Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (18 page)

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a
large shape moving down in the clearing. I recognized Ream from my
first dream. He was making his way casually towards the
ridge.

Somewhere close by a cat growled and
another answered. A flash of orange and the other black streaked
down the ridge.

“No, no, no, no, no, no ,NO!” It
started as a whisper and turned into a shout. I started running
after them. I was so focused on Jasper and Zane I didn’t notice
Dodge trotting beside me until he snorted to get my attention. I
reached for the saddle horn and swung on, still running. Dodge
charged down the hill after them. Somewhere in the back of my mind,
I could feel my leg wanting to give out. I ignored it.

We got to the bottom just in time to
see Jasper and Zane launch themselves at Ream.

Zane clung to his back, his claws dug
deep. Jasper went for the throat but fell to the ground like he had
hit a wall.

Ream ignored Zane and walked over to
Jasper. He put a paw on his chest and stepped down. Jasper jerked
as bones snapped. Without stepping off, Ream reached down and bit
Jasper’s throat.

I screamed and the reds took over. Zane
looked up, his black cat eyes widening just before he bolted for
the trees.

I couldn’t see anything, but I knew
where Ream was. I closed my eyes and focused all of my anger and
pain then picked all of the red waves and threw them.

A wall of fire tore through the
clearing ahead of us. A fraction of a second later I realized that
it wasn’t just Ream that it was going to burn. I picked a light
grey wave and threw it at Jasper, pushing it ahead of the fire. The
gust of wind picked him up just before the fire scorched the ground
where he had been laying.

If Ream knew a displacement spell it
either didn’t work, or he didn’t have time to use it. There was a
quick yelp as the fire flew over him. One second he was there, and
the next there was only ashes and a smell that reminded me a bit of
a BBQ.

I set Jasper down as gently as I could
and jumped off of Dodge before he was completely stopped. Zane was
there a few seconds later.

“Go get Fillian!” I choked out at him.
I held Jasper’s head on my lap putting pressure on his neck. Tears
streamed down my face and mixed with the blood on his fur. His
throat was bleeding freely from the puncture marks. His chest was
barely rising as he tried to breath. When he exhaled, blood dripped
from his mouth.

“Hang on, Jasper,” I whispered into his
cheek. “Please!”

Shanus came galloping up carrying
Fillian.

“Fillian! Please! You have to fix
him!”

She hopped down and came to kneel
beside us. She put her hands on Jasper’s chest and closed her eyes.
I watched her take a green wave and spread it over him.

Fillian frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Zane was back in human
form.

She took her hands off. “There is too
much damage on the inside and he’s lost too much blood. He’s not
strong enough to help himself heal.” She put her hand on mine. “I’m
sorry, dear. I can’t help him.”

I broke down. “You promised!” I sobbed
into his fur. “You promised you wouldn’t do anything
stupid.”

He groaned, the sound weak, like he was
using his last effort to do something.

“Jasper!” Zane knelt beside us. “Don’t!
You have to keep your energy. Don’t waste it on that!” He looked at
me. “He’s trying to shift.”

I kissed him between his beautiful blue
eyes. “Don’t,” I whispered. “Just rest.”

Dodge snorted.

Zane translated. “He wants to know if
what you did with the stump would work.”

“What exactly did you do with the
stump, dear,” asked Fillian.

“I took a green and made new shoots
grow out of a dead stump.” I let the greens move in front of my
face and found the one I had used.

“Hayden, stop!” Fillian put her hand on
my shoulder. “How did you feel after the shoots started to
grow?”

“I was tired. Why?”

“That one takes energy out of you and
puts it into whatever you are healing. Even the majority of the
best healers out there can’t use that one!”

“I can’t let him die!”

“It will kill you!”

I shook my head. “I have to
try.”

I touched the wave down to his chest.
He twitched. Everyone backed up a few steps.

I felt the energy slowly leave me and
enter him. I concentrated harder and pushed more into him. Beneath
my hands, bones shifted, muscles healed.

Jasper’s breathing became more regular
and the blood stopped coming out of his mouth.

He tried to move but couldn’t
still.

I felt dizzy and was finding it hard to
breath, but I pushed for more.

Jasper growled weakly and I found
myself falling backwards as Zane tackled me.

Everything went black.

Chapter 5

I knew I was awake, but I didn’t want
to open my eyes. I felt horrible. I reached over to the other side
of the bed, hoping beyond hope that Jasper would be lying beside
me. The movement hurt so much that I thought I was going to throw
up. But none of this physical pain was even close to the ones of
the memories running through my head.

I remembered Ream crushing Jasper. All
the blood. The helpless feeling of not being able to do anything
for him.

No. Wait. I was helping him.

But he had ordered Zane to make me
stop. He hadn’t been strong enough. I hadn’t been strong
enough.

“You’re awake!”

I jumped at the sound of a chair moving
beside the bed. My eyes flew open and closed again. The light was
blinding. My head was about to explode. Another wave of nausea hit
me and I swallowed hard.

I started to cry. I had been strong
enough.

I squinted to see him. He ran a thumb
over my cheek to wipe away the tears. “I’m so sorry. I was trying
to stay awake because I thought you might wake soon. You were
mumbling a lot.”

I tried to sit up and groaned, my head
spinning. I gave up and lay back down. “How long have I been out?”
It even hurt to talk. My throat felt dry and my voice
cracked.

“Six days.”

I heard him walk to the other side of
the bed and lay beside me. I rolled over slowly and wrapped my arms
around him as tightly as I could without passing out.

He inhaled sharply. “Easy, Shlova
.”

“You’re still hurt!” My scratchy
whisper made my head pound.

Jasper pulled the blanket over our
heads so that I could open my eyes. He brushed the hair back from
my face and kissed me softly. “I had to get Zane to stop you before
you were done. I wasn’t going to have you kill yourself trying to
save me.”

“But you would have had plenty of
energy after that. Why didn’t Fillian finish the job?”

“She tried. It seems she can only use a
person’s original energy to heal. But don’t worry. She said it
looks like all that’s left to heal are some cracked ribs. I’ll be
good as new in a few weeks.”

I was crying again.

“Shush, now. What’s wrong?” I rolled
back a bit so I could look at him. Dark bruises covered his chest
and sides. Even in the dim light under the blankets they were
visible.

“I’m fine, really.” He pulled me to
him, trying not to wince while I looked at him.

“I thought you were dead. I saw him
crush you. You promised. Nothing stupid!” A new wave of tears
streamed down my face.

“Well, it didn’t seem stupid at the
time,” he laughed softly then caught his breath. “It was a two on
one fight.”

“He’s a sorcerer.”

“He’s not a very good one. And besides.
Namaels and Majs can’t do magic while in their animal forms. Who
knew he’d have someone hiding out in the woods waiting to shock
anyone who got too close to him. It was the strangest feeling. I
couldn’t move.” He looked at me. “And what about you? Coming down
the ridge after us. What’s not stupid about that?”

“I couldn’t just let you get yourself
killed!” I winced as my voice raised an octave.

He lifted my chin up and gazed into my
eyes. He leaned down, gave me the softest kiss and I tried to
remember to breath. “Thank you,” he whispered.

I smiled at him. “Anytime.” I snuggled
back into his chest, being careful not to hurt him. “Just don’t
make a habit of it.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t planning on
it.”

“What about everybody else?”

“Dodge dislocated a shoulder, but
Fillian fixed that right away. Ben got an arrow in the side, but
he’s fine.”

“How many did we lose?”

“Hayden, you should concentrate on
going back to sleep. You need to rebuild your strength.”

“How many.”

He sighed. “Fifteen of the Wedelves.
Three Scannoves. Nine cats.”

I started to cry again. Jasper wrapped
his arms around me tightly, ignoring his pain to try and ease
mine.

*****

For the next two days we lay in bed and
slept. Tara would come to the room every few hours to see if we
needed anything or to bring us our meals.

Jasper would leave the room for brief
periods of time to go visit downstairs then come back to
bed.

By day number three I finally felt
strong enough to get out of bed. I thought of attempting to go
downstairs to see everyone. That plan was cut short when I started
to feel dizzy by the time I had moved around the room and started
to make my way to the door.

Jasper helped me back to the
bed.

“I’ll go get our breakfast,” he
offered.

“Are you sure you’re ok to do
that?”

He smiled. “I can move around, just
slowly.” He caught me looking at the bruises on his body and
frowned. “I’ll put a shirt on.”

“No. It’s ok.” I watched him try to get
his shirt on and cringed when he sucked in a breath. “You’ve been
walking around with no shirt on for over a week, Jasper. I’m sure
no one will mind if you do it for a few more days.”

He grumbled and gave up.

I laughed at him. “You must be the only
person I know who would be grouchy after nearly dying.”

He smiled at me. “I’m not grumpy about
the fact that I didn’t die. Just the fact that I can’t get my shirt
on.”

“Well, I don’t mind at all.” It wasn’t
a lie. Even with the bruises he was beautiful to look
at.

“Really?” He looked a combination of
smug and embarrassed. “I thought the bruises would bother
you.”

“They do. But only because it means I
wasn’t strong enough to take away all of your pain. Though I guess
a few bruises and some cracked ribs are infinitely better than the
alternative.”

I sat on the bed, relieved. “I came so
close to losing you. It still seems impossible that you’re still
here.”

He came to sit beside me. “It is
because of you that I am,” he whispered, his voice thick. “The ribs
will heal. I just have to remember not to shift. I rebroke a couple
when I shifted back into a human. Honestly, I am having the time of
my life just lying in bed and holding you.”

I laughed at him. “You’re bored
stiff!”

He grinned down at me. “Yes, I am. Not
the holding you part. I could do that forever. But not being able
to move properly is starting to get to me.”

“Well, maybe tonight I could try to
finish healing you.”

He shook his head. “You have just as
much healing to do as I do.” He laughed, his smile taking my breath
away. “We’ll just have to be happy with lying in bed for a few more
days.”

“I can definitely handle that.” I
smiled up at him as he leaned down to kiss me. My stomach growled
and he laughed.

“I’ll be right back with
breakfast.”

“Ok. But don’t move to slow. I don’t
want to starve to death.”

He stuck his tongue out at me like a
five year old. “Though it might be a good idea to keep some bread
and cheese up here. That way if you are hungry, you can just go
ahead and eat.”

The way he said it made me think he
wasn’t telling me something. “What?”

“Nothing. I just think it will help you
get your strength back.” His ears were red, a sure indication he
was keeping something from me.

I realized then that I hadn’t looked at
myself in the mirror since I had woken up. That’s when I noticed
that the mirror had been turned to face the wall. My eyes widened.
“What do I look like?”

He scowled and the rest of his face
matched his ears. “It’s nothing. You look fine. It’s just that I
know that for some reason you don’t think you are beautiful, which
you are, and well, I don’t think this will help with your
delusions.”

I could tell he was mad at himself. “I
want to see.”