She shook dirt and leaves off her dress and cloak, straightened her ornate belt, and ran her hands through her hair. Then she pulled her hood low until it shaded even her eyes. With a deep breath, she headed down to the road again. After a few hours, a city outline appeared before her. She stopped, unable to propel her legs farther. She couldn’t go in there. It was too risky.
Voices sounded behind her and she scurried around a hedge lining the road. A small group of travelers appeared and continued toward the city. She watched them pass and enter without trouble.
She closed her eyes and steeled herself to follow. She counted to three, then opened her eyes and stepped from behind the hedge. She didn’t stop until she had passed through the city entrance.
Myriad sounds greeted her. Children played and bustled about the streets and one bumped into her. Her hood slipped backward and she caught it before it revealed her telltale hair. Women gossiped while they purchased clothes and food from market booths, and men went about their business with stern faces. Structures lined the road—houses and shops, tall buildings and small rundown shacks. The city felt busy and hasty, but also friendly. Her tension eased.
She meandered through the streets and gleaned information from passing conversations, but dared not ask for directions.
The tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread carried her to a baker’s booth. Several people hovered near, examining the bread and choosing what they wanted to buy. She had no money, but needed the bread, for her strength was nearly gone.
“How is your family, Agnes?” the baker asked a plump woman at the booth.
“The children have been ill, but they are on the mend…”
The conversation was drowned out by the ringing in her ears. This was her chance. While the baker chatted with the woman she had to take some bread. She had never stolen anything before…except she then realized that taking rhubarb and onions from someone else’s garden was also stealing. Her poor circumstances had led her to thievery and she thought that perhaps she had misjudged others in the same situation.
The baker glanced at her, then returned to his conversation with the woman. Before she lost her courage, Danni reached out with one hand as though to examine the bread, while her other hand slipped a small loaf into her cloak. Then she coughed again and again in a pretend coughing fit, backed away from the booth, and hurried down the road.
Another street intersected the road and she turned down it and pulled the warm bread from within her cloak. Oh, the fluffy morsel was truly heavenly! She found a grassy patch under a shady tree where she sat and devoured the bread. Her full belly weighed down her eyelids, so she leaned her head against the trunk of the tree and rested.
A commotion sounded on the road behind her and she jolted from her nap. She stood, then whirled about when she heard screams from men, women, and children. They sounded panicked and seemed to be fleeing their homes.
She ran toward an alleyway that led away from whatever terror had entered the city. The stench of filth and waste assaulted her nostrils and she covered her nose, then headed deeper into the alley. Somehow she knew the trouble in the city had everything to do with her.
The disturbance had all but faded away when the alley turned a sharp corner and dead ended. Tall buildings and fences surrounded her with no way through, and she had no choice but to retrace her steps.
The tumult grew in volume as she came again to the road. People screamed and crowded the street, everyone attempting to flee at once.
With nowhere else to go, Danni entered the crowd and was immediately swallowed up in the fray and swept along like a stick in a strong river current. She couldn’t break free, so she pulled her hood lower and hoped that if someone sought her, they wouldn’t find her in the throng.
The crowd bumped and jostled her until she stumbled and fell. The panicked townspeople continued on, oblivious of her fallen body. Someone stepped on her hand and a knee slammed into her back.
Then strong hands seized her and pulled her back to her feet. She felt a moment’s gratitude to her benefactor until his grip tightened around her. She squirmed and tried to free herself, but he refused to let her go. His strong arms dragged her toward the edge of the road and down an empty side street.
Chapter 5
Nathan watched his men distance themselves and spread out through the city. Edward and Garin led the pack horses, while Doc and Lane rode the other horses through. He desired to go on foot, so he could more thoroughly search for the princess. He entered the city last and headed straight to the center to check in the busiest places.
He watched the women he passed, but as always, found no sign of Princess Dannilynn. Perhaps something had happened to her. He could never again face James if he failed to bring her safely to him.
He had not been in the city long when he heard a commotion behind him. He spun around and saw an army enter the city. The leader was on horseback and his armor sparkled in the midday sunlight. His men—about thirty strong—followed with shields and swords at the ready, some on foot, and others on horseback. The blue and gold of Lord Donavan’s soldiers plumed above their helmets and hung about their horses.
Nathan dove down a side street and watched them fall upon the city. Like a pack of hungry wolves they knocked down doors, turned over tables, smashed windows, and destroyed nearly everything in their path. The soldiers entered houses and dragged women out into the streets.
The leader studied each woman carefully, shook his head, and moved to the next one. Nathan’s breath caught in his chest. Surely they sought the princess, too. If she was there, he had to find her first.
He turned and followed the narrow dirt street until it opened onto a wider cobblestone thoroughfare. He kept the chaos at his back and his hand on his sword hilt and crept through the city in search of Princess Dannilynn A’ Donna.
Panic spread through the city. People ran into the streets, parents yelled for their children, store owners fled from their buildings, and young children cried out for their parents.
He still hadn’t seen the princess, so he left the shadows to search among the chaotic streets.
The uproar of the disturbance grew louder and then mixed with the clamor of defense. Men from the city must have gathered together to stand up to Lord Donavan’s men.
The din reached the crowd. They ran and pushed and shoved to get away. Nathan allowed himself to be swept along with the madness.
Then before him a hooded woman stumbled. Small and slender, she was unable to keep pace with the crowd and was nearly trampled. He grasped both her arms with his hands and lifted her to her feet. He nearly let go then, but something stayed his hand.
She struggled against him and her dark hood shifted. The sun’s rays reflected copper for an instant, then she turned her head away. Perhaps he had imagined it, but he had to know, so he pulled her to the edge of the fray and stepped down a side street.
“Ma’am, you need to—”
The woman lifted her head toward him and the mid-day sun reflected off the most brilliant green eyes he had ever seen. His jaw dropped and he forgot how to speak. So mesmerized was he by her stunning eyes, that he even forgot for a moment that he was on a mission searching for those emerald eyes—and so were the men terrorizing the city behind him.
The woman’s porcelain face flushed, adding a rather attractive hue to her pale cheeks, and she looked away. The trance ended and Nathan’s mind reengaged. Emerald eyes. It couldn’t be. After all his searching, he might have found her. He reached in her hood and touched a lock of auburn hair around her oval face. She flinched and her hand shot up to push his away. He caught it and examined the glove that must have covered a magnificent ruby ring. He had found her!
“Princess Dannilynn A’ Donna,” he breathed.
Her remarkable eyes snapped back to his, wide with terror, and she tried to free her hand from his grasp, though his strength far surpassed hers. “What do you want with me?”
“Have no fear, Your Highness. I mean
you no harm.” He bowed. “I have sought you since you failed to arrive in Anderon. I am Nathan Meadows.”
∞∞∞
Danni’s heart leapt. Nathan Meadows—James’s greatest friend. She was saved! James had told her so much about Nathan that she felt she knew him, though they had never met. She had pleaded for him to find her, and there he stood, towering over her, his dark, handsome face gazing down on her, his solid muscles beckoning her to hide within their safety. She gave in to their call and buried her head against his firm chest.
All the emotion that had built inside her since she fled her guards erupted, and she sobbed and clung to him like a young child to her mother. Nathan stiffened. When she continued to cry against him, he patted her back.
When she could finally breathe again, she realized he must think her rather childish. She pulled away, her cheeks aflame, and fumbled around in her cloak for her handkerchief.
“Here.” He pulled out his own.
It appeared clean and still folded so she took it, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose. “Forgive me.” She hardly dared look at his deep brown eyes or square jaw covered in a few days’ dark stubble. “I have been so frightened and alone and I hoped every day that someone would find me.”
“There is nothing to forgive, Your Highness. I am sure these past few weeks have not been easy for you.”
She sniffled. “No, they have not.”
He seemed about to say more, but the noise out on the main street reached a climax.
“We must leave.” He took her hand and continued down the side street. He stayed against the shadowy walls and glanced behind them every few steps. Danni followed his gaze and saw that no one pursued them. The soldiers seemed focused on moving down the main road.
They crept along and left the disturbance behind. With the danger diminished, she became aware of Nathan’s warm hand through her glove and the safety she felt in his presence, not to mention his rather striking face and dark hair that fell in handsome locks onto his cheeks. She shook her head and attempted to quiet her rapid thoughts, then began a casual conversation. “James speaks highly of you, Nathan. You must be great friends.”
“Yes. We have been friends since we were young. There wasn’t a day we spent apart when we were children.” He frowned and rubbed at his chin. “I haven’t seen him but briefly in these past few years with all the trouble between our kingdom and Tonam.”
“You must miss him.”
“Yes. We could speak to each other of anything and we shared the same values. He has written to me about you, and asked that I return you to his care.”
She blushed. “He cannot have spoken much of me.”
Nathan turned to her and searched her face. “He has.”
They turned a corner and Danni stopped. The road ended not twenty paces from her behind a small rundown building. The windows were broken, the roof tilted precariously, large cracks ran down the walls, and a knobby wood door hung off its hinges and creaked in the slight breeze.
“Perhaps we should turn around.” She glanced back down the empty road they had come from.
Nathan studied the structure. “I think you might be right. That building doesn’t appear stable and might fall down at any moment.”
Harsh voices approached them from the main road. A male voice laughed, then another one asked, “Do you think the princess is even here?”
Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder, then pulled her back toward the edifice.
Another voice responded, “If she is, I hope I find her first. I hear she is a beauty.”
Danni shivered and pulled her cloak tighter around her. She noticed Nathan’s jaw clench. He drew her nearer to him, then glanced at the dilapidated building.
“I suppose we must go through it.” He stepped forward and pulled the door open.
Danni took a breath and stepped inside. The smell of damp earth tickled her nose and she sneezed. When her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw the outline of shelves along the walls and boxes, old collectables, and broken trinkets littered about the floor.
She crept through the mess, kicking up dust that gathered on the hem of her dress and cloak. When they reached the front door, she placed her hand upon it and turned the knob. Before she could open it, Nathan leaned against it. He peeked through a crack in the door frame, then frowned. She heard footsteps outside.
“The army must have split into groups to search the city for you,” he whispered.
“What can we do?” They were trapped, with men hunting for her outside both entrances. She could not have survived her time alone to now be captured there.
Nathan put a finger to his lips, then led her toward the back of the building. They had gone about halfway when the front door crashed open and shattered.
Danni fell to her knees between stacks of boxes, and Nathan crouched over her. Several men entered the structure and she heard them shove boxes, break glass, laugh, and curse. She flinched and scooted toward Nathan until her back brushed against his chest.
“What a mess,” one man said.
“This dump is falling down. I think we should help it on its way,” another said.
The others laughed and exited the building. Silence followed them, then a crash shook the walls and the roof creaked. Another crash shook debris loose that rained down upon them. Then a great groan filled the air.
Nathan heaved her to her feet. “Run!”
She lifted her dress off the floor and ran toward the back door as fast as she could amongst the rubbish littering the floor. Her foot caught on a box and she crashed against a shelf. Nathan raced to her. A reverberating boom shook the building. The walls swayed. Then the entire structure toppled down and buried them beneath it.
Chapter 6
Nathan thought they were dead. He heard the crash that should have meant the end for them, closed his eyes, and braced for the impact. It never came.
He opened his eyes and saw Princess Dannilynn crouched beside him. Through the swirling dust and a faint red glow, he saw beads of sweat glisten on her forehead. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she held her hands above her head. The tattered wreckage pressed down upon her, but it did not crush her. He couldn’t fathom it.
He noticed her gloved hand, where the glow seemed to emanate from, and her strained face, and then he understood. The stories his mother had told him as a child about the ruby ring spoke of magic—of strength, healing, and protection. The princess, who surely wore the ring beneath her gloves, must have used its power to hold back the heavy rubble.
She didn’t seem able to hold it long, though. Debris surrounded them and there seemed to be no way out. Nathan lifted and shoved boxes and old rubbish out of the way and managed to clear a path through the ruins. When he returned to Dannilynn’s side, he saw her body shaking.
With the path clear, he could pull her out, but he knew when she released her hold on the mess, it would collapse entirely and they might still be crushed.
Her body shuddered. The glow faded, then vanished.
In one swift movement, he hooked his arm around her waist and rolled them both to safety. She went limp and everything she held up crashed to the ground. He covered her body with his own to protect her from stray debris.
When the dust settled, he gazed at her. Her face, once flushed with pink, was now pale, but slender and perfect. He brushed his hand against her forehead and wiped away a droplet of sweat, then tucked an auburn lock behind her ear. Her emerald eyes fluttered open, and once again he found himself lost in their depths.
Without releasing her gaze, she tried to shift her legs, probably suffering from his body weight. It was then he realized he was entangled with his best friend’s love. Saving her was his duty, but he doubted James would approve of this. He unraveled himself and helped her to her feet.
“Are you all right?” he asked. She wobbled and clung to him, obviously weakened from the incident.
“I—I think so,” she whispered.
He continued to stare at her
, but only because he doubted her stability—not because she had held up a collapsing building to save them or because of how lovely she appeared afterwards. She could not be beauteous to him, for she was James’s. “If you are well, then we should leave before anyone comes to see what happened.”
“Yes.” She did not look away from him either.
“Let us go, then.” Nathan stepped forward, but kept a supportive hand on her elbow.
The road seemed clear now, and he guessed the soldiers must have moved on when the edifice collapsed. He led Dannilynn down the road toward the edge of the town. She leaned against him until he was nearly carrying her. He doubted she could handle any further incidents.
They had nearly reached the south wall when Nathan heard footsteps behind them. He glanced back and saw two men slinking in the shadows. They didn’t appear to be dressed in military garb, but seemed to be following them. He quickened his steps. If they were after the princess, he had to get her past the city wall, then he could use it to his advantage. He had fought more than two men at a time before.
Dannilynn stumbled, unable to keep up with him, so he scooped her into his arms and ran through the entrance. He ducked behind the outside wall, set her on the grass, and turned back, ready to jump upon their pursuers. Once he overpowered them he could find out who they were and what they wanted.
Their hurried steps grew louder and Nathan crouched, ready to pounce. When their bodies came into view around the wall, he lunged and took down both men at the same time. They rolled together in a blur of tunics, then Nathan raised his fist and aimed it at the first man’s jaw.
“Nate! Stop! It’s me.” Lane’s voice halted Nathan’s hand and laughter burst from the other man.
“He nearly throttled you, Lane,” Will cried between peals of laughter.
“What are you two doing here?” Nathan asked. He reached for Lane’s hand.
The Power of The Ruby Ring Page 3