A Dark Guardian

by Donna Grant

  “I think she went into the castle.”

  But Hugh knew she wouldn’t do that. “I don’t think so. She must be somewhere in the bailey.”

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  “We don’t have time to find her,” Cole said as he drew his sword. “The creature will descend upon us any moment.”

  Hugh watched the creature closely as it flew lower to land on the battlement. Its head turned slightly, and its eyes watched something outside the castle walls.

  “Dear God,” Hugh murmured under his breath. “Mina is outside.”

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  Chapter Eleven

  “Outside?”

  Bernard

  repeated, his tone disbelieving. “Why, in all that is holy, is Mina not inside these walls?”

  No one moved as they watched the creature spread its wings and fly from the castle.

  “’Tis headed toward the forest,” Cole shouted.

  Hugh never heard Cole, for he was already running toward the postern door. He threw it open and raced down the path, heedless of his own safety as he broke through the trees. The field from the castle to the forest seemed to stretch forever as he watched the creature reach the trees.

  He heard footfalls behind him and knew that at least one of his men was with him.

  He didn’t chance a look back. He couldn’t. He had to keep his eyes on the creature, which was easier said than done once it moved down into the trees.

  Hugh’s legs stretched longer as he neared the forest, but once he broke into the dense growth, he stopped. With his chest pumping from the exertion, he listened for any sound of the creature or Mina.

  “Where is it?” Gabriel whispered as he ran up beside Hugh.

  “I don’t know.”

  Cole came to stand on the other side of Hugh. He leaned close and spoke softly,

  “Shouldn’t we have heard her screaming by now?”

  Hugh grimaced at Cole’s choice of words. “You would think.”

  “Where is Mina?” Bernard bellowed as he crashed into the forest and ran to them.

  They all turned and hushed him. “We’re trying to hear,” Hugh told him.

  For several more moments they stood wordlessly, listening to the eerie silence of the trees.

  “This is spooky,” Bernard hissed into the gloom. “I’ve never heard the forest this quiet.”

  Hugh nodded. “’Tis the creature that frightens the animals.”

  “Well, that’s not the only thing it frightens.”

  Hugh’s respect for the baron grew. There were few men who would admit their fear and fewer still that would face it.

  “Split up. If you hear something, whistle,” he said and moved forward through the trees.”

  Behind him he heard Cole whisper to Bernard, “Come with me.”

  With all of his senses tuned toward finding Mina before the creature did, Hugh noiselessly slid his sword from its scabbard. He adjusted his grip on the hilt as he readied himself to react to the slightest possible threat.

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  He had gone several paces without hearing anything and was about to think Mina had gone elsewhere, when the distinctive sound of footfalls running reached him.

  He looked to his left and saw a shadow. From where he stood, he couldn’t tell if it was Mina or someone else, but he was going to find out.

  * * * *

  Mina ran, her hair coming free of the braid and sticking to her face, hampering her vision. She stopped next to a tree and gulped in much needed air as she wiped the sweat soaked strands of her hair away from her face.

  She couldn’t see the creature, but she could feel it. It was close, much closer than she wanted.

  But leaving the castle had been the right thing to do. She wanted to give the men time to regroup. Their plan had failed. Again.

  She had thought she would be able to reach the old cottage deep in the forest before the creature reached her, but she had become turned around in her hasty flight from the castle. It had been a very long time since she had ventured from the main road in the forest at night.

  And now her mistake would cost her her life.

  Her breathing was nearly back to normal when her ears pricked. Behind her and to her right, she heard a creak of a tree limb. The creature. He was toying with her, but why? He had said she was to be killed last, though it had been willing to kill her tonight.

  Or had it?

  In the bailey it had come for her, but its talons weren’t fully extended and didn’t extend until Darrick had stepped in front of her.

  She shook her head to clear those thoughts and glanced around the forest. The moon filtered through the dense clouds and allowed her a brief view of the trees, and she was able to find her way. The cabin was to the left.

  After she took a deep breath to stiffen her courage, she took off running again, but this time, she refused to look behind her. She would stay focused on where she was headed. At least that was her original goal, until she heard the flap of wings over her head.

  Fear devoured her. She didn’t want to die. Not yet.

  And then she saw it. The cottage. She pushed aside her fright and stretched her legs as far as they could go. She could make it, she had to. But just as she reached the cabin door something hit her from behind.

  She fell into the door, and it flew open. With the weight of whatever behind her, she hit the floor with a thud. Outside the cottage she heard the creature scream in displeasure.

  “Get moving,” Hugh whispered in her ear.

  She didn’t stop to ask him what he was doing there, she just did as he commanded. While he went about trying to bar the door, she pushed aside the limbs that had crashed through the roof and began pulling up the floorboards.

  “What are you doing?”

  “There is a tunnel below the cottage,” she answered as she yanked up a board.

  Hugh was immediately by her side helping her. Outside the creature continued to A DARK GUARDIAN

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  howl and bang against the old cottage and then landed on the roof. With Hugh’s help they got through the floor quickly and pulled open the tunnel door.

  He helped her down and ran to the cottage door.

  “What are you doing?” she yelled.

  “I’ve got to tell my men I have you.” With that he opened the door and let out a loud whistle that she was sure everyone in the countryside could hear, even over the creature’s screams.

  She climbed down the ladder that would put them in the tunnel and waited for Hugh. She didn’t have to wait long. He climbed down far enough to close the door then he put his feet on the outside of the ladder and slid down.

  “Where does this lead?”

  She looked down the black tunnel before her. “It was used to escape the Normans. There is a fork up ahead. One tunnel will return us to the castle and the other takes us deeper into the forest near the old monastery.”

  “Do you know which way is to the castle?”

  She opened her mouth to answer when the door above them creaked. He shoved her ahead of him.

  “Run.”

  She stumbled along the tunnel as she tried to get her legs moving. She didn’t know how long she ran until she tripped over a root and fell to the ground. There wasn’t time to warn Hugh of the root, and he too fell.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked as he rolled off of her and sat up.

  “Just exhausted,” she said and slowly sat back on her knees. “I don’t hear it anymore.”

  “Hopefully we confused it.”

  She sighed. “I guess we should continue. I hate not being able to see.”

  “There were probably some torches at the entrance, but we didn’t have time to look.”

  His hand reached forward and touched her face, then moved to her arm. “Let me help you up.”
<
br />   She allowed him to aid her, mostly because she was too weary to do it herself, but there was also a part of her that wanted his touch.

  “I’ll take the lead now,” he said. “Keep a hold on me.”

  She wasn’t about to balk at having free reign to touch him. With his hand as a guide, he moved hers until it rested against his waist. The strange fabric of his tunic beneath her hand heated.

  He moved forward, and she gripped his tunic. For what felt like endless hours, they stayed like that as he moved them deeper into the tunnel.

  “How long is this tunnel?”

  “I don’t remember. I haven’t been here in years. There is only one fork and you’ll know when you come upon it.”

  “So, it’s something like this?”

  She peered around him and saw the dark outline of the tunnels as they branched off. “That’s it.”

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  “Which way to the castle?”

  “Left.”

  They trudged onward. Many times she wanted to ask him to stop, but she held her tongue. She was weary and hungry, but she refused to appear weak in front of him.

  She must have dozed as they walked because she ran into his back when he stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “The tunnel is blocked.”

  She moved to his side, wide awake now. “What? How can that be?” But it was solid earth before her hand.

  “The ground must have caved in.” He was silent for a moment. “We must turn back and head to the monastery.”

  She couldn’t go another step though. “Hugh, I know you wish to return to your men, but I need to rest.”

  “Forgive me,” he said and helped her sit down. “I’m not used to having a lady around.”

  She heard the grin in his voice. “’Tis I who should apologize. Not only did I leave the castle, but I’m holding you up.” She saw his outline moving around her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I found a piece of wood. I wanted to see if there was more, and there is. I think I’ll be able to build us a fire so we can see.”

  For the first time that evening, she smiled. “That would be wonderful.”

  And as amazing as it sounded, it wasn’t long before he had done just that. She looked across their small fire to the man that had saved her for a second time. As she looked, he watched the smoke from the growing fire.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure there is a vent somewhere so we don’t inhale the smoke. See how the smoke drifts away, then up? There must be a small hole nearby where the smoke can escape to.”

  She sighed and realized she was very lucky to have him with her.

  “Tell me why you ran from the castle?” he asked while feeding more limbs to the growing fire.

  “I wanted to give you and the men time to get inside the castle before the creature killed anyone else.”

  “You were safer inside the castle walls. We all were.”

  “I thought for sure I could have reached the cottage before it caught me. And I would have if I hadn’t become lost.”

  He nodded. “Brave but foolish.” His eyes burned golden in the firelight. “Don’t do it again.”

  “I won’t,” she promised.

  She looked down during the silence that followed her response.

  “I don’t understand you.”

  Her head jerked up at his words. “There isn’t much to understand. There isn’t another more complex man on this earth than you.”

  He chuckled. “I guess you could say that. I have a reason to be as I am.”

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  “And you’re saying I don’t?”

  “Nay. Tell me about your parents.”

  She leaned her head back against the tunnel wall and let him change the subject.

  “Everyone loved them. The villagers would do anything for them. While they lived, Stone Crest prospered.”

  “Did you spend a lot of time with them?”

  “Not really. They had so much to do with the castle and villagers. My mother never turned anyone away in need, and Theresa commanded a lot of her attention.”

  “And your father?”

  She smiled to herself. “I used to sit in the field and watch him riding. He was a great horseman. He fostered many young men at the castle, and he was a magnificent leader. Bernard was with him almost constantly.”

  “So when did they spend time with you?”

  “Whenever they could.”

  “Give me an example,” he prodded.

  She looked away from his gaze. “I didn’t need them like Theresa and Bernard did, and they knew that. I spent most of my time with my mother’s old nurse, Gertie.”

  Hearing the words out of her own mouth brought back all the painful feelings she had tried to bury. She blinked rapidly, but moisture collected in her eyes anyway.

  Hugh wanted to kick himself for pushing as he did. He rose and went to her. She refused to look at him, but it wasn’t hard to see the tears in the firelight.

  He reached up and wiped a lone tear from her cheek. She raised her gaze to him.

  “Is there something wrong with me that would make my own parents shun me?”

  “Nay,” he said and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

  She turned toward him, and he let her cry against his shoulder. He wondered how long she had held that emotion inside.

  “Whether you believe it or not,” he said against her hair, “there will come a time when your life will sort itself out.”

  She leaned her wet cheek against his shirt. “I think for most people it does turn out that way, but for me I don’t think so. I know I’m not the only person to have my parents treat me like they did.”

  “No one can say why parent’s act the way they do.”

  “It wasn’t as if they were cruel to me,” she explained. “They always gave me a smile and a pat on the head.”

  “You just didn’t feel part of the family.”

  She nodded. “I always thought it was because of how I look.”

  “I’ve already told you Theresa lied about that.”

  She raised her face and placed her finger on his lips. “And I’ve already told you I know what I look like. I think my parents were too kind to tell me the truth, so Theresa and Bernard did.”

  Hugh barely heard anything she said once she placed her finger against his lips.

  She was in his arms, snuggled against his chest with her face tilted toward him. All he needed to do was lower his head.

  “You have no idea just how alluring you are, do you?”

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  She smiled and wiped away the tears. “I’ve never known a kinder man than you.”

  “I’m not kind. I speak the truth,” he said and found his arm tightening against her.

  The fullness of her breasts could be felt against his chest, and the heat of her body mingled with his giving him a heady sense. He began to shake slightly with a need he had not experienced in decades.

  Pull away. She could be part of the evil.

  The incessant words his conscience continued to repeat was soon lost on him as he looked at her plump lips and wondered what they would feel like kissing him.

  He gazed into her blue-green eyes and was immediately lost. It didn’t matter if she controlled the creature or if she attacked Theresa. All that mattered was that his body craved her like a starving man. He knew to push her away now would be to deny what he needed most.

  “Mina,” he said and lowered his head.

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  Chapter Twelve

  Hugh watched Mina’s pink lips part as his head drew nearer. He closed his eyes when his mouth finally met her soft, full lips.

  He began to pull back, knowing he had crossed a line
that shouldn’t have been crossed when her fingers dug into his chest and her head moved towards him.

  It was all the encouragement he needed.

  He cradled her head in his arm while his other hand reached up and around her neck. He slid his tongue along her lips and heard her moan softly. With his thumb, he gently pulled her chin down until her mouth opened for him.