He slipped out of me and collapsed onto the floor of the tent, breathless and sheened with sweat. ‘Oh God,’ he gasped, ‘that was incredible!’
I curled up against his muscular chest and smiled. ‘Yes, it was.’
His arms went around me and we drifted into a glowy after-sex sleep.
*
I woke up in the middle of the night and reached over to touch Jorn. My hand connected with the sleeping bag and nothing else. I sat up quickly. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw his clothes on his side of the tent and I relaxed slightly. He wouldn’t go to the castle naked.
Climbing out of the tent, I saw him sitting by the fire, staring into the flames and poking at the burning branches with a stick. He was indeed naked and the firelight played over his chiselled muscles. I walked over and sat beside him.
‘You OK?’
He nodded and continued to poke at the fire. ‘I’m just thinking about the mission ahead and something the Director said to me.’
‘Why? What did he say?’
‘He wanted to know if my intentions were due to my duty to the Order of the Black Rose or because I wanted revenge for my brother.’
‘Your brother? Revenge? I don’t understand.’
He sighed and looked into the flames as if seeing some memory there. ‘Five years ago, there was a rebellion within the Order in New York. Anders seized power by stealing the Crystal Shard from the New York command center. With the Shard, he had the ability to cross realms because the Shard is part of the original Karathian Crystal. Using his charisma and the power of the Shard, he took a dozen knights and defected from the Order. Somewhere along the way he met the witch, Darla.
‘Together they attacked the Order over and over using the Crystal Shard. The attacks became more vicious as time went on. None of our knights were safe. The Order was being attacked all over the world and although we fought back, we took heavy losses.
‘My younger brother, Lars, had always fought for the cause of the Order. He was a good knight, stationed in New York. He had dreams of rising through the ranks and becoming a Master At Arms one day. I was over there in America working with him at the time and I can attest to how skilled he was. He would have achieved his dream someday.’
I cuddled up close to him. I could tell this wasn’t going to end happily and my heart went out to Jorn.
‘I was out one night with my friend Lee. It was November. Cold and windy. We had been out patrolling the streets and were driving back to the command center when we both had the feeling something was wrong. I put my foot down and sped into the underground parking garage beneath the center. By the time we had run up the stairs to the main building, we could smell the blood. It’s strange when there’s so much; the smell is metallic. We knew it was Anders and my immediate thought was that Lee was here somewhere.’
He threw the stick into the flames and dropped his head. ‘I found him ten minutes later. He was lying next to the Master At Arms. They were both dead.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, laying my head on his shoulder.
‘I don’t know what my motives are anymore, Amy. There was a time when I was all about the Order of the Black Rose and its rules and regulations. I lived my life in service to the Order. Then Lars was killed and some of the lines got blurred. Then I met you and suddenly I wanted things I hadn’t thought of before. After our night together in the hotel, I was ready to quit the Order, turn my back on all of it. Now you’ve been dragged into all of this and my main mission is to protect you. That goes above revenge, above duty.
‘But at the same time, if I can get the Crystal Shard and stop Anders attacking our world, I protect everyone, including you. Then he can’t come after you because you’re connected to me. And if I stop Anders, I avenge Lars. I can do it all in one fell swoop.’
‘So there’s no confusion,’ I said. ‘Just get the Crystal Shard and save everyone.’
He looked at me, his grey eyes piercing. ‘What then? After we return home, what do I do?’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I can’t be a member of the Order and have you. It’s against the rules.’
‘So break them.’
‘Amy, these are ancient rules handed down over generations. Knights of the Order…’
‘So don’t break them,’ I said, standing up and folding my arms. ‘Just follow some outdated rules laid down by men hundreds of years ago when women were regarded as nothing. If you think I’m nothing then follow your precious rules.’
I turned and stomped back to the tent. The fact that I was naked made me feel a little ridiculous doing it.
I climbed into the sleeping bag and waited to see if Jorn was going to join me. He stayed out there by the fire. Fine. So when we went home we would be going our separate ways, would we? I tried to tell myself I didn’t care but it was impossible. I did care. Too much.
And as I lay there in the darkness, I made sure Jorn couldn’t hear me crying.
Eventually, I cried myself to sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Parting
The dawn came too soon. Birdsong in the forest woke us and Jorn readied himself for his mission while I watched him from the bed. He dressed quickly, securing the sword to his back and placing the grappling hook over his shoulder before leaning forward to kiss me. ‘I won’t be long, hopefully,’ he said.
I nodded, trying to hold back the fear I felt. ‘Be careful,’ I said.
I wanted to tell him I was sorry for my outburst last night but the words wouldn’t come.
He left the tent and I could hear him attending to the horse he had stolen yesterday. As I listened to him preparing to saddle his mount, I fought back tears. I felt like there was something between us that was unspoken and I needed to articulate it right now. What if something went wrong during his mission? This could be the last time I ever saw him. I couldn’t leave it like this.
I quickly put on my panties and night shirt and went out into the dawn light where Jorn was preparing the horse.
‘Jorn…’ I said.
He looked at me. ‘Is everything alright?’
His look of concern was enough to set my tears flowing. ‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ I said.
He placed his hands gently on my shoulders. ‘OK, my love. Tell me.’
I looked up into his grey eyes through my tears. ‘I love you,’ I said. I had never said that to any man. There had been times I thought I was in love but now I had met Jorn. I realized I had been mistaken in the past. What I felt for the knight was real love. He hadn’t just rescued me from the castle; he had rescued me from a life of not knowing real love.
His eyes seemed to soften. ‘Amy, I love you too.’
I felt as if my heart would burst.
‘Please come back to me safely.’
He nodded. ‘I will.’ He lowered his lips to mine and we kissed passionately, desperately. We both knew the dangers ahead. This could be our last kiss ever.
When we finally broke the kiss, he looked me up and down. ‘You are an incredible woman, Amy.’
While I stood unable to speak, he pulled himself up into the saddle. ‘Wait for me here. If I’m not back by nightfall, head for the place I told you. Go through the doorway. Return home.’
‘But you will be back,’ I said as if trying to convince us both.
He nodded. ‘I will.’
He pulled on the reins and the horse took him out of the clearing and into the dark shadows of the trees.
I stood there watching the place he had disappeared from my sight. Then I sat on the grass and cried. The best thing that had ever happened in my life was heading into danger and all I could do was wait for him to return.
I was in love and I was in despair at the same time.
I wiped my knuckles across my eyes, trying to stop the tears. What I had just said to myself in my mind sounded so alien that I said it out loud.
‘I’m in love.’
Then I curled up in a ball on
the grass and added, ‘And it hurts.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mission
Jorn stood at the base of the castle wall. He had swum the moat, fighting the current with strong strokes of his arms, and now he took the grappling hook from his shoulder. Above him, an open window presented him with a target. He swung the heavy iron hook in circles to gain momentum then released it, watching as it flew up and in through the window. He pulled it back slowly, waiting until it caught on the stone window cill before letting the rope take his weight and walking up the castle wall, pulling himself up by his arms and using his feet to brace himself against the wall.
He reached the window quickly and slid inside, into the dark room beyond. He pulled the climbing rope up into the window and coiled it before looping it over his shoulder. The room he found himself in seemed to be a storeroom, piled with chairs, tables and old beds. Jorn understood why the window had been left open; the room was damp and the wood of the chairs and tables was rotting, giving off a fusty smell. The mattresses smelled even worse. Anders’ security was lax because of over-confidence but at least it meant Jorn didn’t have to kill anyone just to get inside the castle.
Moving quickly to the door, he reached inside his pocket for an item the Director had given him for this mission. Jorn took it from its leather wrapping and held it in the palm of his hand. A tiny sliver of the Karathian Crystal. It glowed faintly in his palm, almost imperceptibly. The closer this piece got to another piece of the same crystal, the brighter it would glow. Jorn hoped to use it to guide him to Anders’ Crystal Shard.
Satisfied that the corridor beyond was empty, Jorn opened the door and slipped out. The corridor was hung with tapestries depicting hunting and war scenes. Anders always had a sense of grandeur that he did not deserve. Jorn walked South along the corridor holding the crystal in front of him. No change. He retraced his steps and moved North. The sliver in his palm became slightly brighter.
Continuing on, he unsheathed his sword and held it ready. He knew that Anders feared no attacks on the castle because he had no enemies in this entire realm and if the Order knights came through the Doorway, his witch Darla would detect the intrusion. But Jorn had expected some kind of security, even if it were a couple of guards patrolling the hallways. Was Anders really so reckless?
He came to a stone spiral staircase that led upward. A few steps up, the crystal sliver glowed brighter. Jorn ascended the steps quickly.
The steps terminated in a closed wooden door set with an iron ring. Jorn put his ear to the door but the wood was too thick to hear any sounds from within.
Slowly, he lifted the iron ring and pushed it, just enough to open the door and see inside the room. The room must not have any windows because it was pitch black. Only the glowing crystal sliver in Jorn’s hand cast any light. Its blue glow seemed eerie as it illuminated the stone walls and the thick door but its light would not penetrate the darkness of the room.
Placing the sliver back into its leather wrapping and then into his pocket, Jorn pushed the door all the way and stepped into the room.
The darkness seemed tangible, as if he had stepped into black water. It swirled around him, filling his vision. He felt dizzy, disorientated. This was no normal darkness, it was sorcery.
As he fought the urge to flee from the room, the darkness disappeared immediately and Jorn realized he had walked into a trap. With the illusory darkness gone, he could see the room around him. He was indeed in the room that held the Crystal Shard but he was not alone. The shard sat in an iron holder on a stone altar, surrounded by the hooded monks who had shunned their previous faith. And standing before the altar, staring at him, was Anders. And behind Anders was his blond witch.
‘Jorn,’ Anders said, ‘it’s been a long time.’ He was dressed in black leather pants and was shirtless, his muscles toned. In his hand he held his sword.
‘Five years,’ Jorn replied.
Anders nodded. ‘Indeed. Five years. And every day of those five years, I have looked forward to us meeting again.’
‘As have I.’
‘Yes, of course you have. Yet you did not come. Every time your Order knights came to take back the Crystal Shard, my heart leapt at the thought of meeting you again. But you never came. And now you come alone. Perhaps you thought Darla’s magic wouldn’t detect you if you came alone. Wrong. I’ve been here waiting for you almost all night.’
He stepped forward in fighting stance.
‘There’s just one thing I want to know before I kill you. Did you come here to get the Shard? To do your duty for the Order? Or did you come here to avenge your brother’s death?’
‘Both,’ Jorn said as he leapt forward to attack Anders.
CHAPTER NINE
Defeat
I paced around on the grass by the pool. I didn’t know what to do with myself. All I could think of was what might be happening at the castle. My mind raced over possibilities and scenarios, most of which I didn’t really want to think about. I needed Jorn to come back to me safely, that was all. Then we could go home and sort things out from there. This risking of life an limb might be part of his job description but it wasn’t part of mine. I worked in a bookshop, not fighting evil in strange realms.
A noise in the trees caught my attention. My heart leapt. I ran to the edge of the woods and peered into the shadows.
When I saw the men coming through the trees, I froze. There were two of them, gruff-looking and bearded, wearing black armor. Their swords hung from their belts and the men looked as if they were searching for something. That something was probably me.
I hesitated, deciding if I should run or hide, and in that moment one of them saw me. ‘She’s here!’ he shouted to his companion. I turned and ran, hearing them crashing through the undergrowth behind me.
I tried to tell myself this was not happening as I ran for my life. I had been standing around here like an idiot worrying about Jorn and all the time there were evil knights out hunting me. Above the footfalls of my boots on the grass and the pounding of my heart in my ears, I could hear the men gaining on me, their armor clanking as they ran. It sounded like I was being chased by robots from a fifties B movie.
That’s right, Amy, keep the wisecracks coming; you’re about to get caught. Then what will Jorn do when he gets back here to find you gone? I tried to increase my speed but my boot snagged on a root hidden in the grass and I went sprawling headlong to the ground. Picking myself up, I stumbled forward a little more but it was too late. They had caught up to me and stood looking down at me grinning.
‘Hello, cute little kitty,’ one of them said, ‘I think Darla is going to be pleased we found you.’
They dragged me to my feet and led me back through the trees to where they had left their horses. I was unceremoniously dumped over a saddle, acutely aware that my nightshirt had ridden up to my hips and the only thing covering my ass was a tiny pair of panties. Heat flooded my face.
‘Let’s get you to Darla,’ one of the men said. They took the horse by the reins and as I pulled the fabric of my nightshirt down to cover myself, they led me to the castle.
*
They took me into the castle and up a flight of stone stairs. As we ascended, I could hear the metallic clang of swords above. The two men grinned at each other. ‘Sounds like the boss is having some fun with your knight,’ one of them said to me.
They bundled me into a room at the top of the stairs. My eyes went wide when I saw the scene before me. Jorn and Anders stood in the center of the room, both shirtless and wielding swords. Both had wounds on their chests, stomachs and arms but thankfully it all looked superficial. There was a lot of blood and sweat but Jorn didn’t seem too badly injured. When he saw me, he held up his hand and Anders backed away.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said to Jorn, ‘they got me… they…’
‘Did they harm you?’ he asked.
I shook my head.
Anders sneered at me. ‘Come in and join the party, Amy. You can watch y
our lover die by my hands.’
‘Bring her to me,’ Darla told my captors, ‘I don’t want her straying too far.’
They manhandled me to Darla’s side then released me and stood behind me. Darla looked at me. ‘I see your dress sense hasn’t improved since we last met.’
Ignoring her, I locked my eyes on Jorn… my lover, my love.
‘Shall we proceed?’ Anders asked him as if asking Jorn if he wanted a cup of tea.
Jorn nodded and they came together in a crash of metal, locking swords as each tried to best the other.
They broke and the air became filled with the ringing of metal as they struck and parried. My hands flew to my mouth. I wanted to stop this craziness but I knew I couldn’t.
Their swords locked again and Anders snarled. ‘You know, Jorn, all this time you’ve been going on about how I wronged you but I see it differently. If it wasn’t for you being promoted above me, I might never have rebelled against the Order. You had to keep on rising didn’t you? We started training together but you just left me behind.’
They broke again and Anders lunged. Jorn parried the blow.
‘Everything that happened is because of you,’ Anders shouted. ‘Your brother’s blood is on your hands.’Jorn swept forward at lightning speed. His sword arced back then cut through the air toward Anders’ neck. I held my breath, ready for the killing blow.
‘Darla!’ Anders cried.
Darla raised her hands and muttered words I didn’t understand. Jorn’s sword froze in the air as if it had been stopped by an invisible hand. Jorn pulled at it but the blade would not move.
Anders laughed and stepped back. Darla muttered more words and Jorn’s sword moved again, cutting through the air where Anders had been standing and clanging down on the floor loudly.
Jorn cast Darla a killing glance. ‘Is this what you’ve been reduced to?’ he asked Anders, ‘Unable to fight your own battles?’
One Hot Knight Box Set Page 8