by Bekah Clark
When he came back, I shyly lifted one side of the quilt in invitation. His eyes filled with surprise…and then, hot desire. He walked up to me and stared down into my eyes for a long moment before he gently guided my hand to wrap back around myself. Sitting next to me outside of the blanket, he slipped an arm around me and held me close. “Go to sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Not this night. It’s going to get cold. I’m not going to put more wood on the fire. So stay close.”
Burrowing into his side, I rested my head on his shoulder. His lips brushed my brow, and I sighed in contentment. I slipped one hand free of the quilt and softly laid it against his chest, over his heart. He shuddered once, his heart thundered, and he drew me tighter to him. Softly, he started singing to me the same tune. The words were the same, but this included a final verse about the warrior being lost without his True Mate and how he was not whole until he returned to her. I felt my whole body melt into his side, and I knew that wherever he was, I was safe.
“Zianya,” a husky voice whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes and it was dark. The fire was nothing but dim coals. If it wasn’t for the moon, I would not have been able to see at all. I turned my gaze up to find Torric looking out into the night, his face hard. Something was definitely wrong. “Lass, when I tell you, I want you to run.”
I whispered back, “I’ll not leave you.”
Crouching next to me, he said, “Lass, I can defend you better if you go hide. Here, take this.”
He pressed a sheathed blade into my hand. I stared at him, fear prickling my insides. I had never used a dagger before. “What do you expect me to do with this?”
“Hopefully nothing. It’ll make me feel better if you have it.”
Clutching it to my chest, a tremble shuddered through me. Tears filled my eyes as I rose. He was gathering his weapons, and I leaned down and softly kissed his brow. Glancing up at me, he nodded and indicated which way to go with his eyes. I smiled down at him, my heart full. “Come back to me, my warrior.”
With that, I fled. Running wildly into the woods, I begged the Spirits to protect me from whoever it was out there. Darkness enveloped me. I went to ground and turned to watch the camp. In the dim moonlight, Torric was standing with his sword at the ready. My heart fluttered furiously within my chest until I thought it would fly from me.
As I watched, I saw three men walk in to the camp. Two were tall with dark hair, one was shorter with blond hair.
“What do you want?” Torric asked, almost sounding bored.
The shorter man’s voice was gruff and made me shiver as anxiousness coldly settled in my heart. “Where’s the little witch in need of a burning you were riding with?”
“We parted ways. What do you want?” Torric responded, his voice steady, giving away nothing.
The blond man grinned. “Whatever you might have.”
It happened so fast, I nearly missed it. Torric struck hard and fast, and then one of the two dark-haired men was down, blood soaking his chest before he fell. The other two sprang to attack, but there was an obvious difference in their skill. I didn’t know much about fighting, but I could see Torric’s intense training as he moved like a viper, dodging and parrying. They danced as my warrior deflected the blades of the two bandits. Suddenly, another bandit came into view. He was sneaking up behind, and I sensed he was going to attack Torric without warning.
Through the forest I crept while keeping my eye on the attacker. Torric slashed, rotated, sidestepped, and suddenly stabbed one of the men. He went down, and Torric focused on the last dark-haired man.
When I got to a certain point, I dashed out of the woods. The man sneaking up on Torric started to turn, but I jumped onto his back and plunged my blade through to his chest. Hot, wet blood covered my hand as the man went down. At the same time, I heard another thud. But it was like a dream, and I was transfixed. The need to heal rushed over me in a wave, taking all desire but one from me. The man looked up at me with wide blue eyes full of fear. Fear of death, fear of me. I took a deep breath and reached out. Before I knew it, a large arm hauled me away. “Don’t. Look away, lass.”
Mesmerized, my breath came in quick gasps. I stretched and strained as Torric dragged me into his warm chest. He let out a frustrated exhale and jerked me closer. Suddenly, I heard the sickening sound of metal pressing into flesh. The need to heal left me, turning around, I found Torric staring at me. He didn’t look happy.
“What do you think you were doing? You could’ve been hurt or killed!” His voice was gruff, angry—but fear did not touch me. I knew that this was because he was worried about me.
I wasn’t about to cower to this, however. Meeting his eyes I said, “I saw him sneaking up on you. I wasn’t about to stand by and let him kill you!”
Gritting his teeth, his voice was still harsh from the battle as he said, “I knew he was there, he wasn’t close enough to bother me.
“How was I to know that? You sent me out to run and hide. You wanted me to abandon you to an unknown fate, and I couldn’t do that!” Tears filled my eyes and his gaze softened. He released his sword and softly stroked my cheek. Tenderly, gently, he kissed me, and I melted into him. Warmth and safety filled my soul, and I pressed closer to him. Too quickly, his lips left mine, leaving me feeling bereft. He smiled before telling me to pack up because we needed to get out of there.
After I quickly went to clean my hands of the blood, I gathered our things. He dragged the bodies deeper into the brush. Once the boxes were full, he set about getting them onto the packhorse. Then he lifted me up onto our horse and we set out. As we rode, the realization that I had helped take a life filled me. Silent tears sprung forth and rolled down my cheeks as shame tore at my heart like the dagger I had used. Torric held me close, and I nuzzled my head back into him until I could cry no more and fell asleep in his arms.
Chapter Six
I woke to the sound of my stomach growling, and a rich, honeyed laugh brought flames to my cheeks. My eyes darted around; I found the day was bright, and we were on the main road, such as it was.
I could almost hear the grin in Torric’s voice. “Not much farther and we’ll stop to eat. But I want to keep going after. If those bandits had friends, I want to put as much distance as I can between us and them.”
With a nod of my head, I turned to watch the passing landscape. Over the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves, I could hear the gentle gurgling of the river to our right. There were flowers lining the left side of the trail, and I had the urge to gather and dry them for tea. The air was not overly hot, but clear. The wind gently cooled my skin, which was good, because heat from Torric’s tightly wrapped arm sunk into me.
Leaning against his chest, I slipped my arms around the one he had around my waist, and I clung to it. He started singing in my ear, and I felt a deep sense of peace fill me. In the past, what people had believed about me had never stopped me from standing up for myself when it was necessary. However, I had to admit that all of my life, I had been secretly nervous around people. I didn’t want to see the looks they gave me or hear them call me a witch when my back was turned. So I had tried to hide from my feelings, ignoring any hurt. Until this moment, I had fought to keep myself from realizing how unhappy I was back in Vella. Perhaps Vella was not my home. Perhaps it was just where I grew up.
Eventually, we found a spot. While Torric unburdened the horses, he said we weren’t going to set up a proper campsite. He did, however, get a fire going, and I got ready to help cook. Now that we had proper supplies, he wasn’t as worried I’d burn myself and was willing to let me help a bit more, which was nice. I figured he didn’t want to go hunting for us, so I made oatmeal from the small sack of oats we had. There were dried meats that we could eat later on the road if we got hungry again.
After we ate quietly, I quickly cleaned up the utensils and myself by the brook as he put the fire out. While I was waiting beside the horse, he came over to me and
smiled. There was a strange gleam in his eyes, and I wondered what he was up to.
Softly, I asked, “Aren’t you going to lift me up?” He grinned down at me before he held up a burgundy velvet satchel to me. I took it gently from him and raised my eyes. “What’s this?”
His eyes danced in excitement. “I bought it for you in the village. But then you were feeling terrible for a few days and I didn’t get around to it. Open it.”
My heart quickened as I opened the satchel. Reaching in, I pulled out a length of leather cord with a large pendant of deep blue stone lovingly carved into a hawk in midflight. It was beautiful, each feather carefully detailed. Tears sprang to my eyes. He drew me close and held me tightly to him as I burrowed into his chest and smiled.
“It isn’t much. When we get to Glane, I’ll be able to get you something proper.”
“Proper?” Confused, I leaned back and looked up into his eyes. He fell silent as he examined me, a little expectant. When I stared up at him, still confused, I could see him make a decision before he then whispered, “Let me put that on you.”
My cheeks went red as I let him drape the necklace around my throat. I’d never received a gift from a man before, and I felt a thrilling shiver through my heart. Turning to him, I got up onto my toes and kissed his lips once, softly. “Thank you.”
His eyes locked onto mine and he hauled me to him. Pressing his tender lips to mine, he drew me into a passionate embrace. I breathed him in and felt as if I were suddenly whole. Clinging to him, I trembled as he clutched my hips and yanked me closer. I melted into him, dizzy with desire. Then he drew away, our breaths coming in quick, heated gasps as he stared down at me. “I need to be careful with you.”
I laughed. “What if I don’t want you to be careful with me?”
He growled and I felt my eyes go wide as he roughly whispered, “Be careful what you say to me, little healer.”
With that, he positioned me in the saddle and swung up behind me. I sunk back into his warmth as we rode on. Drawing the pendant up to examine, my breath hitched just a bit. The artisanship was beautiful. I doubted Torric knew that a blue hawk was a protection charm, but it made me happy nonetheless.
The next few days were all roughly the same. For the most part, we rode with only short breaks for the horses and me. Torric was on constant guard, so we didn’t speak as much as usual. I was beginning to worry when, one day, he abruptly decided that we could camp the whole night. I stretched out as he unburdened the horses. “I think I’m going to go down to the river and bathe before we get our meal going.”
He froze and his eyes turned to me. I blushed under the fiery gaze and turned away before saying, “Don’t look at me like that.”
His lips twisted into a frown before he said, “I don’t want you going down there by yourself.”
I laughed. “I’m not going to take a full bath with you watching me!”
He grinned. “Now that would be a lovely sight, lass.”
“There’s no one around. I’ll be fine. Please?”
The grin left his face and for a long moment, Torric stared at me. Then he nodded. “Half an hour. If you’re not back by then, I’m coming for you.”
I felt my face light up. Dashing to him, I hugged him tightly. “Thank you! Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.”
Going to the boxes, I dug out the lavender soap, thankful he’d grabbed it with my other jars. There was a spring in my step as I made my way to the river. As I came upon the river’s bank, I noticed an inlet where the water had pooled. Deciding that was the best place for a bath, I strolled over. Before I stripped, I looked around to make sure I was alone. This would be the first real bath I’d had in a while. Prior to this, all I had been able to do was quickly clean up each day.
The water was cold but refreshing, and once I was in, I dove under and scrubbed my hair roughly. Honestly, I wondered why Torric was still flirting with me with my hair this gross. I rose from the water and sighed. Making my way to the bank, I grabbed the soap and proceeded to wash. The rich and sweet scent of lavender filled my senses and calmed my soul. Once I was clean, I soaked in the cold water. But it was too cold to stay long, and I feared Torric’s arrival.
Getting out, I dried off with a sheet Torric had used to protect my jars, which I figured I would dry by the fire. After dressing, I carefully braided my hair. It was peaceful, calm, and I reveled in these quiet moments. At the sound of twigs snapping, I rose and turned with a smile. “I thought I had a little more time. I’m sorry.”
Out of the woods strode two men. Fear shot through my heart like an arrow as I stared at them. One was rather short and wide, his gray hair thinning. The other man was what I would have once considered tall until I’d met Torric. He was strong, capable, with dark brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. The eyes of both sent a shiver straight to my bones.
“Um, hello. I’m Zianya.”
The older man growled. “Yer a witch.”
My heart fluttered wildly. “No! No, I’m not a witch, I’m a healer.”
On silent steps, the younger man was next to me, and he whispered, “A witch.”
Then darkness took me an instant later.
My head throbbed. I could hear scuffling near me. My mind flashed through the events that occurred before I blacked out. There had been two men. Both of who had called me a witch. I held my body very still and quiet, but my heart kicked up a rapid beat.
“I jus’ want ta ’ave a li’l fun. I don’ understand why yer arguin’, Kree.” The voice sounded young, like the last voice I heard before I’d blacked out.
“She’s a witch, boy. Ya know what happens ta men that bed witches?”
There was a huff of annoyance. “No, what?”
“Their parts rot off.” There was another annoyed huff of breath. “And soon after, they die a slow, miserable death.”
“Well, she said she’s a healer. A sexy little healer. Maybe she’s that healer ya hear about from Vella.”
The older man barked out a gruff laugh. “Don’ be fooled. She’d say anythin’ ta trick us. The moment we take our eyes off ’er, she’d’ve cursed us. ’Sides, what’d that healer from Vella be doin’ here?”
In that moment, I was glad that they didn’t realize the healer of Vella was missing. I had a feeling that if they knew that, the younger man would have raped me. Probably the older man, too. The trouble was, that only took the imminent threat of violation away. That didn’t mean there was no danger. It just wasn’t immediate.
“I don’ know. Guess yer right. She’s a witch. So what are we goin’ ta do?”
I quivered, and they paused. Kree said, “She’s awake. Ya may as well sit up and open yer eyes, witch.”
Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I did just that. Glancing around, I saw the two of them glowering at me. Kree, the older man, regarded me with a little fear and a lot of hatred. The younger still had a look of lust in his eyes. Lane had made me uncomfortable. But this man made my skin crawl from my body and hide in the woods.
A leather band bound my wrists and tethered me to a large tree. I drew my legs close to me and scrutinized the two men quietly. I had to figure out a way to survive until Torric could get me. There was no doubt in my mind that Torric would come for me. I just hoped he’d find me before it was too late.
Kree came over and stood above me for a long moment. His glare took my already frayed nerves and splintered them yet again. Malice dripped from every word as he said, “Ya’ll be pullin’ yer own weight as we go back ta the village.”
I nodded quietly, nervous about him attacking me if he decided I was talking back.
He glowered at me as he untethered me, yanking me roughly to my feet. He started to load me with wood. Finally, I cried out, “I won’t be able to keep up if you give me much more!”
He scowled at me and harrumphed. Tugging on the tether, he forced me to follow at a brutal pace. Soon, sweat was dripping down my back and the joys of that bath were far behind me. I wondered how To
rric would find me. The thought that I might die before he could pierced my heart and caused tears to form in my eyes. I blinked them back and forged on. For hours they set a grueling pace. My legs felt like great weights, and each step was torture—but I couldn’t stop, and I couldn’t show weakness. If I did, who knew what they would do? Each step took me farther away from Torric and lessened the chances of him finding me. My heart iced over and I almost cried out at the thought that suddenly flooded my mind: What if they killed him before they found me?
No. I couldn’t let myself think like that.
As the forest cleared, we came upon a village encased in a red wall. It struck me how much it looked like Vella, with the huge temple looming up from the center of the village. Jerking the tether, they headed toward the large red gate. If they dragged me inside, it lessened the chances of Torric being able to get me out. Dropping the wood, I started to struggle. Kree came over and backhanded me. Stars flashed before my eyes as I fell to the ground. He grabbed my arm roughly and shook me. “Stop strugglin’, witch!”
“I can’t,” I cried. “I can’t go in there! Please! Don’t you have a guardhouse or something out here? I can’t enter those red walls!”
Kree examined me for a long time. My eyes were wide with fright, genuine terror, which only helped my cause. I needed to stay outside this village to give Torric time to find me. Fortunately for me, whatever it was that Kree saw in my panicky eyes must have caused him to believe me because he nodded gruffly and stood up. “Tie the witch ta the post outside. We’ll leave her ’ere until it’s time.”
“Time for what?” I whispered shakily.
Kree turned to me, and his vile grin tore the breath from my lungs. I had been terrified of the young man, but what I saw in Kree’s eyes filled me with intense dread. “Why, for yer burning, witch.”
“NO!” I screamed and struggled as they dragged me to the post and tied my tether to it. The younger man stood watch while Kree talked to the guards. Soon one of the guards replaced him. The young man’s look as he left stilled my heart for a few moments. Knees buckling underneath me, I sank to my haunches and stared up at the guard. He scrutinized me with cold brown eyes that froze my blood as my heart leaped wildly to try to force the cold ice through my veins. Kree had talked me free of rape because of his superstition, but there was no telling what someone else might do.