That side of Sven, the caring, gentle side that was reserved only for his daughter was a side that no one saw except Zuzulla. He could not have his enemies thinking he was weak.
Sven had sent his army into a little village the previous night, it was a village that the Highlanders were known to frequent. He not only wanted to conquer a new land, but he wanted to send a message to the Highlanders. He wanted them to know that he knew where they were and that he was coming after them. He had his best warriors plotting to kill all of the Highlanders and he would stop at nothing until they were all dead. They were the only thing that stood between him and conquering the entire countryside.
Sven knew that if he wanted to be the King in all of the surrounding lands he would have to get rid of the Highlanders, he knew that they would cause a revolt among the people and that they could lead an army against his. He also knew that the Highlander army with the help of the people would defeat his own army.
Carden crawled up to the bushes that lay on the edge of the woods, peering through them, ensuring that there were no more soldiers left in the village. Smoke rose from the small cottages, most of them burned to the ground. The village was poor, but it was one that meant a lot to the Highlander clan. It was where they sold the fur of their kills as well as meat which allowed them to outfit the entire clan with only the best weapons.
The Highlanders had become quite fond of the people in the village as well, it was one of the few places that the clan actually felt accepted. Carden shook his head as he looked at the ground. He knew he should have been there the previous night to protect the town. He should not have gone to meet with the King leaving the town without protection. He had never suspected that Sven had known how important the town was to the Highlanders and it only made Carden want to go after Sven that much more.
When he was sure that there were no soldiers left Carden shifted into his human form along with several of the clan that had come to the village with him. They had seen the smoke rising in the sky as they made their way back to their camp that morning and it had not taken them, but a few minutes to get there in their werewolf form. They were able to run as fast as lightening when they were in their werewolf form, much faster than any man could ever run.
Several of the men in the clan had women that they were fond of in the small village and when Carden saw the smoke, he knew that the chances of the women surviving was very small. Sven’s men always killed all of the men in a village or allowed them to join their army if they were strong enough, that left the women and children. The men were not gentle when it came to the women and if they would not submit to the men in Sven’s army they would be killed.
The army killed the old as well, seeing no point in having them alive and only those who pledged allegiance to Sven and his army were allowed to live. They were just like Sven, Carden thought, heartless and nothing more than a waste of space on the planet. They were blind with power and Carden was sure that they actually enjoyed killing those who would not pledge their allegiance to Sven. He had seen the smirks on their faces when they had killed previously and it was like nothing he had ever seen.
Of course Sven and his clan had to kill humans on occasion they needed their hearts in order to survive, but none of them took pleasure in killing and made sure that they only killed the worst criminals when they had to feed. Often times Carden would wish that he were dead rather than kill another human, but he took comfort in knowing that he did not kill the innocent unlike Sven and his army.
Carden and his clan walked into the village, keeping a close eye out for any type of movement. He did not want Sven’s men sneaking up on them without any warning. They quickly went through the village, ensuring that it was not only safe for them to be there, but safe to bring out any survivors they would find.
Carden walked into one small cottage that had not burned completely down. A woman not older than 30 was laying on the bed completely nude and completely dead. Carden picked up a blanket off of the floor of the cottage and covered her body wanting to give her a little bit of her dignity back. He imagined the awful things Sven’s men had done to this gentle creature and fire flowed through his veins like hot lava.
Carden turned to walk out of the cottage when he saw a small figure hiding behind the table. He bent down, it was a young girl that he knew well. She could not have been more than 16 but was very popular among the younger Highlanders. Carden reached out and she took his hand, standing she threw her arms around him sobbing. He would have no choice but to take her back to the clan and change her. It was fine with Carden and he knew the elders of the clan would be fine with it as well, but he wondered if she had any idea what her future would hold and if she would have been better off dying at the hand of Sven’s army.
The other members of the Highlander clan had found a few survivors and checked to see if any supplies had been left in the village. Although there was very little left by Sven’s soldiers they were glad to find a small amount of food and water. This would be enough to get the humans back to the Highlander camp without having to worry about hunting. Carden told the other members of his clan to take the humans to the Highlander camp, he was going to go ensure that King Sven never did this to another person again.
Zuzulla was preparing for her evening walk, it as something that her father did not like, but he allowed her to do so that she could get out of the palace walls. She hated not being able to go into town and visit with the normal people. She also hated having guards around her all of the time and this was her get away. Her father made sure that he knew exactly where she was going and to her dismay, he always had guards close by. He thought that she did not know they were there, but she had grown up around them, she knew when they were around and she knew how to lose them as well.
She laughed as she thought about how angry, they would become when she would sneak away in the woods hiding from them. She had done it since she was a child. Back then it had been a game, she would hide in the bushes where they could not see her and watch them search for her. Now it was just a way for her to get away. Growing up in a palace meant that there were always people around. People to bathe you, people to dress you, people to watch you eat and people to watch you do everything imaginable. Running out into the woods was the only time that Zuzulla did not have someone watching her.
Finally, she was ready to leave the palace and placed a cloak with a hood over her dress. She did not want anyone to recognize her if they were out wandering around the woods. She had been approached a few times recently, but she told the men that she was just a local villager out looking for berries. It had been frightening the first time she was approached, but she knew her father’s guards were keeping a close eye on her and the man that spoke with her.
Zuzulla walked out of the castle and across the hill. She knew the guards hated following her, she had heard them call it babysitting duty but she didn’t care. She knew that if her father found out how often she was able to hide from the guards he would have them thrown in prison for the rest of their miserable lives.
Zuzulla was not going to say anything to her father though. The guards knew that she would run away each day and that she would return when she was ready to go back to the castle. She figured that they had to pretend to be angry with her, but it had been a long time since they had actually looked for her when she took off into the woods. It was if they had an unspoken agreement. They allowed her to do as she wished and she did not tell her father.
She would not have told him anyway, even if the guards had really been angry with her. She knew her father had a temper and she had overheard some of the servants talking about how he had destroyed an entire village. Zuzulla refused to believe that he could do the things they said he had and she knew that when she was queen she would bring peace to the land. Even though she refused to believe that he had killed all of those people just to get to the Highlanders, the people who were nothing more than a fairy tale, she had seen her father sentence others to death and she did n
ot wish that upon anyone, not even the guards that drove her so insane.
The guards followed Zuzulla as she walked into the woods, two of them leaned on the trees at the edge of the woods and the two others followed her further in. When they were about 100 yards from the edge the other two guards stopped and let Zuzulla go off on her own. They were not worried about her becoming lost, they actually enjoyed the time out in the woods. It was the only time they did not have to make sure they were doing everything the way the King wanted it to be done. They knew if they did not bring his daughter back, he would have them killed, but she had been wandering these woods for years they had no idea that today she would not return.
As Zuzulla made her way deeper into the forest she heard branches breaking behind her. She was amazed that the guards had followed her this far, normally they stopped much further back. She smirked when she thought about going even deeper into the forest and as she turned to see where they were a hand was quickly placed over her mouth and an arm went around her waist.
She struggled against the man who grabbed her. She could not scream because of his enormous hand and knew she would not be able to fight him off on her own. She had never seen muscles as large as the ones that were on this arm that was wrapped around her. The man had something in his hand that was over her mouth and as she tried to fight him off, she felt herself becoming weaker and suddenly her body went limp as her eyes closed.
Carden had a horse waiting on the other side of the forest and he knew he had to get the princess there quickly before the guards began to look for her. She had only been in the woods a short time and he knew from watching her on previous days that he only had about an hour to get as far away from the area as he could. He threw Zuzulla over his shoulder and ran for the other side of the woods.
Carden ran as fast as he could and even though Zuzulla was light, he struggled with her dress getting in the way. He tried his best to work around it, but found that it was impossible. He dropped Zuzulla to the ground and grabbed the skirt of her dress ripping it until there was nothing more than a small skirt that fell just below her rear. Carden picked her up again and threw her back over his shoulder. He knew that her father would panic when he found her ripped dress and for that reason alone left it lying in the dirt.
Carden was able to move much better once he had gotten all of the extra material out of his way and made it to his horse in no time. Only about 30 minutes had passed since he had taken her and he knew he had to get further away. He mounted his horse and sat Zuzulla down facing him. He wrapped her legs around his waist and laid her head on his chest. For a brief moment he felt almost guilty as he looked down at her.
He knew it was not her fault that her father was as evil as he was, and he also knew that there was no other way to get her father to stop. Carden took off on the horse and headed toward the river. He knew if he could get her across the river Sven’s entire army could try to track them but they would fail.
As they rode Carden could feel Zuzulla bouncing up and down on his lap. His thoughts began to drift past taking her as he looked down at her. Her large breasts bounced as the horse ran at full speed. Carden shook his head, it had been a long time since he had been with a woman and it was not doing him any good to have her bouncing up and down on his lap. If she were not the enemy, he would have taken her right then, but he knew he had to keep his mind on the job.
It was a long ride to the river and it was about another hour before they reached the bank, the river was rushing and it was time for Carden to get rid of the horse they had been riding. Carden slid off of the horse and pulled Zuzulla down with him. He knew she would be waking soon and did not want to tie her hands until they were on the other side of the river he had to cross quickly.
Carden had to place Zuzulla on his stomach and swim on his back across the river. This proved extremely difficult and he considered just letting her float down the river. The guards would never find her if he did, but it was not in him to kill her right then. He had made a deal with the king of Kigom and that deal did not include letting her die in the river.
As Carden reached the middle of the river, he could feel her starting to stir. It was taking longer to get across the river than he had anticipated, but he was not willing to give up. Carden gathered all of his strength and finished swimming across the river with his captive in tow before she awoke.
When he reached the other side Carden wanted to do nothing more than lay on the bank to catch his breath, but he knew Sven would quickly get word that his daughter was missing if he had not already. He had no time to waste he needed to get to the caves as quickly as possible. There he and Zuzulla would spend the night before travelling further in the morning.
Carden had only made it about half of a mile before Zuzulla was fully awake.
“Let me go,” Zuzulla screamed pounding on Carden’s back. Zuzulla looked around and realized that she had no idea where she was. Fear began to take a hold of her. There were no guards anywhere and she knew that she was out of her father’s kingdom. This was an area that she had never seen before and she had no idea how to get home.
Carden dropped her do the ground hard and Zuzulla looked up at her captor dazed. He was a large man with muscles all over his body. He had dark skin and slick black hair and wore nothing but a thin pair of pants that Zuzulla was sure had seen better days. She could not stop herself from thinking how attractive he was, not like the princes who had come to court her. They were thin and pale and had probably never lifted so much as a fork their entire lives. There was something about this rugged man that drew Zuzulla in but as she looked up at him she felt nothing but fear.
“What are you doing,” she demanded, “where are we.”
“I am stopping your father’s reign of terror,” Carden said, looking down at the beauty lying on the ground in front of him. Her skirt was barely long enough to cover her prize and it was clinging to her body. “We are far out into the wilderness now,” Carden continued.
“His reign of terror,” She looked up at him confused, “You must be mistaken my father is a kind man he would never cause anyone terror.”
Carden let out a loud laugh at her reply, “How wrong you are little girl,” he said reaching into his pack. He pulled out a length of rope and began binding her hands. “Your father is the most dangerous man in the entire countryside right now. He is a murderous evil man and you are going to help me stop him.”
“I will never help you,” Zuzulla scowled as she struggled to get out of his grip, “take me home.”
“Your wish is my command,” Carden said as he helped her to her feet.
“Hmph,” Zuzulla tried to smooth her skirt down to cover her body, “and what happened to my clothes.”
Her questions were beginning to get on Carden’s nerves. He tied the loose end of the rope around his waist and began walking deeper into the woods forcing her to follow.
“You cannot lead me like a dog,” She screamed at him pulling back on the rope, “I am the princess.”
Carden knew that the rest of the journey was going to be hard and he considered knocking the girl out again, but his body was tired and he knew he could not continue to carry her.
“Come along,” he said gently tugging at the rope, “we have a long way to go and still need to catch food for the evening.”
Suddenly Zuzulla became aware of how hungry she actually was and how terrified. She had never been anywhere without guards close by and no matter how brave she felt when she was off in the woods she always knew that the guards were nearby.
Tears began to roll down Zuzulla’s face and Carden looked back at the young woman standing behind him. “Are you going to kill me,” she asked quietly.
“It is not my job to kill you,” he replied, his demeanor softening. He reached his hand out for Zuzulla to take, “My job is only to capture you,” he continued. Zuzulla took his hand as he helped her along the rocky ledge. She had no reason to trust this man, but at this point she had no other choi
ce.
They headed deep into the forest, the woods were thick and dark. Zuzulla knew that it was still light out only because of the few streams of light that seemed to sneak through the thick trees. After about 2 hours she was becoming tired and was having trouble keeping up with Zuzulla. Her body was not used to this amount of exercise on top of that her stomach felt as if it were going to come out of her throat due to hunger.
“I have to stop,” she said to Carden.
“We can’t stop, not much further to go,” he replied, looking back at her as she tried to keep up with him.
“You don’t understand,” she pleaded, “I can’t continue on.”
“What do you want princess,” Carden said clearly agitated, “I am not one of your servants. I am not going to carry you.”
He could hear her whimper as he raised his voice and a ping of guilt filled him. He turned and looked at her. She was a mess, her dress ripped dirt on her thighs and her hair standing up from getting wet. No one would have ever thought she was a princess if they had seen her.
“I’m sorry,” Carden said to her, “We will be at the caves soon.” He was not used to dealing with human women. It had been so long since he had been human it seemed like a lifetime ago. He was glad that he had been changed at the age of 25 and would never age. His body was in perfect condition and he had the knowledge of many old men.
She looked up at Carden clearly shaken but still trying to seem as if she were brave. It made Carden smile, he had never imagined that she would be as brave as she had been. He assumed she would have broken down by now and begged to go home he was amazed when she did not. What he did not know was that she was not sure if she wanted to return home. While they were walking, she had been thinking about what he had said about her father. It was not the first time that she had heard he was an evil man or that he had terrorized an entire village. She had just not wanted to believe it until now.
Seized By The Highlander (Scottish Highlander Romance) Page 11
