Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (20 page)

“I don’t know what happened. I think
she passed out.” Luke must have been bent over me. I pretended not
to hear him.

“Well, wake her up! We have to get
moving.”

“Ryland, relax. We’ve got to be a good
three days ahead of them. And that’s if they found Jasper right
away.”

“Fine. But if she’s not awake in a half
hour we move anyway.”

“Fine.”

Ryland marched away. “I’m going
hunting. I’m sick of eating bread.”

Luke simply sat beside me. Every once
in a while he would fidget and peek under my blindfold.

“I guess I could go fill up the water
so that’s done.” I heard him get up and walk away.

I lay on the grass, unable to even
contemplate the thought of escaping. What was the point? I had no
idea where I was, and if I ever made it back to Tara’s Jasper
wasn’t going to be there. My plan became to simply go to the Majs
and hope that Rainen got to me before Damian did.

Someone came and sat beside me. “Just
one lousy rabbit,” grumbled Ryland. “So I wonder where Luke
wandered off to.” He shifted his position. I tried not to panic as
he ran a finger along my jaw line.

“I bet I can find a way to wake you
up.” He straddled me, pulling my tunic out of my pants. He leaned
forward and licked my ear.

Ryland screamed as I turned and bit his
cheek.

“You stupid-“Whatever he called me was lost
under the sound of his fist connecting with my face.

Darkness threatened to close in. I
fought it off, struggling to get to my feet. My blindfold was
starting to loosen and was slipping so that I could see. The light
hurt my eyes after so many days of darkness.

Ryland grabbed my hair while I tried to
crawl away.

I screamed.

He pushed me to my stomach and kneeled
on me as he worked at getting my pants off.

I felt a rock digging painfully into my
wrists, my arms trapped under me. I tried uselessly to
roll.

“Ryland!”

I looked up at Luke who stood frozen,
watching.

“Hey, come hold her for me. She’s a
fighter!” He laughed.

“Ryland, get off of her.”

Ryland stopped, but didn’t get off.
“What’s up? Our orders were to get her there alive. Not that we
couldn’t have fun with her.”

My one eye was swelling shut and the
other was pressed into the ground so that I wasn’t able to see what
Luke was doing. I heard him walk over and my heart sank as he
kneeled in front of me.

“Ryland, let her go.”

“Last time I checked, you didn’t
outrank me, Luke. Man, all you fated guys are the same. If you
don’t want your turn that’s fine. Just get lost for a few
minutes.”

Luke stood up and walked away a few
steps. I turned my head a bit so I could see him. He ran a hand
through his dark brown hair, his brown eyes undecided. He started
to walk back.

“See, I knew you would come to your-“
Ryland’s comment cut off as Luke’s fist found his jaw.

“I said get off of her.”

“What’s your problem?”

“I just think we should get going.” He
didn’t sound so sure.

I lay on my stomach, frozen. One of
them took a step. I heard them collide and gasped. Luke landed on
his back beside me, a coyote going for his throat. Luke put out his
arm and jammed it sideways into the coyote’s mouth as hard as he
could.

Ryland bit down but only managed to
inflict minimum damage with Luke’s arm keeping his mouth
open.

Luke managed to push him off and jumped
to his feet, shifting into a large grey wolf.

The two of them circled each other,
looking for an opening. Ryland jumped in and out of the circle
while Luke bid his time. The coyote made a lunge at the wolf. Luke
seemed ready for it and dodged, grabbing Ryland by the
throat.

After a quick undecided moment he
finished the job, clamping down as hard as he could. The coyote
twitched and lay still.

I stared at the wolf, unable to move,
wondering if I was next.

Luke shifted back and sat down, his
chin on his knees, looking at me.

“Are you alright?”

I nodded slowly and twisted around so
that I was sitting.

“Can you still ride?”

“Yes.”

He got up and grabbed the
horse.

“Wait,” he said as I tried to get on. I
looked at him, unsure of what was coming.

“It will be easier without these.” He
undid the blindfold which was now around my neck and untied my
hands.

I went to swing on but stopped. “You’re
bleeding.”

Luke looked at his arm and
shrugged.

“Let me see.” I reached over and held
his arm up so I could see it better. There were puncture wounds on
the top and bottom on his forearm.

“It’s nothing. Really.”

I remembered a conversation very
similar to this one with Jasper when he had gotten cut with a
dagger on one of my first days here. A lump started to form in my
throat. I swallowed hard to get rid of it.

Luke pulled his arm away.

“Wait. I can fix it. I’m a
healer.”

He simply stared at me.

“Give me your arm.” I held out my hand
and waited.

“I just kidnapped you. Why in the world
would you help me?”

“Because you’re hurt.”

He frowned.

“I don’t see why you’re confused.” I
was getting a little impatient.

He shrugged. “Alright, then.” He placed
his arm in my hand and I pulled a safe green wave over it. It was
healed within seconds.

“Thank you.” Luke kept his arm in my
hand until I let go of it.

It was my turn to shrug. Luke looked
down at the coyote for a minute, quiet. I took that time to swing
up onto the horse and waited to see what he would do.

“Come on.” He turned and started back
in the direction we had just come from.

*****

It was almost dark when he
stopped.

I swung off the horse and started to
lead him around so he could cool down.

Luke glanced at me. “Are you
hungry?”

“A bit.”

I watched him warily while he moved
about.

He pulled some bread from his bag and
handed it to me. He stared intently at me while I
chewed.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m just trying to decide who will be
the nicest when they kill me. Your friends because I took you, or
Rainen because I disobeyed orders.”

“Oh.”

He continued to stare. “Sorry about
Ryland,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry you did what you did.” I
couldn’t help myself. I started crying. “I hate it here! Everyone
killing everyone else over me!”

His jaw dropped.

“It’s absolutely useless! And for what?
It’s not worth it! Were you on the ridge? So many of them died!
Cats, dogs. And why? For me?”

“You actually care that some of ours
died.”

“Of course! It’s so needless. I refuse
to fight for anybody. I don’t care who decides to lock me away as
their secret weapon. I would rather die than be a part of this!” I
wiped my eyes with my arm and tried to get a hold of myself. I
swung back onto my horse and took a deep breath. “So decide where
we’re going and let’s get there.”

He laughed. “I can see why Jasper might
have been getting attached to you. You’re quite the
character.”

My composure threatened to crumble at
the mention of his name.

Luke nodded. “Ok. Let’s go then. Your
friends will probably just shoot and get it over with. Rainen will
make me suffer.” He started walking towards the Wedelven
woods.

We went along at a walk all night and
most of the next day. When we stopped for lunch exhaustion took
over and I fell asleep.

It was starting to get dark when a
chirping noise woke me up. I glanced around and saw Luke still
sleeping.

The chirp came again.

I started crying with relief as a
little blue bird landed on my leg.

“Tell them I’m ok. Tell them I’m on my
way back,” I whispered to her.

She chirped and flew away.

“You can talk to birds?” Luke’s eyes
were half open, his voice still half asleep.

“She can understand me. I can’t
understand her.”

“Hmmm. Ok then. Are you ready to
go?”

I nodded.

We started trotting.

“So why did you stop him?” I glanced
sideways at him.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I’m fated to my
mate. So it never occurs to me to do that with anyone other than
her, but I’ve never interfered when someone else was doing it.” He
shrugged. “Just felt wrong.”

“Are wolves and other dogs born to obey
Damian just like the cats are born to serve Melana?”

He nodded. “That’s another thing that
doesn’t make sense. There is no way I should be moving in this
direction.”

“You broke your bond to the Majs,” I
whispered, amazed.

“What do you mean?”

“The cats. The ones that fought on the
ridge. They were ordered by the queen to return to the keep. Some
of them left. But the ones that stayed broke their bonds to her and
stayed to fight with Jasper.”

“That’s impossible!”

“And yet it keeps
happening.”

We continued in silence after
that.

After three more days of traveling it
seemed like we would never get back. My poor horse was half dead
and I led him most of the way now.

Luke was helping me down a steep hill
when he fell back, an arrow in his shoulder.

I jumped on top of him, covering him
the best I could.

“Hayden, get off of him so I can get
rid of the dog!” Tara was up in a tree, her second arrow
ready.

“No!”

Zane walked over, a growl escaping his
panther throat.

Luke tried to get up but I threw myself
on him harder.

“Stay down! He’ll kill you!”

Zane glanced at me then back at Luke as
my kidnapper/savior let out a hard laugh from under me. “That was
the plan, remember? No suffering! But you’re not helping!” He tried
to push me off.

“You aren’t going to die.” I looked at
Zane. “You don’t touch a hair on his head!”

The panther’s eyes widened in surprise.
He shifted back so he could talk. “And why not! After what he did
to Jasper and then stealing you! And look at you!” He turned on
Luke. “Was it necessary to beat her?” He bared his
teeth.

“That wasn’t him. It was the other one.
He was trying to...to take advantage of the fact that we were
alone...” I took a deep breath as the memory came back. “I bit his
face and he punched me. But Luke stopped him.” I was explaining to
the whole group as they came out of the woods. “Luke killed him.” I
let it sink in. “He brought me back.”

Shanus asked the obvious question.
“Why?”

Luke shook his head. “I don’t
know.”

Brice laughed quietly. “Don’t we all
know that feeling well enough.” Out of all the Namaels that had
stayed to fight on the ridge, he had been the only one who had
completely broken his bond and stayed.

Ben seemed the most shocked. “But a
dog? What does that mean?”

They all looked at me. “I don’t know. I
just moved here, remember?”

I got off of Luke. “Let’s see your
shoulder.”

Tara came to stand beside us. “Sorry
about that.”

Luke grunted. He turned white and
hissed through his teeth while Ben and Zane worked the arrow
out.

“Ok, stand still.”

“Hayden, you can’t. You’re too weak
still.” Tara put a hand on my shoulder.

“I don’t care.” I pulled a safe green
wave and placed it on his shoulder. I was amazed at how quickly it
healed.

I stumbled and Zane caught me. “Which
one did you use?” he asked.

“The one Fillian uses,” I mumbled. “I’m
just tired, that’s all.”

A soft nose touched my face and made me
smile. “Hey, buddy.”

Dodge snorted.

“He wants to know if you’re strong
enough to ride or if you want to have a rest,” Zane
translated.

“I want to get home.” My voice caught
in my throat. “Maybe if you rode behind me, Zane?”

He nodded and helped me up. He turned
to Luke before getting on behind me. “You may as well come along.
It seems you’re meant to be with her as well.”

I was sleeping when we made it back to
the house. I felt myself being lifted then carried and set in my
bed. I sank into a dreamless sleep.