The Cypher Wheel (26 page)

She remembered walking past the hideous creatures
most of her days in captivity. They were kept tied up in the castle
grounds when not in use. She tried not to show them that they
scared her and, even though they gave her the creeps, she felt
sorry for most of them. One of them even let her get close enough
to run her hand down its scaly skin. The haunted look in its eyes
saddened her even more as she whispered soothing words to it. It
was, after all, just another prisoner like herself, kept on a tight
rein to do Arawn's bidding. She shuddered.

They would, at least, have stood a chance of escape
under the cover of trees but there was no better creature for
observation and retrieval over open areas. If Etyran couldn't wrap
the light around himself, Alyssa wasn't big enough to hide them
both, and certainly not Todmus, as well. A black cloud of gloom
wrapped itself around her.

***

“Where are they?” Faedra said, pacing back and forth
along the dirt trail where they had left Etyran and Alyssa before
venturing to Azran.

“They will be here soon, I am sure,” Faen said,
trying to sooth his charge's ruffled feathers.

She stopped her pacing, contemplating his response
for a moment before folding her arms across her chest. “No,
something's wrong.” She started pacing again.

Allora, who was residing in Vivianna's body, stood on
the side of the trail watching the Custodian with wary eyes.

On the next pass-by, Faen put out his hands and
rested them on Faedra's shoulders, effectively stopping her in her
tracks. She looked up into his eyes and saw the irrefutable belief
he had that Etyran and his new companion were just fine. Faedra
closed her eyes for a long second, trying hard to push the uneasy
feeling away with the heavy breath she released. It didn't work.
The foreboding awareness she was trying desperately to disregard as
nonsense, was not disappearing without a fight. As much as she knew
Etyran could handle himself, she also knew her senses were becoming
more and more indisputable.

Faedra brought her hands up and covered Faen's. She
curled her fingers around both of his hands, brought them down from
her shoulders and placed them against her heart.

“I feel it right here, Faen. I can't explain it, but
I know without a doubt, they are in trouble.” Her eyes pleaded with
his to understand.

Faedra could see the contemplation in her Guardian's
eyes. After a long moment, he gave her a warm smile.

“Okay. If it will make you feel better, I cannot see
it will do any harm for us to make a detour towards Arawn's castle.
We will probably meet up with them along the way,” Faen said, his
eyes sparkling with compassion.

“Thank you,” Faedra said with a smile, then reached
up and placed a tender kiss to his cheek. “Thanks for believing in
me.”

“I will always believe in you. And besides, your
power is manifesting so fast, it would be silly not to listen to
it. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my friends
and I was armed with the knowledge to prevent it,” Faen said.

Faedra nodded in agreement.

Faen put his arm around Faedra's shoulder and they
both turned to Allora. “I hope you do not mind, my lady. We are
going to walk in this direction for a while. I'm sure we will meet
up with our friends in no time,” Faen explained.

“Young Guardian, it is no trouble. To be honest, I
have been locked up for so long now, it will be nice to stretch my
legs, long as they now are.” She looked down the length of her
taller than usual frame.

Faedra couldn't help giving Allora an up and down
glance. She was fighting hard with having the body of her evil
half-sister flaunted in front of her, even though she knew the soul
that inhabited it was one of the kindest gentlest souls she'd ever
met. But every time she looked at Allora, she saw Vivianna. Her
brain was having trouble distinguishing between the two. She was
sure she must have given Allora some filthy looks on their journey
from Azran, for which she was constantly apologizing. Allora had
been very gracious up to this point, but Faedra knew if someone
kept giving her dirty looks, even though she knew they weren't
really aimed at her, it would wear very thin very quickly. She was
finding the best thing to do was not look at Allora at all. She
decided it was the lesser of two evils. Better to be impolite
rather than downright rude.

The still night air did little to quell Faedra's
anxiety as they traveled further along the dusty path towards
Arawn's castle. If anything, she became more aware of them the
closer they got, which only cemented the fact that she knew
something was wrong. They hadn't bumped into their friends along
the way as Faen thought they may have, and she could feel his
energy shift the further they traveled with no sign of anyone else
on the path.

It wasn't until they arrived at the edge of the
forest and stood looking across the moonlit meadow to the other
side, that Faen admitted his feelings.

“I agree with you, Faedra. We should have met with
them before now. I fear that something has gone awry,” Faen said,
looking down at the Custodian with worried eyes.

“What's that?” Allora asked, pointing across the
field.

Faen and Faedra turned their gazes to follow where
Allora was pointing.

Three shadowy shapes emerged from the trees across
from them and came to a stop at the meadow's edge. The shape in the
middle was a huge black beast, its fiery red eyes lighting up the
shadows. It looked like something was slung across its back. To one
side of the beast stood a slender figure, to the other side someone
small and stout.

Faedra squinted, craning her neck forward in an
attempt to make out the figures in the silvery light. A second
later her eyes widened. “Aesti?” Faedra whispered.

“Todmus!” Allora cried at the same time. Her voice
echoing into the night.

Lady Allora took off across the field without a
thought.

“Allora, stop! It could be a trap.” Faedra called out
after her.

Allora didn't listen. She was running across the
field. Vivianna's body was exhibiting none of its usual
panther-like grace as Allora did her best to control a frame that
was much taller than she was used to maneuvering, especially at
speed. Even through the stumbling gait, she got to such a speed it
didn't look like her feet were touching the ground. Then Faedra
realized Allora's feet weren't touching the ground. She did, after
all, have Vivianna's wings, but to Faedra's knowledge, she didn't
know how to use them, until now, that was.

“Todmus! It's me, Allora!” Allora called across the
field.

Faedra noticed the two figures standing either side
of the black beast, turn and look at each other before looking back
to the woman running full pelt towards them.

“Well, I guess we found out where Todmus and Aesti
disappeared to,” Faedra said, giving her Guardian a wry smile.

“We better go after her before she attracts
attention. She will wake the dead shouting like that,” Faen
remarked.

An unholy shriek ripped through the sky.

Faen and Faedra exchanged glances.

“Too late,” they said together as they watched one of
the ugly creatures they'd done battle with upon their arrival swoop
in from over the trees.

“Allora, watch out!” Faedra yelled, as she and Faen
took off after her.

Allora stopped and looked up, her hands coming up to
cover her mouth. She froze, unmoving as one of the beasts swooped
down towards her.

The two figures on the other side broke ranks and
headed into the field, but it was too late. Neither side was close
enough to the Lady, who was standing in the middle of the opening
all by herself. The erchyll had no barriers to overcome and plucked
Allora from the meadow as easily as plucking a cherry from a
tree.

Allora's terrified scream filled Faedra's ears as the
erchyll took off with her clutched in its talons.

The four friends joined up in the middle of the
meadow and looked to the skies.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The creature holding Allora rose in the sky above
them. It hovered for a few beats of its wings taunting them,
dangling its prey just out of reach. Allora struggled against its
talons, her legs see-sawing back and forth in mid-air. It turned
its long thick neck and body, its beating wings stirring up the air
around them.

“I have an idea,” Faen said to Faedra. His tone was
urgent, drawing the attention of Todmus and Alyssa, too. “Can you
stop it?”

“What?” Faedra asked.

“Like you did with the stones, and in the corridor
with your father and me.”

Alyssa looked at Faedra expectantly. Todmus pleaded
with his eyes before turning his gaze up to the sky once more.

“I can try,” Faedra said, uncertain of her ability to
do what her Guardian asked. The last two times she had suspended
something, it was a knee-jerk reaction to an emotion. She'd never
actually done it under any kind of control.

He put his hand to her cheek. “That is all I ask.” He
pulled his sword from its sheath and turned.

Faedra held up her hands. The erchyll had turned and
was starting to fly away from them, its quarry still held tightly
in its grip. “You can do this, Fae,” Faedra mumbled to herself.

Faen took to the air after the creature, sword
extended in front of him.

“Now would be a good time!” Faen called down to his
charge as he gained on the creature.

“It's not working!” Faedra cried. “Why is it not
working?” She brought down her hands and gave them a shake.

“Come on. You can do this,” she compelled herself,
bringing her hands up again.
Emotion, I
need emotion
,
she thought. She knew she couldn't get the right emotion looking at
Vivianna's body being dangled by the erchyll. No amount of trying
to persuade herself it was Allora was helping her at all.

She relived the moment in the castle when she had
stopped her father and Faen. The thought of one day ruling over
Azran still terrified her now as much as it had a few hours
ago.

“Stop!” she yelled.

The erchyll's wings stopped mid-beat. Its tail froze
mid-swish. It was suspended above the field about a hundred feet. A
strangled shriek escaped the creature. It was fighting her with
every fiber of its being and it was strong. Much stronger than
restraining a person or a few chunks of stone.

“I can't hold it much longer, Faen!” Faedra called
across the meadow.

“Just a few more seconds is all I need,” Faen said.
“I'm nearly there.” He flew higher and higher, gaining on the
creature with every beat of his wings.

Alyssa and Todmus stood side-by-side, hands to their
mouths, watching the Guardian with wide eyes.

Faen reached the creature. He stood on its back and
with a smooth, calculated move, ran it through with his sword. The
second he did, its claws went limp and Allora slipped from their
grasp. She screamed as she started falling but was able to grab a
talon with her hand on the way down and hang on, dangling by one
arm.

“Help me, please!” she cried, looking down at the
ground.

Faedra's heart jumped to her mouth and she heard
Todmus and Alyssa's sharp intakes of breath. She couldn't freeze
Allora. If she took her concentration off the erchyll for one
second they would all come crashing down to the ground.

Faen couldn't see what was happening from his vantage
point but heard the scream. He nose-dived off the creature's back.
Allora's hand lost its grip on the shiny claw and she started
falling again. Her scream ended abruptly as Faen reached her,
landing in his outstretched arms.

The three standing in the field let out a collective
sigh.

“Thank the Goddess,” Alyssa whispered.

“You can say that again,” Faedra responded, dropping
her hands and taking great pleasure in watching the erchyll drop
from the sky like a stone. It landed with a thud. “Well, I guess
that means we've lost the element of surprise. I guess we better
move on to plan B.”

“What's your plan B?” Alyssa asked.

“Don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of
something.”

“Does anyone actually have a plan B?” Alyssa said,
palms open in question.

Faedra creased her eyebrows at the unusual
question.

“Never mind,” Alyssa said sounding a tad exasperated,
as Faen landed gracefully in front of them and lowered Allora to
the ground with care.

“Todmus.” A smile lit up Allora's face as she held
out her arms to her husband. He cast her a wary look and took a
subconscious step backwards.

“Todmus? It's me, Allora,” Allora said, finding it
hard to hide the dismay in her voice.

Faedra knew why Todmus reacted the way he did; she
could feel it just as if they were her own emotions she was
experiencing. Todmus's energy was throwing off uncertainty and lack
of trust. His feelings were similar to Faedra's, but not on such a
grand scale. He was being told it was his long lost wife standing
before him, but his brain was responding to the vision of a woman
who had, very recently, tried to destroy Azran and everyone in it,
which included Faen and Faedra, whom he now considered his close
friends.

Allora dropped her hands. She didn't need Faedra's
power to sense what her husband was feeling. His face explained it
to her plain as day.

A tear welled up and trickled down her cheek. She
turned to Faedra. “I want my body back.”

Faedra reached out to touch Allora on the arm, a
gesture that took all her will to hold back the fire she wanted to
shoot through her fingers. She gave Allora a rueful smile and made
her a promise she wasn't entirely sure she could keep. “We'll get
your body back.”

“We have to get out of this field first, though,”
Faen said, looking to the sky. “Incoming!”