Pengorren looked at him, and something in the major’s expression made Nathaniel wonder whether he was being entirely sensible. He hadn’t really planned this out after all. As usual he was acting on impulse, on instinct. But it was too late, he wasn’t going to turn tail now. It was done, and in truth he couldn’t feel sorry.
Pengorren was tugging at the rings on his fingers, tossing them contemptuously at Nathaniel’s feet, before reaching for his purse.
“There’s little enough in there,” he said, throwing the small leather bag. “Hardly worth dying for.”
Nathaniel caught it in one hand, the pistol steady in the other. “Enough for an ale or two,” he replied pleasantly. “I’m very grateful, sir. Ye can go now.”
But Pengorren didn’t scurry back into the coach as he was supposed to. He stood staring at Nathaniel, cold-eyed, and then he said in a voice so low only Nathaniel could hear it, “You’ll regret this, my friend.”
When the coach had gone, Nathaniel stood alone in the darkness, the rings at his feet and the purse in his hand. His head was throbbing, as if he had just fought a vicious hand-to-hand combat, but there was a sense of elation, too. He had seen the real Pengorren tonight, the man who lived behind the amiable exterior, and he knew for certain that Pengorren was his deadly enemy.
The road shivered beneath his feet, and he stumbled, taken by surprise, attempting to stay upright. A part of his mind was telling him this wasn’t right. It didn’t happen like this. Pengorren had climbed into his coach and driven away. But now here he was again, standing in the road right in front of him. Just the two of them. And it was no longer like a dream, it seemed real…
“That’s right, Nathaniel,” Pengorren said, his voice soft and seductive. “You stay right here with me in the past where I want you. You enjoyed that memory, didn’t you? Make the most of it, because it will be your last. Did you really think I’d let you just ride away? I’m going to have to kill you all over again, and this time you won’t be coming back.”
“You can’t,” Nathaniel said, but it was a whisper, and he felt dizzy. Pengorren’s face was wavering in and out of his vision. There was a thudding in his ears, like horses’ hooves, and his face was wet with salt spray, and yet the sea was miles away from the Truro Road.
“Haven’t you learned yet,” Pengorren retorted arrogantly, “that there’s nothing I can’t do?”
Nathaniel! A woman’s voice in his head, breathy and terrified. Nathaniel spun around, almost losing his balance, but there was no one there in the dark woods. Then, louder, closer. “Nathaniel!”
Pengorren cursed, and said, “Melanie? Where is that interferring bitch? Why can’t she mind her own business and stay in her own time?”
“Melanie,” Nathaniel whispered, “I need you. Come to me.”
The salt stung his eyes, and he shook his head, trying to clear it. He could feel Neptune beneath him, he could hear the pounding of the sea against the cliffs. The cliffs? What in God’s name was happening to him.
And then Pengorren grabbed Nathaniel’s arm, his fingers pressing painfully deep into his flesh. His face was so close that Nathaniel could see the pores of his skin, and suddenly he was back on the road again, darkness all around him.
“No, you don’t,” Pengorren said. “No wandering off. You stay right here with me. I have you now, and I won’t let you go.”
Melanie was all alone in the darkened house. The storm had come over with terrifying swiftness, the wind howling around Ravenswood while overhead lightning flashed and thunder growled. The electricity had flickered once or twice and then gone out. She’d lit some candles, and she had her flashlight, but still the house seemed dark and dangerous, like a heavy weight around her.
Where was Nathaniel? When he left her he hadn’t said he was going away. There was something very wrong, she could feel it. He was too rash, the sort of man who dived headlong into battle without considering the consequences. She feared for him.
An extraloud crack of thunder came from overhead, and she shivered. She wasn’t certain if the surging noise she could hear was the sea against the cliffs or the trees blown by the wind. Melanie ran to the window and stood, fingers gripping the sill, peering out. It was as black as night out there, the rain thudding all around, puddles already forming on the driveway. Lightning slashed across the sky, dazzling her and making her blink.
Melanie…
“Nathaniel?” She turned, thinking he must be here in the room with her, but she was alone in the dark house. And then she realized his voice was in her head, coming from that part of her she had kept locked away for so long.
Melanie, come to me.
He was fading, leaving her. Trembling, Melanie closed her eyes and concentrated. She drew his image into her mind, so real and vibrant and alive.
“Nathaniel, where are you?”
The room spun and the sound of the sea surged in her head. Melanie cried out as she felt a part of her breaking away, splitting in two. One half remained in the darkened room, grounded, while the other slipped backward into time, like a roller coaster on a hairpin bend, fighting it all the way.
It was night and cold. Melanie saw that she was approaching the woods, the dark trees leaning together like whispering widows. Nathaniel stood on the road, the moonlight shining eerily across his features. Pengorren was before him, eyes strangely aglow, as the two men faced each other.
Melanie stepped closer, not feeling the chill night, seeming to float above the ground. Inside, her soul, her spirit, was humming, so strongly, so powerfully she no longer felt like herself.
“Nathaniel?” she called.
His eyes flicked toward her, and for a moment she saw into his heart. He was angry, but he was also shaken. Things, she thought, hadn’t gone as he wanted them to.
The contact seemed to anchor her, for now she found herself standing firmly on the road. She came to stand at his side, aligning herself with him, and watched as Pengorren’s mouth twitch in a scornful smile.
“Melanie,” he said, “what a pleasure.”
But Melanie wasn’t fooled. It wasn’t a pleasure. He didn’t like her invading his past, any more than she liked him stealing into her present.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“I’m showing Nathaniel how he died,” Pengorren said.
“You killed him,” Melanie retorted, “and then made it look like an accident.”
Pengorren smiled. “Far too simplistic, Melanie. I’m capable of a great deal more than that.”
“What are you?” Nathaniel demanded. “What evil demon spawned you?”
“Ask the sorceress,” he replied.
“The sorceress?” Melanie glanced from one to the other. “Who’s she?”
“The self-styled queen of the between-worlds,” Pengorren sneered.
“Do you—” Melanie began, but she was interrupted.
A cry sounded from the woods. “Hew?”
Nathaniel started forward. “Sophie?” But Pengorren held out his hand to stop him.
“She can’t hear you,” he said. “She’s not really here. What you can see is the essence of Sophie, her ghost, if you like. I’ve brought her here so that she can replay her part from the night you died, Nathaniel. Don’t you want to know what happened? I mean, what really happened?”
Sophie was in sight now, a dark cloak covering her from head to toe, except where the lighter strip of her gown showed between the fastenings. For something that was a “ghost” she seemed very solid. She gripped one of the tree trunks, peering around her. “Hew?” she whispered again. “Where are you? I don’t like this place…”
“I’m here,” Pengorren called. Then, to Nathaniel and Melanie, “Don’t worry, she can’t see you.”
Sophie stepped out of the woods, sighing with relief, her eyes big and a little wild. “Why did you want me to meet you here, Hew? I don’t understand. Is this another test of my love?”
“Yes, Sophie, this is another test,” Pengorren said
, taking her hands and placing the pistol in them.
She looked down at it and tried to pull away.
“No, Sophie, this is what I want you to do. Your brother has lost his mind. He is no longer responsible for his own actions. You do know that, don’t you?”
Sophie stared up at him, white-faced. “I know he is playing at being a highwayman,” she whispered. “But he’s not like that, Hew, he’s not!”
“I know, I understand,” Hew assured her, “but I am the magistrate, and I am bound to act and soon. I will have to arrest him, and he will hang. You know that, Sophie. He will suffer. There is only one solution. End his life swiftly, and save me from the pain of being the one to sentence him to the gallows. You know how fond I am of the boy.”
Sophie shook her head, but her eyes were fastened on Pengorren’s.
Nathaniel groaned. Melanie reached for his hand, to comfort him, but couldn’t seem to grasp it.
“You have to do this,” Pengorren went on. “Sophie?”
For a time she continued to fight against it, but Melanie could see her weakening before Pengorren’s greater strength.
“But Hew?” she breathed. “There must be another way. Can’t we get him out of Cornwall, onto a ship for the Americas?”
“I’m afraid not, my dear. It’s gone beyond that now. No, he must die, Sophie. A good clean death, what more could a soldier ask for?”
Soon she fell silent, listening to him, and then she gave a little sob and nodded.
“When?” she asked, and her voice had lost all color.
“Tonight.”
“He will not suffer?”
“No. Not if you aim true.”
“You bastard,” Nathaniel whispered. “You evil bastard!”
Pengorren laughed. “Poor Sophie, she’d do anything for me.”
“Hew?” Sophie whispered, not understanding.
Furiously, Nathaniel flung himself at Pengorren, but the other man moved back, fumbling at a chain about his neck and lifting some sort of medallion. The next instant, Nathaniel was gone.
Melanie spun around, searching the road, but Nathaniel had vanished. Sophie was gone, too. It was just herself and Pengorren, alone on the road.
“Where is he? What have you done to him?” she cried in a panic.
“He was never really here, Melanie. He was like Sophie. I captured his mind, his essence, but his body is elsewhere. It was a trick. While I kept his mind occupied, his physical body has been moving closer to its death. Maybe it’s already too late. I’m sorry, I know you were fond of the boy, but perhaps I can make up for his loss.”
Fear squeezed at her heart, but Melanie refused to let him see. “I doubt it,” she said. “You’re not my type.”
“But I am, Melanie,” he purred. “That’s just it. I am.” He lifted the chain again and swirled it in his fingers. She could see now it wasn’t a medallion but a locket, silver in color and oval in shape. “Do you see this? This is a key.”
“Key, what key?” she asked impatiently. Her heart was thudding. She clenched her hands into fists. Where was Nathaniel? She had to find him. She didn’t have time for this.
“A key to time. But you don’t need a key, do you, Melanie? Don’t you realize how powerful that makes you? I almost feel a sense of familial pride. A shame I’m going to have to kill you eventually, but I have no option.”
“I don’t understand!” she backed away. “Tell me what you’ve done to Nathaniel.”
“The stronger you become, the stronger I will become. When you reach your zenith, then I will harvest your essence, my dear. I will take your soul.”
Melanie turned, searching the dark road with wild eyes. “Nathaniel!” When she looked back, Pengorren was fading into the shadows, vanishing before her eyes.
“Why?” she shouted at him. “Why do you want my soul?”
“Because I want to live, Melanie. I want to live forever…”
He was gone, she was all alone. Melanie began to shake. “Nathaniel,” she whispered, “where are you?” What had she done before to find him? She tried to order her thoughts, calm herself. She’d pictured him in her mind. That was what she must do now.
Before it was too late.
Twenty
It only took a second, and she found him again. One moment she was on the road, and the next she was clinging to Nathaniel, riding pillion on a horse. Even though she knew she wasn’t really there, it was terrifying. She didn’t even have time to scream.
There was a full moon, and Melanie saw clearly the edge of the cliff and the dizzying drop to the black, heaving waters below. The horse trembled, wild with terror, but he did not stop. A wave crashed against the rock, sending up salt spray and drenching them, stinging her skin.
“Nathaniel,” she shouted. “Stop, you have to stop. You’re going to go over…”
There was something wrong with him. He should have heard her but he made no sign. He was here, or at least his body was, but his mind was still held fast in Pengorren’s grip. In desperation she began to scream at him, pulling at his clothing, pounding her fists against his back, but he still didn’t acknowledge her. He was going to ride into the sea.
Melanie wondered wildly whether she could jump down to the ground and pull him with her? It was a drastic solution—he might still be killed—but if she couldn’t make him hear her, if she couldn’t make him stop, then that would be his only chance.
“Nathaniel! Please, please…” It turned into a sob. She felt bleak, shattered, desperate. “Listen to me, Nathaniel…”
Nathaniel.
Nathaniel blinked, confused, wondering where the hell he was. He had been on the road with Pengorren and now he was…
“Nathaniel!”
The voice came from behind him. Melanie? She sounded husky, frantic, as if she had been calling his name over and over. Her arms grasped him so tightly he was finding it hard to breathe, and his back was hurting…
They were on the cliff path. His eyes widened. The edge of the cliff was only feet away, and after that the sea.
He felt her grab hold of him and knew instinctively she was preparing to jump and take him with her.
“No!” he shouted, and with a superhuman effort wrenched Neptune away, sending him galloping along the cliff edge rather than over it. Clods of earth and pieces of vegetation scattered into oblivion, but a moment later Neptune’s hooves gained purchase. He began to murmur to the frightened stallion, urging him to be calm. Neptune was still trembling, his eyes rolling, as Nathaniel eased him to a stop.
He could feel Melanie’s fists clenched in his shirt, feel her body shaking as she tried to regain her own control. He risked turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. “Melanie? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?”
She made a choking sound. Her face was sickly in the half-light, and her eyes were like dark pools, the lashes wet and clumped together, while her hair slicked to her head like an otter’s fur.
“Pengorren,” he said starkly. “He wouldn’t let my mind go. He planned to kill me. Again.”
She shuddered and pressed her cheek against the soaked cloth on his back. “I was trying to make you hear me, but you couldn’t. I hit you…I’m sorry.”
“A few bruises are the least of my worries,” he said. “But how can you be here?”
“I can travel in time. Like Pengorren. God help me…” She shivered. “I’m not really here, Nathaniel. This is my essence. The real me is back at Ravenswood.”
“You look real. You feel real,” he said, touching her cheek.
“So did Pengorren. Don’t ask me to explain, I don’t understand it anymore than you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why did you go off without me? When I got back from Eddie’s you were gone. I thought we agreed we would work together.”
Nathaniel glanced at her over his shoulder, his smile rueful. “I thought I could handle it on my own. I know what Pengorren’s capable of, and when you told me how he seemed to be following you through time, I just wan
ted to end it.”
“So you set off to play the hero again,” she said, her voice not quite steady. “I can’t keep saving you, Nathaniel.”
He laughed angrily.
“She’s right. Have you learned nothing in two hundred years, my Raven?”
The voice was harsh, and Nathaniel jerked his head around in surprise. Standing in front of Neptune was the queen of the between-worlds, wrapped in her scarlet cloak, with her hair like licks of flame against the sullen sky. He’d forgotten how intimidating she was, especially when she was angry, but now it came back to him full force.
“Your Majesty.”
“You have disobeyed me. I warned you against such a thing, and yet you went ahead anyway. You tricked Teth into taking you through the door.”
Tricked Teth? Nathaniel opened his mouth to dispute that, and then wisely decided to keep quiet. He deserved to face her anger; Teth didn’t.
“Well, have you nothing to say? No excuses? No charming denials?”
“No, Your Majesty. I wouldn’t insult you with anything other than the truth. I know I acted impetuously. I thought I could strike quickly and save—”
“Impetuously?” she snorted. Her scarlet cloak flapped about her, catching the wind like wings. “You are a fool, Nathaniel. You have learned nothing. Why do I bother with you? I may as well return you to the between-worlds right now and save myself further trouble.”
Melanie had been quiet until now, but Nathaniel heard her draw breath. “Your Majesty, he did it for me. He believes Pengorren wants me for some reason of his own, and just now…well, Pengorren admitted it. He spoke of you, too, as if you know each other. Do you?”
“You presume too much, mortal,” the queen said stiffly, and the air about her crackled.
“Please, Your Majesty, forgive me,” Nathaniel spoke with quiet and bitter sincerity. “It’s true I wanted to save Melanie and that Pengorren is threatening her. I was rash and stupid. I won’t do it again. But if you know anything that can help us defeat him, I beg you to tell us.”
The queen fixed him with a stern look, and he forced himself to meet her eyes. His head began to swim, his stomach felt queasy, and his hands shook. Beneath him, Neptune shivered as if he had a fever, but he stood perfectly still, as if he was afraid to move while the queen blocked his path.
Immortal Warriors 02 - Secrets of the Highwayman Page 15