Page 53 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“The wall in my territory was human-made,” Anwar said as he and Jahara came over to them. It was strange to see him dressed basically in a Patagonia fleece and chinos with boots. Anytime Caden had seen pictures of him he was in silks.Anwar looked just as handsome as always but more approachable.He went on, “An ancient wall, to be sure, but definitely human-made.”
“It could have been Shifters who made the walls.Making walls isn’t hard!”Tez said, but with a grimace.“Though why anyone would do that, I don’t know.This is an awful thing.”
“I suppose that is true about who could have made it.”Anwar frowned and stroked his chin.“But they can’t possibly benormalwalls. I mean the evidence is clear that they aren’t.”
Anwar gestured to the limbs protruding from the wall.In a sick way, Caden was reminded of ancient Greek statues.
“Even if humans or Shifters made the walls perhaps they were guided to do so by forces they didn’t understand, by the Spirits themselves,” Jahara mused.Her eyes flitted over the surface.“There’s somethingsacredabout this wall.”
“Sacred?!”Caden burst out.
She turned towards him, her expression immediately regretful.“Not sacred as in good, Caden.It’s just… there’s a feeling of--”
“It’s like a temple,” Anwar filled in for her.“I cannot explain it either.The wall is smooth and level… There is nothing unique about it. But it feels like the wall of a place of worship and yet we know that this place never could have been that because Valerius raised it from the earth thirty-years ago.”
“And no one would be daft enough to come to his mountains,” Tez agreed as he fussed with the collar of his shirt.
Caden looked at the figures that weresubmergedin the stone as if it had become liquid and they were drowning in it.
“A temple towhat?Death?Destruction?The Behemoth?”Caden spat then he grimaced as he saw the other Dragon Shifters flinch. “I’m sorry, you guys.That wasn’t… I know what you meant and I just…”
Jahara cupped his cheek.“Landry is your friend.And we’re acting as if this is some kind of intellectual exercise.While you are dealing with… her loss. I’m sorry, Caden.”
Her loss… everyone thinks this can’t be undone.Are they right?
“Shewasmy friend.”Caden was surprised at how his throat closed up on those words and tears suddenly burned behind his eyes.“I don’t know if she continued to be in the end.Or was she really working with Humans First or… Now I may never know.”
Jahara nodded and embraced him.He was stiff at first, but then leaned into her.She stroked his back.He squeezed his eyes tight for a moment.Tears leaked out and his chest seized.He didn’t want to cry.If he did that would mean that Landry was never coming back.That he had given up hope.
She rocked him and slowly the tension eased out of him.Finally, he could draw in a breath and he pulled back.She gazed at him with such tenderness that he couldn’t help but give her a smile back.Iolaire twittered softly at Jahara.
“I heard that, Iolaire.I love you, too,” Jahara said, dabbing at her eyes.
Kaila was openly weeping while Anwar’s eyes, too, were a little brighter than normal. Tez was a burbling mess which had Caden giving the Golden Dragon King a hug.
“Eldoron is grief-stricken for you,” Tez said.
“I wouldn’t want Eldoron doing anything but smiling, Tez,” Caden told him.“Landry didn’t end up in this terrible place accidentally. Whether she was here as a hero or… or one of enemies, I’m not quite sure.But I won’t forget her either way.”
“She is not the only one that was taken by the wall,” Jahara stated.“I wonder if Jasper Hawes is here.”
Only Landry’s face was visible on the wall.The others were half covered, only a nose, a cheek, a chin, an open mouth stuck out.Any one of themcouldhave been Jasper, but Caden didn’t think he was there.
“He always seems to be somewhere else when the really bad stuff goes down,” Caden said. “But Landry’s brothers could be in there with her.Oh, man, if that’s true… her whole family…”
He bit his lower lip. He had no love for Landry’s brothers and her parents had always struck him as not terribly nice people.But to lose all their children was too cruel for him to wish upon anyone.
“Sorry again, guys, for freaking out there.I’m more of a mess than I thought about this,” he told them and scrubbed his face.He felt slightly better.He avoided looking at Landry though.
“All of this is not right.Who could not be a mess?The natural world is out of balance,” Kaila said and patted his shoulder.
He nodded.“That about sums it up, Kaila.”
“How did Humans First come to find this place and why were they here?”Jahara asked, hands on hips as she surveyed the wall again.“From the television interviews of Jasper Hawes I have seen, I find it difficult to imagine him figuring out all of this.”
“Yeah, he’s cunning, but not this kind of smart,” Caden agreed.“I just can’t see how Humans First and the Faith are related to the Behemoth?”
“I think I may have some insight into that,” Mei called.
