I knocked softly on Cadalan’s office door, “Come in.” Stepping inside, I couldn’t help but smile at how his face transformed from mildly annoyed that someone interrupted his work to a soft, genuinely happy smile. “My queen. What can I do for you?”
He sat back in his chair as I settled on the edge of his desk. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to fly to the mountains.”
“Of course. How long were you thinking of staying gone? Just so I don’t send a search party for you,” he said with a grin.
“Maybe a few days? I can send word through Umasa if I end up staying longer.” He nodded, “I’ll be near the Qealan border too.”
“I’ll link the sentries to let them know you’ll be in the area and to leave you alone unless you ask for them.”
“You’re not going to send someone with me?”
“Would you like me to? I only sent Ninou with you the last time because you didn’t know the kingdom borders yet and I wanted the other guards to know you were supposed to be here. They all know you now, and you’re aware of the borders, especially our border with Qealan, so I don’t see the need to send a warrior with you.” He looked up at me with a serious look on his face, “I’m not your mother. I would like to know when you plan a trip to the mountains or wherever you go, but only because I care about you. You don’t need to ask permission. It’s just a courtesy which goes both ways. I’ll always tell you if I’m going somewhere for longer than a day.”
Before I could overthink it, I leaned down and kissed Cadalan. He quickly took control of the kiss, standing from his seat and pushing my legs open so that he stood between them. He cupped my face, tilting it up so he could kiss me deeper. After a moment, he pulled back, “We should stop, or you aren’t going to make it to the mountains.” I let out a breathless chuckle as he bent down to kiss me again. There was a light knock on the door, causing him to growl but he didn’t stop kissing me. The knock sounded again, but louder. He pulled back with a sigh, “I have a meeting with Keys.” He kissed me again, “Stay. Don’t go to the mountains.”
I shook my head, “My dragon wants to go. She misses the snow.”
“We could stay if he’s going to keep kissing like that,” Rukiya said.
“No, we need to meet with La La.”
She grumbled in my head, but didn’t disagree or keep pushing. Cadalan kissed me again, “Tell her you’ll go tomorrow.”
I laughed, “Tomorrow turns into the next day and then the next day turns into the next, so we need to go today before we end up not going at all.”
He sighed, “Be safe. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
I smiled and kissed him softly. “Have a good meeting. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He kissed my forehead as the door behind me opened. “Working hard I see,” Keys said, plopping down in one of the chairs at Cadalan’s desk.
“Fuck off Keys,” Cadalan said not looking at her. “Please be safe.”
“I was taking care of myself well before you came along, my king. I’ll be fine.” His rough hands held my face, his thumb gently rubbing against my cheek as he searched my face for something, maybe confirmation of my words. He kissed me again before releasing me completely. “See you, Keys. Have fun.”
She flipped me off as I walked past, “Yeah, thanks so much for making him grumpy.”
Cadalan’s POV
I smiled as Gildaza walked out of my office laughing at Keys. Once the door closed, I enchanted my office against sound. “You can come out now, Denelyn.”
“Creep,” Keys shot at her brother.
“We were in the middle of a meeting when Gildaza came in, and because it was about her, I elected to hide rather than let her know I exist.” He flicked her on the ear, “Not a creep. Working.”
“Speaking of working, you should go.”
“Are you sure? What happened to not seeing a need in sending someone with her?”
I sighed, “A white lie. For my own sanity, after what happened when she was taken by Wecica, I need someone with her, but I do want her to have her freedom.”
“Which is were this idiot comes into play,” Keys said, shaking her head. “She’ll never forgive you if she finds out. She won’t accept that it was only for you and your sanity.”
I glared at Keys, “You promised you wouldn’t read her.”
She rolled her eyes, “I didn’t have to.”
“So am I going or?” Denelyn asked, inching closer to the door.
I nodded, not looking at Keys, “Don’t interfere unless she’s actually in danger. Remember there’s no need to report back, just keep her safe if she needs help.”
He nodded once and slipped out the door. “This is a horrible idea. Den has so many other things he could be doing for you.”
“Noted. Now can we move on?”
Rukiya’s POV
Gildaza triggered our shift at the base of the mountains, allowing me to come to the forefront of our mind. “You’re getting better at staying conscious,” I said.
“All the training with Cadalan has been helping. It’s less painful now,” Gildaza responded. “I’ll probably still pass out on the way there though. Umasa knows what we’re doing though, so they can speak for us.” We made it halfway to the border before she lost consciousness. An improvement but my heart hurt for the pain she endured, and I cursed her gods for forcing her to go through it.
“We’re close to La La,” Umasa linked after about an hour of flying and dodging sentries on both sides of the border.
I took a deep breath in, my heart warming as I smelled Qealan again. I reached out to Gildaza, hoping she might wake up, but she was sleeping too deeply. It wasn’t long before Umasa and I were landing in a large, green valley outside a small, forgotten castle.
La La came running out, sword drawn. Relief spread over his face when he saw it was us, “Za Za! Finally!”
“We couldn’t leave when we expected to,” Umasa explained once they shifted. “The king was training Za Za most of the day yesterday, so we couldn’t leave until she recovered.”
“‘The king’,” La La looked up at me, “Does he make you call him that?”
Umasa smirked, “I call him that. She calls him by his name although he insists she call him Cad instead. It annoys him to be called king or your majesty. No one in his kingdom calls him King Cadalan. I only do it because it brings me joy to see him annoyed.”
La La laughed, “I would expect nothing less, Masa.” He looked over at me again, “Do you need to rest then before we move these people out of here?”
I shook my head. “The king has also been working on Za Za’s shifting. She doesn’t need to rest as much when she shifts. She was actually able to stay awake until we got about halfway here.” La La looked between the two of us, shocked, “For as much shit as I give the king, he has done a good job trying to figure out why Za Za has these problems and has tried to help make them better. She doesn’t pass out immediately after shifting back to her human form either.”
“Why do you give him so much shit then?”
They shrugged, “A bit of payback for him being such a shithead about me going with Za Za and a bit more payback for him not keeping her safe.”
“When Elenell got back from the meeting with the leaders, she was pissed. Dad mentioned Za Za had been hurt but was stronger than ever. She even stood up to Elenell and Cadalan backed her up. I didn’t realize though how much he was helping her.”
Umasa nodded, “Others are helping too. Ninou, the one that was with her when she was taken and that tried to protect her as much as possible, has been helping with hand to hand and sword training. Two more with ice or lightning wielding have been helping her train more with that as well.”
“And the other?”
Umasa shook their head, “Though it’s required for new people entering the kingdom to use all of their wielding abilities, that one is not required. The king knows how precious it is and how imperative it is to keep it hidden.”
La La nodded once, “Good.” He clapped his hands together, “Do you want to meet everyone?”
“Of course. How many do we have this time?”
“Just over fifty, but less than half of them are fliers,” he answered. I used our gift to follow the conversation inside as they walked away. “We’ll be okay getting the non fliers out if I come with you, but I know Za Za doesn’t like it when I come with you guys, especially now.”
“Have you taken me into account?” Umasa asked.
La La nodded, “Even with you, there will still be a few that can’t make it.”
“Za Za?” A voice broke me from viewing through Umasa. I looked down and huffed, “Za Za!”
I bent down to place my head into the hands of my friend, Roz. “Roz. It’s good to see you,” I said through her ability.
“You too! How are things going?”
Before I could answer, Za Za startled awake, “Don’t let her touch us.”
My head jolted up, out of Roz’s hands. “I’ve always spoken to her this way.”
“I know, but Cadalan has said not to trust anyone, especially mind readers.”
“What’s wrong?” Roz moved to touch my leg again. I growled loudly and moved away from her. “Right, well, it was a good run, Za Za.”
Gildaza’s POV
I heard the wing beats of four shifters landing behind me, “Mas, we’ve got company.”
“We’re on our way.”
“What’s the meaning of this?” La La said as he took in the sight before him.
“Your highness,” Roz said, bowing, “I’ve been instructed by your mother to keep an eye on you from afar. Imagine my surprise that I find Gildaza and you conspiring.”
“Conspiring to do what exactly?” He asked, crossing his arms.
“I can’t be sure, but from the scents surrounding this,” she gestured to the castle, “hovel, you seem to be up to something.”
“Did you ever think I’m here at the direction of Elenell?”
Roz laughed and shook her head, “She would’ve told me.”
It was La La’s turn to laugh, “What makes you think that? Elenell is alone in this world, she tells no one everything.”
“She told me she intends us to bond,” La La gagged, causing me to snort. “She’s training me to take over.”
I shifted, stumbling slightly and breathing heavily, “She’s using you, Roz. You haven’t dealt with her as long as we have. If you had, you would know she only uses people. The only reason I was offered to Cadalan was because she didn’t see the value in me. Your ability is what she wants and she’s promising you things so she can continue to use you.”
She threw a punch which I easily avoided, deflecting it and throwing one of my own. I circled her as she tried to recover, “Since when can you stay awake after you shift, bitch?”
“How long’s it been, Mas?”
They shrugged as I glanced at them, “Your time is meaningless to us but I think you call it a week?”
“Man, Roz, if you had been doing your ‘job’ a week ago, you might’ve actually had a chance.” I hit her with the newest combination of kicks and punches Cadalan and I had been working on in training.
We went round and round until she reached out and grabbed me, “What are you doing here?”
Before she could delve too deeply into my mind, I flooded her with all of the pain I had ever been in growing up, shifting, and my time in Wecica. She began screaming, releasing me as she fell to the ground unable to move. I looked to the four shifters that she called, “Do you really believe Elenell would want you to attack the future queen of an allied kingdom?”
They looked down at the still screaming Roz and backed away from me, bowing, “They apologize, sis. Rozenora is their superior, so they were just following her orders.”
I nodded, “Is Ivora around?”
“Of course I’m around,” a grumpy voice sounded from the doorway. “It’s my damn house, young lady. Where else would I be?”
I smiled as I took in my great aunt in all her grumpy glory. Her white hair was like a mane around her scarred face. “Could you?”
She grunted, “Brevala, take them all to the base of the mountain and I’ll be right there.” Ivora walked up to me and patted my face, “Did you kill the bastard that scarred your face?”
I chuckled, “Of course.”
She nodded once, “Good. It’s good to see you, Za Za. It’s been too long.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, “You too Ivora. I’m trying to get back here more, but it’s not always so easy.”
“It’ll be even less so once you bond.”
I sighed and pulled away, “I know.”
“Get in there and get something to eat,” she put her hands on either side of my face and I felt the warmth of her healing wash over me. “There you go, that should keep you awake long enough to eat and catch us up on everything once we’re done with these buffoons. You lot can leave tomorrow.”
I nodded, “Be safe.”
She scoffed at the implication Roz and the four warriors could take her. “Do you want me to go with them?” Umasa linked.
“Please,” I linked back.
I made my way into my room in the castle to get dressed. “Do you feel someone watching us?” Rukiya asked.
I looked around, feeling what she was talking about, but not seeing anyone around us. “Maybe it’s just from not leaving Draeles in a while?”
She hummed, “Doubtful, but wishful thinking.”
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t respond. My heart broke a little as I walked out into the main dining hall and saw all of the children. I took in their sunken eyes and cheeks, malnourishment taking its toll on their bodies, despite mostly being shifters. “Have they had enough to eat?” I asked the few adults sitting nearby.
They nodded, “Ivora has been helping them, but they still can’t eat much.”
“Has funding been cut again?”
One of them shook their head, “The head mistress has started stealing more money than before. Without you there to act as a threat, she feels like she can take as much as she wants. The kids have been getting her and the other staff’s scraps. That’s why La La insisted on taking so many of them.”
“Za Za?” A small voice coming from the end of the table said.
“Rilwyn,” I said, turning to her with my arms open.
I held her tightly to me, “Where have you been Za Za?”
“Elenell made a deal with King Cadalan of Draeles. I had to move there.”
She gasped, “Is he as mean as the stories make him sound? And Draeles? Is it bad?”
I chuckled, “No. Cadalan is very kind. Draeles is beautiful and the people there are so wonderful. We would never send you somewhere worse than here.”
“And you’ll be there Za Za? You’ll come visit us?” One of the older kids asked.
I smiled at him over Rilwyn’s head which was still buried in my chest, “Of course. Every chance I get I’ll be there.”
(to be added to)
“Za Za, what the hell did you do to Roz?” La La asked, sitting down next to me at the table.
“Gave her my pain. Why?”
He stared at me silently as if trying to process what I said. “She is fully broken. I don’t think she will ever touch another person again. Ivora tried to help her, but even she couldn’t undo it.”
“You’re welcome, little brother . She won’t be of use to Elenell anymore, so Elenell won’t force you to bond to her. Was Ivora still able to mend her memory?”
He nodded, “She won’t remember how she was hurt, but she will never forget the pain.”
“How is Ivora?” I asked quietly.
“She’s okay. She isn’t recovering as quickly as she was when we started this, but she doesn’t want to stop.”
I sighed, “It might be time to figure something else out. Cadalan is teaching me incantations. I’ll see if there’s one that we can use to disguise ourselves so we can still help but not at the cost of Ivora.”
“I’m fine,” Ivora said as she walked into the room. “I healed you of deathbell. I mended the memories of every living person. I will continue to mend and heal my people.” She shook her finger at me as she sat down with us, “Don’t think you can get rid of me or stop me from helping my people escape that bitch Elenell. I should’ve fought (her sister elenells mother) harder when she decided she was going to break tradition and name Elenell as queen instead of (elenells older sister). I bear partial responsibility for the suffering of our people.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 