He answered, “You wish to know more of my time with them.”
Clara exhaled in relief. “Yes. What she has told us seems truly impossible.”
He raised his brow in the moonlight.
“She has said they speak differently.”
“Aye, they do.”
“She also told us a tale of the Guardians. The fragment hail them as Travelers.”
Matthew stood very still, his fingers beginning a restless dance on the fragile underside of her wrist.
“'Tis true, what Evelyn says.”
“And...?” Clara asked.
The heat from his touch rolled over her body and they stared into each other's eyes. He removed his hands and placed them on his hips. Clara's nightdress lifted and floated about her ankles. Matthew's eyes looked at her silhouette that could just be made out through the sheer fabric, reaching out to stroke a hair that had come undone from behind her ear.
“It was too fantastical a story for me to repeat. Especially to my Bandmates. It has taken a decade to become a fighting unit with them. And this last year their trust was deeply shaken from my taking of you.” His hand slipped away and fell to his side.
Clara huffed, “You cannot agree with this nonsense then not prove your words.”
Matthew's lips thinned into an angry line. “It matters not. The Travelers set the fragment here for their own reasons. Then instilled within our very marrow the imperative to be protectors for their flock. They left wolves here and we must safeguard the sheep. It is now not only the clan which we protect, but your kingdom must be considered as well. We do not have enough Band to protect our own clan and the sphere where you reside. Not both.”
“Wait. You say the Travelers meant for the fragment to be where and what they are?”
“They have always been thus. They did not speak freely in front of one such as I. They knew what I was.” He licked his lips. Clara knew it was not nervousness, that it was remembering the fragment which made him tense.
Clara crossed her arms. “What can you tell me that will enlighten me? As I have been tossing and turning this night, thinking of a way to tell our party this story without them thinking me mad.”
Matthew looked at her intently, deciding something. “Only a singular time did Margaret and I overhear a piece of news that may be pertinent.”
Clara leaned forward. “What say you?”
“They are returning. They return in intervals.”
“When?” Clara asked breathlessly, looking around her, expecting what she had known as a Guardian to spring up out of the forest floor.
“Soon.”
“That is not answer enough!” Clara cried and Matthew grabbed her and laid a kiss upon her lips, so quickly and fiercely she opened her mouth in surprise and felt his tongue pierce between her lips. Her arms wound around his neck and he pressed her tighter against his body.
Suddenly he stiffened and Clara's eyes popped open. Bracus stood behind Matthew, a naked blade flat against his temple.
Matthew's lips carefully broke their seal on her mouth and he said, “My Captain.”
Bracus backed away, holding the dirk in an easy hand away from his body. “You abide not by our agreement.”
“It is my fault,” Clara began and Bracus' look quieted her.
“It is he that must prove that he is fair in his actions. Sneaking about in the dead of the night is not just.” His eyes moved between the two of them and searing heat rose to her cheeks.
“He truly did not transgress, it is I that could not sleep.” Clara shrugged and continued, “He only sought to comfort me.”
“With his tongue?” Bracus intoned, sheathing his weapon.
Matthew turned on him. “I do not try to go behind your back like a coward. I but saw her restlessness from a distance and attempted to assuage that.”
Clara came between them. “Evelyn has told me a most disturbing piece of news. One that I wish we had known before. I simply could not sleep. Matthew saw that and we endeavored to discuss the matter. And,” her look was all for Bracus, “he was with them, the fragment. He knows better than most what information I may need.”
Bracus' brows knit together then he looked at Matthew. “What is this? What has Evelyn said?”
Clara recounted the story as closely as possible, tripping over the most unbelievable portion as clearly as she was able. His reaction was as she expected.
He chuckled quietly. “That is quite a tale. Mayhap she uses this to ease around the horrors that she endured? She is but young yet...”
“She did not retell the tale in jest. She was serious.”
Bracus was quiet for so long a time Clara almost interrupted him but he spoke. “Clara, this is foolishness. Humanity is not equipped with the necessary physiological capacity to endure what would need to occur for such travel.” He rolled his huge shoulders into a shrug, his shape but an enormous dark bulk amongst the trees at the edge of the forest.
Clara shook her head and Matthew stepped behind her, the heat of his body emanating into her. Bracus tracked his progress, pulling his lips back from his teeth.
“Stop it and listen,” she commanded. “This is so much more than our courtship, this journey, ruling the kingdom.” Her eyes roved the planes of Bracus' face and her body reacted to him. It was almost too much. One of the Band at her back and one forward of her. Heat and erotic energy entwining the three. Ensnaring them.
Drat her genetics!
His lips curled in triumph. He could see her flustered response to him. The attraction between the three of them, a thing of biology, was almost as difficult for her as it was for them.
“These Travelers or Guardians, whatever name they masquerade by, are returning.” She turned and looked at Matthew who nodded. “We must discover what purpose they had for saving our peoples. Who the fragment are, why you are the Band? There are one hundred questions I need to have answered. There is a reason for our existence. And I, for one, wish to know what it is.”
“I believe none of it,” Bracus said. “Mayhap the girl misunderstood.”
“She did not,” Matthew said. He had been quiet during the interchange until that moment. Bracus' eyes flicked to his.
“I overheard them talk to one another about the supposed Travelers. It is as the girl says. Yet,” he looked uncomfortable with this next, “they are from a time much further than now.”
“The future?”
Matthew nodded once.
“Utter nonsense,” Bracus said with disgust.
“We cannot be so arrogant to believe that the spheres and their evolved construction came out of thin air,” Clara waved a hand about her. “Rather, they were deliberately constructed using machinations that were unheard of. Even now, my people do not understand it all. We only know that it works. It is powered by steam. The sphere is permeable yet strong. It is barrier to all but can be breached by salt water. Do you not see that a people more advanced than ourselves would have been needed to conceptualize such a thing?”
“Why save us?” Bracus posed to her.
She shrugged. “I do not know, but save us they did. Furthermore, they have engineered the perfect protectors in the form of the Band. Who would they be? No, rather, from when would they be that they could change the very framework of your human state?” she asked, using a palm to gesture at his gills.
“Mayhap we are their survival?” Matthew spoke quietly.
“For what?” Clara asked.
Bracus nodded, understanding lighting his face. “Their future. They protected us to save their own hides.”
Clara nodded. “Plausible. Yet, what of the fragment? How are they a part of this? Uncivilized and criminal is what they are. Are you saying that they did not think of every eventuality? They housed my people in nineteen spheres, fashioned formidable protectors to guarantee humanity’s survival and put the fragment here to war? Steal? Rape?” Clara shook her head. It did not agree. Something did not make sense.
“Whether they come or
not, it matters not. They did not go to the trouble of engineering the spheres and us,” Bracus looked at Matthew, “to offer violence.”
Clara's brow furrowed and she said nothing. The men waited. Finally she said, “I do not know. Their motivations are suspect. There is a reason why the clans call them the Evil Ones.”
She took one of each of their hands in hers and laid them on either side of her face. Their hands palmed her head, the heel of their hands almost meeting as a cup under her chin.
“Let us be about sleeping. I will have a long day ahead of me. Sorting this mess out for everyone.”
Bracus and Matthew looked at one another over her head, each one hating the other in their love for her.
The Princess that was now Queen.
CHAPTER 5
Charles and Clara stood fighting again. It mattered not that she had made every argument. He would not relent that there be even a single shred of truth in Evelyn's tale. He had publicly ridiculed her and Bracus had needed to be restrained before he tore off his foolish head. Even now, the Band watched their heated discussion from a distance, not trusting themselves not to intervene.
“I am not wont to believe in folly, you know this. But the more I deliberate on what she has said, the more it makes a bit of sense.”
“It makes none. You are a fool to think it does.”
Clara had the crazy urge to slap him again, her hand itching with it. In her periphery she saw Matthew straighten and belatedly realized she must have made some movement because he was upon them quickly.
“Do you harass your Queen yet again, Charles?” Matthew asked on a hiss.
Clara did not have time for this. They must press forward tomorrow. One more day at the spring and camping at the beautiful forested mountainside, then onward to the sea. Cape Cod in the state of Massachusetts, she thought deliberately.
Charles swung his head to address Matthew, his words sharply balanced on his tongue and Clara said, “Do not, Charles, I beg you. Nothing good can come of this. Think on the altercation of one year past.”
Clara and Matthew watched him remember the last time he and Matthew had come to blows. He visibly calmed himself. “I would not hurt you Clara. He behaves as if I would. After all I watched you endure at the hand of your mother and that vile Prince. Never. It is beyond insulting.”
“You would not willingly deliver harm. But that is not what I address. You anger because you cannot have her, so you use your words to whip her instead of your hands,” Matthew said with logic.
Clara put her face in her hands.
Charles pulled them away and she stared into his eyes. “I am trying. It is the very best I can do in the presence of the heathen.”
Oh, for the love of the Guardian!
Matthew's hand was on Charles' lapel before Clara could move and had yanked him against himself, four inches separating them. The men of the Band embraced violence so naturally, like breathing.
Bracus rode toward them on Briar Rose, her hooves sliding as the prairie grass gave way to the moss that edged the forest floor.
“Matthew!” Bracus commanded from his mount, travel dust embedded in the sleek muscles and crevices of the naked skin that glistened under the sun. He had obviously been about securing the safety of their camp.
Matthew did not look away from Charles, shaking him. Charles threw his head forward and a resounding skull impact echoed in the meadow, Matthew's grip loosening. Charles curled up his fist and followed the unexpected move with a stiff jab to Matthew's jaw. This did nothing but enrage Matthew who roared and charged Charles.
Clara was shoved out of the way as Matthew threw himself on top of Charles and meted out blows too furious to track.
Bracus leaped off his horse, his legs completely clearing the top of Briar Rose, swinging in an arc and landing with soft assurance on the tall grass. He tore Matthew away from Charles with an effort and screamed into his face, “We are being observed. I need you not to be out of your head right now!” he bellowed and Matthew stilled, the skin torn off his knuckles like paper shredded.
Clara felt dizzy and sat down where she had been standing, the exchange resounding with an appalling familiarity.
They were not alone, those two oblivious when the true fight was around them.
The Royal Guard, with Joseph and Philip, ran to where they were. Philip looked about him cautiously. Clara understood instantly he was ascertaining the safety of the open and where Sarah was.
Charles got on all fours and shook his head as if swathed in cobwebs then spat blood on the grass. His murderous gaze rose to Matthew's.
Matthew returned the stare and growled at him, “Stay where you are or I will make you meet the ground for a time.”
“You will not!” Bracus raged. “Did you not listen? I have finished my run and have found evidence of others.”
Matthew began to look around him, realizing that in the fight with Charles, Clara had been vulnerable to what Bracus was trying to warn him of. Regret filled his expression as Clara stared at him. She understood how easy it was for one of the Band to be swept away in anger. She blamed Charles, he could not rein in his temper around her anymore. It was all for what he perceived as important.
She missed him. Badly. This new Charles was not endearing to her. He was no longer the tender friend that she had known, but a slave to his emotions.
****
The women stayed in the camp with Joseph, the entire Royal Guard, which were few, while the remaining Band investigated the evidence.
They were not long in determining who the other presence was, returning to camp looking grim.
“Fragment,” Bracus stated emphatically.
Matthew and Philip nodded in agreement adding, “It is not clear if it is the fragment which roams our area or...”
“A different group,” Philip finished.
“It matters not. They are a danger. Let us ask of ourselves, have the fragment ever proved to be anything but hostile?” Joseph asked rhetorically.
Matthew's nostrils flared in synchronicity with his gills. “Absolutely not. They will be understood as the threat they are and we will guard with vigilance.”
Thomas of the Royal Guard queried, “Do we stay here one fore-night more or abandon our position and press forward immediately?”
The Band stood together, their expressions similar. There were problems with both. If they left now, with only one day and night of rest, they would carry their travel weariness with them as a crutch to be broken by the fragment, who traveled with great numbers. Yet if they stayed, the fragment may move in. It was a quandary.
Bracus, as Captain of the Band, broke the impasse, “We will take rest. Two of the Band will have first watch, everyone will be guarded.” He shrugged as if to say there was not a better solution.
Clara agreed. She was still tired from a week's straight travel without respite. Her fear of the fragment, although acute, was not sufficient for them to move onward for another week.
She nodded and stood on feet still shaky from the interchange between Matthew and Charles. “I believe Bracus speaks true.”
Clara heard some of the guard grumble and gave a severe look at Thomas who responded, “Let us take our leave, your highness. We await like sitting ducks before the wolves. I do not like their numbers.”
Talking broke out and Matthew held up a hand to quiet them. “It may seem like a foolhardy maneuver, to stay in this place while they encroach.” Clara watched Thomas and the other four of the guard nod their heads to that most obvious fact. “However, gentlemen, we have been in many battles.”
The guard remained somber and quiet. They had yet to see a battle, having lived within the womb of the sphere their entire lives.
“If we move in weakness, with insufficient food in our bellies and time atop our pillows, you will fight your fatigue as surely as the enemy.”
“What Matthew says is true. We stay. Only Clara could force this party froward prematurely,” Philip said, looking at her.
Clara looked at her sullen Guard, then at the women. Finally, she gave her full attention to the Band who looked back at her steadily.
“We stay,” she decided for the party.
Lifting her skirts, she made her way to the camp. For better or worse, they would bathe, dine and sleep. It was the only way to be prepared for whatever they may face. A coil of unease unfurled within her even as she thought it.
CHAPTER 6
The dinner behind them had been a solemn affair where the entire group's thoughts were about where the fragment was.
Clara was tired of the dour tone of the evening and decided it was time for a game. “Let us play a game of hide-and-seek.”
Matthew immediately opened his mouth to protest and she held up a finger. “You may guard the group for the first round, then another will relieve the next,” she said with utter surety. They needed this, Clara thought, the nervousness of the day weighing on her like a black cloud.
Bracus grinned. “Very un-Queen-like of you Clara.”
“Yes, very,” Sarah said, matching Bracus' smile with one of her own.
Evelyn clapped her hands together and said, “That is why you are the best Queen in Ohio!”
Clara laughed, Evelyn was an infectious girl.
Anna frowned then laughed. “She is the only Queen.”
The Royal Guard chuckled at her enthusiasm. Clara was overjoyed to see Evelyn's eyes shining in a face that had not smiled much this week past. They should have relieved the tension in this manner even without the threat of the fragment, Clara thought.
“Come brother,” Philip clapped Matthew on the back, “let them partake of some fun.”
Matthew and Charles stared at one another and Clarence spoke to break the tension, “Charles, let us have some spoil, it will be a welcome reprieve.”
Charles sighed and Matthew's shoulders relaxed.
Let the game begin.
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 32
