Time clicked by slowly, her body growing weary of the path that led her nowhere. Elenya sat down on the edge of the bed, their bed, with a heavy thud. She let her hands fall limply to her sides, her chin dropping before she pushed herself down, burying her face in the pillows. Her tears fell as silently as her heart broke. He hadn’t come to her. He’d known he’d be unable to resist the drive of the Dremis moon, and he’d chosen to stay away. For once, Nema was wrong.
She fell asleep wondering whose bed he’d chosen to grace with his charms. Had he gone to the Dremis gathering seeking a fresh maiden, or had Cerissa won at last? For the first time in a very long time, Elenya’s heart longed for home. She wanted to return to the shores of Aleone.
The darkness of the room startled Elenya when she awakened. She had no idea how long she’d slept, though the bed was still empty when she reached to her side. She ran her hand over the empty space. At least she had the memory of what they’d once shared…
“Elenya, help me. Please…”
Becoming so still she could hear her own breathing, Elenya listened. Afraid to close her eyes, she tried to determine if her imagination was playing tricks on her. A scuffing sound in the secret passageway had her upright in the bed, scrambling for the lighting tinder and candle on the bedside table.
“Ya, please. Unlatch the door. There’s been an accident. I need your help. You have to come…”
“Shemek?” she whispered, quickly kicking her legs over the edge of the bed and slipping into the soft shoes she’d left there. With the candlestick in hand, she pulled back the curtain that shielded the secret passage from view. “Shemek?” she said again, louder though so he could hear her.
“Of course, it’s me, Ya. Now, unlock the door. You have to come with me. We need to hurry.”
Her hand poised above the lock, Elenya hesitated. “Shemek, tell me what’s wrong,” she called through the heavy wood planks.
“Please, Ya. We need to hurry,” he repeated. “I’ll explain on the way. If we don’t hurry, it’s going to be too late.”
Plagued with self-doubt and disappointment from the evening, Elenya cursed the voice of caution that made her wary of her old friend. She slid the lock back then pushed on the heavy door, dropping her candlestick and nearly toppling into Shemek’s arms when he pulled from the other side.
“Steady, now.” He helped her to regain her balance before pulling the torchiere from its arm on the wall. “Come quickly, we have to hurry,” he repeated yet again. He grabbed her hand and began to pull her deeper into the hidden passageway.
“Shemek! Stop. You need to tell me what’s going on,” she shrieked, attempting to pull away, then crying out when he tightened his hold. “Shemek, please, don’t do this.”
“Stop yelling, Ya!” he told her while continuing to pull her down the passageway. “Stop fighting me. Don’t you see, you have to come. There’s no choice. It’s me you belong with. Not him. It’s always been me.”
Fear coursed through her, threatening to empty her stomach of her evening meal, especially when he stopped abruptly and pulled her to him. The torch in his one hand was all that kept him from encircling her with his arms. “Have you forgotten already the kiss we shared on the beach, Ya? All those nights you’ve stared up at the stars, can you say you didn’t think of that night, and me? I didn’t forget, Ya. I visited that beach every night after you left, remembered how you felt in my arms, your body molded to mine. I remembered the taste of your lips, and your tears…” He kissed a tear away from her cheek.
“Shemek, stop. Please,” she whispered. She shook her head. “You told me yourself we could never be. You know it’s true.”
“No!” he yelled, pushing her back with a hard thrust that had her stumbling to keep from falling. “Being with him released you from the bounds of the marking. You have given him his son… I even waited until he was old enough to be away from you, and now you’re free to be with me.” She matched his approaching steps with backwards ones, stopping only when she bumped into the passage wall. She looked from side to side, knowing she could never outrun him, at least not within the confines of the tunnels. “Tell me, Elenya. Tell me you don’t feel anything for me.” His voice growing husky while he talked, he pinned her against the wall with his body, his free hand raking into the thickness of her red curls. With a less than gentle tug, he turned her face up to his. He moistened his own lips while looking at hers. “Your lips tremble, Ya. I see the tears pooled in your eyes. Do you fear me? You needn’t be afraid, love.”
Elenya wanted to believe him though she couldn’t ignore that voice inside telling her what she’d known for some time: that Shemek was not in his right mind. Fighting back revulsion for what she had to do, she ran her hands up his torso to rest her palms against his heart. She shook her head. “No, Shemek,” she whispered, praying he’d forgotten her words from moments ago reminding him of the time he’d told her they had no future. “I mourn now only for lost time. All those months we could have been together after you were released from the infirmary…” She pressed herself up to kiss the hollow of his neck, thankful for the shudder that told her he was beyond logic. “Where are we going?” she asked as she ran her tongue along his jawline and kissed his ear.
She could feel Shemek’s breath hot and heavy against her neck, her face contorting more with every touch of lips that seemed to sear her flesh. “Oh, Ya. I knew. I knew.”
The smile she flashed at him when he pulled back must have passed because she found herself suddenly by his side heading deeper into the secret passageway. “Slow down, Shemek. I know we’re in a hurry, but I need to know where you’re taking me.” She pulled against him, failing to slow him in the least.
Shemek laughed. “Does it matter as long as we’re together?”
“I suppose not, but … how did you know about the tunnels beneath Zanak and the secret halls within the walls?”
“Redahn, of course. We used the tunnels to access the castle a time or two when we were in need of … er, entertainment.”
“Redahn. Of course.” Her words echoed his. Redahn, in search of easy access to the Ladies of the Courts, had breached family security. Another round of panic shot through her, increasing as they moved further away from Zanak. What if Shemek’s actions weren’t merely the mindlessness of a besotted lunatic? Redahn told her once she needed to be mindful of her disdain for the way things worked. What if this was some elaborate scheme to shut her up? He could be in on this. Others might well know about the passages … what of her son? Was his safety in question? Her mind flew, panic making her unreasonable. “Shemek, I can’t do this. Not yet anyway. I don’t think it’s such a good idea. I mean, if I just disappear, isn’t that going to raise suspicion and make them send someone after me?” Oh, dear God. She needed to turn back and check on Rennie, to assure herself that he was okay.
“What’s wrong with you, Ya?” he asked when she started fighting him, clawing at his hand. “You were so eager just moments ago. Think of our future together…”
“Please, Shemek. I need to go back and check on my baby. Just let me make sure he’s okay and then I’ll go with you. Please!” His eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened with her plea.
“Oh, please, Ya. Nobody wants that baby other than Zanak and those crazy Masters to assure their precious bloodlines remain strong and pure,” he mocked in a nasal whine.
Elenya could not have been more shocked had he physically punched her in the stomach. “How can you say that, Shemek? He’s my baby too. Mine!” She stopped fighting and stared at her old friend. “You say you care for me and yet you have no regard for a child born of my own flesh, from my own body? I carried him, Shemek. Nearly lost my life to bring him into this world…”
“You had him as the result of lying with another man,” he growled through clinched teeth.
“I had him as the result of loving another man.” Anger flashed across his face and Elenya knew she had to get away from him. They were close enough to the passag
e’s exit that she could smell the sea air. If she could make it to the outlet before him and gain access to the copse of trees outside, there might be a chance she could make her way back to Zanak, just as she’d run to the Masters’ on the night of her own Dremis some fifteen months before. She still didn’t know if Shemek was in this alone or whether she would encounter reinforcements on the other side. All she knew was that she could not stand to remain in his presence, and with that thought, she pushed against him with all her might.
Shemek stumbled back letting go of Elenya, his free arm flailing in the air keeping him upright. She pulled up her skirt and turned to run, only Shemek was faster than she’d anticipated and had her by the waist before she’d managed to get more than a few steps away.
“Let me go!” She fought him, her nails digging into his arms, her body bucking against him in an attempt to break free.
“Stop it, Ya,” he yelled at her, tightening his hold while moving them closer to the passage exit.
“Don’t you call me that. You’re not the Shemek I knew. You’re not the man that kissed me on the shores of Aleone and told me my sacrifice was for the future of our Drille. You’re not that man, Shemek. You’re no man at all.”
He stopped abruptly and gave her a hard push, thrusting her to the passageway floor. Her breath whooshed out from the force, the taste of blood seeping into her mouth from where she’d bit her lip.
Face down, holding herself up on skinned hands, she contemplated her course of action, Shemek stood above her, silent except for his heavy breathing. He emanated a tension filled with violent rage, fueled by the resentment that encompassed them.
Elenya, you are an idiot, she thought. Why had she not simply kept quiet and allowed him to take her outside before fighting him? She’d always known her inability to restrain her tongue would be her downfall. Damn him! His disdain for her was one thing, but his disregard for her baby… She’d been unable to restrain herself. Tears threatened. She blinked them back. This was no time to show weakness.
His boots crushing the debris littering the natural floor of the passageway, Elenya cut her eyes to see him moving away. She wondered if she should try to run again while he attempted to place the torchiere in one of the holders scattered randomly along the length of the corridor. They weren’t that far from the exit … if she could get free before he caught her… Her heartbeat drowning out all other sound, she tried to rise, tripped on her gown, then regained her footing just as he turned back toward her.
He was on her within a few feet, though she’d made it far enough to see the thick, vine covered branches that covered the end – the door to her freedom. If she could just get to the other side…
Twisting beneath him, she fought with all her might, bucking against him, working against logic to get a sure footing that would allow her to thrust him off. “Shemek, please! If you truly care for me, you’ll stop this and let me go.” The sting of his palm against her face halted her movements. Shocked, she stared up at him sitting atop her, his hands holding hers to the ground, and for a brief moment she thought she saw the depravity in his dark eyes lift, replaced with sadness for a mission gone terribly wrong. “Shemek, please,” she whispered. “Please, let me go.”
He looked up for a moment, seeming to look beyond the tree covered exit. “We could have made a wonderful life together, Ya.” His voice was distant, higher and airier than she’d ever heard it. He looked back at her, through her. “You were mine.”
She shook her head, tears beginning to trickle down the sides of her face, wetting the hair at her temples. “No, Shemek. I have always been his and you’ve always known.” The look on her face was one of pity and sorrow.
He nodded, and Elenya took a short-lived breath of relief before the air was cut off from her lungs by his hands around her neck. “I can’t let you go. You know that. I can’t…”
She resumed fighting, though with his body straddling her torso, his feet hooked over her legs, it left her little room to maneuver, and more so with the intensified burning in her lungs. Billowing clouds took over her mind. She stared up at him as her body stilled, attempting to find a spark of reasoning in his brooding eyes. Please, she thought. Dear God, help me one more time.
The sound of the warriors gathering to leave for battle sounded in her ears, the thunder of a thousand horse hooves lulling her, pulling her into darkness. She felt so light, the hard ground giving way as she floated into nothingness. I love you. That one last coherent though formed along with a vision of her warrior’s face looming above her right before she closed her eyes.
Chapter 44
A woman shrieked. A man yelled. Elenya gasped as Shemek’s hands were torn from her throat. She opened her eyes briefly to see Cerissa advancing on her. Her limp limbs thwarting her escape from the woman who wanted everything she had. Was she working with Shemek? If so, who had screamed, and who had removed him from her?
She closed her eyes, too tired to try to make the pieces fit. A coughing spasm overtook her as Cerissa hooked her hands under her arms and pulled her toward the tunnel wall. The other woman sank down, holding her upright until the convulsions passed, then cradling her while she forced air into her aching lungs through a throat constricted and denied for far too long, now wracked by the bout of coughing.
Again she heard the thunder of horses, the ground beneath them vibrating with the growing sound. She opened her eyes to see her warrior and at least ten other mounted men advancing down the passageway toward her. Tahruk pulled up, stopping beside her and dismounting with the agility of one well-trained. His eyes darted between her and the expanded area before the tunnel’s exit. With effort, she tore her eyes from him and turned her head, gasping anew when he and the others began advancing on the two men at the end.
The battle between Shemek and Redahn was heated, quickly moving toward the vines and limbs that protected the passage from unknowing intruders. Swords clanked, steel against steel, as each man tried to gain the upper hand. Elenya sat forward, pushing away Cerissa’s hand, her own discomfort quickly forgotten. She noticed Redahn’s arm drop, once then twice, knew he didn’t have the strength after his injury to fight a man like Shemek who had been training with the King’s Elite Guard.
“Help him,” she tried to scream, though the sound came out as a screech through her chaffed throat.
“Now!” Tahruk roared. He and the other men charged forward when Shemek turned his back on them, the tip of his sword precariously close to Redahn’s neck. The latter man, having nowhere to go except through the brush, ducked down just as the others rushed them, thrusting Shemek through the branches. Elenya could hear his scream as he fell, saw Tahruk drop to his knees, his horror-filled no echoing through the passageway.
The other men backed away – the other men, minus Redahn. Elenya had watched in disbelief as Shemek turned and grabbed him, both men toppling through the opening. Elenya crawled to her husband’s side. She didn’t say anything, didn’t touch him. She simply waited.
“Brother.” The faint sound of Redahn’s voice filled her ears just before a hand pushed through the brush. Startled, she scurried backwards while Tahruk, already in motion, pulled his brother back through the vined branches. The force unbalancing him, both brothers ended up on their backs, side-by-side on the tunnel floor.
“Hellfire and damnation, Brother, are you trying to give me heart failure?” Tahruk turned his head to look at his younger brother. “How did you manage to avoid the fall?”
Still breathing heavily, Redahn shook his head. “When your body is gone, you have to rely on your other senses. When I realized earlier he was trying to force me through the brambles, just as I would have done to him given the chance, I managed to kick the rope over…”
“The rope?” Tahruk interrupted.
“The safety rope, to keep those without a stomach for heights from falling.” Tahruk nodded and Redahn continued, still breathing heavy between words. “I tried to move when you charged him, but he grabbed my ankle
. Thankfully, I was able to get hold of the rope, though with his added weight, I slid down several feet before I managed to kick him off. With my arm, it was a bear climbing back up. Next time, consider checking for survivors before you drop in defeat, Brother.”
Tahruk frowned, though it was short-lived before he found himself encompassed in a huge bear hug from his brother, the two men laughing together much as they had as children.
Redahn broke away, looking around, his eyes coming to rest on Elenya. “Is she okay?” he asked Tahruk without looking back. She sat huddled close to Cerissa, her body shaking, even beneath the blanket offered up by one of the warriors who had yet to unpack his gear from the extended training session. The two men hurried to her, Tahruk wrapping her in his arms where she fell against his chest.
He held her until the tears subsided, the other men moving away to provide privacy to the small group.
“How did you know?” she managed to ask Redahn at last, her voice cracking still as she clung to Tahruk, afraid to let him go.
Redahn turned to Cerissa who nodded her head after a few seconds. “Cerissa told me. She came to the Dremis gathering to get me when Tahruk was nowhere to be found.”
Elenya turned to look at the other woman who smiled at her and said, “I’m not your enemy, my lady. I truly am a warrior from Goddai, hired by your father to assure your safety. When I saw Shemek slip into the secret passageway, I followed him, hopeful he was simply taking a shortcut to the castle. But when he turned back toward the tunnels that went into the family chambers instead, I knew something was awry. I tried to find your warrior and learned there’d been a mishap that had kept a group of the elite out longer than expected. That’s when I tracked down Redahn.” She shook her head. “I knew if I tried to fight that madman on my own I would only endanger your life further.”
Dance With The Enemy Page 22
