“If Udore hadn’t allowed himself to be captured, I would have been blinded, and probably I would have eventually died like so many of my Blessed Ones sisters did. But Udore kept both those things from happening to me.

  “If your father hadn’t stayed in the palace all this time, none of us would have a chance against those three men.”

  At Rose’s words, the last of Tarek’s residual feelings of abandonment fell away. His father had done all of this for all of them.

  Tarek realized that, like Meg, he needed to give up his childhood to prepare him to help the resistance. In his father’s absence, he had grown into who he had to be.

  “Enough of that,” Leon shouted across the fire. “Come join us. We have food. We are on land. We are together. Come!”

  Udore turned to Tarek, “It’s a good idea, son. Stryker won’t come looking for you. He thinks you are all dead.

  “He will rest for a bit before looking for the pendant, and he doesn’t yet know exactly where it is.”

  “What about Sawdi?” Meg asked as she and Suzanne joined the small group.

  As Tarek started to introduce Meg, Udore stopped him. “I know this young woman, or at least I have heard about you, Meg. Your sister couldn’t stop talking about you.”

  Meg smiled at Suzanne and accepted Udore’s warm hug, thinking that he had left something out, but she had no idea what it was. “I have heard of you, too, Udore.”

  Udore turned to everyone and answered Meg’s question.

  “Sawdi will come for Stryker and me because he knows Turva is where we were all heading. But we have time to rest. And some things need to be said before he arrives. Things you all need to know. It’s time.”

  Udore looked at Silke, who nodded in agreement. “Yes,” she said. “It’s time.”

  Twenty-Six

  Although Meg loved every minute of that night around the fire, she was restless. There was something that she didn’t know yet, and it troubled her. She kept catching Udore and Silke glancing her way, and even Suzanne had a strange look in her eyes. It felt as if there was a secret that they were all keeping that centered around her.

  Although she used to believe that the whole world revolved around her, that was in the past. She wasn’t that person anymore. So much had changed.

  The latest change had happened only a few days before while they were on the Eos. Wren had asked her to fly with her. Meg couldn’t. She couldn’t shapeshift. At all. To anything.

  What surprised Meg is that she hadn’t broken down over it. Everyone knew. It was not a secret. Maybe she wasn’t upset because her abilities had been fading for a while, and she half expected it to happen. For whatever reason, she was at peace with it. She had watched Wren fly and smiled. Smiled because she wasn’t jealous or afraid.

  Well, she wasn’t afraid of not being a shapeshifter anymore, or at least for now, but she was fearful of what she was becoming. Because what she hadn’t told anyone, even Wren, was that sometimes she felt the same way she had felt before being surrounded by the fire. It was a click inside of her, a warm feeling. But then it would pass.

  Meg hoped that if she were ever surrounded by fire again, Karn would be nearby to help, since he had seemed to know what to do before. She glanced over at Karn and Wren, sitting together on the other side of the fire, whispering and smiling at each other. Maybe she should ask Karn what was happening to her, or even ask Tarek to help her.

  When Udore looked over at Meg and tilted his head, she realized that he knew the answer. That the secret everyone seemed to be keeping did involve her. Meg knew that once again, her life was about to be turned upside down.

  Leaning her head against Tarek’s shoulder, she smiled at Udore and thought that the morning was soon enough to hear the message that would change everything, again.

  *******

  Captain Kosti couldn’t get Stryker off his ship fast enough. He would have rowed him to shore himself if he had thought it would get Stryker there sooner. But his men felt the same, so they almost fought over who would take him.

  They decided on the two fastest rowers on the Soleis. Stryker had no idea what was happening. He was hustled into the boat and onto the shore before he could do anything other than collect the few belongings he had escaped with.

  The fact that he was one of the most powerful people on Thamon didn’t seem to matter to anyone, including Stryker. They all wanted the same thing. Get Stryker off the boat. So Stryker tolerated their hustling him off the Soleis and told himself they were doing it that way because he ordered them to.

  Kosti couldn’t care less about what Stryker told himself about what was happening. He saluted him and gave him some food from the ship, thinking he probably wouldn’t eat it anyway because he might once again worry that his food was poisoned. He helped him into the rowboat, and then turned to his crew who smiled in delight at Stryker’s going.

  As they waited for the crew members who had gone ashore to get supplies, they started washing every inch of the ship. They didn’t want one trace of Stryker on board.

  Some of the crew would not be returning, and Kosti understood that they would be searching for the missing families. Falcon had told them about the Eos, and they would join up with the crew from that ship to take supplies to the Sanctuary.

  Stryker knew none of this. He never looked back at the Soleis. He hated that ship. He wanted a real bed that didn’t move and food that hadn’t been prepared by a crew that hated him. Since no one knew him on Yeal Thalor, he was going to remain anonymous. It would be safer. He could walk around the town and eat whatever he wanted without worrying that someone would try and poison him.

  Besides, he needed time to study the map and see where it wanted him to go. If he needed to, he would hire a local guide to get him there.

  Stopping at one of the stalls on the street that sold food, he asked where to find the best rooming house. The owner pointed to a building located directly across the street.

  After checking it out, he decided that it would be comfortable enough while giving him a good view of the main street.

  The woman running it had directed him to a room at the end of a long hall, and left him alone, but not before pointing out where he could take a bath. Stryker smirked to himself. Yes, he smelled terrible. But if she knew who he was, she wouldn’t have been so blunt about what she wanted him to do.

  It didn’t matter. She would know when he was ready to tell her. In the meantime, it served Stryker’s purpose that she, and everyone else, remained in the dark.

  ********

  Across from the boarding house, two of Leon’s men stood watching, Joseph Lead and Fionn Bold. They had volunteered to watch Stryker. Of course, they knew who he was, but he wouldn’t remember them. Besides, although they were not going to let him out of their sight, he would never see them.

  Their job was to track where he went. If he found out where the pendant was before the rebels, they were to stop him any way that they could.

  If Sawdi came for Stryker, their orders were to get away as fast as possible and let Sawdi and his Warrior Monks do what they wanted with Stryker.

  Wren would be keeping in contact with Joseph and Fionn. She would be moving between the three groups of people now on Turva, making sure everyone knew what was happening. Leon and three more of his men were going with the members of Eos and Soleis to the Sanctuary. Yes, they were bringing supplies, but they were also protecting the refugees in case Sawdi, or even Stryker, figured out where they were.

  Udore had suggested the extra protection. He knew that Sawdi knew that there were survivors on Turva, which meant that Sawdi, actually the ring, would want them eliminated. Besides, all of them were hoping to find family they hadn’t seen for years. If they had survived, that’s where they would be.

  After seeing Stryker tucked away at the boarding house, Joseph and Fionn settled into a room across the street, taking turns watching, while the other slept. Whatever Stryker would do next, he would never be alone. They would be watching.

  Twenty-Seven

  “How are you planning to get to Edes, Dax?” Ibris asked. The rest of the Council remained silent, waiting for his response.

  “I was hoping one of you would have an answer for me,” Dax said. “Some kind of magic?”

  If Dax had wanted to alienate everyone in the room, he chose the right words. How could he possibly suggest that they use magic to help him? After all, Dax was the man who had captured, tortured, and killed their friends because they were Mages or shapeshifters. Dax was the reason that the valley on Hetale was now underwater. Dax was the reason the twelve Mages rescued from the prison camp had nightmares.

  Of all the rescued Mages, only Oiseon wanted to serve on the Council along with Ruth, Roar, Samis, and Ibris. Yes, if Dax wished to leave the Islands, they were delighted, but they weren’t going to go out of their way to help him, especially with magic. They stared at him, and he stared back.

  Finally, Ibris said, “Dax, how can you ask that? Besides, magic can’t just lift you up and take you to Edes. You’ll have to wait for a ship to come to the harbor. Even then, it might be hard to get them to take you to Aaron’s Palace, although we could certainly try. But, only two captains know that the Islands are still inhabited, Captain Lira and Captain Kosti, and both of them are on the way to Turva. I don’t know if either will come back here. And if they do, it won’t be for a while.”

  Dax backed up against the wall and looked at the Council before saying, “I know you hate me. With good reason. But I need to fight. Either I will stay here and get myself in trouble, or I leave and go after at least one of the people that started all of this. I have a weapon that I can use. I can do it. I just need to get there.”

  “Is it what you used to set off the explosion?” Ruth asked.

  Dax nodded. “It is. And Aaron doesn’t know that I have it. If I can get to him, I can use it against him.”

  “What about Sawdi and the Warrior Monks?” Samis asked. “How will you get around them?”

  “I doubt that they will be there. Sawdi will leave Aaron alone while he goes after Stryker. I can stop Aaron while he is gone.”

  “Even if we could get you there, Dax,” Ibris said, “I doubt that it will be that easy.”

  “I don’t expect it to be easy, Ibris. I hope it isn’t. I want to fight. I might even be able to gather supporters to help me. Falcon and Karn said there are people on Edes who are ready to rebel against Aaron-Lem once the time is right.”

  Ibris studied Dax. He knew his cousin. He had known all along that Dax needed to be fighting, that Dax was pulled towards the desire for power. If they let him stay on the Islands, Dax might turn against them all again, just to satisfy his need to destroy.

  Although the Islanders were doing their best to live with him, they would never fully forgive him. Besides the dissenters on the Islands, the ones who wanted Aaron-Lem to be in power again, might side with Dax, and then they would be at war all over again.

  Ibris turned to the four other people sitting around the table, hoping they had an answer. Finally, Roar sighed and said, “I know how to get him to the Palace.”

  “No, Roar,” Ruth said. “You can’t. You’ve done enough.”

  “Yes. Maybe. I did what needed to be done. And Dax did what he did. And that’s the problem. Dax is trying to help us instead of using his desire to hurt against us.”

  “But he tortured you. He tried to kill you,” Ruth said. “How can you help him?”

  Roar turned to Ruth and took her hands in his. “Ruth, you and I have been best friends a long time. We have lived through many things together. You know me. You know that I have to help him. Maybe that is what I have been put here on Thamon to do. I don’t know. But I do know that I know how to get him to Edes.

  “I won’t be helping him. I am helping Thamon and the Islands, and you, Ruth, and your family, who remain in hiding because they are still afraid of Dax.”

  Ruth dropped her head, unable to look at Roar. It was true. Her family would not come out of hiding. The Islands still wore the cloak of fear, and most of it was because of Dax.

  Dax had moved away from the wall and knelt beside Roar’s chair. “Please. Help me, Roar. I can tell you that I am sorry for what I did to you and all of your friends and family, but I want to make up for it in the only way I know how. Be myself and keep destroying. But not destroy what is good but what is evil. And if that destroys me because I am evil too, it’s alright with me. In fact, I will welcome it.”

  Roar gestured to the empty seat beside him, and Dax sat down and waited. Not patiently. His foot was bouncing, and his fingers tapped the table.

  “How are you going to do it, Roar?” Ibris asked.

  Roar stood up and backed away until he stood in the middle of the room. “Well,” he said, “I am a shapeshifter after all.”

  A second later, where Roar had been standing, a magnificent dragon appeared and then disappeared, and then Roar was back, laughing at their stunned looks.

  “What?” Ruth said, standing up at the table, her chair clanging to the floor. “Why didn’t I ever know about that? I never, ever, saw you become a dragon.”

  Roar walked over to Ruth and hugged her. “I was saving it for when it was needed.”

  “That’s amazing, Roar,” Ibris said. “But with Dax on your back, it will be exhausting.”

  “Not if we travel out of time,” Ruth said.

  Seeing the look on Roar’s face, she added, “Yes, I can do that. Which means I will be going with you.”

  Ruth turned to Ibris, Oiseon, and Samis and said, “Promise me that you will watch over my family, in case I don’t come back.”

  It was Oiseon who answered, “We promise.”

  No one tried to convince Ruth that she would come back. They knew that Ruth and Roar would be going to stop Aaron, and wouldn’t come back until they did, or die trying.

  Twenty-Eight

  Returning to Edes, Falcon heard the low hum that sounded like thousands of angry bees and wanted more than anything to turn around and never return to the Palace. But he knew that he couldn’t do that. He had to continue to be the loyal Falcon that both Aaron and Sawdi expected him to be.

  There could be no hint of the part he played in the coming rebellion. The fact that he could hear the terrifying sound of the Warrior Monks meant that the plans were working. The women and children would be in hiding, and if all had gone well, Suzanne, Udore, and Rose were already on Turva.

  He would have to remain at the Palace for a while. He was exhausted. Aaron had no idea how many messages he was actually delivering when he sent him out to deliver just one, or spy on someone. However, what he would report back to Aaron would be partially true. He was just leaving out all the other things he had seen and done.

  Yes, Stryker was heading towards Turva, not coming to the Palace, but they probably already knew that. Yes, there was no one left on the Islands. That’s what he would report, but the full message was, “There is no one left on the Islands that most people can see.”

  The Mages were doing an excellent job of cloaking the Islands so that it did look deserted now.

  Falcon knew the rebellion would succeed, though probably at a high cost. But it would succeed if everyone did their part. And if he didn’t die in the process, he thought he would return to the Islands. Even if he could never return to his original form, it would be a beautiful place to live out the rest of his life as a Falcon. But first, they had to stop the three men who believed themselves to be invincible.

  So as much as he didn’t want to hear, or see, the Warrior Monks, their presence was expected. Falcon knew that Sawdi would also want a report from him, and it would be harder to hide the truth from Sawdi than it was from Aaron. He would have to be very careful. But once he reported to the two of them, and rested, he would be free to head out into Edes and monitor how the rest of the plan was progressing.

  Falcon knew very little about the prophecies. All he knew was that they existed, that the signs they had spoken about had arrived, and that the woman who would provide the final solution was in place. Falcon had a suspicion who that woman was, but if it were true, she had no idea who she was and that she was necessary for their success. Hopefully, she remained safe until the time was right, because Falcon suspected that they wouldn’t succeed unless she did her part.

  *******

  Partially hidden behind one of the spires jutting up off the roof, the man called Baywolf stood watching as he had every day for years. Today he watched the bird everyone called Falcon circle the Palace, obviously looking for someplace to land away from the Warrior Monks.

  Baywolf didn’t blame him. Those freaking dead people turned into white wraiths with empty dark holes for eyes terrified him too. And the fact that the crazy man, Sawdi, was the only one that controlled them made them even more horrifying.

  Finding a way to destroy the Warrior Monks was something that Aaron had given Baywolf to study. So far, he had found nothing. Well, Baywolf had discovered something. But he wasn’t planning to share that with Aaron.

  Baywolf knew that Sawdi’s power was changing. It was becoming more potent and more dangerous, if that was possible. Baywolf thought the change was not something Sawdi was doing. It was the ring. Watching from hidden places in the Palace, Baywolf had seen the ring glow. Once the ring shot out a beam of light and narrowly missed where he had been hiding.

  That had scared the ziffer out of him. Sawdi hadn’t noticed him, but the ring had. So what Baywolf knew was that not only was it Sawdi that they had to get rid of, it was also the ring. Or maybe just the ring.

  Was it the ring that had turned so many of his friends into something else? Or did Sawdi have some magic of his own? Yes, Baywolf knew that Falcon used to be one of his classmates at Stryker’s training camp, along with the five dragons. Luckily Aaron had saved him from Sawdi’s rage; otherwise, he would probably be like them, unable to return to their original form.