Eternal Beasts

Fell Tidings

Nikeera frowned as Aaron stepped onto the griffon platform on top of Caedmon's Tower, surrounded by a good dozen of his royal guard. Looking at him, her expression tightened.

"Where is my Jared?" she tautly asked.

"The nysim mageborn representative cast a spell on him after the summons was completed," the tall tuathan king said, looking warily at the princess. "A gaes to travel to a location of their choosing before he was allowed to do anything else."

The air around Nikeera was abruptly filled with charged energy as, with a surge of bright blue light, magical cestus appeared around her clenched fists.

"What?" the abruptly enraged princess snarled with such force, Aaron's guard surrounded him in a surge of motion, holding up their shields in the vain hope they could intercept any attack she threw at him. From the center of their protective formation, Aaron threw up his hands placatingly.

"Peace, your Highness," he urged. "It was within their right to do so. The Dawn Council cast the Ritual on our behalf and they wrote that as a term in the covenant. Neither your father, nor Lord Kurtis disputed it."

What was that term her sweet Jared used when he wanted to strongly deny the truth and validity of a stated fact? Oh yes ...

"Bullshit!" she snapped.

"Truthfind my words, Princess, and you will see that I speak truly," Aaron said.

With a sinuous gesture with her hand that created a golden rune in the air before her, Nikeera did just that. And she nearly screamed in frustration when the rune hung intact for several seconds. Dismissing it with a wave, she let the magical energy that she had gathered around her body dissipate as well, including the glowing blue cestus that had appeared around her clenched fists.

"Leave me," she curtly ordered. "I wish to be alone!"

Aaron quickly bowed.

"At once, your Highness." Then, almost as quickly as his guards had moved to protect him, Aaron was withdrawing, leaving the platform to her.

- Honored Watcher, how could this have happened? - she plaintively asked into the vastness of her mind, her anger evaporating as pain filled her soul. - Why would they take him like that? -

- The mageborn felt the griffon riders were defeated in the Second War because they lacked true magic, - the ancient entity replied. - They felt the griffon magic the Eternal Beasts did pass on to their riders couldn't protect them, or fight for them. The Dawn Council reasoned that if they were to bring the flights back, they needed to do so with mageborn riders. Riders that could cast magic independent of their bonds with their mounts. -

- But I am mageborn, - Nikeera pointed out.

- Yes. But they are nysim and you are not. With Jared's potential destined to be born into a nysim body, a nysim mageborn woman had the highest chance of passing on the talent to their child. Yours and Jared's child would be Denai, if nature follows nature, a blending of nysim and high tuathan blood. -

- Denai have become Tenth Rank wizards, honored Watcher. I trained beside a number of them during my time at the Tower of Sight in Tara Hill. They are a powerful and gifted people, - Nikeera doggedly insisted even as she was secretly dismayed by the realization that the Watcher was right about her and Jared's child being Denai if their blending was natural. She hadn't even considered that possibility. Although, if she were being truthful, she hadn't looked much further beyond that beautiful and sweet moment that Jared made her his and how utterly delightful it would be to be in his arms.