Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (45 page)

Even Kellan found himself taking half a step back.

His father pointed an imperious finger at the Ellvinians standing beside them on the platform. “Move aside, Ellvinians! We will not have you anywhere near our children!” he thundered
in righteous wrath. “You may have had the upper hand
here, but the
deception is over.
You
now
must
deal with
us!
Stand back, everyone!”

Kellan saw the air around Airron Falewir shimmer, Rogan Radek called fire to his hands,
and his mother reached for a sword that was no longer there.

“Father! Really!” Kenley exploded and threw her hands in the air.

Kellan could no longer smother his laugh.

His father’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll take care of this, Kenley. Don’t you worry, darling.”

“Father!” Kellan interrupted. “Everything is fine. The Ellvinians are our friends.

“Friends!” he roared. “These people tried to kill us!”

“Well, yes, they tried to kill us, too.”

“But, we surrendered,” Emile pointed out, stepping forward. “These
children
happened to
defeat
us pretty
soundly.”

The
Savitars
let go of their magic with stunned looks on their faces.

“Explain,” Kellan’s mother ordered.

“It is true that the Ellvinians declared war against us, but we have since come to a meeting of
the minds and declared a truce,”
he told them.

Emile bowed at the waist. “If you wish to take action against my nation, you are within your rights. However, I can
tell you that the Ellvinians
have been under the leadership
of greedy and immoral people.”
He
flung an angry look at
Samara tied up on the pier
behind him. “If it is within my power,
I plan to rectify that wrong when I return to Ellvin.”

Kellan’s father waved a hand dismissively. “It is already done. The Ellvin people have
deposed
your Premier and the Seconds.”

The Ellvinians closest to the conversation let out
excited gasps.

“Didn’t the
Ellvinians
use their
Ascendency against you?”
his father asked.

Jala Radek laughed. “Oh, yes! You should have seen Kellan fawning over a woman twice his age!”

Now, Kellan glanced at Samara, the tips of his ears burning.
“I did not fawn! I was under hypnosis!”

All on the dock laughed at his expense, and Izzy Falewir ran into her father’s arms. She had the roughest time with all that happened.
“You should have seen Kenley,”
the little Elf shared
with the parents. “She pushed back a wall of water with her airshifting. It was
spectacular!”

His mother
looked at
Kenley
with pride in her eyes.
“That’s my
daughter.”

“Oh, she’s
your
daughter now?” his father asked
with eyebrows that reached into his hairline.

“Always,” Kiernan Atlan replied and his father’s face crunched up in disbelief. Kellan thought it
must be an inside joke between the two of them.
It was something they did often.

His father suddenly noticed
that Kenley had her hand
on
Kirby Nash’s arm. “What is this?”

Kenley stepped forward. “Oh, Daddy, we have much to discuss when there is more time.”

His father turned to his mother
again. “She’s calling me Daddy. That can’t be good.”

His mother
shrugged and
turned away. “Told you so.”

Then, the tone turned somber
when Kane said softly, “Not all turned out well.”

Their mother rushed to his side. “What do you mean?”

“We lost Alia in the fight.”

“Our Alia? Digby’s daughter?” his mother cried.

“Yes.”

She turned
murderous eyes on the Ellvinians.

“It was not them,” Kellan
quickly
clarified.
“It was the Vypir.”

“The Vypir! Where is it?
I must destroy it at once!” his father declared and started a hasty stride down the pier.

“Oh, we killed that, too.”

* * * * *

Beck walked
along the road
with Kiernan
having just completed a tour of the wharf to inspect the progress on the city repairs. Over lunch at the mayor’s estate,
the children regaled them with all that happened while they were away,
and he was still in amazement over
their feats of heroism.

They
managed to head
off a war with a much larger force, resolved a revolution of the Draca Cats, and saved the city of Northfort from annihilation. He shuddered
as he was reminded of the
destruction of Pyraan twenty years ago. The drowning deaths of his parents and all of the exiled shifters haunted him
to this day.

At least now,
a strong contingent of soldiers
would be stationed
here in Northfort. He would talk to Kirby Nash at some point to suggest adding shifters to each
division
of the army so that an event like this
did
not happen in the future.

The sound of galloping hooves
thundered behind him,
and he steered
Kiernan
to safety. From the side
of the road, he stopped and
watched a woman with long-blonde hair
laying
flat over her horse
ride
recklessly through the pedestrians and soldiers. It was the sorceress, Diamond.

“What in the Highworld is she doing here?” Kiernan questioned.

“Only one way to find out.” Beck
reached for Kiernan’s hand and together they hurried after the racing sorceress. They came
up on
her just as she was dismounting from her horse.

Diamond strode
angrily
to
where Emile and the bound Ellvinian woman
waited to board a ship back to Ellvin.

“You!” Diamond pointed at
the woman, her eyes furious. “How dare you!”

Beck hurried over to her.
“Diamond! What are you doing?”

Diamond ignored him
and put
her hands on her hips. “So, you are the beast
of prophecy!
I
will have you know that you have cost me
years
of good
sleep waiting for you to
show your face!”
Her lip curled in disgust.
“I
have to
admit, you are even uglier than I anticipated.”

The woman gave her a contemptuous smile and
in response,
Diamond reached out and slapped
her across the face. “An
Eyereader
you call yourself?
You give seers a bad name.
Get the hell off my island.”

With that,
the blonde witch strode to her horse, mounted
and
galloped
away.

Kiernan’s laugh echoed harshly,
and Beck quickly hushed her
and led her away.
“Wonder what that was that all about,” he mused aloud, hard pressed to suppress his own chuckle.

“Prophecy, my dear husband, that is what
that was
about.”

He turned on the street that led back to the mayor’s estate. The children were waiting for them there and he was
eager
to return.
“Speaking of prophecy,”
he
said, “I wonder why the Oracle never showed up. I thought for sure she would give me fair warning
that the event she warned me about was approaching,
and possibly
even offer some kind of assistance. What if it turned out badly for the children?
I must admit that I am very disappointed.”

“It is also strange that Diamond mistook
the Ellvinian woman
as the beast instead of the Vypir.”

“Prophecy can be tricky to interpret sometimes, Kiernan.”

“Not with Diamond,” Kiernan insisted.

“Well, at
least now I can breathe easier. My family is safe and the prophecy is dead.”

Kiernan
gave him a sideways glance.
“Unless…”

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
“Unless what?”

“Unless,
this is one of those prophecies that can have multiple outcomes. Maybe neither the Vypir nor
the Ellvinian
woman was
the prophetic beast the Oracle was referring to
and that’s why she hasn’t showed up yet.”

His
gaze bored into her. “You’re joking, right?”

She shrugged.

“Please, Kiernan!
I just mended this heart and now you seem intent on stopping
it once again!”

“But, Diamond said—”

“No! No more predictions!
No
more
prophesy!
I would like to spend the
next few
days
at home
appreciating my beautiful wife and family. As long as we live, Kiernan, there will be battles
to
face.
We are defenders. We are shifters. I promise
that
you will have plenty of fights in the future to appease your warrior spirit. But, I beg of you, let us just enjoy
this moment of
peace while
we can.”

She
tilted her head and
gave him a smile to melt his heart. “Nicely
said, Beck Atlan, nicely said.
Very well, until the next time,
then.”

The End

RULING NOBILITY OF MASSA

I
SERLOHN

King Maximus Everard

House Colors - Black & Scarlet, Sigil - Golden Lions

Princess Kiernan Everard Atlan

Prince Mage Beck Atlan

Princess Kenley Grace Atlan

Prince Kellan Jaimes Atlan

Prince Kane Maximus Atlan

MEN AT ARMS

Sevant Kree
- Personal Guard to King Maximus

Kirby Nash - Captain, Royal Guard, Personal Guard to Kenley Atlan

Gregor Steele - Personal Guard to Kellan Atlan

Haiden Lind - Personal Guard to Kane Atlan

Bo Franck - Captain, Iserlohn Army

COURT MEMBERS

Lady Lillian Knapp

House Colors - Gray & Purple; Sigil - Shadow Panthers

Lord Gage Gregaros

House Colors - Black & White; Sigil - White Tigers

Lord Johan Hamilton

House Colors - Red & Yellow; Sigil - Red Dragons

D
EEPSTONE

King Erik Rojin

House Colors - Blue & Maroon; No Sigil

Kal Rogan Radek

Kali Janin Radek

Kal Reilly Radek

Kali Jala Radek

MEN AT ARMS

Klay Arsten - General, Iron Fists, Personal Guard to King Erik

Iben Rydex - Personal Guard to Reilly Radek

Dallin Storm - Personal Guard to Jala Radek

H
AVENTHAL

King Thorn J’El

House Colors - Brown & Green; Sigil - Ficus Tree

Airron Falewir

Melania Falewir

Izabel Falewir

MEN AT ARMS

Raine Aubry - First Gardien, Gladewatchers, Personal Guard to King Thorn

Elon Aubry - Personal Guard to Izzy Falewir

Loren Faolin - Gladewatcher

Leif Oliver - Gardien