Desperately, Rose tried to pull Taspa away from her attacker. He stabbed his long sword at her and only by luck did Rose manage to knock it aside. Taspa kept sidestepping and backing up but her attacker continued to ram his horse into her. The cloaked man pulled his sword back and swung it in an arch angled toward her neck. Rose lifted her sword and met his. The strength of his attack shook her whole body, and his sword inched closer to her face. She couldn’t fight him. She knew that as her own sword lost more and more ground. Rose didn’t have the skill or the strength.
With what sounded like a hiss, he pulled his sword back and swung it on her other side. Rose ducked, hunkering low in the saddle. She felt the wind of the sword on her back as it passed. Rose kicked out with her foot, landing a solid kick to his horse’s flank. It kicked and jumped away. She kicked Taspa, jerking on his reins.
“So, you’re going to play.” He spoke in the same lilting voice from the keep.
How? Rose turned in shock and the stranger used that moment to charge his horse at her. Taspa nearly buckled under the force. He bobbed his head and rolled his eyes.
Rose felt him grab a handful of her hair and she cried out when he yanked her head toward him. She elbowed him in his stomach and pulled out of his grip. Rose desperately reached for her reins but suddenly she was gripped around her arms. She felt her sword slip from her hand as he pulled. Rose started sliding off her horse. Her arms were pinned by his and he pulled her farther out of her saddle.
Enough of this! Rose bent and latched her teeth around his wrist and bit as hard as she could. Her jaw popped and she tasted salty blood in her mouth.
“Damn you!” her attacker cursed.
Just as he moved to throw her to the ground Rose slipped into shadow. Appearing in the shadows of trees on the ground, Rose picked up her fallen sword and reappeared in her saddle. Without waiting for him to realize where she was, Rose gripped the sword with both her hands and swung it at him with all her strength. He turned toward her just as the flat of the sword clashed with the side of his face. Silently, he fell from his horse into a pile on the forest floor. Without waiting to see if he was dead or not, Rose wheeled Taspa around and kicked him into a mad dash; still clutching the sword in her tingling hand.
Rose sat against the cave wall. It was a miraculous thing, this nook she had found just as the sun was rising. She almost missed it, nestled in a rocky hillside and hidden behind an army of ferns. It was just big enough to get Taspa’s bulk inside and was just the kind of hiding hole she had so desperately needed.
The faint glow of the sun could be seen past the edge of the cave. She sighed and heaved herself to her feet. Somehow this stranger’s magic worked like hers. Rose hadn’t worked out how yet, but she was hoping traveling in the daylight would limit his ability to track her . . . if he was still alive.
Rose gathered the saddle and bags and led her horse out into the ferns. She saddled Taspa and set the bridle around his ears. She patted his large cheek and pulled herself up into the saddle. Taspa bobbed his head and pulled against the reins before finally settling down.
Rose looked to her left and barely saw bits of the road through small gaps of trees; just a small spattering of brown against all the green. She led Taspa deeper into the woods, farther away from the road. Rose let the horse set his own pace as she let her mind wander. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed.
Four days had passed and no sight of her cloaked assailant. Rose tried to hide her tracks as best as she could. She doubled back. She crisscrossed the stream, traveled along the rocky shore. All Rose could do was hope he would not find her again. This strange man with an accent she couldn’t place had secrets too similar to her own.
Rose guided Taspa into a clearing of young spruce. She gave Taspa the reins as he bent his head to graze and she stretched her arms over her head. Her shoulders cracked and her neck popped. Rose sighed and rolled her shoulder. She’d never been one for long rides before, and riding across the countryside was wearing on her.
“I feel old,” she muttered to herself and sighed again as she shifted in the saddle.
The clomping of hooves had Rose grabbing the reins.
“Not so fast,” her stalker hissed across the clearing.
Rose’s heart jumped into her throat. The hood hid his face and Rose clenched her teeth.
“Let’s try talking this time.”
Rose took a deep breath and flexed her clenched hands. “About?”
“Why are you bothering? You are new to this conflict. So, what is this for you?”
“Money. A job,” Rose said.
“Perhaps you should rethink your position, then.” His hissing words seemed to echo through the clearing.
“My position?”
“I can double whatever the king is paying you. If you’ve no stake in this, why not?”
Rose slowly gathered the reins. “And what would you pay me for?”
The hooded man stayed at the edge of the clearing. “There are many things. For now, a set of eyes on the king would do.”
Rose sent a quick look into the shadows and spotted where the road lay. “What’s in this for you? What is this to you?”
A breathy laugh escaped the hood. “Oh, look at you, little human, asking important questions.”
Little human? She thought the choice of words odd. Rose started to inch Taspa back away. “I didn’t hear any answers.”
Again, the hissing laugh. “I am not such a fool. I have questions of my own, little human.”
“Oh? What are they, then?”
He started to advance. “None, I think, you have any answers to.”
Rose wheeled Taspa around and kicked him hard. Taspa charged through the spruce trees and Rose heard the hooded man crashing after her. She leaned low in the saddle and felt branches smack her shoulders and scrape along her back.
How did he keep finding her? Who was he? Rose hunkered as low in the saddle as she could and felt a branch gouge into her back. What had she gotten into. Terror had her insides quivering. The sound of his horse pounding after her made her breath turn solid in her throat.
Rose could finally see the road, and she urged Taspa faster. He burst from the tree line and onto the road. She steered him down the narrow road and prayed she could outpace the strange man.
Rose glanced behind and saw him raise a gloved fist. Encircling his fist was some sort of black orb. It flickered like flames in the wind, but an oil black color that couldn’t exist in nature. She kicked Taspa’s sides again. Rose glanced over her shoulder one more time just as he threw the black fire at her.
In broad daylight, Rose forced herself into the shadow land. She reached for the shadows and felt them fight her. Shadows were meant to stay away from the light; they existed in the space light didn’t touch, but she grabbed them and made them take her into the darkness. A burning pain erupted in her body. She screamed. Running though the shadows tunnels, unaware of where she was going, she screamed as often as she could draw breath. All she could feel was the fire. Rose fled through the dark mists looking for deeper shadows to hide in, to escape the flames.
Her strength was flagging. She didn’t know where she was. The idea of passing out while in shadow terrified her even more than the fire spreading through her body.
Where am I? Rose started panicking all over again. I’ve never been lost before. What happens when you’re lost?
Rose ran through the shadows blindly, with no idea where she was or where she was going. She couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on what she was seeing. Places and people flashed past her. The pain overwhelmed all her senses.
The burning, it was turning her blood to acid. She couldn’t think. All around her was a thick mist, the kind of mist the ocean brings in. It was thick and cold and it obscured what lay beyond but she could barely make out sh
apes.
A pair of red eyes looked at her from the deepest corner of the shadows and Rose could barely make out the shape of a snout. You must return to your Anchor.
Rose sunk to her knees and they hit barren soil, mist swirled around her shoulders. She wept. “It burns.”
You should not be here. You must return to your Anchor.
“Who is my anchor?” Rose asked and tried to find the strength to stand. She forced her senses further through the shadows than she ever had before, searching for anything to guide her, to focus on. Anything to help her. Finally, she saw a person through fog and their presence sent a pleasing thrum through her.
She focused on him, focused on going to him. The strain was almost too much. She could almost feel herself stretch across the distances. Her skull felt as if it would shatter from the pressure. Just as she was about to give up, to succumb to the fire, she found him: sitting in the shadows of his garden.
Rose tumbled out of the shadows. They spit her out and rolled under a bench and bumped into the king’s legs.
“What in the gods . . . ?”
The king’s face filled her vision as he bent under the bench.
“Rose!”
King Micah gripped her arms and started to pull her out from under the bench. The jerk was enough to unlock her lungs. Rose took a shattered breath and screamed with it. The agony in her body, the fire; Rose screamed and couldn’t stop.
Micah froze in his movements. “What is the matter?”
Rose barely heard him over her screams. They tore at her throat. Her voice cracked. Micah pulled her out from under the bench and laid her on the ground. Searing pain shot through her body as the gravel bit into her raw, burnt shoulder. Rose shrieked and twisted off the ground.
“Dear gods. Get the healers!” He shouted.
Her throat was raw. Rose couldn’t see through all the tears. She wasn’t sure her eyes were even open. Her voice refused to scream anymore. All she could do was sob and writhe. Her flailing arm hit the king and she grabbed ahold of him with all her strength.
She felt someone grab her by her arms and lift her off the ground. Rose slumped forward and found herself slumped against the king’s chest. She clutched at the king and sobbed into his chest. But her right arm, she couldn’t move her right arm. It was a useless lump.
Rose felt the king wrap his arm around her waist. “Try to hold still. You’re making it worse.”
“I can’t. It burns. I’m burning!” Rose whimpered. Her legs thrashed on the ground and only the king’s arm around her kept Rose from falling back to the ground.
“Madame Rita, thank the gods.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It looks like she’s been burned.”
Madame Rita knelt next to Rose and she felt the Healer’s gentle hand on her back. Rose tried to jerk away but then the agony eventually faded. The burning was still there in the back of her mind, not even Rita could numb that pain, but the pain dimmed until she could think and could breathe again.
She sagged against the king as the tension drained from her body.
“Can you hear me?”
Rose twisted her head enough to see the Healer frowning at her. The worry was clear all over the other woman’s face; it made her brows pinch and lips purse. “That bad?” Her voice was just a harsh croak.
“What did this to you? It looks like a burn but . . .”
“Magic,” Rose croaked. “Evil magic.”
“Madame Rita, look at her arm.” King Micah’s voice shook as he spoke.
She removed her hand from Rose’s back and the searing pain started to return. She gasped, “Oh my,” and gently started to examine Rose’s arm.
Rose bit her lip to stop from screaming; hard enough to taste blood. When Madame Rita straightened her arm out, Rose screamed into the king’s chest.
“I’m sorry, dear. It can’t be helped,” Madame Rita murmured while still staring at her arm. “If you hadn’t said it was magic, I would think you’d been bit by a snake or poisoned.”
Rose shakily lifted her head to see what had the Head Healer so worried and nearly screamed again. Her shoulder to her elbow was nearly all black. The rest was covered in thick, black tendrils. She feared what the burn looked like if her arm was this bad.
Madame Rita pulled out a pair of scissors. “How far does this spread?” She spoke almost to herself. She started cutting away the back of Rose’s shirt. “This is going to hurt when I pull the shirt from the burn. Sire, hold her still or else I’ll just do more damage. I’ll numb the pain the best I can.”
Rose gripped Micah; he tightened his hold around her waist and the back of her neck. When Madame Rita started peeling the burnt shirt away Rose couldn’t hold still. She screamed against the king’s chest and jerked against his hold, desperate to get away from her. It felt like her skin was being peeled away. The king held her still, his strength working against her. Distantly, Rose heard someone murmuring to her. Her vision started going gray. Her ears rang. Then her world went black and silent.
Chapter 19
Her eyes popped open to see more darkness. Where am I? Rose looked around and still saw darkness and vague shapes. She tried to roll over only to have her whole back explode in pain. “Aaah!” she screamed. It felt like someone had dragged a blade down her back.
A stream of light appeared through the cracked door. “Rose?”
Footsteps made their way into the room. The bed moved as someone sat next to her and a warm hand was placed on her shoulder.
“Oh . . . Rita.” The numbing sensation spread over her back. “Thank you.”
“Well, good morning.” Rita’s voice sounded tired.
Rose’s eyes slowly started to adjust to the dark room. “Am I in the Healer Wing?”
Rita pulled her hand away. “Do you remember being injured?”
“No.” But then it came back to her in one vivid memory. The burning. The terror. It all came back in one horrible flash. “Wait . . . yes, I do.”
“Good. You were out for so long I wasn’t sure what would happen. We had no idea what that black . . . poison could do to you.”
“Poison?”
Rita sighed and it sounded tired. “That magic was poisoning you. My apprentice, Daymon, was able to remove the poison, heal most of the damage. He has a true healer’s magic in his blood. He did in two days what would’ve taken months.”
Rose went to stretch her arm but her breath froze in her throat when nothing happened. She froze and tried to lift her arm again and still nothing happened. “Rita.” Her voice rose several octaves. “Rita!”
Madame Rita had Rose’s face between her hands and forced Rose to meet her eyes. “Relax. Relax, Rose. Daymon is working on it. He says the poison did something to the muscle, but he’s fixing it. He says it’ll be back to normal in a week or so.”
“Promise?” Her breathing was fast.
“Yes, dear. I swear it.” Madame Rita held Rose’s eyes until she nodded. “Now if you’re up to it, there is someone who would really like to check on you.”
“I don’t want to talk to anyone, Rita.” Rose closed her eyes with a sigh. “I’d like to just pass out again.”
“All right then. I’ll tell the king you’re still resting.”
“Wait.”
Madame Rita turned back from the door.
“The king? Wants to check on me?”
“He’s been very worried. You all but died in his arms.”
“I can . . . I suppose I can stay awake for a little.”
Madame Rita had an odd smile on her face. “I’ll let him know.”
Rose stared at the door. Her eyes drooped but the throbbing pain in her shoulder and back snapped her eyes open again. She twisted against the pillows again and trie
d to gauge how long she’d been laying in the bed. The burn was constant in her back and distracted most thought. It was already creating a throbbing headache to match the throbbing in her back. Her eyes drifted shut again but didn’t stay shut for long.
“Stay awake, dammit.” Rose forced her eyes open to stare directly into the king’s.
“Shit!” Rose cursed and jerked against the pillows. “Sorry. You startled me.”
King Micah chuckled.
Rose looked around the room and noticed the golden tint to the sun shining through the small window that hadn’t been there before. “I fell asleep?”
King Micah leaned back in his chair. “You were asleep when I came in.”
“I didn’t think I’d fallen asleep,” she murmured to herself.
“How are you? Are you still in much pain?”
“I can say I haven’t been worse. But I’m alive, I think.” she murmured to herself. “I’d better be alive.” Rose tried to chuckle, but it just came out like a big huff of breath.
“Yes. We’re glad you’re going to be all right.” The king settled himself back in his chair.
“How long have I been here?”
“A few days. There were a few times you woke but were delirious.”
Rose remembered Rita mentioning a healer, Daymon, working on her for two days.
“You were injured by something none of my healers had seen the likes of before. Not to mention you just appearing in the gardens from who knows where. If I recall, you yourself said you couldn’t travel long distances in shadow.”
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