The Next Move
We flew in silence until we reached the other side of the forest, where a great open plain opened up. It would be far enough away from the Lost King’s army and give us the advantage to see anyone coming upon us.
Vasin and Tahir landed right next to each other, each eying the other but not making any telling movements. Jade hopped down and pulled me off Vasin, then helped Gavin, who almost face-planted on the ground.
Seeing that Jade was dealing with Gavin, I walked up to Vasin and hugged his large head.
Even though it had been only a few days, he’d already grown larger and his scales thicker.
His head was almost as big as I was, making it harder to hug his snout.
Seeing him next to Tahir made me realize how much bigger he was than a typical dragon.
Tucking his wings away, he crooned and nuzzled my stomach as I scratched his eye ridges.
“I am really glad to see you,” I whispered to Vasin as I fought against the tears welling up in my eyes. “I was so scared, and I didn’t have you watching over me.”
“Don’t ever do that to me again, Cass. I couldn’t find you anywhere. I have been flying all over the mountains looking for you.”
“I was drugged with something that kept me in this strange state where I couldn’t control anything, mind or body. As soon as I could, I called out to you, but I wasn’t sure if you heard me.”
“It was long enough for me to latch onto your end of the bond and follow it to your location. If you hadn’t been drugged, I would have found you sooner.”
“I know, I don’t have any doubt about that. We’re back together, and that’s what really matters.” Stepping back, I pulled my emotions together, ready to deal with the matters at hand. “Tell me what’s been happening back home. Do they know about Richard?”
“Yes, they know he took you, but not why.”
“I can’t say that I truly know the reason either. I have far too many questions about this whole thing and not nearly enough answers,” I said with a sigh.
“Um, Cassarah… are you having a conversation with your dragon?” Gavin asked.
“Yes. Vasin is filling me in on things I’ve missed since being kidnapped,” I answered, forgetting people outside the clans didn’t know this about the black dragon.
Looking behind me, I found Gavin sitting on a blanket, resting against a boulder and giving me a curious look as he munched on something.
Tahir was settled on the other side from where Vasin and I were, watching our backs.
Jade walked up and handed me some dried meat and a flask of water.
My stomach rumbled, reminding me it had been a few days since I’d eaten anything.
“Thank you,” I said, and he just nodded in response, not meeting my gaze. I wanted to ask him what was wrong but thought better of it.
“Sit and rest, Cass. We have a little while before we need to move on. Eat something to keep up your strength. We have a long flight back to the clan. They have gone into hiding and called a meeting of the clans.”
“What? They went into hiding?”
“Makes sense,” Jade said, drawing my attention.
“Why don’t I know about this? I didn’t even know we had a secondary location to hide out at!”
“If you are not yet crowned queen, then you wouldn’t.
In each clan, there are only five people who know the location…
it’s our last haven in times of trouble.
I’m sure they would have told you once they could, but as you see, not everyone can be trusted,” Jade pointed out, making me feel less irked about the whole thing.
“I know where they have gone. I can take you to them, but I’m not sure how they will feel about the crown prince knowing. What do you plan to do with him?”
“I need to find out what he knows before I can let him go. He might know more about why we were kidnapped since he was held longer than I was. Plus, this crazy Lost King is his half-brother.”
“Very well, I will scout the area with Tahir while you get your answers. I will alert you if there is any danger.”
“Thank you,” I said aloud, then backed up to give him room to take flight.
Once Vasin was in the sky with Tahir, I sat and wolfed down my meat.
My stomach now pacified, I sipped my water and observed Gavin.
His face was drawn, and he looked tired with dark circles under his eyes.
His once clean clothes were tattered and stained from travel and sleeping on the ground.
He looked nothing like the man I’d met so many months ago in the castle’s drawing room.
“Hey, you doing all right?” I asked as he stared down at his hands, running a finger across the rope burns on his left wrist.
Gavin looked up at me, blinking a few times as if coming back to the present. “Yeah… just a little rattled. First time being kidnapped and all.”
I grinned a little at that. “This is my second time. It gets easier with practice.”
Gavin looked up, shocked at my words. Then when he saw my grin, he smiled.
“Did you know that you had a half-brother?” I asked.
“No, that was a surprise to me. My father has never mentioned anything about a bastard born in our family. Guessing at how old he is, it happened before he married my mother.”
“Did Henry say anything to you about why he was doing all this? I know he wants to be king, but that doesn’t explain involving Errit and the mercenaries.”
“He doesn’t just want to be king of Norden, he wants to be king of it all. His goal is to wipe out any resisting force and conquer anything he can,” Gavin said, shivering at the idea. “Did you see what his Birthright is?”
My mind flashed back to the moment I held Lord Everett’s life in my hands and the need I felt to prove myself to Henry. “Some kind of mind manipulation.”
“He can convince you to do anything for him if he can latch onto your mind long enough. I heard the guards say when he controls someone for too long or makes them do something too awful, it breaks them, and they become a drooling simpleton,” Gavin explained.
“My Birthright isn’t quite as controlling as his.
Mine just makes you feel comfortable enough around me to tell me more than you normally would.
Sometimes I can’t even control when mine affects people.
He would leave someone in the tent with me if he wanted information from them. ”
“That is a very good ability to have around if you’re trying to rule the world,” Jade commented from where he was lying with his hands tucked behind his head, eyes closed. I thought he had been sleeping but apparently not.
“Okay, that might explain why he kidnapped you but wanted to kill me. My Birthright doesn’t work that way… it’s a physical ability,” I mused.
“You’re forgetting one thing you control that no one else can… an ability to access unlimited knowledge. If he had been able to control your mind and weakened you enough, he could’ve had control of Vasin too,” Jade said, causing me to feel sick to my stomach.
“Holy hell, you’re right,” I swore. “He almost had me too. If Vasin hadn’t come and yelled at me, I would’ve been putty in his hands.”
Jade sat up and pinned me with his pale green gaze. “Don’t sell yourself short. I saw you fighting him every step of the way. I don’t think you were as close to giving in as you think.”
“What’s he talking about?” Gavin frowned, looking between me and Jade.
“Right now, I think it's better that you don’t know. If Jade is right, then we are in way more trouble than I thought.” I sighed, letting my shoulders slump.
“We need to bring him with us, Jade. We can’t let Henry get a hold of him, but I don’t know how the clans will take the crown prince showing up at our super-secret hideout. ”
Jade stood up and let out a loud whistle. “You’re the queen, and there’s nothing they can do about it.”
“You keep forgetting that I’m not queen yet. I haven’t finished my training or gone on a job.”
Jade just looked, his eyes searching as they washed over me. I tried not to fidget under his scrutiny, but it was hard when my body started to heat under his gaze. “Let me worry about that. First, we must get to our clansmen and warn them about what’s going on.”
As I watched Vasin and Tahir coming back toward us, I had to agree with him. This was much bigger than the two of us could handle, even with our dragons. We needed the minds of our people, and if this was going to turn into the next Great War, we were going to need everyone.
“Do I get any say in this? I am the crown prince of this kingdom,” Gavin asked, his frown now a full scowl.
“Not really, Your Highness,” Jade said with a mocking tone.
“Unless you would like us to leave you here to fend for yourself, then by all means, stay at your leisure. My guess is you wouldn’t last the day before Henry and his men found you again.
Who’s to say if they will let you live this time or not? ”
“Enough, Jade, no need to be cruel,” I snapped.
Jade just shrugged his shoulders and started packing things back up in Tahir’s saddlebags.
I walked over to Gavin and dropped down next to him.
“Oddly enough, I’ve been in a somewhat similar situation where I had to make a choice to leave behind the life I knew for something completely unknown.
I can’t promise much, but what I can promise is that you will be safe, and I will do my best to get you back home.
Protecting you will protect my people as well.
You have no reason to trust me, but I hope you will. ”
As Gavin mulled over my words, watching me intently, I could feel a strange, warm breeze running over my body. I stiffened at it because it reminded me of how I felt when Henry was trying to control me.
“Gavin, are you trying to use your Birthright on me?” I asked.
“How did you know?”
“I could feel it tugging on my emotions. Almost like with Henry.”
As soon as those words came out of my mouth, the warm breeze stopped and dropped away. “I’m sorry. I never meant to manipulate you. It’s become a reflex when I’m unsure about something.”
“No harm done. Just know I’ll be able to tell if you try it again,” I said, giving him a smirk. Standing, I held out a hand for him. “Come on, Vasin says we have a long flight ahead of us.”
Walking over to Vasin, I brushed my hand along his glimmering black scales that had been warmed in the sunlight.
I was steeling myself for what came next.
I had to trust my instincts on this. I’d thought that my dreams were showing me a way to fix things between Norden and the mercenaries, yet I was discovering that wasn’t the case.
What it showed me was the life of one of the greatest mercenary queens we ever had to learn from.
Now I was going to have to take all that knowledge and make the best of it.
“So you have decided to take him with us?”
“Yes, I’ve discovered some things that make him more of a risk to us if we were to let him go. Keeping him safe is the best choice, not only for him but for our people.”
“Very well, I trust you, Cass.”
“I hope I’m right, guess only time will tell.”