The coldness in his voice set her teeth to chattering and she felt her courage slip away.
“You leave me no choice but to break you, then.”
“No!” Will screamed.
Danni scrambled away from Briggs, knowing he truly meant his words. He wouldn’t rest until, somehow, he broke her. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and she crawled backwards to the wall. She saw his lips move, but couldn’t hear his words.
He snatched her chains and pulled her to her feet. “Did you hear what I said, Princess? Your life and the life of many others might depend on it. I said that the people who will soon enter this room are your responsibility.”
“My—”
“Your responsibility!” he spat. “You have the ruby ring and its power of protection, safety, and healing. So help these people!” He threw her from him and stormed out the door.
“Danni, are you all right?” Will’s voice cracked from the shadows.
She closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to spill over. No, she was not. She was scared and exhausted and her entire body ached. “I—I think so, Will. Are you?” She turned enough to see him, Peter, and Colter chained to a wall behind her and back in the shadows so much that she couldn’t quite see them properly.
“Yes, we are all right.”
“What is going to happen to us?” Her thoughts turned to Nathan and wished he were there. Will was quiet for several moments. “I don’t know.”
Just then, the doors on either side of the room banged opened. The sound reverberated around them. Danni stood, her body suddenly numb. Men, women, and children entered the dungeon room, hands tied, and herded in by armed soldiers. Briggs’s words echoed in her mind. Help these people.
The room seemed to narrow into a suffocating tunnel and she finally understood his words. He was going to harm them and he expected her to protect them, but she didn’t know how. Her breath came in rapid gasps.
Despite the cold, beads of sweat formed on her brow and her hands felt moist and clammy.
Soldiers seized a man and placed him against a wall, then aimed three crossbows at him. A woman, likely his wife, cried out and drew two small children close. Danni threw her arm out to guard him as the arrows were released. Something within her chest again tightened and the arrows bounced away from the protective shield she had created.
The woman sobbed and ran to her husband. She kissed and clung to him.
Danni sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands. This had to be a nightmare. She pleaded to awaken and find it all a dream, but she knew it was real—and she knew it would likely destroy her.
She heard a scream and glanced up, then gaped in horror at a soldier who withdrew his bloody sword from the man’s stomach. The man’s face contorted in agony. He gasped and struggled, then fell to the ground. His body twitched, then stilled.
“John!” The woman fell upon her husband’s corpse.
Help these people. The words whispered in Danni’s ear as though Briggs’ stood beside her and said them himself. She had looked away and hadn’t protected the man. John. A husband. A father. She had failed and he had died.
More cries echoed around the room. Danni saw a soldier take a bound woman. He led her to a hook hanging from the ceiling, pulled her tied hands high above her head and looped the rope over it. Another soldier stepped behind her and ran his fingers through the strands of a knotted whip. His powerful arm drew back, then thrust forward and cracked the whip upon her back. It never made contact. Danni’s chest tightened again and a red glow swirled around the ring.
Another soldier with a mace and chain advanced upon a man. The ring seemed to glow brighter as Danni used it to throw the soldier against the wall. The spikes on the flail ripped chunks away when it crashed.
Another scream came from a woman tied to a post in a small pit filled with wood. While Danni had saved the man, soldiers had lit the wood with torches. A fire blazed and licked at the woman’s feet. Danni reached out again, and kept the flames from touching the woman.
With a swish of metal, a soldier drew his sword, placed it into the fire until the tip turned nearly as red as the misty glow that now filled the room, then stepped toward a huddled group of children. Danni threw him across the room.
Five soldiers surrounded a young woman, but neither their hands nor their weapons could touch her.
More people were brought into the room and indescribable tortures were tried on them. It became too chaotic for Danni to stop every horror.
Help these people. She couldn’t save them. The ache near her heart threatened to tear her apart.
Screams reverberated through the room—innocent people, injured soldiers, her, maybe even Will or the others. She could no longer tell.
Help these people.
She thrust out with the ring’s power and lost control. Sometimes the innocent were protected. Sometimes the soldiers and guards were killed. Sometimes the strength that emanated from the ring bounced off the ceiling or walls and scattered debris about the room.
Help these people.
Her heart seemed to rend in two. Her weakened body could bear no more. Blackness hid the room’s horrors from her vision and she fainted onto the cold ground.
Chapter 24
Nathan paced back and forth on the dirt road and gazed back at the city. He knew something was wrong. Danni’s group should have met them an hour ago, but they were not there. He and the others had arrived at the meeting place outside Norlin early and had waited and waited. Something had happened. He could feel it deep in his chest, as though his very heart screamed out a warning.
It was the same cold fear that had filled his body when his mother returned home and asked, “Where is Emma?” He had been in charge of her while his mother sought work and his father lay dying in bed. He had forgotten and lost himself in his childish adventures. He had only been eight years old, but he was the older brother. He should have watched her.
Please let Danni be safe, he begged.
“Nate.” Garin placed his hand on Nathan’s shoulder to stop his movement. “It is barely evening. Not everyone is as punctual as you. Give them time and they will come.”
But Nathan knew they would not. He had known it was wrong to split up from the moment Lane suggested it, but he had ignored those feelings and trusted instead in his cousin’s judgment. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Danni because of his poor choice—just as he had never forgiven himself for Emma’s death.
They had searched everywhere for Emma. She hadn’t been with Nathan’s father. She was not playing in the yard or at the neighbor’s home. Then Nathan remembered the river that passed behind their house and somehow knew she had gone there. He ran to the river and screamed her name. He searched the banks on both sides. Then he saw the ribbon that had been tied in her hair stuck in a pile of branches and logs clogging the river. With numbing dread, he approached and found that it was still tied in her hair. He had pulled her from the pile in the river, but it had been too late—much too late. Her face had bloated and her eyes had stared hauntingly back at him.
He shuddered, unable to remove the image from his mind. “Edward, Garin go back into Norlin. Search everywhere for them. Doc and I will stay in case they still come. Return after sundown.”
Without a word they left.
Nathan stepped off the road and moved under the shade of a maple tree. He rubbed his chin and kicked at the dirt. How could he have made such a poor decision?
“Nathan.” Doc’s calm voice did not sooth his nerves. “It will be all right. They will come.”
“It is not all right, and they will not come! Something terrible has happened. I should never have let her go.” He dropped to his knees in the grass and buried his head in his hands. He felt sick. It was his fault, like with Emma. His mother had never accused him—had never even gotten angry at him—but he had known.
“You cannot blame yourself—”
“Yes, I can!” Nathan interrupted. He
clenched a fistfull of hair on either side of his head and nearly pulled it out. “It is my fault! Mine! I was her older brother and I let her die!”
“What?”
Doc’s confusion pulled Nathan from his nostalgia. He released his fists and let his arms hang at his sides. “I mean, I am the leader and should never have agreed to separate from her.”
Doc held Nathan’s gaze for several moments. “Are you all right, son?”
Nathan sighed and crossed his legs under him. “No.” He had never spoken to anyone about Emma’s death. Lane knew, of course, and had told Will and James, but they had never asked him about it.
His father had died three days after Emma. He had been sick for over a year, and Nathan hardly remembered when he had been well. Nathan had no memory of his father looking at him the way Doc did then.
Perhaps it was that look that opened his mouth. He told Doc everything. The horrific story poured from him like blood from an unhealed wound.
Doc listened and did not condemn him. They sat in silence when he finished.
Finally Doc spoke. “You were so young—too young to understand the consequences.”
“But old enough to understand my duty.” Nathan stood, ran his hand across his whiskered face, and resumed his pacing.
Just after sundown Garin and Edward returned with nothing to report. There was no sign of them.
Nathan kicked a rock that sailed into the darkness. “Set up camp.”
Chapter 25
Will awoke when Merk entered the stone prison with a water bucket and threw the water into Danni’s unconscious face. She gasped and curled up.
“Get up!” Merk barked and jerked her to her feet. Her legs wobbled and she crashed back to the ground.
“Fool!” Merk pulled her up again.
She swayed but remained upright.
“Thank you, Merk.” General Briggs stepped his pudgy body into the room.
Will strained at his bonds, desperate to reach Danni before Briggs did, but he was chained too far away.
“Well, my dear,” Briggs said in a tone that churned Will’s already ill stomach. “I am afraid you disappointed many people who counted on you. People were hurt, some were even killed. They didn’t have to die.”
She sank to her knees. Briggs knelt beside her and stroked her face.
“You could have saved them, Princess. It is all your fault.”
Her chains clanked as she wiped at her cheeks.
“Don’t listen to him Danni!” Will cried. “He is a liar. It is his fault, not yours!”
Briggs went to Will and glared at him. Will met his gaze. Then Briggs balled his fist and swung. Will braced for the blow that never came.
Briggs cursed and turned to Danni. She straightened to her full height with fire in her emerald eyes and the ring glowing faintly on her finger.
“Oh.” Briggs’ voice was low and dangerous. “You are ready to play our little game again, I see. So be it, but remember, these people are depending on you to protect them as you did your friend. Good luck!” He mockbowed to her and left the room.
Will saw panic replace the fire in her eyes. The doors opened and more innocent people were ushered in. He couldn’t bear to watch again.
He could turn away, sickened by what would happen, but free from guilt. Danni was not so lucky. He knew she couldn’t turn away because she thought she could help them. He knew Briggs’s words had sunk into her soul and that she felt responsible for their fate.
Will closed his eyes and turned his entire body away from the horrors in the room. He covered his ears with his hands, but couldn’t quite block out the cries of the tortured people. Then Danni’s screams joined theirs.
Will’s heart ached for her. He knew she fought with all she had, but couldn’t stop the cruelty, for she hadn’t learned to harness and master the power of the ring. Even if she had learned, it would have been impossible to stop it all. He knew she would do all she could to save the people and that the torment wouldn’t end until she passed out again.
He gasped. That was Briggs’s plan. He tortured them to make Danni weak. Will trembled to think how weak she would have to become before Briggs left her alone. The agony would break her into irreparable pieces.
The shrieks intensified until Will could no longer resist the urge to look. He opened his eyes and beheld it all.
A red haze filled the room. Danni threw her arms about with no control, and destruction followed her every move. Will’s body wrenched in agony and he had to turn away once more.
Soon the screaming stopped, and the room fell silent. He opened his eyes. The red glow was gone. Danni lay unconscious on the floor, her face pale and sickly. The soldiers marched the innocent from the room then returned to drag off the dead. The doors slammed shut, then all was still.
Will fell to his knees and felt a sob tear from his lips.
Colter sank to the ground beside him.
“All those innocent people.” Peter buried his head in his hands. “How can anyone be so barbaric?”
Will had no answer.
∞∞∞
Nathan touched his fists to the tree they had gathered beneath, then rested his pounding head between them. The rough bark scratch his forehead. They had searched Norlin for an entire day but had found not even a whisper of their companions. They had not reached the city.
He was exhausted and sick with worry and his injured arm still throbbed with his heartbeat. He felt himself lose control—just as he had after Emma’s death. After her death, he hated himself for what he had done. He had wished to be anyone but him. When his mother needed him the most, he hadn’t been there. She had dealt with her daughter’s death and then her husband’s on her own. He should have helped her and comforted her, but he hadn’t had the strength.
He couldn’t fall apart again. What had happened with Emma was in the past. He had to let it go, bury his emotions for Emma and Danni, and focus on the problem at hand. He had to be stronger this time. Too many lives depended on him.
He pushed back from the tree and stared at the three men with him. “We have to sleep. We will be no good to the others if we are fatigued.” He paused to rebuild his courage. “I am calling off the search until morning. We will find a room in Norlin, and rest for the night.”
Edward secured a room for them at a local inn. They purchased dinner, then climbed the inn stairs to their room and went straight to bed.
Nathan thought his mind would never let him rest, but he fell asleep the instant his head hit the pillow. He slept soundly until the sun blinded him through his window the next morning.
Chapter 26
Danni felt water hit her face, but she didn’t move. She could hardly think and her eyelids wouldn’t open. Water hit her again, but she did not respond.
Someone roughly shook her shoulders but she couldn’t wake.
Then all went still.
Sometime later she felt someone slap her cheek. The pain awakened her senses and she forced her eyes open. She blinked and Merk’s grotesque face took shape above her.
Horrible memories flooded her mind. Pain, torture, screaming, and losing control.
Merk slapped her once more, then pulled her to her feet. Her legs wouldn’t hold her and she sank to her knees.
He laughed and then left the room. Briggs entered once again.
“You do not look well, Princess.” He knelt and brushed some wet hair off her forehead. She hadn’t even the strength to pull away from his evil touch.
“You deserve to feel awful.” His breath touched her cheek. “You have caused so much pain and suffering to these poor, innocent people. You have allowed them to be tortured and killed.”
He stood. “I hope you perform better today than your pathetic attempt to save them yesterday.” He chuckled, then left the room.
People were herded in. Danni’s hands shook and sweat poured down her forehead. She knew she couldn’t protect them and didn’t know if she even had the strength to try.
All the destructive words Briggs had said to her over the past few days crept into her mind. You deserve to feel awful…It is all your fault…You could have saved them… You are the heir to the Marselon line so help these people! She couldn’t do it.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Perhaps she wasn’t the woman in the legend after all. She didn’t have the strength to help a few innocent people, let alone unite an entire kingdom.
Just when she was about to give up entirely, another voice entered her head—one that filled her with hope and comfort. It is all right, Danni. You can do this. It is what you were born to do. You have more strength and goodness than you know. It was Nathan’s voice, and his words brought undiscovered strength to her heart.
I am the heir to the Marselon line, she thought. I do have the ruby ring. I can save these people and I will save them!
Warmth swelled in her chest and surged through her. She wouldn’t let anyone else suffer! She faced the soldiers and felt the ring strengthen her. It began to glow. She thrust forward with all the strength she felt from it and protected the hostages.
Focus on their needs, she told herself. Protect them.
For a few precious moments she did it. Somehow she protected them all from harm. She felt in control at last! Then a small child cried out in pain. The screams from the past few days echoed through her head and mixed with fresh ones before her. Everywhere she looked, people suffered. She couldn’t stop the atrocities.
Hold on, she cried to herself as the tightness near her heart began to suffocate her. You can do this. You have to keep them safe!
But she could not. Her body was too exhausted and the pressure was too great.
Misty red filled the room. Frenzied waves of power exploded from the ring. Danni no longer knew what she was doing.
It is all your fault.
No! She threw magic erratically through the room. Chaos followed her every move. Soldiers and innocent people were hurt. Pieces of walls were blasted apart. Dust rained down from the ceiling. Fires erupted as torches were knocked off the walls. People were hurt from debris or killed from the magic’s sheer force.
The Power of The Ruby Ring Page 12
