Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (28 page)

As a Prince of Iserlohn, he was born to the dance of the blade.
His siblings disdained weaponry of any kind,
and he could not blame them. A weapon would only weigh Kenley down when she took to the skies and Kellan’s fists were deadlier than any weapon made of metal.

Not Kane. He
relished the symmetry of movement
in the swordfight.
As he grunted with effort, every stroke found its mark and every parry
was
turned aside. Each forward movement
he took
meant death to the enemy
because anything less
meant he would
die. That Izzy would die.

At the end of the dance,
Kane
stood alone.

He stepped over the Ellvinian in
front of the door and opened it prepared to do battle once again, but the sitting room was empty.
Hurriedly, he
ran through to the
bedroom. With a well-placed kick, the door flew open and he was inside.

He almost fell to the floor with relief at the sight of little Izzy sitting
in the corner.

Then, he saw the blood.

Slowly, he walked
forward, but she did not
acknowledge
him. As he advanced into the room, his gaze went to the bed
and the naked dead man lying
there.

A fury unlike anything he had ever felt in his life enveloped him.
With stilted steps, he made his way to the bed.
It
was
Chandal.

He
sheathed his sword,
moved to Izzy
and
squatted
down in
front of
her. “Izzy, are you all right?”

Her lips began to tremble, but she nodded.

“Did you…”

“Yes, I killed him,” she whispered softly.

He
lifted her
chin
and waited until her
violet
eyes met his. “Good girl.”

She glanced at him from underneath her eyelashes. “Do you
really
mean it?”

“Of course I do. Do not for one moment regret valuing your own life ahead that of a monster.
He would never have returned the favor.”
He looked down at her state of undress. “Did…did he hurt you?”

“No.”

Thank the Highworld
.

“I will get you out of here safely,
Izzy, I promise you that.”
Her back straightened a fraction
at his words.
“Can you walk?”

She nodded and got to her feet.

“I
am sorry to rush you, Izzy, but
someone will see
the dead guards in front of this room
very soon.
We must leave at once
before others come.”

Her eyes widened. “You had to kill, too?”

“Yes. Hurry now and get dressed.”

She quickly ran to the basin and washed
the dried blood from
her face and arms. Then,
he turned away as
she bent down and retrieved her dress from the floor and scrambled into it. She was just tying the laces of her boots when the door
to the sitting room
opened.

“Chandal!
Chandal! Get out here now!
We must speak with you at once.”

Kane reached behind his back for his sword and it came free with an echoing ring.

Lady Samara and another Ellvinian
male appeared
in the doorway to the bedroom and Kane stepped in front of Izzy.

He watched the Ellvinian woman’s eyes take in the scene and her dead companion on the bed. “What is this? What have you done?”

“We have done nothing except protect our own lives. Now, step away from the door. We are leaving.”

Samara opened her mouth and held a hand out to Izzy. “Come here, my darling. You wish nothing more than to come and be with me.” Kane heard the words she said, but it did not have the same hypnotizing effect as it seemed to on others.

As Izzy started forward toward
Samara, Kane grabbed her arm and held her back. “No!”

The shouted word seemed to confuse Izzy and she stopped.

The tall Elf with
Samara stepped forward and when he opened his mouth
and spoke, Izzy ran to him. He immediately hugged her to his body and put an arm around her neck. “Drop the sword or she is dead.” There was no mistaking the menace in his voice. “Thus far, you have been dealing with the Shiprunners,
lad,
but I am a Battlearm
and you do not wish to mess with me. I promise you that.”

Samara held her arms out toward
Izzy. “Give her to me, Emile.” The Elf let her go and
Izzy
went willingly into
Samara’s
arms.
The Ellvinian woman
promptly began stroking Izzy’s hair and whispering in her ear.

“What is his magic?”
The Elf Samara called
Emile asked without taking his eyes from Kane.

“He creates illusions of himself and so is able to slip through our fingers like mist
in the wind.”

“Why is he not responding to Ascendency?”

“I have not figured that out yet. We learned the hard way that it does not work on the magic users who call themselves mindshifters either. They killed several Shiprunners before we were able to put them down.”

The blood oath in Kane flared through his body.

Emile scratched his chin. “Interesting. It must have something to do with magic that originates in the mind. Since this boy’s magic is centered around his sight and mind, it seems he, too, is immune.” Emile reached out and stroked Izzy’s cheek. “We still have other ways to keep him under control.”

“Get your hands off her,” Kane seethed.

Emile smiled and leaned out
of
the doorway. “I would like you to meet two of my fighters.
Zebin! Liam! Come here at once.”

Almost instantly, two muscular Ellvinians stepped into the room. The crisp white frocks they wore bore an elegant gold trim Kane had not seen before on the others. Emile nodded toward Kane. “This boy here says that the Battlearms are weak.”

Two pairs of black eyes snapped his way.

“He says
you are lazy and slow. He thinks
he can take
the
two of you on at one time and win the fight easily.”

Samara ushered Izzy from the room. “Come now, darling.
I believe the
boys wish to have
a little
fun.”

Kane stepped back to give himself room to fight.

Out of nowhere, one of the Battlearms flicked a metal
star-shaped
object through the air and before Kane could dodge out of the way, it embedded in his sword hand. He cried out,
and
the sword of Iserlohn
dropped from nerveless fingers.

The Battlearms used the distraction to close the distance between them. One punched him in the jaw at the same time
the other buried a fist
in his stomach.

Kane
doubled over in pain, but the Battlearms were not through with him
yet.
As it turned out, they were just getting started.

C
HAPTER
21

B
LOODBATH

Kane’s shoulders ached from the way the Ellvinian fighters carried him
by his elbows, but he did not have the strength to straighten his body and walk. Instead, his head hung low and his feet dragged
feebly
along the floor of the corridor.

His tongue glided over his swollen lip and then checked that his teeth were all still there. They seemed to be intact and he did not think the fighters broke any bones, but by the way his body felt, they came close.

“Where are you taking me?”
he croaked out and noticed that one of the
Elves
carried his
baldric
and sword.

The two Elves ignored him and swept him down the hallway and through the doors to the ballroom. The tables and decorations from the gala had all been cleared and the two fighters dumped him unceremoniously in the middle of the large room.

“Don’t move or you’ll get your own sword through your back.”

With a groan,
Kane
rolled over
and stared
motionless
up at the ceiling
willing the
pain to subside.
Slowly, he turned his head to the front of the room. Samara, Emile, and several other Ellvinians were sitting behind a long table covered in what
appeared to be maps.

“We do not have any
choice
in the matter, Samara,”
he heard
Emile
say.
“The Premier has commanded.”

“But, declare war?”

“It is the only way. How else are we
to meet the needs of our people?” Emile
glanced over at Kane. “In any case, it is too late to turn back now.”

Palpable grief raked
Kane’s
body at the fate that awaited Massa. It was not likely that he would ever see his parents again either, trapped as they were on enemy land.
Powerful though they were, anyone caught unawares would be vulnerable.
Kenley
was far away in Callyn-Rhe, but even she would not be safe if war broke out.
And,
Izzy Falewir? After the nightmare she had been through with Chandal, he let her slip right through his fingertips.

He laughed bitterly at his incompetence.
Not only did the
children of
Savitars
invite the enemy onto their soil in unmanageable numbers, but they also threw them a gala in the process!
How would the Dwarves and Elves react
to
such outrageous
naiveté?
Would they blame magic users?
Would it result in another segregation of the lands as was the case after the Mage War? Until twenty years ago, the lands of Haventhal and Deepstone wanted nothing to do with each other or
with
Iserlohn.
This mistake could have devastating and far-reaching consequences
for the island of Massa.

If his father had been here, he never would
have allowed
any of
this to happen.
In good conscience,
Kane could not even blame his youth. He was a Prince of Iserlohn and knew better.

“Kane, are you all right?” a soft voice asked.

He
swallowed back the sting of failure when he saw familiar
purple
eyes peering down at him.
Izzy.
He turned his head away. “I am so sorry, Izzy.
How can you even look at me?”

“Why wouldn’t I look at you?
I have never been happier to see anyone in my life.”

“But,
I let them take you again.”

She tore a piece of fabric from the bottom of her dress and pressed it against his lip. “You did not
let
them do anything.
You risked your life to come after me, and I love you for that. Thank you, Kane.” She leaned down and planted a chaste kiss on his forehead.
“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. You promised, remember?”

When he smiled, the cut on his lip caused him to wince.
“I did promise, didn’t I?
On
my
life, Izzy, I will do whatever I can to keep you safe.”

“I know.”

The
door to the ballroom opened.

“Second Emile! We found this girl soaking in a tub in one of the guest chambers.”

Kane turned and his heart
stopped beating
in his chest. It was Alia and her clothes were soaking wet and
clinging
to her body.
The fighter
gripping her by her upper arm
leaned down and sniffed her neck. “This one is quite full of the magic.”

Emile strode forward. “Come here, girl. Where have you been hiding?”

Alia’s mouth opened and then she saw Kane on the floor
and frowned. “I…I was
in the servant’s quarters.”

“You just happened to be bathing in your clothes?”

She lifted her chin. “I am a watershifter. It was either that or die.”
She glanced back at him. “What is going on here?”