Dreams of the Forgotten (10 page)

Gregori, Ushna, Randy, and I were already in our places in the conference room when Jory, Corey, and his captains escorted the Magi in. Along with Jynx Roth there were two others who were introduced as Devlin Nix and Nacht Stone. They were closely followed by Stan who gave them steely looks.

Devlin Nix was the shortest Lycan I'd ever met. His hair and eyebrows were neon blue, his eyes so crystal blue they were not quite white with a spattering of red-brown freckles all over his fair face. Nacht Stone was ebony all over, from his eyes, to his hair, to his skin, and clothes. I was sure that if he was near a shadow, he'd disappear within it.

If Nacht was a
Shadow Mover
, then what was Devlin? Shadow Movers were rare among the Magi, limited to the one talent but still revered by Lycans because they literally moved from one shadow to the next. In times of war, they were invaluable because they carried orders from the king to his generals regardless of distance. If bluehaired Devlin was someone as important as the Shadow Mover, and they both deferred to Jynx, then Jynx was either very powerful or very smart.

"Gregori," Jynx said, "your alpha isn't lazy. He may have us figured out."
At those words, Stan lost it. "I knew it!" He launched himself across the table, bellowing at the Magi.
"Stan!" I barked, releasing
Alpha Bond
on the hothead. He slid to a stop on his stomach in the middle of the table, arms and leg arched up behind him. His face was red with anger as he glared at me with dark accusing gaze.
"I should leave you there for the table centerpiece!" I snapped, angered by the belligerent glare he was giving me. He caused Ushna to growl low in response. "Who am I?" Stan reluctantly looked down but didn't answer. "Who the fuck am I, Stan!" I knew he pushed because he believed I was wrong. If that was what he'd thought, fine, but this wasn't the forum for this behavior.
"Alpha," Stan mumbled.
"Whose alpha?" I growled low.
"My alpha," Stan gritted out.
My eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."
"My alpha!" he shouted.
"What the fuck did I tell you outside?" I barked back, fed up with his attitude.
Stan pursed his lips. I slapped my hands on the table, causing him to look at me. The predator in me pressed against my skin, looking at him in shades of gray. Inhaling, we took in the scent of him. We didn't like this pressure from him. The room became extremely quiet as everyone watched us and Stan.
"Stanly Kendall, do you
challenge
me for alpha?" we asked, our voice low and gravelly.
We felt Ushna's Lupe pushing to get free from him as he ducked his head, watching Stan through his blueblack hair. Ushna moved to the edge of the chair, legs curled under him, his shoulders hunched for attack as his growls grew louder by the moment in response to Stan's threat to me.
Stan's eyes grew wide and the red flush left his face turning him preternaturally white. "No, Tristan."
We growled.
Stan dropped his gaze and tried to bare his neck to us. "No, Alpha Janick, I do not challenge you," Stan hurriedly replied.
We pointed a finger at Stan and crooked it. He slid down the table toward us. Chairs were knocked over amid gasps and cussing, but we ignored it. Stan came to rest in front of us; his eyes were wide with shock and the beginnings of fear.
We bent forward and whispered in his ear. "You challenged us in front of witnesses, in a meeting we set up. Do you find us incapable of protecting the tribe? Did you want to fight with us?"
"I'm sorry, Tristan, I'm truly sorry. I wasn't thinking." Stan's breaths were coming in quick pants now, sweat beaded on his brow. The sweet stink of fear surrounded Stan. We leaned farther in and rested our sharp teeth at the nape of his neck, feeling him shiver as we gripped him firmly, growling but not breaking the skin.
Soothing hands rubbed up and down our back. Comforting words whispered in our ear. Reluctantly, we released Stan and hissed in his ear, "We're not finished. Now. Get out of our fucking conference room."
My predator settled back satisfied. I released Stan and he scrambled off the table, not glancing at me. I stared down at the scored table as my sharp black claws retracted. The soothing hands of Ushna and Gregori didn't stop. I gazed down the length of the table expecting to see fear but blinked at the beaming smiles of the three Magi.
A couple of months ago, I had loosed the predator in me, only a little bit, in a confrontation with council member Elder Evander Lake. I'd never fully transformed into my Lupe form, only allowing small pieces to surface, an ability of the royal lineage. My Lupe had a small difference when it came to the eyes. They were a molten gold instead of the ruby red of the warrior Lupes. I was told that when I partially transformed I was more frightening than a warrior Lupe. It wasn't how the body was shaped or appeared, but the energy that rolled off of me, the lethal presence the form exuded when pissed off.
I had an idea of what everyone in the conference room had seen. The giddy smiles of the Magi didn't fit with my expectation. If I'd been one of them, I'd have been hiding under the table, praying I wouldn't be eaten. Nope. They were grinning at me and patting each other on the shoulder.
Jynx spoke up, "I'm sorry, Alpha Janick. We don't mean to be disrespectful. It's just that we weren't sure. The rumors weren't helpful and the words of the Warrior Priest less so. Well, they were the ones who said the king had returned, but not who he was. So we were flying by the seat of our pants when we chose to come here. We'd hoped you were the one. You stood up to Kevah and the Triad. Who'd have the balls, you know? We figured you had to be the one, right? So when Kevah started pulling anyone of substantial power in, and they disappeared, the rest of us, well, we scattered. Kevah tried to stop us as we left the college. Good people died but anything is better than serving Kevah."
Gregori cracked up laughing at the rambling. "Jynx, what in the hell are you talking about?"
"Right, right." Jynx started waving his hands in the air in excitement. "Okay, so a couple of months ago, a headless body and two badass warriors arrived in the college courtyard. They hung the body up with a note attached to it but no one had the courage to go up and read it. So we were gathered around the body, wondering what happened, when one of the warriors unpinned the note and read it aloud. Then he announced the head of Caspian MacCuill had been delivered to Kevah with the same note from Alpha Janick.
"Most of us were ecstatic someone outside the college had finally stood up to Kevah Khortdad and the Triad. We were doubly impressed someone had taken out Caspian. He had been powerful. Everyone who graduates from First Level
Shava
to
Farzeen
has to be tested by Caspian and he was one mean bastard. He wiped the floor with us and we got to say '
thank you, sir'
afterward."
Gregori shifted in his chair, scowling at his hands.
"Well, except Gregori," Jynx said with a wicked smile. "Everyone heard his father, Kassian, tell Gregori to take what Caspian handed out and get through the test. I don't think those two were on friendly terms because Caspian was hard on Gregori, taking particular pleasure in hurting Gregori. Then in a blink of an eye the tables were turned, Caspian was out cold and Gregori spit on Caspian's feet. How old were you?" Jynx asked.
"Sixteen," Gregori's voice was clipped and he glared harder at his hands.
"The youngest First Level
Shava
to graduate to
Farzeen
. You are also the youngest
Sami
in college history as well." Jynx regarded Gregori with earnest eyes. "You are revered by the younger Magi. You're powerful enough to stand against the older Magi. We know how you fought for us, removing some of the worst instructors."
Gregori glanced up from his hands and met Jynx's cloudy blue gaze. "That was nothing. When it counted, I didn't have the power to help anyone. The more I tried to help, the worse things became. When people were hurt because of me, I pulled away. I'm weak and a coward. Those are not the qualities for anyone to look up to."
I pulled Gregori closer to me and rubbed his neck. I knew he wasn't a coward and so did the men across the table.
Nacht moved, drawing our attention to him. "I was in attendance at Karen's trial."
"No! Don't speak of it, Nacht," Gregori said through gritted teeth.
"I swear I'll never tell what I saw there, Gregori, but I will say what you did wasn't the actions of a coward. I'd pledge myself to you as your apprentice today if you would have me."
"All of us would," Jynx added. "Those who came with us would too. They gave up their home for a chance to work with you, the Sami, a true Magi."
"So that's why you're here?" I asked.
"No, sorry, we had hoped Gregori continued to reside with you since the note said he was a member of your tribe. We came here because of the rumors."
"What rumors?" Ushna asked.
Jynx's excitement amped up. "Okay, so we were excited that Caspian was dead and Kevah had been put on notice by an alpha no one knew. My older brother, Cosmos Roth, is a warrior. He and I get together once a month and he told me a captain had been remanded to custody for accepting orders from the Magi without confirmation. Cosmos also said General Shay Thomlain hasn't been seen for the last six months. He said that wasn't unusual because the general often traveled to the other Warrior Compounds, but that no way would he stay away when he'd heard the warriors had been compromised by the Triad. Bad blood there between the general and the Triad. Cosmos swore the general would've come home immediately."
"Does anyone know where the general is?" Ushna leaned forward.
"If they do, then they aren't saying. Rumor has it, and it's only a rumor, he disappeared somewhere in Norway. Some say kidnapped. Others say killed. Then Cosmos told me about the arrival of the warrior priests at the Order's compound who preached the arrival of the Lycan king."
"I've never heard of warrior priests," Ushna said, looking to me.
"That's what everyone's calling them. Cosmos snuck me in to see them. They wear white robes with Enki's Emblem, the Caduceus, on the back. Two snakes were striped black, blue, and green." I ran my hand across my pec, thumbing the head of one of the snakes under my shirt. "They've got shaved heads with the exception of the crown where there's a long strip of hair braided, and it's wrapped three times at the base into a cone where the rest of the braid hangs free from.
"They urge the warriors to prepare themselves. The king will come and claim them and the warriors must be worthy to serve the
Siamak
. Cosmos said the priest would approach men and whisper to them, and then without a word, those men packed everything and left the compound the next day. They never said where they were going when asked or what they were going to do. The warriors merely left.
"Then there were the other warriors who left after speaking to the priests. Those came back, battered and bruised. They bore a tattoo of the double helix snakes about the size of a quarter below the corner of their left eye. Their armor was a typed of black nylon super-plated bodysuit, wearing red head wraps, balaclavas, with detachable face pieces. Cosmos said the gear was state of the art, the warriors were deadly and scary as hell. They kept to themselves and were called, '
The Eyes of the Ophidian'
.
"When I told Cosmos of Caspian's death, we began to wonder if Alpha Janick was the Siamak the priests were heralding." Jynx quickly held up his hands when Corey made a move to get up. "We kept our speculation to ourselves. I swear. We understood you were hiding, otherwise the priests would've given your name."
Ushna bent forward, his hair falling forward, his ringed green-brown eyes snapping, hands flat on the table. The pose was deceptive. Ushna was coiled for attack.
"The two next to you seem to know about your speculations."
Gregori reached across and touched Ushna's hand. "Weaker Magi"—Gregori threw an apologetic smile at the Magi—"for protection against those who're more powerful, will form a circle of three. It requires complete trust and they'll bind themselves to each other. They're now an extension of each other."
"So why did you bring the others here?" Ushna was suspicious, and he needed to confirm my safety. "You three had your theory. Why would the others follow you here?"
Jynx ran a nervous hand through his orange streaked hair. "Because when Cosmos snuck me in to the Order's compound, a priest waited for me. He said, '
If you value justice, seek out the clear waters of Oklahoma
.' When he said it, I instantly knew where to go. It was the freakiest thing I've ever experienced. I went back to the College and told the others what the Priest said. That's the reason why they came with us. It's a bonus that Gregori's a member of your tribe."
"Where is your brother now?" Gregori inquired softly.
Jynx frowned worriedly. "He wanted to join the Ophidians. He said if Kevah worked against the king then he wanted to be in a position to help."
I studied the three for a moment. The way Lycan society operated needed to change. The strict walls of separation that were erected between the Orders and Lycan citizens needed to come down. The isolation caused by those boundaries allowed Lycans like Kevah to pray upon others not as powerful as he. It perpetuated corruption and abuse. Maybe there was a time when the distance was needed, but we couldn't afford the separation now if we were going to survive as a species. It was time to intermingle the Orders and rewrite some regulations.
"Gregori, what do you say? You know them."
His lips twisted into a small smile. "I believe these Magi would better your position. The College has split and though in many ways that could prove disastrous if there is a threat from the outside, for us right now it means we know where the factions are. They could be valuable to us in the coming days."
I regarded Jynx, Devlin, and Nacht, wondering how they could help me. Not that I didn't believe Gregori, because I did. I was unaware of the abilities of the three in front of me. Was it rude to ask?
"What do you think you could add to our tribe?"
All three smiled and straightened in their seats at the same time. It was disconcerting to watch. "Nacht is a
Shadow Mover
, but you already knew that." Jynx took Devlin's smaller hand as Devlin reached for Nacht's hand. "Devlin is a
Path Finder
. If you're going somewhere and you need to know the safest route, Devlin can tell you where and how. He can also find lost things. He can't give the exact location but he can get you close enough. I'm a
Truthsayer
. I know when someone is lying."
I frowned. "Gregori, you said
weaker
Magi form circles."
He smiled brilliantly at me, his silver-gray eyes laughing. "It depends on your definition of weak. The older Magi value magics like mine for might and brute force. They also don't like to share power and therefore won't form circles. To bind to another Magi, you become a Bond Brother. That link requires them to reveal all of their secrets. It means sharing power but never truly being alone in their head. They cannot have a romantic relationship outside the circle. Some have tried but it never works because they end up competing with the Bond Brothers. You can't lie to your circle, they'd know.
"Similarly, the Magi are governed by the Triad. One Magi is elected by his peers and he'll choose two others whose skills will augment or diversify the core magic." Disgust colored Gregori's next words. "Many consider it an honor to be chosen, and for others it's a prison sentence. The subtler crafts are looked over. Jynx can perform Earth magic like all Magi can but he has limited power so he wears out faster than I would. Whereas I'm gifted with strength in magic, he's gifted with his ability for Truth, which is more valuable than moving around dirt all day."