The Rider's Truth.

A Vidalin's Shine

Unedited. 

Chapter Ten - A Vidalin's Shine.

The icy breath of the great Ishkar, the dragon of Mazus Lynch; a great beast who could stop a heart in less than a couple of seconds, could not match the coldness that descended at that moment. Everyone stopped, drawing tense like the pull of a bow's string as they watched Malachi Basset, waiting for him to speak.

"How did he know?"

"The Nauhtorn mountains?" Abner asked icily.

Malachi did not even flinch. Or flounder. Instead, he drew himself up taller and fixed Jamie with a quelling look. Nethore behind me had gone rigid too, barbs fully out and rage coursing through his bloodstream. The French twins, Odette and Colette seemed to be the only ones who looked confused, but Zephyr watched on, visibly perturbed.

A light wind stirred the scene for a moment – travelling over immobile figures.

Malachi cleared his throat. "Sentinel Ciara found Neely Lynch, filthy and feral in her kitchen and she was clearly prepared to attack her with a knife so she knocked her out. A wise choice. I went over the records while Lynch lay unconscious in the hospital and discovered that an old compound existed in the Nauhtorn mountains. Many attempts had been made to clear it out, and when my soldiers had checked it just after the Ashbourne incident, there were no signs of life."

Everyone went quiet, pondering that. My mind was not silent though; it conjured images of the souls that had lived in the confines of that mountain and the village I had been lowered into where the butcher had spared my life and gave me one enough doubt to believe that maybe, maybe they weren't all so evil.

"You knew she was here in Ithrall before anyone else." Nikki sounded wounded. "And you never told her family, or her friends. Or even her twin-flame."

Violet eyes cut to the trainer. "We had to assess the threat. Neely Lynch tried to attack a Sentinel; clearly her experience had left her prone to violence."

I could hear the words he didn't say. He just hinted to it but were they all thinking it? Mentally unstable.

Nethore suddenly leapt, pouncing over my head with a push of powerful back legs. With another bound, he had Malachi Basset sprawled in the dirt, pinned under deadly, serrated claws. Malachi's legs spasmed in panic as Nethore snapped his jaws shut mere inches from his face, showcasing a maw of deadly fangs that could slice through his flesh easily. He said something to the man that he shielded from me, but an ear rose when Demor prowled closer. She was watched on by Gabriel who watched Nethore and Malachi worriedly.

"He'll kill him." Nikki fretted.

"Neely..." Abner glanced over at me. "Stop him."

I watched on, almost numb to the incoming threat of death. "What's another...?"

Nethore's tail suddenly thrashed, slamming against the ground and the barbs tore gouges into sand and dirt. He snapped his jaws shut once more and stepped away. He was furious, never taking his eyes from the council-man. When Demor tried to move, to stand between Nethore and Malachi, he rounded on her with a growl. He made it clear that he would fight her if she moved closer.

They watched each other for a long moment, near-gold eyes and vivid ocean blues riveted on each other in a spine-tingling show of dominance. Demor was older and larger than Nethore but he held himself with confidence, as if the ground he walked on, the air he soared through was his and no one was going to tell him otherwise.