“Help! Please, help us!”
The male shouts came the morning of the planned party and had Ryker cursing up a storm even as he ran outside. Darius, Axel, and Beyden were already outside, having been on watch and they all had their scythes out and pointed in the direction of the calls of distress. Ryker didn’t relax when he saw the familiar faces of Leo and Lawson rounding the corner because his eyes immediately latched onto what they were carrying between them. It was a shrivelled, shell of a man and Ryker realised with sickening clarity that it was their liege – Caspian.
“Max! Max!” He knew his voice sounded panicked – not really a good trait in a Captain or boyfriend for that matter. But Caspian had become a very good friend of the household and Ryker thought of the younger man almost like a little brother. Before Max came along, selling Caspian some of his land had been one of the first – and only – good deeds he had achieved since losing Flint.
“What happened?” Max’s horrified voice came from behind him.
“He’s been drained,” Leo’s face was pinched with worry and guilt.
“Get him inside,” Max commanded.
By the time they had what was left of poor Caspian on the bed in one of the guest bedrooms, the entire household had stationed themselves inside the room. Ryker had first managed to determine from the two paladins that there was no threat following them before he had allowed his Order to leave their posts. He knew they were all worried about Caspian and they would all want to be close to Max after she performed her healing. Ryker only had thoughts of when Max would heal the water warden and not if. The if didn’t bear thinking about.
Sure enough, twenty minutes later, an incredibly pale and still unconscious Caspian was now breathing steadily on the bed. He was no longer emaciated-looking and the death rattle that had been coming from his chest was no more. They also had a very tired and colourless liege on their hands. Ryker picked Max up and sat with her in his lap, feeling his coat of arms spring to life when his six fellow knights channelled their six different types of vitality into Max. The druidic symbol for life in the centre of his forearm glowed a luminous soft purple as his own life energy got to work. Max snuggled in for the duration and Ryker contented himself with keeping her close to his chest so he could feel the steady thump of her heart. He knew her purpose was to help and to heal, and although he was damned proud of her, it still slayed him to see the price she paid every time.
Casting his eyes over Leo and Lawson, he saw they were both touching their liege too, no doubt offering up as much energy as they could. He could see the worry on their faces, particularly Leo, who was scared for his lover as well as liege. Ryker knew the feeling all too well, but it didn’t soften his reproach; “How could you let a chade close enough to your liege for him to be drained like this?”
“Ryker,” Max rebuked, pushing away from his chest.
He was glad to find a splash of colour highlighting her cheeks, but when she tried to get off his lap, he held on tight. He wanted her within touching distance for just a little longer. He also ignored her censure, turning hard eyes on Leo and Lawson once more; “Well?”
“They didn’t,” the croaked reply came from Caspian’s mouth.
If Cas wanted to say more, he didn’t get a chance to because Leo swooped down and captured his lips. After a minute, Ryker was starting think maybe he should fetch the hose, when Leo finally stopped mauling his lover’s face. Max waggled her eyebrows at Cali, Diana, and Ivy and mouthed the word: hot. The three woman all nodded in agreement, uncaring of their boyfriend’s scowls, and the blush of embarrassment spreading across Caspian’s fair face.
“We were nowhere near any chades,” Caspian volunteered again, pushing himself upright with the aid of Lawson. “Thank you, my lady,” he then bowed his head humbly in Max’s direction.
In typical Max fashion, she waved away his thanks, “No biggie. But what do you mean? Care to start at the beginning?”
“We went to spy on Garrett’s place,” Caspian admitted.
“You what?” Ten voices all yelled at the same time, causing the Order of Riparian to wince.
“Caspian, what the hell? What possessed you to do something so dangerous?” Ryker demanded.
Caspian shrugged, “After what you told us about Emmanuel and the break-out at the prison, we figured Garrett’s endgame must be nigh. The only way to see what numbers we’re dealing with was to go and check the place out. We also wanted to see if Emmanuel was staying there.”
“You should never have taken such a risk,” Ryker’s voice was still stern because the image of an almost-dead Cas was still fresh in his mind.
Caspian merely shrugged, looking around the room at all the frowning, concerned faces. “We owe you.”
“You don’t owe us your life,” Ryker responded, before anyone else got the chance. He couldn’t have Caspian running around playing hero because he thought there was a check to balance. He – and everyone else in the room – did not operate that way.
“Understood,” Caspian murmured, his smile a little sheepish. “Anyway, I honestly thought we weren’t in any danger of getting discovered. We weren’t anywhere near the house. We were at the bottom of the cliff. I used the ocean to see what was going on up top.”
“Used the ocean? How?” Cali asked, looking interested.
Caspian shrugged, “It was high tide. I asked some of the spray from the waves slamming against the rocks to stay up high. I then used those water droplets to spy – kind of like a seeing through a looking glass.”
“Holy shit! You could see what the water was seeing?” Cali’s voice sounded excited and Ryker guessed it wasn’t a common water ability.
Caspian looked embarrassed by the admiration he heard, “I can do a lot of things. Water is mine to command, not that it responds to me like a servant. It responds to me like a –”
“Friend,” Max finished his sentence and the anxious warden nodded. “That’s because you treat it as such – like a friend, like family. Any element treated that way will always respond in kind. It’s no doubt why you were so powerful too, Dex. I bet you treated air the same way.”
Dex nodded, “That I did. It’s a shame the practice seems to be largely lost.”
“Perhaps that is something we can fix too,” Max offered, before turning to Caspian once more, “What did the water see?”
Cas swallowed hard, “It’s bad. Really bad.”
“The whole place is crawling with chades. The air was black with them – and humming. It looked and sounded like a giant swarm of flies,” Leo shuddered.
“And beyond that; Orders. Dozens of wardens and paladins. I know you have a lot of people on your side, Max.” Lawson shook his head, eyes worried. “But I’m telling you; Garrett has more.”
Ryker cast his eyes over to Max and was surprised when he all saw was weary resignation on her face. He knew nightmares and visions constantly bombarded her now. Like the one she’d had of his face. He could admit, getting a chade claw to the face again wasn’t at the top of his to-do list. But he had also told her the absolute truth; he would do what was necessary to see Max succeed. And he would accept whatever fate decided to dish out to him – as long as it included him and Max and their family whole and safe at the end of it.
“Um, there’s more,” Caspian looked a little freaked out. “Their eyes were black.”
“The chades? Cas, I hate to tell you, but that’s nothing new,” Beyden said, eyeing his friend with concern.
Caspian was fit enough to roll his bright blue eyes in exasperation, “No shit. Not the chades, Bey. The wardens. The paladins. Their eyes were chade-black. No irises, no pupils – just blackness.”
Ryker gaped, “Are you for real? Are you sure they weren’t just being shown the chades?”
“I know the difference between a chade and an intact person. And I really know the difference between a chade and a paladin. Lark,” he turned to the earth paladin, “Isaac’s eyes were black. He’s a paladin. Paladins can’t be chades, right? That’s never happened before.”
“No. That’s never happened before,” Ivy murmured, taking Lark’s hand in her own.
Ryker felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, “Seriously? What the fuck?” he asked, no-one in particular.
“Maybe it’s like these,” Dex offered, tracing the brand on his left bicep.
Max walked over and touched the evidence of Dex’s loyalty to her, “What do you mean?”
“Well, this is like your legacy, right? It’s a reflection of our faith in you. Maybe Emmanuel has something similar,” Dex suggested.
“Crowley eyes? You think Emmanuel is handing out Crowley eyes like boy-scout badges?”
All eyes turned to Ivy, who shrugged, “What? Sam and Dean are hot. Supernatural is the best. Besides, I’ve always thought the writers must have come across a chade at some time or other. What with the demon’s eyes all black like that. I mean, come on – those are clearly chade’s eyes!” She scoffed.
After a beat of silence, the room burst into laughter, Cali smiling at the short ranger; “I knew I liked you.”
Ivy pinned Cali with dark, droll eyes, “No you didn’t.”
Cali grinned, “Ya got me. You’re a bit of an acquired taste. But consider yourself acquired.”
Ivy rolled her eyes and didn’t say anything but Ryker could see the flush of pleasure on her face, as well as the happiness on Lark and Beyden’s faces. Ryker was also happy to see Ivy fitting into their family as if she were made to. Re-focusing on Caspian and his state when he had arrived, he asked;
“Is that when you got busted and a chade drained you?”
Leo shook his head, his hand gripped Caspian’s so hard Ryker was concerned for the warden’s circulation. “The water Caspian was controlling suddenly turned black – like it was putrid. Caspian started to gasp and –” Leo cut off, unable to continue.
“And shrivel,” Lawson gritted out between clenched teeth. “It was like a chade was draining him but there wasn’t any there. Honest. We didn’t see or feel a thing.”
Ryker saw the whole room frowning. This again, was something new. He looked at Ivy and Dex – their resident chade experts. “Have either of you ever seen a chade able to drain vitality from a distance? Without physically touching a warden?”
“No,” Dex looked thoughtful. “But I know a half-breed custodian who can recharge that way.”
Max merely shrugged when she became the focus of the room. “What? I don’t have the answers. I didn’t even know what a chade was before I met you. I was calling them phantoms, remember?”
Caspian giggled at that, “Really?” He then rubbed his arm, wincing as if it pained him.
Ryker nodded, “Really. She had all kinds of crazy ideas. Are you still injured?” He quickly asked, before Max could ream him for calling her crazy.
Cas hesitated then admitted, “My brand hurts.” He lifted the edge of his tee shirt to reveal an angry-looking brand.
“What the hell?” Ryker muttered as he leant in close to look at the defiled brand on Caspian’s left bicep. “It looks like it’s been scorched.”
Max shook her head, looking angry, “I’m sure I can heal it. I –”
But as soon as her hand made contact with the altered mark, Max’s face went blank and she dropped to the floor.