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“Sara?” the man whispered.
I nodded, unable to speak. Contrary to how he was dressed, his energy didn’t feel ominous. I glanced at C-05, who began to stir. A flash burst across my vision, blinding me. When it cleared I was no longer in the cave or any immediate area surrounding it. Faint moonlight scattered across the evening sky to reveal the lush vegetation had disappeared. Tents were strewn across a desert landscape, with a smattering of stubby bushes and a few trees between them.
“Who the hell are you? And where are we?” I asked, shifting my gaze to the man. Behind him torches highlighted a group of men dressed in the same rugged leather attire. A uniform? Were they military? The man I addressed was hooded and wore a red cloth around his middle. Numerous straps were belted across his chest and waist, holding swords and daggers of different types.
Il partember de katesh. The man began unstrapping two swords from his waist, leaving the daggers in place. “Never again.”
“Come again?”
“The one parted by the four famines,” he translated.
What famine? Parted from whom? My usual analytical mind was at work trying to find answers to questions that didn’t matter.
“I lead this army from another time, another realm. We are here to aid you. I pulled you from that cave you were in by tracing.” He paused taking in the questionable look that must have been plastered upon my face. “The ability to move energy from one location to another. In this case, yours and mine. Not to worry, you are still in the Yucatan.”
“Thank you. But I must get back to my team. I was in the process of doing this before you interrupted me.”
“Your team will catch up with you. The detour for us to intervene was a necessary one.” He squatted on the ground beside a fire. “How far did you think you were going to get bound and stumbling through the dark, anyhow? Don’t you know of the predators that hunt in the depths of the jungle?”
“I would have made it farther than staying with C-05.” Maybe. I reconsidered as thoughts of large cats and anacondas floated across my vision.
I didn’t understand what was happening. And something told me I wouldn’t be provided an explanation. “Can you at least free me of these binds?” I held my wrists out to him.
“Not just yet.” He extended an open palm in invitation to join him by the fire.
I stood looking at the flames and the open space beside him. I couldn’t run. Well I could, but because he was a tracer I wouldn’t get far before he found me again, and the effort would be fruitless in the dark not knowing how to get back to my team. I acquiesced and sat near him.
“How did you know I was in need of aid?”
“A signal came from the one you are joined with.”
“Kevin? You know Kevin?” So he was alive. Thank God. “Is he okay?”
“Aye. We’ve known each other a long time. Cerys is his spiritual name.” He turned his gaze from the fire to me and slicked back the hood. “And yes, he is well.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. The light grey eyes of my new captor blazed into mine, reminding me of Kevin’s intensity when we had first met. This man’s facial features were similar too; angular jaw and high cheekbones but with a nose a bit shorter and wider. Despite the dim light, the eyes were clear and intent on fulfilling a goal, whatever it might be.
“If you know that Cerys is a spiritual being, who are you? Are you human or an entity?” His grip on me in the cave should have been convincing enough.
“An ally. I’m a little more human than what you understand human to be on earth. I have the same ability as you or your team to speak with the entities as well as mingle with humans when I choose. ”
“Why won’t you free me if you’re an ally?”
He leaned closer. “I have something for you.” He reached a hand behind him into the air, keeping his eyes fixed upon me. One of the men came over and placed an object in his open palm and turned away.
“Why would that keep you from untying...”
In one swift motion the man held tight my arm and stabbed me with a syringe, injecting a solution that began to burn as though he’d held my flesh to the flames in front of me. I screamed, unable to control myself as the heat raced in every direction from the point of delivery. I fell onto my back in agony. Despite both wrists being secured, I reached to rub the immediate area and disperse the pain. But because the intensity was spreading rapidly, nothing eased the burning sensation.
“What did you shoot me with?” Was it like a venom that I’d have to cut, suck and spit out?
“The pain will subside soon.”
“I didn’t ask you that! What was it?”
“DNA enhancement. A cell restructuring is taking place. It’s not harmful to you, though it may feel like it.”
“Harmful?” Deadly was more accurate. Every cell was on fire.
I was lying on my side, holding my arm with one hand while trying to process what I’d just heard. I’d hardly said more than a few words to this man who said he knew Kevin, and before I had decided to believe him or not he was restructuring my DNA? Was that right? My eyes began to twitch, while my body twisted against the effect. DNA restructure wasn’t even possible on earth yet.
“Free my hands,” I shouted.
“Not until the transformation is complete.”
“Holy fuck you’re dead, if this doesn’t kill me first.” I screamed once more. I’d never felt this much pain, ever. If I could be seared alive, this had to be what it felt like. My body writhed in uncontrollable agony, as sweat broke out across my skin in response.
All the while, the man sat next to me staring into the fire. Minutes seemed to pass in torture until the pain gradually eased, finally exiting my body, wave after brutal wave that left me shivering in a cold sweat. The man angled his head toward me and picked up a heavy, dark colored blanket, placed it over me and gently scooped me into his arms. Only then did I become aware of my gasping breath. Exhaustion from the effort I’d just been put through. But why? Why had he injected me with a chemical to restructure my DNA? Rage began to combine with the shivering. Once my quivering jaw stopped impeding my attempt to shout at him, I’d demand answers.
He set me down still shaking violently, under the canopy of a tent. “You’re recovering. It won’t be long now.”
It won’t be long before I kill you. I don’t care how scary you look under that hood.
He smirked. “He warned me you’d fight, and fight hard, your Kevin that is.”
“Ee...x...pp...lain,” I stuttered.
“My name is Jade. I travel the realms with my men, and shift into the appropriate form as needed. As I mentioned, Cerys and I have been friends for quite a long time.”
“No.”
He lifted an eyebrow at me.
I wasn’t sure if all of the individuals I would encounter with supernatural abilities would be able to read thoughts, but I decided taking a chance was the fastest way to get to the heart of what I really wanted to know. How he knew Kevin, or rather Cerys, could be understood later.
What effect is caused by what you injected me with and why did you do it?
He tucked the blanket tighter around me. “Your body was in need of enhancements to help you avoid the danger that hunts you,” Jade said, confirming to me he could read thoughts. He turned toward a stuffed pack and unzipped a compartment. I watched every movement, while the larger muscles in my body began to slow their contractions. “The effect will take some getting used to but I imagine you’ll fall into it with some ease.”
I sat up, pulling the blanket around my shoulders, as I continued to shiver.
He turned back to me with a knife in one hand and a canteen and cloth in the other. “Do I have your word you’ll not use light energy upon me and my army?”
“I don’t like being held against my will.”
“I need your word before I untie you. Then, I’ll explain.”
“Yes,” I answered reluctantly, holding out my bound hands to him. “No fire balls.”
“That’s a fine knot job,” Jade said, slipping the knife between my wrists. He stashed the knife, and drenched the cloth in water before lifting it towards my forehead.
“I’ll do it,” I said, stopping him. He handed me the cloth and I pressed it against my cheeks first, then my eyes. The dampened material felt so very good against my previously burning skin that I didn’t want to pull it away.
“What effect?” I pressed.
“Drink first. You need it.”
“Not until I’m certain you haven’t laced it.”
“Ever the untrusting soul. He warned me about that as well.” He took a deep drink from the canteen and handed it to me. I swallowed as though I had thirsted for a week.
“You’ll need food too, but that can wait,” he said. “The DNA restructure you’ve undergone allows you to shift.”
“I could shift before that injection by joining energy with any inanimate object,” I said.
“That won’t do you a damn bit of good when fighting evil that can scent your energy like a hungry dog. Tarsamon has a weapon that is stronger than the shadows or dogs.”
I stared at him in silence, contemplating the analogy as one I often used, which meant he was quite familiar with Tarsamon’s dark forces.
“You now have the ability to shift into a hawk.”
A hawk? My gaze floated to the remaining light of the fire outside the tent. The ability to fly, I considered, could be useful in escape. But would I know how? And how very awkward, to say the least, to have this body mutate into a bird, with feathers covering skin and claws for hands. I closed one of mine into a fist in wonder. Would I still be me, Sara?
“Of course you will,” Jade said, answering my thought.
“A bird of prey,” I said more to myself. “And to think I had almost become a vegetarian.” Before I’d set out on this quest, the only meat I had been eating was fish. The kind found in sushi. I had all but lost the desire for the texture of the other selections at the local grocery. The thought of meat made my stomach turn, even though I’d not eaten much in the last few hours. “Is this a temporary effect on my DNA?”
“Until you release all three keys.”
End of life, if Mac was correct about the release of the keys. Can’t think about that now. “How will my team catch up with us? The scrolls said I’d need to get to the Bloody Basin.”
“Then we go there, after you eat and sleep.”
In all that had happened, I’d forgotten about the need for more substantial food than a piece of fruit. But as Jade began unrolling what looked like bread and cheese from another cloth from the pack, my stomach grumbled.
“Here,” he said, handing me a hunk of each item he held. “Settle your stomach and you’ll sleep.”
“I doubt it,” I mumbled. “Thank you.” As I took a bite and then another, my nerves did settle. “How long have you been on this mission to aid me and my team?” I asked, trying to learn a few facts about my new captor.
“Long enough. We were called to action by the Alliance. And judging by the situation I found you in, it was a good call.”
“Excuse me, but I was doing fine making my way out of that cave before you appeared.”
“Again, how far did you think you’d get?”
I hadn’t considered it beyond getting past C-05 and cutting the binds on a sharp rock. Maybe I would have followed the trail back the way we’d hiked and met up with the team. I could’ve put out a call to them via telepathy. But I didn’t know if that would work.
“You’d have run into Tarsamon before you found your team. Face it. You need help, and you need to trust someone.”
“And you’re supposed to be that someone?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve got a small army. You’ve got, well,...” His eyes skimmed over me and continued eating. “Yourself.”
He sounded like Kevin. When he’d ticked me off.
“Trace me to my team.” It was meant as a request, but came out a little harsher than I’d wanted, sounding more like an order. “Please,” I added.
“Not gonna happen. The dark forces are expecting you to be with them. It’s too risky.” He stood, ducked under the tent entrance. “Get some sleep.”
He called a couple of names, and from my limited view three men approached. “No one in or out. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Wait.” Hunched over, I walked to where the two flaps of the tent met. “At least provide some proof Kevin is okay.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Minutes passed slowly into an hour, then two. When I grew tired of listening to the men and their card games, I spread the blanket out, lumped one end into a makeshift pillow and placed my head on it to sleep. I’ve got to get to the Bloody Basin area. But without Topetine, how? Jade had said we’d go there. But how did he know the way? I had discovered that small piece of information in a scroll, deep in what was to me a hidden library. There had been no map or instruction to get to the Bloody Basin.
With time to kill, I reflected on my new captor. He was sent to “intervene” by the Alliance. Was that a result of an order from the Soltari? Where else would he have obtained a solution to restructure DNA? He also knew of Cerys, my Kevin, but Kevin had never mentioned anyone like him to me.
My eyes began to close in longer increments at the mere consideration of being safe. I could spare a few minutes of rest, couldn’t I? My team. I had to find my team. They’ll catch up, remember? With the faint sounds of laughter and light-hearted swearing in the distance, I drifted into a warm, comfortable sleep and into the world of Ardan.
I’d come to learn that my visits to the mystical realm were often a calling for someone to provide direction or to share information. The familiar dirt path appeared beneath my feet. The sky was black as soot and felt as though I were alone in the early hours of morning. But I knew better. Either the guides or the one that had called me to this place were always watching in Ardan. As Kevin had once said, the presence of my energy was felt before it was seen.
A faint blue light radiated from an unknown source above me, my only indicator that I was still on the intended path. As I stepped past the trees that lined either side, a sensation crawled up my spine that someone was behind me. I couldn’t see anything more than what was within a two to three foot span of a circle.
I’d been told during my first visit to Ardan that I couldn’t be hurt here. But I’d also been told Tarsamon’s forces were not allowed passage into this side of Ardan. That had proven to be false when they’d crossed the guarded boundary that divided him from the rest of the realm, causing a battle to ensue as Tarsamon tested his strength, or rather that of the guardians of Ardan, the wolves and the elves. I stopped treading the path at the memory and turned again to look behind me. Nothing. A hand on my shoulder jolted me back around to face front. Standing before me was either Kevin or Cerys, but I couldn’t see his face clearly. The eyes had been the main identifier for me. Kevin’s were warm pools of brown with gold flecks and Cerys’s were a vivid cerulean blue. Both had similar angular features, high jaw, and long bridge of a nose. Why couldn’t I see his eyes? They were shadowed.
“Who are you?” I asked. The energy felt like Cerys’s, as warmth spread over that same shoulder he had touched, calming and full of love.
“My darling.” He sounded like Cerys.
“Why can’t I see you clearly?”
“It’s part of your transformation.” He lifted a palm to the direction in front of us as if inviting me to see. As I looked on, the darkness lifted and in its place were twinkling lights. The sky was lit like Van Gogh’s Masaustu Resimleri. The shades of black and gray swirled in clouded hues of blue and white. Where clear darkness could be seen, shiny diamond-like stars were sprinkled in varying sizes across the heavens. The beauty had been topped with a crescent moon.
“A moon,” I said, under my breath. I’d never seen such a thing in Ardan to explain the glow coming from above. Why now? I wondered. The colors that lit the sky had often been a mystery without the prior existence of a moon or stars. I centered my attention on each detail, too much to absorb, before lowering my gaze to a field of colorful blooms illuminated by the brightness of the sky.
A hand gently swept back the hair from my neck and a kiss was put in its place, followed by another. The sensation sent the familiar tingling across my shoulder and down my arm. He turned me to face him and set his mouth upon mine, soft, wet, as sensual a kiss as I ever remembered.
Wait. The spell was meant to seduce and I felt myself falling deeper into him with every second his lips were on mine. And why not? Why not allow myself this pleasure? Two fingers slipped beneath the strap at my shoulder, while an arm slipped behind me and a hand held firmly at my back, easing me to the soft earth below. All the while, his lips never left mine. I slid my hand through his hair and cupped his neck urging him against me. I felt his hardness press into my center and knew this was no memory being shared from a past life, but reality. It was a closeness I longed for in the joining of spirit and flesh. To feel that complete was nothing more than heaven, one as beautiful as that sparkling above me.
There had been too much struggle and focus on the quest. Let go, I told myself, as he eased my dress to the waist, exposing me further to his expert touch. I opened my eyes, ready for him to be studying my reaction, as he always did when he held me close. But his eyes were not on me. There remained a shadow across them, making them blurry, almost visible through a cloud of smoke. He bit into my neck gently and sent another wave of passion racing through my body. I lifted my chin, giving him more access. He pressed into me once more, just before his hand slid under the dress and up my thigh, closer to the center of what burned for more of him. I heard him gasp as he reached the area of the mark that had been branded into my lower abdomen by the Druid priests upon obtaining the first key. I opened my eyes, head still angled back to see Cerys walking toward me. My heart stopped its rapid beat of lustful want and froze as though it had been struck by an icepick.
My attention shot to the weight of the person pressed against me as the image began to disappear. Again, my eyes were fixed open to see the stars had faded, as had the moon and soft bed of flowers. Replacing the lit sky was an odd, green glow that surrounded me and the lump beside me. The man that had been covering my form was now hooded and lying with one leg covering mine in the tent where I’d dozed. The flap was closed to conceal us, but my dress was indeed at my waist.
Jade.
“Get off me!” I shouted.
He covered my mouth with a meaty, rough hand. “You were so close to letting me have you. You were almost there.”
“Not for you, I wasn’t”. I struggled against his pressing weight, and protruding firmness.
“Listen.” His voice was heated and rough against my cheek. “I fulfilled my mission to the Alliance, an order from the Soltari, to transform you to help you survive this mission. All you need to do is allow me to hold the key for you. I won’t keep you from getting the other two.”
“Fuck that. Get off me,” I mumbled under his hand, as I continued my struggle against him.
“Sara, stop.” His hand remained pressed against my mouth. “I need to ensure that the Soltari do not put my men through another tortuous famine.”
What?
“I only need one of the keys to press the Soltari to change their methods.” He paused. “Please. It would be a merciful act.”
What the? So many thoughts raced through my head at once. Mac had once told me the only way for anyone to take the key was for me to willingly give myself up to that person, but that any genuine protector of the Light Carrier would never request this of me. For one, they couldn’t hold the power of the keys, and two, true protectors understood it to be my responsibility alone to fulfill the mission. This man, who claimed to know Kevin or Cerys, wanted me to give him the key. It didn’t matter why, because it couldn’t matter. Even if he had some ability to hold the power of one key, without all three I was unable to complete the mission. The result would be a tremendous loss of life on earth, not to mention my eternal bond with Cerys. And what of the façade to seduce me in Ardan? If Jade had been successful, there was so much more to have lost than the fear of another famine.
My mind jumped to another page of the quest wondering what kind of entity punished so severely? What had caused the Soltari to issue a famine, much less four of them? Was C-05 right that if I knew the true nature of what I fought for I’d think otherwise? He’d said that to me on the last quest. Maybe he was right. But there wasn’t time to contemplate that now.
My blood was boiling at what he’d tried to take from me, the lie of pretending to be a man I cherished, and having no intention of protecting the key I’d already worked so hard to get. This wasn’t the place I needed to be. I had to get back to my team as fast as I could. I couldn’t trust anyone to help me do that either. I felt the heat on my skin as it flooded my veins and broke out in a sweat. My vision sharpened. I saw every pore on Jade’s face, even in the shadow that cascaded across from the hood he still wore. With all the strength I had left, I shoved against him. And to my surprise he moved off of me.
Free of his weight, I stood to face him. “How could you try to take the key, when you must know what’s at stake?” My voice lifted higher and cracked. Sweat rolled down my temples.
“Calm down, Sara. You’ll want to get a grip on that anger.”
He may have been a few inches taller and built with taut muscle, but that was no match for the wicked temper that had been brewing for hours. I lunged with the intent of throwing a right hook to catch his jaw good and hard, and missed as my legs gave out and a loud screech pierced the tent. I had shifted into the hawk. My God! Why? Had my rage caused the transformation? Is that why he warned me to get a grip on my anger? Jade made an attempt to grab for me but missed. The tent flap opened. One of the guards peered inside to see if assistance was required. An opportunity for escape. On instinct, I flew through the small opening, blinding the guard with the brush of a wing as he grasped at nothing but air.
I soared above the camp, still in awe that I was indeed flying before resting on the branch of a tree at what felt like a safe distance away. I doubted Jade would trace to a limb for the off chance he’d catch me. I just needed a few moments to think.
Where to now? But I already knew. Kevin. The team. Back the way I’d hiked with C-05. Which direction was it?
My keen senses honed in to the former location. And as I set myself to take flight, the little voice that guided me whispered, “Ever the untrusting soul, for a good reason.”