Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (45 page)

“I felt you, Shlova. You were sad to
have him leave.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Not like
that. I was just thinking that he will do anything to keep her
alive and in doing so will put himself in more danger than
necessary. I thought of him getting killed and that was why I was
sad.” I looked back at him and kissed his cheek. “How could I be
jealous of anyone when I have you?”

He smiled. His gaze moved behind me and
I turned to see what he was looking at. We both started
laughing.

“Looks like she got you again,
Matthew!” I nodded approvingly. “Great job, Emelly.” It seemed now
that she had made up her mind to learn and gotten over her fear of
stabbing Matthew, shy little Emelly was going to be a quick
study.

Our little group started getting ready
to move again.

Hayden!

I looked up and saw Dodge swooping down
toward us at an unbelievable speed.

“Dodge! Slow down!”

Rainen looked up in time to see my
horse come crashing to the ground just a few feet away from her.
Her eyes widened as she gazed into the sky.

“Hayden! Shield!”

I threw my shield out to cover everyone
who was closest to me. I felt my energy touch Rainen’s and I
glanced at her before looking up to see what had made the
screeching sound in the sky. My first thought was about dropping my
shield and to welcome the dragon flying over us. My second thought
was that this was no dragon. The creature in question had to be to
same size as Faren, the fire dragon I was bonded to, who was about
thirty feet long. Well, the same length as Faren. Whatever this was
it was lacking the bulk of a dragon. It looked more like a snake
with wings and ten sets of legs. It was covered from head to tail
in oily looking brown feathers.

I felt the push of magic come from up
above and I pushed against it with my own. The energy receded as
the creature flew past us. I started to pull back my shield and
felt Rainen doing the same. The screeching sound came again. Rainen
swore under her breath.

“We have to combine, Hayden. That first
one was just a test. Be ready.” She frowned. “I don’t understand
why it’s coming back but I have a feeling this is going to
hurt.”

Everyone moved closer together and
Rainen and I held hands. The thing in the sky was getting
closer.

“Now!” Both of us pushed our shields as
hard as we could and held them there. The furry snake came closer.
I felt its magic push against ours and retreat. Without warning, a
magic nudge so strong it felt like thunder rumbling against our
shields hit. I heard Rainen cry out and concentrated on the magic.
It pulled back ever so slightly and hit again. I fell to my knees.
My head was pounding and every muscle in my body was tense. I
closed my eyes.

“Rainen, push!”

I felt her gather herself and pushed my
shield up at the same time as hers. All I could hear was the blood
rushing in my veins and my heart beating in my chest. I focused on
the shields, pulled Rainen’s into mine and pushed as hard as I
could. I looked up in time to see the creature fly off course as
our energy knocked its own back to it. It shook its head and came
back toward us.

I looked at Rainen who was breathing
just as hard as I was. I stood shakily.

“What kills it?”

“I don’t know. They usually give up if
they sense you have any magic at all.”

I looked around but no one seemed to
know. I pulled the red waves in front of me. “It’s my experience
that most things will burn.”

She nodded and pulled her
reds.

“On three, throw your deepest red as
hard as you can.” I got ready to do the same. “One.” The creature
zeroed in on us. “Two.” I chanced a quick look at Jasper. His eyes
were closed. “Three!”

Our waves mixed together and the
resulting flame was phenomenal. The thing swerved to avoid the fire
but wasn’t quick enough. Its tail and two sets of legs burst into
flame. It screeched and writhed through the air in a desperate
attempt to put out the flame. One second it was there and the next
it was gone. Vanished.

I looked at Rainen and sank to my
knees, trying to get my breathing under control. She stumbled and
fell against William. He helped her to the ground. Jasper was at my
side in a flash.

“Shlova?”

I rest my head on my knees. “I’m ok.
Rainen?”

“I’m alright.”

“Did you do that at the
end?”

“No. I thought you did.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do
displacement spells for some reason I can’t figure out.”

“What about a recall spell?” asked
Gina.

“Maybe. Maybe whoever sent it made it
possible for it to get back to wherever it’s from if anything went
wrong.” Rainen wiped the sweat from her face with her
arm.

“What the hell was it?” I
asked.

“That was a Zerpanay. They’re a cousin
of the dragon.” Harold looked up into the sky as he said
it.

“Do they live here?”

He shook his head. “They are from the
Sandsea. You must travel a good month from Howel to the south to
get there. They don’t usually come this far north.”

“What usually happens if they
do?”

Gina shuddered and Harold put an arm
around her.

“They take what they want to eat and go
back to the Sandsea,” explained Rainen. By the look on the Maj’s
face it was obvious what the Zerpanay’s diet of choice was when
visiting these parts.

“So you’re telling me it was just after
a meal? What about the displacement at the end?” My breathing was
almost back to normal. I stood and shook out my arms and legs,
trying to get the muscles to relax.

Rainen put her head on William’s
shoulder and closed her eyes. “I don’t know. The disappearing act
at the end makes me think this wasn’t random.”

“Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “The last time I used this
much energy doing magic I was fighting Marilynn.”

“When was that?” I glanced over at
her.

“Oh, a good twenty years ago, I’d
say.”

“Who won?”

She smiled. “Neither one of us. Damian
stepped in. I remember being so angry with him. He told me
afterwards that it wouldn’t do to kill each other when the future
had surprises in store for us.” She was quiet for a moment. “I
wonder if he knew then what was going to happen now.”

My head started to reel and I blinked
to get rid of the spots that were blocking my vision. My knees
buckled.

“Hayden!” Jasper caught me before I
could hit the ground. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m ok. Just tired. I don’t think I’ve
ever used this much energy fighting something.”

“Alright. We’re setting up camp. Hayden
and Rainen need to sleep.” Jasper laid my head on a pack and went
to find firewood.

“Dodge?” I cracked one eye open then
closed it again.

I’m here,
Hayden
.

“Are you ok? You landed pretty
hard.”

I’m fine. I’m
sorry
.

“What in the world for?”

I led it right to you. I
tried shaking it but I couldn’t
.

“It’s alright, Bud. I’m just glad you
didn’t get hurt.” I smiled as his soft nose nuzzled my face. I
heard Jasper strike his flints together to start the
fire.

“Here are all the packs and blankets.”
Matthew dropped some by me and moved on to the others.

“Are you cold, Shlova?” I smiled when
Jasper didn’t wait for an answer and helped me get into an extra
tunic. He sat down, pulled me onto his lap and wrapped us both in a
blanket.

“How’s Rainen doing?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“But she’s alright?”

“She’s fine. Get some sleep,
Shlova.”

“That was something else altogether,
Jasper.”

“I know. I felt it through you.” He
rubbed my arms and pulled me closer.

“God, I’m sorry. I was so busy
concentrating on that thing I forgot to shield you from
me.”

He chuckled. “I’d rather you
concentrate on killing the enemy. I can survive being bombarded by
your feelings. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have lived through
whatever the Zerpanay threw at us.”

I took a deep breath as the exhaustion
started to take me over. “You know, there was something familiar
about it.”

“Hmm?”

“The magic.” I tried to fight off the
fatigue, trying to grasp at the feel of the magic. It slipped
farther away, just out of my reach, and sleep took me.

About Author

Mireille Chester is an Ottawa born
French Canadian now loving life on the prairies. Her love of
reading and writing blossomed at an early age and developed into a
passion which she pursued by authoring fantasy novels.

Mireille has a second passion in her
life; her love of animals. She hopes she makes a bit of a
difference in their lives by donating her grooming services to the
Prince Albert SPCA.

Mireille lives in Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan with the greatest of her loves, her family, which
includes her husband, Kyle, and their three children, Anthony,
Emery, and Ashtynn.

She can be reached by email at
[email protected] or through her website
www.mireillechester.com .