Cloud Riders(64)

Aldebaran turned the focus on her face. She was sitting quietly now, waiting for the others to return. He zoomed in on her face and felt a flood of emotion flow through him, an emotion he had not felt for years. He had followed this child through her entire life only getting rare glimpses of her from time to time when she went outside in the garden. Why she wasn’t like other children and did not play outside daily was beyond him. It never even gave him time to snatch her up which is what he would have done given the chance. Her powers would have been so much more advanced if he had been able to get his hands on her for even just a short time. She certainly wouldn’t be on the side of Zoren’s sickening bunch of do-gooders.

He swore loudly and kicked over a stool in his way. ‘I won’t kill her just yet, Conom but whether you like it or not I’m taking her now. And she’ll damned well come to me even if I have to bloody drug her, the traitorous little bitch. I’ll show her which side of the fence she should be playing on and she will damned well listen. Not like her wretch of a mother.’

Conom was quiet for a minute and Aldebaran thought he must have gone. That was until he heard his very quiet and controlled voice come over the radio. ‘I can sense you know this female well, Aldebaran but I’m warning you, buddy, I’ll not stand by and let you murder one so young when she has caused no damage other than delay the inevitable. Just send another, Ald. Be very careful how you handle this. I’ll be watching so make sure she’s returned unharmed.’

‘Just great. You can screw with their minds and treat them all like whores and yet with this one you suddenly grow a damned conscience. I really don’t get you, Conom. Why is this one different?’

‘Look at her. So faithful, waiting patiently, not even a movement. She’s like a little doll. Please tell me if that ain’t a quality worth saving. Play nice, Ald.’

Aldebaran threw the headset off him and chucked it up against the wall. ‘Get me my potion book, now!’ he yelled angrily at the servant standing by the door. He was furious Conom was going to make him return her. Aldebaran rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration. He was preparing to give them all a nasty bloody shock. ‘She will come to me,’ he growled so loudly that the walls shook with the intensity of his voice. Aldebaran’s hands were shaking and he knew he had to calm down. He would scare the crap out of her, projecting the emotional energy within him.





Cassandra and Evil Merge


All Cassie could hear now was the gentle, light swoosh of Starburst’s wings as they gently moved to keep them in position. She finally heard Kayden’s voice as just a whisper. He must have been a long way out still and as he spoke, his words became clearer and she now recognised he was shrieking an order.

Cassie, look out behind you! Get out of there!

She swung around just as black veiling covered her, making everything dark. With great courage she calmed herself, imagining it off her but to no avail. Even striking it with her hand and trying to blow it off did nothing. It was as if it were a black nothingness, except she knew it was something supernatural, more powerful than the magic she possessed. Cassie and Starburst were being transported and she didn’t have a clue where. The best she could hope for was that the others were following.

She was unable to even hear Kayden anymore so the unexplained cover must have blocked him out as well. Starburst and Cassie finally came to a stop. As visibility came back to her she found they were in the middle of a huge room. It was obviously a castle and the realisation that the wizard had just kidnapped them frightened the bejesus out of her. Big strong men twice her size with strange heads and big bones showing through their faces pointed weapons at her. She put her hands up to push the ugly boneheads away and again nothing happened. Her mouth was dry from fear as she panicked, not knowing what she could do to protect her and her horse.

It was then she heard a laugh: a sarcastic, I-have-you-right-where-I-want-you laugh. ‘Your powers are useless here, so don’t bother.’

Cassie looked around for the man behind the laugh but it seemed to flow all around her.

‘I’ve been waiting many years for you to come home to me, Cassandra.’

She spotted movement and swung her head in the direction of the staircase. There, coming down them was a big man in his early thirties with an amused look in his eyes. His clothes were of the finest quality and the smoker’s jacket he wore, he tossed aside as he walked towards her. He had lots of hair around his face and his beard hung down, unruly yet trimmed neatly on the sides. A wizard with a goatee. It almost made her smile. Now closer, she wondered if she knew him. How did he know her? He looked familiar and yet not.