Jorn hurried forward to the man. Although they barely knew each other, and had hardly ever spoken, their common mission was a bond of brotherhood.
‘Jorn,’ Jonathan whispered again.
Jorn reached him and knelt down in the leaves, cradling the dying man’s head. For there was no doubt that Jonathan’s wound was mortal. These were his last moments.
‘What are you doing here, Jorn? You didn’t come with us through the Crystal Doorway.’
‘Never mind how I got here. What happened? Where are the rest of your men?’
‘They’re all dead.’ He glanced at the blood seeping through his armor and corrected himself. ‘We’re all dead. We came through the Doorway and we were ambushed by Anders’ knights. They knew our location.’
‘I’m sorry, my friend. Good men do not deserve to die like this.’
Jonathan grabbed his arm. ‘Listen. The Doorway will be opened again in…’ He checked his watch. ‘…Forty three minutes. Anders men are waiting there to go back through and attack our command center. You must stop them. The Director is in danger.’
Forty three minutes. It wasn’t long enough for Jorn to get to the castle and find Amy. No matter, he had to try. They had to be back here in forty three minutes if they were to get home.
‘Where will the Doorway be opening?’ he asked Jonathan.
The dying knight pointed into the trees. ‘To the West of here. There’s a glade. Be careful.’
‘I will,’ Jorn said. But when he looked down at Jonathan, the knight was already dead.
‘Rest in peace, my friend,’ Jorn muttered before laying Jonathan’s body aside. He sat it against a tree so that it looked as if Jonathan were merely sleeping.
Jorn considered his options. The castle was too far for him to get there and back in the time he had left. If he and Amy didn’t get through the Doorway when it opened, they would be stranded here in Anders’ realm while the black knights went through the doorway and attacked the command center in London. He needed to act quickly. He needed a horse.
Tracking back through the woods, he kept his eyes and ears alert for Anders’ knights. In these dense trees, they wouldn’t be able to ride so they would have dismounted and tied the horses nearby while they waited for the Doorway to open. Jorn could steal a horse from under their noses and ride to the castle, making his rescue attempt much more feasible. He was a skilled horseman and he knew he would be able to take one of the mounts without making any noise to alert Anders’ men.
Creeping stealthily through the trees, he listened carefully for a sound that was out of place in the forest. Then he heard it; the sound of men. He paused and flattened himself against a thick oak trunk, judging the direction of the sound he had heard.
It came again, floating on the night breeze. Men talking. Laughing. Metal armor clanking and leather straps creaking. He wondered how many of them there were. The command center wouldn’t be ready for a surprise attack to come through the Doorway. If those knights killed the monks in the Crystal Chamber, the Order of the Black Rose would be unable to attack Anders in his own realm until they found new monks and trained them. All attacks would be one-way, with Anders attacking knights in their homes but no retaliation possible. No way to recover the Crystal Shard that Anders had in his possession. A disaster for the Order. Jorn would stop that happening at any cost.
He kept low in the darkening shadows and looked for the horses, spying them some distance from where the man stood talking in a clearing. The horses were tied but not guarded. After all, this was Anders’ realm and there was no chance of attack as far as the men were concerned. The Doorway was closed and when it reopened, they would be ready to go through it. For now, they had no fear of Black Rose knights being on this side of the portal and Jorn hoped to use their misplaced confidence to steal a mount.
They had built a fire and they stood around it, keeping warm in the cool night. Jorn counted ten of them in the flickering orange glow. Beyond where they stood, deeper in the woods, dead bodies had been hastily piled together. There must have been thirty bodies in that pile and Jorn said a quiet prayer for his fallen comrades. At least they had taken a good number of Anders’ men with them.
Choking down the anger he felt and resisting the urge to leap into the makeshift camp with his sword drawn, Jorn reached the horses quickly and selected a chestnut mare. He untied the already-saddled horse and led her away from the others, soothing her with soft words and whispers as he led her away from her companions.
When he was clear of the glade, he moved quicker, leading the horse through the forest, looking for a trail or a clear path that would allow him to mount the horse and ride her out of here and to the castle. Time was of the essence.
When at last the trees thinned, he leapt up into the saddle and urged the horse on with a flick of the reins and a quick yell. The mare bolted forward and Jorn guided her toward the castle.
He hoped he wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER THREE
Escape
I hit the water and the sudden whooshing in my ears disoriented me as I went under. Then the cold hit me and my body went into shock. I wanted to gasp for air but I was far from the surface, being pulled under the cold dark water by a current that tugged on me and drew me deeper into the depths.
Then I realized what might have been a fatal mistake. I had assumed the moat would be still, stagnant water but the reality was that the protective water was actually a river that flowed around the castle. A fast-flowing river. And it was dragging me along in its cold grip.
I kicked my legs and pulled with my arms, attempting to reach the surface. Despite my aversion to being seen in a bathing suit, I went swimming at the local pool regularly, the water reminding me of family holidays abroad when I was a little girl. Once I had made the dash from changing room to pool and my body was under the water, I felt confident enough to push myself to swim a dozen lengths of the pool before self-consciously climbing out and dashing back to the changing room as quickly as I dared over the slippery tiles. That exercise meant I was a strong swimmer but the current of the moat was insistent, pulling at my legs and night shirt and drawing me down to a watery grave.
Summoning the same strength I had discovered when I had pushed Darla against the dungeon wall, I fought the water’s pull and thrashed out for the surface, kicking my legs so hard the muscles ached as much as my oxygen-starved lungs.
When I finally broke the surface, I gasped in a deep breath of sweet night air before the river dragged me down again. Fighting back panic, I drove myself to the surface again and took another breath. And another. And another.
The river had taken me away from the castle, which I could now see as a dark shadow in the distance, and the current had calmed, carrying me gently through a nightscape of meadows and forests. I swam for the riverbank and climbed out onto the grass, cold and wet and suddenly crying, my tears mingling with the river water on my cheeks.
All the emotions I had held back until now come rushing out in sobs of despair. I felt so alone, so far from home. The only man I trusted to rescue me may be dead or he might not have been able to follow me to this place. This place. I didn’t even know where this place was, where I was. I needed to hear a familiar voice, feel a familiar touch, see a friendly face. I needed to hear Sara, to speak to her. I needed Jorn, to feel his arms around me. At that moment, I would gladly have listened to Denny spouting out one of his conspiracy theories. At least I wouldn’t feel so alone.
I tried to stop crying and pull myself together but I couldn’t. I was going to freeze to death out here if I didn’t find some shelter, somewhere to get dry. But all I could do was sit here sobbing like a baby.
Pull yourself together, Amy, I told myself. Get a grip.
Wiping my eyes, I forced myself to stand up on my shaky legs and I looked around for somewhere to spend the night. The grassy meadow led to a forest and I knew my best chance of survival was to go into the trees, find dead leaves and undergrowth and make myself a
bed and try to keep warm but the darkness frightened me. I had no idea what animals lived in there. Shivering from the cold and an icy fear creeping up my spine, I told myself that I had to do this. If I stayed out here I would freeze to death or Darla’s guards would find me. Neither of those outcomes appealed to me so the forest was my only choice.
Taking a deep breath, I walked forward toward the trees. With each step I became more wary of the darkness I was walking towards but I kept going all the same. At least the movement warmed me a little.
I heard something coming through the trees. I froze, wanting to run. There was nowhere to run to and my feet refused to move. Whatever was in there was coming this way and it sounded big. Branches snapped and the creature’s footfalls pounded on the earth. I looked around for a weapon of some sort. A rock or a branch. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
But there was nothing to defend myself with. I braced myself as the animal broke from the trees, moving fast.
I let out a breath as I realized it was a horse.
And sitting astride it was Jorn.
My rescuer.
He had come to save me.
‘Jorn,’ I managed to say weakly. My vision seemed to be closing in on itself and everything looked dark. Then an explosion of flashes behind my eyes told me I was fainting and I dropped to the grass as my awareness of the world faded to black.
CHAPTER FOUR
Portal
Jorn slid from the saddle and rushed over to Amy as she fainted into the grass. He held her in his arms and spoke her name over and over. No response. Her skin felt cold and she had clearly been in the river for some reason. Dressed in only a soaked night shirt with a cartoon cat on the front and a pair of pink panties, she was in danger of getting hypothermia. It was a cold, dangerous night and she should not be out here. She was too vulnerable.
Picking her up and placing her over the saddle, he led the mare back into the trees, following the river. He needed to find a safe place to build a fire and a shelter. Amy’s well-being was the top of his priorities. He had gotten her into this and he would do anything to protect her.
He checked his watch. In thirty two minutes, the Doorway would open. That might be his only chance to get Amy back home. Yet she was in no fit state to travel. He couldn’t take her to the Doorway while it was guarded by Anders’ knights. Jorn couldn’t guarantee Amy’s safety in such a situation. He had to find another way.
The river led him deep into the woods to a small clearing and pool. On the far side of the pool, rocks rose up to form a mountain and from that mountain a waterfall splashed into the pool. Fresh water. Jorn tied the mare to a tree and set about searching the woods close by for kindling and firewood. Once he had gathered all he needed to get a fire started, he took the survival tin from his jeans pocket, which held the kit all knights of the Order carried at all times.
The small tin was the size of a deck of cards and contained waterproof matches, a small candle, fishing line and hooks, a tiny mirror and a wire saw along with a flint and steel for when the matches ran out. Jorn arranged a circle of rocks and placed the kindling and smaller pieces of wood within before lighting them. They caught and he waited for the blaze to grow before adding larger branches.
While the fire grew, Jorn foraged again and made a bed of leaves and pine branches just outside the circle of rocks, in the warmth. He put his arms around Amy’s waist and slid her from the saddle, carrying her to the makeshift bed.
Before he lay her down on the soft, dry leaves, he removed the sodden night short and her wet panties. Despite the situation, he felt himself grow hard as he looked on Amy’s naked body. The flickering firelight illuminated her curves and softness in ways which made Jorn long to touch her, feel her womanly curves beneath his hands, and explore her lush body. He resisted, his sense of chivalry keeping his hands away from her unconscious form. Instead, he removed his shirt and draped it over her.
He had fifteen minutes before the command center opened the Doorway and Anders’ knights attacked. He could not let that happen. Leaving Amy in the warmth of the fire, he unhitched the mare and rode back to the glade where all hell was about to break loose. The only advantage the command center had was that they had a knight on this side of the doorway, although they didn’t know it yet. Anders and his knights did not know Jorn was here in this realm either.
He had to play that advantage to defeat Anders’ men.
*
I woke up slowly, wondering where I was. Had it all been real? Maybe I was still locked in Darla’s dungeon and the plunge into the moat and seeing Jorn on horseback had all been a dream.
Jorn!
I sat up, suddenly aware I was naked. And warm. A shirt fell from me to the ground and I picked it up. A man’s white shirt. I was sure it was Jorn’s. I held it to my face and breathed in his masculine scent. It was definitely his. He had rescued me.
But where was he?
I looked around. I was still in the forest but now I was in a clearing next to a pool. The sound of rushing water I could hear came from a waterfall that fed the pool. Jorn had built a fire to keep me warm and placed my night shirt and panties on a nearby rock to dry them out. I felt heat spread from my neck to my cheeks when I realized he had stripped me naked. He had seen my body before, of course, but I still felt self-conscious thinking that he had undressed me. And along with that self-conscious feeling came another flush of heat, this time between my thighs as I remembered having sex in the hotel room with Jorn. His presence made me forget my insecurities. The way he looked at me, touched me, made me forget who I was, and that meant my body issues vanished when he was with me.
Draping his shirt around my shoulders, I sat looking into the flames of the fire as they licked at the branches and pieces of trunk Jorn had placed in the circle of stones. No man had ever cared for me like this and I felt a sudden rush of emotion. I rolled my eyes. Don’t start crying again, Amy, you’re ridiculous.
Holding back the tears, I thought of the predicament I was in and forced a smile.
I really was a damsel in distress.
But where was my knight rescuer?
*
Jorn came upon the clearing where Anders’ knights stood around their fire and checked his watch, pressing the button that illuminated the watch face and being careful to shield the light from the direction of his enemy.
Three minutes. He had no plan. His advantage of surprise was lost. He couldn’t just wade into their camp swinging his sword; they were ten armored men, he a single shirtless knight. Attacking them would be suicide.
He needed a distraction. And he needed it at the time the Doorway opened. If he could slow them just enough to get through the Doorway before they did, warn the others.
Two minutes.
He had an idea. It was a long shot but it might buy him the time he needed. He crept to where the horses were tied. Carefully, quietly, he unhitched the reins from the trees. In the camp, the men prepared themselves for their ambush, hefting weapons and checking armor. Jorn heard one of them say, ‘They’ll never know what hit them!’ and he clenched his jaw in anger.
Fifty four seconds.
The air beyond Anders’ men began to glow blue, faint at first then increasing in intensity.
Forty seconds.
An atmosphere of murderous anticipation fell upon the men. They murmured among themselves.
Thirty seconds.
The blue glow opened a little, giving a faint glimpse of the Crystal Room at command center beyond.
Ten seconds.
Jorn silently moved away from the horses.
Eight seconds.
The Doorway opened further.
Five.
Anders’ men stepped forward.
Four.
Jorn raised his sword.
Three.
Chanting from the Crystal Room.
Two.
A battle cry from Anders’ men.
One.
Jorn hit the flanks of the horses
with the flat of his blade.
The animals whinnied and ran forward at full speed. Anders’ knights turned, their eyes wide as they realized they were about to be trampled to death by their own mounts.
Jorn moved quickly, following the horses to the surprised knights, swinging his sword. He killed two of the men before they even realized he was there. Then he ran for the doorway, leaping through it and landing painfully on the rock platform of the Crystal Room.
‘We’re under attack!’ he shouted.
The Director’s voice came over the speaker system in the room. ‘Close the doorway.’
The monks surrounding the platform ceased chanting and the blue portal closed immediately.
‘No!’ Jorn cried, running back to the place the Doorway had been moments earlier. ‘Open the Doorway! Bring knights to defend ourselves.’
But no reply came from the speaker and the Doorway was not reopened.
When Jorn turned to leave the room, his thoughts only on Amy, the Director stood before him.
‘Jorn, you need to tell us what has been happening.’
‘We need to open the Doorway,’ Jorn said firmly. ‘There are only eight of Anders’ men on the other side. With a handful of Order knights…’
The Director raised a hand. ‘We’ve taken too many losses. Our men have been attacked in their own homes. We sent a dozen men through earlier and now they are dead. We won’t be opening the Doorway to Anders’ realm anytime soon. We need to regroup, consolidate our strength.’
‘No, you don’t understand. Amy…’
‘We understand,’ the Director replied. ‘We understand that you want us to risk the lives of yet more knights to save one woman?’
‘I’ll risk my life. No one else has to come with me.’
‘You’d really risk everything for this woman?’
‘Isn’t that the creed we live by? Isn’t that what we do?’
One Hot Knight Box Set Page 6
