Moon Shimmers(63)

“Camille? Camille?” Smoky was running hard and fast through the trees. He made better time than if he had been on his horse. The hem of his jacket was flying behind him, and I wondered how it managed to avoid being caught on anything. But then again, as one of his dragon attributes, he never got dirty so it made sense that extended to more than cleanliness.

I held up my hand. “Over here.”

“Are you all right?” He skidded to a halt, his duster settling around his legs as he slowed.

“What?” His words sounded muffled until I realized it was due to my makeshift earplugs. I pulled the tissue out of my ears.

“I said, are you all right?”

“Oh, yeah. Annabelle just led me on a wild ride.” I pointed ahead. “What do you see?”

He frowned, squinting. “I’m not sure, but it looks like a blurry… Camille, what did you do?”

“How do you know I did anything?” As silly as it sounded, I was suddenly on the defense. My magic backfired so much that my family assumed any mishap could be attributed to a misplaced spell.

“Do I really have to answer that?” He laughed, but then turned back to the still-blurry glade. “What happened?”

I told him about Annabelle sprinting because of the creatures and how we had raced through the woods till the kelpies began luring us in. “So once she began to calm down, I was able to cast a spell. Which backfired. Maybe. Just a little.”

“You blurred them out? Are they in a different dimension or did you just mangle everybody’s vision?” Smoky headed over to take a look, ducking away from me before I could smack his shoulder for teasing me. As he neared the glade, I realized he was staying perfectly clear against the background.

“You’re not blurry.”

“Good. I don’t want to be.” He reached out. “Tree trunks are still here. I think you just cast a general obstruction spell.”

It was then that I remembered the creatures who had chased me here in the first place. “Wait—what were those beasts and is everybody okay?”

“Everybody is fine. Shade, Delilah, and I managed to take them down. They’re some form of overgrown carnivorous rodent. Gigantic rats.” Smoky was still focused on the trees. “I think we should take a look at the ponds. It’s off our itinerary, but kelpies prey on others.”

I didn’t want to go hunt down the kelpies and I didn’t want to chance having to fight them. But I knew he was right. They were a danger to anybody passing through, and the next group of travelers might not be able to fight them off, let alone know the kelpies were a threat.

“All right. Giant rats, you say?”

“Not exactly but close enough.” He returned to the side of my horse. “Wait here. Put those earplugs back in. I’ll summon the others. They’re only a ten-minute ride—run—away, but I can go through the Ionyc Sea so I’ll be right back, and they’ll follow.” Before I could say a word, he vanished, blinking out of sight.

With a sigh, I replaced my makeshift earplugs, stuffing the tissue inside my ears again. Sighing, I decided that the kelpies were going to pay for this distraction.





SMOKY WAS GOOD to his word. He returned a couple moments later, and told me the others were on the way. I stayed astride Annabelle at his request.

“Where’s your horse?”

“They’re bringing him. I didn’t want to scare the poor beast by bringing him through the Ionyc Sea. It’s hard enough for a horse to handle a dragon rider, but the Ionyc Sea? That would probably give the creature a heart attack.”

We waited for another ten minutes, Smoky relentlessly patrolling the area while he insisted I stay on Annabelle. I liked the horse, but was aching to get off her back. Literally, my legs felt like they were one accidental contraction away from going into spasm.

Finally, I ignored what my dear dragon had ordered and slid off of the saddle in a somewhat less than graceful manner. But at least I was on the ground. The cramps hit the moment I tried to walk over to Smoky’s side. I groaned, bending to place my hands on my knees as I tried to breathe through the wave of charley horses that rippled along my legs.

“Crap. Why didn’t I plan for this and take some time to get in shape. We could have rented horses and built up stamina but no, I didn’t even think about how we might be traveling to find the Maharata-Vashi.” I grumbled on, pretty much a broken record, until we heard voices as the others broke through the foliage, joining us.

Delilah took one look at my face and was off her horse. Although the aches and pains were also hitting her, she was a lot more fit than I was. A lot more fit than I’d ever be. She hurried over to me.