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“You mean like the kind in the auction cavern. The distance feels right, too. We need Stone. Now.” He opened his pathing frequency and tapped on Stone’s receptor.
“I’ve been waiting for your call. I’ve got a foot-dancing troll over here, very ancient.”
“I think I know where Cruce’s camp is and it’s in the mountains. Feel like doing some teleporting?”
Stone didn’t answer. Instead, he showed up ten feet away, hands raised in surrender.
“That was fast.” Oregis moved to perch on Rez’s shoulder once more.
Stone wore the Guardsman uniform, his eyes glittered and his chin was down. Rez recognized all the signs. The man was ready for war.
The ruling Mastyr of Tannisford drew close. “I need you to create a picture in your head, but put us high in the air where we won’t be seen.”
Rez focused on the opposing mountain range with the tall peaks. He recalled the most direct view and made that the destination. “We’re headed to a point across from the most central peak.”
“Let’s go.”
Teleporting with Stone took only a few seconds until they hovered in the air five hundred yards away from the nearest mountain.
He pivoted one-eighty to look at the opposing range, then directed Stone to follow him. He could recall the unusual shape of the opposite peak since it had a dip on the western face.
It didn’t take him long to find it.
Rez turned as did Stone to face the next part of the suspect range. In the distance were a dozen campfires lighting up the mountainside.
“Sweet Goddess,” Stone said. “That’s the Tannisford Overlook. But why didn’t my troops ever see this before? I have patrols out here all the time.”
Oregis elbowed the side of Rez’s head. “I’m not seeing anything, just mountain and forest. Where am I supposed to look?”
Rez craned to glance at Oregis then met Stone’s gaze. Each said, ‘Mist’ at the same moment.
Stone began moving forward. “I want to get a closer look without being seen, then it’s time to bring the Guard and the Brigades in, all three together. I want this rat’s nest purged.”
~ ~ ~
When Holly left Rez, she returned to her mountain home to stare out at the peaks that had given her so much pleasure over the years. She knew her life had changed completely and she was waiting now only for the clock to complete it’s one hour cycle. Soon, she would return to Cruce and Lanarae’s lair and rescue Isobel.
She had no idea how she would do what needed to be done. But she couldn’t ask Rez for help. She knew this was her mission to manage apart from him
.
Still, she trembled where she stood. She held her arms crossed over her chest to try to still the heavy beating of her heart. She’d never been more frightened.
Yet, her fears didn’t matter, not even a little.
She was Isobel’s only hope for survival.
She only had a few minutes left to wait.
She opened her fae frequency, the element in her life that connected her to the entire Tannisford fae community. At first, it was chaos, but gradually as she focused on Isobel, one fae came forward, a fellow time-pather she’d come to know through Vojalie’s training sessions. Emily. Now a blood rose recently bonded to Mastyr Devyn.
Instinctively, she knew she would need both Emily and Devyn to complete her mission. She took her cell from her pants pocket and tapped Emily’s contact number.
To her surprise, Emily answered immediately. “Holly I’m so glad you’ve reached out to me. I’ve been pacing the floor, waiting for your call.”
“Why? Did Vojalie tell you what was going on?”
“Yes, but only because I contacted her about a half hour ago. My fae instincts have been lit up for hours. Are you okay?” Emily, more than anyone, would understand what she’d been going through.
