The Lethal Flame (Flame Series)

by Arms, Angie

  “Allister informed me the witch never arrived for her trial,” Richard began. “You will find her and bring her to me. I will know once and for if she is a witch, rebel or both.”

  He forced his body to remain relaxed while his mind screamed at him, one thought tumbling over another. The king was only prepared for her guilt and no thought of innocence seemed to enter his brain. He wanted to find her and protect her. But he could not because he had to find her and turn her over to his king. How could he possibly do such a thing?

  “I’m sending someone with you,” Richard said and from the shadows stepped Garrick. His eyes were dark orbs that immediately made Damien feel as if the man knew the turmoil that battled inside him over his prey. Damien felt distinctly uneasy, he felt betrayed. Just as Damien suspected, Garrick was only loyal to himself.

  “Knowing Garrick’s disposition he will not be swayed by witchcraft. I expect you two to take care of this matter quickly,” the king said dismissing Damien.

  Stunned Damien offered a bow and left the king. The fact that Garrick remained with the king made him uneasy. Richard was doubting him. After all Damien had done to prove his loyalty that it was now being questioned grated on his nerves and though not a long walk by the time he made it back to his own tent he had dwelt on the matter enough to go from incensed to outright furious.

  He found his ire rising higher when he found no sign of Cyrille who had arrived earlier with Garrick. He could disappear into his surroundings like a ghost and just now when he needed his brother’s council his absence was beyond irritating. He found his patience to be short with Edwin as well so finally retired to his tent where he could ponder the turning of events.

  “Where have you been?” he demanded when his brother finally ducked beneath the canvas to enter the tent some time later.

  His brother came up short and stared long and hard at him. “What has happened?”

  “Why do you disappear, brother?” Damien demanded as if his brother’s presence could have stopped the events that transpired today. “When I need you why are you off slinking around in the shadows.”

  Cyrille remained quiet. Damien knew why his brother avoided people, being seen by them, talking to them. Nor did Cyrille have to be told something heavy was weighing on his brother’s mind making him unreasonable.

  “We could have all been routed but would you have known?”

  “Just tell me what has occurred to put you in such a foul mood.”

  Damien sighed and began by saying, “Richard has given me the task of bringing Keri before him.”

  “At least she will not be tried.”

  Damien shook his head. “She will either be tried as a witch or a rebel.”

  “Will you take her before the king?”

  “I have no choice,” he said rubbing his hands together agitatedly.

  “There is always a choice.”

  Damien’s hot glare landed on Cyrille. Of course there was always a choice. Like the time the choice had been Cyrille would take Damien’s identity.

  Damien shook his head, jumped to his feet and began pacing. “No, Richard is sending Garrick with me. He said Garrick would not be bewitched.”

  “Of course Garrick could not be bewitched. The man would have to have a soul first.” Though it did not bode well for Keri, Cyrille could not help but acknowledge the king’s wisdom. Garrick was the one of all men best suited to bring home a witch.

  “Don’t you see? Richard is beginning to doubt my loyalty. He could not just send me to get her but he has to send Garrick to ensure the job gets done.”

  “Would you have rather he sent Garrick to get her himself?” Cyrille asked quietly.

  Damien came to a shuddering halt. A woman like Keri would be broken by a man like Garrick in no time. Even generals hardened and honed on the battle field were uneasy around the man. “I will kill him when we find her,” he said with certainty as he began to pace again.

  “What are you doing brother? Do you even know what you are doing?” Cyrille asked with humor edging his voice.

  Damien shrugged his shoulders, his head bent in deep thought.

  “Is she worth it?”

  Damien spun on him. “How do I know if she’s worth it?” he yelled. “How do I know if Keri is worth killing one of my men for? How do I know? Tell me that dear brother,” he said taking the few steps forward to stand toe to toe with Cyrille. “Was it worth it to save me? Would it not have been better to have let them have me?”

  “It was worth it,” Cyrille said, calm in the face of his brother’s fury.

  “If you had kept your damn mouth shut you wouldn’t have to be skulking about in the shadows!” Damien continued his tirade and adding gestures to release his pent up frustrations.

  “Is she worth our king’s wrath,” Cyrille prodded.

  “How can it be worth it brother anymore than it was worth your scars?” Damien demanded. “He is our king, he is the one who determines who lives or dies, who has plenty and who has nothing.”

  “Because you still live. And no matter what has become of me you still live.”

  “What?” Damien demanded. “How can you say that? No woman will even look at you. You are no longer the handsome Cyrille that had women crawling into his bed but a scared gruesome creature of a man who skulks about afraid to show his face. How can my life be worth that?”

  Damien’s words stung but Cyrille did not flinch at the statement. “Because brother, I love you.”

  Damien drew back as if he had been slapped.

  “If you could become this gruesome creature and save her from the same torture and flames would you do it?”

  “I don’t want to do it,” Damien declared, his tirade left him drained and it became evident in his voice.

  “Then walk away and let Garrick find her. His countess was not waiting for him as he ordered. Perhaps he will turn his sites Keri’s way and she will be out of your hair.”

  An image of her glowing brown hair matted in tangles around her battered angelic face came to his mind. Her tear stained cheeks bruised and red. Her eyes hollowed by anguish and defeat. Only to face the horror of a fire that would end her suffering.

  “I cannot.” He would not make her face it alone.

  Cyrille nodded.

  “We will go, just the two of us. Send the men back to Haltwhistle.” The decision was made and he hoped Keri was worth all that was to come.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  “How do you know in which direction they have gone?” Damien questioned after the midday sun had come and gone. The three horses moved at a fast but steady gate south, a pace Garrick had sat since beginning the journey.

  “It does not matter which way they went but which way they are going.”

  Damien fell silent and allowed his horse to slow to ride with Cyrille, content for the time being to follow his direction. One thing the King prized Garrick for was his tenacity at finding his prey. No one could hide from Garrick, he always ran them into the ground long before he would tire and relinquish the hunt.

  Long into the night Garrick finally gave their horses mercy and stopped. Their meager meal was followed quickly by sleep Garrick pulled them from a short time later. The man was proving this was a job he took seriously and for the thousandth time Damien wondered to whom Garrick would give his loyalty. Back in the saddle, the sun had just risen over the horizon when he slowed his horse to come abreast of Damien and Cyrille.

  “You do not want me here,” Garrick stated never taking his eyes from the path ahead.

  “You ride under my command for more than a year, I do not know why Richard has ordered you to ride with me.”

  “Richard doubts you would bring the Lady Keri to him.”

  Damien glanced sharply at the man riding beside him. “So he does doubt my loyalty.”

  “No,” Garrick said giving him a glance. “He doubts your ability to reject the witch’s powers.”

  “Isn’t it the same thing?” Damien demanded, his tone angry.


  “No, not the same thing at all,” Garrick assured him.

  “Will you be able to turn her over?”

  “I have a wife yet to gain for my service. It seems the Countess objects to marrying a bastard. I will have to take her by force. I have asked the king to grant this to me and he has made the delivery of Keri to him mandatory so that he will turn his head when I destroy my own keep to get to my bride.”

  “So you will take an innocent woman back to burn in the flames?” Damien asked his eyes studying the man beside him.

  “It is not my concern if she is innocent or not. Already too many innocent lives have been taken for me to be here now, who am I to naysay a king’s judgment in this matter?” His dark eyes seemed to grow black with whatever suppressed emotion lay just beneath the surface before he nudged his horse with his heels and Garrick rode forward to take the lead position once again.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Keri looked down at the boots Damien had sent with her. The brown leather was tall enough to cover her ankles and helped keep her feet warm and dry. The snow came down in gigantic flakes as she watched them fall around her shoes through the tangle of her hair. She could thank the fates for the intervention that had left Liam’s horse lame. He bent checking the horse’s leg then her hoof but they both knew the horse was done for but she waited patiently for Liam to come to that conclusion himself. She was all for delaying him but when it came to being stuck out in a winter storm she didn’t like the idea.

  “Let’s go,” Liam directed, taking the horse by its bridle and gesturing for her to walk ahead of him. She trudged along the road that had dwindled to a path with the horse limping slowly behind them. Liam rode but she knew he would refuse to let the injured one go. Times were not good for Liam. As they crisscrossed the country they followed Lord Howell but were always two steps behind him. In the meantime Liam was having difficulty funding their chase, the purchase of the second horse had all but depleted his coin. He had foolishly dismissed his men a few days before as well, paying them the last of the coin he could afford.

  Keri stumbled and nearly fell, looking about her. Had she lost the path entirely? Peering ahead she saw the castle looming from out of the gray mist. She breathed a sigh of relief for it was shelter and they could warm themselves by a fire. She would worry what came after that, as it came.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Damien saw Garrick enter the small tavern he stopped them at. The room seemed to grow colder with his presence. He watched him scan the room before his eyes came to rest on the group of men gathered on the far side of the room. They had entered some time ago and were now bartering for the three girls they had dragged in behind them. All three looked to be no more than 12 and they all appeared to be terrified. The second was being led away after apparently being sold, as the one before her, to the two burley men who picked the girl up and carried her toward the rooms upstairs with great haste. The entire affair sickened Damien but he watched Garrick make a beeline for the group and the last remaining girl.

  He spoke then argued with the men before Garrick presented the coin and purchased the girl. She tried to shrink back when he reached for her but he would have none of it. With lightning speed her grabbed her hand and pulled her from the table while she tried to dig in her feet. Halfway across the room as Garrick made his way toward the doors he stopped and pulled her against him, bending down he spoke in her ear. She glanced up at him then followed obediently behind him. Had he threatened to beat her or kill her if she did not submit to him?

  Slowly Damien rose from his seat and followed them out the door. All the way down the narrow street to an alley. Damien stepped into the shadows to watch the couple as Garrick pulled the girl to a rough halt as he searched the area with the keen eye of a warrior. Should he intervene and save the girl? He knew Garrick had a fondness for whores but he did not think it extended to the purchase of young girls but nothing the man did surprised him.

  Garrick walked a few more steps to the back of the alley and knocked lightly on the little door there. Hesitantly the door opened and woman’s pale face peeked out before the door was flung open and the woman dove for the young girl and embraced her, the words of both females were lost in great racking sobs. Garrick looked on as if he were bored with the entire affair. Finally the woman wiped the tears from her eyes and sent the girl inside before she turned to face Garrick. The woman was stunningly beautiful with strawberry blond hair that fell in gentle curls down to her waist. Her body was full of lush curves and her height gave her a look of an Amazon warrior.

  “I have given your daughter back to you,” Garrick’s voice carried to him.

  “So you have,” the woman said with the sound of reluctance in her voice. Garrick did not reply but seemed to be waiting. The woman took half a step backward and brought a shaking hand to the clasp of the simple dress. One shoulder was bared then the top of one breast. Garrick took two steps toward her but she shrank away again.

  Garrick scowled but did not pursue. “I have purchased you,” he stated, his voice stated clearly she had no room to argue.

  “I am not a whore,” the woman said indignantly.

  “No, that is why I have made this deal and brought you your daughter. I wish to lay with a woman like you instead of another whore.”

  The woman franticly shook her head. “I will not.”

  Garrick rushed forward and seized her by her bare shoulders. “You gave me your word you would lay with me if I freed your daughter.”

  The woman continued shaking her head, “I cannot.”

  With a growl of frustration he thrust the woman roughly away then turned and stalked from the alley, passing within an arm’s length of Damien the angry scowl on Garrick’s face showed him the other man was filled with an anger that left him careless. Damien let him go, baffled that the man would do such a thing for the woman, let alone let her go back on her word for payment without harming her. Perhaps there was hope for the situation without him having to take the life of one of his own men. Just the thought left him cold and wondering how twisted a mess his loyalties were becoming.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  An endless week passed with Garrick’s search closing in on the fleeing woman. He gathered the best information from the dregs of society where he went for his dark needs. It was a world so far beneath Damien as a man of noble birth he had never imagined it existed. A world so full of misery and poverty life meant nothing and could be bought and sold as easily as a broken down horse. It was among those people Keri was being hidden. Each breath he took was filled with worry for the small little fighter he knew her to be and he prayed for her safety with each dawn of a new day and many moments in between until he would lay his head down to sleep restless sleeps. Garrick had a way of connecting with those people that gained him information Damien could not and so he relied on the news the man shared as they wove back and forth across the countryside.

  Dark walls loomed out of the dusk of night. The dark clouds hanging over it made the gray walls foreboding as the three weary travelers passed under the gate.

  Damien and Cyrille searched the battlements, the guardhouse but there was no sign that this fortress was guarded. An uneasy feeling settled on them. Two women stood alone in the courtyard and it was to these Garrick rode, seeming unaware of the uneasiness being felt by his two companions. Damien and Cyrille halted a few paces behind him.

  The two women were facing the gate when they rode in. It appeared as if they expected them and had come to greet them. Damien cast another weary glance up at the battlements then to the left and right of himself. He would wager there weren’t many inhabitants of the keep. It could have housed many at one time but now the general appearance led him to believe the inhabitants were few.

  “Good ladies, might you tell me where your lord and lady are. My companions and I are hoping for shelter tonight, it appears as if a storm is hard on our tails.” Damien heard a different note in his voice. Garrick was a man used to taking and fighting, not gently reques
ting.

  “The lady Sylva has sent us to bid you stay. She also sends her regrets that you must attend to your own horses in the stable,” the one woman said indicating the direction they should go to find such a dwelling. “Many have already sought their homes with the storm coming. Once you have your horses tended she will meet you in the hall.”

  “Your lady is most kind,” Garrick replied in his lifeless tone. They rode in silence to the livery and all the way inside. The only other occupants in the large stable were two other horses. Damien watched Garrick stop at both stalls giving both horses a once over before continuing on. The silence blanketed the stable as they tended their horses, finding food and water before it was finally lifted.

  “Does it seem strange to you that there are no guards on the walls?” Damien finally inquired of Garrick. He shrugged turning to look at the two brothers standing behind him.

  “Perhaps they cannot afford many guards.”

  “What was your interest in those horses?” Damien asked before he could turn away.

  The look that flashed in his eyes made it apparent there was something about the horses he was hiding. “What do you mean?” the man asked becoming defensive.

  Damien pointed a frustrated hand toward the pair. “You gave them a good once over as we entered. Care to tell me their importance?”

  For a moment he did not think the questions would be enough to get answers but finally Garrick spoke. “Those horses belong to the Lord of Flamborough.”

  “What’s going on?” Damien demanded of his man. “I killed the Lord of Flamborough.”

  “You killed the Lord but his son is still very much alive.”

  “His son?”

  “Liam Donalds.”

  The ground spun beneath his feet. Liam and Alec were Flamborough’s sons and he had the sinking feeling he had more to do with the peril Keri was in than he had thought. In an ironic twist of fate Damien had killed Liam’s father and taken his inheritance. The man had played him well and Damien felt the fool for letting the man into Haltwhistle. Close to Keri. The poor woman was stuck in the middle of this mess. She no more welcomed the marriage with Bryson than she asked for him to come to Langley after destroying Flamborough. He just played into Liam’s vendetta that had begun with Keri’s family. He felt rooted to the spot and time seemed to tick by so slowly he wanted to scream.