Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (21 page)

“The Battlearms?”

“Aye, Emile, do I have to write it out for you?”

“And, once there, Your Eminence?”

“I want a steady
well
of magic users
delivered
to Ellvin, Emile!
If anyone challenges your mission, kill them.”

“Your Eminence! We do not have—”

“Are
you disobeying an order, Emile?
If you so much as speak one single word more of this heresy, I will have you whipped and removed from office. Do you hear me?”

His Second
swallowed back his argument.
“Aye, Your Eminence.”

“Good, now
prepare the Battlearms. I want you gone by tonight.”

“As you command,”
Emile replied stiffly and
walked toward the door of the Consulate.

“Wait!”
Hendrix shouted at him.

The Second hesitated
before turning back to him, a glimmer of hope in his eyes that Hendrix had changed his mind after all. “Your Eminence?”

Hendrix held up his goblet
and wiggled it in the air. “You forgot my blood.”

C
HAPTER
15

A
T
IGHTENING
W
EB

Izzy
pressed her fists into her
stomach in an attempt to stay the vomit lodged in her throat. She took deep breaths in through her nose
and tried
to flood her mind with
beautiful
images of
her deity,
Elán,
to prevent her from
thinking
about
using
magic.
The Ellvinian named
Chandal had warned her that trying to
shift
would cause her to be sick, but sometimes she could not help herself. Sensing out the animals around her was as natural
to a feralshifter
as breathing.

Feeling
her nauseous belly
finally
subside, Izzy
sat up on the large bed.

An Ellvinian guard stood
unsmiling
at the open door between the room she was in and the sitting room just beyond.
What a strange looking Elf.
He never smiled or acknowledged her presence. He just stood
there
and sniffed
at
the air every once in a while.

Izzy got out of the bed and
strode
to the window. The courtyard below the mayor’s estate was empty. She had hoped to see someone outside that she could wave to, but quickly realized how
improbable
that was. She was on the third floor and it was not likely that anyone down below would look up
this far
or, even if they did, see her behind the thick
windowpane.

She wondered where Chandal had gone. She had not seen him since he deposited her in his room last night, and she hoped she never saw him again. He made her skin crawl.
On the surface, he
had been nice to her, but
she was not fooled. She could tell that deep down, he was a mean
person
and meant her harm just as the other two Ellvinians
had.

If only
Jala, Kellan or
Kane
would find her before
Chandal
returned. Did they know she was missing? She knew her friends
very well
and under normal circumstances,
they would stop at nothing to find her. But, she knew
now that
events
surrounding these strange Elves were
not normal. Her own actions since the night of the gala were
hazy and indistinct
so she could only assume the others were
facing the same dilemma.

Izzy spotted a stray dog outside the window and quickly turned away, not wanting to call up the sickness again.

Instead,
she glanced north and viewed the armada of Ellvinian ships
moored there. These Ellvinians would pay for their actions when her father returned. He would not be pleased at all that they had locked up his daughter. She just wished he would come home today instead of weeks from now.

Turning from the window, she
began
to pace. How could she
escape?
Since she could not rely on her friends or her magic, she had to figure
out another way. A tear dripped from her eye, but she scrubbed it away
when her gaze locked on a heavy candleholder on the stand by the bed. Ever since she was old enough to walk,
Elon Aubry and other members of the Gladewatchers had instructed her in the art of defense.
If brute force was all she had at
her disposal, she would use it, and there was no time like the present.

She
sat on the edge
of the bed,
making sure that the candleholder was within reach.

She cleared her throat. “Sir, can you please come here?”

The guard looked at her hesitantly.

“I am bleeding, sir, on the back of my leg and I need—.”

The Elf
crossed the room faster than she thought possible
and knelt
down
to sniff at her leg.
To her horror, his tongue darted out to lap up the blood he hoped to find.

She did
not
waste the opportunity.
She grabbed the candleholder
and
slammed it into the side of his head. The
tall
Elf
crumpled to the
side,
unconscious.

I can’t believe it!
It worked!

Izzy
spared one
fleeting second to hope
that she had not killed the
Elf, but then stepped around him and fled the
bedroom.
As she navigated the sitting room, she prayed to
Elán
that
there would not be
any
guards outside.

At the door, she stopped
with her hand pressed against the frame.
What would she do if there were?
The element of surprise was crucial to any offense her father always told her.
She was small and fast, so she
could
slam
open the door and run before they realized she was escaping.
Yes, that would work.
Surely, they would not hurt her once she was in the hallway and in view of others.

She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Clenching her muscles in readiness to
act, she
lowered
her hand
to
the door handle.

Before she could turn it, the door opened and she stumbled back into the room.

It was Chandal.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, his black eyes furious.

* * * * *

Kellan stepped out of his room
after Kane and Jala left,
and it felt like he stepped into a nightmare. Ellvinians swarmed the hallway and a glance over the balcony showed that the lower floors and antechamber
were flooded with them as well. There was not a single Massan in view.

What in the Highworld is going on here, my friend?

Maks lumbered to the railing and looked down.
An invasion.

How did this happen? We allowed
for a dozen Ellvinians
only.

They disregarded your rules, but you
have
known
this
since
yesterday.

I did?

Yes.

You’re
right, I did.
Kane
says that they have
mind control abilities.

Just stay near me. I will protect you.

Kellan
smiled at his friend and absently ran a grateful hand through his silky white coat.
Can you do something important for me?

It depends.

His mouth twitched up once again. Draca Cats only performed the tasks they wished to perform, whether he liked it or not.
I want you to see if you can track down the protectors. Can you find out what happened to them?

I would rather not be parted with the enemy surrounding
you
in such numbers.
I can already see how they are isolating us into small groups. If I did not want to kill them so badly, I would be quite impressed.

Are they really our enemy?

The snowy head peered down at the antechamber once again before answering.
Yes.

Maks was speaking the truth. Even he could see that now.
But, I must find out what happened to the protectors, Maks. If harm has come to them, that is the proof I need for Kirby and the mayor.

Maks nodded and then turned his blue eyes to look directly at Kellan.
I will go. Call out if you need me. I can find you anywhere.

I promise. But, I am not without my own defenses, Maks. Remember that.

If the cat attached any value to his comment, he did not say. He simply turned and left,
and
the Ellvinians backed
away hastily to give
the enormous Draca
room as he made his way down the stairs.

Kellan pushed away from the railing to pursue his own goals. He needed to talk to Samara, but he also wanted to find Kirby Nash and find out what the Captain of the Royal Guard was doing about this
invasion
as Maks put it. Or, was he, too, under the Ellvinians’
influence?

The Elves
he passed in the hallway made no attempt to hide their stares, and Kellan felt like an insect in a sea of hungry hawks.
Instinctively, he
stretched
for the white fur that
was
always
a reach away,
but his hand came up empty. Maks was gone. Gregor was gone. It was
up to him now to shoulder the cloak of responsibility to which he had been born. Kellan fingered the athame tattooed on his neck and drew strength from its presence and when he looked up again, he saw the hawks
for what they truly were. Elves. Just Elves.
He
on the other hand was
a shifter. He
was the child of
Savitars
, and he had the power to defeat them.

Shoulders squared, he strode through the throng of dark Elves and made his way toward the mayor’s drawing room where
he knew
Lars
held conferences with his constituents.

It should not have been surprising to find white-robed Ellvinians standing before the
double doors to the room as though on guard, but
it was. He strode toward them prepared to fight his way in, but the Elves stepped aside as he neared and allowed him to enter without
comment.

Kellan slammed open the doors harder than he intended and stepped inside.

Sunlight pooled in the center of the large room, casting its occupants in a halo of illumination. The laughter and gaiety of the six people sitting on
a
raised dais enjoying their midday meal broke off abruptly when they heard him enter.

It seemed such an innocent scene.

The mayor was there in the midst of delivering a toast to his guests. Samara, Chandal, and two other Ellvinians paused with their glasses raised. The sixth person in the room was Kirby Nash, and he immediately stood when he saw Kellan.

“Kellan! Come join us. I was just coming to look for you, but Lady Samara used her considerable charms to convince me to take part in this delicious repast.” He
waved his arms to draw attention to the elaborate spread of food before them.

Samara stood and opened her mouth. The beautiful song that drifted from her lips enticed him to approach, pulled him toward her.

Kellan smiled and took a seat
at the table
allowing
the laughter
and
the
toasts
to resume.