MOONDOCK

by Jewel Adams

  The seizure of a sudden chill penetrated Melane’s troubled thoughts with a force that made her head reel. The increasing feeling of a sinister presence seeped deeper inside, smothering the gaiety of the room.

  “Melane child, what’s come over you?”

  Looking in confusion to Tarra and her staring family members, Melane turned away under the terror gaining in strength. “Please excuse me.”

  Drawn by the dark force, she moved unsteadily through the crowd, letting it guide her towards what she feared. Opening her mind, Melane scanned the thoughts of those she passed. A Selam bumped into her, but she felt nothing from him as he kept moving deeper into the room. When at last the horrible presence she sought invaded her mind, her legs nearly gave way under the force.

  Tonight he dies!

  Melane’s stricken gaze raced to Wylan. Denials couldn’t stop the evil directed against him--but she could.

  Calling on all the powers within her grasp, Melane felt the honed skills of her Lamar sect surge forth. Clinging to that part of herself, forsaken since arriving here, her body shivered under its strength. And there, beside the familiar skills, she sensed the new, stronger powers at her disposal. They filled her being without thought or substance, but they were there, stirring with the life she allowed to flow.

  Seeking the enemy that threatened Wylan, she sought the blackness from which he drew his strength. Sharp as daggers her eyes riveted to the back of the room, to the shadows beyond the bright festive lights. Into the darkness she sent all her concentration against the darkly robed man within the circle of unmoving men.

  The evil she touched upon felt like a living thing, making her weave dangerously under the assault of its ravenous hunger. As if in mortal combat Melane struck back. Her weapons were invisible, and like flashing swords and iron shields, they surrounded her in a protective cloak, battering down the invasion. In determined steps she moved cautiously forward, assessing her enemy.

  As black as his intent, he held a vicious cunning in his grooved features. Lank black hair hung past his jagged shoulders, joining a full straight beard that tapered to a sever point above his heart. His eyes were menacing in their cold, light swallowing depths. His tongue slipped over thin bluish lips as if savoring the pending victory.

  Melane’s arms came about her to fend off what more she felt from him. As if by opening herself to her own inherited powers she felt the evil wizardry inside this vile man. Dear Gods of heaven and earth, help me find the strength to defeat the deadly evil he holds power over. She didn’t want to listen to the unsettling warning that she lacked the knowledge to overcome the power spawned from the darkness he gloried in. Fighting against the weakness, Melane forced her concentration to discover his intent.

  Go forth and do the deed my blind one. Carry out my order and glory in the ordained destruction.

  A cold panic filled her. Following the dreaded slit of his eyes, she saw that they were not on Wylan, but held fast to the male she passed. She tried to hear this one’s thoughts, but nothing existed inside the Selam but the evil direction of the wizard guiding his course.

  Moving without thought, Melane’s goal pushed her through the towering mass of men. In her haste to get between the man and Wylan, Melane ignored the shocked gasps and hands that tried to prevent her desperate passing.

  Stepping out before the advancing Selam, Melane’s fingers came to her temple. Pitting her powers against the one controlling the man, her eyes bored into the blank unseeing eyes, telling him to stop. Stop your plan! Turn away!

  His steps never faltered. When he did become still, she felt her heart stop beating as his hand drew forth the knife from his robed sleeve. Her anguished eyes flashed to Wylan whose attention was fully on Majok. There was no time for warnings.

  Rushing directly into the death path of the knife, she prayed her inexperienced powers wouldn’t fail. Melane concentrated only on the weapon, never taking her eyes from it as it left the hand sending it on its maddening flight. As if all motion slowed around her, Melane called on the powers that moved objects to halt this one.

  Past his call of warning, Wylan saw the deadly knife stop and hang in mid air, not an inch from Melane’s heart, before falling to the floor. When he’d seen the man and what he intended, she’d already moved before he could stop her.

  “Melane!”

  Her frightened eyes swung about to his, pulling Wylan into motion to reach her. Before he could make his way through the stunned crowd the assailant advanced. “Behind you, Melane!”

  Her hand rose automatically in response to Wylan’s warning, directing it against the blindly driven enemy. The force she called upon was delivered in outrage and fear for what almost happened. “No!”

  The invisible force sent out by Melane, jerked the assailant off his feet and flung him into the wall with an impact that sent him sprawling in an unconscious heap on the floor. The fallen man was not the one Melane feared and her fierce protective force for Wylan left no thought for the danger as she advanced on his enemy.

  Against the evil, she felt the surge of her own forces mount in strength to fight the dark force that was turning his attention away from Wylan and onto her. His words screamed in silent warning at Melane.

  So the king has a sorceress to ruin my plans! Beware witch, Dragon is not going to be stopped!

  Then die, you beast from the bowels of the earth, for you will not harm Wylan! Melane knew her heated vow had been given threw the strength of her thoughts alone. Dragon’s lips curled in acceptance of the challenge. Melane’s hand rose to instigate the invisible attack that drove him back against the wall.

  You can’t beat me so easily witch.

  His laughter felt cold in her head. She watched him turn into the black moving shadow remembered from her waking dream.

  The warrior’s instinct drummed into her since childhood guided her attack and the newfound powers toppled torches in his cursing path. Marble statues slid across the floor to trap him, but he moved up the wall like a liquid mass, laughing at her obstacles.

  A low untamed fury surged up inside her, its force lashed out, sending forth the rage in a lightning bolt that shattered away the marble pillar he hovered behind. The furious dark mass rose up against his attacker. Again she struck out with the fire that came from her hands.

  “I will meet you again, sorceress!”

  “If you escape.”

  His vocal laughter shattered across the room as the dark form of nothing shrunk from sight.

  Racing forward Melane found nothing left of his evil to fight. The sounds behind her made her spin, ready to do battle.

  “Melane!”

  Seeing Wylan seemed to make all her strength fall away at once.

  Before the weakness swallowed her--she must tell him. “Wylan! It was Dragon, he is the one.” Each spoken word gave her over to the pulling darkness.

  Wylan reached her before she fell to the floor. Lifting her limp form up in his arms a violent curse escaped from deep within his tortured chest. Turning to take her away from what just happened, he shouted out his orders.

  “Find Dragon!”

  Chapter 7

  Revealing Powers

  Tarra was ahead of them, throwing open his chamber doors and ordering the curious and awed followers away from Wylan and the girl he feared for in his arms. A cold anger surged over the gray unearthly pallor that stole away Melane’s vibrancy.

  “The leaves!” Wylan’s panic went out to Tarra.

  “ ‘Tis here…help me get it in her.”

  Together they struggled, forcing the girl’s lifeless lips to accept the reviving liquid.

  Through the locked barriers of the chamber doors, The urgency in Majok’s summons tore through Wylan. Tarra’s silent curse at the intrusion echoed his own need to stay and help the stricken girl.

  “Don’t leave her.” Wylan’s order met the anguish in his mother’s eyes as she nodded her consent.

  “I’ll lock the door, no one must enter.” It was
vital that no one learn of the weakness Melane suffered by using her power. Wylan’s conviction on this grew in insurmountable importance. Now that her powers were common knowledge, protecting Melane took over every part of his existence.

  Going to Majok, Wylan used his body to block his friend’s concerned gaze into the chamber.

  “Is Melane alright?”

  The flash of heated rage for Majok’s interest flamed. Wylan barely managed to regain his control. “She is shaken, but fine.”

  None of his fear for the lie could surface. Wylan knew Melane never used her powers to the extent that she did tonight to protect him. The damage she caused to herself was worse than any prior weakness. Wylan’s fury ran rampant for the one that brought this upon her.

  “We caught two of the men and the one she…stopped.” Majok’s eyes still held his amazement over what Melane did in the great hall.

  Wylan couldn’t allow himself to dwell on the events, fearing the shattering feeling still swirling in his chest for Melane.

  “Dragon?”

  “Vanished.”

  He hadn’t held much hope over his capture. Not when Melane’s forces failed to stop his escape.

  Deep in his own thoughts, Wylan walked back to the great hall. Stopping at the entrance his eyes hardened over the destruction that gave proof to the unearthly battle that had just been fought. A great marble pillar lay shattered where she flung it before the black cloud. His gaze traveled up the scorched wall, following the fresh scars of Melane’s attempt to stop Dragon.

  Wylan felt his body shutter under the violent fury. Dragon had not been prepared for what he encountered in the elamie. Now warned, the evil bastard wouldn’t make the mistake again. Thoughts of how she might fair in the next attack made him look back in the direction of his chamber. Marble walls couldn’t withstand the elamie’s power, but neither did she stop Dragon. How could one small girl survive?

  What he and Majok stood before only enhanced his concern for Melane. Wylan held little hope that Dragon’s next attempt would not be more devastating. Wylan hated believing it would be directed against Melane.

  “I want the guards doubled about the palace.”

  “It has been done.”

  The muffled racket coming from beyond the balcony drew Wylan’s piercing black eyes.

  “It’s her beast, it’s gone wild in the stable yard. No one dares approach it.”

  Rolley…yes, he would have felt his mistress distress.

  “Tell them to leave him be, I’ll be down.” Those two were tied as one. Was it the magic inside her? “Where are the prisoners?”

  “In the outer hall.”

  Two of Dragon’s men were caught besides the assassin. Only the man’s guards held the deserved fear in their eyes for the formidable threat vibrating from the approaching warrior.

  Wylan’s eyes fell to the unmoving heap on the floor.

  “His mind is gone.”

  “More of Dragon’s evil.” Their eyes met in understanding. Majok ordered the shell of what was once a man taken away.

  Wylan moved closer to the men within the palace guard’s hold.

  “Where is your master?”

  Neither man acknowledged the question. Wylan knew it would be useless to try to get anything from them. Dragon’s followers were as sick and demented as their leader, fanatics all, and deadly dangerous.

  Turning them over to Majok, the man’s expertise with obtaining information would no doubt be wasted this night.

  Chaos dominated the trashed stable yard upon Wylan’s arrival.

  Caution dictated his advance on the destructive ball of red fur trying to tear away the thick stone walls of the compound.

  “I envy you, Rolley.” The animal was only venting his rage and despair over not being able to help Melane.

  Talking softly to the beast pacing before the wall, the power in those huge hind legs of his made Wylan keep a respectable distance. There was little calming in the large brown eyes that finally swung his way. As if the beast could speak, Wylan felt his outrage at being prevented from going to her side and doing what his instincts demanded.

  Taking a steadying breath Wylan’s decision was made.

  “Majok, open the garden gate.”

  Wylan never took his eyes off Melane’s fierce protector as his great bulk backed towards the open gate to the palace grounds. Rolley came to a halt, rising to his full impressive height as his large eyes followed Wylan’s movements.

  “Go on Rolley, go and guard your mistress.”

  The animal’s head jerked as if in answer. With a speed Wylan had not yet experienced from the beast, the blur of red swept past him.

  A round of surprised gasps came from the men. “Majok, I suggest you put out a warning for everyone to stay clear of the grounds about my chamber.” In his present mood, Wylan didn’t think Rolley would be discriminate in stopping any fool that entered.

  ~*~

  Eyes held beneath the weight of unsated revenge took little notice of the scarlet dawn streaking the coastal horizon. The guards found nothing but dark silence after seizing Dragon’s compound. The shadowed evil in the place still left Wylan feeling dirty.

  Cursing the black snake of a man, Wylan knew he must have fled into the ocean bound cliffs south of Moondock. Hunting him down among the labyrinth of catacombs would be a fool’s quest. Waiting for Dragon to strike and possibly gain control of Moondock--and Melane--was a poisonous prospect.

  Stretching out his tension bound muscles, the large furry mass below the balcony caught his attention. The Kaymog’s horned head cocked back to look up at Wylan. The large relentless eyes dismissed his presence in wary concentration. Rolley never ceased his vigil beneath Wylan’s chambers. “Don’t fail her beast.”

  Wylan swung around to look back into the darkened room. The rising sun touched the smooth silhouette of Melane’s curved form beneath the furs. Not killing the threat now stalking her tore at Wylan with unprecedented venom. Because of him, she exposed herself to Dragon. “I should never have brought you here.”

  Anger fired his coal black depths clouding in concern for the strange elamie now irrevocably tied to him. Another, deeper emotion forced him to make her remain when she would have escaped. As much as he felt enraged for what she forced upon him, letting her go would be impossible.

  His proud features steeled over, remembering how close he came to losing her tonight. The dwindling store of leaves finally pulled her back from death’s tightening hold. Only in the last hour her incoherent mumbling calmed to broken whimpers. Whatever she saw beneath her translucent lids held her in the chains of fear.

  Wylan’s inability to vanquish her demons became an obstacle he never encountered before. He never met an elamie with Melane’s special qualities. “How do I fight the unknown and unseen?”

  More troubling to Wylan was how he could keep his little warrior from destroying herself. Her powers were awesome during the attack on Dragon. The cost to the girl ignited his fury. A gift that kills, the giver? The truth tasted bitter on his tongue. Unlike Dragon, Melane used her power for others.

  Wylan thought of how she stayed his intended blow against her beast. She could easily have killed him at the pool. She also stepped before the knife meant for him. His irrational anger at her for putting herself in danger still flared. “Why Melane?”

  His voice rang out across the protective walls of his palace in his need to understand. He often placed his life in peril for his men and kingdom, and would willingly have sacrificed his eternal soul to keep them from harm. Why would she place herself in death’s path? His own guilt over his treatment of her, made him doubt the reason he swore he saw in her bejeweled eyes. Mistrust, even hate should have shimmered in their blue flames.

  Standing above her. The flowing darkness of her beauty was like the wind on a balmy summer night, gentling the battle going on within his warring soul. The indigo blue satin tresses laid wildly about the pillow. Like a new moon, the dark whimsical slivers of her br
ows and thick lashes beckoned him. He held back from caressing what he wanted to possess. The force rearing inside him went further than gentle touches. Wylan’s body quaked under the devouring need to claim Melane as his…forever.

  His lips turned to a defeated smile, knowing he also wanted that fighting spirit of hers to be ready for him. Wylan wanted all of her, every sweet curve and feminine essence she guarded. As sure as he stood here watching her, he would conquer his little warrior. The pending victory was like honey on his tongue. Melane would know who ruled her prideful body, but she’d also see the gentleness with which he swore to hold her in. Above all else, Wylan cherished her unyielding spirit and pride, and nothing, not even his own fierce desires, could be allowed to harm what was Melane.

  Taking a long steadying breath Wylan fought to harness the yearnings. The truth of how deeply she ravaged his convictions made him curse his weakness. She may be an innocent in the ways, but tonight he’d seen her womanly wiles take their first breath. Now he burned to show her how weak her defenses were against him. He wanted to be the one, the only master of her infant passions and teach her how to glory in their awakening powers, share in their pleasuring fires.

  His lips turned up in a rueful smile as he stood gazing upon her. “Your prowess in our battle has been more skilled than either of us expected. Has it not Melane? Who are you, to be able to slay a man’s pride? Conquer his iron coated creed?”

  Kneeling slowly beside her, his fingers traced the gentle, sleeping features that held the power to pull his senses to them from across a room. Her rose tinted lips felt like their cousin’s petals against his toughened fingertip. “You are the victor that treads in ermine beauty and lush sensuous curves, and walks as a goddess, untouchable within my palace walls. But you invaded this man’s heart, making the hate and anger fall beneath your advance to where no other dared to venture.

  “Only a fool would admit how thoroughly you have defeated his fortresses. But I am but a man, and the truth sears as no blade could into the depths of my soul. Your magic’s nectar has pierced my skin and now mingles in rich, wanting sweetness through my heated blood.”