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“Yes, please!” I said, using the backpack to grab the stones without touching them and shoving them against the wall, out of the way. Heading to the side table next to my recliner in the living room, I opened the small drawer and pulled out a set of cards I had.
After explaining the rules of the relatively simple game, we started playing.
It quickly became apparent that Percival was very competitive and hated losing, but thankfully wasn’t a sore loser.
After more than a dozen games, most of which were won by Riddick, I excused myself to head to bed. After all, tomorrow would be full of exploration and I needed to rest up so I was at full power in case things got crazy.
Chapter
Eleven
It was supposed to be Fall, but the sun was hot on my exposed skin as we walked upstream.
To try to make as much headway as we could, the guys had started by running to the spot we had encountered Beatrice. Triston had carried me since I didn’t run as fast as they did.
It was slightly embarrassing to be carried like a child, but I appreciated the commitment and it had been nice to be held by him.
An hour later, we’d found an increased number of the clear magical stones, but no evidence as to where they came from yet.
“It is very strange,” I whispered. “Where did so many of these come from in such a short amount of time? Maybe I need to put up wards around the outskirts of my property, so I’ll know if someone is trespassing.” After the incident with the men attacking the wolf shifter on my property, I was moving more and more in that direction. If they’d killed her and her body had been found on my property, I’m not sure if the investigation would have gone well or not. They likely wouldn’t have believed that I hadn’t killed her even though all of them knew I went out of my way to treat people.
“That might be a bit of a strain on you magically to have a ward that large,” Riddick commented.
He wasn’t being rude, just honest, but the comment still hurt.
I wanted to increase my magic power, but once I’d aged out of the mage school, no one else had been willing to teach me.
“True,” I admitted begrudgingly.
Another hour of walking and we found ourselves at the waterfall. The waterfall was over fifty feet tall and it would take almost an hour to hike up and around to get to the top.
“Or …” Percival said, shifting into his dragon form, and then picking us all up in his claws.
“Oh!” I gasped as he flew up into the air, carrying us high up into the air, higher than the waterfall. As he hovered above it, he gave us an excellent view of the river and the stones that lined the riverbed.
“Head upriver,” I called.
Percival made a weird chirp sound and obeyed, flying us over the water.
“Why are the stones in the water here, but only the banks downstream?” Triston asked.
“I was wondering the same thing,” I called back, squinting my eyes.
Percival flew us to the base of the mountain range and I had to call out to him to stop and land.
“This is the end of my property,” I explained. “The mountains aren’t owned by me.”
“Who owns them?” Riddick asked, squinting up at the mountain where the river continued.
“The Mage Council of Corronk.” They were the local mage leaders. Each council reported to the royal family of their race, but I knew they didn’t report as truthfully as they should.
Riddick nodded and pulled out his phone, but immediately scowled.
I laughed softly. “There’s no reception up this far, sorry.”
“I’ll make a call when we get back to your house so we’re granted access to their lands,” he said.
“What if they don’t want to grant us access?” Triston asked. “What if they’re behind it?”
