“Take me with you.” Arista grabbed Alora’s arm.
Alora heard Laethan’s words just before she transported. “Wait! You can’t go anywhere.”
She moved them to the small clearing near the camp. Beth exclaimed with joy when they appeared. “You’re safe! I’m so glad you’re here. They told me to wait here with the horses until the battle was over. Then I get to do first aid. Or, if we lose, I guess I’m supposed to just run for my life. Why are you here, though? I thought you
were supposed to be in Laegenshire.”
“I came back to help. Can you stay with Kaevin? He’s here so I can recharge if I need to.”
“Awesome,” said Beth. “Kaevin can defend me if someone comes. I got this sword from that unconscious guy over there—one of Vindrake’s men.”
“You keep the sword,” said Kaevin. “Vindrake broke most of my fingers.”
Loud shouts and clashing metal reverberated from nearby. “I’m going to see what’s happening,” declared Arista, disappearing toward the battle sounds.
“Alora, you should grab that guy’s bow and arrows. Someone could use them—someone like Wesley or Arista.” Beth was using her bossy voice, but Alora was glad of it. She was too tired to think creatively.
“Kaevin, will you be okay here?” asked Alora. “I can pop over if I need a kiss. Okay?” He nodded as she gave him one last fervent kiss, grabbed the bow and quiver, and hurried after Arista.
She stopped out of sight and took in the scene before her. Vindrake’s men had been outnumbered—Morvaen’s men should have been winning. But some of Stone Clan seemed to be missing. Where were they? She saw Morvaen in the middle of the fray, but she couldn’t find Wesley or her Uncle Charles. Fearing they were lying wounded and dying somewhere, she transported them both to her.
Immediately, they were standing in front of her looking quite dazed and confused. “Where were you? Are you okay? Were you injured?”
“I feel like I did after I got my wisdom teeth out—my head is all crazy.” Wesley shook his head vigorously.
“I think we were drugged or something,” said Charles. “There were others... and we were waiting... for something...”
“Yeah,” Wesley agreed. “We were supposed to wait for someone’s orders, I think.”
“Where were you? Where are the others?” asked Alora.
“I don’t know,” Charles said, scratching his head. “Raelene was there, I think.”
Alora pulled her lip into her mouth to chew on it. What should she do? “Wesley, can you take these arrows and use them? You both lost your other weapons when I transported you.”
“I’ve still got two ceramic knives,” corrected Charles.
“Okay, Uncle Charles. You and I can look for Raelene.”
She reached out to take her uncle’s hand when Wesley called out, “Wait! If you go to Raelene, you might come under the same effect. It could be some kind of gas or something.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Alora said. “Okay, I’ll jump to her and straight back here.”
During the short time Alora was standing in front of Raelene in the middle of the small group of warriors, she could hear the sounds of fighting close by. She returned immediately and felt no ill effects.
“I saw an open space close by,” she said. “I’m gonna take you with me this time, Uncle Charles, and then bounce away from the group. And we’ll figure out what to do.”
She saw Wesley had already nocked an arrow and was kneeling just outside of the clearing, waiting for an opportunity to shoot without injuring one of Morvaen’s men or women.
She grabbed her uncle’s hand, moved to Raelene, and quickly moved into the small clearing close by. They observed Raelene and ten other Stone Clan warriors who were standing clumped together, holding their weapons, gazing intently toward... nothing. But all of them were looking in the same direction. There simply wasn’t anything there.
“I’m going to bring Raelene here. Okay?”
“Go ahead,” said Charles. “I don’t know what they’re doing, but I guess I was doing the same thing a few minutes ago.”
Alora moved her grandmother to the clearing beside her uncle. They watched as Realene blinked hard a few times, rubbing her eyes. “Where are we?”
“We just took you away from that group over there, Grandmother. What’s wrong? Can we run over there and wake everyone up? Or is it some kind of gas or something? Will we all go into a trance if we run over there?”