He started to answer, then tilted his head and, with a tone of surprise, said, “You have a visitor.”
My brows wrinkled. How was that possible?
Without another word, he walked to the door where Loelle was waiting on the other side. “Stay ready,” he mumbled to her. “I’m told there is some unrest.”
Then he widened the door, and almost instantly, I felt a new presence in the room, something warm and loving, something familiar.
“Darrow?”
I couldn’t see or hear him, but I knew he was there.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Joth nodded sideways. “Beside me. He’s staring at you, Kestra.”
My eyes filled with tears, and I turned to about where Darrow would be. With a quick glance at Joth, I said, “I’m going to heal him.”
“He’s different than the others here,” Joth said. “He was cursed differently, so there is more … substance to him. Yet it will be harder than you think to restore your father, requiring more than you alone can give.”
I immediately understood where this was going. “But if you and I were connected, then I could do it, is that the plan?” Joth hesitated, and I stepped closer to him. “I will not be forced into this!”
“I didn’t bring him here! He came …” Joth cocked his head again. “Wait. Something has happened.” He started toward the door, but Loelle opened it first.
“I hear noises,” she said. “Oropods. They’re inside the forest!”
Joth held up his hand for silence, listened with a growing tension in his eyes, then said, “The Dominion has breached the forest boundaries. We are doing our best to stop them, but there are so many, we can only slow them down.”
“We’ve got to get Kestra out of here,” Loelle said.
“Not without my father!” I was firm on this point. “What do we need to do? I’ll connect with you now.”
“Not like this,” Joth said. “I won’t do it this way.”
An oropod screech sounded in the distance. Far away, but not far enough. Loelle grimaced, then held out her arm to me. “Take what you need to restore your father,” she said. “Hurry!”
I held out my hand, and Joth told me that Darrow had placed his hand against mine, something I felt in my heart rather than on my skin. As quickly as possible, I sent strength to him, gradually feeling warmth against my palm as a faint image of my father appeared. Drawing from Loelle, I continued to give to him, though I was fading fast, and I was terrified of taking too much from Loelle.
The faint image of my father gradually grew in presence, like a person emerging from a fog. As soon as I saw the light in his eyes, I fell to my knees and released Loelle, whom Joth caught before she fainted entirely. While he helped Loelle to a bed, Darrow knelt beside me, touching my face with his fingers, then wrapping his arms around me.
“I thought I’d never see you again through living eyes,” he whispered.
Tears ran down my cheeks, though I was too empty to return his embrace. I only said, “I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I was saying it, only that I knew I needed to.
Another screech cut through the darkness, though this one was different from before. Darrow stood and ran to Joth’s door, cracking it
open.
“I’ve called the others to come.” Joth began strapping any weapons he could to himself. “They’ll guard my home for as long as we need them to, but that won’t help us escape.”
“An escape is available to at least one of us,” Darrow said, widening the door. “And I think it’s you, Kestra.”
Directly outside the door was a dragon, noticeably larger than the giant condors in Lord Endrick’s service. Its scales were silver and more reflective than the finest mirrors. Its eyes were large and intelligent and as focused on me as when Simon used to look my way. The dragon crouched low, as if waiting for a rider.
Loelle must have seen it too, for she sat up on one arm and said, “Trina rode with us when we left Nessel. At that time, she told us that Simon had saved a Rawkyren. Do you suppose—”
“He sent this animal to find me,” I whispered. “I think I’m supposed to ride it out of here.”
“You can’t go alone,” Loelle said. “As weak as you are, you’ll fall to your death. Joth, you must go too.”