That was enough of a warning for Kayla. Spinning about, she jumped clear of the loose netting and the squawking eagles still struggling to get clear of the final strands of netting and stood to face the beast emerging from the tangle of brush. Now she knew why the Horaggs had been so eager to retreat! Her knees turned to jelly and her feet froze mid-step as she stared in disbelief.
The beast rose to its rear legs, sniffing the wind, as if deciding whether she was worthy of his attention. At first glimpse, the beast looked to be a close relative to her own world’s grizzly bear, but that image was quickly driven from her mind when it began waddling slowly toward her.
Kayla forced her feet to take her away from the eagles still fluttering about the ground, hoping to keep the bear’s attention on her. She wasn’t sure she was pleased when it obliged, eyes locked on her, great trails of drool leaking from its gaping jaws.
She slammed into the side a large boulder and hesitated, unsure which way to move. Compelled by her own fear, Kayla looked up into a face that resembled no bear she knew of, for it was comprised of some pliable flesh that let it change, seeming to flow from that of a ferocious animal to that of a man, twisted in some terrible agony, and, then again, to that of a demented demon from hell. The beast’s only constant features were a mouthful of jagged teeth and the six-inch-long fangs curving viciously from under the lips of his short muzzle and the eyes of putrid yellow, the pupils slanted like a goat’s.
Kayla’s whole body was trembling and her mind was half frozen with fear as she dredged up one of the more macabre tales Garth had regaled her with one dark night of were-creatures that inhabited the mountains. What had he called them?
The hulking animal stopped a few feet from her, a low keening rising from his throat as he fixed demented yellow eyes on her.
Helpless to run or even turn her eyes away, Kayla’s gaze was captured by the sensual flow of the bear’s ever-changing face, and she heard his beckoning call within her mind, and before her stood not a bear, but a man who hungered. Hungered for…
Kayla’s sword hit the ground with a soft thump, dropped from hands too limp to hold on as she began to sway in rhythm to the keening.
“No! Do not look into the beast’s face!” Garth’s fingers dug into Kayla’s shoulders as he spun her away and out of the beast’s path.
Dazed and stumbling, Kayla shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs of a song whose melody still sang in her mind, clouding her thoughts. Unable to keep her feet, she collapsed weakly into the pile of loose netting that was about to become the battleground for the fight being waged between Garth, Troll, and the were-beast.
Garth reached behind him with one hand, seizing her by an upper arm and roughly jerked her to her feet. “Move it if you wish to remain alive, my love!” he rumbled. With one strong push, he sent her stumbling away from the battle.
Still dazed and off balance, Kayla fell back against a low wall of tumbled rock. Through the haze clouding her sight and her mind, she watched Garth spin away from her and deliver a savage kick to the attacking beast’s snout with one booted foot before swinging his blade at its momentarily exposed throat.
But the beast was much more agile than his bulk implied, and he easily dodged the strike, managing in that split second of Garth’s unbalance, to catch his gaze, slowing the warlock’s response time with hypnotic eyes. Snarling triumphantly, the beast lashed out with a great, clawed hand, leaving behind a triple trail of blood oozing from Garth’s chest.
Garth grunted in pain and threw his body to the ground, trying to roll out of reach of the beast. But the bear had dropped to all fours, snapping after the warlock with every intention of ripping out his unprotected throat.
Taking advantage of the bear’s distraction, Troll stepped in swinging his heavy iron sword with all the formidable strength of muscles toughened through hard labor and drove the point deep into the beast’s shoulder.
The bear’s attack on the warlock was temporarily driven from his mind by the pain of his wounded shoulder. Rearing back onto thick legs, he angrily shook his huge head, sending globs of blood-flecked foam and drool flying, and focused his yellow eyes on Troll. The beast paused in his retaliatory attack, waiting for this second prey to fall under the hypnotic stare that had so effectively crippled the warlock. But when his assailant failed to respond to the psychic attack, the bear roared and struck out, raking his claws down the length of Troll’s thick arm before turning away, intending to finish the one reeking of the magic he so craved.
Ignoring the blood dripping down his forearm, Troll slashed at the beast’s back just before he moved out of reach. “Ha! Your gaze will not enrapture me as it does the witches my lord beast!” taunted Troll, intent on keeping the bear’s attention from the wounded warlock.
“Come, you must catch me if you are to have me for your lunch!” he jeered when the bear turned and reached for him with bloody claws.
Falling to her knees, Kayla gripped her head with both hands to still the throbbing within it frantically trying to remember the rest of what Garth had told her about the were-beasts. “Never look into their faces, for to witch-kind they are the most deadly. They will mesmerize you, luring you willingly to your own death,” echoed the words she had paid so little heed a few days earlier.
Quietly, so as not to draw the bear’s attention to her, Kayla pulled her body upright against the boulder. She saw Garth struggle to rise. One arm clutched tightly to his chest and saw, too, the pain his efforts cost him in the set of his jaw and the river of sweat and grime running from his face.
The sight of this pain-filled struggle tore at her heart, and she knew that she could not go on if this man ceased to be. Kayla tried to control her emotions, but a cloud of red rage consumed her, nearly obscuring her sight and reason so that she was no longer aware of her quaking knees or the numerous cuts and bruises covering her body. How dare this beast hunt the one I love!
Troll yelped in pain, and Kayla lifted her eyes in time to see him sent flying into a patch of brambles by a vicious swipe of the beast’s powerful arm. She tensed, holding her breath for fear that the beast intended to take advantage of Troll’s momentary helplessness, but the beast did not follow through on his attack, merely snarling in contempt at the scent of ordinary blood before turning away. He turned to focus his voracious gaze on the wounded warlock, plainly intending to slack his appetite for magic on his soul.
Using the rough surface of the rock at her back to brace herself, Kayla raised her left arm, pointed the fingers of her hand at the beast’s fur-covered back, and released the full power of her anger and outrage.
The beast stiffened, arching his back in pain, but this did not deter him for long. Tendrils of smoke were rising from the thick hide when the bear finally spun around, roaring in rage, to seek the source of this attack.
This time, Kayla was careful to close her eyes to the lure of the were-beast’s shifting gaze as she increased the flow of energy through her body, willing the beast’s destruction, and from beneath her lowered lids, she watched the were-beast rise to his full height. Twisting and raging, he fought her, until finally, he burst into flame.
Engulfed in an aura of blue flames, the were-beast advanced on Kayla, and within his aura of flames, the beast grew larger as he continued to draw more and more power from her, refusing to be consumed!
“Garth!” Kayla screamed as fear replaced her rage.
Kayla could see Garth’s mouth moving as he struggled to regain his feet, but the words he was shouting could not be heard over the ecstatic beast’s ravening roars.
“Kayla!” his words beat past her fear and echoed through her mind. “Take from those around you. Take their life force to feed your own.”
And in desperation, the young witch opened her mind, seeking the energy of all those around her. She touched the weak life force of the toad creatures cowering in the cover of the brush and brambles, felt the strength emanating from the eagles huddled protectively over their surviving
young and the powerful auras of Garth and Troll as they struggled to reach her.
Kayla reached, taking of these life forces to feed her own need.
Now the were-beast’s roars of triumph became ones of pain and fury as the flames feeding it went from blue to white and surged upward to devour it.
The bear had been reduced to a smoldering pile of ash but Kayla seemed not to notice as she continued to revel in the euphoria of the life force she was still drawing, growing within her aura of blue as the were-beast had done.
“Kay-la! Kayla! Release us! Let us live!”
Slowly, she became aware of Garth’s body against hers and the grip of his hands on her shoulders, weakly shaking her as he tried to bring her back, and she knew she was hurting him, drawing the most energy from him as he forced his body into direct contact with hers.
Fearing for his life, Kayla pulled back into herself and released her hold on all of the failing life forms surrounding her.
“G-Garth,” she rasped, trying to speak, but the words somehow eluded her as the darkness reached to claim her.
Gasping, Kayla finally managed to thrust aside the blanket of nothingness that had been suffocating her.
“G-Garth!”
“Easy, baby. Everything’s all right now,” came the gentle reassurance of his deep voice from the darkness beside her.
Finally free of the blankets that had been tightly wrapped about her, Kayla threw herself into Garth’s arms. Inhaling deeply of the rich scent of leather and the maleness of him, she let him hold her, safe and protected in his embrace until she could control the tremors racking her body.
“I don’t ever want to meet one of those things again!” she gasped, pushing back in the circle of his arms to look up into his eyes. As full memory of the battle returned to her in a rush, Kayla ran her hands across his chest. When she encountered the tears in the soft leather of his vest, she leaned back and drew the sides apart.
“You’re hurt!” She ran her fingers gently over the three half-healed wounds the were-beast had inflicted on him. “That beast was able to hurt you when nothing else could. Why?” She anxiously watched his face for some clue to this sudden vulnerability of his.
“Aw, my darling, I am not as indestructible as you would have me,” he said as he tightened his embrace and leaned them back against a tree trunk for support. “I can be hurt, just as you can be, by the were-beasts and certain other creatures.”
“I remembered what you told me about the beast being able to take control of our minds an-and how they are drawn to our power, but what of these other creatures?” she queried. Snuggling deeper into his embrace, she surveyed the quiet camp around them. It had grown dark while she’d been unconscious and the men had made camp. At the far side of a blazing campfire, she could see Troll rolled into his sleeping bag with the blanket-wrapped bundle of the babe at his side. In the shadows at the edge of camp, she caught the shuffling movement of the Ral’i grazing nearby.
Hugging her a little tighter to him, Garth answered with a nod of his head in the direction of the grazing animals. “The Ral’i are one of those who can harm us if they feel they or theirs are threatened.”
Kayla was reminded of the whispers of the peasants at the Inn and Garth’s unexplained limp. She rubbed her hand up his thigh inquisitively and felt his slight flinch of pain.
“Shadow Hawk struck me last night when I prevented him from entering the inn to protect you,” he replied to her unasked question.
Nodding her head in comprehension, Kayla yawned as the heavy hand of weariness reached for her again, asked sleepily, “And what other can harm one as powerful as you, my love?”
“Why, one such as you, my darling,” he whispered into her ear as he laid her gently on the sleeping pallet and stretched out beside her. “Sleep, little one.”
MySoultoKeep
Chapter Seven
It was high noon before the steady pace of their small party brought Kayla her first glimpse of the city. Still a mere smudge on the horizon, it rose above the trees like a mirage through the shimmering waves of heat.
Wiping the trail of sweat running freely down her forehead and into her burning eyes with her shirtsleeve, Kayla irritably pulled the heavy locks of her hair up and away from her neck to take advantage of the small breeze that had finally risen, bringing a breath of fresh air to cool their journey through this endless jungle.
“I can smell the ocean!” she declared in relief. Reaching with one hand to release the straps of the carrier, she carefully drew the whimpering babe into her arms.
“Can you smell that salt air too, little Starr?” she asked. Cuddling the baby against her breast with one arm, she reached for a bottle with the other. “It’s a good thing we’re almost there because this is the last of the milk we brought from the inn,” she told Garth when he held Star Dancer back to ride beside her.
“Yes, it won’t be long now, but we have one stop to make before we can enter the city.” Without explaining, he urged the mare into a trot until they drew even with Troll. He slowed long enough to speak with him in a voice too low to carry back to her ears before turning the mare into the entrance of a lane that had been nearly concealed from sight by a heavy growth of vines and trees.
The lane led them away from the main road and between fields and orchards that smelled of recent mowing. They turned a bend in the lane and came in sight of a rambling old farmhouse surrounded by the blossoming trees of the orchard and a profusion of multicolored flowers that overflowed onto the unpainted rails of the wooden porch lining the front.
Kayla was so busy admiring the scene before her that she almost didn’t notice the man and woman that had appeared so quietly from the shadows of the sagging doorway.
“Good day to ya’, M’lord,” the old man greeted Garth as he shambled down the worn steps. The bright sunlight showed him to be a thin, lanky man with brown skin that seemed like old leather.
“I see you’ve brought us a new guest to visit on the farm for a while,” the old man commented. Ignoring the three humans watching him expectantly, he made his way directly to the head of the giant grey stallion and bowed deeply before offering his outstretched hand for the stallion to sniff or daring to stroke the sleek neck.
Shifting her eyes from the strange man to the raw-boned woman waiting patiently beside the steps, back to study Garth’s face, Kayla demanded, “What’s going on? What does he mean by ‘guest’?”
Reluctantly, Garth met her gaze. “I didn’t want to worry you with it earlier, but the Ral’i cannot enter the city. The people would flee in terror at the sight of the fabled witch horses. I always leave Star Dancer with the Lantries here.”
“They treat her like a queen and she likes it here, don’t you girl?” He patted the black mare’s neck affectionately. “Hawk will be safe and comfortable here, too. You need not worry about him.”
Nervously, Kayla looked away from Garth and rubbed one hand along Hawk’s silken neck.
Snorting, the stallion shook his head and stomped his feet in concern over her obvious distress, sending Lantrie jumping back a few paces.
“I don’t know about this, Garth.” Kayla shook her head at him as he dismounted and came to her side. “I haven’t been apart from Hawk since I came to this world, an-and…” Kayla stuttered, seeking words to express her fears and misgivings. Distractedly, she handed the babe down to him and swung out of the saddle, landing with a soft thump beside him.
Troll approached them on foot, his old horse plodding behind him, to take possession of Starr.
“Come little one. We’ll see what we can do about getting you some dry clothes,” he said, wrinkling his nose at the odor rising from the squirming babe.
“The Ral’i will do just fine here, Mistress. Come and see the stable and pasture for y’rself,” interrupted Lantrie. Confident that they would follow, he started for the stable in an easy, long-legged stride, his arms swinging loosely at his side.
Garth took Kayla’s arm wit
h one hand and the reins of the two Ral’i in the other and started after him.
After the sweltering humidity of the bright day, the shadowy cool of the stable was a relief. Kayla inhaled the sweet fragrance of fresh hay with a sigh and walked down the well-swept aisle between rows of roomy box stalls filled with clean straw to stare out the back door and across the acres of lush green pasture beyond.
“I still don’t like it, but if you say he can’t come with me, then this will have to be okay,” she finally said, but she couldn’t keep her voice from quaking. Abruptly, she turned and walked back into the glaring light of the farmyard.
When Garth caught up to her, she inquired, shortly, “And just how do we continue this journey now? Does the Lord High Warlock intend to enter his Great City on foot like a peasant!” she indicated with a curt nod of her head at a group of ragged peasants plodding along the dusty road beyond the orchard behind an oxcart loaded to overflowing with produce and scrambling youngsters.
“No, not hardly, my love,” he laughed. “Come with me and we shall choose your new mount,” he instructed her. Evidently confident that Lantrie would take care of the Ral’i, Garth strode across the yard and around the side of an old barn.
Her face set in an unhappy scowl, Kayla followed, determined not to be soothed by the sight of any ordinary horse.
The scene that greeted her brought an involuntary gasp of pleasure.
Excited by the arrival of strangers, the half-dozen beautiful animals prancing gracefully around the paddock were second in beauty only to the Ral’i. The elegant creatures were nearly as tall as the Ral’i but covered with long, silky coats of hair that ranged from a soft cream to a deep russet in color. As they approached the fence, a cream-colored mare raised her dainty head. Meeting Kayla’s gaze, she chuckled softly in greeting.
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