Keeping one hand under her elbow, Garth guided Kayla with her tiny, blanket-wrapped bundle safely across the uneven cobblestones to a pair of thick wooden doors that were hinged with wide metal straps and threw them open to reveal the inn’s great room.
The transition from bright sunlight to the dimness of the lobby left Kayla blinking her eyes as she tried to focus them on the sparsely furnished room and the short, chubby man making his way hastily from behind the long counter to greet them.
“M’lord, how nice to see you again and so soon, too,” he fawned as he came to a fluttering halt before them. His face flushed and mop of white hair billowing out from his head like a halo, he bowed deeply, sweeping the floor between them with his snowy mane.
Nervously, the innkeeper waved his hands toward a pair of chairs pushed against one wall. “Please, M’lord, M’lady, would you like a seat? You must be very tired after your journey,” he stuttered. “An-and may I be, be so b-bold as to inquire of the Lady’s name?”
He risked a sly look at Kayla, his eyes darting quickly away and back again, to stare at the bundle cradled in her arms. “Ah, and a b-babe, also,” he stammered.
“The Lady Kayla is my traveling companion, and that’s all you need to know,” rumbled Garth. Without warning, he seized a handful of the innkeeper’s shirtfront and lifted him so that his feet kicked several feet above the floor.
“Bart, I warn you. Do not play your sly games with me! What do you know about the happenings in the village of Rock Hollow? Why did they turn like a pack of mad dogs on their healer?” With an angry growl, he shook the frightened man in his grasp. “Elsbeth has been living amongst them for years now and has helped so many of those ungrateful beggars. Tell me what you know before I feed your entrails to that pack of mangy hounds you keep!”
“I-I know nothing, M’l-lord, al-almost nothing at all!” he managed to blurt. His stout body was shaking and sweat ran down his face. “W-we have heard some talk. Just talk, M’lord, that minions of the druids had been spreading r-rumors that blamed the witches for the death of some village livestock north of here an-and that it was the healer that was responsible for a wasting illness that took the lives of those three young children last month. I-I tried to tell them these stories were untrue. I did, but they wouldn’t listen to me! It was plain that the poor w-witch did ev-everything she could for them with her herbs and potions. B-but you kn-know how ignorant the villagers are an-and how greedy! There were promises of gold for those who would h-help the druids in their dirty work!” he blubbered.
“I see,” Garth released the man who stumbled back against his counter to keep from falling to the floor, but the warlock was not finished with him. Anger snapping in his dark eyes, he leaned toward the cringing innkeeper and slammed his fist down, hard, on the thick counter top with enough force to create a thin crack that quickly spread down its length.
“Listen well, innkeeper, for I will tell you this only once,” he snarled. “You are to warn all you meet that I have punished the village of Rock Hollow for their greed, and I swear that I will personally hunt down and destroy any others I learn are dealing with the druids!”
Taking control of his temper with great effort, Garth lowered his voice. “Now, we need your best suite of rooms, and you will summon your good wife so that she might see to the care and feeding of the babe.”
Gently, he took the bundle from Kayla and placed it into the man’s arms.
“I want a meal sent to our rooms in about an hour.”
“Y-yes, M’lord. Maria!” he shouted unnecessarily as a plump little woman ambled from behind the curtained doorway she’d obviously been watching from.
Taking the babe from her husband’s nervous grip, she expertly held it to her ample bosom and began crooning softly to the fussing babe.
Reluctant to let the tiny witchling from her sight, Kayla put a hand on the woman’s fleshy arm as she turned to leave. “You’ll take good care of her, won’t you?” They had managed to purchase enough milk from the small farmsteads they had passed on their journey, but she had fed the last of the milk to the baby several hours ago.
“Oh, yes, Mistress, like she was one of my own. Poor little imp, she’s never harmed no one.” She shook her head sadly and carried the babe off through the curtained doorway.
A wave of cooking aromas washed over them as the curtain swung shut behind her.
Looking much like a large, white duck, the innkeeper waddled across the lobby and preceded them up a narrow staircase to the second floor where he unlocked a heavy, wooden door and ushered them into a small sitting room.
Decorated with a worn but brightly colored oriental carpet and a comfortable-looking, overstuffed sofa and chair that were arranged before the hearth of a large stone fireplace. The room looked warm and cozy. An arched doorway revealed a second room dominated by a huge canopied bed in its center. On closer inspection, a curtained alcove proved to contain a commode and claw-footed, iron bathtub with, much to Kayla’s delight, hot and cold running water!
Seeing her surprise, Garth laughed and explained, “The water is gravity fed from a spring on the mountain behind the inn and heated in the kitchen chimney before it’s piped to the baths. So you see, we have all the comforts of home, my love.”
Bart left them admiring the bath and quietly let himself out of the room.
“Why don’t you take a nice, hot bath while I check on the Ral’i and the babe,” Garth wrapped his arms around Kayla and kissed her long and slow, seeming not to notice that she remained stiff and unresponsive in his embrace.
“Thanks for offering to care of Hawk, I know that I should do it, but I really am tired.” Without looking into his eyes, Kayla slipped from his arms and dropped into the nearest chair where she began tugging at her muddy boots. She heard the soft click of the door as Garth let himself out.
While the big tub was filling with water, Kayla wandered barefoot around the rooms. A little snooping through the assorted cabinets and closets provided her with some large, soft bath towels and a bottle of flower-scented bubble bath that she poured freely into the steaming tub. Another of the probed cabinets yielded what proved to be shampoo and bars of rose-scented soap.
Dropping her grime-covered clothes in a heap on the bedroom floor, Kayla proceeded to the alcove and her waiting bath. Climbing into the tub, she lowered herself with a deep sigh into the hot froth of bubbles and stretched back to enjoy the exquisite luxury of a real bath after so many days of travel and bathing in cold streams.
As she lay there soaking, Kayla realized that until now, she had given very little thought to what she’d left behind more than two weeks ago when she’d entered this primitive world. And for the first time, the thought came to her that if she had been able to enter this world with such ease, then why couldn’t she leave it just as easily? And why hadn’t Garth ever even suggested the possibility of her returning to her own world? Could it be that he didn’t want her to leave?
Thoughts of Garth elicited a smile and warm, fuzzy feelings that made her tingle inside and out, and she had no problem coming up with several of her own reasons for wanting to stay.
When Kayla finally emerged from the bath wrapped in one of the big towels, she discovered that someone, probably a chambermaid, had come and gone while she’d been soaking and taken her dirty clothes and boots with them and left behind a fire burning in the sitting-room grate. The covers on the bed had been turned down and a pair of black-silk robes were draped across it.
Picking up the smaller robe, Kayla stopped to admire the beautifully embroidered silver and white eagle on the back before slipping it on. She loved the soft, sensuous feel of the silk on her bare skin, but her hair was still damp and the breeze blowing in through the open balcony doors held a chill. With a shiver, Kayla closed the doors and sought the comfort of the fire’s warmth.
Curling up in one deep corner of the cushioned couch, she pulled the oversized robe closer about her and stared into the fire, watching the summon
ed shadows dance hypnotically across the walls of the darkened room to the melody of crackling flames until her tired mind was lulled into sleep.
The soft touch of a kiss on Kayla’s closed eyelids brought them fluttering open to gaze up into the dark, sensual eyes of her lover. “I’m sorry. I fell asleep, baby,” she murmured sleepily as she rose to a sitting position and stretched.
“You’ve had a pretty tough couple of weeks, little one. You have a right to be tired,” Garth assured her softly. By the light thrown by the fire and the lit candelabra on the table, Kayla could see that Garth had taken the time to bathe before waking her and was now wearing the silk robe that matched hers.
“Dinner’s here. You should eat something.” He extended his hand and she took it, letting him lead her to the small table set for two.
Kayla found she was hungrier than she’d thought, and the meal was nearly gone and the bottle of fine, white wine he had opened for them was standing empty before her appetite was appeased enough to let her begin a conversation.
“Tell me about this city we’ll be entering tomorrow and something about your Emperor, Caleis.” She studied him through the lashes of her half-closed eyes, waiting for his reaction. “You’ve been telling me how much he’s done for the people of this land. Yet, it seemed to me that the people we met on the road here were afraid of him and of you, too. Why?”
Garth didn’t answer her at first, only stared into her face, glowing in the flickering candlelight. How young and innocent she seems, he thought silently. He knew by her unnaturally reserved mood that the day’s events were weighing heavily on her. Yet, he also knew that she was, by nature, almost fearless. Today, he had seen her do what was necessary when she had been put to the test. Many an experienced soldier would have quailed at such a challenge.
The life force and power of a great sorceress emanated from Kayla’s beautiful face in an aura of blue light as she calmly returned his gaze, and he wondered again how the Witches’ Council could have been so foolish as to risk leaving one like her unschooled and wandering about without guards in the midst of an open world like Earth 1 where she could have been so easily noticed by one of the many agents of the dark that constantly infiltrated the ranks of any land’s people especially a tech world like hers.
Looking deep into the eyes of this young woman, whose love he had so ardently been wooing. Garth knew, without a doubt, that her love was already his, but he also knew, in the cold, loveless depths of his own heart, that this meant nothing unless he could possess the power radiating from her soul as well. Tearing his gaze free of the dark, bottomless blue sea of her eyes, Garth was also aware that Kayla would see through any outright lies and knew that to win her cooperation, he must tell her as much of the truth as was possible.
Enfolding one of her tiny hands in his, he said softly, “I will tell you what I can tonight, but the rest of it would be better learned as we proceed.”
“Tomorrow we’ll be entering Sea-Watch which is the capital city of the island continent of Sealandia,” he began. “Caleis has built his palace in the heart of the city and overlooking the ocean at the top of a cliff accessible only from within the city. Presently, the Emperor is deeply involved in a campaign, which he hopes will unite all of the island clusters on Docrain under one strong, central government. He hopes that by uniting them, he will be able to eliminate the petty wars between the clusters to the economic benefit of all.”
Kayla nodded but withheld comment. She remembered well the history of her own world’s continuous battles with would-be dictators wishing to enhance their own power for the “benefit of all those conquered!”
“You seemed to know something about those horrid druids that had your friend Elsbeth burned. Just who and what are they that they would do such a terrible thing?” She shook her head and tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
Garth’s eyes hardened with the memory of Elsbeth’s death. “Oh yes, I know very well who these druids are. They have been a major obstacle to Caleis’ rule since the beginning,” he told her grimly. “Their usual method of operation is to go from island to island doing whatever they can to corrupt the locals. They begin by actively promoting the destruction of any in their midst who are showing signs of power, even those who are beneficial to the villagers such as the healers. They are using the ignorance and superstitions of the peasants to encourage and inflate the natural fear and jealousy they already have for anything they don’t understand.” He went on with a sad shake of his head, “The goal of the druids and their followers has always been to keep the peasants ignorant and submissive. The destruction of even the least of the witch-kind or the educated will cut the poor off from what little help and education was being provided and leaves them totally dependent on the druid priests for leadership.”
“But, you said that Caleis draws energy from the people he rules. Isn’t that harmful, too?” Kayla asked.
“It could be, if he were to choose to take too much. It is possible for him to drain them or even destroy whole islands and their populous if he were angered,” Garth admitted. “But he doesn’t. He takes a little from the many, and in return, he allows me to return it to them in a form that promotes the health of the island’s plants and animals. Without the energy Caleis provides, they would very quickly be reduced to eking out a life on the barren, infertile rocks of these islands just as they were before his arrival.”
“That sounds like a lot of power in one man’s hands. What keeps Caleis from getting out of control? Could he be stopped if need be?” she asked worriedly.
Garth frowned and shook his head. “Caleis would be nearly impossible to stop. No one could absorb or dissipate the amount of energy he keeps stored. And if someone were to attack effectively enough to destroy him, why, the resulting release of energy would have the same effect as if someone had set off one of your world’s atomic bombs. The explosion could very well demolish not only this island, but this whole world.”
“I see.” Kayla pushed back her chair and walked to the closed balcony doors where she let herself out.
Leaning on the balcony rail, Kayla stared pensively out at the brightly lit night landscape where she could just make out the lines of the mountain pass laying beyond the inn’s courtyard. With a deep sigh, she inhaled the sharp, clear night air and listened to the soft whinnies of the stabled horses. In the distance, there came a howling of what might be wolves.
Lost deep in thought, Kayla was startled when Garth came quietly from behind, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the back of her neck. She stiffened in his embrace, unable to put aside her feelings of uncertainty about the day’s cruel events. And now, there were all these things Garth had revealed about himself and the ruler he served. It almost seemed that he had some share in the evil she witnessed today.
With every day, Kayla was coming to have more confidence in her own inner instincts, relying on them more and more as she learned that they were to be trusted. And right now, that feeling was telling her, ever more loudly, that Garth was giving her only what information he must to insure her continued cooperation. She was beginning to feel that he was manipulating her for some reason, but why? What could I possess that a warlock as powerful as Garth would want? Surely, he was able to take his pick of women, and my own newfound powers seemed as nothing to his!
Her reluctance had obviously done nothing to cool Garth’s ardor. He continued to bestow kisses on her bare throat and breasts until she relented, leaning back into his embrace. Kayla could feel the hardness of him pressing into her, and her breathing became heavy, her thoughts soon growing so clouded that she gave up any efforts to retain them.
“Ohhh, this is not fair,” she moaned. Tilting her head so that he might kiss her neck more easily, she slowly rotated her shoulders to enjoy better the feel of the silk robe rubbing between her bare back and Garth’s exposed chest.
He loosened the belt of her robe, letting one side of it fall open as his lips blazed a trail
of fiery kisses across her bared shoulder. She turned in his embrace, letting him draw her close, savoring the taste of his lips as he covered her mouth with his. Her earlier reluctance now forgotten, Kayla returned his kisses.
Her passion mounting with every breath, she gasped to catch a breath before taking his lower lip between her small, sharp teeth, gently biting it, sucking at the drop of blood she drew. Abandoning his swollen lip, she moved to his thick neck, kissing and sucking the tiny bites she gave him as she untied the sash of his robe.
With a deep moan, Garth threw back his dark, shaggy-maned head, exposing his neck and chest to her exquisite torture as she ever so slowly, placed kisses across the bulging muscles of his chest, pausing to seize his small, hard nipples in sharp nips, each in its turn drawing a deep groan of pleasure from him before moving on to caress the taunt, sun-bronzed skin of his stomach and nuzzle the dark hair of his groin.
Garth’s strong fingers worked into the long strands of her hair, and Kayla could feel the quiver of his muscles when her mouth sought his burgeoning manhood. Alternately, she caressed it with her tongue and covered the length of it with more, small lingering kisses until Garth was unable to bear the agony of this pleasure any longer. Pulling her head to his, he ravished her lips with his own before carrying her inside and to the bed. So urgent was his need that he barely managed to lay her across the bed before taking possession of her.
“By the Gods, Kayla, you have bewitched me!” he moaned. “Never has there been one like you and never have I loved another woman as I do you.” She could taste the saltiness of her own tears on his lips as his mouth moved from caressing her neck, ears and across her closed eyelids. Thrusting into her, he held her small shoulders in his powerful hands to still her writhing.
“Do you love me, Kayla? Say it!” his husky voice demanded. “You do love me, don’t you?”
Kayla gazed up into his deep, soft eyes, saw the intensity of his love, and felt a surge of such overwhelming emotion that she knew she was lost. Her voice husky with passion, she answered, “Yes, my darling, yes. Since the first, my heart has belonged to you, and now,” she gasped, “I know that even my soul is no longer mine, for I have lost it to you.” Responding to his passion, she gave herself up fully to the sensations he evoked as his embrace tightened, nearly driving the breath from her.
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