Page 23 of Wind and Water
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 onthe 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.
