“Are you ok?”
Kyrin nodded.
“Can I get you anything?”
“My back hurts,” she said, shifting slightly.
“Maybe from the fall when Daemionis hit you.”
“Or this bed.”
He smiled, “That too. Would you prefer the floor?”
She nodded and then Alric helped her off of the bed. He handed her a nightgown, and she went into an adjacent room to change. The room was for bathing and had a giant tub in the middle. She looked at it, shocked, and wondered how many servants with buckets it took to fill it. After changing, she put the white dress on the side of the tub and walked back out to Alric. She was nauseous because of the headache, so she immediately laid down on the floor.
Alric watched until she fell asleep, and then put his hand against her forehead. His hand began to glow slightly, and he chanted softly, moving his hand down her head and onto her neck, where he concentrated further. He was afraid Daemionis had injured her badly, and wanted her to feel better when she woke up.
As the night drew on, he watched her sleep and held her in his arms. His back began to ache though, and just before dawn, he moved up to the bed and fell asleep.
The sun was high in the sky when Alric woke up. He first glanced down and saw Kyrin was still asleep on the floor. He wondered how she was able to sleep so well without any comfort, but figured you would get used to what you had. He stretched and then stood up and opened the curtain. When he turned back, Kyrin was opening her eyes.
“Good morning,” he said, sitting down beside her.
She sat up and nodded.
He smiled, “So do you feel different?”
She laughed, “No.”
“I told you that you wouldn’t. I don’t even have shackles set up for you yet though.”
Kyrin looked at him, “I’m sorry I threatened you.”
He laughed, “We had it coming.”
“You should have told me that I was expected to have children.”
“I didn’t tell you because I don’t expect it. I don’t want you to do anything out of character or anything you’re afraid of.”
“If I don’t feel any different, why do brides speak so badly of their wedding night?”
He smiled, “When you trust me more, I’ll tell you.”
She nodded and then stood slowly.
“Why don’t you go take a bath, and I’ll get breakfast,” Alric suggested.
“Someone will need to fill it.”
“We have a system for that. It’s already full.”
“Fancy,” she said, and disappeared into the washroom.
Alric heard voices outside of his door, and he grew furious. He pulled on his clothes and then stepped out, shutting the door behind him. Trox was there along with two Priests and one of the historians.
Trox bowed, “We’re here.”
“No,” Alric said sternly.
“We have to. It’s tradition.”
“I don’t really care, and as King, I say no.”
“Even the King cannot deny this,” the historian said. “It’s done to protect the noble bloodline.”
“You aren’t going in there.”
Trox sighed, “We already know, my Lord. We just have to see for the marriage to be complete.”
“It’s barbaric and I’ll not allow it.”
“If you’re worried that Kyrin will know, we can be quiet and discreet.”
“No”
“Are you worried that we will find nothing?” one of the Priests asked.
“You can take this up with Sithias, but I’m not letting you in there,” Alric said again.
Trox frowned, “Did you not…”
“You’re not getting in there.”
“My King, the marriage isn’t complete until…”
“I know, now leave,” Alric said angrily. “Have our breakfast brought up.”
They watched Alric disappear into his bedroom and slam the door.
“I’ll ask Sithias what he wants to do,” Trox said, and they all headed down the stairs.
Back in the room, Alric quickly gathered up her blankets and shoved them under the bed, and answered the door when their breakfast arrived. The servants loaded up the table by the fire and then bowed and left.
Kyrin came out a few minutes later, freshly bathed and back in her tunic, “Where are my blankets?”
He smiled, “I hid them.”
“Why?” she asked, sitting down to eat.
“We’re supposed to share a bed. It would start rumors if they knew that I slept on the bed, and you slept on the floor.”
“That makes no sense.”
He sat down and dished up his plate, “There are a lot of stupid traditions around marriage.”
She nodded and took a bite, “So will I be moving out of the Lady’s chamber then?”
“Yes, this is your room now too.”
Once finished, she sat back and watched him.
He smiled when he saw her looking at him, “What?”
“What do I do now?”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged.
“Are you expecting me to tell you what to do?”
Kyrin just watched him.
Alric chuckled, “Do what you want. I’m not an authoritarian that is going to tell you what to do.”
Her eyes narrowed, “You have no wishes for me today?”
“You have no idea,” he said, and then grinned.
“So spill it.”
“Not right now. I need to go talk to Sithias. Why don’t you go do something?”
“Like what?”
“Kyrin, I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
“What if I want to go horseback riding?”
“I’d say have fun,” Alric said, and then stood up and kissed her lightly. “I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
She nodded and watched him leave, still half expecting him to turn around and order her to do something. When he didn’t return, she went in search of her flail. The Captain of the Knights had it, and returned it after talking to Trox.
Once her weapon was in place, she went out and found a horse waiting for her. She felt like the people in the castle were watching her and talking behind her back. Soft whispers stopped when she walked by, and it was making her nervous.
Kyrin still felt awkward on a horse, but was starting to learn to enjoy the speed. As she was in a hurry to get far away from the people of Valhara, she kicked him into a fast run. They tore through the trees and she smiled. Nothing had happened last night, no beatings, no tortures or punishments. She was sure when she’d pulled the sword on the King, that she would have to endure humiliation and agony.
Her horse stopped suddenly and reared back, sending her flying over the back of him. She hit the ground hard, and it knocked the wind out of her. It wasn’t until she got to her knees that she saw eight men standing around her, all wearing the battered armor of the Qualsax Warriors.
She started for her flail, but it was torn out of her belt, and she was pulled to her feet and restrained by two of them.
“Fancy meeting you out here,” one of them said, smiling at her with black, cracked teeth.
“Surprised she could ride a horse after the wedding night,” one of them said, laughing.
“She married a Valharan. That's why. I bet she’s even walking right.”
“Wouldn’t happen if she married a Qualsax!” They all laughed when the man spoke.
“Leave me alone,” she yelled.
“Or what?” the Qualsax asked, walking up to her. He reached down and kissed her forcefully before grinning and stepping back, “Now that you’ve had a Valharan, maybe we need to show you the ways of the Qualsax.”
Kyrin struggled to get her hands free when he reached out and began to squeeze her breast roughly. He just laughed and then tore her tunic open in front, leaving only the thin white shirt beneath it.
“It’s obvious why the King picked you,”
he said, running his tongue along his lips. “At least he has good taste. I’ll give him that much.”
The Qualsax moved back to her and kissed her again, using his hand against the back of her head to smash her face into his. His other hand slipped into the back of her pants and painfully squeezed her butt. When his tongue slipped into her mouth, she bit hard, and her mouth instantly filled with blood.
He moved back angrily and then backhanded her, “You’ll behave, or I’ll have your head.”
She spit the blood at his feet and then glared up at him.
“This is the way I see it,” he said, now grinning again. “If I take you, then there’s a chance that the next heir to the throne of Valhara will be a Qualsax.”
The Qualsax restraining her forced her to the forest floor, and she kicked out when he came near her, “Last warning…”
“Last warning?” he said, laughing, “or what? You don’t know us… and by the time your King finds out I’ve had my way with you, I’ll already have ruined you.”
He reached down and swiftly removed her pants, and then stood up and admired her body, “Damn.”
Kyrin kicked out at him again, catching him squarely in the groin. He doubled over and she almost got loose from the Qualsax restraining her, but they retightened their grip.
One of the watching Qualsax moved to her quickly and kicked her in the side several times, before the other regained composer and stood up, “Stop, I’ll get her in other ways.”
Kyrin couldn’t breathe. She had stabbing chest pains, and each breath made it worse. She was also filled with a panic, not sure what the Qualsax had in mind to do with her. The look in his eyes was feral, and it sent terror through her.
The Warrior knelt between her knees and ran his hands up her hips, “I do hope you aren’t already impregnated. I would love nothing more than to have a Qualsax ruling Valhara.”
He dug his jagged nails into her stomach and ran them down, leaving bloody trails along the sides of her abdomen. When she screamed in pain, the others laughed and his grin broadened.
“Now to show you a real man,” he said, and began to unfasten his belt.
It took less than a second. One of the Qualsax holding her arm relaxed the slightest bit, and she jerked her arm free.
“Ozehshiesh.” She twisted, slamming her hands together, and the Qualsax Warriors instantly froze.
Catching her breath, Kyrin pulled her arm away from the frozen Qualsax and crawled out from under the one at her knees. Her stomach was bleeding from the scratches, and her side hurt to even move. She clutched it as she stood against a tree and looked back at the Qualsax.
First, she pulled her pants on, and then walked over to the leader of the Qualsax and removed a dagger from the sheath at his side. She walked up to the Qualsax he faced, and cut his neck, stepping back as the blood poured out over the floor, and he sunk to the moss-covered ground.
“I don’t know what made you think I’m an easy target,” she said. She knew they could see, and could hear her, but couldn’t do anything about it.
She did the same to the next Qualsax, but held a handful of his hair so the blood squirted out over his companions. When she let go, he also fell motionless to the forest floor.
By the time seven of them were dead, she was covered in blood and feeling the evil running through her veins. She walked over to stand before the Qualsax leader, “You aren’t going to get off as easily as them. What were you going to do to me?”
She walked slowly around him, studying his armor and the tattoos across his face.
When she faced him, she grinned maliciously, “You are going to feel pain, and you can’t do anything about it. I’ll offer up your suffering to Daemionis. He’ll enjoy this.”
Once he was dead also, she mounted the horse and kicked him, heading back for the castle. She had to take it slowly, as the sway of the horse made her side hurt worse. The adrenaline was wearing off, and her pain was becoming more prevalent.
By the time she got to the castle grounds, she was slumped over and fighting unconsciousness. Breathing was almost unbearable, and her head was pounding.
Knights rushed at her when they saw her, and one of them pulled her off of the horse and laid her down on the lush green grass in front of the castle.
“Get the King,” he said, looking her over.
“Four of you head out, find what attacked her,” the Captain yelled. Four Knights immediately mounted horses and disappeared through the trees, following the direction she’d just come from.
“The King will fix this,” the Knight said, taking her hand. “What attacked you?”
She swallowed hard and managed to speak dryly, “Qualsax.”
His eyes flared, “Qualsax Warriors attacked you?”
She nodded and then squeezed her eyes shut tightly. The world had begun to spin, and the voices of the Knights seemed far away.
“I’m going to move you inside, ok?” the Knight asked her.
She groaned slightly when he picked her up, but he moved slowly and managed to get her into the castle without much pain. When he laid her down, he turned suddenly.
“What happened!?” Alric yelled, running into the room.
“She was attacked by Qualsax,” the Knight said, bowing.
“What did they do?”
He sighed, “We don’t know yet. Knights are out looking for them.”
None of the Knights wanted to state the obvious. They knew what the Qualsax wanted, and no one knew if they had succeeded except for Kyrin. Alric sat down beside her and immediately began working to get rid of her injuries.
He wanted to know immediately how far the Qualsax had gone, and what exactly was said and done. His eyes flared when he saw the deep gashes along her stomach, but he was able to heal them with time. Priests came to help, but he didn’t want anyone else near her.
“Sire,” one of the Knights said, coming into the room.
Alric looked over, “Did you find them?”
He bowed, “Yes, Sir. There are eight dead Qualsax about two miles into the trees.”
“Dead?” he asked, moving his hands slowly over the bruise on her cheek.
“Yes, the throats were cut on seven of them… and the eighth…”
Alric looked up when he hesitated, “What?”
The Knight paused, “Mutilated, Sir.”
“How so?”
“His tongue has been removed, a few fingers, and he has long gashes down his body. I think the fatal blow was… well… his heart was torn out, Sir.”
Alric’s voice was angry, “Was he dressed?”
The other Knights filed out of the room and shut the door before the Knight spoke, “His belt and pants were undone, but that’s all.”
“Leave”
The Knight bowed again and left his King alone. Trox silenced the Knights and had them all in the conference room, waiting word from the King.
“Kyrin?” Alric said softly, and took her hand. At first, he couldn’t understand why she was still so ill, but then he found the mass of bruises on her side and was able to repair the damage.
She opened her eyes slowly, “Where am I?”
“You’re back in the castle,” he said, and kissed her forehead lightly. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No,” she said, and then sat up slowly.
He helped her and then looked into her eyes, “Tell me what happened.”
“They were waiting out in the trees for me, eight Qualsax.”
He nodded.
“They kept saying they wanted to have a Qualsax running Valhara.”
Alric grew furious, “How far did they get?”
“They hit me a few times, kicked me…”
“No, how far?”
She frowned slightly, “To what?”
“Did they… well… did one of them undress at all?”
“He started to, but then I got my hands free.”
“I need you to concentrate and tell me exactly what they did. Even if y
ou don’t understand it, I want to know.”
***
Alric joined Trox and the Knights in the conference room.
“How is she?” Trox asked him softly.
He was outwardly furious, “They didn’t get far, but they were attempting to have their way with her.”
Trox nodded, “But they didn’t…”
“No, they didn’t. I wasn’t aware the Qualsax would go to such extremes to get to me.”
“We have to protect her then,” the Knight’s Captain told them.
“We will. I assure you. First, I want to pay a visit to the Qualsax with the heads of their Warriors.”
“We brought the bodies back, that won’t be hard,” one of the Knights said.
“I’ll not stand by while my wife is assaulted and made a prime target of Qualsax!” Alric yelled.
“They’ve never bothered the Lady of Valhara before.”
“Well they are now.”
“We’ll go and talk to them,” Trox said, “you and I, and the Knights.”
“I can’t leave her yet. She’s upset and confused,” Alric said, and he softened some. “As soon as she feels safe again, we’ll go and confront them.”
Trox nodded and turned to the Knights, “No word of this can get out. We don’t need the people of Valhara knowing how far the Qualsax got with the Lady. They can’t feel they are in danger.”
The Knights nodded and then left the conference room.
Trox watched Alric, “Are you certain they didn’t succeed?”
“Yes”
“I’ve been thinking about this morning.”
“What about it?” he asked, irritated.
“How you refused to let us into the room.”
Alric just watched him.
“Then I realized why you wouldn’t allow us in. You haven’t consummated the marriage,” Trox said.
He sighed, “It’s complicated.”
“It’s not a true marriage until it’s consummated.”
“It will be. I can’t throw all of this at her at once.”
Trox nodded and stood up, “Maybe we should assign Knights to Kyrin, just until things with Qualsax calm down.”
Alric nodded, but his mind was a million miles away, so Trox simply left.
Chapter 19
Dimension Shifter Page 28
