Elijah opened himself to his connection with Dawn to determine how far to go before he met her and his uncle. The hum along the strand signalled that they were still in the air and not somewhere among the hundreds of trees below. Even for an earth Elemental, one stretch of forest could look much like another with little to distinguish it.
At length he felt that Dawn was close enough and he dropped down to the ground in a small clearing that was visible from above. He set Trixie on her feet and looked up, scanning the sky. A large shadow blocked out the stars and moments later, the bigger gargoyle landed on the scattered leaves.
The clouds parted and the moon shone on their meeting. The clearing was washed in silvery light that played over the hard planes and angles of the gargoyles. Both creatures shook themselves loose of their stone forms until they stood as uncle and nephew.
Jasper held out a hand to Elijah and pulled him into a tight hug. His uncle thumped him on the back. “I am relieved that you still have all your limbs,” Jasper said as he let him go.
Elijah was more gentle when he hugged Dawn, still a little embarrassed to show his affection for the woman due to the newness of their relationship.
“Why don’t you introduce us to your friend, Elijah?” his uncle said.
Elijah took Trixie’s hand and pulled her close. By instinct, she huddled next to him and slightly behind, as though she expected the Warders to attack. “Uncle Jasper, Dawn, this is Trixie. She’s my mate.”
Dawn gasped and Jasper was coated in stony silence, his customary frown digging a trench in his forehead.
Dawn approached Trixie and held out a hand. “You are mates? How wonderful that you have found each other at such a young age. You have a long future together to look forward to.”
“Trixie is a salamander,” Elijah blurted out before Dawn touched Trixie. He still wasn’t sure how his uncle would react.
“As was my father,” Dawn said without missing a beat. She hugged Trixie and kissed her cheek.
“Do I know you?” Trixie asked Dawn.
Dawn shook her head and her short locks brushed her cheeks. “I doubt we have ever met. I didn’t get out much as a child.”
Trixie moved a fraction away from Elijah to study Dawn’s face. “You look familiar to me, as though I already know you.”
Things seemed to be going well, and hope flared in Elijah’s breast. The two people who meant so much to him accepted Trixie. Didn’t they? He peered at his uncle, who still hadn’t said a word. Relief teetered at the edge of a crevasse inside him. If his uncle disapproved, all his good feelings would tumble to the ground. “Uncle Jasper?”
A slow grin crossed Jasper’s face and he laughed softly in the night. “You didn’t choose an easy road, did you? Since you summoned Dawn, I’m assuming you need our help and that you have news. We passed Hector and Marjory. They were only a few miles from Alysblud. The warder will stay with them.”
Elijah let out a sigh; the older couple were safe. Now they could get down to the serious business of figuring out how to tackle the tasks he wanted to achieve. “Trixie and I believe that Gaia and Ouranus paired us for a reason. We have discussed it, and we want to bring about a change for both our clans. There is a seditious faction in the Soarers who whisper that fire must be free. Trixie and I have a chance to finish what I believe Zadoc started.”
“Zadoc?” Trixie gasped.
“You know him?” three voices said in unison.
Jasper rested an arm around Dawn’s shoulders. “Zadoc was Dawn’s father.”
Trixie stared at Dawn. “Zadoc was my mother’s twin. Her name was Alma. Apparently Grandmother used to refer to them as the A to Z of trouble.” Trixie slammed the palm of her hand into her forehead. “That’s why you seem so familiar, Dawn! You look exactly like Verity. My mother had a photograph of them that she often used to show me.”
“You have a photograph of Zadoc?” Dawn clasped one hand over her mouth and sought Jasper’s large hand with her other.
“It’s among my things, along with the remaining letters he wrote my mother,” Trixie whispered, as though they shared a confidence in a ballroom. The moment seemed to require hushed voices and low tones as they spoke of Dawn’s deceased parents.
Elijah looked from his mate to his future aunt as everything began to make sense. “Do you know what this means?”
“What?” Trixie turned to him.
He gestured to his uncle’s mate. “Dawn is your cousin. You’re not turning your back on your family, you’re discovering one you didn’t know you had.”
“What did he look like? Where did he and Verity meet? Were they together for long?” Dawn turned towards Jasper and he gathered her in his arms, as though to still her spinning mind. She flashed a smile to Trixie. “I’m sorry. There is so much I want to know, and you are the only person who might hold the answers.”
Trixie leaned back against Elijah’s chest. “I don’t mind. Now that my mother is gone, I have no one else to talk to about him. My mother and Zadoc were both born in Dorset and were part of the Dryden Soarers. Verity’s family were Meidh aligned to the Drydens.”
Jasper grunted. “I know of the Drydens. Fairly quiet bunch who keep to themselves.”
Elijah laced his arms around Trixie as she spoke, and she rested her hands on his forearms. “The Hamiltons were part of the neighbouring Hawley clan in Wiltshire. Or they were until—”
“Until Elizabeth Tudor killed their phoenix, executed the ring leaders, and exiled Francis Hamilton for two hundred years. He was cleared of involvement, but suspicion remained about his knowledge of the plot,” Jasper narrated the history of the Hamiltons.
Trixie’s fingers dug into Elijah’s forearms. “He hates your family for what happened and blames you rather than looking to his actions. Then he went into exile and took my aunt with him. When they returned, the High Soarer gave him an old and feeble phoenix that was unwanted after two clans merged. My aunt never had the renewal ceremony with the bird, and they have both declined in health over the last one hundred years.”
Jasper let go of Dawn to pace, taking long strides across the clearing. “We are aware of old resentments between our families. We recently learned that Francis timed his attack on my brother and sister to coincide with an attempt on the life of Queen Victoria. That way he ensured other Warders were preoccupied and unable to investigate the murder of Julian.”
Trixie gasped and turned in Elijah’s arms. “I didn’t know, I swear. How you must hate us.”
He pulled her tighter to him and kissed her forehead. “I could never hate you for the actions of others. But it shows that we are constantly at battle with each other, locked in strikes and retaliations with only brief periods of peace. There must be another way.”
“I agree with you, Elijah. There must be a reason why our creators paired you and Trixie,” Dawn said. “Perhaps that reason is to bring peace to our clans. In days gone by, enemy nations would end wars by marrying their heirs.”
“I will not forget my vow to my father. We will end this.” Elijah studied the profile of the woman in his arms. This was the difficult part: to avenge his father’s death without losing the chance of securing her love. How did you destroy a woman’s family and keep her affection?
“Do you know what fire must be free means?” Dawn walked to Jasper and clasped his hand, anchoring him in place and ceasing his restless back and forth motion.
Trixie was silent for a moment, and Elijah waited, letting her make the final decision about what action they took. “There is a small faction among Soarers who wish to see the phoenix set free. My uncle, Zadoc, was one such person who believed fire shouldn’t be imprisoned. It was something he died for and now Elijah and I will finish it. We will release the Hamilton phoenix.”
Dawn placed a hand over her heart. “Releasing the phoenix will destroy your clan. We don’t expect you to go against your flesh and blood.”
Trixie ran her hands up and down Elijah’s arms. The Cor-vitis had stopped sulking and left a lacy trail of copper sparks under her touch. “They are my flesh and blood, but they are not of my heart and mind. Freeing the phoenix will destroy the clan without any bloodshed or harm to the villagers. As a living creature it should have the free will to stay with a family because it wants to, not because it has no other choice.”
Jasper stared at Trixie, his eyes widening slightly. “She’s a smart one, Elijah. You should hang on to her.”
Elijah kissed the top of her head as his heart swelled with pride. “I intend to, Uncle.”
“How will we gain access to where the phoenix is chained?” Jasper asked.
Trixie glanced up at Elijah. “There are men set to guard its room. We need a distraction that will draw all the men away from the house.”
Elijah had an idea of how to do that. A very big and hot idea. “I found Delens at the mill. Hamilton keeps him chained deep in a basement, guarding the engine and turbines from the Esmeralda. I also found a very large tunnel they are drilling. It descends downwards and southeast, towards Alysblud.”
Dawn swayed against Jasper and he caught her.
“Everything is connected.” She looked up at her mate with wide, worried eyes.
“So much going on under my nose and I never suspected,” Trixie whispered.
“The engines run at night, turning propeller shafts that are now fitted with a drill. Each morning, they add to the shaft as it reaches deeper into the ground.” Elijah could only speculate on what they were doing. Given the direction he assumed it was an attempt to tunnel under their estate.
“Can you feel how far they have dug?” Dawn asked.
Elijah spread his hands in a who knows gesture. “No. The mill has a number of boilers running the engines to keep the mill machinery going. The vibration of one masks the other. The earth is confused when I ask it. All I can say is that they are heading down and southeast.”
“Towards and under. That’s how you breach walls during a siege.” Jasper rubbed his chin.
Dawn tapped her knuckles on Jasper’s arm as she thought. “They’re trying to reach the Ravensblood tree.”
“You think they plan to come up under the tree?” Elijah asked.
Dawn’s face paled. “I fear their plan is more encompassing than that. All the Ravensblood trees are connected, both to one another and to Gaia by taproots. Those roots lie deep in the earth and travel downwards for miles before spreading out and linking from country to country.”
“What would happen if somebody set fire to the taproot?” Trixie asked.
Dawn’s eyes widened. “If fire spread through the sap, they could destroy every single Ravensblood tree at once.”
If a tree fell, so did the clan. Warders protected their Ravensblood tree the same way Soarers guarded their phoenix. Everyone fell silent as the implications settled over them like the nighttime chill on the branches above.
Jasper stared at Trixie and ground his jaw. “Do the Soarers know that all Ravensblood trees are connected?”
She shook her head. “I’d never heard that until now. Uncle’s hatred is focused on your family. I don’t think he casts a wider net, but I have no way to know for sure. I’m not in his confidence.”
“Would your aunt know?” Elijah spoke by her ear.
Her head turned and her cheek brushed against his lips. “She might.”
“Let’s tackle one problem at a time. First we need to destroy the drill. If we do it in a big enough fashion, that will create the diversion we need to get to the phoenix,” Jasper said.
“Boilers are susceptible to overheating. At least the mill will be empty except for the men in the basement.” Elijah glanced to Trixie, unsure if she would help or not. They were talking about blowing up the mill, which would have a devastating effect on the villagers who relied on their jobs there. He recalled the layout of the mill and the rooms above the boilers. One was the carding room that was still empty from the previous fire.
“This might be an opportunity for the mill to embrace silk weaving, once you have destroyed the carding and spinning rooms that are located over the basement,” Trixie said. She tightened her grip on his arm and met his gaze. “We will do this together and ensure no villagers are harmed.”
He laid his hand over hers. “Together,” Elijah repeated. “We have Delens to release, and if he will cooperate, he could make anyone we encounter forget we were ever there.”
“We have a plan, then. Elijah and I will deal with the Esmeralda and free Delens,” Jasper said.
Trixie wriggled out of Elijah’s embrace to face him. “I need to return to the house. When fire erupts, I will tell Uncle that I won’t help. I am expected to marry Archie this week and replace my aunt as spirit of our clan. As such, I won’t leave the house again. I will tell him it is my way of preparing for the role.”
Elijah tightened his hold on Trixie’s hand. “Are you sure?”
She rolled her eyes and cuffed his shoulder. “Yes. I know you will come for me. I left my horse in the barn behind your cottage. Before I return home, I can make sure Manny is secure and not wriggling free.”
Dawn coughed and drew everyone’s attention. “What about me? I am no fighter, but there is no time for Jasper to return me to Alysblud.”
“I know where you will be safe. There is a woman outside the village called Rose. She will keep you safe and we can meet there afterwards,” Trixie suggested.
“I’m not sure about a gargoyle dropping into the middle of someone’s garden in the depths of the night,” Dawn said.
“Rose is a Meidh and she has no love for my uncle. We could go there first and explain everything?” Trixie said.
Jasper nodded. “It won’t take long to deposit Dawn before we fly to the mill.”
Elijah ran a hand through his hair. There was one last piece of this puzzle he had to surrender. “There’s someone else who can help us.”
“Who?” Jasper asked.
“Kruos. The Meidh who murdered my father. We could either use his help or, at the least, make sure he isn’t home when the Soarers go to collect him to put out the fire we create.”
Elijah and Jasper stared at each other for a long, silent moment. Both men pushed down their anger at the death of their brother and father.
“His granddaughter, Millie, is being held by Francis Hamilton. I don’t believe Kruos was willing in the things he did.” It pained Elijah to say those words, as though he betrayed his father. But what would he do if someone held Trixie? He had only known his mate a few weeks and already he didn’t want to contemplate a future without her.
Jasper’s voice was soft, like a rustle through the leaves when he spoke. “Why don’t we go ask him and find out?”