Below him the charred and devastated forest canopy stretched into the distance. Bright greens and golds should be apparent in late summer this far north, but an unhealthy tinge covered the Avalonian forest and became worse the further south they travelled. Finding game to hunt and food to forage had become increasingly hard as Ragor's malediction spread. It didn’t matter, he was still leaving—to find her, to bring her to safety. Or this thrashing beast inside him would burst free of the restraints of Hugo’s flesh and bone and hunt her anyway.
Hugo closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Merging his magic with hers, Hugo had sensed a deep confusion and fear of the power she wielded. It was clearly a new and overwhelming discovery, and one she stood no hope of controlling without assistance. He laughed bitterly. Help? I cannot help her. His oath required him to take her to his Queen, and he was under no illusion that action would eventually result in her death. He swallowed that sickening thought, extended his wings and stepped into the air. Right now, retrieving her from the resurrected guardian was the most important thing; he would deal with the rest later.
General Edo watched the Queen’s guard return with hard grey eyes. The older man’s mood had been dark and unforgiving since the attack. He had whipped the men into order, viciously putting down any that had questioned his authority.
Hugo squared his shoulders. The general was an intimidating, powerful male but so was Hugo. He had suffered beatings and whippings on a daily basis as a trainee of Queen’s guard and those days had hardened him to fear of physical violence. Hugo simply was not scared of this fae.
The growl he emitted grotesquely twisted the scar on his face. Not many things scared him now. In Hugo’s world, Lord Commander Ream and the ancient fae Queen were the only ones to fear. Being what he was and the way he looked, Hugo was usually the one instilling fear in others.
“General,” Hugo nodded curtly, noting the general was clasping Dragonsblood in one big hand.
“Commander,” the general returned, watching the younger man’s approach.
Hugo waited. The general was clenching and unclenching his jaw. Hugo couldn’t force the man to speak, so he crossed his arms over his broad chest and waited patiently.
“I know you are going to leave,” General Edo said, his voice gravelly and deep. “You hide it well, but I can see your anger. You blame yourself.”
Hugo steadily held General Edo’s gaze. Deliberately he did not affirm the general’s suspicions.
General Edo grunted then continued. “I have spent my life watching and sizing up men, especially males who are at the right age to become distracted from their duties. You’re instincts are telling you to find a mate, and I can see you have a connection with Diamond.”
Hugo kept his face carefully still but his stomach tightened. Yes, he had a connection with her, but not in the way the general meant. He wondered if this old warhorse really had picked up on his confusion about Diamond and their magic. It was hard to believe as Hugo had only just acknowledged their bond. Clearly he needed to be more careful with his behaviour. Hugo waited, continuing his cold dead stare, a stare he had perfected years ago.
“Oh, don’t worry, Hugo; I won’t share my thoughts with anyone, especially not the Queen—at least not unless you force me to. But her father was my best friend, and I had a hand in raising that girl. She is as close to a child of my own as I will ever get.”
The general rubbed his large scarred hands over his face. “I know I can’t give you orders, commander, but we both know that no matter how interested you might be, you cannot pursue Diamond as a mate. However, I would very much appreciate it if you would find her and my crown prince—and bring them back.”
For a long moment Hugo made a show of considering General Edo’s words. It gave him time to suppress his smile of relief. He nodded his head as if making a decision.
“I will meet you at Sentinel’s Cave in four weeks with any news I have,” he said unemotionally before bending his knees and launching himself into the clear dawn sky, a flash of sapphire blue wings.
Diamond and Jack staggered through the forest until the prince’s legs became too weak to take his weight. They collapsed next to a bubbling stream, Jack landing on his belly and panting hard. Diamond kneeled on the damp bank and carefully lifted his shirt; she hissed at the blood oozing steadily from the deep cuts. Jack’s clothes were sodden with the red fluid.
“That good, eh?” Jack mumbled, sweat trickling down his brow.
“That good,” agreed Diamond wryly.
They were resting under the canopy of a large tree. Empty nutshells littered the ground; taking one of their hard, reddish brown cups about the size of her fist, she swiftly shuffled across the ground and leaned out into the flow of the stream to scoop up some clean water. She returned to Jack’s side to gently move his shirt up and dribble the water across his exposed flesh, sluicing out the three wounds.
“Do they need stitching?” he panted, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain. Beads of sweat formed on his brow.
“This one does,” she said, indicating the long slash wound that followed his rib line. “But we don’t have anything to sew with so I’ll try and make you a dressing; that will have to do.”
She had difficulty keeping her voice light. Jack looked up at her and gave her a watery smile. Diamond smiled back, ignoring the knowledge that infection would set in quickly out here in the forest. It could be possible to stop it, or at least slow it down with the right herbs. She sat back on her haunches and used Hugo’s dagger to cut a strip off what remained of her dress. She rinsed off as much dirt as she could in the stream and then set about cutting more strips.
“Now that we’ve stopped running, I guess we should introduce ourselves properly. Hugo told me your name is Diamond, and my name is Jack. Not prince or Your Highness,” he chided weakly.
“Hello, Jack,” she replied with a small smile.
“So how did you end up with Hugo? And how is it you and your father were living in the same village as General Edo?” he wheezed, trying to distract himself from his pain as she refilled the nut shells with more water.
She dipped a cleanish bit of cloth in the water, then gently but thoroughly cleaned his wounds before answering. Diamond’s nimble fingers worked surely as she told him all that had happened to her over the past few days. Concentrating on her task helped her cope with the raw grief in her heart. In between clenched teeth and growls of pain, Jack asked her many questions. Then they got to the subject of her magic.
“Diamond? How did you control your magic if you didn’t even know you had such a gift?” he asked curiously as he tried to sit up.
“Hey! Don’t sit up! Now you’re bleeding again,” she said with an exasperated sigh, glad of a reason not to answer his question. She had not known what to do, and admitting she had voices in her head giving her instructions made her sound mad.
“Look, I’ll gladly answer all of your questions later, but right now we need to bind your wound. If we clean the others regularly, I think they will heal. They aren’t as deep,” she informed him, successfully changing the subject.
Jack’s brown eyes watched her, his lips twitching as she cut yet more off her skirts.
“If you keep cutting, there’ll be nothing left of that dress,” he observed, a hint of amusement in his pain-filled eyes.
Diamond huffed a laugh and smiled back. “S’all right, I’ll start on your shirt next, Your Highness.”
He raised his eyebrows and, even though he still looked grey and in pain, he managed a cheeky smile. “Really? Well, I’ve known women who want to get the shirt off my back before, but this is a bit desperate, if you ask me.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle. Teasing her and trying to lighten her anxiety was a nice gesture.
“Indeed. Well, prince, you can keep your shirt on for now. Come on, sit up slowly. Can you help me knot this material together? I’m just going to change this water and get us some to drink, then I’ll bind your wound.”
When she returned, Jack had his eyes closed, pain etched on his face. Tomorrow she would search for some wild roots to help heal him. Diamond was no herbalist but her father had shown her some basic herb lore as she grew up. Gently she shook Jack awake then bound his wound tightly.
Temperatures plummeted during the night. Diamond shivered next to Jack, her thoughts straying back to the others. Had they survived the dragon fire? Had Hugo? She swallowed that uncomfortable thought. When Freddy had attacked, she had screamed for Hugo, not her childhood uncle or her friend, but for the guard who had enthralled her. She didn’t know how he was still alive in a kingdom that abhorred and killed those with magic. It didn’t matter. She clutched his dagger to her chest, remembering the warmth of his body as he held her. Those memories did nothing to keep her warm now though, and soon her shaking body woke Jack.
Placing an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her in close. At first she was embarrassed and couldn’t relax, but he just dozed off, his arm slipping a little. With Jack asleep Diamond tried to calm her mind, but the sounds of the forest kept her on edge. Shifting her vision was not reassuring, the aura of the forest was dull here and nothing, no life, moved among the undergrowth.
Fear skittered down her spine. Food. Tomorrow. I will deal with that problem tomorrow. Her stomach grumbled painfully as if in response to her thoughts. To distract herself she studied Jack’s aura. It was tinged with a sickly grey. Diamond shuffled even closer to the prince. He couldn’t become sick out here; he would die. Then she would be truly alone. Tears pricked her eyes as she let her head rest on his chest, listening to the sounds of the forest with one ear and his heart beating with the other.
***
The past two days had been awful. Jack was shirtless, his body pale and dirty. The soiled garment was being used to carry more nut shells containing the rough poultice Diamond had made. Jack had been in far too much pain to travel on that first day, so Diamond had used the time to search out useful herbs and grind them into a paste. It would work better if they could boil it down to make a salve, but a fire was not an option. Flames and smoke would just invite danger.
Jack walked in front of her. A frown furrowed her brow. Purulent yellow fluid soaked his makeshift bandage. She eased herself closer to the prince, wrinkling her nose.
“Jack, we need to clean your wound again,” she said, tentatively touching his shoulder to get his attention.
Over the past day Jack had been prone to snapping at her. He squinted, his brown eyes bright and unfocused. Not for the first time Diamond wondered if Jack really knew where he was or if the infection raging through his body was clouding his mind.
“No. We can’t stop—it’s too dangerous,” he bit out, wincing as he stumbled.
Diamond clamped her mouth shut, not brave enough to question him more. Common girls don’t question the judgment of princes—do they?
Jack weaved between the tall, dying trees, narrowly avoiding bare branches that stuck out like the macabre fingers of a skeleton. Diamond shuddered in the gloom and eeriness of the forest. Her hand curled tightly around the cool metal of Hugo’s dagger. The object gave her a sense of safety, a connection to him—even if it wasn’t real. Her magic stirred unhappily as she called to mind the silver serpents of his energy wrapped soothingly around her arms.
It wasn’t until the light dropped that Diamond realised how late it had become. She had been totally absorbed on putting one foot in front of the other. Now it was hard to ignore her aching muscles. Late summer this far south should still be warm—but it wasn’t, the air was frigid. Weak and exhausted, shivers racked her body.
Glancing at Tu Lanah, a frown furrowed her brow. It would be another six months until the moon was at its lowest point on winter solstice, but storms would rage during the months before that. She shivered again and hoped the storms wouldn’t come early. The Festival of the Moon on winter solstice had always been Diamond’s favourite celebration, full of laughter, music, dancing, food—and love. It was a celebration of the goddess of creation. A night full of magic, where devout fae believed the females of their race were the most fertile.
Cramps twisted her stomach. Her life in Berriesford might not have been full of riches but going without food for such a long time was not something Diamond had experienced before. Exhaustion tugged her mood even lower. She didn’t know how she was going to stop Jack’s infection or keep them fed. It was impossible for Jack to hunt in his current state. She blinked back tears and scanned the forest.
And where in chaos are we? Jack had led them in a weaving roundabout route for hours. How can I get us anywhere near Valentia if I don’t know which way to go?
Diamond shifted her vision. Jack’s energy hung like a stagnant grey shroud around him. Fear of him dying made her throat hurt.
“Jack? How do you know which direction Valentia is in?” she asked tentatively.
Silence. He seemed to be concentrating hard, his skin pale and covered in a sheen of sweat.
Risking getting her head bitten off was worth it. “Jack! You need to tell me where to go, which direction to head in or we aren’t going to make it. You’re sick and you’re becoming confused. Jack!” she barked impatiently.
Unfocused eyes stared at her. The prince swayed unsteadily on his feet and just for a moment his eyes cleared.
“I’m sorry, Diamond,” he panted and swallowed. “If you follow…the moon. The glow. It stays in the east…until after winter solstice,” he rasped. Diamond could only watch in horror as his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground.
“Jack!” she cried.
With trembling fingers she felt for his pulse. Sobbing with relief when she felt the rapid flutter beneath her finger tips, Diamond looked about helplessly. A rocky outcrop jutted from a nearby slope. Diamond dragged Jack’s unconscious body towards it a few feet at a time. It took most of her remaining strength but, at last, panting and sweaty and determined, she had him underneath its lee. At least it would provide some shelter. Dreading what she would find, Diamond unbound Jack’s wound. A fetid aroma hit her. She gagged, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Quickly she cut a strip off her dress, wrapped it around her fingers and scooped out the pus. With no water to clean the festering laceration, she packed it with the herb poultice and left the dressings off, letting it drain.
Diamond stayed awake through the long and lonely night, scooping out the poultice when it became pus-stained, and replacing it until every last bit was gone. There was nothing else she could do.
“Except pray to the goddess,” she mumbled to herself. And that’s just what Diamond did, fervently. All night her mood bounced between worry for Jack and fear for herself if he died. She didn’t stand a chance of surviving on her own.
Halfway through the next day Diamond allowed herself to leave Jack long enough to search out the nearest stream. After thirty minutes of walking, she came across a clear bubbling flow. Relieved, she single-mindedly used the empty nut shells to spend the day fetching water to fill up a small dip in the rocks near Jack. When satisfied the pool was full enough she carefully and patiently dripped water in between Jack’s parched, cracked lips, beseeching him to drink. Dribbling water across his wounds, she washed the pus away as best she could.
Over the next two days Diamond searched the forest nearby for more herbs, ignoring her hunger and ever-increasing weakness. Foraging for yellow berries and any edible roots yielded only minimal success. But at least it gave her something other than loneliness and fear to think about.
Three days later the prince’s fever broke, and his eyes flickered open.
Diamond’s shoulders sagged, a small sob escaping her. “Nice of you to come back, prince,” she whispered, wiping sweat off his forehead with a damp piece of cloth.
He looked at her silently, then fell back into a more settled sleep. That night when she checked his energy it had a flicker of blue among the grey. Thanking the goddess for her favour, Diamond lay next to Jack’s prone body and held
his cool hand as she tried to sleep.
The following day Diamond helped Jack shuffle slowly and painfully towards the stream. There they stayed for the next three days. She worked tirelessly as Jack rested, searching the forest for more herbs and food. Fallen nuts littered the ground and she discovered grinding them down released a foul smelling oil. After testing it on herself with no reaction, she mixed it with the herbs to make a salve. By the fourth day Jack was just about strong enough to walk.
“Diamond? I really am strong enough to travel now. We need to leave. If we stay much longer, we will starve. Even the trees are dying. Ragor’s cursed troops must be overpowering its energy,” he said, chewing on a tough reed root.
Diamond knew he was right. It was hard to keep track but at least two weeks had passed and both were gaunt and bony.
Together they set a slow pace towards the bright orb of Tu Lanah. Each night Diamond cleaned Jack’s wounds and then lay next to him on the ground, periodically checking his energy. It was becoming bluer and brighter every day; even his mood was lighter. A smile curled her lips. He had even taken to teasing her again.
The next morning sunshine burst between the sentinel tree, casting glittering beams to the ground. Since waking three hours ago they had been walking into even thicker forest. The going had been tough and rocky. Diamond leaned back against the rough bark of a tree and sucked in big breaths of cool air until her tired breathing settled. Jack mirrored her, his chocolate brown eyes resting intently on her face. A flush bloomed over her cheeks at his unwavering regard. After a few moments she risked meeting his eyes.
“Thank you,” he said, looking at her intently.
She nodded, aware he was thanking her for saving his life.
“You’re welcome, Prince Oden, but I owe you thanks as well.”
A Bond of Venom and Magic (The Goddess and the Guardians Book 1) Page 10