Blood of Dragons (12 page)

We follow in silence, none of us eager to alert those who inhabit the Lairs of the Lost to our presence.  We will be upon this area shortly and our steps have become even quieter.  We are a scant hundred yards from them when a splitting pain shoots through my head and causes me to stumble into a prickly shrub that is larger than Xandra’s small frame.  The sound of breaking branches resonates through the air as I try to simultaneously free myself and keep my head from exploding with my hands.  Neither is working well.

Raziel, help me.  I don’t know what’s happening to me.  I’m being torn in a million directions and my mind can’t take it.  I think I’m dying.
  Xandra’s voice cuts through the pain and the agony in her words makes any concern for my pain nonexistent.

Xandra, please, please hold on.  You are seeing what I see when I am in my true form.  It is what I wanted to save you from, Love.  I will find a way to reverse this if you can just hold on for a little longer.  I will not let you die. 

Xandra’s voice slips from my mind and a rough hand pulls me from the bushes.  Kallen is towering over me and his eyes are filled with hatred.  “What are you doing to her?”

It dawns on me that I felt another presence when Xandra communicated with me.  It was Kallen.  He is somehow psychically linked to us both.  How did I let this happen?

I can only answer him with honesty.  “I do not know, Kallen.  But I promise you, I will fix this.”

If I was in my own body, I believe he would be choking me.  His hands are itching to find my neck and squeeze until my soul pops out of this body.  But that will not necessarily bring Xandra back to it.  Especially if she is deeply seated enough in my body for my brain to let down all the walls I so carefully built over the millennia to house the information of the universe.  Her mind truly may not be able to handle it in its current state.  If she had been born to her true destiny, she would have developed those skills as I did.  Slowly, over a long period of time.

Garren grabs Kallen’s arm and pulls him away from me.  “I do not care what is happening between you two.  I do care that you just alerted half of the realm to the fact that I am escorting Fairies through the realm without permission from the High Dragon Council.”

Kallen nods curtly and steps back.  “My apologies.”

Garren snorts.  “I do not want your apologies.  I want the two of you to knock it off.  It does not take much to set a Dragon off and the Dragons who live in the Lairs of the Lost are holding on to their sanity by the gossamer silk of the tiniest spider you can imagine.  Your magic may be strong, but the fire of a Dragon burns hot and fast.  You would not even know what hit you and you certainly would not be able to draw enough magic to protect yourself if a Dragon wanted to barbecue you.”

“Garren, stop exaggerating,” Isla says impatiently.  To me and Kallen, she says, “You two will behave yourselves if you want to save either Tabitha or Xandra.”

“Of course,” I say.  I plan to do both.

Chapter 15 - Xandra

“Xandra, come back little one.  I will help keep you safe.”  Ray’s words are a distant whisper in the far corners of my mind.  I know that his hands are on my temples and I feel some of the pain ebbing, but I’m finding it difficult to hear his voice clearly over the rumble of snapshots of time flowing through my brain. 

After a few moments, the information strangling my mind finally falls back some so I can actually think some of my own thoughts again.  I open my eyes and I find that I am lying with my head in his lap stretched out on the ground.  But we’re not in the orchard.  We are somewhere else.

As if reading my mind, Ray says, “I thought it best to get you away from prying eyes.  We are at Raziel’s favorite spot.  He loves to come here.  He says the waterfall helps him drown out his thoughts sometimes.”

Now that he mentions it, I can hear the sound of rushing water.  I move my head carefully to the side and sure enough, there is a waterfall about fifty feet away.  “Pretty,” I mumble.

Ray smiles.  “I have been worried about you.  I was afraid I would not be able to help you come back.”

“Come back?  Where was I?” I ask as I struggle to sit up.  My head is still killing me and I’m nauseated from the images swirling around in my brain but I manage.

He points to my head.  “In there somewhere buried under knowledge that you are not ready to have.”

I put a hand to my temple.  “Tell me about it.  How did you bring me back?”

“As Raziel once mentioned, I am the Archangel of Order and Harmony.”  Oh yeah.  “I was able to help your mind, for lack of a better word, file away some of the knowledge that you were being bombarded with.”

“Good thing I became Raziel with you around then.”

He chuckles.  “I am not sure that any of this is a good thing.”  His expression sobers.  “You were gone briefly.  Where did you go?”

It takes me a minute to figure out what he’s talking about.  Then I remember.  I went to find Raziel to get him to help me.  And Kallen was there, too.  But he couldn’t talk to me.  I just felt his presence.  “I was talking to Raziel.  He said he’s trying to find a way to reverse this.”

Ray nods.  “Yes, I am sure that he is just as eager as you to find his way back.”

“How does he do it?  How does he have all of this in his head day after day? Year after year?”  I would be insane.  I almost am right now.

Ray shrugs.  “It is his burden to bear.  He is a part of the Grand Plan.  Someone must know all to ensure that the plan is followed and that someone is Raziel.  It is his job to dole out, or keep to himself, information that will satisfy this goal.”

I shake my head in wonder.  It hurts.  “I’m glad he saved me from this.”

Ray looks towards the waterfall for a long moment.  Finally, without looking at me, he says, “I am glad for your sake, not for his.  He lost a piece of himself when he changed your fate.  He also altered the Grand Plan and I think that the two of you may be paying for that now.”

It is so not fair that I didn’t have a choice in all of this.  I am selfishly upset that I am paying for a decision made by someone else.  But I am also eternally grateful.  Even if I only had the years that I have already lived, it was still worth every moment of not feeling like this.  I have been loved unconditionally by Kallen and I will use that to get me through whatever is coming next.  Gathering up my courage, I ask, “Are you saying that you think we’ll be like this forever?”

Ray startles and looks back at me.  “I certainly hope not.”

“But you said you thought we were paying for what Raziel did.”  Pretty sure he said that.  My mind is still really fuzzy, though.

A sad smile touches his lips.  “I did not mean to imply that this is forever.  I believe that Raziel will find a way home.  However, I also believe that a door has been opened that cannot be resealed.  I fear that what he tried so desperately and selflessly to give up is going to be held in front of him, just out of his reach forever.  Tormenting his soul more than it already is.” 

Geez, Ray.  Way to make me feel like the black plague or something.  Guess that tumbled out of my mouth like most of my other thoughts do because Ray chuckles and says, “I am not implying that you are anything of the sort.” 

I sigh heavily.  The pain is still ebbing so it barely hurt.  “I know.  I’m just so overwhelmed.  I don’t think I could have done it.  I don’t think I could have sacrificed everything like Raziel did.  He’s a better person, Angel, than I am.”

Ray smiles and shakes his head.  “You have more strength in you than you give yourself credit for.  I’ve watched you over the years.”

I scowl.  “Is voyeurism a gene you’re all born with or you just get bored after a while so you feel the need to spy on people?”

Again he chuckles.  “We are Angels, Xandra.  It is our job to watch over the realms.”

“Born with it then, huh?”

“I suppose so.”  He’s still amused.

I’m going to ask what I’ve wanted to know for a while.  “What exactly do you watch?”  Yes, color floods into my face as I ask this.

Ray laughs out loud now.  “We have no interest in sharing your private moments, Xandra.  We simply check in from time to time to see how things are going.”

Uh huh.  Sure.  “Why do you do that if you’re not supposed to interfere?  What can you do to change things if they’re not going according to the plan?”

“There are many things that we can do to try to nudge things in the right direction.  Sometimes it’s as simple as whispering the idea for another choice in the ear of someone who is lost.  Whether they act upon it or not is up to them.  Sometimes we need to do more.”

Okay, watching was bad enough.  Whispering in my ear sounds kind of creepy.  Moving on.  “What do I do now?”

Ray stands up and offers me his hand pulling me upright.  I have to go slowly.  I do not want that pain back.  “We wait and have faith in Raziel that he will find a way to fix this.”

Chapter 16 – Raziel

I have sharp bristles in uncomfortable places from the shrub I fell into.  I am trying to be inconspicuous as I attempt to pull them out, but sticking one’s hand down one’s shirt or pants tends to draw attention.  Since I am technically married to Kallen in this body, I should be able to ask him for his assistance, but that may be a bit awkward.  He also seems to be in a state of mind where he would rather stick them in deeper than pull them out.  I will continue to stick my own hand down my shirt and pants when I think no one is looking.