The schooner was adrift.
And he was dying.
Nothing could change that reality. All these thoughts at once.
The young woman was stunned. The urge she felt to cry was absurd. He was a warrior, or at least he had been all his life. The last memory shouldn't be tears or whimpers.
-You will promise me... - A voice was weak.
Kassuim Macklister shook his head in shock. He struggled not to give in to panic.
-You can't die! - she despaired. A lump closed in her throat. The smell of blood was disturbing. – I'll get you out of here.
Despair was beginning to envelop her. Her vision blurred with the tears she stubbornly held back. It was impossible that nothing could be done. Firmly holding the stone around her neck, she focused uncertainly. If there was a good occasion to believe what magic this was. She concentrated, letting the accumulated energy around her flow and invade. Next act her steady hand touched the deep wound firmly. She gasped at the channeled energy that was feeling her body.
Zagorra coughed, breathing in great, painful gasps of air. There was reproach in her eyes.
- No... Don't waste energy on me. The wound is mortal. They must not remain with the Stone of Balthazar. It is ancient, dangerous, and forbidden magic.
Please... Save your strength... -Please...
- None of this will change my destiny.
His warning brought the weight of reality and it was terrible. He was indeed going to die. She was sure she was suffocating.
Zagora raised her hand with difficulty, touching the girl's feminine fingers to make a woman. He loved her like a daughter. Nothing causes more pride than watching the girl's skill with swords. He had taught her everything he knew. In the hope that he could help her. He was her protector. There is no way to imagine life without it. Everything she knew owed to him. The experience with swords and...
But that last year… The Corsair Armada wasn't a safe environment to raise a girl. As a child, she had been hidden from unwanted eyes. She was now of an age to find a suitor and get married. Ah, that was going to be impossible with the girl posing as a gangly boy. He discussed it more and more with her father.
Zagora was an experienced man. He saw with worried eyes that the commander was occupied with the leadership of the Armada, there was no father. the treacherous ambush that had killed the captain of the Black Coral... What he feared most was going to happen. Was.
-You will promise me, Cassie, like a good girl. He sighed patiently from the pain.
Oh, she was also a rebel. obstinate. Independent and reckless AND a sorceress. It was all in her blood. Nothing the command will change that. Sooner or later. Her gift was going to manifest. Just like Fate...
Zagora watched silently; she saw the lost stares, the plaintive sighs, and the wistful eyes whenever she thought she was alone. She also watched the girl from the long voyage to the captain of Gaia. The girl disguised the scent of her blood with the use of wolf herbs on her skin. That wouldn't always work, come on. And Thalagar was trouble. problems were not lacking.
-Please. get out. The place will explode. – Kassuim was already making an alarming supplication available.
His bleeding was heavy. She had never felt sick from the smell of blood before. Tell the wound was consuming more energy than she'd expected. She wondered if she could pull her gaze away from him for another search as she approached. Sorcerers were empaths by nature and picked up on emotions. A shudder ripped through her body as she managed to breathe again. She swallowed, stunned. The sensations and emotions were intense and pierced like a sword. Was he there? But how?
- Is that... Is it mortar fire? - Zagorra coughed, spitting blood.
Kassuim stared in amazement. I blink in shock, staring in disbelief, struggling to block out the sensations.
-I swear to you! Her eyes shone like two emeralds. "Cornor will pay for this betrayal. HUH...
The tall African black man, with dark and strong eyes, looked at her very seriously. Force your wrist hard. The taste of blood came to his mouth.
- Will not challenge Cornor. Did you hear right?
The old man was breathing hard. And he was worried. He did not fear death. But those green eyes that stared at him...
-It's mortar fire. I know these dead..." His smile suddenly lit up his pale face.
-Zagorra!
-It's Gaia! Thank my gods. My prayers were answered...
prayers? Kassuim could scream. If his throat hadn't been dry. Or if the heart starts beating calmly in the chest again. It was with the immense emptiness that his life was filled again busy. She desperately forced a shield as a protective instinct to ignore the pull of her emotions. She wasn't using wolf weed on her skin. She was livid. He was sure to smell her this time.
The shield was not working. And the schooner was going to explode. God Mercy. Was it... Was it Richard Morgan? She was paralyzed and helpless. The emotions that raged through her were too intense...
Surprise.
Dread.
Satisfaction.
Fear.
This was a ship and they were out on the open sea. How was she going to avoid his presence? He was going to recognize her. Knew who he was just by her scent. The idea made him wait as much as it shuddered.
-Zagorra!
-You're going to board the Gaia, did you hear that? The Star of Tomorrow is no longer safe. Richard Morgan will help retrieve the Balthazar Stone.
He was delirious. No minimum.
Kassuim couldn't hear any more of what he was saying. The old man, the man who had been a father, was dying. For a moment he was carried away by his fantasies. How many times had she not dreamed of seeing him again? It was and he would recognize it. Oh, of course, he would recognize her.
Those weeks the captain was recovering in the cabin of meanings something while the captain was recovering in the cabin? And then Thalagar's vicious ambush driving them away...
Ah, how often had he not dreamed of his lover's caresses and caresses! She also knew that she should walk away. Everything had suddenly happened. He was going to find her. That hope had sustained her for the first few days, but then… How could she face him? Unexpectedly, the object of her dreams was there, just a few feet away, in flesh and blood. It was subtitled. Exciting. And when did he find out the truth today? the horror that would look into the eyes of Seriaglimpse
- Do you like him. -and it wasn't a question.
Kassuim's expressions clouded. What she wanted was impossible. Everything was over. She was no use dreaming.
"Focus, you fool. This isn't going to work. He's going to find out!"
But was there a chance that it wouldn't happen...?
-Of course, I don't like him. – the statement was painful.
If only she had no more resistance... No man would she have resisted more tolerate without repudiating.
Zagora looked at her suspiciously.
-It's not too much to allow that. What happened...
She closed her eyes, fighting the unwanted flood of memories. She wouldn't remember or think about it. Or she would cry and despair. The facts were not identified.
- He probably remembers. – Her comment was Accompanied by transport equipment.
- You'll remember if you were... - Another coughing fit.
Kassuim studied Zagora with sheer horror. Oh, he couldn't find out. Yet she imagines the depressing sight of the skinny little boy in baggy clothes of himself. And frustrated she remembered the beauties that surrounded him. the dull, lifeless hair cut short... Was she going to tell?
"Coward. You are a coward." The thought tore at her. "He could be tolerant and understand. He would…would…surely despise her."
- Forget about it, please... - The appeal was low. - Need...
Another coughing fit made the old man twitch and squirm. There was no way to stop the bleeding. There was so much blood... That smell was...
- Leave me, child. Here is my end.
- No!
The kind eyes looked at her one last time when she felt his hand on her face. She knew with sheer horror that she was crying. He was going to die.
- You won't be alone. I know Richard Morgan. I know his people. You can count, but you don't fool a wolf easily. He will know.
Kassuim stung in terror, pushing back tears. What could she explain? He would want explanations.
She goes with the perfection that man, with affection, touches with her fingers and hands that she made with the record of caresses. This was torture. And shuddered. The comments that circulated aboard the Armada... said that he had already killed more men than one could imagine. A warrior, determined and without a warrior. God, and when he found out, why would he find out? sooner or later...
Worse than that. What if he's worth those votes? Because he would, wouldn't he? Would his father be able to cancel the engagement? I doubted everything. A wife is nothing more than her husband's property. They had the right to do anything. Of course, I would hate her...
- Oh, my child. He didn't want to scare her.
You know what they say about him...
- Are you going to tell me that you believe what they say? – Zagora's voice became weak even with Kassuim's magic sustaining him with magic. Something happened that did not bypass anyone. And it's not because of Faith...
Faite! The name brought a fresh stab of pain in his chest. If what the men said were true... She was alive.
- Do you think Faith might be alive?
The man coughed up blood.
- Child, did you hear what they said...
She blinked back tears. With stubborn stubbornness, she shook her head.
- I know where you took the Stone of Balthazar. You're not serious, Zagora. Faith is my sister.
And maybe, just maybe the ritual of the union of spells could be undone...
-By the gods, child. Did you hear what I said...
-It's still Faith! - she protested heatedly.
- She's not your sister anymore.
-Zagorra!
-She's been turned, Cassie.
Kassuim's stubbornness surfaced with intensity.
-You heard the rest too. She... She made it. She returned to human form. She's alone and lost and
-It's not possible. - You snap.
-Can not know. There are spells...
The man stared at her in bewilderment.
-Are you really thinking about using the Stone of Balthazar? - Her obstinacy made him sigh.
-It's ancient and forbidden magic, girl- he continues. – She is no more Faith than you Images. Humans who fully survive the transformation never come back.
-But the Morgans...
- You don't know the Morgan family. If the slightest chance, believe me. Wolves never leave their own.
She bit her lip.
- Will you defend Richard?
-I know Richard and Philip. Don't let your grudge...Philip Morgan was a traitor.
- But Faith...
- That's not why you ran away from him. And Richard Morgan sooner or later will find her. He will discover the wiles of the black order and its religious fanatics. Just stay away from Thalagar.
A young man shuddered. man, That one repulsed him.
-They're good people, Cassie. I know the Morgans.
She sighed. They said there was a curse that haunted the family.
Everyone commented on the strange things. In general, clan members married each other. Unexplained deaths of the youth of those lands. They were savage and barbaric. Rumors ran. The people of Glenhouse had given a name to what they were. The legends are so old... Only no one had seen one of them.·.
For decades all other clans avoided species contact. The people were supported by the riches made on the high seas. They were privateers to survive. Legend or not, everyone agreed that there was something strange about the Scarlet Woods. Forests and verdant meadows are not just home to animals. They spoke of bloodthirsty beasts.
Those beastly beasts to a world that she was a part of and that humans imagined existed. A world ravaged and ancient entities, powerful and extraordinary beings. Some held the forbidden practice of shape-shifting. And creatures like her. sorcerers.
They were rival and distinct species. The sorcerers were peaceful survivors, for years, after the great rebellion responsible for the expulsion of the rebels. - They had abolished the practice of war. At least those who had survived who had not been murdered or persecuted by the Successorium lived in hiding and seclusion.
-Ah, Zagorra... - Kassuim lamented. His head was also starting to throb. He was draining his life force with that spell she'd cast.
-He'll know. As soon as you see her. now his beauty will bring you some advantage perhaps.
He was delirious. It was impossible.
-Look at me. You can be sure I'm not the kind of woman who likes that man.
His ears were ringing. She was starting to feel a cold enveloping her.
Zagora's smile was gentle.
- Just promise child. Undo the spell, Kassuim You can't defer the power to follow and where you won't go me.
The stone of light that the young woman attached to her neck shone brightly and then her glow wavered. Kassuim takes a deep breath.
-Zagorra!
Oh God, he was dying… She felt it.
-Give him... Give him at least the merit of the doubt. - Those were your last words.