by Kat Brewer
Suddenly, a horn blew and a deep voice rang out.
“Ambrians, the day is lost. Throw down your weapons. Your King is vanquished and dead at the hand of the Erlan Queen.” Everyone froze, and all eyes swung to the Palace steps where Darien stood with Nera.
Nera’s arm was raised, and she held the severed head of the Ambrian King in her grip. Gasps came from the Ambrian warriors who were still left standing. For several minutes, they all stood transfixed at the sight of their King’s death grimace. Then, under the watchful gaze of the Erlan combined forces, they dropped their swords and knelt, placing their hands on their heads.
Nera released her gruesome trophy, and it rolled down the steps, landing open-eyed at the bottom of the staircase.
The victorious forces cheered loudly and then rounded up the remaining Ambrians, taking them to where the Erlan nobles were being held captive and locking them in once the nobles had been released. The newly-freed Erlans laughed and cried with joy, flooding the streets. They, along with all of the citizens of Erla, stormed the Palace, shouting out in joy over their victory and release.
Nera spoke briefly, praising the skill of their allies and calling for her people to show patience as they returned the city to normal. People dispersed, randomly congratulating warriors and helping to remove the dead.
Cassie’s slaves ran up to her and joyfully embraced her. She returned their affection before sending them to her quarters to remove the dead man and set her home to rights.
A hand on her shoulder caused her to turn and meet the eyes of Darien. He grabbed her up and hugged her tightly.
“You are amazing! Even after all I have seen, I am still in awe of your prowess!” He kissed her soundly and let her down. Cassie laughed up at him.
“You were pretty impressive yourself.”
Kara and Lee appeared in front of them and they all hugged and congratulated one another.
Cassie’s eyes scanned the crowd looking for Nall, and unease settled over her when she did not see his silver bright hair.
“Where is Nall?” she asked. The others looked around in concern, and when they did not see him, they began to search through the bodies littering the ground.
“Nall!” Cassie yelled. “Nall, where are you?”
She ran through the crowds, eyes scanning urgently as the warriors around began helping her look. Cassie caught sight of King Nyles on the steps with Nera. He had heard the commotion and ran down the steps to aid in the search for his son.
“Your Highness, do you know where he is?” Cassie asked breathlessly.
“No, Lady. He fought on the eastern end of the force.” Fear entered Nyles’ eyes.
“I will find him. A horse! Someone get me a horse!” Cassie screamed out.
A warrior dismounted and handed Cassie her reigns, Cassie vaulted up, turned the animal, and shoved the crowd aside as her eyes scanned the assembled mass of people. The others had spread out through the crowd. Nyles found a horse and when Nera joined him, they set out in one direction while Cassie took to the other.
Cassie rode to the outer battlefield and picked her way carefully through the corpses littering the ground. Her stomach clenched when they fell upon the fallen Erlan warriors.
After a while, she began to feel faint and looked down at her forgotten wound, noting that blood still trickled down her leg. Her pants were soaked with it.
She shrugged it off, however, and was pressing onward when she suddenly caught a glimpse of silvery white hair shining in the sun. Cassie urged her horse over and found Nall lying with his head against a rocky outcropping. Blood crusted over a wound on his temple. Her heart froze in heart chest as she took in his limp form.
Cassie jumped down and ran to him.
“Nall! Nall, for God’s sake, please don’t be dead.” She knelt and lifted his head gently, feeling the underside and finding a goose egg. She felt for his pulse, and it beat strongly in his neck, leaving her weak with relief.
“Why are you crying, my beautiful Cassandra? Am I dead?” Nall winced as he opened his eyes, and Cassie gently helped him to sit up. She clutched him tightly in an embrace, making him yelp in pain.
“Easy. I think my arm is broken.” He cradled his left arm to his body. “God’s above, did I sleep through the whole war?” He looked around at the aftermath of the battle.
Cassie laughed in relief and then fought down a wave of dizziness and nausea.
“Yes, you did. By the way, we won.”
She smiled at him. He lifted his good arm and cupped her cheek, pulling her in for a soft kiss before releasing her.
“I am sorry I did not get to see you fight. I know you must have been magnificent,” he said, smiling into her eyes.
“Yes, I was. Now, let’s get you to a physician.” Cassie helped him to rise, and the world dipped and swayed. Her eyesight darkened as pain ripped through her injured thigh.
“Cassandra, are you all right?” he asked, steadying her with his good arm.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Come. Let’s get back to Erla.”
She mounted the horse, clinging desperately to the saddle horn and to consciousness, and then gave him a hand as he swung up behind her. They rode back to the city gate and straight through to the Palace.
At the steps, Nall slid down and was immediately assisted by some of his countrymen.
Cassie looked up, and, from a distance, she saw Nyles and Nera heading in her direction, so she dismounted and threw the reigns to a nearby warrior, forcing herself to breathe through nausea as she stood carefully on her wounded leg.
Nyles and Nera rode up, jumping from their saddles to check on Nall. The royal physician had arrived and was tending to him, arranging for a litter to carry him to a room. Cassie watched the tableau as if from a distance and absently looked down at the blood that was trickling into a small puddle at her feet.
She laughed sharply and then found she couldn’t stop the laughter that poured from her hysterically.
Nera looked at her harshly in confusion and then paled when Cassie bent over and retched on the ground. Cassie straightened and looked at Nera, then wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she gracefully crumpled to the ground.
Nera ran to Cassie’s prone form and knelt, screaming for the physician as Nyles and Darien sprinted over and turned Cassie face up. They searched her body and found the thigh wound.
Kara and Leandra made their way through the crowd and over to Cassandra’s motionless body.
“What happened?” they exclaimed in unison.
Darien pulled off his vest and tossed it aside. Tearing off his cotton shirt, he pressed it against the wound and tied it as the physician ordered her to be taken to a bed immediately. Darien swung her up into his arms and ran to her quarters, kicking the door open.
The slaves within jumped, startled as they knelt cleaning the blood from where Sern had been slain. They stared at Darien as he strode purposefully towards their Lady’s bedchamber and laid her down on the bed, the physician following in his wake.
The physician and her helper immediately cut off Cassie’s pants and set about cleaning and stitching the wound.
Cassandra’s friends flooded the room, worry etched on their faces.
Mika rose and ran to the bed. His breath left his body as he saw her lying there motionless and pale as death. He dropped to his knees and took hold of her hand, clutching it to his chest as he sobbed quietly in fear.
He couldn’t understand it. She was well only a moment ago, kissing him and laughing.
The physician looked at him with impatience but allowed him to remain.
Nera entered the chamber and looked at her friend.
“She never said she was injured. I had no idea.”
“She has lost a lot of blood, Highness. I have stitched her wound, and I will leave tonics, but it is not certain whether or not she will live,” the physician said gravely.
A hoarse cry tore from Mika’s throat, and he buried his face in her chest, sobbing pitif
ully, and Nera fought back her own despair. They could hear Cassie’s slaves crying from the other side of the room. The physician went out and gave them tasks to perform such as gathering warm water to bathe their Lady.
“Kara, when did this happen? Lee, did you see her take a sword blow?” Nera bit out through her misery.
The women shook their heads, fighting back the tears in their own eyes. Nyles put his arms around Nera, and she went willingly against his chest. Darien paced and barked at the slaves to hurry with Cassie’s bath water and to clean up the mess, and then no one said anything for a long while.
Sometime later, following the physician’s orders, they went to their own rooms to clean up and rest. Mika had listened carefully to the physician’s instructions on caring for his Lady, and the men agreed they would all watch over her throughout the night.
They cleaned her, put a soft white gown on her, and cocooned her within clean bedding. Having done all they could, they looked at each other with sorrowful eyes as they took turns watching her pale, still form and shallow breathing as time passed slowly.
When Nera entered Cassie’s chambers early the next morning, she found Mika carefully spooning a rich meaty broth into Cassie’s mouth and rubbing her throat gently to make her swallow.
Nera put her hand on Mika’s shoulder and squeezed gently as he looked up at her with bloodshot eyes set in dark sockets. Worry and exhaustion were taking their toll on his handsome features, and Nera’s heart went out to him. She had not slept well herself, the fear of losing her friend lay in her stomach like lead.
“Has she awakened at all?” Mika shook his head and Nera sighed.
“You must sleep, Mika. It will do your Lady no good to have you make yourself ill and the others as well. The physician will be here very soon, and I will send for some of my personal slaves to care for your Lady while you and the others get some rest,” she said firmly, ignoring his attempt to protest.
Mika lowered his head and nodded, long years of obedience winning out.
“Go now, Mika. I will sit with her and feed her until my slaves come.”
He rose and bowed, leaving the bed chamber, and she could hear him speaking to the others along with the sound of their bedroom door closing.
Nera looked down at Cassie’s pale face, and tears blurred her vision. She took her friend’s limp hand in hers and clutched it to her chest. Silent sobs racked her shoulders as she released all of the emotions she had been holding in for too long.
“Please, Cassandra. Please wake up and be well again. Erla needs it’s Commander, and I need my friend,” she sobbed out quietly, rocking back and forth.
Suddenly, a hand was on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Kara standing next to her with tears running down her own face.
Nera rose, releasing Cassie’s still hand, and the women embraced, crying out their grief on each other’s shoulders. A long while later, they released each other and wiped their eyes. They sat together on either side of the bed and forced the nourishing broth down Cassie’s throat. Finishing the bowl, they wiped her face gently.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” the physician said briskly, coming through the door. “Has she awoken at all?”
They shook their heads and the physician frowned slightly. A quick examination of the wound showed it was knitting well and had no appearance of infection, but the following days would tell the tale.
“Tell her slaves to continue to give her hearty meat broths and the blood enriching tonic I have brought, and alert me immediately if she shows any signs of fever.”
“Griselde, she will recover fully, won’t she?” Nera asked.
The physician looked her in the eye and said, “If we can get her strength up and keep infection from setting in, then I expect a full recovery. If the wound infects, it will be very difficult to say.” The woman bowed and left. She had many to care for after the battle.
“My Lady, she will recover. I know it,” Kara said, placing her arm around Nera’s shoulders.
Nera’s slaves finally arrived and took over Cassie’s care, but Nera and Kara stayed for a while talking to her, telling her of the restoration of the city and of the unavoidable chaos that ensued as people returned to their homes and found their slaves.
As they were taking their leave, they encountered a bandaged Nall approaching Cassie’s chambers. His arm, while not broken, was badly sprained and had been bound tightly and placed in a sling, and he wore a bandage on his head.
“How is the Lady Cassandra today?” he asked.
“She is still unconscious, but there is no sign of infection. The physician has recommended that we speak to her, that it might help to bring her around. Perhaps, if you feel well enough, you can spend a bit of time talking to her?” Nera asked. Nall readily agreed as he entered the chamber.
When he arrived at her bedside, his stomach fell at the sight of her pale stillness. Her hair appeared to be an even darker shade next to her pale skin, and she looked beautiful lying there like a fairytale princess.
Nall sat on the side of her bed and spoke to her of little nothings for a long time before he became silent again. He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss upon it.
Closing his eyes, he fervently prayed for her recovery. He sat with her for many hours, sometimes talking and sometimes just watching her still face whilst the slaves moved about silently, feeding and caring for her. Pain from his injury and exhaustion finally caught up with him, and he rose stiffly, kissing her lips gently before leaving.
He had already closed the door to her chambers when a small sigh escaped Cassie’s lips and her eyes fluttered open. She felt so tired, and when she met the eyes of the slave nearest her, she frowned in confusion at the unfamiliar face.
He bowed and quickly explained that the Queen had sent him as her slaves had been in need of sleep. Cassie nodded, and then said, “Water,” very softly.
The slave brought a cup to her lips and she drank a sip, closed her eyes, and went back to sleep. The slave then motioned to his counterpart and sent him with the news to the Queen and to her physician.
Chapter Twenty Three
A week later, Cassie was being a very difficult patient.
She was frustrated by both being confined and by her physical weakness. She snapped at her slaves and made them cry frequently, that in turn made her feel guilty and did nothing to improve her mood.
One such outburst stemmed from Mika trying to carry her to the balcony instead of letting her walk. This was witnessed by Nera as she had come to check on her Commander.
“Cassandra! Need I remind you that poor Mika went through a nightmare while you were unconscious? Now, all you can do is growl at him and hurt his feelings?” Nera was astonished; her friend was never harsh with her slaves.
Mika stood stiffly with brimming eyes and a quivering lip, looking for the entire world like a little boy who had lost his puppy.
“Damn it, Nera! I am going crazy cooped up in here! I can’t stand it anymore!” Cassie stomped her foot, then half screamed as it sent pain lancing though her thigh.
Mika reached out and lifted her easily into his arms, walking towards the balcony with Nera following.
Cassie’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as the pain vibrated through her body.
“Now look at what you’ve done.” Nera cried. “You are going to make your injury worse acting like a child. Sit down and behave yourself!” Mika lowered Cassie onto the cushioned chair and propped her feet up on an ottoman. “Bring us some juice, Mika, dear one.”
He bowed to the Queen and went back into the rooms, averting his gaze from his Lady.
Cassie folded her arms over her chest and pouted as the pain tapered off, and Nera shook her head.
“You are acting worse than Danai when she doesn’t get her way.” Cassie looked up at Nera and grudgingly laughed.
“You’re right. I am being an ass. My poor babies. They have had it very rough, haven’t they? Nera, has Danai returned? I have been
thinking about her,” Cassie inquired.
“She has decided to make a holiday of it with Sarai’s daughters. I am beginning to wonder if she will ever come home since they spoil her so. She has sent word that she wants only you to come and retrieve her and says she will come home with no one else,” Nera laughed. “I shall not see my daughter until you are well enough to travel. So, you must behave and do as you are told.”
Cassie laughed as she thought of the strong-willed little girl.
“Yes, Your Highness. I will behave and try to have a sweeter disposition.”
Mika and Garen arrived carrying a tray loaded with a cold pitcher of juice, a variety of grilled sliced meats, fruits, vegetables, and sweets.
They had been trying hard to get her to eat more. She had lost so much weight since her injury that Aidan was outdoing himself trying to tempt her.
Cassie took Mika’s hand and brought it to her mouth. When he met her eyes, she turned it over and kissed his palm. He smiled sweetly, forgiving her with his eyes.
Cassie smiled and sighed, tucking into the mini-feast they had laid out before the women.
Full and satisfied, the women leaned back in their chairs and talked of the happenings as Erla returned to normal. The surviving Ambrians would remain in the stockade under heavy guard until Nyles and Darien returned to their countries.
They had agreed to take charge of the prisoners until it was decided what should be done about the Ambrian Kingdom. Leandra remained in Erla helping Kara to restore the peace, and she offered to escort Cassie to retrieve Princess Danai when Cassie was well enough to travel.
Nera told her she would meet with Darien and Nyles the next day to make decisions about Ambria and then the men would return to their home countries, having been away too long for their own comfort.
Cassie felt melancholy when she thought of Darien and Nall. They had all been through a great deal together in so short a time. She heaved a sigh that was quickly followed by a yawn.
“I will go now, my friend, and leave you to rest,” Nera said as she rose. She bent down and hugged Cassie, dropping a kiss on her cheek. “Do not mistreat Mika anymore, or I will take him from you and keep him for myself.” She wagged a finger at Cassie in warning.
