Chapter 14

Damien and his scouts were on John's heels as Nyline screamed at him through the little black device that John had in his hand. Once outside all of us saw that the large tree house was lighting up like the sun. Damien focused on John; he could tell that John was yelling up to Nyline, and she was yelling down. He couldn't hear a thing as he assessed the situation and started barking orders to his scouts.

However, his words died in his throat as he watched Nyline fall back first out of the tree and vanish into a pool of light that was about halfway up the trunk. As soon as she had fallen through all of the light died out leaving John standing under the tree looking as if he was about to break something.

"Did you do anything?" John rounded on Damien and his scouts who could only lift their hands and shake their heads violently. John ran his fingers through his hair once, twice, three times before he spun again. "Damn it," escaped his lips as he stared down at the ground as if it had all the answers for him, then just as suddenly as the light in the tree house he turned and stormed back into the house.

"John, what was that?" Jake ran after him only to find the kitchen empty before a rustle of clothing made him turn his head to see John appear in the all black stretchy scout uniform. John's eyes focused on Jakes as he fixed the sleeve and pulled the mask over his nose and mouth.

"That was a recall spell. I'm going to the fairy gate; she's on the other side." John spoke his voice muffled by the mask. He turned to leave but Damien reached out and grabbed his arm causing him to pause.

"We're all going with you, so just wait a tick." Anger burned in John's eyes as they darted from Damien's eyes to the hand that was currently resting on his arm. Then with a rush of air John pulled his arm from Damien's grasp and took a step back.

"Maybe you should just go home. Where I'm going it probably best if you didn't tag along." John didn't look at Damien while he spoke but turned so his back was to him and his scouts. Damien looked as if someone had physically slapped him across the face.

"I have been chasing after this girl for my entire life. I am not going to just give up and go home now." Damien crossed his arms as he spoke. John rubbed the back of his neck.

"We'll make sure he doesn't cause too much trouble," Jake smiled. John looked at Jake for a moment before he sighed.

"Fine, but if you are slowing me down, I will leave you behind." And with that John disappeared leaving behind the noise of his clothing rustling.

Angelica and Rebecca both grabbed one of Damien's arms and jumped into the air. He hated when they used their movement skill with him, it always made his stomach turn. Angelica and Rebecca stopped suddenly as they arrived at their destination. When they released Damien, he staggered slightly but quickly tried to right himself before anyone noticed. He hated stopping more than the moving part. He looked around for John and saw him walking out of the cabin as he spoke with a woman with long blond hair and blue eyes.

"That's the witch on this side of the gate," Angelica smiled as she spoke. She skipped off towards the witch who turned and smiled at her. They spoke for a couple minutes before she returned. "We're already to go." Angelica said with a smile on her face.

"What exactly did you pay?" Damien asked raising his eyebrow. Angelica looked at him for a long moment, before she pressed her finger to her lips.

"It's a secret. I paid enough for us to get here and go home. That's all you need to worry about." Damien's brow creased at that, wondering what in the world she had paid for this trip.

"Is everyone ready to go? All right, have a safe trip." The witch asked as she waded into the waters. Everyone walked into the pond as well.

Damien head got heavy once again as the water pulled him into the center; he grabbed one last breath before he was pulled under. The water pulled him this way and that as he opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. After a few minutes, he started to swim upwards and his head broke the surface on the other side of the fairy gate. He swam to the edge and pulled himself up, his breathing was ragged. His eyes went to his scouts and John, they all looked as if they just gone on a summers swim. He sat on the edge for a moment before he surged to his feet and looked at John.

"So, tell me," Damien asked as he tried to take a deep breath in and coughed. John raised a brow at him as if saying 'I'm waiting'. "How did you get through the gate with a baby in toe?" John's brow rose slightly higher before he shook his head.

"Same way we just went." John spoke sounding as if the question was stupid and the answer was obvious.

"But how did you do that with a baby? I'm grown and it's hard for me to hold my breath that long, how did a baby do it?" John again looked at him like he was stupid.

"You are over thinking this." He turned his back on Damien. Damien couldn't help but feel a little hopeless as he watched the older scout walk away. He looked to Jake who shrugged. Aggravated he ran his hand through his hair and followed after John.

"So where are we heading?" Damien spoke as he reached John and matched his strides.

"To the Kingdom of Thaul, or what's left of it." Damien felt his heart start beating a little faster. John crossed his arms looking annoyed.

"Wasn't that entire kingdom that was destroyed years ago? Why go there now?" Damien asked looking sideways at John.

"It amazes me at how little you actually know. Nyline and I are from Thaul." John sighed.

"Well I knew that, but there is nothing there now. That was more my question. Why are we heading to Thaul?"

"The recall spell must have been set up by Queen Stephaney, which means it will take her back to the throne room in Thaul."

"Let me see if I can connect with her," Damien closed his eyes for a moment and thought of Nyline. After several minutes passed, he opened his eyes and looked at everyone. "Doesn't seem like I can get through to her," John shook his head.

"She's probably connected to someone else at the moment. I guess I'm not too surprised." John ran his hand through his hair as he sighed. Damien felt himself glaring at John.

"I'm going to try one more time," Damien pressed his eyes shut for a moment and thought hard about Nyline. He felt a pressure behind the back of his eyes for a moment. John smacked him upside the head.

"Don't act like a spoiled brat. If you force the connection with her you might end up hurting her." John spoke as he turned to walk away. Confusion crossed Damien's face.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he jogged to keep up with John.

"By forcing the connection, you are breaking the one that she already has and pushing your way in. Which will cause mental strain and causes a great deal of pain." John started walking off the main path and darting through the trees.

"How do you know so much about this?" Nathan asked from John's left as they followed him thought the forest.

"I grew up with Queen Stephaney, Nyline's mother, back before Nore and Stephaney had been bonded with each other Stephaney had issues with other pairs trying to connect with her. Many of them liked forcing their way into her mind. Of course, they got mated at a very young age, which she was happy about." John spoke softly as they increased their speed,

"So, whose scout are you exactly?" John looked at Ryan as he spoke. John knew very well that a scout was loyal only to one person and that person alone. Normally when a scout's master dies the scout goes into hiding to either die or live out the rest of its days with its mated pair in hiding. A lot of scouts are unable to adjust to not having a master to serve and since their mated pair are normally made scouts together. They just stop living and allow themselves to follow their masters into the next life.

"King Nore's," John spoke not looking at them. Realization dawned on Damien as he thought quickly. Showing his face to another person of royal blood after his master had died. It was a great shame because it showed that their master died before them, which means they didn't protect them.

"Oh, then why…?" Angelica spoke softly. John looked at her for a long moment before he sighed.

"He gave me an order before he died. He said to take care of Nyline and to make sure that she is happy and then, he told me to leave." Jake looked at him with horror on his face.

"I could never leave Damien if he was about to die." Jake muttered. John turned his gaze onto him.

"Damien just gave you his most precious thing he has ever had in his life and tells you to make sure it stays safe. He knows he's going to die, so he tells you to leave. Would you disobey him?" Jake shuddered.

"No…" Jake muttered as he looked at the ground.

"Honestly I think all of you are too serious. I don't think of you as scouts, I think of them as my friends. I'm sure King Albert felt the same way about you, and honestly if I knew that my fate was already sealed, I would hope that my scouts would find another reason to keep living without me."

"B'awwww!" Rebecca screeched as she threw her arms around Damien's neck, "That's so sweet of you!" Damien laughed as Angelica jumped on him as well, they both giggled.

"He's not a bad guy you know," Ryan spoke in a low tone making John look at him.

"I'm starting to see that; you guys are lucky to have such a caring master."

"Yeah we are," Jakes voice was soft as he watched the girls jump on Damien as he fought to keep his balance.