Her back had begun to bother her again, and she found that she tired more easily. She spent much of her time in the garden, which was now in full bloom. After being so confined all winter, it felt good to be out in the warm sunshine and fresh air.
It seemed to Mara that everyone was watching her, waiting for some sign from her that the baby was coming. Hamez was the mother hen, Palomas the watchdog, and Tajarez, her husband, was the polite stranger.
Mara did not see how Tajarez watched her when he thought no one would see. His dark eyes burned with love and longing, but he kept his thoughts to himself. At night, in his big, lonely bed, he would let his thoughts dwell on Mara. He would ache for her. He did not know how to deal with their situation, and he, like everyone else, waited for his child to be born.
Mara was restless. She threw off the thin sheet that covered her body. The night was so warm. There was no air coming from the open window that led to the garden. She turned on her back, trying to find a comfortable position to lie in. Her baby had become a precious burden to her. She heard a noise coming from outside, and she drew in her breath when she saw the form of a man climbing through her window. She called out to Palomas as the man stood over her. At first she thought it was Tajarez, but her husband would not come through the window. Fear rendered her speechless as Palomas rapped on her door.
"Mara, are you well?"
The intruder clapped his hand over her mouth. Her eyes opened in horror as she recognized Anias. She struggled to be free, but he was much too strong for her. He quickly tied a gag about her mouth and then bound her arms.
"Mara, is something the matter?" Palomas asked, becoming concerned because she had not answered him.
Anias walked silently to the door and unsheathed his knife. Mara wanted to scream to warn Palomas, but the only sound that came from her was unintelligible. She watched in fear and helplessness as the door opened. The only thing she could think of was that Palomas would be killed, for he had no idea that Anias was waiting for him, hidden behind the door with his knife, ready to strike.
Mara felt hot tears in her eyes as she saw Anias raise his knife and plunge it into Palomas's chest. Palomas sank slowly to his knees, holding out his hand to Mara in a last futile attempt to reach her. Then he fell to the floor and did not move.
Mara screamed inside, but only a muffled sound penetrated the gag that bound her mouth.
Anias pulled her to her feet. "I had a hard time finding you, Mara, but it was worth the effort. Do not worry, it is hoped that Palomas will not die until he can tell my cousin who took his wife. It is too bad about the child. I would much have preferred to have you without the burden of his baby, but maybe this will be even better. My cousin will suffer twice as much knowing I have his wife and child." He untied her hands and threw her clothes at her. "Dress yourself, and make haste. I want to be far from here when Tajarez discovers what has happened."
Mara ran to Palomas and knelt down beside him. She could not speak, but she tried to stem the flow of blood that poured from his wound.
"Get up," Anias said in a menacing voice. "Dress quickly. I would not like to use force on you. Think of your unborn child and know I will not hesitate to carve it from your body if necessary."
Mara trembled in fear as she pulled her leather gown over her head and pushed her feet into her moccasins. She knew Anias would not hesitate to act on his threat. Frightened as she was, she was more frightened for Palomas, who was unconscious or maybe even dead.
Anias lifted her through the window, helped her down the steps and led her through the garden. He stopped suddenly and pulled her roughly behind some bushes.
Mara saw Hamez coming down the path in the opposite direction.
Anias held the point of his knife to her throat. "One sound from you and the king is a dead man," Anias threatened.
Mara nodded her head, fearful he would harm Hamez.
Hamez paused just a few feet from where they were hidden. Mara could feel her heart beating in her throat. Please, please, she prayed, do not let Anias hurt my father.
"Who is there?" Hamez called, and Mara felt Anias tense beside her. The hand that held the knife to her throat wavered.
Hamez pushed the bushes aside and Anias made a dive for him. Mara tried to grab onto Anias, but she was no match for his strength, and he pushed her roughly aside. As she fell to the ground, pain shot through her body. Trying to rise, she watched helplessly as Anias drove his knife into Hamez, not once, but several times.
Mara crawled over to Hamez and gathered him into her arms. Her tears fell on his face. His chest was covered in blood. She was making horrible sounds with the gag in her mouth.
"I am sorry, my daughter that I have not the strength to help you," Hamez said weakly, his eyes full of sorrow. His body twitched and his head fell forward.
Mara knew he was dead. Hamez, her father, so gentle, so wise, so loving, was dead, killed by the monster, Anias. She remembered what Sagas had told her. He had said it would be in her power to save the king, but he had been wrong. There had been nothing she could have done to save Hamez.
Mara laid Hamez's head down and rose to her feet. His death cried out for revenge. She threw herself against Anias with all her strength, scratching and clawing his hated face. She wanted to punish him, to kill him. Her hatred for him exploded like a flame out of control.
Anias raised his hand and struck her a heavy blow. She felt a thousand lights burst in her head, and then she felt nothing.
When Mara regained consciousness, she was on horseback. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened, then it all returned to her in a flash. Hamez and Palomas were dead, and she was being abducted by their murderer.
She felt Anias's arms around her, holding her like two iron bands. "Be silent," he warned. "We are coming to the cave. If you make one sound, it will be your last."
Mara felt darkness engulf her once more. Her last conscious thought was that she was going to die and so was her baby.
Tajarez had just drifted off to sleep when he heard a scratching sound on his bedroom door. He got up to investigate, and saw Palomas lying unconscious in the hallway. Bending down to examine him, he saw the blood that poured from the wound on his chest.
It quickly registered in his mind that if Palomas was wounded, then it must have happened while he was defending Mara. Tajarez ran to the stairs that followed the trail of blood left by Palomas. He jerked open Mara's door, calling out to her.
His worst fear had been that he would find her dead body, but she was not in her room. Tajarez ran back up the stairs to find Jeffery bending over Palomas.
"Sasha has gone for the medicine man. How is Mara?" Jeffery asked fearfully.
"She is not in her room," Tajarez said wildly. "Call out the guard, and inform my father. I am going to search the garden."
Tajarez ran down the stairs and out into the garden. It did not take him long to find the body of his father. Bending down, he examined Hamez. "No, my father, no!" he cried as he discovered that his father was dead.
Hamez's body was still warm, so his murderer was not long gone.
Tajarez lifted his father's body in his arms and carried him into the palace. His face was blank, not showing the wild grief that he was feeling.
The guard gathered around Tajarez, and when they saw their king was dead, they fell down on their knees before their new king.
Tajarez laid his father down on the doeskin couch and crossed his hands over his chest. Going down on his knees, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Great Father," he said aloud. "I cannot bear the grief." He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Stand up, my king," Sagas said.
Sagas saw the grief and sorrow in the face of Tajarez, and he knew he must remind him of his position. "The warriors await your command, my king. Your father's death must be avenged."
Tajarez rose slowly to his feet, pushing his feelings aside for the moment, knowing his father would expect him to act like the king he now was.
"Search the grounds," he commanded. "Search the city, find who has done this and bring him to me."
The leader of his father's guard stepped forward. "For whom do we search, my pri . . . my king?"
"You search for Anias," Sagas told him.
Tajarez turned to Sagas. Fear caused his heart to stop and the color to drain from his face. "Anias has Mara? He will kill her," Tajarez said, pushing past Sagas and running up the stairs. "Take me to Palomas," he told the guard who stood in the hall.
The guard quickly showed him into a room where the medicine man was attending Palomas.
"Is he conscious?" Tajarez asked, shoving the medicine man aside.
"He is not conscious, and the wound is very bad. I do not believe he will live.'1
"Call me if he regains consciousness." Tajarez left the room and returned to the anteroom. A crowd of people had surrounded his father's dead body, and they were weeping openly.
"Listen to me, my people,1' Tajarez said. "Anias has slain my father and taken my wife. I want the alarm sent out. Awaken every household. I want a search made of the Seven Cities. I want no one to return until he is found. Seal off the entrance to the valley so he cannot escape. Take care when you find him, for he has your queen. Bring Anias to me alive."
Tajarez paced the floor as he waited for the warriors to report back to him. If he had given in to his instinct, he would have gone in search of Anias himself. He felt fear in his heart that Anias would harm Mara, but he knew to give in to that fear would be foolhardy. He must now think clearly and react as his father would have.
His father's body had been removed, and Sagas appeared at his side.
"Is she dead, Sagas?" Tajarez asked, avoiding Sagas's eyes, afraid of his answer.
"Anias has not harmed her. I do not believe he will . . . yet."
"Stand beside me, Sagas. I will need all of your strength and wisdom, as my father did."
The old man put his hand on Tajarez's shoulder. "I know well what you are feeling at the moment. I am proud of you, as your father would have been. You are indeed his son."
Tajarez looked at the ceiling. "I am in such pain, Sagas. You once told me that the crown of the Seven Cities weighed heavily on a man. I feel the weight of that crown this night."
"It is so, my king, it is so. I share your grief for your father. It is a sad day for me. I did not want to outlive your father, my friend, though I always knew I would. But we must both put our grief aside for now, and think of the queen."
"Do you know where Anias has taken her?" Tajarez said, hoping Sagas would be able to help him find Mara.
"No, this is one time I can be of no help to you. The future is in the hands of the Great Father."
They were interrupted by one of the returning guards. The man went down on his knees and bowed his head. "Anias has left the valley, my king. He mortally wounded the guard, but the man told me before he died that it was Anias, and that he had the queen with him."
Tajarez was grim-faced. "Summon all of my warriors to me. We shall begin our search outside the valley."
A short time later, Tajarez rode at the head of his warriors. His heart was filled with dread. Would Anias hurt Mara? She could have his child at any time. Would Anias, in his hate for him, hurt his baby? How far would Anias go in his hatred for him, and his desire for Mara?
They rode through the night, finding no clue, no sign that Anias and Mara had passed that way. Anias was being very clever this time. He must have planned his revenge well. Tajarez searched his thoughts, trying to think where Anias would take Mara. Hopefully though, Mara would slow him down.
When daylight came, they still had found no tracks that had been left by Anias.
[THE INDIAN] SAID THAT TO THE SOUTHEAST IS A KINGDOM THAT THEY CALL MARATA, WHICH USED TO HAVE MANY LARGE SETTLEMENTS; THAT ALL HAVE THE HOUSES OF STONE AND STORIES, AND THAT THOSE WERE AND STILL ARE AT WAR WITH THE LORD OF THE SEVEN CITIES.
—Friar Marcos
29
Mara was awakened by the pain that ripped through her body. She was lying in a tepee, on a stiff buffalo robe. The sounds that came to her from outside told her she was in an Indian camp. The tepee flap was pushed aside and an Indian woman entered.
"Help me," Mara said weakly. "I think my baby is coming."
The woman stared at her and Mara saw hatred in the dark eyes.
"Tanka, it is you."
"Yes, it is I. You look quite different from when I saw you last," she said in a spiteful voice.
"Help me, Tanka. The baby . . ."
"Help you, why should I help you? It is because of you that I cannot return to my home. You have caused me much grief."
Mara heard the hate in the woman's voice. "Did you love Tajarez, Tanka?"
"What woman would not? He was everything that a woman could want. I loved him, but that was a very long time ago."
"If you loved him, will you not help his child to be born?"
"You dare to ask me to help you, when it should be I that bore him a son?"
Mara felt another pain knife through her body. She cried out from the intensity of it.
Tanka knelt down beside Mara. Her face was distorted with the hatred that was mirrored there. "The pleasure you found in his bed does not feel so pleasant now, does it? Oh, I remember well how he could make a woman feel. He planted his seed in you, and I shall enjoy watching you suffer to deliver his child."
Mara gripped Tanka's hand. "Please help my baby."
The flap was pushed aside once more, and Anias entered. Tanka stood up and faced him. "The creature you have brought among us is having her baby. You did not count on this, did you? If you killed the king, as you say you did, and if the baby is a boy, he will be the prince royal. Tajarez will never stop hunting for you. He will find you and he will slay you."
"I expect him to search for me, and when the time is right, I will allow him to find me, but it is I who shall slay him, not the other way around."
Tanka glared at Anias. "You have cried out in your sleep for this woman, Anias. Look at her, is she the beauty you remembered?"
Anias shoved her aside and knelt down beside Mara. "Does the child come?"
Mara nodded, her eyes beseeching him to help her.
He touched her face gently and watched as she turned her head away. His was the hand that had killed Hamez and Palomas, and she felt revulsion at his touch.
"You turn away from me now, but the time will come when it will not be so."
"Never!" Mara said through clenched teeth. "What do you plan to do with me?"
His fingers tangled in her golden hair, and he jerked her head around so she was facing him. "If you are kind to me, I will be kind to you."
"And my baby?"
Anias's eyes narrowed. "The baby will have Tajarez's blood coursing through its veins. I have not yet decided its fate."
Mara felt another pain. She dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand, trying not to cry out. Her body twisted in agony. She saw Anias's eyes soften. "See to the delivery of the child, Tanka, and if either Mara or the child is harmed, you die."
He left the tepee without a backward glance; his threat still hung on the air.
"I will help you, but the day will come when you will pay for all I have suffered on your account."
Mara looked at Tanka, feeling helpless. Her life and her baby's were in the hands of the woman who hated her.
The hours passed slowly as Mara labored. The tepee had become unmercifully hot and sultry as the afternoon sun beat down upon it.
Tanka bathed Mara's face in cool water. "It is taking a long time for your baby to come. I need help," Tanka told her.
Mara held on tightly to Tanka's hand. "Do not leave me," she whispered through parched lips. She twisted in agony. She felt that her whole body would rip apart as pain dulled her senses. She was pushing with all her might as she expelled her baby. Then s
he fell back, exhausted, as Tanka lifted the tiny infant into her arms.
"It is a boy," Tanka said. She laid the baby beside Mara as she cut and bound the navel cord. Mara tried to look at her baby, but another pain ripped through her body. Tanka knelt down beside her once more, and looked at Mara, puzzled. "Another pain?"
Mara was bearing down once more. "Another baby," Tanka said in wonder as she reached for a second tiny infant. "A girl. Twins!"
Mara felt weak and exhausted as she watched Tanka cut the navel cord and tie it off.
"Tajarez has a son and a daughter," Tanka said. "They have the look of their father; I feared they would be white like you. Tajarez would be very proud this day." Her voice drifted off as Mara fell asleep.
Tajarez returned to the city after searching for over four weeks without a single trace of Mara and Anias. He looked haggard and weary as he entered the anteroom.
Sagas rushed forward to greet him. "You have not found her?"
Tajarez sat down wearily. "I cannot find a trace of them. I have questioned all the nearby tribes, and no one has seen them. It is as if the earth has swallowed them
UP;
"Do you give up then?"
"No, I need fresh horses, then I start out again." He buried his head in his hands. "He may have harmed Mara, Sagas. I cannot bear to think what she has suffered."
"I do not believe he has harmed her, and we would have heard by now if she were dead. Anias would make sure you found out. He seeks revenge, but it would not suit his purpose to kill her."
"That is my only hope, but what about the baby? It will have been born by now. Tell me, Sagas, have you seen any visions or had any dreams?"
"No, but I have a feeling that Mara is not far away. I do not know where the feeling comes from, but it is very real."
"You feel nothing else?"
Sagas blinked. "No, nothing. I have had a recurring dream, but it does not involve Mara, it has to do with Tanka."
Savage Desire (Savage Lagonda 1) Page 38