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The vision played at the edges of his mind. He felt the need to do something, but he didn’t know what. This was fae territory, not vampire.

He focused inward and worked at opening his thoughts and inviting the vision forward. He already had a sense of it, that he’d soon learn where to find the three, now missing mastyrs.

His heart pounded, sending a sluicing noise through his ears. He was as devoted to the other eight ruling mastyrs as he was to all of Tannisford. They were a brotherhood now, fully united through the Federation against Margetta.

He closed his eyes and embraced the elf-lord power. He could feel its seductiveness like a warm call to every ambition he’d ever had. He could rescue the three mastyrs and be a hero. He wanted that more than anything.

When the elf-lord frequency had engulfed him completely, the vision began to flow. He knew that what he was seeing would take place within the next few minutes.

Gerrod, Ethan and Quinlan were chained to the damp wall of a dark cave. Nearby, a portable fire pit, glowing with bright red coals, held several branding irons. The skin of each warrior was pitted with deep burns.

For hours now, they’d been tortured, with several bulked up male vampires ready to deliver another round of red-hot pain. Their bonded female wraiths flew around the cave shrieking.

On instinct, Stone began panning back so that he could see the entire cave. As soon as he did, he recognized the system. He’d spent years early on in his Tannisford life exploring the hundreds of miles of caves in the mountainous region behind Dracut Falls near the Sterling River.

He had a small window to get to the men. But he had the elf-lord power in him. He’d be able to fly faster than ever and to fight better.

He shifted his gaze to Aralynn. “I have to go.”

“Stone, what did you see?”

“The three mastyrs. Margetta somehow took them. She’s holding them in a cave.”

She put her hand on his shoulder. “Stone, this doesn’t feel right to me. Something’s off.”

He shook his head. “The vision was perfectly clear and I know exactly where to go and what to do.”

When he turned to leave, she caught his arm. “I should go with you.”

At that, Stone smiled. “Why? When I have this?” He lifted his arm and a silvery glow of elf-lord power shone from his hands.

He didn’t wait to explain anything to her. He had elf-lord power now and he knew he could take on a dozen lesser vampires, all at the same time, if necessary.

He left the doorway and flung himself high into the air. Just as he’d thought, he could fly faster than ever.

With that, he headed southwest toward Dracut Falls. Within a minute, he’d reached his destination, having covered an immense distance of three hundred miles.

He was at least five hundred feet in the air and had an excellent view of the land, the river, and the waterfall. His vampire vision warmed up the landscape so that it was as though a late afternoon sun shone on the green pines and frothy white water.

The river ran at full-bore most of the year, having its source high in the northern, snow-laden Dauphaire Mountains of Tannisford. Several springs and a hundred creeks made their way into the single artery that ran through the western part of his realm.

He was a lot like Quinlan, one of the mastyrs chained in the cave. They’d both spent a lot of time combing every square foot of their respective realms.

In this particular cavern system, that had an entrance behind the fall of water, the caves were cold and wet. Water seeped through the stone walls constantly. He knew what the three captive ruling mastyrs were enduring. Even if Margetta wasn’t torturing them, just being tied up in the caves would be hard to bear.

Slowly, he levitated toward the falls. He knew there was an entrance to the caves directly behind the water, which had the easiest access and the men weren’t far from the falls. But he was also aware of a couple more entrances within the forest itself on the upper plain. Each was at least two miles past the falls, but his instincts told him Margetta might not know about them.

He passed over the loud rush of water and was surprised by the sudden quiet as he began to fly above the pine forest directly west. The terrain was full of rocks and hillocks along with the pine trees, but it was as though every contour of the land had been burned into his mind.

Love was what he felt for Tannisford and he wasn’t alone in that passion. All the ruling mastyrs had developed powerful attachments to their realms. The rise and fall of the land itself was part of that love.

But as he drew close to the land, he suddenly became aware that the elf-lord power he’d been experiencing had dwindled significantly. He slowed his levitation and took a moment to explore the phenomenon. But there was no denying, he was back to his usual self. Whatever it was he’d experienced at Aralynn’s cottage had been temporary, perhaps even connected to Ferrenden Peace or to Aralynn or both.

Fine.

Great.

Whatever.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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