Page 11 of Wind and Water (Reign of the Witch Queen #2)

Momma’s screams are piercing, and I hold on tight to her hand.

My sight blurs, but I swear, a dragon flies past us, and there’s an ocean bathed in purple light sparkling in the distance. It’s impossible to tell if the dragon is flying closer to us or if we’re barreling toward it. Either way, its red eyes and black scales are getting larger.

The sharp tingle of magic heats my flesh like a sauna turned up much too high. My blood may boil, and it makes me nauseous. I push against it. Freeing my hands, I pray for some way to rid us of the dragon.

“Trocar!” Liam’s panicked voice sounds above the din of so much happening at once.

Momma’s screams are far away.

I push harder, and the wind whips all around us.

Trocar tumbles through the air unnaturally. His legs and wings flail as he rights himself and roars out something that throws me backward.

Arms wrap around me as I pray harder to force the dragon back.

The ground pounds against my body, taking my breath. Grass and rocks crush between me and the hard earth. I gasp and grunt with every bruise.

Liam grunts, holding me tighter, shielding me from the worst of the landing.

The wind dies, and there is no sound but ocean waves and our breathing.

Jumping to his feet, Liam draws his sword, ready to face the dragon. “Are you injured?”

Am I? I ache in all the spots that hit the ground, and I’m more tired than before, but otherwise not hurt. “No.” I rise and scan the sky. There are moons or something that look nothing like my world. “Where is the dragon?”

He shakes his head. Hair loose, the points of his ears show. With his sword at the ready, he’s almost as foreign as the place.

The stones on this side of the portal are more like the standing stones found in England.

Two are eight feet tall, and there’s one capping them.

Behind the gate, I see the ocean and its purple waves.

I look around. “Momma?” My heart speeds.

“Momma, where are you?” Panicked, I check over the cliff at the crashing waves but see only the rocks and water.

At least she didn’t fall. “Where is she?”

“Maybe she’s back in Scotland?” He scans the land in all directions.

“She was in the portal.” Maybe I blew her back.

Oh god, she’ll never forgive me. “I might have done something.” I stare at my hands as if I’m seeing them for the first time.

I wanted to blow the dragon away, and there was wind.

Now, Momma is gone, and I have no way to know if she’s safe.

“What if she’s injured or worse?” She could be lying on the ground at the Old Man of Storr with no one to care for her.

I might have caused her injuries. Tears find their way up and out before I can stop them.

Liam continues to scan the land and the sky. It’s nearing twilight, but the glow of the moons makes it light enough. Kneeling, he touches the grassy earth. “I think she came through.” He stares at the moons or whatever they are. He crawls along the ground. “Look, Wren.”

Rushing to his side, I see only dirt and grass. “What?”

He points to a patch of dirt that’s indented. “This patterned footprint. We have no shoes like this in Domhan.”

I wipe my eyes and study the print. It’s rough and could be from the hikers we bought before we left Texas. Close to where she stepped, there’s a deep animal print. “What is this one? Is it a horse?”

“Centaur.” Standing, he looks to the woods in the distance.

“You said centaurs are vicious.” My panic returns. “Where did they go? How did they get away before we saw them?”

Sitting next to me, he sighs. “The prints are old, weeks old.”

“What? Centaurs were here before? They never saw Momma.” At least she wasn’t killed by crazy horse men. She could have found a village. “Do you think she’s around here?” I get up. “We can follow her prints. She can’t have gotten far.”

Taking my hand, Liam holds me from leaving. “Birdie's prints are weeks old as well, Wren.”

“What? That’s not possible. She was right there with us.” I point to the standing stones.

He cups my cheeks and captures my gaze. “Remember what I told you about dragons being able to shift time. I think that is what happened.”

“You mean, Momma was sent back in time?” I spy the roofs of a small village not far away. “She could be there. Do elves live there?”

His eyes are sad, and he shakes his head. “I believe Birdie came through without being hit by Trocar’s magic.” He points up. “That’s the planet Arcania. The other is our moon. Based on the orbits, I think it was you and I who were shifted through time. Probably three weeks.”

“My mother has been in this world for three weeks all alone?” It’s hard to breathe. I gasp and try again, but my knees buckle, and I crumple. “Is she even alive?”

Kneeling by my side, he kisses my forehead. “I don’t know. I know she and the centaurs were here at about the same time.” He studies the terrain. “Stay here. Don’t wander off.”

Wander? Is he mad?

Maybe he is, with the way he’s running up and down the hill. On hands and knees, he crawls for several feet in one direction, then touches something before bringing his hand to his nose.

Momma is gone, and Liam has lost his mind. I may as well lie down here and wait for a dragon or something worse to kill me. I’m supposed to save a world, and I couldn’t even protect my mother for one minute in this place.

“Wren.” He stands over me. “I don’t think your mother is dead. At least when she left this area, she was alive.”

“I made the wind, but it wasn’t enough.” My sight is blurred with tears, and it feels as if an elephant is sitting on my chest.

Crouching next to me, he brushes my hair from my face.

“Listen to me. The fact that you made magic is remarkable, but this is not the time to explore those gifts. You must get up and come with me. You’re tired from the journey and the magic, which is normal.

When your mother left this area with the centaurs, she was alive. ”

I pull myself to sitting. “How can you know?”

“The dragon clawed the ground.” He points to a rough area where it looks as if the dirt was plowed.

“The centaurs fought the dragon. I found dragon blood.” He shifts his hand to another area to the right.

“When Birdie left this field, she was not dragged or tossed over the back of a centaur. She ran among them toward their forest.”

“You said they were mean creatures who kill on sight.” It comes out as an accusation, but really, I’m just confused and terrified.

“That is what I’ve been told my entire life. But they did not kill your mother. Not on this field. I think they fought to save her, though I can’t say why.” He offers me a hand up.

The woods are miles away, but I start toward them.

Liam takes my hand and stops me. “We need help, and the centaur’s woods is at least a day’s walk. Clandunna is close and has an honorable leader. She will help us.” He pulls me toward the village.

“Momma is that way, and you want me to go in the opposite direction. Now you really are asking too much.” I snatch my hand from his.

“I swear, with or without Selina’s help, we will go find Birdie in the morning. You need rest, and we’ll need help if the centaurs are not hospitable.” He says it as if the possibility that they are is unlikely.

“I can’t leave her.” More tears that I can’t control blur my vision.

Pulling me into a hug, he says, “I know. I don’t want to waste time either.

Your mother is remarkable. She can make friends with anyone.

Perhaps she’s charmed the centaurs like she did the owner of that pub in London.

She’s been here for three weeks, sweetheart.

A few more hours won’t change her fate. Going into a possible altercation without planning and while you need to rest is foolish. I can’t risk your safety.”

That’s what this is about. I push away. “Because I’m some woman from a prophecy you’re not even sure is real. I don’t care about your oracle’s orders. I need my mother to be safe and sound.”

“I care very deeply about Birdie.” His tone is harsh as he crosses his arms over his chest. “My duty is to bring you to the oracle and the Watcher’s Gate.”

“So, you admit it.” I wish I could go find my mother by myself and get us both back to our own world where we belong.

He raises his arms out wide; he then lets them fall to his sides.

“I do not need to hide the objective. You have known about it from the start. If that were all I cared about, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

I would find another portal that might get us closer to home and drag you through it. ”

I stutter with rage, trying to find words that will express my feelings, but nothing comes out.

He presses two fingers over my mouth. Softly, he says, “I will not leave Birdie. We will find her. She is not expendable.”

“Thank you.” I fall into his embrace.

Cawing, a white bird circles. Graceful and focused, it stays directly above us. Every few seconds, it caws, as if wanting our attention.

“A white raven.” Liam’s voice is soft, almost reverent.

“I didn’t know ravens came in white.” Maybe they’re all white in this world. What do I know?

“They are rare and often a harbinger of good news.” He watches the bird as if waiting for something. “My mother can see and speak through ravens. But it doesn’t seem as if this one is from her. It would have flown down and delivered a message to me.”

“You can speak to birds?” The amount I need to learn here is beyond my current capacity for worry. I shake away those worries and focus on Momma.

“Only those who bring word or warning from another.” Taking my hand, we head toward the village and away from the direction of my only family. My heart lodges in my throat.