In My Wild Dream

by Sasha Lord

  Someone is coming!

  Kassandra paused and peered ahead. A hooded person was stalking through the forest, a knife clasped in his hand. This was no shadowy figure, but someone real, someone who intended to kill Cadedryn. The threat was no longer ephemeral . . . It was leaping from her dream and preparing to strike. “Danger!” Kassandra screamed.

  Cadedryn frowned and looked around, oblivious to the warning. Unarmed, he appeared to be searching for something. Behind him, the other Kassandra seemed equally unaware. Her red tresses flowed down her back in a rippling cascade and she held a bouquet of flowers in her left hand.

  “Take heed!” Kassandra screamed as she saw a second hooded figure approach from the other side of the meadow. It was no longer clear whether it was a man or a woman, nor which of the two unsuspecting people was the intended victim. Suddenly there were dozens of hooded figures, and Kassandra was forced to crouch down to avoid attracting their attention. “There is danger everywhere,” she cried in distress. “Everywhere! Everywhere! It is coming closer. It is coming now!”

  Crash, crash!

  A castle loomed in the distance, but dense fog blanketed the ground around it. Armed men on horseback thundered closer, their swords held high. One swung at Cadedryn’s neck, narrowly missing him.

  Kassandra screamed.

  Crash, crash, crash. “Kassandra! Wake up!”

  Kassandra’s eyes snapped open.

  “Kassandra! You are dreaming!”

  Her gaze swung to the closed door and she recognized Kalial’s frantic voice. Triu-cair cowered at the end of the bed, his red-rimmed eyes flicking back and forth in extreme agitation.

  “I’m awake,” Kassandra whispered. “It was a dream.”

  “Kassandra! Open the door!”

  “I’m awake,” she called out, louder this time.

  “Thank the saints. Now open the door and let me in. You were screaming so loudly, I heard you in my room.”

  Kassandra swung out of bed and padded to the door. As soon as she opened it, Kalial swept her up in a hug. “You poor thing. I had hoped that these dreams would fade if you found the man you sought, but it appears that they are becoming more powerful. What happened? What is going to happen?”

  Kassandra felt tears fall from her eyes and she started to shake. “It was terrible,” she whimpered. “So much evil . . . so much vengeance.”

  “Against whom? Against you?”

  “No . . .” She frowned as she remembered her other self in the dream. “Maybe. I don’t think so.” Her head jerked up. “Cadedryn! He is in danger! They are going to kill him.”

  “Where is he? If the danger is imminent, you must tell him.”

  Kassandra leapt from the bed and began yanking on her clothes. “He is traveling to a castle . . . a huge castle, nearly twice as large as yours . . . It must be his castle.”

  “Did he tell you he was leaving?”

  “No, but I know it. Kalial, my sister, I must go to him. I must save him.”

  “But—”

  Kassandra pulled on her cape. “This is what I was meant to do. Don’t worry about me. I will be safe. Tell Ronin that I went back to the forest, or anything you must so that he does not blame you for letting me go.”

  “You must go now? When will you be back?”

  Kassandra looked at her sister. “I don’t know when I will return, but I do know that I have not succeeded in saving him. He will die tonight. I can sense it.”

  Kalial clasped her hands on either side of Kassandra’s frightened face. “Very well. Go to him. Save your man.”

  Chapter 18

  Wearing peasant garb and balancing Triu-cair on her shoulder, Kassandra snuck through the castle and entered the dark stable. Several horses shuffled their feet and one kicked his stall as Kassandra raced down the aisle toward where Cadedryn kept his favorite stallion. She shuddered as she beheld the empty stall. He had done as she had suspected. He had left the castle.

  Her anxiety soared.

  Kassandra placed Triu-cair on the ground and he scampered to a pile of rags Cadedryn had used to wipe down his horse. The weasel sniffed the rags, then stood up on his hind legs.

  Fresh. He left not long ago, he told her.

  “Follow them,” Kassandra instructed as she led Briana out of another stall farther down the aisle. Slipping only a bridle over her head, Kassandra gripped the horse’s mane and swung herself astride.

  Triu-cair scurried out of the building and began racing through the courtyard as Kassandra rode close behind. He kept his nose near the ground, well able to track Cadedryn’s unique scent even in the dark.

  Soon they cleared the castle courtyard and entered the surrounding forest. Kassandra glanced back, her heart pounding. The moon was shadowed behind clouds and a cold breeze sent shivering chills up and down her arms.

  Someone is following us, Triu-cair said as he paused and peered through the dark.

  “No. I made sure we were not seen,” Kassandra hissed. “Besides, ’tis Cadedryn who is in danger, not us.” She clucked for Briana to move forward, and after a nervous sidestep, the mare complied. Triu-cair resumed sniffing the ground, and they soon found themselves on a small narrow road that wound its way northward toward the Highlands.

  A thin trail of mist snaked through the trees. Kassandra shivered and drew her cloak closer. “I am not dreaming,” she muttered, but she rubbed her eyes. The moon glowed through a break in the clouds, filtering through the trees with an eerie blue light.

  Her breath caught and she began to feel light-headed. Everything was so familiar . . . She felt as if she had been here before. “Stop,” she said aloud to herself. “I have ridden alone at night many times. There is nothing to fear. Once I reach Cadedryn, I will warn him and all will be well.” She pushed her cape off her shoulders and shook her red curls free, comforted by the familiar cloak of her own hair.

  A shadowy motion to her right made her gasp and she hauled on the mare’s reins, causing the hapless creature to skid to a stop. “Who goes there?” she called out as she stared intently at the shadow. A light breeze whistled through the trees, and the shadows shifted again, revealing a spindly bush waving back and forth in the wind.

  Kassandra let out her breath and covered her mouth with her hand. “This is a forest like any other,” she whispered to herself. “Pretend it is Loch Nidean.”

  A clang of sword against sword echoed through the forest.

  Kassandra screamed, then pummeled her mare’s sides and sent her galloping forward. “Cadedryn!”

  The clash of steel came again and again, faster and faster as the combatants struggled for supremacy. Kassandra burst around a bend in the road and beheld Cadedryn backed against a boulder by three hooded attackers.

  Her abrupt arrival caused all to pause and stare at her in shocked surprise.

  “Run, Kaitlynn!” Cadedryn shouted as he saw her tresses glowing in the moonlight, but Kassandra ignored him, leapt from her mare and raced forward. His shock escalated as he recognized Lady Kassandra’s mare. “Run!” he bellowed.

  Suddenly one of the attackers spun toward her and swung, coming within inches of delivering a lethal blow to her midsection.

  Kassandra snatched a handful of dirt from the ground and flung it in her attacker’s face, then rapidly sidestepped his flailing arms while he howled with pain as sand and debris blinded him.

  She grabbed the man’s sword and heaved it into the bushes, then spun back to face the others.

  Cadedryn was pulling his sword from another man, who fell to his knees while clutching the gaping wound in his belly. For a brief moment, Kassandra smiled, thinking that victory was theirs, when suddenly Cadedryn gasped and stepped backward, his hand gripping a blade protruding from his chest.

  He opened his mouth, but nothing came forth. He took several short gasps, then fell back against the boulder. He stared at her stunned face and a flicker of regret whispered across his eyes; then he slumped to the ground and fell to his side, his eyes closed
against the excruciating pain.

  Kassandra dashed past the remaining attacker, oblivious to the risk of her own safety, and fell to her knees next to Cadedryn. She gripped his shoulders and shook him. “No!” she screamed. “I warned you! I warned you that they would come after you! How could this happen?” She twisted and looked up at the man who had thrown the dirk. “Why? Why do you seek to harm him?”

  The hooded attacker stepped forward and pressed his sword against her chest. “You ruined everything,” he accused. “You, too, should die. I tried to warn you that day in the meadow, but you ignored my threat. Now you both will suffer the consequences of your stubbornness.”

  Triu-cair scrambled up the side of the boulder, then squealed from high above their heads.

  The man jerked back and peered around in alarm.

  Kassandra huddled against Cadedryn.

  Cadedryn gripped her shoulder, trying to rise, but she gently pushed him back. “Stay still,” she whispered.

  “Come,” the attacker commanded his men. “We must depart. Let the whore be found with his lifeless body. ’Twill make for fewer questions.”

  Her temper raged to life. She sprang up, her fingers curled into sharp weapons.

  The man kicked her, sending her smashing against the rock.

  He stood over her and laughed. “You can do nothing to stop me,” he gloated as he lifted his sword to deliver a final blow to Cadedryn’s groaning body.

  “Hurry!” one of the injured attackers cried. “I hear horses. Someone followed her.”

  The man paused with his blade lifted.

  Cadedryn again struggled to sit up, but collapsed against the ground.

  The injured man grabbed the leader and spun him around by the shoulder, then shoved him toward the horses. “We cannot be seen near the earl’s body. The whore is not worth our lives. We will be accused of murdering him and will see no mercy. Come. Let the man suffer a long death for your thrown blade sunk deep in his chest and he will not survive. We must ride!”

  The attacker nodded and cruelly kicked Cadedryn’s side, sending him rolling onto his back. He then picked up his wounded comrade and flung him over the saddle of one of the horses. With one final glance at the flame-haired woman and the wounded man, they galloped off, leaving Kassandra and Cadedryn alone in the road.

  Kassandra took several deep breaths and gripped a tree for support as her legs threatened to crumple. Triu-cair sprang from the boulder and scrambled over to Cadedryn.

  He still lives. Barely.

  “Blessed Mother Earth!” Kassandra cried as she yanked the engraved dirk from his chest and beheld the jagged wound. Seeing his pale brow, she cradled him against her bosom and stroked his once vibrant face with trembling fingers. She had to save him. It was her destiny.

  She looked up at the moon. “I call upon you, great spirits of the forest . . . Heal this man.” She pressed her palm flat against his wound, feeling his blood drench her hand. “ ’Tis not his time to leave you, Mother Earth,” she cried.

  Cadedryn groaned and his eyes flickered open. “Tigress . . . ride away . . . or you will be accused . . .” he whispered, his voice so faint she could hardly hear him. “Could be bandits . . . or worse.”

  Ignoring him, she lifted her free hand and swept the air over his head. “Great spirits of the sky,” she intoned, “Dagda needs your strength.”

  Wind whistled through the woods, tossing leaves and snapping twigs as it increased in strength and swirled around the couple.

  “Heal him!” Kassandra commanded. A piece of bark tumbled against her knees and Kassandra grasped it. She recognized it as bark from a willow tree. A healing tree. She held it against his wound, then ripped a strip of cloth from her skirts and tied it tightly around both the bark and his chest.

  Cadedryn squinted, trying to still his spinning world. “Kassandra? Is that you?”

  She touched her lips to his forehead. “Danu, mother of the gods, will take care of you. Rest and let her power infuse you.”

  Cadedryn touched her face in wonderment.

  Kassandra’s head snapped up as fear rushed up her spine. She heard a new set of horses thundering up the road. The wind died in an instant, leaving behind an unnatural stillness in which the horse’s hooves reverberated louder and louder, coming ever closer.

  Hurry! Triu-cair urged. We do not know if the riders are friend or foe!

  Kassandra laid Cadedryn down and ran around the boulder in search of his horse. She found the stallion standing just off the road, his saddlebags loaded and ready for travel.

  “Come! Come!” she coaxed and she pulled the horse forward. The stallion resisted, tossing his head. Kassandra snapped the reins. “I will take none of this. Come!” After one final head toss, the stallion relented and obediently followed her.

  After scrambling back to Cadedryn’s weakened body, she forced him to his feet. Placing one of his boots in the stirrup, she shoved until he managed to swing his other leg around and slumped atop his stallion. He swayed, barely conscious.

  They are only moments away. We have no time to spare! Triu-cair cried as he bounded up on her shoulder just before she leapt atop her mare’s back and grabbed the stallion’s reins.

  She nodded, then without a backward glance, she led Cadedryn’s horse out of the clearing and escaped into the mist-shrouded forest.

  He woke slowly, his senses coming to life one at a time. First he heard the crackling fire and the faint sounds of nighttime animals. After several moments, he could smell the smoke and burning wood as well as a pot of simmering meat-laden stew. Then he became aware of pain in his chest and the roughness of the saddle blanket beneath his head.

  He slowly opened his eyes.

  She sat across the fire from him, her red hair highlighted by the glowing embers. She was sleeping against a tree, her face relaxed in gentle repose. Her features were beautiful, even with the thin film of grime caused by her recent travails. His lovely tigress.

  The fire flickered low, casting her hair in shadow. He stared, trying to understand what his eyes were telling him. Not his tiger kitten. Lady Kassandra.

  He spotted her weasel perched on a low branch, also sleeping soundly. The camp was orderly, its location well chosen, the horses tethered near a small stream and the various foodstuffs strung high in the tree branches where foraging animals could not scavenge. How did Kassandra—or Kaitlynn—know so much about surviving in the wilderness?

  When his gaze returned to her, her eyes were open and she was looking back at him.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  She sat upright and picked up a length of coarse linen lying beside her. Without speaking, she drew it over her head, tucked her hair underneath and smoothed her features.

  Cadedryn felt his heart stop. “Lady Kassandra . . .” He struggled to sit up and glared at her. “Where is my tigress?”

  She pulled her scarf off and shook out her hair. “I am right here,” she replied, watching him warily.

  He glared at her, his anger rising. He had suspected . . . but had ignored his own senses, not believing that either one of them would deceive him. His breathing increased and blood rushed to his head. “How dare you,” he snarled as he struggled to take even breaths. “You deliberately tricked me. You played me for a fool. For what reason? I was falling in love with you.”

  “With me?” she taunted, then replaced her scarf and assumed a gentle expression. “Or me?” She yanked off the cloth and sprang to her feet, shaking her finger at him. “You played yourself! You were the one who could not see what was right before your eyes! You were the one unable to feel with your heart. I told you who I was. I told you I was your soul mate, yet you rejected me. You warned me about men”—she held her hand up to stop his interruption—“but I had hoped that you would prove your own words wrong. I had hoped you would reject my facade and see my true identity.”

  He tried to sit up, then gasped with pain and fell back. “You speak in twisted words. You play a game to trick m
e into loving you, then damn me for doing just that. What kind of warped plot have you created?”

  “If you had listened to me in the first place, none of this would have happened!” she shouted.

  “Listened to you? What? Do you mean about your dreams? For God’s sake, woman, you didn’t know me. We were strangers to each other! You have the audacity to accuse me of not recognizing you, but you don’t understand the first thing about love and devotion!”

  “Well, I don’t love you anymore!”

  “And I don’t love you!”

  They glared at each other, the flames between them burning hotter than the fire flickering at their feet. Kassandra wanted to pummel him with her bare hands and make him beg for forgiveness, while Cadedryn held his clenched fists at his sides so as not to grab her by the shoulders and shake her.

  “Is that final?” he growled.

  “Completely,” she snapped back.

  “Then why are you here? Why are we here?”

  “You were so pigheaded, you refused to see the danger. Without me, you would be dead.”

  “If you were a few steps closer, you would be dead,” he growled, then took several calming breaths. He felt a warm trickle of blood from his chest and he touched it, remembering his wound. He frowned, recalling something else. The wind. The moon. A sense of immense peace. A name tickled his mind . . . Dan . . . Danielle? No.

  “And I didn’t even like pretending to be your tigress,” Kassandra added, angry enough to try to hurt him, even if her words were not true.

  His gaze narrowed. “This was all for revenge, wasn’t it?” he accused.

  A superior smile spread across Kassandra’s face. “Not initially. It was an accident at first, but revenge did cross my thoughts. You swore that you could never love me, but then you found yourself panting after my skirts. I have a temper and I don’t let anyone beat me at anything. You crossed swords with me the first day we met and challenged me every day thereafter. You deserved everything you got.”

  His green eyes glittered with anger. Hurt and betrayal surged through him. She had toyed with his heart with callous disregard. He had spent nights in emotional turmoil just because he could not understand his attraction to two women and feeling inordinately guilty because he was beginning to care for both of them.