He closed his eyes and found himself floating beside a beautiful, naked Lizzy. He sighed at the sight of her. They stared at each other for a moment then came together. The feathers of her wings tickled the back of his neck and her tears soaked his shirt. He held her, her body soft and familiar in his arms. Damien had dreamed of this reunion for three years.
When they parted she wiped her eyes. “I wasn’t sure you’d ever come back.”
“You didn’t think I’d forget about you, did you?”
She sniffed. “Not really, but we were so far apart. You might have found another girl.”
Damien grinned. “As though a girl exists that could compare with you.”
She smiled. That appeared to have been the right thing to say.
“In fact I used you as the model for my shaping final. The masters seemed impressed with the little statue I made of you.” He concentrated and a replica of his final project appeared in the air between them.
She flew around the statue, looking it over. “Not too bad.”
She lashed her wings and flew away. Damien let the statue vanish and chased after her. They played the old game, racing through the endless sky. When he caught her this time, she made his clothes vanish and wrapped them both in her wings.
Later they drifted together, her wings around them like a blanket. Damien had always known this day would arrive, but now that it had, it felt more perfect than he’d dared hope. Lizzy rested her head on his chest and he put an arm around her. Not for the first time Damien wished he could stay with her like this forever. It would certainly be preferable to having to try to talk to his father again.
“He regrets having been so hard on you.” Lizzy’s glowing red eyes looked up at him. She must have read his thoughts. “He just doesn’t know how to fix it. Emotional matters have never been Fredric’s strong suit.”
Damien laughed, short, bitter and humorless. “No kidding. After the Solstice I’ll head back to The Tower and he’ll be free of me again.”
“Do you have to leave so soon?”
He stroked her hair. “I’ve got to start my fieldwork. I wish I could take you with me.”
She sighed and nuzzled his neck. “I can’t project myself more than fifty feet, and I know of no sorcery that would allow us to connect over such a distance.”
“I can try to visit more often. Maybe me and Dad can figure out some way to talk to each other that doesn’t resemble pulling teeth.”
“I think he would like that. I certainly would.”
Lizzy’s head lifted off his chest and listened to something beyond his perception.
“What is it?”
“Someone came to the door and now your sister’s getting dressed.”
“Trouble?”
“It’s after midnight, so I assume so.”
Reading his mind again Lizzy returned him to his body. Damien rolled out of bed and went to the door in time to see Jen walk out of her room, her sword strapped to her back. Just inside the door stood a tall, broad-shouldered boy with a maul over his shoulder. “What’s up?”
She turned back. “Goblins. They burned a farm eight miles north. I’m taking my squad to investigate. Go back to bed.”
“Be careful.”
She threw a wave over his shoulder and walked out with the stranger. Damien went back to bed and sighed. Goblins, so close to The Citadel. That was certainly strange. Usually they kept to the wild lands. The green-skinned monsters were stupid enough, but he thought they had more sense than to hunt near a cluster of warlords. He fell asleep still musing on what had prompted the little brutes to do something so foolish.
Chapter 16
Jen cinched the buckles on her back sheath tight as she walked down the hall beside Edward Mark, one of her squad members. They strode through the hall outside the living quarters, the only sound this late at night their boots on the stone floor.
Glow globes set every twenty feet lit their path. Edward had drawn the short straw and received the task of fetching her when word of another goblin raid arrived at The Citadel. A little after midnight a night patrol had seen flames and when they went to investigate, discovered the attack. The little bastards had burned a farm an hour’s ride away.
They did it to mock her, she knew it.
The raids had started two weeks ago. Local patrols had failed to deal with them; three soldiers were killed in the first attempt to handle the green-skinned monsters. After that the patrol leader put in a request to have warlords handle the matter.
Hunting down a few goblin raiders should have been a simple matter, so Dad assigned Jen and her squad to the mission, her first as a commander. Three burned farms later Jen had begun to doubt their ability to even find the miserable wretches.
She clenched her jaw and sent soul force through her brain to burn the last of the sleep from her mind. She needed her full focus tonight. No way would her prey escape this time.
Outside the fortress’s main doors the rest of her squad waited with saddled horses. Dim light from a near-full moon lit the yard. Jen sent soul force to her eyes to enhance her vision and the scene before her became clear. Three warlords sat astride their horses, weapons and other gear secured, eager and ready for a fight. Jen leapt onto the back of her black gelding. None of them were more eager than her.
“Let’s go!”
They thundered through the main gate and turned up the dirt road, following the directions the patrolman provided. Between the moonlight and smooth road they made good time
