Only then did he allow a smile to spread across his face. “I have you now,” he said to himself before continuing down the street.
Sam was still shut away in her room when the Princes arrived back at the inn. Dean had thought it best to give her time to calm down before approaching her with his peace offering. They sat down at the table and filled everyone in on the latest clue. Prince Tallon was Kinfen’s heir, so the only issue with obtaining his seal was finding him. As it was probable that he would either be in Kinfen or Amenia, a province in Emvale, nobody was worried about how they would fulfil the first part of the clue. It was the second part that had them concerned. Nobody had ever heard the word Grundle before. Was it an animal, a person’s title, or something else?
For once, the discussion was short. It was highly likely that they would have to pay a visit to King Allias’s palace in Vada, Emvale’s capital city, in their attempt to track down Prince Tallon, so the obvious thing to do was to make use of his library once again.
Everyone had been looking forward to spending a night in a comfortable bed, but the distance they needed to travel was vast, so the decision was made to make an immediate departure. Sam was asleep when Dean entered their room, so he silently grabbed his bag, which he had not unpacked, and crept out, wincing when the door creaked as he closed it. He bumped into Ria in the hallway and asked her if she would mind waking Sam. He could remember times in the past when he had woken her up when she was mad at him and knew how she would react.
Sam was not the last one to arrive in the courtyard of the inn, so Dean took the opportunity to present her with her gift.
“I am sincerely sorry,” he said. “I was wrong. I overreacted. Please forgive me.”
Sam looked at him, a frown creasing her brow. “It’s not that easy,” she finally replied in a much gentler voice than he had been expecting. “It is going to take a lot more than words to prove you understand what I have been through.”
“Will this help?” he asked, holding out the chain, letting the dragon pendant swing free.
Sam did not even look at it. “You have got to be joking. You think you can buy my forgiveness?” She turned her back on him and started to walk away.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me Samantha.” Sam froze. He had never called her by her full name before. “I am not trying to buy anything. You know me better than that. It’s a token of my sincerity. I knew you would need more than just words and I didn’t know what else to do.”
Nobody in the courtyard moved; they all watched Sam, curious to see how she would react. For a moment nothing happened, then her shoulders visibly sagged.
“I need some time,” she said quietly, without looking round. Dean started to approach her, but Ria shook her head, indicating that he should leave Sam alone for a while. Before anything more could be said, the three Princes arrived. Tor noticed the tension in the air, but ignored it. Looking around, he saw that everyone except Dal and Seth were present. He took a breath, ready to instruct someone to look for them, but spotted them approaching before he had chance to speak.
“Mount up,” he instructed. Sam deliberately positioned herself as far away from Dean as she could and he made no attempt to get closer, though he was still close enough to hear if she decided to speak to him. As they travelled, she spoke to Thresnine about her problems. It felt strange talking to a horse about relationship issues, but Thresnine was a good listener and being able to speak openly without threat of being overheard by anyone who could understand what she was saying improved her mood greatly. By the time the group of travellers stopped for an evening meal, she had calmed down enough to approach Dean.
“We should talk.” She spoke softly, her tone indicating it was a statement rather than a demand. If Dean was surprised, he hid it well. Seth, overhearing, indicated he would take care of their horses, so Dean led her into the nearby trees, away from where the rest of the group had started to set up camp.
They were gone for a long time and everyone had already eaten by the time they returned. All conversation stopped as they approached the light from the fire. Hawk was awake, impatiently pacing up and down. He had wanted to search for Sam as soon as he found out she had been upset by Dean again, but Tor had forbidden it.
“Want me to kill him?” he asked. Dean took an involuntary step backwards, unsure if the question was serious or not.
Sam shook her head. “Not yet. We have finally talked properly about our feelings and all that has happened to us and managed to listen to each other and try to understand instead of jumping to conclusions and feeling betrayed. We are going to make another go of our relationship. We know it is not going to be easy, but we have agreed to start from scratch and get to know each other again.”
“I guess I will have to find my dinner elsewhere then,” Hawk said, but he had a smile on his face as he flew off into the night. Ria noticed that Sam was wearing the dragon necklace and she too smiled. She was still not sure whether she liked Dean or not, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for Sam’s sake, reserving judgement until he had proven whether he was going to be good for her rather than a problem that would need to be dealt with.
Food had been saved for the couple and they ate hungrily. Apart from Sam, nobody had slept since the previous day so they decided to rest for a few hours before continuing their journey. Sam lay down next to Dean and quickly fell asleep. Soon she began to dream.
It started out quite pleasant. It was a warm sunny day and she was walking through a meadow. The grass was soft under her bare feet and a cool breeze was filled with the smell of apple blossom. The sound of running water from the other side of a hill indicated there was a stream or river nearby and she started walking towards it. As she drew closer she could hear splashing sounds and a child screaming in delight. She crested the hill and could see a man and his wife having a picnic on the riverbank while they watched their son playing in the water. As she moved closer still, she could make out their features better and realised that she knew them. It was Torrick and Liselle. She turned her eyes towards the boy in the river and saw it was Cub, the child she had brought at a slave market in order to rescue him from a paedophile who was bidding against her. She and Brin had adopted him and agreed to bring him up as their own, but she had allowed Torrick and Liselle to take him when she had left Brin behind in his homeland. The couple longed to have children, but Liselle was past child bearing age. Cub needed a father as well as a mother so it had seemed the perfect solution for all involved.
She was about to call out to them when the wind changed direction, bringing the sound of their voices with it.
“Come and get some food,” Liselle called out to her son.
“Just five more minutes please mother,” cub called back, diving under the water before waiting for an answer.
Liselle smiled at her husband. “He is such a wonderful child.”
“Yes,” her husband agreed. “We are lucky to have him.”
“And he is lucky to have us. Imagine how hard his life would have been if we had allowed Sam to keep him.” Liselle pulled a face as though there was a bad smell in the air. “She was a truly terrible mother.”
Torrick nodded his agreement. “On top of that she is not even a nice person.”
“I hope Brin is alright,” Liselle continued. “I cannot understand why, but he seemed to love her deeply and she heartlessly deserted him when he needed her most.”
Sam was too stunned to move. She could not believe what she was hearing. She knew Liselle was distressed about how Sam had punished Brin’s stepmother after she had killed all of his family, but she thought both Liselle and Torrick supported her decision to leave him. They were her friends. How could they talk about her like that?
Unwilling to hear any more, she turned and ran, tears blurring her vision. She saw the edge of a forest and ran into it. By the time she stopped running, she was deep inside and could see nothing but trees in all directions. She had no idea which way to go to get out.
The trees were tall and the top branches spread out, preventing most of the sunlight from filtering down to the ground. This made the forest cold and dark, causing Sam to shiver. It was eerily quiet; no animal sounds could be heard. She listened intently, hoping to hear the sounds of the river, but there was nothing to indicate in which direction she should head.
She started walking, but one tree looked very much like another and she had no idea if she was going round in circles. She was beginning to get tired, frustrated and more than a little scared when movement to her left caught her eye. She stopped, unsure of what she had seen. She stared directly at the spot where she had thought she had seen a figure, but could make out nothing in the darkness. Cautiously she approached.
“What are you doing here?” a voice said from behind her, making her jump. Spinning round, her eyes fell on the speaker and she almost screamed.
“Ellen,” she said softly when she had regained her ability to speak. “But you’re dead.”
“Look at me,” Ellen screeched at her. “Of course I am dead.” She raised her arms and Sam realised she was not solid. It was easy to miss in the semi-darkness, but when she looked hard enough she could see the trees her friend was standing in front of. With horror Sam realised she was looking through Ellen.
“You’re a ghost?” she stammered.
“Yes, I am a ghost,” Ellen said sadly. “And it is all your fault.”
“My fault? Why?”
Ellen sneered. “If it had not been for you befriending that monster, he would have left our group a long time ago. He would not have been around to turn me into a vampire and condemn me to death. It is your fault I became a blood sucker.”
“But he saved your life,” Sam said, confusion written all over her face. “You would have bled to death if he had not bitten you.”
“Saved my life?” Ellen shouted. “You call being unable to see the sun and having to live in perpetual darkness a life? You call not being able to eat or drink anything other than blood living?”
“But you said he did the right thing.” Sam sounded like she was pleading. “You were okay with being a vampire.”
“Okay? How can anyone ever be okay with being a member of the undead? And as if that was not enough, I finally manage to persuade Patrick that we could still be more than friends when you allowed me to die.”
“That was not my fault. What more could I have done?” Sam was crying once more.
“You could have saved me. Why did you not shoot those bandits with your arrows when you had the chance? You watched as the sunlight touched my skin. You saw me burn to death and did nothing to help me. I thought you were my friend.”
“That’s not what happened,” Sam whispered, unable to make her voice any louder. The accusations were unjust. She had not been to blame, had she? Could she have done more? She had been convinced that everyone had done all that was humanly, and inhumanly in some cases, possible to save Ellen, but now she was beginning to doubt herself.
“Get out of my sight,” Ellen suddenly snapped. “I do not want to waste my time with you any longer.”
Unable to disobey, Sam turned and ran through the trees once more. She had no idea where she was going and did not care; she just wanted to put as much distance between herself and Ellen’s ghost as she could. She kept running until her foot caught on a half buried root and she was sent tumbling to the ground. She had neither the strength nor the inclination to stand up, so she curled up into a ball and began to sob.
Exhaustion overtook her and she drifted off to sleep, only to be woken moments later by howling. She sat up quickly, looking around her in terror. She could see nothing, but sounds of movement could be heard in all directions. She pushed herself back against a tree, her eyes darting around and her breathing heavy.
Then she saw them. First from in front of her, then from the sides, a pack of wolves slowly approached, licking their lips. The one closest to her bared his teeth, as though demonstrating how sharp they were. Sam whimpered and began to hyperventilate. There were five of them now, each slowly pacing towards her. Then one of them leapt, its mouth open, aiming for her throat.
Sam was awoken by someone screaming and it took her a moment to realise it was her.
Chapter 4
“Sam. Sam. It’s okay. It was just a nightmare.” Dean placed his arms around her and pulled her close. Tears were streaming down her face and she could not stop shaking. It had seemed so real.
Sam’s screams had woken everyone up so they decided to move on, travelling all through the night and sleeping again the next morning. Except for Sam almost falling off Thresnine’s back on a number of occasions when she could no longer keep her eyes open, the night passed uneventfully. Her dream had left her exhausted and she was so tired when they eventually stopped that she declined food, choosing instead to go straight to sleep.
Once more, she dreamed. It was a cold dark night and she was alone in a forest. She wandered around for a while, completely lost. Eventually she saw light in the distance; the flickering flames of a campfire. As she got closer she could hear talking and breathed a sigh of relief when she recognised her friend’s voices. She stepped forward, breaking a stick with a loud crack. Everyone spun round to look at her, but she was not greeted with the welcoming smiles she had been expecting.
“What are you doing back?” Modo asked, obviously displeased to see her. She stared at him in confusion.
“I thought we made it clear that you were no longer welcome to journey with us,” Tor said in an equally hostile tone.
“What?” was all she managed to stammer.
“Stop acting like you do not know what we are talking about,” Seth interposed. “We went through it all last night. We voted on whether you should remain or not and it was unanimous.”
“But you need me.” It sounded like she was pleading and she hated herself for it.
“For god’s sake,” Dean spat out. “Do we really have to go through this all again? I am also a ‘guide from another world’ so anything they needed you to do I can do instead. You are not needed. You are not wanted, so why don’t you just bugger off?”
“But why?” Sam asked, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Because you are such an evil bitch.” It was Ria who spoke. “After what you did to Illen, nobody feels safe near you anymore.”
“But she deserved it. She killed all of Brin’s family.”
“Stop trying to justify your actions,” Oak snapped. “On top of that, if it was not for you we would still have some of our friends with us.” Sam shook her head and frowned. Nobody left because of her. What was he talking about?
“Brin would not have had to remain with his people,” Dal said quietly.
“That was not my fault,” Sam protested, but nobody was listening to her.
“Ellen would still be alive,” Patrick snarled.
“My father would not have died,” Nosmas said quietly.
Sam looked around her in disbelief. Quartilla, Fajfah, Brodin and Cirren looked at the ground, refusing to meet her eye, while everyone else glared at her. Unable to comprehend what was happening, she found herself unable to speak. She turned and ran, oblivious to where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get away.
She ran till she could run no more. She collapsed onto the ground, pulled her knees in tight to her chest and rocked backwards and forwards. She was no longer crying; she had no more tears to shed. Instead she was dry sobbing and could not stop.
“I have found you at last,” a smooth voice sounded from behind, startling her.
She slowly raised her head. “Hawk,” she cried in relief, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms around him.
“Ssshhhhhh,” he said gently, smoothing down her tangled hair. “Everything is going to be alright now. I am here to take care of everything.”
“I don’t understand what is happening.” Tears started to flow again, soaking the front of his black silk shirt.
“It is all very simple. You
have become a liability that needs to be disposed of.” He spoke softly, like a parent comforting a child. Then he roughly grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, exposing her throat. He smiled at her, revealing his fangs. “I have wanted to do this for a long time,” he told her before moving in for the kill.
Sam’s screams woke her, as well as the rest of the camp. Sweat was pouring from her and her clothes were drenched. Dean, who had been on guard close by, ran to her, pulling her into his arms.
“Another nightmare?” he asked. Sam nodded, too shaken to speak. “Want to talk about it?” he asked gently. She did, desperately, but as soon as she started to speak, she realised she had no memory of her dream. The feeling of absolute terror still filled her, but she could not explain the cause.
Ria made her a soothing cup of herbal tea, which she drank gratefully. Tor took Nosmas aside. “This does not seem natural,” he whispered, keeping his voice low enough for Sam not to overhear.
Nosmas nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Any idea what it could be? Have you ever heard of this sort of thing happening before?” Tor enquired.
The wizard shook his head. “I know of no spell or enchantment that could cause nightmares, but I will keep close to her. If someone has used magic against her then I may be able to detect it. A more important question is who could be responsible?”
“And why Sam?” Neither question could be answered.
When Sam had calmed down, Seth volunteered to take over guard duty so Dean could stay by her side. It took a while, but eventually she managed to get back to sleep. Though it was a peaceful, dreamless, sleep, she did not feel refreshed when she was woken a few hours later. It was early evening when they set off and they covered a lot of distance before Hawk awoke.
The Pendant Page 4
