The other male of the fragment gently picked her up and cut the ties which bound her as Frederic bound up beside them. “Why do you untie her?”
“She's awake now. Tucker wants to get some answers, Frederic.”
“Prince Frederic to you,” he corrected.
The other male narrowed his eyes on him. “I'm not playing that game, Fred. You need us. So shut up and go along for the ride.”
Frederic huffed, “Which ride? Do not speak in riddles you imbecile. Speak plainly so we may all understand.”
Tucker sighed. “Daniel, remember... 1890.”
“Huh. What I'm saying is we're in charge here and you will do it our way until we get to the sphere, then you can negotiate. Do you understand that? Clear enough for ya?”
Frederic glared at him, then looked at Clara. Finally, he said, “I understand you do not communicate properly and it underscores my assumptions about your intellect in a most satisfying way.”
“What does all that mean, Prince?” Daniel asked.
“He's saying you're stupid,” Tucker restated.
Frederic smiled. “Very good as translations go, Tucker.”
Daniel's fists clenched and a vein throbbed at his temple. “I think it'll be lesson time for you soon, Fred.”
“Prince Frederic,” Frederic repeated.
Daniel moved toward the Prince and Tucker interceded with a hand on his chest. “Humor him. Soon, we will make arrangements that make everyone agreeable. Right?” he looked into Daniel's eyes significantly and Clara was instantly afraid.
“Right, Tucker. Fine, Prince Frederic,” Daniel said.
“I am so pleased you see reason,” Frederic said.
Daniel glowered and turned on his heel, walking off with Tucker. He left Clara in the company of Prince Frederic which was not much better.
The Prince met her eyes and she backed away until her back was against the horse.
“Do not be so, Clara. If you would but comply, I would not have to be so harsh in my treatment.” He shrugged his shoulders reasonably.
“The facts remain, Prince Frederic, that you are my mother's killer and my attempted rapist,” Clara watched his face darken but went on where she should not have, “Not to mention the beatings that you administered so thoroughly in the past. Forgive me if I take pause,” Clara said sarcastically, the flat of her palm resting on the mount behind her.
Frederic approached and she shrunk further against the horse who neighed nervously, stamping its hooves. The Prince's eyes flicked to the horse and Clara understood he was nervous around horses. Interesting indeed.
She moved subtly about the rear of the horse, keeping her hand on the animal so it would not be startled by her presence as Bracus had taught her. She had an idea forming.
As she moved, the Prince followed with a puzzled expression painting his face. “Come here! You will see reason. Mayhap something can be salvaged as those revolting gills disappear when you are not immersed in water,” he said conversationally.
Presently, the absence or not of her gills were of little concern. Surviving was. And she was certain that she would not survive with extended exposure with the likes of Frederic.
She turned and ran, swatting the rump of the beast as she passed. As she had hoped, it flung its hind leg backward just as Prince Frederic raced to capture her, landing a hoof squarely in his chest and he flew backwards, the wind momentarily knocked out of his body. Clara ran, her copper hair streaming behind her.
Daniel looked up and saw the Princess running and Tucker's mount charging away. What in the blue hell? Where did she think she was going?
He signaled to a few of the others and they closed in around her.
Daniel was struck again by her fragile beauty. She was a tiny thing, huge, sea-colored eyes in a lovely heart-shaped face and deep red hair. It shone like burnished copper. He jogged to where the men tried to find a place to hold onto her that she wouldn't kick them.
He would have her for himself.
That stupid Prince was nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing. He loathed Tucker, hated his existence amongst the fragment. Why did he have to atone for the sins of his ancestors?
They'd better figure it out soon. Even though their number was at forty, it would take only a handful of their Band to put a hurt upon them all.
She was shrieking, “Unhand me!”
Her fear pierced him and he shoved it aside, knowing to bury any sign of weakness or his brethren would be upon him like vultures.
“Let her go! She won't go anywhere.” He gestured about him to the open prairie. The forest border to the north.
“You! Go get Tucker's damn horse,” he told Robert who shot off after the horse. Daniel noticed the Prince lay still in a very unroyal-like heap a dozen yards away and he chuckled. He saw the Princess' eyes narrow on him.
She tore her arm out of the grasp of one of his men and said, “There is nothing that is remotely humorous at present.”
Fascinating speech, Daniel thought. It was as if he was living a slice of history. He had heard about the sphere-dwellers but had never had the experience in the flesh. She was beautiful, her whole demeanor on fire. He felt something integral slip in that moment, her eyes regarded him like startled jewels in her face.
He inhaled deeply, exhaling on a rush, collecting himself. “Did you cause Tucker's mount to strike Fred?”
Clara had to control her expression, his use of the nickname so unexpected she almost laughed in the midst of her anger. The foolish nickname somehow suited the Prince and she found herself critically appraising this man of the fragment. He seemed somewhat different in a way she could not pinpoint.
“I engineered it,” she admitted, waiting for an unknown punishment.
He took a step nearer and she fought not to move back from his advance.
He saw the subtle flinching of her eyes and stood his ground. “Why?”
She looked to either side at the male who still held one arm. Darrel's eyes flicked to him and he dropped them. She smoothed out her wrinkled blouse and straightened her spine. “He has brought me much harm. I cannot be in his company,” she answered simply.
That is not what the Prince had relayed to them when he was found half-starved and wandering aimlessly Outside. As a point of fact, Tucker had taken a liking to him right away. Daniel hadn't. There was something off about him. Something beside his inflated opinion of himself.
“Tell me,” Daniel said, brooking no argument.
Clara did. When she hesitated over Frederic's attempt to rape her in the well of the sphere she looked up at Daniel, expecting lasciviousness but found a glimmer of compassion instead.
Daniel became angrier with each successive tale that built one on top of the other. The Prince was far more than a bad seed.
He was crazier than a loon. A violent offender. The likes of which were common amongst the fragment.
Another thing to thank the Travelers for, he thought with an abiding anger.
Robert returned with Tucker's horse's reins in his hand, sweaty and out of breath. “What a hassle,” he said, wiping a hand on his forehead.
Clara's brow shot up.
He saw her puzzlement. “It was difficult to get the horse.”
She crossed her arms. Their strange way of talking was almost another language. She would have to be about paying close attention.
“Okay, so no excessive time with Fred,” Daniel said
Clara felt the corners of her mouth turn up and put a hand to cover her smile and Daniel saw the gesture and grinned at her.
She could not believe that any humor could be found in this horrible situation but at least one of the fragment was not terrible. Her eyes immediately sought Tucker, her scalp still stinging from proving her savage.
Mayhap her status as select was not such a mystery after all. It may be as simple as being savage.
Being of savage blood.
Clara instinctively looked to the forest's edge. Where was the Band? They were
not amongst the dead. The Royal Guard of her sphere alone were dead. A dreadful sadness stole inside her heart with the knowledge that more of her people were dead. Charles had been more right than she had believed.
Mayhap staying in the sphere, the mystery of her lineage a permanent unsolved puzzle piece would have been better than the predicament she found herself in.
Daniel followed her eyes as they traveled the forest border. What was she looking for so diligently? The fragment had found only her guards, now dead, and the one that she called Charles. His unease grew as he studied her expression, laced with a melancholy edge.
He would find out more about her. After all, they had many days before they reached her home sphere.
Daniel gave another long look at the deep forest, his foreboding deepening, then turned to move toward Clara.
CHAPTER 9
Bracus and Matthew stood shoulder to shoulder, their quivers pressing against their sides.
Matthew's eyes tracked the one of the fragment as he spoke to Clara, noting his posture, which did not seem straight and angry. His nerves were shredded as he spoke to Bracus, “For the tenth time, we must act now and get her back to us!”
Bracus pressed a palm on his shoulder and turned him to face him. “Do you not think that I wish for that very thing? Count their number, Matthew!” he hissed. “Even such as we do not have sufficient number to dispatch that!” He stalked away, pacing the small space amongst the forest where they had tracked the fragment in parallel. When they moved, the Band crept alongside in the forest, hidden by the gloom.
It had been a tense number of hours. Watching Clara's handling by the fragment. Also her horrible position atop the steed. Bracus shook his head.
“I cannot stand this!” Matthew moved to leave the forest and Philip held him fast.
“Do not, my brother!” he said in a quiet voice.
“You are not my brother!”
Philip and Matthew stared into each other's eyes. “You kill her if you go now. Think on it. They will fight to keep her and that lot will kill her before they see you resume possession of her again.”
“Do you not think that I long to be with Sarah? That Joseph wishes to carve his name upon their flesh? Wait for the eve. We will butcher them as they sleep. They will be as lambs underneath our blades.”
Matthew shrugged off the huge hand that restrained him and stalked deeper into the forest and Joseph sighed. “We feel the same. Matthew is more...”
“Vocal,” Bracus said.
“That did not used to be the way of it,” Philip said.
They nodded. Much had changed in Matthew since his taking of Clara. For one, he made no secret of his intent to be her mate.
Bracus had not given up and for every intimacy that Matthew gained, Bracus struggled to assert his own.
Ultimately, she would have to choose. Right now, she was in the bosom of their enemy and Bracus' first priority was to obtain her safely. Where Matthew would go off half-cocked and fueled by emotion, Bracus would use those same emotions to finely hone his plan.
It had been the worst moments of the Band when the game had turned terribly wrong. The women were hidden all around them while the fragment came upon them before the women could be safely gathered. The best the Band had been able to manage was to hide until the females had been taken. Then they followed, fashioning a plan to reacquire them.
Of course all of that would be moot if the violence vested against them would be too great. Then caution would go to the wayside.
Bracus sighed and called to the one of the Royal Guard which remained, Clarence.
Clarence came, stiff, formal and wary.
“What say you?” he asked.
“We wish for you to be party to the plan,” Bracus said.
“We move tonight, Captain Bracus?” he asked hopefully, thinking of Sarah, Bracus had not doubt. He gave a subtle look at Philip and noticed him frowning at Clarence.
Tempers ran high.
Bracus nodded and looked into the murky depths of the forest, whistling like a bird for Matthew. He reappeared soundlessly before him, his face in grim lines of determination.
Bracus outlined the plan and the men pressed their heads together. All the Band assembled and the lone member of the Royal Guard.
Bracus hoped the element of surprise would gain them their females' return.
In the end, hope had very little to do with it.
Savagery was the order of the day.
Or the night, as it were.
****
Matthew could not quiet the churning in his guts as he watched that male of the fragment speak with Clara, another with his hand upon her arm.
The urge to move away from the woods and tear said offending limb off of the male's body was almost unbearable.
And the Prince! He would be one of the first they would dispatch. But he was wily. He had escaped their grasp once before. However, Bracus' plan was sound in that regard. As long as that one lived, Clara was not safe. Matthew remembered, thinking on how he had chased her behind the horse (the fool), then had received a nice hoof to the chest. A perfect move executed by Clara. She was beautiful, Matthew thought for the thousandth time, but she was clever as well. He had seen her deliberate and act out many decisions with alacrity.
In this situation, she had given herself a respite. The viper of a Prince would be coddling himself for a few hours hence. Matthew's mouth turned up at the corners and Philip saw his expression.
“What amuses you?”
Matthew swung his face to Phillip, the biggest of them all, steady. A terrible warrior if one was on the wrong side of his aggression. “Ah, I was thinking of the Prince getting taught a lesson by the fragment's horse.”
Philip chuckled. “Yes, most excellent. He is without a brain to move behind a horse in that way.”
Matthew nodded and Bracus, having heard that last said, “She is an apt pupil. She takes to the horse quite naturally.” He gave a pained expression, no doubt remembering with fondness the many riding lessons he had bestowed on her.
“Do you think that she manufactured the incident?” Philip asked.
Bracus nodded. “Aye, I do. She is a clever female.”
“It is a sad state of affairs when a female must use a horse as a weapon of defense.”
They were quiet at that for a few long moments. Matthew clenched his fists. He would beat that horrible male into a bloody blight upon the ground.
Bracus put a hand on his shoulder and a look of understanding flowed between the two men.
Prince Frederic would suffer.
As would the fragment.
*
Tucker watched the Princess visit with Daniel and narrowed his eyes. The fire blazed about them. The others had grabbed as many rocks from the forest as they could manage and built a great stone pit and the heat from the fire baked their group.
Daniel had always been soft toward the females. He wasn't sure why. They were breeders, nothing more. He was a formidable fighter and Tucker enjoyed the confidence his skills afforded him in the skirmishes that occurred with other fragment. But this one weakness of his was an Achilles’ heel. Survival inside the confines of the fragment hinged solely on trusting no one, loving no one.
Tucker stood and turned to Robert. “Get the females.”
Clara stopped talking with Daniel and stood. “I thought that Evelyn was the only one of us that was taken,” her voice quavered slightly and Tucker was glad. There was something about this female that set his teeth on edge. He wished to hurt her, cause her to submit. In that way, he and that stupid Prince saw things equally. An idea lit his mind and he embraced it. Why hadn't he thought of it before?
She swiveled her head to Daniel, her eyes pleaded with him as she asked, “They will not hurt the wee one, Evelyn?”
But Daniel did not give her encouragement. He knew Tucker too well. It would be all he could manage to keep Clara safe. He had already resolved in his mind that he would die trying to keep her
safe. But the other females, it would be him against many. They may face a horrible end. Maybe he could appeal to Tucker's greed.
It was legendary.
Without females, there would be no babies. He had to outline his debate carefully. Tucker was naturally suspicious of everyone's motives.
Even his.
Of course, in the case of Clara those suspicions may be valid. She made him want to be a better man.
Daniel straightened. “What's going on, Tucker?”
Robert and a few others brought a struggling Evelyn.
And Anna and Sarah.
Clara's heart fell within her breastbone. She had thought she had only herself and Evelyn to concern herself with. Now it appeared that there were more that she need protect.
Tucker walked toward her and she instinctively moved back, stumbling against Daniel, who pressed her against him.
Tucker noticed, his eyes flicking to the semi-protective grip that he had on Clara.
“Princess,” Tucker began, “we are not brutes.”
Clara held her tongue. She had been present in the battlefield the day that two of the fragment had been absolutely brutish.
“However, it has come to my attention from Prince Frederic that you are quite concerned,” he let that word lengthen, “with your people. Now, that includes both peoples, eh? The savages and the sphere-dwellers alike.” He waited for her to respond.
“They are clan, Mr. Tucker, not savages,” Clara clarified.
“You are so wrong,” he said, waving away her comment. “You're savage. They're ordinary but necessary.”
He moved toward Sarah and she glared at him as he reached out and grasped a hunk of her wheaten hair.
“Do not touch me,” she hissed as she jerked away and he slapped her face, her head slamming into the male that held her. She spat blood onto the ground and her eyes met Clara's. Clara shook her head slightly.
“Tell her to remain still or I will make what I just did look like affection.”
Daniel squeezed Clara's shoulder and she quickly said, “Sarah, try to remain calm. Do not antagonize this man.”
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 34
