Page 47 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“That’s why it’shere,” Caden said.“It knows that it's safe so long as it's by people.Yourpeople.”
They didn’t get a chance to speak more as there was a wounded cry from a bird.Both their heads jerked up to see asinglefalcon returning.It was flying almost as if it were drunk, but Caden realized that it was injured.
The falcon shifted twenty feet from the ground and Celestine would have plummeted to further injury, but Valerius moved and caught her before she hit the earth.Blood was coming out of her mouth, nose, ears and even eyes.
“Celestine!”Valerius cried.
“Here!Lay her down on the table!”Caden urged as he swept the platters of food off onto the ground so that Valerius could gently place Celestine’s body on the surface.
Celestine opened her mouth to speak, but only more blood bubbled out.
“Shhhh, shhhh, don’t try to speak,” Valerius said as he tipped her head to the side so that she wouldn’t asphyxiate on her own blood.
But Celestine clawed at Valerius’ front as she forced the words out between bloody froth, “W-wall.D-death.”
Wall Of Death
The helicopter’s blades spun up and the backwash of air nearly ripped open Valerius’ robe.Not that it would have mattered.He and Caden were about to shift so the robes would be shed in moments.But he had to see Celestine taken back to Reach safely first.
After speaking those same two words as Landry had, “wall” and “death”, she had fallen unconscious.None of the other Falcon shifters had returned to give them more information.He had not expected they would, because Celestine would not have left her people behind if they had been saveable.Hopefully, it was not too late for her as well.
“We’re doing this together, Valerius,” Caden said as he shielded his eyes from the downwards blast of the rotor blades. “I’m going with you no matter what.”
Valerius sighed.The desire to protect Caden was as strong as always, but the thought of leaving him behind only filled him with dread. He saw Raziel and Iolaire leaning against one another.They would not be parted either.
“I don’t want you out of my sight,” Valerius confessed.
Caden’s eyebrows rose and his lips parted slightly.“I expected you to fight me on this after what happened to Celestine and the other Falcon shifters!”
Valerius cupped Caden’s face.“I want us to be by each other’s sides from now on.That is the only way I will know you are safe.”
“And vice versa!”Caden agreed, nodding before moving his head to the side to kiss Valerius’ right palm. It was a feather-light kiss, but it burned as if tattooed upon his flesh.
The throaty sound of the helicopter was now a faintchop-chopin the distance.Both of them gazed after the now small-looking craft as it headed for one of Reach’s best hospitals.
“Do you think Celestine will be all right?”Caden asked.Valerius saw him swallow deeply.
Valerius did not know.Celestine had used all of her strength to report back to them.But he knew she was strong and had an iron will.
“I believe she will make it, if anyone can make it,” Valerius said.
“She didn’t have any wounds on her, but she was bleeding out inside,” Caden said with a shudder.“I mean I’m no doctor, but that wasn’t right.”
Valerius nodded, agreeing with him.“Perhaps poison…”
The Behemoth’s many heads had various abilities.One of them could have very well gassed the Falcon shifters causing such terrible damage.
“Illarion’s poison breath can have similar properties,” Valerius added.
If he hadn’t known that Illarion was at High Reach right now by Chione’s side, he would have thought that the Green Dragon Shifter was responsible for this.But from the battle that Raziel had shown them, it was clear that there were variations on the gifts that each of them had reflected in the other trapped Dragons.He wondered what the Behemoth itself could do.Were its abilities simply to entrap the other Dragon Spirits?Or did it have other powers as well? Or maybe what had happened to Celestine was nothing like what he was thinking at all.
Valerius took his cell phone out of his robe’s pocket and called Chione back, but it was not his Councillor that answered, but Tilly instead.
“King Valerius!”she greeted him, sounding quite professional as she did so.Clearly, Chione had found a mentee in Caden’s sister. “Chione is coordinating with the hospital for Celestine’s arrival so I’m answering her calls.What can I do for you?Hey! HEY!Cut it out, King Illarion!”
Illarion’s voice could be heard rising in the background, “Get back here, little girl!I wish to speak to Valerius!He will not leave us in the dark and--where are you going?”There was the sound of tapping feet and then some heavy breathing.“You think hiding underneath that table will stop me?”
“Tilly, are you okay?”Caden asked, eyes flashing white for a moment.
