When The Heart Sings

Chapter 53

Saphira's POV:

I carefully held Serena in my arms as I jumped smoothly to another large branch. She had her eyes closed as per our plan, but I could tell she was nervous about being so high up in the trees. My feet didn't pause as I easily navigated through the treetops.

I picked the easiest routes that didn't involve longer jumps since I didn't want to make Serena any more uneasy than she already was. Darien would surely be keeping tabs on the bond while waiting for her call.

I was honestly surprised at how easily Darien had accepted my idea, but we knew all too well how important it was for Serena to be able to call someone if she somehow got lost or separated from those she was with.

Some of the creatures in this forest were nasty things. Last night, it had taken eight Dranek to keep a pack of three large raptors away from the town. I scanned the trees ahead of me alertly, even though almost twenty Dranek were ahead of me ensuring that nothing dangerous was around.

I heard the faint twang of several bows and altered my course slightly to avoid whatever they were trying to drive off. I glanced down at the human in my arms, but she had not heard it.

I chose a different direction to travel in and others around me shifted with a few low whistles to alert the others to our new heading. Despite numerous twists and turns, we were actually not that far from the village at this point.

I had no intention of taking the singer outside of the area we patrolled. There was no point in risking her so. We had searched for a singer for far too long.

Some days I still had a hard time believing that we had actually found one. It was even harder to comprehend that I was now carrying her as I helped her test her magic. Quite a few Dranek were still searching elsewhere for other singers and I knew at least fifty Dranek were subtly checking Tarulk towns as best they could from the cover of the trees.

Tarulk rarely looked up for some reason... Perhaps because no predator seemed to lurk in the trees on this planet. Whatever the reason, it made it much easier for us to travel unseen and unnoticed through the dense leaves.

I slowed down as I carefully chose my path. The trees were denser here and it wasn't as easy to move without using my hands or having small branches hit us. Draik jumped to a large branch ahead of me and pulled a small bough out of my way.

I nodded my thanks as I jumped to the branch he stood on and continued moving. Other Dranek also pulled branches aside for me. Even with their help, my options eventually ran out, but I knew they would in this section of the forest.

I descended to the forest floor after the others had carefully checked the ground.

"I think this should be a good spot."

Serena opened up her eyes and looked around as I set her on her feet. She barely came up to my elbow even though I knew she was a bit taller than average among human women. She was shorter than most Tarulk I had seen, and I had yet to hear of a Tarulk who was even close to a Dranek's height.

The Tarulk had some odd allies among other races though, and word of massive green men and slender charcoal-colored fighters had come from several sources. I had seen one of the green behemoths about a year ago. They were built like tanks, but they weren't the fastest things around, and they were quite vulnerable to hit and run tactics.

From the way Serena looked around, I knew she had no clue where she was. She started humming and I listened carefully, but there was simply no way to tell her humming apart from another person's hum. No way to tell that it was magical just from listening.

However, her eyes gave her away. The faint silver glow that was normally present became brighter when she used her singing ability. That glow was the hallmark of a singer, something only Dranek could see. Other races did not see the glow for some reason.

Her hum faded out and the glow in her eyes dimmed slightly to its normal level. She looked in the direction of the village and I knew she was using the mate bond to locate Darien.

Serena sighed in disappointment, "He isn't really moving and I can feel his frustration. I have no clue where I am and neither does he. Well, let's see what else I can try..."

I wished I could help her, but I couldn't even tell what she was trying to do. I could hear other Dranek slowly circling around us in the trees as well as on the ground. Serena was humming once more, although the pitch changed.

She paused as she glanced in Darien's direction once more, before sighing and starting to hum again. Darien was probably going to be in a mood when he finally managed to locate us. Thankfully, his temper would ease the moment he saw Serena.

None of the Dranek would get between Darien and Serena when he approached. That was a surefire way to set any mate bond off. Darien wasn't the type of person you wanted mad at you either. The rumors of his strength and speed were far too true.

It was fortunate that he had no desire to attack the race that had taken over almost a quarter of his planet. He was only concerned about Serena, which was fairly typical of any soulmate, but their bond seemed stronger than most.

I wasn't sure why the soulbond had affected Darien so. I knew the soulbond could temporarily increase the male's strength and speed, but Darien's speed and strength had never faded...

I tilted my head as I examined the oblivious singer. Her magic had probably somehow affected the bond, since both the soulbond and the singer ability were a type of magic. Something just didn't seem to fit though, as if I was missing something. I knew it with the same certainty that I knew the red spice that Tarulk favored was dangerous for her unless she purified it.

Serena's hum became louder and modulated into a quiet whistle as the glow in her eyes increased with the more powerful sound. Whatever she was trying didn't work since she went back to a hum before too long.

She was clearly trying, and I knew she really wanted to learn how to do this. I was hoping that she would try just as hard to locate whatever was causing the forests back home to slowly decline.

Serena would likely come to my planet within a few days to see if she could help, which was a huge relief after so many years of fruitlessly searching for a singer. Many, including myself, were looking forward to seeing if her song could restore the forests.

We loved the forests on our homeworld and we would fight fiercely to save them. It was our home. We had become very worried when the trees started to rot even though they were only half grown and our efforts to learn why had failed. Saplings were few and far in-between - alarmingly so.

Dranek were mostly arboreal and we normally spent most of our time in the trees. If the forests were to fail, our race would have to locate another planet to live on and simply hope that the forests on our home planet may recover.

I remained standing beside the singer as I waited patiently.