97. Chapter 97
CHAPTER 97
Dynalya
T he days passed too soon for Dyna’s liking. Before she knew it, spring came to an end, and it was time to leave the valley of Sellav. They gathered outside gates of the Norrlen Estate in the early morning to say goodbye. The sun rose over the horizon, golden light bathing the land like a new beginning.
Rawn kneeled before his wife and pressed his lips to her hand. “My lady, I give you sworn my oath to return to you again.”
Aerina said tearily, “I will hold you to your word, Rawn Norrlen. Do not keep us waiting long.” Her hand went to her flat stomach. Then they were all bursting with cheering as he kissed his wife.
Raiden crossed his arms when Rawn turned to him “You have nine months to complete your mission. If you miss the birth, I will denounce you as my father.”
Rawn only smiled gently as he always did when he looked at his son. “I will not fail you.”
“That remains to be seen,” he nodded. “I have taken the liberty of choosing a horse for you.”
A servant came up the path holding the reins of a white stallion. Beautiful white coat with light eyes. Rawn stared at the horse as did they all, for it was an exact mirror of another they once knew.
“This is Sight,” Raiden told him as they went together toward it. “The last offspring of Fair. He was meant for me, but our bond never took place. I think he was waiting for you.”
So many emotions crossed Rawn’s face. He stroked Sight’s muzzle, murmuring in soft elvish. The horse nickered softly and bump his shoulder in the same manner Fair used to do. Dyna squeezed Lucenna’s hand.
“The loss of a bonded horse is as painful, if not more, than any other loss,” Aerina said beside them. “They give their entire lives to loving us, and we spend the rest of ours missing them.”
Eldred approached Dyna and Cassiel with scroll and a green pouch made of velvet. “The Accords,” he said, passing it to Cassiel. “It is signed and free of any instigations. Greenwood stands with Hilos. As our thank you for your great aid, King Leif grants you jewels from his coffers.”
He handed Dyna the velvet pouch and something shifted inside. Opening it, she found small shards. Crystals. A handful of both Tanzanite and Moonstones.
“There are Elder Trees across Urn in the unlikeliest of places,” Eldred said. “The closest one is outside of the Anduir Mountains. Rawn knows where.”
They both gave him their thanks before he moved on to speak to Lucenna. They now had the means to travel more efficiently.
Yelrakel and the Valkyrie came forward and bowed, accepting their next mission. Dyna and Cassiel agreed it was best to send to the Skath and overlook the rebuilding of the Realm. And they would be near when it was time to confront Raziel.
Once all goodbyes were said, Dyna faced her Guardians and nodded that it was time.
Zev shifted into his wolf and Keena took her place on his head. Von mounted Coal, Lucenna and Klyde rode on Onyx, Tavin on his own mount. Raiden gifted a stunning elvish mare with a golden coat named Solaya.
Lady Aerina held her son’s hand as she gazed upon her husband. Her watered eyes went to them pleadingly. “Make sure he returns to me.”
Each gave their word.
Then they rode across the valley for the next part of their adventure.
“So Raiden can freely bask you with gifts, but I am limited?” Cassiel asked when they reached the foothills of the Anduir Mountains.
Dyna patted his arm that was securely wrapped around her waist. “Are you angry that he threatened to steal me away if you broke my heart again?”
He huffed indignantly under his breath, making her smile. His possessive growl passed through her mind. That will never happen again, lev sheli.
Breaking my heart or stealing me away?
Both.
And that promise settled on the bond with all the others.
Their group reached a familiar ridge secluded within a cluster of rowan shrubs that overlooked the province of Sellav. Rawn paused there a moment, and he gazed at his home. Perhaps to memorize it until he saw it again.
Their hike up the Anduir mountains took two days.
They came to rest within a range of cascades for the evening and set up camp. Dyna watched all her Guardians together, her friends, laughing and sharing meal around a fire, and felt her circle was at last whole. The journey was far from over yet, and she looked forward to what was to come.
Many things still hung over her head but would live now and not fear tomorrow or what she may come to regret. So Dyna slipped away into her tent and contacted her family through the water mirror. It was another emotional reunion with her grandmother and sister, then rather amusing once she introduced them to her Celestial mate.
Everything at last seemed to be right again.
She was happy.
Safe.
And completely warm as she fell asleep in Cassiel’s arms. So when she felt a cold draft on her cheek, Dyna instantly woke. She frowned sleepily as horses nickered outside. The canvas flaps billowed gently in the breeze, exposing the strip of pale morning sky.
Didn’t she tie those shut?
Keena dashed inside in a flutter of gold dust. “Dyna, wake up!” she whispered urgently. “Tavin is leaving.”
She blinked at her and sat up. “What do you mean?”
“I saw him ride away,” Keena said, her hazel eyes stretching wide. “And he had the key.”
“What?” Dyna exclaimed, looking over at her satchel she had left on a chair. It was now open on the table.
He took it.
She threw off the blankets and wake Cassiel, telling him to wake the others before running outside. Three still tents circled the campfire where a black wolf soundly slept, and only three horses were tied to a tree.
She ran to Lucenna’s tent, finding her and the captain curled together, fast asleep. “Klyde, Lucenna!” she shook them awake. “Tavin is gone.”
Instantly they woke. They rapidly threw on their shoes and coats as she blurted out what he had done.
They ran outside just as Zev darted into the forest.
He must have caught the scent.
“He went north,” Von said, already on his horse with Keena his pocket.
They ran to mount their saddles.
“I’ll search from above,” Cassiel told her and leaped into the sky.
Klyde took point, galloping so fast through the trees, the rest of them struggled to catch up.
Cassiel called out from above, pointing ahead. “There!”
They broke out of the forest onto a hillock. And the boy had just reached the top of it.
“TAVIN!” Klyde bellowed.
His nephew paused to watch them raced across the field for him. Klyde reached the base of the hill first.
“Stay there, uncle,” Tavin called. “Don’t follow me.”
Klyde jerked on his reins, halting there. “What are doing?” he exclaimed.
“I’m leaving. I can’t be with you anymore.” Tavin’s jaw clenched. “I left Skelling Rise because I needed to know who I am. So I followed you to ask why you didn’t tell me the truth. But I realized even if I did ask, you would never tell me.”
Klyde blinked at him, his chest and falling rising sharply.
“I heard what you said to them that day in your room … about my father.”
Dyna sucked in a breath, and they all fell still. Cassiel landed beside her.
Tavin’s pale blue eyes shone with angry, unshed tears. “For the entirety of my life, you lied to me. You told me my father was dead.”
Agony crossed Klyde’s face, and he moved a little closer. “I’m sorry, Tavin. I chose to tell you he died because I couldn’t admit to you that he had abandoned us.”
“He didn’t abandon me. If he knew I was alive he would have stayed.”
Klyde shook his head. “No, Tavin. Your father…” His face crumbled. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. I told you he was a hero but that’s not him.”
“How would you know? You haven’t seen him in fifteen years. You don’t anything about him. You don’t know what he would have done if you told him I was alive. You kept me from him, and I can’t forgive you.”
“Tavin—”
“You’re a liar!” Tavin shouted. “Mum, Von, and the lot of you all lie to yourselves and to each other. You’re all liars!” He took a breath, and all emotion melted away to a familiar frosty indifference that sent a shiver down Dyna’s spine. “It’s only fair that I return the favor .”
A new rider joined Tavin on the hill and horror stole the ground from under her.
A cool smile crossed Tarn’s face. “You’ve grown, Dale.”
Klyde took a gasping breath at the sight of his brother. “Tavin … get away from him.”
But the boy simply reached in his coat and handed his father the bronze key to Mount Ida, along with a scroll.
Pocketing the key, Tarn inspected the scroll. A smile edged on his lips. “Well done. I am proud of you … son.” Then his goading pale eyes fixed on Dyna. He showed her the page where Tavin had drawn an exact copy of her map. “Thank you for your contribution, Maiden. They will serve me well.”
When did he…?
“He’s not your son,” Klyde growled.
“Quick to temper as always, Dale.” Tarn rolled up the scroll and tucked it away into his coat. “You have no right to feel angry about this when it was you who hid something precious from me. Imagine my utter surprise when Tavin pulled me from the sea after my ship exploded.”
That’s how Tarn had survived? Tavin must have followed her to Argent.
“Would it have made a difference if you knew about him?” Klyde demanded. “Would you have stayed to raise him?”
Tarn didn’t answer. A unit of Raiders on horses rose up on the hill with him, all armed. Tarn merely glanced at his son wordlessly, giving some signal. Tavin obediently mounted onto his father’s horse.
He trusted him. That had to mean Tavin had been communicating with Tarn all this time. The water mirror. He had been in her room…
“I raised him, Tarn,” Klyde said shakily. “He’s my boy. Please don’t take him with you.”
Traces of sadness briefly crossed Tavin’s face, but it faded beneath his resolve. “I am choosing to go with my father, uncle. Let me go.”
“No, I won’t. You can’t go with him!” Klyde rushed the field, but ice sprouted from the earth, creating a blockade of frozen spears.
“Thank you for seeing to his well-being,” Tarn said, tugging on the reins. “But my son will stay with me now.”
Dyna exchanged a look with Von, and he nodded. “How did you find us?” she asked. To Cassiel she said in the bond, Be ready.
As if he couldn’t help himself, Tarn smirked at her over his shoulder, “You really should learn how to properly use a water mirror, Maiden. It is a tool that could easily be used against you.”
You never know who is listening.
A cold rush crawled over her skin. Her mind flashed with a memory of Cassiel dumping out the water and wiping down the mirror after using it. A habit she had never practiced. She was supposed to clear the salt out. This whole time it had been activated even when it didn’t glow.
He had heard every conversation and sound when the mirror was in the room.
Her weeping over the abandonment by her mate.
Her screams when she woke from her nightmares.
Her schemes.
He had heard everything .
Including the secret of Tavin’s dormant magic.
“He knows…” she said in horror. “He knows!”
Snapping the reins, Tarn galloped down the side of the hill with Tavin.
Cassiel cast out a wave of blue flame, instantly melting the ice. Dyna threw out her Essence, clearing a path. Klyde and Von charged ahead. The Raider’s rode to meet them on horseback. They raced ahead on the hill, magic, fire, and steel clashing. Zev tackled his targets, teeth and claw slashing through flesh.
They easily broke through the barricade of Raiders, but it wasn’t meant to hold them. Only to stall.
Von and Klyde made it over the hill by the time Dyna reached the top. And she was once again struck with dismay.
Further past the bottom of the hill on another field were Sai-chuen and Lumina. They stood beside an Elder Tree. The moon shards on her wrists glowed with her rising chant and the gateway activated with a spiral of light.
Klyde and Von were nearly at the bottom and too far to stop them.
“Oh, gods,” Lucenna gasped when she and Rawn reached the top. “He’s going to get away.”
“No he won’t.” Dyna kicked her heels, and they galloped down the hill after them.
But it was too late.
Tarn and Tavin rode through the gateway. Then his Xián Jīng spy and Magi Master strode in next.
Klyde and Von raced side by side across the field for the Elder Tree. Galloping so fast they appeared to fly on will alone. They were only a few feet away.
“They’re going to make it,” Dyna said breathlessly, clenching the reins in her shaking fists. “They will.”
Light exploded with a roar and tore everything away.
The force threw Dyna off her horse. Cassiel caught her and they hit the ground hard. She moaned, slowly straightening. The ringing in her ears cleared then her vision. Smoke and clusters of flickering flame spotted the scorched field.
Lucenna sat up where she had been thrown beside her and her eyes widened with horror. “Klyde!” She scrambled to her feet, vanishing into the smoke.
“Oh, no.” Dyna leaped to her feet, clutching Cassiel’s arm as she frightfully searched for the others. “Lord Norrlen? Zev? Where is Keena?”
“She was with Von,” Cassiel said somberly.
And he had been right at the Elder Tree when it exploded — along with Klyde.
Her mouth shook as she continued searching for her cousin. “Zev!”
“Here!”
Dyna ran toward the sound of Rawn’s voice and found him kneeling beside a black wolf. He was motionless in the grass.
Rawn looked up at her, face distraught. “He was right in front of me when it blew, my lady. He took the brunt of the blast.”
Dyna slid to Zev’s side and checked for wounds. He had a few broken ribs but sucked in a breath when she found his steady pulse.
“He’s alive. Stay with him.”
Then she ran after Lucenna with Cassiel on her heels. A sobbing cry led Dyna to her. Lucenna appeared within the smoke, holding Klyde on her lap. She ran over to them and quickly examined him. He was unconscious but bore no burns or wounds. Only a little blood leaked from his ears.
Repercussion from the blast.
Dyna cast out her Essence and searched for any internal damage. There were none that should have been. Only burst eardrums.
“Lucenna, he’s all right.” Dyna assured her once she healed them. “It’s a miracle he’s alive. His mercenary coat must have protected him.”
“It wasn’t only his coat.” She opened the lapels, revealing the small glass vial containing a four-leaf clover hanging from his neck.
Natures charm that repelled magic.
“What happened?” Cassiel asked, inspecting the charred stumps in the ground. It was all that was left of the Elder Tree.
“They destroyed it so we couldn’t follow,” Dyna said as she got to her feet. But she paused, looking around the field. “Where is Von? I don’t see him.”
“He was right here when it … do you think?”
Dyna’s eyes widened but her assumption of the worse faded. There was no sign of his body in the field, not even his horse.
“No …” she smiled with relief. “Von made it through, and Keena is with him.”