Fang Shway in LA (23 page)

Chapter 33

Aaron strode grimly toward us, cradling Traygen’s tattered shirt in his massive arms.
Reluctantly, he handed it to me.

Gingerly, I took the shirt from him and hugged it to my chest. Oh, Traygen where are you my love? Closing my eyes I let my senses absorb his scent, probing the shirt for clues. I let myself absorb Traygen’s energy. His energy still radiated
weakly
from the shirt. I sensed him, but the trail was faint.

God, don’t let me be too late. I prayed as I grasped the fragile connection. Afraid to breathe for fear of losing it, I cast the connection out into the universe.
I let my mind troll for any hint of Traygen’s presence. My grandmother traveled across the astral plane like a seasoned commuter through L.A. traffic. I hadn’t inherited all her gifts but I too racked up plenty of frequent flier miles on the astral planes. I don’t know how long I stood there.
Finally, I felt the faintest tug on my fragile connection to Traygen. Yes, thank you God.

“I picked up a faint trail. I can’t tell how old it is so, if I can hitch a ride on a dragon. I’m ready.” My words had barely left my mouth before Trevor turned into a beautiful emerald and jade dragon. He went down on his front legs for me to mount. I scrambled up and we took to the sky. Tokem and the others flew along beside us.

Leaning forward I whispered directions in Prince Trevor’s ear and he turned and banked sharply. The signal I followed, like a beacon, guiding us, drawing us in, held steady. It wasn’t getting any stronger, but thankfully it wasn’t getting any weaker. We flew for about forty minutes before I could see the ocean in the distance.

General Wingo flew alongside us and shouted to me. He said we were headed toward the place where the shirt was found. I nodded my understanding. We continued in silence for another ten minutes. Prince Trevor began to descend and the beach rose before us. He glided to a stop and I jumped off.

The thread of my connection to Traygen tugged me toward the cliffs. I followed and began climbing the rocky bluff. The others fell in behind me. No one spoke and even if they had the surf would have drowned out their words. Traygen, why did you go alone? This is a dangerous place. You couldn’t hear well enough to defend yourself. Why?

Pulling myself over a small ledge, I stared into the mouth of a cave. For the first time since I sensed Traygen’s energy, the tug grew stronger. I motioned for everyone to stop.
Closing my eyes, concentrating, I focused.
Then I sent my senses to probe the cave. My energy pinging off the cave walls like sonar off the ocean floor. Then I felt it. What, I couldn’t tell, but we weren’t alone.

I opened my eyes and drew my weapon.
Turning to face the others, I motioned for us to enter with weapons drawn. Nodding from one to another, I conveyed we weren’t alone. Satisfied everyone understood my concerns, I started into the cave.
I hadn’t taken a step before, Tokem darted past me and into the cave. I motioned for everyone to halt, waiting for Tokem to return.
As it turned out, we didn’t have long to wait.

Tokem sped from the cave and landed lightly on my shoulder. “Vampires. There are four of them. I couldn’t see any other way out, so we have them trapped.”

“Tokem, good work, did you see any sight of Traygen?”

“No, they are alone.”

I turned and held up four fingers, motioning us forward.
We stole further down into the dark, slippery, murky cave. My eyes started to adjust and I could see three or four feet in front of me. Groping along, careful not to give our arrival away, we inched along. Tokem nudged my cheek and I stopped to listen. We had arrived. I motioned for General Wingo, Aaron, and Glynn to take the right. Prince Trevor and I took the left.

It was over before it began. We totally surprised them. “Stay where you are and don’t move.
Move and you die.” I said, as we pushed the four vampires toward the back wall. They complied without comment. In truth, they didn’t look like there was any fight left in them.
Great, just what we needed, hungry vampires.

“Who is in charge?” I asked. No one answered. They left me no choice. I walked up to the nearest one and pointed my Uroborus bracelet at it. The bracelet immediately began to glow and I sent a blast of energy within inches of the nearest vampire’s ear.

“I am. What do you want with us witch?”

I directed another burst at the speaker’s foot.
He yelped in pain. “Wizard, not witch. Who are you fool?”

“Why should I answer you, I’m dead either way?”

“Yes, you are.
Nevertheless, I can make your death swift or I can draw it out. You decide. I really don’t care because either way you will tell me what I want to know.” It was impossible to tell if all the color drained from the vampires face.
Let’s face it they don’t have much color to begin with. Still, this guy was rattled. I had his attention.

Tokem buzzed the vampire’s head. “She doesn’t have a sense of humor as you can plainly see. I’d talk if I were you.”

The vampire looked from Tokem to me before deciding to answer. “What makes you think I know anything that would interest you? I don’t even know who you are? You’re not from around here.”

“I want to know which of your raiding parties were in this area two weeks ago.”

“What makes you think, I was even in the area two weeks ago?”

“Wrong answer,” I said as I took out the vamps kneecap. As he screamed in pain, I repeated my question. “Which raiding party controlled these caves and the beach during the attacks? Let me be clear. Don’t even consider lying to me or this time I’ll kill you.”

Pain distorted the vampire’s face as he struggled to regain some control. “It wasn’t us.
We have been here less than a week. We’ve been on the run since our thrall was overrun near the marshes.”

I turned to Aaron and Glynn and told them to kill any vampire that moved. Aaron nodded and Glynn said, “It would be my pleasure.”

General Wingo, Prince Trevor and I retraced our steps back toward the cave’s entrance. I needed to check the facts with them and I didn’t want the vampires’ eavesdropping.

“Is he telling the truth? Did you beat back an attack around the marshes?” I asked.

General Wingo cleared his throat before answering. “Lauren, we did and that would explain why we didn’t find anyone when we first checked the caves after Traygen disappeared.”

Prince Trevor paced, but said nothing. I was trying to decide what we could do to find out which vampires had been in the area. Torturing our captives would only get us just so far. There had to be a better way, because if I killed him, before I got answers, we’d be S.O.L. I must have been talking out loud because when I looked up both General Wingo and Prince Trevor had concerned looks on their faces.

“What? Was I talking out loud? Bad hair day? What?”

“Lauren, you were muttering to yourself. You were asking and answering your own questions. I was afraid you had err...lost it,” stammered Prince Trevor. “I mean no offense,” he quickly added.

“None taken, I have been accused of far worse. I was just thinking out loud. We need information from this vampire and unfortunately for us he has nothing to lose. He’s dead either way and he knows it. I can try a mind scan on him.”

“A mind scan? Whatever do you mean?” General Wingo asked.

“If I can get the vampire to make eye contact and hold it for a few minutes, I can scan his mind for information on Traygen.”

Prince Trevor shook his head and reached out to touch my shoulder. “Lauren, isn’t that dangerous? Traygen would never forgive me if anything happened to you. What if this vampire is strong enough to block you or worse take over your mind?”

“That is a chance I’m willing to take.
However, I don’t think this vampire is strong enough to stop me. Come on let’s see.” I walked back down into the cave. Aaron and Glynn had the vampires cornered. It didn’t appear anyone moved or spoken since we left.

“Any problems,” I asked.

“Lauren, they haven’t moved since you left. What do you want us to do?”

“Bring their leader over here. I need a word with him and guys hold him tight. I need him to face me and whatever you do don’t let him get away.”

Shaking their heads to acknowledge they understood, Aaron and Glynn went to retrieve the vampire. They dragged him to his feet.
Confident that they had him securely sandwiched between them, they pulled him over to stand before me.

“Vampire, look at me while I talk to you.” I needn’t have worried, he complied obediently, the fight gone from him. He raised his face to look at me and I locked on to his eyes.
It was over in seconds.

“Take him back and tie him up with the rest.” I turned and walked over to speak to General Wingo and Prince Trevor.

A concerned Prince Trevor spoke first. “Lauren, are you all right? Did you find out anything about Traygen?”

“I’m fine and no I didn’t find out anything about Traygen. He doesn’t know anything.”

“Damn it,” General Wingo spat. “We are no better-off than we were.”

“Not really. Have either of you heard of the Einherjar, draug, or Ragnar? He is the vampire prince that orchestrated the raid on the kingdom.”

“I don’t,” Prince Trevor whispered.

“I don’t know about Einherjar or draug, but I know Ragnar and his son,” General Wingo snarled. “They are vile Viking raiders. They have killed more of our kin than any other invaders combined.”

“Lauren, I can tell you what I know about Einherjar and draug. What I know comes from legends or myths. I’ve never actually seen either,” Prince Trevor answered.

“If you would please, I would appreciate it.
It’s my experience there is often more truth to these myths than fiction. Whatever you know might help us find Traygen. ”

“According to legend, Einherjar are the bravest of the dead fighters that are culled from the battlefields by vampires. These dead become warriors in Odin’s army. In addition, draug are people who drowned at sea.
However, the draug’s spirit remains and takes over a living person’s body. The stories tell of draug that climb on board ships to feed on the living. This is all I know. I can’t see how this will help us find Traygen.”

I paced back and forth around the cave opening, trying to make some sense of what I’d heard. The vampire could not keep me from reading his mind. Therefore, there had to be some measure of truth to what he’d said. What was it? Maybe, Ragnar and his son were using Einherjar to restock their dwindling numbers. I had no clue about draug’s. I couldn’t guess at their use or possible uses or what Ragnar and his armies could do with
them.

Looking concerned Prince Trevor tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped even though I sensed his presence.

“Lauren, I didn’t mean to startle you. It is getting late and we don’t want to be caught outside the castle after dark. What do you suggest we do with the vampires?”

“Kill them. We can’t leave them and they can’t tell us anything new. Prince Trevor does the castle have a collection of these myths?”

“Yes, we have anthologies of all the myths. Why? ”

“I think we’re missing something. Perhaps, the legends will explain it better. General, can you and your men dispose of the vampires?”

“Of course Lauren, I’ll see to it now and we’ll meet you at the bottom of the cliffs.”

“Good, I want to check out the shoreline before we leave.” I turned and left the cave. It took me longer to get down than up. The cliff’s rocky face was slippery and covered in bird droppings. Yuck, I’d need a good hot bath after this adventure.

When Prince Trevor and I reached the beach the sun was starting to set over the water. This was too peaceful an area, to be the place where Traygen died. It hurt even to think such a thing. I knew in my heart he wasn’t dead. We walked up and down the shoreline looking for anything the men might have missed. Just before the sun slid into the ocean, the general and his men joined us.

“Lauren, Prince Trevor, we should get back to the castle. It still isn’t safe out here.”

Without speaking they changed to dragons and I climbed up on Prince Trevor’s back. He banked sharply out over the water and headed inland. By the time we reached the castle my limbs were stiff from the cold. It took all my energy to slide down and walk into the castle. My knees creaked and my hands felt numb.

“Lauren, I’ll have someone heat water for your bath. When you are dressed, we will have dinner in the main hall. Afterwards,
I’ll show you the library and Lauren, please call me Trevor.”

He looked so much like Traygen all I could do was nod.

A nice long soak in a steaming bath did wonders to revive me. It also gave me time to think and I didn’t like the direction this was taking. Did the raiders restock their army with Einherjar? There was no way this could be good news. It would be almost impossible to tell the difference between the living and the dead. I needed to do some research before I’d know how to continue. Jason might also be able to shed some light on things.

I dressed and joined the others for a companionable meal. Jason entered as we were being seated. So, I hadn’t had a chance to speak with him. There wasn’t much conversation.
Everyone seemed intent on their meals. When diner ended Trevor showed me to the castle’s library.