“Whatever.” She shrugged and let him take her hand. “Though it’s hardly necessary.”
When his warm, rough fingers closed around her hand, the swarm of butterflies in her stomach went crazy. This was getting ridiculous. Tony had never affected her in this way. Not even at the start of their rocky relationship.
As they walked on, she was very glad of Vadim’s hand. The steep ascent didn’t let up for a moment. For the hundredth time that day, she wished she’d worn her trousers and sturdy walking boots, rather than a stupid, impractical dress.
Her thigh muscles burned. Uphill walking had never been her strong point. But the pain was the price she paid for reaching the high places she loved.
Finally, the agony ended.
Vadim guided her to a large boulder at the top of the hill and let go of her hand. They sat together in silence, looking at the view.
Before her lay the most amazing vista. The jagged peaks of a mountain range glittered white in the winter sunshine, set against a backdrop of the bluest sky she’d ever seen. The mountains dominated everything. She felt as if she could simply reach out and touch them.
She managed to speak, finally putting her appreciation into words. “Wow!”
Nothing interrupted the majestic panorama. Shielding her eyes, she looked up into the sky. No aeroplanes and not a trace of a vapor trail anywhere. Did you really expect to see any?
When she looked down into the valley, she couldn’t see Darumvale, but the fields outside the village were clearly visible. They looked like patchy gray postage stamps from this vantage point of eagles. She made out the road she’d travelled on the previous day, following its course for as far as she could. If she’d walked long enough, she’d have eventually reached a lake. Its waters flashed from far away with a diamond-like brilliance.
“How far away is that lake?” she asked, suddenly aware of Vadim staring at her.
“Five leagues,” he replied gruffly. “It is the main water supply of Edgeway.”
Really? She screwed up her eyes and peered harder. That’s about…fifteen miles, I think. There was no sign of the town.
“Put it out of your mind,” Vadim said curtly. “You are not going to Edgeway.”
She tutted, scowling into the sun as she looked at him. “There you go again. Will you please stop trying to command me?”
“I would if your decisions were rational, not foolish whims of fancy. You know little about our world, Martha—”
“Only because you won’t tell me anything. I’m not allowed to discuss it with anyone else, am I?” She glared at him. “God! It’s like living with a member of the Secret Service sometimes. What is your problem?”
“It is…complicated.” He looked towards the horizon and treated Martha to the sight of his attractive profile. His dark hair billowed about his face. At that moment she was too cross to care how handsome he looked.
“I’m sure it’s very complicated.” With effort, she remained calm. “But unless you start dishing out some information, I’ll be going to Edgeway whether you like it or not. So, what’s it to be?”
Vadim was silent for so long, she began to think he’d forgotten she was there. He can take all the time he wants. Forge laid his head on her lap, wanting to be stroked. Martha ran his silken ears through her fingers. I’ll sit here all day if I have to.
“This land once knew peace,” Vadim said at last. His voice was so low, she strained to hear him. “Real peace. Her rulers were just, and the people were content. Life was a little ordinary, but it was safe. For the most part, we were happy with our lot. The fields and barns were always full of food, and our children never knew hunger.” A shadow of bitterness crossed his face. He stared at the glorious view, but Martha knew he wasn’t seeing it. “Why do we never appreciate the value of anything until it is taken from us?”
“What happened?” she asked gently, when he lapsed into silence again.
“The king was murdered, and a usurper stepped up to claim the throne. The old king had no children, you see. His queen died young, and he had not the heart to take another one.” Vadim sighed. “It was a time of great change and turmoil for us all.
“The new king was an upstart, but a powerful one. He had few friends amongst the existing nobles, so he set about ‘cleaning house’. He deposed the rebel lords—a sentence of banishment was considered very good fortune back then—and promoted his allies to positions of power.
“A few of the old families managed to hang on to their lands by swearing fealty to the new monarch, but these instances were rare. The king did not feel safe, and he wanted his own people about him. In the beginning, it was only the noble houses that fought against the king. They wanted to preserve the lands that had always been theirs. Eventually, the fighting spread further. Ordinary men were forced to pick a side and fight, even spilling the blood of their own kin at need. Can you imagine such a thing, Martha?”
“A civil war.” Feeling cold, she huddled deeper within her cloak and cuddled Forge against her. The dog licked her hand as though he sensed his mistress’s disquiet.
“You have experienced this in your own world?”
When Vadim turned to look at her, she was shocked. Within the space of a few minutes he had changed, and not for the better. His eyes were black and empty-looking, almost as if he’d lost his soul. A death-like pallor robbed his face of color
“Not first hand, thank God,” she muttered. School history lessons didn’t count.
“You should be grateful. War is always a terrible thing but this was…” He shook his head and drew his hand over his eyes.
Martha’s heart ached for him. No wonder he was so reluctant to discuss his past with her. She would have liked to hold his hand, but something in his manner prevented her from doing so.
“I was only a boy at the time,” he continued speaking in a flat and empty voice, “but I remember everything so clearly.” He looked away into the distance again. “There was a young man back then, a minor cousin of the new king. His engagements took him away from his estate, traveling his new lands and visiting the people under his rule. By some misfortune, he happened across my sister Lissa when she was visiting friends in the next village.”
Vadim sighed and a tiny smile curved his lips as he spoke of her. “All the local boys wanted to marry Lissa, and with just cause. Her beauty glowed from the inside out. I loved her. She never seemed to mind having an irritating younger brother who trailed her everywhere. I was there, the day she met Godric.”
Martha’s eyes widened. “The Evil Earl?”
“The very same. But he wasn’t an earl, not back then.” Absently, Vadim patted at his pockets, seeking the comfort of his pipe.
“You left it on the mantelpiece,” Martha said, wishing she’d brought it for him. This wasn’t going to be a happy tale, she knew.
“So I did.” He stopped frisking himself and continued with his story. “The moment they laid eyes on one another across the market place, it was as if something came to life within each them. Although I was young, even I could see it. An acquaintance introduced them, and from then on Godric was a frequent visitor in my father’s house. Not that the old man liked him. There was something beneath his civil veneer that always troubled Father. But he could not afford to offend the king’s cousin, you see?”
She did. What an awful situation to be in.
“As for myself, I hero worshipped Godric. I was at that impressionable age where a good horse, fine clothes, and a shiny sword were sufficient proof of someone’s good character. How brutally my hero was to betray me.”
Martha watched a tic pulsing in his jaw, unable to look away.
“I shall not go into the specifics of their affair; it grieves me too deeply to dwell upon it. All you need to know is Lissa became pregnant with Godric’s child. In a rage, my father finally banned her from seeing her lover, but it was all much too late. Of course, he should have put a stop to their affair long before, but fear of the consequences always held h
im back. As it turned out, delaying his decision proved worse. To give him his due, Godric proposed marriage, but my father would not hear of it. He had heard enough accounts of his character by then to be violently opposed to the match. Godric’s handsome face concealed wicked cruelty.”
Vadim drew a shuddering breath. “Late one night, he returned with a troop of soldiers. He broke into the house and took my sister by force. Once she had ridden away under escort, he directed the remainder of his men to deal with the rest of the household.”
Martha’s stomach lurched.
“No one was spared. Godric cut my parents down in front of me, and I-I could only watch them die. I was too petrified to hide or to help—”
“Oh, Vadim!” Martha clasped his hand tight, her eyes full of tears. She didn’t want to hear any more. But Vadim continued speaking as if she hadn’t interrupted him, his bitter words spilling out like poison.
“I can still see their blood, pooling about my boots. But at least their end was swift when it came.” Vadim paused to clear his throat. “Godric laughed when he saw me standing there, trembling in the shadows. He said, because he liked me, I had a choice. I could meet death in the same way as my parents, or I could attempt to outrun his arrow.” His lips curved into a bleak smile. “You can guess what I chose, I think.”
Some choice, Martha thought. The image of a pale-faced boy appeared in her mind, alone and petrified before such wickedness.
“When Godric picked up his bow, life returned to my frozen limbs. I ran, but I was barely halfway across the street before his arrow brought me down like a deer. I cannot recall much else after that.”
Vadim raked back his hair with one-handed, impatiently pushing it away as the wind billowed it about his face. “I remember being rolled onto my side—the movement of the arrow in my back must have roused me—and I saw him looking down at me. He thought I was dead and left me where I fell. Strangely, I felt no pain. The last thing I remember were the screams of the women as his men went on the rampage.” He scowled. “Then everything faded away into blackness. It was Seth who eventually found me, bleeding out onto the street.”
“Seth?” Martha sat up a little straighter.
“He was my father’s…friend.”
His momentary slip did not escape her. What had he been about to say? She had no time to dwell on it as Vadim went on speaking, almost as if now that he had begun he couldn’t stop.
“He and Sylvie saved my life. They hid me until I was well enough to travel, and took me away to Darumvale. It has been my home ever since. They raised me alongside their son, treating me as their own child. Now you cannot wonder why I regard them so highly. Seth and Sylvie are much more than friends. They are my family too.”
Martha nodded. “I imagine they put themselves at great risk when they took you in.”
“Indeed they did.” Suddenly, Vadim roused himself, looking about him as if he’d just woken from a long sleep. “Let us walk a little further,” he said. “There is something I want to show you.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
They walked along a high ridge that boasted even more spectacular views, but they were wasted on Martha. She hadn’t the heart for them now. Trudging along in silence, her mind whirling with terrible images, she cast frequent glances at Vadim. His mouth was set in a thin line, and his features were twisted into a grim mask. She could only wonder how he’d managed to stay sane.
“Stop it, Martha.” He looked over, probably feeling her eyes boring into him. “I do not need your pity.”
“No. What you need is a bloody big gun to shoot that bastard with,” she declared. “I wish you’d told me all this before I ran into him that day.”
Vadim chuckled, the sound of it chasing the shadows from his face. He was himself again. “What would you have done? Shot him with your gun—whatever that might be?”
“Maybe,” she replied hotly. Not that she really could kill someone, no matter how evil they were. But it felt good to say so.
Still laughing, Vadim took her arm, leading her off the main ridge and onto a narrow path that lead to another smaller crest. There wasn’t much snow here. The large gray mountain in front of them seemed to have acted as a snow-break of sorts. Even so, there was still enough snow on its summit to make her twitchy.
“Won’t we get avalanched?” She chewed the inside of her mouth.
“Not today,” he replied. “Do you imagine I would have brought you here if it was unsafe?”
“That all depends on how much you want to be rid of me. Will you be quiet, Forge?” The dog was up ahead, as usual, barking loudly, apparently irritated by their slow progress. “We’re coming. Leave the mountain in peace, why don’t you?”
Vadim pulled her to a standstill, a frown creasing his brow. “Why would I want to be rid of you? The only reason I told you my story was to prevent you from leaving…Darumvale.”
Darumvale? Her heart skipped a beat. For a second there, she’d thought he was going to say something else. Get your eyes back on the ball, Bigalow. Putting words into Vadim’s mouth wasn’t a good idea. So she said, “Okay, let’s talk about that. I’m still not clear why you think me leaving is such a bad idea.”
“I have not yet finished my tale, m’lady,” he replied with a dark look. “You will understand when you have heard the whole of it.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear any more about Vadim’s past. But it was too late now.
Walking in single file, Martha followed Vadim along the ridge. As it headed closer to the mountain, it formed a natural bridge between the looming rock face and the sloping foothills they’d just left. Where was he taking her? She was hardly dressed for altitude.
Forge disappeared into a cave up ahead, and they followed him inside.
The passageway echoed with the sounds of their footfalls and the constant drip-dripping of water. After the brightness of outside, the innards of the mountain were very dim indeed. The air was so frigid it hurt to breathe. Clutching the back of Vadim’s cloak, she trailed her other hand against the wall of the passage. It felt like ice: cold and smooth, with a slightly slimy feel.
“Almost there.” Vadim’s voice bounced eerily off the walls of the passageway. “Be careful,” he said, taking her hand. “The path becomes a little steeper here.”
The going became much more challenging. Martha’s feet constantly slid from beneath her. The soles of her leather boots were no match for such a slippery floor. On one occasion, she almost pulled Vadim down with her as she fell, but he managed to right them both at the last minute.
“I shall have to put some nails in your boots. I should have thought of it before.”
“Crampons might be more appropriate. Shit!” She giggled as her feet slid from under her again, and clung to Vadim’s arm. “What is this stuff—ice?”
“Yes.”
Somewhere ahead in the darkness, she could hear Forge scrabbling frantically to find purchase on the treacherous floor. At least she wasn’t the only one having trouble. Just then, a blast of arctic air struck her. She gasped, her lungs recoiled from inhaling too deeply. It was like walking into a freezer on a hot summer’s day. The hairs on her arms stood up on end. Peering around the dark shape of Vadim’s body, she saw that the darkness had lessened. Now she could see the walls of the passageway, glowing white in the distance.
When they stepped out of the tunnel, Martha gasped. They were inside a vast cavern.
“Oh. My. God!” The barrage of natural wonders bombarding her eyes flooded her mind with superlatives.
The roof soared above them—easily over two-hundred feet high—brilliant sunshine flooding in through a large hole at its centre, illuminating the heavenly space with its dazzling rays. The wet walls twinkled as if they were carved from diamonds, bathing everything in with an almost unearthly light. If Heaven had a cathedral, this would be it. Only the singing of an angelic host was missing.
But the centerpiece of this magical grotto was the colossal waterfall that spanne
d the cavern from roof to floor like a fantastic ice sculpture. Its turbulent waters lay silent, frozen in mid-flow, as if the rules of gravity didn’t exist. A brief snapshot of a moment in time.
The ice creaked and groaned as if a living, breathing creature struggled for freedom from beneath its frozen shackles.
At length, Vadim broke the silence. “Do you like it?” He was still holding her hand, his breath forming clouds in the frigid air.
Like it? She shook her head, looking into the dark warmth of his eyes. ‘Like’ was much too minuscule to describe the sight before her. “I’ve never seen anything so…beautiful in all my life,” she whispered, reluctant to taint this heavenly place with a voice that could never do it justice. “Thank you so much for bringing me here. It’s the nicest thing anyone…” She couldn’t go on. Eyes burning, she looked away. For some reason, she felt perilously close to tears.
Vadim put an arm about her and pulled her close, planting a kiss on top of her head. The sensation of his lips moving against her hair made her shiver, but she blamed it on the sub-zero temperature.
“We shall return in the summer,” he said, “when the waters are free. ‘Tis quite a different place then, but equally lovely.”
They stood in silence for a few minutes more, Martha shuffling her feet. The cold penetrated the soles of her boots, numbing her toes. Shivering, she huddled deeper beneath Vadim’s arm, seeking his warmth.
He must have sensed her discomfort. Calling to Forge, who was snuffling at the base of the waterfall like a pig hunting for truffles, by common consent, they departed.
It was a relief to be outside. Sitting on a flat rock, Martha closed her eyes and tilted her face towards the sun, enjoying the warmth of its gentle rays. Her mind reeled with all the things she’d seen and heard today. And it wasn’t over yet.
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