Hell. The fallen guards were already on their feet, running toward the forest to cut them off. Keeping immortals down was an impossible task, no matter how many arrows you had.
Interestingly, each of the guards carried a bow and quiver of his own.
“They’re not shooting at us. Maybe they don’t realize I’m human.”
“Perhaps the king has ordered you brought back alive.”
Her words chilled him. As much as he didn’t want to die, it beat the hell out of being enslaved or even tortured to death.
“We’ve got to reach that forest,” he muttered.
“I agree.”
But the lone Esri still on horseback was bearing down on them fast, his white hair flying out behind him like a second cloak. Neon-blue eyes gleamed with malice and purpose while beneath him the pale hairless thing that should have been a horse pulled lips back to reveal daggerlike teeth. Jesus. Straight out of a horror flick. Both of them. And they were closing on them fast.
“Tarrys, wait here!” Charlie barked. “I have a plan.”
“To get trampled?” she asked even as she did as he demanded.
Damn, but she was getting a smart little mouth on her. If their situation hadn’t been so dire, he might have smiled. If he could just pull off a miracle, he might yet live to taste that mouth again.
Charlie continued a few more yards, then slowed to a stop, his gaze locking with the Esri’s. In those brilliant blue eyes he saw victory. A victory he intended to steal. As the distance closed between them, he braced for impact. A split second before the horse ran him down, Charlie dove, grabbing the hairless creature around the neck. Levering himself up, he rammed his feet into the Esri’s side, knocking him off the animal and onto the ground as Charlie swung onto the horse’s back.
Righting himself on the slippery, sweaty animal’s back was trickier than he’d expected, but he managed the feat, clenching his thighs and grabbing the reins to steady himself. As the furious Esri lunged for him, two arrows sailed through the guard’s eye sockets. The Esri cried out, stumbling back.
Charlie didn’t know where Tarrys had found the arrows, and didn’t care. He swung his mount toward her, grabbed her hand and hauled her up behind him.
“Hold on,” he shouted, and urged the animal forward. The Esri on foot didn’t stand a chance of catching them, but one had reclaimed his horse and was now giving chase. He couldn’t be certain the white bastards wouldn’t follow them into the forest. In fact, he was almost certain they would. From what Kade had said, the Esri ruler, King Rith, did not accept failure. If he’d told them to kill or capture Charlie, they weren’t going to give up until they had.
All he could hope was that whatever lay in that dark wood gave the Esri as much trouble as it was bound to give them.
They were nearly to the forest when the horse pulled up suddenly.
“What’s the matter?” Tarrys asked.
Charlie tried to urge the animal forward, but the creature sidestepped, backing away. “He’s as spooked by that place as I am. He’s not going in. We’re going to have to run for it.”
An arrow sailed by them, winging the horse’s ear.
“Jump!”
As the horse reared, Charlie dove off, rolling to his feet. Tarrys sprinted past him, picking up the arrows as they hit the ground without ever breaking stride. He took off after her, arrows continuing to whiz past him. Though the Esri clearly lacked Tarrys’s talent with the bow, he doubted they’d be missing him so completely if they weren’t determined to keep him alive. Intentional wounding took a lot more skill than shooting to kill.
Tarrys, several strides ahead of him, reached the woods first, disappearing as cleanly as if she’d walked through the Dupont Circle Fountain’s gate. For an instant, his heart stopped beating.
His instincts screamed at him to slow down. He had no idea what he was racing into!
An arrow flew past so close he felt the feathers in his hair, erasing his hesitation. He dove into the wall of darkness, praying there was nothing worse waiting for him on the other side.
The darkness parted for him as it had for Tarrys. A blast of cold, fear-ridden air hit him a split second before he ran into her, knocking them both off their feet. Charlie grabbed her and rolled, taking the brunt of the fall, watching as two more arrows sailed over his head.
“You okay?” he asked her, holding her tight against him, her hair brushing his suddenly frigid cheek.
“Yes.”
“Good. We’ve got to keep moving. But stay low.” He released her and crouched as he followed her deeper into a forest straight out of a Halloween horror movie. Dark mists swirled, not thick like in the mist lands, but alive and menacing. The trees themselves were black, as if the entire forest had burned and was waiting only for the touch of a finger to disintegrate into ash.
With each step, the air turned colder, more menacing, as if even it were alive.
His pulse raced, his throat tightening, but his mind held strong, refusing to fold. The fear wasn’t real. He knew manipulation when he saw it and this was a first-class job.
“Do you feel it?” he asked Tarrys, frustrated to hear his teeth chattering. Unfortunately, unlike at home, this place seemed able to force the emotions on him even when his mind rebelled.
“Feel what?” She darted from one place to the next, retrieving the arrows the Esri shot.
Another flew past them several feet away.
“The cold. The fear.”
Her head snapped to his, her eyes narrowed. “No. The temperature hasn’t changed.”
Charlie nodded. “I figured it wasn’t real.” Now if he could only figure out how to defend himself against that crawling mist and shut down its effect on him because, damn, he was starting to shake.
Tarrys’s gaze shifted behind him, her eyes widening. “Esri. They’ve followed us.”
Charlie grabbed her and pulled her behind the nearest tree, then eased out to look…and nearly took an arrow in the face. He reared back just as the projectile flew past to land in a tree behind him.
His gaze met the Esri’s. The promise of death flashed in the Royal Guard’s eyes.
Charlie cupped the back of Tarrys’s head, needing the feel of her solid warmth. “We’ve got to keep moving or we’re going to be captured.”
“I need his arrows.”
“He’ll shoot you.”
She met his gaze. “Good. Then I won’t have to hunt for them.”
His cool warrior’s mind shoved down the fear swirling through his head. Tarrys was indestructible. They couldn’t hurt her as long as they didn’t catch her.
“Get your arrows,” he said. Then he turned into himself, waging war with the forces battling his mind. He’d long ago learned to capture the adrenaline of gut-ripping fear and turn it into energy. The trick was to separate his body from his mind. Compartmentalization in its purest form.
Never had he needed it so completely.
“Tell me if they’re coming,” he told Tarrys, then closed his eyes and took five deep breaths as he always did to corral his focus at the start of a dangerous op. Little by little, for another count of five, he consciously allowed the cold to wash through him as he siphoned the adrenaline that pounded through his veins. But as he tried to shut off the useful, if unwanted, emotion, it turned on him, terror leaping into his throat.
He couldn’t shut it off. His vision began to spin in a whirl of chaos, screams tearing apart his ears.
“Tarrys!” He couldn’t see her. Couldn’t see anything! Screams. Her screams. She needed him.
Something clamped around his wrist. Soft. Warm.
“Charlie, I’m right here.”
His vision cleared instantly. Inside his mind, he slammed down a mental wall, shutting off the forest’s evil, breaking its hold.
He breathed air into his lungs, air that suddenly tasted warm again. But that particular battle wasn’t over. He could still see the dark mists swirling around him. Just the thought of being overcome
again sent a frigid draft brushing against his cheeks and he got the distinct feeling that the forest laughed at him, laughed at his temerity in thinking he could possibly defend himself against its attack.
The chill that went through him was all too real.
He turned to Tarrys. “Where’s the Esri?”
“Right where he was a moment ago, but he’s no longer shooting at us. He’s not moving.”
Charlie peered around the tree. Sure enough, the guard was staring at nothing, his eyes huge. Charlie nearly smiled. Misery loved company.
“Let’s get going before the others join him.” He glanced at the three arrows clutched in Tarrys’s hand. “Did you get what you needed?”
“The ones close by.”
Charlie ushered her in front of him as they dodged from tree to tree, careful not to touch the ones with thorns. They’d made little progress when another flurry of arrows sailed past them, one catching in his cloak. Another caught Tarrys in the back of her shoulder.
He grabbed her when she would have stumbled, and pulled her behind the closest tree. Pain lanced her features.
“Tell me what to do.”
“Don’t break it! I need the arrow.”
Cringing against the pain he knew he was going to cause her, he grabbed the shaft and yanked it free of her tender flesh, releasing a fresh bloom of blood to mark her ragged gown. He held her tight as she sagged against him, absorbing her shudders as the shock roared through her system. As her body healed.
Charlie glanced back, ready to pick her up and run if the Esri were getting too close. But three of the four who were now inside the forest had turned and were fleeing the other way, leaving the forest as cleanly as they’d entered. Only one remained, but he posed no threat at the moment because he was staring with wide, terrified eyes at something that was invisible to Charlie.
The forest seemed to be really doing a number on the Royal Guard, far worse than on him or Tarrys. Were they stronger, or had the forest yet to turn its full power on them? He supposed they’d know soon enough.
“I’m healed,” Tarrys said against his chest.
Charlie loosened his tight grip on her and peered down into her face.
“I wish you could teach me how to do that.”
“It’s one of the advantages of being Marceil.” Her eyes shadowed. “Perhaps the only advantage.”
He dropped a kiss on her hair. “The forest has run off the Esri. At least for now. Let’s get going.”
“What do you mean, the forest?”
Charlie looked back as the last of the Esri fled. “You still don’t feel that cold black mist?”
“No.” She looked at him with confusion. “It’s just a forest, Charlie.”
“If you say so.” He grabbed her hand. It was time to find Princess Ilaria and start working on a plan to free her. But he’d taken only a few steps when movement made him freeze. Half a dozen Esri stepped out from behind trees, surrounding him, bows raised, arrows pointed at his heart.
No fear clouded the eyes of this group. The only thing gleaming from those brightly colored depths was death.
His.
Chapter 20
Charlie yanked Tarrys behind him. “Run!”
“Why?”
Why? “They’ll catch you.”
“Who will?”
Even as his heart hammered against his ribs, his logical mind pushed its way to the fore, shoving back his emotions. “I see six Esri, all aiming arrows at me.”
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Crap.” The damned forest again. The nearest Esri’s mouth lifted into a smirk, but he didn’t disappear.
And Charlie’s pulse wouldn’t calm, not with six arrows aimed at him.
Tarrys squeezed his hand. “Are they still there?”
“Oh yeah. Still there and laughing at me. It’s this damned woods. No wonder they say no one leaves this place with their mind intact. How am I supposed to know what’s real and what’s not?”
“Ask me.”
He tore his gaze from the Esri in front of him and glanced at her. “Ask you?”
“I’m not seeing anything weird. If you see it and I don’t, it’s probably not there. And vice versa.”
Charlie’s gaze snapped back, scanning the Esri one by one, returning to the one in front of him. He was sure he’d never seen the guy before. So the creature hadn’t come from any memory.
He met the Esri’s gaze. “Can you hear me?”
The Esri didn’t respond. Nor did his expression change to indicate he’d heard Charlie’s question.
Charlie squeezed Tarrys’s hand. “Stay here. I need to check this out for myself.” He released her and stepped forward, his gaze locked on the Esri’s. He moved left and the Esri’s aim moved, keeping him in his sights.
He could feel the pulse thrumming through his body, the adrenaline raging as he walked toward an enemy who, if he released a real arrow, would kill him in an instant. An enemy who, according to Tarrys, wasn’t even there. He marveled at how much he’d come to trust her.
Slowly, he closed the distance between them. “You’re not there, you son of a bitch,” he said quietly, not stopping until the bow and arrow were within reach of his hand. In one swift motion, he grabbed for the bow, intending to shove it up and away from him. But his hand touched nothing.
The Esri wasn’t there.
Charlie closed his eyes, ignoring his sight, and forced himself to “see” with his other senses as he’d been trained to do. Shutting out his vision, he heard Tarrys breathing behind him. And knew, knew, they were alone. But when he opened his eyes, the bastards were staring at him.
Charlie strode forward, right through the closest Esri. Right through nothing.
He turned back to Tarrys and came nose to nose with the same damned guard. With a growl, he stepped around him this time and motioned for Tarrys.
“Do you still see the Esri?” she asked, hurrying over to him.
“Clear as day. But I can walk right through them.” When she reached him, he hooked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’m glad you’re not seeing them. If we both start seeing them, we’re in trouble.” Because if there was one thing Kade had assured him, Esri lived in these woods. Princess Ilaria and her jailers had been here for more than three hundred years. “How have Ilaria and her guards survived this for centuries?”
Tarrys frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re like me and not affected by it.”
“If that’s the case, I’m in trouble.”
“If that’s not the case and they’re all mentally crippled, Princess Ilaria may be worthless to you.”
Charlie grunted. “So either Ilaria’s damaged goods or I’m dead. Nice choice.”
“There may be another explanation for how Ilaria’s lived in these woods all this time.” He looked at her expectantly, but she just shrugged. “I don’t know what it is. I’m just saying there might be another explanation.”
“We can hope.” He released her shoulders and took her hand. “Let’s go find her.”
The dark mists continued to swirl through the black trees, but the cold no longer bothered him. He looked at his watch. It was late in the day, the day before the full moon, if time passed the same here as it did at home. A little over a day to find Ilaria and free her. Which might be plenty of time. Or might be hopelessly too little.
He glanced back to find his Esri nightmare following him, their arrows aimed at his back, smirks upon their mouths. How would he possibly hold on to his sanity if he had to deal with this 24/7 for another month? Heaven help him. But his gaze went to Tarrys and a part of him wanted to do just that. Stay here, lost in this fantasy world with her by his side for a little longer.
“Look at the birds,” Tarrys murmured.
Charlie followed her gaze to where dozens of tiny birds, like brightly colored hummingbirds, lined the branches of the dead trees, their trilling songs somehow pleasing. But a flash of black close to the ground had him turning r
igid. A second flash confirmed he hadn’t imagined the first glimpse of a creature that filled him with more dread than the Esri. A creature with black fur and three white horns.
“Black trimors. Two of them.”
Tarrys cocked an arrow. “Where?”
The two reappeared, briefly, along with three others pacing behind them. “Crap. They’re all around us.”
“Charlie, I don’t see anything.”
“They’re invisible most of the time.”
“They’re probably just visions.”
“Do you want to take that chance? Besides, I can hear them growling. Can’t you hear that?”
“No. I only hear the birds.”
He groaned. “How am I supposed to be able to tell, then?”
One was fully visible now, eyeing him like prey. Slowly, he pulled his knife. If the creature disappeared, it wouldn’t do anything. But if it would just stay whole…
Charlie flung the knife through the fully corporeal beast. The knife sailed right through.
“Dammit.”
“I don’t see them, Charlie, and I would if they were here.”
How could his eyes and ears deceive him so thoroughly? Out of his left peripheral vision, he saw one leap for him. Instinctively, he lifted his arm in front of his face while he pulled his second knife. He stabbed the beast at the moment it should have attached itself to his arm. And thrust through nothing but air.
Adrenaline poured through his body, making his heart pound.
“It attacked you?” Tarrys asked.
He scowled at her. “No, I was playacting,” he said with ill-concealed sarcasm. Her grin eased some of the enormous tension riding him. He shook his head. “No wonder the Esri turned and ran.”
The trimors were all visible now, five of them pacing, ready to spring. He braced himself as a different trimor attacked, lifting his arm because he had to, but not bothering with his knife this time. He was going to have a bloody heart attack if this kept up much longer. Forcing himself to ignore the beasts, he continued on, walking within inches of one of the trimor’s horns.
He glanced at Tarrys. “Why aren’t the visions bothering you?”
A Warrior's Desire (Harlequin Nocturne) Page 15