavered.

  Daegan suggested, “If you’re not sure, lass, ask yourself if Fenella would do this for ya.”

  Luigsech flinched, but straightened her spine. “I want your word, Drake, that you and your people will work with me to save Fenella as well as your friend.”