“I obeyed you; I remained in the keep.”
“And when I told you to move?”
“I did not want you to get hurt,” she said and attempted to sit up. Pain shot through her shoulder and she let out a moan.
Rhys let out another slew of curses beneath his breath for arguing with her when he should be tending her, and he snapped, “Do not move!” And when he saw a tear gather in the corner of her one eye, he silently cursed himself again and went against his own command. He gently slipped his arms under her and lifted her onto his lap to sit back against the stone wall and cradle her in his arms.
She rested her head on his chest with a sigh.
“You are in pain?” he asked.
“Only my shoulder,” she said, wincing as she gave the shoulder not tucked against him a lift.
“Do not move it,” he ordered.
“It probably took the brunt of my fall and is already bruising.”
Rhys brought his hand up to rest on her shoulder, then caressed it slowly to see if he could feel anything.
Heather almost sighed aloud with how pleasurable his tender touch felt until he touched one particular spot. Pain shot through it, and she bit back the gasp that hurried to rush out. She did not want Rhys to know. He would forbid her to do anything but rest and she wanted to do anything but that.
“I do not feel anything. Nothing else pains you?”
“Nothing, but what of you?” she asked concerned that he had suffered an injury in the fall.
“I am fine,” he insisted and moved his hand off her shoulder to rest at her waist. He wanted nothing more than to simply sit there and hold her and know she was unharmed.
“Are you certain?”
He squeezed at her waist. “I will let you run your hands all over my naked body and see for yourself as soon as we get out of here.”
The image of her doing just that had her saying, “We should hurry and leave here.”
“First, we must determine where here is.”
Heather brought her head up off his chest and looked around. “Is this the secret passage?”
“I am assuming it is, though the lack of care and age has taken a toll on it.”
Heather got to her feet with some help from her husband and they both stood and looked around. Their fall had been cushioned by a pile of blankets and a variety of garments. Heather yanked one out, holding up a cloak and seeing it had been a feast for rodents with its many holes. She tossed it back on the pile.
After taking in all of the small space, Rhys said, “From the looks of it, this is a spot where the family could wait out a siege in relative safety and take their leave if it should prove necessary. Time, dampness, and lack of care took its toll on the wood.”
Heather dropped her head back to look up through the hole. “How far do you think we dropped?”
“Most times you find thicker wood planks closer to the bottom of the keep than the top, so I would say we are somewhere nearer the bottom.”
“Rhys!” The strong shout echoed down the hole.
It was Pitt and Rhys shouted back to him. “We are good and looking for the way out.”
“I will wait, though not long,” Pitt yelled to him.
“He will send men?” Heather asked.
“If it takes too long for us to find our way out of here, then warriors will start dropping through the hole.”
“Then we should hurry and save them the fall. Besides I need to touch every inch of you to make certain you are unharmed.”
Damn if he did not grow aroused at the thought of her doing just that and he reached out and grabbed her arm just as she took a step away. She gasped and shut her eyes against the pain and he got angry at himself and her. “You are not being truthful with me. Your shoulder suffered worse than you told me.”
“It truly is not that bad. It is the thought of you ordering me to rest that proves more painful and has me holding my tongue.”
Rhys stepped closer to her and dusted dirt from her braid, his fingertips grazing her breasts which of course stirred his arousal even more and flared his annoyance.
Heather laid a hand on his chest and hurried to speak before he could. “Believe me, Rhys, I am fine. I would not lie to you about that.”
He placed his hand over hers. “I will have your word on that, wife.”
“You have my word.”
He gave her a quick kiss, not trusting himself to linger. “Good, then let us find our way out of here so you can find out for yourself if I suffered any wounds.” She smiled and he took her hand, then grabbed the torch from the sconce. “Follow close behind me.”
They made their way along a brief narrow passage that led out of the room to wood stairs.
Rhys turned to Heather and said, “Wait here until I see if the stairs hold.”
Heather waited and watched as her husband took the stairs slowly and disappeared beyond the curve, leaving her in complete darkness. It was not long before light filtered around the curve and Rhys returned.
“One of the steps not far from the bottom has rotted away and a few creak loudly so be careful, tread lightly.”
Heather followed behind him, his pace slow and cautious.
“Wait here,” he said just before he came to a stop and she did as he said. He extended his leg, clearing three steps at once, then he placed the torch in a sconce on the stone wall. He turned and reached his hands out to her. “Jump.”
She did not hesitate; she jumped into his arms. He caught her around the waist, holding her firm as he swung her away from the steps and lowered her to her feet. Her hands rested on his forearms and she gave them a squeeze and she did not know why, but she felt the urge to tell him, “I love you, Rhys.”
He stilled, suddenly unable to move.
“Whether you ever love me or not, does not matter. I will love you always,” she said and kissed his cheek softly.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“That is not an answer,” he argued.
“But it is. Why would I not love you? There is nothing to stop me from loving you.” She squeezed his arms again. “And there is nothing to stop you from loving me.”
“You ask too—”
She hurried to press her fingers to his lips, forcing him silent. “I ask nothing of you. Simply give whatever you wish to me as I will to you. I love you and nothing is ever going to change that.”
He brushed her hand aside. “We will see.”
He turned and reminded, “Stay close.”
One day. One day, she thought as she followed along, he will tell me he loves me.
After several twists and turns and jumps into Rhys’ arms, they came to a dark tunnel. The entrance yawned like a giant’s mouth in front of them.
Rhys held the torch high. “Dirt walls and wood beams.”
“Will this take us away from the castle?” Heather asked, peering around his shoulder.
“We shall find out.” He turned his head toward her. “The tunnel appears narrow and may get narrower. Keep your hand on my back at all times, so I know you are there behind me and in case we lose the light.”
The scent of earth grew stronger and stronger as the passageway grew so narrow that Rhys’s shoulders brushed the dirt walls, sending some of the dirt flying into her face.
Try as she might to ignore that the walls seemed to be closing in on her, she was not able to and with fear in her voice, she called out, “Rhys!”
He stopped and eased himself sideways and she immediately tucked herself under the crook of his arm, planted her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, and there she stayed.
Rhys felt her body tremble and knew her fear. He had experienced the same gripping fear himself the first time he had entered a similar narrow passage. But there was little room to console her here and little time to linger.
“How can you walk this barely passable corridor with no fear?” she asked, fighting the fear that any minute the walls would collapse arou
nd them and bury them alive.
“Fear was forced out of me through the years.”
“I cannot believe that fear does not touch you in this confined space,” she said and shivered.
He ran his hand down her arm and covered her hand that hugged at his waist. “I was forced to stand in a corridor such as this one with a line of men in front of me and behind me for endless days, shortly after I was sold to Haidar. Scraps of food and drink were passed down the line once a day. If you were lucky, some of it reached you. Those who seemed to lose their minds as the days went on were quickly disposed of by the person in front of him or the person behind him, sometimes both. The body would be kicked down the line beneath everyone’s bare feet until it reached the opening where it was removed. Those who survived began training to be one of Haidar’s infamous slave warriors. I was one of the unlucky ones—I survived.”
“Do not say that,” Heather scolded, easing away from him with tears glistening in her eyes at the horror he had endured. “Never, ever say that.”
He reached out and wiped at the tears that were yet to spill. “I prayed for courage, then I prayed for death, then I stopped praying, but now that I am with you...I am glad I survived.”
“We must hurry and get you out of here,” she said, giving him a slight push.
“Me?” he asked with a slight smile.
“Aye, you do not need to relive such a horrible ordeal. We must get you out of here. Now hurry along,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Stay close,” he reminded again as he turned slowly away from her.
“Always,” she said and latched on to the hem of his leather armor.
After a few more feet, the corridor narrowed to the point that Rhys was forced to walk sideways and her heart went out to him when he looked at her with concern.
“Can you manage this?”
“If you can, so can I,” she said and eased herself sideways.
He slipped his hand in hers and they made their way slowly along the corridor until suddenly the passage widened and brought them out into a small area. The walls in there were constructed of wood planking, though much of it had rotted. A ladder was braced against one wall and it lead up to what appeared to be a trap door.
Rhys turned to Heather. “You need to stay down here while I go see what is up there. If for any reason I do not return after a short time, you are to go back the way we came and wait for my warriors, though you will probably meet them on the way.” His voice turned stern. “I mean it, Heather, give me your word or I will pull the ladder up after me.”
“I will not come up after you,” she said, of course that did not include going up the ladder with the purpose of finding a way out, but she did not tell him that.
Rhys climbed the ladder and eased the latched door open slowly, then quickly disappeared up through it.
Heather waited in the dark, thinking about what Rhys had told her. She could not imagine standing in a confined corridor for days in the dark with no way out. She did not know how he had not gone mad. There did not seem to be an end to this Haidar’s cruelty, and she prayed she would never meet him.
“Heather!”
Rhys’ shout brought a smile to her face and she looked up at him peering down through the opening. “Climb up.”
She eagerly climbed each rung, grabbing onto a rope that dangled from a hook by the ceiling beam to help hoist herself further up the rungs. It struck her as she climbed that he had not mentioned if it was safe and before she neared the top, she whispered, “Is it safe?”
Rhys was impressed that she should ask. “At the moment it is, though I do not know for how long, so we must hurry.”
Heather did just that, taking the last few rungs as quickly as possible, Rhys taking hold of her hand and helping her through the opening. She took a look around and saw that it was a single-room cottage that had fallen into disrepair. Dark gray clouds drifted by the gaping hole in the thatched roof, though thankfully no rain fell.
Rhys kept his voice low when he spoke. “I ran across this cottage when I first explored this land. We are a distance into the woods that runs along the side of the keep. Once the warriors who are posted in this area spot us they will hurry to guard us. We must move fast, the closer to the keep, the more guards.”
“If you think danger awaits us, why not wait here for your warriors?”
“Fife died a short time after I learned that he was a loyal servant to Haidar, which means Haidar has watchful eyes on us at all times. If he learns of what is going on, there is no telling what he may do. And while we wait here for the warriors who follow us, we could be greeted by an unstoppable force of Haidar’s warriors when we finally do leave. It is better we make haste now.” He dropped the torch down the opening. “My warriors will know to follow.” He took her hand. “You will stay in front of me at all times and if by chance we are separated, you are to run screaming as fast and as loud as you can so my warriors will hear you.”
Heather nodded.
Rhys took hold of her chin. “I can see in your eyes that you have no intentions of leaving me no matter what happens. There are times we must do what we do not want to. This is one of those times. You will leave me if necessary.”
“And will you leave me if necessary? And do not bother to tell me that that is different, for if you will not leave me, then I will not leave you.”
“We have no time to argue this.”
“Then we best leave now and be done with it.”
Rhys shook his head. “When I get you back to the keep—”
“Do not remind me, for I grow wet just thinking about how I am going to touch every inch of you,” she said and headed to the door that hung half open.
He hurried over to her to let her know it would be quite different if he got his hands on her first when he heard it and so did Heather.
“It is too silent,” Heather whispered, just realizing how eerily silent it had suddenly got. “No animals run or birds sing. Something disturbs them.”
“They sense something evil lies in wait,” he said.
“Then we best hurry and make haste.”
Rhys’ brow narrowed. “It is too late. Haidar is here.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Rhys blocked the partially open door with his body.
“I am not leaving you,” Heather said, though her blood ran cold with fear, knowing how evil Haidar could be.
There was no time to argue with her. Rhys scooped her up, carried her to the hole and dropped her down into it, hoping the fall caused her no harm. He then quickly snatched the ladder up out of the hole and shut the trap door. Then he went to face his nemesis.
Heather recalled the dangling rope just in time and swung her hand out hoping to grab hold of it, and she did. Pain ripped through her shoulder, but she did her best to ignore it. She swung around so that she could brace her feet against the wood plank wall as she pulled herself, with some difficulty, higher up along the rope. She lowered her feet once her hand touched the trap door. She let herself hang there a moment, regaining her strength, and then she used her shoulder, gratefully not the sore one, to push open the door.
It was a struggle once the door was open to work her way through it and when she finally did, she lay on the floor breathless, though not for long. She forced herself to her feet, remaining crouched down as best she could so as not to be seen and took a moment to shove the ladder back down the hole in hopes that Rhys’ warriors would soon arrive.
Remaining crouched down, she worked her way to a hole in the wall behind the partially open door and peered through it.
She was able to see her husband and the man he faced. While Rhys stood alone, his enemy did not and fear gripped her heart when she saw the many warriors standing behind Haidar. He was nothing like Heather expected. But then what was a man who was capable of such horrifying evil and enslaving so many supposed to look like? He was a head shorter than Rhys and his body was thick in the waist. His hair was dark and long and draw
n back and he wore a full beard. His features were not unattractive, but then neither were they memorable. He wore dark garments with a sash around his tunic and he held himself in a regal manner.
It was when she focused on his dark eyes and heard him speak, his accent foreign to her that a shiver ran through her. It was as if the devil himself spoke and this time Heather quivered with fear.
“You disappoint me, Rhys,” Haidar said. “And you know how I repay those who disappoint me.”
“You no longer rule over me, Haidar, so have your say and take your leave.”
Haidar’s voice took on a threatening tone that would shiver the bravest of men. “Not until I get what I have come to this barbaric country for...revenge for taking my wife and unborn child. And please do not bother to deny it. It took some time, but imagine my disappointment, my pain, and my anger when I discovered that you had taken Anala. I do not think you want to know how I felt when I learned that she died giving birth,” —he paused— “to my only son and that he died along with her.”
Rhys continued to remain silent.
Haidar smiled. “I remember well how often I made you fornicate with the slave women and how often I took pleasure in watching you do so. Two, three, you even did four slaves for me in one night. I imagine you take your wife that often, which means she will be with child soon.” His smile faded. “I am going to take what you took from me—your pregnant wife. And if she has a daughter I will see the child dead, but if she has a son, I will raise him as a fine slave. Then I will see that she gives me many sons, if not...I will see her die a slow death.”
“I am going to kill you,” Rhys said.
Haidar laughed. “That is not possible.”
“I believe that is what you told me when I asked what I must do to win my freedom.”
Haidar’s smile faded. “Your wife will be mine. Your child will be mine. And perhaps if your wife pleases me enough—you have taught her to take you in her mouth, have you not? If not I will give her daily lessons. As I was saying, if she satisfies me—in various way—I will spare you a slow, agonizing death and kill you quickly in front of her.”
Highlander The Dark Dragon Page 21