Child ofFae.. .her choice means the dawn of a new beginning.. .or death to us all.

Could this be the choice Liana foresaw? Surely not.

Tierra felt an unreasonable jealously at that thoughta"as if it should be her choice. She was prepared for it to be her choice.

Enough of this. She shook her head to clear the inner conflict.

Behind them the battled continued to rage. The sound of cries, swords clashing and men and women dying.

Tierra went to Renn and felt his neck. His pulse beat sure and strong. She jogged his shoulder try and wake him, but d.a.m.ned if he was not out cold. "Aric is alive as well," Liana murmured. "Thank the G.o.ds." "As is Jalen." Ranelle drew in a deep breath. "But he, too, is asleep." A deep chuckle sounded through the clearing and Tierra jerked her head up. Her skin chilled when her eyes met Zanden's black orbs.

Chapter Fifteen.

Tierra leapt to her feet, fear and fury searing her veins. Her hands raised, ready to spellbind the Sorcerer.

Keep a tight rein on your thoughts, Liana reminded her heart-sisters as she slowly stood and faced the Sorcerer. Do not allow him to know how great our powers have become. We must let him think we are weaker than he.

"I see the Faerie has worked her magic." Zanden smirked as he strode closer. The slash from Feymir's hooves was a livid red welt across the Sorcerer's forehead, and the wrist she had injured upon their last meeting was swollen and purple. "But the Faerie's intervention will be to no avail," he continued. "Your men will be long dead before they wake from her charms."

The Sorcerer looked so much like Renn that if it were not for his black eyes and the evil that surrounded the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Tierra might have easily been confused.

"How simple you have made it for me." Zanden's gaze moved from Tierra, to Ranelle, and rested on Liana. "All of you here. Together."

He stopped before Liana and smiled as she raised her chin. "I would have made you my wife." He gestured to the other two. "They would simply have been breeding stock."

Zanden raised his injured hand in the air and shoved down.

Liana cried out. Fury rode Tierra in a hot wave as she felt the Sorcerer's magical force drive her heart-sister to her knees.

At the same moment, Liana's hair whipped around Zanden's injured wrist and yanked it downward. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she shouted.

In a blindingly fast movement, the Sorcerer unsheathed his dagger with his free hand. "You will pay for your rebellion." He swung the blade toward Liana's living hair.

"No!" Tierra shot out a spellbinding. It wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. With one jerk she s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him and flung it out of his reach.

"b.i.t.c.h." Zanden held out his hand and sent a blast of power at Tierra.

The force of his magic knocked her flat on her backside. Her legs were spread wide, bent at the knees, and she was frozen in placea"just as in her nightmare. She could not budge. Tierra tried to scream, but could make no sound.

"Stop!" Ranelle shrieked, using her magical voice to order Zanden to halt.

The Sorcerer merely smiled and shot a purple glow of power at Ranelle. With a cry of surprise, she dropped onto her hands and knees before him.

I cannot move, Ranelle told Tierra and Liana in thought.

I, too, am frozen, Liana said, and Tierra realized that even Liana's hair was still.

Tierra gave a frustrated mind scream. I cannot even speak aloud to yell at the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

Sounds of battle carried on in the distance as Zanden walked before Liana, who remained immobile on her knees.

He moved to stand before her, his crotch in front of her face. The bulge beneath his black breeches was obvious, and Tierra felt each of her heart-sister's disgust and loathing straight to her soul.

"You see the power I wield over you?" Zanden grabbed Liana's head with his hands and thrust his hips at her face. "You will suck my c.o.c.k whenever I am in need."

Liana's urge to retch was so great that Tierra felt it and thought she would, too.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d released Liana to move to Ranelle, who was on her hands and knees. "And you, little magpie," he said as he caressed her mahogany tresses. "Oft will I have you on your hands and knees when I f.u.c.k you from behind."

Ranelle's sickness at the mere thought transferred to Tierra and her rage grew even greater.

The Sorcerer stopped next in front of Tierra, who was on her back, her thighs wide. "Child of Fae. You will willingly spread your legs for me once you have a taste of my fine c.o.c.k."

Like h.e.l.l. She would rip his heart out with her bare hands.

"You see." He gestured widely, encompa.s.sing all that was around them. "I have complete control over you. You cannot move unless I wish it. You cannot speak unless I allow it."

His gaze moved to the men who remained motionless behind the women. "As soon as I bind the three of you, I will kill my brothers and the future Elvin King." An evil smile curved his lips. "I will then be master over both Phoenicia and the Seraphine Kingdoms, before I dispense with Anistana and take over the rest of Dair."

Cold, cruel calculation sparked in his black eyes. "In moments they will be dead." His smile broadened. "But first I will use a spell on you three b.i.t.c.hes. It is of the old magic, a spell that shall permanently bind you together.. .mind, soul and body."

Sisters, Liana projected to Ranelle and Tierra. I can read his thoughts. He is at his weakest as he has no fear that we can use our powers against him. As we planned a" now!

Ranelle projected a powerful mind-cry at Zanden.

Liana and Tierra joined their magic with Ranelle's, amplifying the cry.

Zanden's head snapped back, as though he had been punched. Blood gushed from his nose.

The mind-cry severed the Sorcerer's concentration.

Tierra scrambled to her feet, no longer frozen.

She flung out her spellbindings. The power of the halias magnified the strength of the bindings. Ten ropes of power wrapped the Sorcerer from head to toea"'til only his furious black eyes could be seen behind the glittering ropes.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Tierra's fury was so great that her vision turned a shade of crimson. "You shall feel the pain of every wound you have inflicted upon others. I am Fae, and thus I can call woundsa"to heal them.. .or avenge them!"

Behind the binding that gagged his mouth, Zanden screeched as his skin split. Wounds suddenly gaped over every exposed part of his skin. Blood poured from the cut flesh, drenching his face, soaking his clothing.

"We must rid Dair of the Sorcerer now," Ranelle urged, her voice insistent. "Find the beast, Liana."

The magic raging between the three heart-sisters was so great that Tierra could see what Liana saw with her seer's vision as the Tanzinite quickly searched for their means of disposing of the Sorcerer.

At a dizzying pace, Liana's vision flew across the Mir Plain, into the D'euan Forest and to Merth Darklinga"

Straight to a lycidian dragon just stumbling out of his lair.

A full-grown, very large, and very hungry looking dragon.

Using what they had practiced over and over again together with To'en, the three women joined hands and focused their powers on the bound form of Zanden.

Sparkling magic whirled around them like a cyclone. They sent the twisting column toward Zanden, whose eyes had been blinded by blood pouring from his wounds.

Leaves and earth spun, caught up in the magic funnel.

The halias concentrated on the magic, sending it to Zanden.

'Round and 'round it twisted, shimmering with a silver light as it encompa.s.sed the Sorcerer.

And then he vanished from their physical sight.

With Liana's magical vision, the heart-sisters watched as the Sorcerer's body was dropped directly in front of the dragon.

The beast lowered its head and sniffed.

Zanden fought against the magical ropes with his powers and with his body.

Tierra and her heart-sisters struggled to maintain the hold on the magic, but Tierra felt it slipping.

They were too far away.

The dragon roared and fiery breath encompa.s.sed Zanden. The Sorcerer shrieked as his clothing and hair caught fire.

Tierra cried out in frustration as their connection with the spellbindings snapped. The magical ropes vanished.

Still aflame, the Sorcerer stumbled to his feet.

The dragon opened its fiery maw, its teeth closing in on Zandena"

Everything went black. The vision endeda"their connection severed.

"Can you see?" Tierra yelled, her body shaking with adrenalin and fury. "We have to know that he is dead."

"I cannot." Liana shook her head, her face white and her hair trembling around her shoulders.

"Together." Ranelle gripped their hands tighter. "Try again."

Tierra felt their collective exhaustion as they again focused on Liana's sight.

They traveled over the plains, into the D'euan Forest and Merth Darkling. Finally they saw the dragona"

But no sign of the Sorcerer.

The dragon was chewing, his teeth glinting in the murky light. They heard a loud crunch from the beast's maw, not unlike the snapping of bones.

With a big fiery belch, the dragon turned around and lumbered back into his lair.

"No!" Tierra's cry yanked the women out of the vision and back to the clearing. Her chest grew tight as she released Liana and Ranelle's hands. "Send me to the dragon's lair at once. I must find out if he still lives."

Ranelle's eyes widened. "We cannot all three go at oncea"we would have to send you alone."

"It is far too dangerous." Liana shook her head.

Tierra turned her gaze on Liana. "Can you sense if he still lives?"

Liana took Ranelle's and Tierra's hands in hers, and said, "Let us look together."

Holding her breath, Tierra closed her eyes. Again they traveled to the dragon's lair.. .but saw nothing.

Yet an overpower sense of evil slid over Tierra's skin...the same feeling she had felt when she had first met the Sorcerer in the D'euan Forest.

"Send me." Tierra clenched her jaw as the three women returned to the clearing. "We cannot take the chance of that b.a.s.t.a.r.d surviving."

"Look." Liana gestured toward the battlefield. "The Sorcerer's power over his armies has been vanquished."

Tierra whirled to stare out at the Mir Plain. The remaining soldiers from the Sorcerer's army were fleeing, scattering in all directions, including the traitorous Nordain. Even the irani darted around the sky in apparent confusiona"as though unable to determine what to do now that the Sorcerer was gone.

"Zanden must be dead." Ranelle stepped beside Tierra. "Why else would such chaos reign amongst his people? You do not need to take this risk, sister."

"It is my choice to make." Tierra turned her furious gaze on her heart-sisters. "I will not jeopardize our lives, the men we love, our children, or the people of our world, by simply hoping he is dead." She planted her hands on her hips and looked from Ranelle to Liana. "Now send me."

Ranelle and Liana exchanged looks of fear and understanding. "Be wary," Liana said to Tierra. "I could not bear it if anything happened to you."

"Be prepared," Ranelle added. "I love you, sister."

"I love you both." Tierra's gaze dropped to Renn's form, and her lover stirred in his sleep. "If anything should happen to me, tell Renn I did this for us and for our child."

Tears glittered in Ranelle's silver eyes and Liana's sea green gaze. They each stood to either side of Tierra and clasped one another's hands so that Tierra stood in the middle of a small circle.

A wind-storm of magic surrounded them as the three heart-sisters concentrated. Tierra felt a tingling sensation through her limbs, radiating throughout her soul.

And then it felt as if she had taken leave of the world as everything around her turned to white.

Renn blinked, a sense of confusion filling him as he looked up into the boughs of a pine tree. His head felt as though he had been on an all night drinking binge.

Had he been drugged? Where in Hades was he?

In a burst of memory he remembered everythinga"the battle, being surrounded by Zanden's minions, the blue mist.. .and the Sorcerer coming after Tierra.

Renn bolted to his feet just as a blinding white light filled the clearing. He staggered from the force of the light and from the effects of his drugged-like sleep.