I braced myself against a large tree as I tried to figure out what to do. Leif had to be coming. I needed to find a place to wait for him. An idea popped into my head as I leaned up against that tree. I looked up and realized I stood underneath the perfect climbing tree. There were plenty of thick grey branches to make climbing one-legged possible.
I reached up and pulled myself onto the first branch and balanced on my one good leg. It wasn't so bad. I could do it. I reached again and pulled myself up once more. This time I used my leg to help push. I made it up two more branches before I had to stop and rest again.
The shadows were wearing me out. They were so heavy, like weights pulling down on me.
I caught the arrow on the last branch against the tree, pulling and jarring the muscle. My leg pulsed with pain and was bleeding more than the slight trickle it had been before I had started the climb.
I made it about half way up the tree and decided one more step up would have to do. I didn't think I could go any further than that.
The Shadow Guard had just stepped into the forest. With the last bit of strength I had, I pulled myself up one more branch. I immediately crouched down and propped my arrowed leg on a closely connected branch. I pulled the hood up over my light-colored hair and finally let the shadows drop.
I felt instant relief without the oppressive weight of shadows on me. I lay my cheek against the rough grey bark, hugged the tree trunk in front of me, and tried to stay completely still.
The Shadow Guard came right next to the tree where I hid and stopped. Their horses pranced uneasily beneath them.
It was then that I realized another rumble of hooves coming from the other direction. I wanted to look to see who or what was coming, but I was afraid to move. I didn't want to draw any attention, so I sat there and waited, as the Shadow Guard did, for whatever was coming. I was so hoping it was Leif, but I doubted it. They came from the wrong direction.
The horses and the Shadow Guard were obviously nervous. The horses shifted around, snorted loudly, and continually backed up. The Shadow Guard allowed them to retreat back a few steps here and there.
A group of men came into view and pushed right up against the Shadow Guard with their own horses. Their horses were big and they were hairy, like the men they carried. I counted ten of the newcomers. They were directly beneath me now. They were all big, broad shouldered, and muscular. That was about all I could see from my bird's view in the tree.
From the center of the group of Shadow Guards, one man urged his horse forward a few steps. He pushed the hood from his face and said, "Gabriel."
He was an older man. His small head was bald and shiny, even in the shadows of the forest.
One man from the group of newcomers also pushed forward several steps. He positioned himself directly under the branch where I sat watching and said, "Douglas."
I assumed he was Gabriel, like the angel. I felt my lips curve up. He was the most unlikely angel I had ever seen. He had light brownish blonde hair that hung long past his shoulders with a matching beard that although not as long as his hair, blended right in. I couldn't see his face or eyes from where I sat, but he was big and burley. Giant is more likely the correct term. He wore a pair of dark brown pants, maybe a leather material, and on his feet were a pair of brown boots. He sat on the purest, whitest horse I had ever seen. White mane and tail and everything else. The horse was beautiful. The man was scary.
"Still a traitor?" the Shadow Guard named Douglas growled.
I wondered briefly if that was his first name or last.
"Still the King's lackey?" Gabriel replied with a sigh, as if he was bored already.
"You will need to choose a side soon. The King is losing patience. He's preparing to remove your holdings from you. Including this forest," Douglas said, and made a big show out of looking around him at the trees.
"He can try," Gabriel said. I couldn't see his face, but I could almost guess he sneered at Douglas.
I leaned over just a little and tried to get a better look at Gabriel. I wanted to see his face, his expression. I couldn't understand his tone of voice. Did he want a fight? That was when I noticed the odd coloring of his horse. It really was a pure white horse, except for the strangest little circle of red up high on the horses back, close to Gabriel's leg. It caught my eye because it seemed so out of place. It looked like it was getting bigger too. In fact, it looked almost like...blood!
"Holy Hell!" I whispered under my breath. I was dripping blood down onto Gabriel's horse. I slowly reached out and with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, carefully wiped off the back of my leg where it looked like the blood dripped from.
I looked back down and realized that Gabriel's leg now covered up the red spot that was on his horse. I sat there and prayed no one had seen it.
"You are trespassing on my land, Douglas." Gabriel's harsh words brought my attention back to the men positioned below.
"Your land for now," Douglas replied hotly.
Gabriel, as well as the rest of his group, pressed forward against the others to force them back toward the entrance of the forest. There was suddenly a mass of horses dancing beneath me. Men shouted "Ho" and "Back" before everyone again came to rest in their tidy little war parties.
All was silent for a moment, until Douglas sighed once then said, "A boy we were hunting ran this way. Did you see anyone come through here?"
Who was the boy? Was that supposed to be me? Did they not even know who or what they hunted?
"No, I saw no boy," Gabriel replied.
"Did you see anyone?" Douglas insisted.
"No. Now, get off my land." Gabriel crossed his arms against his wide chest and stared down at Douglas.
Douglas, even I could tell, was trying not to show how very intimidated he really was. He failed.
Without too much grumbling, the Shadow Guard turned their horses around and headed out of the forest, away from Gabriel and his men, and more importantly, away from me.
Douglas apparently couldn't leave without a parting shot at Gabriel. He shouted over his shoulder at the edge of the forest, "Your time is coming, traitor! It's coming!"
Gabriel and his men sat still and silent as they watched the Shadow Guard until they were out of sight, just as I did up in the tree. I assumed they would head off in their own direction once the Guard was gone, so you can imagine my surprise when Gabriel barked, "Boy! Come down from there."
Did he mean me? He couldn't mean me. I huddled on my branch, statue still and ignored him. Prayed he would just go away. No such luck.
"I said, come down," he growled again.
I wasn't going anywhere. Truthfully, I had been sitting up in that tree, on a small branch, gripping the trunk for so long that I didn't know if I would even be able to let go. Plus, getting up in the tree with an arrow in my leg was one thing. Getting down, well, that was another thing entirely.
"Lucas, bring him down."
I watched as one of the men gracefully hopped down from his horse and headed toward my tree. He was younger than the others. He wasn't as big. That doesn't mean he was small, he was still quite tall and filled out, he just wasn't huge. He at least wore a pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt, which to me, made him seem less intimidating than the leather-clad men in his group. His dark brown hair was long like the others, but he was clean-shaven. He had a young face, no wrinkles around the edges. How old was he?
I watched him nimbly scale the tree up to my perch. I saw the moment he realized I was not a boy. He had just pulled himself up even with me, straddled my branch and made eye contact with me.
His clear blue eyes widened, he drew back a space from me and ran his eyes over my body. He reached over and jerked the hood off my head. I heard a hiss escape his mouth as my long blond hair fell around my face and down my back. I looked at him and waited to see what he would do next.
He looked over me once more, as if to confirm what he was seeing. He took note of my arrow-adorned leg before he rested his sights back on my face
, and said, "Ah...Gabriel. Can you come up here?" His voice was deep and strong and sent a chill down my spine.
"Just bring him down, Lucas," Gabriel snapped.
"You need to come up, Gabe."
I didn't take my eyes off Lucas, but I heard Gabriel sigh and I think curse as his feet hit the ground. He swung up into the tree. I swear I felt the tree shake with the weight of the man as he scaled it.
It was getting mighty crowded up on my branch. Gabriel quickly pulled up to our level. Lucas moved over to make room. Gabriel's eyes met mine. He didn't give any sign of surprise or dismay, or even a sign at all, that I was evidently not a boy. His face was covered in the brown-blond hair. His moss green eyes were rimmed by thick and expressive eyebrows, which said without words, "I don't have time for this."
I didn't ask for their help, and I didn't want it. I just wanted to wait up in my tree for Leif to come and get me. He would make it better.
Gabriel had old eyes, angry almost. I suppressed my own sigh. Where was Leif?
"The arrow," Lucas said, indicating my leg.
I hugged the tree harder as Gabriel studied my leg.
"Can you talk?" Gabriel asked. He didn't even bother to look at me.
"Yes." That was all. I was taking a page out of Gavin's rulebook and not saying any more than I had to. I didn't know if these people were good, bad, or somewhere in between. The less I said, the better.
"This has to come out," said Gabriel.
"Ya think?" I replied.
That got his attention. His eyes swung to mine at my sarcastic retort. "Lucas?" Gabriel said. He still looked directly at me.
"Got it," Lucas replied.
I was confused. What was the question?
They moved together. Lucas suddenly shoved both of his palms firmly against my back and pressed me tight against the tree trunk I clung too. Gabriel slammed one beefy hand down on my leg, right over where the arrow had pinched up my skin and muscle.
Lucas's move caused me to screech, more in surprise and indignation than hurt. But it quickly turned to a scream of pain with Gabriel's. Before I could draw in a breath for another good scream, or even try to resist, Gabriel snapped off the tip of the arrow. Then fast, without pause, almost without thought, he pulled the arrow smoothly out of my leg. All I managed to do was gasp and hiss in pain. My eyes clouded over dizzily for a moment before clearing.
Lucas immediately released his hold of me. My eyes teared-up and spilled over. I didn't look at him or Gabriel. I pressed my face harder against the rough tree and clamped my eyes shut.
"Let's go," Gabriel decreed. I tuned him out. I ignored him. I didn't make a move.
Gabriel did a huffy breath at me. It was a sound I would have expected from a child not a grown man, which is why I opened my eyes to look at him. He didn't look sorry for his rough treatment of me. He did look tired though.
I didn't care if he was tired. I didn't care about him at all. I felt a rush of emotion push its way up, and I really tried to choke back a sob, but it came out anyway. I wanted Leif. I wanted to go home. I hated Acadia.
Lucas at least looked uncomfortable, I was happy to note.
"Go on, Lucas. I'll get her," Gabriel said, still watching me.
I tried to stop crying, and although I stopped making the sounds, my lips still trembled and tears continued to leak out no matter how hard I tried to stop them.
Lucas climbed down without fanfare. Although I couldn't see them, the others down on the ground were getting restless. I could tell by the sound of the horses as they shifted around. I didn't know what to expect out of Gabriel, but I was not too surprised by the lout when he banded my waist with one arm, and yanked me off the tree trunk I'd glued myself to. He threw me un-ceremonially over his shoulder with a grunt from us both, uncaring of my bleeding leg, or even my feelings.
I admit that I thought about using my energy on him, but he probably would have fallen out of the tree, me along with him, and I didn't need to be hurt anymore that day, thankyouverymuch.
Chapter Four
Lost
When we reached the ground, I assumed Gabriel would simply put me down. I assumed wrong. He stomped his way through the woods with me still thrown uncomfortably over his shoulder until we reached a small creek.
He plopped me down next to the water, tore open the leg of my shorts, and tossed freezing cold water over my leg. Dried blood rinsed away into the creek, along with whatever else I had managed to get into.
I didn't put up much of a struggle as I was tired. It didn't matter anyway. Nothing I did seemed to make a difference. He shoved my hands out of the way and continued on with his inspection.
The wound itself didn't look too bad, actually. It was just two dark, perfectly circular holes about an inch apart, up high on my leg. No, it didn't look bad at all.
Gabriel seemed to agree with me, as after he finished dousing me with water, he grabbed my leg with surprisingly gentle hands and wrapped it up with a bit of cloth he yanked out of a pouch from around his waist. After he was done, he grunted at me once and got back to his feet.
"Well? You coming?" he growled at me, hands on hips, stance wide and threatening.
Oh yeah, it was quite the offer, but then I was in the middle of nowhere. No Leif in sight. No idea where to go from there. I really didn't feel like I had much choice.
"Yeah, I'll come," I said.
I raised my arms for him so that he could more easily pick me up again. He just snorted at me and turned and walked back the way we had come. I sat there stupidly for a moment before I realized I better go after him, because it didn't look like he was coming back for me.
I struggled painfully to my feet. My leg hurt. It pulsed with the beat of my heart and felt hot. It also seeped a reddish, clear stuff that soaked through the bandage. Gross.
Plus, thanks to the water bath I received from Gabriel, my shoes were drenched. I took in a deep breath, shrugged my shoulders once, and limped my way back to Gabriel and the other men. My shoes screnched with every step I took.
When I reached the others, I noticed with both dismay and happiness that my horse, the mare, stood docile next to Gabriel. He was already mounted on his own white horse. On the good side of things, my bag was still tied securely to the back of the saddle. On the bad, I now had issues with that horse. Although it wasn't technically her fault for tossing me off, it was her fault for leaving me to fend for myself.
I looked up for some direction from Gabriel, but he only said, "Well...get on."
I looked at the mare and figured it couldn't be that hard to get mounted. I stood on the right side of the horse and shoved my right root, the non-injured leg, into the stirrup. I reached up, grabbed hold of the saddle horn, and then proceeded to hop around like an idiot as I tried to pull myself up on the horse. The problem was, my injured leg was taking most of the weight, and my arms were too tired from tree climbing to heave myself up. My hold on the saddle horn slipped. I lost my balance completely and fell to the ground. My foot dangled drunkenly before me, still in the stirrup.
"Will you quit fooling around and get on the horse," Gabriel all but shouted at me.
I did my own huffy breath then untangled my foot from the stirrup, and tried again from the other side. All the while, I ignored the snorts and coughing laughter that came from the group.
As I hopped around again, Lucas came up behind me and said, "Here." Then he used the warm palm of his hand on my butt and shoved me up onto the horse. I was not prepared for his help, but I landed astride and sorta steady anyway.
I shot a proud smile at Gabriel, who snidely replied back with, "Maybe next time, you can get on the horse by yourself. Are you ready now?"
"Don't you even want to know who I am?" I asked.
"No. Not really. You won't be with us long enough for me to care," Gabriel replied.
Well, I had asked.
I heard Gabriel click to his horse, turn around, and head back deep into the forest in the direction they had come. My doc
ile mare followed along, happy as ever. At least we were walking. I could do the walk thing.
Riding a horse is boring. Once you get used to the motion, you just sit there and watch the scenery go by. No one spoke to me. In fact, no one spoke at all. No one even looked my way that I could tell. I was so bored.
I rummaged around in my bag, pulled out my mp3, popped in the earbuds, and tuned out the world around me. As Leif had said, I didn't need to worry about steering the horse, just staying on her, which I was getting good at.
I happily hummed along with my music, not really paying any attention, when it dawned on me that we weren't moving anymore. Then I realized Gabriel stood right next to me, and he did not look happy.
I paused the song and said, "What?" I hadn't done anything. I wasn't bothering anyone. What could possibly be his problem?
Fast as lightning he reached out, took my mp3 from my hands, jerked the earbuds from my ears, and heaved it as far as he could away from us.
"Hey!" I screamed at him.
As I was about to slide down from my horse to run after it, Gabriel, placed his big paw of a hand on my leg, and pressed down, halted my descent, and growled, "You get off that horse, and I will leave you where you stand."
My mouth dropped open. I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't want to be left behind, but I didn't want to leave my mp3 either.
"Do you understand me?" he asked.
In that moment, I so hated him.
"Do you?"
"Yes," I hissed back, "I understand."
Gabriel got back on his horse and started out again, the mare, of course right behind him.
I spent the next hour glaring daggers at Gabriel's back. It was fun, fantasizing about him falling off his horse and me, accidentally of course, trampling him to death. I was enjoying a lovely daydream about that very thing when Gabriel called us to a halt.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 18