h shit!” I yelled. I slammed Thaelique into the alcove and forced my body in behind her, and with a thunderous growl the carriage crashed past, scant inches from my back. The seconds stretched like hours as the carriage roared by until finally with a wet spray of hot steam it was gone, chomping up the track through to Lille. I gasped for breath and took a step back from the Queen.
“Oh! It was a carriage!” she exclaimed. Full marks for that one, I thought.
“Come on, we have to keep going and get to the end before it comes back,” I said to her frantically as the echo of the carriage faded along the track.
She shrugged. “Okay. Do we have to run again?”
“Yes,” I told her firmly. Taking one of her hands, I pulled her out of the alcove. We ran the next mile of the darkened tunnel until around another bend, a distant hole of light signalled the exit.
“Come on, we’re almost there!” I yelled encouragement as we stumbled towards the light. Where the entrance broadened I stopped and pressed us back into the tunnel wall. The sun had almost set outside, and the other side of the hill cast long shadows.
From the carriage platform, a street ran out and down to the village of Oakeselle to the right, along what appeared to be a main street – I could see a tavern and beyond that the village square, where the traditional Beltane celebrations should be getting underway. I looked around carefully but could see no obvious signs of life.
“Come on, this way,” I whispered to Thaelique as we crept out of the tunnel and turned left towards the direction of Anna’s safe-house. We kept low in the bushes that edged the street, which soon turned into a beaten earth track. We paused as it forked north away from the hills into the forest, and I listened carefully. I could hear the twilight chorus of birds out further in the trees but nothing to alarm me, so I tugged on Thaelique’s hand and we crossed the track. Almost there, I told myself grimly. Almost safe.
“Oi! What’re you kids doing?”
Oh shit. Out of nowhere had stepped a man, a big, beardy forester type. He opened his mouth to yell and before I knew what I was doing he was frozen in place, his eyes bulging wide. Oh hell, we had been seen! Shit! I yanked on Thaelique’s arm and we ran back in the direction of the village, throwing up a visibility cloak as we sprinted. When we were safely invisible I stopped her and we crept back in the direction of the forester. He was still frozen in place but his face had turned purple. Shit! I threw my Hầұeӣ at him to let oxygen through the immobility shield and he gasped in air through his still-open mouth. Holding the Queen’s hand tightly we snuck around the side of him and stepped gingerly down the track through the forest.
I waited until we were safely in the gloom under the trees and could barely see the man, still frozen in place by the fork, before I let the immobility shield drop on him. We watched him tip forward onto his knees, sucking in big lungfuls of air, before I turned and guided Thaelique deeper into the forest.
I kept the up visibility shield this time until, sure enough, about a mile into the forest, we came across the clearing that held Anna’s safe-house. The little cottage was hardly more than a hut, and it looked to be on the verge of falling down. Its rusty gate hung off its hinges and the garden surrounding it was a mess of weeds and ivy.
We pushed past the rusty old gate and tramped carefully through the remains of the garden to the cottage’s back door. Anna had told me to unlock it with Hầұeӣ so I dropped Thaelique’s hand and crouched down to look at the lock. I pushed my Hầұeӣ into it, feeling around for the mechanism which I finally located, and the door unlocked with a satisfying click.
“Home sweet home, eh Jaseth?” The Queen smiled at me and turned the handle, giving the door a shove with her shoulder until it swung inward. I followed her into the gloom and forced the door closed behind me. I bent down to re-lock the door then straightened, pulling Anna’s glowbe from my pocket. I gave it a shake to start it again, and its pale light illuminated the interior of the hut.
“Ooh look, candles! Jaseth darling, would you mind? I can’t seem to find any matches.” Thaelique had found an ancient candelabra and some candle stubs and set it up on a table. With them lit, we explored the cottage. It was a one-room hovel, with a kitchen area set off in the back corner. Some mildewy couches ran along the walls and the table was surrounded by a couple of chairs in various states of repair. The Queen had taken the candelabra and was trying to open a cabinet behind the table.
“Bloody thing’s locked! Jaseth, can you magic it for me?” I bent down and unlocked the cabinet, and Thaelique pulled it open and began rummaging inside.
“Oh, more glowbes, brilliant. Give these a shake will you?” She handed me two large glowbes that I started and rested on the table. “Ooh look, Jaseth, brandy! Don’t mind if I do!” She pulled an almost-full bottle of brandy from the cabinet and kicked the door closed. She unscrewed the lid, “No glasses though. Oh well, never mind!” She took a big swig, then handed the bottle to me.
As I always said, if a Queen offers you a drink you accept, so I took the bottle gratefully and chugged back the brandy. Hell, we were safe! Thaelique grabbed the bottle back off me and flopped down on one of the couches. She patted the seat beside her.
“Come sit down Jaseth and have a drink with me. It’s not what we’re used to but, you know, needs must and all that!” She took another swig as I went and sat gingerly on the couch, perching on the edge of the musty old piece of furniture.
“No, sit back properly!” she ordered, and I complied.
“Hell, Thael, what did Anna do to you?”
She giggled and waved her free hand. “Oh, some sort of Psychosolastry I presume. One minute I actually wanted to stay in that godawful city, the next, all I wanted was to be here with you.”
“With me?”
She snuggled into my shoulder and passed me the bottle. “Of course! Who else would I want to be with?”
“Oh.”
She pulled back and swivelled around to face me. “I rather adore you Jaseth, you must know that. Why else do you think I keep inviting you to the castle?”
This was… What the hell did she mean? Did she actually like me?
“I mean…” she gave a dramatic sigh, “You’re far too young for me of course—”
“I’m nineteen!” I felt I had to protest. With her face right there, so close, I couldn’t let this moment get away, I just couldn’t. She blushed and giggled and took the brandy off me again. Honestly, I had never heard the Queen giggle before. Anna must have done a real job on her, back at the Thistle. And with a quick jolt of remembrance I thought about Thomas and Charlie and the others stuck in the city. I had gotten Thaelique out, but they were all still there, probably dead by now – murdered by an angry crowd. I felt my eyes prickling. Oh hell no, I was not going to cry. Thaelique was studying my face and she handed me the bottle. I took a huge mouthful, grateful for the burning liquid fire of the brandy. She retrieved the bottle and placed it on the ground.
“It’s been some day, huh Jas?”
“Er, yep” I muttered, looking down. Her eyes, in the muted light of the candles and glowbes, were far too clear. Her face too perfect. She leaned closer and placed her hand on my cheek. Her cool fingers traced my cheekbone, then my jaw.
“Look at me,” she commanded in her low, honey voice. It was a command I couldn’t refuse. I looked up and was caught by her eyes. Her cool touch felt as if it was burning hot against my face. She brushed my lips with her thumb and I trembled slightly.
“It will be okay, Jas.”
I nodded, unable to break away from those clear eyes.
“It will be,” she whispered firmly.
My hands were shaking, clasped in my lap. I unfolded them and slowly, hesitantly brought one up to her face. I lightly brushed her silvery hair back, tucking it behind her ear. I ran my knuckle down her cheek and along her jaw, opening my palm as I got to her long neck. I slid underneath the collar of her robe and stretched my fingers out, applying pressure to bring he
r face closer to mine. She responded in kind, her long fingers brushed through my hair until she was cupping the back of my head. Our foreheads, our noses, our mouths almost touching, she still held my eyes. This was it. This was the moment I had dreamed about for months. The beautiful, unavailable Queen was so close I could feel her light breath on my face.
“Jaseth?” she whispered.
“Yes?” I was almost totally breathless.
“Is this okay?”
Okay didn’t even begin to cover it. My heart was beating so fast and so loudly that I could feel it in my chest, could hear it in my ears. This was it.
“You’re so beautiful,” I breathed. Her eyes were so big in my field of vision. Her eyes were everything.
“So are you.” She tilted her head to the side slightly and slowly, oh so slowly, pressed her lips to mine.
My hands moved of their own accord. One grasped her face, hooking fingers around her ear, the other tightened and pulled her forward. I needed more of her. I opened my mouth, desperate and hungry, but her mouth, her tongue remained elusive. She pushed gently at my open mouth with hers, then pulled back slightly. She ran a finger down my cheek and gently touched my bottom lip. I opened my eyes and found myself caught anew. Oh sweet Lilbecz, I loved her. I loved her so effing much. I lifted my tongue and touched the tip to her finger and heard her tiny intake of breath.
“Thael…” I whispered. Her eyes were huge, glowing, filled with wonder.
“Oh Jas…”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I clutched at her face and crushed her to me. There was no hesitation now, her lips parted and she grasped my head to hers with intense ferocity. She opened and we melted and I couldn’t hear or breathe and there was nothing but her, her tongue in my mouth and her hands on my face and the sweetness, the excruciating joy of being with her, actually with her.
She pushed me back against the arm of the couch and not breaking away from the kiss, slid her lithe body up and over me, grinding into me. One hand still tangled in her hair, I gripped her shoulder, her neck, her back, pulling her close, crushing her to me. I rubbed my hand down her, forcing every part of her closer, and she stretched and rubbed against me as my fingers travelled down her spine.
She pulled back and straightened briefly. In one fluid motion she pulled her robe up and over her head, discarding it on the floor.
Oh sweet Lilbecz. Sweet, holy Lilbecz. I don’t know what the expression on my face must have said to her, but a brief worried frown darkened her brow.
“Jaseth? Is this okay?” she asked me again.
I couldn’t help myself. “What? Apart from you being too old for me?”
Her lips quirked. “I’m not that much older than you!”
I held my arms out and gathered her to me. “No, my beautiful Queen, you’re perfect. You’re absolutely perfect.”
ater, a long time later, I was stretched out on the couch with Thaelique’s head resting on my chest. The candles had burnt themselves out and the glowbes had faded to darkness. As we had been forbidden to use the fire it was pretty chilly in the hut, and we had reluctantly pulled our robes back on. The Queen was asleep, her breathing deep and regular as I cuddled her, one hand absently stroking her hair.
I thought about Charlie, my friends, how this day had suddenly gone so hideously wrong. But I could only feel Thaelique’s optimism that everything was going to be okay as I held the wondrous woman in my arms. It must have been getting close to dawn, because I could hear the birds outside in the forest, beginning to sing in the new day. It was still completely dark outside though – Anna’s shield only kept the light from escaping.
I heard a twig crack outside the cottage and stiffened. Charlie and Anna were here, but my relief was tinged with a kind of regret – their arrival meant I would have to wake the Queen and leave this place that had seen the consummation of months’ worth of growing feelings. I realised that I never, ever wanted her to be anywhere else but right beside me.
Another twig snapped and I thought about getting up to let them in when I heard some muttering in Nea’thi. The voice was male, rough and terse and certainly not Anna or Charlie. I froze, my hand still on Thaelique’s hair as I heard four sets of footsteps work their way round to the back of the house.
Shit.
“Hey beautiful, shh, wake up,” I whispered at Thaelique, shaking her shoulder slightly. She grumbled and buried her face in my chest, unwilling to wake. “Come on, Thael!” My shaking grew increasingly frantic as I heard attempts to open the back door.
“Hmm, what?” She lifted her head and blinked at me sleepily.
“There’s someone here,” I whispered. Her eyes grew round as she heard the muttered swearing from out the back, and she sat up quickly.
“Can we go out the front?”
I shook my head. If there were four men out the back, they would have left at least one to keep lookout at the front of the cottage.
“You said this was it?” the rough voice asked in Human.
“Yes sir, I mean, they ran back the way they came, but when I first saw them they were heading this way. There’s naught but forest further in, so unless they’re camping out somewhere, this is the place. They used magic on me you know!” The other voice, slightly petulant now I recognised as belonging to the forester. Effing bastard. But who were the others with him, and why were they looking for us? And why the hell were they speaking Nea’thi?
“Quick,” I whispered to Thaelique and grabbed her hand, tugging her off the couch. There was a little gap in the corner where the two couches met, and we stuffed ourselves in there, and I covered us with a visibility shield just as the back door flew open with a mighty crash as one of the men kicked it hard.
“There’s no one here.” The first voice, which I guessed belonged to the leader, sounded testy.
“But, but, they must be!” the forester stammered. The leader barked an order to one of the other men. “Hey, wait! You said—” The forester’s words ended abruptly with a sickening crunch of something hard breaking his skull. I heard him being dragged out the back door, then his assailant walked back inside, brushing his hands.
I could see the three men now, having rounded the corner from the kitchen. All of them were dressed in black robes, their hoods up. The tallest one carried a pocket glowbe in front of him and swept the light around the room, I held my breath as it passed over our corner and I felt Thaelique do the same.
“Hmm.” The leader stepped across the creaky floor until I could see the bottom of his robe, so close I could have reached out and touched it. He bent down and picked up the bottle of brandy, muttering something in Nea’thi to the others, who laughed quietly before he silenced them with a gesture. He examined the bottle and set it down on a table. One of the others pointed out the candelabra and the leader sniffed the air and nodded. Shit. It was pretty obvious that someone had been in here recently. The tall one made another slow tour of the room, then looked at the others and shrugged. He walked past them and out the back door. The others followed more slowly, the last one scanning the room with his eyes again before heading to the door.
I let out a huge sigh of relief, which turned out to be a mistake, because as I breathed in gratefully I felt the years of accumulated dust in the corner being sucked into my mouth. I couldn’t help it, I cleared my throat as quietly as I could.
But that was enough.
The last man almost to the door swung around.
“Jờßeфжa!” he called to the leader, and he walked unerringly towards our corner. “So you are hiding in here somewhere, little sl—” He was interrupted by a surprised scream from outside that was quickly cut off, and I heard a body thumping to the ground. The leader barked some quick commands, then disappeared out the back door, as the other two raced to the front and easily pulled open the door from the inside.
One of them froze for a second, then shook it off, launching himself outside with a furious yell. The other ducked to the side of the door, and quickly poked hi
s head out before pulling it back inside. I heard a familiar voice yelp in pain. Charlie! The bastard was attacking Charlie! The other man outside let out a shriek of surprise that finished with a disturbing gurgle, then he was silent.
“I’ve got your Queen!” the man still inside yelled. “Don’t try anything or I will kill her!”
Thaelique shook behind me. No way. There was no effing way. I squished her further back, putting up a new visibility shield around the corner. Then, maintaining my own invisibility, I stood up slowly.
“If you give her to me I will not harm you,” Anna called through the door. I heard a groan from outside that sounded like Charlie in pain. What had the bastard done to him?
The attacker sneered. “Bullshit! I know who you are, Lilbitch!” He stuck his head round the door for a second and I heard Anna grunt with anger.
Shit, I had to do something.
Invisible, I stepped over the arm of the couch silently and crept towards the man. I chanced a look out the open front door and saw two men, lying motionless, and Charlie, fallen to his knees, Anna standing behind him.
I reached deep inside and gathered all the Hầұeӣ I could, then thrust it at the air surrounding the man, freezing it and him in place. His eyes bulged with surprise and for a couple of seconds it held.
“Jaseth, no!” screamed Charlie from outside and I realised with horror I had let my visibility shield slip, just as the man shook and laughed.
“Stupid prick!” he yelled, and suddenly I was the one who couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He laughed as I tried to fix the air with my Hầұeӣ, but it wouldn’t move, wouldn’t change. The man unsheathed a knife and swept behind me, holding it to my throat.
Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Page 33