“Lirth was taken directly from the camp about an hour after we left them. They followed the trail for a mile before losing it in a river. Three quarters of the contingent spread out to continue the search, while the rest were sent to bring us word. If we leave immediately, we will reach their camp by dawn.”
Aarint, who stood behind Trahern, spoke. “There is hope. Liam is missing. They don’t know if he was captured with her or trailing the kidnappers.”
Just a little hope crept into the storm within him. He clung to it like a drowning man. Shoving up from the table, he gained his feet. “We leave immediately.” Please, Kurios, don’t let this hope be in vain.
~~~~~~
Every movement hurt. Each breath brought pain. Even when she didn’t move, she ached. Lirth vaguely remembered being in a similar condition years ago after she had been thrown down a stairwell. Leaning on Liam’s solid support and constantly reminding herself that she should be thankful she lived, she cautiously moved onward.
”Can we pause?” she asked.
Liam stopped. “Are you alright?” His grip on her elbow tightened slightly.
“Just tired. If I could just rest for a moment, I am sure I will move more swiftly afterward.”
Liam led her to what felt like a grassy patch under a tree.
“I will scout ahead and see if I can figure out our location. I have a vague idea, but it would help to know more exactly.” He wrapped her hand around a smooth, leather-covered grip. “This is a knife. If someone comes near you, scream and brandish this. I won’t be far.”
She nodded.
He moved off, and she was left in silence. Leaning back against the rough bark, Lirth closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep.
~~~~~~
Dawn broke above the trees. Beneath the awning of arching branches and rustling leaves, the royal party moved slowly along the narrow woodland path. So far the searchers had found an abandoned farm house and barn. The structures sheltered a dead body and a material fragment from Lirth’s skirt. Ireic ignored the possibility that she could have been killed and clung to the fact she had been there. There was no trace of Liam.
In the dim morning light with the help of lanterns, Ireic, Aarint, and Trahern searched the sides of the trail for footprints while others combed the forest at intervals from the trail. Ireic knelt down to inspect what looked to be the beginning of a deer trail, when a disturbance farther up the trail drew all of their attention.
“You there!”
The call was punctuated by a crash as someone plowed through a bush and tumbled onto the trail ahead. The man landed on his hands and knees. Twigs and leaves clung to his dark brown hair. Then he raised his head and Ireic’s heart stopped.
“Liam.” Trahern ran to his side.
Isack remained with Ireic, but the rest of the party gathered around the kneeling man. Unable to get past the fact that Lirth was nowhere to be seen, Ireic tried to prepare himself for the worst.
Liam approached and knelt before Ireic.
“She lives, sire.” He gasped for breath. “I ran when I saw the first searcher. I left her in a clearing beneath an oak.”
“Lead us,” Ireic commanded.
Lirth lay beneath a tree, just as Liam said he had left her. Ireic ran across the clearing and fell to his knees. His heart thumped wildly as he tried to catch his breath. She lay on her left side, the hilt of a dagger loosely cradled in her slender fingers. Dark curls fell about her face and her eyes were closed, in what Ireic hoped was only sleep. Just the sight of her brought his heart into his throat. It took all of his self-control not to immediately take her in his arms.
Ipore had drilled instructions into him. “Do not move injured persons unless their lives are in danger.” Ireic knew that if he did, he might do more harm than good. Regardless, he ached to touch her and reassure himself that she lived. He needed to know that the paleness of her face was from pain, not the cold pallor of death.
Reaching out, he brushed back one of the curls that lay across her cheek. The skin beneath his fingers felt warm. With overwhelming relief, he noted the gentle rise and fall of her chest.
She lives! Thank you, Kurios.
Gently removing the dagger hilt from her lax hand, Ireic frowned down at it.
“She couldn’t walk anymore, sire,” Liam offered from his place behind Ireic. “I knew we would never be found if we stayed here. I left the weapon so that she wouldn’t be completely helpless.”
“I understand,” Ireic reassured him. “How badly is she injured?”
Liam approached and slowly knelt next to him. “He beat her pretty thoroughly. I feared that she wouldn’t be able to walk, but she did manage to for a time.”
Ireic glanced at Liam. He looked battered himself.
“I wouldn’t have been able to carry her this far, sire. I didn’t expect her to walk this distance either. She is stronger than she looks. I stopped the first time she mentioned the pain.”
Ireic nodded, remembering the light in her sightless eyes the first time he had met her. Turning back to gaze down at his wife, Ireic relaxed slightly. He reached out and brushed his thumb across her lips. Thank you, Kurios.
She stirred slightly at the touch. Pain flickered across her features, but she didn’t wake.
“The litter is here,” Isack announced from above Ireic’s other shoulder.
“Clear the way.” Ipore’s voice carried clearly in the open air.
The Royal Healer, two young orderlies, and a sturdy looking litter came hurrying through bushes and burst into the clearing. In moments, they had bundled Lirth onto the stretcher. They lifted it and her from the ground and began moving in the direction of the base camp at a steady trot. Ireic longed to be at her side, but with Ipore there Ireic would only get in the way. Instead he followed as closely as possible, eyes only for the prone figure in the center of the chaos.
“She will live.” Trahern laid a hand briefly on Ireic’s shoulder as they fell into step together.
“Yes, by the grace of the Kurios, she will live,” Ireic agreed. He couldn’t think of anything more to say as he watched Ipore manage to walk and lean over Lirth at the same time. The rush of helplessness incapacitated him.
“It hurts worse than getting beaten up yourself, doesn’t it?”
Ireic looked over at his brother in surprise. The dull ache in his chest grew more acute than any injury he had ever suffered.
“I feel the same about Eve. I concluded that sharing the pain of your wife is part of loving them.”
“Sire.” A young orderly bowed awkwardly when Ireic turned to acknowledge him. Farther down the trail, the stretcher was stopped. “The queen is asking for you, Sire.”
Ireic didn’t need to be asked twice. Ipore looked up as he approached and smiled, despite the worry lines about his eyes. “Here he is, my queen.” He lifted Lirth’s left hand for Ireic to take. “She wanted to be sure you were well, sire.”
Ireic willingly took the delicate hand in both of his. Kneeling beside the stretcher, he leaned close. “I am right here, Beloved.”
Lirth turned her eyes and face toward him. “Ireic,” she whispered through cracked lips. Her free hand came up, seeking to touch him. He guided it to his face, closing his eyes to relish the pressure of her fingertips. “I was praying for you,” she whispered hoarsely.
Ireic could not stop the tears then. He clung to her hand and fought to gain control. “I was praying for you, too.”
“I love you.”
He smiled down into her beautiful, dark blue eyes. “I love you too, Lirth.”
Somewhere above them Ipore coughed. “Sire, I hate to interrupt, but I do need to get her back to the base camp.”
“I understand.” Leaning down, he gently kissed her forehead. “I will be right behind you,” he told her. “Listen to Ipore. He is an old, bossy man, but he will take care of you. If you want me for anything, just tell him. He will send for me.” He brushed her face with his fingertips before reluctantly releasi
ng her.
Ipore rushed the litter away as soon as Ireic stepped back enough for the carriers to pass. Though he understood the Royal Healer’s urgency, Ireic didn’t wish to see her go. There was so much for him to tell her. He hadn’t told her about his new relationship with the Kurios. She would understand the strange mixture of anger and sorrow he felt about the former high councilor’s death sentence.
“Come.” Trahern pulled Ireic forward. “You need to distract yourself and I know just the thing.”
Before Ireic could protest, Trahern planted him in a tent with a group of junior officials full of questions about what they were supposed to do next. It took Ireic three hours to sort them out. As he was sending off the last of them with detailed instructions on what was needed for a census, Aarint appeared at his elbow.
“Did Trahern send you to find me another task?” Ireic yawned widely. The fact that he hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours was beginning to catch up with him.
“Lirth is sleeping and the Royal Healer wants to speak with you.” Aarint smiled. “After that, I think you need to sleep. I am on the way to bed myself. Trahern has been snoring away in one of the barrack tents for a good hour now. I heard his tent-mates complaining about the noise.”
Nodding absentmindedly, Ireic pushed himself to his feet and shuffled off in the direction of the healer’s tent.
“Sit,” Ipore ordered the moment he saw him.
Too tired to protest that he was the one who should be giving orders, Ireic sank gratefully into the nearest chair.
“How is Lirth?” He asked as the older man studied him critically.
“Surprisingly well, considering what she has been through. When was the last time you ate and slept?”
“I cannot remember,” Ireic replied honestly. He wished that the healer hadn’t mentioned food because his stomach growled.
“Go to bed and get some sleep,” Ipore responded, ignoring Ireic’s question. “They set up the royal tent in the center of camp.”
“Where is Lirth sleeping?” Ireic asked.
“In there.” He pointed toward the canvas covering the opening into the ward. “I cleared the place to give her privacy.”
“Can I see her?”
The Royal Healer frowned.
Ireic forced himself to his feet. He followed Ipore into the ward. Lirth slept on a cot near the middle on the right side. Ireic walked directly to the cot nearest hers and lay down. Sleep came almost instantly.
~~~~~~
Lirth woke to the sound of hushed voices and muffled movement, followed by a heavy thump.
“Don’t wake them,” a voice hissed. “They need their sleep.”
The transgressor didn’t reply, perhaps to avoid risking another reprimand. Instead, the two moved out of Lirth’s range of hearing. Other sounds crowded into the stillness. Someone slept close by. She recognized the rough breathing of deep, exhaustion-induced slumber. Considering her memories of her last waking moments involved Ipore, she suspected that she lay in the ward of the healers’ tent. The sleeper in the next cot was probably another patient.
Carefully, she tried to sit up. She only managed to raise herself onto her elbow before she stopped to catch her breath. The pain in her ribs ached worse than yesterday. The person in the other cot shifted in his sleep with a grunt and fell into soft snoring.
She moved again, more cautiously this time. She managed to get upright and one leg dangling over the edge of the cot, when the agony stopped her a second time. In the silence, she realized that her companion no longer snored. He rested unsettlingly still.
“Are you awake?”
“I have been waiting for you.” The low, husky voice thrilled her heart.
Heedless of the consequences, she lowered her other leg over the side and slid off the edge of the cot.
“Wait!” Ireic leapt off of his cot.
Her legs buckled beneath her weight. He caught her as she went down and then set her on his lower cot. “Where are you going so fast?”
Reaching up, she found his jaw. The beginnings of a beard caught her skin. She smiled up at him. “I was trying to get to you.”
He laughed. The sound deadened the piercing agony of her ribs. She couldn’t remember the last time she heard that sound. Winding her fingers into his hair, she tugged gently.
“You are still healing, Lirth,” he said, suddenly serious. “You are not allowed on your feet until Ipore says so. Promise me.”
“Only if you come down where I can reach you.”
He complied by kneeling before her. The action brought his head even with hers. He caught her face gently between his hands.
“Is the rebellion put down?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” His thumb caught her bottom lip.
“Please answer the question and I will drop it.”
Leaning his forehead against hers, he sighed. “Yes, all is under control. Now answer my question. Can I kiss you? Will it hurt?” His thumb brushed her lips again. The cracked surface was tender, but Lirth found she didn’t care.
Slipping her hands up through the circle of his arms, she pulled his face to her and kissed him instead.
Thank you, Kurios, she thought.
__________
Chapter Fifteen
By evening, the successful search party returned to the city. Ireic found himself falling back into the hectic patterns of the days before the coup. Meetings, letter writing, and document signings filled the next day and promised to fill the coming months.
Except for those few stolen moments in the healer’s tent, he didn’t see Lirth for more than a few moments at a time. With the separate rooms and the exhausted state he attained before falling into bed every night, he barely saw her. The Ipore had said she needed time to recover, but Ireic longed to simply be near her. He frequently bemoaned the social conventions of court life that dictated separate living quarters for couples.
Finally, on the sixth day he reached his limit. The piles of documents grew faster than they could be processed. If he didn’t do something soon, he would have no time to do something later.
“I am taking a break.” Ireic announced to Dorn.
As Ireic rose from behind his cluttered desk, his assistant lifted his head. Then, before Dorn could form a response, Ireic walked out the door.
Isack jumped to attention at his station outside the study door. Ignoring him, Ireic strode past and turned right in the direction of the Queen’s apartments. He was dimly aware of Isack following. He was so used to the bodyguard’s presence that he easily ignored him.
Pleased to find two guards standing before Lirth’s door, he saluted them as he approached. They snapped to attention.
“Is the Queen in her rooms?”
“Yes, sire,” the man on the right replied. “Do you wish for me to announce you?”
Ireic impatiently shook his head. The guard saluted and opened the door for him. After signaling for Isack to stay behind, Ireic stepped into the room.
A welcoming silence greeted him, much like it had when he had come to seek consolation after disbanding the council. He closed his eyes and let it wash over him.
He knew Lirth didn’t like having servants and attending ladies underfoot at all times. However, Ireic was surprised to encounter no one when he walked through to her inner rooms. He grew even further amazed to find her in the bedroom, sitting by the window alone. Larissa was almost her constant companion these days. Yet, the handmaid was nowhere in sight.
As he came to a stop just inside the room, she raised her head and tilted it to one side as she listened for his next step.
“Catching a few moments alone?”
Her face blossomed into a smile as she recognized his voice. When she rose to her feet, the handiwork on her lap slid to the floor. She stepped toward him, hands outstretched. Ireic met her halfway.
Enfolding her welcome form in his arms, Ireic pressed his face into her hair and breathed deeply of her scent. He loved the way she fitted
against him, as if she were a part of him.
“I missed you.” She pressed her face against his chest.
He smiled and squeezed her tighter.
After a few moments of just holding her, he reluctantly loosened his embrace. He had come here for a reason. “So, how are you healing?” he asked. Catching her chin with his free hand, he lifted it so he could see her face. The once black and blue bruises were now patches of green and brown against her pale skin. Despite the fact that the culprit was dead, Ireic’s anger rose at the sight.
“The bruises are fading. Larissa says in few days they will hardly be noticeable at a distance.”
He smiled down at her. “Just in time for the coronation.”
A flicker of unease passed across her features.
“What is it?” He stroked her jaw with his thumb. “Are you nervous?”
Pulling her chin out of his grip, she turned her face away. “I know I shouldn’t be afraid. After all the Kurios has brought us through, facing a ceremony shouldn’t be that hard. I have practiced it enough.”
“But you are still afraid?”
She nodded and stepped closer to him again, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her face against his chest.
Ireic’s heartbeat accelerated. He had waited too long to seek her out. All he wanted to do was hold her close and kiss her senseless. That wasn’t what she needed right now, at least not yet.
“Beloved.” He leaned close to her ear. “Kurios has everything in His hands. He will guide you.”
She leaned back and sightlessly regarded him. Then she smiled, hope spreading across her face. “You accepted Him.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, during those days as we traveled, the Kurios laid a heavy hand upon me. ‘My sin was ever before me’ as that one king said. I could not escape. Your peace haunted me as well. Finally, I set aside my stubborn will. Oh, Lirth.” He held her close. “You were right. He gave me a peace like I have never experienced.”
She returned his embrace. Then a tell-tale dampness where her face rested against his chest caused him to withdraw. Seeking her cheek, he found it moist with tears.
The King of Anavrea (Book Two of the Theodoric Saga) Page 16
