Seven Wardens: Books 1-4

Chapter 12-2

“I see you’ve finally arrived,” an echoey voice greeted them as Macey’s feet touched the ground, and she pulled away from Flint. While weird, at least this voice wasn’t just in her head. She’d had enough of those kinds of voices after the encounter in her bedroom and with the storm kelpies.

She turned in the direction of the voice, before stumbling back slightly in shock, narrowly avoiding falling only through the steadying hand Flint placed on her elbow. A head floated in front of them. An honest-to-the-seas head. It was a little bigger than a normal head, maybe about the size of Macey’s chest, with a long flowing beard and hair. Oh and had she mentioned the lack of body? Or the fact that it was white and ever so slightly translucent?

“Malan,” Cam acknowledged, taking a step forward.

“Camdan, good to see you again.”

“Again?” Cam frowned, and Macey wanted to take a step towards him and offer support. But that meant going closer to the head. No, Malan, she shouldn’t keep thinking about him as just a head. That would be rude when she knew his name.

“For me, yes. I watch all of the new Wardens. Macey, Flint, Jared,” he acknowledged them one by one with a nod. Which was impressive in the circumstances.

“New?” Macey squeaked.

“Well, yes. You didn’t think you were the first Wardens, did you?”

“I’m not even sure I’m any Warden,” she muttered.

“Oh, you are, little Kelpie Princess. But you’re not the first. Nor even the second. Nor will you be the last. Though I suspect you may last longer than the previous ones. Humans can be so fragile, even when blessed with eternal life.” Malan sighed wistfully, as if it was of no great importance that he’d just announced other Wardens had died.

Macey wanted to take a step back, to get as far away from the prophet as possible. But something was telling her that she needed to hear this. That, actually, even if she didn’t want to accept it, this was her fate, and she’d probably better get used to it.

“I’m not human,” Macey said defiantly, refusing to let the head-prophet see how insecure she felt in his presence. “I’m kelpie.”

“Yes, you are. The Fates have decided to mix it up a bit. Good. It was getting boring.”

She stared at him, unable to hide her disbelief. How could he be so nonchalant? He was talking about other Wardens dying, for waves’ sake.

Malan sighed. “If you’d seen as many people pass through my doors only to die a few decades later as I have, you’d be the same, little kelpie. Now ask your questions, chop chop. And no, Jared, I don’t have waffles.”

The big question Macey wanted to ask was ‘what happened to the rest of your body’, but she’d been raised to be more polite than that.

“What exactly are Wardens?” Macey asked and Malan’s stern glance turned to the guys.

“You’ve not told her?”

“Ehm, we don’t know a lot ourselves,” Jared defended himself.

“There are seven of you, one for each element. Some generations of Wardens don’t have to do much except existing to keep the balance. But sometimes, like in your case, you have to come together to heal the worlds. So no pressure.” He grinned. “Next question.”

“Who is hurting the Staran?” Cam asked and Malan sighed again.

“Wrong question. Next.”

Cam looked confused. “Why are they hurting them?”

“Wrong.”

Macey grimaced. “Are the Staran actually being hurt?”

“Clever girl.” Malan’s head bobbed around in approval, giving her a slight sense of vertigo. She still wanted to find out why he only had a head. Even ghosts deserved a full body.

He didn’t seem to be in the mood to expand, so she frowned, trying to figure out what he was not telling them. “If the Staran are not being hurt and are deteriorating nonetheless, they must either be ill or hurting themselves.” She paused. “I’m talking about it like it’s a living thing... is that correct?”

Malan did something that looked like a smile. “They’re not hurting themselves.”

“Then they’re ill. What is making them ill?” She was starting to feel a little silly now. Was she going to ask next whether the mist was suffering from the flu? Maybe a chest infection? Waves, this was weird.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Because you don’t want to?” Cam barged in, more annoyance lacing his voice than Macey would have liked.

“Because I do not know. I can tell you what’s wrong with them, but not what is causing it. That is the Wardens’ task to find out.”

“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Macey put her hand on Cam’s arm, trying to calm him down a little. Not that she wasn’t asking the same questions in her head. Just... his anger was making Malan’s head more translucent. She had a feeling that he could disappear whenever he wanted. And they needed answers before he did that.

“First, you need to find the other Wardens. You are only strong when you’re all together. Seven elements, seven Wardens, seven problems. The Staran are strong, they couldn’t be hurt by just one thing. It’s a multitude of factors coming together and combined they are stronger than they would be on their own. There is not much time left. Soon, nobody will be able to travel on the Staran, and the worlds will drift apart. We can’t let that happen.”

“We? I thought it was us who had to do all the work?” Jared quipped, a smirk on his lips. Much better than Cam’s anger, Macey decided. She was going to reward him with a kiss later on.

“I won’t be coming with you, little incubus. I’m bound to this place, but I will be able to monitor you from afar. The Mahoun isn’t the only one who’s got eyes and ears everywhere. And just because I don’t enter your pretty head, doesn’t mean that I can’t.”

“The Mahoun? Entering my head? What?” Macey was confused.

“It’s what he calls himself. The devil. Don’t think that’s what he is, but his past and future are shrouded in mist. All I can see is the present, and he is preparing. He wants the Staran to fail. He knows the Wardens will be the only ones who can thwart him, so he’s hunting you, even now. One of you is already in his clutches, and another one will be soon.”

“Oh, you mean the Voice?” Macey exclaimed, her head hurting at the memory. It all started to make sense now. Well, a little bit, at least.

Malan chuckled. “He wouldn’t like that name. He’s used to be called the Terrifying, the Monster, the Devil, not the Voice. Bit boring, if you ask me.”

Macey grimaced. “He hurt me.”

Malan turned serious. “He did. And he will do it again. He’s doing it to one of the Seven just now. But before you can go find the others, you four need to bond. You need to be strong together or you will be torn apart. You need your magic, Macey, or you won’t have a chance. And you know how to unlock it.”

He actually winked. Macey shuddered a little. That was creepy. He knew that she was going to have to have s*x with the remaining two guys. And while she didn’t have a problem with the actual act - waves, she was feeling the arousal coming even at this moment - but this weird ghost head knowing... yuck. Who knew how detailed his visions were. Did that make him a pervert?

Flint noticed her unease and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, savouring the warmth of his body.

“Where shall we go now? If we can’t find the others yet and don’t know how to heal the Staran, what is our task?”

Besides having s*x, Macey added in her mind. She didn’t think that was the only thing they could do. That was tempting, but quite unproductive.

“You must visit the Sìth. The na fir ghorma are right about them being connected to the Staran, but not how they think. They have been the Staran’s guardians for millennia, but they are having trouble keeping it working. They can use your help... or maybe you can use theirs.”