Happy reading!
The Feri War
Chapter 2
I woke up early and immediately went in search of Charlie. For the past month or so, we hardly had any personal time together. When we did get the opportunity, it was all about battle tactics and werewolves' attacks.
He and his bondmate weren't in their chambers. I searched elsewhere. Somehow, I knew they hadn't left for Valpak yet.
Even if I promised myself not to think of the war, my mind was completely ignoring my wishes. It kept taking me where I didn't want to go.
With the vampires in hibernation, the werewolves were giving us a lot of grief. Their relentless attacks were draining both our energy and resources. Commander Stryker deduced that that was exactly Helledon's intent. He wants to weaken and reduce our forces, making it easier for when the Northenders come. No one seemed to know when that would be, though. But with Helledon in the mix we can assume that bringing down the barrier is his priority, so it might be very soon.
Unlike his first attempt to bring down the barrier, which coincidentally was the day of my birth, he now has the power and knowledge to succeed. I always believed my father made a huge error in empowering him with the Keepership of Sandridon, the same barrier he sought to destroy. Then again, perhaps not. Like Charlie often pointed out, my father could see glimpses of future events. Perhaps he saw how Helledon would pursue his vindictive attempt to break the barrier again and decided to make sure he didn't succeed until we were ready to defend ourselves. God, I hope we're ready! If that is true, then Joen also counted on the fact that the bond of keepership would deter Helledon from breaking the barrier, but now he's free from the bond. I remember I felt it the night it happened. Even worse, the effect of the broken bond left me paralyzed for an entire night.
Charlie and Eric weren't in the throne room. Where could they be?
When the guys talked about war, the image of a great battle on an open field filled my mind every time (no thanks to Hollywood). But now I know better. War is a state, a period of fighting between two sides, not a single moment in time like I previously thought. Meaning, there's a lot of preparation and mechanisms to put in place. Thanks to the now highly organized Feri war council (I didn't choose the name, in case you're wondering) Targeten might have a chance. Thanks to the wolf and leopard shifter forces, Wyrmer is secured. In the past two months there's hardly been any attacks. The eagle shifters are also doing their part. They've been actively patrolling the Marshlands that bordered the Northlands. But my concerns are for The Sear, the witches' homeland.
So far, we have military presence in fourteen villages including three major cities. Between Ned and Commander Fiori the south of The Sear is covered. But most people live along the coastline. We've sent delegation after delegation to the coastal cities, but they made it clear they take orders from Pixan, not us. That's partly the reason I wanted to catch Charlie this morning. I wanted to know what the people from Hering want from us.
In the corridor I caught a whiff of something delicious. I shut my eyes and marveled at the wonderful aroma. Pancakes! Charlie was in the kitchen. No one else made pancakes this delicious.
When I entered, Charlie was at the stove while Eric was nursing a mug of some hot beverage at the table. He was watching Charlie as he flipped the pastry over in the pan.
'Morning, Rye,' Charlie said without turning around. I smiled. Back in the human realm, I'd always wondered how he did this neat little trick. Now I know. Charlie is a cambion, a shifter with all his inner animal senses yet without his morphing ability. He used to be able to shift. Alas, he gave it up so he could live with me in the human realm. He is my guardian and he'll do anything to protect me. I admire the quality of his loyalty to my father, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be selfish occasionally.
Eric feebly echoed the same greeting, drawing my attention. Unlike Charlie I could see he wasn't a hundred percent. His eyes were still red as if he been up all night and his movements appeared to be in slow motion.
Suddenly I had a déjà vu moment. Roughly nine months ago, Eric and Wren came to the house Charlie and I shared in the human realm. I remembered being annoyed that morning when I found the couple in the kitchen. Charlie was making pancakes while Eric was nursing a mug of coffee looking as miserable as he was right now. I was complaining that Wren climbed into my bed without warning and started groping me in my sleep. I remembered the adults laughing, even Eric though he looked like he was about to faint at a moment's notice.
I grinned at the memory, especially when I found out why he was like this and what he had to do to get better.
'What's so funny Rye?' Charlie said with a raised eyebrow. He was walking to the table with a loaded plate of pancakes.
Eric looked up and gazed at me with a frown. This time I chuckled out loud. 'What?' He gruffly said.
'Nothing,' I said grabbing a plate. I smiled as Charlie dropped a hefty pancake on it.
It was their time to chuckle as I savored the pastry with a moan. I miss a lot of things from the human realm and this is one of them.
They watched me with amusement as I poured a copious amount of honey over the delicious pancake.
'I've missed this.' I said with a mouthful.
'I can see that,' Charlie said.
I took two more bits. 'So, why are you guys so early?' I asked after taking a gulp from Eric's mug.
'We're leaving for Valpak in a minute,' Charlie said.
'Again, why so early?'
'We were decorating Chase's birthday cake.' Charlie pointed to the huge cake on the kitchen counter. 'Jan baked it last night and we didn't want to wake her.'
'There's more preparation to be done before the event. We've been so busy, this is the only time we could spare,' Eric added.
I knew they had been busy. Charlie had war stuff to plan and Eric had his hands full in assisting Wain in his new position as Alpha King.
'So, what did the delegation from Hering want?'
'We'll discuss it later. For now, tell me what's wrong with your powers?'
I was so shocked I almost swallowed my tongue along with the bits of pancake in my mouth. 'Who told you? Wren?'
'He didn't,' Charlie replied, 'but Nick did. He just left before you arrived. He's clueless about your dilemma of course. His account of what went on in Merk told me everything I wanted to know, though.'
I perplexedly stared at him.
'I know you Rye. I've been watching you since you were a baby. I know your capabilities. I know your moods. And I also know when you're struggling. Call it a sixth sense if you will.'
I looked down at my plate without really seeing it. 'Don't worry about me. I'll be alright. I'm going to see Devlin later. He might know something about it.'
'What about your father? It wouldn't hurt consulting him as well,' Charlie said.
'I don't want to disturb him.'
'Why?' Eric asked.
'He's been out of his orb way too many times already. He'd been helping with Alessa's training. As a result, he can barely sustain a corporal form anymore.'
'That's alright,' Charlie said. 'I've already sent a whisper to the professor. He's coming over. He'll give you a checkup and together with Devlin, perhaps they can figure out what is really going on with your powers,' Charlie said.
I sighed in resignation.
I had a forkful to my mouth when Wren hastily entered. 'Do I smell pancakes? Who made pancakes?' Two strides and he was standing beside me.
'Hey!' I protested as he grabbed my fork pushed it into his mouth.
'Mmm,' he moaned. The adults chuckled. 'Char, you made this?'
Charlie nodded.
'Slow down boy. There's enough to feed an army,' Eric said as Wren greedily stuffed his face. My uncle went to the counter and came back with another plateful. Wren grinned. I rolled my eyes. Eric was getting up from the table when Reed, Bron and River walked in.
'What is that smell?' Reed said.
'Pancakes!' Bron cried in delight. The guys barely sat down when more people arrived; Nick, Alessa, Rhett and Farren. And soon everyone was enjoying the delicious pancakes.
Charlie shook his head as he and Eric slipped out carrying Chase's birthday cake.
'So, what's wrong with me?' I asked the professor as he tucked away his stethoscope, one of many instruments he brought with him from the human realm.
'Everything checks out, well, physically that is,' he said. Then he turned to Devlin who was standing pensively at the corner of the room. 'What do you think, Devlin?'
Devlin is an elfin and an immortal being. He has a true form, but he chose not to show it because, according to him, we're not ready for it. I was skeptical about his evasive answers every time someone would ask, but right now, he was in one of his preferred forms. He was a tall, clean shaven-faced man with platinum blond hair in a sky-blue knee length tunic with a leather belt and pants. The low-cut neckline of his tunic exposed a bright sapphire-looking gem glued to his sternum. Keene has a similar gem. Apparently, they allow Devlin to take a tangible form without severing the connection with Keene. Although, they still can't be more than fifty feet of each other, that's why Keene is on the other side of the door, waiting with Wren.
'Devlin. Did you hear what I asked?' The professor said.
Snapping out of it, Devlin turned to us. 'Tell the boy about your theory, professor. The one you thought of last night in your Lab and the one you're thinking of right now.'
The professor didn't show resentment towards Devlin for reading his private thoughts, but he was a little uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with this supposed theory.
'The professor glanced at me and paused for a minute before he started. 'Last night, when Charlie expressed his concern for you, I revisited the sample of blood you gave me after the incident with Uren, thinking that I might have missed something. I was right. I found a curious thing. Somehow, your cells appeared to have... mutated.' He paused at my curious gaze. 'I don't have the right equipment to be sure but some of your cells appear to be unaffected by the dark energy that was in your system.'
'What are you saying professor?' I said.
'As I understand, your mother was a wolf-shifter. Shifters specifically show resistance to dark energy. That's why Uren captured the three wolf-shifters that fought along with Wren in the arena. They were his lab-rats. He wanted to know why they were immune to his powers. Here is the perplexing part. Normally Targ abilities are transmitted through the paternal line, causing the mother's genes to go dormant. My theory is, when you got stabbed with the dark energy, it activated some of these dormant genes in you. A normal feres would have died in a matter of minutes from dark energy, but you didn't. Your wolf-shifter genes saved you. It countered the poison somehow, keeping you alive.'
I was flabbergasted. 'What's that have to do with my powers?'
It was Devlin who answered. 'You're not fully immune yet. We believe your body needs time to build a full immunity. That also means you still have some residual dark energy in you. That might explain why your powers are acting up.'
'I'll be ok won't I?'
'I'm sure you will.' Devlin said. Then suddenly, his face brightened as if he just had an epiphany.
'What is it?' I asked.
'Do you realize what this means? You could save them,' he said.
The professor and I exchanged a puzzled glance. 'We're don't have your mind reading ability Devlin. Explain yourself,' the professor said.
Devlin turned to me. 'If this immunity thing works, I believe we just discovered the way to secure your kin's chances of survival when they wake up from slumber.'
'My family...' I said. 'They would be able to resist the dark energy!'
Then suddenly I recalled my father's words to me before I left for Koff. "Every one of us has an inner core that shines ten times brighter than the sun. Use it to deter the encroaching darkness."
I audibly gashed. 'My dad. He knew!'
Devlin knowingly smiled.
As Devlin and I talked about the newest development, the professor called in the guys. As I knew he would, Wren, asked about my condition. They told him what they told me.
'Are you really sure he's going to be ok?' He said.
'It's not a definite yes yet,' the professor said with a frown, 'but there is nothing else we can do but wait and see what will happen next. Although, I would caution against strenuous activities for now. He's showing signs of fatigue which could also be the cause of his waning powers.'
Wren nodded, then smiled. The news was neither good nor bad. Why is he smiling then? Oh! The professor, I realized. Wren expected him to lie, or give a half truth, but the older man gave his honest opinion. That seemed to placate my bondmate. Although, I'm sure he has more questions for the professor. I sniggered when he pulled the professor aside. They talked but kept glancing my way.
'Rye look who's here?' Keene said.
I turned to see. 'Logan!' I yelled jumping into his arms. He laughed as he held me. I pushed him to arm's length and gave him the once over. 'When did you get here?'
'I came with the professor. I've never been outside of Koff, and I was curious to see your home... and you of course,' he said.
'He'll be staying with you for a while,' Keene said. 'He's been begging his dad for the opportunity. The man finally gave in.'
I laughed. 'You're welcome to stay for as long as you want, although, Wren and I will be leaving for Valpak in a few hours. We're going to Chase's birthday party. You're welcome to come with us.'
'Sure,' Logan said, then frowned. 'What's a birthday party?'
I laughed as I grabbed his hand and led him out of the room.
I'd just shown Logan the guest chamber when Wren found us in the corridor.
'There you are. I've been looking for you guys,' Wren said, 'Come, Seth and Dale are here. I want to introduce them to Logan.'
We followed Wren through a series of corridors. We found the guys at the indoor veranda that wrapped around the indoor arena. It was raining again, and the yellow sand had turned coffee brown. In some places there were inviting little puddles like the ones I used to play in after rainy days.
'Oh my!' Logan gasped.
I turned to see what he was staring at. Oh no! I chuckled when I saw Dale in a compromising position with Seth thrusting in behind him. What was even more surprising, Reed, Bron and River was watching them having sex from their recliner chairs.
I shook my head in disbelief. Everyone enjoyed sex in Targeten but Seth and Dale's behavior was by far the weirdest.
'What's going on here?' Wren said with a laugh.
'We're watching porn,' Bron said with a smirk. Reed laughed.
'We found them like this,' River said.
'We've always wanted to have sex in here,' Seth offered.
'Logan, please don't think bad of us. We're not all like this,' Wren said.
We all laughed. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Logan lick his voluptuous lips. He clearly wanted to join in.
'The birthday party is in Valpak. Didn't you guys get the memo?' I said.
'I know. We just wanted to go with you guys' Seth replied. Just then he noticed Logan. 'Great feri, who is this?' Before Wren or I could introduce Logan, Seth turned Dale's face towards our guest. 'Sugar-bean, look at the lips on this beauty.'
Logan blushed at the comment.
Dale eyes bugged out and his mouth fell open. His distorted voice from the effort of Seth behind him did nothing to slack his new-found craving. 'Can I have him, eagle-bear? Pretty please!'
............................................
End of chapter 2