Band of Blackbirds (Book 2 in the Blackbird Trilogy) Read online

  Chapter Three

  “That means…”My voice fell and I stared into Ian’s icy blue eyes.

  “That means you and Ian here are brother and sister.”Caleb simply stated taking a bite of stew.“Oh, the stew is still too hot.”He then blew on his spoonful of potatoes.

  “Well I must say-- I am glad that one is out.”Caleb continued to try to sound not bothered.

  “Why did you keep it a secret?’Ian asked still standing by the window.

  “--Because it was a secret—you’re not full brother and sister, you are only half.Emily’s mother and your father had an affair.”Caleb looked at both of us.“My mother caught them involved in a relationship and helped your mother escape.They met at first just for business.Morwen made portals and Isadrel was in need of one.Eutopia was beginning to expand their Wall again jeopardizing the few left after it was put up.Isadrel was born within the Wall, but something was different about her as she had ties to the Outlanders-that’s us.”Caleb pointed to himself and Ian.“Since of her impurities, she was a lesser princess and trained as an Unseen.It was a respected position for someone of her heritage.She faced death daily keeping any lesser beings out, and the highest position for Isadrel, though her heart was not into it.She wanted to see the Wall come down as much as any of us.She saw both worlds and knew others existed as Eutopia is an old civilized planet, but were selective as to who they acknowledged. Basically, they wanted magic and implements associated with magic and ultimately to get rid of us.”Caleb pointed at himself and Ian again.“Eutopia wants a perfect world in their standards and we are not it.Now, it’s only a matter of time.”

  Silence surrounded us and I wished the fire would crackle to break the awkward quietness.

  “Why?”Ian simply stated as he looked over at Caleb.

  “Why what?” he asked.

  “You had opportunities to tell me and you never did.I never knew…never suspected…”

  “Of course not and I didn’t know until later.My mother passed a year ago and she left me with her knowledge.That secret she didn’t reveal until she spoke her last words.”He looked over at Ian.“She too was a last of her kind.”Caleb’s words drifted into the darkness falling around us.“At least she wasn’t taken by the Eutopians...killed out of their cleansing of the planet.”

  Ian suddenly went to the door.

  “Where are you going?’Caleb asked with concern.

  “I have a headache,” he said with the door closing behind him.

  I looked at the door for a moment then walked over to it.I numbly touched the knob and hesitated.Even though what I thought and felt were like scattering leaves in a violent wind, I wanted to follow Ian, but wasn’t sure.

  “Do you have a headache too?”Caleb asked as I paused with my hand on the knob.

  “Yes.”I looked back at Caleb who smiled.

  Ian stood only a few feet from the door with his arms crossed over his chest tightly.I hesitated, not knowing what say to my newly found half-brother.My mind was in a whirlwind and I can only guess that his was too.I remembered my lonely existence in St. F.Now, that life seemed a million miles away that was destroyed by a deadly tornado ending my life there and starting a new one in Atlantis.It’s also something I can never go back to.

  I walked up to Ian not sure what to say and stood quietly beside him.I crossed my arms over my chest as well and peered into the blackness trying to find comfort, trying to find answers and trying to say something to Ian about how I longed for a family.

  “I knew there was something about you the first time I saw you on the plane,” he said suddenly into the darkness not looking at me.I remembered the bumpy plane ride that led me to Atlantis and whole new life.“--A connection that I couldn’t grasp onto…when I got your message that you were on David’s ship that was when I was positive a connection laid between you and me.”

  Ian turned and faced me.I looked up at him. I couldn’t see his blue eyes or his dark hair.Everything was surrounded in darkness.Only his shadowed silhouette stood before me.But, I didn’t need to see him to know that he didn’t look anything like me.My blonde hair was like day to his black hair that reminded me of a cold winter’s night sky.

  “The message I sent, you were the one who heard it, and not Karinna?”I asked. remembering the distress call I tried to send when David kidnapped me along with the amulet that had a message only I could understand.

  He shook his head.“It certainly caught me off guard.I didn’t think I would ever have Receptor capabilities.”

  “Do any of the other Blackbirds know about it?”

  “By the time it happened, we found the note Alicia had left and in the quickness of everything, I never told anyone and hoped you didn’t send another one,” his voice raised a little, “they kind of hurt.”

  I couldn’t help but to chuckle a little and I think through the darkness, Ian smiled as well.

  “Well, I guess you owe me one in return.”I tried to add a little humor to our sudden situation when from the darkness a creature stood in front of us.It was Quil in Ranger form.

  Ian tried to push me out of the way, but Quil with one arm shoved Ian to the ground and grabbed me with the other.I didn’t have the strength to pull away and was quickly clenched in his grasp.My torso was squeezed tightly that I couldn’t even call Ian’s name.

  Branches scratched against me and pulled at my hair as Quil glided over the forest floor like water through a stream.His movements were fluid and graceful using the terrain to propel himself faster.We dodged low branches and jolted off boulders.Everything moved quickly to the point I could hardly keep up with his movements and just closed my eyes until we stopped.

  Quil threw me to the ground and pinned down my outstretched arms with his giant paws that had thick pads on them as well as retracted sharp claws.His eyes burned of topaz and he glared at me with what I thought looked like curiosity.He was breathing hard and his hot breath blew across my face as his lean, strong body hovered over me.His strength was dangerously intimidating; he could rip me in half if he wanted to, but something barely flickered in his eyes made me feel different.

  “You are Isadrel’s daughter and that of a portal maker.”His voice was as rough as sandpaper.

  “Does that mean you won’t eat me?”I asked feeling a little gutsy and for some involuntary reason challenging his curiosity.

  Quil tilted his head to the side as if contemplating my question.“No, I don’t eat your kind, but I don’t mind killing them.”His words flared like a sudden burst of flames.

  I didn’t reply, only wished I didn’t suggest the eating me question.I began to tremble slightly trying to think of a way out of this.

  “You can’t judge me by what my kind has done.How do you know I am like them?”I asked in as smooth a voice as I could.

  “I am not the judge.”He pushed off of me and quickly turned into his human-like form.

  Quil knelt to the ground on one knee almost like he was bowing to me with his eyes closed and his face twisted with pain.Slowly he opened his eyes and stood up.

  He walked towards me allowing his stare to harden andhis questioning gold eyes examined mine.

  “You inherit the qualities of an Unseen, I can see that.”He looked down at me as I sat on the ground.“Our settlement isn’t far from here.”

  Quil walked closer to the forests edge as I sat in the small meadow-like clearing looking at him.I could have run, but he would have caught me.He had a faint gentleness to him that I could see in his expression illuminated by the dim moonlight.

  Without a word, he turned letting his eyes rest on me as he hung in the shadows of the tall trees and waited patiently.Curiosity controlled me, Quil knew of my mother, my heritage and possibly a way out of here.I didn’t feel like he was going to hurt me or he would have done it by now.Slowly, I walked over swallowed too by the shadowed forest.

  The settlement was exactly as I thought it would look like.Several tents that resembled teepees sat in neatly organized rows.Only instead of
animal skins, the round structures were dome-like and made out of light, greyish, silver-like material.They reminded me of dew drops scattered throughout the blades of grass waiting to evaporate when the sun came up.Smoke loomed in the cool air from a small fire that burned of the familiar red-orange flame and crackled slightly spewing embers into the air like fireflies and died quickly.A woman was at the fire poking it with a stick.Her gold eyes looked up at us.She looked at Quil first then at me.Her hair was pulled back and appeared to be dark.Her clothes nearly blended with the blackness that surrounded her.She casually glanced at me unconcerned of my presence.

  “It’s about time, Quil,” she said in a put out tone, “I thought you were going to be back an hour ago.”

  “I had to take a detour…guards.”He looked at the girl steadily.

  “Figures,” she shrugged her shoulders and continued to mess with the fire, “does she know what she is here for?”She asked as if I wasn’t there.

  Quil looked at me and then back at her.“No.”

  The girl let out a sigh and raised her eyebrows evidentially not happy with Quil’s job.

  “What do you want with me?”I finally asked as the girl’s eyes darted to me.I stepped back slightly as it looked like she was going to pounce on me.

  “Finish what your mother started,” she spat out.

  “But I don’t know what that is.”I tried to be reasonable and was becoming aggravated at her attitude.“Look, I’m new here and I never knew this place existed and let alone who my mother was.”My words echoed through the forest.

  The girl looked at me without emotion, like she was studying me.I found it unnerving and wanted to get away from her irritating gaze.

  “I know you didn’t know your mother, knew Eutopia existed or even fathomed any of this, but that doesn’t matter.You, Emily Moore have a destiny to complete and that destiny you will fulfill.”She stood up and stepped towards me.

  She was nearly as tall as Quil with the same taunting gold eyes that were so beautiful as well as disturbing.

  “You have no excuses here, and you will listen to us as so much hangs in the balance.”Her words softened slightly as her lips curled into a small smile that quickly faded.

  “Take her to my boda and for now make sure she doesn’t leave,” she said to Quil and then sat back down by the fire.

  Quil grabbed me by the arm and shoved me into one of the tents several feet away from the fire.Inside wasn’t dark, but illuminated by what little moonlight there was.The outer wall was lined with pillows and the floor was made out of a woven grass like material.

  “What are you going to do with me?”I asked as he pulled me to the ground and tied me to the silver pole in the center of the room.

  “Isn’t that clear?”Quil asked behind me with his hot breath brushing past my ear.

  “No, it isn’t.”I retorted.“I think you, or actually both of you, are being unreasonable.”

  “We are not unreasonable.You just haven’t given us a chance.”Quil stood up and left before I could say anything to his face.

  Everything was silent and I thought of Ian.He was my brother, or actually half-brother.I felt like a dump truck loaded with tons of rocks had just dumped every rock on me, down to the last tiny pebble.But I couldn’t think of that right now, I had to get back to Caleb and Ian.I would send Ian a message and hoped he got it.

  I closed my eyes and cleared my thoughts.I fixed my concentration on Ian and told him in simple sentences that I was with Quil and was alright, and to come…my message was severed by something unexpected.My eyes popped open to meet the girl’s glowing topaz eyes.

  “No messages,” she said in a cool tone.“They will be here soon enough.”

  She left as I leaned my head back and it began to throb.I quickly closed my eyes and tried to think of a way out of here.

  Bright light flickered behind my closed eyelids.I didn’t want to open them, I wanted to stay in the dark, empty place I was and never know another thing again.I opened them anyway to see the dark haired girl kneeling on the floor preparing something with several dishes in front of her.She didn’t pay attention to me at first as I watched her.

  She then looked at me and held a small wooden cup close to my mouth that had a yellowish, earthy smelling liquid in it.

  “Drink it.”She commanded.

  “What is it?’I asked as a shooting pain rocketed through my head.

  I closed my eyes tightly and wished it away, but it only increased with sharpness.

  “You try too hard to send messages and you are bleeding, drink!”She yelled tilting my head back and pressing the cup to my mouth.

  The warm liquid ran down my throat so quickly that I didn’t even taste it.With my hands still tied I looked at her.

  “It is your fault, so don’t look at me that way.”Her voice had a slight amusement in it.

  “You are the one who kidnapped me and tied me up not explaining why you are doing any of this except it is my destiny.”I looked into her steady eyes that always seemed to penetrate into me with curiosity.

  “There were guards around the Searhess’s son’s house last night.I sent two more Rangers to bring them here.All I can say is that I hope we arrived in time.”Her words were soft and foreboding.

  I looked at her without a reply as she peered down at me before she left.I wanted to send another message to Ian, but I didn’t want my head to explode in the process.So I leaned my head back against the pole and did the only thing I could think of- hope Ian and Caleb were alright.

  Distant laughter brought me to my senses and I opened my eyes quickly trying to remember where I was at when I saw Quil’s anxious eyes gazing at me.He sat in front of me with a knife in his hand.

  “What are you doing?’I asked as he looked at the knife then me.

  Without answering he quickly cut lose the twine that wrapped around my wrists and then looked into my eyes as I rubbed the circulation back into my hands.

  “Your kind is here,” he said in a clam voice.

  “Ian and Caleb, where are they?”I jumped up and wobbled toward the side of the tent and searched for the flap.

  “Here,” Quil moved me aside and pulled back the flap as I went out like a caged animal to freedom.

  Outside was bright with a cool breeze whistling through the long needled trees that formed a canopy over the tiny settlement that was now being disassembled.The people looked all the same with dark colored clothing and golden eyes framed in various shades of brown hair.Their human appearance was rough and still retained the animalistic quality that was a part of them.

  I looked around frantically to catch a glimpse of Ian’s black hair in the sea of monotone browns.

  “Princess!”Caleb’s voice cut through the crowd.

  I spotted him several feet away and ran up to him.

  “Where’s Ian?”I kept looking all around not meeting Caleb’s eyes until he grabbed hold of my shoulders.

  “Not even a hello or a how are you?”Caleb asked as my patience was running thin.

  “Caleb, tell me where Ian is.”I almost pleaded.

  Caleb’s slight smile faded.“He’s fine.Ian is with the Searhess.Over there.”He pointed off to my right.

  I ran over to the dome tent that was the only one left still standing as the others were being torn down and packed into bundles.

  I flipped back the cover looked inside and was greeted by a pair of surprised golden eyes.

  “Do you not make your presence known before entering where you come from?”The girl’s voice was harsh as she glared at me.

  “No…I’m…”My voice trembled slightly as my eyes darted between her and Ian.

  His closed eyelids were tinged purple that contrasted against his pale skin that had a deathly whiteness to it.His body was still and I thought for a moment he wasn’t breathing.I knelt down wanting to shake him awake.I couldn’t lose the only family I had.I couldn’t lose Ian.

  “Ian is alright Emily.Your brother is fine.”I didn’t look at her
, but her words for the first time had comfort to it.

  I let my breath out keeping my eyes on Ian.I barely knew him, but I could feel that connection now.We were family no matter how thin the thread, I wasn’t going to lose Ian.

  “What happened?’I asked looking at her then back at Ian.

  “Poison dart from one of the Wall Guards.They are highly toxic.It’s a miracle that he is still alive.”Her words were soft as Ian moved a little which made me feel like I wasn’t looking at a corpse.

  “Aria, the tribe is moving on and will wait for you at the river passage.”Quil’s voice came from behind us.

  “Let the other Outlander in here and tell the tribe I will address them soon,” she replied with a nod from Quil.

  I looked at the girl that could only be a few years older than me.She returned the gaze with her piercing gold eyes.

  “My name is Aria and I am the head Searhess of our tribe.I should have introduced myself earlier, but there were more important things to tend to,” she said as Caleb came in.

  Ian let out a groan that broke the trance Aria had on me.

  “Ian, are you alright?It’s me, Emily.”I leaned closer as he opened his eyes that were the color of a summer sky.

  “I think he knows your name princess.”Caleb sat down next to me.

  “Emily,” his voice cracked.“I got your message.”He blinked his eyes and tried to move a little.

  “Don’t move.”Aria instructed.

  “You got my message?”I asked in amazement.

  “Right before the guards attacked us.”Caleb concluded.

  Suddenly, the pang of guilt ran through me.I send a message for help and in doing so, I caught Ian off guard.I could picture the whole thing in my head.Ian unaware of what was around him trying to listen to my message; my message that put his defenses down that put him in danger.I felt sick.

  “It isn’t your fault.”Aria’s voice caught me right before I suppressed the sting of tears forming behind my eyes.

  “But…”I began to explain as Aria held up her hand to stop me.

  “Receptors are a rare breed and siblings that are Receptors are even rarer.The tie between you is strong and growing stronger the more you are together.Your message didn’t put Ian in danger, it protected him by shielding him or the outcome may have been worse.”Aria looked from Ian to me with her flickering eyes.“You have great capabilities to do wonderful things that your mother planned for.Now it is time to put them to use.”