The Drifting Read online

  The Drifting

  A Novel

  By

  L. Filloon

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © by L. Filloon November 2012

  All Rights Reserve

  Publicist - Stormi Johnson @ [email protected]

  Edited by Hollie Westring @ [email protected]

  Cover Art by Char Adlesperger @ [email protected]

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Acknowledgement

  A special thanks to the following:

  Anthony Stevens, for your unrelenting support and encouragement. I could not have done it without you. I love you. Jennifer Guevarra, for the foresight to see what I could not see and threaten to kick my butt if I did not see it now! Love you, Sis. Shaniqua, for being there when it counts and being crazy right along with me…guuurrrlll, I got $20!!

  I want to also thank the best ladies to ever come along in my short writing career:

  Stormi Johnson, my publicist for being there from the very beginning. I could not have done it without you. You always know what to say…thank you. And thank you for all the hard work on The Velesi Trilogy.

  Hollie Westring, my editor for allowing me to be as creative as I want to be and throwing out the lifeline when the water gets insanely choppy. Thank you for all the great work, the great advice and for not giving up on me.

  For Afatia Christina

  My heart.

  ~ * ~

  Chapter One

  ~ Lily ~

  I can no longer hear their voices. The drumming of the heavy rain is all around me, keeping rhythm with the quick tempo of my heart. The large elf before me grips my shoulders tightly, but it’s the fear that keeps me in place. He raises his head listening for any sound other than that of the rhythmic downpour. Terrified, I watch his eyes – eyes like Tharin's. And for a brief moment, I desperately want to believe it is Tharin who’s holding me close against him. As I continue to stare in silence, he takes his time scanning the area under the cover of the dense jungle where I now find myself scared and alone…with a mad elf.

  I glance down at the black stone embedded into the back of my wrist, black ink-like markings slowly seeping from it. Thoughts of calling Cessa are tempting, but I witnessed firsthand how fast my captor can move when he took me from Tharin’s side. He pulled us through the doorway into Velesi, leaving Tharin stunned with a look of shock and bewilderment on his face. I just can’t risk Cessa being cut down in front of me. Tharin loves that cat, and she’s all I have of him now. Not only that, but I’ve grown to care very much for her since our first meeting three nights ago.

  The stranger suddenly turns to me, making me jump. His eyes, like those of the elf I am doomed to love, stare back at me filled with arrogance and triumph. I take in this elf’s size and the sharply pointed ears, reminding me I’m not safe, not by a long shot.

  Without thinking, I swat his hand away when he reaches toward my face. Holding my breath, I freeze, waiting for the first strike to come. He gives me a raised brow instead and actually smiles. Somehow that scares me more than if he had struck me. He reaches out again, this time it takes everything I have not to flinch. Instead of touching my cheek, however, he reaches for my hair. With a quick movement, he flicks it back and takes hold of my ear, slowly tracing its outline. His hands are large and rough, but his touch is gentle. I start to shiver, not so much from the rain and cold, but from fear.

  Removing his hand, he stares down at me, “Don’t worry, Princess. I promise not to hurt you as long as you do as I say.”

  I try hard not to look scared, and I swallow the fear I can’t shake despite his promise. He lets go of me and steps away. I stand shivering as he takes his time looking me over. His silent assessment becomes uncomfortable and without thinking, “Ple...please don’t call me that. My name is Lily.”

  Another raised brow is his response followed by a crooked grin. I wrap my arms around myself to hide my fear, looking anywhere but at him. I continue to shiver, although the coat Tharin gave me is warm. After a moment, he reaches for the clasp at his neck and takes off his cape. Stepping forward, he wraps it around me, taking his time. The cape falls above his knees, but it falls to my ankles and hangs like a tent. He reaches behind me and pulls the hood over my head, covering it completely. I look up at him and see he’s wearing a longer cape that I didn’t notice before. Now hidden, I feel his eyes on me again as he remains close, and the urge to step away becomes overwhelming. Before I can make a move, however, he grabs me by my wrist, turns and drags me after him.

  I try to look beyond the large hood at the jungle that seems to reach out at me, like hands trying to pull me into their shadows. Finally, keeping my head down, I do my best to keep up with my captor’s long strides. We stay within the dark cover, making our way quietly from where we came through the doorway.

  I think back on when I gave the stranger my name. It didn’t escape me that he purposely ignored giving me his. Somehow not knowing his name makes him seem even more dangerous, which is probably his intent. Perhaps I can find a stone, hit him on the back of his head, and then when he’s down I can hit him again to make sure he won’t get up – and then run like hell back the way I came. I peer up past his massive shoulders. That’s a pretty thick neck and an even bigger head. Hitting him probably wouldn’t knock him out, just piss him off. Besides, I don’t think I can reach up that high.

  I think hard of another way to escape, but I find myself lost in my thoughts of Tharin. I’m so confused about how I’m feeling that I have to shake my head hard to try to clear it. I take a deep breath and release it slowly. I have to get a hold of myself. Of course I had to leave him. It was only a matter of time. I had to get away from Tharin or he would have gone through with the wedding, and would have been miserable for the rest of his life. A sob catches at my throat as the full impact of how deeply I feel for him hits me again. I love him…and I wish this truth had remained hidden. I want to go back to being ignorant of it because knowing it has left a piece of me with him. No matter where I am, I will always feel as if something inside me is missing.

  I didn’t realize that my captor had stopped, and I bump into him hard. He catches me before I lose my footing on the wet, muddy ground. Without warning, he pulls me to a nearby tree and pins me against it. The hood of the cape is huge on me and it covers half my face from his view. Still, he’s close enough that it doesn’t matter.

  “I haven’t touched you, why are you crying?” he asks quietly.

  I blink at him for a moment, trying to understand what he’s asking. It takes me another second to realize what has just happened. So, he sensed I was crying, but I didn’t even realize I was. And with that thought, something inside me snaps. The idea of being kidnapped by him and being humiliated like this pisses me off. Just because I’m short and small doesn’t give him or anyone else the right to treat me like a rag doll. Furious, and without thought, I grab him and drive my knee upward catching him between the legs. With a surprised and painful look on his face, he immediately drops me as he grabs himself and sinks to the ground. I take two steps, but fall flat on my face thanks to the slippery terrain. I try to get up on my knees to make a run for it as I struggle against the rain, the mud and the oversized cape. I almost make it, too. He catches me by my ankle causing me to hit the
ground hard, this time hitting my head as my hands slip from under me.

  I become lightheaded and my vision wavers as the rain starts to pour harder, cutting through the leafy canopy above us. I feel myself being dragged backward by my ankle until large hands grab my shoulders. I find myself face to face with him as he shakes me. “Stop it, Lily. You’re going to get us killed,” he says through clenched teeth. The hit to the head along with exhaustion causes everything around me to become blurry and unfocused. I have to get away…get back to the others.

  I shake the dizziness off and with a burst of angry energy, I drive the palm of my hand toward his jaw, but he easily evades it. He quickly takes control of my hands, trapping them in only one of his. From my kneeling position, I drop my butt to the ground bringing my legs up attempting to kick him in the stomach and face. He wraps his free arm around one of my knees and yanks me forward, so I’m now straddling him in an upright position. He tries to hold me still as I continue to struggle. With one smooth move he turns us over, slamming me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me and putting his full weight on my chest. I attempt to suck in more air when his large hand clasps hard over my mouth, his body going still. I try to shake free of his grip when mud slips past my lips causing me to gag. I glare at his profile as he stares off to the side, momentarily distracted. I continue to struggled, panicking now as I slowly suffocate under his weight and from his heavy hand over my mouth.

  I freeze immediately when he turns and angrily glares me into stillness. He casts his eyes out to where he was staring and then shifts them back to catch mine. Together, we look to the side, each unmoving until the only thing breathing is the rain itself. At first there’s nothing, and time seems to stand still as we lay frozen in the pouring rain. When I finally think I can’t take his weight or his hand over my mouth any longer, he throws his arm over me and lowers his head so that we’re cheek to cheek. I go still again, terror pounding at my chest. We continue to look through the thick foliage in silence…and then they are there.

  The first two large shadows appear as if out of thin air, walking only a few feet from where we lay. Three more follow the last shadow that is smaller than the others. This one pauses for a moment and everything around me seems to come to a standstill, including the rain. The others come to a stop as well. I shut my eyes tight, afraid that we would be found if I focus on them too long like I did with the Demlok. After what seems like an eternity, I peek with one eye to see the smaller figure finally turn, pulling the others along. No words come from them, only silent silhouettes that send a wave of fear though my already overwrought body.

  Without moving his head my captor whispers, “If we’re found, we’re dead.” Shifting his eyes to me, “Do you understand?” His serious tone pins me in place, while my heart beats loudly in my ears. Moving slowly, I lift my hand to tap the back of his hand that’s still over my mouth. He turns his head slightly to look at me fully and finally realizes he’s suffocating me. He releases me slowly and we stare at each for a moment. He shifts slightly so his weight is off to the side of me, but he keeps me in place with one of his legs. I let out a long breath, taking in another and letting it fill me completely while trying not to gag. The freakishly large elf still had his head over mine watching the area where the figures had passed. Despite our situation, and although he covers me from the rain above, all I can think about is mud, dirt and whatever else the rain brought to the surface having a field day in my hair. Random thoughts…I can’t help it. It’s like a defense mechanism that protects me from completely losing my mind and freaking out.

  After what seem like hours, my captor finally eases off me and slowly rises, but I remain motionless – too afraid to move. He kneels above me, listening to the jungle around us before standing. I lay waiting, staring up at him. From this position he looks imposing and dangerous, but not as dangerous as the shadowed figures. He then looks down at me and offers his hand. Without him hovering over me any longer, the rain rat-tat-tat-tats a symphony on my face. I take his hand slowly, looking around as he helps me up. Everything seems to be as it was, except for the grey wolf now standing beside my captor.

  Startled, my hand catches at my chest trying to stop my heart from leaping out of it. At this rate, my wet, muddied hair will be completely grey by nightfall. The wolf stares up at me with its head cocked to one side, a bemused look on its face as if it read my thoughts. It looks like the wolf I saw back at Crowfoot Mountain when Alorn was poisoned, but somehow I know it’s not the same wolf. I’m startled out of my thoughts when I feel the prick on the inside of the wrist my captor still holds. I turn to see a tiny drop of blood where it was pierced before the rain washes it away. I look at my kidnapper’s hand and between his large fingers he holds a small wooden thorn stripped of its casing. I glance up to catch his eye and he gives me something close to a look of apology. “I’m sorry, Princess. It’s the only way I can get you to safety without being discovered.”

  As my legs suddenly go rubbery, the world around me seems to shift sideways. Before the darkness takes me fully, I hear myself say, “You son-of-a-biscui…”

  ~ * ~

  Chapter Two

  ~ Tharin ~

  Lily’s face flashes through my mind in a continuous loop. It ends with the look of terror when Ziri stole her from my side. When I think it’s finally over, the loop starts again.

  Ziri. After the rage had subsided, thoughts of how the Lithi found us plagued me when they weren’t filled with Lily. How did he find a doorway to the mortal’s world? More importantly, he or someone with him knew how to perform the summoning to pass through the doorway…but he was alone. The Lithi are known for their tracking abilities, even more skilled than some of the best Sidhe trackers. However, there is no way that he could have known where to start at Crowfoot Mountain without help. Only a Sidhe Summoner of royal bloodline can do a summoning or a very well-trained Caller like Phoris. More importantly, there are only a few in our circle who knew of our plans to return Lily back to Velesi.

  Even through the drumming of the rain I can hear Julia’s exhausted pleas to continue searching for Lily. I glance over at the shelter that Tolan called forth from the jungle a few feet from me. Should anyone come by, he would miss the shelter altogether as it stands camouflaged in the middle of the jungle. The roof is made of giant palm leaves of the aolema trees growing unimpeded, strewn together by the thick, coarse maki vines.

  Tolan had called upon the roots of the large kavi trees that stand tall with trunks the sizes of two barns, some even bigger. We would be sheltered within the kavi, but here in Velesi unless someone does the summoning with Phoris’ skills and talent, any who are not Sidhe are not welcomed within their shelter. So Tolan asked for whatever protection the jungle would allow us. The kavi tree may not house us because of Julia, but it would answer Tolan’s calling by providing its roots for our use. His efforts produce a small shelter, dry and warm thanks to the panswa available to us. When we’re ready to leave, the vines, leaves and roots will untangle from each other and return back to their natural state.

  I glance over at Julia as she continues to argue with Tolan. She has placed an invisible barrier distancing her from him with each second that passes between them. Once she was calmed, Tolan convinced her we would find Lily, but we had to use our heads. When she agreed she wanted to know how we would track them in this rain, but most importantly, she wanted to know who Ziri was and why he took Lily.

  I watch as Julia finally sits quietly listening to what Tolan has to say. I can sense her withdrawal even from where I stand. Whatever our first impression of Julia may have been, she’s not that person now. She seems small, lost and fragile.

  Lily. The loop starts up again. I close my eyes as flashes of her image run through my mind once more. I should have told her how I felt when we were at the last shelter. How could I have ever believed Kalis was the one for me? I know now that even if we weren’t bound by the Binding, she will always be the one. I would never let her go. A
nd, yet, that is exactly what I did. I let her hand go and I can’t remember why. Why did I release her hand?

  Then it hits me.

  I reach inside of my coat and pull out the Manui statue. I watch in amazement as it disintegrates immediately when the rain hits it. As the statue melts away, the small box the soldier was holding also dissolves, but not entirely. The rust and aged algae continue to wash away like black ashes. Now clean, the perfect cube pops open. Inside is a black onyx stone, something like the Malainisi; round cut and weighty. I can see the Sidhe runes…gold markings embedded into the stone. I squint trying to read the scripture, but although it’s Sidhe, it’s unfamiliar to me. I stare at it as it mockingly gleams back at me until the pieces finally fall into place.

  The old couple…the shape-shifters. Back at Crowfoot Mountain they came to me in their wolf forms and insisted I give the statue to Lily. Was it their intent that I give it to her at the doorway – the moment before Ziri snatched her from me? The thoughts start coming fast, swirling inside my head and more questions appear. Why didn’t they take our offer of shelter at our last stop? Was it they who lead Ziri to us? Ziri is fast, but he doesn’t have our speed, our ability to run miles within an hour.

  Suddenly, it’s as if someone flipped a switch and turned off the sound to the rain. The air stills and despite the downpour, all is quiet. I’ve let my thoughts and frustrations distract me and left us open to danger. With Tolan’s own attention on Julia, we forgot to protect ourselves.

  I didn’t sense the five attackers until the release of their daggers. Instinctively, I spin to my right as four daggers from all directions shoot out at me. I hear the pull of tightly strung bows behind me as I come out of my spin and into a diving roll. Tazo, now in my hands, comes to life and even the rain can’t put out her fire. Arrows and more daggers are deflected off her – the distinctive sound of contact rings about me. As I come up in a ready stance, Tolan appears at my side, the twin silver chains of Odessa hanging loosely from his hands. I place a shield around us, but I know it will do little, as among the hidden five is a kikta – an orc witch. A witch of any breed of Velesi has his or her own special abilities. Unfortunately, you won’t know what those abilities are until they’re used. A powerful kikta can take down a Sidhe’s shield and I can feel the strong black magic from this one.