Bound in Darkness

by Jacquelyn Frank

  And he would be done with her. Whether it be now or a month from now when they achieved the retrieval of the cuff. As soon as he had the cuff he would challenge Sabo and either he would die or…well, he hadn’t thought much about what would happen if he should succeed. He didn’t want to look beyond the moment he was presently living in. He couldn’t afford to crave things he did not yet have. It would make him sloppy, would weaken him to think of everything he could be losing if he failed. He would not take half measures. He would not live his life if it meant he would suffer for half of it every damned day. He would be free or he would be nothing. There were no other options.

  He would not change his way of thinking for anyone.

  Not for anyone at all.

  It began to rain.

  It was a miserable, heavy rain that drenched them all thoroughly, and any good spirits they might have had became quickly sodden. Camping that night in the rain meant cold provisions for dinner. Airi had dried meat and crackers in her remaining saddlebag, so she was not required to ask for anything from Maxum. She had been confused for most of their travel that day, not understanding herself. Did she want him or didn’t she? Was she being a child or was she going to act like a mature woman and make up her mind? She had thought she had her mind made up, but then he had put her finger in his mouth and the ferocious heat it had inspired in her had shocked her to her core. Somehow that one action had just as much power over her as he’d had when he’d put his hand between her legs in the river.

  That was the key phrase. Power over her. Would she be giving him power over her? Would she be giving something of herself away?

  And what of the rest of the men? It was one thing to have them suspecting she was lying with Maxum, quite another to remove all doubt. What would Doisy, Kyno, and Dru think of her then? Did she care?

  She realized she did and that was a whole new level of disturbance. When had she begun to care about them enough to be concerned what their opinions of her were? When had she ever cared about what anyone thought of her? She hadn’t cared about anyone’s regard since her mother had died and she’d been forced to learn what a hard world it was, a world where it wasn’t worth trying to please everyone.

  She kept to her own bedroll that night, dodging Maxum’s halfhearted attempt to draw her close, huddling deep beneath wet blankets. When she awoke the rain was even worse, lashing hard and rolling with thunder.

  “Where are we headed now that we’ve given up on finding the temple?” Doisy asked. Maxum had told the men he thought finding the temple was a waste of time and that he had been mistaken to search for it. Then he had whetted the men’s appetites with promises of a dangerous labyrinth with a treasure guarded by a great beast. The men only needed to hear the word “treasure” and they were on board.

  Airi didn’t know why Maxum had chosen not to tell them about the temple, but when she thought of it she agreed it was best. The only thing that had come of it was the dagger and the men would have wanted their equal share of it. There was no way to share a weapon that had been entrusted to the bearer by a goddess, so it was best to save them all the trouble of the squabbling.

  The rain continued and grew colder over the next few days, making all thoughts of seduction fly far away, as they made their way into the Killing Forest. There was a reason why the forest had been so named. It was dark and full of dangerous creatures. Being blinded and slowed by rain made it unwise to journey within, but Maxum kept pushing them farther. Airi knew why. His goal was so close now he could probably taste it. Whether it ended in victory or loss, the confrontation was almost at hand. He wanted it badly. And she didn’t blame him. But pushing them like this was likely to get one of them killed.

  They were riding single file when the rain finally began to ease. A sudden sound caught Airi’s attention to the right. She heard a shout and began to turn, but then was tackled off her horse by a powerful force of nature. She hit the ground hard, her breath knocked out of her. She barely registered a mouth full of fangs snarling over her, the thick claws digging into her breasts, the heavy weight of the beast as it roared into her face.

  Then suddenly the creature stopped roaring and fell face-first into her chest. Headfirst. Its head had been severed from its shoulders with one sharp swing of Weysa’s Champion and now the head lay on her chest while the body was bleeding buckets of blood onto her. Gagging she shoved the head of the thing off her and scrambled to get out from under the body. Maxum’s hand was there a second later and with one strong tug he yanked her to her feet and pulled her up against his body, hugging her tightly.

  “It’s all right,” he soothed her. “It’s over.”

  She pushed away from him hard. “What do you think you’re doing?” she shouted at him.

  “Saving your ass!” he shouted back, a look of surprise coming over his features. “I would think you would be grateful!”

  “Fine! Thank you for killing the…whatever it was.”

  “Razorbeast,” Doisy supplied.

  “Thank you!” she snapped. “But I’m not some delicate flower in need of comforting! Get that out of your head right now!”

  The belligerence bled right out of Maxum and he chuckled. “Oh. I see. It’s not the rescue that upset you, just the comforting afterward.”

  “Damn right!”

  “Forgive me, my lady,” he said with a flourishing bow. “I forgot who I was dealing with. I should have let you kill the beast yourself.”

  “Yes, you should have! I can take care of myself.”

  “Of course you can,” he said with a smug smile. “Next time I’ll know better.”

  “Well…as long as we have it clear…I…I mean you can help if I’m in trouble and you happen to be there,” she said awkwardly.

  “All right then. No comforting and help only when necessary. It’s all clear now.”

  “Good,” she said. Then she looked down at her blood-soaked clothing. “Ugh! This is my only set of clothes!”

  “I heard a stream to the left. We’ll go there and you can wash up. You should be used to wearing wet clothes by now. Wash them out and wear them.”

  “I’m not getting naked in front of you guys.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll find you a nice private spot.”

  “I’m not getting naked in a place called the Killing Forest,” she said with a huff.

  “Then bathe with your fucking clothes on! Can we get on with it already?” Kilon exploded.

  Airi mounted Hero and they made their way to the stream. She quickly took off her corset and waded into the stream in just her breeches and the shirt she wore under the corset. The water was fast-running and blood clouded into it as she washed it off herself and the corset. When she was done she hung the corset from her saddle to dry and mounted Hero in just her wet clothes.

  Maxum wished she’d put the corset on. The wet material of her shirt was clinging to her unfettered breasts and he could see how hard her nipples were from the cold. It immediately made him hard and craving, a position he didn’t want to be in when riding through a dangerous area.

  He noticed she had taken the Dagger of Truths and tucked it into her boot as a backup to the ones she already had in her sheaths. She was leaving nothing to chance.

  They were more on their guard as they went. They were following a small worn path, and shortly they came to a cottage nestled into a clearing. She wondered who would be brave enough to settle in the middle of the Killing Forest. Maxum dismounted and, holding his horse’s reins, he walked up to the cottage door and knocked.

  The door was split in two and slowly the top half opened to reveal a man no taller than Airi was but with a strong and stocky build.

  “Well met, my friend,” the man said. “So look at you all.” He sounded nervous. Who wouldn’t be when outnumbered by a rank of men and women? At least she thought he was outnumbered. The cottage was so small it couldn’t house that many people. “What can I do for you this day?”

  “Well…we are in need of a hot
meal and all of our supplies and the land around us are wet. My friend”—he indicated Kilon—“can do the hunting and bring fresh game if you but provide the fire and a few hours of your company.”

  “You would hunt in the Killing Forest?” the man asked with surprise. “You must be brave.”

  “A beast’s a beast. They all fall,” Kilon said shortly.

  “Well then, with an offer that does little to inconvenience me and brings fresh game to my table I say welcome!”

  The man opened the bottom half of the door in welcome.

  They tied up the horses then made their way inside the cottage. It was a small cozy space, one room in all with a plank bed tucked up into the far right corner and a small table and two chairs in the near right corner. The left side of the cottage was taken up entirely by a huge fireplace. The blaze in it was healthy and hot, warming the room considerably. Everything felt dry and comfortable and Airi, shivering from the wet, went to sit by the fire in hopes of drying her clothes on her body. It seemed the warmer the room around her was the more she suddenly felt the cold.

  Maxum introduced everyone and Kilon left to go hunt some dinner. Everyone made themselves comfortable on the floor in front of the fire and the man sat down in his rocking chair by the hearth. He picked up something he had been mending and began to rock.

  “So where are you all from and what brings you here to the Killing Forest?” the man, who was named Ty, asked.

  “We’re from all about,” Maxum said, speaking comfortably for the group. “And we are in search of an adventure.”

  “Well you’ve come to the right place…though you’ll find more death and danger in the Killing Forest than you will adventure.”

  “But that’s the kind of adventure we like.” Maxum paused a beat. “We’ve heard there is a great labyrinth full of treasure in the forest.”

  The man paled and dropped his mending, looking at them, one at a time.

  “You want no part of that place,” the man said. “Any rumors you’ve heard of treasure are lies. The labyrinth is a place of death, plain and simple. As dark and dangerous as the forest is, the labyrinth puts it to shame.”

  “How do you know they are lies?” Doisy asked.

  “You aren’t the first men to come through here looking for the labyrinth. The men come, but they never leave. They go in but never come out. If there is treasure there it stays there. So do yourself a favor and stay away.”

  “Well, we’ll think on what you have said for certain. In which direction lies the labyrinth?”

  “I will not tell you,” the man said stubbornly. “I will not be responsible for more deaths.”

  “But then we will have to search blindly for it in the forest. Is that not more dangerous?”

  “Better to search blindly for your death than to go to it directly.”

  Maxum coaxed the man some more, but he would not be moved. Kilon came back with a black stag, more than enough for them to feast on and the man seemed grateful for the meat that would be remaining.

  “My friend will hunt you down enough meat to get you through the winter if you’ll tell us where the labyrinth is,” Maxum said.

  The man hesitated. “Enough for the whole of the winter?” he said. “Are you that determined to get there?”

  “We are,” Maxum said.

  But then the man shook his head. “No. I will not tell you. It will be hard to hunt on my own through the winter, but better that than to have your deaths on my head.”

  “You are so certain we will die?” Maxum asked.

  “I am.”

  Maxum stood up, glancing out at the waning light of day. He had to go or he would be caught in the middle of the cottage. The curse would not care if there was a building in its way. It would come up through the floorboards, destroying the man’s house.

  “Enjoy your meat. I will return shortly.”

  “You are going out by yourself? To what purpose? We already have our meat.”

  “I must think on things awhile,” Maxum said as he approached the door. “Save me some dinner. I will return in a few hours.”

  He left. The man shook his head, his balding pate gleaming in the firelight. “He is mad to walk about for no reason.”

  Ty fell silent and went about preparing their dinner. Soon the cottage was redolent with the smells of cooking venison. The group had not had a hot meal in nearly a week and they were salivating at the promise of roasted meat.

  Dinner came at last and they ate with relish. Airi’s clothes finally dried and she was finally beginning to feel warm. She became drowsy and was dozing sitting up over her plate, which was resting in the nest of her crossed legs. She caught herself from falling over twice before Ty chuckled and said, “I cannot share my bed, but you are all welcome to sleep out of the wet before my fire. The Killing Forest is no place to be camping in the open.”

  “And yet you live here?” Airi said.

  “It was a young man’s game originally. I came here full of vim and vigor and determined to live where no man would ever live. Now I am too set in my ways to go. I am still young enough and strong enough to survive here. It has been a hard life and has made me a hard man. I am resigned that one day this forest will get the best of me; I will die here as I have lived here. But that day is not today and I am determined it will not be tomorrow.”

  The group brought in their bedrolls and opened them to dry by the fire. The smell of must filled the air and soon the blankets were dry.

  By the time Maxum returned half of the men had gone to sleep in their now-dried bedrolls. Only Airi and Kilon remained awake…in spite of Airi being so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. She had made it a point to never go to sleep before Kilon did. She simply did not trust the man. But once Maxum returned she felt safer, a feeling that perplexed her, and she finally snuggled down under her blankets and fell asleep.

  She was awakened some time later to a crash of sound and she opened her eyes to see two figures, one in the bed struggling with one hovering over him with a knife.

  “Tell me where it is!” Kilon barked, shoving his blade to the man’s neck.

  Airi leapt up with a cry, rushing across the room to tackle Kilon. But Kilon was still about fifty rocks heavier than she was and would not be easily moved. He shoved her to the floor and went back to struggling with the man.

  “Tell me or I’ll slit your throat!”

  “To the east! The east! Take the path to the well and then go east into the woods—you can’t miss it for it stretches for miles!”

  “Kilon, let him go!” Maxum barked.

  Kilon released the man and backed away from him. He tucked his knife into his belt.

  “There see? Easy. None of this coaxing crap. A straightforward way to a straightforward answer,” Kilon said.

  “Get out! Out of my house!” the man cried.

  “We’ll get out when we’re good and ready to go,” Kilon snapped at him.

  “Kilon!” Maxum turned to the man. “Of course we’ll leave. And I’m sorry for my friend’s behavior.” Maxum reached down a hand to help Airi up to her feet. The group went to their bedrolls and began to pack them up.

  “Why’re we leaving?” Kilon drawled. “There’s nothing he can do to make us go.”

  “We’re leaving because this is his house,” Maxum snapped. “And you disrespected his hospitality.”

  “Sure. Fine. But I got us our answer. Labyrinth’s to the east. Now let’s get going. Rain’s stopped. It’s almost light.”

  “I could’ve used some more sleep,” Doisy grumbled. “You’re an ass, Kilon.”

  “Let’s go,” Maxum said.

  —

  They reached the labyrinth by sunset. It was a wall of trees and bramble that went on in either direction for as far as the eye could see. Maxum had to leave so they had no opportunity to search for an entrance. They made camp and built a fire. Kilon disappeared into the trees just as Maxum had. He returned a short while later with another black stag.
<
br />   “This is more than we need,” Airi complained.

  “So take the leftovers back to the old man at the cottage,” he sneered. “You’re too soft. You’d never survive on your own.”

  “I’ve been on my own all my life!”

  “Where? In cities? Thieving in a city is an easy life compared to being out here in the open. Thieving will do you no good out here.”

  “I do more than steal for a living. I can fight.”

  “Sure you can. You’d poke at something with that pretty little dagger you got there in your boot and it’d take your head off for your trouble.”

  “You know, I’m getting sick of your attitude,” she snapped.

  “And I’m sick of the smell of your cunt. But Maxum says we’ve got to deal with each other so until I’m running this group, I’ll deal.”

  She felt herself go a little pale. What did that mean exactly? Was Kilon planning on taking over the group? They all knew what that talisman could do. It wasn’t like Kilon could kill Maxum in his sleep.

  But he could steal that talisman off him just as easily as Airi had stolen it, put it on himself and make himself invincible. The idea of a man like Kilon being invincible put a cold weight on Airi’s heart. Because of that, she unrolled her bedroll right next to Maxum’s. She would do what she could to protect him in the night. She had no doubt that Maxum could take care of himself, but it would be nothing to cut that charm off while he slept. Airi would hear anyone come near them even in her sleep. She had been sleeping with one eye open for a very long time. She would use that to Maxum’s benefit.

  Maxum lifted a brow at the sight of their bedrolls lying in close proximity to one another as opposed to the fire being set between them, but he made no comment about it. He ate his dinner in silence, staring at the wall of the labyrinth in front of him. The wall had to be twelve feet tall and everything about it was alive and growing. From the trees that anchored it to the bramble that grew thickly from one tree to the next to the ivy that climbed the wall of brambles. Moss grew on the trees as well. So the wall of the labyrinth was a brown and green living thing.