Evacuation Read online

  Maybe their race was meant to die out and since Darian had not yet managed to kill the race off the comet was sent to do the job for him. Even as he thought that Hered shook his head to dispel such thoughts. Stepping through the void to stand before the watch tower Hered took a moment to gaze in awe at the pulsing of the tower. When he was very young, just before the ceremony to bond him to his Lyra, he stood in this exact spot. Or, looking around, close to this spot. Then, just as now, he had gazed in awe at the sight before him. No one had explained the watch tower to him. He did not know then that the pulsing was due to something much like veins of blood that ran throughout the tower bonding memories and blood. Almost, he thought, as though the tower was alive. The watchers and dragons swore that is was alive in some manner but he did not understand that bit.

  Memories did seem stronger here. He still remembered the events of the ceremony bonding him through blood and mind and soul to this race of people. He vividly remembered the moment the bond took and the sheer pain that raced through his body. He remembered that pain like it was yesterday. No one had warned him that he would immediately bond to every soul his Lyra was already bonded to and that enormous amount of power would almost shatter him with pain. To be fair, he gave a little laugh, he had purposely not warned Sarian either. No warning could prepare someone for that pain. Even if you could warn the next Shadow Walker, who would want to warn them against something like that. Weaving soul threads after the initial bout was much easier, pleasant even. He had looked forward to each new birth once he found out how comforting new souls could be, but that pleasure had ended two thousand years ago when the new Lyra reached a thousand years of age. He missed newly woven souls.

  Bringing himself back to the present a little more forcefully, he looked around again. Although there were places around here that a dragon could hide, it did not feel as though his dragon was that close. The tower walls were bare of dragons draped upon the top, the ridges and hills surrounding the tower were likewise empty. As was the meadow the tower stood in. Hered had run out of places to look. Squaring his shoulders he approached the tower. No one but watchers could enter the tower, but it was not unusual for a dragon or two to be draped upon the parapets. Today it was quiet as he stood before the door of the tower. Maybe the watchers could shed some light upon the dragon actions. He knew Sarian and Kane and Patro had all three tried to get information from the watchers already. For that matter all four of his Lyra and all four of Kervin’s Lyra had, at one time or another, tried to get information from the watchers about what the dragons were doing or even just where they were. No one had any luck. None of the Lyra knew if the watchers were helping the dragons hide or if they were ignorant of what the dragons were doing.

  After hearing what had happened that day two weeks ago Hered had his suspicions. He was told that the dragons had commanded the memory stone be added to the tower. Patro told him that whatever memories Irirnan had gotten from Malory was available to all the watchers. So the watchers had to have some clue as to what was going on. They may not know where the dragons were but they certainly had to know why, and he was determined to get answers today.

  After standing outside the tower for a few minutes Hered came to the conclusion the watchers had to be ignoring him. No one could approach the tower without the watchers knowing. It did not matter if the watchers were in the tower or on the other side of the continent. They always knew when someone was in close proximity to the tower. And they always came quickly to the tower to, well Hered was not certain why they always came so quickly. He had asked once and only been told having others close to the tower made them uneasy.

  He had tried once to enter the tower when he was very young and newly come to the position of Shadow Walker. It had not gone well, not gone well at all. When he had awoken a few hours later the others had told him what had happened. The watchers had told him he was very lucky to have survived the encounter. If the watchers refused to come out and speak with him there was nothing he could do but wait and hope they gave in. They did not appear to be coming out either Hered thought. An evil grin began to form as Hered thought about the fact people around the tower made the watchers uneasy. Without another thought he stepped to Trista to tell her of his plan.

  Chapter 3

  Trista was eating when she felt the disturbance of someone outside her home. Feeling within herself for her connection to the tapestry she still could not place who the person was standing outside her barrier. The only way she would not be able to place the person would be if it was someone very young, or one of the other Lyra. Briefly she wondered again, as she had many times in the past why Lyra’s were never connected to each other. She thought it strange that she was woven to every person born for a thousand years after the new Lyra had been born but she was not woven to the new Lyra. Then again Kervin’s Lyra was not woven to her Lyra. The closest they came to a connection was when a new Lyra was conceived. Everyone in the race felt it to some degree but all living fire walkers could step to the new mothers from the moment of conception.

  Thinking back to when Darian’s Lyra had been conceived she laughed to herself. She had not been able to keep from immediately stepping to the new sensation of a new Lyra. Didn’t that cause a bit of embarrassment showing up at a sorcerers home and being the one to tell the couple they were expecting a baby. She had just been so excited, the feeling so different from a new soul being added to the tapestry through her weave.

  Looking longingly back down at her food, the tantalizing smells wafting up to her nose she sighed. By the holiest of shadows she hoped it was not that fool Darian on the other side of her barrier. That was a man that had to be taken in small doses, very small doses. Maybe one meeting every thousand or so years, but no, lately she had been having meetings with him almost weekly, sometimes multiple times in one week. By now, having convinced herself it must be Darian on the other side her shoulders had began to droop down, almost as though a burden too heavy to bear lay upon them. She was stalling, she knew she was stalling, maybe they would think she was not home and go away if she did not go to the door. Her appetite had almost vanished thinking about the chance it could, probably was, Darian on the other side of her door.

  Before depression could overwhelm her she felt another presence arrive and this one she knew all too well. A smile lighting her face she jumped from the table, food forgotten for the moment, to meet Hered, her favorite shadow walker. Well, since he was her shadow walker, perhaps she was biased. But if Darian was the other one outside her barrier Hered could be her buffer. Tilting her head to the side she smiled, being her buffer from darkness was his job. So, since she felt depressed any time she had to deal with Darian, that was kind of like darkness. With a sharp nod she decided she would use that argument from now on.

  With a little giggle she remembered Hered trying to one up her last time by claiming that since Darian was a fire walker, and she was a fire walker, it was her job to deal with Darian. Sure she now had an argument to trump his she continued to the door to greet her guests. Please goddess don’t let it be Darian.

  Opening the door she expected to see her guests on the other side but there was no one there. Reaching out with her soul senses she turned to the right feeling for Hered. A sigh of relief escaped her when she saw him with Kane looking at something on the ground. No, not looking, they appeared to be drawing something in the dirt. Taking a deep breath brought a wave of sadness to Trista. So many flowers used to bloom outside her home, now only the most hardy flowers grew. The climate had changed so much, in such a short amount of time, Trista wanted to cry.

  Hered’s head had briefly turned her way when he felt her open the door. She could feel his disappointment now that she was paying attention. That did not bode well for the mission of finding their dragons. Her ice walkers were having no better luck finding the dragons. In fact, none of the Lyra were having any luck. Twelve bonded dragons could not just disappear, but somehow they had. And the watchers, the blasted watchers were not
talking. All the Lyra, all twelve people, three fire walkers, three shadow walkers and six ice walkers had met, they had all agreed that somehow the watchers knew something. They had to know because, as Patro had pointed out, the dragons had the memory stone added to the Watch Tower. But they were not talking, and no one had come up with a solution to get them to talk.

  Trista watched as Hered and Kane approached the door. When they got closer she noticed the slightly shamed expression on Kane’s face. Trista closed her eyes, she knew what that expression meant. Trista did not blame Kane for tossing Darian off of high places, truly she understood, but she really wished he would not do it when they needed everyone working together. Trista had lost count of the times Kane had tossed Darian off of something. The first few times it had happened Darian had tried to kill Kane and Kane in return had had to seek refuge in the homes of the older fire walkers. She and Kervin both taken turns both locking Kane up to punish him and protect him. Attempting to kill a fire walker was punishable by death, and they may have punished him that way if it had not been for Patro. Patro had appealed to both her and Kervin from the beginning not to kill Kane. Lock him up for his own safety sure, kill him unacceptable. Then he had escalated the appeal to a threat. If they killed Kane as the law demanded he would take his own life and Darian would die. It always seemed to escape Kane’s attention that he needed Darian, without Darian both ice walkers would die. No one was certain what would happen to the shadow walker if the fire walker died.

  Neither she nor Kervin had believed the threat when Patro first gave it, after all, they were very young and emotions and hormones could wreck havoc in a person’s life, more so when the powers of a Lyra ran through the blood. The only thing that had saved Kane was Sarian. Sarian had refused to stay in the country and threatened to return to his home country, with his dragon, if Kane was killed. The eight members of the older two Lyra were baffled at the behavior of Darian’s benyans and his shadow walker. The three people who should be willing to give their life for their fire walker were the three who seemed the most intent on ending his life.

  The situation had required many hours of the older Lyra’s time and they gradually came to understand what would make Kane continue to toss Darian from high structures. They even sometimes felt a bit of envy that they could not do the same thing to Darian, just sometimes, though they never mentioned that to anyone. They understood Patro’s refusal to deal with Darian without Kane, and they came to sympathize with Sarian’s desire in those early years to return to his home country rather than deal with Darian. And they questioned, many times, what game the gods were playing to choose such an idiot as Darian to be a fire walker for their race.

  It had not been so bad the last couple of thousand years, not like the first thousand when Kane and Darian seemed to try to kill each other on a regular basis. Kane was strong enough now that he did not have to come running for protection anymore so no one really knew how many times he or Darian struck out at each other. Apparently it still happens though, thought Trista, because that face screams I tried to hurt Darian, again, opps sorry. Sighing deeply Trista just shook her head at Kane. What could she say, she wanted to hurt Darian on a pretty regular basis herself. She just hoped that if it ever came down to it, where Darian needed the rest of his Lyra fighting at his side, she hoped they would actually be at his side and not at his back.

  Looking over at Hered she simple said, “I see you had no luck, I am open to ideas since I sense a bit of excitement through our connection to go with that hefty dose of disappointment I also feel.”

  Hered gave an evil little smile as he filled both Trista and Kane in on what he thought they should do as the next step. Soon laughter rang through the air as first Trista, then Kane, understood just what Hered had in mind. The laughter sounded almost sinister as the implications of the plan sank in. The area in front of Trista’s home was soon clear as first one then the other stepped to find the other members of all three Lyra to fill them in on the plan. Taking a last look around, her meal completely forgotten, Trista squared her shoulders as she prepared to visit Darian and convince him to put his petty differences aside and work with everyone to deal with the watchers.

  Stepping through the void to Darian’s house she was prepared to wait, it might be a long wait. He did hold a grudge like no one she had ever seen. Perhaps Darian’s daughter or mate would notice her standing outside the barrier, if she was truly lucky the barrier would not even be up and she could knock on the door.

  Chapter 4

  Darian was furious as he stepped out into the safety of his bedroom. He needed a few minutes to collect himself and his bedroom seemed the best place for that to happen. He was sick of Kane tossing him off of the balcony. No matter how many times it had happened those first few moments were terrifying. Sure he could step through to a safe place now, had been able to for thousands of years, but the terror of the first time it had happened had never gone away. Maybe he did have a bit of a temper, and sure, maybe he did not think things through every time, but he was not an idiot. No matter how many times the rest of his Lyra insisted he was, he knew the truth. Besides, he had asked Carissa once if she thought he was an idiot and his mate assured him he was smart and funny and well, many other things but idiot was not one of them. If he was honest it kind of hurt his feelings when ever Kane did that. He had seen the bond Trista had with her Lyra, and the bond Kervin had with his Lyra, he wanted that kind of bond. If he had not gotten it in three thousand years there was not much chance he ever would.

  He would die for his Lyra, well, except maybe not Kane, and he believed if it came down to it his Lyra would die for him, but he could never really be certain of that. He had to believe Kane would not throw him off of high structures if he believed it would kill him. Although, thinking back to the very first time Kane had ever tossed him off of anything, when they journeyed to find Sarian, Darian was almost certain Kane actual tried to kill him that time. Or, at least, he tried to seriously hurt him. But to be fair, Darian had every intention of killing Kane when he made it back on the ship. He just could not figure Kane out. If Kane ever did manage to kill Darian both Kane and Patro would die within months, yet Kane still persisted in attempting to harm him. Darian snorted “And they claim I am the idiot.” With a deep sigh and a bit of a shrug of his shoulders Darian proceeded out of the room in search of Carissa.

  After a few minutes of searching Darian had still not found Carissa, but he did find Merriam, who still had not gotten rid of that blasted dog. Before the events two weeks ago Darian had, if not loved the dog, at least he had liked the dog. But the events of that day were burned into his memory. Returning home from the meeting to see Bowser, with all the bright colors, had reminding Darian just how close his daughter had been to the sorcerers and the untried, untested portal. He had demanded Merriam immediately get rid of the dog, but his daughter had refused to even consider getting rid of Bowser.

  It seemed that even his own mate would not take his side on the subject, even after she had been told the truth of how Bowser had really gotten his brightly colored fur. He had laid down the law that day and demanded the dog be sent to stay with the sorcerers only to have his daughter collapse in tears. The anguish he had caused Merriam, by trying to protect her, had brought his bond brothers running. They had felt the pain his daughter was going through and, dropping everything they were doing, had shown up outside his door that fateful day, demanding entry.

  He had almost gotten Sarian on his side, until Kane had mentioned the fact the sorcerers had the portal for months and did not seem to be adversely affected by it. Sarian was almost as protective of Merriam as he and Carissa were. Darian had wondered a time or two if Sarian had given up on having children of his own and that was why he was so close to Merriam. Births were few and far between in their race but Sarian was only three thousand years old, he still had thousands of years to have children of his own.

  “Merriam where is your mother, I have been looking for her everywhere?�
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  Merriam cocked one eyebrow up at her father, she knew he hated when she did that, and just looked at him a few seconds. She had found it really hard to forgive her father for not only trying to get rid of Bowser but for forbidding her to have anything to do with the sorcerers again. She had tried to sneak into the sorcerers wing but it seemed her father had anticipated word getting out about what the sorcerers were doing and had arranged for guards to be posted at key points. From what uncle Kane had told her all the doors leading outside in the sorcerers wing were locked, all the windows closed and locked and the only way anyone was allowed to enter or leave the wing was through the atrium. Life was so unfair.

  After a moment when her father only stared back at her she finally muttered, “She went to the market. She said she would not be gone long.” Just as Merriam finished telling her father this she saw his eyes narrow as his head swiveled towards the front door. Merriam knew that look, someone was here. She could also tell her father was very upset about something so chances were he would not go to the door to greet whoever had just arrived. With a little smirk on her face Merriam headed toward the door.

  “Merriam, do not dare open that door, I do not know who is on the other side.” Darian called to her just as she reached the door.

  Merriam tilted her head to the side, thinking, the only way her dad would not know who was on the other side would be if the person was one of the older Lyra, or, one of the elder of the race. The chances that someone on the other side of the door was older than nine thousand years old was pretty slim Merriam thought as she opened the door. Smiling she greeted Trista and invited her into the house.

  Leading Trista back to her father Merriam decided her day had just gotten a little more exciting. Right up until she glanced over at the father to see his furious expression. She was not sure if it was directed at her or at Trista but she did not like that look. Perhaps, she thought, I should listen from another room. Giving Trista another smile and a slight bow in respect of her position as a fire walker Merriam excused herself and skipped out of the room. Rounding the corner out of sight she suddenly picked up speed and all but slid into the room next to the one her father and Trista was in, she would be able to hear well if they just stayed in that room. A few moments later, after hearing her father grudgingly invite Trista to sit, Merriam did a little happy dance just before she settled under the airflow vent to listen.