He felt her pain and fear, her love and sorrow. Her spirit curled
inside him like a contented kitten.
Who her father was no longer mattered. She had had no
part in his crimes. Her hands were clean, her ka pure. Her love
washed the hate from Kyne’s heart and mind. DiSanti still
needed to be stopped, but her sweet, fresh love quenched
Kyne’s thirst for vengeance.
He cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her face. “You’ve
crawled deep within me. Where you are, I am. Where you go,
I go. Run from me, and I will follow. Call me, and I will come.”
Like liquid crystal the poetic words flowed from his lips and
hardened in the air around them, ready to shatter if she denied
their bond.
“You’re within me as well. Without you I become an empty
shell. I....”
The rest of her words were lost beneath the clatter of hooves
as Katya and Graham approached.
Kyne felt Sianna’s quick stab of anxiety along with his own.
“Where is Laila?” she asked.
Katya and Graham exchanged a puzzled look, then
comprehension dawned on their faces.
“Lisha is Laila DiSanti!” Katya’s eyes blazed with angry
confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded of Kyne,
then turned on Sianna. “Why did you lie to us? Who are you?”
“I tried to tell you I was not Laila, but you chose to believe
differently. I am DiSanti’s younger daughter. When Laila arrived
at Castle Vareck, I lied to protect her and the child she carries—
Aubin’s child.”
Katya sagged. “Aubin’s child,” she whispered.
“But where is she?” Kyne’s own awe and joy at the thought
of Aubin’s immortality was tempered by the woman’s absence.
Graham rode forward. “In the confusion of the fight, she
followed DiSanti.” Blood streaked his too pale features, but it
was not his own. He gripped his mount’s saddle with a white-
knuckled hand. His still splinted legs stuck out and had surely
been knocked about during his rush through the trees, but he
made no complaint nor asked for any concessions to his pain.
“Oh, no,” Sianna cried. “He’ll kill her. We have to stop
her.”
“We can’t help her now. The battle is begun. DiSanti knows
we’re here. There’s no time to waste.” Kyne felt Sianna’s
quick rush of worry and grief, but was relieved when she didn’t
argue. “Graham, rejoin our men.”
Graham nodded his agreement and urged his quinar into a
run. The two quickly disappeared into the night.
Kyne moved his mount next to Katya. “Katya, take Sianna
back to camp.”
“Where are you going?” Sianna clung to him as he tried to
pass her to Katya. “You’re going after the queen and princess
aren’t you? I must come with you.”
“It’s too dangerous. Go with Katya.” He attempted to pry
loose her fingers. Of all the people in his care whom he’d failed,
he would not fail to keep Sianna safe.
“I can use my skills to help you find them.”
“No....”
“She’s right,” Katya interrupted. “I don’t know exactly what
talent she has, but without her help, you’ll never locate the
princess. DiSanti has her well-hidden.”
Sianna’s resolve swept through Kyne. If he forced her to
go with Katya, she would follow. Better to keep her by his side.
Nineteen
Hakan pranced nervously, his hooves slipping on ground
made slick with blood as Kyne guided him around the edge of
the carnage. Sianna buried her face against Kyne’s chest to
block out the sights, but battlefield images burned in her mind.
The acrid smell of blood and urine scorched her nostrils. Her
ears rang with the clash of swords and cries of men fighting
and dying.
Nor could she shield herself from the combatants’ emotions.
Her whole being trembled with the force of their suffering, her
normal barriers dissolving beneath a psychic whirlpool of rage
and fear, pain and despair, threatening to swamp her senses
and drown her ka.
“Sianna?”
Kyne’s voice broke through the oppressive cloud covering
her. She reached out for him, and he was there in her heart and
mind, a sturdy lifeline of sanity. His presence created a dam
against the chaos. She took a shaky breath and lifted her head.
His eyes blazed with determination. The battle roused within
him the sleeping beast that lives in all men, stirred the blood lust
that allows a man to fight and kill to protect those he loves.
Only her presence and the need to rescue the royal family held
him back from joining the attack.
“Can you sense where the queen and princess are being
held?”
She sat up and looked around. Hakan stood in the middle
of DiSanti’s encampment. With the battle raging, it was nearly
empty. No one challenged them.
Cautiously, she opened herself to the emotions flowing
around her. A flood of anguish poured through the crack, and
she jerked away.
“I can’t...there’s so much pain...death...it overwhelms me,”
she gasped.
He pulled her tight against his chest. A shudder of
understanding ran through him. “I know, but you must try. You’re
their only hope. If DiSanti reaches them before we do, they are
doomed. Use my strength to keep the emotions at bay. Together
we can conquer the darkness.”
“Together,” she whispered. Together they were stronger
than the sum of their parts. Together they were invincible. She
reached out to him. A bolt of energy surged through her. “We
can do this.”
Amid the emotional labyrinth of injured, angry men, she
hunted for the soft aura of two frightened women. While she
searched, the force of Kyne’s presence in her mind held back
the tangle of negative emotions.
Feminine strength and outrage blasted her.
“The queen is here. That way.” She pointed toward the far
edge of the encampment and a large tent shrouded in red-black
gloom.
“Laila and my father are there also.”
With her talent merged with Kyne’s, Sianna found her
family’s emotions were no longer barred to her. In Laila, anger,
loss, and grief metamorphosed into a wrath that left a bitter
taste in Sianna’s mouth, but DiSanti’s hatred and destructive
quest for power stole her breath. Their intent was crystal clear.
“Hurry! They’ll kill each other.”
Kyne kicked Hakan into motion.
At the tent, Kyne dismounted. “Stay here.” Sword in hand,
he strode toward the tent.
She felt as Kyne readied himself to do battle, then he blocked
himself away from her. His absence left a dark, cold void in her
heart. If he were killed in his fight with DiSanti, her ka would
shrivel and die. But if he killed her father out of revenge, part
of Kyne would perish, and in death DiSanti would triumph as
he couldn’t in life. Kyne must choose his own path. She could
only pray he followed the right one.
She slid down Hakan’s side. Something warm and furry
brushed by her legs. She strangled a shriek before she
recognized Warda. Her legs wobbled, but she quickly followed
Kyne to where he stood just outside the tent’s entrance.
She slipped up behind him and crouched in the shadows. A
lamp illuminated the scene within and hid them from the
occupants’ view.
His back to Kyne, DiSanti held the dazed queen before
him, a shield against Laila.
“Are you a coward as well as a madman, Father?” Laila
taunted. “Hide behind a woman’s skirt if you want, but it’ll not
stop me from killing you.”
“But I’m your father.” His tone echoed his encroaching
madness.
In the maze of his mind, he justified his actions and blinded
himself to the evil he sowed. Even now, faced with reaping a
bitter harvest, he refused to admit his guilt.
Grief tore through Sianna. Like wormy fruit, at his core,
her father was rotten.
“Father?” Laila spat the word like a foul curse. “A pity you
didn’t remember that when you killed the man I loved. Fight
me, Father, or die where you stand. You’ll not escape.”
“Very well, Daughter. Prepare to die.” DiSanti shoved the
queen aside. She hit a support post, slid to the ground and lay
still. The lamp swung to and fro. Harbingers of doom, shadows
careened around the tent. He pulled his sword free and faced
Laila.
Their dark fury rocked Sianna’s hope. She grabbed Kyne’s
arm. “Stop them. She’s no match for him.”
Sword drawn, Kyne darted into the tent. “Face me,
DiSanti!”
Breathing hard, his gaze wild but still filled with cunning,
DiSanti slashed through the side of the tent. “Some other time,
Cathor.”
“No,” Laila screamed. She blocked Kyne as he lunged
after DiSanti, then she crumpled at his feet.
Sianna rushed to Laila’s side, further aborting Kyne’s chase.
He tried to push past the two women when Queen Theone’s
grip on his arm brought him up short. “Rul Cathor? Is it you?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Frustrated rage churned in his gut,
but he stopped as DiSanti disappeared into the night.
“DiSanti?” she asked.
“The coward has fled.”
At the sound of her satisfied chuckle, Kyne’s head shot up
to meet her gaze.
Though battered, her clothing torn, her hair hanging lank
around her face, the woman held herself regally. Eight years
under DiSanti’s control had taken its toll on her body, but had
not diminished her pride or bearing.
“You have my gratitude, young Cathor.” She inclined her
head and held out her hand. “Your assistance, if you please.”
Despite his protests, the queen insisted on rising. Wobbling
slightly in Kyne’s respectful embrace, she looked down at Laila.
“How does she fare?”
Sianna examined her sister’s injuries. “She’s opened her
wound, but she’ll recover. Her babe rests safe and secure.”
Sianna tore a strip from her shift and rebound Laila’s wound,
then took a step toward the queen and motioned toward the
bruise forming on her head. “May I?”
Queen Theone hesitated.
“Sianna is a trained healer. She’ll not harm you,” Kyne
said.
With a simple touch, Sianna lent the queen strength. The
queen gave a startled gasp, then smiled her thanks and started
to speak.
“We need to return to camp,” Kyne interrupted. “Can you
walk, Your Highness? Or shall I carry you?”
Queen Theone gave a regal sniff, and her spine went rigid.
“I can most certainly walk, young man. See to the other woman
and let us be on our way.” She shrugged off Kyne’s hands and
strode out of the ragged tent.
Kyne lifted Laila in his arms and shared an amused smile
with Sianna as they hurried after the determined queen. He
would deal with DiSanti—soon. First he must see to the women’s
safety.
Queen Theone and a groggy Laila shared Hakan’s back
while Kyne and Sianna walked. They picked their way by the
dim glow of the stars. Warda trotted at their side.
Around them, with the setting of the joined moons and
waning light, the sounds of battle faded. Kyne found the silence
deafening.
“Is the battle done?” Sianna’s voice quivered with
exhaustion.
Each passing moment strengthened the link between them.
Her emotions and thoughts became his as his became hers. He
knew her inner struggle to block out the pain and fear swirling
around them. To shelter her battered ka, he projected a mental
barrier. She smiled, and he felt the tension drain out of her.
Would that he could protect her from every horror this world
inflicted on the innocent.
“Mayhap in the darkness they cannot tell friend from foe,”
Queen Theone said.
Kyne glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Do you know
where DiSanti holds Princess Thomasa?”
“I know not.” Darkness couldn’t hide the look of raw pain
in the queen’s eyes. “Three annum ago we attempted an escape.
We were betrayed. DiSanti’s guards caught us along a mountain
trail. When one reached for Thomasa, she kicked her quinar to
evade him. The beast reared, and she fell down the mountainside
into the Aron River. The current snatched her away. Her
screams yet haunt my dreams.” Her voice dropped, along with
her head, hiding her tormented gaze from Kyne.
“Over the years, DiSanti has taunted me with various tales
of her capture, torture and death, but he could never show me
her body. A loyal servant confirmed what I already know.
DiSanti didn’t recapture her. She is out there somewhere.
Alone.” Her voice broke on a strangled sob.
Kyne doubted a child of eleven annum had survived a plunge
into rocky river rapids. That DiSanti never found her battered
body was no proof the princess lived. The river ran for hundreds
of leagues and split into three branches.
Proper decorum abandoned, Kyne took the weeping
queen’s hand in his, surprised at how fragile she felt. Her
imperious tone and commanding attitude had effectively hidden
her physical state. Her strength was all mental. There were no
words to ease her ache.
“It will be dawn soon. We must hurry. My camp is but a
league away. You can rest there.”
Queen Theone straightened. “Of course.” Though her voice
trembled, her mask of control was back in place.
Kyne led, cutting a path through the forest undergrowth
with his sword. He grimaced as the finely honed instrument
took a beating from the tough saplings and rough bark. His
crystalsmith would complain when he saw the condition of the
blade.
Sianna walked beside Hakan to help the queen hold Laila,
but her gaze constantly strayed to Kyne’s broad back, watching
&n
bsp; the easy flow of his muscles as he slashed a way through the
forest. Firmly joined with him, she easily channeled him strength.
In turn, he maintained the wall protecting her from the mental
chaos roiling around them. She smiled. They made a good team.
She allowed herself only a brief moment of sorrow for her
father’s wasted life. In the end, his quest for power would
destroy him. She could only pray it would not ruin Kyne as
well.
Despite the cool harvest air, sweat trickled down her back.
She longed to return to the bathing cavern of Castle Vareck. At
the thought, images of being there with Kyne made her squirm.
Heat rushed to the juncture of her thighs. Her heart began to
pound.
Soon. She started at Kyne’s amused thought.
Other than with the people of Andacor, she had never been
able to send or receive thoughts, just emotions. With each passing
minute the bond between Kyne and her grew. How far it would
progress she could only guess.
By the time they reached their encampment, dawn lightened
the eastern sky. Tents camouflaged with paint and brush blended
into the wooded glen, invisible until they were practically on
them. Tired, wounded men rested around small fires clutching
cups of steaming gana. The smell of wood smoke and the sweet
aroma of the nourishing drink barely covered the stench of
blood.
Katya rushed forward, hugged Kyne and burst into speech.
“Thank the Eternal One you’re safe. The battle is won. Runners
carried the news of DiSanti’s desertion. Demoralized, his troops
surrendered immediately. Graham has gone to coordinate the
disposition of DiSanti’s commanders, disperse the men and see
to the care of the wounded. Are you hurt? Sianna?” She looked
over Kyne’s shoulder and saw Laila slumped in the queen’s
arms. Her voice died away as she dropped into a deep curtsy.
“Your Highness.”
“Rise, my child. Please show me to a spot where I might
lie down. I fear I am quite done in.”
“Of course. Forgive my poor manners.”
Queen Theone’s chuckle eased the strain of the moment.
Kyne lifted Laila from Hakan’s back and handed her to the
waiting arms of another man, then lifted Queen Theone down.
Katya slipped her arm around the queen’s waist and the two
headed toward one of the small tents.
Crystal Moon Page 27