“You, of course! Do you really think I don’t know when you follow me—even against my orders?” she replied with a wave of her hand.
Pai chuckled. “I must be losing my talons,” he answered instead. “Where do we start?” he asked.
“We start where the Sea Stag came ashore,” she instructed.
Nali soared through a cloud, her long wings spread wide, leaving a faint contrail of swirling mist behind her. Pai flew beside her, his sharp eyes scanning the coast. They were close to the area where the injured female Sea Stag had washed ashore.
“Empress, there is something moving near the rocks half-a-mile north of here,” Pai called.
Nali turned north, slowly descending until she had a better view. A line of rocks rose above the surface of the water, protecting one of the many black-sand beaches that lined this part of the coast. Near those rocks, she saw a Sea Stag struggling in the surf.
“Keep a safe distance, Pai,” she warned before pulling her wings in tight against her body and diving toward the beach.
She twisted at the last second, landing on her feet. She shifted, her skin and clothing hardening to smooth and supple black marble. Her feet sank into the fine, black grains of sand, her footprints disappearing behind her as she walked over to the Sea Stag. He was lying on the beach, the lower half of his body still in the surf.
She pursed her lips to keep her outraged cry from drawing Pai down to the beach. The Sea Stag was slit from his front fin to the tip of his tail. The wound was large and it gaped, revealing bone and internal organs. It was a miracle that the stag had made it to shore.
Nali cooed softly to the stag as she approached, placing the beautiful creature into a trance. The usually bright-red scales were pale and dull as the life force faded from the beast. The stag turned his head toward her and made a barely audible whinny. She kneeled beside him in the damp sand and gently lifted his head onto her lap.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you,” she murmured, stroking the slender jaw.
The stag’s eyelids drooped, and he shuddered. Rare tears slipped from the corners of Nali’s eyes as she held the dying creature. Only great tragedy and sorrow could bring tears to a gargoyle’s eyes. She bent forward and rested her head against the stag.
“Please, I need to know what happened to you before I can let you go,” she whispered.
Another shudder ran through the stag at her request. She closed her eyes as images of the stag’s last minutes formed in her mind through her bond with the beast. When the creature’s fear hit her, she took a deep breath and gently stroked the fin between the stag’s ears.
The living black liquid had come up out of the depths of the ocean. Long tentacles had attacked the juveniles before they broke free and escaped. The alien attacked the female first. When the male rushed to defend her, the second alien struck.
The images faded before she could see what happened next. The stag’s wounds were too grave, and she sensed him slipping away from her. She lifted her head and looked up at the sky. Above her, Pai kept watch.
Nali lowered her head and tenderly stroked the young stallion before she whispered a simple incantation. Her magic surrounded the Sea Stag, engulfing the body of this once-beautiful creature in a vivid white light. When the light faded, a single brilliant gem was all that remained, and she was alone on the beach.
Nali picked up the precious stone and held it against her heart. She rose to her feet and stared out at the ocean. Pai swept down and landed near her.
“Did you learn anything?” he quietly inquired.
“There were two aliens. We have one. The second one escaped. The stallion—the stallion died before he could show me everything,” she replied in a soft voice.
“I noticed tracks leading into the forest. They belong to a troll,” Pai said.
Nali clenched her jaw. The two who found the first stag had thankfully kept their distance and sent an alert to the palace, but this troll may not have been so cautious.
“It will be night soon. We need to visit the troll village to find out who was here. We can stay there for the night and then resume our journey in the morning,” she said.
“There’s smoke rising from chimneys along the river a few miles inland,” Pai replied.
Nali nodded. She turned her hand over and looked at the red gem containing the essence of the Sea Stag stallion. Pai silently stood by as she stepped to the water’s edge and waited for an incoming wave to roll ashore. She knelt and released the gem into the receding water, watching as it carried the gem back out to sea. With a deep sigh of sorrow, she straightened and faced Pai.
“Let’s go. I have an alien to kill,” she declared. Her tone was as hard as her ebony skin.
Chapter 2
Asahi sat on an outcropping of rocks that loomed above the river and watched the first moon rise above the trees, followed shortly by the second. A sense of peace swept through him, and he focused on the emotion, the way his grandfather had taught him. The simple meditation helped keep the residual waves of dizziness under control.
He pulled his jacket out of the duffle bag, put it on, and zipped it up. His thoughts returned to Ruth Hallbrook. He genuinely hoped that she had survived her trip through the portal, if indeed she had gone through the portal at all. Throughout the day, he had searched for signs of her with no luck.
He studied the surrounding area. He had followed the flow of water that meandered southward, hoping that it would eventually lead to the coastline.
As afternoon became early evening, Asahi had started searching for a suitable place to make camp. He
