Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage (6 page)

Kiernan was packing the last of her clothes when a knock sounded on her door. Captain Kirby Nash poked his head into the suite and announced that Diamond had returned.

“She may come in, Kirby, thank you,” Kiernan yelled from the bedroom.

A moment later, the blonde sorceress appeared. “Are you finished?”

“Almost.”

Diamond looked at her critically with a tilt of her head. “What is wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know when something is bothering you, Kiernan. What is it?”

Kiernan sighed and sat down on the bed. “How do you know me so well?”

“Maybe because I am a sorceress of exceptional talent in Divination, and,” she walked over and sat next to Kiernan, “I am also your friend. Now, spill it.”

“You forgot humble.”

“No, never that,” she admitted with a laugh.

“So tell me, am I having a boy or a girl?”

The sorceress shook her blonde braid. “Just like the countless other times you have asked, I am not telling.”

“What good is it to have a friend who can tell the future, if she won’t share any of it you?”

“I guess my winning personality will have to suffice.”

Kiernan smiled, but Diamond did not join her, still waiting for an explanation. “Oh, all right!” She took a deep breath and looked her friend in the eye. “I am just very worried about my father and the discontent of the people of Iserlohn. It all has an orchestrated feel to it.” Diamond gestured for more. “And, if you must know, I am worried about
her
.”

The sorceress’ eyebrows rose in confusion. “Kiernan, we have not seen or heard anything from
her
in six years, and I have seen nothing in my stone. For some reason, it is frustratingly silent when it comes to that black witch.”

“I know and something just feels wrong. Call it women’s intuition if nothing else.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I will redouble my efforts to seek
her
out. We do have a number of Gems still on the hunt for
her
.”

Kiernan snorted. “Do you think it is just the pregnancy talking?”

“No. I trust your instincts. Are you sure you do not want me to travel to Kondor with you?”

Kiernan shook her head. “You have your own work to do here. You cannot very well follow me around.”

“If you are sure…”

“I am.”

Diamond rose from the bed, but hesitated. “By the way, you do not plan to visit any remote, tribal villages on the way to Kondor, do you?”

Now, it was Kiernan’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “No. Are there any on the island?”

Diamond shrugged it off. “It is probably nothing. It is just that a tribal village keeps appearing in my stone and it has the death shroud over it. But, it could mean anything.”

“Is this the same vision you had before of Beck? The journey that would result in his death?” She asked the question calmly, but inside her heart raced as if she had been sprinting.

“Do not read anything more into it, Kiernan. Until, I know more, it is senseless to worry. These images can resolve themselves in the most benign and unexpected ways.”

Kiernan nodded reluctantly. Any vision that concerned Beck and a death shroud was not easy to cast aside.

The door flew open then and Kenley ran into the room.

“I am ready, Maman!”

“No tribal villages!” reminded Diamond as she left the bedroom.

Kiernan picked Kenley up with a groan. Even though she was not due yet for two months, she felt abnormally large and uncomfortable. “That’s my girl, Ken.”

“I can’t wait to go on the slide, Maman!”

Kiernan smiled and remembered the first time she and Beck slid into the underground waterworld of Aquataine. They were rushing off to the heat of battle and it was the only way to travel there in time. It was also one of the last times she was with her dearly beloved Bajan who died protecting her. According to ancestral lore, a Kenley was never to be without their Draca Cat, but she never bonded with another after Bajan. The sovereign of the Dracas offered another bondmate, but she refused. It would have felt like a betrayal to such a unique and pure friendship. The void was filled somewhat by Bajan’s offspring, Baya, but Kiernan had to admit that the adventurous and impulsive young Draca was nothing like her sire.

A scrabbling noise caught her attention, and the object of her thoughts sprinted into the room and crashed into a side table when she was unable to stop in time.

Her daughter’s eyes turned black, and Kiernan listened in on their conversation.

Highworld, Baya! What is the matter?

Princess, we must find your father right away.

Why? What has happened?

I was just in the Grayan Forest, and I need to show him what I saw.

Tell me! What did you see?

A murder.

Kiernan knuckled her lower back as she followed behind Beck, Rogan, Airron, and Captain Nash through the dense wooded area of the Grayan Forest east of the city. Her son had chosen a very inconvenient time to be so active. Her son? She smiled to herself. Beck even had her believing now that it was a boy, but she would be content either way.

Beck looked back at her worriedly, but she waved him off. He wanted her to stay behind, but she refused. If a murder occurred in her dominion, she would do everything in her power to bring the culprit to justice. For that to happen, she had to see the crime first hand.

A dozen Scarlet Sabers were fanned out behind them, but she could neither see nor hear them. In contrast, her small party sounded deafeningly loud to her ears. Especially, Rogan, who was striding ahead seemingly oblivious—or more likely, just not caring—about the noise he made.

That uneasy feeling was back in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it down and away from her, attributing it once again to her pregnancy.

She heard Baya whine and then the ground under her feet began to tremble as Beck instinctively summoned his magic. Beside him, the air around Airron shimmered and Rogan called fire to his palms.

Beck pointed. “I see something. Over there.”

The men moved cautiously now, not knowing what they would find. Stepping into a small moonlit clearing, Kiernan stopped suddenly and looked up.

A body was hanging from one of the trees.

“Oh, Highworld.”

It was the man from Court that morning who made the complaint about the living conditions in Iserport.

“Get him down from there,” ordered Beck, and a Saber materialized out of the darkened woods and scampered up the tree. The soldier used his saber to cut through the rope on the tree branch and the corpse fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

“Who could have done this?” asked Rogan.

“One of Lord Etin’s cohorts, no doubt,” replied Kiernan sourly. Even in a cell, the man was causing problems. She had been right to keep Kenley at home so she was not here to witness this gruesome sight.

“All the man did was come to Nysa looking for a better life for his family and he is killed for it,” Beck remarked ruefully. Turning to the Sabers, he instructed that the body be transported to Nysa and the man’s wife contacted.

As they made their way back to their horses, Kiernan remembered that the man prophesized his own death that very morning. He obviously knew what Davad Etin was capable of. Did Etin’s reach really go beyond his cell or was she only blaming him because it was easy to do so? If it was Etin, how many others were working with him? How many
friends
were now
foes
? It was impossible to fight an enemy that slinked in the shadows instead of coming for her directly.

Cowards.

The thoughts were disturbing and she regretted even more now that her father was remaining behind.

As if reading her thoughts, Rogan informed them that he would understand if they decided not to make the trip to Kondor that evening.

Kiernan shook her head. “No. This is too important of a day for you Rogan, and we would not miss it for the world.”

“Besides,” interjected Beck, “I spoke to Gemini earlier, and she has decided not to go back to Elloree until we return. Trust me, harm will not get a glance at the King with the High Priestess by his side.”

Kiernan held Kenley’s hand tight as they stood side by side on the platform built just inside the Bardot grate to Aquataine. “Are you ready, darling?”

“Oh, yes, Maman!”

“Kiernan, are you sure you should be doing this?” asked Beck from behind her. This new entrance to the underground world of Massa’s watershifters had been constructed a few years ago so that the shifters that lived in Bardot could utilize the waterways. Aquataine was quickly becoming an invaluable travel resource for the shifters of Massa and, like the bodyshifters, a valuable source of information. Since the watershifters could travel from place to place so quickly, they were the first to know and pass on the events happening around the island.

“Beck! Stop fussing so! I am not due for months yet.” She shook her head at him in frustration and then looked into the shining eyes of her daughter. With a mutual nod, they jumped, and loud giggles escaped from them both as they soared down the slide and spilled out into a warm blue lagoon.

As had been previously arranged, their watershifter escort, Digby, was waiting for them on the white beach. As the self-proclaimed official transporter for the royal family, Digby moved his family to this new Aquataine village of Barbary as soon as the grate was built.

Kenley popped her head up through the water and, although she was a good swimmer, Kiernan swam directly to her side and helped her from the lagoon.

Digby immediately dropped to one knee.

She smiled. “Please rise, Digby. It is good to see you again.”

“Good morning, Your Graces,” greeted the lanky shifter as he unfolded himself from the ground, his pale, unclothed body glimmering with droplets of water.

Even though it was evening in Bardot, it was morning in Aquataine. Because the only underground natural light source came from the nocturnal glow worms, there was a reversal in day and night from the Surface World.

Behind them, additional splashes sounded the arrival of Beck, Rogan, Airron, and Baya.