The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (27 page)

She nodded with enthusiasm. More than I expected and it made the three of us laugh.

'I am. And it’s only the last day for the moment,' she ducked out the tent with the rest of us close behind.

Daron wore a huge smile as Sian came toward him. He was delighted to see how happy she looked. She bounced the last step to him, flinging her arms around his neck. He laughed and spun around holding her tight, making her giggle. Everyone turned to watch.

Kassie felt a glow of joy for Sian. A public display of affection so early on had to be a good thing. She turned and just avoided bumping into Rumal who stood right behind her. She felt the flutter of butterflies as he smiled his teeth startling against his skin.

'Are you looking forward to arriving at the castle? It means no more cot beds.'

She laughed.

'I won’t be sorry to be in a normal bed. Are there many people at the castle?'

Rumal saw the concern in Kassie’s eyes and reached out to catch one of the constantly errant curls around her face.

'You’ll be fine,' he assured her. 'And I’ll be there, and so will your friends, of course.'

Lucky meowed around Rumal’s ankles and he chuckled.

'See, even little Lucky will be there for you.'

He helped Kassie onto Kerak’s back, and the group set off.

'Is life at the castle very formal?' Loi leaned back to speak into Sabyn’s ear.

He wrapped his arms around her waist.

'Compared to camping out like this, yes, it is more formal. There are a lot of organized events, and most meals are eaten in the Great Hall. But you and the others are different from everyone else. We don’t yet know, entirely, what Elena wants. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.'

She felt a pang of nerves and concern at his words.

What did he mean "you and the others are so different"? And what could Elena want? Loi had a horrible feeling she shouldn’t be so quick to fall into Sabyn’s arms. The thought made her back stiffen.

Sabyn felt Laura freeze up and leaned to her ear.

'Are you cold?'

'What do you know about us?'

He froze at the question.

'Err…'

The pause was noticeable and awkward while he scrambled for the right words, aware it might affect their developing relationship.

'Well we’ve been told by Elena that you’re all very special and need to be protected. And I don’t really know anything else,' he finished lamely.

Loi was both flattered and frustrated by his words. It really answered nothing. And she still suspected Sabyn hadn’t told her all he knew and while, if she was in his position she might do the same thing, it didn’t mean she had to like it.

It was absolutely incredible; Alek couldn’t believe the image he saw.

‘And this is real?’
he demanded to Loushka.

‘Cat says so, in fact, she says she’s flown in one.’

‘But…but look at it. It’s a mass of metal. How does that stay in the air?’

‘Apparently, the two fires you see at the back of the triangular shaped wings are called engines. And they keep it in the air.’

Alek laughed aloud at the thought and leaned to Cat’s ear.

'Show me another, please,' he begged. 'What other flying machines do you have?'

I loved to show him the pictures and sent an image of a helicopter to Loushka. That took a good twenty minutes to explain, and I had to remind Alek that I wasn’t an expert on them. The three way conversation we had was somewhat bizarre, but being able to show Loushka an actual image was fantastic and so much better than a verbal description.

'Show me your family.' Alek spoke into my ear his arms tightening around me.

I was surprised, but complied and sent images of a recent visit I’d had with my parents.

Alek studied the images Loushka showed him. In a light colored room, a petite woman with short, nearly spiky, dark hair smiled at him and reached a hand out as though to touch his cheek. Another image showed a laughing man with an open, friendly face; blue eyes and short white hair.

Next, an image of a small black and white dog wagging a stump of a tail and turning circles in excitement while the dark haired woman shook her finger at him.

Alek smiled. The sense of joy it gave him to see Cat’s family and how much love surrounded her was intense, and surprised him.

The image made my heart ache, and a sudden wave of homesickness washed over me. I hunched in the saddle, biting the insides of my cheeks to try and stop myself from crying.

I can’t stand the thought of not seeing them again. Please, please let Elena be able to help us out.

Alek felt Cat hunch and leaned sideways to look at her face. It was red and she blinked rapidly, her cheeks sucked in and lips pressed flat. He removed an arm from her waist and gently stroked the hair from her face.

'Cat, what’s wrong?'

The words were spoken so gently that I couldn’t help it. The tears ran down either cheek.

'I miss them.'

Alek leaned over me and drew my legs to one side of the saddle, then tucked me into his arms. It reminded me of my dad doing the same thing when I was little, after I’d had a nightmare, and I burst into tears. The stress from the past crazy week ebbed out of me.

Alek hummed the lullaby he’d heard Gredel sing to his niece when she was little, and stroked Cat’s hair as her tears slowed, then stopped. He felt her reach up to wipe her face and looked down at her.

'Okay?'

She gave him a tiny smile and nodded.

'Thanks.'

Her teary, reddened face touched his heart and he didn’t stop to think. Tipping her chin up, he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. A tingling sensation rushed through him and he pulled away while staring into Cat’s eyes, and moved his hand from her chin to cup her cheek. He had the oddest compulsion to say words he’d never said to another and bit them back. Instead, he pressed his forehead to Cat’s as he felt another surge of warmth rush through.

The air between us was electric and I had to focus on breathing as I stared into his eyes.

Whoa and I thought the last kiss was good.

Loushka’s voice interrupted the intense sensations.

‘Okay I won’t drop you both, though I’m sorely tempted. So for the last time, would you PLEASE KEEP THOSE THOUGHTS TO YOURSELVES.’

I blushed and Alek sat up straight, laughing.

'Sorry, Loushka.'
we chorused.

I repositioned myself to how I’d sat before and attempted to put my thoughts somewhere more appropriate while Alek placed his hands chastely on either side of my seat.

'You need to shimmy down Nesha’s back, then get into a crouch. When you have your balance enough, leap off with your arms out straight from either side and try to keep your legs together. Nesha will count to five then go into a dive and swoop under you. He’s very good at getting the speed right, so you should be able to nearly guide yourself back into the saddle,' Daron explained.

Sian nodded, more than a little daunted by the mental image she had of the dive.

'Have you ever done anything like this before?'

'Kind of.' Sian answered, 'On Earth we have something called sky diving, and you jump out of a plane with a parachute.'

‘Get her to explain.’
Nesha urged,
‘What’s a plane? And a parachute?’

That took at least twenty minutes of detailed explanation, though Sian got the distinct impression it all seemed like fantasy to Nesha and Daron. She grumped to herself.

It would be so much easier if I could just show you
. Another twinge of envy ran through her.

Lucky Cat, she thought, I really hope I can hear Nesha soon.

Daron was impressed with what Sian had told him, but the concepts had him confused. Nesha chatted to Loushka, and Catherine gave her images of both things.

Daron gasped at the image that filled his mind, a tiny machine flying in the air. It had such an odd appearance with its pointed nose and arms that stuck straight out from either side. As he watched the images, an opening appeared at the side and a strange creature crouched in the space. It was brightly colored with bulging eyes and a shiny head.

The creature grinned and then threw itself out of the metal thing. He watched as it free-fell for a decent distance, turning and flipping, then it appeared to yank on something. A mass of fabric exploded from the creature’s back and assumed a tent like shape which filled with air and yanked it up a little. Then slow and graceful the tent glided to the ground; the creature playing with the ropes that held it to the tent. When it landed people rushed to it, and he was surprised to recognize Kassie and Laura.

The creature pulled at its head and appeared to remove it. He laughed as he saw Sian shake out her long golden hair—it had been a hat. And Sian was the brightly colored creature that had tumbled through the sky.

Sian turned when she heard Daron laugh.

'What?'

'Loushka sent Nesha an image from Cat. It was you in bright colors jumping out of a machine and free-falling,' Daron looked impressed.

Sian blushed with pride.

'That was my first solo jump.'

'I guess this won’t be too much of a shock then.'

'The falling, no. The landing—well, that’s gonna be new to me.'

'Not to worry, Nesha and I have lots of experience with this,' Daron gave her a hug. 'We’ll keep you safe.'

I observed the landscape. It looked a little different from the past couple of days, a little more wild, if that were possible, with denser bush and some high, rugged hills. Looking ahead I saw some impressive mountains and leaned back to Alek.

'What’s that mountain range called?'

'The Anguem, it borders the castle on its western and northern sides.'

So the castle was beyond that. A shudder ran through me and I had a sudden urge to ask Alek to turn around. Not that he would, but the idea of being surrounded (again) by many new people and finding out what Elena wanted of us… it felt daunting.

'Are you cold?'

Alek’s voice made me jump and he chuckled at my reaction.

'No. Just nervous,' I confessed, a little embarrassed.

He rubbed my arms briskly and spoke in my ear.

'Don’t think about it,' he suggested. 'Let me distract you.'

Now that brought some interesting thoughts to mind. I was quick to banish them before Loushka could scold me.

Alek pointed out some birds flying below us, and asked Loushka to swoop down so we could have a closer look.

'Those birds are called Dahneks. They essentially live just in the canopy of the forest and you only occasionally see them on the forest floor.'

I studied the green birds that he seemed so pleased to see. They were the size of a large gull with soft looking wings and a large head with a curved beak.